***************************************************************** 08/08/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.185 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 BBC NEWS: In quotes: Koreas summit reaction 2 AFP: Koreas to hold first summit for seven years 3 AFP: Iran, North Korea eye energy cooperation - 4 PakTribune: Implications Of US-India Nuclear Deal 5 [NYTr] ASEAN Nations Flirt with Nuke Energy 6 Prospects of Armageddon 7 asahi.com: May the 2 A-bombs be the last ever dropped - NUCLEAR REACTORS 8 Bangkok Post: Naval base proposed as site for nuclear plant 9 US: Platts: NRC site visits available for new reactor applicants 10 Platts: Accord Alliance gives design support on how to retrieve,trea 11 US: Burlington Free Press: PSB rejects study on “all-fuels” efficien 12 Times Online: Inside the nuclear plant hit by earthquake - 13 US: South Bend Tribune: Michigan officials tout nuclear power 14 US: NRC: Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC; Notice of Withdrawal 15 US: NRC: In the Matter of General Atomics; TRIGA Mark I and Mark F; 16 US: NRC: ACRS candidates 17 IHT: Fire in Czech nuclear station compound quickly put out - 18 Reuters: India confident of braving U.S. nuclear deal critics 19 Kyiv Post: Ukraine lands record half-billion-dollar grant to seal up 20 Kyiv Post: Let the dust finally settle 21 www.bbj.hu: Romania nuclear-power unit connected to national energy 22 Japan Times: Report on damaged reactor due Friday 23 Regina Leader-Post: Nuclear energy's dirty secrets 24 Hindustan Times: Tatas in talks with Areva for N-power- 25 Hindustan Times: No going back on nuclear deal, PM tells Left - 26 Edmonton Journal: Woodlands retracts support for nuclear plant 27 US: MiamiHerald.com: FPL nuclear reactor back at full output - 28 US: Whitecourt Star: Public meeting reveals residents’ dismay with c 29 Whitecourt Star: County council to consider forming information comm NUCLEAR SECURITY NUCLEAR SAFETY 30 [NYTr] Russia watches over nuclear wrecks 31 US: Denver Post: Rocky Flats workers lose once again 32 US: Ventura County Star: We can't forget Santa Susana lab nuclear ac 33 Yokwe Net: Nuclear Claims Chairman Testifies of "Tangled" Nuke-Testi 34 US: OpEdNews: Unknown Terror of DU (review) 35 Japan Times: Hibakusha documentary's time has come | 36 asahi.com: Radiation disease 37 Mother Jones: After the Bomb Dropped NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 38 BBC NEWS: Peru returns Scots nuclear waste 39 US: ReviewJournal.com Poll: Nuke waste still worrisome 40 US: CCA: Public meeting for input on non-defense waste storage at WI 41 THERECORD.COM: Don't keep waste at lake 42 Pahrump Valley Times: Roberts chosen for nuke agency PEACE 43 [NYTr] Bitter Legacy of War in the Pacific, Atomic Bombings 44 [NYTr] Cuba Renders Tribute to Victims of Hiroshima-Nagasaki 45 [NYTr] Japan marks Hiroshima anniversary 46 Nagasaki and the Second Bomb 47 no more hibakusha: Straightgoods.com 48 IPA: Nagasaki and the Second Bomb -- 49 The Sunflower: Issue 121 - August 2007 US DEPT. OF ENERGY 50 DOE: DOE Launches Major Initiative to Increase Energy Savings 51 DOE: DOE Announces Energy Assistance for New Orleans Public Schools 52 Rocky Mountain News: Health chief rejects appeal for Flats aid 53 KMGH: Rocky Flats Workers Lose Appeal On Compensation - 54 Knoxville News Sentinel: Nun gets 20 days for peace protest at Y-12 55 Knoxville News Sentinel: There's a lot at stake in Oak Ridge cleanup 56 DOE: DOE to Provide up to $21.5 million for Research to Improve Vehi ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 BBC NEWS: In quotes: Koreas summit reaction Last Updated: Wednesday, 8 August 2007, 12:06 GMT 13:06 UK Key nations have welcomed the announcement that the leaders of North and South Korea will hold a summit in late August. But reaction from the main opposition party in South Korea, to what is only the second ever presidential summit between the two sides, is less positive. JOANNE MOORE, US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN We have long welcomed and supported North-South dialogue and hope that this meeting will help promote peace and security on the Korean Peninsula, fulfilling the goals of the six-party talks. This is the result of efforts and discussions that have been going on for some time, and the United States was advised in advance by (South Korea) about this meeting. LIU JIANCHAO, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN China expects positive results can be achieved in the second South-North summit. The Chinese side supports all things conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and north-east Asia. SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER I hope the summit will contribute to easing tension on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea's denuclearisation is being discussed under the six-party talks framework. I expect that South Korea, as a participant in those talks, will act accordingly. BORIS MALAKHOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY We hope the forthcoming summit will promote the strengthening of peace, stability and co-operation on the Korean Peninsula and in north-east Asia... [and] will give a new political impetus to the process of the Korean nuclear problem settlement [and] normalisation of relations of North Korea with the key powers of the region. KIM DAE-JUNG, FORMER SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT The summit will be a great step forward for peace and exchanges between the two sides. SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE The second inter-Korean summit is expected to contribute to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The talks will also provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem. SOUTH KOREA'S OPPOSITION GRAND NATIONAL PARTY The summit, which is being prepared as an election stunt, will only spark public resentment and backfire. The summit, which lacks transparency and fairness and has no agreed-upon agenda backed by the public, will end up as a backroom deal and result in ridiculously generous aid to pamper the North with. NORTH KOREAN STATE NEWS AGENCY, KCNA * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 2 AFP: Koreas to hold first summit for seven years by Jun Kwanwoo Wed Aug 8, 6:13 AM ET SEOUL (AFP) - North and South Korea announced Wednesday they will hold their second-ever summit this month in an attempt to bring lasting peace to a peninsula divided for 60 years by minefields and barbed wire. President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il will meet in Pyongyang from August 28-30, the Seoul presidential office and the North's official media said. It will be only the second leaders' meeting in the history of the hardline communist North and the capitalist South. The first, in 2000, ushered in a new era of reconciliation marked by economic joint projects and family reunions. South Korea said the summit was proposed by the North, which tested its first nuclear weapon last October but is moving towards shutting down its atomic programme under a six-nation agreement. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the meeting would be "of weighty significance in opening a new phase of peace." A Seoul presidential office statement said Roh and Kim would discuss a formal peace treaty. The two countries have remained technically at war since 1953, when the Korean conflict ended in an armistice and not a peace pact. "The two leaders, through this summit, will be able to expand military trust-building measures and pave the way for establishing a peace regime on the Korean peninsula," it said. "The talks will also provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem." The US State Department said it hoped the meeting would help fulfil the goals of the six-nation talks. Japan, which has tense relations with North Korea, also voiced hope the summit will promote peace. China's foreign ministry said it "supports everything that will benefit peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia." The North last month shut down its Yongbyon reactor, which produced plutonium for nuclear bombs. It has pledged to disable its atomic programmes permanently in return for energy aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars and major diplomatic and security benefits. Kim Man-bok, chief of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, told a news conference he secretly visited North Korea twice earlier this month to arrange the summit. "Recently, inter-Korean relations and the political situation are improving. The current timing is the most appropriate period" for a summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was quoted as saying. The intelligence chief said his northern counterpart Kim Yang-Gon relayed the comments from the leader. President Roh said the meeting would help normalise the North's relations with the world. "The second inter-Korean summit will help normalise inter-Korean relations and provide fresh momentum to improve North Korea's relations with international society," he was quoted by his spokesman as saying. The summit announcement comes some four months before a presidential election in which pro-government parties trail the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) in opinion polls. The GNP dismissed the meeting as an election stunt to boost the chances of Roh's preferred presidential candidate. It said the timing and venue were inappropriate and the meeting would end up showering the North with "ridiculously generous" aid. Some 20 conservative activists burned a North Korean flag and sprayed ink on the portraits of Roh and Kim during a rally near Seoul's presidential office. Analysts agreed that Kim Jong-Il wants summit deals before an expected election victory by the GNP, which has taken a harder line with the North and is reviled by Pyongyang's official media. "The Pyongyang regime seems to be worried about the direction of inter-Korean relations if the GNP has an election victory," said Dongguk University professor Koh Yu-Hwan. Presidential adviser Baek Jong-Chun said the timing had nothing to do with domestic politics. Officials will meet soon at the North's border city of Kaesong to make arrangements for the summit. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 3 AFP: Iran, North Korea eye energy cooperation - Thursday August 9, 07:08 AM TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran and North Korea on Wednesday agreed to step up cooperation in the energy sector as the reclusive Asian state's trade minister paid a visit to the fellow arch foe of the United States. "Both nations can cooperate in the fields of exploration, production and other fields of the energy sector," Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said after the meeting with North Korean Foreign Trade Minister Rim Kyong Man. The oil ministry's Shana news agency said the North Korean minister said Pyongyang wanted an expansion of cooperation in energy and also to swap refined petrol with crude oil from OPEC's number two producer. "Since both nations are in the front row of the fight against imperialism and now political relations are at the highest level, North Korea is to get oil from Iran and to provide Iran with a surplus of its own refined petrol," he said, according to Shana. No further details were given but Iran is forced to import millions of litres of petrol daily to make up for shortfalls created by a lack of refineries at home. Rim also added that North Korean engineers would visit Iran to gain technical knowledge about refineries. Both Iran and North Korea were famously lumped by US President George W. Bush into an "Axis of Evil" although Pyongyang has sought to thaw relations with Washington by pledging to declare and disable all nuclear programmes. North Korea has robust ties with Iran and its officials are occasional visitors to the Islamic republic. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visited Pyongyang when he was president in May 1989. Western experts say that Iran's longer range Shahab-3 missile is based on North Korean missile called the Nodong-1 but Tehran insists the technology is entirely homegrown. Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 PakTribune: Implications Of US-India Nuclear Deal Pakistan News Service - Rajab 24, 1428 Hijri August 09, 2007 Wednesday August 08, 2007 (1648 PST) ashaashram@yahoo.com The US is having a difficult time trying to justify the US-India nuclear deal as part of which the 123 agreement has just been concluded guaranteeing India full civil nuclear cooperation. As the text of the agreement is released 3 days prior to the Hiroshima day, there is consternation among people believing in a world free of nuclear weapons. After imposing sanctions on India after its nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, US is ultimately according the status of a nuclear weapons state under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to it without formally saying so. The US is willing to do business with India in nuclear technology and materials as with any other nuclear weapons or non-nuclear weapons State party to the NPT. As a non-signatory State to the Treaty India is not supposed to derive this privilege. However, under the Deal India is being given the benefits which have been made available to some very close allies of the US like Japan or EURATOM, making other NPT members wonder the utility of their acceding to the Treaty. US seems to be more worried about business interests of its corporations than the more worthy cause of disarmament and it has once again proved that to maintain its global hegemony it does not mind throwing all national and international norms and laws to the wind. With Nicholas Burns, the chief diplomat-architect of the 123 agreement, hinting at subsequent non-nuclear military cooperation with what he describes as a 'soon to be the largest country in the world,' we are going to see more of a unipolar world, posing threat to the smaller countries around the world, especially the unfortunate ones out of favour with the US Government. It is quite clear that US wants to court India as a strategic ally with the objective of developing joint military capabilities and perhaps even establishing military bases on Indian territory, that it is willing to play along the Indian nuclear ambitions. The recent stop over of US nuclear powered aircraft carrier Nimitz, recently used in Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran and possibly carrying nuclear weapons, at the port of Chennai in violation of India's stated policy of not allowing transit of foreign nuclear weapons through its territorial waters, is a sign of things to come. At the preparatory committee meeting for the 2010 NPT review conference held in May-June, 2007 in Vienna, the New Agenda Coalition countries, Ireland, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden along with Japan have urged India, besides Pakistan and Israel, to accede to the NPT as non-nuclear weapons States in order to accomplish universality of the Treaty. Under the Treaty a nuclear weapons State has been defined as the one which has manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device prior to 1 January, 1967. It would really be a misnomer to have India (and Pakistan and Israel) inside the NPT as non-nuclear weapons State. So, the US is doing the next best thing. It says that by signing the deal with India it is bringing India into the non-proliferation regime as more of India's nuclear facilities will now be subjected to IAEA safeguards. As part of the negotiations India has agreed to bifurcate its nuclear activity into clearly identified civilian and military categories, with the provision of former being open to IAEA inspections. The US has agreed upon this India specific deal as an exception, in spite of resistance from within and without, because it thinks that India has not contributed to proliferation. It is a different matter, though, that by conducting nuclear explosions twice India has violated the global non-proliferation regime, instigating Pakistan to do the same. North Korea was also emboldened to come out of NPT because of India's brazen transgression. India has consistently refused to sign the NPT, CTBT or FMCT. It is amazing how India has come this far with the US, outraging the modesty of international community, and extracted significant concessions in the Deal. Against the spirit of the Henry Hyde Act, if India decides to conduct another nuclear test or violates IAEA safeguards agreement, US will not immediately exercise its right of return of materials and technology but, giving due considerations to circumstances which prompted India's action, will ensure the continuity of India's nuclear fuel supply from other sources around the world. The text of the 123 Agreement has even gone as far as identifying France, Russia and the UK as potential suppliers in the eventuality of US terminating its supply. And even if the US exercises right of return, India will be suitably compensated. Moreover, US would support India to build up a strategic nuclear fuel reserve ensuring that India will not be stranded like it was when fuel for Tarapur plant was stopped after India's first testing. The issue which clinched the 123 agreement was India's offer to subject a new reprocessing facility, which will be built exclusively for this purpose, to IAEA safeguards in return for the consent to reprocess the spent fuel, even though the current US President is on record saying that enrichment and reprocessing are not necessary for a country to move forward with nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. India will be free to maintain and develop its nuclear arsenal. The Deal will not have any impact on this. In fact, with external resources available for its nuclear energy programme, it will be able to divert its internal resources for strengthening its strategic programme. 8 nuclear reactors out of 22 and an upcoming Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor will remain dedicated for military purpose outside the purview of IAEA. Hence, in essence, India will enjoy all the powers of a nuclear weapons State under the NPT, especially if the Nuclear Suppliers Group of 45 countries also yields to the US-like concessions to India. The US is going to campaign with the NSG to engage in nuclear trade with India after it has helped India sign an agreement with IAEA on safeguards, because it has to seek another approval of the Congress before the deal will be considered final. It is intriguing how Australia, Canada, South Africa and others are only too willing to go along with the US desire so that they can do business with India giving up their long standing commitment to non-proliferation. 23 US lawmakers have written a letter to the US President on July 25, 2007, expressing concern over India's growing ties with Iran including in the domain of defense partnership. It must be remembered that India is considering a very important deal with Iran on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. Considering that the Energy Information Administration of the US has, in its International Energy Outlook 2007, predicted largest proportion of the new capacity addition worldwide for electricity generation until 2030 in the form of gas fired technologies, which are also better from the point of view of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is more likely that India will give equal if not more importance to its relationship with Iran. Deal with Iran is also one of the rare things where Indian and Pakistani interests converge. Hence it should not surprise anybody if the gas pipeline deal with Iran dominates the nuclear deal with US in the Indian and regional context at least for a couple of decades to come. India claims that with this deal the global order has been changed. And it is right. It has upset the non-proliferation regime. Globally and regionally it is going to lead to reconfiguration of forces, possibly leading to a renewed arms race. The National Command Authority of Pakistan, which oversees the nuclear programme there, chaired by President Musharraf has already expressed its displeasure at the Deal and pledged to maintain (read upgrade) its credible minimum deterrence. Pakistan views this deal as disturbing the regional strategic stability and has asserted that it cannot remain oblivious to its security requirements. A International Panel on Fissile Materials report predicts at least four to five times increase in India's weapons grade plutonium production rate. The present Indian stock is estimated to be sufficient for about 100 nuclear warheads. This is obviously alarming for Pakistan. What India and Pakistan need, in the interest of people of the sub-continent, is a mutually reassuring deal to suspend the nuclear arms race rather than something which will fuel the nuclear fire. The peace process undertaken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf is in the danger of being eclipsed by the US-India nuclear deal. • More Articles by Dr Sandeep Pandey Web paktribune.com Pakistan News Service © PakTribune.com Pvt Ltd 2003-2004 ***************************************************************** 5 [NYTr] ASEAN Nations Flirt with Nuke Energy Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 20:28:40 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles Nuclear Energy in the Sight of ASEAN Countries Havana, August 7 (acn) Nuclear power has increasingly become an option as source of energy to member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), where several nuclear power stations are scheduled to be built in the coming decades. Six ASEAN countries are either considering or building nuclear power plants in cooperation with Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam, according to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), citing an article published by the Manila Times,. These nuclear power stations should start operations by 2016, 2021 and 2015, respectively. According to the paper, Myanmar asked help from Russia to build a nuclear reactor and to train technicians; while Malaysia and the Philippines are still considering their nuclear strategies. Hans Holger Rogner, head of the economic commission of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was quoted by Manila Times as attributing ASEAN's pursuit of the nuclear option as due to rising fuel prices, energy security concerns, climate change and pollution. * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . Subscribe: https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 6 Prospects of Armageddon Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:44:42 -0500 (CDT) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2143030,00.html Prospects of Armageddon The logic that defends past nuclear atrocities is now used to support a strike against Iran The Guardian (London) Tuesday August 7, 2007 by Abbas Edalat and Mehrnaz Shahabi * Abbas Edalat is professor of computer science and mathematics at Imperial College London and founder of the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran; Mehrnaz Shahabi is the campaign's executive editor www.campaigniran.org ########### It is appalling, if unsurprising, to read the neoconservative cheerleader Oliver Kamm arguing in these pages that the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki 62 years ago saved lives and ended suffering. The subtext is plain. The same camp whose vocal endorsement led to the present catastrophe in Iraq are now hawkishly gazing at Iran. The same absurd and dangerous logic that defends the nuclear atrocities of 1945 can now be used to support the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against Iran - the threat of which in turn makes the idea of a conventional attack appear more palatable. Now, more than ever, we should be unequivocal in our moral position: as Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said, the mere possession of nuclear weapons today should be viewed with the same condemnation and horror as we have regarded slavery and genocide in our modern civilized world. Astonishingly, the calamity of Iraq has failed to dampen the belligerent clique within the White House. The arrival of an IAEA team in Tehran yesterday to discuss inspections is equally unlikely to dissuade advocates of a strike, nuclear or conventional. Such an assault would be in flagrant breach of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, but it would hardly be the first time the US has disregarded the 1968 accord. The treaty obliges nuclear states to pursue negotiations in good faith towards cessation of the nuclear arms race and on to disarmament. It also guarantees non-nuclear states help with and access to peaceful nuclear know-how and technology. All five original nuclear states are in violation of the treaty for failing to take effective action towards disarmament. The US systematically contravened the treaty in the 1980s and 1990s by successfully bringing pressure to bear on western governments and companies, as well as China and Russia, not to enter nuclear collaborations with Iran - which, as a signatory of the treaty, has been entitled since 1970 to receive material, technology and information for the peaceful use of nuclear power. This eventually drove Iran, after the bombing of Iraq's Osirak nuclear plant by Israel in 1981, on to the black market in order to pursue its nuclear programme. The subsequent partial concealment of Iran's nuclear activities gave rise to western suspicion of its nuclear ambitions, but rarely does the media characterisation make reference to the context in which the recourse to the black market took place. It is rare, too, to see mention made of the fact that the IAEA has found no evidence of a weapons programme after over 2,200 hours of snap inspections of Iranian nuclear plants. In marked contrast to western suspicion of Iran, the real nuclear programme in Israel has been eagerly sponsored by the governments of France, Britain and the US. They have actively supported Israel's development of an arsenal estimated to include more than 200 warheads. It is a weapons programme Tel Aviv is determined to shroud in secrecy. Mordechai Vanunu served an 18-year prison sentence, including 12 years in solitary confinement, after speaking publicly of Israel's possession of nuclear weapons in 1986. Last month he was sentenced to a further six months in prison for speaking to foreigners . Even as Iran discusses renewed inspections with the IAEA, the risk of a military attack on its nuclear facilities remains high. Israel's threat to deploy nuclear bunker busters to destroy Iran's weapons potential is in line with the US's national security strategy of 2006 and the Pentagon's doctrine for joint nuclear operations which justifies use of tactical nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states as a "deterrent". The ultimate irony is that the leading violator of the treaty, the US, and the region's sole nuclear power and non-signatory, Israel, are contemplating nuclear strikes on the pretext of nuclear limitation. Last year John McCain, a Republican presidential hopeful and an advocate of keeping the military option against Iran on the table, was asked what the consequence of an attack on Iran would be. His response was only one word: "Armageddon." After three devastating wars driven by the US, Britain and Israel since 9/11, the prospect of a catastrophic war against Iran hangs over the region. While the world remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an international statement endorsed by dozens of leading peace, anti-nuclear and community organisations in the UK, US and Israel, as well as five Nobel laureates, calls for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. Israel could do the region a great service by announcing immediately that it is to disable its nuclear arsenal. ***************************************************************** 7 asahi.com: May the 2 A-bombs be the last ever dropped - asahi.com>ENGLISH>Vox Populi, Vox Dei 08/08/2007 A passing shower wet the streets of Hiroshima on Monday morning, the 62nd anniversary of the city's atomic bombing. I saw a high school student with 1,000 folded paper cranes walk along a river by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where elderly people with bunches of flowers were walking. I looked up to the sky over the Atomic Bomb Dome at 8:15 a.m., the time when the bomb hit Aug. 6, 1945. I could see patches of blue sky. As the Peace Bell tolled, I imagined a huge fireball exploding in a blinding flash some 600 meters above the ground. If it were real, I would have perished instantly. I was chilled to the bone thinking what it would have been like to have been killed so mercilessly. I had these thoughts because I found a book titled "Genbaku-shi 181-nin-shu" (A collection of atomic bomb poems by 181 people) published by Coal Sack Inc. in a Hiroshima bookstore. The book was published Monday. Along with such well-known atomic bomb poems as "Umashimenkana" (We shall bring forth new life) by Sadako Kurihara and "Kore ga Ningen Nanodesu" (This is what humans are) by Tamiki Hara, it also contains many works by contemporary poets. Few of them actually experienced the atomic bombings. They composed the poems using their imagination. "Asagao" (Morning glory) by Setsu Eguchi, who was born after World War II, goes: "As usual, the person left home/ Wiping sweat like he (she) always does/ In the familiar sky/ No way could he (she) know that dazzling petals of 6,000 degrees would bloom." The poem describes the atrocity of nuclear weapons in their ability to kill hundreds of thousands of people in an instant. The survivors of the atomic bombings are dying with the passage of time. Now, their average age is over 74. Except on the anniversary of the atomic bombing, few people visit the peace memorial park. Memories apparently fade with time. Today, 50 percent of elementary school children in Hiroshima do not know the day and time the bomb hit. People keep on exploring ways to pass down the horrors of atomic bombs. Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be the first and last cities ever to be hit by atomic bombs. Such thoughts are behind the anthology of works by 181 poets. According to the publisher, an English translation will appear by the end of the year. I hope the profound words of the poets of a nation that experienced atomic bombings will touch the hearts of people around the world. --The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 7(IHT/Asahi: August 8,2007) * The Asahi Shimbun Company ***************************************************************** 8 Bangkok Post: Naval base proposed as site for nuclear plant Thursday August 09, 2007 ENERGY / DECISION ON LOCATION EXPECTED BY OCTOBER APINYA WIPATAYOTIN The armed forces have offered a naval base in Chon Buri as a possible site for a nuclear power plant if other sites face opposition, a source said yesterday. The military's proposal could help the project along, although the government has yet to finalise a decision on whether to build such a plant. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont recently dusted off the plan, suspended for more than 20 years, citing the need for energy security. The government considers Ranong, Chumphon and Surat Thani as the best sites, as they are close to the sea. The station needs water to cool its reactors. The government has drawn up plans for a nuclear plant that could generate 4,000 megawatts by 2021. The source said the naval base in Sattahip district fitted the conditions required for such a plant. ''Geographically, the Sattahip navy base is suitable as the water there is deep and it is remote from the local community,'' a source said. Science and Technology Minister Yongyuth Yutthawong refused to react to the armed forces' offer, saying he had not been consulted. ''I can't say whether it is true or not. What I can say right now is that no decision has been made on the site. We need more time,'' he said. He added that the ministry has been waiting for the government to approve a 10-million-baht budget to educate people about nuclear energy, and hold public hearings. ''We can't construct the plant without public support,'' he said. Construction of the plant would take five years to complete and a decision on where to build it could be reached by October. © Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2007 ***************************************************************** 9 Platts: NRC site visits available for new reactor applicants Washington (Platts)--7Aug2007 Some of the 250 slots that NRC staff set aside for site visits are still available to companies that decide to participate in pre-application reviews for potential new power reactors, said Jim Lyons, director of NRC's siting and environmental review division. Lyons said August 7 that the staff had established "pre-application opportunities" to help better focus the content for potential combined construction permit-operating license applications. Lyons said that four teams are available to make two site visits per week through January 2009. Speaking at a technical session at the American Nuclear Society's utility working conference in Amelia Island, Florida, Lyons cautioned that applicants who engage the NRC staff early on environmental or site-related work should not consider the discussions to be a collaborative effort. "It's not an inspection," he said, "but it's also not a consulting visit." Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 10 Platts: Accord Alliance gives design support on how to retrieve,treat ILW London (Platts)--8Aug2007 The Accord Alliance is providing design support on how to retrieve and treat intermediate level waste (ILW) from a 1950s storage facility at the UK's Sellafield reprocessing complex, the Accord Alliance said in an August 2 press release. The ILW storage facility forms part of the historic "ponds and silos" area of Sellafield. ILW was taken to a "transfer tunnel" at the top of the building and tipped through "chargeholes" into one of six separate compartments up until 1965. In 2002, the facility was inerted with argon gas to help ensure safety. The recently formed Accord Alliance is led by Amec plc, though for the just-won design support project, International Nuclear Solutions is filling the lead role, supported by Amec and by DGP International, which is now part of the Scott Wilson Group. The contract is of short duration but "is important because it allows the Accord Alliance to position itself in readiness for the actual decommissioning phase," said Amec project manager Alan Williams. 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 ***************************************************************** 11 Burlington Free Press: PSB rejects study on “all-fuels” efficiency burlingtonfreepress.com | Burlington, Vermont Published: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 The Associated Press MONTPELIER — The Public Service Board has rejected the Douglas administration’s request to study setting up an “all-fuels” efficiency program, saying without a law vetoed by Gov. Jim Douglas, it lacks the authority to do so. “Since no new legislation was enacted in this area this year ... the board does not appear to have any statutory authority to consider issues related to the use of unregulated heating fuels, nor to expend funds (in the form of staff time) studying the matter of all-fuels efficiency,” PSB Chairman James Volz wrote in response to the administration’s request. That request came one week after the July 11 special session of the Legislature that sustained Douglas’ veto of a bill that, among other provisions, called on the board to study setting up the new efficiency program modeled on the state’s successful electricity-saving program Efficiency Vermont. The board’s decision not to follow the suggestion of the Department of Public Service appears to raise questions about the administration’s assertions that most of the objectives of the bill, H.520, could be pursued without legislative action. “Neither the work you have requested us to undertake of considering a broad range of all-fuels efficiency options, nor the specific task that was included in H.520 of considering how the existing efficiency utility could be modified to include all fuels has been authorized by law,” Volz wrote. Much of Douglas’ criticisms of the bill centered on the heating efficiency provisions. He objected to paying for them with a tax increase on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant; and he said the new programs would require an “untested bureaucracy that is not well thought-out and is expensive.” David O’Brien, commissioner of the Department of Public Service, said he was disappointed by Volz’ letter. He said the administration did not object to the idea of directing new efficiency efforts at heating fuels, but was opposed to the Legislature’s approach. “We were hesitant and cautious most of our real concern was how fast this was moving along,” O’Brien said. ***************************************************************** 12 Times Online: Inside the nuclear plant hit by earthquake - August 9, 2007 Leo Lewis in Kashiwazaki-Kariwa The Japanese school summer holidays have begun and on Kariwa’s vast beach two small boys are building sandcastles in the sun as their father inflates a rubber dinghy. They are quite alone on a strip of golden sand that normally draws thousands. A hundred yards behind them, a street lies in ruins: about a quarter of the homes have been reduced to heaps of rubble. Pasted on the doors of the others are the dreaded red-and-yellow posters that mark them, perhaps forever, as uninhabitable. And less than half a mile along the beach from where the boys are playing rise the ominously quiet exhaust chimneys of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant — its seven reactors silenced since the ground beneath was wrenched apart by the massive earthquake last month. The question is whether the badly damaged but economically vital plant should ever be allowed to switch its reactors back on. The Times, armed with a small gamma-radiation detector, was allowed a rare tour of the reactor buildings yesterday — and the picture was grim. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who were also touring the reactors, were confronted by a dot-matrix screen at the site entrance that reads: “Consecutive days since last disaster — 4.” The roads within the plant are puckered and twisted like rumpled carpets – many were patched-up hastily to allow heavy industrial vehicles to reach the worst-affected parts of the plant. Flights of stairs no longer meet their intended floors at either end, and steel lamp-posts lie strewn on the ground. Some corridors within the reactor buildings themselves, are split by 12-inch cracks along the floor. Near one of the reactors the surrounding area has subsided by more than a yard. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) that runs the site insists that the facility is now safe but in the immediate aftermath of the 6.8 magnitude tremor, it was forced to make a series of startling admissions. The plant was not designed to withstand such a strong a earthquake, radioactive material leaked into the sea and air and dozens of drums containing toxic waste broke apart. The admission that most stunned Japan, however, was that the site, which Tepco had insisted in the High Court was nowhere near an active faultline, was in fact built directly above one. The long, straight ridge and crevice that now runs alarmingly through the middle of the Kashiwazaki plant, said one of Japan’s most respected seismologists, clearly proves that. That faultline now threatens the future of Kashiwazaki. Katsuhiko Ishi-bashi, the Seismology Professor of Kobe University who resigned from the Government’s nuclear safety advisory panel because he doubted its independence, believes that it must be closed forever. “Even by the Government’s own guidelines, the land on which Kashiwazaki stands is completely disqualified as a suitable place to build a power plant,” he said. Others disagree, suggesting that it is only a matter of time before the plant is back in operation. Haruki Madarame, a University of Tokyo professor of nuclear engineering and chairman of the government committee studying the impact of the July 16 earthquake, was also visiting Kashiwazaki yesterday. © Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69. ***************************************************************** 13 South Bend Tribune: Michigan officials tout nuclear power August 08, 2007 Upton, secretary of energy support more plants. LOU MUMFORD Tribune Staff Writer ST. JOSEPH -- A new wave of nuclear power plants may be coming to address the country's growing energy needs, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday. During a visit to southwestern Michigan, Bodman, a guest of U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, pointed out energy demands in the United States are expected to increase by 50 percent over the next 25 years. To meet those demands in the face of global warming, nuclear power, which produces no emissions, is one of the few viable alternatives, he said. "Even environmentalists seem to be signing onto that," he said. After a news conference at the Whirlpool Corp.'s Technology Center, Bodman and Upton departed for a tour of the Cook Nuclear Power Plant in Bridgman. Another nuclear power plant, Palisades, is in nearby Covert. Currently, spent fuel rods from the plants are stored at the plants on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Upton, however, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has been a strong supporter of legislation to have the radioactive waste stored at a facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Preliminary construction of the repository is under way but progress has been slow, largely because of opposition from Nevada lawmakers. On Tuesday, Upton unveiled bipartisan legislation that he said would streamline the licensing process and thus expedite construction of the facility at Yucca Mountain. The current timetable for the storage facility's completion is 2017, and that's without delays anticipated from lawsuits, Bodman and Upton said. Bodman said his department expects to receive approval of the design for the Yucca Mountain facility by next summer. "Then it takes on a life of its own. There are political issues that will still be obstacles ... (but) if we get the application on file, that will be a big step forward," he said. Bodman said a company in Baltimore recently submitted the first application to build a new nuclear power plant in the United States in more than 30 years. Also, he said preliminary "siting" (location) for two other plants, one in Illinois and one in Mississippi, has been approved by the Federal Energy Commission. "There are 25 to 30 (nuclear power plants) in various stages of development," he said. In a prepared statement released after the news conference, Upton said streamlining the licensing process for storing nuclear waste will help "expedite the construction of new nuclear plants as well as the expansion of existing ones." "We have not built a new nuclear plant in over three decades, but nuclear power is a common-sense solution to the demand for clean energy, and I am confident that this legislation is a responsible solution to meeting the nation's energy demands of the 21st century," he said. Also on the energy front, Upton said Congress approved the last in a series of funding allocation bills last week and each one included his bipartisan amendment requiring federal agencies to buy only energy-efficient light bulbs. The plan, he said, is to replace all 100-watt incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents by 2012. Although the compact fluorescents, or CFLs, are considerably more expensive, they use 75 percent less energy, last up to 10 times longer and save about $30 in electricity costs over each bulb's lifetime, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. "This will save about 65 billion kilowatts of energy (a year)," Upton said. Staff writer Lou Mumford: lmumford@sbtinfo.com (269) 687-7002 News coverage and editorial content provided by the South Bend Tribune unless otherwise specified. Copyright © 1994-2007 South Bend Tribune ***************************************************************** 14 NRC: Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC; Notice of Withdrawal of Application for; Amendment to Facility Operating License FR Doc E7-15460 [Federal Register: August 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 152)] [Notices] [Page 44589-44590] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08au07-110] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. 50-410] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC (the licensee) to withdraw its application dated August 11, 2006, for a proposed amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. NPF-69 for the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Unit No. 2, located in Oswego County, New York. The proposed amendment would have modified Technical Specification 3.3.2.1, ``Control Rod Block Instrumentation,'' to change the number of startups allowed with the rod worth minimizer inoperable from one per calendar year to two per operating cycle. The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on September 26, 2006 (71 FR 56192). However, by letter dated July 17, 2007, the licensee withdrew the proposed change. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated August 11, 2006, and the licensee's letter dated July 17, 2007, which withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet [[Page 44590]] at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of July 2007. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Douglas V. Pickett, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch I-1, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E7-15460 Filed 8-7-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: In the Matter of General Atomics; TRIGA Mark I and Mark F; Order Imposing Fingerprinting and Criminal History Records Check; Requirements for Unescorted Access to the General Atomics' Research and Test Reactors (Effective Immediately) FR Doc E7-15494 [Federal Register: August 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 152)] [Notices] [Page 44590-44592] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08au07-112] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [EA-07-098; Dockets: 50-89 and 50-163] General Atomics (GA or the licensee) holds two licenses, R-38 and R-67, for TRIGA reactors, that are classified as research and test reactors (RTRs), issued in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954, as amended, by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission). On August 8, 2005, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) was enacted. Section 652 of the EPAct amended section 149 of the AEA to require fingerprinting and a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identification and criminal history records check of any person who is permitted unescorted access to a utilization facility, which includes the GA RTRs. Prior to September 11, 2001, the Commission established physical protection requirements applicable to RTRs, which included storing and using special nuclear material in controlled access areas, monitoring the controlled access areas for unauthorized activities, and ensuring a response to all unauthorized activities. Subsequent to the terrorist events of September 11, 2001, the NRC took various actions to ensure the acceptability of individuals for unescorted access to RTRs. RTRs were advised to consider taking additional [[Page 44591]] precautions including observation of activities within their facility. Licensee's precautions were evaluated at specific RTR sites during the remainder of 2001. From 2002 through 2004, RTRs implemented compensatory measures (CMs), which included site-specific background investigations or checks. Additionally, in January 2003, NRC sent the names of, and information on, all individuals with unescorted access at RTRs to U.S. intelligence agencies for review. This review found no issues. Individuals with unescorted access since January 2003 have undergone site-specific background investigations or checks, which were implemented as part of CMs implemented at RTRs in response to NRC initiatives. The RTR site-specific background investigations and checks were established using a graded approach, considering the specific configuration, uses and radiological risk of each facility, to provide acceptable protection of the special nuclear material and any associated radioactive materials. The background investigations and checks, at a minimum, verify identity, nationality, immigration status (if applicable), and determine whether the individual demonstrates a pattern of trustworthy and reliable behavior through facility-specific verification of various aspects of the person's background. This verification includes consideration of educational, military, employment and criminal histories. With regard to criminal history, some of the RTR facilities use FBI fingerprint-based criminal history records checks, while others use either State fingerprint-based criminal history records checks or criminal history records checks which do not include fingerprints. These background investigations or checks, through a combination of various elements, have provided additional assurance for the protection of the specific facility from insider threats. Further, RTRs are required by Order dated September 29, 2006, to have FBI fingerprint-based identification and criminal history records checks for persons that are allowed access to Safeguards Information (SGI).\1\ These individuals are allowed access to the details of security plans or procedures at the specific facility and, as such, have actual knowledge and ability to affect facility security. This Order provides additional assurance that security information and the associated RTR facilities are adequately protected. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ ``Order Imposing Fingerprinting and Criminal History Records Check Requirements for Access to Safeguards Information (Effective Immediately),'' (EA-06-203) dated September 29, 2006, (71 FR 59140, Oct. 6, 2006) (ML061510049). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Previously, AEA section 149 only required fingerprinting and criminal history records checks of persons seeking unescorted access to facilities licensed under sections 103 and 104b of the AEA (i.e., power reactors). Power reactors are required by 10 CFR 73.57 to have fingerprint-based criminal history records checks performed as part of the granting of unescorted access to the facility. RTRs have not been subject to this requirement, and have only been required to limit access to authorized persons and to screen those persons for access in accordance with their security plans or procedures. Congress left intact the Commission's authority to relieve persons by rule from the fingerprinting, identification, and criminal history records check requirements of section 149 of the AEA ``if the Commission finds that such action is consistent with its obligations to promote the common defense and security and to protect the health and safety of the public.'' \2\ Currently, the NRC does not have a rule that would provide relief from, or require, the implementation of AEA section 149 for fingerprinting for unescorted access to RTRs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \2\ AEA Sec. 149.b. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The NRC is planning a rulemaking to reexamine the extent of fingerprint-based criminal history records checks for unescorted access to RTRs to ensure adequate protection of the public health and safety and common defense and security. In the interim, the NRC has decided to implement this requirement, in part, prior to the completion of the rulemaking to provide acceptable, additional assurance that an individual with unescorted access to an RTR facility will not adversely impact the common defense and security or the public health and safety. Therefore, in accordance with section 149 of the AEA, as amended by the EPAct, the Commission is imposing the FBI criminal history records check requirements, as set forth in this Order, including the Attachment to this Order, on RTR licensees, including GA. These requirements will remain in effect until the Commission determines otherwise. The AEA requires fingerprint-based criminal history records checks at utilization facilities. Section 11cc of the AEA defines a utilization facility as: (1) Any equipment or device, except an atomic weapon, determined by rule of the Commission to be capable of making use of special nuclear material in such quantity as to be of significance to the common defense and security, or in such manner as to affect the health and safety of the public, or peculiarly adapted for making use of atomic energy in such quantity as to be of significance to the common defense and security, or in such manner as to affect the health and safety of the public; or (2) any important component part especially designed for such equipment or device as determined by the Commission. The Commission's rules, in 10 CFR 50.2, define a ``[u]tilization facility'' as ``any nuclear reactor other than one designed or used primarily for the formation of plutonium or U-233.'' Further, ``Nuclear reactor'' is defined as ``an apparatus, other than an atomic weapon, designed or used to sustain nuclear fission in a self-supporting chain reaction.'' These definitions include the GA RTRs. For purposes of this Order, an individual who is granted ``unescorted access'' could exercise physical control over the special nuclear material possessed by the licensee, which would be of significance to the common defense and security or could adversely affect the health and safety of the public, such that the special nuclear material could be used or removed in an unauthorized manner without detection, assessment, or response by systems or persons designated to detect, assess or respond to such unauthorized use or removal. At RTRs, such individuals include those with the capability and knowledge to use the special nuclear material in the utilization facility or remove the special nuclear material from the utilization facility in an unauthorized manner without detection, assessment, and response by the physical protection system or related provisions or persons. In addition, pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202, I find that in light of the common defense and security matters identified above, which warrant the issuance of this Order, the public health, safety, and interest require that this Order be effective immediately. Accordingly, pursuant to sections 53, 104, 149, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182, and 186 of the AEA of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR 2.202, 10 CFR Part 50 and 10 CFR Part 73, It is hereby ordered, effective immediately, that General Atomics shall comply with the requirements set forth in this order. A. General Atomics shall comply with the following requirements: 1. The Licensee shall, within twenty (20) days of the date of this Order, establish and maintain a fingerprinting program for unescorted access that [[Page 44592]] meets the requirements of the Attachment to this Order. 2. The Licensee shall, in writing, within twenty (20) days of the date of this Order, notify the Commission (1) of receipt and confirmation that compliance with the Order will be achieved or (2) if it is unable to comply with any of the requirements described in the Attachment, or (3) if compliance with any of the requirements is unnecessary in its specific circumstances. The notification shall provide the Licensee's justification for seeking relief from or variation of any specific requirement. B. In accordance with the NRC's ``Order Imposing Fingerprinting and Criminal History Records Check Requirements for Access to Safeguards Information (Effective Immediately)'' (EA-06-203) issued on September 29, 2006, (71 FR 59140, October 6, 2006), only the NRC-approved reviewing official shall review results from a FBI criminal history records check. In accordance with all other applicable requirements and the evaluation of the results of the FBI criminal history records check as specified in this Order, the reviewing official shall determine whether an individual may have, or continue to have, unescorted access. No person may have access to SGI or unescorted access to any utilization facility, or radioactive material or property subject to regulation by the NRC if the NRC has determined, in accordance with its administrative review process based on fingerprinting and an FBI identification and criminal history records check, either that the person may not have access to SGI or that the person may not have unescorted access to a utilization facility, or radioactive material or property subject to regulation by the NRC. C. Fingerprints shall be submitted and reviewed in accordance with the procedures described in the Attachment to this Order. Individuals who have been fingerprinted and granted access to SGI by the NRC- approved reviewing official in accordance with EA-06-203 (September 29, 2006), do not need to be fingerprinted again for purposes of authorizing unescorted access. In addition, individuals who have a favorably decided U.S. Government criminal history records check within the last five (5) years, or who have an active Federal security clearance have satisfied the EPAct fingerprinting requirement and need not be fingerprinted again, provided in each case that the appropriate documentation is made available to the Licensee's reviewing official. However, all other applicable requirements must be satisfied to allow any individual unescorted access to the facility. D. The Licensee may allow any individual who currently has unescorted access, in accordance with applicable requirements, to continue to have unescorted access, pending a decision by the reviewing official (based on fingerprinting and a FBI criminal history records check) that the individual may continue to have unescorted access. The licensee shall complete implementation of the requirements of the Attachment to this Order by October 30, 2007. Licensee responses to Condition A.2. shall be submitted to the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. The Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, may, in writing, relax or rescind any of the above conditions upon demonstration of good cause by the Licensee. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, the Licensee must, and any other person adversely affected by this Order may, submit an answer to this Order, and may request a hearing on this Order, within twenty (20) days of the date of this Order. Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to extending the time to request a hearing. A request for extension of time in which to submit an answer or request a hearing must be made in writing to the Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs , U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, and include a statement of good cause for the extension. The answer may consent to this Order. Unless the answer consents to this Order, the answer shall, in writing and under oath or affirmation, specifically set forth the matters of fact and law on which the Licensee or other person adversely affected relies and the reasons as to why the Order should not have been issued. Any answer or request for a hearing shall be submitted to the Secretary, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, Washington, DC 20555. Copies also shall be sent to the Director, Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, to the Assistant General Counsel for Material Litigation and Enforcement at the same address, and to the Licensee if the answer or hearing request is by a person other than the Licensee. Because of possible delays in delivery of mail to United States Government offices, it is requested that answers and requests for hearing be transmitted to the Secretary of the Commission either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-1101 or by e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov and also to the Office of the General Counsel either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. If a person other than the Licensee requests a hearing, that person shall set forth with particularity the manner in which his/her interest is adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set forth in 10 CFR 2.309. If a hearing is requested by the Licensee or a person whose interest is adversely affected, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered at such hearing shall be whether this Order should be sustained. Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202(c)(2)(i), the Licensee may, in addition to demanding a hearing, at the time the answer is filed or sooner, move the presiding officer to set aside the immediate effectiveness of the Order on the ground that the Order, including the need for immediate effectiveness, is not based on adequate evidence but on mere suspicion, unfounded allegations, or error. In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions as specified above in section III shall be final twenty (20) days from the date of this Order without further Order or proceedings. If an extension of time for requesting a hearing has been approved, the provisions as specified above in Section III shall be final when the extension expires, if a hearing request has not been received. An answer or a request for hearing shall not stay the immediate effectiveness of this order. Dated this 1st day of August, 2007. For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. George Pangburn, Acting Director, Office of Federal and State Materials. and Environmental Management Programs. [FR Doc. E7-15494 Filed 8-7-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 16 NRC: ACRS candidates FR Doc E7-15509 [Federal Register: August 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 152)] [Notices] [Page 44590] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08au07-111] NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Seeks Qualified Candidates for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Request for r[eacute]sum[eacute]s. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) seeks qualified candidates for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS). Submit r[eacute]sum[eacute]s to: Ms. Angelina Chapeton, Administrative Assistant, ACRS/ACNW&M, Mail Stop T2E-26, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, or e-mail AHC@NRC.GOV. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ACRS is a part-time advisory group which is statutorily mandated by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. ACRS provides independent expert advice on matters related to the safety of existing and proposed nuclear power plants and on the adequacy of proposed reactor safety standards. Of primary importance are the safety issues associated with the operation of 104 commercial nuclear power plants in the United States and regulatory initiatives, including risk-informed and performance-based regulations, license renewal, power uprates, and the use of mixed oxide and high burnup fuels. An increased emphasis is being given to safety issues associated with new reactor designs and technologies, including passive system reliability and thermal hydraulic phenomena, use of digital instrumentation and control, international codes and standards used in multinational design certifications, material and structural engineering, and nuclear analysis and reactor core performance. The ACRS also has some involvement in security matters related to the integration of safety and security of commercial reactors. This work involves technical issues associated with consequence analyses and the assessment of effective mitigation strategies. See NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/advisory/acrs.html for additional information about ACRS. Criteria used to evaluate candidates include education and experience, demonstrated skills in nuclear reactor safety matters, the ability to solve complex technical problems, and the ability to work collegially on a board, panel, or committee. The Commission, in selecting its Committee members, considers the need for a specific expertise to accomplish the work expected to be before the ACRS. ACRS Committee members are appointed for four-year terms and normally serve no more than three terms. The Commission hopes to fill three vacancies as a result of this request. For these positions, the expertise must be at least 10 years of experience in one or more of the areas of Materials Engineering, Digital Instrumentation and Control, or plant Operations. Candidates with pertinent graduate level experience will be given additional consideration. Consistent with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the Commission seeks candidates with diverse backgrounds, so that the membership on the Committee will be fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and functions to be performed by the Committee. Candidates will undergo a through security background check to obtain the security clearance that is mandatory for all ACRS members. The security background check will involve the completion and submission of paperwork to NRC. Candidates for ACRS appointments may be involved in or have financial interests related to NRC-regulated aspects of the nuclear industry. Because conflict-of-interest considerations may restrict the participation of a candidate in ACRS activities, the degree and nature of any such restriction on an individual's activities as a member will be considered in the selection process. Each qualified candidate's financial interests must be reconciled with applicable Federal and NRC rules and regulations prior to final appointment. This might require divestiture of securities or discontinuance of certain contracts or grants. Information regarding these restrictions will be provided upon request. A r[eacute]sum[eacute] describing the educational and professional background of the candidate, including any special accomplishments, publications, and professional references should be provided. Candidates should provide their current address, telephone number, and e-mail address. All candidates will receive careful consideration. Appointment will be made without regard to factors such as race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or disabilities. Candidates must be citizens of the United States and be able to devote approximately 100 days per year to Committee business. R[eacute]sum[eacute]s will be accepted until November 30, 2007. Dated: August 2, 2007. Kenneth R. Hart, Acting Secretary of the Commission. [FR Doc. E7-15509 Filed 8-7-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 17 IHT: Fire in Czech nuclear station compound quickly put out - International Herald Tribune The Associated Press Published: August 8, 2007 PRAGUE, Czech Republic: A fire broke out in an air-drying unit inside the Temelin nuclear station compound Tuesday afternoon, and was quickly put out by the station's staff, a spokesman said Wednesday. The incident posed no danger to the plant's operation and safety, Temelin spokesman Marek Svitak said. The fire was caused by the overheating of the components in an air-drying station about 1 kilometer (700 yards) outside the actual reactor building, Svitak said. The plant has been a source of friction between the Czech Republic and neighboring Austria for decades. Construction of the plant's two 1,000-megawatt units, based on Russian designs, started in the 1980s. The reactors were later upgraded with U.S. technology, but they have remained controversial because of frequent malfunctions. Copyright © 2007 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 18 Reuters: India confident of braving U.S. nuclear deal critics Wed Aug 8, 2007 9:28AM EDT NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's ruling Congress party is confident that it can convince its communist allies to support a landmark nuclear deal with the United States they have rejected, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The comments by Jayanti Natarajan came a day after the left parties, whose support is key to the survival of the Congress-led coalition, rejected the pact saying it compromised India's sovereignty and imposed U.S. influence. "This is something which can always be discussed and they can be convinced that what the prime minister and the government have done, is indeed in the best interest of the country," Natarajan told a news conference. Separately, the Press Trust of India news agency, quoting highly-placed sources, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had told left leaders that the deal would not be renegotiated. India's parliament is due to begin its monsoon session on Friday and Singh is expected to make a statement about the pact -- which was finalized last month -- and defend it against criticism early next week. The deal aims to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment, overturning a three-decade ban imposed after New Delhi, which has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, conducted a nuclear test in 1974. But the communists, as well as the opposition Hindu nationalists, have slammed it, saying the government had compromised India's nuclear sovereignty, agreed to an unequal and unfair deal and accepted American hegemony. The government and nuclear experts say it largely meets India's expectations, although some analysts say much would depend on how the deal is implemented rather than its text. The pact has to be approved by the U.S. Congress, while India needs to get clearances from the Nuclear Suppliers Group of nations and also conclude an agreement to place its civilian reactors under U.N. safeguards before nuclear trade can begin. The pact does not require approval by the Indian parliament but failure of the coalition government to secure the backing of its key allies would result in a major political loss of face and hurt their ties. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 19 Kyiv Post: Ukraine lands record half-billion-dollar grant to seal up Chornobyl Thu, Aug 09. 07:17 by John Marone, Kyiv Post Staff Writer © KP Media, photo by Serhiy Zavalnyuk At a press conference in Kyiv on Aug. 7, Ukraine’s Emergencies Minister Nestor Shufrych dubbed the signing of an agreement granting Ukraine nearly $500 million to seal the Chornobyl plant an “historic event.” Ukraine has received a half-billion dollars in grants from international donors to finalize the closure of the infamous Chornobyl plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. “We have witnessed an historic event. Ukraine has received the biggest grant since the country’s independence,” Emergencies Minister Nestor Shufrych said during a press conference in Kyiv earlier this week. The Chornobyl plant was decommissioned in December 2000 to much fanfare. But long-term safety risks remain from leakage of the plant’s No. 4 reactor, which exploded in 1986. Additionally, a storage facility needs to be built to hold spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s other three reactors. The problems fall under projects funded through the Chornobyl Shelter Fund and the Nuclear Safety Account, which were created in the 1990s on initiatives from the EU and the G7. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is managing the two projects: the containment of the No. 4 reactor and the building of a fuel storage facility. Director of the EBRD’s Nuclear Safety Department, Vince Novak, Chornobyl plant acting general director Oleksandr Skripov and Shufrych signed the project grants on Aug. 7. It’s not clear when the projects will be completed or how much funding each will require altogether. The Shelter Implementation Plan involves the construction of an arch-shaped 20,000-ton steel structure with a height of 100 meters and a span of 250 meters to cover the temporary sarcophagus put over the No. 4 reactor following the 1986 accident. The planned budget for the shelter project is currently estimated at about $1.2 billion dollars, a sum that includes preliminary work already completed since 1997. The original budget put forward in 1997, when the Shelter Fund was created, totaled only $768 million. The Shelter Fund was a joint initiative by the G7 and the EU with donations from 23 countries. Ukraine contributions to the Shelter Fund include $50 million in funding in addition to support from the Chornobyl plant staff. The $453 million in grants agreed on Aug. 7 will go toward the final stage of the shelter project, the EBRD said The grant had been approved by a preliminarily meeting of the so-called Donors Assembly, held in London July 17. The second agreement signed on Aug. 7 relates to the construction of a facility to store spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s other reactors. The grant for this project was around $46 million, with the Nuclear Safety Account serving as the project fund. The Assembly of Contributors to this fund agreed the grant amount during a meeting July 18, according to the EBRD. The Nuclear Safety Account was set up in 1993 as part of a G7 initiative and receives its financing from North America, Europe and Japan. The Chornobyl Plant already has one spent fuel container in place, but it is due to be decommissioned in 2016. Framatome, a French-based designer and builder of nuclear power plants (now called Areva NP), signed a contract in 1999 to build a storage facility at the Chornobyl plant, but work was suspended in 2003 over alleged project defects raised by the Chornobyl plant’s management. Framatome, which heads a consortium of engineering companies involved in the building of the nuclear storage, was originally supposed to have completed works in 2003. Around $96 million has already been spent on it, the Emergency Ministry said last year. With more than 50 percent of the second storage facility completed, the US-based nuclear engineering company Holtec International has now taken over. The project was originally estimated to cost around $121 million. The EBRD said the contract agreement for the spent fuel facility is expected to be signed in the near future. The contract for the completion of the arch over the No. 4 reactor has also been held up over the choice of the contractor. The drawn-out tender, which was announced in March 2004, produced two finalists: Novarca, a European-Ukrainian joint venture under the management of France’s Vinchi Group, and a US-Ukrainian consortium under the management of US-based CH2M Hill. During an Aug. 7 press conference, Shufrych said Novarca had won the contract. According to the Emergency Ministry, more than 330 million euros of the project’s funds had already been spent as of last year. This amount, the ministry said, includes nearly 90 million euros in consulting fees. Tender applications go through a selection process, but Ukrainian officials have the last say. © 2004 - 2007, BIGMIR-Internet. Contact Kyiv Post ***************************************************************** 20 Kyiv Post: Let the dust finally settle Thu, Aug 09. 07:17 by Editorial , Kyiv Post It’s been almost seven years since Ukraine shut down the Chornobyl Nuclear Plant, the site of the world’s worst atomic catastrophe in 1986. But the closing is still going on. The Chornobyl Shelter Project is tasked with sealing up the infamous No. 4 reactor, while another project is intended to store spent nuclear fuel from the plant’s other reactors. These projects are 90 percent funded by the international community, with the G7 and the EU taking the lead. Earlier this week, Ukrainian and fund representatives announced the approval of $500 million in grants to complete the projects, which were initiated in the 1990s. This is good news. It’s even better news that the international community has followed through on promises to help out. But one can’t help but notice how long it has taken to move things along. To be sure, multinational projects are difficult to coordinate, especially when they involve nonrefundable financing. But the squabbling that has marked the selection of the projects’ contractors over the past couple of years is also revealing. Most of the noise came from Ukraine – the Chornobyl Plant directors, the government and individual politicians. After all, competing contractors were represented by foreign as well as Ukrainian companies and the overall funding exceeds $1 billion. The net result of the squabbling was months if not years of project delays. One would think that Ukraine should be glad to be getting help at all. After all, it was not the international community that caused the deadly explosion, although the fallout went beyond the Soviet Union. Are the memories of April 1986 so distant? Isn’t the priority to seal up the plant to make sure no more radioactive materials seep out? Of course, international contractors are also in it for the money, and their interests are backed by politicians back home. And Ukrainian officials are responsible for making sure that the work done on Ukrainian soil is done right. But all the noise over who would get the contract recalls numerous instances of international aid money misused or stolen by Ukrainian officials. It’s good the projects are finally moving ahead. Let’s hope the dust has finally settled. © 2004 - 2007, BIGMIR-Internet. The material may not be reproduced without the written consent of the owner. Contact Kyiv Post ***************************************************************** 21 www.bbj.hu: Romania nuclear-power unit connected to national energy system 09.08.2007 04:45 bbj.hu Unit 2 of Romania’s only Nuclear Power Plant was connected to the national energy system on Tuesday evening, as part of tests ahead of commissioning, National Company Nuclearelectrica SA announced in a release. The first connection to the energy system was made at 25% of the reactor’s 700 MWh nominal power. At the next phase, the reactor’s power is to be gradually raised to 50%, 75% and 100%, with the program of activities approved by the National Commission on the Control of Nuclear Activities to be implemented at each of the percentages. The commercial commissioning of Unit 2 scheduled for the end of this September and the resulting increase in the nuclear energy share to 17-18% of the Romanian energy output will have immediate effects on the energy system’s stability and on keeping the electricity tariffs for the population unchanged. Unit 2 has been built on the basis of a contract on works management signed by Romania with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd and ANSALDO-Italia in 2003. The CANDU 6 reactor that equips Unit 2 is the second of this kind at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant and Unit 1 has been operating successfully since being commissioned in 1996. The Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant is the first and also the only nuclear-power plant in Romania. The power plant was designed in Canada in the 1980s and the initial plan was to build five units, of which Unit One was finished in 1996 and produces about 10% of the country’s electricity. Units 3 and 4 are in their planning stages. When completed, the four units combined are expected to provide up to 40% of Romania’s total electricity needs. (people.com.cn) ***************************************************************** 22 Japan Times: Report on damaged reactor due Friday japantimes.co.jp Web Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007 IAEA MUM ON CONTENTS KASHIWAZAKI, Niigata Pref. (Kyodo) The International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts inspecting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station will present a draft report on its assessment to the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Friday, according to team leader Philippe Jamet. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visit an elementary school gymnasium in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, Wednesday where survivors of the July 16 earthquake are taking shelter. POOL PHOTO In addition to Tepco, which operates the nuclear power plant, the draft will also go to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the Nuclear Safety Commission, Jamet said Wednesday. Jamet, director of the IAEA's Nuclear Installation Safety Division, stopped short of touching on the contents of the draft report. The group's four-day assessment of the plant, which leaked a small amount of radiation when it was hit by last month's powerful earthquake in Niigata Prefecture, concludes Thursday. After wrapping up the examination, the six-member mission will hold talks Friday in Tokyo with NISA officials about the situation at the plant, which will remain idled until the safety of its seven reactors is fully ensured. Nuclear experts believe it will take at least a year to put the plant back into operation. But Jamet has indicated it would take some time before the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog announces results of the ongoing survey of the plant, the world's largest in terms of power output capacity. "We first give our conclusion to our Japanese counterparts in Tokyo, and then we have to give our conclusion to the director general of the IAEA in Vienna (Mohamed ElBaradei), and then there will be a publication, but not before," he said late Tuesday. Nuclear experts have said the IAEA survey will focus on whether the reactors shut down safely with fission products contained at the time of the July 16 magnitude-6.8 temblor, as was reported by Tepco and the NISA. Tepco and the NISA have said four of the 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 not in operation at the time as they were undergoing a periodic checkup. On Wednesday, Jamet said his team will split up to survey reactor buildings Nos. 1, 2 and 5, study the quake and discuss plant operational management with Tepco and NISA officials. The delegation — consisting of two IAEA experts and four seismic safety specialists — looked inside four other reactor buildings Tuesday. But Jamet declined to comment on any damage or malfunctions in the four facilities. The team apparently did not inspect the reactor vessels, which have remained closed since the temblor. The quake killed 11 people and injured about 2,000, although none of the deaths were linked to the nuclear plant. The government was initially reluctant to allow the IAEA to check the plant, but changed its tune following petitions from local officials eager for a third-party assessment like the IAEA to allay domestic and international concerns over the safety of Japan's atomic plants, which have drawn criticism due to a slew of accidents and coverups. Japan's 55 reactors supply about 30 percent of its electricity. Tepco and nuclear regulators have stressed the amount of radioactivity leaked was extremely low and poses no threat to the environment and local residents. Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari said last week that Japan will ask the IAEA to announce results of the visiting team's assessment of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant "as quickly as possible." Amari, who is in charge of overseeing the energy industry, said that in order to boost safety standards at nuclear facilities, it is important for all countries that possess such facilities to share information about accidents and other problems, including those at the quake-hit plant. "I would like areas that host nuclear facilities around the world to treat this as if it were their own case," Amari said. Imperial quake tour Kyodo News Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Niigata Prefecture on Wednesday to reassure people hit by the powerful July 16 earthquake. The couple took a firsthand look by helicopter at quake-hit sites, including the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant and landslides. They also visited evacuation centers in Kashiwazaki and Kariwa in the prefecture to hearten people who have been living under difficult conditions for nearly a month, while expressing appreciation to people who have engaged in reconstructing the quake-hit areas. Meeting with evacuees at an elementary school gymnasium in Kashiwazaki, the Emperor told a woman whose house was partly destroyed by the quake, "Please try your best to keep your spirits up." The Empress said to another woman, "Please take care of yourself, as hot days will continue." This is their first visit to see survivors of a major disaster since November 2004. That trip was also to Niigata Prefecture in the wake of a deadly earthquake. The couple planned to return to Tokyo in the evening. The magnitude-6.8 quake last month killed 11 people, injured about 2,000 and damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 houses in the prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. The Japan Times ***************************************************************** 23 Regina Leader-Post: Nuclear energy's dirty secrets Jim Harding Published: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 It's astonishing that the Canadian Nuclear Association is allowed to falsely advertise nuclear energy as "clean." Pro-nukes want us to believe nuclear energy, in contrast to coal, doesn't produce greenhouse gases (GHGs). This is nonsense. From mining to milling to enrichment, from reactor construction to decommissioning, nuclear uses vast amounts of fossil fuels. Expansion of nuclear power would involve mining lower-grade ore; this would require even more fossil fuels. And consider this: all Saskatchewan uranium exported to its biggest customer -- the U.S. -- is enriched by two dirty coal plants in Kentucky. That nuclear energy is being promoted for the production of Alberta's heavy oil should put to rest the nonsensical view it is a magic bullet for solving global warming. And there is nothing "clean" about the radiation -- of which there is no safe level -- that nuclear spreads, from uranium tailings to reactor wastes. Plutonium remains toxic for 800 generations. Then, there is the undeniable weapons connection. Depleted uranium from enriched Saskatchewan uranium is raw material for the U.S. military. DU bullets have been used in several war zones since 1991 and are responsible for escalating birth deformities and childhood cancers in Iraq. Some business leaders are ignoring all this for short-term economic benefits. "Out of sight, out of mind" for the bottom line. Let's not let them forget that uranium is a non-renewable resource, and will run out not long after oil. So we might as well make the full transition to sustainable energy right now without creating toxic wastes for our children's children. That's the right thing to do! What about the economics? Besides not being clean, nuclear is not cheap. Several studies (e.g., New Scientist) found the true costs of nuclear are underestimated by a factor of three. If the huge subsidies going to nuclear were removed, the cost of electricity from nuclear plants would rise 300 per cent. To reduce GHGs to avert cataclysmic climate change, we need to quickly shift to conservation and no-or-low-carbon energy sources. This means using all the renewables -- wind, solar, tidal, etc. Even without a level playing field, wind and co-generation (using waste heat for electricity) are already the least-cost options to coal. We must stop nuclear from robbing the scarce capital needed to make the conversion to renewables. Building a uranium refinery here is not the responsible thing to do. If Saskatchewan's NDP government and opposition parties got their heads out of the sand and stopped being blinded by the quick buck, we could play a positive role in the necessary conversion to sustainable energy. It seems the broader population must act to bring this about. Jim Harding Harding is a retired professor of environmental and justice studies and author of the forthcoming book Canada's Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System. Fort Qu'Appelle © The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007 * Regina Leader-Post © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks ***************************************************************** 24 Hindustan Times: Tatas in talks with Areva for N-power- Indulal PM, Hindustan Times Mumbai, August 08, 2007 India's largest private utility, Tata Power, is in talks with French nuclear group Areva about sourcing nuclear power equipment, chairman Ratan Tata told shareholders on Wednesday. "Tata Power has alignments with some major nuclear equipment suppliers like Areva," he said at the company’s annual general meeting. Tata Power would build nuclear power plants if the government changed the rules, Tata said. “Tata Power is ready to go. There is considerable homework that has been done,'' he added. Nuclear power currently provides only 3 per cent of India's energy supply. Indian companies are exploring opportunities to set up nuclear-based power plants. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has already firmed up a proposal for a nuclear plant. Besides the Tatas, Reliance, Larsen & Toubro and the GMR Group are among private companies considering a entry into this sector. These moves will become a reality only after the government amends the Atomic Energy Act. Under the Act, the participation is limited to Nuclear Power Corporation. A draft legislation permitting other companies has been doing the rounds of various ministries since the first discussions started between the US and India but little progress has been made so far. Global companies are lobbying to amend the Act sensing a $100 billion potential. Tata Power generates more than 2,300 megawatts (MW) of power and distributes 850-MW in New Delhi. About expansion plans, Tata said Tata Power would spend over Rs 10,000 crore over the next three years to expand its capacity. "We will have a generation capacity of over 10,000 MW by 2010," he said. Tata Power will be spending close to Rs 17,000 crore for the 4,000 MW Mundra power project. “We have already tied up with Barclays for the financial arrangements," Tata said. About the group's projects in Bangladesh, Tata said it was still keen on them. “We have decided to go to Bangladesh. But we have not received necessary approvals so far. Once we get clearances, we will activate the project," Tata said. ***************************************************************** 25 Hindustan Times: No going back on nuclear deal, PM tells Left - August 07, 2007 Hours after the Left rejected the Indo-US nuclear deal, a worried Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up the Left leadership on Tuesday night to allay their apprehensions. But he also made it clear to them that the deal would not be renegotiated. Singh, who separately spoke to CPI (M) general secretary, Prakash Karat, politiburo member, Sitaram Yehcury, CPI general secretary, AB Bardhan and Rajya Sabha member D Raja, reiterated that the nine objections that the Left had raised had been resolved. But the question is that if the Government has decided to go through with the deal, what options do the Left have to register their protest? The 123 agreement, the PM told the Left, has been approved by the Cabinet and though the Government would once again attempt to address Left’s concerns, there was no question of going back on it. The Prime Minister is likely to make a statement in Parliament on the issue on Monday. Yechury, speaking to HT, said that the Left told the PM that they were concerned with provisions in the India-specific Henry Hyde act, which gives sweeping powers to the US President and US Congress in context of the deal. ``The 123 agreement cannot be seen in isolation from the Hyde Act, Yechury said. But the question is that if the Government has decided to go through with the deal, what options do the Left have to register their protest? The Government does not need the Parliament’s – or for that matter the approval of the 61 Left MPs in Lok Sabha -- endorsement in going ahead with the bilateral deal. In that context, the Left’s resistance would add up to nothing if the PM decides not to heed any opposition. Karat admitted on Tuesday to the limited influence Parliament has on the deal but added that the Left would ``press for a Constitutional amendment for bringing international treaties and certain bilateral agreements for approval in Parliament.’’ The Left parties could of course bring down the Government by withdrawing support. But Left leaders have made it clear that pulling down the Government is not on their minds because it would provide an opportunity to the BJP to capture power. Yechury said that it would be more of a political battle both inside and outside Parliament. Inside Parliament, Left protests could take the form of disruptions and walkouts. Outside it could mean whipping up public support through rallies, mass agitations and demonstrations. In the end, what remains to be seen is whether the Left stance on the nuclear deal remains mere political posturing. ***************************************************************** 26 Edmonton Journal: Woodlands retracts support for nuclear plant edmontonjournal.com Published: 3:45 pm EDMONTON - Woodlands County has retracted its letter of support to Energy Alberta for a nuclear power plant to be built in the county, near the town of Whitecourt. More public consultation is needed before the county will commit to the plant proposal, said Mayor Jim Rennie. He also suggested the issue could come to a plebiscite. "Maybe a plebiscite is the best way to go because at the end, you know that a clear majority is yes for it, or no," Rennie said. "If they're not, then it's not right for us. If the majority is yes, let's forge ahead and we don't have to keep revisiting the issue." Woodlands County council sent an initial letter of support for the project to Energy Alberta in July, causing a stir among local residents who said they wanted more information. The county now plans to hold a series of public information sessions in the coming months about the potential pros and cons of a nuclear power plant in their community, Rennie said. Energy Alberta has expressed its interest in building the plant in either Woodlands County or Peace River. © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks ***************************************************************** 27 MiamiHerald.com: FPL nuclear reactor back at full output - 08/08/2007 - FPL Group ( FPL) said its St. Lucie 1 nuclear reactor returned to full output after seagrass was removed from the filter of a circulating water pump. The reactor reached 100 percent of capacity Tuesday morning, Tom Veenstra, a spokesman for Juno Beach-based FPL, said. It was listed at 90 percent of capacity in a report Monday from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The St. Lucie plant is located about 40 miles north of West Palm Beach. Unit 1's capacity is about 839 megawatts. It can supply enough power for 671,200 average U.S. homes, based on Energy Department estimates. * Copyright 1996-2007 The Miami Herald Media Company| ***************************************************************** 28 Whitecourt Star: Public meeting reveals residents’ dismay with council Whitecourt, AB August 8, 2007 An unscheduled guest made for an engaging public information meeting on nuclear power at the Blue Ridge Community Hall on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Gina Racine Star Staff Wednesday August 08, 2007 With an approximate turnout of 141 people, the presenters included Alison Jamison, senior project manager from the Pembina Institute, and Heinz-Jürgen Peter, a nuclear physicist and Parkland Research Associate with an appearance from Doctor Jeremy Whitlock, our guest from AECL in Ontario. Some of the issues that both Jamison and Peter touched upon included the cost-effectiveness of nuclear power, the reliability of nuclear power as well as the effects nuclear power has on the community and the environment. According to Jamison’s presentation, approximately 85,000 waste fuel bundles are produced each year from nuclear power production in Canada. Jamison also stated that even after the fuel has been used, it still carries a potential harm to the environment. "The spent fuel that I am talking about still has a huge amount of radioactive material," Jamison said. "[But it has] some potentially useful radioactive material as well." Also speaking at the presentation was Doctor Jeremy Whitlock, the representative from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s (AECL), whom appeared on their behalf. Whitlock told the audience that CANDU reactors, which would be the type of reactor that Energy Alberta proposes to use for the project, are "probably the safest reactors in the world." "They can run without power from [an outside source] for days," Whitlock said. "Which gives you time to get in there and deal with the situation." Whitlock also stated that CANDU reactors cannot melt down. In regards to the proposed nuclear power plant for the Woodlands County area, Whitlock said he believes that the water source would indeed be the Athabasca River. "As far as I know, Energy Alberta is planning to build a cooling [plant and an] artificial lake that is 3 km by 6 km by 2 meters deep," Whitlock stated. "The water that is completely self-contained is made up from water from the Athabasca River. So there will be no impact on the flow of the Athabasca River as far as the cooling reactor." Bernard Krohn, one of the presentation organizers and Woodlands County resident, closed the presentation and regulated the question and answer periods. Krohn also expressed his opinion in regards to the presentation and education of community members on the topic of nuclear power. "We see that the invitation of the community [by] the council to develop is very significant because whatever we read is the industry only wants to come to a community which likes them, which embraces them," Krohn said, referring to the letter of support. "So now we say, okay before we can embrace them, we need more information." Krohn was also said the letter, which was developed by the town council, should be rewritten. "We want to have this letter of support withdrawn, which clearly states this community has a preferential choice to make," Krohn stated. Woodlands County Mayor, Jim Rennie, stated that the letter of support clearly indicates that there has not been a decision made, that is, without the full support of the community. "I’m not sure what letter they’re reading because obviously our staff wrote [this letter] and our council had submitted it and the purpose of that letter is to support them considering our area and by no means do we consider that the final authority," Rennie said. "We have told this group this, and I’m frustrated actually for how many times I need to tell them this," Rennie continued. "The county needs to buy the land and then resell it. Also we need to issue a development permit. And we haven’t done either of these things. And we won’t do those until we’ve have the public’s opportunity to make the decision." Rennie also said he felt as though many of the questions asked by the community were not fully answered, but many good points were raised. "I think there were a lot of great questions asked [but] the experts weren’t able to answer many of them which was kind of unfortunate," Rennie stated. Rennie stated that he feels gaining information from an unbiased source would be the most beneficial for community members so that they are able to hear the facts without being persuaded to make a decision. "We’d actually like to find some [people] somewhere out there who are scientists and experts that aren’t working for one or the other because all we’ve heard in Whitecourt or in Blue Ridge are from people who are employed by groups," Rennie said. "So they’re paid to either speak against or paid to speak for. And that’s not where the information and the truth lies." "I really appreciated Jeremy [Whitlock] who also had some points and threw them into the discussion," Krohn stated. "We are not [opposed to] nuclear," Krohn said. "We [simply] want to make sure that this process is done right. If we have the nuclear power plant in the end or if we have not, at least we can say we worked on the issue, we understood it, these were the aspects and this is the reason why [we] made the decision. No matter in which direction." Rennie said that the letter of support is a public document, and anyone is free to go to the county council office and read it. Publisher: Pamela Allain Proprietor and published by Bowes Publishers Limited at 4732 - 50 Avenue, Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada T7S 1N7 © 2007 Whitecourt Star ***************************************************************** 29 Whitecourt Star: County council to consider forming information committee Woodlands County Council indicated that it would discuss the formation of a committee that would unite residents and council representatives to consider the option of nuclear power. Whitecourt, AB August 8, 2007 Chandra Lye Star staff Wednesday August 08, 2007 The committee would be formed to help facilitate more information sessions that would strive to accurately represent the pros and cons of a nuclear power plant development that has been considered for the area. County Mayor Jim Rennie said the discussion would occur at the regular council meeting on Aug. 7. "We’re going to discuss forming it. I’m not positive that we will," he said. "We need to figure out how to host these kind of workshops, and once we host them how do we get fair information out there for everybody?" "I think we probably need a small committee to do that." He also said that he had contact resident Bernhard Kohn, who was involved with organizing an information session last week at the Blue Ridge community hall, to ask him to be a part of the team. "On the assumption that we do [form a committee], I called Bernhard and asked him if he would consider being a member and help us with that task." "He’s got a lot of knowledge and I think he’s got the ability to help make that happen." Kohn confirmed that Rennie had contacted him and said that he was interested on one condition. "I will definitely be in the committee if the support letter is withdrawn," Kohn said. He explained that he wanted the information sessions to have meaningful input and added he did not believe that would be possible unless the support letter was withdrawn. He added that he wanted the people of Woodlands County to have a chance to endorse the project before another letter of support was submitted. Kohn said that there would be a petition presented at the council meeting that was signed by 300 people, "and the petition simply says withdraw the support letter." Rennie said that the council was going to discuss their options about the letter of support that has proven to be controversial, but said he could not guess what the council would decide. "There is a lot of level of thought as to what that letter means . . . I don’t know what the right answer is." "I’m going to do whatever the motion of council is. Once council makes that decision I will go whole-heartedly go ahead with whatever that is." He added that it was important to develop the committee with people who were for, against and neutral about the development. "I think it’s important that the members at large probably represent several different points of view," Rennie said. Publisher: Pamela Allain Proprietor and published by Bowes Publishers Limited at 4732 - 50 Avenue, Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada T7S 1N7 © 2007 Whitecourt Star ***************************************************************** 30 [NYTr] Russia watches over nuclear wrecks Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 21:53:42 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit BBC News - Aug 7, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6933741.stm Russia watches over nuclear wrecks By James Rodgers BBC News, Andreeva Bay, Russia 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. 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." When we left Saida Bay, there was a man fishing just a few metres from the rusting hull of a decommissioned nuclear submarine. Some residents of this region seem resigned to life alongside radioactive waste. Countries on Russia's borders and beyond cannot be complacent. * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . Subscribe: https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 31 Denver Post: Rocky Flats workers lose once again Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says he won't expand the coverage status for job-related illnesses. By Ann Schrader Denver Post Staff Writer Article Last Updated: 08/08/2007 01:33:58 AM MDT The nation's top health chief has spurned a request by Colorado's congressional delegation to make it easier for former Rocky Flats workers to be compensated for job-related cancer and other illnesses. U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar released a letter Tuesday from Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt that backed advisers' recommendations to not expand the "special exposure cohort" status granted to a limited number of Rocky Flats workers. The Colorado Democrat sent a letter to Leavitt that said he is disappointed with the decision "because Rocky Flats workers, who are among our country's heroes of the Cold War, will not have their medical issues effectively addressed." Salazar also promised to introduce legislation to address the workers' needs. The Rocky Flats plant, about 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver, produced plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons from 1952 to 1989. Special-status petitioners said Leavitt had not notified them of his decision, which they said they will appeal. "We're very happy with the ongoing congressional support, but the challenge will be to make it more than a Colorado action," said petition drafter Jennifer Thompson. Prior legislation has been unsuccessful, but Thompson said she's hopeful a change in the political climate will make a difference. Leavitt urged former workers to pursue compensation and health benefits individually. One claimant, who didn't want her name published, said Tuesday she'll keep up her efforts. Her husband was a chemical engineer at Rocky Flats from 1952 to 1959. He died in 1989 of a serious lung disease after suffering 10 years from bladder and prostate cancers. "I'm just going to keep at it until I hear it's no hope," she said. ***************************************************************** 32 Ventura County Star: We can't forget Santa Susana lab nuclear accident Opinion : Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Each August, we are reminded of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. Sometimes, if we have a historical perspective, we also think about July 16, 1945, the day our planet and every living thing on it or in it entered the atomic age — the day the first atomic weapon exploded in the New Mexico desert. For those of us who live in Ventura County, Japan is far away, even in our global age. And New Mexico, though closer geographically, isn't a place we can drive to in an afternoon. Simi Valley is another matter. It is very close; and it is our local connection to the nuclear age, though few of us know it. Very rarely do any of us think about July 12-26, 1959, 14 days when a research reactor at the Rocketdyne plant in the Santa Susana Hills experienced a partial meltdown — in the longest nuclear accident in the world, and what has been called worst nuclear accident in the United States. Though I have been working on nuclear issues for more than 20 years, I only found out about this accident when my friend Carmen Ramirez handed me a copy of California Lawyer in April 2006. The cover bore an image of a large, greenish skeleton looming over suburban homes and people outside looking up at it. The headline read: "FALLOUT: The legacy of the nation's forgotten nuclear meltdown." Inside, 12 pending lawsuits were listed. I was stunned. I said to her, "How can we forget about it if we never knew about it?" Not knowing about nuclear stories, even ones less horrific than this, is, unfortunately, a familiar legacy of the nuclear age, and particularly of the Cold War. When the Cold War ended, stories and information suppressed for decades were not suddenly revealed. They come out as a result of journalists such as Kathy Braidhill and magazines that are courageous enough to print them. This story struck me with unusual force because I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, not 20 miles away from this plant, and on many summer nights stood and watched the rocket tests soar into the evening sky like fireworks. Holding this magazine in my hands, I knew that I had been exposed to whatever was released during those 14 days in July. Arjun Makhijani, nuclear physicist and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, said in a radio interview about the accident, "Chernobyl, Sellafield, Santa Susana the three worst nuclear accidents in the world in order. But who has ever heard of Santa Susana?" The people of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel know this information, and have been fighting for more than 25 years to get the truth out. As a result of their efforts, two studies of workers at the plant were completed by UCLA, and last October, at long last, the community report so long sought by them, was completed and released to the public (www.ssflpanel.org). The effort is a shining example of democracy in action. As the Web site says: "The SSFL Advisory Panel was established by local legislators in the early 1990s to oversee independent scientific studies of potential health effects from the Rocketdyne nuclear reactor and rocket testing site in the hills above Simi Valley and Chatsworth, first of the SSFL workers and then of the neighboring communities." I encourage everyone in our county to read this report, which fills a huge gap in our local history, and to make comments to the panel, which will consider them before issuing its final report Oct. 15. Knowing about this report, I was struck by the ironic coincidence of a public comment period, announced by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, on one of its reports about the Santa Susana site. Originally set for June 26 through July 25, it has now been extended through Aug. 25. Note that the original period coincided with the 48th anniversary dates of the partial nuclear meltdown. If you read the Notice of Public Comment on The Draft Group 6 RCRA Facility Investigation Report of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, Simi Hills, Ventura County, you may be deterred by the lack of clarity of the notice and by the immense size of the report. Don't be. What is needed is a thorough epidemiological study of the site and the community, a goal cited by the SSFL Advisory Panel in its report. Such a study is complex and expensive and often resisted by the experts and institutions able to complete them. If all you do in submitting your comments is to request such a study, you will be doing our community a great service. One of the conclusions of the SSFL Advisory Panel Report states: "The best measures available for providing protection from possible future health impacts associated with continued contamination from SSFL come from a concerned, committed, educated and persistent community. These studies were triggered by the community, and we hope they will be helpful to the community." The nuclear age opened the Pandora's Box of the atom and, try as we might, we cannot put back what has been released. But we can begin to take responsibility for what we have unleashed. Let us remember the future generations, the ones who will live in Ventura County seven generations from now. Let us commit ourselves together to finding out the truth about the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, cleaning it up, conducting a thorough epidemiological study and sharing the information with other affected communities. — Pamela S. Meidell, of Oxnard, is director of the Atomic Mirror (www.atomicmirror.org) and president of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (www.coastalalliance.com). © 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 33 Yokwe Net: Nuclear Claims Chairman Testifies of "Tangled" Nuke-Testing Legacy Everything Marshall Islands :: http://www.yokwe.net Aug 09, 2007 - 07:17 AM There is a long, sad and tangled story of confusing top level management in the U.S. Government in which no one person or agency seemed willing to take the responsibility, finance, or assign authority for getting the job done, said a 1955 U.S. report declassified and released to the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 1995. "Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, the story has grown longer, but it is no less sad and no less tangled," said Chairman James Plasman, of the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, Republic of the Marshall Islands, when he appeared before the the House Foreign Affairs Asia, Pacific, and Global Environment Subcommittee on July 25, 2007. MORE: * Written Testimony of NCT Chairman James Plasman, July 25, 2007 * Testimony Documents Relating to U.S. Nuclear Cold War Testing in the Marshall Islands PREPARED ORAL STATEMENT Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. Special thanks to Chairman Faleomaveaga and Congresswoman Watson who attended a hearing on the class action claim of the people of Utrik in Majuro some 5 years ago and have exhibited a continuing interest in these nuclear related issues. My comments are directed to nuclear issues and specifically in regard to the Agreement Between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Marshall Islands for the Implementation of Section 177 of the Compact of Free Association which became effective in 1986. Among its provisions were the creation of a 150 million dollar claims fund and creation of a claims tribunal to determine claims arising out of the testing program. Although the agreement states it constitutes a full settlement of all claims from the testing program, it also includes Article IX, entitled "changed circumstances." This provision allows the government of the Marshall Islands to return to Congress if "new loss or damage to property or person" is discovered rendering the settlement manifestly inadequate. I would like to focus on some of the new knowledge and understandings that have arisen since the Section 177 Agreement came into effect which lead to a conclusion that changed circumstances exist. The BRAVO test in March 1954 had an explosive yield the equivalent of 15 million tons of TNT, which was 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. But while BRAVO was the biggest nuclear device ever detonated by the U.S. and the largest of the 67 tests in the Marshall Islands, there were 17 other tests in the Marshalls that exceeded one megaton in explosive yield and which produced radioactive fallout on atolls and islands across the Marshalls. Since 1986 we have learned more about the extent of radioactive fallout in the Marshalls. A major source of this information is a1955 report that was declassified and made available to the Marshall Islands in the mid-1990s. It reported on exposures over a twelve-week period throughout the Marshall Islands from the Castle series of tests that included Bravo. The report shows that 10 of the 22 populated atolls surveyed exceeded the maximum annual exposure limit of 500 mrem for the general public established in 1957 by the National Council on Radiation Protection. An additional 10 populated atolls exceeded the annual general public limit of 170 mrem set in 1959 by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. But this information was not available to those negotiating the settlement agreement on behalf of the Marshall Islands. In fact, fallout measurements from the last two series of tests in the Marshall Islands still remain classified nearly 40 years after the final test. The settlement embodied in the Section 177 Agreement was predicated in part on the Nuclear Claims Fund being able to create and maintain, in perpetuity, a means to address past, present and future consequences of the Nuclear Testing Program. In order to do that, the Fund was expected to produce average annual proceeds of at least $18 million to make distributions required by the Agreement - a rate of return that the GAO calculated to be 12.5%. Although we know today that rate of return was not realistic, when the Agreement was negotiated, long-term U.S. government bonds were returning 13.5% annually, making a twelve and a half percent return appear reasonable. As a result, the value of the Fund was reduced to about $45 million after the first 15 years. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, we now have much better knowledge of the severity of the effect of radiation exposure on human health. A report issued in September 2004 by the National Cancer Institute estimates 532 radiation-related cancers among the 14,000 people who were living in the Marshall Islands during the testing period. Included in those "excess cancers" are 297 estimated to occur among people outside the atolls that the Agreement regarded as exposed. The NCI study also estimates that 289 of the 532 radiation related cancers will occur after 2003. In addition to cancers, people in the Marshall Islands have suffered from an excess of several different thyroid conditions likely caused by the high levels of radioactive Iodine-131 released by the testing. In 1998, the Center for Disease Control estimated that approximately 6.3 billion curies of Iodine-131 had been released to the atmosphere as a result of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. That amount is 42 times the 150 million curies released from events at the Nevada Test Site, 157 times the releases from the Chernobyl accident, and more than 8,500 times the releases associated with Hanford operations in Washington state. Nearly half of the medical conditions for which the Tribunal has awarded personal injury compensation are non-cancerous thyroid conditions. The severity and extent of these health effects from radiation were not and could not have been known at the time the Agreement went into effect. Ten years ago, the three Brookhaven National Laboratory doctors who had primary responsibility for the special medical program in the Marshall Islands for 25 years following the BRAVO test published a paper summarizing their findings. The Epilogue of that paper begins by saying "There is a long, sad and tangled story of confusing top level management in the U.S. Government in which no one person or agency seemed willing to take the responsibility, finance, or assign authority for getting the job done." Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, the story has grown longer, but it is no less sad and no less tangled. - Yokwe Online, August 8, 2007 - Testimonies provided courtesy of NCT Chairman James Plasman ©Aenet Rowa, webmaster - yokwenet@aol.com ***************************************************************** 34 OpEdNews: Unknown Terror of DU (review) August 8, 2007 at 07:57:19 by Peter Dearman http://www.opednews.com I originally posted this on my depleted uranium blog, Debating Depleted Uranium. You can Digg the original here. As this film is so unknown, even among DU activists, it would be really great to see it fly on Digg. I just spent a lot of time I don’t really have to spare making screenshots of a depleted uranium documentary I just stumbled across. Two japanese photo-journalists, Naomi Toyoda and Hitoshi Shimizu, made this English-language video-documentary titled Unknown Terror of DU – Iraqi children now. Found here on Google Video. It is less than 20 minutes long, and absolutely gripping journalism on a topic that gives new meaning to the word obscure. Speaking of, this film is pretty obscure too. The Google video has been viewed just 180 times since it was posted in May 2007. I searched my email to discover that the major anti-DU mailing lists didn’t seem to know of this relatively recent film. So please take some time to spread this video around the net. It’s a deserving work with a great title too. If you want an AVI format copy, you can download one from my site: Depleted Uranium Forum Here are a few of the screenshots I posted on my DU forum Website. “We explain the danger of depleted uranium to the boys…” They simply took cameras and a geiger counter around. They filmed a Warthog strafe bomb a downtown building from a hotel window during the last American invasion. They went to the building and found radioactive bullet holes. They also seemed to have little trouble finding radioactive debris laying along the roads with kids playing on it. Toyoda interviewed soldiers who didn’t seem very interested in his concern. To think that Toyoda faked this footage to join in some self-aggrandizing anti-DU conspiracy movement boggles the imagination. This film is 100% legit in my opinion. Yet the radioactive debris is there and the education is not. How can anyone pooh-pooh legitimately founded concerns like these? This film is powerful testimony to the real effects of two American-launched uranium wars is a must-see for anyone who actually suspects the anti-DU activists are being hyterical in their protestations against DU-penetrator weapons and their ilk. (You hearing this, Roger?) In the countryside near Samawah, they found an old Iraqi anti-aircraft gun totally riddled with radioactive bullet holes. The film is full of stunningly blunt moments like this one. They also document a measles outbreak that some suspect is linked to DU supressing the immune system. beagle17.gnn.tv Peter Dearman is an English teacher living in Taiwan; concerned about depleted uranium, organ harvesting, aspertame, sugar, species depletion, animal abuse and the generally high level of bad things happening in the world today. Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2007 ***************************************************************** 35 Japan Times: Hibakusha documentary's time has come | japantimes.co.jp Web Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 Japanese-American's uncomfortable, belated work a record for posterity By DAVID BAUDER NEW YORK (AP) It would be hard to imagine a U.S. cable channel's disturbing documentary on survivors of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan being aired on an American TV network 10 or 20 years after the event. Filmmaker Steve Okazaki tried — and failed — to even make it for the 50th anniversary. A mushroom cloud towers over Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped Aug. 6, 1945. AP PHOTO But HBO on Monday premiered "White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," exactly 62 years after the United States detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Another was dropped three days later over Nagasaki. Why is the time finally right? "History is always worth recording, and if there is a moment in history that hasn't been recorded and you're in a place where you have the resources, you should do it," said Sheila Nevins, head of HBO's documentary unit. She hopes it becomes a document of record that will be shown in schools. The uncomfortable footage of cities reduced to rubble and grotesquely deformed survivors has received relatively little circulation because — unlike the well-recorded Holocaust — this was something done by Americans, Nevins said. Mortality, too, played a role in the timing. Home Box Office and Okazaki also felt the same urgency experienced by "The Greatest Generation" author Tom Brokaw and Ken Burns, maker of Public Broadcasting Service's epic series on World War II coming this fall. People who fought and survived World War II are dying quickly now, and soon there will be no more eyewitnesses. The documentary being shown on the cable TV network is built on stories told by 14 survivors, with footage of the wounded that was banned from the public for 25 years. The American-born Okazaki interviews American crew members who dropped the bombs and wondered whether they would escape before their planes were engulfed in the mushroom cloud. The project dated back to the early 1980s, when Okazaki agreed to accompany his sister to a San Francisco-area meeting of bomb survivors for a school project she was doing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She dropped the class, but he went to the meeting anyway. At its end, one man stood up and said that everyone who wanted Okazaki to make a film about their stories should raise their hands. They all did and turned to him. He made a short film and others that showed his interest in the era, including the Oscar-winning "Days of Waiting," about one of the few white Americans interned with Japanese-Americans during World War II. Okazaki wanted to make a comprehensive documentary about the experience of living through the bombings and began doing it for PBS in the mid-1990s. But the project fell through, with the filmmaker believing PBS did not want to risk angering World War II veterans. He instead made a more personal film, "The Mushroom Club," and figured his dream was dead. That is when he heard from Nevins. "I was shocked when they called and said they wanted to do this film, and when they described it, I realized it was the film I had wanted to do for 25 years," he said. When he attended a festival of bombing-related films in the 1980s, Okazaki was struck by the dearth of accounts from survivors. The audience had an aversion; it was much easier to debate whether dropping bombs that instantly killed tens of thousands of people was right or wrong. That debate continues today. Many believe that a potential U.S. invasion would have killed many more people if the Japanese had not been shocked by the bombs into surrender. Some think Japan's war effort was near its end anyway, and that the bombs were partly meant to intimidate Russia. Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, navigator of the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb, is among those who believe it was necessary to end the war. He saw Okazaki's film and was not impressed. "The story about the survivors of this has been told many, many times," Van Kirk, 86, said. "It doesn't change. And this is just another story about survivors. I don't think there will be much reaction to it at all." There were no advance protests. Nevins is curious about how the documentary will be received after what she thought was a strangely dry-eyed reception at a Sundance Film Festival screening. "It was well-received intellectually but it wasn't well-received emotionally," she said. Other than documenting the horror of war, the film carefully takes no sides on the morality of dropping the bomb. Okazaki even refuses, in an interview, to say how he personally feels about it. "I do have strong opinions and feelings about it," he said. "But I have a stronger motivation to get these stories out. There was this empty space on the shelves under 'H.' " That is not entirely true. The 1970s film "Hiroshima Mon Amour" contained aftermath footage. The 1989 Japanese film "Kuroi Ame" ("Black Rain") was about the aftermath. And reporter John Hersey's book "Hiroshima" has received wide circulation. Still, something Okazaki found mystifying, and a barrier to his research, was the lingering stigma faced by hibakusha in Japan. Perhaps it is because they remind Japanese of a time they would rather forget; it was never fully explained to him. When he sought to interview the "Hiroshima Maidens," girls who visited the United States in the 1950s for surgery on disfigurements, the only one who would talk was a woman who now lives in the U.S. Okazaki also found a plaque where the Nagasaki bomb detonated that said everyone within a 1 km area was killed instantly — except an 8-year-old girl who had fallen asleep in a bomb shelter. He tracked her down and she refused a meeting. "Her husband only knew that she was a survivor and she felt that (being in the film) would hurt her husband's business and her children's job opportunities," he said. "So the story will never be told." The Japan Times ***************************************************************** 36 asahi.com: Radiation disease EDITORIAL: 08/08/2007 Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not just injured by the force of the blasts and heat rays that followed. They were also exposed to invisible radiation and as a result developed cancer, leukemia and other serious diseases. Many A-bomb survivors are still suffering from such radiation-related diseases. But the central government's criteria for recognizing illnesses caused by atomic-bomb radiation are very strict, which limited the number of officially certified patients. As a result, hibakusha atomic bomb survivors filed a series of lawsuits at district courts across the nation. In a meeting with A-bomb survivors in Hiroshima on Sunday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to review the government's criteria for recognition "based on experts' judgment." Abe's vow to tackle this sore point, which came a week after the ruling coalition's mauling in the July 29 Upper House election, could be seen as politically motivated to prop up his sagging popularity. What cannot be disputed is that many A-bomb survivors have been anxiously awaiting this development for many years. We hope the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will act expeditiously to revise the criteria. Abe did not make clear how he will deal with the six consecutive court rulings in favor of the plaintiffs seeking government recognition as patients of radiation-related illnesses. If, however, he is determined to have the criteria revised, the government should withdraw the appeals it has already filed and refrain from making any more. The atomic bomb survivors' support law requires the government to issue each hibakusha with a health card certificate, which designates the holder as an A-bomb victim. Anybody who was in the area directly affected by radiation or immediately after the atomic bombs were dropped is eligible. Approximately 250,000 people have been issued with the certificates, and many of them are receiving about 34,000 yen in monthly health care assistance. Certification as a patient of radiation-related illness raises the amount of monthly financial support by about 100,000 yen. But only about 2,200 people have been certified. The central component of the government's screening standards is a special formula to calculate the probability that a patient's condition was caused by atomic-bomb radiation. The key point for the formula is the amount of radiation to which the patient was exposed as estimated from such factors as the distance from ground zero. This approach, however, has been criticized by survivors. Critics argue it is not reasonable to use the distance from ground zero as the main factor for recognition. The criteria don't give sufficient consideration to the effects of residual radiation in soil and water or radiation absorbed by eating contaminated food, they say. The method has also been criticized for ignoring people who were exposed to radiation by entering Hiroshima or Nagasaki after the bombs had dropped. A series of court rulings have supported these arguments, nullifying the state's rejection of plaintiffs' applications for recognition as patients of radiation-related illnesses. To date, the district courts in Osaka, Hiroshima, Tokyo and three other cities have ruled against the government on this issue. These court-supported arguments by A-bomb survivors must be fully incorporated into the new criteria. Health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said a panel of experts will be set up to work out the new criteria within a year. The panel should include experts who represent the bomb victims. And the work should be done as quickly as possible. A-bomb survivors living overseas must travel to Japan for an interview to apply for a hibakusha health card. Yanagisawa has said he has no plan to reconsider this requirement. That is clearly not acceptable. There are survivors who cannot come to Japan due to their advanced age or for other reasons. The government should accept their applications at its overseas branch offices of the government. While it has started responding to the complaints about the criteria for recognizing sufferers of radiation-related illnesses, the government has taken an uncompromising stance in many cases in spite of criticism from the courts. One typical example is its stance toward recognition of patients of Minamata disease. It is high time for the government to end its reluctance to change the established criteria while refusing to confront the realities of people's suffering. --The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 7 (IHT/Asahi: August 8,2007) * The Asahi Shimbun Company ***************************************************************** 37 Mother Jones: After the Bomb Dropped On the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, HBO's White Light/Black Rain By Jen Phillips For more than 25 years, Steven Okazaki has been making movies about the 1945 atomic bombing of Japan. His latest film on the subject, White Light/Black Rain, which will air on HBO starting August 6, is the film he's "been wanting to make for 25 years." In it, he tells the stories of more than a dozen bombing survivors plus those of the Americans directly involved in creating and dropping Fat Man and Little Boy on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, respectively. The personal narratives are fascinating, but they're awkwardly woven with a chaotic mix of historical footage, personal interviews, and present-day sit-ins and public art exhibitions inspired by the bombings. The mix is disorienting and confusing, perhaps an intentional reference to how the survivors recall feeling immediately after the bombs first dropped. Ultimately, White Light/Black Rain provides memorable, personal experiences and a little insight into life in post-WWII Japan, but little in way of a cohesive vision. In his interviews with survivors, Okazaki spares no details, no matter how personal or gory. The survivors' scars have nearly disappeared beneath their wrinkles (most were children at the time of the blast) but their stories retain a horror-movie quality that doesn't fade. Sakue Shimohira, 10 years old when her hometown of Hiroshima was bombed, identified her dead mother by her gold tooth: when she touched her, the body crumbled to ashes. The girl's sister, the only other family survivor, later committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. A celebrated graphic novelist recalls how, as a boy, he listened helplessly as his little brother spent hours dying beneath the rubble of their Hiroshima house. He later turned the tragic events into a dynamic manga comic called "Barefoot Gen" that was adapted into anime and live-action movies. Understandably, some survivors believed that dying was much easier than living with the guilt and pain. One survivor recalls how all the patients in his burn unit, cried and begged for the doctors to kill them whenever they saw a white coat. Suicide was, and remains, an "honorable" way out of life's problems in Japan. That, combined with the mindset that any physical abnormalities should be hidden or ignored, made suicide a tempting and face-saving way out for people who might have otherwise survived their wounds. Those who had the "courage to live," as Shimohira puts it, chose a difficult path because the people marked by scars or lost limbs as bomb survivors were deemed "untouchables." Many couldn't get jobs or find spouses; it was as if they had murdered someone. Even those who looked physically fine, but later came down with "atomic bomb sickness," were shunned because others feared their disease might be contagious. Many of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors express anger that the Japanese government did not take responsibility for the victims of the bomb, and refused to tell the people what was really happening in the war, which would have allowed them to make arrangements for their own safety. "Though the government kept saying we were winning, we were winning, the Japanese people realized we couldn't win," says Shintaro Hida, who was a military doctor at the time of the war. Sadly, this disconnect between government rhetoric and the reality of an "unwinnable" war could be applied to any number of conflicts, including those in present day United States. The American flight navigators and weapons technicians interviewed said that winning war was really the only reason they felt alright dropping the bomb. Like the Japanese, they also were told by the government that they could win the war, but they weren't told about the bomb's true power because no one really knew. It was only after the photographs came back—Hiroshima leveled, scattered with carbonized bodies and skulls and spines—that they realized the enormity of the weapon. "From now on, the world will live with the possibility of nuclear war," says former Los Alamos manager Lawrence Johnston, who developed Fat Man's detonator. "We've opened Pandora's box and the genie can't be stuffed back in the bottle." Jen Phillips is a senior editorial fellow at Mother Jones I've seen many of the films previously dealing with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I have to say that "White Light/Black Rain" seems to have done the best job of truly bringing the story to life. Whereas in other films the testimonies seemed to be used merely as a way to buttress the political agenda of the filmmakers, "White Light" really lets the people just tell their story. The paintings, photos and archival footage were, I felt, effectively woven in to help illustrate the stories. It really added power to the stories that I hadn't felt in the other films. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the scenes of present-day Tokyo mainly appear in the beginning and end, instead of "breaking up" the survivors' stories. For me, they help frame the stories so that it makes me think of this historical event in a certain context. It made me think about the incredible sacrifices that Japan's peace today is built on, and about how all that could be blown to smithereens in an instant. The bookend was a frightening reminder that this isn't just a story about the past; it has everything to do with the present. Posted by:robert onAugust 7, 2007 6:56:24 PM U.S. Public Records Search Search County & State Court Records, Criminal records, Vital and Adoption Records www.PublicRecordsInfo.com Records.com - People Search Public Records and Background Checks. Instantly Search Criminal Records, Addresses and Court Records www.Records.com Court Records & County Records Find Instant Public Records, Criminal Records as Well as County Property Records Search. www.PublicRecordsIndex.com Jail.org - Inmate Search Criminal records, instant public records & people search & current court records. www.jail.org © 2007 The Foundation for National Progress ***************************************************************** 38 BBC NEWS: Peru returns Scots nuclear waste Last Updated: Wednesday, 8 August 2007, 23:12 GMT 00:12 UK It cost Ł1.7m to return the material to Dounreay Radioactive waste exported to Peru from Scotland almost 10 years ago has been returned to the Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness. It has emerged that 2.9 tonnes of thorium nitrate arrived safely at the site on Wednesday after a marathon sea and road trip from South America. The waste was originally produced at the Caithness nuclear plant as a by-product of reprocessing. Kukala, a company based in the Peruvian capital Lima, had originally planned to use the material to fuel gas mantles. As Peru lacks any specialist treatment or disposal facilities, moves began last year to return the material to Scotland. A team of 12 people from the Caithness site travelled to South America to prepare the waste for its month-long return journey. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 39 ReviewJournal.com Poll: Nuke waste still worrisome Aug. 08, 2007 By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL Attitudes about nuclear power and the perceived risks of disposing highly radioactive waste haven't changed much in five years with only 28 percent of respondents in an MIT survey agreeing that nuclear waste could be stored safely into the distant future. "Waste storage is a show-stopper for nuclear power," concludes the recent survey by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems. The survey found that slightly less than two-thirds of the respondents, sampled from across the country, believe reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is a popular idea worth pursuing. The survey explained that reprocessing is used in France, Japan and elsewhere and reduces the life span of most toxic wastes from 100,000 years to 1,000 years. "Sixty percent of the sample said that they supported the expansion of the Department of Energy's reprocessing program, and half of the sample said they would support a significant expansion of nuclear energy in the United States if the country reprocessed its fuel," reads the 31-page report published in June. Likewise, two-thirds of the respondents said they would support a significant expansion of nuclear power for generating electricity "if there were effective waste storage." Only 19 percent thought that Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, should be used without further delays. "Another 25 percent would agree to its use 'only if the state of Nevada assents,' " states the report, titled "Public Attitudes Toward America's Energy Options." "Waste storage poses a particularly thorny problem for nuclear power, as some of the most toxic products remain a threat to health for hundreds of thousands of years," wrote the report's author, Stephen Ansolabehere. Conducted for the center by Knowledge Networks in February, the survey this year like in 2002 polled about 1,200 people across the United States. As was the case five years ago, nuclear power drew the strongest opposition for construction of local energy facilities with 54 percent this year strongly opposing a nuclear power plant within 25 miles of their homes. When asked to rate how harmful energy sources are to the environment, 54 percent of the respondents this year said the perceived harm from nuclear power was very harmful or moderately harmful. In 2002, more of the respondents, 68 percent, felt that way about perceived harm from nuclear power. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2007 ***************************************************************** 40 CCA: Public meeting for input on non-defense waste storage at WIPP set for Monday Carlsbad Current-Argus By Kyle Marksteiner Article Launched: 08/07/2007 09:21:28 PM MDT What: Greater Than Class C public scoping meeting Where: Pecos River Village Conference Center When: 6-9 p.m. Monday, Aug. 13 CARLSBAD ? The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad is being considered as one possible location for depositing 5,600 cubic meters of radioactive waste. A meeting seeking public input on the possibility will take place from 6-9 p.m. Monday at the Pecos River Village Conference Center in Carlsbad. Hearings around the nation will be used to form a draft environmental impact statement for possible action by Congress. The Department of Energy is seeking to dispose of 2,600 cubic meters of non-defense waste from decommissioned nuclear power plants, radioactive sealed sources no longer being used in such activities as food irradiation and medical procedures, and waste from industry research and development. An additional 3,000 cubic meters is waste that doesn't have a disposal path. The 2,600 cubic meters is "Greater Than Class C" waste that has commercial origins, while the 3,000 cubic meters has similar contents but unspecified origins. It's a relatively small amount of waste. For comparison, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is authorized for 175,000 cubic meters of defense-related transuranic waste. The DOE, following a request from Congress to find something to do with the waste, is currently evaluating a variety of potential disposal methods including WIPP and the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository. The federal agency is also considering near-surface disposal or borehole disposal near a variety of locations, including WIPP. It's possible, therefore, that the waste could be brought to Eddy County and deposited in boreholes or near surface disposal facilities outside of the boundaries of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Regulations require that the waste be disposed of in a geologic repository unless the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves an alternate proposal for disposal at a licensed facility. The WIPP site itself is currently not authorized, through legislation or regulation, for this type of waste. If WIPP were to become authorized, however, the increase in waste would not exceed the volume of what is currently allowed at WIPP. "From the standpoint of volume, it's a drop in the bucket," said Dave Moody, manager of the DOE's Carlsbad Field Office. The waste would likely not bring additional jobs to WIPP, officials have said. The first step will be to see what people in the prospective disposal areas think hence the public meetings. "The purpose is to get public input on the whole process," Moody said. "The inclusion (of the waste) at WIPP and the inclusion at a site near WIPP, both of those could impact this population." Moody stressed that the DOE doesn't "pick favorites" during the evaluation process. For WIPP or a nearby location to be selected, "the Department (of Energy) would have to approach Congress and demonstrate that they followed the (National Environmental Policy Act) process and the outcome presented a compelling case for WIPP as the choice for the disposal of the material," Moody said, noting that the DOE would then recommend a path forward to Congress. The two possibilities of disposing of the waste near Carlsbad each have their own complexities. Bringing the waste to WIPP would benefit from the infrastructure already present, but would require fairly significant changes to the Land Withdrawal Act, a Congressional act that created very specific definitions of what can and cannot be disposed of at WIPP. Congressional support for bringing the waste to WIPP may be an uphill battle. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., recently told the Albuquerque Journal that he doesn't support opening up previous agreements to broaden the types of waste that can be deposited at WIPP. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., issued a statement saying he is "satisfied with WIPP's mission as authorized to support the national security mission." A spokesman clarified by noting Domenici doesn't think changing the Land Withdrawal Act is presently the best course of action. If Congress ultimately decides to dispose of the waste in boreholes near, but not at, WIPP, there won't have to be major changes made to the Land Withdrawal Act. Some new infrastructure might be needed, but the process could still be quickened for the DOE by nearby resources already in place. "If that were the outcome of the NEPA process, it would not be unreasonable to expect the Carlsbad Field Office to manage that process," Moody said. Not applying to the Land Withdrawal Act by disposing the waste outside of WIPP, but still in Eddy County, wouldn't exactly simplify the process. There would be a new permitting process for the new land, and it would still take extensive negotiations with the state for approval. Negotiations would have to take place with the BLM, or whatever agency owns the current land. Should Congress ultimately decide that WIPP or its area is the best option, the DOE would still have to work out various transportation and characterization issues with state and federal environmental regulators. It's hard to say, Moody said, if the waste would be dealt with in a similar manner as current waste received at WIPP. "It would not be too far fetched to believe that the same kind of characterization requirements would be present for anything put into the repository," he said. The Environmental Protection Agency would require a performance assessment to bring waste to the site, Moody said, "But it would easily be bounded by our current performance assessment." Moody again noted that the DOE isn't taking sides during the scoping process. "You don't presuppose the outcome of the process," he said. "Our local city officials who are very interested in WIPP mission expansion have been very vocally in favor of these kinds of expansions. Clearly there is nothing wrong with the populous being in favor of an option." DOE employees can speak their opinions as private citizens, he noted. Recently, some community leaders have mentioned hoping to ultimately greatly increase the scope of WIPP to include other types of waste than what are currently allowed. The official DOE perspective, Moody said, is that the department is asked by Congress from time to time to evaluate possible future scenarios. "We certainly don't presuppose the outcome of the NEPA action," he said. "Have there been any plans made for how we could change the Land Withdrawal Act? No. Do we evaluate what-if scenarios? You bet." Comments on the scope of the Greater Than Class C environmental impact statement can also be submitted to: James. L. Joyce, GTCC EIS Document Manager, Office of Regulatory Compliance (EM-10), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0119, or via fax: 301-903-4303, e-mail at gtcceis@anl.gov, or via the Web site at http://www.gtcceis.anl.gov. Please mark envelopes and e-mails as "GTCC EIS Comments" Terms that may come up at Monday's meeting DOE: Department of Energy. The U.S. agency responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. GTCC LLW: Greater Than Class C, Low-Level Radioactive Waste. 2,600 cubic meters of non-defense waste from decommissioned plants, radioactive sealed sources no longer being used in such activities as food irradiation and medical procedures, and waste from industry research and development. DOE GTCC-like waste consists of 3,000 cubic meters of waste with similar contents but unspecified origins. WIPP: Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. An underground repository licensed to dispose of transuranic radioactive waste that is left from the research and production of nuclear weapons. Waste is placed in rooms 2,150 feet underground. LWA: Land Withdrawal Act. This 1992 Act established many of the federal regulations related to WIPP currently in place today. NMED: New Mexico Environment Department. A state agency tasked with protecting human health and safeguarding the environment. The NMED regulates hazardous materials at WIPP. EPA: Environmental Protection Agency. A federal agency tasked with protecting human health and safeguarding the environment. The EPA regulates radioactive materials at WIPP. NEPA: National Environmental Policy Act. The law was signed in 1970. It establishes specific procedures, including requiring an environmental impact statement to be written for all major federal actions which may have a significant impact on the environment. The purpose of NEPA is to promote informed decision-making by federal agencies by making "detailed information concerning significant environmental impacts" available to both agency leaders and the public. EIS: Environmental Impact Statement. A part of the NEPA process evaluates the impacts of the proposed alternatives on the environment. It is used to assist in suggesting future courses of action. NOI: Notice of Intent. Formally starts the EIS process. For specific information about what kinds of waste is allowed at WIPP, visit http://www.nsc.org/EHC/guidebks/wippwast.htm. Copyright © 2005 Carlsbad Current Argus, a MediaNews Group ***************************************************************** 41 THERECORD.COM: Don't keep waste at lake JIM EDGEWORTH In regard to the plan to store waste at the Bruce nuclear facility, has all practical reason been lost? The geologic repository proposal prepared for Ontario Power Generation is impressive. It shows a plan backed by opinions that this is a way to store nuclear waste forever. However, these are little more than educated guesses. I suggest that storing this waste on the shore of one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world is insane. I understand how we got into this situation, that they have been storing a bit at time and as time passes this has become the accepted practice. However if we get this wrong 20 per cent of the worlds fresh water is gone for a very long time. This would affect everyone who lives in the Great Lakes basin, not just the few who live near the Bruce facility. Let us put an end to this plan before more time and money is spent to put nuclear waste under the Great Lakes. There is a provincial election coming -- a time to ask questions and demand correct action. Jim Edgeworth Princeton 160 King Street East, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, N2G 4E5 519-894-2231 ***************************************************************** 42 Pahrump Valley Times: Roberts chosen for nuke agency Nye County's Largest Newspaper Circulation Aug. 08, 2007 EASTLEY REMOVED HERSELF By MARK WAITE PVT When Gov. Jim Gibbons appointed Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley to the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, then rescinded that appointment, he still expressed a desire to appoint a Nye County resident to the agency. Eastley was rejected because of her pro-Yucca Mountain stance, but Gibbons has found a supporter of the state's ardent anti-Yucca position to replace her: Nye County Superintendent Rob Roberts. The commission advises the state on nuclear matters, and an appointment was needed to fill the vacancy of Vice-Chairman Michon Mackedon, a longtime opponent of the project. Gibbons, in rescinding Eastley's appointment, said, "This position on the Nuclear Project Commission requires a representative who shares the primary sentiment of Nevada's residents and my administration's views on the Yucca Mountain Project." Roberts already was appointed to a state methamphetamine task force this year and is on the newly-elected governor's transition team on education. The superintendent was concerned over the amount of time his new position might require but was told it only meets quarterly, for about two hours per meeting. "My number one concern is the education of the children of Nye County," he said. Roberts, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, said transporting highly radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain would be risky because of the potential for terrorist strikes or an accident triggered by a bridge collapse or railroad failure. "I have a real concern that hazardous materials coming through our state could be targeted. Once a canister is open, there could be serious degradation of life," Roberts told the Associated Press. While the Nye County superintendent was critical of the project, Nye County commissioners have pursued a policy of either neutrality or constructive engagement in bargaining with the U.S. Department of Energy to mediate the effects of the project. Former Sen. Richard Bryan, chairman of the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after Eastley's dismissal, "Nye County has been a problem for the delegation almost from the beginning." Kirstin Searer, deputy executive director of the state Democratic Party, used the snafu to accuse Gibbons of not being honest with Nevadans on his intentions to stop the nuclear dump project. Roberts said he doesn't know what material is classified regarding the project and doesn't know some details, like the half-life of the nuclear waste in the mountain. He did, however, relate his experience as an armor officer in the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. "When I was assigned to the 1st Armored Division in Germany for three years, I transported numerous convoys of fuel and conventional ammunitions. I know the hazards and risks of transporting that across thousands of miles in all types of weather," Roberts said. When it comes to the politics of his position, however, Roberts said, "I'm not representing anybody. I'm a private citizen in this matter." Bryan said at first glance he's pleased Roberts is joining his committee. Bryan told the Associated Press he shares Roberts' view that nuclear waste transportation is "one of the major considerations." Roberts was an instructor and chief of the military science instruction branch at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1986 to 1989. He is a Vietnam War combat veteran, serving in 1969-70 as a helicopter pilot with the 101st Airborne Division. Nye County Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver, asked for comment, questioned the fairness of screening candidates by their ideological stance. "If you wanted to be advised how people in the neighborhood felt, you would want people from both sides of the coin instead of one side. But it's his commission and it's his choice," Carver said. Regarding another matter, Carver originally had planned to go on a fact-finding trip of nuclear waste facilities in Scandinavia, sponsored by the United States Transport Council, Aug. 25 to Sept. 1 but said she may have to cancel because of personal commitments. webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 43 [NYTr] Bitter Legacy of War in the Pacific, Atomic Bombings Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 12:11:08 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Rick Kissell Los Angeles Times - Aug 6,2007 Letters to the Editor Letters from Mindanao The misery and resentment of the war in the Pacific that led up to the bombing of Hiroshima 62 years ago today. By David Smollar August 6, 2007 The United States leveled Hiroshima with the atom bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, but the history-making news didn't reach the Philippines until two days later. American troops there, like my father, were waiting apprehensively for plans to invade the Japanese home islands. "It's almost too good to be true," he wrote my mother on Aug. 8 from Mindanao, where he was an Army field hospital doctor supervising public health measures for Filipinos malnourished after years of Japanese occupation. "The news we've been given describes a veritable Buck Rogers mechanism of destruction that is capable of erasing any city or nation. . . . For the first time, I feel that the war may end shortly and we can all go home, and I hope to God it's so." By the next day, he was far more guarded but remained optimistic, noting further details about the atomic weapon and news that the Soviet Union had actively entered the war against Japan. "It's damned fortunate that we were first in its military use and it may -- and probably will -- be the final all-important factor in ending this awful war." Then he penned a sobering postscript: "There is still something frightening about the new bomb, a weapon that truthfully is not pleasant to contemplate and that bodes danger for our future if human beings don't quit acting like apes. The world had better come to its senses after this one." These past months, in reading my father's 300-plus letters written 62 years ago, I realized that this endnote was no accident. More than joy, the cautious relief that framed his response to news of the wonder weapon was his coda to many months of correspondence about the corrosive aspects of war and the contradictions that fighting entails. Less than three weeks before Hiroshima, he had written: "After almost four years in the army, I hate war, not in an objective way but as a very personal thing. When I hold a bullet in my hand or stare at a mortar, it's a feeling that in this inanimate metal is the degradation of the human race, a precision-made missile containing all of the world's hate." In his missives, my father had been scathing about "slick news stories" that my mother clipped and included in her daily letters, saying their glamorized tales of war bore no resemblance to combat. "The GI letters that I read as a censor are not only more eloquent than all the magazine stories but are so different as to make the latter ridiculous." While treating wounded infantrymen on Leyte in early January 1945, he wrote that every GI asks, "When is this war going to end and when can I go home?" At home, Americans had been told that Leyte was secured and that soldiers were mopping up Japanese army remnants. "The words are so misleading. The fighting is often more vicious and severe after the generals say the battlefield is 'secure.' I'll never again be able to tolerate a war movie or political speech on military heroes, not after seeing newly dead American GIs come in on litters, spotting them from the wounded by seeing the undisturbed flies on their yellowish-white still skin, or whatever is left anatomically. Seeing the newly dead tells me that war prevention is the real job." Adding to the misery were the thousands of Filipino refugees with chronic diseases and many without enough food. Supplies were never sufficient, even for the bountiful U.S. Army, to take care of all the civilians. Yet from time to time, my father wrote of a stubbornly resilient humanity during war. When his unit left Leyte in early May for Mindanao, "a truly poverty-stricken mother of a child we had saved sought me out for personal thanks and a present of a dozen fresh eggs. Her family and those of many others lined the road in a collective 'good-bye' wave." And there were the situations bringing forth black humor. He recounted an order in early June from higher-ups to establish two whorehouses, "one for whites and one for colored, to stem the trouble and venereal disease that comes in all theaters when the G-Is want their women. . . . I am to take care of the medical angle and must meet with the C.O. [commanding officer], the M.P. officer and a 'madam.' So do I make small talk and ask 'How's business?' " But little masked his lament at death and disease everywhere. When hearing American planes overhead on their way to smash Japanese still fighting in the Mindanao hills, he confessed, "I should exult, I know; the Japs have asked for the slaughter and deserve a complete defeat, yet I'm more or less confused in my emotions: war and its causes are so complex and sometimes, I fear, all is so futile." To mid-July news about Congress considering postwar mandatory military training for all young men, he wrote to my mother, "I wonder why no one has suggested that Congress pass a law for one year's compulsory training in peace?" On the morning of Aug. 15, 1945, when Japan's offer of surrender was made public, my father watched dozens of warships in Macajalar Bay blow their whistles and fire smoke shells in an impromptu celebration. "I am emotionally limp, so long have I hoped for the end to this wasteful existence called war," he wrote. "I will think of nothing but our soon-to-be reunion." [David Smollar, a former Times reporter, lives in San Diego.] * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . Subscribe: https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 44 [NYTr] Cuba Renders Tribute to Victims of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 20:28:26 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles Tribute Rendered to the Victims of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Havana, August 7 (acn) Cubans paid tribute to the victims of the US bombing of Hiroshima-Nagasaki, an event that shook the whole world and ranked as one of history's most outrageous acts of genocide. During the gathering on Monday in Havana, which took place at the Callejon por la Paz (Peace Alley), in Cayo Hueso, Jose Ramon Rodriguez, secretary of the Cuban Pro-Peace and Sovereignty Movement, urged all nations of the world to get rid of nuclear weapons, which he called a threat to the survival of human race. A member of the project Athens-Japan, Sayuri Yoshida, talked about bringing to Cuba the Fire of Hiroshima, a symbol of the horror caused by atomic destruction. It would be combined with a message of hope for human sensitivity and a warning against nuclear weapons. A reading of the Appeal from Hiroshima and Nagasaki for a total ban and elimination of nuclear weapons, launched in 1985, was part of the ceremony, attended by the President of the World Peace Council, Orlando Fundora, among others. Nuclear powers today, whether they admit to it or not, possess so many nuclear, hydrogen, and cobalt-strontium bombs that those cast on Japan in 1945 seem practically like toys, said one of the participants. At 8:15 AM on August 6, 1945, a sparkle preceded the emergence of a mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke that turned the Japanese city of Hiroshima to dust and caused the loss of an estimated 60,000-70-000 people. Three days later, a second bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki and took 80,000 lives. Decades later, the descendants of the survivors of the massacre still suffer the consequences of the explosions. Blood and skin diseases, growth disorders and premature aging are among the remaining effects. * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . Subscribe: https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 45 [NYTr] Japan marks Hiroshima anniversary Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 12:26:12 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Dave Muller (southnews) AFP - Aug 6, 2007 Japan marks Hiroshima anniversary Correspondents in Tokyo JAPAN vowed today never to seek atomic weapons and urged nuclear powers to give up their own arsenals 62 years after the world's first nuclear attack on Hiroshima. Some 45,000 people recited silent prayers at 8.15am (9.15am AEST), the exact moment in 1945 when a single US bomb instantly killed more than 140,000 people and fatally injured tens of thousands of others with radiation or horrific burns. "I have strengthened my determination not to repeat this tragedy,'' Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a speech in the western city. "I want to renew my promise to maintain the non-nuclear principles,'' Mr Abe said, referring to Japan's policy of refusing to possess, produce or allow the entry of nuclear weapons on its soil. Some of the conservative premier's top aides last year called for Japan to at least study going nuclear after arch-rival North Korea tested an atomic bomb. Going nuclear is sacrilege to many people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was also flattened by a nuclear bomb that killed another 70,000 people in the final days of World War II. Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba denounced nuclear powers for maintaining their weapons, mentioning the United States by name. "Human beings are still faced with the crisis of destruction because a limited number of outdated leaders turn their back on the reality of the atomic bombings and the messages of survivors,'' Mr Akiba said today. "The Government of Japan must say no to the policy of the United States, which is outdated and a mistake.'' Japan has been officially pacifist since its defeat in World War II and turned into one of the closest US allies, hosting more than 40,000 US troops. Mr Abe has vowed to rewrite the US-imposed pacifist constitution, although his plans received a major setback last week when his party lost key elections. *** AAP Sunday August 5, 12:58 PM Hiroshima Day message 'still rings true' Australia's growing international belligerence means the anti-war message of Hiroshima Day continues to ring true, event organisers say. Hiroshima Day was marked on Sunday with a noon rally at Sydney's Hyde Park, where speakers called for world peace and the abolition of all nuclear weapons. A similar protest was scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Melbourne. The event is the annual international commemoration of the anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons that instantly killed 90,000 in Hiroshima and injured many more on August 6, 1945. The US also dropped nuclear bombs on Nagasaki three days later, resulting in the immediate deaths of 40,000 more. By the end of 1945, over 200,000 were dead in the two Japanese cities. At the Sydney rally, anti-nuclear campaigner Helen Caldicott said the commemoration of Hiroshima had never been more important. "The world is facing greater instability in more and more areas," Dr Caldicott said. "Regional wars could escalate to a global nuclear holocaust as the US and Russia have so many nuclear weapons primed and ready to go." Hiroshima Day committee member Denis Doherty said annual calls for peace from the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki fall on deaf ears in Australia. The federal government continues to send Australian troops to war whenever the US asks it to, as well as hosting US military bases and providing logistical support, he said. "The Australian government's increasing belligerence is illustrated by its decisions to send troops to trouble spots rather than civilian assistance," Mr Doherty said. "In Australia too, it has responded to long-standing Aboriginal welfare issues by using troops." Other speakers included Greens senator Kerry Nettle and Jenny Munro of the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council. *** AP Aug 4, 2007 5 arrested protesting Hiroshima bombings at US nuclear weapons plant The Associated Press OAK RIDGE, Tennessee: Five protesters were arrested at a U.S. nuclear weapons plant during a demonstration marking the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. The five were arrested on charges of obstructing a roadway at the entrance of the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, where much of the work was done for the World War II-era Manhattan Project, which developed the bomb. About 200 protesters were at the plant, and several other events were planned throughout the week for Monday's 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and the Aug. 9 anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. The protests have been held at the Y-12 plant for nearly 20 years. Oak Ridge Police Capt. Alan Massengill said four of the protesters may face additional charges for chaining themselves with a bicycle chain to a barricade in front of the plant. One of those arrested, a Catholic nun, was released on her own recognizance, but the other four were taken into custody, said Ralph Hutchison, a coordinator with the Oak Ridge Peace Alliance. "Things went smoothly. Our goal is to have a nonviolent event celebrating the spirit of peace," Hutchison said. The archives of South News can be found at http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/ * ================================================================= .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org . List Archives: https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ . Subscribe: https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 46 Nagasaki and the Second Bomb Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 07:16:51 -0500 (CDT) Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org ___________________________________________________ Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Nagasaki and the Second Bomb August 9 is the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. WILLIAM D. HARTUNG, hartung@newamerica.net, http://www.newamerica.net/people/william_d_hartung Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the New America Foundation. He said today: "Even more so than Hiroshima, the U.S. decision drop a second atomic bomb -- this time on Nagasaki -- is still viewed as an act of incredible cruelty in much of the world. Amazingly enough it is still U.S. policy to keep the nuclear option 'on the table' in dealings with actual and potential adversaries like Iran." Hartung added: "Not only does this immoral policy risk pushing Tehran towards getting the bomb itself, but it runs counter to international law, as evidenced by an historic World Court opinion that asserts that the only legitimate use of nuclear weapons is against another nuclear weapons state threatening to use it against one's country." JACQUELINE CABASSO, wslf@earthlink.net, http://www.wslfweb.org, http://www.wmdreport.org Cabasso is executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation and contributor to the just-released book "Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security? U.S. Weapons of Terror, the Global Proliferation Crisis and Paths to Peace." She said today: "As carried out against Iraq and threatened against Iran, the specter of nuclear weapons in the hands of 'rogue' states has become the United States' number one excuse for waging war. Sixty-two years after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bombs on two densely populated cities, killing more than 200,000 civilians, the threatened first use of nuclear weapons remains the 'cornerstone' of U.S. national security policy. Today, the U.S. retains some 10,000 nuclear weapons, is designing new ones, and is pouring billions of dollars into its nuclear weapons complex, while warning Iran that 'all options are on the table.' Who is threatening whom?" CARAH ONG, cong@armscontrolcenter.org, http://irannuclearwatch.blogspot.com Ong is Iran Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. She said today: "The Non-Proliferation Treaty was built on a basic bargain: the non-nuclear weapons states agreed to forego developing or otherwise acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for a commitment on the part of the nuclear weapons states to end the nuclear arms race at an early date and to engage in 'good faith' negotiations to achieve nuclear disarmament. For the treaty to succeed in its purpose, both sides of the bargain must be fulfilled. With a few notable exceptions, the non-nuclear weapons states have kept their end of the bargain. On the other hand, the nuclear weapons states have shown scant inclination to fulfill their disarmament commitments." WARD WILSON, ward@rethinkingnuclearweapons.org, http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/BCSIA_content/documents/IS3104_pp162-179_Wilson.pdf Wilson is the author of the article "The Winning Weapon? Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima," published in the journal International Security, which is edited at Harvard University. He said today: "[My] historical research shows that the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had apparently little or no impact on the Japanese decision to surrender. ... In the spring of 1945, Japan was already largely defeated and Japan's leaders knew it. ... [It was] the Soviet declaration of war on August 9, 1945, the same day as Nagasaki, that forced the Japanese to surrender. Many of the Japanese cities bombed that summer (there were 66 others) suffered similar damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ... Historians often point to Japanese statements made after the war as proof that the U.S. nuclear attack on Hiroshima was decisive. ... However, Japanese leaders had motives for concealing the truth. ... The bomb offered a convenient explanation to soothe wounded Japanese pride: the defeat of Japan was not the result of leadership mistakes or lack of valor; it was the result of an unexpected advance in science by Japan's enemy." For more information, contact the Institute for Public Accuracy at (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan at (541) 484-9167. _________________________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: public@lists.accuracy.org To be removed from the list, send any message to: public-unsubscribe@lists.accuracy.org For all list information and functions, including changing your subscription mode and options, visit the Web page: http://lists.accuracy.org/lists/info/public ***************************************************************** 47 no more hibakusha: Straightgoods.com Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 12:22:22 -0500 (CDT) from: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=407 No more hibakusha Hiroshima mayor observes 62nd A-bomb anniversary with annual Peace Declaration. Dateline: Monday, August 06, 2007 by Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor, The City of Hiroshima That fateful summer, 8:15. The roar of a B-29 breaks the morning calm. A parachute opens in the blue sky. Then suddenly, a flash, an enormous blast silence hell on Earth. The eyes of young girls watching the parachute were melted. Their faces became giant charred blisters. The skin of people seeking help dangled from their fingernails. Their hair stood on end. Their clothes were ripped to shreds. People trapped in houses toppled by the blast were burned alive. Others died when their eyeballs and internal organs burst from their bodiesHiroshima was a hell where those who somehow survived envied the dead. Within the year, 140,000 had died. Many who escaped death initially are still suffering from leukemia, thyroid cancer and a vast array of other afflictions. But there was more. Sneered at for their keloid scars, discriminated against in employment and marriage, unable to find understanding for profound emotional wounds, survivors suffered and struggled day after day, questioning the meaning of life. And yet, the message born of that agony is a beam of light now shining the way for the human family. To ensure that "no one else ever suffers as we did," the hibakusha have continuously spoken of experiences they would rather forget, and we must never forget their accomplishments in preventing a third use of nuclear weapons. Despite their best efforts, vast arsenals of nuclear weapons remain in high states of readinessdeployed or easily available. Proliferation is gaining momentum, and the human family still faces the peril of extinction. This is because a handful of old-fashioned leaders, clinging to an early 20th century worldview in thrall to the rule of brute strength, are rejecting global democracy, turning their backs on the reality of the atomic bombings and the message of the hibakusha. However, here in the 21st century the time has come when these problems can actually be solved through the power of the people. Former colonies have become independent. Democratic governments have taken root. Learning the lessons of history, people have created international rules prohibiting attacks on non-combatants and the use of inhumane weapons. They have worked hard to make the United Nations an instrument for the resolution of international disputes. And now city governments, entities that have always walked with and shared in the tragedy and pain of their citizens, are rising up. In the light of human wisdom, they are leveraging the voices of their citizens to lift international politics. Because "Cities suffer most from war," Mayors for Peace, with 1,698 city members around the world, is actively campaigning to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020.... whole article at: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=407 Penney Kome, author and journalist http://penneykome.ca Editor, Straight Goods, http://straightgoods.com ***************************************************************** 48 IPA: Nagasaki and the Second Bomb -- Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) August 8, 2007 Email to a Friend August 9 is the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. WILLIAM D. HARTUNG Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Project at the New America Foundation. He said today: "Even more so than Hiroshima, the U.S. decision drop a second atomic bomb -- this time on Nagasaki -- is still viewed as an act of incredible cruelty in much of the world. Amazingly enough it is still U.S. policy to keep the nuclear option 'on the table' in dealings with actual and potential adversaries like Iran." Hartung added: "Not only does this immoral policy risk pushing Tehran towards getting the bomb itself, but it runs counter to international law, as evidenced by an historic World Court opinion that asserts that the only legitimate use of nuclear weapons is against another nuclear weapons state threatening to use it against one's country." More Information JACQUELINE CABASSO Cabasso is executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation and contributor to the just-released book Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security? U.S. Weapons of Terror, the Global Proliferation Crisis and Paths to Peace. She said today: "As carried out against Iraq and threatened against Iran, the specter of nuclear weapons in the hands of 'rogue' states has become the United States' number one excuse for waging war. Sixty-two years after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bombs on two densely populated cities, killing more than 200,000 civilians, the threatened first use of nuclear weapons remains the 'cornerstone' of U.S. national security policy. Today, the U.S. retains some 10,000 nuclear weapons, is designing new ones, and is pouring billions of dollars into its nuclear weapons complex, while warning Iran that 'all options are on the table.' Who is threatening whom?" More Information More Information CARAH ONG Ong is Iran Policy Analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. She said today: "The Non-Proliferation Treaty was built on a basic bargain: the non-nuclear weapons states agreed to forego developing or otherwise acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for a commitment on the part of the nuclear weapons states to end the nuclear arms race at an early date and to engage in 'good faith' negotiations to achieve nuclear disarmament. For the treaty to succeed in its purpose, both sides of the bargain must be fulfilled. With a few notable exceptions, the non-nuclear weapons states have kept their end of the bargain. On the other hand, the nuclear weapons states have shown scant inclination to fulfill their disarmament commitments." More Information WARD WILSON Wilson is the author of the article "The Winning Weapon? Rethinking Nuclear Weapons in Light of Hiroshima," published in the journal International Security, which is edited at Harvard University. He said today: "[My] historical research shows that the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had apparently little or no impact on the Japanese decision to surrender. ... In the spring of 1945, Japan was already largely defeated and Japan's leaders knew it. ... [It was] the Soviet declaration of war on August 9, 1945, the same day as Nagasaki, that forced the Japanese to surrender. Many of the Japanese cities bombed that summer (there were 66 others) suffered similar damage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ... Historians often point to Japanese statements made after the war as proof that the U.S. nuclear attack on Hiroshima was decisive. ... However, Japanese leaders had motives for concealing the truth. ... The bomb offered a convenient explanation to soothe wounded Japanese pride: the defeat of Japan was not the result of leadership mistakes or lack of valor; it was the result of an unexpected advance in science by Japan's enemy." More Information For more information, contact the Institute for Public Accuracy at (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan at (541) 484-9167. ***************************************************************** 49 The Sunflower: Issue 121 - August 2007 eNewsletter of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation - The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to global security. Help us spread the word and forward this to a friend. Visit www.wagingpeace.org/donate to help sustain this valuable resource by making a donation. To receive our free monthly e-newsletter subscribe at www.wagingpeace.org/subscribe * Perspectives o Sixty-Two Years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings by David Krieger o Hiroshima Peace Declaration Marking the 62nd Anniversary of Atomic Bombing By Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima * Historical Perspectives o Japanese Defense Minister Resigns after Controversial Remarks o The Decision to Risk the Future: Harry Truman, the Atomic Bomb and the Apocalyptic Narrative by Peter J. Kuznick * Nuclear Insanity o US Investigators Obtain Nuclear Material with Ease o Dozens of Safety Lapses Discovered with Scottish Nuclear Convoy * Missile Defense o Russian President Proposes Placing Missile Shield Radar in Russia * Nuclear Energy and Waste o Japanese Nuclear Reactor Damaged in Earthquake * Resources o Report on Earthquake Damage to Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant o Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclear Power by Frank Barnaby and James Kemp o Action Kit on Radiation Standards o Administration Justifications for the Reliable Replacement Warhead Program * Foundation Activities o 13th Annual Sadako Peace Day o Peace Boat Concert for Peace o Think Outside the Bomb National Grassroots Conference, August 16th-19th o Toda/NAPF Conference: “The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons” o Peter, Paul & Mary -- Evening for Peace * Quotes Perspectives Sixty-Two Years after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings by David Krieger August 6 and 9, 2007 mark respectively the 62nd anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by a single atomic weapon with a core of enriched uranium. The blast, heat, fire and radiation killed 90,000 people almost immediately and 145,000 by the end of 1945. To read the rest of the article, please visit: http://wagingpeace.org/articles/2007/08/04_krieger_sixty-two_years_aft er.htm. Hiroshima Peace Declaration Marking the 62nd Anniversary of Atomic Bombing By Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima The government of Japan, the world’s only A-bombed nation, is duty-bound to humbly learn the philosophy of the hibakusha along with the facts of the atomic bombings and to spread this knowledge through the world. At the same time, to abide by international law and fulfill its good-faith obligation to press for nuclear weapons abolition, the Japanese government should take pride in and protect, as is, the Peace Constitution, while clearly saying “No,” to obsolete and mistaken US policies. We further demand, on behalf of the hibakusha whose average age now exceeds 74, improved and appropriate assistance, to be extended also to those living overseas or exposed in “black rain areas.” Sixty-two years after the atomic bombing, we offer today our heartfelt prayers for the peaceful repose of all its victims and of Iccho Itoh, the mayor of Nagasaki shot down on his way toward nuclear weapons abolition. Let us pledge here and now to take all actions required to bequeath to future generations a nuclear-weapon-free world. To read the rest of the statement, please visit: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/declaration/English/index.html. Historical Perspectives Japanese Defense Minister Resigns after Controversial Remarks On July 3rd, Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma resigned after making controversial remarks that were interpreted as justifying the US atomic bombings of Japan. The controversy began during a speech in which Kyuma said that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unavoidable because they were aimed at preventing the Soviet Union from entering the war against Japan. “I understand the bombings brought the war to an end. I think it was something that couldn’t be helped,” stated Kyuma during his speech. After his remarks, Kyuma faced increasing opposition and calls to resign. The Mayor of Nagasaki, Tomihisa Taue, visited with him in order to protest the comments. Speaking to reporters after his resignation, Kyuma said, “People do not seem to understand the intentions behind the remarks, so I told Prime Minister Abe that I need to take responsibility, and he accepted it.” “Kyuma Resigns Over A-bomb Gaffe. Defense Chief Becomes Latest Cabinet Casualty,” Kyodo News, 3 July 2007. The Decision to Risk the Future: Harry Truman, the Atomic Bomb and the Apocalyptic Narrative by Peter J. Kuznick In his personal narrative Atomic Quest, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Arthur Holly Compton, who directed atomic research at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory during the Second World War, tells of receiving an urgent visit from J. Robert Oppenheimer while vacationing in Michigan during the summer of 1942. Oppenheimer and the brain trust he assembled had just calculated the possibility that an atomic explosion could ignite all the hydrogen in the oceans or the nitrogen in the atmosphere. If such a possibility existed, Compton concluded, “these bombs must never be made.” As Compton said, “Better to accept the slavery of the Nazis than to run a chance of drawing the final curtain on mankind.”[1] Certainly, any reasonable human being could be expected to respond similarly. To read more, please visit: http://wagingpeace.org/articles/2007/07/23_decision_to_risk.htm. Nuclear Insanity US Investigators Obtain Nuclear Material with Ease According to a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, GAO investigators set up a fake firm and were able to obtain a license from the NRC in 28 days. The NRC approved the license after only a few faxes and phone calls. “From the date of application to the issuance of the license, the entire process lasted 28 days,” the GAO said. “GAO investigators essentially obtained a valid materials license from the NRC without ever leaving their desks.” The report also said that the agents were able to make fake copies of the license, change the wording to remove restriction on how much they were allowed to buy and then ordered enough radiological material to build a dirty bomb. The senior Republican on the panel that requested the investigation, Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, stated, “The NRC’s first visit to the facilities could be up to one year after the license was issued. That’s like handing out a gun license and waiting a year to do the background check.” Allen, JoAnne, “Fake Firm Gets Nuclear License in US Govt Sting,” Reuters, 12 July 2007. Dozens of Safety Lapses Discovered with Scottish Nuclear Convoy Nuclear bomb convoys passing through Scotland have had 67 safety lapses over the past seven years. The Scottish Ministry of Defense released a list of dozens of mechanical faults and equipment failures since 2000. Some of these items include fuel leaks, broken valves and several instances of engine and brake overheating. In February 2003, the clutch of a vehicle carrying bombs became inoperative and in January 2005, a fuse box started smoking when a heated windshield was turned on. There have also been several tire punctures and false alarms. The convoys that carry Trident missiles travel by road six times a year between the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire and the Royal Naval Armaments Depot in Coulport. David Mackenzie, a spokesman for Nukewatch, which monitors the convoys, accused the government of putting people’s lives at risk. “Transporting plutonium and high explosive in the same truck shows an incredible disregard for public safety,” he said. An accident could have “catastrophic consequences,” according to John Ainslie, coordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. “These latest disclosures reveal there have been an alarming number of incidents involving the transport of weapons of mass destruction across Britain.” Edwards, Rob, “Nuclear Convoys in 67 Scottish Safety Incidents,” Sunday Herald, 14 July 2007. Missile Defense Russian President Proposes Placing Missile Shield Radar in Russia On July 2nd, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed placing a new radar facility in Russia for the European-based US missile defense shield. This new proposal came during a two-day meeting in Maine between President Bush and President Putin. The meeting was designed to ease the increasingly frayed relations between the US and Russia. Russia has adamantly opposed US plans to deploy anti-missile facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic, claiming that they are a threat to Russian security. In the past few months, President Putin has threatened to withdraw from a conventional-forces treaty and implied that Bush’s international policies are similar to those of Nazi Germany. Addressing the proposal, the Russian president stated, “There would be no need to place any more facilities in Europe. If Bush accepts, it would transform US-Russian ties. The relations between our two countries would be raised to an entirely new level. Gradually, our relations would become those of a strategic partnership nature.” Although the newest proposal caught Bush and his advisors off-guard, Putin had previously suggested using a radar facility in Azerbaijan instead of building a facility in the Czech Republic. US officials argued that the Azerbaijan facility would be too antiquated to target incoming missiles. Responding to US officials at this most recent meeting, Putin stated that Russia would modernize the Azerbaijan facility or build an entirely new facility in southern Russia if needed. President Bush called Putin’s proposal “very constructive and bold,” but would not stop plans to install systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Bush administration's plan for a missile defense shield also faced opposition in Congress this month when a committee cut the $139 million request for a missile interceptor system in Poland. Baker, Peter, “Putin Proposes Broader Cooperation on Missile Defense,” Washington Post, 3 July 2007. Nuclear Energy and Waste Japanese Nuclear Reactor Damaged in Earthquake Data released regarding the Japanese Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant shows that it was not built to withstand a powerful earthquake like the one that hit Niigata, Japan. The plant was damaged when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 occurred 16 kilometers from the facility. According to the information released, the nuclear plant was only designed to withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5. Additionally, the fault line where the earthquake occurred extends beneath the nuclear plant, raising serious safety concerns. Although the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that radioactive iodine had been detected in the filter of an exhaust pipe of one of the seven reactors at the complex, the Agency says there is no danger of any impact on the environment or possible damage to nuclear fuel. According to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), the damage to the reactor was more severe than reported. According to a NIRS report, 400 barrels of radioactive waste were knocked over and lost their lids, contaminating structures within the plant. Three-hundred-seventeen gallons of radioactive water spilled in the Sea of Japan from an irradiated fuel pool unit at the plant. Also, one of the reactors has been venting radioactive steam into the air since the earthquake began. There is currently no information on the potential effect of the radiation being released. “Temblor Topped Reactor Design Premise,” Japan Times, 20 July 2007. Resources Report on Earthquake Damage to Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant This is a a brief report from Nuclear Information and Resource Service on damage to Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power facility caused by last month’s earthquake. To read the report, visit: http://www.nirs.org/international/asia/reportonearthquakedamage71907.p df. Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclear Power by Frank Barnaby and James Kemp This briefing paper argues that a worldwide nuclear renaissance is beyond the capacity of the nuclear industry to deliver and would stretch to breaking point the capacity of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor and safeguard civil nuclear power. If this happened, the authors argue that governments would need to again review energy policy - minus civil nuclear power - further delaying progress towards a sustainable and secure energy policy, and possibly causing the UK and other countries to miss the window of opportunity to tackle climate change. This briefing paper is one of a series of reports and fact sheets published as part of Oxford Research Group’s Secure Energy Project. To read the briefing paper, visit: http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/briefing_papers/pdf /toohottohandle.pdf. Action Kit on Radiation Standards Current radiation standards focus solely on cancer risk and do not consider risk for other diseases or reproductive harm, such as birth defects or early miscarriage. Although based on a man, the current standard fails men too, because it doesn’t take into account their capacity to become fathers. The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research has designed an Action Kit for use in local communities. The Action Kit provides resources anyone can use to educate friends, neighbors, colleagues, classmates and community members about this important issue. It includes a downloadable, printable handbill, talking points and a sign-up sheet for use in collecting signatures for a letter to the White House in support of this important campaign. Download the kit at: http://www.ieer.org/campaign/actionkit.html. Administration Justifications for the Reliable Replacement Warhead Program The US Secretaries of State, Defense and Energy have released a statement in an attempt to justify, to Congress and the public, the increasingly controversial Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. While the Secretaries argue that the implementation of the RRW program is necessary in order to maintain a credible deterrent, critics have questioned the program’s necessity on scientific, fiscal, and moral grounds. To read the report, visit: http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/docs/factsheets/2007/NA-07-FS-04.pdf. Foundation Activities 13th Annual Sadako Peace Day On August 9th the Foundation will host its 13th Annual Sadako Peace Day. The day will commemorate the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as remember Sadako, a young Hiroshima victim who has inspired millions to fold paper cranes in the name of peace and nuclear disarmament. Please join us for poetry, song and reflections. This is a free event, open to the public. It will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Sadako Peace Garden, La Casa de Maria, 800 El Bosque Road, Montecito, CA. For more information, please call the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation at (805) 965-3443 or visit our website at: www.wagingpeace.org. We want you to be part of this ceremony for peace, no matter where you live. Please send us your messages and prayers for peace. We will list all messages on our website and select several to read at our Peace Day ceremony. To send a message, please visit: http://wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/public-events/sadako-peace-day/20 07/sadako_msg_add.php. Peace Boat Concert for Peace Peace Boat’s Third Annual “People Build Peace” concert will be held in New York City on August 9th. The Foundation is joining with ten other civil society organizations to co-sponsor this event. The concert coincides with the arrival of Peace Boat’s ship to New York City, and will bring the rhythms of the world to the United Nations. Peace Boat is a chartered passenger ship that travels the world on peace voyages. The ship creates a neutral, mobile space and enables people to engage across borders in dialogue and mutual cooperation at sea and in the ports that it visits. The concert’s featured acts will include Asiko, Yucca Seca Band, Pete Seeger and the Walkabout Clearwater Chorus, Absolute Bhangra, and The Blue Vipers. There will also be Japanese modern dance, arts projects, speakers and more. The “People Building Peace” concert will be held Thursday, August 9th, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (East 47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues across from the United Nations). For more information, please contact Peace Boat at: (212) 687-7214 or info@peaceboat-us.org. Think Outside the Bomb National Grassroots Conference, August 16th-19th The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is pleased to announce its sixth Think Outside the Bomb conference, which will take place at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The four-day event will provide a backdrop for nuclear abolitionists, peace activists, ecologists and other advocates of social justice and a livable planet to learn in-depth about the threat of nuclear weapons, the destruction caused by the nuclear fuel chain, and current political opportunities to move toward nuclear disarmament. We will develop detailed strategies to guide the Think Outside the Bomb network’s efforts toward achieving a nuclear weapons-free world. The conference will feature discussion panels, workshops, dialogues and skills trainings. These sessions will be designed to help participants attain a detailed understanding of how to continue building a powerful grassroots movement for nuclear abolition. Speakers will include leading grassroots activists, nuclear weapons specialists, a Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor, leading advocates of indigenous sovereignty and many others. For more information on the conference, please visit www.thinkoutsidethebomb.org, or contact Will Parrish at youth@napf.org or (805) 965-3443. Toda/NAPF Conference: “The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons” From September 7th-9th an international conference cosponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the Toda Institute will convene in San Francisco. The conference will bring together 25 leading figures in the nuclear weapons abolition movement from around the world. Participants will come together to discuss strategies for moving forward in achieving a world free of nuclear weapons. The conference papers will be published in book-form following the conference. Peter, Paul & Mary -- Evening for Peace For more than four decades, Peter, Paul & Mary have sounded the call for peace with songs as potent as they are sweet. The trio has been an inspiration for millions of people, creating close musical harmony even as they work for greater social harmony in the world. We’re excited to let you know that on the evening of September 17th, in Santa Barbara, the trio will receive the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2007 Distinguished Peace Leadership Award. Past recipients include the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jacques Cousteau, Helen Caldicott and Walter Cronkite. This year we are doing something new: we are creating an intimate evening with