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01/18/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.16
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NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS
1 USEC plant upgrade on target for March - By Bill Bartleman
2 NRC raises concerns over spent-fuel fire
3 LANL Kicks Off Nuke-Waste Transmutation
4 NRC: YANKEE ROWE FUEL RODS COULD IGNITE
5 NRC Failure at Early Nuclear (FUSRAP) Sites
6 NRC Report Rates Risk of Fire ins spent fuel pond
7 EPA draft notice: Implementation Guidance for Radionuclides
8 Nuclear waste gets through despite protests
9 Unnecessary Shipment of Japanese MOX Fuel Threatens the
10 Premier to be questioned over nuclear plant fiasco
11 KMT to call meeting on nuclear plant
12 Energy council urges decision on power plant
13 DUTCH NUCLEAR TRANSPORT ARRIVES AT LA HAGUE AS PLUTONIUM/ MOX
14 BNFL AGREES TO TAKE BACK REPROCESSED NUCLEAR FUEL FROM JAPAN
15 Temelin shuts down for repairs
16 Whitman coasts through confirmation hearing
17 ADVISORY/Congressman Bob Filner to Visit Moab, Utah, Uranium Site
NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS
1 Experimental reactor at Hanford gets the ax
2 Report: DOE activities pose no threat
3 SNS director decides to leave OR
4 State weapons-production sites to be surveyed for nuclear hazards
5 University Lab Deal in Works
6 Eurotech Successfully Completes EKOR Acceptance Testing For DOE
7 GTS Duratek Announces $8.25 Million Contract
8 Energy Department Extends CH2M Hill Hanford Group Contract
9 DOE Rule: Protected Disclosures by whistleblowers
10 DOE ROD: storage of plutonium at Rocky Flats
11 Military had early alert to uranium danger
12 Kosovo Munitions Debris Contains Recycled Uranium
13 Depleted uranium concerns boost nonradioactive bullet
14 Cancer Cases in Yugoslavia Rise Sharply Due to NATO Bombings
15 German plea to U.S. in uranium row -
16 Finnish lab finds uranium in Balkans shell
17 Europe in Row Over Depleted Uranium
18 Germany's Fischer Deflects Critics
19 UN Staff Warned to Steer Clear of Depleted Uranium
20 Solana promises no secrets in uranium probe
21 Gulf General calls for uranium shell probe
22 Serbia Info News / Albright against the truth about uranium
23 Bush's Energy Pick to Go Before Senate Panel
24 Czechs join screening for depleted uranium
25 DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS CALL FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE DEPLETED
26 GERMANY SUMMONS US DIPLOMAT OVER DEPLETED URANIUM SCARE
27 DEPLETED URANIUM: DOES IT MAKE YOU SUSPICIOUS?
28 Depleted uranium: The next generation
29 Euro-MPs urge depleted uranium arms ban
30 DU admission stokes Gulf war health row
31 Euro MPs defy Nato and seek ban on DU
32 Dead Italian Veterans From Balkans Increase to 8
33 Uranium risk to Irish troops negligible army experts
34 Irish troops to receive tests for depleted uranium
35 American Nuclear Society chief suggests FFTF role
36 Richardson orders final FFTF shutdown
37 DOE revises contract to manage tank farms
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NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES
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1 USEC plant upgrade on target for March - By Bill Bartleman
The Paducah Sun
Thursday, January 18, 2001
Paducah, Kentucky
The new process will allow the Paducah plant to complete work
once done at the Portsmouth plant.
Upgrading the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant so that uranium can
be enriched here to the nuclear-fuel level should be completed by
March.
The upgrade is a part of USEC Inc.'s plan to start the shutdown
of the Portsmouth (Ohio) Gaseous Diffusion Plant by June.
"The work to complete the higher assay is about 95 percent
complete, " said USEC spokeswoman Georgann Lookofsky. "The final
pieces of on-site work should be done in February."
Since the early 1950s, the Paducah plant has operated in tandem
with other plants to enrich uranium to the 5 percent level
required for nuclear fuel. Initial enrichment has been performed
here to a level of about 2 percent, after which it was shipped to
Oak Ridge, Tenn., or Portsmouth for final processing. The Oak
Ridge plant closed about 15 years ago.
Physical changes in the plant have been completed over the past
three or four years, with the bulk of work in the last six months
amounting to paperwork as operating and safety procedures were
revised, and employees trained, Lookofsky said.
The new operating and safety procedures are being reviewed by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Courtney Blanchard, NRC senior
resident inspector in Paducah, said USEC is on target for
approval of the higher enrichment level by March.
"There has been a lot of communication between USEC and NRC,"
Blanchard said. "USEC has responded well to our questions and
they are on target to be a stand-alone plant by March."
The final step in approval is a review team's visit and
evaluation. Lookofsky said the inspection is expected in late
February. Once NRC grants approval, she said, several weeks will
be needed to build production to reach the 5 percent assay level.
The current plan is to ship the finished product to Portsmouth
where it will be prepared for shipment to nuclear power plants.
"We have a proposed project to build a shipping and transfer
facility in Paducah ... but that is still under review,"
Lookofsky said. "They are doing a cost-benefit analysis and
sometime down the road, they'll make a business decision."
Operation of the Portsmouth shipping and transfer facility takes
only a few workers and will not delay plans to close the
enrichment operation.
*****************************************************************
2 NRC raises concerns over spent-fuel fire
But the implications of its report on wet-pool storage are unclear
for Maine Yankee, which will store fuel in dry casks. -->
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 2001
BY MEREDITH GOAD AND SUSAN RAYFIELD, STAFF WRITERS
A NEW REPORT FROM THE NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION CONCLUDES
THAT THE RISK IS VERY LOW THAT RADIATION WOULD BE RELEASED IF A
SPENT- FUEL STORAGE FACILITY CAUGHT FIRE AT A DEACTIVATED NUCLEAR
POWER PLANT SUCH AS MAINE YANKEE.
BUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF A RADIATION RELEASE CAUSED BY A FIRE
COULD POSE A SERIOUS PUBLIC HEALTH THREAT, ACCORDING TO THE
REPORT. AND IT SAYS THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH A FIRE AND ITS
DANGEROUS AFTERMATH CANNOT BE RULED OUT, EVEN MANY YEARS AFTER A
PLANT'S FINAL SHUTDOWN.
THE REPORT RECOMMENDS REVIEWING SAFEGUARDS AT PLANTS THAT ARE
BEING CLOSED.
IT IS UNCLEAR EXACTLY HOW THE REPORT'S IMPLICATIONS MIGHT AFFECT
MAINE YANKEE. THE REPORT DEALS ONLY WITH WET POOL STORAGE OF
SPENT FUEL, AND MAINE YANKEE WILL START MOVING TO DRY CASK
STORAGE THIS SPRING. THE MOVE FROM WET TO DRY STORAGE, WHICH IS
GENERALLY CONSIDERED SAFER, IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETE IN LATE
2002.
IN 1998, AFTER MAINE YANKEE WENT OFF LINE, THE PLANT ELIMINATED
OFF- SITE EMERGENCY PLANNING MEASURES, SUCH AS EMERGENCY
EVACUATIONS AND SIRENS THAT WARN SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES OF AN
ACCIDENT. THE PLANT ARGUED THAT ANY CREDIBLE ACCIDENT SCENARIO
WOULD NOT RESULT IN A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH RISK TO THE PUBLIC.
"THIS REPORT BASICALLY RAISES THE QUESTION, DO WE NEED TO PUT THE
SIRENS BACK?" SAID DAVID LOCHBAUM, A NUCLEAR ENGINEER WITH THE
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS, A WIDELY RESPECTED GROUP OF
ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVISTS. "I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THE NRC
FOLLOW UP BY DOING PLANT-SPECIFIC WORK FOR MAINE YANKEE TO ANSWER
THAT ONE WAY OR THE OTHER."
THE NEW REPORT SHOWS THAT IN THE RARE EVENT OF A FIRE AT A PLANT
USING WET POOL STORAGE, THE DANGER TO THE PUBLIC COULD BE MUCH
GREATER THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.
WHEN THERE IS A CATASTROPHIC LOSS OF WATER SURROUNDING THE FUEL,
THE METAL TUBING CONTAINING THE FUEL CAN HEAT UP TO THE POINT
THAT IT STARTS BURNING. AS LONG AS THE TUBING REMAINS INTACT,
THERE IS NO RADIATION DANGER.
BUT THE NRC REPORT FOUND THAT UNDER SOME SCENARIOS, A FIRE CAN
CAUSE SIGNIFICANT RELEASES OF A RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPE CALLED
RUTHENIUM.
LAST YEAR, PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORY PERFORMED A RISK ANALYSIS
OF MAINE YANKEE'S SPENT FUEL POOL FOR THE NRC. THE STUDY
CONCLUDED THAT EVEN IF THE 40-FOOT-DEEP POOL WERE SUDDENLY
DRAINED, THE RODS WOULD NOT HEAT UP ENOUGH TO START A FIRE.
"AS WE EXPECTED, THE NRC REPORT SHOWS THE RISK OF STORING FUEL IN
A SPENT FUEL POOL TO BE VERY LOW," SAID ERIC HOWES, A SPOKESMAN
FOR MAINE YANKEE. "NUCLEAR FUEL HAS BEEN SAFELY STORED IN MAINE
YANKEE'S POOL SINCE 1972, CLOSE TO 30 YEARS. THERE ARE NO
CREDIBLE SCENARIOS THAT COULD RESULT IN PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY
CONCERNS."
THE NEW NRC REPORT EXAMINES THE CONSEQUENCES OF FIRES CAUSED BY
CATASTROPHIC EVENTS SUCH AS EARTHQUAKES, AIRPLANE ACCIDENTS,
INTERNAL FIRES AND "CASK DROPS," IN WHICH THE 100-TON CASKS USED
TO TRANSFER FUEL ACCIDENTALLY FALL AND CAUSE THE POOL TO FAIL.
LOCHBAUM CRITICIZED THE REPORT FOR NOT CONSIDERING THE
POSSIBILITY OF SABOTAGE OR TERRORIST ATTACKS.
"I'M NOT SAYING IT'S THE GREATEST RISK, BUT IT'S NOT ZERO AND
THEY ASSUMED IT WAS ZERO," HE SAID.
LOCHBAUM ALSO NOTED THAT FATALITY COUNTS ESTIMATED BY THE REPORT
DROPPED BY NEARLY A FACTOR OF 30 WHEN IT WAS ASSUMED PEOPLE
LIVING IN AREAS SURROUNDING A PLANT WOULD BE EVACUATED SOON AFTER
A FIRE.
"YOU CAN'T REALLY HAVE EARLY EVACUATION IF YOU DON'T HAVE SIRENS
AND EMERGENCY PLANNING AROUND ALL THE FACILITIES," HE SAID. "THIS
WOULD SEEM TO SUGGEST THAT THAT IS A VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR IN HOW
MANY PEOPLE MAY BE IMPACTED BY A SPENT FUEL FIRE."
THE NRC IS ALSO WORKING ON A REPORT ON THE RISKS OF DRY CASK FUEL
STORAGE, THE STORAGE METHOD MAINE YANKEE WILL BEGIN USING THIS
SPRING.
TO MAKE THE TRANSFER, BUNDLES OF FUEL RODS ARE PLACED UNDERWATER
INSIDE 60 STAINLESS STEEL CONTAINERS. BEFORE EACH CANNISTER IS
WELDED SHUT, ALL THE WATER IS DRAINED OUT. THE AIR IS EXTRACTED
AND REPLACED WITH HELIUM. THE CANNISTER THEN GOES INSIDE A
28-INCH-THICK, STEEL- REINFORCED CONCRETE CASK.
"WE'RE STILL IN DISCUSSIONS WITH THE NRC ABOUT SECURITY FOR THE
DRY FUEL STORAGE FACILITY," HOWES SAID.
RAY SHADIS, A LOCAL ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVIST, SAID ALTHOUGH THE NEW
NRC REPORT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE SAFETY OF DRY CASK STORAGE, HE
BELIEVES THE ISSUES IT RAISES ARE RELEVANT TO DRY CASKS AS WELL.
"WE WOULDN'T EXPECT THE NRC TO DO ANYTHING BUT DOWNPLAY SAFETY
ISSUES, " HE SAID. "IT'S CONSISTENT WITH THEIR PAST PERFORMANCE.
THAT'S WHAT THEY DO. NOW WE REALLY HAVE TO LOOK THROUGH THE
REPORT AND SEE WHAT THE DATA MEANS."
STAFF WRITER MEREDITH GOAD CAN BE CONTACTED AT 791-6332 OR AT:
MGOAD@PRESSHERALD.COM
STAFF WRITER SUSAN RAYFIELD CAN BE CONTACTED AT 725-8795 OR AT:
*****************************************************************
3 LANL Kicks Off Nuke-Waste Transmutation
Wednesday, January 17, 2001
Albuquerque Journal--> BY JENNIFER MCKEE
Journal Staff Writer
It sounds like a simple, almost ingenious idea: Take the nation's
30,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. Bombard it with neutrons to
eat up the nastiest stuff in the garbage heap. In the end, you're
left with a small amount of highly radioactive, although
short-lived, waste and a big pile of low-level radioactive
garbage that can be safely buried in many landfills.
It's called the "transmutation of nuclear waste, " literally
transforming radioactive nuclear materials into other, less
problematic forms. Supporters, like Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.,
say it just might take care of one the nation's most pressing
nuclear problems: What to do with the radioactive leftovers of
nuclear power. Critics call the idea a "shell game" of nuclear
waste and say it costs more and generates more new waste than
it's worth.
Domenici secured $34 million to fund a new program at Los Alamos
National Laboratory to see if the technology will work. The lab
officially christened the program last week, naming Edward Arthur
the new director of the experimental program now called Advanced
Accelerator Applications, or AAA.
He was in Albuquerque on Tuesday to announce the program.
"I have come to the conclusion that the United States has to get
itself involved in new technologies surrounding nuclear power,"
he said in an interview with the Journal. "In order for the world
to grow and have clean air, we don't have many alternatives."
Nuclear power plants, unlike their coal-burning cousins, don't
really "burn" anything. Instead, they generate energy by creating
controlled nuclear chain reactions - the same process that
powers nuclear bombs but much tamer. The process changes the
reactor fuel into a soup of other radioactive elements, including
plutonium.
Other countries, especially France, take that glob of spent
mix-matched nuclear fuel, reprocess it and use it over again,
said Pete Lyons, Domenici's science adviser. The United States,
however, plans on burying it.
But that solution has problems. For one, Lyons said, no one
particularly wants the waste in their back yard. And for another,
the waste contains plutonium, which has a half-life of 24,000
years, which under government guidelines means the waste must be
buried in repositories "guaranteed" for at least 10,000 years.
"Talking about what's going to happen in the next 10,000 years is
more theology than science," he said.
The AAA technology, if successful, would use up all the waste's
plutonium, leaving material with a half-life of only 300 years.
Lab scientists propose to build a special particle accelerator
that would hurl neutrons at the waste. Ideally, the plutonium
would absorb these neutrons, which would make it less
radioactive. The process should also generate electricity, some
of which would power the accelerator, but the extra could be sold
on the open market.
Lyons cautioned that the program is an experiment. The process
may prove too costly or too environmentally questionable to work
in the real world.
Still, both he and the senator said they believe the technology
holds too much promise to be ignored.
"We've got to find a much better solution to the permanent
disposal of nuclear waste," Domenici said.
Some scientists and activists, however, think AAA is not an
answer.
"It smacks of pork barrel politics between Domenici and the lab,"
said Jay Coghlan, of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, a Santa
Fe-based group.
The United States needs to learn from the mistakes of nuclear
power, said Greg Mello, of the Los Alamos Study Group, another
Santa Fe group, not chase "fantasy" technologies.
"There is no technical solution that will take away the
responsibility for nuclear weapons," he said.
What's more, said Hisham Zerrissi, a consulting senior scientist
for the Institute of Energy and Environmental Research, the
technology doesn't actually "reduce" nuclear waste at all.
He doesn't argue the point that plutonium will "fission off" if
saturated in neutrons. But you're still left with a bunch of
radioactive uranium, he said.
Under current law, only "transuranic" waste is considered
"high-level," which means only elements heavier than uranium such
as plutonium must be buried in special, highly controlled
repositories. Uranium, no matter how radioactive it is, is
considered "low-level."
"It's a loophole," Zerrissi said. And under that loophole, the
uranium left over from AAA technology can be buried in less
secure landfills, even though it's as radioactive as some of the
material buried at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the
repository for defense-generated nuclear waste in Carlsbad.
"This is going to create more dangers than it's proposed to
solve," he said. "There's not a clear, clear argument for
transmutation."
Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal
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4 NRC: YANKEE ROWE FUEL RODS COULD IGNITE
c2000 MASSLIVE
Thursday, January 18, 2001
By DAVID A. VALLETTE
Despite years of sitting idle in a pool of cooling water, the
fuel rods that once powered the Yankee Nuclear Power Station here
have the potential to ignite and produce a major radiological
event, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced
yesterday.
But the likelihood of such an event is extremely low, the agency
staff has determined.
"The risk of a zirconium fire, due to the overheating of fuel
that has been removed from the reactor and is stored in the spent
fuel pool, is not zero, but very low," the staff concluded in its
report.
"If a fire occurred, however, it could have serious radiological
effects," the report concludes.
Fuel rods are composed of uranium pellets in zirconium alloy
tubes. Zirconium fires can occur if the temperature of the rods
is not controlled and enough heat is generated to set the
zirconium ablaze and release the pellets' radiation.
Kelley Smith, Yankee spokeswoman, responding yesterday to the
report, said that all of the 533 rod assemblies sitting in the
pool at the shut-down Rowe plant have been there for at least
nine years, since the plant ceased generating electricity in
1991. And most of the rods have been there longer, deposited as
each was pulled from the reactor during the later years of
operation.
As such, their potential for fire, even in a water-loss event, is
much diminished, she said.
The Rowe plant has backup water supplies, from gravity-fed tanks
and from nearby Sherman Reservoir; and plant security is
concentrated at and around the building that houses the spent
fuel pool, while the razing and removal of the other parts of the
plant continues under decommissioning, Smith said.
About the only thing that would produce a fire, said Smith, is a
"catastrophic earthquake" that would demolish the pool and bury
the rods in rubble, so that cooling air could not circulate
around them.
The commission report concurs.
"The staff found that the event sequences important to risk at
decommissioning plant are limited to large earthquakes and cask
drop events." Cask- drop events are cases in which a cask filled
with spent fuel rods is dropped during transport.
In a move expected to save the company about $2 million annually
in pool maintenance costs, Yankee will begin later this year to
transfer the fuel rods into dry casks, completing the removals in
about one year. The casks, which will sit on site on a concrete
pad, will use air to keep the rods cool.
c 2001 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission.
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5 NRC Failure at Early Nuclear (FUSRAP) Sites
BOTCHED "CLEANUPS" AT EARLY NUCLEAR SITES
PRODUCT OF NRC, CONGRESSIONAL AND STATE IRRESPONSIBILITY
Nuclear waste improperly dumped in Cheektowaga, NY, elsewhere
by James Rauch
analyst, F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc.
For over two decades, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) has failed to take action to protect people from the
damaging effects of the millions of tons of radioactive uranium
mill tailings that were generated prior to 1978, predominantly as
a result of the Manhattan Project and subsequent early A-Bomb
production activities. NRC's lack of action at these early
radioactive sites is in direct violation of federal law and NRC's
own regulations.
In WNY, there are a number of these sites including the
Simonds Saw and Steel facility (now owned by Guterl Steel) in
Lockport, the Electro Metallurgical Company/Union Carbide (now US
Vanadium and others) in Niagara Falls, the large Lake Ontario
Ordnance Works toxics/radwaste dump near Lewiston and the
adjacent Niagara Falls Storage Site where some of the tailings
contain so much radium that the National Academy of Science has
determined them to be no different in hazard than high level
radioactive waste. Erie County has the five Tonawanda Site
properties, including the former Linde Air Products/Division
Union Carbide uranium refinery (now Praxair). Many of these
dangerous nuclear waste sites have been listed in the federal
Energy Department's Formerly Used Sites Remedial Action Program
(Corps), the very agency originally responsible for much of the
mess.
Failure of Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The fundamental problem at these and other FUSRAP sites
nationally is that NRC has ignored certain responsibilities set
in the Atomic Energy Act. In 1978, Congress specifically directed
NRC to regulate these wastes when it enacted the Uranium Mill
Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) of 1978, which amended
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Uranium mill tailings were placed
in a new regulatory category called lle.(2) byproduct material.
Section 84 of the act states:
"(t)he Commission shall insure that the management of any
byproduct material, as defined in section 11e.(2), is carried out
in such manner as ... the Commission deems appropriate to protect
the public health and safety."
The legislative history of UMTRCA is clear: Congress intended
that the management of all 11e.(2) byproduct materials,
including those wastes generated prior to 1978, be
carefully regulated by NRC.
NRC's own regulations, in place since the enactment of
UMTRCA at 10 CFR Part 40.2b, state:
"(t)he Commission will regulate byproduct material as defined in
this part that is located at a site where milling operations are
no longer active, if such site is not covered by the remedial
action program of title I of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation
Control Act of 1978. The criteria in appendix A of this part
will be applied to such sites."
In 1990, ten years ago, a U.S. Court of Appeals found that
Congress intended there be no exceptions and NRC should regulate
all 11e.(2) byproduct material (Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation
v. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 903 F.2d 1, 284
U.S.App.D.C. 184). Judge Buckley concluded:
"(t)he UMTRCA was intended to bring previously unregulated
radioactive end products of the source material extraction
process within the scope of NRC regulation and to provide a
comprehensive remedial program for the safe stabilization and
disposal of uranium and thorium mill tailings. The NRC's
interpretation of section 11(e)(2), however, places a portion of
the thorium tailings from Kerr-McGee's West Chicago facility
outside of the regulatory regime even though they are in all
relevant ways identical to tailings found by the NRC to be
byproduct material and thus subject to the UMTRCA's remedial
program. The NRC's construction thus frustrates the purposes of
the UMTRCA by rendering it inapplicable to waste material that it
was clearly intended to reach and recreating a jurisdictional gap
it was intended to close."
Following this ruling, NRC still failed to license or
otherwise to regulate the millions of cubic yards of 11e.(2)
materials at FUSRAP nuclear sites in New York and around the
country.
Current NRC Chairman's Involvement
It is ironic that the current Chairman of the NRC, Richard
Meserve, was the lead attorney for Kerr-McGee in this case.
F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc.'s 1998 suit,
requesting the U.S. District Court for the Western District of
N.Y. to issue a declaration that NRC has jurisdiction to regulate
Tonawanda's FUSRAP wastes, was dismissed this past June under the
discretion of Judge Elfvin over a venue technicality. Also in
1998, the Natural Resource Defense Council filed a petition
asking NRC to regulate FUSRAP 11e.(2) wastes. The petition was
dismissed by NRC.
Last February, Idaho's Snake River Alliance and Envirocare
of Utah each brought additional section 2.206 petitions
requesting NRC assume its responsibilities under UMTRCA to
license these wastes. Under the serious circumstances, an
expedited hearing was requested. On December 13, 2000, NRC again
rendered a misguided decision that it will not assume its legal
obligation to regulate the FUSRAP materials. This past spring,
Chairman Meserve had indicated that NRC would need more money
from Congress before March 8, 2000 letter to Utah's Senator
Bennett on this issue.
Army Corps of Engineers Fouls Up, Congress Approves
Today--three years after Congress transferred funding for
the FUSRAP from the Energy Department to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, two years after Congress directed the Corps to
implement the program using the CERCLA (Superfund) law, and one
year after the House further stated in its FY 2000 appropriation
bill that it did not intend that the Corps be required to submit
to NRC oversight--the Corps is hastily implementing deficient
onsite cleanup decisions often combined with improper waste
disposal offsite, in order to reduce total program costs.
The Corps unscrupulously defends its implementation of
flawed CERCLA remediations at FUSRAP sites as being justified by
these Congressional budget directives. However, there can be no
valid justification for the Corps issuing deficient CERCLA
cleanup decisions wherein fundamental "appropriate and relevant"
NRC, EPA and state regulations and policies are ignored, as has
occurred at Tonawanda, NY.
