*****************************************************************
04/19/07 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 15.92
*****************************************************************
   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 Le Nouvel Observateur: The Middle East's Dr. Strangeloves
2 Guardian Unlimited: McCain Jokes About Bombing Iran
3 Digital Chosunilbo: N.Korea's Bank Likely to Wind Up Business
4 YONHAP NEWS: Inter-Korean economic talks get off to shaky official s
5 US: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - The Militarization of Neuros
6 Xinhua: U.S. not to change laws over nuclear co-op with India
7 US: Reuters: N.Y. aims to lead nation in clean-energy policy
8 Reuters: Bush fears nuclear arms race in Middle East 
9 UPI: U.S., allies meet Russia for missile talks
10 UPI: Analysis: U.S. and Israel probe alliance
11 Hindustan Times: Nuclear tests not to hinder deal, says Burns
12 RIA Novosti: Ivanov accuses U.S. of meddling, defends Russia's recor
13 RIA Novosti: Russian govt. adopts power distribution scheme until 20
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
14 IPS-English CLIMATE CHANGE: Divisions Surface Over Nuclear Option
15 The Hindu: Nuke deal: US disappointed over pace of talks
16 Sydney Morning Herald: New reactor open for business - 
17 TheStar.com: Tory calls for more nuclear power plants
18 US: SanLuisObispo.com: State Assembly votes against allowing new nuc
19 US: Aiken Today: Nuclear industry may soon see revival
20 US: NRC: NRC Ranked Best Place to Work in the Federal Government
21 GAZETA.KZ: There should be no double standards and ambiguity in
22 Cream Media: PBMR safety report to be completed by August
23 US: Clarion-Ledger: Prospect of a new Miss. nuclear plant a compelli
24 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Cheap equals risk
25 CBC News: Ontario's Tories vow to power up more nuclear plants
26 Reuters: Middle East looks to nuclear to conserve oil, gas 
27 Reuters: Russia floats nuclear power plants for export 
28 Reuters: Two Koreas argue which comes first--rice or reactor 
29 UPI: Outside View: India spreads nuclear wings
30 US: LJWorld.com: Nuclear parts plant may be moved 
31 Kommersant Moscow: Russia's Nuclear Plants Malfunctioned 4 Times Pas
32 UPI: Russia to consolidate nuclear industry
33 UPI: India, U.S. nuclear deal on the rocks
34 AFP: US takes firm line in nuclear negotiations with India - 
35 UNIAN: Chernobyl death toll underestimated says Greenpeace
36 The Statesman: Nuclear energy must start now
37 AU ABC: Vic nuclear plebiscite knocked back. 
38 Hindustan Times: Great progress in 123 agreement talks - US- 
39 Canada: Financial Post: Manufactured power crisis
40 Sydney Morning Herald: PM opens Sydney's $400m nuclear reactor - 
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
41 US: Albuquerque Tribune: Stolen state trailer found after 2 weeks 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
42 BBC NEWS: Body parts removal helpline opens
43 US: newsjournalonline.com: Is radiation killing our troops?
44 GU: Scientists tested plutonium levels in organs of dead Sellafield 
45 Helsingin Sanomat: Radiation levels in thousands of Finnish bore wel
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
46 US: Times of India: Uranium thorn-
47 AFP: Nevada Official Calls for NRC to Address 'Critical Safety Issue
48 US: Aiken Today: A lot of positive feedback for GNEP
49 RGJ.com: Tribe derails Yucca plans
50 US: China Daily: Nation to build uranium reserve
51 US: UPI: China to build uranium reserves
52 SPIEGEL ONLINE: Popular Fears Trump Science: Europe's Nuclear Waste 
53 Whitehaven News: QC to probe testing of body parts at Sellafield
54 Whitehaven News: Daughter's anger over 'stolen' organs
55 US: Sydney Morning Herald: Garrett to vote no to uranium change - 
 
                           PEACE
 
56 Japan Times: Murdered mayor was key nuclear foe 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
57 Lab accused of falsifying data, affidavit shows
58 SF Nex Mexican: LANL director to testify on safety issues
59 Tri-City Herald: Feds say initiative would delay cleanup
60 Tri-City Herald: Ex-employee alleges water sample falsification
61 Hanford News: Feds say initiative would delay cleanup
62 Hanford News: Affidavit: Chemist accused lab of falsifying Hanford d
63 Hanford News: Document outlines ex-employee's allegations
64 KnoxNews: Guard situation in Oak Ridge similar, different than Pante
65 Ventura County Star: Editorial: Peace of mind at Rocketdyne 
66 lamonitor.com: Security strike included in hearing
67 NAS: Project: Technical Assessment of Environmental Programs at the 
68 Channel 4 KRNV.com: Nevada Nuke Czar Comes Out Against Energy Depart
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
 1 Le Nouvel Observateur: The Middle East's Dr. Strangeloves
 
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:39:50 -0700


<x-flowed>
The Middle East's Dr. Strangeloves

    By René Backmann and Vincent Jauvert
    Le Nouvel Observateur

    12 April 2007

    It's not Iran only.... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  
challenges the international community by announcing that his country  
has decided to launch industrial production of enriched uranium. But  
the Islamic Republic is not the only state in the region to enjoy a  
nuclear research program, or even to dream of the A-bomb. Turkey,  
Saudi Arabia and Egypt speculate....

    The first ultimatum was launched by the Saudi secret services  
head in person. It was last December 8 in Bahrain before a panel of  
astounded Western officials. If Iran has the atomic bomb, warned  
Prince Murqi, we, the region's "moderate countries," will also endow  
ourselves with nuclear weapons. One month later, a second warning of  
the same tenor and with new dread. This time it's the Egyptian  
president who speaks: "We will not stand by with our arms folded and  
watch nuclear weapons proliferate in the region," cautions the old  
Hosni Mubarak. In other words, we'll launch ourselves into the race,  
too.

    Credible threats or mere gesticulations? Must we believe in a  
nuclear dominoes scenario in the Middle East? If Tehran acquires the  
atomic bomb, will Iran's big neighbors - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and  
Turkey – also attempt to join the nuclear nations club? Do they have  
the means to achieve their more or less publicly stated ambitions?  
Several days before the Iranian president announced last Monday that  
his country was going to enrich uranium on an industrial scale, we  
questioned nuclear proliferations specialists in Washington, Paris  
and Ankara. From those conversations, it appears that: 1) certainly,  
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, worried about Iran's emergence and  
the weakness of America - an ally in whom they've hardly any  
confidence any more - have many reasons for wanting to acquire the  
bomb; 2) they are already more or less preparing for it; and 3) their  
previous (and secret) work in this domain could make it easier; but  
4) it's not necessarily the countries one thinks of first that are  
the most determined....

    The reasons to have the bomb? Let's listen to Suat Kiniklioglu  
who directs the Turkish branch of a prestigious American think tank,  
the German Marshall Fund. In his Ankara office, two steps away from  
the Parliament, this former fighter pilot, very well-introduced in  
Turkish leadership circles, declares: "It's simple: We don't want  
Iran to put us into the shade. Up until now, our two countries were  
roughly equally powerful: the same population, the same land mass,  
the same standard of living, the same army. We each were standard- 
bearers of a model for the Middle East - one religious, the other  
secular. But if Tehran has the bomb, that balance will be broken and  
we will be in an inferior position. The Iranians could meddle in our  
domestic policy, as they have already tried to do, to put our model  
into question. And their Syrian allies could relaunch the water war  
in which we opposed one another for decades. In short, we couldn't  
accept all of that. We will have to reestablish equilibrium in one  
way or another."

    And when we say to Suat Kiniklioglu that Turkey already enjoys  
NATO's nuclear umbrella, that 60 Alliance atomic bombs are ready for  
use at the Incirlik base to defend Turkey, the aviator shrugs his  
shoulders: "We don't really believe in either NATO or the American  
alliance. Remember 2003: Just before the invasion of Iraq, we asked  
the Atlantic Alliance to help us prepare for a possible attack from  
Saddam's army. Well, then NATO dragged its feet. As for the  
Americans, they demand that we fight terrorists in Afghanistan with  
them, but they don't want to help us get rid of the PKK [the Kurdish  
nationalist party]. So what do you want - now we trust ourselves  
only. That's why we have to have the bomb one day or another." And he  
adds: "Imagine what would have happened if we had had nuclear weapons  
in 1993. We would not have been afraid of the Russians and we would  
have supported our Azeri brothers in their war against the Armenians,  
Moscow's allies."

    Saudi Arabia's perspective is completely different, but the  
motives for getting the bomb are just as numerous - and even more  
urgent. "Unlike Turkey, the reigning family, the Saud, consider an  
Iranian bomb a threat to their own survival," says Robert Einhorn, a  
former high-ranking American diplomat just returned from a tour of  
the Middle East where he specifically studied the risks of nuclear  
proliferation. "Saudi Arabia is an immense country, very sparsely  
populated and poorly protected. Its army is notoriously incompetent  
and there are no longer any American troops there. An 'endowed' Iran  
could exercise extreme pressure on the royal family, demand  
guardianship of the Holy places, or claim the oil fields that are in  
a majority-Shiite region." And, like the Turks, the Saudis now doubt  
the trustworthiness of their American ally. Since 2001, Riyadh  
wonders whether the White House would start a nuclear cataclysm to  
defend the country that fifteen of the eighteen 9/11 terrorist s came  
from.

    As for Egypt, things there are more a matter of prestige. "Cairo  
does not feel militarily threatened by Tehran," explains George  
Perkovich, a specialist in nuclear questions at the Carnegie  
Foundation in Washington who is also just back from Egypt. "But the  
Egyptians consider themselves the Middle East's natural leaders, the  
region's indispensable nation. At a time when they feel dethroned by  
the Saudis on the international scene, a Persian bomb would cause  
them to lose their political leadership definitively."

    Several specialists assert that Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia  
are already trying to pull off what they call a "military nuclear  
option." Last year, the three countries made it known that they  
intended to buy civilian atomic power plants. With what objective?  
Officially, to confront a growing energy demand. "That's not untrue.  
But there is another, less innocent reason," explains Robert Einhorn.  
"They also, it seems, want to acquire civilian infrastructures that,  
if need be, could be used for military purposes." The Turkish geo- 
strategist Suat Kiniklioglu acknowledges it quite frankly: "Of course  
the power plants will be used by us that way. That's the thinking of  
the elite here in Ankara."

    Other experts assert that in a possible bomb race, Turks, Saudis  
and Egyptians could also benefit from their prior (and secret)  
experiments in the domain of nuclear military applications. Egypt  
threw itself into the adventure as early as 1960. For the Egyptian  
leader Nasser, it was then a question of countering Israel, which was  
in the process of building its own strike power - with France's  
assistance. Nasser bought a little reactor in the Soviet Union, sent  
his atomic engineers to Moscow and created two research centers. When  
the work did not advance quickly enough, he even tried to buy a ready- 
made atomic weapon from the Soviets and the Chinese - without success.

    His dream of an Arab bomb that would "balance" the Israeli  
arsenal collapsed after the Yom Kippur war in 1973. His successor,  
Anwar al-Sadat, opted for a radically different strategy: He bet on  
an alliance with Washington and on peace with the Hebrew state. He  
signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and abandoned the atomic  
weapons project. In exchange, Nixon got Prime Minister Golda Meir to  
keep Israel in nuclear ambiguity: So as not to provoke Egypt and the  
other Arab countries, the Israeli Army would not effect any tests and  
would never officially declare possession of the supreme weapon - an  
agreement that still holds today in spite of Ehud Olmert's blunder  
(see below).

    But, all the same, did the Egyptians totally renounce the bomb  
at that time? The Americans are skeptical. "On several occasions  
during the 1970s and 1980s, the White House pressured Cairo not to  
acquire any more nuclear power stations from fear they could serve as  
cover to a new nuclear program," explains George Perkovich. Doubts  
subsist to this day. Egypt still has two research reactors and 800  
atomic engineers who conduct studies in several specialized  
institutes. To what end? Solely for medicine, water desalinization or  
electricity generation, answer the authorities. "But in 2005,"  
recounts Thérèse Delpech (1), a researcher at CERI, "The  
International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) let it be known that  
Cairo had not declared certain sensitive nuclear activities to it,  
notably in connection with plutonium extraction." A simple oversight  
or the desire to camouflage forbidden research? The issue has not  
been decided.

    That's not all. "What were the exact connections between Cairo  
and Tripoli with respect to the Libyan nuclear program?" asks Thérèse  
Delpech. At the end of 2003, Colonel Kaddafi acknowledged having  
purchased centrifuges and the plans for an atomic bomb from the  
"father" of the Pakistani bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan. He ended up  
handing it all over to the Americans, in exchange for which Libya was  
crossed off the list of pariah countries. "But how can we imagine  
that Egypt, or at least the Egyptian secret services, had no  
knowledge of these exchanges with the Khan network that went on for  
over twenty years?" asks Thérèse Delpech. Some even think that Cairo,  
Tripoli's big brother, could have benefited from this traffic in one  
way or another.

    That would not, all the same, mean that Egypt had crossed the  
Rubicon and already worked actively (and secretly) to produce a  
weapon. Very few experts believe that. "Mubarak is not crazy, he just  
wants to show his public, which admires Ahmadinejad, that he also  
nourishes big ambitions for his country," explains Robert Einhorn.  
"But launching a real military program would cost him a fortune. And  
the Americans, who would fear that that strike ability could fall  
into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood one day, would do everything  
to prevent it. They would cut off all aid and have Egypt ostracized  
by all nations. Its regime would not survive." The only damper: "If,  
because of Ahmadinejad's threats, Israel were to decide to put aside  
nuclear ambiguity, the street would push Egyptian leaders to acquire  
the bomb. Would they succeed? In twenty years, perhaps."

    Robert Einhorn and his colleagues are more concerned about Saudi  
Arabia. Riyadh has a particularly worrying nuclear past. Many rumors  
are current in that regard. Facts have also been revealed. In 1988,  
the American administration, stunned, discovered that Riyadh had  
purchased several dozen Chinese CSS-2 missiles. Mobile, they were  
stocked on a base in the middle of the desert and managed by a  
Chinese team sent to stay (and which is still there). Now, these  
2,700-kilometer-range missiles are built to receive nuclear warheads.  
"The CSS-2s are very imprecise. They're only effective when they're  
armed with nuclear warheads," explains Bruno Tertrais of the  
Foundation for Strategic Research (2).

    Discovered, the Saudis denied any guilty intention and, to prove  
their good faith, signed the non-proliferation treaty in 1988. They  
have also allowed it to be understood that they do not maintain the  
missiles, which will soon become unusable. Only here's the thing:  
"According to recent satellite photographs," Bruno Tertrais explains,  
"the base has been modernized and enlarged. To what end? It's  
difficult to say because a large part of the installation is  
subterranean." That's not all. "Saudi Arabia financed a large share  
of Pakistan's nuclear program," explains Robert Einhorn. "In exchange  
for which, the Saudis would have acquired the right, if they deem it  
necessary, to draw from the Pakistani stock of bombs. I don't have  
proof, but, like the large majority of specialists, I am convinced  
that such an agreement exists."

    How would it be implemented? "Pakistan could act like the United  
States with certain NATO countries: install nuclear missiles on Saudi  
soil and guard them with its own troops," says Robert Einhorn. "You  
should know that there's already a Pakistani brigade in Saudi Arabia.  
Yes, right now. All they'd have to do is hand the nuclear missiles  
over to it and the trick would be accomplished. It would be entirely  
legal: The Saudis would not even be in infraction of the non- 
proliferation treaty." Has the decision already been made? "Who knows?"

    Turkey remains. It is less well-known, but Turkey has also  
already flirted with military nuclear use. All during the 1980s, the  
junta in power in Ankara also secretly helped Pakistan acquire the  
bomb by delivering sensitive materials. Alerted, the White House  
tried to interrupt the traffic. Washington sent over a hundred  
diplomatic missions to Ankara on the sly to convince the Turks to put  
an end to those dangerous liaisons - without success. Until Ronald  
Reagan got personally involved on June 27, 1988, during a  
particularly tense tête-à-tête with his Turkish homologue, General  
Kenan Evren. According to recently declassified documents (and  
revealed in the excellent book, "The Nuclear Tipping Point" (3)), the  
American president sermonized Evren and threatened him with  
reprisals. The Turkish president acknowledged the facts and agreed to  
end the nuclear trade.

    But the affair did not end there. Some suspect that, in exchange  
for its help in Islamabad, Ankara sent researchers to Pakistani  
military centers to learn how to make atomic weapons. However, this  
rumor - conveyed by the Turks' traditional enemies, the Greeks - has  
never been confirmed. But it has been preserved by the Pakistani  
defense minister who declared in a Turkish journal in 1989: "In spite  
of the constant efforts of the Christian world, the fraternal ties  
between Turkey and Pakistan have been tightened. It's as though we've  
become one." Those who can may understand.

    However that may be, does Turkey have the ability to produce a  
bomb today? The director of the Foreign Policy Institute of Ankara,  
Seyfi Tashan, believes so. "We have two research reactors, rich  
uranium mines, hundreds of scientists and the most developed  
scientific and industrial infrastructure in the Middle East," he  
says. "In fact, we lack only fissile material. You understand why,  
even though we are allies, members of NATO, the Americans have always  
prevented us from acquiring nuclear electric power stations. Every  
time an agreement was about to be concluded with a foreign company,  
Washington capsized the project at the last minute. I bet you they're  
going to try to do it again this time. But we won't let it happen."

    Has Ankara already taken the strategic decision to engage in the  
race for the bomb? "I hope not," says a Turkish specialist who  
preferred to remain anonymous. "Even if Iran has the bomb, that  
shouldn't serve as a pretext to acquire it also. First of all because  
we have other ways to dissuade Tehran from attacking us: NATO, our  
air force, the Turkmen minority in Iran.... And then, if we were to  
go down that path, the door to the European Union would be  
definitively closed to us. Then, other countries would decide to arm  
themselves, too. And finally, we would be less secure." Will he be  
heard?

    (1) Just published: "Le Grand Perturbateur. Réflexions sur la  
question iranienne" ["The Great Trouble-Maker. Reflections on the  
Iranian Question"], Grasset, 2007.

    (2) Bruno Tertrais has just written a very complete study  
entitled, "la Dissuasion nucléaire en 2030" ["Nuclear Deterrence in  
2030"], available at frstrategie.org.

    (3) Brookings University Press, 2004.



</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 2 Guardian Unlimited: McCain Jokes About Bombing Iran

 From the Associated Press

Thursday April 19, 2007 10:16 PM

By LIZ SIDOTI

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential contender John McCain, 
known for having a quirky sense of humor, joked about bombing 
Iran at a campaign appearance this week.

  In response to an audience question about military action 
against Iran, the Arizona senator briefly sang the chorus of the 
surf-rocker classic ``Barbara Ann.''

  ``That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran,'' he said 
in jest Wednesday, chuckling with the crowd. Then, he softly sang 
to the melody: ``Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ...'' The 
audience responded with more laughter.

 His quip was prompted by a man in the audience who asked: ``How 
many times do we have to prove that these people are blowing up 
people now, nevermind if they get a nuclear weapon, when do we 
send 'em an airmail message to Tehran?''

            The campaign stop was in Murrells Inlet, S.C.

  After his joke, McCain turned serious and said that he agrees 
with President Bush that the United States must protect Israel 
from Iran and work to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear 
weapons. McCain has long said the military option should not be 
taken off the table but that it should be used only as a last 
resort.

 The episode echoed President Reagan's 1984 quip at the height of 
the nuclear arms race when he said: ``My fellow Americans, I'm 
pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will 
outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.''

  Reagan was testing a microphone before his regular Saturday 
radio address.

                                 ^---

  WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat John Edwards is trying to get out of 
a hairy situation, reimbursing his presidential campaign $800 for 
two visits with a Beverly Hills stylist.

 Two $400 cuts by stylist Joseph Torrenueva, who told The 
Associated Press that the former North Carolina senator is a 
longtime client, showed up on Edwards' campaign spending reports 
filed this weekend. Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said it never 
should have been there.

  ``The bill was sent to the campaign. It was inadvertently 
paid,'' Schultz said. ``John Edwards will be reimbursing the 
campaign.''

 Edwards is also the subject of a popular YouTube spoof poking 
fun at his youthful good looks. The video shows the candidate 
combing his tresses to the dubbed-in tune of ``I Feel Pretty.''

   Federal Election Commission records show Edwards' campaign 
also spent $250 in services from Designworks Salon in Dubuque, 
Iowa, and $225 in services from the Pink Sapphire in Manchester, 
N.H.

 Schultz said those services were legitimate campaign 
expenditures to prepare Edwards for media appearances.

  Political candidates often have hair and makeup done before 
media appearances. Edwards rival Hillary Rodham Clinton got some 
attention last year when her campaign paid $2,500 for two 
hairstyling sessions that the campaign classified as media 
production expenses.

                                 ^---

 NEW YORK (AP) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, mentioned 
as a possible presidential candidate, gathered the city's 
wealthiest and most active political donors Thursday - and didn't 
ask for money.

   Instead, Bloomberg reminded his guests at the posh Four 
Seasons restaurant that before they give, they should make sure 
the candidate is on New York's side on a checklist of issues, 
including funds for ailing Ground Zero workers.

 The billionaire media mogul doesn't need the cash. He financed 
both his mayoral bids, spending $74 million to get elected and 
$85 million for another four years. He could easily pay for a 
presidential bid.

   Joining Bloomberg was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who 
is mulling a run for the Republican nomination, and former 
Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr.

 They participated in a brief panel discussion about New York's 
role in national politics during the presidential race - not only 
as a source of cash for the candidates, but in producing 
potential nominees - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and 
Republican Rudy Giuliani.

   ``I think that tells you something very profound about how 
this country's attitude has changed, about the degree to which 
this country embraces and accepts New York as a legitimate source 
of leadership,'' Gingrich said.

 Bloomberg joked about the buzz surrounding both of them, 
cracking at one point that Gingrich would make a ``great vice 
presidential candidate.''

 In what could be perceived as a jab at a potential political 
rival, Gingrich praised former mayor David Dinkins, Giuliani's 
predecessor, who was in the audience. Gingrich said the city's 
famous crime cleanup in the 1990s really began with the Democrat 
and Giuliani continued it.

   The city is already a leading contributor to the 2008 race. 
More than $2.3 million has flowed out of the 10021 zip code alone 
- which happens to be Bloomberg's swank Upper East Side 
neighborhood.

                                 ^---

 Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler in Washington and Sara 
Kugler in New York contributed to this report.

                                 ^---

        On the Web: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-zoPgv-nYg
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 3 Digital Chosunilbo: N.Korea's Bank Likely to Wind Up Business

Updated Apr.19,2007 13:01 KST

After epic wrangling to release North Korea¡¯s funds in the 
Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, the U.S. treasury¡¯s designation of 
the bank as a ¡°primary money laundering concern¡± went into 
effect on Wednesday after all. That makes it impossible for BDA 
to function as an international bank because it can no longer 
settle U.S. dollars and is reduced to transactions in the 
territory¡¯s pataca currency.

After a U.S. Treasury investigation concluded on March 18 that the
bank had been laundering North Korea¡¯s ill-gotten gains, BDA in
effect suspended foreign exchange buying and selling and all but
stopped fund management as well. BDA is also deprived of a means of
handling Hong Kong dollars and shares because HSBC, which settles
BDA's equity transactions, discontinued the service on April 13. As
a consequence, business sources in Macau say, BDA is will either go
into liquidation or sell.

The Macau Monetary Authority anticipates that the financial
sanctions will only affect BDA rather than the territory¡¯s entire
banking system. Banco Nacional Ultramarino, a Portuguese bank in
Macau, has recently made an offer for BDA, and some Chinese banks
are also said to be interested.

A BDA executive said BNU offered to buy the bank in a bid to expand
its business networks in Macao. ¡°But I understand the Chinese
government wishes to see one of its four major state-owned
commercial banks take over BDA,¡± he added. It remains to be seen if
that is an option since BDA's owner Stanley Au earlier said selling
the bank is ¡°inconceivable."

Meanwhile, North Korea has apparently not touched the unfrozen US$25
million. ¡°I believe no money had been taken away from the bank yet
because they cannot transfer the money out," Au told AP on Tuesday.
"There are no banks accepting the so-called black money. The only
thing they can do at the moment is to take the money in bank notes
out of the bank."

President Roh Moo-hyun on Wednesday referred to the BDA question in
a joint press conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Romano
Prodi. "The matter has been delayed because of technical barriers
that arose unexpectedly,¡± Roh said. ¡°But the problem is all but
resolved." All eyes are on North Korea and the question if it will
now shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon under the Feb. 13
denuclearization accord if and when the BDA question is solved,

(englishnews@chosun.com )

*****************************************************************
 4 YONHAP NEWS: Inter-Korean economic talks get off to shaky official start

 2007/04/19 21:37 KST

SEOUL, April 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Thursday called upon
North Korea to fulfill its promise to shut down its main nuclear
reactor at the earliest date possible, as talks on economic
cooperation got off to a rocky formal start, pool reports said.

In protest to the South's demand, the North's chief delegate left
the conference room, slamming the door shut behind him, only about
half an hour after the start of the negotiations, the reports said.

The two sides were able to discuss a range of economic issues,
including food aid, at a belated plenary session of the talks only
after the North withdrew preconditions for the formal opening.

But the session, which took place about eight hours later than
scheduled, did not go smoothly as Chu Dong-chan, chief of the North
Korean delegation, filed a protest against the South's call for the
North's quick implementation of a landmark agreement on its nuclear
dismantlement.

"Both sides delivered their position to each other during the
meeting. We have to be engaged in further discussion, but the
situation is not that good," Chin Dong-soo, chief of the South
Korean delegation, was quoted as saying by the reports from
Pyongyang, the venue of the talks.

The session was supposed to be held at 10 a.m., but failed to
materialize because the North abruptly demanded to exchange keynote
speech texts prior to the meeting.

The North also called for seeing a draft of a written agreement on
the South's provision of rice aid, as well as a draft of the joint
press statement to be issued at the end of the four-day meeting.

But the South rejected all of the requests, calling them
"unprecedented" and "unproductive."
Instead, they started the closed-door plenary session at 5:30 p.m.,
and the keynote speech texts were exchanged just before the session
in the same manner as in previous meetings, a South Korean delegate
was quoted as saying.

