***************************************************************** 10/23/07 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 15.249 ***************************************************************** 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 NUCLEAR REACTORS 1 US: Karl Grossman Article: MinutemanMedia Column on Nuclear Power "R 2 [NYTr] India: The Nuke Deal is Dead 3 US: NRC: NRC Extends Augmented Inspection Team Inquiry at Farley 4 Thenews.pl: Lithuania agrees to Polish provisions over Ignalina plan 5 US: Platts: Hope Creek uprate won't impact environment significantly 6 BBC NEWS: Ministers warned on nuclear plans 7 BBC NEWS: Seven of UK's 16 reactors closed 8 US: Platts: NRC issues confirmatory order to APS for operator traini 9 Platts: UK's British Energy stops two nuclear plants on wiring worri 10 Platts: Tepco's Nov oil buy to hit 6 mil barrels after nuclear unit 11 Platts: Ruling on upping capacity at Forsmark's reactors due early 2 12 US: NRC: NRC Assigns New Inspectors to Susquehanna Station 13 US: Reuters: Progress N.C. Harris reactor starts to exit refuel 14 US: Reuters: Entergy Mich. Palisades reactor up to 64 pct power | 15 US: Reuters: Entergy La. Waterford 3 reactor exits outage | 16 US: Reuters: Arizona Palo Verde nuclear Unit 1 back next week-APS | 17 ScienceDaily: Nuclear Power Worldwide: Status And Outlook 18 US: Brockton Enterprise: Fair questions are raised on nuclear plant 19 Oxford Research Group: Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclea 20 US: RRS: Shutdown of Byron nuclear plant sparks some residents’ co 21 Guardian Unlimited: Half of nuclear power stations closed for repair 22 US: Arizona Republic: Palo Verde shuts down reactor to repair a valv 23 Sydney Morning Herald: Coalition fudging nuclear stance: Labor - NUCLEAR SECURITY 24 Bulletin Online: Nuclear terrorism's fatal assumptions NUCLEAR SAFETY 25 US: Tri-City Herald: Sen. Murray wants more help for ill Hanford wor 26 US: Living Well: Alexander Urges Compensation For Sick Nuclear Worke 27 AZoNetwork: Depleted Uranium Contamination Found in Urine 20 Years L 28 US: Boston Globe: MIT reports high radiation reading in nuclear work 29 US: Playbill: Exposed, Premiering in Utah, Gives Voice to Those Down NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 30 Denver Post: Richardson's stand against dump for Nevada doubted 31 US: ABC News: Nuclear Materials 'Poison' Navajo Land 32 Guardian Unlimited: Richardson Courts UA in Vegas 33 KMVT: Yucca Mountain One Step Closer To Taking Nuclear Waste PEACE 34 [NYTr] Iranian Nuclear Negotiators Talk with Solana 35 [NYTr] The Missile Crisis: At the Doors of Nuclear Holocaust 36 RIA Novosti: Russia scraps nine more Topol systems under START-1 tre 37 US: UPI: U.S. submarine crew members punished - 38 UPI: Russia dismantles old missiles - 39 AFP: Japan tells Russia no backing down on missiles - US DEPT. OF ENERGY 40 DOE: U.S. and Mongolia Sign MOU to Increase Cooperation in 41 DOE: Contractor Employee Pension and Medical Benefits 42 DOE: Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management - Safe 43 Knoxville News Sentinel: $400M in 'other' work doled out 44 Knoxville News Sentinel: ET gets new solar technologies 45 Knoxville News Sentinel: Audit: Oak Ridge security clearances extend 46 NAS: Project: Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Karl Grossman Article: MinutemanMedia Column on Nuclear Power "Revival" Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:05:26 -0400 October 24, 2007 NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ANSWER - by Karl Grossman There's again a move to "revive" nuclear power. Every decade or so those with a vested interest in this deadly dangerous technology have sought to get the public to swallow the nuclear pill--and it's happening again. That promotion has consistently been based on falsehoods. For example, in a heavy push years back--during a gasoline shortage that included long lines at the pump--the claim was that if we had nuclear power, somehow this wouldn 't happen again. In fact, only 3 percent of electricity in the United States is generated with oil. Nuclear power has nothing to do with oil and gas. Currently, as the global warming crisis is acknowledged (after years of the vested oil interests denying it) the big pitch is: Nuclear plants don't emit greenhouse gases and thus don't contribute to warming. In reality, the overall nuclear cycle--which includes uranium mining and milling, enrichment, fuel fabrication and disposal of radioactive waste--produces greenhouse gas emissions that play a significant part in global warming. As Michel Lee of the Council on Intelligent Energy & Conservation Policy notes: "The dirty secret is that nuclear power makes a substantial contribution to global warming." The claim that it doesn't "is a fiction that has been a prime feature of the nuclear industry's and Bush administration's PR campaign." As a petition being circulated by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, which numerous environmental and safe-energy groups and thousands of individuals have signed onto, declares: "we do not support construction of new nuclear reactors as a means of addressing the climate crisis. Available renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies are faster, leaner, safer and cleaner strategies for reducing greenhouse emissions than nuclear power." The last order for a nuclear plant in the United States not subsequently cancelled was in 1973. The 1979 Three Mile Island accident and the 1986 Cher nobyl disaster gave the lie to the nuclear establishment's claim that a catastrophic mishap was extremely unlikely--despite a PR campaign since then trying to deny the impacts of these events. Fortunately, a majority of Americans remain strongly against nuclear power, realizing how lethal it is. Indeed, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, "CRAC-2," projects consequences of a major accident at each the 103 nuclear power plants now operating our country, estimating "peak early fatalities" as high as 100,000, "peak early injuries" even higher, and property damage as much as $300 billion. Post-9/11, with al-Qaeda acknowledging that it has been eyeing U.S. atomic plants, every one is a target--and a potent nuclear weapon for terrorists. Moreover, "It doesn't take an accident for a nuclear power plant to release radioactivity into our air, water, and soil. All it takes is the plant's everyday routine operation, and federal regulations permit these radioactive releases," stresses Kay Drey of Beyond Nuclear. How would the scores of would-be new nuclear plants be financed? You and other taxpayers would be expected to pay heavily. Some $15 billion in taxpayer subsidies have already been arranged and an energy bill now before Congress authorizes $50 billion more for new nuclear plants. "Renewables Are Ready" is the title of a 1999 book written by two staffers of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Today, they are more than ready. Wind, solar, hydrogen, bio-fuels, geothermal and other safe, clean renewable power can, along with energy efficiency, easily provide the energy we need. The resources are vast. Researchers at Stanford University estimate global wind energy potential at 72,000 gigawatts--10 times as much electricity as the world now uses. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory says seven U.S. southwest states could provide more than 7,000 gigawatts of solar power--seven times the existing electric capacity in the United States from all sources. And renewable energy technologies are now highly developed--on the shelf and ready to be widely utilized. But those who push nuclear power would threaten us with losing out lives and money--unnecessarily. They must be stopped. - Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury (N.Y.), is author of "Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power," and TV documentaries, including, "The Push to Revive Nuclear Power." # # # # # EDITORS NOTE: MinutemanMedia.org is seeking, after all these years, to become a bit higher profile. For this reason we would be grateful if you would credit us with any piece you may use: "Distributed by http://www.MinutemanMedia.org ." (or similar). ***************************************************************** 2 [NYTr] India: The Nuke Deal is Dead Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:59:36 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Counterpunch - Oct 23, 2007 http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad10232007.html A Note from This Headless Chicken: The Nuke Deal is Dead By VIJAY PRASHAD On October 12, 2007, the Congress Party threw in the towel. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the leader of the United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi told the press that they would step back from the US-India nuclear deal. "If the deal does not come through," Singh said plaintively, "that is not the end of life. In politics, we must survive short-term battles to address long-term concerns." The short-term battle was won by the Communists, who led the opposition to the deal and winnowed regional parties away from the Congress and toward their position. The Communists' stance is that the nuclear deal (set in motion in 2005) is only one part of a wider embrace between the Indian and US governments, and between Indian and US-based corporations. Apart from nuclear cooperation, the alliance is geared toward partnership between India and the US in democracy promotion, the opening up of the Indian economy to unleashed turbo-capitalism, and a strategic military alliance. The US architects of this linkage saw the last point as the lever: US State Department official Christina Rocca said (in 2002), "Military-to-military cooperation is now producing tangible progress towards [the] objective [of] strategic, diplomatic and political cooperation as well as sound economic ties." Wal-Mart would follow the USS Nimitz into Chennai harbor. Seen in this way, the Communist challenge is not restricted to the nuclear deal, although its defeat gives momentum to wider struggles against the drawing in of India to the platform of US-led imperialism. From 2005 onward, the Communists led a nation-wide fight to reveal the class basis of these deals. They are not without their benefit to a certain kind of India. Entrepreneurs would get quid pro quo tie-ins with US firms, and Indian arms dealers and nuclear businesses would benefit from the commerce. The fact of an alliance would give a cultural fillip to the growing Indian middle class, for whom its "arrival" on the world stage could be signaled by this deal. Faced with its defeat, the Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen spoke for the class that hoped it would come through, "I can understand [such a debate over the deal] immediately after [India's] independence. But sixty years after independence! I am really bothered that sixty years after independence they are so insecure B- that we have not grown up, this lack of confidence and lack of self-respect." As the debate over the deal heated up in India, the navies of the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, and the US) held a war game off the western coast of India. The Communists used this act to highlight the implications of the deal. One jatha (column) left Kolkata and the other left Chennai to converge on the port city of Vishakapatnam on September 8 for a massive rally. This was a contemporary version of Gandhi's Salt March. Back in Delhi a few days later, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s General Secretary, Prakash Karat, led a march to parliament and said, "we demand that the government not proceed with the deal unless it satisfies the people's objections." A month later, this is just what the Congress Party had to do. Satrapies. If you land in Tbilisi, Georgia, the road that takes you into town from the airport is named the George W. Bush Avenue. It is not the only one. In Baghdad, the benighted throughway parallel to Haifa Street has the same name (a suicide bomber destroyed the MacDonald's on it in 2004). One of these roads, the latter, is a consequence of an imperial occupation. The US viceroy could as easily have named the street for George Bush's cat (named India, by the way). The other road, the one in Georgia, comes from the condition of satrapy: Georgia has troops in Iraq (guarding the Green Zone), and its current President Mikheil Saakashvili is eager to join NATO, the European Union, and to be in any way helpful to the US as possible. India's elite desperately sought this kind of Georgian servility. From 1947 to 1991, the Indian elite and nascent middle class were constrained by a compact to fashion a national economy and strategic autonomy. In the 1980s, for a variety of reasons, the Indian elite and now a fairly confident middle class broke away from the shackles of the national compact and sought to assert itself both on the domestic and international stage. The patriotism of the bottom line predominated over that of the national imaginary. A crippled exchequer took the Indian government to the International Monetary Fund, which demanded a turn to the market and the cannibalization of a state structure geared (in some small measure) to provide some benefits across class. The elite and middle class had, largely, relieved themselves from the past even if the institutions still held them back. This class was both born of and raised by the import-substitution industrialization policies of the earlier national compact. A highly educated group of people, they burned for upward mobility. The attachment of this class to the graded inequality of the global capitalist system is driven by its own aspirations to rise up the ladder. These interests coalesced with much more powerful forces: the ruling classes in places such as India, Brazil, and South Africa, the organized might of the Group of Seven, the various international financial conglomerates. This class has its annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland. Its mouthpiece is Thomas Friedman. As the Indian psychologist Sudhir Kakar put it, "This class somehow has the ability to transmute a flame into a blaze." The biographer of this class, Pavan K. Varma, writes that although it "thinks out of the box," and is "a hugely entrepreneurial class," it "may be bent on cloning itself on the West." At the same time, in India there are now more people in extreme poverty than before 1991. In 1995, the World Health Organization reported that a single ailment "conspires with the most deadly and painful diseases to bring a wretched existence to all who suffer from it": this silent ailment is Z59.5, the WHO's code for "extreme poverty." In a parliament of 545, the Communist bloc is only sixty. These parliamentarians come in the main from West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, the three areas where the Left has a very strong presence. Elsewhere in the country, the Left has pockets of influence (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra), but is unable to translate this in electoral terms (drawing in about 2% of the votes at most). The bulk of the parliament is divided between two blocs, the soft right Congress and its allies (217 seats) and the hard right BJP and its allies (185 seats). Regional parties that do not line up with these three major blocs hold the remaining 78 seats (among them, the largest is a party close to the Left, the Samajwadi or Socialist Party, with 36 seats; although it has long since jettisoned its socialism for a corrupt populism). The elite and middle class are split between the hard and soft right on such issues as their attitude toward what in India is called communalism (fundamentalism: the ideology of Hindutva). On issues of social and economic welfare, the two blocs are virtually indistinguishable, except that the Congress has within it an old Gandhian section that is yet to be extinguished and that enabled the otherwise party of free markets to be held to a Common Minimum Program with the Left on issues such as agrarian policy, this so that the Left would support the Congress government from the outside. The Left, therefore, was the only brake against the enthusiasm of the elite and middle class, both of whom wanted to drown themselves in Bush's spittle. Dollars from Rupees. In the early 1990s, the U. S. administration read the shift in India quite correctly. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen observed the middle-class of 60 million, the size of France, and salivated. For Bentsen, and for the Clinton administration, the existence of this class and its hitherto suffocated desires meant that there existed a market to help contain the crisis of over-accumulation to which "globalization" was to be the answer. A decline in the annual rate of growth of the global Gross Domestic Product from the 1960s (5.4%) to the 1980s (3%) offered evidence of the crisis, but nothing was as stark as the falling profit rate of the 500 U. S. transnational corporations (4.7% in the late 1950s to -5.3% in the 1980s). Walden Bello recites these figures and concludes, "Oversupply of commodities and inadequate demand are the principle corporate anomalies inhibiting performance in the global economy." Bentsen's comments had a concrete purpose: the US administration hoped, in essence, that India's middle-class might absorb this oversupply. The Indian government began a long process to dismantle various kinds of social protections for both the national economy and for the dispossessed and exploited classes. This process did not come easily, since the newly confident dominant classes had yet to settle accounts with powerful institutions of the working class and peasantry (trade unions, political parties, socio-political organizations, peasant groups, and on). Nevertheless, by 1994, large sections of industrial production, the extraction sector, utilities, transportation, telecommunications and finance found themselves prey to private investors. In Washington, DC, the US-India Business Council (USIBC) emerged from hibernation (it was formed in 1975) in the 1990s to lobby for US business interests in India. The USIBC is housed, conveniently, in the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, from where it pushes against the walls erected in India to protect the national economy from those who want to make dollars out of rupees. For the nuclear deal, the USIBC and the US Chamber of Commerce's Coalition for Partnership with India drew upon the lobbying expertise of Patton Boggs and Stonebridge International. They had a vested interest in the deal, because it would have allowed U.S. firms to gain contracts in the Indian nuclear sector. In March 2007, the USIBC hosted a 230-member business delegation to India, the Commercial Nuclear Executive Mission. Tim Richards of General Electric (GE) gingerly said of the trip, "We know India's need for nuclear power" (there is, in fact, no such need; nuclear power would only cover a maximum of seven percent of India's energy needs). Ron Somers, president of USIBC, said of the purported $60 billion boondoggle that would have come as a result of the deal, "The bounty is enormous." As the deal fizzled out, the nuclear moneymen grieved. Russia and France had also already lined up to supply India, and both had begun to lobby the Nuclear Suppliers Group to give the deal a free pass. A few days after Singh told Bush their deal was in cold storage, seventy French delegates from twenty-nine nuclear firms met with three hundred Indian delegates in Mumbai for a discussion on a potential France-India nuclear deal. French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont eagerly anticipated the restarting of nuclear cooperation between the two states, which would provide substantial contracts for the French nuclear industry. They want to make Francs out of Rupees. Chicken-Head. India's ambassador to Washington, Ronen Sen, fretted about the US-India deal's failure. The Bush team has approved the deal, and so has the Indian cabinet, he carped (he seems to have forgotten his elementary civics: it is parliament that has authority over such deals, not the cabinet B- a distinction that does not operate so effectively in the US, for all its constitutional checks and balances). "So why do you have all this running around like headless chickens, looking for a comment here or a comment there, and these little storms in a tea-cup." The parliament has now demanded that Mr. Sen be recalled to India and face questions for his disrespect to the elected officials who opposed the deal. On the same flight as him will be a delegation from the USINPAC, the face of the new "Indian Lobby" in Washington, who is eager to take lessons from and mimic the Israel Lobby. Robinder Sachdev, who founded the group, told the Press Trust of India, that the emerging opposition to the deal within the US Congress startles him. "It is like being penny wise and pound foolish," he said. "The US industry will benefit from the nuclear deal." This is an honesty descried by his friends in the nuclear commerce world. As GE India's chief executive officer T.P. Chopra told a Wharton periodical, "The last thing we want is to give ammunition to the Left-wing parties. They would love to project the U.S. as greedy capitalists selling the country for a few dollars more. Business will keep silent until it's signed, sealed and delivered." In Mumbai, as the French-Indian delegations met, the Communists held a public rally where they condemned all talk of a nuclear deal. In terms of the US-India deal specifically, Karat of the CPI(M) said, "it is part of the strategic and military relations that the US wants to have with India." It would never be allowed. In Delhi, meanwhile, Prime Minister Singh said, "I have not given up hope yet." Hope is all that remains for the convenience seeking bourgeoisie: the spectacle of advanced capitalism beckons, even if the price is to be paid by the millions of people who suffer the trials of Z59.5. [Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT His new book is "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World," New York: The New Press, 2007. He can be reached at: vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu ] * ================================================================= 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 3 NRC: NRC Extends Augmented Inspection Team Inquiry at Farley News Release - Region II - 2007-050 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials have extended completion of an Augmented Inspection Team report at the Farley nuclear power plant, following an additional failure of a recently-replaced breaker undergoing a post-installation test. The original inspection began Sept. 10 and two NRC inspectors were dispatched to the plant again on Oct. 22. The NRC said the company reported that a recently-installed breaker on a pump in the plant’s Unit 1 Residual Heat Removal (RHR) system failed during a post-installation test. At the time of the failure, the reactor was shut down and the reactor fuel had been moved to the plant’s spent fuel pool. NRC officials said the pump was not required when the breaker failure occurred. The RHR system is designed to provide cooling to the reactor cooling system water when the plant is shut down with fuel in the reactor vessel, and to inject water into that system during certain emergency conditions. On Sept. 4 and 5, two different electrical breakers associated with component cooling water pumps on Unit 1 failed to close during testing. The NRC sent the initial AIT following those events. Subsequently, those breakers and numerous others in the plant were replaced before one of the new breakers failed. The Administrator of the NRC’s Region II office in Atlanta, Dr. William Travers, said “in light of continuing breaker problems at Farley, the extended AIT will review the root cause of the most recent failure and other replacement breaker issues.” 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. Tuesday, October 23, 2007 ***************************************************************** 4 Thenews.pl: Lithuania agrees to Polish provisions over Ignalina plant - Created: Tuesday, October 23. 2007 Sources have stated that Lithuania is ready to conform to conditions set by Poland over the power output of a new nuclear power plant in Ignalina. The agreement was announced by Lithuanian premier Gedyminas Kirkilas. It has been agreed that the station will be capable of a 3200 MW output, with 1200 MW being reserved for Polish use as part of the recently-debated Energy Bridge proposal. The Energy Summit which was held in Vilnius on the 10-11 October did not hail any results for Poland, as Lithuania was not prepared to reserve 1000-1200 MW for the country. The power station is to be built by 2015. The environmental impact of the plant is to be studied, with results being ready in Spring 2008. ***************************************************************** 5 Platts: Hope Creek uprate won't impact environment significantly - US NRC 2007-10-22 Washington (Platts)--22Oct2007 A planned uprate at the Hope Creek nuclear power plant would have no significant impact on the environment, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday. The finding means that the agency will not prepare an environmental impact statement for the uprate of about 125 MW to the Hancocks Bridge, New Jersey, reactor, which is currently rated at 1,100 MW. Operator PSEG Nuclear submitted its uprate request to NRC in September 2006; the review is expected to be completed this spring, according to NRC's web site. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?src=story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 6 BBC NEWS: Ministers warned on nuclear plans Last Updated: Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 16:39 GMT 17:39 UK The government has said nuclear should be part of the energy 'mix' Ministers have been urged to stop "dithering" over plans for new nuclear stations as it emerged that nearly half of existing stations are out of action. British Energy has closed two of its 16 nuclear reactors for tests and another five are shut for maintenance. Shadow business secretary Alan Duncan said government "dithering and delay". was putting energy security at risk. British Energy shut two stations after discovering a corroded steel wire in the concrete casing of one of its reactors at Hartlepool power station. That and a similarly designed station, Heysham-1, near Morecombe, have been shut for tests. 'Disturbing revelation' Another five were already closed for maintenance. Mr Duncan said British Energy had given a "disturbing revelation" adding: "Last year we were told that urgent decisions need to be taken about the future of our energy supplies, but all we have seen from the government is dithering and delay." One needs certainty and the nuclear industry simply doesn't provide that Michael Meacher Former environment minister He said indecision was putting energy security at risk, by not giving the details necessary for decisions to be taken on nuclear, renewable energy or "carbon capture" technology. The 16 nuclear stations run by British Energy are responsible for 18% of Britain's electricity. Former environment minister Michael Meacher, an opponent of nuclear power, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the number of offline power stations was "almost unprecedented", adding: "I think it is extremely worrying that one of the major sources of electricity is half down at this time." He said there was a major problem due to breakdowns and the need for repair and maintenance. "One needs certainty and the nuclear industry simply doesn't provide that," Mr Meacher said. Energy 'mix' Most existing nuclear power stations are due to close by 2023 and the government has said its "preliminary view" is that new stations should be built as part of Britain's "energy mix" - to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on foreign oil and gas imports. Professor Ian Fells, an adviser to the World Energy Council, said certainty was needed if private investors were to be persuaded to fund new nuclear power stations. We have got to get on and do something pretty quick John MacNamara Nuclear Industry Association Groups pull out of nuclear debate "What's lacking is any real decision on the part of the government and this dithering over nuclear power is probably the worst thing it can possibly do. It had better make its mind up pretty quick," he said. John MacNamara, of the Nuclear Industry Association, said it was common for two or three stations to be shut down for maintenance or refuelling. He said he thought there was enough capacity to ensure the lights would not go off, as a result of the closures, but added: "Ten years ago we had much more capacity. "Nuclear power stations have been shutting down for some time, as have coal fired power stations. So things are a little tighter here, and I think that's why you're seeing the political urgency in this debate now" He added: "We have got to get on and do something pretty quick." Earlier this month, Mr Hutton told the Commons the government would make a "quick decision" on nuclear power, now its consultation period had ended. But the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday that ministers were planning a U-turn on pledges to ensure that 20% of European energy comes from renewable sources, like wind and solar power, by 2020. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 7 BBC NEWS: Seven of UK's 16 reactors closed Last Updated: Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 11:59 GMT 12:59 UK Hartlepool has seen both reactors closed down Nearly half of Britain's nuclear power reactors have been out of action due to breakdowns and maintenance. Of the 16 reactors which supply 18% of the UK's electricity, seven have been shut down. British Energy, which operates the sites, said a "conservative decision" had been taken to close units. 'Serious matter' Torness, Dungeness B, Hartlepool and Heysham - all of which comprise two reactors - had been scheduled for routine repair and maintenance shut-downs at one or both of their units. But after problems emerged at the boiler closure units at Hartlepool Reactor 2, British Energy decided to close two further units at Hartlepool and Heysham. NUCLEAR CLOSURES Torness: both units closed for repairs to electricity supplies Dungeness B: one of two units out for standard refuelling Hartlepool: Reactor 1 out for statutory maintenance, Reactor 2 closed following problems with boiler closure units Heysham: one unit down for refuelling, a second closed for safety checks And the return to service of the reactor which was undergoing maintenance in Heysham will be delayed. Mr Meacher, an opponent of nuclear power, said: "I think it is pretty worrying that they themselves have a major problem as a result of breakdown and the need for repair and maintenance. "One needs certainty, and the nuclear industry doesn't provide it." Nuclear expert Prof Ian Fells, an advisor to the World Energy Council, told the BBC's Today programme that he blamed a lack of investment for the outages, and warned that the consequences could be serious. He said: "It is disturbing. I mean, we're going to have to rely on it being a warm winter. "If it isn't, maybe we will run into power cuts. And the consequential loss of that is not just the loss of electricity, it's the loss to industry when everything fails. * BBC Copyright Notice ***************************************************************** 8 Platts: NRC issues confirmatory order to APS for operator training 2007-10-22 Washington (Platts)--22Oct2007 NRC told Arizona Public Service Co. to develop special training for reactor operators that stresses the need to report errors, perform independent work verifications, and deter workers from concealing mistakes. NRC issued the confirmatory order to APS October 22 after an operator last November entered incorrect water flow information into a Palo Verde computer during a steam generator maintenance procedure. When the operator realized his error, he changed the information without notifying his supervisor as required. The incident did not compromise plant safety, but it involved "apparent willfulness," said NRC. The agency order also told APS to assess independent verifications of its operations and maintenance within the next year and to ensure that any improvements at the three-reactor station are effective. The former operator, who resigned shortly after APS discovered the error last November, can regain his NRC operator's license only by completing specified tasks, NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said, including writing about the incident in a Professional Reactor Operator Society magazine and submitting a written report to the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 9 Platts: UK's British Energy stops two nuclear plants on wiring worries 2007-10-22 London (Platts)--22Oct2007 UK power generator British Energy has taken offline its 604 MW Hartlepool-2 and 575 MW Heysham-1 nuclear power units after finding a wiring problem at its 607 MW Hartlepool-1 plant, BE said Monday in a note on the London stock exchange. The two units have similar design. Hartlepool-1 is currently on a statutory outage, and during an inspection of its boiler closure units the wiring fault was found. The return of Hartlepool-1 is to be delayed for further inspection. The other unit at Heysham, the 575 MW unit two, is currently on a refueling outage and the return of this plant will also be delayed for further inspection, the operator said. "In all, four units are affected by this decision," BE said. "British Energy will consider the potential to integrate any additional inspection work arising from our assessment within planned outages over the balance of the year," company said. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Power UK at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=2_31&products_id=57 Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 10 Platts: Tepco's Nov oil buy to hit 6 mil barrels after nuclear unit idle 2007-10-23 Tokyo (Platts)--23Oct2007 Tokyo Electric Power Company expects its oil procurement to hit 1 million kiloliters (6.29 million barrels) in November, an increase of 100,000-200,000 kiloliters from its earlier estimate, after an eight-day unplanned maintenance at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, a company source told Platts Tuesday. Japan's largest power utility was forced to idle its 784 megawatt No.2 nuclear reactor at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant after finding a glitch on October 11. It restarted the unit October 19, according to the company. Tepco's extra fuel requirement for November will likely be met by oil purchases, as it was too prompt to secure LNG for the month, especially as LNG cargoes are increasingly expensive, the source said. The utility had originally planned to buy 800,000-900,000 kiloliters of oil in the month, Platts reported earlier. Tepco's preference for oil is also due in part to its attempt to increase its oil stocks, which fell by some 150,000 kiloliters in September to 1.35 million kiloliters by the end of month, the source said. As part of this effort, Tepco bought two medium range low sulfur fuel oil cargoes from South Korea through a trader for lifting in November. Meanwhile, Tepco plans to buy some 1.80 million mt of LNG in November, but plans to maintain its LNG consumption levels at around 1.5 million to 1.6 million mt in the month in order to stockpile for the winter demand season, the source said. Japan's winter power season runs from December-March. "As our LNG stocks are seen to come in at around 900,000 mt at the end of October, we aim to bring them back to 1 million mt in November ahead of the winter demand season," he added. The company has total LNG storage capacity of around 1 million mt. Tepco's thermal power generation increased this year after damage from an earthquake on July 16 forced it to shut its 8.21 GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in northwestern Japan. Tepco's switch to more thermal generation in order to make up for the loss in nuclear power has seen increased use of feedstocks such as direct-burning crudes, low sulfur waxy residue, LSFO, LNG and coal. MORE LNG WANTED, PRICE A PROBLEM Tepco is still considering buying three to four additional LNG spot cargoes every month over the December-March period, but the company has been reluctant to seal any deal recently as offer levels for spot LNG cargoes have risen above $12/MMBtu, the source said. The company prefers prices of $11/MMBtu or lower, the source added. "We may have to consider reducing our LNG consumption if the prices remain...at this level," the source said. Tepco already bought an additional one to two spot LNG cargoes for each month from December-March at about $11/MMBtu, Platts reported earlier. "We have bought 15 spot cargoes or roughly about 1 million mt of LNG since the July 16 nuclear outage for the current fiscal year," the source added. Most of the cargoes were sourced from such African producers as Nigeria and Egypt, he added. 500,000 KL/MONTH EXTRA OIL FOR WINTER Tepco's additional winter oil requirement could be about 500,000 kiloliters/month from December onwards, as the utility has agreed to buy that amount of low sulfur fuel oil from Japanese refiners for an indefinite period following its nuclear outage in July. The company is also considering options for importing two to three MR-sized LSFO cargoes every month in the winter to meet its oil needs, the source added. Meanwhile, Tepco sources have said its total winter oil procurement will be about 1 million kiloliters/month from December, but that the oil volume would be determined by its LNG purchase volume. Last December, Tepco bought 378,000 kiloliters oil and 1.42 million mt of LNG, company data showed. z During a July 31 press conference in Tokyo, Tepco president Tsunehisa Katsumata said the company expected to double its oil procurement to about 10 million kiloliters for its 2007-08 fiscal year (April-March). Katsumata also said its LNG procurement would likely increase by 1 million mt to 19 million mt over the same period. However, Tepco's LNG procurement could be increased by another 1 million mt to about 20 million mt in the fiscal year, the source said Tuesday. WINTER PLANT MAINTENANCE With the recent restart of the Fukushima-1 unit, Tepco currently operates six nuclear units with a combined capacity of 5.65 GW, which amounts to 32.6% of its total nuclear capacity of 17.31 GW at 17 units across Japan. z Tepco plans to start three-month maintenance programs at the 784 MW No.5 reactor and the 784 MW No.2 reactor at its Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant in mid-January and mid-March, respectively. In February, Tepco also plans to start another three-month maintenance program at the 1.1 GW No. 4 reactor at its Fukushima-2 nuclear power plant. Tepco's 8.21 GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is likely to remain shut at least until March 2009, according to industry sources. Meanwhile, Tepco is scheduled to announce its results for the April-September period on October 31, when the company is expected to release revised figures for its fuel procurement costs amid rising fuel prices. --Takeo Kumagai, takeo_kumagai@platts.com z For more news, request a free trial to Platts Power in Asia at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=2_31&products_id=54 Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 11 Platts: Ruling on upping capacity at Forsmark's reactors due early 2008 2007-10-23 London (Platts)--23Oct2007 An environmental court is expected to rule early next year on whether capacity at Forsmark's three reactors can be increased by a combined 410 MW electric, plant management said October 22 in a statement. The court finished hearings on the proposed uprate on October 10. Regardless of the decision, Forsmark management has postponed the project because of safety culture problems. If an uprate is approved, it would be completed in 2011, rather than 2010 as originally planned. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 12 NRC: NRC Assigns New Inspectors to Susquehanna Station News Release - Region I - 2007-055 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa., have promoted Frederick W. Jaxheimer to Senior Resident Inspector at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Berwick, Pa. The NRC has also assigned Patrick W. Finney as the new Resident Inspector at the two-unit site, which is operated by PPL. Both Fred Jaxheimer and Pat Finney have extensive technical and regulatory experience, and have demonstrated dedication to safety to carry out NRC’s commitment to protect people and the environment," said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. “They are our eyes and ears on site, monitoring daily operations.” Jaxheimer joined the NRC in June 2001 as an inspector in the Region I Division of Reactor Safety. He has 16 years of experience in the nuclear industry, including various engineering positions at the Three Mile Island Generating Station in Middletown, Pa., and at GPU Nuclear in Parsippany, NJ. Jaxheimer earned a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. Finney joined the NRC’s Region I office as a reactor inspector in 2004. He spent six years as a nuclear submarine officer and also worked as a design and system engineer at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, in Delta, Pa. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University and master’s degrees in engineering management from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland. Each U.S. commercial nuclear plant has at least two NRC resident inspectors. They conduct inspections, monitor major work projects and interact with plant workers and the public. Resident inspectors may be assigned to a site for up to seven years. The Susquehanna resident inspectors can be reached at 570/542-2134. 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. Tuesday, October 23, 2007 ***************************************************************** 13 Reuters: Progress N.C. Harris reactor starts to exit refuel Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:37am EDT NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Progress Energy Inc's (PGN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 900-megawatt Harris nuclear power station in North Carolina started to exit a refueling outage and ramped up to seven percent power by early Tuesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report. The unit shut automatically shut on Sept. 28 while coasting down for a refueling outage. As operators were reducing the unit for the refueling outage, the company said, the reactor tripped while at 30 percent power due to the loss of a start-up transformer. The unit last shut for refueling from April 8-May 19, 2006. It is on an 18-month refueling cycle. The Harris station, which entered service in 1987, is located in Wake County, about 20 miles southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina. One MW powers about 700 homes in North Carolina. Progress in November 2006 filed for a 20-year extension of the unit's original 40-year operating license. The NRC said it expects to make a decision in December 2008 without a hearing or August 2009 with a hearing. Separately, the NRC expects Progress to apply over the next year or so to build two of Westinghouse's AP1000 reactors at Harris. Progress Energy, of Raleigh, North Carolina, operates the station for its owners, Progress (83.5 percent) and North Carolina Municipal Power (16.5 percent). Progress, of Raleigh, North Carolina, owns and operates more than 21,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to about 3.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. © Reuters2007All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 14 Reuters: Entergy Mich. Palisades reactor up to 64 pct power | Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:45am EDT NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp's (ETR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 778-megawatt Palisades nuclear power station in Michigan ramped up to 64 percent power by early Tuesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report. On Monday, the unit was operating at 35 percent power after exiting a refueling outage. The company shut the unit by Sept. 10 for the refueling. The unit last shut for refueling from March 31-May 11, 2006. It is on an 18-month refueling cycle. The Palisades station, which entered service in 1971, is located in South Haven in Van Buren County, about 60 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, Michigan. One MW powers about 800 homes in Michigan. Entergy, which bought the Palisades reactor from CMS Energy Corp.'s (CMS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Consumers Energy subsidiary for $380 million in April, agreed to sell 100 percent of its output back to Consumers for 15 years. The NRC in January 2007 renewed the plant's original 40-year operating license for another 20 years until 2031. Entergy, of New Orleans, owns and operates about 30,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes power to 2.6 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. © Reuters2007All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 15 Reuters: Entergy La. Waterford 3 reactor exits outage | Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:51am EDT NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp's (ETR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 1,152-megawatt Unit 3 at the Waterford nuclear power station in Louisiana exited an outage and ramped up to 30 percent power by early Tuesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report. The company shut the unit on Oct. 8 for planned work. The 1,957 MW Waterford station is located in Taft in St. Charles Parish about 30 miles west of New Orleans. There are three units at the Waterford station, including the natural gas/oil-fired 400 MW Units 1 and 405 MW Unit 2, and the 1,158 MW nuclear Unit 3. Units 1 and 2 entered service in 1975 and Unit 3 in 1985. One MW powers about 500 homes in Louisiana. Entergy, of New Orleans, owns and operates about 30,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes power to 2.6 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. © Reuters2007All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 16 Reuters: Arizona Palo Verde nuclear Unit 1 back next week-APS | Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:59pm EDT LOS ANGELES, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Arizona Public Service said on Tuesday it will return by early next week its 1,340-megawatt Unit 1 nuclear unit at the Palo Verde station in Arizona. Palo Verde, the biggest nuclear power plant in the United States, currently has two of its three reactors off line. Unit 1 was taken down early Monday to work on valves in the feedwater system, APS said. Unit 3, a 1,250 MW unit, is out for refueling and will return in the second half of December, APS said. Unit 2, of 1,340 MW capacity, was on line on Tuesday. © Reuters2007All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 17 ScienceDaily: Nuclear Power Worldwide: Status And Outlook (Oct. 24, 2007) ? Nuclear power´s prominence as a major energy source will continue over the next several decades, according to new projections made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has just published a new report, Energy, Electricity and Nuclear Power for the period up to 2030. The IAEA makes two annual projections concerning the growth of nuclear power, a low and a high. The low projection assumes that all nuclear capacity that is currently under construction or firmly in the development pipeline gets completed and attached to the grid, but no other capacity is added. In this low projection, there would be growth in capacity from 370 GW(e) at the end of 2006 to 447 GW(e) in 2030. (A gigawatt = 1000 megawatts = 1 billion watts). In the IAEA´s high projection - which adds in additional reasonable and promising projects and plans - global nuclear capacity is estimated to rise to 679 GW(e) in 2030. That would be an average growth rate of about 2.5%/yr. "Our job is not so much to predict the future but to prepare for it," explains the IAEA´s Alan McDonald, Nuclear Energy Analyst. "To that end we update each year a high and low projection to establish the range of uncertainty we ought to be prepared for." Nuclear power´s share of worldwide electricity production rose from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 16 percent in 1986, and that percentage has held essentially constant in the 21 years since 1986. Nuclear electricity generation has grown steadily at the same pace as overall global electricity generation. At the close of 2006, nuclear provided about 15 percent of total electricity worldwide. The IAEA´s other key findings as of the end of 2006 are listed below. There were 435 operating nuclear reactors around the world, and 29 more were under construction. The US had the most with 103 operating units. France was next with 59. Japan followed with 55, plus one more under construction, and Russia had 31 operating, and seven more under construction. Of the 30 countries with nuclear power, the percentage of electricity supplied by nuclear ranged widely: from a high of 78 percent in France; to 54 percent in Belgium; 39 percent in Republic of Korea; 37 percent in Switzerland; 30 percent in Japan; 19 percent in the USA; 16 percent in Russia; 4 percent in South Africa; and 2 percent in China. Present nuclear power plant expansion is centred in Asia: 15 of the 29 units under construction at the end of 2006 were in Asia. And 26 of the last 36 reactors to have been connected to the grid were in Asia. India currently gets less than 3% of its electricity from nuclear, but at the end of 2006 it had one-quarter of the nuclear construction - 7 of the world´s 29 reactors that were under construction. India´s plans are even more impressive: an 8-fold increase by 2022 to 10 percent of the electricity supply and a 75-fold increase by 2052 to reach 26 percent of the electricity supply. A 75-fold increase works out to an average of 9.4 percent/yr, about the same as average global nuclear growth from 1970 through 2004. So it´s hardly unprecedented. China is experiencing huge energy growth and is trying to expand every source it can, including nuclear power. It has four reactors under construction and plans a nearly five-fold expansion by just 2020. Because China is growing so fast this would still amount to only 4 percent of total electricity. Russia had 31 operating reactors, five under construction and significant expansion plans. There´s a lot of discussion in Russia of becoming a full fuel-service provider, including services like leasing fuel, reprocessing spent fuel for countries that are interested, and even leasing reactors. Japan had 55 reactors in operation, one under construction, and plans to increase nuclear power´s share of electricity from 30 percent in 2006 to more than 40 percent within the next decade. South Korea connected its 20th reactor just last year, has another under construction and has broken ground to start building two more. Nuclear power already supplies 39 percent of its electricity. Europe is a good example of "one size does not fit all." Altogether it had 166 reactors in operation and six under construction. But there are several nuclear prohibition countries like Austria, Italy, Denmark and Ireland. And there are nuclear phase-out countries like Germany and Belgium. There are also nuclear expansion programmes in Finland, France, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Finland started construction in 2005 on Olkiluoto-3, which is the first new Western European construction since 1991. France plans to start its next plant in 2007. Several countries with nuclear power are still pondering future plans. The UK, with 19 operating plants, many of which are relatively old, had been the most uncertain until recently. Although a final policy decision on nuclear power will await the results of a public consultation now underway, a White Paper on energy published in May 20071/ concluded that "...having reviewed the evidence and information available we believe that the advantages [of new nuclear power] outweigh the disadvantages and that the disadvantages can be effectively managed. On this basis, the Government´s preliminary view is that it is in the public´s interest to give the private sector the option of investing