The Corps' cleanup levels for the Linde/Praxair property
are ten to fifty times less stringent than the levels previously
prescribed by the Energy Department in its 1993 $6 million
environmental impact statement for the Tonawanda Site.
The House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
apparently recognizes that under the Atomic Energy Act the Energy
Department is appropriation cycles, this subcommittee, and the
majority of Congressmen, have irrationally chosen to ignore
Energy's expert health and safety based cleanup recommendations
in their single-minded pursuit of a cap on total
As a result, the Corps is mired in controversy. Community
and environmental groups and agency officials are protesting its
flawed "cleanups". In 1999, California's Senator Barbara Boxer
protested the illegal disposal of thousands of tons of 11e.(2)
material from Tonawanda's Linde Building 30 at a Safety-Kleen
facility in Buttonwillow, California. This Washington Post
expose of the Congressmen involved in the transfer of the FUSRAP
program from the Energy Department to the Army Corps resulted in
a scheduled, then delayed, Congressional hearing into the Corps'
improper dumping. The much-needed investigative hearing has
still not been held.
Meanwhile, the Corps continues to ship tens of thousands of
cubic yards of 11e.(2) contaminated soils and debris from the
Tonawanda site properties for disposal at the already problematic
International Uranium Corporation mill site in Blanding, Utah
under a sham "alternate feed material" scheme.
Corps Illegally Dumps Nuke Waste in NY
Late this past summer a NYS official told F.A.C.T.S. that 25
tons of radioactive debris from Linde's Bldg. 30 were illegally
dumped in IWS's Schultz Landfill in Cheektowaga, NY, a RCRA Part
D facility located just was done without the approval of NY
state. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation had
previously entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Corps containing provisions for cooperation with the Corps in its
actions at the NYS FUSRAP sites, including remuneration for
specified DEC services provided.
This previously undisclosed action by the Corps belatedly
prompted DEC's Director of the Bureau of Radiation and Hazardous
Sites Management, Paul Merges, to establish an emergency
regulation. The regulation temporarily amended the state's Part
380 radioactive discharge regulations in an attempt to stave off
more illegal disposal of 11e.(2) wastes by the Corps in New York
State landfills. This emergency regulation was effective July
31, 2000 for a period of 90 days. Dr. Merges has told F.A.C.T.S.
that no action is contemplated to correct the illegal dumping by
the Corps at the Schultz Landfill as "The regulation is not
retroactive."
And yet, for over three years both Governor Pataki's lax DEC
and Pataki-deferential NYS Attorney General Elliott Spitzer have
ignored F.A.C.T.S.' repeated requests that the state take legal
action to force the lawful federal regulation of FUSRAP wastes by
NRC.
Is such ineffective behavior by state officials acceptable?
Lacking a decision by NRC in the aforementioned petitions
before the emergency regulation expired, DEC extended the
emergency regulation and simultaneously gave notice of intent to
promulgate a permanent amendment which it claims will prevent
additional improper dumping within New York for details and the
schedule of public hearings on this amendment.
Through all of this, Congressman John LaFalce and CANiT
(LaFalce's ex-officio group of local politicians that has
supported the Army Corps' mismanagement of remediation activities
at Tonawanda) have been silent. There has been no call from these
politicians for the clearly necessary and legally mandated NRC
oversight. Why?
Is this the kind of representation that we want?
This page created by James Rauch
Send comments or questions to cb955@freenet.buffalo.edu
*****************************************************************
6 Press Release - 2001 - 5 - NRC Report Rates Risk of
Fire at Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plant Spent Fuel Pool as Low
NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC
AFFAIRS TELEPHONE: 301/415-8200 WASHINGTON, DC 20555-001
No. 01-005
January 17, 2001
NRC REPORT RATES RISK OF FIRE AT DECOMMISSIONING NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
SPENT FUEL POOL AS LOW
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a staff report on the
potential accident risk, under certain postulated conditions, in
a spent fuel pool at a decommissioning nuclear power plant. The
results of the study indicate that the risk at SFPs is low and well
within the Commission's Quantitative Health Objectives (QHOs).
The Commission plans to conduct a public meeting on the report on
February 20, at which time the NRC staff, as well as industry and
interested public stakeholders, will be invited to make presentations.
These comments, together with others offered in writing by all interested
parties prior to that meeting, will be taken into consideration by
the Commission in preparing a proposed new rule on improving decommissioning
regulations for nuclear power plants. The rulemaking is intended
to provide a framework for regulation of permanently shutdown nuclear
power plants. One objective is to reduce the need to process exemption
requests in areas such as insurance, security, and emergency preparedness.
The staff plans to submit policy options to the Commission in May.
Spent fuel continues to generate decay heat long after the fuel is
no longer of use in the reactor. Cooling is normally provided, either
by way of the water in the spent fuel pool, or by air convection
in the case of fuel placed in dry casks. Zirconium alloy tubes surround
the uranium pellets in forming the fuel rods. The staff report being
//www.nrc.gov/NRC/REACTOR/DECOMMISSIONING/SF/index.html, concludes
the risk of a zirconium fire, due to the overheating of fuel that
has been removed from the reactor and is stored in the spent fuel
pool, is not zero, but very low. If a fire occurred, however, it
could have serious radiological effects.
The amount of decay heat decreases with time and is quite manageable
by a variety of mechanisms for normal and most abnormal conditions.
However, since heat generation never dissipates entirely, it must
be considered for safety purposes even many years after final shutdown.
This fact prompted the in-depth staff study, called for by the Commission
in December 1999, in response to a paper on improving decommissioning
regulations for nuclear power plants (SECY-99-168).
Preliminary drafts of the study were issued for public comment and
technical reviews in June of 1999 and February of last year. Comments
*****************************************************************
7 EPA draft notice: Implementation Guidance for Radionuclides
[Federal Register: January 18, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 12)]
[Notices] [Page 4826] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18ja01-74]
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-6933-9]
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice, request for comments on the draft radionuclides
implementation guidance.
SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published the final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation
for Radionuclides on December 7, 2000, in the Federal Register
(65 FR 76708). The EPA has also prepared the Draft Implementation
Guidance for the Radionuclides Rule. This Notice is announcing
the availability of this draft document and asking for comments
from stakeholders and the public. These comments will be
considered in developing the Final Implementation Guidance
document. The EPA encourages the full participation of all
stakeholders and the public throughout this process. The Draft
Implementation Guidance for the Radionuclides Rule is a
comprehensive reference to assist States in implementing the
Rule. The draft guidance was developed based on the Final Rule,
with input and review from EPA Headquarters and Regional staff,
and comments from States and the public on a previous version of
the document. Along with summaries of the Rule and implementation
timelines, the document contains: A detailed explanation of the
rule requirements; guidance for violation determinations, and
significant non-compliance definitions; Safe Drinking Water
Information (SDWIS) reporting requirements; guidance for State
primacy revision applications, and special primacy requirements;
and a series of ``stand-alone'' fact sheet guidance materials for
States and Public Water Systems. The guidance document describes
the new standards for uranium, as well as the revisions to the
radionuclides monitoring framework. The Appendices to the
document provide further information and tools to assist States
and EPA Regional Offices with primacy revisions and Rule
implementation, including: Violation tables to assist with
compliance determination; a sample Extension Agreement between
EPA and the States to document how implementation
responsibilities will be shared if States do not submit a primacy
applications by the deadline; a primacy revision crosswalk; a
``stand-alone'' State reporting guidance; rule training
materials; and beta and photon emitter conversion tables.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before March 30, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this Notice to Ed
Thomas, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (MC-4606), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20460. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for
information to request a copy of the draft guidance and
electronic addresses.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information related
to the Radionuclides Rule, contact: Ed Thomas, at (202) 260-0910
or e-mail to
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Copies of the draft guidance may be
obtained by contacting the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at
800-426-4791, or at EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking
Water's (OGWDW) Web Site: Thomas of OGWDW at (202) 260-0910 or by
e-mail at
Cynthia C. Dougherty, Director, Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water, Environmental Protection Agency. [FR Doc. 01-1521
Filed 1-17-01; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
*****************************************************************
8 Nuclear waste gets through despite protests
A convoy of nuclear waste under police guard evaded hundreds of
protesters to make its way through Sydney early before leaving
for France.
The shipment of 360 spent nuclear fuel rods was transported from
the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney's south via a rear exit after
more than 200 local residents and green groups blocked the
entrance to the plant.
In Botany Bay, five Greenpeace activists carrying buoys swam into
the path of the nuclear waste transport ship, Bouguenais, to
prevent it from docking shortly after 8pm (AEDT).
Greenpeace campaigner Corin Millais said at least six police
vessels escorted the ship to its berth and played cat and mouse
with four Greenpeace inflatable boats as the ship sailed to the
dock.
Seven activists were arrested and charged with minor offences,
including disobeying water rules, police said.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
(ANSTO) said in a statement the ship left Port Botany about 1am
bound for La Hague, France, where the waste would be reprocessed.
Greenpeace said the waste was highly radioactive and posed a
grave health risk to the public as it was trucked through
suburban streets.
"If you take a lid off one of these canisters it would kill you -
it's as simple as that," Greenpeace campaigner Stephen Campbell
said.
"Reprocessing is an unnecessary and contaminating process and the
waste will be all returned to Australia before 2015 with no
reduction in radioactivity."
Greenpeace stressed that the COGEMA reprocessing facility in
France was now under pressure to close due to its status as the
second-highest emitter of nuclear contamination in the world.
Acting federal opposition environment spokeswoman Carmen Lawrence
said the secrecy surrounding the transportation of the nuclear
waste was an affront to Sydneysiders.
"If the waste is as safe as they would have us believe, why the
secrecy and the cover-up?" Dr Lawrence said.
"People have a right to know when nuclear waste is being
transported through their community - ANSTO and the Commonwealth
government are arrogant and disdainful when it comes to community
concerns."
Local resident Lorraine Dixon, who has lived close to the reactor
for nine years, described the secret shipment as a disgrace.
"The worst of it is it's going to happen more frequently if the
proposal for a new nuclear reactor goes ahead, which means
there's an increased risk of an accident," Ms Dixon said.
ANSTO chief executive officer Professor Helen Garnett said the
shipment of spent fuel was the fifth from Lucas Heights and the
third since September 1997.
"It's important to understand that the shipment is part of a
planned process aimed at meeting the expressed desires of the
local community for the reduction in spent fuel stored at the
Lucas Heights site," she said.
cAAP 2001
c 1997-2000 ninemsn Pty Ltd - All rights reserved - Terms
*****************************************************************
9 Unnecessary Shipment of Japanese MOX Fuel Threatens the
Well-being of En-route Countries
CITIZENS' NUCLEAR INFORMATION CENTER
Unnecessary Shipment of Japanese MOX Fuel Threatens the
Well-being of En-route Countries
Power Company (TEPCO) has announced that the international marine
transportation of Japanese mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX)
fuel will leave Europe on 19 January 2001 (GMT). The two armed
British- flagged vessels, "Pacific Teal" and "Pacific Pintail" ,
will guard each other and transport 28 MOX fuel assemblies to
Japan to be used at TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 3 power plant.
Past shipments of Japanese nuclear materials went through the
following three routes: the Caribbean and Panama, South African
and the South Pacific, and around South America. The route will
be announced one day after departure, but all three routes could
possibly be used. The South American route is currently being
used by "Pacific Swan" which is transporting Japanese high-level
vitrified radioactive waste. "Pacific Swan" has been met by
strong protests from South American countries such as Chile and
Argentina. There is no need to force this transportation of MOX
fuel against the protests and concerns of the en-route countries.
"This transportation which is part of Japan's plutonium
utilization program is not only unnecessary but should not be
taking place under any circumstances when the risks of accidents
are taken into account" said Hideyuki Ban, Co-director of
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center (CNIC) - a Tokyo-based
anti-nuclear information center. Ban said: "The transportation of
MOX fuel is a result of the Japanese government and utilities'
fixation on pursuing its plutonium policy." Japan has been
pursuing plutonium utilization since its initiation of nuclear
development, and is one of the few nations still unable to adapt
to the world's trend which is turning away from the development
of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs). In the past, FBR was regarded as
the dream nuclear reactor which would produce more plutonium than
it consumes as fuel. However, the development was met with great
difficulty and even France, which was the only European country
left pursuing the development, shut down its demonstration FBR
"Superphenix" in 1998. As of the end of 1999, Japanese plutonium
extracted from its spent fuel by British and French reprocessors
amounted to about 28 tons. The initial plan was to use the
plutonium mainly at FBRs and use some at light water reactors
during the transition period from uranium fuel to plutonium fuel
use. However, the sodium leak and fire at the Monju prototype FBR
in December 1995 gave a serious blow to the program. There have
been heated discussions on what to do with Monju which has been
shut down since the accident. In any case, no plans currently
exist for building a demonstration FBR. As a result, the program
to use plutonium in light water reactors, called the "plu-thermal
program" in Japan, was introduced. Light water reactors are
designed to use uranium fuel and thus various risks are increased
when MOX fuel, mixed plutonium and uranium fuel, is used in them.
However, this plan has been introduced as a countermeasure to
somehow consume the growing stockpile of excess plutonium. "
Despite the growing plutonium stockpile, Japan has not abandoned
reprocessing, and so it must show the world it has plans to use
excess plutonium. This is the sole reason for burning MOX."
"Japanese nuclear reactors simply do not require plutonium as a
source of fuel, " said Ban. As of January 1997, the Federation of
Electric Power Companies (FEPCO) planned to have MOX fuel burned
at 16-18 reactors by 2010. However, that plan has already been
seriously delayed. The Japanese public's anxiety over nuclear
power greatly increased following the JCO criticality accident in
the summer of 1999. On the other hand, it was revealed in the
same year that data of MOX fuel manufactured for and transported
to Japan was falsified. British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL) which
manufactured MOX fuel for Takahama 3 had falsified the fuel's
quality control data. It was later agreed by the two countries
that the fuel would be sent back to Britain. Thus, ironically,
the MOX fuel which was transported against strong protests and
concerns of the en-route countries is going to be shipped back.
Furthermore, Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL), the shipping
company for the imminent MOX fuel transportation and all
international marine transportation of Japanese nuclear
materials, is a subsidiary of BNFL. Ban said: "How can the
en-route countries trust the safety of the shipment when a
company that deceives its customers on quality control data is
the parent company of the shipper." Once Pacific Pintail and
Pacific Teal leave Europe with the MOX fuel for Japan, together
with the Pacific Swan currently transporting Japanese high-level
radioactive waste, there will be three ships carrying Japanese
nuclear materials sailing between Europe and Japan through
international waters. Numerous plans for transportation are lined
up to follow these shipments; returning shipment of MOX fuel with
falsified data from Japan to Britain, shipment of spent fuel from
Tokai I to Britain, and many other shipments of MOX fuel and
vitrified high-level nuclear waste from Europe to Japan. Past
such shipments have taken place without accurate explanation of
risks involved, ample information, or consents from en-route
countries. Numerous en-route countries are imposed with risks of
radioactive materials because of the shipments of MOX fuel and
high-level nuclear waste which are by-products of the collapse of
Japan's plutonium policy. Even without a serious accident, these
shipments can cause serious damage to the economy of the en-route
countries by affecting tourism and businesses related to
agricultural and marine products. A comprehensive compensation
scheme has yet to be shown to en-route countries for such
economic damages. The en-route countries' demands for an end to
these shipments are entirely justified in the absence of any
rational or practical reasons for Japan to pursue its plutonium
program. Ban said: " Considering the fact that already over a
hundred shipments of nuclear materials are planned, until the
Japanese plutonium policy is put to an end, the world's water
will be daily threatened by the transportation of Japanese
nuclear materials." For more information: Gaia Hoerner
International Relations Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
(tel) 81-3-5330-9520 (fax) 81-3-5330-9530
FOR A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD - HTTP://WWW.CNIC.OR.JP/
3F Kotobuki Bldg., 1-58-15 Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo
164-0003 Japan Tel: 81-3-5330-9520; Fax: 81-3-5330-9530
*****************************************************************
10 Premier to be questioned over nuclear plant fiasco
The Taipei Times Online: 2001-01-17
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17TH, 2001
INVESTIGATION: The Control Yuan, which has been probing events
surrounding the scrapping of the project, will call Chang
Chun-hsiung before them
BY LIN MEI-CHUN STAFF REPORTER
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (iT) will be asked to meet with
officials from the Control Yuan as the nation's watchdog body
continues its investigation into the decision-making process
which led to the discontinuation of the Fourth Nuclear Power
Plant (֥|). The investigation, begun on Monday, is trying to
establish whether the decisions involved any procedural
wrongdoing, and, if so, who should be held responsible.
In addition to the premier, six high-ranking officials from
executive organizations will also be requested to meet with
members of the Control Yuan to detail how and why the contentious
decision was reached.
The series of interviews began with Taiwan Power Company
(Taipower, xq) Chairman Hsi Shi-chi (u), Taipower
President Kuo Chun- hui (Tf), and Atomic Energy Council
Chairman Hsia Der-yu (Lw). Yesterday the Control Yuan's
five-member panel listened to reports given by Minister of
Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (LHq) and Chen Chao-yih (Lq),
secretary-general of the Energy Commission. Tomorrow, the panel
will meet with Auditor-General of the Ministry of Audit, Su
Chen-ping (Ĭ).
"Given that these units--Taipower, the Atomic Energy Council and
the Ministry of Economic Affairs--could only offer advice
regarding the pros and cons of the matter, the final decision
still rested with the executive branch, and for this reason, it
is necessary for the premier to undergo questioning," said panel
member Huang Chin-jenn (), adding that they have decided to
issue their notice to Chang after the Chinese New Year vacation.
Concerning Monday's ruling by the Council of Grand Justices that
the decision-making process behind the scrapping of the plant was
flawed, Huang said that, "The verdict reached by the council will
be one of the key references for our investigation."
He added that their investigation would center on whether the
Executive Yuan's decision-making process was illegal or involved
malpractice.
"There should be a set of appropriate administrative procedures
to be followed when an important policy is to be changed," Huang
said.
Panel member Chang Teh-ming (iw) said that cases considered
to be flawed in the policymaking procedure were regarded as
involving the greatest degree of wrongdoing. "It is too early to
jump to any conclusion about what their final decision will be,"
he added.
The panel declined to comment after meeting Lin yesterday on the
grounds that the investigation was incomplete, only saying they
had tried to understand the causes behind the policy U-turn made
by the ministry.
The Control Yuan may propose corrective action to government
departments and take punitive action against public
functionaries, including impeachment in the case of the most
serious violations of the law or neglect of duties, and censure
in less serious cases.
The decision made by the Executive Yuan on Oct. 27 to halt
construction of the plant outraged the opposition because the
plant had been approved by the previous KMT-led government. The
opposition attacked the decision, saying that the executive
branch had not shown any respect for a bill that had been passed
in the legislature, and therefore appealed to the Control Yuan to
penalize the officials involved in the matter.
This story has been viewed 437 times.
Copyright c 1999, 2000, 2001 The Taipei Times. All rights
*****************************************************************
11 KMT to call meeting on nuclear plant
The Taipei Times Online: 2001-01-18
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18TH, 2001
BY LIN CHIEH-YU
STAFF REPORTER
Bolstered by strong support from the KMT's Central Standing
Committee yesterday an alliance of opposition party lawmakers
have decided to hold a provisional meeting on Jan. 30 to debate
the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (֥|).
"The continued dispute [over the plant] ... has influenced
Taiwan's economic development and the government has had to spend
billions of dollars in compensation for contracts not honored,"
said KMT legislative caucus leader Hong Yuh-chin (xɴ)
yesterday.
"The KMT can't allow the DPP government to be ambiguous about
this issue any longer," Hong added.
Some said that the DPP's strategy of ambiguity was a move to
prolong the debate until the year end legislative elections.
"If the ruling party really had such a plan, we would force
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (iT) to step down from his post by
launching a no-confidence vote and also recalling President Chen
Shui-bian ()," said People First Party legislative caucus
spokesman Hwang Yih-jiau (q).
Responding to the DPP for the first time yesterday, KMT Chairman
Lien Chan (s) accused the government of being "prejudiced" in
its response to the constitutional ruling on the scrapping of the
plant.
"The Council of Grand Justices has clearly indicated that the
government's behavior was incompatible with the spirit of the
Constitution.The ruling party should accept the final decision of
the Legislative Yuan in the future," Lien said.
On Monday the council ruled that the Cabinet's decision to scrap
the construction of the nuclear plant on Oct. 27 was flawed.
According to the Constitution, there are two ways an
extraordinary meeting of the Legislative Yuan can be called
between its formal sessions. One is that the president asks the
speaker for such a meeting, the other is that one-fourth of
lawmakers (56 of the total of 223) sign a motion to approve such
a proposal.
Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (), who is also a
KMT vice chairman, approved the idea of holding a provisional
meeting.
Both the Cabinet and the DPP were supportive of the announced
provisional meeting but have refused to resume construction of
the nuclear power plant for the time being as KMT high-ranking
cadres have suggested.
Chang categorically denied allegations that the Executive Yuan is
scheming to procrastinate over the dispute in order to try to put
off resolving the issue until the legislative elections that are
to be held at the end of the year.
However, Chang was unable to provide a precise answer as to
whether Taipower (xq), the builder of all of Taiwan's nuclear
power plants, should resume construction of the fourth, which is
already one-third complete. This story has been viewed 533 times.
Copyright c 1999, 2000, 2001 The Taipei Times. All rights
*****************************************************************
12 Energy council urges decision on power plant
The Taipei Times Online: 2001-01-18
THURSDAY, JANUARY 18TH, 2001
PREPARATIONS: The Atomic Energy Council has called for a decision
to be made on the future of the plant as soon as possible to
avoid escalating costs
BY CHIU YU-TZU
STAFF REPORTER
Officials of the Cabinet's Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said
yesterday that the future of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant
should be decided as soon as possible in order to minimize
expenditure on repairing structural damage caused by the halt in
construction in the event that the project is to resume.
"The later the decision is made, the greater will be the effort
needed to reinforce the damaged structure," AEC Vice Chairman
Ouyang Min- shen (ڶӲ) said yesterday.
Ouyang said that some exposed steel bars at the site had started
to rust and that these required further expenditure and work to
repair.
Construction of the plant, which is about 30 percent complete,
was halted last October by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (iT).
Following Monday's interpretation by the Council of Grand
Justices, the opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan informed
the Executive Yuan that any political negotiations aimed at
ending the current political deadlock would not be carried out
until construction of the power plant was resumed.
Ouyang, who is in charge of regulating both the nuclear safety
and construction quality aspects of the project, said that
inefficient implementation of an important national project like
the nuclear power plant would cause huge social losses.
There was widespread speculation yesterday that the Executive
Yuan intends to prolong the controversy surrounding the plant
until the next legislative election, which will be held at the
end of the year.
Ouyang said he had stated several times that the issue of whether
to cease construction of the plant could not be decided by the
Executive Yuan alone.
Instead, Ouyang said, the status of the plant and whether
construction should begin again would have to be solved by
legislation.
Ouyang said that he was happy that the opinion given by the Grand
Justices was similar to his own view.
Facing an uncertain future in the shadow of the proposed plant,
residents of Kungliao township (^d), in Taipei County, said
yesterday that the continuing political struggle had shown that
their "right to live" had been neglected.
"From Premier Chang's announcement last October, to the Grand
Justices' explanation, we Kungliao residents feel like we have
been sidelined.
"Who has ever thought about our feelings?" Kungliao township
Chief Chao Kuo-tung () said.
Responding to the explanation given by the Grand Justices, Chao
called for a referendum to decide the future of the plant.
Chao said that he would cooperate with local anti-nuclear
activists from the Yenliao Anti-nuclear Self-help Association
(QdϮ֦۱Ϸ| ) to fight for their "right to live." This story
has been viewed 262 times. [*][
Copyright c 1999, 2000, 2001 The Taipei Times. All rights
*****************************************************************
13 DUTCH NUCLEAR TRANSPORT ARRIVES AT LA HAGUE AS PLUTONIUM/ MOX
PREPARES FOR DEPARTURE TO JAPAN
18 January 2001
La Hague/Cherbourg - As preparations for tomorrows transport of
plutonium/MOX from France to Japan are being finalised, the
scandal Later today, a train carrying spent nuclear fuel from the
Netherlands will arrive at Cogemas Valognes rail depot.
