***************************************************************** 05/17/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.116 ***************************************************************** 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 Reuters: US bank says asked to solve North Korea bank issue NUCLEAR REACTORS 2 Times of India: N-deal stalled: Burns puts off India visit 3 India Enews: New head for India's N-powered submarine project 4 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear concern to be incorporated as JSC by De 5 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss 2006 Performance Assessment for Braidwood Nu 6 US: Vermont Guardian: State's nuclear response plan flawed 7 US: toledoblade.com: Reports assert Davis-Besse reactor deteriorated 8 US: Green Bay Press-Gazette: Nuclear power plants may become easier 9 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point alarms being repaired after storm dam 10 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss 2006 Assessment for Oyster Creek Nuclear Pla 11 The Spectrum: Matheson makes case for restraint 12 US: Vermont Guardian: Guardian ignores facts about nuclear dangers 13 Hamilton Spectator: A nuclear power plant can't accomplish what Nant 14 Hamilton Spectator: Let's not repeat Bruce nuclear bungle 15 People's Daily: Brazil needs up to 8 nuclear plants to meet energy d 16 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss Preliminary Results of License Renewal Inspe 17 US: UPI: New interest in nuclear 18 CBC News: Trip sells Alberta mayor on nuclear power 19 TheDay.com: Millstone Guards Hope To Secure Higher Pay 20 AFP: Russia, EU leaders to hold tense summit - 21 Hindustan Times: US tempers optimism on India nuclear deal- 22 Hindustan Times: India hopes to export reactors if N-deal goes throu 23 US: # Roswell Daily Record: Nuke site discussed 24 US: Guardian Unlimited: Answers Sought on Nuclear Plant Shutdown NUCLEAR SECURITY 25 US: US nuke plant vulnerability exposed by security breach in Michig 26 Hindu News: Discussions on with IAEA on India-specific nuke safeguar 27 Platts: US, Russian officials to meet May 28 to discuss PU dispositi 28 US: Markey: MARKEY SEEKS ANSWERS AFTER REPORTED SECURITY BREACH AT N NUCLEAR SAFETY 29 Marlborough Express: Bomb legacy lives on, says witness - 30 US: Vermont Guardian: Collateral Risk: DU research gap could impact 31 Whangarei Northern Advocate: `The bones in our hands lit up' - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 32 Iran enrichment program now up and running 33 US: ENS: INSIGHTS: Recycling Nuclear Waste Too Dangerous 34 US: WIFR: Nuclear Waste Piling up at Byron Nuclear Power Plant PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 35 DOE: U.S. Departments of Interior and Energy Release Report on 36 DOE: Energy Dept. Invites Research Proposals for Tapping Supercomput 37 The State: Drive launched to preserve SRS lab 38 Hanford News: Battelle contract in limbo worries local nonprofits 39 Hanford News: Hastings pushes for increased aid 40 Tri-City Herald: EPA's double-duty fine 41 Hanford News: House bill boosts Hanford cleanup 42 Hanford News: Tri-Cities tops for scientists, engineers 43 Examiner.com: Students demand UC break ties with weapons lab - 44 ScienceDaily: Revamped, Renewed, Restarted: Oak Ridge High Flux 45 KnoxNews: Evacuees return to work at Y-12 46 KnoxNews: HFIR achieves full power, marks milestone ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Reuters: US bank says asked to solve North Korea bank issue Thu May 17, 2007 3:02PM EDT By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S.-based bank Wachovia Corp.(WB.N: Quote, Profile, Research said on Thursday it had been asked by the U.S. State Department to help with the transfer of $25 million in tainted funds that has delayed a shutdown of North Korea's nuclear complex. North Korea has demanded the transfer of the funds, blocked for 20 months in a Banco Delta Asia account in Macau, as a condition for shutting down its nuclear facilities under a Feb. 13, six-country disarmament deal. Although Washington agreed to unfreeze the funds, foreign banks have so far refused to accept the money, fearing they too would be tainted and cut off from the U.S. financial system. The United States has been searching for a bank to help end the impasse, and Wachovia said it was asked "on a non-profit basis" to process the interbank transfer. "We have agreed to consider this request and our discussions with various government officials are continuing," said a statement from the bank, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. "We take any request for assistance from our government seriously and endeavor to cooperate wherever possible," added the statement. North Korea said on Tuesday that it may soon receive the frozen funds and that a process was under way to wire the money to a North Korean bank account in a third country. Washington said weeks ago that the money, frozen at its request due to suspected links to illicit activity by Pyongyang, had been released and was awaiting collection. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to provide details about Wachovia's possible involvement in trying to resolve the issue or whether the department had approached other U.S. banks. "I'm not going to comment on something that is yet to be resolved," McCormack told reporters. Continued... © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Times of India: N-deal stalled: Burns puts off India visit Updated: 18 May, 2007 0139hrs IST | Powered by Indiatimes NEW DELHI: Top US negotiator on the nuclear deal, Nicholas Burns, has deferred his visit to India in a development that points to persisting differences between the two sides. Days after government sources indicated that Burns would be here next week for what was billed as the "last lap" of negotiations, unnamed US state department spokespersons were quoted as saying on Thursday that the visit had been put off indefinitely. They said that Burns could still visit India this month, but added that "he's got nothing scheduled for now". The change of plan came just after India sent a set of papers with its position to Washington, leading authorities here to interpret the decision to delay the trip as the clearest signal that the US finds the Indian suggestions unacceptable. The remarks of US spokespersons suggested that this interpretation was fairly accurate. "Burns will go to New Delhi when we are ready to seal the deal. We're not at that point yet," said the US state department spokesman. Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. For ***************************************************************** 3 India Enews: New head for India's N-powered submarine project India Thursday, May 17, 2007 From correspondents in Delhi, India, 02:34 PM IST India's decades-old super secret nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) programme, known as the advanced technology vessel (ATV), is expected to get a new head over the next few months. Vice Admiral A.K. Singh, who retired recently as the Eastern Fleet Commander, is likely to succeed former Vice Admiral P.C. Bhasin as director general (DG) of the classified ATV project, said highly placed officials who did not want to be named. For many years the ATV project, which is directly under the prime minister's oversight, has been headed by retired naval officers, making it easier for the Indian Navy to deny all knowledge of it. Singh, a submariner who also headed India's only tri-service Andaman and Nicobar command and the Coast Guard, will in all likelihood oversee the ATV's projected commissioning that is expected around 2011-12 following sea trials projected to begin some two years earlier, sources said. The retired admiral also commanded INS Chakra, the former Soviet Charlie-I class SSN that the navy leased for three years till 1991 to gain operational experience with nuclear powered submarines. Around three years ago Adm Bhasin, former chief of materials, succeeded Vice Adm R.N. Ganesh as the ATV's DG. Adm Ganesh like Adm Singh also commanded INS Chakra. More recently, however, senior officials, including military officers have tacitly acknowledged the ATV's existence. Periodically the officials have made oblique references to the secret programme that is being undertaken at Visakhapatnam under the joint supervision of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) since 1976, two years after the country conducted its first underground atomic test. Indian defence and atomic scientists, meanwhile, claim to have successfully developed the ATV's reactor. Official sources said the 100 MW reactor developed jointly by the DAE, DRDO and the navy that went critical in October 2004 at Kalpakkam near Chennai was now 'fully operational'. A miniaturised version is under construction for integration into the ATV at Visakhapatnam. In July 2006, former defence minister Pranab Mukherjee inspected the ATV's reactor project while participating in the 20th anniversary celebrations of the commissioning of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam. Earlier, in October 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited the ATV facility when he launched the construction of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor. The Proto-type Testing Centre at Kalpakkam will be used to test the submarine's turbines and propellers whilst a similar facility at Visakhapatnam will run trials on its main turbines and gearbox, defence sources said. Officials familiar with the ATV project said the highly enriched uranium fuel for the reactor had been supplied by the Rare Materials Project (RMP), Ratnahalli near Mysore in the south. The four to five years' delay in the reactor reaching criticality was due to the extended time taken by RMP to produce an adequate quantity of uranium, they claimed. While many components of the reactor like the steam-generator and the control rod mechanism had been fabricated in the country, senior naval sources said Moscow had reportedly helped Indian scientists overcome technical hurdles. This included 'assistance' not only in designing the ATV's reactor but also 'guidelines' in eventually mating it with the SSN's hull. Officials from both sides deny all such collaboration. Based on the Soviet SSN of the 670A Skat series (NATO classification: Charlie I class)- the 124 m long 4000 ton ATV is expected to be launched by next year and ready for sea trials by 2009-10 over a decade behind schedule. Commissioning will follow thereafter. The involvement of Mumbai-based private defence contractor Larsen and amp; Toubro (L and amp;T) that began in 2001 helped kick-start the stalled ATV project. L and amp;T was awarded the contract to build the SSN's hull (code named P 4102) at its Hazira dockyard facility in Gujarat and had already floated sections of it on a barge to Visakhapatnam giving fillip to the hitherto moribund programme. In a related development the navy also plans on leasing - and eventually purchasing - two Russian Project 971 Akula-class (Bars) SSN's for an unspecified period for around $700 million each with the option of acquiring a third similar boat. This is being executed to bolster India's deterrence based on a triad of weapons delivered by aircraft, mobile land-based missiles and sea-based platforms. And though Delhi and Moscow deny the lease arrangement, recent reports from Moscow quoting senior Russian Navy officers state that SSN Nerpa, which is being readied for sea trials, is one of the two nuclear submarines that will eventually be leased to India. Originally laid down in 1986 and abandoned due to a financial crunch, the Nerpa is expected to join the Russian Federations Pacific Fleet next year. Official sources said an Indian Navy crew is presently in Russia 'familiarising' itself with the SSN prior to its arrival in India sometime next year. By Rahul Bedi (Staff Writer, © IANS) Copyright 2005-2007 by India eNews - A Dark Blue Company. All rights reserved. Terms of Use ***************************************************************** 4 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear concern to be incorporated as JSC by Dec. -1 14:43 | 17/ 05/ 2007 (corrects Rosenergoatom's status in lead, recasts throughout, adds background, details in paragraphs 2, 3, 4) MOSCOW, May 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's state-controlled concern overseeing nuclear power plants will become a joint stock company and be incorporated into a nuclear corporation by December as part of the industry's reform, the nuclear chief said Thursday. Rosenergoatom's transformation comes as part of a nuclear industry restructuring plan ordered by President Vladimir Putin April 27. The president instructed that a government corporation, Atomenergoprom, be set up to run the entire industry by January 2008. "Rosenergoatom will become a joint stock company incorporated in the vertically integrated company Atomenergoprom," Sergei Kiriyenko said. State-controlled Atomenergoprom is to be based on the merger of four nuclear power majors - TVEL, Techsnabexport, Rosenergoatom and Atomstroyexport. The corporation will ensure centralized control over the nuclear industry and provide full-cycle services, from uranium extraction, fuel production and electric power generation, to construction of nuclear power plants, both at home and abroad. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 5 NRC: NRC to Discuss 2006 Performance Assessment for Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant News Release - Region III - 2007-020 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III 2443 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL 60532 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation Co. on Tuesday, May 22, to discuss the agency’s assessment of safety performance for last year at the Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is located near Braidwood, Ill. The meeting, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Reed-Custer High School Auditorium, 249 Comet Dr., in Braidwood. The NRC staff will present the results of the assessment and be available to respond to questions or comments from the public before the close of the meeting. “The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Braidwood plant and the nation’s other commercial nuclear power facilities,” NRC Region III Administrator James Caldwell said. “This meeting will provide an opportunity for a discussion of our annual assessment of safety performance with the company and with local officials and residents who live near the plant. Our goal is to explain the NRC oversight process and make as much information as possible available to the public regarding our regulation of these facilities.” A letter sent from the NRC Region III Office to plant officials addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/brai_2006q4.pdf. The NRC’s assessment concluded that, overall, the Braidwood plant operated safely during the period. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear plant performance. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” or “red,” commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. There was one “white” finding of low-to-moderate significance in the area of public radiation safety. The finding was due to the utility’s multiple failures to properly evaluate the radiological impacts of unplanned releases from a pipe which goes from the Braidwood Plant to the Kankakee River. However, it was not based on the radiological impact to public health. The NRC estimated the doses from the contamination to be a small fraction of the NRC’s limit for doses to members of the public. The NRC conducted multiple inspections to characterize and evaluate the tritium contamination on plant property and in the public domain when the contamination was discovered. In early 2007, the NRC conducted an extensive follow-up inspection to make sure that the utility understood the causes of the issue; identified the extent of the problem; and took appropriate corrective actions to prevent the issue from recurring. NRC inspectors found the utility’s efforts in all these areas satisfactory. The inspection report can be accessed through the NRC’s electronic document system at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html; enter “ML070660063” as a search term. During 2007, the NRC plans to conduct routine baseline inspections at the Braidwood Station. Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill., and the agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Md. Among the areas of plant operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are problem identification and resolution; radiological environmental monitoring program and radioactive material control; access control to radiologically significant areas; and processing and transportation of radioactive material. Current performance information for Braidwood is available on the NRC’s web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BRAI1/brai1_chart.html and http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/BRAI2/brai2_chart.html 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. Thursday, May 17, 2007 ***************************************************************** 6 Vermont Guardian: State's nuclear response plan flawed By Kathryn Casa | © Vermont Guardian Posted May 17, 2007 This article was first posted on December 22, 2004, along with a companion piece that outlined much of the internal debate in state government about the lack of ability to respond to an emergency at Vermont Yankee. More than two years later, and the state recently cut funding to the program for the region. BRATTLEBORO — Vermont’s radiological emergency planning has for years been in such disarray that state officials would be unable to monitor radiation fallout resulting from an emergency at Vermont Yankee. Nor could the decontamination center in Bellows Falls adequately protect thousands of southern Vermont residents evacuated there, according to internal state memos and copies of e-mails obtained by the Vermont Guardian. The 32-year-old reactor “poses the single greatest ‘event’ threat to Vermont,” according to a May 2004 e-mail from Larry Crist, director of the Health Department’s Health Protection Division, to Albie Lewis, head of Vermont Emergency Management — a threat that is heightened by a proposed power increase at the plant, he wrote. “To be inadequately prepared because we did not have sufficient resources is going to be considered a crime should an event actually occur,” Crist wrote. It is unclear why the state has annually signed off on the emergency plan required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a component of Vermont Yankee’s operating license. Calls to the governor’s office about that issue were not returned at press time. Lewis said this week that he was “not familiar” with the documents, which include a five-page memo from Crist citing critical shortcomings in the state’s Radiological Emergency Response Plan, and a warning from VEM’s Lew Stowell that the state can expect to fail a major FEMA drill next spring. In Brattleboro Dec. 22 for a follow-up meeting on a failed Dec. 16 school evacuation drill, Lewis also refused to look at the documents when presented with them in person. Crist said “a huge amount” has transpired since last spring, when he wrote the communiqués. “At long last we have set the stage for the creation of a professionally staffed and trained … team,” he said in a Dec. 23 phone interview. But one member of the state’s Ingestion Pathway team — which would collect samples of soil, water, and agriculture products after a radiation release — concluded in a damning post-training critique obtained by the Vermont Guardian that the state is “not ready for a radiological emergency.” Team members were outfitted with brittle gloves, ill-fitting dust masks, 1950s-era survey equipment “prone to dead batteries, loose wires and stuck gauges,” and “thin, cheap Grand Union kitchen trash bags” in which to collect irradiated samples, the state employee wrote after participating in training Nov. 4-5. Trainers talked about “side-stepping safety requirements” by referring to team members as “volunteers,” he wrote. The state has never had adequate personnel to carry out the emergency response plan, Crist wrote in February, and for years has played something of a shell game, juggling a “bare minimum” of some 11 qualified personnel where at least 60 are necessary. “This was the same strategy employed for all other facets of the plan and was successful because FEMA never tested all components of the plan simultaneously,” according to Crist’s memo. “The flaw