***************************************************************** 06/10/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.135 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Reuters: Iraq WMD forgery gets Venice art spotlight 2 [progchat_action] Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran? Republican presidential 3 US: [southnews] US Republicans favour Iran nuclear strike 4 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Super powers resorting to soft war 5 Guardian Unlimited: Israeli: All Options for Iran 6 The Observer: MI6 probes UK link to nuclear trade with Iran 7 IHT: Report: Russia accepts US request for help in ending stalemate 8 Reuters: Tough road ahead for U.S. nuclear deal: India PM | U.S. 9 Asian Tribune: India-US nuclear agreement at an impasse 10 Daily India: India sends tough message to US on nuke deal 11 Guardian Unlimited: Lieberman: U.S. Should Weigh Iran Attack 12 Hindustan Times: 'US, India determined to make the nuclear deal happ 13 Guardian Unlimited: US to Press Ahead With Anti-Missile Plan 14 RIA Novosti: Russia urges U.S. to shelve missile plans, look for alt 15 BBC NEWS: Airline carbon plan gets EU nod 16 London Times: Putin and Blair are the joint rulers of nuclear la-la 17 Daily Times: Pakistan joins Global Initiative to Combat N-Terrorism 18 IAEA: In Italy, Director General Speaks to Stem Nuclear Weapons 19 Telegraph: Royal seal of approval for giant submarine NUCLEAR REACTORS 20 The Hindu: Don't transfer your problems to us, India tells US 21 US: Charlotte Observer: Secure our energy future 22 The Hindu: Don't dilute n-deal - BJP 23 US: Houston Chronicle: Going underground for a greenhouse gas soluti 24 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: New outlook on energy 25 AFP: Algeria, US, sign accord on nuclear energy - 26 US: Rutland Herald: Energy bill threatens jobs and economy 27 US: Rutland Herald: Hot water 28 Independent: Worse than Chernobyl: 'dirty timebomb' ticking 29 US: DD: Browns Ferry vulnerable to attack: Terrorism wasn’t a threat 30 US: ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Nuclear incidents 'more than minor' 31 IAEA: Bulgaria Reporting Progress in Quest for Energy Security 32 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Vermont Yankee completes refueling, now ba 33 The Australian: No nuclear power, says Rudd 34 ITAR-TASS: Atomstroiexport, Rusal to build NPP, aluminum plant 35 US: Orlando Sentinel: Changing course - 36 DNA: Don't transfer your problems to us: India tells US - 37 NDTV.com: Nuke deal: Pranab adopts tough stand 38 PTR: Nuclear power companies hunker down as uranium prices soar - 39 US: SPT: Business: Who will staff the nuclear renaissance? NUCLEAR SECURITY 40 Guardian Unlimited: Pakistan Joins Fight on Nuke Terror NUCLEAR SAFETY 41 US: [v911t] COOPRADIO.ORG: DU Expert Leuren Moret: 9/11 & DU Update 42 US: Times-News: Idaho downwinders applaud request for oversight hear 43 Times of India: Nuclear safety foolproof - Kakodkar-Health/Science 44 US: deseretnews.com: Downwinders may have a new worry - genetic dama 45 Sunday Herald: Sturgeon Pressed To Release Secret Nhs Cancer Files 46 MNT: High Rate Of Health Concerns Among Iraq And Afghanistan War Vet 47 IAEA: News Centre: Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 48 US: The Tribune: Low demand makes uranium good as gold 49 Times of India: 'Storing spent fuel beneficial' 50 US: Daily News Journal: Too late to stop radiation dumping? 51 US: Denver Post: Ready ore not, uranium booming 52 US: DDN: Habitat goes from nuclear to natural to serve area in new w 53 US: Daily Herald: Radiation testing gains steam in West Chicago 54 US: UPI: Colorado, Utah benefit from uranium demand 55 UPI: India demands right to process spent fuel 56 US: WMCTV.COM: California radioactive waste dumped in Tennessee PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 57 The State: SRS lab director quits in protest 58 The State: Director of ecology research lab at SRS quits 59 Tri-City Herald: Under Secretary Orbach: What's the plan for PNNL? 60 Rocky Mountain News: Ritter to panel: OK aid to Flats workers 61 The Enquirer: The future of Fernald 62 Ventura County Star: Family connects man's death to Field Lab, blame 63 lamonitor.com: 'Congress is anxious' 64 KOB.com: Report examines cleanup efforts at Los Alamos lab ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Reuters: Iraq WMD forgery gets Venice art spotlight Sun Jun 10, 2007 11:20AM EDT By Phil Stewart VENICE (Reuters) - Can bad intelligence make for good art? Well, the art elite gathered in Venice are rolling out the red carpet for German artist Thomas Demand's tribute to bogus pre-war intelligence on Iraq. Hanging from one of the buildings in the lagoon city is a massive image by Demand portraying the Niger embassy in Rome -- a suspected origin of forged documents claiming Saddam Hussein had sought uranium for a weapons program from Niger. This was the same claim U.S. President George W. Bush cited in his State of the Union address in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Those infamous "16 words" of his address were later retracted. "What interested me is that this whole thing starts with a fake, which is even a bad fake, but it develops into something more," said Demand, who unveiled his series of images on the Niger embassy on Thursday. "The fake becomes something which has a real impact, a real consequence." To underline the duplicitous nature of the use of intelligence the images of the Niger embassy are actually the result of a full-sized model that he meticulously reconstructed -- using cardboard -- and not of the real building. The artist put the images in an exhibition in Venice hosted by the Fondazione Prada launched at the same time the art world gathers in Venice for the Biennale art festival. Continued... © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 [progchat_action] Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran? Republican presidential candidates back nuclear strike against Iran Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:13:26 -0500 (CDT) Hello friends, Back in late 2001, shortly after 9-11, it was clear to many of us who were paying attention that the Bushies intended to go to war to take over Iraq (By Feb. 2002 I had enough documents on this to warrant setting up a folder on my computer on the growing threat of a U.S. war on Iraq.). It wasn't until Sept. 2002, however, that they began the full court press to build support for a war of aggression. We in the peace movement had done precious little, at least compared to what was needed, between the attack on Afghanistan and the time when, in Andy Card's words, they "rolled out a new product" (i.e. their campaign of fear and lies designed to--and successful at--building support for the then prospective war). In early 2002, in his signature "Axis of Evil" speech, Bush had made clear his agenda of regime change for not only Iraq, but also Iran, North Korea and possibly other states. Back in 2003, many feared that an assault on either Syria or Iran was imminent. The last four years, however, have not gone well for the Bushies and their imperial ambitions. This does not mean, however, that they have abandoned their intent to control and dominate the Persian Gulf, and it seems clear they still have their sights set on overthrowing the Islamic Republic in Tehran. It seems to me that the rationale for a new (or expanded) war will likely be similar to last time, WMD &/or an attempt to blame Iran for GI deaths in Iraq. The buildup to an attack on Iran, on the other hand, is likely to be less overt and, once they move forward, with less lead time to mount opposition. They might be going to the UN now for sanctions, but it seems highly unlikely to me that they'd go to the UN to ask permission to launch an unjustifiable war. Rather, I think, if they do go to war, that it will be after a protracted period of demonization (one we're already well into) and following some incident (manufactured or blown out of proportion). And, as what is most likely is bombing, rather than an invasion, there is less time needed for a buildup of forces. It is, I think, essential that we develop strategies for putting the prospective war on Iran in context and stimulate real debate and discussion of this in the political arena, in the press, etc. Unfortunately, we are up against a situation in which both major parties are very hawkish on Iran. We've already seen that we can't count on a Dem-controlled Congress to prevent this war. Likewise, we must raise the issue of the prospect of use of n-weapons against Iran, something that would, as one of the two articles I'm posting below indicates, be an act of mass murder. Here in mid-Missouri we have run a full-page signature ad in our local paper with more than 1160 names calling for "No War With Iran." We are working on another similar ad scheduled to run on Hiroshima Day (8/6). We also have incorporated a large "Attack Iran: NO!" banner into our weekly demos seen by thousands. We've given out nearly a thousand Common Dreams bumperstickers with the same message. And we are preparing to hold a Town Hall Meeting on Iran. Still, I feel we are only beginning to scratch the surface. The magnitude of this situation and its urgency are great and we cannot afford to underestimate them. Please read through these two important articles and please pass this info around. One, by a former Reagan administration official, lays out a credible scenario as to how we might find our government launching a nuclear attack for the first time in 62 years. The other looks at how almost all the Republican presidential contenders refuse to eschew the use of nukes against Iran. Important, albeit scary stuff. Please pass this round, and please share with me, if you would, your ideas on what we might do to create the sort of groundswell of opposition needed to stop this. Many thanks, Mark Haim ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- June 7, 2007 Cheney's End Game? Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06072007.html By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS The war in Iraq is lost. This fact is widely recognized by American military officers and has been recently expressed forcefully by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of US forces in Iraq during the first year of the attempted occupation. Winning is no longer an option. Our best hope, Gen. Sanchez says, is "to stave off defeat," and that requires more intelligence and leadership than Gen. Sanchez sees in the entirety of our national political leadership: "I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time." More evidence that the war is lost arrived June 4 with headlines reporting: "U.S.-led soldiers control only about a third of Baghdad, the military said on Monday." After five years of war the US controls one-third of one city and nothing else. A host of US commanding generals have said that the Iraq war is destroying the US military. A year ago Colin Powell said that the US Army is "about broken." Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn says Bush has "piecemealed our force to death." Gen. Barry McCafrey testified to the US Senate that "the Army will unravel." Col. Andy Bacevich, America's foremost writer on military affairs, documents in the current issue of The American Conservative that Bush's insane war has depleted and exhausted the US Army and Marine Corps: "Only a third of the regular Army's brigades qualify as combat-ready. In the reserve components, none meet that standard. When the last of the units reaches Baghdad as part of the president's strategy of escalation, the US will be left without a ready-to-deploy land force reserve." "The stress of repeated combat tours is sapping the Army's lifeblood. Especially worrying is the accelerating exodus of experienced leaders. The service is currently short 3,000 commissioned officers. By next year, the number is projected to grow to 3,500. The Guard and reserves are in even worse shape. There the shortage amounts to 7,500 officers. Young West Pointers are bailing out of the Army at a rate not seen in three decades. In an effort to staunch the losses, that service has begun offering a $20,000 bonus to newly promoted captains who agree to stay on for an additional three years. Meanwhile, as more and more officers want out, fewer and fewer want in: ROTC scholarships go unfilled for a lack of qualified applicants." Bush has taken every desperate measure. Enlistment ages have been pushed up from 35 to 42. The percentage of high school dropouts and the number of recruits scoring at the bottom end of tests have spiked. The US military is forced to recruit among drug users and convicted criminals. Bacevich reports that wavers "issued to convicted felons jumped by 30 percent." Combat tours have been extended from 12 to 15 months, and the same troops are being deployed again and again. There is no equipment for training. Bacevich reports that "some $212 billion worth has been destroyed, damaged, or just plain worn out." What remains is in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under these circumstances, "staying the course" means total defeat. Even the neoconservative warmongers, who deceived Americans with the promise of a "cakewalk war" that would be over in six weeks, believe that the war is lost. But they have not given up. They have a last desperate plan: Bomb Iran. Vice President Dick Cheney is spear-heading the neocon plan, and Norman Podhoretz is the plan's leading propagandist with his numerous pleas published in the Wall Street Journal and Commentary to bomb Iran. Podhoretz, like every neoconservative, is a total Islamophobe. Podhoretz has written that Islam must be deracinated and the religion destroyed, a genocide for the Muslim people. The neocons think that by bombing Iran the US will provoke Iran to arm the Shiite militias in Iraq with armor-piercing rocket propelled grenades and with surface to air missiles and unleash the militias against US troops. These weapons would neutralize US tanks and helicopter gunships and destroy the US military edge, leaving divided and isolated US forces subject to being cut off from supplies and retreat routes. With America on the verge of losing most of its troops in Iraq, the cry would go up to "save the troops" by nuking Iran. Five years of unsuccessful war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel's recent military defeat in Lebanon have convinced the neocons that America and Israel cannot establish hegemony over the Middle East with conventional forces alone. The neocons have changed US war doctrine, which now permits the US to preemptively strike with nuclear weapons a non-nuclear power. Neocons are forever heard saying, "what's the use of having nuclear weapons if you can't use them." Neocons have convinced themselves that nuking Iran will show the Muslim world that Muslims have no alternative to submitting to the will of the US government. Insurgency and terrorism cannot prevail against nuclear weapons. Many US military officers are horrified at what they think would be the worst ever orchestrated war crime. There are reports of threatened resignations. But Dick Cheney is resolute. He tells Bush that the plan will save him from the ignominy of losing the war and restore his popularity as the president who saved Americans from Iranian nuclear weapons. With the captive American media providing propaganda cover, the neoconservatives believe that their plan can pull their chestnuts out of the fire and rescue them from the failure that their delusion has wrought. The American electorate decided last November that they must do something about the failed war and gave the Democrats control of both houses of Congress. However, the Democrats have decided that it is easier to be complicit in war crimes than to represent the wishes of the electorate and hold a rogue president accountable. The prospect of nuking Iran doesn't seem to disturb the three frontrunners for the Republican nomination, who agreed in their June 5 debate that the US might use nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities. If Cheney again prevails, America will supplant the Third Reich as the most reviled country in recorded history. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- Republican presidential candidates back nuclear strike against Iran By Patrick Martin 7 June 2007 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jun2007/repu-j07.shtml Nine of ten candidates for the Republican presidential nomination explicitly or tacitly supported a US attack on Iran using nuclear weapons, in response to a question at Tuesday nights nationally televised debate in New Hampshire. Despite the extraordinary character of these declarationsgiving support to the first use of nuclear weapons in war since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 62 years agothere was virtually no US press coverage of these remarks and no commentary on their significance. While the Republican candidates sought to present the military action as a limited one against Irans alleged nuclear weapons facilities, calling them tactical nuclear strikes, no one should misunderstand what this means. The use of nuclear weapons, in whatever form, against a densely populated country of 75 million would be an act of mass murder. These comments reflect the derangement and depravity of considerable sections of a ruling elite which believes it must make a success of its occupation of Iraq, even if it requires doubling its bet and attacking another major country in the Middle Eastone which is three times larger than Iraq and with a long history of struggle for independence and against colonial-style rule. The initial exchange came about half an hour into the debate, which was broadcast on CNN and moderated by CNN anchorman Wolf Blitzer. After some initial discussion on the Iraq war, in which nine of the ten candidates vowed to persevere in the effort to control the oil-rich country, Blitzer asked Congressman Duncan Hunter of California, former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, about recent talks between US and Iranian officials in Baghdad. He asked Hunter whether it was correct to negotiate with Iran, given Irans alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons. When Hunter endorsed the talks, Blitzer followed up with this question: Blitzer: If it came down to a preemptive US strike against Irans nuclear facility, if necessary would you authorize as president the use of tactical nuclear weapons? Hunter: I would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons if there was no other way to preempt those particular centrifuges. Blitzer then turned to former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who currently leads in opinion polls of prospective Republican primary voters. Blitzer: What do you think, Mayor? Do you think if you were president of the United States and it came down to Iran having a nuclear bomb, which you say is unacceptable, you would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons? Giuliani: Part of the premise of talking to Iran has to be that they have to know very clearly that it is unacceptable to the United States that they have nuclear power. I think it could be done with conventional weapons, but you cant rule out anything and you shouldnt take any option off the table. The same question was then posed to former Virginia Governor James Gilmore, and to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the candidate with the most backing from Wall Street and other financial interests. Gilmore criticized the desire for Iran to dominate that portion of the world, adding that while he supported negotiations with Iran, Were also going to say that having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable. They need to understand it. And all options are on the table by the United States in that instance. Questioned by Blitzer, Romney used the same formulation. Blitzer: Governor Romney, I want to get you on the record. Do you agree with the mayor, the governor, others here, that the use of tactical nuclear weapons, potentially, would be possible if that were the only way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb? Romney: You dont take options off the table. These four candidates were the only ones directly asked the question, but five othersSenator John McCain, Senator Sam Brownback, Congressman Tom Tancredo, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabeehad ample opportunity to object or to distinguish their positions from this endorsement of mass murder. Only one candidate chose to do so, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, the former Libertarian presidential candidate. Paul, a conservative politician who articulates the isolationist strain in American bourgeois politics, is a critic of the Iraq war. He finally addressed the issue of using nuclear weapons an hour after it was raised, in response to a question from a college professor in the audience, who asked what each candidate thought was the most important moral issue facing the country. Several of the Republican candidates gave predictable responses, citing abortion and the right to life, a right which they are not prepared to concede to the people of Iraq, Iran or any other country that stands in the way of American imperialism. Congressman Pauls response is worth quoting, since it demonstrates how far the mainstream of American bourgeois politics has gone in embracing mass killing as an instrument of state policy. Blitzer: Congressman Paul, whats the most pressing moral issue in the United States right now? Paul: I think it is the acceptance just recently that we now promote preemptive war. I do not believe thats part of the American tradition... And now, tonight, we hear that were not even willing to remove from the table a preemptive nuclear strike against a country that has done no harm to us directly and is no threat to our national security! These remarks were greeted with considerable applause, an indication that even among self-identified rank-and-file Republicans there is growing unease over the escalating militarism of the American ruling elite. But in the corporate-controlled US media, there was little or no commentary about the endorsement of a nuclear strike against Iran. CNN, which broadcast the debate, reported it in passing, and cited only Congressman Hunters support for the use of tactical nuclear weapons. The Washington Post reduced the issue to a single clause of a sentence towards the end of its report on the debate, in which, it claimed, McCain, Giuliani and Romney each had moments in which they shined. The Post reporters did not say if they thought that Giulianis and Romneys support for possible nuclear strikes on Iran was such a moment. The entire treatment of the subject was limited to the following: The candidates said they would not remove the option of using nuclear weapons to prevent Iran from obtaining such weapons, and they also fielded questions about abortion, religion, health care and global warming. The rest of the mainstream press did not even report this endorsement of an unprovoked US nuclear attack on Iran. The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News Service, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News all said nothing. There is no politically innocent explanation for this silence. One can only imagine the howling in the American media if a prominent official figure in China had threatened the use of nuclear weapons against Taiwan, or if a candidate to succeed Vladimir Putin in Russia had called for nuclear strikes against one of its pro-Western neighbors. Outside the United States, the significance of the threats of nuclear attack on Iran was widely recognized. The British news service Reuters led its report on the debate with the Iran comments, under the headline, Republicans: Iran Must Not Have Nuclear Arms. The lead paragraph begins: Republican candidates for US president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop atomic weapons even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop it ... The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz also took note, commenting, One of the more memorable statements was made by former Governor Jim Gilmore, who said that all options were on the table in dealing with Iran, including the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. The bloodlust expressed in these remarks is not limited to the nine Republicans on the stage in New Hampshire. Prospective candidate Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee, gave a television interview immediately after the debate in which he solidarized himself with the call for a preemptive strike against Irans nuclear facilities. As for the Democrats, nearly all of the partys presidential candidates, as well as the entire congressional leadership, are on record in support of escalating the US campaign of diplomatic pressure, economic sanctions and military saber-rattling against Iran, aimed at preparing public opinion in the United States for a new and even more terrible slaughter in the Middle East. Mid-Missouri Peaceworks 804-C E. Broadway Columbia, MO 65201 573-875-0539 E-mail: mail@midmopeaceworks.org Web site: www.midmopeaceworks.org Check out our News Blog http://www.midmopeaceworks.org/articles.php "Acquiescence in Bush's monstrous war in Iraq has amply demonstrated the political elite's limited capacity for introspection, independent thought and civic courage." Stephen F. Cohen, The Nation, July 10, 2006 ***************************************************************** 3 [southnews] US Republicans favour Iran nuclear strike Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:10:30 -0500 (CDT) Countdown To War On Iran By Alain Gresh 07 June, 2007 Le Monde Diplomatique Silently, stealthily, unseen by cameras, the war on Iran has already begun. Many sources confirm that the United States, bent on destabilising the Islamic Republic, has increased its aid to armed movements among the Azeri, Baluchi, Arab and Kurdish ethnic minorities that make up about 40% of the Iranian population. ABC News reported in April that the US had secretly assisted the Baluchi group Jund al-Islam (Soldiers of Islam), responsible for a recent attack in which some 20 members of the Revolutionary Guard were killed. According to an American Foundation report (1), US commandos have operated inside Iran since 2004. President George Bush categorised Iran, along with North Korea and Iraq, as the "axis of evil" in his State of the Union address in January 2002. Then in June 2003 he said the US and its allies should make it clear that they "would not tolerate" the construction of a nuclear weapon in Iran. It is worth recalling the context in which these statements were made. President Mohammed Khatami had repeatedly called for "dialogue among civilisations". Tehran had actively supported the US in Afghanistan, providing many contacts that Washington had used to facilitate the overthrow of the Taliban regime. At a meeting in Geneva on 2 May 2003 between Javad Zaraf, the Iranian ambassador, and Zalmay Khalilzad, Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan, the Tehran government submitted a proposal to the White House for general negotiations on weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and security, and economic cooperation (2). The Islamic Republic said it was ready to support the Arab peace initiative tabled at the Beirut summit in 2002 and help to transform the Lebanese Hizbullah into a political party. Tehran signed the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty on 18 December 2003, which considerably strengthens the supervisory powers of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but which only a few countries have ratified. The US administration swept all these overtures aside since its only objective is to overthrow the mullahs. To create the conditions for military intervention, it constantly brandishes "the nuclear threat". Year after year US administrations have produced alarmist reports, always proved wrong. In January 1995 the director of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency said Iran could have the bomb by 2003, while the US defence secretary, William Perry, predicted it would have the bomb by 2000. These forecasts were repeated by Israel's Shimon Peres a year later. Yet last month, despite Iran's progress in uranium enrichment, the IAEA considered that it would be four to six years before Tehran had the capability to produce the bomb. What is the truth? Since the 1960s, long before the Islamic revolution, Iran has sought to develop nuclear power in preparation for the post-oil era. Technological developments have made it easier to pass from civil to military applications once the processes have been mastered. Have Tehran's leaders decided to do so? There is no evidence that they have. Is there a risk that they may? Yes, there is, for obvious reasons. During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hussein's regime, in breach of every international treaty, used chemical weapons against Iran, but there was no outcry in the US, or in France, against these weapons of mass destruction, which had a traumatic effect on the Iranian people. US troops are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Iran is surrounded by a network of foreign military bases. Two neighbouring countries, Pakistan and Israel, have nuclear weapons. No Iranian political leader could fail to be aware of this situation. How to prevent escalation? So how is Tehran to be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons, a move that would start a new arms race in a region that is already highly unstable and deal a fatal blow to the non-proliferation treaty? Contrary to common assumptions, the main obstacle is not Tehran's determination to enrich uranium. Iran has a right to do so under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty but it has always said it was prepared to impose voluntary restrictions on that right and to agree to increased IAEA inspections to prevent any possible use of enriched uranium for military purposes. The Islamic Republic's fundamental concern lies elsewhere. Witness the agreement signed on 14 November 2004 with France, Britain and Germany, under which Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment temporarily on the understanding that a long-term agreement would "provide firm commitments on security issues". Washington refused to give any such commitments and Iran resumed its enrichment programme. The European Union chose not to pursue an independent line but to follow Washington's lead. The new proposals produced by the five members of the Security Council and Germany in June 2006 contained no guarantee of non-intervention in Iranian affairs. In Tehran's reply to the proposals, delivered in August, it again "suggest[ed] that the western parties who want to participate in the negotiation team announce on behalf of their own and other European countries, to set aside the policy of intimidation, pressure and sanctions against Iran". Only if such a commitment was made could negotiations be resumed. If not, escalation is inevitable. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election as president in June 2005 has not made dialogue any easier, given his taste for provocative statements, particularly about the Holocaust and Israel. But Iran is a big country rich in history and there is more to it than its president. There is much tension within the government and Ahmadinejad had severe setbacks both in the local elections and in elections to the Assembly of Experts in December 2006. There are substantial challenges, economic and social, and forceful demands for more freedom, especially among women and young people. Iranians refuse to be regimented and the only strong card the regime has to win their loyalty is nationalism, a refusal to accept the kind of foreign interference suffered throughout the 20th century. Despite the disaster in Iraq, there is no indication that Bush has given up the idea of attacking Iran. This is part of his vision of a "third world war" against "Islamic fascism", an ideological war that can end only in complete victory. The demonisation of Iran, aggravated by the attitude of its president, is part of this strategy and may culminate in yet another military venture. That would be a disaster, not only for Iran and the Arab world, but for western, especially European, relations with the Middle East. Translated by Barbara Wilson Alain Gresh is editor of Le Monde diplomatique and a specialist on the Middle East (1) Sam Gardiner, "The End of the 'Summer of diplomacy': Assessing US Military Options on Iran" (in .pdf), Century Foundation Report, Washington, 2006. (2) See Gareth Porter, "Burnt Offering", The American Prospect, Washington, June 2006. This article first appeared in the excellent monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, whose English language edition can be found at mondediplo.com The full text appears by agreement with Le Monde Diplomatique and CounterPunch will feature one or two articles from LMD every month. All rights reserved ) 1997-2007 Le Monde diplomatique. http://www.countercurrents.org/gresh070607.htm _____________________________________________________________ US Republicans favour Iran nuclear strike Thursday, June 07, 2007 Daily Times (Pakistan) * Presidential candidates say Iran must not develop nuclear weapons * Want Iraq divided on sectarian, ethnic lines if troop surge fails MANCHESTER, NH: Republican candidates for US president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop atomic weapons even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop it and accused Democrats of being soft on the issue. The front-runners for the Republican Party nomination in the November 2008 election also squabbled among themselves over a broad immigration overhaul being debated by the US Congress. In a debate in New Hampshire where the country's first primary will be held next year, they were largely in agreement on an issue that President George W Bush considers vital - preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. "You shouldn't take any options off the table," said the leader in the Republican pack, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, when asked whether a tactical nuclear strike might be necessary. Democratic candidates had their own debate in New Hampshire on Sunday and largely agreed the United States should open direct diplomatic talks with Iran on the nuclear issue. Giuliani said it sounded to him like "Democrats were back in the 1990s." A second-tier candidate, California Rep Duncan Hunter, was more direct, saying the United States reserved the right to dissuade Iran militarily. "I would authorise the use of tactical nuclear weapons if there was no other way to pre-empt those particular centrifuges," he said, while noting it could probably be done with conventional weapons. But Texas Rep Ron Paul, a candidate drawing about 2 percent in opinion polls, opposed a nuclear strike on moral grounds and because he believed Iran was no threat to US national security. "We, in the past, have always declared war in defence of our liberties or go to aid somebody," Paul said. "But now we have accepted the principle of pre-emptive war. We have rejected the just war theory of Christianity." The Republican candidates showed impatience with the direction of the Iraq war. Some said if a US troop build-up ordered by Bush did not show solid progress by September, a plan should be developed to split Iraq into Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish states. Arizona Sen John McCain, who is risking his political future by backing the Iraq war when most Americans are tired of it, was the biggest supporter of the troop buildup among the candidates, saying Iraq would become a haven for terrorists if US troops left too early. The debate featured 10 Republican candidates, all white men. A large presence not there was actor and former Tennessee Sen Fred Thompson, who was invited by the Fox News Channel for a solo interview after the debate. Fireworks briefly erupted over the issue of immigration. A Senate proposal backed by Bush has been angrily attacked by conservatives who consider the legislation an amnesty plan for 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. reuters http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C07%5Cstory_7-6-2007_pg4_14 _______________________________________________________________________ ***************************************************************** 4 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Super powers resorting to soft war 2007/06/10 Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi said Saturday "Nowadays, soft war is on the super powers agenda and this war is nothing but fighting in cultural fields." Speaking in the inauguration ceremony of "Farabi cultural complex" in Soume'e Sara, Gilan province, Harandi, referred to the repeated failures of super powers in military arena and said, "Super powers' experiences in the recent decades have taught them that military conflict is not the only choice for extending their influence in the other countries." The minister underlined, "Now we are armed with soft war special weapons and the soldiers of such a war are intellectuals and media." He added, "In the current situation, places like this (a cultural complex) are our barracks to fight against enemies." mk Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir ***************************************************************** 5 Guardian Unlimited: Israeli: All Options for Iran From the Associated Press Saturday June 9, 2007 10:46 AM JERUSALEM (AP) - All options, including military action, are on the table when it comes to dealing with Iran's nuclear program, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Saturday, after discussing the issue with senior U.S. officials. For now, sanctions are the best way to go, said the Cabinet minister, Shaul Mofaz. He said Israel and the U.S. agreed to review the effectiveness of sanctions at the end of 2007. The United Nations has imposed sanctions twice against Iran for defying international will. The United States and its allies have signaled their support for harsher sanctions. ``The strategy shared by the U.S. and Israel has three elements,'' Mofaz told Israel Radio. ``One is a united international front against the Iranian nuclear program. Secondly, at this time, sanctions are the best way to act against the aspirations of Iran.'' He said the third element is ``a very, very clear signal and a clear statement that all options are on the table.'' Mofaz added: ``I never said there is no military option, and the military option is included in all the options that are on the table, but at this time it's right to use the path of sanctions, and to intensify them.'' Iran insists that its program is designed to produce civilian energy. It has resisted Western offers of diplomatic and economic benefits if it would suspend enrichment programs. If economic and diplomatic pressure fail, Israel has threatened action but has not said what that action might be. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 y ***************************************************************** 6 The Observer: MI6 probes UK link to nuclear trade with Iran Mark Townsend, crime correspondent Sunday June 10, 2007 A British company has been closed down after being caught in an apparent attempt to sell black-market weapons-grade uranium to Iran and Sudan, The Observer can reveal. Anti-terrorist officers and MI6 are now investigating a wider British-based plot allegedly to supply Iran with material for use in a nuclear weapons programme. One person has already been charged with attempting to proliferate 'weapons of mass destruction'. During the 20-month investigation, which also involved MI5 and Customs and Excise, a group of Britons was tracked as they obtained weapons-grade uranium from the black market in Russia. Investigators believe it was intended for export to Sudan and on to Iran. A number of Britons, who are understood to have links with Islamic terrorists abroad, remain under surveillance. Investigators believe they have uncovered the first proof that al-Qaeda supporters have been actively engaged in developing an atomic capability. The British company, whose identity is known to The Observer but cannot be disclosed for legal reasons, has been wound up. A Customs and Excise spokesman said: 'We continue to investigate allegations related to the supply of components for nuclear programmes including related activities of British nationals.' It is not clear whether all of those involved in the alleged nuclear conspiracy were aware of the uranium's ultimate destination or of any intended use. British agents believe Russian black-market uranium was destined for Sudan, described as a 'trans-shipment' point. The alleged plot, however, was disrupted in early 2006, before the nuclear material reached its final destination. Roger Berry, chairman of Parliament's Quadripartite Committee, which monitors arms exports, said: 'With the collapse of the Soviet Union there was always the question over not just uranium but where other WMD components were going and how this could be controlled. Real credit must go to the enforcement authorities that they have disrupted this. The really worrying aspect is that if one company is involved, are there others out there?' Politically, the allegations hold potentially huge ramifications for diplomatic relations between the West and Tehran. Already, tensions are running high between Iran, the US and the European Union over the true extent of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran refuses to suspend its nuclear programme in the face of mounting pressure, arguing its intent is entirely peaceful and solely aimed at producing power for civilian use. Investigators are understood to have evidence that Iran was to receive the uranium to help develop a nuclear weapons capability. 'They may argue that the material is for civilian use but it does seem an extremely odd way to procure uranium,' said Berry. Alleged evidence of Sudan's role will concern British security services. The East African state has long been suspected of offering a haven for Islamist terrorists and has been accused of harbouring figures including Osama bin Laden who, during the mid-Nineties, set up a number of al-Qaeda training camps in the country. Details of the plot arrive against a backdrop of increasing co-operation between Sudan and Iran on defence issues, although the level of involvement, if any, of the governments in Khartoum and Tehran in the alleged nuclear plot is unclear. However, circumstantial evidence suggesting that elements within both countries might be colluding on military matters has been mounting in recent months. A Sudanese delegation visited Iran's uranium conversion facility in February, while the East African country reportedly recently signed a mutual defence co-operation pact with Iran, allowing Tehran to deploy ballistic missiles in Sudan. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 7 IHT: Report: Russia accepts US request for help in ending stalemate over NKorea disarmament - International Herald Tribune The Associated Press Published: June 10, 2007 SEOUL, South Korea: Russia has accepted a U.S. request that a Russian bank help end a stalemate over frozen North Korean funds that has halted progress in the North's nuclear disarmament, a news report said Sunday. Moscow agreed to a U.S. request that a Russian bank accept the North Korean funds via a U.S. financial institution before they are moved to North Korea, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government official. North Korea has refused to move on its pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor until it receives US$25 million (euro18.4 million) in funds that were frozen in a Macau bank. The money has been freed for release, but North Korea has not withdrawn it, apparently seeking to prove the funds are now clean by receiving them through an electronic bank transfer. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Hee-yong said close consultations were under way among parties involved in the disarmament talks on various ways to resolve the financial dispute, but he declined to confirm the Yonhap report. Russian Embassy officials in Seoul could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday. To carry out the international money transfers, the U.S. is expected to temporarily suspend its rules banning American banks from dealing with the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, Yonhap said, quoting another unidentified South Korean official. The name of the U.S. bank that would play the intermediary role would not be disclosed to help smooth the process, Yonhap said. South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Chun Yung-woo, said Sunday he expects some form of resolution of the impasse this week when he heads to the U.S. Chun was to leave for Washington on Monday for talks with his U.S. counterpart, Christopher Hill, on how to advance the aid-for-disarmament agreement reached in February. "The talks will be mainly focused on mapping out strategies in implementing the Feb. 13 agreement," Chun told The Associated Press, referring to the deal in which North Korea agreed to disarm in return for aid and other political concessions. "I expect a breakthrough to be made this week," Chun said, without elaborating. Conditions have improved for a resolution of the row following recent talks among foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Russia on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Seoul, Chun said. Chun did not comment on the Yonhap report but warned that no one could guarantee a resolution of the impasse. South Korea, the U.S. and their regional partners are seeking ways to resolve the financial dispute in a way that "poses no legal problems and all parties can accept," Chun said. Copyright © 2007 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 8 Reuters: Tough road ahead for U.S. nuclear deal: India PM | U.S. Sun Jun 10, 2007 4:35AM EDT NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's prime minister has warned that tough negotiations lie ahead if New Delhi is to seal a landmark nuclear energy pact with the United States, preferably before September, newspaper reports said on Sunday. The deal, agreed in principle in 2005, would allow sales of U.S. nuclear equipment and fuel to India, overturning a three-decade ban on such trade with New Delhi. India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has tested nuclear weapons. "I think some tough negotiations will be required before we can see the light at the end of the tunnel," Manmohan Singh told reporters traveling back with him from Germany where he met President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the G8 summit. "There are some difficulties but I think both of us expressed determination to overcome them. President Bush was much appreciating of our concerns," the Sunday Times reported. Asked if the deal could be sealed by September, Singh said: "Why September? Why not earlier?", a report in the Hindu newspaper said. Singh's comments follow recent inconclusive talks between top Indian and U.S. officials over what India says are new conditions such as Washington threatening to end nuclear cooperation if New Delhi conducts another nuclear test and refusing to allow reprocessing of spent fuel. U.S. officials say some of these conditions are required by American laws. But India sees this as a shifting of goalposts and is wary of any compromise in the face of fierce opposition at home from political parties and nuclear experts. The nuclear deal would help New Delhi meet some of its soaring energy needs and has raised hopes of firming up a new, strategic partnership between the United States and India, a rising Asian power, which were Cold War adversaries. In a major push last December, Congress in Washington passed an amendment to a U.S. law to allow the deal. But the two sides have since struggled to finalize a bilateral pact that is required to govern the terms of nuclear trade. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 Asian Tribune: India-US nuclear agreement at an impasse asiantribune.com Web A Newspaper Published by World Institute for Asian Studies. Vol. 7 No. 001 Sun, 2007-06-10 01:34 By Daniel Woreck and Kranti Kumara – World Socialist Webs Site The much-heralded nuclear deal between India and the United States that was announced by US President George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 2, 2006, has now reached an impasse and is even threatening to unravel. Three days of intensive negotiations starting May 31 in New Delhi, between US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and the chief US negotiator of the Indo-US nuclear accord, Nicholas Burns, and his Indian counterpart, Foreign Secretary Shivashankar Menon, failed to resolve key differences. Burns flew to New Delhi on an unscheduled visit with the single-minded purpose of reaching an accord on the so-called 123 agreement, so named since bilateral nuclear deals by the US with other countries are negotiated under section 123 of the 1954 US Atomic Energy Act (USAEA). The US side had introduced uncertainty about Burns’s visit just prior to his arrival in New Delhi no doubt as a negotiating tactic to goad the Indian side into making concessions. Burns was hoping to have a signed accord in time to make a triumphal announcement of Bush administration foreign policy “successes” during a meeting between Manmohan Singh and Bush in Heiligendamm, Germany, on the sidelines of the G-8 summit. Although India is not officially a member of the G8 group, Manmohan Singh has been invited to attend parts of the summit, as have the leaders of China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. Under the Indo-US nuclear deal, India is to be given an exceptional status with access to nuclear technology and uranium fuel supplies from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls world nuclear trade, in exchange for India clearly delineating its civilian nuclear facilities from those used for the military and putting the former under the inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This special treatment accorded to India, which developed nuclear weapons in defiance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), should be contrasted with the US’s incessant demonisation of, and threats against, Iran. Although Iran is a signatory to the NPT, the US has strenuously objected to it exercising its rights to develop a full civilian nuclear programme under the scrutiny of the IAEA, claiming that the NPT’s stipulations constitute inadequate safeguards against Iran developing nuclear weapons. The details of the Indo-US 123 agreement have been under negotiation for many months. But some of the stipulations of the December 2006 Henry Hyde Act, which amended the USAEA so as to allow the US government to enter into negotiations with India on civilian nuclear collaboration despite it having nuclear weapons, are proving to be major stumbling blocks. The Hyde Act introduces several new requirements that are seen by the Indian nuclear establishment and much of the Indian political elite as a way for Washington to severely constrain the Indian nuclear programme and to subordinate India’s foreign policy to the hegemonic ambitions of the US. A comment on the Stratfor web site in May observed, “The problem is that India is not too pleased with several new stipulations that Congress added to the original agreement, and neither side has much of an appetite for making concessions at this point.” The Hyde Act stipulations that most concern India appear to be the following: * India is prohibited from detonating any nuclear explosive device, although under the accord, the US is not prohibited from carrying out similar tests. If India does detonate a nuclear device or otherwise breaks any agreement with the IAEA, then the US will invoke the “right of return” under which it can demand the return of all material supplied, including US reactors, spent fuel and unused fuel. * As the agreement stands, India is prohibited from using any equipment or fuel from the US for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel without explicit consent of US. India is seeking to include explicit language in the 123 agreement that would grant it full and permanent prior approval by the US. The Hyde Act directs India “to dissuade, isolate, and if necessary, sanction and contain Iran for its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapons capability and the capability to enrich uranium or reprocess nuclear fuel and the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction.” The significance of this measure is in some dispute, because the White House contends that it is only “advisory,” but India objects to any attempt to dictate its foreign policy through US law. * The US president is required to annually certify to Congress that India is complying with the act, a provision that the Indian elite fears will be used to routinely bully it to do US bidding on the world stage. The Hyde Act also directs the Bush administration to seek approval of any final 123 agreement with India from the IAEA and NSG. Several members of the NSG have already voiced opposition to the deal, and it is not clear at this point whether a successful deal would obtain the approval of this body that works by unanimous consensus. While the Bush administration has voiced public disapproval of some of the provisions in the Hyde Act, it appears that it is already using these binding congressional mandates to pressure India into making concessions that are unacceptable to wide sections of the Indian elite, especially India’s nuclear establishment and military. The Hyde Act still maintains India’s classification as a Non-Nuclear Weapons State (NNWS), and as a result, India would be held to various NPT-type prohibitions that are built into the USAEA. The absurdity of India’s classification as an NNWS is readily apparent; India after all possesses a considerable number of nuclear weapons and is intent on expanding its “nuclear deterrent.” Yet, this classification is necessary under US law if India is to be allowed civilian nuclear fuel and technology while not signing the NPT. For the Indian elite, the nuclear-fuel supply guarantee and the ability to import foreign nuclear technology are pivotal. India has meagre domestic uranium reserves that put a considerable strain on its ability to supply both its civilian and military nuclear needs. According to estimates by the International Panel on Fissile Material, India could increase its nuclear weapons production from its current capability of 6 to 12 weapons a year to as many as 40 to 50 weapons annually, once the Indo-US nuclear deal frees up domestic resources, including uranium for military use. Although the Indian nuclear establishment with considerable effort has mastered all aspects of the complex nuclear technology, including its manufacture, much of its equipment has been reverse-engineered or jury-rigged, raising questions about their quality. The Indian nuclear establishment no doubt wants to interact with the world nuclear establishment to obtain more-advanced technology and scientific knowledge. India has declared a moratorium on nuclear testing, but it is resisting transforming the moratorium into a legally binding agreement. The Indian elite wish to retain the right to revoke their moratorium at any time should they feel threatened by world developments, such as the testing of nuclear weapons by Pakistan or China, or for that matter, the development of new types of nuclear weapons by the US itself. The right to reprocess spent fuel is also of great importance to India, because such fuel is necessary for the three-stage, indigenous nuclear process it is trying to develop—a process whose final stage would use thorium, of which India has vast reserves, as nuclear fuel. A prohibition against reprocessing uranium and plutonium would complicate or even halt this complex undertaking with the Indian side suffering tremendous technological and economic damage. Conflicting interests There is undoubtedly a complex set of contradictory factors motivating the two sides in their increasingly desperate attempt to hammer out an accord. Successful conclusion of the deal would open up to US big business a huge Indian market for nuclear technology and military hardware that now is mainly supplied by Russia. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, a successful agreement could produce as much as $100 billion in nuclear and other sales for US companies. Although economic calculations are of considerable importance, the most important factors motivating the Indo-US nuclear deal are geopolitical. The nuclear deal has been touted by the Bush administration as proof of its willingness to assist India in becoming a “world power” and as the first step in a “global partnership” between the world’s “two most populous democracies.” The US is intent on making India a central part of its efforts to contain and constrain a rising China. It also hopes to use India as a springboard to further penetrate the oil-rich region of Central Asia and is prepared to consider contracting out to an India enmeshed with the US—through increased military, nuclear and geopolitical ties—the policing of the Indian Ocean. The debacles the US is facing in Iraq and Afghanistan have only made the Bush administration more anxious to clinch such a deal with India. Writing in the April 26 edition of the Washington Post, Nicholas Burns declared, “The pace of progress between Washington and Delhi has been so rapid, and the potential benefits to American interests so substantial, that I believe within a generation Americans may view India as one of our two or three most important strategic partners.” Underlining the considerable potential for profit by US companies, Burns continued, “American companies will be among the first to invest in and profit from the opening of this gigantic energy market. We hope India will move quickly to help us complete a final bilateral agreement to make this a reality.” The Indian elite has been gratified by Washington’s talk of India becoming a world power. It also believes it vital to escape the international quarantine on India’s nuclear programme for geopolitical reasons and so as to facilitate the rapid expansion of India’s civilian nuclear energy capacity. (India is dependent on imports for 70 percent of its oil and natural gas.) However, the refusal by the US to fully admit India to the “nuclear weapons club,” the various stipulations in the Hyde Act, and the repeated attempts of Washington to use the accord to bully India into lining up with the US in its confrontation with Iran and into forgoing plans to join a pipeline to bring Iranian natural gas to South Asia have given pause to the Indian government and elite. The US is urging India to abandon the gas pipeline project with Iran and Pakistan (IPI) in exchange for the nuclear deal and a rival gas pipeline project: the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Indian pipeline (TAPI). According to Asia Times online, the TAPI pipeline, unlike the IPI project, will involve major US oil and construction companies and will have to pass through US occupied Afghan territory. This will put the US in a commanding position; understandably, the Indian elite is wary of such dependence upon the US given its long-standing use of bullying tactics. Burns’s recent visit to India was accompanied by much talk, especially from the US side, that the talks on the 123 agreement have reached their final stage. But given the differing motivations and interests of the two sides, a 123 agreement may prove impossible to reach. Even if one is finalized, it will still need approval from the NSG, IAEA, and the US Congress, and will continue to rest on a shaky geopolitical foundation. - Asian Tribune - Copyright © 2006 asiantribune.com. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 10 Daily India: India sends tough message to US on nuke deal From our ANI Correspondent New Delhi, June 10: Sending a tough message to the Untied States on the civilian nuclear deal with India, External Affairs Minister Paranab Mukherjee today asked Washington not to shift its problems relating to the landmark deal to New Delhi. Expressing the hope that the deal would go through, Mukherjee made it clear that it was necessary for the US to give India the right to reprocess spent fuel. "They (the US) say that they have some problems. We say do not transfer your problems to us," he said in an interview to private news channel CNN-IBN. "Reprocessing is absolutely necessary for us because we do not want to have a situation like the repetition of Tarapur," he added. Mukherjee went on to say that what has been agreed in the joint statement of July 18, 2005 and subsequently in March 2006 and what is in the Centre's commitment to the Parliament, "they (US) are already aware of it - therefore within these parameters the 123 agreement has to be signed". Responding to a query if India would accept reprocessing rights on the same terms and conditions as the US has granted to Japan, Switzerland and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), he said, "We will have to examine that in the context of our commitment to the Indian Parliament and the joint statement of July 2005 and the separation plan of 2006". On being asked would he like to be made the Deputy Prime Minister, as "without you this government would not be able to survive," Mukherjee said this is a matter, which is looked after the Prime Minister and the president of the ruling party. "These all things are totally irrelevant because who will be made Deputy PM or who will be made ministers of which ministry totally depends on the political establishment that runs the Government - that is the PM, and the president of the ruling party. NO individual other than these two are concerned here," he said. On the forthcoming presidential election, the senior Congressman expressed the confidence that the UPA candidate will win even if the opponent is Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Mukherjee refused to comment on whether Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has assured the UPA that she would support its candidate. Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI Copyright © 2004-2007 DailyIndia.com ***************************************************************** 11 Guardian Unlimited: Lieberman: U.S. Should Weigh Iran Attack From the Associated Press Sunday June 10, 2007 9:01 PM WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Sunday the United States should consider a military strike against Iran because of Tehran's involvement in Iraq. ``I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,'' Lieberman said. ``And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.'' The U.S. accuses Iran of fostering terrorism and Tehran's nuclear ambitions have brought about international reproach. Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 who now represents Connecticut as an independent, spoke of Iranians' role in the continued violence in Iraq. ``We've said so publicly that the Iranians have a base in Iran at which they are training Iraqis who are coming in and killing Americans. By some estimates, they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers,'' Lieberman said. ``Well, we can tell them we want them to stop that. But if there's any hope of the Iranians living according to the international rule of law and stopping, for instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can't just talk to them.'' He added, ``If they don't play by the rules, we've got to use our force, and to me, that would include taking military action to stop them from doing what they're doing.'' Lieberman said much of the action could probably be done by air, although he would leave the strategy to the generals in charge. ``I want to make clear I'm not talking about a massive ground invasion of Iran,'' Lieberman said. ``They can't believe that they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill Americans,'' he said. ``We cannot let them get away with it. If we do, they'll take that as a sign of weakness on our part and we will pay for it in Iraq and throughout the region and ultimately right here at home.'' To deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions, Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson said tough negotiation is called for. ``I would talk to them, but I would build an international coalition that would promote and push economic sanctions on them,'' Richardson said. ``Sanctions would work on Iran. They are susceptible to disinvestment policy. They are susceptible to cuts, economic sanctions in commodities.'' On Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran's detention of at least four Americans is unwarranted but will not stop Washington from trying to engage Iran on other matters, including its disputed nuclear program and alleged support of insurgents in Iraq. In an Associated Press interview, Rice also appeared to cast doubt on whether the U.S. would take its tentative diplomatic outreach to Iran any further for now. The U.S. and Iranian ambassadors in Iraq met last month for the first public, substantive high-level discussions the two countries have held in nearly three decades. Although limited to the topic of violence and instability in Iraq, the talks have been seen as a possible window to better relations. Immediately after the meeting in Baghdad, Iran announced plans for another. But U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Washington would decide only after the Iraqi government issued an invitation. U.S. officials also said they wanted to see Iran follow up on U.S. complaints that it is equipping and helping insurgents who attack American forces. Lieberman spoke on ``Face the Nation'' on CBS. Richardson was on ``Late Edition'' on CNN. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 12 Hindustan Times: 'US, India determined to make the nuclear deal happen'- Monday, June 11, 2007 Atmospherics right for N-deal conclusion: PM June 09, 2007 Arun Kumar, Indo-Asian News Service The United States says its civil nuclear deal with India is important to both countries and they are "determined to make it happen". US President George W Bush had in a recent conversation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about working forward to conclude the deal, White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Thursday. "They're both in support of it and-look, it's important for us, it's important for the government of India and we're determined to make it happen," he added. Asked if Bush was aware of a letter supposedly sent by the foreign relations committee of the US House of representatives to the Prime Minister of India regarding the nuclear deal, Snow said, "He may be; I'm not". Snow declined to confirm if Bush was going to invite Singh to the White House sometime this year or next year, saying, "I will not get into any sort of personal conversations of that nature." Meanwhile, a US non-proliferation hawk has cautioned the Democratic controlled Congress against allowing the administration to "negotiate away" two key conditions relating to plutonium reprocessing and nuclear testing. Months after Congress blessed the concept, negotiations have stalled on at least two major sticking points, Sharon Squassoni, a senior associate in the Nonproliferation programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, noted in an article in washingtonpost.com's "Think Tank Town" on Thursday. India desires advance consent to extract plutonium from reactor fuel that would be provided by the US and other foreign suppliers and opposes any cutoff in cooperation should it test a nuclear device again, but "these are not merely technical details," Squassoni said. "The Republican-controlled Congress of last year insisted that the plutonium reprocessing and nuclear testing conditions were necessary to maintain the integrity of US and international non-proliferation policies. It would be irresponsible for a Democratic-controlled Congress now to allow these provisions to be negotiated away," Squassoni said. Commenting on Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon's recent visit "to save the troubled US-India nuclear deal", he said, "Nonproliferation watchdogs and many countries that do not have nuclear weapons howled over this radical jettisoning of rules established to reward states that signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty." "Providing long-term consent to reprocess spent fuel from reactors would undermine the current US policy of not encouraging the use of plutonium and highly enriched uranium in the civilian nuclear fuel cycle, particularly in breeder reactors (which can make more plutonium than they burn up)." "Allowing India to test again without risking foreign nuclear cooperation would severely undermine global non-proliferation," Squassoni said. While Congress gave President Bush the benefit of the doubt on nuclear cooperation with India, it did not give him a blank cheque, he said. Congress retained the right to stop the agreement from entering into force if it did not uphold the conditions it established last year in authorising the administration to finalise the agreement with India. In the last two years of negotiations, the United States has given inches and India has taken miles, Squassoni suggested. From the July 2005 announcement of the initiative to President Bush's visit to India in March 2006, the United States has repeatedly missed opportunities to prevent this cooperation from eroding the global non-proliferation bulwark, Squassoni contended. While it is too late to correct these missteps, US law still provides for some barriers to proliferation, and US negotiators should ensure that the peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement meets the letter and spirit of that law, the writer said. The agreement should specify case-by-case approval of Indian reprocessing of US spent fuel, and explicitly require termination of cooperation and return of US materials and equipment should India test, Squassoni suggested. "Surely, no nonproliferation benefits are served by further Indian nuclear tests and the US nuclear cooperation agreement needs to reflect that. Anything less should be rejected by Congress," Squassoni said. ***************************************************************** 13 Guardian Unlimited: US to Press Ahead With Anti-Missile Plan From the Associated Press Saturday June 9, 2007 6:01 AM By TERENCE HUNT AP White House Correspondent ROME (AP) - President Bush signaled Friday the United States will press ahead with a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe despite Russia's heated objections. Poland's president expressed support for installing interceptor rockets in his country. An upset stomach crimped Bush's schedule on a busy day that took him from Germany to Poland and finally to Italy. The president stayed in bed and skipped morning sessions at the summit of world leaders in Heiligendamm, Germany, and he appeared subdued later after talks in Poland with President Lech Kaczynski. ``Still not 100 percent but better all the time,'' White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said of her boss. On Saturday, Bush will meet for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI. Large anti-Bush demonstrations are planned in Rome, and Premier Romano Prodi had to ask his Cabinet members to refrain from taking part. The administration made clear it was not abandoning plans for a missile-defense program in Poland and the Czech Republic despite a surprise counterproposal Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin to instead use a Soviet-era radar tracking station in Azerbaijan. Putin had more suggestions on Friday for locations for missile interceptors: ``They could be placed in the south, in U.S. NATO allies such as Turkey, or even Iraq,'' Putin said. ``They could also be placed on sea platforms.'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an Associated Press interview in New York, said Friday, ``One does not choose sites for missile defense out of the blue. It's geometry and geography as to how you intercept a missile.'' ``This is an idea that has not yet been vetted,'' she said of Putin's offer. ``We have to see whether Azerbaijan makes any sense in the context of missile defense.'' The U.S. system calls for a radar screen in the Czech Republic to watch for missile threats, and 10 interceptor rockets in Poland to shoot down any missiles. Both Bush and Kaczynski said the system would not threaten Russia. The Kremlin argues that the system would undermine its nuclear deterrent. ``The system we have proposed is not directed at Russia,'' Bush said after talks with Kaczynski at the presidential retreat at Jurata, a resort on the Baltic Sea. ``Indeed, we would welcome Russian cooperation on missile defense.'' Bush said a working group including the United States and Russia would ``discuss different opportunities and different options, all aimed at providing protection for people from rogue regimes who might be in a position to either blackmail and/or attack those of us who live in free societies.'' Kaczynski voiced strong support for putting the interceptors on Polish soil. ``As far as the missile defense system is concerned, the two parties fully agree,'' Kaczynski said. ``The Russian federation can feel totally safe,'' said Kaczynski. He said Moscow must recognize that the world has changed since the fall of the Soviet Union nearly two decades ago. Bush thanked the Polish president for sending troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Poland has nearly 900 troops in Iraq, and Bush noted that the country had recently agreed to keep them there at least through the end of the year. The three-day summit in Heiligendamm ended with agreement to commit more than $60 billion to fight disease in Africa. Half of the money already had been pledged by Bush, and other countries would have to fill in the rest. Anti-poverty activists have complained that promises to boost annual aid to poor countries have not been met. The leaders also warned Iran to drop its disputed nuclear program, signaling support for U.N. Security Council moves to discuss a third set of sanctions against Tehran. But, in a setback, they failed to reach a deal about the independence-seeking Serbian province of Kosovo. White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Bush likely fell ill with ``some sort of bug, probably more viral in nature'' and that it appeared unrelated to anything he ate. Bartlett joked that Bush's decision to avoid the other leaders for a while was a ``precautionary step'' to avoid following in the footsteps of his father, former President George H. W. Bush. At a state dinner in Tokyo in January 1992, the elder Bush fainted and vomited into the lap of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 14 RIA Novosti: Russia urges U.S. to shelve missile plans, look for alternatives-1 17:45 | 09/ 06/ 2007 (changes headline, recasts lead, throughout, adds Lavrov quotes, details, background paragraphs 2, 3, 6-11) MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said Saturday the U.S. should put on hold moves to deploy a missile shield in Europe pending talks on Moscow's recent offer to jointly use a radar in Azerbaijan. President Putin reiterated Friday at a news conference following the G8 summit in Germany that the U.S. missile defense plans are directed against a nonexistent threat, and would jeopardize Russia's national security. "The sharing of data from this [Azerbaijan] facility will enable the United States to abandon plans to deploy missile defense elements in Europe, as well as plans to deploy space based components," Sergei Lavrov said. He said the U.S. plans would undermine UN efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem. "Nobody has proved that the Iranian nuclear program has a military component," Sergei Lavrov said. "Missile shield deployment in Europe may hamper [the UN] efforts and cast doubt over Iran's desire to cooperate." He said that if the U.S. really seeks stability, it should avoid actions affecting the security of its partners, adding that the two leaders would consider the issue during Putin's visit to the U.S. July 1-2. Putin said earlier that if Washington accepts its offer, Russia would not be forced to deploy its own missiles in its European exclave of Kaliningrad, or move its missiles closer to Russia's western borders. Despite repeated U.S. assurances that the Central European missile shield would be directed against unpredictable states such as Iran and North Korea, the president said Moscow is convinced that the plans "jeopardize the security of Russia and its citizens." The Gabala radar, located near the town of Minchegaur, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital Baku, was leased to Russia for 10 years in 2002. The radar has been operational since early 1985. With a range of 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles), it is the most powerful in the region and can detect any missile launches in Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa. Under current agreements, the radar, Russia's only military facility in Azerbaijan, cannot be put into full combat mode without Baku's consent. Its status has been a source of environmental and other concerns in recent years. In an interview with the Associated Press Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared to throw cold water on Putin's proposal, saying the U.S. would continue its talks with Poland and the Czech Republic on its missile shield plans regardless of whether negotiations begin on the Russian offer. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 15 BBC NEWS: Airline carbon plan gets EU nod Last Updated: Friday, 8 June 2007, 21:11 GMT 22:11 UK Plane makers such as Boeing are making more efficient aeroplanes European Union transport ministers have approved a plan to make airlines part of a carbon trading scheme aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Airlines will either have to reduce the amount of CO2 they produce or buy credits from other industries. The plan, which is expected to come into effect from 2011, still needs to be approved by the European Parliament. According to the airlines, the carbon-capping plan would cost them about 4 billion euros (Ł2.7bn; $5.4bn) a year. At the same time, they argue that they are responsible for less than 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and are working to limit their impact on the environment by using more efficient planes. Heated debate However, the EU has committed itself to cutting its overall carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2020, and ministers said that the promise would impact a wide range of businesses. "Every mode of transport, including the air mode, has to make its contribution to tackling climate change," said Wolfgang Tiefensee, Germany's transport minister. Analysts said that the ministers had decided to take action because the airline industry was growing quickly, driven along by the expansion of low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet. The plan would also affect larger carriers such as Deutsche Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France-KLM. Mr Tiefensee said that the ministers were expecting a "heated debate" over their plans, not only from the airlines but also from other nations. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 16 London Times: Putin and Blair are the joint rulers of nuclear la-la land-Comment-Columnists-Michael Portillo- * Comment Columnists Michael Portillo From The Sunday Times June 10, 2007 President Putin had a moment of self-deceiving nostalgia last week In the movie Sunset Boulevard Gloria Swanson plays a Hollywood has-been who pathetically deludes herself that she is about to be recalled from retirement to star again on the silver screen. In a deeply poignant scene she fantasises that the paraphernalia of film-making has once more been assembled for her big moment. “All right, Mr DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” President Vladimir Putin of Russia seemed to be going through a similar moment of self-deceiving nostalgia when he warned the West last week that he would return to the former practice of targeting his country’s nuclear weapons on European cities. What role did he think he was playing? Nikita Khrushchev, circa 1962? It is a long time since we needed to give serious thought to Russian missiles hurtling through the air towards us. Stripped of its communist ideology Russia lacks the zeal to commit itself to a war in which it would be annihilated. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union its once-celebrated military prowess has been revealed in a series of disasters to be more akin to a music-hall joke. What Russia does still concerns us. Its descent into dictatorship is depressing. Its dominant position in energy supply gives it some clout (though it needs to sell its oil and gas at least as much as we need to buy them). If the Russian authorities are behind the fatal poisoning in London of Alexander Litvinenko, the former spy, they have committed an outrage. Russia’s permanent seat on the United Nations security council gives it the power to be a nuisance, as it has been by resisting effective sanctions against Iran. But whatever anxieties Russia may cause us, the thought that it might fire its warheads is not among them. Perhaps Russian voters, preparing to choose a new president in the spring, are impressed by Putin’s bluster. They yearn for Russia to play the role in world affairs to which, they believe, its size and history entitle it. The untamed growth of capitalism under Boris Yeltsin and the rampant rise in energy prices during Putin’s tenure have given Russia a fragile illusion of success. If Putin also wishes to posture to domestic audiences about Russia’s nuclear potency it may be no more harmful (probably less) than Tony Blair’s reveries about saving Africa or imposing democracy on some of the globe’s benighted nations. The president’s threat to point his missiles at Europe could have been met in the West with contemptuous indifference or a guffaw. In fact both George Bush and Blair cautioned him against reviving cold war rhetoric. They should be so lucky! The nuclear stand-off of yesteryear has as much nostalgic attraction for the West as for Russia. In those good old days nobody defied the superpowers and the exclusive nuclear weapons club. It was also easier to be a hero. Pressuring the Soviet Union until it imploded made the careers and legacies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Little wonder, then, that last week their successors reached for the old scripts of the cold war screenplay. The West, too, feels impotent squatting on its hoard of nukes while all around events spin out of control. Its thousands of warheads did not protect the US against the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since this century began the world’s destiny has been shaped less in Moscow and Washington than in the cave where Osama Bin Laden hides and plots. America’s military technology has not prevented it from becoming bogged down in Iraq. May was the worst month yet for American fatalities there. Perhaps Saddam Hussein laughs from beyond the grave at the trap into which he lured us. Deposing him has cost us dear in lives, but still more in credibility and prestige. The one remaining superpower, America, is now mesmerised by Iran, rather like a bull plagued by a gnat. Before, the ayatollahs were held in check by Saddam, but we removed him. Now Iran kills, directly or indirectly, American and British soldiers. In response Washington can choose only whether to fulminate or parley. The only question left in Iraq is whether we maximise our defeat and Iran’s triumph by staying or quitting. The moral price we have paid is equal to our strategic losses. Responding to criticisms of his human rights record Putin was able to cite Guantanamo Bay and “extraordinary rendition” as counter examples of western violations. Even last week Blair said he sympathised with Putin’s problems in Chechnya. Really? Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the savage war between Russia and its troublesome satellite, and Grozny, the Chechen capital, has been flattened. Blair’s sympathy indicates that the “war on terror” now justifies almost anything. As a matter of policy we do not count the number of Iraqis who have died since the allied invasion. The figure does not match Chechnya yet but it is building steadily. Moral compromise is the order of the day. While we protest to Moscow about its infringements on democratic values, we ingratiate ourselves with autocratic Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. Of course we do, because in our weakness we rely on the survival of those regimes, whatever their character, which will help us in the struggle with militant Islamists. The West’s powerlessness has been demonstrated well beyond the Gulf. We watched helplessly as India, Pakistan and lately North Korea acquired nuclear weapons. But in this domain, at least, we have a technological fix. America’s antiballistic shield will deal with small numbers of warheads launched by a rogue state. The American missiles to be installed in Poland and their linked radars in the Czech Republic will be well located to intercept rockets from Iran. From Iran? Why would America need to plan against Iranian missiles given that Bush has set himself against allowing Tehran to acquire the bomb? Last week the Republican party’s potential presidential candidates bravely contemplated using tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s centrifuges before they can start spinning. That is another fantasy. Exhausted by the Iraq war, the American people will not accept another foreign adventure. America faces no direct threat from an Iranian warhead and could intercept it even if it did. It seems that military planners at least have prepared for Iran shortly to go nuclear, despite strenuous US opposition, just as North Korea has. The rational response is indeed for America to neutralise the threat using its vastly superior technology. If America as a superpower is down, Russia as a superpower is out. What could be more humiliating than to watch America implant its military hardware in the former Soviet puppet states? In the early postSoviet days, when I was defence secretary, Nato used to pussyfoot around Russia, trying not to make it feel too bad about being weak. Those times are gone and Warsaw and Prague now flaunt their (limited) role in the defence of the West. Naturally, Putin feels provoked. Part of Blair’s legacy will be that he ordered the renewal of Britain’s nuclear deterrent (though it cannot conceivably ever be used). The only reason for updating it is that it supposedly buys us influence. The rather pathetic figure that Russia cuts in the world today, despite having vastly more warheads than Britain, shows that that argument is overstated. Sidney has a lot of Big Sky in his head. eddie reader, birmingham, uk Whilst everything that Mr Portillo says maybe true, it could equally be as big a miscalculation as was made in the late 1920's about Germany and it's self perception. Lack of self asteem is oftten dillusional but no less dangerous even though WE may think it unjustified and a folly. Andrew Wakeling, London, England Russia is young, wealthy and strong. Is The UK envious of them? Lois wiedmer, Sidney, USA Montana Michael Portillo Michael Portillo left the House of Commons in 2005 after a 30-year career with the Conservative Party, which took him from MP for Enfield Southgate to transport and local government minister to the Cabinet, where he served as Treasury Secretary and Secretary of State for Defence. Since leaving politics he has written weekly for The Sunday Times and made a number of documentaries for BBC2 * Read more from Michael Portillo © Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd ***************************************************************** 17 Daily Times: Pakistan joins Global Initiative to Combat N-Terrorism Leading News Resource of Pakistan Sunday, June 10, 2007 ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Pakistan had decided to become a partner nation in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (Global Initiative). The Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying: “While joining the Initiative, Pakistan has declared that the Global Initiative does not cover Pakistan’s military nuclear facilities or activities.” The statement went on to say that the sponsors of the Global Initiative have, with this understanding, welcomed Pakistan’s participation. Pakistan, it said, has therefore been invited to attend the next meeting of the Global Initiative, scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan from June 11-12, 2007. “It may be pointed out that as a responsible nuclear weapon state, Pakistan has put in place legislative, regulatory and administrative infrastructure to prevent and combat any possible acts of terrorism involving nuclear and radiological materials and facilities,” the statement said. The Foreign Ministry noted that the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) was implementing a national Nuclear Security Action Plan (NSAP) with the assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which aims to: (i) strengthen the security of nuclear and radioactive materials and facilities containing such materials; (ii) prevent and detect illicit trafficking in nuclear and radioactive materials; and (iii) respond to incidents of illicit trafficking and emergencies. The main elements of the Global Initiative, the Foreign Ministry said, were in line with the NSAP. Furthermore, it noted that Pakistan had also put in place stringent export control measures in line with the standards followed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Australia Group. nni Daily Times - All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 18 IAEA: In Italy, Director General Speaks to Stem Nuclear Weapons Staff Report 7 June 2007 IAEA Director General ElBaradei met with Italy´s Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema in Rome, Thursday, 7 June 2007. (Photo: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei spoke on nuclear disarmament, proliferation and related issues in Rome, Italy, this week, as part of an official visit with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Prime Minister Romano Prodi, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema and other top officials. During the visit, Dr. ElBaradei was awarded Italy's highest honorary peace prize and was scheduled to meet Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. On 7 June, Dr. ElBaradei addressed a special session and roundtable on nuclear issues at the National School for Public Administration. His statement focused on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and perspectives for the future. On 8 June, Dr. ElBaradei is scheduled for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State for the Holy See. In Rome, the Director General received the prestigious Golden Dove of Peace prize, which is conferred annually by the President of Italy. The judges, chaired by Nobel Prize Laureate Rita Levi Montalcini, cited Dr. ElBaradei´s "strenuous work aimed to avoid the proliferation of nuclear weaponry and to carry out nuclear disarmament". Over the last 20 years, the prize has been awarded to individuals and institutions that have made unique contributions to peace. It has been won by organizations, such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace, and by individuals such as Nelson Mandela, Michael Gorbachev and Hans Blix, who formerly headed the IAEA and the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. In 2006, judges awarded the prize to Dr. Yehudah Paz, Chairman of the Negev Institute and to Hazem Kawazmi, Vice President of the Young Entrepreneurs of Palestine, for their contribution to promoting peace in the world. See Story Resources for more information. Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: ***************************************************************** 19 Telegraph: Royal seal of approval for giant submarine By Caroline Davies Last Updated: 2:16am BST 09/06/2007 Launching a 7,400-tonne submarine is bound to take a while when it is as long as 10 double-decker buses. It took three hours for the 7,400 tonne submarine to emerge into the sun So, although the Duchess of Cornwall officially launched HMS Astute, a nuclear-powered submarine, on Thursday morning, the Ł3.5 million vessel could not be lowered into the water at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, until yesterday. In true Barrow tradition, the Duchess pulled a lever that sent a bottle of specially brewed beer crashing against its hull. Then the vast structure, carried on a huge mechanical trolley, began its journey travelling at just one metre a minute. It took three hours for the Astute to inch out of Devonshire Dock Hall and emerge into the blazing sunshine before a 10,000-strong crowd. The Astute, which was built by BAE Systems, will be the Royal Navy's most powerful attack submarine. Its Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles have a range of 1,240 miles. The nuclear reactor means it never needs to be refuelled during its 25-year life span. It can produce its own air and water supplies, which means it can circumnavigate the globe without needing to surface. The Duchess said: "As an Admiral's wife myself, I am delighted to be in Barrow-in-Furness today for the naming and launching of Astute. I shall follow her progress with particular interest as she serves in the fleet." After a sea trial lasting one year, Astute will begin active service with the Royal Navy in August 2008. Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2007. ***************************************************************** 20 The Hindu: Don't transfer your problems to us, India tells US Sunday, June 10, 2007 : 1130 Hrs New Delhi, June 10 (PTI): As India made a fresh proposal to break logjam in talks on the civil nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked Washington not to "transfer its problems" to New Delhi. Emphasising that reprocessing right was "absolutely necessary" for India, Mukherjee maintained that the Government would not like the nuclear cooperation agreement to have any impact on the country's indigenous strategic programme. "They (the US) say that they have some problems. We say do not transfer your problems to us," he told Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate'programme when referred to Washington's reluctance to grant the reprocessing right. "What has been agreed in the joint statement of July 2005 and subsequently in March 2006 and what's in our commitment to Parliament they are already aware of it. Therefore, within these parameters this 123 Agreement has to be signed," he said. He underlined that the reprocessing right to India will have to be specific to it as New Delhi is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its case cannot be compared with that of Japan and China. His comments came as India expressed readiness to set up a dedicated reprocessing facility under safeguards in an effort to break the logjam in talks over the 123 agreement. Asked about the possibility of the reprocessing issue leading to failure of talks, he said "I don't think it (grant of reprocessing right) will be more difficult. We will be able to find some way out." Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 21 Charlotte Observer: Secure our energy future 06/10/2007 | Efficiency and new generation needed to meet growing needs ELLEN RUFF Special to the Observer There are three paths to success in responsibly meeting North Carolina's growing energy needs: Energy efficiency, a balanced, diverse mix of generation sources, and a legislative and regulatory climate that supports both. North Carolina's population is expected to soar approximately 50 percent -- from 8 million to 12 million people -- by 2030. To meet this growth, Duke Energy plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next three years in new power plants, environmental controls and power delivery improvements. These are long-term investments designed to serve our customers for decades while keeping our rates well below the national average. Energy efficiency Energy efficiency should be considered as much a part of the generation mix as traditional fuels. Clearly, the cleanest kilowatt of electricity is the one not produced. To make efficiency an integral part of everyone's lives will require a revolutionary change in the way utilities plan for the future. Regulators need to reward utilities for investing in systems, products and services that lead to more efficient energy consumption.The proposal we filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission is designed to give customers more alternatives for reducing their power bills, and do so without sacrificing comfort and convenience. The approach allows us to be impartial when choosing to invest in new generation or in energy efficiency. And it allows us to invest more in new technologies and to expand products and services to help our customers better manage their electricity costs. Our proposal seeks to meet half of the 3,400 new megawatts of power our North Carolina customers will need by 2012 with energy efficiency. When we are successful in reducing power demand, customers who participate in our programs will pay 10 percent less than the cost of building and operating new power plants. Customers who do not participate in the energy efficiency programs will see higher electricity bills than those who do participate. Customers who actively participate could reduce their energy use enough to completely offset the energy efficiency costs included in their power bill. New generation While energy efficiency will reduce our customers' demand for electricity, new plants are still needed as our population swells and we modernize our generation fleet. This will come from a broad spectrum of sources. The Cliffside Steam Station project features the retirement of older coal units and a state-of-the-art pulverized coal generator that will help reduce the site's overall air emissions and water use. It is one of only two projects of its kind in the nation to receive federal "clean-coal" tax credits -- indicating it is on the leading edge of environmental technology. Duke Energy plans to file a license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the William States Lee Nuclear Station in Cherokee County, S.C., later this year. Expanding our use of nuclear energy is critical for addressing climate change, because it is the only large-scale source of power that produces no greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier this year, South Carolina enacted legislation allowing utilities to recover development and financing costs for new power plants before they are placed into service. We need similar legislation in North Carolina to facilitate the construction of new nuclear plants, which will be essential to our effort to "decarbonize" our generation long-term. Duke Energy is also seeking power from renewable sources such as wind, solar, water and organic matter. Our process is specifically designed for renewable providers. The minimum capacity requirement for a supplier to bid is only two megawatts. We support state initiatives to establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring a certain percentage of a utility's generation to be from renewable sources. We believe these standards should be set by state legislators and be tailored for each state's circumstances. We are concerned that a federal one-size-fits-all approach would fail to recognize that what works in California or Texas may not work in North Carolina. Since the cleanest power plant is one we don't have to build, it is important that power saved through energy efficiency be counted as part of a renewable portfolio. Taking the long view The focus of our energy plan is to make long-term investments that will stand the test of time. Today, our rates are well below the national average thanks both to our excellent operations and to wise decisions made by Duke Energy's past leaders. With the support of regulators and legislators, a comprehensive energy plan for North Carolina can build on that tradition with a cost-effective package of solutions that meets customer demand, grows our economy and improves the environment. Charlotte.com | ***************************************************************** 22 The Hindu: Don't dilute n-deal - BJP Sunday, Jun 10, 2007 Special Correspondent Manmohan should stand by assurances given to Parliament, it says Expresses concern at China's stand No shifting of goalposts NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday reiterated its view that India should not agree to any dilution of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement arrived at between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President George Bush on July 18, 2005. "We have heard disturbing reports that India was going to soften its stand on the 123 agreement," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said here referring to news reports on the Manmohan-Bush meeting on the sidelines of the G-8 meeting in Berlin on Friday. He said the BJP wanted Dr. Singh to stand by the assurances he gave to Parliament that India would stick to the July 2005 agreement "which should in no way be diluted" and there would be no shifting of goalposts. The party expressed concern at China's apparently hardening stance on the border dispute with India in Arunachal Pradesh. Mr. Prasad said he hoped Dr. Singh could have conveyed India's concerns to Chinese President Hu Jintao when he met him in Berlin on Thursday. Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written ***************************************************************** 23 Houston Chronicle: Going underground for a greenhouse gas solution | Chron.com - June 9, 2007, 12:15AM By TOM FOWLER Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle DAYTON — While world leaders made pledges to cut greenhouse gases at this week's G8 Summit in Germany, Sue Hovorka was in the backwoods of East Texas working to help them keep those promises. For more than 10 hours Thursday, the University of Texas geologist, her colleague Tip Meckal and a team from the company Praxair toiled in the heat and haze, using sensitive gas-detection equipment around a pair of inactive oil wellheads. Their goal: to find even the slightest hint that the carbon dioxide they injected 4,000 feet underground two years ago had made it to the surface at the heavily wooded site near the Trinity River. Known as the Frio Brine Project, the site is on the leading edge of Department of Energy-funded studies looking into carbon sequestration, the process of injecting CO2 — a byproduct of burning fossil fuels — deep into the ground. Carbon capture and storage could be part of the solution to global warming, which many climatologists attribute at least partly to a greenhouse effect that occurs when carbon dioxide and other gases trap heat in the atmosphere. The hope is that CO2 can be stripped from the emissions of power plants and other users of fossil fuels, shipped by pipeline and injected deep underground into old oil and natural gas fields or brine formations. The idea may seem simple, particularly because companies have been injecting CO2 into the ground to force oil and natural gas out of hard-to-reach formations for decades. But no one has tried to keep so much CO2 in storage, particularly the millions of tons that would need to be injected to keep up with annual CO2 emissions. The U.S. generates about 6 billion tons of CO2 per year from all sources, according to the Department of Energy. Not easy, and not cheap Experts say it also isn't going to be easy or cheap. The notion of putting power plant byproducts deep underground may sound a bit like the controversial Yucca Mountain, Nev., storage site for spent nuclear fuel. But Hovorka said the two aren't anything alike. CO2 isn't considered a toxic or hazardous substance like uranium, she said. And once CO2 is injected into a formation, like the brine reservoir near Dayton, it is hard to get it back out. About 20 percent of it dissolves in the brine, creating a weak acid much like what puts the fizz in a carbonated soda. The rest is trapped in the sand and rock of the formation through a process called phase trapping, Hovorka said. It's a process similar to a sponge soaking up a fluid, except that it's much harder to wring the gas back out. "It's like getting grease on your tie," Hovorka said. "You can't just rinse it out with water. You have to use another chemical to separate it." During Thursday's tests researchers found traces of CO2 in the soil around the wellheads, but after hours of testing they determined it came from a tiny leak in the wellhead. Avoiding aquifers A more likely hazard from CO2 injection would be if the salty water it displaces in the brine were pushed into a fresh water aquifer that was being used for drinking water, Hovorka said. That can be avoided by using brine formations that aren't near drinking water sources. Finding such formations shouldn't be hard. Between brine formations like the one Hovorka is working with and oil and gas reservoirs, there may be capacity for as much as 500 billion tons of CO2 storage in the U.S., according to studies done by the University of Texas' Bureau of Economic Geology. South Texas alone has capacity to store an estimated 171 billion metric tons of CO2. Hovorka and Meckal hope to take their work to the next level this fall. That's when they will begin working with Denbury Resources to inject 1 million tons of CO2, or roughly the annual output of a coal-fired power plant, into an underground formation in Mississippi. The technology for carbon capture and storage already exists, and in some instances has been used for decades, said Mark Morey, a director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. But it can add a lot of cost to a project. The greatest cost in the process is carbon capture, or removing the CO2 from the fuel of a power plant before it is burned or from the exhaust afterwards. Morey says a typical coal plant can cost between $50 and $60 per megawatt hour to build and operate, but adding the capacity to capture the CO2 can add an additional $25 to $30 per megawatt hour, he says. The cost of transporting and storing the CO2 underground would be $10 to $15 per megawatt hour, Morey said, but that's assuming the pipeline and storage infrastructure were already in place. For companies to invest in such systems there would have to be an economic incentive, such as a tax on carbon emissions greater than the cost of capture and storage. Even if the penalties for emitting CO2 were high enough to convince companies to capture it, a number of serious legal liabilities also would keep companies from rushing into the storage business, said Tim Bradley, head of Kinder Morgan's CO2 business. tom.fowler@chron.com ***************************************************************** 24 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: New outlook on energy June 09, 2007 The Democratic majority in Congress is readying to change status-quo policies I n early 2001 Vice President Dick Cheney held a series of secret meetings with top managers of oil, gas and nuclear power companies in preparation for the Bush administration's energy proposals. As the proposals moved through Congress, Democrats fought for greater conservation measures, delaying an energy bill for years. In 2003 Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., was among 157 House Democrats who voted against that year's Republican attempts to pass an energy bill. She likened the bill to a wish list for the gas, oil, coal and nuclear industries. When the Republican-controlled Congress finally passed a comprehensive energy bill two years later, it still read much like that wish list. Now Democrats control Congress and it is they who are fashioning new energy policies, ones that end giveaways to Big Oil and concentrate on issues such as global warming. The Senate, for example, is expected to vote next week on a bill that would require auto manufacturers to increase the average fuel economy of their cars and trucks about 10 miles per gallon by 2020, and achieve increases of 4 percent a year for the decade after that. This would greatly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Previous efforts to significantly increase the fuel-economy standard, which hasn't changed much over the past 20 years, have not succeeded. But with global warming getting worldwide attention and gas prices moving toward $4 a gallon, the bill has a better chance this time, despite the usual howls of protest from the auto industry. In the House, a bill authored by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., is being readied for a vote in early July. The bill centers on oil and gas drilling on federal lands and in areas designated as wildlife habitats. One aspect of the bill would end the federal practice of issuing drilling permits within 30 days of application, which obviously does not leave enough time to assess environmental impacts. Another bill, authored by Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., would impose a "carbon tax" on the domestic extraction or importation of coal, oil and natural gas. Stark makes sense when he says the tax would provide a "disincentive for the use of carbon-based fossil fuels (responsible for global warming) and an incentive for the development and use of cleaner alternative energies." The bills in the House and Senate are signs that the people we send to Congress - not the fossil-fuel industries and auto manufacturers - might now be back in charge of the nation's energy policies. All contents © 1996 - 2007 Las Vegas Sun, Inc. ***************************************************************** 25 AFP: Algeria, US, sign accord on nuclear energy - Sat Jun 9, 3:45 PM ET ALGIERS (AFP) - Officials from Algeria and the United States on Saturday signed a protocol agreement which will pave the way towards closer cooperation on civilian nuclear energy, government sources said. The signing coincides with the start of a six-day visit by an expert delegation from the US Department of Energy to the North African country. The US will host a return visit by Algerian experts in the near future. The delegation will hold talks with officials from Algeria's atomic energy commission Comena, and visit atomic research centres at Draria, in the suburbs of Algiers, and at Ain Oussera, some 270 kilometres (167 miles) south of the capital. Ain Oussera's 15-megawatt reactor was delivered by China, while the one at Draria, of three megawatts, was built with aid from Argentina. Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said the accord was aimed at defining "cooperation mechanisms and the exchange of experiences, of know-how, of visits by specialists and experts, but also on the means to drive common programmes". Khelil last month set up a security watchdog for Algeria's civilian nuclear programme, which will monitor the nuclear stations, the use of their waste and their burial. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 26 Rutland Herald: Energy bill threatens jobs and economy June 10, 2007 I, too, stand with the numerous businesses in support of the governor's veto on H.520, not because I am in any way opposed to efficiency programs or the many positive elements of this bill that would help Vermont to address global climate change. My opposition stems from a concern for the adverse effect this proposal may have on Vermont's business reputation and the fact that our legislators are reneging on a prior promise to Entergy/Vermont Yankee. If the bill were allowed to become law, it would only add substance to the contention that our business climate is unpredictable and hostile. The hastily crafted funding scheme sets a poor precedent. Legislators have cited the profitability of Yankee's parent company, Entergy, as another excuse to levy this tax. They have decried the amount of property taxes that Entergy pays, yet this is an agreement that was negotiated by this very body in a previous legislative session. Singling out Entergy to foot the bill sends out a negative signal to the many other profitable national firms here in Vermont. Is this a proper encouragement for employers while we are trying to attract good jobs to our state and losing our young people to states with more opportunities and lower costs of living? An unpredictable business climate coupled with higher electricity costs could significantly affect any company's decisions to expand or relocate and invest in Vermont. This legislative action may also have a negative impact on the state's ability to negotiate future contracts with Hydro-Québec as well, or any other potential power generator that might consider Vermont as a place to do business. I fully support efforts to increase efficiency measures, but there are better ways to go about achieving such goals. Vermont's economy should not be undermined with such legislative action, nor should the integrity of this great state be devalued. Vermonters expect it and should not accept anything less. The Legislature's attack on nuclear power seems antithetical to their concern with global climate change. If the goal is to truly address global warming, why then would they support a legislative initiative to target and penalize a large-scale, clean and affordable source of power within Vermont that can provide reliable electricity without significant fossil emissions; one that provides more than 600 highly technical jobs and currently contributes more than $200 million a year in economic benefit to Vermont? The connection between funding this initiative and having Entergy foot the bill is truly only a political convenience. It's not fair, it's not smart, and it's not right. I support the governor's use of his veto pen. Staige Davis President of Lang McLaughry Spera Former chairman, Vermont Business Roundtable © 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 27 Rutland Herald: Hot water June 9, 2007 Vermont has been accommodating to plans by Entergy Nuclear to boost power production at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and is also considering a proposal to extend the plant's operating license beyond its expiration date in 2012. But accommodation goes both ways. Entergy also must consider the impact its operations have on Vermont, and that is why a ruling by Environmental Court Judge Merideth Wright is welcome. On Wednesday Wright issued a stay preventing Vermont Yankee from discharging warmer water into the Connecticut River this summer. Environmental groups have appealed a permit from the Agency of Natural Resources allowing the discharge; the stay prevents the discharge from happening until the issue is settled in court. There may be a tendency on the part of the Douglas administration to give Vermont Yankee great leeway to carry out its operations because Entergy Vermont is a major player in Vermont's economy. Vermont Yankee provides about a third of Vermont's electricity, and on the present market, it is a bargain for Vermont ratepayers. It is one reason Vermont's electric rates are the lowest in New England. When Entergy purchased Vermont Yankee from the utilities that owned it, it had plans to boost the power output by 20 percent and to extend its operations beyond 2012. It was important to subject the plant to close scrutiny to see if it was capable of increasing output safely, and Entergy passed that test. But the plant's operations continue to merit close scrutiny. The issue of warm river water raises serious environmental concerns, which need a full airing. The company argues that the discharge of warm water — up to 100 degrees — will have no effect on the environment. But environmentalists noted a dramatic drop in the population of American shad in the river after Vermont Yankee raised the temperature of discharge water in 1991. David Deen, a state representative and river steward for the Connecticut River Watershed Council, said the decline in shad population has been most severe just downstream from Vermont Yankee. "Last year was the lowest shad return we've had in two decades," Deen said. Patrick Parenteau, an attorney for the environmental groups that have challenged the discharge, noted that since 1991, when the plant raised the temperature of the discharged water by five degrees, the number of shad at the Vermont fish ladder had declined from 150,000 to 80. The latest proposal would raise the temperature of the river by an additional degree. Deen does not argue that the higher river temperature is the sole cause of the decline of shad. Numbers of the prized fish have declined throughout the Northeast. But he believes Vermont Yankee has the burden of showing that warmer water is not contributing to the decline. Vermont Yankee can sell more power if it can discharge warmer water. That's because it would save on power used for its cooling towers. Proponents of nuclear power like to say it is a green source of power because its production does not yield greenhouse gases. Thus, the availability on the market of additional power from Vermont Yankee can be seen as a plus for offsetting the release of carbon dioxide. It is not green, however, to decimate the populations of one of America's highly valued native game fish. We need to find out definitively if warmer water from Vermont Yankee is likely to do that. © 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 28 Independent: Worse than Chernobyl: 'dirty timebomb' ticking in a rusting Russian nuclear dump threatens Europe - 20,000 discarded uranium fuel rods stored in the Arctic Circle are corroding. The possible result? Detonation of a massive radioactive bomb experts say could rival the 1986 disaster. By Rachel Shields Published: 10 June 2007 A decaying Russian nuclear dump inside the Arctic Circle is threatening to catch fire or explode, turning it into a "dirty bomb" that could impact the whole of northern Europe, including the British Isles. Experts are warning that sea water and intense cold are corroding a storage facility at Andreeva Bay, on the Kola Peninsula near Murmansk. It contains more than 20,000 discarded fuel rods from nuclear submarines and some nuclear-powered icebreakers. A Norwegian environmental group, Bellona, says it has obtained a copy of a secret report by the Russian nuclear agency, Rosatom, which speaks of an "uncontrolled nuclear reaction". John Large, an independent British nuclear consultant who has visited the site, told The Independent on Sunday: "The nuclear rods are fixed to the roof and encased in metal to keep them apart and prevent any reactions from occurring. However, sea water has eroded them at their base, and they are falling to the floor of the tanks, where inches of saltwater have collected. "This water will begin to corrode the rods, a reaction that releases hydrogen, a gas that is highly explosive and could be ignited by any spark. When another rod falls to the floor and generates such a spark, an enormous explosion could occur, scattering radioactive material for hundreds of kilometres." Mr Large, who was decorated by Russia's President Vladimir Putin for his role in the salvage operation that retrieved nuclear material from the Kursk submarine in 2000, added: "This wouldn't be a thermonuclear or atomic explosion, as in a bomb, but the outcome is just as bad. Remember Chernobyl? If you had the right weather conditions and wind pattern, this would mean a radioactive cloud drifting over the UK." The three storage tanks contain more than 32 tons of radioactive material. But the Kola Peninsula is littered with relics of Soviet nuclear facilities, housing more than 100 tons of nuclear waste - the largest concentration in the world. Experts predict that a major explosion at Andreeva Bay could destroy all life in a 32-mile radius, including Murmansk and a sliver of Norway, whose border is only 28 miles away. But a much wider area of Norway, north-west Russia and Finland would be rendered uninhabitable for at least 20 years, and huge quantities of radioactive material would be dumped into the Barents Sea. "In the best case a small, limited explosion in just one of the stored rods could lead to radioactive contamination in a 5km radius," Aleksandr Nikitin, a Russian former submarine officer and nuclear safety inspector turned environmental activist, told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. "In the worst case, such a single explosion could cause the entire tank facility to explode. We have no calculations for what that could lead to." Mr Nikitin, whose work for Bellona led to continuing treason charges in Russia, added: "We are sitting on a powder keg with a burning fuse, and we can only guess about the length of the fuse." Nils Bohmer, nuclear physicist and head of Bellona's Russian division, told the newspaper: "It will at least, at a careful estimate, hit northern Europe. There are enormous amounts of radioactivity stored in these tanks." Other activists have voiced concern about the security of stored nuclear waste in the Kola Peninsula, amid reports that some is left outside in barrels, protected by only a link fence and a couple of guards. Washington-based GlobalSecurity.org reported that in 1993 about 1.8kg of enriched uranium was stolen from the Andreeva Guba fuel storage area. Although the material was quickly recovered, the fact that some of the uranium is enriched to between 30 and 40 per cent, much higher than the 2 to 3 per cent used in civil nuclear reactors, could make it tempting to terrorists seeking to make a "dirty bomb". Apart from the decay at the Andreeva Bay facility, said Ben Ayliffe, senior climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace UK, "security is so lax that almost anyone who wants to can just walk in. It's like Homer Simpson meets Dad's Army." As the 1986 Chernobyl disaster showed, drifting atmospheric radiation can contaminate crops and water supplies more than 1,000 miles from the site of the explosion. In the world's worst civilian nuclear incident, the four explosions that ripped through the power plant in what is now eastern Ukraine resulted in the dispersal of a radioactive cloud containing at least 100 times as much radiation as was released by the combined effect of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although only three people were killed by the Chernobyl blast, it has been estimated that around 100,000 people have since died from cancers caused by exposure to radiation, with thyroid cancers increasing by 88.5 per cent. A further 300,000 people have developed non-fatal tumours even though half a million people were evacuated immediately after the accident. The economic and social effects remain devastating, despite large-scale international assistance. Many industries have collapsed, and 1.4 million acres of prime agricultural land and forest destroyed by the explosion are still unusable. Residents are banned from entering a zone some 20 miles around the site, yet hundreds of elderly people have ignored government restrictions and gone back to their homes in surrounding villages, where they raise animals and eat fruits and berries from the radiation-soaked land. But experts using the Chernobyl "radioactive release" to predict the likely effects of a disaster on the Kola Peninsula point out that Britain and the rest of Europe escaped remarkably lightly. The 1986 explosion occurred on a still summer night sending radioactive particles straight upwards for the most part, until they encountered winds in the upper atmosphere. Although the radiation was widely dispersed, there was little rainfall in the immediate area, or across Europe, in the following week. The only area of Britain where rain brought the radiation to earth is relatively lightly populated: north Wales, parts of Cumbria and south-western Scotland. Care still has to be taken with meat from the affected area, but there are no reliable statistics that show any impact on human health in Britain. Another Chernobyl-type meltdown, this time in the Arctic, could have much more far-reaching effects. The worst case would be widespread fallout caused by rain in a densely populated area, causing untold social and economic disruption beyond the threat to life. Even without a catastrophic explosion, contamination from the Kola Peninsula facility is spreading. The region is outstandingly beautiful, with jutting cliffs, snow-covered peaks and deep fjords. The soil is rich in minerals, the rivers swim with Atlantic salmon, and the land is home to reindeer and their nomadic Saami herders. But Andreeva Bay is already devoid of marine life, and much of the area around it, a landscape of rusting submarine hulks, cranes, workshops and a disused power station, now stands empty. A rupture or fire in the storage tanks would spread radiation further, probably forcing the evacuation of the nearest town, Zaozersk, which is less than four miles away. But Andreeva Bay is merely one of five naval bases on the Kola Peninsula, a testament to the era when the Soviet Union vied for supremacy with the US and nuclear capability, both in weapons and energy, was seen as the means to that end. The ice-free harbours of the White Sea have always been the base of the Northern Fleet, which has two-thirds of the navy's nuclear-powered vessels. Its submarines, which can circle the globe without surfacing or refuelling, were a source of pride in superpower days. But with this came an attitude of careless arrogance towards the environment - apart from the effects on land, many spent nuclear fuel rods were dumped into the Kola and Barents seas - and the region is now paying the price. In the economic crisis that followed the collapse of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union, the nuclear submarine fleet and its support structure were hit by drastic cutbacks. The decommissioning of submarines rapidly became a major national problem, with suitable storage facilities filled to capacity and little money to carry out the necessary expansion. The fuel rods at Andreeva Bay first began to leak radioactive material in 1982, when they were stored in flimsy navy warehouses. In a precursor of the emergency action taken at Chernobyl, a startled government hastily erected three massive concrete tanks filled with metal pipes in which the rods could be safely stored. These facilities were intended only as a provisional measure, to last no more than five years, yet they have now been housing potentially lethal uranium for more than two decades. The problem has been compounded by confusion over who is directly responsible for the area: the nuclear agency Rosatom, which controls all Russian nuclear sites, or the defence ministry, which has authority over military bases. President Putin's administration denied Norwegian claims that the tanks at Andreeva Bay were unstable, claiming that the nuclear waste posed no environmental hazard. This was echoed by Rosatom's deputy head, Andrei Malyshev, who declared that "the possibility of a nuclear event that is significant in terms of safety is excluded". Mindful, however, that the Soviet authorities sought to deny there had been an accident at Chernobyl, Russia's neighbours have been pressing for action to tackle contamination in the Kola Peninsula for years. In the 1990s European leaders began efforts to help secure the region. A 2003 agreement between Sweden, France and Russia pledged more than Ł30m, a deal described by the Swedish Foreign Minister as "a historic event". But little has happened since, partly due to the enormous costs. It is estimated that a clean-up of the Kola Peninsula, either by moving radioactive material to permanent storage facilities or transporting it to a reprocessing plant, will cost around Ł2.2bn. Although Britain, the EU and the US have offered help, with Norway saying last month that it would pay to decommission two nuclear submarines, Russia will still end up footing most of the bill. It also faces the hazardous task of shifting the waste to where it can be dealt with, making Britain's problems in handling waste from old, and possibly new, nuclear plants seem minor. After the radioactive material has been extracted from the dumps by remote-controlled vehicles, it will have to be transported in sealed containers down the coast to Murmansk, where the government hopes to construct new long-term storage facilities. Material which can be reprocessed will be carried in trains hundreds of miles to Mayak, in the heart of the Ural mountains. The residents of the city, who face the prospect of having tons of highly dangerous material passing through for several years, formally learned of the proposals only last autumn. The latest controversy shows, however, that doing nothing is no longer an option. Mr Ayliffe said: "The Andreeva Bay nuclear dump is incredibly dangerous... a disaster waiting to happen that underlines the intractable problem of how to deal with the thousands of tons of highly toxic waste created by nuclear power." Danger Zone: What will happen if there is an explosion Best scenario: a limited explosion of one rod could contaminate a three-mile radius around Andreeva Bay. Wildlife could die out. Worst scenario: the entire facility explodes, radiation could destroy life in a 32-mile radius and make areas of Norway, Finland and Russia uninhabitable. Contamination could reach the UK and beyond. The threat within the tanks 7,000 nuclear fuel rods are stored in each tank. Each rod hangs separately, encased in a metal tube to prevent any uncontrolled reaction. Seawater enters through cracks in the tank and erodes the rods, causing them to fall into the salt water that has collected in the tube. Hydrogen is released when the rods corrode. A spark from another falling rod could ignite this highly explosive gas, setting off an "uncontrolled explosion". Dirty bombs: the terror threat posed by nuclear materials Unlike a nuclear bomb, which requires costly precision engineering, the construction of a "dirty bomb" requires only the combination of radioactive material with a standard explosive, which serves to scatter the particles. Few people might be killed in the explosion, but the disruption caused by contamination in a city centre would be huge. Authorities in several countries claim to have foiled such plots by terrorists. In 1995 Russian police said they had prevented Chechen separatists from detonating radioactive isotopes wrapped in explosives in a Moscow park. Londoner Dhiren Barot, jailed in 2004 for planning to detonate dirty bombs in underground car parks in London and New York, sought radioactive material from hospital equipment such as X-ray machines. Further reading: 'The Russian Northern Fleet: Sources of Radioactive Contamination', by Nilsen, Kudrick and Nikitin (Bellona) © 2007 Independent News and Media Limited ***************************************************************** 29 DD: Browns Ferry vulnerable to attack: Terrorism wasn’t a threat when plant was designed SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2007 By Eric Fleischauer eric@decaturdaily.com · 340-2435 Suspended more than 60 feet above ground at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, three cooling pools contain more than 2,000 tons of radioactive material. If a terrorist attack or accident breached one of those pools, causing the water to pour out, fire or meltdown could make Decatur, Athens and even Huntsville uninhabitable for decades, experts say. The Browns Ferry pools, built in the early 1970s, were not designed to withstand terrorist attack. “In those days, we weren’t thinking about suicide attacks and sabotage,” said David Lochbaum, director of nuclear safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He was a reactor engineer at Browns Ferry Unit 1 from 1980 to 1983. Scientists who have studied the issue concluded a spent-fuel pool fire would contaminate, with cancer-causing radiation, up to 10 times the area contaminated in the 1986 failure of the reactor at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union. “They’re vulnerable as hell,” Peter D.H. Stockton said of the Browns Ferry spent-fuel pools. Stockton is a former special assistant on nuclear issues to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Most nuclear plants store spent fuel in pools at or below ground level, greatly reducing the likelihood of a rapid loss of coolant. The uncovered 35-by-40-foot surfaces of the spent-fuel pools of Browns Ferry’s three reactors are on the same floor. They are near the top of the 152-foot reactor building. The floors of the pools are three stories above the ground. The pools were designed to withstand natural calamities, including earthquakes, Browns Ferry spokesman Craig Beasley said. The walls and floors are made of reinforced concrete from 4 to 6 feet thick. The water in each pool is 40 feet deep. They are centrally located in the reactor building, which faces the Tennessee River. “At the time they were built, the idea of an airplane, like we experienced in 2001, was probably not thought of,” said Beasley. “Those pools are designed to withstand quite a bit of punishment, though.” As designed originally, the Browns Ferry cooling pools were to have been loosely packed. “If water had been lost from one of these pools, then air would have been able to circulate relatively freely around the spent fuel, thereby cooling the fuel,” explained Gordon Thompson, executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies. That changed, however, with delays in the creation of a national spent-fuel repository. Considered imminent when Browns Ferry was built in 1974, no such repository exists. Yucca Mountain in Nevada was the location of choice, but political and scientific hurdles leave its status in limbo. “If water is lost, in almost all conditions, you will then have a fire that releases extremely large amounts of radioactive material,” Thompson said. “For practical purposes, it’s a given.” Thompson co-authored a National Academy of Sciences report last year on spent-fuel pool vulnerability. Each Browns Ferry reactor uses 764 15-foot-tall fuel bundles at a time. TVA replaces the fuel bundles, each of which weigh 600 pounds, every six years. The spent fuel goes to the cooling pools, where it must remain for almost five years before its heat and radiation have subsided enough to permit dry storage. In harm’s way More than two decades after the Chernobyl event, that area is uninhabitable within 19 miles of the plant. Athens is eight miles from Browns Ferry. Decatur is nine miles away. Also within 19 miles of the plant are Elkmont, Rogersville, Moulton, Courtland and Priceville. “The uninhabitable area would be considerably greater than from the Chernobyl event,” Thompson said. “It could run into thousands of square miles.” Radioactive material from a spent-fuel pool would travel much farther than it did from Chernobyl’s reactor because of the comparatively high levels of radioactive cesium in the pools. Cesium is lightweight, so it would travel great distances in the Tennessee Valley’s prevailing winds, which blow to the east. “Huntsville would be in a bad way,” Lochbaum said. “It’s very much in harm’s way should this occur.” Even with Chernobyl’s much lower cesium levels, Lochbaum said, some areas up to 100 miles from the reactor remain uninhabitable. Cesium burns at a temperature below that of the ignition point of the zirconium sheaths, so massive amounts would boil into the atmosphere in the event of a spent-fuel pool fire, Thompson said. The possibility of a spent-fuel fire could be eliminated, even with Browns Ferry’s above-ground pool design, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not requiring the solution and TVA is not pursuing it. Possible solution The solution, advocated by the National Academy of Sciences in a report issued last year, is to empty the spent-fuel pools of all fuel more than five years old. The spent fuel, NAS said, should be transferred to dry casks that TVA and other nuclear plant owners maintain on site. Congress asked NAS to prepare the report. “We saw no good safety reason for doing that,” said NRC spokesman Roger Hannah. “The NRC has maintained and continues to maintain that fuel can be stored safely both in spent-fuel pools and dry casks. They both meet the regulations, and they both provide adequate protection.” Browns Ferry already has three such casks. Beasley said TVA plans to fill another five casks with spent fuel this year. Like most nuclear plants, though, TVA is doing little more than keeping up with its fuel usage. The spent-fuel pools remain full. The main reason for the NRC’s rejection of the NAS proposal is expense. A dry cask holds 15 to 20 tons of spent-fuel rods, a tiny percentage of the rods stored in the pools. Securing spent fuel in the heavy-duty containers costs about $1 million per cask. “You’re going to have to move the fuel to the casks eventually,” Lochbaum said. “We think now is the time to make that happen, to make the plants a little bit less vulnerable to terrorists.” Thompson thinks part of NRC’s reluctance to impose the requirement reflects a nuclear industry attitude. “Partly it’s money,” Thompson said. “Partly it’s that this is not an industry that likes to admit error.” The dry casks are transportable, so in the event Yucca Mountain opens, spent fuel will have to be moved into the casks for rail transport. If Yucca Mountain does not open, the spent fuel will have