***************************************************************** 02/17/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.44 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 WIPP May House Underground Lab 2 NRC freezes CP&L spent nuclear fuel storage plan 3 Green Energy Could Empower 10 Midwestern States 4 Repairs at nuclear reactor to last through at least mid-May 5 Calif. San Onofre nuke unit seen down for another 3-4 months 6 Canadian Reactor Rumors Stir Nuclear Debate 7 Premier stands firm on referendum idea 8 Don't plan on dumping your waste in Russia 9 Toxic Utah: Firms take pains to avoid polluter list 10 250 Uzbek workers to toil on KEDO project in N. Korea 11 New blow to BNFL's Mox fuel contract prospects 12 Utah firms take great efforts to avoid Superfund stigma 13 Nuclear Restructuring Planned 14 Nuclear Waste Poses 'No Threat' 15 Fear Of Nuclear Waste Grips Northern Kenya 16 Leavitt will use environmentalists, lawyers to fight plan to NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Support building for 'whistleblower' 2 Hanford ships uranium cylinders to Ohio 3 Security firm warns of Flats risk 4 Cleanup contractor gets hefty paycheck from DOE 5 Microbes may be corroding casings of monitor wells Stations check 6 Scientists looking for underground lab site 7 Schultz controversy addressed by Army 8 URANIUM AND YOU 9 Putin proposes missile defense system for Europe 10 NRDC: Scientists' and Engineers' Pledge to Renounce Weapons of 11 Anti-nuke flotilla to sail again in South Pacific 12 Nuclear arms security worries CIA - 13 Kosovo DU rounds contained plutonium 14 We have learned nothing from nuclear accident 15 The chemical effects of DU * 16 Nuke labs trolling for engineers 17 Beryllium dust is released into residential site ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 WIPP May House Underground Lab Friday, February 16, 2001 Albuquerque Journal--> John Fleck--> By *Journal Staff Writer* A group of scientists interested in building an underground physics laboratory to "listen to nature's secrets whispered across the universe" will visit Carlsbad today to consider locating the lab in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Backers say the underground nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad is an ideal home for such a lab. They are contending with competing factions hoping to build the lab in either South Dakota or California. They also must persuade the federal government to pay for such a lab, wherever it is built. The lab could be used to detect neutrinos from the sun or help in the search for the universe's mysterious missing "dark matter," said Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Todd Haines. Earth's surface is a noisy place for scientists trying to study some of the universe's quietest phenomena, like the subtle noise of a neutrino, said WIPP scientist Roger Nelson. Cosmic rays banging down from space create a cacophony of unwanted noise in scientists' instruments, Nelson explained. "How does one listen to nature's secrets whispered across the universe?" Nelson asked. Scientists' answer is to locate their instruments deep underground. The thick Earth blocks out the cosmic noise, while the things they are interested in, like the neutrinos, pass through the planet as if it wasn't there. Nelson said radiation from nuclear waste being disposed of in WIPP wouldn't be a problem. The waste would be more than a half mile away from the laboratory, shielded by waste containers and the thick salt beds in which WIPP was dug, he said. Because the salt bed in which WIPP was built doesn't contain naturally occurring uranium, WIPP actually has less radiation than a typical hard rock mine, Nelson said. Underground physics experiments have long been done in mines, but no major laboratory in the United States is capable of supporting the work, Haines said. Haines as a result has had to travel to Japan to work on a research project that needs the quiet of an underground laboratory. Neutrinos are a favorite target of the underground research. They are the tiniest bits of matter in the universe, so tiny they fly right through Earth rather than stopping when they hit it. Once thought to be weightless, the tiny neutrino now stands at the center of a revolution in physicists' three-decade-old understanding of the basic laws of matter. Underground detectors are the tools of choice to study them. WIPP is one of three sites being studied by a scientific committee trying to come up with a plan for an underground lab. The Homestake gold mine in South Dakota also is in the running, and a group from California is pushing the idea of digging a tunnel into the side of Mount San Jacinto, east of Los Angeles. WIPP's backers say its existing heavy elevators, modern mine safety equipment and advanced power and communication systems make it an ideal location. The number of lab employees and size of its budget haven't been determined, but Haines said the lab likely would draw hundreds of international researchers. The committee visiting WIPP today and Saturday is an ad-hoc group of scientists formed to help U.S. physics researchers come up with a recommendation on an underground lab. The committee's recommendations will be given to federal officials trying to decide whether to build such a lab, and if so, where. While in Carlsbad, the committee will meet with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M. Domenici said in a telephone interview Thursday he supports bringing the lab to WIPP. "It's exciting," Domenici said of the project. Domenici serves on the Senate subcommittees that fund the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundations, the two agencies likely to pay the bills for the lab. ***************************************************************** 2 NRC freezes CP&L spent nuclear fuel storage plan [Reuters] Friday February 16, 3:28 pm Eastern Time WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Federal regulators on Friday put on hold Carolina Power and Light Co.'s plan to store more spent fuel at its Shearon Harris nuclear power plant located near Raleigh, North Carolina. CP&L is one of two major electric utilities owned by Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE:PGN - news). Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff approved in December the electric utility's request to put two additional spent fuel pools in service at the 900-megawatt power plant. However, the commission said on Friday it wants agency staff to provide more information about their action and directed CP&L not to store fuel in the new pools. The commission acted following a request from the Board of Commissioners of Orange County, N.C. for an immediate suspension and stay of the amended operating license approved by NRC staff. The agency's five-person commission rejected the Orange County petition, arguing it was not permitted by NRC regulations, but said it would determine whether to exercise its discretion and review the staff's decision. The commission has given its staff 14 days to provide additional information and views on the matter. The Harris plant was originally designed for four reactors, but only one was completed. However, the plant has four spent fuel pools as initially planned. The NRC issued a license for the Harris plant in 1987, authorizing CP&L to use two of the four pools to store spent fuel from the facility and the utility's other nuclear power reactors -- Brunswick Units 1 and 2 near Southport, North Carolina and the H.B. Robinson plant near Hartsville, South Carolina. The utility asked the NRC in December 1998 for an amended operating license to place the two other spent fuel pools in service at Harris to provide storage for all four of its nuclear units. Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or ***************************************************************** 3 Green Energy Could Empower 10 Midwestern States Environment News Service: CHICAGO, Illinois, February 15, 2001 (ENS) - To help the American Midwest avoid the energy problems California has been suffering, the Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest has offered a plan to help diversify energy sources, reduce pollution, increase energy efficiency and improve the reliability of the power supply. Based in Chicago, the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) is a Midwestern public interest environmental legal advocacy and eco-business innovation organization. "Repowering the Midwest: The Clean Energy Development Plan for the Heartland," was developed in conjunction with a steering committee that includes Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Dakota Resource Council, Iowa RENEW, Izaak Walton League of America, Minnesotans for an Energy Efficient Economy, RENEW Wisconsin and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report focuses on 10 Midwestern states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. [turbines] 33-MVS wind turbines at Buffalo Ridge near Lake Benton, Minnesota (Photo by Jerry Miller courtesy Northern States Power) It uses computer modeling to compare the Midwest's energy future through 2020 using business as usual practices versus implementing the Clean Energy Development Plan. The plan calls for expanding investment in energy efficiency and for increasing supplies of renewable electricity, including power generated from wind, solar and biomass resources. In addition to diversifying the power supply, these strategies to develop modern energy efficiency technologies would curb electricity consumption by 17 percent over the next decade and 28 percent by 2020, while yielding dramatic reductions in hazardous pollution, according to the report. "What is happening in California is a wake-up call to the rest of the country," said Howard Learner, ELPC executive director. "As the 21st century begins, the Midwest can lead the way to a clean energy future. Repowering the Midwest is a blueprint for sustainable energy development that will produce economically robust and environmentally sound electricity throughout the heartland." "The lesson of California is to plan ahead now by investing in clean energy efficiency. Let's not wait until we have to struggle with crisis management," Learner said. The Midwest is in a strong position to capitalize economically on the development of clean energy, the report finds. The region is a budding manufacturing center for modern energy efficient technologies that save money and avoid pollution. Some manufacturing of renewable energy components is already happening in the Midwest. In August of 1999, Chicago entered into a partnership with the Department of Energy to become the first city to undertake a BrightfieldsCM project. Working with the electric utility Commonwealth Edison and Spire Corporation, a solar equipment manufacturer, this partnership has succeeded in developing a new, 15 million dollar market for solar photovoltaic technologies in Chicago. [solar] A 30 kW solar installation on the roof of Chicago's Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum was recently completed by Spire. Ten solar systems will be installed on Chicago museums by the end of 2001. (Photo courtesy ) Spire Solar Chicago, will provide a 500 kW solar photovoltaic system for deployment on a reclaimed industrial dumping ground and landfill on Chicago’s south side. This system will be manufactured and installed in monthly increments over a three year period. Once completed, the first 500 kW will generate approximately 750,000 kWh of pollution free electricity per year, enough to power 100 homes, and offset over 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. ComEd will provide $3 million in funding for the initial installment, with additional site and project funding coming from the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago. When it comes to wind power, six of the 10 states with the highest wind potential are in the Midwest, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Iowa and Minnesota are leading the way with more than 500 megawatts of wind power - an amount equivalent to the size of a typical coal plant - coming online since 1998. "Energy efficiency is the best, fastest and cheapest way to avoid power shortages," Learner said. "By investing in available modern clean energy technology now, we will be investing in the future of our businesses, schools and communities." Nebraska is moving right now to cash in on renewable energy. Two bills were introduced in the Nebraska Legislature on February 9 that will make the production and sale of renewable energies possible in the state. One bill would establish a renewable portfolio standard for all retail electricity suppliers who sell to Nebraska residents. If the bill becomes law, beginning January 1, 2004, each retail electricity supplier would be required to have one percent of its total kilowatt-hours sold to retail customers in Nebraska come from a renewable energy source. The percentage would increase one percent each year until 2012 when it would cap at 10 percent. [Nebraska] These two Zond Z-750 wind turbines, near Springview, Nebraska, can generate 750 kilowatts (kW) apiece. The owners are Nebraska Public Power District, KBR Rural Public Power District, Lincoln Electric System, City of Grand Island, City of Auburn, and the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska. KBR Rural Public Power District operates the turbines. (Photo by Warren Gretz courtesy National Renewable Energy Lab) The second bill would legalize net-metering so that people who generate more power than they use at home or at work can sell it back to the power grid for other customers to use. "Nebraska is facing an important choice," said Nebraska Senator Don Preister who introduced the two bills. "We can become a national leader in wind energy development just as we have with ethanol production or we can continue to rely on imported fossil fuels and expensive, aging nuclear plants." Alan Nogee, director of UCS's Clean Energy Program and a member of the report's steering committee, said, "California took a detour from this path in the 1990s, and is now paying a heavy price in power shortages and higher prices. This report can help the region and the nation avoid making California's mistakes. We can have reliable and affordable energy supplies while cleaning up the environment." During the California deregulation debate in the mid-1990s, the state's utilities slashed energy conservation and renewable energy programs. "California utilities cut their energy efficiency programs in half, and persuaded federal regulators to kill a state program to develop renewable energy sources," said Nogee. "Gutting these California programs eliminated the equivalent of 3,200 megawatts of planned power plant capacity - enough to serve 3.2 million homes - and contributed to today's power shortages and higher electricity prices." "We need a national energy policy that puts energy efficiency and clean renewable energy development first," said Nogee. By increasing energy efficiency measures, demand for electricity will remain essentially constant over time instead of growing steadily each year. ELPC predicts that coal and nuclear power generation will decline and renewable energy resources will rise, to supply roughly eight percent of America's power by 2010 and 22 