***************************************************************** 07/17/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.166 ***************************************************************** 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 BBC NEWS: Poland firm on US missile defence 2 Earth Times: US, India seek to break impasse over nuclear deal 3 US: UPI: Senate unites in support of BMD 4 Daily India: Leading US think tank says India-US nuke deal unlikely 5 Hindustan Times: India, US hold talks on N-deal today- 6 Times of India: Nuke deal to go to White House via Pentagon- 7 BBC NEWS: Russia warns UK over expulsions 8 RIA Novosti: U.K. govt. misleading public on Litvinenko case - Lugov 9 UPI: Russia warns Britain over expulsions 10 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Vows Response to UK Expulsions 11 Telegraph: Setback for green power scheme 12 Daily India: "Reasons that make Pak a nuclear proliferation suspect" 13 Hindustan Times: Brazil, SA for nuclear cooperation with India- 14 Guardian Unlimited: Retaliation expected in Litvinenko row NUCLEAR REACTORS 15 [NYTr] Japan "Dodges a Radioactive Bullet" - Quake Sparks New Fears 16 [southnews] Japan quake sparks new fears over atomic energy 17 IPS-English ENERGY: Nuclear Power No Panacea, Critics Say 18 Guardian Unlimited: Japan investigates 'nuclear leak' after quake 19 AU ABC: Japan PM criticises nuclear industry after leak - 20 Daily Yomiuri: TEPCO reports 50 problems at N-plant 21 Daily Yomiuri: TEPCO admits flaws in safety measures 22 MDN: Radiation leaks into sea from quake-hit nuclear power station - 23 news @ nature.com - Japanese nuclear reactor under-designed for 24 BBC NEWS: Japan admits more nuclear leaks 25 BBC NEWS: Nuclear safety fears after quake 26 US: Philadelphia Inquirer: Nukes Designed With Quakes in Mind | 27 US: Arizona Republic: Nuclear regulators investigate November incide 28 US: SanLuisObispo.com: Initiative would lift nuclear plant moratoriu 29 Russell Hoffman: Japan Dodges a Radioactive Bullet 30 US: Reuters: NRC says ready to help on quake-hit nuclear plant 31 Reuters: Nuclear waste drums lose lids in Japan quake - Kyodo 32 Reuters: Quake revives fears over Japan's nuclear industry 33 Reuters: Japan quake stirs nuclear fears 34 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Nuclear Accidents Glance 35 US: WRAL.com: Wake Residents Fight Extending Nuclear Plant's License 36 AFP: Quake-hit Japan calls for stronger nuclear safety - 37 AFP: Fears rise over nuclear plant after Japan quake - 38 AFP: Japan quake sparks new fears over atomic energy - 39 Bloomberg.com: Germany's Gabriel Wants Older Nuclear Reactors to Shu 40 US: Green Wombat: No New Nukes for California 41 US: Harvey Wasserman: Nuclear Surge 42 Guardian Unlimited: Dozens of Problems at Quake-Hit Plant NUCLEAR SECURITY 43 globeandmail.com: The nuclear shield 44 US: NWW: NRC rapped over gun accounting NUCLEAR SAFETY 45 US: Charlotte Observer: Evacuation zone big enough? 46 US: Bradenton.com: Anywhere but here 47 Japan Times: N.Y. film fest to explore A-bombings NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 48 US: IPS-English ECONOMY-MALAWI: Uranium Mining Sparks Controversy 49 governor jim gibbons: announces his decision to support the state 50 US: Aiken Today: Official says MOX project is right on schedule 51 US: DOE: DOE and NRC Increase Cooperation to Advance Global Nuclear 52 BBC NEWS: Poison threat from Ukraine train 53 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Miffed backers of Goshute nuclear storage sue 54 thewest.com.au: Freeway chaos as truck rolls over 55 Guardian Unlimited: Nuke Waste Drums Tipped in Japan Quake 56 Channel 4 KRNV.com: Governor Gibbons Advocates Halt of Drilling at Y 57 AFP: Toxic fumes threaten thousands in Ukraine after rail crash - 58 Guardian Unlimited: Ukraine Rail Crash Unleashes Toxic Cloud PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 59 Santa Fe New Mexican: Report details history of LANL operations 60 Tri-City Herald: Group urging Hanford B Reactor tours 61 Hanford News: Scientist exposes nuclear ambitions: Man warns of tech 62 Examiner.com: Scientists plead for Savannah River ecology lab fundin 63 DOE: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC) 64 Knoxville News Sentinel: Storage space tight at Y-12 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 BBC NEWS: Poland firm on US missile defence Last Updated: Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 09:27 GMT 10:27 UK Mr Kaczynski said the missile defence plan was good for Poland Polish President Lech Kaczynski has said parts of a US missile defence system will be built in Poland despite fierce Russian objections to the plan. After talks with US President George W Bush, Mr Kaczynski said it was "a foregone conclusion" that interceptor missiles would be based in Poland. Mr Kaczynski tried to reassure Moscow that the plan was not aimed at Russia. "The shield will exist because for Poland this will be a very good thing," Mr Kaczynski said after talks with Mr Bush in Washington. He said the missile defence plan was aimed at the "defence of our democracies against the countries who might have or already do have nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction". Russian opposition Mr Bush called the plan a "symbol of our desire to work for peace and security". How defence system works The US has said the facilities would not be directed at Russia, but at "rogue" states such as North Korea and Iran. Nato signed on to the plan after it was expanded to include the alliance's flank in south-eastern Europe. Russia is particularly opposed at US plans to site a radar in Czech Republic and 10 anti-missile interceptors in Poland and has warned the system could spark a new arms race. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave notice that his country was suspending its application of a 1990 treaty limiting conventional weapons in Europe. Moscow has also voiced opposition to Nato's possible further eastward expansion to include more former Soviet states, such as Ukraine and Georgia. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 2 Earth Times: US, India seek to break impasse over nuclear deal Posted : Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:51:24 GMT Author : DPA Washington - Top US and Indian officials met in Washington on Tuesday hoping to break a deadlock in the implementation of a deal that would allow the United States to assist India in the development of civilian nuclear energy. US President George W Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the deal in 2006, opening the door for the US to share technology and nuclear fuel with India after months of difficult negotiations. But the two sides have been unable to come to terms on how to move forward, with the United States balking at India's demand that it be allowed to reprocess nuclear fuel supplied by the United States. US law prohibits the reprocessing of supplied fuel because the practice could aid a nuclear weapons programme. India sent a high-level delegation to the United States to try to bridge differences, including national security advisor, MK Narayanan, Foreign Minister Shivshankar Menon and the head of the country's Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodar. They are meeting with US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, who oversaw US led negotiations to complete the deal. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States is hopeful that the impasse can be broken and the so-called 123 agreement can move forward. The meetings are "really to try to make a push to get this agreement over the finish line," McCormack said. "There are a couple tough issues that we have left to resolve. We believe that we can get a deal." The nuclear cooperation pact between the United States and India has become the cornerstone of closer relations to the country after decades of Cold War tension. The United States slapped sanctions on India in 1998 after the country detonated a nuclear device for the first time in more than 20 years. US Congress will again have to approve the deal once the final arrangements have been worked out, a prospect that could be more challenging for the Bush administration now that Democrats have taken control of the legislative body and have raised concerns because India has not signed on to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Indian delegation is here for a series of meetings over a few days, including a meeting Monday with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and another one Wednesday with Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser. The United States outlawed any nuclear trade with India after it first tested a bomb in 1974. As part of the deal with the United States, India was required to separate its civilian and military nuclear projects and open up its civilian reactors to inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). India must also secure a safeguards agreement with the IAEA and get the approval of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls international trade in fissile materials for civilian energy. Copyright © 2007 Respective Author (c) 2007 Earthtimes.org, All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 3 UPI: Senate unites in support of BMD United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Briefing Published: July 16, 2007 at 7:54 PM WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- Some 90 percent of U.S. senators have committed themselves to supporting the development of ballistic missile defense. The U.S. Senate Friday voted to adopt a missile defense amendment presented by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., by the overwhelming majority of 90-5. The measure was presented as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. It said that the policy of the United States was "to develop and deploy an effective defense system against the threat of an Iranian nuclear missile attack against the U.S. and European allies." "It is important that we acknowledge the growing threat to peace and security that arises from Iran's nuclear and missile programs," Sessions said in a statement. "Iran's government has continued developing weapons of increasing sophistication and range, in defiance of the international community's requests. Iran's government has openly declared hostilities on America, and we have traced explosives and weapons found in Iraq back to Iran," Sessions said. "The Senate today acknowledged that we must build missile defense systems that ensure we are able to protect our country and our allies against a potential Iranian attack," he said. The vote followed an unexpected degree of bipartisan cooperation and agreement on the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee in retaining most of the key funding for U.S. BMD development programs. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 Daily India: Leading US think tank says India-US nuke deal unlikely From our ANI Correspondent Washington, July 17: An expert attached with a leading American think tank has ruled out the possibility of India and the United States finalizing a significant bilateral nuclear deal, in spite of several rounds of negotiations since its signing on July 18, 2005. Michael Krepon, President Emeritus of the Washington based Henry L Stimson Center, said in an interview with Asian News International, that it would be next to impossible for the Bush Administration to agree with the demands being put forward by the Government of India vis-à-vis the 123 Agreement, the bilateral part of the Indo-US nuclear deal, that puts nuclear testing restrictions on New Delhi. "We (the US) can't do the things that the Government of India wants, and even if we did, all the other people - the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) - they're not going to say yes either. And so, you know, I'm not sure," said Krepon. Krepon's doomsday prediction comes even as senior Indian officials, comprising of National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Chairman of Department of Atomic Energy, Anil Kakodkar are in Washington meeting with U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, and U.S. National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, with the objective of resolving the stalemate over the 123-agreement. Krepon further claimed that the Bush Administration's hands are tied over the issue of giving India blanket permission for nuclear testing and supplying civilian nuclear fuel in perpetuity. "The Government of India wants a free pass. If it decides to resume nuclear testing, it doesn't want to be penalized. And the legislation passed by the Congress penalizes India (should it decide to nuclear test), and the NSG would also penalize India if they resumed testing. So, that's a bone of contention (between the two sides), " Krepon told ANI. New Delhi's desire for uninterrupted nuclear fuel supply was also a problem, as the Bush Administration "has signed a Congressional legislation that does not give India a huge reserve of fuel, because the (U.S.) Congress does not want to give the Government of India a free ride if it resumes testing. It (Congress) wants that to be a hard (to come by) decision. Krepon's views notwithstanding, the Indian delegation is expected to put the onus on Washington to show some 'flexibility' to facilitate the conclusion of the 123 Agreement, negotiations which began in November 2006, but encountered a roadblock over the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. Krepon also claimed that Washington has reached a compromise with New Delhi on the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, but added that he did not see New Delhi becoming a signatory to the treaty anytime soon. While the U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said over the weekend that Washington is ready to resolve the remaining outstanding issues on the 123 Agreement, Krepon said US policy objectives in South Asia go beyond the signing of the nuclear cooperation agreement. "There are more important things going on in South Asia. Even if an agreement is reached between Washington and New Delhi this month, it will take a lot longer to implement the agreement, because there will be very hard negotiations in the NSG, there will be very hard negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Government of India is not going to get the deal that it wants. This is domestically divisive in India. Even if all of this gets done, all of it, the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Indian Parliament) is unlikely to pass legislation" committing the country in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant constructed by a foreign company, or an MNC, "which means that at least in the US, nobody is going to build a nuclear power plant in India without a liability waiver," said Krepon. He was also critical of Washington's latest geo-strategic initiatives, saying that the Bush Administration's penchant for undertaking such ventures have landed it in trouble. "The Bush Administration gets into big trouble when it tries to do big geo-strategic things, like remaking Iraq and remaking the Middle East. The Bush Administration is trying another big geo-political ploy - trying to get India to be a partner against China. That's what this (nuclear) deal is really about. It's not about American firms building nuclear power plants in India. I doubt it seriously if that's ever going to happen. It's about China, and New Delhi is not going to do Washington's bidding on China. New Delhi has its own agenda, and is very capable of improving relations with China, as it has improved relations with the United States," opined Krepon. He further claimed the existence of a triangular nuclear competition between China, India and Pakistan, which fell short of an arms race, "but it is heating up and cruise missiles are coming in, more and better ballistic missiles are coming in all three corners of this triangle." He predicted that if there is a resumption of nuclear testing in the area, China, India and Pakistan would seek to improve their nuclear warheads. It was all a question of calculations about nuclear weapons requirements for each country, and it was not coincidental that China is backing away from treaty negotiations to stop the production of fissile material for a (nuclear) bomb. He also said that it was no coincidence that Pakistan is building not one, but two new plutonium reactors. He concluded by saying that there was a need for Washington to move on. "We've got to be helping India with its energy needs, in clean energy, we ought to be helping India in so many different ways. But to make this (the nuclear deal) the number one priority, is a big mistake. We (the US) will be paying for it. India will be paying for it," Krepon said. Already four rounds of formal negotiations and numerous meetings on the sidelines of multilateral fora have taken place on the 123-agreement since November 2006, but New Delhi is not keen to conclude the agreement in haste. India had earlier stated that the US administration has assured it that there is nothing in the Henry Hyde Nuclear Cooperation Act that prevents them from implementing their obligations as laid in the July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006 statements. The Indian Government is optimistic that by late July or August 2007, the agreement could be formalized.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's expected visit to New Delhi in the next couple of months may finally see an end to the negotiations. Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI Copyright © 2004-2007 DailyIndia.com ***************************************************************** 5 Hindustan Times: India, US hold talks on N-deal today- Brazil, South Africa for civil nuke cooperation with India July 17, 2007 Sridhar Krishnaswami, Press Trust Of India A high-level Indian delegation, led by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan, currently in the US to iron out difference over the implementation of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, held talks with senior American functionaries on bilateral defence cooperation and regional security issues. The US side was led by Secretary of State for Defence Robert Gates. Besides Narayanan, other members of the Indian delegation included Ambassador of India to the United States Ronen Sen, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Deputy Chief of the Indian Mission here Raminder Singh Jassal and Joint Secretary of the Americas of the Ministry of External Affairs Gaitri Kumar. While the precise nature of talks last night was not divulged, sources said the two sides exchanged frank and candid views on bilateral defence cooperation and regional and other security issues. The Indian delegation is in Washington for four days of sensitive and critical exchanges with their American counterparts focussing primarily on the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, especially nailing of the 123 Agreement. But members of the Indian delegation, collectively and individually, will be meeting senior officials of the Bush administration on issues pertaining to the broader aspects of the bilateral relationship as well. "There is more to India-United States relations than the civilian nuclear agreement," remarked a source when asked for the rationale of the top Indian delegation meeting with the US Secretary of Defence. ***************************************************************** 6 Times of India: Nuke deal to go to White House via Pentagon- 17 Jul 2007, 1016 hrs IST,Chidanand Rajghatta,TNN WASHINGTON: The road to finalising the US-India civilian nuclear deal now appears to pass through the portals of the Pentagon. There are strong indications to this effect, going by the unusual call that India's National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon made on US Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon on the first day of what was expected to be an intense three-day engagement on the nuclear deal. A high-level Indian delegation, led by M K Narayanan, held talks with senior American functionaries on bilateral defence cooperation and regional security issues. The US side was led by Secretary of State for Defence Robert Gates. Besides Narayanan, other members of the Indian delegation included Ambassador of India to the United States Ronen Sen, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Deputy Chief of the Indian Mission in the US Raminder Singh Jassal and Joint Secretary of the Americas of the Ministry of External Affairs Gaitri Kumar. While it is not unusual for high-level interlocutors like Narayanan to call on US cabinet officials other than his counterpart, the fact that his first house call in Washington, accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, is on Gates suggests that the nuclear deal is part of a broader strategic and military engagement between the two sides. Narayanan is scheduled to meet his opposite number Hadley at the White House on Wednesday. It's no secret that the US is in the running to sell to India advanced fighter jets in what is expected to be one of single largest defence contracts ever. New Delhi has readied a Request for Proposal (RFP) for 126 multi-role combat aircraft that could be worth more than $ 10 billion and said the RFP will be released in August. The US defense industry, with Boeing (which makes F-18 Super Hornets) and Lockheed Martin (which makes F-16s) in the lead, want that all-or-nothing contract. Although Russia, Sweden, and a European consortium are also expecting to bid in the global tender to sell their fighter jets, tying the jet contract and the nuke deal will swing the odds to the US There have already been back channel discussions with U.S on India's insistence that there be a 50 per cent offset in the deal. Indian officials reject the idea that there could be any such simplistic quid-pro-quo involving the nuclear deal and the combat jet contract. But US defense industry representatives have long said they have and will continue to lobby for the deal in the hope of advancing prospects of military sales to India. Israel and the US are gradually seen to be supplanting Russia as India's largest military suppliers. An Indian Embassy official said the high-level Indian team would be holding "internal meetings" after the call on Gates. Aside from the Gates' meeting, the only other engagement Indian officials had on Monday was a closed-door discussion with the members of Washington's influential think-tanks, including the Carnegie Endowment, who play a vital role in shaping official policy. Gates, incidentally, was a Deputy National Security Advisor in the Bush Sr administration, and like Nayaranan, has a strong intelligence background. He is credited with tempering Pakistan's belligerence that nearly led to war with India in the late 1980s. Copyright © 2007 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 BBC NEWS: Russia warns UK over expulsions Last Updated: Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 23:06 GMT 00:06 UK Mr Litvinenko died in a London hospital in November 2006 Russia's deputy foreign minister has said Britain's expulsion of four diplomats from London could jeopardise co-operation on counter-terrorism. Alexander Grushko said the move - a response to the Alexander Litvinenko murder row - would complicate "vitally important" security issues. He added: "We are being punished for observing our own constitution." A full statement is expected from Moscow, which has warned Britain to expect "serious consequences". KGB agent It is obvious that the policy which is being pursued by Britain is going to complicate the terrorist, the security issues Alexander Grushko The expulsion of four diplomats follows Moscow's refusal to hand over former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi, who is accused of murdering Mr Litvinenko in London last year. Mr Lugovoi denies involvement. Mr Grushko said London had said it would not maintain contacts with Russia's Federal Security Service - also that the UK was prepared to co-operate on counter-terrorism. "These are mutually exclusive statements taking into account the central role the federal security service takes in fighting terrorism both internationally and domestically," said Mr Grushko. "It is obvious that the policy which is being pursued by Britain is going to complicate the terrorist, the security issues, which are vitally relevant and important for Britain and Russia and the wider world." He also said the visa measures announcements would make things difficult for ordinary Russians - the UK has said they would only affect government-sponsored visas, not those of ordinary Russians. It's important that the very, very deeply unsatisfactory nature of this event is well demonstrated Sir Malcolm Rifkind Former foreign secretary Analysis: Will the spat widen? Russian media annoyed Russia-UK disputes Asked why there was not yet any formal response, the Russian ambassador to Britain, Yuri Fedotov, said: "It takes time, we are serious people, we are not rushing." He later told the BBC it was "hard to be optimistic" about the state of British-Russian relations. "I hope in the long run our relations will be restored but [this] is not the best moment in the history of our bilateral relations," he added. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said he had not yet received a formal response from Moscow, but when he did it would be "considered carefully". Speaking on BBC2's Newsnight, Boris Berezovsky, a London-based Russian dissident, urged Mr Lugovoi to submit himself for trial in a third country like Germany, Denmark or Norway. Mr Berezovsky added: "Maybe the Russian constitution is against [extradition] but Lugovoi personally, if he wants to clear the situation, he is able to travel anywhere he wants if he feels he is not guilty." 'Political subtext' Mr Litvinenko, another former KGB agent, died of exposure to radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006. The radioactive isotope used to poison him was found in several places that Mr Lugovoi had visited in London. But Mr Lugovoi told Russian television that the outcome of the inquiry had been predetermined. KEY EVENTS IN CASE 1 November 2006: Alexander Litvinenko meets Andrei Lugovoi and another Russian at a London hotel 23 November 2006: Litvinenko dies in a London hospital 24 November 2006: A Litvinenko statement accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of involvement in his death. Experts say Litvinenko was poisoned 6 December 2006: UK police say they are treating the death as murder 22 May 2007: Lugovoi should be charged with Litvinenko's murder, British prosecutors say 28 May 2007: UK makes formal request for Lugovoi's extradition from Russia Full timeline of events He said: "The British authorities have in effect emphasised yet again that the Litvinenko case actually has a political subtext." Under the European Convention on Extradition 1957, Russia has the right to refuse the extradition of a citizen. The UK has the right to request Mr Lugovoi be tried in Russia, but the UK's director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, has already turned down the offer. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 8 RIA Novosti: U.K. govt. misleading public on Litvinenko case - Lugovoi 16:36 | 17/ 07/ 2007 MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - The U.K.'s latest moves against Russia are designed to draw the public's attention away from the investigation of the "Litvinenko case," agent-turned-businessman Andrei Lugovoi said Tuesday. Russia condemned as "Russophobic" the planned expulsion of four diplomats from Britain over Moscow's refusal to extradite a key suspect in the murder of former security officer Alexander Litvinenko in London. Russia called the decision "immoral," warning of an inevitable political backlash after U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced the move. "This is being done to divert public opinion from the real investigation that is being conducted by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and the Federal Security Service (FSB)," Lugovoi said in an interview with Russia Today television. He said British officials are misleading the public. "I am convinced that British intelligence is directly involved in stoking this scandal, influencing U.K. officials. I don't know exactly how. Probably through considerations of political expediency," Lugovoi said. He also said he doubts the independence of the British justice system, and that he also distrusts British investigators. Moscow is studying London's official position on the expulsion of Russian diplomats over an ongoing extradition dispute to decide on an appropriate response, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "Thirty minutes prior to the [British] foreign secretary's speech in the House of Commons, the ambassador of the Russian Federation in London was summoned to the Foreign Office, where, with reference to the country's government's decision, he was officially given a note on our diplomats' expulsion," Mikhail Kamynin said. Shares of Russian companies traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) fell between 0.3% and 4% on news of the U.K. measures against Russia. Miliband said Monday negotiations between Russia and the European Union over facilitating the visa regime would be suspended and visa restrictions introduced for Russian officials. A spokesman for the British Embassy in Moscow clarified that the restrictions would not concern tourists or other ordinary citizens. Lugovoi, who met Litvinenko on the day he fell ill in London, told journalists that London's decision to expel Russian diplomats was a clear attempt to politicize the case. Litvinenko died in a London hospital in November 2006. British experts said they discovered the radioactive isotope Polonium-210 in his body, but have not yet published an official autopsy report. In a deathbed note, purportedly written by Litvinenko, who received British citizenship shortly before his death, he blamed President Vladimir Putin for his murder, an allegation the Kremlin dismissed. Early last week, British prosecutors said they had received Russia's official refusal to extradite Lugovoi, which cited the Russian Constitution as saying Russian citizens could not be handed over to other countries, and proposed trying Lugovoi in Russia if Britain provides sufficient evidence. However, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the country's authorities could not be sure a Russian trial would be unbiased. In his address to parliament, Miliband also urged Russia to consider changing its Constitution to make international legal cooperation more efficient, including in the extradition of criminal suspects. Russia in turn wants Britain to extradite two of its own suspects, fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen emissary Akhmed Zakayev. Berezovsky is accused of fraud and plotting a coup, while Zakayev is facing terrorism charges. Both have been granted British passports. Russian diplomatic spokesman Kamynin said: "We have the impression that British authorities are trying to justify their refusal to cooperate with Russian law enforcement officials on the extradition of Zakayev and Berezovsky, against whom we have undeniable evidence of terrorism." RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 9 UPI: Russia warns Britain over expulsions United Press International - NewsTrack - Top News - Published: July 17, 2007 at 8:26 AM LONDON, July 17 (UPI) -- British leaders said they won't apologize for expelling four Russian diplomats, despite warnings of serious consequences from the Kremlin. The expulsion follows Moscow's refusal to extradite former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi for the killing of Alexander Litvinenko in London last year. Lugovoi has denied involvement. Tensions between Russian and Britain have reached Cold War levels, BBC News reported Tuesday. Authorities in Moscow accused Britain of "Russophobia" and said the expulsion of the diplomatic intelligence officers would not go unanswered, BBC News said. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday that action had to be taken against Russian because of the lack of cooperation in the case. Litvinenko, also a former KGB agent, died of exposure to radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006. The isotope used to poison him was found in several places Lugovoi had visited in London, authorities said. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Vows Response to UK Expulsions Tuesday July 17, 2007 11:16 PM By STEVE GUTTERMAN Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) - Russia held off Tuesday on a threatened response to Britain's expulsion of four of its diplomats in the bitter standoff over the poisoning death of a former KGB officer, but it warned London it was on a ``direct path to confrontation.'' With Russian newspapers headlining a diplomatic war and state-run media unleashing a flood of commentary from Kremlin allies blasting Britain, Moscow had been expected to announce a response to the expulsions, possibly one that involved throwing out British diplomats. At an eagerly awaited news briefing, however, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko vowed a ``targeted and appropriate'' response, without revealing Russia's plans. He hinted that Russia could stop cooperating on a range of matters, possibly even anti-terror efforts. The standoff over Alexander Litvinenko's death and Russia's refusal to extradite the key suspect in the case has badly damaged ties between two countries, which were already plagued by a history of spying and worsening relations between Russia and the West in general. The British diplomatic moves, which also include restricting visas issued to Russian government officials, are ``a direct path to confrontation and narrowing of the opportunities for interaction with Russia on a wide spectrum of issues,'' Grushko said. He added ``the line London has taken will complicate, if not make impossible, the cooperation of law enforcement organization on questions that touch the security interests of millions of Britons and Russians'' - an apparent warning that Moscow would be less cooperative on anti-terror efforts. Britain has said that retaliation by Russia would not be justified. Echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has called Britain's extradition demand ``stupidity,'' Grushko stressed that Russia's constitution bars the extradition of its citizens and that Moscow is not bound to hand over suspect Andrei Lugovoi by international commitments. ``They are trying to punish us for abiding by our own constitution, which is not just unfair and unacceptable but contradicts common sense,'' Grushko said. Striking a softer tone, Russia's ambassador to Britain said it was important to ``lower the emotions'' and seek to ease escalating tensions, but he added that London must take the first step. ``A lot depends on the political will of the British government,'' Yuri Fedotov said. Lugovoi, a Russian with a KGB background, met with Litvinenko, a Kremlin critic, at a London hotel bar the day he fell ill. Litvinenko died Nov. 23 after ingesting radioactive polonium-210, and blamed Putin on his deathbed. Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute of USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he would advise the Kremlin not to escalate the conflict by responding with more expulsions or other sanctions. He also questioned why Britain had taken the case so far. ``I cannot understand why the British government has decided to turn this more or less usual criminal case into a political one,'' Kremenyuk said. ``Why does one former KGB officer killing another deserve this attention?'' Britain has said the case is not political but rather a criminal matter and a question of public safety - that the incident left radioactive traces around various London locations, exposing British citizens to danger. Litvinenko's agonizing death raised suspicion in the West that Putin's Kremlin is as bad as its harshest critics claim - willing to kill those who speak out against it. In Moscow, meanwhile, the dispute has reinforced anger over what many Russians - Putin squarely among them - see as an infuriatingly superior Western attitude that hides double standards. Russia repeatedly points to Britain's refusal to hand over fierce Kremlin foes for prosecution in Russia, including Chechen rebel figure Akhmed Zakayev and tycoon Boris Berezovsky, a close associate of Litvinenko who claims the Kremlin was behind his killing. Kremlin allies, meanwhile, claim Berezovsky could have had Litvinenko killed to blacken Putin's reputation. Grushko said that Moscow has requested the extradition of 21 people for prosecution in Russia, including Berezovsky and Zakayev, who have refugee status in Britain. ``Not one has been handed over,'' he said. He added that if Moscow were to expel four people for every one that Britain has refused to extradite to Russia, ``the British embassy would today be lacking 80 employees.'' Grushko's noncommittal announcement followed a frenzy of fiery comments in the Russian media since British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced the expulsions Monday. Russia's oil-fueled economic resurgence, after years of weakness following the Soviet collapse, has given Putin and lesser politicians increasing confidence to talk back to the West. Miliband ``should understand that Russia isn't a former British colony, but a great power,'' said Alexander Babakin, the leader of a pro-Kremlin parliamentary faction, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency. Izvestia, a daily newspaper loyal to the Kremlin, announced in a front-page headline that new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown ``has declared a diplomatic and visa war on Russia.'' ``Do Brown and his team really believe that in current international affairs they can do without Russia?'' the paper asked. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 11 Telegraph: Setback for green power scheme By Richard Tyler, Enterprise Editor Last Updated: 1:46am BST 17/07/2007 Green firms facing incentive barriers A green energy technology that has the potential to generate as much clean energy as a nuclear power station has been torpedoed by a Government U-turn. Ofgem, the energy regulator, had approved Bath-based 2șC, led by former Shell chairman Lord Oxburgh, as a renewable energy producer in December. The firm, which plans to harness the pressure of natural gas flowing through pipes to generate electricity, then set up projects with BOC in Teeside and National Grid in London. But in May, the Department of Trade and Industry rejected Ofgem's interpretation of the law, arguing that its eligibility under the renewables obligations credit scheme was "an anomaly in the legislation". Andrew Mercer, 2șC's chief executive, said the decision would kill off the technology. "This is probably the most outrageous example of non-joined up thinking you can get," he said. "If it goes all the way quite frankly its horrendous. 2șC will not continue with geo-pressure as geo-pressure does not work without that credit. I can't be blunter than that." Mr Mercer said Mr Wicks had personally encouraged the company to seek accreditation from Ofgem in April last year. "We are hoping that Malcolm Wicks remembers us and remembers how he helped us," he said. He also questioned the logic of the U-turn, pointing to the Government's inclusion in the energy policy paper in May of proposals for a new power plant using fossil fuels. "We are losing the chance of getting a huge slug of C02 free energy that would not cost a single penny more to generate and we are putting in a new coal fired power station in Kent," Mr Mercer said. Lord Oxburgh, chairman-designate of the firm, said he could not understand how the Government could be in favour of geo-thermal power but not geo-pressure. "Hot water is produced by natural pressure coming out of the earth and we derive the energy from it. Geo pressure is fundamentally the same thing. I can't see why geo thermal is included but geo pressure is not," he said. 2șC claims its technology could become the largest producer of renewable energy in Britain. It had planned to insert turbines into gas pipes on industrial sites that reduce the pressure of the supply to the level required by the industrial user while also generating electricity. At present, the pressure is reduced by a series of valves. Mr Mercer said the projects with BOC and National Grid were "on hold" until the Government clarified its position, although a spokeswoman for National Grid said it expected the project to still go ahead. 2șC will push on with a project in California and is receiving enquiries from continental Europe and Pakistan, he said. "This is a great British innovation story and here we have a Government that's going to blow us out of the water with one hit." A Department for Business spokesperson denied that Mr Wicks had given 2șC any personal encouragement. "The Energy Minister has never given any false hope, in fact in past correspondence with the industry he has been explicit in not doing so," he said. He added: "The renewables obligation is designed to encourage investment in non-fossil fuel electricity generation. It's our view that energy generated from the pressure in natural gas pipes should not be considered renewable under a normal definition of the word. The law at the moment was not written with this technology in mind and we are consulting on clarifying this grey area." The consultation runs until September 4. © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2007. | Terms ***************************************************************** 12 Daily India: "Reasons that make Pak a nuclear proliferation suspect" From our ANI Correspondent Washington, July 17: The legacy of Dr AQ Khan's proliferation network; the country's proximity to the region where the al Qaeda and the Taliban remnants are located; and religious conservatism in society make it a proliferation suspect, claims a nuclear safety expert. Pakistan's nuclear assets are under custodial control and weak links in management and oversight have been addressed to prevent the recurrence of any proliferation activity, said Lt Col Zafar Ali of the Pakistan's Strategic Plans Division in his report presented at the Henry L. Stimson Centre. While the al Qaeda and the Taliban have no direct bearing on Pakistan's nuclear assets, the threat from their affiliates and extremist groups is genuinely worrisome, Ali warned. In his report, he claimed that Pakistan's "nuclear crown jewels" are safe in the hands of the army, and cannot fall under the control of terrorists. If the "Chinese Government could maintain control of its nuclear weapons during the Cultural Revolution, Pakistan's army can also control its nuclear weapons, he said. Pakistan has a well structured command and control system, and its export control law on sensitive material and technology is aligned with international standards and the non-proliferation regime, he said. Lt Col Ali writes that over the past couple of years, there has been a renewed emphasis by Washington and other Western countries that nuclear weapons and materials in South Asia, especially in Pakistan, are vulnerable to terrorists' or extremists' control. He added that it was a deliberate effort to undermine the credibility of Pakistan's command and control. He also agreed to the media reports on Dr AQ Khan's proliferation network, which raised suspicions, and overshadowed Pakistan's efforts to harness a coherent command and control system. Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI Copyright © 2004-2007 DailyIndia.com ***************************************************************** 13 Hindustan Times: Brazil, SA for nuclear cooperation with India- July 17, 2007 Press Trust Of India Brazil and South Africa, key members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), on Tuesday decided to explore ways for cooperation with India in civil nuclear field through "acceptable forward-looking approaches". At a trilateral meeting of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) forum, the three countries favoured "unimpeded growth and development of peaceful uses of atomic energy, through the supply of technology, equipment and material, under appropriate safeguards, and reaffirmed their will to intensify such cooperation." The Foreign Ministers of the three countries "reiterated the importance of ensuring that any multilateral decisions related to the nuclear fuel cycle do not undermine the inalineable right of States to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in conformity with their international legal obligations," said a joint communique issued after the day-long meeting. The three sides emphasised the need to ensure the supply of safe, sustainable and non-polluting sources of energy to meet the rising global demand for energy, particularly in developing countries. "In this context, the ministers agreed that nuclear energy could play an important role," said the communique issued after the meeting of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. "The ministers agreed to explore approaches to cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate IAEA safeguards," it said. ***************************************************************** 14 Guardian Unlimited: Retaliation expected in Litvinenko row Press Association Tuesday July 17, 2007 2:53 AM Diplomatic relations with Russia are expected to come under increasing strain amid promises of retaliation for the expulsion of four of its UK diplomats. PM Gordon Brown insisted he would give "no apologies" for the move - sparked by Moscow's refusal to hand over the ex-KGB agent accused of murdering Alexander Litvinenko in London. Britain was "not prepared to allow a situation of lawlessness to develop in London as a result of a failure to act," the Prime Minister said in Berlin. The expulsions were part of a raft of measures announced by Foreign Secretary David Miliband in response to the Kremlin's decision to block the extradition of ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy. He said there was a "significant body of evidence" against Lugovoy and the measures would send a "clear and proportionate" signal to Moscow that it should send him to stand trial. But the Russian government condemned the move as "provocative" and "immoral" and said it would have "the most serious consequences for Russian-British relations as a whole". Foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the UK was "trying to justify" its own refusal to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist figure Akhmed Zakayev. He did not specify what measures Russia would take but said they would seek to resolve the issues "in a constructive way, without politicising them". However there seemed every possibility of the type of tit-for-tat expulsions rarely seen since the end of the Cold War. Mr Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent who fled to Britain, died in a London hospital last November from a fatal dose of the extremely rare radioactive isotope polonium 210. © Copyright Press Association Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 15 [NYTr] Japan "Dodges a Radioactive Bullet" - Quake Sparks New Fears of Nuke Eneregy Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:02:19 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Dave Muller - (southnews) AFP - Jul 17, 2007 Japan quake sparks new fears over atomic energy KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AFP) - - Japanese people are used to seeing injured people and destroyed homes after major quake. But the latest disaster brought something new and frightening -- black smoke billowing from a nuclear plant. The scene has shaken Japanese confidence in nuclear power plants and led the government to order that the largest one in the world stay shut, despite a potential energy shortage in the peak summer months. The incident was all the more shocking as Japan has strict standards. The world's second-largest economy endures 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes, and relies on nuclear energy due to a lack of natural resources. Monday's 6.8 Richter-scale earthquake killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 more, making it the deadliest to strike Japan in nearly three years. Some 12 hours after the initial jolt, the operator of the massive Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant said a small amount of radioactive water had leaked from the facility but that there was no risk. The scare grew Tuesday as local authorities said containers used to hold radioactivity-contaminated clothing had become unsealed inside the plant. While scientists dismissed fears of a Japanese Chernobyl, residents are clearly concerned. Kashiwazaki residents as well as millions of television viewers were stunned when black smoke began pouring from the nuclear plant, located only nine kilometres (five miles) from the epicentre. "The scariest thing is if there was a serious accident at the nuclear power plant," said Takumi Nakata, 38, a high school teacher who spent the night at a shelter. "I hope what they're saying is true and that this accident was not problematic," he said. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper called the leak a "great shock." "What made us shudder was that a nuclear plant was hit by a bigger-than-expected earthquake," it said in an editorial. Japan, which has virtually no oil or natural gas resources, relies more on nuclear energy than any Group of Eight industrial nation except France. But plans for new plants frequently meet public opposition in Japan, which is particularly sensitive about nuclear leaks as it is the sole country to have suffered atomic attack. Japan's nuclear reactors provide 35 percent of the nation's power and the government aims to boost the figure to 40 percent by 2010. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., the world's biggest private power company, said the Kashiwazaki plant was to provide more than 11 percent of the 61.1 million kilowatts it needs this summer. Japan last year revised 25-year-old anti-quake guidelines, which required nuclear power plants to be resistant at least to a quake of 6.5 on the Richter scale. The new rules allow companies to set their own guidelines which are then subject to approval by the government. The acceleration of the tremors in the latest quake was 2.5 times greater than the Tokyo Electric plant was built to withstand. Industry Minister Akira Amari summoned Tokyo Electric's chief and gave him a verbal warning over the fire. Amari also said the government would speed up ongoing studies to confirm that plants are "resistant to the various strengths and various scenarios of earthquakes." But atomic power experts remained calm. Nuclear power plants "are basically safe, as Japan has probably the strictest anti-quake standards in the world," said Koji Okamoto, a professor of atomic engineering at the University of Tokyo. Okamoto warned against an obsession with foolproof safety, saying this was not the deadly leak in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl in 1986 which affected millions of people. "If you pursue safety blindly, it would be like a heavy-set airplane with a huge engine that cannot fly," he said. *** Counterpunch - Jul 17, 2007 http://www.counterpunch.org/hoffman07172007.html arthquakes, Tsunamis and Nukes Japan Dodges a Radioactive Bullet By RUSSELL D. HOFFMAN Sunday a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Japan. The entire Kashiwazaki nuclear power generating station, the world's largest nuke facility with seven reactors, shut down. At least one reactor spewed "slightly radioactive" coolant into the Sea of Japan. But early reports, of course, assured the public there were NO radioactive leaks. A fire in the switchyard kept local firefighters busy for more than two hours, spewing thick, terrifying black smoke into the air (but the real danger from a nuclear reactor -- radioactive poison -- is INVISIBLE). Four reactors were automatically SCRAMed, a violent, sudden, dangerous stoppage. The other three reactors at the facility were shut down "voluntarily, for inspection." Kashiwazaki's 8,212 megawatts of total generating capacity is enough for about 16 million homes in Japan (or for about half many homes in America). So just as hospitals, pumping stations, and individuals desperately needed power to recover from the earthquake, NONE was being delivered by the facility, after an earthquake that was far smaller than the size the facility is supposed to be able to withstand. The feared tsunami never came. Nukes worldwide are NOT protected against reasonably foreseeable tsunami wave heights. Japan dodged a bullet THIS TIME, but disaster awaits ... [Russell D. Hoffman, a computer programmer in Carlsbad, California, has written extensively about nuclear power. His essays have been translated into several different languages and published in more than a dozen countries. He can be reached at: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com] * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 16 [southnews] Japan quake sparks new fears over atomic energy Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:32:48 -0500 (CDT) Japanese people are used to seeing injured people and destroyed homes after major quake. But the latest disaster brought something new and frightening -- black smoke billowing from a nuclear plant. The scene has shaken Japanese confidence in nuclear power plants and led the government to order that the largest one in the world stay shut, despite a potential energy shortage in the peak summer months. __________________________________________ Japan quake sparks new fears over atomic energy AFP - 20 minutes ago KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AFP) - - Japanese people are used to seeing injured people and destroyed homes after major quake. But the latest disaster brought something new and frightening -- black smoke billowing from a nuclear plant. The scene has shaken Japanese confidence in nuclear power plants and led the government to order that the largest one in the world stay shut, despite a potential energy shortage in the peak summer months. The incident was all the more shocking as Japan has strict standards. The world's second-largest economy endures 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes, and relies on nuclear energy due to a lack of natural resources. Monday's 6.8 Richter-scale earthquake killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 more, making it the deadliest to strike Japan in nearly three years. Some 12 hours after the initial jolt, the operator of the massive Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant said a small amount of radioactive water had leaked from the facility but that there was no risk. The scare grew Tuesday as local authorities said containers used to hold radioactivity-contaminated clothing had become unsealed inside the plant. While scientists dismissed fears of a Japanese Chernobyl, residents are clearly concerned. Kashiwazaki residents as well as millions of television viewers were stunned when black smoke began pouring from the nuclear plant, located only nine kilometres (five miles) from the epicentre. "The scariest thing is if there was a serious accident at the nuclear power plant," said Takumi Nakata, 38, a high school teacher who spent the night at a shelter. "I hope what they're saying is true and that this accident was not problematic," he said. