***************************************************************** 04/12/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.91 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Editorial: Full steam ahead for dumpsite? 2 U.S. companies eye new nuclear plants after over 25 years 3 UK gives GBP2 million to help decommission Eastern European 4 No chance of Czech nuclear plant meltdown - report 5 BNFL FINED £12,000 FOR LATEST BREACHES 6 Berkley Calls For Yucca Mountain Oversight Funds 7 Fire shuts down reactors at Ukrainian nuclear power plant, no radiation 8 Berkley To Feds: No Delay On Test Site Compensation 9 The Lowdown on Lowry 10 Uranium test offered to residents NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Charges dismissed against 7 Y-12 Plant protesters 2 Our Views: The deserving effort to preserve K-25 history 3 Our Views: Budget proposal gives full backing to SNS funding 4 LOC: Save a slice of K-25's history 5 Physicists predict safety and stability of plutonium 6 Peace institute head meets A-bomb victims 7 Fresh fears over depleted uranium 8 Britain to screen military for depleted uranium 9 Radioactive substance stolen from MAP Ukrainian News 10 GIBBONS DECLARES VICTORY FOR DOE WORKERS 11 Chao reverses position, agrees to run benefits program 12 DOE cleanup budget breaks critical promise 13 Lab laser funding in limbo ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Editorial: Full steam ahead for dumpsite? April 12, 2001 The Bush administration's position on Yucca Mountain is emerging, and it's disquieting to say the least. While the Department of Energy's budget released this week contained cuts to important programs -- renewable energy research, nuclear weapons site cleanup, etc. -- President Bush is recommending a 14 percent increase in spending on the Yucca Mountain Project. For that matter, no funds were set aside for research into transmutation, a promising new technology that some scientists believe could make high-level nuclear waste less harmful. If transmutation pans out, the need for a central nuclear waste repository could be made obsolete. Granted, transmutation is still in the experimental stage, but to offer no funding is myopic. It also was disheartening that the Department of Energy's budget report acknowledged that it was built on the premise that the agency will recommend the construction of a repository at Yucca Mountain. So much for an unbiased, scientific assessment of whether 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste can be buried inside Yucca Mountain, which is just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the nation's fastest growing metropolitan area. If the president truly wanted a conservative budget that trimmed government waste, he would stop the folly of spending billions of dollars to build a high-level nuclear waste repository, a structure that cannot plausibly protect the safety of Nevadans. For that matter, there are no guarantees that shipping this waste across the country can be done without endangering the lives of people who live along these routes. A better alternative would have been to step up research into transmutation -- and put Yucca Mountain on hold. But this administration plainly is stuck in the past, showing no imagination in dealing with such a critical issue that can have deadly consequences. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 U.S. companies eye new nuclear plants after over 25 years Commission (NRC) for early site permits perhaps as early as next year," Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), told Reuters. Under the early site permitting process, electric companies can ask the NRC to consider early environmental and siting issues for plants, which the NRC will then bank until investors decide whether to go ahead with the plant. The early site approval is part of a federal energy policy adopted in 1992 which could cut down the lead time between proposing and constructing a nuclear power plant, Kerekes said. "We are hoping that we will be able to get that process to happen in under five years," Kerekes said. Plants constructed in the U.S. after 1979 took an average of almost 12 years to build and license, which is twice as long as nuclear plants in France, Japan and Sweden, according to information from the NEI. The last nuclear power plant built in the U.S. was the government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority's 1,170-megawatt Watts Bar facility in Spring City, Tenn., which began operations in 1996. The construction permit for Watts Bar was issued in 1973. The NRC has not received an application for a new nuclear plant since 1973, especially after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident put a long-term chill on the industry. But with power blackouts in California and historically high natural gas prices, a spokesman said companies are again considering the nuclear option and the federal agency is gearing up for new applications. Nuclear power currently provides around 20 percent of the country's power needs. "We are taking some steps to prepare for the possibility of new applications," the NRC spokesman said Wednesday. Those NRC steps include the formation of a "future licensing organization" within the NRC, he said. Application procedures have also been streamlined, the spokesman said. "Before you had to apply for a construction permit and then an operating permit, those two procedures have now been consolidated." Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney said last month the energy policy panel he is heading for President George W. Bush would devote a chapter of its report with final recommendations to "the nuclear questions and whether or not we want to go forward." ENVIRONMENTALISTS WEIGH-IN The NEI's Kerekes would not specify which U.S. companies might make the early site applications, or where the sites are being considered. Although no specific proposals for new plants have been made, environmentalists are weighing-in with early criticism. "The environmental community will block any attempts to build new nukes," Kyle Rabin, a spokesman for Albany, N.Y.-based Environmental Advocates said in a statement. "Nuclear power must be phased out in New York State and elsewhere in the nation," Rabin said. In the statement, Environmental Advocates says construction of five new nuclear power plants is planned for undisclosed sites in the U.S., and that formal applications for those plants are expected at the NRC in the next few weeks. Among the companies mentioned by Environmental Advocates as participating in an NEI task force investigating new nuclear development are Dominion Resources Inc , Entergy Corp , Exelon Corp , Constellation Energy Group Inc and Southern Co. Kerekes denies applications will be made by any members of the task force within the next several weeks. He confirmed that at least four of the companies mentioned by Environmental Advocates are active members of the NEI task force, but declined to give any further details. The NRC spokesman also confirmed that in recent months the agency has had discussions with Exelon, which is considering a new nuclear site in the U.S. but is monitoring the results of a pilot project of new technology in South Africa. [Reuters] ***************************************************************** 3 UK gives GBP2 million to help decommission Eastern European nuclear reactors UK Government: [M2 Communications Ltd.] Story Filed: Thursday, April 12, 2001 8:50 AM EST Apr 