to be moved to casks to make room for newer spent fuel. NRC spokesman Roger Hannah said dry casks have vulnerabilities. “The NRC thinks dry casks and spent-fuel pools are equally secure and equally safe to the public,” Hannah said. “Spent fuel now is better protected than it ever has been.” Beasley said moving spent-fuel rods to casks can expose workers to radiation, so TVA does this as little as possible. Cheaper approach? While the NAS proposal — emptying the pools of all spent fuel more than five years old — would be ideal, Thompson said a cheaper approach probably would solve the problem. “Use low-density racks for the spent fuel, as per the original design,” Thompson said. “That would prevent fuel ignition in almost all scenarios.” There are options that might keep even densely packed, dry spent-fuel rods from igniting, but they generally require that workers have access to the pools. “There is no way that operators or emergency personnel could remain there to retain control,” Thompson said. “In the immediate vicinity of the pool, personnel access would be impossible” because of the heat and radiation. Two of the Browns Ferry pools are connected by a canal, said Lochbaum. The canal is about half the depth of the pool. A rapid loss of water from one pool could cause a partial loss of water in the adjoining pool. The remainder of the water could boil off in the extreme heat, causing that pool to ignite as well. Stockton, now senior investigator with the Project on Government Oversight, said three categories of terrorist attack concern nuclear engineers and safety experts. Airplanes. A 9/11-style jetliner attack is the worst-case scenario. Not only would it breach the pools, it would make impossible any effort to control the heat. A small plane loaded with explosives would do the same, he said. Projectiles. While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission discounts the possibility, Stockton and other experts fear that an explosive projectile, such as a platter charge or an anti-tank missile, could breach the cooling pools. Platter charges need no firing device and are relatively easy to make. The Army uses them to destroy bridge supports. Stockton said the fact that Browns Ferry is within the line of sight of many non-secure areas, on and across the river, makes it particularly vulnerable. Ground attack. The surfaces of the spent-fuel pools are open. Some studies suggest a ground attack would result in a loss of coolant if the attackers dropped knapsack-contained explosives in the pools. The weight of the water above the explosives would direct the charge at the pool floor, increasing the likelihood of a rupture. “With the pools up as high as they are and relatively exposed, they do make attractive targets,” said Lochbaum. NRC’s Hannah said the various theories on spent-fuel pool vulnerabilities are not compelling. “Under certain scenarios you can postulate a situation where you would have some damage to a spent-fuel building,” Hannah said. “I can’t get into details, but there are a number of things that would preclude that from happening.” Hannah said above-ground pools remain an option for any new plants that are built, “but I don’t know if we may look at enhancing or changing those regulations. At this point, we’re not reviewing applications, so we’re not looking at those particular aspects.” The risk of a spent-fuel fire is not limited to terrorist attack. Some experts focus on the risk of an accident when fuel rods are removed from the pools. A crane above the pools lifts up to 68 tons of fuel in two canisters. One canister weighs 19 tons. Beasley said he did not how much the other, larger canister weighs. The issue is whether a dropped canister would fracture the pool floor, causing a rapid loss of coolant in an above-ground pool. Thompson is critical of TVA for spending $1.8 billion when, for a few million dollars, it could eliminate the spent-fuel vulnerability. “TVA is supposed to serve the public interest,” he said. “I would have thought that’s one utility that should be more seriously thinking about the spent-fuel pools.” THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala. 35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com www.decaturdaily.com ***************************************************************** 30 ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Nuclear incidents 'more than minor' POWER SURF: A surfer walks in front of San Onofre in May when maintenance work was being done and a plume of non-radioactive steam was being released. Sunday, June 10, 2007 Overall, San Onofre gets good marks from federal regulators, but human error remains a factor in plant mishaps. By TERI SFORZA On Dec. 11, operators in the control room of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station were bringing Reactor 3 up to full power after a months-long refueling outage. The goal: raising power to 18 percent by adding water to the nuclear core. But rather than doing the precise calculations necessary to determine how much water to add, operators consulted a book, did some rudimentary math and added 500 gallons – twice what was necessary. When power jumped to 19 percent from 15 percent, operators alerted supervisors. Boric acid injected into the reactor halted the increase at about 20.3 percent of full power, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission reports. "A lack of oversight by the shift manager and Unit 3 control room supervisory personnel significantly contributed to this event," commission inspectors said. "In addition to poor oversight … a poor pre-job brief and a lack of clear management expectations for performing reactivity additions contributed to this event." This incident was among more than a dozen at San Onofre last year considered "more than minor" because it could have led to a significant event, challenged safety systems or affected workers' health. In the end, the incidents had very low safety significance, and no harm was done, the commission said. Overall, San Onofre gets good grades from the commission. Seven years elapsed between its last two major enforcement actions. But some neighbors don't trust the commission. Last year, radiation 16 times higher than that allowed in drinking water was found beneath the decommissioned reactor known as Unit 1. The commission called it "troubling" but said it was within radiation protection limits. Opponents say San Onofre's incidents illustrate a disturbing truth: Even the best of systems are run by people, and people make mistakes. Southern California Edison, which runs San Onofre, declined to discuss the Dec. 11 incident in detail. In a statement, spokesman Ray Golden said: "We concur with the NRC that these issues were of very low safety significance, and never presented a risk to the community or to the operation of the facility. It should be understood that we review and monitor every step of our operation to ensure that we work error-free. This is an ongoing and never-ending process." The safety debate about nuclear power is intensifying as a push to build nuclear power plants surfaces in the U.S. There are 103 working reactors in America, providing 20 percent of the nation's electricity. Plans for 30 more are in the works with the commission. It's a huge about-face: The most recent construction permit was issued by the commission in 1978 – before a notorious accident at Three Mile Island. Most of the new plants will be in the South. Nothing is planned for California, because state law forbids nuclear development until a federal waste repository comes online. Legislation to repeal this ban was recently introduced – and killed – in Sacramento, but a pro-nuclear ballot initiative is in the works. Advocates tout nuclear power as a solution to global warming. Opponents say the dangers posed by spent fuel, which remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years, rule it out as an answer. How safe is nuclear power? There have been no major accidents in the United States since a reactor at Three Mile Island had a partial core meltdown in 1979. Radioactive gases were released, but no deaths or injuries were reported. A government report found that the projected number of "excess fatal cancers" due to the accident was "approximately one." How safe is San Onofre? The last major enforcement action issued by the commission to San Onofre was on Sept. 13, after liquid radioactive waste leaked from a truck in Utah. The tanker's discharge valve was improperly closed and sealed. The action before that was on Dec. 15, 1999, after operators failed to recognize a condition that rendered inoperable a diesel generator and battery chargers. While violations serious enough to garner official dings are fewer and farther between than they were a decade ago, there are still many minor incidents – some reported by San Onofre itself. An Orange County Register review of commission reports shows San Onofre workers: •Improperly labeled a container of radioactive material, which wound up in a chemistry-lab trash can. •Allowed debris to collect in water-storage tank enclosures, which could block flow in an emergency. •Failed to promptly identify trapped air in safety-injection suction lines, which could damage emergency core cooling-system pumps. Dave Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, has criticized the commission, testifying before Congress that it has let plants cut back on safety checks and operate with dangerously worn equipment. Lochbaum's group isn't anti-nuclear, but argues for stricter regulation. At the Register's request, Lochbaum reviewed San Onofre's recent safety records. "The good news is that there's a big time gap between the most recent enforcement action and the previous one," he wrote in an e-mail. "If you look at other reactors, you'll see that NRC writes tickets far more often (at other reactors) than at San Onofre." And Lochbaum is impressed by how hard San Onofre officials are trying. "About a year ago, I attended a public meeting between San Onofre and NRC," he wrote. "San Onofre had requested the meeting. They presented the results from a recent survey of the workforce on safety culture issues. … The survey results for San Onofre were really good – numbers that most sites would love to have. But San Onofre's presentation to the NRC was as if they got a failing grade. I sent them (a) letter commending them on having such high standards. It's not the first commendation letter we've sent, but it's in a very small group." That's not much comfort to Lyn Harris Hicks of San Clemente, who has lived beside the reactors for about 30 years. She is deeply troubled that radioactive tritium was found last year in groundwater beneath a defunct San Onofre reactor more than a decade after it ceased operations. Public health was not in danger, the commission and Edison said: Every year, people are exposed to about 300 millirems of radiation from natural sources. Anyone in contact with the water would have received about 1/10 millirems. Harris Hicks is skeptical. "Tritium into the beach is the most important issue to us," she said. "This indicates it may have been seeping into the ground there all those years. We have our young surfers down there all the time. … That's the problem of nuclear radiation, of course. It permeates." Commission officials called the incident "troubling" but said it posed no danger to public health or safety because the tritium levels were within radiation protection limits. Extensive testing showed the contamination was contained on site and did not reach a drinking-water source, the commission said. "Nonetheless," commission spokesman Victor Dricks wrote in an e-mail to the Register, "the NRC takes this kind of unanticipated and unmonitored release very seriously." Dricks said two commission inspectors are assigned to San Onofre full time, and people should be reassured by the rigorous oversight it and other reactors receive. Harris Hicks and the Coalition for Responsible and Ethical Environmental Decisions aren't convinced. She particularly objects to the secrecy surrounding physical security in the wake of 9/11. On March 15, the commission released a letter saying San Onofre has two low-level security violations, but did not say what they are. The logic: Officials don't want to tip off terrorists to weak spots. "Everything they do is done with great secrecy behind closed doors," Harris Hicks said. "Their main purpose is to keep everything quiet so they can say: 'Nuclear power is so safe. Just look, we've operated all these years without hurting any of the public.' They have accidents all the time. They just don't call them accidents. They call them 'incidents' and 'occurrences.' Mild? They may be, they may not be, but they are possible precursors to something more serious." Edison's Golden understands the frustration. But since 9/11, more than $80 million has been spent beefing up physical security at San Onofre, he said. "Safety is the most important job at San Onofre," Golden said. "For nearly 40 years, Southern California Edison has demonstrated its commitment to operating a nuclear power facility at San Onofre in a clean, safe and reliable manner. And while we strive for flawless execution, we also constantly dedicate ourselves to continuous improvement through learning lessons along the way that have supported our excellent track record for nuclear safety." Contact the writer: 714-796-6910 or tsforza@ocregister.com Audio news & Podcasts Copyright 2007 The Orange County Register | Contact us | Privacy ***************************************************************** 31 IAEA: Bulgaria Reporting Progress in Quest for Energy Security Staff Report 7 June 2007 In Varna and throughout Bulgaria, just over 40% of all electricity needs are provided using nuclear energy. (Photo: BulgariaTravel) With nuclear plants providing two-fifths of its electricity, Bulgaria is looking to strengthen its base for energy security. Among the plans are two new nuclear plants at Belene, a project making progress after years of delays. Over the coming decade, Bulgaria is expected to show a significant increase in its electric power demands, Lubomir Velkov, Executive Director of the National Electricity Company, said this week at the Annual Meeting of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum (Bulatom) in Varna. He said that progress toward building the Belene plant is a welcome sign for the country. "Bulgaria and other countries in the region already are experiencing shortages of electricity," he said. The Belene plants are needed as replacements for four reactors that have been shut down at Kozloduy. Mr. Velkov noted that before the shutdown, Bulgaria not only met most of its own electricity needs, but ranked among Europe´s top exporters of electric power. (Also reported this week is the interest of Italy´s Enel Spa to become a strategic partner in the Belene plant, offering to buy up to a 49% stake in the project). Speaking at the Conference, Mr. Yury Sokolov, IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy, emphasized that "the development of nuclear power is considered by many countries as a mechanism for increasing the security of supply" and for protecting the climate and environment. He said that the IAEA is looking forward to continued cooperation on a range of activities as construction of Belene moves ahead. The Bulatom Conference is being attended this week by more than 150 participants from the Bulgarian nuclear community, and from Europe, the United States, Russia, the IAEA, and European Commission. The Conference was opened by the President of Bulatom, Mr. B.Manchev; the Minister of Energy, Mr. R. Ovcharov; and the IAEA´s Mr. Sokolov. Speakers and participants in the Forum congratulated the IAEA on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and expressed their appreciation for the IAEA´s work to help countries develop and safely use nuclear power technology. Also noted was Bulgaria´s cooperation and support to the work of the IAEA. Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: ***************************************************************** 32 Brattleboro Reformer: Vermont Yankee completes refueling, now back on line BRATTLEBORO, VT By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff Saturday, June 9 VERNON -- After 24 days of being off the New England electrical grid, the boiling water reactor at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was started back up Wednesday. The refueling process, which required the plant to shut down, was Yankee's 26th since it began producing electricity in 1972. Power output at the plant is being increased over the next few days to reach the 650 megawatt rating that was approved in its power uprate March 2006. Currently, the plant is producing electricity at 75 percent. "We conducted the refueling outage with safety as the highest priority," said Rob Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee. "We look forward to another reliable operating cycle." Boiling water reactors, such as the one at Vermont Yankee, need to be shut down every one to two years for refueling, said David Lochbaum, of the Union for Concerned Scientists. A nuclear reactor operates by bringing pellets of uranium close together to form what is called a critical mass. As the uranium decays, it emits neutrons and heat, which boils the water inside the reactor, driving a steam turbine to produce electricity. The uranium is kept in fuel bundles -- or assemblies -- which are designed to produce energy for up to 60 months. In Vermont Yankee's case, 128 of the 368 fuel assemblies in the reactor were removed and replaced, said Williams. Each fuel assembly weighs about 800 pounds, he added. Fuel bundles have a handle at one end and have a cone shape at the other. Technicians, working remotely, remove the fuel bundles by their handles. The cone is used to guide the bundle into its proper location, either in the core or in the spent fuel pool. There are three batches of fuel bundles in a boiling water reactor, said Lochbaum. "The first batch consists of the fresh fuel bundles. The second batch consists of the fuel bundles added during the previous refueling outage. And the third batch consists of the fuel bundles added during the refueling outage before that." Metal frameworks, or matrices, in the core and the fuel pool, hold the bundles. One by one, the fuel bundles are picked up from their matrix and transferred to a spent fuel pool location. The first batch and the second batch are positioned in the center of the reactor core in a checkerboard fashion so that two fresh fuel bundles are not positioned side-by-side. The third batch of fuel bundles, the oldest ones, fill in a ring around the checkerboard, said Lochbaum. "The objective of the core loading pattern is to flatten the power levels from individual fuel bundles as much as possible. You don't want to group a lot of fresh fuel bundles together because it creates a hot spot." After technicians remove concrete blocks used to shield the reactor vessel, the water level is raised to completely fill it. All movement of fuel bundles is conducted underwater. The spent fuel removed from the reactor is highly radioactive. A person standing next to a spent fuel assembly without protection would die of radiation poisoning in minutes. Though a centralized spent fuel storage facility in Nevada has been promised by the federal government, it has yet to open, and spent fuel is stored in spent fuel pools at nuclear power plants around the country. Entergy received permission April 2006 to move its oldest spent fuel from its storage pool into dry casks containers along the Connecticut River. Williams said Entergy hopes to start using the dry cask containers starting sometime next year. Though Entergy regards its refueling costs as confidential information, new fuel can cost anywhere between $40 and $60 million per refueling. Contact Bob Audette at raudette@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 273. ***************************************************************** 33 The Australian: No nuclear power, says Rudd NEWS.com.au | This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AAP * June 10, 2007 OPPOSITION Leader Kevin Rudd today insisted Australia could reach ambitious emissions reductions targets without resorting to nuclear power. Mr Rudd said the key was to establish an emissions trading market not to adopt nuclear power. "The science of this is pretty basic. All the scientists around the world agree that we have got to reach a point whereby we actually bring total emissions down. That is the carbon target,'' he said. Mr Rudd said once the target was set, the emissions trading scheme and the market could establish the most cost-effective means of achieving that target. "Then you would see a huge investment in alternative clean energies like solar, like wind, like geothermal and the rest. You'd set the right price signals for clean coal technologies and carbon sequestration and also for gas. "On the question of nuclear ... our position on that is for Australia, with this rich array of other alternative energy options available, we can achieve our overall carbon target without taking on the extra safety and environmental risks which the nuclear option for Australia would represent.'' Mr Rudd said Prime Minister John Howard's commitment to a policy of pledging and reviewing climate change targets sounded like pledging before the election then reviewing afterwards. "Mr Howard has just got to get fair dinkum about climate change. One of the risks to Australia's economic future is us not acting on climate change and water,'' he said. "Mr Howard has in fact fiddled while Rome has burned on this question.'' Mr Rudd said that dated back to the late 1990s when advice started to emerge on the need to act on climate change and continued right through until the lead-up to the election. He said Mr Howard had been a climate change sceptic now trying to convince people he was a climate change convert. "If you are fair dinkum, seriously fair dinkum about climate change there is one benchmark - you would have established a carbon target a long time ago and you'd be setting up an emission trading scheme and doing something about it,'' he said. © The Australian ***************************************************************** 34 ITAR-TASS: Atomstroiexport, Rusal to build NPP, aluminum plant 10.06.2007, 20.17 ST. PETERSBURG, June 10 (Itar-Tass) -- Atomstroiexport and Rusal will build the first nuclear power plant and an aluminum plant in the Far East. The total value of the project is about $9 billion, a source said on Sunday. Rusal’s Valery Draganov described the project is unprecedented. He also said that the future construction site would be chosen within two years. © ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, store in any medium (including in any other websites), distribute, ***************************************************************** 35 Orlando Sentinel: Changing course - Orlando Sentinel : Opinion Posted June 10, 2007 When the Florida Public Service Commission unanimously rejected a proposal this past week from Florida Power & Light to build a massive coal-fired power plant in Glades County, Gov. Charlie Crist's reaction was telling. He called it "the right decision for the environment, the right decision for the Everglades and the right decision for Florida." It doesn't take a soothsayer to divine that utilities are going to have a hard time, at least for the next four or eight years, winning the state's blessing to build new coal plants to keep up with Florida's growing demand for electricity. But state officials will need to be open to other options -- including nuclear power. FPL's proposed coal plant would have been cleaner burning than older ones in the state. But even the cleanest coal plants spew huge quantities of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as well as other pollutants that contribute to smog and acid rain. They also emit mercury, a toxin that taints waterways, harms wildlife and endangers public health. Environmentalists especially objected to FPL's proposed plant site 70 miles from the Everglades National Park. But there are sensitive ecological areas throughout Florida. There may be no environmentally correct location anywhere in the state for a coal plant of the size that FPL planned in Glades County. Coal is abundant in the United States, and the current cost of producing electricity from it is relatively cheap compared to other energy sources. But Public Service Commission members rightly expressed concern that the cost could rise if, as expected in the next few years, the federal government imposes taxes or other measures to curb carbon-dioxide emissions. FPL officials said rejection of the utility's coal plant would lead it to build cleaner-burning natural-gas-fired plants. But FPL already generates about half its electricity that way, and its executives have pointed out that becoming more dependent on natural gas will make its customers more vulnerable to hurricane-related supply disruptions and price spikes. Foreign suppliers of natural gas, including some of the same hostile or unstable countries that produce oil, are now considering their own OPEC-style cartel. It makes sense for utilities to pursue an array of options to keep up with Florida's demand for electricity, including alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. They also need to continue promoting conservation. But the state's population and economy are growing too fast for those options alone to do the job. Which is where nuclear power comes in. Five nuclear plants now generate about 14 percent of the electricity in Florida, but construction of new plants here and across the country has been largely stalled since the accidents at Three Mile Island, Pa., in 1979 and Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in 1986. Nuclear power is ripe for a resurgence because the plants produce almost no greenhouse gases. Both FPL and Progress Energy Florida are considering building new reactors in the state. The biggest strike against nuclear power remains the hazardous waste it generates. The opening of a national repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., is years behind schedule. Until it or some alternative is available, plants will continue to store waste on site, as they've been doing for decades. It's absolutely critical that utilities exercise extreme care in designing, operating and safeguarding nuclear plants and any waste storage on site to protect the public from accidents or terrorist attacks. State and federal regulators must be watching closely. Congress also needs to keep an eye on the industry. Anything short of the highest standards is unacceptable. No energy source, including nuclear power, is without drawbacks. But given all the immediate environmental problems posed by fossil fuels, and the limitations of other alternatives, it would be foolish to exclude nuclear power from Florida's energy future. Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel | ***************************************************************** 36 DNA: Don't transfer your problems to us: India tells US - Daily News & Analysis dnaindia.com | India | Report PTI Sunday, June 10, 2007 17:07 IST NEW DELHI: As India made a fresh proposal to break logjam in talks on the civil nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday asked Washington not to "transfer its problems" to New Delhi. Emphasising that reprocessing right was "absolutely necessary" for India, Mukherjee maintained that the government would not like the nuclear cooperation agreement to have any impact on the country's indigenous strategic programme. "They say that they have some problems. We say do not transfer your problems to us," he told Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate'programme when referred to Washington's reluctance to grant the reprocessing right. Read latest news at DNA "What has been agreed in the joint statement of July 2005 and subsequently in March 2006 and what's in our commitment to Parliament they are already Therefore, within these parameters this 123 Agreement has to be signed," he said. He underlined that the reprocessing right to India will have to be specific to it as New Delhi is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its case cannot be compared with that of Japan, China or Eurotom. His comments came as India expressed readiness to set up a dedicated reprocessing facility under safeguards in an effort to break the logjam in talks over the 123 agreement. Asked about the possibility of the reprocessing issue leading to failure of talks, he said "I don't think it (grant of reprocessing right) will be more difficult. We will be able to find some way out." Mukherjee made it clear that India does not want the repeat of Tarapur case when the US stopped nuclear fuel supplies to the atomic plant after Pokhran tests in 1974. Describing the negotiations as "protracted" and "complicated", the External Affairs Minister said "both countries are trying their best. I do not doubt their (US') sincerity". Asked if the US would be ready to exempt India's strategic reserves "without making a mockery of its own law" on right to return of nuclear equipment and fuel, he said: "It is known to everybody that India is not a signatory to NPT. India has its strategic programmes. That is why the separation plan was placed before the Parliament." He said New Delhi was insisting on India-specific nuclear agreement as it would "like to continue our existing position with respect to other things". On prospects of the 123 agreement, he said he was "hopeful that everything will fall in line". Mukherjee said even if the deal fell through, it will not deal a setback to the Indo-US relationship. "I don't think it will have any adverse impact on the India-US relationship because the India-US relationship is growing," he said. Observing that the deal was "an important landmark" in Indo-US relationship, the Minister hoped the two countries would "reach the successful conclusion" of the present series of negotiations and hence was not looking at prospect of the talks failing. © 2005-2007 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 37 NDTV.com: Nuke deal: Pranab adopts tough stand Last updated: June 11, 2007 09:29 [IST] Sunday, June 10, 2007 (New Delhi) As India made a fresh proposal to break logjam in talks on the civil nuclear deal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked Washington not to ''transfer its problems'' to New Delhi. Emphasising that the reprocessing right was ''absolutely necessary'' for India, Mukherjee maintained that the government would not like the nuclear cooperation agreement to have any impact on the country's indigenous strategic programme. ''They (the US) say that they have some problems. We say do not transfer your problems to us,'' he said, when referred to Washington's reluctance to grant the reprocessing right. He underlined that the reprocessing right to India will have to be specific to it as New Delhi is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its case cannot be compared with that of Japan, China or Eurotom. His comments came as India expressed readiness to set up a dedicated reprocessing facility under safeguards in an effort to break the logjam in talks over the 123 agreement. Transmission Copyright 2007 ***************************************************************** 38 PTR: Nuclear power companies hunker down as uranium prices soar - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The process Uranium undergoes several steps before it's ready to generate nuclear power: * Uranium ore is mined, most often from Canada, Australia or Kazakhstan. * The ore is crushed and milled into "yellowcake" to remove unwanted rock material. (Yellowcake ranges from yellow to black in color.) * The uranium is enriched, via gaseous diffusion or spinning centrifuge, to the desired atomic composition. * That enriched uranium is pressed into pinky-sized cylinders baked at high temperatures into hard, ceramic pellets. * The pellets are loaded into fuel rods that are bundled together as the fuel assemblies for installation into a nuclear reactor. A typical 1,100-megawatt reactor contains 193 fuel assemblies composed of 51,000 fuel rods loaded with about 18 million fuel pellets. By Thomas Olson TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, June 10, 2007 Uranium supplies are down, and demand for nuclear fuel is up. So, guess what's happened to the commodity's price. It's spiked. The spot price of uranium ore jumped from about $18 a pound three years ago to about $43 one year ago. Today, uranium ore costs a whopping $120 a pound. But operators of nuclear power plants say they are hardly ready to pull the plug. And electric customers won't see their bills spike from the uranium run-up either. "The cost of uranium is up significantly over the last several years. But it doesn't have as great an impact as one might think, as far as being competitive with coal or natural gas," said Bill Schalk, spokesman for the 2,160-megawatt Donald C. Cook nuclear plant in Bridgman, Mich., that state's largest plant. Even so, demand for uranium has grown. From about 1990 to 2002, work done at U.S. power plants to increase their capacity brought on-line the equivalent of 25, 1,000-megawatt reactors, said Eric Webb, senior vice president of information services for Ux Consulting Co., a uranium data provider in Roswell, Ga. And while no new U.S. plants have been ordered since 1978, utilities are "contemplating" adding about 30 over the next 15 years. One megawatt can power about 800 homes. "Going forward, we're on the edge of a nuclear renaissance," Webb said. About 25 nuclear power plants are under construction around the world, where about 440 plants are now in use, according to Ux Consulting. Most of the nearly 21,000 megawatts of additional capacity is planned in India, Russia, Taiwan and Japan. Westinghouse Electric Co. in Monroeville won a $5.3 billion contract from China in December to build four reactors, and hopes to win a contract for four more in the next year. China has said it hopes to build at least 30 reactors during the next two decades. And Westinghouse has announced plans to add at least 1,000 high-skilled jobs in Western Pennsylvania to serve such demand. Despite its mystique, uranium itself is not a big part of a power plant's costs. From mining the raw ore to converting it into pellets packed in fuel assemblies, uranium represents barely 