***************************************************************** 06/29/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.152 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Reuters: Understanding on N. Korea reactor shutdown - Kyodo 2 The Hindu: Suzlon extends wind capacity contract with US firm NUCLEAR REACTORS 3 US: Platts: Southern Nuclear to apply for license renewal for Vogtle 4 Earthtimes: Nuclear-power fire in Germany - inquiry must wait 5 US: SanLuisObispo.com: More nuclear reactors may be built in CA, rev 6 Victoria Advocate: High salaries, community involvement are predicte 7 Victoria Advocate: 'Incentives aren't the cake; they're the icing' 8 US: Victoria Advocate: Plant would be first Texas site for Exelon Nu 9 US: ajc.com: Southern seeks 20-year nuke renewal 10 US: Victoria Advocate: Used fuel is stored at nuclear plants, for no 11 US: Victoria Advocate: GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT? 12 US: Victoria Advocate: Nuclear plants require strict security 13 US: Victoria Advocate: Answering some questions about the nuclear pl 14 US: Platts: US NRC to increase oversight of OPPD's Fort Calhoun nucl 15 Platts: Romania's Cernavoda-2 receives permission to increase power 16 US: Idaho Statesman: Idaho nuke plant lures unlikely lender 17 US: AFX: Groups appeal vs. Mich. nuclear plant 18 US: NRC: Oral Comments to be Accepted in Raleigh on July 17 Regardin 19 US: recordonline.com: Pick the right nuclear target 20 Hamilton Spectator: Mac's reactor licence renewed 21 UPI: Chavez says Venezuela might go nuclear 22 US: Beacon Journal: Perry reactor at reduced power 23 Russia-InfoCentre: Atomenergomash and Alstom to set up Joint Venture 24 Reuters: German nuclear incidents bad press for operators 25 NewsRoom Finland: Finland's antiquities board frowns on nuclear plan 26 Canwest: Plant shut down over radiation leakage 27 US: Houston Chronicle: Potential nuclear sites chosen in Southeast T 28 Geelong Advertiser: Region nuclear reactor survey NUCLEAR SECURITY 29 IPS-English POLITICS: Big Powers Skirt Anti-Nuke Terrorism 30 UPI: U.S., Russia present nuke report NUCLEAR SAFETY 31 Lethal legacy of tank-busting uranium dust 32 US: Orange County Register: State studies radioactivity questions 33 US: Press-Telegram: A-bomb survivors studied 34 ITAR-TASS: Radiation monitoring of sunken sub begins in Barents Sea 35 IAEA: Central Asian Countries Face Radiological Legacy NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 36 Las Vegas SUN: Berkley plans her strategy for green behind the scene 37 US: Victoria Advocate: Disposal of used nuclear fuel is a hot politi 38 US: Carlsbad Current-Argus: Senate committee OKs funding increase fo 39 US: NRC: National N-waste contact list 40 times and star: Nuke waste site ‘not yet chosen’ PEACE 41 US: SanLuisObispo.com: SoCal woman who survived A-bomb: 'It should n US DEPT. OF ENERGY 42 Santa Fe New Mexican: LANL: Judge OKs settlement between UC, employe 43 SF New Mexican: LANL agrees to disclose security violations 44 LA Daily News: Family files death claims over field lab 45 lamonitor.com: Senate funding plan advances 46 Oak Ridger: A silver lining to Boeing cloud? - 47 DOE: DOE Provides Nearly $88 Million to Low-Income Families for 48 DOE: Secretary Bodman Announces DOE Technology Transfer Coordinator ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Reuters: Understanding on N. Korea reactor shutdown - Kyodo Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:27PM EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog has reached an "understanding" with North Korea on verification of the shutdown and sealing of the North's Yongbyon reactor, Kyodo news agency said on Friday. The head of the U.N. delegation said he was satisfied with a tour of the reactor complex north of Pyongyang that the secretive state has promised to scrap under an aid-for-disarmament deal, Kyodo said. "We have now a mutual understanding how to do the verification and monitoring of the Yongbyon facilities when they will be shut down and sealed," Kyodo quoted International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear Safeguards Director Olli Heinonen as saying. "I think it was a very good visit, and we saw a lot of facilities," Heinonen told reporters after concluding his talks with North Korea. The visit to the Yongbyon reactor, about 100 km (60 miles) from the capital, is the first by IAEA officials since Pyongyang kicked out the Vienna-based agency's inspectors in December 2002. The communist state subsequently opted out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, announced that it had atomic bombs and, last year, carried out its first nuclear test. The reactor at Yongbyon was still operating, Heinonen was quoted as saying on his return to Pyongyang. "We are satisfied," Heinonen said, adding that the IAEA team had been able to see all of the sites it wanted to, including a plutonium reprocessing plant where weapons-grade material can be extracted from spent fuel rods. UP TO SIX COUNTRIES After talks later on Friday, Heinonen said the question of when the shutdown would begin was up to the six countries involved in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms program. Continued... ***************************************************************** 2 The Hindu: Suzlon extends wind capacity contract with US firm Friday, June 29, 2007 : 1520 Hrs Mumbai, June 29 (PTI): Wind power major Suzlon Energy today said it has extended contract with the US-based PPM Energy for supply of additional 300 MW wind turbine capacity. The US-based step-down subsidiary of Suzlon Energy, Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation, has extended the original contract of supplying 400 MW of wind turbine capacity by another 300 MW and has thus taken the total to 700 MW of wind energy capacity, Suzlon Energy informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). "The original agreement calls for delivery of 300 MW of turbine capacity in 2008 and 100 MW of capacity in 2009, but now it has been extended to include an additional 300 MW in 2009, taking the total to 700 MW over two years," Suzlon Energy added. Earlier, in May, Suzlon Energy had acquired German wind turbine manufacturer REpower after French nuclear energy group Areva decided to withdraw from the bidding contest. Shares of Suzlon Energy were trading at Rs 1,510.75, up 2.24 per cent on the BSE in afternoon trade. Copyright 2007, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 3 Platts: Southern Nuclear to apply for license renewal for Vogtle units 2007-06-28 Washington (Platts)--28Jun2007 Southern Nuclear Operating Co. is seeking license renewal for Vogtle-1 and -2. Southern Nuclear spokesman Jeremy Pate said June 28 that company officials plan to deliver an application to NRC staff June 29 at the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. If NRC approves Southern Nuclear's request, the units' operating licenses would be extended for 20 years -- to 2047 for unit 1 and 2049 for unit 2. NRC's decision on the request is expected in 2009, Southern Nuclear said in a June 28 statement. Southern Nuclear has already received license renewal approval for its other four reactors -- in 2002 for Hatch-1 and -2 in and in 2005 for Farley-1 and -2. To date, NRC has issued operating license renewals for 48 units. Post this story to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 4 Earthtimes: Nuclear-power fire in Germany - inquiry must wait Posted : Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:28:00GMT Hamburg - Heat from a fierce fire was holding up investigators Friday as they sought the causes of the failure the previous day of two of Germany's nuclear power stations. The transformer at Kruemmel Power Station, east of the port city of Hamburg, was destroyed by fire Thursday, 100 minutes after a short-circuit had knocked out another nuclear site at Brunsbuettel on the far side of the city. Ivo Banek, a spokesman for Vattenfall Europe, which owns both sites, said part of the Kruemmel transformer building had burned through the night, with firefighters and investigators hampered by the intense heat of several hundred degrees Celsius. German authorities said no radioactivity was released. News reports said the oil-cooled transformer was only about 50 metres from the Kruemmel nuclear reactor, which was not damaged in the fire. Banek said the Swedish-owned company could no longer rule out a causal connection between the two shutdowns, which led to power outages in Hamburg and halted suburban electric trains for about 30 minutes Thursday afternoon. "When a big contributor like Brunsbuettel goes offline, you do get voltage fluctuations," he said. German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the outage of the two plants proved that phasing out nuclear power in Germany was necessary on safety grounds. German legislation requires all 17 existing plants to gradually close by 2021, but operators and centre-right politicians have called for a reprieve so that Germany can hold down its carbon-dioxide emissions. "The longer a power station operates, the more susceptible it is to malfunctions," Gabriel said in Berlin. Prosecutors in the city of Luebeck opened an inquiry into both failures, saying this was a routine response to establish if there had been any human cause. Copyright 2007 Respective Author (c) 2007 Earthtimes.org, All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 SanLuisObispo.com: More nuclear reactors may be built in CA, reversing thinking of just two years ago 06/29/2007 | PG&E and Southern California Edison rethink decision of two years ago that showed little interest in new nuclear power stations By David Sneed dsneed@thetribunenews.com PG&E is studying the feasibility of renewing the license of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant for 20 more years of operation. Executives with Californias two nuclear power utilities told the state Energy Commission on Thursday that they are considering the possibility of building new nuclear plants as a means of meeting the states future energy needs. Jack Keenan with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Gary Schooyan of Southern California Edison said new nuclear power generation is part of the mix of energy sources they are considering using as they do long-range planning. We need to keep that option open to us, Keenan said. We are studying it very hard. PG&E operates San Luis Obispo Countys Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, and Southern California Edison operates the San Onofre nuclear generating station near Carlsbad. The statements Thursday mark a shift since 2005, when the Energy Commission last held hearings on the future of nuclear power in the state. At that time, PG&E and Edison officials expressed little interest in new nuclear power stations. Neither utility has spent any company or ratepayer money on developing plans for new nuclear generation nor did they give any details about when or where new reactors might be built. PG&E spokesman Pete Resler could not be reached Thursday evening to address whether San Luis Obispo County might be considered as the site of additional nuclear power reactors. PG&E is also looking at the possibility of new reactors out of the state that could serve California customers, similar to the way Palo Verde nuclear power plant in Arizona provides power for Southern California. Both utilities are also studying the feasibility of renewing the licenses of Diablo Canyon and San Onofre for an additional 20 years of operation. Both plants original 40-year licenses will expire in 2020. Schooyan suggested that the Energy Commission should also consider working with utilities to get an early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hasten the regulatory approval process. Keenan estimated that it would take nine to 11 years to build a new plant. This renewed interest in nuclear power by California utilities follows a national trend. Federal nuclear regulators expect utilities will request permission to build more than 30 nuclear plants countrywide in coming years. Nuclear power is considered a highly reliable electricity source that produces much fewer global warming-inducing greenhouse gas emissions than many other power sources. Rochelle Becker, an activist with the San Luis Obispo-based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility, told the commission that nuclear power is a bad choice because it causes large stockpiles of highly radioactive used fuel to accumulate along the states earth-quake- prone coastal areas. Becker urged state regulators to shift to renewable energy sources. She said she is skeptical that new nuclear plants would ever be built in California, because they are expensive to build and subject to cost overruns. California regulators should wait and see what happens in other states where new nuclear plants are proposed before thinking about new plants in California, she said. I dont think its going to happen, she said. They dont pencil out. New nuclear power plants in the state must overcome several substantial obstacles. The main one is a state law that bans new plants until the federal government opens a centralized underground nuclear waste storage repository. Another obstacle would be resistance from Californians and their lawmakers, who tend to be unfriendly toward nuclear power. Reach David Sneed at 781-7930. Should California allow more nuclear power plants? ***************************************************************** 6 Victoria Advocate: High salaries, community involvement are predicted June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. BY ALLISON MILES - VICTORIA ADVOCATE A nuclear power plant in Matagorda or Victoria counties would have a huge economic impact on the region, experts say. Just getting the project started creates new employment opportunities in the area, said Adrian Heymer, senior director of new plant deployment for the Nuclear Energy Institute. "You can reckon about 1,800 to 2,000 jobs for certainly a good 30-month period during construction," Heymer said. The plant proposed for this region likely would employ about 700 permanent employees, said Craig Nesbit, communications director for Exelon Nuclear, the company submitting the application. "I'm thinking probably a third to half of those are skilled trades - electricians, mechanics," he said. "Another 100 or so are engineers and the rest are support personnel - operators, control room operators." Employees in the nuclear energy field are well-paid, Nesbit said. "It's not uncommon at all to have a control room operator making a six-figure annual income," he said. "They work for it, don't get me wrong. They have a lot of responsibility, and not everybody can do it." Workers go through intense training, Nesbit said. "They go into a two-year training program that's industry-run," he said. "Then they hold a series of positions, working their way up to the control room. They go through a tremendous amount of training, on-going, forever, as long as they want to keep their license." Employee training brings changes to communities, Nesbit said, as related university courses likely would come to any area with a need. Such projects are exciting from an economic standpoint, said Dale Fowler, president of the Victoria Economic Development Corp. "The increase of this level of primary jobs could mean a significant amount of spin-off into local economy," he said. "The pay scale would allow employees and their families to spend money in other sectors of society." Fowler said he expects residential development to increase in the area if the plant comes to be. "These employees will have the types of jobs that can support a new home," he said. "The changes we'll see could be felt among the whole region." Victoria County's tax base is about $4 billion, Fowler said, and this project would basically double that. Even if the plant were to set up in Matagorda County, Nesbit said Victoria would likely see population growth. Employees often live in one city but work in another. The Matagorda location is about 60 miles from Victoria. Such plants will drive the economy for generations, Heymer said. They're built to last about 60 years, and the jobs can't be exported. "You've also got to think that it'll take four to five years to build and probably four to five years to de-commission," he said. "You've got a facility there that will provide jobs for the immediate location of 60 to 70 years. You're probably looking at two to three generations that could actually have employment at this facility." Fowler said Exelon itself could bring positive things to the area. The company rewards its employees for contributing to the local communities, through education and volunteer work, he said. "I would perceive them to be very good corporate citizens," Fowler said. "It's not just allowing employees to be involved in the community, but they reward them for doing it." Allison Miles is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6511 or amiles@vicad.com, or comment on this story here. ***************************************************************** 7 Victoria Advocate: 'Incentives aren't the cake; they're the icing' June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. BY ALLISON MILES - VICTORIA ADVOCATE Governments often offer economic incentives to entice a major employer, such as a nuclear power plant. Exelon Communications Director Craig Nesbit said incentives didn't play a part in choosing Matagorda and Victoria counties for its proposed location, but agreed they can be important. "They can have an impact, and I say that from the standpoint of property taxes on these things are huge," he said. "The Braidwood plant in Illinois paid last year $13.2 million in property taxes. Three-Mile Island in Pennsylvania paid $570,000." It all depends on the state where the plant is located, how the tax structures are set up and what other taxes they pay, he said. To help cut the costs and urge companies to set up shop, cities and counties offer tax abatements. At the county level, companies often receive tax breaks, said Victoria County Judge Don Pozzi. "Generally, it's in the form of tax abatements for the city and county both," he said. "Our abatement process is generally over a 10-year period. Because the process is so extensive, we may be looking at 20 years before we realize the full determinative value of what it would mean to Victoria County or any other county." The nuclear plant is in its beginning stages, though, so county officials have not discussed possible incentives. The city of Victoria offers incentives, City Manager Charles Windwehen said, depending on where the company locates. "A large industrial-type operation most likely would not try to operate within the city limits, or maybe not even close to the city limits," he said. "If it was real close, it could be considered for annexation." Victoria has more control over incentives for companies located inside city limits. "The city could consider tax abatements or partial abatements for up to 10 years on the added value they brought to the tax base - the equipment and buildings, things like that," Windwehen said. "There might also be a rebate on sales tax." Companies outside Victoria's limits, however, are another story. Many times the Economic Development Corp., however, provides money for infrastructure and to extend water and sewer lines. At times, the city can offer water rights to a large development, Windwehen said. "It's going to depend how much water someone's talking about and how far away from the city it is," he said. "If it's a small amount, like for consumption and it's close to the city, we can run water lines from our treated water system to them." Large industrial complexes often require more and probably won't want the treated water, Windwehen said, but the city owns water rights to the river and can sometimes lease to companies long-term. Another incentive, which people often overlook, is the quality of the area, he said. "One of the best things a city can do for a large type development in our region and in our county close by is make our city a community where people want to live, where companies want to locate," Windwehen said. "And that includes everything we do." It's things like the area's theaters, educational system and diverse retail opportunities, he said, that help attract corporations because quality of life is important to employers and employees. "It's a nice place to live - it's got the small-town atmosphere but it has many of the amenities of the larger cities," Windwehen said. "And that's one of the best things we