12, 2001 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Energy Minister outlines latest element of GBP84 million package Energy Minister Peter Hain today outlined how GBP2 million from the UK will be used to help from Bulgaria and Lithuania close their ageing Soviet era nuclear reactors. The cash will help to pay for costly but essential work prior to decommissioning of the oldest Russian-designed reactors at Kozloduy in Bulgaria and Ignalina in Lithuania, which cannot be up-graded to internationally acceptable safety standards. Work will include the setting up of spent nuclear fuel storage facilities and solid and liquid radioactive waste management. The cash is part of an GBP83.3 million fund established by the UK Government to help tackle a range of nuclear problems faced by states in former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe over the next three years. That programme also includes: * nuclear waste management in North West Russia; * the UK's contribution to help secure the structure surrounding the damaged reactor at Chernobyl; and * disposing of weapons grade plutonium in Russia. Detailing the how the assistance will be used Mr Hain said: "Nobody wants another Chernobyl. This announcement underlines the UK's support for efforts to improve nuclear safety in Eastern Europe. "The UK is committed to helping Bulgaria and Lithuania meet the challenges that the closure and decommissioning of older Soviet reactors will present over the coming years." Notes to Editors: 1. The UK is already providing nuclear safety assistance to both Bulgaria and Lithuania, including: * providing technical assistance to strengthen the work of nuclear regulators in Bulgaria and Lithuania; * providing decommissioning planning expertise to Lithuanian Ministry of Economy; and * helping with the establishment of an Emergency Centre for VATESI, the Lithuanian nuclear regulator. 2. Both nuclear plants consist of Russian design reactors. Kozloduy in Bulgaria has four VVER 440/230 reactors and two (units 5 and 6) that are the more modern VVER 1000/320. Units 5 and 6 can be upgraded to western safety levels and a Euratom loan of 250m Euro's has been made available for this purpose. Ignalina, in Lithuania, has two RBMK units (Chernobyl type). 3. The closure agreements negotiated by the Commission as part of the accession process stipulate that Lithuania will close Unit 1 at Ignalina by 2005 and to set a closure date for Unit 2 in 2004. Bulgaria has agreed to close Kozloduy Units 1-2 before 2003 and make a decision on the closure of Units 3-4 no later than 2002 when Bulgaria has completed the updating of its National Energy Strategy. 4. Following a cross cutting review of the extensive range of nuclear safety, nuclear security and nuclear non-proliferation problems faced by the states in the former Soviet Union carried out between December 1999 and July 2000, the Government announced in the summer of last year a new interdepartmental programme with a budget of GBP83.8 million from 2001-04 to tackle nuclear problems in the former Soviet bloc. In future all UK expenditure in this area will come from this budget. Overall priorities for this programme are set on the advice of an interdepartmental committee. Copyright 1994-2001 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD ***************************************************************** 4 No chance of Czech nuclear plant meltdown - report CZECH REPUBLIC: April 12, 2001 PRAGUE - A Czech-led independent commission yesterday said its study shows the controversial Soviet-designed Temelin nuclear power plant is safe and that there is no possibility of a Chernobyl-style meltdown. The study, which included observers from the EU, Austria and Germany, gave Temelin high marks in an environmental impact study ordered by the Czech government in January after demands from neighbouring Austria. "Overall, the commission unambiguously agreed that the impact of the Temelin nuclear plant on the environment is low, not significant and acceptable, both under normal operation and in the case of accidents," the report said. The study ruled out the possibility of a Chernobyl-style meltdown at the Czech plant, due to construction differences such as a graphite moderator in the Chernobyl plant and a water moderator at the Temelin plant. "There are of course several other differences, but already from these it is apparent that what happened at Chernobyl could not be repeated in Temelin," the report said. Last year's launch of testing operations at the plant was fiercely opposed by Austria, which considers it unsafe despite being fitted with modern U.S. control systems. Since the launch Temelin, located less than 50 km (30 miles) from the Austrian border and around 200 km from the Czech capital Prague, has been shut several times during testing due to various problems which officials have called normal in the start up of a plant. None of the problems have involved any leaks of radioactive materials and plant operator CEZ hopes to have the first of two blocs in full operation this summer. While Austria took part in observing the methods used to carry out the study, it still has complaints about the plant. The study, which will form the basis for further discussions between Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel in May, strictly adheres to European directives on the use of atomic power, said commission member Miroslav Martis. In addition to evaluating environmental impact arising under normal operation, the study carried out computer models of what would happen in the event of accidents. "Even though it was outside the scope of the study, we let the reactor melt down, we let the water container around it crack and we modelled what happens," Martis said. In the case of an extreme accident, areas within three to five km of the plant would be levelled and areas between 13 and 14 km could be affected by radiation, he said. "We stayed inside a 13-kilometre zone (for radiation contamination) and nothing got out," he said. The report chided officials for secrecy surrounding the plant and its operations, saying more openness would help both sides. Story by Eva Munk REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 5 BNFL FINED £12,000 FOR LATEST BREACHES The Whitehaven News Thursday, April 12, 2001 Sellafield bosses were fined a total of £12,000 last Thursday for breaches of safety regulations. BNFL and subsidiary company BNFL Instruments both admitted failing to register radioactive sources, which are used to test alarm systems and in X-rays. The Environment Agency brought the prosecution at Whitehaven Magistrates court after an investigation at the plant last year. One source was even discovered in a dead employee's drawer at the plant, the court was told. Nick Webb, prosecuting, said the radioactive sources have to be registered with the Agency if the radiation levels are above a certain level, or if the sources are moved from Sellafield. The registration takes place so the Agency can monitor the sources, some of which contain uranium and plutonium, for any leaks or danger to health. Mr Webb said: "The agency can carry out inspections or controls to ensure they are being used and stored and conditions are being properly complied with. "Clearly any loss of control of such substances does have a potential for significant impact on human health and the environment." The BNFL "collection" was among the largest inventories of radioactive mobile apparatus held