***************************************************************** 06/06/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.142 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Nuclear cargo on track for city 2 Yucca Mountain foes target above-ground storage plan 3 Whitman Announces Final Standards for Yucca Mountain 4 Reid says Democrat control won’t cause gridlock 5 NIMBY writ large at Yucca -- The Washington Times 6 Gibbons pleased EPA will set Yucca safety standard 7 U.S. Sets Safety Rules for Yucca Nuclear Waste Site 8 White House Seeks Solution To Atlas Peril 9 DOE step makes Yucca more likelyReturn to the referring page. 10 Murkowski steps off swinging 11 Bingaman To Take Over Energy Committee Wednesday 12 Residents say no to nuclear dump 13 State budget remains up in air 14 An energy crisis waiting to happen 15 Fermi shows off nuclear power 16 Selling of Maine Yankee starts 17 Utilities will not unite on 2 plants 18 N-plant submits new plan 19 Infocast Announces Conference on 'Building New Nuclear Power Plants'Finance 20 EUROTECH Launches Global Ad Campaign On CNBC 21 WNA News Briefing 01.23 | 31 May - 5 June 2001 22 Nuclear fears as energy crisis bites 23 Hanford officials not waiting for Yucca outcome 24 Russia Nuclear Waste Bill Advances 25 Russia to import nuclear waste 26 State Duma Adopts Package Of Bills Okayeing Import Of Irradiated 27 GREENPEACE CALLS ON PRESIDENT BUSH TO VETO EXPORTS OF US 28 EPA sets standards for repository NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 HK to Check Claims of Nuclear Tests on Babies 2 DOE work benefits state's economy 3 Y-12 continues to focus on safety 4 North Korea cool on nuclear deal with America 5 Forum for radiation illness compensation 6 Nev. Boy Dies of Cancer; 13 Kids Ill 7 Father presses to learn what caused son’s deadly cancer 8 REID TO EXPAND INQUIRY INTO FALLON JET FUEL CONTAMINATION REID TO EXPAND 9 Workers at Flats say safety ignored 10 Safety watchdog says beryllium rule 'a guess' 11 'Pit Vipers' ease Hanford work 12 Are DOE contractors paid enough? 13 Senate control shift may alter Hanford plans 14 Fluor owes community explanation on DynCorp 15 Y-12 about to resume dismantlement work 16 The Continuing Impact of the Nuclear Revolution 17 DOE Presidential Appointees Sworn In 18 Project Sunshine's dark secret 19 Blood tests for nuke vets rejected 20 Australia probes reports of nuclear tests on babies 21 WA in corpse-tests probe 22 Police probe atomic society's missing millions 23 A-bomb victims outside Japan deserve health-care allowance **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Nuclear cargo on track for city Lawrence Journal-World: Thursday, Jun 7, 2001 1:18 am Train carrying radioactive waste from New York to head through Lawrence By Scott Rothschild, Journal-World Staff Writer Wednesday, June 6, 2001 Sometime this summer, about 45 tons of highly radioactive cargo will be hauled by train through northeastern Kansas, and right through Lawrence, officials said Tuesday. The shipment is from western New York, where the U.S. Department of Energy is shutting down and cleaning up the country's first commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. The cost of the cleanup is pegged at $1.6 billion. Plans are to transport 125 used fuel assemblies in gigantic steel casks by train through 10 states, bound for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Plans for the trip have been more than two years in the making and state and Lawrence-area officials say there is little danger. "The risk is so minimal it's virtually nonexistent," said Paula Phillips, director of Douglas County Emergency Management. The fuel assemblies already have been loaded onto the train, but officials refuse to say when the train will start on what is expected to be a four-day journey. Once it starts, officials say they will keep secret dates and times of when the train will pass. Phillips said that the train will go through North Lawrence on the Union Pacific track. It probably will be in Douglas County no longer than 30 minutes and in the state for about three hours. Emergency management and law enforcement crews have been briefed and trained on the trip, she said. "The shipment is absolutely safe," said John Chamberlain, a spokesman for West Valley Nuclear Services, which is coordinating the shipment. Chamberlain said the material is highly radioactive and will be for thousands of years. Eventually, the fuel will be moved from Idaho to a permanent facility that has yet to be built, he said. The nuclear fuel assembles are bundles of rods that contain fuel pellets and were used to make electricity in plants in Michigan and New York, Chamberlain said. The fuel has been placed into two steel casks with walls more than 9 inches thick, according to the federal Energy Department. The casks are approximately 20 feet long, 7 feet in diameter and weigh 75 tons each when empty. The casks also will be used to store the fuel at the Idaho facility. The train will consist of a locomotive, two flatbed cars carrying the casks, several spacer or buffer cars, and a personnel car. The route was chosen after evaluating 12 different routes and ranking them on the basis of distance, track quality and population, the Energy Department said. ***************************************************************** 2 Yucca Mountain foes target above-ground storage plan Las Vegas Review-Journal Yucca Mountain Project officials will have to persuade Congress to change nuclear waste laws to store spent fuel temporarily above ground. That was the essence of comments by Clark County officials at a hearing Tuesday on an Energy Department document that calls for storing highly radioactive waste on a surface pad at the site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. That would allow decaying, spent reactor fuel to age and cool so its heat can be evenly dispersed when it is put inside the proposed repository. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act prohibits putting a radioactive waste repository and an interim storage facility in the same state. The document, a supplement to the site's draft environmental impact statement, calls for "placing young fuel in a surface aging facility." "In essence this is recommending the development of an interim storage facility at the Yucca Mountain site," according to a statement presented at the Suncoast by Irene Navis, assistant planning manager for the county's Nuclear Waste Division. Project officials said they will address all comments by some 20 speakers at the hearing, but one project official, Abe Van Luik, denied the document calls for an "interim storage site." "We never use those words. It's a cooling and blending facility," he said. Corbin Harney, a Western Shoshone, and other anti-nuclear activists criticized Energy Department officials, with Harney saying they did not tell the truth "from the beginning." "The people are going to have to wake up to the problem and get a cleaner source of power, wind or solar, that doesn't have waste. But they're not making dollars on that power," Harney said. Another anti-nuclear activist, Susi Snyder, said $7.5 billion already spent on the project could have been used for above-ground waste sites of reactors that generate it.
href="http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Jun-06-Wed-2001/news/16260963.html">http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Jun-06-Wed-2001/news/16260963.html
***************************************************************** 3 Whitman Announces Final Standards for Yucca Mountain U.S. Newswire 6 Jun 9:00 Health, Environmental Protection To: National Desk, Environment and Energy reporters Contact: Cathy Milbourn of the Environmental Protection Agency, 202-564-7824; Email: milbourn.cathy@epa.gov WASHINGTON, June 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman today announced final, very stringent public health and environmental protection standards for Yucca Mountain, the proposed repository for spent fuel from the nation's commercial nuclear power plants. "As a nation, we must address our nuclear waste disposal problem, but we must do so in a way that protects public health and the environment," Whitman said. "EPA's Yucca Mountain environmental standards are the world's first to address long-term storage and disposal of this type of radioactive waste. These are strong standards and they should be. We designed them to ensure that people living near this potential repository will be protected -- now and for future generations." The fundamental Yucca Mountain requirements for protecting people and ground-water have not changed from previous drafts. The standards issued today address all potential sources of radiation exposure from ground-water, air, and soil. The standards are designed to protect the residents closest to the repository at levels that are within the Agency's acceptable risk range for environmental pollutants. This corresponds to a dose limit of no more than 15 millirem per year from all pathways -- about twice the exposure of just living in a brick house for a year. Naturally occurring radioactive materials and the radiation they produce are found everywhere such as in food, soil and water. Whitman also announced separate standards to protect groundwater resources. The proposed repository sits above an aquifer that is a critical source of water for irrigation, dairy cattle farming and drinking water. Consistent with EPA's long-standing commitment to protect potential drinking water sources, the standard for Yucca Mountain protects ground-water resources to the 4 millirem per year limit established under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The separate groundwater standard is on average 15 times more stringent than the all pathways standard. This is the same level of protection applied to current and future sources of drinking water across the U.S. "Under these standards future generations will be securely protected. Our standards require that a person living in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain and drinking untreated water at the site 10,000 years from now, will have less radiation exposure than we get today in about two round-trip flights from New York to Los Angeles," Whitman explained. Those flights equal an exposure of about 14 millirem. While the core environmental requirements are the same as in the proposed rule, two modifications were made that will change how the Department of Energy (DOE) would demonstrate that the Yucca Mountain facility is safe. First, the final standards were made more protective by establishing an additional 2 kilometer (1 mile) safety zone between the nearest residents and the location where DOE must prove it is meeting the EPA standard. The change is from 20 kilometers (12 miles) to 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the repository. The second modification involves the volume of ground-water DOE will have to analyze to show it is meeting the environmental standard. EPA is requiring DOE to evaluate the potential for radiation in 3,000 acre-feet per year of ground-water. Based on public comments to our proposal, and local input, the agency adjusted the volume of water to more accurately reflect current and projected water usage near Yucca Mountain. An acre foot is one acre of water one foot deep. Yucca Mountain is located in Nye County, Nev., on federally- owned land about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the site for a potential geologic repository for safe storage and disposal of spent fuel from the nation's commercial nuclear power plants and other high-level radioactive waste. That waste currently is stored at commercial nuclear power plants and research reactor sites in 43 states. Before the site can open and accept radioactive waste, the Secretary of Energy must recommend, and the President must approve Yucca Mountain as a safe repository for nuclear waste. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission must determine that the Department of Energy can meet EPA's standards and other licensing requirements. DOE is responsible for the construction, management and operation of the repository. The earliest date the Yucca Mountain repository could be licensed and approved to accept radioactive waste is at least eight years from now -- 2010. During that time, both DOE and NRC will continue to provide the public opportunities to comment. For more information about EPA's final public health and environmental protection standards for Yucca Mountain, go to www.epa.gov/radiation/yucca. To receive a printed copy of the final rule and support documents, call EPA's toll-free Yucca Mountain Information Line, 1-800-331-9477. ------ Yucca mountain standard, 15 millirem/year all pathways (a REM is a measure of the actual biological effects of radiation absorbed in human tissue) Other comparable radiation exposures: -- 3 Chest x-rays, 18 mrem -- 2 Round-trip cross-country airplane flights, 14 mrem -- Living in a brick house, 7 mrem -- Living in Denver, additional 21 mrem above sea-level exposure Average annual background radiation (all sources), about 360 mrem KEYWORDS: ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY POLICY, POLICY, GOVERNMENT, NEVADA -0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 06/06 09:00 Copyright 2001, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 4 Reid says Democrat control won’t cause gridlock RGJ.com - By Frank X. Mullen Jr. Reno Gazette-Journal Wednesday June 6th, 2001 05/15/2001 Anticipating today’s Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Harry Reid said Tuesday the new alignment is good news for Nevada. The third-term Democrat said he believes he can rally colleagues of his party to oppose the nuclear waste dump plan for Yucca Mountain, boost appropriations for the Fallon cancer cluster investigation, and champion such natural resource issues as water quality for Lake Tahoe and Walker Lake. Reid, an architect of the Democratic coup and now the second most powerful senator, said he isn’t anticipating legislative gridlock. “I’m sure there are some hard feelings,” Reid said. “It’s like a prizefight. It was a great round but there are other rounds coming up.” The Senate upheaval was prompted by the decision last month by Vermont Sen. James Jeffords to leave the GOP and become an independent aligned with the Democrats. This gives the Democrats a one-vote majority in the previously evenly divided Senate — their first capture of either house since Republicans took over Congress in 1995. The Senate is now composed of 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans and one independent. Reid helped persuade Jeffords to switch. Back to Local News Index | Back to Top ©2001 Reno Gazette-Journal © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. ***************************************************************** 5 NIMBY writ large at Yucca -- The Washington Times Charles Rousseaux First of two parts. Even before the Senate officially shifted seats, new majority leader Tom Daschle went nuclear. Last Thursday, he declared, "As long as we´re in the majority, it´s dead." "It" is a plan to store high-level nuclear waste in a repository at Yucca Mountain, a move opposed by environmentalists and Nevadians. Yet Mr. Daschle´s myopic move should cause taxpayers to go ballistic: Billions of their dollars have already been spent studying the problem, and failure to proceed with the repository at Yucca Mountain will most likely result in a nightmarish nuclear not-in-my-back-yard problem that could last for generations. Nuclear waste has been building up since the mushroom cloud was merely a gleam in the eye of Robert J. Oppenheimer. The buildup of waste from atomic weapons has been enriched from that coming of civilian power plants, many of which were built during the radioactive power situation of the 1970s. The country is facing a similar energy situation today: While it is easy to disbelieve the power crisis out West (many of us never believed in California´s existence anyway), blackouts may well roll though the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard this summer. To avert a similarly dim outlook over the next two decades, the U.S. will need to build between 1,300 and 1,900 new power plants over the next two decades according to the National Energy Policy Development Group (NEPD) report on the energy crisis. One of the solutions advocated by the NEPD is an expansion of nuclear power, since it is reliable, relatively low-cost (once the reactors are built), and fairly friendly to the environment. Nuclear power already supplies about 20 percent of the nation´s electricity needs, (a relatively low percentage compared to many other countries). And aside from safety concerns, nuclear power´s biggest drawback is the waste it generates, regardless whether fuel rods are reprocessed. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the 103 operational nuclear power plants in the United States produce a combined total of about 2,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste annually, primarily consisting of spent, but still intensely radioactive, reactor fuel rods. In more than three decades of operation, such plants have produced a total of about 36,500 metric tons of such waste, which, if stacked side-to-side and laid end-to-end, would cover an area the size of a football field about 12 feet deep. That isn´t surprising, since all sources of energy, whether renewable or non-, come with inherent drawbacks. Whirling windmills tend to chop up endangered avians, shining solar panels turn off when the sun goes down, and burning fossil fuels cause environmentalists to exhale voluminous amounts of noxious gasses that eventually cause costly presidential policy corrections. Fossil fuels have other drawbacks as well. They are far less energetic a thimble-full of uranium will produce the same amount of electricity as 149 gallons of oil or almost a ton of coal, and they generate far more waste, some it radioactive. In fact, small amounts of radiation are inherent in the matrix of life the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Damage to humans caused by radiation exposure is usually measured in rems. Exposures of around 10 rems may cause detectable deleterious damage in an individual´s blood, exposures of 100 rems are usually sickening, and exposures of more than 1,000 rems are almost inevitably fatal. The average American is exposed to 360 millirems of radiation each year, more than 80 percent of it from natural sources, and the rest from a variety of events, ranging from plane travel to television viewing. Radiation damage is due to the fact that, like actors in a spaghetti Western, radioactive elements "die," by breaking up into smaller particles (a process called radioactive decay), while simultaneously shooting out "bullets" of energy and/or particles. Those "bullets" (divided into alpha, beta and gamma particles) can wreck delicate protein machinery a cell needs to function and/or can chew the rungs off the delicate DNA ladder of life, potentially leading to various types of cancer. If reproductive cells have such broken rungs of DNA (called mutations) they can lead to multiple generations of families having genetic abnormalities and even higher-than-normal incidences of various cancers. Radioactive materials can remain harmful for decades, and even centuries. For that reason, high-level nuclear waste needs to be stored somewhere, preferably far away from most things biological, or at least human. Several possibilities have been investigated since the brilliant dawn of the nuclear age. Burying the material on the ocean floor was sunk due to titanic technical and political difficulties. Safely sending the material into space proved far too challenging, as witness the Challenger disaster. The idea of storing the material on an isolated island was cast away, since Tom Hanks (and, for that matter, Gilligan and the Skipper too), could have been stranded anywhere. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 froze out the idea of burying the material deep in polar ice. Partially due to the paucity of safe, long-term storage alternatives, spent fuel rods are currently being kept in temporary storage containers on the sites of the nuclear plants in which they were used, either in steel- and concrete-lined pools or dry casks made of the same materials. Beyond the environmental, health and safety risks posed by such short-term solutions is the simple fact that nuclear plants are running out of room to place spent fuel rods. By 2010, the earliest that the repository at Yucca Mountain is expected to open, nearly 80 percent of nuclear plants will have exhausted their storage capacities. The problem of high-level storage is literally approaching critical mass, and Yucca Mountain seems to offer the best long-term solution find out why tomorrow. Charles Rousseaux is an editor for the Commentary pages of The Washington Times. ***************************************************************** 6 Gibbons pleased EPA will set Yucca safety standard Las Vegas SUN: June 05, 2001 RENO, Nev. (AP) - The Bush administration will stick with radiation protection standards equal to or stronger than the ones the Environmental Protection Agency was preparing for Yucca Mountain under the Clinton administration, a Nevada congressman said Tuesday. Aides to Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he received the assurances Tuesday from EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. The EPA is expected to release additional information Wednesday about the safety standards for the proposed nuclear waste dump 90 miles from Las Vegas, the aides said. "I am pleased that the EPA will be supporting a stringent radiation standard - even more stringent than that of the previous administration," Gibbons said in a statement. "They are sticking with the stricter EPA standard instead of the one the Nuclear Regulatory Commission wanted," said Gibbons' aide Robert Uithoven. Uithoven said the EPA standard is 15 millirems of radiation exposure through the air compared with the NRC's proposed 25 millirems. He said the EPA also would be establishing a groundwater standard of 4 millirems. The NRC opposed any standard for groundwater. An average chest X-ray equals 10 millirems. Opponents of the proposed dump have supported letting the EPA set a more stringent standard than one proposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which would have to license the repository. Proponents generally supported a looser NRC proposed standard. Tracy Scott, an aide to Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., also credited the Bush administration with "keeping their promises and letting the EPA set the groundwater standard." Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was withholding judgment until he sees the formal standard, his aide David Cherry said. "It is an initial victory," Cherry said. "At least a portion of the battle has been won with the publishing of the rule but now we have to see exactly what the standards are," he said. Yucca Mountain is the only site being studied to store 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste. Las Vegas SUN, ***************************************************************** 7 U.S. Sets Safety Rules for Yucca Nuclear Waste Site (washingtonpost.com) By Eric Pianin Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 6, 2001; Page A02 The Bush administration yesterday unveiled final health and safety standards for a proposed nuclear waste depository in the Nevada desert that officials hope will allow construction of the long-stalled project, which is essential to the president's efforts to rejuvenate the nuclear power industry. With the new standards regulating all potential sources of radiation exposure from groundwater, air and soil, administration officials said they hope they have navigated a difficult political obstacle. They believe the standards are tough enough to satisfy many environmentalists and Nevada residents, but not so stringent that they would block the project. A dispute over the standards posed the last major hurdle to an administration decision on whether to go forward with the project. First proposed in the summer of 1999 by the Clinton administration, the standards drew sharp criticism from scientific groups and from Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) and other GOP lawmakers who complained they were too stringent. Yesterday, Bush administration officials claimed a double win: Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham insisted that his department could meet the new standards and launch the controversial project by the end of the year, while EPA officials boasted that they had essentially preserved the same tough standards proposed by the Clinton administration. "As a nation, we must address our nuclear waste disposal problem, but we must do so in a way that protects public health and the environment," EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said. "These are strong standards, and they should be. We designed them to ensure that people living near this potential repository will be protected -- now and for future generations." Controversy over the proposed underground storage site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has endured for nearly two decades as the nation groped to find a way of disposing of dangerous wastes from nuclear power plants and weapons facilities now stored around the country. Construction of the storage site for 78,000 tons of radioactive wastes would be vital to President Bush's plan to address the nation's long-term energy needs partly by expanding the use of nuclear power plants. Abraham is expected to recommend by the end of the year that Bush go forward with plans to seek licensing of the site. But the project has drawn strong opposition from Nevada state officials and lawmakers, including Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), the powerful Senate Democratic whip. Nevada officials argue that the repository would pose serious threats to the region in the event of an accident or earthquake and that the waste would have to be hauled by truck or rail through more than 40 states, adding to the risk of spills. Sen. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), the incoming majority leader, vowed last week while attending a fundraiser for Reid in Las Vegas that the Yucca Mountain project was "dead" as long as the Democrats retained control of the Senate. Although political observers say that it would be difficult to block the project indefinitely, Reid, now the chairman of a key appropriations subcommittee, and the Democrats could probably slow its construction by holding down its budget. Congressional and industry backers of the plan have pushed for adoption of less stringent standards drafted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while Nevada officials and other opponents want the tougher EPA standards. Last year, Congress passed a bill sponsored by Murkowski, then chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that would have accelerated the schedule for transporting high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain and blocked the EPA from setting radiation standards for the proposed nuclear waste dump. Former president Bill Clinton vetoed the bill and the Senate sustained the veto by one vote. When the Bush administration left open the possibility it still might block the EPA standards, Reid retaliated by putting a hold on two nominations to high-level EPA posts and an appointment to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. A spokesman for Reid did not return calls seeking comment last night. "From Nevada's standpoint, we are very wary of any of the administration's proposals on nuclear waste," said Dan Geary, a Nevada field organizer for the National Environmental Trust. "They have continued a tradition of insisting the site selection and development of Yucca Mountain is a scientific process, but we don't believe it, and from the beginning it has been a political process." The standards regulate all potential sources of radiation exposure and are designed to protect residents closest to the repository at levels within the agency's acceptable risk range for environmental pollutants. This corresponds to a dose limit of no more than 15 millirem per year from all sources -- or about twice the exposure of just living in a brick house for a year. Because the proposed repository sits above an aquifer that is a critical source of water for irrigation, dairy farming and drinking water, the EPA included a separate standard that would limit groundwater radiation contamination to 4 millirem per year, the same standard that is used in the Safe Drinking Water Act. While the core environmental requirements are the same as in the original Clinton proposal, two modifications will change how the Energy Department would demonstrate that the Yucca Mountain facility is safe. One would add an additional one-mile safety buffer between the nearest resident and the location where the DOE must prove it is meeting the EPA standard. The second would increase the volume of water the Energy Department will have to analyze to show it is meeting the environmental standard. An EPA official acknowledged that increasing the volume of the sample would have the effect of diluting the concentration of the contaminant being analyzed -- which in some instances might make it easier to meet the standard. But officials said that would be offset by the larger buffer zone. © 2001 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 8 White House Seeks Solution To Atlas Peril The Salt Lake Tribune -- Wednesday, June 6, 2001 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- The White House is requesting an immediate $1.4 million to study the best way to handle 10.5 million tons of uranium tailings on the banks of the Colorado River. The Atlas uranium tailings, left over from Cold War weapons programs, sit just feet from the river outside Arches National Park near Moab. Atlas Corp. filed for bankruptcy in 1998, and the court assigned PricewaterhouseCoopers as trustee, overseeing the cleanup of the pile on a shoestring budget. The trustee drained water from the tailings before running out of money and turning the project back over to the U.S. Energy Department earlier this year. But spring windstorms kicked up clouds of dust from the pile, alarming Moab residents. Steps have since been taken to control the dust. The supplemental request sent by President Bush to Congress late last week included $1.4 million to study the best long-term solution. "This is another example of the president taking steps to protect the environment using sound science," said Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, who has been pushing for funds to move the tailings away from the river. "These funds will allow us to plan an expedited cleanup process of the Atlas pile and safeguard the Colorado River." Some federal studies have shown that up to 45,000 gallons a day of toxic waste leaks into the Colorado River, which is the sole source of drinking water for 25 million residents downstream in California, Nevada and Arizona. Bush's budget request for next year does not include any money for moving the pile to a safer place, which is expected to take at least 10 years and cost as much as $300 million. Cannon said he is working to try to get $10 million added to next year's budget for the project. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 9 DOE step makes Yucca more likelyReturn to the referring page. Las Vegas SUN: Today: June 06, 2001 at 11:23:29 PDT DOE step makes Yucca more likely By Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove LAS VEGAS SUN The Environmental Protection Agency today reaffirmed its radiation standard for burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, but a change in the technical details may make it easier for the Department of Energy to build a repository. The DOE is studying Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the only site to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste from commercial reactors and defense activities. The EPA radiation standard is a major step toward allowing Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to recommend the site to Congress later this year. It allows the Energy Department to finish the required environmental studies. Abraham said Tuesday the repository would meet whatever standards the EPA adopted. The standards become official at an interesting time: President Bush has taken flak for not promoting environmentally friendly policies, and White House officials are trying to polish his image on green issues. But Bush also has made building new nuclear power plants part of his national energy strategy. Key to nuclear expansion is the construction of a Yucca repository so that the nation's nuclear power plants have a place to bury their wastes. Neither proponents nor opponents of the nuclear dump were satisfied with the EPA's standard today. The standards, although not perfect, will be a "powerful tool" in battling to kill the Yucca project, Sen. Harry Reid's spokesman Nathan Naylor said. Reid is Senate majority whip and a vocal opponent of the repository. "Right now, the fight moves on the science," Naylor said. "That is where we think Yucca will be disqualified as a site." After a behind-the-scenes battle between the EPA and the nuclear industry over the standard, the EPA stuck to its limit on radiation allowed in ground water proposed by the Clinton administration. The EPA standard would allow a nearby resident to receive 15 millirems of total radiation exposure in a year from Yucca Mountain, 4 millirems of that through ground water. The average chest X-ray is 5 millirems, and an average person receives 360 millirems a year from natural sources, such as the sun and soils. "These are strong standards, and they should be," EPA administrator Christie Whitman said today. "We designed them to ensure that people living near this potential repository will be protected now and for future generations." However, the EPA radiation exposure limit for ground water will be easier to meet, because a larger volume of water is allowed to dilute the amount of radiation, according to internal documents obtained by the Sun. In mid-April the EPA had set the volume of water at 1,285 acre-feet, meaning that the DOE could not allow more than 4 millirems of radiation in that amount of water drawn from a mile-wide plume expected to reach Amargosa Valley after 10,000 years. An acre-foot of water is 326,000 gallons of water, enough to serve a family of four for a year. Under the revised standard, it would take more than twice as much water -- 3,000 acre feet -- before the radiation limit is exceeded. "It makes the standard more lenient and easier to comply with," Bob Loux, director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects, said. The EPA is helping the DOE to meet the standard by diluting the radiation to keep it below the allowable limit, said Steve Frishman, technical advisor to the state Agency for Nuclear Projects. "By measuring the ground water standards so far away from the facility, the government is counting on using Nevada's water table to dilute the waste," Rep. Shelley Berkley said. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 10 Murkowski steps off swinging Anchorage Daily News - SENATOR: Last day as Energy Committee chairman brings one more pitch for national energy bill. By Liz Ruskin Anchorage Daily News (Published June 6, 2001) Washington -- Sen. Frank Murkowski, on his final day as chairman of the Energy Committee before Democrats wrest control of the Senate, made one more pitch for his national energy bill. Its elements are similar to the White House's energy agenda: Open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, increase domestic oil production, license new nuclear power plants, build more refineries, and improve clean coal technology. "The change in the Senate leadership doesn't diminish our responsibility," Murkowski, R-Alaska, told the 50 or so reporters who came to his press conference Tuesday in the Capitol. "The fact is that we still have an energy crisis. The fact is we simply can't solely conserve our way out of this crisis. The fact is supply must still meet the demand." When the balance of power in the Senate tips to the Democrats today, the committee chairmanship Murkowski has had for the past six years will go to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat from New Mexico who opposes drilling in ANWR. Bingaman has his own energy bill, which now comes to the forefront. It puts a greater emphasis on conserving energy and on encouraging the development of renewable energy sources. Murkowski said Tuesday that bill won't solve the problem. "What have the Democrats proposed? You don't see anything in increasing production," he said. Bingaman, though, has said that the Democratic bill does provide incentives for the development of coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power. It contains tax credits to spur domestic drilling when the price drops. It also provided a tax incentive for quick construction of a pipeline to bring North Slope gas to the Lower 48. But Bingaman's bill won't open ANWR. Murkowski lamented that he and his allies haven't been able to effectively get the word out on drilling in the refuge, which several polls show a majority of Americans oppose. He had an aide shuffle posterboards on an easel: a map showing that the refuge is as big as South Carolina, a giant photo of three bears walking on a North Slope pipeline, a picture of caribou lounging near an oil rig, a graphic illustration of the latest in drilling technology. "This is what it looks like in the winter. It's harsh," he said, rapidly narrating. "And this is what it looks like in the summer. Because of the technology we have, we can open it safely. We've got direction drilling. The industry now can drill under the Capitol and come out at Gate 8 at Reagan Airport." The reporters, many of whom specialize in energy issues, may have seen his pictures before, the senator acknowledged. Now battered and slightly dented, the boards are a regular feature at Murkowski's press conferences. He and the incoming chairman decided in advance they wouldn't "get bogged down" in the mechanics of the transition, he said. "Our staffs will remain the same, our budget will remain the same, the (office) space is going to be the same," he said. Alaska's other senator, Republican Ted Stevens, had to vacate his ornate suite of offices in the Capitol to make room for the Democrat who will take his place as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. The rooms, with frescos, gilded valances, marbled mantels and paintings of the Revolutionary War, were decorated in the mid- 1800s. Stevens' committee offices moved down the hall. "The neat thing is we're actually in the original part of the Capitol. So we're still in a very historic part," Stevens spokeswoman Jen Siciliano. "Yeah, OK: We have a smaller space." A few of Stevens' committee aides -- fewer than 10, she thought -- have decided to work for the new chairman, which Stevens encouraged, Siciliano said. "This committee does not have some of the problems that, say, other committees have," she said. "Sen. Stevens and Sen. Byrd have always worked hand in hand." Reporter Liz Ruskin can be reached at (202) 383-0007 or lruskin@adn.com Copyright © 2001 The Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com) ***************************************************************** 11 Bingaman To Take Over Energy Committee Wednesday ABQjournal: June 5, 2001 By Sue Major Holmes The Associated Press Sen. Jeff Bingaman, poised to take over the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Tuesday he agrees with the broad outlines of President Bush's energy plan but rejected the idea of opening the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. "I haven't thought that made a lot of sense for the country at this point," Bingaman, D-N.M., said in a telephone news conference with New Mexico reporters. Bingaman is to assume the energy chairmanship Wednesday, when Democrats take control of the Senate after Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords switched from Republican to independent last month. The change means an overhaul of the Republicans' proposed energy bill with less emphasis on production and more on conservation and energy efficiency. Although the same 100 senators remain in Washington, the switch in who's in control "causes a change in focus in the Senate, and I think, a change in focus onto issues of more concern to the American people," Bingaman said. He wants the Senate to dramatically increase money to help low-income families pay electricity and natural gas bills. Democrats have called for $2 billion more this year and $3.4 billion next year for the low-income energy assistance fund. In contrast, the administration last week proposed $150 million more now and $1.4 billion next year. Bingaman also believes the federal government needs to fund more research and development into alternative energy "and technology that will produce alternative energy." And he wants to pass incentives to encourage alternative energy and energy efficiency. The government's role, Bingaman said, is to put incentives in place for people to conserve. State regulators can design energy rates so people conserve, particularly at times of peak demand, while the federal government can provide tax incentives for more efficient homes and vehicles, he said. "There is a whole range of things that can be done through government policy at the state and federal and local level," he said. "I don't see it as mandating, but let people know that if they are going to use their machine at a time when demand is at the peak, they are going to have to pay more to use it." The national laboratories — including Sandia and Los Alamos in New Mexico — at one time did a lot of alternative energy research, Bingaman said. He said he'd like that beefed up again "so we do not become dependent on foreign sources of oil particularly." Such decisions ultimately are made in appropriations, but Bingaman said, "We can influence it and can try to get more and more of the Senate to support adequate levels of funding." Bingaman said, however, the nation also must produce more oil and gas, coal and nuclear energy. "They all need to be looked at and see what opportunities there are for production," he said. Democrats have been viewed as being against increasing Alaskan oil production because they don't support drilling in the wildlife refuge, but Bingaman said there are plenty of other areas of Alaska ripe for drilling. He cited a measure introduced earlier this year by the Democrats that contains provisions to encourage more production in oil and gas, cleaner-burning coal and nuclear energy. Nuclear power accounts for about 20 percent of the nation's energy production today, Bingaman said. "I believe we've demonstrated over many years that nuclear power can be produced safely and it needs to be looked at," he said. And, while he said building more nuclear power plants is a business decision to be made by utilities, "I see no reason why as a matter of national policy we would want to preclude companies from coming forward with nuclear power capabilities." Copyright © 1997 - 2001 Albuquerque Journal: Albuquerque, New Mexico Call the Journal: 505-823-3800 | Place an ad: 505-823-4444 ***************************************************************** 12 Residents say no to nuclear dump Las Vegas SUN: Today: June 06, 2001 at 9:55:19 PDT DOE gathering comments on environmental report on Yucca By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN More than 80 Southern Nevada residents Tuesday urged the Department of Energy to find alternatives to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump. Residents spoke during a 3 1/2-hour hearing of Yucca Mountain becoming a terrorist target. They worried that the radiation will escape into the air and water. They said the stigma of burying nuclear waste there will drive 31 million tourists away. Las Vegas resident Celeste Thomas -- as her 4-year-old son Jace stood and shouted, "That's my mom" -- said studying ways to either reprocess spent nuclear fuel or transmuting the wastes into smaller and less radioactive material should be an option. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site the Department of Energy is studying as a high-level nuclear waste repository. Congress singled out the site for study in 1987. The Energy Department is gathering comments on a supplemental draft environmental impact statement on the proposed repository. It is expected to make its recommendation next year on whether Yucca Mountain can safely hold the waste. "Funding and finding alternatives to burying nuclear waste is a wise plan," Thomas said. "It would eliminate the citizens' concerns on burying nuclear waste for thousands of years." Thomas referred to a proposal by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who plans to introduce a bill that would take the DOE's funding request of $445 million earmarked for Yucca Mountain and transfer the money into research on alternatives such as an advanced accelerator that would change the waste from highly radioactive to less dangerous materials that could be managed for 300 years. The supplemental report weighs an alternative design that would allow the DOE to store 44,000 tons of nuclear waste on top of the mountain and bury it over 50 years, keeping the rock inside the repository cooler. The current plan is to bury more than 70,000 tons of spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors and attempt to keep it from the environment for 10,000 years. For the first time, officials from the city of Las Vegas, Clark County, Nye County and the state protested the complex project and demanded extra time to study thousands of pages of documents before making comments. Las Vegas spokesman Jim Pegus said Mayor Oscar Goodman and the Las Vegas City Council strongly oppose any further activity at Yucca Mountain and found the environmental studies "totally inadequate." The city, the counties and the state asked for 45 more days to respond to the new design information and its impacts. Jane Summerson, in charge of the DOE's environmental impact statement, said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham could decide to extend the comment period beyond the June 25 deadline. The repository drew some support. A retired nuclear engineer from California, William Price, was one of three people who spoke in favor of the repository. "I believe the nuclear industry needs a place to park the materials," he said. Graduating high school senior Christopher Kuchuris said he learned about Yucca Mountain at a DOE-sponsored conference at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "I support the science of Yucca Mountain, but I don't believe the site is ready," he said. Kuchuris said he plans to attend UNLV in the fall and may study medicine. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 13 State budget remains up in air June 6, 2001 By KENNETH A. HARRIS Staff Writer With two legislative days remaining, budget negotiators ended deliberations late Tuesday night without resolving key issues and increasing the risk lawmakers could adjourn without a $5.6 billion spending plan. Key budget writers say the legislators will adopt a budget before the General Assembly adjourns at 5 p.m. Thursday. But passing a spending plan in the waning days of the session requires that the budget bill avoid legislative pitfalls. If legislators feel their adoption of the spending bill is threatened, they can include the budget in laundry list of items to be addressed if the session is extended. Or, Gov. Jim Hodges might be forced to call lawmakers into a special session to ensure the spending plan is adopted before the fiscal year begins July 1. Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington, the panel's lone Democrat, sounded the alarm. "At some point, this committee has got to deal with the dollars," Setzler said. "We are playing with dynamite with what's going on. ... We need an appropriations bill. We need it before 5 o'clock on Thursday afternoon. I don't know how in the world you plan on getting one there by Thursday." Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said he is holding out hope the House-Senate panel can resolve key differences: using the Barnwell low-level nuclear waste cleanup fund to fund colleges and universities and rolling back the sales tax on food. "I'm looking to getting a budget to the body before we leave here Thursday afternoon," Leatherman said. "If we can resolve the sales tax issue, I think the budget will begin to fall into place very fast. That is the issue." ? Copyright 2001 The State-Record Company ***************************************************************** 14 An energy crisis waiting to happen by Don Feder BostonHerald.com by Don Feder Wednesday, June 6, 2001 Energy isn't a complicated issue. But since certain people - Democrats, bureaucrats, enviros - have spent decades avoiding a rendezvous with reality, they require a road map. Presented for their edification is an Idiot's Guide to Energy. If you want more energy, build more power plants and refineries, and drill, drill, drill. For 30 years, we've done the opposite. It hasn't worked. The United States consumes more energy than any other nation. In the next two decades, demand is expected to grow by 25 percent. But we haven't built a major refinery in 25 years. Since 1992, 37 have closed. Those still operating are running at 97 percent capacity. Domestic oil production has declined from 9.6 million barrels a day in 1970 to 5.8 million last year. In the words of the Johnny Mercer song, ``Something's gotta give.'' Price caps work well - if your goal is increased consumption and decreased production. Or as Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham put it, price controls ``make a problem a disaster, and a disaster a catastrophe.'' Since 1996, California's political establishment has artificially held down the cost of electricity by capping consumer prices. (Utilities finally were allowed some increases this spring.) As a result, California ranks dead last among the states in power production per capita. Now Gov. Gray Davis wants caps on what utilities pay for energy - which should be a big incentive to companies that generate power. Why settle for a barge mishap when you can have the Titanic? Conservation won't solve the problem. Consumers can use their air conditioners less in summer and turn thermostats down in winter. But you can't meet the increased energy needs of a population expected to grow by 50 million in the next 20 years by unscrewing light bulbs. As for alternative energy sources (wind, solar, ethanol), by 2020 they will supply a whopping 3 percent of U.S. electricity. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn't environmental rape. It doesn't even constitute an indiscreet glance at Mother Nature. There are at least 11 billion barrels of oil there, the equivalent of 30 years of imports from Saudi Arabia. President George Bush is proposing to use a flyspeck of the refuge's 19 million acres. Since oil operations began in Prudhoe Bay, the area's caribou herds have increased fivefold. As the resource would be developed only during the Arctic winter, the environmental impact would be negligible. Nuclear is a crucial component of our energy mix. Though it has been 20 years since an order was placed for a nuclear power plant, the 103 plants in operation supply 20 percent of our electricity. Without them, in 1999, other forms of power generation would have resulted in carbon dioxide emissions equal to that released by half the nation's cars and light trucks. In 1999, the cost of generating a kilowatt hour was 3.52 cents for a natural-gas fired plant, 3.24 cents for oil, 2.07 cents for coal and 1.83 cents for nuclear. There's a greater chance of Ralph Nader spontaneously combusting than a nuclear reactor experiencing a meltdown. Dependence on foreign imports makes us vulnerable to embargoes and blackmail. U.S. dependence on foreign oil has increased from 36 percent in the 1970s to 56 percent today. The friendly nation of Iraq has been our fastest growing supplier - at 613,000 barrels a day under the oil for food program. On Monday, Saddam Hussein halted all exports in response to a new sanctions plan of the United Nations. If other oil-exporting states, most in volatile regions, decide to start shutting the tap, we'll be up to our necks in something other than crude. Energy shortages lead to lost jobs and economic slowdowns. Small- to medium-size businesses, which employ over half the work force, are particularly vulnerable to increased energy costs. Large corporations, whose work could be done overseas, demand a reliable energy source. Intel says it won't expand operations in California until the state solves its power problems. The Sierra Club may think the move to a smaller America is beautiful. The average worker, consumer and businessman will like it a lot less. Policy-makers and opinion-shapers are urged to meditate on the above, before the unemployment lines begin to form and the lights start to dim. Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Interactive Advertising ***************************************************************** 15 Fermi shows off nuclear power June 6, 2001 The Detroit News. Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News DTE Energy, parent of Detroit Edison, is eager to showcase Fermi 2, which is certified for a second reactor. By James V. Higgins / The Detroit News NEWPORT -- We are walking in a cloud. It's a moist, warm, comfortable cocoon, despite its location inside the landmark 400-foot cooling towers at Detroit Edison's Fermi 2 nuclear reactor. Imagine: Being able to step calmly and directly into what looks from a distance like the noxious byproduct of a nuclear inferno. Emerging back into the sunshine, there was no need to check our personal dosimeters for radiation exposure. The cooling towers emit water vapor, not smoke, that is several steps removed from any form of nuclear fission. Radiation aside (there is none; my dosimeter read zero after a four-hour tour that extended into the bowels of the plant), Fermi 2 puts fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the outboard motor on a Greenpeace Zodiac boat. Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News Fermi 2 puts fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than a boat's outboard motor. Plant regulations are so detailed that they extend to the way floors are mopped. Go nukes? Do you favor building more nuclear power plants to help meet increases in U.S. energy consumption? Yes No Only if no radioactive waste is buried near me In fact, the overall impression from a half-day spent there is of a well-controlled and even benign process, padded by an astonishing array of safeguards and encumbered by federal regulations so detailed that they extend to the way floors are mopped. Fermi 2, to a lay visitor, seems proof against any kind of accident, including earthquakes, terrorist attack and the chance that a Metro-bound jetliner would crash into the main reactor building. But it is vulnerable to politics. That's one reason why DTE Energy, parent of Detroit Edison, is so eager to show it off -- building public support for nuclear power may be increasingly important for the electrical generating industry. California's energy crisis has helped encourage talk of a nuclear revival, with the possibility that new plants might be added to the 103 now in operation nationwide. The last one to come on stream was the Watts Bar plant in Spring City, Tenn., in May of 1996. President Bush's national energy policy, released last month, foresees additional new nuclear generating capacity to help meet an anticipated 30 percent increase in U.S. energy consumption over the next 20 years. Nuclear power currently accounts for about 20 percent of America's electricity output. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the former junior U.S. senator from Michigan, says it would be risky to rely on just one power production source -- which under current circumstances would likely be natural gas fired boilers -- to meet rising demand. But a key hurdle remains for any long-term commitment to expanded nuclear power -- the disposal of highly radioactive spent fuel. Abraham will make a key decision this year that likely will determine the fate of a proposed national storage site, and thus of the nuclear industry. At Yucca Mountain, Nevada, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, scientists are finishing a study of the feasibility and safety of building a radioactive waste site. Sealed canisters of spent reactor fuel would be entombed in tunnels 1,000 feet below the mountain top and 1,000 feet above the water table. Abraham said he expects to receive their final report soon. After a review, he will make a recommendation to Bush, who would have final responsibility. Nevada, vehemently opposed to the waste site, could veto a decision to proceed with the plan, but that could be overridden by a majority vote in Congress. "I'm not trying to prejudge this at all, but if that were to all happen and we were to begin moving ahead towards a scientifically safe repository, then I think that has a very relevant impact on decisions that might be made to add new (nuclear) facilities," Abraham said. The 1,000-acre Fermi 2 site is certified for a second reactor. But don't look for a DTE proposal to build one any time soon. "We won't be the first one out of the box," said William T. O'Connor, vice-president for nuclear generation at Fermi 2. America's electric industry is forming into large regional and national groups, a few of which will become nuclear specialists. One of these, Exelon Corp. in Illinois and Pennsylvania, is investigating new technologies it says can dramatically reduce the cost of nuclear power production. Meanwhile, Fermi 2 appears to have hit its stride after years of spotty performance. It operated at maximum capacity in 1999 and has been running at 99.7 percent of rated output this year, says O'Connor. "Production costs for Fermi are now better than our coal units -- and far better than natural gas," he said. That's the result of years of effort, which become clearly visible when you arrive at the Refuel Floor of the main reactor building, where nuclear fission is taking place about 100 feet under the soles of your shoes. All the spent fuel that Fermi 2 has ever used is clearly visible in its temporary storage under 40 feet of purified water. To arrive at that point, visitors go through a personal background check, several head-to-toe radiation sweeps and security checkpoints, and the direct scrutiny of the federally mandated -- and heavily armed -- private security force. My "buddy" -- tour guide and former reactor operator Mike Trapp whose job was to keep me constantly in sight during the entire visit -- said the plant's 1,000 employees eventually become accustomed to having every move watched by a chain of officialdom extending from Newport to Washington, D.C. "If you don't like someone looking over your shoulder, this is not the place to be," he said. ***************************************************************** 16 Selling of Maine Yankee starts Wednesday, June 6, 2001 By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press Writer Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc PORTLAND — A consulting firm announced Tuesday the first major effort to redevelop the Maine Yankee property since the plug was pulled last year on a gas-fired plant on the site in Wiscasset. The Maine Yankee Development Project is seeking companies that would utilize the 600-acre site of the decommissioned nuclear power plant to create well-paid jobs and add to the tax base. The property is divided into two parts: the Bailey Point area that was home to the plant itself and another wooded area. Pierce Atwood Consulting established a World Wide Web address so prospective businesses can peruse the Maine Yankee site. It has set a deadline of Aug. 31 for proposals or expressions of interest. Maine Yankee had hoped that Stone & Webster, its original decommissioning contractor, would build a gas-fired plant on the site. But the Massachusetts-based engineering firm ultimately decided against it. Since then, there has been no organized effort to market the property that overlooks Sheepscot Bay. Ben Rines Jr., the first selectman in Wiscasset, said the town welcomes any efforts to develop the property. "If we can do something for the tax base and bring jobs to the area, any community would like to see that happen. And we would too," Rines said Tuesday from the Wiscasset town office. Maine Yankee began decommissioning in 1997 and is scheduled to complete the process in 2004. The domed containment building and other structures will be gone when the decommissioning is completed. But the highly radioactive spent fuel rods will remain indefinitely in concrete storage casks. Two of the property's selling points are its waterfront access and its access to the power grid, said Noreen Copp, a consultant at Pierce Atwood. "As piece of property goes, it's certainly developable. It has water and sewer, and rail and waterfront access," Rines said. "It's a mile from the municipal airport." Developers will be judged on their track records, financial backing and business plans, Copp said. Ideally, they would develop projects that would add to the tax base, create good jobs and complement existing industry. Adding to the tax base, in particular, would provide a boost to Wiscasset. Before it closed, the Maine Yankee plant paid $12 million in taxes; last year, it paid just $1.2 million, Rines said. This isn't the first time Maine Yankee has resorted to the World Wide Web. In 1998, a Web site was created to try to find a buyer for the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant. At the time, officials believed it was the first time an entire nuclear plant has been offered for sale. The Web site recorded about 75,000 "hits" but no one came forward to buy the plant. The effort was not deemed a failure, however, since some people did come forward to seek to buy certain components. On the Net: Maine Yankee Development Project: www.MaineYankeeOpportunity.com Copyright © Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Utilities will not unite on 2 plants Journalstar.com: Nebraska Thursday, Jun. 7, 2001 The Associated Press OMAHA - The state's largest public power utilities said Tuesday that start-up costs and other complications will prevent joint operation of their nuclear power plants. Under the proposal, Omaha Public Power District and Nebraska Public Power District would have continued to own their nuclear plants, but a jointly funded operating company would have run the facilities. NPPD operates Cooper Nuclear Station near Nebraska City, the state's largest power plant. OPPD has operated Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station about 15 miles north of Omaha in Washington County for 26 years. In hopes of saving money, the utilities agreed to study the possibility of a joint operation in December. "Although the projected economic benefits were positive, they were just not enough to overcome the start-up costs and the possibility that we could not economically resolve the identified business risks," OPPD President Fred Petersen said. Complications included how best to pay employees who receive different compensation from the two utilities but would be working for both, OPPD spokesman Mike Jones said. Another question arose over whether to have a separate joint-operating company or to somehow loan workers out to such a venture, Jones said. The two utilities would keep open the possibility of jointly operating the nuclear power plants, but could not recommend such a move now to their boards of directors, Petersen said. NPPD serves 1 million wholesale, residential and commercial customers in 91 of the state's 93 counties. OPPD serves a 5,000-square-mile area that includes Omaha, as well as Cass, Otoe, Nemaha, Pawnee and Johnson counties. Copyright © 2001, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. 926 P Street Lincoln NE 68508 402 475-4200 feedback@journalstar.com ***************************************************************** 18 N-plant submits new plan Bangor Daily News Article Jun 7, 2001 The Associated Press WISCASSET — Maine Yankee has submitted a revised license termination plan in which operators of the defunct nuclear power plant explain how they will meet the state’s strict radiological dose standard. The changes were filed with the Nuclear Regulator Commission on Friday to show that Maine Yankee will comply with the state’s standards for radiation levels, which are stricter than levels allowed by the federal government. The Maine standards were set last year by the Legislature. Maine Yankee ultimately abandoned its effort to bury some radioactive debris on the property to meet the Maine guidelines, said spokesman Eric Howes. The NRC requires Maine Yankee to meet a residual radiological dose of 25 millirem per year when the decommissioning is complete. The Maine law requires a residual dose of 10 millirem with no more than 4 millirem from groundwater. “We’ll be cleaning up the site to the Maine standard, which is more stringent than the NRC standards,” Howes said. Maine Yankee began decommissioning in 1997 and is scheduled to complete the process in 2004. To date, more than 28 million pounds of waste have been shipped out-of-state from the site in Wiscasset. ©2001 Bangor Daily News. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 19 Infocast Announces Conference on 'Building New Nuclear Power Plants'Finance Wednesday June 6, 12:10 pm Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Infocast Infocast Announces Conference on 'Building New Nuclear Power Plants' WASHINGTON, June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 1-3, 2001, in Washington, DC, Infocast will bring together key corporate and government executives to discuss building new nuclear electric power generating capacity. As the new Bush Administration energy plan shows, the nation's policy on nuclear generation development has shifted dramatically -- from a virtual moratorium on nuclear plant development to active encouragement of new nuclear capacity. But how much will new nuclear plants cost? How long will it take to get them into service? Can the risks of developing nuclear plants be tolerated in deregulated markets? Where will the staff come from to build and operate the plants? Can the concerns of local groups and environmentalists groups be addressed? ``The energy crisis in California and the administration's announced support of nuclear power has opened the door for building new nuclear plants. This is the first time in one place that the sponsors of the new generation of nuclear plants have been brought together with industry experts to address the issues of building these plants,'' said Dan Keuter, Vice President, Nuclear Business Development with Entergy Nuclear, Inc. The conference will address the changing regulatory environment, the economics of developing nuclear capacity, new reactor technologies, the realities of construction cost and time, and issues involved in dealing with public perceptions of nuclear power. A remarkable group of speakers will include: -- Corbin McNeill, Chairman & Co-CEO, Exelon Corporation -- Barth W. Doroshuk, President & COO, Constellation Nuclear Services, Inc. -- Harry Keiser, President and Chief Nuclear Officer, PSEG Nuclear -- Dan Keuter, Vice President, Nuclear Business Development, Entergy Nuclear, Inc. -- Harold Ray, Executive Vice President, Generation, Southern California Edison -- John Stamos, Associate Director, Nuclear Industry Analysis, Department of Energy -- Jerry N. Wilson, Senior Policy Analyst, Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- Wenonah Hauter, Director, Energy and Environment Program, Public Citizen -- Regis A. Matzie, Senior Vice President, Nuclear Systems, Westinghouse Electric Company -- Thomas A. Christopher, President and CEO, Framatome ANP -- George Edgar, Partner, Morgan Lewis -- Jay E. Silberg, Partner, Shaw Pittman This conference will be a unique opportunity to follow one of the most significant developments in America's energy landscape. For more information visit www.nuclear-gen.com, e-mail amys@infocastinc.com, or call (818) 888-4445 ext. 35. SOURCE: Infocast Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 20 EUROTECH Launches Global Ad Campaign On CNBC Wednesday June 6, 10:29 am Eastern Time Press Release WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2001--EUROTECH, Ltd., (AMEX:EUO - news), focused on Nuclear Waste and Environmental Solutions for the 21st Century, announced today that it has launched its global ad campaign on CNBC Television. As the world's most respected financial source and the leader in business news, people around the globe turn to CNBC for accurate, up-to-the-minute information and analysis every day. And at night, adults turn to us for topical, intelligent talk. Which means, daytime or primetime, CNBC delivers the most valuable audience in television. Viewers of CNBC business programming are at the forefront of today's economic boom with significant purchasing power. According to a 4Q99 Mendelsohn survey of CNBC Business Day viewers, media household net worth exceeds $1 million and median investment value is $849,000. More than half are CEOs, COOs, CFOs, owners or partners. ``The use of EKOR(TM) in storing, containing, transporting, and disposal of radwaste should go a long way to solving the ''not in my backyard`` issue.''