One cask of highly radioactive spent fuel left the Borselle
nuclear power plant yesterday following protests from Greenpeace
Netherlands and Greenpeace Belgium. Spent fuel from Borselle has
been transported to, and reprocessed, at la Hague since 1978.
Despite this, not one gram of plutonium extracted during
reprocessing has been 'recycled' in Dutch nuclear reactors, nor
are there any plans to do so, in stark contrast to Cogemas claim
that their business is the recycling of nuclear material.
As a result of the reprocessing of foreign and domestic spent
nuclear fuel, Cogema has created the world's largest stockpile of
weapons- usable plutonium, over 72,000kg as of the end of 1999,
most of which is still at la Hague. Thirty-thousand kilograms
belong to non-French client countries, including the Netherlands,
Japan, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, the rest is owned by
Electricite de France, EdF.
"In reality Cogema's reprocessing is about nuclear waste dumping,
resulting in widespread radioactive contamination, the production
of even more nuclear waste and the isolation of nuclear weapons-
usable plutonium, not recycling. This latest foreign transport of
nuclear waste exposes the madness of the nuclear industry and
reprocessing, it is high time it was stopped," said Jean-luc
Thierry of Greenpeace France.
A shipment of Japanese plutonium/MOX fuel, containing around
230kg of plutonium, is to leave the French port of Cherbourg
under heavy military security tomorrow, Friday. The cargo will be
carried onboard the British freighters Pacific Pintail and
Pacific Teal.
Over 2000kg of plutonium has been shipped from la Hague to Japan
since 1985, yet, as in the case of the Netherlands, not one gram
has been used in a Japanese nuclear reactor. Approximately
27,000kg of plutonium belonging to Japan remains stockpiled at la
Hague.
"To put the scale of the la Hague plutonium mountain in
perspective, each year since the mid-1990's Cogema has increased
the world's stockpile by 16,000kg, enough for 2000 nuclear
weapons or five time more than then number of nuclear weapons in
the 'Force de Frappe', Frances nuclear weapons arsenal. The
Netherlands and Japan, like all of Cogema's clients, are
complicit in this plutonium nightmare," said Shaun Burnie of
Greenpeace International.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
-Jean-luc Thierry - Greenpeace France +33 (0) 6 1591 0237
(mobile)
-Shaun Burnie - Greenpeace International - in Cherbourg +31 6
2900 1133
~nuclear/transport/mox00
Video and still photographs of protests against the Japanese
plutonium
transport and Dutch nuclear transport are available from: Footage
(+31 20 52 49 543) and stills (+31 20 52 49 580).
Notes to editors:
(1) In a press statement yesterday Cogema announced the timing of
the plutonium/Mox shipment departure. It "is scheduled to leave
Europe on January 19th 2001." The Cogema press statement further
reports that: "The route and approximate timing of arrival in
Japan will
*****************************************************************
14 BNFL AGREES TO TAKE BACK REPROCESSED NUCLEAR FUEL FROM JAPAN
In the latest chapter in the saga of Sellafields falsified fuel
data, British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) announced on Tuesday that it
had agreed to compensate the Kansai Electric Power Company 40
million, and to return the reprocessed nuclear fuel to the UK.
In return, Kansai Electric has decided to lift the suspension on
new fuel and reprocessing business.
The compensation will be paid half in cash, and half in kind,
should reprocessing at Sellafield be resumed on a commercial
scale. BNFL are unable to say how long it will take to return
the reprocessed fuel from Japan, but quote a British Government
officials estimate of two to three years.
In September last year it was revealed that three Sellafield
workers had been falsifying quality control data on pellets of
fuel made from mixed oxides of plutonium and uranium (MOX),
which, though it posed no threat to the safety of the fuel, did
bring into question the reliability of management and practices
at the reprocessing plant. By the time the news broke, a quantity
of the fuel in question had arrived in Japan, where the incident
was regarded as a scandal, and December 1999, the fuel has been
stored in a cooling pond at the Takahama reactor site.
A number of BNFL workers associated with the falsification have
since been sacked, and the company also has a new Chief Executive
(see continuing improvements in its quality control procedures in
order to ensure new MOX and reprocessing business in Japan.
Norman Askew, BNFLs Chief Executive, who met with Kansai in late
June said: We have been working very hard with our customer to
find a solution. I am very pleased that these matters have been
resolved, and with the lifting of the moratorium it opens the way
for the re- establishing of a normal business relationship.
We still have much work to do to continue the process of
rebuilding customer confidence. We have enjoyed a positive and
successful relationship with our customers in Japan for some 30
years and everyone in BNFL is determined to regain that
confidence. This agreement is the start of that process.
The announcement that the fuel is to be brought back to England
has been criticised by environmental campaigners, as being both
unnecessary and a threat to the environment and security of
countries along the transport route. According to Greenpeace, the
MOX fuel contains sufficient plutonium for 25 nuclear weapons,
and the campaign group is calling for the fuel to be treated as
nuclear waste in Japan.
What the UK government and BNFL do not understand is that the
MOX business makes no economic sense, said Greenpeace nuclear
campaigner, Bridget Woodman. This shipment is being made to
save an industry that has no future. Rather than generate more
international opposition to Britains plutonium industry and
government policy, this plan should be scrapped.
Though the exact details for the return of the fuel have not yet
been confirmed, BNFL told edie that it is most likely that it
will be in the same way that it was sent to Japan: in two
purpose-built ships with three fixed guns each, and a guard force
made up from the UK Atomic Energy Authoritys Constabulary, the
force that guards nuclear sites within the UK. With an
incident-free 40 years of carrying nuclear material around the
world, BNFL is confident that the journey poses no safety risks.
Greeting the news on Tuesday, Energy Minister Helen Liddell said:
I welcome todays agreement between BNFL and Kansai. The
Government will work with the Government of Japan in helping
where it can to implement BNFLs decision that the fuel at
Takahama be returned to the UK. I am pleased that the obstacle
to business between BNFL and Kansai has now been lifted.
*****************************************************************
15 Temelin shuts down for repairs
BBC News | EUROPE |
Thursday, 18 January, 2001, 08:57 GMT
[I] The plant has had a series of problems The controversial
Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic has been shut
down for repairs.
It is the sixth time that the Soviet-built plant has been shut
down since it was fired up in October.
A plant spokesman said that engineers from the operating company
would be carrying out repair work over over the next three weeks.
The head of the country's nuclear safety office, Dana Draboua,
said the safety of the reactor was not in question.
[I] Temelin has been a source of protests
"We cannot go on until this matter is resolved, not in terms of
nuclear safety - we have so far raised no objections in this
respect - but in terms of the reactor's operation," she said.
Earlier this month, the first reactor at the plant temporarily
stopped operating after equipment malfunctioned and triggered an
automatic shut-down.
Temelin has been a source of tension between the Czech Republic
and neighbouring Austria.
Austria, which rejected nuclear energy in a referendum in 1978,
is concerned over the safety of the plant, which lies 60km (40
miles) from its border.
The row between the two countries has made Austria threaten to
stall talks over the Czech candidacy for EU membership.
*****************************************************************
16 Whitman coasts through confirmation hearing
January 17, 2001
BY BENJAMIN GROVE
LAS VEGAS SUN
WASHINGTON--As predicted, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman
today seemed to sail through her confirmation hearing as
lawmakers lobbed questions at her about how she would run the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Whitman, 52, is appearing before the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee. She promised "to forge partnerships among
citizens, government and businesses and move beyond the 'command
and control' model of mandates, regulations and litigation."
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., enjoying a brief stint as committee
chairman, presided at the hearing. He will hand the gavel back to
Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., after Republicans take control of the
Senate on Saturday when President-elect George W. Bush is sworn
in.
Reid asked Whitman for her thoughts about the EPA's proposed
radiation standards for Yucca Mountain, the proposed site of the
nation's nuclear waste dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The
EPA has proposed strict levels for the amount of radiation the
waste burial site could emit, and Nevada officials, including
Reid, strongly support those EPA-set standards.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed more lax
standards, creating controversy between the two agencies. Whitman
said the EPA and NRC should together devise a standard.
"Sen. Reid was not pleased with the nominee's response," on that
question, Reid spokesman David Cherry said.
Businesses will clean up faster and more thoroughly if the
government offered incentives instead of ultimatums, she said.
Whitman said three of her priorities were reauthorizing the Clean
Air Act, cleaning up abandoned industrial "brownfields" and
tending the EPA's "Superfund" sites--the list of the most
polluted spots in the nation.
She said her record in New Jersey proved her commitment to clean
air, water and land.
"At the same time, New Jersey's economy is stronger than ever,"
Whitman stressed as she made the point that environmental
protection and economic prosperity "go hand in hand."
But mostly Whitman performed well before the friendly committee
and received kudos on her nomination from both Democratic and
Republican members. Reid has predicted she will be confirmed
overwhelmingly in a full Senate vote.
Reid also asked Whitman about decreasing pollution created by
diesel fuel vehicles and providing "environmental justice" to
poor or minority Americans who suffer with pollution. Both issues
were high on her priority list, she said. Reid also asked Whitman
to make pollution on the Paiute tribe reservation in Nevada a
priority, and she pledged she would.
Reid opened the hearing with remarks about a pristine springs--
an "oasis in the desert"--that he visited as a boy growing up in
nearby Searchlight.
"Over the years, it has been ruined," Reid said. "It was really a
mess from people who had trashed this natural wonder."
Whitman said she wanted to visit Nevada and other
states--"perhaps even visit some trout streams." Whitman said her
father first taught her to love the environment on the banks of a
small trout stream on their family farm.
ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC.
*****************************************************************
17 ADVISORY/Congressman Bob Filner to Visit Moab, Utah, Uranium Site
to Call on Congress and the Incoming Bush Administration to Carry
Out its Cleanup
BW0315 JAN 17,2001 9:37 PACIFIC 12:37 EASTERN
(BW)(CA-CONGRESSMAN-BOB-FILNER) ADVISORY/Congressman Bob Filner to
Visit Moab, Utah, Uranium Site to Call on Congress and the Incoming
Bush Administration to Carry Out its Cleanup
News Editors/Environment & Political Writers
ADVISORY...for Friday (Jan. 19)
--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
WHO: Congressman Bob Filner of California, who has worked for
more than three years toward passage of legislation to
clean up a huge uranium tailings pile along the banks of
the Colorado River. The cleanup legislation passed
Congress last year by an overwhelming margin.
WHAT: The Moab, Utah, uranium tailings pile has been leaching
radioactive waste into the Colorado River--the major
source of water for millions of Americans in Southern
California, Nevada and Arizona. There has been
bipartisan support in Congress to clean up this site and
outgoing Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has said his
agency would take responsibility for the cleanup.
Filner will tour the site and talk about the need for
Congress and the Bush Administration to commit to
carrying out this cleanup for the safety of the water
supply throughout the Southwestern United States. During
his visit, he will meet with representatives of Utah's
Congressional delegation, federal, state and local
officials, Metropolitan Water District representatives
and local environmentalists.
WHEN: 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time, Friday, Jan. 19
(8:30 a.m. Pacific Time)
WHERE: Canyonlands Field Airport, Moab, Utah. (The tour will
proceed from the airport).
WHY: Although the cleanup bill has passed Congress, its
implementation is not assured without support from the
incoming Energy Department and without appropriate
funding from Congress.
--30--tjj/la* mtb/la
CONTACT: Office of Congressman Bob Filner, Chula Vista, Calif.
Don Stanziano, 619/422-5963 or 619/889-5963
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA UTAH ARIZONA NEVADA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENVIRONMENT GOVERNMENT ADVISORY
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES
*****************************************************************
1 Experimental reactor at Hanford gets the ax
SUPPORTERS CONTEND ACTION IS UNJUSTIFIED
Thursday, January 18, 2001
BY LINDA ASHTON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YAKIMA--Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, in one of his last
official acts, will order the permanent shutdown of an
experimental nuclear reactor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
Matt Nerzig, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy, said
yesterday the official order will be issued this week. The
Clinton administration concludes its term Saturday, Inauguration
Day for President-elect George W. Bush.
Supporters of the Fast Flux Test Facility already are gearing up
to make their case for restarting the reactor to the incoming
administration, while Benton County, the cities of Richland and
Kennewick and possibly others are prepared to sue the Department
of Energy, contending the study used to justify the
decommissioning order was flawed.
The future of the one-of-a-kind reactor has been debated
passionately for nearly a decade, and decisions on whether to
restart or shut down have been postponed repeatedly.
The FFTF was built in the 1970s as a test site for the federal
breeder reactor program, which was scrapped in the 1980s after
the government decided it had misjudged the nation's electricity
needs.
The 400-megawatt FFTF became surplus and, in 1992, it was placed
on standby. The nuclear fuel was removed from the core, but the
sodium- cooling system was maintained to permit a possible
restart.
The reactor's most ardent supporters include a group of "cancer
fighters" who believe the FFTF is the best place in the nation to
make isotopes for radiological medicine.
"The FFTF is a national treasure, and its destruction is a
national crisis," contends Citizens for Medical Isotopes, a
pro-FFTF organization.
Supporters suggest private companies could pay to use the reactor
to make isotopes for diagnosing and treating disease.
In 1999, the Energy Department studied possible uses for the
reactor but concluded a year later that restarting it lacked
sufficient support from the private sector and other federal
agencies to make it feasible.
Decommissioning the FFTF would cost about $300 million and take
about four years. It costs about $40 million a year and takes 250
people to keep the reactor on standby.
c 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
*****************************************************************
2 Report: DOE activities pose no threat
Oak Ridger Online -->
Story last updated at 1:31 p.m. on Thursday, January 18, 2001
BY PAUL PARSON
Oak Ridger staff
There are no immediate threats to the public health from current
Department of Energy activities on the Oak Ridge Reservation, but
the potential for harm does exist if lapses in surveillance or
maintenance occur and cleanups fail to progress.
That fact is pointed out in a 2000 status report recently
released by the DOE oversight division of the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation.
Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the Oak Ridge Reservation
Local Oversight Committee, said the report is an accurate
representation of what's going on locally. The LOC, which
provides advice to local, state and federal officials regarding
DOE environmental management decisions, assisted in the report.
Covering around 35,545 acres, the Oak Ridge Reservation is one of
the largest DOE sites in the nation and is home to Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge K-25 Site and the Y-12
National Security Complex. More than 500 sites, or 15 percent of
the reservation, have been contaminated by DOE and its
predecessor agencies, the report states.
According to TDEC's report, the on-site storage of waste from the
reservation continues to grow. The report states DOE must
maintain the integrity of controls over the dangerous materials
stored in Oak Ridge. The dangerous materials include highly
enriched uranium, mercury and uranium hexafluoride.
Gawarecki pointed out that one area requiring continuous
attention is the depleted uranium hexafluoride cylinders at K-25.
An agreement between the state and DOE was signed in 1999 to
transport these cylinders to facilities scheduled for
construction in Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky. The uranium
hexafluoride can be converted to uranium oxide, and then stored
or disposed of at the Nevada Test Site.
However, Gawarecki said there is no commitment as to when the
cylinders will be shipped out of Oak Ridge.
In addition, DOE continues to release low levels of contaminants
to the air and water from legacy sites that are being remediated,
the report states.
For example, demolition activities at buildings K-1410 and K-1131
at K-25 resulted in increased releases of plutonium and other
radionuclides. Although these releases did not pose a public
health hazard, TDEC's report states the agency did notify DOE
with concerns on the matter.
As for the future, TDEC's report states several challenges exist
for the Oak Ridge Reservation, including:
*Ensuring that the federal government remains committed to the
long- term cleanup of the reservation and finding funding to
dispose of waste stored locally.
*Addressing public anxiety over contamination from the
reservation and health problems it may have caused to workers and
residents.
*Ensuring that the cleanup of the Oak Ridge K-25 Site doesn't get
lost in the rush to reindustrialize the facility.
*Obtaining reasonable standards that allow contractors at K-25 to
recycle tools and other materials from the site.
TDEC's DOE oversight division is a result of environment-related
agreements among the state of Tennessee, DOE and the
Environmental Protection Agency. These agreements evolved from a
1983 situation in which massive quantities of mercury released
from the Y-12 Plant were discovered to have polluted East Fork
Poplar Creek, which runs through downtown Oak Ridge.
[*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger
*****************************************************************
3 SNS director decides to leave OR
Oak Ridger Online -->
Story last updated at 1:32 p.m. on Thursday, January 18, 2001
Moncton
BY PAUL PARSON
Oak Ridger staff
David Moncton's decision to step down as executive director of
the Spallation Neutron Source should not affect the future of the
project, according to Bill Madia, director of Oak Ridge National
Laboratory.
"David will be a large loss to the project," said Madia this
morning. "But the project is in exceptionally good shape."
Moncton came to Oak Ridge in February 1999 to prepare the $1.4
billion SNS project for construction. During the past two years,
Moncton has commuted between Oak Ridge and Chicago, Ill., where
he lives and also works at Argonne National Laboratory.
The need for a full-time SNS director and for Moncton to continue
his executive duties at Argonne on a full-time basis required
that a decision between the two be made, officials said. And
Moncton opted to leave Oak Ridge.
In an ORNL press release, Moncton said his decision will allow
him to spend more time with his family and resume his research at
Argonne.
"He made a choice I fully understand," Madia said.
Madia said Moncton has agreed to stay on with the SNS until a new
director is found. Madia said he already has a list of at least
eight potential candidates to fill Moncton's position and a
tentative date of March 1 has been set for announcing the new
director.
The last six months have witnessed significant milestones for the
SNS project. Congress appropriated $278 million for the current
fiscal year to begin construction of the project and, in
December, workers began pouring the foundations for the project's
facilities.
Madia said he feels Congress will continue to financially support
the project. The budget request for fiscal 2002 is expected to be
$291 million.
To design and construct the SNS, a partnership was organized
among six national laboratories--Argonne, Brookhaven in New York,
Jefferson in Virginia, Lawrence Berkeley in California, Los
Alamos in New Mexico and Oak Ridge.
The SNS will consist of a linear accelerator that will produce
proton beams that scatter neutrons by bombarding a liquid mercury
target.
Neutron scattering research plays a vital role in everyday life.
Such research has been responsible for improvements in jets,
credit cards, pocket calculators, compact discs, computer disks,
shatterproof windshields, adjustable seats, satellite weather
information, materials used in high-temperature superconductors,
powerful lightweight magnets, aluminum bridge decks and stronger,
lighter plastics.
The SNS, which is scheduled for completion in 2006, will be
located on a 75-acre site on Chestnut Ridge between Oak Ridge
National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
Madia said the scientific community owes Moncton a debt of
gratitude for his leadership and vision.
"I do need to say thanks for all of David's work," Madia said.
Leah Dever, manager of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge
Operations, said, "David has made many significant contributions
to the SNS project during his two year Oak Ridge assignment. His
efforts and his dedication to this project will be greatly
missed. It is very important that David's replacement continue to
maintain the considerable momentum that currently exists with
this important scientific project."
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, a supporter of the SNS, also
offered his thanks to Moncton for putting the "nation's premier
science project firmly on track for successful completion."
[*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger
*****************************************************************
4 State weapons-production sites to be surveyed for nuclear hazards
The Advocate Online |
Wednesday, 17 January 2001
By Susan E. Kinsman and Barbara Nagy
The Hartford Courant
Within the next two weeks, state radiation inspectors will
examine seven Connecticut sites for any evidence of contamination
remaining from Cold War activities related to nuclear-weapons
production.
The locations were among 11 identified by the federal Department
of Energy last week as places where radioactive materials or the
toxic metal beryllium were used in weapons-related work for the
federal government. On of the sites is the Dorr Corp. of
Stamford.
The federal government has created a compensation program for
employees of the Energy Department and its contractors who
contracted cancer or other life-shortening illnesses as a result
of their exposure on weapons-related work.
The state Department of Environmental Protection was aware of
only four of those sites and is still trying to collect
information about the rest, including the potential for any
residual radiation hazard, said Edward Wilds, director of the
agency's radiation division.
Wilds said yesterday it is too soon to say whether a potential
health threat exists.
"The problem is no one actually seems to know what was done at
these sites," Wilds said. "You don't want to be overly anxious
about the situation, but you don't want to not worry about it
either."
Wilds said his agency is trying to find out anything it can about
what the facilities did and what materials they worked with.
"We're trying to get it from as many sources as we can," he said.
The DEP is asking the energy department for its records. Wilds
also wants to hear from workers or former workers who have
information about often-secret weapons work on the sites. They
can reach the radiation division at (860) 424-3029, Wilds said.
Almost a dozen people had called with information by yesterday
morning, but Wilds would not speculate about whether other
Connecticut sites would be added as a result.
The DEP already has participated in the cleanup of the former
Bridgeport Brass Co.'s Havens Lab in Bridgeport, Seymour
Specialty Wire in Seymour and the former Connecticut Aircraft
Nuclear Engine Lab in Middletown, now part of Pratt & Whitney.
It also is involved in the cleanup of the Combustion Engineering
site in Windsor, Wilds said.
The U.S. Energy Department has said it could expand its list of
more than 300 sites thoughout the country if more information
becomes available. The sites included are weapons facilities run
by the Energy Department, so-called atomic-weapons employers who
did weapons-related contract work for the department and
beryllium vendors.
"Available information about many of these (atomic-weapons
employers) is incomplete or unclear," the department said. The
agency said it would welcome more information about companies and
locations it has listed or about other sites.
The compensation program is aimed at facilities where radioactive
materials were used in support of nuclear-weapons production. The
benefits are further limited to employees or former employees, or
their survivors, who became sick as a consequence of their work.
It is not intended to cover all workers at each site named.
Connecticut performed much nuclear research during the 1940s to
the early 1960s because of the state's noted research
universities, especially Yale, and because of its concentration
of defense contractors. Those contractors, including Electric
Boat in Groton and Pratt & Whitney in Middletown, were among the
first to try to find peacetime uses for nuclear energy.
After World War II, one of the most vocal advocates of peacetime
use for nuclear power was U.S. Sen. Brien McMahon, D-Conn. He
became the first chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic
Energy.
Scientists in the federal government proclaimed that nuclear
power could be used for everything from improving food quality to
making car tires stronger.
By 1955, 30 Connecticut companies, 11 hospitals and five colleges
had been licensed by the Atomic Energy Commission - the energy
department's predecessor - to work with radioactive isotopes. In
the early 1960s, Connecticut hoped to expand the industry
further. The state set up an advisory board in 1961 to plan the
development of its nuclear industry and appointed a coordinator
of atomic development activities.
The Legislature appropriated $500,000 for construction of a
research reactor, and the state marched forward with plans to
build the Millstone plants in Waterford.
"There was much more enthusiasm for nuclear energy than there is
now," said George H. Rawitscher, a University of Connecticut
physics professor. "A lot of research was done in Connecticut.
Connecticut played an important role."
He said warnings about the dangers of nuclear tests in the 1960s,
followed by the accident at the Three Mile Island reactor, dimmed
the public's enthusiasm.
Those events also increased awareness about the hazards of
dealing with radioactive materials, he said.
President Clinton, in signing the executive order to help launch
the compensation program, said workers on weapons-related work
"were neither protected from nor informed of the hazards to which
they were exposed."
The Energy Department said it has received more than 2,000 calls
since Thursday to its hot line, including one from Shelley
Silverman of Avon.
Silverman suspects her father, who died of lung cancer in 1992 at
age 68, may have been exposed to radiation while working as a
draftsman for General Electric Co. under contract at Combustion
Engineering in Windsor.
A Combustion Engineering spokesman said he had no knowledge of
any General Electric contractors at the site, which was involved
in designing nuclear reactors for submarines and operating a
training simulator for submarines from 1955 to 1961.
Silverman said, "They did wear badges because these guys knew
radiation was an issue. But whether the badges ever changed
colors or what they did about them, I don't know."
Until 1999, the Energy Department routinely fought workers'
compensation claims for radiation-induced cancer, said Sylvia
Kieding of Denver, worker protection program director for the
Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers
International Union.
