***************************************************************** 01/02/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.001 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 N.M. Tech To Keep Watch For WIPP Quakes 2 Comments U.N. International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code 3 Radioactive waste - hot issue gets hotter 4 Warnings on dumping of nuclear waste were ignored 5 The Year in Review: Atoms Out, Help for Commuters In 6 Envirocare workers drop union efforts 7 Energizing Nuclear Plants' Hopes NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Britain hid nukes abroad during Cold War 2 Kosovo troops tested for cancer from uranium 3 INEEL: Taking care of Idaho's nuclear waste - 4 Drums not suitable for shipping some nuclear materials, report 5 Feds' Nuclear Plan--Stockpile Pills/In case of reactor crash, 6 Ex-Sen. Alan Cranston Dies at 86 7 VA seeking payments for those exposed at NTS 8 Lab in struggle to fill positions 9 DOE facilities set goals for 2001 10 DOE public meetings to address modernization, land management 11 Opinion - Your Views TIME FOR FULL TRUTH FROM DOE 12 Gulf War Syndrome Not Imagined 13 Scotland's holocaust fears ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 N.M. Tech To Keep Watch For WIPP Quakes ÿÿÿ December 31, 2000 The Associated Press Scientists at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology will continue to monitor earthquake activity at a nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico. The Energy Department awarded the school an $81, 014 contract to observe seismic movements at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant for another year, according to Sen. Pete Domenici, R- N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. Nuclear sites must be monitored for seismic activity for safety reasons, said Allen Sanford, a scientist with the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology at New Mexico Tech in Socorro. Most of the earthquakes in the Carlsbad area are extremely small, and none has caused damage to WIPP's site, Sanford said. Seismic events have been monitored near the WIPP since 1962, and the largest quake to hit the area was a magnitude five, Sanford said. Earthquakes at an eight or nine are considered extremely strong, he said. ('< Copyright Albuquerque Journal ***************************************************************** 2 Comments U.N. International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code [I] Comments of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program on the U.S. Department of Transportation's Harmonization with the United Nations Recommendations, International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, and International Civil Aviation Organization's Technical Instructions 49 CFR Parts 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178 and 180 [Docket No. RSPA-2000-7702 (HM-215D)] RIN 2137-AD41 December 21, 2000 The U.S Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed to incorporate by reference The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) ``Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, No. ST-1.'' According to DOT's proposal the 1996 edition would be added while retaining the previous edition entitled, ``Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, Safety Series No. 6.'' The DOT's purported intent is to ease the international transport of hazardous materials, including radioactive waste and materials. Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program opposes the proposal and finds the DOT's adoption of IAEA standards to be both arbitrary and capricious. Not only has DOT failed to provide an adequate explanation for this proposed action, the agency did not prepare an analysis of the impact of the proposed changes on the safety of the affected public. DOT has not justified why the IAEA standards should be adopted, since this would result in an increase in the concentration and volume of radionuclides to be transported. As the Department of Transportation is well aware, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is simultaneously developing a proposed rule to address the adoption IAEA standards. However, contrary to the DOT's plan to "incorporate by reference" the IAEA standard, the NRC's proposed rule will likely address the inconsistencies between the current and proposed regulations. The DOT should postpone adoption of the IAEA's ST-1 to take advantage of the additional information gathered from the NRC's rule making effort. If the DOT fails to do so, the Department runs the risk of creating a regulatory morass with different regulatory bodies applying different regulatory standards to the same shipment. The NRC staff has promised the Commission a proposed rule by March 2001. The minimal delay from the DOT coordinating its effort with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission would in no way adversely impact the agencies or the industries they regulate. Furthermore, the Department of Transportation should be made aware that there is substantial disagreement within the nuclear industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the adoption of the new IAEA standard. Within the NRC, this disagreement has risen to the level of a differing professional view. Delaying the DOT's proposed adoption of the IAEA standard until after the U.S. NRC has addressed this differing professional view and has had the opportunity for notice and comment rulemaking, seems eminently reasonable. Public Citizen is very familiar with the harmonization of domestic and international standards through our work on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and most recently the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. Public Citizen is a founding member in the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue, which seeks to ensure that harmonization lifts all nations to higher standards of public health, worker safety, environmental and consumer protection. Toward this end, the Dialogue established principles for harmonization of international and domestic standards that should similarly apply to the adoption of IAEA standards: ÿ ÿThe harmonization of NRC & DOT regulations with the IAEA standards ÿshould in no way compromise or reduce the level of protection ÿcurrently provided to American citizens. ÿHarmonization of NRC & DOT safety standards with those of the ÿIAEA must result in the adoption of the best available technology ÿand embody the highest levels of consumer and environmental ÿprotection. ÿInternational standards should be viewed as a floor rather than ÿa ceiling. The IAEA standards should establish the minimum ÿacceptable standards and should not act to prohibit the establishment ÿof more conservative domestic standards. ÿThe NRC should only recognize and be involved harmonization activities ÿthat are negotiated in open, accountable and democratic forums. Unfortunately, the DOT's proposal to "incorporate by reference" the IAEA standards articulated in ST-1 fails to meet even these minimal requirements. The adoption of the new IAEA standard would result in reducing the level of protection currently afforded the public. Rather than improving safety, the IAEA standards carve out exemptions p; The IAEA is neither open nor accountable. The IAEA has failed to balance its dual roles of promotion and regulation of nuclear energy. Further, the agency is viewed as little more than an international version of an industry lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute. Our specific comments on the DOT's proposal follow: 1) The Department Of Transportation's Proposed Adoption of IAEA Standards Is Arbitrary And Capricious Because It Increases Both The Volume And Concentration Of Radionuclides To Be Transported Without Ever Addressing Hazards Posed By The Proposed Increase. According to the DOT proposal to adopt the IAEA's ST-1 standard, the activity level for exempt concentrations has been increased by almost 50%. The previous standard established in IAEA safety series number 6 and adopted by both DOT and NRC, measured exempt concentrations against a 70 Bq/g limit. The DOT's proposed adoption of IAEA's ST- 1 would measure exempt concentrations against a 100 Bq/g standard. This 30 Bq/g increase is not addressed in the DOT's proposal and constitutes a substantial increase in the radioactivity associated with these exempt consignments. In fact, the only indication that the DOT is even cognizant of this change is contained in a note Public Citizen received from the DOT which states, "The 100 Bq/g is approximately the same as the 70 Bq/g, listed in the IAEA Safety Series # 6, 1985 as amended 1990." Unfortunately, the above statement does not even pass the laugh test. Only in the bureaucratic bowels of government could someone make the statement that 70 is approximately the same as 100 and have that accepted at face value. Well, here in the real world 70 does not equal 100. If, as the DOT claims, 70 Bq/g is approximately the same as 100 Bq/g, why adopt the revision? Why not regulate to the more protective standard of 70 Bq/g that is currently in place? The only rational conclusion that may be draw is that 70 does not equal 100 and that the 30 Bq/g difference affords the nuclear industry some level of burden reduction. Unfortunately, nowhere has the DOT, the NRC or the IAEA provided justification for such a burden reduction. Similarly, the DOT proposal fails to address the fact that the adoption of ST-1 would result in increasing the volume of radionuclides per conveyance for 44% of the radionuclides considered. Unfortunately, this point was omitted by both the DOT and the NRC in their public meeting on the adoption of the IAEA standard, but it can be gleaned from the DOE's comments. Whether the omission of this information was intentional or merely an administrative oversight, the fact remains that it is a substantial change from the previous standard. This substantive change must be addressed before any adoption of the proposed standard and argues against the DOT's proposal to incorporate the IAEA ST-1 by reference. 