can do to make it an attractive place for a company to locate." It takes teamwork on the local, state and federal levels to close a deal, said Ted Royer, a spokesman for the Texas governor. "At the state level there is the Texas Enterprise Fund, which is a deal-closing fund," Royer said. "Essentially how it works is a local community works with a prospect company to bring a new location or additional jobs to their area and then the state will come in and help close the deal by offering the employer cash incentives to locate in Texas." The company signs a contract detailing how many jobs will be created and how long they'll be maintained, Royer said. If they fail to meet the contract's terms, they pay the grant back. "Basically the local communities hook them on the line and the state helps reel them in," he said. The Emerging Technology Fund also can come in to play, he said, which gives cash grants to start-up companies to help them get off the ground. Incentives are a big part of the process, but they're not all a corporation looks at, Royer said. "There are a lot of states that don't get it," he said. "They think that incentives are the end-all, be-all of the battle for jobs. Incentives aren't the cake. They're the icing." Allison Miles is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6511 or amiles@vicad.com, or comment on this story here. ***************************************************************** 8 Victoria Advocate: Plant would be first Texas site for Exelon Nuclear June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. ADVOCATE STAFF REPORT Exelon Corp. may not be a household name in Texas like CPL, TXU or AEP, but it's certainly well known among the nation's power circles. "At the time it was created - in fact it's still true today - it was the largest capital utility in the nation," said Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon. According to the company Web site, Exelon Corp. distributes electricity to about 5.4 million customers in Illinois and Pennsylvania and natural gas to about 480,000 customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Exelon Nuclear, one of the corporation's divisions, employs about 7,500 people and operates 10 nuclear plants in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. If the company decides to build in Matagorda or Victoria counties, it would be its first nuclear plant in Texas. "No matter what county they eventually end up in, it will be a positive for the local community," said Adrian Heymer with the Nuclear Energy Institute. "Although they own the largest number of plants, they weren't the first to jump into the new plant arena," he said. "They have taken a measured step in saying they think that now the time is right and asking, 'Where can we build a new nuclear plant?'" Heymer also said the company has a good reputation from both an operational and safety perspective. He said an incident where tritium leaked at the Braidwood Generating Station in Illinois shows just how transparent and honest the company is. "They took action to keep the local community informed, although the level was well below the Nuclear Regulatory Commission limit," he said. "They went out into the community and did additional drilling to ensure that wells were not being contaminated to put the public's mind to rest. So they sort of went the extra mile to assure the public and to interact with the local community on this activity." Exelon was formed in 2000 by the merger of two large utility holding companies. "What it did was combine two independent nuclear operations into one large nuclear operation, which now is the largest nuclear operation in America," Nesbit said. He also said the company is considering its first venture into the nuclear plant market in Texas because it seems like a great market with a promising future. "Texas needs a lot of power over the next 25 years," Nesbit said. "You're going to be building a ton of power plants of all kinds. You're going to have to. There's no choice." He said another draw was the unregulated market in Texas. "We don't operate generating assets in regulated environments." ***************************************************************** 9 ajc.com: Southern seeks 20-year nuke renewal Vogtle plant up for renewal By MARGARET NEWKIRK The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 06/29/07 Southern Nuclear Operating Co., a subsidiary of Atlanta's Southern Co., will ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew its Vogtle nuclear plant's operating license for 20 more years. Georgia Power Southern plans to ask the NRC to renew the operating license of its Vogtle nuclear plant in Waynesboro. Plant Vogtle and Plant Hatch near Baxley provide about 20 percent of Georgia's electricity. "These units are fully capable of providing critical generation, and we need to maximize their potential," said Barnie Beasley, president and CEO of Southern Nuclear. "It's the right business decision for our customers in Georgia, because these units can continue to operate safely, providing reliable, low cost, emissions-free electricity." Co-owned by Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton Utilities, the plant is among Burke County's largest employers, with approximately 900 employees. 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ***************************************************************** 10 Victoria Advocate: Used fuel is stored at nuclear plants, for now June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. ADVOCATE STAFF REPORT Spent fuel from any nuclear plant would have to be temporarily stored at the plant even after the federal government decides on a permanent repository for the highly radioactive material. "That's just a given," said Craig Nesbit with Exelon Nuclear. "You can't take it out of the reactor and just ship it off. That's just not possible." When the fuel becomes spent, he said, it is removed and put into pools of water to cool for five years. Once the cooling pools fill up, the oldest fuel is removed and put into storage canisters lined up on large concrete pads outside the reactor building awaiting transportation to the permanent disposal site. Nesbit said there's no reason for residents to be concerned about the material being stored on site. "It doesn't produce any radiation that they're exposed to," he said. "You can't walk off with it. The canisters they're in weigh 40,000 tons apiece. They're steel-lined canisters inside a 21/2 -foot thick concrete wall. You could run a missile at them, and it wouldn't have any impact on them." Kevin Kamps with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which bills itself as a reactor watchdog project, said there have been plenty of problems with the containers stored on site. "The structural integrity of containers in use around the nation is already in question," he said. "We've got an eight-page fact sheet of incidents that have happened with dry cask storage over the last 20 years." For instance, he said, a gas in a container at a plant in Virginia leaked through one of the cask walls. Kamps said although it was contained by a secondary wall, it still indicates there are problems. "That's concerning because these things are supposed to last a hundred years or more," he said. "In just 20 years or less, they had internal leaks." He said there was an explosion involving a fully-loaded dry cask, followed three years later by another explosion. "They're just taking major shortcuts on waste management, which is dangerous to do." Nesbit said fresh nuclear fuel is uranium and in its natural state isn't concentrated enough to use in the plant. Once the fresh fuel arrives at the plant, he said, the uranium has to be enriched by increasing the concentration from about 1 percent to 3 or 4 percent to create the chain reaction needed to use it as fuel. The enriched uranium is fabricated into pellets a little smaller than a fingertip. The pellets are stacked in zirconium tubes 15 or 16 feet long and the tubes are bundled into assemblies. The assemblies are put into the reactor, with each reactor holding about 500 of these assemblies. "Until those fuel assemblies are bombarded by a radioactive source, they are essentially inert." Nesbit said. But he added that once it goes into a reactor and is bombarded by fissionable material, it becomes radioactive and stays that way for thousands of years. ***************************************************************** 11 Victoria Advocate: GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT? June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. BY GABE SEMENZA - VICTORIA ADVOCATE Nuclear power plants conjure up two contrasting environmental images. Those who oppose nuclear power paint a picture highlighted with radioactive leaks, the accumulation of spent fuel, routine releases of toxic isotopes and the potential for catastrophic core meltdowns. Supporters use a softer brush. They say new plants are safe, non-polluting and a canvas for counteracting global warming. Those supporters include Exelon Nuclear, a company that announced Thursday that it might build a nuclear plant in Matagorda or Victoria counties. Victoria County is a proposed secondary location. "Texas needs power," said Craig Nesbit, an Exelon spokesman. In Texas, nuclear power provides 11 percent of energy consumed. As the state's population grows, so does its energy needs. The state's electric industry, meanwhile, ranks highest in the U.S. for carbon dioxide emissions, third highest in nitrogen oxide emissions and fifth highest in sulfur dioxide emissions, according to the Energy Information Administration. Scientists say oil, natural gas and coal plants - 70 percent of U.S. energy sources - contribute heavily to global warming. William Burchill, a former Texas A&M professor and nuclear power expert, said in a release that these "dirty" energy sources beg for a "cleaner" nuclear power replacement. "The operating record of current nuclear power plants is excellent," Burchill said, adding that compared to fossil fuel stations, nuclear plants store a very limited number of chemicals. Nesbit said collectively, the 104 U.S. nuclear plants today - because of their zero emissions - is equivalent to removing 131 million automobiles from the road each year, or 96 percent of "all cars out there." Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or greenhouse gases, Nesbit said. "The environmental benefits are so huge." Core meltdowns Adrian Heymer, senior director of new plant development for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the probability of a core meltdown "is less than one in 10 million. We've really reinvented the industry." The institute says nuclear power has a low impact on the environment because it's emission-free and does not burn anything to produce electricity. "There have been fires, plants coming offline, fires in switch gear rooms ... but none of that resulted in a release of radioactivity into the environment that would result in any impact to health," Heymer said. Jim Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace, a national nonprofit in opposition to nuclear power, said U.S. plants teeter on disasters similar to Chernobyl, the Russian reactor known for its meltdown. Riccio wrote a report detailing 200 U.S. meltdown "near misses." "Every one of these reactors has the potential to wipe out the state in which it operates," Riccio said. "I've yet to see any evidence that they're safer. Basically, it's not a viable technology moving forward, especially if you want to affect climate change." Riccio said that the nuclear industry - "which is fighting for relevance" - is trying to sell nuclear power as part of the cure for global warming. But since nuclear plants require about 10 years for construction, he suggests they can't help to solve a problem he said needs fixing today. "They are environmental disasters waiting to happen, and you haven't even solved the waste problem yet," he added. Spent fuel, which has no permanent home in the U.S., worries critics of nuclear power. The U.S. government is constructing a permanent underground repository inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain, but no one knows if it will open as scheduled in 2010. Until then, spent fuel is stored on-site. Nesbit, the Exelon spokesman, said spent fuel is harmless because of the way it's stored at plants. He said the used fuel - pellets the size of your fingertip - are housed in impenetrable, 3-foot thick concrete canisters. "Spent fuel doesn't have any impact on people," Nesbit said. Inside the plant, the fuel doesn't explode, he added. That's because less than 5 percent of uranium in nuclear fuel is fissionable, a concentration too low for an explosion. If the fuel gets out of the coolant area, Heymer said, it still goes through a containment area, which can withstand hurricane-force winds. "Before the public is in danger, you have to have three failures: pressure vessel, coolant area and a failure of the containment. And even if the containment fails, we have measures, if you like, that scrub any release path." If, after all that, radioactive material is released, those living within 10 miles of the plant - depending on wind - would be in the greatest danger, he said. If it or any other plant had a major leak, local governments are immediately informed and the community is advised through an emergency alert network. "They would let us know if something happens," said Bay City Mayor Richard Knapik, who lives in Matagorda County, home to the nuclear plant South Texas Project. About seven years ago, the plant had a minor leak, but it was contained before it threatened public health, Knapik said. Riccio's not sold. "As U.S. corporations contemplate building more nuclear reactors, it is important that our government regulators remember Chernobyl and speak honestly and forthrightly about the very real dangers posed by splitting atoms," Riccio said. "Nuclear reactors are inherently dangerous." Gabe Semenza is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6519 or gsemenza@vicad.com, or comment on this story here. ***************************************************************** 12 Victoria Advocate: Nuclear plants require strict security June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. BY DON MUNSCH - VICTORIA ADVOCATE Victoria would need to put in place a plan to deal with a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant, according to a local emergency management expert in a nearby county. Victoria is the secondary site under consideration for the nuclear power plant construction. Matagorda County is the primary site for the construction. Bob Watts, director of emergency management for Matagorda County, said those plans should cover events such as terrorist attacks. The South Texas Project nuclear power plant is in his county. "It just marries into the plans you already have in place," Watts said. Because of the security surrounding nuclear power plants, terrorists normally would look for an easier target to hit, he said. The plants are built in such a way that they can take a direct hit from a 747 and not cause a catastrophe, he said. The bigger concern from that scenario would be what happens outside, such as a huge external fire that would erupt, he said. "We feel secure with the plans our plant has in place," he said. The South Texas Project, near Wadsworth, opened with South Texas Project 1 operating in August 1987 and South Texas Project 2 operating in December 1988. Neither reactor has had any accidents. Kelly Cripe, communications supervisor with South Texas Project, said the South Texas Project is protected by multiple layers of security. "We have extensive perimeter defenses and detection and prevention systems," she said. "We have a specially trained and armed security response team. We also work very closely with local, state and federal law enforcement." As the expansion occurs at the South Texas Project - two new reactors are proposed near Wadsworth - Cripe said her company remains committed to safe and secure production of electricity. She touted the company's safe track record and expects it to continue with the expansion. Mitch Singer, media relations manager with the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, said the NRC conducts a comprehensive drill at each plant once each three years, but officials at nuclear power plants conduct drills throughout the year. O.C. Garza, public information officer for the city of Victoria, said the city would have to be prepared for any scenario. Of the 103 plants operating nationally, the only accident occurred at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. According the Nuclear Energy Institute's Web site, 104 commercial nuclear reactors are operating at 65 sites in 31 states. Of those 104 reactors, 103 of them are operating. Thirty-four are boiling water reactors, and 69 are pressurized water reactors. Victoria would not be any more likely a target of a terrorist attack that any other community its size, although chemical plants dot the area. Explosions and accidents that have occurred at these plants have been contained. Still, the city has to be prepared, but Garza said he wasn't sure how civil authorities would prepare for evacuations and damage to property caused by a terrorist attack. "I'm assuming that our city would take the same kind of posture and training and preparation that would do for other potential targets," Garza said, explaining that includes chemical plants and railroads. The city would work closely with emergency and safety crews so residents understand how they operate in the event of an attack or accident. "We have that kind of situation with the plants around town and around the area, and we are there to support them if they need us, and they're here to support us with chemical spills and those kinds of things if we need some of the expertise and equipment their safety crews have," he said. The safety engineer from the South Texas Plant spoke at one of the keynote sessions at the hurricane conference on May 3 in Victoria. He talked about the preparation plans in the event of a category storm hits his area. "Those buildings are designed for about as massive a natural disaster and as a massive terrorism attack as you can plan on a facility," Garza said. Since 9/11, nuclear power plants have implemented more security measures aimed at thwarting terrorist attacks. "Like any other thing that provides power, it provides economic development - like a lot of things we have in our area - but at the same time, I feel comfortable that they have what I hope are very adequate defenses against" a terrorist attack, Garza said. Jim Riccio, policy analyst for Greenpeace in Washington, D.C., said local officials and residents should ask tough questions, such as the risk of a terrorist attack. "You can't really nail that probability down, which is why the federal government needs to be paying more attention to that," Riccio said. Riccio spoke in-depth about the economics of running nuclear power plants, such as the cost of building and operating them, in addition to the plants' safety and environmental problems. "The industry hasn't proved itself worthy, safe or sound," he said. He said people should be "very concerned" about a terrorist strike on a nuclear power plant. Paul Gunter, director of the Reactor Watchdog Project with the Nuclear Information and Resource Service of Takoma Park, Md., said the 9/11 Commission Report showed that the terrorists' original plans were to hijack 10 airplanes, with two of those planes designated to strike nuclear power plants. Thus, plants should be protected to the minimum of what the commission's report said. Riccio said nuclear power plant supporters should have learned their lessons from accidents such as Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986. Gunter said studies by the National Academy of Sciences indicate that "tens of thousands" of lethal cancers could be spread out over hundreds of miles in the event of a nuclear plant explosion. "It would be far-reaching," he said. "We've seen previous studies that it would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars in economic damage." Doug Walters, senior director of security at the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, said that nuclear power plants are secure and that their security has been improved. "I would argue were they were before we as bolstered security, but they're more so today," he said. After 9/11, nuclear power plants installed additional vehicle barriers in 65 sites across the nation; there are 104 reactors. The number of security officers has increased from 5,000 to 8,000 people. Also, personnel have received training to deal with security threats. As far as a plant being hit by a plane, plants are designed to withstand that kind of blast and prevent radiation spillage. He said terrorists definitely have nuclear power plants on their list of targets, but predicting a hit is difficult. "I think, personally, a small group frontal assault on a robust facility on a nuclear plant is fairly remote," he said, "but we're ready." Don Munsch is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6521 or by e-mail at dmunsch@vicad.com, or comment on this story here. ***************************************************************** 13 Victoria Advocate: Answering some questions about the nuclear plant June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. Q. IS THERE GOING TO BE A NEW NUCLEAR PLANT built in the Victoria area? A. Matagorda County is Exelon Nuclear's first choice; Victoria County is the secondary site. "The decision to actually build the $4 billion plant still hasn't been made. We are going to file for a combined construction and operating license and we hope to get it," said Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon Nuclear. Q. HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE WE KNOW if Exelon Nuclear has decided to build? A. According to Craig Nesbit, that decision could take four or five years. "If we had to make that call today - yes or no - it would be no because there are certain conditions we must meet, and they're not things that we necessarily have control over." Q. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CONDITIONS that will be considered in this decision? A. One key factor is the federal government has not yet developed a permanent site where commercial plants can deposit their highly radioactive wastes. Until that happens, Nesbit said, Exelon will not build a plant in Texas or anywhere else. Q. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE to bring a nuclear plant on line? A. "From the day you say you think you'd like to build one, you're looking at close to a decade before you're actually producing power," Nesbit said. Exelon Nuclear anticipates opening no sooner than eight years from now. Q. WHAT EFFECT WILL A NUCLEAR PLANT HAVE on the air quality of the area? A. Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or greenhouse gases. Collectively, the 104 U.S. nuclear plants today - because of their zero emissions - are equivalent to removing 131 million automobiles from the road each year, or 96 percent of "all cars out there," Nesbit said. Q. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF A CORE MELTDOWN? A. Adrian Heymber, senior director of new plant development for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the probability of a core meltdown "is less than one in 10 million. Q. DOES THE TRANSPORTING OF FUEL FOR THE PLANT POSE A THREAT to the general public? A. Spokeswoman Beth Hayden with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said movement of fresh fuel to the plant is not a significant danger. "There is some radiation, but very little," she said. Q. WHAT HAPPENS TO THE SPENT FUEL? How much of a threat is it to the public? A. Used, or spent, fuel is highly radioactive. NRC officials say the spent fuel can be safely stored on site. Until a federal repository is built, spent fuel is not transported from the nuclear plants. Q. WHEN WILL A NATIONAL REPOSITORY FOR NUCLEAR WASTE be completed? A. According to Jim Riccio, a nuclear policy analyst for Greenpeace, the U.S. government is constructing a permanent underground repository inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain, but no one knows if it will open as scheduled in 2010. It faces fierce political opposition. Q. HOW MUCH WATER DOES A NUCLEAR PLANT need for operation? A. Nuclear power plants require a lot of water - between 10,000 and 32 million gallons of water a day. Q. DOES VICTORIA COUNTY CURRENTLY HAVE ENOUGH WATER to supply a nuclear plant without affecting its own supply? A. I think we do have enough water currently, but that depends on how other industries grow here." said Garrett Engelking, general manager of the Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District. Q. DOES THE PUBLIC HAVE ANY VOICE IN LICENSING PROCESS of a nuclear plant? A. The NRC will seek public input before issuing the license. "The NRC will hold hearings at the location itself or in the closest nearby facility," Nesbit said. "It's a very, very open and transparent process. The only things you will have difficulty looking at are the things that relate to security that are highly classified." Q. WILL A NUCLEAR PLANT BE A TARGET for terrorist attack? A. Because of the security surrounding nuclear power plants, terrorists normally would look for an easier target to hit," said Bob Watts, director of the emergency management for Matagorda County. Q. HOW WOULD A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT BUILT in this area affect our local job market? A. According to Adrian Heymer, senior director of new plant deployment of Nuclear Energy Institute, a project of this size could possibly add anywhere from to 1,800 to 2,000 jobs during the construction phase, with between 450 to 550 permanent employees after completion. Craig Nesbit, Exelon spokesman, estimated the permanent workforce at 700 jobs. Q. WHAT ARE THE PROJECTED EARNINGS of nuclear plant employees? A. Information released by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated nuclear and petroleum engineers are the highest-paid specialties, earning nearly $80,000 a year, not including overtime. Adrian Heymer stated, "They tend to have salaries higher than what's in the immediate locality,"he said. "Off the top of my head, a skilled craftsman's salary - including overtime - will easily top six figures." Q. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT LOCAL TAXES and economy? A. A plant would boost the local and state economy, Heymer said, because nuclear plants tend to pay about $20 million in taxes a year. "Then you have the overall benefits to the local economy," he said. "Just looking at taxes and overall boost to the local economy, you're looking at about $500 million a year per reactor." Q. WILL THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NUCLEAR PLANT in this area have any impact on the uranium mining proposed in the area? A. "A new nuclear plant in South Texas should help mining operations, but is not critical for the success of the mine as uranium is in short supply and demand is high," said Harry Anthony of Uranium Energy Corp. ***************************************************************** 14 Platts: US NRC to increase oversight of OPPD's Fort Calhoun nuclear unit 2007-06-28 Washington (Platts)--28Jun2007 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday said it will step up its oversight of Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska after agency inspectors determined that plant workers had improperly installed a valve that "degraded the condition of a safety system" for well over a year. "The NRC remains confident in the ability of the Omaha Public Power District to operate Fort Calhoun safely," NRC Region IV Administrator Bruce Mallett said in a statement, "but there are performance problems that need to be addressed by the licensee." The NRC categorized the Fort Calhoun finding as being of low to moderate safety significance. The agency said that based its inspection determined that a valve in the reactor's containment spray system was improperly installed on May 11, 2005. The system sprays water in the building containing the reactor to reduce pressure under some accident conditions. The valve remained improperly positioned for 454 days until the problem was discovered during a refueling outage in October 2006. The NRC said it satisfied that the licensee completed a thorough review and analysis of the event and has taken appropriate corrective actions. z For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 15 Platts: Romania's Cernavoda-2 receives permission to increase power 2007-06-29 London (Platts)--29Jun2007 Romania's Cernavoda-2 received regulatory permission June 27 to increase power, and the reactor's operators planned to raise it to 5%, said Teodor Chirica, CEO of state nuclear power corporation Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica, or SNN. Chirica announced the development at the "Nuclear New Build" conference in London, organized by City and Financial Conferences. Cernavoda-2, a Candu-6, achieved criticality in May and is expected to start commercial operation in September. It was built by the management team of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Ansaldo, and SNN. Chirica said Romania is looking to finalize a private investment agreement to complete two more Candu-6 units -- Cernavoda-3 and -4 -- targeted for commercial operation in 2014. Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 16 Idaho Statesman: Idaho nuke plant lures unlikely lender Cobblestone Financial Group has specializedin providing loans to bed and breakfasts, gas stations By John Miller - The Associated Press Edition Date: 06/29/07 A small New York lender that says it will loan $3.5 billion to a nuclear power plant project in Idaho specializes in loans to bed and breakfasts, mini-warehouses, bars and gas stations, making it an unconventional candidate to help pay for a new commercial reactor. Cobblestone Financial Group, in the Erie Canal town of Fairport, N.Y., has given Alternate Energy Holdings a letter of intent "to fund 100 percent of its proposed Idaho Energy Complex" on 4,000 acres in Owyhee County near the Snake River, an official with the Idaho project said this week. According to Cobblestone's Web site, the company focuses "on complex and troublesome commercial real estate loans," including for "condotels," mini warehouses, self storage, mobile-home parks, bed and breakfasts and gas stations. Don Gillispie, chairman of Virginia-based Alternate Energy Holdings, conceded hehasn't met personally with Cobblestone's chief executive officer M. Lyndon Matteson or with its vice president, Robert Jackson, to arrange the transaction. Still, Gillispie trusts them because he knows Matteson "through a family friend, who grew up with him," he said. "They (Cobblestone) sent me a letter, saying they had investors," Gillispie told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "This is a whole new thing for them. I have a letter that says they'll do it, they've talked to the people who will lend the money, and they're willing." Phone calls by the AP to Matteson and Jackson at Cobblestone, which New York state records show was started in 2005, weren't returned. Gillispie also declined to give the AP a copy of Cobblestone's letter of intent for the loan. Concern over America's energy independence and greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming has fueled renewed interest in nuclear power. Still, many expect new reactors will be built by a well-financed utility or utility groups — not a tiny startup like Alternate Energy Holdings whose shares trade on a stock exchange for companies that don't meet Nasdaq capitalization requirements and aren't required to disclose their financial information. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C., which regulates about 100 U.S. nuclear power plants, keeps a list of expected new applications to build a nuclear plant. The list now numbers 17 companies, including Duke Energy, with $15 billion in annual revenue. Alternate Energy Holdings isn't on the list. "Those applications that we expect to come in initially are all from experienced nuclear power plant operators," said Holly Harrington, an agency spokeswoman. "They (Alternate Energy Holdings) haven't come in with any formal paperwork. Not to say that they won't, but they haven't yet." Alternate Energy Holdings has told the NRC in a letter that it intends to build a plant. Gillispie said his company has the experience necessary to build the Idaho project. He points to his board of directors, which includes former nuclear power plant managers, vice presidents of utilities and James Taylor, a former chief operating officer of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — credentials that have made some industry advocates take notice. "They (Alternate Energy Holdings) might be small, but they're very enthusiastic, with a lot of drive and ambition," said Adrian Heymer, head of new-plant development at the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, D.C. "It's got the same chance as some of the other ventures out there." Gillispie said he expects to get the first $100 million from Cobblestone starting late this year, when his company files its application with the NRC. The project in Idaho is "nearing completion of its local approval process" for a conditional-use permit, according to a company news release June 14. Owyhee County officials say that's news to them. "We sent them an application, but nothing has been submitted to our offices," said Mary Huff, Owyhee County's planning and zoning administrator. IdahoStatesman.com ***************************************************************** 17 AFX: Groups appeal vs. Mich. nuclear plant June 28, 2007: 05:12 PM EST Jun. 28, 2007 (AFX International Focus) -- GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Two nuclear energy watchdog groups have filed an action with a federal appeals court that says the storage pads where spent nuclear fuel is kept at the Palisades Nuclear Plant violate earthquake-safety regulations established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 3-foot-thick concrete pads rest upon loose sand amid the dunes of the Lake Michigan shoreline in western Van Buren County's Covert Township, about 55 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. Some containers of spent, irradiated nuclear fuel sit 150 yards from the water, the organizations said Thursday in a joint written statement. Palisades' two pads now hold more than 30 concrete-and-steel casks, each of which weighs about 150 tons when fully loaded with nuclear fuel rod assemblies. The groups -- Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Don't Waste Michigan -- want the plant closed and turned to the federal courts for relief after exhausting all administrative remedies at the NRC, they said. They filed the appeal June 15 in Washington and are represented in court by attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio. 'Underwater submersion could lead to inadvertent nuclear chain reactions in the fissile materials still present in the wastes,' said Kevin Kamps, a nuclear-waste specialist at NIRS. 'Burial under sand could cause the wastes to dangerously overheat. Either way, a disastrous radioactivity release could result.' Mark Savage, a spokesman for plant owner Entergy Corp. (NYSE:ETR) , said Palisades' spent nuclear fuel is being properly stored at the site. 'Palisades has been in the past -- and continues to be -- in full compliance with all federal regulations and requirements associated with the dry-fuel storage facility, he said. 'Our dry fuel storage containers are monitored daily and are in a safe condition, and Palisades will continue to store its used fuel until the federal government takes ownership of it for storage at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.' In April, Entergy, a New Orleans-based utility holding company, completed its $380 million purchase of the plant from Consumers Energy (NYSE:CMS) Co., a subsidiary of Jackson-based CMS Energy Corp. Under the terms of the sales agreement, Entergy will sell 100 percent of the 798-megawatt plant's output to Consumers for 15 years. Palisades has been producing power commercially since December 1971 Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ***************************************************************** 18 NRC: Oral Comments to be Accepted in Raleigh on July 17 Regarding Proceedings on Harris Nuclear Plant License Renewal Application News Release - Region II - 2007-034 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov Known as “limited appearance statements,” oral comments will be accepted from interested persons at a session to be held from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. on July 17 at the Holiday Inn Brownstone Hotel & Conference Center, located at 1707 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Members of the public will be permitted to make short oral statements of approximately five minutes or less of their positions on matters of concern relating to this proceeding. Although these statements do not constitute testimony or evidence in the proceeding, they nonetheless may assist the Board and/or the parties to the proceeding in their consideration of the issues. The limited appearance session will follow a session in which lawyers for the parties will make oral argument on legal issues relating to the proposed license renewal filed by two public interest groups, the North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NCWARN) and Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). The public is welcome to attend and observe this oral argument session, which begins at 10:00 A.M. and ends at 5:00 p.m. in the same location. Persons wishing to make an oral statement who have submitted a timely written request and who are present when their names are called will be given priority over those who have not filed such a request. To be considered timely, a written request to make an oral statement must be mailed, faxed or sent by e-mail so as to be received by 5:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 13, 2007. Written requests to make an oral statement should be submitted to: Office of the Secretary, Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. Fax requests should be sent to (301) 415-1101 and may be verified at (301)415-1966. E-mail requests should be sent to hearingdocket@nrc.gov. In addition, using the same method of service, a copy of the written request to make an oral statement must be sent to the Chair of this Licensing Board as follows: Mail: Administrative Judge Ann Marshall Young, c/o Debra Wolf, Esq., Law Clerk, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board panel, Mail Stop T-3 F23, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001; Fax: (301)415-5519 with verification at (301)415-6094; and E-mail at daw1@nrc.gov. A written limited appearance statement may be submitted to the Board regarding this proceeding at any time, either in lieu of, or in addition to, any oral statement. Such statements should be sent to the Office of the Secretary, using the methods prescribed above, with a copy to the Licensing Board Chair. This proceeding involves the application of Progress Energy (Carolina Power & Light Company) to renew the operating license for the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant, Unit 1, for an additional 20-year period, commencing in 2026. In response to a March 20, 2007, NRC notice of opportunity for a hearing, NCWARN and NIRS filed on May 18 a request for a hearing and a petition to intervene. On May 31, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) was established to preside over the proceeding. Interested members of the public may obtain updated or revised scheduling information regarding the limited appearance session on the NRC public website at www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm Or by calling 1-800-368-5642 or 301-368-5036 or 301-415-5036. NOTE: Persons who plan to attend either the oral argument or the limited appearance session are advised that security measures may be employed at the entrance of the facility, including searches of hand-carried items such as briefcases, backpacks, packages, etc. In addition, for the limited appearance session only, signs no larger than 18" by 18" will be permitted, but they may not be waved, attached to sticks, held up or moved about in the room. No signs will be permitted in the oral argument session. NRC news releases are available through a free list server subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site. Friday, June 29, 2007 ***************************************************************** 19 recordonline.com: Pick the right nuclear target Opinion > Article June 29, 2007 If the Indian Point nuclear power plants do or do not get their license extensions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it will have nothing to do with sirens or evacuation plans or safety in an age of terrorism. The NRC will be looking at only two things: the effect of age on the components in the plants and the environmental impact of renewing or not renewing the license. Anything beyond that, no matter how important or how scary, is just not on the list of items the NRC considers. That's what makes public hearings such as the ones being conducted this week in advance of the actual renewal application so dysfunctional for both sides. Those who have other concerns, who believe that the NRC is too closely aligned with the industry or the company that operates the plants very well may be talking to the wrong people in the wrong arena. And make no mistake about it, those who do not believe that nuclear power is either necessary or safe do not have time to waste by misdirecting their energy. As the cost of producing energy rises, nuclear will become more affordable and attract more investment. Many crucial issues such as evacuation plans and other emergency planning are in the hands of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a very scary thought in itself, and not part of the NRC considerations. Whether that is a good idea or not is not up to the NRC but to Congress and the administration, those who pass the laws and write the rules. They are the real and effective audience for these concerns. Record Online is brought to you by the Times Herald-Record, serving New York"s Hudson Valley and the Catskills. Phone: (845) 341-1100 ***************************************************************** 20 Hamilton Spectator: Mac's reactor licence renewed Cathie Coward, the Hamilton Spectator Scientists are pictured overseeing McMaster's nuclear reactor. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has dismissed allegations security at the reactor is lax. Agency dismisses allegations of theft, lax security By Carmela Fragomeni The Hamilton Spectator (Jun 29, 2007) McMaster University's nuclear reactor licence has been renewed for seven years despite objectors claiming lax security, terrorists stealing uranium from it, and that Muslim extremists work there. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), in its decision yesterday, dismissed the allegations, calling them objectionable and racial and religious stereotyping. It said reactor staff members and researchers have passed background checks and noted that CNSC staff monitor security and gather intelligence with other agencies. CNSC staff have also said there has never been any nuclear material lost or stolen from the reactor. Dave Tucker, senior health physicist at Mac, says the commission's decision "reflects very positively on our excellent safety and security performance." Tucker said the university anticipated it would be renewed, but is still pleased "we can continue our good work." The reactor's current licence expires tomorrow. McMaster's licence renewal application was part of a one-day hearing in Ottawa in May. Renewal applications traditionally garner no public interest, but this time, the university faced three intervenors who appealed to the commission to refuse the licence, or to shorten its time span considerably from the seven years McMaster wanted and which CNSC staff endorsed. One of them, George Jarjour, an Ottawa man of Middle East origin, reiterated past accusations of security breaches and then said, "I have to tell you, this country is the most naive country in the world if you think this type of security can even be called security." He said the reactor's low enriched uranium can still be used for dirty bombs. Another, Michael Devolin of Tweed, strongly objected out of fear for his family and other Canadians, of Muslim staff at the university who came from countries where he said Islam is a religion of hatred and violence. McMaster president Peter George, who attended the hearing with reactor staff, addressed the commission, saying "How does one respond to the charge that McMaster has too many Egyptians or too many Muslims, too many graduates from the University of Cairo, that the university is a breeding ground for terrorists, that Muslim students have contacts with radicals? "Again, ludicrous, unsubstantiated, and at the heart, deeply racist and offensive." The commission had several concerns, including fire safety at the reactor and staff training, but they had already been addressed or were not serious enough to turn the licence down. McMaster has a $2-million defamation and libel lawsuit against American author Paul Williams. His book, The Dunces of Doomsday, often cited by the reactor's detractors, accused McMaster of mismanaging security, allowing terrorist operatives to steal 180 pounds of radioactive material for bombs. The allegations in the lawsuit have yet to be proven in court. The reactor, built in 1959, is used for research, teaching, pharmaceutical products and analysis of materials for companies. It produces radioisotopes used for cancer treatments for 125 people a day. It is 1/1,000 the size of one reactor in a nuclear power plant, but is the largest of six university reactors in Canada. Less than 100 individuals have security access. cfragomeni@thespec.com 905-526-3392 ?Copyright 2007 Metroland Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission or republication of any material from www.thespec.com is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Metroland Media Group Ltd. ***************************************************************** 21 UPI: Chavez says Venezuela might go nuclear United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Published: June 29, 2007 at 1:18 AM MOSCOW, June 29 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has suggested that his country might one day go nuclear, and defended Iran's right to pursue nuclear energy. Noting that neighboring Brazil has declared its nuclear energy intentions, Chavez said Venezuela "might do likewise," Globovision TV reported Thursday. Chavez's remarks in Moscow came ahead of President George W. Bush's scheduled visit to the Russian capital. The remarks also came as the Venezuelan leader discussed a deal for the purchase of five Russian submarines, valued at more than $1 billion. The leftist leader in recent years has sought to improve Venezuela's defenses, claiming the United States is intent on invading the South American country to take over its oil supply -- allegations Washington has denied. Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 Beacon Journal: Perry reactor at reduced power 06/29/2007 | FirstEnergy Corp., owner of electric utilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, said its Perry nuclear reactor is at reduced power after a motor malfunctioned. The unit was operating at about 56 percent of capacity as of mid-day Thursday, the company said. GM businesses sell for $5.6 billion General Motors Corp. said it has agreed to sell its Allison Transmission commercial and military business for about $5.6 billion to the private equity firm The Carlyle Group and Canada's Onex Corp. The sale covers seven manufacturing plants in Indianapolis and global distribution network and sales offices. 4 Honda models top J.D. Power rankings Four Honda models, more than any other single automaker, topped the rankings for their vehicle segments in an annual J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction survey of U.S. drivers. Honda's newly redesigned CR-V small crossover sport utility vehicle, Ridgeline truck and Odyssey minivan all topped their segments, and the subcompact Fit tied with Toyota Motor Corp.'s Yaris for a top spot. Mercedes-Benz topped premium segments with its midsize E-Class car and large S-class car, and its GL-Class tied for a top spot with General Motors' Cadillac Escalade EXT in a premium segment that includes large luxury SUVs and crossovers. GM, Ford, Nissan and Volkswagen each had two vehicles atop the rankings, which were divided into 19 segments. GE unions ratify new contracts Members of the two largest labor unions representing General Electric Co. employees ratified new contracts affecting more than 20,000 workers nationwide, the company said. The newly approved deals replace contracts that expired June 17. They include a 16 percent pay increase over four years and improved health care benefits, while limiting the increase of health care costs borne by workers. High court nixes price floor ban The U.S. Supreme Court abandoned a 96-year-old ban on manufacturers and retailers setting price floors for products. In a 5-4 decision, the court said that agreements on minimum prices are legal if they promote competition. The ruling means that accusations of minimum pricing pacts will be evaluated case by case. The Supreme Court declared in 1911 that minimum pricing agreements violate federal antitrust law. Dillard's investors want share boost A group of investors in Dillard's Inc. sent a letter to the department-store chain urging management to boost the company's share price. Myers, A. Schulman announce dividends The following companies made dividend announcements: ? Myers Industries Inc. -- A regular $0.0525 per share dividend, payable July 20 to shareholders of record July 3. ? A. Schulman Inc. -- A regular cash dividend of $0.145 per share, payable Aug. 1 to shareholders of record July 20. Chinese seafood from farms on alert Add farm-raised seafood to the list of Chinese products that should be avoided. ***************************************************************** 23 Russia-InfoCentre: Atomenergomash and Alstom to set up Joint Venture 29.06.2007 The Russian government nuclear power corporation Atomenergomash and French Alstom are going to sign a memorandum of association to form a joint venture in the RF for manufacturing low-speed turbines for nuclear power stations, the press secretary of Alstom office in Russia reported. In the beginning of April Russian and French companies signed an agreement to set up a joint venture in the RF to produce equipment for NPPs. The Russian share in the project will make up 51%. The joint venture will operate on the basis of ZiO-Podolsk engineering plant in Russia. source: www.utro.ru picture: www.gzt.ru Garant-InfoCentre, 2004-2006. All rights reserved and protected by the copyright law. ***************************************************************** 24 Reuters: German nuclear incidents bad press for operators Fri Jun 29 12:27:56 2007 By Vera Eckert FRANKFURT, June 29 (Reuters) - The closure of two northern German nuclear power stations after problems on Thursday could not have come at a worse time for German operators who seek to extend the lifetime of some plants. Firefighters were still putting out a fire in a transformer substation on the site of the Kruemmel nuclear power generation block some 20 km (12 miles) south-east of Hamburg on Friday. Police said the fire had not affected the 23-year-old reactor and there was no danger of radioactive leaks. Also on Thursday, a short-circuit at the nearby Brunsbuettel nuclear plant which was built in 1977 switched off that unit, leaving both plants out of action for the time being. "It is increasingly taxing to ensure the safety of these old reactors," the social minister for the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Gitta Trauernicht, told German radio. Trauernicht heads the ministry that supervises nuclear safety in a state whose government is critical of nuclear power. Brunsbuettel is due to close in 2009 under Germany's nuclear exit programme but its main operator Vattenfall Europe has applied for an extension by trying to borrow other plants' quotas, a tactic also tried by other nuclear companies. Only a week ago, Trauernicht declared: "Brunsbuettel is unsuited to an extension" and the federal environment ministry in Berlin rejected Vattenfall's first application. Ivo Banek, spokesman for Vattenfall, said there was no reason to link Thursday's incidents to the longer-term question of prolonging nuclear plants' lifetime. "On the contrary, these were defects that could also have happened elsewhere and there is no doubt that managers, security staff and the fire guard had them fully under control," he said. After last week's rejection of its attempt to transfer production quotas from an idled plant of RWE to Brunsbuettel to keep it open beyond 2009, Vattenfall has now asked to transfer quotas from Kruemmel, which must shut in 2015. In other cases, RWE had its application to keep its Biblis A nuclear plant open beyond 2008 rejected, and south-west German utility EnBW has also failed with an attempt to run its Neckarwestheim 1 plant beyond 2009. The ensuing legal tussles take place as Germany's coalition government is deeply divided over nuclear power. Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives mostly support the nuclear industry's attempts to win more production time while renewable energies catch up to become more commercially sound. But the centre-left Social Democrats mostly oppose nuclear. ***************************************************************** 25 NewsRoom Finland: Finland's antiquities board frowns on nuclear plans 29.6.2007 at 12:44 Finland's National Board of Antiquities said Friday it was deeply concerned about plans to build a nuclear power station a mere 500 metres from Svartholm, a sea fortress dating back to the 18th century when Finland was ruled by the Swedish crown. Svartholm, designed by General Augustin Ehrensvrd to repel a Russian invasion, was finished in 1764. Taken by the Russians in the early stages of the Finnish war (1808-9) through which Sweden lost Finland to Russia, most of Svartholm was destroyed by the Royal Navy during the Crimean war in 1855. The rebuilding of the fortress began in the 1960s and a large-scale restoration project was finished in 1998. /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 ***************************************************************** 26 Canwest: Plant shut down over radiation leakage David Finlayson, CanWest News Service Published: Friday, June 29, 2007 EDMONTON - An Edmonton plant has been shut down by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for improper storage of radioactive materials that were releasing doses "significantly in excess of regulatory limits." The commission said in a release Thursday that inspections at Environmental Consultant Enviropac Inc. dating back to 2005 showed the elevated radiation levels were "a risk to people inside and outside the facility." The decision to suspend the company's licence follows hearings in Ottawa last December and February of this year. The February hearing transcript shows the plant was in such dangerous condition it represented "an unprecedented level of intervention of behalf of CNSC staff," the hearing was told. And staff member Ramzi Jammal said the safest measure was to decommission it altogether. "The repeated issues of non-compliance, the disregard for regulatory requirements and the lack of appropriate protection programs demonstrate that Enviropac cannot make adequate provisions for the health and safety of persons and the protection of the environment," Jammal said. The issue dates back to March 2005 when CNSC inspectors ordered the company to stop receiving and handling radiation devices after finding many health, safety and security issues. Inspectors attempted to visit again September 2006 but were denied entry and had to get a police warrant. They found the company had ignored the original order and radiation was still leaking out of the building. Enviropac's phone number was out of service Thursday. The company held three CNSC licences for storage, processing and calibration of nuclear materials. But it was also making products using thorium 232, a radioactive material for which it had no licence, the hearing transcript reveals. It was also transferring radioactive materials to unlicensed people, and manufacturing and servicing nuclear devices for which it was not licensed. The hearing was also told it would cost $500,000 to complete the removal of radioactive materials and devices. Enviropac was already behind $117,900 in cleanup payments at the time of the hearing. Enviropac president Bob Masnyk told the hearing he wasn't aware he needed licences for some of the activities the company was involved in. He also said he had personal problems over the previous two years and believed it was the company's other director that failed to comply with CNSC staff orders. "I tried to do the best that I could under the circumstances." Edmonton Journal CanWest News Service 2007 ***************************************************************** 27 Houston Chronicle: Potential nuclear sites chosen in Southeast Texas | Chron.com - June 29, 2007, 4:05PM Two potential nuclear sites chosen Big operator of plants working on a federal application By BILL HENSEL JR. Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Exelon Nuclear has selected two sites in southeastern Texas as possible locations for a new nuclear plant. Illinois-based Exelon Nuclear, which operates the largest number of nuclear plants in the nation, said it is preparing a federal application that would allow construction and operation of a plant should the company decide to build one. The primary prospective site is a tract about 10 miles south of Collegeport in Matagorda County. A secondary site is about 20 miles south of Victoria in Victoria County. Exelon said it expects to submit the application to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November 2008. It expects the application process to cost about $23 million. For the next 18 months, the company will work through an extensive process with the regulatory commission before the application is submitted, Exelon Nuclear spokesman Craig Nesbit said Thursday. After that, the NRC will take three to four years to evaluate the application. Texas now has two nuclear power plants, the South Texas Project near Bay City in Matagorda County and Comanche Peak in Somervell County 80 miles southwest of Dallas. The operators of both projects have said they plan to add two new reactors to each site. A consortium including NRG Energy, CPS Energy and Austin Energy operates South Texas. TXU operates Comanche Peak. Fourteen percent of the state's power, 4,800 megawatts, came from nuclear units in 2006, according to state power grid operators. Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald said the county supports the application. "We have nuclear electrical generation in the county now," McDonald said, referring to the South Texas Project. "They have been a good partner for us, and this is another one of those. They are good, clean industries, they are well-financed, they bring excellent employment opportunities and a large tax base." The U.S. Department of Energy projects that Texas will need 48 percent more generating capacity by 2030, said Tom O'Neill, Exelon Nuclear's vice president of new plant development. "Nuclear energy is safe and clean and has a low operating cost," O'Neill said in a prepared statement. "That's why we believe nuclear energy is a key part of Texas' future energy mix, because of its inherent environmental and energy independence benefits." But most of the environmentalist community opposes nuclear energy, said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of the Texas office of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "The risks of nuclear power are extraordinary," Smith said. "One mistake could contaminate a large swath of Texas for tens of thousands of years." Existing plants are beginning to age and like cars, will become more prone to breakdowns and leaks, he said. Environmentalists also worry about terrorist attacks on plants and long-term disposal of nuclear waste, he said. But South Texas Project spokeswoman Kelly Cripe said nuclear plants are clean, safe and reliable. She said Exelon's application is welcome because a new plant could help meet the state's growing energy needs. Exelon said Wednesday that while a combined construction and operating license is required for construction of a new nuclear energy plant, the application does not imply that Exelon has made a commitment to build a plant. Several issues must be resolved to Exelon's satisfaction before a formal decision to build is made, the company said. Those include a plan for used fuel disposal, broad public acceptance of a new nuclear plant and assurances that a new plant would be financially viable. bill.hensel@chron.com ***************************************************************** 28 Geelong Advertiser: Region nuclear reactor survey Jeff Whalley 29Jun07 UP TO 6000 Geelong people will be asked whether they want a nuclear reactor in their back yard. Spearheaded by Corio MP Gavan O'Connor, it is the first survey of its kind in the region. It will be undertaken in early July. ``I have announced today an extensive survey of the attitudes of Corio electors to nuclear energy and the location of a nuclear power plant in the Geelong region,'' Mr O'Connor said. ``A random survey of 6000 electors will be undertaken in early July to assess community attitudes.'' Mr O'Connor attacked the Howard Government, accusing it of deliberately creating the conditions for the expansion of uranium mining and the establishment of a uranium facility somewhere in Australia. ``This is an important issue that has quite profound implications for the Geelong region and the health and wellbeing of people who make the region their home should a reactor be located here,'' he said. ``As the elected federal Labor member representing the region in the Australian Parliament, I look forward to the response of the electors to the survey. ``Their views will constitute an important contribution to the ongoing debate on the nuclear industry and its possible expansion into the Geelong region.'' Both the Point Wilson explosives complex and land near Avalon Airport were suggested as possible sites for a future nuclear reactor. The Federal Government is reportedly seeking legal advice on whether it can force states to accept nuclear reactors. Privacy Terms & Conditions The Geelong Advertiser Pty. Ltd. Copyright January 2006 ***************************************************************** 29 IPS-English POLITICS: Big Powers Skirt Anti-Nuke Terrorism Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:42:14 -0700 ROMAIPS WD IP NU POLITICS: Big Powers Skirt Anti-Nuke Terrorism Treaty Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun 29 - A long-awaited international convention against nuclear terrorism will come into force next week, nine years after it was originally proposed by Russia and 10 months after it was adopted by the 192-member General Assembly. But most of the major powers, including those with nuclear weapons, are giving it a miss -- at least so far. The convention will help prevent terrorist groups from gaining access to the most lethal weapons known to man, says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who describes nuclear terrorism as one of the most serious threats of our time. The new international treaty, which has 115 signatories, needed 22 ratifications before it became international law. The 22nd country to ratify it was Bangladesh. The treaty comes into force Jul. 7. Dr. Natalie J. Goldring, a senior fellow with the Centre for Peace and Security Studies and an adjunct full professor in the Security Studies Programme at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, however, expresses doubts about the effective implementation of the convention. To fully implement this convention, she pointed out, signatories must also carry out related measures through national legislation. This will not be easy, Goldring told IPS. As of mid-June, she said, the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to ratify the convention is Russia. And the only other nuclear state that has ratified the convention so far is India. The United States has signed the convention, but has not ratified it, she added. Still, Goldring said, this convention is likely to contribute to efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism by bringing additional attention to this crucial issue. However, the world community has a great deal of work to do. We need to limit access to nuclear weapons and radioactive material much more effectively than is currently the case. The 22 ratifying parties who have expressed their willingness to implement the treaty include: Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Comoros, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Hungary, India, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Mexico, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The world's five declared nuclear powers are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, while the three undeclared powers are India, Pakistan and Israel. North Korea has recently claimed it possesses nuclear weapons. Officially titled The International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the treaty outlaws specific, concrete acts of nuclear terrorism. One of the objectives of the convention is protection against attacks involving a broad range of possible targets, including nuclear power plants and nuclear reactors. Under the convention, all parties to the treaty will have to cooperate in preventing terrorist attacks by sharing information and assisting each other with criminal investigations and extradition proceedings. The entry into force of the Nuclear Terrorism Convention must of course be welcomed as a demonstration of the consensus within the international community that nuclear weapons must not be acquired by terrorist groups, a former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, told IPS However, he pointed out, there is a rich irony in the fact that key members of that same international community have failed to ratify such important treaties as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty preventing the development of new nuclear weapons. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and at least three other countries outside the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, he said, have about 26,000 nuclear weapons among them, of which 12,000 are on alert status. These are weapons of terror and there can be no distinction between 'right' hands and 'wrong' hands for their possession in terms of the humanitarian principles of war and the International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion of 1996, said Dhanapala, who is also a member of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission. Cora Weiss, the U.N. Representative of the International Peace Bureau and president of the Hague Appeal for Peace, says the best thing about this convention is that it brings the nuclear issue back to the table, and hopefully, to the consciences of the world's governmental leaders. What would really prevent nuclear terrorism is the total abolition of nuclear weapons. And that is not a pipe dream, Weiss told IPS. She said that a recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal calling for a nuclear-free future, and authored collectively by former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former U.S. Defence Secretary William Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn, has been in wide circulation among anti-nuclear activists and members of civil society. She said there is also the World Court decision that generally nuclear weapons are illegal under international law; there is the Hans Blix Commission report on weapons of mass destruction; and we have just celebrated the 25th anniversary of filling Central Park with one million people who gathered to say, 'Good bye nuclear weapons'. Even the most recent foreign secretary of Britain, Margaret Beckett, endorsed the Wall Street Journal op-ed piece. And we will soon, once again, remember the Nagasaki and Hiroshima atomic bombings, Goldring said. She said there has never been a better time to revive the campaign to free the world of the most deadly and lasting possibility: nuclear devastation. Goldring described the convention as one of a constellation of measures to decrease the risks of nuclear terrorism. If fully implemented, she said, it would increase the level of cooperation among states and the quantity and quality of information they share with respect to terrorist incidents. It also has an important focus on safeguarding any nuclear or radiological material that is captured by states, she said. Unfortunately, while this step is laudable, no single measure is going to solve this problem, and the convention is relatively modest in comparison with the work that needs to be done. Goldring also said that outlawing nuclear terrorism is not enough: We urgently need to secure the surplus nuclear material in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, and to protect nuclear facilities around the world. ***** + U.N.'s Department for Disarmament Affairs (http://disarmament.un.org/) + Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (http://www.wmdcommission.org/sida.asp?ID=21) + POLITICS: Security Council Called Hypocritical on Nukes (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37994) (END/IPS/WD/IP/NU/TD/KS/07) = 06300014 ORP002 NNNN ***************************************************************** 30 UPI: U.S., Russia present nuke report United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Briefing Published: June 29, 2007 at 1:03 PM WASHINGTON, June 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. and Russian energy chiefs have presented their latest report on nuclear security cooperation between their nations. U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman and Sergey Kirilyenko, director of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, or Rosatom, Thursday sent the joint report to U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian Vladimir Putin, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, an agency of the U.S. department of Energy, announced in a statement. The report was the fifth of its kind and is called the Bratislava Report after the 2005 historic non-proliferation agreement between Bush and Putin, the NNSA said. The latest report "details significant work completed by the United States and Russia over the past six months in the areas of emergency response, nuclear security procedures and best practices, security culture, research reactors, and nuclear site security." "This latest report clearly shows that our joint efforts with Russia to secure and minimize the use of highly enriched uranium in research reactors are making the world safer," Bodman said. "We are seeing steady progress on converting the world's research reactors from using highly enriched uranium to using low enriched uranium that cannot be readily used in a nuclear weapon. In addition, work to improve security at facilities with nuclear material will be completed by 2008." The joint report is prepared and presented to Bush and Putin twice a year and it "highlights discussions between the two countries on preparing for nuclear emergencies and developing a strong nuclear security culture," the agency said. Despite growing tensions between the United States and Russia over U.S. plans to deploy ballistic missile defenses in Central Europe, their cooperation on non-proliferation nuclear security initiatives has continued smoothly. Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 Lethal legacy of tank-busting uranium dust Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 07:48:20 -0500 (CDT) http://environment.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,330088018-121568,00.html Lethal legacy of tank-busting uranium dust Ian Sample, science correspondent Wednesday June 27, 2007 Guardian Toxic, radioactive dust released from armour-piercing depleted uranium shells lingers for decades in the environment and contaminates land far from where it is used, according to British scientists. The finding raises fears that communities living in or returning to war zones may be forced to live on contaminated ground, in danger of inhaling the substance or consuming it in food or water supplies. Hundreds of tonnes of tank-busting depleted uranium rounds have been fired by British and American forces in the Balkans and Iraq. On impact the rounds fragment into a shower of fine particles, which have been linked to medical conditions including cancer and birth defects. Scientists initially suspected that even fine particles of the heavy dust would only cause contamination over a confined area. But research conducted by a team at Leicester University found that it can spread nearly 6km and persists in soils for more than 25 years. The team took soil samples from open ground and residential gardens in a suburban area near Colonie in New York State. During the 1960s and 1970s, the town was home to a depleted uranium manufacturing plant, which released an estimated five tonnes of the material into the air. The team detected traces of uranium down to 35cm beneath the ground. Nicholas Lloyd, a geologist on the team, said: "One of the issues was the realisation that we really didn't understand what was going to happen to this material when it gets into the environment. "What we've shown is that even though this is a very dense material that you'd expect to fall out of the air quickly, we can detect it far from the site and it's surviving more than a quarter of a century later." Previous studies have suggested inhaling particles of depleted uranium, which is weakly radioactive, might increase the risk of lung cancer. The substance has also been linked to kidney damage. In February the Ministry of Defence published medical tests carried out on more than 400 veterans of the Balkans conflict and the first Gulf war, which found none was contaminated with depleted uranium. Scientific advisers to the veterans claimed the tests were either conducted too late, or that the uranium particles were still lodged inside them. "This work shows that depleted uranium may not leach out of soils with rain and get washed away. It means we can't expect that depleted uranium in contaminated areas of Iraq will just disappear, it's going to persist and that means it could be re-suspended and breathed in," said Professor Brian Spratt of Imperial College, London, who chaired a working group on depleted uranium for the Royal Society. Guardian Unlimited ) Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 32 Orange County Register: State studies radioactivity questions WIDE OPEN: During a weekday lunch hour, a passerby walks by an open gate at the former site of ICN Pharmaceuticals biomedical lab at 2727 Campus Dr. in Irvine. It is undergoing cleanup for radioactive waste. /H. Lorren Au Jr. Friday, June 29, 2007 Review, which cites Orange County Register questions about Irvine site, should be done in several months. BRIAN JOSEPH Register columnist CAPITOL WATCHDOG bjoseph@ocregister.com SACRAMENTO -- For years, the old pharmaceutical lab near Campus Drive and Jamboree Road in Irvine sat vacant, easily accessible to passersby. But in December, when Orange County Register reporter John Gittelsohn asked for documents detailing plans to clean up radioactive waste there, the state Department of Health Services refused. Its reason? "Homeland security concerns, including the events of Sept. 11, 2001." Cleanup has since begun at the former ICN Radiopharmaceutical, Inc.'s biomedical laboratory, but the stonewalling hasn't been forgotten by lawmakers. In a Wednesday hearing calling for an audit of the health department's Radiologic Health Branch and the Southwestern Low Level Radioactive Waste Commission, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, specifically cited the state's rejection of Gittelsohn's request as a reason for the review. Kuehl, along with 12 other Democratic lawmakers, suspect the department is using the national security excuse to cover up the improper disposal of waste. They want to know if California is exporting thousands of tons of low-level radioactive waste to Tennessee, the only state in the nation where such material can be disposed of in municipal landfills rather than special facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The lawmakers also want to know whether radioactive waste is being dumped at unapproved sites in California and whether the health department is abiding by orders to conduct an environmental review and establish cleanup standards. In other words, lawmakers fear the state is skirting the rules and endangering people. "There is danger to the public," Kuehl said. It's unclear whether the Irvine site itself is dangerous. This week, excavation crews used backhoes to dump laboratory debris into dumpster-sized white bundles for removal from the site. Jeff Misakian, a spokesman for the pharmaceutical company, which has since been renamed Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, told Gittelsohn there is no reason to be concerned about radiological contamination, that the need for cleanup occurred from routine exposure between 1970 and 2002, when the lab closed. Valeant is on the hook for cleaning up the lab and the surrounding 19 acres as a condition of the property's 2005 sale to a real estate development consortium of Greenlaw Partners in Newport Beach and Guggenheim Real Estate LLC. Misakian has declined to release a copy of the cleanup plan but has said, "Some soil and structural elements will be removed and sent to a licensed waste disposal company." But that makes Dan Hirsch, a nuclear watchdog and adjunct professor at UC Santa Cruz, suspicious about the safety of the site. "The fact that they're having to dig up soil, not just clean up walls, tells me they leaked badly," he told Gittelsohn. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the lab was the largest generator of low-level radioactive waste in California, according to documents Hirsch obtained. The Orange County Fire Authority has provided a list of chemical contaminants and hazardous materials reported on the site. It names 21 chemicals with radioactive properties including Carbon-14, Phosphorus-32, Chromium-51 and waste tritium, but Assistant Fire Marshall Tom Oakes says, "The quantities are extremely small." Soon, Orange County could know what it's facing. On Wednesday, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved the review after Kuehl specifically asked that the Register's request be addressed in the audit. "I'm hoping that the people of California and in particular the people of Orange County who really have suffered from this issue of not being able to get any information about what's happening to radioactive waste in this state I hope that we'll get more information," Kuehl said. The review will take several months and cost $210,800. Foster funding changed A few weeks back, I wrote about the plight of California's foster parents, who have not received a subsidy increase in seven years. Scores of volunteers have dropped out of the program including 104 families in Orange County over the past four years pushing more foster kids into intensive, higher-cost treatment homes and institutions. Children's advocates backed a plan by Assemblyman Jim Beall Jr., D-San Jose, to raise rates 5 percent, guarantee increases in each of the next five years and spend $25 million on a foster family support program. . But as I reported, state lawmakers killed Beall's bill in favor of a more equitable plan giving a 5 percent increase to families, homes and institutions. Advocates found that infuriating because the point of the bill wasn't to create parity, it was to concentrate more on foster families. Well, things actually have become more absurd from the advocates' perspective. A committee of senators and Assembly members ironing out inconsistencies between the two houses' budget proposals decided to exclude treatment homes from the increase, so only foster families (including relatives providing foster care) and institutions will receive the 5 percent raise. That kills any argument for parity and, according to advocates, co-opts their campaign for families and uses it to help the institutions. "I'm a little befuddled," said Regina Diehl, executive director of Legal Advocates for Permanent Parenting, a small nonprofit group of attorneys who advocate for foster families and are foster parents themselves. "It has been our goal to get children into quality care. And group homes (institutions) are the exact opposite." Carroll Schroeder, executive director of the California Alliance of Child and Family services, which represents institutional facilities and treatment homes, said the issue is merely that all caregivers need more money. Brian Joseph covers Capitol issues for the Register. His Capitol Watchdog column focuses on government practices. To reach him, call 916-449-6046 or e-mail bjoseph@ocregister.com. John Gittelsohn contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 The Orange County Register | Contact us | Privacy ***************************************************************** 33 Press-Telegram: A-bomb survivors studied Health effects of bomb examined. By Noaki Schwartz, Associated Press Article Launched: 06/28/2007 11:21:04 PM PDT TORRANCE - More than 60 years after an atomic bomb leveled Hiroshima during World War II, Kaz Suyeishi can still hear the cries of the kindergartners huddled outside her house looking for their mothers. The terrified 5- and 6-year-olds were being comforted by their teacher, her own face burned and bloated from the blast. The next day they were all dead from the mysterious new bomb, said Suyeishi. As parts of the world appear to be lurching once again toward nuclear armament, Suyeishi says she is disappointed. Now 80 and living in Torrance, Suyeishi has spent her life speaking out against what she terms "nothing but misery, stupidity." "I don't say who started the war, who dropped the bomb," said Suyeishi, president of the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb Survivors. "It should never happen again." Suyeishi, one of the estimated 300,000 people who survived the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is part of a long-term study on the health affects of the bomb blasts. This weekend, about 150 survivors will submit to health exams by a team of physicians from the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance. The checkups have taken place every two years since 1977 in California, which has the largest number of bomb survivors living in the United States. Studies have shown that a high percentage of the survivors suffer from thyroid problems, colon and stomach cancer, leukemia, cataracts and anemia. The humanitarian mission also aims to bring attention to the damage caused by weapons of mass destruction. Suyeishi described the day the bomb was dropped as "the most beautiful day" with a blue sky that held a single silver airplane which looked to her like an angel. Then there was a white spot and a hot flash, she said. "One second before it was heaven," she said. "One second after, it was hell." The bomb had bleached the sides of buildings and walls, leaving only what appeared to be shadows of the people who had moments earlier stood there. Many of those who were still alive were burned beyond recognition with skin hanging off them. Suyeishi jumped under the eaves of a neighbor's house, which fell on top of her and broke her tailbone. The injury confined her to bed. At least 140,000 people were killed by the Hiroshima bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, and the immediate death toll at Nagasaki three days later was estimated at 60,000 to 80,000. Survivors were subjected to both sympathy and prejudice by their fellow Japanese, who feared that partnering with a survivor would produce deformed children. "The scar is in here," Suyeishi said, gesturing toward her heart. "This scar never disappears until we die." Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group ***************************************************************** 34 ITAR-TASS: Radiation monitoring of sunken sub begins in Barents Sea 29.06.2007, 09.12 MOSCOW, June 29 (Itar-Tass) - An environmental radiation monitoring has begun in the Barents Sea, where Russias B-159 nuclear-powered submarine sunk in 2003, the head of the Russian Navys press service, Captain First Rank Igor Dygalo told Itar-Tass on Friday. The operation began on Thursday within the framework of the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation, he said. The AMEC brings together Russia, Britain, the United States and Norway. Taking part in the operation are Russian Northern Fleets ship and Britains ship that will examine the sunken submarine and the control area to prepare for raising, Dygalo said. Unmanned underwater vehicles will conduct the monitoring. The previous monitoring in 2003 exposed no violations of the radiation background in the area, where B-159 sank, he said. B-159 sank in August 2003 while being tugged for scrapping. Nine crewmembers, including a captain, died, and only one survived. Before tugging the submarines reactors were turned nuclear safe. ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, store ***************************************************************** 35 IAEA: Central Asian Countries Face Radiological Legacy 28 June 2007 Uranium mine tailings at Taboshar in Tajikistan. (Photo: P. Rickwood/IAEA) Steps towards securing millions of tonnes of uranium tailings in abandoned sites in Central Asia are being taken with the support of the IAEA and its Technical Cooperation programme. The tailings sites, a potential source of radioactive and heavy metal pollution, are the legacy that has accumulated in the region over five decades of operation of uranium mines and mills without proper environment management programmes in place. During a three day mission to Tajikistan, at the end of May, Ana Mara Cetto, IAEA Deputy Director General and head of its Technical Cooperation Department, was told in meetings with the Deputy Prime Minister, Asadullo Gulomov and Foreign Minister, Hamrokhon Zaripov that securing its 10 deserted (or abandoned) tailings sites is a priority for Tajikistan. Some of them are sited near towns and villages. All of them are in the north of Tajikistan. In Taboshar, a former centre of uranium mining and milling, a hill of more than one million tonnes of process residue tailings lies unprotected, vulnerable to erosion by wind and rain. Animals drink from pools of water that gather at the foot of the hill when seasonal rains fall, and children play around it. Some material from the tailings sites has also been used in home construction. But Tajikistan, recovering from near economic collapse and a civil war in the 1990s, is ill equipped to undertake, on its own, the task of securing the tailings legacy. An IAEA programme is assisting Tajikistan assess the impact of the sites - a first step towards seeking donor funding to secure them. "The IAEA doesnt have the resources to undertake management of the tailings sites," said Ms. Cetto, "but we can provide the expertise and the knowledge to Tajikistan that will assist it best help itself," she said. During her visit to Tajikistan Ms. Cetto was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Tajik State National University. She also became the first non-Tajikistan woman to be accepted into the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. Since Tajikistan became a member of the IAEA in 2001 it has received technical assistance in other areas of nuclear and radiation applications to develop diagnostic nuclear medicine, cancer treatment, as well as control of soil erosion and improved land management practices. 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: ***************************************************************** 36 Las Vegas SUN: Berkley plans her strategy for green behind the scenes Today: June 29, 2007 at 7:19:42 PDT By Lisa Mascaro <lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com> Las Vegas Sun WASHINGTON - If ever there was a chance for Rep. Shelley Berkley to shine, this is it. As the House prepares to take up its massive energy package, the Nevada congresswoman has a unique opportunity to help craft the debate. The West is on the forefront of energy issues, and Nevada's experience in producing green electricity from the sun, wind and underground steam could serve as an example as the nation tries to pull away from its reliance on fossil-fuel sources. With her interest in energy issues as well as her own legislation spelling out ways for the nation to go green, Berkley has the background needed to be an advocate among her peers. But as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several powerful House committee chairmen unveiled their energy package on Thursday, Berkley was nowhere to be found. Berkley plans to do her heavy lifting offstage, pressing lawmakers through her position on the Ways and Means Committee. Once in a while she will take to the House floor to make her case. "What I intend to do in the debate on the floor is use Nevada as an example of what is possible," Berkley, a Democrat, said this week. "I'm going to continue to work with my colleagues to make sure as much of my legislation gets through - I don't want my future grandchildren to have to rely on the Saudis to gas up their cars." The pressure for alternative energy is now on the lower chamber after the Senate last week failed to pass key green-power proposals. Senators agreed to increase fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks for the first time in decades, but they were unable to press forward on other popular renewable energy measures. Senate Republicans blocked a plan to set a national goal for renewable electricity production, as Nevada and more than 20 states have done. Republicans also shot down a plan to get rid of $30 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas companies, and give some of it to green energy producers in Nevada and elsewhere. As Nevada has been a leader in both, Berkley has a great interest in ensuring her home state's needs get addressed in the energy bill. Tiernan Sittenfeld, a policy director at the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental lobby, said members such as Berkley will be crucial in articulating the issues as House debate moves forward. "Being from the West where so much is happening on the energy front, she's well positioned to play a lead role," Sittenfeld said. Last week, as Ways and Means endured an eight-hour session debating tax policy for the energy package, Berkley was pressing for the tax credits needed for Nevada's growing renewable energy sector. The state is obviously rich in solar capability and geothermal is something of a holy grail in Nevada, where the growing industry plans to have enough plants in development this summer to double production. Green energy producers have pleaded with Congress to extend beyond 2009 the production tax credits - the 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour they now receive , which amounts to millions of dollars annually. With those credits to expire at the end of 2008, producers say they cannot continue investing in new plants without the certainty the credits will be there to help their bottom line. A tax package that would have secured the credits was shot down in the Senate, where Republicans including Nevada Sen. John Ensign said they could not support paying for renewables at the expense of the oil and gas industry, which would have lost tax breaks. Republicans argued that saddling oil companies with what amounts to new taxes would result in a gasoline price jump that some estimate would be $6 a gallon. Berkley voted in favor of green tax credits in committee. Fellow committee member Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev, voted against the package because of a $6 billion green power fund that he fears could be used to create more nuclear power plants and therefore more nuclear waste. Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the only site being studied for a nuclear waste repository. "The congressman is definitely open to alternative energy sources," spokesman Matt Leffingwell said. "The problem is if nuclear's being touted as a green energy source, but where does that waste go? Nevada." Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, said after the disappointing showing in the Senate, his industry is depending on the House to secure the tax breaks his industry says it needs to be a player in the market. He wants to believe Berkley can play a role for Nevada's green energy producers, but his optimism only goes so far. The fight can be difficult and Berkley, a five-term congresswoman, is still considered young by Hill standards. "The problem is, she's new to the committee, she isn't in leadership," Gawell said. "Give her a couple of years." Lisa Mascaro can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com. All contents 1996 - 2007 Las Vegas Sun, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Victoria Advocate: Disposal of used nuclear fuel is a hot political topic June 29, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m. BY DAVID TEWES - VICTORIA ADVOCATE The thought of radioactive material being hauled over public highways alongside the family sedan or by rail past neighborhoods is at the heart of the safety debate. Fresh fuel going to the plant is no more radioactive than the family dinner table, said Henriks Zeile, an emeritus member of the American Nuclear Society. "However, used fuel is quite dangerous because it does have quite a bit of radiation associated with it - in fact, lots of radiation associated with it," he said. But Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon Nuclear, said transportation of radioactive waste is not even a hot topic for now, should the company even decide to build a plant in Matagorda or Victoria counties. "The debate hasn't gotten into transportation yet because nobody knows where we're going to take it," he said, noting the federal government hasn't established a permanent site where the radioactive material can be deposited. "I will tell you, however, on a technological basis, the transportation piece is not really an issue at all," he said. The canisters used to move the material have been mounted on jet engines and crashed into concrete block walls at 600 mph and put into pools of jet fuel and burned for eight hours without any problem, he said. "These canisters are amazing," Nesbit said. "There's not much you could do to them." Kevin Kamps with the watchdog group Nuclear Information and Resource Service said he doesn't believe the shipments are as safe as the nuclear industry would like the public to think. "Even rail shipments are vulnerable to severe accidents or terrorist attacks," he said. "Everyone of those containers on a trail will contain 240 times the long-lasting radiation released at Hiroshima, just to give you an idea of how much deadly cargo is inside." Even if a fraction of the material was released in an accident or attack, Kamps said, it would be disastrous. Zeile said multiple agencies are involved in planning routes and determining the best methods for safely shipping the radioactive material. "It's a very coordinated effort," he said. "The U.S. Department of Transportation identifies the preferred routes. It basically identifies interstate highways and bypass routes around the cities because they don't particularly care to move the stuff through cities." The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is charged with approving all transportation security plans for those routes. "There's satellite tracking put in place for these movements to make sure they know exactly where the fuel is at any one time," he said. "They keep the shipments secret. They don't publicize them anyplace." Nesbit said spent fuel may have to be moved by truck from a plant to a nearby rail spur. "But the vast majority of it - 80 or 90 percent of it - moves by rail," he said. "These are unmarked rail cars, and they are heavily secured." Nesbit said the routes are not published. He said while people might be able to guess the routes, they would not know when the shipments were taking place. Director Ray Miller with the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which coordinates transportation planning in Victoria County, said he thinks that group should be involved in route selection if a plant is built near Victoria. "The Metropolitan Planning Organization would be a good sounding board," he said. "You've got a good cross-section from both the county government and city government on the MPO." Miller said the city is preparing a hazardous materials route plan for Victoria, but it applies to non-radioactive material. He said he'd have to research how material going to and from the nuclear plant would be covered - if at all - by the plan. "I'd just like to make sure we keep materials classified as hazardous away from the urban centers," he said. David Tewes is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6515 or dtewes@vicad.com, or comment on this story at . ***************************************************************** 38 Carlsbad Current-Argus: Senate committee OKs funding increase for WIPP From the Current-Argus Article Launched: 06/28/2007 08:41:24 PM MDT WASHINGTON ? The Senate Appropriations Committee has affirmed a $31 million funding increase for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad for fiscal year 2008, according to a news release from the office of Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY2008 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, a $32.27 billion measure to fund the Department of Energy and water programs carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. The bill is now ready for consideration by the full Senate. A compromise will ultimately have to be worked out between the final Senate bill and a House of Representatives bill. Domenici, ranking member of the subcommittee that crafted the senate's bill, supported increasing DOE Environmental Management funding for New Mexico, including an additional $31 million for WIPP over the president's budget request. In all, the bill provides $250 million for WIPP, which will allow it to meet the required 21 contract and five remote-handled shipments per week, according to Domenici's office. "There really has not been a question about funding for WIPP. It is recognized as a program that is doing well," Domenici said. "This funding should allow WIPP to continue meeting its mission as the nation's only transuranic waste repository." In the bill, the committee also directs DOE to support the WIPP records center, economic development activities and economic impact assistance. Domenici also added $1.5 million in DOE Office of Science funding to support neutrino research at WIPP. The bill provides $242 million for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. Although this is $75 million over current GNEP funding, it is $153 million below the budget request. The bill directs DOE to focus less on commercial deployment of the advanced reactors and spent fuel recycling facilities, and to put more effort toward demonstrating the technical feasibility as well as a proven safety record. The senator, according to a news release, also secured $1.5 million for research and development of membrane technology for produced water, which is generated from oil and gas production, in Lea County. Produced water could replace dwindling supplies through the desalination process. The Petroleum Recovery Research Center at New Mexico Tech is focused on improving membrane filtration systems. "Lea County gives us a very good location to test these technologies. Finding efficient and affordable ways to recover this used water from energy production could have a variety of benefits for arid regions with limited water resources," Domenici said. The Lea County proposal would be focused on developing cost-effective desalination technology, focusing on improved membrane filtration systems, that could leverage and utilize oil and gas produced water. Lea County's extensive oil and gas production, coupled with the large volume water needs of its agriculture and dairy industries, make it a prime site to test the membrane filtration technology. Related to the goals of this program, the Senate bill provides $24 million to support two research initiatives focused on the relationship between Water/Climate and Water/Energy. Within the DOE Office of Science, $12 million has been included to support a study to evaluate the impact climate change has on water supply in the Southwest and consider technology options. Within the Office of Fossil Energy, another $12 million is provided to study technology solution to utilize water more efficiently in power production. In FY2007, the Department of Energy delivered to Congress a report on the interdependency of water and energy systems. Overall, the Senate bill provides $25.8 billion for the Department of Energy (a $1.13 billion increase over the president's budget request), $5.4 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers ($577 million increase), $1.1 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation ($142 million increase), and $300 million for independent agencies ($48 million increase). Copyright © 2005 Carlsbad Current Argus, a MediaNews Group Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 39 NRC: National N-waste contact list Governors' Designees Receiving Advance Notification of Transportation of Nuclear Waste FR Doc E7-12634 [Federal Register: June 29, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 125)] [Notices] [Page 35732-35735] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29jn07-89] [[Page 35732]] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION On January 6, 1982 (47 FR 596 and 47 FR 600), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published in the Federal Register final amendments to 10 CFR parts 71 and 73 (effective July 6, 1982), that require advance notification to Governors or their designees by NRC licensees prior to transportation of certain shipments of nuclear waste and spent fuel. The advance notification covered in part 73 is for spent nuclear reactor fuel shipments and the notification for part 71 is for large quantity shipments of radioactive waste (and of spent nuclear reactor fuel not covered under the final amendment to 10 CFR part 73). The following list updates the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of those individuals in each State who are responsible for receiving information on nuclear waste shipments. The list will be published annually in the Federal Register on or about June 30, to reflect any changes in information. Current State contact information can also be accessed throughout the year at http://www.hsrd.ornl.gov/nrc/special/designee.pdf . Questions regarding this matter should be directed to Jenny C. Tobin, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, by e-mail at jct1@nrc.gov or by telephone at 301-415-2328. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 25th day of June 2007. For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dennis K. Rathbun, Director, Division of Intergovernmental Liaison and Rulemaking, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs. Individuals Receiving Advance Notification of Nuclear Waste Shipments ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- State Part 71 Part 73 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALABAMA............................ Colonel W.M. Coppage, Director, Alabama SAME. Department of Public Safety, 500 Dexter Avenue, P.O. Box 1511, Montgomery, AL 36102- 1511, (334) 242-4394, 24 hours: (334) 242-4128. ALASKA............................. Kim Stricklan, P.E., Alaska Department of SAME. Environmental Conservation, Solid Waste Program Manager, 555 Cordova Street, Anchorage, AK 99501, (907) 269-1099, 24 hours: (907) 457-1421. ARIZONA............................ Aubrey V. Godwin, Director, Arizona Radiation SAME. Regulatory Agency, 4814 South 40th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85040, (602) 255-4845, ext. 222, 24 hours: (602) 223-2212. ARKANSAS........................... Bernard Bevill, Radiation Control Section, SAME. Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services, P.O. Box 1437, Mail Slot H-30, Little Rock, AR 72203-1437, (501) 661-2107, 24 hours: (501) 661-2136. CALIFORNIA......................... Captain R. Patrick, California Highway Patrol, SAME. Enforcement Services Division, 444 North 3rd St., Suite 310, P.O. Box 942898, Sacramento, CA 94298-0001, (916) 445-1865, 24 hours: 1- (916) 861-1299. COLORADO........................... Captain Allen Turner, Hazardous Materials SAME. Transport Safety and Response, Colorado State Patrol, Troop 8, 15065 S. Golden Rd., Denver, CO 80401-3990, (303) 273-1910, 24 hours: (303) 239-4501. CONNECTICUT........................ Edward L. Wilds, Jr., Ph.D., Director, Division SAME. of Radiation, Department of Environmental Protection, 79 Elm Street, 5th floor, Hartford, CT 06106-5127, (860) 424-3029, 24 hours: (860) 424-3333. DELAWARE........................... David B. Mitchell, J.D., Secretary, Department SAME. of Safety & Homeland Security, P.O. Box 818, 303 Transportation Circle, Dover, DE 19903- 0818, (302) 744-2680, 24 hours: Cell (302) 222- 6590. FLORIDA............................ John Williamson, Environmental Administrator, SAME. Bureau of Radiation Control, Environmental Radiation Program, Department of Health, P.O. Box 680069, Orlando, FL 32868-0069, (407) 297- 2095, 24 hours: (407) 297-2095. GEORGIA............................ Captain Bruce Bugg, Special Projects SAME. Coordinator, Georgia Department of Public Safety & Motor Carrier, P.O. Box 1456, 959 E. Confederate Avenue, SE, Atlanta, GA 30371- 1456, (404) 624-7211, 24 hours: (404) 635-7200. HAWAII............................. Laurence K. Lau, Deputy Director for SAME. Environmental Health, Hawaii State Department of Health, P.O. Box 3378, 1250 Punchbowl Street, Suite 325, Honolulu, HI 96813, (808) 586-4424, 24 hours: (808) 368-6004. IDAHO.............................. Lieutenant William L. Reese, Deputy Commander, SAME. Commercial Vehicle Safety, Idaho State Police, P.O. Box 700, Meridian, ID 83680-0700, (208) 884-7220, 24 hours: (208) 846-7500. ILLINOIS........................... Joseph G. Klinger, Acting Assistant Director, SAME. Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Division of Nuclear Safety, 1035 Outer Park Drive, 5th Floor, Springfield, IL 62704, (217) 785-9868, 24 hours: (217) 782-7860. INDIANA............................ Lieutenant Terry L. Spence, Indiana State SAME. Police, IGCN, 100 N Senate Avenue, 3rd Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46204, (317) 232-8308, Fax: 317-232-0652. IOWA............................... David L. Miller, Administrator, Iowa Homeland SAME. Security and Emergency Management Division, 7105 Northwest 70th Avenue, Camp Dodge, Building W-4, Johnston, IA 50131, (515) 725- 3239, 24 hours: (515) 281-3231, Fax: 515-725- 3260. KANSAS............................. Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, Director, Department of SAME. the Adjutant General, Division of Emergency Management, 800 SW Topeka Boulevard, Topeka, KS 66611-1287, (785) 274-1409, 24 hours: (785) 296-8013. [[Page 35733]] KENTUCKY........................... Dewey Crawford, Manager, Radiation Health and SAME. Toxic Agents Branch, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, 275 East Main Street, Mail Stop HS-1C-A, Frankfort, KY 40621-0001, (502) 564-3700, ext 3695, 24 hours: (502) 667-1637. LOUISIANA.......................... Captain Dwayne White, Louisiana State Police, SAME. 7919 Independence Boulevard, P.O. Box 66614 (A2621), Baton Rouge, LA 70896-6614, (225) 925-6113, ext. 270, 24 hours: (877) 925- 6595. MAINE.............................. Colonel Pat Fleming, Chief of the State Police, SAME. Maine Department of Public Safety, 42 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0042, (207) 624-7000. MARYLAND........................... Michael Bennett, Director, Electronic Systems SAME. Division, Maryland State Police, 1201 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, MD 21208, (410) 653-4229, 24 hours: (410) 653-4200. MASSACHUSETTS...................... Robert J. Walker, Director, Radiation Control SAME. Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Shraffts Building, Mezzanine Level, 529 Main Street, Suite 1M2A, Charlestown, MA 02129, (617) 242-3035, 24 hours: (617) 242- 3453. MICHIGAN........................... Captain Dan Atkinson, Commander, Field SAME. Operations Division, Michigan State Police, 4000 Collins Rd, Lansing, MI 48910, (517) 336- 6136, 24 hours: (517) 336-6100. MINNESOTA.......................... Kevin C. Leuer, Director, Preparedness Branch, SAME. Minnesota Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, 444 Cedar Street, Suite 223, St. Paul, MN 55101-6223, (651) 201-7406, Fax: (651) 296-0459, 24 hours: (651) 649-5451 or 1-800-422-0798. MISSISSIPPI........................ Harrell B. Neal, HAZMAT/WIPP Program Manager, SAME. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, P.O. Box 5644, 1 MEMA Drive 39208, Pearl, MS 39288, (601) 366-6369, 24 hours: (800) 222- 6362. MISSOURI........................... Ronald Reynolds, Director, Emergency Management SAME. Agency, P.O. Box 116, 2302 Militia Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65102, (573) 526-9101, 24 hours: (573) 751-2748. MONTANA............................ Dan McGowan, Administrator, Homeland Security SAME. Advisor, Montana Disaster and Emergency Services Division, P.O. Box 4789, Fort Harrison, MT 59636-4789, (406) 841-3911, 24 hours: (406) 841-3911. NEBRASKA........................... Lieutenant Ken Dahlke, Nebraska State Patrol, SAME. P.O. Box 94907, Lincoln, NE 68509-4907, (402) 479-4931, Fax: (402) 479-4002, 24 hours: (402) 471-4545. NEVADA............................. Karen K. Beckley, M.P.A., M.S., Radiological SAME. Health Section Supervisor, Bureau of Health Protection Services, Nevada State Health Division, 4150 Technology Way, Suite 30, Carson City, NV 89706, (775) 687-7540, 24 hours: 1-877-438-7231. NEW HAMPSHIRE...................... Lieutenant Nathan Boothby, Bureau Commander, SAME. Highway Patrol and Enforcement Bureau, New Hampshire Department of Safety, 23 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03305, (603) 271-3347, 24 hours: (603) 271-3636. NEW JERSEY......................... Kent Tosch, Chief, Bureau of Nuclear SAME. Engineering, Department of Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 415, Trenton, NJ 08625- 0415, (609) 984-7700, 24 hours: (609) 658-3072. NEW MEXICO......................... Don Shainin, Technical Hazards Unit Leader, SAME. WIPP Safe Transportation Program Manager, P.O. Box 1628, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1628, (505) 476- 9628, Fax: (505) 476-9695, 24 hours: (505) 476- 9635. NEW YORK........................... John R. Gibb, Director, New York State SAME. Emergency Management Office, 1220 Washington Avenue, Building 22--Suite 101, Albany, NY 12226-2251, (518) 292-2301, 24 hours: (518) 292-2200. NORTH CAROLINA..................... First Sergeant Joseph Cotton, Hazardous SAME. Materials Coordinator, North Carolina Highway Patrol Headquarters North, 1142 SE Maynard, Cary, NC 27511, (919) 319-1523, 24 hours: (919) 733-3861. NORTH DAKOTA....................... Terry L. O'Clair, Director, Division of Air SAME. Quality, North Dakota Department of Health, 918 East Divide Avenue--2nd Floor, Bismarck, ND 58501-1947, (701) 328-5188, 24 hours: (701) 328-9921. OHIO............................... Carol A. O'Claire, Chief, Radiological Branch, SAME. Ohio Emergency Management Agency, 2855 West Dublin Granville Road, Columbus, OH 43235- 2206, (614) 799-3915, 24 hours: (614) 889-7150. OKLAHOMA........................... Major Gregory Allen, Oklahoma Department of SAME. Public Safety, P.O. Box 11415, Oklahoma City, OK 73136-0145, (405) 425-7701, 24 hours: (405) 425-2323. OREGON............................. Ken Niles, Assistant Director, Energy Resources SAME. Division, Oregon Department of Energy, 625 Marion Street, NE, Ste 1, Salem, OR 97301- 3737, (503) 378-4906, Fax: (503) 378-6457, 24 hours: (503) 378-6377. PENNSYLVANIA....................... Scott Forster, Director of Operations and SAME. Training, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, 2605 Interstate Drive, Harrisburg, PA 17110-3321, (717) 651-2001, 24 hours: (717) 651-2001. RHODE ISLAND....................... Terrence Mercer, Associate Administrator, Motor SAME. Carriers Section, Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, 89 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick, RI 02888, (401) 941-4500, Ext. 150, 24 hours: (401) 444-1183. [[Page 35734]] SOUTH CAROLINA..................... Michael S. Moore, Manager, Division of Waste SAME. Management, Bureau of Land and Waste Management, Department of Health & Environmental Control, 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201, (803) 896-4181, 24 hours: (803) 253-6488. SOUTH DAKOTA....................... Kristi Turman, Director of Operations, SAME. Emergency Management Agency, 118 W. Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501-5070, (605) 773-3231. TENNESSEE.......................... Elgan Usrey, Manager, Technical Services SAME. Branch, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, 3041 Sidco Drive, Nashville, TN 37204-1502, (615) 741-2879, After hours: (Inside TN) 1-800- 262-3400, (Outside TN) 1-800-258-3300. TEXAS.............................. Richard A. Ratliff, P.E. L.M.P., Radiation Colonel Thomas A. Davis, Program Officer, Texas Department of State Director, Texas Health Services, 1100 West 49th Street, Department of Public Austin, TX 78756-3189, (512) 834-6679, Fax: Safety, Attn: (512) 834-6708, 24 hours: (512) 458-7460. Technological Hazards Group, P.O. Box 4087, Austin, TX 78773-0223, (512) 424-7771, Fax: (512) 424-2281, 24 hours: (512) 424-2208. UTAH............................... Dane Finerfrock, Director, Division of SAME. Radiation Control, Department of Environmental Quality, 168 North 1950 West, P.O. Box 144850, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4850, (801) 536-4257, After hours: (801) 536-4123. VERMONT............................ Kerry L. Sleeper, Commissioner, Department of SAME. Public Safety, Division of State Police, 103 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05671-2101, (802) 878-7111, 24 hours: (802) 244-8727. VIRGINIA........................... Brett A. Burdick, Director, Technological SAME. Hazards Division, Virginia Department of Emergency Management, 10501 Trade Court, Richmond, VA 23236, (804) 897-6500, ext. 6569, 24 hours: (804) 674-2400. WASHINGTON......................... Daniel Eikum, Assistant State Fire Marshal, SAME. Mobilization Division, Washington State Patrol Fire Protection Bureau, P.O. Box 42600, Olympia, WA 98504-2600, (360) 570-3119, 24 hours: 1-800-409-4755. WEST VIRGINIA...................... Colonel D.L. Lemmon, Superintendent, West SAME. Virginia State Police, 725 Jefferson Road, South Charleston, WV 25309, (304) 746-2111, Fax: (304) 746-2246. WISCONSIN.......................... Johnnie L. Smith, Administrator, Wisconsin SAME. Emergency Management, P.O. Box 7865, Madison, WI 53707-7865, 608-242-3210, 24 hour: (608) 242-3232. WYOMING............................ Captain Vernon Poage, Support Services Officer, SAME. Commercial Carriers, Wyoming Highway Patrol, 5300 Bishop Boulevard, Cheyenne, WY 82009- 3340, (307) 777-4312, 24 hours: (307) 777-4321. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA............... Gregory B. Talley, Program Manager, Radiation SAME. Protection Division, Bureau of Food, Drug & Radiation Protection, Department of Health, 51 N Street, NE, Room 6025, Washington, DC 20002, (202) 535-2320, 24 hours: (202) 727-1000. PUERTO RICO........................ Dr. Rosa Perez-Perdomo, Secretary of Health, SAME. P.O. Box 70184, San Juan, PR 00936-8184, (787) 274-7629. GUAM............................... Lorilee T. Crisostomo, Administrator, Guam SAME. Environmental Protection Agency, P.O. Box 22439, Barrigada, Guam 96921, (671) 475-1658, Fax: (671) 477-9402, 24 hours: (671) 635-9500. VIRGIN ISLANDS..................... Dean C. Plaskett, Esq., Commissioner, SAME. Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Cyril E. King Airport, Terminal Building-- Second Floor, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00802, (340) 774-3320, 24 hours: (340) 774- 5138. AMERICAN SAMOA..................... Pati Faiai, Government Ecologist, American SAME. Samoa Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Governor, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799, (684) 633-2304, 24 hours: (684) 622- 7106. COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN Dr. Ignacio T. Dela Cruz, D.V.M., Secretary, SAME. MARIANA ISLANDS. Department of Lands & Natural Resources Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands Government, P. O. Box 501304, Saipan, MP 96950, (670) 322-9830. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [[Page 35735]] [FR Doc. E7-12634 Filed 6-28-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 40 times and star: Nuke waste site ‘not yet chosen’ Published on 29/06/2007 THE government has denied that any site has been chosen for the long-term disposal of higher activity radioactive waste. It has also announced that it will consult on future plans on where to best house the waste. Environment Minister Ian Pearson said a public consultation would be carried out by the government into the design and running details of any proposed nuclear dumps. Mr Pearson insisted that the site selection process had not yet begun. He said: “We need to decide how a site for the geological disposal facility is chosen.” He added: “We want to make sure that people have a chance to have their say at every stage in the process. “There is no site selection process underway at this point – and there won’t be until after we have consulted the public, and we have established and published our policy on the way forward in light of responses to that consultation.” Last year, a panel of experts on the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management recommended burial of nuclear waste deep inside rock as a way of handling it. But the devolved Scottish parliament ruled out the deep burial of nuclear waste as an option. View this story and the latest newspaper in full digital reproduction, just like the printed copy at www.timesandstar.co.uk/digitalcopy ***************************************************************** 41 SanLuisObispo.com: SoCal woman who survived A-bomb: 'It should never happen again' 06/28/2007 | By NOAKI SCHWARTZ Associated Press Writer TORRANCE, Calif. -- More than 60 years after an atomic bomb leveled Hiroshima during World War II, Kaz Suyeishi can still hear the cries of the kindergartners huddled outside her house looking for their mothers. The terrified 5- and 6-year-olds were being comforted by their teacher, her own face burned and bloated from the blast. The next day they were all dead from the mysterious new bomb, said Suyeishi. As parts of the world appear to be lurching once again toward nuclear armament, Suyeishi says she is disappointed. Now 80 and living in Torrance, a Los Angeles suburb, Suyeishi has spent her life speaking out against what she terms "nothing but misery, stupidity." "I don't say who started the war, who dropped the bomb," said Suyeishi, president of the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb Survivors. "It should never happen again." Suyeishi, one of the estimated 300,000 people who survived the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is part of a long-term study on the health affects of the bomb blasts. This weekend, about 150 survivors will submit to health exams by a team of physicians from the Hiroshima Prefectural Medical Association at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance. The checkups have taken place every two years since 1977 in California, which has the largest number of bomb survivors living in the U.S. Studies have shown that a high percentage of the survivors suffer from thyroid problems, colon and stomach cancer, leukemia, cataracts and anemia. The humanitarian mission also aims to bring attention to the damage caused by weapons of mass destruction. Suyeishi described the day the bomb was dropped as "the most beautiful day" with a blue sky that held a single silver airplane which looked to her like an angel. Then there was a white spot and a hot flash, she said. "One second before it was heaven," she said. "One second after, it was hell." The bomb had bleached the sides of buildings and walls, leaving only what appeared to be shadows of the people who had moments earlier stood there. Many of those who were still alive were burned beyond recognition with skin hanging off them. Suyeishi jumped under the eaves of a neighbor's house, which fell on top of her and broke her tailbone. The injury confined her to bed. At least 140,000 people were killed by the Hiroshima bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, and the immediate death toll at Nagasaki three days later was estimated at 60,000 to 80,000. Survivors were subjected to both sympathy and prejudice by their fellow Japanese, who feared that partnering with a survivor would produce deformed children. Years after she weathered the bomb, Suyeishi moved to California to get married. Back then no one talked about the bomb, she said, and most American doctors she encountered had never dealt with patients exposed to radiation. When Suyeishi started complaining of symptoms associated with anemia, low blood pressure and back pain, the doctors thought she was simply homesick. Since then most of her outward scars have healed. Still, Suyeishi said there are other unseen wounds. She continues to think about the dead bodies of those children. "The scar is in here," Suyeishi said, gesturing toward her heart. "This scar never disappears until we die." ***************************************************************** 42 Santa Fe New Mexican: LANL: Judge OKs settlement between UC, employees By ASSOCIATED PRESS June 28, 2007 LOS ALAMOS — A $16.4 million settlement between the University of California and a group of Hispanic and female employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been approved by a federal judge. The employees alleged in a class action lawsuit that UC, which ran the Northern New Mexico weapons lab for decades until last year, discriminated against women and Hispanics in pay, promotions and educational opportunities. About 5,500 current and former lab employees will be eligible for payouts under the settlement. It covers female and Hispanic employees who worked at the lab between December 2000 and the present and who submit valid claims. Laura Barber, one of the lead plaintiffs, said the workers are confident the settlement will send a message to lab management and government contractors “that women are entitled to equal pay for equal work.” The lab has denied any wrongdoing, but officials said they decided to settle the case to avoid costly litigation that would have taken potentially years to reconcile. The lab previously agreed to pay $12 million to settle, but an additional $4.4 million for attorneys’ fees and other costs was added in the final settlement approved Wednesday by U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson. John C. Bienvenu, one of the attorneys for the employees, said the employees who sued “succeeded in forcing the University of California to acknowledge that it owes compensation to the women and Hispanic employees that have been treated unfairly.” Those who believe they may be members of the class have 30 days to file claims. UC ran the lab from its creation during World War II until June 2006. LANL is now operated by Los Alamos National Security, a limited liability corporation led by the university and Bechtel National. Privacy Policy / Terms of Use | 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican, all ***************************************************************** 43 SF New Mexican: LANL agrees to disclose security violations Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:51 pm By SUE MAJOR HOLMES Associated Press Writer The U.S. Department of Energy will report significant security breaches or compromises of classified material to Congress under a policy developed after criticism of security at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Northern New Mexico weapons lab has been blasted for years of security problems that led the DOE two years ago to put its management contract out to bid for the first time in the lab's 60-plus-year history. More security breaches have occurred since a new manager took over last summer. Lawmakers who held two hearings about lab security this year have threatened to shut down Los Alamos if problems can't be corrected. Earlier this month, House appropriations members targeted its budget, zeroing out nearly $500 million in nuclear weapons program funding; the Senate refused to do likewise. Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said the DOE will tell Congress about any loss of personally identifiable information on 10 or more people; loss or compromise of classified material that could compromise national security; penetration of a classified network; compromise of a classified intelligence network that could cause a substantial national security risk; and certain intelligence and counterintelligence incidents. If there is doubt whether something should be reported, "the issue will be resolved in favor of reporting," according to a June 22 memo from Sell to "heads of departmental elements." The memo was issued after a June 14 letter from two House members over the DOE's failure to notify Congress about a cybersecurity breach in January at Los Alamos. Congress learned about the problem six months later from sources outside the department. The letter -- from two of the lab's harshest critics, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and Rep. Bart Stupak, head of the committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee -- complained that DOE, lab and National Nuclear Security Administration officials who knew about the incident never mentioned it to them in several meetings. Dingell and Stupak commended the new policy in a news release Friday. "This new DOE disclosure policy, if fully implemented, will better enable Congress to obtain the information necessary to fulfill its critical oversight responsibilities and ensure that our nation's nuclear secrets do not fall into the wrong hands," Dingell said. Stupak said keeping Congress in the dark is unacceptable and obstructs its ability to hold the DOE and its contractors accountable. "This recent memo is an indicator that parts of the DOE are listening and we commend Deputy Secretary Sell for issuing this new directive," he said. According to an official familiar with the investigation into the January breach, it occurred when a consultant to the lab management board sent an e-mail containing highly classified, non-encrypted nuclear weapons information to several board members -- who forwarded it to other members. It was classified as a serious breach, although lawmakers were assured no damage was caused. Copyright 2007 The New Mexican, Inc. ***************************************************************** 44 LA Daily News: Family files death claims over field lab Contamination suspected in cancer of nearby resident BY KERRY CAVANAUGH, Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 06/28/2007 11:13:36 PM PDT The family of a 49-year-old man who died of lymphoma in November after living next to the Santa Susana Field Lab for three decades has filed legal claims against Los Angeles County and other government agencies. The family of Glenn Carey suspects that he died from exposure to chemical and radiological contamination that moved off the hilltop lab. Carey lived in Dayton Canyon, just east of the facility. In May, the family filed claims saying government agencies including Los Angeles and Ventura counties didn't warn Carey of potential contamination and hazards he faced while living near the lab. z "Glenn drank the well water, worked the land full of toxic dust and fallout, and breathed the night air while sleeping as the owners at the Santa Susana Field Lab burned nearly 200 different varieties of toxic/nuclear wastes," the family wrote in its claims. "Thousands of daytime rocket and missile-engine tests were likewise conducted, spewing noxious fumes throughout the canyon where he lived." The claims also say an autopsy confirmed his death could have been caused by exposure to radiation. However, Los Angeles County Coroner's Office officials said Carey's cause of death has not been determined, pending more tests. Glenn's mother, Jeanne Carey, is seeking $500,000. His older son, Nicholas, and the guardian for his minor son filed claims seeking a total of $6 million. The claims were filed in mid-May six months after Carey's death from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to meet a statute of limitations. Ventura County officials rejected the claims. L.A. County officials are reviewing them. The family's attorney, Joe Barrett, said he also filed claims against the California Department of Health Services and Department of Toxic Substances Control, but those agencies said they have not received the claims. He did not file a claim against the federal Department of Energy. The federal government conducted nuclear research at the lab for four decades and is still cleaning up the site. Barrett said he is still in the investigatory stage and doesn't know for certain whether the family will sue. "If there was radiation and chemical exposure, he would have been very close to the zone of danger," he said. "There is certainly enough information to be concerned." Last year Boeing, which owns the lab, reached a $30 million settlement to end a lawsuit brought by some 100 neighbors who said the lab made them ill. Boeing officials said they had not received the claims and did not want to comment. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group ***************************************************************** 45 lamonitor.com: Senate funding plan advances The Online News Source for Los Alamos ROGER SNODGRASS Monitor Assistant Editor An appropriation bill that includes funding for Los Alamos National Laboratory sailed out of committee Thursday with a unanimous 28-0 endorsement. The Senate Appropriation Committee approved a $32.7 billion bill containing funds for the Department of Energy and its nuclear weapons activities under the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as well as the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers. If passed by the Senate after the holiday recess, the measure would contrast with a bill now waiting for approval in the House on funding for nuclear projects at LANL. The House bill contains no funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead project, for example, while the Senate bill reduced the president's request by $22.7 to $66 million for a feasibility study on a proposed new generation of nuclear warheads. Neither the House nor the Senate versions support NNSA's Complex 2030, a long-range plan to consolidate and reduce the size of the nuclear complex. The House called for the Energy Secretary to consult with the Pentagon and Intelligence community to develop a comprehensive nuclear security plan, before funding Complex 2030. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., ranking member on the energy subcommittee, emphasized the bipartisan support demonstrated for the bill in the committees. "We are presenting the Senate a package that takes a balanced and serious look at making changes to our nuclear stockpile and nonproliferation missions," he said in an announcement after the vote. "We have put greater focus on science and experimental activities within the NNSA, including high performance computing." In a separate announcement, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D.NM., emphasized LANL security upgrades included in the Senate bill. These include $49.6 million for upgrades at the Plutonium Facility; $45 million to support consolidation of a set of new classified vaults, and an additional $12 million to complete cyber-security upgrades. "This bill is a very good starting point," Bingaman said. "It does a good job funding the most important work performed by our two outstanding national laboratories." Under the Senate bill, NNSA would receive $9.56 billion. Weapons activities would go up for next year by $231 million. Non-proliferation work would see a $200 million increase. For DOE, the Senate bill provides $25.8 billion ($1.13 billion more than the administration requested: $5.4 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers (+$577 million), $1.1 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation (+$142 million), and $300 million for independent agencies (+$48 million). 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 46 Oak Ridger: A silver lining to Boeing cloud? - Story last updated at 3:02 am on 6/29/2007 By: John Huotari | john.huotari@oakridger.com While the aerospace company Boeing has announced it plans to close its Oak Ridge operations in early 2008, local and state officials are negotiating financial incentives that could encourage USEC Inc. to stay here and expand its operations. Meanwhile, another Oak Ridge company is interested in hiring Boeing workers, who are expected to begin receiving layoff notices in July. BWX Technologies Inc. (BWXT) has been selected to pick up the local USEC work that Boeing has been performing, such as manufacturing centrifuge components. The USEC incentives could include training funds, infrastructure grants, excise tax relief and reduced power rates, USEC spokeswoman Linda Johnson said Thursday. Johnson declined to release additional details of the potential incentives, first mentioned in a company press release issued Wednesday. “USEC received a comprehensive package of business investment incentives and tax credits from the state of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the city of Oak Ridge and Anderson County to keep its centrifuge machine manufacturing work in Oak Ridge,” according to the release. Oak Ridge City Manager Jim O’Connor said this week that USEC’s operations might qualify for property tax relief under the city’s industrial tax abatement policy if money is invested to improve property and expand operations. Boeing has 73 acres in Oak Ridge and a 440,000-square foot building. A property-tax abatement would be based on several factors, including the amount of capital investment, the number of jobs created and their wages, said Kim Denton, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership president. Denton is helping Oak Ridge and Anderson County negotiate with USEC. The city’s Industrial Development Board would be asked to approve any potential tax abatement for USEC, based in Bethesda, Md. The abatement would apply to city and county property taxes. A state official, meanwhile, said the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has two programs that can be used to help industries such as USEC. One program provides job-training assistance for new employees and the other gives grants to local governments to build public infrastructure, said Mark Drury, the department’s assistant commissioner for communications. He declined to release more details of the USEC negotiations. “Those discussions are ongoing and progressing, but they won’t be finalized until we’ve reached an agreement with the company,” Drury said. TVA spokesman Gil Francis also declined to release details of the public utility’s possible contribution to USEC, TVA’s largest industrial customer. Francis said the negotiating details are confidential. “TVA would not release such information,” he said. Local officials hope to avoid a net loss of high-wage, high-skill jobs after Chicago-based Boeing leaves Oak Ridge. “We have certainly tried to stress the fact that job retention is very important,” Denton said. “They’re definitely the kind of jobs we want to keep in Oak Ridge.” BWXT spokesperson Randy Spickard, based in Oak Ridge, said the Lynchburg, Va.-based company is interested in hiring Boeing workers, who will begin receiving 60-day layoff notices in July. Spickard said BWXT held informational sessions on Thursday for Boeing workers at the company’s plant off South Illinois Avenue. During the session, Boeing workers were told, among other things, how to apply for jobs at BWXT’s new operation, called BWXT Clinch River, Spickard said. He said about 100 Boeing workers at the 265-employee plant now work on the centrifuge program, and BWXT could quickly hire that many, depending on qualifications and job requirements. The goal is to “scale up” to 300 to 400 personnel during a two-year period, expanding USEC’s work in Oak Ridge, said Spickard, who also works at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. That plant is operated by BWXT Y-12 for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The BWXT Clinch River workers will manufacture parts to be used at USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Spickard said his company hopes to use the Boeing plant to perform the USEC work, although the building’s future has not been decided, Boeing officials say. USEC currently has two facilities in Oak Ridge, including one next to the Boeing facility. Besides the centrifuge component work, Boeing’s Oak Ridge employees also manufactured commercial aircraft parts, but that work is being moved to other locations. John Huotari can be contacted at (865) 220-5533. ***************************************************************** 47 DOE: DOE Provides Nearly $88 Million to Low-Income Families for Home Weatherization June 29, 2007 Funding is Second Installment of $200 Million in Total Weatherization Grants for FY 2007 WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $88 million in weatherization grants to 20 states to make energy efficiency improvements in homes of low-income families. Weatherization can reduce an average homes energy costs by $358 annually, and this year, DOE expects funding to weatherize approximately 70,000 homes nationwide. For every dollar spent, weatherization returns $1.53 in energy savings over the life of the measures. DOEs weatherization program performs energy audits to identify the most cost-effective measures for each home, which typically includes adding insulation, reducing air infiltration, servicing heating and cooling systems, and providing health and safety diagnostic services. Other benefits include increased housing affordability and property values, lower owner and renter turnover and reduced fire risks. In 2006, DOE helped weatherize approximately 96,500 homes. On average, Americans spend 5 percent of their income on paying energy bills, but for lower-income households the costs average 16 percent. These costs can include anything from heating and cooling their homes to running the lights, computers and other appliances. DOE distributes weatherization grants to states three times a year April, July or September depending on when a states weatherization year begins. Weatherization program grants are distributed by state energy offices through more than 900 local agencies. Every state, the District of Columbia, the Navajo Nation and the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona will receive weatherization grants this year. $204.5 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 will be used to support weatherization. Of that, $88 million in awards announced today are for the 20 states whose weatherization year begins July 1; $112 million was made available in the spring, to the remaining 30 states whose weatherization programs began in April; and $4.5 million will be used for technical assistance and training in support of the program. FY07 Weatherization grants awarded today are: Arizona $1,218,350 California $5,624,334 Colorado $4,896,704 Illinois $12,367,330 Kentucky $4,039,827 Maryland $2,372,992 Minnesota $8,802,132 Missouri $5,364,017 Nebraska $2,231,477 Nevada $751,059 New Mexico $1,709,958 North Carolina $3,717,293 North Dakota $2,234,117 Pennsylvania $13,132,955 South Dakota $1,716,257 Tennessee $3,737,777 Utah $1,859,403 Virginia $3,590,631 Wisconsin $7,653,827 Wyoming $1,053,735 Total $88,074,175 Media contact(s): Chris Kielich, (202) 586-5806 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 48 DOE: Secretary Bodman Announces DOE Technology Transfer Coordinator June 29, 2007 Options to the Marketplace WASHINGTON, DC U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman today strengthened the Department of Energys (DOE) efforts to transfer energy technologies from DOE national laboratories and facilities to the global marketplace by naming Under Secretary for Science, Dr. Raymond Orbach, as Technology Transfer Coordinator, in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). Secretary Bodman also established a Technology Transfer Policy Board, chaired by the Under Secretary for Science, to assist in coordinating and implementing policies for DOEs technology transfer activities. The Coordinator and the Policy Board will undertake a comprehensive review of the Departments technology transfer policies with the goal of deploying energy technologies to the marketplace at an accelerated rate. The Under Secretary for Science is uniquely positioned to expand and enhance the Departments coordination of world class scientific research to further the deployment of technologies that are ripe for commercialization, Secretary Bodman said. By applying scientific research to develop energy solutions, we are advancing Presidents Bush plan to increase the use of cleaner, more efficient energy technologies that will reduce our nations reliance on foreign sources of energy. To establish a framework for continuity and uniformity of technology transfer activities throughout the DOE complex, the Policy Board will consist of DOE officials from relevant offices, and will meet to review the technology transfer activities of the DOE National Laboratories, and other DOE facilities. The Policy Board will advise the Coordinator on funding for technology transfer activities; efforts to engage the private sector; and review of contract and other legal mechanisms governing access to the Departments facilities by state and local governments, universities and industry. The Coordinator and the Policy Board will develop a technology transfer execution plan required by EPAct. The Coordinator and the Policy Board will establish and oversee the activities of the Technology Transfer Working Group that will include representatives from DOE National Laboratories and other DOE facilities authorized to conduct technology transfer activities, and from field officials responsible for overseeing these technology transfer activities. Technology Transfer Memo 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 ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************