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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 UPI: Russia flips, endorses N. Korea sanctions
2 [NYTr] The Irony of Bush Promoting an Islamist Nuclear Arsenal
3 Hindustan Times: US plans breakthrough military plane sale to India-
4 AFP: Bush, Putin set for tense July 1-2 summit - 
5 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Resists Missile Defense Plan 
6 UPI: Energy ministers push efficiency
7 Kommersant Moscow: Some Nuclear Heavy Lifting - 
8 Telegraph: Russia: Cold War arms race is starting again 
9 Telegraph: Russia 'tests missile able to break US shield' 
10 Guardian Unlimited: Russian Diplomat: New Arms Race Starting 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
11 US: China jumps big into nuclear power
12 US: NRC: NRC to Hold Two Public Meetings on Palo Verde Nuclear Gener
13 The Australian: PM might force nuclear power on states 
14 Guardian Unlimited: Government selling nuclear shares 
15 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear reactors possible in Vic - Bracks - 
16 US: NRC: NRC Seeks Public Comment on Supplemental Environmental Asse
17 FT.com: British Energy restarts reactor
18 US: deseretnews.com: Low-paid guards at 'critical' U.S. sites
19 US: SanLuisObispo.com: Nuclear storage at Diablo Canyon said to be s
20 BBC NEWS: Government to sell nuclear shares
21 BBC NEWS: Bristol/Somerset | Fire closes nuclear power station
22 US: 2 Salem reactors offline
23 Platts: French anti-nuclear campaigners protest against EPR reactor
24 US: Platts: All four units at UK Hinkley, Hunterston nuclear plants 
25 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point 2 interrupts power production due to 
26 US: Rutland Herald: A historic step forward on energy, climate
27 China: Plans To Build Hundreds of Nuclear Reactors
28 London Times: Government to raise Ł2.2bn from British Energy-
29 US: APP.COM: Public Service's Salem 2 reactor ended startup after le
30 US: Burlington Free Press: Business group endorses energy bill
31 US: APP.COM: Judges seek public input on plant safety | 
32 Reuters: Considerable work left on India nuclear deal - U.S. 
33 Asia Times: China's not so new nuclear strategy
34 US: UPI: Westinghouse reactor gets regulator looks
35 UPI: Analysis: India's new power action plan
36 US: UPI: Analysis: Nuclear loan backing cloudy
37 AFP: US "positive" on clinching India nuclear accord - 
38 AFP: Bush invites Indian PM to Texas ranch - 
39 US: MHNN: Hall criticizes Indian Point for latest shut down
40 US: MHNN: NRC grants Riverkeeper request for separate public meeting
41 Hemscott: British Energy in talks about nuclear new build, FY earnin
42 Comment is free: Power for the people
43 AU ABC: Bracks Govt to fight any nuclear set-up in Vic. 
44 Hindustan Times: Burns' India visit to clinch N-deal still uncertain
45 Guardian Unlimited: Government sells Ł2bn stake in firm 
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
46 US: SanLuisObispo.com: Diablo nuke plant above-ground storage safe f
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
47 US: Uranium Windfall Opens Choices for the Energy Dept. 
48 US: OMB Watch: Coming to a Dump Near You -- Nuclear Waste - 
49 Bend Weekly: Desert tunnel is the key to U.S. nuclear energy product
50 US: Daily News Journal: Radioactive report spurs need for EPA check 
51 The Local: Safety worries over Forsmark nuclear waste
52 US: AU ABC: Mirarr fears over uranium talks misguided, says NLC. 
53 US: WMCTV.COM: Murfreesboro to test water for radioactive contaminat
54 US: Times Union: Shipments of tainted soil restart -- 
 
                           PEACE
 
55 DAILY YOMIURI: Lending a helping hand for global peace American spre
56 asahi.com: Hiroshima taking anti-nuke call to the U.S. - 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
57 KnoxNews: ORNL readies for busy summer
58 KnoxNews: TVA board to vote on plan
59 KnoxNews: Munger: What will Thom Mason be like as ORNL director?
60 Star-Telegram.com: Guard strike at Pantex plant prompts review
61 Aiken Today: SREL standoff continues
62 DOE: DOE Launches First Segment of its Next-Generation Nationwide 
63 Tri-City Herald: DOE honors Fluor safety (w/ video)
64 Tri-City Herald: Washington Group to be sold to URS
65 Tri-City Herald: Hanford, regulators start cleanup negotiations in R
66 Columbian: State, feds enter negotiations over Hanford cleanup- 
67 New Mexico Business Weekly: WIPP, Los Alamos Lab operator to be sold
68 FAS: Woes for 3 DOE programs, report finds
69 UPI: FAS report slams nuke stewardship programs
70 Hemscott: Nuclear plant guards returning to work 
71 KVII Online: Strike Ends 
72 NAS: Project: Review of DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science &
73 KnoxNews: Summit addresses energy security
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 UPI: Russia flips, endorses N. Korea sanctions

United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - 

Published: May 30, 2007 at 1:33 PM

MOSCOW, May 30 (UPI) -- Russia has reversed its position and agreed
to abide by U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear
weapons program, Moscow reports said Wednesday.

As posted on the Kremlin Web site, President Vladimir Putin ordered
the sanctions Sunday restricting "all government institutions,
industrial, trade, financial, transport and other enterprises,
firms, banks, organizations, and other legal entities and
individuals under Russian jurisdiction" from dealing with Pyongyang,
pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718 of Oct. 14.

Leonid Slutsky, deputy head of the State Duma international policy
committee, told Itar Tass the move was "logical" after one of five
missile tests North Korea launched Wednesday failed 40 seconds into
flight and landed near Russian territory.

"North Korea's inexpert and ineffective ballistic missile launch
proves this," Slutsky said.

Russia and China originally led the opposition to sanctions and
favored diplomacy.

Š Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 2 [NYTr] The Irony of Bush Promoting an Islamist Nuclear Arsenal
 
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 21:25:07 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Consortium News - May 30, 2007
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/053007a.html

[Editor's Note: Among the many catastrophes surrounding George W.
Bush's Middle East wars is possibly the bitterest irony of all -- that
he is laying the groundwork for radical Islamists to get an atomic bomb
via the collapse of Pakistan's pro-U.S. dictator Pervez Musharraf.

In this guest essay, the Independent Institute's Ivan Eland looks at
how Bush's bungled policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are leading
inexorably to an even worse disaster.]

How Bush Risks an Islamist Bomb

By Ivan Eland

he Bush administration has failed to capture or kill Osama bin Laden or
to win the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, the administration has
also missed the chance to maintain a stable nuclear-armed Pakistan.

Like the U.S. policy toward the Shahbs Iran in the 1960s and 1970s, the
Bush administration, despite a rhetorical commitment to spread
democracy around the world, has put all of its eggs in the basket of an
autocrat unlikely to survivebin this case, Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf.

Although Musharraf has used the U.S. war on terror to play the United
States like a fiddle, the Bush administration believes there is no
better alternative. Unfortunately, backing Musharraf could create a
nuclear-armed Pakistan controlled by radical Islamists.

Unfortunately, Pakistan probably has already been blost,b and U.S.
policy has played an important role in its demise. U.S. policymakers
have repeatedly underestimated the consequences of the deep
unpopularity engendered by profligate U.S. government meddling in the
affairs of other countries.

In Iran, although the Shahbs government was brutal, the regime also
became so identified with its unpopular U.S. benefactor that the United
States became a major contributing factor in its collapse and
replacement with a militant and enduring Islamist substitute.

The Bush administration, with its macho bravado, has had a tin ear for
the ramifications of anti-U.S hatred. After 9/11, instead of using the
attacks as a justification to go after Saddam Husseinbs Iraq, the Bush
administration had the opportunity to eliminate the Taliban in
Afghanistan, take full advantage of Musharrafbs limited-time offer to
give the U.S. military free reign in Pakistan to hunt down bin Laden
and al Qaeda, and then withdraw from the region.

Instead, the Bush administration allowed mission creep to take its eyes
off the prize of taking down al Qaeda. The U.S. mission in Afghanistan
turned to nation-building, counterinsurgency, and cutting off the drug
trade. The continued occupation of Afghanistan by non-Muslim forces and
the close U.S. support for the dictator Musharraf in neighboring
Pakistan, predictably revved up Pakistani Islamic militants and
gradually turned them against his regime.

In an attempt to discreetly court these militants to support his
government and to maintain the flow of U.S. military aid to ostensibly
fight them, Musharraf allowed these groups to operate in the wild
tribal regions of western Pakistan on the Afghan border and even
reached a truce with them to withdraw the Pakistani governmentbs
military forces from these areas. This wink and nod policy has allowed
both al Qaeda and the militant Taliban to recover and step up attacks
from these safe havens.

Given Musharrafbs unenthusiastic pursuit of al Qaeda in Pakistan, why
does the United States continue to support him? The answer is mainly a
fear of binstabilitybbread, any change of leadership in a nuclear
weapons state.

The United States fears that the only alternative to Musharraf in a
nuclear-armed Pakistan is the Islamic militants; but this outcome is
actually more likely if the unpopular United States continues to
zealously back Musharraf. At the same time Musharrafbs popularity has
faded. He has faced mass protests across Pakistan for his increased
despotism and his suspension of the countrybs chief justice.

Musharraf feared that the judge, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, might
issue rulings that would interfere with his attempt to have the
parliament elect him to another five-year term. In addition, several
former Pakistani generals have talked openly about overthrowing him in
a coup.

But it may be too late to control a coup and reestablish military rule.
The Islamists have been strengthened by Musharrafbs suppression of
alternative non-Islamic opposition parties; Musharraf has said that
their leadersbexiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawa
Sharifbwill not be allowed to return for upcoming parliamentary
elections.

The Bush administration should change policy and end the occupation of
Afghanistan, which would cool the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan and
the Islamic militancy in Pakistan. In addition, the United States
should threaten to cut off aid to Pakistan unless Musharraf and his
intelligence services make a genuine attempt to capture or kill bin
Laden.

With a cooling of militant Islam in the region, Musharraf should have
more leeway to pursue bin Laden without an Islamist backlash. Finally,
the United States should press Musharraf to genuinely open Pakistani
elections to non-Islamist parties and allow their leaders to return
from exile. These actions would further erode support from the Islamist
radicals.

Unfortunately, keeping the Islamists around, but contained, has been
good for the autocratic Musharraf regime. The problem is that the
instability caused by this policy can no longer be contained.

Like the Shah of Iran, Musharraf must use increased violence to put
down popular protests, thus further fueling the spreading uprisings.
The Shahbs Iran and Pakistan have one important difference, however:
Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

Tragically, the Bush administration may eventually give the world an
Islamist bomb.

[Ivan Eland is Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at The
Independent Institute and Assistant Editor of The Independent Review.
Dr. Eland has been Director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato
Institute, Principal Defense Analyst at the Congressional Budget
Office, Evaluator-in-Charge (national security and intelligence) for
the U.S. General Accounting Office, and Investigator for the House
Foreign Affairs Committee.]
       
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*****************************************************************
 3 Hindustan Times: US plans breakthrough military plane sale to India- 

Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Bush administration announced plans to sell India six Lockheed
Martin Corp C-130J cargo planes and related gear worth up to $1.1
billion in what would be the first major US military aircraft deal
with India.

The sale would bolster a "US-Indian strategic relationship that
continues to be an important force for political stability, peace
and economic progress in South Asia," the Pentagon's Defense
Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice to Congress made public
this week.

The C-130J Super Hercules would give India "a credible special
operations capability that will deter aggression in the region,
provide humanitarian airlift capability and ensure interoperability
with U.S. forces in coalition operations," said the memo to
lawmakers, dated Friday.

The four-engine turboprop is a US workhorse in Afghanistan and Iraq.
India has requested as many as six of them along with four
Rolls-Royce Plc spare engines, eight AAR-47 missile warning systems
and communications equipment, the security agency said.

The arms package's estimated cost was $1.1 billion, it said,
including personnel training and US government and contractor
engineering and logistics support.

During the Cold War, India relied largely on the Soviet Union for
arms but it is increasingly eyeing advanced equipment from the
United States. In June 2005, India and the United States signed a
10-year defense framework agreement that called for expanded joint
military exercises and increased defense-related trade.

The Bush administration has sought closer ties with India partly as
a hedge against China's growing military might.

Arms sales typically bind military establishments more closely as
they train together, build contacts in the chain of command and ease
the way for potential coalition operations.

Richard Aboulafia of the Fairfax, Virginia-based Teal Group, an
aerospace consultancy, said if the C-130J deal went through, it
would be a breakthrough in a market that U.S. defense contractors
and policymakers have been eager to enter.

India's interest in the C-130J shows that, among other things "the
Indian military can act to acquire hardware faster than anyone here
expected," Aboulafia said. Boeing Co. and Lockheed are jockeying
with foreign suppliers to sell India advanced fighter jets worth as
much as $8 billion.

Lisa Curtis, an India expert at the private Heritage Foundation who
has worked on South Asia on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and at the State Department, said the proposed sale showed
U.S.-Indian ties were moving into a new era of strategic cooperation.

"In the past, the Indian military establishment has been suspicious
of getting involved in any major military deals because of past US
sanctions tied to Indian nuclear tests," she said in a telephone
interview.

Another obstacle to cementing strategic ties has been the US
relationship with Pakistan. New Delhi has been concerned about US
willingness to sell military hardware to Pakistan, including
advanced F-16 fighters.

Last year, the United States approved the transfer to India of six
UH-3H Sea King helicopters from its excess inventory as part of
growing military-to-military ties, the security agency's records
show. It also transferred to New Delhi the Trenton, an amphibious
transport ship.

The agency said the proposed C-130J sale was expected to be
accompanied by offset agreements to be defined in negotiations
between India and US contractors. Such quid-pro-quos can involve
everything from technology transfer to resale pacts for local
produce.

The announcement of a proposed arms sale is required by US law. It
does not mean a deal has been concluded. Congress retains the power
to block government-to-government arms sales but rarely does so.

*****************************************************************
 4 AFP: Bush, Putin set for tense July 1-2 summit - 

by Olivier Knox Wed May 30, 4:56 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush and Russian 
President Vladimir Putin will hold a summit in July to 
"ventilate" relations amid a fierce dispute over missile defense, 
US officials said Wednesday.

The two leaders, who will see each other next week at a multi-nation
meeting in Germany, will hold talks July 1-2 at former US president
George Bush's oceanside home in Kennebunkport, Maine, said White
House spokesman Tony Snow.

Asked why they would meet there rather than previous locales like
Moscow, or the White House, or Bush's Texas ranch, or a third
country, Snow replied: "Why not? It's a cool place to have it. Are
you kidding me?"

Bush and Putin were to shore up cooperation in curbing Iran's
suspect nuclear program and disarming North Korea while airing out
differences on US missile defense plans, Washington's charges that
Moscow has been backsliding on democratic reforms, and Russian
objections to NATO's eastward expansion.

"We've had open disagreements. And one of the interesting things
about the president and President Putin is that they are not afraid
to ventilate them and they're brutally honest with one another,"
Snow told reporters.

US officials say that Bush has made cooperation on curbing Iran's
nuclear program his top priority Moscow but will also seek to soothe
raw tensions over US missile defense plans, which Russia sharply
opposes.

Bush said last week that he would work with Washington's European
allies, as well as Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao to toughen
sanctions on Tehran for its defiance of UN demands to rein in its
suspect nuclear program.

On Tuesday, Putin warned that the missile defense could trigger a
new arms race and make Europe a "powder keg" -- even as Russia
tested a new ballistic missile and declared that the new rocket
would overcome such defenses.

Putin's comments were the latest volley in a long-running diplomatic
battle over US plans to expand a missile shield into central Europe,
a move Moscow portrays as an attempt to tip the nuclear balance in
Washington's favor.

The United States says the planned radar base in the Czech Republic
and 10 interceptor missiles in neighboring Poland would defend
Europe against potential threats from Iran and North Korea, while
posing no threat to Russia.

"Our position has always been that missile defense in Europe is
designed to try to assist all nations, including the Russians,
against external threats," insisted Snow.

There are also tensions over the eastward expansion of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO) alliance conceived to counter
the Soviet Union, as well as the political future of former Soviet
entities.

Russia is angry at NATO's likely expansion into the Balkans, but is
even more vocal in its opposition to the possible candidacy of
neighbors Georgia and Ukraine, both former Soviet republics.

The Russian president's comments came after he and Bush spoke by
telephone about the coming G8 summit of industrialized nations, set
for June 6-8 in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Putin faces a "delicate tap dance" there, because taking too hard a
line might push wary Europeans to embrace the US view on NATO
expansion and missile defense, said Julianne Smith, a Russia expert
at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) here.

Bush's trip to Poland after the G8 sends a "distinctive message,
understandable in Russian as it is in English, and the message is:
we are going to do what we are going to do," said another CSIS
Russia expert, Simon Serfaty.

Copyright Š 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 5 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Resists Missile Defense Plan 

From the Associated Press

Wednesday May 30, 2007 5:31 PM

By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer

POTSDAM, Germany (AP) - Russia's top diplomat accused the United 
States of launching a new arms race as the two nations traded 
barbs Wednesday over U.S. plans to erect a missile defense system 
in countries formally under Moscow's influence.

   Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complained that the 
U.S. rationale for the shield is thin and suggested that U.S. 
assurances to Russia amount to a brush-off.

   ``All they are saying is, 'Don't worry it's not aimed at 
you,'' Lavrov said. He called the plan a threat to Russia and 
added, ``the arms race is starting again.''

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States 
has repeatedly explained its plan to Russia in considerable 
detail, and stands ready to discuss the matter further. She 
tartly noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself had 
said Russia's own strategic defenses could easily overpower the 
U.S. system.

                    ``We quite agree,'' she said.

                 Lavrov made a dark joke in response.

 ``I hope that nobody has to actually prove that Condi is right 
about that,'' Lavrov said.

  On Tuesday, Russia tested a new multiple-warhead, 
intercontinental ballistic missile, and Putin warned that the 
planned U.S. missile shield would turn Europe into a ``powder 
keg.''

 President Bush, Rice and Secretary of Defense Richard Gates have 
all tried to reassure the Russians that the planned missile 
system is aimed at preventing Iran from someday threatening 
Europe.

  Speaking to reporters ahead of her trip to Europe, Rice 
poo-pooed Russian complaints.

    ``The idea that this somehow would degrade Russia's strategic 
nuclear deterrent is just ludicrous, and the Russians know it's 
ludicrous,'' Rice said. ``There isn't any military person who can 
imagine this system with a few interceptors and a few sensors and 
a few radars able to intercept the Russian deterrent.''

                Lavrov took issue with that Wednesday.

    ``For us this is not ludicrous at all, and I hope our 
American partners will respect our analysis which we have 
presented to them in a very professional and detailed way,'' he 
said.

   U.S. officials say the deployment of 10 interceptor missiles 
in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic would protect 
Russia and the rest of Europe from potential attack by Iran, 
North Korea or other nations.

     The European sites are part of a larger shield that the Bush 
administration envisions for Europe and North America. Besides 
opposition from Russia, the program is hitting a roadblock at 
home.

   The administration is facing the prospect of a sharp cut by 
the Democratic-contolled Congress in its request for $310 million 
to begin developing the system. Last week the Senate Armed 
Service Committee cut $85 million from the administration 
request.

    The Kremlin says the system threatens the strategic balance 
of forces in Europe by weakening Russia's ability to retaliate 
against an offensive strike.

  ``We are still convinced that the only target of that shield 
would be not the purely hypothetical threat that might come from 
Iran or some other remote state, but the only real target will be 
our country,'' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told The 
Associated Press on Tuesday.

   Visiting Moscow earlier Wednesday, Sen. Trent Lott said 
concerns about the project were ``a relic of Cold War thinking.''

 Rice, Lavrov and other diplomats were gathered for a working 
session ahead of next month's Group of Eight summit of leading 
industrial nations. That meeting will be closely watched for 
signs of a rift between Bush and Putin.

   The two presidents will also meet July 1 and 2 in 
Kennebunkport, Maine, administration officials said Wednesday. 
Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, has an 
oceanfront compound in Kennebunkport.

 Putin, once celebrated by fellow members of the elite 
international club, has in recent years found himself quarreling 
with other members, especially the United States, and has been 
openly disgruntled with the G-8's brand of global politics.

   Recent rhetoric between Washington and Moscow has been marked 
by rancor and distrust, with the missile defense issue a leading 
example.

 Putin delivered a May 9 speech in Red Square that seemed to 
compare Bush's foreign policy to that of the Third Reich, while 
in February he accused the U.S. of ``an almost uncontained hyper 
use of force that is plunging the world into an abyss of 
permanent conflicts.''

   Bush, meanwhile, has talked of mutual suspicions between the 
two nations.

Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 6 UPI: Energy ministers push efficiency

United Press International - Energy - Briefing

Published: May 29, 2007 at 9:49 PM

DARWIN, Australia, May 29 (UPI) -- Members of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation signed a declaration Tuesday in Australia
agreeing to support energy efficiency.

No specific targets were set at the meeting of the ministers in
Darwin, Australia, but all 21 members agreed on the need for energy
efficiency, new clean energy technology and cleaner versions of
existing technology, China's official People's Daily newspaper
reported.

Though there was also talk of an APEC carbon trading emissions
scheme, Australia and U.S. representatives did not support the idea.

Nuclear power was also discussed at the meeting; more and more
countries, even those previously opposed, are beginning to consider
it as an option. Indonesia and Vietnam have both announced they plan
to build nuclear plants.

"Nuclear today has not been controversial at all, a number of
economies who traditionally have been opposed to nuclear energy are
now investing its potential as part of their future clean energy
mix," said Ian Macfarlane, Australian Industry minister.

The APEC energy forum also called for higher investments in oil
refinery capacity and plans to reduce the growing dependence of APEC
nations on imported oil. APEC imports are is set to rise to 52
percent by 2030.

Š Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 7 Kommersant Moscow: Some Nuclear Heavy Lifting - 

May 30, 2007

// Asymmetric Response to America Successfully Tested

Yesterday the Russian military announced the first successful test
of the new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple
independently-targetable detachable warheads. The addition of this
missile to Russia's arsenal could put the country back on an equal
strategic footing with the United States, which is slated to have no
fewer than 2,200 nuclear warheads in its arsenal by 2012. Moscow
claims that the maneuverable warheads on the RS-24 will be capable
of confounding the American missile defense system.

Representatives of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN)
announced yesterday that the test-stage warhead on the new RS-24
ICBM with independently-targetable multiple reentry vehicles had
successfully obliterated the designated target area at the Kura
weapons range in Kamchatka. "The launch of the prototype of
[Russia's] new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile took place
at 14:20 Moscow time from the Plesetsk launch pad with a mobile
launch apparatus that was specially reconfigured for the test," said
the press service of the RVSN.

The Russian military announced its intention to begin production of
ground-based ICBMs carrying multiple warheads, developed on the
basis of the single-warhead Topol-M missile, after the withdrawal of
the US from the ABM treaty in 2002 prompted Russia to reject the
START II treaty. The agreement, which was signed in 1993, obliged
both countries to eventually reduce their deployed strategic nuclear
arsenals to 3,500 warheads and to destroy all ground-based ICBMs
with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs).
This worked in favor of the US: the basis of the Russian nuclear
shield was made up of ground-based missiles with six and ten
warheads (the RS-18B and RS-20B/V, respectively).

In order to maintain its equal strategic footing with the US, Russia
needed to sharply increase production of single-warhead ground-based
Topol-M missiles while also accelerating work on the construction of
new submarines and the creation of a new submarine-based missile
(SLBM). However, neither of these goals were realized: from 1998
onwards, fewer than ten Topol-M ICBMs were added to the arsenal
every year, not a single new submarine was built, and the new
submarine-based Bulava missile has been plagued with misfortune
(four out of five tests of Bulava SLBMs have ended in failure).

In 2002, Vladimir Putin and George Bush signed the Strategic
Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, better known as the Moscow
Treaty). The new treaty obliges the US and Russia to reduce the
number of warheads deployed in their arsenals to 1,700-2,200, but,
unlike START II, it sets no restrictions on the structure of each
side's nuclear forces. This has allowed Russia to return to the
development and production of missiles with MIRVs and to quickly and
cheaply compensate for the removal of the RS-18B and RS-20B/V from
the arsenal (the majority of these ageing rockets will be obsolete
by 2010).

There were both legal and technical limitations on the addition of
warheads to the Topol-M missile. First of all, the START I treaty,
which is in force until December 2009, bans increases in the number
of warheads on existing rockets (though not the development of new
ones). Secondly, the throw-weight of a Topol-M missile (1.2 tons) is
clearly insufficient for the rocket to be equipped with multiple
warheads and individual navigation systems (the RS-18B, which
carried six warheads, had a throw-weight of up to 4.35 tons, while
the RS-20B/V, which could carry ten, had a throw-weight of around
8.5 tons).

Thus, Russia's best option was to create a modernized version of its
ICBMs by thoroughly overhauling the Topol-M design to increase its
payload capacity. Two successful tests of a new triple warhead took
place in 2005-2006, but it was tested not on the new rockets but on
the decommissioned Topol missile and the K65M-P missile, which was
created in the 1970s especially for the testing of warheads. Now,
however, the Russian armed forces have announced the successful test
launch of a new rocket, which has been christened the RS-24.

