***************************************************************** 09/18/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.221 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Security Tightens at Nuclear Plants 2 Environmental testing on leukemia cluster begins in two weeks 3 Energy Secretary expands Yucca Mountain public comment process 4 Energy secretary expands Yucca Mountain public comment process 5 Terrorism Renews Fears About Nuke Storage 6 Yucca Mountain hearings scheduled same time and day 7 USEC and Arizona Public Service Sign Long-Term Fuel Contract 8 Sitting ducks? Porous security makes nuclear power plants inviting targets 9 Plans to ship nuclear waste through KC halted 10 No new dates set for Yucca hearings 11 Local officials to DOE: Delay Yucca hearings 12 Nuke waste loads on hold 13 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station to Become Radioactive Waste Storage 14 RADIATION DOSE RECONSTRUCTION AND RELATED SERVICES 15 Czech nuclear plant's reactor idle again 16 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Monday, September 17, 2001 17 Letter: Recycling nuclear waste would help - Isabel R. Young 18 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Tuesday, September 18, 2001 19 Testimony of Governor Kenny C. Guinn, U.S. Department of Energy 20 San Onofre isn't jetliner-proof, either 21 Yankee flyover response questioned 22 Developer offers second plan to TVA - Sunday, 09/16/01 23 Russian to start supplying equipment for Chinese nuclear power 24 EU entry talks depend on nuclear plant shutdown pledge - 25 Last 24 nuclear waste tanks removed from congressional watch list - 26 Chopper mystifies nuclear plants 27 Secretary of Energy Expands Public Input Process To Provide 28 SEMO fined for radioactive leak 29 BNFL plant to win approval 30 N-plant shield urged 31 Sitting ducks? Porous security makes nuclear power plants inviting targets 32 EU entry talks depend on nuclear plant shutdown pledge - 33 Letter: Nuclear options 34 GOVERNMENT LOOKS FOR PUBLIC CONSENSUS ON MANAGING RADIOACTIVE WASTE 35 Nuclear plants deemed safe NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Contingency Plans Drawn Up For Kursk Reactor Disaster 2 U.S. Calls for More Vigilance on Nuclear Exports 3 US moves to prevent nuclear terrorism - 4 NORWEGIANS START CLEANING RUSSIAN ZAPOLYARIE 5 Some in U.S. fear for security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal 6 Nuclear terror team on standby 7 Uprfront, Protester in the pokey 8 Kursk lifters compromise safety 9 Of Atomic Secrets, Loyalty and Bitter Deceit 10 IAEA opens, expected to adopt resolution to inspect N. Korea 11 Not so many 'secrets' after all 12 Thwarting terrorism, ORNL ideas may blossom as America recovers, reinforces 13 Terrorism Haunts Nuke Delegates 14 Of Atomic Secrets, Loyalty and Bitter Deceit 15 Kursk lifters compromise safety 16 Pakistan's nuclear arms increase risks to region 17 Not so many 'secrets' after all **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Security Tightens at Nuclear Plants Las Vegas SUN September 17, 2001 VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Security is being tightened at the world's nuclear power plants, an international watchdog agency said Monday, but it conceded that little can be done to shield a nuclear facility from a direct hit by an airliner. Most nuclear power plants were built during the 1960s and 1970s, and like the World Trade Center, they were designed to withstand only accidental impacts from the smaller aircraft widely used at the time, the International Atomic Energy Agency said as it opened its annual conference. "If you postulate the risk of a jumbo jet full of fuel, it is clear that their design was not conceived to withstand such an impact," spokesman David Kyd said. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham was among delegates from 132 nations who opened the conference with calls to better safeguard nuclear plants and keep nuclear materials out of terrorists' hands. Abraham brought a message from President Bush to the Vienna-based IAEA, urging the agency to keep pace with "the real and growing threat of nuclear proliferation." The world "must ensure that nuclear materials are never used as weapons of terror," Abraham said. "We cannot assume that tomorrow's terrorist acts will mirror those we've just experienced." In the wake of last week's attacks in New York and Washington, governments have tightened security outside nuclear power and radioactive waste facilities worldwide. But Japan, which is heavily dependent on nuclear energy and has 52 nuclear plants, warned Monday that although tighter security is needed, nothing can shield the plants from attacks by missiles or aircraft. Conference delegates, who began Monday with a minute of silence and a song from the Vienna Boy's Choir in memory of the victims of the attacks on the United States, planned to meet behind closed doors Monday and Tuesday on ways to improve plant security. In the West, nuclear power plants were designed more with ground vehicle attacks in mind, Kyd said. Although many were designed to withstand a glancing blow from a small commercial jetliner, a direct hit at high speed by a modern jumbo jet "could create a Chernobyl situation," said a U.S. official who declined to be identified. But the buildings that house nuclear reactors themselves are far smaller targets than the Pentagon posed, and it would be extremely difficult for a terrorist to mount a direct hit at an angle that could unleash a catastrophic chain of events, Kyd said. If a nuclear power plant were hit by an airliner, the reactor would not explode, but such a strike could destroy the plant's cooling systems. That could cause the nuclear fuel rods to overheat and produce a steam explosion that could release lethal radioactivity into the atmosphere. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 Environmental testing on leukemia cluster begins in two weeks Las Vegas SUN September 17, 2001 FALLON, Nev. (AP) - State health officials are finalizing preparations for the collection of environmental samples in their search for clues into a Fallon leukemia cluster. Collecting samples from the homes of case and control families will begin in about two weeks, officials said. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are assisting in the process. "The sampling team has just completed three days of training," said State Epidemiologist Dr. Randall Todd, who has been heading the investigation into the cancer cluster since July of last year. "We are still trying to get a demo home lined up. We have several possibilities." Before NDEP and health division employees, who are collecting the test samples, can begin the project in actual case and control family homes, they must rehearse the procedure in a demo house, Todd said. The tentative date set for the mock sample collection is Oct. 3. "This would be a full-on dress rehearsal," he added. "They will collect all of the samples. The only difference is they will not actually be sending the specimens off to a lab." One reason for the sampling team to practice the procedure, which has to be done according to strict guidelines, is to ensure that none of the samples from the homes become contaminated. The National Centers and Disease Control is also collecting biological samples from the same homes, Todd said. That process began about two weeks ago. The tests are aimed at comparing the case families with the control families to try to determine what may have triggered childhood leukemia in 14 former or current Fallon are residents. All the cases have surfaced since 1997 and the victims were all under the age of 19 at the time of diagnosis. Two have died since June. Progress has been slower than hoped in part because random digit dialing to select control families is being conducted from the East Coast, Todd said. After a family is chosen, a packet of information has to be mailed to them and follow-up calls need to be made, but with people's work schedules, it has been difficult reaching some of the subjects, he said. "These kinds of things are almost impossible to anticipate," he said. "We are making steady progress in a rather unprecedented study of the cancer cluster that in the end will give us a clearer picture of what has gone on in Fallon and may help other communities that go through this in the future." Information from: Lahontan Valley News, Fallon All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 3 Energy Secretary expands Yucca Mountain public comment process Las Vegas SUN September 17, 2001 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Monday expanded the public comment process on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. "To further increase opportunities for citizens to offer their comments and to provide for greater public involvement, the department will also hold additional public meetings this year," Abraham said in a statement. He also indicated that he might personally attend a hearing. Abraham has been fire from Nevada's congressional delegation and Gov. Kenny Guinn, who think public hearings are premature and have criticized the Energy Department for holding them before the final environmental impact studies are released by the agency. Abraham said he would determine additional steps to provide reasonable opportunities for the public to comment. The current comment period for Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, opened May 4 and was extended from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5 earlier this month. Two meetings, postponed after last week's terrorist attacks on the East Coast, have been rescheduled for Monday, Sept. 24. The meetings will be held from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Longstreet Casino in Amargosa Valley, the rural community nearest the site at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site, and at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Pahrump. While the meeting times were extended, they originally were scheduled for separate days. State officials criticized holding the meetings simultaneously. "I can understand their (DOE) motivation to try to keep everyone at one place, but it puts a strain on everyone," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. "The DOE has never, and does not now, understand that the public wants to hear what their neighbors are feeling. This precludes all that." The DOE said the meetings are being held simultaneously because of scheduling problems in Pahrump. "We had to take what was open and available," said Joe Davis, DOE spokesman. "We wanted to go ahead and schedule it next week rather than make people wait. It wasn't intentional." Davis added that everyone will have the opportunity to read everyone else's comments. Loux said he was pleased Abraham plans to hold more public meetings, but only if they come after the environmental impact statement on Yucca Mountain is released. "I think the more opportunities for public comment the better," he said. Davis said DOE officials are looking at the calendar to schedule additional hearings and also plan to have an Energy Department official available at the Yucca Mountain Science Center in Las Vegas to hear public opinion. The DOE earlier this month gathered public comment in Las Vegas on a scientific report that identified no major obstacles to making Yucca Mountain the national repository for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste. More than 420 people packed DOE meeting rooms and 70 more tuned in by teleconference from Reno, Carson City and Elko Abraham is expected to recommend to President Bush by the end of this year whether the site is suitable to begin accepting nuclear waste in 2010. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 4 Energy secretary expands Yucca Mountain public comment process By LISA SNEDEKER ASSOCIATED PRESS Tuesday September 18th, 2001 LAS VEGAS — Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Monday expanded the public comment process on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. “To further increase opportunities for citizens to offer their comments and to provide for greater public involvement, the department will also hold additional public meetings this year,” Abraham said in a statement, indicating he might attend a hearing. Abraham has been fire from Nevada’s congressional delegation and Gov. Kenny Guinn, who think public hearings are premature and have criticized the Energy Department for holding them before the final environmental impact studies are released by the agency. Abraham said he would determine additional steps to provide reasonable opportunities for the public to comment. The current comment period for Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, opened May 4 and was extended from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5 earlier this month. Two meetings, postponed after last week’s terrorist attacks on the East Coast, have been rescheduled for Sept. 24, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Longstreet Casino in Amargosa Valley, the rural community nearest the site at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site, and at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Pahrump. While the meeting times were extended, they originally were scheduled for separate days. State officials criticized holding the meetings simultaneously. “I can understand their (DOE) motivation to try to keep everyone at one place, but it puts a strain on everyone,” said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. “The DOE has never, and does not now, understand that the public wants to hear