in new nuclear power stations." The US had 103 reactors providing 19 percent of the country´s electricity. For the last few decades the main developments have been improved capacity factors, power increases at existing plants and license renewals. Currently 48 reactors have already received 20-year renewals, so their licensed lifetimes are 60 years. Altogether three-quarters of the US reactors either already have license renewals, have applied for them, or have stated their intention to apply. There have been a lot of announced intentions (about 30 new reactors´ worth) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now reviewing four Early Site Permit applications. Adapted from materials provided by International Atomic Energy Agency. Plutonium Or Greenhouse Gases? Weighing The Energy Options (Oct. 24, 2006) ? Can nuclear energy save us from global warming? Perhaps, but the tradeoffs involved are sobering: thousands of metric tons of nuclear waste generated each year and a greatly increased risk of nuclear ... > read more Weighing The Financial Risks Of Nuclear Power Plants (Apr. 5, 2007) ? Power companies are rushing to invest in new nuclear reactors, largely because of promised government subsidies that make the investment seem as good as investments in other types of energy. A new ... > read more Lack Of Fuel May Limit US Nuclear Power Expansion (Mar. 22, 2007) ? Limited supplies of fuel for nuclear power plants may thwart the renewed and growing interest in nuclear energy in the United States and other nations, says an MIT expert on the ... > read more Safe, Secure And Inexpensive Power From Newest Genearations Of Nuclear Reactors (May 6, 2002) ? Despite the bad press that nuclear reactors earned in past years, researchers writing for the latest issue of Physics Today magazine report that more and more people are reconsidering nuclear power ... > read more U.S. Envisions A New Generation Of Nuclear Weapons (Mar. 19, 2007) ? Almost 62 years after detonation of the first atomic bombs, the United States is considering controversial proposals to produce a new generation of nuclear weapons and revamp its nuclear weapons ... > read more Engineers Creating Computer Tool To Ensure Safety Of Future Nuclear Power Plants (Jul. 1, 2003) ? Nuclear engineers at Purdue University are heading a project to create a computer tool that will be essential to certify the safety of future nuclear power plants that will use new types of cooling ... > read more Renewable Energy Wrecks Environment, According To Researcher (Jul. 25, 2007) ? Renewable does not mean green. That is the claim of Jesse Ausubel of the Rockefeller University in New York. He explains that building enough wind farms, damming enough rivers, and growing enough ... > read more MIT Profs, Colleagues Propose Plan For Nuclear Energy (May 9, 2005) ? MIT faculty members and colleagues, all former senior energy or security advisors in Democratic and Republican administrations from Carter to Clinton, have proposed a pragmatic plan that would allow Flying and Radiation Risk At the high altitudes and latitudes commercial airlines fly, crews are subjected to higher-than-normal radiation levels from the sun and cosmic rays.. ... > full story ... from NewsDaily.com Copyright © 1995-2007 ScienceDaily LLC — All rights reserved Contact: editor@sciencedaily.com ***************************************************************** 18 Brockton Enterprise: Fair questions are raised on nuclear plant The Enterprise at SouthofBoston.com The Enterprise 60 Main St. P.O. Box 1450 Brockton, MA 02303-1450 (508) 586-6200 Anyone who has ever visited its Web site or read one of its releases knows full well the citizen advocacy group Pilgrim Watch of Duxbury is dedicated to shutting down the nuclear power plant in Plymouth. But whatever one thinks of the group's agenda, it does not negate the reality that it has identified legitimate safety concerns that have to be addressed by the government agencies that oversee nuclear power before an extension is granted to re-license the 35-year-old plant. Judges from the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled there is merit to the arguments Pilgrim Watch has raised about monitoring potential leaks of radioactive waste in underground tanks and pipes. The panel's decision to allow a full hearing on the arguments pushed a probable December approval back to July of next year, at the earliest. Given Pilgrim's location in the seafood-rich and recreational Cape Cod Bay, and the fact that the life of the plant will be extended 20 years beyond the initial 40-year mark when it was first licensed in 1972, this is a common-sense approach to alleviate any fears about the aging structure's ability to run accident-free. Entergy, Pilgrim's owner, is arguing its plan to maintain the aging pipes is sufficient and the monitoring wells and sample testing by the state that Pilgrim Watch is calling for are excessive. Pilgrim is one of many nuclear power plants designed and built in the 1960s and early 1970s. There are many doomsday scenarios attached to its design, with opponents calling the GE Mark I reactor flawed. However, the panic and paranoia that have enveloped the opposition have not been supported. But there is a legitimate argument that no one knows what age has done to the containment walls and the tanks and pipes that carry the sea water designed to cool the nuclear waste, and no rush to license should overlook those concerns. Since the license is not set to expire until 2012, it hurts no one, least of all a $9 billion company like Entergy, to pay due diligence to all aspects of renewal. The Enterprise, 60 Main St., P.O. Box 1450, Brockton, MA 02303-1450 Telephone: (508) 586-6200 ***************************************************************** 19 Oxford Research Group: Too Hot to Handle? The Future of Civil Nuclear Power Frank Barnaby and James Kemp, with a foreword by David Howarth MP, July 2007 Supporters of nuclear power claim that the security risks can be managed. However, this briefing paper clearly shows that a worldwide nuclear renaissance is beyond the capacity of the nuclear industry to deliver and would stretch to breaking point the capacity of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor and safeguard civil nuclear power. Even a failed terrorist attack on one of the first new builds would most probably cause subsequent new build to halt in many countries. If this happened, the authors argue that governments would need to again review energy policy - minus civil nuclear power - further delaying progress towards a sustainable and secure energy policy and possibly causing the UK and other countries to miss the window of opportunity to tackle climate change. This briefing paper is one of a series of reports and factsheets published as part of ORG's Secure energy project. Availability Download as a PDF Top of Page | Print this Page Copyright © Oxford Research Group, 2007. Some rights reserved. All ***************************************************************** 20 RRS: Shutdown of Byron nuclear plant sparks some residents’ concerns - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star | 99 E. State St. Rockford, IL rrstar.com ALAN LEĂ“N | RRSTAR.COM The Byron Nuclear Plant was shut down Oct. 22 because of repairs being made on a cooling-water pipe. Oct 22, 2007 @ 11:24 PM By Rob Baxter About three miles from Mary Witt’s home, two large cooling towers spew giant, billowing clouds into the air each day, a constant reminder of just how close she lives to Exelon Corp.’s Byron nuclear plant. On Monday, the towers were shut down and the usual vapors missing as workers scrambled to repair a leak in a nonradioactive water pipe used to cool its reactors. While Exelon officials said there is no safety risk to residents living nearby or elsewhere, people like Witt know the possibility of danger, however remote, looms. For the first time in 10 years, the twin towers were taken offline Friday after a dime-size hole was found in a pipe that carries water that helps cool the reactors, said Bob Kartheiser, communications director for the plant. It was not known on Monday when those repairs would be completed. The last time both towers were down was October 1997, he said. For John Druien, who farms 400 acres and lives east of the facility, the news sparked concerns. He remembers watching the cooling towers being built as a boy. He’s gotten used to living in the vicinity of the plant and most of the time doesn’t think about it. But on Monday while Druien was harvesting a 90-acre field of corn, his family’s safety was on his mind. “They’re saying it’s a cooling water pipe, but is it? Who knows?” Druien asked. “Sometimes, you do wonder what is going on in there. I hope they get it fixed, and they are still able to cool it.” The leak was found as workers were preparing to test the pipes, prompting a gradual shutdown of the reactors so repairs and further inspections could be carried out. The pipes, which are outside and exposed to weather and cooling tower mist, are part of an eight-pipe system that brings water from the Rock River to the plant. Nothing flows out of the facility through the pipes, Kartheiser said, so the water in the pipes is not contaminated or radioactive. “There is redundancy built into the (safety) system, and the loss of one pipe would not disable the system,” said Kartheiser. “We had to declare the pipe inoperable (to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and there are specific requirements we have to follow. It was a leak we needed to repair. We’ll be replacing (a 4-inch section) of pipe.” It takes about 50,000 gallons of water a minute to cool the reactors, Kartheiser said, with 10,000 gallons flowing into the facility via the pipe that was in need of repair. Kartheiser lauded the many safety measures in place that prevent any major incidents from happening these days at nuclear plants across the country. According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there are 104 licenses to operate nuclear power plants in the United States. They generate about 20 percent of the nation’s electrical use, the Web site said. Still, Witt remains concerned. “If that thing blows up, I’ll melt like that, and you’ll probably melt a couple minutes later (in Rockford),” said Witt, whose home is surrounded mostly by farm fields, forest land and the Byron plant to the south. Witt goes to church with employees from the plant, and she is confident in their abilities and their allegiance. “They (employees) drink the water here, too,” she said. “They’re honest; they’d tell me if there was really something wrong.” Staff writer Rob Baxter can be reached at 815-987-1369 or rbaxter@rrstar.com. No power shortage Meeting the area’s electrical needs is not contingent on any single power generating facility. Since the Byron nuclear plant shut down its reactors on Friday, there has been no interruption in electrical service and none is expected, officials said Monday. The area is part of an electrical grid of power that spans 13 states from here to the East Coast and gives northern Illinois residents and businesses access to 165,000 megawatts of power. One megawatt typically powers about 500 homes with air conditioning. The area’s record electrical usage was 23,613 megawatts on Aug. 1, 2006. The plant is in a rural area about 20 miles southwest of Rockford. It serves 3.8 million people. Sources: nrc.gov; Bob Kartheiser, plant communications director; Rockford Register Star archives; Paul Callighan, ComEd spokesman. Copyright © GateHouse Media, Inc. Some Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 Guardian Unlimited: Half of nuclear power stations closed for repairs Special report: the nuclear industry Alison Benjamin and agencies Tuesday October 23, 2007 Heysham nuclear power station, which is currently closed for repairs. Almost half Britain's nuclear power stations are currently shut down for repairs or maintenance, the Nuclear Industry Association said today. The nuclear power company British Energy yesterday revealed that units in Hartlepool and Heysham, near Morecambe, Lancashire, had been shut down after problems were detected during inspections. John McNamara, a spokesman for the NIA, confirmed that this brought the number of inactive stations to seven of the UK's 16 reactors, which between them produce around 18% of the nation's electricity. Energy expert Professor Ian Fells, of Newcastle University, said problems with ageing power plants could mean the lights going out if the winter was cold. "We are relying on ageing coal-fired power stations and ageing nuclear stations, and we are not in a position to rebuild them at the moment," Prof Fells told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. "[This is] because it is a privatised industry and people have to come in and say: 'We will spend some money and build some new power stations.' "At the moment, they are still confused about the future development of the industry. It is disturbing. We are going to have to rely on it being a warm winter and if it is not, maybe we will have power cuts ... it's a really quite serious matter." Asked whether it was correct that seven nuclear plants were currently out of action, Mr McNamara said: "Absolutely." He stressed that up to four plants would be closed down at this time of year for regular maintenance and refuelling, and said the others had been shut down on decisions made by British Energy. One power station is due to come back on line today, and another two or three within weeks. "This isn't a safety issue, this is an issue where British Energy have called this themselves," Mr McNamara told Today. "They have decided they need to do some investigative work and consulted the regulator and pulled those reactors off at a time of year when we often have reactors off. "Unfortunately, they are ageing plants and there are issues ... in our opinion, it means, in time, that there should be greater focus on building a new generation of nuclear power stations to a standard design." The former environment minister Michael Meacher, a long-time opponent of civil nuclear power, told the programme: "I think it is extremely worrying that one of the major sources of electricity is half down at this time. "This is a very high proportion - 16 nuclear power stations, seven out of action. That's almost unprecedented, and I think it is pretty worrying that they themselves have a major problem as a result of breakdowns and the need for repair and maintenance. "One needs certainty and the nuclear industry doesn't provide it." A spokesman for the National Grid said the shutdown would not lead to any blackouts or power shortages. "We are going into winter with a 26% generation margin, which is the difference between the available energy generation and forecast demand, so we will be able to meet demand," he added. He said that it was not usual for a number of nuclear or coal-fired power stations to be closed at any one time. Neil Crumpton, a Friends of the Earth nuclear campaigner, said the shutdown of almost half Britain's nuclear power stations demonstrated the unreliability of this form of energy. "If there is a problem with one nuclear power reactor, others which follow the same design will also have to close," he said. "Critics say that renewables are unreliable, but this shutdown shows that nuclear power is intermittent." Useful links British Energy Department of Trade and Industry British Nuclear Fuels Ltd Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Greenpeace Come Clean WMD awareness programme UK atomic energy authority National Radiological Protection Board Friends of the Earth World Nuclear Association World Nuclear Transport Institute Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 22 Arizona Republic: Palo Verde shuts down reactor to repair a valve Ryan Randazzo Oct. 23, 2007 07:56 AM One of three reactors at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station was shut down Monday to repair a valve, leaving the plant with just one operating reactor for the second time this month. Unit 1 was shut down Monday for repairs that could take a week, said Randy Edington, chief nuclear officer for Arizona Public Service Co. Unit 3 was shut down Sept. 29 for refueling and repairs scheduled to last 75 days. It is a couple of days behind schedule, Edington said, but that time could be made up by mid December when it is scheduled to go back online. Palo Verde 1's capacity is about 1,340 megawatts, the company has said. One megawatt is enough power for about 800 typical U.S. homes, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The reactor is one of three at the Palo Verde plant, located about 50 miles west of Phoenix, where Pinnacle West is based. Unit 2 was shown at full power in a report Tuesday morning from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Copyright © 2007, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. Users of this ***************************************************************** 23 Sydney Morning Herald: Coalition fudging nuclear stance: Labor - www.smh.com.au October 23, 2007 - 11:09AM Federal Labor has accused the coalition of sending mixed messages about nuclear power in an attempt to avoid electoral damage. Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has denied a backflip on the issue, saying that developing nuclear energy as a zero-emissions option remains a choice. Mr Turnbull on Monday said Australia may never have nuclear power if clean coal technology turned out to be a cheaper alternative. His comments were interpreted as distancing the coalition from Prime Minister John Howard's strong support for nuclear energy. Labor leader Kevin Rudd said Mr Turnbull was trying to "wriggle out" of the nuclear power debate just prior to an election. "You can't walk both sides of the street on nuclear reactors," Mr Rudd told reporters. "The Australian people have a right to know." Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett said Mr Turnbull and Mr Howard were now saying different things about nuclear power. "When it comes to the nuclear tango that the government seems to be dancing on, we don't know who's leading and who's following," Mr Garrett told reporters. He said the coalition's climate change policy was in tatters. Labor opposes the nuclear option and claims Mr Howard wants to build 25 reactors in Australia. Mr Turnbull said his comments on Monday were no different than what he had said all year. "In order to deal with climate change and to move to a zero emissions energy future ... we need to have the nuclear option on the table," he told reporters. "Clearly nuclear energy and zero emissions sources are going to have to compete. "And if clean coal technology is more efficient, more cost effective, if you can produce a megawatt hour of electricity at lower costs with zero emissions in clean coal, then it will out-compete nuclear power." He said whether nuclear plants would be built in Australia depended on environmental issues, community consent, as well as economic factors. The Australian Conservation Foundation called on Mr Howard to clarify the coalition's position. "Having a bet each way might be a reasonable strategy at the racetrack but it is not a good way to develop policy on energy and climate change and it is unfair to voters," ACF nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney said. Nuclear power advocate Ziggy Switkowski said the public has not had enough time to make an informed decision about the energy source. The former Telstra boss who now heads the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation said one year has not been enough to update community understanding of the technology. "It is too early to expect Australians to have an informed view about nuclear power or indeed to have majority support," Dr Switkowski told Southern Cross Broadcasting. He said the government had made a strong commitment to put the nuclear option on the table against community resistance. © 2007 AAP Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald. ***************************************************************** 24 Bulletin Online: Nuclear terrorism's fatal assumptions By Sonia Ben Ouagrham-Gormley | 23 October 2007 In a casual, often-irreverent tone, journalist William Langewiesche walked readers of the December 2006 issue of The Atlantic through the possibilities and hurdles associated with procuring the required material for a nuclear weapon, transporting it to a safe place, and assembling the bomb. With no ambitions to provide solutions to these questions, his article was a pretext to draw attention to the successes and failures of U.S. assistance to Russia and other former Soviet states in protecting fissile material, safeguarding borders, identifying trafficking routes, and exposing the involvement of local criminal groups. Langewiesche diverges from the conventional wisdom: The odds of terrorist success are very slim, he concludes. Yet he, like many other journalists and researchers, makes two assumptions that neglect important qualifying factors that would improve our understanding of a state's or terrorist group's capability to acquire nuclear weapons or dirty bombs. The first and most common assumption is that procuring material and equipment is the largest obstacle. Most reports fall prey to the simplistic notion that globalization and the internet have made scientific knowledge virtually universal: Once the material is in hand, states or terrorist groups are merely a few steps away from their goal. Specialized know-how, however, is difficult to come by. Knowledge can be divided generally into two categories: explicit knowledge (information or instructions that can be formulated in words, symbols, formulas, or diagrams and can be easily transferred) and tacit knowledge (unarticulated, personally held knowledge or skills that a scientist or technician acquires and transfers through a practical, hands-on process and direct interactions with other scientists). Explicit information such as designs and instructions cannot be efficiently used in the absence of the related tacit knowledge. Science and technology scholars have demonstrated that it took Manhattan Project scientists with explicit knowledge of physics and possession of fissile material considerable time to design and construct a workable and reliable prototype implosion nuclear weapon. First they needed to solve a multitude of difficult engineering and interdisciplinary scientific problems, which required hiring thousands of technical specialists to develop a unique knowledge base and building an extensive, indigenous infrastructure. The novelty of nuclear technology was not the sole challenge. Soviet scientists encountered significant problems replicating the U.S. design and production process obtained from Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs, even though they already had an active nuclear program with knowledgeable scientists and engineers. The British encountered similar problems, even though their scientists contributed to the Manhattan Project. Each country's program had the character of an independent invention. More recently, bioweapons research illustrated the critical role that specialized know-how plays in transferring existing technologies to a new environment. It took Soviet scientists at the Stepnogorsk bioweapons production plant about five years to design and produce a weaponizable strain of anthrax in in the late 1980s despite about 400 pages of protocols describing the development and production of earlier Soviet anthrax weapons, samples of an anthrax strain developed at the Kirov bioweapons facility, and the transfer of 65 senior bioweaponeers from other weapons sites. The focus on material leads to a second widespread assumption: the existence of a nuclear black market in the former Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union's dissolution, former member states inherited an enormous amount of nuclear and radioactive material, which has been the source of a number of trafficking incidents. Revelations about the nuclear network of Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan only reinforced trepidations of a burgeoning black market in the region, adding concerns that organized crime might coalesce with this market to channel nuclear material to terrorists. Before concluding anything about the nature of a nuclear black market in the former Soviet Union, it is useful to consider the qualities of markets in general. At the very least, a market consists of a transaction between a supplier and a client and the transportation and financial mechanisms that allow goods and funds to circulate. The Khan network possessed these features. With an established clientele, a network of suppliers, transport and funding mechanisms that evaded scrutiny, and direct contacts between Khan or his suppliers and their clients, the network provided a flexible list of equipment and expert services that clients could choose from. The supposed nuclear black market in the former Soviet Union lacks an important component of any market: an established clientele. According to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies's Illicit Trafficking Database and publications, most nuclear transactions are conducted by isolated suppliers--primarily economic opportunists--who have no clients at the outset, and blindly probe the underground world to identify potential buyers. An analysis of 183 cases that occurred between 2001 and 2006 in the former Soviet Union also showed that traffickers transport their goods along various routes--an east-west route from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus to Europe; a southwest corridor crossing Central Asia and the Caucasus toward Europe; and a southeast corridor, from Central Asia to neighboring Asian and Mideast countries--presuming the existence of a demand in countries along the way. These smugglers are usually intercepted before reaching their declared destination, caught while transporting the goods, crossing a border, or during the sale of the material (often to an undercover agent). Additionally, the vast majority of materials involved in documented trafficking transactions have no application in a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb, and their value is typically overestimated. Fifty percent of trafficking incidents between 2001 and 2006 concerned radioactive orphan sources, contaminated scrap metal, and radioactive isotopes. Accounts of these incidents rarely indicate the exact quantity or quality of the radioactive material, making it difficult to evaluate the significance of the incident; the analysis of these cases showed, however, that most of them involve industrial instruments that typically contain small quantities of radioactive material. Among the 10 reported incidents involving highly enriched uranium (HEU), only 3 involved weapon-grade material enriched to 80 percent or more. And in these cases, the total material amounted to gram-quantities (5 grams, 170 grams, and 100 grams), hardly enough material for a weapon, which requires at least 10 to 15 kilograms of HEU. The data-set shows no clear nexus between trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism. Three incidents have involved undocumented connections with terrorist organizations, and 12 cases have a crime-group connection. These cases, however, display the same amateurish features as the rest of the data-set, and involve small quantities of material--such as Osmium 187, low enriched uranium, and depleted uranium--that have no weapons or dirty bomb application. Only one incident involved both weapon-grade HEU and a crime connection. With these examples, one can see how focusing on access to materials dangerously mischaracterizes the challenges that terrorists and states face in pursuing nuclear weapons. The general emphasis on explicit scientific knowledge, rather than the highly specialized know-how derived from extensive hands-on experience is similarly misleading. While focusing on vulnerability-based analyses of the nuclear threat, the true capabilities of terrorists or states are overlooked. © 2007 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Remote Address: 206.130.124.74 · Server: www.thebulletin.org ***************************************************************** 25 Tri-City Herald: Sen. Murray wants more help for ill Hanford workers (w/ audio) Published Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 By the Herald staff The federal government is taking too long to process claims for compensating ill Hanford workers, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., during a Senate committee hearing today. Click HERE to listen to Senator Murray's opening statement and some key questions. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee heard testimony about problems in a program to compensate nuclear workers who developed cancer or other illnesses from work place exposures during World War II and the Cold War. "Many of the people who contact my office do not believe this program lives up to the promise of being claimant friendly," said Malcolm Nelson, ombudsman for the federal program. The program could be helped by improving the process for interviewing ill workers and their survivors to make sure the government asks the right questions and follows up on the information collected in interviews, said James Melius, a member of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. For more on the issue, read Wednesday's Herald. © 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press & Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 26 Living Well: Alexander Urges Compensation For Sick Nuclear Workers - 10/23/2007 - Chattanoogan.com U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander Tuesday said the unsung heroes that helped the nation win the Cold War deserve quick and fair compensation for the illnesses they may have contracted while working at nuclear facilities around the country. Sen. Alexander expressed his concerns that the federal government is making sick nuclear workers wait too long during an oversight hearing on a compensation program for sick nuclear workers held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. "We must serve the men and women who built our nuclear deterrent," said Sen. Alexander, who served as the senior Republican member during the hearing. "These cold warriors weren't serving in the heat of the battle, but in the laboratory, daily handling materials that posed risks many scientists didn't understand at the time. Today many of those unsung Cold War heroes are sick, and I'm concerned that they are waiting too long to find out if they are eligible for compensation and, when they are, to be compensated." Sen. Alexander said those workers are waiting an average of 267 days before their claims are process, up from 175 days just one year ago. "That's a long time for someone who is ill," Sen. Alexander said. "We must find out why these wait times are increasing and what can be done to reverse that trend, so that our Cold War heroes can get the compensation they are due before it is too late." This hearing, requested by Sen. Alexander this summer, examined if the current compensation program is being administered in the claimant friendly manner Congress intended when it established the program in 2000 and reformed it in 2004. Tennessee has more than 24,000 health claims - filed by more than 10,000 individual workers and/or their survivors - under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICPA). EEOICPA is responsible for identifying former nuclear weapons workers suffering from workplace-related illnesses who are eligible for compensation. Sen. Alexander said the issue is of particular importance to Tennessee - home to the Y-12 Plant and other nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge - because: Tennessee has twice the number of claims of any other state. Fully 16% of all EEOICPA claims are Tennessee claims. Of Tennessee's 24,000 claims, 18,500 (77%) have received a final decision and 5,500 (23%) claims are in process waiting for a final decision. 6,500 claims (27% of total initial applicants) have been compensated. The HELP Committee heard testimony from federal officials and health professionals, including East Tennessee State University professor Ken Silver. In 2000, Congress created EEOICPA to provide appropriate compensation and medical benefits to workers who contracted radiation-induced cancers, beryllium diseases or silicosis as a result of their work for the Department of Energy or its contractors. Sen. Alexander cosponsored legislation that became law in 2004 that transferred the responsibility of claims processing from the Department of Energy to the Department of Labor in order to enhance and speed-up the processing of these claims. Sen. Alexander last week also joined U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M), Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) in writing U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to keep the EEOICPA's Office of the Ombudsman open while the senators work to extend the office's authorization. Created during the reforms in 2004 to help sick nuclear workers navigate the bureaucracy of the claimant process, the Ombudsman Office would sunset Oct. 28. Last year alone the Office provided assistance to more than 1,300 claimants and Sen. Alexander wants the Office to remain open at least through Oct. 28, 2012. news@chattanoogan.com (423) 266-2325 © 2004 Site designed and copyrighted by HD ***************************************************************** 27 AZoNetwork: Depleted Uranium Contamination Found in Urine 20 Years Later Inhaled depleted uranium (DU) oxide aerosols are recognised as a distinct human health hazard and DU has been suggested to be responsible in part for illness in both military and civilian populations that may have been exposed. University of Leicester geologist, Professor Randall R Parrish will be giving this message to the 119th annual meeting of the Geological Society of America at the Colorado Convention Center in Philadelphia on 28 October 2007 at 10.05-10.25am. In his talk entitled: 'Depleted uranium (DU): its environmental dispersion and human uptake' he will outline his research findings on a new method of tracing DU. The issue has been the subject of investigations by the Royal Society (UK), the National Academy of Science (US) and other bodies, but studies of individuals who have been clearly exposed to environmental contamination are lacking. Professor Parrish commented: "Our objective was to develop a high sensitivity method of EU detection in urine, using MC-ICP mass spectrometry that would be capable of detecting an individual's exposure to DU up to 20 years after the event. "We developed this method and applied it to individuals, either known or likely to have had a DU aerosol inhalation exposure, and to a large voluntary cohort of 1991 Gulf conflict veterans to assess DU exposure screening reliability and accumulate data on exposure." Using his method, Professor Parrish and his research team have found traces of DU in urine