In April of last year Yury Solomonov, the director and chief
designer at the Moscow Thermal Engineering Institute (home of the
Topol-M, RS-24, and Bulava rockets), promised that Russia will have
no fewer than 2,000 nuclear warheads by 2011. Ivan Safranchuk, the
head of the Moscow office of the World Security Institute, believes
that "the adoption of the RS-24 will improve the situation in the
Russian nuclear forces": "If Russia can produce around 20 rockets a
year, by 2015 around 2,000 warheads will be deployed," he said.

Along with gaining equal ground with Washington, Moscow is counting
on its new rockets to ensure that a Russian attack could
successfully penetrate the US missile defense system, no matter how
complex it becomes. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei
Ivanov declared yesterday that the RS-24 missile "is able to
overcome any existing or, possibly, future missile defense system."
Mr. Safranchuk of the WSI believes that the successful test of the
RS-24 "can be regarded as one of the elements of the asymmetric
response promised by Vladimir Putin after the US withdrawal from the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002."

   &
Statements from Military, Vladimir Putin at Odds

After a meeting yesterday with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose
Socrates, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared, "We believe
that it is harmful and dangerous to turn Europe into a tinder box by
filling it with new kinds of weapons This will create new and
unnecessary risks for the entire system of international and
European relations." Mr. Putin's remarks came on the same day that
the Russian military tested two new missiles, the RS-24 ICBM and the
P-500 cruise missile, and also brought up the topic of building a
new aircraft carrier.

The first launch of the high-precision Iskander tactical cruise
missile was achieved at the Kapustin Yar weapons range with First
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov looking on. Mr. Ivanov promised
that the new missile will begin to be deployed in 2009. The first
report of the construction of a new aircraft carrier came from the
First Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense in St.
Petersburg. "The participants in the report noted that having an
aircraft carrier in the naval fleet is completely reasonable," said
Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo. In his opinion, a new aircraft
carrier "will increase Russia's authority as a naval power."


Konstantin Lantratov and Alexandra Gritskova

All the Article in Russian as of May 30, 2007

Š 1991-2007 ZAO "Kommersant. Publishing House". All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 8 Telegraph: Russia: Cold War arms race is starting again 

Thursday 31 May 2007

By Matthew Moore

Son of Star Wars: A project born in the Cold War Your View: How 
can we tame the Russian bear?

The Russian foreign minister today declared that the Cold War 
arms race has restarted, 24 hours after Russia announced it had 
tested a missile capable of breaking through any planned US 
missile shield.
 
  The new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile is fired from its
                           launch pad today


Sergei Lavrov said that "strategic stability" was being damaged by
America's plans to erect a "Son of Star Wars" shield able to shoot
down enemy missiles.

Elements of the system will be based in Poland and the Czech
Republic, two former Soviet satellite states.

"I think that those who are professionally aware of this problem
understand that there is nothing ludicrous about this issue because
the arms race is starting again," he said. "Strategic stability is
being damaged."


The ballistic missile tested yesterday would be able to "overcome
any existing or future missile defence system", Sergei Ivanov, the
first deputy prime minister, said.

Launched at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, it can be
armed with up to 10 warheads and is designed to evade missile
defence systems, the Russian defence ministry said.

President Putin and Mr Ivanov, a former defence minister seen as a
potential candidate to succeed Mr Putin next year, have repeatedly
said Russia would continue to improve its nuclear weapons systems
and respond to US plans to deploy a missile defence system in Europe.

The test missile successfully travelled 3,400 miles before striking
its target on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula.

A defence ministry statement said the missile would replace two
ageing ICBM systems known in the West as the SS-19 "Stiletto" and
SS-18 "Satan".

Alexander Golts, a respected military analyst with the Yezhenedelny
Zhurnal online journal, expressed surprise at the announcement.

"It seems to be a new missile," he said. "It's either a decoy or
something that has been developed in complete secrecy."

The show of force came amid tensions between Russia and the West
over US plans to base parts of an anti-missile system in central
Europe. Russia believes the plans are a threat to its security while
the US claims it wants to deploy interceptor rockets in Poland and a
radar base in the Czech Republic to counter what it sees as a
potential threat from "rogue states", such as Iran.
 

"We think it is damaging and dangerous to transform Europe into a
powder keg and fill it with new forms of weapons," Mr Putin said
yesterday.

The Russian president also attacked those criticising him for his
record on human rights and democracy. "Let's not talk as if on one
side we are dealing with pure, white and fluffy partners and on the
other side with a monster that has just left the forest," he said.

Analysts said that yesterday's test may in fact be more closely
related to its plans to develop intermediate range nuclear weapons -
which it is banned from doing under a Soviet-American treaty. Mr
Ivanov said the deployment of medium and short-range missiles by
Russia's neighbours to the east and south now posed a "real threat".

"The Soviet-American treaty [on intermediate nuclear weapons] is not
effective because since [its signature] scores of countries have
appeared that have such missiles, while Russia and the United States
are not allowed to have them," he said.

"In these conditions, it is necessary to provide our troops with
modern, high-precision weapons."

&copy; Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2007. | Terms
*****************************************************************
 9 Telegraph: Russia 'tests missile able to break US shield' 

Thursday 31 May 2007

By Matthew Moore

Son of Star Wars: A project born in the Cold War Your View: How 
can we tame the Russian bear?

Russia today claimed to have tested a missile capable of 
penetrating any defence shield erected by the United States, 
fuelling fears of a new Cold War-style arms race.
 
  The new RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile is fired from its
                           launch pad today


The announcement, which has not been verified, will be seen as
further evidence of Russia's intention to become a military, as well
as an energy, superpower.

"As of today Russia has new (missiles) that are capable of
overcoming any existing or future missile defence systems," Sergei
Ivanov, Russia's first deputy prime minister, said.

"So in terms of defence and security Russian can be calm."


President Vladimir Putin has consistently rejected offers of
partnership in US plans to build a missile defence shield in eastern
Europe, a proposal seen in Moscow as a direct threat to Russia's
nuclear deterrent.

The US insists that its planned shield - known as the "Son of Star
Wars" - is meant to counter strikes from "rogue states" such as Iran.

Last month Mr Putin threatened to unspecified "counter-measures" to
prevent the location of 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a
radar system in the Czech Republic.

Russia also withdrew from Europe's main arms control treaty in
retaliation against American plans to involve the two former Warsaw
Pact countries in the missile shield.

The defence shield is a development of the 1980s Star Wars programme
that planned to destroy any multiple rocket attack from the Soviet
Union.

Rather than shooting down dozens of rockets, this system would take
out only one or two missiles in space with 16,000mph interceptors.
The programme has acquired greater urgency with North Korea and Iran
making advances in building nuclear weapons.

The first interceptor site in Poland, in use by 2012, would be
expected to destroy a missile launched from Teheran or North Korea
as it enters space.
 
In this "mid-course" stage the weapon is travelling slightly slower
than the "terminal" stage when it reaches speeds up to eight miles a
second and is more difficult to hit.

Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated rapidly in
recent months, with Kosovo, the murder of Alexander Litvinenko and
Russia's aggressive energy politics among the sources of conflict.

Already regarded as an energy superpower, Russia is desperate to be
taken seriously as a military power, too.

Defence spending has quadrupled since Mr Putin came to power in
2000, and an ambitious strategy to modernize the military was
announced last year.

&copy; Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2007. | Terms
*****************************************************************
 10 Guardian Unlimited: Russian Diplomat: New Arms Race Starting 

From the Associated Press

Wednesday May 30, 2007 10:31 PM

By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer

POTSDAM, Germany (AP) - Russia's top diplomat accused the United 
States of launching a new arms race as the two nations traded 
barbs Wednesday over U.S. plans to erect a missile defense system 
in countries formerly under Moscow's influence.

   Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complained that the 
U.S. rationale for the shield is thin and suggested that U.S. 
assurances to Russia amount to a brush-off.

   ``All they are saying is, 'Don't worry it's not aimed at 
you,'' Lavrov said. He called the plan a threat to Russia and 
added, ``the arms race is starting again.''

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States 
has repeatedly explained its plan to Russia in considerable 
detail, and stands ready to discuss the matter further. She 
tartly noted that Russia has said its own strategic defenses 
could easily overpower the U.S. system.

                    ``We quite agree,'' she said.

                 Lavrov made a dark joke in response.

 ``I hope that nobody has to actually prove that Condi is right 
about that,'' Lavrov said.

  On Tuesday, Russia tested a new multiple-warhead, 
intercontinental ballistic missile, and Putin warned that the 
planned U.S. missile shield would turn Europe into a ``powder 
keg.''

 President Bush, Rice and Secretary of Defense Richard Gates have 
all tried to reassure the Russians about the program, and U.S. 
officials suggest that Russia is using the issue to score 
political points.

  Speaking to reporters ahead of her trip to Europe, Rice 
poo-pooed Russian complaints.

    ``The idea that this somehow would degrade Russia's strategic 
nuclear deterrent is just ludicrous, and the Russians know it's 
ludicrous,'' Rice said. ``There isn't any military person who can 
imagine this system with a few interceptors and a few sensors and 
a few radars able to intercept the Russian deterrent.''

                Lavrov took issue with that Wednesday.

    ``For us this is not ludicrous at all, and I hope our 
American partners will respect our analysis which we have 
presented to them in a very professional and detailed way,'' he 
said.

      The Russian diplomat was also blunt in describing Russia's 
disagreement with the West over the future status of Kosovo. The 
two sides are ``diametrically opposed,'' and he sees no prospect 
for resolving the dispute soon, Lavrov said. He added that he 
hopes Russia will not have to use its veto power in the U.N. 
Security Council over the issue.

 The province has been under U.N. administration since NATO ended 
an ethnic war between Serbia and the province's ethnic Albanians 
in 1999. The United States and key European countries support 
Kosovo's independence, and Russia, traditionally a Serbian ally, 
opposes it.

   U.S. officials say the deployment of 10 interceptor missiles 
in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic would protect 
Russia and the rest of Europe from potential attack by Iran, 
North Korea or other nations.

     The European sites are part of a larger shield that the Bush 
administration envisions for Europe and North America. Besides 
opposition from Russia, the program is hitting a roadblock at 
home.

   The administration is facing the prospect of a sharp cut by 
the Democratic-contolled Congress in its request for $310 million 
to begin developing the system. Last week the Senate Armed 
Service Committee cut $85 million from the administration 
request.

    The Kremlin says the system threatens the strategic balance 
of forces in Europe by weakening Russia's ability to retaliate 
against an offensive strike.

 Rice, Lavrov and other diplomats were gathered for a working 
session ahead of next month's Group of Eight summit of leading 
industrial nations. That meeting will be closely watched for 
signs of a rift between Bush and Russian President Vladimir 
Putin.

   The two presidents will also meet July 1 and 2 in 
Kennebunkport, Maine, the White House said Wednesday. Bush's 
father, former President George H.W. Bush, has an oceanfront 
compound there.

 Putin, once celebrated by fellow members of the elite 
international club, has in recent years found himself quarreling 
with other members, especially the United States, and has been 
openly disgruntled with the G-8's brand of global politics.

 Putin delivered a May 9 speech in Red Square that seemed to 
compare Bush's foreign policy to that of the Third Reich, while 
in February he accused the U.S. of ``an almost uncontained hyper 
use of force that is plunging the world into an abyss of 
permanent conflicts.''

   Bush, meanwhile, has talked of mutual suspicions between the 
two nations.

Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 11 China jumps big into nuclear power
 
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 11:32:02 -0500 (CDT)


Original source URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/28/AR2007052801051.html?referrer=email

China Embraces Nuclear Future Optimism Mixes With Concern as Dozens
Of Plants Go Up By Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 29, 2007; D01

YUMEN, China

Not far from the old Silk Road, Chinese government scientists have
begun boring holes deep into granite in the first steps toward
building what could become the world's largest tomb for nuclear
waste.

As governments worldwide look at nuclear power as a possible answer
to global warming, China has embarked on a nuclear-plant construction
binge that eventually could exceed the one the United States undertook
during the technology's heyday in the 1960s.

Under plans already announced, China intends to spend $50 billion
to build 32 nuclear plants by 2020. Some analysts say the country
will build 300 more by the middle of the century. That's not much
less than the generating power of all the nuclear plants in the
world today.

By that point, the Chinese economy is expected to be the world's
largest, and the idea that it may get most of its electricity from
nuclear fission is being met with both optimism and concern. Nuclear
power plants, unlike those that run on fossil fuels, release few
greenhouse gases. But they produce waste that can be dangerously
radioactive for thousands of years.

China's plans already have been felt in world markets. Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao has been traveling the world to secure contracts
for the uranium needed to power nuclear reactors, striking deals
recently with Australia and Niger. Higher worldwide demand and a
fear of future shortages have driven the price of processed uranium
ore from $10 a pound in 2003 to $120 this month.

A big reason Toshiba of Japan spent $5.4 billion last year to acquire
Westinghouse Electric of Pennsylvania is expectations that China
will buy into the company's nuclear technology in a big way over
the next 20 to 30 years.

Even by the standards of China, where economic growth has been
running at blistering double-digit-percentage rates for four years,
the nuclear plans are ambitious. The country derives only 2.3 percent
of its electricity from nuclear power, compared with about 20 percent
in the United States and nearly 80 percent in France. Nine countries
get 40 percent or more of their electricity from nuclear power, but
worldwide, it supplies only 17 percent of the total.

To satisfy exploding demand for electricity, Chinese local governments
and entrepreneurs have for years been throwing up rattletrap
coal-fired power plants. They are so inefficient and dirty -- spewing
greenhouse gases, soot and toxins including mercury into the air
-- that the central government has been trying to limit construction
of new ones, with limited success.

"Our irrational energy structure is causing serious pollution and
greenhouse problems," said Gu Zhongmao, a professor at the China
Institute of Atomic Energy, a government-affiliated research center.
The situation provoked years of internal debate about nuclear power
as an answer, he said, before the country's leaders finally came
to a consensus.

In the Chinese context, he said, "nuclear power is regarded as a
clean energy."

Yet environmental advocacy groups and outside safety experts are
less than sanguine about the idea of hundreds of new nuclear plants
being constructed by a secretive Communist government. The Chinese
government has a poor public-safety record on issues far simpler
than nuclear power, such as food and drug purity.

Another communist state, the Soviet Union, seized on nuclear power
in the 1970s and '80s as an answer to its energy problems, putting
up about a dozen poorly designed plants. That culminated in the
Chernobyl disaster of 1986, which spread radiation across Europe
in the world's worst nuclear accident.

"The safety issue is simply not something the Chinese government
can afford to overlook," said Ailun Yang, climate and energy campaign
manager for Greenpeace China. "The situation in China is that there
will be huge populations around. What will happen if there is a
Chernobyl in China?"

The Chinese government has emphasized a commitment to safety and
is relying heavily on Western contractors such as Westinghouse to
teach its engineers to build and operate plants.

China has nine working nuclear power plants, most on the coast. Two
other plants were recently completed and will be hooked up to the
electricity grid later this year. Dozens more are in the planning
stage.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology report said China may have
to add as many as 200 nuclear power plants by 2050 to meet its
needs. Academics from China's leading technical university, Tsinghua
University, said the country might need more, equivalent to the
output of 300 plants.

In comparison, the United States has just more than 100 operating
nuclear plants. Nuclear power has effectively been on hold in the
United States since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in
Pennsylvania, but, with encouragement from the Bush administration,
companies are thinking about ordering new plants.

Leon Reiter, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear, said countries
are converging on the same conclusion as the world's supply of
energy resources such as coal and oil grow scarcer and costlier.

"It is hard to imagine any way for us to come up with the energy
we need without nuclear power," Reiter said.

China is talking about addressing the safety issue with a cookie-cutter
plant of its own design that would be built in dozens of places.
As in the United States, engineers in China want to build a plant
whose fuel core cannot melt down and release radioactivity into the
environment. Groundbreaking for an experimental $416 million Chinese
plant is scheduled for 2009.

Even if the safety issue in China is solved, the country will
confront a problem that has bedeviled nuclear power everywhere:
what to do with the radioactive waste.

In a conventional power plant, fossil fuels that have been trapped
underground for millions of years are burned, generating heat that
can be used to run electricity-generating turbines. The burning
releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Scientists have concluded
that the gas, by trapping extra heat from the sun, is warming the
Earth and is likely to create severe environmental problems.

Nuclear plants generate heat by splitting atoms of uranium. They
give off no greenhouse gases, but as the nuclear reaction proceeds,
the uranium is transformed into other elements, some of which remain
radioactive for many centuries.

As a rule, the spent fuel is stored temporarily in water-filled
tanks near nuclear plants. In democratic countries, the question
of final disposal has provoked huge, seemingly endless fights,
including one in the United States over whether to dispose of the
spent fuel at an underground site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The idea behind a disposal site is simple: Stick the waste in a
sealed container, place it deep underground, and leave it there
until the radiation goes away. But in practice, finding appropriate
sites has been difficult because of worries about earthquakes or
ground water spreading the radiation.

In the desert of Central Asia, China is planning its own version
of Yucca Mountain, albeit without serious opposition. Some local
leaders have protested the Beishan Mountain disposal project, but
their concerns have been muted.

The Beishan Mountains are a lonely outpost, with the closest permanent
residents more than 60 miles away. The only people who venture here
are nomadic Mongolian herdsmen with goats and camels. They move
from one small oasis to another in what is otherwise a desolate,
gray desert for hundreds of miles around. The only signs of the
nuclear waste site to come are the dark tents that scientists put
up and take down as they test rock layers to find the best place
for disposal.

Chinese officials have not announced specifics of the Beishan waste
disposal site, but Wang Ju, head of the waste repository project
for the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology of the state-run
China National Nuclear Corp., said the schedule for construction
had been sped up to match the country's increasing use of nuclear
power.

Xu Mingqi, deputy director of the Institute of World Economy at the
Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, who researches energy issues,
said the Chinese government is well aware of the stakes.

"If we do not bury it properly," Xu said, " it could be an even
bigger problem than the pollution problem we have now."

2007 The Washington Post Company --

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 12 NRC: NRC to Hold Two Public Meetings on Palo Verde Nuclear Generating 
Station

News Release - Region IV - 2007-016 - 

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, 
Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 
www.nrc.gov
   
CONTACT: Victor Dricks Phone: 817-860-8128 E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov

 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two public 
meetings in Tonopah, Ariz., on performance improvements at the 
PaloVerde Nuclear Generating Station. Palo Verde, which is 
operated by Arizona Public Service Co., is located 55 miles west 
of Phoenix.

 The NRC will meet with APS officials at 6:30 p.m. on June 6, at 
the Saddle Mountain Unified School District Administration 
Building Board Room, 38201 W. Indian School Road, Tonopah, to 
discuss the status and focus areas for Palo Verde&rsquo;s 
performance improvement plan. NRC officials will also discuss 
plans for a comprehensive inspection at Palo Verde. The meeting 
is between NRC staff and APS officials, but members of the public 
will have an opportunity to observe the meeting and ask questions 
of NRC staff prior to the end of the meeting.


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.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
*****************************************************************
 13 The Australian: PM might force nuclear power on states 

NEWS.com.au |

This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AAP

* May 30, 2007

PRIME Minister John Howard today admitted the Federal Government 
wanted to know whether it could use its constitutional powers to 
force nuclear reactors on the states.

And he confirmed the likelihood of another taxpayer-funded
advertising campaign - this time selling the benefits of nuclear
power.

Support or opposition to nuclear power generation is one of the key
distinctions between the Coalition and Labor in the run-up to the
next federal election.

While backing the expansion of uranium mining last month, federal
Labor has promised that if it wins government it will not go down
the nuclear power path.

The Government supports nuclear energy - as long as it is
economically viable - and last month indicated it would remove any
impediments to the expansion of a nuclear industry in Australia.

This week a government official confirmed that informal advice had
been sought from the government solicitor on nuclear matters,
including whether the Commonwealth had the constitutional powers to
override the states.

Mr Howard said while the Government did not have any formal
proposals on nuclear energy, he was interested in knowing whether
the Commonwealth had to power to eventually make it a reality.

"It stands to reason ... that if you have a policy which leaves open
the opportunity of nuclear power and you are a Commonwealth
government, of course you would want at some stage to know whether
the Commonwealth could legislate to make it possible for nuclear
power to come about," he told Parliament.

"It's a bit ridiculous to have a policy and not have the conviction
to want to know what is needed to implement that policy.

"I happen to believe that the states are wrong on nuclear power, I
think the Labor Party are wrong on nuclear and aside from that I'd
be most interested to know what the legal power of the Commonwealth
actually is."

Since winning control of the Senate at the 2004 federal election,
the Government has used the constitution's corporations powers to
overturn state industrial relations regimes and impose its own.

It has since used that precedent to force the states to cede power
in areas like water and education.

Even without constitutional authority, the states admit they may be
powerless to stop the Government from siting nuclear power stations
on Commonwealth land.

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said his Government opposed nuclear
power generation but had no power to prevent reactors being built on
Commonwealth land in Victoria.

"We can't stop that occurring," he told ABC radio.

Federal Labor called on the Government to reveal the nature of its
legal advice, describing any moves to impose nuclear reactors on the
states as unacceptable.

"It's clear that the Howard government is planning to impose nuclear
reactors on the states and the people of Australia, this is
completely unacceptable," opposition environment spokesman Peter
Garrett said.

Mr Garrett urged the Government to come clean on what kind of
propaganda campaign it was planning to try to foist nuclear power on
the community.

While not confirming an advertising campaign, Mr Howard said that if
it went ahead, it would be entirely appropriate.

"We think that providing information to the Australian public about
the energy challenges of this country is important," he said.

"We make no apology for it, and watch this space for further
information."

Š The Australian
*****************************************************************
 14 Guardian Unlimited: Government selling nuclear shares 

From Press Association

Wednesday May 30, 2007 12:43 PM

The Government is selling part of its stake in nuclear power firm
British Energy, with proceeds going towards decommissioning costs of
the company's eight nuclear power stations.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said 400 million
shares would be sold, cutting the Government's stake in the firm
from 64% to 39%.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Nuclear Liabilities Fund to
help meet the eventual cost of decommissioning British Energy's
power stations.

Mr Darling announced last summer that the Government was considering
selling part of its interest in the nuclear generator.

The eight nuclear power stations are Dungeness B in Kent,
Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2 in Lancashire, Hinkley Point B in
Somerset, Hunterston B in Ayrshire, Sizewell B in Suffolk and
Torness in East Lothian. British Energy also owns a coal-fired power
station at Eggborough, South Yorkshire.

Earlier on Wednesday, the company announced its financial results,
which showed that underlying earnings increased to Ł1.22 billion
from Ł846 million the previous year following higher power prices.

British Energy is the UK's largest producer of electricity,
generating around one-sixth of the nation's needs, and employs about
6,000 workers.

Š Copyright Press Association Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 15 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear reactors possible in Vic - Bracks - 

www.smh.com.au

May 30, 2007 - 11:19AM

Victoria would not be able to stop a nuclear reactor being built on
commonwealth land whether the state wanted it or not, Premier Steve
Bracks said.

Speaking on ABC radio, Mr Bracks said the government opposed nuclear
power generation, but had no power to prevent reactors being built
on commonwealth land in Victoria.

"We can't stop that occurring," he said.

The state government could act in the case of land being purchased
for that purpose where a permit or an application to the state was
required, he said.

"(But) when it comes to Commonwealth land ... we have difficulty of
course in ensuring that the state legislation is applied
effectively."

Mr Bracks said any moves by the federal government to build reactors
in Victoria would clash with what Victorians wanted.

"They'd be overriding the wishes through the electorate of the
Victorian people to go ahead with nuclear power in this state," he
said.

"One of the planks on which we were elected, which we made clear in
our policy in the election was there'd no nuclear power industry in
Victoria."

Š 2007 AAP

Copyright Š 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
 16 NRC: NRC Seeks Public Comment on Supplemental Environmental Assessment 
for Diablo Canyon Spent Fuel Storage Facility

News Release - 2007-067 - 

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs 
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: 
opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeks public comment on a draft 
supplement to the agency&rsquo;s environmental assessment for a 
spent fuel storage facility under construction at the Diablo 
Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. The 
supplement concludes that construction, operation and 
decommissioning of the facility will not result in a significant 
effect on the human environment, even when potential terrorist 
attacks are considered.

 The NRC staff conducted the supplemental assessment by order of 
the Commission, in response to last year&rsquo;s ruling by the 
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Luis Obispo 
Mothers for Peace v. NRC. In its Feb. 26 order, the Commission 
directed the staff to develop the supplement within 90 days and 
set a schedule for public comment and potential adjudicatory 
hearings.

   The supplemental assessment considers the potential 
radiological impacts of terrorist acts on the Diablo Canyon spent 
fuel storage facility. It concludes that the probability of a 
successful terrorist attack on any such facility is very low. 
This conclusion is based on the NRC&rsquo;s continual evaluation 
of the threat environment and coordination with other federal, 
state and local agencies; protective measures currently in place 
that reduce the chances of any terrorist attack being successful; 
the robust design of dry cask storage systems, which provide 
substantial resistance to penetration; and NRC&rsquo;s security 
assessments of potential consequences of terrorist attacks at 
these facilities.

