***************************************************************** 10/04/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.233 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 US: Reuters: US to provide loan guarantees for energy projects 2 US: AT: Sen. Domenici leaves mark on U.S. budget, energy policy, men NUCLEAR REACTORS 3 US: Amory Lovins: Nuclear is Uneconomical, Saving 75% Of US Electric 4 The Hindu: 'Left parties stand on Indo-US deal would weaken UPA' 5 Earth Times: Belarus aims to participate in Lithuanian nuclear power 6 US: www.kansascity.com: Nuclear power back on the front burner 7 The Hindu: 'Left parties stand on Indo-US deal would weaken UPA' 8 The Hindu: Lalu Prasad hints at mid-term poll for LS 9 US: DOE: DOE Cites Bechtel National Incorporated for Price-Anderson 10 US: Epoch Times: Nuclear Power's New Dawn 11 US: Casper Star Tribune: Idaho gov puts focus on nukes 12 US: Tri-Town News: Board's Oyster Creek decision due in late fall 13 US: toledoblade.com: Fermi 2 shuts down for overhaul 14 US: toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse ex-workers called liars as trial be 15 US: toledoblade.com: Court told of failed bid to shut Davis-Besse 16 US: toledoblade.com: Residue on reactor should have been warning, co 17 US: Burlington Free Press: Vermont doesn't trust NRC, Sanders says 18 US: Rutland Herald: NRC: Yankee collapse raises questions 19 US: Rutland Herald: Yankee safety record under fire 20 US: Tri-Town News: Congressmen contest NRC's safety standards 21 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy: Uprate not responsible 22 US: Brattleboro Reformer: NRC gathers more testimony on VY plant saf 23 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Sanders pushes for inspections of reactors 24 US: Tri-Town News: Oyster Creek drywell corrosion raises concerns 25 US: Reuters: Entergy revises payment terms for 2 New York nukes 26 Reuters: British Energy's Hunterston nuclear power plant shuts 27 US: Reuters: Southern Ala. Farley 2 reactor shut | 28 US: Vermont Public Radio: Governor skeptical of increased oversight 29 US: emporiagazette.com: Wolf Creek hearing | 30 US: Knoxville News Sentinel: Tower of power 31 US: NRC: NRC Meeting Oct. 24 in Mineral, Va., to Discuss Review Proc 32 US: Business Week: A U.S. Nuclear Power Renaissance 33 US: NRC: NRC Seeks Comment on Draft Rule For New Reactor Aircraft Im NUCLEAR SECURITY NUCLEAR SAFETY 34 US: Independent: Blast from the past; More than 40% of downwinders' 35 US: The Enquirer: Radiation records revealed 36 US: Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii chemical arms disposal costing $4.6M 37 US: WN: Native Women Mark Autumn in Nuclear Shadows 38 US: The Enquirer: Energy secretary suggests settlement 39 US: The Enquirer: Plaque doesn't end pain 40 US: The Enquirer: Life of achievements, accusations 41 US: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Nuclear workers granted special statu 42 US: Rocky Mountain News: Shortcomings found in review process for il 43 US: Guardian Unlimited: N.M. Senator Quitting for Health Reasons NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 44 Las Vegas SUN: Energy Department says Yucca Mountain faces funding s 45 US: aiken standard: One of the 11 proposed sites for the possible re 46 US: Seacoastonline.com: Cask storage moves ahead 47 US: Ventura County Star: Ex-owners of Halaco site seek to limit liab 48 Scotsman.com: Dounreay chiefs confirm plan for robots to tackle clea 49 US: MetroWest Daily News: More radioactive waste reported at Covanta PEACE 50 [NYTr] Israel, US reject call for nuke-free region 51 Guardian Unlimited: PM using troop pullout to distance himself from 52 The Korea Times: Full Text of Joint Declaration 53 Digital Chosunilbo: Build Robot Korean Scientists to Fix Nuke Plants 54 BBC NEWS: Activist rescued at nuclear base 55 US: AFP: US to test response to massive dirty bomb attack 56 Economist.com: Korean summit | It'll cost you | 57 Reuters: CHRONOLOGY-Deadlines, delays since North Korea's nuclear te 58 Kommersant Moscow: Missile Defense Stalemate - US DEPT. OF ENERGY 59 DOE: DOE Official in Salt Lake City to Launch Change a Light, 60 DOE: DOE Announces Final Rule for Loan Guarantee Program 61 Tri-City Herald: Former CIA director discusses U.S. energy security 62 Hanford News: Work to begin on new roof for historic B Reactor 63 Tri-City Herald: DOE to issue fine over vit plant 64 lamonitor.com: Cleanup talk focuses on process 65 Oak Ridger: DOE funding OK - 66 Oak Ridger: Mason: Energy again an issue and national lab can help - 67 NAS Project: Review of DOE's Nuclear Energy Research & Development P 68 NewsBlaze: DOE Cites Bechtel National Incorporated for Price-Anderso ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Reuters: US to provide loan guarantees for energy projects Thu Oct 4, 2007 4:35pm EDT By Tom Doggett WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. government hopes to encourage investment in clean energy by agreeing to repay a portion of the commercial loans that fund alternative-energy projects, in the event of default in the financing. The loan guarantees could cover financing for refineries that produce ethanol made from farm waste, electric generating plants that capture greenhouse gas emissions and other clean-energy projects. The U.S. Energy Department issued final regulations for the loan guarantees on Thursday. Congress has already authorized the Energy Department to issue up to $4 billion in loan guarantees and the White House has asked for $9 billion more for the 2008 spending year which began on Oct. 1. "Loan guarantees aim to stimulate investment and commercialization of clean energy technologies to reduce our nation's reliance on foreign sources of energy," said U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman. Under the regulations, the department can guarantee repayment on up to 100 percent of any loan as long as the loan did not cover more than 80 percent of a project's total cost. The energy projects must use new or improved technology. "By putting the full faith and credit of the United States government behind these efforts, DOE's loan guarantees will help mitigate the financial risks inherent in the commercial deployment of innovative technologies," Bodman said. The final rules will be published next week in the Federal Register of government regulations. The department in August 2006 sought requests for $2 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy projects. By the end of the solicitation period, it had received 143 requests for $27 billion in loan guarantees on projects estimated to cost more than $51 billion. The department is now inviting sponsors of 16 of those projects to submit full loan guarantee applications, which will be subject to the new regulations. The department said it hoped to issue the loan guarantees as early as next spring. The proposed projects include: a power plant that captures and stores global warming emissions, a facility that makes energy-efficient windows, a plant that makes cellulosic ethanol from low-cost farm waste, and a battery-electric-powered vehicle that can travel long distances. When evaluating an application, the department said it will consider what other government assistance a project will receive, such as grants, tax credits and accelerated depreciation. The energy secretary would also have to determine that there is a "reasonable prospect" of a project's sponsor to repay the guaranteed debt. In the event of a loan default, the department would have the right to all of a project's assets pledged as collateral for the guaranteed loan. ***************************************************************** 2 AT: Sen. Domenici leaves mark on U.S. budget, energy policy, mental health care : Albuquerque Tribune By James W. Brosnan (Contact) Updated 11:35 a.m., October 4, 2007 WASHINGTON ? In New Mexico, Sen. Pete Domenici's impact could be measured in payrolls and pavement, and often in the bottom-line budgets for the state's weapons laboratories, military bases and local projects. In Washington, Domenici will always be known for his willingness to take on tough, complex issues with little political dividend — like corralling the nation's budget or which form of energy to subsidize. Domenici's ability to deliver pork while trimming fat may have helped him survive 36 years in the Senate, a longer stint than any previous member of Congress from New Mexico. It also allowed him to become one of only a handful of really well-known Republican senators, University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said. Domenici came to prominence during heated budget battles during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. As either the chairman or ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee he was a negotiator on the two biggest budget deals of the '90s — the 1990 agreement by which President George H.W. Bush agreed to raise taxes in exchange for caps on defense and domestic spending, and the 1997 balanced budget agreement with President Clinton. Former Tennessee Sen. Jim Sasser served on the Budget Committee with Domenici in the late '80s and early '90s, both as the ranking Democrat and the chairman. "Pete Domenici was not enthusiastic about any tax increase, but he was a concerned fiscal conservative and he always had great concern about the rising deficit," said Sasser. "But he did not see that revenues were the way. He always looked to reduce spending." Sasser added, Domenici is a "very decent man, and I thought he always fought ferociously for the interests of New Mexico." For New Mexico, most of Domenici's battles have been fought as a powerful member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he has earmarked appropriations for state projects and the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. But some of Domenici's causes were distinctly personal. After a mental illness was diagnosed in his daughter Clare while she was in her 20s, Domenici and his wife, Nancy, learned from family support groups about the disparity that exists between insurance coverage for mental illnesses compared with physical illnesses. Eliminating that disparity caused Domenici to join forces with two decidedly liberal senators — the late Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Domenici and Kennedy appear on the verge of passing into law a measure that would prohibit insurance companies from charging more for co-payments or limiting visits for mental health treatments. Kennedy said Domenici "will be long remembered for his passion and perseverance to achieve fair and equitable treatment of mental health care for all." After the budget wars, Domenici took the senior seat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee where he has become the foremost advocate in Congress for nuclear power. It led him to write a 2004 book, "A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy." Domenici has alternated as chairman and ranking member of the Energy Committee with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat. After failing to pass energy legislation in 2003 and 2004, Domenici worked closely with Bingaman on a bipartisan bill in 2005 that passed, authorizing new assistance for nuclear power, "clean coal" plants and renewable solar, wind and geothermal energy. Last week, Domenici beamed as a Texas company announced at the Energy Committee hearing room that it had filed for the first government permit to build a new nuclear power plant since the 1970s. One lobbyist for energy companies, Frank Maisano, said the country has a lot to thank Domenici for. "He's been a stalwart on energy and budget issues. Those are the types of things that most people don't understand and are difficult to wade through," said Maisano. "He deserves substantial credit for the passage of the 2005 energy bill," Bingaman told the Tribune. Bingaman also predicted there will be a "renaissance" for nuclear power in the United States thanks to Domenici's efforts. Last week, Domenici beamed as a Texas company announced at the Energy Committee hearing room that it had filed for the first government permit to build a new nuclear power plant since the 1970s. Bingaman said he thought that their working together on issues for New Mexico paved the way for their cooperation on energy issues. He said he was surprised by Domenici's decision, because up until now Domenici had given every indication he was planning to run again. Bingaman said Domenici has remained very active on the job despite having to put up with his aches and pains. Scripps Newspaper Group Online 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 3 Amory Lovins: Nuclear is Uneconomical, Saving 75% Of US Electricity Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:44:25 -0400 http://www.mothersalert.org/lovins.html Nuclear is Uneconomical April 2007 by, Amory B. Lovins Existing technologies for more efficient end-use can save three-fourths of U.S. electricity at an average cost of around 1 cent per kilowatt-hour--cheaper than running a coal or nuclear power plant, let alone building one. Scores of utilities have demonstrated and implemented at scale, rapid, large, predictable, and extremely cheap "negawatts" (saved electricity). California's per-capita use of electricity has been flat for 30 years while per-capita real income rose 79 percent. Firms like DuPont, Dow, and IBM are saving billions of dollars by cutting energy intensity, sometimes as fast as 6-8 percent a year. My household saves 90 percent of electricity and 99 percent of space and water heating energy with a 10-month payback using 1983 technology. My team's redesign of some $30 billion worth of facilities in 29 sectors normally finds energy savings of 30-60 percent in retrofits (paying back in about 2-3 years) and 40-90 percent in new installations (typically with lower capital cost). A detailed road map for eliminating U.S. oil use by the 2040s, led by business for profit ("Winning the Oil Endgame"), shows how to save half of U.S. oil and gas at average costs one-fifth and one-eighth of current prices. Implementation is already underway. And each of the 60-80 known obstacles to implementing energy efficiency can be turned into a business opportunity. On the supply side, "micropower"--small-scale generation that emits little or no carbon dioxide--provided one-sixth of the world's electricity and one-third of its new electricity in 2005, meeting from one-sixth to more than one-half of all electrical needs in 13 industrial countries. The smaller of micropower's components, distributed renewable sources of electricity, was a $56 billion global equipment market in 2006, while the larger, combined-heat-and-power, was probably even larger. Micropower added four times the electricity and 8-11 times the capacity that nuclear power added globally in 2005, now produces more electricity than nuclear power does, and is financed by private risk capital. Micropower plus "negawatts," which are probably about as big, now provide more than half of the world's new electrical services. Nuclear power is unnecessary and uneconomic, so we needn't debate its safety. As retirements of aging plants overwhelm construction, global capacity and output will decline (as they did slightly in 2006). Most independent analysts doubt the private capital market will finance any new nuclear plants. Even in the United States, where new subsidies would roughly repay the next six units' entire capital cost, Standard & Poor's said this wouldn't materially improve the builders' credit ratings. I expect this experiment will be like defibrillating a corpse: It'll jump, but it won't revive. Nuclear power's market meltdown is good for global development: Saving electricity needs around 1,000 times less capital and repays it about 10 times faster than supplying more electricity. Shifting capital to saving electricity can potentially turn the power sector (now gobbling one-fourth of global development capital) into a net funder of other development needs. Further, an efficient, diverse, dispersed, and renewable energy system can make major supply failures, whether caused by accident or malice, impossible by design rather than (as now) inevitable by design. The nuclear phaseout will also speed climate protection, because buying negawatts and micropower instead will save 2-10 times more carbon per dollar, and will do so more quickly. And it can belatedly stem nuclear proliferation, too, by removing from commerce a vast flow of ingredients of do-it-yourself bomb kits in civilian disguise. This would make bomb ingredients harder to get, more conspicuous to try to get, and far costlier politically if caught trying to get, because the motive for wanting them would be unmasked as unambiguously military. Focusing intelligence resources on needles, not haystacks, would also improve the odds of timely warning. All this wouldn't make proliferation impossible, but it would make things far more difficult for both recipients and suppliers. Thus, acknowledging and accepting the market collapse of nuclear power is an important step toward a fairer, richer, cooler, and safer world. Amory Lovins Rocky Mountain Institute Mothers' Alert Home | More Information | Actions | Email | Search ***************************************************************** 4 The Hindu: 'Left parties stand on Indo-US deal would weaken UPA' Friday, October 5, 2007 : 0330 Hrs Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 5 (PTI): The Left parties stand on the Indo-US deal would only weaken the UPA governemnt led by Congress, AICC Secretary, Kodikunil Suresh, said here Thursday. These parties, especially the CPI-M,would have to pay a heavy political price if they destablise the UPA government on the deal, Suresh, who was appointed AICC secretary recently, told a meet-the-press programme. The left parties approach would only help the communal and fascist forces in the country, Suresh said adding their stand was against people's interest. These parties were informed regularly on the deal and the UPA government had taken the decision to go in for it considering the nation's interest, he said. The Congress was ready to face any consequences on this issue, he said, adding senior congress leaders had already made this clear to the nation. The Indo-US deal was to resolve the power crisis in the country through nuclear energy, he said. On the recent reshuffle of Congress leadership at the Centre, Suresh said Rahul Gandhi's appointment as AICC General secretary would provide an impetus to the party. Copyright 2007, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 5 Earth Times: Belarus aims to participate in Lithuanian nuclear power project Energy Environment Posted : Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:05:07 GMT Author : DPA Vilnius - Belarus wants to participate in the construction of a new nuclear power plant near the Lithuanian town of Ignalina, less than 25 kilometres from the Belarusian border, Baltic News Service reported on Thursday. "Belarus has the right to participate in this project, in which Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland are participating," said Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, after his one-day visit to Vilnius. At the same time, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said Belarus was Lithuania's friend when it came to energy issues. "Perhaps we are sort of allies in this area since Belarus also is experiencing pressure from gas prices and problems with crude supplies," he told Lithuanian news radio on Thursday. The two countries plan to continue negotiations on the level of economic ministers. Both countries have run into problems with Russia over its supply of gas in the past. Belarus faced problems from Russia over the supply of natural gas in August. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom forced Belarus to pay its debt and accept a hike in gas prices. Last July Russia cut the supply of crude to Lithuania's Mazeikiu Nafta (Mazeikiai Oil) due to an alleged failure on a branch of Druzhba pipeline. The move forced the only Lithuanian oil refinery to deliver crude by sea. Lithuania's planned 3,200- to 3,400-megawatt-capacity nuclear power plant near Ignalina is to built in cooperation with Latvia, Estonia and Poland by 2015. The new plant will also replace the existing nuclear power facility that is due for a shutdown in 2009, as part of Lithuania's 2004 EU entry agreement. Copyright, respective author or news agency (c) 2007 Earthtimes.org, All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 www.kansascity.com: Nuclear power back on the front burner 10/03/2007 | By REBECCA SMITH The Wall Street Journal After 31 years, a serious plan to build a U.S. nuclear plant is on the table, and it could mark the beginning of a nuclear-power revival. The request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week came from NRG Energy, a New Jersey company that has never built a nuclear plant but has a big stake in a nuclear station in Texas. NRG wants to build and operate two more reactors at that plant. The request also will test a new application process for such plants, under development since the 1980s. The new procedure allows companies to submit a single application for a construction permit and conditional operating license, eliminating the risk that a firm could build a plant but not be allowed to run it. The nuclear agency has geared up for an expected flood of applications over the next 15 months, which could cover as many as 29 reactors at 20 sites and represent a possible investment by the U.S. power industry of $60 billion to $90 billion. Companies are rushing to get their applications in quickly, hoping to qualify for billions of dollars in possible federal incentives and loan guarantees offered in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Barring an unexpected move by Congress, a decision by the commission could clear the path for NRG to go ahead with its plans. Congress has mostly encouraged the revival of nuclear energy, concluding that the nations aging nuclear fleet needs refreshing, though opposition could surface now that the industry appears to have momentum. The NRG application is likely to revive debate about the wisdom of building more nuclear reactors, especially because the industry doesnt have a federal repository for the radioactive waste from the 104 operating U.S. reactors. Efforts to license a waste repository at Nevadas Yucca Mountain have been opposed by Nevada officials and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Still, the renewed optimism within the industry is noteworthy, given that it was virtually left for dead a decade ago, in the wake of safety worries stemming from the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island plant, huge cost overruns and disappointing operating performance. In the late 1990s, plants were practically being given away by frustrated operators. A handful of consolidators started picking them up and the industry dramatically improved its productivity, often spurred by the profits available in deregulated electricity markets such as Texas. More recently, the industry has regained momentum, partly because other forms of power generation have continued to show significant flaws. Coal-fired plants undermine efforts to combat global warming. Many natural-gas-fired plants rely on a fuel with volatile prices. Renewable energy mostly comes from intermittent forces such as wind, rain and sunlight. If there is a revival, NRG will be an interesting leader, a so-called merchant generator that makes electricity and sells it on the open market. NRG doesnt own a utility and it has no ratepayers to whom it could bill the estimated $5.5 billion to $6 billion expense. Were like the uncola, says David Crane, NRG chief executive in Princeton, N.J. In December 2003, NRG exited federal bankruptcy protection, a result of overly aggressive expansion in the 1990s. Recently, it announced plans to spend $16 billion adding 10,350 megawatts of generation to its existing fleet. It has a 44 percent ownership interest in the existing South Texas nuclear station and intends to bring in other investors to share in the cost of the additional plants, if approved. ***************************************************************** 7 The Hindu: 'Left parties stand on Indo-US deal would weaken UPA' Thursday, October 4, 2007 : 1950 Hrs Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 4 (PTI): The Left parties stand on the Indo-US deal would only weaken the UPA governemnt led by Congress, AICC Secretary Kodikunil Suresh said here today. These parties, especially the CPI-M,would have to pay a heavy political price if they destablise the UPA government on the deal, Suresh, who was appointed AICC secretary recently, told a meet-the-press programme. The left parties approach would only help the communal and fascist forces in the country, Suresh said adding their stand was against people's interest. These parties were informed regularly on the deal and the UPA government had taken the decision to go in for it considering the nation's interest, he said. The Congress was ready to face any consequences on this issue,he said adding senior congress leaders had already made this clear to the nation. The Indo-US deal was to resolve the power crisis in the country through nuclear energy, he said. On the recent reshuffle of Congress leadership at the Centre, Suresh said Rahul Gandhi's appointment as AICC General secretary would provide an impetus to the party. Copyright 2007, The Hindu. ***************************************************************** 8 The Hindu: Lalu Prasad hints at mid-term poll for LS Friday, October 5, 2007 : 0330 Hrs Purnia, Oct. 5 (PTI): Hinting at mid-term polls for Lok Sabha, Union Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thurselections. "I appeal to all my party workers to prepare for the next elections," Prasad said after laying foundation stone for a rail overbridge on National Highway 31 near Purnia railway junction. Prasad's statement assumes significance in the face of the stand-off between the UPA government and the Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal. Earlier, addressing party workers for mobilising support for the proposed rally in Patna on October 28, he flayed the Nitish Kumar government for the "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state. "There has been an alarming rise in the incidents of murder, kidnapping and rape. There is no no law and order worth the name," he said. Alleging scam in the recruitment of teachers on contract basis in Bihar, Prasad said, "Even trained aspirants for teaching posts were denied justice and now the state government is talking about imparting training to those who have been appointed on contract." About Wednesday's stampede at Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh in which 15 women were killed, the minister said that he had already announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh each to the bereaved families besides a job in the railways. He also inaugurated an unreserved computerised ticket booking counter at Purnia Railway junction. Prasad said the broadgauge conversion of Katihar-Jogbani rail route would be completed shortly with an estimated investment of Rs 800 crore. Copyright 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the ***************************************************************** 9 DOE: DOE Cites Bechtel National Incorporated for Price-Anderson Violations October 4, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today notified Bechtel National Incorporated (BNI) that it will fine the company $165,000 for violations of the Departments nuclear safety requirements. BNI is the primary design and construction contractor for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) located at the Hanford Site in Richland, Washington. The Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) issued today cited a series of violations that occurred during the design and construction of the WTP between October 2001 and February 2006. Violations include failures in quality processes to control design changes, and to ensure vendor-supplied equipment met nuclear safety specifications. The proposed civil penalty of $165,000 is based on the significance of the violations yet reflects substantial mitigation granted by the Department due to corrective actions taken by BNI to prevent recurrence of the deficiencies. If left uncorrected, the design and construction problems could have adversely affected the operation of WTP to process radioactive waste being stored at the Hanford Tank Farms and posed potential safety and health risks to workers and to the public. Following this PNOV, BNI will have 30 days to respond with any objections to the notice. The Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 authorizes the Energy Department to undertake regulatory actions against contractors for violations of its nuclear safety requirements. The enforcement program encourages departmental contractors to identify and correct nuclear safety deficiencies at an early stage, before they contribute to or result in more serious events. Learn additional details on this and other enforcement actions. Media contact(s): Megan Barnett, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 10 Epoch Times: Nuclear Power's New Dawn Nuclear power's rise to popularity hasn't been a smooth ride. For countries that supply the world's uranium, heightened demand has stirred up old battles over land and environment By Caylan Ford and Mathew Little Epoch Times Staff Oct 04, 2007 Greenpeace activists display a banner reading 'Nuclear Energy Equals Dangerous Energy' during an anti-nuclear demonstration in Jakarta, Indonesia, in April. Nuclear energy is experiencing a resurgence in popularity around the world, sending demand for uranium sky high. (Ahmad Zamroni/AFP/Getty Images) Once synonymous with cash pits, bureaucratic incompetence and environmental disasters, nuclear energy is now experiencing a resurgence in popularity around the world, sending demand for uranium sky-high. That's big news for uranium-rich countries like Canada, which produces 28 percent of the world's uranium supply. But the heightened demand for uranium has also stirred up controversies in Canada, where some are still jittery about the environmental and political implications. In total 13 countries are in the process of building new nuclear reactors. According to the World Nuclear Association, more than 34 reactors are currently under construction, 81 are planned, and over 223 more are being proposed. For the first time since 1978, the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission is receiving applications for new plants, and a flood of them, at that.The commission expects to receive five applications in 2007, and 14 more in 2008. The British government is breathing new life into its aging nuclear power industry and making it easier to build new reactors by removing legal and bureaucratic barriers. Several other European countries like Finland and France are actively pursuing their nuclear programs with new reactors. China expects to quadruple is nuclear power output by 2020 and India and Russia also have major expansion plans. Even in Australia, which has shunned nuclear power in spite of being one of the world's largest uranium suppliers, Prime Minister John Howard has conceded that nuclear power is an inevitability. It's not without reason.Unlike oil, which tends to be located in politically unstable, if not unfriendly nations such as Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela, the world's largest uranium deposits lie mostly in Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. Nuclear power is also relatively inexpensive to produce, although reactors are massively expensive to construct. Perhaps most importantly in today's political climate, nuclear power is an effective way to curb the carbon emissions spewed by coal and gas power, which are widely believed to be causing global warming. And as new and refurbished reactors come online, the demand for uranium is soaring. Uranium prices have leaped to 15 times what they were in 2001.The pricing boom has reinvigorated Canada's uranium mining industry, but important questions remain. Among the leading concerns related to the rejuvenation of the nuclear power industry is the issue of nuclear waste disposal. Most countries with nuclear reactors agree that burying the spent fuel deep underground is the best option for disposal, yet no such long-term receptacles yet exist. The United States has 55,000 metric tons of nuclear waste in temporary storage waiting for such a facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada that is still in the process of getting regulatory approval. At the earliest, that facility wouldn't be operation until 2017. One possible solution has been proposed by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), a U.S.