***************************************************************** 05/08/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.112 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Yucca water runoff raises concern: Floods may pose radiation risk 2 N-Waste Site Proposal Moving Forward 3 Nuclear waste site underutilized 4 Nuclear plant insurer liable to cover more claims 5 Nuclear Society meeting to focus on power 6 Savannah River Site to ship radioactive materials along I-20 7 Cheney meets with Nevada senators over Yucca dump 8 Just nuclear no more 9 Bush works on a nuclear-power boost 10 Nuke plant feasibility is studied 11 IHT: Bright New Dawn Ahead for Nuclear Power Plants 12 Cheney says nuclear waste dump can be built safely 13 The Toxic Waste of Nuclear Power 14 PCBs discovered in reservoir near Yankee Atomic 15 Nuclear plants off line 16 DOE delays seeking license for nuclear waste dump in Nevada 17 Council wants nuclear permission rethink 18 Finance - Britain's BNFL says new deal means Mox break-even 19 Report Alleges Plan to Dump Toxic Waste in Africa 20 New nuclear-waste strategy 21 Letter to the editor: Yucca Mountain 22 DOE delays seeking license for nuclear waste dump in Nevada 23 Public Concerns Sidelined as Department of Energy Rushes to 24 Hearings set on Nevada for nuclear burial NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Flats soil contamination low 2 DOE to pay Pantex fine 3 Hiring freeze may affect sick worker appointment 4 Oak Ridge's true Nobel Laureate, others personally remembered 5 Fernald marks 50th anniversary 6 Troubled Fernald marks its 50th year 7 Taxpayers bilked in Fernald cleanup 8 Fluor settles suit over federal billing 9 Savannah River Site to ship radioactive materials along I-20 10 Russian activists speak out 11 Bush asks FEMA to tackle terrorism 12 DOE: [Beryllium] Recently Asked Questions 13 OPA Press Release: Labor Secretary Elaine Chao Announces New Resource 14 Prejudice haunts atomic bomb survivors 15 Construction delays condemned 16 Gibraltar locals glad to see the back of British nuclear sub 17 Gibraltar is jubilant as nuclear sub heads home 18 Nuclear sub 'Tireless' heads home after year of repair and recrimination 19 Russian Scientists Nervously Await U.S. Decision on Fate of Nuclear Program ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Yucca water runoff raises concern: Floods may pose radiation risk to communities May 08, 2001 By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN Floodwater draining from Yucca Mountain is raising concerns that radiation could be carried into the environment. New research also shows that similar drainage occurred at the Nevada Test Site, where atomic testing occurred from 1951 to 1992. The research raises the possibility that radiation from a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain or from the Test Site could be carried into nearby communities. It is the first scientific evidence of water runoff heading from Yucca Mountain or the Test Site to populated areas. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied to permanently store 77,000 tons of commercial and defense waste. There has never been proof of radioactive contamination off the Test Site. In addition, a U.S. Geological Survey study showed flash flooding in the 300-square-mile area including Yucca Mountain and the Test Site could close highways -- disrupting the transportation of nuclear waste -- and could interfere with above-ground repository operations. During peak operations at a proposed repository, up to three truckloads a day could arrive at Yucca Mountain. "That is a very significant development," a spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "It is very clear that water threatens the mountain. There is proof of major flooding on Yucca Mountain itself." But the Energy Department, which is charged with studying Yucca Mountain's suitability as a repository site and would build and operate a repository if it is approved, downplayed the findings. "It's not news that the area floods," DOE Yucca Mountain Project spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said. "That's why it's called Fortymile Wash." The observations made by USGS scientists during storms in 1995 and 1998 will have to be considered in an environmental impact study under way on the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. The floods showed that the Amargosa River "has the potential to transport dissolved and particulate matter well beyond the boundary of the NTS (Nevada Test Site) and the Yucca Mountain area during periods of moderate to severe streamflow," the report concluded. The Amargosa River, draining both areas at the Test Site and Yucca Mountain, usually runs underground, but exceptionally wet years in 1995 and 1998 caused the river to flow at the surface. Contaminated water could travel as far as Death Valley in California, the report found. A USGS report that began as a study of how much rainwater might penetrate Yucca Mountain's surface turned into a flash flood investigation, USGS hydrologist Daron Tanko said. Scientists had believed that runoff from storms would not drain into the river from the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, where more than 1,000 nuclear weapons exploded above and below ground. However, in 1995 and 1998 storms dumped so much rain down Fortymile Wash at Yucca Mountain and Topopah Wash at Little Skull Mountain that runoff flowed into the Amargosa River and flooded Badwater Basin, a dry lake bed in Death Valley, Calif. A weeklong storm in February 1998 again caused the river to run and closed U.S. 95 for two days. Such floods in wetter periods could occur every three or four years, Tanko said. A major flood occurred at Yucca Mountain and in the nearby town of Beatty in 1969, probably one of the largest inundations in that area's history, co-author Pat Glancy said. "That was probably the biggest flow we ever saw in Fortymile Wash," Glancy said. "Fortymile Wash does go on a rampage every once in a while." The DOE draft environmental impact report does not consider runoff into Fortymile Wash or Topopah Wash, the subjects of the USGS report. It does estimate that nine to 12 feet of water could flow in the Midway Valley Wash next to nuclear waste-handling operations at the northeast end of the repository during a 100-year flood. That water path flows away from populated areas and ends on Test Site property. To avoid those floodwaters, the DOE plans to build facilities away from flood-prone areas and divert runoff into constructed channels. The DOE's final environmental impact study is expected to be released at the end of this year. Berkley said she thought the USGS findings were significant enough to include them in her testimony before the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee this week. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 N-Waste Site Proposal Moving Forward The Salt Lake Tribune -- May 8, 2001* BY SETH BORENSTEIN KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON -- In its effort to promote nuclear power, the Bush administration has taken the first steps to resolve a major, long-term problem for the industry: how to dispose of 44,000 tons of nuclear waste from existing plants. Public hearings are about to begin over a proposed deep-underground waste site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., officially designated late last week by the Department of Energy. To be able to store waste inside the mountain, the Bush administration is debating whether to loosen limits on radiation leakage for the site that were proposed in January by former President Clinton. President Bush could reach a decision by late this year on the disposal center, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Just getting to this point took 20 years, because of the slow evolution of designs and studies, and objections from residents, anti-nuclear activists and politicians. Yucca Mountain emerged as the chosen site because it is remote and dry, and the water table is 1,000 feet below where the waste would be buried. Water contamination -- the most feared form of radiation leakage -- would be unlikely, according to the Energy Department. Used nuclear-reactor fuel, which remains radioactive for thousands of years, is being stored at nuclear power plants in 31 states, pending the availability of a waste site. A nuclear power plant at Prairie Island, Minn., will fill its temporary storage capacity by 2007, then have to shut down until a permanent dump is available, said Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington lobby that promotes nuclear power. The Department of Energy hopes to start accepting waste at Yucca Mountain in 2010. But environmental regulations proposed late in the Clinton administration are in the way. The Environmental Protection Agency submitted proposed radiation limits defining how leak-proof the waste site must be to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on Jan. 18. The EPA "is being asked to lower their standards to make it easier" to bury waste at Yucca Mountain, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., warned Monday. Reid, the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, says that the Clinton standards for the site were reasonable. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 3 Nuclear waste site underutilized Rocky Mountain News: State Critics say DOE plan to increase shipments is moving too fast By The Associated Press CARLSBAD, N.M. -- The number of nuclear waste shipments being delivered to an underground repository near here has fallen short of expectations, but the U.S. Energy Department plans to step up the pace. Two years after receiving its first shipment, the Waste Isolation Plant is receiving less than half the 17 shipments per week that officials hoped for, said Jack Gilbert, chief of day-to-day WIPP operations. Now, DOE hopes some permit changes and new technology will help speed up the process. But WIPP critics argue the agency is moving too fast. "They want to write the great American novel before they learn their ABCs," said Deborah Reade, research director for Albuquerque-based Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping. She said DOE wants "to move ahead before they have done the basic work." Currently, 10 rooms that have been carved 2,150 feet underground in ancient salt formations are ready to receive drums and boxes of waste. Each room will hold approximately 7,000 drums. "The goal is to fulfill the DOE mission and serve the country in the safest, most efficient manner," said Ines Triay, manager of the DOE's Carlsbad field office. The cornerstone of DOE's plan to become more efficient is the creation of a centralized waste "characterization" facility at WIPP. Characterization, in DOE terms, is the process of analyzing drums of waste to determine exactly what is inside. WIPP and DOE officials say the current system of analyzing contents of waste shipments before they are moved is cumbersome. "You don't need all that to ship it," said Kerry Watson, assistant manager for the DOE in Carlsbad. DOE wants the initial determination of the contents of a drum to be drawn from records from the time the drum was packed. A full examination would take place once the shipments arrived. The agency also wants to increase by one-fourth the amount of waste to be stored above ground at WIPP and to lengthen from 60 days to one year the time it can sit there. Other roadblocks prevent shipment of almost 70 percent of the waste that eventually is supposed to be buried at WIPP. Some is too radioactive for the shipping containers. Other waste, such as machine parts, is too big to fit the containers. And some of the waste at other DOE sites contains elements prohibited at WIPP by state and federal regulations. May 8, 2001 ***************************************************************** 4 Nuclear plant insurer liable to cover more claims - 2001-05-07 - Pittsburgh Business Times An Allegheny County judge has ruled that there is $320 million in insurance available to cover plaintiffs' claims that an Armstrong County nuclear plant increased cancer occurrences in the area. In 1998, a jury awarded $36.7 million to eight plaintiffs suing Atlantic Richfield Co. and Babcock &Wilcox over the Apollo plants. The companies' insurance carrier, American Nuclear Insurers, argued the two companies only had $40 million in coverage through their ANI policy. Judge Stanton Wettick ruled that the ANI policy offered the two companies $320 million in coverage. More than 300 plaintiffs are still in the process of suing ARCO and B as the previous owners of the nuclear plants that allegedly caused them to develop cancer. Downtown law firm Doepken Keevican &Weiss is acting as ARCO's council and argued that ANI was liable to cover additional claims over $40 million. Judge Wettick also ruled that ARCO and ANI were entitled to separate and independent council in the underlying liability case in U.S. District Court. ANI had argued against separate council. 2001 American City Business Journals Inc. ***************************************************************** 5 Nuclear Society meeting to focus on power Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:40 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8, 2001 The American Nuclear Society's monthly dinner meeting scheduled for May 21 will include a discussion on future energy needs and the growth of nuclear power. Guest speaker will be Jim Lake, an elected fellow and 2000-01 president of the American Nuclear Society. He is also the associate laboratory director for Nuclear and Energy Systems Engineering at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Lake is a graduate and distinguished engineering alumnus of the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a master's degree and doctorate in nuclear engineering. He holds two patents on advanced reactor technology, and is the author of more than 30 publications on reactor physics, nuclear engineering and reactor design. The event will be held at the Fox Den Country Club in West Knoxville. The social period begins at 6 p.m., followed at 6:45 by the dinner and at 7:30 by the Lake's presentation. Cost of the dinner is $15 per person and $7.50 for students. For more information or to RSVP, contact Julie G. Ezold by 4 p.m. Friday, May 18, via e-mail at ezoldjg@y12.doe.govor by calling her at 574-3307. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 6 Savannah River Site to ship radioactive materials along I-20 Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:50 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8, 2001 AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- The first of dozens of shipments of radioactive materials from the Savannah River Site will begin its westward trek across the South on Tuesday, heading to New Mexico for burial. The 60,000 pounds of transuranic wastes -- materials like clothing and rags that have been exposed to plutonium -- will travel in drums on a flatbed truck along Interstate 20 through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Georgia Emergency Management Agency officials have trained 2,500 public safety personnel in how to handle the waste if it should spill or the truck should be involved in a wreck. But no problems were expected, said Lisa Matheson, a GEMA spokeswoman. "There's such a minimal risk to the general public," she said. The trip from the plant near Aiken, S.C., to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground repository in southeastern New Mexico, begins at 10 a.m. and will take about 36 hours. Matheson said GEMA expects 34 such shipments to be transported through Georgia this year. State officials do not plan to escort each truck but will monitor its movements via satellite, she said. Also, "every 100 miles or every two hours, the trucks will stop for safety checks," she added. Tuesday's shipment will consist of 42 drums, the maximum possible in a single shipment, said Dale Ormond, the Department of Energy's senior manager for the transuranic waste program at SRS. The items in the 55-gallon drums were contaminated with plutonium during the Cold War years, when the plant manufactured nuclear bomb materials, Ormond said. The plant has spent about $15 million to earn certification to ship the wastes to WIPP and to prepare for the first shipment, he said. Supporters of the shipments consider them evidence that a cleanup is under way at SRS. Critics say the Energy Department should concentrate its efforts on cleaning up polluted soil and ground water at SRS. "I would far prefer to see the dollars, the research and the energy going into addressing that significant threat to both South Carolinians and Georgians," said state Rep. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. "My concerns are that we're kind of dabbling around the edges with this WIPP transportation and missing the core of the problem." Pat Ortmeyer, field director for nuclear-waste issues at Women's Action for New Directions, agrees. "It's just more of the example that they are not addressing the most urgent priorities generally in the Energy Department," Ortmeyer said. "This is not the critical waste to be shipped." SRS supporters disagree, saying the waste could pose a long-term risk to the environment if it remains at the site. "While it's being stored safely there now, it certainly isn't designed to be stored there for the next hundred or thousand years," said Bill Reinig, a former SRS official who is vice chairman of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, a pro-nuclear group based in Aiken. Savannah River Site: www.srs.gov Women's Action for New Directions: www.wand.org Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness: www.c-n-t-a.com All Contents.©Copyright *The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 7 Cheney meets with Nevada senators over Yucca dump May 08, 2001 By Benjamin Grove <> LAS VEGAS SUN WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney met with Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., today over nuclear waste and the future of nuclear power in the United States. The three met in Cheney's office in the Capitol for a rare private discussion about nuclear waste and the future of nuclear power in the United States. Cheney, who has the power to break tied votes in the evenly split Senate, agreed to meet with Nevada's senators for 15 minutes to discuss the state's high-priority issue. It was the first formal meeting between Nevada's senators and a high-level Bush administration official on the topic. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has vowed to spur the project, calling for budget increases this year. Nevada lawmakers strongly oppose the project. The senators emerged from the meeting this morning without comment. Their aides said the senators wanted to keep the details of the meeting private. "Sen. Reid was glad that they had a good meeting and wants to keep the dialogue going," Nathan Naylor, his spokesman, said. At the direction of President Bush, Cheney is heading a task force to craft a much-anticipated national energy strategy. Cheney plans to release the report this month, possibly as early as this week. The vice president has said the strategy will include a mix of new legislation, presidential orders and private initiatives. The strategy reportedly calls for an increase in nuclear power, which Cheney has publicly touted in recent weeks. He told a media gathering last month that it is "a safe, clean, very plentiful energy source." More nuclear power means more nuclear waste. That affects Nevada, the only state being studied for a high-level nuclear waste dump. Congress in 1987 designated Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to be studied as the waste dump site. Eventually, the site could be home to 77,000 tons of waste, mostly spent uranium fuel pellets from the nation's 103 commercial power reactors, where the waste is now stored. Nevada lawmakers have long battled the plan, which has not been approved by the president, Congress or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC must license the waste repository. If approved, Yucca Mountain would not open until 2010 at the earliest. "No longer should we discuss the virtues of nuclear power without addressing the vices of nuclear pollution," Reid said in a written statement earlier today at a hearing on congressional oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Cheney visited Las Vegas and Reno during campaign stops in October. During the Reno stop he said the Environmental Protection Agency should hold onto its duty of setting safe levels of radiation release at Yucca. The EPA and the NRC disagree about how much radiation from Yucca could safely be released into the air and ground water. The EPA recommends a stricter, lower level. Nevada lawmakers side with the EPA; Yucca backers support the NRC standard. Cheney at his Las Vegas visit did not mention nuclear waste during public appearances. When questioned by reporters Cheney said, "He (Bush) will not approve temporary or permanent storage of nuclear waste until he is satisfied that safety standards are met." He drew cheers from his Republican audience when he said, "They (the Clinton administration) have no coherent energy policy." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 8 Just nuclear no more Published May 7, 2001 Adding solar power to Energy Northwest's increasingly diverse energy lineup is a shrewd move that has little to do with easing the power crunch. Solar remains an inefficient producer of electricity because the technology is not sufficiently developed. The Energy Northwest project - considered large-scale by industry standards - would generate enough power to supply just your typical residential street block. Hardly a solution to the Northwest's power deficit, now nearly the energy consumption of three Seattles. But it does buy Energy Northwest - a consortium of public utilities created 40 years ago to help supply the region's energy needs - some extra credibility in the debate over how to supply the region's energy needs. And the agency needs all it can get to effect progress in the region's energy policy. The broader its holdings, the harder it will be for foes to dismiss Energy Northwest supporters as short-sighted nuclear devotees. Energy Northwest already has hydroelectric power from Packwood Lake and soon will have gas-fired generation from a private plant it has agreed to operate, wind power from the Nine Canyon Wind Energy project and now solar power. That's not to mention the heavy hitter on the consortium's roster, the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant, which will still produce more power than all of the other ventures combined. That's a healthy mix of power sources - and a model for a region seeking a reliable and affordable electricity supply but increasingly turning to the private sector to deliver it. Energy Northwest's efforts bolster public power's image as the solution to the region's energy needs and create a great portfolio for the consortium's officials to have behind them should they decide to make the case for finishing Plant No. 1. The consortium is studying the never-completed nuclear plant to determine if finishing it makes financial sense. Should the numbers pencil out, Energy Northwest's efforts to broaden its energy sources will help make the case that so-called green power has a part to play but can not be considered a substitute for such traditional workhorses of power generation as nuclear plants. And the consortium will have put itself in a position to assume the mantle it was created to wear. Perhaps public power has some fight left in it yet. That's a spectacle we'd love to see. What's your opinon? Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 9 Bush works on a nuclear-power boost May 8, 2001 Go to: S M Bush works on a nuclear-power boost A plan for waste disposal has been in the works for 20 years. Hearings on using a site in Nev. are near. By Seth Borenstein INQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - In its effort to promote nuclear power, the Bush administration has taken the first steps to resolve a major, long-term problem for the industry: how to dispose of 44,000 tons of nuclear waste from existing plants. Public hearings are about to begin over a proposed deep-underground waste site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., officially designated late last week by the Department of Energy. To be able to store waste inside the mountain, the Bush administration is debating whether to loosen limits on radiation leakage for the site that were proposed in January by former President Bill Clinton. President Bush could reach a decision by late this year on the disposal center, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Just getting to this point took 20 years, because of the slow evolution of designs and studies and objections from residents, antinuclear activists and politicians. The Yucca Mountain site's estimated cost, now $57.5 billion, is already up 26 percent since 1998. "We're on track. . . . The steps we take this year will be critical," said Joe David, chief spokesman for the Energy Department. Hearings over the next six months are to be scheduled. Yucca Mountain emerged as the site because it is remote and dry, and the water table is 1,000 feet below where the waste would be buried. Water contamination - the most feared form of radiation leakage - would be unlikely, according to the Energy Department. Used nuclear-reactor fuel, which stays radioactive for thousands of years, is being stored at nuclear power plants in 31 states, pending the availability of a waste site. A nuclear power plant at Prairie Island, Minn., will fill its temporary storage capacity by 2007, then have to shut down until a permanent dump is available, said Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington lobby that promotes nuclear power. The Department of Energy hopes to start accepting waste at Yucca Mountain in 2010. But environmental regulations proposed late in the Clinton administration are in the way. The Environmental Protection Agency submitted proposed radiation limits defining how leak-proof the waste site must be to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on Jan. 18. The EPA would limit groundwater radiation coming out of Yucca to 4 millirems per year - the measurement for radiation doses - at a site 12 miles from the mountain. Radiation aside from water would be limited to 15 millirems per year. The average American gets an annual exposure of 360 millirems, mostly from natural sources, according to the EPA. Dental X-rays contribute about 0.15 millirems per year to the average person. The EPA "is being asked to lower their standards to make it easier" to bury waste at Yucca Mountain, Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.) warned yesterday. Reid, the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said that the Clinton standards for the site were reasonable. Kerekes, of the Nuclear Energy Institute, deemed the Clinton standard too strict. He said a separate water regulation was not necessary. The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have told the EPA they prefer a looser standard for all radiation of 25 millirems, not singling out the site's groundwater, said Frank Marcinowski, director of radiation protection at the EPA. He said the EPA was under no undue pressure to ease the Clinton standards. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman will rule shortly on the standards, Marcinowski said. Groundwater regulations "are the battle front," said Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist for the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an antinuclear organization based in Washington. Reid said he was very concerned about the administration's "giant push to bring nuclear power. In their minds, the only way they can do it is to get rid of the nuclear waste they've already created." Vice President Cheney, who heads the President's energy task force, has said repeatedly that the country should turn more toward nuclear power for its energy needs. ***************************************************************** 10 Nuke plant feasibility is studied KnoxNews.com - News - Politics *By AL GIBBS* *Scripps-McClatchy Western Service* *May 07, 2001* TACOMA, Wash. - The organizers of the Northwest's nuclear fiasco of 20 years ago are on a fast track to learn whether it's technically and financially feasible to resume construction of an abandoned nuclear power plant in Eastern Washington. An ad hoc committee of Energy Northwest's executive board is moving toward completing by mid-August more than $1 million worth of technical studies and independent reviews of WNP-1, a two-thirds complete plant on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. "There's a lot of people out there looking at No. 1," Vic Parrish, Energy Northwest's chief executive, told members of the committee meeting Friday at a SeaTac hotel. Energy Northwest is the new name of the Washington Public Power Supply System, which in the 1970s and '80s tried to build five nuclear power plants at Hanford and Satsop, in Grays Harbor County. Only one ever was finished, and WPPSS, a consortium of public utilities, collapsed in a $2.25 billion bond default, the largest ever at that time. Since an energy crisis hit California and the Northwest just about a year ago, however, Energy Northwest's one nuclear plant, the Columbia Generating Station at Hanford, has saved the region's electric ratepayers more than $1 billion, given the cost of buying a comparable amount of power on wholesale markets. There are no available estimates of the cost and time needed to complete WNP-1. Even if the feasibility studies show finishing the plant is possible, there are still barriers. It's unclear whether any of Energy Northwest's member utilities, including Tacoma Power, have any interest in financing completion. And even if there were, state voters in 1981, at the height of the WPPSS fiasco, passed an initiative requiring a public vote on any major public utility power project like the 1,200-megawatt WNP-1. "There's going to have to be significant public mandate" before Energy Northwest itself tries to organize a completion project, Parrish said. Board members and Energy Northwest executives were undecided about when or how to approach the public. "At some point the public will want input," said board member Margaret Allen. "And not on a foregone conclusion." Two separate reviews by organizations independent of Energy Northwest are planned to help overcome the skepticism that still revolves around anything Energy Northwest proposes. "Remember, this is a board with a chairman who has never met a nuclear plant he felt made sense," said Rudy Bertschi, an economist and head of the ad hoc committee. WNP-1 was designed as a boiling-water reactor plant whose 1,250-megawatt output could power a city the size of Seattle. Its original design was simply an outsized version of a small plant first engineered to power the Navy's nuclear submarines. Major construction work began late in 1975. In the spring of 1982, the Bonneville Power Administration asked that construction be halted. For the next 12 years WPPSS spent about $5 million a year preserving the plant until the utility consortium abandoned it completely in 1994. Its federal construction permit has been regularly renewed, however. But plant components such as valves will soon be sold and Energy Northwest may use the plant's generator to upgrade the plant that's currently operating. Doing so would sound the economic death knell for WNP-1. (Al Gibbs is a reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune in Washington.) Copyright © 1999-2000, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights ***************************************************************** 11 IHT: Bright New Dawn Ahead for Nuclear Power Plants Richard Rhodes The New York Times Tuesday, May 8, 2001 MADISON, Connecticut Technologies are born, grow, thrive and decline, much as living organisms do. That should not be surprising. Since they derive from human knowledge, their effective application must be learned, and they compete for social and economic territory. Nuclear power, a product of naval research, emerged in the United States in the 1950's. Its first use as a commercial energy source came about because it had clear benefits for pollution control. A Pennsylvania utility, Duquesne Light, built the first commercial nuclear power reactor in 1954. The utility had planned to build a coal-fired power plant. When the public objected to further smoke pollution around Pittsburgh, Duquesne switched to nuclear power. Public acceptance of a new technology is essential to its growth. Nuclear power, associated in the public's mind with nuclear weapons, was probably commercialized prematurely, while its complexities were still being worked out. Its environmental benefits were not fully appreciated in the early decades because air pollution was abating under government regulation, and global warming had not yet emerged as the ultimate environmental challenge. When conservation slowed electricity demand after the Arab oil embargo of 1973, U.S. utilities canceled orders for power plants. Almost all new plants built since have been fueled with natural gas. But the population of the United States is now growing, adding the equivalent of one California every 10 years. Demand has caught up with supply, and the United States has become the world's leading greenhouse gas emitter. These factors make a renewal of nuclear power likely. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun carefully extending licenses for existing reactors for an additional 20 years; eventually all 104 operating United States power reactors will probably be relicensed. Since they produce no air pollution or greenhouse gases, that's good news. The nuclear industry is consolidating, focusing experience and expertise. Americans are beginning to understand one of the unique benefits of nuclear technology. A majority now say they approve of nuclear power, a shift that appears to indicate awareness that nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. There is less evidence of public understanding of radiation and nuclear waste. All energy technologies produce waste. Burning fossil fuels - even relatively clean fuel like natural gas - generates waste that cannot be contained within the power plant, as nuclear waste is, but must be released into the environment as air pollution and toxic waste. The great advantage of nuclear power is its ability to wrest enormous energy from a small volume of fuel. One metric ton of nuclear fuel produces energy equivalent to 2 million to 3 million tons of fossil fuel. Waste volumes are comparably scaled: Fossil fuel systems generate hundreds of thousands of metric tons of gaseous and solid wastes, but nuclear systems produce less than 1,000 metric tons of high- and low-level waste per plant per year. The high-level waste is intensely radioactive at first, but its small volume means it can be and is effectively isolated and contained. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution from burning fossil fuels causes three million deaths a year. Substituting small, sequestered volumes of nuclear waste for vast, dispersed volumes of toxic wastes from fossil fuels could provide an enormous improvement in public health. The other risk that nuclear power supposedly raises is nuclear proliferation. In fact, no nation has developed nuclear weapons using plutonium from spent power reactor fuel. Inspection and proper accounting and control of nuclear materials are the answer to proliferation, not limits to nuclear power. Energy needs in the United States will grow , even with improved efficiency and more strenuous conservation. Nuclear energy needs to be a major component of U.S. energy supply if Americans hope both to reduce air pollution and limit global warming. *Richard Rhodes is the author of "Nuclear Renewal" and "The Making of the Atomic Bomb." He contributed this comment to The New York Times.* Copyright © 2001 the International Herald Tribune ***************************************************************** 12 Cheney says nuclear waste dump can be built safely May 08, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration's turn to nuclear power as a long-term energy strategy will necessitate a permanent nuclear waste dump, Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday. "Now, with the gas prices rising as dramatically as they have, nuclear power looks like a pretty good alternative from an economic standpoint, if the permitting process is manageable and if we find a way to deal with the waste question," said Cheney, who is developing energy policy recommendations for President Bush. In an interview on CNN, the vice president said his recommendations would include changes meant to speed federal permits to utilities seeking to build nuclear power plants. The industry has not sought a government permit to build a new plant in more than 20 years, since before the accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island spread fear about nuclear power. Nuclear power provides 20 percent of the nation's electric capacity today. As to the thorny question of nuclear waste, Cheney said: "Right now we've got waste piling up at reactors all over the country. Eventually, there ought to be a permanent repository. The French do this very successfully and very safely in an environmentally sound, sane manner. We need to be able to do the same thing." He did not say where the government might put such a site but Nevada officials fear it would almost certainly be built in their state. In 1987, Congress passed a law designating Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the nation's only high-level nuclear waste repository. Such a site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would receive waste from both nuclear power plants and from defense uses. For 14 years Nevadans have been bitterly fighting the proposal that would bring 77,000 tons of radioactive waste to their state for storage. Shedding more light on the energy policy that Bush is scheduled to unveil next week, Cheney left open the possibility that Bush will seek the so-called "power of eminent domain" to construct new electrical transmission lines. Such authority allows the government to appropriate private property for public use. The federal government already has such authority with respect to laying gas pipelines. "The issue is whether or not we should have the same authority on electrical transmission lines, that's never been granted previously. That's one of the issues we've looked at. We'll have a recommendation when we release the report next week," Cheney said. He defended his energy-policy work against critics who say he has focused too much on increased production - boosting coal burning and drilling for oil and natural gas. "You'll find that most of the financial incentives that we recommend in the report go for conservation or renewables, for increased efficiencies. Now, we don't have a lot of new financial incentives in here to go out and produce more oil and gas, for example, so, we believe in conservation, we believe in renewables, we believe in wind and solar and all of those other technologies," Cheney said. But, he added, renewable forms of energy provide just 2 percent of national electric generating capacity and cannot alone solve the nation's problem of demand exceeding supply. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 13 The Toxic Waste of Nuclear Power May 8, 2001 Nuclear Power's New Day (May 7, 2001) [T] o the Editor: Richard Rhodes ("Nuclear Power's New Day," Op-Ed, May 7) appears to buy into a myth about nuclear power: that it is clean energy and that it can help fight global warming and air pollution. According to the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, for nuclear power to make a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, commercial reactors would have to not only supply much of the world's electricity growth but also replace many coal-fired plants as they are retired. This would require the construction of approximately 2,000 nuclear power plants around the world over the next several decades. The main global warming gas, carbon dioxide, is emitted at each step of the nuclear fuel chain, from uranium mining, milling, enrichment, fuel fabrication, construction of the reactor, transportation and storage of radioactive waste, and decommissioning of old reactors. Each of these stages is also a source of radioactive pollution and long-lasting, highly toxic waste.   