  Although the agency concludes the likelihood of a terrorist 
attack on the facility resulting in a substantial radiological 
release is very low, the supplement also describes the potential 
impacts of such an event at Diablo Canyon. It concludes that any 
radiation dose to members of the public near the plant from a 
successful terrorist attack on the facility would likely be below 
5 rem, even in the most severe plausible threat scenarios. In 
many scenarios, the hypothetical dose could be substantially less 
than 5 rem, or none at all. (Five rem is the maximum annual 
occupational dose limit for workers in the nuclear industry.)

  The draft supplement will soon be available on the NRC&rsquo;s 
Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/waste.html, by selecting 
&ldquo;Diablo Canyon&rdquo; in the &ldquo;Quick Links&rdquo; box.

  The NRC welcomes public comment on the supplemental 
environmental assessment for 30 days from publication of a 
&ldquo;Notice of Availability&rdquo; in the Federal Register, 
expected shortly. Comments may be submitted to Chief, Rulemaking, 
Directives and Editing Branch, Mail Stop T6-D59, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001; by e-mail at 
NRCREP@nrc.gov

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.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
*****************************************************************
 17 FT.com: British Energy restarts reactor

Financial Times FT.com

By Rebecca Bream

Published: May 30 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 30 2007 03:00

British Energy has restarted one of the reactors at its Hinkley
Point B power station in Somerset, eight months after it was closed
down because of cracks in its boilers.

The Hinkley Point B-7 reactor went online yesterday, but the B-8
reactor on the same site, which was forced to close in October,
remains offline.

Cracks were also detected last year at British Energy's Hunterston B
plant in Scotland, the sister plant to Hinkley Point B. Hunterston
B-8 is now back in use while Hunterston B-7 is still offline.

The unexpected and prolonged outages last year damaged British
Energy's share price and forced the company to scale down its
electricity output projections.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007


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 18 deseretnews.com: Low-paid guards at 'critical' U.S. sites

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

By Larry Margasak Associated Press

WASHINGTON ? Private security guards paid little more than 
janitors and restaurant cooks are guarding many of the critical 
security sites in the United States, usually with minimal or no 
anti-terrorist training, an Associated Press investigation found.

Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press

Valorie Webster does fingerprint checks at the Bureau of Criminal
Identification in Kearns, Utah.

      The nation's security industry found itself involuntarily
transformed after Sept. 11, 2001, from an army of "rent-a-cops" to
protectors of the homeland. But cutthroat competition by security
firms trying to win contracts with low bids has kept wages low and
high-level training nonexistent.
      Richard Bergendahl fights the war on terrorism in Los Angeles
for $19,000 a year. Down the block from the high rise he guards is a
skyscraper identified by President Bush as a target for a Sept.
11-style airplane attack.
      Bergendahl, 55, says he often thinks: "Well, what am I doing
here? These people are paying me minimum wage."
      Security consultant Hallcrest Systems, in a January 2005
report for the Department of Homeland Security, said its experts
believe that 15-20 percent of the country's private security
officers protect sites designated by the government as "critical
infrastructure." Major cities have a ratio of three or four security
officers to each police officer, the study said.
      And the industry is governed by a maze of conflicting state
rules, according to a nationwide survey by the AP. Wide chasms exist
among states in requirements for training and background checks.
Tens of thousands of guard applicants were found to have criminal
backgrounds.
      A New Jersey Democratic congressman, Rep. Robert Andrews, said
he's confident that lawmakers will support a bill he sponsored to
upgrade the industry by requiring criminal background checks for all
U.S. security guards.
      "How much is it worth not to have one criminal guarding a
nuclear power plant?" he asked.


Douglas C. Pizac, Associated Press

A man's fingerprints are electronically scanned at Utah's BCI. Not
all states require checks of guard applicants.

      Andrews said the checks will have the effect of raising pay,
because they will weed out many guards whose criminal histories lead
them to accept the lowest salaries.
      "This is one area where doing things on the cheap is a really
bad idea," Andrews said.
      "A security officer is ... not trained to be a G.I. Joe," said
Paul Maniscalco, a research scientist at George Washington
University.
      More than five years after the attacks, Maniscalco is helping
to change the security guard culture. He recently developed an
anti-terrorism computer course for shopping mall guards, who are
being taught they now have more concerns than rowdy teenagers and
shoplifters.
      The middle-ground pay for security officers in 2006 was
$23,620, according to a new Labor Department survey. The low pay
reflects fierce competition among security firms, which submit the
lowest possible bids. Lowball contracts also mean lower profit
margins and less money for training and background checks for guards.
      Some states require FBI fingerprint checks for every guard job
applicant. Others let the industry police itself. These states don't
regulate the industry: Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi,
Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kentucky, Wyoming and Idaho. The
city of Boise and many Idaho communities do regulate guards. Some
states require background checks for company owners but not guards.
      In states that keep such records, the AP found more than
96,000 of 1.3 million applicants, about 7.3 percent, were turned
down ? mostly, state officials said, for having criminal histories.
      The most important number, however, can't be found:
individuals convicted of serious crimes who were hired in states
without background checks or in states where they slipped through
the system.
      Congressional investigators reported last year that 89 private
guards working at two military bases had histories that included
assault, larceny, possession and use of controlled substances and
forgery. The Army says it has purged guards with criminal histories
from its bases.
      "I frankly was shocked, after 25 years in the FBI; I assumed
those in the private sector had gone through criminal background
checks," said Jeffrey Lampinski, an executive with AlliedBarton
Security Services.
      The security businesses' own trade group, representing the
largest firms, acknowledges the industry as a whole isn't ready to
recognize signs of terrorism and respond to an attack.
      "I would have to say no," said Joseph Ricci, executive
director of the National Association of Security Companies, when
asked whether most guards are trained to protect the homeland.
"Companies that hire private guards began spending more for security
after September 11, 2001, but then began cutting back. We've become
complacent because we haven't had attacks."
      For guards at the Energy Department's nuclear weapons
facilities, failure to protect nuclear materials from terrorists
could be catastrophic. That's why their training is far more
exhaustive than that of most security officer recruits.
      At the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles from Las Vegas, contract
guards working for the Wackenhut Corp. train in desert camouflage
and military helmets, fire automatic weapons, put on gas masks and
kick up the desert dust in military Humvees with gunners on top.
      They crouch behind cactus plants to shoot at targets, stalk
"intruders" with drawn sidearms and burst through doors of
buildings, first dropping "flash-bang" devices that have an
explosive sound and fill the room with smoke.
      "Failure on our part is failure to protect a vital national
security asset," said David Bradley, the Wackenhut general manager
at the test site. "We don't see that ever occurring."
      Other sites protected by the security industry include
drinking water reservoirs; oil and gas refineries; ports; bus and
rail commuter terminals; nuclear power plants; chemical plants; food
supplies; hospitals; and communications networks.


Š 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
 19 SanLuisObispo.com: Nuclear storage at Diablo Canyon said to be safe from terrorism

05/30/2007 | 

Diablo Canyon

Nuclear Regulatory Commission reasserts its judgment following
watchdogs lawsuit

By David Sneed - dsneed@thetribunenews.com

* NRC's staff supplement to to environmental assessment
* Notice of availability of supplemental report
* Press release from U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
* Supplement to environmental ruling on Diablo Canyon's dry cask
  storage

HOW TO COMMENT

To comment on the Diablo Canyon draft supplemental environmental
assessment:

 Send written comments to Chief Rulemaking, Directives and Editing
Branch, Mail Stop T6-D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

 Fax them to 301-492-3342

 E-mail them to NRCREP@nrg.gov MEETING IN JUNE

The NRC will hold a public meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. June 26 at
Embassy Suites Hotel, 333 Madonna Road in San Luis Obispo. The
agency is developing methods that will allow oral comments given at
the meeting to become part of the official public comment record for
the draft environmental assessment.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reaffirmed its
original finding that an above-ground storage facility for highly
radioactive nuclear waste at Diablo Canyon Power Plant is safe in
the event of a terrorist attack.

The preliminary decision means the agency does not intend to require
that plant owners Pacific Gas and Electric Co. make any changes to
the facility. When it opens next year, the storage installation will
consist of large steel-and-concrete canisters each containing 32
spent fuel assemblies bolted to a thick concrete pad.

We already have the license (to open the facility), which is still
in effect, and this does not change that, said Diablo Canyon
spokesman Pete Resler.

The San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, a nuclear watchdog group, was
quick to criticize the ruling, saying the agency did not do a
thorough investigation upon which to base its conclusions. For
example, the NRC did not consult any outside agencies or experts
before reaffirming its original decision.

Its a very disappointing document that deals with very serious
issues, said Jane Swanson, a Mothers for Peace spokeswoman. Its
lackluster and lacks serious detail.

The group will challenge the findings but has not decided what form
the challenge will take, Swanson said.

The ruling will not become final for 90 days, which includes a
30-day public comment period that began today, said Victor Dricks,
NRC spokesman.

The ruling is the latest development in years of legal wrangling
between the NRC and Mothers for Peace. The group successfully sued
in federal court to force the agency to look at the environmental
effects of a terrorist attack on a dry cask storage facility.

PG&E is building the facility because its below-ground storage pools
are nearly full. The site will be big enough to contain 138 dry
casks, which is enough storage capacity for all of the fuel
assemblies the plant will produce through 2025.

The NRC ruling came in the form of an eight-page draft supplemental
environmental analysis of the storage facility. It looked at the
likelihood of a successful terrorist attack on the facility and what
the consequences of such an attack would be.

The main conclusion in the report is that a terrorist attack that
would result in a significant release of radiation affecting the
public is not reasonably expected to occur.

It went on to find that if an attack did result in a radiological
release, the dose that any member of the public would receive would
be well below the maximum a nuclear plant worker is allowed to
receive in a year.

There have been many efforts to enhance security at nuclear power
plants since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the odds of a
successful attack are very low, Dricks said.

Reach David Sneed at 781-7930.
*****************************************************************
 20 BBC NEWS: Government to sell nuclear shares

Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 2007, 16:16 GMT 17:16 UK

British Energy has had problems with its Hinkley power plant recently


The government is to sell more of its stake in nuclear energy firm
British Energy, to fund the cost of shutting down nuclear power
stations.

The sale of 400 million shares will cut the government's stake from
64% to 39%.

The aim is to make the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, intended to cover
nuclear clean-up costs, less reliant on British Energy shares.



The government first announced its plans to reduce its stake in the
UK's biggest energy producer in the 2006 Budget.

The latest sale - to financial institutions - is to take place
immediately.

Shutdowns

Despite the rise in profits, British Energy said that problems at
two of its power plants had continued to disrupt its electricity
production levels.
 
BRITISH ENERGY N-PLANTS


Hunterston B, Ayrshire

Torness, East Lothian

Hartlepool

Heysham 1 and 2, Lancashire

Hinkley Point B, Somerset

Dungeness B, Kent

Sizewell B, Suffolk


Check British Energy shares


The firm warned last year that it had discovered cracked pipes in
nuclear plants at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Hunterston in
Ayrshire.

Both sites shut as a result of the problems, and were only given the
go-ahead to restart the plants at the start of this month.

As a result of the closures, energy output fell to 58.4 terawatt
hours (TWh) from 68.4 TWh a year earlier.

But during the period, power prices jumped to record levels as a
result of the rising cost of natural gas, allowing British Energy to
fix sales at higher levels.

As a result, fixed contract prices rose to Ł44.20 per megawatt hour
(MWh) compared with Ł32 in the previous year.

British Energy - which generates around one-sixth of the country's
energy needs - owns eight nuclear power stations and one coal-fired
station in Eggborough, East Yorkshire and employs about 6,000 staff.

However, the update and news of the government's stake sale failed
to impress investors.

* BBC Copyright Notice
*****************************************************************
 21 BBC NEWS: Bristol/Somerset | Fire closes nuclear power station

Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 May 2007, 15:27 GMT 16:27 UK

Oldbury Power Station is to close by 2008

A fire at a nuclear power station has caused it to be shut down
indefinitely.

A generator at the Oldbury installation in South Gloucestershire
overheated and caught fire on Wednesday, a spokesman for British
Nuclear Group said.

No-one was injured in the blaze which was on the non-nuclear side of
the plant, but the reactor has been shut for the foreseeable future,
he said.

'Standard procedure'

The blaze was put out by a sprinkler system in the building minutes
after it ignited.

Dan Gould, spokesman for British Nuclear Group, said: "The fire took
place at around 9.40am this morning.

"The fire was in the non-nuclear part of the plant, there were no
injuries and no release of radioactivity.

"However the reactor was shut down, which is accordance with
standard procedure."

The fire is believed to have started accidentally.

* BBC Copyright Notice
*****************************************************************
 22 2 Salem reactors offline

Steam leak in one, seal check in other, PSEG says

By DAVID BENSON Staff Writer, (609) 272-7206

Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007
A month after receiving a clean bill of health from the Nuclear
Regulatory Comm-ission, two of three reactors in the Salem nuclear
power plant complex were offline Tuesday, a PSEG spokesman said.

Salem Unit 2 and the Hope Creek reactor have been shut down for
unrelated reasons. A steam leak at one of the reactors released
corrosive, radioactive water, but it was contained by the plant's
drainage system.

Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, said the Salem unit
automatically shut down last Thursday when a porthole-style window
in a steam condenser broke, and water contaminated with both
hydrazine and tritium was leaked into the storm-drainage system.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Hydrazine is a
corrosive liquid often used in rocket fuel.

Skip Sindoni, a spokesman for PSEG, which owns the plants, said some
of the contaminated water leaked onto the soil where the water
enters the drainage system. âBut neither the hydrazine, nor the
tritium left the plant's property,â Sindoni said.

All of the water that leaked into the drainage system goes through a
separation process, Sindoni said. âIn the storm drain, it's
separated before it's discharged.â

Sindoni said the state Department of Environmental Protection has
been notified.

Elaine Makatura, director of public relations for the DEP, said
Tuesday that the department was not aware of any contamination of
the soil on PSEG property. âWe will have to reach out to PSEG,â
Makatura said. âWe will follow up with the plant and ask
questions.â

Over the weekend, plant operators replaced all of the porthole-style
monitoring windows in the condensers. Saturday, the operators tried
to bring the Salem unit back online, but had to shut down before
reaching full power.

âThere was an issue with the main generator,â Sindoni said. A
hydrogen leak forced the operators to power down and to have a look
at seals in the main generator. The plant is still offline.

Early Tuesday, the Hope Creek unit was manually shut down after an
electrical problem â called a transient â tripped two of the
three water pumps that feed the reactor.

âThere was a decrease in the water level in the reactor,â
Sindoni said. âThe operators saw this and shut the plant down.â

A quick reaction by the control room can be key when it comes to
avoiding increased federal scrutiny. Getting to the root of what
caused the problem is important, the NRC's Sheehan said. âBut the
primary thing we want to look at is whether the operators deal with
emerging circumstances and safely shut down the plant.â

There are four resident NRC inspectors at the nuclear complex. Two
inspectors oversee Salem units 1 and 2, and there are two inspectors
for the Hope Creek unit.

Norm Cohen, a spokesman for Unplug Salem, said the shutdowns are
indicative of larger problems at the plants. âPSEG goes in
cycles,â Cohen said. âFor a while, things run well. Then they
run badly again.â

Cohen said that the company has a core issue with personnel that
leads to the shutdowns. âThey haven't solved their safety
conscious problems,â Cohen said.

Even with two nuclear reactors out of commission, the electrical
grid that serves the region has enough electricity in reserve to
power the tri-state area, as long as the outage is short-term. âIt
isn't uncommon in the early spring months for the major generators
to be offline,â said Ray Dotter, a spokesman with PJM, the
regional power grid that serves Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland,
Delaware and other states.

Nuclear plants shut down about every two years for refueling â a
process that leaves the plant offline for about a month. Plant
owners try to schedule the outages between air conditioning and
heating seasons to minimize economic pain.

A typical nuclear plant generates about $1 million per day gross
income worth of power.

âIn general we plan and operate the system so the loss of any one
generator doesn't have an immediate effect on the grid,â Dotter
said. âWe have a reserve beyond the peak to cover major generating
units that aren't available,â he said.

But a long-term outage of any baseload generator in the state would
be a concern. âNew Jersey is a major net importer of power from
other areas,â Dotter said. âSo generating electricity in the
state is important.â

Dotter said New Jersey needs its baseload plants during the summer
months to cover peak usage times. âIf major units were likely to
be out for the summer, we would want to take a look to see what the
impacts would be.â

DBenson@pressofac.com

Š Copyright 1970- The Press of Atlantic City
*****************************************************************
 23 Platts: French anti-nuclear campaigners protest against EPR reactor

2007-05-29

London (Platts)--29May2007

French anti-nuclear campaigners were Tuesday occupying a high tension
power pylon in northwest France in a new protest against the plan to build a
EPR type power reactor at Flamanville, Normandy, the Sortir du nucleaire group
said Tuesday.

     According to the group, the action at the pylon in Fougere in the
Ille-et-Vilaine department was being taken to urge the government to scrap the
decree authorizing Electricite de France to build the EPR reactor, ahead of
new talks on the environment, which have been announced by ecology minister
Alain Juppe and Nicolas Sarkozy.

     The group is also protesting against the creation of a new high tension
power link to the new reactor which, according to the campaigners, carries
"important health risks" and would "disfigure the west of France." French grid
manager RTE was unavailable immediately to comment but there were no reports
that the protest was affecting French supplies.

      Juppe has said France should build new nuclear power reactors, including
the Flamanville EPR, to meet France's future energy needs and European Union
targets on green house gas emissions.

For simliar news, request a free trial to Power in Europe at
http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?src=story

Copyright Š 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 24 Platts: All four units at UK Hinkley, Hunterston nuclear plants back soon

2007-05-30

London (Platts)--30May2007

All four units at the UK's Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B nuclear power
plants should be back in operation soon, British Energy executives said in a
conference call Wednesday morning.

     Boiler problems at the plants helped push down output in the latest
financial year.

     The BE executives said that the first unit to come back at Hunterston B
was now at 70% output. The first at Hinkley Point B was in start up mode now.
The second at Hunterston B was in the process of start up. After that the
company would move on to the second at Hinkley Point B.

     You did not try to restart two units at a plant at the same time, CEO
Bill Coley said, but rather brought them back in sequence.

     Asked if all four should be back by mid-June he said that was "not
unreasonable at all." They are expected to return to 70% output, rather than
maximum capacity.
     
     STUDYING SITES FOR NUCLEAR NEW BUILD

     Asked about the timetable for possible nuclear new build BE said that the
government's consultation on issues such as waste and decommissioning would
run until mid-October. In parallel BE is talking to potential partners in new
build and potential electricity sales customers, including industrial users
hoping to hedge future costs.

     The government is also conducting site studies and BE is carrying out its
own study of which of its existing sites would be most suitable for new build.

     The BE executives were asked if the government could seize BE's existing
nuclear power plant sites by compulsory purchase and possibly award them to a
different operator for new build.

     The executives said government could seize the land if BE was not
exploiting it. But since BE was in talks with partners about new build, it was
not leaving the sites to go fallow. The BE executives said they thought the
government was "content" with the way things were going.

For simliar news, request a free trial to Power in Europe at
http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?src=story

Copyright Š 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 25 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point 2 interrupts power production due to steam generator problems

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

By GREG CLARY

BUCHANAN - Indian Point 2's broken water valve will likely keep the
nuclear plant off the state's electrical grid until the weekend, but
repairs won't require a complete shutdown, which could have lowered
the reactor's safety rating one notch, federal regulators said
yesterday.

The valve is part of a system that feeds water to four generators,
producing the steam that turns turbines to make electricity.

The mechanism, about the size of a small doghouse, started
malfunctioning about 4:45 a.m. Monday, and the operators slowed the
reactor to 20 percent power to check the problem.

Less than 12 hours later, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the owner of
Indian Point, took the 33-year-old nuclear reactor down to 2 percent
power to allow the plant to operate on three generators so workers
could make the repairs.

Indian Point 3 was unaffected and continues to run at 100 percent.

"This would not count as a hit against their performance indicator
for unplanned shutdowns," said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "This was an unplanned power change,
and as of the end of the first quarter of 2007, they're well within
the green range on those."

The agency has four levels of operating safety - green is the best;
red is the worst.

Indian Point 2 has had its share of problems in the past 18 months:
five unplanned shutdowns including a stoppage at the end of February
that also involved the flow of water in the nuclear plant's steam
generators.

In that instance, water levels in the generators fell below safe
operation levels because of a malfunction in the water-supply system.

Jim Steets, a spokesman for Indian Point, said the two events are
unrelated, though both happened on the nonradioactive side of the
plant. He and Sheehan said the Memorial Day stoppage posed no threat
to either the public or plant workers.

The company saw its performance indicators for Indian Point 3 fall
from green to white in April, when two unplanned shutdowns occurred
within days of each other as the nuclear plant tried to come back
online from a refueling outage.

Lowering a safety rating brings with it increased oversight from NRC
officials.

Sheehan said that the company's move on Memorial Day to take the
plant off the electrical grid and lower its power to 2 percent
appears to have been the right move. To ensure that, he said, agency
inspectors on site would check the procedures that were followed.

"The assumption is that the reactor operators do what is in the
interest of safety, not performance indicators, and we don't have
any reason to believe that didn't occur here," Sheehan said.

Entergy officials said taking the reactor down to low power was the
best way to fix the problem and allow the plant to come back onto
the state's electricity grid sooner.

"The valve needs to be disassembled to learn what the problem with
it is," Steets said. "It's a 12-inch pipeline so there's a lot of
water moving quickly through the system."

Steets said the company, which replaced the part in 2004, would
evaluate similar parts on the other three water lines to determine
whether something was causing the valve to malfunction other than
thread fatigue or a similar localized problem.


Reach Greg Clary at 914-696-8566 or gclary@lohud.com.

 Post a Comment   View All Comments

 This just can't be. Why only last week amateur safety expert Paul
Newman gave the plant his seal of approval. He even remarked about
jumping across the spent fuel rod pools in his younger days. Or was
this EVENT just some kind of pathetic publicity stunt to help take
away the "STING"of paying $130,000 in fines. Even "THE HUSTLER"
himself couldn't pull that off. No...Mike Kansler and Entergy would
never dream stooping so low. Not them.
Seriously if I had a car that shut down as often as Indian Point
does , I'd call it a "Lemon" or a "Clunker". Now that's a new motto
( Indian Point and Entergy a Lemon and a Clunker ). Even Ford Motors
had to give up on the Edsel eventually. It's now 10 o' clock...do
you know if your nuclear power plant is running?

Posted by: ball on Wed May 30, 2007 11:45 pm

======================================================================

 The internal industrial life that brings the Hudson Valley its
prosperity, its vitality, and its clean skies, does not occur by
vested right of the populace. It is a service, very difficult to
provide, and provided for everybody's benefit.

It has events.

It is real.

In most cases, the recipients of its contribution would hear nothing
about it, and care nothing about it.

The Resco plant fires up, cools down, smokes, stinks, and who knows
about it? Only those suffering lung diseases from its carbon
dioxide, dioxin, soot, mercury and other ever-present pollutants.

Certainly not snarky little quip-writers like Senasqua7.


Safe? Absolutely. No deaths from lung cancer are going up any stack
by the ton at IPEC, (as they are at Resco).


Secure? Quite a bit more secure than the White Plains Galleria
parking lot, I'm afraid.


Vital? Snarky Senasqua7 wrote her silly diatribe via steady power
provided by the center she misrepresents, so it's as vital to her
expressing her opinion as it is to keeping Hud Valley Hospital lit,
and your air traffic control operative at Westchester Airport, and
your police radios on the air.

(Unit 3 is at 100% power today, and......Unit 2's reduced 2% power
is still greater than what would be provided by half a dozen
windmills- and no eagles have to be slaughtered).

Yes, events happen inside IPEC, just as they do indide every other
industrial center that ever will exist. These events serve to bring
out the snarky best from our prejudiced, unthinking, and rather
hackneyed aphorism writers at Antinuke-Central.

All my best to them.

Sadly, I can give Senasqua7 only a solid C minus grade for her
disjointed cliche' blurb today.

Nice try, kiddo.

Posted by: la_88 on Wed May 30, 2007 10:00 am

======================================================================

 So the only difference between a "power change" which has no
consequences, and an "unplanned shutdown", which would force NRC to
give them a White finding, is operating at 2% power? In the real
world, not the NRC/Neil Sheehan "Alice in Wonderland", if it's been
shutdown and it's not sending juice to the grid, it's an unplanned
shutdown.

Safe? whoops, the transformer exploded and there's strontium-90
leaking into the Hudson...Secure? somebody wake up the
guards...Vital? d'oh!, if not for those twelve unplanned shutdowns
in the past year, we'd have a perfect record...

Perhaps Entergy should change it's marketing slogan to "Indian Point
has the NRC Green Seal of Approval-it's Right for the Entergy
Shareholders!"

Posted by: senasqua7 on Wed May 30, 2007 8:38 am

======================================================================

 Ed, where have YOU been?

The sirens have worked all along.

You just weren't listening.

Oh, and by the way "Ed",

How many megawatts have YOU produced this year?

Posted by: la_88 on Wed May 30, 2007 5:47 am

======================================================================

 They can't get a siren to work. What's surprising about THIS?

Posted by: ed on Wed May 30, 2007 4:38 am

Copyright Š 2007 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper 
serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.

All rights reserved. Use of this site signifies your agreement to
the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy
Rights, updated March 7, 2007.

