***************************************************************** 08/03/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.181 ***************************************************************** 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 US: Macomb Daily: 'Radioactive Boy Scout' at it again, police say 2 IAEA: Publications: IAEA Annual Report 2006 3 UPI: Analysis: Musharraf on his way out NUCLEAR REACTORS 4 UN International Experts To Examine Japanese Nuclear Power Plant Hit 5 US: Nuke Industry Sneak Attack 6 The Hindu News: Left to have another round of talks with Govt on n-d 7 Edmonton News: Mayor upset by nuclear meeting 8 US: Herald News: Tentative settlement reached in dispute 9 People's Daily: Construction to begin on NE China's first nuclear po 10 RIA Novosti: India to set up world's first alternative nuclear fuel 11 US: NRC: NRC Sends Special Inspection Team to Brunswick Nuclear Plan 12 US: Burlington Free Press: Entergy: Yankee cracks not due to power b 13 US: recordonline.com: Entergy seeks reactors' license renewal 14 US: NRC: Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; New Routine Use 15 US: NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.; Notice of Receipt 16 UPI: Outside View: Nuclear plant assessments 17 Guardian Unlimited: India, US Release Nuclear Deal Text 18 UPI: Analysis: Nuclear booms almost everywhere 19 Prague Daily Monitor: Temelin to unhook first unit for two months to 20 US: Ocala Star Banner: If utility goes nuclear, it's for the custome 21 Japan Times: IAEA inspectors will check quake-hit Tepco nuclear plan 22 IAEA: IAEA Team to Visit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant 23 AFP: US Congress to scrutinize nuclear pact with India - 24 Daily Yomiuri: Poor info led to N-plant sensationalism 25 Daily Yomiuri: No reactor damage found at Kashiwazaki NUCLEAR SECURITY 26 US: Inside Bay Area: Radiation detectors tested on container ships a 27 US: SignOnSanDiego.com: Trespasser causes shake-up in security at nu NUCLEAR SAFETY 28 US: Preparing for a dirty bomb attack - BBC 29 US: SF Chronicle: Feds will check on Bayview asbestos / Neighbors' c 30 US: Times-News: Downwinders optimistic that reintroduced bill will b 31 US: starbulletin.com: False alert on radioactive danger creates pani 32 US: starbulletin.com: Army to continue controlled burn 33 MDN: Hibakusha: Confronting the reality of atomic devastation 34 US: Hot water: Could planned LNG pipelines stir up radioactive trash NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 35 Las Vegas SUN: Jon Ralston on campaign money, Yucca Mountain 36 LVNFES: Governor talks wildfires, energy in local visit 37 US: Daily News Journal: Council asks for radioactive dumping morator 38 US: Rutland Herald: Entergy dryer cracks 'normal' 39 US: Salt Lake Tribune: EnergySolutions' bid to clean up, then buy 40 US: Gallup Independent: Fear & Hope; In uranium country, life goes o 41 US: Cibola County Beacon: NRC plans new rules for uranimum 42 UK: Daily Mail: Revealed: the wind farms and waste dumps that are pl 43 US: KOB.com: DOE ordered to remove drum from WIPP 44 US: Star Phoenix: Uranium stalemate goes to court 45 American Chronicle: GAO RELEASES FINAL REPORT ON QUALITY ASSURANCE 46 News & Star: Sellafield must be favoured site PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 47 SavannahNow.com: Savannah River Site project to generate 800 jobs 48 DOE: Energy Department Names Director of its Loan Guarantee Office 49 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah 50 OpEdNews: The Nuclear Weapons Lab Bombing Range 51 Reuters: Secret World War Two nuclear city open to tours 52 Knoxville News Sentinel: ORNL sirens misfire in January, February te 53 Daily Astorian: Hanford is the gift that keeps on giving 54 Oak Ridger: K-25 touted for pilot biofuel plant - 55 Oak Ridger: OREPA demonstration this weekend - ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Macomb Daily: 'Radioactive Boy Scout' at it again, police say 08/03/07 Feds: Stolen smoke alarms intended for nuclear reactor By Mitch Hotts Macomb Daily Staff Writer A Clinton Township man who gained notoriety a decade ago as the so-called "Radioactive Boy Scout" was accused Thursday of stealing numerous smoke detectors in an effort to develop a homemade nuclear reactor. David Charles Hahn, 31, was being held on a $5,000 bond in the Macomb County Jail after he was arraigned in 41B District Court on charges of larceny from a building, a 4-year felony. Investigators said the U.S. Navy veteran was arrested after a maintenance worker at Green Valley Apartments saw him stealing smoke detectors from a common hallway where Hahn was renting an apartment. "Both our department and the FBI have been trying to monitor his movements once we learned he was back in the area," said Clinton Township police Detective Capt. Richard Maierle. Authorities discovered in January that Hahn had returned to Clinton Township after his service in the Navy. He apparently was trying to drum up publicity for a book he has written, according to police. When police arrested Hahn on Wednesday evening, they evacuated the apartment building and called in a Michigan State Police bomb squad to conduct a search of the apartment because of Hahn's background and the chemical items he was known to store in his residence. They found 16 smoke detectors that allegedly had been stolen from buildings in the complex. The suspect apparently was trying to harvest tiny amounts of the radioactive isotope americium-241, a silvery-white metal found in the detectors. The chemical can cause cancerous tumors and damage internal organs. Residents were allowed back into the complex after the police search. Hahn first came to the attention of authorities in 1994 after police stopped him during an investigation into someone stealing tires in a local neighborhood. Inside his car, officers found a sealed toolbox along with 50 foil-wrapped cubes of a gray powder, cylindrical metal objects, a clock face, fireworks and other chemicals and acids. The car was declared a "potential improvised explosive" and police had it towed in for further investigation. It turned out to be a chance encounter as Hahn allegedly had tried to build a reactor and found it was giving off extremely high levels of radiation. When police pulled him over on that night in 1994, he was about to dismantle the device. Police then called in the FBI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies. The federal government declared Hahn's mother's home in Commerce Township a hazardous materials site and had the structure buried in Utah as a low-level radioactive waste. Hahn was nicknamed "Radioactive Boy Scout" because as a Boy Scout he had earned a merit badge in Atomic Energy and was known to tinker with basement chemistry kits that caused small explosions. While a student at Chippewa Valley High School, he reportedly wrote the Nuclear Regulatory Commission claiming to be a physics instructor and sought tips on obtaining radioactive materials, according to an article in Harper's Magazine. Hahn told the magazine that he was interested in the nuclear field after reading "The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments." He had learned how to make nitroglycerin at the age of 14. The magazine reported that he caused an explosion in his mother's house in the 1990s that rocked the home and left him semiconscious on the floor. Hahn told the magazine he had been exposed to radioactive chemicals but added: "I don't believe I took more than five years off my life." Journal Register Company, click here ***************************************************************** 2 IAEA: Publications: IAEA Annual Report 2006 Documents are available only in pdf format. Adobe Acrobat Reader© is needed to view them. * Technology: » Nuclear Power » Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Technologies » Capacity Building and Nuclear Knowledge Maintenance for Sustainable Energy Development » Nuclear Science » Food and Agriculture » Human Health » Water Resources » Environments » Radioisotope Production and Radiation Technology * Safety and Security: » Incident and Emergency Preparedness and Response » Safety of Nuclear Installations » Radiation and Transport Safety » Management of Radioactive Waste » Nuclear Security * Verification » Safeguards » Verification in Iraq Pursuant to UNSC Resolutions * Management of Technical Cooperation: » Management of Technical Cooperation for Development * Annex: » Additional Annex Information » Organizational Chart Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria ***************************************************************** 3 UPI: Analysis: Musharraf on his way out United Press International - International Security - Emerging Threats - Analysis Published: Aug. 3, 2007 at 3:46 PM By ANWAR IQBAL UPI Correspondent WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- There seems to be a consensus in Pakistan -- from the man on the street to those in echelons of power -- that President Pervez Musharraf is on his way out. Nobody disputes that statement. The questions that are debated now are how and when. But the general, who came to power eight years ago in a peaceful coup that was welcomed by a vast majority of Pakistanis, is still trying to prolong his stay -- this time with the help of liberal politicians. He hopes to use former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and others like her to get another lease of life as he used religious parties and political turncoats after the last general elections in October 2002. But Bhutto is not a political orphan as many in the religious alliance known as Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal or the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party were. Religious parties had never won more than a handful of seats in previous Pakistani elections. They had never ruled over any place in Pakistan, but now they control a province and are coalition partners in another. This was only possible because Musharraf forced the country's two main politicians -- Bhutto and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif -- to stay abroad. Their absence during the 2002 elections allowed MMA and the PML (Q) to capture the constituencies they had never won before. It also allowed them to forge political alliances that allowed the PML (Q) to form governments in the center and in Punjab province. MMA took the Northwest Frontier and Balochistan provinces. Bhutto can do all these on her own. Despite eight years of military rule, her vote bank has, more or less, remained intact. She is also good at forging political alliances and has done so successfully in the past. So when Musharraf flew all the way to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates two weeks ago to seek her help to save him, Bhutto very bluntly told the general she would do so only if he retired from the army and agreed to become a civilian president. Pakistan follows the British parliamentary system in which all the powers are with the prime minister and the president is just a rubber stamp. Military rulers overcome this problem by putting "the Constitution in abeyance," a phrase coined by Pakistani superior courts to justify frequent military takeovers. But unfortunately for Musharraf, the Pakistani Supreme Court is no longer in a mood to issue another "abeyance" order, thanks to his failed attempt in March this year to suspend the country's chief justice. Following a huge public uprising against Musharraf's attempt to steamroll the judiciary, the Supreme Court restored the chief justice and declared the president's suspension order illegal and unconstitutional. This could not have happened at a more unfortunate time for Musharraf. Pakistan's next elections are due in October, unless he declares an emergency or reimposes martial law. For both purposes, he will need a pliant judiciary, the unflinching support of his generals and Washington's endorsement. He is unlikely to have any. If the elections are held as scheduled, then Musharraf has to take a fresh vote of confidence by September from the federal and provincial legislatures, as required by the Constitution. He won the previous vote, in 2002, with the help of MMA and the PML (Q). Despite some setbacks, the general has many supporters in the present legislatures and wants to seek re-election from them. But Pakistani legal experts say that this is illegal. They argue that a fresh vote is mandated so that the president can seek a vote of confidence from the new national and provincial legislatures. Seeking re-election from the outgoing Parliament fails the purpose. If Musharraf sets aside such legal opinions and seeks re-election from the present legislatures, it will be challenged in the Supreme Court. And given the Court's current state of mind and its new-found freedom, the decision will not favor Musharraf. The only person who can save him from total disgrace is Bhutto. If she is allowed to return, she is likely to win the forthcoming elections and then can use her influence to get a vote of confidence for Musharraf from the new lawmakers. But she has made it obvious that she will only do so if Musharraf retires from the army and agrees to become a civilian president. This may be a good way out for any other person but is a bitter pill for Musharraf, who has ruled the country as an autocrat for eight years. It may not be easy for him to relegate himself to the position of a constitutional head of state with no power. But this dispute over Musharraf's new status may delay the much-needed political change in Pakistan. And if this happens, the country will see a lot more bloodshed and may recede into a state of confusion and chaos. Such a situation will only help religious extremists who may want to exploit the situation to attempt to seize power in one of the world's largest Muslim nations, which is also a de facto nuclear power -- a scenario that is acceptable neither to Pakistani liberals nor to the United States. Indications are that the United States is not only aware of this danger but is also making efforts to avoid it. At a recent congressional hearing, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns mentioned Bhutto while talking about liberal politicians that the United States would like to see taking charge in Pakistan. The Pakistani media also are full of reports, quoting informed official sources, that the United States played a key role in arranging the Musharraf-Bhutto meeting and is using its influence to help arrange an acceptable solution that empowers Bhutto without relegating Musharraf to the status of a figurehead. © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 UN International Experts To Examine Japanese Nuclear Power Plant Hit By Quake Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 13:01:24 -0400 New York, Aug 3 2007 1:00PM A six-member team of international nuclear safety experts, assembled by the United Nations atomic watchdog agency, is set to arrive in Japan on Sunday to begin a six-day mission to examine the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant that was affected by a strong earthquake last month. The mission, at the invitation from the Japanese Government, is important for identifying lessons learned that might have implications for the international nuclear safety regime, UN International Atomic Energy Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/2007/prn200715.html">IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in a news release today. The team comprises two IAEA experts and four internationally recognized specialists in seismic safety, who will study current conditions at the plant, complementing an ongoing evaluation by Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) and Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), as well as by the plant’s operators, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The experts will report their findings to the Japanese authorities and to the Director General. The team will leave Japan on 11 August. 2007-08-03 00:00:00.000 ___________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To listen to news and in-depth programmes from UN Radio go to: http://radio.un.org/ _______________________________ To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/ ***************************************************************** 5 Nuke Industry Sneak Attack Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 22:28:18 -0500 (CDT) Hi All, It is Friday night and I just learned there is a $50 Billion loan guarantee for the Nuke industry in the Energy Bill. There is expected to be a vote on it tomorrow/Sat Aug 4. If you don't want any more nuclear plants in the US, call your US Rep NOW and get them to delete Section 9202 of the Energy Bill. Another way to phrase it is to "support the Visclosky/Tierney amendment to delete Section 9202 of the Energy Bill" Following is what I got from MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) and NIRS (Nuclear Information and Resource Service). My Best, David Grace ///\\\ -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Urgent letter from Bonnie Raitt/Jackson Browne/Graham Nash: call your Rep today Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 From: Michael Mariotte Below is an urgent letter from some very good friends about a provision in the energy bill now being debated in the U.S. House of Representatives. This provision would prevent Congress from being able to properly oversee the Department of Energys loan guarantee program and would thus clear the way for billions more taxpayer dollars being spent on new atomic reactors. The House Rules Committee met late into Thursday night/Friday morning and so far has been unable to determine what amendments might be allowed on the House floor. Reps. Visclosky and Tierney have introduced a good-government amendment to delete this language. If approved by the House Rules Committee later today, it is likely to be voted on Saturday! Please take a moment to call your Representative today and urge him/her to support the Visclosky/Tierney amendment to delete Section 9202 of the Energy Bill! Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121. Tell your member that Congress must maintain proper oversight of the DOE loan guarantee program and that you dont want any loan guarantees for new nuclear reactors! If your Representative is on the House Rules Committee (list of committee members is at http://www.rules.house.gov/rules_members.htm), urge your Rep to approve this amendment for floor consideration. This will be the first step in the process to delete this provision. Because it is already included in the Senate-passed energy bill, we will need to remove it during a Senate-House conference committee, likely in September. We will keep you informed about necessary actions to take. Thanks for all you do! Michael Mariotte Executive Director Nuclear Information and Resource Service AN URGENT CALL TO STOP THE $50 BILLION NUKE POWER GIVE-AWAY From Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash and Harvey Wasserman Co-Founders, Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) As early as this Friday, Congress may approve legislation allowing the Department of Energy to approve $50 billion and more in federal loan guarantees to build new nuclear power plants. We ask that you call your US Representative to make sure this does not happen. The nuclear industry itself has made it clear that this astonishing taxpayer give-away is the only way new atomic reactors will be built in this country. After fifty years of proven failure, neither Wall Street nor the utility industry wants to finance new atomic construction without your taxpayer dollars to guarantee their investments. You might think that after half a century, technology once sold on the promise of being "too cheap to meter" would be able to raise its own funding. But it can't. By contrast, no federal guarantees are needed for the billions of dollars being invested in building new wind farms all over the world. Now the reactor industry falsely claims that it can help solve the global warming problem, even though all reactors emit huge quantities of excess heat directly into the air and water. They also cause major CO2 emissions in the mining, milling and enriching of nuclear fuel, in the reactor construction and decommissioning process, and in the long-term management of spent radioactive fuel, for which there is no real solution. A single dollar spent on increased efficiency saves as much energy as ten dollars spent on nuclear power can produce. But under this phony "green" guise, the industry wants to exploit a single-sentence loophole in the Energy Bill passed by the U.S. Senate to cash in on virtually limitless federal loan guarantees. The sentence was slipped into the law without open debate. It is essential that we stop this gargantuan nuclear rip-off from happening. This is just the first major battle in what will be a long, hard fight to stop atomic energy from once again derailing the necessary transition to a global economy based on the efficient, equitable use of natural energies provided by our Mother Earth. Thanks..No NukesBonnie, Jackson, Graham, Harvey //////\\\\\\ "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." -- John Kenneth Galbraith ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ ***************************************************************** 6 The Hindu News: Left to have another round of talks with Govt on n-deal Friday, August 3, 2007 : 1345 Hrs New Delhi, Aug. 3 (PTI): Left parties are likely to hold another round of discussions with the Government on the Indo- US civil nuclear deal next week after going through the text of the agreement "thoroughly". The parties chose to reserve their comments on the deal, the text of which was unveiled by the Government today, saying they have to analyse its finerpoints and consult scientists before coming out with a formal reaction. "The text (of the agreement) has just been released. We will say not anything before studying it thoroughly. Left leaders are meeting here next week and probably we will react after that," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said. "We have agreed to have another round of discussions with the Government," CPI National Secretary D Raja said. "It is a profound subject. We will analyse the text and come out with a considered response in a couple of days," he added. The All India Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata Biswas said the Left will consult scientists and intellectuals before taking a comprehensive view on the deal as it was a "complex subject". Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 7 Edmonton News: Mayor upset by nuclear meeting edmontonsun.com - Fri, August 3, 2007 By CP BLUE RIDGE -- A mayor is upset over a community meeting held by residents who want more information about a proposal to build two nuclear power plants in northwestern Alberta. About 150 people gathered in Blue Ridge, part of Woodlands County, on Wednesday night to hear about the downside of nuclear energy from a conservation group. Alison Jamison of the Pembina Institute told the crowd about the huge amount of fresh water needed by nuclear plants and the problem of disposing of nuclear waste. Woodlands County Mayor Jim Rennie, who supports a proposal by Energy Alberta Corp. to build the nuclear plants, accused organizers of fearmongering. "The people who were presenting did an excellent job of what they are paid to do, which is to scare people," Rennie said. Calgary-based Energy Alberta wants to build two 1,100-megawatt nuclear power generation plants in northwestern Alberta. They would be the first in the province. The company has partnered with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the federal Crown corporation that makes Candu reactors, and says it has lined up financing and clients. However, Energy Alberta is still working on its site application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Last month, the company flew Rennie, another mayor and 14 municipal councillors to New Brunswick on a private jet to tour a nuclear facility. Following the trip, the councils of Woodland County and the town of Whitecourt wrote qualified letters of endorsement for the project. CANOE home | We welcome your feedback. Copyright © 2007, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved. Test ***************************************************************** 8 Herald News: Tentative settlement reached in dispute HeraldNewsOnline.com Member of the Sun-Times News Group BRAIDWOOD NUCLEAR POWER PLANT August 3, 2007 By Ken O'Brien STAFF WRITER JOLIET -- Will County and nine agencies have tentatively agreed to settle a dispute over the tax value of the Braidwood nuclear power plant. But the Reed-Custer School District has not been a party to the talks. In May, the district filed a lawsuit challenging a value set by Rhonda Novak, the Will County supervisor of assessments. Officials in the negotiations hope that all the taxing bodies will approve the agreement this month. If that happens, the agreement would be presented to the Reed-Custer board in September. The officials -- who also represent Joliet Junior College, a library district and a fire district -- would take that step in hopes the school district will accept the agreement. That in turn, would clear the way for Reed-Custer to drop its lawsuit and a bid to get a state board to overrule Novak's assessment. Will County Executive Larry Walsh told a county board committee Thursday that the agreement calls for raising the assessment from $217 million, where it had been frozen through the 2005 tax year, to $350 million for the 2006 tax year. Taxes for 2006 are due in 2007. The deal would also provide for annual $20 million increases in the assessment for the Exelon plant through the 2010 tax years, pushing the total to $430 million, Walsh said. Exelon supports the dollar amounts in the agreement, said Kathleen Elliott, an attorney representing Will County. The deal will be presented to the county board's executive committee Thursday and the entire county board will consider it Aug. 16. The Godley Park District also has endorsed the agreement. Walsh, the committee and Phil Mock, an assistant to Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, discussed the points of the agreement for about 10 minutes. Then, a lawyer for Reed-Custer said district officials were not aware of the Thursday meeting until Wednesday. Joshua Whitt also said the school district wants a chance to "present its story." County board Chairman James Moustis, R-Frankfort, promised to give Reed-Custer officials that chance next week. In January, the Will County Board of Review voted to uphold Novak's $350 million assessment. Reed-Custer argued that the assessment should be $585 million. Reed-Custer wants the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board to overturn the board of review decision. Mock said a settlement by the taxing bodies would end an issue that could continue for two years if it goes to the state board. The agreement would provide more tax revenue for Reed-Custer, Walsh said, citing a jump from $11.4 million for the 2005 tax year to $13.6 million for the 2006 tax year. But school officials say they would lose money if the assessment is $350 million. This spring, Exelon offered to pay an additional $2.4 million in taxes to Reed-Custer this year as the district faces a budget crisis. But the board rejected the offer in April. Contact reporter Ken O'Brien at (815) 729-6119 or kobrien@scn1.com heraldnewsonline.com: Feedback | Contact Us | About Us | Advertise © Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group | Terms of Use and Privacy ***************************************************************** 9 People's Daily: Construction to begin on NE China's first nuclear power plant 20:55, August 03, 2007 Construction is expected to begin in mid- or late August on the main section of a nuclear power plant near the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian, the first such plant in the country's old industrial base, a company official said on Friday. The Hongyanhe nuclear power station, located the Donggang Township, of Dalian's Wafangdian City, Liaoning Province, would have six generating units, each with an installed capacity of one million kilowatts, said Xu Juncai, vice general manager of the Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. It was 110 km north of Dalian and 270 km south of the provincial capital Shenyang, Xu said. "It is expected that four units, to be built in the first phase, will go into commercial operation in 2012," he said. The China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Holdings Co. Ltd. and the China Power Investment Corporation would each hold a 45-percent stake, and the remaining 10 percent would be held by the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Company, Xu said. He did not disclose the cost of the project, which was approved by the State Development and Reform Commission in April last year, but earlier reports said it would cost 23 billion yuan (3.03 billion U.S. dollars). "We are now going through the final procedures of being approved by the state, which may be finished in mid or late August," Xu said. The power plant is expected to play an important role in efforts to rejuvenate China's old industrial northeast. China has 11 nuclear reactors in operation. The nation's installed capacity of nuclear power stands at eight million kilowatts, accounting for merely one percent of the total installed capacity of electric power. The government plans to increase the country's nuclear power capacity to 40 million kilowatts by 2020, to account for four percent of the country's total electric power, in a bid to meet growing power demand and cut emissions, according to the State Development and Reform Commission. China is the world's second-largest power consumer after the United States. The nation used more than 590.78 million tons of raw coal to generate power in the first half of this year, up nearly 18 percent year-on-year, according to China Electricity Council. China built its first nuclear power plant in east coastal Zhejiang Province in 1991. Source: Xinhua Copyright by People's Daily Online, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 10 RIA Novosti: India to set up world's first alternative nuclear fuel reactor 14:22 | 03/ 08/ 2007 NEW DELHI, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - India plans to start construction of the world's first advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) using thorium as a fuel, which is less radioactive than uranium, enabling the country to ensure energy security, Asian Age reported Friday. "We have the design and the technology to install a 300MW thorium-based reactor. It is going through the process of regulatory clearance. We will start work on it in the Eleventh Plan (2007-2012) period... and we hope to complete the work within seven years," the paper quoted Dr. Baldev Raj, director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam, as saying. He said that India is the only country in the world with adequate reserves of thorium to make building this type of reactor financially viable. "As of today, no other country in the world is doing any research on thorium-based reactors as they do not have adequate thorium reserves," Dr. Raj said, adding that this would be a major technological achievement for the country as thorium-based reactors would see the completion of India's nuclear fuel cycle. The first stage of India's nuclear program saw pressurized heavy water reactors which created plutonium. With its vast thorium resources along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coasts, the country does not need to worry about its future fuel needs, Dr. Raj said. Experts point out that with thorium producing radioactive waste that has a half life 10 to 10,000 times less than that produced by uranium or plutonium reactors, the chances of any hazards are fewer in thorium reactors. According to Dr. Raj, work on the 500MW fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam is progressing according to schedule. "We are sure that the FBR will be commissioned by September 2010. It will start supplying power to the national grid by March 2011. We have almost finished the civil construction work. The reactor vault has been completed without any problems. The main vessel of the reactor, the safety vessel, core structure, control rod drives, fuel-handling mechanism are all in various stages of completion. From the end of September, we will start loading all components into the building," he said. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 11 NRC: NRC Sends Special Inspection Team to Brunswick Nuclear Plant to Assess and Inspect Unit 1 Valve Failure News Release - Region II - 2007-07-039 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov NRC news releases are available through a free list server subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site. Friday, August 03, 2007 ***************************************************************** 12 Burlington Free Press: Entergy: Yankee cracks not due to power boost burlingtonfreepress.com | Burlington, Vermont Friday, August 3, 2007 What is it going to take for Vermonters to push their legislatures for renewable energy sources made right here in Vermont? Micro-Hydro (Made in Vermont) Solar (Made in Vermont) Wind (Made in Vermont) Manure (Made in Vermont) Geothermal (Made in Vermont) Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:53 pm The Associated Press VERNON — New cracks on a piece of equipment at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant are due to normal aging and not the plant’s recent 20 percent power increase, the company that owns the plant said. A detailed inspection of the steam dryer by Entergy Nuclear found 29 new cracks or indications of cracks. The inspection was carried out after earlier inspections showed 46 cracks in the large stainless steel component. The inspection also showed that the older cracks had not continued to grow. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said the NRC’s technical staff was still reviewing Entergy information. The NRC says that despite the new cracks, the plant is safe to operate. Regulators are concerned the cracks could force Vermont Yankee to shut down for an extended period as did steam dryers in four Illinois nuclear reactors of the same design as Vermont Yankee. The stainless steel steam dryer helps eliminate almost all of the moisture from the steam rising from the reactor, which means better power production and less corrosion on power generation components, the company says. The new cracks were not due to metal fatigue from the additional steam being pushed through the plant, said John Dreyfuss, Entergy’s director of nuclear safety assurance. “It held up beautifully,” he said. ***************************************************************** 13 recordonline.com: Entergy seeks reactors' license renewal August 03, 2007 Buchanan — Entergy Nuclear Northeast's license renewal application for Indian Point's two reactors was received for review April 30 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Notice will be given for the public to have an opportunity to review the material and request a hearing, the NRC said. Plant opponents, including the environmental group Riverkeeper, have called for the reactors to be closed down when the current licenses expire in 2013 and 2015. Owners said the facility is a vital part of New York state's power supply. The NRC expects the review to take between 27 and 36 months to complete. If the application is approved, the NRC would relicense the reactors for another 20 years. The application is available online at www.nrc.gov. Lisa Coffey Save, Share & RecommendWhat's This? Record Online is brought to you by the Times Herald-Record ***************************************************************** 14 NRC: Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; New Routine Use FR Doc E7-15082 [Federal Register: August 3, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 149)] [Notices] [Page 43296-43297] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03au07-101] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of New Routine Use. SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposes to adopt a new routine use that will apply to all of its systems of records allowing disclosure to appropriate persons and entities for purposes of response and remedial efforts in the event that there has been a breach of data contained in the systems. This routine use will facilitate an effective response to a confirmed or suspected breach by permitting disclosure to those individuals affected by the breach, as well as to others who are in a position to assist in the NRC's response efforts, either by assisting in notification to affected individuals or by otherwise playing a role in preventing, [[Page 43297]] minimizing, or remedying harm from the breach. DATES: This revision will become effective without further notice on September 12, 2007 unless comments received on or before that date cause a contrary decision. If changes are made based on NRC's review of comments received, a new final notice will be published. We note that the text of the proposed routine use is taken from the routine use that has already been published in final form by the Department of Justice after public comment at 72 FR 3410 (January 25, 2007). ADDRESSES: Mail comments to the Chief, Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Comments can also be transmitted to the Chief of the Rulemaking, Directives, and Editing Branch by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 415-5144, or by e-mail to nrcrep@nrc.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sandra S. Northern, Privacy Program Officer, FOIA/Privacy Act Team, Records and FOIA/Privacy Services Branch, Information and Records Services Division, Office of Information Services, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, telephone: 301-415-6879; e-mail: ssn@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NRC proposes to revise its Prefatory Statement of General Routine Uses to include a new routine use (7) that will apply to all of its current systems of records, published October 10, 2006 (71 FR 59614) and December 15, 2006 (71 FR 77072), allowing disclosure to appropriate persons and entities for purposes of response and remedial efforts in the event that there has been a breach of data contained in the systems. This routine use will facilitate an effective response to a confirmed or suspected breach by allowing disclosure to those individuals affected by the breach, as well as to others who are in a position to assist in the NRC's response efforts, either by assisting in notification to affected individuals or by otherwise playing a role in preventing, minimizing, or remedying harm from the breach. Accordingly, the proposed new routine will read: * * * * * 7. A record from this system of records may be disclosed as a routine use to appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (1) the NRC suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of information in the system of records has been compromised; (2) the NRC has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other systems or programs (whether maintained by the NRC or another agency or entity) that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) the disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in connection with the NRC's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm. A report on this revision is being sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the U.S. Senate, and the Committee on Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives as required by the Privacy Act and OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix I, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About Individuals.'' Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 27th day of July, 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Edward T. Baker III, Director Office of Information Services. [FR Doc. E7-15082 Filed 8-2-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc.; Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for Renewal of Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 and 2 Facility Operating Licenses Nos. NPF-68 and NPF-81 for an Additional 20-Year Period FR Doc E7-15117 [Federal Register: August 3, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 149)] [Notices] [Page 43296] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03au07-100] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. 50-424 and 50-425] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) has received an application dated June 27, 2007, from Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., filed pursuant to Section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 54 (10 CFR Part 54), to renew the operating licenses for the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (VEGP), Units 1 and 2. Renewal of the licenses would authorize the applicant to operate Unit 1 for an additional 20-year period beyond the period specified in its current operating license. For VEGP, Unit 2, the renewed license would authorize the applicant to operate for an additional 20 years beyond the period specified in the current operating license or 40 years from the date of issuance of the new license, whichever occurs first. The current operating license for VEGP, Unit 1, (NPF-68), expires on January 16, 2027. VEGP, Unit 1, is a Pressurized Water Reactor designed by Westinghouse. The current operating license for VEGP, Unit 2, (NPF- 81), expires on February 9, 2029. VEGP, Unit 2, is a Pressurized Water Reactor designed by Westinghouse. Both units are located near Waynesboro, GA. The acceptability of the tendered application for docketing, and other matters including an opportunity to request a hearing, will be the subject of subsequent Federal Register notices. Copies of the application are available to the public at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852 or through the internet from the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room under Accession Number ML071840360. The ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html In addition, the application is available at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/. actors/. access to the internet or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC's PDR reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, extension 4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. A copy of the license renewal application for the VEGP, Units 1 and 2, is also available to local residents near the site at the Burke County Library, 130 Highway 24 South, Waynesboro, GA 30830. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 26th day of July, 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Pao-Tsin Kuo, Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E7-15117 Filed 8-2-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 16 UPI: Outside View: Nuclear plant assessments United Press International - International Security - Industry - Analysis Published: Aug. 3, 2007 at 1:26 PM By TATYANA SINITSYNA UPI Outside View Commentator MOSCOW, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- An earthquake hit the city of Kashiwazaki, Japan, last week, causing an estimated $33.3 billion worth of damage. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, one of Japan's largest, was in the earthquake zone. Radioactive substance leakage was reported. Japanese authorities and the public are attacking the Tokyo Electric Power Co. after it refused to give information on the danger. The alarm was sounded at the other end of the world, in the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Mohamed ElBaradei, its director general, says he hopes TEPCO will not withhold any facts from investigation. Alexei Lopanchuk, an expert on nuclear plants' environmental effects at the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, commented on the situation for RIA Novosti: "I saw a burning transformer on the television. It was no shock to a specialist -- a tank transformer can catch fire with the slightest spark. Every project envisages safety measures. Transformers are set apart from each other, so fire cannot spread to cause a leak. Radioactive water could have leaked from the reactor containment sump -- but I don't think it could get out of the circuit and pollute the environment, whatever the press might be saying. As for polluted sea, I think that's a paranoid allegation." The expert dismisses speculation that seismic danger was underestimated when the plant site was chosen: "The Japanese are top-notch professionals, and exacting and pragmatic to the utmost degree in choosing plant sites. It was a mere accident, I think." The Kashiwazaki drama makes us wonder whether Russian nuclear plants are immune to natural disasters. They face very little risk from earthquakes on the seismically docile East European Plain. Nonetheless, safety measures have been steadily tightened since 2000, when Russia placed a new emphasis on atomic energy. A nationwide blueprint for updating and enhancing safety procedures has been adopted. All present-day projects are designed to withstand earthquakes with a minimum magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale. Russian specialists proceed from the same stringent safety standards when they build plants abroad. "We design nuclear plants taking account for everything nature can throw at us -- tornadoes, glaze frost, blizzards, torrential rain, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and mud volcano eruptions. We also consider every possible manmade risk -- for instance, air routes and railroads in the vicinity of plants," Lopanchuk said. Russian-designed projects have proved reliable in the past. The premises and infrastructure of the Kudankulam plant in India stood unscathed in the Sumatran tsunami of 2004. The Armenian plant withstood the magnitude 9 during the 1988 quake, which wiped the town of Spitak off the face of the Earth, though the plant was designed to withstand a force no greater than 5. Designed and built by Soviet specialists, the Kozlodui plant in Bulgaria survived a sequence of quakes with the epicenter in neighboring Romania. Now, Russia is designing a new Bulgarian nuclear project in Belena, also within the Vrancea seismic zone. The alarmed Japanese public insists on shutting down not only Kashiwazaki, but also Shizuoka and another 15 nuclear power plants out of a total of 55. But this could be expensive. It takes at least a year to cool a reactor in a process that occasionally costs more than plant construction. Furthermore, with no resources comparable to nuclear energy, a shutdown may plunge Japan into an energy crisis. "I don't know how accidents are generally estimated. I, for my part, am no alarmist. Japan is accustomed to quakes, and is very serious about them. The damaged units will be re-commissioned after thorough investigation, I am sure," Lopanchuk said. -- (Tatyana Sinitsyna is a commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.) -- (United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.) © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Guardian Unlimited: India, US Release Nuclear Deal Text From the Associated Press Friday August 3, 2007 7:46 AM NEW DELHI (AP) - India and the United States on Friday spelled out how they planned to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology under a pact that reverses three decades of American anti-proliferation policy. Much of what is in the text of the so-called 1-2-3 agreement released Friday had already been disclosed by officials in New Delhi and Washington, who last week announced they had finalized the technical agreement and were only waiting to brief lawmakers before unveiling it. Since the broad nuclear deal was first announced in July 2005 it has been touted as cornerstone of an emerging partnership between India and the United States after decades on opposite sides of the Cold War divide. But it has also elicited criticism from Americans who worried it would stymie U.S. anti-proliferation efforts, especially in Iran, and from Indians who said it would undermine country's cherished weapons program and sovereignty. The text released Friday was sure to quiet most of the few remaining Indian critics - New Delhi got nearly everything it wanted, including the right to stockpile fuel and the right to reprocess fuel, a key step in making atomic weapons. However, reprocessing is to take place at a facility safeguarded by U.N. inspectors to prevent it from being used in bombs. The document makes no mention of what happens in the event of an Indian weapons test. But it does state that if the fuel supply from the United States is cut off for any reason - an Indian test presumably among them - Washington would help find third countries to supply New Delhi's reactors. The deal allows the United States to ship nuclear fuel and technology to India, which in exchange would open its civilian nuclear reactors to international inspectors. India's military reactors would remain off-limits. Indian and U.S. lawmakers now need to approve the deal. India also needs to make separate agreements with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that export nuclear material. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 18 UPI: Analysis: Nuclear booms almost everywhere United Press International - International Security - Energy - Published: Aug. 3, 2007 at 12:57 PM By STEFAN NICOLA UPI Energy Correspondent BERLIN, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- In most of Europe, nuclear energy is seen as a vital tool to guarantee energy security; in the continent's largest economy, however, things are a bit different. One of the fiercest opponents of nuclear energy is a German federal minister. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel of the center-left Social Democratic Party is one of the architects of the German plan to phase out nuclear energy by 2021. Earlier this week he increased the pressure on the German nuclear energy industry after security deficits surfaced at two plants run by Vattenfall Europe. This week in Berlin, Gabriel said that within a year all 17 German nuclear power plants must have an updated, state-of-the-art security concept, and deficits had to be repaired more quickly than in the past -- otherwise affected plants would be "shut down" immediately. One such plant is Brunsbuettel, in northern Germany, where on June 28 a transformer in the reactor short-circuited, causing an emergency shutdown. When the reactor was restarted on July 1, more irregularities and malfunctions surfaced that were not properly reported by Vattenfall Europe. Despite timely inquiries by the state nuclear safety organization, Brunsbuettel, built in the early 1970s, is notorious for its poor security and is "better shut down tomorrow," Gabriel said. He added Brunsbuettel needed to remain offline for at least two more weeks as federal authorities were "thoroughly" checking security at the reactor. Gabriel and his supporters argue that the risks of a nuclear meltdown outweigh any benefits that the energy source may have. They also point to the difficulty of getting rid of nuclear waste, not to mention what might happen if terrorists attack a nuclear power plant. Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union, which governs Germany with the SPD in a "grand coalition," is not happy about Gabriel's latest war of words against nuclear energy. They see it as a move to even more quickly drive nuclear out of the country's energy mix, and such a plan has no backing in Merkel's party. Phasing out nuclear energy, Merkel's CDU argues, is not timely in light of the changing reality in the energy world. Finland and France are building new reactors, and the United States also plans to expand its portfolio of 41 nuclear power plants. In China, between 40 and 45 nuclear power plants are in the pipeline to feed the country's rapidly growing economy; in the past weeks, Beijing struck deals with U.S. and French companies over construction projects. In Russia, scientists and engineers are working to launch the first nuclear power station that floats on water, a project that -- if successful -- promises sales to Morocco and Namibia. Countries that have previously agreed to phase out nuclear energy -- like Sweden and Belgium -- have prolonged the running times of their plants or are even rethinking the phase-out. Nuclear energy, the countries argue, is a cheap and reliable source of electricity; while nuclear had a terrible image after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the growing need to fight climate change now polished nuclear's reputation as its energy production cycle doesn't emit greenhouse gases. Moreover, countries with few or no energy resources of their own want to become less dependent on potentially unreliable suppliers like Russia and the countries in the Middle East. Add to that ever-rising oil and gas prices, and even the high construction costs of a nuclear power plant may ultimately pay off. Earlier this year the leaders of the Group of Eight nations in Heiligendamm agreed that nuclear energy belongs in the energy mix of the future. At the time, only summit host Merkel, the German chancellor, didn't agree -- not because she doesn't, but because she is bound to support the phase-out as part of the coalition agreement struck in Germany. Observers say, however, that the phase-out itself will be phased out as soon as Gabriel and his SPD lose power in Berlin; once Merkel can rule on her own, she will hold onto nuclear, not only because of energy security, but also because of the German economy: As the whole word invests in nuclear, German companies could make a few bucks with their technology. India and China are known to pay well. (email: energy@upi.com) © Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 19 Prague Daily Monitor: Temelin to unhook first unit for two months to replace fuel - By CTK / Published 3 August 2007 Temelin, Aug 2 (CTK) - Staff at the nuclear power plant of Temelin, southern Bohemia, will shut down the first unit on Friday owing to the replacement of a quarter of fuel in the reactor, the power plant's spokesman Marek Svitak told CTK Thursday. The original fuel assemblies, which got deformed, will be replaced by new and better ones. At the same time, the staff will install a new high-pressure component in the rotor. The same component has already been replaced in the second unit this year. The first unit will be running at full output until 6:30 p.m. on Friday and then the staff will begin to lower its output. The unit is to be unhooked from the grid at 9:00 p.m. The modernised part will raise the output of each unit by at least 26 megawatts to 1,020 MW and prolong the life span of the turbine. The replacement of rotors and other parts in both units will cost almost Kc700 million. "This modernisation of turbines is one of the biggest environmental investments CEZ will make this year. Thanks to the increased installed output, Temelin will generate 350,000 MWh of electricity annually without letting 350,000 tonnes of emissions into the air," Svitak said. The replacement is due to problems with a vibrating turbine. Temelin staff removed the problems last year, but CEZ has decided to replace and modernise part of the turbine which was produced 22 years ago. The high-pressure part is an integral part of the turbine, which also comprises three low-pressure parts. Inside the high-pressure part, steam expands to set turbine vanes in motion. This story is from the Czech News Agency (CTK). The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its content. Copyright 2007 by the Czech News Agency (CTK). All rights reserved. Copying, dissemination or other publication of this article or parts thereof without the prior written consent of CTK is expressly forbidden. copyright 2007 monitor ce media services s.r.o. | all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 20 Ocala Star Banner: If utility goes nuclear, it's for the customers Aug. 3, 2007, Today's Events. Login | Register | Subscribe Progress Energy says interest is based on costs, environmental gains. BY FRED HIERS STAR-BANNER OCALA - Enriched uranium is not the only fuel nuclear power plants need to start turning their turbines to make electricity. Industry officials say they also need cash and billions of dollars in government loan guarantees to prime the financial pumps and get construction under way. But despite the Senate recently adding a provision in its energy bill to offer tens of billions of dollars in loan guarantees next year, Progress Energy Florida executives say their decision to move forward with another nuclear power plant will not be rooted in whether the federal government offers to guarantee bank loans. "Our decision to build or not build in Levy County is not based on federal incentives or loan guarantees. It is based on the best long-term interests of our customers," said Progress spokeswoman Carla Groleau. The company's interest in nuclear power is based on its stable cost and its compatibility with the environment, according to Groleau. "That's why nuclear is a strong, viable option for us moving forward," she said. Energy lobbyists told lawmakers the industry will need as much as $50 billion in guarantees during the next two years to help get new facilities off the ground, according to a recent New York Times report. Utility companies are considering 28 new reactors at 19 different sites. One of those new reactors would be built by Progress Energy, which already owns the nearby Crystal River nuclear plant in Citrus County. There are five nuclear reactors in Florida at three sites. Two reactors are 25 miles south of Miami (Turkey Creek Point), the Crystal River Plant is seven miles northwest of Crystal River and two reactors are at the St. Lucie Plant 12 miles southeast of Fort Pierce. Progress Energy is expected to announce next year whether it will go forward with its plans in rural Levy County. Indicators, however, suggest the company's prospects are bright for continuing the project. "It's going well," Groleau said. Last month the Levy County Commission unanimously approved changes to its Comprehensive Land Use Plan to accommodate building a power plant at the 3,000 acre site. The land-use change now goes to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for approval. In early 2008, Progress Energy is slated to submit its case to the Public Energy Commission showing why the power company thinks there is a need for the additional electricity the nuclear plant would provide. During that same time, the power company would also submit applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue with the project. Barring any delays, construction could begin in 2010, with the first of two reactors going online by 2016. The cost for the two reactors is estimated at $5 billion and they are expected to provide enough electricity for about 700,000 customers. CRIST'S EMISSIONS CUTS The rush toward nuclear power is coming in part from Gov. Charlie Crist, who recently ordered Florida utility companies to cut back carbon emissions by the year 2050 to levels 20 percent less than what existed in 1990. Meanwhile, the state's population could double during the next half century. Nuclear power, while producing radioactive waste, emits no carbon pollution suspected of contributing to global warming. Progress Energy Florida is Marion County's largest energy provider with 63,000 customers. It has 1.7 million customers in Florida. Ocala Electric Utility, with 50,000 customers in Marion County, is looking to expand its role in the nuclear arena. The utility already owns 1.33 percent of the Crystal River nuclear plant and wants to invest in more. "When any nuclear plant is built [in Florida] we will ask to be a participant in that plant," said Ocala Electric Director Becky Mattey. Mattey is chairwoman of the All Requirements Project, a group of 15 municipal electric companies. The group recently scrapped plans for a coal-fired plant in Taylor County, a reflection of Florida's pressure to move away from coal-fired energy due to emission problems and possible global warming. The All Requirements Project was going to pay for 39 percent of the $2 billion coal plant before shelving the project. Ocala Electric makes up 21 percent of All Requirements Project's budget. Mattey said that money now has to be invested elsewhere and nuclear power was an optimal choice. Ocala Electric already gets most of its power from coal and natural gas. Mattey said the Senate's energy bill was an attempt to help power companies diversify their power sources. "We're heavily dependent on natural gas and coal," she said. "Fuel diversity is when you can really manage cost." Fred Hiers may be reached at fred.hiers@starbanner.com and (352) 867-4157 © Copyright 2007, The Ocala Star-Banner, ***************************************************************** 21 Japan Times: IAEA inspectors will check quake-hit Tepco nuclear plant next week japantimes.co.jp Web Friday, Aug. 3, 2007 Kyodo News A team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Japan for a week from Sunday to inspect the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station hit by an earthquake last month, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Thursday. The Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog plans to draw up a report on its findings regarding the nuclear power station, which remains closed since a leakage of water containing low-level radioactive material and other problems were reported after the magnitude-6.8 quake on July 16. Vice Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takao Kitabata said Japan is willing to share information about damage to the plant with the rest of the world, especially when demand for nuclear power is growing worldwide in an effort to curb carbon dioxide emissions. "I think it is very meaningful that international experts will actually see the plant," Kitabata said at a news conference. "We would like to see the inspection results shared with people involved in nuclear power." Do faults run deeper than Tepco safety vows? The IAEA team is expected to check on how the large-scale temblor affected the plant and whether the plant is equipped with antiquake measures, according to Kitabata. After inspecting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the world's largest nuclear power station in terms of output capacity, the IAEA team will hold talks in Tokyo on Aug. 10 with officials at the agency, which falls under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The team is scheduled to leave Japan on Aug. 11. On July 19, the IAEA proposed to Japan that it participate in Japanese investigations with a view to sharing information, although it is aware that Japan is capable of conducting investigations on its own. Commenting on the IAEA team's itinerary, Kashiwazaki Mayor Hiroshi Aida said, "It is significant to accurately evaluate the conditions of a nuclear power plant after an earthquake and to disseminate correct information internationally to share such knowledge." Aida said sensational media reports on the radiation leaks and a fire at a transformer facility at the plant had caused great anxiety among people in the region and other parts of Japan and also caused damage as a result of rumors that the area may have been contaminated. The Japan Times ***************************************************************** 22 IAEA: IAEA Team to Visit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant Press Release 2007/15 3 August 2007 | A six-member team of international nuclear safety experts, assembled by the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrives in Japan on Sunday, 5 August 2007, to commence an examination of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant. The plant was affected by a strong earthquake on 16 July. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that the mission, in response to an invitation last week from the Japanese Government, is important for identifying lessons learned that might have implications for the international nuclear safety regime. The team consists of two IAEA experts and four internationally recognized experts in seismic safety. Their task will be to conduct a fact finding mission relating to the current conditions at the power plant. This will complement the ongoing evaluation by Japan´s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), Japan´s Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) and the plant´s operators, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) of the incident. Upon completion of its mission the team will report its findings to the Japanese authorities and to the Director General. The team will leave Japan on 11 August. Press Contacts Press Office Division of Public Information [43-1] 2600-21276 Peter Rickwood Public Information Officer Media and Outreach Section Division of Public Information [43-1] 2600-22047 [43] 699-165-22047 (mobile) About the IAEA The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) serves as the world's foremost intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. Established as an autonomous organization under the United Nations (UN) in 1957, the IAEA carries out programmes to maximize the useful contribution of nuclear technology to society while verifying its peaceful use. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit the Press Section of the IAEA's website (http://www.iaea.org/Resources/Journalists/), or call the IAEA's Division of Public Information at (431) 2600-21270. Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 23 AFP: US Congress to scrutinize nuclear pact with India - Fri Aug 3, 4:30 PM WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Congress has to determine whether an operational agreement of a landmark US-India nuclear deal is legal, the head of the influential House of Representatives foreign relations panel said Friday. US lawmakers had last year approved in principle the Henry Hyde Act allowing export of civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India in a move to reverse decades of sanctions imposed after India's nuclear tests. US President George W. Bush signed it into law in December but the Act made it mandatory for lawmakers to approve the deal's key operating agreement, which was transmitted to Congress and made public Friday. "As Congress considers it, we need to determine whether the new agreement conforms to the Henry Hyde Act, and thereby supports US foreign policy and nonproliferation goals," said Tom Lantos, the chairman of the House foreign relations committee. "I welcome the opportunity to review the civilian nuclear cooperation deal in detail," he said in a statement. As Congress is about to go on its summer recess up to early September, it would probably take time for lawmakers to weigh it and come to a consensus, Congressional aides said. "There is no agenda at the moment. Congress simply would have to take everything into account and ensure that the agreement is line with what Congress approved," Lantos's spokeswoman Lynne Weil told AFP. Some US legislators have expressed scepticism over the operating agreement but Bush said he looked forward to working with the Democratic-controlled Congress to implement the deal. The agreement "will be under a microscope once Congress gets a chance to look at it," said Edward Markey, co-chairman of the House of Representatives Bipartisan Task Force on Non-proliferation. He said Congressional consideration would not occur until India had negotiated a "safeguards" agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency and a "rule-change" at the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group. While Congress in December approved legislation enabling US exports of civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India, the operating agreement goes one step further by allowing India to reprocess spent fuel under international safeguards. That right to reprocess spent US-sourced nuclear fuel has been given only to Japan and the European Union so far. The United States would, under the pact, also support the creation of an "Indian strategic fuel reserve" and help India gain access to the international fuel market. New Delhi reportedly wanted such a provision to guard against a supply cut-off due to any nuclear testing. "This language clearly contradicts the intent of the (US law), which was to cut off US assistance if India resumes testing and was not to help India build up a multi-year fuel supply," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the US Arms Control Association, had said. ***************************************************************** 24 Daily Yomiuri: Poor info led to N-plant sensationalism A lack of information following radioactive leaks at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture led to inaccurate reporting of the incident by foreign news media, sending the central and Niigata prefectural governments into damage-control mode. At a meeting held Wednesday at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo, former Education, Science and Technology Minister Takeo Kawamura reportedly told Yasuhisa Komoda, head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Tsunehisa Katsumata that they had to properly address the inaccurate reporting. "You have to show people that the nuclear power plant managed to withstand the strong earthquake," he was quoted by sources as saying. The sensational reporting of radioactive leaks was on the agenda of a meeting of the committee to inspect the power station Tuesday at the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. Kariwamura Mayor Hiroo Shinada said the conclusion must be that the radiation involved was of a very low level. "In order for the public to accept the conclusion in a calm manner, the news media, which provides information, has an important role to play. I hope reporters will conclude the leaks were harmless based on the information available," he said. The Niigata prefectural government's crisis management official, Eiji Saida, said, "There was only a tiny amount of radiation in the leaks, but the media coverage included images of fire, which resulted in worldwide rumors about leak-related damage." Sensational images of black smoke billowing from a fire in one of the nuclear power plant's transformers were repeatedly broadcast to symbolize damage caused by the earthquake. Although the fire and radioactive leaks were unrelated, the combined reporting of the two incidents may have inferred a link. According to an official of the Foreign Ministry's International Nuclear Energy Cooperation Division, foreign news media reported that the earthquake had caused deaths and injuries at the nuclear power plant, making it look as people had been injured and killed in a nuclear accident. Some foreign news media even likened the incident to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union, and reported that residents living near the plant could not sleep due to concerns over possible radioactive leaks. A lack of information at the initial stage of the incident was one of the reasons cited for the inaccurate reporting. During four days following the earthquake, TEPCO failed to hold a press conference in the affected area. During this period, however, domestic and foreign media were covering the leaks extensively. When TEPCO released a report in the stricken area that it had made public several days earlier in Tokyo, it was given huge media coverage. The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 25 Daily Yomiuri: No reactor damage found at Kashiwazaki Although events including fire and inundation by water at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. were extensively reported after the July 16 earthquake hit the Kashiwazaki area in Niigata Prefecture, The Yomiuri Shimbun has determined that quake-related incidents at the power station have served to verify the high earthquake-resistance capability of the nuclear power station. At the time of the Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake, TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station was hit with a maximum ground acceleration of 2,058 gals, far above the expected maximum value of 834 gals. A gal measures ground acceleration at a rate of one centimeter per second squared. According to The Yomiuri Shimbun's team of reporters covering nuclear power issues from the Science News Section, systems intended to secure safety worked normally, and no reports of damage to devices of primary importance, such as reactors, have been made so far, with damage limited to peripheral facilities. === Reviewing abnormal incidents The number of abnormal incidents at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station announced so far by TEPCO totaled 68 as of Thursday. If tiny incidents are included, this number rises to 1,263 cases, but in actuality there were only 10 incidents that satisfy conditions that require reporting to the central government or local governments. Some experts have pointed out that media organizations reported these incidents extensively and in succession without evaluating the seriousness of each individual case. Some cases have been verified below. At the time of emergencies, including an earthquake, three primary functions required of a nuclear power station are as follows: -- Shutting down a reactor safely. -- Cooling down a reactor safely. -- Preventing radioactive substances from leaking. The Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 7 reactors, which were in operation at the time of the July 16 quake, were hit by tremors of a maximum of 680 gals in ground acceleration, a level beyond expectations, but their operations were suspended safely. The system to cool the inside of the reactors by circulating water after the suspension functioned normally. The radiation level within the reactors was normal. No serious incidents, such as damage to fuel rods, have been confirmed. Yet there were two cases of radiation leaking outside reactors. At the No. 6 reactor, water containing radioactive substances overflowed from a spent nuclear fuel pool and leaked into basement floors of the reactor building through water pipes, and small amounts leaked into the sea. At the No. 7 reactor, radioactive steam that rotates a turbine was partially discharged into the atmosphere from an exhaust stack. However, the level of radioactive leakage was minute. The level of radiation a person faces is about one-1.2 billionth of the amount a person gets from the atmosphere in a year in the case of the No. 6 reactor, and about one-12 millionth in the case of the No. 7 reactor. We can safely conclude the incidents posed almost no risks to the environment and people. "The leaked radioactive substances are mostly water stains irradiated within the reactors. It's completely different from a much serious accident in which nuclear fuel is dispersed into the air," said Tokyo University Prof. Haruki Madarame, an expert in nuclear engineering. He said the plant had successfully prevented leaks of significant amounts of radiation. Madarame recently assumed the position of chairman of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding Kashiwazaki power station after the quake. Noticeable damage was found at facilities such as an electric transformer, office building and turbine house, all of which are required to fulfill milder earthquake-resistance standards than those for reactors. At the No. 3 reactor, a fire occurred at the electricity transformer. On the fifth basement floor of the No. 1 reactor, 2,000 tons of water overflowed from a damaged fire-extinguishing pipe system. About 24 tons of seawater overflowed into the radiation-controlled area of the turbine house for the No. 4 reactor. However, none of these incidents posed threat to the safety of the reactors. In any case, the minimum safety requirements for a nuclear power station at the time of an earthquake were met. === Assumptions must be examined Nevertheless, the issue of securing power station safety ahead of its restart of operations is another problem. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will start inspections at the power plant Monday. After their five-day inspection, the government will start work to check the insides of reactors in mid- or late August. Although the possibility of serious damage inside the reactors is low, there could be some deformation of important devices or damage to fuel rods within the reactors. If such damage is found within the reactors, it will become difficult for TEPCO to restart operations of the plant at an early date. During the July 16 earthquake, shaking at severities far greater than that the reactors were designed to tolerate was recorded at all of the power station's reactors. The largest value, 2,058 gals, observed at the turbine house for the No. 3 reactor, was about 2.5 times the maximum estimate of 834 gals. Local residents will never agree to the restart of plant operations unless TEPCO revises the assumption and takes measures to reinforce facilities at the station to resist an earthquake stronger than the one that hit July 16. "The most important [thing] is [to assure residents'] safety and peace of mind," Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chairman Shoichi Nakagawa said when he inspected the power station Thursday. His comment indicated the precondition for restarting the operation of the power station is to win the understanding and trust of local residents. Last September, quake-resistance design guidelines for nuclear power stations were revised. Power companies operating nuclear power stations were in the midst of reviewing quake-resistance requirements to meet the new guidelines. Inappropriate assumptions regarding possible ground acceleration values of earthquakes are not limited to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. Nuclear power stations nationwide may have to make new assessments of the magnitude of earthquakes that might strike their facilities. * Poor info led to N-plant sensationalism (Aug.4) * No reactor damage found at Kashiwazaki (Aug.4) * Diet points to cancer prevention (Aug.3) * Research institutes join up to speed vaccine development (Aug.3) * Study: Human activity to blame for rainfall, environment change (Jul.28) * 2nd fault found; 'source of subsidence' (Jul.26) * No Tamiflu in brain of boy who fell from 9th floor (Jul.25) * Academic society wants young researchers to broaden horizons (Jul.25) * NUCLEAR POWER ON SHAKY GROUND / Plant shutdowns mean more CO2 emissions (Jul.24) * NATURE IN SHORT / Solving the riddle of the disappearing dragonfly (Jul.23) The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 26 Inside Bay Area: Radiation detectors tested on container ships at sea Clearer results possible in transit than in port, Sandia physicist says By Betsy Mason, MEDIANEWS STAFF Article Last Updated: 08/03/2007 07:04:47 AM PDT LIVERMORE ? Shipping containers filled with technology from Sandia National Laboratories could become the latest addition to the nation's defense. Mobile radiation detectors assembled at Sandia/California are being tested on ships while in transit between Oakland and Honolulu to determine if they can reliably detect nuclear material on those ships without a lot of false alarms. "You've got days on the ocean, and you only get minutes in the port," Sandia physicist George Lasche explained recently as a detector was being prepared for sea. "The alternative is to inspect all these containers before they leave foreign ports." A major challenge in identifying radiological threats on land is sorting them out from background radiation. "It's like trying to hear someone through a crowded restaurant," Lasche said. At sea, there is significantly less background noise. "It's more like trying to hear a whisper in a library," he said. This creates its own challenges, however. Without background radiation to compete with, even the amount of natural uranium in aluminum can be detected. "We've gotten rid of the aluminum in our containers, so now I expect we'll see all the uranium in beer cans traveling from Oakland to Hawaii," Lasche said in a news release. "Any instrument in a real deployment must be able to discriminate innocent uranium from threatening uranium." Lasche's team is working on such issues during the test runs. Team members are also learning to deal with other potential false alarms such as fertilizer. A total of eight test runs were originally scheduled, but the Department of Homeland Security has added several more to test additional detection equipment. The containers house an array of detectors, including high-purity germanium gamma-ray detectors, bonner spheres neutron spectrometers, fission meter multiplicity detectors and muon-neutron correlation detectors. Matson Shipping Lines agreed to work with Sandia to test the detectors in a real shipping environment. "It sounds very simple, but ships are very, very big things with lots of stuff on them," Lasche said. "One of the big goals is to very rarely have such a false alarm that we have to stop a ship at sea and board it." Contact Betsy Mason at (925) 847-2158 or bmason@cctimes.com. © 2000-2006 ANG Newspapers | Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 27 SignOnSanDiego.com: Trespasser causes shake-up in security at nuclear plant North County -- By Linda Lou UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 3, 2007 SAN ONOFRE – New surveillance measures have been implemented at the San Onofre nuclear power plant after an illegal immigrant accidentally entered an outer area of the plant on a freight rail car. The man was quickly discovered and apprehended by security personnel July 25, plant officials said yesterday. The 12-foot-deep gondola rail cars were inspected twice by a security officer using mirrors on a pole, but somehow the man was not noticed, said John Todd, the plant's senior security officer. Todd declined to elaborate on the new measures the plant is taking, calling them “security sensitive.” The trespasser, who is from Mexico, was discovered about 12:40 a.m. outside the rail car within a gated fence of the plant's “owner-controlled area,” at least 50 yards from the heavily protected area, where the reactors and generators are located, Todd said. The freight cars had arrived to haul away debris from a part of the plant that is being decommissioned, according to Southern California Edison, the major owner and operator of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The man, who said he is 40, was discovered about two minutes after the rail cars were parked in an area that is enclosed by a gate, Todd said. The man said in Spanish that he was visiting friends in Oceanside and was walking north when he caught a train heading for San Clemente, where he said he lives, Todd said. But when the man could not provide an address or identification, the U.S. Border Patrol was called, Todd said. The man said he had fallen asleep in the rail car. “I think he was very scared,” Todd said. “He appeared to be worried about where he was. I think it was credible (that) he did not intend to enter the owner-controlled area.” A Border Patrol agent arrived in about 25 minutes, Todd said. The man was in the country illegally and was taken to Mexico, said Matthew Johnson, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The FBI also was notified. Darrell Foxworth, an FBI spokesman in the bureau's San Diego office, said the incident was not terrorist-related. Victor Dricks, a spokesman with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, declined to comment on the incident yesterday. Todd said the incident was the first time in his five years at the plant that someone had slipped into the plant's outer boundary. “The individual didn't pose a threat to the security of the power plant,” he said. “It is of serious concern that he was able to get in.” Brian Katz, vice president of regulatory affairs, said the plant has a robust security system. Officials said it is very difficult to get into the protected area, which has bomb detectors, metal detectors and hand-geometry readers. “Our goal is zero unexpected events,” Katz said. Katz said the mirrors are a good method of finding trespassers, but are not foolproof. Todd said he believes the new security measures would prevent future incidents like this one. “We certainly have a high confidence that the methods we're using now will prevent any unauthorized entry,” he said. Southern California Edison released this statement: “The security of the nuclear part of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was not compromised, and employees and the public were not endangered by the incident. We take very seriously our responsibility to protect the plant and the public. “We have conducted a thorough review of the security measures in this part of our property and are making appropriate changes to minimize the possibility that such an incident could occur again.” Linda Lou: (760) 737-7574; linda.lou@uniontrib.com © Copyright 2007 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ? A Copley Newspaper ***************************************************************** 28 Preparing for a dirty bomb attack - BBC Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 14:28:08 -0500 (CDT) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6925584.stm BBC NEWS Preparing for a dirty bomb attack By Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent, Chicago The authorities in Britain and the US are preparing for the increasing possibility of a radiological dirty bomb being detonated by terrorists. Pagers to detect personal radiation exposure have already been issued to some ambulance services in Britain. A dirty bomb would use radioactive material wrapped around conventional explosive. Although it is estimated that the inclusion of radioactive isotopes would cause very few immediate additional casualties there could still be a major psychological effect, with some people trying to flee the affected area and local businesses seriously damaged. In the worst-case scenario, whole areas could be rendered uninhabitable for up to several months or even years. But scientists are now developing a number of novel ways of mitigating the likely effects of a dirty bomb. The aim, they say, is to minimise the effect on human lives. "Today we see the use of home-made improvised explosive devices: tomorrow's threat may include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactive materials and even nuclear technology," Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, MI5 Director-General, said in a speech in London last November. Intensive research At the United States' Argonne National Laboratories, hidden behind a guarded perimeter, scientists in white protective suits burst out of a van and prepare to spray a fine liquid plastic on to the surface of a wall. There's been a lot of research work but it has been escalating over the past few months Sandra Bell Royal United Services Institute It is an exercise. The wall has not really been contaminated and the world has yet to experience a dirty bomb for real. But emergency planners are now training for when terrorists might one day detonate a "Radiation Dispersal Device", or RDD. Left unchecked, its after-effects could contaminate whole streets. Sandra Bell is an explosives expert at the UK's Royal United Services Institute. "The British government are getting increasingly concerned about an RDD," she says. "We have a long history of getting prepared and there's been a lot of research work but it has been escalating over the past few months." Locking down radioactivity Over at the Argonne laboratories, scientists are now spraying their plastic polymer gel on to a wall. Jayne Shelton is President of the company that developed it. "The purpose of this coating is to lock down radioactive particulates to prevent contamination spread," he says. "The two issues you have with a dirty bomb release are the spread of the contamination and also the contamination of the public and first emergency responders. "Ideally you'd have a fleet of vehicles on the ground that would be supplied with our coating, have the spray equipment to disperse it over a large area. "You'd also have aircraft to spray it on the top of the plume to lock it down to the surface. And the whole purpose of this being to lock it down into a solid form such that when the first responders come back in by foot or by vehicle there's no recontamination." One of the problems with radioactive contamination is you can't see it. So many emergency workers fell ill at Chernobyl in 1986 because they did not realise how badly they were being radiated, in many cases fatally. But scientists in the US have been working on ways to detect radiation immediately after a dirty bomb. The technologies that we have developed will help decrease the panic and increase the peace of mind and help with the clean-up Jeff David Interagency US Technical Support Working Group Under a bilateral deal, they are sharing their findings with Britain. One of the more portable devices is the commercially available Sirad Personal Dosimeter, as explained by Gladys Klemic from the US Department of Homeland Security. "You'd carry this like an ID card," she says. "In situations where there are high levels of radiation this central rectangle would darken, the blue square can be used as a reference to see what the radiation levels are. "If an emergency responder comes to an event and is carrying one of these he can quickly check and see if he's been exposed to radiation." Picking up the threat The ocular scanner is another one of several prototype devices designed to cope with the aftermath of an RDD. Its development has been sponsored by the Interagency US Technical Support Working Group, linked to the defence department. We asked Jeff David, the group's deputy director, how these devices would work in a real-life situation. "If we're in a shopping mall and a bomb goes off, if you were injured you know it, it's obvious," he says. "You're bleeding from shrapnel. If it's an RDD, you may have received a lethal dose but you don't know what you've been exposed to unless you're properly prepared in advance, and the technologies that we have developed will help decrease the panic and increase the peace of mind and help with the clean-up." Funding battle Finally, there is the Argonne super gel, a highly absorbent substance sprayed on to a contaminated building. It is designed to tackle the most dangerous radioactive materials that have penetrated right into the concrete. It literally sucks out the radioactive particles then removes them with a wet vacuum before they are disposed of as radioactive waste. In theory, that means a building can be decontaminated in days instead of waiting weeks or even demolishing it altogether. But here lies the problem: until terrorists actually detonate a dirty bomb, the funding for coping for one is thin on the ground. Some equipment is now being distributed, in both the US and Britain, but privately scientists question whether it will really be enough to cope with a full-scale radiological disaster. DEALING WITH A DIRTY BOMB Isotron spray 1 Plastic polymer sprayed over radioactive contamination seals it on to surface, preventing further contamination 2 Hardened gel is then peeled from surface, taking surface contamination with it Ocular scanner 3 Detects and identifies degree of contamination and gives a prompt read-out on screen Argonne super-absorbent gel 4 Sprayed on contaminated surface and sucks out even deep-seated radioactive particles 5 Gel retains radioactive material and is removed with a wet vacuum for disposal Personal dosimeter 6 Rectangle in centre of device darkens if high radiation levels detected and indicates extent of contamination Published: 2007/08/02 13:09:27 GMT ) BBC MMVII ***************************************************************** 29 SF Chronicle: Feds will check on Bayview asbestos / Neighbors' complaints prompt examination of airborne dust Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer Friday, August 3, 2007 A federal agency has agreed to examine efforts to limit asbestos-contaminated dust from a construction site in Hunters Point, a review that could lead to stronger pollution controls at the former Navy shipyard. Residents for months have charged that developer Lennar Corp., which is building 1,500 houses on the 66-acre site, isn't doing enough to protect their health, although city officials and air-quality regulators say ongoing controls are working. That debate could be settled by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an entity created a quarter-century ago to assess public health near the nation's dirtiest toxic-waste sites. In San Francisco, the agency will investigate everything that has been done at the site to protect residents, including methods used to quell dust and to measure levels of asbestos in the air. If officials determine that more should be done, they will make that recommendation to San Francisco authorities. The federal agency last week agreed to the San Francisco Department of Public Health's request to evaluate public protections related to airborne dust stirred up from grading hilltops and hillsides near people's homes, construction that dates from April 2006. The efforts to limit flyaway asbestos - a carcinogenic naturally occurring mineral - are at the center of neighborhood concerns. The hilltop construction site is roughly flanked by Donahue Road and Galvez Avenue. Nearby residents have reported nosebleeds, asthma attacks and chest pains. Many have asked for tests to determine whether they've been exposed to unhealthy levels of asbestos. At a Tuesday meeting of the Board of Supervisors, dozens of residents showed up to complain about clouds of dust raised by the construction work. They worry about the consistency of the air monitoring, which is done by a Lennar-hired consultant, and the effectiveness of using water and other measures to keep down dust. San Francisco Public Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz has been adamant that residents are safe. "City residents requested an independent review. We believe we've been proactive with health protection. But we're open to learning, and we thought (inviting federal officials to the site) will build community trust," said Rajiv Bhatia, the city's director of environmental health. The city requires control of dust from the site and requires Lennar to monitor at three stations. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District requires the company to monitor at five sites for asbestos. Kofi Bonner, president of Lennar Urban, based in San Francisco, said he felt fine about the federal agency's involvement. "That's absolutely fine," he said. "The rules and regulations are given to us by the city and the (air district). We don't come with up any of the rules and regulations. We are regulated and monitored by those two entities." Some of the questions that the federal agency will address is how much of the asbestos dust has drifted into the community and at what concentrations. Long-term exposure to asbestos can cause lung cancer, larynx cancer and mesothelioma, also a form of cancer, said Arnold Denn, a senior science adviser for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A few brushes with dust, however, are not the same as long-term exposure, he said. "An occasional dust cloud that comes over generally doesn't result in asbestos disease," Denn said. "It takes high concentration and a recurring exposure." There is also no blood or urine test that will show whether someone been exposed in the short term, he said. An exposure that "occurred one month ago or a year ago is not going to show up on an X-ray. It takes long exposure at high concentrations and many years for the asbestos disease to show on an X-ray," he said. Serpentine, California's state rock, is found in roughly 50 counties, particularly in the Sierra Nevada foothills and the coastal range thrust up by volcanic activity. In San Francisco, a mile-wide band of serpentine runs in a diagonal line from Hunters Point to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, according to the California Geological Survey. Asbestos forms spottily in the veins of serpentine. When broken apart, the asbestos becomes airborne. The state Air Resources Board adopted regulations governing construction sites and quarries in 2001 after new construction in serpentine deposits in El Dorado and Placer counties, and elsewhere, raised concerns over the harmful dust. "You have to do dust control for the smallest of projects, even if it's a swimming pool," said air district spokeswoman Gennet Paauwe. "California has had a construction boom, and we are moving to areas that are previously natural. People are moving into areas of naturally occurring asbestos, which we know is toxic," Paauwe said. Under the regulations, fibers can't exceed 16,000 per cubic meter of air, according to a risk assessment based on chronic exposure over a lifetime. Exceeding the amount in emissions means more stringent control measures must be employed. The monitors work like vacuum cleaners, sucking air into a small canister, which contains a filter. The canister is removed daily and sent to a lab for measurements. According to air district officials, there is missing data from the start of May to the end of July 2006. One of Lennar's consultants failed to properly calibrate monitoring equipment, and had to invalidate the results, they said. Asked why the air district didn't find the error, agency spokeswoman Karen Schkolnick said unless the staff takes charge of the measuring equipment, it can't tell if the instruments are properly calibrated. It was early in the project, she said, and the air district would "have figured it out at some point." In September 2006, the air district issued notices of violation for the missing monitoring data and other issues. After an investigation, the air district could require the developer to pay penalties. After the air district received its first complaint over the dust-control efforts in March 2006, it visited the site periodically. At the end of July 2006, and after the excavation increased, the staff began visiting daily, checking for visible dust and whether the company was complying with its approved work plan, Schkolnick said. The 500-acre former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was placed in the nation's Superfund cleanup program in 1989. Over the years, parts of the shipyard were cleaned of chemical contamination including solvents, PCBs and radioactive materials. More cleanup is still needed in some areas. The construction is happening where there was once military housing, an area that was never highly contaminated with industrial chemicals, according to the EPA. In 2004, the EPA gave up regulation of the hilltop and hillside, an area known as Parcel A. That year, the Navy transferred the land to the city. In 2005, the city transferred the portions to Lennar, which began the construction in 2006. E-mail Jane Kay at jkay@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle ***************************************************************** 30 Times-News: Downwinders optimistic that reintroduced bill will become law Magicvalley.com, Twin Falls, ID Last modified on Friday, August 3, 2007 12:04 AM MDT Victim's payment By Blair Koch Times-News correspondent Downwinders in Idaho have reason to applaud local senators who have reintroduced a 2005 proposal to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Expansion of the bill would allow downwinders in Idaho and Montana to be compensated by RECA, first passed in 1990. The bill currently covers victims in 21 counties in southern Utah, eastern Nevada and northern Arizona who suffer from any of 19 different cancers caused by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing done in the 1950s and '60s. Senators reintroduced the proposal Wednesday. "There was an invitation (sent) out to Arizona and Utah to get in and support this bill, but we didn't hear back from them," said Lindsay Nothern, press secretary for Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. "So the bill will be a two-state bill." Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., back the bill as original co-sponsors. "We applaud their efforts, and intend to raise heaven and hell to get other areas added and to hold the politicians of Utah and Arizona accountable for not being solidly on this bill from the beginning," said J. Preston Truman, director of Downwinders, an organization representing fallout victims. "The rest of Utah and Mojave County in Arizona should be covered." Truman said the action is a serious bipartisan effort to get movement on expanding fallout compensation, but that it should include other western states as well. Longtime Idaho Downwinder advocate Dr. Peter Rickards of Twin Falls said he is excited that Idaho is finally being acknowledged as having been hit by radiation. "I think that we have a real chance at bringing this to pass," Rickards said. "I hope this isn't just lip service, but our delegation really seems to be going to bat for us." Even if the RECA expansion bill becomes law, Rickard said he won't stop fighting to get other auto-immune diseases included for compensation. Times-News correspondent Blair Koch can be reached at blairkoch@gmail.com or 316-2607. Copyright © 2006, Lee Publications Inc. Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News, published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St., Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. ***************************************************************** 31 starbulletin.com: False alert on radioactive danger creates panic Vol. 12, Issue 215 - Friday, August 3, 2007 By Gary T. Kubota / gkubota@starbulletin.com WAILUKU » An emergency broadcast test turned into a brief moment of panic and confusion for some television viewers in Hawaii when instead of issuing a "radio weather test," the National Weather Service issued a "radiological hazard warning." The broadcast test is sent out to television and radio stations statewide. "I hollered and called my partner," recalled Lisa Long of Kona, who was watching CNN. Long said she and her partner, who have been worried about potential radioactivity on the Big Island, have a Geiger counter and turned it on. She said the Geiger counter failed to detect any radioactive reading above normal in her home, but she was not persuaded that everything was OK, because the equipment was not geared toward measuring air particles. Long said she feared an explosion might have happened upon a vessel carrying nuclear warheads at Pearl Harbor. National Weather Service meteorologist Ian Morrison said officials were conducting a weekly radio test when the wrong code was activated at 11:40 a.m. Morrison said the code for radiological hazard warning is "RHT" and listed right above the radio weather test code of "RWT." "They're all listed together," Morrison said. Honolulu emergency management spokesman John Cummings said his department received at least a dozen calls from the news media. Cummings said within 10 to 15 minutes of receiving the calls, the National Weather Service issued a correction. "Things like this do happen," he said. © Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- http://starbulletin.com ***************************************************************** 32 starbulletin.com: Army to continue controlled burn News | /2007/08/03/ Star-Bulletin staff / cityeditors@starbulletin.com Weather permitting, the Army is aiming to complete clearing a Schofield Barracks training range today by burning weeds and shrubbery. The Army started the "prescribed burn" Tuesday and says there are only 80 of the 1,100 acres left that it wants to clear of an impact area near the training range known as McCarthy Flats north of Kolekole and Trimble roads. Controlled fires have been used regularly during the past few years at the same Schofield Barracks training range without any problems, officials said. The "prescribed burn is part of the U.S. Army Hawaii's ongoing plan to manage and protect range areas, decrease the danger of wildfires and survey for depleted uranium," an Army statement said. Depleted uranium, a byproduct of radioactive enriched uranium, has been used by the U.S. military in armor-piercing munitions. Two years ago a contractor discovered 15 tail assemblies from spotting rounds made with depleted uranium while clearing an area that will be used by the Stryker combat vehicles. However, the Army has said the recovered depleted uranium had low-level radioactivity and did not pose a health threat. Army officials said remnants were from training rounds used in a now-obsolete weapon system. The results of test samples collected by air monitors have been sent to an independent lab and will not be available for about three weeks. © Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- http://starbulletin.com ***************************************************************** 33 MDN: Hibakusha: Confronting the reality of atomic devastation MSN-Mainichi Daily News August 4, 2007 MDN reporter Aaron Baldwin at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki in June. (Noriko Tokuno/Mainichi Shimbun) "In New Zealand, we don't have any understanding of something like (the atomic bombings). We learned the places. We learned Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Japan. But you don't learn it in depth," Emma Trail, a 20-year-old international exchange foundation intern told me in Nagasaki. She was describing the graphic displays in the city's atomic bomb museum showing the devastation of the atomic bomb that exploded over Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, instantly killing thousands of people, and causing thousands more to die from radiation poisoning. I am also from New Zealand and agreed that before coming to Japan, I had never learned about the atomic bombings in detail, even though anti-nuclear sentiment is strong in my country, which has been completely nuclear-free by law since 1987 when the Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act came into force. Two main issues lingered behind the formation of this law: One was New Zealand's opposition to French nuclear testing in the Pacific, and the subsequent sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship blown up by French agents in Auckland harbor in July 1985. The other was New Zealand's opposition to the entry of U.S. nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships into its ports. In New Zealand, I had often heard criticism of nuclear weapons, but didn't actually hear about how the nuclear attacks on Japan affected people's lives. This changed when I recently visited Nagasaki to interview several hibakusha -- survivors of the atomic bomb. Hibakusha Sugako Akizuki speaks to Mainichi reporters Aaron Baldwin and Yuichi Nishigori in Nagasaki in June. (Noriko Tokuno/Mainichi Shimbun) Sakue Shimohira, a well-known hibakusha I interviewed who now serves as the general manager of the Association for the Bereaved Families of the Atomic Bomb Dead in Nagasaki, emphasized the terrible ongoing effects of radiation poisoning that continue long after the detonation of the atomic bomb, calling nuclear weapons "evil." "No matter how many years pass -- even after 62 years -- we have to bear the physical injures. This is what an atomic bomb does, what nuclear weapons do. People need to know that," she said. As I listened to Shimohira, I felt it was unfair that people still had to suffer from an attack that occurred more than 60 years ago. One thing that left an impression on my mind after talking to Shimohira was the discrimination she said hibakusha faced in Japan because of their injuries. This surprised me because I had imagined, perhaps naively, that people in Japan would treat their injured compatriots with kindness. For me, it also felt unfair that hibakusha were subjected to mental suffering on top of their physical pain. Shimohira has been to the United States during her activities as a hibakusha, I asked her how she responded when people brought up the issue of the Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor. She said that people often held the view that Japan could not complain about the atomic bombings because it bombed Pearl Harbor first. In fact just two days before meeting Shimohira I had overheard a foreign visitor at the Nagasaki Peace Park say almost exactly the same thing. "People say that many Japanese were saved because the atomic bombs were dropped. But it did not save them," Shimohira said. "It was the atomic bomb that indiscriminately killed the elderly, along with women and children. It people think it was justified, I want to ask them, 'Then why was it dropped on a place where the weak lived?'" When I moved to Japan about 7 1/2 years ago, it surprised me to see a photograph of people marking the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in a church. Afterwards I found out that the Urakami district near the hypocenter of the bomb had long been home to Japanese of the Roman Catholic faith, and thousands of Catholics died in the bombing which also ravaged Urakami Cathedral, once the largest church in Asia. As a Christian, I was eager to find out during my visit to Nagasaki how Christian hibakusha felt about the destruction of the Urakami district. One of the most famous Catholic hibakusha in Nagasaki was Takashi Nagai, a doctor specializing in radiology who cared for the victims of the atomic bomb attack despite being sick himself. In his bestselling book "Nagasaki no Kane" (The Bells of Nagasaki), Nagai suggested that the atomic bomb was carried to Urakami in an act of divine providence, and Nagasaki was chosen to be slaughtered and burned as a sacrifice to make up for the sins of the second world war. But some found this view hard to accept. Nagasaki hibakusha Sugako Akizuki (Mainichi file photo) Sugako Akizuki, a well-known hibakusha whom I interviewed, said she never thought of the bombing as part of the God's will. "I was a Christian at the time, but I didn't share the same kind of feelings as Nagai," she said. "The bomb did happen to fall on Urakami, but I never thought it was the will of God." Akizuki was working as a nurse at Urakami No. 1 Hospital in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb exploded nearby. The hospital crumbled around her, but amazingly she avoided serious injury. As hundreds of injured people sought treatment after the bombing, Akizuki came face to face with death. Patients she saw in the morning and told to hang on were dead by the evening. There were flies all over people's backs and maggots on people's wounds. Bodies had to be thrown out of windows because there were not enough workers to carry them down. It was the kind of tragedy one couldn't imagine, but she knew she had to stay and help, she said. "I think as a nurse it had been hammered into us. We couldn't walk away from the patients," she said. "I never thought of running away." As Akizuki spoke I wondered how I would have reacted. I thought that I would not be able to endure such a situation without asking for God's help. Christian hibakusha Isao Nishimura speaks to Mainichi reporters Yuichi Nishigori and Aaron Baldwin in Nagasaki in June. (Noriko Tokuno/Mainichi Shimbun) Another Christian hibakusha I interviewed, 73-year-old Isao Nishimura, was shattered by the devastation of Urakami and its cathedral. "Why didn't Christ bring about a miracle?" he remembers asking himself after seeing the cathedral destroyed, adding that there were people who thought the world had come to an end. "At the time we didn't know it was an atomic bomb," he said. "No one at the time thought a bomb could have such devastating power." In the wake of the explosion, Nishimura saw many people who were dying from burns and the effects of radiation. "Blood started coming out of the teeth of people who didn't have any external injuries. And then blue blotches started appearing on their skin. When that happened they came down with fevers and in a week they would be dead," he said. Speaking to these hibakusha, I realized that they had gone through experiences I could never imagine in New Zealand, which is now ranked as one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Earlier this year the intelligence unit of the Economist magazine in London rated New Zealand the second-most peaceful country in the world, after Norway, on a global peace index of 121 nations. What I was surprised to hear was that some hibakusha had not spoken of their experiences for decades. One of them was Isao Yoshida, who was just four years old at the time of the bombing. "I didn't touch the issue for 48 years," he said. "I didn't talk at all about being a hibakusha. My experience when I was 4 years old was so wretched that I sealed my feelings off. I couldn't tell anyone." Yoshida said the effects of radiation from the bomb caused him to suffer from leucopenia, a condition marked by a lack of white blood cells. Blotches and scratches on his skin turned to pus, and he got scabs on his head which other children teased him about. These effects from radiation continued for about 2 1/2 years. "Now I want to make up for those 48 years when I didn't touch the issue," he said. One of Yoshida's memorable experiences was seeing the Bockscar, the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, during a trip to Ohio. "Anger welled up inside me and I thought, 'So this is what was used to kill all of those people in Nagasaki,'" he recalls. But it was not only Japanese who died, he points out. Many people in a POW camp in Nagasaki including people from America, Britain and Australia also died. Yoshida says many people are surprised to hear this. MDN reporter Aaron Baldwin takes notes in the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki in June. (Noriko Tokuno/Mainichi Shimbun) I was impressed by Yoshida's positive, friendly attitude. Hearing I was from New Zealand, he brought out a photograph showing a monument donated to the Nagasaki Peace Park by New Zealand in October 2006. The monument, titled "Cloak of Peace" is designed in the shape of a Maori cloak, it represents the unity of people committed to a peaceful world and the protection of people within its embrace. Yoshida kindly offered me a photograph showing him in front of the monument. Yoshida says people need to share the goal of making Nagasaki the last place to suffer an atomic attack. "In 20 years I think all the hibakusha will disappear," he says. "Now their average age is 74." Yoshida says that at 66, he is probably one of the youngest hibakusha who can still remember the atomic bomb. While my visit to Nagasaki lasted only six days, by the end of my time in Nagasaki I found that I had a much clearer picture of the suffering caused by the atomic bomb attack. One memorable part of my visit was a trip to the hypocenter. A black pillar now stands at ground zero. An inscription states that as of Aug. 9 last year 140,144 people had died after being exposed to the blast. As I looked around the surrounding area and thought about the thousands of ordinary people killed or exposed to the bomb's radiation, a feeling of sadness welled up inside me. I had opposed nuclear weapons before visiting Nagasaki, and what I heard from the various hibakusha solidified my view. I don't believe nuclear weapons will disappear by arguing about past attacks. But I do believe we can learn from the past. The sad thing is that many people still do not understand the feelings of atomic bomb survivors. Tadahiro Funayama, a deputy director of the Nagasaki Foundation for the Promotion of Peace, puts it this way: "There is ignorance. (People in other countries) know about how much damage nuclear weapons cause, but they don't know about the pain and sadness affecting the dignity of humans." (By Aaron Baldwin, Mainichi Daily News) Hibakusha Miyoko Matsubara speaks to MDN staff writer Roger Hutchings outside the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in June. (Mainichi) The day the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Miyoko Matsubara was a 12-year-old "mobilized" schoolgirl, working to build firebreaks while the younger children were evacuated to the countryside. "Someone said 'I can hear a B-29.' There was no air raid warning, so I thought we had nothing to fear," she told me in quiet, halting English. "But when I looked up, I could see a white vapor trail, so I lay flat on the ground. At the same time, I heard a deafening roar, and my first thought was that the plane had aimed at me." A mere 1.5 kilometers from the epicenter of the blast, she stood up to find the city leveled in an instant, her clothes burnt down to the tattered remains of her underwear, and the girl standing next to her vanished without trace. In the days that followed, keloid scars appeared over her face and limbs, and she suffered from radiation sickness -- nausea, fever and diarrhea, amongst other symptoms -- for seven months until she was able to return to school. Her elder brother, an alcoholic depressive, died after the war at the age of 33, as did his wife, forcing Matsubara to take in his three children. Her parents both succumbed to cancer, and Matsubara herself was in and out of hospital with various radiation-linked diseases. Hibakusha Miyoko Matsubara speaks to MDN staff writer Roger Hutchings at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in June. (Mainichi) And yet, despite the many kinds of suffering she has endured over the years, in person Matsubara is possessed of a warmth and generosity of spirit that belies none of her terrible experiences. Following the war, she spent several years caring for children orphaned by the blast at a local church, and went on to promote anti-nuclear weapon and anti-war efforts in over thirty countries, speaking at schools, universities, even the United Nations. Even during our conversation, despite talking about what are still clearly painful memories for her, when we switched to Japanese, her face lit up and she showered me with compliments on my ability. And after meeting several hibakusha during my stay in Hiroshima, what struck me most was that despite the terrible personal tragedy each had endured, they had gone on to lead hugely productive lives for the betterment of others. Local historian and hibakusha Shigeaki Mori is another example of this. An 8-year-old student at the time of the attack, he was transferred to another school in the Koi suburb of Hiroshima, and became one of only two people from his former school to survive the attack. After going back to the ruins of his former school, he found, to his amazement, the body of an American POW amongst the rubble nearby. Hibakusha Shigeaki Mori explains the origins of a memorial dedicated to foreign casualties of the Second World War to MDN staff writer Roger Hutchings at a temple in Hiroshima in June. (Mainichi) He began his studies thirty years ago, after from a former neighbor hearing that the surviving crew of a B-24 bomber shot down during an attack on the nearby port town of Kure had been brought to Hiroshima just over a week before the attack. He confirmed that ten American POWs -- crewmen of two downed B-24s, the Lonesome Lady and the Taloa -- died in the ruins of the local Kempeitai barracks, and fought for their recognition as A-bomb victims. His studies into foreign activity around Hiroshima and Nagasaki continue to this day; just two years ago, he presented the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall For Atomic Bomb Victims with a portrait of a British airman who died in the A-bomb attack there, Royal Air Force Corporal Ronald Shaw, who became the first POW to be listed there. Lee Sil Gun, a hibakusha of Korean descent, was no stranger to hardship even before the attack. After his Korean heritage was outed by a classmate, the training dummy used in his school's military education classes was thrown out, and his teacher forced him to don armor instead and instructed the other students to attack him with padded bamboo staves. Despite his harsh treatment, he possessed a strong sense of loyalty towards Imperial Japan, and was on his way to join the Air Force when he fell into conversation with a fellow Korean at a train station, who introduced him to the potential benefits of hauling rice from the fields in Yamaguchi Prefecture to Kobe. Lee was on his way back from Kobe, the day after the bomb fell, when his train was stopped at Hachihonmatsu in east Hiroshima. He decided to walk back through Hiroshima, and was greeted by a scene of utter devastation. Hibakusha Lee Sil Gun tells his story to MDN staff writer Roger Hutchings at his home in Hiroshima in June. (Mainichi) "I'd passed through the day before, and the next day the city was gone," he said, simply. After the war, while other Koreans were celebrating the release of their fellow countrymen in Japan, Lee, plagued with depression over the Allies' victory, spent his time steeped in alcohol and petty violence. But after his recovery, in 1975 he created the Korean Hibakusha Association in response to the Japan's marginalization of non-Japanese A-bomb victims. Lee's story was the one that left the greatest impression on me. After being persecuted for most of his life -- as a Korean and as a hibakusha -- he could have isolated himself from society, or even tried to take his revenge upon it. And yet this cheerful old man, who bought me a beer within ten minutes of meeting me, works to this day to fight for a better lot for the hibakusha of his homeland: The archetypal working class hero, born to immigrant parents and suffering for much of his life before rising up and striking a blow for his fellow man. Something else that I discovered was that the desire to go out and do good inspired from such a horrific act isn't limited to those with first-hand experience of the bomb. Photographer Yoshiko Miyamoto shows some of her photographs to MDN staff writer Roger Hutchings in Hiroshima in June. (Mainichi) Photographer Yoshiko Miyamoto, 32, became interested in anti-nuclear activities while studying as an exchange student in Scotland nine years ago. Britain's Trident missile-armed nuclear submarine fleet is based at Clyde Naval Base on the west coast of Scotland, making nuclear weapons an especially contentious issue there. Miyamoto took her new-found anti-nuclear stance back to her hometown of Hiroshima, where she went on to produce a book relating the experiences of sixty hibakusha. I wondered what it must have been like for Miyamoto to attend these kinds of protests. Scenes of protesters handcuffing themselves to trucks, cutting their way through fences and being arrested by the police are not exactly rare to a Briton, especially one who grew up around Oxford, where protesters regularly go toe-to-toe with Oxford University over its animal testing programs. For someone unused to this kind of active protest, I imagine it could be pretty unnerving -- but I was quietly pleased to hear how she talked back to a British policeman who tried to stop her photographing one protest. Despite everything that these men and women have achieved, however, I'm sure each one would trade it all in for the bomb to have never been dropped in the first place, and I would agree with them. And after only a few short days in Hiroshima, I'm more convinced than ever of the need to fight for an end to the world's nuclear stockpiles, even though despite the strides forward being made in North Korea, proliferation appears to be the order of the day. MDN staff writer Roger Hutchings looks at an unusual memorial to a British seaman who died in 1909 in Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture in June. (Mainichi) My native Britain, nominally a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, will not be giving up its own nuclear deterrent for a long time -- until 2050, at least. On March 14 of this year, and despite a rebellion within Tony Blair's ruling Labour Party, the House of Commons approved an "essential" 20 billion pound plan to update Britain's nuclear submarine fleet, albeit with opposition party support. So it may be difficult to reconcile these two viewpoints -- especially since for the man in the street, terrorism has replaced the nuclear standoff of the Cold war as the thing to lose sleep over -- and in the end, the only way that they will ever truly disappear is not by chaining ourselves to trucks, or even telling people of the horror they can cause. It's by making sure they never become necessary again. (By Roger Hutchings, Mainichi Daily News) Mainichi reporter Sumire Kunieda "Remember Pearl Harbor." When I'm covering stories in the United States, this is the response some people give to the call for "no more Hiroshimas or Nagasakis." When it comes to the issue of nuclear weapons, I think Americans are strongly influenced by the theories of justification of their use. In the United States, the reported figure for "number of lives saved by the atomic bombings" has kept increasing. Before the atomic bombs were dropped, it was estimated that between 20,000 and 46,000 American soldiers would lose their lives if the United States invaded Japan without dropping the bombs. After the atomic bombs were dropped, however, President Harry Truman came out with the figure of between 200,000 and 250,000 troops, and after he retired, he started saying 500,000 lives had been saved. In the 1992 biography "Truman," the figure climbed as high as 1 million. It seems hard for Americans to understand the feelings of non-nuclear nations. Barton Bernstein, a professor of History at Stanford University, says that people claim a taboo on the use of nuclear weapons emerged among Americans after the atomic bombings in Japan; but grounds for that claim, he says, are weak. In a public poll taken during the Korean War, Americans supported the use of an atomic bomb. When it came to the Gulf War of 1991, the percentage of Americans who said it was permissible to use nuclear weapons if they saved the lives of American soldiers stood at 24 percent before the war, but that figure rose to 45 percent after the war began. In the United States, gun culture has survived unbroken since pioneer days. It's only natural to take up arms to defend oneself, and constraint from anyone else is seen as a violation of freedom. The psychological structure of Americans is different from Europeans, who have needed diplomacy to coexist with adjacent countries. Of course, Japan is also different. Do Americans see nuclear weapons as big, reliable guns? There are times when I think they do. Even now, the Bush Administration is pushing ahead with "Complex 2030," a new nuclear weapons development project. However, six decades after the end of World War II, the United States has ceased to be a monolith. In an opinion poll taken in the United States in March 2005, 60 percent of people aged 65 years or older supported the atomic bomb attacks against Japan -- but 60 percent of people aged under 30 opposed them. In 2004, 35 percent of Americans were opposed to the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, but with the inclusion of certain conditions, 61 percent were in favor. In June, one Republican presidential candidate speaking in a television debate mentioned the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons against Iraq. USA Today, the biggest national paper in the United States, responded with fierce criticism in an editorial titled "Loose talk about nukes could sink U.S. interests." I asked USA Today editorial writer Louise Branson, 53, about the article. She explained that the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fear of nuclear war under the Cold War is fading from the memories of Americans, and she said she felt there was a need to sound the alarm. The paper's editorial office, which also includes young reporters in their 30s and a Muslim woman, is an epitome of diversified U.S. society. Knowing that an editorial was written there, I felt like I had seen light symbolizing hope that the United States would also change. Japanese and U.S. perceptions of the past atomic bombings may never reach a point of agreement, but I feel that there is still a possibility that we can reach the common goal of not using nuclear weapons again. (By Sumire Kunieda, Mainichi Shimbun) This article is part three of a three-part hibakusha and A-bomb series for 2007. Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 Hot water: Could planned LNG pipelines stir up radioactive trash? - Malden, MA - Malden Observer Malden, MA Photo by Barbara Taormina Polly Bradley, secretary for SWIM, says the strategy of the LNG companies has been to avoid any mention of radioactive waste in Massachusetts Bay. By Barbara Taormina/btaormin@cnc.com GateHouse News Service Thu Aug 02, 2007, 08:12 PM EDT Malden - Polly Bradley leans back in her favorite stuffed armchair in the living room of her Nahant home, shakes her head and admits the fight with Excelerate Energy is pretty much over. The hearings have ended, the permits have been issued and the company has started construction of a new liquefied natural gas terminal about 13 miles off the coast of Gloucester. “The time is very late,” says Bradley, who 24 years ago co-founded the local watchdog group Safer Waters in Massachusetts, or SWIM. “I just wish we knew a year ago what we know now.” What Bradley and her group now know isn’t exactly a safeguarded secret. It’s more something that Massachusetts has swept under the rug and would probably prefer not to talk about.  During the ’40s and ’50s, radioactive waste from different sources, including a small company in Beverly that processed uranium for the first atomic bombs, was dumped in Massachusetts Bay. No one seems to know exactly what or how much radioactive junk was tossed overboard, but some suggest it could be tens of thousands of barrels and concrete containers. And it’s down there on the ocean floor in the company of lots of other containers of industrial chemicals and waste that were dropped off at the Massachusetts Bay Industrial Waste Site, which has affectionately come to be known as the “foul area.” Bradley and other members of SWIM are worried that as the LNG project moves forward and Excelerate begins to dig into the ocean floor to construct 16.5 miles of pipeline, they may run into some of that long-buried and forgotten waste. And they say cracking open cans of radioactive stuff could be a potential disaster for the environment, the whales, the fishing industry and just about anyone who happens to have anything to do with the ocean. Doug Pizzi, a spokesman for Excelerate, says that’s not going to happen. Pizzi says the pipeline route has been surveyed extensively with side-scan sonar and nothing extraordinary was found. “This issue has been raised and vetted and nobody saw any evidence of radioactive waste,” says Pizzi. “There’s just nothing in the pipeline route — it’s just not there.” But Bradley and SWIM aren’t convinced. They’ve written to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission pleading for more information about what took place back in the ’40s and ’50s. And they’ve asked Gov. Deval Patrick to get on board and look into the issue. If it turns out that the risks outweigh the benefits, they want work on the project to stop. It’s a long shot and probably the last shot at stopping the LNG project that opponents say is an ecological threat and Excelerate says will be the safest and easiest answer to New England’s growing appetite for energy. LNG pro and con Lots of people have lots of reasons to hate the Excelerate LNG terminal and the Neptune LNG station which will be built roughly 7 miles off the coast of Gloucester. Both terminals are essentially huge buoys out in deep water that house a loading pipe. Tankers carrying cargos of natural gas that has been cooled down to a liquid can pull up to the terminals and unload. The gas makes its way through the new pipeline to the hub pipeline and then down to a facility in Hull. And that means more and more electricity so you never have to turn the lights off. Fishermen don’t like it because it’s being built in a prime fishing ground and all boats will now be banned from the terminal areas, as well as the tanker lanes and routes. Whale watchers object because the tankers are a potential threat to six species of the local mammals, including the highly endangered right whale that’s known for swimming right into ships. And don’t even get them started on the sea turtles. Others say this is the start of the industrialization and privatization of the ocean — a resource that allegedly belongs to everybody. But others think the new offshore terminals are the way to go. We live in a post-9/11 world, and nobody wants more shore-side LNG facilities that could be potential terrorist targets. If someone did choose to blow a hole in an LNG tank or tanker, the liquid would immediately start changing back into a gas cloud. Send a little current or spark through it and we’ll have quite the spectacle. According to Sandia Laboratory, researchers for the Dept. of Energy, we could see a fireball big enough and nasty enough to give second degree burns to people who are more than a mile away. The thinking is if it’s out in the ocean, we’re safe. But Bradley and SWIM members say maybe not. The say the possibility of digging up radioactive waste to construct the pipeline is a huge threat. And what’s alarming them isn’t so much what they know, but rather what they don’t. Back then Nobody is arguing that radioactive waste isn’t out there. And everyone knows where the first batches came from. During the 1930s, a Marblehead guy named Peter Alexander developed a method to produce metals from their oxides. A few years later the folks from the Manhattan Project came calling to see if Alexander could whip up a little uranium metal from uranium ore at his Beverly plant, Metal Hydrides. They thought it might be useful for a little experiment they had going out West. And that was that — Alexander was in on the nuclear industry on the ground floor. After WWII, sometime in 1948, the Atomic Energy Commission, successor to the Manhattan Project, decided to check the Metal Hydrides plant for radioactive contamination — and they found plenty of it. According to David Adams, a chemistry professor at the UMASS-Amherst, all of the contaminated materials at Metal Hydrides were packed up. Parts of the building, tools, equipment, clothing — anything that glowed had to go. “As a result of these investigations, virtually all contaminated materials … were packed into canisters loaded onto vessels provided by the U.S. Navy, towed 12 miles into Massachusetts Bay and sunk by Capt. George Perry, a local boat owner,” writes Adams in a paper tracing the history of Metal Hydrides’ connection to the atomic age. “The canisters were not fully loaded to ensure that water would seep in and sink them. If they didn’t sink, Perry shot them with bullet holes,” adds Adams. Apparently, Perry liked the job so much that he set up a company called Crossroads Marine Disposal Corporation and soon started collecting other people’s radioactive and chemical waste, which he hauled and dumped in Massachusetts Bay. And for his efforts, Perry picked up the nickname, “the atomic garbage man.” Beverly fisherman Alessandro Cagiati,who has been one of the LNG project’s most vocal critics, has collected some of the old invoices from Crossroads from the Army Corps of Engineers archives. Those invoices show as late as 1959, Perry was dumping 30-gallon vats of radioactive waste about nine miles off the coast of Marblehead. “Those documents were declassified, which tells me there are still other things that are classified,” says Cagiati, who has also presented evidence that some Air Force planes also did some dumping in the area. The problem is nobody seems to know exactly what Perry or anyone else was tossing overboard. “It’s called low-level nuclear waste, but low-level waste is anything that isn’t high level,” says Bradley. “Low-level waste seems to be anything that doesn’t blow up or kill you immediately.” And the other problem is, no one is sure exactly where all of the radioactive stuff was dumped. There were three designated dumpsites to choose from, but it’s not clear if everything meant for those ocean dumps actually ended up there.  Cagiati says there’s radioactive waste a lot closer to shore than people realize.  “There’s radioactive waste at the 20-fathom ledge,” says Cagiati. “That’s in about 125 feet of water and it’s about a mile off shore in some places. That’s a fact.” And that’s the type of information that has Bradley and SWIM members worried. Also, it’s been 60 years since people started dumping radioactive and chemical waste in the bay. Over time, currents, storms and tides may have moved sediment around and buried a lot of the waste most people would just as soon forget. And because exact information is so scarce, they worry that digging and laying an LNG pipeline might just shake up an old nightmare. Flawed studies The Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies and universities haven’t completely ignored the issue of radioactive waste off the Massachusetts coast. Nobody has said “let’s get it out of there,” but there have been studies. Most of that research seems to have been done with the goal of testing seafood to make sure it was safe. And even that took some prodding. Fishing boats from ports up and down the coast kept reporting that they were hauling up barrels and broken concrete containers of waste in their nets. One fisherman from Gloucester remembers when a little something extra came up in his nets some years back. “We got a barrel in the net so we opened it,” he recalls. “Right away it started burning everyone’s eyes. A little of it spilled and it started to corrode the deck; we got scared and threw it back.” During the ’80s and ’90s, government agencies conducted several surveys of the ocean floor using the latest high-tech gadgets available at the time. Yes, the EPA did find about 10,000 to 20,000 barrels in the foul area — the state’s main ocean dump site — and yes, about half of them were corroded, and yeah, there is some sediment that showed radioactive contamination — but according to the EPA there is no risk to human health and no imminent ecological threat. But critics of those studies say the researchers never talked to Perry, never looked at his notes and they missed much of the waste simply because they didn’t look in the right area. And Cagiati points out there’s no way to tell exactly what’s under a thick layer of sediment or mud with sonar that surveys the ocean floor, particularly if you are looking for radioactive material. “You need different equipment for that,” he says. ‘Some delay’ Bradley and other members of SWIM are now waiting on answers from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the ocean dumping, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it will boost their bid to stop construction of the LNG terminals and pipeline. Of course, concerns about hardships to the fishing industry, potential ship strikes, threats to marine life, explosions, entanglements of whales, and degradation of water quality didn’t arch many eyebrows at the permit hearing for Excelerate’s LNG project. Is anyone going to bother about the prospect of twinkling fish and glow-in-the-dark whales? So far, Bradley has had few signs of encouragement. In May, David Vito of the NRD Enforcement office wrote to Bradley saying he had forwarded her request for information and an investigation to “cognizant personnel.”  Vito also suggested that finding the answers might take the one thing Bradley hasn’t got at this point — time. “Please understand that due to the age of the issues to which you refer, related information may not be readily available and some delay may be experienced if the retrieval of archived data is necessary,” Vito writes. But that’s not the worst of it, as far as Bradley sees it. She’s amazed at the lack of interest and attention to the problem of radioactive waste. At the very least, she hopes someone will be put in place to monitor the construction and make sure nothing radioactive is dragged up in the process. “I am sure if there were a Spanish galleon and gold down there, a way would be found to monitor for it during construction and operation of the pipelines and terminals,” she says. E-mail Barbara Taormina at btaormin@cnc.com. Copyright © 2006–2007 GateHouse Media, Inc. Some Rights ***************************************************************** 35 Las Vegas SUN: Jon Ralston on campaign money, Yucca Mountain Today: August 03, 2007 at 7:29:59 PDT If I told you that a company boasting it will provide "a total transportation solution to Yucca Mountain" is a significant donor to a prominent Nevada politician who regularly rails against the dump, you might think I was joking. If I told you that this same elected official, only a few weeks after accepting the money from this outfit, was pummeling another Nevada pol for his lack of purity on the repository, you might think I was taking the joke too far. And if I told you this same nuclear-friendly conglomerate had been donating to Nevada politicians for years as they railed against one of its raisons d'etre, you might assume I have a twisted sense of humor. But it's no laughing matter and, as usual with Yucca Mountain, the joke is on voters who simply lap up the anti-dump rhetoric and pay no attention to the hypocrisy of taking one position in news releases while taking money from those opposed to that position. Hypocrisy, of course, is endemic to a debate that has been characterized by the irreconcilable juxtaposition of "blowing up bombs at the Test Site: good; putting waste near the Test Site: bad." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is the latest to show how difficult it is to keep your equilibrium as he bestrides the dump high horse, most recently to assail Gov. Jim Gibbons. Just a few weeks before Reid was pounding the governor for his position on dump water rights and the Democrats were bludgeoning the governor for his obtuse pick for the Commission on Nuclear Projects, the Senate boss was happily accepting $4,000 to his leadership PAC from General Atomics, according to Political MoneyLine, a campaign donation-tracking Web site. What is General Atomics? The company, a huge defense contractor and nuclear power advocate, essentially brags in a brochure that it can do what Reid and others have argued for years is impossible and is a fundamental underpinning of the argument against Yucca Mountain: General Atomics says it produces casks so high-level nuclear waste can be transported safely. From the company Web site: "General Atomics (GA) provides advanced design truck and rail casks to meet the needs of the Yucca Mountain transportation program. GA's truck casks can safely carry higher payloads within the legal weight truck limits, and have been designed with versatility allowing them to carry commercial spent nuclear fuel as well as high level radioactive waste forms." Reid's response? Part of it was expected and as hyperbolic as most of the dump rhetoric. "You and I both know that it is Sen. Reid who has prevented the dump at Yucca Mountain from being built," a senatorial spokesman said. "Sen. Reid is Nevada's strongest advocate in killing the Yucca Mountain project." It is inarguable that Reid's leadership position all but ensures the dump will not be built while he occupies that spot. And he has consistently used his leadership post to slash funding for Yucca Mountain. But Reid, ever the inside player operating in the amoral Beltway confines, has managed to separate his public actions from his campaign fundraising, willing to take money from the likes of General Atomics and once actually hiring a dump lobbyist to raise campaign cash for him. That moral ambiguity is de rigueur in the political world. And to be fair to Reid, he is not the only Nevada delegation member to accept General Atomics money - he is only the most recent. Rep. Jon Porter has taken the lucre the last three cycles. And Sen. John Ensign has taken money from General Atomics since 2004 and the company even financed a couple of trips abroad for staffers, including the senator's top aide. Reid - and surely the others - would point out that General Atomics also builds the Predator drones, which fly out of Creech Air Force Base at Indian Springs. But where do you draw the line? Why not just say no to money from a contractor whose charge - making nuclear waste casks safe - you say cannot be done? No one would suggest Reid can be bought for four grand or that he will change his public Yucca position because of the donation. That's inane. On the other hand, Reid, as a fundraising behemoth, hardly needs to take checks from General Atomics. That's obvious. The simplest way to look at it is this: If an opponent of Harry Reid's had taken money from General Atomics and Reid had not, do you think the senator might clamber up on his dump high horse and raise the issue? Enough said. Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the daily e-mail newsletter "RalstonFlash.com." His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 36 LVNFES: Governor talks wildfires, energy in local visit Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard - News By VIKTORIA PEARSON vpearson@lahontanvalleynews.com, August 3, 2007 Gov. Jim Gibbons said it is imperative the state of Nevada stop the cycle of catastrophic fires across the state in a visit to Fallon Thursday. With the number of fires increasing daily in Nevada as well as elsewhere in the country, having sufficient resources to handle more blazes is important. Gibbons said although wildfire funds are being stretched, there is still plenty of funding and resources available to continue fighting the blazes. However, he said it was imperative to find a way to reduce the number of fires. When asked why he felt it was important for the state of Nevada to become involved with the Angora Fire near Lake Tahoe in California, Gibbons replied, “Fires don’t recognize political boundaries.” Gibbons said he will meet with the governors of Idaho and Utah Monday morning to discuss development of a shared resource plan regarding wildfires. Gibbons said it is a meeting similar to one he had with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. “We share the same habitat,” he said. “We need to develop a viable rehabilitation plan.” Another topic that has been in the news recently is Gibbons’ appointment of Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley to the Nevada Nuclear Projects Commission. Eastley resigned from the position shortly after her appointment following discovery she had made statements supporting the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in the past. Gibbons said he has offered the appointment to Dr. Rob Roberts, superintendent of the Nye County School District. Gibbons said Roberts is anti-Yucca Mountain and believes he will do a great job on the commission. Regarding his accomplishments in office so far, he said the legislation establishing “empowerment” schools is something he is extremely proud of. He said an additional $1 billion in funding allocated for state transportation projects was a great accomplishment as well. Gibbons said he is proud of a state that can expand services without raising taxes. “It is a true sign of a government that is creative,” he said. “I’m very proud of the people who work for the state.” When asked if he had any regrets since coming into office, Gibbons replied, “I have no regrets.” He said the one thing he wants to accomplish before he leaves office, whenever that happens, is to change the dynamics of Nevada from an importer of energy to an exporter of energy through the state’s natural resources. “This could bring in $30 billion a year for the state,” he said. Gibbons said his visits to rural Nevada are critically important for those who serve the state to know what the needs are. He was accompanied by some members of his cabinet during his visit. “Unless you put you feet on the ground and stand in their (residents’) shoes, you don’t know their issues,” he said. “It makes me a better governor. I love rural Nevada.” Gibbons also visited the Churchill County Senior Center and gave interviews to local radio stations before departing for Fernley. All contents © Copyright 2007 lahontanvalleynews.com Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard - 562 North Maine Street - Fallon, NV 89406 ***************************************************************** 37 Daily News Journal: Council asks for radioactive dumping moratorium to continue Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, Tennessee By TURNER HUTCHENS trhutchens@dnj.com The Murfreesboro City Council is calling for more time to study the low-level radioactive dumping in Rutherford County. The resolution, unanimously approved by the council at its meeting Thursday night at City Hall, calls for the state to extend the moratorium on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Bulk Survey For Release Program, under which low-level radioactive materials have been dumped at the Middle Point Landfill. The moratorium, established by the state Legislature this summer to allow the Tennessee Solid Waste Advisory Committee time to study the BSFR program, is set to expire on Sept. 3 — the same day that committee’s report is due. Murfreesboro Vice Mayor Chris Bratcher, who suggested the resolution, said he hoped it would influence the department heads and lawmakers who had control of the landfill. “I hope that those with the power to make decisions listen to the local leaders, the mayor and council of Murfreesboro,” Bratcher said. He said the fact that the city draws most of its water from the Stones River, which runs next to the landfill, made it a very relevant issue for Murfreesboro. For more, see tomorrow’s Daily News Journal and dnj.com Originally published August 2, 2007 Print this article Email this to Copyright ©2007 The Daily News Journal. All rights reserved. Users ***************************************************************** 38 Rutland Herald: Entergy dryer cracks 'normal' August 03, 2007 By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff VERNON — The new cracks on the steam dryer at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant are a result of normal aging, and not additional pressures from the plant's 20 percent power boost, according to Entergy Nuclear. The detailed inspection of the steam dryer, which revealed 29 new cracks or indications of cracks, was required after earlier inspections showed 46 cracks in the large stainless steel component. The inspection also showed that the older cracks had not continued to grow. State and federal regulators are worried that Vermont Yankee could suffer a similar fate as two other General Electric designed steam dryers in four Illinois nuclear reactors, which were forced to shut down for extended periods of time because of steam dryer problems. The steam dryer is a large stainless steel component 17 feet in diameter and 16 feet high, that helps eliminate almost all of the moisture from the steam rising from the reactor. The drier the steam, the better the power production and the less corrosion on power generation components, the company says. The additional cracks were a result of intergranular stress corrosion cracking, and not metal fatigue from the additional steam being pushed through the plant, according to John Dreyfuss, director of nuclear safety assurance for Entergy Nuclear. "It held up beautifully," he said of the steam dryer, noting Entergy had reinforced the steam dryer in key areas before the uprate. He said those areas did not sustain any cracks. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which had requested the detailed study and report, said the NRC's technical staff is still reviewing Entergy's information, but the NRC had agreed that despite the new cracks, the plant was safe to operate. He said when the NRC approved the power uprate in 2006, one of the conditions was the study of the steam dryer and continued monitoring and inspection during refueling outages. He said it was possible that the NRC would require Entergy to do more inspections or other remedial work. "We were satisfied no immediate operability issues existed," he said. Dreyfuss said Entergy based its conclusion on the location of the cracks and their shape. He said other stress fatigue problems that showed up in other nuclear power plants, notably the Quad Cities reactor in Illinois, had smooth breaks in the metal. In Vermont Yankee's case, the new cracks ranged in length from 3/4- to 1-1/2-inches long. The discovery during Yankee's recent shut down for refueling and maintenance brings the total of cracks in the steam dryer to 76, according to Mark LeFrancois, the code programs engineering supervisor. LeFrancois and Dreyfuss said considerable resources and time had been put into the effort to make sure the steam dryer was safe, before and since the power boost. Entergy Nuclear boosted power production by 20 percent last year, an uprate of 110 megawatts to a total output of 650 megawatts. The steam dryer, which is not technically a safety component at the nuclear reactor, has been the focus of state and federal concern when the plant wanted to increase power, largely because it has the potential to shut the plant down unexpectedly — making the plant less reliable. In extreme cases, pieces of the steam dryer have fallen back into the reactor, creating a safety problem. Dreyfuss said a recent hearing before federal regulators attracted consultants from all over the country and Europe, since power boosts and steam dryers are a nuclear industry-wide problem. He said in some cases, Vermont Yankee had become the "poster child" of the steam dryer issue. General Electric designed the steam dryer in about 30 different boiling water reactors, he said. The largest concern of federal regulators, he said, is of "loose parts" in the reactor. Dreyfuss said that most of the new 19 cracks were found on vertical guides on the dryer. He said the inspection was done with high-resolution remote-controlled underwater cameras. Stephen Wark, a spokesman for the Vermont Department of Public Service, said the cracks were something the state was keeping a close eye on and the state's former state nuclear engineer, William Sherman, had reviewed the report. Sherman is now acting as a consultant to the state. "We don't have any safety concerns of the new cracks, they are not a result of the uprate. They are essentially normal imperfections that occur," said Wark, who said that the steam dryer would continue to be monitored. Raymond Shadis, senior technical advisor for the New England Coalition, which has raised the issue of the aging of the steam dryer in its fight against Yankee's pending request to keep operating another 20 years, said that the location of the new cracks was key to analyzing it. "We don't have any reason to put confidence in their conclusion, they wouldn't give us copies of the pictures that we could show to metalurgists," he said. "We're taking that fight into the NRC," he said. Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. © 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 39 Salt Lake Tribune: EnergySolutions' bid to clean up, then buy uranium plants raises eyebrows in Congress Energy and Commerce Committee EnergySolutions' bid to clean up, then buy uranium plants raises Article Last Updated: 08/03/2007 06:47:47 AM MDT The chairman of Congress' powerful Energy and Commerce Committee is asking questions about efforts by Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions to get an exclusive cleanup contract for two government-owned uranium enrichment plants. If EnergySolutions gets the $9.5 billion contract at the Ohio and Kentucky plants, the Utah nuclear service company also plans to buy the Maryland-based company that now leases and operates those sites, according to Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. For EnergySolutions, the deal could be a boon, guaranteeing $700 million a year in business from the U.S. Energy Department and giving the company leverage for still more expansion. The company, which has been growing exponentially since 2005, would also further the stated goal of its chief executive officer, Steve Creamer, to dominate the U.S. nuclear services industry. But the deal might not be in the best interests of taxpayers, says Dingell and fellow Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, who leads the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "Awarding a $9.5 billion contract on a non-competitive basis is deeply troubling since there are numerous qualified firms who could compete for this work," the two said in a Wednesday letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. "How can DOE assess if taxpayers are receiving the best price for [decontamination and decommission- ing]?" the letter continues. "Moreover, what is the urgency of awarding a contract for D&D at Paducah, Kentucky, when the plant is still operating and there are no specific plans for its closure?" The Michigan lawmakers suggest the contract may be a way for the federal government to subsidize EnergySolutions' takeover of the U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC), which Dingell accuses of mismanagement and seeking a government bailout. The congressmen have asked the Energy Department to respond to their questions to the DOE by Aug. 10. The Energy Department acknowledges that EnergySolutions has made an unsolicited bid for work at the enrichment facilities but will say no more. "DOE has received materials containing confidential and business proprietary information from EnergySolutions," said agency spokeswoman Megan Barnett. "However DOE has made no decision to award any contract to EnergySolutions based on the materials received." EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker declined comment about the reports of a possible purchase of USEC. The questions arise as EnergySolutions is seeking to go public and as the U.S. Justice Department is looking into allegations that EnergySolutions is using anti-competitive practices. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since March has been reviewing EnergySolutions' request to issue $500 million in stock so the funds can be used to help pay off what is owed to employees and to repay outstanding debt of more than $764 million, according to SEC documents. The company is best-known in Utah for owning and operating a mile-square radioactive and hazardous waste landfill about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The landfill gives the Utah company enormous leverage over commercial radioactive waste disposal throughout the United States. Of the two other radioactive landfills, only one is open to commercial radioactive waste from 39 states and that one is also owned by EnergySolutions. In its push to lead the U.S. market in all aspects of nuclear waste management, the company has expanded into new business lines, including cleanup and nuclear decontamination and decommissioning. On Monday, the Energy Department announced that a consortium led by EnergySolutions is one of four that will receive up to $16 million for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a program exploring the resumption of nuclear waste reprocessing in the United States. Earlier this year, the Energy Department awarded the Utah company a $98.4 million, four-year contract for removing 16 million tons of uranium tailings and contaminated soil from the banks of the Colorado River near Moab and disposing it at a soon-to-be-created disposal site at Crescent Junction. fahys@sltrib.com ***************************************************************** 40 Gallup Independent: Fear & Hope; In uranium country, life goes on despite contamination fears August 2, 2007 An evaporation pond that is used to concentrate uranium and nitrates out of ground water contaminated by an old uranium mill northeast of Tuba City. The former Rare Metals Incorporated uranium mill is now under management by the Department of Energy. Officials hope that the process will eventually cleanse the ground water within the next 20 years. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent] By Zsombor Peter Staff Writer Shirley Charley prepares a butchered sheep for the grill during a cattle branding session on her family's ranch northeast of Tuba City near Rare Metals Incorporated old uranium mill. Recently the Navajo Nation has raised fears that there is more contamination that what was previously thought and that it has spread offsite. The tribe and El Paso Natural Gas Company, which bought Rare Metals Incorporated, have reached an agreement that says if contamination is found the company will provide an alternative water supply. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent] TUBA CITY, Ariz. ? Its legs bound and its fate sealed, the lone sheep lying on Shirley Charley?s wood porch took quick, sharp breaths in the early afternoon heat. Amid a network of anonymous dirt roads a half-dozen miles north east of Tuba City, only its occasional, noisy attempts at escape disturbed the tranquil scene. In a few hours, Charley and her extended family would butcher the sheep to help fuel a long night of cattle branding. They?ve herded their livestock across this land for generations. And like the sheep lying on Charley?s porch Saturday, they?ve watered them at a well about a mile to the east for just as long. Five weeks ago, the company that used to own the uranium mill on the other side of the nearest paved road, U.S. Highway 160, reached an agreement with the Navajo Nation to test nearby wells it may have contaminated. El Paso Natural Gas hasn?t named the wells it will test yet, so Charley can only wonder if it will include the well her family has been using all these years. Busy with preparations for the evening?s meal, her hands already caked with flour, Charley reluctantly admits she?s worried. ?We don?t know what?s out there,? she said, staring contemplatively into a storm cloud slipping quietly across the eastern skyline. Unfinished business The area?s troubles began when the Rare Metals Corporation started processing uranium at the mill in 1956. Off and on for the next 10 years, it processed some 800,000 tons of ore, all of it for the federal government?s nuclear weapons program. Following the federal regulations of the time, Rare Metals dumped the damp tailings, the waste product of milling, into unlined evaporation ponds on site. Unfortunately, not all the water evaporated. Much of the water seeped into the ground, taking uranium and other contaminants in the tailings with it. Again with federal approval, El Paso, which eventually bought Rare Metals, did some modest reclamation around the mill and packed up in 1968. It wasn?t for another two decades that the U.S. Department of Energy started cleaning up the surface contamination the companies left behind. But that did nothing to address the radioactive plume of groundwater below. The Energy Department only started cleaning that up in 2002. According to Randy Richardson, site superintendent for SM Stoller, the company the Energy Department hired to clean up the plume, between 1 billion and 2 billions gallons of contaminated water flowed be low the mill in 2002. Five years on, the company has cleaned only 240 million of those gallons, he said, ?so we?ve got a ways to go.? Thirty-seven wells dot the site, pumping dirty water out of the ground around the clock. Distillers and softeners clean the water before the wells send most of it back. The rest ends up in a double-lined pond to bake in the sun. As the water evaporates, the contaminants get left behind. Briny mounds, holding the excess nitrates in the water, poke out of the emerald brew like little is lands in a salty sea. The uranium, which comes in much lower concentrations, is harder to see. But even a little uranium, Richardson said, ?goes a long way.? When Stoller got started, it hoped to have all the contaminants back below federal drinking limits within 20 years. Richardson has his doubts. ?If nothing changes,? he said, ?it could take a little longer.? For all the mill site?s problems, however, the Navajo Nation?s current worries lie elsewhere. According to Richardson, most of the plume from the mill, all but its southern edge, lies directly beneath the 145 acres the company has fenced off, out of the way of any public wells. What troubles the tribe most these days is the waste Rare Metals allegedly dumped off the site illegally. Out of bounds Mavis Saganitso, Charley?s mother, grew up where her daughter?s trailer sits today. She remembers back to the 1960s when Rare Metals crews used to show up with big black barrels and bury them. She can still pick out the spot from Charley?s porch by looking for the dusty patch a few hundred yards off where the native shrubbery has never quite filled back in. ?They didn?t say it was harmful,? she said. ?They told us not to worry about it. Later on we found out it was hot.? They still don?t know exactly what is ? or was ? in the barrels. ?They don?t tell us nothing,? Charley said. The Navajo Nation claims Rare Metals illegally dumped some waste from the mill there, and at an old communal landfill on the other side of U.S. 160 halfway to Tuba City. And just as with the tailings at the mill, it believes that waste is leaking contaminants into the groundwater below, threatening nearby wells. Bill Walker, a private geologist on the tribe?s payroll, says he?s linked the waste at the dumps to the mill with the help of some telltale chemicals Rare Metals used in the milling process. He?s found the same chemicals in the dumps. He?s also found a plume of contaminated water beneath the old landfill, but is still working on linking the two. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which could bring its considerable weight to bear of El Paso if convinced, is playing it safe. It?s neither denying nor confirming any connection between the mill and dump sites. El Paso, meanwhile, is admitting nothing. But with the Navajo Nation threatening to sue, it has agreed to take some modest steps. Let?s make a deal El Paso signed off on a ?cooperative agreement? with the tribe June 25. Before getting into what the tribe and company agree to, though, it makes clear what they don?t: Neither gives up its claims to what Rare Metals did or did not do during its operation of the mill. That said, El Paso agreed to investigate the 5 acre dump site by Charley?s home for surface contamination, fence off the ?affected area,? and apply a spray-on polymer to keep the soil from blowing away. It also agreed to test all ?potentially affected? wells and springs around the dump and mill for contamination. If it finds levels above government limits, it will take ?reasonable measures ... to reduce risk,? including the provision of an alternative water supply. El Paso spokesman Richard Wheatley said the company was still identifying the wells and springs it will test. ?I think we?re talking under 100 here,? said David Taylor, the Navajo Nation?s lead attorney on uranium matters. ?Whether we?re talking about 50 or 25 I can?t say at this point.? El Paso agreed to reimburse the Navajo Nation for any costs it incurs conducting its own investigation and cleanup of the sites as well, up to $350,000. And lest anyone forget about the federal government, El Paso and the tribe agreed to work together in convincing the U.S. Department of Energy to chip in. Specifically, they want Congress to amend the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act so that the Energy Department can start spending its own money cleaning up the dump sites. The last time the tribe appealed to the Energy Department, Land and Site Management Director Donna Bergman-Tabbert turned it down. Because the tribe failed to raise its concerns about the dump sites before UMTRCA expired in 1998, she wrote Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. in 2004, they failed to qualify. Taylor thinks they have a better chance this time. Although the agreement requires El Paso and the tribe to team up for only 60 consecutive congressional work days ? the clock started ticking June 25 ? they expect federal lawmakers to take up another UMTRCA site near Moab, Utah, soon. If Congress starts talking about Moab, they hope it won?t mind taking another look at Tuba City as well. ?You strike when the iron?s hot, and we hope the iron is not in these 60 days,? said Taylor. El Paso says the Energy Department still bears some responsibility for the mill and its waste. After all, every pound of yellowcake the mill ever produced went to feed the country?s Cold War nuclear arsenal. ?It was done for the benefit of the federal government,? Wheatley said. Whether Rare Metals dumped contaminated waste off site for the benefit of the federal government as well is a matter for the courts. El Paso sued the Energy Department insisting it take responsibility for the dump sites in May. The government has yet to file a formal response. Only the beginning For everything El Paso has agreed to do, Taylor said will only be scratching the surface. ?This is not a cleanup in any sense agreement; this is an emergency response type agreement,? he said. ?They?re important early steps that need to be taken.? The tribe and its researchers haven?t detected any contamination levels above federal limits in area wells yet. But if the underground plumes of contaminated water aren?t checked, they say, that could change. Per its agreement with the Navajo Nation, El Paso need only provide an alternative water supply. Actually cleaning up any plumes would cost millions. Walker said animals may already be feeding on plants soaking them up. ?So any of those animals that were slaughtered could get contaminants into the body,? he said. As for the plume beneath the old landfill, Walker is already convinced it?s moving toward wells that serve the Hopi villages of Upper and Lower Moenkopi. If it sinks deep enough, he added, it could even contaminate the aquifer serving Tuba City. But because 90 percent of the landfill sits on Hopi land, Taylor said the tribe?s agreement with El Paso doesn?t even address it. Rosemary Williams, who lives about a mile southwest of her sister Charley?s home, has her doubts about just how dangerous the area is. Her husband, Daniel, laughs it off: ?Our Hopi friends joke with us. They say, ?You glow in the dark.?? Still, if there?s more contaminated land and water out there, they want it taken care of. ?Our cattle graze here. Our sheep graze here. We live off of the land,? Rosemary Williams said. ?I just want them to clean it up.? Thursday August 2, 2007 Selected Stories: Behind closed doors; Advocate: Agenda listing of city’s executive session ‘too vague’ Fear & Hope; In uranium country, life goes on despite contamination fears Hard lesson: Children re-create Treaty of 1868 Deputies’ starting pay now in line with GPD Please send the Gallup Independent feedback on this website and the Send questions or comments to gallpind@cia-g.com ***************************************************************** 41 Cibola County Beacon: NRC plans new rules for uranimum Thursday, August 2, 2007 5:42 PM MDT SANTA FE - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposal for new mining activities - and the public's right to comment on them - would fall under one single “generic” environmental impact statement rather than individual statements on a site by site basis. The NRC has stated that the purpose of this “generic” process is “to aid in a more efficient environmental review for each separate license application.” “There is nothing generic about the concerns that many New Mexicans have with proposals to reopen or start new uranium mining and milling operations in their communities,” said Governor Richardson. “I believe that this proposal will negatively impact the ability of New Mexico's citizens to participate in the NRC licensing process for individual facilities.” Richardson requested that the NRC issue and allow the public to review individual Environmental Impact Statements for proposed uranium mines and mills in New Mexico on a case by case basis. “Our citizens have a right to full involvement in decisions that could have far reaching impacts on their homes and water resources,” the governor said. “Given the concerns of many citizens in New Mexico about the public health, environmental, and cultural impacts of new uranium mining actions, a process to eliminate public review of individual NRC permit actions in New Mexico would be disrespectful to our many sovereign Native American Tribes and Pueblos and the general public.” The NRC's GEIS proposal would also be contrary to the State of New Mexico's public participation permitting process. In New Mexico, state discharge permit applications for uranium operations are evaluated in a case by case basis, and this individual review is particularly important for uranium operations due to the varying hydrologic, geologic, and ecologic conditions of each particular site. Such a review allows the state and the public the opportunity to address site specific concerns unique to each individual facility. “If uranium mining and milling are to resume in New Mexico, the state must be sure that the public is given a robust opportunity to participate in the decisions and that all environmental, water resource, and potential public health issues are thoroughly examined for each operation,” Richardson said. “The State of New Mexico is committed to an open, transparent and thorough review process of all uranium permits and we implore the NRC to commit itself to the same level of public involvement.” Copyright © 2007 Cibola Beacon. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 UK: Daily Mail: Revealed: the wind farms and waste dumps that are planned near you By DAVID DERBYSHIRE - More by this author » Last updated at 12:32pm on 3rd August 2007 Comments (1) More than 100 controversial developments - from airport extensions to nuclear waste dumps - could be forced through by the Government despite public opposition, it has been claimed. A proposed shake-up of planning laws will strip residents of the right to challenge wind farms, major roads or massive waste incinerators being built on their doorsteps, according to countryside campaigners. The list of projects that could be pushed through over the next few years is highlighted today on a new interactive map of Britain. Click to enlarge the map below for a detailed look at the planned projects near you Available online, it pinpoints: • Giant waste incinerators earmarked for Cheshire and Peterborough. • Up to ten nuclear power stations, including new reactors at Sizewell, Suffolk and Calderhall, Cumbria. • Airport expansions at Birmingham, Bristol, East Midlands, Heathrow and Stansted. • Around 50 major road schemes, including the widening of the M6 and a new bridge over the Mersey. • A major new reservoir flooding five square miles of Oxfordshire. • Sixteen offshore and onshore wind farms. The map - which can be viewed at www.planningdisaster.co.uk - has been created by Planning Disaster, an umbrella group including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Earth, the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, the Woodland Trust, The Ramblers' Association and The National Trust. Owen Espley, a spokesman for the campaigners, said the proposed changes to planning laws - outlined earlier this year in the Planning White Paper - are a 'disaster' for local democracy. The reforms would remove the public's right to challenge controversial projects at a public inquiry. The coalition says decisions would also be taken out of the hands of politicians and given to 'an unelected, and unaccountable' new body called the Infrastructure Planning Commission. "These are the developments that the Government is likely to push through if it makes its reforms," said Mr Espley. "None have got planning permission yet, but are all being proposed. "The map allows people to find out for themselves what could be coming to their neighbourhood - and why it is so important to object now to these changes." Current planning laws have been criticised by businesses for making it too easy for local residents to delay major new developments. The Planning White Paper is out now for consultation and is expected to become a Bill in the autumn. ©2007 Associated Newspapers Ltd · Terms & Conditions · Privacy ***************************************************************** 43 KOB.com: DOE ordered to remove drum from WIPP Posted at: 08/03/2007 04:58:22 PM By: Joshua Panas CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Energy says it will comply with an order from the state Environment Department to remove a drum of liquid waste that was mistakenly sent to a nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico. The DOE's field office in Carlsbad received the state's order Friday. The office's manager, Dave Moody, says the drum will be sent back to the Idaho National Laboratory, which shipped the drum to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in June after a mistake in reading its label. DOE officials had said the drum wouldn't harm human health or the environment, but Environment Secretary Ron Curry argued it should be removed because it contained materials prohibited under WIPP's state permit. Curry says the state is serious about WIPP's compliance with its state permit. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) ***************************************************************** 44 Star Phoenix: Uranium stalemate goes to court CanWest News Service Published: Friday, August 03, 2007 KINGSTON, Ont. (CNS) -- A tense stalemate over a potential uranium mine in eastern Ontario may end soon as an Ontario Superior Court Justice continues to push both sides of the dispute to reach a temporary compromise. The conflict began in late June when two Algonquin communities north of Kingston formed a blockade near Sharbot Lake to stop Frontenac Ventures, a uranium prospecting company, from drilling for uranium core samples on disputed land. The Algonquins claim the land being prospected is theirs and that Frontenac Ventures has no right being there. Frontenac Ventures was granted its mining claims by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. Lawyers representing the company say they've done nothing wrong and have every right to prospect the land. On Monday, Frontenac Ventures asked the court to grant a permanent injunction against the protesters at the blockade. In addition, the company is suing the protesters for $75 million. The protesters, members of the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nations, are counter-suing Frontenac Ventures. They're also upset the province didn't consult them when it granted Frontenac mining rights. © The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007 ***************************************************************** 45 American Chronicle: GAO RELEASES FINAL REPORT ON QUALITY ASSURANCE PORCEDURES AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN Congressional Desk August 3, 2007 Washington, DC- The General Accountability Office (GAO) today released its final report on the quality assurance program managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The program was reviewed by the GAO at the request of Congressman Jon Porter who was then Chairman of the Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization. According to the report, the GAO assured Congressman Porter that the Department of Energy has made progress in restructuring their quality assurance program but several concerns remain: • Given the project's long history of recurring problems since its inception in 1983, including two prior failed efforts to file a license application, it is unclear whether DOE's license application will be adequate • Management continuity challenges are ongoing as DOE continues to lose key project managers highlighted most recently with the departure of the OCRWM Deputy Director Paul Golan • The organizational culture and behaviors of project staff and contractors remains a challenge, acknowledged by the OCRWM Director who advised that these types of cultural changes can be particularly difficult and take a long time to implement • GAO is concerned that OCRWM will be unable to meet the repository license application deadline of June 30, 2008 In an interim report, released in late January 2007, the GAO cited DOE for spending a supplemental $25 million of taxpayer funds after project scientists failed to follow quality assurance procedures and reported faulty data on critical water infiltration studies in March 2005. The conclusion of the report states, "DOE has a long history of quality assurance problems and has repeated difficulties in resolving these problems." "It is difficult for Nevadans to feel confident about DOE's push to move forward toward the June 2008 filing deadline when the GAO has reported continued concerns about this fatally flawed project," Porter said today. "DOE has played fast and loose with quality control procedures leaving Nevadans uncertain and the American taxpayers with an egregious bill." Congressional Desk The Congressional Desk provides information, news releases, and announcements obtained from governmental or political communication and public relations offices. The American Chronicle and its affiliates have no responsibility for ***************************************************************** 46 News & Star: Sellafield must be favoured site Published on 03/08/2007 By Anika Bourley Parliamentary Correspondent COPELAND MP Jamie Reed has reiterated the need for Cumbria to be considered and favoured as a site for nuclear reactors. He said there would be a long list of sites for possible new nuclear reactors with a variety of owners all of which have potential sites for nuclear build. But it is “imperative” that Sellafield is among the principle sites looked at. Mr Reed said: “It is a decision for the private sector, but given the unique experience of the work force at Sellafield and the understanding of the local community about nuclear issues, it must be a favoured site. “There was a recent meeting in Whitehaven with local stakeholders and the appetite is there.” The Labour MP said he will continue to press the issue while the consultation continues. The Government launched its five-month consultation on the “significant role” new nuclear power stations could play in cutting emissions and diversifying energy supplies will get underway in May and expected to end mid-October. Mr Reed's comments come a week after the News & Star reported Tory leader David Cameron appeared to be softening his approach to nuclear power. In an interview with the News & Star he repeatedly refused to say nuclear was “last resort” despite previously adopting that opinion. ***************************************************************** 47 SavannahNow.com: Savannah River Site project to generate 800 jobs Michelle Guffey | Friday, August 3, 2007 at 12:30 am AIKEN, S.C. - Savannah River Site took a major step Wednesday toward ensuring that nuclear weapons do not fall into the wrong hands while bolstering its own future. Construction began at the site on the nearly $5 billion Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. In the seven years it will take to build, about 1,600 jobs will be created during peak construction, and about 800 jobs will be created to operate the facility. "This program obviously does create jobs, and I'm pleased for the people of South Carolina," said Clay Ramsey, the MOX federal project director with the U.S. Department of Energy. Ramsey said the MOX program, part of a nuclear nonproliferation agreement between the United States and Russia, will help protect, secure and dispose of nuclear weapons material and that "anything that enhances that mission is good, and anything that impedes that mission is bad." "The jobs created through this program help advance that mission," he said. The grand plan Construction will cost about $4.8 billion, and operating costs will be about $180 million a year. If everything goes according to schedule, the 600,000-square-foot facility will be completed in 2014 and begin operating in 2016. The mixed oxide would dispose of 34 metric tons, or about 75 million pounds, of surplus, weapons-grade plutonium for fuel use in commercial nuclear reactors. The MOX fuel will generate enough electricity for about 1 million households for 50 years, according to the Energy Department. MOX supporters say, however, that security is the biggest benefit. "It's absolutely essential that as the U.S. and Russia dismantle their nuclear arsenal, that we've got a responsibility that these cannot be used as a nuclear weapon ever again," said Ernie Chaput, a former SRS employee and special projects coordinator for the Economic Development Partnership, serving Aiken and Edgefield counties. "The surest way of doing that is to take those materials and use them as a fuel in reactors." The MOX project probably will never be able to recoup total expenses, but Chaput said that's OK because the larger mission will be accomplished. "I think the real question is the purpose of the program: to permanently dispose of that material so it can't be used as a weapon," he said. "That says that you take and put as much into MOX as you can, except for the material that is so difficult it can't be changed. You can recover some of that investment through energy value in electric rates." Added Ramsey, "We're not creating MOX to generate money for the U.S. government." Conflicting views Not everyone is excited about the facility's construction. In a statement sent out Wednesday, the Union of Concerned Scientists assailed the Energy Department for proceeding with the facility's construction "without honoring its commitment to make the plant available for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency." To put the plant under the agency's safeguards, the department would have had to provide facility design information to the international agency at least 180 days before the start of construction. "The Energy Department's irresponsible actions today will only increase the chance that other nations will defy the IAEA and nuclear weapons materials will fall into the hands of rogue states or terrorists," said Dr. Edwin Lyman, senior staff scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists Global Security Program. © 2007 SavannahNOW and the Savannah Morning News. ***************************************************************** 48 DOE: Energy Department Names Director of its Loan Guarantee Office August 3, 2007 Energy Department Names Director of its Loan Guarantee Office DOE Welcomes David Frantz to Continue Progress toward Issuing Federal Loan Guarantees for Promising Clean Energy Technologies WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a significant step in implementing its Loan Guarantee program by naming David G. Frantz to serve as its Director. Mr. Frantz will report directly to DOE’s Chief Financial Officer and, in this capacity, will manage DOE’s Loan Guarantee office, which is moving to guarantee loans for clean energy projects, as authorized under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). Projects supported by loan guarantees will help fulfill President Bush’s goal of increasing affordable, reliable, secure, and clean sources of energy to power our nation. “We are delighted to have recruited someone with David’s expertise to lead the Department’s Loan Guarantee office,” DOE Chief Financial Officer Steve Isakowitz said. “David will bring the caliber of leadership necessary to create a sound basis for technical and financial review of each application. Having a Director of our Loan Guarantee office puts the Department one step closer to issuing guarantees for loans for clean energy projects that will help reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, boost economic competitiveness, and combat climate change.” Mr. Frantz is currently a Director of Project Finance for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), where he manages a team with worldwide responsibilities for closing financial transactions. He brings over 30 years of experience in project finance during which he held positions of senior responsibility with several major private sector development and engineering/construction companies. Mr. Frantz has extensive experience in supervisory management, business development, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, and profit and loss responsibility. Mr. Frantz is a decorated Vietnam veteran and has earned two Masters Degrees in international economics and international business and securities studies, respectively from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree and commission in the U.S. Navy from the Virginia Military Institute; has completed postgraduate work at the Harvard School of Business; and occasionally guest lectures at universities on international business. DOE's Loan Guarantee program aims to further President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative by encouraging early commercial use of new or significantly improved technologies in energy projects. The Department has made marked progress on its Loan Guarantee program, including establishing a Credit Review Board, conducting technical and financial reviews of 143 pre-applications for loan guarantees, and finalizing guidelines that will be used to evaluate the financial and technical merits of each application. By providing the full faith and credit of the United States government, loan guarantees will enable DOE to share some of the financial risks of projects that employ new technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants and greenhouse gases. The Department’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget requests $9 billion in loan guarantee authority and $8.3 million to run the Loan Guarantee office. Currently, the Department has $4 billion in loan guarantee authority. Media contact(s): Megan Barnett, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 49 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah FR Doc E7-15077 [Federal Register: August 3, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 149)] [Notices] [Page 43264] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03au07-58] [[Page 43264]] DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE). ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Thursday, September 20, 2007. 6 p.m. ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky 42001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reinhard Knerr, Deputy Designated Federal Officer, Department of Energy Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, (270) 441-6825. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management and related activities. Tentative Agenda 6 p.m.--Call to Order, Introductions, Review of Agenda, and Approval of July Minutes. 6:15 p.m.--Deputy Designated Federal Officer's Comments. 6:30 p.m.--Federal Coordinator's Comments. 6:35 p.m.-- Liaisons' Comments. 6:45 p.m.--Review of Action Items. 6:50 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions. 7 p.m.--Presentations C-400 90% Design Remedy Review. Soil Piles Investigation. 7:30 p.m.--Subcommittee Reports Water Disposition/Water Quality Subcommittee. Community Outreach Subcommittee. Long Range Strategy/Stewardship Subcommittee. Executive Committee. 7:45 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions. 7:55 p.m.--Administrative Issues: Motions, Review of Work Plan, and Review of Next Agenda. 8 p.m.--Final Comments. 8:15 p.m.--Adjourn. Breaks Taken As Appropriate. Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to agenda items should contact Reinhard Knerr at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom of Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday or by writing to Reinhard Knerr, Department of Energy, Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or by calling him at (270) 441-6825. Issued at Washington, DC on July 31, 2007. Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E7-15077 Filed 8-2-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 50 OpEdNews: The Nuclear Weapons Lab Bombing Range August 2, 2007 at 21:51:57 by Bob Nichols http://www.opednews.com San Francisco) - Like the bully who says "I'm going to do it anyway and there is nothing you can do about it," the huge federal government protected Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab refiled their "application" to increase radioactive bombing at Site 300 eight times. The danger of the radioactive bombings at Site 300 is that people, plants and animals will absorb the tiny but deadly pieces of radioactive uranium released in the bombings. The Nuclear Weapons Lab's Bombing Range is in the open air and near the San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose's ten million people. The so-called "depleted" uranium is the same US/UK Expeditionary Forces bombed and shot up Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq with in the past fifteen years. Complete studies show the uranium is about 75% as powerfully radioactive as "natural" uranium. That is still very radioactive. Depleted it is not. Retired nuclear weapons lab physicist Marion Fulk says the submicron sized ceramic uranium aerosols are good for "killing lots of people." The kill/maim factor of 10,000 people per ton of uranium is used by the British government's MI6 Department to calculate projected Iraqi causalities. The San Francisco Bay Area's past causalities are about 230,000 people. Deadly uranium gas does not discriminate: men, women and children are all contaminated. Tiny unborn babies, the aged and the infirm are affected most. Marin County, in the Bay Area, experienced the highest breast cancer rate in the world in the 1990s as a result. The San Francisco Chronicle said the breast cancer rate was twice what it "should" be. The nuclear weapons lab just kept right on exploding massive amounts of cancer inducing radioactive munitions at Site 300 near San Francisco. Now the nuclear weapons lab demands the right to increase the deadly radioactive uranium "dirty" bomb open air detonations by Eight times. The projected number of people killed or maimed in the Bay area would be one million eight hundred thousand (1,840,000) over a similar period of time as the already dead 230,000. That is a lot of people who have to die because the nuclear weapons lab is too lazy to detonate the models of their precious global thermonuclear weapons underground. The "deal with the devil" that the "Bay Area city fathers" made 60 years ago to snag the big highly prized payroll of the nuclear weapons labs' has mushroomed from a modest "human sacrifice" of 230,000 men, women and children to a deal breaking One Point Eight Million. That is just too many people to sacrifice to the nuclear weapons labs and their hyper inflated claims of "national security." The deal is off as far as I am concerned. I demand to know "Why do we have to "sacrifice" anyone?" Why don't all the law enforcement officers and District Attorneys with their cushy tax payer funded positions in the Bay Area do their job! This is random Premeditated Murder by the psychopathic killers at the nuclear weapons labs! Throw them in the slammer! Dr Ernest Sternglass of the University of Pittsburgh was invited by President John Kennedy to talk to the US Senate in 1962 and was instrumental in the passage of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that banned above ground thermonuclear detonations. If they put the big nukes underground in 1962 why can't the nuclear weapons labs detonate the models of the big nukes underground in 2007? Or, are they trying to kill San Franciscans for some weird, nerdy experiment? What other reason could there be to continue and even increase open air radioactive detonations near San Francisco? Enough is enough. It is time these monsters paid with prison time or are executed for the mass murderers they are. ## Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award Winner. He is a San Francisco writer, media personality and consultant. Mr. Nichols is available for interviews and speaking engagements. He welcomes your comments at: 415-992-NEWS (6397) or Email him at: DUweapons@Gmail.com http://tinyurl.com/yt9r5l Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award winner. He is a newspaper correspondent and a frequent contributor to various online publications. Nichols is completing a book based on 15 years of nuclear radiation war in Central Asia. He is a former employee at a Army Ammunition Plant and Bomb Maker. Nichols can be reached by email, and readers are encouraged to write to him at: DUweapons@gmail.com Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2007 ***************************************************************** 51 Reuters: Secret World War Two nuclear city open to tours Fri Aug 3, 2007 3:39PM EDT By Verna Gates OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (Reuters Life!) - Visiting a nuclear city may be an unusual tourist attraction but the U.S. Department of Energy is finding growing interest in a uranium plant once so secretive it had no address and was not on maps. From June to September visitors can tour parts of the facility at Oak Ridge in eastern Tennessee which was set up in 1943 and ran 24 hours a day separating uranium 235 from natural uranium. It was part of the Manhattan Project that eventually produced atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945. But during World War Two staff recruited to the community that spread over 59,000 acres, frequently had little idea how their jobs fitted into the larger picture. "I didn't know what I was doing or why I was doing it. I just knew how to do my job," said Gladys Owens, who operated a uranium enrichment machine. At the time even the word uranium was rarely used and "tuballoy" was a frequent substitute. "I was recruited straight from college as a junior chemist. I was greeted by a man in a three-piece suit who told us we would be working with uranium and that would be the last time we would hear or speak that word," said Bill Wilcox, 84. U.S. citizens can now get a look at parts of the original facility. Oak Ridge was the world's first fully operational nuclear reactor. The 2.5 hour tour for 24 visitors, which runs once a day, is restricted to American citizens. The Department of Energy runs a nuclear and high-tech research establishment at the site and performs national security work. Continued. ***************************************************************** 52 Knoxville News Sentinel: ORNL sirens misfire in January, February tests By Frank Munger (Contact) Updated 02:33 p.m., August 3, 2007 OAK RIDGE — All of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s warning sirens failed to sound during emergency tests in January and February, a Department of Energy spokesman said today. John Shewairy, public affairs chief in DOE’s Oak Ridge, said the lab replaced a “faulty controller unit” after the second problem occurred during the February test of warning systems. “That was our worst case,” he said. Shewairy responded to questions about the Oak Ridge sirens following reports this week that a majority of emergency sirens failed to operate Wednesday during a routine test at TVA’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Chattanooga. DOE tests its Oak Ridge emergency systems on the same schedule at TVA. On average, about 88 percent of the Oak Ridge sirens sound as expected during the monthly performance tests, Shewairy said. That would mean about six of the 51 deployed units fail to work on average, and that was exactly the case during the August test that took place Wednesday, the DOE spokesman said. The sirens are located near each of DOE’s three Oak Ridge plants — ORNL, the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and the East Tennessee Technology Park. There are 11 at ORNL, 18 at ETTP, and 22 at Y-12. On Wednesday, two sirens failed to sound properly at each of the sites, Shewairy said. The warning sirens are activated by radio signals, and there are various reasons why some of them don’t work, he said. Weather factors, including fog and rain, can affect the signals, he said, and sometimes there are equipment problems related to age. Shewairy said authorities thought they had the problem at ORNL fixed after the January test. A day or two after the sirens failed to sound, the lab was able to make the sirens work through direct-activation techniques, he said. “We believed that it was intact,” he said. However, when the system didn’t respond in February, ORNL had to ask emergency officials at East Tennessee Technology Park to activate the lab’s sirens, Shewairy said. When they were able to do that, it demonstrated that the control unit at ORNL wasn’t working, he said. The DOE spokesman said each of the plants has the ability to activate sirens at the other plants. In addition, the city of Oak Ridge and Roane County also have that capability, he said. If a site is unable to activate its warning sirens immediately, the shift supervisor contacts another site for help, Shewairy said. “It’s a fairly instantaneous transition,” he said. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 53 Daily Astorian: Hanford is the gift that keeps on giving home : opinion : •EDITORIALS Friday, August 03, 2007 Congressman David Wu should raise hell about clean-up on a weekly basis The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is the gift that keeps on giving. Born in secrecy during World War II, Hanford's scientists and technicians were either clueless or aggressively negligent about nuclear waste. Thus the Pacific Northwest is home to one of the world's largest sacrifice zones. The only thing as reprehensible as the misfeasance of Hanford's original regime is the apparent incompetence of the contractors who are charged with cleaning up the mess. Michael Milstein's front-page story in Tuesday's edition of The Oregonian and The Daily Astorian Tuesday, details the latest revelation - a considerable radioactive waste stream heading for the Columbia River. Whatever flows into the Columbia finds its way to the river's estuary, which Clatsop and Pacific counties share. Thus, this is our problem as much as it is Eastern Washington's or Eastern Oregon's. Congressional oversight on a wide array of fronts - from the Iraq War to the environment - has been a sham in recent years. With respect to Hanford, that laziness must change. Congressman David Wu has commendably made Hanford an issue from the start of his career. Sen. Gordon Smith, who is from nearby Pendleton, has opposed bringing more waste to Hanford. We urge Wu and Smith to raise hell about the latest travesty on a weekly basis. Entire contents © Copyright, 2007 The Daily Astorian, All Rights Reserved (503) 325-3211 or (800) 781-3211 Software © 1998-2007 ***************************************************************** 54 Oak Ridger: K-25 touted for pilot biofuel plant - Story last updated at 12:40 am on 8/3/2007 (AP) — A former uranium enrichment site is being touted as an ideal location for a small pilot biofuel plant or a full-scale enthanol production facility funded by the state. A study of the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park, suggests the 1,300-acre complex has the land, utilities and transportation connections suitable for a $41 million biofuel research plant planned by the University of Tennessee. One building now being decontaminated has 1.4 million square feet under roof that could handle unloading, storing and grinding of switchgrass, the fast-growing plant that would be the raw material for the cellulosic ethanol plant. The $15,000 engineering study prepared for the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, which is redeveloping the site for the Department of Energy, concluded the site could host a 5 million gallon-a-year pilot project or a full 60 million gallon-a-year facility. “It’s easy for me to conclude that a logical place for (an ethanol plant) is the K-25 facility,” said Lawrence Young, president of the organization. UT spokesman Hank Dye said the university is meeting with several potential partners for the construction and operation of the pilot plant and is studying several sites. “We hope to move this on a fast track,” Dye said. K-25 is where a former contractor laborer worked who was arrested in July on charges of selling pieces of old uranium-enrichment equipment to an undercover FBI agent. ***************************************************************** 55 Oak Ridger: OREPA demonstration this weekend - Story last updated at 12:40 am on 8/3/2007 The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance not only plans to demonstrate in Oak Ridge in August but also has plans to march in other cities. According to a Web site, the OREPA and other demonstrators plan to be in Oak Ridge on Saturday for its annual rally and march. The group will start its Peace Celebration at 10 a.m. at A.K. Bissell Park with music, speakers, puppets, skits and snow cones. The group will walk, starting at 1 p.m., the nearly two miles to the Y-12 National Security Complex, where protesters will stage their demonstration near the plant’s entrance sign. The Detroit (Mich.) Area Peace with Justice Network will bus to Oak Ridge for the event. On Monday, demonstrators will hold a Remembrance and Names Ceremony from 6:15 to 8:30 a.m. in front of the Y-12 entrance sign. A moment of silence will be at 8:16 a.m., marking the bombing of Hiroshima. Other events include: • Buddhist Peace Walk, from Atlanta to Oak Ridge, began July 16 and ends Monday; • Footprints for Peace Run, from Portsmouth, Ohio, to Oak Ridge; • Puppet Workshop, Knoxville, Friday at 6 p.m.; • Action at Bechtel, Oak Ridge, Tuesday or Thursday (to be determined); • Peace Lantern Ceremony, 8:15 p.m. Thursday, Sequoyah Hills Park, Cherokee Boulevard west end, Knoxville. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************