***************************************************************** 06/14/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.139 ***************************************************************** 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 [NYTr] IAEA Head: Iran Attack Would be an 'Act of Madness' 2 Guardian Unlimited: North Korean Funds Transferred From Bank 3 US: Guardian Unlimited: Senate Impasse Over Renewable Energy 4 Reuters: China says U.S. remarks on its military irresponsible 5 US: Albuquerque Tribune: New Mexico senators' energy bills duel 6 AFP: With implicit NATO backing, US to press missile shield in Europ 7 AFP: US says nothing to fear from new nuclear warheads - 8 BBC NEWS: MSPs vote against Trident renewal 9 IAEA: IAEA Chief Briefs Board on Nuclear Issues 10 ISN Security Watch: China's changing nuclear posture NUCLEAR REACTORS 11 Sydney Morning Herald: Fed govt urged reveal more nuke details - 12 US: Seattle Times: Opinion | Nuclear power's not the answer | 13 The Hindu: India, facing uranium fuel shortage, presses on with 14 US: NRC: NRC to Meet with First Energy in Rockville, Md June 27 to D 15 Energy Tribune: The E.U.'s Energy Roadmap Nowhere 16 US: Times Argus: News frightening from Vt. Yankee 17 US: Times Argus: Feds: Yankee good to go another 20 years 18 reportonbusiness.com: Ottawa backs nuclear industry on waste 19 Independent.ie: ESB union says govt should consider nuclear power - 20 UPI: Two global reports show nuclear's rise 21 US: UPI: Analysis: Is a federal RPS the answer? 22 US: UPI: Experts: Browns Ferry spent fuel at risk 23 ITAR-TASS: Sweden is interested in cooperation with Russia in atomic 24 AU ABC: Scientists reveal secret 1980s nuclear work. 25 AU ABC: Company's nuclear plans 'shock' Garrett. 26 US: UCS: Senate Whistleblower Bill Leaves Out Protection for Scienti 27 NewsRoom Finland: Vattenfall joins Finnish nuclear queue 28 Hindustan Times: Big bets on nuclear, wind power, says PwC- 29 Scotsman.com News: Nuclear skills deficit 30 The Australian: Government eyes nuclear plant 31 The Australian: Nuke power 'won't curb global warming' NUCLEAR SECURITY 32 US: Guardian Unlimited: US Seeks Wider Effort on Terror Funding 33 Daily Yomiuri: Steel pipes stolen from Tsuruga N-power plant NUCLEAR SAFETY 34 US: Star-News: Radioactive material found in water at nuclear plant 35 US: Times Argus: What will be next to go wrong? 36 US: Pacific Business News: Whistleblower measure clears Senate panel 37 UPI: Outside View: Space junk threat -- Part 1 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 38 US: Moscow Times: Adamov Company Loses Uranium Case 39 Sydney Morning Herald: Uranium plant proposed - 40 ReviewJournal.com: Water use faces challenge 41 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy wants coalition out of spent fuel 42 US: Resource Investor: Uranium Boom Part Two 43 US: AU ABC: Company plans uranium plant pitch to Fed Govt. 44 US: AU ABC: Dreams of uranium enrichment revived. 45 CP: Feds back underground disposal of nuclear waste; environmentalis 46 US: Online NewsHour: Report | Utah Uranium Rush Growing | PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 47 DOE: Energy Department Receives Prestigious Closing the Circle 48 Hanford News: HAMMER to receive delayed $2.25 million 49 Rocky Mountain News: Colorado delegation to seek aid for ill Flats w 50 Denver Post: Slash red tape to aid Rocky Flats workers 51 Times-News: INL officials appoint team to investigate lab fire 52 Rocky Mountain News: Rocky Flats a step closer to status as wildlife 53 alibi: How New Mexico deals with legacy waste at Los Alamos 54 Rocky Mountain News: Lawmakers to appeal vote on nuke workers 55 lamonitor.com: Two named to senior posts 56 KnoxNews: Oak Ridge to celebrate unique past 57 WATE: UT-ORNL professor's discovery may lead to more efficient use o 58 KIVITV.COM: INL Begins Investigation into Fire that Burned Worker 59 KnoxNews: DOE vows to not sell mercury ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [NYTr] IAEA Head: Iran Attack Would be an 'Act of Madness' Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:45:23 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit AP - Jun 14, 2007 http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAN_NUCLEAR?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT IAEA Head: Iran Attack 'Act of Madness' By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday an attack on Iran over its refusal to freeze programs that could make nuclear weapons would be "an act of madness," an indirect warning to the United States and Israel. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei also said Iran could be running close to 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges by the end of next month - a number that IAEA officials have described as the point of no return in the start of a large-scale program. ElBaradei spoke at the end of a meeting of his agency's 35-nation board, a gathering that focused on Iran's refusal to heed U.N. Security Council demands that it freeze activities that could serve to make nuclear arms and provide answers on suspicious aspects of its program. He also urged Iran to offer a "self-imposed moratorium" on enrichment, describing it as a "good confidence-building measure" that could launch negotiations on the standoff But the chief Iranian envoy to the meeting asserted his country would never suspend enrichment - the key issue of Security Council concern. Iran has said its nuclear program is peaceful and aims to generate energy, not bombs. Although they've called for a negotiated solution, both the U.S. and Israel have refused to outright dismiss the possibility that they might target Iran militarily if it refuses to back down. ElBaradei described use of force as "an act of madness ... (that) would not resolve the issue." "The next few months will be crucial," he said: "Iran is building a capacity, a knowledge" of enrichment that is irreversible, while not providing evidence sought by his agency "that this is a peaceful program." "Even if Iran wants to have a weapon they are three to eight years away," ElBaradei said, citing unidentified intelligence sources for his estimate. But "the longer we delay, the less option we have to reach a peaceful solution." Iran's defiance of U.N. Security Council demands it stop enrichment and construction of a plutonium-producing reactor as well as increase cooperation with IAEA inspectors has led to two sets of sanctions. A recent IAEA report confirmed that Iran was expanding its activities and continuing to stonewall the IAEA in its attempts to gain more information on past activities of concern. That has set the stage for a new round of Security Council-imposed penalties. Declaring that Tehran had become the "master of uranium enrichment" Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief IAEA envoy, said his country will never suspend its program. Like enriched uranium, plutonium can be used for the fissile core of nuclear warheads. Iran, however, says it wants to develop enrichment to generate nuclear power and asserts it is building the plutonium-producing reactor for research and medical purposes. Soltanieh evaded a question on whether his country had solved all technical problems in the intensely complicated enrichment process of spinning uranium gas through centrifuges at high speed. U.S. officials have told The Associated Press their information indicates Iran has not yet achieved the technical perfection. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing confidential matters. Gregory L. Schulte, the U.S. envoy to the IAEA, scoffed at Soltanieh's claim of enrichment mastery, telling AP Television News: "The Iranian ambassador spins faster than any centrifuge." ElBaradei, however, cautioned that Iran was "speeding up its enrichment capacity" to the point where it could have just under 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges running in series by the end of July and "was steadily moving toward perfecting the technology." "Whether some of the centrifuges are running with the speed desired, whether some of the centrifuges have been crashed, that is a part we have yet not seen and we still have to do some analysis," ElBaradei said. "But it is clear ... that they are meeting their expectations at least in terms of the level of enrichment," he said, alluding to his agency's recent confirmation that centrifuges at Tehran's underground Natanz facility have churned out small amounts of fuel-grade enriched uranium. IAEA officials have informally identified an Iranian enrichment operation running 3,000 centrifuges as the start of a large-scale program, while experts say that number could produce enough material for several warheads a year. Tehran says it wants to operate 54,000 centrifuges - enough for a full-scale weapons program should it want to go that route. Associated Press writer Palma Benczenleitner contributed to this report. B) 2007 The Associated Press. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 2 Guardian Unlimited: North Korean Funds Transferred From Bank From the Associated Press Thursday June 14, 2007 10:16 PM By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Money at the heart of a dispute that caused North Korea to delay its nuclear disarmament finally began making its way to the communist nation Thursday after months of delay. The transfer of funds previously frozen in a Macau bank could lead North Korea to start shutting down its nuclear weapons program. But the North is certain to want to count every last penny of its $25 million before fulfilling a February pledge to stop making atomic bombs. ``The transfer is in progress,'' South Korea's chief nuclear envoy, Chun Yung-woo, told reporters Friday. ``Let's wait and see how long it takes for North Korea to confirm it.'' Chun, arriving from Washington where he met his U.S. counterpart over the nuclear standoff, did not provide further details of the transfer. He said resolving the banking dispute constitutes ``removing the first obstacle to implementing'' the February disarmament deal. ``The future task of denuclearization is much more difficult than the (banking) issue,'' he said. The money had been frozen at Macau's Banco Delta Asia since 2005, when the U.S. blacklisted the bank for allegedly helping the Pyongyang regime pass fake $100 bills and launder money from weapons sales. The North made the money's release its main condition for disarmament and boycotted international nuclear talks for more than a year, during which it conducted its first-ever bomb test in October. But to win the North's promise to start dismantling its nuclear program, the U.S. agreed to give its blessing for the money to be freed and said it would happen within 30 days. The transfer has instead taken more than four months as the North insisted that it be sent electronically to another bank, apparently to prove the money is now clean. Macau's secretary of economy and finance said Thursday the money has been transferred, but it remained unclear if it was the entire amount or whether it had reached its destination. ``Banco Delta Asia transferred more than $20 million out of the bank this afternoon in accordance with the client's instruction,'' Francis Tam told reporters on the sidelines of a business gathering, without saying where the money was sent. ``We have heard reports in foreign media that the money can be wired via the U.S. or Russia, for example. I think these routings are possible,'' Tam said. North Korea had $25 million at the bank in the Chinese territory, but Tam would not say exactly how much was transferred. ``Most of the money in this account has already transferred out. There will probably not be another transfer,'' he said. North Korea could seize on any shortage of funds to hold off on disarmament. Since the latest nuclear standoff began in late 2002, Pyongyang has repeatedly displayed its profound lack of trust of the U.S. and blamed any sign of American hostility as a reason to stall arms talks. Given that Washington failed in its promise to resolve the bank dispute within 30 days, the North can also be expected to delay shutting down its nuclear reactor for at least another 30 days after it confirms receiving the money. The North did not immediately comment on the transfer. The bank dispute paralyzed much of the North's international financial dealings. Banco Delta Asia remains on the U.S. blacklist, barred from doing business with the world's largest economy, and other banks do not want to meet the same fate by dealing with North Korea - one of the world's poorest nations. Speaking Thursday amid news of the transfer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson noted the U.S. measures had led private financial institutions worldwide to end dealings with North Korean firms accused of engaging in weapons proliferation. ``The result is North Korea's virtual isolation from the global financial system,'' he said in remarks to the New York-based Council of Foreign Relations. ``The effect on North Korea has been significant, because even the most reclusive regime depends on access to the international financial system.'' U.S. officials have argued the best way for the North to restore its reputation and ability to do business would be to end its nuclear weapons program, which Pyongyang insists it needs to defend against a possible American invasion. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack would not confirm the transfer, saying, ``the North Koreans have said that they would like to see all of the $25 million transferred. That is an issue that we, the U.S. government, have been working on.'' Russian nuclear negotiator Alexander Losyukov confirmed that a Russian bank in the Far East will help transfer the money, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. He did not name the bank. Washington gave written guarantees that the bank would not be subjected to sanctions, he said, adding: ``This is good news. I don't know when the next round (of nuclear disarmament talks) will be held, but the very fact of the money transfer gives hope for talks to resume.'' --- Associated Press writers Diana Li in Macau and Desmond Butler in Washington contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: Senate Impasse Over Renewable Energy From the Associated Press Friday June 15, 2007 12:31 AM By H. JOSEF HEBERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats, eager for a vote on energy legislation, ran into staunch Republican resistance Thursday to requiring that utilities use more wind, solar and other renewable sources to produce electricity. The impasse over renewable fuels came as Democrats said they would seek nearly $13.7 billion in tax breaks to promote clean energy, biofuels, more fuel efficient vehicles and conservation. The Senate Finance Committee intends to discuss the tax plan on Tuesday, according to the committee chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. The proposal would extend dozens of tax breaks, such the one for building wind turbines. It also would create incentives such as tax credits for technology to capture carbon dioxide - the leading greenhouse gas - from power plants. Senators late Thursday rejected a proposal to allow limited natural gas development in waters off the mid-Atlantic coast despite a long-standing drilling moratorium. A proposal to let Virginia seek a waiver to the drilling ban for a large portion of federal waters off its coast was defeated 43-44. Democrats were forced to set aside - at last until next week - their renewable fuels proposal after it became clear they lacked the 60 votes to proceed. The bill would require power companies to increase use of wind turbines, solar panels, biomass, geothermal energy or other renewable sources to produce at least 15 percent of their electricity by 2020. Only about 2.4 percent of the country's electricity is produced that way now. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the measure's chief sponsor, said the mandate is needed to stimulate expansion of fuel sources other than coal and natural gas. He said if his plan is enacted, greenhouse gas emissions from power plants will fall by nearly 7 percent from levels projected for 2020. Opponents argued that some regions of the country couldn't meet the requirement and that it would cause electricity prices to increase in those areas, especially across the South. By a 56-39 vote, senators rejected a GOP alternative that would have allowed utilities to meet the requirement by also building more nuclear power plants and taking conservation measures. Republicans balked and refused to allow a vote on Bingaman's measure. If the early going is any indicator, it looks like a bumpy path toward final approval for the energy bill before the Fourth of July recess as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has promised. It also was evident that there will be a tough fight over increasing automobile mileage standards. Senators close to the auto industry released their proposal, which they say automakers can achieve, unlike a plan already in the overall energy bill. The substitute calls for increasing auto fuel economy by 30 percent to 36 miles per gallon by 2022 and for sport utility vehicles and small trucks to reach 30 mpg by 2025. ``It will force industry to bend and not break,'' said Sen. Kit Bond, D-Mo. The energy bill now has an increase to 35 mpg for both cars, SUVs and trucks by 2020 and 4 percent higher each year after that. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., prompted a sharp floor debate Thursday when he proposed allowing natural gas development in waters along the Atlantic coast where a drilling freeze has been in place for a quarter-century. Warner, R-Va., wanted the Senate to let his state seek a waiver from the Interior Department to the freeze. The plan brought a quick responses from senators from other coastal states. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said such drilling off Virginia ``could cause a ripple effect ... and the consequences can be very significant.'' He added, ``This would leave other states helpless. The debate on the renewable fuels proposal was equally divisive. Senators from the South said utilities in their states could not meet the 15 percent requirement because they lack the wind power and other renewable resources prominent elsewhere, especially the West. ``I'm not impressed with wind being the national energy source for America,'' said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who led the opposition to the renewable fuels standard. Twenty-three states have renewable fuels requirements; nine of them are equal or more aggressive than the proposal federal requirements. But Bingaman said, ``You don't drive development of these technologies if it's up to each state to decide whether to participate.'' He rejected claims that some regions could not meet the mandate. The senator noted, for example, that much of the South has an abundance of trees and other plants to make biofuels as well as other renewables aside from wind. The measure also would permit utilities that cannot find enough renewable sources to buy credits from other utilities that have exceeded the 15 percent or from the Energy Department, Bingaman said. That did not sway Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. He said that in his region, utilities would have no choice but to buy credits at 2 cents per kilowatt-hour and ``the cost is going to be very significant ... with nothing to show for it.'' The renewable fuels proposal has been the subject of intense lobbying by utilities. The Georgia-based Southern Co. has made killing the measure its legislative priority. Sessions said the Tennessee Valley Authority, which like Southern is a leading electricity provider in the South, estimated it would cost $410 million a year by 2020 for it to meet the 15 percent renewables. Bingaman questioned those costs. He cited a report from the federal Energy Information Administration that said the renewable fuels requirement would add less than 1 percent to the cost of electricity in 2020 and cause natural gas costs to decline. The report also said the requirement would triple the use of biomass and increase the use of wind by 50 percent and solar cells by 500 percent. Critics of the bill disputed the agency's cost findings, saying it did not examine regional price increases. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 4 Reuters: China says U.S. remarks on its military irresponsible Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:31AM EDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China denounced U.S. comments on its defense spending as "irresponsible" on Thursday and defended its military budget, saying it was open and transparent. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang also called on the United States to stop selling weapons to Taiwan, the self-ruled island China considers its own, and to refrain from "sending any wrong signals to Taiwan secessionist forces". "China sticks to the role of peaceful development," Qin told a news conference. "On the military expenditure of China, we are transparent and open. The U.S. official's remarks disregard the facts and spread the China threat theory," Qin said. On Wednesday, Richard Lawless, the U.S. deputy undersecretary for defense for Asia, was reported to have accused China of concealing its spending on its weapons programs. "What we see is a deliberate effort on the part of China's leaders to mask the nature of Chinese military capabilities," Lawless told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. China and the United States have long sparred over the nature of China's military development, with Washington saying it is trying to project its growing power and Beijing maintaining that its armed forces are geared toward self-defense only. In March, China said it would boost defense spending by 17.8 percent to about $45 billion this year, but a Pentagon report last month said its total military-related spending could more than double that. Washington is also concerned that a military build-up in China could alter the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region and stoke conflict with Taiwan. China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has vowed to bring the island back under mainland rule, by force if necessary. The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognizing "one China", but it is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to help the island defend itself. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 Albuquerque Tribune: New Mexico senators' energy bills duel By James W. Brosnan (Contact) Thursday, June 14, 2007 WASHINGTON ? In a "friendly" showdown of New Mexico senators, Jeff Bingaman on June 14 defeated Pete Domenici in an early round fight over a new energy bill both would like to see ultimately pass Congress. Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat, offered an amendment requiring all utilities nationwide to obtain at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources - wind, solar or geo-thermal - by 2020. Domenici, an Albuquerque Republican, countered with a higher standard - 20 percent - but one that let utilities count electricity from nuclear power plants, hydropower and electricity saved through conservation. The Senate killed Domenici's plan on a largely party-line vote, 56-39, but that was no guarantee Bingaman can pass his own bill either. The outcome will not affect New Mexico, which this year agreed to a standard of 15 percent renewable power by 2015 and 20 percent by 2020, or 22 other states with renewable standards in the works. But Bingaman said having a nationwide standard would spur the development of new solar, wind and geothermal technology. The vote on Domenici's proposal was the first major showdown over an energy bill that mandates increasing the average fuel efficiency of automobiles, trucks and SUVs from the current 27.5 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon in 2020. The bill also mandates the use of 36 billion gallons of ethanol from corn and other plant sources by 2020. Bingaman is managing the bill as chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Domenici, who was chairman of the committee until the Democrats took back the Senate last year, and Bingaman have seldom gone head-to-head over energy legislation since they worked to pass the energy bill of 2005. Domenici said it was "difficult" for him. "There is no animus between Senator Bingaman and Pete Domenici," he said during the debate. "New Mexicans ought to be wondering what's cooking. But they also ought to know that he has an idea and I have a different idea built on it, and that's all there is to it." Domenici argued that Bingaman's proposal tilted toward wind power and would be unfair to ratepayers in southeastern states, which have little wind. Under the Bingaman proposal, utilities that couldn't meet the standard would have to buy excess credits from other states or pay the government the equivalent of 2 cents per kilowatt hour. "I don't think wind ought to be the national energy," said Domenici, who has long been a champion of nuclear power. Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander added, "The one wind farm we have in the whole southeastern United States, the Buffalo Mountain Project in Tennessee, operated 7 percent of the time in August when we are all sitting on our porches, sweating and fanning ourselves and wanting our air-conditioners on, so wind energy doesn't help us in our part of the country." Bingaman called Domenici's proposed "clean power standard" a "recipe for business as usual" because few utilities would actually be required to change their mix of power sources. States also could opt out of the mandate if they claimed to have their own renewable standard, he said. Bingaman said his own renewable standard would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, increase the use of wind power by 50 percent and solar power by 500 percent. The Energy Information Administration estimated electricity prices would increase nine-tenths of 1 percent but that natural gas prices would fall because less gas would be needed to burn for electricity. Bingaman passed a 10 percent mandate for renewable power in 2005, but the provision was dropped by House and Senate negotiators in the final version of that year's energy bill. © 2007 The Albuquerque Tribune ***************************************************************** 6 AFP: With implicit NATO backing, US to press missile shield in Europe - by Jim Mannion Thu Jun 14, 4:28 PM ET BRUSSELS (AFP) - With an effective NATO endorsement, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the United States intends to expand a US missile shield in Europe despite vehement Russian opposition. Gates told his Russian counterpart at a NATO-Russia meeting here that the United States wants to work with Moscow on a proposed US-Russian radar in Azerbaijan but not as a substitute for a US radar in the Czech Republic. "I was very explicit in the meeting that we saw the Azeri radar as an additional capability, that we intended to proceed with the radar, the X-band radar in the Czech republic," he told reporters. Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax as warning the ministers that the deployment of a US radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland would be an "unfriendly step." "We see such a decision as a step aimed at destroying the existing security system, creating new dividing lines on the European continent," he was quoted as saying. But a senior US official said Serdyukov did not repeat recent Russian threats to target Europe and did not place conditions on a counter-proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a joint US-Russian radar in Gabala, Azerbaijan. "Mr Serdyukov spoke before I did, and did not speak again during the session," Gates said. Gates said no NATO ally voiced opposition to the US missile defense plans at the meeting with the Russians or in an earlier all-NATO meeting. "There obviously is interest in trying to encourage the Russians to participate with us to make the system complimentary to NATO's shorter range-missile defenses and for transparence," he said. "But as I said there was no criticism from any of those who spoke and quite a number of the ministers did speak," he said. Asked about recent Russian threats, Gates said: "One theme of several of the representatives of the alliance during the meeting was the need to modulate rhetoric and for us to deal on a businesslike basis with one another." On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on Washington to freeze work with Poland and the Czech Republic on its missile shield, suggesting that continued talks might worsen the Iranian nuclear stand-off. NATO defence ministers agreed to assess the political and military implications of the US missile defence plan with an eye to what NATO would have to do to defend areas in southern Europe not under its umbrella. The assessment is to be completed by February 2008 ahead of a NATO summit in Bucharest to inform deliberations on fielding a theatre missile defence system that could be "bolted on" to the US system, NATO officials said. The study was "a recognition that the US discussion and proposals with Poland and the Czech Republic are A: a fact. B: that they are moving forward, and C: that NATO work ... on missile defence needs to take that into account," said NATO spokesman James Appathurai. "NATO will now move forward to assess the political and military implications of the US missile system proposals," he said. NATO ministers then met separately with Serdyukov in what one NATO diplomat described as a "calm and cold" session. "Each side simply restated its own arguments. There were no harsh words, but then there was no progress either," the diplomat said. The US official described it as a "very workmanlike session." "He made no threats today. There were no linkages with regard to Gabala. Allies were very welcoming of Russia's interest in cooperating on missile defense," the official said. Washington announced in January that it wants to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic linked to an early warning system, probably in the Caucasus, all to be operational by 2013. The shield is aimed at countering attacks from nations that Washington regards as "rogue states" such as Iran. The problem for NATO is that four members -- Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Turkey -- are only partly covered or left out of the umbrella all together, undermining the principle of "indivisibility of allied security". Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 7 AFP: US says nothing to fear from new nuclear warheads - Thu Jun 14, 4:18 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States Thursday defended plans to overhaul its sea-based nuclear arsenal with a new generation of warheads, arguing the program did not pose any extra threat to nations like Russia. The administration wants to replace much of its Cold War stockpile with a new "Reliable Replacement Warhead" (RRW) that it argues would be safer and cheaper to maintain over the coming decades. Roughly 2,000 of the new warheads would be deployed, one-fifth of Cold War levels. But the US government insists that it has enough technical know-how to avoid having to scrap its moratorium on nuclear weapons tests. "Today's stockpile is safe and reliable, and does not require testing," argued John Harvey, director of policy planning at the National Nuclear Security Administration. Nevertheless, he told a seminar at the New America Foundation, the Cold War-era warheads now deployed could pose a risk in decades to come as they age. "The RRW program is simply accomplishing the same goals as life extension," Harvey said, referring to the decade-old policy of refurbishing older warheads without making or testing new ones. "It's not seeking to come out with whole new generations of nuclear weapons," he said. "The idea here is to provide the same military capabilities as the one it replaces." Critics in Congress, especially in the Democratic party, argue that the US government risks alarming other nuclear powers like Russia and China with what they say is an unnecessary revamp. Steven Monblatt, co-executive director of the British American Security Information Council, said the RRW plan looks to other countries "like a build-up" of nuclear weapons by the United States. "The US has been at best diffident in the non-proliferation arena," he told the seminar, while other critics noted that the United States has refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty despite its own moratorium. But Harvey said that in an age of "rogue states," the United States needs to have reliable warhead capacity to cover its global security responsibilities to allies in Europe and Asia. The United States had notified allies and countries like Russia and China of its warhead intentions, "and we have received a very mild reaction from governments," he added. Russia is already seething over US plans to expand its missile shield into Europe, and last month said it had successfully tested a new ballistic missile bristling with multiple warheads. In March, the US government selected the design of the next-generation warheads based on work submitted by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Harvey said the winning design came closest to earlier warhead developments, and so had the most chance of working without requiring new underground or atmospheric tests. The RRW has now entered a new development phase and cost estimates are being calculated. After congressional approval, the new warheads would be produced under the direction of the US Navy. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 8 BBC NEWS: MSPs vote against Trident renewal Last Updated: Thursday, 14 June 2007, 17:17 GMT 18:17 UK MSPs debated the future of the Clyde-based submarines The Scottish Parliament has voted against renewing Trident nuclear weapons - the first time Holyrood has taken a clear position on the issue. The motion, backed by 71 MSPs to 16, with 39 abstentions, also congratulated the majority of Scots MPs for voting against a replacement system. But it acknowledged that renewal was the responsibility of Westminster. The motion, backed by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and Greens, was also voted for by several Labour MSPs - including Malcolm Chisholm, who resigned as a minister in the last government over the issue of Trident. I wish we lived in a world without nuclear weapons . . . but we don't Murdo Fraser MSP Scottish Tory deputy leader It was brought after a Westminster debate this year saw six SNP, 55 Lib Dem and 94 Labour MPs vote against replacement. The majority of Labour MSPs abstained from the vote on the Holyrood motion, which was opposed by the Conservatives. Prime Minister Tony Blair has already signalled his intention to push ahead with the Ł20bn replacement of the nuclear deterrent, based at Faslane on the Clyde. During a Holyrood debate, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bruce Crawford said the SNP administration would do what it could to prevent that. "It's our intention to hold a summit with key stakeholders to agree a joint position against Trident, to get the best ideas and proposals for an alliance of people across Scottish life who are opposed to the son of Trident," he said. The Scottish Greens have proposed using Scottish powers to prevent the movement of nuclear weapons on Scotland's roads and seas. Green MSP Patrick Harvie called on MSPs to express their opposition to renewal, adding: "If we do, the message from Scotland will be very clear - the majority of Scots rejecting this plan." 'Little support' However, Labour's Michael McMahon said Holyrood should focus on matters where it has responsibility. "The wishes of the Scottish people are to remain part of the United Kingdom and for defence matters to be represented in Westminster by MPs who are elected to go there to deal with that issue," he said. Scots Tory deputy leader Murdo Fraser made the case for Britain retaining its nuclear deterrent, adding: "I wish we lived in a world without nuclear weapons, I wish we lived in a world where they had not been invented, or they could be uninvented. "But we don't and none of these things are possible." Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Mike Rumbles said he could not see any scenario in which the use of Trident could be justified. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 9 IAEA: IAEA Chief Briefs Board on Nuclear Issues Safeguards, Safety, Technology Issues, Budget Concerns Cited Staff Report 11 June 2007 Dr. ElBaradei delivering his statement at the IAEA Board of Governors. (Photo: D. Calma/IAEA) IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei today briefed the IAEA Board of Governors on a range of nuclear issues, including IAEA safeguards in Iran, nuclear plant safety and budget concerns. The Board is meeting this week in Vienna. "Even with the proposed budget, the Agency´s financial situation remains vulnerable, and we still fall short of what is needed to carry out our mission in an effective manner. Significant additional resources are still sorely needed," he said. Regarding IAEA verification of Iran´s nuclear programme, the Director General said "it is incumbent on Iran to work urgently with the Agency, under a policy of full transparency and active cooperation, in order for the Agency to be able to provide assurance regarding the exclusively peaceful nature of all of Iran´s nuclear activities." Regarding the implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions, he said that he was "increasingly disturbed by the current stalemate and the brewing confrontation - a stalemate that urgently needs to be broken, and a confrontation that must be defused. I continue to believe that dialogue and diplomacy are ultimately the only way to achieve the negotiated solution foreseen in the relevant Security Council resolutions. The earlier that conditions are created to move in this direction, the better." On the Agency´s financial situation, Dr. ElBaradei warned of serious consequences for the IAEA´s capacity to fulfil its mission unless the issue of an increasing workload coupled with insufficient funding is addressed by Member States. "This dichotomy between increased high-priority activities and inadequate funding, if continued, will lead to the failure of critical IAEA functions," he stated. He said one focus of the problem is the fact that at present too large a part of the Agency´s budget comes from voluntary contributions from Member States. "Our nuclear security programme remains 90% funded through unpredictable and heavily conditioned voluntary contributions. Our safety department continues to rely heavily on extra-budgetary staff." Dr. ElBaradei also addressed the issue of assurance of supply and the nuclear fuel cycle. The Board is expected to receive a report on "options" for assurances of supply of nuclear fuel. "Controlling nuclear material and the use of nuclear energy is a complex process. And it is clear that an incremental approach, with multiple assurances in place, is the way to move forward," he stated. 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: ***************************************************************** 10 ISN Security Watch: China's changing nuclear posture Friday, 15 June 2007 Home / News and Current Affairs / Security Watch C China seems to be revising its nuclear posture and preparing for the possibility of using nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive attack if necessary. Image: ISN Commentary by Harsh V Pant for ISN Security Watch (14/06/07) Defying long-standing conventional wisdom in the US that China lacks the wherewithal to formulate a long-term national policy on nuclear weapons, a new report on China's nuclear forces presents convincing evidence about its gradual move away from its "minimal deterrent" nuclear posture. Even a cursory reading of world politics would suggest that as a nation's capabilities rise, so does its ambitions to play a larger role in global affairs. For long, China watchers have been arguing that the country's minimal deterrence nuclear posture goes against this thinking and therefore, the argument went, China did not seem very interested in challenging US global dominance. But as the latest report from the US Army War College reveals, the Chinese political and military leadership is gradually revising its nuclear posture and even preparing for the possibility of using nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive counter attack should the need arise. Some time back, Beijing had disclosed that its defense spending in the forthcoming year would rise by nearly 18 percent, to almost US$45 billion, the biggest increase since 2002 when military spending rose by 19.4 percent. Ordinarily, this should not come as a surprise as China's massive rates of economic growth in the last decade and a half do give it enough resources to spend on its military modernization. China has announced double digit military spending increases nearly every year since the early 1990s and its defense expenditure has increased by an average of about 15 percent a year from 1990 to 2005. Moreover, the US, whose global supremacy China wants to counter eventually, is projected to spend US$620 billion on defense in 2008 - a sum that is more than what the world's 10 largest military powers collectively spend on defense. In its latest report to US Congress, the Pentagon focuses on China's ongoing military build-up, which, while aimed at preventing Taiwan's independence, is also expanding to include other regional military goals, including securing the flow of oil from overseas. The report also claims that Beijing's investment in military modernization - which may have reached US$125 billion last year, or nearly triple the official US$45 billion declared by Beijing - has produced military systems that enable the PRC to project force well beyond its shores. Sino-US ties have been rather turbulent in recent times as US Congress has repeatedly expressed its concerns about the growing US trade deficit with China. The latest disclosures about China's expanding capabilities and ambitions come at a time when the Bush administration has been making a concerted bid to engage China on military issues so as to remove the veil of secrecy that surrounds Beijing's military plans and spending. The declared military spending by China only represents about one-third of its actual military spending if equipment purchases are taken into account. The US would like China to open its ultra-secretive military to greater scrutiny and share its strategic outlook to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations. Moreover, this is not something that only Americans are worried about. China's neighbors, including Japan and India, are also wary of these trends and would like China to be more forthcoming. Earlier this year, China successfully tested an anti-satellite missile and then decided not to reveal any information about it to the outside world. Approximately three months before, the People's Liberation Army began deploying the country's first state-of-the-art jet fighter, the J-10. It is clear that China's primary military objective is to build a force that would prevail in any conflict with Taiwan and be capable of creating a deterrent to American military intervention. Defending its recent increase, China argues that it would go toward increasing salaries and benefits for soldiers and to the overall modernization and technological upgrades. One of the lessons China's military seems to have learned from recent wars is that technological sophistication is the sine qua non for effective military operations in the contemporary strategic environment. Since 2003, the world's biggest standing army has been gradually shrinking and has been reduced to 2.3 million soldiers, with spending now focused on better training and advanced state-of-the-art weaponry. China intends to reach the strategic goal of building "informationized" armed forces and being capable of winning "informationized" wars by the mid-21st century. While China's white paper on national defense released last year made it clear that moving from infantry to high-tech naval and aerial warfare is a major goal of military modernization, it failed to provide any details on the new ships, warplanes, missiles, submarines and other equipment that have increased Chinese lethal power manifold in the last decade. It is this lack of transparency that worries the rest of the world. The latest disclosures about China's growing capabilities will not only cause concerns in the West and in China's neighborhood but will also put pressure on Beijing to move towards greater transparency. There is little likelihood though of China changing its current ambiguous posture on security and defense issues as it continues to serve Beijing's interests. Harsh V Pant is a lecturer at King's College London. His research interests include WMD proliferation, US foreign policy and Asia-Pacific security issues. The views expressed are his own. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author only, not the International Relations and Security Network (ISN). ***************************************************************** 11 Sydney Morning Herald: Fed govt urged reveal more nuke details - www.smh.com.au June 14, 2007 The federal government is under pressure to reveal more details of its nuclear plans after admitting discussions are underway on building a uranium enrichment plant. A company called Nuclear Fuel Australia is believed to be studying the feasibility of a $2.5 billion plant which could be operational by 2015. Enriched uranium is a critical component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. Industry and Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said the discussions were only at the initial stage. "They're not advanced at all. I mean companies are expressing their interests, I've had discussions with one or two companies about their ideas on it," Mr Macfarlane said. "But as I've said, I've made it very plain in those discussions that there needs to be a public debate on the future of nuclear power in Australia before we do anything further." There have been suggestions a plant could be built at Caboolture near Brisbane or near Port Pirie in South Australia, but Mr Macfarlane would not speculate. Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett demanded the government outline its nuclear plans in the wake of the revelation. "This is genuinely shocking and alarming news and I think raises such a high number of very serious questions about what the Howard government's plans are for the nuclear industry in Australia," Mr Garrett said. "If in fact there have been these discussions, they ought to be made absolutely public for Australians to know about them," he said. "In particular, if sites have been identified either in Queensland or South Australia, which seems to be the case, then it's clear that in fact secret discussions have been happening between the government and other parties about placing uranium enrichment facilities in different states of the commonwealth. "The government must come straight out, rule out enrichment, rule out signing any contracts for nuclear reactors, for enrichment plants." Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said construction of a nuclear plant north of Brisbane would destroy the local community. "How could you possibly put an enrichment plant in the middle of the community at Caboolture? "It's a good community, a lot of people live there. "It would simply destroy not just the amenity of the community, it would raise issues about safety, it would be in my view an endangerment to that whole community." Caboolture Shire mayor Joy Leishman said a nuclear facility did not belong in her community. © 2007 AAP Brought to you by ***************************************************************** 12 Seattle Times: Opinion | Nuclear power's not the answer | Thursday, June 14, 2007 - Page updated at 02:00 AM By John Abbotts According to recent news reports, the idea of more atomic power plants as a solution to global warming seems to be gaining support in some circles. However, this option is not likely to provide a practical or cost-effective response to climate change. Moreover, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) proposed by the Bush administration could have negative consequences, particularly at the Hanford nuclear reservation. As their supporters have noted, atomic energy plants do not directly produce greenhouse gases during their operation. But they do produce prodigious amounts of radioactive waste, along with material that can be fashioned into atomic bombs. Keeping the radioactive materials under control requires a complicated regulatory infrastructure; thus, it would be at least 10 years before new reactors could be designed, licensed, constructed and begin operation. By then, their capacity and energy demands could be a mismatch. Not only would reactor plants take too long to have a significant impact on global warming, but they are expensive, multibillion-dollar facilities. It is faster and much more economical to save energy through efficiency improvements than to generate it through new power plants. The GNEP proposal would overturn 30 years of national policy aimed at inhibiting nuclear proliferation. At the very time the U.S. is urging nations such as North Korea and Iran to forgo technologies to develop atomic weapons, the U.S. would be subsidizing domestic reprocessing technology, which produced plutonium for bombs at Hanford — a poor example. A proposal by the Tri-Cities Development Council to use the Hanford site for a new reactor and reprocessing center would likely have negative consequences for the region. Reprocessing, which has never proven commercially viable, is the technology that produced Hanford's 53 million gallons of highly radioactive liquid wastes, now stored in large underground tanks that have exceeded their design life spans. A Department of Energy facility to immobilize those wastes into a more stable solid form is now eight years overdue and about $8 billion over budget. GNEP would bring more atomic waste to Hanford, either as reactor fuel to be reprocessed; as waste generated from reprocessing; or both. The importation of new waste would undercut the Tri-Party Agreement, which sets cleanup milestones at Hanford and which was negotiated among the Energy Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology. Importing new wastes would also violate the Cleanup Priority Act, passed in 2004 with 69 percent voter approval, a record for Washington state initiatives. Furthermore, a federal repository in Nevada, proposed to store and guard atomic wastes from commercial power plants and from Hanford, is also years behind schedule. GNEP at Hanford would present homeland-security challenges as well. While the Department of Energy is engaged in stabilizing, packaging and shipping Hanford plutonium to an off-site facility, GNEP would bring more plutonium to Hanford. Separated plutonium, as potential bomb-grade material, would represent a likely target for terrorists. Moreover, the proposed plutonium-fuel reactor is expected to be cooled by molten sodium, which reacts explosively with water and burns when exposed to air. The world, and Hanford, are not likely to benefit from an atomic-power expansion. Combined with energy-efficiency improvements in the near-term, a sane energy future should develop renewable sources in all their forms, with the promise of halting global warming without the threat of replacing it with "global glowing." John Abbotts has a doctorate in biochemistry and formerly served as a University of Washington research scientist focusing on public-policy issues related to Hanford remediation. He is a member of the Hanford Task Force of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company ***************************************************************** 13 The Hindu: India, facing uranium fuel shortage, presses on with nuclear power programme Friday, Jun 15, 2007 T.S. Subramanian New mines, mills planned in Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya; five reactors under construction Picture shows Unit 3 and 4 of the Kaiga Atomic Power Project in Karnataka. While Unit 3 reached criticality in February 2007, Unit 4 will be commissioned by March 2008. Both units have a capacity of 220 Mwe each. CHENNAI: Firm plans are under way to press ahead with India's indigenous nuclear power programme should, for some reason, the proposed Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement not come through. The focus in the immediate future will be on pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) that have become the workhorse of the Indian nuclear power programme. These PHWRs use natural uranium as fuel, and heavy water as coolant and moderator. S.K. Jain, Chairman and Managing Director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), which designs, builds, and operates nuclear power reactors in India, told The Hindu : "As far as the indigenous PHWR programme is concerned, it is moving at the right pace, and the future is bright." Preparations are on course for the fifth nuclear power reactor at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan to reach criticality in August or September 2007. "Work is also progressing well," Mr. Jain said, on two more heavy water reactors ? Rajasthan-6 and Kaiga-4 in Karnataka ? to be started up by March 2008. These three reactors have a capacity of 220 MWe each. Mr. Jain noted that India would take a big step forward in its indigenous nuclear power programme when excavation will begin by the end of 2007 for two PHWRs of 700 MWe each at Kakrapar in Gujarat. "The design of the 700 MWe PHWR has been completed. Detailed engineering is in full swing." These will be the biggest PHWRs to be built by the NPCIL. India currently has 17 operating reactors, with a total installed capacity of 4,120 MWe. Of these, 15 are PHWRs. The other two are light water reactors (LWRs) built by the U.S. at Tarapur in Maharashtra. These LWRs use enriched uranium as fuel, and light water as coolant and moderator. Real challenge The real challenge is the nuclear fuel constraint. If the capacity factor of the indigenous PHWRs was at a high of 90 per cent in 2002-03, it has declined to 65 per cent. This reflects the serious shortage in the supply of natural uranium to fuel the PHWRs. The opening of new uranium mines and mills has lagged behind the demand for the metal. There are uranium mines at Jaduguda, Turamdih, Bhatin, and Narwapahar, all in Jharkhand. A mill is operating at Jaduguda for processing the natural uranium into yellow cake, which is sent to the Nuclear Fuel Complex at Hyderabad to be fabricated into the fuel bundles that power the PHWRs. According to Ramendra Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of the Uranium Corporation of India Limited, the situation will soon be under control when a new mill at Turamdih for processing the natural uranium into yellow cake "will be commissioned for trial run" by the end of June 2007. A new mine at Bandurung in Jharkhand is already producing natural uranium ore, and the stockpile will be sent to the Turamdih mill once it is commissioned. Land acquisition "We have started the construction of a new mine at Mouldih, also in Jharkhand," Mr. Gupta said. Environmental clearance has been given for constructing a uranium mine and mill near Thummalapalli in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh. Land acquisition is on. A public hearing was held at Nongbah Jynrin in Meghalaya on June 12 on a uranium mine and mill to be set up near Domiasiat. "We will get over the mismatch era in the near future," said Mr. Jain. Five reactors are now under construction. They include the fifth and sixth PHWRs at Rajasthan, and the fourth at Kaiga, each with a capacity of 220 MWe. The NPCIL is also building two LWRs, each with a capacity of 1,000 MWe, at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. The Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), a public sector undertaking of the Department of Atomic Energy, is building a 500-MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. These six reactors will have a total capacity of 3,160 MWe. Of these six, Rajasthan-5 will attain criticality in August or September 2007. Rajasthan-6 and Kaiga-4 will be started up by March 2008. The PFBR will be commissioned in 2010. The NPCIL has had a difficult time, over the past year-and-a-half, with the delay in the arrival of equipment from Russia for the two reactors at Kudankulam. S.K. Agrawal, Director (Projects), NPCIL, told The Hindu : "The situation is under control now. Things are picking up. All the major equipment for both the units has arrived. Civil works had been completed 100 per cent for both the units." Major equipment in the reactor building, including equipment for the nuclear steam supply system for unit-1, has been erected. Installation on "We are pulling up unit-2 to follow unit-1 closely," Mr. Agrawal added. "Electrical systems are in an advanced stage of installation for this unit. Close monitoring is going on." With "all-out efforts being made" to speed up the work, Kudankulam-1 will be operational in 2008 and its twin six months later. As far as the new projects are concerned, the breaking of ground for the construction of two PHWRs of 700 MWe each will take place at Kakrapar by the end of 2007, and in Rajasthan for two more PHWRs of similar capacity in 2008. "Environmental clearance has been obtained for the projects at both the sites," Mr. Agrawal explained. Public hearing A public hearing was held on June 2 at Tirunelveli for the construction of two more Russian LWRs of 1000 MWe each at Kudankulam (units-3 and 4). In anticipation of the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement fructifying, pre-project activities are going on at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra for building two LWRs of 1,000 MWe each. According to informed sources, "If the agreement does not come through, we will build four more PHWRs of 700 MWe each at the existing sites. The next three years will be tough. After that, the situation will be under control." Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 14 NRC: NRC to Meet with First Energy in Rockville, Md June 27 to Discuss Demand for Information News Release - 2007-075 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a public meeting Wednesday, June 27, in Rockville, Md., with FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company. The company will describe its response to the agency’s recent Demand for Information (DFI) regarding a new technical analysis of the corrosion event at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Ohio. The meeting will run from 9 a.m. until noon in the Commissioners’ Hearing Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville. The public is invited to observe the meeting, and NRC staff are making teleconference arrangements for interested members of the public. Final details for the teleconference will be part of the meeting notice, available on the NRC’s Web site here: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm. Thursday, June 14, 2007 ***************************************************************** 15 Energy Tribune: The E.U.'s Energy Roadmap Nowhere June 14, 2007 By Peter C. Glover In March, the European Union proclaimed that it had taken the lead “in the fight against climate change.” That claim came after the E.U. formally adopted the goals of its Renewable Energy Road Map (RERM). However, the chief value of any road map is that it helps to get you where you want to go – otherwise it’s just more sandwich wrap. Nevertheless, the E.U.’s new sandwich wrap has the 27 member-nations agreeing to several goals. - Carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 20 percent (compared to 1990 levels) across the E.U. by 2020. - Renewable energy sources will make up 20 percent of the E.U.’s energy mix by 2020, up from about 6.5 percent today. - Also by 2020, at least 10 percent of the motor-fuel mix will consist of biofuels. The E.U. believes that electricity production is the prime playground for renewables, and that renewable electricity output can more than double from about 15 percent today to some 34 percent. But this goal fails to reflect the growing public hostility towards more land-gobbling wind turbines – or the significant extra costs involved in developing offshore wind. Biomass is also cited as contributing exponentially to this sector. Rampant deforestation from biomass feedstock growth and the food-versus-fuel debate have apparently not been considered by RERM’s architects. RERM also sees renewables’ contribution to the heating and cooling sector doubling by 2020 from its current 9 percent. Yet again, biomass is invoked, along with “efficient household systems” as the key to success. Biofuels are also cited as vital to the transport fuel sector. RERM hails Sweden’s 4-percent bioethanol market share and Brazil as the world leader with a 20-percent market share. Tropical cane sugar for ethanol production is specifically mentioned. But this again fails to take into account a pressing moral issue: do we prioritize feeding the internal combustion engine, or people? Environmental journalist George Monbiot has been leading the charge against biofuels, and recently called for a five-year freeze on new biofuel developments. And that’s before we get to the E.U.’s political obstacles. France has demanded its nuclear power be included as part of its commitment – something Austria and Ireland oppose. Poland will be reluctant to give up its reliance on cheap coal – especially as neighboring Germany is building dozens of new coal-fired power plants. And neither France nor its eastern European neighbors want to accept the binding targets demanded by Germany, the U.K., Italy, and the Scandinavian countries. In the U.K., a climate bill now being considered would set binding targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050, with an interim target of about 30 percent by 2020. It also has binding five-year “carbon budgets” that are set 15 years in advance to provide clarity for policy-makers and businesses. Peter Glover is a U.K.-based journalist. For more, see his Web site, petercglover.com ©2006 Energy Tribune - All Rights Reserved - Web Design 4guys Interactive Inc ***************************************************************** 16 Times Argus: News frightening from Vt. Yankee June 14, 2007 In the midst of bad news about the safety of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, there is one bright light, the decision of Judge Meridith Wright to stop Entergy from dumping warmer than usual water into the Connecticut River. Otherwise, the news was frightening: There are more cracks on the steam dryer and some time between June 5 and June 7 the warning sirens stopped functioning. I applaud Judge Wright for her decision. Hopefully, more and more people will realize the danger of Vermont Yankee and oppose relicensing next year. Elinor Yahm East Montpelier © 2007 Times Argus ***************************************************************** 17 Times Argus: Feds: Yankee good to go another 20 years June 14, 2007 By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald BRATTLEBORO — The owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant took another step toward relicensing Wednesday with a finding by federal regulators that the company has a good plan for handling aging issues at the reactor. But the report that followed two weeks of special inspections in January and February was silent on a problem uncovered during the plant's recent refueling and maintenance outage — more cracks in the plant's steam dryer. State regulators suspect the cracks may be a result of the plant's recent power boost. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that the special inspection was charged with determining whether Entergy Nuclear had a "robust program in place to make sure they can manage the effects of aging." Sheehan said the inspection team determined Vermont Yankee was "capable for an additional 20 years." The inspectors only looked at "a selective sampling" of components and systems, he said. "Cracks in the steam dryer were found during the outage and our review is ongoing," Sheehan said. Entergy Nuclear officials disclosed the additional cracks during a hearing last week before an NRC panel, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. Vermont Yankee will be 40 years old in 2012, when its federal operating license expires. Entergy Nuclear wants to keep the plant operating for another 20 years. "It's just one piece, but it's an important piece of the review," Sheehan said of the ongoing review of the plant as part of the relicensing application. He said the environmental review and the safety review are on separate but parallel tracks. A letter to Theodore Sullivan, the Entergy Nuclear site vice president, from Richard Conte, the chief of the engineering branch, said that the special inspection team had a positive finding for Vermont Yankee. "The inspection results supported a conclusion that the proposed activities will reasonably manage the effects of aging in the systems, structures and components identified in your application," Conte wrote. Sheehan said that the steam dryer, which has been the focus of concern since cracks were discovered about four years ago, was not included in the special inspection because it wasn't strictly a safety component. The steam dryer removes moisture from steam as it comes off the reactor and before it enters the high-speed turbines. Even a drop of water can damage the blades in the turbine, which turn at incredibly high rates, Sheehan said. According to a 44-page report, the special inspection addressed flow-accelerated corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, containment leaks, and reactor vessel internals, among other issues. The Conte letter stated that Entergy Nuclear made a number of changes to the programs, although there were no negative findings in the inspection. Entergy Nuclear spokesman Robert Williams didn't return several messages Wednesday. Sarah Hofmann, director of public advocacy for the Department of Public Service, which acts as the consumer advocate in such cases, couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday. Last week, Hofmann said that the state's nuclear consultant was concerned that the new cracks were not a result of the normal aging process, but because of the additional stresses put on the steam dryer by Yankee's recent 20 percent power increase. The steam dryer has been a problem component in other nuclear reactors of Vermont Yankee's age and design, causing the plants to shut down for extended periods for repair. Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. © 2007 Times Argus ***************************************************************** 18 reportonbusiness.com: Ottawa backs nuclear industry on waste Natural Resources Minister to announce today support of long-term underground storage plan SHAWN MCCARTHY GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER June 14, 2007 Mr. Lunn - a staunch champion of the nuclear industry - is to announce today the government's support for the 2005 report of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization that supported the eventual, long-term underground storage of spent fuel from the country's fleet of Candu reactors, sources said yesterday. The minister is expected to kick off a process to select an underground storage site, with research and consultations that could take years to complete. Industry officials say the government's support for the long-term storage plan is an important vote of confidence, as the nuclear sector and the Ontario government gear up for major expansion plans, part of a much-touted global "nuclear renaissance." "This is most critical for us," said Murray Elston, president of the Canadian Nuclear Association. "It will allow us to answer persuasively those people who say the nuclear industry has no idea what to do long term with the waste." The nuclear industry has struggled worldwide with the criticism that it produces a waste stream that will remain dangerous for thousands of years, with no adequate means of storing it. In the U.S., plans for an underground storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., remained stalled despite support from Congress and the Bush administration. Gord Edwards, director of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, said Mr. Lunn's endorsement of underground waste storage represents a public relations coup for the nuclear industry. Despite the long-term plan, the risk of a catastrophic event will grow if the industry expands, he said. That's because it takes at least 30 years before the fuel can be moved underground and so the amount of radioactive waste kept on the surface will rise. "In the face of a growing nuclear industry or even a static nuclear industry, this is not really a solution to the catastrophe problem at the surface," Mr. Edwards said. He said any kind of major explosion - such as a terrorist attack - at a surface storage site would release radioactive clouds as deadly as those at the Chernobyl reactor that melted down in the former Soviet Union in 1986. Ottawa and the nuclear industry - led by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. - have been working for decades on a long-term storage solution. In 1998, a federal report concluded that underground storage of nuclear waste was technically feasible but could not be sold politically because of the high level of opposition from Canadians. The nuclear waste management panel, appointed by the former Liberal government, recommended 18 months ago that the government "proceed in a deliberate and consultative way to isolate the used fuel in a deep underground repository." The waste would be monitored and remain retrievable. Nuclear waste consisting of spent fuel bundles from Candu reactors is now stored at nine reactor sites, primarily in Ontario but also in Quebec, New Brunswick and Manitoba. The spent fuel is stored either in pools of water to cool down the radioactive elements, or in dry storage for older bundles. At the end of 2004, there were some two million spent fuel bundles in storage at reactor sites across the country, containing nearly 36,000 tonnes of uranium. The report said it would take 60 years for the waste to be "cool" enough to permanently sequester it underground. In the meantime, the government should consider a plan for centralized storage either above ground or in shallow underground facilities, where the fuel would be easily retrievable in the event it was needed. The industry is keen to maintain access to the waste because it represents a source for the future, when uranium deposits have been depleted and prices have escalated. Storage sites for used nuclear fuel Stored fuel bundles Nuclear Facility Wet Dry 1- AECL-Whiteshell 0 960 2- Bruce A&B 730,615 29,184 3-Douglas Point 0 22,256 4-Pickering 282,332 135,927 5-Darlington 256,068 0 6-AECL-Chalk River 0 4,853 7-AECL-Gentilly 1 0 3,213 8-Gentilly 2 33,614 60,000 9-Point Lepreau 39,482 63,180 © Copyright 2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisions of CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, ON  Canada M5V 2S9 Phillip Crawley, Publisher ***************************************************************** 19 Independent.ie: ESB union says govt should consider nuclear power - Thursday June 14 2007 The union representing engineers and other professionals working for the ESB is calling for nuclear power to be considered in the debate on Ireland's future energy policies. In a report out today, Amicus says the Government's recent white-paper proposals on energy was unrealistic and over-reliant on natural gas. It also raises questions about the efficiency of wind energy, which it says requires a reserve system to guarantee security of supply, thereby reducing the environmental and economic benefits. Amicus accepts that there are potential problems with accidents at nuclear plants and the disposal of nuclear waste. However, it says nuclear power should still be considered as an option. Elsewhere, the union is also seeking a national energy agency to oversee energy policy until 2020. ***************************************************************** 20 UPI: Two global reports show nuclear's rise United Press International - Energy - Briefing Published: June 14, 2007 at 5:33 PM LONDON, June 14 (UPI) -- Nuclear energy continues to grow as a source of baseload electricity generation around the world, including the United States, according to two new reports. BP's World Energy Review, an annual look at the global energy sectors, found nuclear energy was the only source without a slowed growth rate in 2006. The report, released this month, found nuclear energy output gained by 1.4 percent. There are 436 nuclear reactors powering 16 percent of global electricity, 104 of which are in the United States, powering around 20 percent of the nation's electricity. That number is expected to increase as dozens of plants are in some stage of planning or construction, a nuclear boom responding to the increased demand for power, rising prices of oil and gas, and a potential charge levied on coal and other polluting fossil fuels. "Without a price for carbon, there is no mechanism that can guide the energy system towards a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward wrote in the World Energy Review introduction. