***************************************************************** 03/02/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.56 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Engineer quits, security guard fired after warning Con Ed on safety 2 Jackson downplays its radioactive water 3 Energy Department releasing $125.7 million for Piketon plant 4 ASLB Confirms Safety of CP&L's Used-Fuel Storage Plan 5 Reliant South Texas nuke shut after manual trip 6 Radioactive waste storage backers dealt setback 7 Activists Ask Judge To Delay Millstone Sale 8 Cracks Will Delay Restart Of Millstone 3 9 Turbine cracks delay Millstone restart 10 Nuclear energy's new glow 11 Give Green Power a Chance 12 Consortium pledges $22M to land nuclear fusion plant 13 Ontario Power Generation, nuclear report cards released 14 Hill demand on uranium mine water 15 Derailment hits main line 16 California's Problem 17 Russia's plans for used fuel 18 Murkowski Energy Bill Increases Corporate Dependence 19 Statement By Cena Swisher of Taxpayers For Common Sense 20 T-REX provides information on nuclear shipments NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Plan Takes $700 Million From DOE 2 ORNL nuclear reactor to get $2 million beryllium reflector 3 SRS, engineers aim to inspire youngsters 4 SURVIVOR OF A-BOMB PRESSES FOR BENEFITS 5 NRC okays Spent fuel rod storage expansion for CP&L 6 Armed to Excess 7 IHT: Meanwhile, the Atomic Genie Remains Firmly Out of the Bottle 8 Meanwhile, the Atomic Genie Remains Firmly Out of the Bottle 9 Energy Department Cites Argonne National Laboratory-West for 10 Energy Secretary Abraham Announces $125.7 Million in Federal 11 Hatch Asks Government to Pay Radiation Claims 12 Rumsfeld Hands Puerto Rico a Win 13 French say Pacific nuclear test site is stable 14 Yaizu remembers ship irradiated by Bikini Atoll nuclear blast 15 Germany Arrests Two Iraqis Suspected of Spying 16 Spy mania continues 17 Cleanup cuts still possible, budget office chief says 18 Bush's DOE budget cuts $700 million; Hanford watchers concerned 19 Earthquake triggers false waste tank level reading **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Engineer quits, security guard fired after warning Con Ed on safety By JIM FITZGERALD Associated Press Writer BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) -- An engineer at a nuclear power plant warned Consolidated Edison that the reactor's protection system was faulty, then resigned in protest when the utility came to a different conclusion, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. Another worker, a security guard, was fired -- illegally, the Labor Department found -- after he said plant safety would be compromised if he were forced to work a sixth straight day of 12-hour shifts. Con Ed, which owns the Indian Point 2 plant 35 miles north of New York City, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday they found no evidence the plant was unsafe. But the workers' departures raised new questions about the beleaguered 25-year-old plant after last year's radioactive leak, the reactor's troublesome return to full power and a monthlong inspection by the NRC, which is to make its findings public Friday. Con Ed's "status report" on the plant for Feb. 6 said the engineer, whose name was not released, resigned a day earlier after writing a series of reports detailing what he saw as problems with the reactor protection system. The system monitors various sensors that measure temperature, flow rate and other activities. The engineer found discrepancies between the plant's design drawings and the actual wiring. He also found that those discrepancies were often dealt with by simply changing the design drawing to match what was found in reality -- what he called "design changes by default." Paul Blanch, a former industry whistleblower recently hired by Con Ed, acknowledged that the engineer was "very credible" and was asked to stay on, but was troubled by "differing professional opinions." Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert said the company had reviewed the engineer's concerns "and will continue to look into them," but believes the plant is operating safely. Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman, said the commission "didn't see anything there that would call into question the safe operation of the plant." The security guard, Vincent Giambalvo, was fired in June by Wackenhut Corp., a Con Ed contractor. According to a letter from the Office of Safety and Health Administration ordering his reinstatement with back pay, Giambalvo "reasonably believed that to work in his fatigued state would have violated the NRC fitness-for-duty regulation and would have posed a threat to Indian Point 2, its employees and the community at large." It said he had worked five straight days of 12-hour shifts. Wackenhut spokesman Kevin Cannan said the company would not comment because it is appealing the reinstatement ruling by OSHA. The NRC on Tuesday ordered Con Ed to report any measures it is taking to assure that the firing of the security guard "is not having a chilling effect on the willingness of other employees to raise safety and compliance concerns." Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Indian Point site, http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/REACTOR/IP AP-CS-03-01-01 1024EST Copyright 1996 Associated Press. ***************************************************************** 2 Jackson downplays its radioactive water *Web posted Friday, March 2, 2001 By *South Carolina Bureau* JACKSON - The drinking water in Jackson is slightly contaminated but health officials say it's not radioactive enough to worry about. During routine checks of the water, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control found radium, a radioactive metal often found in nature but in insignificant amounts. But state testers found a little too much in Jackson last year, during April through October and December. One set of readings indicated 6.58 picocuries of radium per liter of water. Several more taken later showed slightly less - 6.2. A curie is a unit of measurement for radioactivity, and 1 picocurie is a trillionth of a curie. The amount of radium found in Jackson exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit of 5 picocuries per liter of water. Bill Dennis, the town's water commissioner, said the radiation is still a lot less than someone would be exposed to from an X-ray. But if radium is consumed in large amounts - just over two quarts of contaminated water every day for 70 years - it can cause cancer, the town's public notice said. ``The water is safe, and there's nothing anybody needs to do to drink it,'' Mr. Dennis said. ``I'm drinking it, the mayor is drinking it and my children are drinking it. This is just something we are monitoring and trying to correct.'' Even so, state law says the town has to notify the public by advertising the problem and notifying water customers 45 days later. One way to correct the contamination is to dig a deeper well or sink an entirely new one, Mr. Dennis said. DHEC will sample the town's two wells to see where the problem is originating. One or both wells could be affected. Health officials say they have no evidence to suggest the town's water supply became radioactive any way except through erosion of natural radium deposits. Reach at (803) 279-6895. All contents © 1996 - 2001 *The Augusta Chronicle*. All rights ***************************************************************** 3 Energy Department releasing $125.7 million for Piketon plant Posted at 6:30 p.m. EST Thursday, March 1, 2001 BY ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS *Associated Press Writer * COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The federal government will release $125.7 million to help save jobs at a uranium enrichment plant where production is to end in June, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced Thursday. A union leader said the money will save about 800 jobs at the plant, which employs 1,730 people. The money, to be released over two years, would pay for winterization needed to put the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in a standby condition. It also includes severance pay and money to train workers. ``This money and the programs it will fund are an important down payment for the plant's future,'' Abraham said. The plant in Piketon, one of two uranium enrichment plants in the nation, now is operated by the U.S. Enrichment Corp. The financially ailing company wants to consolidate production of power plant-ready uranium at its plant in Paducah, Ky. After USEC announced it would end production at Piketon, the government proposed putting the plant on ``cold standby'' pending the development of new technology to enrich uranium. The first installment of the $630 million needed to convert the plant was held up after the General Accounting Office questioned the legality of the way the Clinton administration proposed to finance the changes. The Energy Department said it will use $59 million from its current budget and will take the rest of the $125 million from the department's fiscal 2002 budget. None of the money comes from privatization funds that the Clinton administration had wanted to use to help the plant. The money is in addition to $180 million already budgeted to decontaminate and decommission parts of the plant. Abraham also announced that Ohio would receive, under President Bush's budget, an additional $1.1 million to help the poor insulate their homes. The state now gets $8.1 million for the program. He said the $125 million for the Piketon plant is the minimum needed to help the workers through the transition and put the plant in standby status. ``We are not making a judgment to what will be the ultimate conclusion for the plant,'' Abraham said. Over the next few months, the government will ``look at our national security needs and our energy security needs, and then figure out where the Portsmouth facility fits into that,'' Abraham said. The money will preserve about 1,200 jobs, 800 of which would have been lost without it, said Dan Minter, president of Local 5-689 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union. Jobs will be saved as workers switch from uranium enrichment to maintaining the sprawling plant in standby status. ``Cold standby'' involves keeping the facility and its equipment in a state in which it is capable of returning to production. That requires more workers than if the plant were shut down. Cold standby also requires extensive winterization, especially at a plant where some buildings cover more than 40 acres. ``Today was kind of drop dead as far as going towards rendering the plant inoperable or putting it into a mode of standby,'' Minter said. ``Certainly today's news is good news for over 1,200 people who remain in their jobs, and I think it does bridge us to the next technology process.'' One possible technology, called gas centrifuge, holds the promise of making power plant-grade uranium without burning as much fuel along the way. U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, whose district includes Piketon, said he was happy for every job saved but disappointed that the Bush administration was not keeping all of the promises made to workers there last year. ``I'm not hearing anything from the administration that comes close to a commitment that they will follow through with what the past administration pledged to us in terms of investing in the future of the plant and the newer technology,'' Strickland said. ``There is still a lot of work that needs to be done.'' The government got out of the uranium enrichment business and spun off its two processing plants in 1998 in a $1.9 billion stock sale. Both the Ohio and Kentucky plants were built after World War II to enrich uranium to bomb grade, but in recent years have only processed uranium for nuclear power plant fuel. http://www.energy.gov/ AP-CS-03-01-01 1807EST --> ***************************************************************** 4 ASLB Confirms Safety of CP&L's Used-Fuel Storage Plan Thursday March 1, 4:29 pm Eastern Time Press Release *SOURCE: Progress Energy, Inc.* RALEIGH, N.C., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-six months after CP&L filed its proposal for continued interim storage of used nuclear fuel rods at the Harris Nuclear Plant in Wake County, the Atomic Safety & Licensing Board (ASLB) has confirmed that the plan is safe and responsible. Today's decision by the ASLB supports the action taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff, which awarded the license amendment Dec. 21, 2000. The ASLB's action also automatically removes a stay, imposed by the NRC last month. That stay had barred CP&L from storing fuel rods in the third pool at the Harris Plant until the NRC or the ASLB issued its ruling. The licensing board confirmed that the likelihood of a Harris facility accident scenario proposed by Orange County's consultant is so ``remote and speculative'' that it does not merit additional review. And since all issues and concerns that have been brought before the ASLB over the last two years have been resolved, the panel closed the proceeding. CP&L had filed a request with the NRC Dec. 23, 1998, seeking to activate two already-built storage pools at the plant. The pools are located in the same building as pools that have been in use since 1989. C.S. ``Scotty'' Hinnant, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for CP&L, said the ASLB approval is good news for CP&L customers and Triangle residents. ``After years of exchanging the facts about our plan, two arms of the NRC have now, independently, reached the same conclusion: that our plan is a safe and responsible means of providing interim storage for nuclear fuel used to power the Carolinas,'' Hinnant said. ``The exhaustive review makes everyone a winner. And our plan ensures that we can continue storing used nuclear fuel rods in a safe and proven way until the federal government meets it obligation to take them.'' Since the NRC staff's decision in December, CP&L has been working to complete the cooling system connections and testing for the third and fourth pools and install fuel-storage racks in anticipation of beginning storage in the third pool in mid-2001. CP&L already has altered its fuel shipping schedule due to the 26-month review. However, the company has been able to maintain the high productivity of its nuclear plants during that time. In fact, in 2000, CP&L's nuclear plants set a seventh-consecutive record in generating about 46 percent of the electricity CP&L produced. Customers benefit directly through their energy bills, due to the low cost of nuclear fuel. The pools are 40-foot-deep, concrete-and-steel, water-filled chambers in which used fuel assemblies are stored when they have completed their useful life in generating electricity. The pool storage technology has been used safely by CP&L for more than 25 years and by the nuclear industry for more than 40 years. CP&L's plan is a means of continuing interim storage until the federal government begins taking the fuel rods. CP&L does not expect to need the fourth storage pool at the Harris Plant until about 2016, after a federal repository is scheduled to open. Both of the additional pools will be used to provide interim storage of fuel rods from CP&L's three nuclear plants in the Carolinas. The fuel rods from the Brunswick Nuclear Plant near Southport and the Robinson Nuclear Plant near Hartsville, S.C., will have cooled for at least five years before they are shipped to the Harris site on approved rail routes in specially designed casks. The Harris Plant has not, and will not, accept used fuel rods from non-CP&L nuclear plants. The federal government is already more than three years late in meeting its obligation to take the used fuel rods from commercial nuclear reactors around the country. While other U.S. nuclear plants have been forced to develop alternative means of storing used fuel rods, the Harris Plant has additional storage capacity because it was originally designed to support four nuclear reactors. Due to changing economics during the 1970s and '80s, only one reactor was built at Harris. Since the fuel-storage facilities were already in place, and since CP&L had been safely using the pool storage technology for more than 25 years at its nuclear plants, the company sought permission to continue using that safe, proven storage technology at Harris. *SOURCE: Progress Energy, Inc.* Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Copyright © 2001 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. Republication or ***************************************************************** 5 Reliant South Texas nuke shut after manual trip [Reuters] Friday March 2, 9:32 am Eastern Time (*UPDATE: adds company comment, still no restart information*) NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) - Reliant Energy's (NYSE:REI - news) 1,250-megawatt (MW) South Texas 2 nuclear unit in Texas remained shut early Friday after a manual trip from 95 percent power on Thursday, a company spokesman told Reuters. The unit, in Palacios, Texas, was in hot standby early Friday after the trip, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said in its daily plant status report. It had been at 95 percent power early Thursday as it coasted down to an upcoming refueling outage. The spokesman would not comment on whether or not the unit would be brought back on line prior to the planned outage, previously expected to start about mid-March and last about 30 days. He did say the company was performing maintenance in the plant's switchyard which resulted in the loss of power in its operating circulating water pumps, which caused the manual trip. Meanwhile, the adjacent 1,250-MW Unit 1 continued to run at full power. Houston-based Reliant owns nearly 24,000 megawatts of power generation in the U.S. serving nearly four million electricity and natural gas customers. --E Moustakis, New York Power Desk 212 859-1627, fax 212-859-1758, Eileen.Moustakis@reuters.com Reliant Energy Inc (NYSE:REI - news) Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights ***************************************************************** 6 Radioactive waste storage backers dealt setback 03/02/2001 By: Associated Press ROBERT GEHRKE By ROBERT GEHRKE Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY — Storing radioactive waste in Utah could be more expensive — and impossible in some cases — after Wednesday’s action by the Legislature. In the closing hours of its 2001 session, the body gave final approval to a pair of bills — one to tax Envirocare’s low-level nuclear waste dump, and another to do everything possible to block a high-level dump proposed for the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation. The Envirocare tax would cost the company about $700,000 in its first year, assessed on different types of waste depending on their radioactivity. “Obviously, we’re not happy about it,” said Envirocare spokesman Tim Barney. “We think the tax is unfair. We think the bill obviously singles out our company.” One other company, International Uranium Corporation, a uranium processing plant in Blanding, also would have to pay the tax, but much smaller amounts. Barney said the tax would certainly affect Envirocare’s business, but how much the company could lose remains to be seen. Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, argued that he wasn’t trying to drive the company into bankruptcy or run it out of business, but said taxing Envirocare is a question of fairness. “We need to take these steps to protect the residents of this state,” said Hickman. But Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, whose Tooele County district includes the Envirocare site, argued the Legislature was imposing an arbitrary tax without knowing how it would affect the company. “How fair and reasonable is that?” he asked. It was a roller coaster evening for Envirocare owner Khosrow Semnani, who watched from the gallery as the Senate increased the fee for a certain type of waste, then voted down the measure. He left the gallery with a grin, flashing a thumbs-up to someone on the floor below. But a few hours later, the bill was back with a reduced fee and passed 15-14. Senate President Al Mansell, R-Sandy, cast the deciding vote. While Hickman argued he didn’t want to make the Envirocare tax cost-prohibitive for the company to operate, that is precisely the intention behind the bill to block the high-level storage site on the Goshute reservation. Under the bill, Private Fuel Storage, a group of utility companies that want to store the waste on the reservation, would have to put up as much as $150 billion in cash for reparations in case of an accident before the waste could enter the state. “This is material that is the most deadly stuff on earth,” said Rep. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George. “We should act today to put roadblocks in the way of this material that’s coming to be permanently sited in this state.” The bill was drafted by Gov. Mike Leavitt’s staff, passed 60-12, and is almost certain to be signed by Leavitt. Opponents argued that it is not fair for the state to be so punitive with the Skull Valley Goshutes. “We have taken and forced the people who were here out onto the west desert, some of the poorest lands of Utah,” said Rep. Eli Anderson, D-Tooele. “Now it seems like we’re coming in very heavy-fisted, hard-handed and with no respect for the sovereign nation of the Indian people.” Copyright 1999 The Spectrum. ***************************************************************** 7 Activists Ask Judge To Delay Millstone Sale By AL LARA The Hartford Courant March 02, 2001 WATERFORD - A nuclear activist group asked a Superior Court judge Thursday to delay the sale of the Millstone nuclear power station, saying in part that there is little to prevent the buyers from abandoning the complex at the first sign of financial trouble. But the state consumer counsel's office says it has no concerns that Dominion Resources Inc. would walk away from its $1.3 billion investment. In fact, Eugene Koss, assistant to the state consumer counsel, said Dominion is well qualified to run the plants, has invested a lot of money, and will be in Connecticut for the long haul. "We did have some quarrel with the sale, but ultimately the transaction is probably one of the best sales of a nuclear power plant in the country." Virginia-based DRI agreed to buy the Waterford power station last August for a record $1.3 billion. It has created a limited licensed liability company called Dominion Nuclear Connecticut to own and operate the plant as a subsidiary. The sale is awaiting federal regulatory approval. The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone filed a lawsuit last week seeking to block the sale on grounds that include concerns about Dominion's safety record and the financial fitness of the new subsidiary. Coalition attorney Nancy Burton suggested that the new company, which has no assets, could easily dissolve should it get into financial trouble, protecting the parent company's $24 billion in assets. DRI officials said the lawsuit had no merit, but declined to discuss it further. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office is representing the Department of Public Utility Control in the lawsuit, also declined to comment. In its draft decision approving the sale in January, DPUC commissioners said Dominion's creation of a new company to run the plant was not unusual. Under the ownership of Northeast Utilities, Millstone has been operated by a separate subsidiary called Northeast Nuclear Energy Co. Koss maintains that there is "a good bit of liability coverage" for ratepayers as part of the sale agreement. For the life of the Millstone reactors, DNC will have access to as much as $150 million in DRI money to cover the expense of an unexpected six-month shutdown of the power plant. But Burton says the amount is insufficient, noting that the three-year shutdown of just one reactor, Millstone 2, which ended in 1999, cost NU about $20 million a month. In 1996, Millstone had a shutdown of all three reactors (Millstone 1 is now permanently shut down). Burton said DRI is under no obligation to pay more than the $150 million, and that if the problems are serious enough, the parent company could divest itself of shares in the subsidiary. Koss said DNC is investing too much money to abandon the plant. This includes about $500 million in cash from the sale that will pay down the so-called "stranded costs" paid by ratepayers. These are costs associated with power plants that utilities were unable to recoup after the restructuring of the state's electricity industry. Koss also said the size of a decommissioning trust fund - more than $772 million in ratepayer money by the time the sale closes in April - "severely limits future ratepayers being left on the hook" for the costs of mothballing the reactors. Koss agrees with DRI that there is more than enough money to decommission all three reactors, which Dominion plans to do simultaneously in 2050. Copyright © 2000 Myway Corp. Portions © 2000 ctnow.com. ***************************************************************** 8 Cracks Will Delay Restart Of Millstone 3 By AL LARA The Hartford Courant March 02, 2001 WATERFORD - Cracks discovered in the turbines that produce power at the Millstone 3 nuclear reactor in Waterford will delay its return to operation. The cracks were discovered earlier this week during routine maintenance of the reactor's power generation system. The 1,150-megawatt reactor, the largest at the complex, has been shut down since Feb. 3 for a regularly scheduled refueling. Plant spokesman Peter Hyde said employees were working Thursday evening to assess the damage and estimate how long it would take to repair it. The cracks appear in a hub wheel on the rotor assembly of the massive, 300-ton turbines, which were dismantled for maintenance. Specifically, they appear in the notch that holds the turbine's fan blades, which are also called "buckets," Hyde said. Smaller cracks appear on two low-pressure turbines, but more serious cracks appeared in a third high-pressure turbine, he said. Cracks on two of the turbines could be easily fixed by Westinghouse specialists already at the scene as part of the power plant's service contract. But the larger cracks in the third turbine may require machining to deepen the notches for a firmer foothold for the blades, Hyde said. The blades themselves will also be replaced with longer blades so there is no loss of power generation in the turbine, Hyde said. The refueling of the reactor was expected to be completed Sunday. Millstone 3 was shut down for refueling after 585 days in operation, the second-best run of any reactor of its kind. The reactor began commercial operation in 1986. Also Thursday, during a public hearing in East Lyme, officials from Dominion Resources, the firm purchasing the plant next month, said they continue to believe two 12-foot-long fuel pin rods discovered missing in December are probably in storage in a California facility. But Millstone officials have been unable to confirm their location. ©2001 MyWay Corp. Copyright © 2000 Myway Corp. ***************************************************************** 9 Turbine cracks delay Millstone restart [Geoff Hausman] *Repairs are key to $1.3 billion sale of facility* By Paul Choiniere Published on 3/2/2001 Patterson, Robert *Inspectors from General Electric examine a blade that has been removed from a turbine at the Millstone 3 plant. * Waterford — Significant cracking has been found in the massive turbine that generates electricity at the Millstone 3 nuclear plant, a development that will require costly repairs and delay the planned restart of the reactor, currently out of service for a refueling. The problem has been found just a month before Millstone Nuclear Power Station is scheduled to be turned over to a new owner, Dominion Resources Inc., which has agreed to pay $1.3 billion for Millstone. David A. Christian, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer at Dominion, said it will be NU's responsibility to get the turbines repaired and back in service. At the time it submitted the winning bid for Millstone, Dominion was aware that General Electric turbines like the one used at Millstone 3 are prone to cracking, Christian said. Time for evaluation Dominion is planning to install all new turbine rotors when the plant is next shut down for a refueling in 2002, Christian said. Pete Hyde, a Millstone spokesman, said engineers were evaluating the seriousness of the cracking and deciding on what steps are needed to repair the damage. He said the repairs will delay the restart of the reactor, which was planned for the end of next week. “We're looking at having the turbine back on line toward the end of March,” Hyde said. The turbine blades, known as buckets in the industry, are affixed to three rotors that, when bolted together, form a single turbine more than 150 feet long. During the current outage two of the rotors were removed from the turbine for scheduled inspection and maintenance, but the cracking was determined serious enough to remove and examine the third rotor as well, Hyde said. It also had cracking. The fan-like blades are affixed to the rotor, or shaft, with a dovetail joint. The cracking was discovered on the rotor at the point where the blades slide into the joint, Hyde said. Christian said that typically the rotor is repaired by filing down it to eliminate the crack and installing a new connecting joint. Last year Arizona Public Service Co. had to replace the rotors at all three of its Palo Verde nuclear plants, located just west of Phoenix. The turbine damage has no connection to reactor safety at the nuclear plant. At pressurized water reactor plants, such as Millstone 3, the reactor coolant and power-generation systems are independent of one another. Water flowing through the reactor is heated to 580 degrees and kept under high pressure to prevent boiling. The superheated water flows through pipes in a steam generator, where a second set of pipes intertwine, but do not connect with them. The transfer of heat causes the water in that secondary system to flash to steam, which is then forced through the turbine, spinning it at 1,800 revolutions per minute. The turbine spins a generator, producing electricity. © 1998-2000 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 10 Nuclear energy's new glow Seattle Times: Nation &World: Friday, March 02, 2001, 12:00 a.m. Pacific by Terry McDermott Los Angeles Times Alan Berner / The Seattle Times Cub Scouts tour a cooling tour at one of the mothballed WPPSS power plants. The $7 billion debacle over the plants cooled off nuclear-plant construction. NEW ORLEANS - A group of power-industry executives gathered here recently to extol the virtues and future of nuclear power. Against all expectations, the power people said, the nuclear industry in the United States is in the midst of a renaissance. It has been rescued from the brink of extinction and made into a desirable business - so prosperous, in fact, that there has developed a vigorous market for used nuclear power plants. The price of these plants has increased a hundredfold in just three years. The main point of the New Orleans meeting, coldly titled "Nuclear Asset Divestiture," was to guess whether prices might go even higher. The best estimate was yes. Many in the industry think the combined challenges of California power shortages, escalating fuel prices and global warming will keep driving up the value of these plants. In the early talk about the comprehensive national energy strategy being developed by the Bush White House, nuclear power is always mentioned. The industry would get subsidies under a bill proposed this week by U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, the Energy Committee chairman. Recently, for the first time in 20 years, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was presented preliminary plans for construction of a power plant. `Just get rid of the beast' Jay Brister, an executive at Entergy, a Louisiana-based utility holding company, said that as recently as three years ago nuclear plants were considered little more than giant headaches. When deregulation in the 1990s prompted electric utilities across the country to sell power-generation facilities, among the things some companies offered for sale were these plants. Nuclear plants built for hundreds of millions of dollars were sold for as little as $10 million. Barth Doroshuk, president of a nuclear consulting company, said the attitude among many utilities was, "Do whatever you have to, just get rid of the beast." Three Mile Island and WPPSS In 1997, when Ed O'Donnell was assigned to manage the sale of his utility company's Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant 1 in Pennsylvania, his first thought was, "What did I do wrong?" Not only