KYLE RABIN Dir., Nuclear Energy Policy Project, Environmental Advocates Albany, May 7, 2001 New York Times Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 14 PCBs discovered in reservoir near Yankee Atomic Tuesday, May 8, 2001 By BETSY CALVERT ROWE — Yankee Atomic Electric Company has discovered low levels of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, in sediment of the Sherman Reservoir that feeds into the Deerfield River at the defunct nuclear plant. The chemicals — suspected carcinogens — are likely a result of PCB-laden paint chips that were scraped off the "big ball" last winter by ice. The ball is the familiar five-story sphere known in the industry as the vapor container. Yankee reported its chipping paint problem to state and federal environmental regulators last winter. A recent report from Yankee's Boston consultant, Environmental Resources Management, states that PCBs were found in the reservoir sediment in concentrations of up to 20 parts per million, 10 times the state threshold of 2 parts per million. In the soil surrounding the reservoir near the radiation control area samples showed PCBs as high as 240 parts per million, but the water sediment is considered more critical environmentally. By contrast, a consultant working for the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs found no PCBs in the reservoir. The samples from both studies were collected last summer. The state consultant, Environmental Science Services, was not researching the paint chip problem, however. Researching the river as a whole, the company tested sediments immediately behind dams in a number of reservoirs. In its upcoming report, ESS will recommend that the state do more extensive testing for PCBs in the Deerfield River, for example in fish, said the company's aquatic biologist, Karl Nielsen. Yankee's managing company, Duke Engineering, tested sediment nearer to the storm drains where the paint chips were found, said John W. McTigue, principal partner with ERM. The Yankee Rowe plant has PCBs in its paint inside and out because the plant was constructed before 1977 when PCBs were banned. Research shows PCBs accumulate in the environment and do not break down. After reporting the problem, Yankee received verbal permission from the state to take certain immediate measures, McTigue said. The measures included repainting the ball to encapsulate the old paint, placing hay bales around the water drains, and removing the winter sand in which the paint chips had mixed. What Yankee has not done is remove the PCB-contaminated dirt or reservoir sediment, McTigue said. In the next year, he said, according to state regulations, Yankee is expected to further study the situation and prepare a plan for full remediation, he said. That may or may not require dredging and soil removal. In effect, he said, Yankee and state regulators agree that it will be better to determine the full impact from all the PCBs after the plant has been completely dismantled. Final dismantling is on hold until 2002 after Yankee removes the highly radioactive old nuclear fuel rods that are and sitting in water inside the plant. © 2001 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission. ***************************************************************** 15 Nuclear plants off line [The Mercury News] Posted at 11:17 p.m. PDT Monday, May 7, 2001 Heavy use of air conditionersand power plant maintenance bring the first of what may be routine outages this summer. BY Mercury News Record temperatures coupled with a spate of out-of-commission power plants were all it took to nudge California's electrical system into overload Monday, triggering rolling blackouts in a grim prelude to what could become a daily reality in coming months. With more hot weather forecast, conditions are expected to remain perilous today and perhaps Wednesday. But a cooling trend due Thursday should ease the threat of more outages, said Jim McIntosh, director of operations for the California Independent System Operator, which manages the flow of electricity for most of the state. State officials have warned that blackouts could become routine this summer, particularly if Californians don't get into the habit of using less power. ``To the extent that you can live without it,'' he said, ``it will make a big difference.'' Officials ordered power to be shut off at 4:45 p.m. and restored service at 5:41 p.m., the fifth time state officials have ordered rolling blackouts this year. The last was March 20. Movie screens, popcorn-makers and video games went quiet for about 20 minutes at the Century Capitol multiplex in South San Jose. ``I was just getting into it when a screen went blank,'' complained Luis Ortiz. ``Blam. No warning or nothing. People just walked out of the theaters wondering what was going on.'' The most immediate cause of the blackouts was the heat. In San Francisco, the 93-degree high recorded Monday exceeded the previous record of 91 degrees set on that date in 1987. Downtown Oakland's high of 89 degrees beat out the 1987 record by one degree. The 91-degree high recorded in Salinas outdid the previous high of 89 there in 1967. And in South Monterey, 89 degrees exceeded the old record of 84, set back in 1959. The hot weather prompted many people to switch on their air conditioners, putting a heavy drain on the already severely crimped supply of power. Hot weather across the West also limited the amount of power the state normally imports from the Southwest by at least 500 megawatts -- or enough for about 375,000 homes, according to the ISO's McIntosh. Nuclear plants off line But an even bigger problem was the loss of four nuclear power plants. Two of them were in California: Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo, which is being refueled, and San Onofre in Southern California, which is undergoing repairs after a recent fire. In addition, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station near Phoenix and the Columbia Generating Station in southeast Washington state were undergoing routine repairs. All four plants are expected to be off line for several more weeks. Some California plants that run on natural gas had to shut down because of repair work on a natural gas pipeline near Ventura. Pacific Gas &Electric Co. spokeswoman Jennifer Ramp said the utility was ordered to cut 120 megawatts in its service area, which meant the blackout affected about 54,000 homes and businesses from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. PG has 4.6 million electricity customers. In the Bay Area, PG customers from San Francisco to San Jose lost power, but PG and police departments reported no major problems as a result of the blackouts. ``It was very quick. We got the order to restore and everything was back up,'' Ramp said. At Sumitomo Tire in South San Francisco, Robert Tan was working in his sixth-floor office when the air conditioning slowly hummed to a halt. The company faced a previous round of rolling blackouts just a month ago, so Tan knew exactly how to cope. ``No one's here, so we just unbuttoned our shirts,'' said Tan, who handles shipment orders. ``It's an inconvenience, but we all have to play a role'' in conserving energy, he said. San Francisco suffered ``little bitty interruptions all over the city,'' but reported no problems, said Jim Aldrich, the city's emergency services coordinator. The rolling blackouts hit parts of Fremont's Irvington district, but city officials said emergency crews were able to handle their traffic-snarling effect. Police monitored major intersections and planted temporary stop signs at others. ``The blackouts are mainly a traffic issue and an inconvenience to businesses,'' said Vic Valdes, division chief with the Fremont Fire Department. ``We have an emergency contingency plan under which we've prioritized the major traffic intersections that we feel must be staffed during a blackout.'' Linda Clerkson, a spokeswoman for Palo Alto's city-owned utility, said it avoided blackouts by calling on major power users, including Hewlett-Packard, Agilent and Roche, to conserve. The regional water treatment plant kicked on a generator to help the city's power grid. ``This was totally not the big test,'' Clerkson said. About 34,000 homes and businesses were blacked out in the territory served by Southern California Edison, which has 4.2 million electricity customers, and the prospect for trouble today ``looks a lot like'' Monday, said spokeswoman Karen Shepard-Grimes. Conservation helped Although the ISO's original warning on Monday morning led utilities to believe they might have to cut power to more than one outage block, Ramp said that ultimately only about a third of Block 14 was affected. PG has 14 blocks that are subject to rolling blackouts. The remainder of block 14 will be included in the next rolling blackouts, followed by customers in block 1. Altogether, about 12,500 megawatts of power that is normally available to the state was offline Monday. McIntosh of the ISO said state officials hope to reduce that figure to about 2,500 megawatts by summer. But if they can't do that, he said, the state's ability to avoid future blackouts will largely hinge on how much people can conserve. Businesses and other large customers helped Monday by agreeing to go on backup generators in exchange for lower utility rates. That saved about 850 megawatts, McIntosh said. He estimated that an additional 150 megawatts was saved by other customers who heard about the electricity emergency and voluntarily cut back on their electricity use. Even so, Californians have done much better than that in the recent past, accounting for savings of up to 2,000 megawatts, according to state estimates. So while McIntosh thanked consumers Monday, he warned that they'll have to do even better this summer. ``As we roll into the summer and the supply situation remains as it is, that's the only way,'' he said. *Mercury News reporters Brandon Bailey, Michael Bazeley, Chuck Carroll, Gil José Durán, Putsata Reang and Roxanne Stites contributed to this report.* *Contact Steve Johnson at or (408) 920-5043.* ***************************************************************** 16 DOE delays seeking license for nuclear waste dump in Nevada [tahoe.com] YourTown Tuesday, May 8, 2001 Associated Press LAS VEGAS - Lack of funding has pushed back the Energy Department's application for a license to open a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain by a year and could threaten the proposed project's 2010 opening, a DOE official said. The Energy Department needs $1 billion a year for the next seven years to get the project through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rigorous licensing procedure, said Victor Trebules of the DOE's Office of Project Control. The DOE, which would build and operate the repository if it is approved, is $98 million short. As a result, the agency has postponed its plan to file its license request from 2002 to 2003, Trebules said. After scientific studies are finished, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to make a recommendation to President Bush later this year on whether Yucca Mountain is suitable for storing the nation's nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied to store 77,000 tons of commercial nuclear reactor fuel and defense waste. ''To maintain the 2010 opening, more money is necessary from Congress each year,'' Trebules said. This year the DOE received $390 million for scientific studies after requesting $430 million. In 2000, Congress approved $351 million compared with a $409 million request. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was behind the move to freeze the Yucca Mountain budget for this year, as well as yanking money used to advertise public tours of the project. Reid, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, plans to continue trimming DOE funding for Yucca Mountain, committee spokesman David Cherry said. While scientific studies inside the five-mile-long exploratory tunnel continue, the DOE had planned to spend the extra money for designing a repository with enough detail to satisfy the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Trebules said. Instead, the DOE funneled money to support ongoing scientific work, and the license request was put on hold, he said. The changes, including $7 billion to install titanium shields to protect buried containers from water moving through the mountain, have added $11.6 billion to the cost of the project from an estimate given in 1998. About $6.7 billion already has been spent on the project, mostly for scientific studies and construction of an access tunnel. The cost, which would total $58 billion for the entire project over a 100-year life cycle, could be even higher if the site were left open longer than 100 years, as is being contemplated, officials said. Other expenses include $2.7 billion for steel reinforcements to protect machinery and workers inside the repository, $1 billion for regulatory hurdles and management and $1 billion to expand surface facilities, including an extra pool for storing spent reactor fuel until it is prepared for burial. ''What is clear from these new reports is that the overall cost of this proposed repository has ballooned to more than $50 billion and will likely continue to climb as design work continues,'' Reid said. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said that the rising cost for Yucca Mountain ''shows this project is out of control. Yucca Mountain is not the answer to our nation's nuclear waste problem.'' Back to Tuesday, May 8, 2001 Front Page About tahoe.com ***************************************************************** 17 Council wants nuclear permission rethink BBC Online - Devon - News - Tuesday 8th May 2001 Controversial Application: DML says the changes are vital to the Trident nuclear submarine refitting programme Plymouth City Council is calling on the Environment Agency to consider cancer incidents in the city before allowing an increase in radioactive discharges into the River Tamar. City councillors will today set out their policy on the controversial application by DML. DML says it needs to increase discharges of radioactive Tritium into the Tamar because of the Trident nuclear re-fitting programme. Refit Programme: a council report has pointed out the risk to jobs if DML does not get the go-ahead Under a draft agreement, the Environment Agency says the company would be allowed to raise levels by around five times the current ceiling, less than DML wanted. This has failed to allay local people's fears over health risks. A council report being considered today recommends the Environment Agency take into account cancer and leukaemia studies in Plymouth before making its final decision. Councillors will be told DML's application is contrary to the spirit of an international convention on reducing radioactive sea emissions. But the report points out the risk to jobs if DML do not get the go-ahead. ***************************************************************** 18 Finance - Britain's BNFL says new deal means Mox break-even May 8, 02:42 PM LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) said on Tuesday a deal to supply Mox reactor fuel to Swedish utility OKG means its 460 million pound Sellafield Mox Plant has finally reached break-even. The controversial Sellafield Mox Plant has been idle since completion in 1997 as regulatory approval to start-up has been witheld over fears that there are insufficient customers for the mixed oxide fuel, a combination of plutonium and uranium oxides. In a statement on the deal between Framatome ANP and BNFL to make Mox fuel for Swedish utility OKG, BNFL's chief executive Norman Askew said: "This is yet another contract showing that our customers want Mox fuel from SMP. These new orders (from OKG on Tuesday and from German utility E.ON last week) signal strong support for the plant." BNFL said the deal with OKG has increased the amount of contracted/reserved business for SMP to the 40 percent breakeven point. "What we look foward to now is the plant opening so we can start to fulfil these orders." The government is set to make a decision on SMP sometime this summer once a review by consultants Arthur D Little into the plant's viability is completed on May 23. Mox fuel has been at the centre of controversy since 1999 when it was revealed that quality control data on a batch of Mox made in a pilot plant and sent to Japan had been falsified. This led to import bans by a number of countries, raising questions about the size of export markets. Critics, including environmental group Greenpeace, say manufacturing Mox fuel makes little economic sense since it is more expensive to make than conventional uranium reactor fuel. But, BNFL and other nuclear firms say the fuel is a good way of re-using a valuable commodity. Under the terms of the deals, BNFL will extract plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel to create Mox which will then be burnt in reactors. More From > Reuters Company News Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or ***************************************************************** 19 Report Alleges Plan to Dump Toxic Waste in Africa allAfrica.com: Panafrican News Agency (Dakar) May 7, 2001 Lagos, Nigeria A report on toxic wastes trade and dumping episodes has revealed alleged plans by the US and some European countries to dump 29 million tonnes of toxic wastes in 11 African countries, the local press said in Lagos Monday. The report released by Nigeria's national co-ordinator of the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on Trans-boundary Movement of Hazardous Waste, Oladele Osibajo, said in addition to the US, the UK, Italy, France and Switzerland planned to dump the dangerous materials in Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Benin, Congo and Equatorial Guinea. Other African countries listed as possible destinations for the wastes were Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone. The report said the materials to be dumped comprised industrial and chemical wastes, pesticide sludge, radioactive wastes and other categories of unspecified hazardous wastes. It, however, noted that some of the African countries listed were collaborating with the US and the European countries with the aim of receiving financial compensation for the wastes to be dumped in their areas. For example, the report said about five million tonnes of industrial wastes were to have been dumped in Angola by an unnamed European country for two million US dollars. The Angolan government later cancelled the deal after discovering loopholes in it, the report claimed. It listed other countries involved in the wastes-for-money deal as Benin, Equatorial Guinea and Congo, which it said was the first country in Africa to officially authorise the dumping of toxic wastes in the country from Europe and the US for a fee. The plan to dump wastes in all the countries failed after their populations moved against it. After an embarrassing episode of toxic wastes dump by an Italian company in Nigeria's mid-western Koko Port town in the late 1980s, Nigeria led an international campaign against the practice leading to the establishment of a sub-regional Dump Watch in West Africa. Copyright © 2001 *Panafrican News Agency*. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ***************************************************************** 20 New nuclear-waste strategy [tahoe.com] VIEWS Tuesday, May 8, 2001 By Nevada Appeal editorial board With the nation searching for new sources of energy, nuclear power plants are being touted anew as economically and environmentally friendly solutions. Except for that one little problem - the waste. Each plant nationwide produces an average of 20 tons of nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel each year. While this is a relatively small amount per plant, and may well be more environmentally safe than most power plants, it is still a problem that must be solved. For better or worse, the solution is up to the federal government. And we in Nevada know all too well that the U.S. Department of Energy has only one course in mind: Yucca Mountain, north of Las Vegas. The latest report from the Department of Energy pegs the cost at $58 billion, an amount apparently rising daily. New design for the storage facility beneath the mountain has added $12 billion, and we still don't know if it will work. No one has ever tried to store 70,000 tons of radioactive material beneath a mountain before. That the scientists and engineers think it could work is astounding; if they're wrong, however, Nevada becomes home to the biggest environmental disaster in the history of mankind. The nuclear power industry has been waiting for more than 20 years for the Department of Energy to find the answer to its waste storage dilemma. The Yucca Mountain project, a $6.7 billion hole in the ground that is 12 years behind schedule, has become the sole alternative. At any cost? At any risk? It's time for the Department of Energy, Congress and President Bush to rethink the nation's nuclear-waste strategy. The sooner they get started on some fresh, creative ideas, the sooner the nuclear industry can begin to fulfill its potential to bolster the nation's energy resources. *Copyright tahoe.com. Materials contained within this site may ***************************************************************** 21 Letter to the editor: Yucca Mountain VIEWS Tuesday, May 8, 2001 Regarding the article in your paper on April 25, section B on Yucca Mountain Waste Site, I would like to tell you my opinion. The people from the local Navy League are not qualified as scientists to make the decisions about how safe this site is for the people, the land and the animals that live there. They seem to only be interested in the money the Department of Energy pays. I think that all the countries with nuclear power should concentrate money on research to neutralize this radioactive waste. To bury it in Yucca Mountain is not a good solution. SEAN COSTELLA Carson Middle School student *Copyright tahoe.com. Materials contained within this site may ***************************************************************** 22 DOE delays seeking license for nuclear waste dump in Nevada May 07, 2001 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Lack of funding has pushed back the Energy Department's application for a license to open a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain by a year and could threaten the proposed project's 2010 opening, a DOE official said. The Energy Department needs $1 billion a year for the next seven years to get the project through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's rigorous licensing procedure, said Victor Trebules of the DOE's Office of Project Control. The DOE, which would build and operate the repository if it is approved, is $98 million short. As a result, the agency has postponed its plan to file its license request from 2002 to 2003, Trebules said. After scientific studies are finished, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to make a recommendation to President Bush later this year on whether Yucca Mountain is suitable for storing the nation's nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied to store 77,000 tons of commercial nuclear reactor fuel and defense waste. "To maintain the 2010 opening, more money is necessary from Congress each year," Trebules said. This year the DOE received $390 million for scientific studies after requesting $430 million. In 2000, Congress approved $351 million compared with a $409 million request. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was behind the move to freeze the Yucca Mountain budget for this year, as well as yanking money used to advertise public tours of the project. Reid, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, plans to continue trimming DOE funding for Yucca Mountain, committee spokesman David Cherry said. While scientific studies inside the five-mile-long exploratory tunnel continue, the DOE had planned to spend the extra money for designing a repository with enough detail to satisfy the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Trebules said. Instead, the DOE funneled money to support ongoing scientific work, and the license request was put on hold, he said. The changes, including $7 billion to install titanium shields to protect buried containers from water moving through the mountain, have added $11.6 billion to the cost of the project from an estimate given in 1998. About $6.7 billion already has been spent on the project, mostly for scientific studies and construction of an access tunnel. The cost, which would total $58 billion for the entire project over a 100-year life cycle, could be even higher if the site were left open longer than 100 years, as is being contemplated, officials said. Other expenses include $2.7 billion for steel reinforcements to protect machinery and workers inside the repository, $1 billion for regulatory hurdles and management and $1 billion to expand surface facilities, including an extra pool for storing spent reactor fuel until it is prepared for burial. "What is clear from these new reports is that the overall cost of this proposed repository has ballooned to more than $50 billion and will likely continue to climb as design work continues," Reid said. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said that the rising cost for Yucca Mountain "shows this project is out of control. Yucca Mountain is not the answer to our nation's nuclear waste problem." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 23 Public Concerns Sidelined as Department of Energy Rushes to Recommend Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump ALLIANCE FOR NUCLEAR ACCOUNTABILITY - CITIZEN ALERT – FRIENDS OF THE EARTH – INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK - NATURAL RESOURCE DEFENSE COUNCIL – NEVADA DESERT EXPERIENCE - NEVADA NUCLEAR WASTE TASKFORCE – NUCLEAR INFORMATION AND RESOURCE SERVICE (NIRS) – PUBLIC CITIZEN’S CRITICAL MASS ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM For immediate release: May 7, 2001 Public Concerns Sidelined as Department of Energy Rushes to Recommend Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Department of Energy’s intention to recommend Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as the site for a permanent nuclear waste repository subverts due process and further undermines the credibility of the agency’s high-level radioactive waste program, tribal groups, public interest, and environmental organizations said today. National and tribal organizations joined groups in Nevada in calling on the Department to revoke statements made Friday that prematurely initiated a process for approving the controversial Yucca Mountain repository project. Yucca Mountain, located approximately 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nev., is currently the only site under consideration as a potential repository for 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste from U.S. commercial reactors and atomic weapons facilities. On Friday, the DOE released a Science and Engineering Report outlining the technical basis for a Yucca Mountain site recommendation, and sent a letter to all Governors and State Legislatures announcing the Department’s intention to move forward with the process. By law, this notice is required as the first step in a formal site recommendation, which must ultimately be approved by the President and Congress. "Many thousands of Americans living along targeted Yucca Mountain transport routes in 43 States have just had their concerns completely ignored. Secretary Abraham is putting the radioactive waste cart before the horse," said Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist with Nuclear Information and Resource Service. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act specifies several pieces of regulation upon which a site recommendation is contingent. Proposed rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and Nuclear Regulatory Commission affecting radiation protection standards and licensing requirements are still under review. Similarly, the Department of Energy has proposed but not finalized changes in the site suitability guidelines. "How can Secretary Abraham be preparing to recommend the Yucca Mountain site when these key regulations are not yet in place?" asked Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator with Citizen Alert in Nevada. "It seems that the Department of Energy is declaring war on due process, strong science, and sound public policy." In addition, the final Environmental Impact Statement for the Yucca Mountain project is not yet available. The draft Environmental Impact Statement, issued in July 1999, elicited approximately 11,000 comments that have not been addressed, including concerns related to the DOE’s unspecified plans for transporting nuclear waste to Nevada. "Members of the public have participated in good faith in every aspect of the Yucca Mountain project," said Judy Treichel, executive director of Nevada Nuclear Waste Taskforce. "Yet we have received no response and our significant concerns have not been addressed. It now appears that our comments are considered irrelevant." "Secretary Abraham’s letter makes a mockery of the Department’s process for public participation," agreed Lisa Gue, policy analyst with Public Citizen. "The public cannot have confidence in an agency that seems to consider approval of the Yucca Mountain dump a foregone conclusion." "This is a distressing indication of the Administration’s intention to dictate unsustainable energy policies in complete disregard of public health and environmental safety." The issue of title to the Yucca Mountain site is also unresolved. The Western Shoshone Nation claims jurisdiction over the land according to the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863, and opposes the Yucca Mountain repository project. "Our lawful rights and vital interests at Yucca Mountain have not been adequately addressed. This manner of treatment constitutes environmental racism. The U.S. does not own Yucca Mountain," stated Ian Zabarte, Secretary of State of the Western Shoshone National Council. Native environmental justice leaders expressed their concern about these federal actions where tribal government participation has not been provided. "The U.S. government is still failing to recognize its government-to-government policy with tribes on these critical issues that may impact the future of our people," stated Tom Goldtooth, director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, a national tribal grassroots organization. "Tribal members and their governmental leaders have been totally left out of the Yucca Mountain discussion." ***************************************************************** 24 Hearings set on Nevada for nuclear burial charlotte.com - - - - - May 8, 2001 WASHINGTON -- In its effort to promote nuclear power, the Bush administration has taken the first steps to resolve a long-term problem for the industry: how to dispose of 44,000 tons of nuclear waste from existing plants. Public hearings are about to begin over a proposed deep-underground waste site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., officially designated late last week by the Department of Energy. To be able to store waste inside the mountain, the Bush administration is debating whether to loosen limits on radiation leakage for the site that were proposed by former President Bill Clinton. President Bush could reach a decision by late this year on the disposal center, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Flats soil contamination low [www.TheDailyCamera.com] By Beth Wohlberg *Camera Staff Writer* Soil contamination in the four possible areas where Xcel Energy is considering erecting a power line across Rocky Flats are well below even the most conservative cleanup levels, said John Rampe of the Department of Energy Monday. At the Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments meeting Monday, Rampe reported that the highest level of contamination from the recent soil samples was 18.8 picocuries of plutonium per gram of soil. It was found in an area where contamination has been found as high as 25 piC/g. None of the samples came close to 35 piC/g — the soil action level that John Till, an expert in radioactive contamination, calculated last spring as the appropriate cleanup level. Till was hired by the Rocky Flats Soil Action Level Oversight Panel with DOE funding. In 1996, the Department of Energy and regulators had agreed that 651 piC/g was clean enough. Final soil cleanup levels are still being discussed. Xcel Energy plans to erect a power line across the east side of Rocky Flats, the former nuclear weapons plant south of Boulder, to hook up with an existing power line. About nine poles will be erected to supply more power to the northwest part of the metro area. But Boulder City Councilwoman Lisa Morzel wonders why samples collected for installing power poles — which must be placed deep in the soil — were only taken from the surface. "I would feel a little better if they would do subsurface sampling," she said. However, the board did not request subsurface samples for Xcel's project. Rampe said that plutonium doesn't migrate down into the soil from the surface unless there is a pathway, such as groundwater. The areas where Xcel Energy is looking to place the transmission line have been contaminated because the wind blows across the industrial area and deposits contamination into the soil. No known subsurface contamination exists. Subsurface samples would cost more money without offering more information, said DOE's Jeremy Karpatkin. "I guess I would have gone out and tried to collect another sample," Morzel said. "At some point, you need to be a scientist and be objective, not be thinking of how does this affect my budget." *Contact Beth Wohlberg at (303) 473-1364 or wohlbergb@thedailycamera.com.* *May 8, 2001* | Copyright 2001 The Daily Camera. All rights ***************************************************************** 2 DOE to pay Pantex fine 2001 Amarillo Globe-News By Jim McBride The Energy Department will pay a $5,000 state fine to settle allegations that former Pantex Plant contractor Mason & Hanger Corp. failed to report a groundwater contamination incident for nine months. In an agreed order with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the DOE's Amarillo Area Office and Mason & Hanger accepted the $5,000 fine, but denied any wrongdoing. "The Amarillo Area Office and Mason & Hanger Corp. agreed to the imposition of a $5,000 penalty by the TRNCC while denying the underlying allegation that they didn't comply with notification and reporting requirements upon detecting trichloroethylene in an Ogallala Aquifer monitoring well at the Pantex Plant," the DOE and Mason & Hanger said Monday. In a statement, DOE and Mason and Hanger said their position - which the state did not accept - was that the plant was not legally required to report the 1999 contamination incident and that the solvent contamination was linked to historic contamination first reported in 1982. DOE spokeswoman Brenda Finley said Mason & Hanger paid the fine, but the federal government ultimately will pay it because fines are considered reimbursable costs under Mason & Hanger's contract. The state's enforcement action came after DOE and Texas officials last year acknowledged delays in reporting trichloroethylene - TCE - contamination in the Ogallala Aquifer, a city of Amarillo water source. TCE is an industrial solvent that is a probable carcinogen linked to liver and kidney damage, birth defects and childhood leukemia. Last week, some of Pantex's neighbors criticized the amount of the proposed fine. TNRCC's three-member board was set to vote next month on the proposed fine. Several residents living near the plant now receive bottled drinking water from Pantex as a precaution. Jim and Jeri Osborne, who live north of the plant, receive bottled water and recently had a filter fitted for their drinking-water well. "That's just really not all that much," Osborne said of the fine. "The fact they got caught will make some difference, but the fine won't change their behavior." According to state records, Pantex failed to properly notify the state about an incident that could endanger public water supplies. The state also contended Pantex officials failed to provide all analysis data for groundwater wells at the plant's burning grounds within 90 days. On March 3, 2000, Pantex officials first publicly reported that low levels of TCE contamination that exceeded federal drinking water standards had been found in the Ogallala Aquifer. So far, the contamination has not been detected in nearby city wells, but Pantex is providing drinking water to six families as a precaution. Since the incident, the DOE has provided more information about groundwater problems and is working to determine the extent of contamination. In the wake of the incident, former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson ordered DOE experts to investigate why the contamination was not reported more quickly. A subsequent DOE report found that Pantex's water-monitoring methods were inadequate and plant officials failed to follow proper procedures for reporting groundwater contamination. The plant was named the 29th Superfund site in Texas in 1994 after being proposed for the program in 1991. Sites listed on the Superfund are among the most toxic in the nation. Plant officials now are asking the EPA to remove Pantex from the Superfund program, citing progress in plant cleanup. In 1991, when the EPA sought the Superfund designation for Pantex, the agency cited plant practices including burning chemicals in unlined pits, burying wastes in unlined landfills and discharging wastes into on-site surface waters. ***************************************************************** 3 Hiring freeze may affect sick worker appointment Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:37 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The nominations are in, but a federal hiring freeze may postpone a sick worker from serving on the Oak Ridge Reservation Health Effects Subcommittee. Marilyn Palmer with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry confirmed on Monday that three nominations have been received for the seat. Though she could not release their names, Palmer said all three candidates are from Oak Ridge. The agency, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for appointing subcommittee members. The subcommittee consists of citizens primarily from the Oak Ridge area, including Knoxville and Roane County residents, who will work with community members and advocacy groups to offer advice and recommendations to several federal agencies regarding health concerns in Oak Ridge. A panel consisting of representatives from the Atlanta, Ga.