*****************************************************************
 26 Rutland Herald: A historic step forward on energy, climate

May 30, 2007

By REP. MARGARET CHENEY

Vermonters know that global warming is a serious threat and that it
requires immediate attention. That's why the General Assembly put so
much effort this year into House Bill 520, the most comprehensive
environmental legislation in the history of the state. H.520 will
reduce Vermont's output of greenhouse gases, increase our energy
independence, create new jobs, and save Vermonters money.

How will it do all this? Among its provisions, the bill:

Sets a goal of meeting 25 percent of our energy needs by the year
2025 through renewable resources, especially from our farms and
forests. Specifically, 20 percent of our electricity sales by the
year 2017 would come from such sources.

Provides a tax credit for businesses that invest in solar panels for
their commercial-sized roofs.

Streamlines the permitting process for temporary wind measurement
towers used to determine the suitability of sites for turbines.

Sets the same fair, stable tax rate for future wind farms and large
producers of electricity, such as Vermont Yankee, based on power
generation.

Seeks ways to use biofuels to heat state buildings and to power
state vehicles.

Requires certification that new commercial buildings have met
current standards for thermal efficiency.

Expands the net metering program so that groups, not just
individuals, can produce their own energy through wind, solar, or
other on-site generation and trade it back to their electrical
company.

Initiates studies on hydroelectric power and transportation
efficiency, and calls for a workforce development plan for what we
expect to be a growing efficiency and renewable energy industry in
Vermont.

Most of these steps address our use and production of electricity.
However, in Vermont up to 90 percent of our greenhouse gases  and
by far our highest costs  come from the way we heat our homes and
get around. In contrast to the relatively stable price of
electricity, the cost of heating fuel and gasoline has been rising
at an annual rate of 40 percent in recent years.

To solve this problem, the bill honors the Vermont tradition of
conservation. In energy use, less really is more: Every
kilowatt-hour avoided is money in the bank. Vermont recognized this
when it established Efficiency Vermont, which since 2000 has helped
save more than $313 million in electricity costs. H.520 asks the
Public Service Board to find ways to turn this model into a
permanent utility addressing not just electricity savings but the
conservation of heating fuels such as oil and gas. For every dollar
invested in thermal efficiency, we have the potential to save $4 to
$5 in avoided fuel use while reducing our output of carbon dioxide.

Unfortunately, much of the talk about H.520 has focused on the
Senate's initial proposal to fund the expanded efficiency utility
through a windfall profits tax on Entergy, which owns the Vermont
Yankee nuclear power plant. But a windfall profits tax  which Gov.
Douglas has criticized as arbritary, unfair to business, and the
primary reason to veto H.520  does not even appear in the final bill

Here's what really happened: While researching Entergy's tax
liability, we discovered that Entergy has been enjoying an
incredible tax bargain. For example, in fiscal year 2007, Entergy
will pay $4.7 million into the General Fund and the Education Fund.
This is about $1 million less than the amount Entergy paid seven
years earlier, even though Entergy made $100 million in capital
improvements in the interim. While Vermont homeowners have seen
their taxes go up with increases in property value, Entergy has
enjoyed the reverse, even as its revenues explode.

Based on these findings, the House recommended gradually increasing
Entergy's current generation tax to be exactly equal to the rate
already proposed in H.520 for wind generators. Wind producers are
happy with this predictable tax rate, which they say will help
encourage the development of wind power in the state, but Entergy is
not. Of the taxes the House proposes to collect from Entergy, 42
percent is earmarked for the Education Fund and 58 percent for the
General Fund. By having Entergy pay its fair share of taxes,
Vermonters will have lower tax bills overall, and we can fund a new
efficiency program to reduce monthly fuel bills.

Ironically, in his criticism of the bill, Douglas claims that
Entergy is being singled out for unfair special treatment  when in
fact it has been receiving special treatment. Entergy may be the
only entity in the state whose value has increased but whose taxes
have declined dramatically.

Months ago, the governor added his voice to those of other lawmakers
to address the crisis of global warming. This May, he said he rarely
hears Vermonters talking about climate change and doubts that it's
even on their minds. I think he's wrong. Through H.520, Vermonters
can slow global warming while saving money and creating jobs. It
deserves the governor's signature.

Rep. Margaret Cheney, a Democrat, represents Norwich, Sharon,
Strafford, and Thetford. She is a member of the House Natural
Resources and Energy Committee.

   Š 2007 Rutland Herald
*****************************************************************
 27 China: Plans To Build Hundreds of Nuclear Reactors

May 29 (EIRNS)?The government of China may be planning a massive
increase in nuclear energy capacity, according to widely-reported
statements by an official of the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC), China's national economic planning ministry, in
Beijing on May 27.

At a forum on China's strategic energy plans, sponsored by the
Construction Ministry, the NDRC official said that Beijing has plans
to increase nuclear power generation capability by up to 20 times
current level, by 2030, the Associated Press reported.

Such an expansion would mean 150 or more nuclear reactors providing
20% or more of China's electrical power, according to a report in
the thoroughly alarmed Washington Post on May 29.

Already, China has officially announced plans to increase nuclear
capacity to 40 million kilowatts by end-2020, from the current 8
million kilowatts installed capacity of China's 10 nuclear reactors.
The NDRC official proposed that China wants to increase nuclear
energy capacity to between 120-160 million kilowatts. This project
would involve an enormous construction undertaking, of over 100 new
nuclear reactors, over 20 years.

Such a nuclear boom would make China the world's biggest nuclear
power nation. The Post cited even bigger long-term estimates: an MIT
report that says China will need 200 plants operating by mid-21st
Century; and a target of 300 nuclear plants operating by 2050, in a
report from Tsing-Hua University.

There are certainly reasons for China to give such emphasis to
nuclear energy. The director of the Energy Research Institute of the
NDRC, Han Wenke, said in Shanghai May 28 that China's demand for
crude oil could rise to 550 million tons by 2020 ? 11 million
barrels a day, the Shanghai Post reported. This is a 230 million ton
increase over demand in 2006. China will be able to produce some
150-185 million tons in 2020, Han said.

China is also now a net importer of coal, its biggest source of
energy. Imports were 2.89 million tons more than exports, as of
March 2007, China's General Customs Administration reported. Last
year, China had a "continuous sharp decline in coal exports," due to
export tariffs imposed by the government. 
   
*****************************************************************
 28 London Times: Government to raise Ł2.2bn from British Energy-

From Times Online

May 30, 2007

As profits smash through Ł1bn the DTI announces its intention to 
sell 400 million shares, reducing its stake to 39%

Steve Hawkes

The Government has announced plans to raise Ł2.2 billion by selling
400 million shares in British Energy - more than a third of its
shareholding in the nuclear power group.

The move came just hours after Bill Coley, British Energy chief
executive, insisted it had no idea when the Government would be
making a decision on the future of its stake.

Results from the firm this morning showed annual underlying profits
soared 44 per cent to Ł1.2 billion in the 12 months to March 31,
triggering the first dividend payout for five years.


The proceeds from the sale in the City, to be handled by Deutsche
Bank, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, will go towards the cost of the
eventual decommissioning of the UK's nuclear power plant fleet.

A DTI statement added: "The secretary of state does not intend to
direct the NLF to reduce its economic interest in British Energy ...
to below a strategic interest of 29.9 per cent."

British Energy shares fell 19.25p to 550p.

Government bail outs have saved British Energy from near collapse in
the past five years. Today's results were further confirmation of
the group's recovery since.

The dividend is the first payout for shareholders since the group
began a tortuous financial restructuring in 2002.

Mr Coley told the Times earlier today: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a good
year, though it could have been much, much better if it hadn&rsquo;t
been for our well publicised operational challenges.&rdquo;

Output from British Energy&rsquo;s nuclear fleet plunged 15 per cent
in the financial year after a safety review found higher than
expected boiler tube cracking at Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B.
This resulted in the loss of more than 9TWh of output, almost all
the decline in the year.

One of the reactors at Hinkley Point B in Somerset has now restarted
and Mr Coley insisted the full benefits of the group&rsquo;s
investment and improvement programme would come through in the next
12 months.

He welcomed last week&rsquo;s Energy White Paper and said that it
highlighted the role nuclear generation could play in a &ldquo;low
carbon economy&rdquo;.

He added that private equity companies, rival utilities and
electricity suppliers had all contacted the group about forming
ventures to build the new generation of nuclear power plants in the
UK.

He told the Times: &ldquo;The interest is far broader and far deeper
than I would have expected.&rdquo;

He warned that the &ldquo;UK could be at the back of the
queue&rdquo; unless firm decisions on new build were taken soon, but
added that he wanted a full public debate on the role that nuclear
energy should play.

Further negotiations with firms over &ldquo;one or two&rdquo;
partnerships for new build projects will take place this year.

Mr Coley said: &ldquo;The Government still needs to complete its
consultation on new nuclear. I think that closes in October and that
will provide some certainty.&rdquo;

The government's stake sale is being carried out through a
book-build, which is due to close at 4.30pm tomorrow. Lazard is
advising the DTI on the deal.


Š Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
*****************************************************************
 29 APP.COM: Public Service's Salem 2 reactor ended startup after leak found 

| Asbury Park Press Online

Wednesday, May 30, 2007


BY EDWARD KLUMP

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. said its Salem 2 nuclear
reactor in New Jersey shut May 27 because a hydrogen leak from a
seal on the main generator was discovered as the unit was starting
up.

Chic Cannon, a spokesman for Newark, New Jersey-based Public Service,
declined in a telephone interview today to say when the reactor
might return to full power. He said May 24 that the unit shut
because of low steam generator water level.

A recent event report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said
some water that left a condensate polisher building this month had
about 50,000 picocuries of tritium per liter. The tritium was
contained on the plant site, Cannon said.

Tritium is a naturally occurring form of hydrogen that is produced
in commercial nuclear reactors and can be used to illuminate exit
signs and wristwatches. In large quantities, tritium can increase
the risk of cancer, according to the Environmental Protection
Agency. Plant owners must monitor the controlled release of tritium
from reactors under Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations.

Salem 2 is located in Hancocks Bridge, New Jersey, about 25 miles
(40 kilometers) from Wilmington, Delaware. The unit's capacity is
about 1,116
megawatts, Cannon said. That's enough power for 892,800 average U.S.
homes,
based on U.S. Energy Department estimates.

Copyright Š 2007 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 30 Burlington Free Press: Business group endorses energy bill

  burlingtonfreepress.com  |  Burlington, Vermont

Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007

By Terri Hallenbeck Free Press Staff Writer

HINESBURG -- Forty-five Vermont business owners pleaded Tuesday with
the governor to meet with them and change his mind about vetoing an
energy bill.

Neither the meeting nor the changing of the mind is likely to happen.

"I'm hearing from a lot of people on both sides of the question,"
Gov. Jim Douglas said. "I can't meet with everybody." He said he's
encouraging all those who want to weigh in on the issue to write to
him.

"We're going to do everything we can. We're not going to take no on
this issue," vowed Will Patten, executive director of Vemont
Businesses for Social Responsibility, as he stood with
representatives of the group's members outside NRG Systems in
Hinesburg on Tuesday morning.

Douglas has said he will veto the energy legislation because he
opposes an increase in taxes on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power
plant that would be used to help pay for an energy-efficiency
utility. Supporters of the bill argue it offers a number of
opportunities to save Vermonters money on heating bills and, in the
process, generate jobs.

Chuck Reiss is a Hinesburg homebuilder who's hoping for a change in
state law that would allow a group of homes he's building to share a
wind turbine and sell the excess power to utilities. That change in
law is contained in the bill Douglas has promised to veto.

"It's time to start helping small businesses instead of large
businesses," said Reiss, owner of Reiss Buildings and Renovations,
who added that he has several neighborhoods interested in running
group wind turbines if the law allows it.

Jan Blittersdorf, chief executive officer of NRG and a member of the
VBSR board, tried to flip the governor's argument that the
legislation will send a chilling message to the business community
on its head. "If the governor vetoes this bill, he will send a chill
through the Vermont business community," she said.

The business owners' goal was to counteract Douglas' argument that
businesses oppose the energy bill, but Blittersdorf acknowledged
that businesses like hers and Douglas rarely see eye-to-eye. Last
year, she hosted a news conference for Douglas' Democratic opponent,
Scudder Parker. "We're not a big fan," Blittersdorf said. "We
haven't felt that he's listening."

Patten charged that Douglas listens to big businesses, but not to
small, homegrown companies that mean the most to the state. "The
policy he's been following -- kow-towing to big business -- is not
working," Patten said. "He needs to change direction."

Douglas argued that he values all business, but on this issue he
disagrees with these business owners. He supports existing electric
efficiency measures run by Efficiency Vermont, he said, but has
concerns about expanding those efforts to other fuels without more
research. "I'm very proud of what Efficiency Vermont has done,"
Douglas said. "This whole new concept of a broader fuel efficiency
is untested."

Patten said his group will continue to try to persuade the governor
not to veto the bill. Failing that, he said, the business owners
hope to persuade enough legislators to override the veto when the
Legislature returns for a veto session July 11. Democrats fell three
votes shy of overriding a veto on other legislation earlier in the
year.

House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, said she expects to sign
the energy bill Thursday, sending it on to Douglas. He'll have five
days after receiving it to act on it.

Contact Terri Hallenbeck at 229-4126 or
thallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com.


     Copyright Š2007 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 31 APP.COM: Judges seek public input on plant safety | 

Asbury Park Press Online

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

AmerGen, coalition to take back seat

BY NICK CLUNN STAFF WRITER Post Comment

A special legal proceeding over the amount of attention that should
be given to a corroded radiation barrier at the Oyster Creek nuclear
power plant will begin Thursday with a hearing designed for the
public.

But the two parties most involved in the legal wrangling will have
limited input at the hearing.

AmerGen Energy Co., which operates the Lacey plant and wants to
renew its operating license, and Stop the Renewal of Oyster Creek, a
coalition opposed to that action, were told to sideline their
lawyers as the three federal judges presiding over the hearing will
only be interested in listening to the public's take on the safety
issue.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which granted the coalition's
request for the proceeding, said the hearing in Toms River is meant
to provide the judges with a wider understanding of the matter
outside the arguments presented by AmerGen and the coalition.

But three Republican state lawmakers representing the section of
Ocean County where Oyster Creek is located said in a May 4 letter to
the NRC that the "exclusionary policy erodes the spirit and
integrity of the public hearing process."

"Prohibiting participation among selected groups will elicit
feelings of distrust and discontentment among those with an active
interest, most especially residents of communities in proximity to
the (Oyster Creek) station," wrote Sen. Leonard T. Connors Jr. and
Assemblymen Christopher J. Connors and Brian E. Rumpf.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the NRC called the hearing
to decide whether the frequency in which AmerGen plans to measure
the thickness of a certain region of radiation barrier using
ultrasound is adequate.

Richard Webster, a lawyer representing the coalition, has argued
that the amount of measuring that has been proposed is insufficient.

Known technically as the drywell liner, the barrier would contain
highly pressurized and radioactive steam. The barrier is made of
steel, stands 100 feet tall, and surrounds the reactor vessel, where
atoms are split to make heat.

It also has received more attention than any other part of the plant
during the NRC review AmerGen must pass for Oyster Creek to receive
a 20-year license renewal, which would allow the plant to stay open
past its scheduled shut-down date in April 2009.

The concern is that the barrier could buckle if the metal becomes
thinner because of additional corrosion, though the risk of that
happening only exists every two years, when the plant is shut down
for a few weeks to be refueled.

If the judges side with the coalition, they can impose conditions on
the renewal by, for example, requiring AmerGen to inspect the
barrier more frequently.

AmerGen has filed a motion to dismiss the hearing, a decision on
which could be made before the parties are set to appear before the
judges in September.

If the hearing takes place, the final decision on the renewal will
be made in January. A decision will be made sooner if AmerGen's
motion is granted.

Recognizing the importance of the barrier's safety, the southern
Ocean County legislators asked the NRC not to exclude anyone from
speaking to the judges.

While that won't happen, the judges will try to be as inclusive as
possible by allowing coalition members an opportunity to speak as
citizens, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC.

"What they are trying not to do is duplicate the hearing process
that is already under way," Sheehan said.

AmerGen officials said they believe the NRC's rules excluding
participants in the legal proceeding will provide the judges with an
ideal opportunity to hear what members of the public have to say,
said Leslie Cifelli, a plant spokeswoman.

"In the spirit of being open and honest for the public, what more
can you ask for?" Cifelli asked rhetorically. "This is just for
them."

But Webster said that an all-inclusive hearing would be a better
public service.

Though the NRC has conducted several meetings and hearings in which
the public has been invited to observe or speak, Webster said very
few of those occasions have allowed the kind of back-and-forth
debate that the public would benefit from most.

"'In general, the public hasn't had much opportunity to hear both
sides at once," Webster said.

Nick Clunn: (732) 643-4072 or nclunn@app.com

IF YOU GO
Members of the public interested in speaking to the judges presiding
over a case involving a safety issue at the Oyster Creek nuclear
power plant will have two opportunities to speak Thursday.



Both sessions  2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.  will take
place at the Ocean County Administrative Building, 101 Hooper Ave.
in Toms River.



Those who have made prior arrangements to speak will be given
priority.


Copyright Š 2007 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 32 Reuters: Considerable work left on India nuclear deal - U.S. 

Wed May 30, 2007 4:34PM EDT

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India and the United States have "considerable
work" to do to resolve their differences over a landmark nuclear
deal, Washington's envoy to New Delhi said on Wednesday, the eve of
further negotiations between the two sides.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is due in the Indian
capital on Thursday for talks with Indian officials over the
agreement, regarded as a major test of the new friendship between
the large democracies.

"There is considerable work to be done on what is a very technical
and detailed agreement," Ambassador David Mulford said in a
statement. "We want to finish as soon as we can and both sides are
positive we can do this."

The two countries have struggled to overcome differences over the
fineprint of the deal after the U.S. Congress, concerned about
preventing nuclear proliferation, introduced amendments to a law it
approved in December backing the pact.

As a result, the two sides have been unable to finalize a deal
governing nuclear trade. India says it cannot accept some new terms
it sees as impinging on its sovereignty.

The deal aims to overturn three decades of U.S. sanctions on sales
of nuclear reactors and fuel to India to help it meet its soaring
energy needs, even though New Delhi has not signed the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and has tested nuclear weapons.

A U.S. official in Washington, who spoke on condition that he not be
named, played down the chances of Burns securing an agreement on
this trip, but said Washington hopes to conclude one ahead of the
June 6-8 Group of Eight summit in Germany.

"I don't think he is expecting to (complete an agreement) on this
particular trip but he is hoping to tee it up," said the U.S.
official. "We would like to see this be done in time for the G8
summit ... if for some reason it didn't happen by the G8 it's not
the end of the world."

India says it cannot accept some new terms such as a U.S. decision
to end nuclear trade if New Delhi conducts another nuclear test, and
not give India rights to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.  Continued...

Š Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

*****************************************************************
 33 Asia Times: China's not so new nuclear strategy

May 30, 2007

By David Isenberg

WASHINGTON - A new study released by the US Army War College's 
Strategic Studies Institute is the latest addition to the "China 
is a worrisome threat" crowd.

The 51-page monograph is a sort of literary review, the result of 
exploiting sections of a doctrinal text, "A Guide to the Study of 
Campaign Theory", published for People's Liberation Army (PLA) 
higher military schools by the Chinese National Defense 
University.

The monograph finds: In the view of many in the PLA, the military
power of the United States, the potential to use that power to
coerce or dominate China, and the ability to threaten China's
pursuit of its own interests [present] a latent threat to China.
Additionally, China's own threats against democratic Taiwan, and the
fact that PLA leaders believe that the United States is likely to
come to Taiwan's assistance in the event of Chinese aggression in
the Taiwan Strait, magnifies the threat that PLA officers perceive
from the United States. This perceived threat drives the PLA to
follow US military developments more carefully than those of other
nations and to be prepared to counter American forces.

The PLA is mixing nuclear and conventional missile forces in its
military doctrine. Also, some in China are questioning whether the
doctrine of "no first use" of nuclear weapons serves China's
deterrent needs. The monograph has been exciting attention in US
national-security circles because it asserts that China's nuclear
strategy could bring about a nuclear war. Supposedly Beijing may be
trying to develop the capability to destroy entire US
aircraft-carrier battle groups in the Pacific Ocean by targeting
them with nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The monograph was written by Larry Wortzel, a retired US Army
officer and former official of the conservative Heritage Foundation
in Washington, DC, as well as commissioner on the congressionally
appointed US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

But a close reading of the monograph suggests there is less than
meets the eye. Many of the developments that Wortzel points to are,
in fact, things the United States long ago accomplished during the
Cold War.

For example, Wortzel is alarmed by the fact that China is
experimenting with both multiple re-entry vehicles (MIRV - a
collection of nuclear weapons carried on a single ICBM or a
submarine-launched ballistic missile) and maneuverable re-entry
vehicles (MARV - a type of nuclear warhead capable of shifting
targets in flight) as well as other penetration aids or
countermeasures on its warheads as means to respond to potential
missile defense.

But the US developed MIRVs in the 1960s when the weapons
laboratories had designed small thermonuclear weapons, a necessary
condition for deploying multiple re-entry vehicles on the relatively
small Minuteman missile.

And the United States also developed MARVs decades ago, both for its
Trident missiles, which had to be able to evade Soviet
anti-ballistic-missile systems, and for the Pershing II missile that
was deployed to Europe in the 1980s.

Indeed, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the US
should be feeling very pleased.

Another Chinese development that Wortzel finds noteworthy is that
Chinese military officials have picked target sets that would would
disrupt the enemy's economy, reconstitution and resupply
capabilities. Specifically:
Enemy political centers.
Economic centers.
Major enemy military bases and depots.
Enemy command centers.
Enemy communications and transportation networks.
Major troop concentrations.

This too is classic counter-force nuclear targeting. The US started
putting together such lists in the 1950s, when 5,500 Soviet targets
were listed as potential Strategic Air Command bomber strikes.
Yet another doctrinal development that Wortzel finds noteworthy is
the Chinese emphasis on "guaranteed survivability and strike",
meaning Chinese nuclear forces must be able to ride out a nuclear
attack and emerge to conduct their own counterstrike. This too is
straight out of the old US Cold War playback. This is what nuclear
strategists called second-strike capability: the assured ability of
a country to respond to a nuclear attack with powerful nuclear
retaliation against the attacker. To have such an ability (and to
convince the opponent of its viability) is considered vital in
nuclear deterrence.

Even a development that is genuinely, at least potentially,
destabilizing, which Wortzel notes - the decision by Beijing to put
nuclear and conventional warheads on the same classes of ballistic
missiles - also mirrors a recent US initiative. That is the US
Prompt Global Strike Capability, which seeks to convert Trident II
D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to carry
conventional warheads to satisfy the desire of US Strategic Command
for a near-term strike option.

This initiative has been heavily criticized by the arms control
community because is brings an inherent risk of triggering a nuclear
war. It seems likely, for example, that Russian and Chinese early
warning radars would be unable to differentiate between US nuclear
and conventional SLBM and/or ICBM launches, as the heat signatures
of both would be the same. The ambiguity, by causing doubt and
uncertainty, and possible delay in response, would also inevitably
strengthen the capacity for a successful US nuclear first strike.
Countries targeted by any ICBM strike would need to treat any attack
as a nuclear one if they were to avoid being open to a successful
surprise US nuclear first strike.

Ironically, it is this sort of initiative - which makes it more
likely that China might execute a preemptive nuclear counterattack
if it believes that an adversary is about to attack it - that
Wortzel worries about.

David Isenberg is a senior research analyst at the British American
Security Information Council, a member of the Coalition for a
Realistic Foreign Policy, a research fellow at the Independent
Institute, and an adviser to the Straus Military Reform Project of
the Center for Defense Information, Washington. These views are his
own.

(Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
  
Head Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street 
East, Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, 
Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
*****************************************************************
 34 UPI: Westinghouse reactor gets regulator looks

United Press International - Energy - Briefing

Published: May 30, 2007 at 6:30 PM

MONROEVILLE, Pa., May 30 (UPI) -- Westinghouse is revising its
AP1000 nuclear reactor with U.S. regulators as it attempts to
streamline the reactor for worldwide operations.

"The revision includes design changes to the AP1000 requested by our
customers and developed by Westinghouse as part of design
finalization," said Ed Cummins, vice president for regulatory
affairs and standardization at Westinghouse Nuclear Power Plants.
"We're happy to be working with our customers through NuStart to
bring the AP1000 to design finalization and, ultimately, closer to
new nuclear build," Cummins said in a company release.

NuStart is a consortium of nuclear companies and suppliers that are
pushing new nuclear technology through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's new licensing process.

The NRC certified the AP1000 in 2005, but Westinghouse has made
changes to reduce cost and financial risk and increase safety, the
company says.

The approval process is also being pushed through European and
Chinese markets.

There is a global nuclear boom expected as demand for electricity
continues to increase. Adrian Bull, Westinghouse's Britain
stakeholder relations manager, said the goal is to have "one and
only one design" of the AP1000. He told World Nuclear News, a
product of the global industry's trade arm, the World Nuclear
Association, that the company recently submitted an application for
British approval. He also said within the next "few weeks" China and
Westinghouse will sign a contract for four AP1000 reactors in Sanmen
and Haiyan, China. Those reactors would be the first AP1000s to
start producing electricity.

Last week U.S. and Chinese nuclear energy regulators signed a
memorandum of cooperation on the AP1000.