what their neighbors are feeling. This precludes all that.” The DOE said the meetings are being held simultaneously because of scheduling problems in Pahrump. “We had to take what was open and available,” said Joe Davis, DOE spokesman. “We wanted to go ahead and schedule it next week rather than make people wait. It wasn’t intentional.” Davis said everyone will have the opportunity to read everyone else’s comments. Loux said he was pleased Abraham plans to hold more public meetings, but only if they come after the environmental impact statement on Yucca Mountain is released. “I think the more opportunities for public comment the better,” he said. Davis said DOE officials are looking at the calendar to schedule additional hearings and also plan to have an Energy Department official available at the Yucca Mountain Science Center in Las Vegas to hear public opinion. The DOE earlier this month gathered public comment in Las Vegas on a scientific report that identified no major obstacles to making Yucca Mountain the national repository for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste. More than 420 people packed DOE meeting rooms and 70 more tuned in by teleconference from Reno, Carson City and Elko Abraham is expected to recommend to President Bush by the end of this year whether the site is suitable to begin accepting nuclear waste in 2010. © Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 5 Terrorism Renews Fears About Nuke Storage The Salt Lake Tribune -- Monday, September 17, 2001 BY JUDY FAHYS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE While the world struggled last week to accept the unthinkable, a few people were hoping the terrorist attacks will force Utahns to think harder about storing nuclear waste at the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation. These storage-proposal critics say they have felt like "voices in the wilderness" when they warn the dump would be an attractive terrorist target -- just 45 miles from Utah's population center on the Wasatch Front and capable of making a huge area uninhabitable. Not only has the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board given short shrift to the possibility, they say, but many Utahns doubt the danger, too. "People think I'm a wild-eyed radical trying to stir up a fear of terrorism," said Salt Lake City engineer Fred Payne, a onetime nuclear engineer and consultant to Utah's High-Level Nuclear Opposition. "The concentration of nuclear waste 40 miles from our doorstep [on the Wasatch Front] -- and I consider it an invitation to terrorism -- is something that is very real facing us if this goes in as proposed," Payne said. The storage is being proposed by a consortium of out-of-state utilities that have leased part of the Skull Valley reservation to store up to 96 million pounds of nuclear-power byproducts until it can be moved into permanent disposal site, perhaps at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The consortium, Private Fuel Storage (PFS), insists its $3.1 billion facility presents virtually no health threat to Utahns or the environment. PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin said a recent study of the steel and concrete storage containers by Sandia and Battelle National Laboratories showed no one would die immediately if they broke and just two added cancer deaths might be expected. She also disputed the idea the tiny Goshute facility would be an attractive terrorist target. "They target places like New York and Washington, D.C., and not the middle of the desert, which would impact few, if any, people," she said. But Payne and other critics contend the storage casks, stored like huge pop cans on the reservation just east of a vast U.S. Air Force test-bombing range, would be perilously vulnerable. Having worked with atomic bomb development in Nevada and a reactor at what is now the Idaho National Energy and Environmental Laboratory, Payne has little confidence the above-ground storage casks would hold up to an aircraft crash or a bombing. Contrary to the consortium's claim the lethal contents would stay in the desert, he predicts it would disperse and contaminate Utah. Aides to the Utah congressional delegation were briefed by Payne on Monday. And state legislators who heard Payne's presentation last winter accused him of fear mongering and being "outrageous." Terrorism concerns also have been raised by Martin Bushnell, a retired Air Force fighter pilot who works with the Utah opposition coalition. "I don't think people [in Utah] recognize this is a plausible scenario," he said, suggesting a terrorism attack would be possible at the Goshute facility. In June, Bushnell was worried enough about the scanty treatment of possible terrorism that he asked about raising that concern with the federal licensing board. He found out that the board already has decided the plans in place are adequate. "Utah, the Wasatch Front, is in grave danger if they put that facility up as they describe," he added. "It will become a magnet for terrorism." Dianne Nielson, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, also disagrees the hazard risks have been addressed sufficiently. She noted the state can take up the question again once the licensing board's decision is reviewed by the full Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "I'm sure those issues will get re-evaluated," she said. "We will make sure they do." The licensing board plans a hearing on the possible impacts of accidental airplane crashes next spring. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 6 Yucca Mountain hearings scheduled same time and day LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Las Vegas Valley residents who didn't participate in the Department of Energy's Sept. 5 hearing on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository will have their last chance tonight to watch the proceedings. The city of Las Vegas will rebroadcast the entire eight-hour hearing beginning at 6 p.m. on KCLV-TV, Channel 2, its public affairs channel. Held at the Energy Department's North Las Vegas facility, the hearing was the only one of its kind scheduled in Clark County. The deadline for the public to submit written comments to the Energy Department regarding Yucca Mountain is Oct. 5. Comments can be sent via e-mail to YMP_SR@ymp.gov, or by mail to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, M/S No. 025, P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas, NV 89036-0307. -- REVIEW-JOURNAL Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Some call DOE's decision ludicrous, say it limits remarks By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL To the dismay of some state and local officials, the Department of Energy on Monday rescheduled the last two public hearings on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project