anywhere in the UK. BNFL admitted two charges of failing to register sources between January 1997 and December 2000 at Sellafield and Drigg and failing to register keeping or using radioactive material at Ramsden Dock, in Barrow, between March 1987 and September 2000. BNFL Instruments admitted failing to register radioactive sources at a storage depot leased to it by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, within the Sellafield perimeter. Andrew Carr, representing both companies, said: "It is a bitter blow to be back in court. "BNFL failed to meet its own high standards." The company has 10 previous convictions for environmental offences in the last 10 years, although non-registration was not among them. Mr Carr said that Sellafield managers had been co-operative throughout the investigation and provided all the necessary documents. BNFL had notified the Environment agency itself when bosses realised there was a breach of regulations. He also said that although BNFL was in breach of the Agency's regulations, the Sellafield rules for the handling of the sources had been followed and there was no risk to human health or to the environment. Presiding magistrate, Bill Townson, said: "We do regard these offences as serious. "The public has the right to expect the highest standards of control of the radioactive materials in their custody." BNFL was fined £8,000 and its subsidiary £4,000. £10,010 prosecution costs were to be shared between them. After the hearing a spokesman said: "The company regrets these incidents, which clearly should not have occurred. Our guilty plea on all three charges reflects this. "The sources have always been safely stored and controlled, in accordance with the Ionising Radiation regulations." Mr Webb said after the case: "On balance the fine was fair." ***************************************************************** 6 Berkley Calls For Yucca Mountain Oversight Funds Berkley (NV01) - Press Release - Congresswoman [Shelly Berkley] First District, Nevada Washington, D.C. (April 2, 2001) — *U.S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today called on her colleague, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, to grant Nevada full funding for oversight over the Yucca Mountain study. The decision by House appropriators to fully fund the oversight functions of local authorities would bring $11 million in funding to state and county governments. The text of the letter follows:* April 2, 2001 Dear Mr. Chairman, I am writing to ask for your assistance with an issue that is extremely important to the health and safety of all Nevadans. As you are aware, for years the U.S. Department of Energy has been conducting studies at the Nevada Test Site’s Yucca Mountain to determine the suitability of that location to serve as the nation’s repository for high level nuclear waste. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, designated Nevada as the only site that may be considered for the storage of high level nuclear waste. In that law, Congress recognized that Nevada has the right and responsibility to protect the health and safety of its citizens by overseeing the Department of Energy’s studies and ensuring that the work at Yucca Mountain is based solely on sound science. For this reason, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act authorized payments from the Nuclear Waste Trust Fund to the State of Nevada and local units of affected government to ensure that Nevada and its local governments have the financial resources to monitor the Department of Energy’s site characterization process and conduct independent research in critical areas such as ground water, the environment, transportation routes, and seismic activity. State Funding: Federal funding is used by the State of Nevada to pursue essential scientific research, including the evaluation of waste canister material and drip shield material. Last year, after negotiations with Chairman Packard, the House appropriated $2.5 million for FY ‘01 Yucca Mountain oversight. Nevada has demonstrated our commitment to using the appropriated funds for scientific oversight of Yucca Mountain. Therefore, I respectfully request that Congress appropriate the full $5 million that Nevada should receive as authorized under current law. Local Government Funding: Ten local counties, directly affected by the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, have received oversight funding in the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for the Yucca Mountain site characterization process. In FY01, the counties received roughly $6 million (to be split based on population size) to conduct oversight reviews to confirm the validity of the scientific studies performed at Yucca Mountain. The additional oversight funding at the local level is necessary for local governments to perform tests in order to determine how their locality would be affected by the storage of nuclear waste. Site characterization is nearing a critical and final phase. Now more than ever, Nevada’s voice and role in this process should be fully funded at the state and local levels. The Las Vegas Valley, which is only 90 miles from Yucca Mountain, is home to nearly 1.4 million Nevadans. My constituents deserve to have access to independent scientific studies and data concerning the site characterization study, as the Nuclear Waste Policy Act provides by law. Questions were raised several years ago about the State of Nevada’s past use of appropriated funds for this purpose. Since then, all the problems have been thoroughly eliminated. I, along with our Governor, assure you that the funds will continue to be used only for oversight authorized by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The Nevada Congressional Delegation and the Governor of Nevada remain steadfastly opposed to the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada. We believe we have a responsibility to monitor this project with funds authorized by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. I respectfully request that you restore the $5 million in the FY02 Energy and Water Appropriations bill for the State of Nevada for oversight of the Yucca Mountain project, and continue to provide $6 million for the local governments’ oversight. Thank you for your consideration and for your concern. Sincerely, SHELLEY BERKLEY Member of Congress ***************************************************************** 7 Fire shuts down reactors at Ukrainian nuclear power plant, no radiation released KPnews.com -- News about Ukraine 12 Apr 2001 The Associated Press KYIV, April 11 - A fire at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant Wednesday led to the automatic shutdown of two reactors, but no radiation was released and the fire was extinguished, news reports said. Ukraine's private One Plus One television and the ITAR-Tass news agency reported that the fire started when the boom of a crane fell on six electrical cables at the Rivne plant, at the site where the plant's No. 4 reactor is under construction. The fire damaged two transformers and led to automatic safety systems shutting down reactors No. 2 and No. 3. Reactor No. 1 is under repairs. No one was injured and there was no release of radiation, the reports said. Officials at the Emergencies Ministry and at the company that runs the power plants were not available. The No. 3 reactor at Rivne was temporarily shut down April 4 due to a steam leak. No radiation was released in that