"The quick implementation of the Feb. 13 agreement is a shortcut to
draw firm international support for inter-Korean economic
cooperation," Vice Finance Minister Chin said in his keynote speech.

South Korea also proposed to conduct test runs of reconnected
cross-border railways sometime in May, according to the reports. The
two sides are scheduled to hold a series of negotiations ending
Saturday, the last day of the four-day meeting.

South Korea offered to use overland transportation to deliver goods
needed for economic cooperation in consideration of the high cost of
maritime transportation, a South Korean delegate said, asking to
remain anonymous.

The two Koreas are to address the North's request for 400,000 tons
of rice in the form of a loan. South Korea is likely to accept the
request unless the situation surrounding the North's nuclear reactor
shutdown gets worse.

Shortly after the North conducted missile tests in July, the South
suspended food and fertilizer aid. But fertilizer aid was resumed in
late March, a few weeks after the two sides agreed to repair their
strained ties.

The inter-Korean dialogue came just days after the communist nation
failed to meet a Saturday deadline to shut down and seal its nuclear
facilities under a six-nation agreement signed in Beijing in
February.

Last Friday, North Korea said it would take first steps toward
nuclear dismantlement as soon as it confirms the release of its
funds frozen in a Macau bank since September 2005.

Macau's financial authorities unblocked the North's US$25 million in
the Banco Delta Asia, but the deadline passed with no word from the
North on whether it has confirmed the release of the funds or when
it will start implementing the initial steps.

Under the Feb. 13 agreement, North Korea pledged to shut down its
main nuclear reactor and allow U.N. inspectors back into the country
within 60 days. In return, North Korea would receive aid equal to
50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from South Korea.

The U.S. promised to resolve the financial issue within 30 days, but
it failed to do so because of technical complications.

Meanwhile, during a luncheon meeting with South Korean delegates,
Chu flatly denied that North Korea is considering sending back the
USS Pueblo to the United States.

"Return? Why do we return such an important thing?" Chu said when
asked about press reports on the possible repatriation of the
warship.

The USS Pueblo, docked on the bank of the Taedong River in
Pyongyang, is used to stoke anti-American feeling among the North
Korean public. It was seized on an intelligence-gathering mission
off North Korea's east coast in 1968.

On Wednesday, U.S. Republican Sen. Wayne Allard introduced a
resolution demanding that North Korea return the Pueblo in exchange
for a Korean battle flag captured in the 19th century and now on
display at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland.

South and North Korea had already expressed their commitment to
carry out what they had already agreed upon at the latest
ministerial meeting held in March. The Koreas agreed to discuss food
aid and schedules for test runs of cross-border trains as part of
efforts to expand economic cooperation for the sake of joint
prosperity.

"Let's implement already agreed-upon issues, overcome barriers
bravely and advance grandly as united people," Kwon Ho-ung, chief
councilor of the North Korean cabinet, said in a welcoming speech
during the reception for the South Korean delegation Wednesday
evening.

In response, Chin stressed that the two sides should upgrade their
economic ties. "I expect that the meeting will actualize and develop
economic cooperation," he said.

The six-member South Korean delegation arrived in Pyongyang
Wednesday afternoon on a direct flight from Gimpo Airport. The
delegates attended a banquet hosted by Kwon, following a brief
meeting with their North Korean counterparts.

Also high on the agenda are test runs of the cross-border railways
in the first half of this year, and the implementation of an
economic accord in which South Korea was supposed to provide raw
materials in exchange for the North's natural resources.

North Korea abruptly called off scheduled test runs of the railways
in May under apparent pressure from its hard-line military. The
cancellation also led to the mothballing of the economic accord.
North Korea's subsequent missile and nuclear weapons tests further
clouded hopes of implementing the agreement.

The tracks, one line cutting across the western section of the
border and the other crossing through the eastern side, were
completed and set to undergo test runs. A set of parallel roads has
been in use since 2005 for South Koreans traveling to the North.

South Korea has repeatedly called on North Korea to provide a
security guarantee for the operation of the railways, but the North
has yet to respond on the issue.

The reconnection of the severed train lines was one of the tangible
inter-Korean rapprochement projects agreed upon following the
historic summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000.

In 2005, South Korea agreed to provide the North with $80 million
worth of raw materials to help it produce clothing, footwear and
soap starting in 2006. In return, the North was to provide the South
with minerals, such as zinc and magnesite, after mines were
developed with South Korean investments guaranteed by Pyongyang.

(END)
*****************************************************************
 5 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - The Militarization of Neuroscience
 
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 15:49:04 -0500 (CDT)


10 April 2007
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
www.thebulletin.org

The Militarization of Neuroscience

By 

Hugh Gusterson

We've seen this story before: The Pentagon takes an interest in a rapidly
changing area of scientific knowledge, and the world is forever changed. And
not for the better.

During World War II, the scientific field was atomic physics. Afraid that
the Nazis were working on an atomic bomb, the U.S. government mounted its
own crash project to get there first. The Manhattan Project was so secret
that Congress did not know what it was funding and Vice President Harry S.
Truman did not learn about it until FDR's death made him president. In this
situation of extreme secrecy, there was almost no ethical or political
debate about the Bomb before it was dropped on two cities by a bureaucratic
apparatus on autopilot.

Despite J. Robert Oppenheimer's objections, a few Manhattan Project
scientists organized a discussion on the implications of the "Gadget" for
civilization shortly before the bomb was tested. Another handful issued the
Franck Report, advising against dropping the bomb on cities without a prior
demonstration and warning of the dangers of an atomic arms race. Neither
initiative had any discernible effect. We ended up in a world where the
United States had two incinerated cities on its conscience, and its pursuit
of nuclear dominance created a world of nuclear overkill and mutually
assured destruction.

This time we have a chance to do better. The science in question now is not
physics, but neuroscience, and the question is whether we can control its
militarization.

According to Jonathan Moreno's fascinating and frightening new book, Mind
Wars: Brain Research and National Defense (Dana Press 2006), the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency has been funding research in the following
areas:

* Mind-machine interfaces ("neural prosthetics") that will enable pilots and
soldiers to control high-tech weapons by thought alone. 

* "Living robots" whose movements could be controlled via brain implants.
This technology has already been tested successfully on "roborats" and could
lead to animals remotely directed for mine clearance, or even to remotely
controlled soldiers. 

* "Cognitive feedback helmets" that allow remote monitoring of soldiers'
mental state. 

* MRI technologies ("brain fingerprinting") for use in interrogation or
airport screening for terrorists. Quite apart from questions about their
error rate, such technologies would raise the issue of whether involuntary
brain scans violate the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. 

* Pulse weapons or other neurodisruptors that play havoc with enemy
soldiers' thought processes. 

* "Neuroweapons" that use biological agents to excite the release of
neurotoxins. (The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention bans the
stockpiling of such weapons for offensive purposes, but not "defensive"
research into their mechanisms of action.) 

* New drugs that would enable soldiers to go without sleep for days, to
excise traumatic memories, to suppress fear, or to repress psychological
inhibitions against killing.

Moreno's book is important since there has been little discussion about the
ethical implications of such research, and the science is at an early enough
stage that it might yet be redirected in response to public discussion.

If left on autopilot, however, it's not hard to see where all of this will
lead. During the Cold War, misplaced fears of a missile gap and a mind
control gap excited an overbuilding of nuclear weapons and unethical LSD
experiments on involuntary human subjects. Similarly, we can anticipate
future fears of a "neuroweapons" gap, and these fears will justify a
headlong rush into research (quite likely to involve unethical human
experiments) that will only stimulate our enemies to follow suit.

The military and scientific leaders chartering neuroweapons research will
argue that the United States is a uniquely noble country that can be trusted
with such technologies, while other countries (except for a few allies)
cannot. They will also argue that these technologies will save lives and
that U.S. ingenuity will enable the United States to dominate other
countries in a neuroweapons race. When it is too late to turn back the
clock, they will profess amazement that other countries caught up so quickly
and that an initiative intended to ensure American dominance instead led to
a world where everyone is threatened by chemicalized soldiers and
roboterrorists straight out of Blade Runner.

Meanwhile, individual scientists will tell themselves that, if they don't do
the research, someone else will. Research funding will be sufficiently
dominated by military grant makers that it will cause some scientists to
choose between accepting military funding or giving up their chosen field of
research. And the very real dual-use potential of these new technologies
(the same brain implant can create a robosoldier or rehabilitate a
Parkinson's disease sufferer) will allow scientists to tell themselves that
they are "really" working on health technologies to improve the human lot,
and the funding just happens to come from the Pentagon.

Does it have to be this way? In spite of obvious problems controlling a
field of research that is much less capital-intensive and susceptible to
international verification regimes than nuclear weapons research, it is
possible that a sustained international conversation between
neuroscientists, ethicists, and security specialists could avert the
dystopian future sketched out above.

Unfortunately, however, Moreno (p.163) quotes Michael Moodie, a former
director of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, as saying,
"The attitudes of those working in the life sciences contrast sharply with
the nuclear community. Physicists since the beginning of the nuclear age,
including Albert Einstein, understood the dangers of atomic power, and the
need to participate actively in managing these risks. The life sciences
sectors lag in this regard. Many neglect thinking about the potential risks
of their work."

Time to start talking!

---

Hugh Gusterson is the author of Why America's Top Pundits Are Wrong:
Anthropologists Talk Back, People of the Bomb: Portraits of America's
Nuclear Complex, and Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the
Cold War, Gusterson studies the political culture of nuclear weapons
scientists and anti-nuclear activists in the United States and the former
Soviet Union. He teaches in the Culture Studies Program at George Mason
University.

======

http://www.thebulletin.org/columns/hugh-gusterson/20070410.html

======
*****************************************************************
 6 Xinhua: U.S. not to change laws over nuclear co-op with India

www.chinaview.cn 2007-04-20 05:52:06

    WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The United States said on
Thursday that it will not change its laws to allow India to keep the
right to resume nuclear weapons testing under a civilian nuclear
energy deal being negotiated by the two countries.

    "It's an issue that's covered by our law and ... in as much as
it is affected by, it bumps up against U.S. law, we're not going to
change our laws," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said
when asked about India's stance on nuclear testing.

    "We have conveyed to the Indian government that there are
certain issues that they might like to raise concerning issues that
are covered by our national laws, and those are issues we're not
going to go back and re-legislate," McCormack said.

    McCormack made the remarks a week after India had successfully
tested nuclear capable Agni III on April 12, which has a strike
range of 3,000 km.

    The United States and India reached an agreement in July 2006 to
give India unprecedented access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology
for its civilian power sector without requiring New Delhi to sign a
nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty as normally required by
U.S. law.

    Washington hailed the agreement as a presentation of a new
relationship between the United States and India following decades
of Cold War tensions.

    It was reported that in its negotiations with the United States,
India refused to commit formally to its voluntary unilateral
suspension on nuclear weapons testing and insisted to keep the right
to reprocess nuclear fuel. 


Editor: Mu Xuequan
*****************************************************************
 7 Reuters: N.Y. aims to lead nation in clean-energy policy

Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:13PM EDT

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer unveiled an
ambitious new energy policy on Thursday that aims to cut power
demand 15 percent by 2015 in what he says would be the most
aggressive state conservation plan in the country.

Only one state, Hawaii, has higher electricity prices than New York,
Spitzer said at a Crain's business breakfast, adding this expense
stunted economic growth and drove employers away.

The Democratic governor, who won election last November on a reform
ticket, also pledged to address another often-heard complaint from
the business community -- sky-high state and local taxes. New York
led the nation in this category in 2004, when its residents paid
$1,374 out of each $10,000 of income.

Though Republican lawmakers say Spitzer broke his vow not to raise
taxes when he proposed a new bottle deposit fee, he has never
agreed, and on Thursday he took his pledge further.

"There was not a tax increase -- nor will there be while I am
governor," Spitzer said, defending his $121 billion budget from
critics who say a nearly 9 percent hike was way too big.

Nor did the former attorney general see a need to soften his
"steamroller" style, though it riles state legislators.

"I'm not going to suddenly say 'Gee, I'm suddenly going to become a
laid-back, warm and fuzzy guy.'" Later, he added: "The public wants
nothing more than someone with the fortitude to stand up and do the
hard decisions that have to be made."  

Perhaps in keeping with this theme, his criticism of the current 
expansion of New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center 
could hardly have been more stinging. "It was not only 
suboptimal, it was really a horrendous design," Spitzer said, 
adding he hopes to unveil a new plan sometime this spring.

Businesses fear that the $1.7 billion expansion still gives them 
too little room for exhibits, let alone for unloading trucks. But 
Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose spokesman was not 
available, has resisted calls to fix these problems by expanding 
the midtown Manhattan center further.

Though Spitzer has proposed $295 million for renewable energy 
projects, his plan relies heavily on private investments in clean 
energy, wind, solar and hydropower. He hopes to spur new power 
plants by enacting a new environmentally sound law that will 
enable utilities to quickly clear the many regulatory hurdles 
they now face when they try to get new sites approved.

Stringent new efficiency standards for appliances -- from 
furnaces to boilers to walk-in freezers -- should help slash 
demand, as will pushing developers to use the most modern 
international standards for green buildings, he said.

However, the governor ruled out nuclear power, telling reporters: 
"There is simply no tolerance in New York State for additional 
nuclear plants."

Entergy Corp.'s Indian Point nuclear plant should be shut once 
alternatives are built, Spitzer added, explaining that its 
location just north of New York City makes it impossible to 
evacuate residents in the event of an accident.

"That is simply not a smart location for a nuclear power plant... 
We simply cannot turn it off until we have replacement power."

Saying he wished to break with former Republican Gov. George 
Pataki's policies, Spitzer added he would encourage utilities to 
sign long-term contracts. This should help them win private 
investors by strengthening their forecasts and cut their 
borrowing costs, Spitzer said.

In addition, he sees no need for public authorities to sell more 
tax-free bonds to fund the new plants.

 
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 8 Reuters: Bush fears nuclear arms race in Middle East 

Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:33PM EDT

TIPP CITY, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on
Thursday he was concerned that Iran's nuclear ambitions would
trigger an atomic arms race in the Middle East.

Bush expressed his concern after The New York Times reported on
Sunday that the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan,
among other Middle Eastern states, were seeking to develop nuclear
programs for electricity generation.

The Times said that while interest in nuclear energy was rising
globally, it was unusually strong in the Middle East and that the
U.S. government and private analysts said the rush of activity
appeared intended to counter the threat of a nuclear Iran.

Israel is believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal.

"I'm very worried about a nuclear arms race in the Middle East,"
Bush said in answer to a question from a member of the audience at
Tippecanoe High School after a speech about Iraq.

Iran says its uranium-enrichment program is for peaceful purposes
and denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon, as Washington
charges. Tehran is locked in a test of wills with the United States
and its allies over its program.

"Iran's a serious problem," Bush said. "This is a country we believe
wants to have a nuclear weapon, and to what end? They don't need a
nuclear weapon."

Bush warned that Iran was working against the fledgling democracy in
Iraq.  Continued...

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 9 UPI: U.S., allies meet Russia for missile talks

United Press International - International Intelligence - Briefing

Published: April 19, 2007 at 8:33 AM

BRUSSELS April 19 (UPI) -- U.S. plans to install a missile shield in
Eastern Europe have sparked tensions with Russia, with the two
powers meeting Thursday to discuss the issue.

In Brussels, the United States and its NATO allies will hold for the
first time talks with Russia to ease Moscow's fears over a U.S.
anti-missile system in Eastern Europe.

Washington plans to station bunker-protected rockets in Poland and a
radar unit in the Czech Republic by 2011-12, a move that has upset
Moscow and sparked diplomatic tensions in Europe.

Washington claims the missile shield is aimed at defending the
United States and its allies in Europe against nuclear attacks from
rogue states like Iran. Russia, however, sees the American missiles
as threats against its territory, and has accused Washington of
provoking a new Cold War-like arms race.

German Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung has in the past called on
Washington to engage in a dialogue with Russia to alleviate Moscow's
fears. Jung has also been in favor of including the system in a NATO
framework.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 10 UPI: Analysis: U.S. and Israel probe alliance

United Press International - International Intelligence - Analysis

Published: April 18, 2007 at 7:01 PM

By JOSHUA BRILLIANT UPI Israel Correspondent

TEL AVIV, Israel April 18 (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Minister Amir
Peretz Wednesday advocated preparations for "real steps" against
Iran's nuclear program, but U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
said, "The preferable course was to keep our focus on the diplomatic
initiative."

The issue was one of several topics the two officials discussed
shortly after Gates arrived in Israel on the third leg of his Middle
Eastern tour. He has already been to Egypt and Jordan. It was the
first time in almost eight years that a U.S. secretary of defense
visited Israel. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has come
frequently, but she focuses on attempts to advance the peace
process, while Gates is expected to focus on the threats in the
region and what to do if there is no peace.

Uzi Arad, director of the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the
Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and a former director of
intelligence at the Mossad, told United Press International the
visit has "dramatic significance."

On the regional, geo-political level, "We are in a dangerous
period." He expected also "a laundry list" of bilateral subjects
from cooperation in developing anti-missile missiles to joint
military maneuvers, closer ties between Israel and NATO, and
intelligence and money matters.

At a news conference at the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel
Aviv, Gates said they had reviewed security challenges in the region
and talked at length about Iran.

For Israel, a nuclear Iran is an existential threat. Peretz said
that 2007 "is a critical year for diplomatic efforts to halt the
Iranian program."

He called for "real steps to foil Iran's malicious and dangerous
intentions. The diplomatic channel is preferable and should be
exhausted, but other options cannot yet be ruled out."

However, Gates said diplomacy "seems to be working." He cited two
U.N. resolutions and the international community's united stance in
telling Iran what it needs to do with respect to its nuclear program.

"These things don't work overnight but it seems to me, clearly, the
preferable course (is) to keep our focus on the diplomatic
initiatives and particularly because of the united front of the
international community at this point," he added.

According to Arad, Gates' predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, never
visited Israel partly because he focused on Iraq, but there were
also tensions in Israel's relations with the Pentagon. U.S.
officials have been suspicious of Israel's ties with Communist
China. The United States forced Israel to cancel a
multimillion-dollar agreement to provide China with the Falcon
airborne system. The United States said that system could endanger
American pilots' lives while in that area. Later the Pentagon fumed
over Israeli moves to upgrade drones sold to China. Eventually the
Pentagon reportedly refused to deal with senior Defense Ministry
officials.

Most of those problems have been resolved and the visit signified "a
return to routine," Arad said.

At Wednesday's meeting Israel presented its military capabilities,
its needs and talked about cooperation, Peretz said. He did not
provide details, but at a workshop on ballistic missiles and rockets
held at Tel Aviv University on Tuesday, experts outlined threats for
which they must prepare.

The Arrow missile interceptor has been tested against lone missile
attacks but not against a barrage of ballistic missiles. The experts
expect the enemy to fire barrages in which only some of the warheads
would carry explosives or a nuclear weapon. The problem is how to
pick out and intercept the dangerous projectiles hurtling towards
Israel.

The Scuds that Iraq fired in the 1991 war disintegrated in the air
and tumbled around before hitting the ground. That is why none of
the Patriot missiles fired at them intercepted any, said Reuven
Pedatzur of the Strategic Dialogue Center at the Netanya College.
Israeli experts predicted its enemies would now try to develop
warheads that would purposely follow a meandering trajectory.

The workshop was open to the public, so the presentations were very
general and did not touch on Israel's plans. However, the defense
establishment is trying to develop means to intercept medium and
short-range rockets that the Arrow -- built for longer-range attacks
-- cannot stop.

During the Second Lebanon War Hezbollah fired some 4,000 Katyusha
rockets and paralyzed northern Israel. Palestinians have been firing
rockets that the head of Israel's anti-aircraft forces, Brig. Gen.
Daniel Miloh, said were produced by welding irrigation pipes. "When
there is one (such rocket) it's not terrible. When there are 10,000
they become a strategic threat," he said.

Developing interceptors, even for "flying pipes," is costly, and the
price of each missile interceptor would be much higher than the
price of the Qassam itself, experts said.

Since the United States funded much of the Arrow program and helped
develop a laser beam that was supposed to melt incoming rockets, it
seems a safe bet that Israel was hoping for U.S. aid in developing
the new systems as well.

"We examined joint projects," Peretz told reporters. The U.S.
Defense Department and Israel's Defense Ministry have reached "an
understanding on the answers we can produce" in order to cope with
the threats, he added.

Joint teams are expected to look into U.S. plans to sell precision
guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, and Peretz said he expected U.S.
help in preserving Israel's qualitative advantage over all the
threats in the Middle East.

Both countries have held also joint military exercises, and Miloh
said the cooperation with the U.S. army has been "exceptional."

Hundreds of U.S. soldiers took part in such exercises in Israel
using more advanced equipment than Israel has, and that helped
"interoperability" between the two forces, Miloh added.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 11 Hindustan Times: Nuclear tests not to hinder deal, says Burns

April 19, 2007

The US has said fuel assurances and the issue of nuclear testing
will not come in the way of the civilian nuclear deal with India,
which it hoped, would be implemented by this year end.

"There is no problem with fuel assurances. President (George W) Bush
provided assurances personally to the Prime Minister of India on the
provision of fuel. We had actually codified this - there is no
disagreement between India and the United States on fuel assurances
that I am aware of," Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Nicholas Burns said at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace.

On the issue of India's position on nuclear testing, he said, "We
have a right to our respective positions. I don't think this is
going to conflict with our ability to complete the 123 agreement."

On finalisation of the bilateral 123 agreement that is under
negotiation to operationalise the deal, Burns said, "The big issues
have been resolved and we have crossed the highest marks in these
negotiations... We have crossed the biggest issues and they have
been decided."

"We will complete the 123 Agreement. India will go on and for sure
complete the IAEA safeguards agreement and we will take that to the
Nuclear Suppliers' Group. We will be successful at the NSG. I am
certain,after having consulted with all the countries in the NSG.

"And the Congress... Will have one more chance to vote on a majority
basis. And we can do all that by the end of 2007... I think we can
and I don't think we are going to have a major problem doing that
but it does take time to get through the legal technicalities,
technical technicalities," Burns said.

Burns said after the meeting that that he has plans to travel to
India 'within the next thirty days' as a follow up to the recent
meetings that have been taking place in Washington.

Neither Menon nor Burns would put down a specific time frame for the
completion of the 123 Agreement. "The quicker the better" was the
response from both officials.

Terming the nuclear accord as the "symbolic centrepiece of the
bilateral engagement", Burns said it was the Bush administration's
priority to get the deal "done quickly".

"It seems to me that we have the understanding already. That was
done by the two leaders in July 2005 and March 2006. So our job now
is a technical job, actually expressing it in legal terms that is
never easy even if you have a basic understanding of what you are
doing. It is not our job now to try and renegotiate in the words
that we put into the 123," Menon said.

On whether India specific safeguard agreement that New Delhi will
have to sort out with the IAEA could be in violation of American
domestic laws, Menon said "the agreement is something that we would
discuss separately with the IAEA and we are going through that
process. We started that process. We hope to work it through.
Whether that is compatible with US laws is something that I cannot
answer."

"As far as I can see there is nothing in the basic understanding
between us that contravenes either Indian laws or US law... I think
it is really a test of ingenuity on how we actually express it, on
how efficient we are and how quickly we can do it."

*****************************************************************
 12 RIA Novosti: Ivanov accuses U.S. of meddling, defends Russia's record

15:39 | 19/ 04/ 2007
 
MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's first deputy PM has
accused the U.S. of meddling in Moscow's internal affairs, and has
defended Russian democracy against attempts by Washington to promote
President Bush's freedom agenda.

In an interview with The Financial Times, published Thursday, Sergei
Ivanov, one of the Russian government's most senior officials, also
defended Russia's democratic credentials and using emotional
language described the examples presented to the Russian people as
democratic success stories.

"When the State Department publicly says, 'We will disburse money to
NGOs,' this is clear interference in our internal affairs," Ivanov
said.

In a clear reference to the recent U.S. State Department report
"Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2006",
published last Thursday, which blasted democratic processes in
Russia and the current situation with NGOs and rights protection,
and was in turn severely criticized by the Russian Foreign Ministry,
Ivanov said the developed democracies had even more stringent rules
for foreign NGOs than Russia.

"Imagine if foreign capital financed any U.S. political party, or in
Britain, how this would be seen. You would say you don't like this.
And we don't like it either," he said.

When reminded about his article for The Wall Street Journal in which
the official responsible for economic diversification and
innovation, then the defense minister, described outside
interference as one of the chief threats to Russia last year, he
cited the latest spy row in which British Embassy official Marc Doe
was caught red handed communicating with an undercover agent.

"We caught them and showed the entire world what the embassy of Her
Majesty is up to," he said.

Ivanov sought to discourage the West from supporting movements
opposing the current regime.

"The economic and political situation in Russia today is very
stable. . . this will be money thrown into the wind. It will be
spent in vain. There will be no dividend," he said.

He declined to talk about the Litvinenko radioactive poisoning,
which seemed to add a whiff of Cold War cordite into the relations
between Russia and the West.

"I have nothing to add, apart from what I said before, that he was
never a carrier of secrets," he said.

Ivanov said the Russians want democracy as such but do not like it
being imposed from the outside.

"Democracy is best," he said.

However, the Russian official highlighted national and cultural
differences that shape democratic development, and denounced the
unilateralist policies evident on the international scene in recent
years. President Vladimir Putin's highly controversial speech at the
security conference in Munich, he said, was "saying aloud what many
had been whispering."

"It is naive to think that there will be Anglo-Saxon democracy in
China or in the Arab world."

"General principles should be the same everywhere. But you can't
rake everything in and. . . force everyone to have the same
democracy."

Ivanov defended Russia's democratic record and denounced current
methods used for promoting speedy democratization as self-defeating.

"Don't forget we have a very young democracy, it is only 15 years
old. You have been living with your democracy for centuries. You
can't just plant democracy like a potato."

He used an expletive to describe the current situation in countries
highlighted by the U.S., mainly by George W. Bush, as benchmarks of
democratization.

"When people see this total, excuse me for the rude word, bardak,
this total mess, [they] will say we don't need any democracy at all.
Appoint us a tsar, give us our wages and stop bothering us with your
democracy."

"Iraq and other beacons of democracy that we see around our borders,
like Georgia and Ukraine, only undermine [the concept of]
democracy," he said.