2) The Department Of Transportation's Proposed Adoption Of The IAEA Standard Would Increase The Costs For Smaller Licensees While Increasing The Risk To The Public. While Public Citizen does not believe that a cost/benefit analysis should determine whether a regulation is promulgated, Executive Order 12866 none-the-less requires agencies make a "reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation justify its costs." Unfortunately, the DOT proposal to adopt the IAEA standards by reference fails to meet the requirements of this executive order, because there is no "reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation justify its costs." Furthermore, the DOT proposal to adopt IAEA standards will likely fail any cost/benefit analysis conducted by the NRC in its proposed rulemaking. Even the Nuclear Energy Institute, (NEI) the nuclear industry lobbyists that have never met a regulatory burden reduction they didn't like, has stated that "we believe, however, that ST-1 does not provide a substantial increase in safety and that the costs of implementation will be significant." The NEI's comments are echoed by every pharmacy that commented on the DOT's proposal. These pharmacies transport radioactive nucleotides. According to one pharmacy, "the total annual costs per pharmacy could well exceed $100,000.00 without any benefit to public safety." Another small independent nuclear pharmacy commented that, " the cost to my company would be huge, the increase in safety would be nonexistent, and the increased cost would be passed on to the hospital and the patient." Public Citizen has no desire to increase the costs of nuclear medicine to hospitals or their patients, especially since there is no concomitant increase in protection afforded the public. Public Citizen believes that NEI is correct in its estimation that ST-1 does not provide a substantial increase in safety. In fact, we believe that the adoption of the IAEA standard would decrease the protections afforded by the current regulations by allowing for exemptions of material below 100 Bq/g rather than at the existing level of 70 Bq/g. Furthermore, there seemed to be general agreement between the DOT, NRC and the nuclear industry during NRC's public meeting that if DOT were to adopt IAEA ST-1 that existing transport packages would be "grandfathered." This proviso would seem to exacerbate the already problematic cost/ benefit determination necessary under the executive order and NRC regulations. The IAEA standard would increase the amount and concentration of radiation considered an exempt quantity yet grandfathers the current packaging. The result will be a reduction in the level of safety afforded the public. 3) The Department Of Transportation's Proposed Adoption Of IAEA Standards Uses a Linguistic Slight of Hand to Reclassify Radioactive Material As Non-Radioactive. The IAEA Standards that DOT seeks to adopt accomplish the same mission as the NRC's Below Regulatory Concern policy, which was rejected by the U.S. Congress in 1992. They public fiercely protested last the government last attempt to claim that radioactive material and contamination was not radioactive. Now the DOT is attempting to incorporate by reference an IAEA version of a below regulatory concern policy for the international transportation of radioactive wastes and materials. The IAEA standard articulated in ST-1 redefines the terms "contamination" and "radioactive" material: ÿÿÿ ÿ 214. Contamination shall mean the presence of a radioactive substance on a surface in quantities in excess of 0.4 Bq/cm2 for beta and gamma emitters and low toxicity alpha emmitters, or 0.04 Bq/cm2 for all other alpha emmitters. 236. Radioactive material shall mean any material containing radionuclides where both the activity concentration and the total activity in the consignment exceed the values specified in paras 401 - 406. The IAEA's attempt to redefine reality is Orwellian at best. It's attempt to define away contamination and radioactive material is an indication that International Atomic Energy Agency has fallen prey to the same conflict of interest that resulted in the demise of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The IAEA is promoting the transport of radioactive material rather than regulating it. Public Citizen is of the belief that any dose of radiation is an overdose. We thoroughly reject the notion inherent in the IAEA definitions that low level contamination is not contamination and that slightly radioactive material is not radioactive. 4) The DOT's Proposed Adoption Of IAEA Standards For Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) Reduces The Level Of Protection Currently Afforded American Citizens Under U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulations Without Ample Justification. The foundation of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's regulation of Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) packages for transport under 10 CFR Part 71 has been the concept that inadvertent, uncontrolled criticality must be prevented under all circumstances. The NRC has sought to achieve this goal by excluding the possibility that a moderator: water, graphite or hydrocarbons would leak into the packages. The NRC's determination that transport would not endanger the public health and safety is premised upon the absence of water or some other moderator from the package to prevent uncontrolled criticality. The requirement for multiple high standard water barriers to transport Uranium Hexafloride (UF6) is important because these packages contain an enormous volume of this highly toxic, radioactive substance. The two packaging methods for transporting UF6 results in shipments of 5020 pounds of 5% enriched UF6 by road or 10-ton shipments of 4.5% enriched UF6 by rail. The IAEA's standard in ST-1 is similar to the requirements imposed under NRC regulations; however, it carves out an exclusion for Uranium Hexafloride. For some reason that is neither acknowledged nor addressed by the IAEA document, the requirement of multiple high standard water barriers has been removed for only those packages used to transport UF6. This is untenable. Given the huge quantities of UF6 per package, the consequences of failure are unacceptable. Unfortunately, the requirements that have been substituted, valve integrity and quality assurance of the package, do not achieve the same level of defense in depth currently provided by NRC regulations. Therefore, the adoption of IAEA standards would result in a reduction in the level of safety currently given to the American public. There has been no evidence presented by the IAEA, DOT or NRC that this reduced level of safety is warranted. Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program appreciates the opportunity to comment upon the Department of Transportation's proposal to incorporate by reference the IAEA standards articulated in ST-1. We hope that it not lost on the Department that the IAEA standard itself has not been subject to the same notice and comment rulemaking process. We strongly urge the DOT to reject the IAEA standard, as it will only expose the public to greater risk. Respectfully Submitted, James Riccio Senior Policy Analyst Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program ***************************************************************** 3 Radioactive waste - hot issue gets hotter Monday, January 01, 2001 Envirocare seeking license for a superhot dumping ground Deseret News staff writer For years, organizers of the 2002 Winter Games have been sending the message: "The world is welcome here." But Utah lawmakers have a more immediate concern: whether or not the world's waste is also welcome here. ENVIROCARE When Utah's 104 lawmakers convene Jan. 15, they will have to deal with perennial problems like funding education and programs for the needy. But the hottest issue on Capitol Hill this year could be waste, more specifically, radioactive wastes. Gov. Mike Leavitt has asked lawmakers to give him $1.6 million to fight a proposal by mostly Eastern nuclear power utilities to store 40,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rods on Goshute tribal lands about 70 miles southwest of Salt ; That request isn't likely to cause lawmakers too much grief, except maybe the high price tag in a year when there are so many other budget needs. However, an unrelated proposal could stir lawmakers into fierce debate. Envirocare of Utah wants to store Class B and C radioactive wastes, which are about 70 times hotter than the contaminated soils they now accept, called Class A wastes. To do that, they need the approval of the Legislature and the governor. The company has already received the approval of Tooele County commissioners, and its license application to the Department of Environmental Quality will soon be available for public comment. But what on paper looks like a straightforward process has already sparked concerns. The public hearing period on Envirocare's application does not end until two days after the end of the legislative session on Feb. 28. Company officials say Sen. Bill Wright, R-Elberta, has agreed to sponsor legislation that would clarify the Legislature's approval even if the public hearing process hasn't been completed. (Wright did not return Deseret News calls.) That has some lawmakers and activists concerned. If lawmakers approve the license request, what then is the purpose of even having the public hearings, they ask. Speaker of the House Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, told the Deseret News he does not favor changing the process just to push through a license for Envirocare. Stephens suggested a special legislative session to address the Envirocare issue, but company officials have adamantly opposed that idea. Any special session would focus all legislative and media attention on the Envirocare proposal, something company officials fear could get out of hand. Critics point out the irony that Utah lawmakers are even considering the Envirocare proposal at the same time they are pulling out all the stops to block high-level nuclear waste. Envirocare President Charles Judd said the company must get legislative approval this session or the company may abandon its plans entirely. Other waste companies are trying to get into the Class B and C waste market, and any delays would put Envirocare at a competitive disadvantage. "We don't want to wait, we need to get it done now," Judd said. Envirocare and its owner, Khosrow Semnani, are major contributors to Utah political campaigns, both Republican and Democrat, and because of that they have easy access to lawmakers, critics say. The company also has a team of well-heeled lobbyists, some of them former lawmakers themselves, who know how to navigate the political quagmires surrounding waste issues. Utah's current system that requires legislative and gubernatorial approval of waste disposal permits stems from the 1980s when large numbers of waste companies were targeting remote areas of Utah for storage of hazardous and nuclear wastes. While various county officials openly embraced the waste companies as economic development, Utah lawmakers were concerned about the emerging reputation of the state as a national dumping ground. Whether or not to allow any future dumps was a statewide policy decision requiring approval at the highest levels of state government, lawmakers decided. Envirocare's timing could not have been worse. Leavitt's campaign to block high-level nuclear waste has garnered headlines and attention across the country, and many people do not understand the difference between the high-level waste from nuclear reactors and the Class B and C wastes from decommissioned power plants, research laboratories and hospitals. Judd often uses an analogy involving a ruler. If the Class A wastes they now accept could be compared to a one- foot ruler, then B and C wastes would measure about 70 feet long. The spent nuclear fuel would be high-level waste stretching from Salt Lake City to Paris, France. "It's like comparing a BB gun to a howitzer, " agreed Leavitt. Yet the governor has indicated he does not support any changes to Utah's current law that would expedite Envirocare's request. E-MAIL: [*]dkemp@desnews.com [I] [I] [I] [I] ***************************************************************** 4 Warnings on dumping of nuclear waste were ignored Scotland's best selling quality national newspaper The Scotsman Online - Gerard Burke BRITAIN dumped up to 60 tonnes of highly radioactive waste into the Atlantic Ocean despite warnings that the containers would burst open because of the pressure at the bottom of the sea. Secret files made public at the National Archives of Scotland today reveal that scientists warned that the pollution generated by the leaking consignment from Rosyth Naval Dockyard in Fife, would be spread by the currents surrounding Britain’s shores. After taking advice from various government departments, Scottish Office officials ignored the warnings, claiming the amount was less than that routinely discharged by active nuclear submarines. The decision was today criticised by environmental campaigners who said the impact of such pollution was only now being realised. At the time officials at the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, pointed out 1970 was designated a Year of Conservation and that Harold Wilson’s Labour government could be damaged if news of the dumping operation leaked out before the general election of June that year. The three containers of radioactive resin beads left over from the refit of nuclear submarines at Rosyth were included in a batch of more than 2,000 other barrels of nuclear waste to be dumped in 1970. It was part of a batch of 1,675 tonnes of nuclear waste from various military sites around Britain and the Atomic Energy Authority’s research facility at Harwell. All had been packaged in specially strengthened steel drums lined with concrete that scientists believed would keep the contents secure for hundreds of years. However, three tanks each containing ten cubic feet of tiny radioactive beads from Rosyth were causing concern. The records show the tanks were only able to withstand up to 1,000 fathoms. But the dump site, a deep trench in the Atlantic, was 1, 500 fathoms deep. The resin beads had been used in an ion exchange plant on board one of the country’s nuclear submarines which purified the water used to cool the reactor which powered the craft. The beads were contaminated with large amounts of the deadly Cobalt 60 isotope and smaller amounts of Manganese 54. When the submarines they had been used in were being refitted, the beads were pumped out into the tanks at the dockyard into containers. By the time scientists realised they could not keep the waste secure in deep water it was too late to attempt to transfer the beads to secure containers. Officials at the Ministry of Defence, however, said that nuclear submarines on the course of a normal mission would discharge even more of the resin beads into the ocean than the quantity to be shipped from Rosyth. The tanks were eventually shipped from Rosyth to Newhaven, and dumped in a deep trench in the Atlantic off the Scottish coast. The records note they were due to leave Rosyth on 26 June, 1970. The tanks were carried in special cradles on the deck of the MV Topaz, which had been leased from William Robertson Ltd, a shipping company in Glasgow and thrown into the sea above the trench. Britain dumped more than 2,000 containers, holding 1,675 tonnes of radioactive waste, during 1970. The trench in the Atlantic was the country’s usual dumping ground and similar operations to dispose of nuclear waste had also been approved in 1965, 1966 and 1968. News of the decision to dump the resin beads despite concerns about their containers provoked anger from environmental campaigners. Pete Roche, nuclear spokesman for Greenpeace, said: "It is totally irresponsible to dump waste like this at sea and even worse to do it in containers they knew were going to burst. "We are only now beginning to realise that, far from being a desert, the ecosystem of the deep ocean is as fragile and diverse as the rainforests. Who knows what damage this could have done, what unknown species may have been decimated by this. "Organisms at this depth have a much longer life cycle than those nearer the surface so the consequences of any impact on their environment are magnified." ***************************************************************** 5 The Year in Review: Atoms Out, Help for Commuters In F.A.Z. - English Version [I][*]Aktuelle Ausgabe[I][*]English Edition[I][*]Verlagsservice[I] Jan.25: The Social Democrats' parliamentary group adopts a position of their coalition partner, Alliance 90/The Greens, on nuclear energy. The Social Democrats endorse a call to remove nuclear power plants from the electricity grid after a maximum service life of 30 years. March17: The Greens party convention approves the government's "phase- out" concept from the use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Under this plan, all nuclear power plants are allowed to produce electricity for a maximum of 30 years after they have been approved. June15: The government and the electricity industry agree on a "phasing- out concept." It allows a nuclear power plant to operate for 32 years from the time it went on-line. It also sets up power production limits, which the utilities can trade from one plant to another. June23: A Greens party conference endorses the nuclear compromise. In a heated debate, Foreign Minister Joseph Fischer says rejection would mean the end of the coalition. June24: A party leader, Antje Radcke, drops her candidacy for reelection in protest against the deal. The party elects Renate Künast and Fritz Kuhn as its new coleaders. Sept.4: Truckers and farmers in France block refineries and fuel storage facilities as oil prices climb on international markets. They aim to force through tax reductions on mineral oil products. The government enters into negotiations. Sept.10: The first protests and blockades take place in Germany. However, the government rejects growing calls to cancel its environmental tax, which provides crucial revenues to prop up the state pension system. Sept.13: A group of Social Democrats call for more assistance for the socially underprivileged facing higher energy costs. Blockades continue. Sept.22: The government agrees on a tax deduction to offset high fuel prices. The per-kilometer deduction for drivers is to be changed into a flat-rate deduction for all commuters, regardless of the type of transport used. This resolution fulfills a former demand of the Greens. In addition, the government backs a heating cost subsidy for the needy. But the government stands by the environmental tax. Sept.26: A convoy of trucks drives through Berlin's government district, but the government adamantly refuses to give in to protesters' demands for tax cuts on diesel fuel. Oct.6: The states protest the government's proposal on the tax deduction because they feel they would carry a disproportionate share of the financial burden. Nov.30: Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and the Social Democratic premiers agree to modify the October proposals. The new plan proposes that auto commuters who drive 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) or less to their workplace will receive a deduction of 70 pfennigs (33 U.S. cents) per kilometer. The deduction will be raised to 80 pfennigs for commuters who drive more than 10 kilometers. Train commuters will receive a 60-pfennig deduction per kilometer. Dec.4: Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin of the Greens says his party insists on a flat-rate deduction for all commuters. Dec.6: After long negotiations, the coalition members end their dispute. A deduction for all commuters is endorsed, regardless of the mode of transport used. Commuters who travel 10 kilometers or less will receive a deduction of 70 pfennigs per kilometer. Commuters who travel more than 10 kilometers will get a higher deduction of 80 pfennigs. Dec.21: The Bundesrat, which represents the states on the national level, endorses the deductions. Dec. 29 ;Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. ***************************************************************** 6 Envirocare workers drop union efforts Monday, January 01, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS Envirocare of Utah employees abandoned a unionizing push after what organizers said was retaliation by the company. They complained to the National Labor Relations Board, and the company agreed to post a memo at its Clive landfill that workers were free to talk about unions and with union representatives. "This is something we handled," said Envirocare President Charles Judd. "We did it properly." Envirocare employees first made contact with Denver-based PACE International, a union representing about 320,000 paper, industrial chemical and energy workers, last February. The union represents about 1,000 Utah workers, most of them refinery employees. Envirocare employs about 250 workers to receive and dispose of low-level radioactive waste at its landfill about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The complaints to the NLRB contended the company laid off five workers who were at the heart of the organizing effort. Judd suggested the layoffs were coincidental with a decline in waste arriving at the Clive facility. An entire shift was shut down because of that workload decline, he said. A couple of the complaining employees said the jobs were posted at the state Workforce Services office the day after the layoffs. The labor board ended up making no ruling on the charge of retaliatory layoffs after the company rehired - at lower pay - all of the employees who wanted their jobs back. "None of them had bad records," said Jack Cavanaugh, the PACE organizer who worked with the Envirocare employees. He said the layoffs scared the Envirocare employees. The organizers also complained about an address to workers by a lawyer and a memo that suggested union interviews and meetings on the company's property could be viewed as employees not performing assigned tasks or disrupting the workplace and they could be fired. The labor board took up the case in the fall. It found there was sufficient evidence to suggest Envirocare had breached the law, but the board did not file charges. Instead, the company volunteered a settlement. It agreed to post a notice at the Clive facility for two months that assured employees of their rights to take part in union activities if they choose. ***************************************************************** 7 Energizing Nuclear Plants' Hopes washingtonpost.com: By Raymond McCaffrey Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 2, 2001; Page B03 On the surface, Barth Doroshuk is like countless other consultants in the Washington area: His job is to ensure that his clients remain in power and avoid the kind of meltdowns that would cause them to relinquish it. What separates Doroshuk from so many of the others is the fact that he doesn't work for politicians, who live in fear of public-relations missteps. He's employed by those who traffic in real power--the kind that comes out of electrical sockets--and whose livelihoods depend on avoiding the kind of public-safety disasters