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency said its new report shows nuclear reactors provided 23.1 percent of electricity for its 30 member states in 2006. According to Nuclear Energy Data, published Thursday, this is a 1.8 percent increase over 2005. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 UPI: Analysis: Is a federal RPS the answer? United Press International - Energy - Analysis Published: June 13, 2007 at 8:10 PM By KRISTYN ECOCHARD UPI Energy Correspondent WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- In the U.S. Senate, the debate continued to heat up over the passage of an energy bill containing bipartisan legislation from three committees -- the major point of contention being a federal renewable portfolio standard. The renewable portfolio standard amendment, put forward by Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would set a national renewable energy target of 15 percent by 2030. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration on the potential impact of a 15 percent renewable portfolio standard concluded that it would lead to large increase in biomass, solar and wind generation and lower coal, natural gas and nuclear generation. The projected price of a renewable energy credit between 2020 and 2030 would be around 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour. Retail electricity prices, the EIA said, could be expected to rise an average of 0.9 percent from 2005 to 2030, countering criticism that a federal RPS would significantly drive up electricity prices for consumers. "Some Republicans continue to talk about drilling for more oil," Reid said at a news conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday. "It's time we take advantage of the renewable resources we already have here at home to become more energy independent." The bill also addresses renewable fuel and electricity sources, energy efficiency, carbon capture and storage, coal, public building cost reduction, fuel economy standards, price gouging and energy diplomacy and security. Other specific provisions in the bill include 8.5 billion gallons per year of renewable biomass by 2008 and 36 billion gallons annually by 2022. Federal agencies would be required to achieve at least a 20 percent petroleum consumption cut by 2015, and the weatherization program would be expanded. The energy secretary would be directed to demonstrate commercial carbon capture technology. The proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard would be set at 35 miles per gallon by 2020 and a 4 percent increase in efficiency per annum over the previous year. The auto industry, including Ford, Toyota and GM, members of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, expressed doubt over the possibility of achieving a 52 mpg CAFE standard by 2030. "Rather than focus on CAFE standards that would slow 'leap-ahead' technology we should focus on supporting the industry," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. A goal of 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol by 2022 and a new 25x25 goal introduced as an amendment by Sens. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, are receiving support from agricultural groups such as the National Corn Growers Association. Also under the energy bill, the president would be granted the authority to declare a temporary national energy emergency to trigger a prohibition on price gouging. And the secretary of state would be asked to establish energy partnerships with developing countries like India and China. "It's hard to argue against a renewable portfolio standard. There would be some benefits, but what the EIA hasn't done is evaluate the feasibility of implementing the standards successfully," said Andy Weissman, publisher of Energy Business Watch. "The problem the EIA creates is that it forecasts future energy prices that are frankly absurd." Renewable energy is important, Weissman said, and should be pushed for, but what's going on now "borders on the fraudulent" because many states are already pushing renewable energy. "Congress should have enough sense to realize that they're adding almost nothing to what's already being done on a state level and should be aware that we'll be paying in a very big way to meet goals that states will fall short of," Weissman said. "There are obvious limitations that Congress hasn't even tried to look at because it's politically popular to push renewables. The energy crisis is going to get much worse and we need realistic solutions," he said. Technologies that turn coal to liquids are well demonstrated, suggested Weissman, and they are ready today to create thousands of barrels a day of fuel, though some would argue development is not up to commercial scale. Focusing on coal to liquids and coal gasification could put a cap on gasoline prices and reduce electricity costs, but coal faces huge environmental opposition, Weissman said. "Going forward aggressively with coal to liquids is much more realistic than the renewable fuels like corn-based ethanol, which only has a small energy gain," Weissman said, though he expects Congress will probably will vote for renewable fuels resulting, he said, in an increase in fuel and food prices. Bingaman said the bill could be delayed by continuing debate over the CAFE standards and RPS. To speed it up, there may be an attempt to pass the energy bill without tax provisions that could be brought up as a standalone measure. -- (e-mail: energy@upi.com) © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 UPI: Experts: Browns Ferry spent fuel at risk United Press International - Energy - Briefing Published: June 13, 2007 at 7:19 PM ATHENS, Ala., June 13 (UPI) -- Nuclear safety experts are worried the fuel cooling pools at an Alabama nuclear plant are vulnerable to attack or accident, putting the area at risk. The Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant facility that houses recently spent fuel until it is at least cooled enough for more permanent storage is located 60 feet above ground. The site was built in the 1970s, and Browns Ferry officials say it was constructed with various incidents in mind, though not terrorism, The Decatur Daily reports. "These pools are designed to withstand quite a bit of punishment, though," said Craig Beasley, a plant spokesman. But if the cooling water is ever drawn too low, the radioactive rods could ignite. This would lead to more radioactive contamination than Chernobyl, experts said. "If water is lost, in almost all conditions, you will then have a fire that releases extremely large amounts of radioactive material," said Gordon Thompson, executive director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies, who said the "uninhabitable area ... could run into thousands of square miles." Thompson is also a co-author of a National Academy of Sciences study released last year that made a number of recommendations for securing such cooling pools. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns Browns Ferry, said the current structure is safe. "The NRC has maintained and continues to maintain that fuel can be stored safely both in spent-fuel pools and dry casks," said NRC spokesman Roger Hannah. Dry casks are hardened steel and concrete containers where the fuel is moved from the pools. David Lochbaum, director of nuclear safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists and a Browns Ferry Unit 1 reactor engineer in the early 1980s, said the less waste cooling the better. "We think now is the time to make that happen, to make the plants a little bit less vulnerable to terrorists," Lochbaum said. Aside from airplane, projectile and ground attacks, any accident that leads to water escaping is a threat, the experts say. The country's 104 nuclear reactors produce 2,000 tons of waste annually, according to the NRC. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade arm, says of the 56,000 tons of spent fuel being stored at nuclear plants around the country, more than 46,000 tons are in cooling pools. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 ITAR-TASS: Sweden is interested in cooperation with Russia in atomic energy. 14.06.2007, 17.55 MOSCOW, June 14 (Itar-Tass) - Sweden is interested in cooperation with Russia in atomic energy, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden said on Thursday. He heads the delegation of the Swedish Technological Royal Mission that visited Russia on Thursday. He noted that under the decision made at a referendum Sweden had not been building new nuclear reactors from 1980. “However, now we have been gradually resuming the development of nuclear power and we are interested in this connection in Russian experience and in cooperation with the Russian side,” he said. Ivan Kamenskikh, the deputy head of the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, said in this connection that the agency is ready to cooperate with the Swedish colleagues. “It will be right lf we are able to invite your scientists and specialists to work at our research reactors,” he said. Besides, Kamenskikh called the attention of the guests to the federal programme or nuclear and radiation safety being worked out, which includes operations to shut down nuclear facilities. “We will hold contests for closing nuclear facilities, and Swedish specialists can participate in such competitions,” he said. All in all, it is planned to shut down obsolete facilities with the yield of 3.7gigawatt by 2020. The possibility of the delivery of electricity by Russia to Sweden was touched upon during the conversation. True, Kamenskikh said, “there is a problem of networks with which Russia does not deal.” “We are ready, however, to participate in the solution of these problems,” he said. During the meeting with the Swedish delegation, the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy presented the plan for the development of nuclear energy in Russia up to 2030. According to representatives of the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, the Russian side will be attracting domestic and foreign investors, and will set up joint ventures for the manufacture of basic equipment for nuclear power plants. “We are open to work with foreign colleagues in joint ventures and, possibly, in others forms,” Kamenskikh said. © ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, store ***************************************************************** 24 AU ABC: Scientists reveal secret 1980s nuclear work. 14/06/2007. ABC News Online The scientists say the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor was used for enriching uranium in the 1980s (File photo). (Reuters) The ABC has learned that uranium was secretly being enriched at Sydney's Lucas Heights reactor 20 years ago. Enriched uranium is the fuel that runs nuclear power stations and can be used to build nuclear weapons. The ABC's Investigative Unit has revealed that enrichment technology was secretly being developed at Sydney's Lucas Heights reactor during the mid-1980s before the program ran out of money. Senior staff at Lucas Heights say that at the time they devised a plan to continue their work even after the then-Hawke government moved to shut down the enrichment program. Nuclear scientist Don Mercer worked on the program and says the research was conducted for Australia's benefit. "You've thrown technology down the drain which Australia could have used," he said. "As an Australian I feel very sad that that thing goes on, not because the technology wasn't good enough, or anything but for political reasons, ideological reasons." Dr Clarence Hardy worked for 20 years at Lucas Heights and says Australia was at the forefront of nuclear technology. "I don't think anyone at the really high level in the Government understood what we were trying to do, to preserve this technology for the good of the country," he said. Dr Hardy is now a director of the company Nuclear Fuel Australia and is planning to put a proposal to the Federal Government to build an enrichment plan in Australia. The ABC understands that possible sites have already been earmarked near Brisbane and near Port Pirie in South Australia. Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane says he has not been approached about plans to build a commercial nuclear enrichment site in Australia. Mr Macfarlane says he has not been approached, but would not rule out discussing such a proposal. ***************************************************************** 25 AU ABC: Company's nuclear plans 'shock' Garrett. 15/06/2007. ABC News Online Opposition environment spokesman Peter Garrett says he has very serious questions about what the Government plans are for the nuclear industry in Australia. (Getty Images) The Federal Opposition says the Government should rule out uranium enrichment facilities for Australia. The ABC's investigative unit has uncovered a private company's plan to present a development proposal for an enrichment plant to the Government. Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says he has not been approached, but would not rule out discussing such a proposal. Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett told ABC Radio's AM program that any talks between the Government and the company should be made public. "This is genuinely shocking and alarming news," he said. "[It] raises such a high number of very serious questions about what the Howard Government's plans are for the nuclear industry in Australia." Meanwhile, Wilderness Society nuclear campaign coordinator Imogen Zethoven says nuclear power is not a path to go down and the Federal Government needs to be more open about any potential plans. "Uranium enrichment is a very, very bad idea," she said. "It's not something that Australia should be embracing - it's very polluting and it produces large volumes of waste. "The Australian Government should be coming out saying what it's planning to do and then the people can respond in an informed way." Two sites have been mooted as possible locations for the facility - one at Caboolture north of Brisbane in Queensland and the other at Port Pirie north of Adelaide in South Australia. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says building a plant in a fast-growing region like Caboolture is a dangerous and crazy idea. "Queenslanders would vote overwhelmingly against it," he said. "I just send a clear message to John Howard, the Prime Minister, because they are supporting the uranium industry, that if they go down this path there will be a vote of the people. "The people will in my view overwhelmingly oppose it and we will oppose it every step of the way." Caboolture Shire Mayor Joy Leishman says it sounds so ridiculous she is not concerned. "Caboolture shire today has some 140,000 people living here," she said. "We fit into the region as the faster growing area in the nation. "I think it is just a ridiculous situation that anyone would suggest you would have a nuclear enrichment plant in such a highly populated [area] and an area that has great beauty." Councillor Leishman says it would not matter what federal and state governments decided, every resident in south-east Queensland would block the proposal. "So I am sorry - it is not up to a couple of politicians wherever they may be, it really is up to the mass of people who live here and I have no doubt that they would absolutely oppose this with every breath in their bodies," she said. ***************************************************************** 26 UCS: Senate Whistleblower Bill Leaves Out Protection for Scientists June 13, 2007 Statement by Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program House Subcommittee to Consider FDA Legislation Tomorrow; Science Group Says Bill Needs More Safeguards to Protect Fed Scientists WASHINGTON—The Senate Committee committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs today approved the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act. While the legislation would strengthen protections for federal whistleblowers who expose waste, fraud and abuse of power, it fails to address scientists who expose the manipulation, distortion, or suppression of their work, according the Union of Concerned Scientists. A bipartisan House bill, approved overwhelmingly in March, includes strong protections for federal scientists and contractors, giving them the right to expose political interference in their research without fear of reprisals. The bill passed by a 331 to 94 vote, with 229 Democrats and 102 Republicans voting in favor. The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved the Senate legislation (the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act). Political interference in science has become a pervasive problem in the federal government. Recent surveys have documented that hundreds of scientists across nine federal agencies fear reprisals when they openly discuss concerns about their agency's work. The following is a statement by Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists: "While the Senate bill is a good first step to extending meaningful protections to federal employees who sound the alarm on government waste, fraud and abuse, it does not yet contain language that would ensure that federal scientists are free to do their work without fear of political interference. We have heard from hundreds of federal scientists who fear retaliation for raising concerns about their agency's mission-driven work. "The Senate must incorporate equally strong protections for federal scientists in any whistleblower legislation. The Senate should recognize, as the House does, that scientists must be able to work to protect the health and safety of Americans without fear of retribution." Reporters: Join our notification list to receive breaking news from UCS. General media inquiries can be directed to our media office line at 202-331-5420. If you are calling about a specific issue, contact the appropriate press contact below. Press Contacts: Energy, Food, Scientific Integrity MEGHAN CROSBY Assistant Press Secretary 202-331-6943 mcrosby@ucsusa.org Climate, Global Security, Vehicles, Invasives AARON HUERTAS Assistant Press Secretary 202-331-5458 ahuertas@ucsusa.org Scientific Integrity, Vehicles LISA NURNBERGER Press Secretary 202-331-6959 lnurnberger@ucsusa.org Climate, Food EMILY ROBINSON Press Secretary 202-331-5427 erobinson@ucsusa.org ELLIOTT NEGIN Media Director 202-331-5439 enegin@ucsusa.org © Union of Concerned Scientists Page Last Revised: 06/13/07 ***************************************************************** 27 NewsRoom Finland: Vattenfall joins Finnish nuclear queue 14.6.2007 at 18:49 German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) quoted Swedish utility Vattenfall as saying on Thursday that it was interested in building a nuclear power station in Finland, thus joining the swelling group of companies keen on investing in the pro-nuclear country. Finland's Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) is having built what will be Finland's fifth nuclear power station in Olkiluoto. TVO and Fortum have launched environmental impact assessment processes on another one, while Germany's E.ON has formed a joint venture with a number of Nordic partners with the aim of building a nuclear power station in Finland. /STT/ © Copyright STT 2007 © 1995 – 2005, Virtual Finland Produced by: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland Department for Communication and Culture/Unit for Promotion and Publications ***************************************************************** 28 Hindustan Times: Big bets on nuclear, wind power, says PwC- Friday, June 15, 2007 M Rajendran New Delhi, June 14, 2007 Power companies worldwide, including those in India, expect generation and utilisation of wind energy and nuclear energy to increase substantially in the next five years, says a Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) report released on Thursday. The ninth annual PwC report "Energy and Efficiency: Utilities Global Survey 2007", based on responses from 114 power companies in 44 countries, warns however, that regulatory reform in India, as well as large investments in energy efficient technology are essential to overcome the existing power shortages. In 2006, the report reveals, only 17 per cent and 19 per cent of all power utilities were looking at wind and nuclear power respectively as alternative energy sources. But this year 48 per cent and 45 per cent of them are already doing so. The adverse impact of climate change was one of the reasons for the power utilities altered approach. Kameswara Rao, executive director and India utilities leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, “The Government of India has taken steps to bring investment into thermal, hydro, nuclear and renewable energy generation and also into transmission. But to achieve desired results, further regulatory reform and more sincere efforts at restructuring are necessary.” Companies in metals, chemicals and paper sectors are increasingly seeking to have captive power plants and reduce dependence on utility companies, says the survey. Investment in energy efficiency is a now a priority for all companies. The survey also points that for the first time the shortage of skilled manpower is becoming a major factor in influencing mergers and acquisitions. Power companies worldwide are feeling the pinch. Increasingly improved infrastructure and new generation technology are driving up the demand for expertise. The ageing workforce in many developed countries and the paucity of graduates opting for engineering in some others has compounded matters. “In India too, the state power utilities face a serious shortage of the right people with a large number of senior staff retiring and many young managers moving to the private sector. Power utilities of course need to recruit, but to attract reasonable talent they must professionalize their operations and introduce modern management methods. It is time they invested in their people and processes," said Rao. ***************************************************************** 29 Scotsman.com News: Nuclear skills deficit Friday, 15th June 2007 JAMES KIRKUP POLITICAL EDITOR BRITAIN does not have enough specialist engineers and scientists to build the next generation of nuclear power stations, the new head of the British nuclear industry has warned. Martin O'Neill, the Labour peer who has been appointed chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association, said Britain will have to lure foreign experts if the government's plan for new reactors is to be realised. "There is a shortage of labour. We don't have the capacity in the UK to do everything," Lord O'Neill told The Scotsman. He added that Britain will have to start work on the new plants quickly, or find itself "in the queue" for specialist engineers, competing for their services with fast-expanding nuclear programmes like China's. The warning echoes defence industry fears that Britain does not have enough trained experts to complete the planned replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent. Ministers last month confirmed that they hoped the