incident, either. Ukraine was the site of world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, when a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and spewed radiation over much of Europe. The last working reactor at the Chernobyl plant was shut down in December, and Ukraine has been pressing ahead with construction of the No. 4 reactor at Rivne, begun during the Soviet period, and of another reactor at the Khmelnitsky plant to make up for the lost electricity. Ukraine, which faced severe international pressure to close the last Chernobyl reactor, has been pressing European countries to provide financing to finish the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi reactors, so far without success. Environmentalists have attacked the plants as unnecessary and unsafe. Nuclear plants provide about 40 percent of Ukraine's electricity. © 2000 SputnikMedia.net ***************************************************************** 8 Berkley To Feds: No Delay On Test Site Compensation Berkley (NV01) - Press Release - Congresswoman [Shelly Berkley] First District, Nevada *Southern Nevada Legislator Cosponsors Bill To Combat Compensation Delays* Washington, D.C. (April 4, 2001) — U.S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (NV-1) joined several of her colleagues today in front of the U.S. Capitol to announce legislation that will ensure the prompt compensation of nuclear workers at the Nevada Test Site, and at other nuclear sites across the country. The Administration has recently suggested that compensation programs should be run out of the Department of Justice rather than the Department of Labor. The programmatic shift could mean significant delays in the compensation of the nuclear workers. “The Administration is treating the issue of compensation as a bureaucratic hot potato. Nobody wants responsibility for it, it seems, and everybody seems perfectly willing to forget or ignore the will of the American people. When this legislation was passed last year, it was the intent of Congress that the Department of Labor would administer the program. Everyone agreed last year that Labor is best suited to the task, and that there was no compelling reason to create a new program in Justice. This is either a delaying tactic by the Administration, or an incredible display of insensitivity and incompetence.” In a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims last year (9/21/00), representatives of both the Departments of Labor and Justice agreed that there would be no jurisdictional dispute over the program, and that Labor was the most appropriate agency to administer the program. “The bill we’ve cosponsored is designed to put a stop to this bureaucratic bickering, once and for all,” concluded Berkley. “It’s time for the government to pay up.” ***************************************************************** 9 The Lowdown on Lowry Westword Online -- westword.com | News | One hot morning last summer, a small valve was turned on at the Lowry Superfund Site, and groundwater from the old landfill began flowing through a newly constructed sewer line. The water had no color, no odor, and had already undergone several procedures at the landfill site to remove certain chemicals. It looked cool and refreshing -- almost good enough to drink. Day and night, at the rate of about ten to twenty gallons per minute, the groundwater surged through the subterranean network of sewers that crisscross the city. Some of the water was diverted to Aurora, where it would be sprayed on parks and golf courses, but the rest eventually flowed into the vast river of sewage that pours daily into the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District plant in north Denver. At Metro, the largest sewage-treatment facility between the Mississippi River and the West Coast, the water was filtered and cleansed, then eventually discharged into the South Platte River. Some of the heavier Lowry elements were left behind in the plant's malodorous sludge, or "biosolids," as those in the business prefer to call it, and the sludge was then hauled away in trucks to be spread on farms in eastern Colorado. If all goes according to plan, this discharge will continue for the next fifty years, possibly much longer. And when the valve is shut off for good, millions of gallons of hazardous waste -- containing dioxins, PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals and radionuclides -- will have been transferred from the landfill site to Colorado's rivers and creeks and farmland. City, state and federal officials insist the process is a safe and cost-effective way to treat Lowry's hazardous waste, but one longtime Environmental Protection Agency official says the deal simply lets polluters off the hook. "You're basically transferring the liability of the hazardous materials from the responsible parties at the landfill to the City and County of Denver and the region of Colorado where the material's going to be dumped," says Hugh Kaufman, who helped craft the laws governing Superfund sites in the late '70s and, until recently, was the chief investigator for the EPA Office of Ombudsman. A confidential legal analysis prepared in 1996 for the City of Denver illuminates another aspect of the arrangement that's beneficial to polluters: As long as the contaminated groundwater remains on-site, it is categorized as hazardous waste and subject to the plethora of federal laws governing the disposal and storage of such wastes. But once the liquids are pumped through the sewers, the "site waters" need only meet the standards of the sewage-treatment facility accepting the wastes. The EPA is currently reviewing whether the remedy at Lowry Landfill is adequately protective of "human health and the environment." Much has changed since the agency issued its formal cleanup program for the site seven years ago: Housing developments have sprung up within a mile of the landfill, and explosive growth is expected in the area in the coming years. From roughly 1964 to 1980, nearly every major industry operating in or near Denver used Lowry Landfill as its personal dumping ground. Waste oils, sludges, pesticides, cleaning solvents, construction debris, paint, hospital waste, pharmaceutical chemicals, even dead zoo elephants were dumped into unlined pits and covered with household garbage. The pits belched and steamed, often catching fire, and the poisonous liquids eventually seeped down into the groundwater. Beneath the landfill are four aquifers that supply water to suburban and rural residents. Pages: 1 2 3 4 ***************************************************************** 10 Uranium test offered to residents [charlotte.com] April 12, 2001 GREENVILLE -- State health officials soon will offer urine tests to some homeowners in the Fountain Inn and Simpsonville areas who are at risk of radioactive exposure from uranium in their water. Residents in 36 homes with elevated levels of uranium can voluntarily take the urine test, Eric Melaro, environmental health manager at the Department of Health and Environmental Control, said Wednesday. Concerns began in early February when as much as 50 times the allowable amount of the radioactive element were found in three Simpsonville-area drinking-water wells. Out of a total of 80 wells within a 2-mile radius that were tested, 13 had unsafe uranium levels. Uranium is considered potentially harmful when it exceeds the federal standard of 30 micrograms per liter. Prolonged exposure can cause kidney problems or