that could endanger countless individuals. Doroshuk is president and chief operating officer of the Crofton- based Constellation Nuclear Services, a one-of-a-kind consulting agency experiencing one-of-a-kind success. Formed last year to help nuclear power plants win relicensing from the federal government, Constellation Nuclear has essentially cornered the market. "We have landed contracts with almost every single utility that's pursuing license renewal," Doroshuk said. Those clients--who have paid from $20,000 "up to $5 million," according to Doroshuk--are buying a unique type of expertise, for Doroshuk and his colleagues were part of the team that led the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Calvert County to become, in March, the first facility of its kind to win relicensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The impact of the license renewal for the plant's two reactors can be seen not only in the creation of Doroshuk's consulting agency, a subsidiary of the power plant's owner, Constellation Energy Group, but also in the resuscitation of the nuclear power industry as a whole. As recently as three years ago, it was felt by those within the industry and regulatory agencies that of the 103 commercial nuclear power plants in operation throughout the country, "less than half would even bother to seek renewal," according to Doroshuk. Even Calvert Cliffs, the twin-reactor generating plant on the Chesapeake 45 miles southeast of Washington, only decided to do so the month before it applied, and then only gave itself about a "50 percent" chance of winning, Doroshuk said. Since renewing the Calvert Cliffs licenses, giving them an additional 20 years, the NRC has approved the Oconee Nuclear Power Plant in South Carolina, and many more facilities are interested in following them, according to Mindy Landau, an NRC spokeswoman. "About 40 percent have indicated that they are seeking license renewal, and that might go up to 85 percent . . . or even more," Landau said. Now, with most of the nuclear power plants in the country considering or preparing for a bid for relicensing, Doroshuk's office is the epicenter of strategy for the renewal process. And he is making prospective clients open up their checkbooks with a very simple pitch. "We tell them 'The Calvert Cliffs Story,' " Doroshuk said, "because it was a great story." "The Calvert Cliffs Story" certainly was one that left those in the nuclear power industry cheering--in their eyes, a "Rocky"-like tale in which an underdog many left for dead rises again in the face of impossible odds. And though nuclear power opponents in the environmental movement might draw comparisons with another movie--say, "The Empire Strikes Back"--they certainly wouldn't dispute the significance of the plant's relicensing. At the time, Stephen Kohn, an attorney for the National Whistleblowers Center, the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group that challenged the plant's bid, said: "It's a gigantic story. "It's still not on anyone's radar screen like it should be. . . . This is the most significant event in atomic energy since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl." The significance of the Calvert Cliffs relicensing is that the plant's success appears to have helped an entire industry emerge from the dark shadow cast by those infamous events: the accident at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa., and the disaster at the Chernobyl facility in Ukraine in the then-Soviet Union. In fact, the belief--at least by environmentalists--that Three Mile Island meant the death of nuclear power in this country led Kohn to complain that traditional anti-reactor funding sources had effectively "dried up" when he sought help in blocking the Calvert Cliffs relicensing. "The perception in the environmental community and the safe environment community was that nuclear power was dead, that the movement had succeeded. . . . The perception was that the movement had won," he said. Now, after the movement failed to block the relicensing, Doroshuk said, the perception among those in the nuclear power community is that license renewal is "a viable option." Opponents say that is because the NRC streamlined the renewal process and prevented the public from fully exploring the safety of the plant. Those representing Calvert Cliffs have said they were able to win relicensing precisely because of their extensive efforts to reach out to the public and demonstrate that the plant is safe. Now, Doroshuk predicts that "assuming they can maintain the safety requirements . . . all the plants will be relicensed." "Utilities are not afraid anymore," he said. Nor are they afraid to pay Constellation Nuclear Services' fees or the overall cost of relicensing. Doroshuk can make a quick case about why it's all worth it. Calvert Cliffs spent $20 million to get permission to keep operating the two reactors at its current plant, an effort that included evaluating the effects of aging on the plant and making sure it was meeting safety requirements. But in the process, it realized big savings, because it would have had to pay "40 to 50 times" as much to build a new facility. "That's enormous," Doroshuk said. Not that Doroshuk has to make any sort of hard sell to get clients. Though he did begin advertising the company in trade publications last summer, up until then his firm had "been approached by most of our clients," he said. Since its formation in spring 1999, about a year before the NRC's decision on Calvert Cliffs, the company's staff has more than tripled from 16 to about 50 people. It continues to grow, he said, and is now looking for more space at its headquarters in Crofton. "We have worked very hard over the years . . . developed very good relationships," he said. "Word of mouth travels very quickly, and e-mail travels faster." Constellation Nuclear's relationship with a client can last through the five or so years it generally takes to go through the license renewal process, according to Doroshuk. In that time, Constellation Nuclear will "do environmental work," perform a "technical review" of the facility and then work on the application for renewal. In essence, his company helps make a case for a facility, measuring "the continued options of that plant" against other "available energy sources in that region," Doroshuk explained. "We look at, specifically, the aging effects of running these plants longer." The applicants, he added, "have to be able to convert" that work into a document of about 2,000 pages and tell "a story that explains environmental" impact of their facility in a way that can both satisfy the regulators and allow the public to read it, Doroshuk said. However, he added, any facility seeking renewal must have reached out to the public long before its application document is completed. "It's crucial," he said. Calvert Cliffs, for instance, used focus groups and public meetings to sound out opinions about nuclear power and determine the "appropriate way to discuss relicensing" with the public, Doroshuk said. In the end, though, nothing is more crucial to the success of Constellation Nuclear Services--and the nuclear power industry itself--than maintaining safety at every plant, a reality that has more to do with the events at Three Mile Island than Calvert Cliffs. "I think we're very aware as an industry that one mistake at one plant affects the rest of the industry," Doroshuk said. "We've learned that the hard way." c 2001 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Britain hid nukes abroad during Cold War 1 January 2001 : LONDON: Britain hid nuclear weapons in Cyprus and Singapore during the Cold War without telling the unsuspecting host governments, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday citing a soon-to-be-published study. The British paper says that as early as 1960, Britain deployed tactical nuclear weapons at its Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Akrotiri in southern Cyprus, according the Chicago-based Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The report claims that two years later, then British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan personally authorised nuclear arms to be stored in the RAF's Tengah base in Singapore. Recently declassified files reveal that neither Malaysia's Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman--Singapore was then a part of the Malaysian Federation--nor Cyprus' leader at the time, Archbishop Makarios, were aware of the deployment. According to Stephen Schwartz, publisher of the Bulletin, "If this information had been available to the public in Cyprus and Singapore at that time, I don't think these operations would ever have been carried out". The Sunday Times says that a squadron of British bombers able to carry nuclear arms remained in Singapore until 1970 and in Cyprus until 1975 although it is not known how long they remained equipped with nuclear weapons. (AFP) ***************************************************************** 2 Kosovo troops tested for cancer from uranium RORY CARROLL IN ROME AND RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR MONDAY JANUARY 1, 2001 THE GUARDIAN Nato armies have started testing soldiers for cancer after a spate of deaths allegedly linked to depleted uranium ammunition used by US pilots in Kosovo. Spain, Portugal, France, and Belgium are carrying out health checks on their soldiers who have served in Kosovo to test for traces of radiation as concerns grow in the Netherlands about a "Balkans syndrome". Italy's military prosecutor, Antonio Intelisano, is examining five deaths that some scientists link to the ammunition used during the 1999 bombing of Kosovo. Britain is maintaining Nato's official line that no link exists. The Ministry of Defence says it will monitor investigations by Britain's Nato allies but has no plans to tests its soldiers. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said there had been no problems with leukaemia or other illnesses among US troops who had served in the Balkans. But last week Belgium's defence minister, Andr‚ Flahaut, called on his European Union counterparts to investigate. Portugal will send military and scientific experts from the national atomic institute to test radiation levels in Kosovo in the wake of the death from leukaemia of Corporal Hugo Paulino. Citing "herpes of the brain" as cause of death, the army refused to allow his family to commission a postmortem examination. Relatives accused Nato of a cover-up over the 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition used by US A10 ground attack aircraft to pierce Serbian armour. The Pentagon at first refused to say whether uranium shells were used in Kosovo. Peacekeepers who served in Bosnia were also feared to be at risk as 10,800 such shells were used by Nato in the 1994-95 civil war. Italian authorities are reportedly investigating the cases of 15 soldiers diagnosed with cancer after returning from the former Yugoslavia. A military report leaked to La Repubblica newspaper over Christmas admitted that Italian soldiers were dying from leukaemia caused by depleted uranium. The government resisted calls for Balkan tours of duty to be shortened but agreed to set up a scientific committee. The French, Dutch and Spanish are planning to do likewise. The Spanish defence ministry says it will examine all 32,000 soldiers who have served in the Balkan region since 1992. A spokesman said none of the tests on 5,000 soldiers screened in recent months had proved positive. The ministry said all returning troops are routinely given physical examinations, but the new testing is specifically directed at the question of uranium radiation. The ministry medical chief, Colonel Luis Villalonga, said the tests were designed to calm soldiers' fears. "Spanish troops in Kosovo were deployed in zones where these arms were not used," he said. Controversy over depleted uranium has raged since battlefields were contaminated during the Gulf war, reportedly causing cancer among Iraqi civilians and allied troops. Symptoms allegedly associated with "Gulf war syndrome" have been recorded in around 5,000 British personnel who served in that campaign. Though the evidence is inconclusive, exposure to depleted uranium has allegedly been shown to damage the neurological and immune systems and the reproductive organs, and to cause problems that can lead to cancer. The MoD said it was sticking to advice that depleted uranium's toxicity was dangerous only if ingested. It was safe to touch as its radiation level was no higher than a household smoke alarm. Guardian Unlimited c Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 3 INEEL: Taking care of Idaho's nuclear waste - By Anne Minard Idaho State Journal Copyright c 2000 BY ANNE MINARD Journal Writer Bill Shipp, director of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, said cleaning up the state's nuclear waste remains a top priority for the site. Following closely behind, he said, are plans to make sure the lab's legacy doesn't end with cleanup - but wi ll instead be replaced with a long-term research program that will keep Idaho involved in worldwide nuclear research and developments. The lab's long-term viability in nuclear research has been a recurring theme in public statements by a number of site officials throughout the past year, the first for the lab under management by Bechtel BWXT-Idaho, the contracting company that signed on late last year. But Shipp said the goal is long-range, and he wants the lab to keep it in focus for a decade, minimum. "There is usually a 10-year horizon from the time you have committed to the vision. If you change that every few years, you don't end up being competitive" in ways appropriate for a major institution, he said. Amajor thrust in developing the lab's research expertise is gathering the human resources - a challenge in a climate where membership in technical and other programs has dropped off with the baby boomer generation. The lab is forging partnerships with researchers across the region through the Inland Northwest Regional Alliance, a consortium of universities gearing their programs toward engineering, biology and chemistry research beneficial for nuclear programs. ***************************************************************** 4 Drums not suitable for shipping some nuclear materials, report says Texas News-- ARN ONLINE Monday, December 1, 2001 AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - The Energy Department does not have drums suitable for shipping some of its surplus nuclear materials from Pantex and Colorado's Rocky Flats plant, a government audit report says. Energy officials plan to begin shipping plutonium pits - nuclear triggers for warheads - from Pantex to South Carolina's Savannah River Site in 2005. The DOE says it is working on an agreement to handle container issues. Repackaging of the pits is expected to be completed in 2004. The audit report says the DOE has spent millions of dollars trying to develop containers for use in transporting the material. The Amarillo Globe-News reported Sunday that the report, completed in November by the DOE's Office of Inspector General, faults the agency for not coordinating design, procurement and management of shipping containers across the nuclear weapons production complex, despite spending millions of dollars to address the problem. Since fiscal year 1998, the department has spent or committed to spend $18.5 million for container activities, but still does not have enough drums to ship surplus nuclear materials to Savannah River, auditors determined. "As a result of not adequately integrating and managing its shipping container activities, DOE has spent millions without having a shipping container suitable for some of its surplus fissile nuclear materials, " the audit says. In its response to the report, the DOE noted that it is taking steps to coordinate its container programs. The agency now is preparing a memorandum of agreement to handle container issues. The report says that DOE knew in 1992 it needed a dual-purpose storage and shipping container, and that the agency expected to package thousands of Pantex's plutonium pits into the containers between 1995 and 2000. But the DOE eventually terminated its AT-400 container program after design problems and high costs, the newspaper reported. The November inspector general's report cites a 1998 report from the Government Accounting Office that said the DOE spent nearly $50 million before terminating the AT-400 container program. After the GAO's report, the DOE spent $8.7 million on its terminated AT-400 program during fiscal year 1998 and 1999. The agency also expects to spend at least $9.8 million to blend and repackage nuclear residues from Rocky Flats for shipment to the Savannah River. Mason & Hanger Corp., a Pantex contractor, developed a sealed insert to store the plutonium pits, but the drum wasn't suitable for shipping. The pits are being placed in the sealed inserts and pit repackaging is expected to be completed in 2004, the inspector general's report says. Send the URL (Address) of This Story to A Friend: Copyright ©2001, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications ***************************************************************** 5 Feds' Nuclear Plan--Stockpile Pills/In case of reactor crash, take thyroid drug Sunday, December 31, 2000 ROCKVILLE, MD.-- Eighteen years after it promised to decide how best to protect the public in a reactor accident, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said last week that it would require the states to consider stockpiling a drug to protect against thyroid cancer and that it would pay for the pills for any state that wanted them. The commission has apparently spent more on considering whether to pay for the pills than on what the pills themselves would cost. Last year the commission told Congress that it had spent $2.6 million studying the use of the drug, potassium iodide. With an average of 80,000 people living within 10 miles of each of 70 reactor sites around the country and with the maximum anticipated use being two pills, at 20 cents each, per person, the pills would cost less than $2.4 million if every state wanted them. Several states, however, have decided against them. The commission has budgeted $400,000 for the first year. The decision reversed a vote in April 1999 not to pay for states to stockpile potassium iodide. That vote reversed a decision in June 1997 to provide the drug. But the argument goes back much further, to the investigation of the Three Mile Island reactor accident in 1979. That accident set off a scramble by federal officials and pharmaceutical companies to manufacture the drug, which is only effective if taken before exposure to radiation or in the first few hours afterward. Potassium iodide saturates the thyroid gland and prevents the body from absorbing the radioactive iodine that is sometimes present in the air after a reactor accident. After the commission that investigated the accident strongly recommended the creation of regional stockpiles of the drug, the NRC promised Congress it would develop a policy by September 1982. It took until 1985 to develop a policy, which generally discouraged the use of potassium iodide. But that came just a few months before the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine, which changed the minds of many Western experts. Authorities in Poland distributed potassium iodide, and experts said there were fewer cases of thyroid cancer in Poland as a result. In 1988, a staff lawyer at the commission, Peter G. Crane, filed an official dissent on the NRC's position, and later, acting as a member of the public, filed a petition for it to be reconsidered. That petition was the basis of Friday's action. Crane, who had thyroid cancer caused by exposure to radiation as a child, said he was motivated in part by a 1985 analysis by the commission staff that said it would be cheaper to cure the disease than to prevent it. A decision to use potassium iodide in this country would be up to local or state officials. Some public health officials fear that if they provide it, people might refuse to evacuate in the belief that they were immune to radiation. Potassium iodide protects only a single organ, the thyroid. Some accidents release iodine 131, which is readily absorbed by the human body and concentrated in the thyroid. Other radioactive isotopes emit different kinds of radiation, which can damage the lungs, the bone marrow or other organs. A commission staff paper suggested in 1994 that the debate might cost more than the drug. That position was endorsed by William F. McNutt, who is a senior policy adviser at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which works with the states on emergency plans, and the chairman of a multiagency subcommittee on potassium iodide. "There have been comments made: Why don't we just decide to buy it? It's a cheap drug, and we're spending an awful lot of money analyzing it," McNutt said. Commission Chairman Richard A. Meserve said he could not explain why the commission had reversed itself twice in the last three years, except that the composition of the five-member panel had changed over that time. ***************************************************************** 6 Ex-Sen. Alan Cranston Dies at 86 December 31, 2000 ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Former Sen. Alan Cranston of California, a nuclear arms control activist who ended a 24-year Senate career in 1993 under the cloud of the savings and loan industry scandal, died Sunday at 86. Cranston died at his home in Los Altos, his daughter-in-law Colette Cranston said. His son Kim found him slumped over a sink, she said. The cause of death wasn't immediately known, though she said Cranston had been taking antibiotics and had recently had trouble maintaining balance. After Cranston's retirement from Congress, the Democrat largely dropped out of public view. But he continued to champion the cause of nuclear arms control, which had been the centerpiece of his political career and his 1984 campaign for president. In 1996, he became chairman of the Gorbachev Foundation USA, a San Francisco-based think tank founded by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to promote world peace and nuclear