***************************************************************** 08/07/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.184 ***************************************************************** 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: Idaho Statesman: Washington Group adds $2.5 billion to contracts 2 World Politics Review: Bush Administration Decides to Let START Die 3 US: UPI: Nuke War Watch: Arms race shadow 4 OpEdNews: Remembering the Dawn of the Nuclear Age 5 Daily Yomiuri: U.S. sought to replicate atomic bombings 6 RIA Novosti: Russia approves mass production of cutting-edge Bulava 7 AFP: Bush, Karzai stress need to work with Pakistan - NUCLEAR REACTORS 8 US: ENS: TXU to Cut Mercury at Coal, Nuclear Power Plants 9 Indiatimes: Left's U-turn on N-deal; govt in jam 10 People's Daily Online: Construction to be started for 1st nuclear po 11 Platts: "Some" of Belgium's nuclear plants may escape nuclear phase- 12 reportonbusiness.com: N.B. eyes more nuclear power 13 WNN: Dry storage progress at Chernobyl 14 US: NRC: Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC., and Entergy Nuclear 15 Reuters: French firm wins tender to build Chernobyl shelter | 16 AFP: Indian PM's communist allies reject landmark US nuke deal - 17 Japan Times: IAEA begins assessing quake-hit N-plant 18 Japan Times: Nuclear foes tell IAEA to make thorough probe 19 asahi.com: IAEA starts checks of stricken nuclear plant - 20 Guardian Unlimited: $507 Million Pledged for Chernobyl NUCLEAR SECURITY 21 US: UPI: Study: Dirty bomb attack could close port NUCLEAR SAFETY 22 US: DHHS: Exposure Cohort 23 US: LVNFES: Testing shows Fallon milk safe 24 BBC NEWS: Russia watches over nuclear wrecks 25 US: DHHS: Exposure Cohort 26 US: DHHS: Exposure Cohort 27 Reuters: Radioactive water splashed 2 TEPCO workers in quake 28 US: Rocky Mountain News: Health secretary rejects push to help all R NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 29 Platts: GAO says DOE quality assurance improved at Yucca Mountain 30 Platts: US GAO unsure Yucca Mountain improvements enough for applica 31 Platts: Nukem, CF Industries considering new uranium recovery facili 32 US: Daily News Journal: Stockard:Ridleys ever wary of landfill 33 Guardian Unlimited: No quick fixes on nuclear waste PEACE 34 TorontoSun.com: Toronto And GTA - World ban urged for N-bombs 35 Greenpeace International: Hiroshima's legacy | 36 Daily Yomiuri: Abe eyes changes to A-bomb criteria US DEPT. OF ENERGY 37 SF New Mexican: LANL security incident renews criticism 38 Denver Post: Feds reject Rocky Flats appeal 39 Albuquerque Tribune: Oversight group: Security still lax at Los Alam 40 NAS: Project: Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology 41 LocalNews8.com: Fire Burning Near INL Main Entrance Contained ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Idaho Statesman: Washington Group adds $2.5 billion to contracts with weapons demilitarization plants Edition Date: 08/06/07 Washington Group International of Boise announced today that negotiations with the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency have been completed for additions to Washington Groups contracts at three U.S. chemical weapons demilitarization plants, with the value of the additions worth approximately $2.5 billion. The contracts call for Washington Group to continue to destroy chemical warfare agent and weapons and to also close down operations and related facilities in Anniston, Ala., Umatilla, Ore., and Pine Bluff, Ark. The contract modifications are targeted at maximizing agent and weapons destruction by April 2012, with the closure of facilities to follow. We are proud to play a leadership role in the safe and disciplined disposal of chemical weapons, said Stephen G. Hanks, Washington Group president and chief executive officer. It is part of our overall efforts of making the world safer from destroying chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons and materials to helping fortify critical infrastructure to protect against potential threats. Washington Group has been performing chemical demilitarization operations in Anniston, Umatilla, and Pine Bluff for several years, successfully destroying more than 432,000 rockets, mortars, projectiles, landmines, and bulk containers of chemical agent and nearly 2,139 tons of chemical warfare material. IdahoStatesman.com ***************************************************************** 2 World Politics Review: Bush Administration Decides to Let START Die Richard Weitz | Bio | 07 Aug 2007 World Politics Review Exclusive In a written statement submitted for his July 31 Senate confirmation hearing, Gen. James E. Cartwright, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command and the Bush administration's nominee to become the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed that the administration has decided not to extend the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) after it expires in Dec. 5, 2009. In his written description of his vision for developing a conventional, non-nuclear, prompt global strike capability, Gen. Cartwright included the following question: "Does the Administration's decision not to extend the START Treaty have any impact on development of a prompt global strike capability?" The general argued that ending START would give the administration more flexibility to pursue prompt global strike options and systems "that contribute to national security and reduce our reliance upon nuclear weapons." Presidents George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev signed START on July 31, 1991, after a decade of contentious negotiations and months before the U.S.S.R.'s disintegration later that year. The accord required both countries to reduce their strategic holdings to 6,000 nuclear warheads on a maximum of 1,600 strategic delivery systems (land- and sea-launched ballistic missiles or long-range bombers) by Dec. 5, 2001. START did not come into force until Dec. 5, 1994, after the parties agreed that Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine would serve as legal successors to the Soviet Union for the purposes of the treaty. START's initial duration is 15 years, but the parties can agree to its extension for successive five-year periods. Each side also has the right to withdraw from the treaty by giving the other side six month's notice. The treaty document is very long, complex, and contains perhaps the most extensive inspection and verification provisions in the history of arms control. A December 2001 State Department fact sheet observes: "A significant aspect of the START Treaty's regime lies in its use of rigorous, equitable and verifiable methods to monitor its implementation. The right to perform on-site inspections and other verification measures will continue for the duration of the Treaty, in order to verify compliance. In addition, data exchanges and notifications on each side's strategic systems and facilities as well as exchanges of telemetry data from missile flight tests will help to maintain confidence in the status and level of the Parties' strategic forces." Since then, however, members of the Bush administration have expressed increasing dissatisfaction with START. In particular, they have repeatedly indicated that they consider comprehensive strategic arms control treaties largely irrelevant in a world in which threats from transnational terrorists and states of proliferation concern have become far more important than fears of a confrontation between Moscow and Washington. More recently, they have complained that the treaty's burdensome verification measures would still not prevent the Russian military from concealing additional warheads if it chose to do so. As Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter complained to Reuters, "you're never going to know how many warheads they are going to have on various missiles." In his Senate testimony, Gen. Cartwright did reaffirm the administration's continued support for implementing the remaining provisions of the bilateral Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), which was signed in 2002 in Moscow. Administration representatives have argued that SORT's implementation should suffice to place the Russian-American strategic relationship on a stable basis since the treaty provides for major reductions in both sides' current nuclear arsenals -- to between 1,700 and 2,200 "operationally deployed strategic warheads" by Dec. 31, 2012. One complication with respect to SORT, however, is that the treaty does not provide for its own verification measures. When SORT was signed, the assumption was that Russia and the United States would either simply extend START beyond 2009 or negotiate new measures before then. Last summer, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin complained about "stagnation" in the bilateral strategic arms control dialogue resulting from Washington's perceived lack of interest in discussing post-START issues. Without a new agreement, both governments will have to rely primarily on less effective national means of verification after START's expiration. This situation could prove problematic. Observers note that the lack of interim deadlines for reductions means that the SORT warhead limits will both take effect and expire on the same day (though in practice both countries are gradually reducing their nuclear forces toward that level). Questions also exist about the treaty's lack of detailed verification procedures, the absence of a timetable and rules for warhead reductions, its 90-day withdrawal clause, and other uncertainties associated with the three-page document. U.S. intelligence analysts have indicated that these uncertainties prevent them from verifying Russia's treaty compliance with high confidence. The Bush administration has now indicated that it will abandon START but has yet to indicate what will replace it. At the time of last month's presidential meeting in Kennebunkport, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued a three-sentence statement reaffirming their intent to pursue further strategic arms reductions, providing any lower levels would remain "consistent with their national security requirements and alliance commitments." Yet, Russian and U.S. negotiators continue to disagree on several important issues, including whether any follow-on agreement needs to be embodied in a formal treaty or whether a less formal mechanism like the Moscow Treaty might suffice. Russian officials want to retain formal legal restrictions on U.S. strategic forces, including limits on the number of American strategic warheads and delivery vehicles -- corresponding to the level they expect Russia's strategic forces to reach at that period (which is lower than current U.S. totals). They also want to require the United States to destroy warheads removed from its active stockpile rather than simply place them in storage. Russians fear that, at some future point, Washington could simply "upload" these warheads back onto U.S. strategic systems and thereby quickly reconstitute its pre-START II force. Finally, members of the Russian government have expressed continued interest in retaining some of the detailed verification and data exchange provisions that have long characterized strategic arms control agreements. Even in Washington, members of the U.S. government remain divided on whether any START follow-on agreement should contain binding verification provisions. Arms control analysts within the U.S. intelligence community favor continuing START-like obligations because it helps them monitor Russian strategic developments. In contrast, several influential policy makers in the Bush administration, supported by civilian and military strategists, advocate lax verification provisions to remove possible impediments to placing conventional warheads on U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles. Another complication is that leading Democrats and Republicans have urged the Bush administration either to extend START or replace it with a new treaty with comprehensive verification requirements. Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democratic candidate for president and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has argued: "It's a lose-lose situation for the U.S. and Russia if START were to lapse." Similarly, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (Ind.) has praised START's elaborate verification regime for reducing "the chances of misinterpretation, miscalculation and error." Since START will not expire until after a new U.S. administration assumes office, the next president should have ample opportunity to reverse the current administration's decision regarding the treaty should he or she decide to do so. Richard Weitz is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a WPR contributing editor. 2007, World Politics Review LLC. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 3 UPI: Nuke War Watch: Arms race shadow United Press International - International Security - Published: Aug. 7, 2007 at 2:15 PM By CRAIG EISENDRATH Outside View Commentator PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- In December 1957 I was a private first-class in the U.S. Army stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. We had a Russian kid in our unit, and when we weren't on guard duty or peeling potatoes, he would translate programs for us from Radio Moscow. Right before Christmas, we heard a narrator telling a story to some children. He said, "Aloysha, look up in the sky. There are three moons, and two of them are Russian." We were in the Space Age! The Russians had just put up their first sputniks, pre-empting the Americans much to their acute dismay. The Americans, not to be outdone, launched their own satellites early in 1958. Though they were not as large or impressive as the Russians', the space race had begun. In May 1958, released from the Army and having passed all my exams and my security check, I entered the U.S. Foreign Service to begin my career as a diplomat. My first assignment was with the U.N. Political Office of the State Department in Washington. The subject of my assignment: the international control of outer space. It was an exciting time. The United States and the Soviet Union had just begun to explore this new world, which began where satellites could orbit around the Earth and then extended to the farthest reaches of the universe. It was a time that could be compared to another era, when an Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus, discovered that our planet was not flat, but across its oceans existed a new world. What would follow? Would the nations of the world do what they did after 1492: arm themselves to the teeth and carve up this new world into colonies and empires? Would we see the Americans and Soviets in a mad rush to claim their very own planets and various sections of space? Would other powers make similar claims? Would the great powers begin to fight wars in outer space? Today, as the United States moves to weaponize outer space, I am asking the same questions I asked 50 years ago: Will we arm outer space as we have armed the land, seas and airspace? Are we heading toward wars in this new area? "War In Heaven," my new book co-authored with Helen Caldicott, is an attempt to frame the moral and political issues that these questions raise: Will arming outer space increase the world's security? Do we need to weaponize outer space? In the end we argue that weaponizing outer space will make the world far more dangerous than it is now. We will be far less secure with space weapons than without them, because arming outer space will assuredly start an arms race in space and possibly provoke a dreadful war. If we are to avoid this "star wars," we must act now. Let us not arm the heavens but keep them for peaceful purposes and for the solace and wonder that they have always provided. -- (Craig Eisendrath is the chair of the Project for Nuclear Awareness and co-founder of the National Constitution Center. This piece originally appears in Helen Caldicott and Craig Eisendrath's book, "War in Heaven: The Arms Race in Outer Space," and is published with the permission of The New Press.) -- (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. ***************************************************************** 4 OpEdNews: Remembering the Dawn of the Nuclear Age August 7, 2007 at 07:19:09 by robert dodge Page 1 of 2 page(s) http://www.opednews.com Monday, August 6, 2007 Aug. 6, 1945, the world changed forever. In a flash, the city of Hiroshima was decimated by a single weapon - an atomic bomb. The dawning of the atomic age saw 140,000 people die from the blast in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki, hit by a nuclear weapon three days later. Survivors of the bombings continued to suffer burns, infection, radiation sickness and cancer, which would ultimately result in another 160,000 deaths. From the moment of those events, war was rendered obsolete as a means of resolving conflict because, ultimately, any war could evolve into a nuclear war. Man now held the tools to destroy life as we know it. Yet, to this day, man has failed to recognize this reality. Albert Einstein said, "With the unleashed power of the atom, we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe unless we change the way we think." Sixty-two years later, what has been the global response and what leadership role has the U.S. taken? Do our actions reflect our principles and are they consistent with the desired outcome? Today, the world's nuclear arsenals hold the equivalent of 400,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs and the unthinkable appears increasingly possible. More nations are seeking nuclear weapons, and the U.S. and Russia still maintain thousands of nuclear missiles on hair-trigger alert - vulnerable to accidental launch. "Loose" nuclear material and weapons in Russia and elsewhere are potential targets to theft by extremists. Our response, at best, has been disingenuous when we decry the development of nuclear weapons by other nations. Our actions do not reflect our supposed principles. Instead, we are pushing to develop new nuclear weapons. That's right, the administration is seeking funding for the so-called "Reliable Replacement Warhead." This new nuke is part of a more dangerous program called Complex 2030. This is a plan to build a new generation of nuclear bomb-making factories in eight sites across the country - to produce thousands of new nuclear weapons for decades to come. While the House of Representatives has moved to eliminate funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a Senate committee has kept it alive. A full Senate vote on whether to fund new nuclear weapons should come up in September. Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill with bipartisan sponsorship that gives renewed hope to this issue: Senate bill 1914, the Nuclear Policy and Posture Review Act of 2007. It eliminates funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead through fiscal year 2010 and requires the administration to conduct in-depth reviews of U.S. nuclear policy and posture. Now is the time to thank Sen. Feinstein and tell our local senators that the U.S. should take the lead in reducing the nuclear threat. Fortunately, there is a vision for global nuclear disarmament. Former Republican Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, joined by former Democrat Defense Secretary William Perry and former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, wrote a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed in January, stating: "The world is now on the precipice of a new and dangerous era. ... We endorse the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons." With such respected, conservative leaders now advocating for the necessary steps to achieve that goal, the time is ripe for taking action to fundamentally change our nuclear-weapons policy. Their voices are added to growing international efforts to eliminate these weapons. These groups range from the International Mayors for Peace "2020 Vision Campaign," calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020, to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and its American affiliate, Physicians for Social Responsibility. Their efforts move us closer to the "tipping point" where this idea will be unstoppable. Regarding war itself, in a nuclear world, war does not work. This is not to say there is not conflict - serious conflict. Conflict is inevitable, combat is optional. If we think that war is inevitable and man is doomed to perpetual war, then war will be the end of us. If, on the other hand, we accept that all wars must come to a close, then we must change how we think and work to identify alternatives to war in resolving conflict. Fortunately, there already exists the methods to achieve this reality. They include: - Diplomacy and nonviolent conflict resolution. - Appropriate foreign aid. - Adherence to international law and treaties. - Cooperation with other nations on issues that affect us all. These are among the very steps advocated by the Iraq Study Group to realize an end to our current war. They also apply to any potential international conflict. Beyond War (http://www.beyondwar.org) is an international organization that seeks to promote acceptance, exploration and utilization of these ideas among individuals, nations and governments to resolve conflict. Every citizen has a role to play in creating a world free of the nuclear threat. Our senators and leaders need to hear that an overwhelming majority of us wants them to lead us away from the shadow of a nuclear holocaust. By becoming a global leader in an effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons, we also honor the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and all wars. In the words of one survivor, "This pain that we carry, let it end with us." It is our responsibility to understand and respond to the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so that the world will never again witness a similar event. - Robert Dodge, M.D., of Ventura, is co-chairman of Citizens For Peaceful Resolutions, http://www.c-p-r.net; president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Ventura County, http://www.psr.org; and board member of Beyond War, http://www.beyondwar.org. Ventura, California. He serves on the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles and is president of the Ventura County Chapter. He also serves on the board of Beyond War (www.beyondwar.org). He firmly believes that an individual can make a difference. Copyright OpEdNews, 2002-2007 ***************************************************************** 5 Daily Yomiuri: U.S. sought to replicate atomic bombings The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor of the U.S. Energy Department, discussed carrying out an experiment to explode atomic bombs identical to the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to measure the bombs' force and the extent of damage they inflicted, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. According to documents obtained from archives affiliated with the department, including confidential records at the time and other letters, the discussions continued up to the early 1960s. However, after signing the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 that prohibited underwater, atmospheric and outer space nuclear testing, the United States was unable to perform nuclear tests overground and the plan was never carried out. When Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in August 1945, technology to determine the exact force of the explosions and other data, such as radiation doses, were not available. By reproducing the bombings, the United States is believed to have been attempting to obtain this data by using expertise and technology developed through numerous nuclear tests during the Cold War period in the late 1940s and '50s. By studying data obtained from the reproduction and accounts of A-bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Washington is believed to have tried to make a more detailed evaluation of the impact of radiation on victims of the bombings. According to the documents, the discussions hinted that a nuclear testing site in the western United States, such as Nevada, be used for the experiment. A team headed by Charles Dunham, director of the AEC's biology and medicine division, made preparations for the reproduction, with developments reported to the AEC chairmen at the time. In April 1958, officials of the division, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a public health office held a meeting to discuss whether the experiment was necessary and how it would be carried out. However, the experiment was not approved at the meeting as some participants opposed it, expressing doubts on whether the experiment would be able to exactly reproduce the level of radioactive contamination that had occurred in the two cities. In a letter to AEC Chairman Glenn Seaborg in September 1963, Dunham's team stated that the experiment would likely be shelved because opposition was believed to have grown due to Washington signing the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Apart from the reproduction of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States carried out other projects to determine the force of the bombs dropped on the two cities, One of these was the Ichiban Project, under which a mock Japanese village was constructed at a nuclear testing area in Nevada, where Japanese-style wooden houses with gable roofs and tatami mats were built, to evaluate the doses of radiation, such as from neutron bombardments and gamma rays, sustained by people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroko Takahashi, research associate of the Hiroshima City University's Hiroshima Peace Institute, found the planned experiment interesting. "We can learn from the the documents that the United States was eager to learn the effects of radioactivity on humans," she said. * The Daily Yomiuri Partners ***************************************************************** 6 RIA Novosti: Russia approves mass production of cutting-edge Bulava missile Opinion & analysis - 18:47 | 07/ 08/ 2007 MOSCOW. (Military commentator Viktor Yuzbashev for RIA Novosti) - Russia has moved to a higher level in the design of strategic sea-based nuclear systems. Admiral Vladimir Masorin, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, said the Bulava-M (SS-NX-30), a naval derivative of the land-based missile Topol (SS-27), had been approved for mass production. It will be supplied to the new fourth-generation Project 955 Borey-class strategic submarines. Three such submarines, the Yury Dolgoruky, the Vladimir Monomakh and the Alexander Nevsky, are being built at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Region (north of European Russia). The Yury Dolgoruky, the first of the series, will have 12 Bulava missiles. It was commissioned in the presence of First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, who is in charge of Russia's defense-related sectors, and other eminent guests in April 2007. Development has not been smooth. At first, the Miass bureau designed the D-19M Bark (SS-NX-28) submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM), but it turned out to be too big for the subs, and flight tests later exposed other drawbacks. Russia cancelled the project in 1998, when the missile was almost ready, because of rising costs and technical difficulties. The task was then sent to the Moscow-based Heat Technology Institute, which had developed the ground-based Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Four of the first six flight tests of the Bulava-M (where "M" stands for morskoi, or naval) were a failure. Masorin said the recent test in late July was successful, but independent experts are not so sure. According to them, one of the three warheads of the missile did not reach its destination. This did not deter the designers of the Bulava and their superiors. Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency, which is responsible for designing and supplying strategic missiles to the armed forces, said the Bulava could be delivered to the navy after 12-14 tests. He referred to the experience of the United States, where the Trident II naval missile was delivered to the navy after 19 ground tests and nine launches from a submarine. Admiral Masorin said the trial period of the Bulava would end in 2008 after two more tests this year. One of the trials will determine the missile's maximum range. It is not clear where that particular missile will land, but it will clearly be beyond the Kura range on the Kamchatka Peninsular in Russia's Far East. On the other hand, it could be aimed at the range, but launched not from the White Sea, as usual, but from some other sea. According to the Western press, the three-stage solid-fuel Bulava-M missile will be one of the lightest in its class. Weighing only 30 metric tons, it was initially named Bulava-30. It has an effective range of 8,000 kilometers (4,972 miles) and will carry four to ten warheads. Some experts claim that such a light missile could not carry ten warheads. Others argue that modern nuclear technology and composite materials allow engineers to build smaller and lighter nuclear warheads that will be as effective as their larger counterparts. The Bulava will most likely be built to carry ten warheads, as its combat effectiveness would not be sufficient otherwise. The Yury Dolgoruky, the first of the Borey-class submarines, will have 12 missile launchers, but the two later subs, the Vladimir Monomakh and the Alexander Nevsky, will have 16 launchers. If the designers' plans materialize, the three new submarines will carry 44 Bulava missiles with 440 nuclear warheads, an impressive contribution to strategic nuclear deterrence stipulated in Russia's military doctrine. The results of trials of the Bulava, as well as its parameters, flight telemetry, technical characteristics and the companies involved in its construction and production, are confidential information for everyone but the United States. Washington receives information on missile technology in accordance with the START-1 treaty on strategic reductions. So, this information is secret only to the Russian military and its designers, as well as Russian taxpayers, who are paying for the missile designed to protect them. Why? The Bulava, as well as the Yury Dolgoruky and other submarines of its class, has become hostage to the political ambitions of some high-ranking Russian officials. They promised that a cutting-edge submarine would be built and armed with the latest missiles capable of evading any air defense systems, both existing and future ones, by the end of 2008. They have repeated this promise often and loudly enough to give the Russian public and Western politicians hearing problems. Failure to keep their word could cost them their high positions and ruin their hopes of climbing to the country's top post. This is why the Bulava has been put into production before the design stage was completed, and this is why they have again promised that the new sub will be delivered to the navy already armed with the new SLBM. However, Masorin also hinted that not all of the new missile would go into production now, but only its blocks and stages that have proved their reliability during tests. When the trials of the Bulava-M are over and the missile receives the certificate of the state acceptance committee, they will be assembled at the Votkinsk machine tool works and supplied to the three new subs, as well as to the Dmitry Donskoi, a Project 941 Akula-class (Typhoon-class) submarine, which has been upgraded to a fourth generation submarine. It carries 20 missile launchers, and if it is armed with the Bulava-M SLBMs, this will increase Russia's naval nuclear deterrence potential by 200 warheads. Only, that is, if the Bulava-M missile survives the political race. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 7 AFP: Bush, Karzai stress need to work with Pakistan - Mon Aug 6, 11:56 PM CAMP DAVID, Maryland (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai and US President George W. Bush agreed that Pakistan must help quell deadly violence inside Afghanistan, but broke sharply on Iran's regional influence. One day after Karzai called the Islamic republic "a helper" against extremists, Bush blasted the government in Tehran as "not a force for good" and vowed to pursue efforts to isolate Iran over its suspect nuclear program. "We will continue to work to isolate it because they're not a force for good as far as we can see, they're a destabilizing influence wherever they are," Bush said at a joint news conference Monday with Karzai, who did not mention Iran. The two leaders, wrapping up two days of talks at the presidential retreat 70 miles (112 kilometers) outside Washington, said they hoped for improved cooperation between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan after talks in Kabul that are due to start on Thursday. "I hope very much that this jirga will bring to us what we need, which I think it will," said Karzai. "Our enemy is still there, defeated but still hiding in the mountains. And our duty is to complete the job." The US president said the assembly would focus on "how we can work together -- how you can work together -- to achieve common solutions to problems. And the main problem is to fight extremism." US officials have been increasing pressure on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on Taliban extremists and Al-Qaeda terrorists targeting Karzai's government from bases inside Pakistan's remote tribal areas. Karzai and Musharraf were due to address a meeting in Kabul Thursday of 700 tribal elders and other influential figures from both countries called to try to find ways to address the insurgency. Bush, sidestepping a question that has been roiling the 2008 race to succeed him, declined to spell out whether he would seek Pakistan's permission to strike at extremists inside its borders if he had "actionable intelligence." "I'm confident that with actionable intelligence we will be able to bring top Al-Qaeda to justice," he said. "We're in constant communications with the Pakistan government." Pakistan has denounced US warnings -- including from Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, but also from top Bush aides -- of possible strikes at extremists inside its territory without permission. Bush said Karzai had "rightly expressed his concerns about civilian casualties" stemming from US or NATO strikes inside Afghanistan, and that he had assured his guest "we do everything that we can to protect the innocent." "He is as much concerned as I am, as the Afghan people are. I was very happy with that conversation," said Karzai, who in the past has been sharply critical of the civilian toll from operations against the Taliban Islamist militia. Both leaders emphasized the need to battle corruption and curb Afghanistan's soaring production of poppy, the raw material for opium and heroin, but did not publicly address the fate of 21 South Korean hostages held by the Taliban. Karzai, a key Bush ally who rose to power in 2002 with US backing, raised eyebrows in Washington on Sunday with some friendly public comments about Iran, considered by Washington a major threat to global stability. "Iran has been a supporter of Afghanistan, in the peace process that we have and the fight against terror, and the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan," Karzai told CNN in an interview conducted Saturday and broadcast a day later. "I would be very cautious about whether or not the Iranian influence there in Afghanistan is a positive force," said Bush, who vowed to pursue efforts to marginalize the government in Tehran over its suspect nuclear program. "We will continue to work to isolate it. Because they're not a force for good, as far as we can see. They are a destabilizing influence, wherever they are now," he said. ***************************************************************** 8 ENS: TXU to Cut Mercury at Coal, Nuclear Power Plants Environment News Service (ENS) AmeriScan: August 6, 2007 DALLAS, Texas TXU Power has partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the amount of mercury at its Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station, a two-unit nuclear power plant about 80 miles southwest of downtown Dallas, Texas, the company and the EPA announced Friday. The nuclear plant's managers have pledged to complete mercury reduction measures at the facility, located near Glen Rose, Texas, as part of the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program. Comanche Peak will replace instruments that contain mercury with mercury-free alternative products. Mercury is a toxic chemical designated as one of 31 priority chemicals that the EPA wants to reduce in U.S. products and wastes. Exposure to mercury can cause serious health problems. Impacts on thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills have been seen in children exposed to mercury in the womb. In June, TXU Power announced plans to install new activated carbon sorbent injection systems at all of the companys existing coal-fueled generation units to reduce mercury emissions. TXU Power operates nine coal-fueled generation units at four plant locations. The same sorbent injection systems are included as part of the Best Available Control Technology used in the three new units planned for Oak Grove and Sandow, Texas. TXU Power will install new mercury emissions controls on every coal-fueled generation unit in its system the largest voluntary program ever undertaken in the nation, said Mike Greene, chairman and CEO of TXU Power. The reduction will start well ahead of the recently finalized federal rulemaking schedule. The mercury reduction plan meets with the approval of TXU Corp's new owners. TXU Power, a subsidiary of TXU Corp., and Texas Energy Future Holdings Limited Partnership, the holding company formed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Texas Pacific Group, as well as other investors are in the process of acquiring TXU Corp. After hearing directly from people across Texas, including elected officials and consumer and environmental groups, we reviewed TXUs proposed mercury emissions controls program, and we encouraged TXU to move forward with this progressive program, said William Reilly of Texas Pacific Group. Reilly, a former EPA administrator, will join the board of directors of TXU after the sale closes. ***************************************************************** 9 Indiatimes: Left's U-turn on N-deal; govt in jam 8 Aug, 2007, 0431 hrs IST, TNN NEW DELHI: The Manmohan Singh government was experiencing a convulsion on Tuesday after the Left parties rejected the Indo-US nuclear deal and asked the government not to proceed with operationalising it. With the Left moving to the column of those opposing the deal, the NDA and the UNPA have already ruled out their backing, the government would now be pushing an agreement that does not have majority support in Parliament. Although the government is not bound to get a ratification of Parliament for the deal, it will be undertaking a huge political gamble by going ahead with the agreement in the face of stiff domestic opposition. The government was still holding on to its stand that there won’t be any voting in Parliament on the issue that has already been finalised. The Left’s stand is in conformity with its reflexes that balk at anything which smacks of closeness to the US. But it must have come as a surprise of sorts for the government as leaders like Sitaram Yechury had been saying that the prime minister had largely met the assurances made to Parliament. The Left, which factored in all the pros and cons of the agreement, however, revised its stand saying the 123 agreement was a bland statement and the fineprint lay in the Hyde Act and the US Atomic Energy Act, 1954. “It is not as simple as it looks. The US Congress still has to pass the 123 agreement. Will they say that the 123 agreement supersedes the Hyde Act? How can we give a signal to a matter that is undecided?” asked a Left leader. Implicit in this was the argument that since 123 flows out of the Hyde Act and the Atomic Energy Act, it will be loaded against India. The Left is of the view that India was not getting enough as the agreement does not provide for transfer of dual-use technology that has been denied to India for the past 30 years. “We cannot put our strategic and foreign policy at risk only for fuel. The deal does not give us technology for reprocessing, enrichment and heavy water production technologies. The crux of the problem is the Hyde Act,” as a Left leader put it. Another apprehension of the CPM is the deal would link India to the US’ current priority — Iran. “Even now, the briefing by the US spokesman on the bilateral nuclear agreement emphasises the cooperation India extended in efforts to isolate Iran by voting twice against it in the IAEA and the clear expectation that it will continue to extend this cooperation,” the Left said. The Left also contested the government’s attempt to project the 123 agreement as a stand-alone document and endorsed the NDA’s charge that the document was more of a semantic exercise to mean one thing for India and another thing for the US. Copyright 2007 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 10 People's Daily Online: Construction to be started for 1st nuclear power plant in N.E. China 16:14, August 07, 2007 Early-stage preparations, including design, material purchase and ground work, have been made for the phase I project of Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning, the first of its kind in northeast China. At a cost of 50 billion yuan, the project is waiting for state approval, and construction is expected to start soon, according to the Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. Located in Wafangdian city, the project features four million-kilowatt-class generator units, which would be put into operation by 2014 with an annual generating capacity about 29 billion kilowatt-hour. By People's Daily Online Copyright by People's Daily Online, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 11 Platts: "Some" of Belgium's nuclear plants may escape nuclear phase-out London (Platts)--6Aug2007 "Some" of Belgium's nuclear plants may escape the country's nuclear phase-out law, according to an agreement reached between the ruling Christian Democratic and Liberal parties forming a new government coalition in Belgium. The statement by the "formation group" issued August 2 does not specify how many or which reactors. A Christian Democrat spokeswoman, Miet Deckers, said August 3 that reports that as many as five of Belgium's seven reactors may be exempted from the phase-out law's 40-year limitation are only speculation. Deckers is a spokesman for Yves Leterme, leader of the Christian Democrats and widely expected to be the new prime minister. She acknowledged that some party members are saying only Doel-1 and -2 will be forced to close, but she emphasized that the parties have reach no agreement on such details. Doel-1 and -2 reach 40 years' operation in 2015. The joint statement by the formation group is seen as the first move toward negotiation between the new government and Suez-Electrabel over reversing the nuclear phase-out law in exchange for investment from the nuclear operators in alternative energy projects, such as renewables and carbon sequestration, one Belgian nuclear industry source said August 3. The official August 2 statement cites security of supply, CO2 emission worries and the prospects of using low-cost nuclear energy to fund renewables, as the reason for the decision. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 12 reportonbusiness.com: N.B. eyes more nuclear power NORVAL SCOTT August 7, 2007 In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Graham said the commissioning study is not only a decisive step forward that places New Brunswick at the vanguard of advances in nuclear power technology, but also provides further evidence that the province is capable of becoming an energy hub for the entire Eastern Seaboard. "Many jurisdictions are starting to look at new nuclear power, but we're the first to take a bold step. If this is a horse race, we're now in the lead," he said. "We want to create a new industry here, with technology that can be exported worldwide." Yesterday, New Brunswick authorities announced that the Team Candu group - which includes federally-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Babcock & Wilcox Canada, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Canada Inc., Hitachi Canada Ltd. and SNC-Lavalin Nuclear Inc. - will carry out a $2.5-million feasibility study of the possible construction of AECL's Advanced Candu Reactor (ACR-1000) nuclear plant near Saint John. The study is expected to last six months. If approved, the new 1,085 megawatt reactor - which would be the first ordered in North America since the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island - would be constructed at the site of New Brunswick's Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and would export power to the United States, possibly through an undersea cable to Massachusetts. A new plant would create 4,000 jobs during construction and 500 permanent positions, and could be the first in a series of power plants that would be constructed in New Brunswick but would supply burgeoning markets in the U.S. Northeast, Mr. Graham said. New Brunswick would have the option of purchasing electricity from the new facility, potentially allowing the province to close down other facilities in the future, he added. "Aggressively meeting U.S. power demand is an important step in our aim of making New Brunswick self-sufficient by 2026 and breaking our cycle of dependency on Ottawa," he said. "It will also create highly paid and highly skilled jobs within the province, allowing us to bring workers back from places like Alberta." Copyright 2007 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisions of CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, ON Canada M5V 2S9 Phillip Crawley, Publisher ***************************************************************** 13 WNN: Dry storage progress at Chernobyl 07 August 2007 A protocol has been signed that would see Holtec International provide long-term storage facilities for used nuclear fuel from the three undamaged nuclear power units at Chernobyl. A total of 21,000 used nuclear fuel assemblies are to be stored at the eventual facility, dubbed SNF SF-2, which would be the biggest dry store in the world. A document signed by Holtec and the Chernobyl company authorized it to draft an activity schedule, a quality assurance plan and to hire personnel in Ukraine. The first phase of the project proper would involve 100 weeks of engineering, licensing and prototype testing and would cost over Eur30 million ($41 million). The second phase - supply of capital equipment, construction and commissioning - would cost around Eur170 million ($234 million) and last 160 weeks. International funding for the project is managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which must still sign off the deal. Approval is also required from the Ukrinvestekspertiza section of the Construction, Architecture and Municipal Economy Ministry and the Ukrainian cabinet. While stabilisation work takes place at the destroyed unit 4, used nuclear fuel from Chernobyl 1, 2 and 3 has been progressively removed from plant cooling ponds and the reactor cores as part of an overall decommissioning program. Defuelling of unit 1 was completed in November 2005, while unit 3's defuelling was scheduled for completion in late June. Because the units share building structures, the decommissioning of units 1, 2 and 3 cannot progress significantly until they are all defuelled. The fuel assemblies that have been removed are currently stored in deep water cooling ponds and associated buffer stores, at SNF SF-1, but these do not have the required capacity and are not suitable for long-term storage. SNF SF-2 is therefore a crucial step in the overall plan for the site, but the project has been troubled. Initially, France's Framatome (now Areva) was contracted to design and build SNF SF-2, but Ukrainian safety authorities found it was technically impossible to grant an operating licence for the facility. Areva's engineering solutions were not attractive to the Chernobyl company and the contract was amicably terminated in April this year. Further information Chernobyl NPP Holtec International WNA's Chernobyl Accident information paper WNN: Decommissioning at Chernobyl ***************************************************************** 14 NRC: Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC., and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station; Notice of Availability of the Final Supplement 30 to the Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants, Regarding the License Renewal of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station FR Doc E7-15345 [Federal Register: August 7, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 151)] [Notices] [Page 44186-44187] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07au07-96] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 50-271] Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, Commission) has published a final plant-specific supplement to the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GEIS)'', NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating license DPR-28 for an additional 20 years of operation for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (Vermont [[Page 44187]] Yankee). Vermont Yankee is located in the town of Vernon, Vermont, in Windham County on the west shore of the Connecticut River. Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal) include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources. As discussed in Section 9.3 of the final Supplement 30, the recommendation of the staff is that the Commission determine that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Vermont Yankee are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy- planning decision makers would be unreasonable. The recommendation is based on: (1) The analysis and findings in the GEIS; (2) the Environmental Report submitted by Entergy; (3) consultation with Federal, State, and local agencies; (4) the staff's own independent review; and (5) the staff's consideration of public comments. The final Supplement 30 to the GEIS is publicly available at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, or from the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). The ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room is accessible at http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm. The Accession Numbers for the final Supplement 30 to the GEIS are ML072050012 for Volume 1, Main Report, and ML072050013 for Volume 2, Appendices. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC's PDR reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov. In addition, final supplement to the GEIS will be available at the following libraries for public inspection: Vernon Free Library, 567 Governor Hunt Road, Vernon, Vermont; Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont; Hinsdale Public Library, 122 Brattleboro Road, Hinsdale, New Hampshire; and Dickinson Memorial Library, 115 Main Street, Northfield, Massachusetts. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Richard L. Emch, Jr., Environmental Branch B, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop O- 11F1, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Mr. Emch may be contacted by telephone at 1-800-368-5642, extension 1590 or via e-mail at rle@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of August, 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Rani L. Franovich, Branch Chief, Environmental Branch B, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E7-15345 Filed 8-6-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 15 Reuters: French firm wins tender to build Chernobyl shelter | Tue Aug 7, 2007 12:52PM EDT KIEV, Aug 7 (Reuters) - French-led consortium Novarka has won a tender to build a new shelter to encase the shattered fourth reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl power station, site of the world's worst nuclear accident, the EBRD [EBRD.UL] said on Tuesday. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has coordinated efforts to construct a "sarcophagus" to replace the leaking structure hurriedly erected by workers and troops in the months following the April 1986 explosion and fire at the site. It has been seeking a contractor since 2004. "The tender has been completed and Novarka has been declared the winner," a bank spokesman said by telephone. "But no final contract has been signed for now." A bank statement said the agreement would provide for further funding of more than 364 million euros ($498 million). The entire project, including construction of the confinement vessel, is expected to cost about $1 billion and funds totalling that have been raised since the 1990s. Novarka is headed by French firms Bouygues (BOUY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vinci (SGEF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research). The consortium also includes Germany's Hochtief (HOTG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), grouping four of Europe's biggest construction firms as well as local Ukrainian companies. Ukraine, which has long lobbied for international help in building the structure, estimates it will take three years to complete the project. President Viktor Yushchenko, marking the 20th anniversary of the disaster last year, said it was vital to come up with funding to tackle problems with serious, long-term consequences for the entire European continent. Large amounts of nuclear fuel remain inside the structure. Estimates of the number of deaths linked to the Chernobyl accident vary widely. The World Health Organisation puts the number at 9,000, while the environmental group Greenpeace predicts an eventual death toll of 93,000. Some 200,000 residents were evacuated from Ukraine alone, though the accident hit neighbouring Belarus particularly hard. Experts are still studying the long-term effects on health, particularly the incidence of thyroid cancer. ((Reporting by Yuri Kulikov, Writing by Ron Popeski, editing by Erica Billingham; +380 44 244 9150 Reuters Messaging:ronald.popeski@reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: CHERNOBYL COVER/ (C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or ***************************************************************** 16 AFP: Indian PM's communist allies reject landmark US nuke deal - by Elizabeth Roche Tue Aug 7, 1:57 PM ET NEW DELHI (AFP) - Key communist allies of India's coalition government rejected a civilian nuclear deal with the United States on Tuesday, warning Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against pushing ahead. A group of communist parties that support the Congress party-led coalition asked Singh not to go ahead with the complex deal known as the 123 agreement because it requires several steps in tandem by both nations before coming into force. "Our party has stated very clearly that the accord contains provisions that cannot be accepted by any country that loves its sovereignty," Prakash Karat, chief of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) told reporters. The communist said they were unable to accept the pact after careful assessment of the text, released on Friday, in the "context of (a) burgeoning strategic alliance" with Washington. The statement came ahead of India's monsoon session of parliament beginning Monday, in which the deal is also expected to run into criticism from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Singh, who personally oversaw two years of talks that led to the historic pact, is expected to make a statement in parliament on August 13. The terms of the accord, which seeks to bring India into the loop of global nuclear commerce after a gap of three decades, were also rejected by India's main opposition Hindu nationalists over the weekend. The deal clinched in Washington last month allows India to buy civilian nuclear technology while possessing nuclear weapons, making it an exception under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. One of the trickiest issues -- whether India's unilateral decision to test nuclear weapons would end the deal -- appeared to have been sidestepped. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayananan last month described the deal as "excellent" and India's atomic energy board chief, Anil Kakodkar, added that he was satisfied with it. The deal must also be approved by the US Congress and other nations under the umbrella of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Within minutes of the Communists rejecting the deal, former Hindu nationalist foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, voiced his party's opposition, saying the accord would jeopardise India's nuclear weapons programme as well as restricting its foreign policy options. "Such a long-term decision should be decided with a consensus," Sinha said. The deal, if passed by the US Congress, will be valid for 40 years. Though the government rejected the Hindu nationalists' demand for a multi-party parliamentary committee to examine the deal, Sinha said his party "will raise this issue strongly in parliament and try to convince and compel the government to accept (it)." Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government would talk to the Communists. Politicial analyst Rasheed Kidwai said the Communists' objections to the deal put Singh and his government in a spot. "The nuclear deal has been touted by the government as one of its greatest triumphs with Singh himself taking a lot of interest in this. "A lot of hard work had gone into this and now when it is nearly done, the government's allies are opposing it," Kidwai said. After the Hindu nationalists made it clear they will oppose the deal, the Communists will be compelled to support them against the government or risk being labelled inconsistent, he said. "Such a move will make it untenable for the government to continue in office," he added. Copyright 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 17 Japan Times: IAEA begins assessing quake-hit N-plant japantimes.co.jp Web Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 Tokyo at first didn't want Tepco site checked KASHIWAZAKI, Niigata Pref. (Kyodo) A six-member International Atomic Energy Agency team began a four-day assessment Monday of the Niigata Prefecture nuclear plant damaged by last month's powerful earthquake. The quake killed 11 people and injured more than 1,000. The government was initially reluctant to let the IAEA inspect the damaged plant. It relented after residents throughout the prefecture pressured the governor into persuading the central government to let an inspection team in. "Today is our first day at the plant, so we'll have a general approach of the plant and what went on, and probably a general walk-down of the site," Philippe Jamet, director of the IAEA's Nuclear Installation Safety Division and head of the team, told reporters after arriving at the plant. RELATED STORIES Articles related to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station. Jamet also said the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog is "very satisfied that the Japanese government invited us so soon so that we could have a good examination and share lessons with the international community." The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. have said four of the plant's seven reactors in operation at the time of the quake automatically shut down and were put in a stable condition. The three other reactors were out of operation for periodic checkups. The team consisting of two IAEA experts and four seismic safety specialists is expected to analyze low-level leaks of radioactive material into the air and water. It is also expected to examine the cause of a fire that charred an electrical transformer at one of the reactors. "The plan is to listen to what the NISA and Tepco will tell us," Jamet said. "And day by day we'll find out exactly what we are going to look at every day." The nuclear plant, the world's largest in terms of output capacity, has been shut down indefinitely since the quake caused the radioactive leaks and other malfunctions. The incidents rekindled public concern about the safety of Japan's nuclear plants, which have drawn criticism due to a slew of accidents and coverups. The nation's 55 reactors supply about 30 percent of its electricity. Government officials have expressed hope that an assessment by a third party such as the IAEA will help address overseas media reports, which have irritated the government by focusing on the quake's impact on the plant. The IAEA has said the experts will report their findings to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and the Japanese government. The Japan Times ***************************************************************** 18 Japan Times: Nuclear foes tell IAEA to make thorough probe japantimes.co.jp Web Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007 By ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writer OSAKA Three Japan-based antinuclear groups called Monday on the International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out a comprehensive, unbiased probe into the earthquake damage at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in Niigata Prefecture. The groups have demanded that the four-day IAEA investigation that began Monday not yield a hasty conclusion that the damaged seven-reactor complex, the world's largest in terms of power output, could at some point in the future be restarted. The letter, sent to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and an IAEA team of experts currently in Niigata investigating the damaged power plant, was signed by Citizens' Nuclear Information Center, Greenpeace Japan and Green Action. The letter asks the IAEA to make it a priority to analyze the reasons for the lapses in judgment on the part of Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials and the central government regarding the original seismic survey, plant design and construction approval process. Such an investigation should be carried out before concluding their report on the postearthquake safety status of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex, the groups said, noting the international ramifications of the damage from the magnitude-6.8 temblor. "Given the shifting seismic cycle with a trend toward stronger earthquakes along the Ring of Fire in the Pacific, carrying out the most thorough and precise investigation as possible at this time is not only in the interest of the Japanese people but also in the critical interest of everyone who may come closely under the circles of influence of possible nuclear facilities to be built the world over in the coming years and decades," the letter reads. Antinuclear activists worry that without a thorough investigation by international experts, Japan will sweep the incident under the rug. "Neither the Japanese government nor Tokyo Electric can be trusted to investigate the effects of this earthquake. The government-appointed committees are stacked with pronuclear industry people," said Aileen Mioko Smith, director of Kyoto-based Green Action. The Japan Times ***************************************************************** 19 asahi.com: IAEA starts checks of stricken nuclear plant - 08/07/2007 BY HIROTAKA KAWAKAMI AND HIDEYUKI MIURA KASHIWAZAKI, Niigata Prefecture--Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) started a four-day inspection Monday of the earthquake-damaged Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant here. Philippe Jamet, head of the IAEA inspection team, talks to reporters in front of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant on Monday. (THE ASAHI SHIMBUN) There is concern, however, that a thorough investigation will be impossible due to damage to the facility caused by the magnitude 6.8 temblor on July 16. The team of six IAEA inspectors is led by Philippe Jamet, director of the agency's Nuclear Installation Safety Division. During the inspection, the IAEA team will try to confirm whether irregularities exist within the seven nuclear reactors at the plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). They will also focus on the way small amounts of radioactive substances leaked into the air and water around the plant after the quake. Jamet told reporters his team hoped to learn lessons from the earthquake that could then be shared with the international community. Operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, which boasts the world's largest nuclear power output, were halted after the earthquake. TEPCO officials have not indicated when operations will resume. After completing its investigation, the IAEA team will compile and release its own report on the situation. But the thoroughness of the report will likely be hampered due to damage to cranes within the structures that house the nuclear reactors. Due to the damage, it will be impossible to raise the heavy concrete lids that cover the reactor pressure and primary containment vessels. Unless the lids are removed, the state of the nuclear fuel inside the reactor cannot be confirmed. The central government had initially been reluctant to allow IAEA inspectors to check the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant so soon after the earthquake. But, officials acceded to requests from the Niigata prefectural government and the Kashiwazaki municipal government, which felt that an IAEA assurance of the plant's safety would alleviate fears and lessen the negative impact on local industry and tourism to the area. On Friday, the IAEA team will exchange opinions with the central government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in Tokyo. The intensity of the shock that hit the plant, as well as revelations that the facility was built on an active fault line, raised questions about the central government's safety standards for the construction of nuclear power plants.(IHT/Asahi: August 7,2007) * The Asahi Shimbun Company ***************************************************************** 20 Guardian Unlimited: $507 Million Pledged for Chernobyl From the Associated Press Monday August 6, 2007 7:46 PM KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development has pledged $507 million to help Ukraine build a new shelter for the Chernobyl reactor, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident, officials said Monday. Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded and burned on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation over a large swath of the former Soviet Union and much of northern Europe. An area roughly half the size of Italy was contaminated, forcing the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people and ruining some of Europe's most fertile farmland. A protective ``sarcophagus'' that was hastily erected over the reactor is now crumbling, and a $1.2 billion project to replace it remains on the drawing board. Ukraine has repeatedly asked for money from the European Union and other Western sources to fund a new shelter. More than $600 million has already been pledged by 28 donor governments. Lyudmila Shcherban, an Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman, said the money will go toward the new shelter as well as freezing the reactor permanently to prevent further ecological damage. Thirty-one people died within the first two months from illnesses caused by radioactivity, but there is heated debate over the subsequent toll. A report from the U.N. health agency last year estimated that about 9,300 people will die from cancers caused by Chernobyl's radiation. Some groups, such as Greenpeace, insist the toll could be 10 times higher. The EBRD is the largest financial investor in Ukraine, having invested in 77 projects in sectors ranging from banking to infrastructure to small and medium-sized enterprises. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 21 UPI: Study: Dirty bomb attack could close port United Press International - International Security - Published: Aug. 7, 2007 at 6:12 PM WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A new U.S. study says a terror attack with a so-called dirty bomb would be hard to execute, and radiation exposure would affect only a few scores of people. But such an attack on a port could cause billions of dollars of economic damage, and the psychological impact on the general public would likely be out of all proportion to the actual effects. The study, by scientists at the University of Southern California Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, was published in the peer-reviewed journal Risk Analysis in its special homeland security edition. Heather Rosoff and Detlof von Winterfeldt analyzed a possible terrorist attack on the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach using a radiological dispersal device, or dirty bomb, which uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material. Depending on the kind of radiological material employed, such bombs can create large radioactive plumes, cause health and psychological effects, and produce significant economic impacts due to decontamination costs. The authors found that a dirty bomb attack in the United States is possible but would not be easy, because of the difficulty of obtaining and transporting radioactive materials. Although immediate casualties would likely be low, tens to hundreds of people exposed could be at risk from cancer as a result of a radioactive plume. The most costly economic impact would be if a shutdown of the ports was required for decontamination. The authors say this would cost $20 billion for the first month and then less each subsequent month as business and ships are redirected elsewhere. Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 DHHS: Exposure Cohort FR Doc 07-3843 [Federal Register: August 7, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 151)] [Notices] [Page 44150] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07au07-57] DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Final Effect of Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort AGENCY: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice concerning the final effect of the HHS decision to designate a class of employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On June 22, 2007, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384q(b), the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC: Employees of the Department of Energy (DOE), its predecessor agencies, or DOE contractors or subcontractors who were monitored or should have been monitored for radiological exposure while working in operational Technical Areas with a history of radioactive material use at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from March 15, 1943 through December 31, 1975, or in combination with work day as within parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the Special Exposure Cohort. This designation became effective on July 22, 2007, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384l(14)(C). Hence, beginning on July 22, 2007, members of this class of employees, defined as reported in this notice, became members of the Special Exposure Cohort. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Elliott, Director, Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-46, Cincinnati, OH 45226, Telephone 513-533-6800 (this is not a toll-free number). Information requests can also be submitted by e-mail to OCAS@CDC.GOV. Dated: August 2, 2007. John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. [FR Doc. 07-3843 Filed 8-6-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163-19-M ***************************************************************** 23 LVNFES: Testing shows Fallon milk safe Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard - News August 7, 2007 Print Email CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - U.S. Food and Drug Administration tests have shown that there are no health concerns for human consumption of milk from dairies in the Fallon area, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons said Monday. Earlier tests had shown that drinking water wells around Fallon, 60 miles east of Reno, contained radioactive polonium-25. That prompted two dairy farms to dump milk on Friday. "I am glad that today's test results literally put them back into business as well as reassuring Nevadans that our milk has been safe all along," said Mendy Elliott, who as state Business and Industry Division chief oversees the state Dairy Commission. Officials from Sorensen's Dairy and Oasis Dairy said last week that they were dumping milk and would stop sales pending outcome of the FDA tests. "Milk is the most highly tested and regulated product in our food supply on our farm," said Teri Sorensen of Sorensen's Dairy to the LVN Monday before the results were released. "We continue to produce the same healthy product we have produced for generations." The FDA testing followed Friday's release of a study by the U.S. Geological Survey that found the naturally occurring radioactive isotope in 24 private wells and one public well. Polonium-210 is known to cause cancer in humans. All 23 dairies around Fallon sell their milk to the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative, which in turn markets the milk to Model Dairy in Reno and to plants in Northern California. No other dairies were part of the random testing of wells around Fallon. Concentrations of polonium-210 found in the 25 wells ranged from less than 0.1 to 67.7 picocuries per liter. Thirteen of the wells had amounts greater than 15 pCi-L, which is the federal Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level for gross alpha radioactivity in public wells. The EPA has no individual standard for polonium-210 levels in public water supplies and does not regulate private wells. Officials said they think the elevated levels stem from natural causes, and there's no known health risk at this time. Research to determine whether there's a risk is being conducted by state and federal agencies. Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent, was killed in London last year with a dose of polonium-210. But officials said the amount that killed him was hundreds of millions greater than the level the public would be exposed to by drinking well water in Fallon. All contents Copyright 2007 lahontanvalleynews.com Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard - 562 North Maine Street - Fallon, NV 89406 ***************************************************************** 24 BBC NEWS: Russia watches over nuclear wrecks Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 August 2007, 09:09 GMT 10:09 UK By James Rodgers BBC News, Andreeva Bay, Russia The incongruous Soviet mural is a reminder of the Cold War Above the waves of the Barents Sea there is a mural of Marx and Lenin, like a faded tattoo. Below it, in the waters of Saida Bay, lie other relics of the Soviet Union - the rusting hulls of nuclear submarines. They are no longer part of a Cold War armada, but the radiation risk means they are still deadly. Relations between Britain and Russia have soured since the end of last year amid the row over the death of former secret agent Alexander Litvinenko and the expulsion of diplomats from London and Moscow. But both sides say they will not let that harm their co-operation over nuclear safety. The UK Energy Minister, Malcolm Wicks, was the first British government official to visit the Barents Sea region since the Litvinenko row escalated in July. He went there with delegations from Britain and Norway - two members of the Global Partnership programme set up to reduce the threat from nuclear material in the former Soviet Union. "There is a serious matter between us at the present time. We're not going to disguise that. We've made our position clear to Moscow on that. Someone was murdered on our territory. That's a very important matter," Mr Wicks said. "But this partnership will continue. There will still be diplomatic relations between our countries, and it's important that this vital work continues." Surveillance At the spent nuclear fuel storage facility at Andreeva Bay, north-west of Saida Bay, you can see why. It is dangerous. The delegation had to wear protective clothing even for their brief visit. It is a sensitive location. The Russians told television crews, including the BBC, they had to agree to their pictures being censored if they wished to film. It wasn't the first problem we had had. Earlier in the day, at the naval dockyard in Polyarny, we had been prevented from filming a submarine which was due to be broken up. A man in civilian clothes suspected we had been taking pictures. I assume he was an agent of the FSB, the Russian secret police. He demanded to see what was on the cassette in our camera. We had not even been able to film the delegation looking at the submarine. Even with the Cold War over, the Soviet navy's nuclear legacy is still surrounded by secrecy and suspicion. Safety fears At Andreeva Bay, I left my TV colleagues behind and boarded a bus which SevRAO, the company which manages the site, had provided for visitors. The volume of nuclear waste alarms Russia's neighbours Inside, a sunken ship lay on its side near the quay. Some 30 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel are stored here. It seemed incredible that the site had been allowed to become so neglected. You could see the difference that international funding had made. New facilities had been built to replace the crumbling, Soviet-era buildings. A British government report published in December 2005 spoke of "significant levels of contamination of the ground" here. In for the long haul It was a relief to be on the journey out again. The Norwegian border is just 45km (28 miles) from Andreeva Bay. Norway has paid for improvements to the site - including a new fence to keep out terrorists. The Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Liv Monica Stubholt, seemed generally pleased with the way the partnership was working - but admitted it was not always easy. "We have an issue, both with openness and transparency," she explained. "We would like to see a better flow of information. And we would also like the experts to be able to share more freely what they learn and their research results." Then there is the question of whether Britain and others should be paying for the clean-up. Russia is not the poor country it was in the 1990s. Valery Panteleev, director of SevRAO, believes everyone is benefiting. "Where we're dealing with radioactive waste - probably these British, Italians and Swedes we're working with will get something good from it too," he said. "The way I look at it, we're working together everywhere." * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 25 DHHS: Exposure Cohort FR Doc 07-3844 [Federal Register: August 7, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 151)] [Notices] [Page 44150] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07au07-58] DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Final Effect of Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort AGENCY: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice concerning the final effect of the HHS decision to designate a class of employees at W.R. Grace, Erwin, Tennessee, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On June 22, 2007, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384q(b), the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC: Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) employees who were monitored or should have been monitored for potential exposure to thorium while working in any of the 100 series buildings or Buildings 220, 230, 233, 234, 301, or 310 at the W.R. Grace site at Erwin, Tennessee for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from January 1, 1958, through December 31, 1970, or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the Special Exposure Cohort. This designation became effective on July 22, 2007, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384l(14)(C). Hence, beginning on July 22, 2007, members of this class of employees, define as reported in this notice, became members of the Special Exposure Cohort. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Elliott, Director, Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-46, Cincinnati, OH 45226, Telephone 513-533-6800 (this is not a toll-free number). Information requests can also be submitted by e-mail to OCAS@CDC.GOV. Dated: August 2, 2007. John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. [FR Doc. 07-3844 Filed 8-6-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163-19-M ***************************************************************** 26 DHHS: Exposure Cohort FR Doc 07-3845 [Federal Register: August 7, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 151)] [Notices] [Page 44149-44150] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07au07-56] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Final Effect of Designation of a Class of Employees for Addition to the Special Exposure Cohort AGENCY: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives notice concerning the final effect of the HHS decision to designate a class of employees at the Dow Chemical Company, Madison, Illinios, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On June 22, 2007, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384q(b), the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC: Atomic Weapons Employer (AWE) employees who were monitored or should have been monitored for exposure to thorium radionuclides while working at the Dow Chemical Company site in Madison, Illinois for a number of work days aggregating at least 250 work days from January 1, 1957 through December 31, 1960, or in combination with work days within the parameters established for one or more other classes of employees in the Special Exposure Cohort. This designation became effective on July 22, 2007, as provided for under 42 U.S.C. 7384l(14)(C). Hence, beginning on July 22, 2007, members of this class of employees, defined as reported in this notice, became members of the Special Exposure Cohort. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Elliott, Director, Office of Compensation Analysis and Support, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-46, Cincinnati, OH 45226, Telephone 513-533-6800 (this is not a toll-free number). Information requests can also be submitted by e-mail to OCAS@CDC.GOV. [[Page 44150]] Dated: August 2, 2007. John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. [FR Doc. 07-3845 Filed 8-6-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4163-19-M ***************************************************************** 27 Reuters: Radioactive water splashed 2 TEPCO workers in quake Tue Aug 7, 2007 9:39AM IST TOKYO (Reuters) - Radioactive water splashed two workers at a nuclear plant in northwest Japan during a 6.8 magnitude earthquake last month, but the two were wearing protective clothing, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on Tuesday. A team of experts from the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency is now inspecting the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station -- the world's largest nuclear facility -- amid growing concerns over safety in Japan's scandal-hit nuclear sector. "A monitor to check radiation levels showed negative results, confirming that the workers were not exposed to radiation" during the incident, a TEPCO spokesman said. Fears about the safety of Japan's nuclear industry were revived when radioactive water leaked from the plant after the July 16 tremor. The earthquake killed 11, injured more than 1,000 and flattened hundreds of homes. The power station, which was built above an active fault line, shut down automatically after the quake and will remain closed indefinitely for safety checks. TEPCO has acknowledged that the quake was stronger than the plant had been built to withstand and that the level of radioactivity in the leaked water was more than first estimated. In the wake of pressure from local authorities worried about safety, a six-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency, headed by Philippe Jamet, started a four-day round of inspections on Monday. Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 28 Rocky Mountain News: Health secretary rejects push to help all Rocky Flats workers By Associated Press August 7, 2007 DENVER ? The federal secretary of health and human services has rejected an appeal by Colorado's congressional delegation to make it easier for Rocky Flats nuclear weapons workers to get compensation for cancer or other job-related diseases. In a letter released Tuesday by Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., Secretary Michael Leavitt stood by a federal panel's recommendation limiting special status to those who worked at Rocky Flats between April 1, 1952 and Dec. 31, 1966. Salazar and other members of the delegation had asked Leavitt to reconsider the findings of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, which held hearings in Colorado this year. Congress has the final say. Salazar said he planned to introduce a bill to address the needs of the workers, whom he said were "among our country's heroes of the Cold War." Workers with special status can get government benefits simply by showing they have a form of cancer that can be caused by radiation. Other workers can still get compensation but have to prove their diseases were the result of exposure to plutonium or other chemicals at the plant. In order to so, the radiation dose they were exposed to has be reconstructed. Leavitt told Salazar that that has been done for 1,150 of the 1,248 workers who have filed claims. Rocky Flats, located 15 miles northwest of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads. Many workers have said they developed cancer and other diseases because of their jobs there. The plant closed in 1991. 