cancer. *Associated Press* ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Charges dismissed against 7 Y-12 Plant protesters Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 1:02 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2001 by Paul Parson and Beverly Majors Oak Ridger staff Charges have been dropped against seven of 30 people who were cited Sunday during a protest at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Assistant District Attorney General Sam Lee dismissed seven state cases Tuesday in General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. Six of the seven people were charged with impeding the flow of traffic, and one was charged with disorderly conduct. The six charged with impeding the flow of traffic and whose charges were dismissed were: * Geoffrey Lowthan Hennies, 35, 1324 Georgia Highway 495, Americus, Ga. * Lisa Beth Doscher, 24, 508 S. Main St., Hightstown, N.J. * Lauren MacKenzie Schmidt, 22, 55 San Juan Drive, Ponte Vedre Beach, Fla. * Jessica Rist Hahn, 23, 2108 19th Ave. S., Nashville. * Shelley Lea Wascom, 41, 504 Old Lake City Highway, Lake City. * Laurence Joseph Coleman, 59, 1817 Rivershore Drive, Knoxville. Lee also dismissed a disorderly conduct charge against David Kowalsky, no address given. Police Lt. Jack Mansfield told The Oak Ridger that Kowalsky cursed police officers and threw a plastic drink bottle at them. However, Ralph Hutchison, coordinator for the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said that's not true. Hutchison said the alliance has videotape that disputes Mansfield's accusation. Lee was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon, but Assistant District Attorney General Jan Hicks explained the reason for dismissing the charges. "The decision was at least in part because of our experience in the past when we have prosecuted the protesters," Hicks said. "The result was two days of jury trial at the expense of the public, inconvenience to jurors and witnesses, and a public forum for the protesters." Hicks said the protesters were convicted by the jury but that nothing happened. "They were convicted, fined, with their sentences suspended," she said. "They went back to Minnesota, Michigan and wherever. They never paid their fines." Hicks said the charge is similar to a speeding ticket. "You don't send them to jail for speeding and there's no extradition if they don't pay." Additionally, 21 people who were cited for trespassing on Sunday are scheduled to appear in Oak Ridge City Court on April 20. Trespassing is a violation of a city ordinance. Two juveniles were cited to Juvenile Court on juvenile petitions for trespassing. Their cases will be heard at a later date. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 2 Our Views: The deserving effort to preserve K-25 history Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 1:54 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2001 It could be a big undertaking, any way that one quite literally slices it, but we are inclined to agree with those members of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee who would like to preserve some physical part of the huge K-25 building that is set for the wrecking ball. The mile-long K-25 building was the first process building at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant and was placed in operation in 1945 for the isotopic enrichment of uranium by gaseous diffusion. As Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the LOC board, correctly notes, "It's a signature facility for the Manhattan Project ... . Once it's gone, it's gone." Ms. Gawarecki and other members of an LOC Citizens' Advisory Panel would like to see a portion of the building preserved so that future generations can better understand and appreciate this important history. Certainly that kind of preservation is consistent with the larger but fledgling efforts taking place in Oak Ridge to foster the city's great historic and tourism potential. But, of course, bottom line, this is a history that only the Department of Energy has the full authority and financial resources to preserve. A member of the Leadership Oak Ridge Class of 2001 recently asked a local DOE official just what the department was doing to preserve and advance its story in Oak Ridge. The outcome of the K-25 issue will help shape the answer to that question. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 3 Our Views: Budget proposal gives full backing to SNS funding Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 2:14 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, 2001 As hurdles go, the first cleared this year for Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source may in fact be the smallest. But that only slightly diminishes its importance. The Bush administration is seeking full funding -- $291.4 million -- for continued construction of the SNS atop Chestnut Ridge. Things do not look near as rosy for cleanup of nuclear waste sites (more on that in a moment). A change in national administrations and cabinets, coming as it did at so critical a juncture for this ambitious and critically important SNS project, naturally raised questions about commitments. How many times did we hear that SNS would be the likely victim of a new and fiscally conservative administration in Washington? Now that concern seems to have been laid to rest. And while this commitment by the Bush administration and its new energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, is fundamentally and critically important, the land mines ahead might be found on the congressional battlefield. The SNS enjoys widespread support in the scientific community, and bipartisan support among members of Tennessee's delegation in Congress. This scientific leap is expected to generate improvements in a variety of fields, including medical research. The SNS should proceed, on schedule, and on its clear merit. What bears equally close watching, for Oak Ridge, is the administration's clear lack of enthusiasm for environmental cleanup, which also is reflected in this budget proposal. Our delegation in Congress needs to fight every bit as diligently there for what Oak Ridge requires and deserves to clean up sites contaminated in the frenzy of Cold War nuclear production. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 4 LOC: Save a slice of K-25's history Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 2:57 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff A local advisory group is pondering a way to preserve a historic building at the Oak Ridge K-25 Site that is marked for demolition. The facility in question is the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 building. It was the first process building at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant and was placed in operation in August 1945 for the isotopic enrichment of uranium by gaseous diffusion. "It's a signature facility for the Manhattan Project," said Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee. "It's a great deal of history that will slip away from us. Once it's gone, it's gone." The LOC's Citizens' Advisory Panel discussed preserving a portion of the building during its meeting Tuesday night at the local Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation office. "It's not possible to keep K-25 in its current state," Gawarecki said. "But perhaps we can preserve a small portion of it." Preserving historic Department of Energy facilities is not a new