"As China moves forward on these projects the information they
generate we will certainly look at to see what parts of that will be
useful to our inspectors" if the reactors are licensed and built in
the United States, NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said.

The NRC expects applications for 19 new plants over the next three
years, and 12 of the 28 reactors in those plants will be AP1000.

Š Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 35 UPI: Analysis: India's new power action plan

United Press International - Energy - Analysis

Published: May 30, 2007 at 2:53 PM

By KUSHAL JEENA
NEW DELHI, May 30 (UPI) -- India is preparing a new action plan to
eliminate the country's power shortage by 2012 and to create
additional power generation capacity.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unveiled Tuesday the plan to
revitalize the ailing power sector at a daylong conference of the
chief ministers of the India's 34 states.

The plan calls for the states to launch a campaign to end power
theft, a major reason for the power shortage. Special courts are
planned to deal with the issue.

The plan also calls for the setting up of a professionally managed
national power project management board to look into all issues
relating to this sector. The board, which is to be headed by Power
Secretary Anil Razdan, has been assigned the task of keeping track
of all small, medium and large power projects commissioned during
the 11th plan period. The board, a nodal body for the power sector,
would also assist federal and state utilities in ensuring that
project implementation targets are met for each project.

The conference recommended that the government set up a subcommittee
to work out the financial aspects of adding to India's power
capacity generation.

"The Electricity Act provides for the constitution of special courts
for speedy disposal of cases of power theft," Singh said. "These
courts should be made working as early as possible.

"The center would at the same time provide financial help for
upgrading transmission and distribution system."

Singh said as losses come down to agreed-upon levels, the government
would reward the states that perform.

"For this purpose, the accelerated power development and reforms
program is being revised and contours of this revised scheme would
be announced in next two months," Singh said.

In its 11th five-year plan that began in April and runs until 2012,
India said it planned to add more than three times the power
capacity added in the 10th plan.

"These ambitions are laudable. What we require is to have an
effective project implementation and monitoring structure in place,"
Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said at the conference.

India's total capacity stands at 130,000 megawatts, but for its
economy to grow at its current pace at least 200,000 MW will be
needed by 2012.

The conference also adopted a resolution aimed at setting up a
standing group of state power ministers that would meet once every
three months to review the sector's activities.

The ministers asked the federal government to grant the states
leeway on the schedule for reforms in the power sector without
having to adhere to the deadline set by the Electricity Act of 2003.
They argued that clubbing well-performing state electricity boards
with poorly performing ones and directing them to usher in certain
reforms was not a positive approach.

In 1991, the year it opened up its economy for foreign investment,
India announced reforms in its government-controlled power sector to
encourage competition and seek private participation in each
sub-element of the sector.

Notwithstanding these initiatives, most state electricity boards
continued to make large financial losses because of an unsustainable
level of aggregate technical and commercial losses. The dues that
the state electricity boards had to pay to the state-run power
companies crossed $3.5 billion.

These dues still are major hurdles to the reform process and the
government has been unable to resolve the issue, as the state
electricity boards cite their poor financial health as the main
reason they can't pay dues.

The government settled on one condition: State-owned power companies
would now supply power to the state electricity boards on an
immediate-payment basis and the dues recovery would be made in parts.

"The power shortage continues to remain a persistent problem. The
inability to expand generating capacity, strengthen transmission
networks and improve distribution systems reflects the financial
sickness of the SEBs," said R.V. Shahi, a power expert and former
power secretary.

He said state electricity boards have neither the resources to
invest nor the credibility to attract the private sector. The large
aggregated transmission and commercial losses are partly an outcome
of neglect in transmission and distribution over the years.

Experts in the Indian power sector see privatization of distribution
as an alternative solution to reducing aggregated transmission and
commercial losses. But India's experience with privatizing the power
distribution systems in Orissa and Delhi states raised many
questions.

Now, the government has decided to privatize the power distribution
system in a transparent manner based on authentic baseline data and
through a genuine round of competitive bidding, where it is
politically feasible.

On the recommendations of the conference, the Power Ministry said it
would revise the accelerated power development and reforms program
to encourage the participation of the domestic and global power
sectors and to achieve the target of eliminating the power shortages
in next five years.


(e-mail: energy@upi.com)

Š Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 36 UPI: Analysis: Nuclear loan backing cloudy

United Press International - Energy - Analysis

Published: May 30, 2007 at 12:10 PM

By BEN LANDO UPI Energy Correspondent

WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- The nuclear industry is still unhappy
with the U.S. Energy Department's latest interpretation of a loan
guarantee program aimed at bringing to market new energy technology
that cuts back or eliminates climate change pollution.

The department says it must weigh the program against the risk to
taxpayers, the ultimate check-writers of any defaulted loans for the
yet-to-be-proven technologies.

"We have balanced what's in the draft regulations with protecting
the taxpayer dollar from the potential financial risk of these
projects," Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said. "We are
anxious to support these projects that employ these clean
technologies and carry out Congress' intent for the loan guarantee
program."

One of many industry subsidies in the Energy Policy Act of 2005,
loan guarantees "shall not exceed an amount equal to 80 percent of
the project cost of the facility that is the subject of the
guarantee," the legislation states. It covers new or improved
methods of producing energy that "avoid, reduce, or sequester"
greenhouse gas emissions.

The Energy Department was given the task of writing the guidelines
for the program. Initially it proposed federal backing of 80 percent
of the debt of the project, raising the ire of industry and
congressional architects of the law. Earlier this month, it revamped
that to 90 percent of the debt of the project in an amount not to
exceed 80 percent of the total project cost.

A reactor could cost up to $5 billion and analysts and the industry
say investors aren't willing to risk large sums of money. They say a
model of 20 percent equity financing and 80 percent loans is what is
needed to bring a U.S. nuclear industry back to business -- as long
as the loans are totally backed by the government.

"The statute authorizes 100 percent coverage of the debt portion of
the financing, up to 80 percent of total project costs," said
Richard Myers, vice president for policy development at the Nuclear
Energy Institute, the industry's trade arm. "These attempts to scale
that back are simply not acceptable."

Myers also said the department's latest rules, which have yet to be
finalized, make any additional needed financing less attractive
because government-guaranteed debt would be serviced first.

"We don't believe there's a natural market for an uncovered,
unguaranteed debt component for one of these projects," he said.

Currently 104 reactors feed about 20 percent of U.S. electricity
consumption. A new plant hasn't been licensed since 1978.
Construction cost overruns, fears following Chernobyl and Three Mile
Island and the low price of natural gas and coal led to a virtual
freeze in the industry.

But the regulatory process has been streamlined and technology
improved, the industry says, ensuring new nuclear plants would be a
profitable power generator, if the estimated eight-year licensing
and construction costs are overcome. Applications for around 30 new
reactors are expected in the next three years.

Caren Byrd, executive director of Morgan Stanley's Investment
Banking Division, said anything less than 80 percent of the total
project cost would make it very difficult for projects to lure
financing.

"It gets back to the attraction of new capital on projects like this
that are very, very massive and the long lead time that it takes to
build one of these units," Byrd said. "We don't know if the new
combined operating and licensing process is going to work. There are
still long memories of the billions (of dollars) that were lost the
last time around."

In most cases, utilities and, in turn, investors won't be able to
recoup any funds until the plant starts generating electricity and
consumers start paying for it (though a few states have OK'd rate
recovery during construction).

In the 1980s, during the last nuclear construction boom, projects
came in over budget, largely because of the high cost of delays and
NRC-required modifications and state regulators who didn't want to
shock consumers when the switch for the plant was flipped on.

"With these kind of mammoth projects, having the government
guarantee -- that we hope will never have to be needed -- is going
to be essential to get the financing in place, and we think it is
for the 80 percent of the whole cost of the project," Byrd said.
"Nobody is saying that you absolutely can't do it (at) a smaller
percentage but it's going to be more costly and much more uncertain."

Barnett said the department hopes to issue the guarantees by early
2008, though the guidelines must be finalized first. We are hopeful
that we can issue loan guarantees by early 2008.

"It's important to at least get it codified, so you can go forward
with some certainty of what the rules are," said Gilbert Brown,
professor and coordinator of the Nuclear Engineering Program at the
University of Massachusetts, Lowell. "That's a contribution in and
of itself, even if the numbers aren't exactly where you would want
them to be."

He said the new percentage will still keep nuclear competitive with
other energy sources, though the first reactors to come online will
be more expensive.

A public comment period on the draft guidelines ends July 2.

"The department is seeking comment on these draft regulations at
this time," Barnett said, "and encourages the benefit of everybody's
views into this process."

--

(email: energy@upi.com)

Š Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 37 AFP: US "positive" on clinching India nuclear accord - 

Wed May 30, 9:43 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The United States on Wednesday expressed hope of
winding up a thorny civilian nuclear energy deal which will permit
India to access long-denied Western nuclear technology.

The statement came on the eve of the resumption of talks in New
Delhi between a top US negotiator and Indian officials over the pact
in which India will separate its nuclear facilities into civilian
and military uses in return for technology and nuclear fuel supplies.

US ambassador David Mulford, however, warned tricky issues needed to
be discussed during the talks between US Undersecretary of State
Nicholas Burns and Indian officials.

"There is considerable work to be done on what is a very technical
and detailed agreement," Mulford said in a statement.

"We want to finish as soon as we can and both sides are positive we
can do this," the diplomat said of the deal which was agreed on
during a visit by President George W. Bush to India last year.

India, however, sounded non-committal on the upcoming talks, which
come a week after experts from the two countries met in London to
iron out unspecified "technical issues."

"The visit will also be the occasion for further discussions on the
proposed bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement," the Indian
foreign ministry said without elaborating.

The Press Trust of India said the two-day talks beginning Thursday
were likely to focus on testing and reprocessing.

"The key negotiators will aim at resolving differences on aspects
like reprocessing rights and continuity of civil nuclear cooperation
if India were to conduct an atomic test in the future," it said,
quoting unnamed officials.

Indian government sources say India's plans to build fast-breeder
nuclear reactors, which produce plutonium that can be used in
weapons, were still a subject for negotiation. India wants to use
such reactors to reprocess nuclear fuel in contradiction of US law.

The deal aims to reverse three decades of US sanctions on nuclear
trade with India, even though New Delhi has not signed the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, and tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

Earlier this month Burns told a Washington-based think-tank both
sides "were 90 percent of the way there."

Copyright Š 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 38 AFP: Bush invites Indian PM to Texas ranch - 

Wed May 30, 5:43 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has invited Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his Texas ranch later this year, an
Indian official said.

The invite to Prairie Chapel Ranch in Bush's home state came during
a recent telephone conversation between the US president and Singh,
said the official, who asked not to be named.

"The invitation has been received and it has been accepted. But the
dates have not been decided as yet, though it could be in September.
Mutually convenient dates are being worked out," he said.

The guest list at Bush's 1,600-acre (647-hectare) ranch has been
restricted to less than two dozen world leaders since his
inauguration in January 2001.

Among them are British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the former Chinese
president Jiang Zemin, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Bush and Singh are reported to share an easy rapport and have met
several times since the latter was named prime minister in May 2004.

Ties between the US and India have warmed considerably under Bush
and the two countries are close to finalising a landmark deal to
allow civilian nuclear technology sales to India.

The only possible glitch for Singh could be the ranch dress code --
traditionally jeans and jacket.

Singh generally sports formal Indian attire and the Sikh turban.

Visitors to Prairie Chapel ranch usually enjoy typical
Southern-style meals and outdoor activities, including a drive round
the estate.

Copyright Š 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 39 MHNN: Hall criticizes Indian Point for latest shut down

May 30, 2007

Copyright Š 2007 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of Statewide

  Buchanan &ndash; The regulating value malfunction that led to 
the shutdown of Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant this past 
weekend is &ldquo;the latest, but probably not the last, in a 
series of &lsquo;unscheduled events&rsquo; that have compromised 
operations at the plant and undermined public confidence in its 
safety,&rdquo; Congressman John Hall said Tuesday.

  &ldquo;Indian Point can't seem to go 20 days without some sort 
of operational incident but Entergy is pushing to have the plant 
re-licensed for another 20 years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Indian 
Point's location in one of the most densely populated areas of 
the country and checkered safety record make it absolutely 
necessary to conduct and enforce an Independent Safety Assessment 
before this plant can be given permission to operate into the 
future."  

 Entergy shut down the plant after it determined it could not 
repair one of the valves that control the flow of water into one 
of four steam generators while it remained operational.

                There was no release of radioactivity.

    Entergy expects the plant to be back on line later this week.

           Indian Point 3 was not affected by the shutdown.

  HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's 
only Internet radio news report.
*****************************************************************
 40 MHNN: NRC grants Riverkeeper request for separate public meetings on IP 
relicensing issues

May 30, 2007

Copyright Š 2007 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of Statewide

Tarrytown -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted 
Riverkeepers request to reinstate the NRCs policy of holding 
two initial separate meetings on the relicensing process for the 
Indian Point nuclear reactors.

 Riverkeepers request was in response to an August 2006 NRC 
decision to reduce the number of public meetings required for the 
relicensing of nuclear power plants. Prior to that the official 
relicensing process included two meetings at the beginning of the 
process: an initial public information meeting describing the NRC 
license renewal process and an environmental scoping meeting, 
at which the public could raise environmental impacts that should 
be included in the Draft Environmental Impact Study.

  The first meeting, scheduled for June 27th at the Colonial 
Terrace in Cortlandt, New York, will focus on the relicensing 
process. The second meeting, yet to be scheduled, will focus on 
the environmental scoping process.

     Riverkeeper commends the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 
realizing that limiting public participation in the relicensing 
process goes against the grain of our democratic society, said 
Lisa Rainwater, Indian Point Campaign director. Providing the 
public with two separate and equally important meetings on 
Entergys bid to relicense Indian Point for twenty more years 
will keep the process open and more accessible to the public.


  HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's 
only Internet radio news report.
*****************************************************************
 41 Hemscott: British Energy in talks about nuclear new build, FY earnings up 44 pct 

(Recasts with comments from conference call)

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - British Energy Group PLC said it is
talking to potential partners about building new nuclear power
stations after reporting that high electricity prices had helped it
boost annual earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and
amortisation by 44 pct to 1.22 bln stg.

Chief executive Bill Coley said the nuclear power station operator
is in negotiations with a number of parties, including some
'financial players', about partnering in a new build programme,
although he did not identify them.

Interest in the partnerships had been 'fairly broad and fairly deep'
and the parties had outlined a number of ways in which they might
get involved, he said.

'We're going to continue these discussions and we expect to
establish one or more partnerships during the course of this year,'
he told analysts in a conference call.

British Energy reiterated in its annual results today that it
welcomed publication last week of the UK government's energy White
Paper, which said ministers envisaged the timely replacement of
Britain's existing nuclear power stations.

Coley said the firm believes it has 'capabilities and assets unique
in the UK' that would be invaluable to its involvement in a new
build programme.

The group said a 38 pct rise in achieved electricity prices to 44.2
stg per megawatt hour (MWh) for the year, up 12.2 stg per MWh from
the prior year, had helped to offset a decline of nearly 15 pct in
power output.

Total output for the year declined to 58.4 terrawatt hours (TWh)
from 68.4 TWh in 2005/6 primarily due to losses incurred in
connection with boiler issues at its Hinkley Point B and Hunterston
B stations, plus repairs to cast iron pipework at the Hartlepool
plant.

Coley said the group faced 'significant operational challenges'
during 2006/07, although there were numerous signs that its
investment was delivering improvements.

'I believe 2007/08 will be a far better year for the company in
delivering output,' he said in a statement accompanying the group's
results for the full year to March 31.

Operating profit before cash payments to the government was 1.09 bln
stg against 740 mln stg previously and the net profit on the same
basis was 770 mln stg against 535 mln stg a year ago, on a 15.6 pct
rise in revenues to 2.99 bln stg.

The group's operating margin increased to 17.1 stg per MWh for the
year compared with 9.2 stg per MWh a year ago.

Unit operating costs increased to 27.1 stg per MWh for the year from
22.8 stg per MWh in the prior year, primarily from lower output and,
to a lesser degree, from increases in controllable operating costs
in line with previous guidance and the boiler issues.

The group received regulatory permission to restart the four units
at Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B, following boiler inspections
and repairs, earlier this month.

It said its Eggborough coal-fired power station in East Yorkshire
put in a 'very satisfactory performance'.

It said it expects to continue to invest toward the higher end of
the 250-300 mln stg range in 2007/08.

The firm said it would pay a base dividend of 13.6 pence per share
after the annual general meeting in July and would consider paying
an extra dividend in February 2008, 'taking into account the
company's financial position at that time'.
philip.waller@thomson.com paw/jr/paw/bsd


Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying,
*****************************************************************
 42 Comment is free: Power for the people

guardian.co.uk/commentisfree > David Lowry

The need for nuclear power plants is one issue that all Labour's
deputy leadership hopefuls agree on. It seems none have been
listening to public opinion.

May 30, 2007 4:20 PM | Printable version

In Newsnight's Tuesday night hustings for the six contenders for
Labour's deputy leadership there were differences of views on Iraq,
on levels of taxation, on educational opportunity and on Trident.
But on one issue there was unanimity: all said they would back new
nuclear power plants.

To be sure, Peter Hain said they should come in a package with more
renewables energy, while Harriet Harman and Jon Cruddas indicated
they remained concerned over nuclear waste. But Hilary Benn, - going
against his father Tony's long standing criticisms of the nuclear
industry - Alan Johnson and Hazel blears were all avowed atomic
power enthusiasts

Meanwhile, the talisman they all would serve, prime minister in
waiting Gordon Brown, claims he is going to use this time until he
succeeds Tony Blair at the end of next month in going around the
country to test the political pulse of the public; and to listen to
the electorate's concerns.

As a longterm member of the energy group Sera, Labour's environment
campaign, which has opposed nuclear power since its inception in the
1970s, I welcome this, but fear Tony Blair has skewed the atomic
agenda in his almost messianic support for new nuclear power,
proselytising at the most recent PM's question time:

"The reason why we should look at nuclear power as an option is that
if we do not, we are - in my view, for reasons of ideology - simply
putting it to one side when plainly many others around the world are
coming to the opposite conclusion."

A year ago Peter Hain revealed (pdf) his concerns about nuclear
power in Sera's magazine, New Ground, writing:

"the financial costs are impossible to estimate, security
implications are vast, its label as 'clean' is unwarranted as
uranium refinement is carbon-emitting and we rely on other nations
for its supply."

These issues have not been resolved, yet now he backs it. Other Sera
members, Hilary Benn and Hazel Blears explicitly backed nuclear
power in their presentations on the recent Sera hustings, despite
the fact Sera has always opposed nuclear power, and submitted
detailed evidence to last year's Energy Review.

They are following another Sera politician, David Miliband, who
aspires to be the next Sera president in the face of considerable
opposition from its active membership, because he too has actively
backed the atom as environment secretary.

Recently the serious Sunday newspapers were all clearly briefed to
report that Gordon Brown is in favour of backing new nuclear power
stations (although they all also included the dishonest assertion
that any such new build will all be paid for by private sector
investors, which is demonstrably untrue: full insurance costs, R&D
on reactor safety and nuclear waste management are just some of the
areas which will be subsidised by the taxpayer).

The most recent comparative international study of the public's
attitude (pdf) to nuclear power was released in February by the
European Commissions Directorate for Nuclear Energy in its
Eurobarometer study on European public opinion on nuclear safety -
conducted in October/November 2006 - and contains some interesting
statistics for Mr Brown and his advisors to assess.

In the UK, barely 45% of those surveyed think nuclear power will
help limit global warming. (While in highly nuclearised France, only
41% think so).

Across the EU 41% believe that in the European Union nuclear power
could be easily or very easily replaced by renewable energies and
energy saving efforts, while 37% think it cannot. The figure for the
UK is 36%.

The proportion of those surveyed in the UK who think nuclear power
should be maintained at the same proportion as at present or reduced
are identical at 36%, while only 17% want it increased.

And in the UK 43% think that the risks posed by nuclear energy are
greater than the advantages it offers, while 41% believe the reverse.

The report concludes: "Europeans do not seem to see nuclear energy
as a solution to current or future energy challenges." (Page 14)

If Gordon Brown - and his aspirant deputy leaders- really are
listening to the people, they should temper the misguided political
enthusiasm for nuclear power expressed by Tony Blair, and genuinely
reflect public opinion on any putative nuclear renaissance.


Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian News and Media Limited 2007.
Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396
Registered office: Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG
*****************************************************************
 43 AU ABC: Bracks Govt to fight any nuclear set-up in Vic. 

30/05/2007. ABC News Online

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks says his Government will fight any
attempt to set up a nuclear power industry in his state.

Mr Bracks' comments come after reports the Federal Government is
seeking legal advice on how it could override state bans on nuclear
power.

Mr Bracks says he is confident the Commonwealth cannot override the
ban, but concedes the Federal Government has control over Crown land.

"When it comes to water or land or stationary energy we have a
stronger case, and that's the advice I have from key government
departments," he said.

"The transportation of some matters interstate could be an issue.

"On [Commonwealth] land we have difficulty in ensuring the state
legislation is applied effectively, that is, no nuclear power
generation."

*****************************************************************
 44 Hindustan Times: Burns' India visit to clinch N-deal still uncertain- 

Thursday, May 31, 2007

'India, US must compromise'

The US has injected an element of uncertainty into the India trip
this week of its key negotiator on the civil nuclear deal, Nicholas
Burns, indicating that differences still persist over the
implementing 123 agreement.

"Well, Nick, as far as I know, was on the plane with the Secretary
(of State Condoleeza Rice) headed to Berlin for G-8 meetings," State
department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters on Tuesday in
response to a question about Burns' trip.

"And as far as I know, while he's spoken about his willingness to go
on to India if it's appropriate to continue those discussions on
India's nuclear deal, I don't believe that he's scheduled a trip
there as of yet," he said.

Asked if Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, is
just coming back from Europe after the Berlin trip, Casey said, "At
this point, I certainly know if there is a reason for him to go
later this week or next week, then he will certainly do so.

"I know originally, they were hoping to have him go out somewhere in
the next couple of weeks, but there's no confirmed travel plans at
this point," he said.

Reports from New Delhi earlier had suggested that Burns will be
there Thursday on a two-day visit in a bid to put back on track the
talks to clinch the 123 pact to open nuclear commerce between India
and the US.

Burns, who was earlier expected to visit India in mid-May after
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon's visit here raised hopes
that the deal may be closed by month end, put it off indefinitely as
the 123 agreement was still a "work in progress".

Speculation about the trip was revived after Indian and US technical
experts held two-day talks on the nuclear deal in London May 21-22
during which India clarified its concepts on key issues like nuclear
testing and demand for access to reprocessing technologies.

Renewed uncertainty surrounding the Burns' visit indicates that the
two sides may find it hard to clinch the 123 agreement before Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush meet on the
sidelines of the G-8 summit in Germany early next month.

*****************************************************************
 45 Guardian Unlimited: Government sells Ł2bn stake in firm 

Press Association

Wednesday May 30, 2007 5:18 PM

The Government is to raise over Ł2 billion by selling a 25% stake in
nuclear power firm British Energy, with proceeds going towards
decommissioning reactors.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said 400 million
shares would be sold to institutional investors, cutting the
Government's stake in the firm from 64% to 39%.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF)
to help meet the eventual cost of decommissioning British Energy's
eight power stations. The move will raise over Ł2 billion at current
share prices and is expected to be the Government's biggest stock
sale for over a decade.

The Government acquired its holding in British Energy after rescuing
the nuclear power generator from collapse in 2004. The company's
shares have risen 40% from a 19-month low in February, and analysts
said ministers had probably decided now was a good time to sell.

A further 50 million shares may also be sold but the Government said
it did not intend to reduce its stake to less than 29.9%.

The eight nuclear power stations are Dungeness B in Kent,
Hartlepool, Heysham 1 and 2 in Lancashire, Hinkley Point B in
Somerset, Hunterston B in Ayrshire, Sizewell B in Suffolk and
Torness in East Lothian. British Energy also owns a coal-fired power
station at Eggborough, East Yorkshire.

Earlier, the company announced its financial results, which showed
that underlying earnings increased to Ł1.22 billion from Ł846
million the previous year following higher power prices.

A spokesman welcomed the Government's announcement, adding: "This is
equivalent to around 26% economic interest in the company and will
increase the market capitalisation by some Ł2.3 billion. The sell
down by the NLF and resulting reduction in cash sweep gives greater
financial flexibility to the company.

"British Energy is the UK's single biggest electricity generator
producing virtually carbon-free power through its eight nuclear
stations. It provides many high skilled, well-paid jobs and makes an
important contribution to the nation's economy. The news underpins
the confidence that the government feels in British Energy's ability
to run its stations, safely and reliably."

British Energy is the UK's largest producer of electricity,
generating around one-sixth of the nation's needs, and employs about
6,000 workers. The firm received a boost last week when the
Government backed the building of a new generation of nuclear power
stations in a bid to cut carbon emissions and reduce reliance on
imported fuels.

Š Copyright Press Association Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 46 SanLuisObispo.com: Diablo nuke plant above-ground storage safe from terrorism

05/30/2007 | 

The Associated Press

* http://www.thetribunenews.com

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. --

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission reaffirmed its earlier conclusion
that above-ground storage of radioactive waste at the Diablo Canyon
nuclear plant is safe from terrorism.

The storage facility, which opens next year, will have large
steel-and-concrete canisters each containing 32 spent fuel
assemblies bolted to a thick concrete pad.