RIA Novosti
*****************************************************************
 13 RIA Novosti: Russian govt. adopts power distribution scheme until 2020

16:22 | 19/ 04/ 2007
 
MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian government has adopted
a general power distribution scheme until 2020, the deputy head of
the government staff said Thursday.

Mikhail Kopeikin said the general scheme envisaged increasing to a
maximum the share of nuclear power generation, hydro power energy,
and coal fired plants in the country's electric power system, while
decreasing the amount of gas fired power plants.

"We have taken it as a basis, and will now finalize it," Kopeikin
said.

Vyacheslav Kravchenko, director for structural and tariff policy at
the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry, said the share of nuclear
energy in the general electric power system would rise from 16% to
20%, coal fired power to 38%, while gas fuelled plants will be
reduced to 35% - 30%.

He said, as part of the plan, power generation facilities would be
built in European Russia, which also envisages the construction of
hydro and nuclear power plants in European Russia and Siberia. "Coal
fired plants should grow ten-fold by 2020, compared with 2006,"
Kravchenko said.

At a forum on Russia's fuel and energy in the 21st century early in
April Kravchenko said, investment in the power distribution scheme
would total $420 billion until 2020.

RIA Novosti
*****************************************************************
 14 IPS-English CLIMATE CHANGE: Divisions Surface Over Nuclear Option
 
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:48:29 -0700

 

Julio Godoy

BERLIN, Apr 19 (IPS) - Several governments are planning new investment in 
nuclear energy, ignoring opposition by
environmental scientists who say that nuclear power is not a solution to 
providing carbon-
free energy.

Emission of carbon through burning of fossil fuels is believed by leading 
scientists around
the world to lead to global warming, and consequently disruptive climate 
change.

IPS-English CLIMATE CHANGE: Divisions Surface Over Nuclear Option
 
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:48:29 -0700

 

Julio Godoy

BERLIN, Apr 19 (IPS) - Several governments are planning new investment in 
nuclear energy, ignoring opposition by
environmental scientists who say that nuclear power is not a solution to 
providing carbon-
free energy.

Emission of carbon through burning of fossil fuels is believed by leading 
scientists around
the world to lead to global warming, and consequently disruptive climate 
change.

But environmental scientists say nuclear energy is not an option because 
it is doomed by
insecure technology, diminishing uranium reserves, and greenhouse gas 
emissions
associated with the exploitation of such reserves. The greenhouse gases 
are principally
carbon dioxide and methane.

”Nuclear power cannot be considered an environmentally viable alternative 
in stopping
global warming and climate change,” Ottmar Edenhofer, head economist at 
the German
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research told IPS.

Edenhofer, who co-authored the fourth assessment by the Intergovernmental 
Panel on
Climate Change released in February, believes that eventually ”nuclear 
power will play a
minor role in the global energy agenda.”

As of now, 435 nuclear light water reactors (LWRs) are in operation 
worldwide, generating
17 percent of the world's electricity, he said. ”If we consider that 
electricity generation in
the coming three decades could double, some 400 new LWRs would be needed 
just to
maintain constant this nuclear power share.”

But only 28 new LWRs are under construction or planned worldwide, he said.

Edenhofer sys nuclear power could become an energy alternative only if 
fast breeder
reactors (FBRs) are put to massive use.

The theoretical advantage of FBRs is that they generate fuel by producing 
more fissile
material than they consume. This should improve efficiency and avoid the 
problem of
disposal of radioactive waste.

But the actual technology has so far prevented commercial use of FBRs. 
Practically all FBRs
tested around the world have been shut down, or work under constant alerts 
due to
repeated accidents or technical deficiencies.

The French Super Phenix power plant was intended to produce about 20 
percent more fuel
than it consumes. But the reactor never functioned commercially, and the 
French
government ordered its closure in 1998.

The reactor cost around 12 billion dollars, and never produced a watt of 
electricity. The
Japanese FBR Monju had a similar fate. After numerous accidents, it was 
closed in 1995.

”There is no consensus in the industrialised world to continue working on 
FBR technology,”
Edenhofer said.

Nuclear power can be phased out without losing electricity if enough 
investment is made
in renewable energy resources, such as the sun, water, wind, and 
geothermal power,
Edenhofer said.

”In 2030, such sources could represent up to 30 percent of the world's 
total electricity
output.”

At a meeting on climate change and environmental policy organised early 
March by the
German newspaper Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 14 distinguished 
German
environmental experts concluded that ”nuclear power reactors are not a 
help.”

Risky technology and disposal of dangerous radioactive waste are only two 
problems
nuclear power brings. What is less known is the greenhouse gas emissions 
arising from
nuclear production.

Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith, two physicists from the 
Netherlands and
the United States say carbon dioxide emissions that rise through 
extraction and
processing of uranium, used as combustible material in all nuclear 
reactors, also lead to
global warming.

In a paper 'Nuclear Power: the Energy Balance' published in 2005, and 
updated since, the
scientists say that exploitation of uranium reserves will lead to 
exhaustion of easily
accessible ores, and ultimately cause large carbon dioxide emissions.

”As rich (uranium) ores become exhausted (the) ratio of the emissions 
brought about by
the use of nuclear energy and that of a gas-burning plant of the same net 
(electrical)
capacity increases,” they say. That makes use of nuclear energy 
”unfavourable compared
to simply burning the (remaining) fossil fuels directly.”

Mines with a rich concentration of uranium and of easy access mean fewer 
emissions. But
inaccessible material demands higher energy input for extraction and 
preparation.

”In the long term the use of nuclear energy provides us with no solution” 
to the problem of
growing energy demands and the constraints imposed by global warming and 
climate
change, Storm van Leeuwen and Smith say.

But in France and Finland, in former Soviet bloc countries, and in 
emerging developing
countries like India and China, nuclear power continues to be considered 
an alternative.

The French government authorised a new nuclear reactor Apr. 12, to be 
built in
Flamanville on the Atlantic coast, some 300 km west of Paris. The reactor 
is expected to
go into production by 2012. The estimated cost of putting up the plant is 
4.3 billion
dollars.

Pierre Gadonneix, chief executive of the French monopoly electricity 
provider Electricité de
France said that the reactor ”will make a decisive contribution to France 
and Europe's
energy independence by providing safe, competitive electricity that does 
not generate
greenhouse gas emissions.”

But environmentalists say new technology can be faulty. A similar Finnish 
reactor on
Olkiluoto peninsula in the south-east of the country, under construction 
since 2005, has
been dubbed ”the French nuclear disaster” by locals, due to numerous 
problems, which
have delayed its completion.

The reactor is being built by the French state-owned nuclear giant AREVA, 
which is also to
build the new Flamanville reactor.

Activists from Greenpeace occupied the Olkiluoto site Apr. 4 to protest 
against the
dangers associated with the reactor.

”Since the beginning of the construction in mid-2005, problems have 
proliferated, leading
to a delay of one and a half years, in as much time of construction work,” 
Greenpeace
France said in a statement.

Frédéric Marillier, coordinator on nuclear matters at Greenpeace France, 
and who took part
in the demonstration in Olkiluoto, told IPS that ”in 2006 alone, at least 
700 violations of
quality and safety were documented at the Olkiluoto reactor. This project 
gives us French
people a foretaste of what waits for us with the construction at 
Flamanville.” (END/IPS/EU/
WD/EN/KP/JG/SS/07) 


 
= 04191244 ORP008
NNNN


*****************************************************************
 15 The Hindu: Nuke deal: US disappointed over pace of talks

Thursday, April 19, 2007 : 1355 Hrs

Washington, April 19 (PTI): The United States has expressed
disappointment over the pace and seriousness of the negotiations
with India on the civilian nuclear deal and said it was time to
accelerate the efforts to achieve a final accord.

The US State Department officials said India's negotiating stance
risks unravelling the deal, which gives New Delhi access to nuclear
fuel without requiring it to sign up to the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty.

"We are disappointed with the pace and seriousness of the civil
nuclear negotiations with India," US Undersecretary of State
Nicholas Burns told the Financial Times.

"It is time to accelerate our efforts to achieve a final deal," he
said.

According to officials close to the talks, Indian negotiators are
contesting a clause in the law enacted by the US Congress last year
which states that Washington would withdraw civil nuclear fuel
supplies and equipment if India breached its unilateral moratorium
on nuclear testing.

India is also insisting that it be given the explicit right to
reprocess nuclear fuel again, in contradiction of the US law, the
officials said.

Scientists from India's Department of Atomic Energy are insistent
that India needs to retain the right to test nuclear weapons. A
particular concern of the defence establishment is that nuclear
co-operation could be suspended if India tested in response to
nuclear tests by neighbours such as China and Pakistan, the
newspaper reported.

Officials in Washington, which believes the Bush administration took
great risks with its own non-proliferation "hawks", have expressed
surprise at the "inflexibility" of India's stance.

The officials also said that they are "frustrated" by the fact that
India has made little headway negotiating a parallel agreement with
the IAEA, which it had pledged to do.

"That the US government would go to such lengths to help India out
and that India is now in the position of aggrieved party in the
talks is extraordinary," said Michael Krepon, co-founder of the
Henry Stimson Center, a public policy institute in Washington.

However, most people involved in the talks believe that India would
eventually agree to a deal if the alternative was nothing at all.

"We have ultimate optimism that India will understand the importance
and benefits that this deal would bring to the Indian energy sector
and to India more generally," Burns added.

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the
*****************************************************************
 16 Sydney Morning Herald: New reactor open for business - 

www.smh.com.au

Richard Macey
April 20, 2007

AS THE debate over the use of nuclear power heats up, the Prime
Minister, John Howard, will today declare open one of the country's
biggest and most controversial science projects, the new $400
million nuclear research reactor at Lucas Heights.

Named OPAL, an acronym describing how its atomic core is shielded by
an open pool of water 13 metres deep, it replaces Australia's first
nuclear reactor, shut down in January after 48 years.

Powered by six kilograms of uranium-235, OPAL generates 20 megawatts
of energy - twice that produced by the seven kilograms of fuel in
the old reactor, but hundreds of times less than the output of
typical nuclear power plants.

Covering the reactor's roof is a steel mesh 40 metres long and 30
metres wide, nicknamed the chip basket, or hairnet, designed to stop
aircraft flown by suicide terrorists.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, which
runs Lucas Heights, already produces 70 per cent of the
radiopharmaceuticals used in Australia, enough to treat 500,000
patients a year. It says the new reactor could boost production four
times.

The new reactor, described as a factory for making neutrons,
fundamental atomic particles, will also be used for advanced
materials technology, geology and cell biology science, and even
gene therapy and obesity research.

While the old reactor used concrete and lead to contain its
radioactivity, OPAL is shielded by the water, which glows with an
eerie blue light scientists call Cerenkov radiation.

With names such as Wombat, Echidna, Platypus and Quokka, nine
research instruments will eventually use particles made in the
reactor.

Andrew Studer, an instrument scientist, is among a team that has
been trialling Wombat this week, conducting experiments to unravel
the nature of the Earth's interior.

Wombat and Echidna have both been designed to reveal subtle but
vital variations in the atomic structure of materials by bombarding
them with neutrons and watching the way the particles bounce off.

Dr Studer has been using Wombat to explore a mineral thought to make
up much of the Earth's mantle, below the crust.

To unravel its mysteries German scientists have been using extreme
pressures and temperatures to make artificial bits of mantle, which
Wombat has analysed. So far, Dr Studer said, Wombat's performance
"looks fabulous".

Scientists also hope to use the new reactor for research into
everything from the structure of blood cells to aircraft parts.

(+61 424 767 764), or

Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
 17 TheStar.com: Tory calls for more nuclear power plants

Apr 18, 2007 07:41 PM

Keith Leslie Canadian press

The Conservatives would move quickly to increase the number of
nuclear power plants in Ontario if they win the Oct. 10 provincial
election, Opposition Leader John Tory said Wednesday.

In the text of a speech Tory was scheduled to give at a Conservative
fundraising dinner, he said Ontario must immediately start building
more nuclear plants.

"For our environment, for our economy, for a secure energy supply
and Ontario's future, we have to get going on nuclear power," he
said in the speech to the crowd of 2,500.

"Mr. McGuinty has dithered for four years. We must meaningfully
advance the process for building new nuclear capacity right away."

The Liberals have announced a $40-billion program to upgrade the
province's aging nuclear plants and to build new reactors, but no
environmental assessments have been completed, and it will be years
before a new plant is built.

Tory said nuclear power in Ontario has been "safe, reliable,
affordable and it is greenhouse-gas free."

He also attacked Premier Dalton McGuinty for failing to keep a
promise to close all of Ontario's coal-fired generating stations by
this year, and for not installing anti-pollution scrubbers on the
plants until they are closed, which Tory warned could be at least
another seven years.

"The coal plants will be a smog and a greenhouse gas problem until
we turn them off or clean them up," he said.

"It would be irresponsible not to install clean air technology such
as scrubbers, at least at Nanticoke," Ontario's largest coal-fired
plant and one of the worst sources of air pollution in North America.

With the election less than six months away, Tory delivered a highly
partisan speech, attacking McGuinty's leadership and highlighting
the record of what he called a "directionless" Liberal government.

"By breaking dozens of major promises he made to the Ontario people,
by placing polls and politics ahead of the public interest, Dalton
McGuinty has prevented all of us from working on a plan for a better
Ontario," Tory said.

"He hasn't been the strong leader Ontario needs."

Tory also lashed out at the Liberal government for refusing to allow
private clinics to help reduce the backlog of people waiting for
knee replacements, and said the government is more interested in
scoring cheap political points than helping patients.

"Mr. McGuinty and his high-volume health minister ask ... if they
can turn a good-faith offer into a false ideological debate about
our health-care system, even if the result is to make people wait in
pain," Tory said.

The largest fundraising dinner of the year for the Progressive
Conservatives added about $2.6 million to the party's election war
chest. Tory managed to wipe out the party's debt last year.

© Copyright Toronto Star online since 1996     |  
*****************************************************************
 18 SanLuisObispo.com: State Assembly votes against allowing new nuclear plants

Posted on Thu, Apr. 19, 2007

The State Assembly this week killed legislation that would have
lifted the state’s moratorium on new nuclear power plants.

The bill by Orange County Republican Chuck DeVore would have struck
down a 1976 law which prohibits the licensing of any new nuclear
power plants until a permanent solution to the problem of storing
the nation’s high-level radioactive waste is found.

The proposed underground storage facility at Yucca Mountain in
Nevada is beset by problems and is years away from opening, if it
ever does. The Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee voted 6 to 3
to uphold the ban.

The San Luis Obispo-based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
lobbied against the bill.

“We anticipate the results of an upcoming study by the California
Energy Commission that will analyze the costs, benefits and risks of
continuing down the nuclear energy path will lead us to a clearer
understanding of where to invest our energy dollars,” said Rochelle
Becker, the group’s executive director.

– David Sneed


*****************************************************************
 19 Aiken Today: Nuclear industry may soon see revival

AikenStandard.com

Thu, Apr 19, 2007

By JOSH VOORHEES Staff writer

AUGUSTA ? After long periods of dormancy and transition, the nuclear
industry is now on the verge of a renaissance that could play a
large role in the nation's efforts to achieve energy independence,
said nuclear industry leaders at the Southeast Environmental
Management Association conference Wednesday.

The day-long conference played host to a series of presentations
focusing on the reemergence of the nuclear industry as a serious
solution to the country's growing energy needs. The key to the
resurgence, presenters said, involves finding ways to better recycle
spent nuclear material.

"This renaissance will help the nation with its national security
issues, as well as its energy security," said Jeffrey Allison, SRS
manager.

Although the overall mood of the conference was an optimistic one,
several speakers warned that while a nuclear renaissance may be on
the horizon, plenty of work is still left to be done.

"In our euphoria, let's remind us that problems are still around,"
Tim Dangerfield, senior vice president, EnergySolutions, told the
conference.

One of the largest problems that Dangerfield and others spoke of was
the lack of a reliable national nuclear infrastructure in this
country.

During the Carter Administration the American nuclear program fell
from the position it held as a top priority at the height of the
Cold War; the years that followed saw a drastic reduction in funding
for plant construction, research and education.

"We stopped in 1978 and the world kept moving," said Alan Parker,
COO of EnergySolutions.

Now that the nation's attention and finances are returning to
nuclear power, the country must find ways to rebuild its once mighty
infrastructure ? including discovering ways to educate the next
generation of nuclear engineers ? in order to catch up with
countries like France and Japan that now are world leaders in
nuclear technology.

"Fortunately, the rest of the world has given us plenty to base our
work on," said Barnie Beasley, president of Southern Nuclear
Operating Company, referring to the nuclear recycling technology in
use overseas.

Another advantage working in the country's favor is that while
nuclear funding might have disappeared in the 1980s and '90s, the
expertise and nuclear talent did not.

Jim Little, president of Washington Safety Management Solutions,
worked for Westinghouse during the nuclear downturn. He told
Wednesday's audience that at that time the leading scientists and
nuclear engineers migrated to the Savannah River Site.

"Westinghouse decided, we'll just park the talent here until we need
them," he said.

Now that that time has seemingly come, its stockpile of intelligence
and nuclear expertise places the Central Savannah River Area at the
top of the list for a variety of potential missions.

Among the several being considered for the area are the Global
Nuclear Energy Partnership ? either at the former AGNS plant in
Barnwell or at the Savannah River National Laboratory ? and the
proposed MOX fuel center at SRS.

A nuclear future bodes well for SRS and the nation, but the
discussed renaissance will take decades, not years, said Dr. E.
Michael Campbell, senior vice president of General Atomics Company.

"This is not the Apollo or Manhattan projects," he said. "This is on
the level of an industrial revolution."

Contact Josh Voorhees at jvoorhees@aikenstandard.com.

© 2005 The AikenStandard. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 20 NRC: NRC Ranked Best Place to Work in the Federal Government

News Release - 2007-051 - 

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs 
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: 
opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission captured the top ranking among 
large federal agencies in the 2007 Best Places to Work in the 
Federal Government rankings announced today by the Partnership 
for Public Service and the American University Institute for the 
Study of Public Policy Implementation.

  The NRC, along with others, was recognized in a ceremony today 
in Washington, D.C., where NRC Chairman Dale E. Klein said, "This 
is a very great honor for all the men and women at the NRC who 
are committed to our mission to protecting people and the 
environment. The remarkable dedication and camaraderie at our 
agency make it a great place to work, and we will work hard to 
keep it that way."

 The NRC is recruiting about 400 employees each year for the next 
few years because of the expected arrival of close to two dozen 
applications for new reactor licenses beginning this fall. This 
ranking, along with new recruiting authority provided by 
Congress, should assist in the agency's hiring efforts to 
maintain an innovative and effective workforce.

 Rankings are compiled by the Partnership using data from the 
Office of Management and Budget's 2006 Federal Human Capital 
Survey. This year, a record 221,000 employees at 283 federal 
organizations responded. The survey data is analyzed by the 
Partnership to develop detailed rankings of federal agencies. 
Agencies are ranked according to employee satisfaction and 
engagement, plus by 10 workplace categories including effective 
leadership, strategic management, teamwork, and training and 
development, plus pay/benefits and work/life balance.

 As a result of NRC employee responses to the survey, the NRC 
ranked number one in eight of 10 categories and scored well above 
the government-wide average. It ranked consistently higher in 
three key categories of effective leadership, employee 
skills/mission match and work/life balance. The NRC also ranked 
first among all age groups and for black and white employees.

                Details of the survey can be found at: 
http://www.bestplacestowork.org

NRC news releases are available through a free list server 
subscription at the following Web address: 
http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home 
Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the 
News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to 
subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site.


April 19, 2007
*****************************************************************
 21 GAZETA.KZ: There should be no double standards and ambiguity in
nuclear materials usage - Tokayev

19.04.2007   

There should be no double standards and ambiguity in nuclear
materials usage - Tokayev
 
 Kazakhstan Today

ALMATY. April, 19. Kazakhstan Today. There should be no double
standards and ambiguity in nuclear materials usage, expressed during
the VI Eurasian Media Forum the RK Senate chairman Kasym-Zhomart
Tokayev, reports KZ-today correspondent.

"There should be no games, double standards and ambiguity in nuclear
materials usage. There should be effective control on nuclear
materials export", - Tokayev said. "All countries who wants to
develop own nuclear programs for peaceful aims should be on account
before corresponding international institutions, in front of
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), should work together with
experts, show plans and programs", - he underlined.

"This is about Kazakhstan too. Because we are talking that soon here
in Kazakhstan we will construct atomic power plant, and we are ready
for this cooperation", - Tokayev said. "We see what problems
countries that plays with nuclear problems have, and Kazakhstan
position on this question is very principle - we need to fulfill
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Even so there are serious slips of
the tongue related to the treaty", - he added.

"There are no regrets related to nuclear weapons rejection. It is
our principle position, and we are proud that Kazakhstan commits
positively and constructively in nuclear weapon and other
corresponding materials non-proliferation", - repeated Tokayev.

This information may not be reproduced without reference to
Kazakhstan Today

Copyright © Internet Department of PH "Alma-Media", 2000-2007

*****************************************************************
 22 Cream Media: PBMR safety report to be completed by August

20 April 2007

www.creamermedia.co.za

Decision to build new nuclear plant beneficial for PBMR

Last week&rsquo;s statement by Public Enterprises Minister Alec
Erwin that Eskom had approved the construction of a second...

Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project


The PBMR project involves the development of a pebble-bed modular
nuclear reactor - a high-temperature, helium gas-cooled reactor,
which advances...


Van Schalkwyk rejects appeals against PBMR pilot fuel plant
Global interest in nuclear energy resurges
US group plans to market SA pebble-bed modular reactor

By: Nelendhre Moodley

Published: 19 Apr 07 - 16:12

 The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) company, which is 
scheduled to complete its safety analysis report by August, has 
already selected suppliers for the manufacture of the 
demonstration plant, PBMRchief technology officer Johan Slabber 
told Engineering News Online on Thursday.

 PBMR technology is an advanced nuclear reactor design which 
claims a significantly higher level of safety and efficiency.

  Slabber said that the report would be handed to State-owned 
power producer Eskom in August for licence application purposes, 
explaining that, as Eskom would use the reactor, the utility 
would have to approve the report.

 &ldquo;The report will be ready during the first half of 2008 to 
be handed over to the National Nuclear Regulator, which will take 
about a year to review it.&rdquo;

  The PBMR company demonstration module, expected to be completed 
by the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, would be built 400 
m south of the Koeberg power station, in Cape Town.

   &ldquo;By 2030, we anticipate that there would be about 20 
PBMR plants in operation.&rdquo;

 Slabber reported that there would be a three-year period before 
the PBMR plant was commercially viable.

 &ldquo;The first commercial multimodule plant will be rolled-out 
by 2015.&rdquo;

  The company planned to commercialise and market 165MWe modules 
in single or multimodule configuration for the local and export 
markets, in line with government's expectations of nuclear energy 
contributing a significant portion, up to 25%, of future 
electricity supply.

 Slabber also reported that the detailed design for the 
demonstration plant had been completed and, then ,in some cases 
was in the manufacturing phase.

 In fact, the company had already selected some suppliers, 
including Mitsubishi heavy machinery in Japan to manufacture the 
core barrel and turbine, while the pressure boundary reactor 
vessel, would be made by a Spanish company, and the graphite core 
would be supplied by a German manufacturer, he said.

      Meanwhile, Slabber, said that, to meet energy development 
challenges, South Africa needed to optimally use all energy 
sources available and vigorously pursue energy efficient 
programmes, especially in light of the current electricity supply 
situation.

 &ldquo;We are already in a fix, having suffered with bolts from 
the blue and troubles down south, this winter we will definitely 
see some blackouts.&rdquo;


Copyright © Creamer Media (Pty) Ltd Website Credits 0.343s - 83pq 
*****************************************************************
 23 Clarion-Ledger: Prospect of a new Miss. nuclear plant a compelling story 

By Charlie Mitchell

The Vicksburg Post

VICKSBURG ? It hasn't made big headlines yet, but it seems certain
that Mississippi, perhaps in a decade, will host a second
nuclear-fired electricity plant.

As the process continues, there will be a couple of things to watch.
First is how Claiborne, the odds-on host county, will position
itself. Second will be whether Entergy Nuclear tries to tap public
sources for construction funding.

Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, on the Mississippi River about 20 miles
south of Vicksburg, has been ginning along, setting records for
safety and productivity since 1985.

Five years ago, the process of seeking what's called an early site
permit for a second unit at Grand Gulf was begun. Federal funds paid
half the tab and earlier this month the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission granted the permit. It means safety and environmental
questions are sealed and settled.

Entergy, a member of the 11-company NuStart consortium that would
own a second plant, has said the next step - seeking a construction
and operating license - will begin before the end of this year. That
will take five years and then, depending on conditions, including
power demand and unnamed factors, a decision will be made on whether
to initiate an estimated five years of actual building.

NuStart also has a second site, Bellefonte, owned by the Tennessee
Valley Authority near Scottsboro, Ala., in the running.

When Grand Gulf I was begun around 1971, the existing regulatory and
taxation structure could not have been designed to be any worse than
it was. The worst aspect was that Mississippi had a rule saying
public utilities could put the cost of future assets into an
existing rate base. The provision meant all the money for Grand Gulf
had to be borrowed.

Those were the years of the Jimmy Carter economy, so, during the
11-year construction period, Mississippi Power & Light was borrowing
money in $100 million increments at double-digit interest rates. The
plant, which was to have two reactors and cost about $1 billion,
wound up having one reactor and costing more than $3 billion -
including about a billion or more in interest.

Another provision was that the county where a public utility was
located got all the property tax revenue. That gave Claiborne, with
12,500 people and a $700,000 annual county budget, $16 million in
new revenue. Good things did not happen in the county that got real
rich, real fast.

Even today Claiborne is a state leader in unemployment and poverty.
Today, the story is that bad conditions persist in Claiborne because
the Legislature ordered half the money split among the other 45
counties that receive Grand Gulf power - leaving Claiborne with a
mere $8 million a year.

The truth is there was a complete lack of planning, accountability
or responsible use of the overnight 10-fold revenue surge.

Claiborne officials have heartily endorsed a second nuclear plant at
the Grand Gulf site, and they've also hired Jackson attorney Mike
Espy, former member of the U.S. House and former head of the
Department of Agriculture, as their negotiator. Espy is an eminently
reasonable guy, but his task is to get the best deal for the locals
- and it's not beyond belief that his employers will push him to
kill a second goose about to lay a second golden egg.

