***************************************************************** 02/20/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.42 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Sets Condition to Halt Nuke Program 2 BBC NEWS: Iran defiant on nuclear programme 3 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Sets Condition to Halt Nuke Program 4 Reuters: U.S. says Iran nuclear comment false offer 5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran 'six months from mass uranium enrichment' 6 UPI: Iran makes leap in uranium enrichment 7 Ahmadinejad talks tough on nuclear issue 8 AFP: US welcomes Russia's possible delay of nuclear fuel to Iran - 9 AFP: Iranian nuclear negotiator to meet IAEA chief 10 AFP: Iran repels simulated air attack in war games 11 AFP: Ahmadinejad rejects UN nuclear deadline 12 AFP: No sign of compromise on Iran nuclear crisis as UN deadline loo 13 Korea Herald: Nations scurry to act on nuke deal 14 Korea Herald: NIS believes N. Korea has HEU program 15 Guardian Unlimited: Australia PM Announces Mission to NKorea 16 AFP: SKorean, US officials to meet on NKorea nuke accord - 17 AFP: Japanese disappointed by NKorea deal - poll - 18 UPI: Cheney in Japan for N.Korea, China 19 [NYTr] US missile shield plan risks sowing EU disunity 20 [NYTr] Strategic Missiles, New Axis of Russian Defense System 21 RIA Novosti: Russian FM downplays possibility of new cold war 22 BBC NEWS: Bands oppose nuclear weapons plan 23 Scotsman.com News: 30m cuts at nuclear base spark fears for jobs NUCLEAR REACTORS 24 US: Daily Sentinel: Energy expo to focus on production and research 25 RIA Novosti: Slovakia and Russia ready to complete Slovakian NPP 26 BBC NEWS: Post-Wylfa group looks to future 27 London Times: Nuclear consultation was flawed 28 US: toledoblade.com: Engineers in spotlight as A-plants proposed 29 US: Rutland Herald: Yankee meeting to mull license 30 US: FR: NRC: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, Entergy Nuclear Operatio 31 US: SPT: Opinion: Paying in advance cuts the cost of nuclear plant 32 World Nuclear News: Policy draft backs nuclear NUCLEAR SECURITY NUCLEAR SAFETY 33 US: Spectrum: Iron County opposes Divine Strake 34 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Veto this bill 35 US: Spectrum: The results of Divine Strake are already known 36 GlobalResearch.ca: Depleted Uranium: Pernicious Killer Keeps on Kill 37 US: Seattle PI: Death by radiation gets a new look for the 21st Cent NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 38 Politico.com: Nevada's New Political Wattage Alters Balance in Yucca 39 Las Vegas SUN: Just how clueless do we have to be here? 40 SF New Mexican: It's Nevada or nada 41 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Legislative sellout 42 US: Salt Lake Tribune: EnergySolutions Capitol 43 FR: Staff Doc: Yucca Does Performance Objectivs 44 US: arizona daily star: Uranium level high in wells near GV PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 45 Hanford News: B Reactor nominated as landmark 46 Columbian.com: Lack of discipline blamed for spread of radioactivity ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Sets Condition to Halt Nuke Program From the Associated Press Tuesday February 20, 2007 11:46 AM AP Photo NY107 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran would only halt its uranium enrichment program and return to negotiations if other Western nations do the same. Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands in northern Iran one day ahead of a U.N. Security Council deadline that it was no problem for his country to stop, but that ``fair talks'' demanded a similar gesture from the West. ``That ... we shut down our nuclear fuel cycle program to let talks begin. It's no problem. But justice demands that those who want to hold talks with us shut down their nuclear fuel cycle program too. Then, we can hold dialogue under a fair atmosphere,'' Ahmadinejad said. The Security Council has set Wednesday as a deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment or face further economic sanctions. Ahmadinejad spoke in a far more conciliatory tone than the one he usually adopts, avoiding fiery denunciations of the West with a call for talks. ``We are for talks but they have to be fair negotiations. That means, both sides hold talks under equal conditions,'' he said. He added, however, that it was unacceptable for countries to demand that Iran stop its nuclear activities without reciprocity. ``We say how is it that your (nuclear fuel) production facilities work 24 hours a day, but you feel threatened by our newly established complex and we need to shut it down for talks,'' he asked. On Dec. 23 the Security Council agreed to impose limited sanctions against Iran and gave the country 60 days to halt enrichment or face additional measures. At the time, Iran rejected the resolution as ``illegal'' and said it would not give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. The United States and several of its Western allies believe that Iran is using its nuclear program to produce an atomic weapon - charges Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity. Enriched to a low level, uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building an atomic bomb. Ahmadinejad said Iran would not give in to coercion and warned the United States and its allies they will fail to force it into give up its nuclear program. ``If you want to speak from the position of power and make use of the oppressing leverage of some international institutions, you have to know the you will fail against the unity and resistance of the Iranian nation,'' he said. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 2 BBC NEWS: Iran defiant on nuclear programme Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 20:17 GMT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the UN cannot set pre-conditions for talks Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected international calls for Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, a day before a UN deadline runs out. He said Iran would only do so if states seeking the suspension stopped producing nuclear fuel themselves. Mr Ahmadinejad said he wanted talks on his nation's nuclear programme, but only if no pre-conditions were imposed. Mr Larijani said at the talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna: "Anybody interested in non-conventional or illogical, irrational [moves] would definitely receive an appropriate response." We have said that we want negotiations and talks, but negotiations under just conditions Mahmoud Ahmadinejad But he said Iran was looking "for ways and means to start negotiations". Speaking on the issue on a visit to Turkey, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki echoed the view. "The way to solve problems through diplomacy is dialogue," he said. Details have emerged of US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran. The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to use diplomacy to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment. Tehran insists its programme is for civil use only, but Western countries suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran will face sanctions if it fails to observe Wednesday's UN Security Council deadline on enrichment. US rejection IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei has warned in a UK media interview of the speed at which Iran's nuclear work is advancing. He is due to report to the UN Security Council this week on whether Iran has met UN demands that it halt uranium enrichment by 21 February. Iran resumed uranium enrichment work last year If it does not, and if the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms this, the council's resolution says that further economic sanctions will be considered. In a speech to crowds in northern Iran, broadcast on state television, Mr Ahmadinejad called on Western nations to stop their own nuclear enrichment programmes if they wanted Iran to do the same. He said: "They tell us 'come and negotiate on Iran's nuclear issue but the condition is to stop your activities. "We have said that we want negotiations and talks, but negotiations under just conditions.'" The US dismissed the call to close down Western production facilities. "Do you believe that's a serious offer?" said White House spokesman Tony Snow. Last year Iran resumed uranium enrichment - a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for a nuclear bomb. Incentives urged Mr Larijani said his country was willing to give reassurances that no nuclear material would be diverted to a weapons programme but he remained defiant on uranium enrichment. Mr ElBaradei told the Financial Times newspaper Iran could be only six months away from being able to enrich uranium on an industrial scale. But he said "there's a big difference between acquiring the knowledge for enrichment and developing a bomb". Mr ElBaradei also suggested the use of military force against Iran "would be catastrophic" and urged the Security Council to look at incentives as well as sanctions to bring Tehran back to the table. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Sets Condition to Halt Nuke Program From the Associated Press Tuesday February 20, 2007 1:31 PM AP Photo VAH101 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran would only halt its uranium enrichment program and return to negotiations if other Western nations do the same. Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands in northern Iran one day ahead of a U.N. Security Council deadline that it was no problem for his country to stop, but that ``fair talks'' demanded a similar gesture from the West. ``That ... we shut down our nuclear fuel cycle program to let talks begin. It's no problem. But justice demands that those who want to hold talks with us shut down their nuclear fuel cycle program too. Then, we can hold dialogue under a fair atmosphere,'' Ahmadinejad said. The Security Council has set Wednesday as a deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment or face further economic sanctions. Ahmadinejad spoke in a far more conciliatory tone than the one he usually adopts, avoiding fiery denunciations of the West with a call for talks. ``We are for talks but they have to be fair negotiations. That means, both sides hold talks under equal conditions,'' he said. He added, however, that it was unacceptable for countries to demand that Iran stop its nuclear activities without reciprocity. ``We say how is it that your (nuclear fuel) production facilities work 24 hours a day, but you feel threatened by our newly established complex and we need to shut it down for talks,'' he asked. Iran has long insisted that it will not stop its nuclear activities as a condition for negotiations to start. ``The condition they set for talks is a condition that deprives us of our rights,'' Ahmadinejad said of the United States and its Western allies. ``We have never been after confrontation and tension. We have always been for dialogue but dialogue under fair conditions.'' On Dec. 23 the Security Council agreed to impose limited sanctions against Iran and gave the country 60 days to halt enrichment or face additional measures. At the time, Iran rejected the resolution as ``illegal'' and said it would not give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. The United States and several of its Western allies believe that Iran is using its nuclear program to produce an atomic weapon - charges Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity. Enriched to a low level, uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building an atomic bomb. Ahmadinejad said Iran would not give in to coercion and warned the United States and its allies they will fail to force it into give up its nuclear program. ``If you want to speak from the position of power and make use of the oppressing leverage of some international institutions, you have to know the you will fail against the unity and resistance of the Iranian nation,'' he said. Russia's nuclear agency spokesman warned Tuesday that Iranian delays in payments for the construction of a Russian-built nuclear plant would push back its launch date and uranium fuel deliveries from Russia. A top nuclear official in Iran on Monday rejected Russian claims that Tehran had been dragging its feet on payments, and accused Moscow of trying to delay the launch of the reactor. But Russia's Federal Nuclear Power Agency spokesman Sergei Novikov insisted Tuesday that Iran has made no payments this month, and paid only a quarter of what was due last month. Novikov told The Associated Press that Iran was to pay Russia $25 million a month for construction works at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, adding that Iran has continuously dragged its feet on meeting the obligations. --- Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Moscow. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 4 Reuters: U.S. says Iran nuclear comment false offer 11:21PM EST, Tue 20 Feb 2007 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday brushed off Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's offer to close down nuclear fuel production facilities if the United States and its allies do the same. "That is a false offer because the position of the international community is clear," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. The international community was "perfectly happy to help Iran acquire civilian nuclear power" but had made it clear Tehran should not have nuclear weapons, and the United States was committed to resolving the issue through diplomacy, he said. "But the offer that the Iranians need to make is to suspend activity that could lead to the enrichment of nuclear material that could be used in creating a bomb," Snow said. Ahmadinejad had told a rally broadcast on Iranian state television that, "If they say that we should close down our fuel production facilities to resume talks, we say fine, but those who enter talks with us should also close down their nuclear fuel production facilities." The United States, Britain, France and Germany have been pressuring Iran to give up enrichment activities that they believe are geared toward developing a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies. Snow told reporters the United States was awaiting a report on Wednesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is expected to tell the U.N. Security Council that Tehran has defied a 60-day deadline to suspend enrichment. "I don't want to express premature concern. Let's see what happens. They've got 24 hours," Snow said. Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran 'six months from mass uranium enrichment' Lee Glendinning Tuesday February 20, 2007 A view of the nuclear enrichment plant of Natanz in central Iran. Photograph: EPA Iran could be as little as six months away from being able to enrich uranium on an industrial scale, having mastered the technology since last August, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned in an interview published today. However, Mohamed ElBaradei, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, stressed that Iran was still years away from developing a nuclear weapon. "The intelligence, the British intelligence, the American intelligence, is saying that Iran is still years, five to 10 years, away from developing a weapon," he told the Financial Times in an interview on the eve of Wednesday's deadline for Tehran to suspend its enrichment work. But Mr ElBaradei said he expected Iran to ignore the deadline. He said Iran could install a network of 3,000 centrifuges - enough to begin producing fissile material for a bomb - within months. "It could be six months, it could be a year," Mr ElBaradei said. However, he added, "there's a big difference between acquiring the knowledge for enrichment and developing a bomb". Since August last year Iran has been using centrifuges at a pilot plant in the town of Natanz to enrich uranium. It has refused to halt this process, insisting its purposes are purely peaceful. Mr ElBaradei also said that the efforts of the IAEA to prevent nuclear proliferation were not helped by Britain's decision to update its Trident nuclear deterrent. "When you see here in the UK the programme for modernising Trident, which basically gets the UK far into the 21st century with a nuclear deterrent, it is difficult then for us to turn around and tell everybody else that nuclear deterrents are really no good for you," he said. Speculation has been growing that the US is drawing up contingency plans for an air strike against Iran's nuclear programme, despite repeated public denials by the Bush administration. Last night, the BBC reported that a list of targets had been compiled and that air strikes would be triggered if Iran was linked to a major attack on American forces in Iraq, or if US intelligence assessed that Tehran posed a "perceived nuclear threat" to the US. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 6 UPI: Iran makes leap in uranium enrichment United Press International - NewsTrack - Updated: 02/20/2007 11:51:14 PM -0500 UTC LONDON, England, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The United Nations' top nuclear official says Iran has mastered technology that puts it six months away from enriching uranium on an industrial scale. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran's centrifuges in Natanz would soon no longer be a pilot program and there was no turning back. "You cannot bomb knowledge," he said. Enriched uranium can be used for nuclear weapons but also for nuclear power generation, which Iran claims is its only goal. He said Iran has a "cascade" of 164 centrifuges in the underground facility and experiments with two further 164-centrifuge cascades in the pilot program were functioning. ElBaradei was scheduled to meet with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Tehran on Tuesday and said he doubted Iran would meet a Wednesday U.N. deadline to stop enrichment. U.S. and British intelligence estimates claim Iran is five to 10 years away from developing a nuclear bomb, the report said. Copyright 2007United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 Ahmadinejad talks tough on nuclear issue United Press International - NewsTrack - Updated: 02/20/2007 11:51:33 PM -0500 UTC TEHRAN, Iran, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday Iran would suspend uranium enrichment only if western countries do the same. Speaking at a public rally in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, Ahmadinejad indicated Iran would not comply with a U.N. Wednesday deadline of suspending enrichment, a step that can either be used for nuclear power generation or for nuclear weapons. "If we are supposed to suspend (nuclear activities) for the sake of negotiations, then you should suspend your nuclear activities as well," Ahmadinejad said. "Those attempting to pretend that they are supporting talks on the issue through contradictory slogans and claims should know that negotiation is only possible under just and equal conditions and that no preconditions will be acceptable." In late December, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously in support of economic sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to stop the enrichment to allow talks to begin. Copyright 2007United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 8 AFP: US welcomes Russia's possible delay of nuclear fuel to Iran - Tue Feb 20, 6:03 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States welcomed reports that Russia may delay delivering nuclear fuel for the nuclear power station it is building in Iran, saying it probably shows Moscow's concerns about Tehran's atomic program. "I think what that shows is Russia's own concerns about Iran's nuclear program and Russia's own concerns about what Iran actually is intending to do," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. Earlier Tuesday a spokesman for the Russian atomic energy agency said Russia may delay delivering nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power station due to problems in receiving payment from Tehran. But Casey suggested it could be that Moscow shares Washington's worry that Iran intends to build a nuclear weapon and is rejecting an imminent UN deadline to stop enriching uranium, which is used to make nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material. "I do think it's very clear to us that the Russians share our concerns about Iran's nuclear program," Casey said. "Certainly we don't think at this point that it's appropriate to do anything that could potentially help further Iran's nuclear program." Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 AFP: Iranian nuclear negotiator to meet IAEA chief by Michael Adler Tue Feb 20, 4:46 AM ET VIENNA (AFP) - Iran's nuclear negotiator has travelled to Vienna for talks with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog ahead of a crucial report on whether Tehran is meeting UN demands to abandon uranium enrichment. The negotiator, Ali Larijani, left Tehran Tuesday for the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the meeting with the agency's chief Mohamed ElBaradei, Iran's state IRNA agency reported. The expected meeting comes ahead of the expiry on Friday of the latest UN Security Council deadline for Iran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment work, which makes fuel for civilian reactors but can also produce atom bomb material. The two men are expected to discuss a proposal by ElBaradei for a "timeout" in the nuclear standoff that would see Iran suspending enrichment and the UN simultaneously suspending its sanctions against Tehran, IRNA said. But Iran has refused to stop nuclear fuel work, and ElBaradei's report, expected sometime between Wednesday and Friday could lead to tougher UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic to meet Western fears that Tehran seeks nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is only to produce electricity. Larijani has over the past 10 days proposed that Iran spin empty the centrifuges that enrich uranium, rather than load them with the feedstock gas for refining uranium, or enrich to low levels adequate for fuel needs but not enough for weapons use, diplomats said. The United States rejects such compromises, saying they would still give Iran experience in enrichment that could be used to make weapons, the diplomats said. ElBaradei said in an interview in London's Financial Times published Tuesday that Iran may be able to enrich uranium on a mass scale in just six months, although it could still be 10 years away from the capacity to build a nuclear bomb. He said Tehran has learned so much from research work in using centrifuges to enrich uranium that it will be impossible to turn back the clock. But "there's a big difference between acquiring the knowledge for enrichment and developing a bomb," he was quoted as saying. ElBaradei stressed his hope for negotiations to convince Iran to wait. "The ideal situation is to make sure that there is no industrial capacity, that there is full inspection" of Iran's nuclear facilities, he said. Iran has moved feedstock gas needed to start uranium enrichment into a nuclear plant designed for industrial-level enrichment, diplomats told AFP Monday. Iran moved the uranium gas (uranium hexafluoride, UF6) early this month from a conversion facility at Isfahan into the underground Natanz plant in central Iran where it last month started installing centrifuge machines, the diplomats said. "A container of UF6 was moved to Natanz at the beginning of the month so that they can spin some centrifuges with gas if they want to," one diplomat said in Vienna. The diplomat said some nine tons of UF6 was in the container, enough feedstock gas to make at least one atom bomb if fully refined. While Iran has not started running the centrifuges, bringing the uranium gas into the plant was a "provocative" act, non-proliferation analyst Mark Fitzpatrick said. "Running centrifuges with UF6 is not the act of a country that seeks compromise," said Fitzpatrick, of London's International Institute for Strategic Studies. And in a sign of a determined effort by Iran to get Natanz working, non-aligned diplomats in Vienna quoted Iranian atomic agency chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh as telling them that Tehran is seeking to install one 164-centrifuge unit per week at the underground site. Iran started work in late January on installing 3,000 centrifuges at the heavily bunkered Natanz site, as it moves towards industrial-level enrichment of uranium, diplomats have told AFP. Iran had said a year ago that it had wanted the 3,000 installed by March 2007 but technical problems have apparently delayed this timetable. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 AFP: Iran repels simulated air attack in war games Tue Feb 20, 5:17 AM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have staged a war game simulating an air strike against the Islamic republic amid continued speculation of US military intervention to halt its nuclear drive. The Revolutionary Guards land forces fought back the hypothetical air strike from enemy helicopters, planes and missiles with 620 anti-aircraft cannon and shoulder missiles, state television said Tuesday. The exercise came of the second of the three-day "Power Manoeuvre" exercises involving 3,000 units of the elite force in 16 of Iran's 30 provinces, the second war games staged by the Guards this month. The war games had opened on Monday with a flurry of missile test-firing which the Guards' commanders said was aimed at strengthening the defensive capabilities of the force. Although Washington has said it favours diplomacy to solve the standoff over Iran's nuclear drive, it has never ruled out military action the thwart the programme. The United States accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a charge denied by Tehran which insists its atomic programme is solely aimed at generating energy. Washington has also alleged that elements in Iran have smuggled sophisticated bombs into Iraq have killed at least 170 US and allied soldiers since June 2004. Tehran has rejected the allegations as "without foundation". Meanwhile, a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf ordered by US President George W. Bush to the Gulf arrived in the Sea of Oman, the US Navy said, in a move seen by observers as new warning to the Islamic republic. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 AFP: Ahmadinejad rejects UN nuclear deadline Tue Feb 20, 1:22 PM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected a looming UN deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, saying it would not halt the sensitive nuclear activity as a precondition to talks. "We are in favour of dialogue. But in order for us to talk they are imposing a condition that would deprive us of our right," Ahmadinejad said in a public rally in Rasht, the capital of the northern Gilan province. His comments came ahead of the expiry this week of the latest UN Security Council deadline for Iran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment as well as a UN watchdog report Friday on its compliance with this demand. Ahmadinejad told the crowd of thousands that the only scenario where Iran could offer to halt enrichment was if other nuclear powers suspended the process themselves. "If they say that our nuclear production plant and its fuel cycle should be shut down, this is no problem. But justice necessitates that those who want to negotiate should halt their own nuclear fuel cycles!" he said. His remarks were summarily dismissed in Washington. "Do you believe that's a serious offer?" commented White House spokesman Tony Snow. Snow declined to comment on whether Iran might face additional sanctions if it failed to meet the UN deadline and said Washington was waiting for a report from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei. "We'll see what the IAEA has to report," Snow told reporters. ElBaradei was meeting in Vienna on Tuesday evening with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani who said he was "looking for the ways and means to start negotiations." The United States accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its atomic programme is peaceful in nature. Although Washington has said it wants the nuclear standoff resolved through diplomacy, it has never ruled out military action to thwart Iran's atomic drive. In his speech, Ahmadinejad said any attempt to coerce Iran into giving up its nuclear programme was doomed to failure. "If they think they can create division among Iranians with their bullying, attempts and plots, they should know they are 100-percent wrong. "Iranians have been standing strong and will defend their nuclear rights until the end. "The day that Iranians can use nuclear fuel and its production cycle fully in the agriculture, medicine and other areas, will be a big leap in the life of Iranian people," Ahmadinejad added. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 12 AFP: No sign of compromise on Iran nuclear crisis as UN deadline looms - by Michael Adler Tue Feb 20, 5:41 PM ET VIENNA (AFP) - Iran warned the United States about getting into a "boxing" match to force it to abandon uranium enrichment but said it was open to talks over worries it seeks nuclear weapons. On the eve of a UN deadline for Iran to stop enriching uranium, which is used to make nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material, Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani said any attempt to force the issue would be met with "an appropriate response." "Anyone interested in non-conventional or illogical moves, it would definitely receive an appropriate response," Larijani told reporters when asked about US pressure towards a more robust response from the United Nations. "If they are willing to move towards a boxing ring, then they would have problems on their side too," Larijani said. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad imposed his own conditions on Tuesday. "If they say that our nuclear production plant and its fuel cycle should be shut down, this is fine. But justice necessitates that those who want to negotiate should halt their own nuclear fuel cycles," he said at a public rally in Iran's Gilan province. "Do you believe that's a serious offer?" White House spokesman Tony Snow said when asked about Ahmadinejad's comments. A second US aircraft carrier arrived in Middle Eastern waters on Tuesday as promised by US President George W. Bush in January amid the escalating crisis with nearby Iran over its nuclear programme. The United States accuses Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, a charge denied by Tehran, which insists its atomic effort is a peaceful energy programme. Larijani was speaking Tuesday after meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is to file a report certifying whether Iran has honored a December 23 UN Security Council call for it to stop enriching uranium. The report is expected to be Wednesday or Thursday, according to diplomats close to the IAEA. It must be filed by Friday, February 23 -- two calendar months after the UN resolution that imposed sanctions for the first time on Iran in order to get it to cease enrichment and accept talks. The finding will then be reviewed at an IAEA board of governors meeting on March 6. Iranian defiance could lead to tougher sanctions. Larijani said that if there was "concern about the possible deviation of Iran's activities," a clear reference to diverting nuclear resources for military purposes, then "at the negotiation table we can settle them." Larijani stressed that Iran was giving no thought to suspending enrichment activities. "The important issue is not suspension. What should be important ... is to have Iran's activities within the framework of the IAEA (rather than the UN Security Council) and under the supervision of the inspectors of the agency," Larijani said. ElBaradei has proposed a "timeout" in the nuclear standoff that would see Iran suspending enrichment and the UN simultaneously suspending its sanctions. Larijani has over the past 10 days proposed that Iran spin empty the centrifuges that enrich uranium, rather than load them with the feedstock gas for refining it, or enrich to low levels adequate for fuel needs but not enough for weapons use, diplomats said. The United States rejects such compromises, saying they would still give Iran experience in enrichment that could be used to make weapons, the diplomats said. A senior European diplomat told AFP: "Just before reports are published, the Iranians look into a way to split the anti-Iran alliance, but I don't see this happening." ElBaradei has told London's Financial Times newspaper that Iran may be able to enrich uranium on a mass scale in just six months, although it could still be 10 years away from the capacity to build a nuclear bomb. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 13 Korea Herald: Nations scurry to act on nuke deal The six member countries of the nuclear talks are gearing up to make some moves on the deal struck in Beijing last week by sending delegates to coordinate steps and arranging working group meetings. The members - the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - must form and mobilize five working groups within 30 days to plan North Korea's shut down of its nuclear facilities, and discuss corresponding energy and economic incentives. In return, South Korea must find ways to supply 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to North Korea within the same time period. The next six-party talks will open on March 19 when each working group will report to the chief negotiators. The subjects to be addressed by the respective working groups include: energy aid, North Korea's denuclearization, and peace for Northeast Asia. In addition there will be two bilateral groups, one with the United States and North Korea and the other containing Japan and North Korea. South Korea, which will head the working group on energy and economic cooperation, is making preparations to convene the first meeting early next month at the latest. The Seoul government, which will be responsible for the first 50,000-ton batch of heavy fuel oil, will also commence discussion this week among the ministries of foreign affairs, unification and energy. The oil will be in exchange for North Korea's shut-down and sealing of its Yongbyon nuclear facility with confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors within 60 days. Deputy Foreign Minister Shim Yoon-joe left for Washington yesterday for a four-day trip to meet Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill, Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor Jack Crouch and Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation John Rood. While the preparations are off to a good start, a difficult road lies ahead for negotiators as the intention of North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program entirely, remains unclear. It is a determination of the United States and its allies that North Korea must report all of its nuclear weapons and nuclear programs including suspected research with highly-enriched uranium. But North Korea thus far remains in denial of the existence of any HEU programs and remains set on its position of separating nuclear weapons from nuclear programs. At the start of the negotiations in December last year, North Korea had only stated "nuclear programs" as a card it would be willing to give up in return for energy and economic aid. Japan, which is currently refusing to talk economic incentives for North Korea, is also making moves to open a bilateral working group with the communist regime. The two will be discussing contentious issues such as the North's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s at the separate working group discussions aimed at the eventual normalization of ties. To this end, Japan is set to hold a preparatory discussion with the North Korean side sometime this month, possibly in Tokyo, Pyongyang, Singapore or Beijing. Another bilateral working group between the United States and North Korea is likely to take shape following North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan's visit to New York in the near future. China, a host to the six-party talks and also be in charge of the dismantlement working group, will start working on how to form the framework. Russia will be in charge of the fifth working group discussing the peace and security system in Northeast Asia. (angiely@heraldm.com) By Lee Joo-hee 2007.02.21 ***************************************************************** 14 Korea Herald: NIS believes N. Korea has HEU program South Korea's intelligence agency reportedly told a National Assembly committee yesterday that it believes North Korea runs a uranium-based nuclear program. This is the first time that Seoul acknowledged the existence of the high-enriched uranium program in the North. Yonhap News quoted lawmakers as saying that a National Intelligence Service official answered positive to the question whether the North has the secret program during a closed-door session of the Intelligence Committee. North Korea has denies the existence of such an atomic development project so far. The NIS also said the HEU program is included in the list of nuclear programs that North Korea is obliged to report for dismantlement in accordance with last week's six-nation agreement. Last week, North Korea agreed to shut down its Yongbyon facilities within 60 days and report all its nuclear programs to the five negotiation partners in return for the latter's million tons of energy and economic aid. The NIS also said North Korea has enacted an antimoney laundering law to help settle a dispute with United States over its allegedly illegal financial transactions. The standing committee of the North's Supreme People's Assembly adopted the law in October last year, the NIS said in a press release. "North Korea has pushed measures against money laundering to meet international standards in financial transactions since the U.S. financial sanctions on its accounts in Banco Delta Asia in September 2005," the agency said. (davidpooh@heraldm.com) By Jin Dae-woong 2007.02.21 ***************************************************************** 15 Guardian Unlimited: Australia PM Announces Mission to NKorea From the Associated Press Tuesday February 20, 2007 5:31 AM CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia will send a diplomatic mission to North Korea in the next few weeks to begin rebuilding ties following the landmark deal that secured a promise Pyongyang would end its nuclear programs, the prime minister said Tuesday. Prime Minister John Howard made the announcement a few hours after talking with President Bush by phone about North Korea and other issues. ``We're going to be sending a diplomatic group to North Korea in the not too distant future, the next few weeks, to put down some benchmarks about the restoration of our bilateral diplomatic relationship,'' Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. North Korea agreed last week to shutter its main nuclear complex within 60 days and then disable all its nuclear facilities in exchange for receiving the equivalent of up to 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and political incentives from the United States and other regional powers. It was the first time that North Korea agreed to take specific disarmament steps since six-nation talks began in 2003 among China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States. Australia and North Korea restored diplomatic ties in May 2002, 27 years after the North cut them abruptly by recalling its diplomats from Canberra and expelling Australia's. But Canberra froze bilateral relations in November 2002 as concerns about the North's nuclear programs escalated. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 16 AFP: SKorean, US officials to meet on NKorea nuke accord - Mon Feb 19, 10:30 PM SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's deputy foreign minister has headed to Washington for talks with US officials on ways to follow up on last week's deal on scrapping North Korea's nuclear programme, his ministry said. Shim Yoon-Joe was to hold talks with US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns during his visit from Tuesday to Saturday, the ministry said. He would also meet other officials including John C. Rood, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, and Jack D. Crouch II, deputy national security advisor. At six-nation talks in Beijing last week, North Korea agreed to start disabling its nuclear facilities in exchange for badly-needed energy aid. As a first step it will shut down and seal its Yongbyon reactor within 60 days, admit UN nuclear inspectors and receive 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or equivalent assistance in return. Further steps to disable nuclear facilities would be rewarded with up to 950,000 tons of heavy oil or other aid. Critics say the deal does not address the North's existing weapons or plutonium stockpile, or its suspected uranium-based weapons research programme. Supporters call it a good start. The agreement is "the first step in a long series that includes the complete renunciation of nuclear weaponry and facilities within North Korea," White House spokesman Tony Snow said Sunday. "If they are going to get the benefits down the road including ultimately as much as a million tons of heavy oil, they've got to perform." Seoul officials point out that the North must eventually submit a list of its nuclear facilities and programmes, including any uranium-based one. Shim's US trip precedes a planned visit by South Korea's Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon early next month, Yonhap news agency said. Copyright 2007 Yahoo! Canada Co. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 AFP: Japanese disappointed by NKorea deal - poll - Tue Feb 20, 1:54 AM ET TOKYO (AFP) - Most Japanese are disappointed with the six-way deal on North Korea's nuclear programme and an overwhelming majority back the government's refusal to fund it, according to a survey. Five countries including Japan struck a deal with North Korea last week under which Pyongyang will shut down key nuclear facilities within two months in exchange for badly needed fuel. But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insists that Japan will not provide aid to the nuclear-armed regime unless there is progress in a dispute over its past abductions of Japanese civilians. Fifty-six percent of Japanese said that the nuclear deal did not meet their expectations, while 31 percent welcomed it, according to the poll by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The rest were undecided or gave other opinions. The poll showed 81 percent backed Abe's stance against funding the deal, with 11 percent opposed. The liberal daily carried out the telephone survey on Saturday and Sunday across the nation with 1,940 eligible voters giving valid responses. North Korea admitted in 2002 it had kidnapped Japanese civilians to train its spies in the 1970s and 1980s. It returned five victims and their families and declared the others dead, but Japan says more are alive and being kept under wraps. Abe built his career campaigning on the issue, which rouses deep emotion in Japan. His government has rejected criticism that Japan was isolating itself within the six-way talks which include Tokyo's main ally, the United States. The nuclear accord calls for Japan and North Korea to hold talks on their tense relations, but Abe said more action was needed. Despite support for his stance, the poll showed that support for Abe's government continued to slide. Thirty-seven percent approved of the government's performance, down two points from the Asahi's previous poll a month earlier and a fall of 26 points since he took office in late September. His disapproval rate rose to 40 percent from the previous month's 37 percent, the first time in the Asahi poll that opposition outpaced support. Abe, at 52 Japan's youngest premier since World War II, has faced accusations that he is not in control of his cabinet after a series of gaffes and scandals involving top aides. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 18 UPI: Cheney in Japan for N.Korea, China United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 2/20/2007 6:51:00 AM -0500 TOKYO, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Japan Tuesday for talks focused on North Korea, Iraq and China. During his three-day visit, Cheney plans to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso, among others. He also plans to visit the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Aso said Cheney's trip is aimed at strengthening security ties between Japan and the United States amid challenges from China's rise and North Korea's nuclear drive. The visit comes a week after North Korea agreed in six-nation negotiations to start disabling its nuclear programs in return for massive energy aid. Washington welcomed the deal, but Japan has ruled out any funding for the nuclear agreement until the North resolves the issue of kidnapped Japanese there. Critics say the deal does not address the communist North's existing weapons or plutonium stockpile and suspected uranium-based weapons research program. Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 19 [NYTr] US missile shield plan risks sowing EU disunity Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:22:43 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Simon McGuinness EU Observer 0- Fb 19, 2007 http://euobserver.com/9/23525/?rk=1 US missile shield plan risks sowing EU disunity By Mark Beunderman EU disunity is looming over US plans to build an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech republic, with Germany saying over the weekend that Russia should be consulted over the scheme. Washington has asked Warsaw and Prague, two of its strongest allies, to host a system aimed at intercepting ballistic missiles fired from states in the Middle East such as Iran - a plan which has been endorsed by key Polish and Czech politicians. The move, which would include the placing of interceptor missiles in the two central European states, has sparked strong criticism from Russia, with its president Vladimir Putin telling a Munich security conference this month that the system would "completely neutralize'' the deterrence threat posed by Russia's own nuclear missiles. Moscow may develop an "asymmetric response" of its own to "overcome'' such systems, he added. Germany has now expressed understanding for the Russian position, with German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier telling daily Handelsblatt over the weekend that "in view of the strategic nature of these sorts of projects, I am pleading for caution and for an intensive dialogue with all the partners directly and indirectly affected." "Because the sites for the stationing are getting nearer to Russia, one should have talked about it with Russia beforehand," Mr Steinmeier said, with reports indicating that existing US anti-missile facilities are currently limited to bases in the US itself. The remarks of Mr Steinmeier - the former cabinet chief of ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who maintained close ties with Mr Putin - were echoed by German defence minister Franz Josef Jung, who is a member of the more Russia-critical conservatives. Mr Jung told the daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung that "Given our common security interests we should make sure that also in the future, NATO and Russia are developing on the basis of partnership." Germany's stance risks colliding with that of Poland and the Czech Republic, which have indicated they are interested in responding positively to the US request. "We are preparing an answer that I think we will give to the American administration by diplomatic means within two weeks," Polish defence minister Aleksander Szczyglo told PAP press agency over the weekend. Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski indicated last week that "the government, the president and myself, are in favour of the anti-missile shield," according to Reuters. Czech president Vaclav Klaus and foreign minister and Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg have come out in favour of the US scheme, but some Czech politicians are pressing for the bases to come under NATO, not just US command. The issue risks reviving EU rifts over the transatlantic relationship which came to a height in the run-up to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq - supported by ex-communist states in central Europe but opposed by a camp of states led by France and Germany. The planned US missile shield also highlights fundamentally different perceptions within the EU of Russia. Germany, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, is seeking closer ties with Moscow, but Poland in particular deeply mistrusts its Eastern neighbour, with Warsaw also clashing with Berlin over a planned gas pipeline between Russia and Germany bypassing Poland. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 20 [NYTr] Strategic Missiles, New Axis of Russian Defense System Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:21:26 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Strategic Missiles, Axis of Russian Defense System Moscow, Feb 19 (Prensa Latina) Russia reported on Monday that its mobile strategic long-range missiles, Topol-M, will be the axis of its defense system by the year 2016. Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of the strategic missile troops, said the leading world ballistic warhead carrier is superior in combat and maintenance compared to its predecessor. Topol-M missiles are 74.47 feet long, 6.39 feet wide, have a range of nearly 6,313 miles and are armed with new security devices like anti-terrorist protection for peacetime. Solotsov told RIA Novosti news agency that the rockets weigh 47.2 tons at launch with a payload of 1.2 tons. They have three driving engines and dozens of additional such devices, as well as a control mechanism that provides additional speed, impeding enemy anti-missiles system from deciphering its trajectory. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the rocket "Russia s 21st century weapon" due to its long operative life, high speed and capacity to evade sophisticated anti-missile systems. Putin attended in Teikovo, Ivanovo tests of the missiles from a mobile platform by the 54th Rocket Div., which he termed an important step toward expanding Russia s defense. The new system replaces Topol missiles which the NATO classifies as SS-19 (Stilett), and the RS-20 Voivoda (SS-18). The new system preserves its combat potential despite a first enemy strike because its electronic devices are insensitive to electromagnetic impulse of nuclear explosion. Former Russian Defense Minister Vice President Serguei Ivanov said the Armed Forces will be in possession of nearly 70 Topol-M rockets between 2007 and 2015. ef ccs emw jpm PL-38 * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 21 RIA Novosti: Russian FM downplays possibility of new cold war 21/02/2007 MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday that the current developments on the global political scene do not mean the return to a serious confrontation between Russia and the West. "The current developments in the world do not point at a new variant of the "cold war," Sergei Lavrov said addressing students of the Moscow linguistic university. He said that despite Russia's concern over the U.S. plans to deploy elements of its missile shield in Central Europe and NATO's expansion toward Russian borders the country will develop a weighted response to emerging threats to its security and will not be drawn into a confrontation or a new round of the arms race. Moscow strongly opposes the deployment of a missile shield in its former backyard in Central Europe, describing the plans as a threat to Russian national security. Army General Yury Baluyevsky, the chief of the Russian General Staff, voiced February 15 a strong warning to the U.S. regarding its missile shield plans by announcing a possibility of Russia unilaterally pulling out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). Commander in Chief of Russia's strategic missile forces (SMF) Nikolai Solovtsov echoed Baluyevsky's remarks by saying that the SMF will be able to track down elements of the U.S. missile defense system if they are eventually deployed in Central Europe. "If the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic make such a decision, the Strategic Missile Forces will be able to target these systems," Solovtsov said Monday. He also said Russia possessed the technology and the capability to resume production of intermediate- and short-range missiles in the near future if the need arises. But Lavrov reaffirmed Tuesday that Russia was not seeking a new clash with the West and urged the global community to make a choice between the arms race and the resolution of problems inherited from the past. "In essence, we are facing a choice between the arms race and finding solutions for the problems that we have inherited from the past," the minister said, adding that the "cold war" had seriously hampered social and economic development of the world. He said a drive to a uni-polar world order serves as a catalyst for the arms race and threatens global security. "A stubborn desire by certain countries to pursue a virtual uni-polar world order and their attempts to impose an exaggerated emphasis on the use of force damages the foundation of international relations, especially its legal basis," Lavrov said. "A strong and confident Russia has become a positive factor on the global arena," the minister said. "This reality has taken many people in the West by surprise, and for some it was an unpleasant surprise, although we are simply defending our interests as others do." He reiterated that Moscow is willing to wait until its Western partners accept this reality and realize that they can build relations with Russia only on the basis of equal rights and mutual respect of interests. "The sooner this happens the better because time is not on our side," Lavrov said. "It is quite clear that those who attempt unilateral actions do it at their risk, but as the situation in Iraq shows everybody has to pay for the consequences of such unilateral undertakings," he said in an apparent reference to failing U.S. efforts to restore peace and order in the war-torn Middle East country. Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq quickly sank into sectarian violence from which it has yet to emerge. All ongoing international efforts to restore peace and stability there have so far proved futile, and Russia, which has always opposed the war in Iraq, has repeatedly called on the international community to withdraw foreign troops from the country. "Our foreign policy remains unchanged - we are striving to create favorable conditions for our domestic reforms and preserve the proven principles of our diplomacy that include pragmatism rather than ideology, multi-vector relations rather than closed clubs of nations, and zealous but non-confrontational protection of our national interests," the foreign minister said. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 22 BBC NEWS: Bands oppose nuclear weapons plan Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 10:41 GMT Snow Patrol are backing the anti-nuclear weapons campaign Snow Patrol, Thom Yorke and Razorlight are among more than 50 British artists opposing plans to modernise the country's nuclear weapons system. The musicians have signed a statement released by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) that urges "peace and justice, not nuclear weapons and war". It says the billions of pounds set to be spent would be better used to fund areas including health and education. Bloc Party's frontman, Kele, thinks spending billions on "nukes" will bring us closer to "global catastrophe". Ian Brown, former lead singer of the Stone Roses, is also backing the campaign, calling political leaders "hypocrites and warmongers". Prime Minister Tony Blair has declared he wants the UK to keep its nuclear weapons system to guard against the risk of a future nuclear threat. Nuclear warheads In December, Mr Blair told MPs it would be "unwise and dangerous" for the UK to give up its nuclear weapons. The government wants a new generation of submarines to be built, at an estimated cost of 15bn to 20bn over 30 years, to carry the UK's existing Trident missiles. He also wants the UK to join the US programme to extend the life of the Trident missiles until 2042, and then "work with" the US on successor missiles. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 23 Scotsman.com News: 30m cuts at nuclear base spark fears for jobs and safety Tue 20 Feb 2007 MICHAEL HOWIE HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT () CLYDE Naval Base, which houses the UK's Trident nuclear arsenal and fleet of nuclear submarines, has been ordered to make £30 million of cuts, sparking fears of massive job losses and reduced safety. The Ministry of Defence has announced that Clyde, Devonport and Portsmouth naval bases will each have to reduce running costs by £30 million, or 16 per cent, by 2011-2. The decision has sparked fury among union leaders, who say it could lead to the loss of 500 jobs and compromise safety. Dougie Brownlie, secretary of the base's Non-Industrial Trade Unions, said: "When you are handling nuclear weapons there is a strong safety culture. How will they be able to keep that to the same standards? The base is cut to the bone. The last thing we want is any kind of incident." Alan Grey, the union branch chairman, added: "Members are extremely worried. They want to stress this is not a jobs preservation issue; this is very much a safety issue. "These cuts will impact on already overstretched civil servants, service personnel and the privatised workforce and they believe that the extreme pressures staff are already enduring will be pushed beyond breaking point with catastrophic consequences for the workforce and the community." The claims that these cuts could increase the chances of a potentially catastrophic nuclear disaster have led to threats of legal action against unions by MoD senior management. Neil Smith, head of communications for the MoD in Scotland, said: "To suggest that if we had fewer MoD employees here safety would be compromised is extremely misleading." He said the base was drawing up a plan to deliver the cuts, which will be presented to ministers at the end of next month with approval expected in the summer. He admitted that job losses were being considered but said nothing would be implemented before April 2008. The cuts, part of the government's strategic defence review, will be felt by the Defence Logistics Organisation, which employs about 1,200 staff and is responsible for running the base. As part of the cuts, managers at the Clyde base have been told to look at increasing the work carried out by private companies. Babcock employs about 1,300 at the two facilities. Commodore Carolyn Stait, the naval base commander, said: "Across the three UK naval bases, there is more engineering and waterfront capacity than we need, for the size and shape of the future fleet. "We cannot carry on supporting the associated costs without prejudicing the front line, which is the only reason we have naval bases." Union members at the Faslane and Coulport naval facilities on the Clyde said they would write to every candidate at the Scottish Parliament elections as part of a campaign against the cuts. Jackie Baillie, the local Labour MSP, said: "I'm confident the MoD has given assurances concerning safety but I would want unions to be involved to ensure that if we have to bear a proportion of the cuts, they're done in a sensible way." 2007 Scotsman.com ***************************************************************** 24 Daily Sentinel: Energy expo to focus on production and research By BOBBY MAGILL Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Western Colorado could one day be on the forefront of many forms of energy production, and members of some Western Slope energy groups are hoping the region can one day be at the cutting edge of energy research, too. The event will feature nine speakers, including Xcel Energy CEO Dick Kelly, BP wind development Director Eric Bakker and Colorado School of Mines President M.W. Scoggins. Speakers will talk about the future of oil, gas, uranium, hydropower, oil shale and tar sands exploitation in the West, the potential for the region to become a major source of renewable energy, the environmental impact of uranium production and the global supply of energy. Kelly will talk about environmental stewardship in a speech called “Good Business, Good Balance.” Those discussions are meant to be part of the answer to one question: “How do we make Grand Junction and the Western Slope the energy hub of the future?” said Expo Co-Chairwoman Bonnie Petersen. While there’s plenty of fossil-fuel development now occurring on the Western Slope, she said it’s time some of the energy sector’s brain power take root here. “We’d like to see education driven toward different fuel sources,” and new energy research jobs created here, she said. One way to do that is for an exposition such as Friday’s event to shine statewide and national attention on the Western Slope, said Kathy Hall, chairwoman of Club 20’s board of directors and an event co-chairwoman with Petersen. The event is free and open to the public. Hall said she hopes those who attend will come away with the message that it’s going to take many different sources of energy to meet the United States’ needs in the future. The Western Slope should play a large part of meeting those needs, she said. “Everyone always views western Colorado as where the resources are, but they don’t often bring us into the discussion,” Hall said. Other speakers Friday will include Colorado State University geologist Vince Matthews, Mercator Energy CEO John Harpole, Kent Holsinger of the Colorado Energy Distributors Association, University of Colorado Faculty Director Carl Koval, Power Resources CEO Fletcher Newton and Anthony Dammer of the U.S. Department of Energy. Bobby Magill can be reached via e-mail at bmagill@gjds.com. Cox Newspapers, L.P. - The Daily Sentinel - Our Partners To report corrections e-mail corrections@gjds.com ***************************************************************** 25 RIA Novosti: Slovakia and Russia ready to complete Slovakian NPP 21/02/2007 MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Slovakia is prepared to establish a consortium with Russia to complete the construction of the third and fourth stages of its nuclear power plant, the Slovakian economics minister said Tuesday. The Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia signed an intergovernmental agreement to build the Mohovce plant, which is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Bratislava, in 1980. The first power-generating unit was commissioned in 1998, and the second in 2000. However, work on the second part of the NPP was suspended in 1992, when the construction of the third and fourth units was 70% complete and the technological elements were 30% ready. Lubomir Jahnatek, who participated Tuesday in the work of the Russian-Slovakian intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, said a final decision on the issue will depend on an Italian company that holds a controlling stake in the NPP. Jahnatek also said Slovakia considers it necessary to create a consortium with Russian and European companies to build new generating units of the Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant. The Slovakian economics minister said Russian companies have a good chance of participating in the projects to build and modernize NPPs on the territory of Slovakia. At the same time, Russian newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin, who also participated in the work of the bilateral inter-governmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, said Russia is considering increasing oil exports to Slovakia. "We have an agreement, under which we supply Slovakia with up to six million metric tons (43.9 million bbl) of oil a year. Slovakia is interested in increasing the volume of deliveries. We are looking for ways to meet the requirements of the Slovakian side," Naryshkin said. The Russian deputy prime minister also said Russia will repay its $18 mln debt to Slovakia through the deliveries of high-tech products for the Slovakian cyclotron center and equipment and services for the aviation industry. "We are at the final stage of work to repay the Soviet-era debt to Slovakia. Work is proceeding strictly on schedule," Naryshkin said. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 26 BBC NEWS: Post-Wylfa group looks to future Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 21:29 GMT Wylfa's 2010 closure is set to cost the area about 1,500 jobs The body developing an economic strategy for north west Wales ahead of Wylfa nuclear power station's closure in 2010 has met for the first time. Mn Menai is a partnership between the Welsh Assembly Government, public bodies and the business sector in Gwynedd and Anglesey. It was set up by the Enterprise Minister Andrew Davies late last year, who chaired the inaugural meeting. However, some jobs will remain on the Anglesey site even after the station closes, as the decommissioning process is set to take several years. The nuclear plant was one of the island's major employers Nevertheless, Mr Davies has been under political pressure not to leave everything to the last minute. Last November, he pledged that new European cash will go to the Mn Menai partnership. The minister has been criticised by members of the North West Wales Economic Forum, who said he either could not or would not put a figure on how much money would be available to pay for the regeneration. Mr Davies said: "Over the coming months and years we'll be able to come up with a very clear strategy and then we'll look at what are going to be the priorities. "With Wylfa being decommissioned in 2010 we can't let the grass grow under our feet and that's why I've set up the Mn Menai programme to deal with that position. "We've got a longer lead time than we've had in previous occasions when there's been changes like this." Wylfa, along with its main customer - the smelting plant Anglesey Aluminium - is one of the biggest employers on the island. In December, an assembly-commissioned report found Anglesey will bear the brunt of job losses in the area in the wake of Wylfa's closure. 'Diversify' Anglesey Council leader Gareth Winston Roberts said the report brought home the "huge economic blow" the closure would bring. The group, which met on Tuesday, aims to develop an economic strategy for north west Wales post 2010. The island's AM, Ieuan Wyn Jones, said: "What we need to do is look at new ways of regenerating the economy. "We need to diversify and we need to look at the news skills that are necessary. "With the closure of Wylfa, it's important that as I, the elected member, I look at all the options. "It is a difficult situation and there are no easy answers. Successive governments in the past have not recognised the need for a diverse economy [on Anglesey]." Some figures on Anglesey have said the group should have met earlier and involved a wider range of people in the area. Anglesey Councillor and former Holyhead mayor, Jeff Evans, said: "I'd like to say I was optimistic but in fact I'm pessimistic. "The reason for that is I see agencies come and go and I don't see people coming up with many answers to the difficulties we have on Anglesey. "It's too little, too late. Wylfa has been a problem known in this area for the last 10-15 years. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 27 London Times: Nuclear consultation was flawed February 20, 2007 Queen's Bench Division Regina (Greenpeace Ltd) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Before Mr Justice Sullivan Judgement February 16, 2007 Where it had been stated in a government White Paper that there would be the fullest public consultation before making a decision on a matter of substantial public policy but information as to major relevant issues had emerged only after consultation had closed, then the decision-making process was fatally flawed. Mr Justice Sullivan so held in the Queen's Bench Division in allowing the application of Greenpeace Ltd for judicial review by way of an order to quash the decision of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to announce government support for the building of new civil nuclear power generation facilities. Mr Nigel Pleming, QC and Ms Kassie Smith for Greenpeace; Mr Richard Drabble, QC and Mr David Forsdick MR JUSTICE SULLIVAN said that a 2003 White Paper had said that a new nuclear build was not proposed and that there would be the fullest public consultation before a decision was made. The consultation process was very seriously flawed. As an issues paper the government’s consultation paper was perfectly adequate. As the consultation paper on an issue of such importance and complexity it was manifestly inadequate. It contained no proposals as such; even if it had, the information given to those consulted was wholly insufficient to enable them to make an intelligent response. On both the economics and the waste issues all, or virtually all the information of any substance emerged only after the consultation period had concluded. Elementary fairness required that those consulted should be given a proper opportunity to respond to the substantial amount of new evidence. There could be no proper consultation, let alone the fullest public consultation if the substance of these two issues was not consulted upon before the decision was made. There was therefore procedural unfairness and a breach of legitimate expectation that there be the fullest public consultation before a decision was taken to support a new nuclear build. The application succeeded. Solicitors: Harrison Grant, Kentish Town; Treasury Solicitor Online, The Times and The Sunday Times. ***************************************************************** 28 toledoblade.com: Engineers in spotlight as A-plants proposed Tuesday, February 20, 2007 Plans at Monroe, other sites boost demand Jessica Kemp, with a model of a nuclear fuel assembly, welcomes the trend. THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY ) By JON CHAVEZ BLADE BUSINESS WRITER Jessica Kemp was barely a year old when the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pa., suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, sending the nuclear industry in the United States into a 25-year tailspin. But as National Engineers Week celebrations take place around the country this week, Ms. Kemp, 28, a nuclear design engineer at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse nuclear power station near Oak Harbor, understands that she is part of a profession that is in the midst of a rebirth. "It's in the general news more. You can tell people are interested now," she said. "Over the summer, when there were demands on the grid, the subject of nuclear comes up now." This month, DTE, parent firm of Detroit Edison, announced it will seek a license to build a nuclear plant at its Fermi nuclear complex in Monroe County, Michigan. There has not been an application for a new commercial plant filed with the Nuclear Regulator Commission in over 30 years, mainly because of the huge costs involved and post-Three Mile Island regulations. There are 16 utilities, mostly in the South, openly talking about building more than 30 nuclear plants. That has many young engineer students keyed up about the potential job prospects. "It's exciting, but nobody's sure how long it will last and that's one of the things we're facing," said Arunan Nadarajah, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Toledo, where several Engineers Week activities are taking place each day this week. Davis-Besses owner is competing for nuclear engineers. ( THE BLADE ) "Nearly all the university nuclear engineering programs pretty much folded after Three Mile Island," he said. "The ones left you can count them on your hands." But for universities to start up related engineering programs is not cheap, and schools will be wary of funding them unless the nuclear push is solid enough, he said. The electric utility industry appears serious, at least for the moment, about nurturing a new generation of nuclear engineers like Ms. Kemp. She received a chemical engineering degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 2002, and then went to the Navy's nuclear power school to get nuclear expertise. Todd Schneider, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, said the utility hired 130 nuclear engineers in 2006 and will hire 170 this year. "Our problem is we will have a lot of nuclear engineers retiring in the next five to 10 years," she said. FirstEnergy is running up against keen competition for nuclear professionals. Nuclear plant operators are in demand, at companies that plan to build such plants and at regulatory bodies that want the industry to expand. Some companies are offering candidates signing bonuses and permanent positions before they finish school, Mr. Schneider said. While schools like the University of Toledo, Ohio State University, and the University of Cincinnati ponder adding a nuclear engineering accreditation, organizers of Engineers Week hope activities this week will entice young people to look at careers in engineering. A big event will be Friday when 200 Girl Scouts will have an overnight activity at UT's College of Engineering, said Christine Smallman, chairman of the local week events. Locally, Frederick J. Tito, a partner with the JDI Group Inc. engineering and architectural firm in Holland, was named 2007 Engineer of the Year by the Toledo chapter of the Society of Professional Engineers. Other activities this week include an egg drop contest today, an Engineer for a Day event for high school tomorrow, a toothpick bridge competition Thursday, and a Rube Goldberg machine contest Friday. Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128. 2006 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 29 Rutland Herald: Yankee meeting to mull license Rutland Vermont News & Information February 20, 2007 By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau MONTPELIER Legislators from the towns surrounding Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant will meet with Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials next week to discuss the possible impact of extending the Vernon facility's operating license by another 20 years. NRC officials said the Feb. 27 meeting, which is open to the public, may focus on the environmental impact of Entergy Vermont Nuclear's proposal to continue operations at the facility beyond 2012, when the current license expires. But issues such as the possible safety implications of the extension and the temperature of water discharge may also be discussed. Neil Sheehan, a NRC spokesperson, said the agency will be sending a staff of about 10 to discuss Yankee's proposed license extension with legislators in Montpelier as the five-member body that oversees the federal agency considers the request. "We may be talking about issues broader than at the meeting in Brattleboro," Sheehan said, referring to the Jan. 31 NRC hearing on a draft commission report that endorsed the license extension. "They may want to discuss the draft environmental impact statement, but there could also be other issues on the table." Rep. David Deen, D-Westminster, who asked the NRC to hold the meeting, said he hasn't yet read the environmental report, a more-than-400-page document released in December 2006 that found that any potential impact on 20 more years of Yankee does not outweigh the benefit of the energy production. "I'm still waiting to get a copy," he said. "They say it's in the mail. I can't wait to see it." But Deen, a river steward with the Connecticut River Watershed Council, said he will also ask about the impact the extension could have on the river and its wildlife. Yankee discharges warmer water into the Connecticut River after using it to cool down steam created in the energy generation. Deen said he is concerned that the warmer water could harm or kill fish in the river. "They are already operating under an expired permit," said Deen, referring to an environmental court decision last August that lowered the temperature of Yankee's discharge to levels that were approved in a 2001 permit. The 540-megawatt reactor in Vernon supplies more than 30 percent of the state's energy needs, but its federal license to operate, and the low electricity rates negotiated with the state, expire in 2012. The state's agreement with Hydro-Quebec, which supplies another 30 percent of the state's energy, expires four years later. Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, a Democrat whose hometown of Putney is within the 10-mile emergency planning zone surrounding the plant, said the state needs to begin planning now for the end of the contracts. No matter what happens, electricity rates will probably increase, he said. "We've enjoyed rates much lower than other New England states for many years," Shumlin said. "But we have an uncertain future ahead of us." Vermont has been insulated from the nationwide energy price increases, driven mostly by the increase in price for natural gas, because of the longstanding rate agreements, according to Peter Bradford, who worked for the NRC more than 20 years ago and now lives in Peru. He agreed that electricity rates in Vermont will change no matter the outcome of Yankee's request. "Some renewables and maybe Hydro-Quebec might hedge it a bit," Bradford said. "But with or without Yankee, the rates will change." Sheehan said the session with legislators was first scheduled in the days after the hearings in Brattleboro last month, which featured local activists arguing against the extension and industry officials, including Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore, speaking in support of the measure. But that Montpelier session was cancelled over concerns that there was not enough public notice, Sheehan said. The meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in the fourth floor conference room at the Pavilion Building in Montpelier. Contact Daniel Barlow at daniel.barlow@rutlandherald.com. 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 30 FR: NRC: Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.; Doc E7-2804 [Federal Register: February 20, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 33)] [Notices] [Page 7776-7778] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20fe07-25] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 50-293] Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating License, Proposed No Significant Hazards; Consideration Determination, and Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. DPR-35 issued to Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (the licensee) for operation of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim), located in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The proposed amendment would revise Limiting Condition for Operation (LCO) 3.14.A to adopt the Technical Specification Task Force- 484, Revision 0, ``Use of Technical Specification 3.10.1 for Scram Time Testing Activities.'' Before issuance of the proposed license amendment, the Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations. The Commission has made a proposed determination that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. Under the Commission's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 50.92, this means that operation of the facility in accordance with the proposed amendment would not (1) involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated; (2) create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated; or (3) involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. As required by 10 CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented below: Criterion 1--The Proposed Change Does Not Involve a Significant Increase in the Probability or Consequences of an Accident Previously Evaluated Technical Specifications currently allow for operation at greater than [200][deg]F while imposing MODE 4 requirements in addition to the secondary containment requirements required to be met. Extending the activities that can apply this allowance will not adversely impact the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated. [[Page 7777]] Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated. Criterion 2--The Proposed Change Does Not Create the Possibility of a New or Different Kind of Accident From Any Previously Evaluated Technical Specifications currently allow for operation at greater than [200][deg]F while imposing MODE 4 requirements in addition to the secondary containment requirements required to be met. No new operational conditions beyond those currently allowed by LCO 3.10.1 are introduced. The changes do not involve a physical alteration of the plant (i.e., no new or different type of equipment will be installed) or a change in the methods governing normal plant operation. In addition, the changes do not impose any new or different requirements or eliminate any existing requirements. The changes do not alter assumptions made in the safety analysis. The proposed changes are consistent with the safety analysis assumptions and current plant operating practice. Therefore, the proposed change does not create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated. Criterion 3--The Proposed Change Does Not Involve a Significant Reduction in a Margin of Safety Technical Specifications currently allow for operation at greater than [200][deg]F while imposing MODE 4 requirements in addition to the secondary containment requirements required to be met. Extending the activities that can apply this allowance will not adversely impact any margin of safety. Allowing completion of inspections and testing and supporting completion of scram time testing initiated in conjunction with an inservice leak or hydrostatic test prior to power operation results in enhanced safe operations by eliminating unnecessary maneuvers to control reactor temperature and pressure. Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 50.92(c) are satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to determine that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice will be considered in making any final determination. Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this notice. The Commission may issue the license amendment before expiration of the 60- day period provided that its final determination is that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may issue the amendment prior to the expiration of the 30- day comment period should circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example, in derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the Commission take action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will take place after issuance. The Commission expects that the need to take this action will occur very infrequently. Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. Written comments may also be delivered to NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to intervene is discussed below. Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to issuance of the amendment to the subject facility operating license and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly-available records will be accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/. If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is filed by the above date, the Commission or a presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order. As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the following general requirements: (1) The name, address and telephone number of the requestor or petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the proceeding on the requester/petitioner's interest. The petition must also identify the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The petitioner/requestor must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven, would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner/requestor who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party. Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to [[Page 7778]] participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. If a hearing is requested, the Commission will make a final determination on the issue of no significant hazards consideration. The final determination will serve to decide when the hearing is held. If the final determination is that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration, the Commission may issue the amendment and make it immediately effective, notwithstanding the request for a hearing. Any hearing held would take place after issuance of the amendment. If the final determination is that the amendment request involves a significant hazards consideration, any hearing held would take place before the issuance of any amendment. Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) E-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, verification number is (301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to Travis C. McCullough, Assistant General Counsel, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., 400 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601, attorney for the licensee. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated December 27, 2006, which is available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, File Public Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly-available records will be accessible from the ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e- mail to pdr@nrc.gov. For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 8th day of February 2007. James Kim, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch I-1, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E7-2804 Filed 2-16-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 31 SPT: Opinion: Paying in advance cuts the cost of nuclear plant ST Petersburg Times Published February 20, 2007 Pay me now, and then pay me later Feb. 15, Howard Troxler column Howard Troxler's column Thursday misses the mark about a rule the Florida Public Service Commission approved last week that encourages the development of clean, safe and economical nuclear energy. The PSC rule, which carries out a 2006 act signed by Gov. Jeb Bush that the Florida Legislature passed 158-1, lowers the overall costs of a nuclear power plant to customers by several billion dollars and sets up direct regulatory oversight throughout plant construction. When nuclear plants were last built three decades ago, there were delays and cost overruns in part because of an uncertain licensing process. Under traditional ratemaking, customers wound up paying for not only capital costs, but also interest compounded over the life of these plants after commencing commercial operation. The resulting price shock was significant. The Florida Legislature showed great foresight with its solutions in the Florida Renewable Energy Technologies and Energy Efficiency Act. A utility is allowed to recover prudent preconstruction and interest costs during the construction period. Paying these costs in advance significantly lowers the long-term financing costs. The overall cost of the plant decreases, minimizing the price customers pay over its operating lifetime. Paying the balance on your credit card each month is smarter than letting compound interest work against you. The act further protects customers from potential cost overruns by requiring the utility to prove in annual public hearings the prudence of plant costs. Given the significant costs to build a nuclear power plant - current estimates are at least $3-billion - this new process makes sense for the utility and its customers. At Progress Energy Florida, we are committed to providing affordable energy that will meet the increasing demands of our customers. Nuclear energy provides significant benefits over fossil fuels in terms of stable fuel costs, minimizing environmental impact (zero greenhouse gas emissions) and lessening dependence on foreign fuel sources. Nuclear energy is our nation's most economical fuel, which can deliver the reliable power we all demand 24 hours a day. Learn more about the future of energy in Florida at www.progress-energy.com/aboutenergy/poweringthe future_florida/ Jeff Lyash, president and CEO, Progress Energy Florida, St. Petersburg Start over to solve property tax problem The property tax dilemma and all the suggested resolutions will never make everyone happy. Having residents living next to each other and paying grossly unequal taxes (some as much as five times that of their neighbor) is unfair. I understand the 3 percent cap and how it came to be, but its time has expired. Doubling the homestead exemption sounds like a big deal. However, while it will help the neighbor with the higher tax bill, it will also lower the tax bill of the neighbor with the lower tax bill, and the large inequity will continue. The only fair way (and this will bring a lot of criticism from those who have been riding the 3 percent cap for many years) is to complete a general reassessment of each and every property in each county. It is done every 10 years in upstate New York and no one is jumping off the bridges. Why should those who have moved recently, either locally or into the county, be penalized? A 3 percent cap seemed like a reasonable amount 20 years ago, but who would have expected that the increased assessments (based on recent selling prices) would have such a profound effect on the tax situation? Residents who have been in the 3 percent tax cap plan for many years are not paying their fair share for the increases associated with operating the schools, cities, counties, etc. All of those costs have increased dramatically - much more than 3 percent annually - in the past five years, and the difference between the 3 percent plan and the new cost to operate all the taxing authorities is borne unfairly by the recent home buyers. Perhaps a lawsuit is in order to eliminate the discriminatory 3 percent cap plan, and periodically tax everyone fairly according to the present value of their property. After all, isn't that what "property taxes" are all about? Mitch Kanaan, St. Petersburg Learn to say no Why is so hard to say no when it comes to spending the taxpayers' dollars? It came out of my parents mouths frequently when I was growing up: "No, you cannot be out later than 10 p.m." "No, you cannot have three pieces of cake." You get the picture. Why is it then that the city of St. Petersburg has a tough time when groups of concerned citizens ask for fiscal restraint on the new budget? The truth of it is they do not want to hear of reduced spending when their coffers are full with so much of your hard- earned money from property taxes. It must be so hard to spend that much in such a short span, but spend it they do. Their beginning recommendations include putting in yet another dog park. Come on, council, listen to what's going on. People are losing their homes, they are being driven out of the state by out-of-control spending and taxes. Here is a really scary proposal for the council. When deliberations begin in earnest for the 2008 budget, I say we take the 2007 budget set it at zero and start rolling it back to 2006 levels. Now that would be a big change in the right direction. David Simpson, St. Petersburg Services cost money Forum: To fix tax pain, cut spending Feb. 16, story At Thursday's legislative hearing on taxes, Linda Hayward expressed a popular sentiment when she said, "The real problem is local governments have become incredibly greedy ..." But local governments spend our tax dollars in response to our demands for better roads, better schools, better police and fire protection, etc. In fact, when we aren't complaining about taxes, we complain about how government isn't responding to our needs. We want the government to cut spending in order to cut taxes - without cutting services, of course. But we live in a state short of teachers and classrooms, while the turnover in caseworkers leaves Florida's foster children in jeopardy. And as for the university and justice systems ... Meanwhile, local governments have to keep up with the growth we refuse to regulate by building the infrastructure growth requires - and new construction costs money beyond inflation and population increase. We are getting what we pay for, and if we insist on paying even less, then even less is exactly what we'll get. Gregory McColm, Temple Terrace Don't trust Congress U.S. needs disaster fund Feb. 10, commentary The last thing we need is to give any more money to our government to mismanage and misspend. One needs only to look at the Ponzi scheme called Social Security to become convinced we need to keep all the money we can out of the government's hands. A memo by David John ("Misleading the Public: How the Social Security Trust Fund Really Works," the Heritage Foundation) details the fact that there is no money, only IOUs in the trust fund. If we give Washington money for a disaster fund, Congress will do the same thing it did with our Social Security contributions - spend them on bridges to nowhere and retirement homes for chimpanzees. Do not trust Congress with your hard- earned money. Patrick W. Brown, Tampa [Last modified February 20, 2007, 01:18:07] 2007 ? All Rights Reserved ? St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South ? St. Petersburg, FL 33701 ? 