percent by 2020. That will reduce the emissions that cause acid rain, smog and global warming, as well as cut nuclear waste. The report notes that these clean energy resources will not reach their full potential without public policy support. Coal plants and nuclear energy currently receive substantial financial subsidies and policy benefits, and the report says policies are needed to reduce the "market barriers" currently hindering energy efficiency and renewable energy resources. The plan calls for an energy efficiency investment fund to be developed at the state and federal levels to support energy efficient development. The report also suggests that Congress should enact legislation to provide substantial matching energy efficiency investment funds that can be used by states to supplement or partially offset their investment funds. The report recommends federal and state legislation to establish a renewables portfolio standard, which would require all electricity suppliers to include a specified percentage of renewable resources in their generation mix. It also proposes creation of a renewable energy investment fund to support wind, solar and biomass power development. Utilities and state utility regulatory commissions across the Midwest should work cooperatively to establish standard business interconnection terms and conditions that will help overcome existing institutional barriers, ELPC advises. For the executive summary or full copy of the report, visit: . ***************************************************************** 4 Repairs at nuclear reactor to last through at least mid-May sacbee: Cal Report SAN ONOFRE, Calif. (AP) -- A nuclear reactor at the San Onofre power plant that was damaged by an electrical fire will be out of service at least through mid-May. The fire, which started in an electrical switching room, caused "extensive damage" to the turbine rotors, bearings and other components in one of the plant's two reactors, according to a report filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Southern California Edison. Publicly traded companies must report to the commission anything that could substantially affect future earnings. Southern California Edison is the majority owner of the San Onofre plant. The Feb. 3 fire caused the reactor to shut down automatically. No radiation was released and no one was injured. A second reactor continues to produce electricity. Edison expects the damaged unit will return to service sometime between mid-May and mid-June. The company will lose between $80 million and $100 million in revenue depending on when operations return to normal, according to the SEC filing. At full power, the plant in northern San Diego County generates 1,120 megawatts, enough to power 1.1 million homes and businesses. Copyright © The Sacramento Bee ***************************************************************** 5 Calif. San Onofre nuke unit seen down for another 3-4 months Friday February 16, 5:15 pm Eastern Time Calif. San Onofre nuke unit seen down for another 3-4 months LOS ANGELES, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The 1,080 megawatt Unit 3 at the San Onofre nuclear power plant in southern California is expected to return to service sometime between mid-May and mid-June, the plant's operator said on Friday. Utility Southern California Edison (SCE) said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that a fire on February 3 resulted in extensive damage to the turbine rotors, bearings and other components. SCE, a unit of Edison International (NYSE:EIX - news), owns 75 percent of the plant while Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE - news) unit San Diego Gas &Electric has a 20 percent stake. The balance is owned by the cities of Anaheim and Riverside. The San Onofre nuclear power complex is located on the edge of the Pacific Ocean between Los Angeles and San Diego, and is adjacent to Camp Pendleton, the U.S. Marine Base. Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 Canadian Reactor Rumors Stir Nuclear Debate Environment News Service: By Neville Judd OTTAWA, Canada, February 16, 2001 (ENS) - An environmental group claims the Canadian government is about to subsidize the country's leading vendor of nuclear power reactors by C$500 million (US$324.8 million). The Sierra Club of Canada says the money is for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and the National Research Council (NRC) to build a new reactor known as the Canadian Neutron Facility at AECL's Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories in Ontario, 150 kilometers (93 miles) northwest of Ottawa. [testing] Testing at AECL's Chalk River lab in Ontario. (Photos courtesy AECL) A spokesman for AECL told ENS that the Sierra Club would probably have protested the distribution of electricity a century ago. The government owned AECL builds and sells nuclear power reactors, including CANDU power reactors, MAPLE research reactors and the MACSTOR advanced spent fuel storage system. The company is involved in research and development and provides nuclear engineering products and services to customers worldwide. A proposal to build the Canadian Neutron Facility has been before the federal government for two years. Canada's current research reactor, National Research Universal (NRU), was built in 1957 and is not expected to operate beyond 2005. The NRU produces a majority of the world's supply of medical isotopes to diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease and other illnesses. And it is used for materials research, providing neutrons for university and private sector industrial research. Neutrons can detect light elements as easily as dark elements, making them a useful research and development tool for scientists studying metals and biological and polymer materials. If built, the CNF will continue the NRU's work on materials research and develop and test a new generation of CANDU reactors, as well as support existing CANDU reactors. CANDUs generate 14 percent of Canada's electricity. [candu] AECL's Candu 9 reactor. Active in Canada since 1969, the Sierra Club wants nuclear power phased out. It claims rumors circulating in Ottawa and the recent throne speech point to the imminent announcement of funding for the neutron facility. The Governor General Adrienne Clarkson delivered the throne speech January 30 to open the first session of this year's parliament. Clarkson said the government would "continue to pursue excellence in Canadian research by strengthening the research capacity of Canadian universities and government laboratories and institutions." Clarkson announced the government's intention to "at least double the current federal investment in research and development by 2010." "Far from reducing government funding for nuclear power, $500 million for this new reactor would push subsidies into the stratosphere," said Sierra Club policy consultant Dave Martin. "The government should invest in people not reactors. The $500 million for this reactor could fund 100 nurses for 70 years, buy 100 MRI [Magnetic Resonance Imaging] machines and operate them for three years, or treat two and a half million emergency patients." Martin recalled a March 1996 budget announcement, in which the government decided to lower AECL's subsidies by eliminating its material research program. The Chretien government pledged to reduce AECL subsidies to $100 million (US$65 million) per year by 1999. [Clarkson] Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor General) According to Sierra Club, the AECL received a subsidy of $156 million (US$101 million) last year. This is the first of several points, AECL spokesman Larry Shewchuk took issue with. "For the 1999-2000 fiscal year, the funding was $105 million for research and development," said Shewchuk. "There was one time, additional funding to cover Y2K, which all government departments got. If you include Y2K, then total government funding was $137 million." The proposed cost of the neutron facility is $466 million, said Shewchuk, not $500 million. The Sierra Club wants potential users, not the government, to pay for the construction and operating costs of the new reactor, if it is built. The group identifies utilities and private corporations as the source of this funding. "Utility companies have little if any requirement for neutron research," said Shewchuk. "Private corporations are billed for research time on NRU and they would be billed for their time on the CNF. "After 43 years, it's probably incalculable to estimate how much money NRU has earned over its initial investment. I don't understand the Sierra Club's hangup over government funding of the CNF." [Chretien] Prime Minister Jean Chretien. (Photo courtesy Office of the Prime Minister) Shewchuk said that if the government does fund CNF it would be more akin to an investment than a subsidy. Martin called the CNF a "make work" project. "I guess it's ironic that NRU's neutrons provided the basic science that years later evolved into computers and email, so the Sierra Club can write and email journalists statements arguing we shouldn't continue neutron research," said Shewchuk. "The Sierra Club benefits from neutrons as much as anybody else. If we turned the clock back 100 years, the Sierra Club would probably be protesting the distribution of electricity. "The Sierra Club suggests the money should instead be used to buy MRI machines. Without a source of neutrons, we wouldn't have the development of machines like MRI units. What new medical technologies might we miss out on if we follow the Sierra Club's reasoning?" The Sierra Club said that the proposed CNF is not intended to produce medical isotopes. Two MAPLE reactors currently under construction in Chalk River will produce the medical isotopes now produced by NRU for a private company, MDS Nordion, and not the North American research community. The group said the CNF is not needed because materials and reactor research can be conducted at other international facilities. "It would be much more cost effective for Canadian companies to buy time on the global network of neutron sources," said a Sierra Club spokesperson. "There are four high flux neutron reactor sources in operation or planned - two in the United States, one in France and one in Russia. In addition, there are 18 medium flux reactors - similar to the NRU and the proposed CNF - in operation or under construction around the world." © Environment News Service ***************************************************************** 7 Premier stands firm on referendum idea The Taipei Times Online: 2001-02-17 Saturday, February 17th, 2001 CONTINUING ARGUMENT: Chang Chun-hsiung is confident that a plebiscite on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant could be held without a related law being passed by legislators By Stephanie Low STAFF REPORTER Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (±i«T¶¯) said yesterday that the Executive Yuan is "cautiously weighing" the possibility of holding a non-binding referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (®Ö¥|) along with the year-end legislative elections. Chang made the remark during a courtesy call to the legislature yesterday, responding to questions from opposition legislators who were concerned about the DPP's intention to push for a public referendum in December to seek a "final" solution to the controversial project. While a referendum law is unlikely to pass without support from opposition lawmakers, the anti-nuclear DPP has argued that a referendum on the project could still be held without a law. "Without a legal basis, a referendum will be no more than an alternative opinion poll. This will be for reference purposes only and won't have any legal effect," Chang said. "Because of this concern, the Executive Yuan is still studying [the possibility of holding such a referendum] and at the same time proposing to negotiate with the opposition parties on the enactment of a referendum law," Chang added. During the visit, Chang presented to the legislators a list of 17 priority bills and amendments that the Executive Yuan wishes to pass in this legislative session, topped by the referendum law. Chang said that the lack of an institutional measure to solve a public policy dispute was responsible for the 20-year debate over the plant, during which Taiwan had paid a heavy price. "If we don't seize this opportunity to set up a permanent system, the price we have paid will be worthless," Chang said. On the legislators' question as to whether the plant issue will be put to a referendum under the new law, Chang did not offer a definite answer. "This will depend on how the rules are set after the legislature passes the law," Chang said. Opposition lawmakers have insisted that a public policy that is already in place should be excluded from a referendum. Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (¤ýª÷¥­), meanwhile, warned of the risk of triggering a fresh round of turmoil if the Executive Yuan plans to use its power to hold a public referendum on the plant project -- when it has just announced a resumption of the work to calm months of political unrest. "It will cause a lot of problems and suspicion that the Executive Yuan is trying to interfere with the elections," Wang said. Hwang Yih-jiau (¶À¸q¥æ), spokesman for the People First Party (PFP) legislative caucus, urged Chang to take a neutral stand on the matter, rather than siding with the DPP. "The ruling party, based on campaign considerations, may see a need to split the 23 million people into two extremes -- anti-nuclear and pro-nuclear camps -- so as to gain an advantageous position. But as the nation's top executive, the premier should perform his duty according to the law," Hwang said. It is generally believed that the DPP may be able to secure support from traditional, anti-nuclear DPP voters, who constitute around 30 percent of the electorate, if the plant becomes a major issue in the year-end elections. In this scenario, the three major opposition parties, including the KMT, PFP and New Party, would be forced to vie for the 50 percent of the electorate who support the plant project. This story has been viewed 278 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/02/17/story/0000074012] Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 8 Don't plan on dumping your waste in Russia The Taipei Times Online: 2001-02-17 Saturday, February 17th, 2001 By Vladimir Slivyak There has been extensive coverage in Taiwan's press recently about the possibility of Taiwan dumping its nuclear waste in Russia. Taipower (¥x¹q), like many other nuclear power companies around the world, has a great interest in shipping its nuclear waste overseas because it cannot find a domestic solution. That being so, I would like to make several points to clarify the situation in Russia. Russia's Environmental Law bans the importation of radioactive waste. The Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom), however, is attempting to amend this law in order to be able to import such waste. On Dec. 21, 2000, the State Duma (the lower house of Parliament) approved in the first reading bills lifting a ban on imports of spent nuclear fuel. Radioactive waste currently under discussion does not include "low level waste." According to the drafts, foreign "spent nuclear fuel" may be imported for either storage up to 50 years, for reprocessing. `We have been shocked by the Taipower statement that radioactive waste can be stored [this means "dumped"] in Russia permanently.' It is important to mention that the bills have passed only their first reading. During the second and third readings, some amendments may be added, but fundamental changes, such as expanding imports for all kinds of radioactive waste for disposal, cannot be made. Moreover, the bills can be rejected at any stage by the Duma or, the Federation Council (the assembly of governors of Russian regions) or the president. Once the bills have been approved, Taipower might try and export its spent fuel to Russia for reprocessing, but this will just create a bigger problem because all nuclear waste produced by reprocessing -- more hazardous than spent fuel itself in terms of radioactivity and volume -- will be returned to the country of origin. We have been shocked by a Taipower statement that radioactive waste can be stored (this means "dumped") in Russia permanently. This reveals a total misunderstanding of the proposed legislation, if not an attempt to mislead the Taiwan public into opting for an "out of sight, out of mind" solution. The public is strongly opposed to Minatom's proposal. According to Russia's national public opinion research center, 93.5 percent of the people are against this plan. Last summer, in just two months, Russian environmental groups collected approximately 3 million signatures demanding the holding of a national referendum on the importation of radioactive waste. On Jan. 15, dozens of Russian environmental groups protested in more than 20 cities in western and central Russia, the Urals and Siberia. Strong public opposition to the importation of nuclear waste is growing extremely rapidly. It indicates, I believe, that the amendment to the Environmental Law will not take place, unless the government ignores the people. Cooperation between nations on solving nuclear waste problems would of course be welcomed, but such cooperation must not come at the sacrifice of the lives and futures of residents of other countries. *Vladimir Slivyak is the co-chairman of ECODEFENSE!, an international non-profit environmental NGO founded in 1990 in Kaliningrad, Russia.