for the same day and time. Those hearings, from 3 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 24, will be at the Longstreet Inn in Amargosa Valley and Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall No. 10054 in Pahrump, according to a Department of Energy statement. The hearings, scheduled for separate days last week, were postponed after the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes in New York and Washington, D.C. The DOE statement quotes Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham as saying "the views and the comments on Nevada citizens on this issue are very important." "My goal is to ensure a fair and impartial process. Moreover, we have taken steps well beyond what the law requires involving the public and beyond what had been planned prior to this administration taking office, and we will continue to do so," Abraham said. But State Nuclear Projects Agency chief Bob Loux, Clark County Nuclear Waste Division Manager Irene Navis and Citizen Alert Nuclear Issues Coordinator Kalynda Tilges disagreed with Abraham's stance on the rescheduled hearings. Loux said having the hearings simultaneously at locations many miles apart amounts to a disadvantage to many Nevadans. "While on the one hand, I can understand the rush to get it out of the way at one time, on the other hand there are people who would like to be at both," he said. "It makes it nearly impossible" for public officials to attend both hearings, Loux said. Navis agreed: "Divide and conquer seems to be the approach there." Tilges said Abraham's decision to hold the last hearings on the same day is unacceptable. "What they've done is not only premature, but insensitive. For the Department of Energy to continue to crack the whip while the nation is still reeling from Tuesday's attacks is ludicrous and disgusting," Tilges said. Loux reiterated the state's position that the hearings are premature because they will be held before key documents, including an analysis of nuclear waste transportation effects, have been finalized or completed for public review. Each hearing Monday will be preceded by an hour-long "poster session," during which time Yucca Mountain Project officials will be available to answer questions about the government's plans to bring 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste to Nevada for disposal in the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2001 ***************************************************************** 7 USEC and Arizona Public Service Sign Long-Term Fuel Contract Monday September 17, 11:26 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: USEC Inc. BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2001--USEC Inc. (NYSE:USU - news) announced today that it has signed a long-term contract with Arizona Public Service Co. to supply enriched uranium fuel for the three power reactors comprising the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The terms of the nearly half billion-dollar contract call for USEC to provide up to 100 percent of Palo Verde's enriched uranium requirements from October 1, 2003 through the end of 2008, with options for extensions into later years. USEC already supplies fuel for the Palo Verde station under an existing contract. The three-unit, 3,810 megawatt power station near Phoenix produces more electricity per year than any other generating facility in the United States and ranks among the nuclear industry's lowest-cost producers. ``We are delighted to be APS' long-term supplier of enriched uranium fuel,'' said USEC President and CEO William H. Timbers. ``We look forward to maintaining our partnership with this industry leader through the end of the decade and beyond.'' Palo Verde is owned by several entities, led by operator Arizona Public Service Co. Other owners are Salt River Project (Ariz.), El Paso Electric (Texas), Southern California Edison, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Southern California Public Power Authority and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. USEC Inc., a global energy company, is the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. Contact: USEC Inc. Charles Yulish. 301/564-3391 or Elizabeth Stuckle, 301/564-3399 ***************************************************************** 8 Sitting ducks? Porous security makes nuclear power plants inviting targets [PG Store: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette merchandise] Monday, September 17, 2001 By Don Hopey, Post-Gazette Staff Writer In February 1993 -- 19 days before militant Muslim terrorists first attacked the World Trade Center in New York City by exploding bombs in its underground parking garage -- other terrorists associated with that group practiced a nighttime mock assault on an electric substation in Perry County, 30 miles west of the Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant in Harrisburg. At Three Mile Island, truck barriers were installed only after an intruder in 1993 crashed into the plant's turbine building. (Tim Shaffer/Associated Press) In an unrelated incident that same 1993 weekend, an intruder deliberately crashed a car through a door at TMI's turbine building, eventually stopping 63 feet inside the building. 'Highest level' security In the wake of terrorist attacks that toppled the World Trade Center buildings in New York City and gouged a hole into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., security was tightened at the 103 nuclear power plants in the United States, including Beaver Valley, Three Mile Island and three others in Pennsylvania. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that the power plants increase security to the "highest level," details of which are classified. "While there's been no credible general or specific threats," Diane Screnci, a spokeswoman for the NRC, said, "the recommendation was considered prudent, given the acts of terrorism." And Pennsylvania State Police were deployed as a precaution at the entrances to Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, 22 miles northwest of Pittsburgh; Three Mile Island near Harrisburg; Limerick in Montgomery County; Susquehanna/PPL Electric in Luzerne County and the Peach Bottom Power Station in York County. But that response is not good enough for Three Mile Island Alert, a citizen's nuclear watchdog group formed in 1977. It claims that nuclear power plants remain extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. "We are highly critical of the NRC for just recommending and not ordering all nuclear plants to increase security to the highest level," said Scott Portzline, chairman of Alert's security committee. Coincidental to the terrorist attacks last week, Portzline said Alert has formally petitioned the NRC to issue a rule directing utilities to post guards at the