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy | Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright ***************************************************************** 32 World Nuclear News: Policy draft backs nuclear 20 February 2007 The final draft of amendments to Japan's basic energy plan is under discussion. It reaffirms the country's commitment to nuclear fuel recycling and the use of advanced reactors in decades to come. The document was reportedly distributed at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's research panel today. The cabinet will discuss the issues before approving a final text. Under the updated basic plan, Japan would continue to rely on nuclear-generated electricity while engaging more actively in diplomacy to ensure supplies of uranium and fossil fuel. Japan imports about 80% of its energy resources, using them to fuel the world's second-biggest economy. In addition to continuing support for nuclear, policies would encourage more the use of renewable energies like solar, biomass and the blending of ethonal in vehicle fuels. Fuel cell research would be promoted, in parallel with Japanese nuclear reasearch aims to produce hydrogen using heat from very high temperature nuclear reactors. Japan currently has 55 nuclear power reactors in operation, which provide 47,700 MWe for the country, 30% of supply. The near-future commercial operation of JNFL's Rokkasho reprocessing plant and the forthcoming mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel fabrication plant will allow Japan to recycle 32,000 tonnes of nuclear fuel to about 2050 while expanding its nuclear fleet to provide 40% of supply without a corresponding increas uranium imports. Approval has been given for five reactors to employ MOX fuel. Japanese officials expect to see 18 reactors fuelled with MOX by 2011. In August 2006, then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi signed an agreement with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to substantially increase the uranium supply to Japan to 2000 tonnes, about 25% of demand. Japan also buys about 25% of Australia's uranium output. ***************************************************************** 33 Spectrum: Iron County opposes Divine Strake www.thespectrum.com - The Spectrum, St. George, UT Tuesday, February 20, 2007 By MEG CADY mcady@thespectrum.com CEDAR CITY The Iron County Commission released its official opinion opposing Divine Strake this week. Commissioners wanted to mirror Washington County and come out with an official stance on the controversial, non-nuclear test. Commissioner Alma Adams said he believes the federal government hasn't provided sufficient evidence the test poses no threat to residents. "We're concerned, of course, with every person in Iron County," Adams said. Commissioner Lois Bulloch said commissioners wanted to add their opinion to the other public opinion surrounding the test and join with Washington County's stance. "We decided we wanted to support our neighbors to the south because we were as affected as them (in previous tests)," Bulloch said. For more on this story, see Wednesday's print editions of The Spectrum & Daily News. Originally published February 20, 2007 Print this article Email this Copyright 2007 The Spectrum. ***************************************************************** 34 Salt Lake Tribune: Veto this bill Public Forum Letter Article Last Updated: 02/19/2007 06:40:59 PM MST The public is looking to Gov. Jon Huntsman to do the job our legislators want not to do. SB155 removes the public oversight of storing nuclear waste. Please call the governor at 538-1000 and let him know that we need him to be our voice. In other states where this industry exists it is highly regulated. This bill takes even the elected officials in Tooele County, where EnergySolutions actually stores the waste, out of the process. If that were not enough our legislators give EnergySolutions their blessing to be a monopoly by specifying that this law only applies to companies in existence before December 2006, essentially removing all competition for EnergySolutions. The public wants to believe that our elected officials look out for our best interests, but SB155 shows us that nuclear waste disposal is too hot a potato for them. We look to Gov. Huntsman to veto this bill. Julie Easton Gregersen Salt Lake City © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 35 Spectrum: The results of Divine Strake are already known www.thespectrum.com -The Spectrum, St. George, UT Tuesday, February 20, 2007 There is no need for testing to see if the government's plan to explode a 700 ton fertilizer-fuel oil "bunker buster" bomb will do the expected job. It has already been done - and with terrifying results. We can all look back to 1993 to those horrifyingly vivid TV images of the "fertilizer-fuel oil" explosives used in the World Trade Center bombing. That was accomplished with a vehicle loaded with an ammonium nitrate-fuel oil bomb. Can we forget the images we've seen of the Oklahoma City disaster where a truck loaded with the same type of materials exploded and literally tore the face off the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995? The explosion killed 169 people including 19 children who were in a daycare center on the second floor. It was first estimated that the truck contained 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of the fertilizer explosive, but because of the massive damage and destruction it caused, federal investigators upped their assessment to a 4,800 pound bomb. The explosion not only ripped the complete front of the building off the structure, but one-third of the building partly collapsed into a crater that measured 30-feet wide and 8-feet deep. Now our government wants to explode a fertilizer-fuel oil bomb that weighs 700 tons? Seven hundred tons is equal to 1.4 million pounds. This equates to 292 times the explosive power of the Oklahoma City blast. Can anyone conceive of the synergistic effect if this bomb were to be exploded? How many acre-feet of radioactive dirt and dust would be blown into the jet stream high enough to be carried to the East Coast and beyond? We have all read about the volcanic explosion on the island of Krakatoa in 1883. The sound was heard in Australia, about 2,000 miles away. The ash was propelled to a height of 50 miles. Approximately 36,000 people were killed. Enough ash floated back down to fill a 100-foot deep basin around the island. Volcanic ash was found to have fallen in every country in the world. The year following the explosion, average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius. Temperatures did not return to normal for five years. Concussive air waves traveled seven times around the world. Think again of how exploding a 1.4 million pound bomb will affect us all. Is this how we want the government to protect us? Rudy Foresta is a former volunteer teacher from University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a licensed stationary engineer. He resides in St. George. Originally published February 20, 2007 Print this article Email this Copyright 2007 The Spectrum. ***************************************************************** 36 GlobalResearch.ca: Depleted Uranium: Pernicious Killer Keeps on Killing Centre for Research on Globalization by Dr. Craig Etchison Global Research, February 20, 2007 Truthout - 2007-02-19 I live a few miles from an ATK (Alliant Tech) plant that produces depleted uranium (DU) tank shells for the military. Tank shells destroy and kill, and they, along with all military hardware, are a constant reminder of our failure as a civilization. But DU weapons and tank shells are only two of many items that raise questions that even our violence prone society needs to address. Since shortly after Gulf War I, soldiers and civilians have been questioning the safety of these weapons which are made of radioactive material. The more questions raised, the more the military-industrial complex has hauled out studies showing the safety of DU munitions. One CEO called DU the "skim milk" of uranium in an article penned for my local paper. An Air Force officer is even stalking the internet, trying to intimidate anyone who suggests DU is anything but benign. Yet the numbers suggested that something insidious happens when DU munitions are used. How to explain the exploding rates of cancer, birth defects, and radiation poisoning among Iraqis in the Basra region? How to explain a Department of Veterans Affairs study of 21,000 veterans of the Gulf War that found rates of birth defects were twice as great for male vets and three times as great for female vets who served in the Gulf War compared to vets who did not? How to explain a Washington Post report in January of 2006 that 518,00 of the 580,000 Gulf War veterans were on disability, over half on permanent disability. How to explain over 13,000 dead Gulf War veterans when only 250 were killed and 7,000 injured in the war itself? Finally, through the work of internationally recognized research scientist, Dr. Rosalie Bertell, we may have an answer to these questions. The answer has to do with using an analytical methodology appropriate to low level radiation, as opposed to inappropriate methodologies used to date that show DU is harmless, and, equally important, understanding that DU has both a radiological component as well as a heavy metal component, and the two in combination are far more toxic than either is singly. What is DU and Why Is It a Problem? Depleted Uranium (DU) is the waste left after the isotope uranium-235 (used for bombs and nuclear reactors) has been removed. DU (mostly U-238) makes up the largest amount of radioactive waste other than uranium mining waste worldwide and has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. In the United States, DU can only be handled by persons trained in radiation safety procedures. DU must also be isolated from the environment. Much of the scientific evaluation of uranium oxide has come from analysis of uranium mining and milling, but this ignores a major fact-that battlefield uranium oxide is very different from uranium oxide produced at normal temperatures. When a DU shell hits a hardened target, it bursts into flame and creates an invisible metal fume, often called an aerosol. (Tests carried out eight to ten years after Gulf War I found that the DU aerosol from the battlefield had been carried to Basra and Baghdad, though no fighting occurred in those areas.) Aerosolizing DU involves temperatures between 3,000 and 6,000 degrees centigrade, which turn the oxide into a nano-sized ceramic particle that is insoluble in body fluids. If these nano particles are inhaled, they provide contact radiation and a source of heavy metal poisoning. These high temperatures will also aerosolize other heavy metals in the area such as steel, nickel, aluminum, and iron, which can be inhaled. Nano-sized uranium oxide [along with other metals] is roughly the size of a virus [scientifically: nanometer-sized], invisible, able to penetrate the lung-blood barrier and can be carried throughout the body. Nano particles can reach sensitive targets, including the lymph nodes, spleen, heart, and access to the central nervous system. Uranium-238 is an alpha particle emitter. The range of these alpha particles is only about six cells; therefore, it is highly localized. Because DU has less radioactivity than natural uranium, many consider DU to be low-level radiation and not harmful to people. But research does not bear this view out. Assessing the Effects of DU A major problem with most DU assessment is that many effects of alpha radiation on cell structure, including DNA proteins that release biochemical signals and important cell metabolic enzymes, are ignored by nuclear physicists who use dose estimates based on uranium dust in mines, a completely inappropriate approach for a battlefield aerosol. Many medical professionals believe the protein problem is responsible for various neurodegenerative diseases evidenced by Gulf War veterans. As Dr. Bertell writes, "Heavy metal exposure (including uranium) can cause loss of cellular immunity, autoimmune diseases, joint disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, and diseases of the kidneys, circulatory system, and nervous system.... Decline in functional mitochondria is most damaging to the heart, kidney, brain, liver, and skeletal muscle, in that order." Loss of cellular immunity opens an organism up to viral, bacterial, and mycoplasmal invasions connected to a variety of diseases. Equally important, scientists have found that tiny amounts of DU too small to be toxic and only mildly radioactive seem to reinforce each other in terms of causing cancers and risk to offspring. The Armed Forces Radiobiological Research Institute has even admitted that DU can cause cancer. Humans are normally exposed to about 1.9 micrograms of uranium a day in food and water, with between one and two percent absorbed. The rest is passed in feces. Humans screen natural uranium quite effectively. But our screening system won't eliminate nano particles that are ceramic and enter through the lungs. These particles won't dissolve and won't lose their radioactivity. International Condemnation The special investigator of the UN Sub-Committee on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has declared DU munitions illegal under existing humanitarian law. DU weapons also produce a toxic metal fume that violates the Geneva Protocol on the Use of Gas in War, which the US signed in 1975. Why Ignore the Evidence? We have enough evidence to suggest with considerable certainty that DU munitions break the four basic laws and customs that govern modern weapons use: that the weapon is confined to the battlefield, that it does not kill after a battle is over, that it doesn't cause inhumane suffering, and that it doesn't have a negative effect on the natural environment. We certainly have enough evidence to stop using these weapons until further research by independent scientists has been done. And yet we continue to produce, sell, and use DU munitions. How can this be justified? Perhaps looking at the paradigm of Agent Orange gives insight. Our government ignored veterans affected by Agent Orange for thirty years before admitting Agent Orange was, in fact, the cause of many physical problems endured by Vietnam veterans. By then, the most seriously affected veterans were dead. The government incurred a far smaller financial liability than if the government had owned up to the problems earlier. If the government ever admitted what it has done in Iraq-between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of DU ordnance expended according to most estimates-the financial consequences, not to mention the moral outrage engendered, is almost beyond imagination. Cleaning up the DU blanketing Iraq would entail enormous costs. And in a few years, soldiers who have served in the current debacle-many with two or three tours-are going to start coming down with the same diseases that have struck Gulf War I veterans. Some who got good doses of DU have already seen their lives ruined by multiple physical problems. We must also consider the real possibility of Iraq as an uninhabitable wasteland, with the residue of the DU aerosol blowing in the wind and flowing in the waters to adjacent lands, a residue with a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Is this outlook too bleak? Dr. Jawad Al-Ali, director of the Oncology Center at the largest hospital in Basra said the following in 2003. "Two strange phenomena have come about in Basra which I have never seen before. The first is double and triple cancers in one patient.... We have 58 families here with more than one person affected by cancer.... My wife has nine members of her family with cancer." He went on to point out that these were families with no history of cancer. After Gulf War I, the United Kingdom's Atomic Energy Authority estimated that DU contamination could kill half a million Iraqis. Conclusions I suspect the military-industrial complex will stonewall admitting the effects of DU for as long as possible to avoid accepting responsibility, not to mention liability, for their reckless actions. When John Hanchette, a founding editor of USA Today tried to publish stories about DU, he received a phone call from the Pentagon asking him to desist. He was later replaced at USA Today. The World Health Organization's chief expert on radiation and health had his report on DU suppressed. Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then a colonel in the U.S. Army, was asked to lie about the risks of DU to humans. So the stonewalling will continue, even as cancers rage among our soldiers and Iraqi civilians, even as our soldiers die, or commit suicide to escape the horrific pain, even as birth defects proliferate across Iraq and among our veterans. But what of that? DU is a moneymaker for corporations like ATK. And turning DU into munitions helps the government solve a big problem-what to do with mountains of DU it must store and, by law, keep out of the environment. What better solution than giving it free to the munitions makers, who then sell the munitions back to Uncle Sam at a handsome profit? Everyone wins. Unless we continue to fight for the truth, and to cry out for justice, our soldiers and Iraqi civilians will suffer and die in increasing numbers. Estimates of how many may die in Iraq are truly staggering - up to 11% of Iraq's 27 million population. This is a massive crime against humanity that remains in the shadows. Much of this article is based on the work of Dr. Rosalie Bertell. See her article, "Depleted Uranium: All the Questions About DU and Gulf War Syndrome Are Not Yet Answered," in the International Journal of Health Services, Volume 36, Number 3, pages 503-520, 2006. E-mail requests for a summary of Dr. Bertell's article can be sent to cetchison@allegany.edu. Dr. Craig Etchison, Ph.D, is from the Center for Nonviolent Alternatives, Fort Ashby, West Virginia. Global Research Articles by Craig Etchison Copyright 2005-2007 GlobalResearch.ca ***************************************************************** 37 Seattle PI: Death by radiation gets a new look for the 21st Century Post-Intellegencer Japanese ship hopes for help from someone other than Greenpeace's Esperanza Blog index Greenpeacers not having a whale of a time watching disabled ship When I read of a new international warning symbol for radioactive material, my first thought was: "What does this mean for Washington's glowingly-radioactive Hanford Nuclear Reservation? A new line item in the budget for a few hundred grand for label upgrades? Will someone run around with a giant spool of new red-and-black stickers, pasting over the old yellow signage?" New radiation warning symbol The International Atomic Energy Agency and International Organization for Standardization announced the new warning label Thursday, a way-more literal depiction of the threat of death by radiation than the classic three cornered trefoil, which was developed in 1946 at the University of California Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. (Trefoil is also my favorite new word, though I haven't quite figured out how to incorporate it into everyday conversation.) Explaining the new symbol, the IAEA stated in a press release: Radiation tag from Berkeley It will serve as a supplementary warning to the trefoil, which has no intuitive meaning and little recognition beyond those educated in its significance... The new symbol is aimed at alerting anyone, anywhere to the potential dangers of being close to a large source of ionizing radiation, the result of a five-year project conducted in 11 countries around the world. The symbol was tested with different population groups - mixed ages, varying educational backgrounds, male and female - to ensure that its message of "danger - stay away" was crystal clear and understood by all. Posted by Lisa Stiffler at February 19, 2007 6:30 p.m. Post-Intelligencer"]www.seattlepi.com[/link] -- Creates a link to Lisa Stiffler: P-I environmental reporter Robert McClure: P-I environmental reporter 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com 1996-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer ***************************************************************** 38 Politico.com: Nevada's New Political Wattage Alters Balance in Yucca Nuclear Fight By: Jean Chemnick February 19, 2007 07:11 PM EST Mining engineer Gene Polorny walks out the front entrance tunnel at the Yucca Mountain Project at the Nevada Test Site on May 9, 2000. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File) If the U.S. Department of Energy has its way, radioactive waste wouldn't be the only thing dumped at Yucca Mountain; the infamous swath of desert in southern Nevada would be a money pit as well, according to a report released this month by the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Depositing radioactive debris deep beneath the surface would cost more than leaving the waste in dry casks near nuclear plants, as the waste is stored now. In fact, the report's authors contended, keeping the site closed for another 200 years would save taxpayers $24.1 billion. The report is the latest of hundreds of studies and about 20 lawsuits that the state agency has filed in the last 25 years to poke holes in DOE's plan to permanently store 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects is part of the governor's office and essentially lobbies for the state against the project. Former Gov. Richard Bryan, a Democrat who served during the years Yucca was being selected, said that about 80 percent of Nevadans oppose it. Changes in Nevada's political clout and its congressional delegation's commitment to the issue have helped block Yucca over the years, Bryan said. In 1987, when Yucca was singled out as the sole site to be studied for a high-level nuclear repository, the state had a congressional delegation of four. In contrast, Washington and Texas, which also had sites on the final list, had big delegations and even bigger players: Tom Foley, D-Wash., the House majority leader at the time, and Jim Wright, D-Texas, the House speaker. Times have changed. Nevada has three House members and stands to gain one other seat after 2010. More important, it has Harry Reid, the new Senate majority leader. He has said he will block any pro-Yucca legislation. The state's new early Democratic presidential caucus also doesn't hurt its cause. Candidates -- especially Democrats -- who have campaigned in Nevada have always had to pass the Yucca test. Now with the state's new role in choosing the Democratic nominee, no Democrat can afford to be pro-Yucca. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack have stated their total or conditional opposition to the project. Their Democratic rivals, all of whom are slated to visit Carson City this month, for Wednesday's Democratic candidate forum or individually, will find it difficult to do well in the state without taking a similar position. Robert Loux, the executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, argues that the project's problems are partly due to DOE's mishandling of the assessment process. A Government Accountability Office report released last month revived a two-year old scandal over the possible falsification of data by the U.S. Geological Survey, a contractor for DOE on the project. Loux said DOE realized in the mid-1990s that Yucca Mountain rock was not uniquely suited to isolate waste, as its scientists had once believed, and began to focus its study on how to make the chosen site work. He said DOE's solution -- metal containers -- would isolate the waste for perhaps 500 years. DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said that between the metal casks and the mountain rock, studies of the site show that the waste would be isolated for several hundred thousand years. The Environmental Protection Agency has set a million-year standard, requiring proof that the waste would not harm humans in that time. Stevens agreed that the Yucca Mountain project will have to meet that standard before it can be licensed, a judgment that resides with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. DOE plans to submit its application by June 2008. Loux said that President Bush's budget request for the project reflects declining interest in it; Bush has requested $495 million in fiscal 2008, down from $544.5 million for fiscal 2007. However, Stevens said that the project's major expenses -- the exhaustive studies of the site -- are largely complete. The budget request is adequate for the licensing process, he said, which will cost less money. TM & The Politico & Politico.com, a division of Allbritton ***************************************************************** 39 Las Vegas SUN: Just how clueless do we have to be here? Photo: John Edwards Today: February 20, 2007 at 7:4:29 PST Edwards patient with Vegas press corps By Michael J. Mishak Las Vegas Sun John Edwards was dumbfounded. The Democratic presidential aspirant had just finished a speech Saturday in Las Vegas and, with a throng of local reporters blocking his exit, he took a few questions. "Why is Nevada receiving all this attention from presidential candidates?" a KVBC Channel 3 television reporter asked. A puzzled Edwards gave a look that said: "It's the caucus, stupid." He explained that presidential candidates were coming to Nevada to try to win votes. The Democratic National Committee had changed the schedule of the Nevada caucus, which state and national media have been reporting for six months. Moreover, the reporter's own station had aired a preview of the weekend's political events the previous night, including the reason for the early visits. Next came a pair of questions about health care and Iraq, two areas the former senator covered extensively in the 40-minute speech he had just delivered to about 250 people at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 357 union hall. Then came this question: "Can you talk about energy?" It deserved a simple "yes," but Edwards, with the look of a patient father, talked about America's addiction to oil. The Nevada Democratic caucus is 11 months away. Voters are only starting to understand the candidates and the issues. But judging from Edwards' appearance Saturday, maybe this much is already clear: Nevada needs a better press corps. After he answered the energy question, Edwards' campaign insisted (mercifully?) that the candidate had time for just one last question. What about Yucca Mountain, a reporter asked. Where did the senator stand on the proposed nuclear waste repository? Nice save. Edwards said he opposes it. The government, he said, should look at alternatives. Michael J. Mishak can be reached at 259-2347 or at michael.mishak@lasvegassun.com. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 SF New Mexican: It's Nevada or nada Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:39 pm News: The Richardson File, Politics Governor Bill Richardson announced the Tesla Motor Assembly facility for Albuquerque at a press conference on Monday afternoon. The facility will bring in 400 new high wage jobs and total capital investment of 35 million dollars. Construction on the 150,000 sqare foot pant will begin April 2007. On the left, Elon Musk, Tesla Chairman. When Gov. Bill Richardson goes to Carson City, Nev., this week for the first Democratic presidential forum, he'll be going to an early primary state where his campaign rhetoric of "Western values" might resonate with voters. In fact, many say it's the early primary state in which Richardson's message on Western issues like water, environment, federal land, immigration and gun rights will have to sink in if he has any serious hope about becoming the party's nominee. "I believe it's an important state for me, and I have to do well there," Richardson told reporters at a news conference Monday. He was referring to the Nevada Democratic Caucus, which is scheduled between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary in January 2008. One Nevada political science professor put it even stronger. "If he can't win here, he won't win anywhere," said David Damore of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in a telephone interview last week. Wednesday's forum is sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The moderator is George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton administration spokesman who now works for ABC News. Nevada is a relatively conservative state, especially at the presidential level. Since Lyndon Johnson's landslide of 1964, the state has cast its electoral votes for only one Democrat -- Michael Dukakis in 1988. But sometimes Nevada elects Democrats to state and federal offices, such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Republicans elected a governor last year and control the state senate. However, Democrats are in power in the assembly. It's a state with apparent political contradictions. But it has a strong libertarian streak. For instance, Nevada is the first state with legalized gambling and the only state that allows prostitution in some counties. However, as Damore pointed out, in recent years, Nevada adopted a constitutional amendment prohibiting same sex marriage. The Mormon Church is a strong presence in the state. And Mormons tend to be Republicans, though Sen. Reid belongs to the church. There's also an anti-government streak, Damore noted. It's a state in which 85 percent of the land belongs to the federal government, a sparsely populated state in which 70 percent of the population lives in one city, Las Vegas. But the state is growing so rapidly that politics is in a constant state of flux. It was the fastest growing state in the U.S. for 19 years until Arizona edged it out for that distinction last year. There are two major forces in the Nevada Democratic Party, according to political columnist Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun: Harry Reid and the Culinary Workers Union. "The union represents the service workers in the casinos," Ralston said. Democrats in Nevada tend to be urban blue-collar voters, he added. "The unions are the Democratic Party," Damore said. "They're even relying on the unions to put the caucus on." The stronghold of Nevada Democrats is Las Vegas, Damore said. Republicans are the majority in small towns and rural areas, especially in the northern part of the state. "But the Democrats have horrible voter turnout. Republicans here are much better in getting out the vote." That's especially true of the Hispanic population, which makes up nearly 25 percent of the state's population and is heavily Democratic. "The Hispanic population is growing rapidly, but it's a big challenge getting them to the polls," said state Senate minority leader Dina Titus, who was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate last year. Damore said Democratic candidates should have a good record on the environment, "but you don't want to be seen as too much of an environmentalist. The heart of the economy here is growth." Titus said to appeal to Nevada Democrats, presidential candidates should favor "federal sensitivity to state's rights issues, such as wilderness issues and regulatory issues. I know that sounds kind of conservative." Ralston said the issue of guns isn't huge in the state. Many Democrats, including Titus, support gun rights, he noted. This of course would work in the favor of Richardson, who last year was endorsed for re-election by the National Rifle Association. At Monday's news conference. Richardson told reporters he is leading in a poll on a Web site called Nevada Today. Indeed the news site's online poll Monday showed Richardson with a commanding lead of 39 percent. In second place was Hillary Clinton with 17 percent. However, only 268 people had participated in that nonscientific poll. Scientific polls, such as the American Research Group, which polled Nevada voters in December, show the governor near the bottom of the pack with single-digit support. But Titus, Damore and Ralston say despite his present low poll standing, Richardson, as a Western governor, has a good shot in the Silver State. Damore said currently Richardson and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards have the most visible organizations in the state. "Though when (Hillary) Clinton and (Barak) Obama come in with all their money for televisions ads, it may be a different story," he said. Titus said Richardson will be helped by the fact the head of his Nevada campaign is Reynolds Martinez, a former chief of staff for Reid. Richardson's trip to Nevada this week is his second since he announced his candidacy last month. He also made several appearances there last year, mainly to campaign for Titus in the gubernatorial contest. Among the worst blunders a presidential candidate in Nevada, especially a Democrat, could commit would be to declare a desire to put nuclear waste in the Yucca Mountain facility, Titus said. The controversy over storing spent nuclear fuel in the facility, which is about 100 miles from Las Vegas, was a major issue in the 2004 presidential race, which raised Democrats' hopes for carrying the state. The issue has calmed down in the past two years, most observers say, especially since Reid became majority leader. "It's an issue that ebbs and flows," Titus said. But despite his popularity with environmentalists in this state, Richardson, who served as energy secretary under President Clinton, could be hurt by Yucca Mountain. "No energy secretary has been overly popular in Nevada," Ralston said. "He's got a history with Yucca Mountain. No secretary of energy has done anything to slow it down." Reno Gazette-Journal political writer Anjeanette Damon said in a September blog post that when Richardson was energy secretary, he had a "rocky relationship" with Nevada because of Yucca Mountain. "Under his tenure as head of the Department of Energy, the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain progressed past several milestones," Damon wrote. "While he was secretary, Richardson approved the $3.1 billion contract with Bechtel for work on the project, and the DOE issued a controversial report validating Yucca Mountain's suitability for the project." But Damon also wrote that Richardson as a congressman had a solid record voting against the project. During his DOE tenure, he "demanded an inspector general's investigation when questions arose over whether the DOE's scientific study was designed to sell the project to Congress," Damon wrote. Richardson also backed Clinton's veto of a bill that would have approved Yucca Mountain as the temporary nuclear waste storage site. As a presidential candidate, Richardson has said he's opposed to Yucca Mountain. Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. POLITICS IN NEVADA Capital: Carson City Population: 2,495,529 (as of July 1, 2006) Congressional seats: three (two Republicans, one Democrat) U.S. senators: Harry Reid (Democrat), John Ensign (Republican) Governor: Jim Gibbons (Republican) Legislature: Republicans control state Senate, Democrats control state Assembly Nevada Democratic Caucus: Jan. 19, 2008 Registered voters (as of November 2006): 990,815 Registered voters in Clark County (home of Las Vegas): 647,811 Registered Democrats: 396,022 Registered Republicans: 403,020 Registered "nonpartisans": 144,600 Registered Libertarians: 6,088 Registered Greens: 2,762 Registered American Independent Party (started in 1968 by Alabama Gov. George Wallace, now affiliated with the Conservative Constitution party): 34,458 Last presidential race in which Nevada voted for a Democrat: 1988 (Michael Dukakis) Next to the last presidential race in which Nevada voted for a Democrat: 1964 (Lyndon B. Johnson) Source for voter statistics: Nevada Secretary of State Web Site, http://www.sos.state.nv.us/nvelection/voter_reg/2006/1006ncd.htm Privacy Policy / Terms of Use | 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican, all ***************************************************************** 41 Salt Lake Tribune: Legislative sellout Public Forum Letter Article Last Updated: 02/19/2007 06:41:02 PM MST The Utah Legislature has given away its oversight on EnergySolutions and made it easier for the company to dump more radioactive waste in Utah. When Gov. Jon Huntsman vetoed a bill last year that would have made it easier for EnergySolutions to double in size, the company got creative and decided to build the waste pile up eight stories high. And this year EnergySolutions has pushed a bill allowing them to do it without legislative or gubernatorial approval. During the elections my representative, Karen Morgan, asked me for a quote stating she had been helpful on radioactive waste issues to send to her constituents. But it didn't take her long to switch sides and vote to give away legislative oversight of EnergySolutions. Now it is up to the governor to stand up for the citizens of Utah and veto SB155. If Gov. Huntsman allows this bill to pass we might as well fly the EnergySolutions banner over the Capitol. We will have become a real company state. This bill really denotes who has the power in Utah. The sad reality is that passing SB155 didn't cost EnergySolutions anything close to the naming rights to the Jazz Arena. The Legislature is willing to sell its oversight on the cheap. Claire Geddes Cottonwood Heights © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 42 Salt Lake Tribune: EnergySolutions Capitol Public Forum Letter Article Last Updated: 02/19/2007 06:41:00 PM MST Welcome to the EnergySolutions Arena! No, not the re-named Delta Center, but the State Capitol. EnergySolutions, formerly Envirocare, now owns the Legislature, which defied overwhelming public opinion and surrendered its control over nuclear waste policy to a handful of timid state bureaucrats who have a long and sordid history of allowing Envirocare, and now EnergySolutions, anything it wants. Unfortunately, they also ended the power of local elected leaders and the governor to curb the radioactive waste giant. Gov. Jon Huntsman must do the right thing again and veto this bill of sale, SB155, even if he risks an override by the EnergySolutions Lobbyslature. Nuclear waste should not be exempt from public control. Chip Ward Grantsville © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 43 FR: Staff Doc: Yucca Does Performance Objectivs Doc E7-2803 [Federal Register: February 20, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 33)] [Notices] [Page 7778-7779] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20fe07-26] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Notice of Availability of Draft Interim Staff Guidance Document Hlwrs-Isg-03, ``Preclosure Safety Analysis--Dose Performance Objectives and Radiation Protection Program'' AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Jon Chen, Project Manager, Project Management Branch B, Division of High-Level Waste Repository Safety, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Telephone: (301) 415- 5526; fax number: (301) 415-5399; e-mail: jcc2@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Yucca Mountain Review Plan (YMRP) (July 2003, NUREG-1804, Revision 2) provides guidance for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Division of High-Level Waste Repository Safety (HLWRS) staff to evaluate a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) license application for a geologic repository. NRC has prepared Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) to provide clarifications or refinements to the guidance provided in the YMRP. NRC is soliciting public comments on Draft HLWRS-ISG-03, which will be considered in the final version, or subsequent revisions, to HLWRS-ISG-03. II. Summary The purpose of this notice is to provide the public with an opportunity to review and comment on draft HLWRS-ISG-03, which is to supplement the YMRP, for the NRC staff review of consequence estimates for the preclosure safety analysis, and the associated radiation protection program that will be implemented by DOE during geologic repository operations area operations. This ISG revises Sections 2.1.1.5 and 2.1.1.8 of the YMRP. A sufficient description of the radiation protection program and adequate technical bases for consequence estimates are needed to demonstrate compliance with the performance objectives in Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 10, Part 63 (10 CFR Part 63), and radiation protection requirements of 10 CFR Part 20. III. Further Information The documents related to this action are available electronically at NRC's Electronic Reading Room, at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, a member of the public can access NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession number for the document related to this notice is provided in the following table. If an individual does not have access to ADAMS, or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room Reference (PDR) staff, at 1-800- 397-4209, or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail, at pdr@nrc.gov. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISG ADAMS accession number ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Draft HLWRS-ISG-03, ``Preclosure Safety Analysis--Dose ML070230090. Performance Objectives and Radiation Protection Program''. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [[Page 7779]] These documents may also be viewed electronically, on the public computers located at NRC's PDR, O-1F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents, for a fee. Comments and questions on draft HLWRS- ISG-03 should be directed to the NRC contact listed below by April 6, 2007. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. Contact: Sheena Whaley, Nuclear Engineer, Technical Review Directorate, High-Level Waste Repository Safety Division of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Comments can also be submitted by telephone, fax, or e-mail, which are as follows: telephone: (301) 415-7965; fax number: (301) 415-5399; or e-mail: saw2@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 9th day of February 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. N. King Stablein, Chief, Project Management Branch B, Division of High-Level Waste Repository Safety, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E7-2803 Filed 2-16-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 44 arizona daily star: Uranium level high in wells near GV | www.azstarnet.com ® By Erica Meltzer Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.20.2007 Uranium levels twice the legal limit have been found in groundwater monitoring wells at the Phelps Dodge Sierrita mine west of Green Valley. And three times the normal levels of some heavy metals have been found in the soil and groundwater at the adjacent Twin Buttes mine. Cadmium and thallium have been linked to kidney damage and liver problems, beryllium to intestinal lesions, selenium to circulation problems and hair loss, and chromium to skin problems. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which cited the contamination findings in a report released last month, is assessing the situation and deciding what action to take. State environmental officials said the contamination has not affected drinking water wells in the Green Valley area, where in 2005 two wells were closed because of sulfate contamination coming from the mine. However, water company officials said uranium levels were rising in at least one of the wells before it was closed, though the level still was below the maximum allowed levels. That report placed a high priority on addressing the situation, and recommended the EPA take the lead in an investigation with the state Department of Environmental Quality. Pima County officials said the contamination points to the troubled legacy of mining in Arizona. They're using the findings to build a case for prohibiting mineral exploration on public lands in Pima County. Phelps Dodge spokesman Ken Vaughn said the company is working with the EPA and ADEQ to assess the uranium plume. He said uranium occurs naturally in the area, and the contamination may not be from mining. "We're going to work with them to understand where this is coming from and why," he said. The federal and state limit for drinking water is 0.03 milligrams per liter. The most recent data from 2004 show one of three monitoring wells on the Sierrita site at just over the limit while a second is more than double the maximum. Three more monitoring wells between the mine and the Green Valley drinking water wells show much lower levels of uranium. But the level did rise in at least one Community Water Co. well that was shut down later because of sulfate contamination, not uranium. Phelps Dodge found the uranium during routine monitoring. EPA spokesman Mark Merchant said mining activity may have caused the groundwater contamination, and that it is a serious issue. "There is not an imminent danger, but that doesn't mean there's not a threat to human health and safety," he said. Merchant said the agency has options short of declaring the area a Superfund site and calling for an emergency response or a time-critical response. Those designations allow for much quicker remediation. ADEQ spokesman Cortland Coleman stressed that the contamination is contained on the mine site. Monitoring wells between the mine and drinking water wells would indicate if the plume was moving. "We would have an early indication if it started to migrate off-site, and the plume shouldn't move off-site," Coleman said. "So there's no danger to public health." The EPA said more than 25 drinking water wells serving 27,500 people lie within four miles of the Sierrita mine. The aquifers there feed into the Santa Cruz basin. It is not known if the rising uranium level in the Community Water Co. well is related to the uranium plume at the Sierrita mine. Phelps Dodge helped the water company build two replacement wells in areas not affected by the sulfate plume, one of which is on-line already. Sulfates are sulfur-based compounds that come from copper production. They are not considered hazardous but can cause diarrhea. Last year Phelps Dodge entered into an agreement with the state to contain the sulfate plume. While Coleman said the same process should also stop the spread of uranium contamination, Vaughn questioned that, saying the uranium plume is in a different location. Uranium was mined and processed at the Twin Buttes mine until 1985. That mine is now closed, but Phelps Dodge leases part of the processing facility there. Harold Metz, vice president of Twin Buttes Properties Inc., the site's owner since 2003, said no elevated uranium was found in testing at monitoring wells there. He said the company is working with the EPA and ADEQ. Community Water Co. President Arturo Gabaldon said he was unaware of the elevated uranium levels at the mine, and that he would bring up the issue to the citizens advisory group working with Phelps Dodge on the sulfate issue. Nancy Freeman, executive director of Groundwater Awareness League, an advocacy group, said the community needs to keep a close eye on uranium contamination. "It's something we should keep watching," she said. "There is no danger right now, but we have to be aware of it for the future." She would like Phelps Dodge to move more quickly to contain the sulfate plume, ensuring that other contaminants don't move off the mine site. County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said contamination from mine sites often is worse than predicted in environmental impact statements. And financial problems for mines mean a cleanup often falls on the taxpayers. That's why he's put forward a resolution asking the federal government to remove all public lands in Pima County from mineral exploration. The supervisors are set to vote on that resolution today. "All the mitigation in the past really hasn't worked," Huckelberry said. "When you think of the existing mines, there has been no real reclamation. The potential public-health problems were not foreseen." Jamie Sturgess, vice president of projects and environment for Augusta Resource Corp., which wants to operate a mine at Rosemont Ranch in the Coronado National Forest, said Rosemont will be a cleaner, greener mine than the ones Arizona has seen in the past. "Those types of issues support our approach of building a new mine only after completion of all the appropriate tests and the utilization of the environmental impact statement process," he said. "I don't think we would get approval if our plans weren't very stringent." The company plans to submit a revised plan of operations to the U.S. Forest Service within 90 days. If the Forest Service accepts the plan, then an environmental-impact statement process would begin. Freeman, who opposes mining at Rosemont, said she doubts Augusta could eliminate problems similar to those near Green Valley. "There's nothing they can do about waste metals," she said. "They dig them up, grind them up and release them into the air, soil and water." ● Contact Erica Meltzer at 807-7790 or emeltzer@azstarnet.com. the Arizona Daily Star Copyright © 2007 ***************************************************************** 45 Hanford News: B Reactor nominated as landmark This story was published Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 Annette Cary, Herald staff writer Workers arrested for drunkenness in the sprawling World War II camp that was thrown together in the desert to house up to 45,000 employees building Hanford's B Reactor typically were not charged with a crime. The nation could not afford to lose even one craftsman as it raced to produce plutonium for an atomic bomb. Instead, workers were held overnight in jail to ensure they were available the next day to continue building the world's first production-size nuclear reactor. That's one of the quirky facts dug up by historians researching Hanford's B Reactor to nominate it as a National Historic Landmark. About 2,500 buildings and sites nationwide have been named National Historic Landmarks because of what the National Park Service calls "exceptional value in illustrating the nation's heritage." Supporters of saving the reactor believe it belongs on that list of sites from Independence Hall in Philadelphia to the Columbia River Highway in Oregon. Only 3 percent of the properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places are designated National Historic Landmarks. "The B Reactor provides a tangible link to world-changing events of the final years of World War II and the initial years of the Cold War," says the recently submitted nomination. "The plutonium produced in the building fueled the first-ever atomic device and the weapon dropped on Nagasaki, which ended World War II. The reactor's design was the model for all U.S. reactors until 1952." If the nomination is approved, designation as a National Historic Landmark "adds another level of protection," said Stephanie Toothman, regional chief of cultural resource programs for the Park Service. Any proposed action that could affect the integrity of the reactor would first have to be discussed with her agency. Mid-Columbia supporters of the reactor are working to save it and open it to the public as a museum. If they're unsuccessful, the reactor would meet the same fate as that planned or already completed for eight other plutonium production reactors along the Columbia River at Hanford. It would be torn down to little more than its radioactive core and then sealed up in a process called "cocooning" to allow radiation to decay for 75 years before more cleanup plans are made. To be designated a National Historic Landmark, B Reactor must not only have national significance, but also must still maintain its historical integrity. That's of some concern because all the support buildings at B Reactor already have been removed. T Plant, which processed its irradiated fuel to remove plutonium, is still being used for other projects and major modifications are proposed for it. The question is whether B Reactor by itself is enough. "We think it is," Toothman said. The National Park Service, in collaboration with the Department of Energy and Mid-Columbia supporters of the reactor, developed the nomination. "The creation of plutonium at B Reactor was both an ending and a beginning," wrote the authors of the nomination, Michele Gerber, a Richland historian, and Brian Casserly, a University of Washington Ph.D. candidate. "It represented the first practical application of Manhattan scientists' research to a production-scale nuclear reactor and produced one of the weapons that helped end World War II," they wrote. "It also stood at the beginning of the Cold War." It was designed to be 500 million times more powerful than the first nuclear reactor to achieve a chain reaction at the University of Chicago just two years before B Reactor began operating. Scaling up from that and another experimental reactor to produce enough plutonium to make a bomb required a "radically different design with new reactor materials, cooling system, shielding and instrumentation to deal with the unprecedented radiation levels," the nomination says. But the reactor's historical importance goes beyond the scientific and technical. "It would become one of the largest construction projects of the wartime home front, reflecting the total mobilization of America's society and economy for the war effort," according to the nomination. Workers began arriving in the spring of 1943 and built to a peak work force of 45,000. Living conditions were difficult, with blistering summers and frequent dust storms, and the work was demanding. The huge cast iron base of the reactor had to be machined to within .003 inch. "The building conveys the extraordinary workmanship of only the most skilled workers specially recruited and vetted for exceptional expertise," the nomination says. After World War II, that technology helped shape the Cold War arms race. The rapidly created design remained the standard for all U.S. reactors until a new Savannah River, S.C., plant began operating in 1952. Five more reactors were built at Hanford based on B Reactor's design from 1947 to 1955, and it continued to produce plutonium until 1968. If the National Historic Landmark Subcommittee of the National Park System Advisory Board meets in April, the nomination is expected to be considered then. Based upon a recommendation of the board, the Secretary of the Interior will decide whether to designate B Reactor as a national landmark. The Department of Energy now has agreed to delay release of the reactor to a cleanup contractor until 2009. The National Park Service also is continuing a study of B Reactor as part of a larger look at preserving Manhattan Project sites across the nation that should be completed sometime between fall 2008 and spring 2009. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 46 Columbian.com: Lack of discipline blamed for spread of radioactivity at Hanford Serving Clark County, Washington Feb 20, 8:09 PM EST RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -- Lack of discipline and failure to follow established procedures have been blamed for the spread of radioactive material outside a work area at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The findings were announced last week following an Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department review of problems that developed Jan. 12 as workers were checking the last of four canisters of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, that were found in a burial area associated with two defunct reactors. "It was very much a failure of conduct of operations on many fronts," said Dennis Faulk, an EPA environmental scientist. After there were indications that tritium had gotten into a specialty work trailer, radiological control technicians entered without taking precautions, such as wearing protective clothing, and then tracked the tritium into their own work trailer, investigators found. The contamination was later cleaned up and officials have said no impact on worker health appears likely. Chuck Spencer, who became president of Washington Closure Hanford the next week, has promised to emphasize the need to improve safety and follow established procedures. Neil Brosee, who recently became deputy general manager of Washington Closure, which is cleaning up contaminated areas near old reactor sites along the Columbia River, told a committee of the Hanford Advisory Board last week that the tritium episode should have been avoided. "I am out to change performance," Brosee said. Tritium was made on the sprawling Eastern Washington complex, now the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, in a pilot project for use in developing nuclear weapons. The canisters were among 1,500 unearthed items that were categorized as anomalies by Washington Closure. The first three were empty and the fourth had open head valves, leading workers to the false conclusion that it also was not pressurized, and nitrogen was used to purge the canister, further adding to the impression that it contained no tritium, Brosee said. When they had trouble sampling the canister with approved procedures, however, they drilled a hole that allowed tritium to escape from the canister in the specialty trailer - and only when they injected the contents of a syringe that had been inserted into the hole with an air sampler did they realize the canister contained tritium, he said. Such drilling was barred under their work plan, which also required that the canister be kept out of the specialty trailer, and the workers also should have used a fume hood or taken other precautions with the air sampler, EPA officials found. Even worse, Faulk said, radiological control technicians entered the trailer to check for tritium without first donning protective clothing. The trailer also should have been posted as a radiological area, and a written procedure should have been developed before workers entered the trailer. 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may ©2006 Columbian.com. All Rights Reserved - ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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