"Government workers had it even worse than industrial workers,"
she said. The government, citing national security, could not be
compelled to disclose the materials the workers used, she said.
"It's really a tragedy. But finally, 50 years later, we're
getting some remedy," she said.
c 1999-2000, Southern Connecticut Newspaper, Inc. All rights
*****************************************************************
5 University Lab Deal in Works
Thursday, January 18, 2001
Albuquerque Journal--> BY JENNIFER MCKEE
Journal Staff Writer
The Department of Energy and the University of California have
apparently struck a deal which will give the university
management of the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national
weapons labs for another three years.
According to a letter obtained by the Albuquerque Journal,
University of California President Richard Atkinson will ask the
university's regents to accept a renegotiated and extended
contract between DOE and the institution when the regents meet in
San Francisco today.
"I believe the document being sent to your office for final
approval constitutes an appropriate structure for the University
of California to continue providing a public service to the
nation in support of the Department of Energy and its critical
missions, " reads the letter dated Jan. 11 from Atkinson to
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.
Details of the contract, which was renegotiated last year in
response to several security, management and worker accidents at
the labs, were not available.
A DOE representative confirmed Wednesday that the new contract
was written, but not yet signed. If the regents accept the
contract, it will be signed and finalized today.
"I know how important this issue is to northern New Mexico,"
Richardson said in a written statement Wednesday. "This is why I
have gone the extra mile to get this contract modification and
extension completed before we have a change in administrations.
Los Alamos National Lab needs stability and, should the UC
regents accept the modifications, the lab will have a better
chance at retaining and recruiting scientists."
The University of California has managed weapons labs at Los
Alamos and Lawrence Livermore in California since the beginning
of the nuclear age.
The university signed its most recent Los Alamos contract in
1997, agreeing to manage the lab for the Department of Energy for
approximately $29.5 million each year until October 2002.
At the time, the contract was hailed as historic because it gave
the government power to fire the university or cut its $14
million research award fee - in addition to the $29.5 million
management payment - if the lab couldn't live up to the DOE's
worker safety and environmental cleanup guidelines.
The clause did not stem the tide of problems at the lab, however.
After a widely-publicized disappearance and "reappearance" of
computer hard drives containing sensitive information from a
secure area of the Los Alamos lab in May, Richardson asked to
restructure the contract to write in stiffer security and
management standards. As part of the renewed negotiations, the
university would also get a three-year contract extension.
Teams from the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration and
the University of California have been meeting ever since, much
to the disapproval of some in Congress who say the university
hasn't proven itself to DOE and should not be treated to
exclusive negotiations.
Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Bliley, R- Va., and Rep.
John Dingell D-Mich., the committee's ranking Democrat, sent a
letter to Richardson in October urging the secretary to open the
contract to competitive bidding as it does for most other DOE
sites.
The university has never competed for the contract.
Bliley and Dingell described management at the labs as rife with
"chronic security and management-related problems" and called the
DOE's efforts to control them "meaningless."
In addition to the hard drives scandal, Los Alamos is also the
subject of an internal DOE investigation into a series of recent
worker accidents and near-misses. The investigation focuses on
five problems at Los Alamos, most notably the plutonium poisoning
of a worker last March. The DOE investigators said in November
that some of the problems are not new, and that previous
punishments had not improved safety at the lab.
That investigation is ongoing.
The renegotiated contract addresses those problems and calls for
stronger management and security, a DOE representative said
Wednesday.
There's no guarantee, however, the regents will accept the
contract, said Jeff Garberson, a university spokesman, or that
they will make any decisions today. The contract is one of the
last items on the regents' agenda.
A DOE representative will attend the meeting and will sign the
contract if the regents approve it.
"We simply have to wait and see what the regents do," Garberson
said.
Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal
*****************************************************************
6 Eurotech Successfully Completes EKOR Acceptance Testing For DOE
Nuclear Waste Marketplace
JANUARY 17, 12:00 PM EASTERN TIME
Press Release
INTERNET WIRE--EUROTECH Ltd. (AMEX: [*]EUO - [*]news) announced
that the first EKOR product, EKOR Sealer, has successfully passed
a rigorous testing program developed both to define the
properties of this unique product and to showcase its
performance. Chad Verdi, Eurotech's Chairman, stated, "With the
completion of acceptance testing and the business development and
engineering team now in place, Eurotech is in position to deliver
on the technological promise of EKOR". Don Hahnfeldt, Eurotech's
President and CEO said, "Eurotech is poised to enter the
multibillion dollar US market for nuclear and environmental clean
up and to move rapidly to other major markets outside the United
States".
Jeff Stephen, Eurotech's Chief Operating Officer explained, "EKOR
is a unique family of ultra long life products that provide
significant performance benefits such as extreme resistance to
radiation damage, resistance to a broad range of chemical
environments and outstanding barrier properties that were
previously not available. The EKOR family of products addresses
a broad spectrum of applications where its multiple forms can be
used as sealers, coatings, and waste encapsulation matrices, or
foamed into cavities to control airborne contamination." In the
coming months Eurotech will roll out the initial members of the
EKOR family of products. Eurotech is currently testing and
preparing to test four other forms of the EKOR product family -
EKOR Coating, EKOR Grout, EKOR Matrix and EKOR Foam. The tests
on US fabricated EKOR products are expected to continue
confirmation of the years of product development and testing
performed by Eurotech's partner the EuroAsian Physical Society.
Stephen went on to say that Eurotech developed the EKOR Materials
Testing Program in coordination with leading engineering
contractors to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The program
consisted of tests aimed at defining the properties of the
revolutionary material and demonstrating the unique performance
of EKOR in tests typically used by the DOE to judge a material's
acceptability for project use at its facilities. All tests were
performed under a nuclear-grade Quality Assurance program that
meets DOE and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requirements.
Seven different labs were used for material definition tests that
included linear shrinkage/coefficient of thermal expansion,
steady state heat flux, mass loss from aging, tensile
strength/elongation, and water absorption. The material
performance tests included chemical resistance, volatile organic
content, permeability, adhesion, weathering, salt spray,
ignitability, leachability, aging, compressive strength, and
flame spread/smoke development. EKOR Sealer's performance in all
tests was excellent, meeting all criteria for top ranking in
project application. For example, in the chemical resistance
test, separate EKOR Sealer coupons were immersed for 30 days in
twenty different liquid solutions ranging in pH from 0.36 to
13.84. In all cases the test coupons of EKOR Sealer coated metal
plates emerged without any loss of performance, demonstrating
EKOR as an extremely valuable resource for a broad range of
environmental challenges to the integrity of the product.
In a unique aging test, EKOR Sealer test coupons were thermally
conditioned to a simulated age of over 170 years. The
conditioned coupons were tested for chemical resistance, tensile
strength/elongation and adhesion. Proving EKOR Sealer's ultra
long life, the aged coupons completely protected the encapsulated
metal plates indicating outstanding integrity and flexibility
while meeting the highest standard for coating adhesion.
EKOR Sealer is the first EKOR product form to complete acceptance
testing. EKOR was developed to encapsulate and "cocoon" nuclear
and environmental waste and keep it from the environment. Unlike
conventional radiation-resistant geopolymers, EKOR can maintain
its superior encapsulating properties for hundreds of years in a
severe radiation environment. EKOR Sealer will provide a barrier
on irregular, unprepared, corroded, or even wet surfaces. One of
the early significant applications for EKOR Sealer is to coat
entire nuclear waste containers or to repair existing containers,
tanks or drums that are leaking contaminants into the
environment. EKOR Sealer's aggressive adhesion properties in
combination with superior chemical resistance make it ideal for
long term patching of waste containers that range in size from
55-gallon drums to million-gallon tanks.
Paul Childress, Eurotech's General Manager, Nuclear and
Environmental Division stated, "EKOR Sealer's near term objective
is to provide a quick, but long-term solution to the leaky
containers that the DOE is managing across its complex. We now
have the necessary testing and documentation to generate
contracts with the DOE in the first quarter of 2001. Long term,
we expect the family of EKOR products to be a significant tool
used globally to prevent nuclear and hazardous waste
contamination from leaching, dusting or seeping into the
environment."
research institutes in Russia, Israel and other countries to
develop and commercialize innovative technologies that have
widespread or on the Internet.
Certain information and statement included in this release
constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Federal Privates Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual
results, performance, or achievements of the company to be
materially different from any future results, performance, or
achievements expressed or implied in such forward- looking
statements.
Contact: Dawn Van Zant 800-665-0411
Kimberly Lutz 212- 697-9191
*****************************************************************
7 GTS Duratek Announces $8.25 Million Contract
THURSDAY JANUARY 18, 8:46 AM EASTERN TIME
Press Release
COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2001--GTS Duratek, Inc.
$8.25 million contract by NAC International (NAC) to provide
decommissioning support for the Yankee Nuclear Power Station
(Yankee Rowe) in Rowe, Massachusetts over the next 15 months.
GTS Duratek's commercial customer base includes the 103 operating
nuclear plants many of which have or will file for life
extension, as well as the 14 that are either in decommissioning
or waiting to be decommissioned.
For NAC at Yankee Rowe, the Company will be responsible for
providing radiological health and safety oversight, waste
management program development and implementation, including
on-site water processing and off-site waste processing and
disposal in support of the closure activities.
Robert E. Prince, President and CEO said, ``We are very happy
with NAC's confidence in our abilities. We were awarded this work
on a sole-source basis because of our unique industry
capabilities.''
NAC is recognized worldwide as a leading U.S. nuclear energy and
electric utility solutions and services company. NAC specializes
in nuclear fuel transport, spent fuel management technology,
nuclear fuel cycle consulting, and IT solutions and
implementation.
The company's services include fuel procurement and performance
evaluations, competitive assessments and knowledge management,
utility restructuring, and regulatory and communications
planning.
GTS Duratek implements technologies and provides services, which
protect people from radiation and the environment from
radioactive material. GTS Duratek's headquarters is located in
Columbia, Maryland and has major offices in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
Columbia, South Carolina, Denver, Colorado and Richland,
Washington.
GTS Duratek has included in its periodic filings under the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including its Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended September 30, 2000 pursuant to the ``safe harbor''
provisions contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995, certain cautionary statements which are intended to
identify certain important factors that could cause GTS Duratek's
actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking statements of GTS Duratek made by or on behalf of
GTS Duratek.
Reference is made to such statements for a complete discussion of
those factors. Contact: GTS Duratek, Inc. Diane R. Brown,
410/312-5100 or Robert F. Shawver, 410/312-5100
*****************************************************************
8 Energy Department Extends CH2M Hill Hanford Group Contract
Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced today the decision
to exercise a five-year option for extension of the CH2M HILL
Hanford Group (CHG) contract at the Hanford Site in southeastern
Washington. The $2.2 billion contract modification was signed
with new, innovative provisions following extensive negotiations
with CHG.
"Retrieving and treating high-level waste from the tanks at
Hanford represents one of the most pressing environmental
challenges facing the Department in the coming decades," said
Secretary Richardson. "This extension of the contract with CH2M
HILL helps maintain critical momentum on this project and takes
us another step closer to meeting our commitment to the people of
the northwest."
Under the extended contract, CHG will be responsible for:
Maintaining safe storage of Hanford's 53 million gallons of
high-level radioactive waste;
Designing and constructing the equipment that will be needed
in the future for retrieving and delivering the waste to a new
waste treatment plant, and;
Providing future storage or disposal of tank waste after it
has been treated, and preparing for deactivation and
decommissioning of facilities.
A unique feature of the contract is an incentive provision
challenging CHG to accomplish significant work activities in the
project baseline under stable--rather than increased--funding
assumptions and significantly accelerate work schedules. Funding
for these "super stretch" incentives will be obtained primarily
from cost savings and work scope efficiencies by CHG during the
contract period.
"We're significantly raising the bar and setting high
expectations for CHG's performance with the terms in this
contract, " said Harry Boston, Office of River Protection
Manager. "CHG has done an excellent job to date in making
tangible and safe cleanup progress. The challenge ahead is now
much greater for CHG. The contract focuses on completing all
mission-critical work and meeting key cleanup commitments, and
provides incentives for CHG to do more work more
*****************************************************************
9 DOE Rule: Protected Disclosures by whistleblowers
[Federal Register: January 18, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 12)]
[Rules and Regulations] [Page 4639-4643] From the Federal
Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18ja01-4]
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
10 CFR Part 1044
[Docket No. SO-RM-00-3164]
RIN 1992-AA26
Office of Security and Emergency Operations; Security
Requirements for Protected Disclosures Under Section 3164 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Interim final rule and opportunity for public comment.
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) is publishing an interim
final rule to prescribe the security procedures that a DOE
employee or DOE contractor employee, including an employee or
contractor employee of the National Nuclear Security
Administration, who is engaged in defense activities must follow
to make a protected disclosure of classified or other controlled
information under the whistleblower protection provisions in
section 3164 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2000. Anyone who follows these procedures when making a
disclosure of classified or other controlled information may not
be discharged, demoted, or otherwise discriminated against as a
reprisal for making the disclosure.
EFFECTIVE DATE: The interim final rule is effective February 20,
2001. Interested persons may submit written comments on this
interim rule by February 20, 2001. Comments received after this
date will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Written comments (3 copies) should be addressed to:
U.S. Department of Energy, Docket No. SO-RM-00-3164, Attn:
Richard Farman, Office of General Counsel, GC-74, 1000
Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585. All comments
received will be available for public inspection as part of the
administrative record on file for this rulemaking in the
Department of Energy Freedom of Information Office Reading Room,
Room 1E-090, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W,
Washington, DC 10585, (202) 586-6020, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The docket
material for this rulemaking will be filed under Docket No.
SO-RM-00-3164.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cathy Tullis, Office of Security
and Emergency Operations (SO-211), U.S. Department of Energy,
19901
[[Page 4640]]
Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290, (301) 903-4805.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
Today's notice adds a new Part 1044 to Title 10 of the Code
of Federal Regulations to establish security requirements for the
disclosure of classified and other controlled information under
section 3164 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2000 (NDAA for FY 2000) (42 U.S.C. 7239). Section 3164
directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to ensure
that DOE employees or DOE contractor employees engaged in defense
activities may not be discharged, demoted, or otherwise
discriminated against as a reprisal for making protected
disclosures. The Secretary is required by section 3164(g) to
prescribe regulations to ensure the security of any information
disclosed under the program (42 U.S.C. 7239(g)). To qualify as a
``protected disclosure' of classified or other controlled
information, a covered employee must take appropriate steps to
protect the security of the information in accordance with
guidance provided by the DOE Inspector General, and reveal the
information only to a person or entity specified in the statute
(42 U.S.C. 7239(c)). Section 3164(j) of the NDAA for FY 2000
provides that complaints of discriminatory acts taken in reprisal
for making a protected disclosure may be submitted to the DOE
Office of Hearings and Appeals for investigation (42 U.S.C.
7239(j)). Section 3164(k) directs the Secretary of Energy to take
appropriate actions to abate acts of reprisal (42 U.S.C.
7239(k)).
II. Discussion of Rule Provisions
Part 1044 informs DOE and DOE contractor employees engaged in
defense activities how to make a protected disclosure of
classified and other controlled information. The definitions in
section 1044.03 of ``classified information'' and ``contractor''
are drawn from 10 CFR Part 1045, ``Nuclear Classification and
Declassification.'' The same definitions apply to this rule
because of the similar subject matter. DOE defines ``defense
activities'' to cover the range of its defense activities carried
out under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.).
The definition of ``defense activities'' in section 1044.03 is
consistent with the definition of ``Atomic Energy Defense
Programs'' in DOE's regulations concerning protection of
unclassified controlled nuclear information (see 10 CFR 1017.3).
All Departmental- related activities involving classified
information and Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information are
considered to be ``defense activities'' covered by this rule. The
term ``unclassified controlled nuclear information'' is defined
in section 1044.03, and used in conjunction with ``classified
information'' throughout the rule to identify the types of
information that are covered by the protected disclosure
provisions of section 3164 of the NDAA for FY2000. For reasons
that follow, DOE has concluded that unclassified controlled
nuclear information under section 148 of the Atomic Energy Act
(42 U.S.C. 2168) is the only type of information that falls
within the meaning of ``other information'' in the phrase
``classified or other information'' used in section 3164(c)(3) to
define ``protected disclosures.'' DOE's interpretation of ``other
information'' in section 3164 is consistent with the apparent
intent of Congress to cover the disclosure of controlled
information. Under section 3164(g), DOE is required to prescribe
regulations to ensure the security of any information disclosed
under the statute. Other provisions impose an obligation on a
whistleblower to take appropriate steps to protect the security
of the information to be disclosed (section 3164(c)(1)), and
restrict who may receive a disclosure of classified or other
information (section 3164(d)). These provisions would not make
sense if ``other information'' encompassed uncontrolled
information. The legislative history also shows that Congress
intended to address in section 3164 the disclosure of national
security sensitive information. See Conference Report on the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, H.R.
Conf. Rep. No. 106-301, at p. 920. Section 1044.06 lists the
persons and entities that may receive a protected disclosure (42
U.S.C. 7239(d)). Section 1044.07 provides that the Inspector
General will assist the whistleblower by obtaining from the
Office of Safeguards and Security a determination whether a
particular person has the appropriate security access
authorization to receive the classified or other controlled
information. Sections 1044.08 and 1044.09 provide that a person
who wishes to make a protected disclosure must submit the
information to the Inspector General, who in turn will obtain a
determination from the Office of Nuclear and National Security
Information on the security classification, if any, of the
information. If the information is classified or controlled,
section 1044.11 provides that the whistleblower must follow
applicable security requirements concerning how to generate,
mark, reproduce, store, destroy, and transmit classified and
other controlled information. These security requirements derive
from Executive Orders, DOE regulations, and current security
directives issued by the Office of Safeguards and Security. The
Inspector General will provide the whistleblower with guidance on
how to comply with these requirements. The individual has a
responsibility to obtain assistance and guidance before seeking
to make a protected disclosure. As required by the NDAA for FY
2000, DOE provides in section 1044.09 that the identity of a
whistleblower under this program will be protected (42 U.S.C.
7239(f)(3)). Section 1044.12 describes the procedures provided in
the statute (42 U.S.C. 7239(i)-(k)) for acting on complaints of
alleged discrimination against employees as reprisal for making
protected disclosures.
III. Public Comment
The interim final rule published today prescribes security
procedures that DOE and DOE contractor employees must follow to
make a protected disclosure of classified or other controlled
information under section 3164(g) of the NDAA for FY 2000. As a
rule of agency procedure, this rulemaking is exempt from the
notice and comment requirements in the Administrative Procedure
Act, 5 U.S.C. 553. DOE, nevertheless, is providing an opportunity
for interested persons to submit written data and views on the
interim rule. Interested persons should submit their comments to
the address indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
The outside of the envelope and the comments should be labeled as
follows: ``Protected Disclosure Rulemaking, Docket No.
SO-RM-00-3164.'' If you believe that any information or data you
submit may be exempt from public disclosure by law, you should
submit one complete copy as well as one copy from which you have
deleted the information you believe to be exempt from disclosure.
The Department will determine if the information or data is
exempt from disclosure. All comments received will be available
for public inspection as part of the administrative record on
file for this rulemaking in the Department of Energy Freedom of
Information Office Reading Room, Room 1E-090, Forrestal Building,
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-
[[Page 4641]]
6020, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except
Federal holidays.
IV. Procedural Requirements
A. Review Under Executive Order 12866
Today's regulatory action has been determined not to be ``a
significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866,
``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' (58 FR 51735, October 4,
1993). Accordingly, this action was not subject to review under
that Executive Order by the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
requires preparation of an initial regulatory flexibility
analysis for any rule that by law must be proposed for public
comment, unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have
a ``significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities.'' Today's interim final rule prescribes the security
procedures that a DOE or DOE contractor employee engaged in
defense activities must follow when making a protected disclosure
of classified or other controlled information under section 3164
of the NDAA for FY 2000. DOE is not required by the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) or any other law to
propose this rule for public comment. Accordingly, the Regulatory
Flexibility Act requirements do not apply to this rulemaking, and
no regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared.
C. Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act
No additional information or record keeping requirements are
imposed by this rulemaking. Accordingly, no OMB clearance is
required under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.).
D. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act
Today's rule describes the security requirements a DOE or DOE
contractor employee engaged in defense activities must follow
when making a protected disclosure of classified or other
controlled information under section 3164 of the NDAA for FY
2000. Implementation of this rule will not affect whether such
information might cause or otherwise be associated with an
environmental impact. The Department has, therefore, determined
that this rule is covered under the Categorical Exclusion found
at paragraph A.6. of Appendix A to Subpart D, 10 CFR Part 1021,
which applies to rulemakings that are strictly procedural.
Accordingly, neither an environmental assessment nor an
environmental impact statement is required.
E. Review Under Executive Order 12988
With respect to the review of existing regulations and the
promulgation of new regulations, section 3(a) of Executive Order
12988, ``Civil Justice Reform,'' (61 FR 4729, February 7, 1996),
imposes on Federal agencies the general duty to adhere to the
following requirements: (1) Eliminate drafting errors and
ambiguity; (2) write regulations to minimize litigation; and (3)
provide a clear legal standard for affected conduct rather than a
general standard and promote simplification and burden reduction.
With regard to the review required by section 3(a), section 3(b)
of Executive Order 12988 specifically requires that Executive
agencies make every reasonable effort to ensure that the
regulation: (1) Clearly specifies the preemptive effect, if any;
(2) clearly specifies any effect on existing Federal law or
regulation; (3) provides a clear legal standard for affected
conduct while promoting simplification and burden reduction; (4)
specifies the retroactive effect, if any; (5) adequately defines
key terms; and (6) addresses other important issues affecting
clarity and general draftsmanship under any guidelines issued by
the Attorney General. Section 3(c) of Executive Order 12988
requires Executive agencies to review regulations in light of
applicable standards in section 3(a) and section 3(b) to
determine whether they are met or it is unreasonable to meet one
or more of them. DOE has completed the required review and
determined that, to the extent permitted by law, this interim
final rule meets the relevant standards of Executive Order 12988.
F. Review Under Executive Order 13132
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999) requires
agencies to develop an accountable process to ensure meaningful
and timely input by State and local officials in the development
of regulatory policies that have federalism implications. DOE
published its intergovernmental consultation policy and
procedures on March 14, 2000 (65 FR 13735). ``Policies that have
federalism implications'' is defined in the Executive Order to
include regulations that have substantial direct effects on the
States, on the relationship between the national government and
the States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities
among the various levels of government. DOE has examined this
interim final rule and has determined that it would not have a
substantial direct effect on the States, on the relationship
between the national government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various
levels of government. No further action is required by Executive
Order 13132.
G. Review Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L.
104- 4) requires each federal agency to prepare a written
assessment of the effects of any federal mandate in a proposed or
final agency rule that may result in the expenditure by State,
local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million in any one year. The Act also
requires a federal agency to develop an effective process to
permit timely input by elected officers of State, local, and
tribal governments on a proposed ``significant intergovernmental
mandate,'' and requires an agency plan for giving notice and
opportunity to timely input to potentially affected small
governments before establishing any requirements that might
significantly or uniquely affect small governments. DOE's
intergovernmental consultation process under the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 is described in a statement of policy
published by DOE on March 18, 1997 (62 FR 12820). The interim
final rule published today does not contain any federal mandate,
so these requirements do not apply.
H. Review Under Plain Language Initiative
Executive Order 12866 and the President's memorandum of June
1, 1998, require each agency to write all rules in plain
language. We invite your comments on how to make this rule easier
to understand. For example: Have we organized the
material to suit your needs? Are the requirements in the
rule clearly stated? Does the rule contain technical
language or jargon that isn't clear? Would a different
format make the rule easier to understand? What else
could we do to make the rule easier to understand?
I. Congressional Notification
As required by 5 U.S.C. 801, DOE will report to Congress
promulgation of the interim final rule prior to its effective
date. The report will state that it has been determined that the
rule is not a
[[Page 4642]]
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 1044
Administrative practice and procedure, Classfied information,
Energy, Government contracts, National security information,
Security information, Whistleblowing
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 30, 2000. T.J.
