***************************************************************** 01/08/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.7 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Yucca design raises doubts 2 ATG Starts Up Vitrification Facility to Process Thermal Low Level 3 Power problems: Their geneses, reviving NUCLEAR solutions 4 Netherlands Close to Closing All Nuclear Plants - 5 Trouble at Czech nuclear plant 6 BBW POWER BREAKFAST: Nuclear reactor a central issue 7 Romanian Nuclear Plant Back up after Shut Down 8 Biographies of Bush cabinet nominees 9 Input sought on waste license NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Mushroom clouds over Nevada 2 UN chief says cancers not due to Kosovo radiation 3 Norwegian officers: Ban ammunition with depleted uranium 4 IAAP vet recalls test firing 5 Uranium Products 6 Department of Energy Extends Contract at Savannah River Site 7 Eggleton: No need to test troops for uranium 8 Poland Wants Help With Nukes Check 9 Effects of Depleted Uranium Examined 10 Depleted Uranium Meetings This Week 11 NATO Warned of Uranium Danger 12 Guinn tells Bush of opposition to nuke site 13 Uranium Ammunition Used in Britain 14 Albright Says No Proof NATO Bombs Causing Leukemia 15 NATO, EU Move Depleted Uranium Row Center Stage 16 UN REJECTS BOMBING LINK WITH LEUKAEMIA 17 Britain is warned over uranium shell tests 18 The truth about depleted uranium 19 Retiring with respect 20 NATO defends health warning 21 Uranium row tests Nato 22 Radiation From Balkan Bombing Alarms Europe 23 Scharping Urged to Answer Questions About Depleted Uranium Ammunition 24 Assessing the Hazard 25 Bibliography: Military Use of Depleted Uranium (DU) 26 Depleted Uranium 27 No depleted uranium in Norwegian ammunition production 28 WHAT IS THIS STORY ABOUT URANIUM? 29 Greens slam Energy chief nomination 30 Uof I health survey list growing **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Yucca design raises doubts January 08, 2001 Unanswered questions worry scientific board BY MARY MANNING LAS VEGAS SUN An independent scientific board is criticizing a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, saying the Energy Department cannot support its basic design. In a year-end report to Congress and to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board noted that too many unanswered questions remain about the DOE's current repository design if Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is to be recommended later this year. The DOE's preferred design allows the proposed repository's temperature to rise above the boiling point of water. "In the board's view, the DOE has not yet demonstrated a firm technical basis for its present high-temperature 'base case' repository design, " review board Chairman Jared Cohon wrote in a Dec. 20 letter introducing the report. The board, formed in 1987 by Congress, oversees the DOE's scientific studies at Yucca Mountain. It must report to Congress at least twice a year. Over the past year the board has expressed concern about the DOE's lack of information about and subsequent proof for its preferred design of a repository at Yucca Mountain for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear reactors and weapons activities. The design assumed in DOE's analysis of the safety of a repository allows heat from the buried nuclear wastes to rise above boiling -- 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The review board said it is not in a position to recommend a specific design, because it does not have the authority to do so. However, it suggested a cooler cavern, one that would spread the wastes over more area. A larger and cooler repository would add from $600 million to $2 billion to the repository's price tag. The latest cost estimate by the DOE is $58 billion. The board said that while the DOE has made progress during its 15 years of scientific studies at Yucca, crucial information is missing, such as data that supports the repository design; analysis of chemical reactions between the mountain's rock, nuclear waste containers and ground water; and forecasts of what would happen to buried waste containers during a volcanic eruption. The technical review board has scheduled a two-day meeting Jan. 30- 31 in Amargosa Valley, 97 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The board's meetings are open to the public. The DOE's Yucca Mountain experts intend to respond to some of those scientific and technical questions at that time, DOE spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said. The board also has invited to speak nuclear waste expert Jean-Claude Duplessy, a member of a national scientific evaluation panel that oversees scientific and technical activities for nuclear waste management in France. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 2 ATG Starts Up Vitrification Facility to Process Thermal Low Level Mixed Waste MONDAY JANUARY 8, 8:11 AM EASTERN TIME Press Release FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2001--ATG, Inc. (Nasdaq: site waste management services, announced today the successful start- up of the GASVIT(TM) melter and the processing of low level mixed waste (``LLMW''). ATG ushered in a new era in thermal treatment of LLMW by vitrifying hazardous waste contaminated with low levels of radioactivities. The waste was successfully processed and immobilized into high integrity glass material at ATG's Richland WA facility. ATG successfully started its first LLMW thermal waste processing on December 31, 2000, achieving a major milestone in the Department of Energy's privatization activities. The mixed waste from DOE Hanford which consisted of granular activated carbon containing regulated chemical and radioactive constituents was successfully processed. During the early waste processing phase ATG will process waste while confirming equipment performance, LLMW will be processed at rates up to the maximum permit rate of 350 pounds per hour. ``I am pleased that we have started our state-of-the-art LLMW vitrification GASVIT(TM) facility,'' said Doreen Chiu, president and chief executive officer of ATG Inc. ``It marks the successful administration of five years of co-operative efforts between the regulatory agencies, ATG, the US Department of Energy, and Fluor Hanford Inc. With the first comprehensive licensed facility in the country we will play a key role in the treatment of DOE and commercial LLMW.'' About ATG Inc. ATG Inc. is a leading provider of environmental technologies, hazardous and radioactive waste management services. The Company offers comprehensive thermal and non-thermal treatment solutions for hazardous, radioactive and mixed wastes. The Company's Fixed Facilities Division and Engineering and Construction Division provide waste management, and environmental restoration services for commercial, institutional and government clients such as nuclear power plants, medical facilities, research institutions, and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy. This news release may contain forward-looking statements pursuant to the ``safe harbor'' provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the Company's new products and services, LLMW vitrification process, competition, and various factors set forth under ``Factors Affecting Future Operating Results'' in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact: ATG Inc. Doreen Chiu, 510/490-3008 ***************************************************************** 3 Power problems: Their geneses, reviving NUCLEAR solutions January 07, 2001 WHY is California now suffering from a lack of affordable electricity? The answer is that California and the nation have not looked responsibly to the future. In the late 1960s and early'70s, the United States was doubling its electricity use every 10 years. To meet coming needs, utilities were placing major orders for new generating plants. In 1973, the situation changed. The Arab oil boycott and the resulting higher energy costs slowed the growth of electricity use to a doubling in 35 years. As a result, the new plants ordered before 1973 that were subsequently built led to a surplus of electrical supply. That nationwide surplus, which is now gone, is what California officials were counting on when deregulation was approved in 1996--a robust, competitive market of wholesale electrical supply from generating companies outside the state. That expectation failed. Why? Before 1973, the Sierra Club supported NUCLEAR power. Since then, the influential "environmental" organizations have opposed oil, gas, coal and NUCLEAR plants, as well as dams, and even geothermal plants. They argue for solar and wind power, which on a large scale are impractical because of their immense land use and their intermittent availability; indeed, on such a scale they are environmentally detrimental. However, with a surplus of energy supply, it didn't matter. But the electrical surplus has vanished. In the United States we now need new energy capacity to meet our present and future needs. On a world basis, population in the next 50 years is projected to increase from 6 billion to 10 billion. If the average per-person energy use reaches only one-third of that in the United States today, world energy use will triple. Thus, we now face serious near-term national and coming world energy problems. In this country we must decide how to meet our energy needs. The Energy Information Administration projects a continued U.S. increase of electricity needs of 40 percent in the next 20 years, and the needed replacement of 25 percent of our current capacity. There are problems that must be addressed. The price of natural gas has quadrupled in the past year. New gas-fueled electricity plants, which were the least expensive source of electricity, are now the most expensive. Natural gas supply will remain tight for the foreseeable future, with accompanying price volatility depending on weather and import availability from Canada and Mexico. Oil is subject to serious overseas political problems and costs that have gone up and down. Coal, which is among the most plentiful and least costly energy sources, has environmental problems: large emissions of CO2 and other pollutants, including small particles. Nuclear energy, which has no significant emissions, can also be among the low-cost energy sources, but it has political barriers to overcome. The 103 existing NUCLEAR plants (ordered before 1973) remain a vital, safe, electricity source in California and in the United States. But since 1973 it has taken an uneconomic 10 to 20 years to build the previously ordered NUCLEAR plants in this country, whereas U.S. companies build NUCLEAR plants abroad (and used to build them here) economically in four or five years. Similarly, anti-NUCLEAR forces have unnecessarily delayed the construction of repositories for NUCLEAR wastes. The electricity trap in which California now finds itself is a consequence of the national trends coming together this winter. Weather has increased demand in the Western United States, so California cannot depend on low-cost electricity purchases from neighboring states. The political response has so far been Band-Aid fixes, which do not tackle the root issue of making California a friendly state for long-term investment by electricity generators. The recent electricity problems in California make it clear that we must take action to prevent future energy disasters. In the next few years, our only means to provide the needed electricity is with an expansion of gas- and/or coal-powered plants, with their financial and environmental problems. We should demonstrate now that NUCLEAR plants can be built here as efficiently as they can be built abroad and move to get our waste repositories moving. We need government commitment and action to ensure that we can meet our near-term and long-term energy needs in California and nationally. The one available solution is a major increase in the utilization of NUCLEAR energy. Nuclear energy can provide an essentially unlimited supply of energy economically. Anti-NUCLEAR activists frighten the public about NUCLEAR wastes thousands of years out. But the real concerns are fossil fuel environmental impacts and the lack of energy in the coming decades when oil and gas supplies are exhausted and, in the following century, when economic coal supplies are depleted. The near-term expansion of NUCLEAR energy would allow us to mitigate global warming and to lengthen the availability of specially needed fossil fuels. Although long-term NUCLEAR wastes can be safely accommodated, advanced NUCLEAR plant designs will allow us to modify the NUCLEAR wastes so that they lose their radioactivity in just a few hundred years. Today, we are having very disturbing but relatively mild energy problems due to our lack of preparation. We must work to solve this near-term problem. But we should also not wait for the future national and world energy disasters to occur before we act to mitigate and hopefully eliminate them. Bertram Wolfe is an independent consultant and a fellow and past president of the American Nuclear Society. Chauncey Starr is president emeritus of the Electric Power Research Institute. ***************************************************************** 4 Netherlands Close to Closing All Nuclear Plants - CNN.com - Transcripts Aired January 7, 2001 - 2:16 p.m. ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: The Netherlands is preparing to shut down its last remaining nuclear power station. It's scheduled to close in 2003. The shutdown comes some 30 years after the Dutch first began using nuclear energy and is the result of an environmental lobby to make the Netherlands nuclear free. But, as Radio Netherlands Television explains, the anti-nuclear crusade has not ended the country's dependence on nuclear energy, just altered it's source. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEROEN BAAN, RNTV REPORTER (voice-over): After a delay of two years, transport of nuclear fuel elements in the Netherlands has been resumed. The transports are necessary because this nuclear power station, called Dodevaart (ph), has been closed down. Within months another 19 of these heavily guarded trucks will take all elements out of Dodevaart to Sullerfield (ph) in England, where they will be reprocessed. PETER VAN DER HULST, DECOMMISSIONING DIVISION (through translator): Dodevaart has stopped the production of nuclear energy. We are now preparing the dismantling of this power plant; that's why we're transporting all nuclear fuel elements to England. This place will soon be nuclear history. BAAN: Dutch society has always had an ambivalent view on nuclear energy. At the start of the power plant in Dodevaart in the late '60s, the country was divided; although nuclear energy was considered to be cheap and several oil crises lamed the country in the '70s, a growing number of critics pleaded to abandon production of nuclear energy just after it had started. ROELAND TUININGA, "1976" (through translator): I'm against nuclear energy. It's the waste problem that worries me. Engineers say storing this waste is no problem, but I think that there's no way we can dispose ourselves of nuclear waste. BAAN: The criticism grew with every decade that past by. Forced by public opinion, the Dutch government is now backing out of the production of all nuclear electricity. Besides the power station at Dodevaart, the country has one other nuclear power plant which, presumably, will be closed within a couple of years. But closing down both power stations doesn't mean the Netherlands has rid itself from all nuclear energy. VAN DER HULST (through translator): Sixteen percent of our needs for electricity is already imported from French nuclear power stations. We may have abandoned the production in the Netherlands, but from a European perspective, one could say that the next Dutch nuclear plant is located in France. BAAN: Environmental organizations, therefore, are urging politicians to ban the import of what they call dirty power. In their efforts to liberate the Dutch from all nuclear energy, one victory has been accomplished after three decades. There other, and final, victory over nuclear power has yet to come. Jeroen Baan, Radio Netherlands Television for CNN WORLD REPORT. (END VIDEOTAPE) TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com c 2001 CABLE NEWS NETWORK. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 Trouble at Czech nuclear plant BBC News | EUROPE | Sunday, 7 January, 2001, 18:24 GMT The reactor at the controversial Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech republic temporarily stopped operating after equipment malfunctioned and triggered an automatic shut-down. A plant spokesman said that regulators in the non-nuclear section of the plant sent the signal which set-off the shut-down mechanism. There were no reports of any leak of radiation. The safety of the Soviet-designed plant has been a source of major concern in neighbouring Austria and a cause of prolonged friction between the two countries. The plant lies just fifty-kilometres from the Austrian frontier, and Austrian protestors blocked border crossings in October when the Czech authorities activated the nuclear part of the power station. ***************************************************************** 6 BBW POWER BREAKFAST: Nuclear reactor a central issue Bucharest Business Week by Tim Judy Canadian Ambassador Raphael Girard said one of his key objectives is to see the restart of construction on the Unit 2 nuclear reactor at Cernavoda and fresh political blood on both sides of the Atlantic may give the project new life. “The incoming PDSR Government has made it clear that it wants to finish the reactor and the Canadian Government must decide whether to finance the project,” he said, adding that with elections ending in both countries a decision may be taken by the end of the year. “If it goes ahead, contracts will be signed very quickly,” he said. “Unit 1 uses Canadian technology (Candu) and is functioning better than any Canadian reactor, producing 1.2 cents per Kw. Furthermore, the recent drought has hampered hydroelectricity output and so Unit 2 is important.” He said Canada would have to provide about 550 million Canadian dollars and 200 million USD would come from Ansalto of Italy, a partner in the project. Unit 2, a 700-megawatt reactor, is one of the five initially planned in the 1970s and is about 40 to 50 per cent complete. Unit 1 went on stream three years ago and supplies about ten per cent of the country’s energy needs. ***************************************************************** 7 Romanian Nuclear Plant Back up after Shut Down Romania Today on Central Europe Online - BUCHAREST, Jan 8, 2001--(Agence France Presse) Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant, shut down on Friday when water pumps broke down, was started up again on Monday, according to a company spokesman. The plant, in the southeast of the country, is due to be up and running and powering a nominal charge of 700 megawatts later on Monday, after Friday's automatic shut down, according to the spokesman, Teodor Chirica. Romania's department of industry said at the time of the pump failure that the plant in the southeast of the country "posed no risk to the safety of the population, staff or the environment". Cernavoda's first reactor, the first of five planned, came into service in April 1996. The plant, which provides 10 percent of the country's energy needs is the only unit in eastern Europe to be equipped with western technology. It uses a Canadian processor, powered by natural uranium and heavy water. ((C) 2001 AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE) ***************************************************************** 8 Biographies of Bush cabinet nominees Monday, January 08, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS Thumbnail biographical sketches of President- elect Bush's picks for his Cabinet. Some confirmations hearings are expected to begin this week. SPENCER ABRAHAM, SECRETARY OF ENERGY Abraham, 48, has drawn criticism from environmentalists because he supports oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and opposes higher fuel efficiency standards. Abraham, a Michigan senator who lost re-election in November, co-sponsored legislation in 1996 and 1999 to close the Department of Energy. He has a limited background in nuclear weapons issues, but during his years in the Senate he earned a reputation as a hard worker, never missing a roll call vote in six years. JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL Ashcroft, 58, lost his Missouri Senate seat in November to the late Mel Carnahan. Ashcroft, a staunch conservative, is the most controversial of Bush's nominees both for his anti-abortion beliefs and for engineering the defeat of a black Missouri Supreme Court judge, Ronnie White, nominated to the federal bench. He served two terms as governor of Missouri and was its attorney general from 1977 to 1985. LINDA CHAVEZ, SECRETARY OF LABOR Chavez, 53, is an outspoken opponent of affirmative action and bilingual education, and former head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in the Reagan administration. Chavez said she will enforce regulations to guarantee nondiscrimination by federal contractors. A nationally syndicated political columnist, Chavez lost a 1986 Senate bid in Maryland. DON EVANS, SECRETARY OF COMMERCE Evans, 54, is Bush's former campaign manager, longtime friend and a fellow oilman. Evans has been part of Bush's political career from the start: a fund-raiser for Bush's losing congressional campaign in 1978 and chairman of Bush's successful gubernatorial campaigns in 1994 and 1998. MEL MARTINEZ, SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT Martinez, 54, is Orange County chairman, a position akin to mayor of the county home to Orlando. He came to the United States from Cuba in 1962 as a teen-ager. He bucked central Florida developers for his support of a moratorium on new residential projects in crowded school districts last year. He was president of the Orlando Utilities Commission from 1994-1997 and chairman of the Orlando Housing Authority for two years in the 1980s. NORMAN Y. MINETA, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION Mineta, President Clinton's commerce secretary, is the only Democrat appointed by Bush. Mineta, 69, took over the Commerce job in June and is the first Asian-American to serve in a Cabinet. He served in the House for 20 years from San Jose, Calif., the last two as chairman of the Public Works and Transportation Committee. GALE NORTON, SECRETARY OF INTERIOR Norton, 46, directed the legal staff of the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service in the late 1980s under Interior Secretary James Watt. She was Colorado's first female attorney general, serving from 1991 to 1999. She supports making federal lands more accessible to oil, mining and ranching interests, and she supports oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. PAUL O'NEILL, SECRETARY OF TREASURY O'Neill, 65, headed aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. and International Paper Co. after serving 16 years in the federal government. He is viewed by some conservatives as too moderate because in 1992 he endorsed the incoming Clinton administration's gas tax (a position he no longer holds) and has always emphasized deficit reduction over tax cuts. ROD PAIGE, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION Paige, 67, has been superintendent of the Houston Independent School District since 1994. Paige is widely credited with making the Houston school system, the largest in Texas and seventh- largest in the nation, one of the country's finest urban school districts. Academic performance and test scores have improved under his tenure at the 90 percent minority school district. COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE Powell, a retired Army general, served as the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the Bush and Clinton administrations. Before that, he was President Reagan's national security adviser. Powell, 63, was hesitant about U.S. involvement in Bosnia and Somalia in the early months of the Clinton administration. He supports affirmative action. If confirmed, Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, will be the first black secretary of state. ANTHONY PRINCIPI, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Principi, 56, was appointed deputy secretary of veterans affairs by President Bush in 1989 and later served as acting secretary in 1992. Principi is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a decorated Vietnam veteran. Principi has long supported expanding military and veterans benefits, including full college scholarships and home loans without down payments. DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Rumsfeld, 68, was President Ford's secretary of defense from late 1975 to early 1977, during which time he was the youngest to hold the job. He is a veteran of four Republican administrations, dating from President Nixon's. Rumsfeld is a strong advocate of a national missile defense program. He opposed a chemical weapons treaty ratified by the Senate. TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES In his fourth term as governor of Wisconsin, Thompson, 59, is the nation's longest-serving Republican governor and was an early leader in the movement to cut welfare rolls. Thompson oppose abortion except in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is at stake. ANN VENEMAN, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE Veneman, 51, was deputy secretary of agriculture from 1986 to 1993, dealing mainly with international trade. She helped to negotiate the Uruguay round of talks for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The daughter of peach farmers, Veneman is a strong advocate of technology's role in farming, including genetic engineering. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to hold the post. CHRISTIE WHITMAN, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY The governor of New Jersey and a GOP moderate, Whitman, 54, championed open-space preservation and beach protection in the Garden State. She drew fire from environmentalists for cutting finances of state offices that investigate and prosecute environmental abuses by industry. ***************************************************************** 9 Input sought on waste license 01/06/2001 THE DAILY HERALD SALT LAKE CITY--The Utah Radiation Control Board is seeking public comment on Envirocare's request for a license to accept and dispose of containerized Class A, B and C low-level radioactive waste at its facility in Tooele County. The executive secretary of the board has made a tentative decision that the proposed facility could be safely operated in accordance with state laws. The documents supporting that decision are a license application submitted by Envirocare to the Division of Radiation Control; a draft Safety Evaluation Report and a draft Radioactive Materials License prepared by Rogers and Associates, a contractor for DRC; and a draft Groundwater Discharge Permit prepared by DRC. The public may provide comments whether orally or in writing on the tentative decision and the related documents. To accept oral comments, the board has scheduled the following public hearings: * SALT LAKE CITY--Feb. 1, from 2-7 p.m. at the Department of Environmental Quality, 168 N. 1950 West, Room 101. * LAYTON--Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott, 1803 Woodland Park Drive. * TOOELE--Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Tooele County Health Department auditorium, 151 N. Main St. * PROVO--Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. at the Utah County Health Department auditorium, 589 S. State St. The public should submit written comments by mail to William J. Sinclair, Executive Secretary, Utah Radiation Control Board, P.O. Box 144850, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4850; or by e-mail to bsinclai@deq. state.ut.us. Written and e-mail comments must be received by 5 p.m. on March 2. A copy of the Envirocare license application, draft Safety Evaluation Report, draft Radioactive Materials License and draft Groundwater Discharge Permit are available for public review and for copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Division of Radiation Control, 168 N. 1950 West, Room 212, Salt Lake City. These documents will be available for review and downloading at DRC's Web site at www.deq.state.ut. us/equad/drc_hmpg.htm. This Story appeared in The Daily Herald on Saturday, January 6, 2001 12:00:00 AM and was printed on page A8 Last Updated Friday, January 5, 2001 11:16:45 PM The Daily Herald Copyright 2000, Pulitzer Community Newspapers, ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Mushroom clouds over Nevada 50 YEARS LATER, THE TRAGEDY OF NUCLEAR TESTS. JANUARY 5, 2000 As golden anniversaries go, it's a somber occasion. In a forlorn expanse of desert scarcely an hour's drive northwest of Las Vegas, on Jan. 27, 1951, the Nevada Test Site went into operation by exploding an atomic bomb. For more than a decade, mushroom clouds often rose toward the sky. Winds routinely carried radioactive fallout to communities in Utah, Nevada, and northern Arizona. Meanwhile, news media dutifully conveyed U.S. Atomic Energy Commission announcements to downwind residents: "There is no danger." In the region, journalists followed the national media spin and threw in some extra bravado. "'Baby' A-Blast May Provide Facts on Defense Against Atomic Attack," said a headline in the Las Vegas Sun on March 13, 1955. That week brought the unveiling of a taller detonation tower: 500 feet instead of the previous 300-foot height. The Las Vegas Review-Journal informed readers that the change would make them even more secure: "Use of taller towers from which atomic devices are detonated at the Nevada Test Site introduces an added angle of safety to residents living outside the confines of the Atomic Energy Commission's continental testing ground, nuclear scientists believe." Eleven days later, when the "added angle of safety" did not prevent a hot storm of radioactive particles from blanketing the city, the Review-Journal reported that the day's events were benign. "Fallout on Las Vegas and vicinity following this morning's detonation was very low and without any effects on health, " the newspaper explained. Pundits of the day were eagerly patrolling ideological frontiers for the benefit of all Americans. The Los Angeles Examiner published a column by International News Service writer Jack Lotto under the headline "On Your Guard: Reds Launch 'Scare Drive' Against U.S. Atomic Tests." The article warned: "A big Communist 'fear' campaign to force Washington to stop all American atomic hydrogen bomb tests erupted this past week." It was a popular theme among prominent commentators like syndicated columnist David Lawrence, whose wisdom appeared in the Washington Post and other leading newspapers. "The truth is," he wrote in spring 1955, "there isn't the slightest proof of any kind that the 'fallout' as a result of tests in Nevada has ever affected any human being anywhere outside the testing ground itself." By then, children and others living in downwind areas were beginning to develop leukemia. As time passed, people in affected areas suffered extraordinarily high rates of cancer and thyroid ills. Functioning in tandem, the news media and the federal government continued to deny that nuclear testing was a health hazard. In August 1980, nearly three decades after the Nevada site opened for nuclear business, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations concluded: "All evidence suggesting that radiation was having harmful effects, be it on the sheep or the people, was not only disregarded but actually suppressed." That assessment was no surprise to thousands of downwind residents like Jay Truman, who grew up in southwestern Utah under the shadow of the test site. After watching many friends die, he had no interest in pretending that the U.S. government did not kill his schoolmates. When I met Truman in 1980, he was already an expert on nuclear testing. Today, as director of the Downwinders organization From the Rockies to remote Russian sites, nuclear industries have taken an enormous toll. Victims include Native American uranium miners, nuclear-plant workers, and far-flung residents, soldiers exposed to atomic bomb tests at close range, Pacific Islanders, and people whose lives were forever changed during a few split seconds in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Nuclear testing made the cold war possible," Truman said a few days ago. "Without it, humanity could never have developed and deployed the weapons that still stand ever-ready to wipe our species off this planet." Unable to admit the inevitable health effects of nuclear tests, "all governments of all testing nations learned how to – and perfected being able to – lie to their own citizens." Fifty years after the first mushroom cloud overshadowed the Nevada desert, military contractors and their allies are eager to spread the news about the latest technologies offering "an added angle of safety." In 2001, Star Wars is back on the media horizon. It's never too late to make a killing. DECEPTIVE MEDIA, WON THE 1999 GEORGE ORWELL AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTION TO HONESTY AND CLARITY IN PUBLIC LANGUAGE, PRESENTED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH. SOLOMON IS A SYNDICATED OUR OWN: THE DISASTER OF AMERICA'S EXPERIENCE WITH ATOMIC RADIATION. ***************************************************************** 2 UN chief says cancers not due to Kosovo radiation Irish Independent Newspaper Online 8-January-2001 GEORGE ROBERTSON: STATEMENT EXPECTED MICHAEL EVANS THE head of a United Nations investigation into the environmental effects of depleted uranium shells used in Kosovo yesterday dismissed fears that Nato troops could have contracted leukaemia from radioactive dust. Pekka Haavisto, chairman of the UN's depleted uranium assessment team and a former Finnish environment minister, said that it was vital for Nato countries to examine the full personal background of each soldier said to have died from leukaemia as a result of service in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans. He said: "It would not be possible for a soldier passing through an area hit by depleted uranium weapons in Kosovo to be suffering now from leukaemia." Mr Haavisto and his team of 14 scientists from several countries investigated 11 of the 112 sites identified as being targeted by depleted uranium ordnance. They collected soil, water and vegetation and conducted tests on buildings and damaged Serb army vehicles. His interim report revealed that at eight of the 11 sites, there was a "slightly higher" than normal level of beta radiation. On the other three sites there were no signs of higher radioactivity or any other contamination from ammunition. Beta radiation is only moderately penetrating. Clothing can normally provides sufficient protection from it, but it can penetrate human skin and, if allowed to remain for a prolonged period, can be harmful. Mr Haavisto said that for any Nato soldier to have developed leukaemia from weapons residue, he would have to have been in close contact with contaminated material for a prolonged period. Italy has reported that 12 Italian soldiers serving in Kosovo developed cancer and six have died of leukaemia. On Wednesday, Nato Secretary-General George Robertson is expected to make a statement about the use of depleted uranium in Kosovo after a meeting of the alliance's North Atlantic Council, which will discuss the issue. (The Times, London) ***************************************************************** 3 Norwegian officers: Ban ammunition with depleted uranium The Norway Post - Doorway to Norway 8. Januar 2001 The Norwegian Officers' Union (NOF) demands that the use of delpleted uranium in ammunition and weaponry be banned immediately, until more is known about the health risk involved. The move follows reports of NATO soldiers having died from leukaemia after serving in the Kosovo war zone during or after NATO attacks in the region. NATO forces use ammunition made with depleted uranium. -At least we must get a ban on the use of this ammunition within NATO, says NOF-leader Peter André Moe to NRK Radio. -As long as there is a danger of damage to the health of our own soldiers, there is no reason to use such ammunition, and it ought to be banned, Moe says. He hopes the Defence Chief will take necessary action to clear up the matter. (NRK) Rolleiv Solholm ***************************************************************** 4 IAAP vet recalls test firing The Hawk Eye Newspaper Iowa Time: 10:23 PM By Mike Augspurger The Hawk Eye ; Dallas City man one of a dozen who took part in hydroshots. People knew when George Fish did one of his jobs at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant--the boom would resonate for miles. Fish was one of about a dozen people who conducted hydroshot testing of various components used to make nuclear weapons. Those tests at Firing Site 12 would often cause a loud noise and send vibrations through the ground. The testing also released clouds of radioactive depleted uranium that would hover over the firing site