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper called the leak a "great shock." "What made us shudder was that a nuclear plant was hit by a bigger-than-expected earthquake," it said in an editorial. Japan, which has virtually no oil or natural gas resources, relies more on nuclear energy than any Group of Eight industrial nation except France. But plans for new plants frequently meet public opposition in Japan, which is particularly sensitive about nuclear leaks as it is the sole country to have suffered atomic attack. Japan's nuclear reactors provide 35 percent of the nation's power and the government aims to boost the figure to 40 percent by 2010. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., the world's biggest private power company, said the Kashiwazaki plant was to provide more than 11 percent of the 61.1 million kilowatts it needs this summer. Japan last year revised 25-year-old anti-quake guidelines, which required nuclear power plants to be resistant at least to a quake of 6.5 on the Richter scale. The new rules allow companies to set their own guidelines which are then subject to approval by the government. The acceleration of the tremors in the latest quake was 2.5 times greater than the Tokyo Electric plant was built to withstand. Industry Minister Akira Amari summoned Tokyo Electric's chief and gave him a verbal warning over the fire. Amari also said the government would speed up ongoing studies to confirm that plants are "resistant to the various strengths and various scenarios of earthquakes." But atomic power experts remained calm. Nuclear power plants "are basically safe, as Japan has probably the strictest anti-quake standards in the world," said Koji Okamoto, a professor of atomic engineering at the University of Tokyo. Okamoto warned against an obsession with foolproof safety, saying this was not the deadly leak in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl in 1986 which affected millions of people. "If you pursue safety blindly, it would be like a heavy-set airplane with a huge engine that cannot fly," he said. ***************************************************************** 17 IPS-English ENERGY: Nuclear Power No Panacea, Critics Say Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:31:06 -0700 ROMAIPS AP WD EN SC KP NU NR ENERGY: Nuclear Power No Panacea, Critics Say Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Jul 17 (IPS) - The nuclear mishap caused by Monday's earthquake in Japan has unleashed another wave of environmental concerns about the use of nuclear technology to meet the world's energy needs. ”Nuclear power is hardly the safe panacea its supporters claim it to be,” said Norman Dean of Friends of the Earth (FoE), a network of hundreds of environmental groups around the world. Raising similar concerns, the environmental group Greenpeace International's Jan Beranek described the Kashiwazaki nuclear site incident as another ”reminder” that nuclear power ”is not safe”. Both Dean and Beranek warned of ”far more serious nuclear accidents” and ”real risks” posed by earthquakes and industrial disasters, as well as possible terrorist attacks in the future. Monday's earthquake killed nine and wounded more than 1,000 people, in addition to causing a radioactive leak and fire at the world's largest nuclear-power producing plant. Japan's energy officials have acknowledged that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant leaked hundreds of gallons of water that was contaminated with radioactive waste. However, they described the amount of radioactive waste mixed with water as ”tiny,” and said there had been ”no significant change” in the sea water and that there was no effect on the environment. Greenpeace accused Japanese officials of ”lying” in their initial assessment of the impact of the fire -- in which they said there was no danger of radioactive leakage -- adding that the Japanese and global nuclear industries have been marred by a series of accidents and cover-ups. According to environmentalists, there are many similarities between what happened in Japan and an incident at Germany's Krummel power plant last month, in which a fire broke out in the transformers building and damaged the reactor. ”In Germany, the industry first claimed that the fire had no impact on reactor safety,” said Beranek, ”[but] in realty the fire led to serious malfunctions that directly threatened the safety of the reactor.” Various agencies measured Monday's earthquake between 6.7 and 6.8 on the Richter scale. The quake hit on Marine Day, an official holiday in Japan, when most people were inside their homes. The Japanese media reported that a series of smaller aftershocks are still going on. On Monday, authorities said they had evacuated some 2,000 people whose homes had been completely destroyed by the quake. Critics point out that this was not the first time the Japanese nuclear industry has tried to cover up a nuclear accident. According to Beranek, for example, the Hokuriku utility did not inform the public or nuclear inspectors about a serious incident that took place at the Shika nuclear power plant, where a mechanical failure in 1999 led to an uncontrolled chain reaction. In April 2006, there was a radioactive spill of 40 litres of liquid containing plutonium in the brand new reprocessing plant in Rokkasho-Mura, the group said, adding that in August 2004, a pipe was ruptured in the Mihama plant, which resulted in the death of five workers. More famously, nuclear meltdowns occurred at Three Mile Island in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in 1979 and in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Soviet Union. A recent Greenpeace report estimated that 270,000 cancers and 93,000 fatal cancers were caused by that disaster. Greenpeace and many other environmental groups have repeatedly called for the United Nations, United States and other powerful nations to stop promoting nuclear technology as an alternative to fossil fuels. In April 2006, some leading European politicians raised serious questions about the U.N.'s role in encouraging countries to acquire nuclear energy for non-military purposes. Former environment ministers from European countries, including Russia, sent a letter to the former U.N. chief Kofi Annan urging him to reform the mandate of the International Atomic Energy Agency. ”Nuclear power is no longer necessary,” they said in the letter. ”We have now numerous renewable technologies available to guarantee the right to safe, clean, and cheap energy.” Greenpeace's Beranek echoed the same message Monday. ”Nuclear power undermines real solutions to climate change, by diverting resources away from the massive development of clean energy sources the world urgently needs,” he said. ”What's more,” he added, ”climate change will increase natural disasters, in turn posing a greater risk to nuclear power plants, and to our safety.” But this line of reasoning has failed to win over many of the world's most powerful nations. In July last year, when leaders of the world's most industrialised countries, known as the Group of Eight, gathered in St. Petersburg, Russia, they signed a joint statement saying that nuclear energy is one way to address climate change. Many environmentalists see nuclear reactors as dangerous because in addition to natural disasters they are also vulnerable to unintentional human error. ”Energy conservation and wind and solar power are cleaner and safer than nuclear power,” said Dean. ”They are a better way to fight global warming.” ***** + POLITICS: Big Powers Skirt Anti-Nuke Terrorism Treaty (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38376) + ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Mega Nuclear Plant Hits Popular Opposition (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38119) + GERMANY: Breakdowns Renew Case Against Nuclear Energy (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38482) + Energy Crunch (http://ipsnews.net/new_focus/energy/index.asp) (END/IPS/AP/WD/EN/NU/NR/SC/KP/HR/KS/07) = 07172321 ORP018 NNNN ***************************************************************** 18 Guardian Unlimited: Japan investigates 'nuclear leak' after quake Japan admits quake caused malfunctions at nuclear plant Justin McCurry in Tokyo Tuesday July 17, 2007 A road destroyed by the earthquake in Nagaoka. Photograph: Kyodo News/AP Nuclear power officials in Japan today admitted that the world's largest nuclear power plant had suffered at least 50 malfunctions including burst pipes, water leaks and radioactive waste spillage, when it was hit by yesterday's earthquake. Officials were investigating possible radioactive leaks from the plant after reports that several drums carrying low-level nuclear waste had tipped over and lost their lids during the earthquake, which measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, in northern Japan. The death toll from the quake, which centred on the town of Kashiwazaki in Niigata prefecture, rose to nine overnight as more bodies were pulled from rubble. The victims - six women and three men - were in their 70s and 80s. About 1,000 people were injured, 47 of them seriously, and thousands of homes were without gas and water. One person is still unaccounted for and 13,000 people were evacuated amid fears of landslides in areas weakened by the quake and heavy rain. Residents were angered by Tokyo Electric Power's response to damage caused by the quake. Ten hours after it assured residents that no radioactivity had leaked during a blaze at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant - the biggest in the world - the firm said 1,200 litres (264 gallons) of water containing radioactive material had spilled from a tank and flushed into the sea. It said the amount of radiation involved was well below safety standards and posed no threat to the environment. Although the leak was discovered at around noon - about two hours after the earthquake - Tokyo Electric did not confirm to ministers that the water contained radioactive material until after 6pm. The public was not informed until 9.45pm. Anti-nuclear activists warned of the potentially disastrous consequences of a major earthquake striking a nuclear power plant. "This fire and radioactive leakage reminds us yet again of the serious threats posed by nuclear power," said Jan Beranek of Greenpeace International. "There is a real risk in Japan, and globally, of larger earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as of terrorist attacks that could lead to far more serious nuclear accidents." Japan's 55 nuclear reactors supply about a third of its electricity, but the industry's reputation has suffered several setbacks in recent years, including the deaths of five workers in an accident at Mihama nuclear power plant in western Japan in August 2004 and the deaths of two people at the Tokaimura reprocessing plant in 1999. Japan plans to increase its share of nuclear-generated electricity to 40% of the total by the end of the decade. Useful links Japan Today Asahi.com Far Eastern Economic Review Fuji News Network Japan Times Kyodo News Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 19 AU ABC: Japan PM criticises nuclear industry after leak - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) By North Asia correspondent Shane McLeod Posted July 18, 2007 06:12:00 Nuclear power plant: Drums containing low-level waste fell over and spilled (file photo). (AFP: Kazuhiro Nogi) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has criticised the country's nuclear industry over its response to this week's earthquake. Operators failed to give timely information about leaks of radioactivity. Mr Abe has criticised the owner of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, saying the company's response to Monday's earthquake was too late. A fire broke out at the plant as a result of the quake, and the company has subsequently revealed that radioactive water and gas were discharged, and drums containing low-level waste fell over and spilled. Mr Abe says it is up to the nuclear industry to provide information in a timely manner. The Government has told the company it will not be allowed to restart its reactors until a full safety audit has been completed. The ground movement in in Monday's quake was more than double the level anticipated in the plant's design. Tags: disasters-and-accidents, earthquake, nuclear-accidents, japan © 2007 ABC Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 20 Daily Yomiuri: TEPCO reports 50 problems at N-plant Inspectors have so far discovered 50 problems and instances of damage, including the shifting of an exhaust duct connecting a reactor building and a main exhaust pipe, at the seven reactors of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture after the plant was hit by a major earthquake, Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced Tuesday. Radioactive substances such as iodine have been detected coming from the main exhaust pipe at the plant's No. 7 reactor. Although the amount of substances emitted into the atmosphere was extremely small, it is possible some equipment was seriously damaged in Monday's quake. TEPCO said it was investigating exactly how the damage occurred. After the earthquake, TEPCO analyzed samples taken from the exhaust sampling device of the main exhaust pipes at the seven reactors. It said there were no radioactive substances detected from the Nos. 1-6 reactors. But iodine, chromium and cobalt--all radioactive substances--were detected from the No. 7 reactor. The amounts were believed to be about one-thousandth of the upper limit of the emission based on safety regulations. The company said such substances are usually contained in the reactor's cooling water. About 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste fell over at a warehouse to store solid waste, and the lids on several drums came off. After inspecting the floor of the warehouse, TEPCO detected an extremely small amount of radiation. It said a total of 22,000 drums are stored at the warehouse so there is a possibility that more drums may have tipped over. ) The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun © The Yomiuri Shimbun. ***************************************************************** 21 Daily Yomiuri: TEPCO admits flaws in safety measures Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s disaster prevention measures did not function successfully when Monday's Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake hit its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, the company said Tuesday. The power company added that only four workers were available to extinguish the fire after it was discovered. The government plans an immediate review of the nation's 55 nuclear reactors by means of new seismic integrity standards, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari said during a press conference Tuesday. The vibration of the earthquake, which surpassed quake-resistance levels, reached an acceleration of 680 gals at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday night ordered Amari to take immediate action against TEPCO as it had failed to swiftly confirm the fire had been extinguished and that radioactive material leaked from the plant. The fire was triggered by a power transformer outside one of the reactors. TEPCO also failed to report the fire and leak in time for Monday night's Cabinet meeting. Abe blasted TEPCO, saying its lack of action presented a serious problem, sources said. Amari reprimanded TEPCO President Tsunehisa Katsumata at the ministry early Tuesday, and ordered the company to review its procedures for extinguishing any immediately reporting fires. Amari also ordered Katsumata to find the cause of the radioactive coolant leak and to report on the reason for the delays. The minister also told him not to restart the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant until its safety has been confirmed. TEPCO said it failed to take swift measures as it could not secure enough staff to deal with all the incidents at once, and therefore it failed to promptly report its situation to the ministry, the company said. The transformer fire was found at 10:15 a.m. Monday. However, it was not until 11:33 a.m. that local firefighters, which had been busy assisting quake victims, began fighting the fire. "Other facilities also were damaged, and our instructions were confused," the company said, admitting its disaster management measures did not go as planned. "Fire engines and ambulances usually are out on call in the event of disasters. Nuclear power plants need to set up a system for putting out fires on their own," Amari said Tuesday. At 12:50 p.m. Monday, TEPCO discovered a water leak in an area not yet under control--the area adjacent to the storage pool for spent fuel from the No. 6 reactor, whose operation had been suspended for regular inspection at the time of the earthquake, it said. The company decided to check the area later as the reactor and the pool are separated by a partition dozens of centimeters thick, it said. It was not until about six hours later that TEPCO discovered the coolant contained radioactive material. It was not until 8:28 p.m. that the power company reported that coolant had escaped into the sea, according to the company. ) © The Yomiuri Shimbun. ***************************************************************** 22 MDN: Radiation leaks into sea from quake-hit nuclear power station - MSN- Mainichi Daily News July 18, 2007 The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant where part of soil collapsed following the earthquake. KASHIWAZAKI, Niigata -- Water containing a small amount of radiation leaked into the sea from a nuclear power station, where four reactors were automatically shut down after a powerful earthquake jolted Niigata Prefecture on Monday, government officials said. This is the first time in Japan that radiation has leaked from a nuclear power station because of the impact of an earthquake, officials said. It will unlikely to adversely affect the heath of people or the environment. Noting that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant is located only nine kilometers away from the epicenter, officials at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said they believe that it is the nearest a strong quake that has struck to a nuclear power station. About 1.2 tons of water apparently leaked from a pool containing spent nuclear fuel in the No. 6 reactor that was not working at the time of the temblor. The water contained 60,000 becquerels of radiation, equal to the amount contained in six liters of radon hot spa water, and is not harmful to the health of people. Workers at the power plant have also confirmed that water leaked from six other reactors. They are checking the reactors to see if water containing radiation leaked outside. (Mainichi) Click to see photos of the quake-hit areas July 17, 2007 Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 news @ nature.com - Japanese nuclear reactor under-designed for earthquake? - Rapid acceleration shakes up more than the ground in Japan. Published online: 17 July 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070716-3 David Cyranoski The quake sparked a fire, which was soon extinguished. AP/PA Photos An earthquake off the western coast of Japan yesterday hit a nuclear plant with more than twice the jolt that the plant was expected to have to handle. The shock seems to have done little immediate damage, but has raised concerns about whether Japan's nuclear plants are designed to withstand the kind of shaking they are likely to experience. The magnitude 6.6 earthquake killed at least 9, injured 1,000, and caused the evacuation of a further 10,000 people. At the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactor, 10 kilometres from the epicentre, the earthquake sparked a fire, which was soon extinguished, and caused a little more than a litre of radiation-contaminated water from an open pool to spill into the sea. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which owns the facility, says that the concentration of radiation in the water was lower than national regulations and so poses no threat to people or the environment. But the episode has sparked concern as to whether Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's seven reactors, as well as the rest of Japan's 55 operating nuclear facilities, are safe. All the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors have been shut down until a safety evaluation has been done. All shook up An earthquake's effect on the surface depends on its magnitude, the depth of the epicentre, and the geological nature (hardness/density, formation) of the surrounding area - all of which affect the peak rate at which the ground accelerates in any given direction. This ground acceleration, which is particularly interesting to engineers calculating an earthquake's effect on a building, is measured in 'gal's (centimetres per second per second). It could get much worse, Hideyuki Ban, of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Network. Based mainly on historical precedent, TEPCO designed the reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa assuming that the area would have a maximum ground acceleration of 274 gal. Yesterday, the number 1 reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa experienced an acceleration of 680 gal as the ground slid from east to west; the number 5 reactor accelerated at 442 gal east/west, and the number 6 reactor was hit with 488 gals up/down, as measured on site. TEPCO is in the middle of re-evaluating the safety of its reactors in line with new guidelines implemented in Japan in September 2006, which call for more stringent safety measures. Surveys of active faults now have to take into account earthquakes going back 130,000 years, for example, compared with the previous standard of 50,000 years. TEPCO plans to finish this re-evaluation by December 2008. Whether this re-evaluation would have affected the maximum 'gal' limit for Kashiwazaki-Kariwa remains unclear. Safety check TEPCO now is patrolling the grounds and inspecting the damage. It has not yet given a date on when it will file a safety report. A preliminary check by members of the industry's agency for nuclear and industrial safety found some 50 problems, including radiation leaking from an exhaust filter. With aftershocks expected for another two weeks, there is much concern. "It could get much worse," says Hideyuki Ban, of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Network in Tokyo. In 2003, TEPCO was forced to shut down all 17 of its reactors over concerns about the accuracy of their safety data. This time, TEPCO has come under fire for being slow in reporting safety information to the government — it took them six hours to get word about the spilled water to the ministry of industry. Depending on the outcome of the safety report, which will need to be evaluated by the ministry, it is possible that the seven reactors will be closed down. "We just want to carry out a thorough inspection and take any necessary measures needed to operate the facilities safely," says Yoshinobu Kamijima of TEPCO's press office. ISSN: 1744-7933 ***************************************************************** 24 BBC NEWS: Japan admits more nuclear leaks Last Updated: Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 14:35 GMT 15:35 UK Clouds of smoke poured from the nuclear power plant on Monday Japanese officials have confirmed further leaks of radioactive material from a nuclear power plant following Monday's earthquake in central Japan. In addition to a leak of radioactive water, drums containing nuclear waste burst open and radioactive gases escaped into the atmosphere. Monday's quake killed nine people and flattened hundreds of homes. Thousands of people affected by the tremor - which was centred off the coast of Niigata prefecture - have crowded into evacuation centres. Large parts of the coastal town of Kashiwazaki remain without power and water. Safety concerns On Tuesday, officials at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant confirmed that about 100 barrels of low-level nuclear waste had tipped over. In pictures: Quake aftermath The Tokyo Electric Power Company also said a small amount of radioactive materials, including cobalt-60 and chromium-51 had been emitted into the atmosphere. There have long been concerns about the safety of Japan's nuclear power plants, which many fear are vulnerable in earthquakes. Monday's 6.8-magnitude quake sparked a small fire at an electrical transformer in the Kashiwazaki plant, the world's largest in terms of power output capacity. It was later announced that the tremors had also caused a leak of water containing radioactive material, which officials then said was harmless. Counting the cost Elsewhere in Kashiwazaki, rescue workers are looking for survivors in the rubble, while attempts are being made to restore severed utilities. "The damage is more than we had imagined," said Kashiwazaki's Mayor, Hiroshi Aida, during a tour of the town. "We want to restore the water supply as soon as possible so more people can return home." One man living in nearby Niigata City described the earthquake as the biggest he had ever experienced. "It was a very strange feeling... some crazy power was shaking the house with such a force that I wasn't able to stand on my feet for 20 seconds," said Evgeniy Podolskiy. "After that, our huge concrete building was still shaking smoothly like a jelly in complete silence," he told BBC News. Other businesses are also beginning to count the cost of the earthquake. Riken Corp, which makes car parts for companies such as Honda and Toyota, says its is unsure when it will be able to resume production at its factory in Kashiwazaki after the quake injured some of its employees and damaged equipment. Fuji Xerox has also had to halt production at its Kashiwazaki plant, which mainly assembles printers, because it is without power and there has been some damage to the building. Do you live in the area affected by the earthquake? Have you suffered any damages? Send us your experiences using the form below: You can send us pictures and video to: yourpics@bbc.co.uk or to send via MMS please dial +44 (0)7725 100 100 * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 25 BBC NEWS: Nuclear safety fears after quake Last Updated: Tuesday, 17 July 2007, 17:04 GMT 18:04 UK The Kashiwazaki nuclear power is closed for further inspections Officials at a Japanese nuclear power plant have reported 50 malfunctions caused by Monday's strong earthquake near the town of Kashiwazaki. In addition to a fire, there were leaks of radioactive water and gas and drums containing nuclear waste burst open. The company running the plant has said none of the leaks are harmful to people or the environment. Mr Abe said "nuclear power plants can only be operated with the trust of the people". "For this, if something happens they need to report on it thoroughly and quickly," he told reporters in Tokyo. Army help The magnitude 6.8 earthquake killed nine people and flattened hundreds of homes in the coastal town of Kashiwazaki in Niigata prefecture. Large parts of Kashiwazaki remain without power and water and about 10,000 people are spending a second night in evacuation centres. "I can't sleep here because I can't feel at ease, because this is different from home," Katsuro Iida, 73, told Reuters news agency. Fresh water has been delivered to the town by lorry and soldiers are helping prepare food at the evacuation centres. Safety concerns Although four of the seven reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant that were operating when the quake hit were shut down automatically, it is now emerging that there were a series of malfunctions. A small fire broke out at an electrical transformer at the power plant sending black clouds of smoke into the sky. Officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said on Monday that 1,200 litres of water containing small amounts of radioactive material had leaked and been diverted into the sea. In pictures: Quake aftermath On Tuesday, Tepco said 100 barrels containing radioactive waste had been knocked over and burst open and that major exhaust pipes had been knocked out of place. Small amounts of gas containing radioactive cobalt-60 and chromium-51 were emitted into the atmosphere. "They raised the alert too late," said Mr Abe. "I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly." Officials at the plant are keeping all seven of its reactors closed while further inspections are carried out. There have long been concerns about the safety of Japan's nuclear power plants, which many fear are vulnerable in earthquakes. The country is heavily reliant on the industry - it provides about a third of Japan's electricity needs. The government requires nuclear reactors to be able to withstand earthquakes of up to magnitude 6.5 - weaker than Monday's quake. Other businesses are also beginning to count the cost of the earthquake. Riken Corp, which makes car parts for companies such as Honda and Toyota, says it is unsure when it will be able to resume production at its factory in Kashiwazaki after the quake injured some of its employees and damaged equipment. Fuji Xerox has also had to halt production at its Kashiwazaki plant, which mainly assembles printers, because it is without power and there has been some damage to the building. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 26 Philadelphia Inquirer: Nukes Designed With Quakes in Mind | AP | 07/17/2007 MATT CRENSON The Associated Press With 20 percent of the world's nuclear reactors in seismically active zones and the remote but real possibility of earthquakes just about everywhere else, nuclear power plants are designed with shaking in mind. Plants in many countries have survived quakes more powerful than the one that hit Japan on Monday, suggesting that the poor performance of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa reactor is more illustrative of recent safety problems in the country's nuclear industry than any inherent vulnerability of the technology. "It did what it was supposed to," said William Miller, a University of Missouri at Columbia nuclear engineering professor. "It shut down. It did not release radioactive material into the atmosphere." Miller said he considers the relatively small amounts of radioactivity that were released when the earthquake knocked over several waste-containing barrels to be "negligible." But environmentalists and nuclear watchdogs expressed concern that fire and power failure, both of which resulted at Kashiwazaki on Monday, can trigger nuclear meltdown. Historically, Japanese nuclear power plants have performed quite well in previous earthquakes, even the one that sustained minor damage in Monday's magnitude 6.6 quake. The Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant experienced a 6.8 magnitude quake in October 2004 without incident, though an aftershock two weeks later caused the automatic shutdown of one of its reactors. In August 2005 three reactors at the Onagawa plant in northeastern Japan shut down automatically during a 7.2 earthquake. "Barring an extraordinary seismic event, it is expected that the nuclear plants based energy supply in Japan can be maintained with manageable disruptions," Rice University engineers concluded in a 2000 analysis. Generally, plants adhering to government guidelines drawn up after 1995 Kobe earthquake are considered safe in quakes up to 7.75 magnitude. Facilities in especially active regions are designed to withstand even greater intensity. Even in the absence of earthquakes, however, Japanese nuclear plants have had safety problems. In 2004, five workers were killed and six were injured after a corroded pipe ruptured and sprayed plant workers with boiling water and steam at the Mihama nuclear plant in western Japan. In 2002, four out of the five companies operating nuclear plants in Japan confessed to hiding the presence of cracks in their reactors from the government. U.S. nuclear plants have stood up well to earthquakes. In 2003, a strong quake that rocked California's Central Coast was felt in the control room of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, a pair of 1,100-megawatt reactors near a series of faults running parallel to the San Andreas. Onsite inspectors did a walkthrough of the plant following the magnitude-6.5 temblor and did not find any broken or leaking pipes, damaged support braces or displaced equipment. Pipes, pumps and other components of the liquid cooling system are the most vulnerable elements of a reactor in an earthquake. If they fail, the reactor's core could heat up to the point that a meltdown occurs. "It's not just a case of remaining standing after the earthquake," said Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires utilities to design nuclear plants so they can safely shut down in the event of a powerful earthquake, typically the strongest that geologists consider possible in the region. Plants are also required to be able to operate without disruption through a weaker earthquake, usually one about half as strong as the maximum. Even some of the deadliest earthquakes in recent history have produced little or no damage to nuclear reactors in the affected area. Though a December 1988 earthquake in northwestern Armenia killed 25,000 people, two Soviet-designed reactors about 50 miles from the epicenter continued to operate normally. Philly.com ***************************************************************** 27 Arizona Republic: Nuclear regulators investigate November incident at Palo Verde Ryan Randazzo Jul. 17, 2007 03:20 PM A Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station operator has admitted to making a mistake in November and trying to cover it up by falsifying records. Federal regulators are now deciding whether to penalize the plant's owner, Arizona Public Service Co. "We place a high value on the integrity and trustworthiness of nuclear plant personnel," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said Monday. APS maintains it took appropriate action to fix the situation. The Arizona Republic first learned of the incident this week, another in a series of problems regarding safety at the nation's largest nuclear plant. On Nov. 8, a senior employee entered an incorrect number into the plant's computer and when he realized his mistake, scratched out the mistake on a logbook and wrote what he should have entered, according to the commission's investigation. The mistake caused the plant's computers to under report thermal power by 0.3 percent, according to the commission. When another employee noticed the logbook discrepancy that day, Arizona Public Service Co. notified the federal regulators, prompting the investigation. Neither the power company nor the regulators would name the employee, who resigned six days after the incident. The employee and APS will face separate enforcement actions, Dricks said, declining to speculate on what punishment the troubled plant could face. It's not unusual for the commission to investigate such incidents, but "what's unusual is that someone falsify a record," Dricks said. APS can either present its case at an enforcement meeting scheduled Aug. 30 or through mediation, and officials haven't decided which route they will take. "The essential issue in this case was the operator's failure to come forth with the error once he realized he had made it," APS Chief Nuclear Officer Randy Edington said. "This is not the normal practice at Palo Verde or anywhere else." Edington joined the utility in January to help correct safety issues dating to 2004 that led to the plant being downgraded to Category 4 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, making it the most regulated plant in the country and one step above shutdown. State regulators said the latest investigation is "frustrating" because of Palo Verde's history of problems and because the utility didn't notify the Arizona Corporation Commission of the error or subsequent investigation until it was going to be made public. "This is just a lack of common sense on the part of management at APS," said Kris Mayes, one of five commissioners with oversight of the utility. "I'm certainly grateful the safety significance was not high, but that does not excuse what happened," she said. "It's another troubling event at Palo Verde, and another piece of evidence that the management at APS had become very lax with regard to Palo Verde." It doesn't appear the state commission can punish the utility for failing to notify commissioners of the investigation, she said. The utility is focused on correcting its "safety culture," Edington said. "This issue took place before the start of the full recovery process at Palo Verde," he said. "An important part of the process that's under way is to conduct a thorough review of all areas of plant operations, including safety culture. The isolated nature of this issue should not make it more difficult for us to complete the task at hand." Should APS attend its scheduled enforcement conference, federal regulators have asked the utility to discuss: •  Why a senior operator would feel compelled to cover up a mistake rather than admit it. •  How the mistake happened. •  How APS evaluated the trustworthiness and reliability of the worker. randazzo@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-4331. A Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station operator's attempt to cover-up errors concerns Nuclear Regulatory Commission. APS employee admited falsifying logbook. Palo Verde flips reactor switch Arizona Public Service Co. has finished refueling one of the three reactors at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station and is ready to turn it back on Wednesday, a spokeswoman said. The Palo Verde 1 reactor has been down since May 19 for a scheduled refueling, spokeswoman Betty Dayyo said. Palo Verde, the nation's largest nuclear plant, has three reactors that alternate being refueled with uranium about every 18 months, she said. The plant is 50 miles west of Phoenix. The reactor should be operating at 100 percent capacity this weekend, Dayyo said, adding that the shutdown lasted longer than expected because additional maintenance was needed. The reactor can generate 1,340 megawatts of energy, enough for 335,000 or more Arizona homes. The plant's power is shared among several states. - Ryan Randazzo Copyright © 2007, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 28 SanLuisObispo.com: Initiative would lift nuclear plant moratorium in California 07/17/2007 | California Law Initiative would lift nuclear plant moratorium in California But the state legislator’s proposal would also prevent putting more reactors in Diablo Canyon By David Sneed dsneed@thetribunenews.com Should California lift the moratorium on new nuclear plants? Yes, it's a great source of power. Yes, as long as Diablo Canyon is not expanded. No - no new nuclear plants, ever I don't know A state assemblyman from Orange County has proposed an initiative for the June 2008 ballot that would lift the state’s moratorium on new nuclear power plants. The measure would remove the main obstacle to additional nuclear power in the state, but it contains a provision that could eliminate Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant as a site for more reactors. The initiative by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, specifically prohibits locating new reactors in earthquake-prone areas. Nuclear power opponents have cited the Central Coast’s high seismic activity as one of their main concerns. DeVore submitted the ballot initiative to Attorney General Jerry Brown last week for him to analyze, assign a ballot title and write a summary, which is the first step in including it in the June election. Once approved, it must receive at least 400,000 signatures to qualify. But DeVore is seeking a buffer in case some are invalidated. “I think if we had 700,000 signatures or so that would be enough for a margin of error,” DeVore said. DeVore said he is interested in nuclear power in order to reduce carbon emissions and reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. officials will not comment on the initiative until Brown has completed his analysis, said Pete Resler, Diablo Canyon spokesman. The analysis is due in 60 days. The measure would repeal a 1976 state law that prohibits the construction of new nuclear reactors until a permanent storage facility is found for the state’s highly radioactive used reactor fuel. PG&E is building a dry cask storage facility to store Diablo Canyon’s used reactor fuel until a permanent national repository opens at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Opening of that facility is at least a decade away, though, and opposition from Nevada and its lawmakers has cast doubt on whether it will open at all. DeVore introduced a bill in the Legislature last year that would have repealed the nuclear moratorium, but it received a hostile reception in the Assembly and was voted down in committee. That prompted him to use the initiative process. “I came to the conclusion that the Legislature doesn’t want an honest discussion about nuclear power,” he said. “I’m confident we can embark on a vigorous debate about this.” Antinuclear groups have been quick to criticize the initiative, noting that a new reactor is unlikely to be built in DeVore’s Orange County district. “This is a highly irresponsible action by a legislator who is not asking his constituents to take on the risks and the costs of a new reactor,” said Rochelle Becker, executive director of the San Luis Obispo- based Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility. In addition to earthquake concerns, DeVore’s initiative attempts to deal with the impacts of the once-through cooling systems used by coastal nuclear plants. Diablo Canyon’s cooling system uses billions of gallons of ocean water daily to condense the steam that has passed through the turbines, killing larvae and altering the ecosystem of the discharge cove. Special areas protected DeVore’s initiative would prohibit new nuclear plants from being built within five miles of any of the state’s 34 coastal Areas of Special Biological Significance or on a navigable river. No such biologically significant area is located in San Luis Obispo County. The closest are in Big Sur and the Channel Islands. Given these restrictions, the initiative would prevent new reactors from being built in large areas of the state, De- Vore said. Inland areas such as Fresno and Victorville are the most likely locations for a new plant, he said. A group of Fresno entrepreneurs, called the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group LLC, has proposed building a plant and is advocating repeal of the state’s nuclear moratorium. Although Fresno is in PG&E’s service area, the utility is not involved in the venture, Resler said. However, Jack Keenan, PG&E’s chief nuclear officer, recently announced that the utility is interested in more nuclear energy. California’s two nuclear power plants produce about 14 percent of the state’s electricity. Nationwide, there is renewed interest in nuclear power, in part because it doesn’t directly emit greenhouse gases. The state has passed legislation that requires reducing greenhouse gas emissions 25 percent by 2020. “I’m thinking that nuclear power can be part of the solution,” DeVore said. ***************************************************************** 29 Russell Hoffman: Japan Dodges a Radioactive Bullet July 17, 2007 Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Nukes Sunday a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Japan. The entire Kashiwazaki nuclear power generating station, the world's largest nuke facility with seven reactors, shut down. At least one reactor spewed "slightly radioactive" coolant into the Sea of Japan. But early reports, of course, assured the public there were NO radioactive leaks. A fire in the switchyard kept local firefighters busy for more than two hours, spewing thick, terrifying black smoke into the air (but the real danger from a nuclear reactor -- radioactive poison -- is INVISIBLE). Four reactors were automatically SCRAMed, a violent, sudden, dangerous stoppage. The other three reactors at the facility were shut down "voluntarily, for inspection." Kashiwazaki's 8,212 megawatts of total generating capacity is enough for about 16 million homes in Japan (or for about half many homes in America). So just as hospitals, pumping stations, and individuals desperately needed power to recover from the earthquake, NONE was being delivered by the facility, after an earthquake that was far smaller than the size the facility is supposed to be able to withstand. The feared tsunami never came. Nukes worldwide are NOT protected against reasonably foreseeable tsunami wave heights. Japan dodged a bullet THIS TIME, but disaster awaits ... Russell D. Hoffman, a computer programmer in Carlsbad, California, has written extensively about nuclear power. His essays have been translated into several different languages and published in more than a dozen countries. He can be reached at: rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com ***************************************************************** 30 Reuters: NRC says ready to help on quake-hit nuclear plant Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:38AM EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear regulators say they are prepared to provide technical expertise after a strong earthquake hit Japan on Monday, sparking a small radiation leak and fire at the world's biggest nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co. shut down three major generators at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant after a powerful earthquake in Japan on Monday caused a brief fire in one of the units, company officials said. As of late on Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it had not received any official request for aid from Japan, but stood ready to weigh such request if one was made. "We're gathering information, and if any requests for assistance are made we are ready to respond under our existing agreement," said Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the NRC, which oversees the 104 operating U.S. civilian reactors. TEPCO, Asia's biggest utility, said 1,200 liters (317 U.S. gallons) of water containing radioactive materials had leaked from a unit closed for maintenance at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. Burnell did not comment on the state of the nuclear plant. U.S. and Japanese nuclear officials have a long-standing agreement to share technical assistance as a part of routine consultations -- which could include sharing of NRC staff expertise, Burnell said. "If Japan makes any request of us we will work with them under the existing bilateral agreement," he said. The contaminated water was released into the ocean and had had no effect on the environment, TEPCO said in a statement. The company had previously said there had been no radiation leaks at the plant, where reactors automatically shut down for checks. At least seven people were killed and more than 800 people were injured by the quake in northwestern Japan, and buildings swayed as far away as Tokyo. Thousands were evacuated from their homes. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 Reuters: Nuclear waste drums lose lids in Japan quake - Kyodo Tue Jul 17, 2007 2:12AM EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - About 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant were knocked over by Monday's earthquake and some lost their lids, Kyodo news agency said on Tuesday. Checks were being made as to possible effects on the environment, Kyodo added. Officials were not immediately available for comment. The plant, the world's biggest nuclear power plant, reported a fire and a radiation leak at the facility after Monday's quake, which killed nine people and injured more than 1,000. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 32 Reuters: Quake revives fears over Japan's nuclear industry Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:05AM EDT By Isabel Reynolds TOKYO (Reuters) - An earthquake-triggered leak and fire at the world's biggest nuclear plant have renewed safety fears in energy-hungry Japan, which relies on nuclear technology for about a third of its electricity. But anxiety over quakes as well as past accidents and cover-ups is unlikely to derail Japan's nuclear energy programme, often touted as a way of keeping down emissions of the gases that cause global warming. Tokyo Electric Power Co. only announced that 1,200 liters of radioactive water had sloshed into the sea from its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant late on Monday, after first saying the lethal earthquake that hit the region at 10:13 a.m. had not caused any leaks. The incident drew a harsh response from top government officials, who said TEPCO's response had been slow. "I believe that nuclear power plants can only be operated with the trust of the people," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. "For this, if something happens they need to report on it thoroughly and quickly. We need to get them to strictly reflect on this incident," he added. TEPCO, Asia's biggest utility, said the quake was bigger than it had planned for, but that there was no effect on the environment from Monday's leak and that it was well within government-permitted radiation limits. But the delayed reporting of the incident may add to mistrust after TEPCO and another electric power firm admitted this year that they had covered up "criticality" incidents -- unintended self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reactions -- in the past. Further information trickled out on Tuesday, when the company said small amounts of radioactive materials -- cobalt-60, iodine and chromium-51 -- had been emitted into the atmosphere. But a trade ministry official said the amounts were too small to pose an environmental threat. About 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste were knocked over by the quake and some lost their lids, Kyodo news service said on Tuesday. SHAKEN TRUST A previous scandal over fudged safety inspections shook public faith in the industry five years ago. "It's the kind of thing that could happen at any time. But I am surprised that they don't make proper preparations for earthquakes," said Baku Nishio of the Citizen's Nuclear Information Centre, a group that campaigns against nuclear power. "Japan is particularly prone to earthquakes, so I think it's a major problem," he added. Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, and a tremor occurs at least every five minutes. Some nuclear experts disagreed. "Personally I think a nuclear power plant is the safest place you could go in an earthquake," said Hisashi Ninokata, a nuclear engineering professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. "That's how much care they take over construction." U.S. nuclear regulators, who oversee 104 civilian reactors in the United States, compared with the 55 in Japan, said on Monday they were ready to send technical experts to Japan if help was required. One of the nation's worst nuclear accidents took place in September 1999, when workers at a nuclear facility in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, set off an uncontrolled chain reaction by using buckets to mix nuclear fuel. Two workers were killed. In 2004, four workers at a nuclear power plant were killed by a leak of high-pressure steam from a pipe. Some Japanese say they would be happy to see nuclear power phased out altogether, despite the country's lack of natural resources. "Even if it means having to live with less electricity, we should get rid of nuclear reactors once and for all. There are just too many natural disasters," said 61-year-old Naoko Yashiro, who runs a ceramics shop in Kashiwazaki, close to the nuclear plant, with her husband, Kazuo. But Kazuo said such drastic action was not practical, given Japan's reliance on the technology and the economic benefits to the local community. "In reality that's going to be difficult," he said. There are currently 13 nuclear generators under construction in Japan and the government's policy is to continue to rely on nuclear power for 30 to 40 percent of the country's electricity requirements. ***************************************************************** 33 Reuters: Japan quake stirs nuclear fears Tue Jul 17, 2007 3:03PM EDT By George Nishiyama KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (Reuters) - Officials at the world's biggest nuclear power plant said on Tuesday there had been more minor radiation leaks after an earthquake in Japan that killed nine people and forced thousands from their homes. The latest admissions by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) have reignited fears about nuclear safety in a country that relies on atomic power for one-third of its electricity but has faced repeated cover-ups of past accidents by atomic power utilities. "I believe that nuclear power plants can only be operated with the trust of the people," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo, about 250 km (155 miles) south-east of Niigata prefecture, where the quake struck on Monday morning. "For this, if something happens they need to report on it thoroughly and quickly. We need to get them to strictly reflect on this incident," Abe added. A small fire in a transformer at TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant that occurred when the 6.8 magnitude quake struck at 10.13 a.m. (0113 GMT) on Monday, was extinguished a few hours later. But NHK television said TEPCO workers had tried to douse the fire with water before fire fighters arrived and put it out with chemicals. TEPCO had initially said the earthquake had not caused any leaks, but it revealed on Monday night that 1,200 liters of radioactive water had sloshed into the sea from its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata. "I think that the report on the leak of radioactive materials was very slow and in addition, the action to put out the fire was slow," Sanae Takaichi, the minister in charge of science and technology, told reporters. She urged the utility to come up with a plan to prevent a recurrence. NUCLEAR WASTE DRUMS TOPPLED Continued... ***************************************************************** 34 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Nuclear Accidents Glance Tuesday July 17, 2007 5:31 PM The Associated Press A list of some accidents at Japanese nuclear reactors: - July 16, 2007: A powerful earthquake rips into Japan's northwest coast, killing at least eight people and causing a series of malfunctions at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, including radioactive water spills, burst pipes and fires. - Aug. 11, 2006: Tokyo Electric Power Co. reports that a negligible amount of radioactive steam was released at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan on Aug. 6 and escaped outside the compound. - Aug. 9, 2004: Five workers at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in western Japan are killed and six are injured after a corroded pipe ruptured and sprayed plant workers with boiling water and steam. The reactor was restarted on Jan. 10, 2007. - Feb. 25, 2004: Eight workers are exposed to low-level radiation at a power plant in Tsuruga, western Japan, when they are accidentally sprayed with contaminated water. - Sept. 17, 2003: Officials discover that about 1.6 gallons of radioactive water had leaked from the No. 1 reactor at Chubu Electric Power's Hamaoka plant in central Japan. In November 2001, the same reactor was shut down after two radioactive leaks occurred within three days. - July 24, 2000: Tokyo Electric Power Co. finds 29 gallons of radioactive water leaking from a nuclear reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in northern Japan days after an earthquake. - September 1999: Two workers are killed in a radiation leak at a fuel-reprocessing plant in Tokaimura when they try to save time by mixing excessive amounts of uranium in buckets instead of using special mechanized tanks. Hundreds are exposed to radiation, and thousands of residents evacuate. The government assigned the accident a level 4 rating on the International Nuclear Event Scale ranging from 1 to 7. - March 1997: At least 37 workers are exposed to low doses of radiation at a March 11 fire and explosion at a nuclear reprocessing plant operated by Donen in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 35 WRAL.com: Wake Residents Fight Extending Nuclear Plant's License Some residents are fighting plans to extend the operating license of Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. Posted: Jul. 17 6:18 p.m. Wake — Neighbors concerned about the safety of the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County are fighting plans to keep the plant running far into the future. Progress Energy has begun the lengthy process to extend the plant's federal license. The company wants to continuing operating the plant in Wake County until 2046. Some residents of the area around the plant have formed several public-interest groups to fight those plans. Those groups filed a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2006 to try to get Shearon Harris shut down. Attorneys for Progress Energy and for the public-interest groups presented their cases at a public hearing Tuesday night. Attorneys for the public-interest groups said that the plant has a history of fire-safety violations and an outdated evacuation plan. Residents also said that the plant is responsible for rising cancer rates in the area. Plant officials said that Shearon Harris has always been in full compliance with safety standards. The Shearon Harris nuclear plant generates electricity for 1.5 million Progress Energy customers in the Carolinas. Copyright 2007 by WRAL.