Glauthier, Deputy Secretary.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, DOE hereby amends
Chapter X of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations as set
forth below: 1. New Part 1044 is added to read as follows:
PART 1044--SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PROTECTED DISCLOSURES UNDER
SECTION 3164 OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL
YEAR 2000
Sec. 1044.01 What is the purpose of this part? 1044.02 Who
must follow the requirements contained in this part? 1044.03
What definitions apply to this part? 1044.04 What is a
protected disclosure? 1044.05 What is the effect of a
disclosure qualifying as a ``protected disclosure''? 1044.06
Who may receive a protected disclosure? 1044.07 How can you
find out if a particular person is authorized to receive a
protected disclosure? 1044.08 Do you have to submit the
documents for classification review before you give them to
someone? 1044.09 What do you do if you plan to disclose
classified or unclassified controlled nuclear information orally
rather than by providing copies of documents? 1044.10 Will your
identity be protected? 1044.11 How do you protect the documents
and information that you want to disclose? 1044.12 What
procedures can you invoke if you believe you have been
discharged, demoted, or otherwise discriminated against as a
reprisal for making a protected disclosure?
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq., 7239, and 50 U.S.C. 2401
et seq.
Sec. 1044.01 What is the purpose of this part?
This part prescribes the security requirements for making
protected disclosures of classified or unclassified controlled
nuclear information under the whistleblower protection provisions
of section 3164 of the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2000.
Sec. 1044.02 Who must follow the requirements contained in this
part?
The requirements apply to you if you are: (a) An employee of
DOE, including the National Nuclear Security Administration, or
one of its contractors; (b) Engaged in DOE defense activities;
and (c) Wish to make a protected disclosure as described in Sec.
1044.04 of this part.
Sec. 1044.03 What definitions apply to this part?
The following definitions apply to this subpart: Atomic
Energy Act means the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42
U.S.C. 2011 et seq. Classified information means: (1) Information
classified as Restricted Data or Formerly Restricted Data under
the Atomic Energy Act; or (2) Information that has been
determined pursuant to Executive Order 12958 or prior Executive
Orders to require protection against unauthorized disclosure and
is marked to indicate its classification status when in document
form (also referred to as ``National Security Information'' in 10
CFR Part 1045 or ``defense information'' in the Atomic Energy
Act). Contractor means any industrial, educational, commercial or
other entity, grantee or licensee at any tier, including an
individual, that has executed an agreement with the Federal
Government for the purpose of performing under a contract,
license or other agreement. Defense activities means activities
of DOE engaged in support of: (1) The production, testing,
sampling, maintenance, repair, modification, assembly,
disassembly, utilization, transportation, or retirement of
nuclear weapons or components of nuclear weapons; (2) The
production, utilization, or transportation of nuclear material
for military applications; or (3) The safeguarding of activities,
equipment, or facilities which support the production of nuclear
weapons or nuclear material for nuclear weapons. DOE means the
Department of Energy, including the National Nuclear Security
Administration. Unclassified controlled nuclear information means
unclassified government information prohibited from unauthorized
dissemination under section 148 of the Atomic Energy Act and DOE
implementing regulations in 10 CFR part 1017.
Sec. 1044.04 What is a protected disclosure?
A protected disclosure is: (a) A disclosure of classified or
unclassified controlled nuclear information that you reasonably
believe provides direct and specific evidence of-- (1) A
violation of law or Federal regulation; (2) Gross mismanagement,
a gross waste of funds, or an abuse of authority; or (3) A false
statement to Congress on pursuant to an issue of material fact;
and (b) Protected pursuant to the procedures in this part,
including the security procedures referenced in Sec. 1044.11; and
(c) Revealed only to a person or organization described in Sec.
1044.06.
Sec. 1044.05 What is the effect of a disclosure qualifying as a
``protected disclosure''?
If a DOE or DOE contractor employee follows the procedures of
this part when making a disclosure of classified or unclassified
controlled nuclear information, then the employer (DOE or DOE
contractor as applicable) may not discharge, demote, or otherwise
discriminate against the employee as a reprisal for making the
disclosure.
Sec. 1044.06 Who may receive a protected disclosure?
The following persons or organizations may receive a
protected disclosure: (a) A member of a committee of Congress
having primary responsibility for oversight of the department,
agency, or element of the Government to which the disclosed
information relates; (b) An employee of Congress who is a staff
member of such a committee and has an appropriate security access
authorization for the information being disclosed; (c) The
Inspector General of the Department of Energy; (d) The Federal
Bureau of Investigation; or (e) Any other element of the
Government designated by the Secretary of Energy as authorized to
receive the information being disclosed.
Sec. 1044.07 How can you find out if a particular person is
authorized to receive a protected disclosure?
You must contact the Department of Energy Inspector General
for help in determining whether a particular person is authorized
to receive the classified or unclassified controlled nuclear
information you wish to disclose. The Inspector General will
contact the Office of Safeguards and Security as necessary to
determine the security access authorization of the person to
receive the protected disclosure.
[[Page 4643]]
Sec. 1044.08 Do you have to submit the documents for
classification review before you give them to someone?
Yes, you must submit each document with a classification or
control marking and any unmarked document generated in a
classified or controlled subject area to the Inspector General.
The Inspector General forwards each document to the Office of
Nuclear and National Security Information for a determination as
to whether the information in the document is properly
classified, controlled, or may be released to the public.
Sec. 1044.09 What do you do if you plan to disclose classified
or unclassified controlled nuclear information orally rather than
by providing copies of documents?
You must describe in detail to the Inspector General what
information you wish to disclose. The Inspector General may
require that the information to be disclosed be put in writing in
order to ensure the Inspector General obtains and provides
accurate advice. The Inspector General will consult with the
Office of Nuclear and National Security Information who will
provide you with advice, through the Inspector General, as to
whether the information is classified or controlled and any steps
needed to protect the information.
Sec. 1044.10 Will your identity be protected?
Yes, both the Inspector General and the Office of Nuclear and
National Security Information must protect, consistent with legal
requirements, your identity and any information about your
disclosure.
Sec. 1044.11 How do you protect the information that you want to
disclose?
To protect classified information and unclassified controlled
nuclear information you plan to disclose, you must: (a) Only
disclose the information to personnel who possess the appropriate
clearance and need-to-know for the information disclosed as
required in 10 CFR part 710, after verifying any special
authorizations or accesses, such as Sensitive Compartmented
Information, Special Access Program, and Weapon Data information;
(b) Use only equipment (such as computers or typewriters) that is
approved for classified processing for the generation of
classified documents; (c) Mark documents as required by 10 CFR
part 1045 (classified information), 10 CFR Part 1017
(unclassified controlled nuclear information), or as required by
the Office of Nuclear and National Security Information. (d) Use
only approved copiers to reproduce documents; (e) Store
classified documents in facilities approved by the U.S.
Government for the storage of classified material; (f) Use only
approved destruction devices to destroy classified documents; (g)
Use only appropriate secure means, such as secure facsimile or
secure telephone, to provide classified information orally or
electronically when transmitting or communicating that
information (e.g. the applicable classified mailing address); and
(h) Follow any additional specific instructions from the Office
of Safeguards and Security on how to protect the information.
Sec. 1044.12 What procedures can you invoke if you believe you
have been discharged, demoted, or otherwise discriminated against
as a reprisal for making a protected disclosure?
If you believe you have been discriminated against as a
reprisal for making a protected disclosure, you may submit a
complaint to the Director of the Office of Hearings and Appeals,
U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20585-0107, or you may send your complaint to the
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals, by facsimile to FAX
number (202) 426-1415. In your complaint, you should give your
reasons for believing that you have been discriminated against as
a reprisal for making a protected disclosure, and include any
information you think is relevant to your complaint. The Office
of Hearings and Appeals will conduct an investigation of your
complaint unless the Director determines your complaint is
frivolous. The Director will notify you in writing if your
complaint is found to be frivolous. If an investigation is
conducted, the Director will submit a report of the investigation
to you, to the employer named in your complaint, and to the
Secretary of Energy, or the Secretary's designee. The Secretary,
or the Secretary's designee, will take appropriate action,
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 7239(k), to abate any discriminatory
actions taken as reprisal for making a protected disclosure.
[FR Doc. 01-1328 Filed 1-17-01; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
10 DOE ROD: storage of plutonium at Rocky Flats
[Federal Register: January 18, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 12)]
[Notices] [Page 4803-4805] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18ja01-51]
=======================================================================
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Management of Certain Plutonium Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored
at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.
ACTION: Amended Record of Decision.
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to revise its
approach to managing approximately 315 kg of plutonium fluoride
residues (containing approximately 142 kg of plutonium) that
currently are stored at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology
Site (Rocky Flats Site). In an earlier Record of Decision (63 FR
66136, December 1, 1998), DOE decided that these plutonium
fluoride residues would be shipped to the Savannah River Site
(SRS) for processing and storage pending disposition. Due to the
opening of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico
on March 26, 1999, and other circumstances, including delays in
securing shipping container certification required prior to
transporting the plutonium fluoride residues to SRS, DOE has now
decided to prepare the plutonium fluoride residues appropriately
and ship them to WIPP for disposal. This will help avoid delays
in meeting the closure schedule for the Rocky Flats Site.
ADDRESSES: The potential environmental impacts of alternative
approaches for management of these residues are analyzed in the
Final Environmental Impact Statement on Management of Certain
Plutonium Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored at the Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site (hereinafter referred to as the
Residues EIS) (DOE/EIS- 0277F, August 1998) and were part of the
basis for three prior Records of Decision issued for the
plutonium-bearing residues at the Rocky Flats Site. Copies of the
Residues EIS; the first and second Records of Decision (63 FR
66136, December 1, 1998, and 64 FR 8068, February 18, 1999,
respectively); the first Amended Record of Decision (64 FR 47780,
September 1, 1999); and this Amended Record of Decision and the
Supplement Analysis (referenced herein) can be accessed from the
DOE's or can be obtained by contacting the Center for
Environmental Management Information, P.O. Box 23769, Washington,
DC 20026-3769, telephone 1-800-736-3282 (in Washington, DC:
202-863-5084). For further information concerning the management
of plutonium residues and scrub alloy currently stored at the
Rocky Flats Site, contact: Dr. W. Eric Huang, Program Manager,
Rocky Flats Office (EM- 33), Office of Site Closure,
Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901
Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874, Telephone: 301- 903-4630.
For further information concerning DOE's National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) process, contact: Ms. Carol Borgstrom,
Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC 20585, Telephone (202) 586-4600, or leave a message at
1-800-472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In August 1998, DOE issued the Residues EIS that assessed the
potential environmental impacts of processing certain plutonium
residues and scrub alloy stored at the Rocky Flats Site near
Golden, Colorado, in preparation for disposal or other
disposition. These materials were produced in conjunction with
nuclear weapons activities conducted by DOE during the Cold War
and the materials are no longer needed. Currently, DOE is
cleaning up and disposing of (where appropriate) such materials.
The plutonium residues analyzed in the Residues EIS included
approximately 315 kg of plutonium fluoride residues containing
approximately 45 percent plutonium by weight (approximately 142
kg of plutonium). In the Residues EIS, the plutonium fluoride
residues were included as part of a category called ``wet
residues,'' having an average of approximately 7 percent
plutonium by weight. (Residues EIS Table 2-1.) The Residues EIS
analyzed three alternative technologies and a no- action
alternative for processing plutonium fluoride residues stored at
the Rocky Flats Site. The selected alternative for the plutonium
fluoride residues in the first Record of Decision in 1998 was the
preferred alternative in the Residues EIS, which is Purex
processing and storage at SRS pending disposition (italicized
below). Alternative 1. Dissolving the plutonium fluoride
residues in acid and precipitating the plutonium with oxalic
acid, at the Rocky Flats Site. The
[[Page 4804]]
recovered plutonium would be packaged for storage at the Rocky
Flats Site. (This is the no-action alternative.)
Alternative 2. Blending down the plutonium fluoride residues at
the Rocky Flats Site with an inert material so that each
container would meet the safeguards termination limit for
plutonium fluorides (0.2 percent plutonium by weight). The
blended material would then be packaged into pipe overpack
components and subsequently packaged into 55-gallon drums for
transportation and disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant\1\
(WIPP).
\1\ The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, located near Carlsbad,
New Mexico, is DOE's geologic repository for disposal of
defense-related transuranic wastes. Transuranic waste contains
alpha-emitting radionuclides with half-lives greater than 20
years in concentrations greater than 100 nanocuries per gram of
waste at time of assay.
Alternative 3. Two technologies for separation of
plutonium from plutonium fluoride residues were analyzed.
--Repackaging the plutonium fluoride residues at the Rocky Flats
Site for transportation to SRS and separation of the plutonium
there using the Purex process. The processed plutonium would be
stored at SRS pending disposition as mixed oxide nuclear fuel or
disposed of as vitrified high-level waste in a geologic
repository. --Dissolving the plutonium fluoride residues in acid
and precipitating the plutonium with oxalic acid at the Rocky
Flats Site (this is the same as the no-action alternative). The
recovered plutonium then would be dispositioned as mixed oxide
nuclear fuel or disposed of as vitrified high-level waste in a
geologic repository.
II. Original Decision
In addition to this amended Record of Decision, DOE has
issued two Records of Decision and an earlier amended Record of
Decision for the final Residues EIS. The first Record of
Decision, issued on November 25, 1998 (63 FR 66136, December 1,
1998), addressed materials from each of the categories of Rocky
Flats plutonium residues (i.e., ash, salt, wet, and direct
repackage) and scrub alloy. This first Record of Decision
(Section VII.D.1) stated that DOE had decided to transport the
plutonium fluoride residues to SRS and use the F-Canyon, where
the Purex plutonium separation process is located, to separate
plutonium (i.e., one of the two sub-alternatives of Alternative 3
in the Residues EIS). The separated plutonium would then have
been subject to disposition as mixed oxide fuel or disposed of as
vitrified high-level waste pursuant to decisions that DOE made
after completion of the Surplus Plutonium Disposition
Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS- 0283, November 1999;
Record of Decision, 65 FR 1608, January 11, 2000). The first
Record of Decision (Section VII.D.2) explained that the Purex
plutonium separation process at SRS was selected for the
plutonium fluoride residues because it posed less technical risk
and would cost less than the establishment of a new acid
dissolution/ plutonium oxide recovery capability at the Rocky
Flats Site (Alternative 1). The Record of Decision further
explained that blend down \2\ (to meet the safeguards termination
limit) (Alternative 2) would result in a very large increase in
the amount of transuranic waste requiring disposal, which would
increase the cost of disposing of the material.
\2\ Blend down is a process in which an inert material is
mixed with a plutonium-bearing residue to reduce its plutonium
concentration.
III. Events Since Issuance of the First Record of Decision
Since issuance of the first Record of Decision in 1998, DOE
has been preparing to ship the plutonium fluoride residues to SRS
for separation and has not undertaken any activity that would
alter the chemical or physical conditions of these residues.
Initially, DOE had planned to begin shipment of the plutonium
fluoride residues to SRS by January 2000 and to complete these
shipments by September 2000. Removal of these materials from the
Rocky Flats Site by September 2000 would have supported near-term
closure of the Protected Area \3\ of the Site and, subsequently,
closure of the entire Site by 2006.
\3\ The Protected Area is the area at the Rocky Flats Site
that is encompassed by physical barriers, subject to access
control, surrounding a material access area or area containing
special nuclear material.
Before shipping plutonium fluoride residues to SRS, however,
DOE must certify the shipping container for plutonium fluoride
residues, and additional testing required before certification
would take at least 15 months to complete. Further delay in
implementing the earlier decision (i.e., plutonium separation
using the Purex process at SRS) would in turn delay closure of
the Protected Area and associated buildings, extend
decommissioning schedules, and ultimately delay closure of the
entire Rocky Flats Site. A delay in the closure of the Rocky
Flats Site would be costly due to extended site security needs
and site services, eliminating the cost advantages of
implementing the earlier decision. At the time the Residues EIS
was being prepared, DOE believed that it was impractical to apply
a variance to safeguards termination limits for plutonium
fluoride residues due to the high plutonium concentration and the
relative ease of recovering the plutonium from the residue
matrix. Although the amount of the plutonium fluoride residues
was small (315 kg), the amount of plutonium present in these
residues (about 142 kg) subjected them at that time to a set of
safeguards requirements to maintain control of the residues and
to ensure that the plutonium in them was not stolen or diverted
for illicit use (e.g., to construct a nuclear weapon). Therefore,
the Residues EIS only analyzed the impacts of blending and
repackaging the plutonium fluorides to meet the safeguards
termination limits for them (0.2 weight percent), and did not
analyze an alternative to blend these particular residues down to
less than 10 weight percent plutonium. The Rocky Flats Site has
since developed a blending matrix of inert material that would
result in a blended material from which plutonium recovery is
difficult. This development, in addition to the application of
other conditions, has allowed the Rocky Flats Site to obtain a
``variance'' to the safeguards termination limits from DOE's
Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. The other conditions
applied include a modification of the packaging components of the
pipe overpack container to make it more difficult to divert any
plutonium and a re- evaluation of the recovery processing steps
required to separate plutonium from the plutonium fluoride
residues in their present condition. All these special conditions
have made the application of a variance for the plutonium
fluoride residues and their shipment to WIPP practical. WIPP's
opening in March 1999 and the issuance of WIPP's hazardous waste
permit by the New Mexico Environment Department in November 1999
provided DOE with the option to dispose of a blended-down
plutonium fluoride residues matrix at WIPP. Because the plutonium
fluoride residues contain hazardous constituents, these residues
would be subject to the requirements of WIPP's hazardous waste
permit.
IV. Decision
After consideration of the potential environmental impacts
identified in the Residues EIS, the new circumstances discussed
above, and a Supplement
[[Page 4805]]
Analysis (DOE/EIS-0277-SA-1), discussed below, DOE has decided to
blend down the plutonium fluoride residues with inert material to
less than 10 percent, apply a variance to the safeguards
termination limits, and dispose of these residues at WIPP.
V. Basis for the Decision
The delay in obtaining the certification for the shipping
container needed to transport the plutonium fluoride residues to
SRS could prevent DOE from closing the Rocky Flats Site by 2006.
DOE now has the ability to blend down this category of residues
to less than 10 weight percent of plutonium and meet the variance
requirements for safeguards termination limits. For the reasons
described below in Section VI, DOE has concluded that blending
the plutonium fluoride residues down to less than 10% plutonium
by weight and shipping them to WIPP for disposal would have low
impacts, well within those analyzed in the Residues EIS. DOE's
decision complies with Section 309 of the Fiscal Year 2001 Energy
and Water Development Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 106-377), which
specifies that: ``None of the funds in this Act may be used to
dispose of transuranic waste in WIPP which contains
concentrations of plutonium in excess of 20 percent by weight for
the aggregate of any material category on the date of enactment
of this Act, or is generated after such date. For the purposes of
this section, the material categories of transuranic waste at the
Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site include: (1) Ash
residues, (2) salt residues, (3) wet residues, (4) direct
repackage residues, and (5) scrub alloy as referenced in the
`Final Environmental Impact Statement on Management of Certain
Plutonium Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored at the Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site.' '' (Plutonium fluoride residues
are part of the ``wet residues'' category, which overall contains
approximately 7 percent plutonium by weight.) Furthermore,
disposal of the plutonium fluoride residues at WIPP now provides
the least technical risk and most cost-effective approach to the
management of plutonium fluoride residues, and supports the Rocky
Flats closure schedule of 2006. Therefore, there are no longer
cost, waste management, or schedule advantages in shipping the
plutonium fluoride residues to SRS for separation.
VI. Prior NEPA Analysis
DOE prepared a Supplement Analysis for the Final
Environmental Impact Statement on Management of Certain Plutonium
Residues and Scrub Alloy Stored at the Rocky Flats Environmental
Technology Site (DOE/EIS- 0277-SA-1). This Supplement Analysis
was developed to determine whether the activities and impacts
associated with blending down the plutonium fluoride residues to
less than 10 percent plutonium by weight with a matrix of inert
material, applying a safeguard termination limit variance, and
disposing of the resulting blend at WIPP were encompassed within
previous NEPA reviews or would present any significant new
information or circumstances relevant to environmental concerns.
The results of this Supplement Analysis indicated that the
activities and potential environmental impacts associated with
the new action are encompassed within the activities and impacts
analyzed under Alternative 2 (blend down) of the Residues EIS. In
addition, the overall impacts for the new action will be very
small for both the public and workers and within the levels of
impacts considered in the Residues EIS. Worker exposure during
the new blend down activities would be reduced to 8 person-rem
from 365 person-rem estimated in the Residues EIS. The number of
Latent Cancer Fatalities (LCF) for the total worker population
would be smaller for the new action (0.003) than for Alternative
2 (0.142). The difference in LCF for the total worker population
between Alternative 2 and the new action is a result of two
factors. The first is a reduced duration of the blend down
operation as blending down to less than 10 weight percent
plutonium rather than 0.2 weight percent plutonium will result in
a shorter period in which the material is handled. Secondly,
enhanced worker shielding will reduce worker exposure during the
blend-down activities. Additionally, the new action has fewer
drums for transportation reducing the potential for traffic
accidents during transportation of plutonium fluoride residues to
WIPP. Accordingly, DOE determined that carrying out the new
action would not constitute a substantial change in actions
previously analyzed and would not constitute significant new
circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns
and bearing on the previously analyzed action or its impacts.
Therefore, DOE did not need to undertake additional NEPA analysis
before issuing this amendment to the 1998 Record of Decision.
VII. Conclusion
This Amended Record of Decision is effective upon being made
public, in accordance with DOE's NEPA implementation regulations
(10 CFR 1021.315).
Issued in Washington, D.C., this 11th day of January 2001.
Carolyn L. Huntoon, Assistant Secretary for Environmental
Management. [FR Doc. 01-1478 Filed 1-17-01; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE
6450-01-P
*****************************************************************
11 Military had early alert to uranium danger
National - Ottawa Citizen Online
[I] Thursday 18 January 2001
Two ailing peacekeepers tried to sound alarm at 1999 inquiry into
troops' health; Testimony not noted in final inquiry report
MIKE BLANCHFIELD
The Ottawa Citizen
Two ailing Canadian peacekeepers, who served in the Balkans and
the Persian Gulf, tried unsuccessfully almost two years ago to
warn the government that depleted uranium may have made them
sick.
The two corporals offered their concerns about the radioactive
substance in November 1999, during testimony before a special
Canadian Forces inquiry into whether peacekeepers sent to Croatia
six years earlier might have been exposed to environmental
toxins.
That special military inquiry, headed by Col. Joe Sharpe, was
unable to conclude what was making the soldiers sick, only that
the government should do more to help them. The concerns about
depleted uranium, known as DU, never warranted a specific mention
in Col. Sharpe's final report.
The Canadian government has consistently played down health risks
to its troops in the two weeks since controversy erupted in
Europe over the health effects of radiation from ammunition
containing depleted uranium. It has been suggested that such
shells used in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans have caused
the unexplained cancer deaths of more than a dozen NATO
peacekeepers.
However, the evidence of the two retired corporals shows the
Canadian government has received a more alarming version of the
threat posed by depleted uranium than the current line coming
from the Defence Department.
"I was not aware until much later that uranium weapons had been
used. If I had known then what I know now, I would have been very
concerned, " retired corporal G.A. Williams testified before the
Sharpe inquiry. Cpl. Williams was recalling his 1992 tour of duty
in Kuwait, in the aftermath of the Gulf War, where he helped
install sewage pipes on a bombed-out landscape.
"I guess the one thing, like I said earlier in the testimony,
that I had a concern about was the depleted uranium," testified
retired corporal Mike Innes. "I think it is an issue to be looked
at."
A welder by trade, Cpl. Innes was sent to the Persian Gulf after
the 1991 bombing to help clean up the wreckage from the air
campaign, and he was posted to Croatia in 1994.
After their deployments, neither man said they were tested for
exposure to uranium. And both testified about the variety of
debilitating ailments from which they have suffered ever since.
Since the uproar in Europe, Forces doctors and Defence Minister
Art Eggleton say they are satisfied no health risk exists because
testing found no evidence of a problem.
The military tested 104 troops sent to both the Persian Gulf and
the Balkans, where uranium ammunition was used. This week, NATO's
senior medical advisory panel dismissed the concerns for lack of
evidence, saying no "Balkan Syndrome" is making its soldiers
sick.