did O'Donnell face the prospect of selling a nuclear plant to a market generally skeptical of them, he had the special disadvantage of Three Mile Island's stigma. The plant he was to sell was the sister of Three Mile Island's Plant 2, which on March 28, 1979, was the site of the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history. The accident, occurring at a time of heightened environmental concerns, dragged the industry to a new low point. After that, U.S. utilities fought just to build already licensed plants and keep existing plants from being shut down. Even if the industry had been able to guarantee safety, any hopes of new nuclear construction foundered in a sea of cost overruns. In Washington state in the 1980s, four of five plants being constructed by the Washington Public Power Supply System were abandoned in what at the time was the worst bond default in U.S. history. The $7 billion WPPSS fiasco effectively killed whatever willingness the financial markets had to fund nuclear-plant construction. Fifth of nation's electricity Thereafter, the nuclear industry virtually disappeared from the public stage, although it has been hard at work generating power. A total of 131 commercial nuclear plants had been built and licensed. Twenty-eight of those have been shut down. The remaining 103 produce about one-fifth of the nation's electricity. Sixty-five plants were canceled before construction. That was more or less the state of things when deregulation of electric utilities began in the mid-1990s. "There was," Three Mile Island's O'Donnell said, with considerable understatement, "some degree of notoriety." Bargain-basement buying O'Donnell and his colleagues at GPU, a Northeastern utility, nonetheless set about trying to find a buyer for Plant 1. There turned out to be a pair of buyers then in the market for used nuclear plants, AmerGen, a joint venture of an American and a British utility company, and Entergy. Both companies thought there was money to be made buying clusters of nuclear plants and achieving some economies of scale, especially given that the plants could be picked up with, one industry consultant said, "virtually no cash actually changing hands." AmerGen bought O'Donnell's plant for an announced price of $100 million, 70 percent of which was for fuel to run it. At almost the same time, Entergy bought Boston Edison's Pilgrim plant for $13 million, plus $67 million for fuel. It was a buyer's market and remained that way throughout 1999, when a handful of other, generally smaller, plants were sold for similarly depressed prices. Late that year a Maryland utility became the first in the United States to gain the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's approval to extend the life of a nuclear plant by 20 years. The Calvert Cliffs plant demonstrated that many of the nuclear plants built in the 1960s and '70s could have longer life spans than originally contemplated. AmerGen and Entergy looked like financial geniuses. "With these existing plants, you didn't have to wait 10 years to build something," Brister said. "They're up and running, and from Day 1 the profits go straight to the bottom line." Billion-dollar grand slams The prospect of license renewals drew more potential buyers into the market and ended the bottom-feeding bonanza. Utilities began to hold auctions. The astonishing result was demonstrated early last year when Entergy agreed to buy a pair of New York plants for close to a billion dollars. That standard was quickly eclipsed when another company, Dominion, bid $1.3 billion for the Millstone plant in Connecticut, which had years earlier been featured on the cover of Time magazine as a poster child for nuclear mismanagement. An investment banker advising the seller of Millstone called the auction "a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the World Series." Plants better; waste an issue The high purchase prices were justified, the buyers said, because competing fossil-fuel costs kept rising commensurately, making nuclear power a relative bargain. Over the past 20 years, nuclear-plant efficiency has risen sharply. It used to be that plants were shut down nearly as much as they were running. Now, they routinely operate at 80 percent capacity. Refueling shutdowns that used to last several months have been accomplished in as little as three weeks. Yet not even the most optimistic advocates say the industry will return any time soon to its golden age of the late 1960s, when the promise of nonpolluting, cheap atomic energy fed a construction boom. Many environmentalists remain adamantly opposed to the plants, in large part because there is still no long-term solution for the disposal and safeguarding of nuclear wastes. Nuclear-power stations worldwide currently have about 200,000 tons of waste in temporary storage. New nuclear plants? Since the first nuclear sale in 1998, 13 plants have changed hands, with more transactions to come. With the sales and other mergers, the industry is consolidating. Entergy now owns 14 nuclear plants. Excelon, the parent company of AmerGen, controls 21 and is looking for more. And Excelon recently presented to the NRC the possibility of building a series of new-technology, small nuclear generators. A decision to go ahead with a formal proposal is at least a year away, said Ward Sproat of Excelon. But the fact that people are even talking about building plants is remarkable, Brister said. "If you'd proposed building a new nuclear plant five years ago," he said, "you'd have been committed." *Information from The Associated Press is included in this report. * Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company --> --> ***************************************************************** 11 Give Green Power a Chance Environmental News Network - ENN Direct From Pembina Institute Thursday, March 01, 2001 Tell the powers that be to stop spending our money on dirty energy.....2 clicks to ACT at http://www.EcoAction.ca March 1, 2001 OTTAWA – Governments have been subsidizing dirty and dangerous energy sources in Canada for decades. And despite clear indications that fossil fuel and nuclear energy are sunset industries, federal and provincial governments continue to fund them at the expense of low-impact renewables. “Canada is lagging behind most other countries in developing new markets based on clean, renewable energy sources. As a result, Canadians are being denied access to cleaner air and exciting new economic development activities,” says Brenda Morehouse, Manager of www.EcoAction.ca. The facts speak for themselves: $40.4 Billion Direct federal spending on fossil fuels between 1970 and 1999 $2.8 Billion Federal loans to fossil fuel industry written off since 1970, over and above direct spending $16.6 Billion Total subsidies to the nuclear energy industry by the Government of Canada since 1953 $156 Million Federal subsidy to the Canadian nuclear industry in 2000 $55 Million Fossil fuel R expenditures by the federal and provincial governments in 2000 $12 Million Total average federal funding for renewable energy each year This is clearly NOT a level playing field. The Pembina Institute is calling on federal and provincial governments to implement a comprehensive package of policy, legislation, and financial incentives that will strengthen both the demand and supply for renewable energy in Canada. For example, the Institute has joined with Suncor Energy to facilitate an unlikely coalition of industry and environmental groups advocating for change, the Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition (CARE). Developing Canada’s low-impact, renewable energy capabilities will have substantial benefits for the environment, the economy, and our health. For every million dollars invested, an average of 36.3 jobs are created in the energy efficiency sector, 12.2 jobs in the renewable energy sector, and only 7.3 jobs in the development of conventional energy. Currently, air pollution, largely from fossil fuel use, kills 16,000 Canadians prematurely each year and results in hundreds of thousands of incidents of illness, absenteeism and asthma attacks – costing the economy billions of dollars. Moreover, Canada has signed the Kyoto Protocol to manage greenhouse gas emissions, and meeting Kyoto’s targets will require us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. 60 seconds and 2 clicks. That’s all it takes for you to tell key provincial, territorial and federal officials what they should do to allow Canada to become a global leader in the new energy economy. And www.EcoAction.ca lets you do it. EcoAction.ca is part of the next generation of Internet tools. It brings democracy closer to home and makes environmental action easy for everyone. Grounded in the Pembina Institute’s solid research and expertise on energy and environment issues, EcoAction.ca offers ‘2-click’ email actions, downloadable postcard and sticker campaigns, strategies for Internet action, and important background materials and links. Join our Green Power Action campaign leading up to Earth Day. Take a minute. Click twice. Contact: Brenda Morehouse, Manager, EcoAction.ca (613) 235-6288, brendam@pembina.org Andrew Pape-Salmon, Director, Eco-Tech, (604) 904-8568, andrewp@pembina.org Heidi Lasi, Coordinator, Communications, (613)235-6288, heidil@pembina.org For more information, contact: Heidi Lasi Promotions and Marketing Coordinator Pembina Institute (613) 235 6288 ***************************************************************** 12 Consortium pledges $22M to land nuclear fusion plant March 1, 2001 Consortium pledges $22M to land nuclear fusion plant $12B research project: David Akin, with files from James Wallace National Post A consortium that includes private companies and unions is contributing $22-million to help Canada land a $12-billion international nuclear fusion power project. The members of the consortium will be identified in an announcement to be made this morning in Toronto. The contribution is part of Canada's bid to beat France and Japan to be the host country for The Iter Project, an international scientific and research organization set up to discover commercial applications for fusion energy. The Iter organization, based in Germany, intends to establish a research and development facility, possibly with a prototype fusion power plant, by 2003 and it is expected to decide later this year where to put that facility. The plant is one of the largest research projects ever undertaken. It is expected to cost $12-billion and create 70,000 jobs. Its suggested headquarters would be in Clarington, Ont., a town east of Toronto, which is near the Pickering nuclear energy facilities operated by Ontario Power Generation. While most of the jobs and investment associated with the project would flow to Ontario, the rest of Canada would also benefit in the form of research jobs -- likely within Canadian universities and government laboratories -- and additional investment capital. Iter -- from the Latin phrase for "the way" -- was created in 1988 after the European Union, the Soviet Union, Japan and the United States agreed on the need to pool their financial and engineering resources to design a commercially viable fusion facility. Today's announcement is expected to revitalize Canada's bid for the project. Fusion researchers in Canada had been disheartened by a decision Ottawa made in 1999 to stop funding the Canadian Centre for Fusion Magnetics in Montreal. At the time, Robert Parker, a senior researcher at the U.S. fusion program and the former director of the Iter program in Germany, said Canada's decision to close down the Montreal facility would be poorly received in the international fusion research community. "This is a tragedy that Canada is getting out of the game, especially because Canada was viewed within Iter as an ideal site," Mr. Parker had said. As a result of Ottawa's decision, many of Canada's top fusion researchers emigrated to pursue their work in other countries. In the last two years, the federal and Ontario governments have each contributed $3-million to Iter Canada. Ontario Power Generation Inc. has given $6-million to Iter, and a variety of labour unions and private sector groups have contributed $5-million. Today's announcement involves an additional $22-million for the project. However, should Canada's bid to host the project succeed, Canadian governments, union organizations and companies would have to raise $1.5-billion. Foreign sources would contribute $10.5-billion over a period of several years. Fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two light atomic nuclei combine or are fused together to form a new heavier atomic nuclei. Energy is released as a by-product. Fusion is the energy source that powers the sun and other stars. Researchers have been working on fusion projects for more than 50 years. To date, researchers have produced a fusion reaction that lasted for less than one second. Typically, two hydrogen isotopes need to be subjected to heat in excess of 50,000,000C before they fuse. While fusion is widely seen as a more environmentally friendly source of energy, critics say it can leave dangerous radioactive waste. "It has [environmental] problems of its own. It may never be economical. I think it's a misplaced investment," said Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. "We have more important things to spend our money on ... to solve our energy problem. Copyright © 2001 National Post Online | Privacy Policy | ***************************************************************** 13 Ontario Power Generation, nuclear report cards released TORONTO, March 1 /CNW/ - Ontario Power Generation today released report cards, benchmarking the performance of its nuclear operations against nuclear industry standards, for the month ending January 2001. The documents measure program effectiveness on a number of key indicators, focusing on public and employee safety and environmental and production performance. The quarterly figures cited in the report cards are for the fourth quarter of 2000, unless otherwise indicated. The report cards, which measure such things as production, radiation exposure, safety issues and other performance indicators, are made available to a wide range of groups, including the communities in which Ontario Power Generation's nuclear generating stations are located, and the media. The material is also available at Ontario Power Generation information centres, on the Ontario Power Generation web site (www.ontariopowergeneration.com), and by "Fax-on-Demand", by calling 1-800-238- 7718, then asking for story code-10430 Ontario Power Generation is a major North American electricity generating company, based in Ontario. The company's goal is to expand into new electricity markets, while operating in a safe, open and environmentally responsible manner. -30- For further information: Media Relations, (416) 592-4008, 1-877-592-4008 ONTARIO POWER GENERATION INC. has 71 releases in this database. ** © 2001 Canada NewsWire, all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 14 Hill demand on uranium mine water By CATHERINE HOCKLEY and PHILLIP COOREY 02mar01 BEFORE he approves the Honeymoon uranium mine, federal Environment Minister Robert Hill wants an assurance that radioactive waste dumped in an underground aquifer cannot contaminate groundwater. Senator Hill was expected to give approval last month to Canadian-based Southern Cross Resources' mine in South Australia's north-east, but he put off his decision, seeking more information on its operation – despite the lodging of an Environmental Impact Statement. The controversial in situ leaching (ISL) technique is proposed for Honeymoon – the third operational uranium mine in SA. In the process, sulphuric acid and oxygen is pumped into the mining aquifer to dissolve uranium into the groundwater, which is then piped to the surface. Containing radioactive pollutants, the groundwater will be returned to the mining aquifer. Yesterday Senator Hill told *The Advertiser* he had asked the company to: DO tests to define boundaries of the aquifer to avoid leakage. DEMONSTRATE physical and chemical changes in the liquid waste when it is returned to the aquifer and predict when groundwater would return to normal. PROVE a proposed monitoring system would be effective in detecting unexpected movement of mining liquids and waste. Senator Hill said the stalling of the project had nothing to do with pushing its start-up past the federal election. "If they can (conduct the tests) within