-based Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be charged with the task of selecting the sick worker subcommittee member. The new member isn't expected to be announced until possibly September, Palmer said. However, the subcommittee member won't be able to officially serve until a hiring freeze implemented by President Bush earlier this year is lifted. Subcommittee members are considered "special government employees." The subcommittee began meeting last November. The group is involved in two assessments relating to the health of Oak Ridge residents. A community-needs assessment will provide a basis for developing and implementing community health education programs that relate to Oak Ridge. A public health assessment will entail reviewing information on local hazardous substances and determining whether exposure to them would cause public harm. For more information on the subcommittee, call Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry officials at 220-0295 or 1-888-422-8737. The agency's Web site is located at www.atsdr.cdc.gov All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 4 Oak Ridge's true Nobel Laureate, others personally remembered At the American Museum of Science and Energy, Clifford G. Shull shows the diffractometer he and Ernest Wollan used in their experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The instrument was loaned to the museum by the Smithsonian Institution. Also pictured are, left to right, Alvin Trivelpiece, former ORNL director; Ralph Moon, retired ORNL associate director, and Mike Wilkinson, retired director of ORNL's Solid State Division. (Photo by Curtis Boles for the April 20, 1995, issue of Energy Systems News, publication of Martin Marietta Energy Systems, former contractor for Oak Ridge Operations.) In November 1963 when the late Eugene Wigner shared the Nobel Prize in Physics, he was still a revered consultant for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, of which he had been research and development director in 1946 and 1947. Further, Wigner was in Oak Ridge (for the shutdown of ORNL's historic Graphite Reactor) when word came that he had won the highly coveted recognition. Still, ORNL and Oak Ridge could not claim its first Nobel Laureate. Wigner had won for helping to lay the groundwork for advanced studies in nuclear physics -- work he had done prior to his ORNL association. When Clifford G. Shull shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics, he was known primarily as a retired professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But his prize was for experiments he and the late Ernest O. Wollan had done at ORNL from 1946 to 1955 -- experiments conducted in the historic Graphite Reactor prior to its shutdown. ORNL and Oak Ridge did indeed now have a genuine Nobel Laureate and Shull was quick to acknowledge where it had all happened. In the spring of 1995, Shull came to Oak Ridge from his home in Lexington, Mass., to be honored by the American Museum of Science and Energy which was displaying equipment that he and Wollan had used. Hundreds of his former ORNL colleagues participated in a warm tribute to him and Wollan and their ORNL collaboration in developing neutron scattering. In the obituary for Shull in the April 4 issue of The New York Times, Kenneth Chang wrote, "Together with the late Dr. Ernest O. Wollan, Dr. Shull realized that the stream of neutrons ejected from the laboratory's nuclear reactors could be tapped for experiments. ... Dr. Shull developed a method to select neutrons traveling at a specific velocity and to aim them at the material he wanted to study. By analyzing the pattern of neutrons bouncing off the material, scientists are able to deduce the positions of atoms in the material." The Times quotes Robert J. Birgeneau, former dean of science at MIT and now president of the University of Toronto: "In a period of five or six years of true brilliance ... he (Shull) did a variety of pioneering experiments, which really created the field." Shull left ORNL in 1955 for two years at Brookhaven National Laboratory and then MIT. He and his wife, Martha Nuel Summer, had lived on Kentucky Avenue. They had three sons, John, Robert and William, the latter two born in Oak Ridge. John, of San Antonio, Texas, recently retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel. Robert is a research scientist with the National Bureau of Standards in Gaithersburg, Md. William (who provided this family information in a fortuitous phone conversation) is owner-manager of the Clarence T. Summer Inc. hardware store established in 1884 by his grandfather in Newberry, S.C., a local and tourist attraction there for its antique hardware collection. Iva Thatcher was a dedicated volunteer, primarily in work for the retarded, both children and adults, but also with Hospice. She was someone sincerely wanting to be helpful to others in need of special assistance, caring. She was also active with her husband, Ray, with Oak Ridge Playhouse, she working primarily backstage while he performed in numerous roles on stage. Local Smoky Mountain hikers -- and hundreds of others from elsewhere-- will also remember her at LeConte Lodge atop Mount LeConte in the Smokies. There, during seasons while the colorful Herrick Brown was manager, she cooked hearty, if not necessarily gourmet meals for tired and hungry climbers, also making sure that their spartan, but so welcome overnight sleeping accommodations were fit and ready. And often volunteering wisdoms from her rich Appalachian background. Vital to The Oak Ridger as, 52 years ago, it prepared to publish its first edition, were people from the Roane-Anderson Company, which then managed virtually all Oak Ridge community services (police, fire, schools, business and housing leasing and assignment) for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the U.S. Department of Energy. As we set up shop in our original leased location in a former GI laundry building on East Tyrone Road, numerous crises arose -- the need for some particular service or equipment. One of those we regularly called on for help was handsome, affable Clyde Brown. He had joined the Roane-Anderson staff after coming home to Clinton after scores of World War II Air Force missions in Italy. Considering the unexpected obstacles, we were probably foolhardy in announcing weeks before that we would publish our first edition on Jan. 20, 1949. But darned if we didn't do it and Clyde Brown deserved at least some small measure of credit for our making our stated deadline. It is not surprising that, after leaving Roane-Anderson, he went on to successfully manage shopping centers and high-rise developments elsewhere, notably Cincinnati. Barbara DeSaussure was outwardly quiet, reserved. But her paintings -- oversized, graphic figures, flamboyant composition, uninhibited color -- spoke boldly. And will continue to speak boldly, if also aesthetically, in local and area galleries and personal collections. She was surely one of the central painters of the rich and significantly "homegrown" art community born of Oak Ridge's first 50 years. -- RDS *Richard D. Smyser is founding editor of The Oak Ridger. You can reach him by e-mail at rdsandmps@aol.com* All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 5 Fernald marks 50th anniversary Tuesday, May 08, 2001 Ceremony points to cleanup effort By Randy McNutt The Cincinnati Enquirer CROSBY TOWNSHIP — The spring landscape is lush and green, revealing no hint of a dubious past. But surely its ghosts will ramble across the fertile fields today when the U.S. Department of Energy and its cleanup contractor, Fluor Fernald, commemorate the 50th anniversary of the former Fernald atomic site. They will recognize the people who built Fernald's production facilities and are leading its cleanup, and preview a Fernald documentary. But some darker topics surely will emerge. IF YOU GO • What: Ceremony commemorating 50th anniversary of Fernald uranium-processing plant. The government will recognize people involved in the plant's production and cleanup missions. • Where: 7400 Willey Road, near Ohio 128, south of Ross. • When: 10 a.m. today. • Speaker: U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park. • Activities: Tours of plant, free lunch and viewing of documentary, *First Link: A Story of Fernald.* After all, Fernald's history recalls the Cold War, family disruptions and the silent winds of radiation. Remembering suits area residents, who have battled for decades to force a cleanup at the former uranium-processing plant that once produced materials for America's nuclear defense. “The people who worked there did a service for their country,” said Edwa Yocum, an area resident. “But if they had managed their wastes, we wouldn't have the problem that still exists today. Now, they're being held accountable.” The problem: radioactive waste left from the days when government regulations were much more lax. Although the government is cleaning up the site, neighbors worry that federal financing for the program will end before the job can be completed in seven to nine years. To compound the problem, some experts disagree over how effectively the site can be cleansed of radioactivity. 50 YEARS OF FERNALD 1950: Fernald, a rural village in northern Hamilton County, is considered as one of three sites for a new U.S. uranium-processing plant to support the defense program. 1951: Atomic Energy Commission breaks ground for the plant on 1,050 acres near the village. 1952: Limited production begins. National Lead of Ohio runs the plant. 1984: Neighbors form Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health (FRESH) and begin to monitor the plant. 1984: FRESH files class-action suit against the government. 1985: National Lead leaves. Westinghouse named chief operator. 1988: The U.S. Department of Energy admits in a report that contamination at the Fernald uranium-processing plant is a health threat. 1989: Government settles out of court with residents, awarding $73 million. 1989: Production ends at Fernald plant. Government starts to clean up the site. 1992: A Fluor subsidiary, Fluor Daniel, starts managing the cleanup of the facility. 2001: For the plant's 50th anniversary, cleanup contractor Fluor Fernald announces new forests and wetlands developing on the property. Ironically, the history of the Fernald plant is rooted in a nation's sense of self-preservation. When construction began at the 1,050-acre site in 1951, Fernald was a rural village in northern Hamilton County, near the Butler County line. The nuclear industry was in its infancy. Korea was the world's hot spot and the sworn enemies were the communists who had emerged in China and other countries. Seeking to build a new uranium-weapons plant, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor of the Department of Energy (DOE), considered three sites: Terre Haute, Ind., Hamilton, Ohio, and Cincinnati. The agency liked the rural nature of the Cincinnati site, at Fer nald, about 17 miles northwest of downtown — within driving distance for the region's skilled machinists. The site also offered a sufficient water supply and low land costs. Using eminent domain, the AEC took property from rural families, who had only 30 days to leave. “Mom and dad strove and worked hard from the Depression to get what we had,” said Marion Fuchs of Crosby Township. “We cried like babies when they took our land.” So secret was the plant that the AEC called it the Feed Materials Production Center. In May 1951, the agency broke ground. Within a year the AEC and its contractor, National Lead of Ohio, started production. More farmhouses gave way to laboratories and manufacturing plants that resembled big grain elevators. The complex operated quietly — secretively — through the 1950s and 1960s, making high-purity uranium metal for nuclear weapons. Up to 3,000 people worked there during those years. By the time of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the Feed Materials Production Plant had become a symbol of the East-West struggle. Employees knew little if anything about what workers did in other parts of the site. But they did know they were doing patriotic work. Posters at the plant read: “Don't talk out of turn! You are a PRODUCTION SOLDIER ... America's First Line of Defense is *HERE.*” “A lot of military people came to Fernald to work after World War II,” said Homer Bruce, 72, of Bevis, who worked there for about 43 years. “They were dedicated. You felt like you were a part of a team. The plant was extremely important to U.S. security then. Red scare abates “The Cold War was a scary time. We knew we were doing something important. We had a real camaraderie at Fernald and I miss the place. Turnover was among the lowest of any employer in Hamilton and Butler counties.” But by the late 1970s, as the nation's Red hysteria gave way to a focused American determination, local people started asking an important question: What was happening behind the gates at Fernald? In 1984, the DOE reported that failure of the site's dust collector caused the release of almost 300 pounds of enriched uranium oxide. Some wells near the plant were contaminated with uranium. “Years of uranium metal production and on-site storage of waste and nuclear material left the soil, ground water and buildings contaminated,” said Steve McCraken, site director for the U.S. Department of Energy. “Local residents, regulators and workers demanded an equal voice in cleanup decisions that affected the environment and their communities. Today, all parties work together on one clear goal: to safely complete the cleanup and restoration of the Fernald site.” The project is expected to cost more than $5 billion. In time, the struggle moved from East versus West to local people versus the government. In 1984, neighbors formed Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health (FRESH), to monitor the plant. Eventually, the group filed a class action lawsuit for emotional distress and damaged property values. The government settled in 1989. Neighbors won $73 million, which includes medical testing. Fernald workers also sued and reached a $15 million settlement that contains a pledge of lifetime medical monitoring, but does not include paying for treatment. Ms. Yocum, a FRESH member for 16 years, said the community has made it clear that the cleanup must be finished. “We continue to have the health impact,” she said. “If Congress cuts funding for the cleanup, we're in trouble. That's our main concern. We hope in the next 50 years that we can return the area to at least something on the order of what it used to be. I intend to be here until the job is finished. One problem is that it's hard to prove that residents were made sick by the plant.” Studies show that people who live near the plant have a higher risk for certain cancers. Lisa Crawford, FRESH's leader, said her family's well was contaminated by toxic emissions. “In 1979, we rented an old farmhouse across from the site,” she said. “In 1985, we found the well was contaminated. They (plant operators) didn't tell us and they knew about it. You can't do that to people. So we sued them. . . We're seeing light at the end of the tunnel.” Fluor confident The plant closed in 1989. Cleanup began in 1991. Fluor's contract requires the firm to finish the job by the end of 2010, but spokeswoman Christy McMurry said the company still hopes to finish by 2008, the original completion date. She said so much progress has been made already that the company is calling the anniversary “Fernald at 50: From Weapons to Wetlands.” Wetlands are a stark contrast to the guarded past — even the more recent past. Dr. David B. Fankhauser, a biologist and geneticist at Clermont College in Batavia and former consultant for FRESH, said the site's radioactive past will echo to eternity. “There's no way any current politicians will clean it up,” he said. “The ground water will continue to show elevated levels of radioactivity. They're taking away the worst of it now. But how effective they will be depends on the speed with which they can remove the materials.” He said Fernald was one of the nation's largest waste dumps for radioactive materials. Much of it — in tens of thousands of barrels — was buried years ago. Throughout the Cold War, workers in weapons plants absorbed fluorine, uranium, asbestos and other toxic materials — often unknowingly. Now, many suffer from leukemia or other cancers. Yet thousands of people worked at Fernald for years without fear of contamination. “We had nuclear physicists and hygienists and experts working there,” said Mr. Bruce, who worked in personnel, printing and other offices. “I thought, would they be here if they had tremendous fears?” But area residents continue to worry — about ground water contamination, genetic damage and cancers. New studies show that health concerns for long-time neighbors include lung, kidney, bladder, prostate and skin cancers. Today, work continues to clean up contaminated areas and return the land to its natural state as much as possible. “It is the final chapter in this area's Cold War legacy,” Fluor Fernald said in a prepared statement for the anniversary. Yet Dr. Fankhauser is skeptical about using finality in the same sentence with Fernald. “I will not believe it until I see no elevated radiation levels off-site,” he said. “I'm afraid that this is the legacy: They have not removed all the waste. It (radiation) will continue, and will leach into the aquifer.” Copyright1995-2000. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. ***************************************************************** 6 Troubled Fernald marks its 50th year The Cincinnati Post *By Michael Collins, Post Washington Bureau* For Homer Bruce, today's celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the old Fernald uranium plant is a chance to pay tribute to the dedicated men and women who helped build up the nation's defense at the height of the Cold War. For Lisa Crawford, it's a chance to recognize the hard work and persistence of neighbors who fought for years to force the government to clean up the contamination that Fernald left behind. Five decades after the government broke ground for the uranium processing plant in northwest Hamilton County, Fernald is a place with lasting dual legacies: American patriotism. Environmental mess. ''I think it will probably be misunderstood by a lot of people that Fernald is only a problem - and it is today,'' said U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park and the keynote speaker at today's event. But people also should remember Fernald's significant role in national security - a role that, unfortunately, was necessary given the times, Portman said. ''The United States had to have cutting-edge weapons technology in order to ultimately prevail in the Cold War,'' he said. Nearly 3,000 people are expected at today's ceremony, including current and former workers, officials with the U.S. Department of Energy and Fluor Fernald, the company hired by the government to clean up environmental contamination at the site. Current efforts are focused on cleaning up the environmental contamination caused by the plant, which processed uranium for the government's nuclear weapons program from 1951 until July 1989. In the mid-1980s, reports surfaced that for decades, the Atomic Energy Commission and its successor, the Department of Energy, released uranium dust and toxic wastes into the environment. Uranium contamination seeped into the Great Miami Valley Aquifer under Fernald and threatened area water supplies. The cleanup, which began in earnest in 1993, is about 25 percent finished and should be completed around 2008, said Dennis Carr, executive project director at Fernald. Workers are continuing to excavate uranium-processing residue from six in-ground pits at the site and are shipping the materials to a commercial disposal facility in Utah. The cleanup also includes the demolition of buildings on the property - about 93 of the 270 on site have been demolished so far - and replenishing contaminated water by pumping it from the Great Miami Aquifier, treating it and then discharging it into the Great Miami River. By the time the cleanup is finished, the price tag is expected to total $3.7 billion. Neighbors are satisfied with the way the cleanup efforts are going, said Ms. Crawford, president of Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health. Bruce, who worked at Fernald for nearly 43 years and held a number of jobs, including positions in the personnel and public relations departments, said it will be odd going back to the plant today since many of the buildings on the site are no longer standing. But the ceremonies will give him a chance to catch up with old friends. It's the dedication of those workers that Bruce remembers most about his years at Fernald. Publication date: 05-08-01 [E.W. Scipps] ***************************************************************** 7 Taxpayers bilked in Fernald cleanup The Enquirer's Fernald Investigation A report by the General Accounting Office, released March 19, confirmed Enquirer reports that the cleanup of Fernald has wasted millions of dollars through mismanagement by the contractor and a lack of oversight by the U.S. Department of Energy. Story The report prompted members of Congress to say the contract of Fluor Daniel Fernald should not be renewed or extended unless major problems at the nuclear cleanup site can be fixed. Two days later, the U.S. Energy Department, reacting to the report, said it would strip Fluor Daniel of the most critical cleanup project at the site and replace the company with a new contractor. Story The Enquirer broke the story of mismanagement in the Fernald cleanup with a four day series entitled Danger & Deceit on Feb. 11-14, 1996. The initial series and more than 60 subsequent stories, detailed financial irregularities, safety problems and a lack of government oversight in the massive cleanup project. Mike Gallagher's continuing reports prompted area Congressmen to ask for the GAO investigation, brought fines and penalties against the contractor, Fluor Daniel Fernald, and was cited as one of the top public service reporting efforts of 1996 by the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. The Energy Department gave Fluor Daniel Fernald a $2.2 billion contract to clean up the former uranium processing plant 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati. There are 20 million pounds of radioactive waste in two underground silos at Fernald. Fluor Daniel Fernald was known as Fernald Environmental Restoration Management Co. (FERMCO) until the company name was changed last September. The Enquirer's investigation continues. + Initial findings Among the findings in Gallagher's initial reports Feb. 11-14: + Fluor Daniel Fernald collected millions of dollars in performance fees for incomplete work and billed the government for unauthorized work.It was company policy to not correct mistakes when it found it overstated work progress to the government. Feb. 11, 1996 + The government reimbursed the companies cleaning up Fernald $15 million in unsubstantiated travel costs, with no receipts or other documentation. And the practice goes on even though the government determined the companies improperly charged it $1.6 million between September 1992 and September 1994. Feb. 11, 1996 + Government records blamed poor management