disarmament. "Sen. Cranston's lifelong dedication to peace in the world and nuclear arms reduction have been inspirational to me," said Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who took over Cranston's seat in 1992. "My heart goes out to his family." When Cranston announced in 1990 that he wouldn't seek a fifth Senate term, he cited his diagnosis of prostate cancer. However, at the time, his approval rating had plunged to a record low due to the savings and loan scandal and his relationship with Lincoln Savings & Loan President Charles Keating, who had just been indicted on securities fraud charges. A Senate Ethics Committee investigation later led to a formal reprimand of Cranston and sanctions against four other senators, known as "The Keating Five," for intervening with federal regulators on Keating's behalf. Cranston, who received nearly $1.2 million in political funds from Keating, initially insisted he had been "politically stupid" but ethically correct to intervene. While he ultimately agreed to a finding that he had "engaged in an impermissible pattern of conduct in which fund raising and official activities were substantially linked in connection with Mr. Keating and Lincoln," he remained defiant. In his final response to the reprimand on the Senate floor in 1991, Cranston declared that his actions "were not fundamentally different from the actions of many other senators." The remark clouded the former majority whip and No. 2 Senate Democrat's relationship with his Senate colleagues, and Cranston's reputation as a champion of liberal activism and progressive reform never recovered from the scandal. In a 1996 interview, Cranston said: "I don't feel any need for redemption." "I'm satisfied with what I did in the Senate," he said. "I don't look back. I look forward." In a 1985 speech, Cranston said he chose to serve in the Senate "because there I can work on the issues of war and peace, and the environment, and justice, and opportunity." It's "where I kept the commitment I made in my 1968 campaign and get us out of the tragic war in Vietnam; where one act of mine helped keep us out of war in Angola ... one step I took, followed by many more, did much to prevent war in Angola, ... where I'm doing the utmost to dispel the threat of nuclear war that hangs over our children, darkening their days and filling their nights with fear," he said. Cranston was a journalist before he became involved in politics. He became a lobbyist for the Common Council for American unity, an organization opposing discrimination against the foreign born, then served two terms as California state controller before he was elected to the U.S. Senate on his second try in 1968. In 1977, he became assistant majority leader, or whip. In 1983, at the age of 68, Cranston announced his candidacy for president, declaring that his age would be an advantage because, he said, the American people "want wisdom, maturity, proven capability" in the White House. Cranston announced that ending the arms race would be the "paramount goal" of his campaign. But he never attracted significant support and withdrew from the race for the Democratic nomination, later won by Walter Mondale. Early in his Senate career, Cranston earned a reputation for uncanny skill in determining how senators would vote on an issue. He "runs around with a pencil and a computer--which is his mind -- and keeps a complete record on everyone's past voting record, future voting record, and apparently even their innermost thoughts, " former Sen. Dale McGee, D-Wyo., once said. Cranston was born into a prosperous family in Palo Alto in 1914. After graduating from Stanford University in 1936, he started working for International News Service, reporting from London, Rome and Ethiopia. He never lost his interest in journalism. In 1973, at the height of the Watergate scandal that drove President Nixon from office, Cranston introduced legislation to guarantee reporters the right to keep their informants confidential. Cranston also edited the first unexpurgated English translation of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" published in the United States. Hitler successfully sued for copyright violation, and for decades, Cranston's resume proudly included the fact that he had been sued by the German dictator. He and cartoonist Lee Falk also wrote a play, "The Big Story," based on his newspaper experiences. It was tried out in New Jersey but never reached Broadway. Cranston enlisted in the Army during World War II and was assigned to lecture on war aims. After the war, he wrote "The Killing of the Peace," a book about the Senate struggle over the League of Nations in the aftermath of World War I. During the late 1940s, Cranston worked at his father's Palo Alto real estate firm and became president of United World Federalists, an organization advocating world government. When he announced his presidential candidacy more than 30 years later, Cranston said he no longer believed that world government was "a practical solution to problems in the form in which they now exist." Cranston was married and divorced twice. One of his two sons, Robin, was killed in a traffic accident in 1980 at age 33. He is survived by his son Kim and one grandchild. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2000 AND 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 7 VA seeking payments for those exposed at NTS January 02, 2001 BY MARY MANNING LAS VEGAS SUN An estimated $1.1 billion could be paid to veterans exposed to radiation during bomb blasts at the Nevada Test Site and other locations around the world or to their survivors under a Department of Veterans Affairs plan. The department proposed last week to add five types of cancer-- brain, bone, colon, lungs and ovaries--to the list of those that automatically make the so-called "atomic veterans" eligible for benefits. Late Friday the VA produced the first estimates of how many veterans or their survivors will be eligible to receive benefits over the next five years. About $1.1 billion will be needed to cover about 95,042 veterans and 187,133 surviving family members, VA spokesman Jim Benson said. The funding source has not been identified, Benson said. A claims process could be in place by late summer. If the proposal is accepted by other federal agencies and the president, exposed vets with those cancers will have an easier time receiving compensation for their illnesses, Hershel W. Gober, acting secretary of veterans affairs, said. The changes put the veterans and federal civilians who are eligible for compensation on equal footing, Gober said. In 2001 veterans are expected to file 16,125 claims, along with 37, 333 surviving family members for a total of $34.5 million. By 2002, the peak year for claims, 29,450 veterans are expected to file with 68,000 survivors for a total of $135.4 million. In 2003 another 20,583 veterans and 29,300 survivors are expected to file $237.9 million in claims. An estimated $313.4 million in claims is expected from 16,967 veterans and 33,250 survivors in 2004. Another $379.6 million in claims from 11,917 veterans and 19,250 survivors is estimated for 2005, Benson said. Apart from benefits, the VA figures it will cost another $51.2 million in administrative expenses for the five years. In the next few months the VA will write procedures for screening claims and determining benefit packages, Benson said. The process will parallel a similar procedure under the departments of Labor, Justice and Energy for civilian workers at Department of Energy facilities who helped build nuclear weapons. Those exposed to radiation during the occupation of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, internment as a prisoner of war in Japan or onsite involvement in atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, such as those at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would be eligible. Also included in the proposal is exposure to radiation from underground nuclear tests at Amchitka Island, Alaska, before Jan. 1, 1974, and service at gaseous diffusion plants in Paducah, Ky., Portsmouth, Ohio, and Area K25 in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that fewer than 50 claims out of 18,000 filed were based on radiation exposure during the occupation of Hiroshima or Nagasaki or witnessing blasts at the Nevada Test Site or in the Pacific Islands. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 8 Lab in struggle to fill positions January 01, 2001 By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER LIVERMORE--Filling vacant administrative positions, attracting new workers and retaining existing workers will loom large for the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 2001, officials say. With five openings among the lab's top 14 management positions and an aging work force of scientists and engineers, the lab must advance its recruitment efforts, said Susan Houghton, a lab spokeswoman. "What our top management is going to be focusing on is, obviously, filling the number of top management positions that are outstanding, " Houghton said. "That is (the director's) top priority--to work on that." Lab Director Bruce Tarter is seeking to fill the top management openings by February, she added. Robert W. Kuckuck, 62, operations director and the second-in-command at Livermore Lab, will retire Jan. 31. David M. Cooper, associate director for computation at the lab, and Tony Carrano, who served as associate director of Biology and Biotechnology Research Programs, also announced their departure from the lab this year. Five of the lab's 11 associate director positions are being held by acting managers until permanent replacements are found. Tarter announced that he will personally lead the search committee for Kuckuck's replacement. Houghton said Tarter is committed to ensuring "a diverse pool of applicants." "Our next big challenge is what we are typically referring to as work-life issues: How do we recruit the right people, how do we complete with places like Silicon Valley, and once we get them here, how do we retain them?" Houghton said. The average age for scientists and engineers at Livermore Lab has risen from 44 to 47 in the past decade, and the lab has hired back retired weapons scientists to pass on their expertise to new recruits before it is lost. More than 1,000 of Livermore Lab's about 7,300 full-time employees currently are eligible for retirement, according to lab statistics. Houghton said the lab is working to better understand what draws people to the lab and what pushes potential applicants away. "We're trying to get smarter about what our employees want and how we can focus on staying competitive," Houghton said. Also, the lab must respond to changes within the Energy Department, Houghton said. The National Nuclear Security Agency, part of the Energy Department, started less than one year ago and is still undergoing changes, and a new Energy Secretary will be appointed by President- elect George Bush. "The other biggest priority for the lab is (the National Ignition Facility) and continuing to get milestones laid out for NIF," Houghton said. NIF, a stadium-size laser facility under construction at Livermore Lab since 1997, is about $1 billion over budget and six years behind schedule. Numerous technical reviews over the past year have set new guidelines for how the project should be built. NIF is expected to simulate the temperatures and pressures found within a hydrogen bomb blast. ASCI White, an IBM-designed supercomputer that is expected to simulate NUCLEAR weapons explosions, is now being installed at Livermore Lab and is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2001. ASCI White is designed to achieve 12.3 trillion calculations per second. ***************************************************************** 9 DOE facilities set goals for 2001 Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 3:36 p.