concept, Gawarecki said. She pointed out that DOE is studying the feasibility of preserving B Reactor, which is on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Richland, Wash. B Reactor began operating in 1944 and was used for plutonium production. Norman Mulvenon, chairman of the Citizens' Advisory Panel, suggested contacting DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., about the K-25 building. He said the LOC could also try to get support from the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. The K-25 site began operations in World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. Its original mission was to produce enriched uranium for use in atomic weapons. The plant produced enriched uranium for the commercial nuclear power industry from 1945 to 1985 and was permanently shut down in 1987. Restoration of the environment, decontamination and decommissioning of the facilities, and management of the legacy wastes have since been major activities. Reindustrialization of the site began in 1996. The demolition of the K-25 building is not scheduled until 2008, according to Mark Musolf, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental manager in Oak Ridge. Musolf said this morning that Bechtel Jacobs is expected to award a contract in June for the removal of asbestos from the K-25 building. Contracts will be awarded later for removing equipment from the facility and demolishing the three-level, 4.5 million-square-foot building. Musolf also said there has been talk about preserving a piece of operating equipment from the building known as the Roosevelt Cell. The cell was fixed up for a planned visit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that never occurred. The Oak Ridger was unable to obtain a comment from DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office about any possible plans for preserving a portion of the K-25 building. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 5 Physicists predict safety and stability of plutonium CBC News: Radio-Canada Privacy Policy *WebPosted Tue Apr 17 10:26:06 2001 * PISCATAWAY, NEW JERSEY - New methods to predict the physical properties of plutonium could help people handle and store nuclear weapons more safely. Just as water has solid, liquid and gas states, plutonium has two states. One is stable and the other is unstable. Until now, the phases of plutonium have been found through experimentation. Scientists at Rutgers University instead used analytical and computer calculations to predict changes in the structure of plutonium. "This element is far too toxic for extensive experimental procedures in the laboratory, and the use of theoretical methods is mandatory if we are to deal with problems over long time scales," said Rutgers University Physics Prof. Gabriel Kotliar. Kotliar says predicting the stability of plutonium is important because stockpiles of plutonium-based weapons worldwide could decompose and become unsafe. Plutonium is an artificial element that was first made in 1940. The silvery-white metal is one of the most mysterious, toxic and dangerous substances known. It is dangerous to handle, and difficult to store and dispose of. Traces of plutonium in depleted uranium (DU) weapons used by NATO-led forces in the Balkans have aroused fears that the armour-piercing weapons could pose a health risk but defence experts have played down any potential dangers. The plutonium study appears in the April 12 issue of *Nature*. Written by CBC News Online staff ***************************************************************** 6 Peace institute head meets A-bomb victims [The Japan Times Online] April 12, 2001 HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) The new president of the Hiroshima Peace Institute on Wednesday met representatives from seven groups representing victims of the August 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima to exchange views on peace. It was the first time Haruhiro Fukui, 66, has met survivors of the atomic bombing since the commentator on international politics assumed the presidency on April 1. "Movements to convey the experiences of the bombing have surely had a significant impact on public opinion in the world as well as on Japanese pacifism," Fukui told representatives of the groups, based in Hiroshima Prefecture. "Clarifying the effects (of the movements) is part of my mission and I hope to deliver results, which will be evaluated in the long-term." Lee Sil Gun, president of the Council of Atom-Bombed Koreans in Hiroshima Prefecture, called on Fukui to demonstrate what the institute can do to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons. The position of institute president was vacant for about two years after Fukui's predecessor, Yasushi Akashi, resigned in February 1999 to run in the Tokyo gubernatorial election. The institute is a research center affiliated with Hiroshima City University. It was established in 1998 to contribute to world peace in the city of Hiroshima, the target of an atomic bomb at the end of World War II. The Japan Times: Apr. 12, 2001 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 7 Fresh fears over depleted uranium BBC News | SCOTLAND | 12 April, 2001, 08:29 GMT 09:29 UK The programme examines effects on civilians An investigation into the effects of weapons containing depleted uranium has uncovered contamination in urine samples from people in Kosovo and Bosnia. The study - to be broadcast on BBC Scotland's Eorpa programme on Thursday - concludes it is likely that depleted uranium is present in the food chain. The finding has been described as "interesting" by Defence Minister Dr Lewis Moonie. But he stressed that the levels of depleted uranium posed no risk to public health. The effects of shells has been a source of concern There is continuing controversy about the possible health impact on both military personnel and the local population. This is the first time that civilians in the region have been tested for contamination. The study, carried out by Professor Nick Priest of Middlesex University, looked at people in three different locations - one in Bosnia and two in Kosovo. "So far all the results for every single one of the samples collected in Kosovo is showing some depleted uranium in the urine," he said. "That is completely abnormal, because normally you would expect no DU to be in the urine samples." No evidence His conclusion was that it was likely that the metal was present in the food chain. The study did not investigate possible health problems. Previous studies have found no evidence of a link, although a recent United Nations report acknowledged that there remain "considerable scientific uncertainties." The programme also reveals that a proposed voluntary testing programme for Kosovan civilians has been shelved following the intervention of the World Health Organisation. Teenager Vlora Marleku told the programme: "I am worried, I don't know what to say. This is something that touches you very deeply." Dr Lewis Moonie: "No risk to health" However, Dr Moonie said the DU levels posed no risk to health, and represented only a "tiny fraction" of naturally-occurring background uranium. "It is a very interesting result and one that needs to be followed up," he said. In February, the UK government defended its decision to go ahead with new tests of depleted uranium weapons at the Dundrennan military range near Kirkcudbright in Scotland. Dr Moonie said then that people in the south-west of Scotland