In this new age of public-private partnerships, will Mississippians
be asked to help pay for a second reactor at Grand Gulf? Will a
threat to use only the Alabama site loom as leverage?

Unlike with car plants, it matters where power plants are built.
They need to be reasonably close to their customers. It's logical
that NuStart may plan to build on both sites, depending, of course,
on demand.

Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. E-mail
post@vicksburg.com.

©2007 The Clarion-Ledger
       
*****************************************************************
 24 Salt Lake Tribune: Cheap equals risk

Public Forum Letter

Article Last Updated: 04/18/2007 06:35:04 PM MDT

Regarding the April 14 Forum letter by Gary M. Sandquist on the
expansion of nuclear power, I must disagree.

    Sweeping generalizations such as those drawn by Mr. Sandquist
are, by their nature, simplistic and fail to examine the true
consequences of relying on a dangerous fuel such as nuclear power.

    Nuclear power is incredibly inefficient and struggles to justify
its cost. In addition, the question of nuclear waste storage is not
yet answered. A concrete-filled hole in the ground in the Nevada
desert does not constitute a solution, nor will it ever. And in
today's ever-uncertain geopolitical climate, nuclear power plants
pose an enormous liability to the safety of our nation.

    Does cheap (albeit inefficient) energy justify the risk to 
millions of lives? Hardly.
   
    Chad Worsley Centerville

Â© Copyright 2007, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
 25 CBC News: Ontario's Tories vow to power up more nuclear plants

Last Updated: Thursday, April 19, 2007 | 11:33 AM ET

The future will be bright for nuclear power in Ontario if the
Progressive Conservatives win the provincial election in October,
party leader John Tory said.

Tory said Wednesday night that, if elected,Â his party would move
quickly to increase the number of nuclear power plants in the
province, to meet future energy needs and help curb the use of
polluting coal-fired plants.

He accused Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government of purposely
underestimating the number ofÂ generating stations needed in Ontario
for fear of a backlash from people who opposeÂ nuclear power.

"They dithered on it and now we're in trouble," Tory said after a
fundraising speech in Toronto Wednesday.

"I think we're going to need a lot more than what they're doing both
in terms of the speed and the quantityâ€¦."

Tory, who calledÂ nuclear power "safe, affordable and greenhouse-gas
free," said Ontario needs more than the two additional nuclear
plants currently planned by the Liberals.

He would not estimateÂ how many additional plants a Conservative
government might build.

Tory also said he wouldn't be averse to private companies, such as
Bruce Power, building and operating the stationsÂ â€” which would be
a first in Ontario.

"If somebody like Bruce Power wants to put forward a proposal that
they would do some of this and help us get it done, then I am
willing to listen to this," he said.

Tory said he believes the future of nuclear power in Ontario will
become an issue in the campaign leading up to the Oct. 10 election.

An Ipsos Reid poll released in January found the environment had
jumped to second place on Ontarians' list of concerns, from its
typical spot of eighth or ninth.

IN DEPTH: Power up! The rise of the nuclear option
Environment motivating Ontario voters, pollster says
McGuinty takes blame for broken promise on coal plant closures

Copyright &copy; CBC 2007
*****************************************************************
 26 Reuters: Middle East looks to nuclear to conserve oil, gas 

Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:38AM EDT

By Barbara Lewis - Analysis

LONDON (Reuters) - The Middle East is looking to nuclear energy as
the only way to power booming economies short of burning precious
oil and gas reserves.

Nuclear energy is enjoying a renaissance the world over as its green
credentials and promise of secure supplies help to overcome worries
about its safety.

"Nuclear is a very attractive energy source," said Luis Echavarri,
director general of the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency. "Nuclear has
demonstrated it is able to produce massive amounts of electricity
without emitting CO2."

But many in the West are reluctant to see Middle Eastern oil powers,
especially Iran, seize on the energy source because it can be used
to make atom bombs.

"They argue that they need oil and gas for foreign currency and they
don't want to squander it, but nuclear inevitably produces plutonium
that can be used in nuclear weapons. You have to suspect that a
number of countries want nuclear weapons," said Frank Barnaby of the
Oxford Research Centre.

He also disputed nuclear power's green credentials.

"If you take into account the nuclear cycle, mining uranium etc and
decommissioning the waste, then it's not carbon-free."  Continued...

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 27 Reuters: Russia floats nuclear power plants for export 

Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:42AM EDT

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has started building the world's first
floating nuclear power station, officials said, a project
anti-nuclear activists say is the most dangerous to come out of the
atomic sector for a decade.

Russia hopes to export the power plants for use in seas from the
Indian Ocean to the Arctic. The first floating station is due to be
ready in 2010 and there are plans to build six more.

Russian officials say the stations are a safe way to supply power to
desolate regions and the energy-hungry economies of Asia, Africa and
Latin America without risking the proliferation of nuclear know how.

Sergei Ivanov, Russia's powerful first deputy prime minister, this
week presided over the start of work on the first floating station
at a secret submarine plant on the White Sea.

"Many countries are beginning to ask us 'when can we buy these
plants?'" Ivanov was quoted as saying by Rosenergoatom, the agency
which runs Russia's nuclear power stations and is footing the bill
for building the plants.

"This is the most dangerous project that has been launched by the
atomic sector in the whole world over the past decade," Ivan Blokov,
campaign director of Greenpeace Russia, said.

"It is scary as this is basically going to be a floating atomic
bomb," he told Reuters.  

President Vladimir Putin last year approved the biggest revamp of 
the Russian nuclear industry since the Chernobyl accident, which 
curbed the Kremlin's appetite for atomic energy.

The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear 
plant in Ukraine -- then part of the Soviet Union -- on April 26, 
1986, spewed radioactive dust over much of Europe.

But Kremlin leaders now see the development of the nuclear sector 
as a way to boost Russian clout on the world stage.

Ivanov on Sunday unveiled Russia's first new generation nuclear 
submarine since the fall of the Soviet Union. The submarine will 
enter service in the Northern Fleet, based at Severomorsk, 930 
miles north of Moscow.

NUCLEAR FLOTSAM?

The 9-billion-rouble ($352-million) floating nuclear stations 
will have two nuclear reactors, which use uranium enriched to a 
maximum of 20 percent. Total capacity will be 70 megawatts and 
the stations will also desalinate sea water.

Nuclear officials say the reactors, used by atomic icebreakers, 
are sturdy enough to withstand earthquakes.

They say the reactor powering the Kursk nuclear submarine 
survived intact despite a blast which sunk the vessel in August 
2000 with the loss of all 118 crew.

"The reactor (on the Kursk) was put through an incredible trial 
but afterwards experts said it could have been immediately 
restarted," Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko was quoted as 
saying by Itar-Tass news agency.

The first power plant will be named "Academician Lomonosov". 
Mikhail Lomonosov was an 18th-century Russian scientist who 
achieved worldwide acclaim for his work in chemistry and physics 
and was founder of Moscow's state university.

Customers could include Russian state controlled gas giant 
Gazprom, the northern region of Chukotka and countries from 
Namibia to Indonesia, industry sources told Reuters.

Russia's leading physicist, Yevgeny Velikhov, predicted high 
demand: "It will be like an order for an aircraft -- want a 
nuclear power station? Then order one."

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 28 Reuters: Two Koreas argue which comes first--rice or reactor 

Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:53AM EDT

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) - Talks between the Koreas stalled before they
started on Thursday, with the two sides arguing whether rice aid
topped closure of a nuclear reactor.

North Korea said a high-level economic meeting in Pyongyang could
not start unless its wealthy neighbor first pledged massive rice
aid. It later relented, and the talks began nearly eight hours late.

The chief South Korean delegate's opening address -- a prepared text
of which had already been made public -- called on Pyongyang to meet
its own promise to shut down its reactor, the source of plutonium
for its nuclear weapons program.

South Korea had planned to announce a resumption of food aid at the
inter-Korean meeting, but officials said Seoul was reconsidering
after the North failed to meet last Saturday's deadline set in a
February 13 nuclear deal to begin the closure process.

"Just 20 minutes before the planned session, the North asked to see
a keynote speech, a draft joint press statement and a draft
agreement on ... (rice aid)," South Korea's Yonhap news agency
quoted a pool press report from Pyongyang as saying.

South Korea considered the request "rude behaviour", it cited
informed sources as saying, and refused to comply. The North
responded by delaying the first formal session.

After the delay, the two Koreas met for about 30 minutes. The
session ended when with the North's delegation chief leaving the
conference room, slamming a door behind him, reports said. 

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 29 UPI: Outside View: India spreads nuclear wings

United Press International - International Intelligence - Analysis

Published: April 19, 2007 at 12:30 PM

By MUAZZAM GILL UPI Outside View Commentator

ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif., April 19 (UPI) -- With India's successful
test firing last week of Agni-3, its longest-range
intermediate-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, Asia's arms
race has gone up another notch.

New Delhi now has the capability to deliver a 1 1/2-ton nuclear or
conventional payload over much of Asia and the Middle East. Agni-3
has a reported range of 1,865 miles and could hit targets as far off
as Beijing and Shanghai. The test appears to have had the tacit
approval of the United States given Washington's efforts to build
India as a strategic counterweight to China, along with Japan and
Australia.

Asian nations are building up their military clout in response to
the weapons being developed by neighboring states. Most observers
focus on nuclear proliferation, with tests by India and Pakistan in
1998, and North Korea's nuclear ambitions. But it is missile
proliferation that is changing the way Asian militaries assess each
other and continually strive for greater missile capacity. The
authoritative Jane's Defense Weekly reports that Thailand may decide
to produce its own short-range missiles, with a 50-mile range.

Not to be outdone, Pakistan, with help from China and North Korea,
is in the process of inducting the nuclear-capable Shaheen-II
missile, first tested in March 2004, capable of striking Indian
targets over a range of 1,200 miles, into its arsenal.

A Foreign Ministry source in New Delhi said India, which has signed
an agreement with Pakistan on the pre-notification of ballistic
missile tests, had informed Islamabad of the latest test.

India, however, is in a league of its own. With a full suite of five
missile types, Agni-3 has been designed to build a nuclear deterrent
against China. For its traditional rival Pakistan, India has Agni-I
(430-500 mile range) and Agni-II (1,300 mile range) missiles that
are now being inducted into its armed forces. The Agni is one of
five missiles that have been developed by India. The others are the
short-range surface-to-surface Prithvi, the surface-to-air Trishul
(Trident), the multi-purpose Akash (Sky) and the anti-tank Nag
(Cobra) missile.

During negotiations with the United States in 2006 on a civilian
nuclear deal, India postponed testing of the Agni-3 to avoid the
wrath of nuclear hawks in Congress, which was deliberating the
nuclear pact that it eventually passed. According to reports last
year, Washington put pressure on New Delhi to agree to a future
moratorium on testing of dual-use missile technology that could be
used to deliver a nuclear payload and testing another atomic bomb as
a quid pro quo for the civilian nuclear deal. India rejected such a
commitment and has not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

However, new business interests and arrangements, coupled with
India's record as a responsible democracy and China's growing global
clout, have forced a change in strategic equations. It now appears
likely India will be accepted as a nuclear exception among the
global community, allowing it to purchase nuclear fuel and
technology from the international market. Canada, France and the
United Kingdom support the deal. China and Australia have hinted
that they may be open to nuclear business ties with India, while
Russia has already spelled out its nuclear-power engagement with
India.

New Delhi is actively wooing South Africa and Brazil with promises
of support in securing business deals and providing expert software
and information technology. So far Japan is not on board, but given
the massive business opportunities, especially in software, to
upgrade Japanese companies that India can provide, and extensive
diplomatic efforts, Japan is likely to come around. Tokyo is pretty
much clued into a U.S.-India-Japan "axis of democracy" to counter
China.

China reacted swiftly, saying it hoped that India, "as a country
with an important influence in this region, can work to maintain and
promote peace and stability. We hope they can make a positive
contribution in this regard and play a positive role," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing.

For the Chinese military, this will be one more piece of evidence
supporting moves for China to expand its sophisticated missile and
space program.

China conducted an anti-satellite test in January, using a missile
to knock out a satellite 535 miles above the Earth, and continues to
build up the numbers of missiles it has aimed at Taiwan. According
to Taipei they number about 800.

As the United States pushes on with its missile-defense program,
with partners including Japan and Australia, the logical response
will be for China to build more ballistic missiles so it could
overwhelm any anti-missile system.

Because arms races inevitably lead to new arrangements, establishing
a kind of Asian NATO linking the big democracies -- the United
States, Japan, Australia and India -- was floated by Japan's Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe and endorsed by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
But during his recent visit to Beijing, Australian Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer ruled out a four-way security pact.

India's missile program, together with its nuclear program and drive
for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, is part of its
ongoing efforts to establish itself as a world power.

The United States is aware of most of these developments but has
been more an observer than a participant as a possible Asian arms
race heats up. It is doubtful that the United States has thought
through the implications of proliferation of nuclear weapons and
delivery systems -- even as Japan and Taiwan, which could develop
nuclear weapons fairly quickly should they decide to do so, consider
whether a nuclear weapon in North Korean hands might demand
countermeasures -- in Asia.

The major reason for relative neglect by the United States, of
course, is the war in Iraq, which not only places continuing demands
on an increasingly overstretched military but requires the attention
of policymakers and planners who might otherwise be able to devote
more attention to emerging threats in other parts of the world.

--

(Muazzam Gill is a news analyst and vice president of the American
Leadership Institute.)

--

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are
written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of
important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect
those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an
open forum, original submissions are invited.)

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 30 LJWorld.com: Nuclear parts plant may be moved 

New facility would be better able to meet national security functions

The Associated Press

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Kansas City, Mo. ? The government wants to replace the aging nuclear
weapons parts plant in Kansas City with a $500 million plant that
would include buildings totaling more than 1 million square feet.

If the plan is approved, the new plant would be built in south
Kansas City next to the former Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport,
federal officials said Tuesday. It would replace a plant originally
built in World War II to make warplane engines.

The new facility would occupy a 185-acre campus. The GSA has an
option to buy the south Kansas City site and has preliminary
approval to seek requests from developers this summer for a plant
that would accommodate the Honeywell Federal Manufacturing &
Technologies plant in a build-to-suit leasing arrangement.

Honeywell operates the plant, which manufactures non-nuclear parts
for nuclear weapons on behalf of the National Nuclear Security
Administration. It currently employs 2,600 people in the
3-million-square-foot facility at the Bannister Federal Complex.

â€œThis complex was built to manufacture Pratt & Whitney engines,
not to be a nuclear weapons complex,â€ said Brad Scott, regional
administrator for the federal General Services Administration.
â€œThey wanted a new facility for their mission, rather than
retrofitting a building built in 1943.â€

If all goes as planned, construction would begin in late 2008 or
early 2009 and be completed in fall 2010. The new plant wonâ€™t be
fully occupied until 2012.

The site, which is called the â€œpreferred alternativeâ€ because it
has not received final approval from Washington, is owned by
interests tied to the Zimmer Cos.

The new facility would reduce the plantâ€™s annual operating and
maintenance costs, while also being better able to meet its national
security functions, Mark Holecek, deputy site manager for the NNSA,
said in a statement.

The replacement facility would employ about 2,000 people. Unlike the
current plant, which is on government-owned property, the new plant
would generate local property taxes because it would be privately
owned.

Kansas City development officials estimated the plant could
eventually generate about $7 million annually in property taxes.

Missouriâ€™s congressional delegation had worked to keep the plant
and its well-paid work force in Kansas City. The plantâ€™s payroll
last year was $193 million, and its operators purchased $41.9
million in goods in Missouri and $15 million in Kansas.

â€œI am pleased with their decision to maintain a strong presence in
Kansas City,â€ Sen. Kit Bond said in a written statement.
â€œNNSAâ€™s new facility will ensure their presence in Missouri for
years to come.â€

Scott said the NNSA is required by law to have the old plant site in
satisfactory environmental condition before the federal government
could begin disposing of it. That wonâ€™t begin until at least 2012.

The new complex is expected to include buildings for office,
laboratory, light industrial/manufacturing and storage. Scott said
the complex is expected to be built to strict environmental design
standards.


*****************************************************************
 31 Kommersant Moscow: Russia's Nuclear Plants Malfunctioned 4 Times Past Month -

Apr. 19, 2007

Russia’s environmental, technological and nuclear watchdog, 
Rostekhnadzor, registered four malfunctions in the work of 
Russia’s nuclear plants in March of 2007, Rostekhnadzor news 
service reported.

Ten nuclear plants operated 31 power-generating units with installed
capacity of 23,242 MW in Russia as of early April.

No breakdowns or emergencies were registered on the country’s
nuclear plants past month. The radiation environment in nuclear
plants’ area was in line with requirements.

On March 3, for instance, the No. 1 power-generating unit of
Smolensk Nuclear Plant was brought to stop during the launch after
the scheduled repair. The reason was troubles in system controlling
the coolant flow rate.

Another malfunction happened at Kursk Nuclear Plant (March 25) and
two malfunctions were registered at Novovoronezh Nuclear Plant
(March 11 and March 29).

www.kommersant.com


© 1991-2007 ZAO "Kommersant. Publishing House". All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 32 UPI: Russia to consolidate nuclear industry

United Press International - Energy - Briefing

Published: April 19, 2007 at 11:58 AM

MOSCOW April 19 (UPI) -- Russia's entire nuclear industry will soon
be aligned under one state-owned company, further bolstering
Moscow's stance as an energy superpower.

President Vladimir Putin has approved creation of Atomenergoprom, a
vertically aligned company that will be the sole name of Russia's
civilian nuclear program.

Russia has by far the largest reserves of natural gas and is the
second largest producer of oil. And while the state's arms stretch
farther into European and Asian oil and gas markets -- both as a
supplier and operator -- its nuclear industry is making its own
headway.

Russia -- as part of the Soviet Union -- and the United States were
the first countries in the atomic field, though first for weapons
means. While the U.S. industry has slowed drastically over the past
few decades, Russia hasn't stopped. The state owns part or all of
dozens of nuclear-related firms and their subsidiaries, from nuclear
plant construction to operations to mining, enriching and delivering
the fuel.

It plans to nearly double its own nuclear electricity output, and is
building plants and delivering fuel to numerous countries.

Alexey Grigoriev, head of the uranium extraction and enrichment
company Technabsexport, told World Nuclear News -- a service of the
World Nuclear Association, the global industry's trade group -- that
AEP will be a joint stock company. Moscow will likely not give up
majority control of the company, however.

Along with Technabsexport, fellow fuel company TVEL, operator
Rosenergoatom, and domestic and foreign nuclear plant builders
Atomenergomash and Atomstroyexport will be at the top tiers of the
new company.

The new company could start operation by year's end.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 33 UPI: India, U.S. nuclear deal on the rocks

United Press International - Energy - Briefing

Published: April 19, 2007 at 5:16 PM

NEW DELHI April 19 (UPI) -- Indian demands to renegotiate a
controversial nuclear pact with the United States may scuttle the
deal, while the nuclear community decides to accept India.

U.S. State Department officials say India wants to be allowed to
test nuclear weapons and reprocess uranium without violating the
deal, which was reached with President Bush in 2005 and which the
U.S. Congress approved last year.

It would give India access to U.S. nuclear technology and materials,
which is against U.S. law since India hasn't signed international
agreements against proliferation. India is a nuclear weapons state
but says those treaties are tantamount to double standards because
they allow some countries to have nuclear weapons but not others. It
wants to increase its nuclear energy portfolio but is hampered by
the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which regulates international nuclear
fuel commerce and only allows those who have signed key
non-proliferation deals.

The NSG is meeting in South Africa now. The Hindustan Times reports
Finland says it will agree to allow India in the group if India and
the United States finalize their deal, which would separate India's
nuclear weapons and energy programs and subject the latter to
international regulation. NSG approval is not assured because of
India's refusal to sign the weapons pacts.

The Financial Times reports India hasn't started a deal with the
International Atomic Energy Agency, another component of the U.S.
deal.

"We are disappointed with the pace and seriousness of the civil
nuclear negotiations with India," said Nicholas Burns, U.S.
undersecretary of state.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 34 AFP: US takes firm line in nuclear negotiations with India - 

Thu Apr 19, 3:10 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Thursday ruled out 
bending its laws to allow India to retain the right to resume 
nuclear weapons testing under a civilian nuclear energy deal 
being negotiated by the two governments.

"It's an issue that's covered by our law and ... in as much as it is
affected by, it bumps up against US law, we're not going to change
our laws," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said when asked
about India's stance on nuclear testing.

He was speaking after the State Department's number three official,
Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, expressed frustration at
India's demands in talks on the landmark agreement.

"We are disappointed with the pace and seriousness of the civil
nuclear negotiations with India," Burns said in an interview
published in the Financial times.

"It is time to accelerate our efforts to achieve a final deal," he
said.

The agreement, initially reached in July 2006, gives India
unprecedented access to US nuclear fuel and technology for its
civilian power sector without requiring New Delhi to sign a nuclear
weapons non-proliferation treaty as normally required by US law.

The deal has been defended by President George W. Bush's
administration as the centerpiece of a new relationship between the
US and India following decades of Cold War tensions.

But the negotiations have bogged down, notably over India's refusal
to commit formally to its voluntary unilateral moratorium on nuclear
weapons testing and its insistence the deal give it the right to
reprocess nuclear fuel.

Both elements would contravene US laws.

"We have conveyed to the Indian government that there are certain
issues that they might like to raise concerning issues that are
covered by our national laws, and those are issues we're not going
to go back and re-legislate," McCormack said.

But he expressed confidence that the differences would be overcome.

"When you're blazing a trail on an issue with negotiations and
there's not a body of work or a history or precedent to fall back
on, every issue becomes important for one side or the other," he
said.

"Once the negotiations run their course, I think we're going to see
an agreement," he said.

Washington had initially expected to implement the agreement within
six months of its approval by Congress and signature into law by
Bush in December.

But in addition to hiccups in negotiations with the US, New Delhi
still has to negotiate with the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) over a set of atomic safeguards which it should adhere to
under the pact.

The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) also has to formally
sanction the deal.

Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 35 UNIAN: Chernobyl death toll underestimated says Greenpeace

FRIDAY, 20 april 2007

[19.04.2007 13:19] 

The death toll from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 20 years ago 
could be far higher than official estimates, with up to 93,000 
extra cancer deaths worldwide, environmental group Greenpeace 
said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Based on research by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 
the report said that of the 2 billion people globally affected by 
the Chernobyl fallout, 270,000 will develop cancers as a result, 
of which 93,000 will prove fatal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) estimates 4,000 
people died as a result of the explosion in reactor number four 
at the power plant in the Ukrainian town of Chernobyl on April 
26, 1986.

The explosion sent a plume of radioactive dust across northern 
and western Europe and as far as the eastern United States.

"It is appalling that the IAEA is whitewashing the impacts of the 
most serious nuclear accident in human history," said Greenpeace 
anti-nuclear campaigner Ivan Blokov.

The IAEA was not immediately available for comment.

The Greenpeace report further extrapolates that in total some 
200,000 people in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus could have already 
died as a result of medical conditions -- such as cardiovascular 
diseases -- attributable to the disaster.

"Our problem is that there is no accepted methodology to 
calculate the numbers of people who might have died from such 
diseases," Greenpeace campaigner Jan van de Putte told Reuters.

"The only methodology that is accepted is for calculating fatal 
cancers," he said.

The report said the incidence of cancer in Belarus jumped 40 
percent between 1990 and 2000, with children not even born at the 
time now showing an 88.5-fold increase in thyroid cancers.

Leukaemia is also reported to be on the increase in the region, 
as are cases of intestinal, rectal, breast, bladder, kidney and 
lung cancers.

The relocation of hundreds of thousands of people as a result of 
the explosion has put further strains on the population, the 
report said.

"The Chernobyl accident disrupted whole societies in Belarus, 
Ukraine and Russia," Greenpeace concluded.

"A complex interaction between factors such as poor health, 
increased costs of health systems, relocation of people, loss of 
agricultural territories and contamination of foodstuffs, 
economic crisis, the costs of remediation to the states, 
political problems, a weakened workforce ... creates a general 
crisis."

The relocation of hundreds of thousands of people as a result of 
the explosion has put further strains on the population, the 
report said.

"The Chernobyl accident disrupted whole societies in Belarus, 
Ukraine and Russia," Greenpeace concluded.

"A complex interaction between factors such as poor health, 
increased costs of health systems, relocation of people, loss of 
agricultural territories and contamination of foodstuffs, 
economic crisis, the costs of remediation to the states, 
political problems, a weakened workforce ... creates a general 
crisis."

ctnstant URL of article:
http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-192597.html


© 2001 - 2007 UNIAN.NET All Right Protected.
*****************************************************************
 36 The Statesman: Nuclear energy must start now

Mary Morgan , 19/04/2007

Ghana has been ready for nuclear energy for the past 12 years,
according to one nuclear science expert, who says that Government's
announcement of "feasibility studies” this week are unnecessary,
given the wealth of research and experience which already exists
within the Ghana nuclear field.


Edmund Kwadwo Osae is a former Deputy Director of the Ghana Atomic
Energy Commission, and a Professor in Physics at the University of
Ghana, Legon. Speaking yesterday in an interview with The Statesman,
he said that with a 30 kilowatt research nuclear reactor in use at
the Atomic Energy Commission since 1995, there should be no question
of the logistics of implementing nuclear energy in Ghana.


Rather, Government ought to take a firm decision on the energy form
now, according to the nuclear specialist:
'We"re not ready, we’re not ready,’ has been the persistent cry of
Government and its advisors, according to Prof Osae, “But rather -
we have been ready for the last 11 or 12 years.”

Now, some say it could take up to 10 years to implement nuclear
energy in Ghana; Prof Osae believes it should be no longer than
seven or eight years, if the process is begun immediately.Atomic
foundations

Nuclear research in Ghana began under the Government of Kwame
Nkrumah, with the establishment of an Atomic Energy Commission in
1964 to ensure the peaceful use of energy in Ghana – with plans to
build a 2 megawatt reactor.

At the time, the facility was to be a research one, but in exploring
the new technology, the aim was that, within time, nuclear energy
might be introduced in Ghana.

When Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, the project fell by the
wayside, however; although the National Centre for Radioisotope
Application continued some of the work of the Atomic Energy
Commission, its research focus was primarily on the medical uses of
isotopes, rather than their potential as energy providers.