more than 20 years later, in those cases where exposure to DU aerosol has been unambiguous and in sufficient quantity. This is true even when the U concentration is at the low end of the normal range. Most such samples would return a negative screening result with other, less sensitive, methods. Professor Parrish added: "Our method has been used to show that it is capable of resolving legal cases based on a claim of DU exposure. Also it shows that the occurrence of DU in 1991 Gulf Conflict veterans is likely to be uncommon to rare, but if a significant inhalation exposure occurred then it can be detected in urine for decades to come. "It offers a way to resolve debates about DU and health and provide perspective on the issue. Resolving the potential implications of DU to health in contaminated populations is best done by properly testing exposed cohorts. The cohorts in need of study are those living in DU-contaminated areas of Iraq, or those living in the vicinity of DU munitions factories with large DU contamination footprints." Click here for materials/engineering news archive Sites | AZoNano.com | AZoBuild.com| AZoOptics.com | News-Medical.Net | Partners - Eng-Tips.com ***************************************************************** 28 Boston Globe: MIT reports high radiation reading in nuclear worker - By Marc Robins, Globe Correspondent | October 23, 2007 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is inspecting a nuclear reactor facility at Massachusetts Institute of Technology after the facility reported a high radiation reading for a worker, officials said yesterday. "We are working with the [NRC] to determine the cause for an unexpectedly higher-than-normal reading from a single individual's radiation exposure measuring device," a statement issued by MIT Spokeswoman Pamela Dumas Serfes said. "All other employees' radiation exposure measurements for the same time period were normal." During the measurement period from July to September 2007, the employee was exposed to 80 percent of the radiation dose that a radiation worker can safely be exposed to in a year, Serfes said. The worker has suffered no ill effects and "will not exceed the allowed dose for the year," Serfes said without elaborating. "MIT places the highest priority on the safety of its faculty, staff, students, and the broader community," the statement read. "This situation poses no danger to public health and safety or to the environment." The employee, described by Serfes as an operator, had a high reading of 4 on a dosimeter, worn by nuclear workers to measure radiation exposure. The reading falls below the NRC's exposure limit of 5 rem. Rem is a unit of absorbed radiation. A typical reading would be less than .5 rem. MIT reported the readings to the NRC Oct. 17. The inspection by the NRC is expected to be completed in two to three weeks. An inspection report will be issued about 30 days after the inspection, NRC officials said. The facility, which has 53 workers, is used for basic research in nuclear engineering, materials science and medicine, and performance of irradiation for industrial customers, Serfes said. It was licensed to operate in 1958 by the NRC's predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission. © Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company. ***************************************************************** 29 Playbill: Exposed, Premiering in Utah, Gives Voice to Those Downwind of U.S. A-Bomb Tests News By Kenneth Jones 19 Oct 2007 Deadly nuclear fallout from atomic tests on U.S. soil is the subject of Mary Dickson's docudrama, Exposed, getting its world premiere Oct. 19 in Salt Lake City, UT. The run is nearly sold out. According to Plan-B Theatre Company, the resident Equity troupe known for its provocative and socially relevant plays, "Exposed combines oral history, personal experience and powerful documentation to show the human toll of four decades of nuclear testing." The work is "based on declassified government documents, including portions of Atomic Energy Commission minutes, as well as public testimony, interviews, conversations and, more importantly, personal memoir that puts a much needed human face on a painful chapter of history." The cast features Joyce Cohen, Teri Cowan, Teresa Sanderson, Kirt Bateman, Mark Fossen and Jason Tatom. Plan-B artistic director Jerry Rapier directs. According to production notes, "The U.S. government exploded 928 nuclear bombs — most of them far more powerful than those that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki — on American soil. From 1951 to 1962, the government dropped more than 100 nuclear bombs on the desert of Nevada. When atmospheric testing was banned in 1962, tests continued to be conducted underground until 1992. More than half of the 828 underground tests leaked radiation into the atmosphere." Utah playwright Mary Dickson is "a Downwinder with a compelling personal story to share, a journalist who has spent years chronicling the effects of testing, and an educator who has worked to increase public awareness on these issues." Exposed grew out of a book-length manuscript she wrote during a writing residency at the Mesa Refuge. Artistic director Rapier told Playbill.com, "As we open Exposed, we've already met our box office goal and the run is nearly sold out. This is our third consecutive season opening with a new work by a Utah writer — bodes well for new work in our community." Exposed will play to Nov. 4 at the Studio Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Plan-B's home in Salt Lake City. Post-show discussions will be held Oct. 21 and Nov. 3. The production team includes Jacquelin Cintura Bryce (costumes), Cheryl Ann Cluff (sound and projections), Jennifer Freed (stage manager), Randy Rasmussen (set), Jesse Portillo (lighting), Cory Thorell (props) and Ross Thorell (crew). Tickets are $18. For information visit www.planbtheatre.org. * Since 1991, Plan-B "has provided unique theatrical experiences for both audience and artist by producing theatre that is socially and politically conscious; explores cultural heritage and diversity; presents well-known texts in new ways; and/or fosters the creation of new work," according to the troupe. Plan-B brought the family drama, Facing East, about a Mormon family grieving over a gay son, to Off-Broadway and San Francisco earlier in 2007, following a run in Salt Lake City. Joyce Cohen as Mary and Kirt Bateman as Preston Truman in the world premiere of Mary Dickson's Exposed. photo by Jennifer "Z" Zornow Copyright © 2002 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 Denver Post: Richardson's stand against dump for Nevada doubted He voted to use Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste but says he long opposed such a move. Article Last Updated: 10/23/2007 01:02:06 AM MDT Debris from Three Mile Island is destined to be stored in this permanent dump in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson voted in support of a nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, calling into question his claims that he has opposed the project for two decades. "To be truthful and honest, he didn't do anything to slow this thing down," said Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Yucca Mountain dominates the agenda in Nevada, where voters overwhelmingly oppose a federal plan to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste inside a mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Like many Western states, Nevada long has gone ignored in races for the presidency. But now that its caucuses have been moved up to Jan. 19th, candidates are flocking there. All eight Democrats have pledged to kill the Yucca Mountain project. They include Barack Obama and John Edwards, both from states seeking storage for their spent radioactive materials. Richardson today is scheduled to make his 19th whistle stop in Nevada. "For more than 20 years, in Congress and as Secretary of Energy, I have opposed the Yucca Mountain project," he said in a press release in May. Records show that during his stint in the U.S. House, he voted for a December 1987 measure that picked Yucca Mountain as the only proposed site for the repository. The law is known in the Silver State as "The Screw Nevada Bill." "If you were wrong on it, you're dead here," said Las Vegas adman and Democratic adviser Billy Vassiliadis. Calling his track record on the dump "lengthy and clear," Richardson's campaign noted that the 1987 measure was part of a larger budget bill funding health care, pensions and other national programs. "This was 'must pass' legislation to continue funding the government," said spokesman Tom Reynolds. Nevada since has spent more than 19 years fighting the proposed dump, arguing that it would create huge risks from shipping radioactive materials along railroads and highways - some in Colorado. The former Rocky Flats weapons plant and two other Colorado sites have produced waste that, if approved, would be dumped in Yucca Mountain. So far, the federal Department of Energy has spent at least $9.5 billion on the project, which it claims is necessary for consolidating the dangerous radioactive materials. Much of that spending came during the Clinton years, when Richardson served as energy secretary from 1998 to 2001. Though he opposed temporary storage in Nevada until Yucca Mountain was determined to be scientifically acceptable, his department approved millions of dollars in contracting work and issued a report validating the site's suitability as a dump. Some of those studies since have been criticized by a federal review board. Dump opponents note that during Richardson's reign at DOE, one of its contractors issued a memo perceived to attempt to help the nuclear industry lobby for the proposed dump. The document, they say, called into question the professed objectivity of Richardson's department. While none see him as a cheerleader of the project, some activists say he blurred his record. "Did Yucca Mountain go forward during his term as secretary of energy? Well, they drilled, they spent money, they studied. ... I'd say it went forward in a big way," said activist Bob Fulkerson. "I don't recall any real visible opposition until he started running for president," said geologist Steve Frishman, who advises Nevada on nuclear projects. Susan Greene: 303-954-1589 or sgreene@denverpost.com All contents Copyright 2007 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 31 ABC News: Nuclear Materials 'Poison' Navajo Land When Ray Manygoats describes his childhood -- playing with marbles, messing around with his brother, visiting his father at work and grilling his family's livestock -- one might mistake his stories for fond memories of growing up in the Navajo Nation. But today, these memories are nothing more than evidence of the damage done to him and his family by uranium mining on Navajo lands during the Cold War, all part of an effort to provide the federal government with the uranium yellowcake it needed for nuclear weapons. Video Navajo Nation Members Speak Out "We cooked on grills my father brought back from the mill. These grills had been used to sift the yellowcake uranium," Manygoats told Congress at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Tuesday. "My brother Tommy and I would often bring lunch to my father at the mill. Yellow stuff was always everywhere. We would play in the yellowcake sand at the mill, jumping and rolling around in it. We also found small metal balls at the mill. The balls were used to crush and process the uranium. We played marbles with them and had contests to see how far we could throw them." Living on Poisoned Land It wasn't until years later that the damage done became horrifyingly clear. In his testimony to the committee, Manygoats blames the illnesses on uranium. "Our land today is poisoned. Today I am a man who has lost his health, his family and his ancestral way of life because of uranium," he told the committee. Manygoats described the devastating details of living on poisoned land. "My father began to have trouble breathing," he recounted. "His breathing troubles never went away, even after the mill was closed. I have always had problems with my ears and eyes. I have had surgery three times to remove growths from my eyes and often have sores on my ears." Although no comprehensive study has ever been done on the health problems resulting from uranium mining in the Navajo nation, researchers believe that exposure to mining almost certainly triggered a dramatic rise in cancer among the Navajo. Manygoats blamed the widespread illnesses among his family and his community on the uranium. "Our land today is poisoned," he told Congress. "Today I am a man who has lost his health, his family, and his ancestral way of life because of uranium." Echoes of the Cold War According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, between 1944 and 1986 nearly 4 million tons of uranium ore were mined from the Navajo Nation, an area larger than the state of West Virginia, which occupies parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. These mines have since been shut down. At present, the EPA says there are 520 abandoned uranium mines in the Navajo Nation, while the Southwest Research and Information Center estimates there may actually be as many as 1,200 abandoned mines and related sites on Navajo land. Although the mines are no longer operational, Manygoats and other Navajos are upset that the surface and groundwater contamination from the mines continues to plague the Navajo population. "My family's land is poisoned," says Manygoats. "But no one helps us to remove the poison. I am here on behalf of my community to ask for your help." George Arthur represented the Navajo Nation government at the hearing. "Uranium mining and milling on and near the reservation has been a disaster for the Navajo people," Arthur said. "We are still undergoing what appears to be a never-ending federal experiment to see how much devastation can be endured by a people and a society from exposure to radiation in the air, in the water, in the mines, and on the surface of the land. We are unwilling to be the subjects of that ongoing experiment any longer." Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were outraged. Committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called the government's behavior "absolutely unacceptable" and a "modern American tragedy". Nuclear Materials 'Poison' Navajo Land Copyright © 2007 ABCNews Internet Ventures ***************************************************************** 32 Guardian Unlimited: Richardson Courts UA in Vegas Tuesday October 23, 2007 11:16 PM By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY Associated Press Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told a building trades union on Tuesday that he would be an activist president on behalf of labor unions if elected. The governor and Democratic presidential candidate made his case before a meeting of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry. The group is nearing a decision about an endorsement. ``I want you to know that if I were elected president, just as I've been an activist governor and an activist secretary of energy, I will be an activist president on your behalf,'' he said. The union, known as the UA, has about 300,000 members nationwide, and 5,000 in Nevada, where Richardson hopes a strong showing in the Jan. 19 caucus will bolster his candidacy. Courting the building trades can be tricky for some Democrats in the race. The union supports expansion of the nuclear industry and the opening of a nuclear waste storage dump at Yucca Mountain, a project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas that promises hundreds of new jobs but is opposed by most of the state's residents and public officials. Union members also trend more conservative on the Iraq war, gun control and abortion rights. On energy, Richardson promised to push for a ``broad breadth of options.'' He emphasized his support for biodiesel, biofuels and included nuclear energy among the options. ``Nuclear today, it doesn't emit greenhouse gas emissions. We have to deal with the waste issue,'' he said. In previous stops in Nevada, Richardson has described himself as ``not a proponent'' of nuclear energy. Asked Tuesday to clarify his position, the governor said he thinks ``nuclear power is an option. I have felt that it doesn't emit greenhouse gas emissions. I'm not crusading against it.'' As energy secretary during the Clinton administration, Richardson allowed the plan to store 77,000 tons of radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain to progress. He now says he's opposed to it because of safety concerns and wants to convert the facility to a laboratory to research nuclear waste disposal. UA General President Bill Hite said he liked what he heard from Richardson and said energy issues would be central to the union's endorsement. Hite said he would not endorse former Sen. John Edwards because of his opposition to nuclear energy. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 ***************************************************************** 33 KMVT: Yucca Mountain One Step Closer To Taking Nuclear Waste Tuesday, October 23, 2007 Nevada U.S. Department of Energy officials have taken another step toward opening a high level nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Three and a half million documents about the proposed underground facility have been formally certified. The documents contain scientific data, studies and geological analyses that will be used for upcoming license hearings. The Yucca Mountain site is considered key to the DOE making good on it's contractual promises to move high level nuclear waste out of Idaho. It's expected that DOE officials will file the formal application to build the repository late next June. KMVT-TV Channel 11 • 208-733-1100 • 1100 Blue Lakes Blvd. North • Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 AUDIO DOWNLOADS Copyright ©2007 Neuhoff Family Partnership All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 [NYTr] Iranian Nuclear Negotiators Talk with Solana Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:52:00 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Iranian Nuclear Negotiators Talk with Solana Rome, Oct 23 (Prensa Latina) Two Iranian top officials are in the Italian capital on Tuesday to hold talks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana about the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic. Iran's new nuclear negotiator Sayed Yalili and his predecessor in the post, Ali Lariyani, will meet today afternoon with Solana at Italian executive headquarters. Lariyani is attending the meeting as representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Kamenei, after resigning his post on Saturday as chief of negotiators on the nuclear issue. The Rome meeting follows those held by Lariyani and Solana in Ankara and Lisbon, in April and in July respectively. Iran defends its right to continue developing its peaceful nuclear program, and chiefly the disputed production of enriched uranium for its power generation plants. The European Union and the US uphold that the enrichment of uranium has a military purpose and propose Iran an alternative technology under international control, which is rejected by Tehran. ef ajs hav PL-33 * ================================================================= 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 35 [NYTr] The Missile Crisis: At the Doors of Nuclear Holocaust Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:53:03 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [Preceding the 2002 conference discussed here, there were numerous others. Most revealing, perhaps was the fifth such conference held in 1992, attended by most of the principals of the events of 1962. It resulted in releases of new information that were, at that time, unprecedented, and a riveting book was published called "Cuba on the Brink." The original edition of the book is apparently out of print, but there are later editions -- which were issued after the destruction of the USSR. And these may contain even more revelations, although at the time it was published, George W. Bush was in the White House, so who knows. There have been several other scholarly accounts of the crisis as well. See excerpts of reviews of the original edition at the end of this column by Mildrey Ponce. -NY Transfer] CubaNow - Oct 23, 2007 http://www.cubanow.net/global/loader.php?&secc=5&item=3514&c=2 The Missile Crisis: At the Doors of Nuclear Holocaust On the 45th Anniversary of This Serious Event By Mildrey Ponce Cubanow.- On October 16, 1962, the U. S. intelligence bodies informed President John F. Kennedy that the Soviet Union was establishing nuclear missile bases in Cuba. Thus began one of the most dramatic chapters in the relationship between Cuba and the United States and, also, one of the most acute crises in the cold war period, with the world at the doors of a thermonuclear war. The direct origin of this conflict was the confirmation by the Soviets of a U. S. plan to invade Cuba adopted ten months after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in April 1961. After informing the Cuban government, an agreement between both countries was signed to set up a minimum number of medium-range missiles in Cuban territory to guarantee the defensive system of the country. The Cuban party declared itself in favor of making the agreement public, but the Soviet proposal of avoiding publicity until the U. S. Congress elections on November 6, 1962, prevailed. On October 14, U. S. spy planes flying over Cuba discovered construction work for the stationing of missiles. After a week of secret consultations with his advisors to organize an answer plan, where suggestions fluctuated from immediate invasion and air strikes to passivity, President Kennedy, counseled by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, chose a naval blockade on the island. At 7 pm on October 22, Kennedy called the press and announced his intention of blockading Cuba to prevent the arrival of new missiles. The U. S. president demanded that the Soviet Union dismantled the bases and withdrew the weapons and also declared that the U. S. naval forces would turn back and inspect ships headed for Cuba to determine if they carried missiles. President Fidel Castro answered the aggressive announcement with an order of full battle readiness to the Armed Forces. The following day, in a statement on radio and television, he pointed out that Cuba was ready to withstand the blockade and repel a direct aggression by the United States and clarified the defensive character of the weapons. On Wednesday 24, the blockade was officially in place by numerous U. S. Naval and Air Force units, bombers and even NATO troops. Soviet ships close to the controlled area stopped dead in the water and turned back. Florida became a strategic area in U. S. territory with 579 combat planes and five Army divisions stationed there. At the time, thousands of Cubans entered the militia and revolutionary organizations, offered blood donations or went to factories and work places to replace those mobilized in the defense of the country. Americans authorized continuous spy flights on Cuban territory, even low reconnaissance flights. Fidelbs answer was signing an authorization to open fire against the planes violating Cuban air space. The tensest moment in the crisis was on October 27, when a battery of Soviet handed SAM (surface-to-air missile units) in the Eastern region of Cuba downed a plane killing its pilot, U. S. officer Rudolph Anderson, the only casualty in the conflict. The first steps in solving the problem were taken by the Soviet Union government. Without consulting the Cubans, Nikita Khrushchev, the highest Soviet leader, offered the American government to withdraw the missiles if Washington removed analogous weapons in Turkey and pledged not to violate Cuban borders and sovereignty. Kennedy accepted the commitment on October 28. The signature of the negotiations, with no participation of the Cuban government, did away with a real opportunity for Cuba to seriously influence the course of its subsequent relations with the United States. In 2002 an international conference, bThe Missile Crisis: A political vision forty years laterb, was held in Havana with the participation of Cubans, Americans and Soviets, all main actors in these events, together with academicians and experts from Cuban and American institutions and students from four American universities. Papers declassified by Cuba were submitted to it and the covert policies and operations by the United States against Cuba, as the Bay of Pigs invasion, the development of the crisis and the moment of the greatest tension were analyzed, as were its conclusion and impact on Washington, Havana and Moscow. October 19, 2007 *** These reviews are from Amazon.com and refer to the original publication, not the revised edition. See:http://tinyurl.com/22hsgg Publishers Weekly In January 1992, the fifth in a series of conferences on the Cuban missile crisis convened in Havana, sponsored by the Center for Foreign Policy Development at Brown University. Attending were scholars and missile-crisis veterans, including Fidel Castro, former U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara and the Soviet general who supervised the 1962 deployment of the missiles in Cuba. Their freewheeling and candid discussions, spread over a four-day period, shed important new light on Soviet intentions and American intelligence weaknesses, and brought into focus the Cuban dimension of the drama and Castro's crucial role in it. Considering the prospects for an American-Cuban rapprochement, the authors suggest that "normalization" between the two countries is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Blight is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Foreign Policy Development at Brown University; Allyn is Project Director for the Program on Ethnic Conflicts and an adjunct at Harvard Law School; Welch teaches political science at the University of Toronto. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Library Journal This is not just one more book on Cuba, for as specialist Jorge Dominguez argues in the excellent introduction, this work records the interactions of crucial actors in the 1962 Cuban missle crisis, bringing forth significant new information on the decision-making process of Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the United States. In January 1992, the antagonists--including Robert McNamara, Khrushchev's aides, and Fidel Castro--were reunited face to face in Havana to tell their version of events. Chapters 1 and 2 explain the background and the ground rules of this extraordinary conference, while Chapter 3 is the heart of the book, providing a word-by-word recording of the participants' exchanges followed by an analysis of what their encounter revealed. This book will interest Cubanologists, foreign policy analysts, and foreign affairs readers. Highly recommended. - Roderic A. Camp, Latin American Ctr., Tulane Univ., New Orleans Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. [Note: The latest edition of the book, publiished in 2002, is called: "Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Collapse (Paperback) by Bruce J. Allyn (Author), James G. Blight (Author), David A. Welch (Author).] * ================================================================= 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 36 RIA Novosti: Russia scraps nine more Topol systems under START-1 treaty 13:26 | 23/ 10/ 2007 MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has dismantled another nine outdated Topol mobile missile systems under a major international treaty on strategic arms reductions, the Strategic Missile Forces said in a statement Tuesday. "In March, May and August we scrapped nine Topol systems at a time [total of 27]," the statement said. "We also scrapped nine such systems between October 8 and 23." The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-I) was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union on July 31, 1991, five months before the Union collapsed, and remains in force between the U.S., Russia, and three other ex-Soviet states. Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have since disposed of all their nuclear weapons or transferred them to Russia, and the U.S. and Russia have reduced the number of delivery vehicles to 1,600, with no more than 6,000 warheads. The treaty is set to expire December 5, 2009. Topol (SS-25 Sickle) is a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) approximately the same size and shape as the U.S. Minuteman ICBM. The first Topol missiles became operational in 1985 and at the time of the signing the START I Treaty the Soviet Union had some 290 Topol ICBMs deployed. As the service life of the SS-25 is about 10 to 15 years, the missile will be progressively retired over the next decade and be replaced by a mobile version of the Topol-M (SS-27 Sickle B) missile. The Strategic Missile Forces press service said 16 mobile Topol ICBMs were dismantled in 2006 under close monitoring by U.S. inspectors. RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 37 UPI: U.S. submarine crew members punished - UPI.com Published: 22, 2007 at 8:31 PM SAN DIEGO, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- One officer and five enlisted personnel aboard the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton have been disciplined in San Diego for forgery. It was discovered on Sept. 17 that they allegedly forged inspection records for the cooling system of the ship's nuclear reactor, Navy officials said Monday, but it was not made public until the initial investigation was finished, CNN reported. The officer and five enlisted personnel each received a "non-judicial punishment" and it was not made clear whether they were still aboard the vessel. Even though they did not keep proper records, there was never any serious danger, the Navy said. "There is not, and never was, any danger to the crew or the public," the Navy said in a statement. There are normally 13 officers and 116 enlisted personnel aboard the $900 million vessel. © Copyright United Press International. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 38 UPI: Russia dismantles old missiles - UPI.com Published: 23, 2007 at 8:27 AM MOSCOW, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Russian missile authorities in Moscow announced Tuesday they had destroyed nine old Topol mobile missile systems as part of a 1991 U.S. treaty agreement. In a statement, the Strategic Missile Forces said the dismantlement this month brought the number of reductions for the year to 36, the Novosti news agency reported. The Topol, also known as the SS-25 Sickle, is a single-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile that went into service in 1985 and is about the same size and shape as the U.S. Minuteman ICBM, the report said. The dismantlement was part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which is set to expire on Dec. 5, 2009. It was signed by U.S. and Soviet officials on July 31, 1991, five months before the Soviet Union collapsed. It also encompasses the former Soviet states of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine but all three of those countries have disposed of all former Soviet nuclear warheads, the agency said. © Copyright United Press International. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 39 AFP: Japan tells Russia no backing down on missiles - by Harumi Ozawa Tue Oct 23, 8:11 AM ET TOKYO (AFP) - Japan said Tuesday it would not back down on building missile defences with the United States, rejecting Russia's charges that the shield aimed to weaken Moscow's influence in Asia. Russia has been increasingly assertive in condemning US military plans and has warned of retaliation if Washington builds a separate missile defence shield in former Soviet bloc nations in Eastern Europe. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, paying a one-day visit to Tokyo, also took aim at the missile defence system being built in Japan, saying its goal was "securing military superiority." But Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tokyo only wanted to protect itself with the shield project, which was launched in earnest after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan in 1998. "Japan's missile defences are aimed only at protecting the country with a shield. It's not a means to attack other countries," Komura told a joint news conference with Lavrov. "Japan will continue this policy in cooperation with the United States." "And I would like to add that this policy is not in the least assuming a possible future attack from Russia." Komura also said Japan did not plan any three-way military alliance with the United States and Australia, despite a first-of-a-kind trilateral summit last month. The United States has a security treaty under which it protects Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II. The two nations have stepped up defences since last year's nuclear test by North Korea, which has tense relations with Japan. US forces have brought to Japan Patriot missiles capable of shooting down incoming rockets. Russia is also strongly opposed to US plans to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic to guard against possible missile attacks from "rogue" countries such as Iran and North Korea. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday in Prague that Washington had proposed a Russian presence at the planned US anti-missile sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Japan has had rocky relations with Russia. The two nations have never signed a treaty to formally end World War II due to a dispute over four islands off Japan's northern coast which Soviet troops seized in 1945. Both foreign ministers pledged to keep up talks. "We confirmed our countries' need to continue working to solve this peace treaty issue and that both have the intention to solve this problem. We will work in that direction," Lavrov said. "It is important that the eventual solution be something acceptable for the public and parliament of both the countries," he said. Komura in turn said that he and Lavrov "agreed to make utmost positive efforts to solve the territorial problem and conclude peace negotiations." But the dispute over the four Kuril islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, has long proved intractable. Japan rejected previous Russian hints it may be ready to hand over only two of the islands. In 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japan's then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi signed an "action plan" to boost economic ties while at the same time working on the territorial dispute. Japan has relatively limited investment in Russia considering their proximity, but Tokyo has been eager to buy its gas and oil. Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 40 DOE: U.S. and Mongolia Sign MOU to Increase Cooperation in Preventing Nuclear Smuggling October 23, 2007 WASHINGTON, DC - Today the governments of the United States and Mongolia strengthened their efforts in the fight against nuclear terrorism. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell and Mongolia’s Minister of Finance Nadmid Bayartsaikhan signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which will kick off cooperation between the two countries to prevent illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive material. “This Agreement signed today solidifies the United States and Mongolia’s commitment to promote our joint security and nonproliferation goals,” Deputy Secretary Sell said. “This initiative builds on our ongoing cooperation to advance detection capabilities by deploying advanced technologies that will help reduce the threat of illegal shipments of nuclear and other radioactive materials into our countries.” Under the agreement, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will install radiation detection equipment at several of Mongolia’s border crossings and at the Chinggis Khan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar. NNSA plans to install radiation portal monitors on Mongolia’s main border crossings to detect nuclear and radiological radiation coming from vehicles, pedestrians, and railroad cars. Through its Second Line of Defense program, NNSA works collaboratively with foreign partners to equip border crossings, airports and seaports with radiation detection equipment and to provide training so that the host government can assume operational responsibility for the equipment. To date, the program has equipped over 160 sites. Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit the National Nuclear Security Administration homepage. Media contact(s): Megan Barnett, DOE, (202) 586-4940 Julianne Smith, NNSA, (202) 586-7371 U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 ***************************************************************** 41 DOE: Contractor Employee Pension and Medical Benefits FR Doc E7-20801 [Federal Register: October 23, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 204)] [Notices] [Page 60009] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23oc07-32] DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AGENCY: Office of Management, Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: The Office of Management is announcing the availability of a summary of the public comments it received in response to a request for public comments on the challenge the Department of Energy (Department) confronts with respect to the costs and liabilities associated with contractor employee pension and medical benefits. The Department's request for comments was published in the Federal Register on March 27, 2007. ADDRESSES: The summary of public comments is available on the Internet at http://management.energy.gov/. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Stephanie Weakley, Office of Procurement and Assistance Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, 20585, 202-287-1645. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background On April 26, 2006, the Department issued Department of Energy Notice 351.1, Contractor Employee Pension and Medical Benefits Policy, which updated and revised the Department's policy concerning reimbursement of Management and Operating (M&O) and other site management contractor pension and medical benefit costs. On June 19, 2006, the Secretary of Energy suspended implementation of the revised policy to permit consultation with stakeholders about the purpose of the Notice. On March 27, 2007, the Department published a Federal Register notice (72 FR 14266) seeking public comments and/or recommendations on how the Department should address the challenge it faces due to the increasing costs and financial liabilities associated with the reimbursement of contractor employee pension and medical benefit costs. The Office of Management established a Web site for the public to submit their comments and/or recommendations on how the Department should address this financial challenge. The Office of Management received approximately 475 comments in response to the March 27, 2007, request for public comments. The overwhelming majority of comments were from current and retired Department employees who did not support the new policy in the suspended DOE Notice 351.1. The remainder of the comments were submitted by private citizens, labor unions, and actuarial firms. As a result of its stakeholder outreach and consideration of public comments, the Department decided not to reissue DOE N 351.1 after it expired by its terms on April 27, 2007. The Department is not contemplating further action with regard to contractor employee pension and medical benefits at this time. Issued in Washington, DC, on October 15, 2007. Ingrid Kolb, Director of Management, U.S. Department of Energy. [FR Doc. E7-20801 Filed 10-22-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 42 DOE: Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management - Safe Transportation and Emergency Response Training; Technical Assistance and Funding FR Doc E7-20822 [Federal Register: October 23, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 204)] [Notices] [Page 60009-60010] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23oc07-33] DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AGENCY: Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice extending comment period. SUMMARY: On Monday, July 23, 2007, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice of revised proposed policy (72 FR 140) setting forth its revised plans for implementing Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (the NWPA). The notice requested comments on the provision of technical assistance and financial assistance for training of public safety officials to States and Indian Tribes through whose jurisdictions the DOE plans to transport spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste to a facility authorized under Subtitle A or C of the NWPA. The training is to cover safe, routine transport procedures and emergency response procedures as directed in the NWPA. The comment period for this notice of revised proposed policy was scheduled to close on October 22, 2007. Today's notice announces a 90-day extension of the comment period on the revised proposed policy. The Department is taking this action in order to allow additional time for all interested parties to comment on the revised proposed policy. DATES: Written comments should be mailed and electronic comments submitted to the Department and must [[Page 60010]] be received on or before January 22, 2008. ADDRESSES: Written comments should be directed to Ms. Corinne Macaluso, U.S. Department of Energy, c/o Patricia Temple, Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, 955 N. L'Enfant Plaza, SW., Suite 8000, Washington, DC 20024. The revised proposed policy and electronic comments forms are also available at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov. Fill out the form and click ``submit'' to send your comments in through the website. Persons submitting comments should include their name and address. Receipt of written comments in response to this notice will be acknowledged if a stamped, self-addressed postal card or envelope is enclosed. Electronic comments will receive an electronic notice of receipt. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, please contact: Ms. Corinne Macaluso, Office of Logistics Management, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (RW-10), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, Telephone: (202) 586- 2837. General program information is available on the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Web site located at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov . Copies of comments received will be posted on the OCRWM Web site. Please allow up to two weeks after DOE receives comments to view them on the Web site. DOE will consider all comments submitted by the closing date. Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent practicable. DOE requests that commenters pay particular attention to the questions at the end of the revised proposed policy. Issued in Washington, DC, October 17, 2007. Christopher A. Kouts, Acting Principal Deputy Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. [FR Doc. E7-20822 Filed 10-22-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 43 Knoxville News Sentinel: $400M in 'other' work doled out OAK RIDGE - The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge facilities did nearly $400 million in work for non-DOE institutions during the past year. According to statistics released this week by federal officials, most of the work was done for other federal agencies - such as the Department of Homeland Security, Defense Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the biggest recipient of the "work for others" funding, but other DOE facilities - such as the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education and the Y-12 National Security Complex - also contributed. Gerald Boyd, DOE's Oak Ridge manager, said the program makes more effective use of federal facilities and avoids duplication of effort. "Altogether, the Oak Ridge work for others program is a leading example of the efficient use of government science and technology resources for the benefit of taxpayers throughout our nation," Boyd said. Steven Wyatt of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the branch of DOE that oversees the nuclear weapons complex, said Y-12 did about $28.6 million in work for others institutions during fiscal 2007. The federal year ended Sept. 30. "That work included national security-related projects, materials research and safeguards and security support for other government agencies, state and local agencies, and private-sector entities," Wyatt said. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 44 Knoxville News Sentinel: ET gets new solar technologies Two-day summit introduces alternative energy sources By Frank Munger (Contact) Tuesday, October 23, 2007 Michael Patrick Solar panels in the parking lot outside the new visitors center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the Southeast Solar Summit will be held. OAK RIDGE — A regional conference’s goal this week is to make the sunny South a little friendlier to solar energy. Oak Ridge National Laboratory will host the first-ever Southeast Solar Summit, and about 150 participants — from research institutions, utilities, universities, and solar-related businesses — are expected for the two-day conference. “We’re excited,” said Melissa Lapsa, manager of ORNL’s solar technologies program. “What the public hears about is what’s going on in California, and photovoltaic is very popular in the West. … But the Southeast gets a lot of sun, so why not pull together people to do more collaborative research and market transformation?” The Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is co-hosting the summit, and sponsors include the U.S. Department of Energy, TVA, and the state of Tennessee and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Arizona Public Service provided a 5-kilowatt photovoltaic near the ORNL entrance, and the unit can track the sun during the day to maximize the power potential, Lapsa said. It’s capable of producing 9,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, which is equivalent to 56 percent of the usage of an average Tennessee home, she said. The solar unit, which features photovoltaic panels manufactured by Memphis-based Sharp Solar, will provide electricity to an ORNL building during the conference, Lapsa said. DOE is pushing an initiative called Solar America, which is supposed to expand photovoltaic use over the next few years, and other programs are providing incentives for businesses to adopt solar, Lapsa said. The time is right for the industry, she said. “I think it’s a moving train, moving in regard to people’s concerns about the climate issues,” Lapsa said. “I think having alternative energy sources is a very positive investment.” ORNL is one of the nation’s leading energy research labs, but solar traditionally has been a small component of the work. The current solar budget is a little more than $2 million a year, Lapsa said. That compares with ORNL’s overall budget of about $1 billion.That work, however, could be expanding, she said. “As the program manager, I’m working with our excellent researchers to try to grow our portfolio in this area,” Lapsa said “We are DOE’s largest materials laboratory, so it makes sense for us to be doing more work.” Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 45 Knoxville News Sentinel: Audit: Oak Ridge security clearances extended 'inappropriately' By Frank Munger (Contact) Originally published 03:14 p.m., October 23, 2007 OAK RIDGE - A new federal audit says security clearances for terminated employees at the East Tennessee Technology Park were extended "inappropriately and unnecessarily" - apparently to keep the clearances active in case the workers were rehired. ETTP is the government's former uranium-enrichment plant that's being cleaned up by Bechtel Jacobs Co., the Department of Energy's cleanup contractor, and converted to private uses. According to the report released today by DOE's Office of Inspector General, Bechtel Jacobs was allowed to create a special 180-day "security clearance hold list." That violated a specific requirement that permits retention of security clearances for no more than three months following termination, the report said. "These retained security clearances remained active in the Central Personnel Clearance Index and could have permitted former contractor employees to access facilities across the country without authorization," the report said. The audit found at least 20 former workers who'd retained their clearances for more than six months after their employment ended. "Our current review identified 54 other former employees who, as of June 2007, had not had their security clearances terminated," the report said. John Shewairy, a spokesman in DOE's Oak Ridge office, said management concurred with the report's recommendations and rescinded the extended-clearance program, effective Sept. 30. He said there was no evidence that former employees used their security clearances inappropriately. Shewairy said DOE approved the extended-clearance plan in order to give Bechtel Jacobs more flexibility in cleaning up the old nuclear facilities. "That was the sole purpose," he said. About 800 people are involved in the decommissioning and decontamination of the old K-25 building - the original uranium-enrichment facility built during the World War II Manhattan Project. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 342-6329. © 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 46 NAS: Project: Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology Roadmap for DOE's Office of Environmental Management Project Title: PIN: NRSB-O-06-03-A Major Unit: Division on Earth and Life Studies Sub Unit: Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board RSO: Crowley, Kevin Subject/Focus Area: Environmental Issue Project Scope A National Academies committee will provide technical and strategic advice to the DOE-EM's Office of Engineering and Technology to support the development and implementation of its cleanup technology roadmap. Specifically, the study will identify: o Principal science and technology gaps and their priorities for the cleanup program based on previous National Academies reports, updated and extended to reflect current site conditions and EM priorities and input form key external groups, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Environmental Protection Agency, and state regulatory agencies. o Strategic opportunities to leverage research and development from other DOE programs (e.g., in the Office of Science, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, and the National Nuclear Security Administration), other federal agencies (e.g., Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency), universities, and the private sector. o Core capabilities at the national laboratories that will be needed to address EM's long-term, high-risk cleanup challenges, especially at the four laboratories located at the large DOE sites (Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory). o The infrastructure at these national laboratories and at EM sites that should be maintained to support research, development, and bench and pilot scale demonstrations of technologies for the EM cleanup program, especially in radiochemistry. The committee will provide findings and recommendations, as appropriate, to EM on maintenance of core capabilities and infrastructure at national laboratories and EM sites to address its long-term, high-risk cleanup challenges. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The approximate start date for the project is February 1, 2007. A report is expected to be released at the end of the project in approximately 16 months. Project Duration: 16 months Provide FEEDBACK on this project. Contact the Public Access Records Office to make an inquiry or to schedule an appointment to view project materials available to the public. Committee Membership Meetings Meeting 1 - 03/12/2007 Meeting 2 - 06/13/2007 Meeting 3 - 08/27/2007 Meeting 4 - 10/31/2007 Meeting 5 - 01/08/2008 Reports Reports having no URL can be seen at the Public Access Records Office Email: info@nas.edu ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************