-led initiative that seeks to expand peaceful use of nuclear energy while safeguarding against nuclear weapon proliferation. As a condition for membership, uranium-producing nations must agree to accept, process, and dispose of the spent nuclear fuel from other member states. Canada is not a member of the GNEP, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper was involved in discussions during the APEC summit in Sydney, Australia over joining the partnershipa move that stirred indignation back home. "The Bush nuclear program would turn Canada into an international radioactive waste dump," says Greenpeace Energy Coordinator Dave Martin. Liberal leader Stephane Dion suggested the proposal be subject to public debate before Canada sign on. Canada has not yet decided if it will join the GNEP, though it did send an observer to the group's conference in Vienna on September 16. Interestingly, Australiathe world's second-larges uranium exportersigned onto the GNEP at the Vienna conference, but refused to accept spent fuel. Many in Canada also take issue with the uranium mines themselves, citing land contested claims and concerns about possible contamination. Some of the strongest opposition to uranium mining is coming from aboriginal communities who say provincial governments are handing out mining permits on traditional territories that were never ceded to the Canadian government. Organic farmer David Gill is an adopted Algonquin, one of Canada's First Nations peoples. He recently completed a canoe trip from the headwaters of the Mississippi watershed to the Ottawa river to protest the expansion of Uranium mining. Gill took water from the headwaters and then poured it on the steps of Canada's parliament building to remind government that even distant mining sites can have huge impacts downriver. "The water gets contaminate and when it seeps out it gets into the watershed and causes all kinds of problems," he says. First Nations have blockaded access to a uranium exploration site near Sharbot Lake despite a court injunction ordering them to leave. Supporters the delay will allow time to bring about a moratorium on uranium mining. Gill says he and others will continue to fight against uranium mining because of the threat it poses to the environment and future generations and is calling on the government to explore other alternative forms of energy. Martin agrees, saying that he is also concerned about the environmental impacts of mining uranium. He points to environmental disasters in Canada's history as evidence of what can go wrong. Martin says in the early 50s and 60s a lack of regulation allowed companies to dump tailings from uranium mining in the Elliot Lake basin in Ontario. Contaminated water flowed through Serpent River and the tailings acidified the water and killed off life in the river. First Nation's people used to take drinking water directly from the river and Martin says many died from cancer as a result of the contamination. Birth defects were also common, he says. "It really was an environmental disaster of major proportions." Copyright (c) 2000 - 2007 The Epoch USA, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Casper Star Tribune: Idaho gov puts focus on nukes By JOHN MILLER Associated Press writer Thursday, October 04, 2007 BOISE, Idaho -- Idaho should bolster its ties to the nuclear power industry to underpin economic growth and curb greenhouse gas emissions because alternative energy sources like solar or wind are too costly to meet the state's future needs, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter said Tuesday. Otter spoke to the University Presidents Council, which includes Idaho State University President Arthur Vailas, College of Southern Idaho President Gerald Beck and representatives of other state schools. The nuclear industry could eventually be worth as much as $7 billion annually to the state, Otter said, including the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, which is helping develop a new generation of nuclear reactors as well as a proposed international nuclear fuel recycling program. Nuclear power foes say Otter is ignoring the millions in public subsidies the industry receives -- and the clean-energy benefits of solar and wind power. The governor contends investments in those would likely take too long to pay off and looked to his own household for an example: Solar panels to warm his ranch in Star, Idaho, would cost $60,000, while a natural-gas furnace is $6,000, he said. He said Idaho should instead turn its attention to the nuclear energy industry. Just last month, New Jersey-based utility NRG Energy Inc. submitted to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission what the utility's chief executive called the first application in nearly three decades to build a new U.S. nuclear reactor. A small Virginia company has also proposed a plant near Idaho's Snake River. "Alternative energy, clean energy -- those are all great ideas," Otter said. "But when you take a look at the impact they have and the subsidy they need, solar and wind both are tremendously subsidized. I think there are other clean energy alternatives. I think nuclear is one of them. I'm behind nuclear." His comments came in response to a proposal outlined by Vailas at Tuesday's meeting in Boise, in which ISU, Boise State University and the University of Idaho plan to ask the 2008 Legislature for more energy research funding. Vailas didn't specify a dollar amount but said the schools want to work with the Idaho National Laboratory "to go out and bring in the necessary intellectual capital that will drive our leadership" in the area of new energy sources. "We're very blessed in Idaho, because we have all of the resources in our state to deal with alternative energy strategies that will yield very significant economic benefit," Vailas said. Otter also has been focusing on Idaho's energy needs lately. He created an office of energy policy in September. In addition, he ordered state Department of Environmental Quality Director Toni Hardesty in May to catalog greenhouse gas emissions and told state agencies to figure out ways to cut them. And on Monday, he told an audience at a University of Idaho-sponsored sustainability conference in Moscow that government had a duty to react to the public perception that the earth's atmosphere is warming -- "no matter what theory you accept or what evidence you recognize." "We as policy makers also must think about adapting to a changing climate in ways that the public and the marketplace accept," he told the symposium, according to a text of his speech obtained by The Associated Press. Still, not everybody is pleased that Otter favors nuclear power over wind, solar or geothermal. Idaho is ranked 13th in the nation for wind-power suitability, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, U.S. Geothermal Inc. last Thursday signed a new pact to provide Idaho Power Co. with 13 megawatts of power from a geothermal turbine it is building south of Malta, Idaho. Ken Miller, a spokesman for the Snake River Alliance nuclear watchdog group, said nuclear plants, by contrast, create dangerous waste and are beneficiaries of lavish taxpayer subsidies -- including more than $40 million the Idaho National Laboratory received starting in 2005 to develop an experimental nuclear reactor that produces electricity and hydrogen. "Were Idaho to develop these renewable resources and get serious about energy efficiency, we wouldn't need to be talking about a nuclear power plant," Miller said. "Nuclear energy is hugely expensive and it creates an entire suite of environmental problems, from mining the uranium to dealing with the waste and ultimately decommissioning the power plant." Copyright 19952007 Lee Enterprises    a subsidiary of ***************************************************************** 12 Tri-Town News: Board's Oyster Creek decision due in late fall Howell, NJ Front Page October 4, 2007 Citizens coalition questions safety of nuke plant's drywell An advisory board for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will rule by late November on a contention that the drywell surrounding the reactor at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant is unsafe. The three judges of the Atomic Licensing and Safety Board listened to two days of testimony last week from experts from AmerGen, the plant's owner, and a citizens coalition that claims portions of the drywell could be dangerously corroded and improperly monitored. "Whatever happens, the parties can then appeal to the commission [NRC] itself," said Neil A. Sheehan, an NRC spokesman. Lawyers and experts for both sides have until Oct. 10 to submit their written briefs, he said. "The parties have to wrap up their arguments, now that they have had a chance to present their cases before the judges," Sheehan said. The Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station on Route 9 in Lacey Township is the oldest nuclear plant in the country. Amer- Gen wants the plant to be relicensed for another 20 years. Oyster Creek went online in 1969. But the citizens coalition - a group of six environmental organizations that vigorously opposes the relicensing - fought back and submitted a contention that AmerGen's monitoring of the drywell shell is insufficient and that portions of the shell will not withstand another 20 years of operation. The ASLB hearings were held on Sept. 24-25 at the Ocean County Administration Building in Toms River. The ASLB's decision to hear the citizens coalition's contention was a historic one. It was the first time in history the advisory board agreed to hear a contention raised about a nuclear plant. Testimony on Sept. 25 focused on water sources that might corrode the drywell liner and the lifespan of the epoxy coating on the liner itself. Expert witnesses for AmerGen said water is only present when the reactor needs to be refueled, an event that occurs every other year and lasts for about 26 days. The last time the reactor was filled with water was on Oct. 18, 2006, and it was emptied on Nov. 3, 2006. "There are no other operating conditions where water would be in the cavity," said Alex Polonsky, an attorney for AmerGen. AmerGen's experts testified that water no longer gets trapped inside the reactor since the sand, which held the water against the base of the shell and led to corrosion, was removed in 1992. But the citizens coalition contends there is water present even when the reactor isn't refueling. "They have found water in the upper drywell shell, but they cannot identify where it is coming from," said Brick Township resident Janet Tauro, a member of Grandmothers, Mothers and More for Nuclear Safety, one of the groups in the coalition. "They have never been able to address that and as long as there is continual water there is corrosion." AmerGen representatives said there is very little chance that the epoxy coating on the drywell liner, which is meant to protect the shell from corrosion, will fail. AmerGen experts testified that the epoxy's manufacturer expects the coating to maintain its integrity because of its environment. And if a failure of the coating were to occur, it would have done so in the first few years after it was initially applied, they said. When corrosion was found in the lower level of the liner in 1992 the sand was removed, the drywell shell cleaned and the epoxy coating was applied, they said. AmerGen plans to reapply the epoxy as part of its maintenance plan for the plant and to inspect the liner and make any necessary repairs. Rudolf H. Hausler, the citizens coalition's expert, said there were pinholes in the epoxy coating which could eventually become corroded. "I think it is reasonable to postulate that pinholes can occur when the epoxy coating is applied," Hausler said. "AmerGen hasn't found pinholes because they haven't looked for them." But AmerGen experts maintained that the epoxy coating itself helps to prevent pinholes because it is made of solid material and does not contain any solvents, which are common causes of pinholes. The epoxy's gray color also makes it visually easy to spot rust spots, AmerGen said. Hausler also questioned whether the entire drywell line was coated with the epoxy. He specifically cited a gap region between a vent pipe and the shell that might be vulnerable to corrosion. AmerGen said the sand bed region is completely coated down to the floor and that there is not any sand in the gap area in question. The thickness of the drywell shell, which is designed to contain radiation in the event of an accident, has been called into question by critics of the plant who say it barely meets federal regulations. AmerGen maintains that its plan to measure the drywell shell once every four years is sufficient, while the citizens groups want measurements taken more than once per year. ASLB Judge E. Roy Hawkens said the decision can be appealed to the NRC, and the NRC's decision can be further appealed to a federal appeals court and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court. - Patricia A. Miller & Danielle Medina ***************************************************************** 13 toledoblade.com: Fermi 2 shuts down for overhaul Article published Tuesday, October 2, 2007 ASSOCIATED PRESS FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. DTE Energy has shut down its Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in Monroe County to begin refueling and maintenance work. The Monroe Evening News reports the project is expected to take about 40 days and cost $70 million. An estimated 2,300 individual tests, inspections and maintenance issues will be done, and part of the fuel in the reactors nuclear core will be replaced. About 1,400 workers are in the area to help with the work. Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com. 2007 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of our privacy statement and our visitor agreement. Please read them. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 14 toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse ex-workers called liars as trial begins Article published Tuesday, October 2, 2007 By TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER Opening arguments began yesterday in the first of two criminal trials involving former Davis-Besse workers with federal prosecutors accusing defendants David Geisen and Rodney N. Cook of being liars who were out to trick, scheme, or otherwise mislead the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the degree to which acid leaked from the plants nuclear reactor in the fall of 2001. Tom Ballentine, one of three U.S. Department of Justice attorneys presenting the governments case, told the 12-member jury and four alternates that the defendants simply lied in documents the NRC used for its internal debate over whether the plant needed to be shut down immediately for critical safety inspections. Defense attorneys countered by saying their defendants are being used as scapegoats. Ladies and gentlemen, David Geisen is here today because the NRC was embarrassed by what happened at Davis-Besse, said one of Mr. Geisens attorneys, Andrew Wise. This was not an investigation to figure out what happened, but who we can blame. The case is being heard in U.S. District Court in Toledo, with Judge David Katz presiding. Ten women and six men are being presented the evidence. Mr. Geisen, Mr. Cook, and a third defendant, Andrew Siemaszko, who will be tried separately, face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine apiece if convicted on charges of lying to the government. The defendants are engineers. Mr. Cook, a Tennessee contractor, was the only one not employed by FirstEnergy Corp.s nuclear subsidiary, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. Radioactive areas of a nuclear plant are normally inspected at least once every two years when reactors are off-line for refueling, thereby minimizing the threat of exposure to workers. Davis-Besse, according to yesterdays testimony, got the attention of regulators during the last three months of 2001 when FirstEnergy was cryptic about the condition of the plants old reactor head. The NRC wanted more information about 69 steel nozzles implanted in the lid. The nozzles are there to protect equipment that drives the reactors control rods. The rods control the pace in which nuclear fission occurs. Circular cracks had been discovered in those type of nozzles for the first time in the United States a few months earlier at the Oconee Unit 3 reactor in South Carolina. Circular cracks weaken nozzles so much they can pop off like champagne corks under a reactors enormous operating pressure of 2,200 pounds per square inch. It could physically blow the penetration out of the vessel head, Brian Sheron, the NRCs associate licensing director in 2001 and the current chief of its research arm, testified. That would lead to the first stage of a major accident, the formation of radioactive steam. Davis-Besse was operating at 605 degrees in 2001, hotter than any other U.S. nuclear plant. It was known to have design flaws that had never been fixed since the plant went online in 1977 as well as some minor flange leakage on its reactor head. But the NRC wanted some assurance there wasnt a bigger problem brewing, Mr. Sheron said. The NRCs legal team had approved a rare shutdown order, which Mr. Sheron characterized as the agencys trump card if FirstEnergy continued to resist. The utility wanted to keep Davis-Besse operating until its scheduled refueling outage was to begin March 31, 2002. The NRC wanted it shut down no later than Dec. 31, 2001. Among those pressuring the agency was Bob Saunders, former president and chief nuclear officer of FirstEnergys nuclear subsidiary. He assured us he would not operate it unless he was convinced it would be safe, Mr. Sheron testified. A key factor in the two trials will be the jurys interpretation of how well the old reactor head had been cleaned during the 2000 refueling outage, the last one before the near-rupture was discovered in 2002. Attorneys said that will show how well FirstEnergy, which has admitted to the NRC that it put profits ahead of safety, did maintenance before putting the plant back into service. Terry Tabbert, a Davis-Besse employee for 20 years, testified that acid leaks caused huge chunks of boron to crystallize like a rock on the reactor head in the shape of popcorn. Workers tried to dislodge the hardened boron with metal bars in 2000. He said they did their best, but were largely unsuccessful and that the plant was put back into operation with lots of boron still clinging to the reactor head. Contact Tom Henry at:thenry@theblade.comor 419-724-6079. 2007 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of our privacy statement and our visitor agreement. Please read them. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 15 toledoblade.com: Court told of failed bid to shut Davis-Besse Article published Wednesday, October 3, 2007 NRC staffer doubted FirstEnergy's claims By TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER Attorneys yesterday spent nearly six hours grilling a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staffer who fought to get Davis-Besse shut down in the fall of 2001 as a safeguard for northern Ohio, only to have his senior management override the recommendation he and his colleagues made so that FirstEnergy Corp. would not take a financial hit. Allen Hiser, now chief of the NRC's steam generator, tube integrity, and chemical engineering branch, said he wasn't buying FirstEnergy's assertion that Davis-Besse's old reactor head was properly cleaned and inspected during the plant's previous refueling outage in 2000. At one point, he went so far as to say there "could have been sinister motives" involved with FirstEnergy's relentless effort to keep the plant operating until its next planned refueling outage on March 31, 2002. His comments were made during the second day of a criminal trial involving two former Davis-Besse workers, engineers David Geisen and Rodney N. Cook. Those two and another engineer, Andrew Siemaszko, face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine each if convicted on charges of lying to the government. Mr. Siemaszko is to be tried later. The jury trial is being heard in U.S. District Court in Toledo, with Judge David Katz presiding. Nuclear plants generate nearly $1 million a day in power. Davis-Besse was one of 12 deemed in 2001 as being highly prone to have reactor-head nozzles crack in a 360-degree pattern. That list, made for the NRC by the industry-approved Electric Power Research Institute, came weeks after the first such cracks in America's nuclear history had been found at a South Carolina reactor. FirstEnergy gave the least cooperation. So the NRC took the rare step of preparing a mandatory shutdown order, something it had not done since 1987. The order would have compelled FirstEnergy to shut down Davis-Besse for inspections no later than Dec. 31, 2001. Instead, NRC senior management - after hearing FirstEnergy's financial pleas - set it aside and compromised with a Feb. 16, 2002 shutdown date. What the NRC's senior brass didn't know was that an agency employee in its Midwest regional office near Chicago had been provided the infamous "red photo" - one from the 2000 outage that showed Davis-Besse's old reactor head with lava-like streams of rust. That employee did not bring it to anyone else's immediate attention and, to this day, has not been disciplined. Mr. Hiser, a staffer in the NRC's materials and chemical engineering branch at the time, said that photograph depicted a "disgusting situation" at Davis-Besse. He said it could have been the "smoking gun" for an early shutdown if the agency's headquarters in suburban Washington had known about it. "I would have shown this to the upper level management. My expectation is that Davis-Besse would have been shut down by the end [of 2001], if not immediately," Mr. Hiser said. Mr. Geisen was involved in a November, 2001, meeting at the NRC's headquarters between FirstEnergy and agency officials, including Mr. Hiser. So were Davis-Besse's former vice president, Guy Campbell, two other plant officials, and a consultant from Paris-based Framatome ANP, a global nuclear supplier with a U.S. complex in Virginia. Mr. Hiser said he felt his agency was being lobbied to hold off on the shutdown order. He said he pushed for it, and provided NRC attorneys many of the facts and technical assistance for it. Paperwork that was submitted then and at various other junctures during the three-month negotiation period said Davis-Besse's old reactor head had been cleaned and was fully visible through weepholes or "mouseholes" in the reactor's service structure. The company had concluded that Davis-Besse was safe when it was not, Mr. Hiser said. The reactor head was only partially cleaned. So much boric acid had leaked from it that boron encrusted the lid, clogging many of the holes designed for visual access. Some had chunks so thick that workers could not maneuver a pole-fitted camera through the holes, according to testimony. The jury saw clips from a 2000 video that showed heavy concentrations of boron left on the head before it was put back into service. The boron came from boric acid that leaked from the reactor. At the meeting, Mr. Geisen led NRC officials to believe they wouldn't find anything worthwhile on that video, Mr. Hiser said. Davis-Besse was operating at 605 degrees in 2001, hotter than any other U.S. nuclear plant. It was known to have design flaws that had never been fixed since the plant went online in 1977 as well as some minor flange leakage on its reactor head. But the NRC wasn't prepared for what was found on March 6, 2002: A football-shaped cavity in the reactor head where acid had escaped from the reactor and pooled up. It burned away six inches of carbon steel and exposed the reactor head's stainless steel liner, which was only two-tenths of an inch thick in that area. It had started to bulge and crack. If it had blown - something which lab tests later said could have happened at any time - radioactive steam would have formed in containment for the first time in the U.S. since 1979, when half of Three Mile Island Unit 2's reactor core melted near Harrisburg, Pa. Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079. 2007 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of our privacy statement and our visitor agreement. Please read them. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 16 toledoblade.com: Residue on reactor should have been warning, court told Article published Thursday, October 4, 2007 DAVIS-BESSE TRIAL By TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER Jurors spent hours yesterday in U.S. District Court in Toledo reviewing footage of boric acid crystals that encrusted Davis-Besse's old reactor head as far back as 1996. Government prosecutors are using the evidence to bolster their claim that FirstEnergy Corp. engineers lied in maintenance documents the utility submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the fall of 2001. The trial, which began Monday, is the first of two in which former engineers face up to five years in prison and separate $250,000 fines if convicted of lying to the government. David Geisen, a former FirstEnergy employee who now lives in Wisconsin, is on trial with Rodney N. Cook, a Tennessee contractor. Both are believed to have had a role in generating data or authoring documents that wound up being presented to the NRC. So is Andrew Siemaszko, a former FirstEnergy engineer who now lives in Texas. He is to be tried later. The crystals usually come from boric acid that leaks from reactor-head nozzle flanges of nuclear reactors. Boron residue forms as the reactors, which can operate in excess of 600 degrees, shut down and cool off. The NRC has tolerated minor flange and valve leakage for years, yet it was taken aback by the amount of boron that had crystallized on Davis-Besse's old reactor head. Far from being a light dusting, it was dense enough on some spots by 2000 to have the appearance of coral. Melvin S. Holmberg, an NRC reactor inspector, said he learned after reviewing copied footage that the boron residue built up during three refueling outages before the historic cavity in Davis-Besse's old reactor head was discovered in 2002. He said it should have tipped off someone that the plant's leakage was not minor. During the 1996 refueling outage, Davis-Besse's reactor head had so much boron residue on it that only 51 of its 69 nozzles could be properly inspected with a remote-controlled camera, according to Mr. Holmberg's testimony. By the 1998 refueling outage, the number of viewable nozzles had dropped to 43. During the 2000 outage, it was only 23 - a mere one in three. Mr. Holmberg said there were so many hard chunks of residue in 2000 that the remote-controlled camera "appeared to bury itself in boric acid deposits" as it was maneuvered into position. Yet the paperwork that FirstEnergy presented the NRC in the fall of 2001 asserted the head had been cleaned and properly inspected during all three of those outages. At the time, the agency was deciding whether to execute the first emergency shutdown order it had prepared for a U.S. nuclear plant since 1987. Davis-Besse was shut down for more than two years beginning Feb. 16, 2002. Three weeks later, on March 6, 2002, a six-inch cavity from leaking acid exposed all but a stainless steel liner that was no more than three-eighths of an inch thick. In that spot, it was even thinner. And the liner had started to bulge and crack. If it had ruptured, radioactive steam would have formed in containment for the first time in the United States since 1979, when half of Three Mile Island Unit 2's reactor core melted near Harrisburg, Pa. Some NRC staffers, suspecting a problem was brewing in the fall of 2001, tried to get Davis-Besse shut down no later than Dec. 31, 2001. FirstEnergy pleaded with the agency to stick to the utility's planned refueling outage date of March 31, 2002, for financial reasons. Nuclear plants generate nearly $1 million a day in power. Senior NRC officials ultimately agreed to let the plant continue until that Feb. 16. The agency's Office of Inspector General later said they put profits ahead of northern Ohio's safety by agreeing to that compromise. Nuclear plants are refueled once every 18 months to two years, depending on the grade of uranium they have in their fuel rods. At Davis-Besse, refuelings have occurred once every two years since the mid 1990s. Maintenance work for reactors is reserved for refueling outages to minimize worker exposure to radiation. Ron Lloyd, a retired NRC inspector who was part of the agency's "Lessons Learned Task Force," testified that he vividly recalls details about some FirstEnergy documents because of the number of errors uncovered. John Bradley Martin, a nuclear safety consultant who spent 26 years with the NRC, including two stints as a regional administrator, said Mr. Geisen made a puzzling comment to him while lifting a mode restraint that had been blocking the plant's restart during the 2000 refueling outage. "What struck me was [the comment from Mr. Geisen] was made on the basis the [reactor] head would [eventually] be cleaned, not that it was," Mr. Martin said. At the time, Mr. Martin was a member of FirstEnergy's company review board for Davis-Besse. He said Mr. Geisen never told that board about the boron that was still on the reactor head. Andrew Wise, one of Mr. Geisen's attorneys, asked him if plant employees "had become deadened by the boric acid they saw." "Oh, I think that's true," Mr. Martin said. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Tuesday. It has been delayed until then because of scheduling conflicts. Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079. 2007 The Blade. By using this service, you accept the terms of our privacy statement and our visitor agreement. Please read them. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 17 Burlington Free Press: Vermont doesn't trust NRC, Sanders says burlingtonfreepress.com | Burlington, Vermont Published: Thursday, October 4, 2007 By Doug Abrahms Gannett News Service WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday to conduct an independent safety assessment of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which had a portion of its cooling tower collapse in August. Nine days after the Aug. 21 incident, stuck valves forced an emergency shutdown at the Vernon plant. Dale Klein, chairman of the NRC, said the plant would get a thorough review by the agency but did not promise an independent review. "I would hope that people in Vermont have confidence in the NRC," he said. "They don't," Sanders, I-Vt., responded. The exchange took place at a Senate Environment and Public Works oversight hearing on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is preparing to review applications for new nuclear power plants for the first time in a generation. Sanders displayed a large photo of the hole in the cooling tower at Vermont Yankee. Sanders introduced a bill in March that requires the NRC to hold an independent nuclear reactor safety assessment at the request of a governor or state utility commission. Many older nuclear power plants are seeking license extensions, including Vermont Yankee, a 35-year-old facility whose owners are seeking permission to run 20 years beyond its current license that expires in 2012. Independent assessments would make the public more confident about the safety of older nuclear plants, Sanders said. "We should go the extra mile when it comes to nuclear power that we have done everything, everything we can to assure that these plants are as safe as can be," Sanders said. "In Vermont, and I think in many areas of this country, there is a concern about Washington's ability to do the right thing, especially on something as important as nuclear power." Klein reiterated that public safety was not compromised by the breakdown of the cooling tower cell. "It's important to know that the cell that collapsed was not part of the safety system," he said. "I would agree that it does, I think, cause people concern about the confidence of other things." Copyright 2007 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 18 Rutland Herald: NRC: Yankee collapse raises questions October 04, 2007 By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday the partial collapse of a cooling tower at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in August raises questions about the maintenance and safety of the plant. Dale Klein, who was speaking to the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Energy, made the statement under questioning by Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., who has introduced legislation that would give states the right to ask for independent safety assessments of reactors. So far, the NRC has shown no interest in the legislation, saying that its own regulatory process was superior to the independent safety assessment that was used at the now-dismantled Maine Yankee nuclear plant. Sanders showed Klein a poster-sized photograph of the cooling tower collapse that was snapped minutes after the Aug. 21 accident, showing water cascading out of a broken pipe onto a pile of debris. "I would agree with you," Klein told Sanders, who had stated he had serious concerns about the aging plant. "When you see that visible collapse it is a concern and you would question the maintenance and safety and so forth." Sanders at one point asked Klein if he lived in southern Vermont or New Hampshire or northwestern Massachusetts, near the Vermont Yankee plant, whether he would have confidence in the ability of the NRC to oversee the reactor. "I would hope they have confidence in the NRC," he said. "They don't," Sanders responded. Klein said it was important for the NRC as a regulator to talk to the public about the recent problems at Yankee, and he pointed out that the portion of the cooling tower that collapsed is not part of the two cells out of 22 that are part of backup safety systems. Klein finished his exchange with Sanders by saying that the cooling tower problem and the emergency shutdown a week later on Aug. 30, which was blamed on an inadequately greased bearing, raised other questions. "Are there other factors we should be looking at?" Klein said. After the Senate subcommittee hearing, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan refused to elaborate on Klein's statement, and what exactly it might mean for Vermont Yankee. The Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel, which is chaired by Public Service Commissioner David O'Brien, is meeting Thursday in Vernon to discuss the cooling tower collapse, as well as the emergency shutdown. Anti-nuclear groups planned a press conference immediately before the 6 p.m. meeting at Vernon Elementary School, which is located across the road from the nuclear reactor. Entergy Nuclear spokesman Larry Smith didn't return telephone messages Wednesday about Klein's statements. But immediately after the Aug. 21 collapse, the NRC asked Entergy for additional information about the incident, as well as the inspection records of the cooling towers. After the hearing, Sanders said the issue of aging nuclear reactors asking for power increases and license extensions was a top priority for him. "This is an issue I'm not going to give up on," Sanders said. "We've got to bend over backwards and do everything humanly possible to get an independent inspection process. We're going to stay on these guys." Sanders said he would work with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on nuclear plant inspection safety issues since Clinton is very concerned about the Indian Point nuclear plant, also owned by Entergy Nuclear, which is about 50 miles north of New York City. "How could you look at that photograph and say you're not concerned?" Sanders said. Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 19 Rutland Herald: Yankee safety record under fire October 04, 2007 By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff Unionized workers at two nuclear power plants owned by Entergy Nuclear have made public statements in the past month raising questions about the safety at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. But their concerns haven't found their way to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the New England Coalition wants federal authorities to investigate. At a hearing Wednesday before an NRC panel in Washington, D.C., Raymond Shadis of the New England Coalition said he didn't have specifics about the unionized workers' concerns, but he wanted the NRC to get to the bottom of things. In late August, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which has a local at the Vernon plant, issued a press release saying workers were concerned about declining safety margins at the plant. The press release came in the midst of heated contract talks, and after the partial collapse of a cooling tower at the plant. It was later disclosed workers were on the top of the tower only hours before it collapsed. But the union has remained publicly silent about the allegations and a press conference was cancelled after a contract agreement was reached. Later, unionized workers at Vermont Yankee's sister plant, the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth, Mass., said they were concerned about "cross contamination" from Vermont Yankee because Entergy Nuclear has proposed a business consolidation of its five nuclear plants in the Northeast into one holding company. The company says the one holding company would be beneficial, tax-wise. "What with the union press release and what the union at Pilgrim said, there are significant safety issues at Vermont Yankee that really needs to trigger an inquiry, an investigation by the NRC," Shadis told the NRC panel, which included the general counsel of the NRC, as well as a representative from Entergy Nuclear. "We don't have a specific pump, motor or valve in mind," Shadis said. Under federal law, workers have an obligation to report any conditions that would significantly affect safety, Shadis pointed out. After the hearing, Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., who is pursuing federal legislation that would give states more leverage to ask for an independent safety inspection of nuclear reactors, said his office had been in contact with unionized workers at Yankee about their safety concerns. Sanders said his office had talked with George Clain, the business manager for Local 300 of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers, which represents about one-third of the employees at Yankee. "We intend to meet with them," Sanders said. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Wednesday's discussion was designed to gather more information about what the NEC knew about the workers' complaints. "We'll pursue this petition," he said, noting there "wasn't a lot of substance yet." Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. 2007 Rutland Herald ***************************************************************** 20 Tri-Town News: Congressmen contest NRC's safety standards Howell, NJ Front Page October 4, 2007 BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer Two federal legislators concerned about the relicensing of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Lacey Township want an investigation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) adherence to accepted engineering safety requirements. Republican New Jersey congressmen H. James Saxton and Christopher Smith asked the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, an NRC advisory board, for the probe in a Sept. 21 letter. Saxton and Smith want the investigation to focus on the NRC's adherence to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) requirements. "We are concerned that the steel containment wall does not meet minimum safety requirements as a result of severe corrosion in several locations," the letter states. The two congressmen said that according to original testimony presented to the ASLB by Mark Hartzman - a senior mechanical engineer in the NRC's Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation - the steel barrier encasing the nuclear reactor did not meet the minimum ASME safety requirements. "We are astounded to learn of the development," Saxton and Smith said in the letter. The two legislators acknowledged that there is disagreement about the calculations and methodologies used to determine the thickness of the drywell shell. "Even so, it is not acceptable for the containment wall of a 636-megawatt nuclear power plant to just barely meet minimum federal requirements, or perhaps, as suggested by Dr. Hartzman's testimony, to fall below the margin of safety." The ASLB this summer granted a coalition of six citizen and environmental groups a hearing on their contention concerning corrosion around the drywell shell and the frequency of AmerGen's corrosion monitoring program. The NRC said in a brief filed with the ASLB on Aug 23 that Hartzman's rebuttal testimony contained "a misstatement," which had since been corrected. The NRC also concluded in the brief that AmerGen's monitoring frequency of the corrosion was sufficient to maintain an adequate safety margin in accordance with NRC requirements. Janet Tauro, a member of Grandmothers, Mothers and More for Energy Safety, one of the six groups involved in the contention, said the Oyster Creek nuclear plant should not even be considered for relicensing. "That [drywell] is the radiation barrier that shields us in the event of a meltdown," Tauro said. "That's the only thing that protects the public from radiation. If they don't meet the safety codes, they shouldn't have a business operating today, let alone for another 20 years." Click ads below for larger version Click Here for More Information ***************************************************************** 21 Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy: Uprate not responsible By BOB AUDETTE, Reformer Staff Thursday, October 4 BRATTLEBORO -- In a letter addressed to Vermont's Congressional delegation, Entergy's chief operating officer said that a recent uprate that increased power output by 20 percent was not responsible for the collapse of a cooling tower on Aug. 21. As part of the uprate, fan motors used to cool water in Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant's 22 cooling cells were upgraded from 125 to 200 horse power to compensate for the increased thermal output of the plant. "There is no evidence that the 75 hp upgrade ... in any way compromised the structural integrity of the cooling towers or played any role in the failure of (the) cooling cell," wrote J. Wayne Leonard in response to a Sept. 21 letter in which Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., posed a series of questions to Leonard about the plant's cooling towers. In addition, wrote Leonard, "there was no history of excessive or inordinate vibration from any of the 21 newly-installed fans ... at any time during their two years of operation prior to Aug. 21." The support structure of the cooling cell is designed to hold 75,000 pounds of water, wrote Leonard. The upgraded fans added about 1,000 pounds to that structure. A review of the cooling tower failure, called a root cause analysis, revealed that the plant's remote visual examination method was inadequate and didn't spot rotted wooden beams before they collapsed. Though Leonard said its cooling tower inspection, maintenance and repair program at Vermont Yankee exceeds industry practices and "any specific requirements under law, in hindsight, they were clearly inadequate." "I assure you this type of failure will not happen again," he wrote. The collapse began when a support structure holding up a water-distribution pipe broke. The pipe in turn, began to sag, spilling more water out onto the structure than it was designed to handle. The increased load put more pressure on the remaining support beams, which also eventually failed. "The vertical support beams that failed initially may have been stressed by iron salt attack, fungal attack and/or over-tightened bolts at spliced connections that caused splitting of the wood that was the cause of the structural failure," wrote Leonard. The towers are inspected several times during the year -- in the spring, the fall and during regularly scheduled refueling outages, Leonard wrote. The cooling cell that collapsed had last been inspected in May during a refueling outage. During that inspection, 13 of the 4x4 support columns holding up the cooling towers were replaced. During an inspection following the collapse, another 60 of the 516 structural columns in the west bank of cooling fans required replacement due to wood rot. Wood structures are best for a plant such as Yankee, wrote Leonard, because metal tends to rust when sprayed with water, fiberglass is difficult to manufacture, install and maintain and concrete is susceptible to the freeze/thaw cycle of Northeast winters. Entergy has assembled a team "to determine and develop specific inspection plans for the future cooling tower inspection and maintenance strategy to be implemented this fall," wrote Leonard. "Vermont Yankee's inspection and preventive maintenance programs will be thoroughly reviewed and enhanced." "At no time during or since the failure have the Vermont environmental or nuclear safety regulations been exceeded," wrote Leonard, in a letter dated Oct. 2. "Entergy sets the highest standards for all of its operations and the Company expects to meet those standards," wrote Leonard. "Public trust is very important to us at Entergy, and we commit to keeping Vermont's citizens and their elected officials informed about all aspects of our operations at Vermont Yankee," adding "our investigations will be open and transparent to the public." Bob Audette can be reached at raudette@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 273. ***************************************************************** 22 Brattleboro Reformer: NRC gathers more testimony on VY plant safety concerns BRATTLEBORO, VT By PAUL H. HEINTZ, Reformer Staff Thursday, October 4 BRATTLEBORO -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held the second of two teleconferences Wednesday to gather more information about a request to investigate worker safety concerns at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The anti-nuclear New England Coalition filed a petition Aug. 27 asking for an investigation into allegations made by a union official about worker safety at Vermont Yankee. The petition was filed a week after the collapse of a cooling tower cell at VY, which NEC said could have been related to degrading safety conditions. The NRC previously turned down NEC's request to act immediately on the petition, citing a lack of an imminent safety threat. It then gave NEC technical consultant Raymond Shadis a chance to further elaborate on the organization's concerns during a Sept. 12 teleconference. The NRC's Petition Review Board subsequently decided that three of NEC's four requests were not "enforcement related" and thus outside the board's scope, according to NRC deputy director of policy and rule-making Ho Nieh. Wednesday's teleconference allowed Shadis to follow up on that decision and present additional information to bolster NEC's claims. NEC's petition was based primarily on a statement made in a press release by Gary Sullivan, president of United Workers Union of America Local 369, which represents employees of Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Mass. The release came in the midst of a contentious labor dispute at Vermont Yankee. "This nuclear industry relies heavily on having each plant do the right thing and not cut corners. There are serious issues of public safety surrounding the Vermont Yankee dispute," Sullivan said in the statement. During Wednesday's hearing, Shadis argued that comments made subsequent to the filing of NEC's petition corroborated Sullivan's statement. Citing two Reformer articles about a planned consolidation of five Entergy power plants into one holding company, Shadis pointed to a statement made by Pilgrim union attorneys which appeared to raise further concerns about safety at VY. In a brief, the lawyers said, "Because some of the facilities with which PNPS would be more closely affiliated with after the proposed transfer, notably Vermont Yankee and Indian Point, are known to have safety problems, Local 369 is concerned that under the new 'control' structure... those safety problems could 'migrate' to PNPS." Further, they added, "Local 369 does not wish to gamble the safety of its member and their families on that chance. This is not an idle concern, as there have been recent and significant safety issues at Vermont Yankee." Shadis told the petition review board Wednesday that Pilgrim workers must be aware of serious safety concerns at VY, and therefore the NRC should investigate what they are. "To wit, it is abundantly clear that union employees of VY have identified that there are safety issues. They have not identified them specifically, and this is a violation of reporting requirements," Shadis told the board. Nieh and NRC senior counsel Jenny Longo each asked Shadis to specify whether there was a particular element or unanalyzed condition at VY that he was concerned about. But Shadis said his concerns were about more general safety procedures and not about a "particular pump, valve or motor." "It escapes me why the NRC would require at this point that they be presented with a specific safety violation... when what the union press release and the union at Pilgrim is saying is that there are significant safety issues at Vermont Yankee," he said. "What that really needs to trigger is an inspection activity as to whether or not those safety conditions exist and what they may be." Nieh told participants in the teleconference, who included NEC members, NRC staff and an Entergy representative, that the board would meet "promptly" to discuss concerns raised by Shadis. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan later said the board's goal would be to issue a decision within 120 days of NRC's receipt of the petition. Shadis said after the teleconference he was unsure whether the NRC would heed his requests, but he said that at the very least they have heard his concerns. "Basically the NRC is on notice that the employees have expressed concern about declining safety margins at VY and apparently the jungle drums are beating throughout the industry because now we have the union at Pilgrim saying 'please don't do that because we're afraid of contamination because of the safety culture at VY,'" he said. "This is extraordinary." Paul Heintz can be reached at pheintz@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 275. ***************************************************************** 23 Brattleboro Reformer: Sanders pushes for inspections of reactors BRATTLEBORO, VT By EVAN LEHMANN, Reformer Washington Bureau Thursday, October 4 WASHINGTON -- The nation's top official overseeing the safety of nuclear power plants resisted Sen. Bernard Sanders' request Wednesday to organize independent inspections of Vermont Yankee and the 103 other plants in the country. With a poster of Vermont Yankee's crumbled cooling tower cell behind him, Vermont's independent senator suggested that the three-person Nuclear Regulatory Commission favors industry interests over enhanced safety measures that could siphon regulatory power from Washington. He pointed to the sudden collapse at Vermont Yankee on Aug. 21, and an emergency shutdown following a stuck steam valve on Aug. 30. "Problems happen when nuclear power plants get old," Sanders told the trio in a Senate hearing. "If you were living in southern Vermont, or New Hampshire, or northern Massachusetts, would you have confidence in the NRC after this series of events?" When the panel's chairman, Dale E. Klein, responded that Vermonters should trust the commission, Sanders shot back: "They don't." Sanders, a member of the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Energy, is trying to pass legislation requiring independent safety inspections of the country's nuclear power plants, involving state experts and outside engineers. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, however, contends that it already allows those experts to participate in inspections under enhanced safety protocols. And Klein said ultimate say over the safety of those plants, providing 20 percent of the country's power, should be kept in federal hands under strict oversight. The pressure has mounted on the commission as the 104 plants in 33 states, first built in the 1950s, show their age and test federal officials' ability to maintain untarnished safety records. Thirty-five liters of a highly enriched uranium solution leaked onto the floor of the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin, Tennessee, in March 2006. The NRC didn't tell Congress about the leak until 14 months later, angering lawmakers. Four years earlier, in March 2002, workers discovered a football-size hole in a reactor head at the Davis-Besse plant in Ohio. The hole, which threatened to create a radioactive disaster, was overlooked in safety inspections over a period of six years. The commission Tuesday sought to reassure Vermonters that the state's 35-year-old nuclear plant is secure. "That visible collapse is a concern," Klein said of the August accident. "It's important to note that cell collapse is not part of the safety system. In terms of the public being at risk from a safety standpoint, they are not at risk." The commission is considering extending Vermont Yankee's operational license 20 years, to 2032. The plant is owned by Entergy. Another witness testifying before the panel has little confidence in the commission's reassurances about safety nationwide. "The NRC is not an aggressive enforcer of regulations; it is a meek and mild enabler of non-conforming behavior," David A. Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists said in written testimony. After a years-long absence of nuclear power plant construction in the United States, the NRC received its first building application last week. It expects to receive up to a dozen more in the next year, creating what officials call a "nuclear renaissance." "Before we think about building dozens of more nuclear power plants, somebody might want to ask the simple question, 'What are you going to do with that waste?'" Sanders told the commission. "I'm not convinced that you know what to do with this highly lethal, high-level waste if Yucca does not turn out to be the depository," he added, referring to the Yucca Mountain repository proposed in 1978. A central repository isn't necessarily needed, commissioners said, citing the use of onsite dry cask storage using steel cylinders to hold spent fuel rods surrounded by inert gas. Klein said it is a "safe" method. "Safe is a big word when we have Osama bin Laden and others running around," Sanders said. "I hope you recognize that." Gregory B. Jaczko, an NRC commissioner, responded: "When we say safe, we mean very, very safe." "The risk is very close to zero." "I was very pleased that the Union of Concerned Scientists came out in strong support of my legislation," said Sanders. "We made a good case to the commission about the need for an independent safety assessment at Vermont Yankee involving state government and independent inspectors." "I was not surprised that they were not interested or sympathetic to Vermont Yankee having one because that would set a precedent for power plants across the country." "Klein does understand that given the recent problems at Vermont Yankee there is a lot of concern in southern Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire about the plant and the need to bend over backwards to make sure this plant is as safe as humanly possible. Right now, people don't have that assurance." Sanders said he and the rest of the Vermont delegation in Washington would "stay on top of this issue," until they are satisfied with the NRC's response. ***************************************************************** 24 Tri-Town News: Oyster Creek drywell corrosion raises concerns Allentown, NJ Front Page October 4, 2007 BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent TOMS RIVER - Will the thickness of the drywell liner surrounding the reactor at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Lacey Township last for another 20 years if the plant is relicensed? That's the single question now before three judges from the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), the judicial arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). ASLB judges E. Roy Hawkins, Paul Abramson and Anthony Baratta recently listened to expert testimony on that question during hearings at the Ocean County Administration Building. "The burden of proof is on AmerGen the plant operator) that the challenges presented to us do not have merit," Hawkins said. Officials from AmerGen and its parent company, Exelon Inc., brought 14 expert witnesses in an attempt to prove that the nuclear plant is safe, and placed five photographs and a small replica of the drywell shell into evidence. "There was no secret that there was corrosion in 1992, but the shell is not corroding now," Alex Polonsky, an attorney for AmerGen, said in his opening remarks to the panel. Polonsky said that after the corrosion was discovered, the exterior of the drywell shell was cleaned and an epoxy coating was applied. "It is still as shiny as it was 15 years ago," he said. Polonsky said Polonsky said AmerGen has in place a management plan for aging, which was approved by the NRC, and that the opposition to the drywell liner is "conjecture." "They (opponents) are saying that the rate of corrosion will be higher than it was 15 years ago," Polonsky said. "That is just baseless hypothesizing." But Richard Webster, a Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic lawyer who represents a coalition of groups that oppose the relicensing of the Oyster Creek plant, said the sampling AmerGen has done is unusual and the numbers are small. "There is a huge amount of uncertainty," Webster said in his opening remarks. "AmerGen is drowning in it. Don't let it drag the NRC down with it." Webster said there is an absence of data, including the thickness of the drywell shell in certain areas, along with what the corrosion rate will be in the future. "Will it be 0.05 inches per year?" Webster asked. "Can we think that's appropriate when we're dealing with nuclear safety?" Webster represents a coalition of citizen and environmental groups that include the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, the Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch Inc., Grandmothers, Mothers and More for Energy Safety (GRAMMES), the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG), the New Jersey Sierra Club and the New Jersey Environmental Foundation. New Jersey congressmen Jim Saxton and Christopher Smith both questioned the thickness of the drywell shell and urged the panel to investigate the issue thoroughly in a Sept. 21 letter addressed to the ASLB. "It is not acceptable for the containment wall of a 636-megawatt nuclear power plant to just barely meet minimum federal requirements or to fall below the margin of safety," they wrote. Saxton and Smith referred to testimony before the ASLB by Dr. Mark Hartzman, a senior mechanical engineer in the Division of Engineering- Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation at the NRC, who indicated that the steel drywell barrier did not meet the minimum thickness requirements set by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The NRC said in an Aug. 23 letter to the ASLB that Hartzman's testimony contained a "misstatement" and that Hartzman had later corrected the NRC's rebuttal testimony. Oyster Creek, which went online in 1969, is the oldest nuclear plant in the United States. Its 40-year operating license is due to expire on April 9, 2009. AmerGen applied to the NRC for a 20-year license extension in July 2005. AmerGen has faced a series of setbacks this year in its quest to have the plant on Route 9 south in Lacey Township relicensed. The state Attorney General's Office petitioned the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in May to contest the NRC's stance that the impact of a terrorist attack should not be part of a nuclear plant's relicensing review. The Attorney General's Office filed the petition on behalf of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). And in early June, the DEP faulted both AmerGen and the NRC for relying on environmental studies that were up to 30 years old during the relicensing process. ***************************************************************** 25 Reuters: Entergy revises payment terms for 2 New York nukes Thu Oct 4, 2007 11:21pm BST SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - U.S. utility Entergy Corp (ETR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it reached an agreement with the New York Power Authority to revise certain payment terms in its purchase of two New York nuclear power plants in 2000. The revisions include annual payments to be made by Entergy's Indian Point 3 and FitzPatrick nuclear units to the NYPA based on the plants' production of electricity. The annual payments will end after January 2009 if Entergy or an affiliate ceases to own the plants, New Orleans-based Energy said. Annual payments by the two nuclear plants for the period 2007-2014 based on megawatt-hour production will not exceed $72 million, with the first payment due by Jan. 15, 2008. The utility will pay the NYPA $6.59 per megawatt hour for power sold from Indian Point 3, up to a annual cap of $48 million, and $3.91 per megawatt hour for power sold from FitzPatrick, up to a annual cap of $24 million. Entergy said it estimates that the total acquisition costs of Indian Point 2 and FitzPatrick now are $373 per kilowatt and $310 per kilowatt, respectively. "These estimates reflect adjusting the original acquisition costs of the plants for the present value of the expected payments associated with this agreement," Entergy said. (Reporting by Leonard Anderson) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. | Learn more about Reuters ***************************************************************** 26 Reuters: British Energy's Hunterston nuclear power plant shuts Thu Oct 4, 2007 5:17pm BST LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Both reactors at British Energy's (BGY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Hunterston nuclear power station in Scotland shut down on Thursday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the company said. She could not say why the two 485-megawatt reactors at the plant had shut down only hours after one of them was restarted following maintenance. "I can confirm that they are both shut," she said. Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 Reuters: Southern Ala. Farley 2 reactor shut | Thu Oct 4, 2007 8:30am EDT NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Southern Co's (SO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 860-megawatt Unit 2 at the Farley nuclear power station in Alabama automatically shut from full power on Oct. 3, the company told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a report. A loss of the startup transformer caused part of the reactor coolant system to stop working, which caused the reactor to trip. Operators said the loss of the startup transformer appears to be the result of relay testing on the adjacent Unit 1, which shut for a refueling outage last month. Electricity traders guessed the unit would return within a week. The 1,711 MW Farley station is located in Dothan in Houston County about 95 miles northwest of Tallahassee, Florida. There are two units at the station, the 815 MW Unit 1 and 860 MW Unit 2, which entered service in 1977 and 1981. Unit 1 shut Sept. 29 and will likely return in late October. One MW powers about 600 homes in Alabama. Separately, the NRC in March 2005 renewed the plant's original 40-year operating licenses for both units for another 20 years until 2037 and 2041. Southern, of Atlanta, owns and operates more than 42,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to more than 4.3 million customers in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Reuters2007All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 28 Vermont Public Radio: Governor skeptical of increased oversight of nuclear power Thursday October 4, 2007 John Dillon (Host) Governor Jim Douglas says he’s skeptical of legislation that would give Vermont and other states a greater role in overseeing nuclear power plants. The bill is supported by members of Vermont’s congressional delegation. VPR’s John Dillon has more: (Dillon) Both Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressman Peter Welch have introduced legislation that would allow states to request an independent safety review of nuclear power plants. Senator Patrick Leahy has also agreed to co-sponsor the bill. The bill would also strengthen the role of neighboring states on nuclear safety issues. It would allow, for example, the governor of New Hampshire to ask federal regulators for the independent study when the nearby Vermont Yankee seeks to extend its license for another 20 years. But Governor Jim Douglas says he’s worried about allowing other states to get involved. (Douglas)``I think it’s a precedent that we need to be very wary of, to empower adjoining states to be able to have a role in the regulatory proceedings in one state.’’ (Dillon) But the Douglas Administration has intervened with environmental regulators in other states. Vermont, for example, challenged an air quality permit granted by New York State to a paper mill on Lake Champlain that wanted to burn tires as fuel. The state has also gone to court to fight pollution coming from Midwest coal plants. Still, the governor believes the delegation’s nuclear oversight legislation goes too far. He says these kinds of issues are better handled by the courts. (Douglas) If there was some alleged egregious impact on public safety, I’m sure there is a remedy in the courts now. (Dillon) Congressman Peter Welch introduced the nuclear oversight legislation in the House after a cooling tower partially collapsed at Vermont Yankee. Douglas says he can see why the public lacks confidence in Yankee and its inspection procedures. (Douglas) ``I believe it’s safe, but I’m concerned as many Vermonters are how something can collapse fairly soon after an inspection.’’ (Dillon) But Douglas says the plant has delivered inexpensive power for decades, and is a major reason Vermont electricity rates are low. He says there’s a good chance that Yankee will be re-licensed for another 20 years, after its current license expires in 2012. For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier. Copyright 2007, VPR ***************************************************************** 29 emporiagazette.com: Wolf Creek hearing | The Emporia Gazette October 4, 2007 Members of the public will have an opportunity to comment on a draft report that assesses the environmental impact of extending the operating license for the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Burlington. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold two meetings on Nov. 8 to accept comments on the report. The first session will begin at 1:30 p.m. with the second one at 7 p.m. Both meetings will be in the Coffey County Library, Burlington Branch, 410 Juanita St. in Burlington. NRC staff will be available for an hour before each meeting for informal, one-on-one discussions of the report. The NRC report, known as the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, was issued on Sept. 18. As part of Wolf Creek’s license renewal application, the company submitted an environmental report. Those interested in attending the meeting in November may pre-register to attend or speak at the meetings by contacting Christian Jacobs, the NRC environmental project manager, at (800) 368-5642, extension 3874 or by e-mail at WolfCreekEIS@nrc.gov no later than Nov. 1. In addition, there will be a 15-minute registration period before each meeting for members of the public to request speaking time. The draft report is posted on the NRC Web page at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supp lement32. o Copyright 2006 The Emporia Gazette. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 Knoxville News Sentinel: Tower of power Economy will get boost when TVA occupies downtown site By Michael Silence (Contact) Thursday, October 4, 2007 J. Miles Cary Financial advisers Bill Vogel, left, and Dugan McLaughlin eat their lunch on Market Square Mall in downtown Knoxville on Tuesday. TVA’s plans to move 200-300 contract workers into the vacant East Tower, in background, will give Knoxville’s economy a $10 million annual boost. Knoxville’s economy will get a $10 million-a-year boost when 200-300 contract workers move into the largely vacant TVA East Tower. That’s a conservative estimate from University of Tennessee economist Matt Murray. “That’s a significant shot in the arm for the downtown area,” Murray said. But he cautions against getting too giddy about temporary workers. “Are these jobs going to blow away in three to five years? If so, then you have to deal with the loss of $10 million a year,” he said. On Monday, TVA said 200-300 contractors would move into at least one floor of the 12-story tower by the end of the year. The work force will do engineering for Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, a never-finished reactor unit for which construction is expected to last five years, cost $2.49 billion and employ as many as 2,600 workers. TVA, which plans to award about $1 billion worth of contracts for engineering, construction and procurement work at the plant, is still reviewing proposals from Bechtel Corp., the largest engineering company in the United States, and The Shaw Group Inc., a Louisiana-based engineering firm. But the two contenders for lead contractor on the project are already gearing up to hire dozens of skilled workers in the area. The 247,000-square-foot East Tower on Summit Hill Drive near Gay Street has been nearly empty since TVA finished moving most employees to the adjacent West Tower in mid-2006. Only about 100 workers with TVA’s Office of the Inspector General remain in the building. Downtown merchants welcomed news of workers moving into the East Tower. “It’s (downtown) a nice and vibrant community. It’s good to have this additional diversity,” said Mahasti Vafaie, owner of the Tomato Head on Market Square. “It’s always been a big question mark what’s going to happen,” said Scott Schimmel, one of the owners of Bliss and Bliss Home, which also are on Market Square just south of the TVA’s East Tower. “It’s fantastic news,” he added. “That’s more bodies. More spending. More commerce,” said Rhonda Rice, Knoxville Chamber’s executive vice president. Murray said his $10 million estimate is a conservative one, based on an average annual salary of $50,000 and 200 new employees. “This is really a significant event,” he said. And he said that doesn’t include the liklihood that some of those employees will chose to live downtown. How long the contract workers will stay in the tower is uncertain. TVA is still looking to market the remaining space in the East Tower, and is reevaluating whether to continue leasing space or sell the building. The federal agency has tried unsuccessfully to sell the buildingm several times in recent years. Michael Silence may be reached at 865-342-6310. 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. Posted by qwe on October 4, 2007 at 12:42 p.m. (Suggest removal) I don't buy these numbers. 50,000 x 200 is 10 million but the employees are not going to spend it all in downtown Knoxville and I would guess many will come from area engineering firms and already live in the area, not likely to relocate downtown for a 5 year job. Scripps Newspaper Group Online 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. Privacy Policy | User Agreement ***************************************************************** 31 NRC: NRC Meeting Oct. 24 in Mineral, Va., to Discuss Review Process for Expected New Reactor Application News Release - 2007-126 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will conduct a public meeting in Mineral, Va., on Wednesday, Oct. 24, to discuss how the agency will review an expected Combined License (COL) application for a new reactor at the North Anna site, about 40 miles northwest of Richmond. The prospective applicant, Dominion, has told the NRC it intends to apply later this year for a license to build and operate an Economic and Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) at North Anna. “The NRC is ready to review this application and the others we’re expecting over the next couple of years. Communities near these sites need to know what’s ahead,” said David Matthews, Director of the Division of New Reactor Licensing in the NRC’s Office of New Reactors. “We’re going to work with residents to help them understand the process and how they can participate, because they can provide valuable information.” The meeting will be held in the Auditorium of the Louisa County Middle School, 1009 Davis Highway in Mineral, from 7 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. NRC staff presentations will describe the overall Combined License review process, which includes safety and environmental assessments, as well as how the public can participate in the process. The NRC will host an open house for an hour prior to the meeting so members of the public have the opportunity to talk informally with agency staff. A COL, if issued, provides authorization from the NRC to construct and, with conditions, operate a nuclear power plant at a specific site and in accordance with laws and regulations. More information on the NRC’s new reactor licensing process is available on the agency’s Web site here: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactor-licensing.html. The ESBWR is under NRC review to be certified as a reactor design that can be referenced in a COL. It is a 1,600 MWe, natural-circulation boiling water reactor that incorporates passive safety systems. NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site. October 03, 2007 ***************************************************************** 32 Business Week: A U.S. Nuclear Power Renaissance Industry in Focus October 3, 2007, 6:09PM EST by Vaughan Scully From Standard & Poor's Equity Research During the past three decades, nuclear power has held a less than enviable place in the mind of the American public. Targeted by environmentalists concerned about the dangers of storing spent radioactive fuel, the nuclear power industry also earned the scorn of investors and power customers in the 1980s after several high-profile construction projects went bust, sticking lenders and customers with the bill. That has changed. The U.S. nuclear power industry has been virtually accident-free since the meltdown of Three Mile Island Unit 2 in March, 1979, and mounting concerns over the environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions have led activists to shift their attacks to coal-fired generators and the large amount of carbon dioxide they emit. Meanwhile, rising and increasingly volatile natural gas prices have made the economics of using it to generate electricity less attractive and, more important, less predictable. Additionally, the old two-step process for approving new nuclear plants created a risk that a developer could get a license to build a plant, but then not receive a license to operate the plant once it was completed. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has implemented a new streamlined process that combines the construction and operating licenses into one, eliminating that risk and reducing the overall cost of obtaining a license. Competitive Platform for Generating Electricity With electricity demand rising every year and the latest energy bill providing generous incentives for nuclear generation, the allure of building a new nuclear power plant is proving irresistible. Last week, New Jersey independent power producer NRG Energy (NRG; $43) filed the first application in almost 30 years to build a new nuclear power plant in the U.S., and other new reactors are in the works as well: The NRC expects to receive 21 applications for 32 reactors over the next two years. "If companies can keep the price per kilowatt of capacity at relatively low levels, then nuclear power provides a competitive platform down the road for generating electricity," says Christopher Muir, equity analyst at Standard & Poor's covering independent power producers. "Most of these companies have been talking about building new nuclear plants for several years now. NRG was the first one to put something forward, and I think that there's going to be several more before the end of the year." NRG will reap substantial benefits from being the first to the line with a full application from special incentives granted to the first set of applicants, Muir says. "[But] that's a long way off and shouldn't affect the stock at this point." Even so, NRG is still an attractive stock, he says, as are several other independent power producers—companies that own generating stations and sell their power in the wholesale market instead of supplying it to an affiliated distributor under regulated prices. Fixed Costs Comparable to Coal S&P has buy ratings on NRG and independent power producers Dynegy (DYN; $9), AES (AES; $20.31), Constellation Energy Group (CEG; $86), and Mirant (MIR; $40). (Constellation's joint venture with French nuclear reactor manufacturer Areva is expected to submit an application in 2008 for a new reactor.) Current electric power prices "are strong enough to generate interest in building new baseload generation—units that run even during nonpeak demand periods—including nuclear," Muir says. While power generators themselves may not see any immediate rewards from a revival of the U.S. nuclear power industry, S&P thinks companies that design and build nuclear power plants definitely will benefit, now and for many years into the future. One of those companies is General Electric (GE; $42), which designed the reactor that NRG is proposing to build. Toshiba, which holds a majority stake in reactor designer Westinghouse Electric and has built several of the reactors that NRG wants, is managing the project. A Boon to Construction "The nuclear reactors being built in the U.S. will benefit GE," says Richard Tortoriello, equity analyst with S&P, adding that they will also benefit Hitachi, which is partnering with GE (GE) in Japan and the U.S. to build and maintain new nuclear plants. (S&P has a strong buy rating on GE.) At the same time, several nuclear power plants are already under construction outside the U.S., and more are planned, providing an even bigger prospect, Tortoriello says. "[While] U.S. nuclear power opportunities will certainly help profitability," he says, "for now, I think the international opportunities are greater." Another group of stocks that will benefit from the nuclear renaissance is construction companies, who stand to win large contracts for engineering and construction work that will be needed. Toshiba hired Fluor (FLR; $148), based in Irving, Tex., to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services during the first phase of the project. S&P has a buy rating on Fluor. A Fund to Look At Fluor and other large construction companies, "Should benefit from the nuclear projects over the next 20 years," says Stewart Scharf, S&P equity analyst covering construction and engineering stocks. One company in particular to benefit will be Shaw Group (SGR; $60), which already works for 95% of existing U.S. nuclear power plants and owns 20% of Westinghouse. As part of that investment, Shaw has the right to provide construction services for projects using Westinghouse's new AP1000 reactor-four of which will be built in China and possibly dozens more around the world. S&P has a hold rating on Shaw. Those looking for an easy way to participate in the global development of nuclear power may want to consider shares of Market Vectors Nuclear Energy ETF Trust, an exchange-traded fund that began trading in August, 2007, and holds shares of many overseas companies that are active in the nuclear power industry and are not listed in the U.S. Scully is a reporter for Standard & Poor's Editorial Operations . The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ***************************************************************** 33 NRC: NRC Seeks Comment on Draft Rule For New Reactor Aircraft Impact Assessments News Release - 2007-127 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on a proposed rule to enhance the safety and security of future nuclear power plants. The proposal would require applicants for new reactors to assess the level of built-in protection a particular design has to avoid or mitigate the effects of a large commercial aircraft impact, reducing the need for human intervention to protect public health and safety. The proposed rule would apply to the following types of applications: * A new reactor design certification application not referencing an approved standard design; * A new reactor design approval application; * A new combined license application not referencing a design certification, standard design approval or manufactured reactor; or, * A new manufacturing license application not referencing a design certification or standard design approval. Nuclear power plants are designed under very stringent requirements to assure they can safely shut down following “design-basis events” such as large fires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, as well as improbable equipment malfunctions including pipe breaks. These requirements include having two redundant systems to accomplish each safety function. The proposed rule establishes large commercial aircraft crashes as Abeyond-design-basis events.@ Under the proposed rule, any design feature, functional capability or strategy adopted solely to comply with the rule would meet high quality standards but would be exempt from NRC design-basis regulations, such as regulations for redundancy. The NRC has already taken several steps to improve security at existing nuclear power plants, including adopting a rule in January that requires both existing and potential new reactors to defend against a more realistic threat. While the agency does not believe nuclear power plants should be required to defend against large commercial aircraft, the NRC works closely with other federal agencies such as NORAD, the Federal Aviation Administration and the intelligence community to provide layered protection against such a threat. The agency expects these efforts would effectively preclude an aircraft attack from occurring. Should such an unlikely event take place at a new plant designed in accordance with the proposed rule, the NRC expects the plant would be better able to withstand such a crash. The proposed rule may be viewed and downloaded via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. For more information on the proposed rule, please contact Stewart Schneider at 301-415-1642 or via e-mail at sxs4@nrc.gov; or Nanette Gilles at 301-415-1180 or via e-mail at nvg@nrc.gov. Comments on the proposed rule should be submitted within 75 days of the rule’s publication in the Federal Register, expected shortly. Comments can be mailed to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. Comments can be e-mailed to SECY@nrc.gov. If you fail to receive a reply e-mail confirming that we have received your comments, please call (301) 415-1966. Comments can also be submitted online at the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Comments can be hand-delivered to 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays, or faxed to Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-1101. Please includeRIN 3150-AI19 NRC news releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC Home Page at www.nrc.gov also offers a Subscribe to News link in the News & Information menu. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web Site. October 04, 2007 ***************************************************************** 34 Independent: Blast from the past; More than 40% of downwinders' claims denied October 3, 2007: Operation Buster-Jangle was conducted at the Nevada Proving Grounds, later renamed the Nevada Test Site, in 1951. Here, a 21-kilatond bomb name "Dog" explodes on Nov. 1, 1951. [Courtesy atomicarchive.com] By Kathy Helms Din Bureau WINDOW ROCK ? For Native Americans, there was no escaping the fallout resulting from atomic tests conducted by the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. Yet a half-century later, more or less, those who developed various types of cancers and other radiation-related illnesses still are trying to prove their cases. Series of tests spawned radioactive clouds that crossed the reservations of Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute and Ute Mountain Ute, as well as several pueblos in New Mexico including Laguna and Acoma. Though Navajo was bombarded time and again, as of Sept. 25, out of 15,209 downwinder claims filed nationally, only 656 were from Navajo. Of those, 391 were approved while about 40 percent were denied. About one-quarter of all uranium mined in the United States during the Cold War-era came from the Navajo Nation. Yet out of 7,548 total claims filed by uranium miners, only 1,925 were filed by Navajo, with 989 of those approved. Claims filed nationally by millers totaled 1,319. Of those, 144 were filed by Navajo, with 92 approved; ore transporter claims totaled 299 nationally, with 17 filed by Navajo and six approved. Only one Navajo on-site participant filed a claim and was compensated out of 2,652 total participant claims. But the law firm of Killian, Guthro & Jensen, P.C., of Durango, Colo., is hoping to improve those odds. The firm has been contracted by the Navajo Nation to lobby members of Congress in Washington for changes in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. J. Keith Killian said last week that the law firm is aiming for at least six different changes in the statutes to improve compensation for Navajo downwinders and uranium workers, as well as for other Native Americans and post 1971 miners. Killian said there should be thousands of additional downwinder claims, but those have not been filed due to difficulty of proving residency and disease, bureaucratic red tape, and inability to locate competent counsel. ?We are currently involved in a lobbying effort to modify the laws and regulations to permit Navajo tribal members to have more equality in the administration process. In addition, changes should be made to include the post 1971 uranium workers and core drillers. Also, the eligibility for downwinder claims, including the Trinity test site, should be broadened,? he said. New Mexico currently is not included as a downwind state. Killian said they are hoping to have San Juan and McKinley counties added to the list of eligible counties for RECA claimants. ?If you?re a downwinder, you don?t get medical for downwind claims. If you?re dying because you contracted cancer as a downwinder, that cancer isn?t going to kill you any differently than if you were a miner,? he said. ?So, why not give them the same compensation, the same medical coverage as you give uranium workers?? Killian said there are a lot of legitimate claims that are held by Native Americans, including Navajos, that are difficult to prove. ?They?re difficult to prove because they don?t have residency records,? he said. ?One of the things that we can do is allow affidavits ? sworn statements ? where people say, ?This person lived here during this time frame, or this person worked in this mine and was doing milling and ore hauling.? ?Right now, the way it works, affidavits are allowed for miners, but not allowed for ore haulers or millers or downwinders,? he said. Another goal is to gain compensation for Post-71 uranium workers. ?One of our proposals is to extend the timeframe of coverage to 1990. Uranium was and still is a heavily regulated industry. It?s regulated by the government, so it?s in the government?s best interest to mine uranium, and since they?re regulating it, we don?t see there?s any difference between what happened before 1971 and what happened afterward. ?As a matter of fact, as a result of all this gearing up to do additional mining, we think that it?s best just to say there?s no timeframe. If you obtain a currently compensable disease ? a cancer or respiratory disease, or a kidney disease easily related to exposure to radon gases or uranium ? then you ought to be compensated,? he said. Another logical extension of coverage relates to kidney disease, he said. ?If you?re a miner, you can contract lung cancer or certain respiratory diseases such as silicosis or fibrosis and be compensated. If you?re a miner and you have a kidney disease, you can?t be. However, if you?re a miller and you have a kidney disease, you can be. ?The research out there, from what we understand, is such that miners can get kidney diseases and do, just as easily as millers.? Killian also is looking at changes in exposure qualifications. ?Let?s say you have limited exposure as a miner and limited exposure as a miller, and you don?t meet the criteria under either one of them. If you combine them, you would meet it,? he said. There is also the issue of double exposure as a uranium worker and a downwinder, particularly for Navajos in Arizona. ?If we can?t qualify them as a miller or ore hauler or a miner, then we?ll try to qualify them as a downwinder.? It?s possible that some Navajos, theoretically, could qualify for all four ? downwinder, miller, ore hauler and miner ? and not be able to prove any of them, he said. That?s how difficult sometimes it can be.? A technicality that many people don?t even come close to comprehending, Killian said, is that exposure for Navajo uranium workers in the 1940s and 1950s was determined by the amount of money earned as constructed by the government. ?Let?s say you worked for two years in a mine. They construct a wage for you ? let?s say $2 an hour, and let?s say you were actually making 75 cents an hour. Then, what they do is they say, ?Well, this person earned $3,000 in one year and $2,000 in the next year.? ?So we construct their wage by assuming they worked 40 hours a week at $2 bucks an hour, and we say the exposure they have is not consistent with any of those months. Therefore, you don?t qualify because you didn?t earn enough to prove that you worked enough to prove that you had exposure enough. ?When in reality, the person was making less and there?s no way we can use an affidavit to prove that they were earning that little because affidavits are only permitted for miners. If they were a miller, for instance, then you couldn?t use the affidavit. ?So you?ve got a real bizarre scenario here where the government constructs your exposure by the amount of money you earn. But if you?re underpaid or paid under the table ? many of them were ? then you?re not going to be able to prove your claim even though you?ve got the disease and you worked for two years.? However, he said, if you?re an Anglo living in Salt Lake City who had Social Security withheld from the mine and you?ve got a disease and you?re on your death bed, then you can prove it. ?But most of the claims that are existing today are not like that. There are many of them that don?t have Social Security records.? Several years ago, all RECA claims were compensated on a contingency basis at 10 percent, Killian said. ?So if you got someone $100,000 ? you proved it for them ? they got $90,000, the attorney got 10 percent. So what happened was the law was changed to reduce it to 2 percent on an initial claim and 10 percent on a denied claim.? The problem with that, he said, is that potential clients now are having problems finding attorneys to represent them. ?We have to take cases that are pretty clean because we can?t spend hours and hours and hours on a case that we?re going to make $2,000 on,? he said. Downwind claims are worth $50,000. ?An attorney gets paid $1,000 to prove an impossible case. You just can?t do those cases,? he said. ?There really ought to be a compensation schedule that would allow attorneys to represent these people who have difficult claims to prove, because what?s happening is they?re dying without representation. They just don?t get compensated. ?So, I think, the bad intent, if you will, was to write the statute in a way so that attorneys would not be involved and so there?s only a handful of attorneys across the United States that do this. There are many of them who are representing widows whose husbands died years ago and they?ve lost the records. You can?t easily find the medical records, and you need affidavits to prove it. ?You have to put your butt in the chair and start making phone calls and work your butt off to get those claims proven and you can?t do it for $1,000. And look ? they knew this,? Killian said. ?Lily Tomlin has a quote I like to throw out there, and she said: ?No matter how cynical I am ? it?s not enough.? ? Please send