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 29 Platts: GAO says DOE quality assurance improved at Yucca Mountain Washington (Platts)--6Aug2007 DOE has improved the quality assurance program at its Yucca Mountain repository site in Nevada, but it's too early to tell whether the department will produce a high-quality repository license application, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released August 6. The finding is more positive than reports GAO issued last year and in 2004. GAO said in its 2004 report that the program still had "lingering problems" and "continuing management weaknesses." However, in the latest report, the federal auditors said that DOE has made progress in implementing recommendations and resolving some problems identified in GAO's March 2006 report. A high-quality license application is crucial to NRC's ability to reach a licensing decision on DOE's license application within the three- to four-year period required by law, GAO said. If licensed by NRC, Yucca Mountain would be used to dispose of utility spent nuclear fuel and defense high-level radioactive waste and would be required to meet federal regulations for one million years. Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 30 Platts: US GAO unsure Yucca Mountain improvements enough for application Washington (Platts)--6Aug2007 The US Department of Energy has improved the quality assurance program at its Yucca Mountain repository site in Nevada, but it's too early to tell whether the turnaround is robust enough to produce a high-quality repository license application, the Government Accountability Office said Monday. The finding is more positive than one GAO issued three years ago, when it said the program still has "lingering problems with data, models and software, and continuing management weaknesses." Federal auditors expressed similar concerns in a 2006 report. In the report released Monday, however, federal auditors said DOE has made progress in implementing recommendations in GAO's March 2006 report and in resolving some problems that GAO had identified. A high-quality license application is crucial to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's ability to reach a decision on a DOE licensing application within the three- to four-year period that the law requires, GAO said. "Specifically, NRC has stated that a high-quality license application would be complete, technically adequate, transparent--clearly justifying and explaining any underlying assumptions and conclusions--and traceable to original source materials," the report said. If NRC grants the license, Yucca Mountain--roughly 100 miles outside Las Vegas--would be used to dispose of utility spent nuclear fuel and defense high-level radioactive waste and would be required to meet federal regulations for 1 million years. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 31 Platts: Nukem, CF Industries considering new uranium recovery facility London (Platts)--6Aug2007 Nukem and CF Industries Holding are trying to determine if there is enough interest in their potential U3O8 supply contracts to warrant constructing a uranium recovery facility at a CF Industries phosphate complex in Florida. The two companies are currently seeking long-term supply contracts from US nuclear utilities for a total of roughly 900,000 pounds U3O8 a year, they said in a joint press statement July 30. Brian Frame, Nukem director of special projects, declined to give specifics on the reception the companies were receiving from utilities. Nukem and CF Industries have been surveying the utility market for two to three months, he said in an interview, adding that it "looks pretty good." Nukem is one of the five top providers of uranium to nuclear power plants worldwide and is one of the major suppliers to the uranium spot market. CF Industries, a major producer and distributor of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer, also has experience in uranium recovery operations. The company recovered roughly 1.2 million lbs U3O8 from the phosphate ore it mined in central Florida in the mid-1980s, said Charles Nekvasil, CF Industries director of public and investor relations. But when uranium prices plummeted, so did the company's interest in uranium recovery, according to Nekvasil. The U308 facility was shut down and decommissioned. With the spot U3O8 price now over $100/lb, CF Industries is hoping to get back into the uranium market. The company now mines roughly 3.5 million tons of phosphate rock a year and has enough reserves to last 15 to 20 years, Nekvasil said. A feasibility study showed there is uranium in that rock, Frame said. If enough supply contracts can be obtained to "support the project economics," the companies plan to obtain project financing and permits and proceed with work on detailed engineering on the uranium recovery facility planned for a CF Industries site in Plant City, Florida, the companies said in their joint statement. Asked whether the falling spot market price for U3O8 was making it difficult to find utilities willing to make long-term supply commitments now, Frame said only that he thought "utilities are interested in getting long-term supply." The companies said that if they decide to undertake the project, production of U3O8 could begin within three to four years. This story was originall published in Platts Nucleonics Week. Request a free trial at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 Copyright 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 32 Daily News Journal: Stockard:Ridleys ever wary of landfill Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, Tennessee news from The Jim Ridley coughed into the microphone as he completed his presentation against the dumping of low-level radioactive waste at Middle Point Landfill. "That's from breathing fumes from the landfill," he told the crowd, evoking a roar of laughter at a recent public hearing held by the state Department of Environment and Conservation. Garbage is no joke, though, for Jim and Polly Ridley, who live in an 1820s-era home called Evergreen off U.S. 231 North (Lebanon Road), almost directly west of Middle Point. They moved there in 1960 after Jim fell in love with the house and started waging battles against landfills in the early 1970s when the county prepared to open a dump on the banks of the Stones River in Walter Hill. "We kept telling them that's where the drinking water was," says Jim, 74, sitting in their parlor surrounded by antique furniture and paintings. The old county court (previous name for the County Commission) decided to put it there anyway. "They said it would be the best-run landfill in the state," notes Polly, 72, who works three days a week at Castelli Designs in Murfreesboro. "We knew it was going to be a glorified dump," Jim adds. A retired Metro art teacher, he suffers from emphysema and can hardly work outside on summer days when landfill stench clogs the air. The old county landfill was cited for violations numerous times over the years and stopped taking household garbage in the late '80s. In 1987, BFI paid $10 million for the adjacent Middle Point land after the County Commission rezoned the property and the state approved a landfill permit. "We didn't even know about this," Polly says. "It just happened." Around 1995, the city of Murfreesboro decided to start treating leachate from the landfill water that seeps through the garbage and must be collected in return for a break on dumping rates. The city wanted to take part of the Ridleys' property to run a sewer line across it and down Cherry Lane to the treatment plant off Thompson Lane. The Ridleys balked at that plan, and a representative of the Tennessee Historical Commission stepped in to help them. The sewer line was moved closer to the highway, and the Ridleys claimed a "big victory." After that, their home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In its earliest days, it was owned by professor Samuel Black, who taught future President James K. Polk at Bradley Academy in the 1820s. Evergreen's walls and ceilings still have cracks that date back 150 years. But the Ridleys have no intention of trying to repair those creases in time. "We love them," Polly says. About the only thing they don't love about their home and wooded acreage is constant encroachment of the landfill. Maybe someday they'll get relief, but they're coping with it the best they can. Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:37 am Copyright 2007 The Daily News Journal. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 33 Guardian Unlimited: No quick fixes on nuclear waste Tuesday August 7, 2007 Professor Keith Barnham raised some important points on unresolved nuclear waste management problems (We don't need the nuclear option, August 1). Last week was the first anniversary of the publication of the final report of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management and we would like to express concern at the way the government has taken the issue forward. First, the government responded that it would go ahead with geological disposal, despite the heavily qualified nature of CoRWM's recommendation, which stressed the vital role of interim storage because of concerns about disposal safety standards. Second, we note that CoRWM's recommendation for an independent oversight body, similar to the Statutory Nuclear Waste Management Commission recommended by the House of Lords, was rejected by the government. Third, we consider the government's haste to approve a new generation of reactors before solving the nuclear waste problem undermines its previous willingness to respond so positively to CoRWM's widespread public consultation. The government, in order to sanction new nuclear power, appears to be looking for a geological "quick fix", without addressing the reasons why such a proposal failed a decade ago. We urge communities to be cautious when faced with suggestions that they "volunteer" their localities until the evidence for geological disposal is re-examined and the safeguards significantly strengthened. Dr David Lowry Contributing author, Nuclear or Not Dr Rachel Western Former consultant to UK Nirex Pete Roche Former member of the committee examining radiation risks of internal emmitters Phil Davies Former researcher, Friends of the Earth Val Mainwood Bradwell for Renewable Energy Useful links Energy Saving Trust Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 34 TorontoSun.com: Toronto And GTA - World ban urged for N-bombs Wed, August 8 / 07 torsun.editor@sunmedia.ca City Hall rally marks 62nd Hiroshima anniversary By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA Sixty-two years to the day after the world's first nuclear attack on Hiroshima, Japan, peace activists in Toronto yesterday called for Canada to initiate a global abolition of nuclear weapons. It was at 8:15 local time on Aug, 6, 1945, that an American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped a 15-kiloton bomb called Little Boy on Hiroshima. There was no official death toll taken, but estimates say 70,000 people died immediately as a result of the bomb blast. The final toll is believed to be about 135,000. Three days later, a second American bomb fell on Nagasaki, causing the deaths of about 50,000 people. In Toronto yesterday, several hundred people observed a moment of silence in Nathan Phillips Square in a ceremony that included Councillor Raymond Cho reading Mayor David Miller's proclamation that Aug. 6, 2007, be named Hiroshima Day in the city. PROCLAMATION The mayoral proclamation said Toronto supports the global Mayors For Peace 2020 Vision Campaign made up of mayors from more than 1,600 cities calling for total nuclear disarmament by 2020. Sid Kiyoshi Ikeda, of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, said yesterday's commemoration, organized by the Toronto Hiroshima Day Coalition, is part of that global campaign to rid the world of nukes. There were similar commemorations in 14 other cities around the world. "We want to promote peace," Ikeda said. "We are against nuclear weapons -- all people are, really." Phyliss Creighton, of the Toronto Hiroshima Day Coalition, said Canada should initiate a worldwide disarmament by launching a process similar to the 1997 Ottawa Convention, in which 122 governments from around the world signed the Mine Ban Treaty. Copyright 2007, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 35 Greenpeace International: Hiroshima's legacy | 07 August 2007 Jun Hoshikawa, Executive Director, Greenpeace Japan. Enlarge Image Tokyo, Japan From the Executive Director of our office in Japan, Jun Hoshikawa, comes this appeal to the government of Japan to maintain that country's constitutional renunciation of war: Sixty-two years ago on August 6th, a uranium-type atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and a Plutonium-type atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later on August 9th. Both were indiscriminate bombings, both targeted the two city’s civilians and both starkly violated international law. We offer our deepest sympathy to the families of the people who lost their lives on not only August 6th and August 9th but also those who died from the fallout of the two bombs – over 400,000 people - and share the suffering of those who have survived through various levels of the radiation contamination. Greenpeace was founded in 1971 with the aim of creating a world without nuclear threats. The unprecedented tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bring home the reality of such a nuclear threat in our world. It proves categorically that we must abandon all nuclear weapons, nuclear power generation and plutonium recycling altogether. We Japanese are not only victims of the war, but also perpetrators, who created 20 million victims in the Asia-Pacific region, including the victims of the first ever indiscriminate aerial bombings of the Chinese cities of Nanking and Chongqing, which ultimately led to the two atomic bombings by the United States of America. Hiroshima and Nagasaki must never be allowed to happen again in any region or country; war is not and never will be an answer. The post-Second World War Japanese Constitution was a treasure box, which designated a future without war. It was only earned through the tremendous mistakes we made in the Asia-Pacific War and the tragic experiences of being victims of the two atomic bombings. Article 9 of the Constitution, which renounces war forever as a means of settling international disputes, was the shining pearl in the treasure box. However, even the treasures of the Japanese Constitution we have dearly guarded for 60 years since its enactment could tarnish and get discarded if we don’t protect them