***************************************************************** 09/06/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.214 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 US Energy Department starts nuclear waste site hearings 2 Vocal Nevadans Trash Nuclear Waste Plan 3 Rally's turnout low, but emotions run high 4 NUCLEAR WASTE PLAN: Angry Las Vegans blast DOE 5 Nevada residents say they don't want nation's nuclear waste 6 Government secrets 7 German cabinet passes bill on phasing out nuclear energy 8 Editorial: Abraham's no-show is par for the course 9 Locals rip DOE hearing 10 Israeli Minister Warns Pentagon of Iranian Nuclear Plants, Hints at Strike 11 Guinn to take Yucca case to Bush 12 Daily Events Report 13 IAEA Daily Press Review 14 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Thursday, September 06, 2001 15 Energy Department hosts public hearings on Yucca Mountain 16 Public Citizen to DOE: Don't Make Yucca Mountain a Nuclear Waste Dump 17 Nevada residents say they don't want nation's nuclear waste 18 EDITORIAL: Yucca hearings 19 Japan urge tangible progress on nuclear issue with Pakistan 20 MHI in Westinghouse reactor accord 21 Fighting the remnants of the machine NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Thousands in U.S. will die, ex-presidential hopeful says 2 Army unsure about appealing Herlog ruling 3 ORNL gets 'organized' 4 What lies ahead for lab workers? 5 Nunn urges better preparedness to counter terror threats 6 Paul Parson: High hopes for compensation plan may bring 7 Nuclear Tests Not Planned, Chinese Diplomat Says ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 US Energy Department starts nuclear waste site hearings By Nancy Dunne in Washington and Julie Earle in New York Published: September 5 2001 20:09 | Last Updated: September 6 2001 01:04 The US Energy Department on Wednesday launched a set of hearings on the suitability of its proposed nuclear waste repository, an essential step in its drive to boost the nuclear power industry. Washington has been debating a storage site for radioactive nuclear fuel since 1982. Nine sites were considered but in 1987, the choice fell on Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Billions of dollars have since been spent to study and develop the site. Exelon, the largest nuclear operator in the US, on Wednesday said the nuclear repository issue must be resolved soon or plans to build new plants could be hampered. "Disposition of used fuel is a huge issue and could impact on investment decisions," said Craig Nesbit, a company spokesman. The Chicago-based company said in May it hoped to announce construction of a new nuclear plant within 12 months. If the plant went ahead it would be the first new nuclear plant built in the US in 20 years. The Yucca Mountain site is fiercely opposed in Nevada. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate whip, said he was "gravely concerned" about the hundreds of trains and trucks carrying radioactive materials from other states across the country and Nevada. An aide to the senator said that the first hearing, initially to be held at a Las Vegas hotel and casino, had been moved to an energy department installation surrounded by barbed wire to discourage protests. Nuclear waste is now stored at the sites of nuclear plants, and Mr Reid believes the spent fuel can continue to be stored there in the same special caskets the industry proposes to use to transport the wastes. Mr Nesbit said a central repository "makes the most sense" and that "the only strong opposition" was from Nevada. He said the industry had contributed $15bn in the past 20 years to the establishing of a single nuclear repository. "Do you want 70 sites with high level waste being stored or just one site? It is puzzling why people continue to focus on the minimal risk of transporting nuclear waste." ***************************************************************** 2 Vocal Nevadans Trash Nuclear Waste Plan September 6, 2001 , From Associated Press LAS VEGAS -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn began a key hearing Wednesday night on a proposal to bury the nation's nuclear waste about 90 miles from the Las Vegas Strip with harsh criticism and a vow to take his complaints to President Bush. Guinn called the Department of Energy hearing premature and irresponsible because it was based on "scientific evidence that is not complete and has not been made public to me nor to the people in this room." Guinn shrugged off a letter from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham extending for 15 days the public comment period on the proposal to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste deep beneath a volcanic ridge at Yucca Mountain. "I assure you my outrage . . . will be detailed in letters directly to Secretary Abraham and the president," the Republican governor said. He earned repeated applause from a partisan, standing-room-only crowd of more than 250 packed into the hearing room at the DOE offices. More than 170 others were seated in an adjacent cafeteria and about 70 more followed the proceedings by teleconference in Reno, Elko and Carson City. Speakers in favor of the Yucca Mountain site were interrupted with jeers and catcalls. At one point, the moderator threatened to cut off testimony if the crowd did not allow a pro-nuclear Utah resident to continue his remarks. Gary Sandquist, professor of nuclear and mechanical engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, said he was invited to speak by the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group for the energy industry. "Are you willing to give up 20% of your electricity?" Sandquist asked the crowd. He said one-fifth of the nation's power is nuclear. "Let's be practical. We've got the waste; we've got to put it somewhere." But the sentiment in the room was overwhelmingly opposed to the dump site. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told the cheering crowd he would personally arrest any truck driver hauling radioactive waste through his city to the dump site. Scientists say the storage site would remain radioactive for more than 10,000 years. For information about reprinting this article, go to http://www.lats.com/rights/register.htm Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 3 Rally's turnout low, but emotions run high LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Yucca Mountain protest signs adorn the parking lot during a rally Wednesday outside of the Department of Energy's Nevada Operations Building. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett. Thursday, September 06, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By JOE WESSELS REVIEW-JOURNAL A wide assortment of politicians and protesters massed Wednesday in North Las Vegas to send the message that Nevada doesn't want a nuclear waste repository. But few spoke as clearly and forcefully as the blond-haired boy toting a sign that read, "Don't gamble with my future." "All the people who want to dump at Yucca Mountain are idiots," 10-year-old Orrin Medlin said. "Well, I hope it gets stopped. If it doesn't, I'm going to get really mad." The groups that organized the rally acknowledged disappointment with the number of people who attended it. About 60 empty parking spaces had been set aside for protesters outside the Department of Energy building. As activists distributed pamphlets at one end of the parking lot, classic rock cover band Rock Steady entertained a crowd of about 100 at the other end of the lot. In between, there was nothing but empty space and a few stragglers. "We had two days' notice and the wrong address," Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force Executive Director Judy Treichel said in reference to a Federal Register entry in which the Energy Department listed a nonexistent address as the site of the meeting. Wenonah Hauter of Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C., anti-nuclear group, said opponents of the proposed nuclear waste repository could have mustered a far better turnout had the Energy Department not scheduled the hearing on such short notice. The Energy Department on Aug. 21 released a preliminary site suitability report on Yucca Mountain. And the public hearing was switched to the department's North Las Vegas office after Suncoast officials decided last week that they could not accommodate the expected crowds. "It's Labor Day weekend. People were on vacation. We should've had three months' notice for a meeting like this," Hauter said. Despite the low attendance, organizers said they were otherwise pleased with the two-hour event. "I think it was a great success," said Kalynda Tilges of Citizen Alert. "Success is going to be when the Department of Energy does the right thing." Leaders from various organizations represented at the rally took to the stage between rock tunes to share their thoughts, occasionally yielding to one of the politicians present for the meeting. Some in the crowd carried large signs, while other just listened quietly. Brett Buerger and Gregor Gable, dressed as a judge and kangaroo, respectively, likened the federal government's treatment of the Yucca Mountain project to a kangaroo court. Roger McGarvie, Rock Steady's lead guitar player and keyboardist, said he fears the repository will prove far more dangerous than the federal government allows. "As a native Las Vegan, I'm completely against it. I don't think it's stable ground," he said. "The (Nevada) Test Site has already ruined enough land." Former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan made an appearance to a mostly welcoming crowd. He said the repository will be defeated only if Nevada residents unite in opposition. "What the public is doing is the right thing," Bryan said shortly before addressing the crowd. "Nevada's best thing going is the public." During his speech, one protester heckled Bryan. "You sold us at 87 percent," shouted Christopher Hanson of the Independent American political party. Hanson said he was referring to the amount of Nevada land now controlled by the federal government. He and his son held signs reading, "Nevada is not an Indian reservation" and "Nevada knows best for Nevada." Hanson said his political party vehemently opposes the proposed nuclear waste dump. He said state officials should use any available legal means to challenge the federal government's proposed use of the land. "They're stealing our rights," he said. Atop a small hill nearby, all six telephone lines stayed busy as KXNT radio aired its afternoon talk show. Host Alan Stock said most callers were not as concerned about nuclear waste being stored at Yucca Mountain as they were about the prospect of the waste being transported through the state on its way to the proposed facility about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "People are passionate about this," Stock said during a commercial break. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 4 NUCLEAR WASTE PLAN: Angry Las Vegans blast DOE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Mayor Oscar Goodman testifies Wednesday during the U.S. Department of Energy Public Hearing on the Possible Site Recommendation of Yucca Mountain. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Las Vegas residents, from left, Jean Treichel, Alicia Diaz, Michelle Marchese and Baron Schlegel work their way Wednesday into a standing-room-only venue at the start of the U.S. Department of Energy Public Hearing on the Possible Site Recommendation of Yucca Mountain. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Harry Sontag of Las Vegas shouts a comment from his seat Wednesday during the U.S. Department of Energy Public Hearing on the Possible Site Recommendation of Yucca Mountain. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Rally's turnout low, but emotions run high Thursday, September 06, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal NUCLEAR WASTE PLAN: Angry Las Vegans blast DOE Political leaders, residents speak out against Yucca Mountain project By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL In a hearing that was tense and packed with emotion, a long list of speakers led by Gov. Kenny Guinn and Nevada's congressional delegation on Wednesday night lambasted the Department of Energy's plans to bury the nation's most lethal nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. "This is honest, constructive and impassioned public input on an issue that is paramount to the health and safety of every Nevadan, and every American whose home, school or place of business sits along the proposed paths that the deadliest substance on Earth, if DOE has its way, will be brought to Nevada," Guinn said at the hearing in North Las Vegas. "We in Nevada will not stand for it," Guinn told the crowd of more than 300 that filled the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration's meeting room and spilled into the hallway. Hundreds of other people in a nearby room watched the proceedings on television. Gatherings in Carson City, Reno and Elko viewed the hearing on closed-circuit television. A total of 132 people signed up to speak at the hearing that began shortly after 6 p.m. Fewer than three dozen people had spoken by 11 p.m. As Guinn spoke, anti-nuclear demonstrators inside the hearing room held signs that said, "What does an active volcano do?" and "Why screw the Indians again?" Guinn welcomed the support. "Unlike many of the policy battles that grip Washington, this fight transcends party affiliation, socioeconomic classes, race or gender and galvanizes Nevadans from every corner of this state in opposition," he said. Two-thirds of those in the room gave the governor a standing ovation as he castigated the federal plan to haul 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste to the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, where safety guidelines require that it must be contained for at least 10,000 years. The plan to accomplish that feat, transporting the waste by trucks and trains for disposal in a maze of tunnels deep within the ridge, is predicated on lies, said Corbin Harney, a Western Shoshone who described the mountain as a snake that's constantly moving. "Underneath, hot water is going to cause a lot of friction in that tunnel," he said. Shortly before the hearing began, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who will review 20 years of scientific work this fall to decide if the site is suitable, sent letters to Nevada's members of Congress informing them that he would extend the period for written comments by 15 days, until Oct. 5. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. was joined by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., in testifying at the hearing via television from Washington, D.C. Reid criticized the hearing process, saying people had to pass DOE checkpoints to reach the facility and some were told they wouldn't be allowed to speak until after midnight. "What kind of a hearing is this?" he asked. "This is not a fair hearing. This has been unfair from the very beginning. "I don't believe President Bush knows how the people of the state of Nevada have been treated," Reid said, noting that transporting spent nuclear fuel to Nevada from reactor sites across the country will touch nearly every corner of the nation. "Forty-six states will have this poisonous substance passing by their schools, businesses and bedrooms," Reid said. Ensign urged the Energy Department to keep the waste at reactor sites while scientists continue to pursue less dangerous solutions. "We have to look at new technology for recycling this waste," Ensign said, calling the estimated $60 billion Yucca Mountain geologic disposal effort "the most expensive construction project in the history of this world." Gibbons said it is "the single most controversial project in Nevada's history, past and present." He said extending the comment period by 15 days was not adequate. "We should have been given a 60-day extension at least," he said. "The bottom line is, whether it's five years, 50 years or 40,000 years, disaster is a real possibility in this project," Gibbons said. Berkley said the federal government should accept that the Yucca Mountain Project is fundamentally flawed. "As a country, we must stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Instead of trying to change the rules and dance around the law, we should immediately begin the decommissioning of the Yucca Mountain Project," she said. Not all speakers were opposed to the project. Bill Vasconi, co-chairman of the nonprofit Nevada Nuclear Waste Study Committee, said Yucca Mountain "is a viable solution to the nation's nuclear waste concerns." "I don't think the location can be better," he said in an interview prior to the speech that was interrupted by hecklers. He said Nevada's politicians, instead of opposing the planned repository, should explore financial concessions that could be extracted from the federal government. For instance, he said the project could benefit the state's educational system. "There's opportunity for a railroad system and infrastructure that would alleviate nuclear waste coming through the greater Las Vegas area," he said. His stance was mirrored by Gary Sandquist, an engineering professor at the University of Utah, and State Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, however, said he would personally arrest anyone who drives a truck with a cargo of high-level nuclear waste through the city. "If they can't tell us we're safe, how dare they tell us they're bringing this crap here," Goodman said. "Let's see the driver try to get out of jail in my city." John Wells, speaking for the Western Shoshone National Council, said the federal government has shown it cannot be trusted to fairly evaluate the suitability of Yucca Mountain. "We believe that the DOE does not want to know the truth," Wells said. "For the DOE, their truth is from an origin in a culture of secrecy." Pam Holden, of Las Vegas, brought her three daughters to the hearing "to make them aware of the environment and their community. I want them to understand this is something they're going to have to address in their lives," she said, with daughters, Kevyn, 11, Kylee, 9, and Taylor, 4, at her side. "They should not put that in Yucca Mountain because it can make people have cancer and die," Kylee Holden said. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 5 Nevada residents say they don't want nation's nuclear waste By Ken Ritter ASSOCIATED PRESS September 6, 2001 NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev.  Southern Nevada residents made it clear during an 8½-hour hearing that they don't want the nation's nuclear waste buried beneath a mountain about 90 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. "I really want people to understand there are better places to do what they're doing," said Lou deBottari, a Carson City, Nev., resident and engineer. deBottari offered a detailed critique late Wednesday of the Department of Energy's 481-plus page preliminary environmental study on the Yucca Mountain project. He said that leaving spent nuclear fuel in dry casks at the more than 100 commercial, industrial and military sites around the country would be safer than shipping it and entombing it at a volcanic ridge at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site. However, opposition during the marathon Energy Department public hearing wasn't unanimous. Wayne King Sr. jammed speaker receipt No. 106 into his pocket as he strode to the podium wearing a white baseball cap with "Yucca Yes" in red letters and a yellow golf shirt with a Teamsters union logo on his chest. "Yucca Mountain is a project that's going to bring jobs," King declared. He was answered by grumbles from the partisan audience fighting fatigue and attrition in the seventh hour of the hearing  but determined to fight the idea that Nevada should accept the nation's 77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. The next speaker, Steve Chase, a former Teamster turned Las Vegas art gallery owner, won cheers from the 50 people still in the room when he followed King the podium about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Some 123 people registered to speak. More than two-thirds did. "The only reasons I've heard to put it here are for jobs or for business," said Chase, who had drawn the universal circle-and-slash "No" sign over the "Yucca Yes" lettering on the cap he got at the hearing room door. "Since this might be the last opportunity, I just wanted to make it abundantly clear they do not have my permission put nuclear waste here," Chase said. Gov. Kenny Guinn kicked off the crucial public hearing about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with harsh criticism for the Energy Department's decision-making process and its proposal to haul the nation's radioactive commercial, industrial and military waste to Nevada. He called Wednesday's first of three hearings in communities near the Yucca Mountain site premature and irresponsible, saying they were based on incomplete scientific evidence. The Republican governor shrugged off a Wednesday letter from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham extending for 15 days the public comment period on the proposal. The deadline for written, faxed or e-mailed comment was pushed back from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5. "I assure you my outrage ... will be detailed in letters directly to Secretary Abraham and the president," Guinn said to applause from a standing-room crowd of more than 250 packed into a DOE hearing room in North Las Vegas. More than 170 others squeezed into an adjacent cafeteria, while another 70-plus followed the proceedings by teleconference in Reno, Elko and Carson City. Speakers favoring the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository were jeered until the moderator threatened to cut off testimony if the crowd didn't let a pro-nuclear Utah resident speak. Uniformed North Las Vegas police officers joined Energy Department security guards at the doors, but no arrests were made. Gary Sandquist, professor of nuclear and mechanical engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, said he was invited to speak by the Nuclear Energy Institute, an energy industry lobbying group. "Are you willing to give up 20 percent of your electricity?" Sandquist asked the crowd. He said one-fifth of the nation's power is nuclear. "Let's be practical. We've got the waste, we've got to put it somewhere." Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman whipped the cheering crowd into a frenzy and a standing ovation with a threat to personally arrest any truck driver hauling radioactive waste through his city to the dump site. John Wells, a representative of the Western Shoshone Indian National Council, said his tribe has been victimized by years of nuclear testing in its ancestral homeland. "We have experienced the adverse health, social and economic effects of radioactive contamination downwind from the Nevada Test Site," said Wells, one of eight Shoshone and Paiute Indian speakers on Wednesday. "Our unfortunate experience ... informs our policy against the proposed high level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain." Guinn recalled Energy Department promises a half century ago that nuclear testing was safe. "Since that time," the governor said, "the DOE admitted that testing the hydrogen bomb at Yucca Flats caused innocent Americans to die  and that cancer benefits should be paid." He said Nevada could no longer trust the federal government, saying, "We have learned from the past and we are not about to repeat the past." Abraham will consider the testimony before recommending to President Bush by the end of this year whether the site is suitable to begin accepting nuclear waste in 2010. The project has been projected to cost $58 billion over 100 years. If Abraham recommends the dump be built and Bush gives the project the go-ahead but Nevada opposes it, as expected, the decision will be sent to Congress for debate and a vote. © Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 6 Government secrets 09/05/2001 - Updated 08:04 PM ET Should the same government that conducted outrageous radiation and biological-warfare experiments on unwitting citizens have the power to hide such abuses? Should the appalling safety violations committed in the government's manufacture of nuclear weapons and power plants be forever hushed up? Strange as it sounds, powerful members of Congress are again pushing legislation that would give the executive branch a new tool to hide its mistakes permanently. Their steamroller stalled this week when the Bush administration asked for more time to study the issue. That delay will best serve the public if it kills off the idea of enacting this "official secrets act," which would turn whistle-blowing into a felony. Even in the darkest days of World War II or the most tense moments of the Cold War there was no serious consideration of such a law. But zealots on the Senate and House Intelligence committees keep insisting the country is in dire peril because of a torrent of leaks of classified information. Like what, for instance? Their usual answer is that they can't say: It's a secret. Nor can they defend the need for this law when it's already a felony to harm national security by leaking classified defense-related material. But the proposed change would go further: threatening government employees with up to 3 years in prison for willfully disclosing nearly any classified information, potentially expanding the definition of classifiable material and removing the need to prove national security was harmed by a leak. Bureaucrats already classify an estimated 8 million documents a year. And information often stays classified long after any reasonable justification has passed, including still-secret biographies of long-dead communist biggies or an old recipe for disappearing ink. The most likely effect of such a law would be to encourage even wider use of secret classifications by nervous bureaucrats while silencing anyone wanting to expose wrongdoing that's being hidden from the public. As one of the few members of Congress who has spoken against it, Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., said, "It would silence whistleblowers in a way that has never before come before this body." Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill, called it giving the executive branch "a blank check to criminalize any leaking they do not like." Now that the administration has rightly put the brakes on this ill-conceived legislation, it's time to stop it altogether. Copyright 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 7 German cabinet passes bill on phasing out nuclear energy AFX News Limited ( September 05, 2001 ) BERLIN (AFX) - The cabinet has passed a draft bill on phasing out atomic power, and parliament is now to examine the proposal, Agence France-Presse reported. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's centre-left government and leading energy firms signed an agreement in June to phase out the use of nuclear energy, involving closure of most of Germany's 19 nuclear power plants, by about 2018. The agreement also bans from 2005 the export of nuclear waste, although it sets no fixed deadline for waste being returned to the country.       Copyright 2001 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 8 Editorial: Abraham's no-show is par for the course Las Vegas SUN: Today: September 06, 2001 at 9:37:43 PDT It was a bad move by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to miss Wednesday's public comment hearing in North Las Vegas on the Yucca Mountain Project. Abraham knew he would get an earful from Nevada residents if he attended, but isn't that what a representative democracy is all about? His absence reconfirms the public perception -- and reality -- that the U.S. Department of Energy couldn't care less about the concerns of Nevadans, and that it also will ignore sound scientific evidence that shows how dangerous it is to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Abraham claimed that he needed to be in Washington for Mexican President Vicente Fox's visit. Apparently President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell just couldn't handle this on their own, and needed Abraham for his diplomatic skills. Then again, that can't be the reason, because if Abraham truly understood the art of diplomacy, he would have been here in Southern Nevada listening to the concerns of Nevadans, instead of hiding out thousands of miles away. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 9 Locals rip DOE hearing Photos: Sen. Harry Reid via satellite | Kenny Guinn | Mayor Oscar Goodman | Jean Treichel Las Vegas SUN Today: September 06, 2001 at 11:28:02 PDT Pro-nuke speakers get first shot; more than 100 leave without speaking By Mary Manning and Jace Radke Saunnie Michael waited patiently. Wednesday ended and today began. She waited some more. Michael, scheduled as the 69th person to speak during a public hearing to address a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, listened as a Utah man, a university professor, explained his support for the repository. The public comment of the hearing, held at the Department of Energy's Nevada Operations Office in North Las Vegas, began at 6 p.m. Five hours later just 36 people -- many of whom were elected officials -- had used their allotted five minutes to opine on the controversial project. Of the first nine residents on DOE's list, six supported the Yucca project. Their testimony continued until 9:30 p.m. The hearing attracted more than 500 residents, who by 4 p.m. had begun gathering at the DOE facility at 232 Energy Way. By 10 p.m. more than 100 had become impatient and left the meeting. That was the DOE's plan, said Nuclear Waste Task Force Director Judy Treichel. "We're not that dumb," she said. "We know these people (proponents of the dump) were brought in. This is insane. This is not the way to conduct a public hearing." DOE spokesman Allen Benson said 36 individuals or groups had reserved a spot prior to the hearing. "It is on a first-come, first-served basis," he said. Nathan Naylor, spokesman for Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, said the DOE apparently "stacked the deck" in favor of Yucca supporters. "The whole thing was stacked up and down against getting a fair summary of public opinion," Naylor said. "We're going to watch the people who are running these things. This should not happen next time." Public hearings are also scheduled Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley and Sept. 13 in Pahrump. The pace of the meeting, which continued for 8 1/2 hours, was slowed even further as people attending similar hearings being held simultaneously in Carson City, Reno and Elko, were given an opportunity to speak. Gary Sandquist, the Utah professor and the second speaker of the night, said he had been asked to attend the meeting by the Nuclear Energy Institute, which has hired former Gov. Robert List to represent businesses and labor unions in Nevada on behalf of the nuclear industry. Michael didn't allow Sandquist to finish, however. The 38-year-old Las Vegas resident and dealer at the Mirage interrupted the speaker several times. She was not alone, as others joined in to chide the professor. "It just infuriates me that you have all these people here to speak and some guy from Utah goes first," Michael said. "I have to go to work and didn't have time to wait. I'm just so angry, and from now on I'm going to tell people that sit down at my table at work about Yucca Mountain, and the poison that's going to be rolling through their towns." Michael did get her chance to speak -- at 12:30 a.m. The suggestion that the DOE is ignoring public safety concerns was a consistent theme Wednesday night and this morning. "'Sound science' is the Washington political establishment's favorite buzz word," Las Vegas resident Andy Harris said. "It is used for one thing: to screw Nevada." "You've had 14 years to prepare for these hearings, and this is the best you can do?" Abby Johnson, nuclear waste coordinator for Eureka County in northeastern Nevada, asked. "You bungled these hearings, and you want us to believe you can handle nuclear waste safely?" Johnson said. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who also spoke Wednesday night, threatened to arrest anyone who attempts to haul nuclear waste through the city of Las Vegas. "The most dangerous thing you can give to an old criminal defense lawyer is a badge," Goodman said. "Don't dare me because I'll be out there to make the arrest myself, and let's see that truck driver try to get out of jail in my city." Gov. Kenny Guinn, the first speaker Wednesday, criticized the DOE's premise as it relates to the hearing process. He said the process is unfair because an environmental impact study on the Yucca project has yet to be completed. What's more, he said the timing of 370-page Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation, released Aug. 21, interfered with the public's ability to comment. Guinn vowed to take the fight to President Bush and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who is expected to decide later this year whether to recommend Yucca Mountain as a repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's waste. Abraham, citing scheduling conflicts, did not attend Wednesday's meeting. "Public comment in the absence of this all-important evidence is premature and grossly irresponsible," Guinn said. "We demand fairness, and we demand accountability in this process. We will not sit idly by and let the Department of Energy run roughshod over our citizens with empty promises and bad science." The DOE did agree to extend the public comment period 15 days to Oct. 5, but Guinn, Reid and Clark County Commission Chair Dario Herrera said they will petition Bush for a 60-day extension. Wednesday's hearing was originally scheduled at the Suncoast, but hotel officials, citing security concerns, canceled the meeting. DOE Undersecretary Robert G. Card, the highest ranking federal official to attend Wednesday's meeting, said the DOE site was adequate. "We would have preferred not to have it here," Card said of the North Las Vegas complex, which is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. "We've had many interesting difficulties with this meeting. Let's just leave it at that." The state's elected officials, not to mention its residents, would rather not. Craig Walton, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas ethics professor, said the meeting was poorly managed. The DOE made it difficult for the public to express its concerns, he said. "The horrible thing is, it's like going to the sideshow in the circus," he said. "You know you're going to see a lot of creepy things." Western Shoshone and Paiute tribal leaders, also in attendance, complained that they were not considered as representing sovereign nations. "Our unfortunate experience as downwind victims informs our policy against the proposed high level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain no matter how much has been spent," Western Shoshone National Council spokesman John Wells said. Reid, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., commented from Washington via a video link. The Nevada delegation expressed their disappointment over Abraham's absence. "I don't think President Bush knows how the people in Nevada are being treated in this process, but this delegation will be informing him," Reid said. Reid also criticized the DOE for not publicizing the routes to be taken by trains and trucks transporting the waste. "They won't tell us which railways and highways this poison will be transported on because it will be going by houses and schools. They have to have an environmental impact study for that, and I don't think they can do it." About 40 people, including Guinn's wife Dema, Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, and former Sen. Ernie Adler, a Carson City Democrat, attended the meeting in the capital. Only four people registered to speak. About a dozen people attended the Reno hearing, including Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa. Five people signed up to speak on the Yucca project. Photos: Sen. Harry Reid via satellite | Kenny Guinn | Mayor Oscar Goodman | Jean Treichel All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 10 Israeli Minister Warns Pentagon of Iranian Nuclear Plants, Hints at Strike With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story... Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 Informed sources in Washington tell NewsMax that when Israeli Defense Minister Director General Amos Yaron visited the Pentagon during the last week of August, he raised Israeli concerns about Iran's growing capabilities to build nuclear weapons. With the help of Russian scientists, Iran has made dramatic advances - and is believed to be far ahead of neighbors like Iraq in building new weapons of mass destruction. That worries the Israelis. The last time Israel was confronted with such a problem, it acted. In 1981, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered air strikes against Iraq's Osirak nuclear facilities. One source reveals that an Israeli strike on Iran's facilities is all but certain and that Yaron has hinted strongly it may just happen. Israel will likely tie any action against these facilities with a broader air attack on Iranian-backed missile units now operating in Lebanon. In recent months, the Israeli government has been carefully linking Iran to anti-military activities in Lebanon in a carefully crafted PR strategy to demonstrate to the world that Iran is no innocent bystander, but a partner with key Arab countries, like Syria, bent on destroying Israel. Take, for example, New York Post Uri Dan's column of Aug. 26, entitled "Iran Exporting Its Brand of Terror to the Border." Dan is considered a long-time member of Ariel Sharon's kitchen Cabinet. Dan begins, "Iran has turned central and southern Lebanon into a powder keg with a devastating arsenal of 8,000 Katyusha rockets." He adds that Iran has actually put members of its Revolutionary Guard in control of missile units that have a long range and can hit Tel Aviv. Dan also alleges that Iran and Syria are coordinating military moves to "open a second front" against Israel if the Palestinian crisis blows. When Israel strikes against these missiles, expected a broader sweep, which will include air strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran. NewsMax.com Privacy Statement ***************************************************************** 11 Guinn to take Yucca case to Bush Angry Nevadans confront feds at hearing By Elaine Goodman Reno Gazette-Journal Thursday September 6th, 2001 Nevada politicians and residents at teleconference sites in Reno and Carson City Wednesday night blasted a proposal to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas. “Disaster is a very real possibility with this project,” said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who called the proposal “irresponsible and misguided.” Gov. Kenny Guinn began the hearing with harsh criticism and a vow to take his complaints to President Bush. “I assure you my outrage … will be detailed in letters directly to (Energy Secretary Spencer) Abraham and the president,” the Republican governor said. The comments from officials were just a warm-up for fiery speeches from other speakers, who mostly opposed the nuclear dump. Residents also made comments from teleconference sites in Reno, Carson City and Elko. Several speakers said Nevada has already endured nuclear testing and shouldn’t be subjected to the nuclear waste. “How many Nevadans already suffer from cancer at the hands of the federal government?” said Reno resident Julia Hammett , whose father has lymphoma. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told the crowd he would personally arrest any truck driver hauling radioactive waste through his city. “Let’s see the driver try to get out of jail in my city,” Goodman said. About 20 residents gathered at the teleconference site at the Desert Research Institute in Reno. In southern Nevada, hundreds packed the hearing room at the Department of Energy offices in North Las Vegas. Yucca Mountain is 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Hecklers interrupted speakers in favor of the Yucca Mountain site. At one point, the moderator threatened to cut off testimony if the boisterous crowd didn’t allow a pro-nuclear Utah resident to finish his remarks. The speaker said nuclear waste is a consequence of nuclear power, which accounts for 20 percent of energy supplies. He said he doubted many residents would be willing to give up electricity. Wednesday’s Department of Energy hearing was criticized by officials who said residents needed more time to read the department’s Aug. 21 report on the Yucca Mountain site. Other hearings will be Sept. 12 at 5 p.m. at the Longstreet Inn and Casino in Armagosa Valley and Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. at the Bob Ruud Community Center in Pahrump. U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., Gibbons and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., tried to get the meeting postponed and sent a letter last week asking Abraham to attend. Abraham declined. Undersecretary, Robert G. Card did attend, though he offered no comment on the proceedings. The hearing, almost 20 years in coming, provided a focal point for a long-running debate in Nevada about the safety of the proposed nuclear repository. The Energy Department has spent almost $7 billion studying and drilling at Yucca Mountain, as well as testing methods of storing spent fuel pellets in specially designed casks some 1,000 feet underground. The mountain was formed from volcanic ash deposits about 13 million years ago, and there are volcanic cones in the area. Some opponents of the repository worry the area could become seismically active again. Department engineers say groundwater is 1,000 feet below the mined “drifts” drilled beneath the 1,200-foot-high, 6-mile-long humpback ridge. Scientists say the storage site would remain radioactive for more than 10,000 years. However, Energy Department studies concluded that no more than 4 millirem of radiation would leak per year into area groundwater and overall radiation from all sources from the site would not exceed 15 millirem. A standard chest X-ray emits 10 millirem or less. The hearing is the first of three set by the Energy Department. Others are scheduled Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley, the community nearest the mountain and Sept. 13 in Pahrump, a community in Nye County west of the site. If Abraham recommends the dump be built and Bush gives the go-ahead on the project, but Nevada opposes it -- as expected -- the decision will be sent to Congress for debate and a vote. The state Legislature this year approved spending $1 million and Clark County officials are considering adding another $1 million for a public relations campaign, that would call attention in other states to what opponents say is the danger of transporting nuclear waste to Nevada. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce opposes the proposal and the city’s hotel and casino industry is planning to fund the campaign, too. The Energy Department has said that since Yucca Mountain has not been selected as the repository site, it cannot address transportation concerns. With Associated Press reports. More hearings: Sept. 12 at 5 p.m. at the Longstreet Inn and Casino in Armagosa Valley. Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. at the Bob Ruud Community Center in Pahrump. © Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 12 Daily Events Report U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Operations Center Event Reports For 09/05/2001 09/06/2001 ** EVENT NUMBERS ** 38192 !!!!!!!!! THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RETRACTED. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RETRACTED !!!!!!! Power Reactor Event Number: 38192 FACILITY: TURKEY POINT REGION: 2 NOTIFICATION DATE: 08/08/2001 UNIT: [] [4] [] STATE: FL NOTIFICATION TIME: 22:42[EDT] RXTYPE: [3] W 3 LP,[4] W 3 LP EVENT DATE: 08/08/2001 EVENT TIME: 19:00[EDT] NRC NOTIFIED BY: ROBERT GOODIN LAST UPDATE DATE: 09/05/2001 HQ OPS OFFICER: STEVE SANDIN PERSON ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY CLASS: NON EMERGENCY CAUDLE JULIAN R2 10 CFR SECTION: NONR OTHER UNSPEC REQMNT UNIT SCRAM CODERX CRITINIT PWR INIT RX MODE CURR PWR CURR RX MODE 4 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation EVENT TEXT STARTUP TRANSFORMER (SUT) AND 4A EMERGENCY DIESEL GENERATOR (EDG) BOTH INOPERABLE Unit 4 Startup Transformer (SUT) and 4A EDG were both inoperable for 3 hours, 40 minutes on 08/08/01. This was discovered after the fact at 1900 hours on 08/08/01 while investigating a failure of the 4A EDG ventilation system. The 4A EDG was restored to operable status at 1920 hours on 08/08/01. The Unit 4 SUT was taken out of service at 0800 0n 08/08/01 for planned maintenance. The SUT on Unit 4 was returned to operable status at 1140 hours on 08/08/01. The NRC Resident Inspector was notified of this event by the licensee. * * * UPDATE ON 9/5/01 @ 1734 BY MORRIS TO GOULD * * * RETRACTION The licensee is retracting the notification made on August 8, 2001, in which it was reported that the Unit 4 Startup Transformer and the 4A Emergency Diesel Generator (EDG) were both inoperable (NRC Event Report 38192). The licensee has determined that the failure of the 4A EDG ventilation system did not make the 4A EDG inoperable. Therefore, there was no time during which the 4A EDG and the Unit 4 Startup Transformer were simultaneously inoperable. The NRC Resident Inspector will be notified. Notified Reg 2 RDO(Monninger) ***************************************************************** 13 IAEA Daily Press Review IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-09-06 Number 170 1. Non-proliferation Contradictory articles on Russia's stand on US MD plan. Bush administration warns that congressional opposition to its MD proposal could hamper efforts to reach agreement with Russia to end ABM treaty. US is studying plan for MD in Middle East in cooperation with its regional allies. US administration moves to clarify conflicting statements on China's nuclear and missile programme. China does not plan nuclear tests, diplomat says. China would modernize its military, regardless of whether US move ahead with construction of MD system. Chinese military delegation to visit India. (CNN; DAW; FT; G; NYT; WP - 6/9) China; Egypt; India; Russian Federation; United States of America 2. Nuclear power German cabinet passes bill on phasing out nuclear energy. European Parliament approves generally positive evaluation of Czech NPP Temelin, but recommends to at least consider possibility of its closure. Armenian NPP telephones cut off because of debt. (HAN; R - 5/9) Armenia; Czech Republic; EU; Germany 3. Radiation, health UK parents have been warned of cancer risks from mobiles. South Australia medical institutions were receiving payments for 30 years for sending bones of more than 3000 dead babies and children for radiation contamination testing. (R - 5/9) Australia; United Kingdom 4. Radwaste, fuel US Energy Department starts nuclear waste site hearings. (FT - 6/9) United States of America 5. Energy, environment US Environmental Protection Agency identifies "significantly increased output' from country's NPPs as helping to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions. (NUC - 5/9) United States of America 6. R New US 'cold fusion' experiment produces mysterious results. United States of America 7. UN Delegates to UN Racism Conference battle to find compromise declaration. Article on implementation of UN 'oil-for food' programme and Iraqi Kurds' views on so-called 'smart sanctions'. (BBC - 6/9) Iraq; South Africa 8. Miscellaneous International nuclear law school opens in France. Russian radio lists six sunken nuclear submarines. Submarine 'Kursk' salvage faces further problems. The Earth has become greener in the last 20 years due to global warming. Warning on fruit and vegetable pesticide danger. Aids vaccine 'in sight'. (BBC; G; K; NUC; R - 4, 5, 6/8) France; Russian Federation; United States of America; WORLDWIDE ***************************************************************** 14 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Thursday, September 06, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Thursday, September 06, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012480397 Accession Number: ML011070685 Document Date: 4/17/01 Title: 04/17/2001 Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Certificate Amendment Request : Revision to Compliance Plan Issue 3, Autoclave Upgrades. Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS/FCSS/SPB Document/Report Number: ML011070685 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480307 Accession Number: ML012480081 Document Date: 9/5/01 Title: 09/10/2001 Public Meeting re Fermi 2 Radiation Protection Program Discussion. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-III/DRS Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480293 Accession Number: ML012480086 Document Date: 9/4/01 Title: 09/19/01 - Mtg. with Exelon, DOE, and other interested stakeholders - re: Pebble Bed Modular Reactor pre-application review. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/ADIP/NRLPO Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480305 Accession Number: ML012480079 Document Date: 9/5/01 Title: 09/19/01 Licensee Meeting Notice with Mallinckrodt, Inc., 03000001. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-III/DRS Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480032 Accession Number: ML012360136 Document Date: 8/13/01 Title: Comment (33) submitted by David A Christian of Virginia Electric & Power Co (Dominion) on Proposed Rule PR-50 regarding Decommissioning Trust Provisions. Author Affiliation: Dominion, Virginia Electric & Power Co Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480162 Accession Number: ML012410009 Document Date: 8/27/01 Title: MEMO to C. W. Reamer: TRIP REPORT: WORKSHOP ON YUCCA MOUNTAIN SATURATED ZONE FLOW AND TRANSPORT (KEY TECHNICAL ISSUE: UNSATURATED AND SATURATED FLOW UNDER ISOTHERMAL CONDITIONS) Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS/DWM Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480165 Accession Number: ML012360079 Document Date: 8/1/00 Title: Naval Spent Fuel Canister System Storage Safety Analysis Report - Responses to Requests for Additional Information & Forwarding of Revision. Author Affiliation: US DOE Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480290 Accession Number: ML012470441 Document Date: 9/4/01 Title: NOTICE OF MEETING WITH INDUSTRY AND NEI TO REVIEW THE MATERIALS RELIABILITY PROGRAM ACTIVITIES RESULTS ON REACTOR VESSEL INTERNALS. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480186 Accession Number: ML012390105 Document Date: 8/17/01 Title: Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant - Certificate Amendment Request, Update the Application Safety Analysis Report, Proposed Changes. Author Affiliation: United States Enrichment Corp Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012480187 Accession Number: ML012390027 Document Date: 8/20/01 Title: Private Fuel Storage Facility, Private Fuel Storage L.L.C - PFSF Site Specific Cask Stability Analysis. Author Affiliation: Private Fuel Storage L.L.C. Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 15 Energy Department hosts public hearings on Yucca Mountain Las Vegas SUN September 05, 2001 NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn began a crucial hearing on a proposal to bury the nation's nuclear waste about 90 miles from the Las Vegas Strip with harsh criticism and a vow to take his complaints to President Bush. Guinn called the Department of Energy hearings Wednesday premature and irresponsible because they were based on "scientific evidence that is not complete and has not been made public to me nor to the people in this room." Guinn shrugged off a letter from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham extending for 15 days the public comment period on the proposal to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste deep beneath a volcanic ridge at Yucca Mountain. "I assure you my outrage ... will be detailed in letters directly to Secretary Abraham and the president," the Republican governor said. He earned repeated applause from a partisan standing room only crowd of 250 packed into the hearing room at the DOE offices in North Las Vegas. More than 170 others were seated in an adjacent cafeteria and others followed the proceedings by teleconference in Reno, Elko and Carson City. Speakers in favor of the Yucca Mountain site were interrupted with jeers and catcalls. At one point, the moderator threatened to cut off testimony if the boisterous crowd did not allow a pro-nuclear Utah resident to continue his remarks. But the sentiment in the room was overwhelmingly opposed to the dumpsite as members of Nevada's congressional delegation, Clark County commissioners and others took turns testifying. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told the crowd he would personally arrest any truck driver hauling radioactive waste through his city to the dump site. Guinn recalled Energy Department promises a half century ago that nuclear testing was safe. "Since that time," the governor said, "the DOE admitted that testing the hydrogen bomb at Yucca Flats caused innocent Americans to die - and that cancer benefit should be paid." He said Nevada could no longer trust the federal government, saying, "We have learned from the past and we are not about to repeat the past." Guinn was the first of an expected 123 speakers who registered to offer their comments. Each was allotted five minutes. Before the hearings, protesters rallied outside. "We need to stand together as one and say we don't want it," said former Nevada Democratic Sen. and Gov. Richard Bryan, the featured speaker at the pre-hearing rally. The crowd listened peacefully, some holding signs and balloons as a rock 'n' roll band played in a cordoned off parking lot outside the hearing. One hand-lettered sign said, "Tell the Department of Energy, No Yucca Mountain dump." "We can all say no at once," said Corbin Harney, a Western Shoshone Indian and director of the Shundahai Network, a Pahrump-based environmental organization. In the audience, 30-year-old Regina Portillo of North Las Vegas, said she was attending the rally because of her son, Jordan. "He's 3 years old," she said. "I don't want them to take chances with my son's future." The hearing, almost 20 years in coming, provided a focal point for a long-running debate in Nevada about the safety of the proposed nuclear repository. The Energy Department has since 1982 spent almost $7 billion studying and drilling at Yucca Mountain, as well as testing methods to store spent fuel pellets in specially designed casks some 1,000 feet underground. The mountain was formed from volcanic ash deposits about 13 million years ago. There are volcanic cones in the area and some opponents of the repository worry the area could become seismically active again. Department engineers say groundwater is 1,000 feet below the mined "drifts" drilled beneath the 1,200-high, 6-mile-long humpback ridge. Scientists say the storage site would remain radioactive for more than 10,000 years. However, Energy Department studies concluded that no more than 4 millirem of radiation would leak per year into area groundwater and overall radiation from all sources from the site would not exceed 15 millirem. A standard chest X-ray emits 10 millirem or less. The hearing is the first of three the Energy Department is holding. Others are scheduled Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley, the community nearest the mountain and Sept. 13 in Pahrump, a community in Nye County west of the site. The four-member Nevada congressional delegation and almost all state lawmakers are united against the idea. U.S. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., and Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., tried to get the meeting postponed and sent a letter last week asking Abraham to attend. Abraham declined but an undersecretary, Robert G. Card did attend, though he offered no comment on the proceedings. State officials also threatened to sue and protesters took to the Las Vegas Strip for a Labor Day demonstration. Abraham will consider the testimony before recommending to President Bush by the end of this year whether the site is suitable to begin accepting nuclear waste in 2010. The project has been projected to cost $58 billion over 100 years. If Abraham recommends the dump be built and Bush gives the project the go-ahead but Nevada opposes it, as expected, the decision will be sent to Congress for debate and a vote. The state Legislature this year approved spending $1 million and Clark County officials are considering adding another $1 million for a public relations campaign to call attention in other states to what opponents say is the danger of transporting nuclear waste to Nevada. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce opposes the proposal and the city's hotel and casino industry is planning to fund the campaign, too. The Energy Department has said that since Yucca Mountain has not been selected as the repository site, it cannot address transportation concerns. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 Public Citizen to DOE: Don't Make Yucca Mountain a Nuclear Waste Dump Sept. 5, 2001 Public Citizen Delivers Comments Tonight at Yucca Mountain Hearing in North Las Vegas WASHINGTON, D.C. – The government should not turn Nevada’s Yucca Mountain into a high-level nuclear waste dump because doing so could contaminate the area, Public Citizen is telling the U.S. Department of Energy today. Public Citizen is to deliver written commentson the Yucca Mountain proposal at a public hearing tonight in North Las Vegas. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to make a recommendation about the site to President Bush later this year, then the matter would be transmitted to Congress for a vote. "The Yucca Mountain project is an enormous waste of taxpayer and ratepayer money," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "These funds should be redirected toward phasing out nuclear power and safely isolating radioactive waste that has already been generated." Public Citizen also criticized the DOE for rushing the proposal through before the necessary analyses have been made available. Many key site recommendation documents are not publicly available, including a long-awaited environmental impact statement. Thousands of comments on a draft environmental impact statement, including many related to concerns about nuclear waste transportation, have not yet been addressed. "The Department of Energy lacks a basis for considering site recommendation at this time since several key analyses and regulations are incomplete," Hauter wrote. "A site recommendation would presumably reference these documents, but the public is being asked to comment prior to their release. By prematurely scheduling the required hearings, the DOE has undermined the possibility for meaningful public participation in the Yucca Mountain project." Further, the DOE gave the public little notice about tonight’s hearing. Nevada residents received only nine business days notice during a time when many people take vacation. No hearings have been scheduled outside of Nevada, and the general comment period was set for 30 days, ending Sept. 20. But the primary concern regards safety. "The Yucca Mountain site is unsuitable because it could not geologically contain nuclear waste throughout its dangerous lifetime. . . . The only question is when – not if – a repository at Yucca Mountain would contaminate the area with radiation," Hauter’s letter says. Hauter also addressed the inadequacies of the DOE’s proposals for transporting nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. Routing projections indicate that high-level waste shipments would likely pass within half a mile of the homes, schools and workplaces of 50 million Americans in 43 states, yet the DOE has not yet detailed how waste would be transported or specifically which routes would be used. This could pose serious risks to public health and safety, Hauter said. Public Citizen intends to deliver oral comments at tonight’s public hearing at the Nevada Operations Building in North Las Vegas (232 Energy Lane). However, it is not clear what opportunity members of the public will have to voice their concerns. Without announcing this policy, the DOE’s Yucca Mountain Project Office has been pre-registering a priority list of speakers, who are expected to take up more than the three hours scheduled for tonight’s hearing. "This process is supposed to be publicly informed, but it seems that the DOE is going to extreme lengths to minimize and deter public involvement," said Hauter. Public Citizen ***************************************************************** 17 Nevada residents say they don't want nation's nuclear waste Las Vegas SUN Today: September 06, 2001 at 9:25:50 PDT NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) - Southern Nevada residents made it clear during an 8 1/2 -hour hearing that they don't want the nation's nuclear waste buried beneath a mountain about 90 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. "I really want people to understand there are better places to do what they're doing," said Lou deBottari, a Carson City, Nev., resident and engineer. deBottari offered a detailed critique late Wednesday of the Department of Energy's 481-plus page preliminary environmental study on the Yucca Mountain project. He said that leaving spent nuclear fuel in dry casks at the more than 100 commercial, industrial and military sites around the country would be safer than shipping it and entombing it at a volcanic ridge at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site. However, opposition during the marathon Energy Department public hearing wasn't unanimous. Wayne King Sr. jammed speaker receipt No. 106 into his pocket as he strode to the podium wearing a white baseball cap with "Yucca Yes" in red letters and a yellow golf shirt with a Teamsters union logo on his chest. "Yucca Mountain is a project that's going to bring jobs," King declared. He was answered by grumbles from the partisan audience fighting fatigue and attrition in the seventh hour of the hearing - but determined to fight the idea that Nevada should accept the nation's 77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. The next speaker, Steve Chase, a former Teamster turned Las Vegas art gallery owner, won cheers from the 50 people still in the room when he followed King the podium about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Some 123 people registered to speak. More than two-thirds did. "The only reasons I've heard to put it here are for jobs or for business," said Chase, who had drawn the universal circle-and-slash "No" sign over the "Yucca Yes" lettering on the cap he got at the hearing room door. "Since this might be the last opportunity, I just wanted to make it abundantly clear they do not have my permission put nuclear waste here," Chase said. Gov. Kenny Guinn kicked off the crucial public hearing about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday with harsh criticism for the Energy Department's decision-making process and its proposal to haul the nation's radioactive commercial, industrial and military waste to Nevada. He called Wednesday's first of three hearings in communities near the Yucca Mountain site premature and irresponsible, saying they were based on incomplete scientific evidence. The Republican governor shrugged off a Wednesday letter from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham extending for 15 days the public comment period on the proposal. The deadline for written, faxed or e-mailed comment was pushed back from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5. "I assure you my outrage ... will be detailed in letters directly to Secretary Abraham and the president," Guinn said to applause from a standing-room crowd of more than 250 packed into a DOE hearing room in North Las Vegas. More than 170 others squeezed into an adjacent cafeteria, while another 70-plus followed the proceedings by teleconference in Reno, Elko and Carson City. Speakers favoring the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository were jeered until the moderator threatened to cut off testimony if the crowd didn't let a pro-nuclear Utah resident speak. Uniformed North Las Vegas police officers joined Energy Department security guards at the doors, but no arrests were made. Gary Sandquist, professor of nuclear and mechanical engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, said he was invited to speak by the Nuclear Energy Institute, an energy industry lobbying group. "Are you willing to give up 20 percent of your electricity?" Sandquist asked the crowd. He said one-fifth of the nation's power is nuclear. "Let's be practical. We've got the waste, we've got to put it somewhere." Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman whipped the cheering crowd into a frenzy and a standing ovation with a threat to personally arrest any truck driver hauling radioactive waste through his city to the dump site. John Wells, a representative of the Western Shoshone Indian National Council, said his tribe has been victimized by years of nuclear testing in its ancestral homeland. "We have experienced the adverse health, social and economic effects of radioactive contamination downwind from the Nevada Test Site," said Wells, one of eight Shoshone and Paiute Indian speakers on Wednesday. "Our unfortunate experience ... informs our policy against the proposed high level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain." Guinn recalled Energy Department promises a half century ago that nuclear testing was safe. "Since that time," the governor said, "the DOE admitted that testing the hydrogen bomb at Yucca Flats caused innocent Americans to die - and that cancer benefits should be paid." He said Nevada could no longer trust the federal government, saying, "We have learned from the past and we are not about to repeat the past." Abraham will consider the testimony before recommending to President Bush by the end of this year whether the site is suitable to begin accepting nuclear waste in 2010. The project has been projected to cost $58 billion over 100 years. If Abraham recommends the dump be built and Bush gives the project the go-ahead but Nevada opposes it, as expected, the decision will be sent to Congress for debate and a vote. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 EDITORIAL: Yucca hearings Thursday, September 06, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Last night, the Department of Energy hosted a public hearing in North Las Vegas on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Notably absent from this event was Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who remained in Washington. The secretary's office cited a scheduling conflict -- the state visit of Mexican President Vicente Fox -- as the reason Mr. Abraham did not attend the local meeting. But Nevada Sen. Harry Reid was not amused. "There is no reason for him to be back here (in Washington)," Sen. Reid said. "His presence can be handled by some other official." Sen. Reid is right. By attending last night's hearing, Mr. Abraham could have witnessed first-hand Nevadans offering their legitimate concerns about the dangers that could result from placing the waste dump in the Silver State. Instead, Mr. Abraham's absence tends to confirm the notion that the department has already made up its mind about Yucca Mountain and is holding the hearings -- which will be replicated Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley and Sept. 13 in Pahrump-- merely for show. In last fall's presidential race, George W. Bush carried Nevada in part because, as the governor of a Western state, he promised to lend a sympathetic ear to the desires and interests of the people who live far from the nation's capital. If Mr. Bush wishes to be true to his word, he might make sure Mr. Abraham has booked travel plans to be in Amargosa Valley next week. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2001 ***************************************************************** 19 Japan urge tangible progress on nuclear issue with Pakistan KYODO NEWS ISLAMABAD, Sept. 5, Kyodo - Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Sadaaki Numata on Wednesday said ''tangible progress'' to resolve matters relating to nuclear proliferation would facilitate the resumption of Japanese economic aid to Pakistan, suspended since 1998 in protest against Pakistani nuclear tests. Numata told a press conference jointly addressed by members of the Pakistan-Japan Business Forum that Japan wanted to help Pakistan in tiding over its economic difficulties but has a national policy that bars aid to a country that carried out nuclear tests. Asked if Japan was still advocating for Pakistan's adherence to the nuclear test-ban treaty (CTBT) as a condition for resuming aid despite a U.S. refusal to ratify it, Numata said Japan was looking forward for tangible progress by Pakistan in resolving matters relating to nuclear proliferation. ''We do look forward to tangible progress in matters relating to nuclear proliferation, particularly in the wake of the fact that you have a long-standing problem with your neighbor which has assumed nuclear dimensions,'' he said. Numata said Japan views the CTBT as a very important step on global disarmament and the U.S. refusal to ratify the CTBT was an area in which ''we do not see eye to eye with the United States.'' He urged Pakistan to sign the CTBT as early as possible since it would lead to a resumption of Japanese economic aid. 2001 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. ***************************************************************** 20 MHI in Westinghouse reactor accord Thursday, September 6, 2001 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday it has reached a basic agreement to help Westinghouse Electric Co. of the United States develop a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor. MHI said in a press release that Westinghouse is aiming to receive design certification for the new pressurized water reactor, called the AP1000, from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of 2004. The two companies will finalize the contract by yearend, MHI said. The AP1000 will be based on Westinghouse's existing 600-megawatt reactor, the AP600. MHI also said the development program involves Electricite de France and British Nuclear Fuels PLC, and that MHI will be involved in the development and design of the AP1000's reactor core, system and equipment. The Japan Times: Sept. 6, 2001 (C) All rights reserved . ***************************************************************** 21 Fighting the remnants of the machine The Pasko Case Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. Jump to Bellona press service (BPS), 2001-09-06 07:02 Aleksandr Tkachenko of the Russian Pen Club, who is participating in the trial as Pasko's 'public defender', opened the pressconference, which was held at the National Press Institute in Vladivostok on September 4. Referring to the trial against Pasko, Tkachenko said that the more the defenders got into the content of the