-CEO Don Hahnfeldt. EUROTECH'S revolutionary silicon geopolymer technology EKOR(TM) can solve some of the greatest nuclear waste problems on earth. The radiation-resistant EKOR(TM) can maintain its superior encapsulating properties for hundreds of years in the corrosive chemical and radiological environments encountered in the containment and long-term storage of radwaste. At a recent United Nations Conference, Ukrainian Deputy Director of the Chernobyl Shelter Project, Artur Korneev, presented information about EKOR(TM)'s success encapsulating nuclear fuel masses at Chernobyl's failed reactor site, and EKOR(TM)'s potential applications in nuclear waste management worldwide. ``The results are positive after only one year and EKOR(TM) is performing perfectly. EKOR(TM) is the only material the Shelter could use for these applications that is not corroded in the chemical and radioactive environment. Test reports indicate that the EKOR(TM) encapsulated radioactive debris will remain fixed in place for more than 400 years.'' Certain information and statements included in this release constitute ``forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Federal Privates Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Contact: EUROTECH, Ltd. by ECON Investor Relations, Inc. Dawn VanZant, 800/665-0411 ***************************************************************** 21 WNA News Briefing 01.23 | 31 May - 5 June 2001 A weekly summary of international news relevant to uranium and the nuclear energy industry. [NB01.23-1] Japan: Following a request from Governor Ikuo Hirayama of Niigata Prefecture and in the wake of the narrow vote against mixed oxide (MOX) fuel by residents of Kariwa village, Toyko Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has postponed introduction of the MOX fuel to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. TEPCO had planned to install the MOX fuel during its regular inspection of the plant due before July 2001. The next inspection is not due until Summer 2002 and company president Nobuya Minami said that the company will continue to seek the understanding of residents over the safety of the project and implement it with their support in the future. (Platts Nuclear News Flashes, 4 June; Nikkei Weekly, 4 June, p6; see also News Briefing 01.22-5) [NB01.23-2] US: Dominion Resources Inc has applied for the renewal of the operating licences for two nuclear power plants in Virginia. Both North Anna and Surrey plants have two reactors and with the requested 20 year renewal the North Anna units would be able to operate until 2038 and 2040 respectively, whilst the Surrey reactors would be authorised for operation until 2032 and 2033. (Nuclear Market Review, 31 May, p3; see also News Briefing 01.22-16) [NB01.23-3] The Arab League has expressed an interest in forming closer ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in an effort to promote the development of nuclear power in the Arab world. Several Arab countries have expressed an interest in advancing their nuclear power programmes, including Egypt which hosted a conference on small and medium reactors in Cairo 27-31 May 2001. (Nuclear Market Review, 31 May, p3) [NB01.23-4] UK: British NUKEM Nuclear Ltd, a subsidiary of NUKEM Nuclear GmbH, has exchanged contracts with AEA Technology plc to purchase the assets and business of AEA's nuclear engineering activity. NUKEM GmbH is itself a part of Technische Systeme und Services AG (TESSAG) based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The combined UK company, which will trade under NUKEM's name, will be well placed to serve the needs of its customers as the UK government's nuclear liabilities clean up programmes continue to gain momentum. (NUKEM, 4 June) NUKEM Nuclear has also signed a co-operation agreement with the Beijing Institute of Nuclear Engineering (BINE) for radioactive waste treatment and the decommissioning of nuclear installations. (NucNet Business News, 48/01, 30 May; see also News Briefing 01.21-15) [NB01.23-5] Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) plans to select construction companies for three major new nuclear power plant projects in 2002. Orders for Singori-1 and -2 (both 1000 MWe) are scheduled for January, followed by Sinwolsong-1 and -2 (both 1300 MWe) in June and Singori-3 and -4 (both 1000 MWe) in December. All the plants are advanced pressurised water reactors (APWR) and the budget for them is US$12.8 billion. (FreshFUEL, 4 June, p4; see also News Briefing 00.38-7) [NB01.23-6] The Japanese government has decided to stay within the framework of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below their 1990 levels. The new administration said it was important to clarify its position and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also expressed his strong determination to maintain the protocol and the necessity of bringing back the US government to the negotiation table. (Daily Yomiuri Online, 1 June; see also News Briefing 01.15-1) [NB01.23-7] US: A former Department of Energy (DoE) official under Ronald Reagan who drafted a proposal to make Yucca Mountain a nuclear waste disposal site is withdrawing his support. W Kenneth Davis, under secretary for energy 1981-1983, has called for the site to be mothballed. This announcement was made in the same week that Senator Tom Daschle, the incoming Senate majority leader declared the Yucca Mountain issue dead as long as Democrats were in the majority in the Senate. (Associated Press, 30 May and 1 June; see also News Briefing 01.19-16) [NB01.23-8] Czech Republic: The Czech utility CEZ has stated that it expects to complete the majority of its privatisation by the end of 2001. Chief executive Jaroslav Mill also stated that CEZ is looking for a strategic partner to develop the company's production base. (NucNet Business News, 48/01, 30 May; see also News Briefing 01.02-17) This was announced in the same week that E.ON Energie AG said that it ending the contract it currently has with CEZ but declined to give a reason (AFX News, 31 May). CEZ has also launched an investigation into the overflow of coolant from Unit One of the Temelin nuclear power plant, which occurred with no danger to staff or the outside environment on 31 May. The incident occurred during a planned maintenance outage in a part of the containment building. (NucNet News, 184/01, 1 June; see also News Briefing 01.19-10) [NB01.23-9] Panama: The overdose of radiation given to 28 cancer patients has been blamed on human error, according to a report by local authorities and experts from the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA). Five patients died when health officials gave between 20 and 100% more radiation to patients in order to get better results from their cancer treatments. (Guardian Unlimited, 4 June; see also News Briefing 01.22-15) [NB01.23-10] US: Diablo Canyon-2 was reconnected to the Californian grid on 28 May, having completed a successful 29 day refuelling and maintenance outage. Repairs are nearly finished on Southern Californian Edison's (SCE) San Onofre-3 according to SCE and they forecast a return to normal service by end June 2001.(Ux Weekly, 4 June, p3; see also News Briefing 01.08-8) [NB01.23-11] Ukrainian Vice Premier Oleg Dubina has stated that it might benefit the Ukraine more if it borrowed the money to finish only one of the two partially completed VVER-1000 MWe reactors intended to replace capacity following the shutdown of the Chernobyl plant. Dubina said this was because not all the loan conditions laid down by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) were positive for the country. (Nucleonics Week, 31 May, p12; see also News Briefing 00.46-10) [NB01.23-12] A group of Russian experts have returned from a tour of South American countries who had expressed an interest in cooperation with Russia over the latest nuclear technologies. The initiative ties in with President Putin's call for sustainable development, nuclear non proliferation and ecological rehabilitation of the planet. There is the possibility of Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinian and Russian experts working together within a framework of the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) to look at new nuclear technologies, strengthening of non proliferation procedures and a radical solution to the radioactive wastes problem. (Pravda, 4 June) [NB01.23-13] The US nuclear industry will get its first female plant manager following a reorganisation at Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp. Donna Jacobs will take up her new position as soon as the required documentation is completed. (Platts Nuclear News Flashes, 31 May) [NB01.23-14] North Korea is to receive two light water nuclear reactors (1000 MWe each). Charles Cartman of the Korea Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) has reiterated KEDO's intention to build the plants originally planned to start operation in 2003, however a more likely start date for the first of the reactors is now 2008. (ITAR-Tass, 5 June; see also News Briefing 01.13-9) [NB01.23-15] France: Safety authorities from the Institute of Protection and Nuclear Safety (IPSN) say they need more information from Electricitie de France (EDF) before ruling on a 2 May request to reload fuel in Cattenom-3. This follows an unprecedented number of fuel failures in the 1300 MWe reactor's last cycle, whose cause continues to elude experts. (Nucleonics Week, 31 May, p8; see also News Briefing 01.18-9) [NB01.23-16] Japan: Fukui Prefecture Governor, Yukio Kurita, has formally approved safety clearance measures that could lead to a restart of the Monju fast-breeder nuclear reactor. (Kyodo News Online, 5 June; see also News Briefing 00.50-9) [NB01.23-17] Switzerland: Trucks carrying spent fuel from the reactor at Muhleberg have left Switzerland headed for Dunkirk, France, where they will be loaded onto a ship and transported to the British Nuclear Fuels plant at Sellafield, UK. (SpentFUEL, 4 June, p4; see also News Briefing 01.18-13) Meanwhile, three containers of spent fuel have been taken from the European Commission owned Petten research reactor in the Netherlands for transport to and storage in the US as part of a special one off operation. The fuel originated in the US and will be stored there whilst the storage facility for highly radioactive waste at the Central Organisation for Radioactive Waste (COVRA) is constructed. (NucNet News, 183/01, 31 May; see also News Briefing 00.37-11) [NB01.23-18] The last active uranium mine in France, at Jouac, and owned by Cogema produced its final ore on 31 May. Milling operations are set to continue for a short time bringing the expected total production for 2001 to 180 tU (470 000 pounds U3O8).(Ux Weekly, 4 June, p3) [NB01.23-19] Australia: The application for a licence to construct a replacement nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights, Sydney, is to go forward for final assessment. Australia Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) have stated that the application by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) will finally be assessed in February 2002. (Melbourne Age Online, 4 June; see also News Briefing 00.29-17) [NB01.23-20] Italy: The Camozzi group is to buy the nuclear components producer Ansaldo CSM and through this become the main supplier of replacement steam generators for the US nuclear power plant Palo Verde. (NucNet Business News, 49/01, 1 June) Previous News Briefing NB01.22 ***************************************************************** 22 Nuclear fears as energy crisis bites Wednesday, 6 June, 2001, 13:44 GMT 14:44 UK Keeping the energy flowing requires drastic solutions Brazil's electricity crisis has sparked a fierce debate over the country's energy needs, with some commentators fearing a major expansion of nuclear power could result from the current shortages. Comparisons with the California energy crisis abound in the media, and Washington's plan to construct numerous nuclear plants have sent shivers down the spines of Brazilian environmentalists. Brazil's handful of nuclear plants have operated fitfully since going on stream, providing insignificant quantities of energy. But environmentalist Ana Valeria Araujo, writing in the Jornal do Comercio, fears the Bush administration's plans could prove attractive to the South American region's economic powerhouse. Germany's nuclear shutdown begins in 2002, which we hope will not coincide with the reactivation of the Brazilian nuclear programme Environmentalist Ana Valeria Araujo in Jornal do Comercio 'Nuclear dream' Ms Araujo warns against "the resurrection of the Brazilian nuclear dream", noting the imminent arrival of the president of Siemens, the German company supplying the Brazilian nuclear programme. "Ironically, in Germany, it is planned to phase out the country's 19 nuclear reactors by 2021. Germany's nuclear shutdown begins in 2002, which we hope will not coincide with the reactivation of the Brazilian nuclear programme." She also warns against plans to exploit the Amazon river, "viewed as a great source of energy generation, transmission and distribution" at the expense of the local indians, who she says have suffered "grave consequences" from similar schemes. Russia has also sought to promote nuclear technology in Brazil. Russian news agency Itar-Tass said a team of experts had recently visited Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, and "the Latin American partners showed increased interest in new atomic energy technologies and using them to increase energy resources". We're sitting on a huge reservoir of energy. It can be activated by our neurons. It's name is conservation and the Brazilian people Fernando Gabeira in Jornal do Brasil "Russia is ready to share its knowledge of fast reactors... for the sustainable development of humankind," officials from Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry were quoted as saying. Common sense Writing in the Jornal do Brasil, Fernando Gabeira argues that a formidable source of energy is there for the taking - common sense. "We're sitting on a huge reservoir of energy. It can be activated by our neurons. It's name is conservation and the Brazilian people... What is the secret of this miracle? Control consumption, switching off lights and disconnecting appliances when not in use. Initiate a policy of national conservation." Mr Gabeira says high-energy products like air-conditioning units should be updated with the latest components to make them more efficient. "Money saved from not building power stations can be used to finance providing homes with solar energy." Also writing in Jornal do Brasil, microbiology professor Paulo de Goes argues that the water shortages affecting the south, severely hitting electricity generation, have been caused by deforestation. There will be no significant reforestation if we leave it up to the free market. We cannot make political action simply dependent on economic calculations as all human activity is now dependent on electric power Professor Paulo de Goes in Jornal do Brasil Professor de Goes calls for the government to provide the impetus for a major reforestation programme to keep the soil moist and the rivers flowing. Private initiative "There will be no significant reforestation if we leave it up to the free market. We cannot make political action simply dependent on economic calculations as all human activity is now dependent on electric power." An editorial in the influential O Estado de Sao Paulo proposes as the answer to the energy crisis the growth of a system of "co-generation", whereby companies provide their own generators fuelled by natural gas, diesel, oil, and biomass such as sugar-cane residue. It says a wide variety of enterprises could use the system, taking the pressure off the national grid. "These are essentially private initiatives. But they must not be stymied by the government as the energy crisis is likely to be drawn out and no initiative designed to minimize it should be underestimated." BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. Search BBC News Online ***************************************************************** 23 Hanford officials not waiting for Yucca outcome Las Vegas SUN Today: June 06, 2001 at 9:09:22 PDT By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN Instead of waiting for a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain to open, the Energy Department has constructed three huge underground vaults at Hanford, Wash., to hold its plutonium-laced reactor fuel and radioactive liquid wastes. Workers in December started moving wastes, accumulated after years of building nuclear weapons, from storage pools to underground vaults that are expected to keep the wastes safe in dry casks for up to 50 years, officials said. It's part of a larger plan to prevent contamination of the Columbia River from the former nuclear weapons plant. Already 1 million gallons of radioactive water have seeped into the ground under Hanford. Scientists are monitoring the water's movement. The dry casks won't replace the need for a permanent repository for the waste, Hanford officials said. It just buys them time to safely move the material in solid form. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of the Las Vegas, is the only site being studied for such a repository. If it is found scientifically sound, it would hold 70,000 tons of spent fuel from nuclear power plants and 7,000 tons of defense waste. The earliest it would open is 2010. However, the repository proposal could be stalled after the shift to Democratic control of the Senate. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who became majority leader Tuesday night, predicted last week that Yucca Mountain will not be approved. "I think the Yucca Mountain issue is dead," Daschle said last week. "As long as we're in the majority, it's dead." The DOE is expected to recommend next year to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham whether Yucca Mountain should become a repository. Starting in 2007 Hanford workers will turn 53 million gallons of liquid waste -- a byproduct of reactors that processed plutonium -- into 40,000 tons of solid glass logs through a process called vitrification. The liquid is mixed with chemicals including silica and sand, then heated to create glass. The transformation is expected to be finished by 2028, after which DOE officials hope to send the glass logs to a permanent repository. "The waste could stay in the storage building for decades," John Briton, spokesman for Bechtel National Inc., the DOE contractor building the processing facility. "The DOE has to wait its turn until the commercial spent fuel is moved into a repository. It will take a long time before DOE waste will start arriving at Yucca Mountain." Meanwhile, 2,300 tons of spent reactor fuel is already being moved to dry cask storage at Hanford from a 1 million-gallon pool of water, the DOE's Michael Talbot of Richland, Wash., said. Since December, 10 shipments of the spent fuel have been put into the vaults, stored in steel tubes up to 75 feet long and 3 feet wide, surrounded by concrete with air circulating from underneath. It will take an estimated 40 years and $40 billion paid by taxpayers to clean up Hanford's tanks, DOE spokesman Erik Olds said. He is a spokesman for the DOE's Office of River Protection, which oversees the Hanford tanks that hold the liquid waste. The latest estimate by DOE officials for building and operating Yucca Mountain is $56 billion. The government processed plutonium in nine reactors at Hanford for building the United States atomic weapons arsenal. The liquid wastes were stored in 177 tanks from the 1950s until the DOE started moving the waste into newer tanks in 1998. About 1 million gallons of waste leaked into the soil from 67 older, single-walled tanks. Scientists have confirmed that the contaminated water is flowing toward the Columbia River, Olds said, which is why the DOE began in 1998 to move the waste into safer double-walled tanks. Ironically, Hanford was also once considered as a possible site for a national nuclear waste repository. In 1987 Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to narrow studies for a repository to Yucca Mountain. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 24 Russia Nuclear Waste Bill Advances Las Vegas SUN: June 06, 2001 at 15:00:36 PDT MOSCOW- In a landmark vote that critics say will turn Russia into the planet's nuclear dump, Russian lawmakers defied broad public opposition and on Wednesday passed a law allowing nuclear waste to be imported and stored indefinitely. Proponents say the measure will create jobs and bring in billions of dollars to needy government coffers. They vow to use some of the riches to clean up radioactive swathes of the world's largest country that have been scarred by decades of Soviet nuclear development. Opponents question whether the money will be really used as promised, and whether Russia is equipped to safely handle the expected quantities of spent foreign nuclear fuel. Russia's safety record is spotty at its underfunded nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons facilities. Corruption among officials is rife. And some prominent scientists say the cost of building or upgrading waste reprocessing facilities would outstrip potential profits. "Our citizens are against turning Russia into an outhouse," Sergei Mitrokhin of the liberal Yabloko faction said during Wednesday's debate in the lower house of parliament, or State Duma. Nonetheless, the 450-member house approved the three-bill package after a 20-minute debate on votes of 266-117, 243-125, and 250-125. For passage, 226 votes were needed on each bill. The measure must pass the upper house, the Federation Council, and be signed by President Vladimir Putin in order to become law. Federation Council speaker Yegor Stroyev said the bill would likely pass the upper house, but only after some "corrections," ITAR-Tass reported. "First, it is necessary to create guarantees that this decision will not cause any trouble for future generations," he said, without elaborating. Putin did not comment publicly on the bill Wednesday, but its relatively smooth passage in the Duma suggested it had backing from the Kremlin. While opinion polls show most Russians oppose the idea, there is little sign that the issue will prompt mass public protest in a country where most people are more worried about pocketbooks than ecological woes. The Atomic Energy Ministry claims it could earn up to $20 billion by importing 22,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel over 10 years. "I am voting for this bill because I don't want places in my country remaining dead zones, contaminated by radiation," said Deputy Yegor Ligachev, a Communist and a former member of the Soviet Union's ruling Politburo. Even if there is money to spare for the cleanup, the task is overwhelming. Russian towns, rivers and permafrost were exposed to radioactive pollution during the secretive development of the Soviet nuclear industry, and environmentalists say they remain dangerously polluted. Dmitry Ayatskov, a Federation Council member and governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, home of a huge nuclear research center, said he would oppose the bill. "We have our own waste to deal with. I have firsthand knowledge of nuclear safety problems," he said. The environmental group Greenpeace, which has campaigned intensively against the bill, urged President Bush to veto shipments of spent nuclear fuel to Russia. The group said 92.5 percent of the radioactive waste produced by Russia's potential client nations is under U.S. control. The United States has built reactors for and exported fuel to countries around the world under deals requiring U.S. approval for any transfer of spent nuclear fuel. "U.S. permission for the export of spent nuclear fuel to Russia would be a clear contradiction of the most fundamental U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy," Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Tobias Muenchmeyer said. Without U.S. approval, Muenchmeyer said, potential waste exporters would be China, Eastern Europe and former Soviet states that have Soviet-built nuclear plants. But Russia already accepts spent fuel rods from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary under Soviet-era contracts, and they pay far less than Western nations could. Norway has expressed concern that the waste could be transported by ship near its Arctic coast. Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Gry Haaheim said Wednesday that Norway plans to work actively to get other countries not to send waste. ***************************************************************** 25 Russia to import nuclear waste BBC News | EUROPE | Wednesday, 6 June, 2001, 11:19 GMT 12:19 UK Protesters' banners warned against the nuclear bill Russia will import, store and reprocess other countries' nuclear waste, following the approval of the third and final reading of a controversial bill by the Russian lower house of parliament. One hundred million Russian citizens are against it and only 500 people are for Grigory Yavlinsky Once passed by the upper house and signed by the president, the bill will earn Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry up to $20bn over a 10-year period. The ministry has promised to use part of the money to clean up Russian regions polluted by radioactive waste from the Soviet-era nuclear programme. But environmentalists and other opponents previous pledges to clean up nuclear contamination have gone unfulfilled. European concern Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko party and one of the main opponents of the bill, told the chamber: "One hundred million Russian citizens are against it and only 500 people are for - 300 members sitting here and 200 bureaucrats who will be getting the money." Last month the EU Environment Commissioner Margot Walstrom told Russian officials that European countries were concerned about Russian safety levels for the processing and transportation of nuclear waste. She said the processing centre in the Ural mountains where it is planned to treat the waste did not meet European safety norms. 