before drifting off. The metal and ash eventually fell to the ground. The Dallas City, Ill., man began working at the plant in 1955 and left in 1974, when the Atomic Energy Commission left IAAP. He worked at the Dial plant in Fort Madison for about five years, returning to IAAP in October 1979 as an engineer. He retired in May 2000. At first he worked in the E-yard, where bomb-making equipment was loaded and unloaded from rail cars. Three months later, Fish had clearance to work on Line 1, where the nuclear weapons were assembled. Eventually, he worked in the X-ray department that examined blocks of powder castings. In late 1961, he started working for the test firing portion of the operations. "We test fired practically everything they produced at Line 1," he said. The X-ray and other related areas were moved to the test fire site in 1963. "I remember we were moving the day Kennedy was shot," he said. They never fired a complete weapon at the site, merely the part of the weapon that was used to set off the nuclear explosion. The test firing was a way to assure the quality of the powder and detonation device. Most of the tests were done on 19-pound packages. "In the old days, testing portions of the Fat Man units would be 119 pounds," Fish said. It was a Fat Man bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, essentially ending World War II. The IAAP test firings would be heard throughout the area. "Especially on rainy or foggy days, the sound would travel through it," he said. "But it wasn't all that bad," he said of the sound when he and others were in a surface bunker about 30 feet from the test fire. The test firing crews, however, handled a lot of depleted uranium. The material was ring-shaped when put on a component for test firing. After the blast, generally the ring broke into four large chunks and some smaller pieces. Fish and others would pick up the depleted uranium, put it in boxes and the material was sent away. Depleted uranium is considered dangerous if it is inhaled or somehow ingested into the body. At first they handled the material with bare hands. AEC officials eventually decided some type of protection was needed, so they gave the workers cotton gloves to use. There were 15 to 16 people in the test firing crew. Of that group, six have had a form of cancer--three have died from it and three have been treated for cancer and lived, Fish said. Fish was successfully treated for bladder cancer in 1988. "Whether if anything at the plant had anything to do with the cancer, who knows?" he said. A heavy metal with low levels of radioactivity, depleted uranium is used in ammunition to penetrate tanks and other armor. Some scientists believe the dust created when rounds hit targets may be harmful, but studies of Gulf War troops have found no proof it caused diseases. Depleted uranium--although radioactive, contains only minute amounts of the fissionable and even more radioactive isotope U235, but its alpha rays and the metal itself can be harmful if taken into the body. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines depleted uranium as having a percentage of uranium-235 smaller than the 0.7 percent found in natural uranium. It is obtained from spent (used) fuel elements or as by-product tails, or residues, from uranium isotope separation. Fish believes he and others were adequately protected based on what was known at the time. "Yes, there may have been a danger. Yes, there may have been health- related problems. All in all, I think the safety was pretty darn good," he said. "And I think they told you everything that they were aware of. I felt safer there than I did in other places--even driving down the highway." Fish believes some of the stories about IAAP have been blown out of proportion by the media and/or politicians. He's critical of the lost-record reports. He believes common sense should have prevailed -- if AEC transferred its operations to the Pantex plant in Texas, the records would have followed. Most IAAP records eventually were found at the Texas plant, although many were sent to the National Archives as a matter of national security. Those records now are being declassified and IAAP-watchers are now learning about AEC operations that were never before made public. Fish believes the AEC moved its operations to Texas because of the influence at the time by Texas-born President Lyndon Johnson. He said workers felt hurt by the AEC's decision to leave Iowa because the quality of their weapons was considered top-notch. He also believes that workers probably won't see much, if any, health- related compensation from the federal government. The process could take a long time, and Fish speculates that may be intentional. "We'll all be dead by then," he said. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk ù 319-754-6824 FAX ù 1-800-397- 1708 Toll Free ***************************************************************** 5 Uranium Products Depleted Uranium (DU) is a low cost material that is readily available. DU's high density properties (65% denser than lead) provide useful solutions in radiation shielding and aircraft counterweights. DU is also a highly effective material for military armor and anti-armor applications. Customer needs for uranium and related materials are served by utilizing our patented technologies. ÿ Control surfaces (elevators and ailerons) on wide body aircraft require a heavy counterbalance weight , yet have insufficient surface clearance for lighter materials. Our DU products are an ideal material choice for this application where volume constraints prohibit the use of less dense metals. Starmet has the only Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved facility for the repair and refurbishing of DU aircraft counterweights. Radiation Shielding Starmet has been a long time supplier of radiation shielding products to the hospital, radiography, and commercial energy industries. We have the experience to design and manufacture radiation shields that are safe and reliable. Our products are routinely used for collimation and control of radiation sources in angiographic imaging systems, linear accelerators and cobalt irradiation equipment employed in cancer therapy. Military Ordnance Starmet's low cost DU manufacturing capabilities make it one of the leading suppliers of low cost ammunition for U.S. government weapons systems. Our anti-armor tank penetrator munitions helped bring a quick conclusion to the Desert Storm conflict. and services! ***************************************************************** 6 Department of Energy Extends Contract at Savannah River Site energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release Secretary Richardson announced today his decision to extend the contract with Washington Group International's Westinghouse Savannah River Company and its integrated team of Bechtel Savannah River, Inc.; BWXT Savannah River Company; and British Nuclear Fuels, Limited, Savannah River Corporation to manage and operate the Savannah River Site. The extension option was part of the original contract when it was competed in 1996. "The department has negotiated a contract extension with Westinghouse Savannah River Company that will promote efficiency and focus attention on the critical missions at the Savannah River Site," said Secretary Richardson. "The revised contract framework and structure provide value to the department and offer challenging, yet achievable, financial incentives to the contractor for high productivity and delivery on the job." The extension runs through Sept. 30, 2006 and will have a total value of approximately $8.4 billion. It assumes level annual funding of approximately $1.1 billion in Environmental Management (EM) funds and $340 million in National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) funds. The department and Westinghouse Savannah River Company negotiated for four months on a new fee structure that is performance-based and focuses on completing work related to the key missions of the Savannah River Site. MEDIA CONTACT: Dolline Hatchett, DOE-HQ, 202/586-5806 Rick Ford, DOE-SR, 803/725-2889 Release No. R-00-002 ***************************************************************** 7 Eggleton: No need to test troops for uranium National - Ottawa Citizen Online ELECTION 2000 NEWS [I] Monday 8 January 2001 DND medics see no evidence of harm from radioactive shells used in Balkans, despite controversy MIKE BLANCHFIELD The Ottawa Citizen Defence Minister Art Eggleton says he has no plans to order mandatory testing of Canadian peacekeepers to determine whether they have been exposed to dangerous levels of depleted uranium, despite growing controversy in Europe over the matter. "I would take the advice of the medical people. They're the ones that understand the impact of those kinds of things," Mr. Eggleton told the Citizen in an interview. Mr. Eggleton's remarks were the government's first since renewed concern arose in NATO countries over whether the radioactive substance, used in armour-piercing munitions, is posing a cancer risk to military personnel. More than a dozen soldiers from Italy, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands who were stationed in the Balkans have recently died from leukemia, sparking alarm among some European leaders. The Canadian government does not share those concerns at the moment. Mr. Eggleton said military doctors have assured him there is no reason to suspect depleted uranium may have posed a threat to the several thousand Canadian peacekeepers who served in the Balkans throughout the 1990s. Canada currently has about 1,800 peacekeepers in Bosnia and has withdrawn the vast majority of its 1,400 troops from Kosovo. Mr. Eggleton pointed out that he announced a voluntary round of testing last year when it was disclosed that NATO used depleted uranium in the 1999 Kosovo bombing campaign. depleted uranium was used in bombs dropped by American tank-killer war planes during 1999's 78-day bombardment against Yugoslavia because of its armour-piercing capabilities. It was also used in Bosnia and the Gulf War. The United Nations Environment Program is to report next month on whether radioactive residue from the 31,000 depleted uranium bombs used by the U.S. poses a threat to civilians and military personnel in Kosovo. The agency last week found signs of radiation at eight of 11 sites bombed by NATO planes in Kosovo, including playgrounds and farmers' fields. When its governing council meets tomorrow in Brussels, NATO will discuss whether to pursue a study into whether there is a so-called Balkan Syndrome from exposure to depleted uranium. Mr. Eggleton said Canada will monitor the NATO discussions on the issue. The European Union, meanwhile, has launched its own inquiry into whether depleted uranium poses a cancer risk to its troops. That announcement came as the British defence ministry admitted Friday it has been aware of health risks associated with depleted uranium for a decade, dating back to the 1991 Gulf War and the conflict in Bosnia. "It must be assumed that not only the interior but also the surrounding area of an armoured vehicle destroyed by depleted uranium ammunition is contaminated,'' said a declassified British document. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Finland, Greece and Bulgaria have announced mandatory testing of soldiers. In Canada, the Defence Department says that is not necessary. Canadian Forces medical officials have repeatedly stressed the voluntary testing program is adequate. And Mr. Eggleton said the opinion of his department's medical staff is good enough for him. "We have tested a number but we have not found any connection between depleted uranium and any illnesses our soldiers have,'' Mr. Eggleton said. Only 11 of 101 Canadian troops tested in the voluntary program actually served in the Balkans. The remaining 90 served in the Gulf War. So far, the Forces have not found unduly high levels of radiation in any of those troops, officials say. However, the Opposition defence critic and a former military doctor say the government's voluntary testing program is not adequate to address the unanswered questions. Art Hanger, the Canadian Alliance military critic, called on Mr. Eggleton to take the lead and order mandatory testing. Mr. Hanger said the unwillingness to do so is indicative of a disturbing pattern in which the government does not take active steps to ensure the health and safety of its troops. Dr. Craig Passey, a Vancouver psychiatrist who retired last year after a 22-year military career, said many Canadian peacekeepers in Kosovo in 1999 expressed concern to him over whether they had been exposed to hazardous levels of depleted uranium. Dr. Passey said it is not enough for the government to offer a voluntary testing program. Many part-time reserve soldiers have dispersed across the country since returning home from duty, and are likely unaware of the voluntary test. "Any time an issue such as this is raised, as far as the mental health and the overall health of the troops is concerned, it's better to be seen to be doing something than to say there's nothing there," he said. "The incidence of stress disorders actually diminishes if the personnel feel their organization and their superiors are concerned about them and are providing caring leadership." Copyright 2001 Ottawa Citizen Group Inc. ***************************************************************** 8 Poland Wants Help With Nukes Check January 07, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS WARSAW, Poland (AP)--Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Sunday he counts on Moscow's cooperation in having international inspectors examine whether Russia deployed nuclear weapons in the Kaliningrad enclave between Poland and Lithuania. "In order to check the facts, to be sure, we count on international inspection in cooperation with Russia," Kwasniewski, an ex-communist, said on state Radio Three. "It is nothing extraordinary, such inspections are carried out regularly in various parts of the world." The reports of the weapons first appeared in The Washington Times on Wednesday. Later, senior U.S. administration officials told The Associated Press there had been indications of possible nuclear weapons movement to a naval base in Kaliningrad, the home of Russia's Baltic Fleet. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the reports "rubbish" Saturday. But Kwasniewski, Poland's most popular politician, said it would be a "great detriment to the confidence placed in Russia" if it turned out that such moves were taking place without notification to partners in NATO. Kwasniewski said it is "public knowledge" that there is one missile brigade in Kaliningrad and it "surely has some armaments." "The point is whether there is additional deployment of arms, meaning the use of the existing infrastructure to launch the missiles using new warheads," he said. Defense ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia visiting Poland expressed surprise Sunday about the reports of nuclear weapons deployment in Kaliningrad. There is "no need" for Russia to deploy nuclear weapons in the region, because the "Baltic Sea region and all countries around it are friendly nations," Latvian Defense Minister Gritis Valdis Kristovskis told Polish state news agency PAP. He said Latvia will ask for international inspection in Kaliningrad if the reports are confirmed. Lithuanian Defense Minister Linas Antanas Linkevicius said it would be "justified" to send an international team of experts to Kaliningrad. The ministers, taking part in a seminar on the Baltic states progress in joining NATO in the southern Polish town of Krakow, said they didn't think the reports would obstruct their efforts to join the alliance, but could instead accelerate them. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 9 Effects of Depleted Uranium Examined January 08, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)--NATO and the European Union will examine the possible health risks of depleted uranium ammunition used in the Balkans, and the U.N. administrator in Kosovo made an "urgent appeal" Monday for help from the World Health Organization. NATO's political committee and the EU's political and security committee scheduled talks for Tuesday. The use of depleted uranium has led to rising fears in Europe since Italy began investigating soldiers who have become ill since serving in the Balkans. Twelve have cancer and five have died of leukemia. In France, four soldiers are being treated for leukemia. One Portuguese soldier has been diagnosed with cancer since returning from Kosovo. Several other European countries have begun screening soldiers who served in the Balkans, with many civilian aid agencies doing the same. European officials cautioned that determining a link, if there is one, between any particular illness and depleted uranium--a dense metal used against armored vehicles because of its penetrating power -- may take a long while. "It's not easy to find a definitive conclusion to this problem, but the process will start tomorrow," said Sweden's Defense Minister Bjoern von Sydow, whose country holds the EU presidency. The United States, the only country to use depleted uranium munitions during the 78-day air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 and in Bosnia during 1994 and 1995, insists the ammunition poses no significant health threat. Radiation levels from depleted uranium are much lower than natural uranium, a U.S. Defense Department report said last month. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, quoted in the report, said: "No human cancer of any type has ever been seen as a result of exposure to natural or depleted uranium." Scientists remain divided on the issue, and worry about the risk from breathing dust from the exploded munitions. Yugoslav experts and officials claim the depleted uranium will remain in the soil, filtering into ground water and moving into the food chain. The German Defense Ministry confirmed Sunday that in July 1999, NATO warned of possible dangers from depleted uranium ammunition in the Balkans and called for proper precautionary steps to be taken. Many countries whose troops are serving in Kosovo have sent or are now sending medical teams to examine soldiers for ill effects. The outgoing U.N. administrator in Kosovo sought help gauging what effects, if any, the depleted uranium may be having on civilians. Bernard Kouchner made an "urgent appeal" to the World Health Organzation to send public health experts to monitor the possible health risks, said U.N. spokeswoman Susan Manuel. On Monday, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called on NATO to release all available information on the use and effects of depleted uranium ammunition. "We want frank information about where the ammunition was used and with what consequences," Schroeder said. He added, however, that he harbored a "healthy skepticism" that the ammunition caused the illnesses. While depleted uranium fears spread, others advised caution. Ljerka Obradovic, a hematologist in the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia, said the leukemia rate among the 500,000 residents of that section was the same as before the Bosnian war. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said that according to initial findings by WHO and the Kosovo Department of Health, "there has been no increase of incidents of leukemia among adults over the last four years." WHO said Monday that soldiers and civilians exposed to depleted uranium in the Balkans probably did not receive large enough doses of radiation to cause leukemia. The U.N. health body agreed that radioactive dust from the exploded munitions could end up in the body, but said the amount would have been low. Dr. Mike Repacholi, WHO's coordinator for occupational and environmental health, stressed that the organization's position was based on a review of existing research and could not say whether areas bombed by depleted uranium now are safe. "If parents have children playing in contaminated areas, they should be careful about this. There are going to be radioactive fragments, " Repacholi said. A Serb health official said Monday that ethnic Albanian villagers were letting cattle graze on soil contaminated by depleted uranium, putting people at risk of consuming milk or meat that could become toxic. Villagers in Bratoselce removed a fence sealing off contaminated land, said Miroslav Simic, a health official in Vranje, 180 miles southeast of Belgrade. U.N. scientists who visited 11 of 112 Kosovo sites identified by NATO as having been targeted with ordnance containing depleted uranium found higher radiation levels at eight of them. The U.N. team intends to visit more sites in the spring. "Once we have concluded the tests we will know precisely what environmental and health damage the uranium weapons posed, if any," Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 10 Depleted Uranium Meetings This Week January 08, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP)--NATO and the European Union will hold separate meetings this week to discuss possible health threats posed by the depleted uranium ammunition that Western forces used in the Balkans, Sweden's defense minister said Monday. But the minister, Bjoern von Sydow, cautioned against expecting quick answers to the question of whether ammunition containing depleted uranium was responsible for cancer cases among veterans of Balkan peacekeeping missions. "It's not easy to find a definitive conclusion soon to this problem, but the process will start tomorrow," von Sydow told reporters after announcing the meetings. Von Sydow, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said the issue had been added to the agenda of Tuesday's meeting of the EU's political and security committee. The NATO political committee also will discuss the depleted uranium issue the same day. Belgium and Greece are among the European countries concerned that cases of cancer found among military personnel in the Balkans may have been caused by depleted uranium, a radioactive material. The material was used in armor-piecing shells fired by NATO forces during the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999. Renewed concerns over depleted uranium arose in December after Italy announced an investigation into 30 sick soldiers who served in the region. Twelve have cancer and five have died of leukemia. The United States has denied there are any health risks from the ammunition. But scientists are divided on the issue, and numerous countries with troops in the Balkans have launched testing programs. On Monday, Portugal began health tests on about 10,000 military and civilian personnel who have served in the Balkans since 1996. One Portuguese soldier has been diagnosed with cancer since returning from Kosovo. Two others have expressed fears of possible contamination after showing symptoms such as headaches, fatigue and sudden weight loss. Elsewhere Monday, Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said his government would ask NATO whether unused bombs its planes dumped into the Adriatic during the 1999 bombing campaign contained depleted uranium. On Sunday, the German defense ministry confirmed that in July 1999, NATO warned of possible dangers from depleted uranium ammunition in the Balkans and called for proper precautionary steps to be taken. The Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported Monday that it had obtained a document from the ministry dated July 16, 1999 stating that NATO had warned soldiers and aid workers of "possible toxic threat" and advised them to take "preventative measures." Despite that, the document said NATO planned no further moves itself, according to the newspaper. The Berliner Zeitung newspaper Monday quoted the head of the U.N. Environment Program, Klaus Toepfer, as criticizing NATO for not being more forthcoming with information about where it used the ammunition. Toepfer said the Western alliance had taken the stance "that investigation at these locations wasn't necessary anymore" and "that is very clearly not correct," the newspaper reported. UNEP has visited 11 of 112 Kosovo sites identified by NATO as having been targeted with ordnance containing depleted uranium. It found higher radiation levels in eight locations. Final results from its study are not expected before March. Von Sydow, the Swedish minister, acknowledged that governments had few answers to the questions raised by the health scare. "The issue is very new to our eyes," he said. "We need some more time to understand the arguments and the positions of the member countries." ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 11 NATO Warned of Uranium Danger January 07, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS BERLIN (AP)--NATO warned countries with armies and aid workers in the Balkans about the possible dangers of depleted uranium ammunition, the German Defense Ministry said Sunday, an issue which has recently sparked concern as a possible cause of serious illnesses in soldiers who served there. The ministry confirmed that it received a warning in July 1999 of the risks from the ordnance, used by the United States during air campaigns across Yugoslavia for its armor-piercing qualities. According to an internal Defense Ministry document obtained by the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper and dated July 16, 1999, NATO had warned soldiers and aid workers that month of a "possible toxic threat" and advised them to take "preventative measures." The ministry has previously said it began health checks on soldiers who had come into possible contact with the depleted uranium ammunition that same month--as U.N. peacekeeping forces were still entering Yugoslavia's Kosovo province after NATO's 78-day bombing campaign. Despite that, the document said NATO planned no further steps, according to the newspaper. The Defense Ministry said it immediately responded with orders for soldiers on how to behave in areas that were targeted with depleted uranium. The renewed concerns over depleted uranium arose in December after Italy announced an investigation into 30 sick soldiers who served in the region. Twelve have cancer and five have died of leukemia. Since then, numerous other countries with troops in the Balkans have launched testing programs. The United States has denied there are any health risks from the ammunition. German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping also repeated the ministry's assertion that the ammunition poses no danger. He is to present a report to parliament on the issue this month. "All the facts should be on the table--but only facts," he told the Bild newspaper in an article to be published Monday. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, on a visit to Russia, said the questions were serious ones and would be investigated. "It is in our interests to see any danger to our own soldiers and those of our partners to be ruled out," he said. "We want to have a clear picture first of what happened." President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which had opposed the NATO bombing, on Sunday called the use of force in Yugoslavia "impermissible" and said investigations would have to determine "why such weapons were used and with what results." Across Europe, the calls continued for a more thorough look into the possible effects. "If it is shown that depleted uranium causes an increase in cancers, then we have got to look at alternative weapon systems and at precautions which could be taken to protect our troops, as well as at how we can clean up the areas where the shells were used," said Bruce George, chairman of the Defense Committee in Britain's House of Commons. The British Defense Ministry acknowledged late Saturday that depleted uranium has been used at two firing ranges within Britain for more than 10 years, but said there was no evidence it posed a significant health or environmental risk. Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. Environment Program criticized NATO for not being more forthcoming about where it used the ammunition. Klaus Toepfer told the Berliner Zeitung in an article to be published Monday that the alliance had taken the stance "that investigation at these locations wasn't necessary anymore. That is very clearly not correct." UNEP has visited 11 of 112 sites in Kosovo identified by NATO as having been targeted with ordnance containing depleted uranium, and found higher radiation levels in eight locations. Final results are expected in March. Toepfer said similar investigations should be done in Bosnia and Serbia, and that it was NATO's responsibility to dispose of the ammunition. In Greece, the scare has rekindled public opposition to NATO's intervention in the Balkans--sentiment that spurred daily and sometimes violent street protests during the bombing. Defense Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos rejected calls to withdraw the country's 1,500 peacekeepers, saying Sunday that "the soldiers did not go there on an excursion, they went to help bring stability to the region." Greece's military is planning to screen up to 4,000 current and former peacekeepers and has confirmed that a sergeant who served in Bosnia has leukemia. Swiss authorities also said Sunday they would screen 900 soldiers who served in the Balkans for signs of radiation poisoning. Meanwhile, Polish and Bulgarian officials said Sunday that tests so far on troops serving in Kosovo had shown no negative effects from the ammunition. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 12 Guinn tells Bush of opposition to nuke site January 08, 2001 BY JEFF GERMAN LAS VEGAS SUN Gov. Kenny Guinn said Sunday he voiced his concerns about storing high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain to President-elect George W. Bush during a weekend visit to Texas. Guinn and 19 other Republican governors were summoned to Bush's ranch in Crawford on Saturday to discuss education and energy issues. In a brief chat with Bush, Guinn said he was able to raise the Yucca Mountain issue, but had no time to hammer home the state's opposition. "I told him I would be getting with Spencer Abraham," the governor said after he returned to Carson City. Abraham, a just-retired Republican senator from Michigan, has been nominated to head the Energy Department, which is gearing up to recommend whether Yucca Mountain is suitable to store the deadly nuclear waste. He is on record supporting the nuclear industry's push to ship the waste to Nevada from nuclear plants across the country. Guinn said he hopes to arrange a meeting with Abraham when he goes to Washington early next month to attend the National Governors Association winter meeting. Prior to leaving for Texas Friday night, Guinn issued a statement, saying he was "definitely looking forward to reiterating Nevada's steadfast position that we will not be the country's nuclear waste dump." The governor said Sunday he plans to continue to play a leading role in the fight against a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Guinn will be sending a top aide to Thursday's anti-Yucca Mountain meeting of business and community leaders, which is being organized by Strip executive Stephen Cloobeck. The Sun reported Friday that Cloobeck, president and chief executive officer of Diamond Resorts International, a company that runs time- sharing condominium projects on the Strip, is mounting a grassroots campaign against the dump. He has scheduled an organizational meeting at the Clark County Commission chambers at 1 p.m. Thursday. Cloobeck's effort, which has not been tried in two decades of fighting the dump, comes amid growing concerns about the DOE's perceived bias in favor of Yucca Mountain, the only site being studied for the nuclear repository. A team of investigators from the DOE's inspector general office is expected in Las Vegas next month to probe whether federal laws were broken during the agency's site selection process. The DOE is prohibited from taking sides in the process, but documents obtained by the Sun last month showed the DOE might have been collaborating behind the scenes with the nuclear industry to promote Yucca Mountain to Congress. A decision on a recommendation has been put on hold until the investigation is completed. Cloobeck acknowledged that he's "extremely naive" on the Yucca Mountain issue, but he said he hopes the campaign will be able to educate business executives such as himself about the economic and health risks posed by the dump. He said he has encouraged casino executives, elected officials, union leaders and members of the banking, utility and communications industries to attend Thursday's meeting. "We've tried to touch every major company," Cloobeck said. "It's going to take everyone's effort." ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 13 Uranium Ammunition Used in Britain January 07, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON (AP)--Uranium-tipped ammunition at the center of a health scare among NATO nations has been in use at two British firing ranges for more than 10 years, the Defense Ministry has acknowledged. The ministry said late Saturday that depleted-uranium ammunition fired at ranges in northern England and Scotland since 1990 did not pose a significant health risk. But amid rising concern that NATO's use of the armor-piercing weapons in the Balkans irradiated land and possibly harmed its own ground troops, one influential lawmaker called for an investigation. "If it is shown that depleted uranium causes an increase in cancers, then we have got to look at alternative weapon systems and at precautions which could be taken to protect our troops, as well as at how we can clean up the areas where the shells were used," said Bruce George, chairman of the Commons Defense Committee. United Nations scientists who visited 11 areas struck by NATO munitions in Kosovo confirmed Friday they found signs of radioactivity at eight of the sites. They had yet to determine whether there were any health or environmental risks. Italy is investigating 30 cases of illness involving soldiers who served in Kosovo, 12 of whom developed cancer. Five of those have died of leukemia. Portugal has urged soldiers who had served in the Balkans and were exhibiting certain symptoms to report for radiation screening. Poland and Spain are also conducting tests on troops who had served, or are still serving, in the region. So far, there is no conclusive link between the depleted uranium and sick soldiers. The British defense ministry responded to a report in The Sunday Telegraph that claims uranium weapons are routinely fired at British ranges. The ammunition is used by U.S.-made A10 aircraft and Britain's Challenger tanks, the report said. A ministry spokeswoman said use of the weapons at ranges at Eskmeals in northern England and Solway Firth in Scotland has been monitored by health officials, who found no evidence of risk to troops, civilians or wildlife. In 1999 the U.S. military accidentally fired depleted uranium ammunition at a range on Vieques island in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico -- a violation of U.S. federal law. Activists in Vieques say six decades of U.S. military exercises on the 20-mile-long island have harmed the environment and threatened their health--charges the military denies. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 14 Albright Says No Proof NATO Bombs Causing Leukemia Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Monday there was no proof that depleted uranium from NATO weapons used in conflicts in the Balkans has caused leukemia in peacekeepers in the region. REUTERS ONLINE Story Filed: Monday, January 08, 2001 3:57 PM EST UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on Monday there was no proof that depleted uranium from NATO weapons used in conflicts in the Balkans has caused leukemia in peacekeepers in the region. ``There's absolutely no proof that there's a connection. We have forces there also, so we would have been concerned about it,'' Albright said, adding her voice to the controversy over whether NATO-led peacekeepers had been affected by the bombs. ``NATO is taking a look at it, though, in order to be very careful. But this is the standard munition that is used,'' she told reporters after a farewell call on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The use of depleted uranium in NATO weapons--directed at Yugoslav army targets in Kosovo in 1999 and against Bosnian Serb targets in Bosnia in 1994-95--has come under fire following reports that six Italian soldiers who served in the region had developed leukemia, a potentially fatal blood cancer. Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia and European Commission President Roman Prodi have urged NATO to examine whether the ammunition could be linked to the disease. U.S. military leaders and NATO insist the weapons pose scant danger once they have been used. World Health Organization experts said in Geneva on Monday they doubted that depleted uranium weapons had caused leukemia among troops sent to the Balkans by alliance countries. The WHO experts said studies in Kosovo hospitals had so far shown no rise in average levels of leukemia among the largely Albanian civilian population of the Serbian province. But they warned that children playing in former conflict areas where the weapons had exploded could be at risk and recommended that soldiers who had taken home depleted uranium shell parts as souvenirs should dispose of them. Depleted uranium is used in the tips of missiles, shells and bullets to boost their ability to penetrate armor. On impact, it can be pulverized into toxic radioactive dust that can contaminate the air, soil or water supply. [*][I] United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (L) talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan before their meeting at the United Nations in New York on January 8, 2001. Albright said there was no proof that depleted uranium from NATO weapons used in conflicts in the Balkans has caused leukemia in peacekeepers in the region. (Peter Morgan/Reuters) [*][I] A Ukrainian Ecology Control Group officer checks the level of radioactive contamination at a checkpoint on the Ukrainian military base in Prizovitsa January 8, 2001. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said on January 8 there was no proof that depleted uranium from NATO weapons used in conflicts in the Balkans has caused leukemia in peacekeepers in the region. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) Copyright c 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 NATO, EU Move Depleted Uranium Row Center Stage Controversy over NATO's use in the Balkans of tank-busting shells tipped with depleted uranium moved firmly onto the political agenda Monday, although health experts doubted any link to blood cancer among soldiers. Story Filed: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 12:03 AM EST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Controversy over NATO's use in the Balkans of tank-busting shells tipped with depleted uranium moved firmly onto the political agenda Monday, although health experts doubted any link to blood cancer among soldiers. NATO and the European Union will hold separate meetings this week amid growing concern that radioactive depleted uranium may have caused dozens of cases of leukemia among peacekeepers. While several EU states backed calls for NATO to come clean on where, when and how much depleted uranium (DU) ammunition was used, the alliance insisted there was no risk of contamination. Mark Laity, special adviser to NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, told Reuters Television there was no scientific evidence to prove that the specially hardened munitions designed to pierce tanks were linked to leukemia, a blood cancer. ``In general terms, the current state of medical opinion is that depleted uranium is not a risk. You just have to take precautions under certain circumstances. But the radiation risks are very low indeed. ``That's why it's depleted uranium. It's got less radiation than normal uranium which is in your backyard. You're breathing it now. It's in the air we breathe.'' That view was supported by World Health Organization experts who doubted the weapons had caused leukemia among troops. But the Geneva-based WHO warned that children playing in former conflict areas where the weapons exploded could be at risk and recommended that soldiers who had taken home DU shell parts as souvenirs should dispose of them promptly. ``Based on our studies and the evidence we have, it is unlikely that soldiers in Kosovo ran a high risk of contracting leukemia from exposure to radiation from depleted uranium,'' WHO specialist Michael Repacholi told a news conference. CALLS FOR NATO DETAILS German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined calls for NATO to investigate the claims that Western troops in the Balkans fell ill through exposure to the depleted uranium which is used in missiles, shells and bullets to increase armor penetration. ``We want a complete examination of where these munitions have been used and with what consequences,'' Schroeder told reporters in Hanover. ``Of course we also want to know if there are connections between cases of illness and the use of these weapons.'' It also emerged that NATO warned its member states 18 months ago of a ``possible toxic threat'' from radioactive weaponry, widely blamed for the ``Balkans Syndrome'' that has allegedly caused deaths and cancers among peacekeepers. The German Defense Ministry confirmed reports that NATO issued warnings in July 1999 recommending countries take their own ``preventative measures.'' The controversy erupted after six Italian soldiers died of leukemia after serving in the Balkans. It echoes claims that Western use of depleted uranium weapons in the 1991 Gulf War caused thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths from cancer and the birth of deformed babies. The Pentagon has said it is unlikely there is a link between the use of depleted uranium weapons in the Gulf and veterans' claims they caused a wide range of health problems among the military. U.S. attack jets fired 31,000 rounds of the ammunition against Serb targets during NATO's 1999 campaign to drive the Yugoslav army out of Kosovo. Some 10,000 rounds were also fired in neighboring Bosnia in 1994-5. SCOTTISH WATERS LITTERED WITH SHELLS In Britain, the environmental group Friends of the Earth and a Scottish parliamentarian demanded a cleanup of waters around Scotland after the Defense Ministry admitted it fired over 6,000 DU shells into the Solway Firth in training in the past decade. NATO political advisers will discuss the DU row Tuesday and the North Atlantic Council--the alliance's permanent ambassadors--meets on the issue in Brussels Wednesday. NATO medical experts meet next Monday. Swedish Defense Minister Bjoern von Sydow said the European Union's new Political and Security Committee would also discuss the controversy Tuesday, but he warned against any quick fixes. EU foreign ministers were also expected to add the issue to the agenda for their monthly meeting in Brussels Jan. 22. NATIONS STEP UP MILITARY HEALTH CHECKS Germany's Defense Ministry said it would review all leukemia cases in the military to see if there was a higher rate in those soldiers who had served in the Balkans. Finland, Greece and Norway all stepped up health checks and radiation controls for their troops, and Switzerland said it would reexamine the death of an officer who served in Bosnia in 1998. Three Portuguese ministers will visit Kosovo to see whether soldiers are at risk from so-called ``Balkans Syndrome,'' following the death from brain disease of one Portuguese soldier who served in Kosovo and news that another has leukemia. Croatian Premier Ivica Racan vowed to press NATO to clarify whether alliance aircraft dumped depleted uranium bombs in the Adriatic Sea as they returned from Kosovo to bases in Italy. [*][I] A Ukrainian Ecology Control Group officer checks the level of radioactive contamination at a checkpoint on the Ukrainian military base in Prizovitsa January 8, 2001. NATO has come under increasing pressure from several European governments over claims that depleted uranium used in its weapons had caused death or illness among Balkan peace keepers dubbed 'Balkan Syndrome'. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) [*][I] A Yugoslav Army officer shows the place where the army found fired depleted uranium bullets in the village of Reljina, January 7, 2001. Britain said its troops had fired depleted uranium at test ranges in the north of the country over the last 10 years but said the shells posed no serious threat to people's health. (Stevan Lazarevic/Reuters) Copyright c 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 16 UN REJECTS BOMBING LINK WITH LEUKAEMIA The Times Hazir Reka/Reuters A radioactivity production team from Portugal and Kfor soldiers check for contamination near Kina, 40 miles west of Pristina MONDAY JANUARY 08 2001 BY MICHAEL EVANS, DEFENCE EDITOR THE head of a United Nations investigation into the environmental effects of depleted uranium shells used in Kosovo yesterday dismissed fears that Nato troops could have contracted leukaemia from radioactive dust. Pekka Haavisto, the chairman of the UN’s depleted uranium assessment team and a former Finnish Environment Minister, said that it was vital for Nato countries to examine the full personal background of each soldier said to have died from leukaemia as a result of service in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans. He told The Times: “It would not be possible for a soldier passing through an area hit by depleted uranium weapons in Kosovo to be suffering now from leukaemia (as a result).” Mr Haavisto and his team of 14 scientists from several countries investigated 11 of the 112 sites identified as being targeted by depleted uranium ordnance — five in the Italian sector and six in the German sector. They collected soil, water and vegetation and conducted tests on buildings and damaged Serb Army vehicles. The only times that he and his team wore protective clothing were when they examined the inside of damaged army vehicles, Mr Haavisto said. “There was a risk of breathing in or ingesting radioactive dust particles that might have remained in the vehicles.” His interim report revealed that at eight of the 11 sites there was a “slightly higher” than normal level of beta radiation. On the other three sites, there were no signs of higher radioactivity or any other contamination from ammunition. Beta radiation is only moderately penetrating. Clothing can normally provide sufficient protection from it, but it can penetrate human skin and, if allowed to remain for a prolonged period, can be harmful. Although the 340 samples taken by the UN team have yet to be fully analysed, Mr Haavisto said that for any Nato soldier to have developed leukaemia from weapons residue he would have to have been in close contact with contaminated material for a prolonged period. Italy has reported that ten Italian soldiers serving in Kosovo are undergoing treatment for leukaemia and eight have died from the disease. On Wednesday Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Nato Secretary-General, is expected to make a statement about the use of depleted uranium in Kosovo, after a meeting of the alliance’s North Atlantic Council, which will discuss the issue. A scientific team from Portugal arrived in Kosovo yesterday to investigate the region around Klina, one of four areas in the province where American A10 aircraft were known to have used depleted uranium munitions. Mr Haavisto disclosed that Belgrade had agreed that the UN investigative team could visit the Presevo Valley area of southern Serbia, which was also hit by depleted uranium weapons. He said that there were ten sites which would be examined in the late spring. Although he was sceptical about the claims of leukaemia arising from the Kosovo operation, Mr Haavisto said he was disturbed that none of the 112 sites had been marked and cordoned off by Nato. He said that at present it was possible for local people, including children, to wander on to the sites. The Ministry of Defence in London, which still remained adamant that health screening of all British troops who had served in Kosovo was unnecessary, confirmed that depleted uranium munitions had been fired at test ranges in the north of England and Scotland over the past ten years. The MoD said that analysis of published results showed that the firings did not pose a “significant risk to marine life, the public or site personnel”. Use of the depleted uranium weapons on ranges at Eskmeals in Cumbria and on the Solway Firth in Scotland has been monitored by the Health and Safety Executive. Bruce George, the Labour chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, yesterday urged the MoD to investigate the health risks posed by depleted uranium shells. His committee, which is due to meet on January 10, is expected to invite Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, to give evidence on the subject. Mr George said: “The MoD has got to come up with a statement pretty quickly to allay fears and reassure servicemen and their families.” Copyright 2001 TIMES NEWSPAPERS LTD. This service is ***************************************************************** 17 Britain is warned over uranium shell tests ISSUE 2054 Monday 8 JANUARY 2001 BRITAIN IS WARNED OVER URANIUM SHELL TESTS BY MICHAEL SMITH, DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT, CHRISTIAN JENNINGS IN PRISTINA AND ALEX TODOROVIC IN BELGRADE THE United Nations team monitoring radiation in Kosovo gave warning yesterday that material from depleted uranium ammunition had affected the groundwater, raising fears of similar contamination in Britain. The Ministry of Defence was under pressure last night to review its that such rounds had been used at a number of British training grounds. The MoD said it had no plans to change its view that there was "no cause for concern" and no need to screen members of the armed forces who had served in the Balkans. The ministry said depleted uranium rounds had been fired into the sea at the Kirkcudbright test range on the Solway Firth and at targets on land at Eskmeals, Cumbria. Initial inquiries suggested no depleted uranium rounds had been fired at Lulworth, Dorset, but the MoD was not yet able to rule this out. Analysis of test firings showed "no significant risk to marine life, members of the public or site personnel", it said. But Pekka Haavisto, the former Finnish environment minister who heads the UN Environment Programme team in Kosovo, said the water supply there was thought to be contaminated. He said: "There remains a risk for the local population. Much ammunition is deep in the ground and affects the groundwater." Mr Haavisto said that, using research on which the MoD based its belief that there is "minimal risk" to anyone who comes into contact with depleted uranium, his team had been surprised at radiation levels in Kosovo. He and his team have tested a sample 11 sites of 112 named by Nato as having been attacked with depleted uranium rounds and had found significantly increased radiation at eight of them. He said: "We found some radiation in the middle of villages where children were playing. We were surprised to find this a year and a half later. There were cows grazing in contaminated areas, which means the contaminated dust can get into the milk." The UN Mine Action Co-ordination Centre, which co-ordinates mine clearance in Kosovo, said it was banned from entering sites attacked with depleted uranium because of the risk. The New York Times reported yesterday that an American Department of Transportation warning on the use of depleted uranium appeared to conflict with Pentagon research that concluded there was little risk. Depleted uranium is used to provide balance in some aircraft and the Department of Transportation has issued a strong warning to personnel who might be called on to handle it. "If particles are inhaled or ingested, they can be chemically toxic and cause a significant and long-lasting irradiation of internal tissue," it said. The Commons Defence Committee said at the weekend that it would be summoning defence ministers to discuss the issue further. The committee said in May that the MoD appeared to be "adopting a reactive approach and responding to new developments only when forced to by events". The MoD's inaction contrasts sharply with attitudes elsewhere in Europe. In Italy, where seven soldiers who served in the Balkans have died of cancer, Giuliano Amato, the Prime Minister, said: "We've always known it was a danger in exceptional circumstances. Now we are starting to have a justified fear that things are not that simple." Boza Ljubic, the Bosnian Health Minister, said cancer and leukemia deaths among civilians there were rising sharply, with 230 cases of cancer per 100,000 people recorded last year, up from 152 in 1999. Cases of leukaemia had nearly doubled. Nato forces fired 10,800 depleted uranium shells during the Bosnian conflict, 31,000 during the Kosovan campaign and more than 840,000 in the Gulf war. The European Union's political and security committee is to discuss the issue after calls by the European Commission president, Romano Prodi, for a ban on the ammunition's use. A fifth Spanish soldier who had served in the Balkans was reported to have died from cancer yesterday. Five Belgians, two Dutch, a Portuguese and a Czech have also died from cancer. of Balkan veterans in Balkans exposed to depleted uranium ***************************************************************** 18 The truth about depleted uranium Independent Robert Fisk: Bosnians investigating a growth in cancers can get no information from Nato. This is not a scandal. It is an outrage' 8 January 2001 Just fourteen months ago, on a bleak, frosty afternoon, I stopped my car beside an old Ottoman bridge in southern Kosovo. It was here, scarcely half a year earlier, that Nato jets had bombed a convoy of Albanian refugees, ripping scores of them to pieces in the surrounding fields. Their jets, I knew, had been firing depleted uranium rounds. And now, on the very spot east of Djakovica where a bomb had torn apart an entire refugee family in a tractor, five Italian Kfor soldiers had built a little checkpoint. Indeed, their armoured vehicle was actually standing on part of the crater in the road. I tried to warn them that I thought the crater might be contaminated. I told them about depleted uranium and the cancers that had blossomed among the children of Iraq who had - or whose parents had - been close to DU explosions. One of the young soldiers laughed at me. He'd heard the stories, he said. But Nato had assured its troops that there was no danger from depleted uranium. I begged to differ. "Don't worry about us," the soldier replied. They should have known better. Only a few weeks earlier, a team of UN scientists - sent to Kosovo under the set of UN resolutions that brought Kfor into the province - had demanded to know from Nato the location of DU bombings in Kosovo. Nato refused to tell them. Nor was I surprised. From the very start of the alliance bombing campaign against Serbia, Nato had lied about depleted uranium. Just as the American and British governments still lie about its effects in southern Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. US and British tanks had fired hundreds of rounds - thousands in the case of the Americans - at Iraqi vehicles, using shells whose depleted uranium punches through heavy armour and then releases an irradiated aerosol spray. In the aftermath of that war, I revisited the old battlefields around the Iraqi city of Basra. Each time, I came across terrifying new cancers among those who lived there. Babies were being born with no arms or no noses or no eyes. Children were bleeding internally or suddenly developing grotesque tumours. UN sanctions, needless to say, were