That did not ease the growing furore in Europe. Yesterday,
Italy's president said NATO must do more to prove categorically
there is no health hazard associated with the weapons.
Depleted uranium, 1.7 times more dense than lead, has become a
preferred substance in the tip of anti-tank ammunition. NATO
fired about 40, 000 uranium rounds in the Balkans and Kosovo
during its 1994-95 and 1999 bombing campaigns. During the 1991
Gulf War, U.S. bombers fired an estimated 5,000 depleted uranium
missiles. Some doctors have warned that radioactive dust from
exploded ordnance or their destroyed targets can be harmful to
humans.
Cpl. Williams recalled in his testimony how his health
immediately began to decline after his arrival in Kuwait City on
Feb. 9, 1992, as part of a military cleanup crew.
"My whole body is shot. I feel like I'm deteriorating from the
inside out. As you can see, there is a lot of skin disorders from
my face and it works its way down," he said. "A lot of headaches,
a lot of aches and pains ... I'm very tired."
Although the last of the Kuwaiti oil field fires had been
extinguished, "there was something different about the air. You
could almost taste it."
Cpl. Williams's job was to help rebuild bombed-out sewage
systems, something that brought him into constant contact with
various forms of wreckage.
He recalled taking dozens of painkillers to ease his clogged
sinuses. He also suffered from diarrhea and nosebleeds. After he
left Kuwait, his wife noticed suspicious lesions on his body and
demanded he seek an examination. It was later that he learned
about the use of depleted uranium, which was when he became more
concerned.
Cpl. Innes recalled how he has suffered from chronic fatigue,
rashes, eye and joint pain since returning from Croatia in 1994
and a cleanup mission similar to Cpl. Williams's after the Gulf
War in 1991. Cpl. Innes, a welder, joined a unit of British
engineers whose main job was dismantling and helping remove
bombed vehicles from Kuwaiti highways.
"I would say the Gulf actually opened my eyes," Cpl. Innes, now
40, testified in 1999. "The issue was raised once or twice
amongst guys that were peers or bosses because of depleted
uranium. I didn't make it a habit to go prowling over vehicles
over anything over there, you know. But whatever had to be done
had to be done. I mean, we did it."
Cpl. Innes came into contact with more bombed-out vehicles during
his 1994 posting to Croatia. "Some of the guys were expressing
concerns that they didn't want to do it because they thought
there could be a possibility of DU contamination," he testified.
"I just did my job. ... I figured if there was a concern,
somebody would have come forward in my trade."
After his tour of duty in Croatia, Cpl. Innes--who used to run 15
kilometres a day--became a shell of the man he used to be,
battling chronic illnesses that doctors could not diagnose.
"In retrospect, I have kind of thought back and OK, is DU an
issue here because I have been working with those vehicles or in
that area or whatever?" he testified.
Cpl. Innes said he considered getting a test, but as of his
testimony on Nov. 10, 1999, he had yet to do so.
Copyright 2001 Ottawa Citizen Group Inc.
*****************************************************************
12 Kosovo Munitions Debris Contains Recycled Uranium
Environment News Service:
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, January 16, 2001 (ENS) - Scientists studying
ammunition fired by NATO at Serb troops in Kosovo during the
Balkans conflict have confirmed that some of it contains recycled
uranium.
NATO fired 31,000 depleted uranium shells during the Kosovo
campaign in 1998 and 1999. Some of that ammunition still litters
Kosovo, and other parts of Yugoslavia. Today's announcement is
significant because the radioactivity of recycled uranium is
greater than that of depleted uranium.
Map illustrating sites targeted by NATO for strikes using weapons
containing depleted uranium. (Map courtesy UNEP)
Depleted uranium is a dense waste product of the natural uranium
enrichment process used in nuclear power. It is used to
strengthen heavy tank armor, anti-tank munitions, missiles and
projectiles.
Weapons made with depleted uranium pierce solid objects, like
tanks, before erupting in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor
settles as dust, which is chemically poisonous and radioactive.
The United States and the United Kingdom armed forces used
depleted uranium armor and weapons for the first time in the Gulf
War. Both countries accept that the dust can be dangerous if it
is inhaled, but claim the danger is short-lived, localized, and
more likely to cause chemical poisoning than irradiation.
But some veterans of the Iraqi and Balkan campaigns believe
depleted uranium has affected their health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depleted
uranium's health effects are complex due to its chemical,
radiological and physical characteristics.
Today's announcement by the Depleted Uranium Assessment Group
working for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
confirms the presence of Uranium 236 in seven penetrators
ammunition tips made out of depleted uranium found during a
UNEP field mission to Kosovo last November.
Uranium 236 is an artificial isotope which can contaminate
depleted uranium containing uranium recycled from spent fuel.
Using five European laboratories for its depleted uranium
assessment work, the UNEP group has found that 0.0028 percent of
the uranium in the penetrators is in the form of U-236. According
to the laboratory that made the discovery, the content of U-236
in the depleted uranium is so small that the radiotoxicity is not
changed compared to depleted uranium without U236.
UNEP executive director, Klaus Toepfer. (Photo courtesy UNEP)
"This is first laboratory result based on our field work," said
UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer. "We have asked the World
Health Organization and all of our other partners for their
assessments of this finding while we continue with the scientific
analysis."
The assessment group chairman Pekka Haavisto told BBC news that
today's discovery increased concerns "slightly."
"It casts a rather different light on the process. It is
something we'll be watching, and we've asked the other four
laboratories to analyse the remnants' isotopic makeup very
carefully," he said.
The 340 samples collected last November are being analyzed for
both toxicity and radioactivity in an effort to determine whether
the use of depleted uranium during the Balkans conflict may pose
risks to human health or the environment. The results are
expected to be ready by March.
Last week, the UK's Ministry of Defence followed the lead of
several other European nations by announcing it will screen
soldiers who served in both wars for exposure to depleted
uranium.
But in Sunday's edition of the New Scientist, one of the UK's
foremost radiation biologists said urine tests are unlikely to
reveal the most dangerous contamination.
Professor Dudley Goodhead, head of the British Medical Research
Council's radiation and genome stability unit, told the magazine
that the highly insoluble particles of uranium oxides inhaled
from burning uranium and deposited by white blood cells might not
show up in urine.
Deposited in the tracheobronchial lymph nodes, these particles
could continue emitting intense local alpha and beta radiation,
which could damage blood stem cells, causing leukemia, said
Goodhead.
*****************************************************************
13 Depleted uranium concerns boost nonradioactive bullet
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT YESTERDAY CALLED FOR A SUSPENSION OF DU
USE PENDING STUDY.
BY SCOTT PETERSON STAFF WRITER OF THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
On the battlefield, even a slight shift of wind can send
poisonous clouds of chemical weapons right back onto soldiers who
fire them - one reason that many of the world's nations now
accept an international ban on such weapons. The US ratified the
treaty in 1997.
Today, the same argument is being used by critics of depleted
uranium (DU) munitions, who charge that American use of these
radioactive "tank-buster" bullets in the Balkans posed as much
danger to European allied soldiers as to Serb military targets.
Yesterday, the European Parliament voted to urge NATO to suspend
use of the munitions, pending results of an independent study on
the potential health risks. NATO last week rebuffed calls for a
moratorium from Italy and Germany. Some blame the armor-piercing
bullets for a string of unexplained cancer deaths and other
health problems among European peacekeepers who served in Bosnia
and Kosovo in the 1990s.
As the controversy rages, the issue is rekindling calls for an
alternative that may better suit the needs of Western forces in
post-cold war conflicts - and buries the political fallout.
At the top of the list is tungsten, another heavy metal that the
Pentagon has been studying for two decades and is not
radioactive. Some argue that in the future tungsten alloys -
especially if propelled at speeds greater than those possible
today - could match DU performance.
But for now, experts say, tungsten is costly and less effective
than DU. And few American tank gunners forget that, even as Iraq
yesterday marked the 10-year anniversary of the start of the 1991
Gulf War - DU was the "silver bullet" that helped destroy 4,000
Iraqi tanks with few US casualties. Iraq blames DU for a
substantial increase in cancers and birth defects since the war.
Developed 'for WWIII'
"Regardless of the health risks ... [DU] has become such a
political liability that [the US military] might decide to be a
lot more selective in their use of it," says Chris Hellman, a
senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information in
Washington. "DU was developed to fight World War III, when it
didn't really matter what the battlefield looked like when you
got done," Mr. Hellman adds.
"When you are in a place like Bosnia or Kosovo, where civilians
and your own people will be on the ground, you may decide that
it's not worth using [DU]," he says. Especially "if you have a
close second like tungsten."
Currently, almost the entire American arsenal of armor-piercing
bullets is made of DU. A nuclear waste product, DU burns on
impact, creating radioactive particles that can be dangerous if
eaten or inhaled. United Nations teams have collected 340 samples
from Kosovo that are being analyzed in five European
laboratories, to determine possible health and environmental
risks.
US military comparisons in the 1980s showed that DU was "clearly
superior" to tungsten for penetrating armor, says US Army
spokeswoman Nancy Ray, at the Pentagon. "We are not looking for a
substitute to DU for any reason," says Ms. Ray, who adds that
political considerations, so far, are not part of the equation.
"In all areas, as our awareness changes, we change. We are
looking for superior munitions because that is the best way to
protect our soldiers," she says.
The US Navy made such an improvement in 1989, when it decided to
switch from DU to tungsten bullets in its Phalanx weapons system
in part "eliminating safety and environmental problems associated
with DU," Navy documents show. The British Navy announced last
week that it also was making the switch for its Phalanx units
because US manufacturers had stopped producing DU bullets.
Focusing on toxic risks and not radioactive ones, Pentagon
officials say DU exposure is no more dangerous than "old lead
paint" - a view some NATO allies question. Defense department
tests have shown that no cleanup treatment - except removing
topsoil altogether - can turn an area contaminated with DU dust
into one for "unrestricted" use.
Weighing cost, effectiveness
But is tungsten a viable alternative? Two problems, experts say,
are cost and effectiveness. DU is given almost free to weapons
manufacturers by the US Department of Energy, which has built up
a 1.2 billion- pound stockpile since the first atomic projects of
the 1940s.
By one estimate, tungsten bullets cost 10 times as much as DU,
and are only 60 percent as effective. On impact with a target,
tungsten forms a mushroom-shaped head, while DU self-sharpens and
penetrates up to 20 percent deeper.
"[Tungsten] will never be as good as DU, we don't think," says
Paul Beaver, spokesman for the London-based Jane's group, which
specializes in military analysis. While tungsten can be improved
with copper and titanium alloys, "we're talking about 30mm cannon
shells that are going to end up the price of missiles if we're
not careful."
The wider context of the DU debate may be the fact that allied
casualties have been few in recent conflicts. "The problem is
that a lot of people believe you can have a 'politically correct'
war," Mr. Beaver adds. "People say: 'It must be safe. It must be
easy.' "
Adds Hellman: "Though they didn't come to it easily, the military
is becoming sensitive to collateral damage. They will never give
up DU ... so they will have to come up with with a political
compromise. Maybe the way is to say that, in NATO operations, we
won't use this."
*****************************************************************
14 Cancer Cases in Yugoslavia Rise Sharply Due to NATO Bombings
Thursday, January 18, 2001, updated at 09:20(GMT+8)
Cancer cases in certain regions of Serbia and Kosovo have
increased sharply following NATO's air strikes against
Yugoslavia, Serb ecologists said Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in the northern Greek city of
Thessaloniki, Serb ecologists Biljana Tomasevic and Budomir Babic
said that cancer cases across Serbia after the Kosovo war have
increased by 30 percent, the semi-official Athens News Agency
(ANA) reported.
They added that in the areas that were bombed, this increase is
estimated at 200 percent.
The consequences of the war in Bosnia are even more serious,
they said, adding that 500 out of 5,000 Serbs transferred to the
Serb quarters of Sarajevo and Bosnia five years ago have since
died of leukemia and other cancers.
The two Serb ecologists said that the 31,000 depleted uranium
bombs used by NATO in Yugoslavia have left behind a total of 15
tons of nuclear waste and, if Yugoslavia wants them to be
cleaned, the country's soil must be removed at a depth of two
meters.
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
15 German plea to U.S. in uranium row -
January 17, 2001
CNN.com -
Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping urges openness in uranium row
BERLIN, Germany (AP)--Germany has demanded that the United States
present all the information it has relating to any potential
health risks from depleted uranium (DU).
In what was Germany's boldest move yet in the continuing row over
possible cancer risks from the weapons, Defence Minister Rudolf
Scharping said all NATO partners had to have access to the same
information.
However the U.S. charge d'affaires Terry Snell countered that
Germany was "receiving all the information that we have."
It came as the European Parliament approved calls to suspend the
use of DU munitions while an independent study examined the
potential health risks.
This came despite repeated assurances from NATO that it was not
responsible for cancer cases among peacekeepers in the Balkans.
U.N. war crimes prosecutors said they were prepared to
investigate NATO's use of DU munitions if a link to cancer and
violation of international law was established.
The German government, like many others across Europe, has been
under pressure to act as public concern mounted over reports of
cancer among veterans of Balkan peacekeeping missions.
Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in
anti-armour munitions because of its high penetrating power.
Meanwhile, the United Nations, in a letter to staff serving in
areas where depleted uranium may have been used, recommended
"that under no circumstances should staff members handle any
remnants of armaments."
The German Defence Ministry said scientists and army officials
would travel to Kosovo on Thursday to examine sites targeted by
the weapons.
Scharping said earlier the German military was investigating
reports that depleted uranium ammunition may contain far more
dangerous plutonium.
"That is a very serious suspicion and it must be taken seriously,
" Scharping said on German radio. "We are looking into that,
though contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: January 17,
2001 January 17, 2001 January 17, 2001 January 16, 2001 January
16, 2001 January 15, 2001 January 15, 2001 January 14, 2001
c 2001 CABLE NEWS NETWORK. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
16 Finnish lab finds uranium in Balkans shell
- January 17, 2001
CNN.com -
A German laboratory has also tested ammunition found by German NATO
peacekeepers in Kosovo
HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters)--Finland's nuclear safety authority
said it had found a kind of uranium used in nuclear power
reactors in ammunition from the 1999 Balkans conflict, but found
no traces of plutonium.
The finding by the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority
(STUK) of the uranium 236 isotope in a weapon head from Kosovo
followed a similar discovery this week by the Swiss federal
weapons laboratory in Spiez.
STUK said it found uranium 236 in a shell sent to its laboratory
by a Finnish-led United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
mission to Kosovo, which has investigated the health risks of
depleted uranium ammunition.
NATO sources say it is clear that depleted uranium (DU) could
contain tiny traces of uranium 236 and plutonium, but these would
be present in such infinitesimally small amounts as to be
insignificant.
"STUK has not in its assessments of uranium ammunition found
transuranics such as plutonium," the Finnish authority said.
STUK said that uranium 236 had a level of radiation similar to
that of uranium 235 occurring in nature, and that both those
types were about twice as radioactive as uranium 238, which is
the main isotope in depleted uranium and also occurs naturally.
STUK said the depleted uranium shell it examined emitted "very
weak radiation" indistinguishable from background radiation at a
distance of one metre, and added that the chemical properties of
the 235 and 236 isotopes were similar.
"The health effects of the uranium 235 and 236 isotopes do not
differ from one another," STUK said in a statement.
The shell studied by STUK came from the UNEP's field mission to
Kosovo, which in November visited 11 sites identified as targeted
by ordanance containing depleted uranium, and which has asked
several laboratories in Europe to study the samples.
Depleted uranium (DU) has been suspected of links to cancer,
including cases of leukaemia, among peacekeepers who served in
Kosovo after NATO's 1999 campaign against Yugoslavia.
Experts, including Finnish nuclear safety officials, have cast
doubt on the link between DU and cancer, but NATO and the
European Union are pressing ahead with investigations
nonetheless.
According to a U.S. Department of Defense study on the
environmental effects of depleted uranium, DU may contain a few
parts per billion parts of transuranics which would include
plutonium, neptunium and americium.
"From a radiological perspective, the transuranic contamination
in DU armour contributed an additional 0.8 percent to the
radiation All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. RELATED
c 2001 CABLE NEWS NETWORK. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
17 Europe in Row Over Depleted Uranium
January 17, 2001
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERLIN (AP)--Germany made its boldest move yet Wednesday in the
row over possible health risks from depleted uranium ammunition,
demanding that the United States come forward with all the
information it has.
Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping also initiated an investigation
into whether the ammunition contains cancer-causing plutonium-- a
scenario that Swiss scientists said is "highly probable."
Meanwhile, the European Parliament urged a moratorium on use of
the ammunition despite repeated assurances from NATO that it was
not responsible for cancer cases among peacekeepers in the
Balkans.
U.N. war crimes prosecutors also said they are prepared to
investigate NATO's use of depleted uranium munitions if a link to
cancer and violation of international law is established. But
they stressed there are no grounds so far to take action.
In Berlin, Scharping complained that "it can't be that not all
NATO partners have access to the same information." He did not
elaborate.
U.S. charge d'affaires Terry Snell countered that Germany is
"receiving all the information that we have," embassy spokesman
Mark Smith said.
The German government, like many others across Europe, has been
under pressure to act as public concern mounted over reports of
cancer among veterans of Balkan peacekeeping missions.
That pressure is particularly acute in Germany, where Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder's Cabinet is under fire over a series of
unrelated matters. Scharping spoke to reporters Wednesday before
testifying to a parliament committee to prove he did all he could
to protect German soldiers from the possible depleted uranium
risk.
Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in
anti-armor munitions because of its high penetrating power. U.S.
forces fired weapons containing depleted uranium in Bosnia in
1994 and 1995, and in 1999, NATO fired such weapons during its
78-day bombing campaign in Yugoslavia.
NATO insists there is no scientific evidence linking cancer cases
to depleted uranium. Last week, it rejected an appeal from
Germany and Italy to impose a moratorium on its use because there
is no armed conflict under way in Europe.
Wednesday's European Parliament resolution urging such a
moratorium, which passed in a 394-60 vote with 106 abstentions,
is nonbinding. Lawmakers rejected calls by the Green Party for an
immediate ban on the use and testing of all depleted uranium
munitions.
Meanwhile, the United Nations, in a letter to staff serving in
areas where depleted uranium may have been used, recommended
"that under no circumstances should staff members handle any
remnants of armaments."
The German Defense Ministry said scientists and army officials
would travel to Kosovo on Thursday to examine sites targeted by
the weapons.
Scharping said earlier the German military was investigating
reports that depleted uranium ammunition may contain far more
dangerous plutonium.
"That is a very serious suspicion and it must be taken seriously,
" Scharping said on German radio. "We are looking into that,
though at this time we ourselves have no evidence."
NATO said Wednesday the organization had always accepted that
there were trace amounts of plutonium in depleted uranium but
they caused almost no additional radioactivity, pointing to tests
carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy and reported by the
Defense Department last December.
On Tuesday, the U.N. Environment Program said ammunition tips
found at sites targeted by NATO during the 1999 Kosovo conflict
contained traces of enriched uranium from nuclear reprocessing
plants.
Swiss scientists who helped in the U.N. investigation said the
findings indicated that the ammunition used in Kosovo probably
also contained plutonium traces. But the head of the Swiss atomic
and chemical research lab, Bernhard Brunner, said there was no
sign that plutonium had yet been found.
ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC.
*****************************************************************
18 Germany's Fischer Deflects Critics
January 17, 2001
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BERLIN (AP)--Bitterly attacked by conservative lawmakers, German
Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer deflected renewed charges
Wednesday that his militant past makes him unfit for office and
insisted he turned his back on violence more than two decades
ago.
During angry exchanges in parliament, Fischer again apologized
for his participation in violent protests in the 1970s--a past
that resurfaced before he testified Tuesday at the terrorism
trial of a one-time fellow radical. He said he had recognized
long ago that street violence was "wrong."
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder canceled other appointments to be at
Fischer's side for the turbulent 2 1/2-hour session, occasionally
smiling at his increasingly exasperated answers during a question
session called by the opposition.
While acknowledging Fischer's past "mistakes," Schroeder rallied
behind his deputy toward the end of a debate that revived
ideological and generational battles of the 1960s and '70s.
"You don't want to judge, you want to condemn," the chancellor
shouted at the opposition. "You want to destroy his political
existence. But you won't succeed."
Fischer, 52, was just one of three Cabinet ministers who went
before lawmakers Wednesday to face questions about current
controversies. In closed-door committee hearings, Defense
Minister Rudolf Scharping was grilled about how he protected
German soldiers in the Balkans against depleted uranium
ammunition, while Finance Minister Hans Eichel denied opposition
allegations he used official planes for private trips.
But it was Fischer's past as a self-proclaimed revolutionary that
took center stage as opposition leaders accused Germany's top
diplomat of lies, evasion and arrogance.
"Next thing I'll be asked whether I beat my wife," Fischer
snapped at one point.
In some of the most emotional moments, the opposition also
rejected Fischer's insistence that the protest movement he helped
lead was a healthy reaction at the time to liberate Germany from
authoritarian attitudes left over from the Nazi era.
"You were, in the years we are talking about, not a victim but an
aggressor," said Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy parliamentary leader of
the opposition Christian Democrats, who has called for Fischer's
resignation. "You wanted to attack innocent people, and you did
attack them."
Despite the flap that began with recently published photos
showing him scuffling with a police officer in 1973, Fischer
remains a highly popular politician.
On Wednesday, he reiterated admissions that he threw stones and
attacked police officers "here and there" as a young protester in
Frankfurt. But he said he gave up on violence in 1977 at the
height of left- wing terrorism, rejecting suggestions to the
contrary as "grotesque."
"I did wrong back then and have to apologize to everyone," he
said. "I have done that, and I do it again today."
That was not enough for Christian Democratic Chairwoman Angela
Merkel. "I expect you to say: I had a completely wrong-headed
view of the world, I have understood that and will do penance,"
she cried.
Some liberals likened Germany's current political uproar to the
sex scandal during President Clinton's second term.
"Much of this reminds me of the Clinton debate in the United
States, " said Antje Vollmer, a veteran of Fischer's Greens party
and deputy parliament speaker. "I say: Beware of puritanism."
ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC.
*****************************************************************
19 UN Staff Warned to Steer Clear of Depleted Uranium
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 17 5:12 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. staff worldwide were warned on
Tuesday to steer clear of the shards of weapons that may have
been made with depleted uranium, blamed by some peacekeeping
soldiers in Kosovo for cases of leukemia.
The U.N. Office of Human Resources Management, in a letter to all
personnel who served or were now serving in a region where
depleted uranium weapons were used, said there was little
evidence at present to suggest a link between the material and
leukemia, a potentially fatal blood cancer.
It pledged to continue monitoring the situation and quickly issue
relevant medical advice as it became available and urged staff to
get a check-up from the U.N. medical services if they felt they
needed one.
The weapons were used by a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq during the
in the 1990s. Depleted uranium is used in the tips of missiles,
shells and bullets to increase their ability to penetrate armor,
but on impact it can break down into radioactive dust.
it found evidence of radioactivity at eight of 11 sites tested in
Kosovo after they were struck by NATO ammunition with depleted
uranium during 1999 bombings. More tests of soil, water and
vegetation samples are under way, with results expected in March.
But NATO insists the bombings pose no risk of a dread ''Balkans
syndrome, '' saying the depleted uranium used in the armaments
gives off less than natural background levels of radioactivity.
issue its own conclusions in late February after reviewing the
available scientific evidence on the health effects of depleted
uranium.
Russia, which has seized on the controversy to berate NATO for
alleged dirty tactics, charged on Wednesday that the
environmental impact of NATO's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia equaled
that of the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, site of the
world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.
Reuters
*****************************************************************
20 Solana promises no secrets in uranium probe
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 17, 11:29 AM
By David Evans
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - Europe's foreign policy chief
Javier Solana told members of the European Parliament the EU
would hide nothing in investigations into the safety of depleted
uranium.
Speaking before MEPs began debate on a moratorium on the use of
depleted uranium munitions, Solana, NATO Secretary General at the
time of the alliance's interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo,
repeated there was no evidence of a health problem.
"Quite frankly there is no evidence of any link, but we should
not be satisfied with that. If there is any suggestion there
might be a link, I would convey it to you immediately," Solana
told the Strasbourg- based assembly.
