***************************************************************** 12/04/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.285 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 New CD Helps Teachers Give Lessons on Energy 2 Radiation research sparks Dounreay cancer call 3 India a major N-power: Chidambaram 4 Greenpeace Russia demands Bulgarian nuclear waste be returned 5 Czech cabinet should have discussed nuclear plant with Austria 6 ASIA-PACIFIC & AFRICA: N Korea makes N-plant progress 7 State upbeat despite Sellafield setback 8 NATIONAL NEWS: Dublin fails to halt N-plant opening 9 Guinn says Yucca project is doomed to failure 10 Seabrook Station bidding to begin 11 Group to probe terror threat to Sellafield 12 NRC takes stand against proposed nuclear plant legislation 13 Activists urge leaders to pursue further EU court action 14 New fears over radiation after risk assessment test found to be 15 State 'undaunted' by ruling in battle to shut plant 16 UK terror Act to gag nuclear ship reports 17 Judgment reveals deep rifts over 'contradictions' 18 Millstone not alone in the missing fuel department 19 Setback in Sellafield court battle 20 Risks of low-level radiation higher than thought 21 Nuclear plant security bill unnecessary, NRC claims 22 Down but not out as fight against Sellafield goes on 23 Ireland loses nuclear injunction bid 24 Sellafield Strike Warning 25 UK: Renewable energy targets to double 26 3rd Library to Make Available Peach Bottom License Renewal 27 UN court rejects Sellafield challenge 28 New Sellafield terror warning 29 Law firm seeks Yucca contract 30 Red-hot nuke report 31 N.K., KEDO sign accord on quality assurance and warranties for nuclear 32 SENATE DEFEATS ENERGY RIDER WHICH WOULD OPEN ANWR 33 OBSERVER: Fuel sell OBSERVER COLUMN 34 Ireland Fails in Bid to Block British Nuclear Plant 35 Picking a Fight With the North Koreans Doesn't Make Sense 36 Winston & Strawn still in Nevada's cross hairs 37 Nevadans ask Bush to delay decision on Yucca 38 Contractor disputes GAO's Yucca audit 39 Zion N-plant's fencing blocks beach access 40 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-04 Number 231 41 Russian-Norwegian company to construct nuclear waste processing 42 State to mount strong legal challenge to MOX plant 43 State to mount strong legal resistance to MOX 44 US used nuclear waste - 45 Vermont Yankee in spotlight at public hearing 46 OBSERVER: Ukraine unplugged OBSERVER COLUMN 47 Russia offers loans for completion of two Ukrainian nuclear NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 UK: Nuclear Protest: Outrageous sentence 2 North Korea okay's demand for inspections 3 Reasons to be fearful 4 Russian president attends ceremony for new super sub 5 The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth 6 The nuclear nightmare on our doorstep 7 Faslane workers' fears 8 Russia Military Reporter on Trial 9 Anti-Terror Bill Headed for Showdown 10 Women finding more opportunities in atomic energy fields 11 Q &A: Son of Star Wars 12 U.S. Fears Bin Laden Made Nuclear Strides 13 Laid-off workers file suit against UT-Battelle 14 Fallout From An Old Terror 15 To stop a nuclear terrorist, the West must give up its nuclear weapons 16 Oak Ridge National Laboratory to restart its research reactor 17 UN Adopts 2 draft resolutions sponsored by Egypt on ME nuclear armament ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 New CD Helps Teachers Give Lessons on Energy New CD Helps Teachers Give Lessons on Energy EarthVision Environmental News GOLDEN, CO, December 3, 2001 - Teachers who want to give students a lesson about how energy is produced, where energy comes from, and the environmental impacts of various energy production methods now have a new tool in an interactive CD. In fact, the "Get Smart About Energy" CD from the US Department of Energy (DOE) offers more than 250 lessons about energy, each selected by teachers with experience in energy education. The lessons are broken down first by grade (K-4, 5-8, and 9-12) and then by the following categories: Energy Sources, Power Generation, Environmental Impacts and Energy Use. According to the Department of Energy, many lessons incorporate hands-on projects, and handouts and discussion topics are frequently provided. Topics range from nuclear power to wind to the greenhouse effect, and the lessons fall into a number of disciplines, from art to physics. An example of the type of lesson contained in the CD is one that helps teachers lead students through a daylong diary exercise in which they track their electricity use and calculate the resulting amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere. Another helps students discover where air infiltration occurs in a building and research energy-saving window treatments. Get Smart About Energy is available by calling DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse at 1-800-DOE-3732. ***************************************************************** 2 Radiation research sparks Dounreay cancer call The Herald (United Kingdom); Dec 4, 2001 LOW doses of radiation may be far more harmful than has been realised, according to the latest research. The results have prompted calls to reopen investigations into the incidence of childhood leukaemia around Britain's only two nuclear reprocessing plants, at Dounreay and Sellafield. The researchers said the method used to judge the risk of genetic damage by radiation, based on what happened to survivors of the A-bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, could be seriously flawed. Their findings imply that the risk of lung cancer from radon, naturally occurring radioactive gas from rocks and soil, may be greater than previously thought. Radon levels in homes in parts of the north-east of Scotland and at Helmsdale, Sutherland are higher than elsewhere in Scotland, although considerably less than in south-west England. US researchers have shown that a dose of alpha-particle radiation weak enough to affect just one cell can induce a ''chain reaction'' of DNA damage in surrounding cells. Their work has been published in the US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. British experts said they believed the risks from radon were unlikely to be significantly higher than had already been estimated because of the extensive studies done involving humans exposed to radon. However, Lorraine Mann, of Scotland Against Nuclear Dumping, said although Dounreay, in Caithness, was no longer reprocessing, there was still significant alpha radiation being discharged from decommissioning and Sellafield, in Cumbria, was still reprocessing. A spokesman for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which sets Dounreay's discharge limits, said it ''would study any relevant material carefully''. ***************************************************************** 3 India a major N-power: Chidambaram The Times of India; Dec 4, 2001 VARANASI: Scientific advisor to the Union government and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Prof Rajgopal Chidambaram, asserted that India has got all the available nuclear technology and sub-technology. He said the country had get the stature of nuclear power and will acquire a centrestage in Asia in the near future. Prof Chidambaram was delivering a lecture on `assimilation of physical and biological sciences and technology foresight and nuclear energy' at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on Saturday. He said that basic research in any country was cultural necessity. Describing technology as key to development, he said that knowledge-based technology is essential because there is tendency by the developing countries to dominate on the basis of better technology. He said India was a developed country as far nuclear energy was concerned and this had only been possible by endeavour of our scientists as none helped us in this regard. He announced that the country is working for 20,000 mega watt power plant by 2020 and also making the use of nuclear science for improvement in medicine and agriculture sectors. Earlier, Prof ON Srivastava, coordinator of Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics, BHU welcomed the guests and the vice-chancellor, Prof YC Simhadri presided over the function. MEET: A three-day international conference on `environment energy, technology, development and society's response' was organised under the auspices of the department of geography, BHU at Swatantrata Bhavan. Internationally known geographer, Padamshree Prof Mohd. Shafi was the chief guest at the inaugural function, held on Saturday. Delegates from Sweden, USA, New Zealand, Germany, Kenya, Nepal, Iran and other countries participated in the conference. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 4 Greenpeace Russia demands Bulgarian nuclear waste be returned BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 4, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 4 December: Greenpeace Russia believes that bringing spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria into Russia is unlawful and they demand that it be sent back, Greenpeace Russia coordinator Vladimir Chuprov said at a press conference in Moscow today. Greenpeace motivates its demand by the fact that the Bulgarian spent nuclear fuel was brought into Russia under a contract between the Bulgarian Kozloduy nuclear power plant and the Russian Tekhsnabeksport foreign-trade enterprise signed in June 2000, and "this document violates Russian law". Greenpeace Russia obtained a copy of the contract and carried out its expert examination with the support of other ecological organizations. The examination revealed that the conclusion and fulfilment of the contract was accompanied by numerous violations, which caused Russia 20m dollars in damages. What causes particular interest is the contract price and the system of settlements for handling the spent nuclear fuel, Chuprov said. "When pushing through the laws on bringing spent nuclear fuel into Russia, the Atomic Energy Ministry promised that Russia would earn at least 1,000 dollars per kilo, but the contract bears another figure - 620 dollars per kilo. The overall difference between the promised and real sum tops 15m dollars," he said. Greenpeace demands that the prosecution services conduct an urgent investigation into the Atomic Energy Ministry's importation of spent nuclear fuel, Chuprov said. He noted that Greenpeace forwarded this request to the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office on 2 November. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1107 gmt 4 Dec 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 5 Czech cabinet should have discussed nuclear plant with Austria only - Speaker BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 4, 2001 Prague, 4 December: The Czech government should not have solved the Czech-Austrian dispute over the Temelin [southern Bohemia] nuclear power plant with the help of the European Union (EU), Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Chamber of Deputies [lower house of parliament] Chairman Vaclav Klaus said today. Temelin should have only been discussed on the bilateral level, Klaus told CTK after a meeting with Austrian Economic Chamber President Christoph Leitl, adding that Leitl shared his view. "I was pleased to hear that president Leitl has the same view as I that the question of Temelin should have been resolved on a bilateral level and not with the help of Brussels. I consider it a gross mistake that our government agreed with this. However, this cannot be changed now," Klaus said. The Czech Republic closed its disputes with Austria over Temelin with the help of the EU on 29 November. Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel agreed in the presence of EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen that they would seek to include the commitments which are contained in the agreement in a protocol to the treaty on the Czech Republic's admission to the EU. However, the remaining 14 EU members should agree with this. The ODS criticized the conditions of the signed agreement last week. Its politicians said that they would seek to prevent the commitments concerning Temelin's safety from being included in the EU accession protocol. Klaus and Leitl today also discussed trade between the two countries. "I think that they are sincerely interested in a maximum level of the development of the Czech-Austrian economic relations," Klaus said, adding that the visit by the Austrian Economy Chamber president would further contribute to the development of these relations... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1306 gmt 4 Dec 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 6 ASIA-PACIFIC & AFRICA: N Korea makes N-plant progress Financial Times; Dec 4, 2001 By ANDREW WARD North Korea has taken a double step forward in efforts to open its atomic energy programme to international scrutiny and improve the safety of its nuclear plants. The reclusive communist regime has given the go-ahead for inspection of a nuclear laboratory and signed an agreement that advances plans for modern reactors to be built in the country. The measures were hailed in South Korea as a modest breakthrough in relations between North Korea and the international community after recent setbacks in Seoul's and Washington's policies of engagement with Pyongyang. Last week, North Korea angrily rejected US calls for inspection of its weapons programme to investigate suspicions that the country has developed nuclear and biochemical arsenals. Pyongyang is more prepared to allow limited international access to its nuclear power facilities because it is keen to speed up construction of two light-water reactors in the country, financed largely by South Korea and the US. The proposed reactors would be safer than North Korea's existing facilities and it would be harder to use them to develop weapons. They would help ease the impoverished country's energy shortage and encourage economic development. However, the project is dependant on a commitment by Pyongyang to freeze development of nuclear missiles. North Korea yesterday signed an agreement about quality assurance and warranties with the South Korean-based consortium leading the project. Provisional building work at the reactor sites is already under way. Pyongyang also approved a visit to its Yongbyon isotope production facility by scientists representing the International Atomic Energy Agency. North Korea has sent mixed signals about its commitment to lowering barriers with the outside world in recent weeks. Pyongyang condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US and has signed two international anti-terrorism treaties. But at the same time it has engaged in a war of words with the US about Washington's hardline stance towards Pyongyang, and relations with Seoul have deteriorated. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 ***************************************************************** 7 State upbeat despite Sellafield setback online.ie : News The Irish Examiner 04 Dec 2001 By Fionnán Sheahan Political Reporter THE Government was upbeat last night about its chances to close the MOX facility at Sellafield despite a United Nations court rejecting its bid to stop work on the expansion. The UN maritime court in Hamburg ruled the mixed plutonium and uranium oxide reprocessing plant could operate if stringent anti-pollution measures were put in place. But the decision laid down by the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will strengthen the case to close down MOX, to be heard early next year. Attorney General Michael McDowell welcomed the determination stating Ireland had a right in international law to be involved in developments at Sellafield. "Ireland has established as a matter of law that Britain must consult with us and jointly devise a strategy to prevent radiation pollution of the Irish Sea," Mr McDowell said. The judges turned down an injunction to halt MOX but ordered consultation between the two governments to: Devise measures to stop pollution Monitor risks for the Irish Sea Exchange information Anti-pollution measures must be agreed to three days before work starts at the MOX plant on December 20, the court ordered. The Government is determined to bring in all necessary scientific backup to monitor the pollution risk and vowed to allocate whatever resources were required. The judgment also allows for Ireland to submit a case under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and not just be driven back to resolving the issue using purely European Union legal remedies. The decision also advances Ireland's chances to get the European Commission to intervene in the dispute on the basis of the EURATOM treaty and boosts chances of a case being taken to the European Court of Justice. Northern secretary Dr John Reid said the British government was pleased with the ruling and his government has always been happy to continue to share information on the question of safety at Sellafield. The British undertook that no additional marine transports of radioactive material will take place and there will be no export of MOX fuel or import of MOX related fuel to the plant before October 2002. ***************************************************************** 8 NATIONAL NEWS: Dublin fails to halt N-plant opening Financial Times; Dec 4, 2001 By MATTHEW JONES The Irish Republic warned yesterday that relations between Dublin and London could be soured after it failed to halt the opening of a nuclear fuel recycling plant at Sellafield, Cumbria. Last month, Dublin applied to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to delay operations at British Nuclear Fuels' mixed-oxide plant, which combines reprocessed plutonium with uranium. The move had been designed to give the Republic enough time to hold a full arbitration process early next year after UK ministers refused to delay the works' opening beyond December 20. But the Hamburg-based tribunal, which serves as the United Nations' maritime court, said the case was not urgent enough to merit the award of an injunction. "It is the responsibility of the UK if it wants to commission the plant and later run the risk of it being closed down," it said. A ruling against the plant once plutonium had been introduced would cost taxpayers millions of additional pounds in clean-up costs. Brian Wilson, UK energy minister, indicated that commissioning would go ahead as planned. The tribunal ordered Britain to co-operate more fully to prevent radioactive pollution and to submit a written report outlining the measures it would take by December 17. The plant will secure hundreds of jobs at Sellafield by prolonging the life of BNFL's Thorp reprocessing business. But critics argued it could be a target for terrorist attacks and would pollute the Irish Sea with radioactive material. They also disputed its economic viability because calculations used by British ministers did not include its Pounds 470m build cost. Dublin is pursuing a second international arbitration process under the Ospar Convention, which is designed to protect marine life in the north-east Atlantic. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, the environmental campaign groups, are also waiting to hear the result of an appeal last week against a High Court ruling that backed the government's approval of the plant. BNFL is struggling to gain orders for Mox fuel following a data falsification scandal that damaged its reputation in 1999. Ministers gave the complex the go-ahead in October after a study showed it would be cheaper to allow it to open than to scrap it. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 ***************************************************************** 9 Guinn says Yucca project is doomed to failure Nevada Appeal December 4, 2001 Geoff Dornan With even the Governmental Accounting Office urging indefinite postponement of Yucca Mountain, Gov. Kenny Guinn says it is increasingly obvious the nuclear dump project is "doomed to failure." "The conclusions of the GAO mirror those of nearly every external review that has been looking at the project, including the presidential-appointed National Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and several national and international peer review groups," he said. The GAO recommended last week that the decision to build the nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain 75 miles north of Las Vegas be put on hold because it may take years to work out some of the technical issues. The nuclear power industry has been pushing for the site approvals as soon as possible. It want to bury 78,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in the mountain. The general contractor for the project told investigators some of the issues won't be settled until 2006. But the industry wants the Department of Energy to make a recommendation for the site this year. Federal investigators reported 293 unresolved technical issues. "Making a site recommendation at this time is premature," the report concludes. Guinn said the real question is when the Department of Energy will recognize that Yucca Mountain can never be made suitable as a dump. "The time has come for DOE to face this reality and move to terminate the project," he said. Guinn was joined by Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, who said the department simply can't resolve the serious technical flaws in the project. She said the state is further vindicated by last week's resignation of the law firm of Winston & Stawn. The Department's of Energy's inspector general reported the law firm had undisclosed conflicts resulting from the fact it represents both the energy department and the Nuclear Energy Institute. Del Papa said her office has maintained from the beginning that the Yucca Mountain study process has been "tainted by conflicts of interest at the highest levels." "Now with both the GAO report and the inspector general's report, our perceptions are being supported in both respects," she said. ***************************************************************** 10 Seabrook Station bidding to begin The Union Leader & New Hampshire Sunday News - Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 By GARRY RAYNO Union Leader Staff The company overseeing the sale of Seabrook Station yesterday announced it is beginning the bidding process for the nuclear power plant. The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission retained the investment banking firm, J.P. Morgan, to conduct the auction, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2002. No other target dates — such as bid closing — have been set by the company. The auction will involve 88.2 percent of the nuclear power plant’s ownership shares. Several municipal power authorities will retain their ownership of the facility. Seabrook is jointly owned by a consortium of New England utilities, electric co-ops, merchant power companies and the municipal power authorities. As part of the deregulation agreement with the state, Public Service of New Hampshire and its parent company, Northeast Utilities, must sell its power generation facilities in the state including Seabrook. Public Service and other Northeast affiliates own about 36 percent of the plant. “We are pleased to begin the auction process and look forward to executing a timely process which will maximize the value of Seabrook and reduce stranded costs for customers,” said PUC general counsel Gary Epler. Under the deregulation agreement, Public Service still owes about $100 million for the plant and was expected to receive about the same amount of money for its share of the facility. Any sale that results in more than $100 million will reduce stranded cost recovery from customers. Company officials are hopeful the auction will bring much more than $100 million for the 1,160-megawatt plant — one of the largest generating facilities in New England. Several recent sales of large nuclear plants in New England have been for more than $1 billion. Earlier this year, Vermont Yankee, a nuclear plant about half the size of Seabrook and nearly 30 years old, sold to New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. for $180 million. Seabrook has been in operation since 1990. The Vermont Yankee sale and the sale of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station were also handled by J.P. Morgan. The Seabrook sale includes remaining structures, components and parts of the Seabrook Unit 2, which was scrapped when PSNH ran into financial difficulty that eventually lead to the company’s bankruptcy in the late 1980s. Since beginning commercial operation, Seabrook has operated at 80.5 percent of capacity. Selling owners of Seabrook include North Atlantic Energy Corp., which owns 35.98 percent of the plant; United Illuminating Co., 17.5 percent; Great Bay Power Corp., 12.13 percent; New England Power Co., 9.96 percent; Connecticut Light and Power Co., 4.06 percent; Canal Electric Co., 3.52 percent; Little Bay Power Corp., 2.9 percent; and New Hampshire Electric Cooperative Inc., 2.17 percent. Parties interested in bidding for Seabrook should contact Teresa Roades of J.P. Morgan at 212 270-6992. ***************************************************************** 11 Group to probe terror threat to Sellafield online.ie 04 Dec 2001 A team of Irish and British parliamentarians is to make an investigative trip to the Sellafield nuclear waste reprocessing plant earlier next year to assess security at the controversial plant. The move was agreed today in Bournemouth, near the end of a two-day meeting there of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body. The group, formed of members of the Dublin and London parliaments, as well as representatives from the Scottish and Welsh assemblies and the administrations in the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, staged a debate on Sellafield. It came 24 hours after judges at the International Law of the Sea tribunal in Hamburg rejected a Government bid to halt this month's recommissioning of a mixed-oxide (MOX) facility at the controversial Cumbrian location. A detailed report on the debate is to be submitted to all of the parliaments involved in the BIIB, and the scheduled January visit to Sellafield will be made by the body's environmental committee. Committee member Conor Lenihan said the priority for the trip would be to investigate security and assess the possibility of a terrorist-style attack similar to September 11. "There are health and safety issues at Sellafield that need to be addressed," he said. "There is a genuine fear among members of our body about the prospects of some form of attack." Conference criticism of the Sellafield concept was spearheaded by Seamus Kirk, a Fianna Fail member of the Dail, whose Co Louth constituency lies directly across the Irish Sea from Cumbria. He was strongly backed by Plaid Cymru North Wales MP Elfyn Llwyd, who said Ireland's attempts to prevent the MOX facility and bring about Sellafield's total closure was "a stand on behalf of all the people of the British Isles." But Labour peer Lord Dubs, a former Northern Ireland Office minister, whose home is in Cumbria, urged caution over the nuclear threat, telling delegates "My understanding is that emissions that might come as a result of the MOX plant are equivalent in radiation effect to one second in a aeroplane. "If that is accurate, then it puts it into perspective." The Sellafield issue exposed major differences between the Dublin and London governments at a prime ministerial summit in Dublin last Friday. Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair agreed to differ on the issue when it came up for discussion in bi-lateral talks during a meeting of the British-Irish Council, one of the key bodies to emerge from the 1998 Good Friday agreement on Northern Ireland. The Government, however, have pledged to continue their fight to force the closure of Sellafield, and halt the scheduled recommissioning of the MOX plant. Last month, the Government asked the Hamburg tribunal to order immediate suspension of the British decision pending conclusion of the arbitration. But, refusing an injunction to stop MOX ahead of a full hearing of the case next year, the tribunal yesterday declared "the urgency of the situation did not require the prescription of the provisional measures as requested by Ireland." ***************************************************************** 12 NRC takes stand against proposed nuclear plant legislation TheDay.com: Local and National News Featured in Region Article posted at 5:58 p.m., EST By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 12/03/2001 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is urging Congress to reject a nuclear plant security bill introduced by several senators, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., calling it a piecemeal approach that is too costly and, in many respects, unnecessary. “The commission strongly opposes enactment of the legislation as drafted,” wrote NRC Chairman Richard A. Meserve in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada. Provisions in the bill include replacing private security forces at nuclear plants with federal officers, creating a new Operations Safeguard Response Unit within NRC to handle security issues, and ordering a review of nuclear plant designs to see if structural improvements are needed to handle potential terrorist attacks. Lieberman has argued that in light of the Sept. 11 attacks major changes are needed in the way the country goes about protecting nuclear plants. The bill could face a difficult fight with the agency responsible for nuclear plant operations and security now squarely against it. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear industry, also opposes the legislation. In his letter Meserve calls it a mistake to separate strategy for the security of nuclear facilities from other potential infrastructure targets, such as chemical plants, dams and refineries. It would be better to have a comprehensive security plan, he contends. “Resources are not infinite and disproportionate protection at one kind of facility may increase the risks at other kinds of facilities,” he stated. The letter also notes that the commission is doing a “top-to-bottom review” of security requirements. It is premature to propose changes until that review is complete, he argues in the letter. Some of the letter’s strongest language is targeted at the proposal to introduce federal security officers at nuclear plants. It states the idea “addresses a non-existent problem.” “Current security forces at sensitive NRC nuclear facilities are well trained, well paid, and have high retention rates. This is in sharp contrast to airport security,” stated Meserve. “There have been no failures in nuclear plant security of the type that has plagued the commercial airline industry and thus no need for such radical change.” © 1998-2001 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 13 Activists urge leaders to pursue further EU court action Irish Newspapers - Date: Tue December 4th 01 ENVIRONMENTALISTS were split on the impact of yesterday's judgment - one MEP described the result as "terrible" while Greenpeace felt Ireland might have lost a battle, but helped to win the war against Sellafield. The Government must continue its fight against Sellafield, said Green MEP for Leinster Nuala Ahern after the result was announced. "The verdict was dreadful but there are options available at EU level for the Government to pursue their case," she said. However, the judgment was received more enthusiastically by Greenpeace, which felt that although the Government had failed to get an injunction, it had won guarantees on sensitive information about the Mox plant. Furthermore, the court had rejected Britain's claim that the case was outside its jurisdiction, said Shaun Burnie, the international director of Greenpeace's nuclear campaigns. "We're disappointed Ireland didn't get the full provisional measures, but they did get effectively the same thing. This will put the British Government under intense pressure not to commission the Mox plant," he said. The court had ordered Britain to take no action which would aggravate the dispute, which he argued, would preclude BNFL from starting operations involving plutonium later this month on December 20. The Government could also seek a last minute injunction again, he said, if Britain failed to provide information by December 17. This information would prove useful in other court cases, such as the pending hearing before OSPAR, a group of North Atlantic nations concerned with the marine environment. The Green MEP urged the Government to step up its possible action and take a third case to the EU's European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Ms Ahern said she would be filing a second complaint against Sellafield's owners BNFL this week with the EC Competition Commissioner, Mario Monti. She claimed that Britain's plan to transfer BNFL's £35bn debt to a separate state agency amounted to state aid, banned under EU law. Britain had also written off the £475m cost of the Mox facility, she said. Conor Sweeney in Brussels © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 14 New fears over radiation after risk assessment test found to be 'flawed' Irish Newspapers - December 4th 01 LOW doses of radiation may be far more harmful than anyone has realised, according to a new study reported yesterday. US scientists have shown that the method used to judge the risk of genetic damage by radiation, based on what happened to survivors of the A-bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, is seriously flawed. Current radiation risk assessments only take into account the direct effect of radiation on DNA in the cell nucleus. Using this yardstick, the smaller the number of cells exposed to radiation, the less risk there is of genetic mutations occurring. Experts relying on the principle have assumed that although high radiation doses can be dangerous, the risk from low level exposure is minimal. But they may have to think again in light of the new findings published yesterday in the US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers from Columbia, Colorado State, and Michigan State universities proved that a dose of alpha-particle radiation weak enough to affect just one cell can induce a "chain reaction" of DNA damage in surrounding cells. How this happens is not clear, but the evidence points to cell-to-cell chemical communication. The scientists wrote: "Our studies provide clear evidence that a single alpha particle can induce mutations and chromosome aberrations in cells that received no direct radiation exposure to their DNA. "These findings imply that the target for radiation-induced genetic damage is larger than an individual cell." To carry out the study, the scientists used laboratory cultures of hamster cells containing human genetic material. A high precision microbeam was used to deliver exactly one alpha particle through the nuclei of a known proportion of the human-hamster hybrid cells. Alpha radiation consists of energetic positively charged atomic particles. The experiment showed that even if just 10pc of a cell population was irradiated, the end result was the same as if all the cells had been exposed. "These results are of considerable importance in reassessing the potential genotoxic effect of low dose radiation and suggest that the assumption of direct proportionality in radiation risk assessment is seriously in error," wrote the scientists. John von Radowitz © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 15 State 'undaunted' by ruling in battle to shut plant Irish Newspapers - Tue December 4th 01 THE resolve of the Government to have the Sellafield plant closed was "undaunted" by the ruling of the UN Law of the Sea Tribunal, Attorney General Michael McDowell has said. Mr McDowell said he did not believe that yesterday's ruling was a serious setback for the country in its battle to have the new MOX plant stopped and to have the existing Sellafield operation closed. "Although we would have much preferred if we had had an interim injunction preventing Britain from going ahead, we have a process whereby they must now engage with us in all the material matters and must not hold back from us vital information regarding the threat to the Irish sea from Sellafield," he said. The country was minded to bring a claim under European law and the Euratim Treaty to have the economic justification put forward by Britain and BNFL struck down as an infraction of that law. He said the country had gone to the Hamburg tribunal seeking the vindication of its rights under international law and had come out of a preliminary hearing with some "very valuable advances". Britain, he said, had been told that Ireland had an interest in the issue of Sellafield and the pollution of the Irish Sea and it now had to co-operate in devising measures to prevent pollution which might result from the MOX plant. This was the first time that the country had "a decisive decision" such as this from an international tribunal regarding our interest in the Irish Sea in relation to pollution. Mr McDowell said the judgment put it "absolutely beyond contradiction" that was now a matter of international law that the failure of Britain to consult with Ireland is now "unlawful" and this situation could not continue in the future. "The glass is three-quarters full rather than a quarter empty, as far as I am concerned," he said. "We reject the idea that we should read in the newspapers or hear on the grapevine what is happening in relation to Sellafield," Mr McDowell said. "We say the Irish people are entitled to be fully consulted on each and every step and on each and every risk," he said. "Britain can no longer hold back information in the way it has done in the past about the economic justification for Sellafield or the safety risks involved," said the Attorney General. "We are just as entitled as the people of Cumbria, London or anywhere else to know the implications for the safety of the Irish people and the pollution avoidance in the Irish Sea as any of them." Britain, he said, now had to come back to the court before December 17 with a report on what they had agreed with Ireland with regard to the risk. Gene McKenna © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 16 UK terror Act to gag nuclear ship reports Lloyds List; Dec 4, 2001 BY DAVID OSLER Lloyd's List will be barred from publishing details of Pacific Nuclear Transport ships, write and Brian Reyes ANTI-TERRORISM legislation currently before parliament could see a ban on Lloyd's List reporting the movement of British-flagged nuclear cargoships. Section 80 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act will make it illegal to disclose anything that might 'prejudice the security' of nuclear material carried on board a British ship. Maximum penalty for such disclosures will be seven years' imprisonment, a fine or both. The Act - introduced by home secretary David Blunkett after the September 11 outrages - has aroused civil liberty concerns, not least because of its provisions for internment without trial for terrorist suspects. The legislation would severely curtail the British press' ability to report on Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd, the British Nuclear Fuels shipping subsidiary managed from Barrow in Furness by James Fisher & Sons. However, such material could quite legally be covered by foreign-based shipping publications and other media, in most cases freely available on the internet. PNTL - largely engaged in carrying reprocessed nuclear fuel from Britain to Japan - has been the subject of many stories in Lloyd's List in recent years. Articles have focused on protests staged by environmentalists against such voyages, and the political reaction from governments along the route. Although the government ordered the suspension of Lloyd's List on national security grounds in both the First and Second World Wars, this is believed to be the first time selective restrictions have been proposed. Even at the height of the cold war, for instance, we were freely able to report on worldwide movements of British, US and Russian merchant vessels. We are today able to report that PNTL ship Pacific Sandpiper left Barrow in Furness two days ago bound for Cherbourg, France, where she will pick up her cargo of nuclear waste before sailing for Japan. Greenpeace claimed that this will be the second largest such shipment ever undertaken. 'It's an absolutely tremendous amount of material,' said Greenpeace campaigner Damon Moglen. In terms of radioactivity, it represents twice the levels released after the Chernobyl disaster, he said. Mr Moglen also criticised the anti-terrorism Act:section on nuclear security reads as if BNFL simply wrote it.' Greenpeace has published a 'nuclear ship spotter's guide' in response, and has vowed to continue releasing information about the industry. 'If the government believes that these nuclear shipments are a security risk then it should stop (them)... and not the democratic right of people... to know about the horrendous risks these ships carry,' said Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Bridget Woodman. A spokesman for BNFL said that the legal situation remained unclear, but that the company would fully comply with the law. The Act is at committee stage in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, the Irish government's attempt to win an injunction to halt the start-up of a Pounds 472m (Dollars 664m) nuclear fuel manufacturing plant in Sellafield yesterday fell. Ireland said it was worried about radioactive discharges and the potential risks involved in the transportation of nuclear material to and from the plant. But the application has been refused by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg. However, it did order the British and Irish governments to consult extensively on the safety implications of the plant before submitting written reports on December 17. Ireland is likely to appeal.Blunkett: Act introduced after US attacks has aroused civil liberties concerns and would see Lloyd's List reports such as those left effectively being banned. ***************************************************************** 17 Judgment reveals deep rifts over 'contradictions' Irish Newspapers - Date: Tue December 4th 01 THE judge appointed by Ireland to sit on the international court for the case yesterday openly declared he disagreed with the "contradictions" in yesterday's judgment and said the court's deliberations took place in "particularly difficult circumstances". In contrast, the judgment was sharply attacked by the British appointee, who felt it went "too far" and challenged the court's right to claim jurisdiction in the case. And a third set of judges expressed their deep concern at the total clash of scientific evidence between both sides during the hearing. They also backed the British claim that the commissioning of the Mox plant later this month is not irreversible, as Ireland claimed in court. Although the ruling released yesterday by the 21 judges who sat on the court was issued as a consensus judgment, separate opinions also released by some of the judges reveal the depth of disagreement they felt, but had set aside in order to support a common text. Ireland's ad hoc judge on the Hamburg-based court was the Mexican judge Alberto Szekely, who issued a stunning attack not just on the judgment, but on the way the court's deliberations took place. "At times, the tribunal resembled more a diplomatic exercise than a judicial one," he complained. Separately, he criticised the "contradictions" in the court's final verdict and warned: "I was particularly concerned, during the deliberations, about the insensitivity and incomprehension of the tribunal toward the evidence submitted by Ireland." "In my view, the tribunal never really appreciated Ireland's reiterated central argument, against the commissioning and operation of the Mox plant as an addition to the Sellafield complex, which demanded appreciating its effects together with those of the added complex." Judge Szekely's views differ in almost every detail from the British judge David Anderson. He questions the court's jurisdiction over the case, but was concerned that it was not paying enough attention to the environmental impact. In a third, separate joint declaration, a number of judges expressed concern at the clash over scientific evidence. The case had been "characterised by an almost total lack of agreement on the scientific evidence with respect to the possible consequences of the operation of the Mox plant on the marine environment of the Irish Sea," warned Judges Caminos, Yamamoto, Park, Akl, Marsit, Eiriksson and Jesus. Meanwhile Northern Secretary Dr John Reid said yesterday Britain would try to ease any concerns the Irish Government had in relation to Sellafield and to share any information they had with them, as recommended by the tribunal. But Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen said the Government would continue to use whatever legal remedies were available to it to try to ensure this country's interests. Mr Cowen and Dr Reid were commenting on the outcome of the Sellafield case after their meeting in Dublin. Conor Sweeney and Gene McKenna © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 18 Millstone not alone in the missing fuel department TheDay.com: Featured in Technology Part of nuclear fuel rod can't be located at closed plant in Illinois By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 12/04/2001 Waterford — The Millstone 1 nuclear plant may no longer be able to claim the dubious honor of being the only plant ever to lose track of nuclear fuel. A closed plant in Illinois was recently unable to account for a small segment of a nuclear fuel rod last seen in 1974. The Dresden 1 nuclear plant, located near the town of Morris in northeast Illinois, last operated in 1978. The discovery that a segment of a fuel rod was missing was made Nov. 7. The owner, the Exelon Nuclear Generating Co., has been preparing to move the highly-radioactive spent nuclear fuel generated by the plant from a storage pool into containment casks. The pool was supposed to include a container with two fuel rods and one 16-inch length of a partial fuel rod. When the container was opened, a procedure done under water to block the radiation, the two fuel rods were discovered but the segment was missing. Exelon, which also manages two operating reactors at Dresden station, has launched an internal investigation, said NRC spokesman Jan Strasma. The fuel rod segment may not contain any uranium pellets, but only the outside cladding and the springs that hold the pellets in place, he said. Plant documents are unclear on the matter, Strasma said. David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the latest incident, combined with the missing fuel at Millstone, suggests there is a problem with keeping inventory of nuclear fuel at the plants, particularly the older facilities. Dresden 1 began operations in 1959, making it the first commercial reactor in the country. While the inability to account for all nuclear fuel appears to pose no threat to public safety, it could be an issue for industry workers, Lochbaum said. The requirements for maintaining and inventoring spent nuclear fuel need to be upgraded, he said. Ronald R. Bellamy, chief of the decomissioning and laboratory branch of the Division of Nuclear Materials Safety at the NRC, said it is too soon to determine whether the Millstone and Dresden incidents will require any changes in regulations or procedures at nuclear plants. The NRC is currently conducting a review of the Millstone fuel rod matter. Millstone officials first reported a year ago that the two fuel rods were missing from the closed Millstone 1 plant. The problem was discovered when an inventory was conducted in preparation for the sale of Millstone by Northeast Utilities to the Richmond, Va.