had been subjected to scare stories about the dangers posed by the shells. The government is offering testing for those in the armed forces who are worried they may have been exposed to DU. However, he stressed that the aim was to offer reassurance to the troops and address their concerns. Eorpa will be shown on BBC2 Scotland on Thursday 12 April at 1930BST. ***************************************************************** 8 Britain to screen military for depleted uranium April 11, 03:45 PM LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has moved a step closer to screening military personnel exposed to depleted uranium. In a second consultative document, the Ministry of Defence has included a plan to offer urine testing to assess past exposure to DU, which is used in armour-busting weapons. Controversy over the use of DU weapons by NATO in the Balkans in 1999 erupted after reports from Italy that six of its soldiers died of leukaemia after Balkan peacekeeping duty. But the United Nations Environmental Programme last month concluded in a report that health hazards from DU exposure "appeared minimal". The screening tests will be made available on demand to British servicemen and MoD employees who served in the Gulf or the Balkans, the ministry said. The ministry also called for an oversight board which would allow veterans to assist in developing an "effective and validated screening programme". Once the results of the urine tests and study are available the ministry said, a permanent mass testing programme may be established as well as biological monitoring of those assessed at risk from DU exposure. Minister for Veterans Lewis Moonie said the second phase of consultation underlined the government's commitment "to addressing the issues openly". "We are using the best scientific and medical advice and techniques that are available to develop an appropriate test to address the concerns of our people and their families," Moonie said. (Reuters) ***************************************************************** 9 Radioactive substance stolen from MAP Ukrainian News KPnews.com -- News about Ukraine 11 Apr 2001 KYIV, Apr. 11 (Ukrainian News) - The theft of a radioactive substance from the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant was uncovered at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, the Emergencies Ministry announced Tuesday. According to the ministry’s press service, the substance can contaminate an area of 100 square meters if opened. According to an official at the Mykolaiv regional administration's emergencies department, representatives of the Emergency Ministry, the State Security Service, the police, and the factory are presently searching for the material. According to the MAP source, it would be difficult for a non-specialist to open the container, in which the substance is stored. The radioactive substance is used in some types of measuring instruments and equipment. © 2000 SputnikMedia.net ***************************************************************** 10 GIBBONS DECLARES VICTORY FOR DOE WORKERS Gibbons (NV02) - Press Release - April 12, 2001 *Secretary Chao Announces Compensation Program will Remain at * *Labor Department* Washington, D.C.— Following lobbying efforts by U.S. Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) and other members of Congress, Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Elaine Chao has decided to keep the implementation and administration of the Department of Energy (DOE) Workers Compensation Program within the Labor Department. Previously, Secretary Chao had asserted that the Department of Justice should administer the new compensation program. “This announcement is great news for the thousands of DOE workers who sacrificed their lives and their health while building our nation’s military arsenal,” stated Gibbons, a leading sponsor of the program who recently joined with his bipartisan colleagues in calling for DOL administration of the new compensation program. “I am very pleased by the prompt response of the Secretary to our concerns for the efficient administration of the program. DOL’s expertise in administering federal compensation programs and its network of regional offices will ensure that our Cold War warriors will no longer have to wait for the compensation they need and deserve.” Created last year by the Department of Defense Authorization Bill, the DOE Worker Compensation Program would compensate DOE workers who contracted illnesses and fatal diseases from exposure to radiation, beryllium, silica, and other toxic substances while employed at the Nevada Test Site and other government weapons facilities during the Cold War. Gibbons was a leading sponsor of the authorizing legislation for the program last year, and remained an active advocate for its timely and efficient implementation within the Department of Labor. ***************************************************************** 11 Chao reverses position, agrees to run benefits program Posted at 5:12 p.m. EDT Thursday, April 12, 2001 BY KATHERINE RIZZO *Associated Press Writer * WASHINGTON (AP) -- Labor Secretary Elaine Chao changed her mind and has agreed to take charge of distributing compensation to nuclear workers disabled or killed by Cold War-era exposure, a spokesman for Sen. George Voinovich said Thursday. Chao, however, is seeking an extension on a July 31 deadline for getting the program started, said Scott Milburn, the senator's press secretary. She also wants some changes in how rejected claims would be appealed, he said. Labor Department officials spent much of Thursday on the phone with senators and Senate aides trying to build support for the proposed changes. Congress gave the Labor Department $60.4 million to initiate the new entitlement program, reasoning it was well-prepared because Labor already runs three worker compensation programs. Chao had insisted her department lacked the resources needed to set up the program and said the Justice Department was better equipped. Lawmakers who worked hardest to get program opposed moving oversight. Ten House members introduced a bill to force the Labor Department to run the program for workers who became ill from being exposed to uranium dust, beryllium particles or lung-clogging silica. Nuclear workers in Paducah, Ky. also turned their union hall into an impromptu phone bank. They repeatedly contacted the offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urging him to persuade Chao to run the program. McConnell is married to Chao. The new program offers lifetime medical care and $150,000 to ailing workers who were employed in the nuclear weapons complex, at factories that worked for the Energy Department, or at nuclear test sites in Alaska and Nevada. By law, the government should be prepared to accept benefit applications on July 31. The new program is limited to those with radiation-related cancer, silicosis or chronic beryllium disease. Eligibility rules for some workers have been set by law, and the Labor Department must work out qualification guidelines for the rest. About 600,000 people worked in the weapons complex during the Cold War. The Energy Department preliminarily identified 317 sites in 37 states where exposed workers might qualify for benefits. A toll-free number set up by that department to field requests has logged more than 19,000 calls. ------ The toll-free information line is 1-877-447-9756. ------ On the Net: Text of compensation law and preliminary list of sites prepared by Department of Energy: http://tis.