nuclear industry would choose to build a new wave of nuclear reactors. But the objection of the new Scottish Executive means those reactors can only be placed in England, most likely on the sites of existing nuclear plants. Lord O'Neill said government plans to streamline planning and licensing rules could see the first new reactors operational as soon as 2016. Related topic * Nuclear energy http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1343 This article: http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=936142007 Last updated: 14-Jun-07 00:06 BST ©2007 Scotsman.com | contact | terms & conditions ***************************************************************** 30 The Australian: Government eyes nuclear plant NEWS.com.au | * June 15, 2007 INDUSTRY Minister Ian Macfarlane has admitted the federal Government has started discussions on building a nuclear enrichment plant in Australia, but said the plans are in their infancy. ABC TV has reported that a proposal is being prepared for the government on building a uranium enrichment plant. A company called Nuclear Fuel Australia was believed to be studying the feasibility of a $2.5 billion plant which could be operational by 2015. Mr Macfarlane said the discussions were only at the initial stage. “They're not advanced at all, I mean companies are expressing their interests, I've had discussions with one or two companies about their ideas on it,” the minister told ABC Radio today. “But as I've said, I've made it very plain in those discussions that there needs to be a public debate on the future of nuclear power in Australia before we do anything further.” Mr Macfarlane said if the federal government does decide to go ahead with a nuclear enrichment plant, it would not eventuate for some time and a decision would not be made before the federal election. “We are literally years away from this happening and what we need to see is a sensible fact-based debate rather than the usual scare campaign from the Labor party,” he said. There have been suggestions that the plant could be built in Caboolture near Brisbane and Redcliffe near Port Pirie in South Australia, but Mr Macfarlane said it was inappropriate to speculate on a site. “That's not really a question that anyone can answer until you have a commercial proponent,” the minister said. “It's not something the government envisages being involved in and it's certainly not something that you would allow to happen until you'd had this debate with the Australian people about what their thoughts were on nuclear energy in Australia.” Mr Macfarlane said nuclear enrichment was not something Australians should be scared about. “Uranium enrichment is not a nuclear reaction - it is not part of the nuclear cycle so to speak. “It is a very difficult, highly technical, industrial process which produces toxic waste not dissimilar to that waste which we produce in other manufacturing processes in Australia that we've managed for literally decades.” But, he said, it was a process that produced enriched uranium so it could be used in a nuclear power station. “It's something that needs to be part of the debate that we need to have in Australia about moving forward with nuclear energy,” he said. © The Australian ***************************************************************** 31 The Australian: Nuke power 'won't curb global warming' NEWS.com.au | * June 15, 2007 This story is from our news.com.au network Source: Reuters * By Lisa Lambert in Washington NUCLEAR power would only curb climate change by expanding worldwide at the rate it grew from 1981 to 1990, its busiest decade, and keep up that rate for half a century, a report released in the US said today. Specifically, that would require adding on average 14 plants each year for the next 50 years, all the while building an average of 7.4 plants to replace those that will be retired, the report by environmental leaders, industry executives and academics said. Currently, the United States, the world's top nuclear power producer, has 104 plants that generate 20 per cent of the country's electricity. Nuclear power, which has near-zero emissions of carbon dioxide, has recently come back into fashion as an alternative to generating electricity from coal and other carbon-based sources that contribute to global warming. While the report also supported storing US nuclear waste at power plants until the long-stalled Yucca Mountain repository opens, 10 dumps the size of Yucca Mountain would be needed to store the extra generated waste by the needed nuclear generation boom. That outlook was too optimistic in light of how many new nuclear plants were on the drawing board, the report said. The needed rate of expansion would be faster than during the industry's first 40 years and than the Energy Information Administration's forecast for the next 30 years in the United States. Some individuals differed, though, on how much the industry will expand, and said it could still make some type of impact. Twenty-seven individuals from organisations spanning a broad ideological spectrum, including the Natural Resources Defence Council and GE Energy, spent nine months on the report, called The Nuclear Power Joint Fact-Finding. The group, which was brought together by the nonprofit Keystone Centre, said that as companies limit generating electricity from coal and other fossil fuels, there will be more financial incentives to build nuclear power plants. The Keystone panelists also said that US President George W. Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership could help countries and groups interested in building nuclear weapons obtain plutonium, the key ingredient in those munitions, which could help spread nuclear weapons. While the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit organisation of scientists focused on the environment and security, had trouble with most of the report, it agreed with assertions on GNEP. "By promoting the commercial production and use of plutonium, the Bush administration is facilitating the spread of nuclear bomb materials around the world," said Edwin Lymann, a scientist working on security issues for the group. © The Australian ***************************************************************** 32 Guardian Unlimited: US Seeks Wider Effort on Terror Funding From the Associated Press Thursday June 14, 2007 1:16 PM By JEANNINE AVERSA AP Economics Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Countries around the world must do their part to keep money and weapons out of the hands of terrorists, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday. Although important efforts have been made on this front, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States, Paulson underscored the need for more international progress. Paulson said several of the United States' ``key allies'' - which were not named- have yet to take such basic steps as adequately criminalizing money laundering and terrorist financing. An even greater number of countries have failed to develop national authorities, or powers, to apply targeted financial measures to terrorist groups other than al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan, Paulson added. ``We have a shared responsibility for our mutual security, and our allies, who confront risks at least as great as those confronting the United States, must find the political will to enact the authorities they need to join in effective multilateral action,'' Paulson said in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. A copy of his remarks was made available in Washington. Securing the power to use targeted financial measures ``may not deal a knockout punch, but they can and will produce results and change behavior,'' Paulson predicted. The United States' use of targeted financial measures to freeze assets of specific companies or people and bar Americans from doing business with them are proving to be quite effective, Paulson said. Broad economic sanctions against a country can sometimes be perceived as political statements and thus it can be difficult to persuade other governments and companies in other countries to support such sanctions, he said. But the dynamic is different when the case for acting against a specific company, person or group is carefully laid out. The United States is now using targeted financial measures, for instance, against North Korea and Iran - countries where there also are broad countrywide sanctions in place. Companies outside the United States have voluntarily cut off business with U.S.-designated entities in those countries as a result of the targeted measures by the U.S., Paulson said. ``Most of the world's top financial institutions have now dramatically reduced their Iranian business or stopped it altogether,'' he said. Iran's nuclear ambitions have drawn international rebuke; there have been moves by the U.N. Security Council to discuss a third set of sanctions against Iran. The United States has alleged that Iran has engaged in deceptive financial conduct. It has used front companies and other mechanisms that make it difficult, if not impossible, for companies dealing with Iran to know their actual customer, Paulson alleged. State-owned Iranian banks, including the Central Bank of Iran, repeatedly asked other financial institutions to remove their names from global transactions, Paulson said. On the Net: Treasury Department: http://www.ustreas.gov/ Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 33 Daily Yomiuri: Steel pipes stolen from Tsuruga N-power plant Four stainless steel pipes, worth about 12 million yen, have been stolen from a warehouse at the Japan Atomic Power Co.'s Tsuruga nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Thursday. The firm is likely to be criticized for its lax security over the theft at a time when terrorists could possibly target nuclear facilities. The four pipes are 17 to 27 centimeters in diameter and six meters long, weighing a total of 1.4 tons. They were held in a storage facility at the power plant as replacement parts for an emergency core cooling system and other purposes. The system is designed to inject water into the reactor as a coolant in case of an emergency. When the plant's officials inspected the storage facility in February, the pipes were there. However, while preparing for a regular inspection of the plant's No. 2 reactor, scheduled for autumn, on May 18, they found that the four pipes and their wooden containers were missing. After confirming with the firm managing the warehouse that the pipes were missing, the officials submitted a complaint to local police on June 4. ) © The Yomiuri Shimbun. ***************************************************************** 34 Star-News: Radioactive material found in water at nuclear plant site not a public health issue, officials say | StarNewsOnline.com | | Wilmington, NC last modified June 14. 2007 2:16PM By Shelby Sebens Staff Writer Progress Energy has reported that it discovered tritium, a radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen, in standing water on the company’s site in Southport. The nuclear power company sent letters to nearby residents Wednesday and notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as state and local officials regarding the tritium. Tritium is not hazardous in acceptable limits, but the Environmental Protection Agency has established standards for the amount that can be released by nuclear facilities. As with all ionizing radiation, exposure to tritium can increase the risk of developing cancer, according to the EPA. The source of the tritium is a stabilization pond that receives run-off from the plant. The pond is no longer receiving tritium, Progress Energy Spokeswoman Lauri Turpin said. The tritium, found in standing water samples taken from two on-site manholes and from adjacent shallow wells, does not pose a public hazard, Turpin said. She said the company has tested the 150-foot-deep Castle Hayne aquifer that serves as a main source of drinking water for Brunswick County and found no hazardous traces of tritium. But to be certain, the NRC and the state are testing the samples as well, NRC Spokesman Ken Clark said. NRC, the company and the state are also testing the county’s more shallow Yorktown aquifer. “Thus far, this does not appear to be a health problem, but it is an indicator that some material could eventually get into places where it shouldn’t be,” Clark said. Brunswick County Emergency Services Director Randy Thompson said Progress Energy notified the agency just over a week ago about the identified tritium. “All indications are to us that it’s not a major concern to the public,” he said. ***************************************************************** 35 Times Argus: What will be next to go wrong? June 14, 2007 Gov. Douglas' veto of the energy bill H.520, a widely praised plan which addresses climate change, makes me wonder why he is so on the side of the nuclear industry. Every other day we hear of new problems: so many cracks in the steam dryer, sirens to alert people not working, water too warm for fish flowing into the Connecticut River because Entergy makes more money by allowing it. Taxpayers still have the waste of Vermont Yankee to deal with. Entergy has the income to pay taxes, so it seems only fair that it do so like other businesses, especially given the problems a nuclear plant causes for the people around it. I can only hope for an override of the veto. Lea Wood Montpelier © 2007 Times Argus ***************************************************************** 36 Pacific Business News: Whistleblower measure clears Senate panel - (Honolulu): The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has approved changes to the Whistleblower Protection Act to strengthen protections for federal workers who disclose waste, fraud or abuse. "If federal employees fear reprisal for reporting fraud and abuse, taxpayers and national security suffer," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who cosponsored the measure with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. U.S. Senate Bill 274 would, Akaka said Wednesday, restore Congressional intent by correcting the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals' "repeated misinterpretations" of Congress's intent with the original law. © 2007 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of bizjournals. ***************************************************************** 37 UPI: Outside View: Space junk threat -- Part 1 United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Analysis Published: June 13, 2007 at 8:25 PM By YURY ZAITSEV UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, June 13 (UPI) -- When it launched its first satellite, humankind not only opened a window on the universe, but also unveiled a sort of garbage chute, which is quickly turning near-Earth space into a gigantic waste dump filled with space and rocket debris. At altitudes of 120 miles and more, we find the last stages of launch vehicles, booster sections, nose cones and decommissioned and retired satellites. Add to that the ruins of exploded spacecraft, household refuse from manned craft and orbiting stations, and such "smaller items" as bolts, washers and even tools lost by astronauts as they work outside their craft. Near-Earth space contains about 26,000 large man-made objects and three to five times as many small elements -- assembly units, jettisoned cover lids and the like. They constantly collide with each other, and each such collision increases the number of fragments by several times. For now only two countries -- Russia and the United States -- monitor space for man-made garbage by using their radar and optical equipment. Officially, about 10,000 objects, with a minimum size of 3.9 inches to 11.7 inches in low orbits and about 1 meter in geostationary ones, are itemized, i.e. monitored regularly, entered in special catalogues and identified as to their origin. The total number of discovered and monitored pieces with a diameter of more than 3.9 inches is approaching 14,000. Something like 950 of them are functioning satellites from different countries. The number of bodies up to 3.9 inches in size has reached 200,000 to 250,000; between 0.04 inches and 0.4 inches, 70 million to 80 million. Smaller particles are beyond the observational powers of telescopes and radars and cannot be catalogued. A piece of space junk half a millimeter across flying at a speed 10 to 20 times that of a rifle bullet can easily pierce an astronaut's suit. A particle more than 1 centimeter in size that strikes an active satellite can disable it. Collisions with large man-made space objects are unlikely, although things like that have happened. In July 1996, for example, one of the fragments of a French Ariane rocket's last stage hit and damaged the French satellite Ceras by rupturing its gravity stabilization bar. In January 2005 the last stages of two launch vehicles, one from the United States and one from China, collided, although they were launched in different years. In the 15 years that it existed, the Soviet Mir orbital station saw several substantial man-made space bodies approach it within 0.6 miles to 1.8 miles. In June 1999 the International Space Station, not yet manned, came close to hitting the fragment of a booster. In 2001 the ISS had to carry out a special maneuver to avoid a 15.4 pound piece of metal lost by astronauts during an extra-vehicular activity. Accumulation of space debris is also increasing radiation levels in the near-Earth environment. In its day, the Soviet Union launched 33 spacecraft with nuclear power units aboard. After fulfilling their missions, the units were jettisoned from the satellites and put in the so-called burial orbit -- 420 miles to 600 miles. There, their cores, consisting of fuel clusters, were jettisoned in turn. -- (Next: Threats to the atmosphere) -- (Yury Zaitsev is an expert with the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.) -- (United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.) © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 38 Moscow Times: Adamov Company Loses Uranium Case Friday, June 15, 2007 / Updated Moscow Time A Stockholm arbitration panel earlier this week threw out a case filed by a company partly owned by former atomic energy chief Yevgeny Adamov over claims that Tenex broke a contract to supply uranium to the United States. The claims filed by Globe Nuclear Services & Supply were dismissed by the arbitration panel, Federal Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Sergei Novikov said. GNSS was also ordered to pay about $6 million toward Tenex's legal costs, he said. GNSS acted as a middleman for Tenex, a state-owned company that supplied low-enriched uranium to the United States as part of the so-called Megatons to Megawatts agreement. Adamov was arrested in Switzerland in 2005 after the United States accused him of misappropriating $9 million in grants it gave Russia to increase security at its nuclear facilities. He was extradited to Russia and held on fraud charges. © Copyright 2006. The Moscow Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 39 Sydney Morning Herald: Uranium plant proposed - www.smh.com.au June 15, 2007 A PROPOSAL is being prepared for the Federal Government on building a uranium enrichment plant. A company called Nuclear Fuel Australia is studying the feasibility of a $2.5 billion plant, which could be operational by 2015, ABC TV reported last night. But the organisation said it was not keen to champion the project until after the federal election. The Prime Minister, John Howard, favours establishing nuclear power as an energy source as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A briefing paper being prepared by Nuclear Fuel Australia for Mr Howard's office suggests a feasibility study on building an enrichment facility. Uranium enrichment would be profitable and add value to Australia's unprocessed yellowcake, it says. The company's director, Dr Clarence Hardy, refused to talk about the project on air. "I think it might depend on the outcome of the next election, yes," he said. The report said locations for such a facility previously proposed near Brisbane and Adelaide would be revisited. AAP Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald. ***************************************************************** 40 ReviewJournal.com: Water use faces challenge Jun. 14, 2007 Federal agency drilling at Yucca Mountain By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL The Department of Energy is using the state's water to drill bore holes at the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, a use the state engineer's office calls "unacceptable" and a state oversight agency calls "stealing." State Engineer Tracy Taylor issued a cease-and-desist order on June 1 against the Energy Department. But he also gave the agency a reprieve on his own order while federal officials submit information he requested on the drilling program and the water use. He is expected to make a decision on re-entering the cease-and-desist order in a few days. State Nuclear Project Agency Executive Director Bob Loux said the water was being used to operate drill rigs at Yucca Mountain in violation of a court-approved agreement. The agreement allows DOE to use the state's water only for flushing toilets, fire suppression, dust control and similar activities but not for scientific investigation of the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "From our view, they've been stealing water for Yucca Mountain," Loux said by telephone from Carson City. "They created their own injury by going out there and drilling without the state engineer's permission." Allen Benson, a spokesman for DOE's Office of Repository Development in Las Vegas, declined to comment on Loux's claim, saying the issue is "a potential matter for litigation." Loux said his office learned about the situation shortly before the June 1 order. Taylor's June 1 letter to Scott A. Wade, acting director of the Yucca Mountain Site Operations Office, reads: "I have been advised that the U.S. Department of Energy is currently engaged in a bore hole drilling project at the Yucca Mountain site in violation of the stipulation in effect. ... The use of water for such purposes is unacceptable." Loux said the Department of Energy took an unknown amount of water from two wells near the site over many months. The bore hole work was expected to be completed in August, and that would require an additional amount of water, bringing the total that DOE used for drill rigs to 8 million gallons, Taylor said. The water is used to cool and lubricate drill bits and in collecting samples from mud. Loux said samples collected from the holes are needed for data about surface facilities where DOE plans to handle spent nuclear fuel assemblies and temporarily store some above ground to age them or cool them before entombing them inside the repository. "They asked to use more water for drilling purposes," Loux said. "We asked for the information, and now that we have the information, we're going to review it." Taylor said he never granted DOE permission to use the state's water for bore hole exploration. According to Loux, DOE claims the water is needed to operate rigs for drilling up to 80 bore holes to gather data needed for a license application that Yucca Mountain Project officials intend to submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by June 2008. Loux contends the data should have been collected during the site characterization process which ended on July 9, 2002, when Congress overrode then-Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the project, allowing DOE to proceed with the licensing process. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires DOE to submit a license application within 90 days after the congressional approval, but DOE has missed several deadlines it had set. In December 2002, the state and DOE entered into an agreement approved by U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt that allowed DOE to use a limited amount of water for showers, restroom facilities, dust suppression and emergencies such as fires. In 2000, then-State Engineer Michael Turnipseed denied the department permanent rights to 140 million gallons per year of groundwater, saying it was not in the state's interest to allow the government to build and operate a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. In 2003, DOE again sought permits for 140 million gallons per year. Turnipseed's successor, Hugh Ricci, denied that request on the same grounds. In the meantime, DOE had stockpiled more than 1 million gallons of nonpotable water. Hunt signed an order allowing DOE to refill and hold 290,000 gallons of potable water in four tanks. The water for drinking, showers, restroom facilities and emergency use is treated at the site. Later, Hunt put a stay on the permanent water use case pending resolution of the federal EPA radiation safety standard and other potential litigation and legislative matters. In April 2005, he wrote in court papers that "it is not necessarily a foregone conclusion" that the project would ultimately be approved and licensed. "If it is not, the (basis) for the water permits would no longer exist." In 2005, with Hunt's approval, state and federal attorneys agreed the Department of Energy could continue using the state's water for safety and sanitary purposes but not for scientific investigations of the site or to build a repository. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2007 ***************************************************************** 41 Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy wants coalition out of spent fuel court case BRATTLEBORO, VT By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff Thursday, June 14 BRATTLEBORO -- The legal wrangling between Entergy and the Massachusetts attorney general is continuing, and one local anti-nuclear organization is caught in the middle. The Massachusetts attorney general's office has appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject its contention that the agency should consider the dangers of spent fuel storage during the license renewal application of both Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim nuclear power plants. Prior to the NRC's denial of the attorney general's contention, the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution had asked to be considered an intervenor in favor of the Bay State. Because the contention wasn't heard, the coalition never received the designation, said Karen Tyler, an attorney from Shems Dunkiel Kassel & Saunders in Burlington, which represents the coalition. Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee and Pilgrim, is asking the court of appeals to deny the coalition's request, saying NEC took no part in the proceedings that gave rise to the attorney general's petition. After NEC moved to adopt the attorney general's spent fuel contention in June 2006, wrote the attorneys, it "took no steps to participate in the litigation of the contention." Additionally, wrote Entergy attorneys, NEC "chose to rely on Petitioner Commonwealth ... to act as its representative." "It cannot plausibly claim that its interest on the issue will not be adequately represented by the attorney general." "If the Massachusetts contention had been admitted, NEC would have been a co-sponsor," responded Tyler. "NEC has been concerned about spent fuel storage for decades. The coalition has a major interest in these contentions." The president of the coalition, Diana Sidebotham of Putney, agreed, saying "I'm not surprised they decided to file a motion to dismiss because we have been a thorn in their side and we will continue to be. These are serious issues." The court could grant the coalition different levels of status, said Tyler, or could deny its request outright. "If the motion is granted, we would be on the same footing as Massachusetts," she said. "We could file motions and briefs." If Massachusetts decides it doesn't want to pursue the issue, the coalition could decide to take over if granted co-sponsor status. Another level of participation would allow the coalition to only file amicus, or friend of the court, briefs and not be directly involved in presenting before the court. The case began when the Massachusetts attorney general complained that the NRC's license procedure fails to satisfy the National Environmental Policy Act because it did not address the risk of a spent fuel accident, whether a result of a terrorist attack, a natural phenomena, operator error or equipment failure. The NRC responded that its generic review of the site had concluded the danger of terrorist attack on a spent fuel facility was minimal. Further discussions on any actions taken to protect the site were prohibited because of national security reasons, reasoned the NRC. And under national security policy, other government agencies are responsible for protecting against terrorist attacks. The NRC rejected the contention on the procedural grounds that it "impermissibly challenged NRC regulations." In response, the attorney general submitted a rule-making petition, asking the NRC to change the way it evaluates spent fuel storage. At the same time, the attorney general filed with the appeals court, protesting the NRC's dismissal of the contention that the NEC would like to co-sponsor. The attorney general has now asked the appeals court to postpone its hearing on the contention until the rule-making procedure is completed or the license reviews of Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim are done. Last month, Entergy filed a response, asking the court to not delay the hearing. "The Commonwealth's effort to entangle the rule-making proceeding with the license renewal proceedings should be rejected," wrote Entergy attorneys. "Deferring action on the Commonwealth's petitions for review could only potentially delay the license renewal proceedings should this court conclude that the Commission acted wrongfully in denying the ... petitions." Any member of the public who submits a request for a hearing and is denied has the option of appealing the decision to court, said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "What's unusual about this situation is the attorney general's office has asked that its challenge be put on hold until some of our reviews play out," he said, adding "the NRC staff does not object to the challenge being put on hold until those reviews are complete." Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 273. ***************************************************************** 42 Resource Investor: Uranium Boom Part Two By Elliott Gue 14 Jun 2007 at 05:18 PM GMT-04:00 MCLEAN, VA (EnergyStrategist.com) -- Charles Steen was born in Caddo, Texas in 1919. He went on to study at John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville and in 1940 transferred to the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy at El Paso, receiving a bachelor’s degree in geology in 1943. Ineligible for the draft because of his poor eyesight, Steen spent World War II working as a geologist in Bolivia and Peru. Returning to the US in 1945, he married and took a job doing field work for the Standard Oil Company of Indiana. Down on his luck after losing his job, Steen read an article in the December 1949 issue of the Engineering and Mining Journal which discussed how the US federal government had issued incentives for prospectors to locate domestic supplies of uranium. As part of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, the US Atomic Energy Commission had the authority to withdraw lands from the private sector in order to examine them as possible sites for uranium mining. During World War II, the Manhattan Project received most of its uranium from foreign sources in Canada and the Belgian Congo. However, it also received some from vanadium miners in the American Southwest where uranium was often a by-product of mining (before the first use of the atomic bomb, uranium wasn’t seen as a terribly valuable metal). As the Soviet Union was reportedly seizing uranium mines in Czechoslovakia and East Germany at the beginning of the Cold War and running them with slave labor consisting of political prisoners, there was anxiety throughout the federal government that the US wouldn’t have enough uranium for its budding nuclear weapons program. A domestic supply of uranium would enable the government to maintain a nuclear self-sufficiency with control of all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle. Despite the fact that his three sons were all less than four-years-old, and his wife was expecting a fourth child, Steen borrowed $1,000 from his mother and headed for the Colorado Plateau determined to strike it rich. He couldn’t afford the standard equipment used by uranium prospectors such as the Geiger counter, which could detect sources of radiation in ore. Instead, he used a secondhand diamond drill rig and his geologic training for his prospecting. At the time, each individual prospector had his own idiosyncratic theory on where to find uranium. The uranium industry was composed primarily of individual prospectors and geologists who would attempt to find a large claim and either mine it for themselves or for a large company (such as Union Carbide) which would then transport the ore from the mine to the uranium mill where it could be converted into yellowcake. Steen's theory on uranium deposits was that they would collect in anticlinal structures in the same manner as would oil. Others on the Plateau dismissed the theory as "Steen's folly." After Steen's fourth child was born, he moved his family into a small trailer at Dove Creek, Colorado, and then later into a tarpaper shack near Cisco, Utah. He fed them on poached venison and cereal--it was a highly marginalized state of existence that lasted for two years. But on July 6, 1952, Steen hit it big--he found a massive, relatively highly-enriched uranium deposit in the Big Indian Wash of Lisbon Valley, southeast of Moab, Utah. He named it the "Mi Vida" mine (My Life), and it was the first big strike of the uranium boom. Steen made millions off his claims, and provoked a "uranium rush" of prospectors into the Four Corners region, similar to the Gold Rush of the 1850s in California. In Moab, Steen built a $250,000 hilltop mansion--to replace his tarpaper shack--with a swimming pool, greenhouse and servants' quarters. He formed a number of companies to continue his uranium work, including the Utex Exploration Co, Moab Drilling Co, Mi Vida Co, Big Indian Mines and Uranium Reduction Co. He made his wealth known by inviting the entire population of Moab to annual parties in a local airport hangar, having his original and worn prospecting boots bronzed and flying to Salt Lake City in his private plane for weekly Rumba lessons. In his later years, Steen was elected to the Utah State Senate and became a philanthropist, donating money for a new hospital in Moab and giving land for churches and schools. It’s Deja Vous All Over Again The first Western uranium boom answered a call in 1948 for domestic uranium stockpiles for atomic bombs, making millionaires and overnight towns. Now, suddenly, nuclear power is back in demand as a relatively cheap, reliable and emissions-free solution to the world's insatiable demand for energy. Even some leading environmentalists have endorsed nuclear power as an antidote to global warming. More than 50 nuclear plants are planned or under construction in a dozen countries, according to US and international nuclear agencies. The nuclear comeback has reinvigorated a North American mining industry that, during the 1950s, was the stuff of legends. Uranium claims--which grant an exclusive right to mine a piece of federal land--were bought and sold like stock. The federal government dumped its uranium stocks on the market, depressing the price in the early 1980s. After bottoming out at $7 in 2001, the spot price for milled uranium yellowcake has jumped sharply to over $110 a pound recently. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says US utilities are looking at building as many as 27 reactors, and it just licensed a $1.5 billion uranium enrichment plant near Eunice, New Mexico, where a groundbreaking ceremony was held last summer. Louisiana Energy Services, a subsidiary of Urenco, is building the first US installation that will use modern centrifuge technology. USEC, formerly the United States Enrichment Corporation and an arm of the federal government until 1998, operates a gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky, where pumps and filters separate lighter uranium atoms from heavier atoms in a slower, more power-intensive process. The nation's 103 operating nuclear power plants already are experiencing dwindling stockpiles of uranium--some of it converted from Russian bombs--while energy-hungry China and India are rushing to build their own nuclear power plants. Uranium concentrate is in short supply with world consumption of 180 million pounds outpacing annual production of 100 million pounds, according to industry and government estimates. For now, the difference is being made up by dwindling stockpiles--and the shortage is expected to get worse as new plants come online. US utilities looking at building or adding reactors are motivated partly by the escalating cost of natural gas, and partly by fears the government may tax coal-fired plants for the carbon emissions they release into the air. Outside of the US, the Nuclear Energy Institute says 27 nuclear plants are under construction in 11 other countries, adding to the world's 442 nuclear plants. Federal policy, meanwhile, is changing to expedite development of nuclear power. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is streamlining licensing and operating approvals for a standardized--and vastly improved--new generation of reactors. The Energy Act of 2005 offered loan guarantees, production tax credits and partial reimbursement against regulatory delays for builders of nuclear plants. © Copyright 2007, Resource Investor. ***************************************************************** 43 AU ABC: Company plans uranium plant pitch to Fed Govt. 15/06/2007. ABC News Online Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane says he has not yet been approached about plans to build a commercial nuclear enrichment site in Australia. (AAP) Nuclear Fuel Australia (NFA) says it will make a submission to the Federal Government proposing a new uranium enrichment plant in Australia. Two sites reportedly being considered for the plant are at Caboolture, north of Brisbane in Queensland and near Port Pirie in South Australia. The ABC's Investigative Unit has revealed that enriched uranium, which fuels nuclear power stations, was being secretly developed at Lucas Heights in Sydney during the mid 1980s. Dr Clarence Hardy, who worked on the Lucas Heights project, is now a director of NFA. Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane says he has not been approached about plans to build a commercial nuclear enrichment site in Australia, but would not rule out discussing a proposal. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says a plan to build a commercial uranium enrichment plant in Australia makes no sense economically or politically. Nuclear physicist and ACF president Professor Ian Lowe says those behind the plan are stuck in the past. "Uranium enrichment doesn't make commercial sense anywhere in the world," he said. "Wherever it operates it has a government subsidy and the fact that it consumes large amounts of energy means it needs a public subsidy to operate." Professor Lowe says if the proposal did see the light of day, it would never happen in south-east Queensland because of the water shortage. 'Crazy idea' Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says the proposal to put a plant at Caboolture is a crazy idea. Mr Beattie says a nuclear reactor at Caboolture would be too dangerous. "How could you possibly put an enrichment plant in the middle of the community at Caboolture?" he asked. "It's a good community, a lot of people live there. "It would simply destroy not just the amenity of the community but it would raise issues about safety. "It would be in my view an endangerment to that whole community." The South Australian State Government has not yet responded to the proposal. New South Wales Greens MP John Kaye says his party will introduce legislation to trigger a plebiscite on any future moves by the Federal Government to force a nuclear enrichment facility in that state. "There's no constitutional way of stopping the Howard Government if they're hell-bent on doing it," he said. "There are certainly political ways of stopping them." "A plebiscite is the best way of sending a very powerful message to the Howard Government that this state does not want nuclear facilities." ***************************************************************** 44 AU ABC: Dreams of uranium enrichment revived. 15/06/2007. ABC News Online Lucas Heights likes to portray itself as primarily a provider of medical isotopes, but the high security points to its other roles. (Getty Images) By Andrew Fowler and Renata Gombac Enrichment is one of the most controversial elements of the nuclear fuel cycle, it is the process that turns uranium into material either to fuel power stations or build nuclear weapons. Nearly a quarter of a century ago Australian scientists were well advanced in developing uranium enrichment technology when they were ordered by the Hawke Government to stop work. The ABC's Investigative Unit has found instead of shutting down, the process apparently was continued for another three years before it was finally killed off, but there is a new plan for a commercial enrichment program with plants in Australia which is about to be presented to the Howard Government. Dr Clarence Hardy has a secret plan for Australia's nuclear future and perhaps understandably, he is guarding it. Over the past several weeks, the Investigative Unit has pieced together the details of Dr Hardy's plan. It had its genesis at Australia's nuclear reactor site Lucas Heights near Sydney, where Dr Hardy worked for 20 years as a physicist and senior manager. Lucas Heights likes to portray itself as primarily a provider of medical isotopes to help the sick, but the high security points to its other roles. A little more than two decades ago, scientists there unlocked the key to uranium enrichment, matching the most advanced system at the time, Europe's enrichment program known as Urenko. Though Dr Hardy was unhappy to talk about his present plans, he is proud of the work he took part in at Lucas Heights. "We exceeded expectations. We had far more advanced machines in development in the R and D (research and development) labs which were comparable to any of those operated in the Urenko field," Dr Hardy said. Enriched uranium is the fuel that runs nuclear power stations. It is formed by turning uranium into a gas, spinning it in tubes known as centrifuges and separating out the isotopes. Highly enriched uranium can be used to build nuclear weapons, so the technology was closely guarded at Lucas Heights, set aside in a high security area known as Building 64. Don Mercer was a senior member of the Uranium Enrichment Team and he says it was a very secretive project. "It was kept within an internal fence within the Lucas Heights boundary," he said. "It was done for two reasons, one: you didn't want that technology to get out into the open world because it could be used by people with unfriendly intentions, and secondly: it had commercial value because we were developing something which, if we'd have, when we got to the stage, that could have been the basis of an Australian centrifuge plant with uranium to sell to the world." Temporary fix Concerns about the dangers posed by enrichment led the incoming Labor Government in 1983, under pressure from the left wing of the party, to order the process to be shut down. The responsible Government Minister wasted no time in breaking the bad news. Doug Ebeling was chief of the centrifuge enrichment project division. His widow, Helen Ebeling, remembers the effect the decision to shut down the plant had on her husband. "It was a very big blow because he and his team at Lucas Heights had been so enthusiastic and they were so happy when they were successful in thinking that here they were doing this for Australia and it was, it was such an achievement to achieve what was a very, very valued technology around the world," she said. Don Mercer says the team took the news badly. "For a lot of us that was the most productive part of any professional year in that early period of your working life, and you've put all that work in there, worked hard in that time, and someone comes along and says 'Oh yes you've done a good job but for political reasons we don't want you any more'," he said. But even as the Government moved to shut down the enrichment work, senior staff at Lucas Heights plotted to keep the operation running. What they came up with was an ingenious solution, one that appealed to the then Labor government's fear of the spread of nuclear weapons. Dr Hardy says the team identified nuclear safeguards as being of interest to the government. "Well we saw the writing on the wall, put it that way, and we decided what can we do in order to keep it ticking over?" he said. "We thought safeguards research would be something they would support and in fact they did for a period of time under the Foreign Affairs Department and so we did some very, very useful work for I'd probably say a couple of years." Extraordinary success marked the early days of the Safeguard Surveillance Program as nuclear scientists on the fifth floor of Dr Hardy's new building in Sydney's Kings Cross monitored the enrichment plant at Lucas Heights by remote control. The monitoring experiments, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, enabled Australia to maintain a powerful position among the nuclear powers, but work on the monitoring system hid another motive. Under the cloak of developing better safeguards, the team at Lucas Heights were allowed to continue operating the uranium enrichment centrifuges. It put the project on a life support system while many of the senior staff there hoped for a change of government. Dr Hardy does not believe anyone in the high levels of government understood what they were trying to do and believes Lucas Heights would have been completely axed if not for the surveillance program. "I think what would happen would have happened three years earlier than what actually happened, the plant was pulled apart and that was it, destroyed," he said. Finally, in 1986, the money to develop the monitoring system which had kept the enrichment plant running ran out. The plant was shut leaving many staff bitter and angry. By the time the Government changed, so too had the political climate and the incoming Coalition government maintained the ban. Now, 20 years later, with the renewed interest in nuclear power, they are about to lift the ban and Dr Hardy's nuclear expertise is back in demand. New plans The ABC's Investigative Unit has uncovered Dr Hardy's plans to set up Australia's first uranium enrichment plant and that he has been in detailed discussions with the Federal Government. They have been told the Government has been most encouraging, but not keen to champion the project until after the Federal election. The company is Nuclear Fuel Australia and is registered in Australia with Dr Hardy as one of the directors. But he was unwilling to comment any further during an on camera interview except to say that he believes that much will depend upon the outcome of the election. He has however, released a proposal he was preparing to put to the Federal Government. The document, destined for the Prime Minister's office, outlined what it calls a pre-feasibility study to build an enrichment plant in Australia. According to the report it will use as a model the national enrichment facility in the USA. It will cost approximately $2.5 billion to build and construction could start in 2010 with it being fully operational five years later. The report sees the enrichment plant as operating profitably by adding value to unprocessed yellow cake instead of all this added value being realised by overseas companies. There are echoes of the grand plans to build a major enrichment plant at Lucas