* This story has been viewed 184 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/02/17/story/0000074063] Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2001 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 Toxic Utah: Firms take pains to avoid polluter list [deseretnews.com] Saturday, February 17, 2001 Sandy company spends millions to clean the air By Donna Kemp Spangler and Jerry D. Spangler Deseret News staff writers It's not exactly an honor list. In fact, industry bosses cringe whenever their companies make the Toxic Release Inventory — a catalog of the nation's worst polluters compiled annually by the Environmental Protection Agency. ['Image'] Magnesium Corp. of America emits more air pollution, mostly clorine, than any other U.S. company. [''] *SCOTT G. WINTERTON, DESERET NEWS* "For businesses, it is typically the kind of list you don't want to be on," said Cal Alexander, vice president of operations for Becton-Dickinson, which makes medical devices at its Sandy plant. Becton-Dickinson's Sandy plant has tried to avoid the list by changing the chemicals it uses from those that harm the environment to those that are less damaging. For instance, the company no longer releases ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical used to sterilize the medical devices. Now, the company contracts for the sterilization process with a New Mexico firm that has state-of-the-art pollution-control equipment that captures most of the ethylene oxide gas before it is released into the atmosphere. "We did not just ship the problem to New Mexico," Alexander insists. Instead, the New Mexico company offered a cleaner alternative. "We chose the high road," he said. "We are a medical company. We think of ourselves as a company that helps people. We like to be thought of as a clean industry." Becton-Dickinson is now trying to phase out another solvent that is linked to global warming. And it's making good strides. "We're getting real close," Alexander said. In 1993, the company replaced dangerous, solvent-like Freon used as a lubricant on medical equipment with a chemical that is less harmful. And by 2002, the company will switch to an even cleaner substitute that doesn't have near the impact on ozone depletion. "Industry, in general, is struggling to find substitute chemicals that work as well," Alexander said. The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce its pollution, and it has paid off environmentally. The Sandy plant is among the top 10 companies in North America with an environmental certification. "We were the first medical device company in North America to achieve it," Alexander said. "It is our measure of social responsibility to reduce our waste." But a host of other Utah companies are still struggling. Two make the list every year and are at or near the top of the nation's worst polluters. Magnesium Corp. of America emits more air pollution — chlorine mostly — than any other company in America. And Kennecott makes the list because of releases of 33.9 million pounds of various toxic materials — mostly natural byproducts of copper mining — to the air, land and water. Since 1987, the Environmental Protection Agency has required all manufacturing companies that emit pollutants to submit annual reports totaling the amount and type of emissions. In 1997, the types of industries required to report were expanded to include mining companies and power plants. Mining companies like Kennecott are screaming foul because the materials being listed as toxic are usually nothing more than natural rocks being pulled out of the mountainside and left behind because they did not contain enough ore to be processed. "The TRI is the most misleading inventory I know of," said Kennecott spokesman Louis Cononelos. "You move one rock and it becomes toxic. It makes no sense." Theoretically, the Toxic Release Inventory allows citizens to know the types of toxic substances released by companies in their neighborhoods. In reality, "Knowing the pounds of exotic chemicals is not going to help people (assess the risks)," said Neil Taylor, an environmental scientist with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. "There are a lot of questions about what the numbers really mean." A more important question, he said, is how the companies manage the toxic chemicals and whether they are allowed to escape the confines of the business properties and contaminate neighborhoods. That question is not addressed in the TRI, nor is information provided about the dangers of particular chemicals. "Gross poundage doesn't mean anything in terms of managing risk," Taylor said. Still, for all its flaws, the TRI is the only tool whereby the public can readily determine what kinds of toxins are produced by industry in their neighborhoods. But it's fairly complex and esoteric, and without advanced degrees in chemistry and epidemiology, the report probably doesn't mean much to an individual trying to assess environmental risks. More than anything, the TRI has become a tool for state environmental regulators and health officials who can now compare and contrast pollution data with health dangers. For example, epidemiologists looking at clusters of cancers or rare diseases now have a "one-stop shop" for pollution data from nearby businesses. Taylor said environmental regulators often knew that chemicals were being released, but until the TRI they didn't know exactly how much, nor specific types. In some cases, regulators did not have an inkling of certain releases until the TRI. "More than anything, the TRI has changed company policy," Taylor said. "They are uncomfortable reporting the chemicals, they don't want to be on the list." Still, Taylor cautions against putting too much stock in the TRI. For starters, there are smokestack-sized loopholes in the TRI reporting requirements. Citing an obscure EPA report, Taylor says the TRI represents only about 1 percent of all the toxic substances released. Companies with fewer than 10 employees are not required to report. Nor are companies that emit less than 10,000 pounds annually of any single toxic chemical, even if the total of all chemicals is well above the threshold. Furthermore, only manufacturers, power companies and mining operations are required to report. For example, hospitals operate medical waste incinerators, but they are not required to report. Nor are mom-and-pop dry cleaners or repair shops or auto body shops that use degreasers and solvents. And that has proven to be a vexing problem for state regulators. "Chlorinated solvents were not managed properly in the past, and now we are finding them in shallow groundwater," Taylor said, pointing to a case where Salt Lake water officials are now treating a drinking-water well in Sugarhouse Park that has been contaminated with chlorinated solvents. "Past disposal practices have created a lot of problems for us now," he said. "We have found they stay in the environment for a long, long time." *E-mail: donna@desnews.com; spang@desnews.com* © 2001 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 10 250 Uzbek workers to toil on KEDO project in N. Korea SEOUL Feb. 16 Kyodo - An international consortium to build two light-water reactors in North Korea will employ 250 Uzbek workers in the project from early March under an agreement with Tashkent, South Korea's Unification Ministry said Friday. The decision was based on service protocols signed between the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) and North Korea in January 1997. Under them, the consortium will hire staff from KEDO member states for the rapid and smooth construction of the reactors. Uzbekistan joined KEDO in December last year. The agreement on hiring Uzbek workers was signed Thursday between (South) Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), the project's prime contractor, and the Uzbek government, according to a statement by the ministry. KEDO recently notified Pyongyang of its decision to hire Uzbeks, but it has not responded. The move comes amid stalled pay negotiations with North Korean workers that have delayed construction of the reactors, project sources said. Currently, 200 North Koreans and about 700 South Koreans work at the construction site in Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, about 250 kilometers northeast of Pyongyang. The undertaking is based on a 1994 pact between the North and the United States. They agreed Pyongyang would freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear development program, suspected of being used for nuclear weapons production, in return for the reactors. Set up in 1995 and based in New York, KEDO has the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union as its board members. The monthly pay for Uzbeks is reported to have been set at $110, the same as for North Koreans, who have been demanding an almost sixfold pay hike since last spring. About 100 workers have been on daily strikes to put pressure on KEDO, the sources said. Partly due to the wage talks, the project will not be complete before 2008. The original target was 2003. 2000 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. ***************************************************************** 11 New blow to BNFL's Mox fuel contract prospects FT.com | News and Analysis | Business in Brief Article By Matthew Jones in London and Ken Hijino in Tokyo Published: February 16 2001 17:01GMT | Last Updated: February 16 2001 22:29GMT [BNFL / japan] Local government officials in Japan have dealt another blow to the future of British Nuclear Fuels' £460m ($667m) Sellafield Mox plant, increasing the uncertainty over vital Mox fuel supply contracts. The governor of Fukushima prefecture, which was expected to be the first Japanese region to allow the use of Mox fuel, has called for a re-think on nuclear energy policy and caution in using the fuel. Japan is BNFL's largest potential market for Mox. Failure to win contracts would mean that the Sellafield plant could not be opened, jeopardising around 1,800 jobs and casting doubt on the future of Thorp, the group's thermal oxide reprocessing plant. Eisaku Sato, Fukushima governor, said he would like to conduct a review of the nuclear power programme over the next year and to gauge the support of local people. His comments prompted the governor of Niigata prefecture to effectively put the use of Mox on hold by saying it would not be the first to give approval for loading the fuel. Main construction on BNFL's Sellafield Mox plant was completed in 1996 but Michael Meacher, the environment minister, is said to be reluctant to authorise the start of operations until BNFL can prove it has firm contracts from Japan. A data falsification scandal last year has so far delayed the signing of contracts but BNFL has recently said it was winning back Japanese customers' confidence through a series of tough measures to improve safety at Sellafield. A BNFL official played down the governors' comments and said it would continue preparations to open the Mox plant. "The thing we have to focus on is that there has been no change in policy by either the utilities that operate the reactors or the national government," he said. Mox was developed as a way of recycling spent fuel by combining plutonium recovered during reprocessing with fresh uranium. Green groups argue that it presents an unacceptable risk to society by perpetuating the manufacture of plutonium, which is used in nuclear warheads. BNFL is currently transporting a shipment of Mox fuel to Niigata for Cogema, its French competitor. The shipment, which is due to arrive in Japan next month, has already met with a number of protests from the New Zealand government and Australian anti-nuclear campaigners. Cogema said it would continue with the transport, despite the fact that the fuel may not be loaded into a reactor for up to a year. Jean-Jacques Gautrot, commercial director, said: "It is quite common in Japan for the local population to be consulted on nuclear energy matters and so far it is too early to say whether this will be good or bad news." more from FT.com Timeline: BNFL BNFL to ***************************************************************** 12 Utah firms take great efforts to avoid Superfund stigma [deseretnews.com] Saturday, February 17, 2001 By Donna Kemp Spangler and Jerry D. Spangler Deseret News staff writers the old Salt Lake Gun Club on Redwood Road, workers are sifting through tons of mud and muck trying to remove countless lead BBs left over from millions of shotgun blasts. ['Image'] Goldfield engineer Paul Peterson looks over lead shot that is being sifted from the dirt at old Salt Lake Gun Club. [''] *JEFFREY D. ALLRED, DESERET NEWS* It's a tedious task, said Bill Rees, an environmental scientist who is overseeing the cleanup for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). "It's like trying to find a needle in the haystack." But the property owner, Crete Carrier Corp. of Lincoln, Neb., has voluntarily agreed to clean up the pellets that have contaminated the dirt with lead. The company