Peter, Paul & Mary as the centerpiece. In providing the trio the space to share their own inspiring experience, and through the incorporation of powerful archival film footage, we hope to animate an era, similar to our own, during which people were weary of war and were actively involved in the pursuit of peace. By choosing to support our Evening for Peace, you will be helping the Foundation in its efforts to create a world free of nuclear weapons and to develop new peace leaders among our youth. Please visit this website if you would like to be put on our invitation list for this special Evening for Peace: http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/public-events/evening-for-pea ce/2007/index.htm. Quotes “We’ve been getting a lot of signals from Iran that they want to talk. Pay less attention to the rantings of [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad and pay more attention to the comments of [Iran’s top nuclear negotiator] Larijani. -- Vice President for National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress, Joseph Cirincione, talking about the future of Iranian nuclear policy. “Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT): While supporting the continued voluntary moratorium on testing, the Administration strongly opposes a provision of Section 3122 that calls for the ratification of the CTBT.” -- Statement of Bush administration policy, explicitly opposing a comprehensive nuclear test-ban. “Brazil could rank among those few nations in the world with a command of uranium enrichment technology, and I think we will be more highly valued as a nation -- as the power we wish to be.” -- President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, announcing intentions to relaunch the country’s nuclear program and promising to complete a third atomic power plant and a nuclear submarine. “The President cannot re-write laws during a closed-door negotiation session with a foreign government. Though some of us disagreed during last year’s debate over nuclear cooperation with India, all of us are intent on defending the prerogatives of Congress and reinforcing that the law must be followed without exceptions." -- Massachusetts Congressman, Edward Markey, responding to concerns that the current nuclear agreement between India and the United States may not be consistent with US law. Editorial Team Andrew Culp David Krieger Vicki Stevenson Nicholas Robinson Nickolas Roth Rick Wayman ***************************************************************** 50 DOE: DOE Launches Major Initiative to Increase Energy Savings Across the Nationwide DOE Complex by 30 Percent August 8, 2007 NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today launched the Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) Initiative, a Department-wide effort aimed at reducing energy intensity across the nationwide DOE complex by 30 percent. The TEAM Initiative aims to meet or exceed the aggressive goals for increasing energy efficiency throughout the federal government already laid out by President Bush. Reducing energy intensity by 30 percent across the DOE complex will save approximately $90 million in taxpayer dollars per year, after projects are paid for. “As the federal government’s lead agency on energy management, DOE will have raised the bar with TEAM Initiative,” Secretary Bodman said. “Over the next few years, DOE will leverage every possible public and private resource to improve our energy performance and reduce our energy intensity. By fundamentally transforming the way the Department manages energy use in its facilities, not only will we be able to achieve the President’s ambitious goals for increasing efficiency, but it will also allow for a cleaner, leaner and more efficient federal government.” This Initiative meets or exceeds energy efficiency goals mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) as well as President Bush’s Executive Order (EO #13423), announced in January 2007, which directed federal agencies to: reduce energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions; substantially increase use and efficiency of renewable energy technologies; adopt sustainable design practices; and reduce petroleum use in federal fleets. This Initiative adopts an even more ambitious timeline and targets changes that will have an impact on DOE’s energy use as early as next year. Specifically, TEAM Initiative requires that: * By 2008, DOE have in place executable plans for all facilities to reduce energy intensity by 30 percent; * The Department maximize installation of secure, on-site renewable energy projects at all DOE sites and/or optimize affordable purchases of renewable electricity; * DOE’s entire Alternative Fuel Vehicles fleet operate exclusively on clean, alternative fuels; * DOE benchmark and monitor water use and implement a plan - and begin saving water - by Fiscal Year 2008 to reduce consumption by at least 16 percent. * New DOE construction, major renovations, and 15 percent of existing federal capital asset building inventory incorporate the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings, ultimately aspiring to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification, or comparable certification; * The Department use Environmental Management Systems to ensure implementation of, and provide the supporting framework for, these activities. By setting aggressive goals and timelines, and streamlining contract approval for change, and increasing use of private financing to make improvements, TEAM Initiative will end DOE’s incremental approach to saving energy. These goals cannot be achieved without the expanded use of Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), Energy Service Companies (ESCOs), and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESCs) provided by utility companies. ESPCs and UESCs are unique contracting vehicles, allowing agencies to complete needed energy savings projects for their facilities. ESCOs and utilities provide the private financing required for equipment purchases and process enhancements and are subsequently repaid from the revenues generated from energy cost savings resulting from improved energy efficiency. Many of the measures implemented will require up-front investments, such as advanced lighting, heating, and air conditioning. The Department anticipates it will use some appropriated funds for these energy-saving projects, however it will maximize use of alternative financing tools, such as ESPCs and UESCs to fund major portions of TEAM Initiative. The federal government is largest single user of energy in the United States, and DOE is the second largest energy consumer of all civilian federal agencies. The Department’s facilities comprise of approximately 110 million square feet, and include more than 14,000 vehicles in its fleet. DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program provides support for federal agencies to save energy, as well as improve facilities through ESPCs and UESCs. Since 2001, ESPCs and UESCs enabled through DOE programs have financed over $851 million in energy improvements at federal facilities. Secretary Bodman made today’s announcement while delivering closing remarks at the 10th GovEnergy 2007 conference, which brings together federal facility managers to discuss and implement energy management strategies. This year’s conference attracted record attendance, topping 2,000 people. Media contact(s): Julie Lynn Ruggiero, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 51 DOE: DOE Announces Energy Assistance for New Orleans Public Schools August 8, 2007 DOE Encourages Rebuilding Effort’s Focus on Efficiency NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced that DOE’s EnergySmart Schools Program will commit up to $1.5 million in technical assistance to provide as many as 75 comprehensive energy audits in public schools throughout the New Orleans area, identifying up to 25 percent in potential energy savings. Audits will include analysis of heating and cooling systems, lighting, and structural elements, such as roofing and building envelope assessments. In support of energy efficient rebuilding in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast, these comprehensive audits will lay out opportunities for New Orleans’ public schools to save up to $1 million annually on utility bills. “The Department of Energy is eager to provide assistance to New Orleans’ schools to promote efficiency with safe, cost-effective and durable technologies,” Secretary Bodman said. “President Bush has called on all Americans to be more energy efficient. Improvements made in New Orleans’ schools will impact how America’s next generation views and uses energy.” Secretary Bodman made today’s announcement while visiting the Pierre A. Capdau Charter School in New Orleans. P.A. Capdau was one of the first schools in the recovery area to receive a comprehensive energy audit last week; the first round of audits was completed last week by a team of DOE experts. With support from DOE, the Entergy Corporation and others, P.A. Capdau is also one of many local schools vying to install 25-kilowatt (kW) solar panel systems. These installations are expected to offset a sizable portion of schools’ energy consumption, saving each school roughly $4,000 annually on utility bills. Identifying energy efficiency improvements through an energy audit is the first step in energy efficient retrofits in existing buildings. These comprehensive audits will identify high priority upgrades achievable with minimal up front costs and a return on investment in approximately 3-5 years. DOE will also assist in the design of new schools that are 30 percent more efficient than current building codes. EnergySmart schools can be constructed and operated on a cost-neutral basis where the energy savings offsets any upfront costs. Energy is often the second-largest cost of school operations, after personnel. Because schools serve as community centers, energy efficient schools can be role models for redeveloping and developing communities. Additionally, high-efficiency schools will serve as hands-on learning laboratories for students. Secretary Bodman also announced the upcoming release of The Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings, a collaboration between DOE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (also known as “ASHRAE”), the American Institute of Architects, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. The Guide focuses specifically on guidelines for those designing and building energy efficient schools, which would achieve at least 30 percent energy savings above typical building codes. The Guide recommends practical, integrated solutions using currently available, off-the-shelf technologies that result in minimal upfront costs. The technical recommendations developed for the design guide have been provided to the New Orleans Recovery School District to aid in their planning and design efforts. While at P.A. Capdau School, Secretary Bodman also recognized the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and its Executive Director Andy Kopplin for the organization’s efforts to make energy efficiency a top priority in the rebuilding effort. As the planning and coordinating body for the recovery and rebuilding of Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, LRA has exemplified leadership in energy efficiency. In December 2005, Louisiana adopted the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code to ensure its citizens realize the benefits of energy efficiency in new residential buildings. LRA has worked diligently to streamline implementation of the new building codes. LRA has also taken steps, through its “Louisiana Speaks” Program, to ensure that efficient and durable rebuilding honors the region’s unique culture and architecture. DOE’s EnergySmart Schools Program focuses on promoting energy efficiency in new and existing K-12 facilities; reducing energy use and costs; improving the learning environment, educating school personnel about planning, financing and operating energy-efficient, high-performance buildings; and providing technical guidance and training to building industry professionals and develop media materials and case studies about existing schools. Read more information on DOE’s EnergySmart Schools Program. Media contact(s): Julie Lynn Ruggiero, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 52 Rocky Mountain News: Health chief rejects appeal for Flats aid Congressmen vow to draft new bill to help ill workers By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News August 8, 2007 The U.S. health secretary said Tuesday he is denying a request from Colorado's congressional delegation for immediate aid to all former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons workers with radiation-related cancers. So those lawmakers say they plan to introduce new legislation to help the ill workers. The lawmakers also are eyeing changes to the law that created the national compensation program, which has come under growing criticism for failing ill weapons workers. "I am disappointed in the decision because Rocky Flats workers, who are among our country's heroes of the Cold War, will not have their medical issues effectively addressed," Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., said in a letter to Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Rep. Mark Udall, an Eldorado Springs Democrat whose district includes the former weapons complex northwest of Denver, said it was time for Congress to act: "If the Bush administration will not do the right thing by these workers, I hope Congress will." Jennifer Thompson, a former Flats worker, filed a petition with a presidential advisory board two years ago to help all sick Flats workers. The board recommended to Leavitt that only a small group receive expedited medical coverage and $150,000 each in compensation. Records of those workers' exposures to highly dangerous neutron radiation are missing. Leavitt agreed with the advisory panel and will forward the recommendation to Congress. Thompson said the workers will file an appeal of Leavitt's decision within 30 days. A panel appointed by Leavitt will hear the appeal. "I don't know how you can get an independent decision when the person who made the decision appoints the people to review it," she said. If Congress goes along with Leavitt's recommendation, help would go to Flats workers with any of 22 radiation-related cancers who worked from 1952 to 1966 . The size of that group is not known but it is expected to be small. The rest of more than 22,000 former atomic bomb makers from Rocky Flats will have to try to prove that their work made them ill. One in 10 Rocky Flats workers who qualified for compensation died before getting it. Frankl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5091 © 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 53 KMGH: Rocky Flats Workers Lose Appeal On Compensation - Denver Special Status Limit Stands, Not Extending It To More Workers UPDATED: 8:03 pm MDT August 7, 2007 DENVER, Colo. -- 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. Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. © 2007, Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. ***************************************************************** 54 Knoxville News Sentinel: Nun gets 20 days for peace protest at Y-12 Sister convicted of obstructing roadway By Bob Fowler (Contact) Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Three peace activists wait for their court appearance Tuesday in Oak Ridge. Billie Jo Hickey, 58, left, Elizabeth Brockman, 44, and Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch, 70, were arrested Saturday for blocking a roadway in front of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. OAK RIDGE — A Roman Catholic nun repeatedly jailed for acts of civil disobedience received a 20-day sentence Tuesday for her latest conviction. Elizabeth Ann Lentsch, 70, of Oak Ridge, also known as Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch, was convicted of obstructing a roadway in front of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Lentsch has been in the Anderson County Jail since her arrest Saturday. Anderson County General Sessions Judge Ron Murch handed down her latest sentence following a minutes-long bench trial. Lentsch and four other peace activists were arrested during the annual Hiroshima Day demonstration at the weapons plant. For years, demonstrations have been staged in August to coincide with the anniversary of the day an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Another trial is scheduled to start today in Anderson County Criminal Court for three people — including a Catholic priest and a Presbyterian minister — arrested during last year’s Y-12 plant protest. Priest Thomas G. Lumpkin, 58, of Detroit, the Rev. Erik T. Johnson, 63, of Maryville and Pamela L. Beziat, 61, of Nashville were cited on misdemeanor charges last August for obstructing the roadway at Y-12. Lentsch, who volunteers for the YWCA of Oak Ridge and for Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliances, has twice served time in federal prison for convictions stemming from acts of civil disobedience. She served a two-month sentence in the federal lockup in Lexington, Ky., for trespassing at the Y-12 plant in 2002. The nun then spent six months in the same federal prison last year for trespassing at Fort Benning, Ga. Lentsch and about 30 others crossed a fence during a November 2005 demonstration against a training center that some blame for human-rights violations in Latin America. The other protesters in Saturday’s demonstration pleaded guilty Tuesday to the misdemeanor citations. Three first-time offenders were fined $25 and received 30-day jail sentences that were suspended. Elizabeth V. Brockman, 44, of Durham, N.C., told the judge she’d been previously convicted of a similar offense. She was sentenced to five days in jail and given credit for the three days she’s been locked up since her arrest. Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 55 Knoxville News Sentinel: There's a lot at stake in Oak Ridge cleanup By Frank Munger (Contact) Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Two hundred years from now, there may not be an Oak Ridge National Laboratory or a Y-12 National Security Complex. There’s no telling how long these government institutions will reside in East Tennessee. But one thing’s for sure: The radioactive remnants of ORNL and Y-12 will hang around essentially forever. Some of the radioactive materials generated during research and production activities, beginning with the World War II work on the atomic bomb, will take thousands, even millions, of years to decay. That’s one reason the cleanup decisions of today are so important, and that’s also why it’s important for the public to be involved in those decisions. Should there be a giant stone monolith at each of the Oak Ridge burial sites warning future generations, “Don’t Dig Here”? What happens when security fences rust away and 23rd-century developers are drilling for water to support their next big thing? What’s right for a time that’s so far away? “It’s extremely difficult because you are making decisions for many future generations,” John Owsley, the state’s environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge, said recently. So much has been done over the past 25 years to reduce the pollutant discharges and clean up hazardous messes on the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge reservation. Indeed, the federal attitude may have changed most of all. A quarter-century ago, DOE was still defending its pollution practices and denying the risks of Cold War legacies in Oak Ridge. DOE is now an advocate for a clean environment, but that doesn’t mean all the decisions made by agency officials are wise and good. That’s why environmental regulators keep tabs on compliance, and that’s why environmental laws include the opportunity for public input in the decision-making. Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the Local Oversight Committee, recently said she thinks there’s more apathy than in years past, and I agree with her assessment. Maybe it’s complacency or changing priorities. The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, once a major influence on environmental activities in Oak Ridge, shifted its emphasis a few years ago to concentrate more on peace issues. OREPA, however, still gets involved when there are issues involving the future operation of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant — such as the upcoming Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement to support modernization of Y-12 facilities. The Local Oversight Committee, which reviews environmental programs on behalf of local governments in the area, has a citizens advisory panel that’s open to people with an interest in the environment and keeping tabs on how the government spends billions of taxpayer dollars. For more information, visit the LOC’s Web site at www.local-oversight.org. There also is a federally chartered Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, which advises DOE’s Oak Ridge office on environmental issues. The board has up to 20 members from various backgrounds. Its monthly meetings are open to everyone and often include briefings from environmental program managers at DOE. For more information on the Site Specific Advisory Board, visit www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab/. Of course, you don’t have to be a member of a board or a club or work in the news media to get involved. Decisions on major environmental actions require opportunities for public participation, and those meetings are typically advertised in local newspapers or with public service announcements on radio. The documents supporting environmental actions are available at DOE’s Information Center at 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike. Turn out. Speak up. Affect the future. Senior writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News Sentinel. He may be reached at 865-342-6329 or at munger@knews.com. This column is also available in the opinion section of knoxnews.com. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 56 DOE: DOE to Provide up to $21.5 million for Research to Improve Vehicle Efficiency August 7, 2007 BENTON HARBOR, MI – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced the Department will award a total of up to $21.5 million for eleven cost-shared research and development (R&D) projects that aim to improve the fuel efficiency of light-duty vehicle engines. These projects, selected for negotiation of awards, will focus on three areas: improving fuel utilization in ethanol-powered engines (engine optimization), developing advanced lubrication systems, and exploring high efficiency, clean combustion engines. Projects announced today will help advance President Bush’s 20-in-10 Initiative, which calls for displacing 20 percent of gasoline usage by 2017 through increased use of clean, renewable fuels, and improved vehicle efficiency. “We expect this research to make significant strides toward maximizing an engine’s performance in a cleaner, more economical manner,” Secretary Bodman said. “Increasing the use of clean, renewable fuels will not only help reduce our reliance on imported oil, but will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions for a more secure energy future.” Combined with industry investment, the eleven projects will total nearly $43 million to support improvement of engine and combustion systems for the next generation of efficient vehicles. Improving the engine of an FFV can increase performance and fuel economy, and decrease emissions. Funding is expected to begin this year (Fiscal Year 2007, $3.1 million) and continue through FY2010 (FY’08 - $8.6 million; FY’09 - $7.4 million; FY’10 - $2.6 million), subject to appropriations from Congress. Optimization of Engines for Ethanol Use Seven of the eleven projects selected total up to $15.3 million in DOE funding and will focus specifically on improving flexible-fuel engines and light-duty vehicles that operate on ethanol-gasoline blends up to 85 percent ethanol by volume (E-85). Research will seek to take advantage of favorable properties of ethanol blends without diminishing gasoline fuel efficiency. Projects selected for negotiation of awards include: Delphi Automotive Systems LLC in Troy, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $2.2 million for a project to demonstrate a vehicle with an E-85 optimized engine, yielding up to 30 percent fuel efficiency improvement. Wayne State University will partner with Delphi. Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $3.2 million for a project to explore the use of knock-suppression properties of ethanol with increased compression ratios to allow use of smaller, more fuel efficient engines. General Motors Corporation in Pontiac, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $1.9 million for a project to develop a cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) combustion prototype, allowing for smaller engines without loss of engine power; this could result in as much as a 15 percent fuel economy improvement. General Motors will partner with Ricardo Inc. for this effort. Robert Bosch LLC in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $1.5 million for a project to implement an integrated hardware-software system, yielding gasoline-like fuel economy when operating on E-85. Robert Bosch will partner with Ricardo and University of Michigan for this effort. Siemens Government Services, Inc. in Reston, Virginia, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $3 million for a project to investigate the potential of a turbocharged, direct-injection engine operating on E-85 to improve combustion and fuel economy as well as lower exhaust emissions. Siemens will partner with AVL Engineering and Rousch Engineering for this effort. TIAX LLC in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $1.2 million for a project to develop a novel, high-efficiency engine system for an FFV that not only operates on any blend of ethanol up to E-85, but is projected to exceed the efficiency of a conventional gasoline engine when operated with the highest blends of ethanol (e.g., E85 or higher). TIAX will partner with Monsanto and John Deere for this effort. Visteon Corporation in Van Buren Township, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $2.3 million for a project to achieve gasoline-like fuel economy when using E-85 by minimizing thermal, dynamic, volumetric, and other system efficiency losses. Visteon will partner with DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, Mahle Powertrain, and Michigan State University for this effort. Developing Advanced Lubrication Systems Caterpillar Inc. in Mossville, Illinois, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $491,000 to develop an environmentally friendly lubricant additive for enhancing an engine’s fuel efficiency. Caterpillar will partner with DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, NanoMech LLC, and the University of Arkansas for this effort. Exploring High Efficiency, Clean Combustion Engines Three projects have been selected for negotiation of awards up to $5.7 million to develop advanced combustion engines for light-duty vehicles. Selected projects will take advantage of complementary properties among combustion, fuels, and emission control technologies to develop clean, high-efficiency engines. Projects selected for negotiation of awards include: Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $2.4 million for a project to improve fuel efficiency of a state-of-the-art light-duty diesel engine by 10.5 percent, while maintaining Tier 2, Bin 5 emission levels. Cummins will partner with Daimler-Chrysler and BP for this effort. Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $1.3 million for a project to use diesel-boosting technologies to improve efficiency and performance of advanced, low-temperature combustion engines. Ford will partner with ConceptsNREC, Wayne State University, and FEV Global for this effort. Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, has been selected for negotiation of an award of up to $2 million for a project to develop advanced, low-temperature combustion designs for diesel engines using biofuel blends optimized for engine performance. Michigan State will partner with Ford Motor Company for this effort. Advancing vehicle technologies is a significant part of DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program, which works on developing vehicle technologies and clean, renewable fuels that could directly advance President Bush’s 20-in-10 Initiative by dramatically reducing the demand for petroleum, decrease emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, and enable the U.S. transportation industry to sustain a strong, competitive position in domestic and world markets. Media contact(s): Julie Ruggiero, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************