for hundreds of safety violations, including many radiation exposures, and other problems at the site. The Enquirer investigation revealed more than 1,000 serious safety-related problems since Jan. 1, 1993, when Fluor Daniel Fernald began work at the site 18 miles northwest of Cincinnati. Feb. 12, 1996 + The problems went unnoticed and/or unchallenged because of lax oversight by the Energy Department and an independent contractor that makes financial, safety and performance audits and reviews. The Energy Department said it has a staff of 56 to oversee the cleanup of Fernald, and the contractor has 12. Feb. 12, 1996 + The company continued to spend taxpayer dollars on a trouble filled vitrification pilot plant that would encapsulate the radioactive waste, even while knowing it wouldn't work as designed. Meanwhile, the company worked in secret to develop a second, far more expensive, process that it hoped to convince the government to implement. The vitrification project has so far cost $72 million -- $42 on pilot plant construction and $30 million on research and study of the vitrification process. Feb. 13, 1996 + The Energy Department paid private Fluor Daniel Fernald employees more than $13 million in severance incentives. The government authorized payments to 476 salaried employees, about 20% of Fluor Daniel Fernald's workforce, in January and February 1995. The payments averaged about $27,000 per employee. Feb. 14, 1996 + More disturbing facts Since the initial reports, The Enquirer has uncovered more disturbing facts at Fernald: + Life-threatening structural defects have been ignored and covered up in the construction of the vitrification pilot plant. A senior company official said the pilot plant is ''a deathtrap awaiting its first victim.'' + Fluor Daniel Fernald violated environmental regulations by failing to keep inspection records. The company also admitted it may have failed to conduct some required inspections. Company reports showed it sometimes used employees as hazardous and radioactive waste inspectors who have little or no training for the jobs. + Barrels filled with radioactive and other toxic liquids were allowed to leak onto other containers and the floor of a storage area this year. After first denying it, company officials confirmed the Enquirer report. + Union leaders representing workers at Fernald said the company pressured them to lie about safety conditions. + Workers at Fernald said the company ordered them to throw away millions of dollars in new and unused equipment and material to save on expenses and paperwork. + Major fallout The Enquirer reports have created major fallout: + After the initial stories Feb. 11-14, area congressmen asked the General Accounting Office to investigate Fluor Daniel Fernald and the Energy Department. The GAO said it also would investigate the Energy Department policy that allows private employees at nuclear cleanup sites to receive taxpayer-financed severance buyouts. More than $500 million has been paid out nationally since 1993. + Last March, a special Energy Department investigative team found the pilot project was riddled with problems, confirming The Enquirer report. The team also suggested that Energy Department should consider scrapping vitrification and research other cleanup methods. + After first blaming a subcontractor for shoddy work in the construction of the pilot plant, Fluor Daniel Fernald admitted it issued false statements about the contractor. + Last May, the Energy Department's Inspector General reported that almost $16 million was wasted in employee buyouts at Fernald. Fluor Daniel Fernald refilled most of the terminated positions. + Last May, the Energy Department penalized Fluor Daniel Fernald $135,000 for failing to correct estimates of subcontracting costs that were millions of dollars higher than the actual costs. + Last May, Fluor Daniel Fernald raised the price tag for the vitrification plant by $14 million, citing design, schedule and construction problems. + Last July, the Energy Department penalized Fluor Daniel Fernald $810,000 for unsolved pilot plant problems. + Last August, Fluor Daniel Fernald president John Bradburne acknowledged that the company was considering changing or scrapping its vitrification project because of ''equipment reliability uncertainty'' in the pilot plant operation. + After saying in 1995 it could reduce the cleanup from 25 years to 10, Fluor Daniel Fernald backtracked in September and said it would take 12-15 years. Its reason: the Energy Department cut the budget by $10 million per year. + Last October, the Energy Department ordered Fluor Daniel Fernald to refund $768,000 because it violated government accounting rules, improperly reimbursed employees and performed shoddy bookkeeping. + Last October, the EPA blamed the Energy Department for continuing delays in the project, citing ''poor planning and management.'' + After that announcement, the GAO said it would expand its investigation to determine what internal financial controls are in place and why the 10-year timetable may be extended. That delayed the GAO report, originally scheduled for December, until March. + Another contract anyway Despite the findings, last August the Energy Department awarded a $5 billion cleanup contract to a six-member team headed by Fluor Daniel Corp., of Irvine, Calif., the parent company of Fluor Daniel Fernald. They will clean up the former Hanford plutonium production facility in Richland, Wash. + About the staff [Mike Gallagher] Mike Gallagher Mike Gallagher, 38, has been an investigative reporter with The Enquirer since June 1995. Before that, he was an investigative reporter for Gannett Suburban Newspapers in White Plains, N.Y. David Wells, 45, is local news editor for The Enquirer. He has been with the paper since 1974. The Enquirer's series was one of 16 finalists in the 1996 annual Public Service Awards competition sponsored by the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) Association. [David Wells] David Wells Copyright1995-2000. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. Inc.newspaper. ***************************************************************** 8 Fluor settles suit over federal billing Orange County Register - Business The firm concedes no wrongdoing amid accusations that it overcharged the government. May 8, 2001 By John McDonald The Orange County Register Santa Ana - Fluor Corp.'s Fluor Daniel Inc. agreed Monday to pay $8.2 million to settle a "whistle-blower" lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. The lawsuit in federal court accused the internationally active, Aliso Viejo-based engineering firm of overcharging the government millions of dollars through a pattern of false invoices. Patrick C. Hoefer, Fluor's former director of governmental financial compliance, made the charges in 1997. He contended that all overhead costs for Technology Operating Co., a Fluor subsidiary, were billed to the government for the 1995 and 1996 fiscal years. Government contracts required that the overhead could be billed to the government only in proportion to the services provided to the government. More than 90 percent of the firm's contracts were outside of government. Fluor officials conceded no wrongdoing in the settlement, but said in a press release that the agreement was entered to end a costly legal battle. "We have decided to forego the time and cost of what surely would have been an intensive period of litigation," said Larry N. Fisher, Fluor's general counsel. Between $2 million and $4 million of the settlement amount may be recouped because outstanding Technology Operating Co. bills for the government, unrelated to the lawsuit, may now be submitted for payment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Plessman said the bills that were held up may be submitted but will be subject to the same review as any other bills received by the government. Technology Operating was a subsidiary that evaluated technology for use in Fluor's operations. It went out of business in 1997. Hoefer will receive $1.8 million as his share of the settlement and his lawyers will get about $300,000 that is paid by Fluor in addition to the settlement. Fluor's contracts, including those to work on cleanup at nuclear facilities, will continue. The firm had revenue of about $10 billion last year, but only about 10 percent of that work was with the federal government. Bloomberg News contributed to this report. The Orange County Register ocregister@link.freedom.com ***************************************************************** 9 Savannah River Site to ship radioactive materials along I-20 Web posted Tuesday, May 8, 2001 Savannah Morning News AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The first of dozens of shipments of radioactive materials from the Savannah River Site will begin their westward trek across the South on Tuesday, heading to New Mexico for burial. The 60,000 pounds of transuranic wastes -- materials like clothing and rags that have been exposed to plutonium will travel in drums on a flatbed truck along Interstate 20 through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Georgia Emergency Management Agency officials have trained 2,500 public safety personnel in how to handle the waste if it should spill or the truck should be involved in a wreck. But no problems are expected, said Lisa Matheson, a GEMA spokeswoman. "There's such a minimal risk to the general public," she said. The trip from the plant near Aiken, S.C., to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, an underground repository in southeastern New Mexico, begins at 10 a.m. and will take about 36 hours. Matheson said GEMA expects 34 such shipments to be transported through Georgia this year. State officials do not plan to escort each truck but will monitor their movements via satellite, she said. Also, "every 100 miles or every two hours, the trucks will stop for safety checks," she added. Tuesday's shipment will consist of 42 drums, the maximum possible in a single load, said Dale Ormond, the Department of Energy's senior manager for the transuranic waste program at SRS. The items in the 55-gallon drums were contaminated with plutonium during the Cold War years, when the plant manufactured nuclear bomb materials, Ormond said. The plant has spent about $15 million to earn certification to send the wastes to WIPP and to prepare for the first shipment, he said. Supporters of the shipments consider them evidence that a cleanup is under way at SRS. Critics say the Energy Department should concentrate its efforts on cleaning up polluted soil and ground water at SRS. "I would far prefer to see the dollars, the research and the energy going into addressing that significant threat to both South Carolinians and Georgians," said state Rep. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta. "My concerns are that we're kind of dabbling around the edges with this WIPP transportation and missing the core of the problem." Pat Ortmeyer, field director for nuclear-waste issues at Women's Action for New Directions, agrees. "It's just more of the example that they are not addressing the most urgent priorities generally in the Energy Department," Ortmeyer said. 'This is not the critical waste to be shipped." SRS supporters disagree, saying the waste could pose a long-term risk to the environment if it remains at the site. "While it's being stored safely there now, it certainly isn't designed to be stored there for the next hundred or thousand years," said Bill Reinig, a former SRS official who is vice chairman of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, a pro-nuclear group based in Aiken. On the Web Savannah River Site: www.srs.govWomen's Action for New Directions: www.wand.orgCitizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness: www.c-n-t-a.com ***************************************************************** 10 Russian activists speak out Augusta Georgia: Metro: 05/08/01 Russian nuclear activist Natalie Mironova translates for SRS tour leader Joe Odum during a viewing of the M Area Seepage Basins at the Savannah River Site. *JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF* *Web posted Tuesday, May 8, 2001 By *Staff Writer* Political changes in the United States and Russia could push the former enemies into another Cold War, some Russian activists said Monday. ``Now, you have a military eagle for president, and we have a military eagle for president,'' Natalie Mironova, of the Movement for Nuclear Safety, told about 20 people gathered for a public meeting in Aiken. ``Two military eagles sing one song,'' she continued in reference to U.S. President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Four activists visited Aiken and Augusta to raise awareness of problems facing Russia's nuclear program. Vitaly Khizhnyak (right) peers into the DWPF works at SRS. A group of Russian nuclear activists was visited SRS on Monday to learn more about waste disposal, hoping they can spur their government to work on the problem. *JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF* Local chapters of the Sierra Club, Amnesty International, Georgians for Clean Energy and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League played host to the group. At Monday's meeting, the activists warned that talk of reduced U.S. aid for Russian nonproliferation programs, and the Bush administration's push for a system to defend the United States from nuclear missiles, had swayed some Russian political opinion away from disarmament efforts. A nonproliferation plan to use mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel in nuclear reactors would place only more stress on Russia's already troubled nuclear industry, the activists said. The MOX plan, intended to reduce stockpiles of plutonium and agreed on by both countries, would use plutonium in fuel for nuclear-power plants. The U.S. plan calls for a $1 billion plant to be built at Savannah River Site to produce MOX fuel. Russian nuclear activist Ekaterine Akhmadeeva inspects a vial of simulated nuclear waste during a tour of the DWPF disposal site at SRS. *JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF* MOX supporters have stated that it is the best way to prevent plutonium from being used in weapons, but some activists have criticized the proposal as expensive and risky. ``If it happens, both countries will lose control of plutonium,'' said Vitaly Khizhnyak, deputy director of Russia's Krasnoyarsk Citizen Center of Nuclear Non-Proliferation, during Monday's meeting in Aiken. ``It will be a danger for nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.'' The activists also spoke out against a Russian plan to import, store and recycle spent nuclear-reactor fuel from nations such as Japan and Switzerland. The storage site would be located in a region already devastated by radioactive releases from previous nuclear work, they said. ``The Russian political elite needs money for survival,'' Ms. Mironova said. ``They are ready to sell their nation for their own survival.'' Reach at (706) 823-3409. All contents 1996 - 2001 *The Augusta Chronicle*. All rights ***************************************************************** 11 Bush asks FEMA to tackle terrorism [deseretnews.com] May 08, 2001 Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Bush administration, under the direction of Vice President Dick Cheney, is asking the agency that normally deals with floods and tornadoes to tackle terrorism as well. President Bush is creating an office within the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate the government's response to any biological, chemical or nuclear attack, Cheney told CNN on Tuesday. "The threat to the continental United States and our infrastructure is changing and evolving, and we need to look at this whole area oftentimes referred to as homeland defense," Cheney said. He will lead a new task force on these new threats, which he described as "a hand-carried nuclear weapon, or biological or chemical agent." Together with FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh, Cheney's task force will "figure out how we best respond to that kind of disaster of major proportions that in effect would be man-made or man-caused," Cheney said. The National Security Council will review his final report. At a Senate hearing Tuesday, administration officials told Congress that combating terrorism has grown more difficult because of new technology and growing economic connections between nations. "Terrorism is a part of the dark side of globalization," Secretary of State Colin Powell said. "It is a part of doing business in the world, business we as Americans are not going to stop doing." Powell and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill were the leadoff witnesses as the Senate began three days of hearings into how well the government was coordinating its efforts to battle terrorism. Allbaugh was scheduled to testify later Tuesday. Several senators expressed unhappiness that not enough is being done in the face of growing threats. "There must be better organization at the federal, state and local level," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. "It is critical that we address issues of civil liberties, agency jurisdiction, public education , industry privacy concerns and community medical capabilities." Concerns in Congress were raised last year when a training exercise found that Cincinnati's hospitals, police and other services were woefully unprepared. Powell told the joint hearing of members of the Senate Armed Services, Appropriations and Intelligence committees that the State Department was seeking increased money to boost security at U.S. embassies but that the United States should never give in to terrorism. "If we adopted this hunkered down attitude, behind our concrete and our barbed wire, the terrorists would have achieved a kind of victory," Powell said. "At the end of the day, what America is to the world is not only what we say or do, it is who we are. And we are not helmeted giants huddling in our bunkers awaiting the enemy." O'Neill told the committee that his agency has significantly upgraded its work in the wake of the bombings of the World Trade Center in New York City in 1993 and the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. "As guardians of our borders, our leaders and our financial institutions, Treasury plays a central part in preventing terrorist attacks on the United States," O'Neill said. "We have seen major advancements in technology and rapid globalization making our job of combating terrorism more difficult." Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee responsible for oversight in this area, said that 18 government officials would testify over the next three days of hearings as the Senate seeks answers on the issue of coordination Gregg said he had become concerned after reading "numerous reports that detail the difficulty federal agencies face in determining what their responsibilities in dealing with terrorism are." © 2001 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 12 DOE: [Beryllium] Recently Asked Questions *I work for a company that is using belt sanders to remove high ridges from the aluminum parts before they are machined. My question is how dangerous is aluminum dust to my health? Is there any site on the net that I can get documentation referring to the dangers of breathing in this dust? I did a search for aluminum danger and found a very interesting article on beryllium, but I do not know its relation to aluminum. Any help would be great. The workers have told management that they will not work under these conditions but it would be nice to have some documentation to back it up. The toxicity of beryllium and aluminum are very different. The vendor who supplies your company with aluminum should provide a material safety data sheet that describes the hazards of working with aluminum. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has "worker-right-to-know" standards that require employers to provide employees with copies upon request. The National Library of Medicine has a web site called Toxline that allows you to search for toxicology articles on aluminum. The URL is http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?TOXLINE/. This web site references research articles and abstracts that you can look at. If you want to read the full article, your community library can usually help you obtain it although it might take a couple of weeks. Where do I find current information on the former worker program? I would like to keep updated. I live in Alaska and do not receive much information up here.