likes that approach, saying the state's voluntary cleanup program is a far cry from a federal Superfund listing. "A Superfund site carries a lot of baggage with it," Rees said. The old gun club is one of 14 badly polluted properties across the state now being cleaned up voluntarily. Since 1997 when the Utah Legislature enacted the program, seven contaminated sites have been completely cleaned up. Quite simply, industry officials like the state approach as much as they loathe Superfund, the federal program that has been the hallmark of industrial cleanups since the 1970s. For one thing, once the property is cleaned up under the state program, state environmental regulators issue a "certificate of completion" that certifies that the property is clean. The certificate releases the developer from any responsibility or liability for the contamination, and it turns once-unusable lands into prime development properties. "It provides a little bit of comfort that the state may not come back to the applicant for further enforcement action," Rees said. Voluntary cleanup also is quicker and less costly than Superfund, primarily because it is pursued voluntarily without costly litigation and compliance requirements that typically dog Superfund projects. ['Image'] Sifting through sand and debris to find shot at the old Salt Lake Gun Club is a tedious process for Paul Peterson. [''] *JEFFREY D. ALLRED, DESERET NEWS* Not that Superfund hasn't played an important role in cleaning up some of Utah's worst toxic messes. To date, more than $500 million in private and federal dollars has been spent cleaning up 12 contaminated Superfund sites in Salt Lake County alone, from the infamous lead and arsenic contamination around the Sharon Steel plant in Midvale to the toxic chemicals at the American Barrel site in downtown Salt Lake City near the Triad Center. Cleanups have been completed at eight Superfund sites, while work is still being done at seven others. Five other Utah sites have been proposed for Superfund listing, but these are being cleaned up under cooperative agreements whereby the property owners can avoid the Superfund stigma if they meet certain federal requirements. Funded by a tax on petrochemicals, Superfund — more accurately the National Priority List — has been the primary weapon in the battle to clean up an industrial legacy that, prior to the passage of environmental laws in the early 1970s, resulted in dangerously polluted air, water and land. But state officials say Superfund is a dinosaur whose time has passed. The tax that funded the Superfund program was repealed three years ago, and now the EPA-administered fund is gradually running out of money, said Brad Johnson, a manager of DEQ's division of environmental response and remediation. With the fund running dry, "EPA has been more willing to work with the state and communities in finding the best way to reach the (cleanup) objective rather than moving immediately toward putting sites on the National Priority List," Johnson said. "We are seeing a lot more voluntary agreements," he added. "All of them costing less than fighting a National Priority List designation in the courtroom." "Once a Superfund site, always a Superfund site," Johnson said, noting that businesses and their host cities will do anything to stay off the Superfund list. That was certainly the case at the 700-acre Richardson tailings site in Summit County that was contaminated with lead and arsenic. The site was proposed for Superfund listing in 1988, but image-conscious Park City officials worried about the effects of a Superfund designation on their lucrative ski industry and negotiated a mitigation agreement that has kept the site off the list. Murray officials likewise negotiated a deal with the state and EPA over the 170-acre Murray Smelter site, home of the two infamous smokestacks toppled last year. The site was proposed for Superfund listing in 1994, but the entire project is being done through a cooperative agreement that city officials hope will transform the parcel into prime commercial property. The biggest "keep me off Superfund" cleanup of all involves two separate projects being funded entirely by Kennecott. The copper giant is expected to spend $310 million by the time the projects are completed. One project was completed late last year and the other should be finished later this year. Johnson said state and federal regulators have expended a lot of effort over the past 15 years identifying potential Superfund sites, and Johnson insists there aren't that many more that would qualify. The big sites have already been or are on schedule to be cleaned up, and the many other smaller sites can be addressed through other less costly programs. "The program is winding down and it's time to wrap it up," Johnson said. However, Johnson admits that most Superfund efforts have focused on the populous Wasatch Front, and there are potential sites in rural Utah. In Eureka, lead contamination has shown up in children, prompting a joint DEQ and Department of Health study. Remnants of mining around Marysvale are also a concern, and in the Silver Reef area near St. George, subdivisions are creeping toward toxic tailings piles left over from generations of mining. Under Superfund, the owner of the property must pay for the costs of cleanup under tough federal guidelines that often force the companies into bankruptcy. If that happens and there is not enough money to pay for the cleanup, federal Superfund monies are used, along with a 10 percent match from the state. *E-mail: donna@desnews.com; spang@desnews.com* © 2001 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 13 Nuclear Restructuring Planned allAfrica.com: Posted to the web February 16, 2001 Cape Town Proposals for the restructuring and privatisation of elements of the South Africa Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa, formerly the Atomic Energy Corporation) should be finalised within the next two months and then presented to cabinet for approval, says finance GM Sybrand van Vuuren. A sectoral task team of the minerals and energy department is working on the proposals which, if adopted, will see the organisation divided into two elements. The Pelindaba Nuclear Institute and the Safari-1 Reactor would probably remain as state-owned entities, while the commercial activities will be corporatised and eventually privatised. Necsa has already been divided along these lines. Van Vuuren said it could take up to 18 months for the organisation to be ready for privatisation. Depending on which assets were included, the value of the privatised company could range between R120m to R150m. Former chairman Don Ncube said in the company's annual report for the 11 months to February 23 2000, tabled in Parliament yesterday, that the reliance on the state declined 14,2% in real terms year-on-year and by 50% over the past four years. On an annualised basis the company received R187m from government and generated R220m from its commercial activities, of which R91m was earned on the export market. Pre-tax profits totalled R15,9m. A net deficit of R14,6m, compared with the R67m deficit of the previous year was realised. "The strategy of the corporation to become a more internationally focused supplier of technologically advanced products and services is now gradually starting to gain momentum." Ncube said the Pelindaba research reactor, Safari-1, had made excellent progress in producing a range of isotopes for commercial use. During the year the number of permanent employees fell a further 19% to 1200, a reduction of more than 85% over the past decade. Ncube highlighted a number of new attractive ventures in the offing, including the setting up of key alliances with large international companies. ***************************************************************** 14 Nuclear Waste Poses 'No Threat' allAfrica.com: February 16, 2001 Johannesburg While scientists say that there is no danger to the public from ships carrying nuclear waste, environmentalists are not convinced South Africa's top nuclear scientists say the shipment of nuclear waste that passed by the Western Cape en route to Japan this week poses less of a threat to human health than smoking. The scientists moved to allay public panic about the shipment, pointing out that even in the unlikely event there was a disaster and the nuclear waste leaked into the sea, it would have a minimal effect on humans and the environment. "Much is said about the two ships carrying enough nuclear waste to build 20 atomic bombs, but they are actually less of a threat to the environment than the oil spills we have seen off the Western Cape coast," says Neil Jarvis, head of radiochemistry at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation. Jarvis and two other local scientists " the University of Cape Town's Peter Linder and Peter Wade from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research " undertook extensive research into the safety of plutonium in the marine environment after the first shipment of nuclear waste to Japan rounded the Western Cape in the early 1990s. The material, which is shipped from European countries, is used in Japanese reactors to provide nuclear energy. A paper produced by the three scientists at a workshop convened by the Royal Society of South Africa " a multi-disciplinary scientific body " has been used by governments and shipping authorities around the world."Our research showed that if plutonium oxide somehow leaked into the sea, the impact would be minimal," says Jarvis. "The ships passing the Cape now contain reprocessed mixed oxide [MOX] nuclear waste, which is even less harmful because it is made up of compacted pellets." MOX is a combination of uranium and plutonium. The scientists argue that if there was a leakage, the nuclear waste would not dissolve in the sea water but form a sediment that would sink to the seabed. Laboratory tests, as well as the controlled release of plutonium into the Irish sea from the Sellafield plant of British Nuclear Fuels, indicate that the spreading of this sediment would be minimal and easy to contain. "The realistic scenario is that plutonium oxide will come into contact with sea water and remain in an insoluble form, which will sink to the ocean floor. From data collected from real situations where plutonium oxide had been released into the sea, it can be seen that the physical spreading is minimal." A 25-year study on radioactive waste dumped in the sea showed radiation affected the "bottom feeders" most in the deep sea, where there is a small biomass. Concentrations in mussels and clams were 1/100th of those in zooplankton and 1/1000th of those in seaweed. Radiation in marine organisms was tested after a United States Air Force B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashed in the sea near the Thule air base in Greenland in 1968. "By 1970 the plutonium levels in bottom animals had decreased by a factor of 10. Plutonium levels in higher animals such as fish, seabirds and marine mammals showed no increase. The conclusion of the study was that plutonium originating from the accident was confined to the bottom fauna, and that man had not been at risk," the scientists say. Even if someone swallowed contaminated seafood, the risks would be minimal because the greatest danger is inhaling radioactive material. "You would need to eat as much as one gram to induce leukaemia within five to 10 years," says Jarvis. The scientists dismiss claims that radioactivity in the marine environment would find other pathways to man. "Although workers in Britain have shown there is an excess of childhood leukaemias near certain nuclear establishments, French and American workers have not been able to find a similar tendency in their countries. This phenomenon became known as the Gardiner hypothesis. It has subsequently been shown that there is no correlation between childhood leukaemia and proximity to nuclear installations. "Perhaps the greatest evidence against the Gardiner theory is that after 40 years of study, no evidence of harmful mutations in the children of Japan's atomic bomb survivors has been demonstrated." The scientists point to a report published in the early 1990s on the 42- year medical follow-up of US workers who worked with plutonium during World War II. Four of the original study group of 26 had died by 1987, with a median age of 66. "The mortality rate of the group is considerably lower than expected US rates. Lung cancer was the most frequent malignancy, as is expected for white males. All could be attributed to smoking, with the additional risk due to plutonium inhalation indiscernible from the data. "These are the medical records of workers exposed to doses of plutonium far greater than members of the public would ever receive as a result of plutonium shipping. We therefore conclude from the scientific evidence available that the shipping of plutonium around the Cape is a safe activity." Anti-nuclear activists and members of the Green Party of South Africa, who staged a protest against the nuclear shipments in Cape Town this week, are not convinced by the arguments and point out the scientists stand to benefit from public complacency around nuclear issues. "The important thing is not how much of a spin the scientists can put on nuclear energy to make it seem like it's not a threat, but that it is totally unnecessary and the people who benefit from it are the investors, not the energy users," says Earthlife Africa's Richard Worthington. He says that nuclear waste needs to be carefully managed for thousands of years, and adds there is no scientifically proven safe exposure to nuclear products. "We are not saying that if a ship goes down, people will die tomorrow. There probably won't be any measurable effects on animals and the land," Worthington says. "The impact is more long-term, and it is an unacceptable risk from an industry that is neither economically viable nor sustainable." Copyright © 2001 *Mail and Guardian*. Distributed by yy ***************************************************************** 15 Fear Of Nuclear Waste Grips Northern Kenya allAfrica.com: Panafrican News Agency (Dakar) February 16, 2001 Nairobi There are mounting fears that foreign oil exploration firms might have dumped nuclear waste in the north-eastern part of Kenya. Political and other leaders in the area have called on the government to investigate the presence of nuclear waste in the region, after livestock there began to die of mysterious diseases. They suspect that the diseases, which had never been experienced before the onset of exploration about 16 years ago, resulted from nuclear waste. A visiting team from the Standing Committee of Human Rights and Kenya Red Cross Society officials was told early this week that foreign companies were suspected of dumping waste at the Arbajahani and Habaswein areas. MP for Wajir North, Dr Abdullahi Ali, said there had also been a rise in cases of women giving birth to deformed babies, a phenomenon that had not been in the area before. The MP urged experts to carry out thorough investigations and inform the government accordingly. The human rights team, led by Prof. Onesmus Mutungi, was in the area to educate the local community on human rights issues and to gather information on any violations in the area. There have previously