the Gallup Independent feedback on this website and the Send questions or comments to gallpind@cia-g.com ***************************************************************** 35 The Enquirer: Radiation records revealed Last Updated: 10:35 pm | Thursday, October 4, 2007 Local researchers dosed 89 people - mostly poor and mostly black BY TIM BONFIELD | THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER In the heat of the Cold War 30 years ago, 89 people with terminal cancer - mostly African-American, mostly poor - suffered the nausea and pain of radiation-induced injury in Cincinnati. Some died painful, premature deaths. As families hunt today for answers, and Congress debates whether to compensate the unwitting human guinea pigs of Cold War experiments, documents from the University of Cincinnati to the Department of Defense obtained by The Enquirer begin to reveal what happened in the basement of General Hospital from 1960 to 1971. Beginning in 1960, Dr. Eugene Saenger, the father of UC's department of nuclear medicine and a world-leading expert on the health effects of radiation, led a team of scientists whose work for 11 years was underwritten by $651,000 from the Department of Defense. "As nuclear weapons are deployed about the world in increasing numbers and as the peaceful use of atomic energy similarly spreads, the need to acquire detailed knowledge about human radiobiology becomes more and more urgent," stated a 1971 proposal seeking continued funding from the Defense Department through 1975. Over the years, the Saenger team: Detailed the damage radiation can do to the human body. "The long-term program envisions carrying out the various observations at dose levels of 100 rad and gradually increasing the dose to 150, 200, 250 and 300 rad. Eventually doses up to 600 rad are anticipated," said a report from May 8, 1961. Earlier in that same report: "At present, the chance of survival at dose levels above 600 rad appears to be minimal." Tracked how high doses of radiation affect the mind, especially soldiers in the field. "Following exposure to acute whole-or partial-body radiation, it is possible that there will be significant impairment of the decision-making capability of key personnel who have major command responsibilities," stated a 1971 report. Searched for a simple blood or urine test to reveal how much radiation had been absorbed by the casualties of a nuclear explosion or accident. DYING PATIENTS SOUGHT Doing the tests on humans was critical. "It has become increasingly apparent that the extrapolation of radiation results from animals to man is only of limited value," the 1971 funding proposal stated. The project sought patients with inoperable, solid tumors. All these tumors are considered "radio-insensitive," meaning that radiation would do little to reduce the tumors. Researchers also wanted patients with relatively stable body weight and blood counts. The dying cancer patients were told that the whole-body radiation they would receive might relieve pain but that it would not be a cure. They were not told that the research was being used for military purposes. SOME SUBJECTS CHILDREN Most of the patients were older. But several were children, including a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl with Ewing's tumor, a type of bone cancer. The girl had an identical twin free of the disease, which provided the researchers with a perfect control subject. "The patient received 200 rad total body irradiation. Both girls were tested at weekly intervals up to six weeks," a 1970 report states. Tests of the twins showed the irradiated sister showed markedly increased depression. GRIM PLACE FOR GRIM WORK The basement really was the only place for the radiology department of General Hospital. Upper floors could not handle the weight of the equipment and the lead safety shielding. Patients were placed in a sitting position with legs raised, and head tilted slightly forward about 9 feet from a Cobalt 60 Teletherapy Unit. They were then given powerful, one-time doses of whole-body or partial-body radiation. The position many patients were placed in closely resembled a soldier lying in a protective fetal position. Cincinnati.Com The Enquirer Local news Radiation records revealed ***************************************************************** 36 Honolulu Advertiser: Hawaii chemical arms disposal costing $4.6M Hawai'i's Newspaper Online Thursday, October 4, 2007 By William Cole Advertiser Military Writer A Colorado company said it has been awarded a contract for up to $4.6 million to destroy 71 recovered chemical weapons at Schofield Barracks. Denver-based CH2M Hill said it will set up its portable "controlled detonation chamber" technology at Schofield, provide technical support during operations, and disassemble and remove the system once the project is completed. The Army is in the process of completing an environmental assessment for the weapons disposal. In early 2006, the Army said it had destroyed six rounds containing chloropicrin, an asphyxiator used in World War I. Army officials said 152 suspect rounds were discovered during the cleanup of an old range that was to be used for the Stryker brigade. Seventy-one of the rounds were determined to contain either chloropicrin or phosgene, both choking agents. The rest of the rounds were not chemical munitions, the Army said yesterday. The reason for the old weapons' presence was a mystery, but Kendrick Washington, a spokesman at the time, said, "We suspect that these rounds were used for military training or quality-control testing during World War II." The Army has historical evidence indicating that chemical munitions were stored, used and disposed of in the theater. The unexploded ordnance cleanup also yielded other potentially dangerous surprises for the Army, including depleted uranium used in aiming rounds from a 1960s nuclear weapon system called the Davy Crockett. CH2M Hill said its system is the only transportable detonation chamber approved by the Defense Department's Explosives Safety Board for the destruction of munitions, including those labeled "Munitions and Explosives of Concern." The company said more than 1,500 sites across the United States, encompassing an estimated 15 million acres, may contain such munitions, and that growing concern about traditional open burn and open detonation destruction led to the environmentally friendly detonation chamber system. Schofield spokeswoman Stefanie Gardin said the technology uses a combination of explosives to destroy the agent, and gas treatment to process any remaining residuals. "All of this takes place in a completely monitored environment in which the air is filtered twice before release," Gardin said in an e-mailed statement. "The system has been operated in the United Kingdom, processing chemical agents to include chloropicrin and phosgene with complete success." Initial X-rays of some of the old chemical weapons found at Schofield showed they were filled with liquid and had unstable fuses that made some unsafe to move. Experts from the 22nd Chemical Battalion's Technical Escort Unit reported finding 4.2-inch mortars, 155 mm projectiles, 81 mm mortars, 75 mm projectiles, 4-inch Stokes mortars, a Livens Projector and a 105 mm projectile. Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 The Honolulu Advertiser. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 37 WN: Native Women Mark Autumn in Nuclear Shadows Run Date: 10/04/07 By Laura Paskus WeNews correspondent Marking the start of autumn, women from six native communities gathered near Los Alamos National Laboratory to discuss their concerns about nuclear contamination, type-II Diabetes and the near extinction of traditional midwifery. POJOAQUE, N.M. (WOMENSENEWS)--Along the edges of the low, earthen wall that sets off the dancing grounds, vendors and activists assembled their tables. Children ran back and forth through the grass and yellow-blooming chamisa while tribal elders, Anglo teens with dreadlocks and mothers of all ages and hues mingled. This was the most recent Gathering for Mother Earth, which last month marked the first day of autumn for the 11th year in a row in the shadows of the U.S. facility that makes triggers for nuclear warheads. Sponsored by Tewa Women United, an inter-tribal, inter-generational group of native women, the event took place off a winding, sandy road in the juniper-studded hills in the shadow of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. maker of nuclear warhead triggers. "Tewa" refers to the common language spoken by members of six native communities in northern New Mexico, including Nambe Pueblo, Pojoaque Pueblo, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, Santa Clara Pueblo and Tesuque Pueblo. At one table, Shannya Sollitt, told Women's eNews about her highest hopes for the Los Alamos Peace Project, the name she gives her own personal efforts--such as designing and distributing postcards for voters to send to elected officials. Sollitt said she dreams of persuading the federal government to reallocate the billions of dollars it spends on its nuclear weapons arsenal toward the development of renewable and sustainable technologies. Then she grinned. "I know that I won't get this done, but we really won't unless we ask for what we want. I'm an artist and a community organizer, and I believe in peace and love, and I believe we need to keep putting our stuff out there; it puts out the intention for a bigger reality." Tapping Earth Energy The purpose of gatherings like this, said Kathy Sanchez, director of Tewa Women United--just before getting from her chair to embrace a friend--is "connecting to mother earth, so women have that strength of energy no matter where they are." From its promontory on New Mexico's Pajarito Plateau, Los Alamos has since 1943 overlooked a vista of valleys that are home to six Native American tribes. One tribe, San Ildefonso Pueblo, is directly downstream of the nuclear weapons laboratory. A handful of other native communities lie further downstream, as the Rio Grande winds toward the city of Albuquerque. Trying to sneak a few minutes in the shade while eating lunch, Sanchez, who is from San Ildefonso Pueblo, said Tewa Women United works on issues ranging from domestic and sexual abuse of native women to how living downstream of a nuclear weapons laboratory affects native communities. Despite community concerns about radioactive and toxic contamination of the nearby air and water, laboratory officials maintain that the facility is safe. And after three years of battles with the state of New Mexico, the lab in 2005 agreed to a timetable for cleanup of "legacy" waste, some of which dates to the birth of the Manhattan Project, the World War II initiative to build a nuclear bomb. While activists applaud the proposed cleanup, they remain concerned about current activities at the lab, which include not only nuclear weapons production, but also open-air burning of depleted uranium and plans to build along a public road three new generators for classified experiments. July CDC Report In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that past airborne releases of contaminants, including Plutonium, are higher than first believed. At one table, two women dispensed information concerning groundwater contamination from Los Alamos. Beginning in the 1940s, the lab disposed of radioactive waste in the canyons and streams draining off Pajarito Plateau. Some of the waste has been moved off-site, to an underground storage facility in the southern part of the state, but millions of cubic feet of radioactive and chemical waste still remain on the lab's property. Joni Arends, director of the Santa Fe-based group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and Sheri Kotowski, an Embudo Valley Environmental Monitoring Group organizer, talked about their efforts to pressure the lab to clean up its contamination and protect local communities, as well as the Rio Grande, the state's largest river, which will soon be providing drinking water to the downstream cities of Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Working in cooperation with seven other groups, including Tewa Women United, Arends and Kotowski outlined a "shared values statement" asserting the rights of communities, wildlife and ecosystems downstream from the laboratory to have clean water, whether for drinking, celebrating sacred ceremonies, raising crops and livestock or enjoying recreation. Kotowski laughed and said it took six months for the multi-cultural group, which includes Anglo environmental activists, native community activists and Spanish water users groups, to forge the language of their shared statement. But members of the various groups, she said, got closer in the process. Spiritual, Lifestyle Effects Sanchez said Tewa Women United also addresses the spiritual, emotional and lifestyle effects of living just below a nuclear bomb factory. One of the ways the scientists and government bureaucrats at the lab have most affected women, said Sanchez, was by beginning, during the 1950s, to discourage home birthing practices and advising women to deliver in the Indian Hospital. "Here, we were forced out of it, we were shamed out of it," Sanchez said, referring to home birthing and midwifery. But about three years ago, she said, Tewa Women United began partnering with Mexican groups through the Tewa Birthing Project, which educates native mothers to embrace the practice and encourages young women to study midwifery, then practice their skills at home in northern New Mexico. The gathering also offered open-air discussion of combating diabetes through a return to traditional diets. Native Americans under the age of 35 with diabetes increased by 71 percent between 1990 and 1998, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One-third of all native women over 45 have diabetes, and on some reservations in the Southwest, the disease can affect up to half a tribe's population. Both public health officials and native activists blame the influence of western diets high in fat, sugar and processed foods. The problem has continued to worsen, and to affect younger and younger people, as well as increasing numbers of women. Today, 11 in every 1,000 women under 35 have diabetes (compared with eight in every 1,000 men under 35.) That can lead to miscarriages, birth defects and what the CDC calls a "cycle of disease" that causes subsequent generations to develop diabetes at an ever earlier age. Laura Paskus is a writer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org. Tewa Women United: http://tewawomenunited.org/ Los Alamos Peace Project: http://losalamospeaceproject.us/ Los Alamos National Laboratory: http://www.lanl.gov/ Note: Women's eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites and the contents of Web pages we link to may change without notice. The Fund for the City of New York/Women's eNews and Mail it to: Women's eNews 135 West 29th Street, Suite 1005 New York, NY 10001 Copyright 2007 Women's eNews. The information contained in this ***************************************************************** 38 The Enquirer: Energy secretary suggests settlement Last Updated: 12:20 am | Thursday, October 4, 2007 Easier restitution for patients urged BY PAUL BARTON | ENQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU The federal government should find ways to make it easier to compensate some families involved in Cold War human radiation experiments, including those conducted by Dr. Eugene Saenger, Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary said Tuesday. Her comments came as a federal report strongly criticizing aspects of Saenger's work from 1960 to 1971 became final. During a White House ceremony to receive the report, President Clinton apologized "to those of our citizens who were subjected to these experiments, to their families, and to their communities." Clinton promised to pursue "a system of relief, including compensation." "When the government does wrong, we have a moral responsibility to admit it," he said. O'Leary suggested possibly inviting families involved in federal lawsuits "to come to the table for some sort of settlement that might be negotiated." O'Leary said her invitation "absolutely" included the families of the patients involved in Saenger's experiments at the former General Hospital. A lawsuit related to the the experiments is pending in federal court in Cincinnati. "That sounds like a great idea," said David Thompson, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys in the Saenger cases. "Anything that could shorten the process would be welcome. It's been a long ordeal for everybody." The case filed by the Cincinnati plaintiffs includes two federal project officers as defendants along with Saenger and other researchers. The settlement issue is significant because the final report of the federal Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments listed the family members or surviving patients of total-body research only as candidates for compensation and apologies if they could establish harm in court or another "appropriate forum." Attorneys for the Cincinnati families were hoping that either Congress or the administration would find a way to make compensation easier. Meanwhile, both Saenger's attorney, R. Joseph Parker, and the survivors of his former patients found reasons to celebrate the committee's final report. The 14-member panel was appointed by Clinton in 1994 to review Cold War human radiation experiments nationwide. One of the 18 chapters in the 925-page document discusses the total-body irradiation experiments conducted by Saenger and a group of University of Cincinnati researchers on 88 charity cancer patients from 1960-71. The experiments, funded largely by the Pentagon, were blamed for accelerating the deaths of at least eight and possibly as many as 20 of the patients. Saenger contends it can't be determined whether the treatments accelerated death. Sixty-two percent of the patients were black, most were poor and records suggest many "may have been of questionable competence or may have been temporarily incapacitated," the report said. The White House panel held to language contained in earlier drafts of its report that chastises the university, the Department of Defense and the researchers themselves for not guarding patients' best interests. "The system of checks and balances that is usually in place today to protect patients' interests was in its early phase at the University of Cincinnati, and the system did not work well at the time. The responsibility for failure rests at all levels, but it is reasonably clear that patient protection was compromised." "I'm happy about the report. My anxiety is going away," said Doris Baker, the great-granddaughter of Saenger patient Gertrude Newell. Parker, Saenger's attorney, said the doctor and other UC researchers were "gratified" by the report as well. In particular, he cited comments about UC informed-consent procedures. The committee pointed out repeatedly that the UC forms failed to mention the risk of death but added that certain procedures developed by the doctors to consult with patients and family could be viewed as "innovative" to the extent they were employed. Several members of Congress, including Rep. Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati, and Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio - one of the first witnesses to appear before the committee - pledged to look hard at the issue of possible remedies for radiation victims or their families. "The role that U.S. government played - which is what Congress is charged to look at - is very troubling," Portman said. "The advisory committee report confirms that DOD (Department of Defense) failed to exercise any significant oversight with respect to the UC experiments. The report also confirmed that DOD had standards for informed consent in 1950s, but failed to communicate them to the researchers at UC." EXCERPTS ON SAENGER The following are excerpts from what the federal Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments said about the work of Dr. Eugene Saenger and other UC researchers in the 1960s: On patient care: "In the case of the Cincinnati experiments, the impact of the research protocol on the care of the patient-subjects cannot be construed as beneficial to the patients; in addition, there is evidence of the subordination of the ends of medicine to the ends of research." On supervision of the experiments: "What is clear is that neither the university's IRB (Institutional Review Board) nor the funding agency (Defense Department) reviewed the appropriateness of continuing to treat patients with radioresistant cancers using TBI (total body irradiation) without bone marrow protection, despite mounting evidence casting doubt on the utility of the TBI treatment for radioresistant tumors in the absence of bone marrow protection." On informed-consent procedures: "There is no indication that the DOD ever informed the Cincinnati doctors about the secretary of defense's 1953 Nuremberg Code directive" requiring exhaustive informed consent On informed-consent forms that came to be used: "There was no mention of any risk of death." On the lack of Pentagon supervision: "There is no indication that the Army reviewers considered whether any therapeutic benefits to the patients outweighed the risks that the TBI treatments might pose." Cincinnati.Com The Enquirer Local news Energy secretary Copyright 2007 The Enquirer. All rights reserved. Users of this ***************************************************************** 39 The Enquirer: Plaque doesn't end pain Last Updated: 12:20 am | Thursday, October 4, 2007 Radiation controversy outlasts suit BY TIM BONFIELD | THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Nestled in an old corner of the University Hospital grounds stands a sad little courtyard with a single tree, three park benches and two picnic tables that once was called a "therapeutic garden." Patients haven't used this place in years. An oval asphalt walkway is crumbled and broken. The sign that calls this spot a garden is rusted and broken in half. There isn't a flower to be seen. These days, employees use the courtyard as a place to catch a smoke or sometimes eat their lunch. Yet this out-of-the-way place plays a central role in a controversial chapter of Cincinnati's medical history that was a big part of a national re-examination of the things America did to its own people during the Cold War. This is the place where a decades-long trail of investigations, hearings and lawsuits about the University of Cincinnati's total-body irradiation (TBI) experiments comes to a widely unsatisfying end. This week, University Hospital crews completed a concrete pedestal to display a 26-inch square bronze memorial plaque bearing the names of 70 people under the following words: "In Memoriam, Cancer Patients Radiation Effects Study, 1960-1972." This plaque was a hard-fought outcome of a bitter court fight that started in 1994 and was settled five years later, in May. This is a plaque that UC never wanted to install, yet it fails to satisfy the families involved. Despite the poor condition of the courtyard, the location is significant. The patients in the experiments got their radiation doses in a building next to this courtyard, a building now called Pavilion H. There, in the basement of the old General Hospital, is where University of Cincinnati researchers conducted an 11-year Cold War radiation experiment involving more than 90 cancer patients. The patients were told that the whole-body and partial-body radiation doses they got from the cobalt-60 machine would help relieve their pain. It was years later that their families learned their loved ones were part of military-sponsored study designed to gather information on how an atomic attack might affect battlefield troops. Documents made public even before the lawsuit was filed show that patients in the study stayed in wards separated from other cancer patients. They were watched for nausea after treatment. They were given an array of mental functioning tests intended to predict how radiation exposure would affect the combat readiness of military troops. Many reports and studies were produced about the research team's largely unsuccessful hunt for a "biological dosimeter," a way of using blood or urine samples to measure the amount of radiation a person might have received. But the effects of the radiation on cancer tumors and pain were detailed primarily in one study, issued in 1973 after the project was shut down. The lawsuit was filed after the identities of many of the research subjects were made public. Many of those names were revealed by an Enquirer investigation. Beyond the lawsuit, the total body irradiation project became the subject of a congressional subcommittee hearing in Cincinnati. Both sides agreed that the fight would have taken as many as 10 years to reach trial, and nobody wanted that. Even so, the settlement details took more than a year to work out. The final deal split $3,594,440 among the families and their lawyers. Most of the families will receive about $50,000 each. Several families that played various leading roles in pursuing the case also will share about $66,000 in special recognition awards. Cincinnati.Com The Enquirer Local news Plaque doesn't Copyright 2007 The Enquirer. All rights reserved. Users of this ***************************************************************** 40 The Enquirer: Life of achievements, accusations Last Updated: 10:20 pm | Thursday, October 4, 2007 BY TIM BONFIELD | THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER In December, Dr. Eugene Saenger's days of controversy seemed ancient history. The retired father of General Hospital's nuclear medicine program was basking in the glow of a Gold Medal, the highest award of the Radiological Society of North America, given to him Nov. 30. "An internationally renowned scientist, investigator and teacher, Dr. Saenger has made fundamental contributions to the specialty of nuclear medicine," the society said. At that time, Saenger was willing to talk to reporters about his life. About his use of radioisotopes to treat thyroid cancer, the expertise he developed in radiation safety, and his study of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in the Soviet Union. The man who spent a large part of his career instructing military and medical personnel on the safe handling of radioactive materials confided that he has cancer. Bladder cancer. But Saenger was quick to claim that years of working with radioactive materials did not cause his disease. His former smoking habit, which doctors say is the leading cause of bladder cancer, was the likely culprit. Saenger was even willing to briefly discuss a more trying time: a 1972 probe by Sen. Edward Kennedy into whole-body radiation experiments he conducted during the 1960s, funded with $651,000 from the Department of Defense. Saenger said he was still proud of that work and glad the probe was behind him. "It was the trial of my life," Saenger said. Little did Saenger know that the trial would resume with renewed intensity, threatening - in the autumn of his life - to forever blemish the achievements of his highly decorated career. "(Saenger) never wanted to hurt anybody," said Dr. Clarence Lushbaugh, a longtime friend who shared notes with Saenger while conducting similar whole-body radiation experiments in Oak Ridge, Tenn. "He wanted to help people. His attitude toward radiation was if we were just smart enough, we would see how to apply this stuff." But some see Saenger as a man who, in the fear and urgency of the Cold War, played fast and loose with the lives of at least 88 terminal cancer patients. "He did some great things, I think," said Saenger's most outspoken critic, Dr. David Egilman, 41, a Brown University professor who has studied workplace health hazards, including radiation, for more than 20 years. "He also did some horrible things, I think." Eugene Saenger's quest for ways to apply radiation became the focus of a career that has made him, by all accounts, a world-class expert on the subject. He: Wrote more than 180 medical journal articles about radiation sickness, radiation accidents and using radiation to treat cancer. Saenger built expertise in thyroid cancer. Helped train a generation of local radiologists as a University of Cincinnati professor. He also delivered more than 50 guest lectures at Harvard University and other leading medical colleges, military and government research groups, and national radiology conferences. Studied the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986. He advised U.S. military leaders against evacuating personnel from Europe. Wrote one of the earliest books published on handling radiation accidents. Handling radiation injuries from nuclear war and accidents at nuclear power stations, atomic weapons plants and medical facilities remained a large focus of his career. LOCAL ROOTS RUN DEEP During the late 1960s, Saenger was deeply involved in community activities. He served on the Community Chest (now United Way), a cancer control council, an arthritis foundation and a local health planning agency. He helped raise campaign funds for the Hamilton County indigent care tax levy. Copyright 2007 The Enquirer. All rights reserved. Users of this ***************************************************************** 41 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Nuclear workers granted special status - By Mary Ann Thomas FOR THE VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH Thursday, October 4, 2007 NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- A federal health board unanimously voted on Wednesday to grant special status to former Kiski Valley nuclear workers that will allow them to collect compensation from the federal government for their illnesses. Former workers from the defunct Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., later Babcock & Wilcox, in Apollo, still have to clear two more hurdles -- the secretary of Health and Human Services, and finally Congress -- to win final approval for special exposure cohort status. The designation will nearly guarantee automatic acceptance of claims for $150,000 payment and coverage of medical expenses for Apollo nuclear workers who develop one of 22 specific cancers or beryllium disease. Survivors can be eligible for the benefit as well. According to a NIOSH official, if there are no snags and continued government approval, NUMEC workers at Apollo could be designated as special cohort status near the end of the year. Two Valley residents traveled to Naperville, just outside of Chicago, to testify Wednesday on behalf of area nuclear workers. The advisory board held a three-day conference to hear testimony and discuss issues impacting former workers filing claims under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The act awards money and medical benefits to former workers of atomic weapons employers during the Cold War. "Personnel were constantly exposed to ionizing radiation and internal and external contamination," said Tom Haley, 72, of Allegheny Township, who worked at NUMEC as a project engineer. "The only protective gear used were safety glasses, lab coats and gloves," he told the board. Haley testimony supported findings from a report issued by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health last month. Haley characterized the former Apollo nuclear fuel plant as a fast-paced, technologically dynamic company under pressure to meet deadlines. He urged the board to consider revising its guidelines limiting applications