delaying medicines from reaching these poor wretches. Then I found Iraqi soldiers who seemed to be dying of the same "Gulf War syndrome" that was already being identified among thousands of US and British troops. At the time, The Independent was alone in publicising this sinister new weapon and its apparent effects. Government ministers laughed the reports off. One replied to Independent readers who drew the Ministry of Defence's attention to my articles that, despite my investigations, he had seen no "epidemiological data" proving them true. And of course there was none. Because the World Health Organisation, invited by Iraq to start research into the cancers, was dissuaded from doing so even though it had sent an initial team to Baghdad to start work. And because a group of Royal Society scientists told by the British authorities to investigate the effects of DU declined to visit Iraq. Documents that proved the contrary were dismissed as "anecdotal". A US military report detailing the health risks of DU and urging suppression of this information was dutifully ignored. When two years ago I wrote about a British government report detailing the extraordinary lengths to which the authorities went at DU shell test-firing ranges in the UK - the shells are fired into a tunnel in Cumbria and the resulting dust sealed into concrete containers which are buried - I know for a fact that the first reaction from one civil servant was to ask whether I might be prosecuted for revealing this. One ex-serviceman, sick since the Gulf War, actually had his house raided by the British police in an attempt to track down "secret" documents. More honourable policemen might have searched for papers that proved DU's dangers - and which might form the basis of manslaughter charges against senior officers. But of course the police were trying to find the source of the leak, not the source of dying men's cancers. During the Kosovo war, I travelled from Belgrade to Brussels to ask about Nato's use of depleted uranium. Luftwaffe General Jerz informed me that it was "harmless" and was found in trees, earth and mountains. It was a lie. Only uranium - not the depleted variety that comes from nuclear waste - is found in the earth. James Shea, Nato's spokesman, quoted a Rand Corporation report that supposedly proved DU was not harmful, knowing full well - since Mr Shea is a careful reader and not a stupid man - that the Rand report deals with dust in uranium mines, not the irradiated spray from DU weapons. And so it went on. Back in Kosovo, I was told privately by British officers that the Americans had used so much DU in the war against Serbia that they had no idea how many locations were contaminated. When I tracked down the survivors of the Albanian refugee convoy, one of them was suffering kidney pains. Despite a promise by Shea that the attack would be fully investigated, not a single Nato officer had bothered to talk to a survivor. Nor have they since. A year ago, I noted in The Independent that foreign secretary Robin Cook had admitted in the House of Commons that Nato was refusing to give DU locations to the UN. "Why?" I asked in the paper. "Why cannot we be told where these rounds were fired?" During the war, defence correspondents - the BBC's Mark Laity prominent among them - bought the Nato line that DU was harmless. Laity was still peddling the same nonsense at an Edinburgh Festival journalists' conference some months later. Laity - who is now, of course, an official spokesman for Nato - was last week reduced to saying that "the overwhelming consensus of medical information" is that health risks from DU are "very low". But the growing consensus of medical information is quite the opposite. Which is why a British report to the UK embassy in Kuwait referred to the "sensitivity" of DU because of its health risks. And still the Americans and the British try to fool us. The Americans are now brazenly announcing that their troops in Kosovo have suffered no resultant leukemias - failing to mention that most of their soldiers are cooped up in a massive base (Fort Bondsteel) near the Macedonian border where no DU rounds were fired by Nato. Needless to say, there was also no mention of the tens of thousands of US troops - women as well as men - who believe they were contaminated by DU in the Gulf. So it goes on. British veterans are dying of unexplained cancers from the Gulf. So are US veterans. Nato troops from Bosnia and now Kosovo - especially Italians - are dying from unexplained cancers. So are the children in the Basra hospitals, along with their parents and uncles and aunts. Cancers have now been found among Iraqi refugees in Iran who were caught in Allied fire on the roads north of Kuwait. Bosnian authorities investigating an increase in cancers can get no information from Nato. This is not a scandal. It is an outrage. Had we but known. On those very same Iraqi roads, I too prowled through the contaminated wreckage of Iraqi armour in 1991. And - I recall with growing unease - back in Kosovo in 1999, only a day after the original attack, I collected pieces of the air-fired rounds that hit the Albanian refugee convoy. Their computer codes proved Nato had bombed the convoy - not the Serbs, as Nato tried to claim. I also remember that I carried those bits of munition back to Belgrade - in my pocket. There are times, I must admit, when I would like to believe Nato's lies. ***************************************************************** 19 Retiring with respect Leming's dedication to cleanup plan leaves noble legacy January 8, RESPECT Leming's dedication to cleanup plan leaves noble legacy Here it is, already a week into 2001, and I'm still trying to finish last year's business. One important item can't wait any longer: Congratulations to Earl Leming, the state's environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge, who retired in December after a stand-up career. For the past decade and a half, Leming has monitored the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear operations and helped formulate a workable cleanup plan to deal with the legacy of Cold War research and production in Oak Ridge. The task given to Leming was enormously complex, from both a technical and legal standpoint, and in many ways thankless as well. No matter what he did, his actions couldn't erase the past, make sense of the senseless or proceed quickly enough with the cleanup. Leming said he didn't accomplish all that he wanted, and he means that. He also freely admits that too much money was spent studying environmental problems in the early days of the program, not enough on cleaning them up. "But that's hindsight," he said. In the mid-1980s, when environmental scandals at Oak Ridge and other DOE nuclear sites started to get the kind of attention they deserved, the pollutants--virtually every chemical and radioactive substance known to humankind--were yet to be characterized. There was much uncertainty about the potential hazards, and there were too many problems to be dealt with at the same time, so a priority system had to be established. Looking back, Leming recalls the enormous effort spent trying to understand the impact of toxic discharges in East Fork Poplar Creek and downstream at the Watts Bar Lake. The situation has changed dramatically since those early days, especially in regard to allowable discharges and waste-disposal practices at the federal facilities on DOE's Oak Ridge reservation. The benefit of enforced changes can be seen in the East Fork and Bear Creek, both of which were polluted to death (literally) by releases from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Nowadays the creeks support strong fisheries with many species that couldn't survive the harsh conditions not so long ago. "Progress has been made," Leming said. About $10 billion already has been spent on Oak Ridge cleanup activities, and at least that much will be required in the future to complete current plans. Leming hopes the state and DOE and the U.S. environmental Protection Agency will formalize a "vision" agreement signed last year regarding the cleanup of the K-25 plant, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. The long-term strategy should help private industrialized development co-exist safely with the cleanup of contamination left from the uranium- processing work that took place at K-25 for decades, beginning in World War II. Leming also would like to see a mechanism put in place that guarantees surplus nuclear facilities get cleaned up in a timely fashion rather than being put on hold. This issue will become even more critical as the modernization of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant begins to take shape. During his watch in Oak Ridge, the state and DOE reached a number of historic agreements, including the creation of a trust fund to deal with long-term cleanup issues associated with a new waste-disposal facility. Resources for the Future, a Washington think-tank, recently issued a report on "long-term stewardship of contaminated sites," and it discussed the Oak Ridge fund at some length. "Although the Oak Ridge trust fund is an innovative response to the problem of paying for long-term stewardship, it has a number of weaknesses, " the report said. The report said the state and DOE have different interpretations of the rules, which could jeopardize the "enforceability and financial security" of the trust fund. Leming said he doesn't think the differences in legal interpretation of the fund are substantial. He said he's confident it will be funded as agreed upon over the next 14 years. "From our standpoint, it was on the cutting edge of dealing with long-term institutional control" of Oak Ridge waste operations, Leming said. In fact, other states with DOE nuclear facilities are studying the Oak Ridge agreement as a potential model to address their concerns about the availability of cleanup funds in the future, he said. 'There's a lot more that I would have liked to have gotten done before I left," Leming said. Indeed, there are critics who think the state and Leming should have been tougher on DOE, moved quicker to punish misdeeds and screamed louder for more cleanup dollars. Leming was not known for his passionate arm-waving or unbridled threats. Just the opposite. He was viewed as a moderating force, a no-nonsense guy who just wanted to get done what needed to be done. If someone objected to the state's policies, even in an ugly, personal way, he didn't respond with loud exchanges, name-calling or insulting behavior. "That just comes from all my years of being in the middle," he said. "You develop a skin. You've always got your goal." What's remarkable to many, including myself, was Leming's consistency. He was accessible, no matter his workload, and he was the same person all the time, a trait more unusual than it sounds. He didn't waste his energy on needless matters, and maybe that's why he always seemed to have the energy to work until the job got done. Frank Munger can be reached at 482-9213 or by e-mail at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This weekly column on science and technology also is available on our Web site at http://www.knoxnews.com/science/munger/. Copyright c 1999-2000, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights ***************************************************************** 20 NATO defends health warning Lawrence Journal-World: AP Photo A Portuguese KFOR soldier joins members of the Portuguese Department for Radioactive Protection, measuring the level of radiation Sunday in an area in the Western Kosovo town of Klina. There have been reports that depleted uranium used in NATO's bombing campaign may be related to serious illnesses in soldiers serving in peacekeeping missions in the Balkans. The German Defense Ministry confirmed Sunday that it received a warning in July 1999 of the risks from the ordnance, used by the United States during air campaigns across Yugoslavia for its armor-piercing qualities. According to an internal Defense Ministry document obtained by the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper and dated July 16, 1999, NATO had warned soldiers and aid workers that month of a "possible toxic threat" and advised them to take "preventive measures." The ministry has previously said it began health checks on soldiers who had come into possible contact with the depleted uranium ammunition that same month —as U.N. peacekeeping forces were still entering Yugoslavia's Kosovo province after NATO's 78-day bombing campaign. Despite that, the document said NATO planned no further steps, according to the newspaper. The Defense Ministry said it immediately responded with orders for soldiers on how to behave in areas that were targeted with depleted uranium. The renewed concerns over depleted uranium arose in December after Italy announced an investigation into 30 sick soldiers who served in the region. Twelve have cancer and five have died of leukemia. Since then, numerous other countries with troops in the Balkans have launched testing programs. Risks denied; tests ordered The United States has denied there are any health risks from the ammunition. German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping also repeated the ministry's assertion that the ammunition poses no danger. He is to present a report to parliament on the issue this month. "All the facts should be on the table — but only facts," he told the Bild newspaper in an article to be published today. Across Europe, the calls continued for a more thorough look into the possible effects. "If it is shown that depleted uranium causes an increase in cancers, then we have got to look at alternative weapon systems and at precautions which could be taken to protect our troops, as well as at how we can clean up the areas where the shells were used," said Bruce George, chairman of the Defense Committee in Britain's House of Commons. The British Defense Ministry acknowledged late Saturday that depleted uranium has been used at two firing ranges within Britain for more than 10 years, but said that there was no evidence it posed a significant health or environmental risk. U.N. criticism Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. Environment Program criticized NATO for not being more forthcoming about where it used the ammunition. Klaus Toepfer told the Berliner Zeitung in an article to be published today that the alliance had taken the stance "that investigation at these locations wasn't necessary anymore. That is very clearly not correct." In Greece, the scare has rekindled public opposition to NATO's intervention in the Balkans — sentiment that spurred daily and sometimes violent street protests during the bombing. Greece's military is planning to screen up to 4,000 current and former peacekeepers and has confirmed that a sergeant who served in Bosnia has leukemia. Swiss authorities also said Sunday they would screen 900 soldiers who served in the Balkans for signs of radiation poisoning. Meanwhile, Polish and Bulgarian officials said Sunday that tests so far on troops serving in Kosovo had shown no negative effects from the ammunition. ***************************************************************** 21 Uranium row tests Nato BBC News | EUROPE | Monday, 8 January, 2001, 14:24 GMT A Portuguese soldier measures radiation in the Kosovo town of Klina BY DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT JONATHAN MARCUS The row over the use of depleted uranium munitions threatens to open up a significant rift within the Atlantic Alliance. A number of countries claim that some of their peace-keepers serving in either Kosovo or Bosnia have died because of conditions prompted by exposure to depleted uranium, used in Nato munitions in the Balkans. The Italian and German governments appear eager to ban the use of the munitions altogether - certainly until they can be proved safe. [I] The weaponry at the centre of the controversy Nato must try to reconcile the very strong concerns of some of its member governments with the equally strong assertion by some of its major military players - notably Britain and the United States - that depleted uranium rounds pose no significant health hazards and that any hazards that do exist are far outweighed by the rounds' usefulness as a tank-killer. Nato's own role in all of this is hard to determine. It must act on behalf of all of its member governments and it is likely that it will try to be a sort of clearing house for the exchange of information on depleted uranium and its possible risks. Britain and the United States are likely to resist strongly any attempt for these weapons to be withdrawn from service as demanded by the Italian and German governments. There may also be some attempt to coordinate the various screening programmes that different countries are establishing for Balkans veterans. Other scientific studies are already under way, but there are going to be no rapid answers. Some careful crisis mangement is needed to avoid this issue exacerbating tensions between the United States and at least some of its European allies. ***************************************************************** 22 Radiation From Balkan Bombing Alarms Europe Monday, January 08, 2001, updated at 08:41(GMT+8) Pekka Haavisto made some startling discoveries on a recent mission in Kosovo to assess the impact of uranium-tipped weapons hurtled on the province during NATO's 78-day bombing war against Yugoslavia in 1999. "We found some radiation in the middle of villages where children were playing," said Mr. Haavisto, a former environment minister of surprised to find this a year and a half later. People had collected ammunition shards as souvenirs and there were cows grazing in contaminated areas, which means the contaminated dust can get into the milk." The discovery by Mr. Haavisto and his team of low-level beta radiation at 8 of the 11 sites they sampled seems certain to fan a rapidly spreading sense of fury and panic across Europe about the well-being of soldiers sent to serve in the Balkans, more than a dozen of whom have since died of leukemia. Residents of Bosnia, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro may also increasingly resent that they were unaware until now of the need to clean up the low-level uranium dispersed by American weapons dropped over Bosnia in 1995, and over Yugoslavia during the 1999 Kosovo war. Mr. Haavisto said that even though the radiation was low level, the debris should be removed. "We are recommending that until the cleanup starts, contaminated areas should be clearly marked and fenced off, " he said. "The local people do not understand the material." Even in Western Europe, it is only in recent days that full alarm has been sounded about what the European newspapers have dubbed Balkan syndrome. Besides the leukemia deaths and cases being treated, uncounted numbers of soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans have complained about an array of symptoms, like chronic fatigue, hair loss and various types of cancer ¡ª complaints similar to gulf war syndrome, registered after the Persian Gulf war in 1991. The 15-country European Union has ordered its own inquiry into the possible noxious effects of the uranium-tipped ammunition and any potential link to the recent cancer deaths among Balkan veterans. Tens of thousands of European soldiers who served in the Balkans have already undergone quietly conducted medical tests in countries like have announced that they will screen all Balkan veterans. Britain, which also owns uranium- tipped ammunition, has resisted. Alarm bells rang first in Belgium, where nine Balkan veterans have fallen ill with cancer, five having since died. Two veterans have said it was treating four veterans for leukemia. In Italy, 30 veterans contracted serious illnesses, 12 of whom developed cancer. Six of the cancer patients have already died of leukemia. Italy said it had also asked NATO for more information about areas where the weapons were used, fearing that its troops served in an area of southern Kosovo that was heavily shelled by NATO's uranium- tipped antitank weapons. The Italian defense minister paid what was billed as a morale-boosting visit to the Italian troops in the former Yugoslavia on Thursday and Prime Minister Giuliano Amato himself has now become involved in the discussion about depleted uranium. In This Section Pekka Haavisto made some startling discoveries on a recent mission in Kosovo to assess the impact of uranium-tipped weapons hurtled on the province during NATO's 78-day bombing war against Yugoslavia in 1999. Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 23 Scharping Urged to Answer Questions About Depleted Uranium Ammunition F.A.Z. - English Version F.A.Z. FRANKFURT. Members of the governing coalition and opposition demanded over the weekend that Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping provide a detailed explanation about the use of depleted uranium ammunition in the Balkans. The calls came after a former German soldier, Christian Büthe, revealed that he contracted leukemia in 1998 after serving in the Mostar area of Bosnia and after questions were raised about the death of a soldier who had served in Kosovo. Mr. Büthe, 24, is considered to be recovered. Germany is one of at least five countries that have reported cases of leukemia in soldiers who served in the Balkans. An Italian commission has blamed the deaths of six soldiers on the use of the ammunition, according to the Italian news service AGI. In light of such cases, Margot von Renesse, who like Mr. Scharping is a member of the Social Democrats, called for the German parliament to establish a select committee to examine the issue. A member of the opposition, Jürgen Koppelin of the Free Democrats, called on Mr. Scharping to finally discuss the issue and urged that all soldiers who have served in the Balkans receive free medical examinations. Mr. Scharping plans to meet with the parliament's defense committee on Jan. 17 to answer questions about the ammunition. The Defense Ministry, presenting its side of the issue on Sunday, said that Mr. Büthe had not served in an area where the ammunition was used and that investigators were trying to determine where else he had actually gone in Bosnia. They also said the death of the soldier who served in Kosovo had nothing to do with the ammunition. The focus of the worries is a type of ammunition valued by military commanders because its hardness allows it to penetrate armor. The depleted uranium is a byproduct of the nuclear enrichment process. In this enriched state, uranium is used to power nuclear plants. As the name implies, the by-product has been depleted of much of its radioactivity. But the ammunition does throw off a toxic dust upon impact. United Nations inspectors confirmed over the weekend that they registered low-level radiation at eight of 11 impact sites they had studied and warned residents in the area. The Pentagon denies that the remains of the ammunition pose a risk and has suggested that an epidemiological study be conducted to determine whether there is an unusually high incidence of leukemia among soldiers who served in either Bosnia or Kosovo. Each year, leukemia strikes about 9,000 people in Germany, a country with a population of about 80 million. That amounts to 0.0001 percent of the total population. U.S. warplanes fired 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium during the 1999 war in Kosovo and about 10,800 rounds around Sarajevo in 1994 and 1995.Jan. 7 ;Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 24 Assessing the Hazard F.A.Z. - English Version GüNTHER NONNENMACHER The weapons of war are meant to be dangerous. Germany's armed forces - like all western militaries - have stringent safety regulations governing their use and severely punish those soldiers who breach them. Can one really assume that democratically elected governments would decide to use weapons that imperiled their own troops? Or that the military's commanders, who are regularly called to account for the slightest of lapses, exposed themselves and their subordinates to unreasonable risks? It is not just warplanes' cannon shells that are hardened with depleted uranium to increase their penetrating power. The very same substance is also used in the interior armor of U.S. tanks for the opposite reason: to improve its resistance to shells. All this has been known for years. Depleted uranium is used in aircraft and for other civilian uses. Its physical and chemical properties have been investigated, and until now, nobody has seriously considered that it might constitute a serious risk for people--civilians or soldiers. How can we explain the current furor caused after some western soldiers died or became seriously ill after they served in Bosnia and Kosovo -- allegedly because of radioactive contamination left behind by depleted uranium ammunition? Nobody can say whether these cases fall within the sad yet usual statistical norm. It is certainly correct for officials to investigate even the slightest suspicion. Random testing of 100 German soldiers is insufficient. It is time that the minister of defense focus on this issue and that the medical community look at it rather than depending on some unknown "ecologist from Belgrade." But at the same time, we must guard against hysteria. It is reasonable to suspect that opponents of western intervention in Kosovo are now pursuing the conflict by medical means with the purpose of winning the public opinion war after the event. And there is no specter better suited than uranium to create alarm because of the invisibility of the sinister "radiation" hazard. Jan. 7 ;Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 25 Bibliography: Military Use of Depleted Uranium (DU) Press Articles ÿEric Hoskins: MAKING THE DESERT GLOW - U.S. URANIUM SHELLS USED ÿTIMES [I], OP-ED, January 21, 1993, page A19 ÿWilliam Arkin: THE DESERT GLOWS - WITH PROPAGANDA [I]. THE BULLETIN ÿOF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS, May 1993 ÿNaima Lefkir-Laffitte, Roland Laffitte: ARMES RADIOACTIVES CONTRE ÿL'® ENNEMI IRAKIEN ¯ [I]. LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE, avril ÿ1995, page 22 ÿto Waste [I].MULTINATIONAL MONITOR, Jan/Feb 1996, Vol.17, Nos.1+2 ÿ ÿBill Mesler: THE PENTAGON'S RADIOACTIVE BULLET - AN INVESTIGATIVE ÿREPORT [I]. THE NATION, October 21, 1996 ÿBill Mesler: PENTAGON POISON: THE GREAT RADIOACTIVE AMMO COVER- ÿUP [I] . THE NATION, May 26, 1997 ÿBill Mesler: THE GULF WAR'S NEW CASUALTIES - TALES OF SICKNESS ÿFROM THE PENTAGON'S OWN WEAPONRY, MADE OF DEPLETED URANIUM [I]. ÿTHE NATION, July 14, 1997 Videos ÿ[*]U.S. Army DU Training Videos [I] (Military Toxics Project) ÿ[*]DU Training for military medical personnel Video Clip [I] (325k ÿAVI) General ÿMUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION [I], a lecture by Malcolm Hooper, ÿOct. 23, 1999 (843k PDF) ÿDEPLETED URANIUM [I], by Vladimir S. Zajic, July 1999 ÿHEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEPLETED URANIUM USE IN ÿTHE U.S.ARMY: TECHNICAL REPORT [I]. Army Environmental Policy ÿInstitute, Atlanta, Georgia 1995, 200+ p. ÿThe Military Toxics Project's Depleted Uranium Citizens' Network: ÿArmy's Use of Depleted Uranium and its Consequences for Human ÿHealth and the Environment, Jan.16, 1996, 8 p. ÿURANIUM, Croatian Medical Journal (ISSN 0353-9504) Vol. 40 No. ÿ1, March 1999, p.49-66. [REVIEW ARTICLE. TOPICS: GENERAL CONCEPTS ÿùHISTORICAL ASPECTS ù METABOLIC PATHWAYS OF URANIUM ÿùDEPLETED URANIUM ù CHEMICAL AND RADIATION TOXICITY ÿùTREATMENT OF URANIUM CONTAMINATION] >[*]View full text (104k) [I] ÿDEPLETED URANIUM: A POST-WAR DISASTER FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH, ÿLaka Foundation, Amsterdam, May 1999, 39 p. ÿHantel, L. W. ; Hopson, J. W. ; Sandstrom, D. J.: EVALUATION OF ÿDEPLETED-URANIUM ALLOYS FOR USE IN ARMOR-PIERCING PROJECTILES, ÿLos Alamos National Laboratory, June 1973 (declassified 1995), ÿLA-5238, AFATL-TR-73-61, 78 p. ([*]Download full text [I] 5.1MB ÿPDF format) ÿElder,J C; Tinkle,M C: OXIDATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM PENETRATORS ÿAND AEROSOL DISPERSAL AT HIGH TEMPERATURES, Los Alamos Scientific ÿLaboratory 1980, LA-8610-MS, 53 p. ([*]Download full text [I] ÿ2.9MB PDF format) ÿMishima,J; Parkhurst,M A; Scherpelz,R I : POTENTIAL BEHAVIOR OF ÿDEPLETED URANIUM PENETRATORS UNDER SHIPPING AND BULK STORAGE ACCIDENT ÿCONDITIONS. U.S. DOE (Ed.), PNL-5415, Washington, D.C. 1985, 138 ÿp. ÿGUIDELINES FOR SAFE RESPONSE TO HANDLING, STORAGE, AND TRANSPORTATION ÿACCIDENTS INVOLVING ARMY TANK MUNITIONS OR ARMOR WHICH CONTAIN ÿDEPLETED URANIUM. (ARMY PUBS.), 28 Sep 1990, 56p, NTIS Order number: ÿTB 9-1300-278ING. ÿLayton,David W; Armstrong,Anthony Q: METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS ÿFOR DETERMINING CLEANUP LIMITS FOR URANIUM IN TREATED AND UNTREATED ÿSOILS. In: JOURNAL OF SOIL CONTAMINATION, Vol.3 (1994) No.4, p.319- ÿ348 ÿErikson,R L; Hostetler,C J; Divine,J R; Price,K R: REVIEW OF THE ÿENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR OF URANIUM DERIVED FROM DEPLETED URANIUM ÿALLOY PENETRATORS. U.S. DOE (Ed.), PNL-7213, 1990, 26 p. DU Missile Proving Grounds ÿREPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS AT YUMA PROVING GROUND FROM CONTINUED ÿTESTING OF PROJECTILES CONTAINING BERYLLIUM AND DEPLETED URANIUM. ÿU.S. DOE (Ed.), UCID- 21277, Washington, D.C. 1988 ÿShinn,J H : ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF METAL PARTICLE DISPERSION ÿFROM AN EXPLOSIVE TEST AT TONOPAH TEST RANGE. U.S. DOE (Ed.), ÿUCID-21355, Washington, D.C. 1988, 21 p. ÿCamins,I; Shinn,J H: ANALYSIS OF BERYLLIUM AND DEPLETED URANIUM: ÿAN OVERVIEW OF DETECTION METHODS IN AEROSOLS AND SOILS, U.S. ÿDOE (Ed.), UCID-21400, Washington, D.C., 1988, 40 p., Download ÿ(4.3 MB) [I] ([*]PDF format) ÿWichner,R P; Khan,A A; Hoegler,J M : SEPARATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM ÿFRAGMENTS FROM GUN TEST CATCHMENTS: PHASE 1, Catchment System ÿEvaluation and Separations Methods. U.S. DOE (Ed.), ORNL/TM-11141, ÿWashington, D.C. 1989, 128 p. ÿEbinger,M H; Essington,E H; Gladney,E S; Newman,B D; Reynolds,C ÿL: LONG-TERM FATE OF DEPLETED URANIUM AT ABERDEEN AND YUMA PROVING ÿGROUNDS. Final report, Phase 1: Geochemical transport and modeling. ÿProgress rept. U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA-11790-MS, Washington, D.C. 1990, ÿ37 p., [*]Download (1.4 MB) [I] ([*]PDF format) ÿIkenberry,T A: EVALUATION OF THE DEPLETED URANIUM HAZARD FROM SRAM ÿII MISSILE TESTING.; California Coastal Commission meeting (CCC), ÿSanta Barbara, CA (USA), 8-9 Apr 1991. U.S. DOE (Ed.), PNL-SA- ÿ19325; CONF-91042571, Washington, D.C. 1991, 28 p. ÿBernhardt,D E: DEPLETED URANIUM CLEANUP CRITERIA AND ASSOCIATED ÿRISK. In: Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Health ÿPhysics Society, Columbus, OH, June 21-25, 1992, CONF-920617, ÿ1992, 13 p. ÿENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE DEPLETED URANIUM TESTING PROGRAM ÿAT THE NEVADA TEST SITE BY THE UNITED STATES ARMY BALLISTICS RESEARCH ÿLABORATORY. U.S. DOE Nevada Field Office (Ed.), DOE/EA-0398, Las ÿVegas, NV 1992, 60 p. ÿWenstrand,T K; Greene,J: DECONTAMINATION OF SOILS CONTAINING DEPLETED ÿURANIUM USING A COMBINATION OF GRAVITY SEPARATION AND CHEMICAL- ÿEXTRACTION TECHNIQUES. In: ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ÿCHEMICAL SOCIETY 205 (1993) MAR, p.134-IEC ÿLloyd,D B; Wichner,R P; Jermyn,H W: SEPARATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM ÿFRAGMENTS FROM GUN TEST CATCHMENT. VOLUME 1. Summary and Recommendations. ÿFinal rept. Sep 88-Dec 92.; Oak Ridge National Lab., TN. (Ed.), ÿORNL/TM-11141-VOL.1, 1993, 63 p. ÿWichner,R P; Khan,A A; Hoegler,J M: SEPARATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM ÿFRAGMENTS FROM GUN TEST CATCHMENT. VOLUME 2. Catchment System ÿand Separations Methods. Final rept. Sep 88-Dec 92.; Oak Ridge ÿNational Lab., TN. (Ed.), ORNL/TM-11141-VOL.2, 1993, 139 p. ÿWichner,R P; Bradshaw,W M: SEPARATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM FRAGMENTS ÿFROM GUN TEST CATCHMENT. VOLUME 3. Economic Comparison of Depleted ÿUranium Disposal Options for Elgin AFB Gun Test Facility. Final ÿrept. Sep 88-Dec 92.; Oak Ridge National Lab., TN. (Ed.), ORNL/ ÿTM-11141-VOL.3, 1993, 80 p. ÿKhan,A A: SEPARATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM FRAGMENTS FROM GUN TEST ÿCATCHMENT. VOLUME 4. Bench-Scale Tests of Separating Depleted ÿUranium from Sand. Final rept. Sep 88-Dec 92.; Oak Ridge National ÿLab., TN. (Ed.), ORNL/TM-11141-VOL.4, 1993, 50 p. ÿEbinger,M H; Myers,O B; Kennedy,P L; Clements,W H: DEPLETED URANIUM ÿRISK ASSESSMENT AT ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND; American Defense Preparedness ÿAssociates symposium on the environment, Albuquerque, NM (United ÿStates), 23-25 Mar 1993. . U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA/UR/93-484; CONF- ÿ93031121, Washington, D.C. 1993, 10 p., [*]Download (428k) [I] ÿ(PDF format) ÿClements,W H; Kennedy,P L; Myers,O B: ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT ÿOF DEPLETED URANIUM IN THE ENVIRONMENT AT ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND. ÿANNUAL REPORT, 1991. Progress rept. U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA/SUB-93- ÿ76, Washington, D.C. 1993, 32 p. ÿBecker, N M: INFLUENCE OF HYDRAULIC AND GEOMORPHOLOGIC COMPONENTS ÿOF A SEMI-ARID WATERSHED ON DEPLETED URANIUM TRANSPORT, U.S. DOE ÿ(9.6 MB) [I] (PDF format) ÿEbinger,M H; Hansen,W R: ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION MONITORING PLAN ÿFOR DEPLETED URANIUM AND BERYLLIUM AREAS, YUMA PROVING GROUND. ÿfull text [I] 4.6MB PDF format) ÿWard,T J; Stevens,K A: MODELING EROSION AND TRANSPORT OF DEPLETED ÿURANIUM, YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA [I]. U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA/ ÿSUB/94-167; WRRI286, Washington, D.C. 1994, 86 p. ÿEbinger,M H; Hansen,W R: DEPLETED URANIUM HUMAN HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT, ÿJEFFERSON PROVING GROUND, INDIANA. U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA/UR/94-1809, ÿWashington, D.C. 1994, 77 p., [*]Download (3.5 MB) [I] (PDF format) ÿ ÿMason,C F V; Allander,K S; Bounds,J A; Garner,S E; Walter,K J: ÿUSE OF THE LONG-RANGE ALPHA DETECTOR (LRAD) FOR ALPHA EMISSION ÿSURVEYS AT ACTIVE AND INACTIVE FIRING SITES; Waste management ÿ'94, Tucson, AZ (United States), 27 Feb - 3 Mar 1994. U.S. DOE ÿ(Ed.), LA/UR/94-400; CONF-94022547, Washington, D.C. 1994, 10 ÿp. ÿVan Etten,D M; Purtymun,W D: DEPLETED URANIUM INVESTIGATION AT ÿMISSILE IMPACT SITES IN WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE. U.S. DOE (Ed.), ÿ[I] (PDF format) ÿVandel,D S; Medina,S M; Weidner,J R: REMEDIATION APPLICATION STRATEGIES ÿFOR DEPLETED URANIUM CONTAMINATED SOILS AT THE US ARMY YUMA PROVING ÿGROUND. U.S. DOE (Ed.), EGG-CEE-10883, Washington, D.C. 1994, ÿ221 p. ÿU.S. NRC: DECOMMISSIONING OF THE DEPLETED URANIUM IMPACT AREA OF ÿTHE JEFFERSON PROVING GROUND, MADISON, IN. Notice of Intent to ÿPrepare an Environmental Impact Statement and To Conduct a Scoping ÿProcess. In: FEDERAL REGISTER 60 (1995) (April 10), p.18155-18159, ÿ FTP-Download (27k) [I] ÿKennedy,P L; Clements,W H; Myers,O B; Bestgen,H T; Jenkins,D G: ÿEVALUATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM IN THE ENVIRONMENT AT ABERDEEN ÿPROVING GROUNDS, MARYLAND AND YUMA PROVING GROUNDS, ARIZONA. Final ÿreport. U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA/SUB/94-173, Washington, D.C. 1995, ÿ211 p. ÿBecker,N M; Vanta,E B: HYDROLOGIC TRANSPORT OF DEPLETED URANIUM ÿASSOCIATED WITH OPEN AIR DYNAMIC RANGE TESTING AT LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL ÿLABORATORY, NEW MEXICO, AND EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA. Major ÿRange and Test Facility Base environmental workshop (5th), Alexandria, ÿVA (United States), 23-25 May 1995. U.S. DOE (Ed.), LA/UR/95- ÿ1213, Washington, D.C. 1995, 18 p. ([*]download full text [I] ÿ938kB PDF format) ÿEbinger,M H; Beckman,R J; Myers,O B; et al.: LONG- TERM FATE OF ÿDEPLETED URANIUM AT ABERDEEN AND YUMA PROVING GROUNDS, PHASE II: ÿHUMAN HEALTH AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENTS. U.S. DOE, LA-13156- ÿMS, Washington D.C., Sep 1996, 218 p., [*]Download (13.4 MB) [I] ÿ(PDF format) ÿEbinger,M H; Hansen,W R: DEPLETED URANIUM RISK ASSESSMENT FOR JEFFERSON ÿPROVING GROUND USING DATA FROM ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND SITE ÿCHARACTERIZATION. Final report. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United ÿStates), LA- UR-96-3852, Oct 1996, 79p. (full text available for ÿdownload from [*]DOE Information Bridge [I]) ÿEbinger,M H: DEPLETED URANIUM RISK ASSESSMENT FOR JEFFERSON PROVING ÿGROUND: UPDATED RISK ESTIMATES FOR HUMAN HEALTH AND ECOSYSTEM ÿRECEPTORS. Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-UR-98-5053, Nov ÿ1998, 22 p., [*]Download (109k) [I] (PDF format) ÿMiller,Mark; Galloway,Robert B.; VanDerpoel,Glenn et al.: COST- ÿEFFECTIVE REMEDIATION OF DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) AT ENVIRONMENTAL ÿRESTORATION SITES, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, ÿNM, and Livermore, SAND99-2843J, 1999, 5 p. > for more documents, search ÿ ÿU.S. DOE LANL ONLINE CATALOG: [*]WWW [I] ù [*]TELNET [I] (some of the documents referenced are also available for download ÿ[*]DOE INFORMATION BRIDGE [I] (JavaScript and Cookies required ÿ- full text of most DOE reports published since 1996). DU in the 1991 Gulf War ÿGOVERNMENT AND DEPLETED URANIUM 1990 - 2000 [I], The Military ÿToxics Project, March 30, 2000 ÿSteve Fetter and Frank von Hippel, "THE HAZARD POSED BY DEPLETED- ÿURANIUM MUNITIONS," SCIENCE AND GLOBAL SECURITY, Vol. 8, ÿNo. 2 (1999), pp. 125-161 [*](161k PDF - alternate URL) ù [*](209k Word 97) [I] ÿSteve Fetter and Frank von Hippel, "WHEN THE DUST SETTLES, ÿ" BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS, Vol. 55, No. 6 (November/ ÿDecember 1999) pp. 42-45 >Download full text: [*](26k PDF) ù [*](46k Word 97) [I] ÿDOD ANALYSIS II, by Dan Fahey, June 29, 1999, 22 p. [AN ANALYSIS >[*]Download full text [I] (419k PDF) ÿCONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEPLETED ÿURANIUM USED BY U.S. AND BRITISH FORCES IN THE 1991 GULF WAR, ÿBaghdad, December 2-3, 1998: [*]Conference report [I] ÿFahey, Dan: CASE NARRATIVE - DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) EXPOSURES, Swords ÿto Plowshares, Inc., National Gulf War Resource Center, Inc., ÿMilitary Toxics Project, Inc., 3rd edition, September 20, 1998 >Download full text: [*]GWVR [I] (RTF format) ù [*]MTP [I] (PDF format) ÿFahey, Dan: THE STONE UNTURNED - A REPORT ON EXPOSURES OF PERSIAN ÿGULF WAR VETERANS AND OTHERS TO DEPLETED URANIUM CONTAMINATION, ÿMarch, 1997 >[*]View full text [I] (80k, RAMA) ù [*]Download full text [I] (WordPerfect) ÿMETAL OF DISHONOR: DEPLETED URANIUM [I]--How the Pentagon Radiates ÿSoldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons, Depleted Uranium Education ÿProject, International Action Center [I], New York 1997, ISBN ÿ0-9656916-0-8, 238 p. ÿBukowski,Grace; Lopez,Damacio A: URANIUM BATTLEFIELDS HOME & ÿABROAD. Depleted Uranium Use by the U.S. Department of Defense. ÿCitizen Alert & Rural Alliance for Military Accountability ÿ(Ed.), Reno / Carson City, Nevada 1993, 166 p. >[*]View HTML [I]ù [*]Download PDF [I] ÿCortenraad, Ren‚ : DEPLETED URANIUM - "AGENT ORANGE" ÿOF THE 1990S?, The use of depleted uranium in armor and armor- ÿpiercing projectiles. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven [I], Faculteit ÿTechnische Natuurkunde 1995, 48 p. ÿDietz, Leonard A. : CONTAMINATION OF PERSIAN GULF WAR VETERANS ÿAND OTHERS BY DEPLETED URANIUM, Niskayuna 1996 ÿDan Fahey: COLLATERAL DAMAGE: HOW U.S. TROOPS WERE EXPOSED TO DEPLETED ÿURANIUM DURING THE PERSIAN GULF WAR, Sept.20, 1996 (second edition), ÿ20 p. ÿWarren,David R; Solis,William M; Schladt,Beverly C; Maurer,David ÿC; Herman,Robert W; Musallam,Yasmina T: OPERATION DESERT STORM: ÿARMY NOT ADEQUATELY PREPARED TO DEAL WITH DEPLETED URANIUM CONTAMINATION. ÿU.S. General Accounting Office [I] (Ed.), GAO/NSIAD-93-90, Washington, ÿD.C. 1993, 42 p. ÿDaxon,E G; Musk,J H: ASSESSMENT OF THE RISKS FROM EMBEDDED FRAGMENTS ÿOF DEPLETED URANIUM. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Inst. ÿ[I] (Ed.), AFRRI/TR-93-1, Bethesda, MD 1993, 20 p. ÿDaxon,E G: PROTOCOL FOR MONITORING GULF WAR VETERANS WITH EMBEDDED ÿRadiobiology Research Inst. [I] (Ed.), AFRRI/TR-93-2, Bethesda, ÿMD 1993, 24 p. ÿEmber,Lois: JOINT EFFORT TO TEST AILING PERSIAN GULF WAR VETERANS ÿTO BEGIN SOON. In: CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS 72 (1994) 21 ÿ(May), p.31-32 ÿBou-Rabee, Firyal: ESTIMATING THE CONCENTRATION OF URANIUM IN SOME ÿENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES IN KUWAIT AFTER THE 1991 GULF WAR. In: APPLIED ÿRADIATION AND ISOTOPES Vol.46 (1995) No.4, p.217-220 ÿLivengood,D R: HEALTH EFFECTS OF EMBEDDED DEPLETED URANIUM FRAGMENTS. ÿ[I] (Ed.), AFRRI/SP-98-3, Bethesda, MD, June 1998, 56 p. ÿ ÿ[I], U.S. Department of Defense, July 1998 ÿLITERATURE AS IT PERTAINS TO GULF WAR ILLNESSES: VOL.7, DEPLETED ÿURANIUM [I], MR-1018/7-OSD, RAND, 1999 ([*]alternate source [I]) ÿ ÿGULF WAR ILLNESSES: UNDERSTANDING OF HEALTH EFFECTS FROM DEPLETED ÿURANIUM EVOLVING BUT SAFETY TRAINING NEEDED, GAO/NSIAD-00-70, ÿUnited States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional ÿRequesters, March 2000, 41 p. >[*]Download full report [I] (363k PDF) ÿBROMIDE, AND VACCINES [I], Committee on Health Effects Associated ÿwith Exposures During the Gulf War, Division of Health Promotion ÿand Disease Prevention, 416 pp., ISBN 0-309-07178-X, National ÿAcademy Press, Sep 2000 >[*]view online [I] DU in the 1999 Kosovo War ÿTheodore E. Liolios: ASSESSING THE RISK FROM THE DEPLETED URANIUM ÿWEAPONS USED IN OPERATION ALLIED FORCE, Science & Global Security, ÿVol. 8 No. 2 (1999), pp.163–181 >[*]download full text [I] (686k PDF) ÿUNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force (BTF): THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON HUMAN ÿHEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT ARISING FROM POSSIBLE USE OF DEPLETED ÿURANIUM DURING THE 1999 KOSOVO CONFLICT. A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT. ÿ76 p., Geneva, October 1999 >[*]Download full text [I] (589k, PDF format) ù [*]alternate Bibliographies depleted uranium" [I] (1994 to present) ***************************************************************** 26 Depleted Uranium Depleted Uranium ÿÿÿ In military applications, when alloyed, Depleted Uranium [DU] ÿÿÿis ideal for use in armor penetrators. These solid metal projectiles ÿÿÿhave the speed, mass and physical properties to perform exceptionally ÿÿÿwell against armored targets. DU provides a substantial performance ÿÿÿadvantage, well above other competing materials. This allows DU ÿÿÿpenetrators to defeat an armored target at a significantly greater ÿÿÿdistance. Also, DU's density and physical properties make it ideal ÿÿÿfor use as armor plate. DU has been used in weapon systems for ÿÿÿmany years in both applications. Depleted uranium results from the enriching of natural uranium for use in nuclear reactors. Natural uranium is a slightly radioactive metal that is present in most rocks and soils as well as in many rivers and sea water. Natural uranium consists primarily of a mixture of two isotopes (forms) of uranium, Uranium-235 (U235) and Uranium- 238 (U238), in the proportion of about 0.7 and 99.3 percent, respectively. Nuclear reactors require U235 to produce energy, therefore, the natural uranium has to be enriched to obtain the isotope U235 by removing a large part of the U238. Uranium-238 becomes DU, which is 0.7 times as radioactive as natural uranium. Since DU has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, there is very little decay of those DU materials. Sources and Resources ÿ20mm MK149 ÿ25mm PGU-20 ÿwith Tracer (APFSDS-T) ÿTracer (APFSDS-T) ÿFROM DEPLETED URANIUM April 15, 1999--The Department of Defense ÿannounced today the release of a RAND scientific literature review ÿthat indicates no evidence of harmful health effects directly ÿlinked to depleted uranium exposures at levels experienced by ÿGulf War veterans. ÿPertains to Gulf War Illnesses April 1999 --RAND Health's Center ÿfor Military Health Policy Research and the Forces and Resources ÿPolicy Center of the National Defense Research Institute, sponsored ÿby the Office of the Special Assistant ÿfor Gulf War Illnesses April 15, 1999 - Natural uranium is 40 ÿpercent less radioactive than depleted uranium, so any conclusions ÿthat you can draw on natural uranium, say of a negative nature, ÿcan be applied equally well to depleted uranium. ÿ Voice of America 03 May 1999 ÿBY THE U.S. ARMY U.S. Army Environmental Policy Institute June ÿ1994 ÿwith exposure to DU during service in the Gulf War. ÿcoverup @ Military Toxics Project ÿ-- Radioactive Battlefields--The Pentagon's New Weapon ÿwith Depleted Uranium Weapons |||| HTTP://WWW.FAS.ORG/MAN/DOD-101/SYS/LAND/DU.HTM UPDATED THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999 1:18:18 PM ***************************************************************** 27 No depleted uranium in Norwegian ammunition production The Norway Post - Doorway to Norway 8. Januar 2001 The Norwegian weapons manufacturer NAMMO Raufoss does not use depleted uranium in its production, due to fear of health hazards at the plant. Depleted uranium is used in ammunition used by NATO forces, and there are reports that NATO soldiers serving in the Kosovo war zone have died from lukemia. Head of development at NAMMO, Onno Verberne, says that radioactive materials have been kept out of the company's production oout of consideration for the health, working conditions and safety at the factory. Instead Nammo has developed a new type of ammunition, where wolfram is used instead of depleted uranium. Wolfram is a non-radioactive material, and does not leave a radioactive dust after it hits a target. (NRK) Rolleiv Solholm ***************************************************************** 28 WHAT IS THIS STORY ABOUT URANIUM? Pravda.RU:Main Jan, 06 2001 17:49 2001-01-06 Depleted uranium? It is a form of uranium, 40 times weaker than the mineral state of the metal, which is added as an alloy to weapons- grade metals. WHY? It adds impact to the projectile when it hits, say, a tank or an underground bunker, destroying the outer shield due to its extra weight – depleted uranium is a heavy metal. On impact, the uranium fuses and perforates the shell of the tank or bunker and high explosive can then destroy the occupants. SO IT IS MORE EFFECTIVE IN DESTROYING TANKS AND UNDERGROUND BUNKERS THAN NORMAL PROJECTILES? Yes, it is… BUT? But there is an additional problem. On impact, a toxic cloud of uranium gas is emitted OH I DON’T BELIEVE THAT…THEY SAY THAT DU IS AS RADIOACTIVE AS A LOCAL HOSPITAL AND LESS SO THAN YOUR WRISTWATCH. NATO ANYWAY HAS REPEATEDLY STATED THAT DANGERS FROM DU ARE A NON-ISSUE. So how do you account for the deaths ? WHAT DEATHS? Soldiers from different countries who have served in Bosnia and Kosovo. There are conflicting reports, but confirmed documented cases point to one Portuguese, six or eight Italians, four or five Belgians, two Dutch, between one and eight Spaniards, one Czech dead and then we have in hospital or receiving treatment……. a lot. ALOT? Yes, confirmed cases are around a hundred thousand American, Canadian and British servicemen in the Gulf, one Briton serving in Kosovo, three Portuguese, four or five Frenchmen, one Spaniard, five Belgians, thirty Italians, fifteen of whom with cancers. WAIT A MINUTE…A HUNDRED THOUSAND?? ARE YOU SPEAKING ABOUT KOSOVO OR THE GULF? I AM CONFUSED. Iam speaking about all theatres of war where Depleted Uranium was used. It started in the Gulf, ten years ago, after the USA acquired a stockpile of DU for a low price from nuclear power stations, then it was used again in the Balkans, first in Bosnia and then in Kosovo. BUT I NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT THIS BEFORE. True, that’s because nobody ever spoke about it. It was a secret, you see. Not even the countries who sent their soldiers to Bosnia were informed. WHY? Can’t you imagine? BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CIVILIANS? Well, independently performed tests in Iraq have shown that there are malformations in children, an increase in cancers, namely leukaemia and a dramatic increase in leukaemia in children. In Kosovo, it is feared that the water supply is unsafe. BUT THAT’S ILLEGAL! WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE AREA ? MACEDONIA, FOR INSTANCE? Welcome to the twenty-first century! International politics move in mysterious ways, especially when they involve NATO YES BUT WE ARE NOT SPEAKING ABOUT THE ROBBERY OF THE CORNER SHOP, WE ARE SPEAKING ABOUT INTRUSION INTO OTHER COUNTRIES AND VIOLATION OF GENEVA AGREEMENTS ON RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT? Well, independent tests made by the UNO have just been released…and state that the situation is extremely worrying due to high levels of radiation. ITHOUGHT YOU SAID THAT DU WEAPONS WERE TOXIC, NOT RADIOACTIVE.. Ah! That’s where NATO holds its trump card. Mention the word “uranium!” and everyone shouts “radioactivity!” In this case, radiation levels can rise and fall but what kills is toxicity. BUT THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! WHO STARTED ALL THIS IN THE GULF WAR? Idon’t know…ask Colin Powell, he’s the new US Secretary of State. YES, BUT WASN’T HE INVOLVED IN THE GULF WAR TOO? Idon’t know…ask him JOHN ASHTEAD PRAVDA.RU LONDON WHAT IS THIS STORY ABOUT URANIUM? WHAT DEATHS? Soldiers from different countries who have served in Bosnia and Kosovo. There are conflicting reports, but confirmed documented cases point to one Portuguese, six or eight Italians, four or five Belgians, two Dutch, between one and eight Spaniards, one Czech dead and then we have in hospital or receiving treatment……. a lot. ***************************************************************** 29 Greens slam Energy chief nomination January 07, 2001 THEY CITE ABRAHAM'S EFFORTS TO SCUTTLE U.S. DEPARTMENT By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER Several environmental groups are opposing President-elect George W. Bush's nomination of former Michigan Sen. Spencer Abraham as Energy Secretary. The League of Conservation Voters handed Abraham, 48, a Republican, its worst rating for his voting record on environmental issues: a zero. Abraham lost his bid for re-election in November. The Natural Resources Defense Council, another national environmental group, issued a statement calling attention to Abraham's repeated attempts to banish the department he would now direct. "Ironically, Abraham tried three times in five years to abolish the department he is now slated to lead--no surprise, given his consistent hostility to environmental and energy regulations," the statement reads. SIERRA CLUB CRITICISM Dan Becker, a Sierra Club official in Washington, said Abraham's "voting record has been singularly hostile to the environment." And Jackie Cabasso, executive director for the Oakland-based Western States Legal Foundation, an antiNUCLEAR group, said Abraham appears to have "virtually no background in either NUCLEAR weapons or energy policy," adding that his inexperience could be dangerous to NUCLEAR weapons policy and the environment. "It certainly looks like (Abraham) is going to give the entrenched NUCLEAR bureaucracy a freer hand than ever," Cabasso said Friday. CHANGE OF HEART The Washington Post quoted Bush's transition team as saying Abraham no longer wants to kill the Energy Department because of the "energy challenges facing the country." His previous legislative efforts against the Energy Department -- the latest in 1999--were "a means of reducing federal spending, " transition team members told the Washington Post. As a senator, Abraham supported oil-drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, opposed an international treaty to reduce global-warming pollution, opposed the temporary use of a Nevada mountain site for radioactive waste before a more comprehensive site study was completed, and favored the pursuit of a national missile-defense system to counter a barrage of NUCLEAR, chemical or biological missiles. During his acceptance speech for the Energy Secretary appointment, he said the new administration will be "good stewards of the land, the air and the water."BELEAGUERED DEPARTMENT Cabasso, who said she has not been satisfied with the performance of previous energy secretaries, including outgoing Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, said job performance may have more to do with the nature of the job than the quality of the secretaries. "It is more about the department itself and the mission of the department itself than it is (the Energy secretary). The job is impossible," she said. If he is confirmed by the Senate, Abraham will inherit an energy crisis when he takes office, with major hikes in the cost of electricity, natural gas and heating oil prices. Also, he will take command of a NUCLEAR weapons complex that has been rocked over the past two years by espionage scares, a tightening of security at the nation's three NUCLEAR labs and a laser project at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory that is $1 billion over budget. While many people realize the Energy Department's role in the nation's energy supply and policy, the actual function of the department is much broader, said John S. Herrington, 76, a Walnut Creek resident who served as Energy Secretary for former President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. "I think (the department) is misnamed. It's really a department of science and technology--cutting-edge American research and technology, " Herrington said. He said he expects Abraham to adopt much more aggressive NUCLEAR weapons defense policies than Richardson. "He's strong on defense, " Herrington said. ***************************************************************** 30 Uof I health survey list growing The Hawk Eye Newspaper Iowa Time: 10:23 PM By Mike Augspurger The Hawk Eye University officials have a long way to go in their study of former workers employed in the nuclear weapons area at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown. The University of Iowa College of Public Health is searching for former workers who were employed by the Atomic Energy Commission at the plant. The college has been contracted by the U.S. Department of Energy to do the study. Kristina Venzke, a member of the research team, said more than 300 people have called U of I health officials to add their names to the list. "Many of the calls have been from people who did not work on Line 1. Unfortunately, at this time, anyone who did not work on Line 1 cannot participate in this study," she said. Many former workers have called from California and Texas. When the AEC closed down operations in Burlington in 1975 and moved to the Pantex plant in Amarillo, Texas, a number of IAAP workers followed. Many of these people, now permanent residents of Amarillo, have called to make sure that they will be included in the study, Venzke said. "Those people who have called will receive a health survey to fill out and return to the University of Iowa," she said. As director of the Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant--Former Worker Program, Dr. Laurence Fuortes and his colleagues aim to: ; Identify all the Line 1 workers with employment histories spanning any time period between 1947 and 1975. ; Determine substances and occupational hazards to which this group of workers may have been exposed in the production of atomic weapons. ; Develop a plan, based on the results of discussions and questionnaires, for possible further medical screening. People wishing participate in the study may call the University of Iowa toll free at (866) 282-5818. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk ù 319-754-6824 FAX ù 1-800-397- 1708 Toll Free ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************