case, the more they learned about the 'kitchen of the witches'. The cases against Nikitin and Pasko are disgraceful for Russia, he said before explaining why Pasko's defence-team had invited the press. - We have guests who have travelled from the other side of the earth in order to support us and I am sure that you want hear what they have to say. Aleksandr Nikitin, representative of Bellona St. Petersburg, who after almost five years of prosecution was finally acquitted by the Presidium of the Russian Supreme Court on September 13, 2000 in a case that had many similarities with Pasko's case, said that he and the Bellona-team was glad to get this oppurtunity to demonstrate their solidarity with Pasko. - Russia has indeed changed throughout the last decade. We have new laws and a new Constitution. However, the remnants of the machine that once imprisoned millions of people without trial are still alive. I was and Grigory is prosecuted for having violated their secret laws. And we are not the only ones, Nikitin said, with reference to the cases against Sutyagin, Soyfer and Schurov, who all are charged by the Russian Security Police with disclosure of state secrets. - In Russia any thinking indivudual who deals with science, journalism or collecting some material and analysing it, may risk the same. Nikitin told the reporters that the Environmental Rights Centre, which was founded by Bellona and the St. Petersburg-based human rights group Citizens' Watch in 1998, and where Nikitin is a board-member, had filed an application to the Russian Supreme Court about the illegal use of the secret decrees as normative acts in criminal cases. The initial hearings of the case is scheduled for September 12, 2001. The system where each department makes its own top-secret lists over state secrets must come to an end, he said. Jon Gauslaa, attorney of Bellona Oslo, and member of the defence-team that worked successfully on Nikitin's case, explained why Bellona has engaged itself in Pasko's case. - Our organisation has worked with nuclear waste-problems in Russia for more than a decade. We consider Grigory's case as an important environmental rights case, and its outcome will also be important for the future development of the Russian society. It carries many of the same features as Aleksandr's case, and while fighting his case we gained a lot of experience. Hopefully we will be able to share that experience with Grigory's defence-team, he said. Grigory Pasko said that he appreciated the support from Aleksandr Nikitin and Bellona. When being asked about his future plans, he said that it was a little difficult to make plans as long as the case against him was not terminated – I will however continue to work as a journalist and writer. Besides, on the 1st of September, I was registred as a student at the law faculty of the University of Vladivostok. The journalist, who through his experiences with the FSB and the procuracy at least has gained a head start compared with his fellow law-students, was also asked of his present relationships with the military. – Well, I still get my salary and the only order I have to obey these days is "don't show up at work", he said with an ironical smile. Journalist Grigory Pasko was arrested in November 1997 on charges of espionage on behalf of the Japanese TV-station 'NHK'. He was acquitted of espionage in July 1999, but found guilty of abuse of office and freed under a general amnesty. Seeking a full acquittal, Pasko appealed the verdict, but so did the prosecution, insisting he was a spy. The Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in November 2000, and sent the case back to Vladivostok for a re-trial. After a number of postponements the re-trial started on July 11, 2001. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway Menu system java script courtesy of Peter Belesis at the Dynamic HTML lab. [ (c) BELLONA -- Reuse and reprint recommended provided source is stated ] ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Thousands in U.S. will die, ex-presidential hopeful says Montreal Gazette September 5 » 2001 HUBERT BAUCH Montreal Gazette There is a strong likelihood the United States will be hit by a major terrorist strike in the coming 25 years that will inflict thousands of casualties and wreak major changes in American society, according to former U.S. senator and presidential hopeful Gary Hart. Hart said yesterday the projection was made by experts consulted by a U.S. national security commission he recently chaired. "The conclusion was that, for the first time since 1812, Americans will lose their lives in large number on American soil by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction," he said. Nuclear Attack Possible He said the terrorist attack could come in form of a multi-kiloton nuclear bomb exploded in a major city, or by the poisoning of water systems with lethal chemicals or the air with deadly viruses. Hart, along with Quebec Premier Bernard Landry, was a guest speaker at a dinner held by the local branch of a U.S.-based international law firm, Coudert Brothers, for which Hart is currently a special adviser. The occasion marked the launch of the firm's international aviation practice group. He said that, in the aftermath of such a terrorist strike, there would be a massive outcry for the government to act, and an unprecedented crackdown by the authorities. "We will be spied on, our privacy will be gone; that will have a huge impact on our society." Hart's speech was about the changes the world faces going into the 21st century, which he said will be dominated by increasing globalization, population shifts from poorer to richer countries, and a decline of nation states as the building blocks of the global community. "With increased globalization, that fundamental building block is beginning to disintegrate," he said. He made no specific reference to Quebec or Canada, but suggested that different cultural groups across the world will seek to assert their identity outside their present national context. "All kinds of groups may or may not want to be separate, but to identify themselves as separate from the nation states into which they were cast by colonial or other historical circumstance." The 21st century, he suggested, will be not so much a continuation of the 20th, but a revolutionary break from the recent past. "If you thought the 20th century was interesting, wait until you see the 21st," he said. "It will be like nothing we have seen in the past." Landry's speech, delivered largely in English for an international audience of aviation-industry representatives, also steered away from Canadian constitutional matters. His sole reference to Quebec sovereignty was half in jest, when he said that he hopes that nation states manage to persist long enough for Quebec to join the club. Landry suggested the nation state is not so much fated to disappear as faced with the challenge of finding a new vocation in the emerging global context. "I think they will be there to protect identities and specific cultures and specific ways of life," he said. "In this way, they can be a counterweight to excessive globalization." Landry Backs Globalization Landry said he believes globalization is a positive force, and deplored the blind fanaticism of some critics who have taken to disrupting international meetings. But he added that partners in globalization must strive to pursue it in a peaceful and democratic context. "If we consolidate real peace and friendship, if the global context is (one of) peace and friendship and harmony, maybe not so many Americans will die from the perils of the years to come," he said. © Copyright 2001 Montreal Gazette Copyright © 2001 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global ***************************************************************** 2 Army unsure about appealing Herlog ruling Las Vegas SUN September 05, 2001 RENO, Nev. (AP) - Army officials said they haven't decided whether to appeal a decision that halts the open burning of munitions at the Sierra Army Depot northwest of Reno. "We have ceased open burning/detonation operations, but we have work orders pending," depot spokesman Larry Rogers told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "We have complied with the law as we have always done. The Army is reviewing the situation and deciding what to do next." An appeal of the action by Lassen County, Calif., officials would allow the base to resume blasting for at least 45 days. Lassen County last week denied the depot's request for an exemption to clean air laws, effectively ending the 40-year-old practice of burning and exploding bombs, bullets, mines and rocket engines in the open air. The county's action followed two years of protest against the demolition operations at the base in Herlog, Calif., 55 miles northwest of Reno. Critics charged smoke plumes carry toxic chemicals to downwind residents in Nevada and on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. The ordnance contains toxic and carcinogenic chemicals including lead, mercury, arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, nickel, and dioxins. The Army's rules called for destroying the munitions when the wind blew in an easterly direction, toward the Pyramid Lake reservation and Reno's north valleys. In November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reopened the depot's air pollution permit because the open burning was a violation of the Clean Air Act. The federal agency ranked the depot as California's worst air polluter in 1999. "Lassen County is absolutely right to halt open burning," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "I can't believe it went on for as long as it did. The activity was stopped 20 years ago in other places and yet it was allowed to continue here." Tribal Chairman Alan Mandell also praised the county air pollution board's decision to end the burning. "The burden of proof was on the Army and it couldn't prove it needed to be burning bombs out in the open air," he said. "We are safer because the burning has stopped." Rogers said the base has never violated laws or rules and has never been a health threat. Jack Pastor, who heads Residents Against Munitions, a group of more than 1,200 residents who want the Army to adopt closed-chamber methods of munitions destruction, said halting the burning does not end contamination problems. Pastor researched hundreds of cases of cancer in Lassen County that didn't show up on the California Cancer Registry because the patients were treated at Nevada hospitals. He has called for a disease study and environmental tests to determine if the munitions burning polluted the air, soil and water along the California-Nevada line. "The toxins have landed somewhere," Pastor said. "They don't just vanish." Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 3 ORNL gets 'organized' Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:53 p.m. on Thursday, September 6, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Effective Oct. 1, Oak Ridge National Laboratory will begin operating under a new organizational structure that officials hope will contribute to an $8 million planned reduction of indirect costs for fiscal year 2002. The new organizational structure, which Lab Director Bill Madia unveiled to his staff Tuesday, will slightly decrease the number of research divisions at ORNL and eliminate a level of management. "Early reaction I've gotten from staff has been positive," said Madia of the new organizational structure. In June, Madia established an Organizational Review Task Force to address issues related to ORNL's organizational structure, including eliminating a full layer of management and reducing the cost of doing business at the lab through improved efficiency. The new organizational structure is a result of that task force. The most dramatic change in ORNL's management structure will be the elimination of the section head level of management and the associated 62 positions. Most management responsibilities being performed by section heads will be transferred to Madia said some of the 62 people will be transferred to other areas of the lab while others will be let go. The effort to reduce costs by removing a layer of management will be augmented by other changes in ORNL's business operations. Officials will institute a structured process for reviewing and approving all indirect budgets. An Indirect Budget Review Committee will be established to ensure that ORNL maintains a far more uniform and consistent treatment of indirect costs across the lab. Indirect costs consist of the overhead and other expenses incurred to physically operate ORNL. ORNL's research divisions are also affected by the new organizational structure. While none of the lab's 19 divisions was officially eliminated, some areas were combined to form 16 more competitive and efficient divisions. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 4 What lies ahead for lab workers? Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:55 p.m. on Thursday, September 6, 2001 Here's a rundown of other changes taking place at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the new organizational structure: + A new directorate will be established for Computing and Computational Sciences to continue the rapid growth the lab has experienced in high performance computing and computational science. The new directorate will be headed by Thomas Zacharia and will house the Computational Sciences and Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, and Networking and Computing Technologies divisions, as well as the Center for Computational Sciences. Brian Worley will be the acting director of Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, which grows out of the current Computational Physics and Engineering Division. Open searches will be initiated for permanent division directors. + Most of the lab's nuclear research capabilities will be housed in a newly created Nuclear Science and Technology Division. This division will incorporate the nuclear capabilities previously contained in the Chemical Technology, Engineering Technology, Robotics and Process Systems, and Computational Physics and Engineering divisions. Joe Herndon will serve as acting division director while lab officials conduct an open search for a permanent director. + A newly formed Engineering Science and Technology Division will consolidate the lab's engineering and measurement capabilities from the former Engineering Technology, Instrumentation and Controls, Robotics and Process Systems, and Energy divisions. Ted Fox will serve as acting director while lab officials conduct an open search for a permanent director to lead this new division. + ORNL's Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division will add fundamental chemistry capabilities from the former Chemical Technology Division to form a newly constituted Chemical Sciences Division headed by Michelle Buchanan. + The Environmental Sciences Division will add Energy and Environmental Analysis research from the former Energy Division. + Only minor changes are planned for the Fusion Energy, Physics, Solid State, Metals and Ceramics, Life Sciences, and Research Reactors divisions, and for the Spallation Neutron Source's Accelerator Systems, Experimental Facilities, and Conventional Facilities divisions. Searches for the directors of Life Sciences and Experimental Facilities divisions will continue as previously announced. + n addition to the reorganization of divisions, selected research groups and individual programs have been moved to align them more effectively with similar resources at ORNL. Over the next few weeks the new division and directorate management teams will be making additional changes to fine-tune this announcement. Division directors are expected to issue a detailed organization chart to their staff by the end of next week in order to minimize uncertainty. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 5 Nunn urges better preparedness to counter terror threats By Associated Press, 9/5/2001 18:46 WASHINGTON (AP) A simulation of a terrorist attack that releases smallpox into American cities showed just how ill-prepared the United States is, former Sen. Sam Nunn said Wednesday. ''Enemies of the United States are not eager to engage us militarily. They saw what happened in Desert Storm. They will attack us where they believe we are vulnerable. Today, we are vulnerable to biological terrorism,'' said Nunn, a Georgian who served as chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee. ''It is critical that we prepare with all possible speed, because if an attack occurs, and succeeds, there will be others. Preparing is deterring.'' Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to detail findings of a panel of experts who met at Andrews Air Force Base in June to simulate a biological weapons attack. Dubbed ''Dark Winter,'' the simulations opened with the initial infections soon spreading to include 3,000 victims and five states. Nunn said the experts were told they had enough vaccine only for one out of every 23 Americans. By day six of the crisis, vaccine supplies were dwindling. Nunn said officials were later told, as part of the simulation, that the infection rate would increase tenfold every two to three weeks. The experts faced the tough decision of forcibly isolating infected citizens, Nunn said. ''I determined from our war game that public health has become a national security issue but that we are unprepared,'' Nunn told the committee. Vice President Cheney is leading an administration working group to assess terrorist threats and is expected to report the findings to Congress by Oct. 1. Recommendations are to be reviewed by the National Security Council. ''When it comes to American security, we must be prepared to deal with all threats,'' said Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, senior GOP member of the committee. On the Net: Senate Foreign Relations Committee: http://foreign.senate.gov ***************************************************************** 6 Paul Parson: High hopes for compensation plan may bring disappointment Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 1:02 p.m. on Thursday, September 6, 2001 Good news: An Oak Ridge man was recently approved to receive $150,000 and medical expenses through the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. Bad news: Not everyone who has applied for compensation through the program will be as lucky. This harsh reality was once again brought to my attention during a recent conversation with Glenn Bell, who was diagnosed with chronic beryllium disease in 1993. For the record, he was not the man who got approved for compensation. What's going to be worse is hearing the disappointment in sick workers' voices when they tell me they were turned down for benefits. Bell has been very outspoken about the inadequacy of the compensation plan, and other issues in Oak Ridge. His "high profile" has made him a sounding board and/or resource to many sick workers. Bell told me that he has talked with several people who have applied for the program, adding that he is concerned they are getting their hopes up too high that they'll automatically get compensated. Sadly, he's right. The compensation program was passed in October 2000 and went into effect at the end of July. It provides compensation and medical expenses to workers who are seriously ill because they were exposed to beryllium, silica or radiation while working for the Department of Energy, its contractors or its subcontractors in the nuclear weapons industry. In other words, not all sick, DOE-related employees will benefit. Several months before the plan went into effect, I began getting phone calls from people wanting information because they were planning to file for compensation. It's heartbreaking to hear these voices on the phone describing their situation. But what's going to be worse is hearing the disappointment in their voices when they tell me they were turned down. * * * The Environmental Protection Agency will be conducting sampling of water and soil in the Scarboro neighborhood the week of Sept. 24; and, at least to me, it's almost like it's a top-secret project. I have tried for the past week and a half to get information from the EPA concerning where the samples would be taken and what the agency would be looking for. For the most part, the agency has been very uncooperative. However, on Wednesday afternoon, an EPA spokesman finally gave me an answer of sorts. He left a voice mail message for me stating it would be "inappropriate" for the EPA to release any information about the project to the press until the agency has had a chance to meet with the public. Apparently, EPA wants to conduct this project on its own terms. Will that be good or bad for the people living in Scarboro? By the way, those public meetings are scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Scarboro Community Center, 148 Carver Ave.; and for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Oak Ridge Mall Community Room. In the end, I just hope the EPA shares more information with the public than they have with me. The people have a right to know. Since DOE funding issues have apparently been resolved, it looks like the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee will be staying in business. It's comforting to know that Susan Gawarecki, the LOC's executive director, and her group will be hanging around and causing "trouble." It scares me to think what would happen otherwise. Paul Parson is the science and technology reporter for The Oak Ridger. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 7 Nuclear Tests Not Planned, Chinese Diplomat Says September 6, 2001 By JANE PERLEZ WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 — China has no plans to test its nuclear weapons, a Chinese diplomat said today, responding to statements by Bush administration officials that tests were likely. The diplomat, speaking to reporters at a background briefing, said China was a signer of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and as such would stand by the intent of the treaty. The official said China had some capacity to test the safety of those weapons by computer simulation. The issue has arisen in the last several days because Bush administration officials told reporters that as China builds up its nuclear arsenal it may want to resume underground nuclear tests as a way to determine the safety and reliability of the weapons. The officials have also been quoted as saying that the United States may want to resume testing in the future, too. "China is a signator to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty — even if China has not ratified the treaty — and China is not going to test nuclear weapons," the diplomat said. "As you know," he added, "the purpose of the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty is to prevent the advancement of nuclear weapons. There are other ways you can prove the reliability of nuclear weapons, through computer simulation." According to American intelligence estimates, China has from 20 to 24 long-range nuclear missiles created in the 1950's and 60's as a minimal deterrent. China is now in the process of replacing those missiles with mobile, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles. Critics of the Bush administration's plans for missile defense argue that it will serve to encourage China to modernize its nuclear arsenal faster than it might otherwise feel compelled to do. The Chinese diplomat said that it was reasonable for China to forge ahead with the modernization of its military, including its nuclear weapons. "Every country is doing that," he said. It was as normal, he said, as "buying new spring clothes if you can afford it." As China's economic situation improves, the military would be modernized, the diplomat said. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************