to former employees who worked at NUMEC for at least 250 days. Given the levels of exposures, workers with less than 250 days of employment should be eligible, he said. The board agreed to send on the request to another worker radiation health group for consideration. Patty Ameno, the Leechburg environmental activist who grew up across the street from the Apollo plant, gave an historical and emotional plea to the board: Presenting a 1962 Pennsylvania Department of Health report, Ameno said, "(This) clearly shows 400 workers that were exposed to uranium, plutonium and beryllium. However, on this occasion, there was testing; if you want to call seven samples out of 400 workers exposed, sampling." According to NIOSH's report, there was not enough documentation from the NUMEC site to support accurate dose reconstruction for all NUMEC workers. Additionally, NIOSH determined that the health of NUMEC workers was endangered by exposure to radiation and radioactive materials. Also attending the advisory board meeting was Rich Parler, 62, of Coraopolis, a former NUMEC worker who first petitioned the federal government for special cohort status for NUMEC workers in Apollo. A similar appeal is in the works for NUMEC's Parks facility, which was a dump site. Tribune-Review Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 42 Rocky Mountain News: Shortcomings found in review process for ill nuclear workers Outside study says federal officials ignored evidence By Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News October 4, 2007 Some former Rocky Flats employees and others who have sought federal compensation for ill nuclear weapons workers have long suspected that the government ignored information they provided to prove their cases. A draft of the first outside review of that process says their suspicions may be right. Investigators listened in as government officials conducted three final interviews with workers or their survivors. This "close-out interview" gives claimants their last chance to make sure the government has all the necessary information to determine their past exposures to toxic or radioactive substances. The interview is also the first time workers or their survivors see the information compiled by the government as it assesses whether a claimant's work caused the illness. In two of the three observed interviews, claimants provided significant information to government officials. The officials promised to consider it, but never did, the review found. The draft report, presented Tuesday to the White House Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, says the process has "serious gaps" and "does not ensure" claimants concerns are fully addressed. It's up to the board now to decide how to proceed. "It appears to the claimants that the government is ignoring the evidence they're submitting," said Terrie Barrie, of Craig, a national advocate for ill workers like her husband George, who helped build atomic bomb triggers at the former Rocky Flats plant northwest of Denver. "If they have to develop new procedures because of this, they're going to have to reopen cases all over again," she said. Wanda Munn, who heads the board subcommittee that received the report, said she could not predict what may happen next. No decision will be made before the group's next meeting on Dec. 6. Investigators observed the interviews with the permission of the claimants and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. The report reads: "The evidence is that the underlying data were not reviewed in one case, and no attempt was made to obtain the relevant reports in the other." The report notes that in one case, the final decision letter actually predated the close-out interview, "despite the fact that the employee provided detailed new information during the close-out interview." "What are the chances we just happened to pick three cases at random and bam, bam, this happened?" said John Mauro, project manager for SC&A, the contractor in charge of the investigation. He said the presidential advisory board will now have to determine whether the problems are pervasive. frankl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5091 Scripps Newspaper Group Online 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 43 Guardian Unlimited: N.M. Senator Quitting for Health Reasons Thursday October 4, 2007 8:16 AM By DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Pete Domenici is retiring after a generation as a dominant Republican voice on budget matters in Congress, deferring to health concerns after six terms in office. A draft statement prepared for Domenici's formal announcement Thursday disclosed that the 75-year-old New Mexico Republican has a progressive disease that can cause dysfunction in the parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and control of mood and behavior. ``The progress of this disease is apparently erratic and unpredictable. It may well be that seven years from now, it will be stable,'' Domenici intends to say, according to a draft of remarks prepared for delivery. ``On the other hand, it may also be that the disease will have incapacitated me. I am not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the United States Senate.'' A copy of the draft remarks was made available to The Associated Press, and in them, Domenici says he is confident he will be able to serve the rest of his current term, until a new Senate is seated in January 2009. In political terms, Domenici's decision to retire represents yet another blow to Senate Republicans, who lost their majority in 2006 and face a hostile political environment little more than a year before the 2008 elections. The party must defend 22 of 34 seats on the ballot, four of its incumbents face difficult challenges, and Domenici would become the fifth Republican to retire. By contrast, no Democrats have announced retirement plans, and the party holds a sizable lead over the Republican campaign committee in fundraising. Democrats control the Senate with 49 seats plus the backing of two independents. Republicans hold the other 49 seats. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Domenici informed President Bush of his intentions earlier in the week. Until recently, the 75-year-old lawmaker had appeared intent on seeking a new term, shaking off criticism and ethics committee interest in his telephone call to former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, a New Mexico-based federal prosecutor who was fired last winter. Domenici has acknowledged phoning Iglesias at a time when some Republicans wanted the prosecutor to hasten an investigation of Democrats before the 2006 elections. At home, Domenici has long been the dominant Republican in his state - so much so that Iglesias was once viewed as a protege. Budget issues have dominated Domenici's long Senate career. He chaired the Senate Budget Committee when Ronald Reagan became president, helping pass the blueprint that led to enactment of deep cuts in income taxes in 1981. More than a decade later, he was involved in a 1997 balanced budget agreement between the GOP-controlled Congress and President Clinton, a Democrat. He has supported nuclear power and opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Domenici earned a reputation as an advocate for his state from his perch on the powerful Appropriations Committee, steering money to Energy Department nuclear facilities such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory. His retirement is expected to spur a scramble among the state's top politicians who have long hoped to succeed him. Among them are Republican Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce and Democratic Rep. Tom Udall. Other possible Democratic contenders include Albuquerque Mayor Martin J. Chavez and state Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. A fact sheet prepared for Domenici's announcement described his disease as Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration, or FTLD. In his prepared remarks, Domenici said that as recently as April, ``the disease had not progressed.'' A late September checkup showed a slight progression, causing him to scrap plans to seek a new term, he said in the remarks. ``No cure for my disease exists, yet,'' he said. ``But, if we work hard enough, we may be able to find a way to cure people with diseases of the brain in the future. That would be truly a wonderful thing.'' Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 44 Las Vegas SUN: Energy Department says Yucca Mountain faces funding shortfall Today: October 04, 2007 at 16:30:8 PDT By DAN CATERINICCHIA AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The proposed nuclear-waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada will need up to three times its current funding or the program's 2017 opening date will have to be delayed, a top Energy Department official said Thursday. Edward F. Sproat III, director of the agency's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, told the House Budget Committee that beginning next year a doubling or tripling of annual project funding would be needed. The cost of building and operating the nuclear waste site through 2119 was estimated in 2001 to be $57.5 billion, including costs incurred since the project began in 1983. A revised estimate expected by the end of this year will include the cost of accepting about 30 percent more spent nuclear fuel through the repository's closing in 2133, Sproat said. Without the increased funding, Sproat said, it will not be possible to set a credible opening date for the nuclear waste repository and the government's financial liability will continue to grow. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., criticized the new Yucca Mountain price projections and said she will continue to fight a Bush administration push to increase the amount of waste dumped there. "Yucca Mountain is nothing more than radioactive pork that benefits the nuclear power industry and now the price tag for this failed project is going to top the $80 billion mark," Berkley said in a statement, adding that on-site storage of nuclear waste is cheaper and safer. Yucca Mountain was designated in the 1980s as the country's nuclear waste repository and the Energy Department was required to open the Nevada site by 1998. But the project has been bogged down by lawsuits and other controversy, and the earliest possible opening date is 2017. The program has spent $11 billion in 2000 constant dollars since 1983, Sproat said. It is funded by a per-kilowatt-hour fee on all domestic nuclear generation and currently has a balance of about $20.7 billion invested in U.S. Treasury instruments. The government receives about $750 million per year in revenue and the fund averages roughly a 5.5 percent annual return. Sproat estimated that funding is currently insufficient by about $1 billion to $1.5 billion per year. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told reporters at a nuclear conference that "it's up to the Congress to make a determination." Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., called Sproat's assessment "very serious," and a "political problem" similar to other underfunded budget liabilities like Medicare and Social Security. The initial reason for the House hearing was to examine Yucca-related legal judgments against the government, which have added billions "to an already hugely expensive project," Spratt said. Litigation settlements or damages related to Yucca Mountain are paid from a separate taxpayer-subsidized fund. The estimated current potential liability is about $7 billion if operations begin in 2017. "Delaying the opening of the repository to 2020 could cost taxpayers as much as an additional $4 billion from the judgment fund to pay damages," Sproat said. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims last week awarded Xcel Energy Inc. $116.5 million over the government's failure to open Yucca Mountain on time. Northern States Power Co., a predecessor to Xcel Energy, sued the Energy Department, claiming breach of contract. All contents 1996 - 2007 Las Vegas Sun, Inc. ***************************************************************** 45 aiken standard: One of the 11 proposed sites for the possible recycling is the Thursday, October 4, 2007 Associated Press The Department of Energy has awarded four contracts to study the feasibility of using recycled nuclear power plant fuel in a new breed of reactors. SRNL chosen as one of 11 sites for possible nuclear recycling Savannah River National Laboratory at the Savannah River Site. The largest of the four research contracts at $5.6 million was awarded Monday to Bethesda-based International Nuclear Recycling Alliance, which is led by French state-owned nuclear power plant supplier AREVA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Areva is building reactors in the United States with Constellation Energy, the parent of Baltimore Gas & Electric and the operator of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. EnergySolutions LLC received a $4.3 million contract; GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas LLC received a $4.8 million contract; and General Atomics was awarded a $1.6 million contract. By 2008, INRA will complete three studies detailing designs for a recycling center and recycling reactor, and the necessary technologies and business plans for nuclear fuel recycling and reuse. If the DOE decides the technology is feasible, a plant could be operational as early as 2020, said Laurence Pernot, an AREVA spokeswoman. Prior studies have shown that recycling spent nuclear fuel not only reduces the amount of fuel heading to nuclear waste facilities but can provide power profitably, Pernot said. The contracts were awarded under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. Under the partnership, a limited number of countries including the U.S. and Russia would provide uranium fuel to other nations for powering reactors to generate electricity. The fuel would later be retrieved for reprocessing. This would deprive those nations of their own nuclear fuel enrichment programs, which can be used to make atomic arms. Critics of the initiative say resuming recycling, a process the U.S. abandoned in the 1970s over proliferation concerns, can make it easier for terrorists or enemy states to obtain weapons-usable plutonium. While the program envisions reprocessing through a technique where pure plutonium is not separated, that technology is commonly said to be decades away. In June, the Union of Concerned Scientists said it continues to oppose GNEP, saying it does not believe the technologies proposed for development would be proliferation-resistant. The end result will be an increase in the "risk of diversion or theft of weapon-usable materials and an associated risk of nuclear terrorism," the group said in a letter to the Department of Energy. In addition to SRNL, the other 10 U.S. sites selected as possible places to reprocess spent nuclear fuel from reactors are: Barnwell, S.C.; Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Washington; Idaho National Laboratory; Atomic City, Idaho; Hobbs, N.M.; Roswell, N.M.; Morris, Ill.; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee.; Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Kentucky.; Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Ohio. ***************************************************************** 46 Seacoastonline.com: Cask storage moves ahead By Susan Morse smorse@seacoastonline.com October 02, 2007 6:00 AM SEABROOK Drivers are asked to seek alternate routes on Ocean Boulevard and other roads being used to transport equipment to FPL Energy Seabrook Station, starting Wednesday night. Concrete modules are being transported to the nuclear plant to allow additional spent fuel rods to be placed in dry cask storage on location. Roads affected are Ocean Boulevard, routes 286 and 1, from the Route 286 intersection north to the nuclear power plant via Provident Way. Tractor-trailers will move equipment from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., during the nights of Wednesday and Thursday, and Oct. 7-9. A lane of traffic will be open along most of the transportation route, through drivers who take the roads during the move hours can expect delays. Safety officials will be directing traffic. The closure will allow vendor Lockwood Brothers to transport the concrete modules from the Yankee Fisherman's Cooperative, where they are now stored, to the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant. Barges brought the modules from Virginia to Seabrook Harbor in September. The concrete sections were off-loaded to the cooperative property, awaiting transport to the nuclear plant across the harbor. Two tractor-trailers will transport the module sections and a third will be used as back up. "We've worked very closely with local and state safety officials and the equipment transportation vendor Lockwood Brothers to make sure the move is conducted safely and there is the least amount of impact to drivers," said Police Chief David Currier, who is retiring from the Seabrook Police Department to become the emergency preparedness director at FPL Energy Seabrook Station later this month. The equipment will be used to create dry storage for spent fuel rods. Nuclear power plants across the country are storing spent fuel on site, as lawsuits continue to stop the federal government from opening the Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada as a central waste storage facility. Copyright 2007 Seacoast Media Group. The Seacoast Media Group ***************************************************************** 47 Ventura County Star: Ex-owners of Halaco site seek to limit liability : Oxnard Court briefs say they are indemnified by state law By Scott Hadly (Contact) Thursday, October 4, 2007 As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gets deeper into assessing risks from the mountain of waste at the Halaco Superfund site near Ormond Beach, the company's former owners are trying to limit their liability for the mess they left behind. In recent legal briefs filed in bankruptcy court, former Halaco owners Clarence Haack and his two sons, Robert and John Haack, and former general manager David Gable assert that California law indemnifies them from environmental damage caused by the operation. They essentially claim it is the bankrupt company, not them as corporate officers, that is responsible for the cleanup. A hearing on the issue is scheduled next week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Barbara. For many local officials and neighbors of the shuttered metal-recycling facility, the question of who will pay for the cleanup is almost as important as restoration of the site. Some estimates peg the cost of hauling off the 710,000 cubic yards of heavy metals at more than $70 million. At a recent public meeting with EPA officials, several residents brought up the issue. "I'm interested in corporate responsibility," said Lupe Anguiano. The EPA has put the four men on notice that they are "potentially responsible parties," a legal term under the Superfund law that denotes possible liability. The EPA recently designated the 40-acre Halaco property as a Superfund hazardous waste cleanup site. The designation gives the agency authority to track down those who might be responsible for cleanup costs. The designation also allows the EPA to tap federal funds to cover costs that exceed what it can collect from former owners. While the slow cleanup process continues, the four former Halaco officers are embroiled in two parallel cases in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and U.S. District Court. The District Court case involves a suit filed by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Environmental Defense Center against the company and its four former officers. The suit holds the parties liable for the pollution created during the plant's 40 years of operations in Oxnard, said Daniel Cooper, an attorney for Lawyers for Clean Water who is representing the two environmental groups. "We're attempting to pierce that corporate veil," said Cooper. While the Haacks and Gable are arguing that a defunct company carries the liability, Cooper said the former officers can't shirk their responsibility. He said the company was run more like a personal family business than a corporation, which puts the four on the hook for the cleanup. The bankruptcy case also focuses on the four individuals. Court-appointed bankruptcy trustee David Seror is trying to track Halaco's assets to pay creditors and pay for the massive cleanup. But the Haacks and Gable argue in a legal brief that Seror — as a legal representative for the company — can be dragged into the District Court civil case to defend them. John and Robert Haack's attorneys, who wrote the brief that later added their father and Gable, did not return calls for comment. Seror said the action would confuse an already-complex legal matter. "Since the EPA has itself filed a claim in the bankruptcy case, there is simply no reason, and certainly none at this time, to enmesh the trustee in complicated litigation for the purposes of sorting through claims against the estate which may never be paid or, if they are, may receive only pennies on the dollar," Seror said in his response to the Haacks. Beyond that, Seror and Cooper both said that no matter what happens in the District Court and bankruptcy cases, the four former Halaco executives still must face the EPA. "The EPA has tremendous latitude under CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as Superfund)," said Cooper. "That's why they're going after their (the Haacks' and Gable's) tax returns and property records. If they have money, the EPA is going to find it, but people are going to have to pressure them to make sure they do that." Scripps Newspaper Group Online 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. Privacy Policy | User Agreement ***************************************************************** 48 Scotsman.com: Dounreay chiefs confirm plan for robots to tackle clean-up of seabed Thu 4 Oct 2007 Remote-operated vehicles will scour the seabed near Dounreay nuclear power station for radioactive particles Picture: Ian Rutherford JOHN ROSS A £25 MILLION plan to use robots to clean up the worst of the radioactive particles from the seabed near Dounreay was unveiled yesterday amid claims such measures were long overdue. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) confirmed its preferred way to tackle the problem that has plagued the Caithness nuclear complex for nearly a quarter of a century. After a major consultation lasting more than two years, it is proposed to remove the most hazardous offshore particles while continuing to monitor and recover those found at beaches around the base. At present UKAEA recovers the so-called hotspots from beaches, but monitors those on the seabed without removing them. If the preferred option is approved after a further 12-week consultation, the recovery operation will start next year. Over the next three summers remotely-operated vehicles will scour 600,000 square metres of seabed - about the size of 60 football pitches - and suck up the hotspots using a technique that is still being developed. Work will then be carried out on an old effluent chamber, about 50 metres below the seabed, which is believed to be the source of the particles. Dounreay conducts about 5,000 samples a year in the environment. A spokesman said: "There is no evidence of any effect from particles on the marine environment or wildlife." The project is estimated to cost £18 million to £28 million. Simon Middlemass, the site director, said the particles issue is one of the biggest challenges in the clean-up of Dounreay. He said: "There are always cost implications of what we do and we do the best we can. But ultimately going around the entire seabed trying to find every last particle would be very difficult. "People realise that cleaning up everything is not possible and see the benefit of doing the best we can within reasonable monetary boundaries." Geoffrey Minter, the owner of Sandside beach, who in the past has taken UKAEA to court over the problem, said: "At long last, but not without a huge effort on the part of my private team, we have moved from a decade of denial to a declaration of duty and good intention. We do seem to be genuinely entering a new era." Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "It is an understatement to say that action to solve the problem has been a long time coming. "We welcome the fact that a proper clean-up could be under way very soon. But this problem should act as a warning to those who would have us back a new generation of nuclear facilities." Phil Cartwright, Dounreay's contaminated land and particles manager, said: "The length of time it has taken to get to this position has been the time taken to build up a picture of precisely what is happening on the seabed and identify whether there are other sources." IN NUMBERS...THE BIG CLEAN-UP 2.9 billion Cost in pounds of cleaning up the Dounreay complex in Caithness over the next quarter of a century. 180 Number of buildings that will have to be dismantled. 50 Number of companies involved in the decommissioning work. 1,400 Number of radioactive particles recovered from the seabed and beaches near Dounreay since 1983. ? Number of particles on the seabed - it is unknown but is thought to be in the hundreds of thousands. 100 Number of particles found at Sandside beach, near Dounreay. 2,500 Number of significant and relevant particles that will be recovered in the new operation. 20 Number of years for which beaches will be monitored after the seabed clean-up. 6 Size, in millimetres, of the biggest particle found to date. 2,000 Total number of employees working on the clean-up. 140 Size, in hectares, of the Dounreay site Related topic * Dounreay http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=566 This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1583282007 Last updated: 04-Oct-07 01:13 BST 2007 Scotsman.com | contact | terms & conditions ***************************************************************** 49 MetroWest Daily News: More radioactive waste reported at Covanta - Framingham, MA - By Joyce Kelly/Daily News staff Thu Oct 04, 2007, 12:45 AM EDT HOLLISTON - Radioactive waste was detected for the third time in the five months since Covanta Energy purchased the transfer station from Casella Waste, according to health officials. On Friday, Sept. 28, Covanta reported detecting "very low-level" radioactive waste on an outbound trash load at its 115 Washington St. facility, said town Health Agent/Director Ann McCobb. "This is much more serious (than earlier instances) because it went in and no one detected it," said Board of Health member Elizabeth Theiler. The radioactive waste is believed to be some kind of household material like toiletries used by someone undergoing chemotherapy, McCobb said. Theiler said the radioactive waste is still being stored at Covanta. It is sealed in an isolated 20-gallon container, McCobb said, and Covanta will use a geiger counter to measure the radiation level every few weeks. McCobb said Covanta will probably check it daily. Several calls to Covanta were not returned yesterday. A Covanta representative reported that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Radiation Control Program requires the company to hold the radioactive waste on site until the radiation depletes to a certain level and is safe to move on the highway to a disposal area, McCobb said. When radioactive waste is caught on an inbound load, Covanta can return it to its source, McCobb said. When it is discovered on an outbound load, on the other hand, "they have to do a little research" and try to learn who hauled it in, McCobb said. At this point the hauler has not been identified, she said. Despite a town bylaw prohibiting such storage, Covanta must abide by the state's order, which supersedes the bylaw, McCobb said. "This is unacceptable," said Board of Health member Elizabeth Theiler. They (Covanta) should not be storing radioactive waste, no matter what the radioactive level is." By the time the trash is on an outbound truck, the waste has already been mixed and processed, making it difficult to determine its origin, Theiler said. "As elected officials, we should do our part to ensure our bylaws are enforced. This is a radioactive waste we are well aware of, and it should not be stored in Holliston, and it has been stored here for several days," said Theiler. "It's my understanding when Covanta came to Board of Health meetings, it was not their intention to store radioactive waste on their site," Theiler said. McCobb wanted to emphasize the radioactivity level detected Sept. 28 was "very low," adding that it "was probably a personal care product." "One time, (radioactive waste detected at the waste transfer station) was a Kleenex - someone blew their nose," she said. June 7, Covanta reported the presence of low-level radioactive medical waste coming from Continuing Care Nursing Home in Hopedale, and did not identify the particular waste, McCobb said. It was turned back. On Sept. 7, Covanta also reported a load of low-level radioactive medical waste from the MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham entered its site, according to Donna Rheaume, spokeswoman for the town Department of Public Health. Holliston rejected the load and returned it to the medical center, which later identified the material as nuclear medicine isotopes that had inadvertently been put in the trash, Rheaume said. It was not considered a hazard because there was not enough material, she said. "We get one or two similar calls every week from all over the state," said Robert Walker, director of the Massachusetts Radiation Control Program. (Joyce Kelly can be reached at 508-626-4423 or jkelly@cnc.com.) Copyright 2006–2007 GateHouse Media, Inc. Some Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 50 [NYTr] Israel, US reject call for nuke-free region Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 10:43:24 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit GreenLeft Weekly #726 - Oct 3, 2007 http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/726/37640 Israel, US reject call for nuke-free region by Doug Lorimer By a vote of 53-2, the 51st general conference of the UNbs International Atomic Energy Agency, held in Vienna on September 17-21, approved a non-binding resolution sponsored by Egypt calling on all Middle East countries to abide by IAEA safeguards against the development of nuclear weapons. The only countries that voted against were Israel and the US. Voting for the resolution were China, India, Iran, Russia, Japan and Latin American, Arab and some African countries. With the sole exception of Ireland, which also voted in favour, most European Union countries abstained. A similar resolution urging all Middle East countries to adopt IAEA safeguards on nuclear work passed overwhelmingly at last yearbs IAEA general conference, with only Israel and its chief ally, the US, voting against. Iran, subject to US-pushed UN Security Council financial sanctions for refusing to halt research on uranium enrichment for nuclear fuel b technology it is legally entitled to under its IAEA safeguards agreement b told the conference that whoever opposed the resolution betrayed a bdiscriminatoryb approach to Middle East security. Following the adoption of the resolution, Omani ambassador Salim Mohammed al Riyami presented a document entitled bIsraeli nuclear capabilities and