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/index.html AP-CS-04-12-01 1705EDT --> ***************************************************************** 12 DOE cleanup budget breaks critical promise Published April 11, 2001 Apparently, the federal Department of Energy's obligation and promise to clean up five decades of often carelessly discarded nuclear defense wastes at Hanford and other sites are to be sacrificed to Bush's campaign promise to cut taxes. One thing is for sure. The move will provoke Washington state officials, who have threatened to sue if the federal government doesn't keep its promise to clean up the mess it made at Hanford. The Bush administration's Department of Energy budget, unveiled Monday, cuts the agency's 2001 budget to $19.2 billion - down $500 million from the current year. Most of that cut - $347 million - will be carved from environmental cleanup. The news is particularly grim at Hanford, where budget increases are required to meet the Energy Department's legal obligations under the Tri-Party Agreement. The pact between Energy, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology establishes deadlines for critical cleanup work. The Energy Department's budget plunges into jeopardy one especially important deadline - completion of a plant to turn liquid radioactive wastes into glass logs by 2007. The so-called vitrification plant is key to stabilizing waste now stored in Hanford tanks, some of which are deteriorating. Under Bush's budget, Hanford's budget would be $400 million short of the $1.8 million minimum needed to meet its legal obligations in fiscal year 2002, which begins Oct. 1. The critical vitrification project alone, which needs $690 million in 2002, would get only $500 million under Bush's plan. Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who as the state's ecology director negotiated the now 12-year-old Tri-Party Agreement, says she's ready to sue if Congress doesn't do the right thing and bolster Hanford's cleanup budget to keep cleanup on track. With November's defeat of influential Republican U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, Washington's largely Democratic delegation doesn't have the influence with the Bush administration it could have had. The pressure is on Washington's senior senator and Hanford advocate, Democrat Patty Murray, as well as Gorton's successor, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell, to convince an evenly divided Senate. U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, a Republican whose district includes Hanford and whose party is committed to the tax cut, will have to convince his House colleagues of the need for the government to meet its cleanup obligations. That could be tough duty if the Republicans are listening to one of the Bush campaign's environmental affairs advisers, who recently released a report calling on the Energy Department to abandon its current nuclear cleanup program. Writing for the conservative Washington, D.C., think tank, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Robert H. Nelson seems to be advocating a disturbingly minimal approach to cleanup. Without an overhaul of Bush's budget by Congress, the chance of Hanford meeting its obligations with this inadequate budget is nil. As an editorial board that endorsed Bush for president, we commend his commitment to his campaign tax cut promise, but only if - and as much as - the nation can afford it. Attempting to accomplish the tax cut partially on the back of DOE's environmental cleanup obligations is unconscionable. To do so, Bush breaks what Hanford and other communities have seen as the federal government's moral and legal commitments to clean up nuclear wastes. What's your opinon? Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 13 Lab laser funding in limbo *Published Thursday, April 12, 2001, in the Contra Costa Newspapers * + The lack of a budget plan for weapons testing holds up money for NIF By Peter Felsenfeld TIMES STAFF WRITER A U.S. Department of Energy report this week certified that the National Ignition Facility has overcome managerial flaws, but failed to address one important requirement set forth by Congress. The report, which NIF proponents hoped would put an end to ongoing funding issues, has instead raised new questions about the massive laser project's future. In an unusual move last fall, legislators held back $69 million dollars from NIF's 2001 budget allocation because the project was reportedly four years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget. Before releasing the money, Congress required certification that six conditions had been met. In response, Air Force Gen. John Gordon, who heads the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, presented a glowing progress report Monday that concludes "the NIF project team is capable of managing the project so as to assure a high probability of successful execution." While addressing congressional concerns about cost overruns, construction schedule and technical issues, Gordon could not provide a five-year budget plan for the nation's stockpile stewardship program, a final condition for release of funds. The report states long-term figures will be available only after President Bush completes a "strategic review of national security-related activities." "Funding for the National Ignition Facility will be included in this plan," the report states. NIF, which is under construction at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, is considered a cornerstone of the stockpile stewardship program, which the DOE says aims to test the reliability of nuclear weapons without exploding them. Critics contend the program amounts to a cleverly concealed strategy to develop new nuclear devices. The 192-beam laser is designed to replicate pressures and temperatures only found in the sun and in nuclear explosions. The original appropriations bill contains vague language outlining the procedure for evaluating the certification, and no clues for examining an incomplete report. Gordon's certification comes at a time when Congress is on hiatus and most legislators are away from Washington. Both Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, a chief NIF supporter, and Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., perhaps its most vocal opponent, declined to comment on Gordon's report. Uncertainty surrounding the certification represents the latest twist in NIF's troubled journey toward full funding. Two project reviews intended to bolster the laser were thwarted by Federal District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan following legal challenges by environmental groups. Although the certification could proceed without the reviews, NIF critics hoped the lawsuits would force legislators to re-evaluate the project. "We're confident that some members of Congress will be disturbed," said Christopher Paine, a senior researcher for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which co-filed the suit. NIF also lost critical laser glass shipments in February as the certification deadline neared. Responding to protests in Japan, Hoya Corp., the company responsible for supplying half of NIF's 3,100 optic plates, suspended shipments to the lab.* Peter Felsenfeld covers the national labs. Reach him at 925-847-2184 or pfelsenfeld@cctimes.com.* ContraCostaTimes.com ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************