the next couple of months, we can respond quickly after," he said. "I don't think it's a vote issue either way. `The problem was that the issue of waste disposal wasn't adequately addressed in the previous work that's been done." Senator Hill said once Southern Cross had carried out the tests as dictated by the terms of reference, he would then need an independent assessment of the results. "I must satisfy myself that the waste can be adequately contained and it will return to a composition similar to the original aquifer chemical composition within a reasonable period of time," he said. Senator Hill said the time taken to resolve the issue was "in the hands of the company". The Australian Conservation Foundation's David Noonan said yesterday the minister's request for more information showed the EIS process had "failed", "Why wasn't the information in the EIS originally?" he said. "And why has trialling of the mine been allowed to go ahead if there are concerns?" ***************************************************************** 15 Derailment hits main line BBC News | SCOTLAND | Friday, 2 March, 2001, 16:51 GMT London has been disrupted after a freight train carrying empty nuclear fuel flasks derailed. British Nuclear Fuels said the train was involved in a "low speed minor derailment" at the Torness Power Station, in East Lothian, at 0945GMT and no-one was injured. The company said the Direct Rail Services train was travelling at 5mph and had been carrying three empty nuclear fuel flasks. The East Coast Main Line, which was closed completely for a while, has been plagued with problems following last year's Hatfield crash. GNER said that one track had reopened and that services - already affected following the rail crash in Selby, North Yorkshire - were subject to delays. The train derailed at Torness Power Station Two of the wagons on the train derailed and BNFL said one of these was carrying a nuclear flask. The company said the emergency services had been called and the area was monitored as a precautionary measure. A spokesman said there was "absolutely no damage" to the flask. Doug McRoberts, a spokesman for British Energy which owns and operates the Torness plant, said the train was reversing when the wagons came a few inches off the line. He said: "We have plenty of capacity to store fuel and we don't think it will take a long time to get the wagons back on to the rail line. "The train had been reversing into the railhead when the wagons at the back end became derailed." Used nuclear fuel Janine Claber, spokeswoman for Direct Rail Services, said all spent nuclear fuel is transported in heavily shielded, purpose-built containers known as flasks, each weighing more than 50 tonnes. A spokesman for British Transport Police said the train was travelling at a low speed north from Carlisle. It had been used to take used nuclear fuel to the Sellafield plant in Cumbria. A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said the derailment posed no threat of contamination. He said: "The area was quickly cordoned off, train services were suspended. Officials said there was no contamination risk "Experts from Torness nuclear power station went to the location. "After tests they confirmed that there was no external contamination and the integrity of the flasks had not been breached." Recent problems caused by severe weather in Scotland and northern England have also added to the misery for cross-border rail travellers. The incident came amid continued concern over the safety of the railways. A major programme of track inspections and re-railing was undertaken in Scotland and England after the Hatfield crash which resulted in four deaths. BBC News Online ***************************************************************** 16 California's Problem The Salt Lake Tribune -- ** *Friday, March 2, 2001* So, "the mayor of Los Angeles wants Utah to build a power plant that would supply electricity to California, and Gov. Mike Leavitt will likely try to accommodate him" (The Tribune, Feb. 10). Why? Because Californians continue to refuse to build new plants and accept the negative impacts associated with them. This is reminiscent of the days of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada. Lest we forget, nuclear tests were always conducted when the wind was blowing away from Los Angeles into Southern Utah because, as reported (Tribune on Dec. 31, 1999), the Atomic Energy Commission had determined that the people of southern Utah were "a low use segment of the population." Generations of this "low use segment of the population," or Downwinders as they are now known, were literally sacrificed to the effects of radioactive fallout in order to protect those living in California. Now it appears that this "low use segment of the population" will be exposed to the adverse effects associated with a major power plant in order to once again protect the "high use segment" of the population living in California. Gov. Leavitt, who is so adamant in his opposition to nuclear waste storage near the populated areas of the Wasatch Front, would do well to remember his roots and show equal concern for the well being of the citizens of southern Utah who are now promised that the impact of a major power plant poses no danger, just as they were assured by the government decades ago that exposure to radioactive fallout was safe. If Los Angeles needs the power, it should build the plant in California and import Utah's low-sulfur, high-energy coal to fuel it. After all, if the plant is so safe and the impact so limited, then the citizens of Los Angeles should welcome it and the electricity that they so badly need. RONALD W. MORTENSEN Bountiful © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 17 Russia's plans for used fuel FT.com | News and Analysis | World Article By Astrid Wendlandt in Moscow Published: March 1 2001 21:17GMT | Last Updated: March 2 2001 03:43GMT Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy is lobbying parliament to approve legislation which would allow it to earn up to $20bn (£13.80bn) over 10 years from imports of spent nuclear fuel. Russia hopes to offer facilities for the storage of used nuclear fuel to Asian and European countries looking for facilities abroad. The ministry says Switzerland, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Bulgaria and Hungary have all expressed interest. "It is very difficult for small states to find a storage location for spent nuclear fuel," says Boris Nikipelov, special adviser to Russia's minister of atomic energy. "It's much better for them to ship it to a large country like us which has a lot of experience in handling spent nuclear fuel." The ministry plans to import up to 20,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel over the next 10 years - a tenth of today's worldwide stock. It would store it for 20-25 years and re-process it into re-usable fuel for its own nuclear plants. Mr Nikipelov says Russia would begin by using its current storage capacity of 3,000 tonnes in Krasnoyarsk-26, a closed city in central Siberia. It plans to spend part of the revenues from imports to build another storage site in the same location, as well as a new reprocessing plant. The legislation will receive a second parliamentary reading on March 22. If the law is passed, it would make Russia the first country in the world to offer long-term storage to other nuclear states. British Nuclear Fuels and Cogema of France reprocess nuclear fuel for several countries, including Japan and Germany, but then ship it back. The shipments have been subject to increasingly intense criticism from environmentalists. David Kyd from the International Atomic Energy Agency says the majority of the world's 31 nuclear power-users leave their spent nuclear fuel to cool in ponds for longer than they need - over 10 years - as a short-term solution to their storage problem. "It's a permanent headache for countries using nuclear power," he says. The US, which is opposed to reprocessing for ideological reasons, is considering storing about 50,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel in Yucca Mountain in Nevada. But most countries do not have the landmass of the US. Mr Kyd believes the Russian government's expected income of $20bn is "a legitimate figure". However, "whether it can be realised is another issue". The Russian plan has triggered strong protests from environmentalists and regional parliaments in the Urals and Siberia. They argue that Russia does not yet have the infrastructure and technology to safely transport and store such large quantities of spent nuclear fuel. "Radiation from spent nuclear fuel is very high," says Thomas Nilsen, a researcher at the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian-Russian environmental group. "Since the fuel would travel by train through heavily populated areas, it would be open for terrorists to blow it up," he said. To rally support for the law, Russia's ministry of atomic energy is promising the country's legislators it will use at least half the proceeds from the imports to clean up contaminated land in Siberia and in the Urals. It would also compensate those who have been exposed to radiation, and improve the safety of existing nuclear plants. At least 20,000 people have been to exposed to high levels of radioactivity due to loose safety practices at Mayak, the country's sole reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel in Ozersk in the southern Urals. Mayak was the main production facility for weapons-grade plutonium during the Soviet era and would continue to be used to process nuclear spent fuel from other countries. Mayak currently reprocesses fuel for Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. Accidents at the plant during the 1950s and 1960s have turned the surrounding region into the world's biggest nuclear graveyard. ***************************************************************** 18 Murkowski Energy Bill Increases Corporate Dependence *Feb. 28, 2001* on Taxpayer Subsidies * Incentives Inadequate to Stem Demand, Reduce Reliance on Foreign Oil* WASHINGTON, DC -- An energy plan unveiled this week by Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) would do little or nothing to address America’s energy problems, despite the fact that it calls for spending billions in taxpayer dollars on corporate subsidies, according to a Public Citizen analysis of the bill. Many of the billion-dollar subsidies included in Murkowski’s bill (S. 388 and S. 389) would encourage the use of dangerous nuclear facilities and inefficient oil wells. Missing are increased fuel efficiency standards and other conservation strategies — a glaring omission considering that two-thirds of America’s oil consumption is used in transportation. The bill calls for opening up the sensitive Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, even though a 6 percent increase in auto fuel efficiency standards would, within three years, equal the total amount of recoverable oil estimated to be in the refuge. The bill lavishes more than $1 billion on the nuclear industry, including $750 million in "production incentives," which would encourage nuclear reactors to cut corners on safety to increase production, Public Citizen believes. In addition, $20 million a year would be handed out to nuclear facilities for making investments to improve their efficiency by a paltry 1 percent. The bill also directs Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to seek ways to subsidize the high cost of nuclear power by any means necessary, including bestowing federal loan guarantees, federal price guarantees and special tax considerations, and extending taxpayer-funded insurance of the industry in case of Chernobyl-types of accidents, and by direct federal government investment. In one example of explicit promotion of government-subsidized nuclear energy, the bill adds $25 million to the Department of Energy’s budget to map out the design and development of new nuclear energy facilities. "This measure is a lavish gift to energy corporations, once again at the expense of taxpayers and consumers," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "We need to address our problems by taking serious conservation measures, not by offering billions of dollars to industry." Increased dependence on nuclear power will create more stockpiles of high-level radioactive waste — a problem the bill does not adequately address. For example, the legislation offers tax credits to utilities that store nuclear waste and would commit public dollars to research dangerous and discredited technologies for "recycling" nuclear waste. The oil, gas, and electric power generating industries, however, receive the lion’s share of the estimated $23 billion of taxpayer handouts. Power generators — whose profits were one the highest of any industry group last year, with shareholder returns approaching 60 percent — would receive more than $1.1 billion to use more coal to produce electricity. The bill also provides incentives for oil and gas companies to drill on federal land. In addition to opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, cash royalty payments for drilling on public land would no longer be required, and offshore, deep-water rigs wouldn’t have to pay royalties if the price of oil falls below a certain level. An additional $300 million would be provided to oil companies for extracting oil difficult to reach. When the numerous accounting and tax credits are taken into account, taxpayers would be subsidizing these oil and gas companies to the tune of more than $10 billion. The provisions for conservation incentives and renewable energy investments pale in comparison to the subsidies lavished on nuclear and fossil fuels. "Handing taxpayer money over to energy companies won’t do anything to address America’s dependence on foreign oil," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "Even if encouraging more drilling on public land produces a million more barrels of oil a day, it will represent little more than 1 percent of world oil production and have no impact on the OPEC cartel. A more sensible approach would be genuine investment in reducing demand through energy conservation and increased investment in renewable technologies, not renewing handouts to oil companies." Public Citizen ***************************************************************** 19 Statement By Cena Swisher of Taxpayers For Common Sense U.S. Newswire 26 Feb 11:41 Statement By Cena Swisher, Program Director Of Taxpayers For Common Sense, On The "National Energy Security Act Of 2001" To: National Desk Contact: Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, 202-546-8500, ext. 110 WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement by Cena Swisher, program director of Taxpayers for Common Sense, on the "National Energy Security Act of 2001": This bill will not solve the energy crisis, but will make already profitable companies even wealthier. The legislation subsidizes them for the typical costs of doing business. The oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries don't need a helping hand from taxpayers. Contrary to news reports, the current bill is very similar to initial drafts have been circulating around Washington. While some provisions may have slightly changed, the overall bill remains the same. It is still a massive giveaway to energy companies that throw millions of dollars in campaign cash at Washington politicians. Senator Murkowski has publicly stated that there is no corporate welfare in this bill. However, the Murkowski bill dishes out at least $21 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to energy companies seeing record profits. Throwing bags of money at these companies won't solve the current energy crisis. Most of the subsidies in this bill have proven to be expensive failures of past administrations and will do nothing to benefit taxpayers or ratepayers. In the last 50 years, Washington has given big energy companies over $111 billion for research and development programs that have done nothing to prevent our current energy woes. We have learned that throwing billions of dollars at the problems didn't make a lick of difference. It is illogical to throw money at programs that don't work and fail to provide a fair return to taxpayers on their investment. Highlights of the bill: -- Requiring the federal government to pay half the cost for installing new coal technology in power plants. -- Paying nuclear power plants $500 million over 10 years to produce more electricity. -- Expanding a program to recover oil from low-producing wells that will cost taxpayers $300 million over five years. -- Reducing oil royalty payments for deep-water oil and gas developments. -- Providing a tax credit for non-conventional sources of energy. A complete analysis of the bill will be available online at http://www.taxpayer.netor by calling 202-546-8500, ext. 110 by 2 p.m. this afternoon. ------ Taxpayers for Common Sense is a non-partisan voice for American taxpayers. TCS is dedicated to cutting wasteful spending and subsidies in order to achieve a responsible and efficient government that lives within its means. Copyright 2001, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 20 T-REX provides information on nuclear shipments Web site, toll-free number available *March 01, 2001* By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER Though the transportation of radioactive waste and materials is highly regulated, the information about shipments can be cloaked in secrecy or clouded by a maze of federal agencies and reports. In 1988, an electronic information center was launched as a one-stop, online destination for those who want to learn more about the shipments. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and General Electric Vallecitos Nuclear Center in Sunol are among the Bay Area facilities that ship and receive radioactive materials. Born out of a transportation research institute at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, the Transportation Resource Exchange Center -- or T-REX -- is operated under an agreement with the U.S. Energy Department and supported by grants from several federal agencies. The Web address is www.trex-center.org and the center has a toll-free hot line at (877) 287-TREX. Nancy Bennett, T-REX program manager, said information about the shipments can be scattered among different agencies, and center staff respond to telephone and e-mail queries about information that cannot be found on the site. "It is a strange and mysterious subject for many people," said Bennett, and the site is intended "to break it down into basic facets and components." Subject areas on the site include carriers, packaging, materials, routes, health, environment and safety. No single Internet resource is yet available that allows a person to type in an address and find out about the location, frequency and variety of each shipment of radioactive materials that passes near that address. "We don't have a big reference book with every single route," Bennett said. But there are links on the site to other databases with information about preferred routes for radioactive shipments. Specifics about some defense-related nuclear shipments are hidden from the public to avoid sabotage, and even the shipment dates of highly irradiated spent fuel rods from nuclear power reactors are concealed until after the shipment, Bennett said. There are several Bay Area highways used for radioactive shipments: Interstate 80 from Nevada to I-580 north of Oakland, I-205 from I-5 to I-580, I-280 from I-680 to I-380 in San Francisco, I-580 from I-5 southwest of Tracy to I-680 in Dublin, and I-680 from I-80 in Cordelia to I-280 in San Jose are among the preferred routes for radioactive shipments. I-880 from I-980 in Oakland to I-238, and I-980 in the Oakland area from I-580 to I-880 are also among the preferred routes. Livermore Lab, a federal weapons lab, ships high-level radioactive waste to the Energy Department's Nevada Test Site, and the lab also ships chemicals and low-level radioactive waste to a variety of sites. "We ship in very small quantities," said Bert Heffner, a Livermore Lab spokesman. The lab has built up a stock of "legacy waste," or nuclear waste produced during lab operations in past years, that is being stored on-site while the lab awaits the approval of a federal repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and the start of shipments to another radioactive waste facility in New Mexico. The Vallecitos facility in Sunol receives, packages and ships radioactive medicines and also receives and ships or stores spent nuclear fuel rods. Since 1979 Vallecitos has received about 35 fuel rod shipments and sent out about 22 fuel rod shipments, General Electric officials have said. The center receives about one or two rod shipments per year, on average. NewsChoice.com ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Plan Takes $700 Million From DOE ABQjournal: Thursday, March 1, 2001 Albuquerque Journal--> Michael Coleman--> By *Journal Washington Bureau* WASHINGTON — The Energy Department's budget would be slashed by $700 million next year under a budget President Bush sent to Congress on Wednesday, but the effect on national laboratories in New Mexico and other states remained unclear. Defense-related spending by DOE, much of it concentrated at the nation's nuclear laboratories, including the Los Alamos and Sandia labs in New Mexico, would receive about $300 million extra under the Bush plan. Included in that additional spending would be $275 million for maintaining the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. The Bush budget blueprint would boost the budget of that program, called stockpile stewardship, 5 percent, to $5.8 billion. But the Bush budget plan, still lacking much line-item detail, also suggests reducing the overall Energy Department budget from $19.7 billion this year to $19 billion next year. The bulk of the cuts would come in "nondefense" areas of the DOE budget, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said Wednesday. Programs to clean up contaminated nuclear sites and research on renewable forms of energy — with some of that work conducted in New Mexico — would be especially hard hit, he said. Stockpile stewardship, which would not be cut under the Bush plan, still needs more money, Domenici said. The stewardship program relies on cutting-edge computer science to ensure that the weapons still work in the absence of real nuclear testing. Such testing is no longer conducted in the United States. The Bush administration last month proposed cutting the stockpile program by at least $150 million next year. But Domenici said he convinced Bush budget officials an increase was needed. Domenici said Wednesday a $275 million increase is a good start, but is not enough. "But it's a lot better than some of the other programs that got cut," Domenici said in an interview. Domenici, who also serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the overall budget for Energy was too low and that he will work hard to bolster spending. John Gustafson, spokesman for Los Alamos National Laboratory, said it was premature for him to comment on the Bush budget because spending priorities for the national laboratories have yet to be determined by the DOE. Joe Davis, spokesman for the Energy Department, said the department will have to live with the Bush budget plan. He said more details of the Bush budget will be released in April. "It's a time of budget belt tightening, but we think we can do a lot of good work," Davis said. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said it doesn't make sense to cut alternative energy research when the nation is facing an energy crunch. "If we are going to seriously address our energy problems in the future this is not the time to cut research and development into alternative energy," Bingaman said. A budget summary released by the White House questioned some research programs conducted through partnerships between DOE and private industry. The agency will suspend or review some of the research agreements while it determines the "appropriate role of the Department and private sector," the summary said. The summary suggested that budget cuts would be intended, at least in part, to spur better management. "The Department faces major challenges in the management of its programs," the summary said. "According to (federal reviews) less than 10 percent of major programs initiated by the DOE are completed on time and on budget. Almost 40 percent of these projects are never even completed." The Energy Department has been subjected to intense congressional criticism in recent years because of security violations at the national nuclear labs and cost overruns at nuclear cleanup sites. Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal ***************************************************************** 2 ORNL nuclear reactor to get $2 million beryllium reflector March 2, 2001 By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel senior writer OAK RIDGE -- A major milestone in the refurbishment of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's nuclear reactor is expected today when workers install a new $2 million beryllium reflector. The beryllium reflector is one of the most important components at the High Flux Isotope Reactor. The metal structure surrounds the reactor core and reflects the neutrons generated there, creating a neutron concentration that's important for research experiments and production of isotopes for industry and medicine. "We're very excited," said Dr. Jim Roberto, an associate director at ORNL. "We still have a lot of work to do, but we also have a tremendous opportunity." The High Flux Isotope Reactor has been out of commission for the past five months for repairs and maintenance to modernize the 37-year-old reactor and boost its research capabilities. Some of those activities were stalled late last year after a leak of radioactive tritium was discovered in an underground waste line. Officials said the tritium contamination has declined significantly, and a new section of pipeline will be installed this summer to eliminate the problem. Restart of the Oak Ridge reactor is now tentatively set for September or October -- about six months behind the original schedule. "The wonderful thing is to be back at work," Roberto said. On Thursday, laboratory workers were installing the cage assembly that supports the beryllium reflector. The aluminum cage was replaced for the first time since the reactor was built in the early 1960s. The new beryllium reflector will be the fourth in reactor history and the first one installed since 1983. The High Flux Isotope Reactor is one of the world's top research reactors, with a replacement value of about $1 billion. As part of the modernization program, the lab has installed new cooling towers, additional beam tubes and a cold source that will slow neutron movement for special research experiments. About $40 million is being spent on reactor maintenance and installation of new research capabilities. The refurbished reactor is supposed to complement the Spallation Neutron Source -- a $1.4 billion accelerator-based research complex under construction -- and make ORNL the world's leading center for neutron sciences. Frank Munger can be reached at 865-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 3 SRS, engineers aim to inspire youngsters *Web posted Friday, March 2, 2001 By Brandon Haddock *Staff Writer* On most days, James Kupar finds new ways to clean pollution at Savannah River Site, using tools more or less typical of the engineer's trade: valves, underground wells and the like. James Kupar, a senior environmental engineer at Savannah River Site, fields questions from pupils at Greenbrier Middle School as part of National Engineers Week. SRS workers have visited 58 schools in 10 counties to help educate youths. *JENNIFER FULLER/STAFF* But Thursday was not like most days, so Mr. Kupar added ice cream to his arsenal. Armed with a cooler full of soft drinks and ice cream sandwiches, the environmental engineer addressed seventh-graders at Columbia County's Greenbrier Middle School. He was one of about 230 employees of the federal nuclear-weapons site who have spent recent weeks teaching youngsters about the importance of the engineer's craft. SRS workers have visited 58 schools in 10 counties to educate middle-schoolers about engineering. The program, held annually in honor of National Engineers Week, began Feb. 20 and ends today. ``The future is increasingly reliant on technology, and that means a tremendous need for engineers,'' stated Ernie Levinson, chairman of the site's National Engineers Week activities. ``It's extremely important that we capture young people's imagination and show them how much fun science and technology-related careers can be. ``That's the only way we're going to ensure that there are enough future engineers to meet the challenge.'' Kenny Ellis watches the measurement of his structure at Greenbrier Middle School. Pupils tried to make the tallest toothpicks-and-marshmallows structure. *JENNIFER FULLER/STAFF* The ``teach-ins'' also expose pupils to the purpose behind their science lessons, said teacher Lisa Powell, whose classes played host to Mr. Kupar. ``It's wonderful that they can see the real-world applications of concepts that we are teaching in science,'' Ms. Powell said. Especially, according to Ms. Powell's third-period pupils, when those applications involve ice cream. Hands shot skyward like bottle rockets after Mr. Kupar looked for a volunteer to build a model of ground-water pollution - using ice as bedrock, Sprite as ground water, lemonade ice cream as the subsurface and cookie crumbs as topsoil. Robert Wright was the lucky assistant, earning for his help the tasty experiment - which was ``contaminated'' with a dash of orange soft drink - and a bottle of Sprite to wash it down. Later, as they snacked on Mr. Kupar's ice cream sandwiches, pupils indulged in a bit of structural engineering, competing to build the tallest edifice using marshmallows and toothpicks. Kenny Ellis, 13, won with a skyscraper standing 26 centimeters tall. He maximized his limited building materials by pinching marshmallows in half, allowing him to double the number of joints in his structure. ``I just wanted to make it tall,'' Kenny said. Mr. Kupar recalled his own 11th-grade science teacher as inspiration for his lecture. That one teacher propelled him toward a career in engineering, Mr. Kupar said. ``If I even make one child think more about science and engineering, it's worth it,'' said Mr. Kupar, whose son Charlie attends Greenbrier Middle. ``You never know what their little catalyst might be.'' Reach Brandon Haddockat (706) 823-3409 . All contents © 1996 - 2001 *The Augusta Chronicle*. All rights ***************************************************************** 4 SURVIVOR OF A-BOMB PRESSES FOR BENEFITS Chicago Tribune Traditional Version - Nation/World [Chicago Tribune] March 4, 2001 *NAGASAKI MAN SAYS JAPAN RESPONSIBLE FOR MEDICAL BILLS* By Uli Schmetzer Tribune Foreign Correspondent *March 02, 2001* NAGASAKI, Japan Fifty-six years after an atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" blasted him off his bicycle and destroyed his city, retired mail carrier Sumiteru Taniguchi is still fighting for compensation. The thin, somber man does not want money to assuage the pain or the permanent scars he suffered in the atomic explosion. He only wants the Japanese government to pay all of the medical expenses he and other survivors may incur before they die. "The United States dropped the bomb, but the Japanese government was responsible for making others use nuclear weapons. Our government takes care of former servicemen, but it doesn't take care of us," Taniguchi said. The "us" he was referring to are the 297,000 survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs that were dropped Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945. Many of these survivors are still inching their way through Japan's bureaucratic labyrinth for certification that their medical costs are the direct result of injuries sustained in the bombings. Taniguchi, 72, has become a role model for many Japanese. Not only did he survive the devastation of Nagasaki, he is also living proof of the horrors of nuclear war. A photograph taken shortly after the blast shows Taniguchi, then 16, with the skin of his back, arms and buttocks burned away. His image has become a gruesome warning of the consequences of a nuclear exchange between nations. Many people are surprised Taniguchi is still alive. More amazing, Taniguchi has been a heavy smoker since he was 19. "If I die from lung cancer the government will be finally able to say, `You see, it had nothing to do with the bomb,'" he said with a grin. He walks ramrod straight, but his back and buttocks are covered with a skinless web of bumps, blisters and scars. At 11:02 a.m. on Aug. 9, 1945, Taniguchi was delivering mail on his bicycle. He was about a mile from Ground Zero when Fat Man exploded 1,500 feet above Urakami, a suburb of Nagasaki. According to U.S. records, the primary target had been the industrial city of Kokura, but visibility was poor because of thick cloud cover. The crew of the B-29 flew on to their secondary target, the Mitsubishi shipyards at Nagasaki. Clouds also obscured Nagasaki, but a break in the cloud cover suddenly appeared and the crew spotted the Mitsubishi Armament Works at Urakami and released Fat Man. The blast flattened Urakami and much of Nagasaki. The intense heat of the fireball melted glass and bricks; some of the effects are still visible today. The blast caught Taniguchi in the back. The force sent him flying off his bike. When he picked himself up moments later, dazed, his ears ringing, the urban world around him had been flattened. The only things he saw were dust and rubble. "I remember a flash of light and a big bang. The ground was shaking for a long time. Later I walked 200 yards uphill. Then I collapsed. I was so weak, but I felt no pain. I saw many bodies, but couldn't tell if they were men or women. People were dying in the street. It was all so unreal. At that time my skin had still not come off," he recalled. According to government statistics, 150,000 people died in Nagasaki, half of them instantly, the rest from radiation poisoning. Within 1.3 miles of the epicenter, everyone suffered severe burns. "Someone finally took me home to my grandfather. Weeks later the skin peeled off, leaving just flesh. The skin has never grown back. There was no hospital, no medication and we didn't know what to do. So grandfather dabbed cooking oil on the burns. "People said the bomb had been poisoned. We boiled dried persimmon leaves for a long time and drank the liquid. We also drank vinegar to get rid of the poison," he recalled. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, and Taniguchi spent the next 21 months on his stomach and another 30 months in hospitals. A U.S. Army photographer, part of a fact-finding mission to gauge the results of the atomic blast, took Taniguchi's photo in a makeshift shelter for the injured. Few people outside Japan were aware that the thin teenage boy with the horrible burns to his back was alive and struggling to lead a near-normal life. When he was sufficiently recovered, Taniguchi went back to his job as a mail carrier. When he turned 24, his family and friends helped him find a partner for an arranged marriage. "It was difficult for me to find a wife. My wife never saw me before the wedding and was not told about my injuries," he said. "She cried a lot on our honeymoon. It wasn't the scars so much that frightened her, but fear how long I would survive. People were dying all the time from the aftereffects of the bomb in those days," he said. But he survived. The couple had a son and a daughter. Today, Taniguchi is a grandfather. Neither his children nor his grandchildren have any genetic defects. Since he retired six years ago, Taniguchi has dedicated his life to the battle for justice for all survivors and a global movement for a nuclear-free world. Much of his efforts are directed against a government he accuses of having delayed medical compensation for decades. For the last survivors the issue has become urgent: Most of them are old-age pensioners like Taniguchi and cannot afford their own medical expenses. "Some Japanese people argue we should pressure the United States for money. Personally, I feel even if we receive more money, those who lost their lives will not return. But rather it is our duty to let people know what happens when you use nuclear weapons," he said. ***************************************************************** 5 NRC okays Spent fuel rod storage expansion for CP&L NC News Wire [newsobserver.com, Raleigh, NC] MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2001 RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Federal nuclear regulators cleared the way Thursday for Carolina Power &Light Co. to open additional spent fuel rod storage pools at its Wake County power plant. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board said objections from the Orange County Board of Commissioners to the additional storage had been satisfied. The licensing board is an agency of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which ruled in February that a staff order allowing the pool expansion should be stopped until the licensing board ruled. CP wants to use the two pools to supplement two already being used at the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant to store spent fuel from its three nuclear plants in North Carolina and South Carolina. The utility already stores spent fuel rods in two pools at the plant and the additional pools would be in the same building. The first two pools have been in use since 1989.  Utility spokesman Mike Hughes said the board rulings "confirm that the plan is safe." Hughes said the utility may be able to load spent fuel rods into the third pool by mid-summer but didn't have any plans to use the fourth pool until 2015. The NRC staff had said there were no significant hazards involved in storing rods in the two additional pools that were constructed years ago but not authorized for use. Orange County had wanted the licensing board to hold a hearing on the risk of nuclear accidents, but the board's order ended the proceeding. © Copyright 2001, The News & Observer. newsobserver.com ***************************************************************** 6 Armed to Excess March 2, 2001 By BOB KERREY [P] resident Bush's announcement in his first address to Congress that it is time to "discard cold war relics and reduce our own nuclear forces to reflect today's needs" is an important step in the right direction. The risk of a nuclear attack still poses the greatest single threat to our survival. Implementing steep cuts in global nuclear arms is essential to our national interest. But since 1991, when the treaty known as Start I was signed, reductions in Washington's and Moscow's arsenals of nuclear weapons have been stalled by a Democratic president who was afraid of the political consequences of "unilateral" reductions and a Republican Congress that changed federal law to prevent the president from going below Start I levels. The result is that our arsenal is well beyond levels needed to destroy any nation that threatens the United States. We currently have 7,200 strategic warheads that could be launched against any potential enemy. Consider this: Just one of our Ohio class Trident submarines can deliver 192 separate warheads to individual targets in Russia, each of which is roughly 6 to 30 times as powerful as the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Maintaining excessively high numbers of strategic weapons is not only costly to American taxpayers, but it forces the Russians to maintain a strategic and tactical arsenal far beyond what they can afford to maintain. Russian military leaders have been urging their political leaders to reduce their arsenal to a thousand warheads or less for this very reason. Part of the reason that Congress has not been pressing for steep reductions is that members of Congress have never seen the actual missile targeting plans developed by the military in response to presidential directives. For twelve years in the Senate — eight of which I served on the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence — I tried without success to get this briefing. In fact, I was unable to find a single member of the Senate who had been briefed. Mr. Bush should order his military commanders to brief members of Congress on the targeting plans. I have no doubt that President Bush would gain Republican and Democratic support if more were known about the details. A map of Russia that contained thousands of red circles each indicating a nuclear detonation would convincingly show the extent of the excess nuclear capability we have. In addition to reducing the arsenal, Congress must also expand the Nunn- Lugar cooperative threat reduction program. This program has provided Russia with roughly $450 million a year to reduce unneeded nuclear materials in a safe and swift fashion. But the program has had only wavering support in Congress. That must end. We should provide substantially more money to help Russia dismantle nuclear weapons and safely dispose of bomb-grade fissile materials. President Bush expressed support for this concept during the campaign. Now it's time to back up that commitment. If he delivers on an immediate and substantial reduction in the American nuclear arsenal and pushes to expand the Nunn-Lugar program, he will have done the nation and the world a great service. *Bob Kerrey, a former United States senator, is president of New School University.* Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 7 IHT: Meanwhile, the Atomic Genie Remains Firmly Out of the Bottle David Malone and Ramesh Thakur International Herald Tribune Friday, March 2, 2001 ** NEW YORK The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would make the world safer while enhancing the security of the United States, but only if the treaty is rescued from the cauldron of domestic politics in Washington. It provides a unique opportunity to end nuclear testing. The treaty's commitments and compromises reflect the best attainable balance of different countries' interests. It would prevent proliferation and be a milestone on the road to disarmament. Signed by 160 countries, the treaty was dealt a near fatal blow when the U.S. Senate rejected it by a 51-to-48 vote in October 1999. A two-thirds majority in the Senate is needed for ratification. The knock-on effects of the Senate rejection are critical. The drafters of the treaty made its entry into force conditional on ratification by every one of the 44 countries with nuclear programs. This has made it hostage to the last holdout. India vigorously opposed the treaty at the time. The U.S. rejection makes it far more difficult for others to coax India into joining the treaty and making it operational. Without the treaty, pressures will mount in India to resume nuclear testing and build a more substantial nuclear weapons capability. However, an important development has taken place in Washington that might start turning the tide toward U.S. ratification. Last March, then President Bill Clinton appointed the widely respected former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John M. Shalikashvili, to conduct a review of the treaty. His conclusion, released on Jan. 5, was that U.S. ratification is essential to convince others to adhere to it and to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. On the basis of extensive bipartisan consultations with Congress, he urged the incoming Bush administration to review the treaty. The treaty would help to lock in current U.S. superiority against nuclear and non-nuclear rivals alike. Cheating will be virtually impossible under the treaty's monitoring system. Without the treaty, potential challengers to U.S. preeminence could develop tactical nuclear weapons which could be used to counter America's great superiority in conventional weapons. For example, China could develop, test and field new generations of mobile and multiple-warhead missiles. Senior figures in the Bush administration have been divided on the issue. Secretary of State Colin Powell has supported the treaty in the past, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is against it on the grounds that it would impede the U.S. capacity to develop new generations of nuclear weapons as the existing stockpile becomes obsolescent. General Shalikashvili addressed concerns of treaty critics specifically in his report, calling for increased verification measures, enhanced efforts to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal and a review of the treaty every 10 years. The Bush administration may not incline naturally toward multilateral diplomacy and a treaty-based international security system. Yet it will not wish to alienate close allies on more than one or two issues at once. Its top priority appears to be a national missile defense system, an American idea that has long unsettled not only Russia and China but also European allies and Canada. *Mr. Malone is president of the International Peace Academy in New York. Mr. Thakur is vice rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo. They contributed this personal comment to the International Herald Tribune. * Copyright © 2001 the International Herald Tribune ***************************************************************** 8 Meanwhile, the Atomic Genie Remains Firmly Out of the Bottle David Malone and Ramesh Thakur International Herald Tribune Friday, March 2, 2001 NEW YORK The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would make the world safer while enhancing the security of the United States, but only if the treaty is rescued from the cauldron of domestic politics in Washington. It provides a unique opportunity to end nuclear testing. The treaty's commitments and compromises reflect the best attainable balance of different countries' interests. It would prevent proliferation and be a milestone on the road to disarmament. Signed by 160 countries, the treaty was dealt a near fatal blow when the U.S. Senate rejected it by a 51-to-48 vote in October 1999. A two-thirds majority in the Senate is needed for ratification. The knock-on effects of the Senate rejection are critical. The drafters of the treaty made its entry into force conditional on ratification by every one of the 44 countries with nuclear programs. This has made it hostage to the last holdout. India vigorously opposed the treaty at the time. The U.S. rejection makes it far more difficult for others to coax India into joining the treaty and making it operational. Without the treaty, pressures will mount in India to resume nuclear testing and build a more substantial nuclear weapons capability. However, an important development has taken place in Washington that might start turning the tide toward U.S. ratification. Last March, then President Bill Clinton appointed the widely respected former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John M. Shalikashvili, to conduct a review of the treaty. His conclusion, released on Jan. 5, was that U.S. ratification is essential to convince others to adhere to it and to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. On the basis of extensive bipartisan consultations with Congress, he urged the incoming Bush administration to review the treaty. The treaty would help to lock in current U.S. superiority against nuclear and non-nuclear rivals alike. Cheating will be virtually impossible under the treaty's monitoring system. Without the treaty, potential challengers to U.S. preeminence could develop tactical nuclear weapons which could be used to counter America's great superiority in conventional weapons. For example, China could develop, test and field new generations of mobile and multiple-warhead missiles. Senior figures in the Bush administration have been divided on the issue. Secretary of State Colin Powell has supported the treaty in the past, while Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is against it on the grounds that it would impede the U.S. capacity to develop new generations of nuclear weapons as the existing stockpile becomes obsolescent. General Shalikashvili addressed concerns of treaty critics specifically in his report, calling for increased verification measures, enhanced efforts to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal and a review of the treaty every 10 years. The Bush administration may not incline naturally toward multilateral diplomacy and a treaty-based international security system. Yet it will not wish to alienate close allies on more than one or two issues at once. Its top priority appears to be a national missile defense system, an American idea that has long unsettled not only Russia and China but also European allies and Canada. *Mr. Malone is president of the International Peace Academy in New York. Mr. Thakur is vice rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo. They contributed this personal comment to the International Herald Tribune. * ***************************************************************** 9 Energy Department Cites Argonne National Laboratory-West for Violating Nuclear Safety Requirements energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: March 2, 2001 The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environment, Safety and Health has cited the University of Chicago, operator of the Argonne National Laboratory-West Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for several nuclear safety violations that took place in 2000. The enforcement action would have been accompanied by a civil penalty of $110,000, but as the University of Chicago is one of the not-for-profit institutions currently exempt by statute from paying civil penalties, the penalty is remitted. "We support this action not because there were serious injuries or environmental releases, but because we understand the value of identifying and correcting problems before they result in serious worker injuries, or accidents that could hurt the public," said Marvin Gunn, manager of DOE's Chicago Operations Office. "Argonne has already made significant management changes and we expect this action will reinforce the commitment to make those changes permanent and effective." One issue addressed in the Preliminary Notice of Violation concerns an April 2000 event in which a worker was contaminated while patching penetration holes at the Fuel Conditioning Facility, a facility used to prepare spent fuel for disposal. DOE found that the laboratory failed to effectively analyze the planned work activity and its associated hazards, and did not use design and administrative controls that would minimize worker exposures to hazardous materials. Although the worker intake resulting from the event was low, the activity involved the potential for significant levels of contamination. The laboratory was also cited for failing to follow procedures for moving containers into a radiologically controlled area at the Fuel Conditioning Facility. Subsequent investigations by Argonne staff revealed that similar violations had been occurring over the past several years. While fissile material was not involved in the transfer, DOE is concerned with the long-standing and widespread nature of the violations in a radiological area, and the failure to maintain strict compliance with nuclear safety requirements. The Notice also cites the Laboratory for its failure to effectively implement a formal quality improvement effort -- meaning that processes for detecting problems were not effective, root cause analyses were not routinely performed and corrective actions were often inadequate. Problems in the quality improvement area had been repeatedly identified to Argonne management in prior DOE reviews. The Argonne-West Notice identifies two Severity Level II and two Severity Level III violations. Level I violations represent the most significant, with actual or potential significant consequences to the worker or public. In response to the Notice of Violation (whether or not there is a civil penalty), contractors are required to document specific actions taken and planned to prevent recurrence of similar events. The Chicago Operations Office will verify completion of corrective actions before the case is closed. DOE noted that management changes have been made since the violations took place to put greater emphasis and visibility on nuclear safety requirements. These improvements include training and strengthening procedural requirements for nuclear work. Continued management attention to the weaknesses reflected in this enforcement action will be critical in order to achieve a substantial improvement in the safety culture for operations at Argonne National Lab-West. Argonne National Laboratory West is part of the Argonne National Laboratory, which is operated by the University of Chicago for DOE. The laboratory performs large-scale nuclear facility testing and development to support research in the areas of energy, nuclear safety, spent nuclear fuel disposition, nonproliferation, and decontamination and decommissioning technologies. The Price-Anderson Amendments Act of 1988 requires DOE to undertake regulatory enforcement actions against contractors for violations of DOE's nuclear safety requirements. This enforcement action was taken with the support and participation of the Department's Chicago Operations Office. Additional details can be found on the Internet at . Media Contact: Lisa Cutler, DOE HQ, 202/586-5806 Joe Davis, DOE HQ, 202/586-4940 Brian Quirke, DOE Chicago, 630/252-2010 Release No. R-01-034 Back to Previous Page> ***************************************************************** 10 Energy Secretary Abraham Announces $125.7 Million in Federal Funds For Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Facility energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: Thursday, March 1, 2001 [ (Columbus, Ohio) – United States Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, joined by Ohio Governor Bob Taft at a press conference in Columbus today, announced that the Department of Energy will provide $125.7 million for winterizing, cold stand-by, and worker transition programs related to the ongoing transition at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Facility. The announcement fulfills the commitment made by President Bush to Governor Taft, Senators Mike Dewine and George Voinovich, and other members of Congress, following the United States Enrichment Corporation's public notice that it would close the Portsmouth facility. Abraham said, "I am pleased to be in Ohio with Governor Taft to announce that the President's budget makes good on his pledge to the people of Ohio. This $125.7 million is an important down payment on the plant's future." In general, the $125.7 million will be broken down over two years; $59.2 million for Fiscal Year 2001 and $66.5 million for Fiscal Year 2002. The money will support placing the facility in cold standby mode, winterizing steps to protect the facility, and worker transition programs for displaced workers once the facility is placed into cold standby mode. Abraham also committed to work with Governor Taft and the Ohio congressional delegation to ensure that the Portsmouth facility, and its contributions to energy and defense policy, will be considered as part of a long-term review of defense and energy needs currently underway by the Bush Administration. In addition, Abraham announced that the state of Ohio would receive $9.2 million in weatherization program funds, a $1.1 million increase over last year's funding for Ohio. The Weatherization Assistance Program helps low-income families, who live in poorly insulated homes or have insufficient heating and cooling systems, improve their household energy efficiency. "The President's budget is a balanced commitment to improving education, protecting Social Security, preserving Medicare, providing tax relief for working families, and helping pay down the national debt that will benefit Ohio and its citizens," said Abraham. "Only determined teamwork has allowed us to seal the deal on the Portsmouth project and the Administration looks forward to working with Ohio in moving forward on other priorities and initiatives of President Bush," Abraham concluded. Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. R-01-033 ***************************************************************** 11 Hatch Asks Government to Pay Radiation Claims The Salt Lake Tribune -- ** *Friday, March 2, 2001* BY JUDY FAHYS Sen. Orrin Hatch and other lawmakers are calling in the IOUs the federal government recently gave hundreds of people after a compensation fund for radiation victims ran dry. Hatch also is a driving force in a new audit by the General Accounting Office to find out why the fund was emptied. "This is wrong," said the Utah Republican, "and we are here today to begin the process of making it right." Hatch is co-sponsor of two bills introduced Thursday by New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici to help people now ill from Cold War-era exposure to radiation. About 255 people have received IOUs because the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Trust Fund ran out of money. One bill seeks $84 million in emergency appropriations to cover those unpaid claims and claims likely to be approved through next September. The second bill would make future compensation payments automatic, not subject to annual White House budget requests or congressional appropriations. "To the Americans who are now paying the price for their work to support our national security during the Cold War, the federal government must meet its commitment," said the New Mexico Republican. Under the 1990 compensation law, the federal government pledged to help uranium workers, ore transporters, nuclear testing participants and people exposed to downwind fallout from the nation's nuclear testing program from the 1940s through the 1970s. So far, $266.4 million has been approved to cover 690 claims. Last month, Utah Rep. Jim Matheson was one of three House Democrats who sent a letter to President Bush seeking funding for past claims and automatic funding in future years. The move is certain to be applauded by thousands of Utahns and others in the Four Corners region who unwittingly found themselves affected by the federal government's atomic testing program. "We need to get compensated," said Jeff Bradshaw of Leeds, who was exposed to testing fallout while growing up in St. George. "We have been fighting for this for 25 years." © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 12 Rumsfeld Hands Puerto Rico a Win March 02, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the Navy's long-running battle to keep using the Puerto Rican island of Vieques for combat training, Puerto Rico has won another round. The final victor, however, remains in doubt. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld revealed Thursday that he ordered the Navy to call off planned training this month on Vieques for members of the USS Enterprise battle group and a contingent of Marines. He is trying to find a permanent solution to the dispute, which erupted in full force in April 1999 after a civilian guard on Vieques was killed by an errant bomb from a Marine Corps jet. The Navy wants to retain use of Vieques, saying it is vital to combat training for the Atlantic Fleet. Rumsfeld made the decision after a private meeting Tuesday with Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderon, who has taken a hard stance against any further Navy training on Vieques, a 19-mile-long island used by the Navy for more than half a century. She has renounced an agreement her predecessor reached with President Clinton in January 2000 to allow Navy training until the 9,400 residents of Vieques vote in November on whether to permit the Navy to stay or force its withdrawal. The January deal included a Navy concession not to use live bombs on Vieques and to train on few days. Thursday on Vieques, Rumsfeld's decision was cheered by opponents of the Navy's presence. "This triumph is a momentary triumph and not an eternal victory," said anti-Navy activist Ismael Guadalupe. "We need to redouble our efforts now to try to transform this suspension into a halt to Navy bombing on the island forever." "What we want is the Navy to leave and give us back our land," he said. Back in Washington, the U.S. territory's delegate in the House, Anibal Acevedo Vila, called the decision "a clear sign that the Vieques issue is starting to be discussed as one of human rights and health." Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., a virulent critic of the Navy for persisting in its use of the range, greeted Rumsfeld's announcement with cautious optimism but said: "We hope that this becomes a permanent cease-fire on the entire island and that we can then begin the long road to helping the people of Vieques get their lives together again." In her Tuesday meeting with Rumsfeld, Calderon asked him to hold off on further Navy training on the island until he reviews a study suggesting noise from the bombing has caused heart disease among residents. A few days before leaving office, Clinton ordered federal health authorities to investigate a Puerto Rican government study showing 49 of 50 volunteers tested on Vieques had a thickening of the sack surrounding the heart, a condition called vibroacoustic disease. The Navy disputes any link between its training activities and health problems on Vieques. Navy Capt. Mike Brady, a spokesman at U.S. Atlantic Fleet headquarters at Norfolk, Va., said the decision to suspend training on Vieques affects the USS Enterprise battle group and a Marine Corps amphibious ready group led by the USS Kearsarge. It is not a permanent halt to training on Vieques, although that could be the eventual outcome. "The battle group and the amphibious ready group are expected to receive an adequate level of training to deploy" as scheduled in late April, Brady said. They will use the waters off Puerto Rico to do other training, but they will not be able to use Vieques for practice bombing and naval gunfire training. In seeking to retain the Vieques training range, the Navy has argued that it is the only place to provide the training to ensure that battle groups begin overseas deployments fully ready for combat. Asked Thursday about the state of discussions with Calderon, Rumsfeld told reporters: "The Navy is going to proceed with some aspects of their training but not using the inner range, pending the discussions that are taking place." His term "inner range" refers to the bombing range and other training areas on the island, other officials said. Rumsfeld would not comment further. The Navy calls Vieques the "crown jewel" of its Atlantic training sites, saying exercises there are vital to national defense because they uniquely combine air, sea and land maneuvers that cannot be done elsewhere. The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques, and its bombing range covers 900 acres -- less than 3 percent of the island. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 13 French say Pacific nuclear test site is stable Radio Australia News - 2/03/01: The French Atomic Energy Commission says nuclear tests conducted on Mururoa have not caused parts of the Pacific atoll to collapse. It says the tests merely accelerated natural geological movements which have now ceased. Earlier the New Zealand government asked France for an explanation of press reports that large sections of the island are falling into the sea after 178 atomic explosions over 30 years. New Zealand has instructed its diplomats in Paris to seek further details of the atoll's condition. South Pacific countries have warned for years that Mururoa could crack open, releasing radioactive pollution from scores of test holes into surrounding sea water. The French say a new programme of measures to rexamine and protect the island should begin by the end of the year. Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters ***************************************************************** 14 Yaizu remembers ship irradiated by Bikini Atoll nuclear blast YAIZU, Japan March 1 Kyodo - A ''Bikini Day'' peace rally was held Thursday in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to commemorate the Fukuryu Maru, a tuna fishing boat from the city which was hit by fallout from a March 1, 1954 U.S. nuclear test on Bikini Atoll. One of the crew, Aikichi Kuboyama, died in September that year from radiation sickness. His death triggered Japanese antinuclear movements. More than 1,000 people gathered in the port city on the Pacific to commemorate Kuboyama, the radio operator of the Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon) No. 5. The ship was operating near Rongelap Island, about 200 kilometers east of Bikini Atoll, at the time of the nuclear blast. More than 500 Japanese ships were fishing in that part of the Pacific Ocean at the time, and most of the tuna they had caught was dumped after high levels of radioactivity was detected in the fish when they got back to their home ports. The Bikini test also helped create a fictional monster -- Godzilla -- who devastated cities with blasts of radioactive breath. The first Godzilla movie was released later in 1954. 