"We are all democracies. We have nothing to conceal."
Some European Parliament members planned to demand suspension of
the use of DU munitions while an independent study examines their
alleged health risks. But others said there was not enough
evidence to merit calls for a moratorium.
Solana appealed for a rational approach,
"If a (Balkans) syndrome exists there would be similar symptoms
in all those affected. There would be a similar progression of
symptoms over time. There would be similar outcomes. These are
the signs for which we must search," he said.
Solana said it was regrettable that the controversy over DU had
acquired such a high profile in the past two weeks that it risked
obscuring what was at stake at the time in Bosnia, then in
Kosovo, and what was achieved by NATO interventions.
Prominent Kosovo Albanians have also warned that the DU row could
divert attention from the continuing problems of the province and
could scare peacekeepers away.
NATO DOCTORS FIND NO LINK
Chief medical officers from all 19 NATO member states, whose
soldiers served in Bosnia and Kosovo following limited use of DU
munitions, issued a report on Tuesday saying they had found no
link to cancer.
However, the allies agreed to co-ordinate further studies to
eradicate any lingering doubt and investigate the causes of
mystery illnesses reported by some Gulf War and Balkans
peacekeeping veterans.
Some media have alleged that Western governments are covering up
what they say is a toll of hundreds of cancer deaths from DU in
the Balkans and thousands in Iraq.
Russia, which has seized on the controversy to berate NATO for
dirty tactics, kept the row going on Wednesday with the charge
that the environmental impact of NATO's 1999 bombing of
Yugoslavia was equal to that of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.
Solana told Parliament he welcomed NATO's speedy action and its
transparency.
"As far as the Council (of EU governments) is concerned, no
single scientific report has been presented that establishes a
link between these illnesses and the use of depleted uranium
ammunition," Solana told deputies.
The evidence, he said, "points in the other direction."
Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
21 Gulf General calls for uranium shell probe
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 17, 07:54 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Gulf War commander has called for a
full public inquiry into the health scare over depleted uranium
shells.
Retired General Sir Peter de la Billiere said on BBC television
late on Tuesday that veterans should be compensated by the
government if claims that the ammunition causes illness were
true.
Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War's beginning, he
said he had not been aware of the potential health dangers of
using ammunition containing depleted uranium.
"It is critically important that we establish whether or not
there is a link because if there isn't, we want to go on using
this equipment, " he said.
"If it is proven that there is a link between people's illness
and what has happened to them, then they have got to be cared for
and looked after and their families given the proper recompense
in the circumstances as with any other war-wounded or injured
people."
His comments follow two weeks of mounting controversy since some
Nato countries suggested there could be a link between raised
levels of leukaemia and the use of depleted uranium munitions in
Kosovo and Bosnia.
Nato on Tuesday said data from its 19 member states showed,
however, no link between the suspect munitions that are used for
attacking armour and "Balkans Syndrome" cancers.
The European Parliament is to vote on Wednesday whether to
recommend a ban on depleted uranium ammunition until
investigations have proved that it is safe for troops to use.
Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
22 Serbia Info News / Albright against the truth about uranium
WWW.SERBIA-INFO.COM/NEWS
January 16, 2001
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT ASKED FOR HUSHING UP THE TRUTH ABOUT URANIUM
Athens, January 15 - Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsohadzopoulos
has stated today that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
had asked him to hush up complaints about possible dangers from
the use of depleted uranium ammunition.
"Albright insisted that depleted uranium was not a hazard to
health, and asked for help in preventing the exploitation of the
problem for political purposes", Tsohadzopoulos said in his
interview to Greek newspaper "Ta Near".
The Greek Minister again blasted NATO for using depleted uranium
ammunition, and urged west military alliance to "help finance" a
clean-up operation in contaminated areas.
Tsohadzopoulos was in Kosovo last Friday where he visited Greek
soldiers and experts who are investigating effects of use of
projectiles with depleted uranium during NATO aggression on
Yugoslavia. Results of those investigations will be, probably,
known from seven to ten days.
In spite of demands from the opposition and public to withdraw
Greek soldiers from southern Serbian province, the government
decided that they would stay there "because it is in interest of
Greece", since they contribute maintaining of peace and stability
in the Balkan.
The change of that decision will come after it is proved
scientifically, as it was stated, that there are danger to their
lives.
Copyright c 1998, 1999, 2000 Ministry of Information
*****************************************************************
23 Bush's Energy Pick to Go Before Senate Panel
President-elect George W. Bush's choice for energy secretary,
Spencer Abraham, will have to explain to Senate lawmakers at his
confirmation hearing on Thursday why he should head the
department that he once tried to abolish.
Tom Doggett
Story Filed: Thursday, January 18, 2001 2:37 AM EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect George W. Bush's choice
for energy secretary, Spencer Abraham, will have to explain to
Senate lawmakers at his confirmation hearing on Thursday why he
should head the department that he once tried to abolish.
While serving in the U.S. Senate, Spencer co-sponsored
legislation to abolish the Energy Department and move its
programs to other government agencies.
Despite his prior efforts to kill the department, the Michigan
lawmaker, who lost his re-election bid for a second six-year term
in November, is expected to win approval to the
nation's top energy post.
Abraham was also expected to be peppered with questions by
members of the Senate Energy committee on whether the Energy
Department's vast nuclear laboratories and weapons stockpile
program should be folded into the Pentagon. Nuclear weapons and
materials account for about half of the department's $18 billion
annual budget.
An embarrassing lapse in security at the Los Alamos nuclear
weapons laboratory in 1999 caused some lawmakers to question if
the Energy Department was able to handle top-secret programs.
Former lab physicist Wen Ho Lee eventually pleaded guilty to one
felony count of downloading nuclear weapons design secrets to a
non- secure computer.
In a separate incident, two missing computer hard drives were
found behind a copying machine.
OIL, GAS DRILLING POLICIES
Abraham will also be questioned about the Bush administration's
vow to boost domestic crude oil and natural gas production and
reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Bush, a former Texas oilman who will be sworn into office on
Saturday, assumes the presidency as the United States faces its
worst energy crisis since the late 1970s. Americans will see
record-high winter heating bills for natural gas and home heating
oil, according to government estimates.
Prices for crude oil, heating oil, gasoline and natural gas are
way above historical averages and energy supplies are low. In
addition, California is being hit with electricity shortages that
have sent ripples through the state's economy and could affect
some big bank lenders.
Abraham has called for a long-term energy strategy to increase
domestic energy supplies, develop alternative fuels and implement
new energy conservation efforts.
The grandson of Lebanese immigrants, Abraham, 48, was defeated in
his November senate race by Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat.
While in the Senate, Abraham accused the Clinton administration
of having a failed energy policy that made the United States too
dependent on foreign oil, which now accounts for about 55 percent
of U.S. petroleum supplies.
Domestic oil production last year fell to its lowest level in
half a century.
He supports Bush's plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge in Alaska, as well as other federal lands in the western
United States, to oil and natural gas drilling.
``We have vast resources within the United States, and these are
crucial to our country's security,'' Abraham told reporters at
the time his nomination was announced.
``We can make good use of them, while at the same time, I
believe, meeting our responsibilities as good stewards for the
land, the air and the water,'' he said.
The American Petroleum Institute, which represents major oil
companies, supports his nomination.
However, environmental groups oppose any efforts to open the
Arctic refuge to drilling. Friends of the Earth accused Abraham
of being a ``big buddy of Big Oil.''
The League of Conservation Voters put Abraham on its Dirty Dozen
list of lawmakers to defeat in the November election, spending
$705, 000 to help elect his rival.
Copyright c 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by
framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the dotted and
sphere logos are house marks of Reuters Limited. Reuters is a
registered trade mark in more than 25 countries worldwide. You
may now print or save this document.
Portions of above Copyright c 1997-2001, Northern Light
*****************************************************************
24 Czechs join screening for depleted uranium
URANIUM TESTS ARE PLANNED
News: The Prague Post Online
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2001
In a strategist's fantasy, NATO sends planes aloft to rescue
the Balkans from alleged Serbian tyranny. In a medical nightmare,
the weapons they use leave behind potentially lethal
contamination.
NATO is living through the nightmare.
Less than a decade after U.S. tank-destroying aircraft in
NATO service first flew Balkan missions -- in Bosnia in
1995 and Kosovo four years later -- European nations,
including the Czech Republic, are worried that depleted uranium
(DU) contained in the munitions may be placing local citizens and
peacekeeping troops at risk.
So far, a Czech pilot has died. So have seven Italian and five
Belgian soldiers, and two each from Portugal and Spain. Dozens of
others are reported to be ailing, although there is no proven
link between armor-piercing shells used by NATO and Balkan
syndrome -- a term for the collection of illnesses
veterans have reported. They include chronic fatigue, hair loss
and leukemia.
Starting next month, the Czech Army, following the lead of other
NATO nations, will put members of its Balkan peacekeeping
missions through medical checks to see if they suffer from
similar ailments.
"Links between war and the serious health problems of those
who served in it must not be underestimated, as happened after
the Gulf War," said Czech Army Lt. Col. Karel Klinovsky. The
1991- 92 Persian Gulf War also produced a variety of
syndromes and conditions possibly linked to military toxins
-- 21,000 U.S. veterans are still suffering from
unexplained illnesses.
Washington and London -- the two key players in the
two- month Kosovo conflict to end ethnic cleansing by the
regime of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic --
insist no evidence exists to link DU to serious illness.
Military units use depleted uranium to strengthen tank exteriors
and in shells for its armor-piercing hardness. It can give
off low- level radiation and Yugoslav military officials say
they have measured radioactivity levels up to 1,000 times the
norm in some bombed areas. In Kosovo, where air attacks lasted
more than two months, U.S. aircraft fired 31,000 DU rounds.
Michal Martinak, one of 10,000 Czech troops to serve in the
Balkans, died of leukemia last year. He was diagnosed too late
for effective treatment. Martinak's death remains under
investigation - - officials say any DU link is
inconclusive -- but the Czech Army has said it will offer
compensation to his family if a connection is found.
NATO spokesman Mark Laity said that because of DU's low
radiation levels "the medical consensus is that the hazard is
minimal."
Lt. Col. Miroslav Sindelar of the Defense Ministry agreed:
"There was doubt cast on the link between the illnesses and
the use of the DU technology."
The Czech envoy to NATO, Karel Kovanda, went further, saying
there was no "statistically important or even casual"
connection between DU and health risks.
But alarm is spreading.
Slovakia announced Jan. 11 it would begin checking its Balkan
veterans, on the heels of a similar British announcement. The
European Union has ordered its own probe, while NATO medical
officials in Brussels were expected to issue a statement on the
issue.
Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato said officials have always
believed DU exposure was dangerous only in "absolutely
exceptional circumstances" -- when, for example,
soldiers pick up bullet fragments and contaminate open wounds.
"But now we are starting to have a justified fear that things
are not that simple," he said.
Both the United States, which said it has no DU-related
illnesses in its ranks, and Britain rejected requests this month
by NATO allies to halt use of DU shells. "There's
absolutely no proof that there's a connection," U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said.
General Joseph Ralston, supreme commander of NATO European
forces, reportedly said much the same during a recent visit to
Prague. Czech Ministry of Defense spokesman Milan Repka said
Ralston "thinks there is no threat in the Balkan
syndrome."
U.S. physicists and medical experts have called a link between
leukemia and the low amounts of radiation put off by DU an
impossibility.
While Repka said the Czechs proposed to Ralston that "all
soldiers involved should undergo medical examination,"
Sindelar noted that future use of DU munitions by NATO forces is
"subject to negotiations."
"I cannot rule out that the Czech Republic would support the
ban of such arms," Sindelar said.
DEBATABLE RISK While far less dangerous than nuclear fuel,
depleted uranium carries low levels of radiation that can spread
when shells detonate.
"The danger is in inhaling or swallowing the dust, which
endangers the systems of the human body," said Milada
Emmerova, a physician and Czech Social Democratic (CSSD) deputy.
"However, it is difficult to predict the amount of damage
done without knowledge of the level of radiation."
Hari Sharma, an American professor, on Jan. 8 told Czech media
that he sent a letter in 1999 warning President Vaclav
Havel's office of the dangers of uranium-tipped
munitions. Havel's office claimed it was unaware of the
letter, while a Czech Military Academy radiobiology official
reportedly dismissed Sharma's findings.
The Defense Ministry's Sindelar said the government has taken
steps to screen troops for illnesses contracted during service.
Since 1997 the Czech Army has collected blood samples from
departing soldiers for comparison upon their return from
missions. Those samples will be used in February's medical
tests on personnel returning from Kosovo.
No special measures, however, have been taken to protect the
replacement battalion heading to the Balkans this month.
The Czech Army's Klinovsky told Czech media he was unaware of
sickness among any of the paratroopers he commanded in Kosovo.
But he stressed the importance of learning the cause of "the
serious illnesses of NATO soldiers who served in Kosovo and who
are now dying."
Veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, where DU also was used,
reported symptoms similar to Balkan syndrome. Pentagon officials,
however, said extensive tests produced no evidence of a link
between the munitions and "Gulf War Syndrome."
A1999 book published by two former members of a Czechoslovak
military chemical-detection unit, who served in Saudi Arabia
during the Gulf War, charges that data revealing the detection of
toxic gas was suppressed by U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf.
Chemical weapons have been suspected as a possible cause of Gulf
War illnesses.
Emmerova of CSSD, who conducted a study on Gulf War Syndrome,
believes "there is still a lot of silence" surrounding
the Gulf War events. "The complaints of Gulf War veterans
have been put down, " she said. "The British veterans
were really upset about this and they returned their medals."
Emmerova believes ailments suffered by troops who served in
Bosnia and Kosovo will receive more scrutiny.
"The advantage of the Balkans case is that the illness is
clear and points directly to its possible sources," she said.
" In general the cause of leukemia is still unknown, but this
case has to be taken very seriously and it must be
investigated."
-- With Petr Kaspar and wire reports
MORE NEWS STORIES
With Hodac out, protesters make gains, but fight still looms over
how to keep state TV free of political influence
TV couple supports each other to get through winter revolt
By James Pitkin
NATO commander says Czech Air Force 'badly needs' a more
modern arsenal
'Tumor-tying' likely to be tested despite death of pioneering
researcher
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have
*****************************************************************
25 DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS CALL FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE DEPLETED
URANIUM SHELLS
DEPLETED URANIUM USE
Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 2001-01- 17
//www.hri.org/MPA.
Thessaloniki, January 17, 2001
Doctors Without Borders - Greece board of directors member Elias
Pavlopoulos stated in a press conference in Thessaloniki today,
that was given on the occasion of a photography exhibition for
the 10 years of the organization in Greece, that the use of
depleted uranium weapons must be abolished. He also called for
the immediate publication of all the scientific reports in the
possession of NATO concerning the effects of the specific bombs
on the health of the general population, as they were recorded in
the research conducted in the Persian Gulf and Bosnia.
Mr. Pavlopoulos pointed out the need to shed light on the issue,
adding that the scientists will not be able to reach safe
conclusions in the immediate future concerning the effects of the
depleted uranium shells on the health of the general population,
the environment and the food chain as the results will be evident
after a considerable period of time.
The Doctors Without Borders, said Mr. Pavlopoulos, have already
started their own scientific research and the results will be
made public as soon as all necessary data will be collected to
support specific points of views.
[11] THE CANCER CASES ARE 500% UP IN REGIONS BOMBED WITH DEPLETED
URANIUM SHELLS
The cancer cases in certain regions of Serbia and Kosovo, that a
year and a half ago were bombed by NATO with depleted uranium
shells, have increased as much as 500%, like in the case of
Pancevo. The increase in cancer cases throughout Serbia compared
to their number before the NATO bombings is estimated at 30%,
while the next thirty generations will suffer the effects of the
depleted uranium bombs. The above were stated by Serb ecologists
Biljana Tomasevic and Budomir Babic in a press conference they
gave in Thessaloniki today on the occasion of the event under the
title "From the Persian Gulf Syndrome to the Balkans Syndrome"
organized by Greek environmental organizations at Thessaloniki's
Macedonia University.
The Serb ecologists underlined that the 31.000 depleted uranium
bombs dropped on Yugoslavia have left behind a total of 15 tons
of nuclear waste and in order to be cleaned the country's soil
must be removed at a depth of 2 meters, according to the Serb
minister of health.
Mr. Babic stated that reports drawn up by independent
organizations in the United States and Holland have showed that
the depleted uranium is catastrophic for the environment and the
health of the general population, stressing that Thessaloniki as
well as cities in Albania, Bosnia and Bulgaria must be concerned.
Responding to the question if the parts of the depleted uranium
shells will be collected, Mr. Babic stated that the Yugoslav army
has started collecting them in south Serbia, while there is not
enough information on what takes place in Kosovo.
[12] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT DID NOT COMMENT ON THE NUCLEAR ARMS IN
ARAXOS
The Greek military force in Kosovo is deemed necessary, its role
is peacekeeping and stabilizing, reiterated today Greek
government spokesman Dimitris Reppas when asked to comment on
what will be the government's decision concerning the transfer
requests submitted by Greek soldiers serving in the region,
adding that the government will take all necessary measures to
safeguard this presence.
Mr. Reppas underlined that the isolated requests submitted will
be taken under consideration.
When called to comment on a press report published by the Athens
newspaper "TA NEA" based on which, nuclear arms were removed from
the Araxos Air Base, the Greek government spokesman responded
that there will be no further comment, adding that from time to
time a number of decisions are being made within the framework of
the cooperation with NATO.
[13] STATEMENTS BY THE GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER ON THE GREEK
SOLDIERS IN KOSOVO
The assurance that the requests of the Greek soldiers serving in
Kosovo and want to return to Greece will be met, was given today
by Greek minister of defense Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who met in
Athens with his Bulgarian counterpart Bojko Noev. Mr.
Tsochatzopoulos denied the information that the transfers of the
Greek soldiers in Kosovo have been frozen and stressed that all
necessary measures are being taken for the protection of the
health of the Greek soldiers in the region.
Commenting on the Athens newspaper "TA NEA" news report based on
which, nuclear arms have been removed from the Araxos Air Base,
the Greek minister stated that NATO is responsible for any
statements on the issue but Greece's position on the restriction
of nuclear weapons is firm.
The Greek and Bulgarian ministers of defense agreed on the
promotion of the bilateral defense cooperation.
Mr. Tsochatzopoulos was also asked on the concerns raised by the
information according to which, a "mad cow" disease case was
recorded in the Italian cattle farm that supplies with meat an
international fast-food restaurant chain and the Greek army. The
Greek minister of defense gave assurances that all necessary
inspections are being made on the food with which the Greek army
is supplied.
[15] EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ON THE INTERRUPTION OF THE
DEPLETED URANIUM USE
The European Parliament approved a joint resolution on the
interruption of the use of depleted uranium until the scientific
investigation which is underway is completed. The resolution was
reached at the initiative of Euro-deputy Antonis Trakatellis,
elected with the Greek right-wing opposition party of New
Democracy. The investigation seeks to establish if the specific
substance is linked to the health problems observed on NATO
soldiers serving in Yugoslavia and the local population.
The Euro-deputy spoke in the European parliament's plenary
session about the risks and effects of the depleted uranium use
and referred to the role of the European Commission and EU
foreign and defense policy head, Javier Solana with regards to
the issue.
An HRI Project.
HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute, Inc.
mpegr2html v1.01a run on Wednesday, 17 January 2001 - 21:25:07 UTC
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26 GERMANY SUMMONS US DIPLOMAT OVER DEPLETED URANIUM SCARE
Handelsblatt.com
Dow Jones BERLIN. Germany's defense minister Rudolf Scharping
called in the top U.S. diplomat in Berlin Wednesday to express
concern that the U.S. isn't telling its NATO allies everything it
knows about depleted uranium ammunition.
"It can't be that not all NATO partners have access to the same
information, " Scharping told reporters, though he didn't
elaborate. U.S. charge d'affaires Terry Snell responded that
Germany is "receiving all the information that we have," embassy
spokesman Mark Smith said.
Earlier, Scharping said the military was investigating reports
that depleted uranium ammunition may contain far more dangerous
plutonium. "That is a very serious suspicion and it must be taken
seriously, " he said on German radio. "We are looking into that,
though at this time we ourselves have no evidence."
He was reacting to a report on Germany's ARD public television,
which cited U.S. Energy Department data saying the depleted
uranium used in the projectiles was believed to contain traces of
plutonium.
Heading into a parliamentary hearing on the controversy,
Scharping also said he would send scientists to Kosovo for a
fresh examination of sites targeted by the weapons, which were
used by the U.S. military in former Yugoslavia and have triggered
a scare over possible adverse health effects.
In the radio interview, Scharping stressed again that the German
military had done "everything possible" to protect its soldiers.
The possibility of plutonium exposure added to the pressure on
Scharping, one of several cabinet ministers appearing in
parliament Wednesday to face questions on issues that opposition
leaders say cast doubt on their fitness for office.
The U.S. Energy Department last October released a report saying
that some recycled uranium at its plants is believed to have
contained "traces" of plutonium. A U.N. environment agency said
Tuesday that ammunition tips found at sites targeted by NATO
during the 1999 Kosovo conflict contained traces of enriched
uranium from nuclear reprocessing plants.
Swiss scientists who helped in the U.N. investigation said the
findings indicated that the ammunition used in Kosovo probably
also contained plutonium traces. However, the head of the Swiss
atomic and chemical research lab, Bernhard Brunner, said there
was no sign that plutonium had been found until now.
Depleted uranium has been used for ammunition because it is only
40% as radioactive as natural uranium and is extremely dense and
heavy, with excellent armor-piercing properties.
The ammunition has sparked a scare across Europe that it may have
caused serious illnesses in peacekeeping troops who served in the
Balkans. However, governments and NATO have repeatedly denied
that the ammunition could have triggered cancer in soldiers. .
HANDELSBLATT, Mittwoch, 17. Januar 2001
c Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt GmbH 2000 Fr die Richtigkeit der
Angaben bernehmen wir keine Gewhr. Bitte
*****************************************************************
27 DEPLETED URANIUM: DOES IT MAKE YOU SUSPICIOUS?
BBC News | EUROPE | European press review
Thursday, 18 January, 2001, 07:34 GMT EUROPEAN PRESS REVIEW
Slovakia's PRAVDA writes that the controversy over the so-called
"Balkans syndrome" is more than just "much ado about nothing".
It says that Nato's response to allegations that the depleted
uranium munitions it used can cause cancer is "frighteningly
reminiscent of Russian Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov's
statement that death rates among those exposed to radiation from
the Chernobyl disaster were no higher than among the population
in general".
Nato is using a similar line, the paper points out.
"Not only Nato troops, but also the citizens of Kosovo, Bosnia
and Iraq are positive that they face a real danger of falling ill
with cancer," it says. "They would be highly unlikely to be
making such a fuss just to get compensation, and yet military
experts says categorically that everything is fine," it
concludes.
A commentary in Turin's LA STAMPA argues the opposite case.
It points out that seven cases of leukaemia among the 60,000
Italian soldiers who served in the Balkans compare favourably
with the 10.8 cases which medical statisticians would expect from
any 60,000 members of the Italian population.
"Depleted uranium is 40% less radioactive than uranium in its
natural form," the commentary says. It recalls that depleted
uranium was chosen in preference to lead to go into the alloy
that makes up the armour of the American M1 tank.
"There is more radioactivity in many American and European homes
than inside an M1 tank," it points out.
"It is a paradox of our times that as science and technology
become increasingly relevant to our daily lives, the scientific
knowledge of the general public in Europe and America continues
to decline, " the commentator notes.
And for the Hungarian NEPSZABADSAG, the issue is not so much
depleted uranium as "depleted public confidence".
It believes that the biggest problem is not to find out the
effects of the suspect munitions, but to establish who knew about
what, when.
It says not only do ordinary citizens doubt their politicians'
statements - as in the case of mad cow disease - but civilian
politicians, too, are now mistrusting their own generals, while
national governments and international organisations challenge
Nato's credibility.