-based Dominion. A year-long study that cost NU $9 million was unable to reach any firm conclusion about the whereabouts of the fuel rods. Investigators concluded that the most likely scenario is that the fuel rods were mistaken for other equipment, cut into pieces within the storage pool and shipped in a shielded container to the low-level radioactive waste dump in Barnwell, S.C., in May 1988. Plant records last refer to the fuel rods in 1980. The NU report also raised the possibility that the fuel rods were transported to the General Electric Vallecitos facility in Pleasanton, Calif., or to the low-level radioactive waste dump in Hanford, Wash., or are still hidden undetected somewhere in the Millstone 1 storage pool. © 1998-2001 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 19 Setback in Sellafield court battle Irish Newspapers - Tue December 4th 01 Sellafield: the 21 judges unanimously felt that although the Irish arguements raised many concerns, it did not justify the injunction sought. Irish case ruled out - but door is left open for 11th hour appeal IRELAND'S attempt to halt the start of operations at the new Mox plant at Sellafield was dismissed yesterday by an international court. In a judgment that will please neither side, the court left open the door for a possible last-minute appeal by Ireland, just days before radioactive canisters are due to be opened at the new facility. The lengthy verdict, delivered in Hamburg, the home of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, found against the Irish legal team, after considering the arguments for the past two weeks. Crucially though, it called on both countries to submit further information within two weeks and ignored British allegations that the case was outside its jurisdiction. Such a legal interpretation will encourage further cases from either Ireland or other countries affected by nuclear power and reprocessing plants. "In the circumstances of this case, the tribunal does not find that the urgency of the situation requires the prescription of the provisional measures requested by Ireland," stated the international court, presided by Judge P Chandrasekhara Rao. The Hamburg-based Court is a UN body that governs international maritime law. Led by Attorney General Michael McDowell, the Irish case rested on the "irreversible" consequences of the Mox plant being declared operational around December 20. However, the 21 judges unanimously felt that although the Irish arguments raised many concerns, it did not justify the injunction sought. They believe that since Britain has given assurances that no transportation will take from Sellafield until next October, the injunction would have been premature. Instead, a special court-appointed panel will tease out the issues next year. For the first time however, the court formally recognised Ireland's rights to consultation on the impact of the new Mox plant, which is due to convert reprocessed nuclear waste from the adjoining Thorp facility into nuclear fuel. "Prudence and caution require that Ireland and the United Kingdom cooperate in exchanging information concerning risks or effects of the operation of the Mox plant," states the judgment. In their findings, the judges also referred to British claims that there will be no increase in the transport of nuclear materials to the massive BNFL complex at Sellafield. They also accepted the British claim that in fact, very little additional radioactive material would be released into the maritime environment as a result of the new plant. However, the court's president made it clear that if he was not satisfied with the detailed additional information he requested from both sides by December 17, he was empowered to seek further details. The court also dismissed a British demand that Ireland meet all legal costs. The Hamburg case represents just one prong of the Government's legal battle with London. A further action is being heard by the North Atlantic maritime organisation, OSPAR, while a case may be launched soon in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Conor Sweeney in Brussels © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 20 Risks of low-level radiation higher than thought New Scientist 12:21 04 December 01 Hazel Muir Sources of low levels of radiation - such as radioactive radon gas seeping into houses - might cause more genetic damage and cancer than anyone realised, say a team of US researchers. "The effects of radiation are very complex," concludes Hongning Zhou of Columbia University in New York, a member of the team. "We should reconsider the risks of low levels." Current estimates of the risks of radiation come mainly from studies of cancer rates in survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the levels of radiation were very high. Scientists work out the risks of less intense radiation assuming that the cell damage falls off in direct proportion to the radiation dose. But that might not be true. Over the past few years, experiments have shown that the effects of radiation in cells are unexpectedly complicated due to a so-called "bystander effect", in which a radiated cell can alter the protein production of neighbouring cells. Now a team led by Tom Hei of Columbia University has measured the destructive effect of alpha particles on the genetic machinery of neighbouring cells. Mystery damage The team prepared layers of thousands of cells that are sensitive to mutations and targeted some of their nuclei with alpha particles. When they zapped 10 per cent of the cells with alpha particles, the number of cells with damaged DNA was similar to the number of casualties when they zapped all the cells. Why the neighbours suffer damage is a mystery. But it seems to be linked to a type of chemical communication in which the targeted cell exchanges small molecules with its nearest neighbours. When Zhou's team severed these chemical chat lines and repeated the alpha-particle assault, only the target cells were damaged. Until there are detailed studies of low-level radiation on animal and human tissues, no one will know if this is cause for alarm. "The effects on animals and people are likely to be even more complicated," says Richard Setlow, a biophysicist Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. "But this is a clue what to look for." The result could fuel concerns over radon building up in confined spaces, such as the insulated basements of homes, as the gas leaks out of soil and rocks. The health risks of radon are controversial, but some scientists think it is responsible for thousands of deaths from lung cancer each year. However, Setlow says that the risks of radon cannot be much higher than currently predicted. If they were, we would see far more cancer cases from regions where radon gas is a problem. Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol 98, p 14,410) 12:21 04 December 01 latestnews@newscientist.com. ***************************************************************** 21 Nuclear plant security bill unnecessary, NRC claims TheDay.com: Commission wants Congress to reject proposed changes By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 12/04/2001 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is urging Congress to reject a nuclear-plant security bill introduced by several senators, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., calling it a piecemeal approach that is too costly and, in many respects, unnecessary. “The commission strongly opposes enactment of the legislation as drafted,” wrote NRC Chairman Richard A. Meserve in a letter to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada. Provisions in the bill include replacing private security forces at nuclear plants with federal officers, creating a new Operations Safeguard Response Unit within NRC to handle security issues, and ordering a review of nuclear plant designs to see if structural improvements are needed to handle potential terrorist attacks. Lieberman has argued that in light of the Sept. 11 attacks major changes are needed in the way the country goes about protecting nuclear plants. “While the NRC and the nation's nuclear facilities — including Millstone 2 and 3 in my home state of Connecticut — have taken some steps to improve security, much more needs to be done to reduce the vulnerabilities of our nuclear plants to terrorist strikes,” said Lieberman in announcing the proposal last week. Kelly Moore, a spokesman for the senator, said he remains convinced the proposed legislation is a reasonable response to the heightened threat the nation now faces. Given the commission's unqualified opposition, the bill could face a difficult fight. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear industry, is also working to defeat the legislation. In his letter, Meserve calls it a mistake to separate strategy for the security of nuclear facilities from other potential infrastructure targets, such as chemical plants, dams and refineries. It would be better to have a comprehensive security plan, he contends. “Resources are not infinite, and disproportionate protection at one kind of facility may increase the risks at other kinds of facilities,” he stated. The letter also notes that the commission is doing a “top-to-bottom review” of security requirements. It is premature to propose changes until that review is complete, Meserve argues in the letter. Neil A. Sheehan, an NRC spokesman, said a task force recently filed a report on the review with the commission, but that a final proposal for improving security will not be in place “until well into next year.” Former President Bill Clinton appointed Meserve to the NRC chairmanship in 1999. In the late 1970s Meserve served as the science and technology advisor during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, also a Democrat. Some of the letter's strongest language is targeted at the idea of introducing federal security officers at nuclear plants. It states the proposal “addresses a nonexistent problem.” “Current security forces at sensitive NRC nuclear facilities are well trained, well paid, and have high retention rates. This is in sharp contrast to airport security,” stated Meserve. “There have been no failures in nuclear plant security of the type that has plagued the commercial airline industry and thus no need for such radical change.” Congress recently voted to begin using federal security officers to screen passengers and packages at commercial airports. Putting the NRC in the business of providing security for nuclear plants would interfere with its role as an objective regulator, Meserve stated. It would require hiring more than 7,000 new federal workers, twice the number of staff now employed by the NRC, and could cost more than $1 billion a year. Some of the same arguments are being stated by the nuclear industry. Joe F. Colvin, president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, called the bill “well intentioned, but misguided.” “This proposal is a reflexive political response to a problem that does not exist,” Colvin said. “Nuclear power plants are private facilities protected by a paramilitary force of highly-trained, well-armed, dedicated professionals.” © 1998-2001 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 22 Down but not out as fight against Sellafield goes on Irish News and Analysis Tue December 4th 01 CO-OPERATE and consult was the message for the UK and Irish Governments from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg yesterday. The 24-page judgment appears to leave open a window for the Irish Government to pursue their case against the controversial MOX Plant. Both countries will have to report to an arbitration tribunal in the New Year. This new plant at Sellafield in Cumbria is designed to reprocess spent nuclear fuel into a new fuel, known as mixed oxide fuel, or MOX. The existing THORP Plant takes spent nuclear fuel rods from plants around the world. It dissolves them in a bath of nitric acid and produces uranium, plutonium and highly radioactive waste. The uranium is turned into a powdered form, processed into fuel pellets and sent back for use in nuclear reactors. The plutonium can be combined with uranium and turned into new MOX fuel rods. Each six-gram pellet holds the equivalent energy of one tonne of coal and would be deadly if it fell into the wrong hands. Plutonium is a major ingredient of nuclear weapons. British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) currently processes spent nuclear fuel from nine countries: the UK, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and Italy. BNFL say they have £12bn worth of orders on their books. Environmentalists point out that the Irish Sea is already the most radioactive water body in the world, and that the commissioning of the plant would increase risks for all. Although levels of radioactivity in the Irish Sea have decreased since the early days of Sellafield/Windscale there are fears that a mishap in the MOX plant could cause a catastrophe. The events of September 11th have shown just how vulnerable nuclear plants could be to a terrorist attack. BNFL states that shipments of the MOX fuel will be guarded by police carrying guns, gas masks and grenades this does not reassure critics. In a nightmare scenario the ship carrying the fuel could be taken over as it travels down the Irish Sea with its toxic load. An although the UK Government states that the plant itself will be guarded against air attacks, it would be hard to protect the plant from a pilot who wishes to sacrifice their life. The Irish Government based their case concerning the MOX plant on the international movements of radioactive materials, and the protection of the marine environment of the Irish Sea. Both the UK and Ireland signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This allowed the Hamburg based Tribunal to consider the case. Given the urgency of the situation they made an interim report. They stated "prudence and caution require that Ireland and the United Kingdom co-operate in exchanging information concerning risks or effects of the operation of the MOX plant and in devising ways to deal with them, as appropriate." Both countries have to report on their progress by 17 December 2001. They will have to exchange information concerning the risks or effects of the operation of the MOX plant and in devising ways to deal with them, as appropriate. The court also called for the setting up of an arbitration tribunal under the Convention that will examine the issues in more detail. Prior to the outcome of the full tribunal there are to be no additional marine transports of radioactive material either to or from Sellafield until summer 2002. This stalemate should at least ensure that the UK Government listens carefully to what the Irish side has to say. It is significant that the judges unanimously rejected UK claims that the Law of the Sea Convention Tribunal did not have jurisdiction over the case. The tribunal has established the right of states threatened by pollution from transport shipments to be consulted. Greenpeace feel that this is a major step forward for the rights of states opposed to the transport of nuclear material, including high-level waste and plutonium MOX fuel. In a dissenting opinion Judge Szekely queried whether the UK could proceed with commissioning the plant prior to assessing the risk in detail. He felt that a start-up could be seen as disregarding the "prudence and caution" that the tribunal required. The projected commissioning of the MOX plant is planned for 20 December 2001. It seems that all those connected with the case will have a busy time ahead before they can wind down for Christmas. Meanwhile Greenpeace and the Friends of the Earth UK are expected to hear within days the result of a separate lawsuit against the UK government's decision to authorise the MOX plant. The Court of Appeal in London heard the case last week. The directors of BNFL certainly have a busy month ahead. Ciaran Cuffe is a leading member of the Green Party and lectures in planning at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Ciaran Cuffe © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 23 Ireland loses nuclear injunction bid The Scotsman Online - Standard Life sales surge Emma Cowing A UNITED Nations Court has refused Ireland’s request for an injunction to halt the start up of a £472 million nuclear fuel manufacturing plant at Sellafield. The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered the British and Irish governments to co-operate and exchange further information about risks to safety and pollution that would result from starting up British Nuclear Fuels’ (BNFL) MOX plant in Cumbria, facing the Irish Sea. Ireland sought the injunction because it said it was worried about radioactive discharges from the plant, which is set to begin operating on 20 December. But the court was not convinced. "In the circumstances of this case, the tribunal found that the urgency of the situation did not require the prescription of the provisional measures (injunction) as requested by Ireland," the ruling said. Ireland said it was pleased the tribunal recognised Britain had an obligation to "prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the MOX plant," Joe Jacob, the Irish minister with responsibility for nuclear safety, said. The court ordered the two countries to submit written reports to the Tribunal by 17 December, 2001. The 17 December date was chosen deliberately so as to give Ireland a right of consultation about the MOX plant before it becomes operational. Jacobs said he wants Britain to delay commissioning the plant until an agreement has been reached on preventing pollution. Once Britain and Ireland have submitted their reports, there will be informal discussions between the court, Ireland and Britain, but no more hearings. Jacobs said the Irish complaint is likely to go forward to the OSPAR tribunal, which rules on the OSPAR convention on maritime issues in the north-west Atlantic. The minister said it was possible Ireland might challenge at the European Court of Justice Britain’s decision of 3 October allowing MOX to start up. Senator Joe Costello, a Dublin delegate at the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body conference, held yesterday in Bournemouth, said many people in Ireland regarded the development in Sellafield as "an unfriendly act by the British government against the Republic of Ireland". Regretting yesterday’s decision by the tribunal in Hamburg, Germany, he added: "That is the perspective in which this has to be addressed - it could sour relations between the two governments." Michael O’Kennedy, the Irish joint chairman of the inter-parliamentary body, which is made up of 25 members of each of the British and Irish parliaments and also incorporated representatives from the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies, and the Isle of Man and Channel Island parliaments, stressed that there still had to be a full Law of the Sea hearing of the Dublin case, probably early next year. Picture: Dan Chung/Reuters ***************************************************************** 24 Sellafield Strike Warning Sky News - An aeroplane attack on the nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield could "wipe out" the north of England, MPs have been warned. Campaigners from Friends of the Earth told a Commons inquiry that a September 11-style strike at the Cumbria plant could kill two million people. Bunkers The US attacks have led FoE to rethink its long-held stance that waste must be stored above ground, so that it can be constantly monitored, the Commons environment committee was told. Bunkers may have to be built to keep the waste safe from terrorists, FoE's executive director Charles Secrett told the inquiry into dealing with radioactive waste. FoE's nuclear research officer, Dr Rachel Western, told MPs waste at Sellafield was held in a liquid solution. That could have horrific consequences in the case of a terrorist attack, making it prone to being widely dispersed. 'Disastrous' She said: "If somebody was to make the decision to drop a plane on Sellafield, it would be disastrous - it would wipe out the north of England." Mr Secrett stressed the new threat did not lead FoE to accept the solution preferred by many in the nuclear industry, of sealing the waste in deep burial sites far beneath the surface of the Earth. Both FoE and Greenpeace have argued that Britain's nuclear power programme must be halted to prevent production of more waste while no safe and permanent method of disposing of it was available. © 2001 BSkyB | Privacy Statement | Terms and Conditions | UK| ***************************************************************** 25 UK: Renewable energy targets to double Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Ministers' 20% mark deals blow to nuclear industry's revival hopes Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent Tuesday December 4, 2001 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Ministers are planning to deliver a blow to the nuclear industry's hopes of a major revival by setting a costly target doubling the proportion of electricity to be generated by renewable sources. The government already has a target of increasing generation from renewable energy sources to 10% by 2010. It is planning that a fifth of all electricity be generated by renewable energy sources by 2020. Patricia Hewitt, the industry secretary, will today signal the government's commitment to a low carbon economy and renewable energy by saying that by 2010 up to 10% of all new cars should be powered by hydrogen and fuel cells. The proposed new target of 20% renewable energy generation would make Britain one of the most environmentally friendly producers of energy in Europe, but might raise big issues about the siting of aesthetically unpopular wind farms on mainland Britain, as well as offshore. Ms Hewitt, in a speech to the thinktank the Institute of Public Policy Research, is expected to argue that big progress can be made with renewable energy, greater energy resource productivity and new technology such as low carbon cars. There had been suggestions that the government's current energy review would propose a massive expansion of nuclear power, with as many as 10 to 15 new stations commissioned. But the review, led by the Cabinet Office performance and innovation unit and due to be published in the next few weeks, is expected to be more equivocal about requests for tax breaks for nuclear energy. Pro-nuclear lobbyists have been arguing that Britain's projected imminent reliance on gas imports requires a switch to nuclear production to ensure long term energy security in the UK, as well as to meet ambitious targets to cut carbon emissions. However, Ms Hewitt is likely to argue that the energy equation is far more complex than a simple switch to nuclear energy. The energy review will also conclude that renewable energy schemes must be made more acceptable to local communities, and highlight a need to ease the planning process. Under the latest planning rounds only 40% of requests for planning permission for large wind farms (above 1mw) have been granted. This is twice the normal rejection rate for other planning requests. George Hardie, president of Zilkha Renewables, a US based firm trying to create 35mw of wind farm energy in the UK, said the planning system was hampering the growth of wind farms. He said: "We spend most of our time trying to win local planning permission. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but I think wind turbines are beautiful and very elegant. Yes, they are big, they have to have big poles, and they cannot be hidden. "In Denmark they are having an intelligent conversation. They have reached 15% to 20% of electricity from wind generation, but in Britain they have reached about one-tenth of 1%, and the planning people are crying foul. Yet most people when surveyed say they like wind farms." Government research shows that the public favour renewable energy, including wind energy, but not in their rural area. Natural power · Renewable energy does not consume the Earth's finite resources but instead uses sources that will not run out: wind, solar, water (hydro and waves), and biomass (wood, crops, and waste). · Renewables supply 14% of the world's energy, fossil fuel 80%, and nuclear power 6%. · Renewable energy generates 2.6% of the UK's electricity. Of the 2.6%, only a 10th is wind energy; nevertheless, the UK has 40% of Europe's onshore wind resources. · Worldwide, there are more than 50,000 turbines. · The UK has 64 wind farms (ranging from a single machine upwards ) and a total of 878 turbines, including two offshore. · Turbines usually have three blades 40m in diameter, turning at 30 revs per minute; the turbine shaft drives a generator via a gearbox. · Twenty turbines can supply 15,000 homes with electricity; burning coal to get the electricity would emit 45,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 600 tonnes of acid rain gas a year. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 26 3rd Library to Make Available Peach Bottom License Renewal Information NRC: Press Release Region I - 2001 - 66 - OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 No. I-01-066 December 4, 2001 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: [opa3@nrc.gov] Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: [nas@nrc.gov] In an effort to broaden access to information on the license renewal process for the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant, another public library in the vicinity of the facility will now make available related documents. The Quarryville Library, in Lancaster County, Pa., recently agreed to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission request to serve as a location where members of the public can view documents pertaining to an environmental review required as part of the process. The NRC's request came after local citizens suggested the library's use at a recent public meeting at which comments on the environmental review were sought. The Quarryville Library is located at 357 Buck Road in Quarryville. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sunday. Copies of the license renewal documents are also available at two other libraries: + Harford County Public Library, Whiteford Branch, 2407 Whiteford Road, Whiteford, Md. 21160; and + Collinsville Community Library, 2632 Delta Road, Brogue, Pa. 17309. In addition, copies can be obtained from the NRC Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md., 1-800-397-4209. Exelon Corporation, which operates the Peach Bottom plant, submitted its license renewal application for the York County, Pa., facility to the NRC in July 2001. The current schedule provides for a final licensing decision in July 2003. ***************************************************************** 27 UN court rejects Sellafield challenge BBC News | UK | 3 December, 2001, The plant will mix plutonium with uranium oxide A United Nations maritime tribunal has rejected a bid by Ireland to block plans to expand operations at Britain's Sellafield nuclear plant. The Irish Government had tried to challenge the decision to allow the controversial plant to start producing mixed plutonium and uranium oxide (Mox) fuel. It argued that the £470m development, on the Cumbrian coast opposite Ireland, broke international laws on sea pollution and posed safety and security concerns. It could sour relations between the two governments Joe Costello Irish senator Dublin wanted Britain to be ordered to suspend Mox operations until an international arbitration tribunal was established to resolve the dispute. But judges at the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg rejected the legal challenge on Monday. The tribunal ruled that "the urgency of the situation did not require the prescription of the provisional measures as requested by Ireland". Senator Joe Costello, a Dublin delegate at the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body conference in Bournemouth, said he was disappointed by a decision which could allow relations to be harmed. Relations danger He said many people in Ireland regarded the development in Sellafield as "an unfriendly act by the British government against the Republic of Ireland". "That is the perspective in which this has to be addressed - it could sour relations between the two governments." The tribunal ordered Britain and Ireland to start consultations immediately to exchange information on the possible consequences to the Irish Sea of the mox plant opening. [Fianna Fail advertisement in the Times] The Irish Government has protested via UK newspapers They were told to "devise, as appropriate, measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the Mox plant". The Irish Government welcomed the environmental safeguards in the tribunal's order. The minister with responsibility for nuclear safety, Joe Jacob, said he welcomed the ruling that the UK had an obligation "to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the Mox plant". He added: "We call on the UK to delay commissioning until the parties have reached agreement on measures to prevent pollution from the Mox plant, in accordance with the tribunal's order." Cancer rates Mr Jacob vowed to continue Ireland's case "to ensure that the UK permanently ceases to pollute the Irish Sea, subjects the Mox plant to a proper environmental assessment, and co-operates more fully with Ireland". The Norwegian Government is also understood to be considering legal action over the issue. Campaigners argue that sea pollution from Sellafield is the cause of above average cancer rates in some parts of the east of Ireland. In the UK, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace are waiting for the outcome of their own challenge to the Sellafield development. They asked the Court of Appeal to overturn a High Court ruling that the UK Government made "no error of law" when it gave the go-ahead for the Sellafield plant. ***************************************************************** 28 New Sellafield terror warning BBC News | ENGLAND | 3 December, 2001, There are plans to store nuclear waste underground Terrorists deliberately flying an aircraft into the Sellafield nuclear repocessing plant could "wipe out the north of England", a pressure group has told MPs. Campaigners from Friends of the Earth (FoE) told the Commons' environment committee's inquiry into radioactive waste policy an 11 September-type atrocity could kill 2 million people. The US terror attacks has led the group to rethink its long-standing insistence that waste must be stored above ground at the Cumbrian plant so it can be constantly monitored. Both FoE and Greenpeace argue the UK's nuclear power programme must halt to prevent production of more waste while no safe and permanent method of disposing of it is available. Liquid solution Charles Secrett, FoE's executive director, told MPs bunkers may have to be built to keep the waste safe from terrorists. Waste at Sellafield is held in a liquid solution, which campaigners warn could be widely dispersed in the case of a deliberate or accidental plane crash. Dr Rachel Western, FoE's nuclear research officer, told MPs: "If somebody was to make the decision to drop a plane on Sellafield, it would be disastrous - it would wipe out the north of England." Mr Secrett stressed that the new threat did not lead FoE to accept the solution preferred by many in the nuclear industry, of sealing the waste in deep burial sites far beneath the surface of the earth. Sellafield has been the target of protesters Studies had shown it would be impossible to rule out leaks of radioactive material into the environment from such sites, he said. Environment minister Michael Meacher launched a consultation process on 12 September - the day after the US tragedy. He was seeking opinion on the options for long-term handling of nuclear waste, including deep burial. Greenpeace UK executive director Stephen Tindale told the MPs: "We don't believe there is any way of disposing of nuclear waste. "You can bury it - out of sight and out of mind - but the radioactivity will come back to haunt you. We are opposed on principle to deep burial." Similar terrorist warnings have been made since 11 September by the Green Party and the Irish Government. International tribunal The Commons committee hearing came on the day a United Nations maritime tribunal rejected a bid by Ireland to block plans to expand operations at Britain's Sellafield nuclear plant. The Irish Government had tried to challenge the decision to allow the controversial plant to start producing mixed plutonium and uranium oxide (Mox) fuel. It argued that the £470m development, on the Cumbrian coast opposite Ireland, broke international laws on sea pollution and posed safety and security concerns. Dublin wanted Britain to be ordered to suspend Mox operations until an international arbitration tribunal was established to resolve the dispute. But judges at the UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg rejected the legal challenge on Monday. ***************************************************************** 29 Law firm seeks Yucca contract Tuesday, December 04, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Energy Department needs new adviser on nuclear waste depository By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- A law firm passed over two years ago for a job to advise the Energy Department on licensing a nuclear waste repository in Nevada remains interested in getting the work. The firm, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene &MacRae, believes it should be awarded the contract after its competitor, Chicago-based Winston &Strawn, withdrew last week. "There were only two bidders. We both got perfect scores, and now Winston is off the scene and we are the only remaining bidder," said Michael McBride, a partner in the firm's Washington office. "Our view of the law is that we are entitled to the work," McBride said. "The work needs to be done by somebody and we think we're very qualified." LeBoeuf, Lamb filed a federal lawsuit in March 2000 challenging the DOE's 1999 decision to award Winston &Strawn a $16.5 million contract to help prepare the department's licensing application to build and operate a spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. LeBoeuf, Lamb officials said Winston &Strawn should have been disqualified because it also represented TRW Environmental Safety Services Inc., which at the time was the prime contractor of the Yucca Mountain project. Court-monitored settlement talks also are taking place. LeBoeuf, Lamb employs 750 lawyers in 14 U.S. cities and 10 foreign countries. Winston &Strawn's offer to withdraw from the contract, accepted by the Energy Department, came after the department's inspector general concluded the law firm neglected to inform the government of another potential conflict-of-interest. In that matter, Winston &Strawn didn't reveal that it also was a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, which is promoting Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste burial, the inspector general's report concluded. McBride said he was uncertain how his firm's lawsuit will play out now that Winston &Strawn no longer holds the Yucca Mountain contract. Winston &Strawn also is involved in an investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission into whether one of its attorneys benefited from the "improper release" of a July 2000 internal draft licensing document by NRC staff. The license document subsequently turned up within the Energy Department, and Nevada officials complained it could give the DOE an advantage in upcoming debates over a repository license. NRC chairman Richard Meserve said the leak investigation is not complete, but he decided to make the draft document public anyway. Meserve said the document is "potentially misleading" because it was not consistent with the latest repository site guidelines established by the NRC and the Environmental Protection Agency. NRC spokeswoman Sue Gagner said Monday the agency's investigation is continuing. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 30 Red-hot nuke report Tuesday, December 04, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal COLUMN: Steve Sebelius It's useful when evaluating any public statements made about Yucca Mountain to subtract from the rhetoric in order to compensate for Nevada's fervent hope that the project will be killed and for the federal government's specious claims that the project will be perfectly safe. That's why when the General Accounting Office draft report on the project was strategically leaked last week (in order to inflict maximum damage on the idea in the halls of Congress) those who read U.S. Sen. Harry Reid saying, "This is the beginning of the end for the Yucca Mountain project," had a right to be skeptical. But let's give Reid his due: The report (requested by Reid and U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley) concludes that the project is hopelessly behind schedule and may not open until 2015 in order to accommodate further research, a license application and construction. That's five years later than the 2010 deadline that's been the Energy Department's goal. And, the report adds, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham should wait to tell President Bush that Yucca is ready to go, at least until the research comes back. "This is because the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and Department of Energy's siting guidelines indicate that a site recommendation and a license application should be based on similar technical information, and DOE's contractor estimates that it will not have all of the additional information that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said will be needed for a license application for another four years," the report says. The fact that this needs to be said -- don't pick the site until you know it can handle nuclear waste without causing an environmental catastrophe -- is disturbing enough. But there's more. "If the secretary chooses to make a site recommendation according to DOE's current schedule (this winter) he should specifically address in the recommendation why it is appropriate to proceed in the absence of the additional technical information that DOE is obtaining for a license application, and the results of DOE's ongoing consideration of alternative approaches for opening a repository at Yucca Mountain," the report adds. Yes, Mr. Secretary, we'd all love to hear why it's appropriate to decide -- as Abraham has vowed to do, in spite of the leaked report -- why Yucca is the best place to dump nuclear waste, when your own contractors have yet to justify the action. Abraham can't answer the question honestly, because the honest answer is this: Nevada was picked in 1987 to be the dump site because of politics, not science. And absent the answers to these scientific questions, any decision made by Abraham in the near future will be equally invalid. But those question marks are scythes that cut both ways; there's nothing in the GAO report to indicate that Yucca Mountain cannot be built because of scientific shortcomings. There are no alternatives to the project under review. The report concludes only that the project will take longer and cost more, not that it cannot be built. (In fact, the report reviews some possible ways to streamline the process of burying waste in Yucca Mountain.) That means that Reid, along with his fellows in Congress, will still have to fight the dump on the usual fronts: attack the science, magnify the dangers of transporting the waste across the country, and worry publicly about the flawed process and its rising costs. The report provides ammo for that fight, but it unfortunately doesn't finish it. • One of the more amusing elements of the Yucca Mountain battle is the curious controversy over Washington, D.C., law firm Winston &Strawn's connection to the dump. It seems the white-shoe firm was advising the Energy Department (to the tune of $16.5 million) on getting a license for Yucca at the same time it was registered as a lobbying agent for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear power industry. Conflicts! the critics declared. And in the end, Winston &Strawn withdrew from both the Energy Department contract and lobbying for the nuclear power industry on Capitol Hill, but not before sustaining a black eye in the process, in part courtesy of former boxer Reid. The firm failed to make the proper disclosures, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a real conflict here: The Energy Department's institutional bureaucracy wants Yucca Mountain used as a nuclear dump. The Nuclear Energy Institute wants the same thing. It sounds like a fine union. Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. His column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 383-0283 or by e-mail at Steve_Sebelius@lvrj.com. ***************************************************************** 31 N.K., KEDO sign accord on quality assurance and warranties for nuclear reactors http://www.koreaherald.com North Korea and the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) yesterday concluded an accord on quality assurance and warranties for two light-water reactors being built in the North by the international consortium, Seoul officials said yesterday. The agreement was signed by KEDO Executive Director Charles Kartman and Kim Hui-mun, the North Korean official who is responsible for the $4.6-billion nuclear project, Seoul officials said. KEDO has been funding the project under a 1994 deal between Pyongyang and Washington, in which the communist country agreed to freeze its suspected nuclear programs in return for the "safer" nuclear reactors. The agreement on quality assurance stipulates the rights and responsibilities of both KEDO and North Korea and immunity for KEDO officials and their contractors. It also includes the scope and timetable for the provision of related documents, according to the Office of Planning for Light-Water Reactors (LWR). Officials said the accord on warranties covers electricity output, key parts, initial fuel supply and related facilities. North Korea and KEDO began negotiations in 1997 on the latest agreement, the eighth protocol signed between the two sides, and initialed it in July this year. Kartman arrived in Pyongyang Dec. 1 for meetings with North Korean officials. He will fly to Seoul today for a KEDO executive board meeting, which will be chaired by Chang Sun-sup, head of the South Korean LWR Planning Office. (jihoho@koreaherald.co.kr By Kim Ji-ho Staff reporter 2001.12.04 (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 32 SENATE DEFEATS ENERGY RIDER WHICH WOULD OPEN ANWR Environment News Service: AmeriScan: December 3, 2001 WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - Late today, the U.S. Senate voted against a proposed amendment to the Railroad Retirement Bill which would have opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, a Missouri Republican, and Alaska Republican Senator Frank Murkowski, attempted to attach controversial House Energy legislation, which allows for oil and natural gas drilling in ANWR, to the unrelated railroad bill in an effort to push the measure through before the Senate ends its current session. But despite a weekend of lobbying by the energy industry and supporters of the energy bill, and after hours of floor debate, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected Murkowski's effort, 94-1. Environmental groups applauded the Senate's decision to defeat the energy rider. "We're pleased that the Senate has once again acknowledged that this fall is not the time to rush through controversial energy policies, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "But it's very unfortunate that there continue to be senators who are willing to delay important and unrelated legislation to further their own irresponsible agenda." On October 1, the Senate unanimously opposed an effort by Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, to add the House energy bill to the Defense Authorization bill. This time, even Senator Murkowski voted against the energy bill rider. "This is the second time Senator Murkowski has tried to push Arctic drilling onto an unrelated bill, the second time he has held up the Senate's business, and the second time his arguments have failed," said Betsy Loyless, political director of the League of Conservation Voters. "Hopefully, this will be the last time the Senate leadership spends time on Senator Murkowski's personal political agenda, when they should be focused on national priorities." Opponents of opening ANWR to energy exploration say that the Republican plan would spoil the untrammeled Arctic Refuge without contributing substantially to U.S. energy security. "We will not achieve energy security by ruining the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge," said Lois Schiffer, senior vice president for public policy at the National Audubon Society. "Opening the Arctic Refuge to drilling would be a disaster for migratory birds, for other wildlife and for future generations of Americans who deserve this pristine wild place. We can secure our energy future and reduce America's reliance on foreign oil by developing newer, cleaner sources of energy, such as solar and wind, and by making our cars, homes, and appliances more energy efficient." [news@ens-news.com] 2001. All Rights Reserved. [http://www.hartcons.com/] ***************************************************************** 33 OBSERVER: Fuel sell OBSERVER COLUMN Financial Times; Dec 4, 2001 Fuel sell Nuclear issues are a hot topic between London and Dublin, too. But Brian Wilson, the combative UK energy minister, had a spring in his step after Ireland yesterday failed to stop him opening a controversial new Euros 750m atomic fuel recycling plant at Sellafield, north-west England. Dublin feared the plant would pollute the Irish Sea and could become a target for terrorists. With all the controversy over nuclear fuel reprocessing in Europe, British Nuclear Fuels has been a big headache for Tony Blair's government. It gave the go-ahead for the new plant - a legacy of the previous Conservative administration - after deciding it would be cheaper to open than to scrap. But Wilson's economies could still backfire. If the arbitration process ends up ruling against the plant next year it will cost much more to close once plutonium has been introduced. And with two other legal actions against the plant still under way, the Irish may yet have the last laugh. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 ***************************************************************** 34 Ireland Fails in Bid to Block British Nuclear Plant Environment News Service: HAMBURG, Germany, December 3, 2001 (ENS) - Ireland's latest attempt to prevent operation of British Nuclear Fuels Limited's controversial mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant at Sellafield has failed. In a ruling released today, a panel of judges from the United Nations' International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos) denied Ireland's request for an injunction to prevent start up of the plant and any related marine shipments. Located on the Irish Sea, the MOX plant is a key component of British Nuclear Fuels Limited's (BNFL) spent nuclear fuel reprocessing business and is due to begin operations this month. UK government approval for start up was granted in October, five years after construction. [Sellafield] Sellafield on the Cumbrian coast of the Irish Sea. There are 3,500 radiation sources on the site kept in 171 special buildings. (Photo courtesy [http://www.bnfl.com/website.nsf/index.htm] ) Designed to turn uranium and plutonium from spent fuel into new reactor rods, the MOX plant was completed in 1996 but never started. Operator BNFL has been fighting an increasingly bitter battle to win operating approval since its commercial reputation was savaged in 1999 by a data falsification scandal related to the size of MOX pellets it produced. Ireland claims the plant will lead to an unacceptable increase in radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea as well as posing security risks. It also argues, as do British green groups, that the UK government has bent European Union law to approve the plant. Despite ruling against Ireland's request for an injunction, the tribunal agreed that the dispute is valid under UN rules, something the UK government had questioned. They ordered the two countries to negotiate over the next fortnight before reporting back. The Tribunal ruled that "prudence and caution require that Ireland and the United Kingdom cooperate in exchanging information concerning risks or effects of the operation of the MOX plant and in devising ways to deal with them, as appropriate." The Tribunal considered that "the duty to cooperate is a fundamental principle in the prevention of pollution of the marine environment," under the Law of the Sea Convention and under international common law. The Tribunal noted and placed on record the assurances given by the United Kingdom that there will be no additional marine transports of radioactive material either to or from Sellafield as a result of the commissioning of the MOX plant until summer 2002. Irish Energy Minister Joe Jacob said the ruling would not alter his government's position and that all legal avenues are under consideration, including the possibility of mounting a case before the European Court of Justice. Jacob reconfirmed his intention to proceed with a complaint lodged in June with the Ospar maritime environment protection convention. Jacob alleged that the UK government had illegally withheld information during deliberations over whether to approve a MOX fuel plant at Sellafield. Similar claims have been made by British environmental groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, who have launched their own legal challenge. Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth last week appealed against a London High Court decision in November rejecting their arguments that government approval for the MOX plant was illegal. A decision on the appeal is expected within the next two weeks. Duncan Currie, legal counsel for Greenpeace International, said, "The judges have recognized that the UK should not do anything that would aggravate the dispute between Ireland and the UK. The obvious point here is that turning on the MOX plant will certainly aggravate the dispute. The UK should therefore abandon its plans for MOX production to start at the end of the month." "It also seems impossible to design appropriate measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might arise from the operation of the MOX plant once it is commissioned," said Currie. BNFL declared itself "pleased" that the International Tribunal for the Law Of the Sea (ITLOS) rejected the request of the Irish Government for provisional measures to prevent the operation of the Sellafield Mox Plant (SMP). "The judgement allows the commissioning of SMP to continue and that is good news for BNFL. It is good news, too, for our workforce and for the community of West Cumbria," BNFL said in a statement. "This means it is business as usual for SMP in the build-up to manufacturing fuel for our customers." The provisional measures agreed to by the Tribunal will remain in force until the conclusion of international arbitration to be held under the auspices of the International Convention on the Law of the Sea. Hearings are expected to begin in early 2002. [http://www.ends.co.uk] ***************************************************************** 35 Picking a Fight With the North Koreans Doesn't Make Sense IHT: Leon V. Sigal Tuesday, December 4, 2001 NEW YORK Cooperating with strangers has become the watchword in Washington after Sept. 11. The United States cannot track, disrupt or destroy the terrorist network that massacred 4,000 people in America without help. Recognizing that going it alone won't work, the Bush administration has rejected the advice of unilateralists in the Republican Party, swallowed its campaign rhetoric and forged a global coalition against terrorism. It has begun to heal rifts with Russia and China. It has even made common cause with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. But it has yet to try cooperating with North Korea. It began instead, like the last three administrations, by benign neglect, in hopes that Pyongyang would collapse. That seems shortsighted. The North committed its last known terrorist act in 1987 and might be willing to join in the war against terrorism. It may also be self-defeating. North Korea has shown a willingness to end its nuclear arms and missile programs, but only if it gets something in return. Above all it wants an end to its lifelong enmity with the United States, South Korea and Japan, so as to ease its insecurity. The North's known nuclear program remains frozen under the Agreed Framework of October 1994. It suspended its missile tests, and in talks with the United States a year ago it offered to halt all exports of missile technology, including existing contracts, and also to freeze testing, production and deployment of all missiles with a range of 500 kilometers. How to verify the freeze on production and deployment and eventually eliminate the missiles remained to be resolved. The North wanted President Bill Clinton to come to Pyongyang, consummating its 10-year campaign to end enmity, but he got cold feet. Without his commitment to come, missile talks stalled. Instead of picking up the ball where Mr. Clinton dropped it, George W. Bush moved the goalposts. In so doing he undercut Kim Dae Jung in March by publicly repudiating reconciliation and privately warning him not to seek a peace agreement with the North. After completing its policy