entrances of their nuclear power stations. The absence of such a rule makes the nuclear plants "soft targets" for terrorists, he contended. "Posting armed guards at the entrances of nuclear power plants serves as a physical deterrent, would 'harden' those sites and demonstrates to local communities that the NRC and the nuclear industry are serious about public health and safety," Portzline said. "It's hard to imagine that nuclear plant entrances remain unguarded in the 21st century. Not enough Although U.S. nuclear power plants probably have the world's best safeguards, Alert is not the only group that says they need to get much better and fast. Physicians for Social Responsibility has called nuclear power plants "land mines waiting to be stepped upon." And the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nuclear non-proliferation group, said that nuclear power plants are vulnerable to terrorists, and a successful attack that breaches a reactor's containment systems could cause severe panic. "Potentially, it could be many times worse than what we've seen [in New York] because it could result in radiation and fallout over a vast area that would have a devastating economic effect," said Tom Clements, head of the Institute. While a thermonuclear explosion is not possible, a powerful steam explosion in a plant's containment building could disperse enormous amounts of radioactive particles into the air. Clements said nuclear facilities are just as vulnerable to airborne threats -- from missiles or crashing jetliners -- as was the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. "Aerial attack is not really considered," he said, "and we think that the plants are vulnerable, even though they have a thick containment dome." In 1993, Portzline, who has testified before the NRC and U.S. Senate on nuclear power plant issues, rented a small plane and flew at low altitudes over the TMI containment dome and the adjacent Susquehanna River. "I wanted to demonstrate the possibility of an air attack," he said. "I believe a boat attack is also possible." Rings of protection Nuclear plants have three security zones -- the outermost "owner-controlled area," the middle "protected area," and the innermost "vital area," where safety systems and fuel rods are located. Nuclear power plants are required to employ site protection officers who are usually stationed in the protected area. That's also where truck bomb barriers -- required by the NRC only after the 1993 "vehicle intrusion" at TMI -- can be found. Portzline said most of those truck bomb barriers, including 12 of 14 installed at TMI in 1994, are so close to the vital areas of nuclear power plants that an Oklahoma City-sized truck bomb could cause a catastrophe. One of those barriers at TMI is only 10 feet from a vital area building. In addition, Portzline said, security at TMI's main entrance has decreased over the years. During the 1970s, the north entrance was guarded and vehicles were required to stop for a credentials check before entering the site. In 1993, a truck bomb barrier was installed, but it is unmanned and is left open more than half the time. A parking garage-style barrier lifts automatically to approaching vehicles. "I don't think they're doing better," he said. "TMI's new owners have reduced the guard force. I think they're doing a lot of cost cutting." "We meet or exceed all federal requirements for security," said Ralph DeSantis, a spokesman for Exelon Nuclear, co-owner of TMI with AmerGen Energy Co. "We are in a heightened state of security awareness and are in regular contact with the NRC." DeSantis said the containment buildings that house the reactor and equipment are "robust, sturdy structures" built with 4-foot-thick reinforced concrete walls to withstand hurricanes, airborne objects and airplane impacts. He said extending security to the entrances in the owner-controlled area has been an issue at many nuclear plants, but few, if any, have guards or barriers in that outer area. Dave Poeppelmeir, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, the Akron, Ohio-based company that operates the Beaver Valley Nuclear Plant, said security was increased at the plant even before the NRC issued its recommendation, but he declined to give any details. "We're reviewing our procedures and working with the NRC," Poeppelmeir said. "If the NRC requires that we do something, we will meet those increased standards, but I'm not going to get into any specifics about our security." But Portzline said tougher security measures -- including some that would be highly visible -- are long overdue to deter terrorists from planning to bomb the nuclear plants. In an eerily prophetic news release sent the day before Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Portzline explained why TMI Alert was asking the NRC to require entrance guards: "The 1990s have shown that terrorism is no longer just about instilling fear or gaining attention for a particular ideology. Some terrorists are now seeking a large body count. Clearly, adequate protection of nuclear power plants is a matter of national security." ***************************************************************** 9 Plans to ship nuclear waste through KC halted By MICHAEL MANSUR - The Kansas City Star Date: 09/17/01 22:15 A shipment of nuclear wastes, scheduled to come through Kansas City this summer by rail, has been halted indefinitely following last week's terrorist attacks. Missouri officials recently received notice that shipments would be stopped under orders of the U.S. Department of Energy, said Dru Buntin, interstate issues coordinator in Missouri's Department of Natural Resources. A shipment of high-level nuclear wastes had been set to go from West Valley, N.Y., to a U.S. energy lab near Pocatello, Idaho. It would have passed through Missouri, including Kansas City, and across northeast Kansas. Buntin said the state of Missouri remains concerned about such shipments through the state, especially if they travel along congested highways. The nuclear industry on Monday said such shipments are safe, have been accident-free and should continue. Meanwhile, shipments out of the University of Missouri's nuclear reactor also are halted. But Buntin said the reactor did not have an immediate need to dispose of wastes. @tag1:To reach Michael Mansur, The Star's environment writer, call (816) 234-4433 or send e-mail to mmansur@kcstar.com All content © 2001 The Kansas City Star ***************************************************************** 10 No new dates set for Yucca hearings September 17, 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN The Department of Energy has not rescheduled a set of public hearings on a proposed waste repository at Yucca Mountain. No new date for the meetings, originally scheduled Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley and Sept. 13 in Pahrump, has been set in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. An 8 1/2-hour hearing in North Las Vegas Sept. 5 turned testy and drew criticism from Nevada officials, who said the state's residents did not have a fair chance to speak because of limited time. The DOE is attempting to gather public comment on a DOE report that sees no major obstacles in building the nation's only nuclear waste dump at the mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Local officials to DOE: Delay Yucca hearings Las Vegas SUN Today: September 18, 2001 at 11:07:38 PDT By Mary Manning Hearings The Department of Energy has rescheduled two public hearings regarding Yucca Mountain. The deadline for written comments has been extended from Sept. 20 until Oct. 5. + Amargosa Valley Amargosa Valley, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Longstreet Inn and Casino. + Pahrump 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall No. 10054. + Comments Address written comments to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, (M/S #025), P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas, NV, 89036-0306. Identify comments on the outside of the envelope and on the comments themselves with: "Possible Site Recommendation for Yucca Mountain."E-mail: YMP]SR@ymp.govor fax 1-800-967-0739. Nevada officials say it is premature for the Department of Energy to schedule simultaneous public hearings regarding a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Meetings in Amargosa Valley and Pahrump, postponed in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, will be held 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday. The DOE on Sept. 5 held the first of the three scheduled public hearings in North Las Vegas. The DOE has for years been studying Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a possible site for the burial of the nation's high-level nuclear waste, currently stored at nuclear power plants nationwide. Elected officials said Nevadans' focus has veered from local issues. Officials have asked Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to delay hearings, to attend the meetings and extend the public comment period. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., today hoped to talk to Abraham about the Yucca hearings. Reid thinks it is inappropriate to hold hearings next week, spokesman Nathan Naylor said. "We're hopeful that Secretary Abraham understands that Nevadans are also grieving and that they also have been profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks of last week," Naylor said. "With that in mind, this would be a difficult time to hold such a hearing." "I do not understand why they are proceeding with the hearings after what happened last week," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "This presupposes the placement of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain." Abraham in a written statement promised that he or a high-ranking DOE administrator will attend a hearing later this year, saying the department has gone "well beyond what the law requires involving the public." Abraham sent Undersecretary Robert Card, who reports to Abraham, to what became a contentious eight-hour hearing in North Las Vegas Sept. 5, which drew more than 400 residents. "My goal is to ensure a fair and impartial process," he said. Gov. Kenny Guinn said Monday's hearings should be held only after a a final environmental impact statement is released by the DOE. "All public hearings are premature until all the relevant scientific information is in and the public has had a chance to review it," Guinn said Monday after learning of the newly scheduled hearings. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has urged the DOE to further extend the comment period, from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5. Written public comments are due Oct. 5, Gibbons spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said. Judy Treichel, director of the anti-Yucca group Nuclear Waste Task Force, said the new hearing schedule was "despicable." "They think that they can get us out of the way and then they can go ahead with it." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 12 Nuke waste loads on hold Today: September 18, 2001 at 11:07:38 PDT NTS shipments stopped in wake of terror attacks By Mary Manning The Energy Department has indefinitely halted at least 20 shipments of low-level nuclear waste destined for the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The shipments, sent to the Test Site for burial from DOE facilities nationwide, contain radiation-contaminated clothing, equipment and soils. The radioactive cargo will stay at DOE sites across the country until further notice. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that the shipments would be stopped in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks. "We will consider releasing the hold on transportation of nuclear materials, but until we make an announcement to that effect, the shipment of nuclear materials remains halted," Abraham said. The Test Site has suspended shipments of low-level nuclear waste until the order is lifted, DOE spokeswoman Nancy Harkess said Monday. The site from 1951 through 1992 was used to test nuclear weapons experiments. Testing ended in 1992 when former President Bush called a halt to all nuclear weapons testing in the United States. The site since the mid-1970s also has been used to store and bury low-level nuclear waste. The Test Site annually receives about 600,000 cubic feet of low level radioactive waste, which is buried in 55-gallon drums. In February 2000 the DOE selected the Test Site as a regional dumping ground for radioactive waste left over from the development of U.S. nuclear weapons. Shipments from Fernald, Ohio, which processed uranium for nuclear weapons, were stopped in December 1997 after seven containers with low level radioactive sludge leaked at the Test Site and in Kingman, Ariz. The two gallons of liquid, which was dripping from a truck in Kingman, were not radioactive. After Nevada officials protested the leaking cargo, the DOE stopped all Fernald shipments and conducted its own investigation. The DOE stopped using white metal boxes for Fernald's sludge, and shipments resumed in 2000. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 13 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station to Become Radioactive Waste Storage The Broadcast Monitoring Company ( September 18, 2001 ) The first vice-prime minister of Ukraine, Oleh Dubina headed the meeting of the governmental committee on Industrial Policy. During this meeting the draft decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the adoption of the 'Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station' project was examined. This project provides for the construction of the sarcophagus and the plant to recycle nuclear waste fuel on the territory of the closed Chernobyl nuclear power station. The construction will be held due to the EBRD grant and the financial support of the Ukrainian government. http://www.bmc.co.uk Copyright 2001 The Broadcast Monitoring Company. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 14 RADIATION DOSE RECONSTRUCTION AND RELATED SERVICES -- Solicitation Summary: Sep 19, 2001 (FIND, Inc. via COMTEX) --; NOTICE TYPE: Solicitation; NOTICE DATED: 091701; ZIP CODE: 15236-0070; OFFICE ADDRESS: Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Contracts Management Branch (Pittsburgh), Post Office Box 18070 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15236-0070; SUBJECT: R -- R -- RADIATION DOSE RECONSTRUCTION AND RELATED SERVICES; SOLICITATION NUMBER: SOL EEOICPA-D; RESPONSE DEADLINE: DUE 100301; CONTACT: POC Larry Guess, Contract Specialist, Phone (412)386-6826, Fax (412)386-6429, Email lfg6@cdc.gov -- Larry Guess, Contract Specialist, Phone (412)386-6826, Fax (412)386-6429, Email lfg6@cdc.gov Story Filed: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 9:23 AM EST Sep 19, 2001 (FIND, Inc. via COMTEX) -- NOTICE TYPE: Solicitation NOTICE DATED: 091701 ZIP CODE: 15236-0070 OFFICE ADDRESS: Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Contracts Management Branch (Pittsburgh), Post Office Box 18070 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15236-0070 SUBJECT: R -- R -- RADIATION DOSE RECONSTRUCTION AND RELATED SERVICES SOLICITATION NUMBER: SOL EEOICPA-D RESPONSE DEADLINE: DUE 100301 CONTACT: POC Larry Guess, Contract Specialist, Phone (412)386-6826, Fax (412)386-6429, Email lfg6@cdc.gov -- Larry Guess, Contract Specialist, Phone (412)386-6826, Fax (412)386-6429, Email lfg6@cdc.gov NOTICE TEXT: In October 2000 Congress and the President enacted the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) establishing a Federal compensation program for employees of DOE, its contractors, subcontractors, and Atomic Weapons Employers AWE). Under the program, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is responsible for conducting occupational radiation dose reconstructions for certain workers or groups of workers who file claims for compensation. The goal of these dose reconstructions is to characterize the occupational radiation environment to which workers were exposed using available worker and/or workplace monitoring information. In cases where radiation exposures in the workplace environment cannot be fully characterized based on available data, default values based on reasonable scientific assumptions will be used as substitutes. In the near future, HHS will publish 42 CFR 82 in the Federal Register as an interim final rule to establish methods for performing these radiation dose reconstructions. The results of these reconstructions will be used by the Department of Labor to determine the probability that a worker's cancer was "at least as likely as not" due to his or her occupational exposure to ionizing radiation during employment at a covered facility. Criteria and guidelines for making this determination are established by EEOICPA and HHS under 42 CFR Part 81. The EEOICPA also established a Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) consisting of employees with specific cancers who worked at three named DOE facilities or participated in certain nuclear tests and who meet certain other requirements; these employees' cancers are presumed to be radiation-related. The EEOICPA permits other groups of employees to petition NIOSH to be added to the SEC. Under Executive Order 13179, NIOSH is responsible for receiving and evaluating petitions by classes of workers to be added to the SEC. This proposed contract effort will provide essential support to OCAS in implementing the EEOICPA in the following areas: 1. Data base management: The contractor will manage, operate, maintain, secure, update, and support an integrated set of data bases to serve dose reconstructions, petitions for additions to the SEC, and administrative reviews of decisions made using these data. The data bases, which will be developed by NIOSH, constitute an extensive repository of radiation exposure information on DOE and AWE facilities, and case files of all claims and petitions received by OCAS. 2. Identify data relevant to reconstructing radiation doses and evaluating SEC petitions: Through site visits and other appropriate methods, and in coordination with NIOSH, the contractor will investigate the conditions, processes, practices and incidents at DOE and AWE facilities which provide information of value to OCAS in reconstructing employees' radiation doses and evaluating SEC petitions. In coordination with NIOSH and with the cooperation of DOE, the contractor will obtain and enter relevant data into the integrated data base. 3. Conduct claimant interviews: As directed under 42 CFR 82 and consistent with NIOSH guidelines and protocols, the contractor will conduct computer-assisted telephone interviews with claimants, and as appropriate, co-workers and other potential sources of relevant information, providing for review of the data collected from the claimant, and entering the interview results into a case file data base. 4. Estimate and report doses: Consistent with technical guidelines provided by NIOSH, the contractor will produce and report dose estimates, supporting methodology, and documentation of the factual basis for each claim received by NIOSH from DOL and EEOICPA in a timely manner. 5. Technical and program management support: The contractor will provide timely and complete information and analyses in support of dose reconstructions and SEC petitions as needed to respond to requests which NIOSH receives from claimants, petitioners, DOL, the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, Congress, or other parties. Contractor will provide periodic performance and cost reports as specified by NIOSH, reports of quality assurance monitoring, and will be available for meetings and teleconferences as needed. The Government intends to award through full and open competition a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee contract for this effort. The Government will prepare and distribute a DRAFT solicitation package for review and comment by all interested parties. It is anticipated that this package will be available on or about September 21, 2001. In addition interested parties are invited and encouraged to attend a pre-solicitation conference to be conducted at the NIOSH facilities located in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 3, 2001. The purpose of this conference will be to discuss and solicit comments from attendees. Information relative to this meeting will be