Heights. Dr Hardy has resuscitated links with the European led consortium Urenko, the company heavily involved in plans to build a full scale enrichment plant before the Federal Government pulled the plug on all enrichment work. There are other connections too. The Investigative Unit understands areas of Australia marked out as possible locations for the Urenko plant will be revisited to see if they are still suitable. One is at Caboolture north of Brisbane, another at Redcliffe near Adelaide in South Australia. Whatever happens though, the nuclear technology certainly will not be Australian. That was all lost when Australia shut down its enrichment program, but Dr Hardy plans to resurrect what is left of the dream of 20 years ago. Nuclear enrichment programs were ordered shut down by the Hawke government, but now there is a new plan for commercial enrichment program in Australian nuclear plants about to be presented to the Howard Government. [Real Broadband] [Real Dialup] [Win Broadband] [Win Dialup] ***************************************************************** 45 CP: Feds back underground disposal of nuclear waste; environmentalists not happy Canadian Press Published: Thursday, June 14, 2007 OTTAWA — The federal government announced approval in principle today for the underground disposal of nuclear waste. But Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn says it will take years of consultations to choose a site, and decades to actually deposit the waste. Many environmentalists oppose the idea out of concern about radioactive leaks or accidents. Lunn says the cost of building a facility would be in the billions of dollars, but claims the nuclear industry would pay for it. He says there’s renewed interest in nuclear energy, but it’s up to provinces to decide whether they want to build new nuclear plants. The federal government has been trying for years to come up with a long-term plan for managing nuclear waste, and the lack of such a plan has been seen as a major impediment to expansion of the nuclear industry. The biggest problem has been finding a location for a disposal site, given public apprehension. Nuclear power has been picking up support because some see it as an alternative to fossil fuels, which release greenhouse emissions and contribute to global warming. Most environmentalists remain strongly opposed to any expansion of nuclear power. © The Canadian Press 2007 © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks ***************************************************************** 46 Online NewsHour: Report | Utah Uranium Rush Growing | June 13, 2007 | PBS Demand for Energy Fuels Rush for Uranium in Utah Uranium mining in Utah is gaining popularity, driven by efforts to find alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. The NewsHour reports on the growing uranium industry and its impact on the American fuel economy. MINER: Fire in the hole! TOM BEARDEN, NewsHour Correspondent: The Pandora uranium mine, just south of Moab, Utah, is back in business after lying dormant for more than 15 years. It's part of a brand-new uranium mining boom that is just beginning to sweep over the Western U.S. MIKE SHUMWAY, Uranium Miner: We've got an ore heading here and one here that we're shooting. TOM BEARDEN: Mike Shumway is the contractor in charge of getting the uranium out of the mine. Both his father and grandfather were miners before him. MIKE SHUMWAY: I guess it gets in your blood. I enjoy it. I like following the ore and seeing what it will do. You never know. You can't see underground, so when you drill the holes, it's just amazing what it does. TOM BEARDEN: Moab has seen mining booms and busts many times before, first during the '40s and '50s, when nuclear weapons were being developed, and again in the '70s, when the OPEC oil crisis re-ignited interest in nuclear power. Uranium is the fuel for nuclear reactors. Each of those booms was quickly followed by a bust, when the price of uranium fell. But now, the price of uranium is skyrocketing, from $40 a pound a year ago to $120 today, and still climbing. It's being driven by the search for clean alternative sources of power to fossil fuels. It has also spurred a frenzy of prospecting and new claims. Shumway himself has purchased more than 150 old claims because he's convinced this new boom is going to last. MIKE SHUMWAY: We need to go nuclear, and I think people are starting to realize that, with greenhouse gases. And it's safe. It's clean. It's the best power there is that we have, that we know of, and there's abundance of it. Bill Hedden Grand Canyon Trust The rivers all had mills built on them and discharging all the radioactive waste into the rivers. Leaving radioactive waste TOM BEARDEN: But not everybody here on the Colorado Plateau is thrilled about the idea of a resurgence in uranium mining; that's because they're still cleaning up the mess the uranium industry made here 30 years ago. BILL HEDDEN, Grand Canyon Trust: Well, this is the access trail to Castleton Tower. TOM BEARDEN: Bill Hedden directs the Grand Canyon Trust, a non- profit conservation organization. BILL HEDDEN: This area was, in the '50s, completely overrun with people driving bulldozers. They pushed exploration roads into places that are practically unimaginable when you see the remains of them today. The rivers all had mills built on them and discharging all the radioactive waste into the rivers. TOM BEARDEN: This is the site of one of those old mills, just two miles north of Moab on the Colorado River. The plant left behind this 130-acre pile of radioactive waste products after it shut down in 1984. Donald Metzler is in charge of the Department of Energy's clean-up project. What's the ultimate plan here? DONALD METZLER, Department of Energy: It is to safely move all these tailings. We have 16 million tons of tailings. We want to safely move them up to Crescent Junction, put them in an engineered hole, and then put an engineered cover on it. Once the tailings are in that disposal cell, nobody will have to worry about them for eternity. TOM BEARDEN: The process is expected to take 20 years, involve hundreds of scientists and workers, and cost taxpayers more than $600 million. And the Atlas Mill isn't the only one that's left behind a toxic legacy. So this is where it all was? FRITZ PIPKIN, Local Resident near Uranium Mine: Yes, this is where the uranium mill was built back in 1941. Fritz Pipkin Monticello, Utah, Resident When we were kids, we played down there for hours and hours, swam in the ponds, drank out of the creek, played in the tailing spouts....They never told us it was dangerous. Researching cancer in the region TOM BEARDEN: The small town of Monticello, about 45 minutes to the south, was host to another uranium mill. It closed in 1960 and sat abandoned for nearly 40 years before the government finally cleaned up its tailings. Fritz Pipkin grew up nearby. FRITZ PIPKIN: When we were kids, we played down there for hours and hours, swam in the ponds, drank out of the creek, played in the tailing spouts. They encouraged our parents to haul off and use over 135,000 tons for backfill, sidewalks, roads, mortar, in the sandboxes us kids played in. They never told us it was dangerous. TOM BEARDEN: Pipkin now has leukemia. His father, who worked in the mill, died 20 years ago from lung cancer, and his 26-year-old daughter was just diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. BARBARA PIPKIN, Wife of Fritz Pipkin: I actually questioned it when your father first got sick. TOM BEARDEN: Pipkin is convinced that the high rate of cancer in this town of 2,000 people was caused by the radioactive waste. The Utah Department of Health is now gathering data to determine whether the cancer rate here actually is elevated. A report is due in August. BARBARA PIPKIN: All right, so that makes our total 611 cancer and serious illness. TOM BEARDEN: In the meantime, Pipkin and his wife, Barbara, track every new case of cancer, marking it on a town map. They and other Monticello residents have been lobbying Congress for cancer treatment facilities for their town. Not having those facilities, Pipkin has to drive 400 miles just to visit his oncologist. FRITZ PIPKIN: We want to have our hospital set up so they can do early prevention, detection, and, if they want to be treated here, be treated here. If they have to go out of town or somewhere else, then the government should pay for it. They're the responsible ones; they put this mill here. TOM BEARDEN: But perhaps surprisingly, Pipkin supports a renewed mining industry; he says the government just needs to regulate it a lot better. FRITZ PIPKIN: They can't do it roughshod like they have before. It has to be monitored. We have to get away from foreign oil, and I support it. That's what a lot of us do for a living. A lot of people around here still work in the mines. I mean, it makes a good living, you know, and it just has to be monitored really well. TOM BEARDEN: It has to be done right? FRITZ PIPKIN: That's right. Charles Miller Nuclear Regulatory Commission What we have now got, as a result of the legislation that was promulgated in 1978, is authority to promulgate regulations, and we've done so to assure that situations that happened in those days do not reoccur. Monitoring nuclear mining TOM BEARDEN: That monitoring job falls to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ironically, the NRC's predecessor agency, the Atomic Energy Commission, actually operated the mill that Pipkin believes made so many people sick. Charles Miller is in charge of safety for the NRC. CHARLES MILLER, Nuclear Regulatory Commission: The Atomic Energy Commission had both a regulatory role and a promotional role. That was part of the reason why Congress, in its wisdom, split the role, which has now become the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Our job at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is that as an independent regulator. We do not get involved whatsoever in any promotional activities. What we have now got, as a result of the legislation that was promulgated in 1978, is authority to promulgate regulations, and we've done so to assure that situations that happened in those days do not reoccur. TOM BEARDEN: Those assurances aren't much comfort to Robin Davis. She trains and boards horses on 80 acres of windswept prairie in Weld County, Colorado, about two hours north of Denver. There's never been a lot of mining around here, mainly because the quality of the ore wasn't good enough to be profitable. But with uranium prices so high, all that's changed, and low-grade ore bodies all across the West could now be profitably mined. Davis and her husband, Jay, recently found out that the mineral rights to their land, which were owned by a railroad, were sold to a Canadian company called Powertech. Ranchers commonly own only the surface of their property; someone else usually owns the rights to any minerals below. ROBIN DAVIS, Local Resident of Uranium Ore Deposits: When we got our first letter, we thought it was a joke that they wanted to come and mine uranium here. And Jay was the one who took the initiative and started researching what they were wanting to do, what the proposal was. As he started looking into the pollution, the impact on the surface, as well as the water, my eyes were opened wide right away, and I thought, "This is not something that we want." JAY DAVIS, Local Resident of Uranium Ore Deposits: We found out that they're planning in-situ mining. And everything that we've read, researched and checked out on it, it's -- I would call it a disaster pretty much everywhere it's occurred. ROBIN DAVIS: OK, let's go get a horse. Richard Blubaugh Powertech Uranium Corp. The guarantee question is not really a fair question. I mean, there's no guarantees, but rules have tightened. Dealing with in-situ mining TOM BEARDEN: In-situ mining involves injecting chemically treated water into the ground to dissolve the uranium. The fluids are then pumped back to the surface. Davis and her neighbors are afraid the process will contaminate the underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to farms and ranches all across this part of the state. RICHARD BLUBAUGH, Powertech Uranium Corp.: The monitor wells that exist today from the previous evaluation of the property... TOM BEARDEN: Richard Blubaugh heads up the Health and Safety Division of Powertech. He discounts any real risk of aquifer contamination. What are the odds of that happening? RICHARD BLUBAUGH: Well, I'd say they're vanishingly small. TOM BEARDEN: Can you guarantee it won't happen? RICHARD BLUBAUGH: The guarantee question is not really a fair question. I mean, there's no guarantees, but rules have tightened. The regulators have taken a much more active role in inspection, and monitoring, and looking over your shoulder. JAY DAVIS: What we want to do tonight is to present what we've been researching here over the course of the last six or seven weeks. TOM BEARDEN: The Davises and others are now trying to organize their neighbors to oppose the project. They're holding town hall meetings and writing letters, hoping to persuade local and state governments to deny the mining company the permits it needs to start construction. Even Powertech admits that, with all the permitting requirements, mining operations couldn't start for a couple of years. And by that time, no one knows whether the uranium business will still be booming. Demand for Energy Fuels Rush for Uranium in Utah Senate Considers New Energy Package Expert Talks About Travel Industry's Challenges May 29, 2007 India Seeks to Expand Nuclear Power Capabilities April 26, 2007 Lessons from Chernobyl April 17, 2006 Exelon Corporation Mishandles Nuclear Power Leak in Illinois Copyright ©1996- MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 47 DOE: Energy Department Receives Prestigious Closing the Circle Awards for Environmental Stewardship June 13, 2007 DOE Won Four Out of Ten Civilian Awards WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Energy (DOE) this week received four White House Closing the Circle (CTC) awards, which recognize federal leadership in green purchasing, electronics recycling, and energy efficiency practices. These awards are presented annually by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive for outstanding achievements of Federal employees and their facilities for efforts that make a significant positive impact on environmental stewardship. “I am proud to accept these awards on behalf of all the employees of the Department,” Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said. “We commend the other award winners and pledge to continue to lead in implementing President Bush's executive order to strengthen federal environmental, energy, and transportation management with a goal of fundamentally changing the way that we power our federal fleet, buildings, and facilities.” DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of Federal Energy Management (FEMP) received one of three "CTC Sowing the Seeds Award" for organizing and directing the Interagency Sustainability Working Group. This group led the efforts of more than 300 environmental professionals from 20 federal agencies to create first-of-their-kind federal standards for hundreds of federal construction projects, leading to the design, construction and operation of dozens of clean, energy efficient High Performance Buildings. DOE also received the first ever "CTC Electronics Stewardship Award" for the Headquarters Green Team Electronics Partners, which purchased more than 10,000 'green computers' in the past two years. DOE also received recognition for implementing Energy Star efficiency procedures to save hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours; and safely recycling more than 1.2 million pounds of end-of-life electronics over the past two years, including donations of hundreds of surplus computer workstations to New Orleans area schools. DOE's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility received the "CTC Waste/Pollution Prevention Award" for their technologically innovative new helium processing operation, which dramatically reduces release of toxins while saving $33,000 each month in electricity costs. Other public and private sector helium processing facilities are adopting the process while a federal patent is pending on the procedure. Additionally DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory was awarded the "CTC Civilian Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Award" for significantly improving their site environmental management systems from 2003-2006, which resulted in a 40 percent reduction in the site-wide inventory of mercury; 90 percent reduction in the on-site inventory of PCBs; 35-ton reduction in ozone-depleting substances, such as refrigerants; and 101,400 pounds of electronics recycled during 2006. DOE continues to garner awards and recognition for exemplary performance in environmental activities. CTC awards are divided into military and civilian agency categories. Of the seventeen awards, seven went to military agency. Of the ten civilian agency categories for which DOE was eligible, DOE won four out of ten civilian awards, or 40%. Read more about the White House Closing the Circle Awards (pdf). Media contact(s): Megan Barnett, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 48 Hanford News: HAMMER to receive delayed $2.25 million This story was published Thursday, June 14th, 2007 Annette Cary, Herald staff writer The Volpentest HAMMER training center soon should be getting a check for $2.25 million. The money was promised by the State Department in 2005, according to Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., but then committed to other projects. It is needed to complete a classroom wing at HAMMER for State Department nuclear detection education efforts aimed at preventing the smuggling of nuclear materials across international borders. In May, Hastings wrote to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to remind her of the commitment made by the undersecretary for arms control and international security. "While I am aware that the office has other missions vital to U.S. national security, I also understand that the committed funds represent a small portion of the office's budget within the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation," Hastings wrote. He added that the longer the funds are held, the greater the cost of the project for taxpayers. Earlier this year, competing uses for the State Department's nonproliferation and disarmament funds were reviewed and the HAMMER expansion money was temporarily placed on hold, Jeffrey Bergner, assistant secretary of legislative affairs, said in a letter to Hastings. He remembered that the State Department had committed up to $2.25 million for the project. However, the State Department recently revised its assessment of money needed for other purposes and will be transferring money to the Department of Energy for the expansion project, he wrote. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has offered Interdict/RADACAD - Interdiction/Radiation Academy - training at HAMMER since 1997. More than 41 countries and more than 1,000 international border-enforcement officials have been trained in the program. In addition, 2,500 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers also have been trained. This spring, Bulgarian border-enforcement officials who had trained in the program at HAMMER were back on site to share lessons learned. They said they had just made their second major seizure at a border crossing thanks to training at HAMMER and by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 49 Rocky Mountain News: Colorado delegation to seek aid for ill Flats workers By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News June 13, 2007 The nation?s top health official has never rejected the advice of a presidential panel when it comes to deciding which ill nuclear weapons workers deserve expedited medical and financial aid. But Thursday, Colorado congressional leaders will ask him to do just that. Members of Colorado?s congressional delegation will ask U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to reject a recommendation barring immediate aid to most ill workers from the now-demolished Rocky Flats nuclear weapons complex northwest of Denver. Last month, all nine senators and representatives asked the White House Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to approve special status for all former Rocky Flats workers ill with radiation-related cancer. This status was set out by Congress when it created the ill nuclear weapons worker aid program in 2000. The board narrowly rejected the Rocky Flats request in a 6-4 vote in Denver Tuesday. Leavitt has 30 days to decide on the recommendation. "As we told the advisory board, many of the sick Cold War veterans who worked at Rocky Flats have already died, and many of their surviving families continue to struggle to cope with lost income and unpaid medical bills," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to be sent to Leavitt on Thursday. The letter was written by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, whose district included the nuclear weapons site northwest of Denver. Not all members of the Colorado delegation have yet had a chance to read the letter this evening. A spokeswoman for Perlmutter said each lawmaker would be given a chance to sign the letter before it is sent Thursday. The lawmakers? letter says Rocky Flats workers ill with radiation-related cancers deserve to be approved as a group for the federal aid Congress promised them in 2000 and should not have to fight individually for the aid. The letter points out that "Rocky Flats was marked by examples of misconduct and mismanagement," citing inadequate monitoring of workers, efforts to disguise hazards and a 1989 raid by the FBI to "seize and protect records." Rocky Flats ceased production after the raid, went through a 10-year cleanup, and today is being prepared as a nature preserve. ***************************************************************** 50 Denver Post: Slash red tape to aid Rocky Flats workers Congress needs to help the U.S. civilian defense workers who risked their health and lives to win the Cold War, just as those in the armed forces did. By The Denver Post Editorial Board Article Last Updated: 06/13/2007 07:47:31 PM MDT A federal advisory committee charged with slicing through the red tape plaguing workers at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant has labored long, only to bring forth a bureaucratic mouse. It's time for Congress to step in and help civilian defense workers who risked their health and lives to win the Cold War just as their brothers and sisters in the armed forces did. After two days of hearings, the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health voted 6-4 to reject pleas to put 3,000 ailing workers on a "special exposure" status that would have enabled them to receive $150,000 compensation plus medical help. Lacking that fast-track standing, sick workers from Rocky Flats and other U.S. nuclear facilities have to wend their way through a bureaucratic maze to demonstrate that they suffer from any of 22 kinds of cancer linked to radiation. The process is so laborious that the Department of Energy managed to pay just 31 claims in four years before Congress lost patience and shifted administration of nuclear workers' compensation programs to the Labor Department in 2004. Unfortunately, Labor hasn't moved much faster, settling just 802 of the 6,140 claims filed to date by Rocky Flats workers. Colorado Reps. Mark Udall and Ed Perlmutter on Thursday appealed to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to overturn the panel and grant the expedited status to the Rocky Flats workers. If Leavitt spurns their appeal, the Senate should act on a request from Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar for a special hearing on the handling of the Rocky Flats cases. In our view, the mistreatment of Cold War nuclear workers is a disgrace that rivals the neglect of merchant mariners after World War II. Merchant seamen sailing in U-boat-infested waters suffered higher casualty rates than their military counterparts, yet they were excluded from the post-war GI bill and its benefits. Today, a similar unfairness has been visited upon civilian workers who helped America win the Cold War. Of course, we're not saying some civilian typist at the Pentagon should be entitled to veterans benefits. But civilian workers who risked their lives and health to maintain our nuclear deterrent should receive the same health coverage our soldiers do. Military veterans are entitled to receive health care even if they suffer from illnesses like diabetes that are not related to their service. Civilians who handled risky jobs during the Cold War deserve the same standard of care. All contents Copyright 2007 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 51 Times-News: INL officials appoint team to investigate lab fire Magicvalley.com, Twin Falls, ID Last modified on Wednesday, June 13, 2007 7:46 PM MDT IDAHO FALLS, Idaho - Officials at the Idaho National Laboratory have assigned a team of investigators to look into a chemical fire that slightly injured a lab worker. The flash fire Tuesday originated inside the site's Reactor Technology Complex and was doused by firefighters at INL. The fire ignited after a technician poured one ounce of red phosphorous powder inside a steel container. It injured that technician, and led to a temporary shutdown at the complex. Employees assigned to nearby labs returned to work Wednesday, and officials said the fire posed no threat to the public. "Everything is back to normal right now," INL spokesman John Walsh told The Associated Press. Walsh said the investigation team will include experts from several areas. He provided no timetable for completing the investigation. The injured worker received minor burns on her hands, was treated at medical facilities on site and was recuperating at home, he said. No radiation was released. The lab damaged by the fire was sealed off until investigators have a chance to begin their work, Walsh said. Red phosphorous is used to test equipment designed to detect concealed explosives, he said. The INL is spread across 890 square miles of desert west of Idaho Falls and is home to three nuclear reactors, including the Advanced Test Reactor originally designed to test fuel for nuclear submarines. A service of the Associated Press(AP) Copyright © 2006, Lee Publications Inc. Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News, published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St., Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. ***************************************************************** 52 Rocky Mountain News: Rocky Flats a step closer to status as wildlife site By Associated Press June 14, 2007 The Environmental Protection Agency has certified the cleanup of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, another step toward the planned conversion of the site to a wildlife refuge. EPA spokesman Terry Andersen said Wednesday the site northwest of Denver will be turned over to the Interior Department, possibly within weeks, for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to manage, but it would be some time before any of it is open to the public. Areas with the worst radioactive contamination will remain off-limits. Rocky Flats closed in 1991 after a history that included several fires. The FBI raided it in 1989, investigating claims that its operator had knowingly discharged chemicals into creeks that flowed into municipal water supplies, burned toxic waste and failed to adequately monitor groundwater. The company, Rockwell International, was fined $18.5 million. A $7 billion cleanup of 6,200 acres was completed in 2005. The site remains under monitoring and observation. On Tuesday, a federal panel voted to recommend medical compensation for about 4,000 former workers at the plant. The decision still leaves about 15,000 former workers - some of them with life-threatening diseases they blame on conditions at the plant - ineligible to receive automatic compensation, said Jennifer Thompson, a former Rocky Flats worker who petitioned for the special status for the workers. ***************************************************************** 53 alibi: How New Mexico deals with legacy waste at Los Alamos alibi . june 14 - 20, 2007 Waste Pit Blitz By Jessica Cassyle Carr Hi, it’s just me, MDA C. I’m just relaxing over in the corner. Don’t mind me, I can entertain myself. In 1943 the United States was in need of a centralized place to host the Manhattan Project, a two-billion-dollar military undertaking staffed with hundreds of thousands of employees racing to develop the atomic bomb before Nazi Germany. Sixty-four years later, with the war that established the lab long over, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) continues to develop nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, these operations have been to the detriment of soil and groundwater, as the 36-square-mile lab now houses hundreds of waste sites contaminated with dangerous substances, some of which have already shown up in water supplies. Currently the lab is in the midst of what might be an even larger undertaking than building the bomb: Cleaning up decades of dumping, over acres and acres of land before 2015. Material Disposal Area C During the last two weeks of 2006, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) fined LANL $1,000 a day for noncompliance with the NMED Consent Order, a piece of 2005 litigation that gives the Environment Department jurisdiction over LANL's cleanup of non-radioactive legacy waste. This means that while the Department of Energy oversees purely radioactive waste that lacks a chemical or hazardous component, NMED has authority over the destiny of all other waste, leftover from years of various operations. The deadline for its cleanup under the Consent Order is December 2015. Last winter's dispute resulted in one of five enforcement actions issued during the last six months of 2006. This final action was in relation to undrilled boreholes at one of the lab's several hundred contaminated sites, Material Disposal Area (MDA) C. This site, an old 11.8-acre landfill that operated between 1947 and 1974, consists of six disposal pits, a chemical disposal pit and 108 disposal shafts, all unlined and previously unmonitored. It is one of 20-plus MDAs encompassing nearly every letter of the alphabet. MDA C, which has caught fire at least twice during its operational history, contains an unknown variety of wastes. Known wastes that are both hazardous and radioactive, including tritium (which is radioactive) and volatile organic compounds (chemicals that readily produce vapors, like gasoline and solvents), have leaked and, according to the NMED, are now present at depths hundreds of feet below the surface. Furthermore, the NMED says the several feet of crushed rock with which the site was covered in 1974 is eroding on its eastern edge toward Ten Site Canyon, a tributary of Mortandad Canyon which runs through San Ildefonso Pueblo. Square marks the spot: Here lies MDA C’s gaseous and radioactive contents. Originally, LANL agreed to drill 11 boreholes (small exploratory wells) at MDA C in order to ascertain the progression of leaks and environmental threats at the site. Later, NMED allowed the number of boreholes to be reduced to four after the lab expressed safety concerns. When data from the four boreholes was not turned in at the beginning of December of last year, NMED began doling out penalties. LANL spokesperson James Rickman says despite absent borehole data, a comprehensive report was turned in on time. "We were not comfortable turning in data from the four additional boreholes unless we could be absolutely sure that we could collect those data in such a fashion that it would not endanger our workers or the environment, which is a perfectly reasonable concern," he says. "The environment department looked at that differently, as was their prerogative and their right, and decided that we had not satisfactorily met our deadline." According to NMED, the lab submitted data accumulated from the boreholes on April 19 of this year and is now in compliance with the work plan. Since December, there have been no additional enforcement actions against the lab. Groundwater Concerns "The effects of the contaminants leaching into the soil and heading toward the regional aquifer are what concern us about these material disposal areas," says Scott Kovac, the operations and research director for Nuclear Watch New Mexico, an organization that monitors nuclear weapons complex facilities. Kovac says chromium, a water-soluble corrosion inhibitor dumped into a canyon between the ’50s and the ’70s, was recently detected 700 to 900 feet below the lab. "I think it's interesting that they stopped dumping it in the ’70s, and here it is 30 years later. It kind of gives you a timeline of how long it takes to get there." Kovac says contaminants will continue to move toward the aquifer until the source is removed, adding that with some of the sources, removal will be impossible. While the contaminants at MDA C have been detected at least 600 feet below the ground, the regional aquifer that area residents get drinking water from lies approximately 1,000 feet below. That's according to James Bearzi, chief of NMED's hazardous waste bureau, who says potential effects on the groundwater and surrounding areas are unknown. The Final Cleanup Aside from scores of questions related to MDA C and other sites like it, the big question remaining is whether the lab will accomplish cleanup by 2015. Rickman says the laboratory plans to have all consent order requirements completed by the deadline. Meanwhile, Bearzi says "no." "LANL has lost too much time fighting with the state to get done on time," he says, adding that the lab has made overly optimistic assumptions about carrying out the cleanup and hasn't accounted for certain tasks. "LANL hadn’t really planned to do the kind of groundwater investigations and monitoring being required by the state, nor that this work would need to be well underway before the state can select cleanup solutions. Perhaps the biggest barrier, however, is LANL’s failure to account for the time it will take to substantively and meaningfully involve the public in the cleanup process." As for other waste at Los Alamos, Rickman says last year the lab shipped more waste to WIPP (the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground storage facility for radioactive waste) than in any previous year. He says LANL has some 40,000 more drums of waste waiting to be shipped to WIPP. "We do have a number of significant environmental challenges that we will need to deal with to meet our cleanup goals." Rickman adds that environmental stewardship is a core value of the lab and a responsibility it takes seriously. Since receiving the lab's investigation report on MDA C, the Environment Department expects research into the site to be completed some time this year. They say once the nature and extent of the contamination is known, cleanup decisions will be made. And for now it seems likely that the contents of MDA C will be shipped to a permitted hazardous waste landfill in Utah and placed back in the ground from whence it came. © 1996-2007 Weekly Alibi webmaster@alibi.com ***************************************************************** 54 Rocky Mountain News: Lawmakers to appeal vote on nuke workers By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News June 14, 2007 The nation's top health official has never rejected the advice of a presidential panel when it comes to deciding which ill nuclear weapons workers deserve expedited medical and financial aid. But today, Colorado congressional leaders will ask him to do just that. Members of Colorado's congressional delegation will ask Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to reject a recommendation barring immediate aid to most ill workers from the now-demolished Rocky Flats nuclear weapons complex northwest of Denver. Last month, all nine members of the delegation asked the White House Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to approve special status for all former Rocky Flats workers ill with radiation-related cancer, granting them expedited aid. The board rejected the request in a 6-4 vote Tuesday. Leavitt has 30 days to review the recommendation. "As we told the advisory board, many of the sick Cold War veterans who worked at Rocky Flats have already died, and many of their surviving families continue to struggle to cope with lost income and unpaid medical bills," the lawmakers' letter says. The letter was written by Reps. Mark Udall and Ed Perlmutter, whose districts include the Rocky Flats site. A spokeswoman for Perlmutter said all members of the delegation would be given a chance to sign the letter before it is sent today. The letter says Rocky Flats workers ill with radiation-related cancers deserve to be approved as a group for the federal aid Congress promised them in 2000 and should not have to fight for it individually, a process that could take years. The letter points out that "Rocky Flats was marked by examples of misconduct and mismanagement," citing inadequate monitoring of workers, efforts to disguise hazards and a 1989 raid by the FBI to "seize and protect records." ***************************************************************** 55 lamonitor.com: Two named to senior posts The Online News Source for Los Alamos Van Prooyen becomes deputy director; Mallory takes over operations MONITOR STAFF REPORT Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Michael R. Anastasio filled two high-level positions Wednesday, naming Jan A. Van Prooyen deputy director and Mike Mallory principal associate director for operations and business services. Van Prooyen has served as acting deputy director since December 2006 when the previous Deputy Director John Mitchell retired. Arriving with the new management team of Los Alamos National Security, LLC, Van Prooyen began as president of Bechtel National's Defense and Space business unit. Before joining Bechtel, he held leadership positions with the U.S. Army, focusing on chemical-biological defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and developmental testing. Mallory also came to LANL as the new contract began. He was president and general manager of BWXT Pantex, responsible for safety, security and environmentally compliant operation of the Department of Energy Pantex Plant, where nuclear weapons are assembled, disassembled and maintained. Bechtel and BWXT are partners in LANS with the University of California and the Washington Group International. "These two extraordinarily talented and accomplished people are ideally suited to help achieve our ambitious goals and effect improvements at Los Alamos National Laboratory," Anastasio stated in a recent news release. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 56 KnoxNews: Oak Ridge to celebrate unique past Three-day festival to feature tours, concerts, exhibits, entertainment By BOB FOWLER, fowlerb@knews.com June 14, 2007 OAK RIDGE - A covert city behind a fence during World War II, Oak Ridge is rolling out the red carpet for 20,000 or more guests this weekend as it celebrates its unique history. The fifth annual Secret City Festival on Friday and Saturday will feature tours, concerts, exhibits and entertainment - much of it free. Most events for the gala, with a budget of nearly $200,000, will be at the Oak Ridge Civic Center and adjoining A.K. Bissell Park. Numerous exhibits and displays will be inside the Civic Center, in its courtyard and lined up along shaded walkways in the park. An expanded area of children's activities will include rides, games, arts and crafts, exhibits, and other diversions, organizers said. "The festival has grown and grown," said Katy Brown, president of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We've really tried to make it family-friendly." Tours of historic areas, including the former K-25 uranium enrichment facility and the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also are on tap. A large, circus-style tent covering antiques and collectibles will be erected in the parking lot next to the Oak Ridge Library. An arts-and-crafts show called TN Creates is new this year and will be held in the Civic Center gymnasium. The headlining musical entertainment will be Saturday night with the triumphant return of The Oak Ridge Boys, the fabled quartet named after the Atomic City. That country and gospel group started in Knoxville during the 1940s. It was one of only a few groups allowed inside the fence while Oak Ridge was immersed in the Manhattan Project to build the world's first atomic bomb. The rock group Mickey Thomas and Starship will take the stage Friday night. "We have an incredible lineup for this year," Brown said. The gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday for the concerts, with opening acts taking the stage each evening at 7. Tickets for the concerts are $18 each and will be available at the gate. One of the festival's most popular events is the re-enactment of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in World War II. Battle re-enactments, featuring more than 200 participants, will be held 12:45 and 3:15 p.m. Saturday. The festival officially launches today with the screening at 5 and 7 p.m. in the American Museum of Science and Energy of the award-winning documentary "The Clinton 12," which depicts the turbulent days of public school integration in Clinton. The celebration wraps up at 7 p.m. Sunday with the free "Pops in the Park" concert by the Oak Ridge Symphony, conducted by Maestro Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli. Parking for the festival will be available at the Oak Ridge City Center - also known as Oak Ridge Mall - parking lot. Free shuttle buses will run all day Friday and Saturday. For more information, call 865-425-3610. For concert tickets, call 865-482-4432. Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625. Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 57 WATE: UT-ORNL professor's discovery may lead to more efficient use of energy June 14, 2007 KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A discovery made by University of Tennessee scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has led to a $1.2 million grant for more research, which may lead to developing wider use of hydrogen as a national energy source. The breakthrough by Hanno Weitering, a professor of physics and joint faculty member at UT and ORNL, allows an extremely thin film of lead atoms to efficiently conduct electricity at very low temperatures without losing energy. In a report appearing in this week's issue of the journal Science, Weitering and co-authors Zhenyu Zhang, a UT-ORNL research professor, and Jim Thompson, UT professor of physics, show that they were able to precisely a physical trait like superconductivity on a small scale without suppressing or destroying it. In the past that has been extremely difficult to do. In a release issued by the university, Weitering said the discovery raises the possibility that a material's chemical properties can be tuned for specific uses. With a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Weitering will test that idea by studying how electronic growth might influence the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells. All content © Copyright 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and WATE. All Rights Reserved. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. ***************************************************************** 58 KIVITV.COM: INL Begins Investigation into Fire that Burned Worker KIVI TV Today's Channel 6 News, Boise, Idaho News, IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Officials at the Idaho National Laboratory say they are putting together a team of investigators to look into a fire that burned a lab worker Tuesday. I-N-L spokesman John Walsh says the employee was treated for minor burns on her hands and several other workers reported respiratory problems after a chemical fire started at the Reactor Technology Complex. The accident posed no threat to the public, and no radiation was released. Walsh says operations returned to normal yesterday. But he says the lab where the fire originated will be sealed off until a team of investigators has a chance to analyze what went wrong. He says it could be weeks before investigators draw any conclusions about the accident. The I-N-L is in the desert west of Idaho Falls and is home to three reactors, including the Advanced Test Reactor originally designed to test fuel for nuclear submarines. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) ***************************************************************** 59 KnoxNews: DOE vows to not sell mercury Obama had asked that Y-12 stockpile not be placed on commercial market By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com June 14, 2007 OAK RIDGE - The Department of Energy has promised U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., that it won't unload the stockpile of mercury - about 1,200 metric tons - stored at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, expressed concern after hearing reports that the federal agency might sell the surplus mercury. In a Nov. 13, 2006, letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, the senator strongly urged the secretary not to put the mercury on the commercial market. Obama cited mercury's toxic effects on the neurological system, including serious developmental problems in children. He said mercury poses a particular threat in developing countries that do not have adequate pollution controls, waste management policies or commercial tracking procedures. "Given that mercury is a trans-boundary pollutant that is deposited both locally and globally, any strategy to reduce mercury in the environment must also include reducing the volume of mercury traded and sold in the world market," he wrote. During the early Cold War, Y-12 accumulated vast quantities of mercury for development of hydrogen bombs. The mercury was used to produce enriched lithium, a key element in thermonuclear weapons. That work was completed in 1963, but much of the mercury remained in storage at the Oak Ridge plant. Bodman said DOE's last sale of mercury occurred in 1993. "Over the past several years, the department has been evaluating disposition options for the surplus mercury, taking into account the impacts that releases of mercury may have on human health and the environment," Bodman wrote in a Dec. 19 response to Obama. "In recognition of these concerns, the surplus inventory at Y-12 will remain in storage," he said. "The department has no current plans to sell this inventory." Mercury has been a concern in Oak Ridge for decades. In November 1982, the state of Tennessee posted the East Fork Poplar Creek, which originates on Y-12 property, as a hazard because of mercury pollution. Several months later, DOE declassified documents that showed Y-12 could not account for more than 2 million pounds of mercury - much of which was lost to the environment. Those figures were later adjusted downward, but mercury pollution was the focus of cleanup activities throughout the 1980s and '90s. The creek remains posted, and mercury continues to leak from the Y-12 site into the local waterway, which winds through the west side of Oak Ridge before joining Poplar Creek and the Clinch River. Jason Darby, manager of DOE's environmental monitoring program in Oak Ridge, recently said a new treatment system at Y-12 had reduced the annual mercury discharges by half - from 8 kilograms to 4 kilograms. Although DOE has not put any of the mercury up for sale in recent years, some of the Y-12 stockpile was relocated to Ohio a couple of years ago. In June 2005, Oak Ridge officials confirmed that about 700 tons of mercury that belonged to the Defense Logistics Agency had been transported to a storage facility at Warren, Ohio. The remaining stocks at Y-12 belong to DOE, although the reported amount in storage varies from about 1,200 tons to more than 1,300 tons. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. 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