in this approach was that had there been a real event, the state would have been faced with the impossible task of assigning 11 trained health personnel to cover some 60 different roles simultaneously.” Since the documents were written, 20-25 members of the state hazardous materials team have been designated as the state plume team, which is responsible for mapping the radiation plume footprint immediately following a release, Crist said in the interview. However, with 25 people in place and 60 needed for both teams, the state appears to remain short-staffed, and it would take HAZMAT team members up to six hours to reach the “hot zone.” Crist said Dec. 23 that three state departments, Health, Agriculture, and the Agency of Natural Resources, will supply a total of 14 employees for the Ingestion Pathway team. He said that all employees have been designated, but not all have been trained. As recently as late October, internal e-mails between ANR employees indicated that the state continues to seek volunteers for the team, and is considering altering job descriptions to require state employees to staff the teams critical to the plan. The e-mails also indicated that the employees were considering filing a grievance with their union over a possible change in their job descriptions. Although planning has moved forward since the series of high-level memos and e-mails were exchanged last spring, preparation appears to remain inadequate as Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Corp. proceeds with a proposal to increase, or uprate, power output by 20 percent. In May, Crist wrote to Lewis: “Given the recent events at … Vermont Yankee (stress cracks in piping, missing spent fuel rod pieces) and the real possibility of similar events in the future ( … the uprate will stress the physical facility even more than it currently is being stressed) it’s imperative that the administration understand our potential vulnerability.” The e-mail continues: “For over five years now we have attempted to get both Vermont Yankee and the Legislature to recognize that our level of preparedness, although steadily improving, has not met the requirements contained in the [Radiological Emergency Response Plan]. We are now at the point where we can no longer gloss over our shortcomings in the hope that ‘things will get better next year.’” Asked if he believed the plan was now sufficiently staffed and funded to handle an emergency, Lewis said that “the RERP is a living document. We are constantly looking at ways to improve the entire plan.” As better technology becomes available, the state seeks to employ it, he said. “There is a certifiable plan in place,” Crist insisted on Dec. 23. “The challenge is to make sure you have the resources, both monetary and personnel, to meet the requirements in that plan. That’s a very tough challenge.” Crist’s February memo also identified serous problems at the reception center in Bellows Falls, to which residents of the emergency planning zone, including preschoolers, schoolchildren, and the elderly and infirm, would be evacuated. The center failed a 2001 FEMA drill, but passed during a follow-up retest of portions of the drill. Crist wrote that, since the 2002 retest, “In short, we have a reception center that is not meeting basic readiness requirements and, more importantly, is staffed by local officials who do not appear to believe that they are accountable to either Health or VEM.” He recommended that responsibility for the center be shifted either to Entergy or to the local communities. Crist said on Dec. 23 that problems at the reception center stem from the fact that “it has never been completely clarified who actually is responsible” for the center’s overall operation. He noted that the center, which would be set up at Bellows Falls high school, is designed to handle only 15 to 20 percent of the population of the 10-mile emergency planning zone. The expected number of cars alone would overwhelm parking capacity, he acknowledged. The state hopes to resolve the problems by establishing a second reception center to the west, possibly in Bennington, Crist said. One anti-nuclear activist called the planning problems “a dereliction of responsibility to the people of Vermont.” Northern Vermont: PO Box 335, Winooski, VT 05404 Southern Vermont: 139 Main Street, Suite 603, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Contact: 802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) | 877.231.5382 (toll-free) ©2007 Vermont Guardian | Visit us: www.vermontguardian.com This document can be located online: www.vermontguardian.com/local/052007/NuclearPlanRePrint.shtml ***************************************************************** 7 toledoblade.com: Reports assert Davis-Besse reactor deteriorated swiftly Article published Thursday, May 17, 2007 FirstEnergy calls '02 incident a fluke, seeks to collect $200M from insurer By TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER The future of FirstEnergy Corp.'s nuclear operating company could depend on how firmly the utility continues to stand behind a pair of reports that suggests the near-rupture of Davis-Besse's old reactor head in 2002 was a fluke. FirstEnergy submitted the two reports - one 661 pages and the other 96 - weeks ago to its insurance company, Nuclear Electrical Insurance Limited, in hopes of collecting $200 million from an insurance claim. Both were completed in December. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission did not receive a copy of the longest one, written by Exponent Failure Analysis Association of Menlo, Calif., and Altran Solutions Corp. of Boston, for more than three months. It concluded most of Davis-Besse's old head deteriorated from leaky reactor acid in the final three weeks before the plant's historic two-year outage began on Feb. 16, 2002, in contrast to government research - which FirstEnergy had never disputed - that the problem took years to unfold. "We need to hear directly from FirstEnergy how they're going to address that disparity," Scott Burnell, NRC spokesman, said. On Monday, agency officials said FirstEnergy needs to explain why it waited until March 20 to forward the government a copy of that report. Though the NRC stands behind its inspection program and has seen no widespread implications for the nuclear industry, it has acknowledged there could have been. The NRC's discovery of the second report was a bit of a fluke itself: Its existence did not come up until days ago, in correspondence that involved the insurance company. The agency made it public yesterday. The latest report highlights the fact that FirstEnergy has not admitted to anything. It asserts that the utility, the NRC, and the nuclear industry could not have predicted what happened at Davis-Besse, near Oak Harbor, Ohio, even if the old reactor head had been cleaned during its previous outage in 2000. That report was written by Roger Mattson, a mechanical engineer with more than 40 years of experience in nuclear power and nuclear weapons. His resume includes the NRC and its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, from 1967 to 1984, plus a stint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has been an independent consultant since he retired in 2002. His report said the NRC often operates in hindsight and that fines the agency levied are "nearly always paid without contest because the licensee typically wants to put the event behind it." FirstEnergy paid no ordinary fines. Its $5.45 million civil fine in 2005 and its $28 million criminal fine in 2006 were records, totaling nearly $33.5 million. The utility, while not admitting to anything, has not contested any of the findings made by federal investigators, including last year's statement from a government prosecutor who claimed FirstEnergy showed "brazen arrogance" for withholding information about the plant's condition in the fall of 2001. David M. Uhlmann, chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's environmental crimes section, said at the time that the $28 million fine was imposed to let other nuclear operators know the government will be harsh if any are caught lying. It's unclear if FirstEnergy wanted the NRC to see the two reports that were submitted to its insurance company. Danny Pace, FirstEnergy's senior vice president of fleet engineering for nuclear operations, said in a May 4 letter to the NRC that the utility "does not plan to routinely docket correspondence related to this insurance arbitration." Mr. Burnell said it's "not an understatement at all" to say the two reports have become a serious matter among the agency's highest-ranking officials in suburban Washington. He said the agency's five commissioners will deal directly with Tony Alexander, FirstEnergy's chief executive officer and the utility's top official. "We're addressing [FirstEnergy] at that level," he said. The NRC on Monday issued a "Demand for Information," which compels Mr. Alexander to answer key questions under oath. The utility faces more legal action, even criminal prosecution, if it is caught misleading the government or providing incomplete information, said the agency's enforcement chief, Cynthia Carpenter. The NRC has said such edicts can lead to "revising, suspending, or revoking existing operating licenses." Both that letter and the document that outlines the agency's demand were made public Tuesday. In the latter, the NRC lists FirstEnergy's other nuclear assets, including the Perry plant east of Cleveland and the twin-reactor Beaver Valley complex in western Pennsylvania. Mr. Burnell would not comment on the degree those might be affected by any forthcoming NRC sanctions. But he reiterated that a lot rides on FirstEnergy's response. Todd Schneider, a FirstEnergy spokesman, said utility lawyers have advised him not to comment because the firm is formulating a response. Mr. Schneider said, however, that FirstEnergy maintains responsibility for what happened. "The Davis-Besse event was our responsibility. We're not trying to shirk that in any way, shape, or form," he said. Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079. © 2006 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 8 Green Bay Press-Gazette: Nuclear power plants may become easier to build Posted May 17, 2007 Legislature likely to consider issue this fall By Richard Ryman rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com MADISON — Legislation to make it easier to build a nuclear power plant in Wisconsin likely will be introduced in the fall, according to Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Ashwaubenon. Changes to current law, effectively a moratorium on new construction for 24 years, were recommended last week by the state's Special Legislative Committee on Nuclear Power. No nuclear plant construction is proposed in Wisconsin, but both Illinois and Mississippi moved a step closer to getting new reactors last month when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved early site permits. Wisconsin Act 401, passed in 1983, says nuclear power plants can be approved only after the federal government provides a depository for spent nuclear fuel and if a new reactor is economically advantageous to ratepayers compared to other feasible alternatives. A nuclear depository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., is at least 10 years from being available. "It's time to start the discussion," Montgomery said. "The thing people have to keep in mind, the plants we have now have been operating almost 50 years and we have not had any issues with the storage and disposal of waste. Think of the new technology that has come forward in those 50 years. It's time." The committee's recommendations are: Repeal the "moratorium." Direct the state Public Service Commission to study how to replace the 20 percent of the state's electricity provided by Kewaunee Power Station and Point Beach Nuclear Plant when those plants go out of service. Kewaunee's license expires in 2013, though plant owner Dominion Resources Inc. of Richmond, Va., has said it will apply for renewal in 2008. The licenses for Point Beach's two reactors were renewed in 2005. They expire in 2030 and 2033, respectively. Expand the advocacy duties of the Public Service Commission regarding the national nuclear spent fuel storage site. "We've paid over $337 million to the federal government for the repository. Congress has spent it on everything else but, I think," Montgomery said. A variety of groups have lined up against changes, including the Citizen's Utility Board, Sierra Club and the Green Party. Montgomery said he would submit a proposal based on the committee's recommendations in the fall, after the new state budget is resolved. Wisconsin is one of several states revisiting the nuclear issue, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. South Carolina, Texas, Minnesota, Kansas and Florida are considering or have adopted laws favoring new nuclear development. The permits issued in Illinois and Mississippi by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are part of a process federal regulators have developed to streamline the approval process. The permits give a company 20 years to decide if it wants to build a new reactor. Companies still will have to get permits for building and operating plants. Exelon Corp. received a permit for a reactor at its Clinton, Ill., site and Entergy Corp. for its Grand Gulf, Miss., site. Dominion Resources has applied for an early site permit for its North Anna Power Station in Virginia. That application is under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. great news! Thu May 17, 2007 12:46 pm The article states: "The thing people have to keep in mind, the plants we have now have been operating almost 50 years and we have not had any issues with the storage and disposal of waste. Think of the new technology that has come forward in those 50 years. It's time." People need to open their minds to the use of Nuclear power. The potential hazards of storing nuclear waste in my opinion are far less significant than the catastrophies that will happen as the result of pumping too many green house gasses into the atmosphere. We need to systematically, and quickly, limit the amount of Carbon Dioxide we pump into the atmosphere. And nuclear, wind, solar, hydro are a few ways we can help. A large percentage of France is powered by nuclear and we never hear anything about accidents or negative impact from thier use of nukes. Time to get on board with nuclear power. Contact us at 920-435-4411. greenbaypressgazette.com is a Gannett Company website. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, updated April 11, 2007. ***************************************************************** 9 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point alarms being repaired after storm damage Thursday, May 17, 2007 By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON BUCHANAN - More than two dozen Indian Point emergency alert sirens were knocked out of commission by severe thunderstorms that swept through the region last night. As of this morning, 12 sirens - two in Rockland and 10 in Westchester - remained damaged, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the height of the storm, 26 of the system's 156 sirens were damaged, the NRC said. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the regulatory agency, said there was also some damage to the plants' new emergency alert system, but that details were not presently available. The existing alert system is due to be phased out and replaced by a new system. Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns the Indian Point nuclear power plants and its two reactors, is scheduled to deliver a plan for installation of the new system to the NRC by Wednesday. Entergy was originally due to have the news system in place April 15, but missed the deadline. The company was fined $135,000. Copyright © 2007 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York. ***************************************************************** 10 NRC: NRC to Discuss 2006 Assessment for Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant at Public Meeting in Toms River, N.J., on May 23 News Release - Region I - 2007-029 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual assessment of safety performance at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, in Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J., will be the subject of a public meeting on Wednesday, May 23. NRC staff will meet with representatives of plant owner AmerGen Energy Co., LLC, at 7 p.m. to discuss the assessment, which covers the period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2006, and was documented in a March 2nd letter to the company. The session will take place at the plant’s Emergency Operations Facility, located at 1268 Route 37 West in Toms River, N.J. Before the meeting is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the performance of the Oyster Creek plant, as well as the role of the NRC in providing oversight of plant safety. Prior to the formal meeting, the NRC will also conduct an informational open house from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the same location. It will provide an opportunity for members of the public to discuss topics related to Oyster Creek with agency staffers in an informal manner. There will also be informational handouts available. “Each year we size up plant performance during the previous calendar year, with the overarching goal of ensuring that facilities are achieving the levels of safety that are essential to protecting the public and the environment,” said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins, who noted the agency also conducts mid-year assessments of performance. “At the May 23rd meeting, NRC staff will talk to members of the public about how we go about evaluating Oyster Creek and other nuclear power plants across the nation and will also answer questions from the audience.” Overall, the Oyster Creek plant operated safely during 2006. The NRC utilizes color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to assess nuclear power plant performance. The colors start with “green” and then increase to “white,” “yellow” or “red,” commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. At the conclusion of last year, all of the performance indicators for Oyster Creek were determined to be “green.” With one exception, there were no inspection findings for the plant that were identified as greater than “green” at that time. There was a “white” (low to moderate safety significance) inspection finding in the area of emergency preparedness that was finalized on Jan. 9, 2006, and that remains open. That finding involved Oyster Creek staff not recognizing that plant parameters met emergency action level thresholds during an event in August 2005. In response to the “white” finding, the NRC conducted a supplemental inspection at the plant in May 2006 to determine if the problem had been properly addressed. Because the NRC was not satisfied with the progress of corrective actions to that point, the agency will conduct another supplemental inspection at the facility later this year to determine the status of the company’s corrective actions. In the NRC’s mid-cycle assessment letter for Oyster Creek, issued on Aug. 31, 2006, the plant was also advised that the agency had identified a substantive cross-cutting issue in the area of procedural adherence. A cross-cutting issue is one that touches on several different areas of performance. The NRC has inspected AmerGen’s efforts to address the issue but thus far has not seen consistent performance necessary for it to be closed out. The NRC will assess progress in this area in 2007 through a supplemental inspection, a Problem Identification and Resolution semi-annual trend review in the second quarter and routine inspections. In addition, the NRC identified four “green” inspection findings in 2006 with documented cross-cutting aspects in the area of human performance. A human error prevention techniques cross-cutting theme was found to be associated with the findings. However, a substantive cross-cutting issue was not identified because AmerGen identified the theme and took corrective actions to address it. Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of performance at Oyster Creek to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are activities associated with radiological safety, emergency planning and the licensed operator requalification program. The annual assessment letter for Oyster Creek is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/oc_2006q4.pdf. The notice for the meeting, with agenda attached, is available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number ML071290582. ADAMS is accessible at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available via the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV. Current performance information for the Oyster Creek plant is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/OC/oc_chart.html 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. Thursday, May 17, 2007 ***************************************************************** 11 The Spectrum: Matheson makes case for restraint www.thespectrum.com - The Spectrum, St. George, UT Thursday, May 17, 2007 Congressman testifies in House on nuclear warheads By KATIE OLIVERI koliveri@thespectrum.com ST. GEORGE - U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson addressed the House on Wednesday during the debate on the Defense Authorization Bill where he expressed concerns regarding the Reliable Replacement Warhead program. Matheson said Wednesday afternoon that because it was in the front end of consideration in the bill, it was important to get out the signal that there are people in Congress who have concerns with "whether we should be doing RRW," he said. "This was my opportunity to do that," Matheson said. He said RRW, a program that would create multiple new warheads, is a multibillion-dollar program. His concern is there is an existing nuclear weapon stockpile where a lot of money is being invested. Before committing taxpayer dollars for two tracks, he suggested taking a step back and not hurrying down the new nuclear weapon path. According to the National Nuclear Security Administration, it was determined that RRW is feasible as a strategy for sustaining the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile for the long-term and RRW will decrease the likelihood that a nuclear test will be needed to confirm weapon performance. The RRW also will, according to the NNSA, enhance the security of nuclear weapons and help to develop more responsive nuclear weapons infrastructure. But critics, according to a recent Congressional Quarterly report, argue the new warhead will eventually have to be tested, that it's militarily unneeded and that existing warheads will last for another 50 years. Matheson said he thinks the RRW is simply a program to create new nuclear weapons. "My fear is it will result in new nuclear weapons testing," he said. J. Truman, director of Downwinders, said the debate of possible testing is not over and people in Utah need to pay attention. "It's just another clandestine way to eventually resume testing," he said of RRW. Truman said there's no guarantee there won't be any testing of the warheads, especially if the configuration of the device itself is changed. "You can't build them if you can't test them," Truman said. In his floor statement Wednesday, Matheson cited the study that was conducted by the independent JASON panel, which he said, using data compiled by the nuclear weapons labs, showed "all the plutonium pits have life spans of at least 85 years, and most are good for 100 years or more." "So, it seems, there isn't a threat to the reliability of our warheads," he said. Truman said he's against RRW, especially in view of the JASON report. He said it showed RRW wasn't needed because we could rely on the viability of the existing stockpile. Matheson told the House on Wednesday the history of the Department of Energy includes a long list of canceled and over budget projects that were started before the objective was thoroughly thought through and understood. "We cannot make that mistake with the nation's nuclear weapons complex or the decision to begin building new nuclear weapons," he said in the statement. Originally published May 17, 2007 Print this article E-mail this to Copyright ©2007 The Spectrum. ***************************************************************** 12 Vermont Guardian: Guardian ignores facts about nuclear dangers By Hattie Nestel Posted May 17, 2007 Most articles, including the one written by Shay Totten (Vermont Guardian, May 4) avoid any mention of the insurmountable danger of all nuclear power production, which John Gofman,, a professor emeritus of medical Physics of the University of California, Berkley, called the "irreversible contamination of the Earth by radioactive poisons. Nuclear power is simply incompatible with human health." The potential health risks from nuclear power are mostly ignored but well known by credible physicists throughout the world. The National Academy of Science reported in its Biological Effects of Radiation Report V11, 2005, that there is no threshold beneath which exposure to radiation is not dangerous. Extensive data on cancers and radiation-induced transmissible mutations exists in mice and other organisms. It may take 10 to 20 ayears for cancers to manifest in humans, but the body of scientific studies recognize harmful effects from even very low doses of radiation. `Permissible levels' do not equal `safe levels' of exposure. According to credible physicists such as Joseph Mangano, national coordinator of the Radiation and Public Health Project, nuclear reactors release more than 100 chemicals into the air. These chemicals are created only in nuclear weapons and reactors. They are radioactive and cause cancer by damaging cells. Each chemical enters the body through breathing and food and affects the body in a different way. For example, Iodine-131 attacks the thyroid gland, Strontium-90 seeks out bone and Cesium-137 disperses through the soft tissue. The fetus and infant with rapidly dividing cells are most affected. Studies of reactor communities have shown increased deaths in babies and increases in childhood cancers. Totten also ignores the connection of nuclear power to nuclear weapons proliferation. This issue is extremely well presented in the 2005 book published by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a well-respected scientific think tank headed by Arjun Makhijani. Insurmountable Risks: The Dangers of using Nuclear Power to Combat Global Climate Change by Brice Smith addresses the historic connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons from its inception in the forties with the Manhattan Project. This important connection should not be ignored. Comprehensive articles on nuclear power should include the fact that beginning with uranium mining, milling, processing, enrichment, and fuel fabrication, as well as the construction of nuclear plants, storage of waste, and decommissioning, there are significant carbon emissions related to nuclear power. Every one of these processes is heavily dependent on coal, oil, and gas. Nuclear power production should never be depicted as emission free since every stage of its development creates emissions that contribute heavily to global warming. Whether these processes take place in Vermont or in New Mexico, where uranium is mined, or in Peducah, KY, where the uranium is processed by coal, is irrelevant. Totten does bring the finite supply of uranium to light. Not only are uranium deposits being quickly depleted, but they are becoming exorbitantly expensive. In July 2006 it was reported that uranium prices have risen 600 percent in the past five years. It is doubtful that uranium will continue to be available for all the reactors that would be needed if the world were to depend on nuclear energy. Given the finite nature of the uranium necessary to fuel a reactor, is this really a sustainable and reliable source of future power? Generating electricity by wind and solar are seen as solutions to our energy needs, but only if governmental policies are changed to fund them instead of costly nuclear power plants. Entergy’s profits of $216 million in the first quarter of this year from its nuclear operations are gained at the cost of our health and the health of untold generations to come. No source of power comes at such a great cost. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, has introduced a bill calling for an independent safety assessment similar to one completed on Maine Yankee in 1996, and which caused it to close due to problems deemed too costly to fix. Sen. Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, is certainly on track with taxing Vermont Yankee to establish the necessary funds for energy efficiency and conservation to replace Vermonters’ reliance on fossil fuels. William Sorrell, Vermont’s attorney general has signed on to the Massachusetts attorney general’s lawsuit requiring the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to change its rules, making it mandatory that the vulnerability of the spent fuel pool be included in consideration for license extension. This lawsuit is co-signed by attorney generals of nine states and is now awaiting a hearing in the U.S. District Court in Boston. Finally, it is beyond time to stop referring to Patrick Moore as a founder of Greenpeace. Greenpeace was founded in 1966 by Quakers Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe and Bob Hunter. Moore applied for a job in 1971, worked with the organization until 1985 when he was thrown off the board. One of the founders, Bob Hunter called Moore, `The Judas of the ecology movement.' Moore, portrayed as a credible scientist by Entergy and the NRC, has never had a peer-reviewed article published. How he happened to testify as some kind of expert for the Vermont Legislature and the NRC is really the question. He exaggerates his role in Greeenpeace to serve him and the industry where he is on the payroll as a public relations expert. James Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace states, `Nuclear power is an expensive and dangerous distraction from real climate solutions.' Greenpeace stated that building new U.S. nuclear power plants is too costly and would take too long to replace fossil fuels, even with billions of dollars worth of financial subsidies. Throughout the country and the world, people are working to establish safe, renewable, and sustainable energies. I am sure Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire will join the exciting nuclear free movement that will create safe jobs, thriving economies and a harmonious way of life for all. I anticipate the closure of Vermont Yankee in the near term, energy efficient homes and businesses, lots of windmills dotting the hills of Vermont and solar seen on rooftops as a safe legacy we can leave as a sustainable legacy for future generations . Hattie Nestel lives in Athol, MA, and is active in anti-nuclear issues. Northern Vermont: PO Box 335, Winooski, VT 05404 Southern Vermont: 139 Main Street, Suite 603, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Contact: 802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) | 877.231.5382 (toll-free) ©2007 Vermont Guardian | Visit us: www.vermontguardian.com This document can be located online: www.vermontguardian.com/commentary/052007/Comment0518.shtml ***************************************************************** 13 Hamilton Spectator: A nuclear power plant can't accomplish what Nanticoke already achieves By Grant Church, Cayuga The Hamilton Spectator (May 17, 2007) Re: Ontario and nuclear power Does this province need a new nuclear power plant? Would it be good to replace Nanticoke with one? No, not at all. Nuclear can't do what Nanticoke does, and we don't need any more of the type of power nuclear provides. Every day power demand rises and falls like a heartbeat, but there is always a minimum required in any 24-hour period. This is called base load and nuclear does this best. A nuclear generator, once up to full power, can only run at maximum power, even as long as 500 days straight. Coal plants, on the other hand, are best at filling the peaks. Last year, the market price of electricity went negative on four different days. On December 26, it was negative for two hours. It wasn't a Boxing Day sale. The demand was low, and there was an abundance of generating capacity. It takes up to two weeks to bring a nuclear reactor up to full power. It is cheaper for the nuclear plants to pay us to take their power than to shut down reactors. Even hydroelectric plants were cut back. The coal and gas plants were virtually shutdown. What we need is action on cleaning up Nanticoke. Best available control technology could be installed for a fraction of the cost of a nuclear plant. The government claims these plants cost $3 billion a year in health-care costs. The money is there. All that is needed is the political will and vision to do the job. Legal Notice: Contents copyright 1991-2006, The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved. Distribution, transmission or republication of ***************************************************************** 14 Hamilton Spectator: Let's not repeat Bruce nuclear bungle Canadian Press Picture Archive A confused, false sense of urgency led the Ontario government to sign a sweetheart deal for the rebuilding of reactors at Bruce Nuclear Station in Kincardine. We still have the time to make careful choices about the structure of Ontario's electricity system By Mark Winfield The Hamilton Spectator (May 17, 2007) There has been a lot of press coverage of ill-gotten gains involving the Ontario Lottery Corporation this winter and spring. Yet the $100 million made off with by unscrupulous lottery retailers pales in comparison to the jackpot hit by Bruce Power when it signed a sweetheart deal to rebuild aging nuclear reactors at the publicly owned Bruce Nuclear Station. In his report on the deal, released by the provincial government the afternoon before Good Friday, Ontario's auditor general identified some of the obvious winnings: a 44 per cent price premium compared to the average price of electricity in Ontario over the past five years; a poorly explained last-minute $250-million increase in the cost of the 30-year contract; a hefty helping hand from the public purse with capital cost overruns; guaranteed markets for any power produced whether it can be used or not, and the assumption of fuel costs in the context of a 10-fold increase in the price of uranium. These arrangements are on top of the already generous provisions of the original Bruce facility lease agreement, which absolved Bruce Power of responsibility for waste nuclear fuel management and facility decommissioning, and was premised on the transfer of the billions of dollars in long-term debt associated with the facility to Ontario taxpayers. There are a number of lessons to be drawn from the extraordinary provisions of the Bruce refurbishment contract so ably highlighted by the auditor general. The first is that the Bruce Power contract provides a clear indication of the kinds of government-guaranteed profits, and assumptions of risks and liabilities by ratepayers and taxpayers, that are likely to be needed to get private investors to even look at high-cost, high-risk nuclear projects. Building or refurbishing nuclear plants ties up billions of dollars in capital with no return on investment for years, if not decades. In fact, one of the original partners in the Bruce Power consortium, Cameco Inc. (a company whose major business is uranium mining) declined to participate in the refurbishment project, as it didn't offer sufficient return on investment. The implications of this in terms of the costs and risks that Ontario electricity ratepayers and taxpayers will be asked to absorb in order to bring in the private capital needed to support the Ontario Power Authority's proposed $40-billion plan for more nuclear plant refurbishments, and even new plant construction, are nothing short of ominous. The province's first nuclear building boom in the 1970s and 1980s left Ontario taxpayers holding $15 billion in "stranded" nuclear debt from Ontario Hydro, and that was without having to provide market rates of return to private investors. Secondly, the contract highlights the risks of making multibillion-dollar investment decisions in the context of a perceived "crisis." The Bruce Power deal was negotiated in an atmosphere of near panic over the future of the province's electricity supply, reinforced by the difficulties encountered in meeting periods of extremely high electricity demand during the very hot summer of 2005. In reality, the province was confronted with two distinct challenges: the need to deal with short-term extreme peaks in electricity demand on very hot summer days; and the longer term choices related to the anticipated end of life of the province's existing coal and nuclear power plants over the next two decades. The first problem is best dealt with through energy conservation and building high-efficiency natural gas-fired plants that can respond to changes in electricity demand quickly. Rebuilding nuclear plants is largely irrelevant to this issue, as nuclear facilities offer no capacity to vary their output in response to sudden increases in demand. The second challenge requires major decisions about the structure of our electricity system, but the problem will not become acute until well into the next decade, with the implication that we have time to consider our choices carefully. Unfortunately, at the time the Bruce Power deal was negotiated, the two issues had become hopelessly confused, with the government feeling driven to make major commitments on coal and nuclear plant replacement immediately, without proper analysis and consideration of alternatives. Ontario had a choice about signing the Bruce Power deal. It still has choices about whether to repeat the same mistakes again, or to make sure it has fully exploited the potential to dramatically improve Ontario's energy efficiency and the enormous opportunities to develop low-impact renewable energy sources. We need to know those options have been exhausted before we even contemplate giving out more guaranteed winning tickets to the nuclear industry and guaranteed losses for ratepayers and taxpayers. Dr. Mark Winfield is director of the Pembina Institute's Environmental Governance Program, based in Toronto. Legal Notice: Contents copyright 1991-2006, The Hamilton Spectator. ***************************************************************** 15 People's Daily: Brazil needs up to 8 nuclear plants to meet energy demand UPDATED: 13:16, May 17, 2007 Brazil's rising energy demand has created the need to build four to eight nuclear power plants by 2030, the Ministry of Mining and Energy estimated Wednesday. Two nuclear power plants are operating in Brazil: Angra I with the capacity of 657 megawatts; and Angra II with the capacity of 1,350 megawatts. Secretary of Development and Planning Mauricio Zimmermann said that according to the country's energy construction plan, the proposed plants will have a production capacity of about 1,000 megawatts. Zimmermann said that every megawatt by a nuclear plant costs about 150 reais (75 U.S. dollars), while a 1,000-megawatt thermal plant, powered by gas, operates at a cost of 170 reais (85 U.S. dollars) per megawatt. Discussing the impasse in authorizing the building of two hydroelectric power plants on the Madeira River, the secretary said the government expects the environmental licenses to be issued this month. Otherwise, he added, the ministry will include alternative projects "such as the nuclear power plant Angra III" in the upcoming public bidding process. Minister of Mining and Energy Silas Rondeau said earlier that the government believes Brazil's geographical features make the country more suited to other energy sources than hydroelectricity, despite objections from environmentalists. According to Rondeau, the construction of Angra III will probably be funded by the National Bank of Social and Economic Development, as nuclear energy must be controlled by the federal government, according to the Brazilian Constitution. Source: Xinhua Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 16 NRC: NRC to Discuss Preliminary Results of License Renewal Inspection for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant on May 24 News Release - Region I - 2007-030 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov The preliminary results of an NRC inspection associated with the license renewal application for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant will be presented during a public meeting on Thursday, May 24. The purpose of the inspection is to examine whether the plant’s program for managing the effects of aging on key safety systems, structures and components is adequate and appropriate for a 20-year license extension. NRC staff will discuss the results of the inspection with representatives of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., which owns and operates the Vernon, Vt., facility. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre, at 50 Main St. in Brattleboro, Vt. (Directions are available on the theatre’s web site at: http://www.latchis.com/location.html.) There will also be an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions about the review prior to the meeting’s adjournment. On Jan. 27, 2006, the NRC received an application from Entergy seeking to renew the operating license for the Vermont Yankee plant for an additional 20 years. The current operating license for the plant is due to expire on March 21, 2012. Under NRC regulations, the original operating license for a commercial nuclear power plant has a term of 40 years. The license can be renewed for up to an additional two decades if NRC requirements are met. The aging management inspection is one of a number of NRC activities involved in evaluating a license renewal application. Additional information concerning license renewal in general and the Vermont Yankee application in particular can be found at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html 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. Thursday, May 17, 2007 ***************************************************************** 17 UPI: New interest in nuclear United Press International - Energy - Briefing Published: May 17, 2007 at 2:11 PM WILMINGTON, N.C., May 17 (UPI) -- General Electric Co. and Japan-based Hitachi announced plans to create a global alliance of their nuclear businesses. Interest in nuclear energy has been revitalized as concerns over energy security and climate change continue to grow. Based on this agreement, which was first announced in November 2006, GE and Hitachi will form cross-shareholding companies in the United States, Canada and Japan, subject to government approvals, combining the two companies' nuclear businesses. Plans are also in the works to create a leading nuclear power plant. The deal is expected to close later this year. The two will collaborate on the new plant's construction using proven modularization and standardization capabilities together with the latest-generation reactors. GE's nuclear business develops advanced light water reactors and provides products and services to help owners of boiling and pressurized water reactors. Hitachi business focuses on nuclear power systems and has been a part of the company's portfolio since 1955. Financial details were not disclosed, but shares of GE went up following the announcement. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 18 CBC News: Trip sells Alberta mayor on nuclear power Last Updated: Thursday, May 17, 2007 | 3:21 PM MT The mayor of a town northwest of Edmonton said he is feeling comfortable about the possibility of a nuclear reactor in his backyard after a trip to see a reactor in New Brunswick. Energy Alberta Corporation, which wants to build a reactor in the province, recently flew Whitecourt Mayor Trevor Thain and a number of councillors from the area to the East Coast to tour a reactor. Thain says after seeing NB Power's plant at Point Lepreau, he no longer has fears about safety and is actually looking at the huge economic benefits a reactor would mean. "It provides stability for the next 25 to 50 years for a community that's based on resources. We're based on forestry, and oil and gas primarily and this will do nothing but support those industries." Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and Calgary-based Energy Alberta Corp. met with the Tory caucus earlier this month to talk about building a $6.2-billion reactor in north-central Alberta. Finding a host community is one of the first steps on the road to regulator approval. The only other community that's expressed an interested in housing the reactor is Peace River. Energy Alberta officials will be flying representatives from that community out east at the end of the month. Supporters believe a nuclear plant could help power the oilsands, but opponents are convinced it would be too costly and be too great a risk to public safety. While federal Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn has told reporters he favours using nuclear energy to extract petroleum from the oilsands in Alberta, provincial Environment Minister Rob Renner promised "some fairly broad-based public consultation" first. Alberta Tory party backs nuclear power study Tory party members to tackle nuclear power debate Nuclear power no green alternative to fossil fuels: study REALITY CHECK: Is a Candu really the answer for Alberta's oilsands? About CBC · About CBC News · About CBC.ca · Jobs · Shop · Business ***************************************************************** 19 TheDay.com: Millstone Guards Hope To Secure Higher Pay Friday, May 18, 2007 By Patricia Daddona , Published on 5/17/2007 The union that provides security to Millstone Power Station is seeking a 7 percent raise and other benefits in the first year of an upcoming three-year contract. Talks begin today between Securitas Security Services USA Inc., which is based in Sweden, and the union, said Chief Steward James Hodgdon. Millstone owner Dominion contracts for Securitas' services and is not part of the negotiations, said spokesman Pete Hyde. “We have pretty poor morale and high turnover, and we're hoping to address some of that with the next contract,” Hodgdon said. About one third of the security force has been applying for posts like corrections officer outside the company, said Hodgdon. He said he could not reveal the size of the force. The wage increase proposed by the union would follow an increase last year of 4 percent, he said. Other changes the union is looking for during the full length of the contract are: • Improvements to the 401k retirement plan, which currently offers a 25 percent match up to $500; • Keeping health benefits intact; • Returning bereavement pay, which the union gave up previously, and • Increasing the boot allowance for specialized footwear from $75 to $125. Larry Bean, region president for energy services at Securitas, could not be reached for comment. p.daddona@theday.com Waterford Privacy Policy | Contact Us at 1 (860) 442-2200 | New London, CT | © 1998-2007 The Day Publishing Co. 102 ***************************************************************** 20 AFP: Russia, EU leaders to hold tense summit - Thu May 17, 3:54 AM VOLZHSKY UTYOS, Russia (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to host EU leaders at a resort on the Volga River on Thursday for a two-day summit overshadowed by rows between Moscow and Brussels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, current holder of the European Union's six-month rotating presidency, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso are meeting for a working dinner with Putin later Thursday. The main summit negotiations are due on Friday at the picturesque Volzhsky Utyos (Volga Cliff) spa complex, but the agenda is limited because of diplomatic disputes that have marred relations. EU and Russian officials played down their differences ahead of the summit, saying they would discuss "problems" in their relations. Talks will also touch on international issues, such as the future status of Kosovo and Iran's nuclear programme, as well as on Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) this year, EU officials said. Negotiations on a key partnership accord that would govern EU-Russia relations, including in the vitally important energy sphere, have been held up because of a trade row between EU member Poland and Russia. Poland has blocked the start of talks until Russia lifts an embargo on Polish meat imports and until EU members sign up to a declaration on safeguarding Europe's energy security. Russia has, in turn, accused Poland of holding EU-Russia relations "hostage." The current EU-Russia partnership agreement runs out this year and will be extended automatically but an EU official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the lack of a new accord "makes us both look weak." The row with Poland, as well as disputes over oil supplies to Lithuania and over Estonia's decision to relocate a controversial Soviet war monument, point to tense relations between Moscow and formerly Soviet-dominated central Europe, analysts said. Russia has suggested it wants to deal only with more established EU states. "This is something the EU cannot accept.... The EU cannot agree to a solution where just a part of the EU would cooperate with Russia and another part would not. That's just not how the EU works," the EU official said. EU leaders have also voiced concern about Europe's rapidly growing reliance on Russian oil and gas imports at a time when Russia is becoming an increasingly assertive energy power. Following brief disruptions in EU oil and gas supplies from Russia because of tariff rows, Brussels will be asking for better communication from Moscow on energy matters, according to a draft document seen by AFP. There are other items on the summit agenda that could spark controversy. On the WTO, the European Union has supported Russia's bid to join as soon as possible but has said that it could withhold final approval until EU-Russia trade tariff rows are resolved. Putin has set early WTO accession as a key economic goal for his presidency. The draft document seen by AFP said EU leaders should "make clear that the EU is ready to support early conclusion of Russia's WTO accession but not at any price." EU leaders also said they want to discuss democratic freedoms in Russia ahead of presidential elections next year. The Kremlin has denounced criticism on democracy as outside interference in Russia's political life. Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Canada Co. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service ***************************************************************** 21 Hindustan Times: US tempers optimism on India nuclear deal- Washington, May 17, 2007 The United States on Wednesday tempered its exuberant optimism about a nuclear cooperation deal with India and said it was uncertain whether a senior official would visit New Delhi this month to complete the agreement. On May 1, the two countries claimed extensive progress during two days of talks aimed at salvaging their landmark nuclear cooperation agreement and Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, the chief US negotiator, said he would "visit India in the second half of May to find closure." But on Wednesday, a State Department spokesman told Reuters that while Burns could still visit India this month, "he's got nothing scheduled for now." Burns will go to New Delhi "when we are ready to seal the deal. We're not at that point yet," said the spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added: "Nobody I've talked to offered a prediction as to when that would be." The much-heralded deal would give India access to US nuclear fuel and reactors for the first time in 30 years, even though New Delhi tested nuclear weapons and never signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. It is viewed as the touchstone of new US-India relationship that the Americans see as a pillar of 21st century international security, but it's history since it was first announced in 2005 has been rocky. A congressional source who in recent weeks had been persuaded that the two sides had indeed narrowed their differences said the State Department comments on Wednesday were "a definite change in enthusiasm and one wonders if they have gotten some bad news (from New Delhi) in the last week." US officials provided no further details. ***************************************************************** 22 Hindustan Times: India hopes to export reactors if N-deal goes through- May 17, 2007 Although the road to the much talked about Indo-US civil nuclear deal remains bumpy, India's nuclear industry hopes to cash in if it finally goes through. "There is demand for our reactors from abroad and we are hoping we will be able to export them soon," a senior official of the Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) said. "We have received requests from a few countries for building them on turnkey basis," said Harsh Kapoor, site director of Kaiga atomic station in Karnataka. He declined to name the countries saying that talks were still on. The government will make an announcement at the right time, he said. India at present does not have sanction to export nuclear technology and will have to wait until the international community, in the form of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), grants it. This in turn depends on the progress on the outcome of Indo-US negotiations on nuclear cooperation. Kapoor said the export model would be similar to the 220-MW units in Kaiga. The design uses natural uranium as fuel and heavy water as moderator and coolant. A state-owned company, the NPCIL builds and runs nuclear power plants in India. Karnataka, in south India, is one of the sites where NPCIL has three 220-MW power reactors in operation. The fourth unit in Kaiga is nearing completion. The third unit, whose power was fed into the grid last month, and the fourth unit that will go critical in December have been built in a record time of 32 months, Kapoor said. The Kaiga power station would have two more 700 MW units in future after government approval, he said. The NPCIL hopes to build eight 700 MW units and ten 1,000 MW units in the next five years. The plants are expected to come up at nine new sites, in addition to raising the number of plants at the existing stations. ***************************************************************** 23 # Roswell Daily Record: Nuke site discussed Vanessa Beauman Record Staff Writer 5/16/07 The possibility of locating a nuclear reprocessing plant east of Roswell came up for discussion at two meetings Tuesday evening, one a private luncheon for business owners to discuss economic aspects and the second a public meeting to discuss the plant’s technical aspects. The public meeting was led by Alan Dobson, senior vice president of fuel cycle and spent fuel management, and Bob Holmes, a scientist, both of EnergySolutions, a Utah-based nuclear recycling company that has teamed up with local company Gandy-Marley, Inc. to promote the Chaves County location. A total of 11 sites nationwide are being considered by the Department of Energy, which will make the final decision on a location, as part of its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. It is estimated that construction of the plant could begin in 2013, with operations to start in 2020. The ultimate aim of GNEP would be to recycle spent fuel from countries that already produce nuclear fuel: Russia, China, Japan, England and France. Dobson said EnergySolutions’ recent site report on the Chaves County location deemed it suitable for such a plant. “The United States is in a quandary. There’s no doubt whatsoever there is an energy shortage,” Dobson said during the technical meeting, held at the Sally Port Inn & Suites, as he took those in attendance through a slideshow explaining the process that would be used at the plant to separate usable uranium from spent nuclear fuel rods. The separation process would mix the spent fuel with a solvent of water and stripping chemicals, Dobson said, reducing the rods to usable uranium, plutonium and neptunium. The water used in that process would be re-used in the solvent mixture, he said. The process would sufficiently shield workers and residents from radiation, Dobson said, by enclosing the reprocessing behind heavy concrete walls that block extremely penetrating gamma radiation. “Yes, it’s highly radioactive,” Dobson said of the materials that would be headed to such a plant. “Can we work with it? Yes.” Dobson said there would be “tremendous economic benefits to this region if the location just east of Roswell is selected,” including several thousand construction and permanent jobs. Less than one third of these jobs would belong to scientists and engineers, with most of the jobs for craftsmen, process operators and technicians, Dobson said. In addition to indirect jobs created to accommodate the people working at the plant, Dobson said there would be a “tremendous boost to infrastructure, schools, hospitals and medical businesses.” Gene Simmons, director of the Small Business Development Center at ENMU-R, agreed. He said the plant would increase quality of life in the region by offering jobs that would pay $20 an hour. “The nice thing about this business is that it give the region time to gear up. . . the permanent jobs will be coming right behind the bell curve,” said Simmons, who estimated the plant’s impact at a possible $800 million yearly for the region. “It’s an opportunity of a lifetime for a community like this,” Simmons said. “They’re giving us the opportunity to grow our region, to move people up through education and jobs.” “This could be a very good anchor to the economy of southeast New Mexico. We would be leading our region into the next generation.” Dobson said the nation’s only current planned repository for spent nuclear fuel, Yucca Mountain, “can only hold so much,” making recycling all the more necessary. An estimated 1,900 pounds of usable uranium could be produced from one ton of spent fuel, Dobson said. The remaining waste, which would be encased in glass, or “vitrified,” would then be sent to Yucca Mountain. The capacity at that Nevada location, which is not yet being used, would be heat-based, not volumetric, Dobson said. Recycling nuclear rods, Dobson said, would greatly reduce what would be sent to a repository. “Even with the expansion of nuclear power, we wouldn’t need another repository until next century,” Dobson said. But residents must be in support of the idea, he said. And while elsewhere in Roswell, many are signing their names to petitions opposing the idea, Gandy-Marley and EnergySolutions on Tuesday distributed cards at their lunch meeting for people to indicate their support of the Chaves County site. “If were are unable to show enough people are in favor,” Dobson said, “it would be impossible.” ***************************************************************** 24 Guardian Unlimited: Answers Sought on Nuclear Plant Shutdown From the Associated Press Friday May 18, 2007 12:31 AM By BEN EVANS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - An overloaded computer network shut down a nuclear reactor in Alabama last year, and even nine months later, regulators cannot pinpoint the source of the failure. The incident occurred last August at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry plant. Since the Sept. 11 strikes, Congress has been concerned that utilities and other high-risk facilities might be vulnerable to cyberattacks because of their reliance on computer networks to control operations. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the computer malfunction did not threaten plant safety. Regulators are confident an outside hacker was not responsible. Nonetheless, the House Homeland Security Committee this week urged a broader investigation. The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., says there are too many unanswered questions. ``We need to know whether instances like this are internal or external, and to what extent we are going to deal with them,'' Thompson said in an interview. ``For the NRC to rely on the operator's explanation of what happened ... does not go far enough.'' Earlier this week, the NRC gave final approval for the TVA to restart a third reactor at Browns Ferry that had been shut down for 22 years due to concerns about safety and management. Browns Ferry in rural Alabama, about 95 miles north of Birmingham, once was the nation's largest nuclear power plant. In a report last month, the commission said TVA officials shut down the Unit 3 reactor after ``excessive traffic'' on the computer network caused recirculation pumps to fail, creating a potentially unstable condition. The TVA has not determined the source of the data overload. The commission said the utility reacted appropriately and has addressed the problem by installing new ``firewalls'' to better control computer traffic. NRC and TVA officials said the Browns Ferry network involved is an internal-only network and - when operated as designed - cannot accept data from outside sources. TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said the utility believes an unexplained glitch may have caused the failure. Officials, however, would not rule out the possibility that someone could penetrate the network from outside. ``We have reasonable assurance that there is no external access to this system,'' said Eva Brown, the NRC's project manager at Browns Ferry. ``We did an independent assessment to convince ourselves that (TVA's) conclusions were acceptable, and there was no evidence of an external source.'' NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said the agency's public notice on the incident should serve to warn other operators of the potential problem, although the commission is not requiring any action. Joe Weiss, managing partner at Applied Control Solutions and an expert on industrial computer security, said he doubts that anyone intentionally caused the Browns Ferry network to fail. But the outage raises concerns, he said. ``The whole area of cybersecurity in industrial facilities is effectively in its infancy,'' Weiss said. ``There needs to be a greater appreciation within the nuclear community that these systems truly are connected.'' Since the Sept. 11 attacks, security experts have warned of vulnerabilities in the computer networks of the nation's ``critical infrastructure,'' including emergency response agencies, electricity providers and water treatment plants. A 2005 report from the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general, for example, found that water utilities had installed computer-based remote controls ``with little attention paid to security,'' leaving valves, pumps and chemical mixers open to cyberattack. In 2003, a computer virus temporarily disabled the safety monitoring system at the Davis-Besse nuclear station in Ohio, even though the utility thought the network was protected from such a breach. --- Associated Press writer Ted Bridis contributed to this report. ^--- On the Net: Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov Tennessee Valley Authority: http://www.tva.gov Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 25 US nuke plant vulnerability exposed by security breach in Michigan Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 08:57:38 -0500 (CDT) Nuclear Informtion & Resource Service (NIRS) http://www.nirs.org/press/05-15-2007/1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 15, 2007 CONTACT Kevin Kamps, NIRS 301-270-6477 x14 Major Security Breach at Palisades Nuclear Plant Critics Call for U.S. Congressional Investigations TAKOMA PARK, MD A story appearing in the June edition of Esquire magazine that reveals a major security lapse at the Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan, confirms that reactor security around the country is grossly inadequate according to specialists in the field. Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and its allies today called on the U.S. Congress to investigate the security breach at Palisades. The Esquire story, entitled "Mercenary," details how the head of Palisades security William E. Clark had largely fabricated his background, experience and security credentials presenting himself as an expert on armed deterrence. Clark has since resigned his position. "Mercenary" reveals that officials at the Palisades nuclear power plant failed to detect false assertions in Clark's resume that claimed he had high level security clearance from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Clark also passed a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-regulated background check. He was hired by the plant's previous owner, Consumers Energy Company, and operator, Nuclear Management Company, but was kept on by the new owner and operator, Entergy, since it acquired Palisades one month ago. The article can be found at http://www.esquire.com/features/mercenary0607 "What's disturbing is not only that Palisades hired an individual who claimed to be an experienced assassin but that apparently no one verified his claim to have DOD clearance," said Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist at NIRS. "This has serious implications for security at all 103 reactors across the country. It begs the question as to what would have happened if Mohammed Atta had decided to fake a resume rather than fly a plane, and earned a top-level security job at one of our nuclear power plants." The article describes how Clark convinced NRC officials, as well as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, to support and even join his "Viper team," a supposedly "elite strike force" he set up at Palisades. According to Esquire, FBI agents and NRC officials attended a "Viper team" presentation by Clark hosted at DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. The federal officials reportedly considered establishing Clark's "Viper teams" at nuclear power plants across the U.S. "If what Esquire says about Clark is true, I surely hope Entergy and Consumers have formally notified the NRC, FBI, and DHS of the revelations by now," said Terry Lodge, an attorney based in Toledo, OH who represents citizens in interventions against Palisades. "Apparently a journalist can do a much better background check than Entergy and Consumers security officials. Entergy has also had security problems at the Indian Point reactors near New York City. The NRC must reconsider whether Entergy can guarantee the safe operation of Palisades, and 100% protection of the high-level radioactive waste still stored at Big Rock Point in northern Michigan," Lodge said. "Despite the NRC claim that the 9/11 attacks prompted a "top to bottom" security review, it apparently did not detect Clark's deceptions or act upon his apparent erratic behavior as described in the article," Kamps added. "Palisades' reactor and waste storage facilities hold potentially catastrophic amounts of radioactivity, at continual risk of release into the environment due to accident or attack," said Kamps. "This incident clearly shows that private companies and government agencies who are supposed to protect public health, safety, security, and the environment are incompetent at doing so." NIRS has called on Congress to investigate the failures at NRC, FBI, DHS and the nuclear utilities involved at Palisades and to explore whether similar problems exist with security at other nuclear power plants across the country. It will also re-apply to NRC for hearings on its security-related contentions at Palisades and Big Rock, which had previously been rejected, based on the new information revealed by Esquire. -30- -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.7.1/807 - Release Date: 5/16/2007 6:05 PM ***************************************************************** 26 Hindu News: Discussions on with IAEA on India-specific nuke safeguard Friday, May 18, 2007 : 0300 Hrs New Delhi, May 18 (PTI): Discussions are being held with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on developing an India Specific Safeguard Agreement on the nuclear issue, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. India had three exploratory meetings with IAEA on the main concepts that would be embedded in an India Specific Safeguard Agreement, Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan said in a written reply. However, he said that these talks were perforce exploratory in nature since the contours of the 123 Bilateral Co-operation Agreement and more importantly the implications of the US legislation on the subject (Hyde Act) were not clear. Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 27 Platts: US, Russian officials to meet May 28 to discuss PU disposition 2007-05-17 London (Platts)--17May2007 US, Russian officials to meet May 28 to discuss PU disposition in fast reactors, according to a senior Russian official. Oleg Saraev, deputy general director of nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, said Sergey Kirienko, head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), had written to the US government to say Russia will recycle excess weapons plutonium in fast reactors only -- the BN600 and future BN800 power reactors, plus the BOR60 prototype -- but will not ask the US to pay for construction of BN800, as had once been its demand. Rosatom is proposing to abandon disposition of weapons Pu in Russian light water reactors, Saraev told Platts May 16 during the International Conference on Advanced Nuclear Power Plants in Nice, France. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 28 Markey: MARKEY SEEKS ANSWERS AFTER REPORTED SECURITY BREACH AT NUCLEAR PLANT Former Employee of Palisades, Seabrook Allegedly Lied About Past, Still Given Sensitive Jobs WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, today wrote to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) demanding answers in light of reports that the former security manager at the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan who had also been employed at the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire, is an individual who claimed to be a paid assassin and evidently fabricated much of his background but still managed to obtain both of his sensitive jobs and the necessary security clearances. "If they're handing out sensitive nuclear security jobs to someone who claimed to be a gun for hire, who else are they hiring to secure nuclear materials? If the reports about this individual, William E. Clark, are true, there are potentially deadly gaps in the current process used to evaluate prospective employees," said Rep. Markey. "Nuclear plant operators can build all the walls or blast-resistant chambers they want, but if they're not screening the security personnel, none of that will matter." According to an article in the June edition of Esquire, Mr. William E. Clark was hired as the head of security at the Palisades nuclear plant in early 2006 and resigned several weeks ago, before the article was published. Mr. Clark also reportedly worked at the Seabrook nuclear plant prior to working at the Palisades plant. Mr. Clark reportedly told the author of the Esquire article and others that he had been employed as a marksman for Blackwater Corporation; had killed people in Vietnam, New Orleans and Iraq; had top security clearances at the Departments of Energy and Defense; served in the French Foreign Legion; worked as a guard for President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Paul Bremer in Iraq; and was a covert operator employed by the Federal Government through a "handler," which required his identity to be kept secret. Rep. Markey's letter asks NRC Chairman Dale E. Klein to respond to detailed questions about how Mr. Clark was hired and the general vetting process for other individuals employed at nuclear reactors. The questions included:  How and when did the Commission and the licensee, Entergy, first become aware of the possibility that Mr. Clark had fabricated portions of his resume?  Has the Commission or the licensee considered the possibility that Mr. Clark may pose a danger to the facility, or to other nuclear facilities, since he now possesses sensitive information regarding the operation of nuclear power plants and any security weaknesses? If so, what is the Commission and/or the licensee doing to ensure that he cannot gain armed or unarmed access to a nuclear power plant?  Mr. Clark reportedly claimed to his employer that he had been a paid assassin, although it appears that this claim was not in fact true. Can the Commission account for how someone making such a claim, true or not, could be considered eligible for employment at nuclear power plants?  Please fully describe the process by which applicants for sensitive positions at nuclear reactors are screened. What background checks are required? How are claims made on resumes verified?  When did Mr. Clark work at the Seabrook nuclear power plant, and in what capacity? Did he work for any other nuclear power plants, and if so which, and during what time period? "Mr. Clark has reportedly resigned his position at Palisades, but this episode, if true, raises serious questions about every other individual employed at nuclear reactors across the country. The NRC needs to quickly explain the troubling circumstances of this bizarre episode and ensure that all reactor employees are properly vetted before receiving sensitive responsibilities," concluded Rep. Markey. Rep. Markey's letter to the NRC ***************************************************************** 29 Marlborough Express: Bomb legacy lives on, says witness - By DEE WILSON - The Marlborough Express | Thursday, 17 May 2007 DEE WILSON/The Marlborough Express MUSHROOM CLOUD: Neil Balloch of Waikawa remembers watching such a cloud form during an aerial nuclear test off Christmas Island in 1957. Waikawa resident Neil Balloch looks from his home above Karaka Point at the tranquil waters of Queen Charlotte Sound and recalls the day he witnessed a powerful nuclear explosion. He thinks he is lucky to be alive after witnessing one of the seven-megaton and two-kiloton aerial explosions from a distance of 60 nautical miles away. Mr Balloch was 19 at the time, an able seaman aboard HMNZS Rotoiti in November 1957, the ship stationed offshore from Christmas Island. The crew had been told when leaving Fiji that the Rotoiti was assigned to monitor English nuclear bomb tests, but the undertaking was surrounded by secrecy. "When we left Fiji we handed in cameras and weren't to seal letters, so they could be censored, and we were not to mention where we were going or what we were doing." Mr Balloch was not unduly worried as he thought the ship would be well away from the explosion. Everyone knew what had happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "I was very excited at that point. I had never been to a nuclear bomb before." The sky was cloudless and not a breath of wind ruffled the water as the men donned their "Number 8s" consisting of denim trousers and shirts, a small mask over their faces to the top of their shoulders, heavy gloves to the elbows and goggles. They were mustered to stand on the starboard side of the ship about 10am and told to face aft. They could hear the count down for the bomb drop on a loudspeaker, and then came the explosion. "I heard a huge roar. It's hard to describe, like a big thunderclap that moved on over us." He initially covered the goggles with his gloved hands, but then moved them away to see a huge red streak right across the sky. "It was like looking into the sun without glasses." The streak developed into a ball of swirling red, grays, and blacks that formed the mushroom cloud, with the whole sky like a sunset. The sky didn't return to normal until the following day. "I can still see it if I'm stressed and lying awake at night." But it didn't end there. He was later picked as one of eight men to go to the upper deck to scrub areas suspected of being radiation contaminated. He wore a white boiler suit of some plastic type material and a gas mask that "wouldn't protect anyone from anything". He later learned an English destroyer ahead of the frigate had picked up signs of radiation. On their return to Christmas Island the men sat in the sand, or swam, drank beer and caught and ate flying fish from water that could have been contaminated by radioactive fallout from the blast. Mr Balloch produces a photograph of fellow Rotoiti crew members who were alongside him at the time of the blast. Eight of the 17 happy, healthy looking young men have died. A Massey University study commissioned by New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association and released on Monday concludes nuclear test veterans had three times the normal rate of chromosome mutations. Of the 551 New Zealand veterans more than 400 have died, mainly of cancer. About half of their children have genetic abnormalities compared with the general population, where the figure is three percent. Mr Bulloch has suffered intestinal problems, an itchy skin rash all over his body that developed in the early 80s, and has had many skin lesions cut out. A son has a spinal defect; a daughter has had five miscarriages, one of her sons has a severe cleft palate and hair lip requiring nine operations, with more to come. Mr Balloch said there were eight men from Marlborough who witnessed British nuclear testing on the frigates Rotoiti and Pukaki. Two of the men live in Blenheim, one in Westport and four have since died. A NZ$36.5 billion class action is being taken against the British Government on behalf of British, New Zealand and Fijian veterans. Mr Balloch said he didn't want money, but did want the New Zealand Government to fund research on veterans' children and grandchildren. "They are paying the price so something should be done for them immediately, not in three or four years," he said. © Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2007. All the material on this page has the protection of international copyright. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 Vermont Guardian: Collateral Risk: DU research gap could impact Vermont troops By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian Posted May 17, 2007 This article was first posted on June 17, 2005. By the end of June, more than 600 Vermont National Guard members will be deployed in and around heavy combat areas in Iraq, where battlefield exposure to depleted uranium – a highly toxic and radioactive battlefield poison widely used by the United States in combat zones – has now become routine, military watchdogs say. During the recent legislative session, Vermont lawmakers and state leaders turned aside a modest proposal to assess the impact of Vermont National Guard members deployed in dangerous and highly stressful war zones. However, other legislatures have been aggressively pursuing measures aimed at safeguarding their troops. Louisiana last week became the first state to require returning troops to be tested for exposure to depleted uranium. And, like both the Louisiana House and Senate, the Connecticut House unanimously passed similar legislation earlier this month. That bill, which has broad bipartisan co-sponsorship, is now before the state’s Senate. Lawmakers from at least seven other states interested in drafting similar legislation have contacted Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, the Connecticut author of the bill. Ninety Vermonters are currently serving in combat zones, including 25 assigned to a military police company based in the Sunni stronghold of Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein; and 65 are attached to a Mississippi National Guard unit in Najaf, according to Lt. Veronica Saffo, a National Guard spokeswoman in Colchester. Twenty Vermont soldiers are in Iraq working as support staff; 600 are based in Kuwait, where they rotate in and out of combat; and 65 are guarding civilian security contractors in Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, another 400 Vermont troops are scheduled to leave for Iraq as part of a brigade combat team. Their base is not identified ahead of time for security reasons, Saffo said. But “they will be in the combat areas, definitely in the villages and working with the Iraqi police as part of a significantly sized brigade combat team,” she confirmed. The Department of Defense said depleted uranium use in Iraq is significantly lower than the 320 tons fired during the first Gulf War. Outside watchdogs say up to 150 tons of DU have been fired during the current Iraq conflict. No DU weapons systems have been used in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon, where six Vermonters are stationed and another 50 are headed later this month. “Previous to the Gulf War, no special training was mandated concerning DU,” according to Barbara Goodno with the Defense Department’s deployment health office. “Soon after the Gulf War, awareness training was instituted for service members who may be exposed to DU weapons, specialized teams … who may have higher than average exposure receive increased training.” But according to a 2000 study by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, a survey two years earlier by the Army’s Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses of more than 1,600 personnel, found that only 65 percent received required DU training. “We also found a great deal of disparity among units in that three units had not conducted the required DU training at all,” the GAO reported. None of the branches of the military had made sufficient progress in implementing DU training, the study found, concluding that “service members were only marginally better prepared to contend with DU hazards than they had been during the Gulf War.” Saffo said all Vermont troops participate in annual DU training and get more intensified training prior to their deployment. “There is a list of specific core training requirements mandatory for all units in the Army. Every year the commanders of every unit in the state have to make sure the soldiers get the specialized training provided