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ***************************************************************** 36 AFP: Quake-hit Japan calls for stronger nuclear safety - Tue Jul 17, 1:14 AM ET TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said Tuesday it would look at strengthening quake resistance at nuclear power plants after a powerful tremor caused a radiation leak. "We want to speed up work to confirm if they can be resistant to the various strengths and various scenarios of earthquakes," Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari told a news conference. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki separately said: "We have to respond firmly by carefully assessing how widely (the earthquake) went beyond our expectations." Japan is hit by 20 percent of the world's powerful earthquakes and last year started updating its safety codes for nuclear plants. Monday's earthquake registered 6.8 on the Richter scale, killing nine people and causing smoke to billow for hours out of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, the largest in the world. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO), the world's biggest private power company, admitted late Monday a "slight amount" of radioactive water leaked into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) but said there was no danger. Amari summoned TEPCO president Tsunehisa Katsumata to his ministry Tuesday and issued a verbal warning over the length of time it took to put out the fire. "This may cause people to distrust nuclear power," Amari said. "We will not have the plant resume operations without confirming safety." The TEPCO president replied: "I'm afraid there was weakness in our extinguishing measures." Japan, which has few natural energy resources of its own, relies on nuclear power for nearly 35 percent of its needs, the second highest figure among Group of Eight industrial nations after France. Government plans to build more nuclear plants have often met public opposition in Japan, which is particularly sensitive about nuclear leaks as it is the only country to have been attacked with atomic weapons. Environmental group Greenpeace, which opposes nuclear power, said that the incident showed "a real risk" that earthquakes or terrorist attacks "could lead to far more serious nuclear accidents." Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 37 AFP: Fears rise over nuclear plant after Japan quake - by Kyoko Hasegawa Tue Jul 17, 8:24 AM ET KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AFP) - Japanese authorities are Tuesday investigating a second nuclear scare following a deadly earthquake, as relief workers struggled to feed and shelter thousands of shaken survivors. About 100 sealed barrels filled with contaminated clothes and gloves tipped over at the massive Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Monday's 6.8-magnitude quake, which killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 more. The lids of several barrels opened up inside the plant, said to be the world's largest, said Shoji Iida, a spokesman for Kariwa village. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chided the plant's operators, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., saying its reports to authorities were "not quick enough." "I sternly told the company to strictly, swiftly and immediately report such incidents," said Abe, who broke off campaigning for key July 29 elections to respond to the earthquake. "I want it to feel responsible," he told reporters. Tokyo Electric had admitted late Monday that water containing a "small amount of radioactive material" leaked into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the plant, located near the epicentre. A fire also struck the plant following the quake, sending black smoke billowing out of the electricity-supplying part of the facility for hours. Tokyo Electric said Tuesday it had detected radiation particles in the filter of a reactor halted in the earthquake. But it said the particles were a only one-ten millionth of what is legally deemed dangerous. "I'm very worried about the power plant because nuclear power officials have made false statements on radioactive leaks in the past," said resident Koichi Ibe, 83. Rescue teams, who had spent the night digging through rubble, on Tuesday turned their attention to the 12,000 people who have sought refuge at shelters in the hard-hit coastal city of Kashiwazaki, many of them elderly. All nine victims of Monday's quake were in their 70s and 80s. Many survivors were already feeling the stress, such as Chiyo Nakamura, 71, who uses a pacemaker and said she does not have the strength to go to her home, one of hundreds damaged in the tremor. "I visited a shelter to ask for some food but they said none was left," she said. "Luckily, I was given rice balls by a friend of mine, but I'm concerned about what's going to happen tomorrow." It was the deadliest earthquake in disaster-prone Japan since October 2004, when a tremor in the same area and at the same magnitude killed 67 people. Learning a lesson from the last tragedy, in which most of the deaths took place after the initial jolt, relief teams worked to ease fatigue among elderly people. "Nurses are especially focusing on caring for the health of the elderly," said Takahiro Tanaka, a municipal employee in Kariwa. "We are providing people with bottled water, bread, rice balls and instant noodles." The Japanese Red Cross Society said it was urging elderly people to drink enough water after finding that some were holding back because of the limited number of lavatories at the more than 120 shelters. "We are urging them to have enough water and food," said Red Cross spokesman Mizufumi Yokoyama. "We're also encouraging them to have a good rest and to stretch their bodies periodically." The defence ministry dispatched some 450 troops and seven battleships early Tuesday to support rescue operations in the region, which has been rattled by nearly 100 aftershocks. Japan, which has few natural energy resources of its own, relies on nuclear power for nearly 35 percent of its needs, the second highest figure among Group of Eight industrial nations after France. Government plans to build more nuclear plants have often met public opposition in Japan, which is particularly sensitive about nuclear leaks as it is the only country to have been attacked with atomic weapons. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 38 AFP: Japan quake sparks new fears over atomic energy - Tue Jul 17, 5:06 AM ET KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AFP) - Japanese people are used to seeing injured people and destroyed homes after major quake. But the latest disaster brought something new and frightening -- black smoke billowing from a nuclear plant. The scene has shaken Japanese confidence in nuclear power plants and led the government to order that the largest one in the world stay shut, despite a potential energy shortage in the peak summer months. The incident was all the more shocking as Japan has strict standards. The world's second-largest economy endures 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes, and relies on nuclear energy due to a lack of natural resources. Monday's 6.8 Richter-scale earthquake killed nine people and injured more than 1,000 more, making it the deadliest to strike Japan in nearly three years. Some 12 hours after the initial jolt, the operator of the massive Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant said a small amount of radioactive water had leaked from the facility but that there was no risk. The scare grew Tuesday as local authorities said containers used to hold radioactivity-contaminated clothing had become unsealed inside the plant. While scientists dismissed fears of a Japanese Chernobyl, residents are clearly concerned. Kashiwazaki residents as well as millions of television viewers were stunned when black smoke began pouring from the nuclear plant, located only nine kilometres (five miles) from the epicentre. "The scariest thing is if there was a serious accident at the nuclear power plant," said Takumi Nakata, 38, a high school teacher who spent the night at a shelter. "I hope what they're saying is true and that this accident was not problematic," he said. The Asahi Shimbun newspaper called the leak a "great shock." "What made us shudder was that a nuclear plant was hit by a bigger-than-expected earthquake," it said in an editorial. Japan, which has virtually no oil or natural gas resources, relies more on nuclear energy than any Group of Eight industrial nation except France. But plans for new plants frequently meet public opposition in Japan, which is particularly sensitive about nuclear leaks as it is the sole country to have suffered atomic attack. Japan's nuclear reactors provide 35 percent of the nation's power and the government aims to boost the figure to 40 percent by 2010. Operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., the world's biggest private power company, said the Kashiwazaki plant was to provide more than 11 percent of the 61.1 million kilowatts it needs this summer. Japan last year revised 25-year-old anti-quake guidelines, which required nuclear power plants to be resistant at least to a quake of 6.5 on the Richter scale. The new rules allow companies to set their own guidelines which are then subject to approval by the government. The acceleration of the tremors in the latest quake was 2.5 times greater than the Tokyo Electric plant was built to withstand. Industry Minister Akira Amari summoned Tokyo Electric's chief and gave him a verbal warning over the fire. Amari also said the government would speed up ongoing studies to confirm that plants are "resistant to the various strengths and various scenarios of earthquakes." But atomic power experts remained calm. Nuclear power plants "are basically safe, as Japan has probably the strictest anti-quake standards in the world," said Koji Okamoto, a professor of atomic engineering at the University of Tokyo. Okamoto warned against an obsession with foolproof safety, saying this was not the deadly leak in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl in 1986 which affected millions of people. "If you pursue safety blindly, it would be like a heavy-set airplane with a huge engine that cannot fly," he said. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 39 Bloomberg.com: Germany's Gabriel Wants Older Nuclear Reactors to Shut Sooner By Brian Parkin and Thom Rose July 17 (Bloomberg) -- German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said he aims to persuade the country's four biggest utilities to shut older nuclear reactors sooner than planned after accidents at two separate sites last month. Newer reactors could gain capacity if accident-prone older plants were shut ahead of schedule, Gabriel said on national radio today. He plans to meet the chief executives of Vattenfall Europe AG, E.ON AG, RWE AG and Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG as early as next month to discuss his plan. Germany in 2000 under then Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder passed a law to phase-out nuclear power by about 2021. Current Chancellor Angela Merkel said on July 3 that Germany may review the planned closure, though not before the next election in 2009. Utilities say they want to switch capacity from newer to older sites in the hope that after 2009 they may be allowed to extend the life of older sites whose licenses are running out. ``What we need is exactly the opposite -- shutting down earlier older reactors that cause us constant difficulties,'' Gabriel, a Social Democrat, told Deutschlandfunk Radio in an interview. The closure of all nuclear plants was agreed under Schroeder's Social Democrat-led government. The Social Democrats are now junior partners to Merkel's Christian Democrats in the coalition government. Concerns about the safety of Germany's 17 reactors have grown after a fire at Vattenfall's Kruemmel site on June 28 and a network fault at its Brunsbuettel plant occurred on the same day. `Politically Motivated' Hamburg-based Vattenfall spokesman Ivo Banek said on July 13 that criticism of the company has been ``mostly politically motivated.'' Vattenfall doesn't plan to change its strategy or reconsider its bid to operate its Brunsbuettel nuclear plant longer than currently permitted, he said. Vattenfall applied to the government in March for approval to extend the life of its Brunsbuettel reactor until 2011 from 2009. Legislation passed in 2000 that sets out Germany's nuclear phase-out allows utilities to transfer capacity from older to newer reactors, Environment Ministry spokesman Tobias Duenow said in an interview. Below is a table of the estimated remaining capacity and phase-out dates of Germany's remaining 17 reactors. Reactor Capacity in 2000 Capacity 07-31-2006 Shutdown In Terawatt Hours In Terawatt Hours Biblis A 62 14 2008 Biblis B 81 26 2009 Brunsbuettel 47 16 2009 Neckarwestheim-1 57 17 2009 Isar- 1 78 34 2011 Philippsburg- 1 87 38 2012 Unterweser 117 56 2012 Grafenrheinfeld 150 84 2015 Gundremmingen-B 160 94 2016 Gundremmingen-C 168 103 2016 Kruemmel 158 97 2016 Grohnde 200 129 2018 Philippsburg-2 198 129 2018 Brokdorf 217 144 2020 Isar-2 231 155 2020 Emsland 230 157 2021 Neckarwestheim-2 236 166 2022 Total 2,623 1,580 Source: Federal Environment Ministry To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net ; Thom Rose in Frankfurt at Trose5bparkin@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: July 17, 2007 08:01 EDT BLOOMBERG | CAREERS | CONTACT US | LOG IN/REGISTER ***************************************************************** 40 Green Wombat: No New Nukes for California July 17, 2007 The nuclear power business is resurgent, re-energized by billions in Congressional subsidies and its reincarnation as a relatively greenhouse-gas free source of electricity. But the industry can pretty much write off global warming-fighting California - the world's eighth largest economy - as a market, according to a new state government report assessing nuclear power's prospects in the Golden State. Three existing nuclear plants provide 15 percent of California's electricity, but in 1976 the state banned the construction of new nuclear power stations until the California Energy Commission determines technology exists for the permanent disposal or reprocessing of radioactive waste. "Commercial nuclear power is riding a wave of renewed interest and support," notes the 302-page report from the California Energy Commission. But the authors conclude the lack of a permanent radioactive waste disposal site - such at the long-delayed facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada - will continue to doom industry's prospects in California. "In light of California’s moratorium on nuclear power development, until progress is made in disposing of or reprocessing spent fuel, the Energy Commission could not provide land use permits or certification for such a power plant at this time," according to the report. "It is unlikely that the Energy Commission will be able to provide land use permits or certification for a new nuclear power plant in California in the near future." The report also predicts that utilities that operate or own the state's existing nuclear plants - PG&E (PCG), San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE) and Southern California Edison (EIX) - will not attempt to license new power stations in the next two years. Beyond the hurdle posed by the California moratorium, the report casts doubt on just how clean and green the nuclear option would be. "Nuclear power generation poses direct environmental risks, including aquatic impacts from once-through cooling; risk of groundwater contamination with tritium; radiation hazards associated with disposal of radioactive waste; and risks of radioactive releases triggered by earthquakes, tsunamis, accidents, or sabotage," the report says. "Additional environmental impacts are associated with the full nuclear lifecycle, which starts with uranium mining and extends through reactor construction and operation to spent fuel storage/disposal or reprocessing and finally, decommissioning." The California Energy Commission report also finds the jury is still out on how effective a nuclear strategy would be in countering global warming, noting that the capital-intensive industry could drain investment from much cheaper and greener renewable energy technologies. Still, the report's authors did not rule out a return of nukes to California. "Ultimately, this debate over whether nuclear power should be part of a greenhouse gas reduction strategy is constrained by our limited knowledge of what other resources will be available," they state. "Consequently, the best path right now may to pursue all options and defer decisions until more is known." Posted by Todd Woody at 11:13 AM | Permalink ***************************************************************** 41 Harvey Wasserman: Nuclear Surge July 17, 2007 California's New Nukes War By HARVEY WASSERMAN A major pro-nuke "surge" against the renewable solution to global warming is about to erupt in California. State assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) has moved for a statewide vote to allow new nuclear power plants to be built in the Golden State. He wants to repeal the 1976 law requiring a solution to the nuke waste problem before new reactors are built. A business cartel says it wants to build a new reactor near downtown near downtown Fresno. (For more information on the California situation, visit http://www.a4nr.org/) So the nation's biggest state may soon be at war over new nukes. In essence, it's King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes and Gas) versus Solartopia. The core issue is who will control our energy: corporations, or the public. The irony is that we stand at the brink of the greatest technological revolution in human history. But we're being dragged away from it by Big Money's push for a technology with fifty years of proven ecological disaster and financial failure. Green energy is poised to remake our world. Wind power is the cheapest form of new generation now available. There are sufficient wind resources between the Mississippi and the Rockies to generate, with available technology, 300% of the electricity we use. There's enough in North Dakota, Kansas and Texas alone to do 100%. Solar technologies ranging from green architectural design to desert power towers to photovoltaic cells that go on every rooftop are booming toward a multi-billion-dollar mainstay of our electric supply. Bio-fuels based on sustainable, organic practices can transform our transportation sector. Tidal, wave, geothermal, ocean thermal and a wide range of other green production processes stand at the brink of epic profitability. Meanwhile, increased efficiency and revived mass transit are the cheapest, cleanest ways to salvage the energy we waste. In concert, these revolutionary green technologies are poised to bring us to Solartopia, a post-pollution planet powered totally by energy harvested in harmony with our Mother Earth. They promise an abundance of efficient supply with the power to boom our economies and save our ability to survive on this planet. But here's the hitch: renewable energy has the "flaw" of tending toward community control. In the long run, a true Solartopian revolution must involve re-shaping our corporate culture into one based on sustainability, accountability and grassroots democracy. Though some astute corporations are cashing in, in the long run green technologies are the door to decentralizationand economic democracy. A green-powered Solartopia will own its energy supply at the grassroots. Wind, solar, bio-fuels-they hold the keys to community control. Against all that, new nukes are the ultimate weapon of mass distraction. There have been numerous rationales put forth for building more reactors. Except to an entrenched corporate power elite, none of them make any sense. Some advocates claim new reactors can fight global warming. In fact, through their own "normal" emissions, in the construction process, in mining, milling and enriching fuel, in decommissioning, in managing radioactive waste, in accounting for inevitable catastrophic accidents and terror attacks, in weapons proliferation, and much much more, atomic reactors are a global warming nightmare. Some also claim nukes will generate cheap electricity. But fifty years of proven failure (the first commercial reactor opened at Shippingport, Pennsylvania in 1957) says exactly the opposite. Overall, the nuke power experiment has been a trillion dollar disaster, with explosions, melt-downs, cost overruns, expensive failures, massive subsidies, undoable insurance, deregulatory bailouts and much more on the debit sheet. Overall, at its ultimate corporate root, the new nuke push is a coup d'etat, a rightist putsch to prevent the community ownership of our Solartopian energy supply. The irony in California could not be more obvious. The only way the industry can build new nukes is for the community to NOT require a solution to the radioactive waste problem. The world was told fifty years ago that such a solution was "just around the corner." It was also told atomic energy would be "too cheap to meter." These two biggest of all 20th Century industrial lies are about to be rationalized and atomized by a corporate King CONG desperate to hold power. But the vision of Solartopia burns bright and real. Humankind now possesses all the technology we need to solve global warming and bring us a world of post-pollution prosperity. The new nuke surge just declared in California is an early test in the larger war for a sustainable future. The question about to be asked in California, and worldwide, is: Do we have the will to win Solartopia for ourselves and our children? Harvey Wasserman helped co-ordinate media for the Clamshell Alliance, 1976-8. He was arrested at Diablo Canyon in 1984 and at Seabrook in 1989. He is author of "Solartopia: Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030," He can be reached at: Windhw@aol.com ***************************************************************** 42 Guardian Unlimited: Dozens of Problems at Quake-Hit Plant Tuesday July 17, 2007 9:01 PM By ERIC TALMADGE Associated Press Writer KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AP) - A long list of problems - including radiation leaks, burst pipes and fires - came to light Tuesday at the world's largest nuclear power plant, a day after it was hit by a powerful earthquake. The malfunctions and a delay in reporting them fueled concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which have suffered a string of accidents and cover-ups. ``They raised the alert too late. I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly,'' Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo. ``Those involved should repent their actions.'' Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world's largest nuclear plant in power output capacity. Japan's nuclear plants supply about 30 percent of the country's electricity, but its dependence on nuclear power is coupled with deep misgivings over safety. The power plant suffered broken pipes, water leaks and spills of radioactive waste when it was hit by the earthquake Monday, the plant's operator said. Signs of problems, however, came first not from the officials, but in a plume of smoke that rose up when the quake triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer. It was announced only 12 hours later that the magnitude 6.8 temblor also caused a leak of about 315 gallons of water containing radioactive material. Officials said the water leak was well within safety standards. The water was flushed into the sea. The company also said a small amount of radioactive materials cobalt-60 and chromium-51 had been emitted into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack. Later Tuesday, it said 50 cases of ``malfunctioning and trouble'' had been found. Four of the plant's seven reactors were running at the time of the quake, and they were all shut down automatically by a safety mechanism. Officials said there was no harm to the environment, but acknowledged it took a day to discover about 100 drums of low-level nuclear waste that were overturned, some with the lids open. Kensuke Takeuchi, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the plant, called the malfunctions ``minor troubles.'' Across town, more than 8,000 residents hunkered down for their second night in shelters. The death toll - nine, with one person missing - was not expected to rise significantly. Most of the newer parts of town escaped major damage. For residents, thousands of whom work at the plant, the controversy over its safety compounded already severe problems, which included heavy rains and the threat of landslides, water and power outages, and spotty communications. ``Whenever there is an earthquake, the first thing we worry about is the nuclear plant. I worry about whether there will be a fire or something,'' said Kiyokazu Tsunajima, a tailor who sat outside on his porch with his family, afraid an aftershock might collapse his damaged house. ``It's frightening, but I guess we are used to it,'' said Ikuko Sato, a young mother who was spending the night in a crowded evacuation center near her home, which was without water or power. ``It's almost the summer swimming season,'' she said. ``I wonder if it'll be safe to go in the water.'' The area around Kashiwazaki was hit by an earthquake three years ago that killed 67 people, but the plant suffered no damage. Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari told TEPCO it must not resume operations at the plant until it has made a thorough safety check. Nuclear power plants around Japan were ordered to conduct inspections. The plant in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, 135 miles northwest of Tokyo, eclipsed a nuclear power station in Ontario as the world's largest power station when it added its seventh reactor in 1997. The Japanese plant, which generates 8.2 million kilowatts of electricity, has been plagued with mishaps. In 2001, a radioactive leak was found in the turbine room of one reactor. The plant's safety record and its proximity to a fault line prompted residents to file lawsuits claiming the government had failed to conduct sufficient safety reviews when it approved construction of the plant in the 1970s. But in 2005, a Tokyo court threw out a lawsuit filed by 33 residents, saying there was no error in the government safety reviews. Environmentalists have criticized Japan's reliance on nuclear energy as irresponsible in a nation with such a vulnerability to powerful quakes. ``This fire and leakage underscores the threat of nuclear accidents in Japan, especially in earthquake zones,'' said Jan Beranek, a Greenpeace official in Amsterdam. ``In principle, it's a bad idea to build nuclear plants in earthquake-prone areas.'' Nearly 13,000 people packed into evacuation centers in the quake zone, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. By nightfall, the number dropped to about 8,200. Nine people in their 70s or 80s were killed, and 47 were seriously injured. About 450 soldiers to sent to clear rubble, search for survivors under collapsed buildings, and provide food, water and toilets. About 50,000 homes were without water and 35,000 were without gas, local official Mitsugu Abe said. About 27,000 households were without power. Japan has a history of nuclear accidents, some of them deadly. In 2004, five workers at the Mihama nuclear plant in western Japan were killed and six were injured after a corroded pipe ruptured and sprayed plant workers with boiling water and steam. The accident was the nation's worst at a nuclear facility. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that nuclear plants be built with the capacity to withstand the strongest earthquake to hit its site within 100 years. In a ``safe shutdown earthquake,'' the chain reaction in the reactor stops, but the cooling system keeps running so excess heat is carried away from the core. William Miller, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Missouri, said the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant ``did what it was supposed to. It shut down.'' Although its operator said there were leaks, Miller called the amounts he had heard were ``so small as to be negligible.'' However, David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, noted that fire and loss of power, both of which occurred at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, are the two most likely causes of meltdowns at nuclear facilities. --- AP writers Hiroko Tabuchi and Kozo Mizoguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo and AP writer Sarah DiLorenzo contributed from New York. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 43 globeandmail.com: The nuclear shield TOM ADAMS July 16, 2007 at 10:56 PM EDT Acts of gross negligence by suppliers of nuclear goods and services ? the kind of mistakes that might cause nuclear reactors to explode ? will no longer be protected from liability under a proposed law that passed first reading in the House of Commons last month. If the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act passes, companies knowingly supplying faulty nuclear goods or services that cause a nuclear accident will no longer be exempt from liability for injuries or loss of property suffered by neighbours of nuclear power stations. Under the existing law, suppliers such as General Electric, SNC-Lavalin and Westinghouse are immune from prosecution, even if they supply faulty equipment recklessly or with intent to injure. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new law will also provide more time for victims of radiation poisoning to claim compensation. Under existing law, any cancers that turn up more than 10 years after an accident cannot be compensated; the new version would give victims 30 years. However, research on survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki shows radiation-induced cancers even 60 years after their exposure. Mr. Harper's generosity with nuclear accident victims knows other bounds, too. When the original Nuclear Liability Act was passed in 1970, damage compensation was limited to $75-million ? about $415-million in today's currency. The new liability limit is $650-million. But in the 1970s, Canada's nuclear neighbourhoods had many fewer inhabitants. For example, Pickering, which now hosts six working reactors and two retired ones, had a population of 24,800 when its municipal boundaries were set in 1974. It was 94,700 last year. Each Pickering resident's liability coverage has shrunk to about 40 per cent of what it was in 1974 ? if their community was contaminated by an accident, the new liability limit would be exhausted after paying out 10 cents per dollar of dwelling value, leaving no coverage for household contents, commercial property, disruption, lost income, injuries or death. Nor would nuclear neighbours get any help from their own insurance, since all homeowner's and renter's policies contain a nuclear exclusion clause. There is no disagreement among professional risk experts on this one issue ? the insurance and nuclear industries agree that the risk of a reactor accident is just too scary to bear without special protection. The new law, like the old, gives the federal government the right to provide additional compensation to victims if it sees fit. Unlike the old law, the new law would require the government to consider updating the liability ceiling for nuclear operators every five years. All nuclear countries provide similar liability shields for their nuclear industries by curtailing property rights. In fact, lobbying for this protection from the consequences of accidents was one of the global nuclear industry's original reasons for developing national and international lobby groups, such as the Canadian Nuclear Association. Liability protection for any potentially catastrophic activity or industry is a terrible idea that encourages risk-taking and irresponsibility. When society faces a large number of small accidents (automobile collisions, for instance), an argument can be made that no-fault schemes save enough in legal costs and court time to justify limits on individual responsibility. But nuclear catastrophes are rare, and increasing the pain of causing one must surely be more important than keeping the determination of fault out of the courts. Getting prompt interim relief to victims of nuclear catastrophes, before the courts determine fault, is a worthwhile government mandate, but there's no reason to link it to the issue of legal responsibility. Instead of updating the nuclear industry's special legal shield from the consequences of its actions, Mr. Harper's government should eliminate all the liability-limiting aspects of the law, intervening only to provide prompt interim relief to victims, and to ensure that all the companies in the industry or their insurers have deep enough pockets ? enough to lose ? so they can provide adequate compensation and face a disincentive to irresponsible behaviour. If Canadians must live in front of nuclear reactors, then nuclear vendors and operators must be required to stand behind them. Tom Adams is executive director of Energy Probe. © Copyright 2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisions of CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, ON  Canada M5V 2S9 Phillip Crawley, Publisher ***************************************************************** 44 NWW: NRC rapped over gun accounting 17 July 2007 An unannounced audit of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's property has found widespread inaccuracy in accounting databases. Of particular concern to investigators were errors concerning the commission's firearms. A random audit of NRC property was carried out by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), an bureau meant to ensure integrity and efficiency in federal government programs. The OIG focused on the NRC's 'non-capitalized' property - items purchased for up to $50,000 - and the efficacy of the Space Planning and Property Management System (SPMS) meant to control it. The investigation found there were errors in 38-44% of SPMS records relating to items held at the NRC's Washington headquarters. The value of poorly accounted-for equipment at the headquarters reached a maximum projected value of $7.4 million, increasing to over $8 million including regional offices, which fared better in the audit. However, the most concerning findings of the audit were those related to 48 of the guns belonging to the NRC's Office of Investigations. SPMS records indicated that 17 of the 48 audited guns were at headquarters, although only two actually were. Another gun at headquarters was recorded as being in another region. In addition, it was found that 13 of the guns' serial numbers had been incorrectly recorded. "Because of the highly sensitive nature of this property, the recording of accurate serial numbers for firearms is particularly important," noted the audit report. OIG officials were eventually able to account for all 48 guns in their sample. The audit also found that 366 employees that had left the NRC between January 2005 and June 2006 were still apparently in possession of some $110,000 in equipment, according to SPMS records. One staffer who left the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response was listed as holding over $34,000 in items. The OIG partly put the accounting failures down to inadequate accountability due to a number of factors, including that senior executives' rewards did not reflect accountability for property management. Another factor was inadequate training for property custodians. The OIG also said that changing the value threshold for an item to be included on SPMS from $500 to $1000 would reduce the number of items in the system by 37% while still accounting for 84% of the dollar value of its target property. Further information US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General Reports: Audit of NRC's Non-Capitalized Property ***************************************************************** 45 Charlotte Observer: Evacuation zone big enough? 07/17/2007 | JOHN MURAWSKI The (Raleigh) News & Observer The air-raid wail of 85 emergency sirens will be the first public warning. That is the cue to anyone living within 10 miles of the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County that there has been a radioactive release. The airborne plume could trigger the evacuation of all 62,000 residents from the rapidly developing area that includes Apex, Fuquay-Varina and New Hill. But some local officials want to extend emergency preparedness beyond the federally mandated 10-mile safety zone. Nuclear critics are attempting to use Progress Energy's efforts to extend the license of the Harris plant through 2046 to push the evacuation issue. They want to have the Shearon Harris evacuation zone expanded to include Orange County and outlying towns such as Pittsboro. Lawyers for two anti-nuclear groups -- N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network in Durham and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Maryland -- will present their arguments today at a Shearon Harris licensing meeting in Raleigh. Critics of the current plan say it is designed for natural disasters and is inadequate to handle the mass panic that would ensue in the wake of a nuclear accident. "No one will be able to predict what's going to happen -- that's the scary part," said Kent McKenzie, the deputy emergency management director of Orange County from 1998 until two weeks ago. "The main concern is that people are not likely to follow clear directions," said McKenzie, who left his Orange County post July 6 to become emergency management coordinator in Lake County, Ill. "Law enforcement personnel may drive to pick up their family and get the heck out of Dodge, too. A portion of all public safety workers will probably flee." Lawyers from Progress Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff, however, contend that emergency preparations fall outside the scope of a license extension proceeding. The final decision is up to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, an independent panel that is reviewing the Shearon Harris licensing request. Others argue that public agencies are well-practiced in methods of crowd control in emergencies. Save for a small contingent of lingerers, a nuclear evacuation would not be much different logistically than thinning out a crowd after a major event at the Lowe's Motor Speedway near Concord or the State Fairgrounds, said Stephen Payne, the state's Radiological Emergency Preparedness program manager. "I would see it as being as orderly as with any other evacuation," Payne said. "People will follow the directions that are given to them." If hurricane evacuations are any indication, a nuclear evacuation would result in clogged roadways and displaced families. The evacuation scenario would require converting public schools into emergency shelters, setting up decontamination stations, coordinating public information and rumor control and distributing potassium iodide pills to residents. Nuclear regulators don't require a formal plan to evacuate residents living beyond the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone. Nor do they include some of those regional communities in all emergency planning. That concerns Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller, who worries about his community being overwhelmed by fleeing residents. Two decades ago, when Shearon Harris began operating, some 15,000 people lived within 10 miles of the compound. The population has since quadrupled. During an evacuation, those residents would be indefinitely scattered in shelters, motels and with family members in a ring around the evacuation zone. Emergency managers update the Shearon Harris plan every year and practice mock disaster scenarios. But nuclear critics say it would be difficult to evacuate thousands of people during a nuclear accident. "The evacuation plan is based on unrealistic assumptions," said Jim Warren, director of Durham's N.C. WARN, one of the groups opposing the Shearon Harris license extension. "The whole thing is based on good weather conditions and a very slow-moving accident scenario." Though the NRC contends that it is unlikely that radioactivity could travel more than 10 miles, it is not inconceivable that public fear could follow its own logic. If panic spread through the outer ring marking the Shearon Harris plant's 50-mile boundary for long-term residual nuclear contamination, more than 2 million people could feel threatened. And not without precedent. During the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979, people spontaneously evacuated from more than 40 miles away, some fleeing 100 miles. The 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in the Ukraine, caused by an explosion at the plant, contaminated more than 75 square miles as the site released nuclear gases and radioactive fuel particles for 10 days. The population around Shearon Harris keeps growing. By 2027, Progress Energy estimates that 105,000 people will live there. N.C. WARN has its own projection -- 155,000 -- from Steven Wing, an epidemiology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. Still, preparing for a Shearon Harris catastrophe has made the region much safer overall, said Martin Chriscoe, director of emergency management for Wake County. "In terms of emergency planning, Shearon Harris was the best thing that ever happened to us," Chriscoe said. "It's caused us to prepare and organize and coordinate to such a level that there's not anything that could occur that would be a surprise." ***************************************************************** 46 Bradenton.com: Anywhere but here 07/17/2007 | A Tallevast woman says her contaminated home has sickened her family for years TIFFANY TOMPKINS-CONDIE/ttompkins@bradenton.com TALLEVAST, 7/12/07--Zasue Pitts-Alston and her son, Bobby, in their home in Tallevast. Zasue's drinking water well was just yards away from the source of the Tallevast plume and had the highest known concentration of TCE with the community. By DONNA WRIGHT dwright@bradenton.com Options are running out for Zasue Pitts Alston. The 72-year-old production-line worker who recently lost her job is about to lose her home, which is right next to the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant, source of a 200-acre plume of underground toxic contamination. Last week, Alston learned state health officials have finally confirmed a link between her polluted well, which is just 5 feet from the beryllium company's fence, and an increased risk for cancer. "The stress is awful," Alston said, clutching her stomach with her hands. "The doctors say I have a mass in my stomach but they don't know what it is. They say it's nothing to worry about, but I don't believe them." One fact is for sure: Alston and her 50-year-old disabled son, Bobby, have to move, the county says, because their dilapidated home at 1712 Tallevast Road is an unsafe structure. The county sent notice on March 30 to Alston's brothers, Charles, Art and Wyman Pitt of Sarasota, who own the home, advising them they had 60 days to bring it up to code or tear it down. The 60 days ran out on May 28. But building officials are being lenient, says Cheri Coryea of Community Services, because she is trying to find somewhere for Alston and her son to live. Coryea said the county is also aware of the state's findings that Alston and her family may face a moderate to high risk for kidney and liver cancer as well as leukemia and lymphoma because their private well is the most contaminated in Tallevast. The house Alston and her son occupy was one of the small, frame structures built between 1910 and 1925 to house the black workers who stripped the pine trees in Tallevast family's turpentine camp. Nestled together among the pines, the workers' small homes were painted red and known as the Quarters. Alston grew up there, then moved away when she married Mathew Alston, Jr. The Alstons returned home in 1979 when Zasue's father fell ill. Her mother had already died of cancer. Zasue doesn't remember the details but she said it affected her mother's colon and she died a painful death. "Some part of my family has been in the home ever since," she said. "We have been living here all of the time the beryllium plant was open." And most of the family from every generation including Alston's grandchildren have had cancer, serious illnesses, neurological conditions or reproductive problems, she said. After hearing the state's report, linking prolonged use of contaminated drinking wells with increased risk for cancer and other chronic and neurological disorders, Alston fears her family's ill health could have been caused not only by the well water they drank but also the chemical spills she says flowed into her yard with every hard rain. Until the mid-1980s, no one in Tallevast had public water. When the county lines were installed in 1986, the Pitts' home was connected along with other homes on the south side of Tallevast Road. Prior to the public water hook-ups, the beryllium plant relied on a small wastewater treatment facility consisting of a pumping station and evaporation pond to treat all of the wastewater streams coming from the plant, according to state records. Alston remembers how that pit often overflowed in heavy rains. She recalls her children playing in runoff as it collected in the ditch that runs along the property line next to the plant. "They stored barrels of something on the lot line," said Alston. "The water would flow from the plant into our yard right over our well. Even when we got county water, nobody told us to stop using the well for the grass and garden." Lewis Pryor, who has also lived in Tallevast all of his life and is a neighbor, also remembers how heavy rains would cause the evaporation pool to overflow. "All that waste would wash into Zasue's yard," Pryor said. "Somebody told mother way back in 1974 that the water was dangerous, that we shouldn't play in it, " Alston remembers. "It stank like sulphur and had a chemical smell." The water also caused rashes, Alston said. Her son, Bobby, has been plagued by a raw, scaly skin condition they believed is related to the well water. He, too, has stomach problems. The county's goal, Coryea said, is to find someplace safe for Alston and her son to live. But the problem is, Alston does not fit into the eligibility requirements of the county's housing assistance programs. The home and property is valued at $26,767 but even if the structure is torn down, a new house most likely cannot be built on the land because of the contamination problem, said Coryea. Even though Alston owns a lot nearby in Tallevast on 18th Street East, she doesn't qualify for housing assistance money to build a new home on that parcel. Alston's only hope, said Coryea, is to find a place to rent through one of the county or private subsidized housing programs. But all of them have waiting lists or else they are too expensive for Alston to afford. "I can't afford $800 in rent," said Alston. "I don't know what we are going to do." The fact that Alston insists her son Bobby must go with her makes finding affordable housing even more difficult, said Coryea "We haven't given up on this," Coryea said. "We are not going to put her out on the street. We are still looking for alternatives." But Alston is certain about one thing. She does not want to remain in Tallevast. "I don't know how much longer I have to live on this Earth," said Alston. "But I don't want to die from what's under the ground. Leaving here would give me peace of mind." Donna Wright, health and social services reporter, can be reached at 745-7049. ***************************************************************** 47 Japan Times: N.Y. film fest to explore A-bombings japantimes.co.jp Web Tuesday, July 17, 2007 By SEANA K. MAGEE NEW YORK (Kyodo) The first New York Peace Film Festival, opening in August and featuring a guest appearance by an atomic-bomb survivor, will revisit the world's only nuclear attacks. The festival will include five films, poetry and music and dance performances. Its executive producer, Yumi Tanaka, was inspired two years ago by an exhibition of black-and-white photographs at the United Nations marking the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and a life-changing talk with hibakusha Michimasa Hirata. A survivor of Hiroshima, Hirata is now a peace advocate. His chance encounter with Tanaka, who is also an actress and standup comedian, had a profound effect on her. "It was quite a long time, but he kept sharing his painful memories," she said. "Then I thought 'This is it!' — I want to use theater and performing arts as a tool." With that in mind she worked with the Interborough Repertory Theater last December to put on "Hibakusha Outcry," a presentation that combined film with performance art. Building on that momentum, she decided to expand on the concept by creating the first Peace Film Festival, which she hopes will be held again in the future. Beginning Aug. 10, "The Last Atomic Bomb," by Robert Richter, an Academy Award-nominated documentarian, will explore nuclear proliferation as seen through the eyes of a Nagasaki survivor. The showing kicks off the festival and will be followed by a discussion with the director and Kathleen Sullivan, a nuclear disarmament educator. Later that evening there will be live music with Rumiko Tanaka, a singer-songwriter and pianist from Hiroshima who frequently performs in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome. The next day will feature the first showing of "Genie in the Bottle Unleashed," a 15-minute documentary by Stephen Sotor and Trace Gaynor, two sixth-graders from Elmhurst, Ill., who humorously exploit the Genie and bottle metaphor and conduct interviews with a former Manhattan Project scientist and the creator of the Doomsday Clock, among others. Hirata will then conduct a workshop with Sullivan before the first showing of "The Mushroom Club," by Academy Award-winning Steven Okazaki, who first visited Hiroshima and interviewed survivors in 1980 and takes a personal look at the damage inflicted on the city. The next film will be "Double Hibakusha" by Junichiro Nagasawa, which highlights the plight of people who survived both A-bombings, such as 90-year-old Tsutomu Yamaguchi. The last film, "The Cats of Mirikitani," is about a Japanese-American artist, Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani, who was born in California and raised in Hiroshima. The Japan Times ***************************************************************** 48 IPS-English ECONOMY-MALAWI: Uranium Mining Sparks Controversy Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:31:53 -0700 ROMAIPS AF AP HD DV EN HE IP EY SA AB MD C2 ECONOMY-MALAWI: Uranium Mining Sparks Controversy Pilirani Semu-Banda BLANTYRE, Jul 17 (IPS) - Malawi will have its first-ever modern mining project located in the northern town of Kayelekera in Karonga by early next year if plans by an Australian mining company, Paladin (Africa) Limited, are successful. In April this year, the Malawi government granted the mining company a licence to exploit up to 34,5 million tons of uranium. One would have taken it for granted that there would be immense enthusiasm over the introduction of this mining project in a country where the economy has over the years been solely dependent on agriculture. This is especially so since the mining company has promised