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2001 BY PAUL PARSON Oak Ridger staff Modernization, cleanup projects and community support appear to be among the "things to do" in 2001, especially for those companies that operate local federal facilities. Recently, The Oak Ridger asked officials at the three Department of Energy facilities in Oak Ridge what they expected their top goals for 2001 would be. And here's how they responded. UT-Battelle's priorities for Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2001 will continue to be guided by the goal of achieving simultaneous excellence in the three areas of science and technology, operations and community service, according to lab spokesman Billy Stair. Of the literally hundreds of accomplishments that will undoubtedly come from ORNL next year, Stair said the following priorities represent the primary goal in each area. ÿScience and technology: Central to ORNL's scientific future is ÿthe need to deliver the Spallation Neutron Source project on time ÿand on budget. The success ORNL enjoyed this year in receiving ÿthe full $278 million in SNS construction funds makes it necessary ÿto work even harder to maintain the trust ORNL earned from Congress ÿand DOE, according to Stair. ÿORNL operations: Next year will see UT-Battelle officials break ÿground on efforts to modernize the outdated facilities at the ÿlab. Using a combination of funding from DOE, the state of Tennessee ÿand Battelle, construction will begin on the first three of 10 ÿnew buildings of the ORNL modernization, bringing ORNL world-class ÿfacilities to match the lab's world-class scientists, Stair said. ÿCommunity service: UT-Battelle will continue its partnership with ÿthe Oak Ridge region to bring new jobs and provide a stronger ÿtax base to area communities. In addition to providing ORNL technology ÿthat enables new start-up companies, Stair said UT-Battelle also ÿwill join with DOE and community leaders in assessing the best ÿuse of the Oak Ridge Reservation. UT-Battelle's goal is a balance ÿbetween the long-term research needs of the laboratory and land- ÿuse opportunities that could support the region's economic growth. During BWXT Y-12's first full year, company officials say they will focus on a number of areas intended to increase safety and promote efficient operations at the facility. BWXT Y-12 officials say those efforts include: ÿSupporting each employee in assuming personal responsibility and ÿaccountability for safety at the Y-12 plant through participation ÿin work planning, constant awareness and adherence to approved ÿprocedures and processes. ÿDeveloping a sustainable and executable plan to prepare Y-12 for ÿits long-term role in the national security program through modernization ÿof key capabilities, systematic reduction of unneeded infrastructure, ÿand broadening of the company's capabilities and customer base. ÿContinuing to build upon the strong community support base the ÿcompany has through open communication, participation and pursuit ÿof mutually supportive objectives. Bechtel Jacobs Co., the environmental management contractor for DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office, plans to accelerate remedial actions on the reservation during 2001, according to Bechtel Jacobs spokesman John Schlatter. The first two years of the company's contract, from 1998 to 2000, was a transition period in which a large portion of the workforce was moved to subcontractors. The official transition period was completed last April, according to Schlatter, and the company reached several "significant" cleanup milestones during 2000. That progress will continue in the coming year, according to Schlatter. A few of the more significant planned accomplishments during 2001 are: ÿStarting construction of the Environmental Management Waste Management ÿFacility, a key component of the overall cleanup strategy for ÿthe Oak Ridge Reservation. Work will include completing site preparation, ÿfinishing the final design, starting construction, and issuing ÿthe Waste Acceptance Criteria Attainment Plan. ÿCompleting the Corehole 8 project at ORNL to remove an underground ÿtank that is contaminating soil and ground water with cesium and ÿstrontium. ÿRemoving a variety of mixed, hazardous, and low-level radioactive ÿwastes from storage vaults at the K-25 building, reducing associated ÿstorage and maintenance costs and facilitating the eventual decontamination ÿand decommissioning of the building. Schlatter said Bechtel Jacobs will also continue its "community investment" activities of helping create new non-DOE jobs in the Oak Ridge region and contributing $1 million per year to educational, civic, cultural and health and welfare organizations. These programs are financed with corporate dollars, not government funds. [*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 10 DOE public meetings to address modernization, land management Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 3:36 p.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2001 BY PAUL PARSON Oak Ridger staff Several public meetings are scheduled this month that focus on a wide range of federal projects, including the modernization of the Y-12 National Security Complex and the usage of two hazardous waste storage units at local Department of Energy facilities. The first of these meetings addresses the 1999 annual site environmental report for the Oak Ridge Reservation. Officials will discuss the report during a public meeting beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, at the Jacobs Technical Center, 125 Broadway. The report provides environmental monitoring data from air, soil, water and animal life on and around the reservation along with information on DOE's compliance with federal and state environmental laws. The environmental report is located in the DOE Public Reading Room, A brown-bag public workshop is set for noon Tuesday, Jan. 16, to address a revision to the Oak Ridge Reservation Environmental Management Public Involvement Plan. Officials are seeking public input on what needs to be included in the plan, which serves as a guide to DOE for informing and involving the public in environmental management program activities and decision- making. Copies of the current plan are available at the Information Resource Center, 105 Broadway. A public meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, at the Jacobs Technical Center, 125 Broadway, to discuss two permit modification requests at the Oak Ridge K-25 Site and Y-12. These permit modifications are required to allow the use of two portable hazardous waste storage units at the facilities. DOE officials have scheduled two public meetings focusing on the draft site-wide environmental impact statement for Y-12, formerly known as the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. These meetings will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25, in the Cumberland Room of Oak Ridge Mall. The environmental impact statement proposes the construction of a highly enriched uranium storage area and a special materials complex as part of the plant's modernization. Existing Y-12 storage facilities for highly enriched uranium are in buildings that are 35 to 55 years old and require significant maintenance and funding to maintain operations and security protocol. The environmental impact statement evaluates the effect DOE's Y-12 modernization effort would have on the environment and addresses alternatives to the plan, including taking no action on the upgrades. Copies of the impact statement are available at the local DOE Public Reading Room. The comment period now in effect for this document ends Feb. 5. A public meeting addressing land-use planning on the Oak Ridge Reservation is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the YWCA, 1660 Oak Ridge Turnpike. During the meeting, stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the types of activities they would like to see occur on the 34, 424-acre reservation. In the event of inclement weather, DOE will decide by 3 p.m. the day of the meeting whether the meeting will be held. For the latest on these meetings, call the Oak Ridge DOE Public Affairs Office at 576-0885. Other meetings scheduled for this month include the following: ÿThe Citizens' Advisory Panel of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local ÿOversight Committee is set to meet at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. ÿ9, in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation ÿoffice, 761 Emory Valley Road. ÿThe Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board will meet at 6 p.m. ÿWednesday, Jan. 10, at the Garden Plaza Hotel, 215 S. Illinois ÿAve. ÿThe Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee is scheduled ÿto meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, in the Oak Ridge Mall Club ÿRoom. [*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 11 Opinion - Your Views TIME FOR FULL TRUTH FROM DOE Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 3:36 p.