review, the administration reneged on past U.S. promises and tried to reinterpret agreements unilaterally. First and foremost, it has yet to reaffirm the Oct. 12, 2000, joint communiqué, issued after talks with Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok, pledging no "hostile intent." Even worse, President George W. Bush fueled hostility with incendiary remarks of his own. Second, the administration seeks "improved implementation" of the Agreed Framework of October 1994, in effect rewriting the nuclear accord to expedite North Korean compliance without offering anything in return. Third, the administration prematurely put conventional arms on the agenda. It wants the North to adopt "a less threatening conventional military posture." But, given its military inferiority, Pyongyang cannot do that on its own. Finally, the administration decided that progress toward a missile deal would depend on progress on this and other issues. It announced its policy on June 6. Pyongyang responded 12 days later, calling on Washington to implement the Agreed Framework and the joint communiqué "as agreed upon." On June 28 it followed up, linking the U.S. demand for expedited inspections with its own demand for electricity as compensation for delay in building a reactor promised under the 1994 nuclear accord. It accompanied the hint of a deal with a warning: "If no measure is taken for the compensation for the loss of electricity," North Korea "can no longer keep its nuclear activities in a state of freeze and implement the Agreed Framework." Convinced that it was getting nowhere with Washington, the North resumed high-level dialogue with the South, opening the way to a return visit by Kim Jong Il. That was a marked change of course for Pyongyang, which for the past decade has engaged seriously with Seoul only when Washington was cooperating as well. Seoul wants to provide a modest amount of electricity to power South Korean investments in the North - a sign that it does not seek Pyongyang's collapse. The Bush administration says "no." But impeding reconciliation could erode support for the U.S. military presence in South Korea. Then came Sept. 11. Pyongyang was quick to grasp its import. The next day a Foreign Ministry spokesman voiced regret and reiterated opposition to all forms of terrorism. So did a North Korean arriving in Seoul for ministerial talks on Sept. 15. Behind the scenes, Kim Gye Gwan, who negotiated the 1994 accord, delivered a letter expressing condolences to the United States at the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang. Pyongyang may be ready to consult under an Oct. 6, 2000, joint statement with Washington on international terrorism, in which the two sides "underscored their commitment to ... cooperate with each other in taking effective measures to fight terrorism." If so, the Bush administration should hold high-level consultations. Pyongyang may not be the most agreeable or trustworthy negotiating partner, but the administration already has enough to contend with abroad. It does not need trouble of its own making in Korea. The writer is director of the Northeast Cooperative Security Project at the Social Science Research Council in New York and author of "Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy With North Korea." He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune. Copyright © 2001 the International Herald Tribune ***************************************************************** 36 Winston & Strawn still in Nevada's cross hairs Las Vegas SUN December 03, 2001 State's delegation may push for criminal charges By Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove Nevada's congressional delegation may push for criminal charges against the law firm that last week quit work on the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain project. Conflict-of-interest allegations prompted Winston &Strawn last week to end the firm's relationship with the department, the firm said. It withdrew from its $16.5 million contract, but admitted no wrongdoing. The threat of criminal charges came from a separate federal investigation into whether someone at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission leaked a confidential document to Winston &Strawn, which may have leaked it to the DOE. "I believe what they've done is illegal," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Saturday. "I believe they may have committed crimes." Reid said the Nevada delegation will examine every avenue possible, including criminal charges and congressional hearings, against Winston &Strawn. Reid spoke after a hearing on a Clark County study of waste transportation to Yucca. The NRC's office of inspector general is investigating the alleged leak. In the meantime, NRC Chairman Richard Meserve on Friday said he would release the confidential document to Nevada officials in the interest of fairness. The document is a game plan for the NRC to follow as it considers whether to license Yucca as a waste repository. The plan was drafted in July 2000, but is obsolete, Meserve said. The NRC is writing a new Yucca review plan, Meserve said. Its rules require the process be done behind closed doors so that the results can be released to everyone at once. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said the fact that Winston &Strawn may have shared the NRC guidelines with the DOE is a conflict of interest and perhaps illegal because it gave the department a sneak peek at the NRC's licensing process. The law firm has been working with the Energy Department since 1999 to prepare a licensing application for a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The department must obtain a license from the NRC to bury the waste 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. DOE officials said they do not know if the law firm's termination would delay the repository, targeted to be completed in 2010. A draft report released by the General Accounting Office said the department cannot meet that goal. Energy officials are attempting to figure out how to find a new law firm, department spokesman Joe Davis said. The DOE is planning to move ahead with the controversial project as planned, despite assertions from Nevada officials that the project was dealt several blows last week. "We believe that after 20 years of study, we certainly have met the requirements for the site recommendation," Davis said. Winston &Strawn has struggled with conflict-of-interest allegations since July, when the Sun reported that the firm had been a registered lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute while representing the Energy Department. The institute is a trade organization for nuclear energy companies, which want to send waste from nuclear plants to Yucca. Nevada officials said the DOE should not have hired a pro-nuclear law firm to perform legal work on Yuccat. The DOE was supposed to begin hauling waste from nuclear power plants by 1998, but delays have slowed the project. The project still has not obtained approvals from the president, Congress or the NRC -- and Nevada officials, who want to kill the project, say studies at the site are far from complete. Winston &Strawn did not disclose its relationship with Nuclear Energy Institute, DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman revealed in a report released in November after a three-month investigation. If the firm had disclosed the relationship, the department might not have hired the firm, Friedman's report said. But a press release from Winston &Strawn said the firm never had a conflict of interest and withdrew last week solely out of obligation to its client. The firm had invested nearly 9,000 man-hours in Yucca at a cost of more than $1.8 million through May, according to Energy Department records obtained by the Sun through a Freedom of Information Act request. Winston &Strawn also held a contract with DOE's former major contractor, TRW Environmental and Engineering Safety Inc., since 1992, said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. That fact raises more questions about conflicts of interest, Loux said. Nevada lawmakers said Yucca is reeling from several blows last week: * The DOE losing its law firm. * Meserve acknowledging there may have been an inappropriate leak. * A congressional audit that said the project should be indefinitely delayed because studies are not complete enough for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to recommend the site to President Bush this winter. Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., plan to meet Tuesday to plot strategy for the state's next move against the nuclear waste repository. Ensign on Saturday said revelations in recent weeks have given Nevada "tremendous ammunition we have never had before." "If you look at Winston &Strawn's actions, they have only responded in the proper way after the light was shone on them," Ensign said, referring to media reports and public scrutiny. "The draft report by GAO is some of the most damning information we've ever seen about Yucca Mountain." Gov. Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa both hailed the withdrawal of Winston &Strawn. Guinn said the action "strongly supports that there was a conflict." He also called on Abraham to clearly mark all documents and reports that Winston &Strawn prepared. "Because this material may be tainted, I believe they may be unsuitable in the Yucca Mountain decisions-making process, which includes a licensing proceeding before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," the governor said. Del Papa said her office "feels a tremendous sense of vindication" in Winston &Strawn's withdrawal. Her office has been preparing lawsuits to challenge Yucca and delay it in court. "From the beginning, we believed that not only is Yucca Mountain a technically unsuitable site for a high-level nuclear waste repository, but the process itself has been tainted by conflicts of interest at the highest levels," she said Friday. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Nevadans ask Bush to delay decision on Yucca Las Vegas SUN Today: December 04, 2001 at 10:44:31 PST By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Nevada's congressional delegation today asked President Bush to delay a decision this winter about whether to proceed with the Yucca Mountain project. In a letter to Bush, the four-member delegation said there has been mismanagement by the Energy Department regarding the analysis of the mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The department has been studying the mountain's ridge for years to determine if it is a safe place to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste. The congressional delegation is allied with state officials in aggressively fighting the plan to bury the deadly waste in Nevada. "The best way to correct the systemic mismanagement of the Yucca Mountain project, which has wasted $8 billion to date, is to immediately postpone the site recommendation until the necessary scientific and technical information has been collected and analyzed, and shown to be impartial and unbiased," the letter said. Energy Department officials have said they have gathered enough scientific data to make a recommendation, although they acknowledge that nearly 300 scientific issues have not been resolved. The letter reminds Bush of his campaign promise to make a decision on Yucca that "would reflect sound science." The letter also reminds Bush of another campaign promise to oppose any plan to store nuclear waste in Nevada temporarily until the permanent repository is complete. Finally, the letter recounts how the law firm Winston &Strawn, which was handling the DOE's license application, quit last week after Nevada officials charged the firm had conflicts of interest with a pro-nuclear lobby group. A DOE inspector general's report released last month said the law firm had not disclosed it had also worked for the Nuclear Energy Institute. The firm denies wrongdoing. "We expect the DOE to implement the recommendations of the inspector general report and evaluate what scientific and technical information may have been tainted by the improper actions of Winston &Strawn," the letter said. Nevada lawmakers sent the letter as an opening salvo this week as they devise a new plan to attack flaws in the proposed project. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., met today in Reid's office to map out options in the wake of three developments last week. The senators spoke with Gov. Kenny Guinn during their meeting. Reid and Ensign will not reveal their plans until later this week, the senators said. On Thursday, Reid released a General Accounting Office report that recommended delaying a Yucca decision. On Friday, Winston &Strawn quit amid controversy. Later in the day, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged a confidential Yucca review may have been unfairly leaked to the DOE and not to state officials, although evidence is not yet conclusive. DOE officials have said they would not delay their plans to make a recommendation to President Bush this winter. They are expected to recommend that Yucca is suitable to store the nation's high-level nuclear waste. But Nevada officials are working to at least delay the project. Reid and Ensign plan another strategy session with the rest of the state's delegation, Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., possibly Wednesday. "I cannot recall a time when we've had this many options," Ensign said. "We have some legitimate options that are heavyweight options. It's exciting." Reid this week is talking to a number of experts, including legal scholars, to help lawmakers as they map out a plan that likely will call for specific anti-Yucca tactics. Nevada lawmakers are discussing how to best use the GAO report to convince fellow Congress members that the plan to bury nuclear waste at Yucca is a bad one, aides said. Energy officials are not commenting on what they will do now that Winston &Strawn has quit. At least one firm is interested in taking over the $16.5 million contract: LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae. Winston &Strawn and LeBoeuf, Lamb were the only two firms that applied for the job in 1999. LeBoeuf, Lamb sued the DOE and Winston &Strawn to obtain the work, alleging that Winston &Strawn had conflicts of interest with TRW Environmental Safety Services Inc., formerly the top Yucca contractor. LeBoeuf, Lamb has filed court documents harshly criticizing the department for its decision to hire Winston &Strawn. But firm lawyers hope that won't hurt their chances now. "I would hope not," said Michael McBride, a LeBoeuf, Lamb partner in the firm's Washington office. "We obviously brought the case because we wanted to represent the DOE. We felt we had rights in the matter." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 Contractor disputes GAO's Yucca audit Las Vegas SUN Today: December 04, 2001 at 10:44:31 PST By Mary Manning The president of the Energy Department contractor that is studying the viability of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository said company officials "are astounded by the factual and legal inaccuracies" contained in a recent congressional audit of the project. Bechtel SAIC President and General Manager Kennon G. Hess, in a letter to the General Accounting Office dated Monday, responded to a GAO draft audit that criticized the progress of scientific work at Yucca Mountain. The GAO report said the DOE has no reliable estimate as to when, or for how much, the repository could be opened. According to the audit, even employees for Bechtel who were interviewed by the GAO said the DOE would be premature in recommending Yucca Mountain as the repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. The report also said essential scientific data would be unavailable until at least 2006 and recommended the DOE delay the project indefinitely. The report said Bechtel told the government it would take until January 2006 to complete detailed research and cost estimates for a repository. The DOE and its contractors are still analyzing nearly 300 technical issues that raise concerns about the site's suitability. But Bechtel disputes reports that the project will be delayed. Bechtel officials said the GAO linked several issues incorrectly. The contractor's schedule "remains unchanged," Hess said. According to the letter, it is "imperative" for the GAO to correct its impression that it would take until 2006 before information about the mountain would be ready for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to recommend the site to the president. Abraham said that he plans to make a recommendation this winter. Bechtel has performed scientific and engineering studies required for a site recommendation, Hess said, and the contractor plans to respond to the GAO audit through the DOE this week. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, launched the Yucca study in February at the request of Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Nevada officials opposed to the repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said the GAO audit dealt a crushing blow to DOE's plans for Yucca. GAO reports are normally not made public until the parties being investigated have commented on the report; the comments are included in a final audit. It was "unfortunate" that the report was leaked, a spokesman said. A final audit will be released after the DOE reviews the draft. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 39 Zion N-plant's fencing blocks beach access December 3, 2001 BY GARY WISBY ENVIRONMENT REPORTER New fencing put up to protect the nuclear power plant at Zion also prevents people from using the beach there, to the dismay of the Lake Michigan Federation. It doesn't even make the lakeside site more secure, the environmental group contends. "If a terrorist is willing to die, he's not going to worry about getting his feet wet," said Cameron Davis, the federation's executive director. In addition to giving the public a false sense of security, the offensive fencing violates the public trust doctrine in state law, Davis said. The doctrine holds that the lake bottom and shoreline access belong to the people of Illinois and can't be given to a private entity. "There is no national security exception," Davis said. "People have a right to walk on the beach." Two eight-foot-high chain link fences come to the water's edge north and south of the plant. The north fence is 70 feet long; the south one, 120 feet. Davis said he would have no objection if the fencing ended 40 feet from the water. Exelon, which owns the plant, erected the barriers in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, spokeswoman Ann Mary Carley said. "It does provide an additional level of security," she said. "It would be very clear if someone were on the beach who didn't need to be on the beach." The beach is posted as private property, although people walked on it before the fence went up, Carley said. Exelon sought a fence permit from the Illinois Natural Resources Department. The request was considered an emergency application, so the company was allowed to build the fence pending a decision. If the department doesn't grant the permit, the fence will be removed. The Zion plant was closed in 1997. It still contains more than 450,000 12-foot rods full of radioactive spent nuclear fuel, stored under 23 feet of water. Daily Southtown Pioneer Press Post-Tribune Star Newspapers Suburban Chicago Newspapers ***************************************************************** 40 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-04 Number 231 1. Non-proliferation DPRK invites IAEA to inspect isotope production laboratory and signs accord with KEDO on quality assurance and warranties for two LWRs being built by the international consortium. (FT - 4/12) Dem. P.R. of Korea; IAEA; KEDO 2. Terrorism US intelligence agencies reportedly concluded that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network may have made greater strides than previously thought toward obtaining plans or materials to make a "dirty bomb." (NYT; WP - 4/12) Afghanistan; United States of America 3. Nuclear power More on Temelin NPP: while Czech EU envoy is confident about closing energy chapter by year's end, UK and other EU Members express doubts about including Czech/Austrian pact. Bulgarian nuclear chief says it is not completely safe to close first and second reactors of Kozloduy NPP in middle of winter of 2002-03. US to make new diplomatic efforts to get Moscow to curb nuclear and missile co-operation with Iran and other countries but if that fails it is ready to use sanctions, US officials say. Atomic Energy Commission Chairman repeats that India will have 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020. According to report, Ministers are planning to deliver blow to British nuclear industry's hopes of major revival by setting costly target doubling proportion of electricity to be generated by renewable sources. (BBC; DP; FT; G; R - 4/12) Austria; Czech Republic; Dem. P.R. of Korea; European Union; India; Iran, Islamic Republic of; KEDO; Russian Federation; United Kingdom; United States of America 4. Radwaste, fuel Various reports on UN court based in Hamburg refusing to grant Ireland's request for injunction to halt December 20 start-up of MOX fuel plant at Sellafield. (BBC; CNN; FT - 4/12) UN; United Kingdom 5. Miscellaneous Prototype intercept vehicle for experimental system to defend US against missile attack scores hit last night against mock warhead over Pacific Ocean, defense officials say. (BBC; WP - 4/12) United States of America ***************************************************************** 41 Russian-Norwegian company to construct nuclear waste processing facility BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 4, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Archangel/Kirkenes (Norway), 3 December: Representatives of the company Storvik & Zvezdochka Norway AS and of the Zvezdochka enterprise (Severodvinsk, Archangel Region) have signed a contract on sub-deliveries for a facility to process low-radiation solid nuclear wastes. The contract was signed as a result of an international tender, Zvezdochka General Director Nikolay Kalistratov said at a press conference today. The Russian-Norwegian joint venture Storvik & Zvezdochka Norway AS will draw up the design of the facility, make all the necessary purchases, and build and put the facility into operation. The general plan for the facility is being developed by the research bureau Onega (Severodvinsk.) Kalistratov said that the project is 30 per cent complete. Concurrently, technical documents are being drawn up and preparations are under way at the enterprise. The facility is to be built in 12 months. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1746 gmt 3 Dec 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 42 State to mount strong legal challenge to MOX plant ireland.com - The Irish Times - IRELAND [http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2001/1204/hom500.htm] Tuesday, December 4, 2001 UN court rejects Irish case on MOX A UN maritime court has denied Ireland's request to halt the opening of the MOX plant at Sellafield next month. From Derek Scally, in Hamburg However, the court ordered Britain to produce further information about possible pollution from the MOX plant and report back by December 17th, three days before it goes into commission. The Government had called for next month's commissioning of the MOX plant to be halted, saying it breached Ireland's rights under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ireland argued that the convention obliged Britain to reduce pollution in the Irish Sea and to share information with Ireland about the plant. Britain argued that it had no obligations to Ireland under the convention and that the UN tribunal had no jurisdiction over the case. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which rules on disputes regarding the 1982 convention, yesterday said it did have jurisdiction over the MOX plant case. The plant, which will produce fuel pellets from spent nuclear waste, is already the subject of a full hearing under the 1982 convention scheduled for early next year. Ireland argued that a judgment in Ireland's favour in that case would be worthless because once operational, the MOX plant would irrevocably damage Ireland's rights guaranteed by the convention. In a unanimous decision, the 21-member tribunal rejected Ireland's request to halt the commissioning of the MOX plant ahead of a full hearing. The MOX plant, once operational, would not produce significant pollution in the months ahead of a full hearing, the tribunal found. It also pointed out that if next year's hearing calls for it, the MOX plant could be decommissioned, though at great cost. They also accepted Britain's undertaking that there would be no shipments of hazardous nuclear waste to the plant until next October. The judges called on Britain and Ireland to "devise measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the MOX plant". Significantly, the tribunal expects a joint report three days before the plant is scheduled to open on December 20th. The Irish legal team described the judgment as "historic". Ireland argued in the case that Britain had been withholding important information on the environmental impact of the plant as well as its commercial viability. "Now Britain has to share more information with us about the operation of the plant and agree to measures to stop polluting the Irish Sea," said a source close to the Irish delegation. Judge Alberto Szekely, the Mexican ad-hoc judge appointed to the tribunal by Ireland, said he "reluctantly" agreed with the judgment despite the "insensitivity and incomprehension of the tribunal" towards Ireland's evidence. In a separate opinion, he said the tribunal "resembled more a diplomatic exercise than a judicial one". Yesterday's judgment was welcomed by Mr Joe Jacob, Minister of State with responsibility for nuclear safety. "We will continue to prosecute our case with vigour and energy and commitment to ensure that the United Kingdom permanently ceases to pollute the Irish Sea," he said. The Government is challenging the MOX plant under another international convention and is considering a case before the European Court of Justice. ***************************************************************** 43 State to mount strong legal resistance to MOX ireland.com - The Irish Times - IRELAND Homes in the shadow of the Sellafield nuclear power plant near Seascale. Environmental groups have lost a High Court challenge against the opening of a mixed plutonium and uranium oxide plant at the site Photograph: Ian Hodgson/Reuters UN court rejects Irish case on MOX Tuesday, December 4, 2001 The Government has pledged to mount a full-scale legal effort next year to oppose the operation of Sellafield's mixed-oxide (MOX) reprocessing plant, following yesterday's ruling by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. By Mark Hennessy, Political Reporter In a preliminary ruling yesterday, the tribunal refused to stop the plant opening on December 20th, because the situation was not sufficiently "urgent". Crucially, however, it decided that Ireland does have a prima facie case to argue against the plant, which will manufacture new nuclear fuel rods from spent uranium. The Minister of State for Energy, Mr Joe Jacob, urged the British to delay opening MOX until measures have been agreed to prevent pollution. The legal battle would continue until "the UK permanently ceases" polluting the Irish Sea, "subjects MOX to proper environmental assessment and co-operates more fully". A full hearing of the case will go before a five-strong arbitration panel, operating under the UN tribunal, early in the new year, possibly in late February. The panel's five nominations will have to be agreed between Ireland and Britain, though two will come from each country, with an independent chairman. The Irish Government will continue with its parallel legal action before the OSPAR Convention, where it claims the British have refused to release sufficient safety information. Preparations for a European Court of Justice case, which will argue that the MOX plant is economically unviable and therefore illegal under the Euratom Treaty, will be accelerated. "The Government is determined to buy in all the necessary scientific back-up that is needed to fight this case," said a source close to the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell. Encouraged by yesterday's ruling, the Attorney General said the British had had "to make very important concessions in order to avoid an injunction". Though he would have preferred to stop MOX opening, he said the ruling gave Ireland the right "beyond contradiction" to be involved and consulted about Sellafield issues. "We have a process whereby they must now engage with us in all of the material matters and must not hold back from us vital information concerning the threat to the Irish Sea," he said. "For the first time, Ireland has an international ruling that accepts that Ireland has an interest in Irish Sea pollution levels." The British Energy Minister, Mr Brian Wilson, said he was "pleased to note" that the tribunal had not ordered the British government to halt the MOX plant's commissioning. "The British government will, of course, comply with the decision of the tribunal regarding co-operation and consultations with the Government of Ireland," he said. ***************************************************************** 44 US used nuclear waste - by Sarmad Sufian Weekly Independent: Weekly Independent (Pakistan) Vol 1, No.23, Regd No CPL-588 November 29 - December 05, 2001 The use of reprocessed nuclear waste in the US air strikes against the Taliban poses a serious risk of radiation poisoning to the human lives in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Sarmad Sufian Hard target weapons loaded with reprocessed nuclear waste have been used as secret weapons in the US-led air strikes against the Taliban, exposing human lives in Afghanistan and the adjoining border areas of Pakistan to a serious risk of radiation poisoning. Sources in Pakistan's military establishment say the first warning about the use of reprocessed nuclear waste arrived last week in the shape of a dying Afghan child which led an Afghan doctor to diagnose that she was infected with radioactive or chemical weapons, presumably used by the US aircraft. Some later diagnoses revealed that many of the Taliban troops and Afghan civilians have been affected, primarily due to radiation caused by the Depleted Uranium (DU), which actually is reprocessed nuclear waste. The DU (U238), the mystery metal is being produced by the US since 1997. "It presents a perpetual health hazard similar to asbestos - especially in the lungs. And there is no known cure for inhaling Depleted Uranium dust". The sources say that as these cases were reported to the aid agencies conducting relief work in Afghanistan, the US military bosses were quick to refute them as mere speculations. "The US actually wanted to hush up the matter. Therefore, a bill has already been moved before the US Congress, calling for a total ban on Depleted Uranium and the disclosure of the facts about its use in Afghanistan." However, in a recent statement questioning the safety of the US troops in Afghanistan, the American Defense Department spokesperson Kenneth Bacon indirectly confirmed the use of nuclear waste "We obviously put out instructions about avoiding Depleted Uranium dust. Our troops are instructed to wear masks if they're around what they consider to be atomised or particle-sized Depleted Uranium", Bacon said. Estimates by Pakistani experts show that Afghanistan might have been hit by the reprocessed nuclear waste along with several hundred tonnes of smart bombs and cruise missiles used by the allied forces. Experts say that since the mystery metal is 50-75 per cent of the weight of the bombs -up to 1.5 tons in the GBU- 37 Bunker Buster bombs, the toxic reserves in the area could be huge and as dangerous as they were in the aftermath of the Gulf war. The lethal Depleted Uranium oxide is known for travelling up to 25 miles by wind. "Therefore, large areas may be affected by each of the American bombs". The experts say the new generation of hard target smart bombs and cruise missiles being used by the US against Afghanistan can penetrate 10 feet into reinforced concrete before exploding. They were mostly used to attack the Taliban bunkers, caves, command centres, fuel and ammunition stores. "The 2 tonne GBU-37 Bunker Busters and 2000 lb GBU-24 Pave-way smart bombs, plus the Boeing AGM-86D, Maverick AGM-65G and AGM-145C hard target capability cruise missiles all use advanced unitary penetrators (AUP-113, AUP-116, P31) or BROACH warheads with the mystery high density metal in alloy casings". Since Depleted Uranium is basically reprocessed nuclear waste, field experts fear that given the massive bombing, the amount of hazardous radioactive deposits in the area might prove extremely dangerous to tens of thousands of the human lives in Afghanistan and the adjoining border areas of Pakistan. Reports emanating from Afghanistan reveal that after the fall of Taliban and the landing of the allied forces there, the troops and aid agencies have been told to proceed with caution. The Red Cross, Oxfam and other international aid agencies have reportedly been cautioned to stay away from the locations bombed by the allied forces and use bottled water only. The sources say that the post retreat US bombings on the Talliban militia in Afghanistan was not targeted on the military installations but various channels of water supply instead. "Water-supply tunnels and sources were targeted with bunker-busting bombs, with the intention to flush out Osama bin Laden, his Al-Qaeda group and the Taliban fighters from the hillside tunnels that riddle the landscape", said a source requesting anonymity. "The already bombed ancient tunnels were a vital source of water supply to thousands of the border villages adjoining Pakistan." Where it is feared that the US bombardment on Afghanistan could dramatically increase water shortages in the war-torn and drought-stricken country, experts estimate the damage could be far more than what is being expected, given the presence of Depleted Uranium in the water reservoirs. "Not only will the water of the Afghan areas become poisoned, but it will also be extended to many parts of Pakistan as many of the Afghan rivers flow across the border to the neighbouring Pakistan". ***************************************************************** 45 Vermont Yankee in spotlight at public hearing By David Gram, Associated Press, 12/3/2001 23:04 BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) About 500 people crowded the auditorium at the Brattleboro Union High School on Monday to air concerns about security at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Concerns have heightened since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. State and federal officials, including the regional head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state nuclear engineer William Sherman, sought to assure the crowd that security at Vermont Yankee is robust. But many in the crowd greeted those assurances with hoots and cat calls. They held aloft yellow signs with black block letters that said ''shut it down now.'' One of the biggest rounds of applause came when Ed Von Turkovich, state director of emergency management, said, ''I know that the opinion of many of you out there is that the best thing to do is not to have a plant down here. ''We know that we've got to convince you that we have a plan,'' he added, referring to the emergency evacuation plan for Vermont Yankee. Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., sponsored the hearing and began it with a series of questions about plant security and preparations for an emergency. After listening to some of the comments and question from the crowd that lasted late into the evening Sanders turned to the panel of officials on the stage with him and said, ''I think we've got to do a better job at the federal, state and at all levels of explaining and getting input on an issue that is obviously of enormous importance to everybody.'' The crowd also included a large contingent of Vermont Yankee employees and supporters. One neighbor of the plant said he had lived near it since it opened and had not experienced any problems. ''We don't have any grandchildren who are malformed,'' said Ed Sprague of Vernon. Sprague accused nuclear opponents of peddling fear. ''That's exactly what terrorists do. They use fear to move their objective.'' Thirteen-year-old Matthew Cunningham-Cook of Brattleboro spoke passionately against nuclear power calling it an abomination. To supporters who say Vermont gets a third of its power from Yankee, Cunningham-Cook recalled the last refueling outage at the plant. ''Recently when Vermont Yankee shut down the state did not experience any blackouts.'' Monday's hearing comes at an awkward time for Vermont Yankee. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week released preliminary findings that said Vermont Yankee failed an exercise in August that was designed to test the plant's ability to repel a terrorist attack. Vermont Yankee officials said the reactor took steps to improve security, but they have been unwilling since the September attacks to describe what steps have been taken, saying they don't want security-related information to fall into the wrong hands. ''Independent reviews have confirmed that our (security) changes since Sept. 11 are appropriate,'' said Ross Barkhurst, president and CEO of Vermont Yankee. Sanders said the session was the first congressional hearing on nuclear safety since Sept. 11 to allow members of the public to air their concerns. An earlier hearing at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania was limited to state and federal officials. ''Local people have expressed legitimate concerns and questions, and they have the right to get answers from the plant management and responsible government officials,'' the congressman said in a statement. ''There is no question that since the Sept. 11 attacks, there is far greater anxiety, in Vermont and throughout the country, about security measures at vulnerable facilities, including nuclear power plants.'' The hearing also comes as state and federal regulators review the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee to Entergy Nuclear Corp. of Jackson, Miss., for $180 million. The plant currently is owned by a a consortium of New England utilities, with the largest owner being Rutland-based Central Vermont Public Service Corp. ***************************************************************** 46 OBSERVER: Ukraine unplugged OBSERVER COLUMN Financial Times; Dec 4, 2001 Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor, flies to Kiev on Thursday to face one of his more difficult foreign assignments. The west's leaders have hardly been flocking to Kiev. Leonid Kuchma, the Ukrainian president, was out of favour even before last week's decision in effect to pull the plug on a western-backed project that would have helped Ukraine to build two nuclear reactors. The so-called K2R4 project is part of a deal to close the infamous Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of a devastating explosion in 1986. From a European Union point of view, Ukraine has been a case of one calamity after another: Kuchma has faced accusations that the death of a journalist was linked to the administration, the country's reform process has become bogged down and Viktor Yuschenko, the pro-western prime minister, was sacked in April. Schroder is the first leader of a big western power to visit since last year (although Romano Prodi, European Commission president, was there recently). Yesterday there were signs of softening by Kuchma, on the nuclear issue at least. The country would continue to work with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the project, he said. But that is little use to Schroder, whose environmentalist Green party coalition allies have been celebrating the nuclear project's apparent demise. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 ***************************************************************** 47 Russia offers loans for completion of two Ukrainian nuclear reactors BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 4, 2001 Text of report by Ukrainian television on 4 December [Presenter] The sixth meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian intergovernmental cooperation commission is taking place in Moscow. Our special correspondent Oleksandr Lukyanenko reports by phone from Moscow. [Correspondent] The first meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian intergovernmental cooperation commission, held after a two-year break, has already brought results. In his introductory address, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said that Russia is ready to allocate loans for the completion of two generating sets at the Rivne and Khmelnytskyy nuclear power stations. Russia is also ready to provide expertise and the appropriate equipment. Today, the two prime ministers will, first and foremost, discuss energy issues. In particular, issues regarding the supply of Russian gas and its transit as well as the cost of energy supplies. As [Ukrainian Prime Minister] Anatoliy Kinakh and Mikhail Kasyanov noted today, the gas issue is no longer a problem for Russia and Ukraine and a working meeting is taking place today. The two prime ministers will finish their work at about 1500 Moscow time, after which they have promised to reveal the results of their meeting to the press. Source: Ukrainian Television Second Programme, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1000 gmt 4 Dec 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 UK: Nuclear Protest: Outrageous sentence The Herald (United Kingdom); Dec 4, 2001 WE are writing to express our utter disgust at the three-month prison sentence handed down to Jenny Gaiawyn, a marine biology student in her twenties at Bangor University, who was found guilty of a breach of the peace at the February blockade of Faslane nuclear base. This sentence is an outrageous attack on her human rights and a scandalous reflection of the arbitrariness of Scottish law. The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental human right, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, and it should be upheld in law. The sheer absurdity of this sentence is demonstrated by comparing it to other sentences in recent months for the same offence - for instance, one of us was acquitted, and the other was fined (pounds) 150. When the law is administered in such an arbitrary way, it makes a mockery of the legal system. People guilty of threatening life and limb end up with less of a sentence and yet a woman willing to fight for peace is punished by an increasingly discredited and out-of-control court system. Coming in the same week as we have heard about the disproportionate number of women in British and Scottish jails, this sentence shows a complete lack of proper judgment. Through our respective parliaments we intend to raise these inconsistencies at the highest level and in the case of Scotland, I will ask the justice minister to set up an inquiry into the case. Nuclear weapons such as those based at Faslane are indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction. We find it inspiring that our young citizens wish to make use of their human right to protest peacefully in such a worthwhile cause and degrading that our legal system chooses to condemn them to such arbitrary and heavy sentencing. Tommy Sheridan, MSP, Caroline Lucas, MEP. ***************************************************************** 2 North Korea okay's demand for inspections OBSERVER: Kim can OBSERVER COLUMN Financial Times; Dec 4, 2001 Kim can Someone pretty adept at nuclear haggling is North Korea's reclusive Dear Leader Kim Jong-il. A week ago he was playing the tough guy, angrily rejecting US calls for the inspection of his suspected arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Yet yesterday he opened his arms to safety inspectors wanting a peek at an atomic energy laboratory and at advanced plans to build two modern tamper-proof reactors that would help to overcome power shortages. All very confusing - but the Dear Leader has always enjoyed keeping the outside world guessing about his next move. Perhaps he is as worried as the rest of us about nuclear safety in his impoverished country. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 ***************************************************************** 3 Reasons to be fearful Irish News and Analysis December 4th 01 DESPITE the determinedly upbeat official reaction to the Sellafield ruling, there are more reasons to be fearful than cheerful since its airing. The fact remains that the fight to force the closure of Sellafield, and to halt the scheduled recommissioning of the MOX plant must now be stepped up rather than scaled back. The Law of the Sea Tribunal decision may come with some valuable concessions, as our Attorney General Michael McDowell pointed out. Nonetheless, the whip-hand rests with BNFL and the British. True, Ireland has won the right for the first time to be "consulted". But within a year we could still be facing the prospect of the Irish Sea - already the most radioactive in the world - becoming a congested corridor for ships freighted with dangerous radioactive cargoes. Last night Junior Minister Joe Jacob appealed to Britain to delay commissioning until the parties have reached agreement on measures to prevent pollution from the MOX plant, as suggested by the Hamburg Tribunal. But here again, there is little room for optimism that major change is likely. The British Government must recognise Ireland's concerns as legitimate and has a clearly defined imperative to engage on levels of contamination. But the closure of this discredited plant is as far away as ever. Therefore the Government must explore every forum, and international legal device within its compass to shut down this environmental timebomb. The commitment to the upscaling of Sellafield is a big mistake. It is neither a key economic asset, nor a vital energy source for the UK. In any event the risk of a catastrophic terror strike on the plant, however remote, is a risk too many. Editorial © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 4 Russian president attends ceremony for new super sub BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 4, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Severodvinsk, 4 December: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday [4 December] took part in hoisting the Russian navy flag on board the new multipurpose nuclear submarine, Gepard. The ceremony took place by the pier of Sevmash [Sevmashpredpriyatiye, Severnyy mechanical-engineering enterprise], an Interfax correspondent reported. Also taking part in the ceremony were the commander of the Russian navy, Adm Vladimir Kuroyedov, and the chief of the General Staff, Gen Anatoliy Kvashnin. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1251 gmt 4 Dec 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 5 The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth (well, teeth actually) News from American-Blue Monday, December 03, 2001 By MAYYA KAWAR The Student Life ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- If the tooth fairy had flown into the dark, musty Washington University storage facility in May along with some administrators on a spring cleaning mission, her reaction would have been similar to someone who had just won the enamel lottery, as 85,000 baby teeth were discovered in an ammunition bunker at WU's Tyson Research Center. But had the tooth fairy known what was in store for the teeth, Andrew Johnstone, the biology department business manager, said her response should have been, "Whoa, this is going to cost me." For Johnstone, one of the people who discovered the teeth, it was an eerie portal to the past. The teeth are the forgotten remains of the world-famous St. Louis Baby Tooth Survey, which took place from 1958 to 1970. At the height of the Cold War, the United States set off over 200 atmospheric nuclear tests at their Nevada Test Site. The Baby Tooth Survey was developed in order to determine the effect of nuclear fallout on humans, specifically children. With the campaigning of the Citizens Committee for Nuclear Information, the scientific analysis of Harold Rosenthal, biochemist for WU's former School of Dentistry, and the funding of the U.S. Public Health Service and Leukemia Society of Missouri and Illinois, the survey materialized and received an incredible response. By its end, the project had collected almost 300,000 baby teeth mostly from the St. Louis area. The project's purpose was to measure the amount of radioactive material absorbed by humans, most specifically investigating Strontium 90. Created by bomb blasts, Strontium 90 is readily absorbed by the growing teeth of fetuses and infants. It is a harmful material itself, but more importantly, it is an indicator of exposure to hazardous substances such as radioactive iodine. Rosenthal found that the amount of Strontium 90 in the children's teeth was directly related to the amount of nuclear testing in the year of their birth. This discovery significantly contributed to the public appeal for a moratorium on nuclear tests and led to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that President Kennedy signed in 1963. The project came to an abrupt halt in 1970, during the Nixon administration, when its funding grant was cut. The remaining teeth were shipped to the Tyson Center for long-term storage, where they remained for over three decades until they were unearthed in May. The administrators found "piles and piles" of cardboard boxes full of manila envelopes containing the teeth. Johnstone said that the teeth did not smell bad, but he was unable to comment on the presence of cavities: "I didn't look too closely at them." Johnstone rejected the prospect that other body parts could be in the bunker as well, (i.e. fingernails or eyelashes). Instead, the other contents of the bunker were uninteresting, mostly old chairs and broken pieces of equipment. Johnstone described the storage facility as a one-way street, in that most objects that are sent to the bunker never return. The baby teeth, however, are an exception. Knowing he had stumbled onto something significant, Johnstone contacted professor of biology Daniel Kohl on whether or not to throw the teeth away. Kohl urged him not to do this, because he believed that the teeth were "an immensely valuable resource." Kohl contacted Barry Commoner, the mastermind behind the Baby Tooth Study, and together they decided to donate the teeth to the Radiation and Public Health Project in New York. The original baby tooth study determined the presence of radioactive materials. What it did not do, however, was link the presence of radioactive material in teeth to health problems. The Radiation and Public Health Project hopes to rectify that. The project plans to conduct a follow-up study on the effect of absorption of radioactive materials in the body. They hope to contact the owners of the teeth to determine whether there is a high correlation between the amount of Strontium 90 in the tooth and the owner's health. So far, the project has received 1,500 e-mails from participants of the original study, willing to participate again. Project director Jay Gould said he can't wait to get started. "There's so much we don't know," said Gould, referring to the health effects of radioactive substances. He said he believes that increased occurrences of breast cancer in women and earlier appearance of prostate cancer in men are results of the exposure. Gould admitted that someone currently of college age likely had Strontium 90 present in his or her baby teeth as a result of the nuclear reactors. Many people are very excited about the possibilities this study holds. "It could turn out to be a monumental study," said Kohl. However, the investigation is not without its downside. In the process of testing for radioactivity, the teeth will be destroyed. Undoubtedly, the tooth fairy would not approve. © 2001 The Student Life via U-WIRE ***************************************************************** 6 The nuclear nightmare on our doorstep Irish News and Analysis Tue December 4th 01 THE MOX nuclear fuel plant will start operations in three weeks despite official fears of a terrorist attack or accident with catastrophic consequences for Ireland. No amount of spinning over legal points will lessen the worry felt by everyone on this island. From next year armed ships will be cruising up and down the Irish Sea - less than 30 miles from our coast - carrying deadly cargoes of nuclear waste from Germany and Japan exposing this country to the possible consequences of terrorist attack. For years successive Governments have been accused of lacking the moral and political courage to take on Britain despite the serious health concerns in Co Louth, radioactive contamination of Irish sea catches and revelations about falsified safety data. Relations between the Irish and British governments now remain serously at odds over Sellafield with charges that the UK authorities have been less than honest in their dealings over the matter and have deliberately withheld vital information. The UN Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has rejected what appeared to be overwhelming evidence and arguments from Ireland as to why there should be an injunction on the MOX plant going ahead pending the outcome of a full hearing. Ireland argued MOX would be an attractive terrorist target and would increase the radioactive pollution of the Irish Sea, the most radioactive ocean in the world. In fact a direct aircraft attack on Sellafield could release 50 times more radioactivity than Chernobyl leading to 3m cancers affecting many people on this side of the water. Assurances about the effects of Sellafield radiation on the Irish public were also called into question following the publication of a new study showing that low doses of radiation may be far more harmful than anyone has realised. US scientists have shown that the method used to judge the risk of genetic damage by radiation, based on what happened to survivors of the A-bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 is seriously flawed. Current radiation risk assessments only take into account the direct effect of radiation on DNA in the cell nucleus. Using this yardstick the smaller the number of cells exposed to radiation the less risk there is of genetic mutations occuring. Experts relying on the principle have assumed that although high radiation doses can be dangerous, the risk from low level exposure is minimal. But they might have to think again in light of the new findings published yesterday in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It also means processing hundreds of tonnes of plutonium capable of producing thousands of cancers in this country if the plant blew up through terrorist endeavour or human error, both scenarios which are now viewed as very possible. Nuclear weapons specialists have expressed concern that starting up the MOX plant will make it virtually inevitable that terrorists will acquire the plutonium they want by separating it out from the mixed fuel and making bombs. One went so far as to say this was not technically difficult. The MOX (mixed oxide fuel) plant was built to accept spent plutonium and uranium from nuclear plants around the world and turn it into reusable fuel which is then transported by ship to places such as Japan, exposing a risk of hijack. But it will never make money. Against a background of growing worry over a possible terrorist attack on Sellafield or other nuclear installations or more likely an accident with far-reaching consequences the last thing this country needed was Sellafield Mark II, effectively making the plant the dumping ground for the entire world's nuclear waste. Furthermore, up to two tonnes of caesium-137 would be released into the atmosphere if the plant was struck by a hijacked plane or if bungling led to an accident. This is a lot more than the 50lb released by the Chernobyl disaster. And in Belarus after Chernobyl there was an 800pc increase in thyroid disorders, cancers soared, deformed babies were born and immune systems were weakened. There is a ray of hope. Ireland may have lost the short-term battle to halt the start of operations at the MOX plant, but yesterday's judgment could yet mark the point where the Government started winning the war over Sellafield. Although the international court flatly rejected the requested injunction,it did so not because it felt Ireland had no case, but because the timing didn't justify the measure. The Court accepted Britain's arguments that nuclear fuel will not be transported from the MOX plant until next October at the earliest and perhaps more importantly rejected Ireland's claim that the process of commissioning the MOX plant on or around December 20th was not reversible. Since no shipments will move on the Irish Sea for nearly a year and as Britain has given assurance that opening up plutonium canisters later this month will not make the complex process irreversible, Britain won more time. However on two very substantive points of law, the court clearly found in favour of Ireland. These arguments may not prevent the start of new operations at MOX later this month, but they could encourage further legal assaults from Ireland, other countries, or environmental groups like Greenpeace. In the meantime, the Irish people will have to live with a new nuclear threat. Treacy Hogan and Conor Sweeney © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 7 Faslane workers' fears The Scotsman - United Kingdom; Dec 4, 2001 AROUND 1,700 workers at the home of Britain's Trident nuclear submarines were involved in a mass meeting yesterday morning over fears their jobs may disappear due to a government review. Employees from Faslane and Coulport on the Clyde heard union representatives brief them on the current position amid fears their jobs could be taken out of the public sector, leading to redundancies. The meeting is the first of a number in the UK over the next few days before the Transport and General Workers Union lobby parliament against possible privatisation as a result of the conclusion of the review next year. The Faslane naval base is where Britain's Trident nuclear submarines are based, with the actual warheads stored at Coulport. All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 8 Russia Military Reporter on Trial Las Vegas SUN December 03, 2001 VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) - A Russian military journalist on trial for treason asserted Monday that the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, would pressure the court to convict him. Grigory Pasko and his supporters say the treason charges are retribution by the security service, known by its Russian acronym FSB, for his reporting on alleged environmental abuses by the Russian navy, including dumping of radioactive waste into the Sea of Japan. "There is no doubt that the FSB will attempt to use its decades-old arsenal of means of illegal pressure on the court with the purpose of obtaining the verdict it favors," Pasko said in a statement to the Pacific Fleet military court. Pasko is one of several Russian whistle-blowers and researchers accused of espionage for passing allegedly classified information to foreigners. Arms control researcher Igor Sutyagin is on trial in Kaluga in central Russia on charges of spying for the United States. Pasko is accused of divulging state secrets on the combat-readiness of the Pacific Fleet to Japanese news media. Pasko, formerly a reporter for the Pacific Fleet newspaper Boyevaya Vakhta, or Military Watch, faces between 12 and 20 years in prison if convicted. He was acquitted of espionage in 1999 in the same case, but found guilty on lesser charges of abuse of office. Seeking a full acquittal, Pasko appealed the verdict, as did prosecutors. The Supreme Court in Moscow sent the case back for trial by a different judge. Pasko said he came to the conclusion the FSB was pressuring the court to convict him because the prosecutor did not object to 23 defense motions during the five-month retrial, yet did not agree to drop the charges. A guilty verdict would "revive the feeling of fear in people and discourage rights advocates, ecologists and my colleagues, journalists, from researching the state of affairs in areas that certain agencies want closed from public monitoring," Pasko said. The defense had initially praised the court as impartial but said that was no longer the case. "The closer the end (of the trial) approaches, the more we can feel the court's nervousness and someone pressuring it," defense lawyer Ivan Pavlov said. FSB spokeswoman Natalya Stupnitskaya said the security agency would not comment until the retrial is over. The court recessed until Friday, when the prosecution is expected to make a statement. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 9 Anti-Terror Bill Headed for Showdown Las Vegas SUN Today: December 04, 2001 at 6:50:20 PST WASHINGTON- Republican senators will vote against $15 billion in additional anti-terrorism spending opposed by President Bush, even if it means blocking a wartime Pentagon spending bill, a top GOP lawmaker says. Majority Democrats planned to push the $35 billion package through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, with votes by the full Senate possible on Thursday. The measure, which exceeds the $20 billion Bush says is needed immediately, is for domestic security, defense and aid to New York and other areas hit by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "We need to be prepared," said committee chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chief author of the Democratic plan. "We can't wait until next March, April or May. Bin Laden won't wait," he said, referring to Osama bin Laden, whom U.S. officials blame for the airline crashes that destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and killed thousands. Byrd's package would add billions for food inspections, state and local preparation for bioterrorism attacks, border security, protection for airports and nuclear facilities, and aid to communities still recovering from the attacks. Byrd plans to add the spending to a widely popular $318 billion defense bill for the current fiscal year. A master of the Senate's parliamentary rules, Byrd has structured his proposal so that minority Republicans supporting Bush might have to block the entire defense package to kill the additional spending. Democrats are hoping that will be a difficult vote for GOP lawmakers to cast while U.S. troops are at war in Afghanistan. Republicans will probably lack the majority votes needed to strip the extra spending from the bill. But they could probably force a halt to work on the bill, using Senate rules allowing just 41 senators to block legislation if the bill exceeds budget limits, as this one would. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, top Republican on the Appropriations panel, said he has told Byrd that Republicans will oppose exceeding Bush's anti-terror request unless Democrats agree to delay spending the money until the end of next year. Democrats say the funds are needed now. Stevens said more than 40 of the Senate's 49 Republicans have signed a letter saying they will oppose the extra spending. Many of them see the vote as a way to rally behind Bush's calls to control spending. "They're not going to vote for anything that goes beyond the president's number," Stevens told reporters. In a mostly party-line vote last Thursday, the GOP-controlled House blocked Democrats from offering amendments that would have added $23 billion beyond Bush's request for defense, domestic security and New York. In the week after the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress approved $40 billion in emergency anti-terrorism spending. Bush was given outright control of half that money; the remaining $20 billion must be approved in detail by lawmakers. Administration officials have said little of the initial money has actually been spent. They have said any request for more funds should wait until next year, and that Democrats should heed the agreement to spend $40 billion. But Democrats say the $40 billion was meant as only a beginning. And they say Bush agreed to spend half the $40 billion on New York and the other communities where the hijacked planes crashed Sept. 11. Under the House bill and Bush's proposals, those areas would get only about $11 billion. Byrd's proposal would raise those communities' share to $20 billion of the $40 billion, and provide the same $21 billion Bush wants for the military. Among the other programs that would get more money are disease research, security at federal labs, state and local police and firefighters, the Postal Service, and efforts to prevent terrorists from getting Russian nuclear material. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 10 Women finding more opportunities in atomic energy fields December 4, 2001 Tuesday, December 04, 2001 By Jim McKay, Post-Gazette Staff Writer Westinghouse Electric engineers Janet Bauer and Dee Nowinowski use the same cubicle, computer, pens and pencils. They read each other's e-mail and answer one another's telephone messages. But they're doing more than husbanding office supplies and equipment. Dee Nowinowski, left, and Janet Bauer work in the same cubicle at different times for Westinghouse Electric Co., in what they call "Jurassic Parts." They procure spare parts for nuclear plants, some of which are 40 years old. (V.W.H. Campbell Jr./Post-Gazette) They share a highly technical job in the mostly male nuclear power industry. They split office hours, job responsibilities, successes, failures and salary. And after eight years of acting like one person at work, they sometimes finish each other's sentences. "We talk a lot. We write notes. We've done this so long that it's a lot more second nature that it was when we first started," said Bauer during one of the unusual times when the two were at work on the same day. "If we get in trouble we both take it. We don't point fingers," Nowinowski said. "If we get credit for anything, we share that too. We never say, 'I did that. I did that. I got a half million dollar order.' Never." The two are employed by the Repair and Replacement Services unit of Westinghouse, the once venerable Pittsburgh company that is now a unit of British Nuclear Fuels PLC. Overly simplified, their department is a parts store for older nuclear power plants. "They have managed to pull this off, and it is like having one employee -- it truly is," said Michele M. DeWitt, the Westinghouse vice president who runs the repair and replacement services unit. Bauer and Nowinowski will share their experiences this week at a regional conference of Women In Nuclear, a worldwide organization begun 12 years ago in Europe to promote the industry. The group's U.S. unit has 960 members. The nuclear industry has long been regarded as a male enclave dating back to the early days of Adm. Hyman G. Rickover's nuclear navy. But that is slowly changing. Westinghouse, for example, says 30 percent of its new hires are women. Because the industry did little hiring in the last decade, the average age of employees is now about 47 or 48. That aging of the work force, coupled with an upturn in the industry's fortunes, means new opportunities for technical talent. "We basically took the last10 years off," said Ted Quinn, past president of the American Nuclear Society and chairman of the industry group's task force on the nuclear work force. "Over the next five years, with retirements, there will be a tremendous demand for new graduates to come into the business." The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that the industry's demand for workers will reach a cumulative 90,000 in all disciplines by 2011. The greatest demand will be for nuclear engineers and health physicists, specialists in protecting people and the environment from damaging effects of ionizing radiation. The industry's resurgence has been aided by rising prices of competing energy sources, rolling blackouts in California and friendliness of the Bush administration towards nuclear power. As recently as five years ago, many thought that a high number of the 103 nuclear power plants in the United States would be shut down early due to economics. Instead, most of those plants will have their licenses extended by 20 years, said Vaughn Gilbert, a Westinghouse spokesman. Over the last three years, Westinghouse has hired 200 engineers directly out of college. Gilbert said the company expected to hire another 80 next year. "The resurrection of our recruiting effort, which others in the industry are also undertaking, is driven both by the relatively high average age of the existing work force and the happy realization that nuclear power prospects are brighter now than at any time within the last 15 years," Gilbert said. University programs, decimated by a hiring slump as the industry downsized, are seeing some increased student interest among women, who make up a small but growing segment of the nuclear engineering field. Audeen W. Fentiman, head of the nuclear engineering program at Ohio State University, estimates that the women who make up 10 percent of her student enrollment can expect to be highly sought. "Since nuclear engineering has a very small number of women, the competition for those few who are there is high," she said. Mary Lou Gougar, 36, a Ph.D. student from Penn State who is working at the Argonne National Laboratory-West in Idaho, went back to school to study nuclear engineering after teaching high school for seven years. She had her first child at Penn State. "It's a good field," said Gougar, who grew up in Millersburg, Dauphin County, near Harrisburg. "The industry in general is really alive and growing and evolving. There's an unfortunate perception among a lot of young people that nuclear is not for them because it's dead and dying, and that is so untrue." Gougar said that in her experience, women are welcomed to the field. But she said her male supervisors in radioactive waste management find it difficult to relate to her desire to spend more time with her two young children. "They try to be receptive. They want to be receptive. But they don't have the experience," she said. "They had wives who stayed at home and were primary caregivers. That's a completely different scenario, and they can't quite understand what I'm experiencing." Barbara Bogue, director of Penn State's Women in Engineering program, believes women are not always encouraged to advance. Being a woman is an advantage early on when you get noticed, she said. But, she added: "It hits a certain point where that fades away. You're not getting information and mentoring that naturally happens for white males because, statistically, there are more of them." DeWitt, the Westinghouse vice president, said women were scarce in meetings with the company's customers, but she defended Westinghouse for its record in promoting women. DeWitt, who has an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering and an master's in business administration, has held 18 jobs in 23 years with Westinghouse. Nowinowski was a field services engineer who worked on reactors before her decision eight years ago to share a job with Bauer, a marketing engineer who was looking for a work partner to avoid working full time. They said the arrangement, in which one partner works two days one week and three the next, has kept them loyal to Westinghouse. Two people, they say, bring the company increased energy, flexibility and quality. They work hard to avoid leaving unfinished work for their partners. Sick days are rare and they always cover for each other's vacation schedules and on those days when their children are sick. "We're really one person," Nowinowski said. "We didn't have any major hiccups," Bauer added. "We really wanted this to work." ***************************************************************** 11 Q &A: Son of Star Wars BBC News | AMERICAS | Friday, 13 July, 2001, The US Administration under President George W. Bush favours the development of an anti-missile defence system, dubbed by some "the son of Star Wars". BBC News Online looks at how such a system might work, and what the international implications would be: What is the plan? The plan, originally called the National Missile Defence programme, is to develop and deploy a defensive screen for the whole of the US, which would have the ability to track and destroy incoming ballistic missiles. It has been nicknamed son of Star Wars after the original Strategic Defence Initiative - or Star Wars - of President Reagan, although the new plan is not nearly as complex or extensive. Washington is hoping that radar and communication systems, some based in the UK and Greenland - in combination with satellites in space - would provide early warnings of an attack. The incoming missiles would then be destroyed by sophisticated interceptors based in the United States. In an effort to win over wavering allies, the Bush team has now dropped the "national" from the missile defence project. They are now proposing a multi-national defence system covering the territory of as many countries that want to sign on. But the bigger the area to be defended, the greater the technical challenge ahead. Where does the threat come from? The system is primarily being designed to defend the US from small-scale attacks by countries such as North Korea, Iran, or rogue states elsewhere in the world. US defence planners are alarmed by the missile programmes of some of these countries, which are not only increasing their range, but could also be developing chemical or nuclear warheads. The US insists the defence system is not intended for Russia, and that Moscow should recognise that it also faces the threat of nuclear attack from rogue nuclear states. How accurate would it be? The system is faced with the challenge of destroying several incoming missiles, without debris falling on the intended target. That requires early warning, accuracy, and multiple shots. The technologies are still highly risky, and several tests have already failed or been delayed. The system would also not be able to defend the country against a sustained ballistic missile attack. How does it differ from the original SDI? The original Strategic Defence Initiative - or Star Wars - envisioned putting defensive weapons into space, as well as huge number on the ground. The new national missile defence programme, on the other hand, would only deploy a small number of ground-based weapons. It also incorporates some new technologies, such as the hit-to-kill kinetic energy weapon, Thaad. Would it be in breach of existing nuclear treaties? The 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty, signed by the US and the USSR, forbids the development of a nationwide defence system. So if the US were to go ahead, it would either need the agreement of Russia to amend the treaty - or it would unilaterally reject the treaty. Talks between Washington and Moscow have begun, but so far Russia appears firmly opposed to anything which it believes might weaken the effectiveness of its nuclear deterrent. How is the UK involved? The UK Government shares the scepticism of other European countries. It has not yet had any formal request for assistance. But the US is reported to have suggested that the existing US base at Flyingdales and the communications installation at Menwith Hill should be upgraded. If the UK were to agree, it would benefit from more effective radar warning systems, although there are no interceptors in Europe. Critics say it could also increase the UK's potential vulnerability as it would be seen as a US ally, while not actually being covered by a defensive screen. Any UK involvement would be likely to trigger a wave of anti-nuclear protests. Would other countries be involved? There