'Valuable' material The deputy chairman of the 450-member State Duma, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, defended the bill, explaining that what the government has called waste, is actually a valuable resource. We have to take a careful look at all the consequences, think about guaranteeing security, and only then make our decision Yegor Stroyev, upper house speaker "Waste is something found at a dump. It stinks and crawls with microbes and beetles. This, on the other hand, is a very valuable raw material for the production of plutonium and uranium, all of which may be used to heat and light the country," Mr Zhirinovsky told Russia TV. The bill passed by 243 to 125, with seven deputies abstaining, in a vote that took only 20 minutes. But the speaker of Russia's upper chamber of parliament, Yegor Stroyev, warned that the Federation Council may have serious concerns about the bill. Security "We will take our time with this decision," he said "First, we have to take a careful look at all the consequences, think about guaranteeing security, and only then make our decision." The bill amends existing legislation to allow Russia to import and store on a "temporary" basis nuclear waste and byproducts from abroad. It does not specify time limits. Russian towns, rivers and large tracts of land were exposed to radioactive pollution during the secretive development of the Soviet nuclear industry, and environmentalists say they remain dangerously polluted. Scientist Alexei Yablokov, a former presidential adviser, has said opinion polls show 90% of voters are against the bill. Search BBC News ***************************************************************** 26 State Duma Adopts Package Of Bills Okayeing Import Of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel To Russia Pravda.RU ¹Jun, 06 2001 On Wednesday, the State Duma (or the lower chamber of Russia's parliament) has adopted in the third, and final reading a package of bills allowing the import for processing in Russia of fuel elements of nuclear reactors containing irradiated nuclear fuel. The package has been adopted despite the attempts to wreck its discussion. The liberal party Yabloko proposed postponing consideration of the bills by half a year, to discuss them in January-February of next year. Yabloko's Sergei Mitrokhin used such strong words that Gennadi Seleznev, who chaired the session, invited him to "use parliamentary expressions". In accordance with the adopted bills, the government fixes the import procedure, proceeding from the basic principles of nuclear non-proliferation, environmental protection, and Russia's economic interests. The Duma has also adopted in the third reading a bill under which the import to Russia and export from it of irradiated fuel elements of nuclear reactors shall be done on the basis of civil law treaties, including on terms of leasing. In addition, the lawmakers have adopted in the third reading a bill regulating the use of hard-currency revenues from certain foreign trade operations with irradiated nuclear fuel. In line with this draft law, financing of socio-environmental programmes shall be done with hard-currency revenues from foreign trade operations with irradiated fuel elements of nuclear reactors, which come to a special account of the goal-oriented budget fund of the Russian Ministry of Nuclear Energy. The amount of funds coming to this fund and its expenditure are set by the federal budget law for corresponding years and is monitored by the Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation. Limits for annually imported irradiated fuel elements of nuclear reactors shall be set by the federal government following consultations with constituent members of the Russian Federation on whose territory processing and storing companies are based. Twenty-five percent of the hard-currency proceeds will be transferred to the coffers of the Federation member states having such companies. All the three bills have already been submitted for consideration to the Federation Council (the upper chamber of Russia's parliament). RIA 'Novosti' The Web-site of the Russian Federation administrative bodies The official site of the Russian Government ***************************************************************** 27 GREENPEACE CALLS ON PRESIDENT BUSH TO VETO EXPORTS OF US CONTROLLED NUCLEAR WASTE TO RUSSIA 6 June 2001 Moscow - Greenpeace today called on President Bush to veto any shipments to Russia of spent nuclear fuel originating from the US, following today's vote in the Russian parliament to overturn a ban on the import of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Recent calculations based on data provided by the US Department of Energy (DOE) show that more than 90% of foreign radioactive waste (spent nuclear fuel) considered for import by Russia's Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) is under US control. Only 180t (or 7.5%) of the 2,400 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel produced annually by Minatom's claimed potential client countries, could be exported to Russia without US approval. This material is produced in China, Eastern European countries and at some reactors in Switzerland, which are not of US design. "US permission for the export of spent nuclear fuel to Russia would be a clear contradiction of the most fundamental US nuclear non-proliferation policy", said Tobias Muenchmeyer of Greenpeace International. "Reprocessing of imported spent nuclear fuel, as envisaged by Minatom, would clearly undermine all US efforts to discourage the accumulation of plutonium and the proliferation of nuclear weapons." "Without US support, the whole grandiose Minatom program shrinks down to the simple old Soviet practice of taking back spent fuel from the socialist brother countries." said Muenchmeyer. The Russian Duma today finally approved a controversial amendment to the environmental bill allowing the import of radioactive waste to Russia. With 243 votes in favor of the amendment, the supporters of spent fuel imports got only slightly more than the minimal required 226 votes. The Duma vote ignored popular opposition to the proposal with more than 2.5 million Russians signing a petition, sponsored by Greenpeace and other environmental groups, calling for a national referendum on the issue. However, on 2 November, last year, Russia's Central Election Committee declared 600,000 signatures invalid, taking the number below the 2 million threshold required to trigger a referendum. Also an opinion poll, conducted for Greenpeace in May, this year, by independent Russian public research center ROMIR, found that 78.9 per cent of Russians were opposed to the import of radioactive waste and would not vote for Duma members who supported this legislation. The law changes, approved by the Duma today, must now go to the Russian Upper House. The leader of Russia's Upper House is opposed to the radioactive waste import legislation. Federation Council Chairman Yegor Stroyev told the Interfax news agency on 7 March this year: "Only the mafia could be interested in laws that actually open the way to imports of nuclear wastes and turn Russia into a nuclear dump. The idea of importing nuclear wastes to Russia is insane." The permission for importing radioactive waste, being promoted by the cash-strapped Minatom, is designed to allow Russia to become the world's nuclear waste dump. Minatom believes that over the next decade it could import up to 20,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from countries including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Spain in contracts worth up to $21 billion. The main promoter of the radioactive waste import scheme, former Atomic Minister Evgeny Adamov, was sacked by the Russian President Vladimir Putin on 28 March. The dismissal of Adamov followed the release by Greenpeace, on 3 March, of a confidential report from the Russian Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Commission detailing Adamov's large-scale illegal business activities. The proposed sites for Spent Nuclear Fuel storage are Mayak in the Ural mountains and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. Mayak is the world's largest nuclear complex and one of the most radioactively contaminated sites in the world. According to a 1998 statement by G.J. Dicus, a commissioner for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission: "As a result of early operational practices and some accidents at Mayak, workers at the plant and populations around the site were exposed to unusually large amounts of radiation and radioactive materials. In many cases, the doses were comparable to those received by survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings." Tobias Muenchmeyer, Greenpeace's expert on Russian nuclear issues, was declared persona non grata by the Russian Foreign Ministry in December 1999 and has been banned from entering Russia ever since. No reason has been given why Muenchmeyer is not allowed to enter Russia anymore, except that it "is in the interest of state security" to deny him a visa. Greenpeace is campaigning to overturn this undemocratic decision which strikes at the heart of free speech. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Tobias Muenchmeyer (Berlin) +49 170 86 66 052 Ivan Blokov (Moscow) +7 095 257 41 22 Or visit the Greenpeace website at www.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/waste/russianwaste.html where a chronology of events leading up to today's Duma vote is available. PHOTOS AND VIDEO are available of the victims of radioactive pollution from the Mayak nuclear facility. Contact Greenpeace Communications Mim Lowe (video) or John Novis (photo) on ++31-20-5236222 ***************************************************************** 28 EPA sets standards for repository Wednesday, June 06, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Correction on 06/07/01 -- Because of incorrect information supplied the Donrey Washington Bureau, a story in Wednesday¹s Review-Journal contained an inaccurate number describing water volume in an EPA radiation regulation. The correct amount is 1,285 acre feet. By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Final health and safety standards unveiled Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency nearly match Yucca Mountain radiation exposure standards set under President Clinton and add protections for groundwater flowing from the site. EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman notified Nevada lawmakers Tuesday evening of the standards for the proposed nuclear waste repository. "As a nation, we must address our nuclear waste disposal problem, but we must do so in a way that protects public health and the environment," Whitman said. Government officials hope the standards are tough enough to satisfy residents who oppose the repository but not so tough as to block the project, which the Energy Department hopes to have opened by 2010. The limits will echo those proposed by the EPA in January in the final days of the Clinton administration: a 15 millirem annual limit for radiation that would be emitted from the waste repository, plus a 4 millirem per year standard for radiation measured in groundwater that is tapped to feed crops and dairy cattle. A chest X-ray exposes a person to about 5 millirems of radiation. Yucca Mountain project officials have said a person living in the United States receives an average annual dose of 360 millirems from naturally occurring radiation and fallout remaining from past nuclear weapons tests. When she proposed the 15 millirem standard in January, former EPA administrator Carol Browner declared it "at the upper bound of what EPA considers to be an acceptable risk" for radiation exposure and consistent with risk recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. Exposure at that level "corresponds to a lifetime risk of approximately 3 chances in 10,000 of contracting fatal cancer," she said. The 4 millirem radiation standard for groundwater is consistent with regulations developed under the Safe Drinking Water Act, she said. Changes in the radiation formulas are expected. One would allow radiation in groundwater to be calculated using a larger volume of water, 3,000 acre feet compared with 12.85 acre feet in earlier drafts. An EPA official said that increasing the volume of the sample would have the effect of diluting the contaminant, which might make meeting the standard easier. Another change would tighten a buffer around Yucca Mountain from 12 miles to 11 miles, which would mean the Energy Department would have to meet the radiation standards closer to the repository. The health and safety standards are among the final components in determining whether Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, can safely contain radiation expected to escape from a nuclear waste repository. The Energy Department will incorporate the figures into its calculations on whether the site can entomb nuclear waste safely for at least 10,000 years. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Tuesday that the department can meet the radiation standards. If so, he is expected to recommend later this year that nuclear waste be buried at the site. Yucca Mountain is the only site under government study for the disposal of up to 77,000 tons of radioactive spent fuel rods. Nevada lawmakers were cautious in their reaction. "It will take us some time to fully understand what has been proposed and to fully understand its impact on Yucca Mountain," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said through spokesman Nathan Naylor. Reid "is glad the administration sees how important it is for the EPA to finalize the standards, and hopefully it will give the Nevada congressional delegation a fighting chance to keep the waste dump out of Nevada," Naylor said. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said Vice President Dick Cheney promised during last year's presidential campaign that the EPA would be allowed to set the standard. "Again, another promise they made and will be keeping," he said in a statement. Traci Scott, spokeswoman for Sen John Ensign, R-Nev., said, "The Bush administration basically kept their promise to let the EPA set the separate groundwater standard. It's not everything we wanted, but it's pretty good." The Washington Post contributed to this report. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Jun-06-Wed-2001/news/16260610.html ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 HK to Check Claims of Nuclear Tests on Babies Wednesday June 6 12:30 AM ET HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong said on Wednesday it will investigate British newspaper reports that dead babies were sent to the United States and Britain for nuclear experiments between the 1950s and 1970s. ``We will look into the claims,'' a government spokeswoman told Reuters. ``These claims date back to half a century ago and we'll need to make checks within the government.'' The government has not yet decided whether to make inquiries with Washington and London, she said. British newspapers reported this week that about 6,000 stillborn babies and dead infants were sent from hospitals in Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, the United States and South America over a 15-year span without the permission of parents. The reports said the bodies and some body parts were apparently used by the U.S. Department of Energy (news - web sites) for tests to monitor radioactivity levels of the element Strontium 90 in humans. ``Project Sunshine'' began in 1995 when University of Chicago doctor Willard Libby, who was later awarded a Nobel prize for his research into carbon dating, appealed for bodies, preferably stillborn or newly-born babies, to test the impact of atomic bomb fallout. Britain's Observer newspaper said British scientists also conducted tests on babies from Hong Kong and the research ended only in the 1970s. Hong Kong was a British colony for over 150 years before being handed back to China in mid-1997. Spokesmen for the British and U.S. consulates in Hong Kong were not immediately available for comment. Australia launched an investigation on Tuesday into the reports. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 DOE work benefits state's economy The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- 06/06/01 June 6, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The Department of Energy's activities in Oak Ridge during fiscal year 2000 provided a major source of economic benefits for the state of Tennessee and its residents through the creation of jobs and income and expansions in state and local tax bases, a report indicates. In fact, the document states DOE spending supported 33,517 full-time jobs in the state for 2000, meaning that for every one DOE job, 2.2 additional jobs were supported in other sectors of the state economy. The report was conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee. The center began conducting in-depth analyses of the economic impact of DOE payroll and non-payroll spending in 1998. Some other highlights of the report include: DOE's local work year led to an increase of nearly $1.8 billion in Tennessee's gross state product in 2000. Total personal income generated in the state by DOE-related activities was nearly $1.2 billion in 2000. Each dollar of income directly paid by DOE in the state translates into a total of $1.87 in personal income for Tennessee residents. DOE-related spending generated $56.6 million in state and local sales tax revenue in Tennessee in 2000. Looking to the future, the report states the Spallation Neutron Source project is projected to create up to 1,500 primary and secondary jobs in the region during the construction phase. Another 1,700 primary and secondary jobs are expected to be generated during the facility's operation. The complete report is available on the Internet at www.oakridge.doe.gov/economicAdvertising Information All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 3 Y-12 continues to focus on safety The Oak Ridger Online 06/06/01 June 6, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Safety is important, says John Mitchell. It's one of the biggest challenges BWXT Y-12 has faced since assuming control of the Y-12 National Security Complex in November. Some of the others are modernization and resuming operations involving enriched uranium. "Our job is to move Y-12 from where it was to where it needs to be," Mitchell said Tuesday morning. With that, the president and general manager of BWXT Y-12 shared his thoughts on the company's challenges and what the future holds for Y-12. As far as safety is concerned, it's a subject that Mitchell has talked heavily about in past interviews and meetings. It's an issue he wants enforced continuously. BWXT Y-12 has taken a lot of actions to emphasize the importance of safety, including posting signs at the plant and implementing the usage of a "stop work" card. The card allows workers to halt work they believe is unsafe until it can be investigated. Mitchell points out that employees who report "safety concerns" are even being recognized in the Y-12 newsletter, BWX TYmes. One recent situation involved a plant employee who was almost involved in a wreck near the Y-12 garage. He reported the need for a stop sign in the area and a temporary one went up soon afterward. Another way BWXT Y-12 is trying to improve on safety is by expanding on the "types" of people who inspect situations. "You want professionals looking at things, but you also want new eyes," Mitchell said. For example, Mitchell said someone in the procurement department, after receiving a briefing, might be asked to look over something related to manufacturing. This new "set of eyes" should generate a lot of questions pertaining to why things are done a certain way, he said. Another matter of importance at Y-12 is modernization, or replacing the aging structures at the facility, which remanufactures parts for nuclear warheads. A draft version of the plan to upgrade Y-12 was released last year. The document calls for the construction of two new facilities: a storage area for highly enriched uranium and a special materials complex. Mitchell said there a lot of things in the modernization plan that make sense, but added that some parts of the plan need to be worked on. That could mean changes in how contracts will be awarded and possibly shifts in timetables. Though the new buildings can't and won't go up overnight, Mitchell said BWXT Y-12 officials have been taking care of some of the "little stuff." When the company first came aboard, he said, they heard comments like "the grass wasn't cut" and "things don't look clean." "There's a lot of easy stuff we can do," he said, adding that a lot of those initial complaints have been remedied. One recent bright spot for BWXT Y-12 was getting the authorization to resume two operations involving enriched uranium. The activities include "reduction" and "pour-up" operations that are important to production at the plant, but haven't been done since 1994. The reduction operations will convert uranium tetrafluoride powder (green salt) to uranium buttons, according to information provided by BWXT Y-12 officials. The pour-up operations will be used to transfer uranium solutions to containers for a process that extracts the uranium. The resumed operations are part of Y-12's phased plan to fully restart manufacturing operations by next year. A not-so-bright spot in Y-12's impending future centers around "involuntary reductions" in the facility's workforce. Mitchell has cited an internal reorganization as one of the reasons for the possible workforce reduction, which could affect as many as 200 people in jobs not directly related to what Y-12 produces. On Tuesday, Mitchell said no action had been taken yet on the workforce reductions, which were announced two weeks ago.Advertising Information All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 4 North Korea cool on nuclear deal with America Radio Australia News - 6/06/01: North Korea is warning that a landmark accord with the United States to freeze its suspected nuclear arms program is close to collapse. The official news agency threatened the nuclear program could be revived after a seven-year-old suspension because of delays in building replacement reactors. Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, the United States agreed to build two light water nuclear reactors that produce less weapons-grade plutonium than the North's older graphite reactors. In return, the North froze its reactor development which US officials feared could have led it to acquire nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, South Korea's President Kim Dae Jung reiterated his call on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to keep his promise to visit Seoul to help end decades of tension on the Korean Peninsula. He noted that Pyongyang has repeatedly said that it will honor the South-North joint declaration issued after a historic inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang last June, which specifically mentioned the North Korean leader's visit to the South. (21:22:52 AEST) This service includes material from Pacnews, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. © 2001 ABC | Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 5 Forum for radiation illness compensation June 06, 2001 3:11 AM MST FROM STAFF REPORTS Energy Department and Labor Department officials will host two public meetings June 19 to discuss a compensation program for workers made ill by their work at Energy Department labs and production facilities. The meetings, at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., are planned at the Oakland Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway in Oakland. Call (510) 451-4000 or (800) 228-9290 for directions. Last year, then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson launched an initiative to aid ailing retired or current department workers who were exposed to harmful levels of radiation, beryllium or other dangerous substances while on the job. Federal officials will present information about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Program and allow the public to ask questions about the program and the claims process. Approved as an act of Congress in October 2000, the program offers lump-sum compensation to employees who are seriously ill because of exposure to job-related radiation, beryllium or silica. The law provides compensation for family members of former workers who died from health problems related to their jobs and subcontractors who were exposed to harmful levels of toxins while performing Energy Department work. The Labor Department has a toll-free phone number for people with questions about the program: (866) 888-3322. The Energy Department Office of Worker Advocacy also maintains a toll-free hot line: (877) 447-9756. For online program information, visit http://tis.