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2001 Your Views It is hard to imagine that DOE could not pinpoint a fluorine leak in an old building that made several guards sick, closed down a portal, evacuated an "at risk" part of the plant, and went on for a week or longer. How much was emitted to air? This shows continued disregard for environment, health, and safety to allow such releases to continue as they are cumulative and linked to long-term health damage. K-25 routinely released huge amounts of HF gas to the air both during its' operation, and now during dismantlement from many trapped deposits. K-25 plant persons often smelled this odor in the air every day they worked at the plant. No person escaped getting an internalized dose. It is deceptive for DOE public relations persons, like Steve Wyatt and others, to list only the prompt symptoms of HF inhalation and leave off the other effects directly linked to K-25's mysterious illnesses. Wyatt and DOE admit that thousands of inadvertent UF-6 and HF K-25 releases occurred, but the real order of magnitude is more a thousand-thousand releases. So many releases of so cumulative a toxin that it easily pathway links to the mysterious ills and dominates the health effects. Thousands of tons of HF were released from K-25, which lost around 10% of the UF-6 it processed. Wyatt quotes some of the lesser "inadvertent releases," but fails to tell of the massive releases. One happened in the purge cascade that went on for days and dumped nearly a foot of U O2 F2 on the floors, and HF vapors rained down clear to Ohio. Other leaks lost dump truck loads of UF-6 from roof vents and HF into the skies. HF, as it cools, is heavier than air and rains out poison into communities. HF also reacts with hydrocarbons in the air to aid the ozone hole damage globally. Many K-25 workers were in a urinalysis program that monitored excretion of both uranium and fluorides. The uranium salt tends to pass thru the body like table salt in a few days, while the HF is highly reactive and is cumulative in the body. It is not uncommon to hear of 4 mg/ l or more of fluorides in urine for workers, where non-exposed workers excrete less than 0.04 mg/l. The K-25 and ORO management fully knew they were poisoning, slowly sickening and killing workers and communities. Hydrogen fluoride retains in the body and less than one quarter is excreted. It accumulates over time of exposure and even low doses matter. Typically, the fluorine atoms are one thousand times the uranium in UF-6 exposed workers. At distance from the process, this fluoride dominance increases rapidly, as the HF is the more volatile. Fluorides cause health effects similar to pesticides. In fact, HF makes rat poison, calcium fluoride, in the body and is related to an insecticide used on fruits, cryolite. Workers are full of this poison. It would be fully expected to see long-term pesticide like illnesses for workers slowly poisoned with the same poison. The true magnitude of the HF releases and long term health effects are linked to asthma and lung damage, arthritis and bone/joint damage, neurological and foggy thinking effects, thyroid and parathyroid damage, birth defects, white and phage cell suppression, extreme fatigue, AND perpetuating DOE's entire "mysterious illness" cover up. It is time for the truth to appear in Oak Ridge on this problem that DOE was not simply negligent about, but intentionally covered up for five decades. Jim Phelps Knoxville [*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 12 Gulf War Syndrome Not Imagined Reuters MONDAY JANUARY 01 12:33 PM EST BY NANCY A. MELVILLE HealthScout Reporter MONDAY, Jan. 1 (HealthScout)--While debate over the possible causes of Gulf War syndrome continues, researchers now say state-of-the- art brain scans link veterans' symptoms with actual brain damage. The proof is in the form of brain scans made with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), which shows chemical levels in the brain. When compared with the scans of 18 healthy veterans, the MRS scans of 12 veterans with the most severe symptoms of Gulf War syndrome showed significant brain cell losses in specific areas of the brain that correlate with symptoms the veterans have experienced. The results were presented at a recent meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago. Specifically, the scans showed damage to the right side of the brain, which is believed to be linked to symptoms such as an impaired sense of direction, memory lapses and depression. And damage to areas of the left side appears to have caused the veterans a more general state of confusion, and difficulties in tasks like understanding directions, reading, solving problems and making decisions. "With this research, we've correlated the degree of symptoms and abnormality on neurological exams with the degree of brain damage, " says Dr. James Fleckenstein, a professor of radiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Significantly, the brain cell damage seen in the veterans was not consistent with the types of chemical differences associated with post-traumatic stress or major depression. That's important because the crux of the debate over Gulf War syndrome has centered on whether symptoms are the result of post-traumatic stress or exposure to toxic chemicals, such as nerve gas. Evidence boosting the latter argument includes research showing veterans with the most severe types of Gulf War syndrome, known as Haley syndrome 2, have been been eight times more likely than those without symptoms to report exposure to nerve gas and up to 32 times more likely to have experienced severe side effects after taking anti-nerve gas tablets. More than 100,000 American service members sent to the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991 have reported experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pain, memory loss and sleep disorders. Collectively, the symptoms have come to be known as Gulf War syndrome. According to Dr. Brian Ross, director of the MRS Unit at the Huntington Medical Research Institute in California, one of the remarkable aspects of the study is that it underscores the benefit of MRS scanning. It shows damage that normally would not be seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is the current standard for brain scans. "MRI consists of measuring magnetic signal and is based on the water content of the brain, while MRS measures the chemical composition of the brain, so it's very helpful in identifying conditions like Alzheimer's disease or early brain tumors," he explains. "And when you get into a controversial area like Gulf War syndrome, MRS can really help answer some questions." Fleckenstein agrees the technology could play a central role in solving the mystery of Gulf War syndrome. "MRS scanning continues to validate an organic basis for Gulf War patients' complaints and disabilities, and in a more specific way than older tests in past research," he says. "The fact that findings on MRS mirror patients' signs and symptoms underscores the power of this tool in evaluating patients with these kinds of problems." ***************************************************************** 13 Scotland's holocaust fears BBC News | SCOTLAND | Monday, 1 January, 2001, 00:07 GMT [I] The Cold War was at its height in the Swinging Sixties Sixties Scotland may have been swinging to a heady brew of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but the country's civic leaders were grappling with weightier matters. The somewhat apocalyptic question of how to bury all the dead after a nuclear holocaust, and who would be responsible was at the centre of a flurry of memos and meetings. But officials in town halls and the then Scottish Office never reached a firm conclusion, mainly because no-one knew how many people would be killed. One study speculated that 952,000 Scots could be the victims of a nuclear attack, with 2,000 deaths a day in Midlothian alone. [I] The Vulcan bomber was a potent symbol of the times So earnestly was the question addressed that Scottish Office files include blueprints of makeshift mortuary body racks and photographs of emergency coffins. Cremation would use too much fuel and sinking the bodies at sea in the hulks of ships would involve too much handling, officials said. One solution appeared to be mass burial pits, dug with the aid of "the unemployed". The macabre files are included in Scottish Office documents made public on New Year's Day at the National Archives of Scotland after 30 years. The keeping of official records on the subject began when civil servants researched an answer to a parliamentary question in 1961 from an MP who wanted to know about the "designated burial officer" for the West of Scotland. 'SEEMLINESS' Records covering matters such as death registration stemmed from wartime experience, but a "secret" Ministry of Health memo in 1950 admitted: "It is not considered likely that the bodies of persons killed in mass destruction attacks, whether with atomic bombs or HE (high explosive) could be dealt with by ordinary methods." Documents from 1948 on the likely requirements for emergency mortuary work specified 950 trucks, 75 of which would be for use in Scotland. A Ministry of Health document in 1950 also detailed how civil defence burial regulations should be implemented at local level. [I] Officials worried about nuclear devastation like that in Nagasaki This should include mortuaries capable of holding 100 bodies at a time, with supplies to include labels, hurricane lamps, five pairs of strong rubber gloves per attendant, carbolic of lime and shrouds. Another Ministry of Health document that year admitted no casualty figures could be given because this was "highly speculative". And a 1957 document records "disquiet" amongst officials in London at the lack of instructions to local authorities on the identification and disposal of the dead. The first estimated casualty figures appear in a "restricted" Scottish home and health department note of 1964, which bore the civil service health warning: "This by no means represents departmental policy, but contains some interesting material." 'DISPOSAL IN PITSHAFTS OR HULKS' This recalled that post-war procedures for burying the dead laid emphasis on identification and "seemliness", but the nuclear age had changed that. There was a suggestion that as many as 2,000 people could die in a large county like Midlothian. Also in 1964, officials attended an event organised by public health and hygiene experts which included a talk by Dr Neil Reid. [I] The era was in the shadow of the mushroom cloud They took notes as he suggested that in the areas of heaviest damage, the dead would either have been incinerated or buried in rubble, and these zones would be merely closed off. Dead in the areas of lighter damage would be collected to remove the risk of disease, and tracked vehicles and special squads would be needed. "It has been suggested that bodies should be disposed of in pitshafts or loaded in hulks which would be towed out to sea and sunk", said the notes of Dr Reid's talk. The disadvantage of both those methods was that they would involve a great deal of handling of bodies. "Mass cremation had also been suggested, but this would require the use of great quantities of fuel which would be needed for other purposes. "Probably the best method of disposal would be by mass burial in pits dug by earth-moving equipment. [I] Many nuclear bombs are still deployed "This might be undertaken by the rescue section of the civil defence corps with the assistance of the unemployed." In 1970, the matter came up again when John Gorman, Dundee's chief defence officer, wrote to Edinburgh for guidance after Dundee's parks director had raised the question. An official noted to colleagues that several meetings had been held where "this difficult subject" had been mooted. "I don't believe we ever got beyond the sort of useful but inconclusive thinking expressed in (the 1964 document estimating casualties)," the official noted. Officials agreed to tell Mr Gorman no official guidance had ever been issued but that "common sense principles that he will have heard discussed from time to time" still applied. A note in the 1970 file, apparently from army Brigadier Buchanan- Dunlop, informed officials: "There are no Branch Two data for Dundee, but they advise that the worst and most extravagant bomb on Dundee might result in 90,000 casualties (dead and dying, excluding wounded)." ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************