18 percent of a typical nuclear plant's operating costs, said Felix Killar, senior director of fuel supply for the Nuclear Energy Institute, Washington. On the other hand, coal amounts to 78 percent of the cost of operating a coal-fired plant, and natural gas amounts to 94 percent of operating a gas-fired one, according to 2005 data. "A well-run nuclear power plant is going to be extremely cost-competitive," with natural gas- and coal-fired plants, said Schalk, whose plant is owned by American Electric Power, Columbus, Ohio, one of the nation's largest electric utilities. AEP serves more than 5 million customers and operates plants fired by uranium, coal and natural gas. "Due to increased worldwide energy demand, all fuel prices are increasing, but nuclear fuel remains competitive," said Dave Dillon, spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Beaver County, the closest nuclear power plant to Pittsburgh. Its two reactor units produce 1,650 megawatts of power. AEP and FirstEnergy would not give detail of their uranium fuel procurement or cost-management strategies, citing competitive and proprietary reasons. But they were not overly concerned about uranium's price spike. "The cost of uranium enrichment and the fuel assembly hasn't risen as fast as the uranium portion," Schalk said. Westinghouse Electric Co., headquartered in Monroeville, produces nuclear fuel rods -- perfectly honed, zirconium-alloy tubing -- at its facility in Blairsville, Indiana County. The fuel rods are shipped to the company's Columbia, S.C., plant (or to another fabricator) to be loaded with uranium pellets and bundled into fuel assemblies. The uranium price spike has many causes behind it, on both the supply and the demand sides. Experts say supply disruptions in recent months at key uranium ore mines in the top two uranium-producing nations -- Canada and Australia -- are a primary reason. The sudden flooding and closure of a uranium mine in Canada, in late October, removed an estimated 10 percent of the world's uranium-ore production capacity. The Cigar Lake mine, operated by Cameco Corp., is the world's second largest deposit of high-grade uranium. But it's located in rugged wooded terrain in upper Saskatchewan, Canada, which is subject to rock slides suspected of causing that flood, as well as a similar one in 2003. Cameco estimated on March 19 that it will not be able to mine uranium ore at Cigar Lake until at least 2010. And even then, the company scaled back annual production estimates to 3 million pounds -- down from the 7 million pounds initially forecast. Uranium spot prices that were $56 a pound before the flood escalated to $72 by early December. The world's second largest uranium producer, Australia, was struck by a cyclone in April 2006. The damage and shut-down of the so-called Ranger mine removed an estimated 4 percent of the world's uranium ore supply through most of this year. "These were unrelated unfortunate events but they had no small effects," said Webb of Ux Consulting Co. "In 2006, about 175 million pounds of uranium was consumed globally, yet only about 102 million pounds were produced," Webb said. Thomas Olson can be reached at tolson@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7854. Tribune-Review Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 39 SPT: Business: Who will staff the nuclear renaissance? St. Petersburg Times. Nuclear power's unlikely revival has left the industry scrambling to fill a demand for qualified professionals. By Christina Rexrode, Times Staff Writer Published June 10, 2007 The nuclear industry skipped a generation. Here's how: Through the 1980s, the '90s and even into the new century, the business seemed headed toward an eventual but certain termination. After the Three Mile Island near-meltdown in 1979, power companies stopped planning for new nuclear plants. The existing plants, it was widely assumed, would be shuttered when their 40-year licenses ran out - just about the time when most of their employees would be ready to retire. More than half of the country's college programs in nuclear engineering were shut down, students stopped majoring in nuclear sciences, and plants stopped hiring. Now, nuclear science is on the brink of a renaissance. New nuclear power plants are being planned. St. Petersburg's Progress Energy Florida, part of a North Carolina power company, expects to build two reactors in Levy County. Florida Power & Light Co., based in Miami, has also said it expects to build a reactor in the state. Many existing plants are getting their licenses extended, including Progress Energy's plant in Crystal River. And nuclear science is becoming more important in medicine, homeland security and energy demands. Environmentalists who once grimaced at the words "nuclear power" increasingly are being won over by its appealing lack of greenhouse gas emissions. The industry's quandary, of course, is that it is expanding at a time when many of its workers are almost ready to call it quits - and there's a cavernous shortage of mid-career workers to take their place. So, more than ever before, nuclear players like power companies, laboratories, government agencies and vendors like AREVA and Westinghouse are aggressively courting fresh-faced college graduates. Dr. Alireza Haghighat, chairman of the University of Florida's Nuclear and Radiological Engineering department, said his students don't even bother applying for jobs. Recruiters are always jockeying for them anyway. "And they are lucky to hire one or two, " he said. This year, about 400 students across the country graduated with bachelor's degrees in nuclear engineering. That's not nearly enough, Haghighat said, because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission alone wants to hire 400 nuclear engineers each year. Starting salaries average about $51, 000, according to the Department of Labor. High demand, high wages - students are starting to notice the once-withering nuclear industry. Even though 400 new engineers per year is short of total demand, it's a fourfold increase from the late '90s. At the University of Florida, when Haghighat arrived in 2001, his department had 74 students. This year, there were 194, and he expects that number to increase in the fall. "They get very high salaries, and they get signing bonuses, and they can demand different things, " Haghighat said of his students. "I told somebody I should apply." Like his students, his department also benefited. Haghighat said he expects the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering department to receive $450, 000 in grants this school year, up from about $40, 000 the year he arrived. Last year, for example, Progress Energy funded labs for radiation detection. This year, the company funded an upgrade for the training reactor. But while employers work hard to court and educate nuclear engineers, they've got other workers to entice, as well. Nuclear plants need operators, electricians, welders and pipe fitters. Health physicists - the scientists specializing in radiation protection - are in especially high demand. In 10 years, the Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that the demand for health physicists will be more than double the supply. Said Tom Veenstra, a spokesman for Florida Power & Light: "We know, with the statistics facing us, that we can't just sit idly by." So, the Department of Labor has named nuclear power as one of the high-growth sectors that it's willing to pump money into for training and recruiting. Last year, several utilities formed the nonprofit Center for Energy Workforce Development to generate buzz about jobs in utilities. Progress Energy, in recent years, reinstituted its co-op program with college students. And Florida Power & Light, for its part, stepped up its military recruiting by joining the Army's Partnership for Youth Success program in March. FPL also has launched programs this year with Miami Dade College (near its Turkey Point plants) and Indian River Community College (near its St. Lucie plants) to offer associate's degrees leading to jobs at the FPL plants in controls, electrical maintenance or mechanical maintenance. Troy Spillman, who is 36 and a senior reactor operator at FPL's St. Lucie site, said the work force demographics have changed since he arrived, to include more young people. When he started at FPL five years ago, he was "one of maybe two people" from St. Lucie to attend the annual conference of North American Young Generation in Nuclear, a young professionals group. This year, St. Lucie sent 14. Christina Rexrode can be reached at crexrode@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8318. By the numbers 15,600 Number of workers in the commercial nuclear energy industry who are eligible to retire in the next five years (27 percent). 8 Percentage of workers who are younger than 32. 47 Approximate median age of workers. 29 Number of U.S. universities with nuclear engineering programs. 65 Number of universities with such programs in 1980. 103 Number of operating nuclear reactors in the country. 48 Number of those that have had their licenses extended by 20 years since 2000. Source: Nuclear Energy Institute Where the reactors are There are five nuclear reactors in Florida: - One in Crystal River (Progress Energy Florida. Expected to apply for renewal in 2009.) - Two in St. Lucie (Florida Power & Light. Granted a 20-year license extension.) - Two in Turkey Point (Florida Power & Light. Granted a 20-year license extension.) Only a handful of states - Alabama, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina - have five or more reactors. Progress Energy Florida has said it expects to build two reactors in Levy County. Florida Power & Light has also said it expects to build a reactor in the state. Sources: Nuclear Energy Institute; Times files Nuclear industry salaries $84,880: Median annual salary for nuclear engineers. (It's higher than all other engineering disciplines, except petroleum engineering. Salaries for nuclear engineers start at about $51, 000.) $64,090: Median annual salary for nuclear power reactor operators. $56,450: Median annual salary for nuclear medicine technologists. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics [Last modified June 8, 2007, 19:46:35] © 2007 · All Rights Reserved · St. Petersburg Times ***************************************************************** 40 Guardian Unlimited: Pakistan Joins Fight on Nuke Terror From the Associated Press Sunday June 10, 2007 11:31 AM By SADAQAT JAN Associated Press Writer ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan will join an international initiative aimed at keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The initiative, however, only applies to civilian ``facilities and activities,'' the ministry said in a statement late Saturday. ``Pakistan has declared that the global initiative does not cover Pakistan's military nuclear facilities or activities.'' The program, known as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, calls on states to improve accounting, control and physical protection of nuclear material and radioactive substances as well as the security of nuclear facilities. It built on an existing ``Proliferation Security Initiative,'' a U.S.-led group of dozens of nations working together to help seize illicit weapons as they are transported around the world. The world's five leading nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - form the core of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. In 2004, the scientist considered to be the father of the Pakistan's nuclear weapons program - Abdul Qadeer Khan - confessed that he had leaked nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya. The ministry appeared keen to show it has moved on since the leaks. ``Pakistan's participation in the global initiative is a manifestation of the fact that nuclear security and export control measures in Pakistan are at par with latest international standards,'' the ministry's statement said. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf - a close ally in the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign - has pardoned Khan for spreading nuclear technology, citing his contribution in making Pakistan a nuclear weapons state, the only country in the Muslim world to possess the capability. Khan lives under tight security - and virtual arrest - at his home in an upscale residential neighborhood of Islamabad. The government says the measures are for his security. Pakistan carried out its first nuclear test in May 1998 after those by rival neighbor India earlier the same month. Pakistan has been invited to the next meeting of the nuclear initiative, in Kazakhstan on June 11-12, the statement said. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 41 [v911t] COOPRADIO.ORG: DU Expert Leuren Moret: 9/11 & DU Update Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:13:55 -0500 (CDT) COOPRADIO.ORG: DU Expert Leuren Moret: 9/11 & DU Update WHEN: Monday June 11, 2007 @ Noon - 1 PM PDT WHERE: COOP RADIO CFRO 102.7 FM www.coopradio.org LISTEN TO MP3 NOW: http://exopolitics.blogs.com/exopolitics_radio/files/leurenmoret911_coopradio.mp3 WHAT: A conversation on Vancouver COOP RADIO with DU Expert Leuren Moret, who is speaking for the first time in Canada on Depleted Uranium and Public Health at Vancouver's 9/11 Truth Conference June 22-24, 2007 Host: Alfred Lambremont Webre JD MEd v911Truth Conference http://www.v911Truth.org Nuclear Free Zone http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/nuclear_free_zone You Tube: ABC TV - Depleted Uranium in Hawaii: Leuren Moret http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L94IUSw54pQ Attack on Iran would result in India feeling nuked: Moret Attack on Iran would result in India feeling nuked: Moret by Dhananjay Khadilkar Thursday, February 15, 2007 8:54:00 PM MUMBAI: Attack on Iran would be nothing short of a low level nuclear war against India. That's the opinion of Leuren Moret, a former scientist at the Livermore nuclear laboratory, who was here for a conference. Talking to DNA, Moret said that if the US attacks Iran, then India would bear its disastrous consequences in the form of uranium oxide particles which would remain suspended over the northern part of the country. According to Moret, it won't take more than two days for the uranium particles to reach India. Egypt, the Middle East, Central Asia and Pakistan too would get affected, she added. Moret stated that the population staying in this region would become vulnerable to diseases like cancer and diabetes. Terming the suspended Uranium particles as DNA time bomb, she said that because of the affinity of a phosphate in human DNA towards uranium, these particles destroy the DNA. Thus the disastrous effects of depleted Uranium won't be limited to one generation only. According to Moret, depleted uranium is the Trojan horse of nuclear war. "It is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction," she added. The pyrophoric nature of depleted uranium causes it to burn at very low temperatures. This makes it an ideal radioactive gas weapon. "Once it gets vapourised, microscopic particles of Uranium oxide remain suspended and form the radioactive component of dust," Moret said. Moret added that depleted uranium was introduced for the first time in the Gulf War in 1991. Extensive carpet bombing in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan has already resulted in radioactive pollution over areas in Asia and Europe. Moret further said that the amount of low-level radioactive pollution from depleted uranium since 1991 is equivalent to at least 400,000 Nagasaki bombs. She said that the mysterious illnesses and post-war birth defects reported among Gulf War veterans and civilians in Iraq, and radiation related illnesses in UN Peacekeepers serving in Yugoslavia is a testimony to the dangers posed by depleted uranium. Original article: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1080179 URL of this article: http://peaceinspace.blogs.com/nuclear_free_zone/2007/06/attack_on_iran_.html ***************************************************************** 42 Times-News: Idaho downwinders applaud request for oversight hearings Magicvalley.com, Twin Falls, ID Story published at magicvalley.com on Sunday, June 10, 2007 Ready for justice By Blair Koch Times-News correspondent TWIN FALLS - Between 1951 and 1962, Idaho and surrounding states were targeted by the federal government to receive radioactive fallout from nuclear test explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site. Decades later, people who were exposed to the fallout - called downwinders - are paying the consequences. Downwinders in the Gem State, however, still are not considered for fallout compensation, despite a 1997 study by the National Cancer Institute that showed four of the top five counties in the country hit by radiation from weapons testing are located in Idaho. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), passed in 1990, allows victims in 21 counties in southern Utah, eastern Nevada and northern Arizona who suffer from any of 19 different cancers to receive up to $75,000. But Idaho's downwinders are optimistic they too will receive compensation from the government. Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, have requested an oversight hearing on RECA and its July 2000 amendments, with the possibility of expanding legislation to cover individuals exposed to radioactive fallout who are not currently covered. "This is the first step and (Simpson) is very dedicated to seeing this through," said Nikki Watts, Simpson's communication director. "It is important to bring this issue to the forefront and educate the House. By joining with Congressman Matheson we have formed a bipartisan effort to take the politics out of this to focus on the issue." The congressmen would like to see arbitrary boundaries lifted and for the act to help individuals affected by the fallout. "The fallout didn't stop at county lines and neither should compensation," Watts said. For cancer survivor Ilene Hoisington of Twin Falls, the call for a Judiciary Committee oversight hearing is good news. The spry 75-year-old, born in 1942, grew up in Jerome. She was first diagnosed with cancer of the larynx in 1986. "They told me if I made it 10 years after the treatment without it coming back, I would be considered healed. I made it eight years," she said. "We had just moved to Lewiston and my throat was sore all the time and I was losing weight. The cancer was then in my esophagus." Hoisington, now a neck breather, pointed to a quarter-size hole in her neck left by surgery to remove her larynx. She lost a son in 1987 due to a degenerative bone disease, and in 2004 she lost a sister and another son due to cancer - all which she attributes to the fallout. Her sister died just 10 days after a hearing took place in Boise. "That hearing was to see if the National Academy of Sciences should recommend that Idaho be included in RECA," Hoisington said. "After we were told no, it was devastating. There were so many people there so sad about the effects from the fallout. It isn't just the person whose health or life has been taken, but the family and friends as well." Jeannie Burkhart is hopeful that the congressmen's call for a hearing gets results. Burkhart, 52, lives in Fresno, Calif., but grew up in Twin Falls. For more than 35 years she has lived with leiomyosarcoma, a type of cancer that never goes into remission and has an appetite for organs. On average, she undergoes surgery every four years to remove the advancing cancer. "After the dismal response we got from the NSA, I'm not real optimistic, but I am pleased that our issue has come up," she said. "I hope they pick it up and make it right." She said monetary compensation might help with medical expenses, but that's not her primary objective. "It has nothing to do with the money. Because I have a history of cancer, I can't get insurance and each surgery I have costs about $80,000, so the amount they are offering won't go far. What we deserve is to be acknowledged and be offered an apology. That is all we have wanted all along," she said. Preston Truman of Malad is the founder and director of Downwinders, an organization representing Idaho victims. Truman remembers the bombs from his childhood in Nevada. One of his first childhood memories is sitting on his father's lap to watch the mushroom clouds. "They used to tell people to go out and watch history take place," he said. "Nobody knew it would be bad for you." He calls the hearing request a step in the right direction. "The government knows damn well that the fallout went here," he said. "The only thing that hasn't (come here) is justice." Times-News correspondent Blair Koch can be reached at blairkoch@gmail.com or at 316-2607. Copyright © 2006, Lee Publications Inc. Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News, published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St., ***************************************************************** 43 Times of India: Nuclear safety foolproof - Kakodkar-Health/Science Updated: 11 Jun, 2007 0430hrs IST | Powered by Indiatimes 10 Jun, 2007 l 1611 hrs ISTlPTI CHENNAI: The Indian nuclear safety system is foolproof and had been acclaimed globally, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Sunday. "This is because of the strength of the Indian scientific community, which the world considers the best as regards nuclear technology," he said while inaugurating the advanced Seismic Testing and Research Laboratory at CSIR's structural engineering research centre here. The scientific community, he said, were responsible to society as the institutes in which scientists worked were built with taxpayers' money. "You have to pay dividends for the investments made through taxpayers' money and the best for this is cooperation and collaboration between various scientific bodies," he said. Collaborative working with a defined objective will pay maximum dividends for investments made from taxpayers' money, he said. The Atomic Energy Commission wanted close coordination between SERC and AEC as the former's services are needed for the civil structure of nuclear reactors, he said. CSIR Director General T Ramasami said the new laboratory will develop quake-resistance buildings that would minimise the loss of lives. Earthquakes could not be prevented but at least the loss of lives could be prevented, he said. Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. For ***************************************************************** 44 deseretnews.com: Downwinders may have a new worry - genetic damage. Sunday, June 10, 2007 By Joe Bauman Deseret Morning News Downwinders may have a new worry: genetic damage. A study of New Zealand Navy veterans who say they were exposed to atomic fallout found a striking rate of genetic damage, the kind that can cause cancer, says R.E. "Al" Rowland, a professor who headed the research team. Utahns and others who lived downwind from the Nevada Test Site during open-air nuclear blasts of the 1950s and early '60s should have genetic testing, says Rowland, senior lecturer in genetics and plant biology at Massey University in Auckland. "For downwinders, it's never over," said Mary Dickson, a Salt Lake City anti-nuclear activist who is a member of the group Downwinders United. "We have a lifetime of medical follow-up and the expenses. Now we have to worry about what radiation damage does to future generations." In a telephone interview, Massey said that as far as official government records are concerned, "We have no idea whether (the navy veterans) were even exposed to anything" during the open-air tests in the central Pacific Ocean, which were dubbed Operation Grapple. Radiation detection badges worn during the 1957-58 test series are no longer available. Also, Massey said he believes officials maintain the men were not exposed. But medical evidence apparently indicates otherwise. The New Zealand frigates Pukaki and Rotoiti were stationed between 20 and 150 nautical miles upwind from the detonations, which took place between Christmas Island and Malden Island in the central Pacific. Altogether, nine bombs were exploded in the experiments, carried out by the British government. "After each explosion they turned around and, from what I was told, they sailed through ground zero," he said. "There's no indication how much radiation they received." Veterans later expressed concern about radiation exposure and complained of a variety of ailments. In 1999, the government of New Zealand contributed a research grant of $100,000 in that country's currency to the New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans Association. Other groups contributed a like amount, and Massey University used the money to carry out the research. The report was released May 14. Researchers were careful to use veterans and a control group made of volunteers who matched the veterans in many aspects. One difference is that the former navy men tended to smoke more in their youth. However, the report says other studies found no link between smoking and this type of genetic problem, and a subdivision between smokers and nonsmokers found no significant causation. Three genetic tests were carried out. Two were to check for the ability of the body to repair genetic damage, and in these tests there was no difference between the veterans and the control group. But the third test ? called the "mFISH procedure," which attempts to spot actual genetic damage ? had far worse results for the veterans. The rate of chromosomal translocations, where bits of genetic material become detached and reattached to the wrong places, was 10 translocations in 1,000 cells for the control group. "We found in the veterans, on average, 29 per 1,000 cells, and that is high," Rowland said. In the report, the veterans were reported to have "an extraordinarily high number of total stable translocations...." "I found evidence of genetic damage, that's all I can report." After accounting for every other possible cause for the difference, he said, "We submit it's radiation exposure." Translocations can prompt cancer. Under certain conditions, a cell affected by translocations can "give constant, continuous signals: divide, divide, divide," he said. "And that's a cancer cell." DNA repair mechanisms were still working well for the veterans. That led the researchers to believe "there must still be a lot of, we suspect, alpha (radioactive) particles in their systems today" that are still causing damage. He said DNA repairs can't keep pace with the damage because there are so many translocations. Massey University's online news ? masseynews.massey.ac.nz ? quotes a veterans group chairman as saying more than 400 of the 551 sailors who took part in Operation Grapple have died. Asked if such a study would be worthwhile for Utahns who lived downwind from the Nevada Test Site, Rowland said, "Indeed it is.... Exactly it is." J Truman, a former southern Utahn who lives in Malad, Idaho, and heads Downwinders United, called for better answers about harm from atomic testing. "There are enough of us downwinders, already," he said. Truman worried that there could be "many more we don't fully know about, among our children and grandchildren," harmed through genetic damage. E-mail: bau@desnews.com © 2007 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 45 Sunday Herald: Sturgeon Pressed To Release Secret Nhs Cancer Files June 11, 2007 Est 1999 Scotland's award-winning independent newspaper NHS guilty of ‘outrageously bad epidemiology’ By Rob Edwards and John Bynorth NEW ALLEGATIONS about the cancer risks from radioactive contamination of the Solway Firth are putting pressure on the cabinet secretary for health, Nicola Sturgeon, to release statistics kept secret by the NHS. Campaigners claim that children living near the Dumfries and Galloway shoreline are twice as likely to contract leukaemia as those living further inland. They blame sea pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria and from the firing of depleted uranium shells at a military range near Kirkcudbright. In scientific critiques passed to the Sunday Herald, Richard Bramhall from the Low Level Radiation Campaign and Chris Busby from Green Audit attack an NHS study from last year for missing the link. It failed to take account of the distorting effect of inland contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, they say. Though their findings are dismissed as "fundamentally flawed" by the NHS, other experts back the need for detailed cancer statistics to be released so that the dangers can be independently checked. The NHS in Scotland is making freedom of information history by appealing to the House of Lords in an attempt to keep such statistics under wraps. The NHS was guilty of "outrageously bad epidemiology", alleged Bramhall. "To take the case to the House of Lords in a continued attempt to keep the information secret is a culpable waste of public money, a dereliction of their duty to public health and an insult to the suffering of the leukaemia children." An NHS spokeswoman responded by pointing out that its study had been peer reviewed by experts, while Bramhall and Busby's critiques had not. "We would wish to take time to study their analysis before commenting further," she said. "However, preliminary assessment gives us the clear impression that the basis of their argument is fundamentally flawed." According to John Urquhart, an independent epidemiologist from Newcastle, the suggestion that a Chernobyl effect had been overlooked may be legitimate. But he argued that the numbers of childhood leukaemia cases were so small that it was impossible to tell. "To get a true picture we need to see all the cancer data put into the public domain so that it can be independently assessed," he said. Childhood leukaemia statistics for every census ward in Dumfries and Galloway were first requested by the Scottish Green Party in January 2005. After they were withheld on the grounds that they could enable the identification of individual patients, the Greens appealed to the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion. Dunion ordered the release of the information, but was taken to the Court of Session in Edinburgh by the NHS. The NHS lost, so have now taken the unprecedented step of appealing to the House of Lords in London. Since the election, the Green MSP Robin Harper has been urging Sturgeon to step in and order the release of the information. She has refused, however, urging the Greens to meet with the NHS to talk about what can be released. "Doubts over the child cancer risks in southwest Scotland will only be removed when the NHS discloses the information that it has been ordered to disclose by the Scottish Information Commissioner and the Court of Session," said Harper. "That why we've asked Nicola Sturgeon to intervene and order the NHS to stop wasting public money and release the information, and why we are repeating that request again." The row over cancer risks and statistics coincides with the arrival of an anti-nuclear protest march in Kirkcudbright this week. Organised by Footprints For Peace, marchers left Dublin on May 13 in and aim to reach London by August 6. "We have concerns about the seafood and fishing industry because of effects of enriched uranium which has fallen into the Solway," said local church minister Alistair Mackichan. "The march is illustrating the close links between the nuclear power industry and weapons." But risks from the Kirkcudbright firing range were dismissed as "minimal" by its commandant, Nigel Davies. "All of the missile depleted uranium tips have been fired into three metres of mud in the Solway. The amount of radiation they give off is the same as a smoke alarm." Add Comment Posted by: Ron, Just down the road on 2:30am Sun 10 Jun 07 Release the figures, Nicola. The attitude of the NHS on this matter has been a total disgrace. Dare I say "If they have nothing to hide....." We are all looking to the new Government to empty the closet of skeletons, and this is the perfect opportunity to start clearing out the nuclear legacy cover-ups. Release the figures, Nicola. The attitude of the NHS on this matter has been a total disgrace. Dare I say "If they have nothing to hide....." We are all looking to the new Government to empty the closet of skeletons, and this is the perfect opportunity to start clearing out the nuclear legacy cover-ups. Quote | Report this post Posted by: Peter Cherbi, Edinburgh on 2:56am Sun 10 Jun 07 #Ron, Just down the road Totally agree - I think we need to also know the cost of what happened including the figures on the financial cost of the NHS's obstruction & tactics, including the legal costs of course, in this matter ... #Ron, Just down the road Totally agree - I think we need to also know the cost of what happened including the figures on the financial cost of the NHS's obstruction & tactics, including the legal costs of course, in this matter ... Quote | Report this post Posted by: pehman, sussex on 6:48am Sun 10 Jun 07 I agree with the others, release the figures Nicola. This is news to me and also of personal concern as for 6 years we had a caravan parked in Southerness, where my childern played often on the shore and in the water. I agree with the others, release the figures Nicola. This is news to me and also of personal concern as for 6 years we had a caravan parked in Southerness, where my childern played often on the shore and in the water. Quote | Report this post Posted by: Richard Bramhall, Llandrindod Wells, Wales on 7:46am Sun 10 Jun 07 It's not wise for the NHS spokeswoman to start comparing expertise. Dr. Busby, who showed the flaws in the Cancer Registry study, is a reviewer for the European Journal of Biology and Bioelectromagnetics, the European Journal of Cancer, and the Journal of Public Health, a member of two UK Government advisory committees, and author of many articles, reports and books about radiation and health. It's not wise for the NHS spokeswoman to start comparing expertise. Dr. Busby, who showed the flaws in the Cancer Registry study, is a reviewer for the European Journal of Biology and Bioelectromagnetics, the European Journal of Cancer, and the Journal of Public Health, a member of two UK Government advisory committees, and author of many articles, reports and books about radiation and health. Quote | Report this post Posted by: doug fox, honaunau, hawaii on 9:11am Sun 10 Jun 07 We in Hawaii have a problem with