Search BBC News Online[I]
*****************************************************************
28 Depleted uranium: The next generation
BBC News | SCI/TECH |
Thursday, 18 January, 2001, 00:14 GMT
[I] Most UK tanks in the Gulf War carried depleted uranium rounds
BY ALEX KIRBY, BBC NEWS ONLINE ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT AND
PRESENTER OF COSTING THE EARTH
Some UK Gulf War veterans fear their children are suffering
because of their own exposure to depleted uranium (DU) weapons.
Several veterans have told BBC Radio 4's environment programme,
Costing the Earth, why they are worried.
The Ministry of Defence continues to insist that DU poses no
particular risk to parents, let alone their children.
But the programme hears concerns that there may be a higher rate
of birth defects among the children of those who served in the
Gulf.
One of those interviewed is Kenny Duncan, an Army driver who
removed destroyed Iraqi tanks from the battlefield.
NO WARNINGS
He tells the programme: "Nobody ever mentioned anything about
uranium or depleted uranium when we were there.
"Nobody remembers being told about it at all. It certainly wasn't
given in a warning to us."
Kenny and his wife Mandy have three children, all born since the
1991 war. All were born with health problems, which have
persisted.
[I] Iraq reports many birth defects
"The problems the kids have are the same as the soldiers'", says
Mandy. "They've got bowel problems, chronic fatigue, and a
persistent cough, and nothing helps with that."
She believes her husband is now showing early signs of cancer,
with a lump on his knee and a nine-month wait to find out what it
is.
"I think the kids are going to grow up without a dad", she says.
"I don't think the government actually realises how many lives
they are ruining, and they need to.
"They're just killing the veterans, and killing their families
along with them, with all the worry - and it's not fair."
Tim Purbrick was a tank commander in the Gulf War. He did not use
the DU rounds his tank had been issued with. Instead he stored
bread and other rations on top of them.
"We were given no warning as to any danger of storing the rounds
or firing them", he says.
'A BIT DODGY'
"But after the war, we were unloading our DU rounds at a Royal
Army Ordnance Corps de-ammunition point in Saudi Arabia.
"All the soldiers there were wearing NBC (nuclear, biological and
chemical warfare) protective clothing. We said: 'What's going on
here?'
"And their answer was: 'Didn't you know? This ammunition is a bit
dodgy'".
Mr Purbrick remains healthy. But his son was born last year with
no fingers on his left hand, and a joint missing from his thumb.
[I] DU was also fired in the Balkans
"When the time comes, if he asks why he has no fingers on one
hand, I think perhaps there may be the nagging doubt that he
could be paying the price for my service in the Gulf", says Tim
Purbrick.
"Anecdotally, in a discussion with a military doctor, he told me
that early indications from official surveys are that there's a
higher incidence of Thalidomide-type abnormalities in the
children of Gulf veterans."
'NO MASSIVE EFFECT'
The Ministry of Defence still maintains that there is no evidence
that DU poses a significant risk to the veterans themselves.
And it says that while it cannot guarantee that DU will not
produce birth defects in their children, the evidence suggests
there is no massive effect.
Kenny Duncan has a jaundiced view of the ministry. "They're
sitting around watching veterans die", he says.
"They're waiting for us to die off, so they don't need to pay out
money. They'll just tell us nothing and deny everything.
"They don't care about the veterans' health, even though some
from the Balkans are starting to get ill. And still they say it's
not an issue."
Costing the Earth is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2100 BST on 18
January.
*****************************************************************
29 Euro-MPs urge depleted uranium arms ban
ISSUE 2064 Thursday 18 JANUARY 2001
BY AMBROSE EVANS PRITCHARD IN BRUSSELS
THE European Parliament voted yesterday for a moratorium on the
use of depleted uranium munitions by Nato forces.
After a stormy debate marked by vitriolic outbursts of
anti-American feeling, Euro-MPs voted by 339 to 202 for a
resolution demanding that all European military forces in the
Atlantic Alliance ban the use of armour-piercing shells and other
depleted uranium weaponry until they were shown to be safe.
Labour and Conservative Euro-MPs voted against the resolution,
which is not binding on EU member states and is not likely to
restrict the sorts of weaponry deployed by Nato or the EU's new
rapid reaction force. The EU's foreign policy and security chief,
Javier Solana, distanced himself from the Parliament, saying
there was no scientific evidence linking leukaemia to the use of
depleted uranium weapons in the Balkans.
uranium poisoning exposed to depleted uranium
*****************************************************************
30 DU admission stokes Gulf war health row
Guardian |
PAUL BROWN, JOHN HOOPER IN BERLIN, IAN BLACK IN BRUSSELS, AND
PETER CAPELLA IN GENEVA THURSDAY JANUARY 18, 2001 THE GUARDIAN
Depleted uranium shells fired by Britain in the Gulf war and the
US in Kosovo contained traces of plutonium and other highly
radioactive particles, the Ministry of Defence and the US
department of energy admitted yesterday.
The fact that DU rounds used by British and US forces contain far
more radioactive isotopes than uranium, which are more likely to
cause cancer, is bound to fuel the controversy over Gulf war
syndrome.
But the additional risk to British and US servicemen was minimal
because the amounts of contaminants were so small, a MoD
spokeswoman in London said yesterday, echoing a Nato statement
issued in Brussels.
The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna was not so sure
that the dangers of uranium containing even traces of plutonium
were small, saying there was no data on what happened to
contaminated depleted uranium when released into the atmosphere.
David Kyd, spokesman for the agency, said: "The science simply
can't provide the answers in terms of the long-term consequences.
It is definitely worth investigating further, not only in the
Balkans but also in Iraq."
In Germany, the defence minister, Rudolf Scharping, yesterday
summoned the US charge d'affaires in Berlin to brief him on the
issue.
The Ministry of Defence said the increase in radiation dose to
British servicemen handling the shells and operating in tanks
with DU shielding because of the contaminates was only 0.8%, so
small as to be minimal.
However, other experts disagreed. John Large, of Large
Associates, said: "Once this has been fired in anger and is lying
about in dust, there is a huge difference in the dangers. A speck
of plutonium is hundreds of times more dangerous than uranium."
Mr Large said the only way that products of nuclear fission known
as transuranics - neptunium, plutonium, and americium - could get
into depleted uranium was through reprocessing. "I am amazed they
have done this."
Both the US and UK defence organisations denied the uranium had
been reprocessed. The uranium had been supplied from the same
civil source in the US and had accidently been contaminated
because it had been placed in the same containers as reprocessed
material.
Mr Kyd emphasised that the research so far on the effects of DU
was derived from monitoring miners dealing with natural uranium
or the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Over the past 10 years of controversy about the impact of
particles released when DU shells hit their target, there had
been no civilian research on the battlefield until Nato told the
UN where to find sites it examined in Kosovo last year.
The IAEA, which is taking part in the UN investigation, was
offered some information about the effects of DU munitions by
military sources, but Mr Kyd said it was "still sketchy on what
happens after vaporisation".
Mr Scharping also ordered a German laboratory, testing samples
from Kosovo, to look specifically for traces of plutonium. The
University of Bristol is also testing Kosovo samples of depleted
uranium.
Mr Scharping made the move after it became known that a German
television programme to be transmitted tonight by the
publicly-owned ARD channel will turn the spotlight on documents
from the US Department of Defence which noted the possibility of
plutonium traces in its weapons.
A spokesman for the US embassy in Berlin said the documents were
openly available on US government websites.
Guardian Unlimited c Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
*****************************************************************
31 Euro MPs defy Nato and seek ban on DU
Independent
By Stephen Castle in Brussels
18 January 2001
The European Parliament called for a suspension of the use of
depleted uranium (DU) munitions yesterday, rejecting safety
assurances from Nato and heightening pressure for a formal
moratorium.
The day before, the alliance had rejected claims of a link
between DU and leukaemia cases suffered by Balkans peace-keepers.
UN investigators have found minute traces of enriched uranium,
much more radioactive than DU, on ammunition tips at sites
attacked by Nato during the Kosovo conflict.
Although the parliament's vote has no legal force, it underlines
the continuing international disquiet over the effects of DU, not
only on servicemen and women but on the civilian population of
Bosnia and Kosovo.
The UN Environment Programme has said ammunition tips found at
sites targeted by Nato during the 1999 Kosovo conflict contained
traces of enriched uranium from nuclear reprocessing plants.
That raises the prospect that some of the "depleted uranium"
ammunition may contain more hazardous plutonium. "One part, a
very small part, has been made out of recycled nuclear material
coming from nuclear reactors and reprocessed," said Pekka
Haavisto, chairman of the UNEP, which visited Kosovo last year.
The faint traces discovered were of uranium 236, which comes only
from nuclear power stations. Mr Haavisto said: "Everybody knows
U- 236 is much more radioactive than depleted uranium." But he
said with just 0.0028 per cent found in the samples, there did
not appear to be increased risk of cancer.
He added: "The amount in the material is so small that at least
our laboratory is saying that this doesn't change the overall
picture of radiological effects." Nato said very small traces
inevitably remain after the process of separating enriched from
depleted uranium but that this is factored into all the figures
used to calculate safety. Nato fired about 40,000 rounds of
armour-piercing DU ammunition in the Balkans and Kosovo during
military interventions in 1994-95 and 1999.
But the scale of the political fallout presents a massive
potential problem for Nato if it tries to use DU munitions again,
because the alliance operates on the basis of unanimity.
Several countries would now probably refuse to take part in any
military mission involving DU arms. Some defence analysts believe
that, like chemical weapons, those using DU may have crossed a
threshold of international unacceptability and Nato would be
well-advised to look for alternatives.
Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy high representative and
Nato's secretary-general when the alliance intervened in Bosnia
and Kosovo told the European Parliament: "Quite frankly there is
no evidence of any link, but we should not be satisfied with
that.
"If there is any suggestion there might be a link, I would convey
it to you immediately. We are all democracies. We have nothing to
conceal."
The European Commissioner for the Environment, Margot Wallstrom,
said: "It is wise to be very careful, to be very prudent. Maybe
there has to be some long-term study to be absolutely sure about
the effects of DU.
"There is no unanimously-held scientific opinion on the effects
of DU. There are different views. It is necessary to look at the
'cocktail effects' - when you have different factors involved."
*****************************************************************
32 Dead Italian Veterans From Balkans Increase to 8
XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
Story Filed: Thursday, January 18, 2001 12:37 PM EST
Rome (Jan. 18) XINHUA - Eight veterans of Italian peacekeeping
operations in the Balkans have now died, Italian Defense Minister
Sergio Mattarella reported Thursday.
The soldiers died of a range of illnesses and scientists were
still trying to establish whether there was a link between their
deaths and exposure to depleted uranium (DU) munitions used in
the region, he said.
The number of deaths from cancer and other ailments tentatively
linked to a so-called Balkan syndrome was one higher than in
Mattarella's last report to parliament on the issue several days
ago.
The minister also announced that Italy would ask the United
Nations, which is already measuring DU contamination in Kosovo,
to launch a similar investigation in Bosnia.
During the 1999 Kosovo war, U.S. planes were reported to have
fired about 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition at
Serbian targets while in 1994-1995, U.S. bombers fired an
estimated 10,800 rounds of the same type of ammunition in Bosnia.
According to detailed maps supplied by the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) of areas where DU munitions were used, an
investigation in Bosnia by Italy and other countries would now
continue in greater detail, Mattarella said.
Copyright XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
Copyright c 2001, Xinhua News Agency, all rights reserved. p;
*****************************************************************
33 Uranium risk to Irish troops negligible army experts
RT News:
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17 2001
Filed at: 11:16 PM
Following a five day assessment in Kosovo and Bosnia, Irish army
experts have concluded that the risk to our troops of
radiological contamination from depleted uranium is negligible.
However about 600 personnel who have served, or are serving in
the region, are to be medically examined.
Depleted uranium, DU, was used by NATO forces in Kosovo and
Bosnia as a coating on anti-tank shells to pierce armour plating
on tanks and other vehicles. Radiation from DU is now being
blamed for causing leukaemia among 20 soldiers from various
countries. Six Italians have died.
Last week the Minister for Defence announced that Irish soldiers,
like troops from some other countries, would be tested for the
effects of radiation. But Michael Smith said that the scope of
the screening would not decided until a team of Irish army
experts carried out an on-the-ground assessment in the Balkans.
Those experts have since spent five days in the Kosovo and
Bosnia. They found that radiological surveys, including sites
where DU shells are known to have been fired, show normal
background level of radiation. Camps, occupied by Irish troops,
were also found to have normal background radiation. Continuous
testing of food and water indicated that they are free from
contamination. No instances of ill-health were found among Irish
troops currently serving within the region.
Although the experts concluded that the risk to Irish troops in
negligible, 600 troops and former soldiers will undergo blood and
urine tests along with a clinical examination - mainly as a
reassurance to themselves and their families. [*]
[*]© 2000 RTÉ NEWS & RTÉ ONLINE
*****************************************************************
34 Irish troops to receive tests for depleted uranium
IRISH NEWS
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 17, 06:22 PM
Irish troops who served in the Balkans are to receive screening
tests for depleted uranium. The decision to issue tests was taken
following a report from the Defence Forces Chief of Staff who
visited the region recently. The Department of Defence insists
that radiological contamination from exposure to depleted uranium
is so low, it's considered negligible. The Defence Forces task
team spent five days in Kosovo and Bosnia examining the potential
effects of depleted uranium.
They consulted extensively with medical and technical experts.
The task team found that radiological surveys in areas where
shells were known to be found, showed normal levels of background
radiation. However, the team found that water and utensils used
by Irish troops were free of contamination. No cases of ill
health were reported among Irish troops. However, the Department
of Defence is putting screening tests in place to fully reassure
families that no dangers exist. Tests will begin within one week
and will also be available to soldiers who have served in Kuwait
as observers during the Gulf War.
Copyright 2001 Doras. All rights reserved. Republication or
Copyright 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
35 American Nuclear Society chief suggests FFTF role
This story was published Wed, Jan 17, 2001
BY ANNETTE CARY
HERALD STAFF WRITER
Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility could play an important testing
role in developing the next generation of nuclear power plants,
said James Lake, president of the American Nuclear Society.
Lake, the director of the Advanced Nuclear Energy Program at the
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, spoke
Tuesday night at a meeting of the society's Eastern Washington
Chapter in Richland.
The American Nuclear Society initially had some concerns that
money to restart the reactor could drain funds from other
Department of Energy nuclear programs. But this fall, it gave its
unqualified support to restarting the reactor, saying members
were concerned about the nation's diminishing research reactor
capabilities as other reactors have been shut down.
More recently, the society appealed to President-elect Bush's
transition team to ask the outgoing Clinton administration to
defer a decision until Bush becomes president.
However, Lake said DOE sources expect Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson to announce his decision on the Hanford reactor late
this week before leaving office. Richardson has said he plans to
order the permanent shutdown of the idle reactor.
Supporters want it restarted for research, including a role in
developing the next generation of nuclear power plants and to
make isotopes for medicine and the space program.
If Richardson orders it shut down, supporters plan to appeal to
the Bush administration to reverse the decision.
Although there's no way to predict what the Bush administration's
decision would be, the energy emergency in California makes the
case for a restart stronger, said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., who
also spoke at the meeting.
Lake said he expected Bush to be strongly interested in nuclear
energy.
World use of electricity is expected to double in the next 20
years, Lake said, and "nuclear power can go away or play a major
role."
In nuclear power's favor are the excellent recent performance of
nuclear power plants, he said.
They produced 20 percent of the electricity in the United States
in 1999, and generation rose 8 percent a year for the last 20
years.
They also had an excellent safety record, with plant worker
radiation exposures down 80 percent from 1980, he said.
There is growing recognition among the public that nuclear energy
comes with the benefit of clean air, Lake said. In fact, he
believes the majority of the public favors nuclear power.
He characterizes 15 percent of people as strongly supportive and
15 percent as strongly opposed to nuclear energy, with the middle
70 percent supportive because the energy is cheap and "because
it's not in the paper every day because of accidents."
But their support is fragile, he said.
Among the challenges in moving to the next generation of nuclear
power designs is allaying public fears by making the new reactors
even safer than existing reactors, he said.
One way to do that is by designing reactors that minimize the
operator's opportunities to make mistakes, particularly as Third
World nations look to build nuclear reactors.
The high construction costs--$5 billion to $9 billion now for
some reactors--also will have to come down, he said.
COPYRIGHT 2000 TRI-CITY HERALD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS
*****************************************************************
36 Richardson orders final FFTF shutdown
This story was published 1/18/2001
HERALD STAFF WRITER
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson decided to permanently shut down
Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility as one of his last acts before
leaving office, his spokesman, Matt Nerzig, said Wednesday
afternoon.
A month ago, Richardson picked closing the dormant reactor as the
best option presented in an extensive environmental study but
then had to wait 30 days for public comment on the plan before
signing the final decision.
Supporters of the reactor appealed to the incoming administration
to ask Richardson to delay the decision until after Saturday,
when it would fall to George W. Bush's Energy secretary.
However, Nerzig said Richardson would sign the order this week.
No time has been set.
"This is a cynical, blatantly political act calculated to occur
after the (November) election in order to satisfy anti-nuclear
radicals without alienating voters in Central Washington," said
U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "Since the moment the
presidential election was decided, DOE shifted its effort to
deactivate FFTF into high gear."
FFTF is one of the Department of Energy's largest and most modern
reactors, but DOE has not had a use for it since 1993. It had
been used for 10 years as a test site for nuclear fuel and
components.
Once sodium is drained from its cooling system, which could
require months of preparation, it cannot be restarted. That would
end the potential for any nuclear production at Hanford.
But supporters of restarting the reactor have been preparing for
the possibility of a shutdown order.
"I think we have a chance with the new administration," said Sam
Volpentest, executive vice president of the Tri-City Industrial
Development Council. "With the energy crisis, hopefully (the Bush
administration) will take a look at it before it can't be
restarted."
"I am hopeful that Secretary-designee (Spencer) Abraham will work
with me to reverse this, although today's formal decision makes
the job of saving FFTF far more difficult," Hastings said.
Several local governments, led by the Benton County Commission,
also are preparing to file a lawsuit, if necessary, to reverse
the decision.
"The Eastern Washington Section of the American Nuclear Society
is extremely disappointed in this short-sighted decision that
runs counter to the Department of Energy's own documentation,"
said Jerry Woodcock, a spokesman for both the society and a
coalition of community groups and cancer patients trying to save
the reactor.
"We view it as a political decision having no basis in scientific
fact or morality," Woodcock said.
DOE had been considering restarting the reactor to make isotopes
for medicine, particularly for new ways of treating cancer, to
make isotopes for the U.S. space program and for research.
Rather than restart the reactor, DOE will use existing reactors
in Tennessee and Idaho to make isotopes and also will spend two
years developing a conceptual design and a research program for
an advanced Accelerator Applications facility. No location has
been chosen for the proposed program, but $68 million has been
set aside for planning.
The decision pleased anti-nuclear groups that have fought to stop
all production at Hanford.
"We believe that the outgoing secretary has done a tremendous
service for the incoming secretary, saving hundreds of millions
of dollars by making this decision," said Gerald Pollet, director
of Heart of America Northwest.
Restarting the reactor would cost $314 million, according to DOE
estimates made in August, and deactivating it would cost $281
million.
Heart of America does not think the decision can be overturned in
court, Pollet said.
The groundwork for a lawsuit already has been laid.
Benton County, joined by several cities, ports and TRIDEC, has
hired the Seattle firm of Foster Pepper & Shefelman as special
deputy prosecuting attorneys to consider legal avenues for
challenging DOE's decision.
The firm has filed a list of complaints about the environmental
study on which Richardson's decision was based. Those complaints
would be reflected in any suit.
The county document points out although Richardson said in
November that DOE could meet the need for isotopes for years to
come with its Tennessee and Idaho reactors, DOE's draft
environmental study said otherwise in several places.
"Supplies of many research isotopes are not readily available
from existing domestic or foreign sources, causing a number of
medical research programs to be terminated, deferred or seriously
delayed, " the draft environmental study said.
The shortages have worsened since a Brookhaven, N.Y., reactor was
deactivated, the county document said.
The DOE draft study also questioned whether increased isotopes
could be produced reliably at other existing DOE facilities
without interfering with the work those reactors are already
assigned.
Not only will the Idaho and Tennessee reactors that would be
given the task of producing isotopes soon run out of capacity,
but FFTF also can make some isotopes they cannot and make
isotopes of higher purity, the county document said.
The DOE study also failed to address recent tritium contamination
discovered at the Tennessee reactor, the High Flux Isotope
Reactor, according to the county document. That reactor has been
temporarily shut down.
The county document questioned how DOE could have concluded the
nation could rely long term on the proposed Advanced Accelerator
Applications facility. Not only is the technology untried, but it
was not analyzed in the DOE study, which violates the National
Environmental Policy Act, the county said.
Benton County has been joined by the three Tri-Cities, West
Richland, TRIDEC and the Port of Benton, which have all pledged
financial support to consider legal action. In addition, the Port
of Kennewick is expected to join, the Port of Pasco is
considering it and Franklin County, although not offering
financial help, supports the effort.
The next step will be to get an agreement among the governments
signed, then they will decide whether to go forward with a
lawsuit.
"We have to keep fighting," Volpentest said.
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37 DOE revises contract to manage tank farms
This story was published 1/18/2001
HERALD STAFF WRITER
A revamped contract to manage Hanford's tank farms has won
approval from the Department of Energy.
CH2M Hill Hanford Group's contract has been extended through
Sept. 30, 2006.
"They've done excellent work in the last few years," said Harry
Boston, manager of DOE's Office of River Protection.
CH2M Hill takes care of central Hanford's 177 underground tanks,
which hold 53 million gallons of highly radioactive
wastes--arguably the nation's single worst environmental problem.
The company is preparing to start sending wastes by 2007 to a
glassification plant to be built by the newly hired
Bechtel-Washington.
This contract began on Oct. 1, 1996, under Lockheed Martin
Hanford Corp., a subcontractor of Fluor Hanford. DOE later
reorganized Hanford to make Lockheed a prime contractor, and
Denver-based CH2M Hill subsequently bought the Hanford company
from Lockheed. The original contract was scheduled to expire
Sept. 30.
A major reason for the contract modifications is that Boston's
office estimates CH2M Hill will have to do about $2.5 billion
worth of work between now and 2006. However, his office expects
to get only $2.2 billion from Congress during that period, Boston
said.
Consequently, the extended contract contains incentives for CH2M
Hill to do $2.5 billion worth of work through 2006 with $2.2
billion, Boston said.
CH2M Hill will have six to nine major contractual milestones each
year. At the end of each fiscal year, the Office of River
Protection will pay CH2M Hill for each milestone met and not pay
any money for each one missed--essentially paying on a pass-fail
system. Also, the office will grade CH2M Hill's safety and
administrative efforts.
If CH2M Hill makes all of its milestones and scores perfectly on
its administrative and safety efforts, it can earn $106 million
in profit during the contract, or almost $17 million a year.
Meanwhile, CH2M Hill will also be graded and paid on whether it
saves $300 million to do the $2.5 billion worth of work. The
company can earn almost $50 million by saving the entire $300
million.
The bottom line is that CH2M Hill can earn up to $166 million,
but its risks increase because almost making a milestone
translates to earning no pay.
"We've significantly raised the bar," Boston said.
Fran DeLozier, president of CH2M Hill Hanford Group, said: " It's
going to be tough to clear 100 percent. But we earn more profit
if we're able to do it."
CH2M Hill's graded work includes pumping wastes from the old,
leak- prone 149 single-shell tanks to the 28 newer and safer
double-shell tanks. So far, pumpable liquids have been removed
from 129 single- shell tanks, with nine more being pumped. Since
late 1999, CH2M Hill has transferred 1.2 million gallons of an
estimated 3.5 million to 4 million gallons required to be moved
by 2004.
Other graded work includes checking the sturdiness of the double-
shell tanks, analyzing wastes, figuring what to do with the
glassified wastes and ensuring all tanks remain safe. And CH2M
Hill must ensure enough space remains in the double-shell tanks
to hold all the wastes pumped from single-shell tanks.
Lockheed and later CH2M Hill consistently have earned good annual
grades--89 percent to 91 percent--since 1996. The company earned
89 percent what it could have earned for fiscal 2000, which ended
Sept. 30. That translated to $13 million to $14 million in
awarded fees.
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