been claims of the presence of large deposits of oil in northern Kenya near the borders with Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. Foreign companies have been carrying out exploration work in the region, but so far no economically viable deposits have been found. Copyright © 2001 *Panafrican News Agency*. Distributed by ***************************************************************** 16 Leavitt will use environmentalists, lawyers to fight plan to store nuclear waste in Utah w w w . s t a n d a r d . n e t *Friday, February 16, 2001* By CHARLES F. TRENTELMAN Standard-Examiner staff SALT LAKE CITY -- Gov. Mike Leavitt will fight all the way through the courts, through Congress and even enlist environmental groups to stop the storage of high level nuclear waste in Utah. He strongly supports bills in the Legislature aimed at stopping Private Fuel Storage's bid to bring the waste to Utah, he said Thursday at his monthly press conference. He said he is not deterred by the prospect of court action. The Legislature is considering several bills aimed specifically at Private Fuel Storage, which wants to ship and store tons of nuclear fuel rods and other high level waste in Skull Valley in Utah's west desert. One bill would force the company to post a cash bond of as much as $150 billion to clean up any accidents. The company has said it will probably seek court action on the bills. Leavitt said that's fine with him. "It won't be the first time or the last time," the state has had to defend laws in court, he said. Anticipating a legal fight, one of the bills spends $1.6 million which, according to its title, is supposed to be for public information about the state's efforts. But Leavitt said it will mostly go for lawyers. "It'll be, in major part, used in paying lawyers to sue them," he said, "and to do everything we can in Washington to lobby against their capacity to do it: going to federal court, challenging them in the environmental process. "I intend to empanel, as we have now, a significant group of legal talent for that purpose." In that same conference Leavitt said a shortfall in state revenues may change the way the Legislature deals with tax refunds, reiterated that fighting hate crimes should not favor one group over another, and said he's still not ready to commit money to UTA's bid to build commuter rail. State revenue projections released Thursday, show a drop of $31 million from earlier estimates. Leavitt said he has been thinking what that means for the budget, but is not ready to make any announcements yet. "$31 million is significant money, by anyone's estimation. However, in the context of a $6.5 billion budget it's really not, statistically, something that is likely to have a big impact." UTA announced Wednesday that it has negotiated a price to buy 150 miles of right of way for commuter rail along the Wasatch Front. Leavitt did not put any money into his proposed budget to help with that, and said Thursday that, except for $10 million already part of the Legacy Parkway highway project, no more is available yet. "We've been waiting for this figure on the right of way," he said. "It's pretty hard to put money into a program if you don't really have a plan." He said the Legislature doesn't want to add funds for the project this year, "though I suspect that could change too. There are strong advocates for it." ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Support building for 'whistleblower' Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:24 p.m. on Friday, February 16, 2001 Support building for 'whistleblower' by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff In a "friend-of-the-court" legal brief to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, the Coalition for a Healthy Environment has voiced its concern over "reprisal actions" the Department of Energy took against Joe Carson. Harry Williams, president of the Coalition for a Healthy Environment, confirmed this morning that his group recently filed the brief to support Carson, who reported safety violations at several DOE sites. "He has tried to do the right thing," Williams said. "He has tried to do what is ethical. It's time that DOE makes things right with him." The "friend-of-the-court" brief allows an organization that is not a party to a legal proceeding but which has a strong interest in the case to voice its opinion on the matter. Carson, a licensed professional engineer, says that while working in a safety oversight role in Oak Ridge for DOE headquarters, his attempts to report safety and security violations at several DOE sites resulted in a lowering of his usual performance rating, his removal from surveillance responsibilities and his reassignment to another site. The Coalition's brief states Carson "risked and sacrificed much in putting professional duty ahead of economic self-interest, for the cause of workplace and public health." In April 1999, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that DOE's actions were reprisal for Carson's "whistleblowing." DOE's appeal was rejected by the Merit Systems Protection Board in a February 2000 decision, which ordered Carson restored to his job. During the past couple of weeks, Carson and his attorney have been working to get DOE to fully comply with a court order to provide information pertaining to his "whistleblower" case. The Coalition for a Healthy Environment serves as a support and research group pertaining to the illnesses of workers at DOE facilities and the citizens of Oak Ridge and the surrounding areas. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 2 Hanford ships uranium cylinders to Ohio Posted at 5:00 p.m. EST Friday, February 16, 2001 RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -- The first of more than 40 new shipments of surplus uranium from the Hanford nuclear reservation is due to arrive Monday in Ohio. ``We made a commitment to get these surplus uranium billets off site, and we're doing it,'' Keith Klein, the Energy Department's manager at the Hanford reservation, said Friday. ``This is another step in restoring the river corridor and moving ahead with cleanup.'' The uranium is being sent to an interim storage warehouse in Piketon, Ohio. J. Dale Jackson, director of the Energy Department's uranium management division in Oak Ridge, Tenn., said the Hanford shipments, about 235 metric tons in all, will be comprised entirely of usable uranium, not waste material. ``These are materials that have some potential reuse value,'' he said. The uranium could be used by research reactors or saved for some other government purpose. The Piketon site already is storing about 3,300 metric tons of surplus uranium, mostly from a former government plant in Fernald, Ohio. About 670 metric tons of uranium trioxide was shipped there from Hanford last year. Though the interim warehouse is in Piketon, home to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the uranium now in transit is not of the type used to make fuel for electricity generating plants. The gaseous diffusion plant is to process power plant fuel until June. AP-CS-02-16-01 1637EST --> ***************************************************************** 3 Security firm warns of Flats risk DenverPost.com - News: Colorado and Denver By Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief Feb. 17, 2001 - WASHINGTON - The president of a private security contractor has warned that the former Rocky Flats weapons plant poses serious risks to the public, but federal officials said the claim is groundless. MEETING FEB. 26 Residents who want to learn more about the cleanup of Rocky Flats and long-term plans for the area can attend the Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments' monthly board meeting from 8 to 11 a.m., Feb. 26. It will be at the terminal building at the Jefferson County Airport. For details on the meeting, call 303-412-1200. U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Boulder, will announce their plans to reintroduce the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act to Congress. If approved, it would turn the area into a national wildlife refuge once it's cleaned up and closed. Ronald E. Timm, president of Reta Security, later declined to specify the problems, citing security reasons. The facility, northwest of Denver, last produced components for nuclear weapons in 1989. Timm said he had complained privately last year to then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and was dissatisfied with the response. Now, he said he's going public with his complaint to the Bush administra tion as "a matter of principle ... These people are not abiding by what the rules are." In a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Timm painted a doomsday scenario, saying the top-secret plants run by Abraham's department were not being adequately guarded from terrorists. Timm's firm, based in Lemont, Ill., has worked for the Energy Department on security issues since 1984. It currently holds a contract with the department to assist the headquarters office of safeguards and security, he said. Joe Davis, an Energy Department spokesman, said an independent inspector general looked into Timm's allegations last year. Davis said he believes the claims were found to be groundless. "We believe the issues have been investigated and addressed, but because Secretary Abraham takes security matters very seriously, we're going to conduct a review of Mr. Timm's letter to make sure there's no new information contained in (it)," said Davis, DOE's deputy director of public affairs. Timm's Feb. 9 letter to Abraham alleges that a deadly explosion could occur at Rocky Flats. "The clear possibility of a nuclear detonation or explosion with the spread of radioactive contamination has been documented in numerous studies and from numerous sources," Timm wrote. "The risk of abrupt theft of special nuclear materials has also been demonstrated, particularly during transit." Jeremy Carpatkin, a DOE spokesman at the facility, said "a nuclear explosion cannot happen at Rocky Flats. I don't care what the man says, the laws of physics say it can't happen," he said. However, critics previously have questioned Rocky Flats security. In May 1997, The Denver Post reported a security officer there warned federal investigators that terrorists could steal plutonium and make a nuclear bomb. Since then the facility has beefed up security and repeatedly has passed inspections. Copyright 2001 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 Cleanup contractor gets hefty paycheck from DOE Firm paid in stages as it completes work February 17, 2001 By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel senior writer Firm paid in stages as it completes work OAK RIDGE -- BNFL Inc. will get an $11.5 million paycheck next week from the U.S. Department of Energy, soon to be followed by two additional payments of about $12 million each. BNFL, the American subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels, is heading an Oak Ridge cleanup project that involves the decontamination of three huge buildings once used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and reactor fuel. Under terms of the $238 million, fixed-price contract signed in 1997, BNFL gets paid after it completes milestones on the project at the old K-25 Site, and the Oak Ridge contractor is wrapping up several tasks at virtually the same time. Jim McAnally, who heads BNFL's Oak Ridge operations, said the contractor altered its original cleanup strategy to help complete the overall project as quickly as possible and at the lowest cost. The new approach, however, did some work out of sequence, delayed the completion of certain milestones, and meant the contractor got little money from DOE last year, McAnally said. Walter Perry, a spokesman in DOE's Oak Ridge office, confirmed Friday that BNFL has been paid $56 million to date, including $3.7 million in fiscal year 2000. Perry said DOE will pay BNFL $11.5 million next week for completing Milestone No. 5 on the project. McAnally said his company expects to submit an invoice for completing Milestone No. 7 within the next couple of weeks and another one for Milestone No. 6 before the end of March. Perry said those milestones are worth about $12 million each. BNFL has made significant progress is dismantling the massive amount of uranium-processing equipment in Building K-33, which is big enough to fit 64 football fields inside its walls. About 2 million pounds of material is removed from the building each week, and much of the contaminated scrap is being shipped to a burial site in Utah. Some initial cleanup work has begun on nearby K-31, with K-29 to come next, officials said. The six-year project was boosted in recent weeks by the startup of a supercompactor, which is billed as the largest facility of its type in the nuclear industry. The compactor can process up to 50 tons of metal per hour. "It turns I-beams into ribbons," McAnally said. Senior writer Frank Munger can be reached at 865-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 5 Microbes may be corroding casings of monitor wells Stations check water outside Paducah plant courier-journal.com » The Courier-Journal » Louisville, KY » Local and Regional News February 17, 2001 By JAMES MALONE, The Courier-Journal PADUCAH, Ky. -- A new report suggests that "microbial agents" are responsible for severe corrosion that has eaten through stainless-steel casings on wells that monitor water quality around the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The corrosion on the 1/16th-inch casings at 19 groundwater-monitoring wells around landfills outside the plant's north fence was found near where radioactive "black ooze" was seen seeping up from the ground about 16 months ago. Energy Department officials dismissed the ooze as "roofing materials." And officials say the corrosion is not related to groundwater contamination from decades of secret work with nuclear and other hazardous materials at the 1,800-acre nuclear fuel production complex. Instead, they say the bacteria create enzymes which, combined with a mild chemical reaction, eats away the metal. At various times in its history, the Paducah plant has used powerful acids to recover and dissolve metals. But no studies have linked acids to the corrosion. In a report sent to the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection this week, Bechtel Jacobs, the cleanup contractor at Paducah, said the wells should be abandoned and replaced. The contractor also recommended that "further use of metal casings" in monitoring wells be discontinued in favor of plastic. Last fall, the Energy Department abandoned three of the wells due to the corrosion. Water drawn from the pipes of the 19 compliance wells is sampled to assure that permit limits aren't exceeded. Consultants said the corrosion found was severe enough to "compromise the validity of the data gathered from them." Primarily, the wells monitored the spread of an underground plume of trichlorethylene, a toxic solvent, and radioactive technetium 99, an isotope. Both substances leaked from the site for decades. State officials last summer were skeptical of the microbe theory and asked for further study, which resulted in the report sent this week. State environmental regulators said yesterday that they had just received