"We already have the license (to open the facility), which is still
in effect, and this does not change that," plant spokesman Pete
Resler said. The nuclear plant is operated by Pacific Gas and
Electric Co.

The nuclear watchdog group San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace had
successfully sued in federal court to force the NRC to examine the
environmental effects of a terrorist attack on a dry cask storage
facility.

The group criticized the NRC's determination that above-ground
storage was safe, saying the agency didn't conduct a thorough
investigation.

"It's a very disappointing document that deals with very serious
issues," Mothers for Peace spokeswoman Jane Swanson said.

The ruling will not become final for 90 days, which includes a
30-day public comment period that began this week, NRC spokesman
Victor Dricks said.

PG&E needs the above-ground storage because its below-ground storage
pools are nearly full. The site will be big enough to contain 138
dry casks, which is enough storage capacity for all the fuel
assemblies the plant will produce through 2025.

Information from: The Tribune, http://www.thetribunenews.com
*****************************************************************
 47 Uranium Windfall Opens Choices for the Energy Dept. 
 
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 16:48:12 -0700


<x-flowed>
*Uranium Windfall Opens Choices for the Energy Dept. *By MATTHEW L. WALD 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/matthew_l_wald/index.html?inline=nyt-per>

WASHINGTON, May 28 Â­ The government accumulated vast quantities of 
uranium when prices were very low and no one else wanted it. But now 
that uranium prices have increased tenfold, the government has a 
precious commodity Â­ and some tough questions Â­ on its hands.

Furious lobbying has broken out over who should end up with the prize, 
which will eventually end up as nuclear reactor fuel after being run 
through an enrichment plant. And though the materialÂs market value has 
been estimated at $750 million to $3 billion, one of the companies most 
vocal in making its case says it deserves the uranium Â­ without paying a 
cent for it.

Up for grabs is 25 million kilograms of uranium hexafluoride that was 
incompletely processed at government enrichment plants when prices were 
very low. The enrichment plants separate uranium 235, a rare type that 
splits easily, in bombs or reactors, from uranium 238, which does not. 
When the price of natural uranium was very low, the government, in a 
cost-saving move, decided to skim off just the uranium 235 that was 
easiest to obtain.

ÂIn the old days, they left a lot of good stuff behind,Â said Julian 
Steyn, a uranium expert at Energy Resources International, a consulting 
firm in Washington.

In fact the ÂtailingsÂ left after enrichment have in some cases more 
than half the original uranium 235 still in them. In its current form, 
the material is not attractive to the makers of illicit bombs, because 
the technology to sort the two types of uranium is cumbersome and found 
in just a handful of plants around the world.

The lone operating enrichment plant in this country, built by the old 
Atomic Energy Commission, is in Paducah, Ky. It is run by a subsidiary 
of USEC, a company formed in the 1990s to privatize the enrichment 
monopoly that the government had run since the days of the Manhattan 
Project.

The technology at the plant is outdated, and USEC is struggling to 
commercialize a more efficient system, using centrifuges, at another 
plant, in southern Ohio. USEC will not say what it thinks that project 
will cost, but it has said it does not know how it will raise the money.

USEC is arguing that the government should give it the remaining uranium 
as a way to ensure that any new enrichment technology that is developed 
is American owned.

ÂEssentially, it would be a win-win situation for everybody,Â said 
Elizabeth Stuckle, a spokeswoman for the company, which runs the Paducah 
plant through a subsidiary, the United States Enrichment Corporation.

That solution would add uranium to the market to tamp down high prices, 
Ms. Stuckle said, and prolong the life of the Paducah plant and help pay 
for the centrifuges, whose technology the government owns and licenses 
to USEC. The government would collect royalties.

USEC officials say the Energy Department could transfer much of the 
uranium to it with the stroke of a pen. Department officials have 
signaled that they would appreciate guidance from Congress.

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill say giving the uranium to USEC would 
reward a company that has not demonstrated fiscal responsibility.

On Thursday, several senior members of Congress asked the Government 
Accountability Office 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/government_accountability_office/index.html?inline=nyt-org> 
to evaluate the options.

ÂThere needs to be vigorous oversight of USECÂs request for a bailout, 
to ensure the taxpayerÂs interests are protected,Â Representative John 
D. Dingell 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/john_d_dingell/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, 
the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce 
committee, said in a statement.

Mr. Dingell said Congress should consider Âwhether we should be 
allocating this $2 billion or $3 billion to childrenÂs health insurance 
instead of subsidizing executives who have mismanaged their companies.Â

USEC, he said, had Âsquandered resources on multimillion-dollar golden 
parachutes, stock buybacks and dividend payments that frequently 
exceeded their earnings.Â

If the uranium is sold, it would be up to Congress to decide what to do 
with the income. One possibility would be to use the money to offset 
cleanup costs in the Energy DepartmentÂs nuclear complex.

The company denies that it has improperly handled its financial dealings 
and says its problems stem from the challenge of operating World War II 
technology that is a heavy user of electricity at a time electric bills 
have soared.

A Senate aide who has been briefed on the discussions said that the 
companyÂs future was uncertain and that if it were sold and broken up, 
the government would effectively be subsidizing some other entity.

In addition to USEC, a consortium of British, Dutch and German companies 
has expressed interest in the partly processed uranium for a centrifuge 
plant that it is building in New Mexico, using the same type of machines 
that have operated for years in Europe.

Congressional aides say one possibility is that the government would 
lend the uranium to the consortium, to be ÂrepaidÂ later, when prices 
will presumably be lower.

Utilities that are contemplating building nuclear plants would also like 
some of the uranium, which would please companies that mine uranium. 
Assured of an adequate uranium supply, energy companies would be more 
likely to go ahead with constructing reactors, ensuring a long-range 
market for the mining companies.

There is some sympathy for that view on Capitol Hill, where some 
lawmakers are wary of disposing of the uranium in a way that would push 
down market prices and discourage investments in new mines.

The spot price is more than $120 for a pound of yellowcake, the ore 
form, up from less than $10 earlier in this decade. The spot market is 
fairly small, with more trading under long-term contracts at lower prices.

ÂBefore the government does anything, it needs to have a serious open 
debate about the future of USEC, with the specific end goal of criteria 
for deciding when enough is enough,Â said Andrea Jennetta, publisher of 
Fuel Cycle Week, a newsletter.

******************************
Don Hancock
Southwest Research and Information Center
PO Box 4524
Albuquerque, NM 87196-4524
(505) 262-1862
(505) 262-1864 (fax)
www.sric.org <http://www.sric.org/>
</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 48 OMB Watch: Coming to a Dump Near You -- Nuclear Waste - 

Published: 05/30/2007

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), a nonprofit
organization, released a report on May 14 that exposes Department of
Energy (DOE) practices of dumping nuclear-related waste in
facilities that are unregulated and not designed for radioactive
material. NIRS found that DOE's policies and procedures are geared
toward the "release of radioactive waste, materials and property
from regulatory control."

After reviewing seven DOE/NNSA (National Nuclear Security
Administration) sites, NIRS' report discusses various loopholes
through which these wastes have continued to be released into the
environment.

* "Brokers" licensed to handle radioactive material sell or donate
  material to other processors not licensed
* Unchecked metal not directly part of nuclear processing
  (building structures, furniture) is regularly auctioned, exchanged
  to other federal agencies, donated or rented to public or private
  entities
* Radioactive waste is mixed with other wastes to be
  re-characterized as low-level radioactive waste with fewer or no
  release restrictions


In Tennessee, the leading state in licensing nuclear waste
processors, four landfills have been approved to take "deregulated"
nuclear waste from licensed processors. These processors frequently
have the discretion to determine what waste they have to pay to have
processed according to nuclear waste guidelines, and what waste can
be considered deregulated. This creates a clear profit incentive for
these processors to deregulate more waste.

NIRS found many examples of questionable material redirected into
the public sphere. For instance, Los Alamos sends potentially
contaminated metal to Rio Rancho landfill in Albuquerque, New
Mexico, which is regularly canvassed by Habitat for Humanity for
supplies. The landfill does not ensure that the potentially
contaminated material is not taken by Habitat for Humanity. Instead,
the burden is placed on Habitat for Humanity to know which supplies
not to choose.

When DOE holds auctions for excess property, scanning is considered
too time-consuming and is instead done "statistically and in
conjunction with 'institutional knowledge' about the likelihood the
items ever came in contact with radioactivity."

What is a "safe" radioactivity level, and who has the authority to
deregulate radioactive material, is less clear than one would think.
DOE permits "a few milliards per year" to be released for an
"unlimited number of releases." The NIRS determined that a person
has a 1 in 28,571 chance of developing cancer with a milliard of
exposure every year for thirty-five years.

One of the pervasive threats to communities remains their ignorance.
Most have no way of knowing if radioactive material is in their
local landfill. A 2000 DOE secretarial ban on recycling potentially
radioactive metals included requiring "comprehensive and publicly
available records" of radioactive releases. However, NIRS could not
find any such records. Even more troubling, there is little
information to discover even if it were accessible, as the NIRS
report states that "there is no cumulative tracking, measurement,
quantification, record keeping or reporting on all of the DOE's
radioactive releases." Whether or not communities are safe remains
unanswerable.

Š 2007 OMB Watch 1742 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20009 202-234-8494 (phone) 202-234-8584 (fax)

*****************************************************************
 49 Bend Weekly: Desert tunnel is the key to U.S. nuclear energy production

Bend Oregon

May 29,2007

by Dana Wilkie - CNS

YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev. - From the 4,950-foot crest of Yucca 
Mountain, the valley below is a spectacular sweep of desert 
landscape - ringed by the Funeral and Chocolate mountains, 
colored by blue-gray sage and pocked by red-and-black cones that 
represent the area's last gasps of volcanic activity.

Standing here, it is difficult to believe that 400 yards below one's
feet lies a 5-mile tunnel carved out of the mountain's limestone - a
tunnel that may one day hold the nation's spent nuclear fuel and
that is crucial to President Bush's plan to diversify the country's
energy portfolio and address the international clamor to fight
global warming.

What happens with this cave-like corridor in the coming 18 months 
could, in the view of some, determine whether nuclear energy will 
blossom as an alternative to carbon-based electricity generation, 
or whether the decades-long effort to build a burial spot for 
high-level radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain Project will 
sputter and perhaps die.

"Opening Yucca Mountain is regarded as very important by the U.S.
nuclear industry to its renaissance," said Allison Macfarlane, a
George Mason University expert on Yucca. "Each time they (in the
federal government) say they need more time, I think the overall
impression is that the repository is that much further in trouble."

For decades, leading scientists have disagreed so starkly about the
Nevada site's geology, hydrology and seismology that one wonders if
they're talking about the same place. Likely, their disagreements
reflect the difficulty of accurately predicting what will happen
thousands of years from now to the radioactive waste buried at this
first-of-its-kind repository.

Today - with the Yucca project two decades behind schedule,
utilities suing the federal government to take the waste off their
hands and the Bush administration seeking electricity sources that
aren't culprits in global warming - the U.S. Department of Energy is
scrambling to prepare a license application for Yucca, which it
hopes to give the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission next summer.

After that, the decision whether to proceed with Yucca's
construction will lie with five regulators largely sympathetic to
Bush's plan for a resurgence of nuclear power, which depends on a
place to store highly radioactive byproducts that can remain
dangerous for many thousands of years.

If the department cannot submit the license application by next
summer, there are fears the Yucca repository may suffer a fatal blow.

"They're very concerned about actually getting this application done
in time for 2008," said Jon Summers, spokesman for Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who vows to kill the Yucca
project. "If they don't get it done by 2008, the project may not
happen."

Macfarlane isn't convinced the project would die, but she agrees 
more delays won't be good news for utilities banking on Yucca's 
opening as they prepare to build 27 new reactor units. Courts are 
already siding with utilities suing the DOE for failing to open 
Yucca and take waste off their hands.

"Limited storage capacity, the federal government's legal obligation
to take possession of used fuel, and the need to dispose of
high-level defense waste requires a deep geologic repository at some
point in the future," said Trish Conrad, spokeswoman for the Nuclear
Energy Institute, the industry's main trade group.

The two-hour drive from Las Vegas to Yucca begins at the southern
tip of Nevada and moves northwest - down Interstate 95, deep into
the sage- and creosote-bush-splattered Amargosa Valley and briefly
through the Nevada Test Site, a Rhode-Island-sized expanse marred by
craters from military test bombs.

The turnoff toward Yucca comes after a lonely corner with an "all
nude" Kingdom Gentleman's Club. From here, it is another 45 minutes
along barren roads and gravelly switchbacks to Yucca's crest, where
one gets a 360-degree view of the surrounding valley and some
appreciation for the area's isolation. The closest population center
is Indian Wells, with 4,865 people.

Below one's feet lies the tunnel, hewn by the "Yucca Mucker," a
720-ton, cylinder-shaped contraption that cuts rock at a rate of 18
feet per hour. It took the "Yucca Mucker" from the summer of 1994 to
the spring of 1997 to carve the tunnel, whose innards are now
reinforced by steel rails.

Although the dump's projected 2017 opening date is already two
decades behind schedule, activity at Yucca is in a lull - thanks to
a recent $50 million funding cut engineered by Reid. A work force of
180 has been slashed by two-thirds as the DOE funnels scarce
resources into preparing the license application.

During the decade since the tunnel was carved, engineers have been
conducting tests to ascertain how long steel-packaged nuclear fuel
can safely remain in the 2,000 acres of burial space that will lie
along 42 finger-like extensions off this tunnel. For instance, to
simulate the heat generated by spent fuel - which resembles a bunch
of hard, black marbles - engineers have subjected the couch-length
steel canisters to 400-degree temperatures, hot enough to cook a
turkey.

"This is not liquid oozing from barrels," said Michael Voegele, once
Yucca's senior engineer and now a DOE consultant. "It's metals,
ceramics and plastics, not green goop."

While some in the scientific community believe the steel containers
may last a couple of thousand years, Bob Loux - director of the
Nevada Agency on Nuclear Projects - believes the standard should be
hundreds of thousands of years, as some radioactive elements can
remain dangerous that long.

"We don't believe any metal will last longer than 500 years
underground at Yucca Mountain," Loux says.

In cool, cave-like alcoves branching off the tunnel, engineers have
drilled holes in the rock walls, and then installed a drip system to
study how water moves through the mountain. They have imagined that
14 kilometers away lives a "reasonably maximally exposed individual"
- someone who draws all drinking, cooking and bathing water from a
desert well. They calculate how long it might take for radionuclides
to escape their steel canisters, migrate through Yucca's rock, find
their way to groundwater and move below this hypothetical man.

These tests demonstrate that radionuclides could show up in drinking
water in 50 years or less, and that water in the rocks contains
lead, arsenic, mercury and other substances that might eat away at
canisters, Loux says.

Allen Benson, spokesman for the Yucca Mountain Project, says the
tests show that the earliest that radionuclides might get into
groundwater is 50 years, but that the latest is 600,000 years. In
fact, he said, neither extreme is probable and it's more likely
radionuclides would migrate to groundwater after several thousand
years. Even then, the DOE goal is to ensure radioactivity is so
diluted it poses no human or environmental danger.

"(Loux's) position is that absolutely no radionuclides can ever be
released from the repository," said Benson, noting it is not unusual
for water to contain trace amounts of lead, arsenic or mercury. "All
(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) regulations dealing with
pollutants recognize that it is impossible to guarantee that no
pollutants will ever be released from any disposal facility."

Critics say an earthquake could damage the canisters and allow
radioactive releases, that the site has 33 earthquake faults and
that there was a 5.9 quake in 1992 that destroyed buildings at the
Yucca Mountain Project.

Benson says the 1992 quake only broke windows at one building, while
Voegele points out that boulders teetering along mountain ridges
have stood there thousands of years.

"There's not been enough shaking in this valley in the past 500,000
years to dislodge" them, said Voegele, who turns his face toward the
desert valley and sighs. "I used to hope my son wouldn't' have to
work on this project. Now I'm just hoping my grandchildren won't."

Š 2006 Bend Weekly News
*****************************************************************
 50 Daily News Journal: Radioactive report spurs need for EPA check of landfill

www.dnj.com -

Spurred by reports that Middle Point Landfill has been accepting
low-level radioactive waste for years, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon is
asking the EPA to assess the facility's safety.

It's disappointing that we need to call in the feds to police a
local issue. But with the state shirking its responsibility to let
people know, Gordon's request is the right move to dig into this
environmental question and provide residents of Rutherford County
peace of mind.

State officials say the millions of pounds of low-level radioactive
waste dumped at Middle Point near Walter Hill and north Murfreesboro
do not pose a public health threat and that the chance of someone
getting cancer from the radiation is less than one in a million.

Consequently, the state Division of Solid Waste Management never
held a public hearing or disclosed an agreement it made with the
state Division of Radiological Health to allow the dumping of
low-level radioactive materials at Middle Point. Nevertheless, only
5 percent of the total waste dumped at the landfill is allowed to be
radioactive, and it took a special agreement between two state
agencies to allow this type of dumping.

That's enough to make people wonder, and mandates a call for more
assurance as well.

Gordon wants the Environmental Protection Agency to check radiation
levels at the landfill; examine radiation levels in leachate, the
rainwater that percolates through the landfill and is treated at
Murfreesboro's sewage plant; and to ensure the safety of the city's
water intake system on the Stones River downstream from the landfill.

Rutherford County residents already bear a burden as the dumping
ground for much of Middle Tennessee. We deserve to know what's being
buried here.

The landfill site was rezoned in 1987 for two local men who then
sold it to BFI (now Allied Waste) for $10 million, along with the
state landfill permit. Since then, it has taken millions of tons of
garbage, with trucks rolling through Rutherford County from across
the region bringing all sorts of stuff, including partially-treated
sewage from Nashville.

Now, instead of disclosure by state officials, a report by a
nuclear-watchdog group alerted residents that low-level radioactive
waste from across the nation has been dumped at Middle Point for
more than a decade. No mention was made of it, either, when the
state held public hearings in 2005 for expansion of the landfill.
People would have been outraged, of course.

Rutherford County residents have put up with the litter, odor and
truck traffic of Middle Point Landfill for 20 years. This report
only serves to exacerbate the disgust people have for the growing
mountain of garbage that sits on the banks of the East Fork Stones
River, the water source for Murfreesboro.

The safety measures requested of EPA won't ease that distaste but
should let the public know whether low-level radioactive waste is
causing a health threat in Rutherford County.

If we are to be the dumping ground for much of America, the least
the government can do is tell us the truth.

Copyright Š2007 The Daily News Journal. All rights reserved. Users
*****************************************************************
 51 The Local: Safety worries over Forsmark nuclear waste

Published: 30th May 2007 13:20 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/7455/

The Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (Statens
strĺlskyddsinstitut - SSI) has ordered the cessation of all
deposition of nuclear waste at the Forsmark final storage facility.
According to SSI, the company in charge of the deposition - Svensk
Kärnbränslehantering - has failed to meet radiation protection
requirements.

"SSI makes very tough demands with regard to depositing waste for
final storage. It has to happen in a way that is safe for humans and
the environment both now and in a thousand years' time," said SSI's
Anders Wiebert in a statement.

SSI claims that Svensk Kärnbränslehantering (SKB) has repeatedly
delayed handing in reports, while also supplying insufficient
material for the authority's investigations. And the reports that it
has supplied suggest inadequate radiation protection.

"Among other things, SKB exceeds the prescribed radiation protection
limits, while the methods it uses to measure the composition of
radioactive matter are deficient," according to SSI.

The authority added however that these deficiencies do not present
any immediate danger. SKB has been ordered to suspend all
depositions from June 21st.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se

*****************************************************************
 52 AU ABC: Mirarr fears over uranium talks misguided, says NLC. 

30/05/2007. ABC News Online

The Northern Territory's Northern Land Council has defended itself
against attacks by Mirarr traditional owners who do not want the
council to be involved in uranium mining negotiations.

The NLC's Norman Fry says he wants to sit down with the owners and
Rio Tinto to see if an agreement can be reached about a new uranium
mine at Jabiluka.

That has angered the Mirarr people who say Mr Fry has not spoken to
any of them and has no idea what is going on between traditional
owners and the mining company.

But the NLC says under the Jabiluka mine agreement, the NLC and
Mirrar people meet every four years to discuss their position on
uranium mining.

In a written statement, the NLC says it will continue to represent
faithfully the position of the Mirarr and the traditional owners'
concerns are misplaced.

*****************************************************************
 53 WMCTV.COM: Murfreesboro to test water for radioactive contamination

Associated Press - May 30, 2007 6:35 PM ET

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Officials in Murfreesboro are testing the
city's water for radioactive material. This follows reports of large
amounts of low-level radioactive waste being dumped in a landfill
upstream from the water supply.

The tests are in response to a recent WSMV TV investigative report
that found more than ten million pounds of low-level radioactive
waste from all over the country was dumped at BFI Middle Point
Landfill in 2005. This was up from 166,000 pounds a year earlier.

The water system, which is drawn mostly from the Stones River,
serves more than 25,000 people.

The results of the tests are expected within a few weeks.

Testing for radioactive materials was last conducted in 2003 as part
of regular water quality monitoring. At that time no significant
levels were found.

 All content Š Copyright 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and WMCTV, a Raycom
Media station. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 54 Times Union: Shipments of tainted soil restart -- 

Albany NY

Contaminated material being removed from former National Lead site

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer

First published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007

COLONIE -- The final trainload of uranium-tainted soil is 
expected to leave the former National Lead site by summer's end, 
made possible by an unexpected infusion of federal money.

In the final push of a two-decade clean-up at the Central Avenue 
plant, secure train cars started hauling away the remaining 8,000 
cubic yards of tainted soil last week, said James Moore, project 
manager for the Army Corps of Engineers.

"We'll have the entire pile moved by the end of August. Once 
that's done, we'll have all the contaminated material off-site," 
he said.

The news comes just shy of a year after Army Corps officials, faced
with a greater volume of contaminated soil than expected, prepared
the public for the likelihood that the site would close at year's
end until more money became available to ship it away.

If the goal is achieved, the shipments would mark a major milestone
in the project that has stretched in some form since 1984, when the
federal Department of Energy acquired the 11.2 polluted acres
beneath the former munitions factory.

Since then, more than $170 million has been spent there.

The Army Corps of Engineers took control of the operation in 1997
under a program meant to clean the radioactive mess left by the
United States' development of nuclear weapons. The program is known
as FUSRAP, or the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

In Colonie, the discovery last spring of contamination that ran
deeper than expected dashed hopes of meeting the anticipated
September deadline, pushing the project into 2007 with insufficient
funds to finish the work that remained.

Army Corps officials decided to use what money remained to finish
excavating the tainted soil and store it securely on the site. Since
the project began, shipping the material by rail to disposal
facilities in the western United States has routinely been the most
costly aspect.

President Bush's proposed 2007 budget would have reduced funding for
the entire FUSRAP program by about $8 million. But that budget never
passed. Instead, Congress approved a resolution that kept funding at
2006 levels, said Candice Walters, a spokeswoman for the Army Corps
of Engineers.

An internal Army Corps review of pending FUSRAP projects yielded a
decision to send roughly $5 million of that $8 million to Colonie to
complete the project, Walters said.

"This is great news," said Tom Ellis, an Albany resident active in
Community Concerned about NL Industries, a citizens coalition
organized to push the clean-up and probe health concerns that
cropped in the wake of NL's shutdown. "It took the federal
government 23 years to do it, but better late than never."

Work on the Central Avenue site, just west of the Albany city line,
did wind down at the end of January but was ultimately only on
hiatus about a month, Moore said.

This summer, the Army Corps will submit to the state a plan to deal
with groundwater contamination. Moore said the contamination is not
expected to be severe because the soil there is dense and the
contaminated soil -- a major contributing factor -- has been removed.

Once the groundwater issue is addressed, the federal government must
retain the property for two years before it can offer it to other
arms of federal, state or local government. Moore said it's too soon
to be sure when that might be but speculated it could be around 2011.

Several possible future uses for the site, a wedge between 
Yardboro and Central avenues, have been discussed, with some 
members of the community pushing for an access ramp to Route 85, 
with the rest serving as park land.

Meanwhile, Ellis said, the push to hold National Lead responsible 
for illnesses and deaths that some neighbors and former employees 
suspect were caused by emissions from the plant continues. 
National Lead used radioactive uranium-238 -- also known as 
depleted uranium -- to make aircraft parts and armor-piercing 
munitions. State officials shut the plant in 1983 because it was 
spewing uranium dust over surrounding neighborhoods.

Colonie Town Board member Kevin Bronner hailed the pending end of 
the cleanup. Bronner -- whose father, David, an attorney, was 
enlisted in the 1970s by the family's neighbors around Rosemont 
Avenue in Albany to investigate health risks -- became involved 
in the issue almost immediately after taking office nearly eight 
years ago.

Bronner, a Republican, will leave the Town Board in December. He 
praised the community's activism as central to pushing the 
cleanup forward and prompting federal officials in Washington to 
release the money to finish the job.

"We must have got the message to them down there," Bronner said. 
Jordan Carleo-Evangelist can be reached at 454-5445 or by e-mail 
at jcarleo-evangelist@ timesunion.com.

# Previously: In 1983, State officials closed the former National 
Lead plant at 1130 Central Ave. in Colonie after uranium dust was 
found to have contaminated neighborhoods. The federal government 
later took over the cleanup.