Furthermore, advice from scientists and development partners
elsewhere during the Cold War era was firmly fixed against nuclear,
carrying as it does the potential for nuclear weapons, and towards
fossil fuel and hydro energy forms.

In 1973/74, the Acheampong government decided to reactivate the
defunct Atomic Energy Commission, and since then there has been a
constant body of nuclear researchers and testers working in Ghana,
even though the concept of nuclear energy has been consistently
crushed by successive governments, according to Prof Osae and others.

By 1993, Ghana had nonetheless developed a productive relationship
with the International Atomic Energy Commission, and through them
managed to acquire the 30 kilowatt research reactor, from the
Chinese. It has been functioning since 1995. Why nuclear?

Prof Osae has been a firm advocate of nuclear energy for many years.
"I was one of the people who always believed that with the resources
that we have, we have no option but to go nuclear," he said.

He pointed out that the majority of Ghana’s energy still comes from
hydro sources, despite the construction of the Tema thermal plant.

"Because of this trouble of Harmattan and irregular rainfall, Ghana
is not going to make it with hydro power. Burkina Faso has also
built a dam further up the same river, which is reducing the volume
of water which reaches the Akosombo. We could all see it that year
by year we experience this. So hydro now is going to be the least
option for Ghana."

Last year, Government signed an agreement with the Chinese
Government - $600m for the Bui Dam, which will be constructed on the
Volta River by 2012, and is expected to provide some 400 megawatts
of additional electricity to our national grid. Prof Osae is against
the idea, however; for an extra $400m, Government could have built a
nuclear reactor with capacity to create 1,000 megawatts, and which
is not dependent on Ghana’s undependable weather system.

Even in terms of other energy, nuclear is the most reliable option,
according to the physicist – with oil prices subject to fluctuation
and affected by politics and war in the Middle East, and gas coming
through the West African Gas Pipeline from Nigeria, another nation
prone to volatility: "Suppose one day they say we are not very
friendly, so they decide to shut it."

"Nuclear is the best option for any country with no natural
resources of its own, because the fuel [uranium] is not used for
anything else."

As for alternative energy sources, such as solar power, Prof Osae
pointed to the limited potential of such sources: whilst solar power
is an environmentally-friendly and cost effective way of providing
energy for residential areas and individual homes, it would never
produce enough power to fuel industry.

Ghana needs to add 100 megawatts of power every year for the next 20
years if it is to meet energy needs. Indeed, these projections are
based on a 6 percent per annum economic growth; if Ghana is on track
to meet Middle Income Status anytime soon, growth needs to be higher
and energy demands increased, as Prof Osae points out.

"We are not talking about 10 megawatts here and there – and the kind
of quantities we need, I believe only nuclear can provide, although
no options should be thrown away."

On the question of safety, Prof Osae pointed out that everything
will be imported. Nuclear also makes economic sense. Although the
initial capital outlay will be higher, the running costs means that
within several years, the expense would have been cancelled out. The
running cost for uranium is only 20 percent that being spent on
thermal electricity at Tema; and because only a small amount of fuel
is needed, it can be stockpiled for 10 years, reducing significantly
the risk associated with fuel supply and price instability.

Prof Osae also pointed out the vast improvements in nuclear
technology in recent years, meaning that the reactors which are
being built today take around five years to build and last for 60
years, compared to the previous reactors which took seven years to
build and lasted for only 40 years.

In terms of safety, Prof Osae explained the vast improvements in
technology since the devastating Chernobyl disaster in Russia in
1986 – a catastrophe which many still associate with modern nuclear
energy production.

"The people who are going to provide the technology are the people
who know it" – with suppliers likely to come from the UK or the US.
"In the last few years, the emphasis has been on reactor safety; and
therefore the new reactors that are being built have inherent safety
mechanisms, so that when pressure builds, it would collapse within –
rather than exploding without."

Certain measures will need to be put in place first, however:
protection, safety and regulatory laws which will be supervised by
the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Addressing those who have expressed concern about nuclear energy in
Ghana, Prof Osae suggested that current opposition is concerned is
due to, "lack of knowledge, and people not willing to change."

Further, "nuclear energy started on the wrong side," according to
Prof Osae, "it was used in the war before it was used for peaceful
purposes." It is telling, however, that Japan, which was twice
attacked with nuclear bombs in 1945, has now firmly embraced nuclear
energy. 140, 000 are estimated to have died from the Hiroshima bomb
and its effects, and 70,000 in Nagasaki.

In 2003, the country had 54 nuclear reactors – third only to the 104
in the United States (now 102) and 59 in France. Nuclear power now
accounts for 34.3 percent of all energy in Japan.

For more on nuclear energy, including the environmental
implications, read The Statesman tomorrow.

© Copyright of Statesman 2005. Terms &amp; Conditions of reading.
*****************************************************************
 37 AU ABC: Vic nuclear plebiscite knocked back. 

19/04/2007. ABC News Online

The Victorian Government's proposed legislation for a plebiscite on
nuclear power has been defeated in the state's Upper House.

The Bill would have made it necessary for people to be given a vote
before a nuclear plant could be established in Victoria.

The Greens and the Liberals voted against the proposal.

Greens MP Greg Barber says he could not support the Bill because it
would not have allowed Parliament to properly scrutinise the
plebiscite.

"We fully support the voters having a say on whether we have nuclear
facilities here in Victoria but Parliament should be the ones to
decide that question," he said.

"That can't be left up to a Labor or even future Liberal minister...

"If there's to be a plebiscite, it shouldn't be an individual
minister, who after all could be from the Liberal Party a few years
from now, writing the question.

"He could be saying anything now really.

"We felt Parliament, as a broader body representing the people of
Victoria, should tick off on the question before it goes out."

But Energy Minister Peter Batchelor says today's result will make it
easier for the Federal Government to establish a nuclear power
station in the state.

"This Bill was an attempt to give the people of Victoria a say on
whether they would have nuclear power stations or waste facilities,"
he said.

"What's wrong with allowing the people of Victoria the opportunity
to express their opinion?

"I can't believe the Greens won't allow that to happen."

*****************************************************************
 38 Hindustan Times: Great progress in 123 agreement talks - US- 

US says nuclear deal with India at risk

Sridhar Krishnaswami, PTI

Washington, April 17, 2007

Seeking to play down reports that the US is unhappy with the slow
pace of movement in the 123 nuclear agreement talks with India, a
State Department official has said "great progress" has been made up
to this point and that subsequent negotiations would have to sort
through serious issues.

The Bush administration is also making the point that negotiation is
all about give and take and that Washington has been both flexible
and a good negotiating partner in the process.

"...We have made great progress in, to this point, fundamentally
changing the relationship between the United States and India on the
issue of nuclear power. Those were tough negotiations. I think on
both sides they would agree, however, that we came up with a good
solution, an equitable solution," State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack told reporters in Washington.

"Now, subsequent to those negotiations you had to have some other
implementing steps that need to take place; for example, the
negotiation of the so-called 123 Agreement which refers to the
section of the Atomic Energy Act. Those negotiations are ongoing
right now and our negotiators have, we think, put out some serious
ways to come to a successful conclusion of the negotiations" he
added.

"I think we've outlined a pathway in order to achieve our mutual
objective. And we'll see how the Indian government reacts to that.
There are currently discussions that are ongoing now and we'll see,"
McCormack said.

"I think we'll have a good idea in the not too distant future how
the Indian government is going to react to some of those suggestions
and we'll have a good idea of how quickly we might be able to
conclude the agreement, which is really going to be crucial to fully
implementing the US-India," he said.

It is also "crucial to India realising a different kind of
relationship with the rest of the international system
concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy", he added.

McCormack was also asked to comment on media reports that there are
some demands that Washington is not happy with and those could make
the whole deal break.

"... A negotiation is about give and take, and we understand that.
There are some areas that - by which we are restricted under the law
and I think the Indian government needs to appreciate that. But we
have sought to be flexible and we have sought to be a good
negotiating partner, and I think the record will show that," he said.


*****************************************************************
 39 Canada: Financial Post: Manufactured power crisis

Tom Adams, Financial Post

Published:Â Thursday, April 19, 2007

The Ontario government had several objectives in entering into a
solesource contract with Bruce Power to buy electricity from Bruce's
nuclear expansion. One of them, detailed in the Auditor-General's
report, was to conceal the consumer impacts. Mr. Hawthorne's letter
aids the government in achieving this objective.

Mr. Hawthorne takes issue with my characterization of the
$720-million refurbishment as a "prohibitive" expense. The
refurbishment, which was announced 23 months after the Harris
government announced the lease that created Bruce Power, had an
original price tag of less than half that --only $340 million.
Further evidence of the refurbishment's financial failure comes from
one of the partners of Bruce Power, Cameco, which sold its share of
the Bruce A project to its other partners, declaring a $60-million
loss on its share of the refurbishment.

Mr. Hawthorne rightly points out that private investors, not
consumers, paid. Under the new agreement, however, consumers will be
on the hook for an unknown amount. The Auditor ignored my request to
quantify the consumer hit should history repeat -- a likely outcome,
given the new, generous force majeur clauses that now protect Bruce
Power to the detriment of consumers.

Mr. Hawthorne denies that Bruce B sells its power at a regulated
price. Before the new deal, Bruce B sold its output at a fully
deregulated price. Not now. When market prices are low, Bruce B is
protected by a government- guaranteed price floor.

Mr. Hawthorne's claim that Bruce A now receives 6.1? per
kilowatthour is misleading. As the Auditor outlined, Bruce Power now
enjoys a new rent discount for the use of government assets, new
income security for output from Bruce B and previously refurbished
Bruce A units, and a steep escalation rate for prices that customers
will pay in future. The Auditor's report estimated that these
measures add approximately 1? per kilowatt-hour to the actual cost
of power from refurbished Bruce units.

Mr. Hawthorne effectively acknowledges that Bruce Power has no
commercial incentive to generate power from Bruce A units during
periods of highest customer demand when he correctly notes that he
needs permission from a government agency to take Bruce A units down
during peak periods. If he can convince the regulator, doing repairs
on Bruce A during peak demand periods will minimize his costs and
inflate revenues for his Bruce B units. My point is that replacing a
market incentive with a regulatory mechanism can only cost consumers
more.

The fault with the Bruce refurbishment contract lies not with Bruce
Power, which has a fiduciary duty to maximize returns to its
shareholders, but with the Ontario government. It was the government
that manufactured a power crisis with its coal shutdown policy and
then negotiated a very long-term power purchase agreement without
competitive checks and balances.

Tom Adams is executive director of Energy Probe.

Â© National Post 2007

© 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks
*****************************************************************
 40 Sydney Morning Herald: PM opens Sydney's $400m nuclear reactor - 

www.smh.com.au

April 20, 2007 - 6:09AM

Prime Minister John Howard has officially opened Australia's new
$400 million nuclear research reactor in Sydney.

The OPAL reactor at Lucas Heights replaces Australia's first nuclear
research facility, which was shut down in January after 48 years of
operation.

Mr Howard toured the new reactor on Friday morning amid tight
security, before officially opening the facility before an audience
of about 200 scientists, politicians and a delegation from
Argentina, the source of the fuel which feeds the reactor.

Mr Howard said the work by scientists at the reactor deserved to be
celebrated just as much as the achievements of Australia's sportsmen
and women.

"This facility will relieve human suffering, it will be of direct
life-saving benefit to countless thousands of our fellow country men
and women," Mr Howard said.

"It will also be a remarkable demonstration to the world of the
expertise and the cutting-edge capacity of the Australian nation."

The OPAL reactor sits in a 13-metre deep container of water, whereas
its predecessor was contained in steel.

Its main purpose is to generate neutrons for nine neutron-beam
instruments, two of which have already been delivered and are up and
running.

The tight security during Mr Howard's visit, included dozens of
police, a helicopter and sniffer dogs patrolling the south Sydney
site.

A small group of protesters in a truck with a fake nuclear waste
container were stopped by police and prevented from entering the
site earlier on Friday morning.

© 2007 AAP

*****************************************************************
 41 Albuquerque Tribune: Stolen state trailer found after 2 weeks 

Staff and wire reports

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The state Health Department has recovered an emergency preparedness
trailer stolen more than two weeks ago.

An Albuquerque resident alerted police that the 40-foot trailer -
which disappeared from a parking lot at Central New Mexico Community
College around April 1 - was parked in a vacant lot on the city's
north side.

Health officials said Tuesday almost all the contents were
recovered, including personal protective equipment and quarter-sized
samples of radioactive plutonium, cesium and strontium.

A Health Department spokeswoman said the missing materials were
"really minor stuff," such as straps for securing items and plastic
bags.

The Health Department contracts with the community college's work
force training center to conduct hands-on training with first
responders from around the state on how to respond to hazardous or
radioactive emergencies.

This site does not necessarily agree with posted comments, they are
the sole responsibility of the person posting them. Readers will be
banned for posting defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an
invasion of privacy comments. Read our privacy agreement.

© 2007 The Albuquerque Tribune
*****************************************************************
 42 BBC NEWS: Body parts removal helpline opens

Last Updated: Thursday, 19 April 2007, 10:59 GMT 11:59 UK

Tests were carried out between the 1960s and 1990s, said BNFL


A helpline has been set up for families of nuclear workers concerned
their relatives' body organs may have been removed without consent.

It was opened after an official inquiry into the removal of body
tissue from 65 deceased employees at Sellafield, in Cumbria, began
on Wednesday.

The plant's owner, British Nuclear Group, said more than 20 calls
had already been made to the helpline.



A spokeswoman said: "The support line is for families who want to
know if their relative is one of the 65 cases being looked at.

"Once we have taken their details our medical team looks into the
matter and then gets back to the family member."

Radioactive material

The workers all died between 1962 and 1991.

The samples ranged from small samples of tissues to bones and organs.

On Wednesday, Trade Secretary Alistair Darling appointed lawyer
Michael Redfern QC to lead an independent investigation into trade
union claims permission was not sought to remove tissue and body
parts.

Mr Darling said in many cases the tissue was removed at the request
of a coroner and was used to investigate the effects of radioactive
material.

But in other cases medical records failed to show why samples were
taken and who asked for them.

Medical records

The inquiry would ask why tissue was taken, whether next of kin were
told and if proper procedures were followed.

He told MPs records at BNFL, which formerly operated the site,
showed six of the workers were from Aldermaston and one was from a
nuclear site at Capenhurst, in Cheshire, who had transferred from
Sellafield.

Other information - but not medical records - related to a worker
from Springfield, Lancashire. The rest worked at Sellafield.

The helpline number is 01946 774 017, which is open between 0700 BST
and 2400 BST on Thursday and Friday.

* BBC Copyright Notice
*****************************************************************
 43 newsjournalonline.com: Is radiation killing our troops?

Families demand answers 

FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2007

April 15, 2007

By AUDREY PARENTE Staff Writer

Lori Brim cradled her son in her arms for three months before he
died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Dustin Brim, a 22-year-old Army specialist had collapsed three years
ago in Iraq from a very aggressive cancer that attacked his kidney,
caused a mass to grow over his esophagus and collapsed a lung.

The problems she saw during her time at Walter Reed, including her
son screaming in pain while doctors argued over medications, had
nothing to do with mold and shabby conditions documented in recent
news reports. What this mother saw was an unexplainable illness
consuming her son.

And what the Ormond Beach resident has learned since her son's death
is that his was not an isolated case.

Lori Brim has joined other parents, hundreds of other sick soldiers,
legislators, research scientists and environmental activists who say
the cause of their problems results from exposure to depleted
uranium, a radioactive metal used in the manufacture of U.S. tank
armor and weapon casings.



Health and environmental effects of depleted uranium are at the
heart of scientific studies, a lawsuit in the New York courts and
legislative bills in more than a dozen states (although not in
Florida).

News stories claiming negative signs of depleted uranium's impact,
including death and birth defects, are surfacing from Australia to
England to the Far East. The controversy rages within government
bodies and underlies the theme of TV shows like a recent episode of
Fox's medical series "House."

While the military continues to deny the connection of depleted
uranium to sicknesses plaguing returning servicemen and women, a
newly mandated study stemming from legislation signed by President
Bush in October is getting under way.

OPPOSITION

The new study, which began in March, follows several that have been
completed by the military into depleted uranium, a byproduct left
when enriched uranium is separated out for use in nuclear power and
atomic weapons. The Department of Energy gives it to arms makers,
where its extreme density is valuable in the manufacture of armor
and casings.

Despite a 1996 U.N. resolution opposing its use because of discovery
of health problems after the first Gulf War, the military studies
have concluded there was no evidence that exposure to the metal
caused illnesses.

To the military, the effectiveness of weapons and armor made with
depleted uranium outweighs any residual effects. Their bottom line:
Depleted uranium saves soldiers' lives in combat.

Robert Holloway, president of Nevada Technical Associates Inc., a
firm that specializes in radiation safety training, disputes any
concern over depleted uranium.

"I have no financial interest in promoting depleted uranium,"
Holloway wrote in an e-mail to The News-Journal. "There really is no
substitute for depending on the judgment of professionals in this
field."

Holloway and others who believe depleted uranium is safe to use say
the best authority in the scientific community would be individuals
connected to the Health Physics Society.

Doug Craig of Ponce Inlet, a retired radiation biophysics scientist,
is such a person. He doesn't believe low doses of radiation from
depleted uranium are a problem.

"Uranium occurs in a lot of places," Craig said, "and man has been
exposed to low concentrations of uranium for a long time."

LAWS AND LAWSUITS

But Brim and others think there will not be enough known until
soldiers are tested for exposure. They compare the debate over
depleted uranium to the controversy surrounding Agent Orange, the
toxic herbicide used to defoliate the jungles of Vietnam.
Speculation over its effects continued for more than two decades
before the Defense Department agreed to compensate veterans who
suffered from ailments linked to its use.

Brim often comforts other mothers whose sons and daughters are
suffering from unexplainable, aggressive cancers, like a Michigan
mother Brim met on the Internet.

The Michigan mom says she believes malignant tumors that resulted in
removal of her Marine son's ear, ear canal and half his face may be
linked to depleted uranium. But the woman asks that her name not be
used because her son still is a Marine -- battling cancer, not
bullets. And he has not been tested for DU exposure, she says.

In addition to consoling other mothers, Brim has tried
unsuccessfully to raise awareness of the issue either through
legislation or a lawsuit.

She recently traveled to Tallahassee with cancer lobbyists and left
plate-size booster buttons with her son's image, trying to raise the
consciousness of Florida legislators. But she says she has not been
able to interest anyone in creating a bill similar to one passed
last year in Connecticut -- the first state law in the nation aimed
at helping National Guard personnel returning from Iraq to get
tested for exposure to depleted uranium.

Other veterans are seeking help from legislators in states around
the country, like Melissa Sterry, 44, of Connecticut, who served
during the Persian Gulf War and suffers from multiple symptoms,
including chronic headaches, infections and multiple heart attacks.

Sterry is an activist who keeps track of more than a dozen states
that have introduced bills. That includes her home state, where a
veterans' health registry is being created as a database for the
federal government. Among the current list of states working on
individual legislation, Arizona has state Rep. Albert Tom, a
Democrat. For three years he introduced the issue of testing
National Guardsmen, each time a bit differently. He patterned a bill
after the Connecticut law this year.

"Again it was heard (in committee), but it just didn't go anywhere,"
Tom said.

Veterans might have better luck in court. Brim is closely following
a trial in New York, where -- despite a precedent that prevents
military personnel from suing the government for injuries resulting
from their service -- eight National Guard veterans have won the
right to be heard about their depleted uranium exposure.

One veteran in that suit, Gerard Matthew, says not only is he sick,
but contends his little girl's birth deformities are related to his
exposure to depleted uranium. The deformity, Matthew said, is
similar to many being reported within the Iraqi population since the
first Gulf War.

@news-jrnl.com

            &copy; 2007 News-Journal&nbsp;Corporation   | 
 news-journalonline.com (SM)
*****************************************************************
 44 GU: Scientists tested plutonium levels in organs of dead Sellafield workers 

Guardian Unlimited Politics

James Randerson and Will Woodward
Thursday April 19, 2007
 
A yellow and black pattern shows full (black) and additional space
(yellow) at the temporary storage of High level radioactive nuclear
waste at Sellafield nuclear plant. Photograph: Odd
Andersen/AFP/Getty images


Government scientists in the 1970s and 1980s tested plutonium levels
in tissue samples taken from the organs of Sellafield workers to
establish whether they were being exposed to the highly radioactive
material, the Guardian has learned.

Details of the tests - designed to establish whether nuclear workers
were receiving potentially dangerous doses compared with local
people - emerged amid an outcry about claims that the dead workers
were examined without consent of next of kin.

Alastair Darling, the trade and industry secretary, yesterday
announced a full investigation under the chairmanship of Michael
Redfern, the QC who led the inquiry into the scandal at Alder Hey
hospital in Liverpool, when thousands of organs were removed from
dead children without their parents' permission.

The study seen by the Guardian refers to data from Sellafield
workers and from members of the public living near the nuclear
facility, and to people from other regions. It involved measuring
the concentration of plutonium in tissue from the lung, liver,
femur, vertebra, rib and lymph nodes, and was carried out by the
National Radiological Protection Board.

A second paper, published in the journal Radiation Protection
Dosimetry in 1989, refers to data on plutonium from the livers of
four ex-Sellafield workers along with other people from Cumbria and
Oxfordshire. This study was trying to work out whether higher levels
of plutonium in people living in Cumbria were due to their proximity
to Sellafield.

The researchers, from the NRPB and the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons
Establishment, wrote: "The results provide strong circumstantial
evidence that plutonium from aerial discharges from the BNFL plant
at Sellafield has found its way into the tissues of the local
populace."

In the Commons, Mr Darling said BNFL, which operates Sellafield, had
identified 65 cases between November 1962 and August 1991 where
tissue was taken and analysed. One of the cases involved someone who
had transferred from Sellafield to a nuclear site at Capenhurst,
Cheshire, and there was information on six employees at Aldermaston
and one from the Springfield plant in Lancashire. The others were
all employed at Sellafield.

In the wake of the revelations, the UK Atomic Energy Authority
(UKAEA) said it would review the medical records of 20,000 workers
who had died. The investigation could spread to the UKAEA's former
nuclear research sites at Dounreay, Harwell and Winfrith, and BNFL
is likely to come under pressure to review the records of other dead
employees who never worked for UKAEA.

BNFL said 56 of the cases of sampling of autopsy material had been
carried out after a coroner's postmortem examination or inquest, and
in five other cases it had been done on a "legally correct basis".
In four cases, there was no record.

The records held by BNFL were of a "limited nature", Mr Darling
said. They did not show whether the next of kin knew. BNFL has said
none of the tissue remains. "This is clearly a difficult situation
covering events that took place up to 45 years ago. Nonetheless, we
owe it to the families as well as to the general public to find out
what happened," Mr Darling said.

Gary Smith, national officer of the GMB, on behalf of the Sellafield
joint trade unions, said: "The trade unions at Sellafield welcome
the inquiry." He added: "We appreciate the way the government has
dealt with this issue so quickly."

Conservative MP Peter Luff said the revelation was "just the latest
manifestation of the nuclear industry's past reputation for a
dangerous combination of unbridled optimism, alarming scientific
naivety and indeed, excessive cold war secrecy".

But Jenny Woodhouse, a health physicist at the plant from the early
1960s to 1991 and a pro-nuclear campaigner, said data from autopsies
on workers had been published openly at the time. "There was never
any question of bodies being taken to Sellafield for examination or
the removal of organs. The autopsies were carried out at local
hospitals under the normal arrangements for coroners' inquests."

FAQ: Reasons and rules

Why remove body parts?

So far, British Nuclear Fuels, which now owns the Sellafield nuclear
power station, has not released specific information about why
organs - reportedly including hearts and lungs - were removed from
workers at the site who died. However, two scientific papers
published in the 1980s refer to testing for plutonium in tissue
samples from Sellafield workers and members of the general public.
This research was aimed at finding out whether workers were subject
to higher doses of radiation. This work was carried out by
researchers at the National Radiological Protection Board (now part
of the Health Protection Agency) and the Atomic Weapons
Establishment at Aldermaston.

"Under such circumstances, one might expect that measuring the level
of contamination by radioactive material of the body of a Sellafield
worker could be regarded as a routine part of a postmortem
examination," the Royal College of Pathologists said in a statement.

What are the current rules governing removal of body parts?

The regulations have changed radically since the scandal over
retention of children's body parts at Alder Hey hospital in
Liverpool in 1999. The Human Tissue Act of 2004 made it a criminal
offence to remove tissue after death unless appropriate consent from
relatives is given or it is done under the authority of a coroner or
the courts.

What rules were in place at the time?

Regulations in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, when most of the organ
removals at Sellafield took place, were much less stringent. "The
standard of consent required for such work has changed
dramatically," the Royal College of Pathologists statement said.

 Useful links
British Energy
Department of Trade and Industry
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Greenpeace
Come Clean WMD awareness programme
UK atomic energy authority
National Radiological Protection Board
Friends of the Earth
World Nuclear Association
World Nuclear Transport Institute

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 45 Helsingin Sanomat: Radiation levels in thousands of Finnish bore wells exceed
recommendations

Major radiation sources are carcinogens radon and uranium

Some 30,000 to 50,000 people in Finland are daily exposed to
radiation in excess of the acceptable levels, coming from bore
wells. The majority of them live in the province of Uusimaa or
elsewhere in Southern Finland.
      According to Senior Scientist Laina Salonen from the Radiation
and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK), there are around
15,000 such bore wells all over Finland where the level of radiation
exceeds the recommended limit of 1,000 Bq for radon and 0.1 mg of
uranium per one litre of water.
      The total number of bore wells in the country is estimated at
150,000, of which STUK has examined nearly 10,000.
     
Equipment for radiation reduction was launched on the market in the
late 1990s. According to Laina Salonen, just 1,500 wells with a
radiation problem have been equipped with radon or uranium reduction
systems in the course of the past ten years.
      The most significant sources of radiation in Finnish well
water are radon and uranium, while also polonium, radium, and
radioactive lead can be found. All of these are highly carcinogenic
radioactive elements. The most harmful of all is radon.
      One reason for the slow sales of such reduction equipment is
lack of information. The owners simply do not know that their wells
contain radioactive elements.
      Another reason could be the expenses caused by the system
which many well owners regard as too high.
      "The municipal health inspectors have the main responsibility
to spread information. However, only a small number of them
participate in STUK's courses, which could be attributed to the
acute shortage of money in the municipalities", Salonen assumes.
     