the 150-page report and would study it. "We've concerns with the results from the casings that were affected," said Mark York, a department spokesman. Greg Cook, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs, said the corrosion "could occur in anybody's well." He attributed the problem to "soil conditions we have here in Paducah." There does not appear to be a health concern involved with the corrosion. Since 1988, when solvents and radioactive isotopes were found during sampling, residents around the plant have been provided free municipal water service by the government. The 19 wells are 50 to 100 feet deep and were installed by an Energy Department contractor in the early 1990s. Cook said there was no suggestion of "an installation error." But the report said that corrosion seen in one well casing "is probably a consequence of stagnant water being trapped alongside the well casing during installation" and that a seal apparently was not intact. The type of steel used in some of the well casings at Paducah is called 316 stainless, one of the metal's more durable alloys with a blend of iron, chromium and nickel. Harold Smith, a Louisville metallurgist, said microbial corrosion and pitting, though unusual, can occur in certain environments, such as sewers or swampy areas. "It is possible to have an environment that will attack" steel, he said. "It is not totally impervious." Cook said the government will have to pay to have replacement wells installed, with the total cost possibly reaching $1.5 million. Copyright 2001 The Courier-Journal. ***************************************************************** 6 Scientists looking for underground lab site Saturday, February 17, 2001 CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) - Scientists interested in building an underground laboratory to "listen to nature's secrets" are considering locating the lab at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Earth's surface is a noisy place for scientists trying to study some of the universe's quietest phenomena, and backers say the underground nuclear waste dump would be ideal. Cosmic rays banging down from space create a cacophony of unwanted noise in scientists' instruments, scientist Roger Nelson said. The answer is to locate instruments deep underground. The thick Earth blocks out the cosmic noise, while the things scientists are interested in pass through the planet as if it was not there. The laboratory could be used to detect neutrinos - the tiniest bits of matter - from the sun or help in the search for the universe's mysterious missing "dark matter." Underground physics experiments have long been done in mines, but no major laboratory in the United States is capable of supporting the work, said Todd Haines, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Haines said he has had to travel to Japan to work on a research project that needs the quiet of an underground laboratory. The Carlsbad facility is one of three sites being studied by a scientific committee for the underground laboratory. The Homestack gold mine in South Dakota is in the running, and a group from California is pushing the idea of digging a tunnel into the side of Mount San Jacinto east of Los Angeles. New Mexico advocates say the dump's existing heavy elevators, modern mine safety equipment and advanced power and communication systems make it an ideal location. Nelson said radiation from the plutonium-contaminated waste stored their would not be a problem since it would be more than a half mile away and shielded by containers and the thick salt beds. ***************************************************************** 7 Schultz controversy addressed by Army Cheektowaga Times The United States Army Corps of Engineers sought to clarify a report which indicated the group disposed low-level radioactive debris in the Schultz Landfill near Indian Road, although a local official continued to express displeasure with the Corps’ actions. The Corps of Engineers issued a press release February 8 saying that ‘5.72 tons of non-hazardous, non-radioactive solid construction debris’ were deposited in the Schultz Landfill. That statement contradicted the project report filed when the corps removed debris from the former Linde Air site in Tonawanda. The project report appeared to indicate that 25 tons of material which exhibited low-level radioactive contamination was taken to Schultz. The State Department of Environmental Conservation reached that conclusion in correspondence obtained and reported by the Cheektowaga Times. However, the Linde project manager told WGRZ-TV that the report was in error. Town councilmember Thomas M. Johnson said Wednesday he remained concerned. "I cannot accept the very, very late report of the Corps of Engineers that we have nothing to concern ourselves about," said Johnson. Johnson believes the DEC’s statements are at odds with the Corps’ report. In addition, Johnson was upset that both the Corps and the DEC were aware that material from Linde was sent to Cheektowaga for a year before local government learned of it. "The transfer (of debris) from such a questionable site should never have occurred," Johnson continued. As a remedy, the veteran Town councilmember suggested the landfill is closed and sealed off. Johnson and members of the Depew/Cheektowaga Taxpayers Association, a neighborhood group, also want material atthe Schultz site tested for radioactivity. ***************************************************************** 8 URANIUM AND YOU TOMPAINE.com: How Many Birth Defects and Cancers Should Be Allowed in the Name of National Security? *Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Researchin Takoma Park, Maryland.* It's no secret that nuclear weapon states have harmed many people, and particularly weapons production workers, in the name of national security. But how this slow attack on health and the environment was carried out is still largely unknown and little understood. Through extensive research during the last two decades, a picture of the damage has begun to emerge from the fog of denial and propaganda in only one nuclear weapon state -- the United States. That picture is far from reassuring: The government and its contractors deliberately emphasized production at the expense of health, routinely violating health and safety regulations, deliberately misleading workers so as not to arouse concerns or give hazardous duty pay when both were clearly warranted. Sloppy, incompetent science was a routine part of this dismal picture. The Department of Energy has admitted that, until 1989, no effort was made to calculate workers' internal radiation doses -- even though many were inhaling and ingesting radioactive materials. IEER'swork on data from the Fernald plant near Cincinnati, Ohio, where uranium for plutonium production reactors was processed, showed that in the 1950s and early 1960s, most workers were in fact overexposed due to uranium inhalation. Many probably also suffered kidney damage due to the toxicity of uranium as a heavy metal. Yet officials reassured them that they were not being harmed. As such information has become public, workers and their advocates have demanded justice. The United States recently passed legislation giving most injured radiation workers the right to apply for compensation and medical treatment. The harm has extended well beyond factory boundaries to workers' families, neighbors and the general public. For example, an official study by the U.S. National Cancer Instituteshowed that during the 1950s, a large portion of the U.S. milk supply was contaminated with iodine-131, a carcinogen, due to fallout from the Nevada test site. No other government has yet made as broad an admission of potential harm from radiation as the United States, though some modest programs are in effect for a limited number of people in some places. In Russia there are still practically no raw data available to independent researchers. Secrecy also holds sway in the other relatively open countries -- France, India, and Britain. The situation in China, Pakistan, and Israel is far worse. The pattern of keeping health and environmental abuses of their own people secret in the name of national security is anti-democratic to the core. It presumes that the people would not make sacrifices for the security of their countries, and it presumes that top nuclear bureaucrats can make life or death decisions in defiance of established laws without the informed consent of the people. Moreover, the damage caused by the nuclear states has extended well beyond their borders. Though the maps of contamination published by the National Cancer Institute magically stop at the borders of Canada and Mexico, atmospheric testing nonetheless permeated their milk too. Uranium miners in non-nuclear weapon states have also been injured. And test sites have polluted former colonies, such as Algeria and Polynesia. Yet, no proper accounting has been done. But then, why would nuclear weapon states be accountable to people beyond their borders when they have failed to be accountable to those within? Much of the harm from nuclear weapons production and testing was knowingly inflicted. For instance, a 1960 editorial in the engineering alumni magazine of the University of California noted that "nuclear testing has so far produced about an additional 6,000 babies born with major birth defects [worldwide]." Yet, it added "you must weigh this acknowledged risk with the demonstrated need of the United States for a nuclear arsenal." The editorial did not explain why children in Nigeria or Costa Rica or Indonesia should have major birth defects so that the United States could have a nuclear arsenal. All of this raises troubling questions about how national security policy has been formulated. If the nuclear weapons establishment can knowingly and secretly harm the very people it claims to protect, how can one be sure that the security policies themselves are not largely motivated by bureaucratic self-preservation rather than by the interests of the community at large? This is by no means a rhetorical or theoretical question. There is strong evidence, for instance, that the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was motivated in part by the desire to justify the huge expenditure on nuclear bombs during the Manhattan project. The nuclear establishment feared that if the bombs were not seen as highly useful in the war effort, there would be relentless investigations for waste of money after the war. Such investigations would, no doubt, also have dimmed the prospects for continued large nuclear weapons budgets after the war. The public needs to engage in a wide-ranging discourse about the health and environmental harm that nuclear weapon states have inflicted upon their own people as well as those beyond their borders. An International Truth Commission to lead this discourse should not only examine the nature of that harm, and whether it was deliberately inflicted; it should recommend ways in which people can hold nuclear weapons establishments accountable. It should also determine whether the security arguments that have been claimed for nuclear weapons have been constructed to perpetuate the nuclear weapons industry and bureaucracy. Such an examination would be of some considerable relevance today, given that nuclear weapons establishments are still refusing to meet their nuclear disarmament commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that people are still getting ill and dying from the harm that nuclear weapons establishments have inflicted upon them. © 1999-2000 The Florence Fund ***************************************************************** 9 Putin proposes missile defense system for Europe By Tom Bowman Sun National Staff Originally published February 16, 2001 WASHINGTON -- After a week of intense review, Navy officers and members of Congress are still at a loss to explain how a Navy submarine with sophisticated detection devices and a highly trained crew could have ended up in a deadly accident with a Japanese fishing vessel off Hawaii. "Why is it that the commander didn't see the other boat?" Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, asked yesterday. Civilians who were aboard the sub have said that both the skipper and a junior officer used a periscope to scan in all directions for any surface vessels and saw none. Levin was among senators briefed this week by Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the Navy's Pacific Fleet. Levin said the admiral told them that the nuclear submarine USS Greeneville had checked for other vessels and was then submerged for only five minutes before it blasted to the surface in an emergency exercise. Fargo himself said he had no explanation, congressional staffers who were present said. The four-star admiral is expected to receive a preliminary Navy report on the incident as early as today. He will then decide whether to seek more information or order a full-scale investigation. Fargo also has the option of moving toward a possible court-martial. "This is designed as the first step in the process to get you in the right direction," Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, said yesterday. The sub's skipper, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, has been relieved of command, pending the inquiry by the Navy and another by the National Transportation Safety Board. Nine Japanese citizens -- including four high school students -- are still missing in the wake of the incident last Friday in which the 190-foot fishing boat Ehime Maru was struck and sunk by the Greeneville as the sub broke the surface. Twenty-six others on the fishing boat were rescued. Current and retired Navy officers have speculated that one or a series of factors might have resulted in the collision. Some say visual problems might have led to a faulty periscope search. Others wonder whether the sub's sonar -- which can detect noise from nearby vessels -- was operating, and, if so, whether it was misread by sailors or was malfunctioning. And there was the presence of 16 civilian guests on board the sub who could have distracted the crew members during the fast rise to the surface. Before the collision, civilians were positioned at two of three watch stations. One flicked two levers to signal the sub's climb. Another was seated at the helmsman's position and holding the wheel as the sub began to ascend. But Navy officials stress that both civilians were being supervised by crew members and did not contribute to the accident. "The qualified watch-stander who is watching you is directly over your shoulder," Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, a Navy spokesman, said yesterday. Todd Thoman, one of the civilians on board, told NBC's "Today" show that he can "adamantly deny" that he or other guests caused a distraction. "It was nothing but professional -- and not one thing got done that the commanding officer was not aware of," Thoman said. Civilian's account Thoman said the periscope was "most definitely" used to check for other boats in the waters nine miles off Oahu shortly before the submarine began the training exercise. And Navy officials said that both a junior officer and the skipper completed 360-degree sweeps with the periscope. The periscope's view was displayed on a panel