threatb, outlining concern over the bfailure of the universalityb of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) since Israel refuses to sign it. While Israel officially neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert hinted in a German TV interview in December that Israel does have such weapons. Israeli ambassador Israel Michaeli told the IAEA conference that Arab delegatesb assertions that Olmert had admitted Israelbs possession of nuclear weapons were bliesb. Iranian delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh then called for IAEA inspectors to be dispatched bto Israel to verify who is telling the truthb. Associated Press reported on September 20: bEvidence that Israel has nuclear arms is overwhelming, much of it based on details and pictures leaked in 1986 by Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu. His revelations have been added to by other leaks, research, and by statements made by Israeli leaders that stopped just short of confirming it.b To aid their preparation for a future Iraq-style invasion of oil-and-gas-rich Iran, US officials b backed by their imperialist allies in Tel Aviv, Paris and London b have accused Iran of having a secret nuclear weapons program. However, IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei reported to the conference that his inspectors had bbeen able to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iranb to any military purposes. bIranb, he added, bhas continued to provide the access and reporting needed to enable agency verification in this regardb. ElBaradei highlighted an August 21 agreement reached between Tehran and the IAEA secretariat on a timetable for resolving all outstanding issues concerning Iranbs nuclear program. Reuters reported on September 17 that bWestern powers led by the United States and France have been fuming over ElBaradeibs new deal with Iran requiring it to answer questions about past secret nuclear research but without touching its accelerated campaign to enrich atomic fuelb. In an interview with the Italian RAI TV channel that same day, ElBaradei described Western media speculation about an impending US or Israeli military attack on Iranbs nuclear facilities as bhypeb. Such reports routinely run in the Western corporate media every time there is a meeting of the IAEAbs governing board or the resumption of discussions on Iranbs nuclear program between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Their purpose is to exert pressure on China and Russia, which are opposed to any further extension of UN sanctions against Iran, to agree to them as a blesser evilb to a US military attack. However, as with the UN sanctions against Iraq, which were maintained for 13 years, Washingtonbs goal is to use international sanctions to weaken Iranbs ability to resist a future US-led invasion. The September 22 Washington Post reported that the bUnited States and its European allies are preparing to impose their own broad military and economic sanctions against Iran if Russia and China balk at voting for a tough new resolution at the United Nations, according to US and European officials. bThe Bush administration is pushing for the worldbs top powers to impose punitive measures that could include sanctioning branches of Iranbs military b such as parts of the Revolutionary Guardsb Quds Force b rather than individual military leaders of those units, as in past resolutions, US and Western officials said. bWashington is also looking to curtail Iranbs ability to import military equipment, such as Russian air defense systems b& bWashington has wanted a new resolution since June. The time requirement of the previous UN resolution b which demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, a process for peaceful nuclear energy that can be subverted to make a bomb b expired in Mayb& bFrustrated by the delay and the diplomatic divide, Washington and its allies are developing a parallel track to the UN effort in the event that a third resolution ends up only modestly increasing pressure on Iran, after the first two resolutions passed in December and March proved weak and difficult to implement, the sources said.b * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 51 Guardian Unlimited: PM using troop pullout to distance himself from Bush, Iran claims Iraq | Simon Tisdall Friday October 5, 2007 Iran has warmly welcomed Gordon Brown's pledge to withdraw 1,000 British troops from southern Iraq by the end of the year, claiming the move represents an attempt by him to break a US stranglehold on British foreign policy. Interviewed on Iran's officially approved Vision of the Islamic Republic television channel, an Iranian regional expert, identified as Mr Hanizadeh, said: "There is no doubt that Mr Gordon Brown is trying to reinstate the reputation of the British Labour party with this move. To this end, Mr Brown is trying to adopt a new policy and [is] distancing himself from the policies of Tony Blair, who had a strong orientation towards America." Mr Hanizadeh told Iranian viewers that the decision to cut troop numbers, announced during a visit by Mr Brown to Baghdad on Tuesday, was partly influenced by electoral considerations. "Given that Mr Brown has suggested that in the next two months there will be early elections, it is natural that he would ... present a new independent British policy, away from any pressure on behalf of the White House." Tehran's plaudits come amid close Iranian scrutiny of political developments in Britain since Mr Blair left office, and concern about the implications for Basra and southern Iraq of a British pullout. Claims this week by Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, that the prime minister was using British troops as a "political football" were uncritically reproduced by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (Irna). A recent report in the Daily Telegraph suggesting that George Bush, the US president, no longer regarded Britain as his closest or most reliable ally was also quoted at length by Irna. Of particular interest to the Iranian audience were claims, attributed to White House officials, that Mr Brown would not back military action against Iran. Iran has been steadily increasing its influence with the Shia population of southern Iraq, where British troops are based, since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Its softer tone follows a period of steadily deteriorating bilateral relations, exacerbated by the collapse of the EU troika's attempts to cut a deal over Iran's uranium enrichment programme. The relationship took a turn for the worse in March when Iran briefly held captive 15 British sailors before releasing them with a studied show of magnanimity. But Iran's apparent hopes of a shift in UK policy may arise from wishful thinking. Asked about policy change, a Foreign Office official said: "I think you're going to have to wait about 18 months. We're waiting for [Iranian president, Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad to lose the presidential election [due by June 2009] ... And we're waiting for Bush to finish his term [in January 2009]. Then we might be able to do something." Iran is similarly interested in the US presidential race, given speculation about a US or US-Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities. On Monday the Iranian newspaper Kayhan, a conservative, pro-government publication, urged US Democrats in Congress to do more to compel Mr Bush to order a withdrawal from Iraq. "The majority of [Americans] would like to see the Iraq war end ... But Bush continues to implement his own wishes and completely ignores Congress," Kayhan said. Iran officially dismisses the likelihood of a "mad" attack on its territory. "The US is not in a position to impose another war in our region against their taxpayers," the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, told the UN this week. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 52 The Korea Times: Full Text of Joint Declaration 10-04-2007 20:51 President Roh Moo-hyun, left, and North Korean leader KimJong-il shake hands after signing the eight-point Joint Declarationfor Advancing Inter-Korean Relations and Peace and Prosperity at the Baekhwawon State Guesthouse in Pyongyang, Thursday. / Joint Press Corps The following is an unofficial translation of the agreement made between leaders of the two Koreas at the conclusion of the Pyongyang summit under the title of “Declaration for Advancing Inter-Korean Relations and Peace and Prosperity.” ― ED. President Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea visited Pyongyang from October 2-4, 2007, in accordance with an agreement between President Roh and Chairman Kim Jong-il of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Historic summit meetings and several talks were held during the visit. During the summit meetings and talks, the two leaders reaffirmed the spirit of the June 15 Joint Declaration and candidly discussed agenda concerning advancement of inter-Korean relations, the realization of peace and common prosperity, and the unification of the Korean peninsula. While expressing the belief that Koreans with their will and strength combined can open a new era of national prosperity and unification, both parties declared the following on the basis of the June 15 Joint Declaration: 1. The South and the North adhere to and implement the June 15 Joint Declaration. The South and the North resolve the problem of unification through ``the spirit of our own initiative,'' and through the primacy of Korean people's dignity and interests. The South and the North explore measures to commemorate the day of June 15 as a commitment to the June 15th Joint Declaration. 2. The South and the North transcend differences in ideology and institutions, thereby transforming inter-Korean relations into one of mutual respect and trust. The South and the North do not interfere in the internal affairs and resolve issues of inter-Korean relations on the principles of reconciliation, cooperation, and unification. The South and the North develop inter-Korean relations toward the direction of unification and adjust necessary legal institutional apparatus respectively. The South and the North actively seek dialogue and contacts in all fields including parliament, in order to address issues relating to the expansion and development of inter-Korean relations according to the wishes of the Korean people. 3. The South and the North closely cooperate in order to terminate military hostilities, ease tension and ensure peace on the Korean peninsula. The South and the North do not take a hostile stance, reduce military tension, and resolve issues of conflict through dialogue and negotiation. The South and the North oppose any form of war on the Korean peninsula and firmly comply with the obligations of non-aggression. The South and the North designate a common fishery zone in order to prevent accidental clashes in the West Sea. The sides will hold joint Defense Ministers' talks in Pyongyang November this year in order to discuss military confidence-building measures, including methods to foster the aforementioned zone into a zone of peace, as well as military assurance measures for various cooperative projects. 4. The South and the North share a view to terminate the existing armistice regime and to build a permanent peace regime, and cooperate to pursue issues related to declaring the end of the Korean War by holding on the Korean Peninsula, three or four party summits of directly-related sides. The South and the North jointly endeavor to smoothly implement the June 19 Joint Declaration and February 13 Agreement of the Six party talks in order to resolve the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula. 5. The South and the North actively promote, expand and develop economic cooperation projects for balanced development of national economy and common prosperity on the principles of common interest and prosperity. The South and the North encourage investment for economic cooperation, bolster infrastructure and develop natural resources, and provide preferential treatment and privileges concurrent with the special nature of intra-national cooperative projects. The South and the North establish ``The West Sea Special Zone for Peace and Cooperation'' encompassing the Haejoo area and its adjoining waters, and actively seek the designation of a common fishery zone and peace zone, the construction of special economic zone, and utilization of the Haejoo port, direct passage of civilian vessels to Haejoo, and joint utilization of the Han River estuary. The South and the North complete the first phase construction of the Gaesong Industrial Complex as early as possible, and launch the second phase development, and begin railway cargo transportation linking Moonsan and Bongdong, and promptly undertake institutional measures to resolve problems including passage of people, communications and customs clearance. The South and the North discuss and undertake improvement of Gaesong-Shineuijoo railway and Gaesong-Pyongyang highway for joint use. The South and the North construct shipbuilding cooperative complexes in Anbyun and Nampo, and promote cooperative projects in various areas, including agriculture, health, medicine and environmental protection. The South and the North upgrade the existing ``South-North Committee for Promotion of Economic Cooperation'' to ``South-North Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation'' at the Deputy Prime Minister level in order to facilitate inter-Korean economic cooperation projects. 6. The South and the North develop exchanges and cooperation in the fields of history, linguistics, education, science and technology, culture and arts, and sports in order to cherish the long history and proud culture of the Korean people. The South and the North implement the Baekdoo Mountain tour and establish a direct Baekdoo Mountain-Seoul air route. The South and the North will send inter-Korea cheer teams to the 2008 Beijing International Olympics via the Seoul-Shineuijoo railway for the first time. 7. The South and the North actively promote humanitarian cooperative projects. The South and the North expand the reunion of separated families and relatives and promote exchange of visual materials. To this end, both parties will have resident representatives upon the completion of Mount Keumgang Meeting Post and routinely implement the reunion of separated families and relatives. The South and the North actively cooperate under the principle of brotherhood, humanitarianism and mutual assistance in contingencies, including natural disasters. 8. The South and the North strengthen cooperation for the interest of the Korean nation, and rights and interests of overseas Korean nationals in the international arena. The South and the North will hold the inter-Korean Prime Ministers' Meeting in order to implement this declaration and convene its first meeting in Seoul November this year. The South and the North discuss issues of concern for Inter-Korean development through frequent holding of the inter-Korean summit. ***************************************************************** 53 Digital Chosunilbo: Build Robot Korean Scientists to Fix Nuke Plants Updated Oct.4,2007 09:46 KST Korean researchers have built a robot that can handle problems in nuclear power plants so its human operators can stay safe. The KAEROT-m3 robot can also be used in chemical plants to deal with toxic materials, so the robot has great export potential. It can take a whole day for a team of people to repair a small problem in a nuclear plant while avoiding being irradiated. But shutting down a nuclear power plant for a day costs W1 billion (US$1=W915). On Wednesday, Dr. Chung Seung-ho of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said his research team built KAEROT-m3 to fix problems in fuel replacement systems in Wolsong nuclear power plant after four years of research and development. Since the Wolsong plant uses unenriched uranium, its fuel rods need to be replaced often. Sometimes fuel rods remain stuck in fuel tanks during the replacement process -- KAEROT-m3 can detach them. "The fuel replacement devices stand up to 9.5 m high. KAEROT-m3 moves to the device and then extends its folded arm up to 10 m," Dr. Chung said. "The computer embedded in the robot is designed to withstand high levels of radiation." (englishnews@chosun.com ) ***************************************************************** 54 BBC NEWS: Activist rescued at nuclear base Last Updated: Thursday, 4 October 2007, 08:13 GMT 09:13 UK Coulport and Faslane are part of Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde An anti-nuclear campaigner who swam into a submarine base has been rescued from the Firth of Clyde. RAF rescuers pulled the man from the water around Coulport naval base just before 0230 BST after a protester raised the alarm. The Ministry of Defence said the man was taken to hospital and treated for shock before being arrested by police. The rescued man was one of four activists who tried to swim into the base. Three were stopped before they got inside the outer boundary. An RAF Search and Rescue operation was conducted and he was found, removed from the water and taken to hospital for treatment for possible post-immersion shock An MoD spokesman A spokesman for the MoD said: "A group of swimmers were spotted and subsequently removed from the water outside Coulport naval base by police launch. "In a separate incident a concerned protester phoned into Coulport inquiring as to the whereabouts of another protester who was also believed to be in the water. "An RAF search and rescue operation was conducted and he was found, removed from the water and taken to hospital for treatment for possible post-immersion shock. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 55 AFP: US to test response to massive dirty bomb attack WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States will test this month its preparedness for a large scale terrorist attack with a dirty bomb, a Homeland Security Department official said Wednesday. "TOPOFF 4" (Top Official 4), as the exercise is called, will be held between October 15-20, Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness Dennis Schrader told the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. The test will involve setting off fake "dirty bombs" -- combining conventional explosives with radioactive material -- in three locations: Oregon in the northwest, Arizona in the southwest and the US Pacific island territory of Guam. "For TOPOFF 4, approximately 15,000 federal, state, territorial and local officials will participate in a robust, full-scale response to a multi-faceted terrorist threat," Schrader told the committee in a statement obtained by AFP. It will "accurately simulate a truly national response to these major terrorist incidents" by emergency response teams, medical units, police forces and top government officials who will have to make difficult decisions to save lives. The latest such exercise, "TOPOFF3," was held in April 2005 and involved simultaneous terrorist attacks in Connecticut and New Jersey. Copyright 2007 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ***************************************************************** 56 Economist.com: Korean summit | It'll cost you | Oct 4th 2007 | SEOUL Familiar claims of a breakthrough AFP BRiNGING his own food, and accompanied by 300 business, political and cultural figuresbut excluding the international pressPresident Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea drove to Pyongyang on October 2nd to call upon North Koreas Kim Jong Il. At the heavily-armed border, which Bill Clinton once described as the worlds scariest place, Mr Roh got out of his limousine to cross on foota step, he wanted everyone to know, that symbolised a desire for peace and reconciliation between the two estranged sides of a bloody civil war that remains unresolved more than 50 years after it ground to a halt. It was only the second-ever meeting between leaders of the two countries, and Mr Rohs gambit was aimed at the history books. He wanted to salvage an ineffectual presidency, which ends in December, by asking Mr Kim to reduce tensions on the peninsula in return for economy-transforming aid and investment. Mr Rohs approach has led to divisions even among his own advisers. Some, such as the unification minister, Lee Jae-joungdescribed by one Western diplomat as an unguided missileare gung-ho for reconciliation and are prepared to overlook a lot of Mr Kims unpleasantness. Others despise the repressive regime of Mr Kim, and know that behind him lies a trail of broken promises. To offer too much now might also undermine the multilateral six-party process taking place in parallel, in which North Korea is being offered measured aid in return for clear steps towards dismantling its nuclear capabilities. Though this summit drew the opaque Mr Kim out from the shadows somewhat, he remains hard to read. During the first summit, in 2000, when he met Mr Rohs predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, Mr Kim was all bear-hugs and smiles. That meeting generated mass euphoria in North and South, but little of substance came of itnot even Mr Kims promised return visit to Seoul. It later turned out that $500m had been paid to Mr Kim just for the audience. This week the befuddled looks of farmers as Mr Rohs presidential cavalcade swept up the highway to Pyongyang suggested that Mr Kim had not let all his compatriots in on the historic moment, one for which Mr Roh has begged for years. Though a handpicked crowd in the capital gave a joyous reception, waving artificial bunches of Kimjongilia, a strain of begonia that is a national flower, Mr Kim himself was stiff and tight-lipped. To many of his countrymen, he will have looked on television like an emperor receiving tribute. But many outsiders once again wondered about the health of the pallid, pot-bellied 65-year-old. Mr Kim is known to have had heart problems, and some intelligence analysts recently have claimed to see the early signs of senile dementiathough this is mere conjecture. From what can be gleaned of their substance, talks between the two leaders on October 3rd only emphasised the distance still to travel. Mr Kim may be willing to squeeze the outside world for aidbut on his terms. So Mr Rohs offer of what amounted to a Marshall Plan to transform North Koreas economy in pursuit of Chinese-style liberalisation met with blank dismissal. Mr Kim does not even like a showcase industrial park at Kaesong, where South Korean manufacturers employ cheap North Korean labour, to be described as a model of successful reform. Once again, Mr Kim showed how he puts his own survival over that of the North Koreans he brutalises. Yet a joint agreement was announced on October 4th, something Mr Roh will be able to take home with relief. Gone were his hopes for great involvement in the North, but there was agreement to allow freight trains into Kaesong. There was a recommitment to help families divided by the civil war to meet (though a word from Mr Kim is all it would take to solve that sad problem). Talks will be sought with America and China to put a formal end to the civil war (though peace on the peninsula, these countries are likely to argue, can only come after its denuclearisation). Steps were promised (as, fruitlessly, they were at the 2000 summit) to reduce military tensions: defence ministers would meet, while a disputed western maritime area would see its fisheries jointly mined. Promising as all this sounds, much of it merely repeats earlier promises. In the long run, Mr Kim has never really seen his interests as best served by closer relations with the South. They might lead, eventually, to reunification and hence to his dynastys extinction. China, Japan, Russia and America, the other parties in the six-party talks, may loathe his regime, but they are in effect helping to prop it up. As Mr Roh struggled to secure his piece of paper in Pyongyang, the Chinese government this week declared a breakthrough in those talks as well. Almost a year after North Korea exploded a nuclear bomb, the Chinese said the country had agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor and reprocessing plant at Yongbyon by the years end (this, the main source of the Norths bomb-grade plutonium, has been shut since July). North Korea has also promised to give a full account of all its nuclear activities by then. If it sticks to this pledgeand American-led inspection teams are to oversee the disablement, starting, said negotiators, as early as this monththen the North will get about $100m in aid. Meanwhile, America says it will drop the North from its list of states that sponsor terrorism, a central North Korean demand. In Washington, DC, the administration hailed the pact, which had George Bushs personal nod, as a real step on the path to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Others remain sceptical until the fine print is known. And no one doubts that the next stage after declaration and disablementgetting North Korea to give up its handful of nuclear weapons along with its stock of fissile materialwill prove by far the hardest. For now, Mr Kim is being given the benefit of the doubt. Not for the first time, he may turn a profit from that. Perhaps the brutalised country he has done so much to impoverish might even benefit too. ***************************************************************** 57 Reuters: CHRONOLOGY-Deadlines, delays since North Korea's nuclear test | Thu Oct 4, 2007 2:08am EDT (For related story see KOREA NORTH/USA or [ID:nN03263207]) Oct 4 (Reuters) - North Korea could begin to declare its nuclear programmes as early as next week, and in return, get 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from Washington later this month, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. Here are some key dates in the ongoing negotiations over dismantling the reclusive communist country's nuclear program since it conducted its first nuclear test. * Oct 9, 2006: North Korea explodes its first nuclear device, provoking international condemnation. * Feb. 13, 2007: At breakthrough six-party deal reached by China, Japan, Russia, North and South Korea, and the United States, North Korea agrees to shut its Soviet-era nuclear reactor that is the source of its weapons-grade plutonium, allow international inspections, and give a full account of its nuclear program. * March-June: Deadlines set in February lapse and implementation of deal stalls until June, as North Korea awaits release of $25 million of funds frozen in a Macau bank by Washington over alleged money laundering. * July 12: South Korea starts the transfer of 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil to the energy-starved North, as part of the disarmament deal. * July 16: The International Atomic Energy Agency confirms North has shut reactor at Yongbyon after the agency's first visit to North Korea in four and a half years. * Sept. 11: U.S. officials and nuclear experts cross into North Korea to survey the communist state's nuclear facilities along with nuclear experts from Russia and China. * Oct 1: A tentative year-end deadline is set for the disabling of three facilities at Yongbyon and declaration of the North's nuclear program in a draft six-party joint statement, diplomatic sources say one day after talks close. * Oct. 3: U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes announcement that North Korea could shut nuclear facilities by the year-end. * Oct 4: A senior U.S. official says North Korea may declare its nuclear program next week, in return for 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from Washington later this month under agreements reached in the six-party talks that have pledged a total of one million tonnes of heavy fuel oil or its equivalent to North Korea in exchange for disabling all of its nuclear facilities. Source: Reuters Reuters2007All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 58 Kommersant Moscow: Missile Defense Stalemate - Oct. 04, 2007 The crisis surrounding the US deployment of missile defense elements in Europe is not an accident. It came to be as the result of both the USs and Russias foreign and defense policies. Its a well-known fact that America is the only remaining superpower. The only practical explanation for the Bush administrations effort to further strengthen Americas position is to make inferior any uncontrolled center of power. Washington feels that no other world power should be able to challenge their leadership and under no circumstances should they themselves become a superpower. Nor should any other power hinder US forces in the world. From this point of view the biggest threat is not from North Korea or Iran, but from Russias nuclear forces. No matter how you look at it this is the only force capable of dethroning America from its superpower status and inflicting significant losses. China could also reach this stage in the future. Only by neutralizing Russia and China will the US reach its main goal of its foreign policy. American today cant build a system capable of deflecting all strikes from Russia. But it can build such a system in stages. The first stage would be to build a system capable of neutralizing missile strikes against its territory. This keeps third class powers like Iran and North Korea from responding to American pressure. Its not difficult to understand why Americas assurances that the missile defense system are only against North Korea and Iran fail to convince Moscow. Russia believes that Americas goals toward it are no different than those toward Iran and North Korea. The only thing restricting America right now is a lack of economic and technical resources. In light of this any Russian-American discussion on the governmental level about missile defense would be unproductive and senseless. Which is exactly what we are see at the moment. Ruslan Pukhov, Director, Center for Strategic Analysis and Technology All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 04, 2007 1991-2007 ZAO "Kommersant. Publishing House". All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 59 DOE: DOE Official in Salt Lake City to Launch Change a Light, Change the World October 3, 2007 SALT LAKE CITY, UT U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Kevin Kolevar today launched the 2007 Change a Light, Change the World campaign, encouraging every American to change at least one light at home to an ENERGY STAR Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL.) Assistant Secretary Kolevar kicked-off the national effort during a visit to Wasatch Elementary School in Salt Lake City where he encouraged students and the community to change at least one light at home to a CFL which use 75 percent less energy than standard bulbs and last up to ten times longer, resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and substantial energy cost savings. This campaign is about taking simple actions to have a big impact and every American can change a light to a CFL to save energy and protect the environment, Assistant Secretary Kolevar said. I join the President in encouraging all Americans to be more energy efficient by changing a light. The Assistant Secretary visited two sixth grade classes at Wasatch to discuss the importance of saving energy and how every family can participate in the Change a Light campaign. Kolevar was joined by representatives from Governor Huntsmans office and Utah Clean Energy, a local Energy Star partner. The nationwide effort to encourage Americans to use CFLs begins today, ENERGY STAR Change a Light Day. At the heart of the Change a Light effort is the online pledge to use CFLs at home. Already over 500,000 people have taken the pledge. Lighting accounts for nearly 20 percent of the average homes electric bill. Each CFL can save up to $30 in energy costs over its extended lifetime by using 75 percent less energy than a traditional bulb. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars. Assistant Secretary Kolevar is joining with others in the federal government, as well as with leaders of all levels from across the country to celebrate ENERGY STAR Change a Light Day and encourage Americans to use energy wisely at work and at home. Like changing a light bulb, simple actions taken at home help preserve our energy resources and reduce the risks of global climate change. The national educational campaign is run in partnership with The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and hundreds of retail stores, manufacturers, energy efficiency organizations, and state and territory governments. 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 ***************************************************************** 60 DOE: DOE Announces Final Rule for Loan Guarantee Program October 4, 2007 Invites 16 Pre-Applicants to Submit Applications for Federal Support of Innovative Clean Energy Projects WASHINGTON, DC Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman today announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) has issued the final regulations for the loan guarantee program authorized by Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct). DOEs action today will pave the way for federal support of clean energy projects using innovative technologies and will spur further investment in these advanced energy technologies. DOE also today invited 16 project sponsors, who submitted pre-applications last Fall, to submit full applications for loan guarantees. These projects include advanced technologies involving the uses of biomass, fossil energy, solar, industrial energy efficiency, electricity delivery and energy reliability, hydrogen, and alternative fuel vehicles. Projects supported by loan guarantees will help fulfill President Bushs goal of reducing our reliance on imported sources of energy by diversifying our nations energy mix and increasing energy efficiency. Loan guarantees aim to stimulate investment and commercialization of clean energy technologies to reduce our Nations reliance on foreign sources of energy, Secretary Bodman said. Finalizing this regulation for the Departments Loan Guarantee program puts Americans one step closer to being able to use new and novel sources of energy on a mass scale to reduce emissions and allow for vigorous economic growth and increased energy security. The final regulation provides that the Department may issue guarantees for up to 100% of the amount of a loan, subject to the EPAct limitation that DOE may not guarantee a debt instrument for more than 80% of the total cost of an eligible project. Under the final rule, if DOE issues a guarantee for 100% of a debt instrument, the loan must be issued and funded by the Treasury Departments Federal Financing Bank. While Congress must provide authority in an appropriations act for the loan guarantees that the Department will issue, DOEs intent is to only issue loan guarantees if borrowers and project sponsors pay the credit subsidy cost for any loan guarantee they receive. Therefore, DOE does not plan to use taxpayer funds to pay for the credit subsidy costs of these loan guarantees. The final regulation also provides for the following: * The Title XVII loan guarantee program will be implemented through a series of solicitations. The solicitations may target specific technology areas or be general; * Eligible projects must employ new or significantly improved technologies that avoid, reduce or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases as compared to commercial technologies in service in the United States at the time the loan guarantee agreement is executed; * The guaranteed portion of a partially guaranteed loan may be separated from or "stripped" from the non-guaranteed portion, except in cases where the guarantee exceeds 90 % of the loan amount; * In the event of a loan default, DOE will have a superior lien on all project assets pledged as collateral for the guaranteed loan; however, the final rule allows for the possibility in a default situation that lenders and holders of the non-guaranteed debt could share proportionately with the Department in proceeds from the sale of project assets pledged as collateral. A pari passu structure will not be permitted to override the Departments superior right to project assets; * The Secretary of Energy must determine that there is a reasonable prospect of repayment of the guaranteed debt before a loan guarantee may be issued; * DOE must charge and collect fees sufficient to cover applicable administrative expenses; * Borrowerpaid Credit Subsidy Costs and administrative fees paid to DOE may not be included within total project costs for the purposes of determining the amount of guarantees that DOE can issue for a project; * A projects receipt of other governmental assistance does not disqualify a project from receiving a Title XVII loan guarantee; however, when evaluating a projects application for a Title XVII loan guarantee, DOE will consider the extent to which a project will receive other governmental assistance, (e.g., grants, tax credits, other loan guarantees); * The borrower must have a significant equity stake in a project, and proceeds from guaranteed or non-guaranteed debt, and the value of government grants and other assistance, will not be counted as equity. The final rule is the culmination of a public rulemaking process, which began with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published May 16, 2007. DOE reviewed and carefully considered all comments it received on the proposed rule. Congress currently is considering the Departments Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Budget request for $9 billion in loan guarantee authority and $8.4 million to run the Loan Guarantee office. Both of these actions are important for the successful execution of this program. DOEs issuance of additional loan guarantee program solicitations is dependent on receiving adequate additional authorization from the Congress and funding for the operation of its Loan Guarantee program office. Todays announcements build on months of action by DOE to implement its loan guarantee program. In August 2006, DOE issued a solicitation inviting preapplications for up to $2 billion in loan guarantees. By the December 31, 2006 deadline for this solicitation, DOE received 143 preapplications requesting more than $27 billion in loan guarantee protection (for project costs estimated at more than $51 billion). The 16 pre-applicants invited today to submit full loan guarantee applications for review must inform DOE by October 30, 2007 if they plan to submit a full application. The applications received will undergo disciplined and rigorous reviews, necessary to take proper account of the potential risks of a project. The full application review will be subject to the final regulations issued today. The decision to issue loan guarantees will depend on the merits and benefits of particular project proposals and their compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The pre-applicants not selected to submit full applications from this solicitation can reapply for future solicitations, for which their project is eligible. The following is a summary of the 16 projects and sponsors invited to submit full applications: ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY PROJECTS Mesaba Energy Project (MEP-I, LLC): Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Plant Minnesota is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build a state-of-the-art IGCC plant that would allot space in its design for CO2 capture and storage. Mississippi Power Company: IGCC Plant Mississippi is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build an IGCC plant that would commercialize a first-of-its-kind application. The above two IGCC projects would allow for potential CO2 capture in the future, would provide state-of-the-art emission controls far exceeding the emission level requirements specified in Section 1703 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and would help reduce cost and increase fuel flexibility of IGCC technology. TX Energy, LLC: Coal to Synthetic Gas IGCC Plant Texas is the proposed location for this project, which plans to commercialize a new polygeneration gasification facility that can isolate a significant concentrated stream of CO2 while producing large amounts of power and methanol. INDUSTRIAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROJECTS GR Silicate Nano Fibers and Carbonates Washington is the proposed location for this project, which plans a highly energy efficient process for manufacturing paper. Sage Electrochromics: Electrochromic Window Manufacturing Project Minnesota is the proposed location for this project, which plans to develop a manufacturing facility that would produce energy-efficient windows for the commercial and residential building sectors. SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS Luz II Nevada is the proposed location for this project, which plans to develop a highly efficient large-scale power project using concentrated solar-thermal technology. Solyndra, Inc. California is the proposed location for this project, which plans to manufacture highly efficient thin-film photovoltaic modules. ELECTRICITY DELIVERY AND ENERGY RELIABILITY PROJECT Beacon Power Massachusetts is the proposed location for this project, which plans to develop a system that will enhance peak performance of electric generation over the power grid. HYDROGEN PROJECT Bridgeport Fuel Cell Park, LLC Connecticut is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build the largest single-site installation of fuel cells in the world. ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLES PROJECT Tesla Motors New Mexico is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build a battery-electric powered vehicle with enhanced range that can be produced for the consumer market. BIOMASS PROJECTS Alico, Inc. Florida is the proposed location for this project, which plans a first-of-a-kind commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant that would use multiple feedstocks and produce multiple products. Blue Fire Ethanol, Inc. California is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant using an array of low-cost feedstocks. Choren USA Southeastern, U.S. is the proposed location for this project, which plans to construct an industrial-scale biomass gasification facility for clean synthetic diesel fuels in the United States. Endicott Biofuels, LLC Virginia is the proposed location for this project, which plans to construct a second generation biodiesel and bio-derived products plant that would feature a high level of feedstock flexibility allowing for the production of a broad range of biodiesel fuels. Iogen Biorefinery Partners, LLC Idaho is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build a biorefinery to produce ethanol from a wide range of cellulosic feedstocks and to produce other byproducts of value to several industries. Voyager Ethanol, LLC Iowa is the proposed location for this project, which plans to build a cellulosic ethanol plant that can accommodate multiple feedstocks in the production of ethanol and higher value byproducts. Following funding and authorization for the program in February 2007, DOE has established a Credit Review Board to make recommendations to the Secretary of Energy on loan guarantees; named an office director and technical and financial experts to work in the Loan Guarantee program office; and developed guidelines for the financial and technical review of loan guarantee applications. Review the final regulations and more about DOEs loan guarantee program. Media contact(s): Megan Barnett, (202) 586-4940 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 61 Tri-City Herald: Former CIA director discusses U.S. energy security Published Thursday, October 4th, 2007 ANNETTE CARY, HERALD STAFF WRITER Plug-in hybrid cars are part of the answer in breaking oil's monopoly on the country's transportation system, former Central Intelligence Agency Director James Woolsey said Wednesday. He discussed the nation's energy security at a seminar sponsored by the Herbert M. Parker Foundation and attended by more than 250 people at the Battelle Auditorium in Richland. Woolsey was director of the CIA from 1993 to 1995 and now is a vice president with Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and technology consulting firm. Plug-in hybrids could drive 40 miles each day with improved technology. Then they would turn into ordinary hybrids using both electricity and gasoline or ethanol until they are charged again, he said. They would be charged at night using inexpensive, off-peak electricity. With the average car in the U.S. driven a little more than 30 miles a day, that would provide a substantial reduction in the use of oil, Woolsey said. He also advocates following Denmark's example of using heat produced by industry for power, rather than wasting it by venting it into the air. Half of Denmark's power comes from combined heat and power, compared to 8 percent in the U.S. power, he said. The rest of the nation also could learn from California's move to decouple sales of electricity from earnings. Instead of making more money if consumers use more electricity, utilities earn more for their shareholders by investing in projects such as making the electricity grid more efficient. For the last 20 years, California's electrical use per person has remained steady while elsewhere in the nation it has increased 60 percent, he said. He does not see a major role for hydrogen fuel cells in solving the nation's energy problems. The most pressing issue for the nation's energy future is its reliance on oil, which has long had no competition for fueling transportation, he said. "Oil has come to be the strategic commodity," he said. "Until the end of the 19th century, salt was the strategic commodity because it was the only way to preserve meat." The salt monopoly was broken when electricity and refrigeration became available. "We need to do the same thing with oil," he said. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 62 Hanford News: Work to begin on new roof for historic B Reactor This story was published Thursday, October 4th, 2007 the Herald staff Work should begin soon to put a new roof on much of Hanford's historic B Reactor. Washington Closure Hanford has awarded an $870,000 subcontract to Federal Engineers & Constructors of Richland to reroof the lower sections of the reactor's roof. The new roof will replace the sections in the worst shape. It will cover everything but the elevator and the front and rear reactor face areas. The old tar and gravel roof will be removed and replaced with a membrane roof made in two spray-on layers of polyurathane foam and an acrylic overcoat. Federal Engineers & Constructors should finish preparations for the work, including moving equipment and materials on site, next week, said Todd Nelson, spokesman for Washington Closure. The work, which can only be done in dry weather, should take about three weeks. Supporters of B Reactor are working to save it as a museum. It is the world's first production-scale nuclear reactor and produced plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, helping end World War II. Money for the new roof comes from a congressional appropriation to help preserve the reactor. © 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 63 Tri-City Herald: DOE to issue fine over vit plant Published Thursday, October 4th, 2007 By the Herald staff The Department of Energy plans to fine Bechtel National $165,000 for violating nuclear safety requirements as it designs and builds Hanford's $12.2 billion vitrification plant. The fine is for a series of violations between October 2001 and February 2006. They include failures in processes to control design changes and to ensure that equipment it bought met nuclear safety specifications, according to DOE. If left uncorrected, the violations could have hampered safe and efficient operations of the vitrification plant when it begins turning radioactive waste into a stable glass form in 2019, according to DOE. For more information, read Friday's Herald. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 64 lamonitor.com: Cleanup talk focuses on process The Online News Source for Los Alamos KATY KORKOS Monitor Reporter The local chapter of the Sierra Club played host Wednesday to Susan Stiger, Los Alamos National Laboratory's cleanup program manager. In the close confines of the library's upstairs meeting room, more than two dozen audience members were able to hear the associate director for environmental programs' presentation and ask questions throughout the presentation. Stiger brings an extensive career in environmental cleanup to her position at LANL, having worked at most of the Department of Energy sites. She has managed environmental projects at DOE sites in Hanford, Rocky Flats and Oak Ridge. She began work in Los Alamos in May. Stiger began her presentation by describing the unique position of Los Alamos, saying the consent order with the New Mexico Environment Department, signed in 2005 is the most recent agreement, for any of the DOE sites. Los Alamos is also unique among cleanup sites in its topography and the fact that many of the sites are located in the town itself. Stiger said the consent order is "the framework for the cleanup," adding that many other sites have the Environmental Protection Agency as an additional regulator. Her presentation showed the identified Material Disposal Areas (MDAs) that LANL is working on, as well as the locations of hundreds of test wells that have drilled to monitor groundwater contamination. "Laboratory efforts to identify contaminants resulted in the identification of 2,194 potentially contaminated sites in 1990," Stiger said. "All but 765 sites have been addressed." Stiger described the cleanup process as being comprised of several steps, and the various sites as being at varying stages in the process. "The general process is to go out and sample areas we think might be contaminated," she said. "In the characterization phase there is well-drilling, sampling and statistical analysis (among other things.) As you move to clean up, you need more engineers, to design solutions, and technicians to carry out the work. You still always need sampling (throughout the process)." Another unique aspect to the Los Alamos consent order is that it has an end date of 2015. "All cleanup will be completed according to our agreement. You'll see more physical cleanup getting accomplished in the next few years," she said. The laboratory is currently operating under a continuing resolution rather than an approved budget, and the House budget bill proposes funding at last year's levels. The Senate's bill includes $220 million for clean up. Audience members asked Stiger how budget shortfalls might affect the rate of clean up. "An $80 million shortfall will make it difficult to stay in compliance," Stiger said. Audience members asked how sensitive the DOE is to state cleanup orders. Stiger said a lot of fines do result from funding shortfalls, "and fines are taken very, very seriously. We're continuing to make it very clear to the DOE how much we need. We have it reviewed by independent sources." She added, "When there was lots of cleanup going on, you could mobilize a huge political force." The fact that Rocky Flats cleanup has been completed and the Mound site in Ohio is completed means there is less political pressure on Congress to provide funding, she said. Audience members also asked about independent sampling, such as that which has been done by the Government Accountability Project, and whether there was comparability between the sources. "Is there any effort to incorporating data from critics?" John Bartlit asked. Stiger replied, "We do evaluate it, using EPA standards. We're moving much closer to a consistent database which includes where and how the samples were collected, is there cross-contamination, were the samples analyzed under similar conditions." Becky Shankland asked where and how the public would be involved. "We actively involve the CAB (Citizen's Advisory Board)," Stiger said. "The NMED will make documents available fro a 30-day comment period, and hard copies are available at the Oppenheimer Study Center. There will be public meetings, some in the form of workshops or poster sessions, in a variety of formats." She continued, "The challenge in the nuclear industry has always been how to get a fair and balanced understanding of risk. The best thing we can do is to help people understand the level of risk that the contaminants actually pose." 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 65 Oak Ridger: DOE funding OK - Story last updated at 1:15 am on 10/4/2007 By: John Huotari | john.huotari@oakridger.com The U.S. Congress has not passed a new budget for the U.S. Department of Energy, but the federal agency’s Oak Ridge facilities should be OK, said U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District. Last week, Congress passed a six-week continuing resolution that funds the department at fiscal year 2007 levels through mid-November, Wamp said. Fiscal year 2008 began Monday. The continued funding means there will be only a minimal impact on DOE’s Oak Ridge operations and the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the Y-12 National Security Complex, Wamp said. “We have not heard of any significant impacts under the (fiscal year) ’07 levels,” he said. “All of our missions are continuing without too much of an impact.” Congress has until Nov. 15 to pass an energy and water appropriations bill, said Wamp, who serves on the U.S. House of Representatives’ energy and water subcommittee. The House has already passed an energy appropriations bill but the U.S. Senate has not, he said. If the Senate doesn’t pass the bill, it could get rolled into an omnibus appropriations bill that would also fund other departments — possibly around Thanksgiving, Wamp said. The congressman said the prognosis for local DOE facilities is good. That should be good news for workers at those facilities. Workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex were told last month to be prepared for potential “workforce impacts” because of the uncertain budget situation. Employees at other nuclear-weapons sites had received similar notices, said Steven Wyatt, NNSA public affairs manager at the Y-12 Site Office. BWXT Y-12 general manager and president George Dials was unavailable for comment. John Huotari can be contacted at (865) 220-5533. | © 2004 The Oak Ridger | Conditions of Use ***************************************************************** 66 Oak Ridger: Mason: Energy again an issue and national lab can help - Story last updated at 1:17 am on 10/4/2007 By: John Huotari | john.huotari@oakridger.com Scott Fraker/Staff ORNL Director Thom Mason will present a free community lecture at 7:30 tonight at the American Museum of Science and Energy. The public is encouraged to attend. The U.S. Department of Energy was set up in the 1970s as part of a federal response to a national energy crisis, said Thom Mason, Oak Ridge National Laboratory director. Now, some 30 years later, energy is again an issue, he said. Only this time, the energy crisis has broader implications, including for climate change and national security, he said. In the 1970s, Mason said, the energy crisis was more about costs. “The situation we find ourselves in now is actually much more complicated,” he said. Mason was recently the featured speaker at a lunchtime meeting of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. Besides energy, he talked about recent lab success stories, security programs and assets, including top-notch computing and research facilities. Mason became lab director on July 1, and he has served as the head of the lab’s $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source project. Mason said the average American’s energy consumption — driving their vehicles, heating and cooling their homes, etc. — is the equivalent of having 300 servants. “We’re all pretty well-off,” he said. Yet it’s becoming increasingly clear that people have to think about new ways to generate, distribute and consume energy, he said. Energy has moved to the top of the international policy agenda, and ORNL can help solve some important energy-related problems, like how to create ethanol fuel from switchgrass, Mason said. “I think it fits the definition of what a national lab should be doing,” he said, referring to the broad energy debate and its associated “very big and difficult” problems. In June, the U.S. Department of Energy selected an ORNL-led team to establish a $125 million Bioenergy Sciences Center. That center is closely linked to the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative, Mason said. The lab director said new technologies that lead to new fuels won’t entirely displace the nation’s thirst for gasoline. But technological advances can help take “significant bites” out of the problem, he said. John Huotari can be contacted at (865) 220-5533. | © 2004 The Oak Ridger | Conditions of Use ***************************************************************** 67 NAS Project: Review of DOE's Nuclear Energy Research & Development Program Project Title: PIN: BEES-J-05-01-A Major Unit: Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences Sub Unit: Board on Energy and Environmental Systems RSO: Bowen, Matt Subject/Focus Area: Energy and Energy Conservation; Engineering Project Scope The committee will undertake a comprehensive, independent evaluation of DOE's nuclear energy (NE) program's goals and plans, and validate the process of establishing program priorities and oversight (including the method for determining the relative distribution of budgetary resources). The evaluation will result in a comprehensive and detailed set of policy and research recommendations and associated priorities (including performance targets and metrics) for an integrated agenda of research activities that can best advance NE's fundamental mission of securing nuclear energy as a viable, long-term commercial energy option to provide diversity in energy supply. The review will also include the relationship of the research program to the Idaho Facilities Management program. In conducting the evaluation of the R&D program, the committee will: (1) Review the technical goals and timetables for government and industry R&D efforts in the various technical areas (e.g., Nuclear Power 2010; Generation IV; Hydrogen Initiative; Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative); (2) Review the R&D directions and progress in various parts of the program and their relevance to meeting the goals of the R&D program; (3) Review the overall balance and adequacy of the R&D program in light of the objectives and schedules in the major technology areas, and whether efforts in various technical areas are at an appropriate level, should be expanded, reduced, or eliminated; (4) Identify, if appropriate, new and promising technologies not included in the DOE portfolio that the DOE could meaningfully advance to meet the goals of the program; (5) Examine and comment, as necessary, on the appropriate federal role in the various technical areas; (6) Examine and comment on the commercial implications of each major part of the R&D portfolio and what each element needs to contribute to the commercial adoption of the technology; (7) Examine and comment on NE's strategy for accomplishing its goals, which would include such issues as: (a) program management and organization; (b) the process of setting milestones, research directions and making Go/No Go decisions; (c) collaborative activities with other parts of the government or private sector; (d) the integration of major activities in each program into a plan and associated schedule; (e) integration and associated schedule and milestones of the various major programs across DOE-NE; (f) consistency of the budget, schedule and scope for selected major activities; (g) risk identification and assessment and mitigation activities; and (h) other topics that the committee finds important to comment on related to the success of the program to meet its technical goals. (8) Comment on the relationship of the R&D program to the Idaho Facilities Management program. The committee will write a report documenting its findings and recommendations. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The approximate start date for the project is April 24, 2006. A report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 18 months. Project Duration: 18 months Provide FEEDBACK on this project. Contact the Public Access Records Office to make an inquiry or to schedule an appointment to view project materials available to the public. Committee Membership Meetings Meeting 1 - 08/24/2006 Meeting 2 - 10/17/2006 Meeting 3 - 11/08/2006 Meeting 4 - 01/09/2007 Meeting 5 - 03/08/2007 Meeting 6 - 05/30/2007 Reports Reports having no URL can be seen at the Public Access Records Office Email: info@nas.edu ***************************************************************** 68 NewsBlaze: DOE Cites Bechtel National Incorporated for Price-Anderson Violations The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today notified Bechtel National Incorporated (BNI) that it will fine the company $165,000 for violations of the Department's nuclear safety requirements. BNI is the primary design and construction contractor for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) located at the Hanford Site in Richland, Washington. The Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) issued today cited a series of violations that occurred during the design and construction of the WTP between October 2001 and February 2006. Violations include failures in quality processes to control design changes, and to ensure vendor-supplied equipment met nuclear safety specifications. The proposed civil penalty of $165,000 is based on the significance of the violations yet reflects substantial mitigation granted by the Department due to corrective actions taken by BNI to prevent recurrence of the deficiencies. If left uncorrected, the design and construction problems could have adversely affected the operation of WTP to process radioactive waste being stored at the Hanford Tank Farms and posed potential safety and health risks to workers and to the public. Following this PNOV, BNI will have 30 days to respond with any objections to the notice. The Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 authorizes the Energy Department to undertake regulatory actions against contractors for violations of its nuclear safety requirements. The enforcement program encourages departmental contractors to identify and correct nuclear safety deficiencies at an early stage, before they contribute to or result in more serious events. Additional details on this and other enforcement actions are available on the Internet at www.hss.doe.gov/enforce. Source: U.S. Department of Energy judythpiazza@newsblaze.com Copyright 2007, NewsBlaze, Daily News ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************