"Have your well water checked!" urges PÃ¤ivi Kurttio, the Head of
Laboratory at STUK. She says that typically people are very
concerned about the health hazards of food, while not perceiving the
threat caused by clear well water.
      In radiation monitoring assays, STUK has also found alarmingly
high uranium levels in well water, namely up to over 12 mg of
uranium per litre. In practice, a high level of radon also indicates
an excessive level of uranium. Hence it is not enough to measure the
level of radon alone.
     
One milligram of uranium per litre is estimated to cause an
especially high risk of cancer death if a person is exposed to the
element for 12 months. The risk posed by elevated levels of radon in
drinking water - over 10,000 Bq per litre - is even greater.
      Kurttio stresses that it is possible to reduce radiation
levels in well water. Radon reduction systems work, and by using
such equipment, it is possible to decrease the risk of cancer
significantly.
      The number of cancer deaths caused by radioactive elements in
drinking water is estimated to be around 20 every year.
      The radiation found in bore well water is caused by the types
of rock in the Finnish soil, the uranium content of which is above
normal - in fact the highest in the world. The highest readings have
been recorded in the granite areas of Southern Finland.


Links:
  The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK)
  Radon (Wikipedia)

  19.4.2007 - TODAY

*****************************************************************
 46 Times of India: Uranium thorn-

Editorial-OPINION-The 

20 Apr, 2007| Updated at 0013hrs IST 

Rory Medcalf

Late last month, senior officials from a country with massive energy
needs came to Canberra asking if Australia might sell them fuel to
make electricity.

Australia's conservative government pragmatically said 'perhaps'.
But the Labor opposition said, in effect, 'no' â€” because the fuel
was uranium and the country was India.

Labor's policy matters a great deal to India. A federal election is
due in Australia this year and â€” pretty much for the first time
since it was defeated 11 years ago â€” Labor is credibly ahead in
national polling.

Labor's foreign affairs spokesman reaffirmed to Shyam Saran what was
until recently the bipartisan Australian stance: We consider selling
uranium only to states that have, among other things, signed the
1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

India's rise â€” whatever its flaws â€” is the largest experiment in
peaceful, democratic development in history. It is about improving
human welfare and self-respect on a scale most Australians can
scarcely imagine.

India has deep deprivation. Its economic growth is helping hundreds
of millions of its people. This requires electricity â€” and cleaner
air. Australian uranium could help.

Ties between Australia and India have long disappointed. For 60
years, our two countries have too often shared a lacklustre
diplomatic scorecard of wides and dropped catches.

Both sides have had to resort to cliches about shared affection for
cricket and the English language precisely because neither has made
the economic or strategic relationship a real priority.

Matters have improved, with growing trade including in coal and
education ser-vices, plus Australia's relatively recent â€” in other
words, post-9/11 â€” recognition of common cause against Islamist
terrorism.

But while India is building solid partnerships in many directions,
there remains nothing special about its ties with Australia. Yet
there could be.

Australian uranium fuelling India's rise in living standards would
put Australia on the path to becoming an indispensable partner to
the rising democratic power of the new century.

Our relations with India could finally start approaching the strong
ties we have with the other Asian giants. But then there's the NPT.

Stopping the further spread of nuclear weapons and reducing the risk
of their use are vital security goals that Australia has a proud
record of supporting.

But Australia and the rest of the international community should not
focus dogmatically or solely on the NPT in pursuing them. The NPT is
an imperfect instrument.

Arguably, it has often helped limit the proliferation of nuclear
arms. Sometimes it patently has not. Other factors matter too.

One is safeguards agreements allowing International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) inspectors to make sure civilian nuclear supplies are
not being diverted for bomb-making: NPT parties are bound by these
but other states can choose to be too.

Another issue is that some countries have safe neighbourhoods and
nuclear-armed allies and some do not. India won't sign the NPT until
the world or the treaty changes, in ways that seem hardly likely.

The treaty embodies a double standard in which the powers of the
1960s excluded India. It recognises as nuclear weapons states only
those countries that had already tested the bomb: the US, Russia,
the UK, France and China.

By the time India tested â€” in 1974 and 1998 â€” all it got was
nuclear trade bans and indignation.

So for India to sign the existing NPT, it would need to unmake its
arsenal â€” which won't happen while Pakistan or China, or anyone,
keeps theirs.

Any Australian uranium sales to India should certainly be bound by
strong safeguards, as are Australian sales to others, including
China.

It is not yet clear to Australia or other observers â€” if those
safeguards India will accept would be strict enough. This factor
will be crucial to India's new non-proliferation credibility.

But rather than dismiss outright the idea of selling uranium to
India, Australia should keep options and dialogue open.

At the same time, Canberra could try weighing in seriously in
pursuit of a real international consensus on nuclear
non-proliferation and disarmament, something on which the Howard
government has done little but which is more in line with Australian
Labor ideals.

Only, next time Australia convenes an international 'Canberra
Commission' of experts to explain how to rid the world of nuclear
weapons, it had better include an Indian.

The writer is with the Lowy Institute for International Policy,
Sydney.

reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
*****************************************************************
 47 AFP: Nevada Official Calls for NRC to Address 'Critical Safety Issue'
Related to Nuclear Waste Dump Proposed for Yucca Mountain: Financial
News 

Press Release Source: Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects

Nevada Official Calls for NRC to Address 'Critical Safety Issue'
Related to Nuclear Waste Dump Proposed for Yucca Mountain

Thursday April 19, 8:01 am ET

CARSON CITY, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bob Loux, executive director 
of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, urged the U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) today to reject the U.S. Department 
of Energy's plan to claim safety credit for "drip shields" 
expected to protect metal nuclear waste containers from water 
dripping into the proposed underground waste dump at Yucca 
Mountain. Installation of the drip shields would not take place 
for 100 to 300 years after the dump becomes operational, 
according to DOE's plans.

Loux sent a strongly worded letter today to Dale Klein, chairman of
the NRC, the organization that will consider DOE's application to
obtain a license to move forward with the Yucca Mountain Project.

"I write to draw the commission's attention to a critical safety and
legal issue that has been disregarded by the NRC staff in its
pre-licensing interactions with DOE on the proposed nuclear waste
repository at Yucca Mountain," Loux wrote. "The issue is whether any
safety credit should be given to so-called 'drip shields' in the
post-closure repository performance assessment when, as explained
below, it is doubtful that the drip shields would ever be installed."

Nevada opposes DOE's plans to build a high-level nuclear waste dump
at Yucca Mountain, some 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

In today's letter, Loux said DOE's attempts to comply with federal
radiation standards have relied heavily on titanium drip shields to
protect the nuclear waste packages from water that is expected to
drip through the mountain over thousands of years. Loux described
the shields as "kind of a series of titanium tents covering the
entire length of waste package emplacements in the repository
tunnels."

Loux explained that the idea of using drip shields as a part of the
Engineered Barrier System for the repository arose in the mid-1990s
after DOE discovered that, contrary to previous expectations, Yucca
Mountain's rock was highly fractured and allowed water to infiltrate
the repository. This water could accelerate corrosion of the
thousands of radioactive waste packages, he said. Since then, he
said DOE has made these drip shields a key part of how it plans to
protect Nevadans from radiation releases from the dump.

"Counting the drip shields (leaving aside considerations of whether
they will perform as proposed) might make sense if DOE actually
planned to install the drip shields when it emplaced waste
packages," Loux added. "Instead, it plans to install them just prior
to repository closure, which could be 100 to 300 years after the
repository becomes operational."

Loux went on to say that "it is understandable that DOE would want
to put off installation indefinitely because of the huge expense and
complications involved. But the flip side is that NRC should
accordingly not allow DOE to include the drip shields (to support
its application for a license to build the project)... The scope and
scale of the project for manufacturing and installing the proposed
drip shields would be enormous. The drip shields would be made of
Titanium 7, would weigh about four tons each, and the repository
would need at least 12,500 of them. DOE would have to buy an amount
of very expensive titanium metal equal to three and a half years of
the entire U.S. domestic production at a cost of at least $5
billion."

A more fundamental problem, he added, is that radiation, dust, rock
slides, corrosion and "as-yet-nonexistent robotics" make it
impossible to install such shields inside the repository after it
has been operating for decades. Loux wrote that DOE's own documents
concede that "human beings probably cannot reliably make a drip
shield."

Given all the uncertainties over whether the drip shields would ever
be installed, he said "it would make a mockery" of the NRC licensing
process to allow their inclusion in the safety determination. He
added that "NRC should not allow DOE to rely on pie in the sky."

"Because of all the above, Nevada respectfully requests NRC to
advise DOE that, absent a drastic change in DOE's drip shield
installation plans, DOE should not give, and NRC cannot legally
allow, any safety credit for drip shields in DOE's TSPA (Total
System Performance Assessment) for the upcoming Yucca Mountain
License Application."

For a copy of the letter and the attachments, visit
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste.

Contact:
Agency for Nuclear Projects
Bob Loux, 775-687-3744
or
Brown & Partners
George McCabe, 702-325-7358

Source: Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects

  Copyright © 2007 Business Wire. All rights reserved. All the news
*****************************************************************
 48 Aiken Today: A lot of positive feedback for GNEP

AikenStandard.com

Thu, Apr 19, 2007

Alan Dobson, senior vice president of EnergySolutions, walked the 
audience through what GNEP would mean for the Barnwell area.

By JOSH VOORHEES Staff writer

When time came to ask questions about the proposed nuclear
development on the former Allied General Nuclear Services site in
Barnwell, the audience gathered at the New Ellenton Civic Center had
little to offer other than written letters of support for the plan.

About 40 people attended Wednesday's public informational meeting
concerning the possibility of Barnwell being used as the site of the
proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program.

Allen Dobson, vice president of EnergySolutions, spent much of his
presentation reassuring a seemingly already assured crowd of the
benefits of a global nuclear operation that would focus on recycling
spent nuclear fuel in order to capitalize on unused Uranium.

"The track record of this industry is highly impressive," Dobson
said, going on to compare the proposed activities at Barnwell with
similar work conducted at the Sellafield Site, a British nuclear
plant at which he previously worked.

Dobson stressed that the program in Sellafield was not only
environmentally safe, but also financially beneficial to the
surrounding area.

"The (Sellafield) area's infrastructure benefited greatly from the
presence of the site," he said, citing increased education, medical
care, and commercial business in the region.

The vast majority of the public feedback offered to Dobson was made
in the form of written statements of support for the proposal. The
letters, five in total, were presented on behalf of local and state
officials and organizations, including a signed letter from Gov.
Mark Sanford in support of GNEP coming to the Central Savannah River
Area - either in Barnwell, or through a separate proposal at the
Savannah River National Laboratory.

Earlier this month Dobson gave similar presentations at two other
locations currently being proposed by EnergySolutions as possible
sites for the GNEP program - Atomic City, Idaho and Roswell, New
Mexico.

In total there are 11 locations across the country being considered
for the proposed site which would host integrated spent fuel
recycling facilities. Under the GNEP program ? which is part of
President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative ? nations with secure,
advanced nuclear capabilities would provide fuel services to other
nations who agree to use nuclear energy solely for power generation
and not for proliferation purposes.

If Barnwell was selected as the site for the program, the facility
could be up and running by 2020 if the licensing process went
smoothly, said Dobson.

The meeting was the second in a series of three such meetings hosted
in the area by EnergySolutions and the Southern Carolina Regional
Development Alliance. The first of the three public meetings in
South Carolina was held Tuesday in Yemassee, and the final one will
be held tonight at the Barnwell County Library from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Contact Josh Voorhees at jvoorhees@aikenstandard.com.

© 2005 The AikenStandard. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 49 RGJ.com: Tribe derails Yucca plans

April 19, 2007    

SUSAN VOYLES RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL

A federal proposal to ship up to 4,500 casks of nuclear waste by
train through Reno and Sparks to Yucca Mountain on the so-called
Mina Route has been dealt a severe blow by the Walker River Paiute
Tribe, who withdrew permission for a new railroad line to cross its
reservation about 50 miles southeast of Reno.

The tribal council adopted a resolution Tuesday that dropped its
participation in a federal environmental impact study for the route,
said to be cheaper and shorter than the Caliente route in Eastern
Nevada studied for the past decade.

"After considering the information we had gathered to date and
discussions with our membership, the tribal council made the
decision not to continue with the Department of Energy's process,"
tribal Chairwoman Genia Williams said in a news release.

"The tribe will not allow nuclear waste to be transported on rail
through our reservation," Williams said.

The tribal council had faced pressure from tribal members, who had
second thoughts about the tribal decision to become involved in the
study last June, Williams said.

Bob Loux, head of the Nevada Office of Nuclear Projects, said he had
heard from several dozen Schurz residents in the last few months.

"The growing and continued concern among tribal members in general
is what pushed them over," he said. "We heard from some tribal
members who were not comfortable with the information they were
getting."

Reno and Sparks officials were becoming increasingly worried about
nuclear waste traveling through Northern Nevada and the possibility
of an accident, sabotage or terrorist act. Yucca Mountain would
store up to 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste from the nation's
power plants and from other sources.

"I'm a happy camper," Sparks Mayor Geno Martini said of the tribe's
reversal. "We are very appreciative of what they did and we will let
them know."

At same time, Martini said he remains cautiously optimistic.

"As many times as this thing has died, hopefully this is the end of
it. But you never know," he said.

With the loss of the Mina route, Loux said only a few rail shipments
may go through Reno and Sparks, saying most shipments from the
Pacific Northwest probably would continue south through the Central
Valley, over to Las Vegas and onto Yucca Mountain.

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said he also is pleased with the tribal
decision. "That had put Reno and Sparks in a real tight box," he
said.

Cashell said he remains opposed to Yucca Mountain until the cities
are guaranteed continual funding for training and equipment for
first responders to deal with a nuclear incident as well as money to
keep the railroad tracks through the cities in top shape.

Using a "suite of routes" ending with the Mina corridor in Western
Nevada, Loux and state consultants predicted up to half of the
trains carrying nuclear waste would use a southern route to cross
the country. These trains would use the southern route and then head
north up the Central Valley in California, go over Donner Pass,
through Reno and Sparks and then connect with the Mina route at
Hazen.

A southern route and central Union Pacific route would provide more
security against a terrorist attack and serve as a backup route
during stormy weather and maintenance, Loux and state consultants
said.

Once Yucca Mountain was to open, the shipments would occur over 24
years. It's not expected to open for another 10 to 15 years if it
opens at all.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a staunch opponent of the federal plan
to entomb the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada, hailed the tribe's
decision as another blow to the Yucca Mountain project, which he
said was "on its last legs."

"We will keep fighting any route that keeps putting nuclear waste
through Reno and Sparks," Martini said. "We aren't going to lose
sight of the main point and that is to fight Yucca Mountain."

A bill that died last week in the Assembly would have required
railroad yards to submit security plans to the state, partly in
response to the nuclear shipments. Martini and a railroad official,
driving a borrowed car, recently toured the entire Sparks railroad
yard without being stopped. Martini called the experience scary and
an eye opener.

But those accounts had nothing to do with the tribe's decision,
Williams said.

"As a sovereign nation, we make a lot of decisions that are in the
best interests of our tribe," Williams said.

About 900 people live in Schurz, the center of the 325,000-acre
reservation. Loux said the only benefit the tribe would have
received is a new railroad line on tribal lands north of Walker
Lake, relocating a line that runs through the town.

Allen Benson, an Energy Department and Yucca Mountain spokesman in
Las Vegas, said the tribe's decision means the Mina corridor will be
dropped from the department's choices of potential rail lines to
Yucca Mountain. But Benson said the Energy Department still would
include the Mina route in an impact statement expected to be
released in October.

Elimination of the Mina corridor "certainly simplifies DOE's
options," said David Blee, executive director of the U.S. Transport
Council, a coalition of nuclear waste shippers.

YOU SAY Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:30 pm

"About 900 people live in Schurz, the center of the 325,000-acre
reservation. Loux said the only benefit the tribe would have
received is a new railroad line on tribal lands north of Walker
Lake, relocating a line that runs through the town."

IF they decided to run a NEW track through WRP REZ

You would be required to conduct an archaeological EIS to make sure
you did not disturb any burial sites and that requires big bucks no
one could afford!
Reader Comment Thu Apr 19, 2007 3:11 pm
"Effected local units of government" or something like that is what
DOE (not DOT) uses to decide who gets funing to do "Yucca Related
Activities." The Tribe just got into the game so they probably got
some, but all these other counties that border Nye have received
thousands if not millions for years. Even, Clark county has received
hundreds of thousands just to have personnel and an office to object
to Yucca Mountain. And, Mineral County has received large sums to
have personnel to support Yucca Mountain. How about Susan Voyles
contacting DOE and doing an article that discloses all the sums
given to the counties? This is federal funding so it is public
information. Mant rural NV areas have moblie homes and broke down
cars. Can we discuss the issues without making silly comments?
Reader Comment Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:52 pm
afphbp
quote

"I know that would be such a danger having a train go through the
town ruining the beautiful scenery of broken down cars and
deteriorating mobile homes. Can't risk that. I wonder how much money
the "tribe" accepted from DOT just to "consider" the plan when they
knew they'd say no all along. Unquote

Why don't you ask the Walker River Paiute Tribal Council?
The Bombs to and from Hawthorne have to travel somewhere Thu Apr 19,
2007 2:44 pm
Quote " I bet those bombs go through the trench."

Really?
Reader Comment Thu Apr 19, 2007 2:29 pm
I guarantee that Bob Loux will try to spread fear and untruths now
by claiming nuclear waste will travel from southern CA to northern
CA, through the Reno trench, up through Elko and around through Utah
to Caliente. At some point, Nevadas need to really look at the
untruths and fear promoted by Bob Lux of the Nevada Nuclear Projects
Office. Better yet, do people know how much DOE money is funding
Nevada counties for there Yucca Mountain issues and when a Tribe
gets pennies to participate in the EIS, they get slammed? The longer
Bob Loux creates hurdles for DOE, the more he gets paid over the
years. Is this about the facts Bob or about keeping you in a job by
spreading fear? Ammo trains from Hawthorne NV and the kill zone they
would cause in downtown Reno should be looked at. If i recall in a
past article, the Walker Tribe wanted these ammo trains out of the
center of their community. At least they are realistic about the
risk and not ignored like Bob Loux does. How about all the nuclear
waste shipments already occuring to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
in Carsbad, New Mexico? No major disasters there. Bob, promote
reality not a movie script about fear and untruths. Is anyone even
aware of the mercury shipments that will be going to Hawthorne, NV
for permanent storage?

© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc. Newspaper.
*****************************************************************
 50 China Daily: Nation to build uranium reserve

CHINA / National

Updated: 2007-04-19 07:05

China plans to set up a strategic reserve of natural uranium to
ensure that the emphasis on nuclear power development is backed by a
"stable and reliable" fuel supply.

The reserve will be built by "sparing no effort" in identifying and
exploiting domestic uranium deposits, while seeking international
collaboration at the same time, according to the latest national
nuclear industry development plan for years up to 2010.

Slightly more than 1 percent of China's total electricity needs are
met by nuclear power plants but this is set to surge to 4 percent by
2020, as the country seeks to reduce its reliance on coal-fired,
polluting plants, according to official sources.

"Now that China is determined to substantially expand the share of
nuclear power in energy consumption, we need to improve our
production capacity and technology regarding the nuclear fuel
cycle," an official with the China Atomic Energy Authority said
yesterday.

A nuclear fuel cycle starts with the mining of uranium and ends with
the disposal of nuclear waste with used fuel as an option for
nuclear energy, according to the World Nuclear Association.

"Toward that end, we must step up prospecting and excavation of
uranium ores, while conducting research on recycling of used fuel,"
the official, who preferred not to be named, told China Daily.

The official declined to specify the amount of uranium China needs
to process to reach the anticipated nuclear power generation
capacity of 40 gigawatts by 2020, or about five times the installed
capacity in 2005.

But with the country planning to construct three nuclear power
plants each year over the next 10 years, the production capacity of
various processes of the nuclear fuel cycle will have to increase by
four to six times by then, according to the plan.

Key areas that would be scoured for natural uranium include the Yili
Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China and
the Ordos Basin in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in North
China, according to the national plan.

The official said the State reserve, plus a system of commercial
stockpiles in enterprises, will take shape by 2010.

China will also seek natural uranium resources overseas, the plan
says.

Over the past few years, China has imported uranium from countries
such as Australia and Niger in Africa, said Han Xiaoping, executive
vice-president of China5e.com, a top energy website in China.

*****************************************************************
 51 UPI: China to build uranium reserves

United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - 

Published: April 18, 2007 at 11:28 PM

BEIJING April 18 (UPI) -- As part of a plan to boost
nuclear-generated power, China will set up a strategic reserve of
natural uranium to ensure reliable supply, a report says.

The country's nuclear industry development plan says the reserve
will come both from developing new sources of domestic uranium
deposits, as well as through foreign collaboration, the China Daily
reported Thursday.

Currently, little more than 1 percent of the country's total
electricity output is generated by nuclear power plants, but the
plan is to raise this to 4 percent by 2020, the report said. China
plans to build three nuclear power plants each year over the next 10
years.

Official say greater reliance on nuclear-generated power will help
reduce reliance on pollution-causing coal-fired plants.

"Now that China is determined to substantially expand the share of
nuclear power in energy consumption, we need to improve our
production capacity and technology regarding the nuclear fuel
cycle," a China Atomic Energy Authority official was quoted as
saying.

China Daily said the official declined to specify the amount of
uranium China will need to meet its goals.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 52 SPIEGEL ONLINE: Popular Fears Trump Science: Europe's Nuclear Waste Conundrum -

April 19, 2007

By Charles Hawley

A new study has found that large swaths of Germany could be 
suitable to store highly radioactive nuclear waste. But that 
doesn't mean the problem is any closer to being solved.

AP

Europe is still a long way from agreeing on what to do about nuclear
waste.

It was a headline that likely unnerved a number of anti-nuclear
activists in Germany. The Federal Institute for Geosciences and
Natural Resources on Wednesday released a report indicating that a
large chunk of northern Germany, and a bit of the south as well, is
geologically suitable for the indefinite storage of highly
radioactive nuclear waste.

The study drew no conclusions about the appropriateness of specific
locations; rather it focused on those places with layers of clay at
least 100 meters (328 feet) thick and at a depth of 300 to 1,000
meters. The report follows two earlier investigations identifying
regions of salt-stone and granite which might also lend themselves
to storing highly radioactive waste. Germany, it seems -- even as it
continues to follow a policy of backing away from nuclear power --
has no shortage of sites suitable to be transformed into radioactive
cemeteries.

Nevertheless, the report is sure to add fuel to an ongoing
smoldering debate in Germany and across Europe about what to do with
highly radioactive nuclear waste. On the one hand, activists hold up
waste storage as one of the primary dangers represented by atomic
power. After all, used up fuel rods and other waste remain "hot" for
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. How can one be
sure today, many wonder, that facilities built today won't fall
apart in 300,000 years?

On the other hand, scientists claim that most of the tricky
scientific questions pertaining to long-term nuclear waste storage
have been answered and that safe storage is possible. Now, they say,
it is up to the politicians.

"Because there isn't a final storage facility, one could come to the
conclusion that the problem hasn't been solved," Dr. Thomas
Fanghaenel, director of the Institute for Transuranium Elements in
Karlsruhe, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "That would be the wrong
conclusion.... I think the political problems are the most difficult
-- the 'not in my backyard' phenomenon and other socio-political
problems."

"A different time scale"

"Another problem," he continued, "is the time issue. If you decide
today on a storage facility, then it won't be finished for another
20 years and that is simply a different time scale than we are used
to in political life. There is not a very big motivation for
politicians to make a decision."


A prime example of such political difficulties is the Gorleben
nuclear storage research site in the German state of Lower Saxony.
For years, the site -- bored into a massive underground formation of
salt stone, a material Wednesday's report found better suited to
nuclear storage than clay -- has been an object of intense research
with an eye toward eventually turning it into a final repository.
Indeed, the site was first chosen three decades ago in 1977.

Although experts believe that Gorleben is the best -- and best
researched -- site in Germany for such a repository, the final
decision remains on hold. All research was halted in 2000 and has
yet to resume today -- largely because of the numerous political
challenges mounted against the site.

Wednesday's study comes at a time when pressure is growing in
Germany to revisit the decision to shut down all nuclear reactors in
the country by 2020. With increasing attention being paid to global
warming resulting from CO2 emissions, conservatives in Berlin would
like to see nuclear energy -- which emits no CO2 -- remain an
important part of Germany's energy mix. Nuclear energy is likewise
experiencing a renaissance across Europe and indeed globally,
meaning adequate storage of spent fuel rods promises to increase in
importance.

In Europe, the problem is magnified by a lack of a European
Union-wide policy, meaning each country is responsible for disposing
of its own highly radioactive nuclear waste. But given the
relatively small amounts of such waste -- highly radioactive waste
represents a very small portion of all radioactive waste produced --
one or two larger repositories would be plenty for the entire
27-member club, argues Fanghaenel.

Bunch of mini-repositories

"If you look at it from a distance," he says, "it makes absolutely
no sense for each country to have its own facility. It would be
really absurd, for example, for Belgium to build its own repository.
Europe only needs one or two. We are talking about huge amounts of
time here, and at some point there won't be any more borders like we
now know them and then there will be a whole bunch of mini
repositories."


BGR

A new study has found a number of places in Germany where nuclear
waste might be stored.

By far the greatest hurdle to establishing final waste repositories
in Europe, however, remains public acceptance. According to an EU
report from January, 2005, even though experts have little doubt
about the safety of storing high-level radioactive waste, "there
continues to be opposition from large sectors of the public to most
proposals concerning the siting of repositories."

Marilyn Carruthers, EU spokeswoman for energy issues, concurs. Even
as she points out that Finland has been able to agree on a site
which will be operational by 2020 and that Sweden isn't far behind,
removing public fears about radioactive waste remains a challenge.

"Achieving acceptance by politicians and the local public over the
choice of suitable sites is not easy, and this has largely been the
reason for the delays in most national programs," Carruthers wrote
in an e-mail to SPIEGEL ONLINE. "The single key issue for
implementing a waste strategy and especially for establishing a
geological repository is public acceptance."