2000 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. ***************************************************************** 15 Germany Arrests Two Iraqis Suspected of Spying Thursday March 1 12:15 PM ET By Erik Kirschbaum BERLIN (Reuters) - German state prosecutors said on Thursday federal police had arrested two Iraqis on suspicion of spying. The two men were detained in Heidelberg, according to a German television report. German officials declined to comment on the report. The U.S. Army in Europe (USEUR) has its headquarters in the southwestern town. The army's Fifth Corps, made up of armored and infantry divisions, is also stationed in the town famous for its university. Iraq last month threatened to consider unspecified retaliatory action after air strikes on Baghdad by U.S. and British planes which it said killed two civilians and wounded more than 20 others. Officials at USEUR and at the United States embassy in Berlin declined to comment on the case. ``We have spoken with the state prosecutors -- it is their investigation and we have no comment,'' said Jim Boyle, USEUR spokesman in Heidelberg. State prosecutors said in a statement that one of the men was detained on February 25 and the other on February 27. Both had been brought before a federal judge, who ordered them to be held on suspicion of spying. ``They are suspected of carrying out missions for an Iraqi intelligence service in a number of German towns since the beginning of 2001,'' said a spokeswoman for state prosecutor Kay Nehm in Karlsruhe. The spokeswoman said she could not provide further details because the investigation was continuing. Officials at the German federal crime office (BKA) in Wiesbaden, the BND intelligence agency and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution all declined to make any comment on the case. German ``Understanding'' For U.S. Raids In a visit to Washington last week, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he understood the motives for the controversial attack on Iraqi radar installations last month. The raids, and Fischer's comments, were criticized by some members of his pacifist Greens party. There have been other cases of spies working for Iraq caught in Germany. A disgraced German diplomat was convicted in 1991 of spying for Iraq. Juergen Mohammed Gietler, a 45-year-old former archivist for the Foreign Ministry convicted for giving Iraqi agents secret information that helped Baghdad during the Gulf War (news - web sites), later admitted that for many years in the 1980s he had passed secret German documents about Israel and the Middle East to Egypt. Among the most potentially damaging documents he passed along were secret letters between then-U.S. President George Bush and then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl about U.S. military plans to move troops and weapons through Germany to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. Gietler was released in 1994 after serving three years of a five-year term in jail. In 1999, a German chemical engineer, Karl-Heinz Schaab, was sentenced to five years in jail for selling nuclear technology to Iraq. Schaab admitted he sold top secret uranium enrichment technology to Iraq without government approval during five visits to the country in 1989 and 1990. Copyright © 2001 ., and Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 16 Spy mania continues Environmentalists have for years been in the searchlight of the Russian security police, but also other "potential spies" are subject to its scrutiny. Jon Gauslaa, 2001-03-01 18:02 On February 27, the FSB made public that it had arrested an alleged "agent-in-training for American intelligence" in Voronezh in central Russia. "Potential spies" John Edward Tobin, a 24-year-old American exchange student from Ridgefield, Connecticut, was detained on January 26 while being in the possession of 4.5 grams marijuana, and has been in custody ever since. Although Tobin according to the FSB had yet to carry out any spying activity, it stated that his arrest showed that "potential spies could be found even under the cover of exchange students". Pavel Bolshunov, a FSB spokesman in Voronezh, told Reuters that it was Tobin's fluent Russian that had aroused the suspicion. He said that the FSB believed Tobin was an interrogation specialist who had been sent to Russia for additional training. However, the alleged U.S. agent was caught red-handed smoking marijuana and had thus, very seriously "discredited the institutions that might stand behind him", Bolshunov said. A warning Pavel Felgenhauer, a well-known security and defence analyst in Moscow, said the suggestion of espionage links was a warning for all foreign organisations working in Russia. "They can be accused of being accomplices in spying activity," he said. Although Tobin apparently will not be charged for espionage, he may still face a sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted for having distributed marijuana. "The bags of narcotics were small, but this is not Holland," FSB-spokesman Bolshunov said. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 17 Cleanup cuts still possible, budget office chief says This story was published Fri, Mar 2, 2001 By Les Blumenthal Herald Washington, D.C., bureau WASHINGTON -- The head of the White House budget office testified Thursday that cleanup funding for Hanford and other Department of Energy sites remains a top priority of the new administration, but he did not rule out the possibility of significant budget cuts. "We recognize it is very high-profile," Mitchell Daniels Jr., director of the Office of Management and Budget, said of the department's cleanup budget during testimony before the House Budge Committee. "(Energy Secretary Spencer) Abraham has been very vocal about it." The administration's budget blueprint released Wednesday called for a $700 million cut in overall funding for the department but offered no details about what programs would bear the brunt of the reductions. A more detailed budget will be released in April. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., a member of the Budget Committee whose district includes Hanford, said he had heard there could be up to a 6 percent cut in DOE's cleanup budget -- or about $400 million from the current level of $6.2 billion to $5.8 billion -- in the next fiscal year. Daniels had earlier told Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that DOE's environmental management budget actually would be increased. But he said Thursday that no final decision had been made. "More details remain to be filled in on the Energy Department's budget than any other," Daniels said, "and the secretary is working on it." Abraham has told Hastings he would fight to get Hanford the money it needs. But officials at the site have indicated they need a $400 million increase from $1.5 billion this fiscal year to $1.9 billion to keep the cleanup on track and to avoid potential lawsuits from Washington state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Under the so-called Tri-Party Agreement that covers Hanford cleanup, specific deadlines are set. If they are missed, the state or the EPA can sue. Hanford usually takes about one-fourth of the department's total environmental management budget. Top priorities this year include the effort to move spent nuclear fuel held in two basins near the Columbia River to a safer site and to move forward on a glassification plant that will be used to solidify the highly radioactive liquid waste and sludge currently contained in 177 huge aging and leaking underground tanks. "What we are trying to deal with is something that won't easily go away," Hastings said in questioning Daniels. "If the milestones are not met, the state or EPA can go to court right away." Hastings said DOE has already made strides in cutting costs at Hanford, including reducing the work force by one-third and switching to incentive-based contracts. "But still cleanup has to continue," he said. "We won the Cold War because of these sites." The committee's Democrats, meanwhile, said they expected at least a $650 million budget cut in DOE's budget below what the Congressional Budget Office had estimated was needed to maintain the status quo at the department. The Democrats also said they expected the lion's share of the cuts to come from environmental management programs. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights ***************************************************************** 18 Bush's DOE budget cuts $700 million; Hanford watchers concerned This story was published Thu, Mar 1, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer The likelihood of Hanford getting enough money in fiscal 2002 to meet its legal cleanup obligations appears very small. President Bush's national budget request to Congress asks for $19 billion for the Department of Energy, which is a $700 million cut from fiscal 2001. The math and DOE's budget's sketchy details show Hanford would be lucky to even get the same $1.5 billion it is spending in fiscal 2001 -- let alone the $1.9 billion DOE's two Hanford offices calculate they need in 2002. Most of that extra $400 million is needed to keep Hanford's top-priority radioactive waste glassification project on track. DOE cleanup projects elsewhere in the United States are also looking for budget increases. This means the DOE budget pie will be smaller, while individual programs seek bigger pieces of that shrunken pie. Here is how the math works out in DOE's budget request unveiled Tuesday: DOE is asking for $19 billion, compared with the $19.7 billion it budgeted for fiscal 2001, which ends Sept. 30. DOE's 212-page budget document calls for an extra $403 million to go to nuclear weapons stockpiles, low-income winterization and other programs. That document does not show any other relevant figures. Consequently, this proposed 2002 budget provides about $1.1 billion less than what the 2001 budget covered. The agency's nationwide cleanup efforts traditionally account for about 30 percent of its overall budget each year. DOE's 2002 national cleanup budget -- about $6.1 billion in 2001 -- has not been calculated. Traditionally, DOE has tried to keep its nationwide cleanup budget level from year to year. A 1999 federal General Accounting Office report concluded that approach is causing DOE to fall short of meeting its cleanup plans and obligations by $500 million annually from 1999 to 2006. DOE expects to have its 2002 cleanup allocations figured out by April. Joe Davis, DOE's spokesman in Washington, D.C., said: "It's premature to draw conclusions from the $19 billion figure." He declined to discuss figures DOE is currently crunching. Hanford's two DOE agencies have received no information on how the $19 billion figure will ultimately affect them. "We don't know at this time what the numbers mean for environmental management (DOE's jargon for its nationwide cleanup program)," said Harry Boston, manager of DOE's Office of River Protection, which supervises Hanford's tank farms. Bob Rosselli, deputy manager for site services at DOE's Richland office, which manages everything else at Hanford, said: "We remain as anxious as anyone else on what the numbers will be." The proposed $700 million cut in DOE's overall budget comes from Bush's general tightening of federal spending, Davis said. That federal budget trimming is accompanied by Bush's proposed tax cut of $1.6 trillion over 10 years. Todd Webster, press aide for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: "If you're going to push for a $1.6 trillion tax cut, there are going to be trade-offs. ... One of those trade-offs is DOE's funding." Murray, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., all voiced concern Tuesday about the $19 billion figure's possible effects on Hanford's cleanup budget. Hastings said: "While all discussion is speculation at this point, there is reason for real concern." Hastings plans to question Mitch Daniels, director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, on this issue today at a hearing by the U.S. House's Budget Committee in Washington, D.C. The OMB sets the budget targets that federal agencies, such as DOE, are supposed to meet. Two weeks ago, Daniels told Murray that the Bush administration plans to increase funding for Hanford cleanup. Webster said Murray intends to hold the administration to that statement. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham also previously told Hastings that he will fight to get enough money to meet Hanford's cleanup obligations. Abraham has been in office for almost six weeks. He is a former U.S. senator from Michigan and has little background on DOE issues. In fact, he twice pushed in the Senate to dismantle DOE. Since his appointment, Abraham has voiced nothing publicly on tackling DOE's contaminated Cold War sites other than a couple of brief, generic remarks that they should be cleaned up. Bush's budget document's 212 pages on DOE mention cleanup programs in three or four sentences. Abraham's main public concerns at this time have been California's energy crisis and trying to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling. "The environmental management program and specific cleanup projects are high on (Abraham's) agenda," Davis said. Here is how these sketchy budget figures pertain to Hanford's cleanup picture: Hanford's cleanup schedule is governed by the Tri-Party Agreement, a legal pact among DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency and Washington's Department of Ecology. This means the EPA and the state have some legal clout to keep DOE to a cleanup timetable. The state has the biggest hammer because it can file a lawsuit against DOE if it looks like Hanford might fall behind schedule because it did not ask for enough money from Congress, or for other reasons. Hanford's cleanup budget comes in two segments -- the tank farms under Office of River Protection and everything else under DOE's Richland office. The Office of River Protection has a $759 million budget for 2001, about half to maintain the tank farms and the rest to build the waste glassification plant. The glassification project alone needs about $700 million in 2002 to be able to begin glassifying waste by its 2007 deadline. All this translates to the Office of River Protection needing about $1.1 billion in 2002. Meanwhile, DOE's Richland office has a 2001 budget of $759 million. And that office wants to accelerate cleanup efforts along the Columbia River, which requires an extra $50 million in 2002. So in broad strokes, Hanford's 2001 budget is about $1.5 billion. It needs about $1.85 billion in 2002 to meet its legal cleanup obligations, and it needs about $1.9 billion in 2002 to put all its plans into action. "The basic implication is that the Bush administration will not make its cleanup obligations with a level-funded (Hanford) budget. ... And (DOE) could do worse than that," said Gerald Pollet, director of Heart of America Northwest. To Boston, anything less than a $1.1 billion tank-waste budget would run afoul of the Tri-Party Agreement and federal regulations. "The (glassification) plan as scheduled is not a nice-to-do thing. It's a must-do thing," Boston said. Meanwhile, the state has been vehement about not cutting DOE any slack in meeting its tank waste obligations. The appropriate state officials, including Attorney General Christine Gregoire, could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Rosselli said DOE's Richland office still wants to push the accelerated river shore cleanup plan, saying that would save time and money in the long run. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ***************************************************************** 19 Earthquake triggers false waste tank level reading This story was published Thu, Mar 1, 2001 By the Herald staff Tuesday's earthquake triggered an apparent false reading about the level of sludge in one of central Hanford's huge underground radioactive waste tanks. Just after the earthquake, a measuring device showed a 2-inch drop in the surface level of sludge inside Tank B-111, a single-shell tank that is one of Hanford's 67 tanks suspected of leaking in the past. Most of Tank B-111's liquids were pumped out in 1985. It now has 237,000 gallons of mostly sludge left, of which 24,000 gallons are liquids mixed within the sludge that cannot be pumped out. After the measuring showed the drop, Hanford technicians recalibrated the device, which then showed no drop, according to a press release from the Department of Energy's Office of River Protection. Technicians then inserted a second probe into the tank, which confirmed no drop occurred in the sludge's surface. Workers also checked the 200 Area's tanks for damaged equipment, leaks and increased radiation levels -- and found none, the DOE press release said. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. 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