# The latest: The Army Corps of Engineers resumes shipping 
contaminated soil after funding unexpectedly became available. 
The discovery of more contaminated soil had pushed the cleanup 
past its September 2006 goal.

# What's next: The Army Corps expects to complete soil removal by 
the end of summer. The corps will submit a plan to decontaminate 
groundwater and will retain control of the site for at least two 
years, after which it will be available for use.


All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2007, Capital Newspapers
*****************************************************************
 55 DAILY YOMIURI: Lending a helping hand for global peace American spreads 
Hiroshima foundation's message promoting a nuclear-free world : 
National :

HIROSHIMA--As the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation's first
American board of directors chairman, Steven Leeper hopes to spread
internationally the city's message promoting a nuclear-free world .

The foundation, affiliated with the Hiroshima municipal government,
was established in 1976 to promote the memory of the suffering
caused by the world's first atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, which is
believed to have killed about 140,000 civilians and military
personnel.

The heads of the organization had all been Japanese before the
Illinois native assumed the chairmanship on April 23.

His arrival at the foundation as the board's chairman symbolizes a
new step forward for Hiroshima, Leeper believes.

"From a symbolic point of view, hibakusha [victims of the atomic
bombings] and people in Hiroshima don't hold a grudge against the
United States," Leeper said. "They're not trying to blame anybody
[for the bombing]. Their main concern is keeping nuclear weapons
from being used again.

"A person from the country that dropped the bomb is now chairman of
an organization working to prevent another bomb being dropped. This
symbolically shows that an aggressor and a victim are coming
together to prevent [further use of the bomb]."

Leeper, 59, who has lived in the city since 1984, first became
involved in peace activities in the 1990s by organizing the
nonprofit organization Global Peacemakers Association and supporting
the city's efforts for peace, including translating documents.

Taking his abundant international experience as a peace activist
into account, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba asked him to head the
foundation, hoping to strengthen ties with foreign countries working
together to abolish nuclear arms.

Leeper was initially nervous about taking the position because of
his lack of bureaucratic experience and the high level of Japanese
language ability required for the job. He felt that it would be
impossible to contribute to the organization.

"I thought I would just be chewed up and spit out by the system," he
said.

However, Mayor Akiba promised that he and the foundation's standing
director, Masato Honda, would work closely with Leeper as a team.

"When I could see that the mayor was really thinking how to make it
possible for me to function in the system, I thought, 'Well, I can't
possibly say no to such an opportunity,' because he gave me a chance
to connect Hiroshima to the outside world," Leeper said.

Getting the message out is exactly what Leeper wanted to see happen
more.

"I've always thought Hiroshima residents have a lot to say to the
world, but they tend to be very introverted. [Helping them be heard]
is what I can contribute to this organization and what I'll try to
do," he said.

The Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation has great potential to become
the leader in promoting a nuclear free world, he said.

"There are very few organizations in the world that are devoted to
peace. The foundation has the personnel, finances, data and
knowledge base," Leeper said.

However, the foundation has failed to fully utilize its resources,
he added, as it has largely focused on peace activities within the
city, and has been unable to work closely with outside
organizations, especially those overseas, such as International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the Women's
International League for Peace and Freedom, the Middle Powers
Initiative and the United Nations.

To effectively coordinate the city's activities with these foreign
organizations, frequent, personal English communication is a must,
making Leeper an invaluable addition.

===

Anticipating doomsday

Leeper's long-term goal is to help another municipal
government-related organization, Mayors for Peace, realize its
target of abolishing all nuclear weapons by 2020, the 75th
anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Jointly
established by the cities, Mayors for Peace is a U.N.-registered
nongovernmental organization in which 1,631 municipalities in 120
countries and territories participate to work for the
denuclearization of the world.

However, the chairman believes the foundation's efforts to get
involved in antinuclear activities abroad is imminent and
important--especially in the United States as it engages in the war
on terrorism.

"It could happen either way," Leeper said. "Al-Qaida or some
terrorist groups could use a nuclear weapon in the United States.
The United States could use a nuclear weapon in Iran, Afghanistan or
some other places. Disarmament activists, including me, believe that
if one nuclear weapon is used, it'll lead to more being used. It
won't stop with just one.

"For example, if Al-Qaida blows up half of Chicago, the United
States will be furious and will probably use a nuclear weapon in
some way after that," Leeper said. "They'll say, 'This came from
Afghanistan or Iran or Syria,' and blow up some cities over there.
And if that happens, people over there will want revenge. What we'll
have is nuclear weapons going back and forth."

Although he believes fewer and smaller nuclear weapons will be
involved in a modern-day exchange of attacks--unlike the giant
nuclear catastrophe feared from the standoff between the Soviet
Union and the United States during the Cold War--Leeper fears that a
nuclear attack of any size would create chaos throughout the world
and cause the world economy to plunge as it did after the attack on
the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

"That was only one block [destroyed on 9/11]. If we lose a whole
city, the economy will be severely damaged," he said.

The economic damage will be felt more acutely by the poor, Leeper
said, because of the widening gap between the haves and the
have-nots.

To prevent this worst-case scenario, the foundation is launching
activities to make nuclear disarmament an important part of the
agenda during the U.S. presidential election next year.

As part of the effort, Leeper and the foundation are planning to
hold 101 exhibitions in the United States highlighting the
devastation the atomic bomb unleashed on Hiroshima 62 years ago. One
exhibition will be held twice in each of the United States' 50
states--as well as once in Washington--in the period leading up to
the presidential election in November 2008.

"We need help in Japan from individuals, companies and
organizations," Leeper said. "We need to raise money here so we can
mount a significant public relations campaign in the United States."

Leeper actively seeks meetings in which he can talk to people
directly about the project. "I'll go all over Japan [to raise
funds]," he said.

===

An activist in the making

Although Leeper is now committed to spreading a message of peace, he
was not always interested in activism. He was a management
consultant in Atlanta in the 1970s and early '80s, during which time
he began working as a go-between for U.S. and Japanese companies.
Leeper then decided to start his own business.

His relationship to Japan dates back to adolescence. He spent the
first seven years of his life in Tokyo because his father, a U.S.
YMCA staff member, was sent to work for the Student YMCA in Japan in
the late 1940s. His father died in the 1954 shipwreck of the
Toya-maru off the coast of Hakodate, Hokkaido. His courage during
the tragedy--giving his life jacket to another passenger at the cost
of his own life--is depicted in Ayako Miura's novel "Hyoten"
(Freezing Point).

In 1984, while visiting friends in Hiroshima, Leeper learned that a
local YMCA was seeking an English teacher. He decided to take the
job, reasoning that he could do it while working on his master's
degree thesis before returning to the United States to start his
firm.

After teaching for a year, he started a translation agency in the
city and Atlanta and worked for a firm in Hiroshima as an external
affairs adviser.

While working mainly in the automotive industry as a consultant, he
became interested in environmental issues. He began to believe that
the environment could only be preserved through cooperation and that
without world peace, environmental problems would not be solved.

"In Hiroshima, it's my responsibility to help spread the message
that we can't have peace unless we can control nuclear weapons."

The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun
  
Š The Yomiuri Shimbun.
*****************************************************************
 56 asahi.com: Hiroshima taking anti-nuke call to the U.S. - 

05/30/2007

BY HAJIMU TAKEDA AND TOMOHIRO YAMAMOTO

HIROSHIMA--In the run-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the
city of Hiroshima plans to take on a pan-American call for nuclear
abolition.

As early as this summer, the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, a
government-affiliated organization that runs the Hiroshima Peace
Memorial Museum, will hold an exhibition in Washington, D.C. in a
bid to raise awareness on the issue.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba is the foundation's president.

The foundation will then hold a series of exhibitions in two cities
in each of the 50 states. Several U.S. cities have already asked to
host the exhibition, officials said.

The exhibition will feature about 30 photo panels of the city right
after the atomic bomb was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945.

They will also include pictures of the victims, or hibakusha,
showing their horrifically scarred bodies. Video interviews with
hibakusha will also be screened.

In addition, the life of Sadako Sasaki, an atomic-bomb victim who
died at the age of 12, will be displayed in photos.

At 2 years old, Sasaki was showered by radioactive fallout from the
bomb. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with leukemia. She folded
more than a thousand orizuru paper cranes as she lay in the
hospital, hoping to recover.

The photo exhibition will show how paper cranes have become a symbol
of peace since the girl's death.

Plans are also in the works for atomic-bomb survivors to speak at
the exhibition venues about their personal tragedies.

Last week, the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation requested
cooperation from the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb
Sufferers Organization to help with the exhibition.

The foundation is led by Steven Leeper, the first American to become
chairman of its board of directors.

Leeper says that although the names of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are
well known in the United States, very few people are aware of the
actual damage wrought by the atomic bombs.

He said he believes the exhibitions will raise awareness on the
issue among U.S. citizens as interest in politics will heighten
closer to the November 2008 election.

There are strongly held beliefs in the United States that World War
II ended because the bombs were dropped.

Polls conducted by media organizations show that nearly 50 percent
view the atomic bombings positively.

The foundation hopes to create a global wave for nuclear abolition
by targeting the world's largest nuclear nation, joining forces with
U.S. anti-war citizens groups and the 93 U.S. cities that are
members of the Mayors for Peace, a nongovernmental organization.

Chaired by the Hiroshima mayor, the Mayors for Peace comprises 1,631
member cities from 120 countries and regions.

The municipal government will submit a funding proposal to the city
assembly in June.(IHT/Asahi: May 30,2007)

The Asahi Shimbun Asia Network
*****************************************************************
 57 KnoxNews: ORNL readies for busy summer

First time for SNS, High Flux reactor to produce neutrons for
experiments

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com
May 30, 2007

OAK RIDGE - It's going to be a summer like no other in Oak Ridge.

For the first time ever, both the Spallation Neutron Source and 
the High Flux Isotope Reactor will produce neutrons for 
experiments, and science is the expected beneficiary.

Herb Mook, a distinguished scientist at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, is among many researchers who've waited on this
opportunity for years, and he's excited by the prospects.

"You better believe it," Mook said as he prepared for a
neutron-scattering experiment at the reactor, which was refurbished
and upgraded with new instruments during a 16-month shutdown.

The Oak Ridge reactor was restarted a couple of weeks ago, and there
are 49 experiments scheduled during the first fuel cycle, which
lasts about a month.

Mook will use an instrument known as a triple-axis spectrometer to
study the basic structure and properties of superconducting
materials.

Superconductivity is a phenomenon where materials lose their
electrical resistance at extremely low temperatures approaching
absolute zero. Mook and other scientists are interested in what
enables some materials to lose their resistance at higher
temperatures - with the ultimate goal of producing materials that
are superconductive at room temperature.

"It would make an incredible difference in our ability to transmit
power cheaply and all sorts of other applications," he said. "But
that comes much later."

First, scientists have to understand the way superconductors work,
and that's proven to be extremely difficult.

Researchers are eager to take advantage of the new cold source,
which uses liquid helium and hydrogen to cool the experimental
chambers to minus 425 degrees Fahrenheit. In that environment, the
movement of neutrons slows and makes them especially useful for
studies of polymers and biological materials.

The High Flux Isotope Reactor is 40 years old, but ORNL officials
say the world's most powerful research reactor is operating better
than ever and could last another 40 years.

On the other hand, the Spallation Neutron Source is barely a year
old, having produced its first neutrons in April 2006. The
accelerator-based system is still in the infant stages - at least a
year away from full research capabilities.

The accelerator has been shut down for maintenance and adjustments
since mid-April, but will restart in June and begin a serious ascent
toward full power, according to Thom Mason, the SNS chief who will
become ORNL director July 1.

Even at relatively low power, in the range of 90 kilowatts, the SNS
has been producing useful neutrons for research, and by the end of
the summer it will probably reach 180 kilowatts - surpassing the
ISIS neutron source in the United Kingdom.

"We should be operating at best-in-the-world levels by then," Mason
said.

That's still just a fraction of the 1.4 megawatts, the maximum power
level at SNS, and more power equates to more neutrons, he said.

"Basically, it tells you how bright is your lightbulb, and the
brighter it is the more you can see," Mason said.

Eventually, the SNS is expected to attract about 2,000 scientists a
year to Oak Ridge to do experiments and share their results.

During the first year of operations, the Oak Ridge lab limited the
users at SNS to experienced scientists familiar with the systems and
neutron-scattering experiments.

"For someone who's never done neutron-scattering, it's not the right
time," Mason said. "We need someone who knows when they're getting
nonsense out of their instruments."

However, in the coming months there are plans to open up the user
base - coinciding with a number of new research instruments coming
online.

"We've got people coming in from the outside. We're not really
calling them users. We're calling them guinea pigs," Mason joked.

Currently, there are only three research instruments available at
the SNS Target Building, where the neutrons are produced and
channeled to experiment stations. But more instruments are being
installed or in the various stages of preparation, and by the end of
next year, there could be 20 in use at SNS.

The U.S. Department of Energy laboratory has set up a joint user
center for the neutron facilities, with a committee that reviews and
schedules proposals for research at either or both.

Other ORNL facilities also support the neutron-based experiments,
particularly the new nanoscience facility - the Center for Nanophase
Materials Sciences, where the test results can be used to design and
fabricate advanced materials - and the stable of supercomputers. The
"Jaguar," a Cray supercomputer housed at the National Center for
Computational Sciences, is the nation's fastest computer for open
scientific uses and can be used to model materials and simulate
experiments, which can then be validated at the neutron facilities.

"There's a tremendous amount of activity going on," Mason said.
"It's going to be a great summer having both the HFIR and SNS making
neutrons."

Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.

 Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
*****************************************************************
 58 KnoxNews: TVA board to vote on plan

Public comments result in revised version of future goals

By ANDREW EDER, edera@knews.com
May 30, 2007

TVA's board is set to vote Thursday on a revised version of the 
agency's strategic plan for the next decade, TVA's board chairman 
said Tuesday.

Knoxville businessman Bill Sansom, the board's chair since March 
2006, said the strategic plan has been changing since board 
members and management received feedback from hundreds of 
Tennessee Valley stakeholders.

Many of the public comments, released last week by TVA with
identifying information removed, pressed the federal utility to
sharpen its focus on conservation, energy efficiency and renewable
energy.

Sansom cited conservation as an area that may see greater emphasis
in the revised plan.

"That's a hard one to do, but it's one we've got to work on," Sansom
said.

TVA intends to use the strategic plan as a guide to developing more
specific business plans for its three-part mission of energy
production, environmental stewardship and economic development.
TVA's last strategic plan was adopted in 2004 to prepare the utility
for competition in the electric industry, an initiative that has
largely stalled across the country.

Sansom said that when the current board - a part-time, nine-member
panel that replaced the previous full-time, three-member board -
came in 14 months ago, directors reviewed the strategic plan and
felt it needed to be updated.

The 17-page draft document details goals in five areas - customers,
finances, assets, operations and people - and outlines 15 metrics,
or measurements, that Sansom said will help the board track TVA's
progress.

TVA spokesman John Moulton said the final strategic plan is still
being worked on and will not be released until Thursday, when the
board is scheduled to meet in Columbus, Miss.

The comments released last week included several from apparent TVA
employees who expressed concern about potential layoffs. TVA's 2004
strategic plan sparked a cost-cutting review that led to more than
100 layoffs and many more voluntary resignations and retirements.

Sansom said he did not anticipate any layoffs, although he did say
the agency would need to leave positions open as employees retire or
leave in order to trim its work force.

"Attrition will accomplish what we need to do," Sansom said.

Another item on Thursday's agenda is a proposal to bring on
independent nuclear safety advisers who would report directly to the
board's operations, environment and safety committee.

Sansom said the proposal does not reflect a lack of confidence in
TVA's management or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which
regulate TVA's three nuclear plants. Instead, he characterized the
proposal as a "nuclear audit" and compared it to a corporation
hiring an external auditor to examine its books.

"We've got to be sure, as a board that we've got an arm's-length
look at our nuclear programs," Sansom said.

The terms of two TVA directors - Susan Richardson Williams, a
Knoxville public relations executive, and Bishop William Graves of
Memphis - officially expired May 18, although directors may serve
until the end of the calendar year or until someone new is appointed
by the president.

Williams said Tuesday that she has been contacted by the FBI as part
of a nominee background check - a process she went through only a
few years ago as part of her first nomination - but she is unsure
whether she'll be nominated for reappointment.

"I'm sort of laying low. I haven't even thought about it that much,"
said Williams, who did acknowledge that she hoped to be reappointed.

Another directorship has been open since January, when former
chairman Bill Baxter of Knoxville resigned his seat. Speculation has
been that the nominee for the open seat will be from Georgia, one of
three states in TVA's seven-state service area that has never had
representation on the board, and whose senators have openly pushed
for a Georgia director.

A Bush spokesman said the White House does not "confirm, deny or
speculate on personnel matters."

Business writer Andrew Eder may be reached at 865-342-6318.

 Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
*****************************************************************
 59 KnoxNews: Munger: What will Thom Mason be like as ORNL director?

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com
May 30, 2007

Thom Mason, extraordinarily calm by nature, seemed almost giddy last
week following the announcement that he would be the future 
director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Who wouldn't be?

On July 1, at age 42, he will assume the reins at one of the world's
premier research laboratories. This comes after directing the
Spallation Neutron Source, one of the biggest science endeavors in
the United States, and bringing the $1.4 billion project to
successful completion within budget and ahead of schedule.

Suffice it to say he's building a pretty nice resume at a tender age.

"I'm excited and a little bit overwhelmed. I never even had the
foggiest direction this was where I was headed," Mason said.

Forty-two is a young age, particularly in science, and it will be
interesting to see how Mason adapts to the new role and its many,
many demands.

It was no secret that Mason was among the candidates for the ORNL
job during the past couple of months since Jeff Wadsworth, the
current lab director, announced he was taking a new position at
Battelle Memorial Institute in Ohio. Wadsworth will oversee
Battelle's management involvement at multiple national labs,
including Oak Ridge.

Some lab staff members questioned Mason's ability to broaden his
approach to all the sciences, not just those at a single research
facility with an emphasis on neutron sciences. They wondered if he
were, essentially, a one-shot wonder.

Mason addressed some of those issues in an interview.

He talked about what an incredible time it is to lead a national
laboratory, given the broad discussions - in Washington and other
world capitals - taking place about energy and environment, economic
security and national security.

ORNL has an opportunity and responsibility to help solve big
problems, Mason said. In fact, if you were to construct an
institution to contribute on these issues in a significant way, it
would look a lot like the Oak Ridge lab, he said.

"That's why national labs exist," he said.

As for his background in neutron science, Mason noted that his
involvement with SNS actually helped broaden him as a scientist and
administrator because of its links to other areas - such as biology
and high-performance computing.

"I've obviously got a lot to learn in other areas, but we've got a
very strong leadership team at the lab, and we have people who know
what they're doing," he said.

Tom Wilbanks, who chairs the Corporate Fellows Council, a group of
elite scientists at ORNL, said he and other laboratory staff members
were pleased to see an internal candidate promoted to lab director.

He said that's the first time that's happened since Herman Postma
became director in 1974.

"My first reaction was we are going to enjoy getting acquainted with
someone we don't know very well," Wilbanks said. "He's done an
outstanding job in leading SNS, and we respect that accomplishment.
We would be delighted if he can show the same success in connection
with other missions of ORNL."

Wilbanks said many staff members don't know Mason that well because
he's worked exclusively with SNS - situated on Chestnut Ridge, apart
from the rest of the lab - until fairly recently when he was named
associate lab director for neutron sciences.

Mason also might know less about the laboratory than some other
candidates, Wilbanks said.

"But that doesn't mean we start out with an assumption that is going
to be bad. There are just more questions," he said. "Everything has
happened so soon."

One question circulating among the scientific staff was whether
there was actually a search committee for the lab directorship,
Wilbanks said. He said he saw no evidence of it and was not asked,
as chair of the Corporate Fellows, to meet with any of the
candidates.

Battelle said there was a search committee, headed by four members
of the UT-Battelle board of directors. According to a spokesman, it
was co-chaired by Carl Kohrt, CEO of Battelle, and University of
Tennessee President John Petersen. Other members of the team
reportedly were David Milhorn, executive vice president at UT, and
Martin Inglis, Battelle's chief financial officer.

Wilbanks said it was the first time in memory that a search team for
lab director did not include any laboratory staff members.


Senior writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the
News Sentinel. He may be reached at 865-342-6329 or at
munger@knews.com. This column is also available in the opinion
section of knoxnews.com.

 Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
*****************************************************************
 60 Star-Telegram.com: Guard strike at Pantex plant prompts review

 | 05/30/2007 | 

By ANNA M. TINSLEY Star-Telegram Staff Writer

A team of national security advisers will be in the Panhandle this
week, determining whether the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly
plant is secure.

The security and safety of the Pantex plant has been questioned
since more than 500 union guards went on strike last month when
contract negotiations failed. Some fear that the facility could be
vulnerable to an attack without its regular security force in place.

Supervisors and workers from other federal weapons sites have helped
secure the area, officials say.

"We are very confident that Pantex is safe and secure," said Bryan
Wilkes, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security
Administration. "There is no question in our mind about that. We
just want them to confirm what we already know -- that things are
going well. We are taking no chances."

Pantex, a sprawling 16,000-acre plant near Amarillo, is charged with
securing the nation's nuclear weapons supply and has hydrogen bombs,
plutonium from old warheads and about 3,000 chemicals. Nuclear
weapons are also assembled and disassembled there.

Brad Peterson, director of security oversight for the U.S. Energy
Department, and a team of workers will evaluate the facility's
safety this week and do some performance testing, said Megan
Barnett, spokeswoman for the department.

"Their job is to ensure that safety and security is at protective
levels at all times," Barnett said.

Wilkes said the department has long had a contingency plan in case
the guards did go on strike, as they did on April 16 after rejecting
a contract offer by BWXT Pantex. He said a "contingency force" can
be used as long as needed.

In April, top security officers told members of Congress that the
plant was secure but that a lengthy strike could ultimately harm
security at the site.

An inspection of the plant this year by the Energy Department showed
that improvements -- such as safety signs, fire extinguishers and
better inventories of hazardous chemicals -- were needed.
Anna M. Tinsley, 817-390-7610
atinsley@star-telegram.com

*****************************************************************
 61 Aiken Today: SREL standoff continues

AikenStandard.com

Wed, May 30, 2007

By JOSH VOORHEES Staff writer

With expected layoffs only days away at the Savannah River Ecology
Laboratory, the bureaucratic standoff over additional funding for
the independent research facility on the Savannah River Site
continued Tuesday.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, two congressional
subcommittee chairmen renewed their request for the Department of
Energy to continue funding SREL until questions surrounding the
lab's impending closure can be answered.

"In just two days," the congressmen wrote Tuesday, "the lab will
have to lay off employees, shut down experiments, release, give away
or euthanize animals on site and a whole chain of other steps that
will make it increasingly difficult to revive the laboratory should
Congress decide that the Department's decision-making here does not
reflect the best interests of the public."

The Department of Energy has maintained that the decision to
terminate the ecology laboratory was not made by DOE and that the
department has no plans to provide any additional funding to the
facility.

"We have told the University of Georgia" ? which the lab is research
unit of ? "and SREL leadership what we're planning to fund and when,
and we continue to fulfill our stated commitments," DOE spokeswoman
Megan Barnett said Tuesday. "We have an agreement in place, and
everyone signed off on its terms."

In November 2006, an agreement was signed by the department and the
University of Georgia reducing DOE core funding for the lab for this
year and eliminating it completely for fiscal year 2008.

Lab officials have said they were caught off guard by the decision
and that until they learned of it they had been expecting about $2
million more than the $1.8 million they have received from DOE for
this year.

In Tuesday's letter, Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., and Rep. Nick
Lampson, D-Texas, asked that the department provide SREL with
$300,000 a month ? an amount the congressmen said would provide
"minimal support" for the internationally acclaimed lab ? until
their subcommittees have a chance to review the decision-making
process that led to the severe budget reduction.

Barnett, speaking on behalf of DOE, said the department has not
received specific information on how the funding would be used and
for how long it would be required and that without such information
the department would not supply the additional funding.

In the letter to Bodman, the two congressmen also informed DOE
officials that the subcommittees' request for departmental records
concerning the budget decision process might expand beyond the start
date, Aug. 1, 2006, established in a previous letter.

The two congressmen urged the department to turn over the requested
records and to make the recovery of all records of Jill Sigal,
former assistant secretary of Energy for Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs, a "top priority."

Sigal left the department in March of this year to take a position
as a lobbyist for EnergySolutions, a company specializing in nuclear
services.

Officials from the University of Georgia were reportedly in
Washington, D.C. Tuesday to meet with DOE officials concerning the
lab, but no official comment was made concerning the trip.

Contact Josh Voorhees at jvoorhees@aikenstandard.com.

Š 2005 The AikenStandard. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 62 DOE: DOE Launches First Segment of its Next-Generation Nationwide 
Network to Support Scientific Research Efforts

May 30, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC The U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Office of
Science and Internet2 announced today that the first segment of a
next-generation, nationwide network has gone live, marking a key
step in significantly upgrading networking services to thousands of
scientific researchers across the country and around the world.  The
first complete national ring of DOEs Energy Sciences Network
(ESnet4) will be rolled out segment by segment from the east coast
to the west coast and is expected to be fully operational by
September, 2007.