for the civilians to see. "We saw no vessel, and at that point, [the skipper] said 'OK' and he brought the periscope down, and we proceeded with the maneuver," Thoman said. But Fargo, when pressed by senators, said that any number of factors might have led both officers to miss the fishing boat, even though the periscope has a range of five miles and the procedures call for the use of sonar to search for surface vessels. Navy officials say they believe the fishing boat was within a five-mile range. The cloudy weather and 3-foot to 6-foot waves might have hampered visibility, Fargo told the senators, according to those present. Moreover, it appears that the fishing boat had the island of Oahu as a backdrop, which might have "camouflaged" the Japanese vessel, said one Senate staffer present. Moving head-on In addition, the fishing boat and the sub were either traveling in the same direction or were moving head-on toward each other, Navy officials have said. In either case, when the sub's officers peered through the periscope and completed a 360-degree sweep, they might have been looking at the fishing boat at its narrowest profile and thus had trouble seeing it. But Norman Polmar, a naval analyst and author, said that while a junior officer might have missed the fishing craft, he does not understand how Waddle, with 20 years' experience, could have done the same. "Any anomaly should immediately catch his eye," much like an experienced doctor could easily read an X-ray, Polmar said. Fargo told the senators that while it was "normal procedure" to use the sonar, he was uncertain whether the sub's crew had actually used it, the staffer said. "The question is, did they use sonar, was the equipment working?" asked the staffer. "There could have been a failure. We don't know." Polmar said there are several sonar operators and a supervisor who would be aboard the sub. The operators, peering at radar screens, would see a surface vessel appear as a series of lines, like those on a polygraph machine. If the operators were not distracted and the sonar was working properly, the fishing ship "would be obvious" on the screen. "A fishing boat of that size, making that speed would have been easily detectable," Polmar said. Outside training area Navy officials also confirmed that the sub was operating two miles outside its training area. But Pietropaoli said the Greeneville was not required to stay in that area and was still operating in its broader "assigned operating area." The training area, he said, is put on navigation charts as information for mariners so when "you looked out and saw a submarine, you wouldn't be surprised." John Hall, another civilian on board, pulled the levers to begin the fast rise from the deep. As the Greeneville broke the surface and the submarine struck the boat, "there was a very loud noise and the submarine shuddered," Hall said on the "Today" show. The sub's skipper said, "Jesus, what the hell was that?" Hall said. Navy officials also said it is a longstanding tradition to take civilians -- ranging from members of Congress and defense contractors to reporters and ordinary citizens -- on trips aboard its ships and submarines. But President Bush said yesterday that he asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to review that policy in light of the loss of the Ehime Maru. SunSpot.net is Copyright © 2001 by The Baltimore Sun. ***************************************************************** 10 NRDC: Scientists' and Engineers' Pledge to Renounce Weapons of Mass Destruction Nuclear Weapons & Waste: In Brief: Fact Sheet Scientists' and Engineers' Pledge To Renounce Weapons of Mass Destruction If you're a scientist or an engineer (or studying to be one), sign the Scientists' and Engineers' Pledge to Renounce Weapons of Mass Destruction by filling out the pledge form on the Los Alamos Study Groupwebsite or printing this form and mailing it in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I pledge never to participate in + the design, development, testing, production, maintenance, targeting, or use of nuclear, biological,or chemical weapons or their means of delivery; or in + research or engineering that I have reason to believe will be used by others to do so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why We Are Launching This Pledge Campaign Science and its practical application have brought many benefits to society but have also at times been a source of profound social harm. This has particularly occurred when the uses of scientific knowledge have strayed outside the ethical boundaries of society, or escaped lawful political control. Military technologies have proven to be among the most difficult applications of science to control. Today's shield can become tomorrow's sword, either in our own hands or in those of an adversary. The device one person or nation builds in order to protect, another may use to coerce -- or when that fails, to destroy. Advances in modern weaponry, far from making war obsolete or more humane, have only increased its potential violence. Among all weapons, weapons of mass destruction are especially abhorrent to the conscience of humanity. A category that includes nuclear explosives, radiological and chemical toxins, and biological agents, these weapons cannot, by their very nature, reliably discriminate between either combatants and civilians on the one hand, or belligerent and neutral countries on the other. Far more than conventional weapons, they can destroy the ecological foundation upon which any future peace could be built, and harm generations far into the future. Their destructive effects are disproportionate to any legitimate or rational military objective, and escalate the probability and violence of future conflicts in incalculable ways. For this reason, whether used to coerce or to overtly destroy, these weapons can never serve justice. As the International Court of Justice has recognized, their overt use would be incompatible with the slowly but steadily expanding fabric of humanitarian law that constrains the violence of war. Further, their use as a coercive instrument offers potent political and military rationalizations for compensatory efforts by other states, factions within them, or non-state actors, diminishing the security of all. The use of biological and chemical weapons is banned under international law, and legal regimes outlawing their possession, with verification measures adopted or under development, are widely adhered to, including by the major powers. But there is as yet no comparable global and explicit prohibition on use of nuclear weapons, and the Nonproliferation Treaty prohibition on possession, while applying to almost all states, does not reach the most powerful, who have not fulfilled their legal obligations to negotiate effective measures relating to cessation of the arms race and the elimination of nuclear weapons. Yet nuclear weapons remain in many ways the most dangerous of all weapons of mass destruction. In defiance of their disarmament obligations based on the Nonproliferation Treaty and other international law, and ignoring the requirements of humanitarian law, the states which possess them continue to insist on their prerogatives to retain, produce, and further develop these weapons, as well as to use them in battle. It is to the completion of this unfulfilled obligation that this pledge is especially addressed. Where nations and institutions lag behind, individuals can and must lead. The continuing presence of nuclear weapons in the world's arsenals casts a dark shadow on humanity's hopes for the new millennium, and on the scientific community itself. In the United States alone, tens of thousands of scientists and engineers work on nuclear weapon systems, for the most part in powerful, semiautonomous institutions that effectively shape government policy in favor of continued and increased reliance on these terrible weapons. While these scientists and engineers hold a variety of personal views regarding disarmament, their participation gives to these institutions and their political advocates the power to perpetuate the continued maintenance and development of weapons of mass destruction. Regardless of their individual beliefs, each one of these scientists and engineers becomes a tacit supporter of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Scientists may do research without the ability to know or control how their work might be used. This is especially true for military related science and technology. In most science, presumed benefit is likely to outweigh lack of perfect foresight. In the case of weapons of mass destruction, it does not. We therefore call on scientists and engineers to recognize their moral obligations as global citizens to exercise due diligence regarding the potential applications of their research to the further development, testing, production, maintenance, targeting, or use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Under established principles of international humanitarian law, willful ignorance or blind obedience in such matters do not by themselves constitute a plausible defense against the assignment of responsibility for crimes carried out with such weapons. Nowhere on earth are more resources being devoted to developing, producing, and maintaining weapons of mass destruction than in the United States. In the U.S., new uses for nuclear weapons are being examined, new doctrines for nuclear weapon use are being developed, modified nuclear weapons with significantly improved military capabilities are being designed and deployed, and the budget for research, development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons is approaching an all-time high. But while the U.S. continues to outspend all the other nuclear weapons states in developing new infrastructure for nuclear weapons development, the others have not been idle. In fact, nuclear weapons are now increasing in legitimacy, sophistication, and importance in some if not all of the nuclear weapon states. Additionally, other nations continue to remain outside the biological and chemical weapons conventions. A decade after the end of the Cold War, as the assumptions underlying the perverse logic of mutually assured destruction crumble, the U.S. is putting forward new justifications for maintaining and modernizing its nuclear arsenal. There is an increasing emphasis on "counterproliferation," a doctrine that contemplates nuclear retaliation and even preemptive attacks against potential users of chemical or biological weapons. Thus the deadly cycle of deterrence feeds on itself, and, as nuclear, chemical and biological weapons spread, everyone everywhere becomes less secure. Scientists and engineers embody traditions that are rooted in the devotion to truth and the enhancement of human dignity. As a human being, one cannot ignore the ethical responsibilities inherent in every aspect of life, including one's work. In taking this pledge, scientists and engineers categorically forswear work on weapons of mass destruction in all their forms, as a step toward ensuring that their talents and energies are devoted, not to the destruction of life, but to its protection and enhancement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Remember your humanity and forget the rest.* -- The Einstein-Russell Manifesto, 1955 Initial sponsoring organizations: Los Alamos Study Group, Santa Fe, NM, USA; Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC, USA, Tri-Valley Cares, Livermore, CA, USA; Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, CA, USA ***************************************************************** 11 Anti-nuke flotilla to sail again in South Pacific ENN.com Friday, February 16, 2001 By Michael Perry Anti-nuclear protest flotillas are to set sail from Sydney and Wellington on Sunday, combining in the first such fleet since 1995 when boats converged on France's South Pacific nuclear test site at Mururoa atoll. This time the target is two British-flagged ships, Pacific Pintail, carrying a cargo of nuclear fuel from France to Japan, and its escort ship, Pacific Teal. Environmental group Greenpeace has said the cargo of MOX, which combines plutonium and uranium oxides recycled from spent nuclear fuel, contains enough plutonium to make 20 atomic bombs. Three yachts from Australia and four from New Zealand, carrying around 40 protesters, plan to come along side the British ships and hoist their anti-nuclear banners. "We will raise our voice...and tell them we don't like the South Pacific being used as a nuclear highway," Henk Haazen, a Mururoa veteran, said on Friday as he prepared his yacht Tiama. Bobbing in Sydney Harbour, the 50-ft steel cutter already has her war paint — four large banners proclaiming "Stop Plutonium Shipments" hang from safety stanchions from bow to stern. Nearby John Simpson, who has sailed his yacht Photina to Mururoa, splices a thick rope bridle to the nose of Tiama's inflatable dinghy. Another protest banner lies rolled inside the dinghy. Haazen won't say exactly what role the inflatable will play in the protest, but stresses it will be a peaceful protest and no attempt will be made to stop the ships. "That would be a foolish thing to do with a ship carrying some of the most deadly cargo in the world," Haazen told Reuters. Haazen wants to raise public awareness of the plutonium shipments. "The flotilla is an effective tool to make these ships visible off our coast. They stay 200 nautical miles off in international waters, nobody sees them, nobody talks about them." But Haazen knows first hand the risks the protesters face. In 1985 he had just joined Greenpeace on board the flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland when French secret agents planted a bomb on its hull and sank her to prevent it from carrying out a protest campaign at Mururoa. The ship's photographer was killed. In 1995, Haazen, Greenpeace founder David McTaggart and fellow protester Chris Robinson landed on a coral outcrop near Mururoa and played cat and mouse with French commandos for two weeks. "We decided the best way we could further the campaign to stop nuclear testing was to land on the nearby islands and they would have to suspend the testing," he recalled. Their exploits became folklore in the environment movement. Haazen has studied weather forecasts and expects rough conditions — it is still cyclone season in the South Pacific. Using a protractor to plot his destination on a chart, he estimates it will take four to five days to reach the rendezvous. The point is marked by a simple pencil circle. The plutonium ships are prohibited from entering Australian waters, so Haazen has calculated there is only a 75 nautical mile stretch of water between Lord Howe and Norfolk islands where they can pass. "We may not even find the ships if they secretly go through Australian waters," he said. Copyright 2001, Reuters ***************************************************************** 12 Nuclear arms security worries CIA - DAWN - Top Stories; 16 February, 2001 By Our Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, Feb 15: The Central Intelligence Agency's "continuing paranoia about a possible nuclear confrontation between India and Pakistan over Kashmir is largely prompted by fears about the compromised security of Islamabad's nuclear