that the project will generate an annual income of over 100 million US dollars, which is about five percent of Malawi's annual gross domestic product and 20 percent of the country's total export income. The revenue for the uranium is projected to exceed tobacco's annual proceeds of 19 million US dollars. Tobacco is currently Malawi's main foreign exchange earner. The uranium project also promises to transform the under-developed Kayelekera into a prosperous town and create jobs for 800 people during the construction phase and 280 people during the operational phase. It also promises to indirectly support more than 1,000 additional jobs, build a modern primary school, a secondary school and a health facility near the project area. However, controversy has been dogging the project since its hatching stages with fears from the public that the mining of uranium poses serious health hazards, such as cancer and disability in infants due to radiation. A warning signal was first sent by a 2006 paper published by researcher Martin Mkandawire. He argues that scientific evidence shows that uranium mining is implicated in most cancers, especially those of the lung, blood and bone and that it also leads to disability in infants. In the paper, titled ‘‘The Kayelekera uranium mining activity: Economic benefit and environmental dangers'', Mkandawire argues that the project will lead to the loss of social goods which do not have market value, such as human health in the surrounding community. ‘‘As someone who has been conducting research on uranium deposits, mining and cleaning of uranium sites for more than ten years now, I would caution government, the politicians and all Malawians to weigh carefully the pros and cons of the project,'' states Mkandawire. Then came an environmental impact assessment (EIA), also conducted last year by an international consulting firm, Knight Piesold Consulting. Among others, it indicated that the project could increase social problems in the Karonga area in the form of increased cases of HIV/AIDS due to the migration of sex workers to the area. ‘‘There will be an increase in the existing commercial sex industry and risks of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS,'' says the EIA. A group of six influential civil society organizations in Malawi said the company has neither complied with the Environmental Management Act nor with international uranium mining standards which underscore the importance of ensuring health and environmental protection for people. These organisations were the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), Focus on Karonga, Citizens for Justice, the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), the Uraha Foundation and the Foundation for Community Services. They have since obtained a court injunction stopping the project from proceeding. It is unlikely that the issue will be resolved soon since court processes in Malawi usually take a long time due to case backlogs. CHRR executive director Undule Mwakasungura argues that local people are being taken for a ride as they were not given information on the dangers of the uranium project. Mwakasungura says that the mining project should be handled responsibly with adequate information being supplied by environmentalists and radiation experts. A lawyer representing the organizations, Titus Mvalo, says uranium is radioactive and that with open-pit mining, like the one to be conducted at Kayelekera, the soil drains into rivers and contaminates the water. When humans drink the water, it damages kidneys and causes cancer. In Malawi, according to the 2006 Human Development Report (HDR), up to 33 percent of the population of 12 million people do not have access to safe water. They depend on water from rivers and lakes. Mvalo says there is a need for measures that will mitigate the damage that could arise from radiation. ‘‘There are examples in Mexico and Ghana where people suffered irreparable damage to kidneys because of such mining,'' Mvalo cautions. The NGOs are demanding that legislation regulating radioactive materials is put in place and that government should invite comments from the public. They want the project to be redesigned following the input from the public and that government should make public the EIA report. Furthermore, Paladin should enter into a separate legally binding agreement with the local community to ensure ‘‘meaningful'' social investment and that the mining company should provide a guarantee to the public regarding their well-being, health and environmental conditions. The controversy surrounding the uranium project also came up during parliamentary proceedings in March this year, when government described some of the contents of the agreement with Paladin as classified. The government refused to make it available after opposition parliamentarians demanded a copy of the agreement. The chairperson of the parliamentary legal affairs committee, opposition member of parliament Atupele Muluzi, took the government on, saying it was important for people who would be affected by the project to have a copy of the agreement. But Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe stressed that ‘‘certain details of the agreement have to be kept secret''. Minister of Energy and Mining Henry Chimunthu-Banda only reported that the Malawi government awarded Paladin a 15-year license over 55,5 square kilometres with a possibility to renew the license for another ten years. Moreover, Paladin will only transfer a 15 percent stake in the uranium project to the Malawian government but get a corporate tax reduction from 30 percent to 27.5 percent. Paladin will also not pay a 10 percent resource rent tax. Both the government and Paladin have defended the project and denied that uranium mining could pose health and environmental problems. Chimunthu-Banda says that the Malawi government believes that Paladin has met all the requirements and that all environmental issues have been tackled in line with the International Atomic Energy Agency's prescriptions. ‘‘We believe all necessary consultations have taken place. As government we have been shocked that some stakeholders are presenting this issue as if government did not want to take care of environmental issues,'' says the minister. An information brochure from the mining company says Paladin will ‘‘carefully'' monitor the radiation which people at the mine will be exposed to and will ensure that levels are always as low as can be achieved reasonably. ‘‘People not working at the mine will receive far less than that level. Like the heat from a fire, the radiation level drops the further you move away from the source,'' says the brochure. Paladin also says that the radon gas, one of the natural decay products of uranium which is radio-active, will not harm people. The company admits that the gas can be carried by wind but insists that it quickly disperses after being released from the ground. The country's president Bingu wa Mutharika has since said that Malawi will in the next ten years be one of the largest producers of uranium in Africa. Another Australian-based company, Globe Uranium, has since been carrying out search activities since January 2006, also in the northern part of Malawi. ***** + NAMIBIA: Environment Plan Slow to Take Off (http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=36322) + MALAWI: ''All-Day Electricity''--As Long As It Is Not Peak Time (http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=38548) = 07171850 ORP015 NNNN ***************************************************************** 49 governor jim gibbons: announces his decision to support the state water engineer’s efforts to halt drilling at yucca mountain For Immediate Release: July 17, 2007 Carson City— An outspoken critic of the use of Yucca Mountain as a dump site for the nation's nuclear waste, Governor Jim Gibbons today announced his support of the State Water Engineer’s decision to ask the U.S. Department of Energy to suspend their unauthorized use of Nevada water for drilling at Yucca Mountain. “The DOE’s continued mismanagement and lack of quality control measures at the high-risk Yucca Mountain project has earned a zero confidence grade in the minds of Nevadans. The unauthorized use of water for drilling is further evidence that the DOE continues to rush it to completion regardless of Nevada's rights and concerns,” said Governor Gibbons. Since 2003, the State Water Engineer has consistently refused to grant the DOE permission to use water for a drilling program at Yucca Mountain, and Governor Gibbons fully supports this action. "Senate Bill 274, which I recently signed into law, gives injunctive relief and permits fines for violations of Nevada Water Law," Governor Gibbons added. "I am fully supporting the right of the State Engineer to apply this law to prevent the further abuse of Nevada's rights." The license application process for Yucca Mountain has been put on hold by the Federal District Court, and some view the DOE's actions as circumventing the restrictions imposed while the case progresses. “This is yet another red flag that raises concerns about the ongoing efforts at Yucca Mountain and the DOE’s desire to expedite a project that has been deemed ‘broken’ by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman himself,” Governor Gibbons concluded. During the ten years that Gibbons was a member of Congress, he spoke against the Yucca Mountain project and strongly questioned the science, which was found to contain serious inaccuracies and flaws. Brent Boynton, Communications Director (775) 684-5668 - Melissa Subbotin, Press Secretary (775) 684-5667 Office of the Governor . 101 North Carson Street . Carson City, NV 89701 . Fax: (775) 684-7198 Grant Sawyer State Office Bldg . 555 East Washington, Suite 5100 . Las Vegas, NV 89101 . Fax: (702) 486-2505 ***************************************************************** 50 Aiken Today: Official says MOX project is right on schedule AikenStandard.com Tue, Jul 17, 2007 Shaw/Areva Mox Services President David Stinson, left, talks with Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce President David Jameson at a Rotary Club of Aiken meeting Monday. By ROB NOVIT Senior writer Shaw/Areva MOX Services is on target to begin construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site Aug. 1, said company president and chief operating officer David Stinson. "We're close to starting," he told Rotary Club of Aiken members Monday. "The objective is to convert 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium to MOX fuel for use in commercial power reactors." The current deadline for the completion of construction is 2014. Following startup testing, the facility would begin operations in 2016 with a disposition rate of up to 3.5 tons of plutonium oxide each year. The mission is supposed to end in 2035, although it could be extended to 2038, Stinson said. Contractors are completing a huge pre-construction phase within the next two weeks, Stinson said. Workers will move into a construction complex next week, and training center site preparation has been completed. Three surplus tower cranes have been obtained for the bargain price of $1 from the Department of Energy's Hanford Site in Washington State, Stinson said with a smile. The cranes may be the largest in the nation, if not the world, he said. A concrete batch plant ? the first one at SRS in about 25 years ? should be ready this week. A parking lot to accommodate hundreds of cars opened Monday. There is also 54,000 square feet of craft area. Safety will be a priority, Stinson said, along with a commitment to financial responsibility, environment stewardship and those involved in the project. Funding from 2007 will get the construction phase under way. But funds for the new fiscal year are an ongoing process as the entire DOE budget works its way through Congress. Stinson acknowledged there have been a lot of questions about funding the MOX project. The challenge, he said, is to prove what Shaw/Areva can accomplish. Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com. © 2005 The AikenStandard. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 51 DOE: DOE and NRC Increase Cooperation to Advance Global Nuclear Energy Partnership July 17, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) expanded cooperation for President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed on Friday by DOE’s GNEP Deputy Program Manager Paul Lisowski and NRC Executive Director for Operations Luis Reyes. The MOU establishes the foundation for increased cooperation between DOE and NRC on technological research and engineering studies and marks another important milestone towards closing the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States. “This MOU represents a significant step in the development of nuclear fuel recycling technologies as envisioned by President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership,” DOE’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon said. “Working with the NRC, DOE is expanding federal involvement in preparation for advanced nuclear power technologies that will increase our nation’s energy security.” Through this cooperation memorialized in the MOU, DOE will share the latest information on advanced recycling technologies with the NRC, enabling them to develop license criteria for GNEP facilities. The NRC will also participate in and observe DOE tests, simulations, and demonstrations. NRC will review and provide feedback to DOE on GNEP reports and engineering studies, review literature and take facility tours, and provide annual reports to DOE on work performed under this MOU. DOE and NRC officials agreed to continue to regularly meet and exchange the latest GNEP information. As part of President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative, GNEP seeks to expand the use of clean, affordable nuclear energy to meet the growing worldwide demand for energy in ways that manage nuclear waste safely, advance non-proliferation objectives, and improve the environment. This MOU builds on over two years of the Department's nuclear fuel cycle research, environmental studies, GNEP facility planning, and international discussion and cooperation. DOE has also engaged international partners through bilateral nuclear agreements to advance research in proliferation-resistant technologies. And in May, the United States hosted a GNEP Ministerial in Washington, DC, where leaders from China, France, Japan, Russia and the United States agreed to work together to bring the benefits of nuclear energy to the world safely and securely. The United Kingdom and the International Atomic Energy Agency also participated as observers in this Ministerial. Read this MOU and find additional information on GNEP. Media contact(s): Angela Hill, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 52 BBC NEWS: Poison threat from Ukraine train Last Updated: Wednesday, 18 July 2007, 00:12 GMT 01:12 UK The exact cause of the blaze aboard the train is not yet known Hundreds of Ukrainians have been evacuated from their homes after a train carrying highly toxic phosphorous derailed and caught fire near Lviv. At least 20 people were taken to hospital with poisoning after the fire caused a massive toxic cloud. Remaining local residents were told to use gas masks and stay indoors. The freight train, which was en route from Kazakhstan to Poland, derailed near Lviv, a town not far from the Polish border in western Ukraine on Monday night. Fifteen of the train's 58 cars overturned, six of which then caught fire, officials said. The toxic yellow cloud caused by the blaze covered an area of 90sq km (56sq miles) above 14 villages near Lviv before dispersing on Tuesday. Fire-fighters wearing masks and protective clothing managed to extinguish the fire after several hours. 'Grave catastrophe' Phosphorus compounds are mainly used in fertilisers, but can also be used to produce pesticides, cleaning products and explosives. The chemical can cause damage to the liver, the heart or the kidneys if consumed. In many cases exposure can be fatal. Many people were evacuated at their own request. Authorities advised those remaining not to eat vegetables from their gardens or drink milk produced from their cows. The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Oleksandr Kuzmuk, said the toxic cloud was a worrying development and compared the accident to the blast at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986. "After Chernobyl we are again confronted with a grave catastrophe which may pose a serious danger to the Ukrainian people," he said. "The consequences are unpredictable. We are now looking into how dangerous the phosphorus is." He later backtracked, while other officials were careful to play down any comparisons with Chernobyl and said they had minimised the risk to public health. "The cloud of a toxic gas dispersed and there is no threat to people's lives," Ihor Krol, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, told the Associated Press. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 53 Salt Lake Tribune: Miffed backers of Goshute nuclear storage sue Interior Department Article Last Updated: 07/17/2007 03:18:54 PM MDT Posted: 3:22 PM- Backers of high-level nuclear waste storage in Utah's Skull Valley have filed suit against the U.S. Interior Department. They allege the agency's twin rulings last fall effectively killed the project. The suit, filed in federal court in Salt Lake City, asks the court to reverse two, Sept. 7 rulings. One of those decisions invalidated a lease the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes had signed with Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of companies that wanted to store nuclear waste on the tribal reservation in Tooele County. The other ruling blocked the proposed rail that would have allowed waste casks to travel from I-80 to the storage site. "The Goshute people are tired of being treated unfairly," said Lawrence Bear, Skull Valley Band chairman. "This lawsuit was brought to vindicate the rights of the Skull Valley Band to decide how best to use our own land for economic development." The suit called the Interior Department decisions "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, not in accordance with law, without observance of procedures required by law, and otherwise fatally flawed." It also claims that politics - and not the merits of the project - drove the Interior Department's decisions. Shane Wolfe, spokesman for the Interior Department, said Interior had not seen the lawsuit. "It's a policy not to comment on pending litigation," he added. John Parkyn, chairman and chief executive officer of PFS, said it was significant that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission had approved the storage-site license after eight years of review. "We will overcome all challenges to the license as we prepare to build and operate a safe, temporary storage facility," he said in a press release. "The need for such a facility will only increase as the nation seeks ways to expand power production without harmful emissions." The Utah state government fought the project for nearly a decade before federal nuclear regulators approved the license in February, 2006. fahys@sltrib.com ***************************************************************** 54 thewest.com.au: Freeway chaos as truck rolls over 18th July 2007, 13:15 WST Traffic and public transport in Perth’s northern suburbs were thrown into chaos this afternoon after a crash on Mitchell Freeway threw debris lying across the rail tracks. The crash happened on the southbound lanes of the freeway between Hepburn Avenue and Warwick Road, Greenwood. Transit authorities closed the Clarkson rail line. Southbound lanes of Mitchell Freeway were also closed. Motorists were advised to exit at Whitfords Avenue or Hepburn Avenue and rejoin the route at Warwick Road. Ambulance paramedics were alerted to a crash at 12.10pm involving a truck and a car which had led to one person being trapped in a vehicle. Police say the truck crashed through the concrete barrier in the centre of the freeway, scattering debris onto the railtrack. A car was severely damaged. Two people were taken to Joondalup Health Campus with non life-threatening injuries. A truck now lies across three lanes of the southbound lanes on the Mitchell Freeway. Traffic in the opposite northbound lanes is moving at a crawl, with motorists slowing down to look at the carnage. Authorities are waiting for heavy-lifting gear to remove the truck. Some southbound traffic is being redirected onto the emergency lane and back up the freeway, where motorists can exit on what is normally the Hepburn Avenue on ramp. DANIEL EMERSON thewest.com.au West Australian Newspapers Limited 2007. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 55 Guardian Unlimited: Nuke Waste Drums Tipped in Japan Quake Tuesday July 17, 2007 12:31 PM By ERIC TALMADGE Associated Press Writer KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AP) - A powerful earthquake tipped over barrels of nuclear waste at a power plant and officials on Tuesday were investigating whether there were any radioactive leaks, a day after they said the quake had caused the reactor to spill radioactive water into the sea. The death toll stood at nine a day after the 6.6-magnitude quake. One person was missing and another 13,000 were homeless, as rescue workers rushed to locate any survivors in the rubble amid fears of landslides. The quake had caused a leak of water with radioactive material Monday at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest in terms of electricity output, although officials said that leak caused no harm to the environment. On Tuesday, officials said about 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste fell over at the plant during the quake. They were found a day later, some with their lids open, said Masahide Ichikawa, an official with the local government in Niigata prefecture. A spokesman at Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the plant, said the company was still trying to determine whether any hazardous material had spilled but said there was no effect outside the plant. ``We have no information at this time that there is any effect on the outside environment,'' TEPCO spokesman Manabu Takeyama said. Another leak at the Kashiwazaki power plant would feed fresh concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and cover-ups. Monday's quake initially triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer in the sprawling plant. But it was announced 12 hours later that the temblor also caused a leak of water containing radioactive material. Officials said the water leak was harmless and well below safety standards, but the delay in notifying the public spurred concern among anti-nuclear activists and triggered criticism from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. ``They raised the alert too late. I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly,'' Abe told reporters in Tokyo. ``Those involved should repent their actions.'' Meanwhile, nearly 13,000 people packed into evacuation centers such as schools and other secure buildings in the quake zone 160 miles northwest of Tokyo, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. People packed school gymnasiums and community centers in the city, camping out on traditional Japanese futon mattresses and fanning themselves from the muggy summer heat. Thunderstorms and flooding were expected Tuesday throughout the quake zone, increasing the likelihood that the quake-softened, water-logged ground would give way on hillsides and cause even more damage, officials said. Light rain began to fall by early afternoon in Kashiwazaki and up to 2.4 inches were expected by Wednesday morning, according to the local observatory. ``The damage is more than we had imagined,'' Kashiwazaki Mayor Hiroshi Aida said while inspecting damaged areas of his town. ``We want to restore the water supply as soon as possible so more people can return home.'' Nine people in their 70s or 80s - six women and three men - were killed in the quake, and 47 were seriously injured. The Defense Ministry dispatched 450 soldiers to the devastated area to clear rumble, search for any survivors under collapsed buildings and provide food, water and toilet facilities. People formed long lines to fill bottles with fresh water. About 50,000 homes were without water and 35,000 were without gas as of Tuesday morning, local official Mitsugu Abe said. About 27,000 households were without power. The Japanese Meteorological Agency put the initial quake's magnitude at 6.8, while the U.S. Geological Survey said it was 6.6. The quake, which hit the region at 10:13 a.m., was centered off the coast of Niigata, 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. The area was plagued by a series of aftershocks, though there were no immediate reports of additional damage or injuries from the aftershocks. Near midnight, Japan's Meteorological Agency said a 6.6-magnitude quake hit off the west coast, shaking wide areas of Japan, but it was unrelated to the Niigata quake to the north and there were no immediate reports of damage. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 56 Channel 4 KRNV.com: Governor Gibbons Advocates Halt of Drilling at Yucca Mountain An outspoken critic of the use of Yucca Mountain as a dump site for the nation's nuclear waste, Governor Jim Gibbons today announced his support of the State Water Engineer's decision to ask the U.S. Department of Energy to suspend their unauthorized use of Nevada water for drilling at Yucca Mountain. "The DOE's continued mismanagement and lack of quality control measures at the high-risk Yucca Mountain project has earned a zero confidence grade in the minds of Nevadans. The unauthorized use of water for drilling is further evidence that the DOE continues to rush it to completion regardless of Nevada's rights and concerns," said Governor Gibbons. Since 2003, the State Water Engineer has consistently refused to grant the DOE permission to use water for a drilling program at Yucca Mountain, and Governor Gibbons fully supports this action. "Senate Bill 274, which I recently signed into law, gives injunctive relief and permits fines for violations of Nevada Water Law," Governor Gibbons added. "I am fully supporting the right of the State Engineer to apply this law to prevent the further abuse of Nevada's rights." The license application process for Yucca Mountain has been put on hold by the Federal District Court, and some view the DOE's actions as circumventing the restrictions imposed while the case progresses. "This is yet another red flag that raises concerns about the ongoing efforts at Yucca Mountain and the DOE's desire to expedite a project that has been deemed ‘broken' by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman himself," Governor Gibbons concluded. During the ten years that Gibbons was a member of Congress, he spoke against the Yucca Mountain project and strongly questioned the science, which was found to contain serious inaccuracies and flaws. All content © Copyright 2001 - 2007 WorldNow and KRNV. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 57 AFP: Toxic fumes threaten thousands in Ukraine after rail crash - by Vassyl Troukhan Tue Jul 17, 4:08 PM ET LVIV, Ukraine (AFP) - Toxic fumes threatened thousands of residents in western Ukraine on Tuesday after a freight train derailed and caught fire, causing mass evacuations and leaving at least 21 people injured. Authorities were urging residents to use gas masks and remain inside as yellow clouds of highly toxic phosphorus hung over the area. Six of the train's tank cars caught fire in Monday's accident near the city of Lviv, leaking a "large quantity of toxic fumes and gas," regional government spokesman Taras Batenko said. The fire had been put out several hours later. Twenty-one people had been hospitalised for poisoning, including seven rescue workers and two police officers, regional officials said. One of those injured was in serious condition. Doctors prepared for the arrival of more victims in the days to come, fearing phosphorus could be ingested through food. Fumes covered an area stretching 86 square kilometres (33 square miles) from the scene of the accident almost to the village of Ojydiv before dispersing, said Oleg Chtangret, spokesman for the health minister. The fumes brought panic in the region, and Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk compared the incident to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A total of 11,000 residents live in the affected area, Batenko said. Some 900 had been evacuated at their own request. Many residents of Brody, located near Ojydiv, left the city early Tuesday. Several of those who remained wore gas masks when they went outside, said local official Volodymyr Adamets, who added that residents were unhappy with authorities' response. "People are outraged and terrified," he said. Ukraine's neighbours were also concerned. Romania, Hungary and Poland promised to exchange information on the incident, fearing they could be affected by toxic fumes. Polish deputy interior minister Pawel Soloch said the fumes posed no danger for Poland for the time being since they were moving in the opposite direction, while a representative with Bulgaria's civil defence agency said there was "no danger for Bulgarians". Romanian authorities were on alert, but environment minister Attila Korodi said, "We will not have any pollution." Weather predictions in Romania showed the country was not in danger. The European Commission said it had not received any requests for assistance. "According to what we know, the situation is under control and doesn't seem to be alarming," a source with the EU's environment office said Tuesday evening. The train had been heading from Kazakhstan to Poland. Authorities have yet to establish the cause of the incident and have opened an investigation. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 58 Guardian Unlimited: Ukraine Rail Crash Unleashes Toxic Cloud Tuesday July 17, 2007 9:46 PM By NATASHA LISOVA Associated Press Writer KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - A freight train derailed and released a cloud of toxic gas that sent at least 20 people to hospitals, an accident that touched nerves still raw more than two decades after the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. Hundreds of people were evacuated and others fled their homes on their own after the Monday evening derailment sparked a fire in a cargo of yellow phosphorous, creating a cloud of gas that affected 14 villages in the former Soviet republic. Twenty people were hospitalized, although their lives were not in danger, said Defense Ministry spokesman Ihor Halyavinsky. Authorities later said that six had been released, although media reports said other people in the area sought medical help. ``A disaster has happened. After the Chernobyl catastrophe we are dealing with (another) case that can pose a real threat for our people,'' said Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, who went to the area in the Lviv region. ``It is an extraordinary event, the consequences of which cannot be predicted.'' He later backtracked on the remark, and other officials took pains to stress that the situation was under control and the danger minimal. ``The cloud of a toxic gas dispersed and there is no threat for people's lives,'' said Ihor Krol, spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. The train, en route from Kazakhstan to Poland, derailed near Lviv, and 15 of its 58 cars overturned, Krol said. Six of them caught fire and the poison cloud spread over a 35-square-mile area containing 14 villages, he said. Rescuers extinguished the blaze. Phosphorus compounds are chiefly used in fertilizers, although they are important components of pesticides, toothpaste, detergents as well as explosives and fireworks. The highly toxic substance can cause liver damage if consumed. Emergency workers sprinkled contaminated land with soda and sand and tried to cool off the cars, Krol said. Residents were advised to stay inside, not to use water from wells, eat vegetables from their gardens or drink milk produced by their cows. Of the 11,000 people living in the contaminated area, 815 were evacuated, Krol said. Media reports said other people had left the villages amid uncertainty about the effects of the accident. On independent Channel 5 television, an elderly woman and a middle-aged man in one of the affected villages - neither identified - said authorities had not told them how to respond to the accident. ``Doctors did not come to our village. I only saw advice about what to do on TV,'' the woman said. Concerns about the government response to such accidents still lingers from the 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, then a Soviet republic. The Soviet government kept the world's worst civilian nuclear accident under wraps for days and played down the disaster long afterward. Transport Minister Mykola Rudkovsky said a commission was working at the scene to determine the cause of the rail accident. A criminal case was opened, which is standard practice in former Soviet republics, and state railway agency director Volodymyr Kozak said sabotage had been ruled out. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 59 Santa Fe New Mexican: Report details history of LANL operations By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican July 16, 2007 Project to be discussed at public meeting in Pojoaque A massive project to catalog all historic radioactive and chemical releases from Los Alamos National Laboratory that could cause health problems is coming to Pojoaque this week for a public meeting. Among early findings: Excess plutonium levels — beyond what would be expected from worldwide nuclear fallout from weapons testing — were present in some nonlab workers who lived in Los Alamos and White Rock during the Cold War,. And the report offers many details about the Trinity Test, the world’s first nuclear test conducted in Southern New Mexico on July 16, 1945. In particular, details about radioactive fallout in the surrounding area and test preparations are offered, among other historical items. The Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment project began in 1999 and is driven by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with help from contractors. A 533-page report on everything from plutonium processing to a list of accidents will be discussed Wednesday evening. “LANL operations have not proceeded without health hazards or environmental impacts,” the interim report reads. “Approximately 30 people have been killed in incidents including criticality experiments and accidents with high explosives. Significant quantities of plutonium, uranium, and a wide variety of other toxic substances have been processed and released to the environment in quantities that in some cases are not well known.” The report summarizes millions of documents from 1943 on and is not complete. A lab spokesman referred questions about the report to a U.S. Department of Energy spokesman who was unable to immediately comment Monday evening. The report touches on the former human tissue analysis program, a 35-year project by the lab to study plutonium levels in workers and the general population. The CDC project team looked at autopsy data from nonlab workers who lived in Los Alamos and White Rock, and said: “The calculation demonstrates that excess plutonium is present in nonworker residents of Los Alamos over what would be expected from global fallout from nuclear weapons testing.” The report also pinpoints where those people, who are not identified, lived. Contact Andy Lenderman at 995-3827 or alenderman@sfnewmexican.com. Copyright 2007 The New Mexican, Inc. ***************************************************************** 60 Tri-City Herald: Group urging Hanford B Reactor tours Published Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 ANNETTE CARY, HERALD STAFF WRITER Supporters of saving Hanford's historic B Reactor as a museum are proposing offering about 125 bus tours annually to the reactor. With tickets at $20 per adult or $15 for a senior, that would pay for the costs of offering the tours and possibly turn a small profit, according to calculations by the B Reactor Preservation Coalition. Monday, the coalition explained its vision for saving the reactor and asked for a resolution of support from the Richland Public Facilities District. Next week it will make a similar presentation to the board of the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center, asking it to operate the tours, then return to the Public Facilities District for its decision. The federal government wants a community partner for the tours of the reactors, and the coalition believes the Reach center is the best choice. The coalition envisions people visiting The Reach center, then buying tickets for a bus ride and tour of the reactor. The group is made up of longtime supporters of saving the reactor, including the Tri-City Development Council, the Hanford Communities, the B Reactor Museum Association and the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention Bureau. It is proposing that the Reach center operate and coordinate the tours, while the Department of Energy continues as landlord of the reactor, paying for maintenance and protection of the property. That could save DOE money, the reactor's supporters said. If the World War II and Cold War reactor is not preserved as a museum, it will be cocooned at a cost of about $26 million, said Gary Petersen, TRIDEC's vice president for Hanford programs. The process, which puts the reactor into temporary storage, includes tearing down the buildings to little more than the reactor's radioactive core, sealing up the structure and reroofing it to let radiation decay undisturbed over 75 years. The National Park Service should have a study completed by the fall on preserving the reactor and that report will be predicated on the Reach being a partner, said Michele Gerber of the coalition. She believes the park service may give the project $1 million to $2 million a year in operating funds in conjunction with Ice Age floods exhibits and programs at the new visitor center. In addition, Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell has offered $500,000 in money for projects to preserve the reactor and make it available to the public. The money does not come from funds intended for Hanford cleanup. No decision has been made on how to spend the money. But the reactor would need a better parking lot, restrooms and possibly improvements to withstand an earthquake if it is to open as a public museum. The road to the reactor also needs improvements. Bus tours would likely reach the reactor by driving around the secure area of the nuclear reservation and entering the site just south of the Vernita Bridge on the Columbia River. The B Reactor is about five miles downriver from the bridge. The hope is that would reduce requirements for security badges, although it's unknown whether children younger than 16 would be allowed to visit. The reactor looks much like it did when it started operating as the world's first full-scale production reactor. It was built in 13 months during World War II as the United States raced to produce an atomic weapon, fearful that Germany would develop one first. The reactor produced plutonium for the first nuclear explosion in the New Mexico desert and for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, helping end the war. Public tours of the reactor are rare and fill quickly. The last set of public tours, which included a bus drive through the Hanford reservation, filled within two minutes of the start of Internet registration. "That shows the interest," Gerber said. "It will attract visitors." The interest is more than local, Gerber said. In the hour before and after the start of one registration, the registration page had hits from people in 40 states and 33 countries, she said. A tour of the reactor would take enough time that many visitors will stay overnight in the Tri-Cities, Gerber said. They're likely to participate in other Tri-City activities, such as golfing or visiting wineries. In addition, the coalition envisions a variety of tour options. Some B Reactor tours might be linked to a dinner cruise on the Columbia River or winery tours. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 61 Hanford News: Scientist exposes nuclear ambitions: Man warns of technology falling into wrong hands This story was published Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 Pratik Joshi, Herald staff writer For years, Mahdi Obeidi quietly worked in an Iraqi lab to help produce what could have been Iraq's nuclear bomb. Love of research, fear and patriotism kept Obeidi, a nuclear scientist, busy with the former dictatorSaddam Hussein's secret military projects through the late 1970s until the fall of Baghdad in 2003. Obeidi is in the Tri-Cities this week to share his story with the scientific community and offer insights about the rogue nation obsessed with nuclear weapons. On Monday he gave a presentation at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland and today he'll address Department of Energy employees. It was very easy for Iraq to get its hands on nuclear technology in the black market, Obeidi said. He said he paid two retired German scientists and a technician about $1 million to get blueprints for critical nuclear technology in the late '80s. People must be concerned about the dangers of nuclear technology falling into the wrong hands, said Obeidi, who is visiting the Mid-Columbia at the invitation of DOE. With nations such as Pakistan, North Korea and Iran willing to sell and buy nuclear secrets, the potential for disaster never is far, Obeidi said. Obeidi made headlines in 2003 after the fall of Baghdad when he showed American officials parts of a gas centrifuge system for enriching uranium hidden underground in his backyard. He had concealed the parts and design papers in a 3-foot plastic drum under orders from Saddam's top lieutenants more than 12 years ago, he said. The first Gulf War put the brakes on Iraq's nuclear program but by hiding key pieces of nuclear technology, Iraqi rulers probably wanted to restart their nuclear program at some later date, Obeidi said. Under Hussein's orders, Obeidi was not introduced to the U.N. nuclear weapons inspectors until 1995. Scientists in Iraq operated in an atmosphere of fear and deception yet they managed to develop technologies that were sometimes better than Western ones, said Obeidi, who earned a degree in chemical and petroleum refining engineering at Colorado School of Mines in 1967. He said he went to American authorities after the invasion because he didn't want criminals and tyrants to find Iraq's nuclear secrets and use them for evil purposes. But getting in touch with U.S. officials was not easy. With help of American journalist Kurt Pitzer, Obeidi reached David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector, in Washington, D.C. Albright helped him connect with American intelligence officials in Baghdad. "I was 18 when I first came to the U.S in 1962," said the former Iraqi scientist. Obeidi and his family moved to the U.S. in 2003. A year later he and Pitzer wrote The Bomb in My Garden: The Secrets of Saddam's Nuclear Mastermind. Obeidi said Johnny Depp has purchased the book rights for a film. And, recently Obeidi saw Steven Spielberg about the possibility of directing the film, he said. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed ***************************************************************** 62 Examiner.com: Scientists plead for Savannah River ecology lab funding - San Francisco, California | Change My City 10:45 PM July 17 By BEN EVANS, AP WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Two leading environmental scientists told a congressional panel Tuesday that eliminating funding for an ecological lab that monitors the Energy Department's Savannah River nuclear site would be shortsighted and urged the government to reconsider its plans. "The Savannah River Ecology Lab should be funded and I think even expanded," said Ward Whicker, professor emeritus at Colorado State University and an expert on the effects of radioactivity in the environment. "The lab has regularly saved the government more money than it has received." Run for more than 50 years as a partnership between the federal government and the University of Georgia, the lab monitors the Savannah River Site's long-term effects on the environment. The Energy Department has steadily reduced its budget under the Bush administration and is eliminating federal funding after the current year. UGA laid off about two dozen lab employees at the end of June, a school spokesman said, and it is unclear how long the facility will remain open. The university is picking up the tab temporarily to cover salaries for about 40 employees, while another 25 employees whose expenses are funded by existing grants will also continue working for now. The potential closing has generated complaints locally from residents who like having an independent monitor at the sprawling, Cold War-era nuclear complex that sits outside Aiken, S.C., near the Georgia state line. Democrats at Tuesday's hearing, held by two science subcommittees, suggested that the Energy Department may have motives other than fiscal concerns. The lab's budget accounts for just a sliver of what the Energy Department spends on the overall Savannah facility - about $4 million from a total of $1.2 billion last year. "It is curious that the Department of Energy ... has spent so much attention on an independent lab with a $4 million a year budget. The question becomes why," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., chairman of the Science Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Energy Department officials say the end to federal funding should come as no surprise; the two parties agreed two years ago that the lab would need to wean itself from government support. While its research is valuable, they say, the lab doesn't fit with the Savannah site's immediate mission to clean up hazardous waste. But the lab has struggled to secure outside financing without shifting its mission away from monitoring the environment. And lab officials have complained bitterly that onsite Energy Department officials assured them until just a few months ago that some form of federal funding would continue for years. Testimony on that topic did not materialize at Tuesday's hearing after a top Energy Department official postponed his appearance to attend a funeral. After Republicans complained that the hearing would be one-sided, the committee postponed testimony from the lab's former director, Paul Bertsch, until a hearing in August where Energy Department officials are scheduled to testify. On Tuesday, Whicker testified alongside Democratic Rep. John Barrow of Savannah and Jerald Schnoor, co-director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa and editor of the academic journal Environmental Science and Technology. "My candid overall opinion is that the (lab) is providing the (Energy Department) and the nation with high quality research in a very cost effective manner," Schnoor said. Whicker cited one example in which lab research helped the Energy Department clean up a contaminated reservoir at a cost of about $12 million, compared to an alternative plan that could have cost $4 billion. Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin questioned why the lab should get automatic annual funding from the Energy Department when other university researchers must compete for funding through federal and private grants. Supporters responded that the lab gets some of its budget from competitive grants. But they said the facility deserves some base federal funding because it plays a unique role nationally in monitoring the long-term consequences of the nuclear waste sites that the federal government built across the country decades ago. Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 63 DOE: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC) FR Doc E7-13770 [Federal Register: July 17, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 136)] [Notices] [Page 39066] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr17jy07-38] [[Page 39066]] DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC) was established under section 807 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT), Public Law 109-58; 119 Stat. 849. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, 86 Stat. 770, requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. To attend the meeting and/or to make oral statements during the public comment period, please e-mail: HTAC.Committee@ee.doe.gov at least 5 business days before the meeting. DATES: Tuesday, July 31, 2007, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Wednesday, August 1, 2007 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. ADDRESSES: Crystal City Marriott, 1999 Jefferson-Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: HTAC.Committee@ee.doe.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Meeting: To prepare biennial report to be completed in October 2007 focusing on the EPACT Section 804 Plan, also known as the Hydrogen Posture Plan. Tentative Agenda (Subject to change; updates will be posted on: http://hydrogen.energy.gov and copies of the final agenda will be available the date of the meeting): The following items will be covered on the agenda: Input from HTAC on Suggested Focus Areas for the Interagency Task Force. Briefing on the Well-to-Wheels Analysis, Appendix B of Hydrogen Posture Plan. Update on Restructuring of HELP. Members' Preparation of the Posture Plan Review Report. Next Steps. Public Participation: In keeping with procedures, members of the public are welcome to observe the business of the meeting of HTAC and to make oral statements during the specified period for public comment. The public comment period will take place between 11 a.m. and 12 noon on August 1, 2007. To attend the meeting and/or to make oral statements regarding any of the items on the agenda, e-mail: HTAC.Committee@ee.doe.gov at least 5 business days before the meeting. (Please indicate if you will be attending the meeting both days or just one day.) Members of the public will be heard in the order in which they sign up for the Public Comment Period. Oral comments should be limited to two minutes in length. Reasonable provision will be made to include the scheduled oral statements on the agenda. The Chair of the Committee will make every effort to hear the views of all interested parties and to facilitate the orderly conduct of business. If you would like to file a written statement with the Committee, you may do so either two days before or after the meeting (electronic and hard copy). Minutes: The minutes of the meeting will be available for public review at: http://hydrogen.energy.gov. Issued at Washington, DC, on July 11, 2007. Rachel Samuel, Deputy Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E7-13770 Filed 7-16-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 64 Knoxville News Sentinel: Storage space tight at Y-12 Safety board report says there is significant backlog of enriched uranium solutions By Frank Munger (Contact) Tuesday, July 17, 2007 OAK RIDGE — Persistent problems with uranium-processing operations are creating a storage crunch and other issues at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. A June 1 report by staff of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said there was a significant backlog of enriched-uranium solutions stored in tanks and “safe bottles” at the Oak Ridge plant. Because weapons-grade uranium is fissionable, solutions must be kept in tall, skinny bottles or other containers specially configured to prevent the material from reaching nuclear criticality. “Additional solution storage space will be needed, or an impact on other site activities may occur in the near future,” the staff report said. It’s apparently a sensitive issue. BWXT, the contractor that manages Y-12 for the government, took nearly two weeks to prepare a response to questions about the storage problems. Asked if Y-12 was running out of storage space, BWXT said by e-mail, “At the present time, storage space for in-process solutions is very limited. But we are able to balance the daily storage needs within these limitations. Containers are created and dispositioned on a daily basis.” BWXT said there had been a couple of spills in the Enriched Uranium Operations Building this summer following the safety board’s June report and confirmed that the storage conditions made the cleanup effort more complicated. “One was a nitric acid solution and the other was clean water (referred to as process water),” BWXT said. “Cleanup of these spills was slowed due to the shortage of storage space.” The root problem is the unreliability of Y-12’s wet-chemistry operation, a series of six chemical processes the plant uses to recycle stocks of enriched uranium. The entire operation was shut down for nearly a decade following a safety stand-down in 1994, and there have been continuing equipment failures and safety issues since the restart in 2003. “As wet chemistry provides a path for processing uranium solutions, these issues continue to result in a significant backlog of solutions stored in tanks and safe bottles,” the safety board’s Oak Ridge staff said in the June 1 memo to the board in Washington, D.C. Safe bottles are stored in carefully arranged racks inside the production areas. Although storage space is “very tight” at times, BWXT said the approved space currently available “appears adequate to support sustained operations” at the Oak Ridge plant. Because the chemical processes are operated in sequence, failure with one typically affects scheduled activities with others. Y-12 currently is processing uranium solutions and “on a path forward to work off a significant amount of backlog material in the next few months,” BWXT said. “With sustained operation of wet chemistry processes, this will provide the needed flexibility for the existing storage space,” the federal contractor said. Meanwhile, in a June 15 memo, the safety board staff noted another issue involving the bottles used to store enriched-uranium solutions. According to the report, a chemical operator at Y-12 found that a safe bottle was pressurized while attempting to remove the bottle’s lid. The pressure was unexpected because the bottle lids reportedly have a special membrane that allows gases to escape while containing the liquids. The bottle was subsequently moved to another area and vented, using additional safety controls, but the safety board staff said the incident raised questions about whether there should be periodic inspection of all safe bottles and their lids. Previous tests have shown that the membrane’s “diffusivity” may be affected if saturated with oil, the staff memo said. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************