* If you are interested in learning more about medical surveillance programs for former DOE workers you can go to the web site at http://tis.eh.doe.gov/workers/. There are also toll free phone numbers you can call to learn more about the projects. + Amchitka Island Test Site Workers: 1-888-827-6772 + The Hanford Building Trades Medical Screening Program: 1-800-866-9663 + Hanford Production Workers: 1-800-419-9691 + Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory: 1-800-241-1199 + Iowa Ammunition Plant, Burlington, IA: 1-866-282-5818 + Former Laboratory Workers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory: 1-877-500-8615 + Former Workers at the Nevada Test Site: 1-888-636-8161 + Former Oak Ridge Construction Workers: 1-888-464-0009 + Former Production Workers from Oak Ridge K-25, Paducah, and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants: 1-888-241-1199 + Former Workers at Rocky Flats: 1-877-895-4984 + Savannah River Site Construction Workers: 1-800-866-9663 + Savannah River Site Production Workers: 1-888-286-2588 There is also a former beryllium worker medical surveillance project operating at the following DOE sites. + Ames Laboratory + Argonne National Laboratory + Brookhaven National Laboratory + Fermi National Accelerator Facility + Fernald + Kansas City Plant + Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory + Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory + Mound Facility + Oak Ridge National Laboratory + Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant + Pantex Plant + Rocky Flats + Stanford Linear Accelerator To learn more about this project you can call a toll free phone number: 866-812-6703 or visit a web site at http://www.orau.gov/cer/BMSP_pro/be-home.htm. My husband works as an overhead crane operator at a plant that manufactures railroad tank cars. There are a lot of fumes and dust generated by welders in the area where he works. In 1992 he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis which we believe was work related and could be berylliosis. What welders’ products contain beryllium? Could you let me know if something in this type of workplace could be releasing beryllium? I don't know the answer to your question. Beryllium is most commonly used in alloys to strengthen other metals such as copper and nickel. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued "worker right-to-know" standards that require manufactures to provide hazard information to your husband's company. The industrial hygiene or safety office should have a collection of material safety data sheets (MSDS) provided to them by their vendors and suppliers. The company should be willing to help your husband search these MSDSs to determine if beryllium was being used in his work area. There is also a medical test that doctors can use to tell the difference between sarcoidosis and berylliosis (also called chronic beryllium disease). The test is called the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test (BeLPT). This test is somewhat analogous to a skin test for tuberculosis in that it determines if your immune system responds to beryllium. It is done on a blood sample rather then skin. It is the body's immune response to beryllium retained in lung that slowly damages the lung. A doctor can order this test. If the company your husband works for has an occupational medicine clinic, I suggest he ask the doctors there to help him get this test. This would minimize your out-of-pocket costs. Berylliosis is a very rare disease and very few doctors will have heard of it or the BeLPT. The company doctors or your own doctor will probably have to do some research to learn more. There is an OSHA web site with information on beryllium and the BeLPT at http://www.osha-slc.gov/dts/hib/hib_data/hib19990902.html. The National Jewish Medical and Research Center web page discusses the diagnosis and treatment of chronic beryllium disease at http://www.NationalJewish.org/deoh/acr14.html#clinical. The following are the locations and phone numbers of laboratories that your doctor or the company doctors could contact to learn more about the BeLPT and chronic beryllium disease. Cleveland Clinic Foundation 9500 Euclid Avenue, L-15 Cleveland, Ohio 44195 Phone: (800) 628-6816 National Jewish Medical & Research Center Denver, Colorado 80206 Phone: (303) 398-1722 Hospital of University of Pennsylvania 3400 Spruce Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4283 Phone: 215-573-9890 Specialty Laboratories, Inc. 2211 Michigan Avenue Santa Monica, California 90404-3900 Phone: 800-421-4449 Attached are two fact sheets that you might find helpful. Do beryllium articles require any special handling? Yes. Corrosion on beryllium metal and surface roughness on beryllium oxide parts can lead to the release of beryllium contamination and possible exposure. Material safety data sheets should be available for these parts that provide advice on handling, storage and corrosion protection. Beryllium metal and beryllia ceramic parts are generally stored in plastic bags to keep them clean and dry and to minimize the hazards of direct handling during inventory and transportation etc. Do you know the toxicity potential related to the beryllium used in dental crowns? I have been detoxing mercury with DMPS and DMSA and have shown very high levels of beryllium in the post-urine and fecal tests. Symptoms include skin lesions in mouth, on epidermis and fatigue. My mercury levels are now low and the symptoms lessened, but persist. I have seen reports in the literature indicating some people can have an allergic reaction to beryllium in dental prostheses. I would suggest having your dentist take a look at the lesions to see if he or she thinks this might be a cause. Beryllium is naturally occurring and trace quantities are present in food, water, and air. As a result, it is hard to interpret the health significance of beryllium levels in urine and feces. * I was in an MSHA mine safety annual refresher today and the instructor talked about the biological half-life of beryllium. He said that the body gets rid of half the lead in about a month, then half of the remainder in another month, and so on every month. He was talking about lead. He thinks there is a similar half-life for beryllium but he isn't sure what it is. Is there a similar half-life measurement for beryllium? Thank you very much for your help.* Silica and asbestos are better analogies for beryllium than lead. Like silicosis and asbestosis, chronic beryllium disease (CBD) is due to localized effects on the lung's mucosal immune system. Retention of a beryllium particle in the lung will depend how fast it dissolves, which depends on the particle size and chemistry. For example, it is known that BeO fume created at 1000 degrees C will be retained longer than BeO fume created at 500 degrees C because of surface area differences that effect dissolution rates. For a good discussion of all this see Finch GL, et al. "Clearance, Translocation, and Excretion of Beryllium Following Inhalation of Beryllium Oxide by Beagle Dogs," Fundamentals of Applied Toxicology, Volume 15:231-241 (1990). The literature does report that beryllium circulating in the blood can cause changes to liver, kidney, and other organs. However, these changes do not seem to lead to any disability and so are not thought to have any occupational health significance. Soluble beryllium would behave similarly to lead. I have just received results from a hair analysis that showed high levels of beryllium. It was off the chart at .021mg percent. I have read information about the toxin and cannot figure out where I am getting it or if I was exposed to it. Do you have any helpful insight? I have never worked in industry. At best, hair analysis is controversial. Many factors such as diet, water supply, and shampoo can affect the results. Prior to the 1990s physicians would occasionally use urine analysis for beryllium if they thought someone might have chronic beryllium disease. But these results were also difficult to interpret beyond suggesting that someone may or may not have been exposed. Since then a new test, the beryllium lymphocyte proliferation test, has become available that physicians find is much more useful for diagnosing chronic beryllium disease. The bottom line is that I don’t know how to interpret the hair analysis results you reported. How can I test for beryllium? We have some computer components from a disk drive (spacer rings) that look like aluminum but seem a bit "light [beryllium is lighter than aluminum]." I suspect they might be beryllium. It would be difficult to get an accurate volume to calculate it by density, as the rings are beveled and not quite rectangular in section. I don't want to do any tests such as grinder-spark or intense heating that could generate beryllium particles. Is there a simple chemical spot test to differentiate Be/Al/Mg? I do not know any easy tests. We send swipe and other samples to chemistry labs for analysis by atomic absorption spectrometry or inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. For a single sample this might cost $50 - $100. Why not call the manufacturer or supplier and ask them what the ring is made of? If you are buying the rings as spare parts, the manufacturer is required by OSHA regulations to provide a material safety data sheet that would contain the information you are after. Please send me a list of the symptoms of beryllium disease. I have a family member who had a lung problem. The symptoms of chronic beryllium disease include: Shortness of Breath, especially with activity Cough Chest Pain Fatigue Night Sweats Weight Loss Loss of Appetite These are the symptoms for many other diseases as well so it is hard to know if you have chronic beryllium disease based on symptoms alone. For more information see the attached Adobe Acrobat file on chronic beryllium disease. These are the symptoms for many other diseases as well so it is hard to know if you have chronic beryllium disease based on symptoms alone. My dad is undergoing testing for CBD. I’m wondering if there have been any tests/studies done on possible beryllium exposure for unborn children and infants exposed through contact with those directly exposed to beryllium, etc. I was looking at the symptoms of CBD and was concerned when I saw that a few of my unexplained symptoms were on the list! (coughing, joint aches, shortness of breath, heart rate). The sickness and disability associated with chronic beryllium disease is due to lung damage caused by the immune system attacking beryllium particles deposited in the lung. So the main hazard is exposure to relatively insoluble forms of beryllium aerosols that are deposited and retained in the lung. Soluble beryllium circulating in the blood does not cause this disease so there should not be any risk to a fetus. In the 1940s, when beryllium first came into commercial use, there were "contact" cases of chronic beryllium disease among spouses and children who were exposed to contaminated clothing worn home by beryllium workers. Laundering beryllium-contaminated clothing has been shown to be quite hazardous. To minimize this problem much of the beryllium industry has workers wear company clothing and shower and change after their work shift. I was looking for any type of online chat rooms for patients with CBD. I am not aware of any online chat rooms for CBD patients. However, support groups have been organized. A list of these are posted at http://www.dimensional.com/~mhj/support_groups.html. The list includes point-of-contact e-mail addresses for those who may be able to help you. I am the lead man on a team with three electronics certified Quality Assurance Specialists working in the Department of Defense. The average tour of duty in this field is 15 - 17 years for each. Any one of us working in DoD electronics could have had inadvertent exposure during this time. Especially since this has not been identified as a possible hazard until relatively recently. I have worked in areas that perform various types of soldering, where microcircuits are being manufactured (i.e., the deposition of various metals on various substrates of ceramic, etc.) In your opinion, what is possibility of exposure for someone working in this field and the time of exposure that may lead to problems? I would appreciate any feedback you may have to offer. The length of time between exposure and the onset of chronic beryllium disease can vary from a few months to decades. I do not know the answer to your other questions. I have not heard of any study of beryllium exposure or beryllium disease among workers performing the kind of electronics work you describe. Answering your question would require: 1) exposure monitoring to see whether the kind of assembly and testing work you describe creates the potential for exposure, and 2) medical monitoring to determine if the people doing this work have chronic beryllium disease. Your employer should be able to obtain the industrial hygiene and occupational medicine services needed to answer this question from one of the DoD medical agencies that do this kind of work. I would like to know if working with beryllium at a DOE plant is why I have kidney disease. From what I have read, beryllium can cause changes to the kidney but these changes do not cause disease or loss of kidney function. For the best answer to your question you should seek help from the doctors at the plant you work at. If you are a current employee, they can help you directly or you can have the doctor who is treating you for the kidney disease call them. If you are a former employee, it would be best to have your doctor call them. The doctors at the site medical clinic can help your doctor by providing him or her information about your exposures and about the diseases that may be caused by those exposures. Telephone numbers for the Medical Directors at DOE sites are listed on our web site at http://tis-nt.eh.doe.gov/med/. When you get to the web page click on the "Site Clinic Directory" button. The plant phone book will also list phone numbers for the clinic. ***************************************************************** 13 OPA Press Release: Labor Secretary Elaine Chao Announces New Resource Centers For Energy Workers [05/03/2001] [DOL logo] U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Office of Public Affairs PADUCAH, Ky. - After touring the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant today, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced that the Department will open resource centers across the country to notify energy workers of available benefits under a new program for workers who have been exposed to radiation. "My sole concern is for the workers who have been wronged by their government in the service of their country," Chao said. "They not only gave their labor-many of them gave their health. "We are striving to have the energy workers' compensation program up and running as quickly as possible in an attempt to meet the statutory deadline. We will be opening a Paducah resource center to help workers and families know about the benefits that may be available and to file their claims. We will open at least nine centers throughout the country." Chao visited the Paducah plant today to see the facility and the cleanup effort first-hand. She also met with local union leaders and families who have been affected by workers' radiation exposure. The Labor Department's nationwide outreach program will include the resource centers, a toll-free call center, a Website with downloadable claim forms, site visits, and a Department of Labor team to consult with the Department of Energy in its continuing former workers' program. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act provides compensation and medical benefits for workers suffering from specified illnesses as a result of their exposure to radiation, beryllium, or silica. Statutory provisions become effective July 31, 2001. The other resource center sites include: Hanford, Wash.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Savannah River, S.C.; Los Alamos, N.M.; Nevada Test Site, Nev.; Portsmouth, Ohio; Rocky Flats, Colo.; and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho. Secretary Chao also announced that the Labor Department will expand existing DOL workers' compensation offices in Seattle, Wash.; Denver, Colo.; Cleveland, Ohio and Jacksonville, Fla., to adjudicate and maintain cases under this new compensation program. Drawing upon existing workers' compensations offices will take advantage of existing infrastructure and experienced claims staff in order to expedite start-up of the program. U.S. Department of Labor news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information available in this news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the Coast office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-501-3911. ***************************************************************** 14 Prejudice haunts atomic bomb survivors [The Japan Times Online] May 8, 2001 Hibakusha often hesitant to claim benefits for fear of social discrimination By HIROSHI MATSUBARA Staff writer One morning, soon after she moved to Tokyo's Ota Ward in 1959, Chiyono Yoneda found a pile of lotus roots in the garbage outside her home -- the same roots she had presented to neighbors the previous day. Tsuyako Dejima identifies a friend she was working with when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Yoneda, now 75, at first had no idea why her new neighbors had dumped the specialty product of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which had been sent by her husband's parents. "I was told later in the day by a child at my daughter's kindergarten that his parents threw out the lotus roots, saying they would transmit the 'genbaku' (atomic bomb) to whoever ate them," said Yoneda, who was in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city on Aug. 9, 1945. She was 19 at the time. More than half a century after atomic bombs exploded in the skies above Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many victims still live with the fear of invisible physical damage induced by radiation exposure. Compounding this fear is the specter of prejudice toward the survivors, or hibakusha -- especially in areas far from the two cities. The roughly 10,000 hibakusha currently living in Tokyo are no exception. Yoneda accompanied her husband to Tokyo 15 years after the bombing, only to enter a new phase of agony caused by her encounter with the bomb. "In Tokyo, I became aware that people have both sympathy and fear toward hibakusha," she said. "Their terror regarding the hibakusha image and to our radiation exposure often made people cautious in dealing with hibakusha," she said. She added that her daughter once nullified her engagement after her fiance's parents persistently asked whether the couple's baby might have deformities. There were 9,269 A-bomb survivors with government-issued hibakusha certificates living in Tokyo as of the end of March, according to the metropolitan government. It is the fourth-largest concentration in Japan of such people, who numbered 297,613 nationwide as of the end of 1999, next to Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukuoka prefectures. Michiko Murata, a counselor of Toyu-kai, an association of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb victims living in Tokyo, said most of its 6,906 members moved to Tokyo to seek employment and educational opportunities. She said, however, that some hibakusha came to the capital to get as far away as possible from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the horrors they experienced. Nori Tohei, a 72-year-old resident of Nakano Ward who was exposed to the bomb three days before his 17th birthday, said he could not visit Hiroshima for more than 20 years after finishing school in the city in 1948. During that time, he tried hard to forget what he saw after the blast, especially the burned faces of people who died in front of him. "What I saw was hell, and from that day I have tried to forget about Hiroshima to maintain my sanity," he said. Toyu-kai's Murata said many group members also experienced employment or marriage discrimination, while many others still hide the fact that they were exposed to the atomic bomb. "As seen in the widespread rumor that no plants would grow in Hiroshima for 75 years, the disastrous condition of Hiroshima and its people after the bombing imprinted a deep fear of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the minds of Japanese," she said. "Another rumor