DU contamination. DU primarily contaminates air through burning smoke and soil and water where it can remobilize into the air and circulate in the environment. It is a known leukemia agent in Iraq. We in Hawaii have a problem with DU contamination. DU primarily contaminates air through burning smoke and soil and water where it can remobilize into the air and circulate in the environment. It is a known leukemia agent in Iraq. Quote | Report this post Posted by: LeftsaidFred, Fife on 10:38am Sun 10 Jun 07 The nuclear and cancer establishments are serpentine. They use a chain of falsehoods to ensure that man made causes for the majority of cancers are kept concealed. Their victims are not just deceived but also suckered into pouring Łbillions into research designed never to shine a light on the real initiating causes of cancer. The focus is always on progression mechanisms geared to 'treatments' for the financial benefit of big Pharma and the medical wing of the nuclear industry. Massive profits always trump human safety. In this instance we have the serpent's nest - the military-nuclear establishment. Truly a twisted world. www.canceractive.com The nuclear and cancer establishments are serpentine. They use a chain of falsehoods to ensure that man made causes for the majority of cancers are kept concealed. Their victims are not just deceived but also suckered into pouring Łbillions into research designed never to shine a light on the real initiating causes of cancer. The focus is always on progression mechanisms geared to 'treatments' for the financial benefit of big Pharma and the medical wing of the nuclear industry. Massive profits always trump human safety. In this instance we have the serpent's nest - the military-nuclear establishment. Truly a twisted world. www.canceractive.com Quote | Report this post Posted by: Niall Aslen, Cairnbulg Aberdeenshire on 12:55pm Sun 10 Jun 07 Nicola, Publish and be damned by the self interested authorities trying to cover up the scale of radiation linked cancers such as myeloma (Cancer of the bone marrow) caused by the Chernobyl fallout. Prior to 1986 there was ONE case per 800,000 Scots and since then there have been 1,000's. I know of 160+ in Grampian alone including myself and the Cancer unit is not allowed to publish the statistics in case the public panic. What I want is the stark truth without all the cover ups and prevarications. Nicola, Publish and be damned by the self interested authorities trying to cover up the scale of radiation linked cancers such as myeloma (Cancer of the bone marrow) caused by the Chernobyl fallout. Prior to 1986 there was ONE case per 800,000 Scots and since then there have been 1,000's. I know of 160+ in Grampian alone including myself and the Cancer unit is not allowed to publish the statistics in case the public panic. What I want is the stark truth without all the cover ups and prevarications. Quote | Report this post Posted by: Bob Nichols, San Francisco, California on 2:00pm Sun 10 Jun 07 Dr Ernest Sternglass caught the US government falsifying cancer data in the 1960s. The government liars said the same kinds of things. Nothing changes. If the nuclear industry's and their sycophants' mouths are moving, they are lying. In 1963 Dr. Sternglass was invited by President Kennedy to address the US Senate on the issue of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He has been active in the to prevent just this sort of lying by nuclear authorities and frightened civil servants for over 40 years. The only solution is the light of day. Release the data, Nicola. Dr Ernest Sternglass caught the US government falsifying cancer data in the 1960s. The government liars said the same kinds of things. Nothing changes. If the nuclear industry's and their sycophants' mouths are moving, they are lying. In 1963 Dr. Sternglass was invited by President Kennedy to address the US Senate on the issue of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He has been active in the to prevent just this sort of lying by nuclear authorities and frightened civil servants for over 40 years. The only solution is the light of day. Release the data, Nicola. Quote | Report this post Posted by: Nick, London on 2:47pm Sun 10 Jun 07 Only a small quantity of DU was aerosolised at Kirkcudbright, the rest ended up in the sea (where it corrodes and is dispersed - and is insignificant compared with natural uranium and other radionuclides, natural and anthropogenic). There are far worse DU contamination incidents, where health affects if any, are too subtle to have been proven. I very much doubt DU is significant here. If the registry data can identify individuals, it would be unethical to release it in that form, perhaps it could be released in a more acceptable form. However, Busby has made several controversial and unsubstantiated claims in the press - look at his track record over DU follow the stories up. They lead nowhere. Whilst we may recognise government propaganda, very few recognise the propaganda of left-wing peace campaigners. What is the real motive here? Only a small quantity of DU was aerosolised at Kirkcudbright, the rest ended up in the sea (where it corrodes and is dispersed - and is insignificant compared with natural uranium and other radionuclides, natural and anthropogenic). There are far worse DU contamination incidents, where health affects if any, are too subtle to have been proven. I very much doubt DU is significant here. If the registry data can identify individuals, it would be unethical to release it in that form, perhaps it could be released in a more acceptable form. However, Busby has made several controversial and unsubstantiated claims in the press - look at his track record over DU follow the stories up. They lead nowhere. Whilst we may recognise government propaganda, very few recognise the propaganda of left-wing peace campaigners. What is the real motive here? Quote | Report this post Posted by: LeftsaidFred, Fife on 6:40pm Sun 10 Jun 07 The real Weapons of Mass Destruction - US & UK uranium munitions - look no further Soaring cancer rate and birth deformities in Iraq - http://www.wsws.org/ articles/2005/may200 5/iraq-m10.shtml and the cancer establishment trot out the diversionary excuses. Meanwhile the Chernobyl people struggle to get the World Health Organisation to throw off its subservience to the nuclear industry promoters of the IAEA, enforced by the '1959 Deal' - http://www.independe ntwho.info/spip.php? rubrique5 The real Weapons of Mass Destruction - US & UK uranium munitions - look no further Soaring cancer rate and birth deformities in Iraq - http://www.wsws.org/ articles/2005/may200 5/iraq-m10.shtml and the cancer establishment trot out the diversionary excuses. Meanwhile the Chernobyl people struggle to get the World Health Organisation to throw off its subservience to the nuclear industry promoters of the IAEA, enforced by the '1959 Deal' - http://www.independe ntwho.info/spip.php? rubrique5 ©2007 newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 46 MNT: High Rate Of Health Concerns Among Iraq And Afghanistan War Veterans Middle East: Medical News Today Main Category: Aid / Disasters News Article Date: 09 Jun 2007 - 0:00 PDT Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have a wide range of health concerns, including a 55 percent prevalence of mental health issues, reports a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). Dr. Drew A. Helmer and colleagues analyzed the health concerns of 56 veterans, 45 men and 11 women of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Each veteran underwent a comprehensive health evaluation at the War-Related Illness and Injury Study Center, located at the VA New Jersey Health Care System in East Orange, N.J. Of the 56 participants, 17 were active-duty veterans, average age 28 years, and 39 were reservists, average age 36 years. Average length and time of deployment was eight months and fifteen months respectively. The evaluations turned up many and varied issues, including an average of four physical health concerns per veteran. Musculoskeletal problems were the most common, followed by ear, nose, and throat (ENT) problems, and gastrointestinal issues. Reservists had more physical health concerns than active-duty personnel - 4.4 versus 3.1. Fifty-five percent of the veterans had one or more mental health concerns, most commonly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Reservists had a somewhat higher rate of PTSD than active-duty personnel 48.7 versus 35.3 percent although the difference was not significant. Concerns about potentially hazardous exposures were also common - an average of 2.7 per veteran. The most frequent concerns were exposure to smoke from burning trash and to human waste, vaccinations, and depleted uranium (used in munitions). Although few veterans had current health problems related to toxic exposures, they were concerned about the possibility of long-term effects. There is growing interest in how combat and other deployment experiences affect the health of U.S. military personnel. Routine postdeployment screening programs have provided useful information for policy decisions, "but they do not provide the clinical detail necessary for health care providers to prepare and deliver individualized care to recently deployed service members," the researchers write. Dr. Helmer and colleagues call for additional, multidisciplinary services to address the high prevalence and diversity of health concerns among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. They suggest that screening for common physical health problems such as knee pain, back pain, and rhinitis/sinusitis should be added to current postdeployment screening programs for returning veterans. They also urge health care providers to learn about the possible health effects of potentially hazardous exposures related to deployment, and to allow time to discuss these concerns with returning veterans. ACOEM (http://www.acoem.org), an international society of 5,000 occupational physicians and other health care professionals, provides leadership to promote optimal health and safety of workers, workplaces, and environments. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 530 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19106 United States http://www.lww.com Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions © 2007 MediLexicon International Ltd ***************************************************************** 47 IAEA: News Centre: Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy * IAEA.org PACT Partners Support Budding National Cancer Control Plan 7 June 2007 Tanzania, one of the world’s ten poorest nations, is facing a cancer crisis with as many as 35,000 new cases expected a year. Last week, an interagency mission to Dar es Salaam applauded steps taken towards building a National Cancer Control Plan and pledged continued support in tackling the growing cancer burden. The team from PACT and its international partners* visited the East African country 28-31 May 2007 to review current cancer control efforts and build on recommendations made in May 2006. The visit was coordinated by the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI), the country’s only cancer hospital with radiation therapy capabilities. Welcoming the mission, ORCI Executive Director Dr. Twalib Ngoma said: “We are making progress but we rely on PACT and our international partners to support and guide us in where we go from here and how we will get there.” ORCI is already struggling to cope with an influx of 3000 new patients and up to 10,000 follow-up visits a year—figures which will increase dramatically as early detection techniques improve. Radiotherapy is a valuable tool for both the curative and palliative treatment of cancer. Through the IAEA, an Equinox Cobalt-60 radiotherapy machine was installed in July 2006 and a second one, donated by PACT, will become operational later this year. For over two decades, the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme has provided Tanzania with equipment, expertise and training in the field of cancer treatment. But the need to raise awareness and develop cancer control at the national level is crucial. The interagency partners welcomed the government’s appointment of a Steering Committee drawn from both medical and civil society. With the authority of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and expert guidance from ORCI, it is hoped the Steering Committee will expedite efforts to build and strengthen Tanzania’s National Cancer Control Plan. Underlining the importance of Tanzanian leadership of the plan, PACT mission leader Daniel Malin said: “International partners can advise and provide stimulation for a National Cancer Control Plan, but Tanzanian ownership is foremost. In this it is imperative that the government plays a role.” During the four-day series of meetings and workshops, PACT and its partners exchanged views with those on the frontline of executing the plan—ORCI medical staff and representatives of the Tanzanian government. It was agreed the elements should include increased screening for common cancers; earlier detection of cancers and the delivery of curative treatment; improved public awareness of early cancer detection and its prevention; enhanced palliative care; and the expansion of radiotherapy centres. The urgent need to reach Tanzania’s far-flung rural communities by implementing cancer control measures at a regional level was emphasized by all stakeholders. In this the IAEA is active in expanding nuclear medicine and radiotherapy capabilities in Bugando Hospital in Mwanza, northern Tanzania. Promising government support, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Deo Mtasiwa, said: “The message is out that Tanzania is taking a lead in the fight against cancer and the Ministry is looking at ways to help move the process forward, fast.” These include training staff and establishing screening initiatives in regional hospitals, especially for breast, cervical and prostate cancers. Dr. Mtasiwa added that the budget for this was already in place. In early May leading cancer experts and policymakers met in London, UK, to voice support for an action plan aimed at tackling Africa’s growing cancer crisis. The action plan builds on the Cape Town Declaration of December 2006: a document designed to bolster awareness and commitments to meet growing cancer needs in Africa. * PACT’s partners in the mission to Tanzania included: * American Cancer Society * International Agency for Research on Cancer * International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research * International Union Against Cancer * World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa * Copyright International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria * Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: pact@iaea.org IAEA. PACT ***************************************************************** 48 The Tribune: Low demand makes uranium good as gold Bill Jackson, (Bio) bjackson@greeleytribune.com June 10, 2007 Uranium could be the next gold rush of the West, industry analysts say. That may be the reason why Powertech Uranium Corp. plans to mine uranium in northern Weld County. The company's Centennial project north of Nunn includes 5,760 acres of uranium mineral rights in Weld, according to the company. Richard Blubaugh, president of environment, health and safety for Powertech, said the company is, at a minimum, three years or more from beginning actual mining operations. The company is going through the process of obtaining federal, state and Weld County permits before any mining can begin. "But that's just a projection. It could take longer than that," Blubaugh said. And when mining begins, uranium prices could be quite generous, one expert predicts. Keith Kohl, editor of EnergyandCapital.com, said in his latest report that the price of uranium has increased from $20 a pound in 2005 to a current level of $120 per pound. He does not see that upward trend to stop any time soon. "I expect uranium to top $255 a pound by the end of 2008," Kohl said in the report. Kohl said the price is being driven by a demand for nuclear power. Only 60 percent of the requirements of the world's nuclear power is being supplied. About 16 percent of the world's electricity is supplied from 440 nuclear generators. But Kohl said there are 29 new reactors under construction and another 66 are being planned. Japan intends to add 11 more by 2010, and China hopes to add 24-30 by 2020, he said. The supply-demand balance for uranium, he said, is tighter than any other major commodity. Energy and Capital, an online journal dedicated to energy, said finding highly concentrated deposits of uranium in large quantities is difficult. More than 50 percent of all the uranium produced from mines comes from Canada and Australia. In Weld, Powertech plans to use a method called in-situ recovery, a process that mining companies say is safer than traditional operations. The process is done by injecting a bicarbonate solution that will mobilize the uranium. Blubaugh said Powertech's drilling should be a couple of hundreds of feet deep and will create some noise but not as much as an oil-drilling site, which drills thousands of feet below ground level. There are, however, residents in Weld who have said that process will destroy their drinking water. They have organized to protest any mining operations. Uranium mining in Weld » Uranium mining is not new to Weld County. Uranium test sites were done in 1979 in the Grover and Keota area. According to Carol Shwayder's book on Weld County history, the Wyoming Mineral Corp. of Fort Collins operated a leaching plant at the site. » A year ago, Powertech Uranium Corp. bought the mineral rights to the 5,780 acres of land from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Blubaugh said the company before Anadarko -- Rocky Mountain Energy Co. -- tested sites in northern Colorado and found uranium deposits throughout. All contents © Copyright 2007 greeleytrib.com The Greeley Publishing Co. - P.O. Box 1690 - Greeley, CO 80632 ***************************************************************** 49 Times of India: 'Storing spent fuel beneficial' 10 Jun, 2007 l 0212 hrs ISTlSrinivas Laxman/TIMES NEWS NETWORK MUMBAI: President of Indian Nuclear Society (INS) Placid Rodrigues has said that the latest proposal of New Delhi to set up a fully safeguarded facility to store spent fuel will prove advantageous to this country because it will help India's strategic programmes. Speaking to TOI from Chennai on Saturday, the INS chief said, "It will certainly benefit India because spent fuel from the civilian and military nuclear facilities will not be mixed up." "The inspectors will be convinced that we are not diverting spent fuel from civilian reactors for weapon purposes," he said. "Such an unit in my opinion will also help our three-stage nuclear programme since fast breeder reactors are now out of the civilian list of nuclear facilities. If this project materialises it will not affect our nuclear autonomy," he said. The plan was announced at the G-8 summit in Berlin on Friday following a meeting between national security advisor M K Narayanan and his US counterpart Stephen Hadley prior to the session between PM Manmohan Singh and US president George Bush. Rodrigues said the creation of such a facility could also be a prelude for establishing regional centres for reprocessing spent fuel which has been on the cards for quite sometime. Former Barc chief A N Prasad told TOI from Bangalore that the latest proposal "was better than some of the earlier plans." "But, the question is whether it will result in us losing our flexibility to implement our nuclear programmes?" Said Prasad, "If the new dedicated facility stops operating because of a technical problem or for any other reason, it could affect our programmes. The existing plants, cannot be used if this happens." Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. For ***************************************************************** 50 Daily News Journal: Too late to stop radiation dumping? www.dnj.com - By SCOTT BRODEN sbroden@dnj.com State legislation to stop more radioactive materials from being dumped at a Murfreesboro landfill is needed, even if it's too late for this year, Rep. Donna Rowland said. "I'm looking for a bill where we could address it this year," said Rowland, who believes, at a minimum, the state could demand a moratorium on the dumping. The Murfreesboro Republican said she is confident that if the Legislature can't take action before this year's session ends, other state authorities can take steps to ensure that the Middle Point Landfill on Jefferson Pike will not continue to take on more hazardous material. "I am realistic enough to know you can't just continue to bury trash and just forget about it," said Rowland. "There are other avenues out there. Now is a perfect time to look at alternatives for waste management that exist." The Rutherford County Commission's Public Works and Planning Committee voted last week to ask Gov. Phil Bredesen, local state representatives and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to take action to stop all dumping of radioactive materials at the landfill. The landfill has been receiving low-level radioactive waste since at least the early 1990s under a special state program. "I can guarantee all residents are worried about it," said Kim Gibbs, who lives in the Walter Hill community, where the landfill is located. "It's on our water supply. It's sitting on the banks of the Stones River. I think it's risky business to begin with." The landfill went from collecting 165,000 pounds of low-level radioactive waste in 2004 to 10.1 million pounds in 2005. The spike was in large part from a Michigan nuclear reactor that was decommissioned and dismantled, county officials have said. In 2006, 1.3 million pounds were dumped. The high amount of radioactive waste being dumped at Middle Point came to light last month with the publishing of a report by a nuclear watchdog organization, Nuclear Information and Resource Service. Since the report was published, a group of county residents has started the organization, "Citizens to End Nuclear Dumping in Tennessee," and is circulating a petition calling for the end of radioactive dumping in state landfills. Many residents packed the bleachers at Walter Hill Elementary School a few years ago to learn about expansion plans for the landfill, Gibbs recalled. "The residents were concerned about what was going on at that dump and why it was smelling so bad," Gibbs said. "It has to be done responsibly. Everybody there was worried about the smell coming from the dump. It's obvious that the Walter Hill citizens don't count. The people didn't want it." The landfill began the expansion last year. The expansion, which added 70 more acres to the landfill's original 138-acre footprint, is estimated to extend the life of the landfill from 15 to 20 more years. Rowland added she's been tracking issues at the landfill for years. "This is just a part of a long list of problems with Middle Point Landfill," said Rowland, noting that she'd like to also find solutions on what to do with hazardous materials that have already been dumped there. The state needs to gather information about "what we are putting into our dumps," she added. TDEC officials have said they will hold "public discussions" involving the dumping at the landfill. They have also asked landfill officials to test water from the site for radioactivity. The Public Works and Planning Committee asked County Mayor Ernest Burgess last week to bring representatives of the Tennessee Division of Radiological Health, Division of Solid Waste and the landfill before the committee to explain why the commission was never told about the dumping. The dumping should not be news to many of them, said State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro. A former commissioner who left this office in 1998, Ketron said commissioners were informed about former County Mayor Nancy Allen signing a landfill contract with BFI that would include hazardous waste that had much lower levels of radioactive materials than can be found in the average home. No one on the commission questioned the landfill issue in the mid- to late1990s, Ketron said. The state senator, though, said he understands why people worry about the dumping being a public-safety threat. "I think the state can go in and do the proper monitoring and go from there," Ketron said. The waste is being dumped by four licensed companies: IMPACT, RACE, Toxco and Duratek/Energy Solutions. The companies, which are overseen by TDEC, are responsible for making sure the level of radiation is what is claimed, officials have said. The radioactive materials being dumped in the landfill include gravel, soil, asphalt and metal building materials from places such as decommissioned nuclear reactors. — Scott Broden, (615) 278-5158 Copyright ©2007 The Daily News Journal. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 51 Denver Post: Ready ore not, uranium booming Denver Post Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 06/10/2007 01:26:42 AM MDT Gateway - Plans for 100 new nuclear power plants around the world have pushed the price of uranium skyward and set off a frenzy of exploration in western Colorado and Utah. More than 18,000 new mining claims in the two states have been filed in the past year. The number of uranium companies snatching them up has jumped from 10 to more than 400 over the past couple of years. And since 2002, when the yellow-and-orange-tinged ore fell to $7 a pound, the price has climbed nearly 1,900 percent. This area of the country holds a rare and valuable combination of uranium and vanadium - both processed from the same ore - and pieces are falling into place to turn exploration into a full-fledged mining boom. "I think it's going to go big- time this time," said Terry Bunker, who has ridden out 40 years of ups and downs since he began, at 14, mining uranium with his father near Uravan. Bunker once again has strapped on his miner's belt and is going into the dank depths of the Whirlwind Mine, where miners are shoring up a tunnel in anticipation of hauling out ore this year. Nearly everything is in place to "go" - from the miners' dusting off jack-leg drills and Geiger counters to the $138-a-pound- and-still-climbing price for uranium, coupled with worldwide demand that outstrips supply by 80 million tons. There are 440 nuclear power plants operating in the world, using much of the world's processed uranium. An additional 100 are expected to be built, increasing demand for the metal. That push has the makings of a uranium boom on the order of the 1950s atomic delirium that swept across the Uravan Mineral Belt - one of the richest uranium deposits in the country - when Charlie Steen hit his mother lode and turned Moab into a hotbed of millionaires. But out here, where Marie Curie once packed uranium out by mule and where the metal for the world's first atomic bomb was chipped out of rock walls, the feeling is more of a horse race before the starting bell. "This is the slowest boom I've ever seen," joked longtime miner Johnny Dufur, whose family is sitting on 70 claims in southeastern Utah. Dozens of companies are refurbishing old mines or drilling new ones in the Uravan belt, which curves across western Colorado and eastern Utah. At least three companies plan to reopen or start mills. One company is proposing to dissolve uranium with a soda-and-chemical mixture in the ground under the Eastern Plains. And the federal government is in the final review process to decide whether to reopen nearly 20,000 acres of previously reclaimed land in western Colorado to more mining. The pace of actual production, however, is slowed by a number of factors. Staking a claim can still involve driving four stakes in the ground to mark the corners of the 600-foot-by-1,500-foot plots. But permit requirements are much more complicated and time-consuming: It can take a year to get a permit. Environmental regulations are tougher. The cost of meeting these requirements has climbed high enough - as much as $100,000 for a small mine - that independent operators often can't afford to work their own mines. Workers are hard to come by because many left for other areas when uranium bottomed out in the 1980s. Companies are advertising for experienced miners and mill workers as far away as West Virginia. Richard Dorman, vice president of exploration for Universal Uranium Ltd. of Winnemucca, Nev., said knowledge also has been lost. Miners who knew where deposits were located are now gone. Records have been lost from companies that long ago went bust. He said he spends as much time around Moab mining for data as he does drilling for veins. "Dusting off these operations and getting them back into working order is a challenge. It's going to take some time," said Stuart Sanderson, president of the Colorado Mining Association. One of the major holdups since uranium prices began skyrocketing in 2005 has been the lack of a mill to process the uranium into concentrate known as yellowcake. Three of the four uranium mills in the country aren't operating. The 25-year-old White Mesa Mill, near Blanding, Utah, has been processing only uranium waste material but is undergoing $15 million in upgrades to process ore and is promising to put out a long-awaited order for ore this week. "We can take as much as they can deliver. This should kick off some activity. It should be the beginning of a long-term revival," said Ron Hochstein, president and chief operating officer of Dennison Mines Corp., the Canadian company that owns the mill. Energy Fuels Inc., the company that owns the Whirlwind and 22 other blocks of mining claims, is preparing to submit permit applications by year's end for another mill in the West End of Montrose County. "We believe there is plenty of room for two mills," said George Glasier, president of Energy Fuels Resources, the Colorado subsidiary. Another large Canadian company, SXR Uranium One, recently purchased a long- shuttered mill at Ticaboo, Utah, with an eye toward a reopening. The Cotter Corp.'s mill in Cańon City and a mill near Rawlins, Wyo., are still closed. PowerTech Inc., a subsidiary of a Vancouver, British Columbia, company, is trying to get around the milling problem with plans to do in-ground leaching of uranium on some of the 5,700 acres to which the company has mineral rights in northeastern Colorado. Canada's biggest uranium producers have been buying up claims, mines and mills, mostly in the Uravan belt because, unlike in Canada or anywhere else in the United States, the formation holds uranium and vanadium. Canada's uranium deposits are more concentrated with richer ore, but the steel-hardener vanadium adds an $8-a-pound bonus - up from $1.36 - to uranium. A few small miners are taking a crack at that prize in spite of the difficulties and bringing back mines with fanciful names harkening back to boom times - Yellowbird, Pie Face, School Marm and Fairy King. Mitch Shumway, whose family has been mining for four generations and has about 100 claims around Blanding, Utah, has been retrofitting old equipment and wading through the frustrating tangle of permitting. Glasier said the rewards could be substantial. He estimates some of Energy Fuels' mines can bring in $800 to $900 worth of vanadium and uranium for every ton of mined material. He estimates if the Whirlwind operates for 20 years at today's prices, it could yield $1 billion in uranium and vanadium. Uranium consultant Arden Larson said there's still plenty of uranium to go around, but it is not an easy ore to mine. Uranium veins are harder to follow and more scattered than those of some other minerals. "There are 100 million to 200 million tons out there. Half of that hasn't been found yet," Larson said. "It's like the raisins in the pudding." Not everyone is happy about uncovering those raisins. The Navajo Nation has outlawed mining and milling on its vast reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. Citizens in Weld County have banded together to fight against PowerTech's plans to leach uranium from under their farm fields. Conservation and environmental groups decry anticipated environmental damage and object to the fact that more mining and milling will create a new headache where toxic tailings from previous booms haven't been cleaned up. "There is an absolute history of not cleaning up in this industry," said Cathy Kay of Western Colorado Congress. But in the sparsely populated and barren expanses of western Montrose County and eastern Utah, uranium is synonymous with prosperity to those who have been chasing the big strike for generations and now feel the stirrings of another boom. "I guess," Dufur said, "you can't ever quit dreamin'." ***************************************************************** 52 DDN: Habitat goes from nuclear to natural to serve area in new way DaytonDailyNews.com FERNALD PERSERVE Habitat goes from nuclear to natural to serve area in new way Public can get a look at the wildlife site that was created on the former uranium foundry. By Steve Bennish Staff Writer Saturday, June 09, 2007 Jane Powell used to work in a uranium refinery, a key and very secret spot on any map of America's Cold War atomic bomb industry. She's working at the same place where, from 1987 until 1991, she was sworn to secrecy. Today, the former Fernald uranium refinery is home to a family of wood ducks and Powell is site manager of what is now a 1,050-acre wildlife habitat. It's intended to be under U.S. government management as an undeveloped park for as long as there's a government around to manage it. A 10-year, $4.4 billion cleanup and restoration has created a landscape-size collection of important habitats, from tall grass prairies to hardwood forest to wetlands. Sandhill cranes, blue and green herons and tundra swans have been spotted there. "Having been here in the production era, it's an incredible change to go from a Cold War relic to a community asset," Powell said. She thinks visitors will agree as today and tomorrow, the Fernald Preserve will open its gates to the public for a sneak peek. The preserve doesn't open officially until summer 2008. By that time, recently planted greenery will have an opportunity to become more mature. But weekend visitors will be able to tour the grounds and a learn about future education opportunities and plans for the Fernald Visitors Center. Hundreds have visited in the past few days. "Our goal is to make the Fernald Preserve a destination for not only anyone interested in the history of the Fernald site, but also for birders and other nature lovers," said Powell, who manages Fernald for the Department of Energy's Office of Legacy Management. Scott Strickland, Fernald's on-site instrument technician, took time Friday to show daughters Linsey, 7, and Shelby, 9, where he works. Both girls seemed impressed by the extensive views. "I like it," Linsey said. "Where's the deer?" Within 20 minutes, a handful came bounding over a hill and darted into a culvert. How to go What: Open house for the Fernald Preserve When: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday Where: Entrance is on Willey Road, Crosby Twp., 18 miles northwest of downtown Cincinnati, in Hamilton County By using DaytonDailyNews.com, you accept the terms of our visitor ***************************************************************** 53 Daily Herald: Radiation testing gains steam in West Chicago DuPage County Sunday, June 10, 2007 Agency says it will move on  residential sites within the year;  W. Chicago mayor to seek details By Rupa Shenoy rshenoy@dailyherald.com Jerry Gangestad got a call from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday — about 20 years since his property was first cleaned of radioactive waste. The parcel is safe, officials told him. And he would get a letter in the mail telling him so. “I don’t have much of a choice but to believe them, unless I hire someone myself,” said Gangestad, who considers his land safe because he witnessed the cleanup. In a recent Daily Herald report, EPA officials said that despite two cleanup attempts, more than 100 West Chicago properties — including Gangestad’s — still might have the cancer-causing element thorium buried underground. Following that disclosure and under increasing pressure by residents, both federal and city officials are stepping up their efforts to deal with the issue. The EPA has subsequently identified several more properties as safe, and has informed residents such as Gangestad of those findings. Officials also expanded their explanation of the potential problem and admitted that other priorities and a lack of manpower led to the issue being left on the backburner. “There are always workload issues to grapple with here,” said Larry Schmitt, an EPA section chief for this region. “Of course, we always go after the issues that cause the greatest risk first,” he said. “It was always our intention to get to this and close it out. And we will do that.” EPA officials said for the first time that they would take action on the residential sites in question within the year. “That’s not good enough,” said West Chicago Mayor Mike Kwasman, who plans to meet Tuesday with EPA officials. He said he’ll press the agency for comprehensive information within 30 days. EPA officials said that, from now on, residents of the affected properties can call the agency to request testing during excavations. Kwasman is considering a city law that would require the procedure at dig sites. “I don’t know if it’s legal,” he said. “I haven’t talked to the city attorney yet. … It’s a common sense approach.” What’s down there? Corporate giant Kerr-McGee and its predecessors inadvertently distributed thorium throughout West Chicago for decades, until the company’s gaslight factory closed 30 years ago. In the 1980s, Kerr-McGee partnered with the city on a voluntary cleanup under standards that were less stringent than what the EPA allowed. Those loose standards might have led to workers leaving radioactive waste underground and topping it with fresh dirt, said Rebecca Frey, the EPA’s project manager for the Kerr-McGee sites. The waste likely would’ve been missed by the surface scans and topsoil sample testing done during a second cleanup in the 1990s that was overseen by the EPA and subject to higher standards. Workers knew about the cleanup years earlier. But drilling to test underground was like “shooting in the dark,” said Tim Runyon, a health physicist with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, which certified sites as safe in the second cleanup. “If you don’t have a real indication,” he said, “if you don’t have a real history to build on, when do you stop drilling holes?” In a more detailed explanation than previously provided, EPA officials now say that of the 117 properties excavated by Kerr-McGee in the 1980s, 94 were cleaned again in the 1990s. Of those 94, the EPA has sent letters to the residents of 30 properties that were completely excavated in the 1990s and deemed safe. Low level? People living on the remaining 87 sites would only be at risk if the potential thorium was unearthed, Frey said. A city consultant first raised the possibility of waste remaining underground in 2003. Still, the EPA didn’t tell residents of the problem. “We have to struggle with the issue of ‘Do we alarm people of something if it doesn’t even exist?’