Germany's Ministry of Economics welcomed the report on Wednesday as
providing clarity about Germany's geological suitability for highly
radioactive nuclear waste. A spokesman also demanded that research
at Gorleben be immediately continued, given the study's finding that
clay is inferior to salt stone for waste storage.

Further studies, though, will no doubt be necessary to determine
where the socio-political conditions might allow for such a
repository.


© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2007
*****************************************************************
 53 Whitehaven News: QC to probe testing of body parts at Sellafield

Published on 19/04/2007

By Karl Connor

THE lawyer who chaired the inquiry into the scandal of childrenâ€™s
organs being kept at a hospital without parentsâ€™ consent is to
investigate the issue of body parts being tested at Sellafield.

Industry secretary Alastair Darling made the announcement in the
House of Commons. He said a full public inquiry would be held
because the Government â€œowed it to the familiesâ€.

He also told MPs that records held by BNFL were incomplete and
inconclusive.

Mr Darling appointed Michael Redfern QC, who led the inquiry into
events at the Alder Hey childrenâ€™s hospital in Liverpool inquiry
in 1999, to investigate and asked for patience as some of the
recorded cases dated back 45 years.

Mr Darling confirmed that the majority of workers had been employed
at Sellafield between 1962 and 1991. He said the inquiry would
examine why the tissue was taken, whether next of kin were informed
and whether proper procedures were followed.

â€œWe owe it to the families to find out what happened and why,â€
he said. â€œItâ€™s important to tell the House the limited nature of
the records that are held by BNFL.

â€œThese are medical records which show what analysis was done on
organs removed following post mortem examination. Because they are
medical records which dealt with the analysis carried out at
Sellafield, they do not provide an audit trail which would show in
every case who asked for such an examination, under what authority
and for what purpose.

â€œNor do they disclose whether or not the appropriate consent from
next of kin was received.

â€œSome records have more information than others but at this stage
it is simply not clear what procedures were followed in every case.
From the information I have, I can tell the House that 23 such
requests for further examination and analysis were made following a
coronerâ€™s inquest. A further 33 requests appear to follow a
coronerâ€™s post mortem. Three requests were made associated with
legal proceedings and there was one request made by an individual
prior to death,â€ said Mr Darling.

Sellafield unions were furious that tissue samples from workers at
the plant might have been taken without family consent.

Tissue and bone samples from workers were used, legally, for testing
between 1962 and 1992.

British Nuclear Group (BNG) says it has documentation for 65 cases
in which samples were studied. It is believed that in the majority
of cases the coroner requested that the testing be carried out. A
BNG spokeswoman said: â€œAn examination of the data has shown that
in 56 of those cases the sampling was done associated with
coronersâ€™ post mortems or inquests. In five other cases it was
done under instruction from other legally correct bases, such as
family solicitors.

â€œFor the remaining four cases there is no record of instruction or
consent on file although this does not mean that appropriate
requests were not made.â€

Controversy has arisen because before November 2005 coroners had no
legal obligation to inform families of the practice â€“ meaning that
the families of workers whose tissue was taken might never have
known.

Peter Kane, GMB convenor at the site, said: â€œWe have just been
made aware what has gone on and it is of grave concern for us. There
is a likelihood that this will affect former members of the union
and, possibly, people who are currently members who might be related
to people who were involved in the testing.

â€œThe trouble is that we just donâ€™t know who these people are
and, indeed, we might never know.

â€œWe need to establish what samples have been taken and whether or
not permission was sought from family members.

â€œWe are therefore asking the company to set up a helpline for
those who may think their family members were involved to go for
answers.â€

David Moore, leader of the local conservative party and chairman of
the Sellafield Stakeholder Group â€“ the independent body set up to
represent the committee on nuclear issues â€“ said: â€œIt is the
families that have to be our primary concern. I am satisfied that
the site has operated correctly in that it has followed the rules to
seek permission. I am also confident that permission would have been
sought â€“ even though it might not have been a legal requirement,
although nobody can say that for certain.

â€œWhat you have to remember is that we are going back a long, long
time and it is feasible that the next of kin of many of those tested
will have also now passed away, and that living relatives just
wonâ€™t know if permission was ever sought.

â€œI am disappointed that the paper trail is not complete, and that
there are clearly four cases where there needs to be much further
investigation. There of course is nothing to say that the paper
trail will not be completed once a full investigation has been
carried out â€“ it is a big archive of paperwork to search and the
records might be located.â€

The issue has been dubbed a scandal by the national media, who have
likened it the crisis at Alder Hey childrenâ€™s hospital, where
youngstersâ€™ organs were removed without parentsâ€™ consent and
stored in jars for testing, on the secret orders of a doctor.

Mr Moore added: â€œI think comparisons with Alder Hey are nothing
short of ridiculous. It is my understanding that the tissue samples
[at Sellafield] were destroyed as part of the process of testing
them. There were no organs in jars or anything of that nature.

â€œAs I understand it the tissue is burned and then the ash is
tested for radiation.â€

MP for Copeland Jamie Reed said: â€œIt is essential that we
understand the facts and that the facts are made public. We need to
know what happened, over how long and to whom.

â€œIf an investigation cannot resolve this then I will not be slow
to ask for a public inquiry into it. I have already written to Mike
Parker (BNFL group chief executive) telling him as much.â€

The issue of testing is not a new one. It was first reported in The
Whitehaven News during the 1980s, and in April 1990 we reported that
the National Radiological Protection Board wanted permission to
continue to take samples from the deceased.

At the time the NRPB said that the testing would not take place
without familiesâ€™ permission.

The Ethics Committee in West Cumbria, which monitored such matters,
has not existed locally for the last five years following national
changes which merged it into a new larger committee for the North
West.

There are now half a dozen Research Ethics Committees throughout the
country.

Janine Allis-Smith, of Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive
Environment (CORE), said: â€œThis is an emerging story and the
promised full investigation is fully supported by CORE.

â€œWe would not be surprised if more cases are discovered, and
possibly not just from the 1960s and 1970s.

â€œIn the 1980s CORE ran a workersâ€™ compensation support scheme
before the nuclear industryâ€™s own scheme was set up. It involved
interviews with widows and relatives who sometimes were concerned
about autopsies they did not know about.

â€œWeâ€™ll make all this information available to the Inquiry.

â€œIt comes as a surprise to us that the Unions did not know
anything about this, they must have been involved in the defence
team with private prosecutions against BNFL in the 1980â€™sâ€

The BNG statement added; â€œThe issue of tissue sampling is an
historic issue not a current one, however, our prime concern is for
the feelings of the families of those involved.

â€œThe sampling of autopsy material began in the 1960s and ceased in
the early 1990s.

â€œThe subject of sampling autopsy material came about at the
present time because of a request to re-examine the historic
research data to support new studies. That request was made by the
Westlakes Research Institute to the Westlakes/NDA Research
Governance Group and this is being considered by that group, the
company and the unions.

â€œTissue samples waiting to be analysed were stored appropriately,
on occasions for several months. However the samples were destroyed
by the actual analysis process.

â€œThere is no tissue stored on site today and the practice of
taking samples for radiological analysis ceased in 1992.

â€œWe will consider with the NDA any information we have and will
discuss with other interested parties in order to agree a way
forward.â€

Meanwhile samples from the umbilical cords of babies born in West
Cumbria are taken, after the mothers give consent, and are going
towards the biggest DNA database study in Europe.

They have been taken at West Cumberland Hospital since 1996 as the
North Cumbria Community Genetics Project. This has been a joint
venture between Newcastle University and Westlakes Genetics Labs,
with certain funding from BNFL.


View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital
reproduction, just like the printed copy at
www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy

*****************************************************************
 54 Whitehaven News: Daughter's anger over 'stolen' organs

Published on 19/04/2007

Malcolm Pattinson

A WOMAN wept as she claimed that Sellafield DID take WHOLE organs
from her dad, WITHOUT consent.

And she fears they could then have been discarded in a nuclear waste
dump after testing.

Angela Christie - who herself now works at the plant - is demanding
to know what happened to her dadâ€™s lungs, liver and vertebrae when
they were taken from him during a post mortem in 1971.

Angela, who was 13 at the time, said she remembers her dadâ€™s death
clearly and has checked with relatives that no consent was given.

She contacted the site after seeing the scandal on television news.

â€œI am appalled at all the secrecy. They are still using the phrase
â€˜tissue samplesâ€™ but two representatives from the medical
department came to my house yesterday and admitted that Sellafield
had taken both my dadâ€™s lungs, his liver and vertebrae.

â€œThey also said they had taken other parts, a tube from his chest
which I canâ€™t remember the medical name for - I am in bits over
this.

â€œThey brought his full file with them and said that from the
weights they could tell that they had taken full organs.

â€œI asked what had happened to the organs and they said that they
would have been burned during testing - but I want to know what
happened to the ash.

â€œIf you get someone cremated then you do something respectful with
the ashes, this should have been the same.

â€œI shudder to think but, knowing what I do about Sellafield, my
worry is that it will have ended up in the Drigg low-level waste
dump.

â€œWe arenâ€™t talking about microscopic pieces of tissue here, we
are talking about whole organs.â€

Mum-of-three Mrs Christie said that her dad, Malcolm Pattinson, died
of leukaemia but that the cancer was not diagnosed until after he
died.

She also said that he had stopped working at Sellafield 18 months
before he died - because of family fears over safety.

â€œHe was only 36 and he was fit and healthy.

â€œHe was off work on the Wednesday, he was tired and had flu like
symptoms and I remember that he asked me to stay off school and put
my younger brother and sister to school, because my mum was in a
hospital having a routine operation.

â€œThe next day we got the doctor because he got a little worse and
he was admitted to hospital, he died within 24 hours.

â€œThey (BNG) keep saying on the news that in most cases samples
were taken because of an impending legal battle, but my dad died so
fast that they wouldnâ€™t have known that their would be a court
case.

â€œMy dad didnâ€™t even work at Sellafield at the time so I am angry
that they had this access to his body.

â€œHe had gone to work at Marchon 18 months before because my mum
was worried about him working with plutonium.

â€œI know I was only young at the time but I had to grow up over
night and the nine-year court battle that followed meant I was
constantly reminded of what happened.â€

The compensation was settled out of court with Angelaâ€™s mum
Maureen awarded Â£52,000 in 1979.

Angela, her sister Barbara and brother John were each awarded
Â£5,000.

â€œMy mum had a stroke not long after the court case was settled and
was then in ill health until she died three years ago.

â€œThe medical staff that came to see me were as honest as they
could have been, but they simply didnâ€™t have the answers to a lot
of my questions, I can only hope that the inquiry will have.â€

Mrs Christie is also furious that the government did not keep
families informed of new developments.

â€œThe first thing I knew was from the TV, and then you have
government ministers making statements in parliament - all before
the families have even been contacted by anyone from the site.â€


View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital
reproduction, just like the printed copy at
www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/digitalcopy

*****************************************************************
 55 Sydney Morning Herald: Garrett to vote no to uranium change - 

www.smh.com.au

Stephanie Peatling
April 20, 2007

THE Federal Opposition's environment spokesman, Peter Garrett, will
vote against a proposal to relax the Labor Party's longstanding
restrictions on uranium mining.

The decision puts him at odds with the leadership of the party, as
both the Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, and the deputy leader, Julia
Gillard, say they will vote to change the party's so-called three
mines policy during the party conference next weekend.

Mr Garrett was to tell a meeting of his electorate last night that
he could not see why the party's policy should be changed. "I have
very great concerns about the current fragile safety regimes and the
porous nature of safeguards because of the International Atomic
Energy Agency's inadequate monitoring of safety issues," Mr Garrett
said before the meeting.

It is the first time Mr Garrett has publicly declared the position
he will take. Despite a year of debate about whether or not
Australia should adopt nuclear power as a solution to climate
change, Mr Garrett said he had never considered changing his
position.

"It reaffirms my high level of concern that those who have
traditionally borne the brunt of already existing uranium mining
activity in Australia has been Australia's indigenous population,"
he said.

When news happens: send photos, videos & tip-offs to 0424 SMS SMH
(+61 424 767 764), or

*****************************************************************
 56 Japan Times: Murdered mayor was key nuclear foe 

japantimes.co.jp    Web
 
Thursday, April 19, 2007

Nagasaki yakuza bore a grudge?

By ERIC PRIDEAUX and ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writers

One of the leading voices against nuclear proliferation was 
silenced Wednesday when Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito died from 
gunshot wounds. He was 61.

Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito's coffin is carried into his family home
Wednesday. He was pronounced dead earlier in the day after being
gunned down by a gangster Tuesday night. KYODO PHOTO

Local yakuza Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, was arrested on the spot after Ito
was gunned down on the busy street Tuesday evening in front of JR
Nagasaki Station as the mayor was campaigning for a fourth term.
Shiroo, who reportedly was trying to flee, owned up to the slaying
and a pistol was seized. Police are investigating a possible motive.

Early indications were that the assassination stemmed from a
personal vendetta and not due to the mayor's political beliefs,
unlike the 1990 shooting of Ito's predecessor, Hitoshi Motoshima,
who survived that attack by a rightwing extremist angry over his
remark that the late Emperor Hirohito was partially responsible for
the war.

It is part of the job of political leaders in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the only two cities to have had an atomic bomb dropped on
them, to oppose nuclear weapons. Ito had a particularly high profile
as mayor and was widely respected.

A woman mourns the slaying of Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito on Wednesday
outside his home in the city. KYODO PHOTO

"He was well-known for his position, and his loss is most tragic,"
said Nishio Baku, codirector at the Citizens' Nuclear Information
Center, an antinuclear organization in Tokyo that compiles
information on nuclear energy.

Rebecca Johnson, founding director of the London-based Acronym
Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy and a long-term acquaintance of
Ito, told Kyodo News, "This kind of violence must not be allowed to
silence the important voices of peace and integrity like Mayor
Ito's."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday denounced the murder, calling
it "a challenge to democracy."

"A heinous act committed during an election campaign is a challenge
to democracy. We will have to be determined and eradicate this kind
of violence," Abe told reporters Wednesday morning.

Soon after being elected mayor in 1995, Ito told the International
Court of Justice at The Hague that the indiscriminate nature of
nuclear blasts, their inevitable affects on civilians and
destruction of the natural environment, make their use "a manifest
infraction of international law."

Last year, he publicly criticized the United States for allowing
civilian nuclear cooperation with India, a reversal of Washington's
long-standing policy of nonproliferation of atomic power in India.

Also last year, Ito voiced strong indignation over North Korea's
October nuclear test, but was equally critical of the political
hawks here who said Japan should develop its own nuclear capability
in response.

Ito was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m. Wednesday at Nagasaki
University Hospital, Nagasaki Prefectural Police said.

The mayor died of blood loss after a four-hour operation to repair
damage to his heart and lungs. He was attached to an artificial
heart-lung machine during that time and never regained
consciousness. His family, including his wife, Toshiko, 61, were at
his side.

"We offered the best treatment we could, but were unable to sustain
blood circulation and (the mayor's) heart stopped," the hospital
director, Katsumi Eguchi, told reporters early Wednesday.

The man held in the assassination is the deputy boss of Suishin-kai,
a mob affiliate of Yamaguchi-gumi, the top underworld syndicate. It
is the only direct affiliate based in Nagasaki. On Wednesday,
however, Suishin-kai, which is on a police watch list, said will
disband.

At 7:52 p.m. Tuesday, Shiroo allegedly shot the mayor twice in the
back from a distance of about 1 meter after Ito stepped out of
vehicle in front of his campaign office next to JR Nagasaki Station,
police and his office said.

Both bullets entered the mayor's body below his right shoulder blade
and punctured one of his lungs and his heart before stopping at his
breast bone, according to police and the hospital. Members of Ito's
campaign staff jumped on Shiroo and held him down as he tried to
flee. He reportedly admitted right away to shooting the mayor and
was arrested for attempted murder, a charge later updated to murder.
His pistol was also seized.

Police said Shiroo told them he was irritated by the city's handling
of damage done to his car at a construction site that was overseen
by the municipal government.

"I could not stand the response by the city and was infuriated,"
Shiroo was quoted by police as saying. "I did it, wishing to kill
the mayor and thinking I should do it even at the cost of my life."

City officials said Shiroo had visited the city office more than 30
times to protest the city's refusal to continue negotiating with him
over damage to his car he claimed was from a cave-in at a
construction site on a city street in 2003, officials said.

According to the city, the only damage was to the vehicle's fender,
but Shiroo initially demanded 600,000 yen and ended up trying to get
more than 2 million yen, at which point the city broke off
negotiations with him in January 2005 after consulting with police,
they said.

Shiroo continued to pester officials, filing a criminal complaint
against the mayor and the official in charge of the case, and
posting his claims on his Web site. No one reported the man's
behavior to the mayor as he was perceived to be a minor problem, the
city said.

Police raided Shiroo's Nagasaki home, Suishin-kai's office and
several other sites starting at about 5 a.m. Wednesday.

Former police officers in Osaka and Kobe, home to Yamaguchi-gumi,
and reporters who cover the yakuza said they doubted Ito's murder
had been sanctioned by the mob's top bosses.

Authorizing a hit on such a high-profile figure would invite a
yakuza crackdown and would cause a groundswell of public support for
tougher antigang laws, said one former Osaka police officer who
asked not to be identified.

Unaffiliated with any party, Ito had been widely expected to win a
fourth term in Sunday's election. There are three other candidates
-- university lecturer Tomoko Maekawa, 59, housewife Etsuko Maekawa,
57, both of whom are running as independents, and former city
assembly member Seiichi Yamamoto, 71, of the Japanese Communist
Party.

Ito's son-in-law, Makoto Yokoo, 40, a political news reporter for
the Nishinippon Shimbun, based in the city of Fukuoka, announced
Wednesday he will take the mayor's place on the ballot. He will
campaign under tight security and is expected to be elected.

"We must not remain indifferent when someone resorts to violence
against a person because he cannot have his way," Yokoo told
reporters in Nagasaki. "Somebody has to take over what Itcho Ito was
trying to accomplish."

Other politicians have died during their campaigns, and family
members took their places and won. Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira,
who was running in the 1980 election for both Diet chambers, and
Liberal Democratic Party member Saburo Toida, who was up for a seat
in the 1996 House of Representatives election, both died of heart
attacks. Ohira's son-in-law and Toida's second son took their places
and were elected.

The Japan Times

*****************************************************************
 57 Lab accused of falsifying data, affidavit shows

Thursday, April 19, 2007

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YAKIMA -- A chemist who analyzed sediment samples in support of
cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation has accused his former
laboratory of falsifying data about a potential cancer-causing
agent, according to a federal affidavit unsealed Wednesday.

Last week, federal authorities raided the laboratory operated by
Energy Northwest, a public-power consortium that operates a nuclear
power plant north of Richland.

The utility's laboratory also performs an assortment of
environmental tests for other companies, including a subcontractor
to federal contractors at Hanford, the nation's most-contaminated
nuclear site.

A special agent for the Environmental Protection Agency filed an
application for a search warrant, along with a supporting affidavit,
April 5 in U.S. District Court in Yakima.

The documents accuse Energy Northwest Laboratory of making false
statements, mail fraud and wire fraud related to tests for
hexavalent chromium, a potential cancer-causing agent that was used
as a corrosion inhibitor in reactors.

Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
©1996-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
*****************************************************************
 58 SF Nex Mexican: LANL director to testify on safety issues

Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:16 pm
 
By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican
April 19, 2007
House panel chairman says 'patience has grown thin'

For the second time this year, Los Alamos National Laboratory's
director is scheduled to testify Friday before the House
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations about security concerns.

And Director Michael Anastasio aims to share what he considers good
news with grumbling congressional investigators.

"The director is looking forward to outlining for the subcommittee
all of the progress we've made over the last few months,"
Anastasio's spokesman Kevin Roark said. "And I think he's got some
real results to show to them."

The lab has undergone what management has described as an intense
cyber-security review over the past year. An October 2006 security
breach accelerated that effort and garnered national attention when
it became public that a former lab archivist took classified work
home with her.

The lab has been criticized before regarding the Wen Ho Lee case;
concerns that classified information went missing and, later, that
it never existed in the first place; and a 2004 shutdown to review
safety and security issues that cost taxpayers $370 million,
according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Also testifying will be Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Gregory
Friedman, the inspector general for the Department of Energy. Bodman
has been called upon to "explain why classified information has been
leaked" out of the lab and to discuss other concerns, a subcommittee
news release says.

"This is the 13th hearing held by this subcommittee on mismanagement
at LANL, and our patience has grown thin," subcommittee Chairman
Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said in a news release.

The news release also mentioned a discovery made last month that
names and Social Security numbers of about 550 people were posted to
the Web site of a lab contractor, Lujan Software Services. The
company owner declined to comment when reached by telephone
Wednesday.

Roark said the lab discovered the information by chance and that lab
officials helped take the Web site down. The names of current and
former lab employees and visitors were listed on the site.

Lujan Software Services has not worked for the lab for at least two
years, Roark said.

"We made an initial assessment and came to the conclusion this was a
largely inactive Web site," Roark said. The information was very
difficult to find, "and we had absolutely no indication that it had
in fact been compromised."

No one has reported any identify theft, he added.

Contact Andy Lenderman at 995-3827 or alenderman@sfnewmexican.com.

ON THE WEB

The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on
Los Alamos National Laboratory security, scheduled for 7:30 a.m.
Friday MDT, will appear on the Web at energycommerce.house.gov/.


Copyright 2007 The New Mexican, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 59 Tri-City Herald: Feds say initiative would delay cleanup

Published Thursday, April 19th, 2007

ANNETTE CARY, HERALD STAFF WRITER

Initiative 297 would undermine the Department of Energy's plan to
complete nationwide cleanup of Cold War nuclear weapon sites by
2035, the Department of Justice argued in documents filed in the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Washington state has appealed a federal court ruling that the
Hanford initiative passed by voters in 2004 was unconstitutional.
The most recent documents filed in the case are the initial briefs
for DOE and its supporters in the appeal, Fluor Hanford and the
Tri-City Development Council.

The initiative, which has yet to become law, would ban DOE from
bringing more radioactive waste to the Hanford reservation through a
system of permits that would require waste already at the site to be
cleaned up first. The site is massively contaminated from the past
production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

DOE would not be able to meet final permitting requirements for at
least 20 years and likely more, according to the Department of
Justice.

That leaves it no place to send some nuclear waste it had planned to
ship to Hanford, it said. Under the plan, nearly every site in the
DOE complex would export or import waste, or do both.

"The Hanford cleanup strategy depends on the ability to export
significant quantities of waste to sites outside Washington state,
particularly the highly radioactive or long-lived waste generated in
the cleanup," according to the federal brief.

Hanford also would be required to accept some low-level radioactive
waste mixed with hazardous chemicals for disposal. It is the only
federal facility that can dispose of certain classes of that waste
long term, according to the brief.

If the plan is carried out, Hanford would end up with significantly
less radioactivity, the brief said. Waste with approximately 374
million curies of radioactivity would be sent from Hanford to
federal repositories in New Mexico and Nevada and waste with
approximately 8.3 million curies of radioactivity would be sent to
Hanford.

Some of that waste would be disposed of at Hanford and some would be
treated and sent on to New Mexico under the plan. However, some
critics are concerned that lack of certain treatment equipment and
possible legal issues could strand some waste sent to Hanford for
treatment.

Among the constitutional issues in the case is whether the
initiative would give the state power that Congress has reserved for
the federal government, violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S.
Constitution.

The state has authority over hazardous chemical waste at Hanford,
which can include chemical waste that is mixed with radioactive
waste, but the federal government retains authority over radioactive
waste.

The state has argued that a federal court ruling in June rejected a
reasonable and constitutional construction of how the initiative
operates.

"Most sections of Initiative 297 are ambiguous and susceptible to at
least two interpretations," the state argued in its filings to the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Even though a court must try to avoid an interpretation of a law
that renders it unconstitutional, "the court is not licensed to
adopt a construction that is inconsistent with the plain language
and evident intent of the statute," according to the federal filing.

The federal government argues that the initiative expands the
state's authority over nuclear waste, including to waste with no
hazardous chemical component and to substances that are not waste,
such as radioactive isotopes used by Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory.

The federal filing also argues against a surcharge that the federal
government would have to pay based on the Hanford cleanup budget or
the congressional budget request, whichever is higher. Hanford would
pay an estimated $1.2 million surcharge.

The surcharge would be imposed on top of the service charges already
assessed by the Washington Department of Ecology to cover its
regulatory costs, according to the federal filing.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 60 Tri-City Herald: Ex-employee alleges water sample falsification

Published Thursday, April 19th, 2007

ANNETTE CARY, HERALD STAFF WRITER

A former employee of Energy Northwest's laboratory has accused his
managers of deliberately making false claims about Hanford water
samples, according to federal court documents.

An application for a search warrant served at the Richland
laboratory last week was made public Wednesday at the Spokane office
of the Eastern District of Washington Federal Court.

The document lays out claims made by a former Energy Northwest
chemist and cited by a special agent for the Environmental
Protection Agency to obtain the search warrant.

No court case has been filed and no determination made if claims in
the search warrant application are true.

"What we have is a number of unsubstantiated allegations and the
appropriate course is for us all to allow the process and the
investigation to move forward and determine the truth," said Brad
Peck, spokesman for Energy Northwest.

At issue are samples collected to test for hexavalent chromium at
the Hanford nuclear reservation. The chemical was added to nuclear
reactor cooling water to prevent corrosion when Hanford's federal
reactors were used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The chromium
has contaminated soil and ground water and some has seeped into the
Columbia River.

Environmental Assessment Services, a subcontractor for Washington
Closure Hanford, which does cleanup work at Hanford, sent sediment
samples to Energy Northwest for testing. The work was part of
preparing a risk assessment for land along the Columbia River to
help guide the U.S. Department of Energy's and regulators' cleanup
decisions.

Allegations in the court documents center on claims by former Energy
Northwest chemist Richard Toth. He left Energy Northwest in
September after being asked to resign.

He contacted the EPA's criminal tip/complaint system in December
with allegations of fraud, according to the court documents.

In summary, those documents allege:

When Energy Northwest began receiving samples in late 2005 or early
2006, Toth was assigned to perform some of the analyses. For quality
control, he split samples in two and added a known quantity of
hexavalent chromium to the quality control half.