are also US proposals to install radar and communication installations in Greenland, technically under the sovereignty of Denmark. But many European countries are sceptical about the plans. They are worried about the US pursuing a unilateral defence policy, and provoking Russia. There is also concern that a defensive screen for the US alone would leave the Europeans vulnerable. Washington has begun discussing a regional defence system. But the Americans have yet to win the support of their Nato partners. And the Chinese have warned that they might be forced to boost their own military deployments if the system is given to South Korea, Japan or Taiwan. ***************************************************************** 12 U.S. Fears Bin Laden Made Nuclear Strides (washingtonpost.com) Concern Over 'Dirty Bomb' Affects Security By Bob Woodward, Robert G. Kaiser and David B. Ottaway Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, December 4, 2001; Page A01 U.S. intelligence agencies have recently concluded that Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist network may have made greater strides than previously thought toward obtaining plans or materials to make a crude radiological weapon that would use conventional explosives to spread radioactivity over a wide area, according to U.S. and foreign sources. Some of the conclusions come from interrogations of captured al Qaeda members or associates. Some come from evidence gathered in the last month on the ground in Afghanistan by CIA officers and U.S. Special Forces from former al Qaeda facilities. In addition, recent U.S. intelligence reports describe a meeting within the last year in which bin Laden was present when one of his associates produced a canister that allegedly contained radioactive material. The associate waved the canister in the air as proof of al Qaeda's progress and seriousness in trying to build a nuclear device. The U.S. government last month urgently asked a few key allied governments to assist in determining whether the associate, identified only with a common name, may have entered their countries, perhaps with radioactive material. The concern is sufficiently deep that some countries have adopted extreme security procedures at their borders, including the increased use of devices that measure radioactivity, the sources said. There is no conclusive evidence that bin Laden or his associates have built a radiological bomb or even have the capability to do so, these sources emphasized. But for years bin Laden has said publicly he was working to obtain a nuclear capability. U.S. officials are very concerned that any nuclear detonation by al Qaeda would be a calamitous psychological setback to the war on terrorism, and a maximum effort has been launched to detect and prevent the possibility, remote as it might be, several sources said. The worry about al Qaeda's efforts to obtain a nuclear capability was a factor in the decision yesterday to issue another national alert about possible terrorist attacks, a senior source said. On at least one occasion, the White House cited the increased concern that al Qaeda might have a radiological bomb as a key reason that Vice President Cheney was not available for a face-to-face meeting with visiting senior foreign officials. The meeting usually would have allowed for informal personal contact, but took place via secure video conference because Cheney was at a secure location outside Washington. U.S. intelligence agencies are looking not only for evidence that terrorists could be assembling a radiological bomb but also for any sign that al Qaeda could be trying to make a very crude and small atomic or fission bomb. A radiological bomb, also known as a "dirty bomb," could be made by taking highly radioactive material, such as spent reactor fuel rods, and wrapping it around readily available conventional high explosives. The device is designed to kill or injure not through its explosive force but by creating a zone of intense radiation that could extend several city blocks. A large, highly radioactive bomb could affect a much larger area. There is no public record that any country or terrorist group has detonated a radiological bomb. A diagram of a dirty bomb has been found in a Taliban or al Qaeda installation in Afghanistan in recent weeks, according to a source. In addition, numerous other documents about nuclear weapons in general were recovered. But a well-placed U.S. source said such diagrams and documents could be found in public sources, including the Internet. The source said some designs were so inadequate and primitive that they most likely would not work. Al Qaeda's longstanding interest in acquiring a nuclear capability is well-documented. In February, a Sudanese man who worked for bin Laden for nine years, Jamal Ahmed Fadl, testified that al Qaeda was trying to acquire nuclear material in the early 1990s. Fadl said that a bin Laden lieutenant ordered him to buy uranium from a former Sudanese army officer, who offered to sell ore from South Africa for $1.5 million. Though he did not have personal knowledge that the deal was consummated, Fadl testified, he was paid a $10,000 bonus for arranging the deal. Fadl was a government witness at the New York trial of four participants in the al Qaeda bombing of two American embassies in Africa in August 1998. Last month, bin Laden told a Pakistani journalist that his movement already had chemical and nuclear weapons. "I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons," bin Laden was quoted as saying. "We have the weapons as a deterrent." In 1998, bin Laden called it "a religious duty" to acquire weapons of mass destruction, adding: "If I have indeed acquired these weapons, then I thank God for enabling me to do so." One Taliban official in Afghanistan has denied that al Qaeda has a nuclear capability. "We do not even have modern weaponry, not to mention weapons of mass destruction," Abdul Salam Zaeef, former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, said recently after widespread reports of bin Laden's deterrent comment. Pakistan has detained two nuclear scientists, both veterans of the secret program that has given Pakistan about a dozen nuclear warheads, and is interrogating them about their contacts with Taliban and al Qaeda members. The two, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majid, worked in Afghanistan in recent years but have said they were only providing charitable assistance to Afghanis. Mahmood is an expert in plutonium, the highly fissionable material used in the heart of most nuclear weapons. He was given a desk job in 1999 after he publicly said that Pakistan should help other Islamic nations build nuclear weapons. He also spoke publicly in support of the Taliban movement. Russia and Pakistan are considered the two most likely sources of radioactive material for al Qaeda. Russian officials have reported dozens of attempts to steal enriched uranium or plutonium since 1990. Last month, a Russian general said unidentified terrorists recently had twice tried and failed to penetrate Russian top-secret fortified nuclear storage facilities known as "S-shelters." Mohamed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a Nov. 1 statement that after the Sept. 11 hijackings, the agency had been alerted to the possibility that terrorists might use "radioactive sources to incite panic, contaminate property and even cause injury or death among civilian populations." On Nov. 9, President Bush said of al Qaeda, "They're seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons." Bin Laden is a fugitive from Saudi Arabia, which along with the United States is considered a top target for another attack. Border inspection and surveillance have been increased substantially in Saudi Arabia; authorities there are on the lookout not only for radioactive material but also for any related equipment, parts or technology that might be used in a nuclear device. In Saudi Arabia, a source said, border guards are searching any package or truck that might be used by smugglers. Particular emphasis has been given to the Saudi border with Yemen, which has had an active al Qaeda presence. Operatives connected to bin Laden in Yemen are believed to be responsible for the attack on the American destroyer USS Cole in October 2000, when a small boat loaded with explosives rammed the ship and killed 17 U.S. sailors in the port of Aden. Researcher Jeff Himmelman contributed to this report. © 2001 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 13 Laid-off workers file suit against UT-Battelle Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 4, 2001 For the past year, I've heard rumblings that a lawsuit would be filed in connection with the November 2000 layoffs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Well, it finally happened last week. Seventeen people who were let go from their jobs filed the federal civil rights lawsuit, claiming they were picked for termination because of their age. The lawsuit also alleges that UT-Battelle, which manages the lab for the Department of Energy, replaced these people with "younger, less qualified employees." Those filing the lawsuit include Barbara Jean Baker, 61 (at the time of the layoff); Linda Cain, 57; Harold Davis Clem, 60; Royal D. Cline, 57; David R. Cunningham, 47; Uri Gat, 64; Howard M. Hubbard, 53; Shafik K. Iskander, 65; Brian Jerome, 60; David M. Mabry, 53; Dwight H. Newman, 76; Charles C. Phillips, 54; Mary B. Sheldon, 58; Ronald W. Travis, 56; Mary Lynn Turner, 48; Sandra S. Witt, 56; and Jack L. Yarber, 59. At the time of the layoffs, UT-Battelle's chief, Bill Madia, said the staff cuts were a way to help reduce operating costs at the facility. UT-Battelle was almost halfway through its first year as ORNL's manager. The layoffs sparked a lot of anger and confusion. Some of those who were laid off sought assistance from some local organizations, including the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, an advisory group on DOE matters. Although I have talked with several of the people who were let go from ORNL and some cut from other jobs, it's still hard for me to fathom how horrible it must be. * * * GET STARTED: Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received approval from the Energy Department to restart the High Flux Isotope Reactor. The nuclear research reactor, which was built in the 1960s, has been shut down for more than a year for upgrades and repairs. Paul Parson is the science and technology reporter for The Oak Ridger. He can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 14 Fallout From An Old Terror Newsday.com - December 4, 2001 The fear last time is recorded in the lobby of the Fairfield Towers condominiums at 240-42 Cozine Ave. in East New York. There, placed prominently and yet unnoticed on the wall, is a yellow and black circular sign stating: FALLOUT SHELTER The sign was put up in 1962 by the Office of Civilian Defense of the Defense Department. This was at a time when school children were being drilled to hide under desks in a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union. And in buildings there appeared these fallout shelter signs indicating that safety from an atomic bomb is right there in the boiler room or over there, under the staircase. In Fairfield Towers, the fallout shelter sign is directly over the rows of mailboxes, out of which unsheltered tenants have been exposed for years to the most deadly of all fallouts, bills in the mail. A door alongside that leads to the shelter, a bare, lightless basement room with large pipes along the ceiling at one end. The pipes send a loud dripping sound through the room. High up on one side are small rectangular windows looking out at the street. They protect against a light rain. At the entrance are two small barrels with signs saying: "Survival Drinking Water. Furnished by Office of Civil Defense of the Department of Defense, 17 1/2 Gallons." Decades ago, the water evaporated. Atop a shelf bottles with aging labels: eyedrops, larger bottles of sodium chloride, then penicillin, cascarasagrada, four boxes of kaopectate sulfadiazine tablets, phenobarbital. Against one wall are stacks of brown cardboard boxes. The labels read: Survival Ration Biscuits 29 pounds Number of Biscuits per pound 89 Date of Pack, November 1962. The biscuits are in large tins inside the boxes. There are 131,631 survival biscuits inside the 51 boxes against the wall. None have been opened because the city Department of Health and the Department of Environmental Protection have issued specific orders for the handling of this material. The shelter and the survival food were discovered after all these years because the condominium employees went on strike. As this always generates many phone calls to agencies - "the management is poisoning babies in their strollers" - inspectors of all callings came to the buildings. One day in late October, Frank Ayala, director of security, showed a Health Department inspector around. The inspector first was afraid of the boxes of biscuits. He compared them to grain elevators that explode. He said they must be reported to the city's handlers of hazardous materials. When the inspector saw the ancient medicine bottles, he leaped back. "This is dangerous. This can explode!" he said. The building security man called the police and fire departments. The police said it wasn't in their jurisdiction. The firefighters did not think the bottles would burst into flames. A hazardous material specialist/emergency response man now arrived. He gave written instructions to the security man and the condominium manager, Debbie Ketay: "You are hereby ordered to make an inventory of every single item and separate them by the label. The inventory list must be faxed to our office at DOE/ O.E.T. 212-442-4478 ... "During the inventory process, packages must be handled properly and employees must use proper protection (gloves, latex, etc.) to prevent any possible exposure. The storage area must be closed to the public. All entrances to these areas must be monitored by night security guard." Ketay, a pleasant woman, says she can't do her managing job and still count out 130,000 survival biscuits, bag them and report each survival biscuit to the Department of Environmental Health Services. She doesn't even remember the nuclear fear. "I was in kindergarten in PS 251 in 1962," she was saying. "My husband says he remembers, 'Duck and cover.' I don't. I was playing." She called the environmental protection department and said, "The government put these supplies here, why can't they send somebody to help remove them?" She was told, "We do not do this. That is up to you to follow the orders of the inspection report." She wrote to 78 politicians and received not one answer. They were tied up with the terror this time, placing National Guardsmen on Queens Plaza. The medicine is a smaller problem in disposal. But there are so many survival biscuits that it is nearly impossible to count them, and could be dangerous if children ever started to grab them. The biscuits, when finally opened, may be fed to cats or dogs in the pounds or dogs in veterinary shelters whose owners have not shown up to pay and retrieve them. The debtor animals then can be taken out into the empty lots in East New York and fed the biscuits from 1962 and monitored for any possible effects. The Fairfield Towers is precisely what the late Tim Cooney envisioned when he became the city's commissioner of civilian defense in 1960. He sat in his office reading records of the dispersal of "Fallout Shelter" signs around the city. He then walked around Times Square and checked the "Fallout Shelter" signs. They indicated there was shelter from nuclear bombs under staircases or shelter from nuclear bombs in storage rooms off the lobby. He went out for lunch at Costello's on West 44th Street, where he held a public meeting with himself. At the end of lunch, about 4 p.m., he announced that he was disbanding the office and firing himself. Left was the shelter and survival biscuits in the basement of Fairfield Towers on Cozine Avenue in East New York. The biscuits had been for use in an attack by the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire." Debbie Ketay went to the roof of the nine-story building and looked across all of Brooklyn to see the flames in the sky from the World Trade Center towers. Downstairs in the basement were the reminders of the old terror. The terror this time, from an enemy we call "The Evil One," was stored in her eyes and in her memory forever. Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc. [http://www.newsday.com] ***************************************************************** 15 To stop a nuclear terrorist, the West must give up its nuclear weapons Jordan Times (Opinion Section) By Jonathan Power THERE ARE no points awarded for having seen this truck coming down the road. I first wrote about the likelihood of a group with no address getting its hands on a nuclear weapon in my column in the International Herald Tribune in 1975. Likewise, those liberals who worried out loud for years about Afghanistan first being armed and then left to rot by the West or pointed out the dangers of letting the structures of the Soviet Union collapse without sufficient economic aid to ease the transition in a sensible and organised way, have gained precious little kudos from public opinion at large. We are compelled to stand aside whilst the hardliners call the shots. If they go wrong and cause Pakistan's nuclear weapons to fall into the wrong hands or leave a residue of Arab hatred far deeper than existed before Sept. 11, that combines to push Yasser Arafat aside in Palestine and supplants him with a militant leadership which will stop at nothing to destroy Israel, we will have had as much influence on the course of events as Bertrand Russell did languishing in jail for conscientiously objecting to the madness of the World War I. But stop. I want to say one thing that I hope the conservatives might listen to because it is in their own interest as much as it is everyone else's. It is one minute to midnight but as long as it is true, as the CIA believes that it is as of this moment, that no terrorist group has yet manufactured a nuclear weapon, there is still something that can be done. It is not to build an anti-missile defence, because as William Perry, the former US secretary of defence, argues in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, a terrorist group is not going to use ballistic missiles to deliver its weapons. Neither is it to go to war with Iraq because Saddam Hussein has as much interest as does the West in keeping the ultimate weapon out of the hands of uncontrollable, free-lance terrorist groups that could decide from one day to the next that he is an apostate too. It is to do more of what the Bush administration has already started to do — and which the Clinton administration miserably and unforgivably failed to do, so insouciant was the ex draft dodger about the danger of nuclear weapons — which is to unilaterally start to nuclear disarm. And then, with the money saved, launch a mammoth search operation to uncover and safeguard every bit of fissile material in the world. At the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, President George Bush made the right first step. He announced a mammoth cut in nuclear weapons and asked the Russians to match it without a laborious treaty process. This indeed is the only way it can be done when time is so short. But the logic of his nuclear unilateralism needs to be followed through. If, indeed, as Bush argues, Russia and the US are no longer enemies, why do they need to point nuclear weapons at each other? The US does not point them at Canada. Let us get to the point. They are dangerous because an accidental or unauthorised launch is always possible and, as General George Lee Butler, the former head of US Strategic Command in charge of America's nuclear forces, has argued, they are not needed because in reality they are not usable. And above all, they destroy the most powerful argument against proliferation: that they are too dangerous for other nations to possess. But what to do about those that already have got them? Let us not be so pessimistic. As Perry reminds us, since the end of the cold war four nations — Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and South Africa — have given up their sizeable arsenals and two others, Argentina and Brazil, have terminated their nuclear weapons programmes. North Korea, for its part, has agreed to a nuclear freeze. China, in all likelihood, would give up its nuclear weapons if Britain and France did. India probably would if China did and Pakistan would then be in no position to hold out. Israel would probably be the hardest nut to crack but if this move is combined with a massive effort by the US to settle the Palestinian issue, which we know from Camp David is within the realms of the possible once Arafat knows the Israeli prime minister is strong enough to deliver on a deal (which Ehud Barak manifestly wasn't), then Israel can be prevailed upon to nuclear disarm too. The money — and the energies — liberated must be spent on funding the cash-starved Russian nuclear industry both to disarm and to take better care of its fissile material, for that is clearly where the black market originates. Beyond that, the missing material has to be tracked down before the clock hits midnight. Every sane nation has to be enlisted to mount the greatest police operation the world has ever seen. The combination of moral sanction set by a heroic, but nonetheless self-interested, example and the combined thoroughness of the world's police forces might yet save New York's Grand Central Station from a nuclear bomb left in a suitcase. The writer is a syndicated columnist and author. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times. ***************************************************************** 16 Oak Ridge National Laboratory to restart its research reactor 12/04/01 Augusta Georgia: Technology: Web posted Tuesday, December 4, 2001 By Frank Munger Scripps Howard News Service OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received federal approval to restart its nuclear research reactor, which has been shut down for more than a year for maintenance, upgrades and repairs. Dr. James Roberto, an associate director at the laboratory, said the plan is to resume operations gradually over the next couple of weeks. Restart authority came from the U.S. Department of Energy late Friday, he said. The High Flux Isotope Reactor was built in the 1960s, but it's still considered one of the top nuclear-research facilities anywhere. "It has the highest thermal neutron flux in the world, which makes it uniquely useful for radiation experiments, for making special isotopes and for using those neutrons for neutron-scattering experiments," Roberto said. He said the reactor also is extraordinarily versatile, providing broad opportunities for research projects. During the long outage, workers replaced the beryllium reflector that is one of the reactor's most important components. The metal structure surrounds the reactor core and reflects the neutrons generated there, creating neutron concentrations sufficient for experiments and production of isotopes for medicine and industry. The reactor also has a new cooling tower and beam tubes that transport neutrons to experimental sites, and the waste system has been upgraded, partly in response to a tritium leak discovered in late 2000. Some additional improvements to the reactor's research capabilities are still under way, including the installation of a "cold source" that slows down neutron movement for special experiments. Although the reactor is more than 30 years old, Roberto said he believes the nuclear facility, with continued attention to the infrastructure, should be able to operate at a high level for another 30 to 35 years. All told, about $40 million has been spent to revitalize the reactor, which reportedly has a replacement value exceeding $1 billion. UT-Battelle, the contractor that manages the laboratory for the Energy Department, completed the maintenance and repairs to the reactor in the summer. Since then, the lab has undergone a lengthy "operational readiness review," which culminated with federal approval to restart the 85-megawatt reactor. 1996 - 2001 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 17 UN Adopts 2 draft resolutions sponsored by Egypt on ME nuclear armament Regional-Israel, Politics, 12/3/2001 United Nations General Assembly adopted two resolutions submitted by Egypt. The first resolution calls upon Israel, being the only Middle East country that didn't yet join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, to join the treaty, and give access to its nuclear installations of the International Agency of Nuclear Energy. The second resolution was adopted upon unanimous agreement of all countries to President Mubarak's initiative to establish a nuclear-free area in the Middle East, with emphasis on basic UN role in this connection. Egypt permanent delegate to the UN said that adopting nuclear ban resolution in the Middle East by such an overwhelming majority was a clear message from the international community stressing the necessity of removing the nuclear weapons in the Middle East owned by only one state, namely Israel. Copyright © 1995-2001 Arabic News.com, All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************