ć” Schmitt said. “If it does exist, there’s a very low probability that someone’s going to dig it up or even be exposed.” The low levels would cause cancer only after decades of contact, he said. The EPA’s belief that the buried waste is of low level is based on the agency’s confidence that Kerr-McGee followed its own standards in the 1980s. But the EPA didn’t do testing at the time to ensure the standards were met. And, Frey said, Kerr-McGee had difficulty getting accurate radiation readings in the neighborhood around the former factory. Tailings and other thorium-laced material that lay in heaps on the Kerr-McGee site gave off radioactive readings that registered for blocks in every direction. “It was a question of, ‘Is what you’re seeing coming from down the street, or is it coming from the excavation?’ć” Frey said. Even if levels are low, the existence of remaining thorium is unacceptable, Kwasman said. “I am not a scientist,” he said. “I don’t know what ‘low level’ means. ‘Level’ to me means there’s something there. The right answer is action, and I want to know what the action is.” ***************************************************************** 54 UPI: Colorado, Utah benefit from uranium demand United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Published: June 10, 2007 at 2:43 PM GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., June 10 (UPI) -- Mining claims in Colorado and Utah are a hot commodity this year as new nuclear power plants worldwide fuel a rising demand for uranium. With uranium companies filling more than 18,000 mining claims in the two states this year alone, the race to meet that international need has risen dramatically in regions known to house the radioactive substance, The Denver Post said Sunday. Currently the price of uranium has risen to $138 a pound and with more nuclear plants under construction, the price is likely to continue rising. Yet the search for the valuable metal and its excavation have run into problems in both states as neither is equipped to deal with the surging mining industry. Colorado Mining Association President Stuart Sanderson said an increase in skilled workers and mining data is needed to return the region's former uranium industry to its former glory. "Dusting off these operations and getting them back into working order is a challenge. It's going to take some time," he told the Post. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 55 UPI: India demands right to process spent fuel United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Published: June 10, 2007 at 11:08 AM NEW DELHI, June 10 (UPI) -- The United States must drop its objections to India reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, India's external affairs minister said Sunday. The reprocessing issue should not stand in the way of a landmark nuclear energy pact with the United States, said Minister Pranab Mukherjee. "We will be able to find some way out," Mukherjee said, explaining tough, yet workable, negotiations lie ahead. The pact, tentatively agreed to in 2005, would overturn a 30-year ban on allowing sales of U.S. nuclear equipment and fuel to India, the Press Trust of India reported. India objects to new conditions from Washington against India conducting another nuclear test and being allowed to reprocess spent atomic fuel, Mukherjee said. The nuclear deal would help India meet some of its soaring energy needs and firm up a strategic partnership between the United States and India, a rising Asian power. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 56 WMCTV.COM: California radioactive waste dumped in Tennessee Associated Press - June 9, 2007 1:35 PM ET NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A dozen California state senators said companies there are skirting state law by dumping radioactive waste in Tennessee. The senators said California-based ICN Radiopharmaceuticals used what they term the "Tennessee Loophole" when it shipped dirt and material contaminated with radioactive Carbon 14 to a Memphis company that processes nuclear materials and routinely dumps at a Shelby County landfill. A recent WSMVTV investigative report found more than 10 million pounds of low-level radioactive waste from all over the country was dumped at BFI Middle Point Landfill in Murfreesboro in 2005. That prompted officials to begin testing the city water for contamination, and last week county commissioners called for an end to radioactive dumping at Middle Point. But Eddie Nanney of the Tennessee Radiological Health Department said the material dumped in landfills is safe. Nanney said some radioactive material has to go to special disposal sites, but other waste that has a low level of radioactivity can be approved for disposal in normal landfills. All content © Copyright 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and WMCTV, a Raycom ***************************************************************** 57 The State: SRS lab director quits in protest 06/09/2007 | By SAMMY FRETWELL - sfretwell@thestate.com The director of the Savannah River Site’s independent research laboratory quit Thursday after challenging federal plans to close the facility near Aiken. Paul Bertsch, director of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, said he will leave the post June 15, but hopes to continue as a researcher if the lab remains open past this month. The 56-year-old ecology laboratory studies the effects of the Savannah River Site nuclear weapons complex on the surrounding environment. Its budget has been slashed by the U.S. Department of Energy, making it difficult to continue operation past this month. The nationally renowned facility was scheduled to close last month, but the University of Georgia agreed to pay salaries through June. The Department of Energy historically has provided most of the funding for UGA to operate the laboratory. This year, the agency provided $1.8 million. In contrast, the lab’s budget was about $12 million in 2001. Bertsch has been director for eight years and worked at the laboratory since 1984. As director, he oversees about 100 research scientists, professors and other employees. He has been fighting to save the laboratory and restore Department of Energy funding for months. But UGA officials suggested Thursday that he “may be a liability” in resolving the funding dispute, Bertsch said in an e-mail to employees late Thursday. The Department of Energy says it has an agreement with Georgia to shift laboratory funding from the federal government to other sources, but the details of the deal are in dispute. “It was mutually agreed upon,” Bertsch said Friday of his decision to quit. “It seemed like the best thing in terms of trying to move the situation forward.” David Lee, vice president of research at Georgia, said he could not comment on the circumstances. “We have accepted Paul’s resignation, and we are now giving careful consideration to what we need to have in order to guide a smaller operation,” Lee said. Lab researchers, who do not need Energy Department approval to publish studies critical of the site, are highly regarded in the scientific community. They have found deformities in some amphibians on the Savannah River Site as a result of industrial activities there. But the site has had little impact on other animals and has become a sort of wildlife preserve because it is off-limits to the public. It is the only independent research lab of its kind on a nuclear weapons complex. Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537. ***************************************************************** 58 The State: Director of ecology research lab at SRS quits 06/10/2007 TheState.com The Associated Press * Savannah River Ecology Laboratory COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The director of an independent research laboratory at the Savannah River Site has resigned after challenging federal plans to close the facility. Paul Bertsch, director of the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory for eight years, says he will leave the post later this month but hopes to stay on as a researcher - if the lab stays open. Bertsch had been fighting to restore federal funding to the lab, which studies the effects of the nuclear weapons complex on the environment around it. Historically, the U.S. Department of Energy has provided most of the funding for the University of Georgia to run the lab. But federal officials have said the lab hasn't held up a pledge to become financially self-sustaining, and the facility had been set to close last month. Lawmakers from South Carolina and Georgia have written to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, requesting that he intervene after federal funding was cut off. Last week, Bodman wrote to U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, saying that the lab failed to honor its commitment to become financially self-sustaining. In the letter, obtained by The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, Bodman said lab managers "have failed to pursue adequate project financing from other sources as they agreed to do." The University of Georgia has agreed to pay lab employees' salaries through this month. ***************************************************************** 59 Tri-City Herald: Under Secretary Orbach: What's the plan for PNNL? Opinions Published Sunday, June 10th, 2007 It's past time for the Department of Energy to start answering questions about the future of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Way past time. At the end of this week, it will be 16 months since Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced plans to put the lab's operating contract out for bid. And we still don't know whether DOE plans to allow the next contractor -- Battelle or otherwise -- to continue research projects for the private sector under what's known as the use permit. We've asked, but no one at DOE is responding. Speculation fills the vacuum. If DOE isn't planning any major changes in the use permit, why not just say so? The best guess is the use permit is in jeopardy. At issue are $65 million to $80 million in private contract work, or roughly 10 percent of PNNL's overall annual $750 million budget is at stake. If the use permit goes away, some of that private work could be picked up under other arrangements that would still be permitted. But not enough to prevent serious harm to the Mid-Columbia's economic health. Battelle estimates from 300 to 400 layoffs if the use permit is lost. These are the exact sort of highly technical, well-paid jobs that communities battle over. It's exasperating, and not just for Battelle and any other potential contractors. It ought to irk all who are interested in making the most of their tax dollars. The use permit allows PNNL to parlay the public's investment in the lab's resources to greater benefit. Past performance proves it works. The use permit has been responsible for 610 patents and more than $1.2 billion in business in the last 40 years, according to Battelle's calculations. It's also been the catalyst for several new Tri-City businesses, including a reactor fuel company currently owned by Areva. The public deserves to know whether there's any truth to speculation regarding the use permit. And if true, we need to know how DOE thinks the public can benefit from limiting the scientific output of PNNL. The silence is untenable. The use permit has served taxpayers, industry and the Northwest economy for more than 40 years. Any attempt to alter it needs to occur under the halogen searchlight of public attention, not in the shadows of DOE headquarters. U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, Sen. Patty Murray and other members of the Northwest congressional delegation understand what's at stake. But without an answer to the basic question -- whether private work will still be permitted under the next laboratory contract -- it's been mostly a waiting game. Sixteen months is long enough to wait. It's time for political leaders to call on Raymond Orbach, under secretary for science, for some answers. As head of the national laboratory system, this is his responsibility. Orbach needs to let taxpayers know whether this innovative and productive program will be allowed to continue. If it's at risk, he needs to have a good explanation. Frankly, we doubt he can provide one. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 60 Rocky Mountain News: Ritter to panel: OK aid to Flats workers Governor urges board not to fail 'Cold War heroes' By Rocky Mountain News June 9, 2007 Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday urged a presidential advisory board to recommend approval of automatic compensation for former Rocky Flats workers who are sick with radiation-related cancers. The board is scheduled to meet Monday in Lakewood and vote Tuesday on a petition that would streamline federal compensation for most workers. Currently, workers must go through a process that takes an average of two years to determine how much radiation they were exposed to and the odds that it contributed to their illnesses. "This panel has existed for several years," Ritter wrote. "Scientific studies, examinations and reviews have been conducted for decades. The time is long past for action. Each day of delay means another sick employee comes closer to death. "If you fail our Cold War heroes, members of Congress seem poised to step in. On behalf of these workers and on behalf of the people of Colorado, I urge you to fulfill your charter and provide the efficient service and aid that our Rocky Flats workers deserve." Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien plans to testify Monday before the panel on behalf of the Ritter administration. Ritter sent an initial letter to the panel last month. The panel's recommendation goes to the secretary of Health and Human Services, who has generally endorsed the panel's decision. What's next ? What: A presidential advisory board meets to decide whether to recommend that Rocky Flats workers receive streamlined financial and medical help. ? When: Monday and Tuesday. The public will be allowed to address the board at 5:30 p.m. Monday. The board's vote is expected Tuesday. ? Where: Sheraton Denver West Hotel, 360 Union Blvd., Lakewood ***************************************************************** 61 The Enquirer: The future of Fernald Last Updated: 6:23 pm | Sunday, June 10, 2007 Former uranium plant now pure Preserve BY POLLY CAMPBELL | PCAMPBELL@ENQUIRER.COM CROSBY TWP. - At the Fernald Preserve open house Saturday, curious neighbors and former workers came to see the transformation of the former uranium production operation to a nature preserve. Birders with binoculars came to look at a potentially great new birding area. Children came to look for frogs in ponds created by the removal of uranium-contaminated soil. "I caught three kinds of frogs," 5-year-old Cole Ludwick said as Ohio EPA staff pulled monitoring cages out of a pond and carefully handed him a big bullfrog and gave his little brother, Noah, a cricket frog. The cages also brought up a variety of water bugs, including boatmen beetles. "The larger beetles are sensitive species, indicating a more mature wetland," Tom Schneider of the EPA said. Some visitors on this sunny morning found the transformation from Cold War-era uranium plant to peaceful nature preserve amazing. "They always said they would do this," said Norma Creek of Ross, who worked at Fernald for 41 years. "But I wasn't sure it would ever happen." Mike Boback, who worked at the plant for 37 years, came with his son and grandchildren. There was little to point out to them of his memories. "That line of trees that were in front of the administration building are the only things that look the same," he said. This weekend is the first time the public has been invited to the site. It will not open permanently until May, when the "green" visitors center and walking trails are finished. In the meantime, groups will be able to make arrangements to see the progress on the 1,005 acres. Built to process uranium to make plutonium for nuclear weapons, the Fernald plant halted production in 1989. After years spent on a $4.5 billion cleanup, work began in October 2006 to turn the site into a nature preserve. So far, $20 million has been spent, with an emphasis on bringing back native grasses and open wetlands. They will, in turn, attract wildlife and even protect endangered species. It's not yet a showcase of natural beauty, but more a fresh space waiting for nature, with some helpful management, to take its course. Many areas are newly planted grasses in lines like a new hair-transplant patient. Some new ponds have little vegetation and are fenced to keep away Canada geese. But with time, this area will become more "natural" than other areas that didn't see the same level of pollution. "I preach patience to everyone," said John Homer, leading the ecological restoration effort for S.M. Stoller, the contractor hired by the U.S. Department of Energy. "Native species are drought-tolerant and hardy, but that's because they establish deep root systems. Those take some time to grow." By managing the process, they'll assure diversity, controlling invasive species and fencing areas against deer and geese. "We're jump-starting the ecological succession progress," he explained. "We bring in species you wouldn't normally see move in for 100 years. But at the same time, we don't hinder the pioneer species that come in by themselves." In a wetland that was created in 1999, Homer points out water lilies, soft-stem bulrushes and Bladderwort, an unusual plant with yellow flowers and air-filled bladders in the root system to keep it afloat. "Bladderwort is an indication of a high-quality wetland," he said. Because 98 percent of natural wetlands in Ohio have been destroyed or filled in, that's valuable progress. Linda Ford of Clifton toured the preserve with a video camera. She teaches environmental studies at the Seven Hills Upper School and likes to include a history of the Fernald plant as part of the class. "The history of the citizen action taken here is amazing, and I want to teach the kids about that," said Ford, who grew up in the countryside not far from Fernald. "I remember riding my bicycle ... past here. It was all very secretive, and I always wondered what went on in there." Because she lived nearby, she's part of the class-action lawsuit and medical study group that is monitored for health effects of living near the formerly polluted site. Sue Walpole, the community relations manager for Stoller, said they have had a steady stream of interested visitors since the preserve opened for tours Wednesday. Birders are particularly interested. "Someone from the Ohio Audubon Society said he thought it was incredible, the only place in Ohio with this much prairie and water together. We've seen 150 species of birds here," Walpole said. "He thought we'd be likely to attract 100 more." The site is applying for Audubon Important Bird Area status, she said, which would put the preserve in the national and international spotlight for birders looking to see dickcissels, Henslow's sparrow, bobolinks, bluebirds and other grassland birds, as well as migrating waterfowl. A Blue Grosbeak was spotted in the morning, causing some excitement. THOMAS E. WITTE FOR THE ENQUIRER If you go The Fernald Preserve open house continues today from noon to 6 p.m. The preserve will be open to the general public in a year, after work on the visitors center is finished. In the meantime, the site is open by appointment for groups or individuals with particular interests. To ask about access, call Sue Walpole at 513-648-4026. John Homer, Ohio EPA contractor, shows a rare native wildflower. Norma Creek, who worked at Fernald uranium processing plant for 41 years, signs a shipping container Saturday during the preserves open house. Creek, of Ross, was amazed by the area's progress. Copyright © 2007 The Enquirer. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 62 Ventura County Star: Family connects man's death to Field Lab, blames county By Teresa Rochester (Contact) Saturday, June 9, 2007 The family of a Los Angeles County man who lived near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and died last year of cancer has filed two wrongful death claims, totaling $6 million, against the county of Ventura. A third claim, seeking "in excess of $50,000," was also filed last month. All three claims were denied by the county's Risk Management Office. The denial paves the way for the family to file suit. The claims mark the first time, in officials' and observers' memories, that a complaint has alleged the county is responsible for an illness potentially linked to contamination at the former rocket engine and nuclear test site in the hills south of Simi Valley. "There have been suits in the past by residents asserting that the Field Lab was responsible for their health problems," said Dan Hirsch, co-founder of the nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap. "This is the first I've ever heard of a complaint against any of the counties with regards to the Field Lab." Chuck Pode, the county's risk manager and deputy executive officer, said he and his staff were not aware of any similar claims. Glenn Carey, 49, lived in Dayton Canyon, near the lab on the Los Angeles County side of the hill, for more than 30 years, according to the claims. In May 2006, Carey was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He died in November. The Dayton Canyon man worked "as an independent contractor in the area of, and as a possible agent for," the Field Lab, according to the claims, which describe his work as repairing bridges, regrading dirt roadways, maintaining horse trails and providing access to the fire department "up the back ways to the Field Lab." Carey "drank the well water, worked the land full of toxic dust and fallout, and breathed the night air while sleeping as the owners at the Santa Susana Field Lab burned nearly 200 different varieties of toxic/nuclear wastes," the claims state. The county rejected the claims because "it's not county property," Pode said of the lab. But the documents filed with the county by Carey's family members claim that "the governmental entity in question negligently, carelessly, recklessly and wantonly owned, controlled, managed and maintained the Santa Susana Field Lab, which was the direct cause of Glenn Carey's unexpected death." The documents go on to say the governmental entities breached a duty to exercise ordinary care in the use, maintenance or management of the lab. Jamaal Buchanan, a law clerk with The Cochran Firm, which is representing the family members, declined to comment on the claims because "we're still conducting an investigation at this point." The two wrongful death claims were filed by Carey's son Nicholas and Lisa Carey, acting as guardian for Carey's other son, who is a minor. Both of those claims sought $3 million each. The third claim was filed by Carey's mother, Jeanne, and seeks an amount in the excess of $50,000 and within unlimited jurisdiction of the Superior Court of California. The claim states that Jeanne Carey owns land where Glenn lived and worked, and she questions the condition and material value of her property. The claim then goes on to contend that Ventura County failed to warn her of any potential contamination that has affected her land through fraudulent and negligent misrepresentations and through negligent or intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. "The complaint as filed is puzzling in that Mr. Carey did not reside in Ventura County," Hirsch said. "And Ventura County government doesn't own, operate or manage the Santa Susana Field Laboratory as suggested in the complaint." © 2007 Ventura County Star ***************************************************************** 63 lamonitor.com: 'Congress is anxious' The Online News Source for Los Alamos JANE LONGMIRE Monitor Business Writer Speaking to a crowd of 150 people, Jan A. Van Prooyen, acting deputy director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, spoke of the laboratory's vision and accomplishments since the new leadership team of Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS) took over the helm in June 2006. He was keynote speaker at the Chamberfest Appreciation Banquet 2007 Friday evening at Central Avenue Grill. Van Prooyen said the laboratory has made significant progress and improvements, yet in today's climate, "Congress is anxious"; more changes and more improvements will be needed. "Our vision is 'Make LANL a premier national science laboratory for the 21st century,'" Van Prooyen said. In order to accomplish this, he said the community needs first-rate schools, first-rate churches, first-rate hospitals and first-rate businesses to bring in the best scientists. He emphasized the need for everyone to "believe in the laboratory" for it to be successful. Van Prooyen listed several accomplishments that have met the vision milestone over the past nine months: Safety/security. Fifty less employees have received serious injury from the previous year, a 30-percent improvement in safety. "We intend to bring current rates down," he said. National recognition. The Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility (DAHRT) has tested its second axis, greatly improving imaging; and the Cibola Flight Experiment, carrying a payload that is capable of performing more than 1 trillion operations per second, "is 350 miles above us," Van Prooyen said. Both are important for our security, he said. Tools to measure success. Van Prooyen spoke of improved leadership using upward feedback and maximizing individual performance, thus making LANL a better place. Boosted efficiency and effectiveness. "We consciously decided to keep our laboratory employees. We chose to delete contractors, even though it was painful. As a result, we are financially viable," Van Prooyen said. Van Prooyen said LANS is planning for the long run, with more goals to be met. "We intend to meet our goals this year and go forward," he said. LANL is working very hard, he said, working more closely with the environmental department, with great improvement over the past year in getting documents delivered on time; increasing its run of the LANSE accelerator to meet the increased need for medical isotopes; protecting the country by locating over 15,000 radioactive sources around the world this past year; pursuing medical research to quell HIV and hepatitis C; and by putting 1100 students on the role, the most of any DOE facility in the country. LANL has committed $875,000 so far in regional economic development, made technical assistance available to small businesses, offered 5 percent preference to regional purchasing and $1.1 million in scholarships and grants to local schools and colleges. It has also supported United Way by more than doubling last year's contributions. The June 7 Los Alamos Monitor headline read "Lab budget sees cuts," which referred to the House Appropriation Committee zeroing out funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead and a plutonium pit production center. Cuts would also affect all funding for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility, Nuclear Safeguard and Security Upgrade Phase II and Advanced Scientific Computing, which would block funding to support the Roadrunner High Performance Computer acquisition for LANL. Van Prooyen said the Roadrunner supercomputer will be able to compute in two minutes what the Cray I could do when it was installed 30 years ago. He emphasized goals, improvements and changes will continue to happen in order to meet the vision and calm Congress' anxiety about Los Alamos National Laboratory. Van Prooyen closed his speech by saying, "We will strive to meet the needs of our country through open honest communication. We need to listen to one another and understand each other's intentions." Van Prooyen holds a B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Virginia, was a National Security Fellow at Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, is a member of the American Nuclear Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, served on the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Chemical Stockpile Demilitarization and currently serves on the National boards of the Armed Services YMCA and National Defense Industrial Association. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star for Valor. Originally from Napa, Calif., Van Prooyen now makes his home in Los Alamos with wife, Cindy. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 64 KOB.com: Report examines cleanup efforts at Los Alamos lab Posted at: 06/09/2007 04:50:32 PM By: The Associated Press LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - Los Alamos National Laboratory does not have a firm understanding of its inventory of hazardous waste and how contaminants can migrate to groundwater. A report released Friday by the National Research Council says that, while the lab is making progress in protecting the region’s groundwater from radioactive and chemical efforts, it needs to step up its efforts. An agreement with the state Environment Department requires the lab to evaluate and clean up decades’ worth of environmental contamination by 2015. The report notes the difficulties in meeting the agreement’s strict timetables and regulations. But it concludes that the required monitoring system is technically feasible. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************