by the Army.” But Joyce Riley, a Gulf War National Guard veteran and executive director of the American Gulf War Veterans Association in Versaille, MO, calls the Pentagon’s claim of better training “a lie.” “They have used hundreds of tons of DU over there,” said Riley, who hosts a daily radio talk show. “We are overwhelmed with phone calls from people who have just returned from Iraq who are not getting treatment.” Just 180 Vermont National Guard members have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan thus far. Although they are given physical and mental health screening, they are not routinely tested for DU exposure, said Anselm Beach, a spokesman for the Veterans Administration Hospital in White River Junction. Returning troops are reporting primarily “readjustment issues,” noted Beach. “Some muscular skeletal problems because you have soldiers wearing 60 pounds of gear, some issues with hearing from explosions … the regular things with combat, but nothing out of the ordinary.” The hospital would test for DU exposure only if symptoms prompt a doctor to recommend it, Beach said. However, a group of congressional Democrats would like to see DU testing standardized. On May 17, Washington Rep. Jim McDermott, a Vietnam veteran, and 21 other Democrats introduced a bill in Congress that would require the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to report to Congress on the health effects of DU exposure, not only on veterans but also on their children born after exposure to DU munitions. “There are countless stories of mysterious illnesses, higher rates of serious illnesses and even birth defects,” McDermott said on the floor of the House. “We do not know what role, if any, DU plays in the medical tragedies in Iraq, but we must find out.” In 1997, federal medical researchers at the Naval Health Research Center and the CDC determined that babies born to Gulf War veterans were more likely to suffer from certain birth defects including malformations of the eyes, jaw, and spine. DU danger Depleted uranium, a highly toxic and radioactive byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, is widely used in U.S. weapons systems because of its ability to penetrate steel and its low cost. It is also used to line tanks, and advocates say its strength and efficiency as a weapon is a benefit for U.S. troops. But the term “depleted” is a misnomer, since DU contains about 60 percent of the radioactivity found in natural uranium, according to Tod Ensign, a veteran and attorney with the veterans advocacy group Citizen Soldier in New York. “When a DU shell strikes its target, up to 70 percent of the depleted uranium vaporizes into fine dust, which then settles out in the surrounding soil and water,” he wrote. “Over half of the aerosolized particles are smaller than 5 microns and anything smaller than 10 microns can be inhaled. Once lodged in the lungs, these particles can emit a steady dose of alpha radiation.” Goodno said all service members in the field carry protective masks for use against chemical or biological attack, which could also be used “in extreme cases” to prevent DU inhalation. “Protective equipment is only required as a precaution for those who have repeated, prolonged exposure” to DU, she noted. Some veterans of the first Gulf War say DU exposure has led to a battery of debilitating symptoms including headaches, fatigue, joint pain, sleep disturbance, and frequent urination, which they call Gulf War syndrome. Ensign reports that months before the first Gulf War, the Army’s Armament, Munitions, and Chemical Command published the following warning: “Following combat, the condition of the battlefield and the long term health risks to natives [sic] and combat veterans may become issues in the acceptability of the continued use of DU for military applications.” The report added that DU has been “linked to cancer when exposures are internal.” Iraqi doctors and researchers have reported dramatic increases in cancer and childhood leukemia since the early 1990s. Of the nearly 700,000 troops who fought in the first Gulf War, more than 187,000 had been granted some level of disability status for injury or illness related to their service, according to Veterans Administration statistics for February 2005. More than 10,000 of the returning Gulf War veterans have died. The Defense Department continues to insist that there is no scientific evidence that links exposure to depleted uranium to any of the symptoms, and that no single diagnosis explains the symptoms. Of the 104 soldiers known to have been hit by “friendly fire” DU munitions during the 1991 war, according to Goodno, 70 participated in a VA follow-up program. All of them had inhalation exposure, and about one third had embedded DU shrapnel. “Those veterans with retained DU shrapnel continue to excrete elevated levels of urinary uranium,” she noted. “To date, none of these individuals have developed kidney abnormalities, leukemia, bone or lung cancer, or any other uranium-related health problems.” But McDermott asks, “If DU is so safe, why do American soldiers need to wear protective clothing in the first place?” Northern Vermont: PO Box 335, Winooski, VT 05404 Southern Vermont: 139 Main Street, Suite 603, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Contact: 802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) | 877.231.5382 (toll-free) ©2007 Vermont Guardian | Visit us: www.vermontguardian.com This document can be located online: www.vermontguardian.com/local/052007/CollateralRiskRePrint.shtml ***************************************************************** 31 Whangarei Northern Advocate: `The bones in our hands lit up' - May 17 2007 5:59PM - localnews Dargaville nuclear test veteran Doug Flavell. Picture/Annette Lambly By Annette Lambly Fifty years after Dargaville's Doug Flavell was used as a "guinea pig" in a nuclear test, a study has finally proven what he's suspected all along - that the blast damaged the veteran's genetic makeup. It was an emotional moment for Mr Flavell when he learned that a Massey University study showed that Kiwi sailors irradiated by British hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific 50 years ago have suffered long-term effects. For decades the sailors, represented by the NZ Nuclear Test Veterans Association, have lobbied for research to be carried out, believing the blasts had affected their health. The study of former seamen on the Navy ships Pukaki and Rotoiti near Christmas Island in 1957 showed significant genetic damage. Now the association wants tests on the servicemen's children to assess what damage was being passed on. "So many died so young, many with young families, while others live on painkillers and drugs ... I'm probably one of the lucky ones." Mr Flavell was among the 521 sailors on frigates sent to patrol the exclusion zone during Operation Grapple, the detonation of two hydrogen bombs. "I still to this day don't know what we were supposed to be observing, since we were told to sit with our backs to the blast and cover our eyes. We wore only our regulation No.8s and flash gear, a soft muslin-type helmet, and no protective gear. "The blast pushed us forward and we saw the bones in our hands light up as if we were looking at an X-ray. I believe we were used as guinea pigs." Mr Flavell served in the Navy from 1951 to 1959 and joined the nuclear test veterans' campaign in the 1980s. It was a relief finally to be proven right. "I hadn't forgotten about the tests. I was reminded every time I went to another funeral. The campaign for me wasn't even about money - it was about acknowledgment, for New Zealanders to know the true story." Mr Flavell, a father and grandfather of five and great-grandfather of 23, believes he is one of the lucky ones. At 73, he suffers from severe osteoarthritis, deafness and tinnitus, but says no apparent genetic disorder has been passed on. The able seaman, attached to special unit known as Combined Operations, was on his way home after a 15-month stint in the Pacific when he was transferred to the Pukaki. ? Operation Grapple is the subject of a book launched yesterday. We Were There examines New Zealand's involvement in the tests. Visit an Australian APN Newspaper © APN News & Media Ltd 2006. ***************************************************************** 32 Iran enrichment program now up and running Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 18:13:40 -0500 (CDT) Original source URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/world/middleeast/15iran.html May 15, 2007 Inspectors Cite Big Gain by Iran on Nuclear Fuel By DAVID E. SANGER VIENNA, May 14 Inspectors for the International Atomic Energy Agency have concluded that Iran appears to have solved most of its technological problems and is now beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before, according to the agency9s top officials. The findings may change the calculus of diplomacy in Europe and in Washington, which has aimed to force a suspension of Iran9s enrichment activities in large part to prevent it from learning how to produce weapons-grade material. In a short-notice inspection of Iran9s main nuclear facility at Natanz on Sunday, conducted in advance of a report to the United Nations Security Council due early next week, the inspectors found that Iranian engineers were already using roughly 1,300 centrifuges and were producing fuel suitable for nuclear reactors, according to diplomats and nuclear experts here. Until recently, the Iranians were having difficulty keeping the delicate centrifuges spinning at the tremendous speeds necessary to make nuclear fuel, and often were running them empty, or not at all. Now, those roadblocks appear to have been surmounted. 3We believe they pretty much have the knowledge about how to enrich,2 said Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the energy agency, who clashed with the Bush administration four years ago when he declared that there was no evidence that Iraq had resumed its nuclear program. 3From now on, it is simply a question of perfecting that knowledge. People will not like to hear it, but that9s a fact.2 It is unclear whether Iran can sustain its recent progress. Major setbacks are common in uranium enrichment, and experts say it is entirely possible that miscalculation, equipment failures or sabotage could prevent the Iranian government from reaching its goal of producing fuel on what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasts is 3an industrial scale.2 The material produced so far would have to undergo further enrichment before it could be transformed into bomb-grade material, and to accomplish that Iran would probably have to evict the I.A.E.A. inspectors, as North Korea did four years ago. Even then it is unclear whether the Iranians would have the technology to produce a weapon small enough to fit atop their missiles, a significant engineering challenge. Iran says its nuclear program is intended to produce energy, not weapons. While the United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution demanding that Iran suspend all of its nuclear activities, and twice imposed sanctions for its refusal to do so, some European nations, and particularly Russia, have questioned whether the demand for suspension still makes sense. The logic of demanding suspension was that it would delay the day that Iran gained the knowledge to produce its own nuclear fuel, what the Israelis used to refer to as 3the point of no return.2 Those favoring unconditional engagement with Iran have argued that the current strategy was creating a stalemate that the Iranians are exploiting, allowing them to make technological leaps while the Security Council steps up sanctions. The Bush administration, in contrast, has argued that it will never negotiate while the Iranians speed ever closer to nuclear-weapons capacity, saying there has to be a standstill as long as talks proceed. In a telephone interview, R. Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for policy, who is carrying out the Iran strategy, said that while he had not heard about the I.A.E.A.9s newest findings they would not affect American policy. 3We9re proceeding under the assumption that there is still time for diplomacy to work,2 he said, though he added that if the Iranians did not agree to suspend production by the time the leaders of the largest industrial nations meet next month, 3we will move ahead toward a third set of sanctions.2 Dr. ElBaradei has always been skeptical of that strategy, telling European foreign ministers that he doubted the Iranians would fully suspend their nuclear activities, and that a face-saving way must be found to resolve the impasse. 3Quite clearly suspension is a requirement by the Security Council, and I would hope the Iranians would listen to the world community,2 he said. 3But from a proliferation perspective, the fact of the matter is that one of the purposes of suspension keeping them from getting the knowledge has been overtaken by events. The focus now should be to stop them from going to industrial scale production, to allow us to do a full-court-press inspection and to be sure they remain inside the treaty.2 The report to the Security Council next week is expected to say that since February 2006, when the Iranians stopped complying with an agreement on broad inspections around the country by the agency, the I.A.E.A.9s understanding of 3the scope and content2 of Iran9s nuclear activities has deteriorated. Inspectors are concerned that Iran has declined to answer a series of questions, posed more than a year ago, about information Iran probably received from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear engineer. Of particular interest is a document that shows how to make uranium into spheres, a shape suitable for use in a weapon. The inspection conducted on Sunday took place on two hours9 notice, a period so short that it appears unlikely that the Iranians could have turned on their centrifuges to impress the inspectors. According to diplomats familiar with the inspectors9 report, in addition to 1,300 working centrifuges, 300 more were being tested and appeared ready to be fed raw nuclear fuel as soon as late this week, the diplomats said. Another 300 were reported to be under construction. The I.A.E.A. reported more than a week ago that approximately 1,300 centrifuges were in place, but nuclear experts here said that what struck them now was that all the centrifuges appeared to be enriching uranium and running smoothly. 3They are at the stage where they are doing one cascade a week,2 said one diplomat familiar with the analysis of Iran9s activities, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the information. A cascade has 164 centrifuges, and experts say that at this pace, Iran could have 3,000 centrifuges operating by June enough, if the uranium were enriched further, to make one bomb9s worth of nuclear material every year. Tehran may, the diplomat said, be able to build an additional 5,000 centrifuges by the end of the year, for a total of 8,000. The inspectors have tested the output and concluded that Iran is producing reactor-grade uranium, enriched to a little less than 5 percent purity. But that still worries American officials and I.A.E.A. experts. If Iran stores the uranium and later runs it through centrifuges for four or five more months, it can raise the enrichment to 90 percent, the level needed for a nuclear weapon. Some Bush administration officials and some nuclear experts here at the I.A.E.A. and elsewhere suspect that the Iranians may not be driving for a weapon but the ability to have sufficient stockpiles of low-enriched uranium that they could produce a bomb within months of evicting inspectors, as North Korea did in 2003. That capacity alone could serve as a nuclear deterrent. One senior European diplomat, who declined to speak for attribution, said that Washington would now have to confront the question of whether it wants to keep Iran from producing any nuclear material, or whether it wants to keep it from gaining the ability to build a weapon on short notice. Continued stalemate, the diplomat said, allows Iran to move toward that ability. But hawks in the administration say that the only position President Bush can take now, without appearing to back down, is to stick to the administration9s past argument that 3not one centrifuge spins2 in Iran. They argue for escalating sanctions and the threat that, if diplomacy fails, the United States could destroy the nuclear facilities. But even inside the administration, many officials, particularly in the State Department and the Pentagon, argue that military action would create greater chaos in the Middle East and Iranian retribution against American forces in Iraq, and possibly elsewhere. Moreover, they have argued that Iran9s enrichment facilities are still at an early enough stage that a military strike would not set the country9s program back very far. Such a strike, they argue, would make sense only once large facilities had been built. Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company -- -------------------------------------------------------- Posting archives: http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Escaping the Matrix website: http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website: http://cyberjournal.org Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html Subscribe cyberjournal list: cj-subscribe@cyberjournal.org (send blank message) cyberjournal blog (join in): http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Moderator: rkm@quaylargo.com (comments welcome) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: newslog-unsubscribe@cyberjournal.org For additional commands, e-mail: newslog-help@cyberjournal.org ***************************************************************** 33 ENS: INSIGHTS: Recycling Nuclear Waste Too Dangerous Environment News Service (ENS) By Robert Alvarez WASHINGTON, DC As a senior energy adviser in the Clinton administration, I recall attending a briefing by the National Academy of Sciences in 1996 on the feasibility of recycling nuclear fuel. I'd been intrigued by the idea because of its promise to reduce the amount of waste that had to be buried, where it could conceivably seep into drinking water at some point in its multimillion-year-long half-lives. But then came the Academy's unequivocal conclusion - the idea was supremely impractical. It would cost up to $500 billion in 1996 dollars and take 150 years to accomplish the transmutation of dangerous long-lived radioactive toxins. President George W. Bush and his energy secretary, Samuel Bodman, have recently intensified their lobbying to revive nuclear recycling through a program they call the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, GNEP. As I listened to Bodman describe GNEP as a sweeping panacea ­ to supply virtually limitless energy to emerging economies, to "reduce the number of required ... waste depositories to one for the remainder of this century" and to "enhance energy security, while promoting non-proliferation" ­ I kept waiting, as I did just over a decade ago, for the caveats. But they never came, even though the idea remains as costly and technologically unfeasible as it was in the 1990s. Between 1993 and 1999, Robert Alvarez served in the Department of Energy as a senior policy advisor to the secretary of energy and deputy assistant secretary for national security and the environment. (Photo courtesy Robert Alvarez) Members of Congress, who will soon vote on the President's request for $405 million for GNEP in fiscal year 2008, should recognize that GNEP has no chance in our lifetimes of brightening the prospects of finding safe ways of nuclear fuel disposal. In 1982, Congress enacted legislation requiring that nuclear power spent fuel be disposed of in ways that shield humans for at least hundreds of millennia. But today, a quarter-century later, prospects for long-term disposal are dimmer than ever. The government's nuclear waste disposal program is plagued by scandal, legal setbacks and congressional funding cuts. As a result, the schedule for the proposed Yucca Mountain disposal site in Nevada has slipped by two decades. Under the President's plan, the United States and its nuclear partners would sell power reactors to developing nations who agree not to pursue technologies that would aid nuclear weapons production, notably reprocessing and uranium enrichment. To sweeten the deal, the United States would take highly radioactive spent fuel rods to a recycling center in this country. Spent nuclear fuel rods at the Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, South Carolina (Photo courtesy SRS) The foreign reactor wastes, along with spent fuel from the U.S. reactor fleet, would be reprocessed to reduce the amount that would go deep underground. Nuclear explosive materials, such as plutonium, would also be separated and converted to less troublesome isotopes in a new generation of reactors. In short, using the Bush administration's fuzzy nuclear math, more would become less. In fact, however, to reduce the amount of radioactive wastes slated for a deep geological repository, the majority of radioactive byproducts are planned to be stored in shallow burial. The site selected for the GNEP recycling center is likely to become a dump for the largest, lethal source of high-heat radioactivity in the United States and possibly the world. If placed in a crowded area, a few grams of these wastes would deliver lethal doses in a matter of seconds. Concentrations could be so large that if they were disposed of under current standards in shallow land burial as low-level wastes, shortly after separation they would have to be diluted to a volume as large as 500 million cubic meters, enough to fill 500 Empire State Buildings. The plan would also threaten water supplies. For instance, it could result in levels of radioactive disposal thousands of times greater than now allowed at DOE's Savannah River site in South Carolina. The Bush administration lacks (or at least, has yet to disclose) credible plans for addressing any of the unprecedented health, safety and financial risks that GNEP would create. Unless the administration can furnish these details, the public should urge their legislators to zero out GNEP's budget. We are better off by investing in renewable energy and conservation, rather than pouring billions of dollars into the same old limitless energy schemes of our nuclear laboratories. {Robert Alvarez is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. Between 1993 and 1999, he served as a senior policy advisor to the secretary of energy and deputy assistant secretary for national security and the environment.} Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2006. All Rights Reserved. The ENS website is maintained by HKCR LLC ***************************************************************** 34 WIFR: Nuclear Waste Piling up at Byron Nuclear Power Plant May 17, 2007 Home · News · 23 Sports Ticket · 23 News This Reporter: Tina Stein It takes very little atomic energy to produce electricity at the Byron Nuclear Power Plant. But the amount of waste leftover is staggering. In fact, the very same waste produced when the plant opened in 1985 is still sitting at the bottom of their spent fuel pool. "When the nuclear power industry and nuclear power plants were built none of them were built with the understanding that you would have to create a spent fuel pool large enough to hold the fuel the entire life span of the plant," says Exelon Communications Manager Bob Kartheiser. Byron's spent fuel pool is at 80-percent capacity and is expected to be completely filled within four years. And until Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a federal repository site opens up, nuclear plants like Byron must develop a new way to store this radioactive waste. "Once this does reach it's capacity we'll take the oldest assembles out of here and keep them in dry casks some where on our property," Kartheiser says. The dry casks are concrete steel lined canisters. These can withstand natural disasters and other dangerous situations. "They've done physical tests where fire, explosive trucks running into them trains running into them to show that any leaking of radiation is hasn't happened," he says. Yucca Mountain was supposed to open in 1998, but political snags have caused quite a delay. And now won't be ready until 2017 at the earliest. Byron officials say there are no health risks to building the dry casks. And they hope to start construction sometime next year. Which will cost about 10-million dollars. But don't worry that's not tax payer money. It's coming out of Exelon's pocket. However, a portion of our ComEd bills go towards construction at Yucca Mountain. Other countries such as Japan and France recycle their nuclear waste. However they still build repository sites similar to Yucca Mountain. That's because they still get nuclear waste off of the material. So Byron officials say recycling wouldn't work here. Gray Television Group, Inc. - Copyright © 2002-2007 - Designed and ***************************************************************** 35 DOE: U.S. Departments of Interior and Energy Release Report on Indian Land Rights-of-Way Study May 15, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (Departments) today delivered to Congress and sent to the Federal Register the Indian Land Rights-of-Way Study required by Section 1813 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT). The study provides analyses and recommendations on energy rights-of-way (ROWs) negotiations on tribal lands. The study recommended that grants, expansions, or renewals of energy ROWs on tribal lands should continue to be based on terms negotiated between the two parties. In the event that negotiations are not successful, evaluation by Congress on a case by case basis may be needed. The Departments found that the negotiation processes for establishing or renewing ROWs on tribal land could benefit from mutually agreed-upon practices, procedures and actions. These include the following: the development of comprehensive ROW inventories for tribal lands, the development of model or standard business practices for energy ROW transactions, and a broadened scope of energy ROW negotiations. The Indian Land Rights-of-Way Study examined recommendations for determining fair and appropriate compensation to Indian tribes for grants, expansions, and renewals of energy ROWs on tribal land; historic rates of compensation paid for energy ROWs on tribal land; assessments of the tribal self-determination and sovereignty interests; and an analysis of relevant national energy transportation policies relating to grants, expansions, and renewals of energy ROWs on tribal land. Section 1813 of the EPAct required the Departments to jointly conduct a study on the grants, expansions, and renewals of ROWs on tribal lands. The Departments consulted with Indian tribes, the energy industry, appropriate government entities, and affected businesses and consumers during the course of the study and conducted case studies based on energy ROWs on tribal lands. The Departments held public meetings and received more than 250 written comments. This extensive public and tribal consultation provided the Departments with the essential information needed to study and report on the issues requested by Congress in Section 1813. Additional information about section 1813, the full report, and Federal Register Notice. Media contact(s): Megan Barnett, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 36 DOE: Energy Dept. Invites Research Proposals for Tapping Supercomputing Resources May 16, 2007 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy is inviting proposals for innovative, large-scale computational science projects. Researchers will be able to use some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers at DOE national laboratories. The advanced computers are not commonly available in academia or the private sector. DOE’s Office of Science expects to award up to 250 million processor hours in 2008, nearly three times the amount awarded in 2007. The allocations of supercomputing and data storage resources along with technical support will be made under DOE’s Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program for computationally intensive, large-scale research projects. The five-year old program encourages proposals from universities, other research institutions and industry. Industry is specifically solicited to propose challenging problems that may be solved using high- performance computing systems. “The demand for access to INCITE supercomputing resources has far exceeded what is available even though total allocations have soared from just three million hours in 2004 to 250 million hours next year,” Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, DOE’s Under Secretary for Science, said. “The breadth of proposals – from industry, academia and national labs – illustrates both the demand for such resources and the contributions computational science are making to our economic and scientific competitiveness.” For 2008, the INCITE program provides the only opportunity for researchers to request allocations on the Leadership Class Cray supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the IBM Blue Gene supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois. Other available computers are the Cray XT4 supercomputer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, and the Hewlett-Packard massively parallel system at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington. In 2007, 45 projects were awarded a total of 95 million processor-hours of computing time. Processor-hours refer to how time is allocated on a supercomputer. A project receiving one million hours could run on 2,000 processors for 500 hours, or about 21 days. Running a one-million-hour project on a single-processor desktop computer would take more than 114 years. Information on the 2008 Call for Proposals. Fact sheets describing 2007 INCITE projects. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and ensures U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific disciplines. Additional information about the Office of Science. Media contact(s): Jeff Sherwood, 202/586-5806 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 37 The State: Drive launched to preserve SRS lab Posted on Thu, May. 17, 2007 Congressional panels to probe decision to close research facility By SAMMY FRETWELL - sfretwell@thestate.com The looming closure of a 56-year-old research laboratory that examines how nuclear production at the Savannah River Site affects the environment has sparked an investigation by two congressional panels. Federal lawmakers question the need for painful budget cuts by the U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. Reps. Brad Miller and Nick Lampson urged the Department of Energy on Wednesday to continue funding the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory near Aiken. They chair sub-panels of the House Committee on Science and Technology. The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory is scheduled to close May 31, when it runs out of money from the DOE, according to the University of Georgia, which operates the facility under an agreement with the federal government. If the lab closes, it will leave about 100 researchers and support personnel jobless and about three dozen scientific projects in limbo, according to officials with the ecology lab. The lab’s workers also may be forced to kill research animals they can’t find homes for. DOE officials notified the lab earlier this month the federal agency would not provide additional money that lab officials said they were promised to keep the facility operating. The lab says it needs about $3 million. The federal government has provided major support for the ecology lab for much of the facility’s history. But the Department of Energy said in a recent letter that proposed research doesn’t “directly further the DOE or SRS mission.” The letter did not elaborate. “On the face of it, this is a difficult action to understand,” said Lampson, D-Texas. In a letter Wednesday to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Lampson and Miller, D-N.C., asked the DOE for records related to the ecology laboratory since Aug. 1, 2006, and requested a meeting by May 25 with Bodman’s staff. The letter said the laboratory continues to provide invaluable, unbiased research of ecological conditions at SRS, where soil and groundwater pollution resulted from decades of making nuclear weapons components. DOE Aiken office spokeswoman Julie Petersen said her agency doesn’t have the money to support the laboratory as it has in the past. Megan Barnett, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department in Washington, said the agency will respond to Wednesday’s letter. But she noted that the department has already given the ecology lab $1.8 million this year — and officials knew there would probably be no more funding. “We’re confident that the documents will show we’ve been in discussion with the lab for a number of years on this,” Barnett said. Past budgets for the ecology lab dwarf the one being debated this year. At one point earlier this decade, the lab’s budget was more than $12 million. Ecology lab researchers have become some of the world’s foremost authorities on soil and groundwater contamination, isolated wetlands, amphibians and reptiles. They have produced more than 3,000 research studies and more than 50 books. Some of the laboratory’s scientists, such as reptile expert Whit Gibbons, have been quoted widely in the media and featured nationally on television. Another researcher, Chris Romanek, was among a team of scientists who found evidence of life on Mars by tracing it to an Antarctic rock. Past research has helped guide the government and nuclear power plants on how to better manage atomic sites to prevent future environmental damage. Research projects in jeopardy from the recent cuts include studies on how poisonous metals affect fish that live in Savannah River Site creeks; whether low radiation doses are hurting amphibian reproduction; and whether efforts to protect the rare red-cockaded woodpecker are hurting plant species. Laura Janecek, administrative finance director for the ecology lab, said she thinks the Energy Department’s Washington office wants the laboratory to close but its Aiken division does not. Ecology lab studies have in the past questioned the impact of SRS on the environment. Spokespeople for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., had no immediate comment on the House subcommittees’ probe. U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., is a Science and Technology committee member but was not available for comment. Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537. LAB FEATS Researchers at the ecology lab at Savannah River Site have: ? Discovered higher mercury levels in some alligators at the Savannah River Site than in alligators anywhere else in the world ? Learned that some of the nation’s highest diversity of plants and animals exists at Savannah River ? Verified the importance of seasonal wetlands to thriving populations of amphibians ***************************************************************** 38 Hanford News: Battelle contract in limbo worries local nonprofits This story was published Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer The future for Battelle Memorial Institute in the Tri-Cities beyond Sept. 30 is uncertain and is creating local anxiety - with no end in sight. Fifteen months ago, the Department of Energy set out a schedule for awarding a new contract for Battelle's 42-year job of managing the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory at Hanford. DOE's self-imposed deadlines called for the contract to be awarded last week. But DOE hasn't put together the first step yet - a draft request for proposal, which was supposed to have happened a year ago - much less called for bids or received proposals on the $750 million-a-year contract. When DOE announced in February 2006 that it would call for bids on the PNNL work, it meant Battelle, which has nearly 4,000 employees at the Richland lab, would have to have the best bid package or be replaced and find its role changed drastically. "I can't imagine a scenario like that. Battelle has such a unique role here. The impact is huge, and they are a great community partner," said Kris Johnson, executive director of the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce. DOE officials have no official explanation for the delay. "I don't have a lot of information I can share," Walter Perry, deputy director for the DOE's public affairs offices at Oak Ridge, Tenn., said in a phone interview. Perry said DOE acknowledges the delay on the PNNL contract and knows the contract expires Sept. 30. "We are seeking DOE approval to extend the contract to allow for the competition," Perry said, quoting a prepared statement. Part of the reason for the delay may involve the unique nature of Battelle's contract for operating the lab. It is the only national lab with an arrangement allowing use of government facilities to do private research work separate from the work researchers do for the government. Battelle reimburses DOE for facilities and equipment it uses. The nongovernment work represents about 10 percent of PNNL's annual contracts. Not only do Battelle employees find themselves doing both kinds of work, but Battelle has invested about $120 million into facilities and equipment at PNNL that are exclusively its own, even though some government work is done there. One problem for DOE in developing a bid package may be untangling the private work from the public contract, said Greg Koller, Battelle's spokesman in the Tri-Cities. DOE's Perry refused to comment about the private work done at PNNL, saying only that there is an attempt to extend the public work portion of the contract with Battelle. Further complicating the bidding process is that after four decades of a monogamous relationship with DOE, Battelle has sunk its roots deep, pumping $16 million in grants and resources into the community. And much of that investment is continuing, such as the contract with Washington State University Tri-Cities to help build, equip and collaborate on the Bioproducts, Science and Energy Laboratory on the university campus. "We are continuing to work on going forward on the positives of BSEL. We are not going to slow down," said Vicky Carwein, chancellor at WSU-Tri-Cities. She said there is so much at stake and it has taken so long in partnership with Battelle to get the project launched that it is unthinkable to see Battelle disconnect from the Tri-Cities. "They've had a very long and successful history managing the lab," Carwein said. Battelle's presence has been felt throughout the Tri-Cities, from the children's theater known as ACT, to the Mid-Columbia Symphony, Junior Achievement and dozens of other nonprofit groups. Each has counted on Battelle's support - financially and from Team Battelle employees who volunteer - to sustain them. "I hope Battelle will be here for a long time," said Nancy Sauer, manager of the Battelle Science Resource Center, which was started seven years ago with a $250,000 grant from Battelle. Battelle added another $200,000 to expand the distribution of science kits from Kennewick to 19 districts throughout southeast Washington so students can have better tools for math and science education. Theresa Richardson of Habitat for Humanity said Battelle's corporate culture is one of its greatest gifts. "They are a great bunch of people. Even greater is the talent they give us on boards for long-range planning, ethical and management leadership. They are highly educated and amazingly talented. We are a better organization for it," Richardson said. All of that could go away if Battelle doesn't win the competitive bid. DOE's lack of progress and the Sept. 30 contract expiration are affecting morale at the lab and causing concern in the community. "It already has affected us," said Deb Bowen, executive director of Junior Achievement Tri-Cities. She said Battelle employees typically are the second- or third-largest source of donations each March during the Junior Achievement Bowling Classic fundraiser. This year, Battelle's participation was "about half," Bowen said. She thinks the drop is connected to a feeling of insecurity by Battelle employees, who don't know what the future holds for their jobs in light of the stalled DOE bid process. "People aren't as comfortable making donations," she said. Koller conceded Battelle employees at the lab are feeling some anxiety. The concern was heightened after last week's news that a new contract was announced for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which employs 8,600 people and has a $1.6 billion annual budget. Livermore and PNNL were on the same bidding timeline and have the same contract expiration dates. While PNNL's hasn't reached the first step yet, Livermore's is done. Battelle is a partner with the University of California on the new Livermore contract, Koller noted. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 39 Hanford News: Hastings pushes for increased aid This story was published Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 Annette Cary, Herald staff writer A federal ombudsman would have more authority to help ill workers at Hanford under a bill being co-sponsored by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Now the ombudsman for the nationwide program to compensate ill nuclear workers or their survivors is limited to making inquiries on behalf of workers. The proposed changes would allow the ombudsman to act as an advocate for workers and recommend legislative changes to Congress to make compensation programs work better. The ombudsman's authority also would be extended from just Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program to also include Part B. Under Part B, workers may receive $150,000 and reimbursement for medical care if exposure to radiation at Hanford or other nuclear sites is determined to have caused cancer. Workers with certain lung diseases, including chronic beryllium disease, also are eligible. Part E pays up to $250,000 for lost wages and impairment to workers made ill by toxic substances, including radiation or hazardous chemicals. Congress created the program in 2000, but some people have had to wait years for their claims to be decided. "This is a complex program, but there is simply no excuse for the slow rate at which workers claims are processed," Hastings said in a statement. Many people also have struggled with a complicated bureaucracy, a highly technical burden of proof and intimidating health physics discussions, legislative sponsor Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in a speech. Hastings joins four other representatives from states with nuclear sites as cosponsors. In completed cases, Hanford and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory workers or their survivors have been paid $146 million - up from $98 million 10 months ago - and had more than $2 million in medical bills covered. The legislation creating the ombudsman's office is due to expire in October if new legislation is not passed. In 2006, the office heard about a wide variety of problems. Among the most common was that former workers or their survivors had trouble retrieving employment, exposure or medical records needed to make their case. Some of the records needed date back to World War II. Others said processing of claims was taking so long that elderly workers would die without receiving compensation. Some workers already approved for compensation said they had pharmacy bills rejected without explanation for medications that previously had been covered. For information about the compensation program, call 946-3333 or 1-888-654-0014. To contact the ombudsman, call 1-877-662-8363. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 40 Tri-City Herald: EPA's double-duty fine Opinions Published Thursday, May 17th, 2007 One federal agency fining another is a dumb idea. Especially from the taxpayer's point of view. But sometimes good does come from such a notion. It just takes a little creativity. Rare as some may think that is in government, the Environmental Protection Agency has done just that. The agency may allow the Department of Energy to "work off" a large part of a $1.14 million fine. It's a cousin to work release. DOE certainly earned the fine at the landfill at Hanford. Problems included falsified data, compaction testing that was not done correctly and a water collection system for the landfill's liner that stopped working, a flaw that went undetected for months. Yes, subcontractors were running operations at the landfill, but ultimate responsibility for the lapses falls on DOE. Punishment was in order. But taking money from cleanup would have been counterproductive, even though DOE said it would pass on costs to Washington Closure, which says it plans to get reimbursed from subcontractors. Instead of padding the federal treasury, part of the money may go to another cleanup project. Suggestions so far range from spending some of the money on converting the trucks that haul waste to the landfill to biodiesel, adding restrooms at the historic B Reactor if it is designated a museum to restoring native habitat at Hanford. Other opportunities are being explored. Part of the fine will have to be paid. Typically, the environmental agency wants about 25 percent paid directly. That still may not make much sense to taxpayers, but it is a huge improvement over the idea of simply moving a fine from one agency's budget to another. This way, taxpayers get something of value for their money. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 41 Hanford News: House bill boosts Hanford cleanup This story was published Thursday, May 17th, 2007 Les Blumenthal and Annette Cary, Herald staf WASHINGTON - The House edged toward passage Wednesday of a defense authorization bill for 2008 that provides $1.8 billion to continue cleanup of the Hanford nuclear reservation. Language attached to the bill supports construction of replacement lab and office space for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and pushes the Department of Energy to meet legally binding cleanup deadlines at Hanford. Other provisions in the bill include boosting the authority of the ombudsman's office to help ill workers at Hanford and other nuclear sites who may qualify for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program. The legislation also includes $29 million to update a training facility at the Yakima Training Center to better prepare Stryker units based at Fort Lewis for urban combat. The Senate has yet to act on its version of the bill. The House bill authorizes a total of $503 billion for the Departments of Defense and Energy. Appropriations committees in both chambers will have to approve the actual money, but the authorization bill provides a spending outline. The authorized amounts for cleanup of nuclear sites across the nation would not be large enough to meet 40 to 50 deadlines under court orders or legal agreements at four sites, including Hanford. DOE's plan to base cleanup priorities on risks is a reasonable approach, but DOE should continue to strive to meet legal deadlines, according to House Armed Service Committee language attached to the bill. "When funding or technical challenges impact the department's ability to meet a milestone, the committee encourages the department to continue to communicate openly with the states and make adjustments accordingly," the committee said. The $1.8 billion for Hanford cleanup in the bill, including $690 million for the Waste Treatment Plant, or vitrification plant, is similar to the funding level proposed by the Bush administration. The vitrification plant will convert high-level radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal. "Construction of the Waste Treatment Plant is a critical effort to clean up some of our nation's most dangerous legacy nuclear waste," Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., said during floor debate. No funding was authorized in the bill for construction of the Physical Sciences Facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to replace buildings in Hanford's 300 Area that are being torn down as part of cleanup of the nuclear reservation. No money was planned for the project in 2008 from the National Nuclear Security Administration under a funding agreement that did call for the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security to kick in that year. The 2008 budget request concerned the committee and it "strongly recommends" enough money be included in the Bush administration's budget request for 2009 to complete replacement of 300 Area facilities in February 2011. "A successful transition at the lab will make it possible for nearly 1,000 scientists to continue their work and allow key national security related missions to continue," Hastings said. Earlier this week, he announced that he was co-sponsoring similar legislation to provisions in the authorization bill to give the ombudsman's office more authority to help workers made ill by exposure to radioactive and hazardous chemicals at Hanford and other sites. Both bills would extend the operation of the office, expand it to cover all parts of the compensation program and allow it to advocate for workers rather than just making inquiries. Hastings' legislation would go a step further, authorizing the ombudsman's office to make recommendations to Congress on improving the project. The 500-square-mile Yakima Training Center, in the shrub-steppe desert of central Washington's Yakima and Kittitas counties, has long provided terrain and facilities to train soldiers from Fort Lewis along with National Guard, Army Reserve, Air Force, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard units. In asking for the $29 million, the Army said it needed to expand and upgrade an existing training range for "urban operation engagements." The upgrades include expanding the size of the existing facility and installing new target emplacements, machine gun bunkers, fighting trenches, breach walls and building facades, live fire villages, hasty battle positions and mortar simulation devices. The upgrades also will include installation of digital communication links to be compatible with the latest equipment carried aboard combat vehicles. The existing analog links are inadequate. Without the updates, the Army said, "these units will not train to standard and units may enter future combat less than fully prepared to employ the full capabilities of the digitalized weapons and equipment used by these soldiers." The range due for an upgrade is already the most modern of the 25 ranges at Yakima Training Center. "With the upgrade, it will be state of the art," said Jim Reddick, deputy to the garrison commander. When the range opened in 1989, Reddick said, it was designed for the tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles then based at Fort Lewis. But though the National Guard still uses such equipment, the active-duty forces at Fort Lewis now use Strykers and other, newer equipment. When the training range is updated, Reddick said it will be able to simulate conditions anywhere in the world. The terrain is similar to that in Iraq and Afghanistan. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 Hanford News: Tri-Cities tops for scientists, engineers This story was published Thursday, May 17th, 2007 the Herald staff Expansion Management Magazine recently named the Tri-Cities the top metro area in the country for scientists and engineers. The listing was part of the magazine's fifth annual Knowledge Worker Quotient, a guide to help businesses find the best educated work force for the knowledge sector economy. The study ranked the U.S. work force of scientists, engineers, physicians and those with advanced degrees in 362 metro areas. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or ***************************************************************** 43 Examiner.com: Students demand UC break ties with weapons lab - San Francisco | Change My City 6 hrs ago » Students demand UC break ties with weapons lab « May 17, 2007 4:19 PM (6 hrs ago) By MICHELLE LOCKE, AP SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) -Scores of protesters, including some hunger strikers, showed up at the University of California Board of Regents meeting Thursday to demand that the UC break ties with the nation's nuclear weapons program. About a dozen were forcibly removed from the room for disrupting proceedings. UC has managed the Los Alamos National Laboratory since it was founded in New Mexico to complete work on the atomic bomb in World War II. The system also manages the Lawrence Livermore weapons lab in Northern California, recently winning a competition to keep managing the latter. Despite a series of financial and security lapses that led to the federal government soliciting open bids for the lab management contracts for the first time, UC has held on to its role of nuclear steward. The system, in partnership with Bechtel National Inc., won the competition to manage Los Alamos in 2005 and got the Livermore contract this month. Protesters said the prestigious university system needs to get out of the weapons business. "It's time that you put principles before profits," said Adrian Drummond-Cole, a student at UC Santa Barbara, who was one of several to address regents as they met in San Francisco on Thursday. Regent Norman Pattiz later told protesters he understood their point. "I want you to know that your concerns are legitimate, that your concerns are real. We all live on this planet together," he said. However, after protesters continued to shout out their opposition while the board discussed lab business, regents ordered the room cleared. Most left, but about a dozen linked arms and sat on the floor. They were carried out by police. In all, 13 people were arrested on charges of trespassing and failure to disperse, said UC spokesman Chris Harrington. Also Thursday, regents got a report from a committee studying compensation at UC, a hot topic following a series of revelations that some executives had quietly been paid millions in bonuses and other perks above their reported salaries. The report found that UC President Robert C. Dynes is ultimately responsible for what happened, but said he acted based on advice and recommendations from administrators who should have known what UC policies were. It also noted that Dynes was acting under policies and procedures that were "extremely unclear and ambiguous." Dynes already has voluntarily given up a year's raise, saying "the buck stops on my desk." A number of other employees have been disciplined with actions ranging from letters of reprimand to seeing their raises docked, but UC officials declined to identify the individuals, citing privacy issues. --- Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ***************************************************************** 44 ScienceDaily: Revamped, Renewed, Restarted: Oak Ridge High Flux Isotope Reactor Back On Line Source: DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory "The restart has gone well," said Kelly Beierschmitt, HFIR executive director. "This reactor's design is rigorous and robust. Its performance has been stellar from both an operational and a safety perspective. "We still have work to do, but we are extremely pleased with our progress so far." Built in 1966, HFIR is internationally known as a neutron source for materials studies and isotope production. The reactor returns with a suite of new experiment instruments, beam lines to channel neutrons, a new beryllium reflector, and other upgrades. In October, powerful refrigeration systems were added to cool the reactor's neutron beams to minus 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The intense cold slows the neutrons and lengthens their wavelength, allowing scientists to study "soft" materials such as proteins and polymers and to analyze materials with certain magnetic properties. The restart marks HFIR's 408th cycle. Each cycle represents about 25 days, the time it takes for the reactor to use up its uranium fuel. Greg Smith, who leads ORNL's Low Q Neutron Scattering Group, said 49 science experiments are scheduled for this summer, including: * Experiments to create new materials with beneficial properties, based on polymer nano-composites, which are "hard" nanoparticles surrounded by a "soft" polymer matrix. * Studies to make crystals from membrane proteins, which determine interaction and communication between living cells, to better understand the membrane proteins' structure and function. * Examination of how high-pressure carbon dioxide is absorbed by and migrates through different types of coal to help develop new, more efficient ways to sequester CO2 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "We anticipate eventually providing neutron beams for eight to ten reactor cycles per year and no major shutdown for a beryllium reflector replacement until after 2020," Smith said. "In the meantime, HFIR users will soon be able to access thermal and cold neutron beams of world-class brightness." Neutrons are vital to research in physics, chemistry, engineering and other materials-related fields. At room temperature, they are ideal for use in special instruments to illuminate the atomic structure and dynamics of hard, dense materials. HFIR's cold source will complement the capabilities of ORNL's recently completed Spallation Neutron Source, the world's premier neutron science facility. While SNS also has cold-neutron capabilities, the continuous neutron flow from a reactor such as HFIR, as opposed to pulsed beams from accelerators like SNS, offers advantages for certain types of neutron experiments. The new cold neutron source is part of an Office of Science-funded renovation that represents a major new direction for the reactor and revitalizes its role to the nation's science and research community. The fully instrumented HFIR will include 15 state-of-the-art neutron-scattering instruments, seven designed exclusively for cold neutron experiments; new computer control systems; and a new guide hall facility. Particularly prominent in the guide hall are the two new small-angle neutron scattering instruments, each terminating in a 70-foot long evacuated cylinder containing a large moveable neutron detector. The reactor also produces radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine. HFIR is the only domestic source of californium-252, an isotope used in industrial analysis. These nuclear materials are processed and refined at the nearby Radiochemical Development and Engineering Center. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Web ScienceDaily.com ***************************************************************** 45 KnoxNews: Evacuees return to work at Y-12 By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com May 17, 2007 OAK RIDGE ? Normal operations resumed this morning at a production facility evacuated Wednesday at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, a spokesman confirmed. Bill Wilburn of BWXT Y-12, the government's contractor at the site, said the only restrictions involved the area immediately around a dust collector in a machine shop. Sparks were seen there Wednesday during a maintenance operation, prompting the evacuation. "They're keeping people out of there," he said. About 140 people were evacuated shortly after lunchtime Wednesday from Y-12's Special Materials Production Center. Lithium compounds are processed there for use in nuclear weapons. Fire fighters were present during the operations because of the possibility of a fire, although officials said there was no smoke or fire ? only sparks. A team is still critiquing the incident to determine exactly what happened, Wilburn said. More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel. Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 46 KnoxNews: HFIR achieves full power, marks milestone By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com May 17, 2007 OAK RIDGE ? The High Flux Isotope Reactor achieved full power Wednesday evening, marking a major milestone in the reactor?s resumption of operations, a lab spokesman confirmed today. The world's most powerful research reactor was restarted Sunday for the first time in 16 months. During the lengthy outage, workers refurbished the 40-year-old nuclear facility and installed new instruments, including a cold source that greatly enhances the reactor's experimental capabilities. The cold source uses liquid helium and hydrogen to cool the research chambers to minus-425 degrees Fahrenheit. That slows the movement of neutrons emanating from the reactor's core along special beam lines. Forty-nine research experiments have been approved for the Oak Ridge reactor's first fuel cycle, and scientists are completing preparations while waiting for the completion of reactor tests. The ORNL facility is used mostly for neutron-scattering studies that explore the structure and property of materials. The reactor also produces radioisotopes for medical purposes ? such as cancer treatments ? and industrial and research uses. Because so much new research equipment was installed during the down time and because the reactor was been shut down so long, the Oak Ridge restart team proceeded cautiously in the restart plan ? increasing the power in increments. Before achieving full power, operators held the reactor?s power level at about 10 percent to evaluate the shielding for new instruments and check other systems. More details as they develop online and in Friday?s News Sentinel. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************