But values for the quality control samples were off by as much as
1,000 percent from expected values, Toth said. He believed the
samples contained something that prevented them from being analyzed
accurately.

He also was concerned that the problem needed to be solved because
the samples were to be analyzed within 48 hours of collection.

The lead chemist, Thomas Klinckman, then used plain water samples
with a measured amount of hexavalent chromium as control samples,
according to Toth's allegations.

Peck described the men's differences this way: "I still believe the
potential exists for this to be a professional difference of
opinion, but the appropriate course is to wait for the investigators
to complete their work and determine the truth."

In the documents, Toth also alleged Klinckman said he would change
the time and date on the computer attached to a spectrometer used in
the analyses to make it appear the samples were analyzed within the
deadline times.

When Toth delivered results to Environmental Assessment Services, he
said he had no confidence in them. Environmental Assessment Services
responded that it had been told that hexavalent chromium testing can
be tricky.

Toth said he brought up the issue again in performance evaluations
in March and August, but was told Klinckman would not engage in
fraudulent activity.

Allegations of sexual harassment were made against Toth after he
complained to supervisors about the analyses and another issue.

Toth said he believed those were meant to force him to resign.

The EPA conducted the search with the aid of the Department of
Energy's Office of Inspector General and the FBI.

Evidence collected included performance reports, personnel records,
hexavalent chromium data sheets and an analysis of hexavalent
chromium.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 61 Hanford News: Feds say initiative would delay cleanup

This story was published Thursday, April 19th, 2007

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

Initiative 297 would undermine the Department of Energy's plan to 
complete nationwide cleanup of Cold War nuclear weapon sites by 
2035, the Department of Justice argued in documents filed in the 
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Washington state has appealed a federal court ruling that the 
Hanford initiative passed by voters in 2004 was unconstitutional. 
The most recent documents filed in the case are the initial 
briefs for DOE and its supporters in the appeal, Fluor Hanford 
and the Tri-City Development Council.

The initiative, which has yet to become law, would ban DOE from
bringing more radioactive waste to the Hanford reservation through a
system of permits that would require waste already at the site to be
cleaned up first. The site is massively contaminated from the past
production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

DOE would not be able to meet final permitting requirements for at
least 20 years and likely more, according to the Department of
Justice.

That leaves it no place to send some nuclear waste it had planned to
ship to Hanford, it said. Under the plan, nearly every site in the
DOE complex would export or import waste, or do both.

“The Hanford cleanup strategy depends on the ability to export
significant quantities of waste to sites outside Washington state,
particularly the highly radioactive or long-lived waste generated in
the cleanup," according to the federal brief.

Hanford also would be required to accept some low-level radioactive
waste mixed with hazardous chemicals for disposal. It is the only
federal facility that can dispose of certain classes of that waste
long term, according to the brief.

If the plan is carried out, Hanford would end up with significantly
less radioactivity, the brief said. Waste with approximately 374
million curies of radioactivity would be sent from Hanford to
federal repositories in New Mexico and Nevada and waste with
approximately 8.3 million curies of radioactivity would be sent to
Hanford.

Some of that waste would be disposed of at Hanford and some would be
treated and sent on to New Mexico under the plan. However, some
critics are concerned that lack of certain treatment equipment and
possible legal issues could strand some waste sent to Hanford for
treatment.

Among the constitutional issues in the case is whether the
initiative would give the state power that Congress has reserved for
the federal government, violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S.
Constitution.

The state has authority over hazardous chemical waste at Hanford,
which can include chemical waste that is mixed with radioactive
waste, but the federal government retains authority over radioactive
waste.

The state has argued that a federal court ruling in June rejected a
reasonable and constitutional construction of how the initiative
operates.

“Most sections of Initiative 297 are ambiguous and susceptible to at
least two interpretations," the state argued in its filings to the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Even though a court must try to avoid an interpretation of a law
that renders it unconstitutional, “the court is not licensed to
adopt a construction that is inconsistent with the plain language
and evident intent of the statute," according to the federal filing.

The federal government argues that the initiative expands the
state's authority over nuclear waste, including to waste with no
hazardous chemical component and to substances that are not waste,
such as radioactive isotopes used by Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory.

The federal filing also argues against a surcharge that the federal
government would have to pay based on the Hanford cleanup budget or
the congressional budget request, whichever is higher. Hanford would
pay an estimated $1.2 million surcharge.

The surcharge would be imposed on top of the service charges already
assessed by the Washington Department of Ecology to cover its
regulatory costs, according to the federal filing.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 62 Hanford News: Affidavit: Chemist accused lab of falsifying Hanford data

This story was published Thursday, April 19th, 2007

By Shannon Dininny, Associated Press Writer

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - A chemist who analyzed sediment samples in 
support of cleanup at the Hanford nuclear reservation has accused 
his former laboratory of falsifying data about a potential 
cancer-causing agent, according to a federal affidavit.

Last week, federal authorities raided the laboratory operated by 
Energy Northwest, a public power consortium that operates a 
nuclear power plant north of Richland. The utility's laboratory 
also performs an assortment of environmental tests for other 
companies, including a subcontractor to federal contractors at 
Hanford, the nation's most contaminated nuclear site.

A special agent for the Environmental Protection Agency filed an
application for a search warrant, along with a supporting affidavit,
April 5 in U.S. District Court in Yakima. The documents accuse
Energy Northwest Laboratory of making false statements, mail fraud
and wire fraud related to tests for hexavalent chromium, a potential
cancer-causing agent that was used as a corrosion inhibitor in
nuclear reactors.

The documents were unsealed Wednesday.

The warrant sought computer equipment and data storage materials,
records, manuals, contracts and analytical documents, among other
things. An EPA spokesman referred Associated Press calls to the U.S.
attorney's office, which couldn't be reached for comment late
Wednesday.

Brad Peck, an Energy Northwest spokesman, said he had not yet seen
all the documents and couldn't comment fully on them, but he said
the company was reviewing the claims to determine if there were
problems with employee performance.

"There's some investigation and review that needs to be done, and
there are a number of highly capable people looking at it, and I
expect in time we will find out if there are, in fact, any issues
for us to be concerned about," Peck said. "If there are, we
obviously will deal with them appropriately at that time."

The laboratory performed the tests for Environmental Assessment
Services, a subcontractor for Washington Closure, which is under
contract to the U.S. Department of Energy to aid in Hanford cleanup.

According to the documents, a former chemist at the laboratory
contacted the EPA in December 2006 to report that data had been
falsified.

The chemist, Richard Toth, worked for the laboratory from November
2002 until September 2006. He left the company after sexual
harassment claims were made against him, but contends they resulted
from his attempts to bring the falsified data to light over the
course of several months, the documents said.

In late 2005 or early 2006, the laboratory began receiving sediment
samples from Environmental Assessment Services to test for
hexavalent chromium. The tests had to be performed within 48 hours
of the samples being collected.

As part of the process, duplicate quality-control samples were
prepared and analyzed to show the tests were accurate. But those
control samples were off as much as 1000 percent from expected
values, proving that the tests were not working, Toth claimed.

According to the documents, Toth raised concerns about the tests
with his immediate supervisor, who said he knew the tests didn't
work, but the results were turned over to the subcontractor anyway.

The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the
top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Today, it is
the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup costs
expected to top $50 billion.

During Hanford's operation, large amounts of hexavalent chromium
were released into the soil, where it traveled to the groundwater
and the nearby Columbia River. Workers have been pumping groundwater
out of the soil and treating it chemically to remove the chromium
and stop its flow toward the river. But the agent moves easily with
water and is particularly dangerous to salmon that spawn in the
Pacific Northwest's largest river.

The lead agencies on the investigation are the EPA and the Energy
Department's inspector general. Spokespersons for the Energy
Department and its contractor, Washington Closure, declined to
comment Wednesday.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 63 Hanford News: Document outlines ex-employee's allegations

This story was published Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

A former employee of Energy Northwest's laboratory has accused 
his managers of deliberately making false claims about Hanford 
water samples, according to federal court documents.

An application for a search warrant served at the Richland 
laboratory last week was made public Wednesday at the Spokane 
office of the Eastern District of Washington Federal Court.

The document lays out claims made by a former Energy Northwest
chemist and cited by a special agent for the Environmental
Protection Agency to obtain the search warrant.

No court case has been filed and no determination made if claims in
the search warrant application are true.

"What we have is a number of unsubstantiated allegations, and the
appropriate course is for us all to allow the process and the
investigation to move forward and determine the truth," said Brad
Peck, spokesman for Energy Northwest.

At issue are samples collected to test for hexavalent chromium at
the Hanford nuclear reservation. The chemical was added to nuclear
reactor cooling water to prevent corrosion when Hanford's federal
reactors were used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. The chromium
has contaminated soil and ground water and some has seeped into the
Columbia River.

Environmental Assessment Services, a subcontractor for Washington
Closure Hanford, which does cleanup work at Hanford, sent sediment
samples to Energy Northwest for testing. The work was part of
preparing a risk assessment for land along the Columbia River to
help guide the Department of Energy's and regulators' cleanup
decisions.

Allegations in the court documents center on claims by former Energy
Northwest chemist Richard Toth. He left Energy Northwest in
September after being asked to resign.

He contacted the EPA's criminal tip/complaint system in December
with allegations of fraud, according to the court documents.

In summary, those documents allege:

When Energy Northwest began receiving samples in late 2005 or early
2006, Toth was assigned to perform some of the analyses. For quality
control, he split samples in two and added a known quantity of
hexavalent chromium to the quality control half.

But values for the quality control samples were off by as much as
1,000 percent from expected values, Toth said. He believed the
samples contained something that prevented them from being analyzed
accurately.

He also was concerned that the problem needed to be solved because
the samples were to be analyzed within 48 hours of collection.

The lead chemist, Thomas Klinckman, then used plain water samples
with a measured amount of hexavalent chromium as control samples,
according to Toth's allegations.

Peck described the men's differences this way: "I still believe the
potential exists for this to be a professional difference of
opinion, but the appropriate course is to wait for the investigators
to complete their work and determine the truth."

In the documents, Toth also alleged Klinckman said he would change
the time and date on the computer attached to a spectrometer used in
the analyses to make it appear the samples were analyzed within the
deadline times.

When Toth delivered results to Environmental Assessment Services, he
said he had no confidence in them. Environmental Assessment Services
responded that it had been told that hexavalent chromium testing can
be tricky.

Toth said he brought up the issue again in performance evaluations
in March and August, but was told Klinckman would not engage in
fraudulent activity.

Allegations of sexual harassment were made against Toth after he
complained to supervisors about the analyses and another issue.

Toth said he believed those were meant to force him to resign.

The EPA conducted the search with the aid of the Department of
Energy's Office of Inspector General and the FBI.

Evidence collected included performance reports, personnel records,
hexavalent chromium data sheets and an analysis of hexavalent
chromium.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 64 KnoxNews: Guard situation in Oak Ridge similar, different than Pantex

By Frank Munger, munger@knews.com

April 18, 2007

Hundreds of security guards went on strike this week at the 
government's warhead assembly plant near Amarillo, Texas, 
apparently because of fallout from a Department of Energy order 
that placed additional requirements on some guards at nuclear 
weapons installations.

About 15 supervisory personnel from the Oak Ridge security team 
were sent to Texas to be part of the contingency force that will 
guard the Pantex Plant until the strike is over, according to Lee 
Brooks of Wackenhut Services, the security contractor in Oak 
Ridge.

The issues at Pantex, of course, are the same ones faced in Oak
Ridge, home of the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Y-12 and Pantex are closely linked in the weapons world. Y-12 builds
warhead parts that are then sent to Pantex for assembly. When weapon
systems are retired from the arsenal, warheads are sent to Pantex
for the initial disassembly. Pantex then sends the Y-12 parts -
so-called secondaries - back to Oak Ridge for dismantlement.

Each of the plants has hundreds of highly trained, highly armed
guards.

An obvious question is whether a strike is forthcoming at Oak Ridge,
and it appears unlikely.

There have only been two guard strikes in Oak Ridge history, the
last one coming in November 1983, less than a month after the
suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut,
Lebanon - a forewarning of terrorism to come. Two weeks after that
strike began, the Oak Ridge guards were ordered back to work by
their international union, citing national security concerns at Y-12.

The Oak Ridge union last year agreed to a nine-month contract
extension to postpone contract negotiations until DOE decides
whether to keep Wackenhut or hire one of the other companies that
bid on the Oak Ridge security work.

The International Guards Union of America, which represents the
security police at Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, met last
summer with Wackenhut to try to work out some of the issues
associated with DOE Order 470.

Randy Lawson, president of IGUA Local No. 3 in Oak Ridge, said the
two sides were able to agree on what positions would be changed as
DOE increases the physical requirements for some guards - moving
most of the personnel into the "offensive" categories with tougher
standards for running and shooting. Under the new status quo, some
of the older guards reportedly will be assigned to a new Security
Police Officer-1 (SPO-1) position, which is considered a "defensive"
position with slightly lower fitness and firearms requirements.

"We should be a role model for other sites," Lawson said. "If Pantex
had done what Oak Ridge has done between the company and the union,
they might still be negotiating or have a collective bargaining
agreement."

The Oak Ridge union leader said he was among those who went to
Washington a couple of weeks ago to warn top DOE officials and
others that a strike at Pantex and problems at other sites could be
forthcoming if there weren't some accommodations made when
implementing Order 470.

Brooks said he couldn't comment specifically on any agreement
reached between the IGUA in Oak Ridge and Wackenhut because it's
still subject to contract negotiations.

But, he noted, "We believe we have a process for going forward to
determine what will be comfortable to both sides."

The extension of the union contract is due to expire in mid-August,
with negotiations scheduled to begin a month before that.

Of course, DOE has not yet named the winner of the security contract
competition in Oak Ridge, and so it's not for sure that Wackenhut
will even be the government's contractor when negotiations roll
around.

Stay tuned.

Senior writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the
News Sentinel. He may be reached at 865-342-6329 or at
munger@knews.com.

 Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

*****************************************************************
 65 Ventura County Star: Editorial: Peace of mind at Rocketdyne 

For more than a decade, environmentalists, anti-nuclear activists
and homeowners have questioned the level and thoroughness of the
cleanup of the contaminated Rocketdyne field laboratory in the hills
above Simi Valley. The Department of Energy, charged with overseeing
the cleanup, maintains it is meeting all state and federal standards.

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has entered the fray
by agreeing to reconsider whether Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field
Laboratory and its contaminated buildings, soil and groundwater
should be placed on the federal Superfund cleanup list.

The EPA has twice assessed small parts of the site owned by the
Boeing Corp., and both times declined to put the lab on the list the
last denial coming in 2003. This time, it plans on studying the
entire site, which is polluted with both chemical and radioactive
contamination.

The Star urges the EPA to designate the field lab a Superfund site.

As we have argued before, the cleanup effort needs to undergo a
thorough review to confirm that the former rocket- and
nuclear-testing facility will be cleared of pollutants, to the
fullest extent possible, so residents' fears are eased.

The cleanup of the 2,800-acre site has long been a source of
suspicion and acrimony. Area residents have criticized the
multimillion-dollar cleanup as being too lax and worry contamination
will be left behind on land that may one day be used for housing.

It is a worry that has attracted the attention of state Sen. Sheila
Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who has introduced legislation that blocks
the use of the land for residential property unless it is cleaned to
EPA standards.

The field lab was the site of research into nuclear power in the
1950s and 1960s. A reactor suffered a serious accident in 1959 and
the chemicals that contaminated the soil were used during research
into methods of cooling atomic reactors. The nuclear operations at
the site were ended in the late 1980s.

It's clear that Rocketdyne and DOE officials have failed in the
daunting task of easing the community's skepticism concerning
possible environmental damage and health problems from the lab.

Given the nature of the testing, documented accidents and spills
that occurred there, the only way to narrow the gap between
suspicion and progress is to add the field lab to the Superfund list.

Comments


Posted by cleanuprocketdyne on April 19, 2007 at 8:51 a.m. (Suggest
removal)

This issue is so important to all of the surrounding communities.
Getting EPA as lead oversight and superfund designation will bring
the much needed attention and resources to the proper clean-up of
the SSFL. Not like the old days where they processed the spent
nuclear fuel waste and 2742.74 grams of u235 were disposed of by
land burial. This document further discusses a repackaging process
where they turned 36 containers into 28 containers. By land burial,
onsite, we have heard from former workers at the DOL Rocketdyne
meetings conducted earlier this year in Simi Valley regarding the
Nuclear Workers Compensation Act, that they were told to bury
nuclear waste onsite. How is this possible without notification of
the local communities that will live with this decision forever?
...look up the halflife of u235 and think about what this means.
What does this say about the morality of the polluter and it's
predecessors? What about us?

Just ask around and see how many claims have been paid on the
Nuclear Compensation Act, out of hundreds of claims only a handfull.
As far as RECA, the downwinders compensation act, California isn't
even on the list when the worst nuclear disaster in the history of
this country happened right here at Santa Susana.

It is about time that EPA steps in and elevates this tragic site to
the SuperFund status needed.


Posted by ThinkingForMySelf on April 19, 2007 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest
removal)

I hear you loud and clear Cleanup. What a mess. I don't know the
details about all that is there, it sickens me to deal with it. I've
been debating with another fellow on Nuclear Power. I'm completely
against it, but on one thing: I've learned that the French have
developed, and are developing reprocessing and recycling techniques
that reduce waste dramatically. I'm for this to be done with our
stockpile. We could reduce what goes in by I believe 80 to 90
percent. That's a big deal.

© 2007 Ventura County Star
*****************************************************************
 66 lamonitor.com: Security strike included in hearing

The Online News Source for Los Alamos

PTLA and other security guards take over during strike

CAROL A. CLARK Monitor Senior Reporter

Some 550 members of the Pantex Guards Union rejected BWXT Pantex's
best and final contract offer and went on strike at 12:01 a.m.
Monday - one minute after their five-year contract expired.

About a dozen PTLA security guards from Los Alamos National
Laboratory stepped in, along with an undisclosed number of security
personnel from across the DOE complex, to protect the nuclear
weapons plant near Amarillo, Texas.

PTLA General Manager Ken Freeman said he was waiting for approval
from Paul Sowa, head of LANL's Safeguards and Security Division,
before commenting on the latest status of his guard force.

Freeman had said previously, "We're prepared to provide whatever
support that they (BWXT Pantex) determine they need."

Robert Lynch is president of the Pantex Guards Union (PGU) and head
of the PGU Negotiating Committee. The PGU stated that their concerns
were not sufficiently addressed in the final offer and caused the
membership to reject it.

Issues related to seniority, pension, overtime and work safety were
among the sticking points on the table.

"These contentions are currently being investigated by the Inspector
General," Lynch said. "In the most simplistic terms possible, the
membership truly believes, because of the sacrifices that they make,
that they were entitled to more than what was offered."

There was one major item that was addressed successfully that had
the potential to displace 100 protective force members, he said. The
Pantex Guards Union received a permanent variance to a DOE provision
that adversely impacted union members' seniority rights. This
variance was received on April 13, he said.

"This move by DOE showed outstanding stewardship of the taxpayer's
money by allowing older protective force members to stay at Pantex
and strengthen stability within the protective force."

Lynch traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to attend a meeting at
DOE headquarters and to meet with various other people. He also will
attend Friday's hearing of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations about security issues at Los Alamos National
Laboratory. The subject of the Pantex strike is scheduled to be
discussed, he said.

In a telephone interview late Wednesday, Lynch said a mediator is
meeting with his union negotiating committee in Amarillo to
ascertain various sticking points in the latest proposal, which he
said will be brought to the hearing.

"The committee is keeping me informed of all developments," he said.

Lynch has been holding talks with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who
chairs the Committee on Energy and Congress and Rep. Bart Stupak,
D-Mich., who chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

He said Stupak plans during Friday's hearing, to question Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman as to why the National Nuclear Security
Administration permitted relations with its security police force to
degrade to the point that there was a strike and the potential for
significant costs to the government at one of DOE's most sensitive
plants.

Lynch also sent a three-page letter to Bodman on Monday in which he
laid out the union's position and a detailed analysis of why they
believe the latest offer is flawed.

In a prepared statement, BWXT Pantex is disappointed that the PGU
membership "voted not to accept a fair and reasonable labor
agreement that recognizes their important contributions to national
security."

In their statement, Pantex said a timetable to resume negotiations
has not been set by the parties.

            © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 67 NAS: Project: Technical Assessment of Environmental Programs at the Los
Alamos National Laboratory

Project Title:

 Technical Assessment of Environmental Programs at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory
PIN: NRSB-O-05-04-A        

Major Unit:

 Division on Earth and Life Studies


Sub Unit: Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board


RSO: Wiley, John


Subject/Focus Area: Chemistry; Earth Sciences; Environmental Issue

Project Scope
The National Academies will undertake technical assessments of
ongoing and planned environmental remediation and monitoring
programs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and provide
recommendations to improve their technical and cost effectiveness
and reduce worker, public, and environmental risks. This study will
focus on specific scientific and technical issues related to
groundwater monitoring and contamination migration at LANL as
follows:

1. General review of groundwater protection at LANL:

What is the state of the laboratory's understanding of the major
sources of groundwater contamination originating from laboratory
operations and have technically sound measures to control them been
implemented?

Have potential sources of non-laboratory groundwater contamination
been identified? Have the potential impacts of this contamination on
corrective-action decision-making been assessed?

Does the laboratory's interim ground water monitoring plan follow
good scientific practices? Is it adequate to provide for the early
identification and response to potential environmental impacts from
the laboratory?

Is the scope of groundwater monitoring at the laboratory sufficient
to provide data needed for remediation decision-making? If not, what
data gaps remain, and how can they be filled?

2. Specific data-quality issues:

Is the laboratory following established scientific practices in
assessing the quality of its groundwater monitoring data?

Are the data (including qualifiers that describe data precision,
accuracy, detection limits, and other items that aid correct
interpretation and use of the data) being used appropriately in the
laboratory's remediation decision making?

3. Recommendations to improve the future effectiveness of the
laboratory's groundwater protection program with respect to:

Potential remedial actions for the groundwater contamination,
especially for radionuclide contamination for which DOE is
self-regulating; and

Monitoring for long-term stewardship.


This project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The
approximate start date for the project is February 1, 2006. An
interim report will be issued in fall 2006 and a final report will
be issued at the end of the project in approximately 15 months.

Project Duration: 15 months    

Provide FEEDBACK on this project.

Contact the Public Access Records Office to make an inquiry or to
schedule an appointment to view project materials available to the
public.


Committee Membership

Meetings
 Meeting 1 - 03/23/2006
 Meeting 2 - 05/16/2006
 Meeting 3 - 08/14/2006
 Meeting 4 - 10/16/2006
 Meeting 5 - 12/05/2006


Reports
Reports having no URL can be seen
at the Public Access Records Office

 Plans and Practices for Groundwater Protection at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory: Interim Status Report


 Email: info@nas.edu
*****************************************************************
 68 Channel 4 KRNV.com: Nevada Nuke Czar Comes Out Against Energy Department Plan

Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear
Projects, urged the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today
to reject the U.S. Department of Energy's plan to claim safety
credit for "drip shields" expected to protect metal nuclear waste
containers from water dripping into the proposed underground waste
dump at Yucca Mountain.

Installation of the drip shields would not take place for 100 to 300
years after the dump becomes operational, according to DOE's plans.

Loux sent a strongly worded letter today to Dale Klein, chairman of
the NRC, the organization that will consider DOE's application to
obtain a license to move forward with the Yucca Mountain Project.

"I write to draw the commission's attention to a critical safety and
legal issue that has been disregarded by the NRC staff in its
pre-licensing interactions with DOE on the proposed nuclear waste
repository at Yucca Mountain," Loux wrote. "The issue is whether any
safety credit should be given to so-called ‘drip shields' in the
post-closure repository performance assessment when, as explained
below, it is doubtful that the drip shields would ever be installed."

In today's letter, Loux said DOE's attempts to comply with federal
radiation standards have relied heavily on titanium drip shields to
protect the nuclear waste packages from water that is expected to
drip through the mountain over thousands of years. Loux described
the shields as "kind of a series of titanium tents covering the
entire length of waste package emplacements in the repository
tunnels."

The How and Why of Drip Shields

Loux explained that the idea of using drip shields as a part of the
Engineered Barrier System for the repository arose in the mid-1990s
after DOE discovered that, contrary to previous expectations, Yucca
Mountain's rock was highly fractured and allowed water to infiltrate
the repository. This water could accelerate corrosion of the
thousands of radioactive waste packages, he said. Since then, he
said DOE has made these drip shields a key part of how it plans to
protect Nevadans from radiation releases from the dump.

"Counting the drip shields (leaving aside considerations of whether
they will perform as proposed) might make sense if DOE actually
planned to install the drip shields when it emplaced waste
packages," Loux added. "Instead, it plans to install them just prior
to repository closure, which could be 100 to 300 years after the
repository becomes operational."

Loux went on to say that "it is understandable that DOE would want
to put off installation indefinitely because of the huge expense and
complications involved. But the flip side is that NRC should
accordingly not allow DOE to include the drip shields (to support
its application for a license to build the project)... The scope and
scale of the project for manufacturing and installing the proposed
drip shields would be enormous. The drip shields would be made of
Titanium 7, would weigh about four tons each, and the repository
would need at least 12,500 of them. DOE would have to buy an amount
of very expensive titanium metal equal to three and a half years of
the entire U.S. domestic production at a cost of at least $5
billion."

A more fundamental problem, he added, is that radiation, dust, rock
slides, corrosion and "as-yet-nonexistent robotics" make it
impossible to install such shields inside the repository after it
has been operating for decades. Loux wrote that DOE's own documents
concede that "human beings probably cannot reliably make a drip
shield."

Given all the uncertainties over whether the drip shields would ever
be installed, he said "it would make a mockery" of the NRC licensing
process to allow their inclusion in the safety determination. He
added that "NRC should not allow DOE to rely on pie in the sky.

Loux concluded by saying "Because of all the above, Nevada
respectfully requests NRC to advise DOE that, absent a drastic
change in DOE's drip shield installation plans, DOE should not give,
and NRC cannot legally allow, any safety credit for drip shields in
DOE's TSPA (Total System Performance Assessment) for the upcoming
Yucca Mountain License Application."


 All content © Copyright 2001 - 2007 WorldNow and KRNV. 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. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************