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/index.htm ©1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 6 Nev. Boy Dies of Cancer; 13 Kids Ill Las Vegas SUN: June 05, 2001 ORANGE, Calif. (AP) - Richard Jernee cradled his son's head in his hands, whispering in his ear: "I love you. Everybody loves you." He said it over and over after doctors stopped the machine that was breathing for 10-year-old Adam Jernee. He said it until Adam died. Adam became the first victim to die in a mysterious childhood-cancer cluster in Nevada. Fourteen children have been diagnosed with cancer - all but one with acute lymphocytic leukemia - since 1997 in Churchill County, with 25,000 residents. Health officials have said acute lymphocytic leukemia normally occurs in about three out of every 100,000 children. The cases are centered in and around Fallon, a Navy and farming community of 8,300 about 60 miles east of Reno. "The focus now should be on these other children. It should be on what's causing it. That should be Adam's legacy. Not this. Not death," Adam's father said Monday, a day after the boy died at a Southern California hospital. State and federal health officials have investigated a variety of conceivable causes in recent months, including the possibility that the cluster is simply a chance occurrence. They stepped up their investigation after Jernee took his son's story public several months ago. The state has mapped the homes of the leukemia victims but found no clues. Investigators have begun inspecting the pipeline carrying fuel through the city to the Fallon Naval Air Station. Base officials have denied any link between jet fuel and the leukemia cases. Some families have turned their attention to the water, where arsenic levels are higher than the federal standard. The city has been ordered to clean it up. Arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical that in high concentrations is poisonous. But it has never been linked to leukemia. Still others believe government testing of nuclear weapons near Fallon in the 1950s may play a role. Radiation is a risk factor for leukemia, but tests for radioactive substances in the area proved negative. "There's something there. There's something they're missing," Jernee said. In recent days, Nevada's governor and members of the Legislature have pledged continued support to find the source of the cancer cluster. When Jernee moved to Fallon in 1999, he said, it seemed like a good place to raise a family - little crime, good schools. As a newly divorced father, he spent time with his son exploring parks, riding bikes and cooking. "I look back at it now and it was the happiest time in my life, in our lives," said Jernee, 33. But by early 2000, Adam was fighting flu-like symptoms and coughing a lot. He began to have problems breathing. Jernee took his son to the hospital several times before someone told him it might be a little more serious. Then came the telephone call: A fist-size tumor in the lung. The survival rate of this type of childhood leukemia is 80 percent. And at first, chemotherapy reduced the tumor. It was around then that Jernee ran into the mother of another victim and learned of a cancer cluster in Fallon. He attended a support meeting and began to talk to doctors. But then Adam's cancer started to grow again. In the months that followed, Adam underwent another course of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and radiation. As his son's prognosis worsened, Jernee moved Adam to Southern California to be closer to his mother. In April, Adam underwent a second bone marrow transplant, a last effort to save the boy. Weeks later he slipped into a coma and then died. "Even in the end, I hoped for a miracle," Jernee said. "I love Adam so much I didn't want him to suffer. But I didn't want to let him go either." Jernee, who quit his job as a construction worker and has used up his savings to be near Adam, plans to return to Fallon this week to attend his son's memorial service and to pressure officials for more action. "I'm going to do this for Adam. I can't do anything else until I find out why my son isn't by my side," Jernee said. "He'd want that, you know. He'd want to know why this happened to him." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 7 Father presses to learn what caused son’s deadly cancer RGJ.com - By Chelsea J. Carter ASSOCIATED PRESS Wednesday June 6th, 2001 ORANGE, Calif. — Richard Jernee cradled his son’s head in his hands, whispering in his ear: “I love you. Everybody loves you.” He said it over and over after doctors stopped the machine that was breathing for 10-year-old Adam Jernee. He said it until Adam died. Adam became the first victim to die in a mysterious childhood-cancer cluster in Nevada. Fourteen children have been diagnosed with cancer — all but one with acute lymphocytic leukemia — since 1997 in Fallon, with 25,000 residents. Health officials have said acute lymphocytic leukemia normally occurs in about three out of every 100,000 children. “The focus now should be on these other children. It should be on what’s causing it. That should be Adam’s legacy. Not this. Not death,” Adam’s father said Monday, a day after the boy died at a Southern California hospital. State and federal health officials have investigated a variety of conceivable causes in recent months, including the possibility that the cluster is simply a chance occurrence. They stepped up their investigation after Jernee took his son’s story public several months ago. The state has mapped the homes of the leukemia victims but found no clues. Investigators have begun inspecting the pipeline carrying fuel through the city to the Fallon Naval Air Station. Base officials have denied any link between jet fuel and the leukemia cases. Some families have turned their attention to the water, where arsenic levels are higher than the federal standard. The city has been ordered to clean it up. Arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical that in high concentrations is poisonous. But it has never been linked to leukemia. Still others believe government testing of nuclear weapons near Fallon in the 1950s may play a role. Radiation is a risk factor for leukemia, but tests for radioactive substances in the area proved negative. “There’s something there. There’s something they’re missing,” Jernee said. When Jernee moved to Fallon in 1999, he said, it seemed like a good place to raise a family — little crime, good schools. As a newly divorced father, he spent time with his son exploring parks, riding bikes and cooking. “I look back at it now and it was the happiest time in my life, in our lives,” said Jernee, 33. But by early 2000, Adam was fighting flu-like symptoms and coughing a lot. He began to have problems breathing. Jernee took his son to the hospital several times before someone told him it might be a little more serious. Then came the telephone call: A fist-size tumor in the lung. The survival rate of this type of childhood leukemia is 80 percent. And at first, chemotherapy reduced the tumor. It was around then that Jernee ran into the mother of another victim and learned of a cancer cluster in Fallon. He attended a support meeting and began to talk to doctors. But then Adam’s cancer started to grow again. In the months that followed, Adam underwent another course of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and radiation. As his son’s prognosis worsened, Jernee moved Adam to Southern California to be closer to his mother. In April, Adam underwent a second bone marrow transplant, a last effort to save the boy. Weeks later he slipped into a coma and then died. “Even in the end, I hoped for a miracle,” Jernee said. “I love Adam so much I didn’t want him to suffer. But I didn’t want to let him go either.” Jernee, who quit his job as a construction worker and has used up his savings to be near Adam, plans to return to Fallon this week to attend his son’s memorial service and to pressure officials for more action. “I’m going to do this for Adam. I can’t do anything else until I find out why my son isn’t by my side,” Jernee said. “He’d want that, you know. He’d want to know why this happened to him.” ©2001 Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 8 REID TO EXPAND INQUIRY INTO FALLON JET FUEL CONTAMINATION REID TO EXPAND INQUIRY INTO FALLON JET FUEL CONTAMINATION June 5, 2001 Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Harry Reid, Ranking Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, announced today that he will seek additional information from the U.S. Navy, the Secretary of Transportation and Kinder-Morgan on the transportation, storage, use and disposal of jet fuel in the community of Fallon, Nevada. "Whether we are discussing the Navy's practice of dumping jet fuel from its aircraft or the pipeline that carries the fuel from Reno to Fallon, lingering questions remain about this toxic substance and whether or not it could be a contributing factor in local leukemia cases," said Reid, the Assistant Democratic Leader. "By studying the jet fuel pipeline and documenting known incidents of contamination, we can alleviate concerns and remove any existing dangers to residents and the environment." In the effort to document known spills or releases of jet fuel, Reid has requested additional information from Fallon Naval Air Station and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, the firm which operates the pipeline that carries fuel from Reno to Churchill County. "The jet fuel pipeline from Reno to Fallon has been in use for more than four decades and it should be thoroughly inspected by the federal Office of Pipeline Safety, if for no other reason than to provide peace of mind to the community. At the same time, I have asked the operator of the pipeline to fully document any known fuel spills and to provide more details on the venting of harmful jet fuel vapors," Reid said. In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, Reid outlined the basis for his inspection request, "The concerns about releases of JP-8 jet fuel, which contain known carcinogens, would warrant further investigation under any circumstances. But the leukemia cluster in the Fallon area, coupled with the age of the pipeline, compel immediate and heightened scrutiny into the condition of the pipeline and the possibility of releases of jet fuel in the vicinity of Fallon," he wrote. In addition to details about the pipeline, Reid is seeking more information on the handling of jet fuel at Fallon Naval Air Station. In a letter to Rear Admiral Richard Naughton, he outlined several areas of concern. "We already know that the Navy allows its aircraft to dump jet fuel in certain circumstances. It is important that we also know the requirements that must be met before dumping takes place and we must be certain about claims that the fuel totally evaporates before hitting the ground. Finally, it is critical that the Navy provide a detailed record of all fuel dumping incidents from 1993 until the present," said Reid, who asked to also be notified in the future any time fuel at the air station is dumped. Reid's letter also called upon the Base to justify why it has not filed a Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) report to provide the community with information about the use of toxic chemicals in local neighborhoods. The federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) requires that certain facilities supply an annual TRI report. In his letter, Reid requested that the Navy provide information regarding their policy for addressing the reporting requirement. ***************************************************************** 9 Workers at Flats say safety ignored Denver Post.com - Defense denies ploy to hide beryllium threat By Stacie Oulton Denver Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 05, 2001 - GOLDEN - A lawsuit by Rocky Flats workers ill with a serious lung disease is a story of hard-working men who trusted what they were told about health protections at the former nuclear plant, an attorney for the workers said Monday. But a company being sued over the disease said the real story is about a government plant so poorly run by contractors that the workers were allowed to eat among toxic dust. "This case will be about who is telling the truth," said Al Stewart, a Dallas lawyer representing four Rocky Flats workers and their wives in a trial in Jefferson County District Court. The workers are suing Brush Wellman Inc., an Ohio company that supplied beryllium to Rocky Flats for the production of nuclear weapons. The dust from the lightweight but strong metal has been known to cause chronic beryllium disease in workers. They are seeking unspecified monetary damages. The trial is expected to last five weeks. The workers allege that Brush conspired with the federal government to hide the fact that workers could get sick even when exposed to levels below the federal safety standard for beryllium. They say that the company and government kept the information secret to keep the highly prized metal flowing to the defense industry. "This company knew what they were doing," Stewart said in opening statements. "They thought of wealth over workers. ... They thought of production over health." Stewart outlined declassified government documents and internal company records showing a conspiracy stretching from the 1940s to the present, he said. Among the documents is the diary of a Brush president acknowledging that workers were getting sick at exposure levels below the safety standard. The case could gain national prominence because it will be the first time a jury will review those documents. Several cases are pending across the country against the company. It's also a case that will pit the opinion of a prominent National Jewish Hospital doctor who has treated the workers against a Lutheran Hospital doctor. Sydney McDole, Brush's attorney, said the Lutheran doctor will testify that the four workers don't show any outward symptoms of the disease, despite some of them carrying oxygen tanks. Rockwell International and Dow, the companies that operated Rocky Flats for the government until 1989, are to blame for the lung disease, McDole said. Those companies removed warning labels from the beryllium before it reached workers, and they failed to fully implement a safety plan that included respirators, proper ventilation and other measures. "Brush Wellman, back in Ohio, had no control over this," McDole said in her opening statements. "Dow and Rockwell didn't adequately protect these employees." The company also dismissed the idea it conspired with the government to keep secret the inadequacies of the federal safety standard. McDole noted there were several documents available to the public that showed not all workers would be safe. Research over the years has shown that those who are allergic to beryllium can get the disease no matter how small the exposure, and McDole cited several government reports that contained that information. All contents Copyright 2001 The Denver Post or other ***************************************************************** 10 Safety watchdog says beryllium rule 'a guess' Rocky Mountain News: Local Lawsuit testimony indicates scientific research was lacking By Ann Imse, News Staff Writer For decades, beryllium workers were told they were safe working in less than 2 micrograms of the metal per cubic meter of air -- even though there was no scientific research to back that up. That was the initial testimony in a trial in Jefferson County Tuesday, where about 50 workers from the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant are suing Brush Wellman Inc. of Cleveland for allegedly conspiring with the government to hide the harmful effects of beryllium. Breathing beryllium dust can cause chronic beryllium disease, a wasting, generally fatal lung ailment, the court was told. Retired Brush Wellman executive Martin Powers testified by videotape that the 2-microgram standard was only "a guess." Powers was responsible for monitoring safety in the Brush factories and for writing warnings to customers. Power said the only evidence for the 2-microgram standard was the fact that after it was adopted in 1949, "the disease appeared to have disappeared." But under questioning, Powers admitted that some Brush Wellman employees continued to succumb to chronic beryllium disease. He said some were exposed to more than 2 micrograms in accidents. The plaintiffs' attorneys presented Atomic Energy Commission documents to the jury dating to 1946 -- classified as secret for decades -- in which officials worried about possible damage to beryllium production that could be caused by publicity about beryllium illness. Because the AEC needed beryllium to make nuclear bombs, "the AEC appears stuck with the public relations problem," the document said. Another once-secret AEC document said that before any document was declassified, information that would support claims for beryllium disease damage should be deleted. A Brush attorney responded that Brush had no knowledge of these secret documents, and pointed to another 1947 letter in which the company suggested that the U.S. Public Health Service research beryllium's effects. June 6, 2001 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 11 'Pit Vipers' ease Hanford work June 6, 2001: This story was published Wed, Jun 6, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer Think of it as a mutant backhoe with a remote-control robotic arm. It's called a "pit viper," which Hanford's engineers and technicians plan to test at central Hanford's tank farms this summer. The pit viper's purpose is to tackle work in about 600 highly radioactive concrete pits scattered throughout the 200 Area's tank farms. These pits' dimensions usually are 8 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet, although some are bigger and some are smaller. They act as junction boxes. Underground pipes leading to and from the 200 Area's 177 subterranean radioactive waste tanks meet inside these pits, where flexible tubing is used to connect one tank to another for the pumping of liquid wastes. Work in the pits is expected to increase dramatically because many will be used to set up lines to pump liquid wastes from the tanks to the yet-to-be-built waste glassification plant, said Rick Raymond, vice president for projects at CH2M Hill Hanford Group, which is in charge of the tank farms. Since the pits' interiors are highly radioactive, workers use long "pike poles" -- somewhat similar to the long poles people use to trim the tops of trees while they stand on the ground. Operators stand at the edge of a pit and use pike poles to install and remove equipment, clear out debris, sludge and liquids and do other work inside the pits. This can be cumbersome, and sometimes requires sheer muscle power. But the biggest problem is that these employees easily can absorb the maximum dose of radiation that a Hanford worker is allowed to receive in one year -- 500 millirem. "This is the most dose-intensive task for the river protection project," said Sharon Bailey, the pit viper project manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. At least one pit is capable of giving a worker 50 rem -- 50,000 millirem -- in one hour. This means numerous workers are needed to work at the pits -- just to manipulate the pike poles and to shuttle people in and out before they absorb 500 millirem. The workers told their managers that using pike poles was inefficient, especially when dealing with radiation dose limits. So CH2M Hill huddled a year ago with PNNL, the Department of Energy, Fluor Hanford, Numatec and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop the pit viper -- testing it at the HAMMER training complex. The pit viper is backhoe chassis with the backhoe replaced by a huge remote-control mechanical arm designed to twist and turns like a human arm from the shoulder to the wrist. The chassis and mechanical arm are parked next to a pit. Meanwhile, the pit viper is controlled from a van, which can be parked outside of a fenced-off radiologically controlled portion of a tank farm. So instead of several people working in a radioactive area in special suits, the same job can be done by two people in street clothes in the van, while possibly a third in protective clothes watches the work from the pit's edge. A camera on the mechanical arm and three more inside the pit let the two operators see what they are doing on two sets of four screens inside the van. Bailey said using a pit viper can reduce the amount of radiation absorbed by pit workers by 75 percent. After the prototype is tested on a real radioactive 200 Area pit this summer, Hanford officials hope to set up a half dozen pit vipers in the tank farms. The estimated cost for building a pit viper and training operators is about $1 million, Bailey said. While DOE's proposed 2002 budget falls short of funding is CH2M Hill's work for that year, Hanford officials said the pit vipers should be a cost-saving measure. With fewer people working the radioactive pit areas, less protective gear is used and then cleaned or discarded. Also, the people not needed for the pit work can be used on other tank farms projects, meaning more work can be done, Hanford officials said. Financial figures on potential savings have not been calculated. CH2M Hill and PNNL want to set up training for the pit vipers at the HAMMER complex. But DOE's proposed 2002 budget calls for HAMMER's budget to shrink from $5.9 million to $1 million, which essentially would close the site to everything but classroom work plus the bare minimal radiation training for Hanford worker. This could jeopardize pit viper training at HAMMER when fiscal year 2002 begins Oct. 1. "That means they'll put padlocks on the doors on Oct. 1," said Sam Volpentest, executive vice president of the Tri-City Industrial Development Council and a major lobbyist for Hanford funding. Efforts are under way to get Congress to increase Hanford's and HAMMER's budgets for 2002. "We're going to get that money, I promise you," Volpentest said. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 12 Are DOE contractors paid enough? June 5, 2001: This story was published Tue, Jun 5, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer The Department of Energy's Inspector General's Office tried to figure out how much profit its environmental cleanup contractors should make -- and came away scratching its head. A DOE cleanup contract comes with significant risks and responsibilities, so DOE wants to know what fees are needed to attract the most top-notch bidders, said the May inspector general's report. The Inspector General's Office studied three major DOE cleanup contracts --Bechtel Hanford's, Kaiser-Hill's at Rocky Flats and Bechtel Jacobs' at Oak Ridge. The three contracts are set up differently, and the study concluded not enough information was available to reach a conclusion. The study was prompted by a DOE belief that the fees -- meaning profits --offered in its contracts are not big enough to attract "best-in-class contractors," the report says. The Inspector General's Office report also referred to an April study by DOE's contractor reform office. That concluded the profits and profit margins in tackling DOE environmental work are less than companies can earn from engineering and construction projects in the private sector. Consequently, the report said, the pool of companies willing to do DOE work is shrinking, sometimes resulting in only one or two bidders materializing for major DOE contracts. The DOE Inspector General's Office report noted Bechtel Hanford's and Kaiser-Hill's contracts enable them to earn higher fees than contractors at other DOE sites. But the study reached no other conclusions on Bechtel Hanford and Bechtel Jacobs. The study did raise questions about Kaiser-Hill's contract because when its original contract expired, DOE awarded a new contract to the same company without putting it out for bids. At the same time, Kaiser-Hill's maximum possible fees increased under the new contract. Bechtel Hanford has been Hanford's "environmental restoration" contractor since 1994 -- posting high scores on each DOE evaluation. Its five-year contract was extended by three more years until June 30, 2002. When DOE granted that extension, it changed the fee structure from a combination of a base fee plus a graded bonus to where 100 percent of the fee is based on performance. For fiscal 2000, Bechtel Hanford earned a profit of $10.8 million, or 8 percent. DOE plans to drastically overhaul the contract when it is put out for bids several months from now. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 13 Senate control shift may alter Hanford plans June 5, 2001: This story was published Tue, Jun 5, 2001 By the Associated Press and Herald staff The U.S. Senate's power shift will likely stall efforts to build a permanent nuclear waste repository in Nevada, which could in turn affect what is done with some Hanford wastes. However, since the first Hanford wastes are not scheduled to go to a national repository until 2024, it could take several years and elections until the political war over Nevada's Yucca Mountain affects Hanford. Nevada has vehemently fought federal efforts to build a huge underground permanent storage site in Yucca Mountain to hold the nation's spent commercial reactor fuel and the Department of Energy's high-level nuclear wastes. The Senate's recent switch to a 51-49 Democrat majority put U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., into the majority leader's seat. And the Senate's new majority whip is now Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid, a strong opponent of the Yucca Mountain project. "I think the Yucca Mountain issue is dead," Daschle said last week. "As long as we're in the majority, it's dead." Three Mid-Columbia facilities are supposed to eventually send their high-level radioactive wastes to a national storage site. These are: -- Energy Northwest, which can store spent reactor fuel until at least 2024 at its power plant site. The nation's commercial reactors are supposed to send their spent fuel to the national repository, with the oldest fuels going first. That puts the relatively young Energy Northwest toward the back of the line, said Energy Northwest spokesman Don McManman. -- Hanford's planned radioactive tank waste glassification project, which is supposed to store its processed wastes in a huge underground vault in central Hanford. It is supposed to start shipping the glassified wastes to a national repository in 2028. -- Hanford's K Basins project has begun processing 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel and then storing it in that same underground vault. But that fuel is not scheduled to go to a national repository until 2040. Hanford and a Texas site were once considered as possible national repositories for commercial spent nuclear fuel. But in the late 1980s, Congress told DOE to solely and extensively study Yucca Mountain as a permanent storage site because of concerns over huge cost overruns. DOE is to forward its recommendation on Yucca Mountain in 2002 to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who will then make a recommendation to President Bush. The earliest that a repository could open is 2010. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 14 Fluor owes community explanation on DynCorp June 5, 2001: Published June 5, 2001 Fluor Hanford owes this community an explanation as to why it didn't extend DynCorp Tri-Cities Services' contract at Hanford. Simply chalking up the move to "a business decision" leaves too much to speculation. Did the decision place economics above performance - a shift that could bode poorly for progress on cleaning up Hanford - or is Fluor convinced the job can be done just as well or better for less? Without more clarification, the community is left to wonder. One thing seems clear: DynCorp is getting the job done admirably. One of Fluor's six original major subcontractors when it took over managing Hanford in 1996, DynCorp manages the nuclear reservation's roads, building, utilities, some equipment and its fire department. The company has earned an average of 92 percent of its potential annual fees from Fluor and also has won a major federal safety award. And DynCorp has proved itself a good corporate citizen. Among its contributions to the community was last year's $1 million pledge to work with Columbia Basin College to develop an information technology industry. The company's contract at Hanford is up Sept. 30. No word yet from Fluor on whether it intends to rebid the contract or move the work in-house. A spurned DynCorp could end up bidding to supply computer support at Hanford if Fluor does not extend Lockheed Martin Services Inc.'s contract - a prospect that itself raises concern. Certainly, any effort by Fluor to streamline Hanford operations and funnel more money where it is most needed - cleanup - is a responsible and welcome strategy. The challenges that the site faces in light of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's refusal to ask Congress for adequate funding are greater than ever. Fluor very well might have valid reasons for what it did, reasons the community would support. But keeping mum paints a picture of a company that insists it knows best, and that kind of attitude doesn't work in the fishbowl that is Hanford. All we're asking for is a little explanation. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 15 Y-12 about to resume dismantlement work KnoxNews.com June 6, 2001 By Frank Munger News-Sentinel senior writer The Y-12 plant has been building nuclear weapons for more than 50 years, and for just about that long, the Oak Ridge plant has been taking them apart. The dismantlement role doesn't get nearly as much attention as the manufacturing mission and, for many of us, remains something of a mystery. Boiled down, the Oak Ridge operation is pretty simple: Any parts originally built at Y-12 are sent back to the plant for disassembly (and recycling of materials) when the weapon is retired from active duty. Y-12's work, of course, involves so-called secondaries -- the secondary stage of thermonuclear weapons that consist of highly enriched uranium, lithium compounds and other materials. The plant serves as the nation's principal storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. The Pantex Plant at Amarillo, Texas, is the hub of the weapons complex, performing the final assembly of new warheads and the initial disassembly of old warheads. Y-12 sends its newly manufactured warhead parts to Texas and receives its old ones back from the same place. Details of the dismantlement work are not made public, but Oak Ridge officials explained some aspects of the Y-12 effort and clarified a couple of misconceptions in a series of recent interviews. For instance, I was surprised to learn the dismantlement activity isn't ongoing or continuous. Rather, it's done in campaigns, based on needs. According to Bill Brumley, the Oak Ridge chief for the National Nuclear Security Administration, there's been no dismantlement activity at Y-12 for the past year. "The most recent campaign focused on dismantlement of the B-28 bomb, which started in 1992 and (was) completed last summer," Brumley said in response to questions. He drew a sharp distinction between dismantlement and the plant's remanufacturing role, which involves the fabrication and assembly of replacement parts for weapons still being deployed. Y-12 currently is manufacturing new parts for the W-87 warheads, which are deployed on Peacekeeper (or MX) missile systems. "We do take apart 87's when they come in -- and somebody will say that sounds like ... dismantlement. But, in fact, it's sort of refurbishing those that are coming in. Some parts we reuse. Some we don't. And then it goes back out. "Dismantlement -- we tend to think about taking retired or old systems out of the basement and just taking them apart to recover the materials," he said. John Mitchell, president and general manager of BWXT, the contractor that manages Y-12, said: "When you prioritize money and assets and people and stuff, active production or re-production always takes priority over disassembly." Brumley said dismantlement of old weapons typically isn't a priority at Y-12 unless the materials are needed for other production missions. "All of them eventually need to be dismantled," he said. "The driver is material availability, and we've had what we needed to support the stockpile and production." That situation apparently is about to change. The National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that has responsibility for the nuclear weapons complex, currently is evaluating Y-12's readiness for a new dismantlement campaign to begin later this month or early July. The work will involve W-56 warheads once deployed on Minuteman II missile systems. Brumley acknowledged that W-56 secondaries were shipped to the Oak Ridge plant over the past year and placed into safe storage, awaiting dismantlement and recycling. The W-56 work is scheduled for completion in late 2006, he said. Asked if the upcoming dismantlement campaign is a big deal, Mitchell replied, "It's a big deal only because we need the material .... It's part of our closed-loop material cycle. We have to mine those things for material. As we do production, going back into production, we have to use all the material sources. Disassembly is one of those." And what "material" is Y-12 particularly in need of? "Specific forms of highly enriched uranium," Mitchell said. Senior Writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News-Sentinel. He can be reached at 865-482-9213 or at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This column is also available on the Web at www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/ Thursday, June 07, 2001 LOW Copyright © 1999-2001, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights ***************************************************************** 16 The Continuing Impact of the Nuclear Revolution Arms Control Today June 2001 Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky The advent of nuclear weapons with their tremendous increase in destructive force decisively shifted the balance between offensive and defensive forces. This change has profound implications in judging the wisdom of any plans to deploy defenses against ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads. The history of warfare is replete with competition between offense and defense, from the sword and the shield to the struggle between assault troops and fortifications. World War II provides lessons on the relative effectiveness of offense and defense. The French attempted to erect an impenetrable defense in the form of the Maginot Line against Germany, only to have Adolf Hitler's mobile armored forces circumvent the defenses by taking a more northerly route. An innovative offense defeated a static defense. In the Battle of Britain, Hitler's Luftwaffe carried out repeated massive attacks against Britain. However, each mission suffered losses on the order of 10 percent, inflicted by the Royal Air Force, which was assisted by radar, a newly introduced technology, and cryptography, which together yielded warning of such attacks. As a consequence, the attacking forces were reduced by a third for each 10 sorties flown, a level of attrition that proved unacceptable. History contains many such examples of both successes and failures of defenses against conventional attacks. Nuclear weapons, however, profoundly changed the relationship between offense and defense because they increased the explosive power of a payload of a given weight and size by a factor of one million—a very profound change indeed. The demands on the performance and reliability of defenses against an attack by even a single missile carrying a nuclear weapon must therefore be extremely high for the defense to be considered effective. When the Germans attacked Britain during World War II with primitive ballistic missiles, none were intercepted, but the damage was limited because the missiles carried conventional explosives. Had they carried nuclear warheads, a single missile would have devastated London. Defense against ballistic missiles is therefore a totally different problem depending on whether such missiles carry conventional or nuclear payloads. Against this background, national missile defense has re-entered the national and international political agenda. The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, signed in 1972, explicitly forbids deployments of defenses that protect the entire territory of signatory nations against strategic ballistic missiles. The basis of this treaty was the mutual recognition during the Cold War that the United States and the Soviet Union had attained a strategic balance based on deterrence: neither side could launch a nuclear attack against the other without incurring the risk of a retaliatory strike that would produce unacceptable damage. To appreciate the extent of the potential destruction, it should be remembered that the combined yield of the two nuclear weapons that killed 250,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki would equal only about one-tenth the yield of a single nuclear weapon in today's arsenal. At the height of the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union deployed more than 60,000 nuclear weapons in aggregate. Today the number of nuclear weapons in the world has shrunk by about one-half, with the overwhelming majority in the hands of Russia and the United States. At the same time, the so-called rogue states still have no nuclear weapons, although North Korea may have enough plutonium for one or two. Nuclear weapons can be delivered to the U.S. homeland in many ways, of which the intercontinental ballistic missile is only one and the one requiring the most technological prowess. Nuclear weapons can be dropped from airplanes of almost any size, delivered by cruise missiles traveling in the earth's atmosphere, detonated on ships in U.S. harbors, or even smuggled across land borders. The United States has no significant homeland air defense, and its borders are notoriously porous, as witnessed by the largely ineffective “war on drugs.” Thus, a ballistic missile defense, even if it succeeded, would address only one avenue for the delivery of nuclear weapons. Moreover, rogue states are unlikely to adopt long-range missiles as their choice for nuclear weapons delivery because of cost and because the origin of the missiles is unambiguously traceable. This was the situation during the Cold War, and this is the situation that remains today. The argument that deployment of a national missile defense could decrease U.S. security is not a “relic of the Cold War” and does not reflect “Cold War thinking.” The United States' vulnerability to delivery of nuclear explosives remains a fact that is difficult, if not impossible, to remedy by technical measures as long as nuclear weapons remain in the arsenals of the world. The debate over missile defenses is complicated by the fact that ballistic missiles vary in range and can be used to attack military facilities and troop concentrations with conventional warheads. Theater missile defense (TMD), intended to defend smaller areas against short- to medium-range missile attacks, could be useful in defending U.S. troops or military facilities against conventional attacks, whose impact could be significantly blunted by even partially effective defenses. This situation contrasts sharply with the use of defenses against nuclear warheads, where leakage of even a single nuclear warhead would have disastrous effects. The ABM Treaty does not deal with TMD because the treaty's intention is to preserve strategic stability, and it is expected that TMD would be used chiefly in battlefield situations against missiles armed with conventional warheads. (The situation is complicated by the fact that in the case of defense of small nations, such as Taiwan, Israel, or even Japan, TMD could be perceived as providing a defense for the entire territory.) In 1997 the United States and Russia negotiated a demarcation agreement that defined the boundary between permitted and forbidden anti-missile deployments as measured by the character of the interceptor and the speed of the target to be intercepted. The demarcation agreement, however, has not as yet been formally submitted to the Senate for ratification, and it remains mired in congressional politics around the future of the ABM Treaty. Clearly, the demands on the performance of missile defenses against nuclear weapons are extremely high. The question therefore becomes, do we have the technology needed to achieve this level of effectiveness? The table below illustrates the alternative means by which interceptors can destroy ballistic missiles. Each one of these approaches has its strengths and weaknesses. The table is divided into columns that delineate when the intercept of the incoming ICBM is to occur: during the boost phase, the time during which the missile booster is still burning; in midcourse, when the attacking missile is traveling outside the atmosphere; and after re-entry, once the offensive missile is approaching its target within the atmosphere. In addition to the different locations of intercept, missile defenses can employ a variety of technologies. The interceptor can be guided by sensors employing radar or using infrared detectors registering thermal emissions from the target warheads. Sensors can be based on land, placed on aircraft, or deployed on orbiting satellites. The interceptor can destroy the incoming ICBM in a number of ways: by direct impact (hit-to-kill), by fragmentation of an explosive warhead, or through a nuclear detonation. Boost Phase Boost-phase intercept defenses have never been developed but are now apparently under serious consideration. During the boost phase, an ascending missile emits extremely intense infrared radiation, and therefore no decoy other than another booster can simulate a missile during this period of its trajectory. However the boost phase is very short, no longer than three minutes, and takes place near the launch site. A boost-phase interceptor must therefore be forward-based on a ship or aircraft or on friendly territory. Alternatively, coverage could be provided from space, but a large number of satellites would be required for such coverage to be continuous. Boost-phase intercept faces several problems. A decision to intercept on receipt of a putative signal indicating an ICBM launch has to be made in an exceedingly short time and may be subject to error. Additionally, the forward-basing requirement means that either the ships or aircraft that launch the interceptor are vulnerable to attack themselves. Moreover, most potential inland launch sites cannot be covered at all from sea or air. This disadvantage could, of course, be considered an advantage if the United States wanted to signal that the ABM system is intended solely to neutralize a rogue state, like North Korea, and is not capable of defending against inland launch from either Russia or China. Because boost-phase defenses intercept the ICBM before it can disperse a fragmented payload, they would also be effective against a missile that carried small multiple payloads, such as “bomblets,” which, although too small for nuclear weapons, might carry biological warfare agents. Midcourse Intercept Intercept while an enemy's ICBM travels in the vacuum of outer space permits more decision time to commit an interceptor. However, its weakness is that, because light and heavy objects follow identical trajectories in the vacuum of outer space, the offensive ICBM could employ a number of techniques to deceive the intercept vehicle. For example, a substantial number of lightweight decoys could be deployed in parallel with the real warhead, making it difficult for the interceptor to discriminate between them. Such lightweight decoys can be designed to simulate the thermal emissions from the real warhead and even the fluctuation in such emissions or variations in reflected light caused by the warhead's motion. Alternatively, the offense could employ “anti-simulation” countermeasures, in which the real warhead is enclosed in a light balloon, making it indistinguishable from a number of accompanying decoy balloons. Also, should the offense employ many small bomblets, the defense would have to attack each of the bomblets, which in practice would be impossible. Terminal, or Re-Entry, Defense Once the offensive missile's payload is re-entering the atmosphere, it faces drag, which would distinguish lightweight decoys from the heavy warhead. Thus, the principal countermeasure available to the entering warhead would be to maneuver, hoping that the interceptor cannot keep up with such motions. However, terminal defense can only defend a limited area, and it would be ineffective against bomblets that could result in a very large number of identical entering targets. The Clinton administration pursued plans for midcourse intercepts with the interceptors initially based at a single location. The initial ICBM trajectory was to be tracked by infrared sensors placed on orbiting satellites, followed by tracking by ground-based radars. Final hit-to-kill guidance was to be provided by infrared seekers located on the intercept vehicle itself. Ideally, the Clinton defense sought to cover the entire United States but would have left U.S. allies unprotected. During the presidential campaign, the Clinton defense was opposed—and rightfully so—because of its vulnerability to decoys and fragmented warheads. Moreover, since the Clinton defense was designed to defend only the United States, U.S. allies heavily criticized the plans because they would have been left exposed as potential hostages to enemy attack and because they were concerned with the anticipated highly negative reaction of Russia and China. President Bill Clinton decided not to deploy the system after determining that, of his four criteria for deployment—technical readiness, a demonstrated threat, cost, and impact on relations with other states—neither adequate technical readiness nor acceptance by other nations had been achieved. President George W. Bush reaffirmed his campaign commitment to the concept of a national missile defense in his speech on May 1, but he remained silent on how this goal is to be accomplished technically. The words the administration often uses are “multilayered defense,” meaning that the system would combine several of the basic options given in the table on the previous page, with emphasis given to boost-phase intercept. The cost of a multilayered defense would be much larger than the estimated $60 billion the Clinton defense would have cost. Accepted designs for the architecture of such a defense do not exist, and the wisdom of going forward with such a defense hopefully will be critically examined during the strategic review that the administration is now conducting. Research and development on missile defenses has been pursued for decades at an accumulated cost of some $100 billion in today's dollars. Nevertheless, the technical status of such defenses is such that the plans outlined by the president in his speech could not become reality during the next two presidential terms. All ballistic missile defenses against nuclear weapons delivery result in an unfavorable exchange ratio relative to the offense. In other words, should the United States decide to deploy such defenses to reduce the vulnerability of this country, an adversary could increase or modify its offensive forces at a drastically lower cost and in a way that would leave the United States just as vulnerable. Thus, deployment of a U.S. national missile defense, should a capable adversary nation such as China or Russia decide to respond by enhancing its strategic nuclear force, would simply escalate arms competition to higher levels of potential violence without actually protecting the United States. Such an unfavorable exchange ratio may not be a sufficient argument against deploying missile defenses against rogue states, such as North Korea, which might not be able to afford to counteract such defenses even at moderate cost. It has therefore been difficult for some national leaders to reject proposals to defend their countries against possible threats from potential adversaries “of concern” or from unintended releases of a small number of nuclear-tipped missiles from any country. For instance, under congressional pressure, President Lyndon Johnson proposed the Sentinel system to defend U.S. cities against then-rogue-state China. But President Richard Nixon, recognizing the escalatory nature of the Sentinel system and a comparable Soviet system, negotiated the ABM Treaty and converted the Sentinel hardware to the terminal defense of U.S. Minuteman missile sites. This system, called Safeguard, was eventually deployed at one site as permitted by the ABM Treaty, but