weapons storage sites" , says a report in a New York-based magazine, quoting "senior intelligence sources". The sources reportedly told India Abroad that though all the six such storage sites were under military control, the military could not shift weapons from at least three of them to more secure sites because of opposition from Islamic radical elements, who knew of them and had at least on one occasion in the past thwarted their movement. It is this apprehension that prompted the CIA to warn about the possibility of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, even though New Delhi had scoffed at these contentions and the painting of Armageddon scenarios, the sources said. Last week, CIA Director George Tenet, appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (already reported in Dawn ) had said: "Relations between India and Pakistan remain volatile, making the risk of war between the two nuclear-armed adversaries unacceptably high." He said since India enjoyed a significant advantage over Pakistan in most areas of conventional defence preparedness, Pakistan, as a result, "relies heavily on its nuclear weapons for deterrence". The India Abroad report says intelligence sources said that in the early 1990s, the US was cognizant of the serious consideration by India's nuclear establishment and the country's army to take out Pakistan's nuclear weapons with a strike reminiscent of Israel's strike against Iraq's alleged nuclear weapons plant. The sources said they too were convinced, as were the Indians, that Pakistan's weapons facilities could have been destroyed with one strike, but not before Pakistan launched a reactive strike at one of India's major cities. ***************************************************************** 13 Kosovo DU rounds contained plutonium BBC News | SCI/TECH | Friday, 16 February, 2001, 16:07 GMT By environment correspondent Alex Kirby Laboratories in Switzerland and Sweden have established that the depleted uranium (DU) ammunition fired by Nato in Kosovo contained minute traces of plutonium. Plutonium is many thousands of times more radioactive than uranium, but the Swiss Government says the contamination means no extra risk to troops or civilians. It says the amounts of plutonium found were at the lowest measurable levels - about one part per billion. Nato insists that the DU rounds themselves are not to blame for cancers reported by Balkan veterans. DU is a heavy metal, 1.7 times as dense as lead. This makes it a potent weapon for punching through armour, and it is used mainly for attacking tanks and other armoured targets. Chemical risk It is a waste product left over after uranium has been enriched for use in weapons or reactors. Troops search for radiation traces in Kosovo The UK Ministry of Defence, the Pentagon and Nato maintain that it poses little risk on the battlefield or subsequently, though they do say that troops entering vehicles struck by DU munitions should wear protective clothing. They argue that the main danger from DU comes from its chemical composition, not from its radioactivity. The two laboratories, AC-Laboratory Spiez in Switzerland and the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute, are among five commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme to test 340 samples collected from Kosovo last November by a Unep team investigating the use of DU. Scientists had earlier found that the samples contained enriched uranium, showing that the metal used in the ammunition had come from nuclear reprocessing plants, not from waste, and therefore might contain plutonium as well. Plutonium is about 200,000 times more radioactive than uranium, and its radiotoxicity is about a million times greater. Slight increase The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology says that less than one thousandth of a gram of plutonium in the lungs could cause serious problems, including lung and bone cancers. But the laboratories' tests found far less than that in the DU samples. Levels of radiation found are low The Swiss Defence Ministry said the amounts ranged between 0.4 and 1.3 billionths of a gram of plutonium per gram of DU. A leading UK expert on the effects of ionising radiation told BBC News Online: "I wouldn't expect this to add much to the risk from DU, if there is a risk. "The distribution of the particles within the body will not be very different. And the radioactivity of this quantity of plutonium will be only about 0.2% that of the uranium itself, which is also far more of a risk in chemical terms." Minor change Unep said the presence of plutonium and enriched uranium in the samples showed that at least some of the material had been in nuclear reactors, but said the very small amount of plutonium had no significant impact on the samples' radioactivity. Unep's director, Dr Klaus Toepfer, said: "These newest findings only lead to a minor change in the overall radiological situation, and should therefore not cause any immediate alarm. "Unep's recommendations on what steps should be taken next will be based on the full set of laboratory analyses, which will be presented in early March in the report on the environmental effects of DU in Kosovo." BBC News Online ***************************************************************** 14 We have learned nothing from nuclear accident The Scotsman Online - Scotland's best selling quality national newspaper Professor JP Duguid writes about Trident being a means of "deterrence and defence" (Letters, 14 February). Trident did not prevent Iraq invading Kuwait, or the Argentinians invading the Falklands. Once hostilities have broken out, deterrence has failed; therefore, Trident cannot be justified on the grounds of deterrence. As for defence, the four Trident submarines, and the warheads on shore in the west of Scotland, pose a bigger threat to Britain and Europe than any potential enemy. Each submarine can carry 16 missiles, each with eight warheads and each of these warheads has a destructive capability of eight Hiroshima-type bombs. The simple arithmetic shows that the four Trident submarines have a combined destructive capability of 4,096 Hiroshimas. Who will survive to claim victory, and what kind of environment will be left for our children? Have we learned nothing from the example of one Russian nuclear accident and a collapsed Soviet economy, the demise of which was mainly brought about by excessive "defence" spending? The Soviet Union was literally defended out of all it owned. Surely, a responsible society is one that commits resources to health, education and a reliable public transport system, rather than weapons of mass destruction and genocide. PATRICK McGILL MacCallum Place Kilmarnock Your editorial on the protests at Faslane (13 February) was wrong on two points. First, you state that the demonstrations were likely to divert attention from the real debate. If anything, the protests have pushed the debate further into the public arena. The debate is much needed, so please do not sidestep it by focusing on MPs/MSPs. Trident costs the Ministry of Defence £3 billion a year. It is an ineffective means of defence in an age when wars are increasingly economic not military. Secondly, decommissioning does not require international agreement, but political strength. Where is the threat to Britain? Which "rogue state" has us so insecure that we require a nuclear capability? IAN HENDERSON The Spital Aberdeen With our busy lives, it may be easier to see Tommy Sheridan as a publicity hunter or as an egomaniac, arrested again at the anti-Trident demonstration on Monday, rather than as a beacon of passionate citizenship. I am no socialist, but I am impressed when I see people seriously question the institutions and structures that we inherit from the past, which are supposed to serve us. The ministers, MSPs and members of the public (myself included) who took time out to attend Monday’s demonstration are saying Trident is unacceptable. The capability of vaporising whole cities of civilians just going about their business like ourselves is an outrage. CHRIS MARKS Claremont Park Edinburgh Dr Lewis Moonie, MP, stated recently that there are no risks of radiation leaks from the proposed dismantling of submarine reactors at Rosyth. Since he is so sure of his assumption, why not have this exercise carried out in Devonport dockyard? We have heard many false assurances in the past. Despite numerous letters to the Ministry of Defence regarding the scuttling of 16 ships containing anthrax spores and German Tabun gas canisters from1946 to 1950 off the west coast of Scotland, it refuses to carry out tests on these vessels. I have been reliably informed by scientists that these spores are highly dangerous for hundreds of years. Could this be the reason that cancer of the throat has increased threefold in Scotland during the past 15 years? How long is Scotland going to remain Westminster’s nuclear dump? DONALD MORRISON Craigelvan Place Cumbernauld ***************************************************************** 15 The chemical effects of DU * UN-BACKED COVER UP by JACQUES BRILLOT Most commentators are obsessed with the radioactive effects of depleted uranium, ignoring its purely chemical properties. But missiles made from it break up, vaporise and/or ignite on impact, and are dispersed into the atmosphere, sometimes as an aerosol made up of the fine dust of the metal and its oxides. The particles then fall back to earth. If they become airborne again, they can be inhaled or ingested days, weeks, even months or years later. So you do not have to be inside or near a tank when it is hit to be at risk of absorbing these dangerous substances. The 9th edition (1976) of the Merck Index (1), one of the world's bibles of chemistry, describes uranium and its salts as "extremely toxic", causing dermatitis, renal lesions, acute arterial necrosis, possibly resulting in death (2). Another such bible, the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (3), describes it as "highly toxic, both from chemical and radiological standpoint". It gives the maximum concentration of its insoluble derivatives (oxides, for example) recommended as acceptable in air (based on its chemical toxicity) as 0.25 mg per cubic metre (4). The chapter on human exposure to airborne contaminants gives a figure of 0.20 mg (expressed as pure U) per cubic metre for natural uranium and its soluble and insoluble compounds. The comparable figures for lead arsenate are 0.15 mg or 0.20 mg, phosgene 0.40 mg and arsenic 0.50 mg. These figures were published in 1983 in the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety (5), which puts the lethal dose for one half of experimental subjects (rats and rabbits) at between 0.55 mg and 1.12 mg per kg body weight. This is similar to the concentration (1 mg/kbw) of hydrogen cyanide (the Zyklon B used in Nazi extermination camps) needed to kill a human. The same book describes at length the lesions characteristic of chronic poisoning by the metal and its oxides: pulmonary fibrosis and changes to the blood with a reduction in the number of red and white corpuscles (lymphocytes). The nervous system can also be affected. And there is the possibility of nephritis, chronic hepatitis, gastritis and other symptoms. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Published by Merck Research Laboratories, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. (2) The most recent edition (1996) merely states that uranium presents both a " toxic " and a radiological hazard and that direct contact with metallic U or its insoluble compounds may cause dermatitis. The word " extremely " and the references to renal lesions, arterial necrosis and death have been removed. (3) Published by CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. (4) Or, per kg, the theoretical contamination of around 2 sq km to a height slightly more than that of a man (2m). (5) Published by the International Labour Office, Geneva. Translated by Malcolm Greenwood ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 1997-2001 Le Monde diplomatique ***************************************************************** 16 Nuke labs trolling for engineers Livermore, Sandia extend competitive salary incentives *February 16, 2001* By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER LIVERMORE -- Officials at Sandia lab in Livermore, which has about 900 employees, are planning to hire about 500 employees in the next five years to keep pace with retirements and other attrition. The lab has set a target of hiring 100 workers by the end of September, said David Rosenzweig, a staffing specialist at Sandia. And Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, another nuclear weapons lab, is also looking to hire hundreds of new engineers -- about 400 this year and about 150-300 per year over the next few years, said Spiros Dimolitsas, associate director of engineering. Rosenzweig said that over the past seven or eight years, Sandia lab has hired about 30 to 35 engineers per year, on average, though the new burst could bring in 100 new workers per year over the next five years. Attrition and retirements at the lab have "been extremely pronounced last year and this year," he said. "We had a much larger retirement number last year than we anticipated. And we have a lot more people now that are fully retirement eligible. "We're replacing about half of the lab (work force)," Rosenzweig said. Salary competition Sandia recruiters are seeking electrical engineers, computer scientists, mechanical engineers and information technologists -- jobs that are in high demand in industry, too, Rosenzweig noted. Managed by Lockheed Martin Corp. for the Energy Department, Sandia National Laboratories specializes in national defense and nuclear weapons research. Livermore Lab, managed by the University of California system, has about 2,000 engineers and a total work force of about 8,000 employees. Typically the lab hires about 50-100 engineers per year, Dimolitsas said. Many who are leaving are going to local high-tech companies, he said. There are currently about 100 open engineering positions at Livermore Lab, he added. Labs growing Sandia may grow to about 1,100 total employees within five years, Rosenzweig said, or roughly equivalent to the lab's population about five or six years ago. "We're really not going to grow much. We're trying to catch up with what we lost last year and our limited hiring last year," Rosenzweig said. "With our attrition and our hiring, we'll probably just stay even." The lure of industry salaries has drawn some workers away from government research, and all three U.S. nuclear weapons labs began last year to offer one-time, lump-sum bonuses as an enticement for new workers. "Our salaries, with the sign-on bonuses, have become very competitive," he said. Sandia has hired two new recruitment specialists this year to assist in the accelerated hiring program. Recruiters are targeting students with master's and doctoral degrees. "Our strategy has been in recruiting from campuses. We have a goal of hiring 80 percent of our technical folks right out of college," Rosenzweig said. Dimolitsas said the search for new engineers at has become more intense over the past few years. "We are scaling our efforts up a bit." *****************************************************************