maintained that hibakusha have contaminated blood that is inheritable or even transmittable, which only furthered people's fears," Murata said, adding that such talk must have fueled discrimination. She said there are still many hibakusha who are hesitant to get a hibakusha certificate, which grants better welfare assistance, due to concerns that it will reveal that they were exposed to the bomb. Around 60 people apply for the certificate in Tokyo annually, after their children or grandchildren are born healthy or marry. Toyu-kai's name has no connotations linking it to the atomic bombs because some members do not want their families to know that they were exposed, she added. The rumors, most of which were based on misunderstanding of the nature of radiation, were the result of media blackouts on atomic-bomb related issues imposed by the Allied Occupation Forces in Japan, said Nobuo Miyake, a 72-year-old resident of Setagaya Ward who was in Hiroshima when the bomb fell. The GHQ imposed strict media regulations on atomic bomb- and hibakusha-related news throughout the Occupation in their attempt to monopolize information on nuclear weapons and avoid antipathy from the Japanese public, according to many historians. "Fragmented information about the suffering of Hiroshima and hibakusha spread across the country as rumors, which inevitably included misunderstandings and exaggerations," he said. According to a 1992 report released by the Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed on the physical damage of atomic bombs, about 114,000 people died from the blast and radiation exposure while about 70,000 people died in Nagasaki within a couple of months after the atomic bomb blasts. The report, compiled by 44 leading researchers into the effects of radiation on humans, also says the ratio of those who suffer from leukemia, cancer, cataracts and thyroid and chromosome disorders are higher among hibakusha than other Japanese. But when it comes to the hereditary effects of the bombs, the researchers conclude that they saw no evidence that second-generation hibakusha have a higher ratio of such diseases, except for those exposed to radiation as a fetus. To further determine the hereditary effects on second generation victims, a full-scale comparative study of 15,000 second-generation victims and nonvictims will begin later this month by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. Some critics also blame antinuclear campaigns by Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims for perpetrating prejudice against hibakusha, as the campaigns inevitably punctuate the horrific image of the atomic bombings and its victims' suffering. Tsuyako Dejima, 74, of Mitaka, western Tokyo, has spoken about her Hiroshima experiences to younger generations at schools in the city for the past 25 years. She lost her father, sister and brother in the bombing, while she herself has scars all over her body incurred by glass blown by the blast. Her two sons, 48 and 32, are still single, and Dejima said she often blames herself, feeling that her radiation exposure and taking part in antinuclear campaigns has made it difficult for them to marry. "I believe it my mission to speak out for those who died in the least humane manner, but I still wonder if my participation in peace campaigns has disturbed the lives of my children." The Japan Times: May 8, 2001 ***************************************************************** 15 Construction delays condemned The Taipei Times Online: 2001-05-08 May 8th, 2001 Construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant officially resumed on Feb. 24, but contractors have been unable to get back to work due to a lack of capital and other difficulties. Only a small number of workers were seen at the site yesterday. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES DELAYS: KMT lawmakers inspecting the site of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant yesterday decried the lack of construction activity and Taipower's failure to fulfill its commitments By Chiu Yu-Tzu STAFF REPORTER Legislators criticized Taiwan Power Company (Taipower ¥x¹q) yesterday for delays in resuming construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (®Ö¥|) and demanded a monthly report outlining the percentage of completed construction. Officials of Taipower, however, said that the resumption of construction had to be initiated step by step. A dozen KMT legislators, members of the Economics and Energy Committee (¸gÀ٤ί෽©e­û·|), yesterday morning inspected the construction site of the nuclear plant in Kungliao township (°^¼d), Taipei County. At a workshop, contractors working at Taipower's Lungmen construction office (Àsªù¬I¤u³B) in Kungliao told the legislators that Taipower had not paid them contractual dues or refunded their deposits after their contracts were rescinded when the Cabinet decided to halt construction last October. Some contractors complained that because banks had little confidence in the project, it was very difficult to borrow money for re-bidding. Tseng Tsai Mei-tso (´¿½²¬ü¦õ), the host of the workshop and a convener of the committee, said that banks' continuing lack of confidence in the project could be attributed to the ruling DPP's call for a referendum on the controversial plant's future. In addition, legislators who inspected the plant's construction site were upset with the abandoned appearance of the site, saying that such a serious lag in construction is a major safety concern. Lin Ching-chi (ªL²M¦N), president of Taipower, told legislators that his company had tried to help contractors, especially those in financial difficulties, get through the transition period. "We still hope that construction of Unit One (¤@¸¹¾÷) of the plant will be completed by July 2005, which is the original deadline," Lin said. KMT legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (´¿¥ÃÅv), however, said that there is no reason to believe Taipower could or would meet deadlines it has set for the project. "The financial losses due to the delay should not be borne by electricity users. Therefore, we strongly demand a monthly report outlining the percentage of completed construction," Tseng said. In Kungliao, local anti-nuclear activists seem to have lost the spirit to fight the plant over what they call "the deception" of the DPP-led central government. President Chen Shui-bian (³¯¤ô«ó) promised Kungliao residents during the presidential campaign in early 2000 that he would do his best to scrap the plant. But Chen failed to do so. Activists from anti-nuclear groups are continuing calls for the government to stay focused on the negative impacts caused by the construction. "Based on recent observations, half of the beach at Fulung (ºÖ¶©®ü¤ô¯D³õ) has been destroyed by the construction of a port for the plant," said Lai Wei-chieh (¿à°¶³Ç), secretary-general of the Green Citizens Action Alliance (GCAAºñ¦â¤½¥Á¦æ°ÊÁp·ù). Lai said that workers operating dump trucks were too busy to dump sea sand transferred from other locations to the beach to restore the environment. "The beach is scheduled to open next month, but the Fulung environment is in no condition for it," Lai said. This story has been viewed 283 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/05/08/story/0000084816] Copyright © 1999-2001 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 16 Gibraltar locals glad to see the back of British nuclear sub Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Giles Tremlett in Madrid Tuesday May 8, 2001 The Guardian Britain's newly repaired nuclear powered submarine, HMS Tireless, slipped out of Gibraltar harbour yesterday, leaving behind it local acrimony and strained relations between Britain and Spain. With the cracks to the engine's cooling system repaired, the hunter killer submarine left harbour early in the morning. British sailors waved at a crowd of onlookers, mainly Spanish journalists. Spaniards have been waiting for a year to see the back of the submarine. "Our greatest desire is that it should never come back," said Martin Caballero, of the Spanish Plataforma Anti-Submarino, which has been protesting about the submarine since it limped into harbour on May 19 last year. The group gathered 60,000 protesters together at the frontier with Gibraltar earlier this year. Gibraltar's chief minister, Peter Caruana, has had to tread a difficult line between addressing local worries over the safety of the submarine repairs and a desire not to rock the boat with the Royal Navy. "The Ministry of Defence is Gibraltar's second biggest employer," said a government spokesman. Yesterday Mr Caruana left open the possibility that Gibraltar would legislate against submarine repairs being carried out if the navy did not come up with safety guarantees. Private opinion polls in Gibraltar put those opposed to Tireless's presence at between 50% and 70%. In the past 16 years the percentage of Gibraltar's working population employed by the MoD has fallen from 60% to 6%. A Royal Navy spokesman, Captain Paul Wilkinson, described the submarine as "operationally fit" and said it would not need further repair once it reached Britain. Officials refused to say where the submarine was heading. The row over Tireless, which led to the Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, being criticised at home for not insisting that it be moved back to Britain for repair, provoked a new debate over the status of a colony that Britain acquired under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 17 Gibraltar is jubilant as nuclear sub heads home ISSUE 2174 Tuesday 8 May 2001 By Isambard Wilkinson in Gibraltar THE nuclear submarine Tireless slipped out of Gibraltar harbour yesterday, ending a controversial 11-month stay in the British colony for repairs to its reactor's cooling system. Puffs of smoke from two tug-boats signaled that Tireless was leaving the dock. Then the nuclear power was turned on and the submarine steamed across the bay as some of the 116 crew members lined her conning tower and casing. The only sign of the protests that had plagued the boat's stay came when two members of a Spanish ecology group jumped from the quay holding a funeral wreath. They were fished from the water by police and arrested. A small cluster of civil servants at a Ministry of Defence building waved it farewell with handkerchiefs and a St George's flag. Others were simply glad to see it go. A spokesman for the Voice of Gibraltar protest group said the submarine should have been towed back to Britain for repairs. She said: "Gibraltar as a whole is glad the experience is over and that it has left our shores." Tireless's presence prompted protests almost immediately after it arrived on May 19. In the first few weeks Gibraltarians staged demonstrations and then Spaniards took up the cause with greater vigour. In one protest 15,000 people marched through neighbouring Algeciras. Rumours surrounded the vessel, with crew reported to be suffering from radiation sickness and the reactor supposedly near to meltdown. Josep Pique, Spain's foreign minister, twice launched scathing broadsides against Britain that astonished Whitehall. Greenpeace protesters also boarded the vessel, a sit-in took place at the British consulate in Malaga, and a few days ago a group began a hunger strike that lasted until the boat left. But the submarine also hosted parties and became a more popular attraction for cruise ship passengers than the Rock's Barbary apes. As Tireless finally steamed away in the early morning, a Spanish government official said: "Both sides are relieved. Both sides wanted this to be done with the maximum safety and this has proved the case. We are very glad to know that Robin Cook has said that he is not expecting to use Gibraltar for nuclear repairs again. Lessons have been learned by all parties." Capt Peter Wilkinson of the Royal Navy said: "It posed a unique political and technical problem. But it was the safest option to repair her here." An uncertain welcome awaits Tireless at Devonport, where the Trafalgar class submarines are based and where locals are reported to be unhappy at its planned arrival. A Naval spokesman said Tireless was now "fully operational" and that no further repairs were necessary. © Copyrightof Telegraph Group Limited2001. Terms & Conditionsof ***************************************************************** 18 Nuclear sub 'Tireless' heads home after year of repair and recrimination Independent Independent.co.uk © 2001 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd. 11 May 2001 07:25 GMT+1 Independent By Matthew Beard 08 May 2001 A nuclear submarine was heading home to Britain from Gibraltar yesterday, ending a year of strained relations with the Spanish government and environmentalists. HMS *Tireless*, a Trafalgar-class boat equipped with Tomahawk missiles, arrived in Gibraltar last May with a crack in her reactor's cooling system and leaking a small amount of contaminated water into the sea. The lengthy repair has been punctuated by protests from the environmentalists, Gibraltarians and people in southern Spain, who wanted the boat removed. British officials and the Spanish government maintained the risks were negligible, but other submarines in the same class were taken out of service while equipment was devised to carry out repairs safely, removing the need for direct human intervention in the enclosed space. The president of the Cadiz provincial government, Rafael Roman, said the departure of *Tireless* marked the end of "a black era" in which Spain had shown "an insufferable servitude towards the United Kingdom". Local officials and environmental groups were concerned at the precedent set by the boat's presence. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, said he welcomed her departure, but added: "Gibraltar continues to be a place where nuclear berthing facilities will be used for normal visits." The presence of the submarine revived debate about the colony's status and tested the close relationship between Tony Blair and Spain's centre-right Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Mr Aznar, under pressure from the Socialist opposition, suggested last December that Britain take the submarine home for the repair, although experts said moving her would create a greater risk. Spain has long sought the return of Gibraltar, the fortress dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean. It was reluctantly ceded to Britain by Spain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. *Tireless*, escorted by Royal Navy patrol boats, is believed to be heading for Devonport, near Plymouth. ***************************************************************** 19 Russian Scientists Nervously Await U.S. Decision on Fate of Nuclear Program APBNEWS.COM > NEWSCENTER > BREAKING NEWS > STORY May 7, 2001 JUDITH INGRAM, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW (AP) _ A thief or terrorist trying to get at the seven nuclear reactors at Moscow's Kurchatov Institute will have to break through a sophisticated, dlrs 3 million set of safeguards financed by American taxpayers. The research center's security system is just one result of a 10-year-old U.S.-Russian program to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The joint effort has also brought much more dramatic achievements, including eliminating nuclear weapons stockpiles in the former Soviet republics of Kazakstan, Belarus and Ukraine, and deep cuts in Russia's own vast nuclear arsenal. But some U.S. Congress members are questioning the cost and value of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. U.S. President George W. Bush has ordered a review _ and that's making Russian nuclear scientists nervous. On a broader front, trust has been undermined over such issues as NATO expansion, Moscow's ties with Iraq and North Korea, and the Bush administration's missile defense plans. Also, some U.S. officials involved in the arms reduction program are being expelled from Russia as part of a wider, tit-for-tat spy scandal between Washington and Moscow. ``We've achieved very important results, which are visible not just on paper but in the physical (security) systems,'' said Nikolai Ponomaryov-Stepnoi, the vice president of the Kurchatov Institute, named for the father of the Soviet atomic bomb. Over the past five years, the institute has won contracts to develop security systems for the Russian Navy, one of the institutions that Russian and U.S. officials had considered most vulnerable to theft and potential leaks of weapons-grade nuclear materials. ``The risk of proliferation of nuclear materials is lessening significantly,'' Ponomaryov-Stepnoi said. The joint threat reduction program was launched in December 1991 in the final days of the Soviet Union with a law authored by U.S. Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar that sought to seize a rare opportunity to cut strategic weapons arsenals. The program is aimed broadly at cutting Russia's nuclear arsenal, preventing the leakage of nuclear and biological weapons technology to terrorists or other countries, and destroying stockpiles of chemical weapons. Those aims are being promoted through more than two dozen separate projects that have cost the United States some dlrs 4.7 billion so far. ``It's a very effective defense by other means: Spending relatively little money, you seriously decrease the military potential of your probable enemy or rival,'' said Ivan Safranchuk, the nuclear arms control project director at the independent PIR institute in Moscow. According to the Pentagon program's director, Jim Reid, the United States has helped to junk 300 of Russia's intercontinental ballistic missiles, 2,000 nuclear warheads, 52 ICBM silos, 308 submarine launchers, 18 submarines and 42 bombers. The program helped accelerate Russian disarmament and put Russia on track to meet the Dec. 5, 2001 deadline for arms cuts under the 1991 Start I treaty, which should bring each side down to 1,600 strategic missiles and bombers and 6,000 warheads. Considering Russia's economic difficulties, ``it would have taxed them significantly to try to use those funds to meet the treaty themselves,'' Reid said. Other goals have been partially met. Sensored fences, the first step in comprehensive security systems, have been built around more than half of Russia's nuclear weapons storage places, Reid said. The rest haven't been secured, and the Soviet-era protection systems have broken down, leaving potentially serious security breaches. Two of the highest-profile projects _ to build a fissile materials storage plant in the town of Mayak and a pilot plant for destroying nerve agents stored at Shchuchiye _ have been stalled by U.S.-Russian differences over how they should be run. The spy scandal hardly helps. An analyst who has seen the list of 50 U.S. diplomats to be sent home by July said about a dozen are involved with the Pentagon's threat-reduction program. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Scientists at the Kurchatov Institute said they were already feeling the effects, with American partners introducing new financing procedures that could set back some projects. ``I don't know who's pulling the strings, but we already feel that the work is facing difficulties,'' Ponomaryov-Stepnoi said morosely. ``It seems they feel they have to introduce a tougher line.'' The harshest U.S. critics question whether the program should be continued at all, especially in light of Russia's increasing cooperation with such potential nuclear proliferators as Iran. In general, U.S. aid programs to Russia face increasing American criticism for inefficiency and vulnerability to corruption, and Russians complain that much of the money ended up in U.S. contractors' pockets. In the arms reduction field, the Russian security service may feel the U.S. monitors are getting too intrusive. The program gives the monitors ``unique access,'' said Alexander Pikayev, an arms control expert at the Moscow office of the Carnegie Endowment. ``If political relations deteriorate, Russia will be less interested in transparency.'' Gennady Khromov, a Russian negotiator, said the Americans demanded only plutonium from weapons be stored at Mayak. ``But to prove that, we're being asked to strip naked and show everything we have,'' he said. Reid rejected the criticism, saying there were demonstrated ways of providing those guarantees without revealing Russian secrets. The National Security Council is supposed to wind up its review of the program in mid-May, according to Reid. ©Copyright 2000 APB Multimedia Inc. 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