and put them to good use. The current Prime Minister with the formal backing of the ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, is openly aiming at the removal of the Article 9 enabling Japan to go to war. In 2005, Greenpeace released a joint statement “No More Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Stop Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant” signed by 28 Executive directors world-wide on the Hiroshima Memorial Day as a gesture to renew our pledge for peace. Although we face even more nuclear and war threats today, our resolve remains just as firm. We will protect Article 9 and ‘aspire sincerely’ to strengthen our efforts to bring about a world without nuclear threats and war. ***************************************************************** 36 Daily Yomiuri: Abe eyes changes to A-bomb criteria Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he intends to amend the criteria for screening atomic bomb survivors to establish whether they have been suffering from radiation-related diseases. Abe made the remarks after attending a peace ceremony commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima. "I have issued instructions for the criteria to be reexamined [by relevant government offices] with the help of experts in the field," he said. However, Abe did not clarify what will happen next with government appeals of court rulings ordering the state to retract its decision not to recognize some survivors as suffering from such diseases. "Concerned ministries and agencies are now examining the legal issues raised by the trials," Abe said. He added, "We also have to think about what we can do for people who have been suffering for a long time, aside from what has happened in the trials themselves, and enhance general support measures in terms of health care and welfare." The Daily Yomiuri, The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 37 SF New Mexican: LANL security incident renews criticism Tue Aug 7, 2007 11:00 pm By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican Another security concern popped up at Los Alamos National Laboratory on Monday, and a watchdog group and the lab are at odds over what it means. The Project on Government Oversight reported Monday that classified information was released via e-mail last week at the lab, and it’s among “the most serious threats to national security.” But the lab describes the information as “sensitive” and stressed there was “absolutely no damage to any national security interests.” Both sides agree the incident, which the lab declined to detail, was given the most serious U.S. Department of Energy rating, an Impact Measurement Index 1. Incidents are categorized based on their potential risk to national security. That designation, the lab reported in a security advisory, covers “actions, inactions, or events that pose the most serious threats to national security interests and/or critical DOE assets, create serious security situations, or could result in deaths in the workforce or general public.” The Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight has criticized the lab’s security record for years. “LANL has been fined, lab officials have been fired, and the lab was even closed for a number of months so that it could get its act together,” the project’s senior investigator, Peter Stockton, said in a news release. “It’s clear that it just can’t.” Lab spokesman Kevin Roark said POGO’s characterization of the event was misleading at best. “We did have a lab employee who made a mistake and inadvertently allowed sensitive information to get on our yellow network, which is password protected,” Roark said. “It’s for lab employees only. It is not accessible to the outside world. However, sensitive information should not reside on the yellow network.” The problem involved a small number of people and no one involved came from outside the lab, he added. It was discovered quickly, and the potential for a problem was eliminated within an afternoon, he said. An internal investigation is ongoing. The National Nuclear Security Administration referred questions about the matter to the lab Monday. That agency recently declined to detail security incidents and how they compare among different weapons labs. However, there were 22 “Category 1” incidents at Los Alamos from 2002 through 2004, New Mexican archives show. There were 35 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the same time frame. The lab has been under intense pressure from Washington lawmakers to improve its security record, and new managers stress they are making progress. Roark said the lab responded quickly. “We are on this stuff,” he said. “We are working it hard.” U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., has been especially focused on Los Alamos. He chairs an oversight and investigations subcommittee. “Chairman Stupak finds it troubling that, despite Secretary (Samuel) Bodman’s promise to immediately inform committees of jurisdiction when security breaches occur. Instead the Energy and Commerce Committee was alerted of this breach by an outside government watchdog organization,” Stupak’s spokesman Alex Haurek said. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said his office was told the lab has a well-established procedure for responding to incidents of this nature, and the information stayed on the lab’s internal network. Contact Andy Lenderman at 986-3073 or alenderman@sfnewmexican.com. Copyright 2007 The New Mexican, Inc. Terms of Use | 2007, Santa Fe New Mexican, all ***************************************************************** 38 Denver Post: Feds reject Rocky Flats appeal By The Associated Press Article Last Updated: 08/07/2007 07:58:52 PM MDT Michael Logan worked for Rocky Flats from 1978 to 2003. He worked as a janitor, a service attendant in the garage, Metalurgical Operator. Photographed in April, 2007. (Helen H. Richardson | The Denver Post) The federal secretary of health and human services has rejected an appeal by Colorado's congressional delegation to make it easier for Rocky Flats nuclear-weapons workers to get compensation for cancer or other job-related diseases. In a letter released today by U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, a Denver Democrat, Secretary Michael Leavitt stood by a federal panel's recommendation limiting special status to those who worked at Rocky Flats between April 1, 1952, and Dec. 31, 1966. Salazar and other members of the delegation had asked Leavitt to reconsider the findings of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, which held hearings in Colorado this year. Congress has the final say. Salazar said he planned to introduce a bill to address the needs of the workers, whom he said were "among our country's heroes of the Cold War." Workers with special status can get government benefits simply by showing they have a form of cancer that can be caused by radiation. Other workers can still get compensation but have to prove their diseases were the result of exposure to plutonium or other chemicals at the plant. In order to so, the radiation dose they were exposed to has be reconstructed. Leavitt told Salazar that that has been done for 1,150 of the 1,248 workers who have filed claims. Rocky Flats, located 15 miles northwest of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads. Many workers have said they developed cancer and other diseases because of their jobs there. The plant closed in 1991. Richard Castillo, 59, of Westminster, a 27-year Rocky Flats worker who suffers from neuropathy, addresses the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health during a June 2007 hearing in Denver. (Omar Vega | The Denver Post) All contents Copyright 2007 The Denver Post or other copyright holders. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 39 Albuquerque Tribune: Oversight group: Security still lax at Los Alamos National Laboratory Originally published 07:56 a.m., August 7, 2007 Los Alamos National Laboratory is being accused by a government watchdog group of another security breach less than a month after the Energy Department proposed $3.3 million in fines against lab managers because of a security breakdown last fall. The lab on Aug. 6 acknowledged the incident, but says characterization by the Project on Government Oversight is misleading. An employee inadvertently sent sensitive information to the lab's so-called yellow network, which lab spokesman Kevin Roark described as an internal, password-protected system only accessible by employees. "This kind of sensitive information is not supposed to be on the yellow network, but people make mistakes sometimes," Roark said on Aug. 6. "We responded quickly and decisively. We're confident that there was absolutely no damage to any national security interests." Roark said the information was on the network "very briefly." He said it was retrieved and protected after being discovered. But POGO pointed out that Los Alamos laboratory has been plagued by security concerns in recent years. Those range from classified e-mails sent from unsecure computers and lost data disks to allegations — never proven — of espionage. "LANL has been fined, lab officials have been fired and the lab was even closed for a number of months so that it could get its act together," said Peter Stockton, a senior investigator with POGO. "It's clear that it just can't." POGO said in a news release on Aug. 6 the latest incident was rated among "the most serious threats to national security interests." But Roark took issue with the release. "What it does is paint a picture of a laboratory that can't get its act together, and that is just not the case," he said. In July, the DOE levied civil penalties against lab managers over an incident in October 2006, when police found more than 1,000 pages of classified documents and several computer storage devices in a trailer occupied by a former contract worker at the lab. The discovery was found during a police drug raid that focused on another person living in the trailer. Federal officials had said a central factor in proposing the penalties — the largest the DOE have ever imposed — was that investigators concluded the incident involved security breakdowns similar to ones that had occurred in the past and had been considered corrected. As for last week's incident, Roark said: "It was a mistake, and what the laboratory's response to that mistake will be is still a question. People make mistakes and basically what you can do is learn from it, and hopefully it won't happen again." 2007 The Albuquerque Tribune ***************************************************************** 40 NAS: Project: Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology Roadmap for DOE's Office of Environmental Management Project Title: PIN: NRSB-O-06-03-A Major Unit: Division on Earth and Life Studies Sub Unit: Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board RSO: Crowley, Kevin Subject/Focus Area: Environmental Issue Project Scope A National Academies committee will provide technical and strategic advice to the DOE-EM's Office of Engineering and Technology to support the development and implementation of its cleanup technology roadmap. Specifically, the study will identify: o Principal science and technology gaps and their priorities for the cleanup program based on previous National Academies reports, updated and extended to reflect current site conditions and EM priorities and input form key external groups, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Environmental Protection Agency, and state regulatory agencies. o Strategic opportunities to leverage research and development from other DOE programs (e.g., in the Office of Science, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, and the National Nuclear Security Administration), other federal agencies (e.g., Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency), universities, and the private sector. o Core capabilities at the national laboratories that will be needed to address EM's long-term, high-risk cleanup challenges, especially at the four laboratories located at the large DOE sites (Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory). o The infrastructure at these national laboratories and at EM sites that should be maintained to support research, development, and bench and pilot scale demonstrations of technologies for the EM cleanup program, especially in radiochemistry. The committee will provide findings and recommendations, as appropriate, to EM on maintenance of core capabilities and infrastructure at national laboratories and EM sites to address its long-term, high-risk cleanup challenges. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The approximate start date for the project is February 1, 2007. A report is expected to be released at the end of the project in approximately 16 months. Project Duration: 16 months Provide FEEDBACK on this project. Contact the Public Access Records Office to make an inquiry or to schedule an appointment to view project materials available to the public. Committee Membership Meetings Meeting 1 - 03/12/2007 Meeting 2 - 06/13/2007 Meeting 3 - 08/27/2007 Meeting 4 - 10/31/2007 Meeting 5 - 01/08/2008 Reports Reports having no URL can be seen at the Public Access Records Office Email: info@nas.edu ***************************************************************** 41 LocalNews8.com: Fire Burning Near INL Main Entrance Contained Idaho Falls, Pocatello - Firefighting crews from the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have contained a wildland fire that started Tuesday afternoon near the INL's main gate. Four INL firefighting units, including a water tanker, remain at the scene for "mop-up" activities. A Bureau of Land Management firefighting unit from Arco is also assisting. The fire was declared contained at about 4:30 p.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation. According to INL emergency operations officials, all personnel have been accounted for and are safe. No structures were threatened by the fire. INL emergency organizations both onsite and in Idaho Falls were activated. State, county and tribal officials were notified. INL's emergency Joint Information Center at the Engineering Research Office Building, 2525 Fremont Ave., Idaho Falls, is activated to answer questions. Employees and the public can call (208) 526-5042. All content Copyright 2000 - 2007 WorldNow and KIFI. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************