operation was discontinued after less than one year once its limited effectiveness in relation to its operational cost was recognized. The Clinton defense was designed to “walk the tightrope” by defending the nation against the ballistic missiles from today's rogue states—North Korea, Iran, and Iraq—and stopping accidental launches from Russia and China, while ostensibly not being sufficiently robust to blunt the deterrent forces of Moscow and Beijing. But China, Russia, and U.S. allies did not find this limited objective credible. In view of all the basic facts, the financial, political, and strategic costs outweigh the benefits of the limited protection a national missile defense could offer. An honest acknowledgment by the U.S. leadership that technical means to prevent hostile nuclear detonation on U.S. soil do not exist and are not in the offing would go a long way toward providing a realistic and honest basis for discussion on a national missile defense. All the technical and economic facts concerning ballistic missile defense, combined with the availability of delivering nuclear weapons by means other than ballistic missiles, lead to an inescapable conclusion: In the nuclear weapons age, the world is condemned to live in an offense-dominated condition. That means that defenses cannot protect the United States from nuclear weapons. That goal has to be attained by dissuasion, where dissuasion means a combination of diplomacy and deterrence. Diplomacy must convince a potential adversary that its security will decrease rather than increase by acquisition and delivery of nuclear weapons, while deterrence implies that the U.S. response would be unacceptable to the adversary if it crossed the nuclear threshold by actually using such weapons. Dissuasion has been effective for 55 years—notwithstanding the eruption of roughly 100 armed conflicts in that time, a tradition of “non-use” of nuclear weapons has prevailed since they were first employed against Japan. Should this administration now decide to deploy missile defenses to protect the United States? Today there is nothing to deploy, and no system can be in place before the Bush administration leaves office. Thus, the current debate over missile defenses is a house of cards built on a nonexistent technical foundation. Other nations should not immediately feel militarily threatened by a deployment decision, but such a decision would de facto abrogate the ABM Treaty and would place the entire arms control structure in jeopardy. Such a decision would profoundly and negatively affect political relations with Russia and China, as well as with NATO and the rest of the world. In particular, should China respond to U.S. deployment plans by augmenting its now limited long-range missile force, both qualitatively and quantitatively, first India and then Pakistan are likely to respond in kind. U.S. security would be diminished. The revolution in warfare caused by the advent of nuclear weapons cannot be reversed. Scientific and technical facts cannot be coerced by policy. Defense of the nation, however well-intentioned, cannot be achieved by scientifically unsound means. President Bush should reconsider his approach to national missile defense and await the outcome of a balanced and thorough analysis of the fundamental issues Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky is director emeritus of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California. ***************************************************************** 17 DOE Presidential Appointees Sworn In energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release Privacy and Security Notice RELEASE DATE: June 05, 2001 Print Friendly Version WASHINGTON—The Department of Energy announced today that five of the key presidential appointees to the department have been sworn in to their leadership positions. “I am pleased and excited about those who will be joining me here at the Energy Department. Each of them will serve as a vital part of DOE’s commitment to helping Americans deal with the energy crisis as well as securing our energy future,” Secretary of Energy Abraham said. Those sworn in are Francis Blake, Deputy Secretary of Energy; Robert Card, Under Secretary of Energy; Bruce Carnes, Chief Financial Officer; David Garman, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Lee Sarah Liberman Otis, General Counsel. Following are short biographies on each individual. Francis S. Blake, Deputy Secretary of Energy Blake is the former Senior Vice President of Corporate Business Development at General Electric where he served since 1991. Before joining GE, he was a Partner with Swidler, Berlin, Shereff, Friedman, LLP in Washington, D.C., and served as General Counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency from 1985 to 1988. He served as Deputy Counsel to Vice President George H.W. Bush from 1981 to 1983. A resident of Connecticut, he is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University School of Law. Robert Gordon Card, Under Secretary of Energy Card is the past President and CEO of Kaiser-Hill Company in Colorado, and was previously Executive Vice President of CH2M Hill, Inc. A native of Yakima, Washington, he is graduate of the University of Washington and received his Master's degree in Environmental and Civil Engineering from Stanford University. Bruce Marshall Carnes, Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Energy Carnes was most recently the Deputy Director of Defense Financing and Accounting Services at the Department of Defense and was awarded the DOD Exemplary Civilian Service Award. He served as the Director of Planning, Budget and Administration at the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 1989 to 1993 and was Deputy Under Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and received both a Master's degree and Ph.D. from Indiana University. David Garman, Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Garman is the former Chief of Staff to Senator Frank Murkowski and served as a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee from 1995 to 1998. He is a graduate of Duke University and received a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University. Lee Sarah Liberman Otis, General Counsel at the Department of Energy Otis is the past Chief Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration. In the past she has served in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice from 1984 to 1986 and thereafter as an Associate Counsel to President George H.W. Bush. In addition, she has served as an Assistant Professor at George Mason University Law School and as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law School. She is a graduate of Yale University and received her law degree from the University of Chicago. Media Contact: Jeanne Lopatto, 202/586-4940 Release No. R-01-090 ***************************************************************** 18 Project Sunshine's dark secret Documents reveal a Vancouver link to 'body-snatching' research in the 1950s MURRAY CAMPBELL With a report from Rod Mickleburgh Wednesday, June 6, 2001 He is known only as B-199. He died of encephalitis at the age of 34 in April, 1955, which is when he took what may have been the longest trip of his life, to serve the cause of science. A doctor at Vancouver General Hospital answered the clarion call of nuclear research and shipped him to the United States, where he was cremated and his ashes subjected to intense scrutiny in an effort to find out whether the nuclear-weapons testing that dominated the Cold War landscape was poisoning the world. B-199 was just one of at least 127 people from the Vancouver area whose bodies were used by U.S. researchers in a five-year project, run out of the University of Chicago and concluded in 1958. Their incinerated bones were used to measure radioactive fallout from the above-ground nuclear weapons tests that the United States and the Soviet Union conducted almost weekly. The researchers, working under Nobel laureate Willard Libby, called their work Project Sunshine because they believed radioactive fallout was as ubiquitous as sunshine. They examined animals, food and water around the world for evidence of fallout. They also examined human bones, including those belonging to B-199. There was little glory for B-199 or anyone else whose remains were scrutinized. About 6,000 corpses from 26 "bone collection sites" around the world were shipped under top-secret conditions to the project's headquarters in Chicago and to a satellite research office at Columbia University in New York. The researchers' findings have been known for many years -- indeed, they paved the way for a cessation of atmospheric tests -- but recently declassified documents have detailed how the bone samples were collected. The Australian government yesterday launched an investigation after reports in British newspapers outlined how the bodies of stillborn babies were taken from Australian hospitals for use in the U.S. study. A spokesman for Health Minister Allan Rock yesterday declined to comment, saying that her department was unaware of the reports. Dr. Libby, who died in 1980, was interested in strontium 90, considered the most hazardous component of radioactive fallout. Strontium behaves much like calcium, and scientists were concerned that people were absorbing it into their skeletons. They were particularly concerned that children would absorb larger amounts of strontium than adults because their bones were still growing. The problem was that it was difficult with contemporary devices to measure strontium in living people. The best way to measure its concentration was to cremate the remains of the dead and analyze the resulting ash with sensitive radiochemical techniques. It is likely that Vancouver was drawn into the project in 1955, two years after it had begun. At the time, Dr. Libby appeared to be worried about not getting enough human samples to validate their initial findings because his supply of stillborns had been cut off. "Human samples are of prime importance, and if anybody knows how to do a good job of body-snatching, they will really be serving their country," he said at a Jan. 18, 1955, meeting convened by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Lawrence Kulp, of Columbia, who had succeeded Dr. Libby as the project's director, said he had developed a back-door channel to obtain cadavers in several cities, among them Vancouver, Houston and New York. An investigation into this "body-snatching" program and 4,000 other experiments from 1944 to 1974 was ordered in 1994 by then U.S. president Bill Clinton. A year later, the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments concluded that "researchers employed deception in the solicitation of bones of deceased babies from intermediaries with access to human remains." Documents released by the committee show, however, that it wasn't just stillborn babies who provided bone samples. The project's 1955-56 annual report lists Dr. W.B. Leach of the pathology department at Vancouver General as the contact for the local "bone collection site." The report shows that Vancouver provided at least 127 of the 1,300 human bones samples collected in 1955 from around the world. The age of those whose corpses were shipped to the United States ranged from 34 to 87. There is no mention in the report of stillborns. The report said that one of the Vancouver samples provided the highest strontium level, about 660 times the concentration found normally. Larry Arbeiter, a spokesman for the University of Chicago, said Project Sunshine's operations have to be put in the context of the time, when procedures for disposing of human remains were not as rigid as they are now. The Clinton advisory committee, which disbanded in 1995, similarly warned against retrospective moral judgment. "Is it correct to evaluate the events, policy and practices of the past . . . against ethical standards and values that we accept as valid today but that may not have been widely accepted then?" it asked. Copyright © 2001 Globe Interactive, a division of Bell Globemedia ***************************************************************** 19 Blood tests for nuke vets rejected NZOOM - ONE News - National Jun 5, 2001 A Scottish nuclear researcher says senior British defence officials rejected medical advice that all servicemen involved in tests at Christmas Island in the 1950s be blood tested. Earlier documents released by Sue Rabbitt Roff have prompted investigations by Australia and New Zealand into exposure of their servicemen at tests in Australia. Now she says minutes found in an army veteran's papers show that a meeting at the British Atomic Weapons Research Establishment discussed blood testing servicemen. The head of a Royal Air Force hospital argued that if a serviceman was found to be normal before the nuclear tests and later developed leukaemia, "it might be difficult to refute the allegation that this was due to radiation received at Christmas Island". Army chiefs overruled scientists' concerns about the health risks for the 4,500 servicemen involved in the 1958 island tests. ONE News sourced from TVNZ, RNZ, Reuters and ***************************************************************** 20 Australia probes reports of nuclear tests on babies Japan Today Japan News - News - - Japan's Leading International News Networknational Wednesday, June 6, 2001 at 09:00 JST CANBERRA — Australia launched an investigation on Tuesday into reports that the bodies of Australian babies were sent to the United States for use in nuclear energy experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. Health Minister Michael Wooldridge said he was not aware of an alleged operation in which the babies' bodies were shipped overseas for research purposes without their parents' permission. University of Chicago doctor and Nobel Prize winner Willard Libby reportedly asked for stillborn or newly born babies to test atomic bomb fallout. British newspapers this week that the bodies of stillborn babies and infants were snatched from Australian hospitals for use in US Department of Energy tests to monitor radioactivity levels of the element Strontium 90. "Project Sunshine," the reports said, began in 1955 when University of Chicago doctor Willard Libby, who was awarded a Nobel prize for his research into carbon dating, appealed for bodies, preferably stillborn or newly born babies, to test atomic bomb fallout. The reports said about 6,000 bodies were taken from hospitals in Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, the United States and South America over 15 years without the permission of parents. "Obviously the information that has come to light is very disturbing and the minister has asked his department for information," a spokesman for Wooldridge told Reuters. He said the minister was seeking hospital records from that era from the relevant health authorities in Australia's six states and two territories. This was the second report of humans being used in nuclear tests to emerge in Australia in the past month. Australia last month raised allegations its troops were used as human guinea pigs during British atom bomb tests in the 1950s to test protective clothing in low radiation nuclear tests at Maralinga in the South Australian outback. Britain told the European Court of Human Rights in 1997 that no humans had ever been experimented on during its atom bomb tests but documents unearthed in Australia's National Archives by a Scottish researcher contradicted this. (Reuters News) Editorial comments: editor@japantoday.com ***************************************************************** 21 WA in corpse-tests probe The West AustralianJune 06, 2001A B O U T U ST H E W E S T By Mark Mallabone CANBERRA THE State Government will investigate whether the bodies of WA babies were shipped to the United States for nuclear experiments in the 1950s and 1960s. Health Minister Bob Kucera joined his counterparts in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland in ordering a State-based review of the allegations. The Federal Government has launched a separate inquiry but believes the matter is best handled by the States, which have responsibility for the disposal of human remains. Mr Kucera said yesterday he was disturbed by the reports and would ask Health Commissioner Alan Bansemer to investigate. "Given the passage of time, it may be difficult to find out whether WA children were involved but I will ask the commissioner to look into the issue and report back to me," he said. The London Daily Mail reported yesterday that 6000 babies and infants who died in hospitals throughout the world, including Australia, were used as human tissue fodder for radiation testing commissioned by the United States Department of Energy. The tests were apparently carried out without the parents"knowledge. Researcher Willard Libby, of the University of Chicago, reportedly appealed in 1955 for bodies to check the effect of fallout from atom bomb tests. "If anybody knows how to do a good job of body-snatching, they will really be serving their country," Dr Libby, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the invention of carbon-14 dating, has been quoted as saying. University of Chicago spokesman Larry Arbeiter confirmed yesterday such experiments took place. He said the tests, prompted by the frequent release of radioactive material into the atmosphere in the 1950s arms race, had helped force the abolition of above-ground nuclear weapons testing. "Scientists were especially concerned with an element called Strontium 90, it's radio- active, it was considered the most dangerous of the fallout chemicals," Mr Arbeiter said on Sydney radio. "In the 1950s, very widely in the US, and I suspect also in Australia, stillborn infants were typically autopsied then disposed of in hospitals. "Those bodies provided the opportunity for scientists to understand how much radiation was going into the food." Mr Arbeiter said that at the time there were no instruments sensitive enough to measure the transfer of radioactive material to humans. The remains were cremated and tested with a sophisticated geiger counter. He said permission was not usually sought from parents. The experiments had been well known for some time and the results were very positive, he said. The bodies were reportedly sent to the university for 15 years from hospitals in Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, the US and South America. - with AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS © 2000 West Australian ***************************************************************** 22 Police probe atomic society's missing millions Mainichi Interactive - Top News Over 26 million yen has disappeared from the coffers of a nuclear energy research society in Tokyo, an audit has revealed. Evidence suggests that computer-managed accounts of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) have been tampered with, and police are probing the possibility that someone close to the group ripped off a total of 26.25 million yen. Investigators said vouchers and accounts for the latter half of fiscal 2000 appear to have been changed. One voucher was reportedly for a conference that wasn't held. AESJ officials said that an in-house probe, launched after the fiscal 2000 audit, had dug up nothing. "No one came forward with information, so we want to leave it to a police investigation," a spokesman said. "Before last year, we carried out a close examination (of accounts), but there were no problems." Officials added they would endeavor to regain the confidence of society members, who supply much of AESJ's income. The society filed a complaint with police about the missing funds on May 16. It also has submitted a report on the money to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. AESJ is formed of nuclear facility constructors and nuclear energy researchers, and its members number about 8,000. The society's budget for the last fiscal year was about 260 million yen. In addition to membership fees, it derives income from nuclear-related work and government grants. (Mainichi Shimbun) (c) 2001 The Mainichi Newspapers Co. ***************************************************************** 23 A-bomb victims outside Japan deserve health-care allowance asahi.com news Dealing with the estimated 5,000 victims of atomic bombings living on the Korean Peninsula, in the United States, Brazil and other countries is one of the biggest problems still remaining from the war. June 6, 2001 The Osaka District Court has ruled that all victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II are eligible for public assistance no matter where they reside. The court said the government's practice of limiting assistance to residents of Japan was against the spirit of the atomic-bomb survivors assistance law. The way is now clear for extending aid to A-bomb victims living abroad. Kwak Kwi Hun, the 76-year-old Korean plaintiff in the lawsuit against the government, was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and was serving as a Japanese soldier in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. Kwak returned to Japan in 1998 for medical treatment and obtained a hibakusha health card, which entitled him to medical treatment at public expense. He also qualified to receive a health-care allowance. However, when he left Japan soon afterward, he lost the medical treatment entitlement and his allowance payments were suspended. Kwak obtained health cards on six occasions. Not surprisingly, he concluded it was unreasonable that he should receive benefits as an A-bomb victim while in Japan but was disqualified from public assistance when he was away. In its ruling, the district court agreed the policy was discriminatory and without justification. Furthermore, the court said, it risked violating Article 14 of the Constitution that provides for equality for all. The fundamental spirit of the law, according to the court, is to assist victims of nuclear bombings regardless of their current residence. The government had argued that in principle administrative laws are only in effect in Japan. If the government were to stick to such a rigid interpretation of the law, it would not be able to live up to the spirit of the law. Dealing with the estimated 5,000 victims of atomic bombings living on the Korean Peninsula, in the United States, Brazil and other countries is one of the biggest problems still remaining from the war. In particular, one cannot consider the 2,200 victims in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the 930 victims in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) without also reflecting on the history of Japan's colonial rule of Korea before and during the war. These people were, in effect, doubly victimized. And thus the government has an especially strong duty to help them. The South Korean fund for victims of atomic bombings, which was set up with 4 billion yen paid out by the Japanese government, is running out. South Koreans are also concerned about how to help out the children of atomic bomb victims. The arrangements for undergoing medical treatment in Japan, made in the 1980s, have also been suspended and people in need are being helped by fund-raising efforts by activist groups in the private sector. The Japanese government should not ignore this situation and instead take necessary steps without delay. In April, members of the Diet organized a supraparty group to lobby for the extension of the A-bomb survivors assistance law to victims in foreign countries. The time appears to be ripe for a solution to the problem. The victims in foreign countries are generally old and many of them are needy. There is little time left for them. The A-bomb survivors assistance law was enacted in 1994, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs. Activist groups had been pushing for it for many years. Its preamble expresses the government's determination to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons and to give assistance to the victims with public funds. Offering relief to all the victims of the atomic bombs, wherever they may be, is one way to put that law to good use. (The Asahi Shimbun, June 5) Copyright 2001 Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************