The launch of this first segment of ESnet4 represents a significant
step toward a state-of-the-art optical network that is a critical
component supporting the United States scientific leadership, said
Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, DOE Under Secretary for Science.  Not only
does this new architecture provide greater bandwidth and higher
reliability for DOE researchers, but it also underscores the support
of DOEs Office of Science to the entire U.S. university community.

The first segment connects the Washington, D.C. area to New York and
Chicago through a partnership between Internet2 and ESnet that was
announced in August, 2006.  Once completed, ESnet4 will be the most
advanced and reliable, high capacity nationwide network supporting
scientific research efforts of the DOE research community.  By
providing reliable high bandwidth access to DOE laboratories and
other major research facilities, ESnet4 will enhance the
capabilities of researchers and scientists across the country, and
their international collaborators, to use large-scale instruments to
advance the scientific mission of the Office of Science.

This collaboration between ESnet and Internet2 brings together two
advanced networks which have a combined 30 years of experience in
providing network support to thousands of researchers around the
world.  ESnet, funded by DOEs Office of Science and operated by
DOEs Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, connects more than 20
DOE laboratories and provides networking to more than 50,000 DOE
laboratory staff and scientists.  ESnet is also used by more than
18,000 researchers from universities, other government agencies and
private industry.  ESnet directly serves major Office of Science
facilities including particle accelerators, supercomputing centers
and massive scientific data storage systems.

As the first links of our new architecture enter production, the
ESnet and Internet2 staffs have been working very hard to build out
the rest of the production linksall of which is being done on an
exacting timeline, said Bill Johnston, head of the ESnet Department
at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  The close working
relationships we have developed over the years with Internet2 are
now paying big dividends for the U.S. research community and their
international collaborators.

The new network will initially operate on two dedicated 10 gigabit
per second (Gbps) wavelengths on the new Internet2 nationwide
optical infrastructure and will seamlessly scale over the next
several years to meet the complex needs of large-scale DOE Office of
Science research projects.

Since announcing our partnership in August, we have made steady
progress toward deploying our new optical infrastructure on which
ESnet4 is being built and are pleased to put the first major
segments into production, said Doug Van Houweling, Internet2s CEO.
 The new ESnet4 network will allow university and lab researchers
participating in a broad range of scientific research to leverage
their institutions existing Internet2 network connection to access
the ESnet4 infrastructure and its wide range of Office of Science
facilities.

Among the most ambitious projects to be undertaken by physicists
around the globe is a series of experiments at the new Large Hadron
Collider (LHC) at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, which will be the
worlds largest particle accelerator.  Expected to go online by the
end of 2007, the LHC experiments are collaborations involving
thousands of scientists from universities and laboratories around
the world investigating fundamental questions about matter and the
origins of the universe.

In the U.S., researchers at universities and laboratories will
participate in this global research effort through the ESnet4
network and DOEs USLHCnet (operated by Caltech) which will
transport the petabytes/yr of LHC experiment data to two national
data centers in the U.S. - Brookhaven National Lab in New York and
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, both of which are
ESnet sites. From these two U.S. centers the LHC data will be sent
to the university-hosted Tier 2 centers for further analysis.

Internet2 is a U.S. advanced networking consortium led by the
research and education community since 1996.  Internet2 provides
both leading-edge network capabilities and unique partnership
opportunities that together facilitate the development, deployment
and use of revolutionary Internet technologies.  Internet2 is in
merger discussions with National LambdaRail (NLR), a major
initiative of U.S. research universities and private sector
technology companies to provide a national scale infrastructure for
research and network experimentation.  NLR has also collaborated
with ESnet to provide circuits for portions of ESnet's Science Data
Network and such a merger would contribute directly to ESnets goal
of strengthening the U.S. research and education community network
infrastructure.

Media contact(s): Jeff Sherwood (DOE), (202) 586-5806 Lauren 
Rotman (Internet2), (202) 331-5345 Jon Bashor (ESnet), (510) 
486-5849 

 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | 
Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403
*****************************************************************
 63 Tri-City Herald: DOE honors Fluor safety (w/ video)

DOE Safety Award

Published Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer

Another gold star is flying over the Hanford nuclear reservation
after Tuesday's visit by James Rispoli, the Department of Energy's
assistant secretary for environmental management.

Against a backdrop of the Columbia River, he presented Fluor Hanford
with DOE's highest safety award, the Voluntary Protection Program's
"Star Status," for its ground water protection program. The honor
comes with a flag featuring a gold star.

It's the 13th earned at Hanford and Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, which have nearly half of the 27 awards given out by DOE
nationwide since 1994, Rispoli said.

"Any award is significant," he told workers. "But our real objective
is any one of you ... has the right to go home every day the same
way you came to work."

The Fluor Hanford program protects the river from the 80 square
miles of ground water beneath the site that are contaminated with
radioactive or hazardous chemicals.

Workers have pumped 2 billion gallons of water out of the ground,
treated it and returned clean water to the aquifer. They're also
using underground chemical barriers to stop contaminants from
reaching the river.

Old wells that can be a conduit for waste to travel to the ground
water are being closed. And new wells -- more than 100 this year --
are being drilled to monitor and learn more about the location and
concentration of contamination.

The safety award comes after a significant increased effort on soil
and ground water remediation in the past three years, said Matt
McCormick, DOE assistant manager for central Hanford projects.

It also required small businesses working on the project to adopt
DOE safety standards, which they will take to other projects in the
community, said Doug Shoop, DOE assistant manager for safety and
engineering.

He'll spend today in Tri-Party Agreement negotiations with Hanford
regulators in the wake of missed cleanup deadlines.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 64 Tri-City Herald: Washington Group to be sold to URS

Published Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

ANNETTE CARY HERALD STAFF WRITER

Washington Group International, a major contractor at Hanford and
the Umatilla Chemical Depot, is being bought by URS Corp. for $2.6
billion, the companies announced Monday.

The purchase positions URS, based in San Francisco, to move into an
anticipated resurgence in the nuclear energy market. URS pointed out
it would have one of the largest teams of nuclear scientists and
engineers in the engineering and construction industry.

Washington Group has contracts at most of the major nuclear weapons
cleanup sites across the nation. It's the 13th-largest engineering
and construction company in the nation, and combining the companies
would make URS the fourth largest. It would have more than 54,000
employees and combined estimated revenue of $8.6 billion in 2007
from projects in more than 50 countries.

At Hanford, Washington Group is the lead company in Washington
Closure Hanford group, which has a $1.9 billion contract to clean up
the nuclear reservation along the Columbia River. It also is the
principle subcontractor to Bechtel National, which is building the
$12.3 billion vitrification plant to treat radioactive tank wastes.

It worked with the Tri-City Development Council on a $1 million
siting study to determine how Hanford might be used for reprocessing
used commercial nuclear fuel under the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership.

It also runs the Umatilla Chemical Depot incinerator, which is
destroying aged chemical weapons under an Army contract.

URS and Washington Group have signed a definitive agreement that
calls for Washington Group stockholders to receive $43.80 in cash
and 0.772 shares of URS common stock for each Washington Group
share. That represents a premium of about 14 percent over the Friday
closing price for Washington Group shares.

The price for Washington Group stock rose 15 percent Tuesday and the
price of URS rose 5 percent.

Employees of both companies should benefit from a diverse portfolio
of projects and broad career opportunities, Stephen Hanks, chief
executive officer of Washington Group, said in a statement.

"The increased scale and resources of the combined company,
including URS's significant design resources, will further support
our ability to compete for new opportunities in high growth
markets," he said. "The combined company also will have a
significant presence in the anticipated resurgence of the nuclear
industry, including fuel sourcing, enrichment, power generation and
spent fuel reprocessing and disposition."

Both companies will be better positioned to benefit from the
increased use of contracting by the Department of Energy and the
Department of Defense, Martin Koffel, chief executive of URS, said
in a statement.

The move comes as contracts employing 4,600 workers at Hanford are
due to expire in fall 2008 and DOE works to award three replacement
contracts.

URS offers a range of engineering, construction and operation
services to government and private clients in the pharmaceutical,
oil and gas, power, manufacturing, mining and forest products
industries. It operates in more than 20 countries and employs 29,500
workers.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 65 Tri-City Herald: Hanford, regulators start cleanup negotiations in Richland

Published Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

By the Herald staff

Hanford regulators are looking for a "realistic but aggressive"
schedule for the cleanup of the nuclear reservation, they said
Wednesday.

High-level officials from the Department of Energy and its
regulators, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of
Washington, are meeting today in Richland to renegotiate the
Tri-Party Agreement.

Regulators are concerned that legally binding deadlines under the
agreement have been missed or will be missed at the current pace of
cleanup.

The talks are focusing on the vitrification plant, retrieval of
radioactive waste from leak-prone underground tanks and protecting
and cleaning up ground water.

For more information, read Thursday's Herald.

&copy 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 66 Columbian: State, feds enter negotiations over Hanford cleanup- 

Columbian.com

Clark County, Washington | May 30, 2007
 
By SHANNON DININNY Associated Press Writer

RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -- Federal and state officials entered formal
negotiations Wednesday over long-stalled projects to clean up the
nation's most contaminated nuclear site, including an over-budget
plant to treat highly radioactive waste, and the retrieval of that
waste from underground tanks.

The talks are among the most significant negotiations over cleaning
up south-central Washington's 586-square-mile Hanford site since the
state and federal governments signed the 1989 Tri-Party Agreement, a
pact that established cleanup deadlines.

One deadline long missed is for the vitrification plant, designed to
convert millions of gallons of radioactive waste into glasslike logs
for permanent disposal. The plant, now estimated at $12.2 billion,
is eight years behind the current schedule and billions of dollars
over budget.

Also lagging is a project to retrieve the waste from 177 underground
tanks, some of which have leaked into the aquifer, threatening the
nearby Columbia River.

The two projects involve some of the most technically difficult work
among nuclear waste projects nationwide, said Jay Manning, director
of the Washington state Department of Ecology.

Nevertheless, state officials are dismayed by the delays, he said,
and aren't ruling out a lawsuit if a compromise can't be reached
over other areas where the federal government should speed its
cleanup efforts.

"We're here in the spirit of cooperation, in a problem-solving mode.
This is going to be difficult. It's going to be very challenging,"
Manning said. "We're very hopeful that we can find a path forward
that works for the state of Washington."

The federal government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the
top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Today, it is
the nation's most contaminated nuclear site, with cleanup costs
expected to top $50 billion.

Hanford has had some successes in recent years, including projects
to remove spent nuclear fuel from two water-filled pools near the
Columbia River, one of which was known to have leaked, and to remove
liquid waste from the underground tanks that hold 53 million gallons
of toxic and radioactive stew left from Cold War-era weapons
production.

Hanford receives about $2 billion each year toward cleanup -
one-third of the federal government's entire budget for nuclear
cleanup nationally, though the agency oversees nuclear cleanup in 14
states.

But with many of the highly technical projects, the issue is not
necessarily money, said James Rispoli, the Department of Energy's
assistant secretary for environmental management, noting that the
waste treatment plant is the first of its kind.

"The evidence of what we've been doing at Hanford speaks for
itself," he said. "It's clear to me that we have shared goals. ...
We're looking for an agreement where we recognize and mutually
accept the steps to get there."

The biggest hurdle so far is the waste treatment plant, long
considered the cornerstone of Hanford cleanup but mired in cost
overruns, construction problems and delays. The original operating
deadline was 1999, while the current agreement requires the plant to
being operating in 2011. Last year, the Energy Department pushed the
start date to 2019.

There's no getting around the fact that the federal government won't
meet the 2011 deadline, and the state is prepared to accept that,
Manning said.

"But we have to get something in exchange for that," he said.

Among the options being considered are increased efforts to tackle
groundwater contamination, and a project to treat some of the less
radioactive waste stored in the underground tanks.

At least four more rounds of negotiations are expected beyond
Wednesday, said state Attorney General Rob McKenna, with a goal of
reaching "a realistic but appropriate timeline for putting Hanford
cleanup back on track."

"All parties need to be able to step up and recommit to the essence
of the Tri-Party Agreement," said Elin Miller, regional
administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. "The people
of Washington and the broader Columbia Basin deserve nothing else."

Š 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may

ÂŠ2006 Columbian.com. All Rights Reserved -
*****************************************************************
 67 New Mexico Business Weekly: WIPP, Los Alamos Lab operator to be sold - 

URS Corp. will buy Washington Group International Inc. for $2.6
billion in cash and stock.

The new company, which will have some 54,000 workers, will be called
URS Corp.

The Washington Group has operated the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
near Carlsbad since 1985 through Washington TRU Solutions LLC. Along
with San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. and the University of
California, it also manages Los Alamos National Laboratory and
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of
Energy.

Washington Group also has a major division that does nuclear cleanup
and remediation for the Department of Energy. The company is working
as a subcontractor for Bechtel at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in
Washington state.

Founded in 1912 in Idaho, Morrison-Knudsen Corp. merged with
Washington Construction Co., a Montana company, in 1996. The company
focused on heavy civil engineering projects, including Tarbela Dam
on the Indus River in Pakistan, one of the largest earth-filled dams
in the world.

San Francisco-based engineering and construction giant URS (NYSE:
URS) is led by CEO Martin Koffel and has about 29,500 workers. URS
has had operations in Albuquerque for many years. Washington Group
(NYSE: WNG), based in Boise, Idaho, has about 25,000 workers.

URS will pay Washington Group stockholders $43.80 in cash and 0.772
shares of URS common stock for each Washington Group share.

Together, the two companies are at work on projects in 50 different
countries.

This story was first reported by the San Francisco Business Times,
an affiliated publication.

Š 2007 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors.
*****************************************************************
 68 FAS: Woes for 3 DOE programs, report finds

Public release date: 30-May-2007

Contact: Monica Amarelo mamarelo@fas.org 202-454-4680 Federation 
of American Scientists

The three major components of the Stockpile Stewardship Program
(SSP) at the Department of Energy are all seriously over budget and
seriously behind schedule, according to a report issued today by the
Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

The paper, The Stockpile Stewardship Program: Fifteen Years On,
reviews the status of the experimental devices that support the SSP,
describes how each experiment is supposed to work, and identifies
the problems that have been encountered. SSP was developed because
of concerns that over time a nuclear weapon's reliability could
decline.

"All of the expensive SSP experiments were initiated because of the
cessation of nuclear testing, with the expectation that they would
be essential to maintaining the nuclear stockpile," said Ivan
Oelrich, vice president of strategic security at the Federation of
American Scientists. "We understand nuclear weapons much better now
than we did when we were testing. It is time to reevaluate which of
these expensive experiments we still need. The DOE is even proposing
to move away from stockpile stewardship to a reliable, replacement
warhead, which could avoid the need for the SSP experiments
altogether."

How essential is it for these megaprojects to continue?

The SSP supports three projects: the National Ignition Facility
(NIF) to use laser beams to compress a hydrogen target to densities
and pressures where fusion would occur; the Dual-Axis Radiographic
Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) Facility uses x-rays to follow the shape
of sections of plutonium when they are compressed as they would be
in the primary; and the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative
(ASCI)renamed Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC)  to build
supercomputers and associated software to use the information from
other experiments to model nuclear warheads and predict their
behavior.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) should have been finished four
years ago and was originally budgeted at just over one billion
dollars. Now its first experiments are expected to occur in 2010 to
a cost of more than another billion dollars to complete  greater
than the original estimates of total cost.

"Based on unclassified sources, it appears that the connection
between NIF and the current SSP is at best indirect," said Oelrich.
"We believe that NIF could be ended without reducing the confidence
in the existing nuclear stockpile."

Being able to model a nuclear weapon on a computer is one of the
critical substitutes for nuclear testing. Although the Advanced
Simulation and Computing (ASC) program has already made important
contributions to understanding the behavior of nuclear weapons, it
too has been plagued with problems. It is not at all clear when the
ASC program will be "done." Construction on some computers was
started but never completed while some computers suffered from low
reliability because of their complexity. In many cases, Herculean
hardware developments were not matched by development of software
that could fully exploit the capabilities of these new machines.
Even successes were short lived  the world's fastest computer today
will be overtaken by some rival within months.

All of the SSP experiments, but NIF in particular, are promoted as a
means to attract top new scientific talent to DOE and the SSP.
Universities and industry are now at the cutting edge of scientific
and technical advance. Even if NIF did contribute to this goal to
some degree, it is far from being the most efficient means of
applying those billions of dollars. Those funds could go directly to
support university research of interest to DOE or to create smaller
but scientifically more interesting experiments within the labs.

"Even without NIF, the United States can maintain its existing
nuclear weapons without a return to testing," said Oelrich.

     ###


NOTE TO REPORTERS  For a copy of the report, please go to
www.fas.org .

To schedule an interview with Ivan Oelrich of FAS, please contact
Monica Amarelo at email mamarelo@fas.org or call 202-454-4680.

The Federation of American Scientists was formed in 1945 by atomic
scientists from the Manhattan Project. Endorsed by 68 Nobel
Laureates in biology, chemistry, economics, medicine and physics as
sponsors, the federation has addressed a broad spectrum of national
security issues in carrying out its mission to promote humanitarian
uses of science and technology. Today, FAS continues to achieve
results in strategic security with research and education projects
in nuclear arms control and global security; conventional arms
transfers; proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; information
technology for human health; and government information policy. For
more information, go to http://www.fas.org.

*****************************************************************
 69 UPI: FAS report slams nuke stewardship programs

United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Briefing

Published: May 30, 2007 at 2:26 PM

WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- The three major components of the U.S.
Stockpile Stewardship Program are over budget and behind schedule, a
new report says.

The SSP, run by the U.S. Department of Energy, runs the National
Ignition Facility "to use laser beams to compress a hydrogen target
to densities and pressures where fusion would occur; the Dual-Axis
Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility uses X-rays to follow the
shape of sections of plutonium when they are compressed ... and the
... renamed Advanced Simulation and Computing (is) to build
super-computers and associated software ... to model nuclear
warheads," the Federation of American Scientists said in a statement.

"It is time to re-evaluate which of these expensive experiments we
still need. The DOE is even proposing to move away from stockpile
stewardship to a reliable, replacement warhead, which could avoid
the need for the SSP experiments altogether," said Ivan Oelrich,
vice president of strategic security at the FAS.

"The National Ignition Facility should have been finished four years
ago and was originally budgeted at just over $1 billion. Now its
first experiments are expected to occur in 2010 to a cost of more
than another billion dollars to complete -- greater than the
original estimates of total cost," the FAS said.

"The Advanced Simulation and Computing program has ... been plagued
with problems," the FAS said. "Construction on some computers was
started but never completed while some computers suffered from low
reliability because of their complexity. In many cases ... hardware
developments were not matched by development of software that could
fully exploit the capabilities of these new machines."

The FAS report may lead to additional congressional probes and to
pressure from the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress either to cut
costs or to curtail some of the programs.

Š Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 70 Hemscott: Nuclear plant guards returning to work 

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - Some of the striking Pantex security 
guards returned to work Wednesday at the nation's only nuclear 
weapons assembly and disassembly facility after ratifying a new 
five-year contract.

The Pantex Guard Union went on strike April 16 on issues 
including seniority, wages and the cost of health insurance. The 
537-member group rejected two proposals before accepting 
Tuesday's offer.

Pantex has started a transition plan for returning all the guards to
their duties, officials said in a news release.

Guards from other federal weapons facilities and nonunion guards
from the 16,000-acre Panhandle plant filled in during the six-week
strike, Pantex officials said.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2007 Hemscott Group Limited. Hemscott is the UK 
registered trademark of Hemscott Group Limited. Prices displayed 
on Hemscott.com are delayed by at least 15 minutes unless 
otherwise stated.
*****************************************************************
 71 KVII Online: Strike Ends 

Pantex Guards Union accepts BWXT's new Contract Proposal.

By Chris Olsen
Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 7:31 AM

AMARILLO -- After 44 long days theÂ  Â finally accepted a contract
proposal, from the companyÂ  , they could live with.

âWe'll go forward now, the majority rules,â said Mike Stumbo,
President of the National Council Security Police (NCSP), and Pantex
Security Police Officer.

After two long meetings on Tuesday the votes were cast, tallied and
taken away.


âWe felt like there were enough gains as a membership in all the
key areas,â said Frank White,Â  Â President.

Leaving theÂ  Â strike headquarters locked up, for at least the next
five years of this new contract.

âIn this kind of process you're never going to get everything you
would like to have,â said Stumbo about the way the negotiations
with the company went.

âYou've got pros and cons, give and takes, sometimes you
winâŚsometimes you loose.â

For some this is a bittersweet ending.

Great because they finally get to pick up a paycheck, and not so
great because there were still some contractual issues not addressed.

âYou never get everything you want when you're in negotiations,â
said White.

âYou get as much as you possibly can to secure your jobs for the
future and your benefits for the future, the you also look out for
the younger guys.â

For Security Police Officer Manny Sanchez it wasn't so much the
being on strike that bothered him, it was more the fear of the
unknown...

âI've been working part-time here and there, but it's not knowing
what am I going to do from day to day, you know that uncertainty,â
said Sanchez.

âIâm just looking forward to getting back to work.â

An end to a six week strike that brought with it questions of
security, whether it was inside the plant or in their jobs.

The guards will begin reporting back to work as soon as
possible.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Â released a statement saying they are
please theÂ  Â accepted the offer, and until they return to work the
contingency force will remain in place. 

Congrats....strike ends

Thank you to the PGU committee for you have done for the PGU and for
all you will continue to do. You guys are the best!
To the PGU members...you didn't ask for too much, you didn't get all
you deserve, and you are worth more than most people know.
Congradulations on a "fair contract". It wasn't GREAT, but it was
fair....and that's what we wanted.
God bless you all. You and your families will remain in my prayers.
Liz

*****************************************************************
 72 NAS: Project: Review of DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science &
Technology Research & Development Program

Project Title:

PIN: BEES-J-05-01-A        

Major Unit:

 Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences

Sub Unit: Board on Energy and Environmental Systems


RSO: Bowen, Matt


Subject/Focus Area: Energy and Energy Conservation; Engineering

Project Scope

The committee will undertake a comprehensive, independent evaluation
of DOE's nuclear energy (NE) program's goals and plans, and validate
the process of establishing program priorities and oversight
(including the method for determining the relative distribution of
budgetary resources). The evaluation will result in a comprehensive
and detailed set of policy and research recommendations and
associated priorities (including performance targets and metrics)
for an integrated agenda of research activities that can best
advance NE's fundamental mission of securing nuclear energy as a
viable, long-term commercial energy option to provide diversity in
energy supply. The review will also include the relationship of the
research program to the Idaho Facilities Management program. In
conducting the evaluation of the R&D program, the committee will:

(1) Review the technical goals and timetables for government and
industry R&D efforts in the various technical areas (e.g., Nuclear
Power 2010; Generation IV; Hydrogen Initiative; Advanced Fuel Cycle
Initiative);
(2) Review the R&D directions and progress in various parts of the
program and their relevance to meeting the goals of the R&D program;
(3) Review the overall balance and adequacy of the R&D program in
light of the objectives and schedules in the major technology areas,
and whether efforts in various technical areas are at an appropriate
level, should be expanded, reduced, or eliminated;
(4) Identify, if appropriate, new and promising technologies not
included in the DOE portfolio that the DOE could meaningfully
advance to meet the goals of the program;
(5) Examine and comment, as necessary, on the appropriate federal
role in the various technical areas;
(6) Examine and comment on the commercial implications of each major
part of the R&D portfolio and what each element needs to contribute
to the commercial adoption of the technology;
(7) Examine and comment on NE's strategy for accomplishing its
goals, which would include such issues as:
(a) program management and organization;
(b) the process of setting milestones, research directions and
making Go/No Go decisions;
(c) collaborative activities with other parts of the government or
private sector;
(d) the integration of major activities in each program into a plan
and associated schedule;
(e) integration and associated schedule and milestones of the
various major programs across
DOE-NE;
(f) consistency of the budget, schedule and scope for selected major
activities;
(g) risk identification and assessment and mitigation activities; and
(h) other topics that the committee finds important to comment on
related to the success of the
program to meet its technical goals.
(8) Comment on the relationship of the R&D program to the Idaho
Facilities Management program.

The committee will write a report documenting its findings and
recommendations.

The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The approximate start date for the project is April 24, 2006.
A report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately
18 months.

Project Duration: 18 months    

Provide FEEDBACK on this project.

Contact the Public Access Records Office to make an inquiry or to
schedule an appointment to view project materials available to the
public.


Committee Membership

Meetings
 Meeting 1 - 08/24/2006
 Meeting 2 - 10/17/2006
 Meeting 3 - 11/08/2006
 Meeting 4 - 01/09/2007
 Meeting 5 - 03/08/2007
 Meeting 6 - 05/30/2007


Reports
Reports having no URL can be seen
at the Public Access Records Office

 Email: info@nas.edu
*****************************************************************
 73 KnoxNews: Summit addresses energy security

By ANDREW EDER, edera@knews.com

May 30, 2007

KINGSPORT -- A two-day summit here brought together industry 
leaders, researchers and politicians to address challenges like 
energy security and recruiting the technical work force of the 
future.

The two-day technology meeting that began Tuesday was attended by 
more than 500 people and was put on by the Tennessee Valley 
Corridor, a regional science and technology economic development 
group.

Speakers included federal officials, members of Tennessee's
congressional delegation and representatives from TVA, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex and University
of Tennessee.

 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: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
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