contained in the draft solicitation document. Please contact Larry E. Guess at (412) 386-6826 to register your attendance. Copies of the draft solicitation will be available for electronic download or by contacting Mr. Guess. All correspondence should refer to Solicitation EEOICPA-D. -- Visit this URL for the latest information about this notice RECEIVED: (D-260 SN50X858) Issue No. PSA-2936 URL: Copyright (c) 2001: FIND, Inc. INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ISO SUBJECT CODE: GVC R -- Professional, Administrative and Management Support Services Copyright © 2001, Commerce Business Daily - FIND, all rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 Czech nuclear plant's reactor idle again BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 17, 2001 Text of report by Czech radio on 17 September The reactor of the first block of the Temelin [nuclear plant in southern Bohemia] is idle again. After 24 hours, during which it supplied energy into the national grid, the power plant operations have again disconnected it, since during one of the tests the oil pressure in pumps temporarily dropped and the temperature of the cooling water increased to 260 C. Milan Nebesar, the power plant spokesman, said that after an analysis of the event the tests would resume tomorrow [18 September] at the latest. Source: Czech Radio-Radiozurnal, Prague, in Czech 1000 gmt 17 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 16 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Monday, September 17, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Monday, September 17, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012570428 Accession Number: ML012560447 Document Date: 9/14/01 Title: 09/26/01, Forthcoming Meeting with Representatives of Amergen Energy Co. LLC, re: Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station Handling of Heavy Loads Over Irradiated Fuel. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/PDI-1 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570068 Accession Number: ML012560303 Document Date: 9/13/01 Title: 09/26/2001 Forthcoming Meeting with (WOG) Westinghouse Owners Group to discuss Topical Report WCAP-15604 Limited-Scope High Burnup Lead Test Assemblies. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570069 Accession Number: ML012560467 Document Date: 9/13/01 Title: 09/26/2001 Meeting with Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company (CYAPCO) to discuss licensee plans for releasing part of Haddam Neck Plant site for unrestricted use. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570290 Accession Number: ML012570138 Document Date: 9/13/01 Title: 09/27/01 Notice of Public Meeting between NRC & NEI Risk-Informed Regulated Working Group re public dissemination of up to date PRA information. Author Affiliation: NRC/RES/DRAA/PRAB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570086 Accession Number: ML012360023 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: American Nuclear Society Standards Committee Working Group 3.5 Meeting on 08/06 - 08/10, 2001 in Montreal, Canada. Author Affiliation: American Nuclear Society Standards Committee Work Group 3.5 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570093 Accession Number: ML012490184 Document Date: 8/31/01 Title: BWX Technologies, Inc. - Semi-Annual Effluent Monitoring Report for January 1 - June 30, 2001. Author Affiliation: BWX Technologies Inc Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570425 Accession Number: ML003707056 Document Date: 4/19/00 Title: G20000218/LTR-00-0285 - Ltr. Rep. Ed Whitfield re: Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Author Affiliation: US HR Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570426 Accession Number: ML003715681 Document Date: 5/8/00 Title: G20000250/LTR-00-0322 - Ltr. re: Schedule Meetings Regarding the Proposed MOX Facility of Savannah River Site and Proposed Use of MOX Fuel at Commercial Reactors Within South Carolina. Author Affiliation: League of Women Voters of South Carolina Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570007 Accession Number: ML003737571 Document Date: 7/13/00 Title: G20000376/LTR-00-0498 - Sen Fred Thompson Ltr. re: Moratorium on Recycling Contaminated Nickel. Author Affiliation: US SEN Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570219 Accession Number: ML012490200 Document Date: 8/28/01 Title: Submittal of report of Radioactivity in Effluent Liquid for period January-June 2001, report of Radioactivity in Effluent Air for period of January-June 2001, & evaluation of dose & air activity concentration for maximally exposed individual. Author Affiliation: Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012570035 Accession Number: ML011860447 Document Date: 5/31/01 Title: Wyoming, University of - Environmental Science and Waste Technology Author Affiliation: Los Alamos National Lab Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 17 Letter: Recycling nuclear waste would help - Isabel R. Young Monday, September 17, 2001 Former Democratic President Bill Clinton spoke recently in Las Vegas and suggested an alternative to burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Instead, bury it in the Republican president's home state of Texas. Ah, politics. Why did the Rhodes Scholar not mention the waste can be neutralized? There's no profit in it - the nuclear waste industry can ask the government for millions to devise a casket or container or $10 million to test the soil at Yucca. I mentioned neutralizing the waste to a prominent lawyer here and he told me it was a myth. I called the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., and they faxed me information that they "recycle/reprocess spent fuel leading to a slightly enriched uranium, plutonium (recycled as MOX fuel) and high level waste (fisson products and minor actinides) which are vitrified. All this does limit the volume and the radiotoxicity of the waste. It does not eliminate the need for long-term management of some waste." I also called the Nuclear Waste project office here in Carson and was told, "It is economically feasible in France but not economically feasible here." Are we naive? I also called Lou deBottari whose letter was in Wednesday's letters to the editor - knowledgeable man - also gave me Web site Fuel Cell 2000. Get off your duff. Write the President ("write" what is that a foreign word?),The White House, Washington, DC 20515. Call Senator Reid's office here (882-7343), the Nuclear Waste Project Office (6873744) and voice your "neutralize, don't bury" Who would go to Las Vegas with 84 tons of radioactive waste buried at Yucca? Nevada's gambling taxes would go kaput and Nevada's infrastructure along with it. Do something, write, call, make yourself heard. It only takes one person to change the course. ISABEL R. YOUNG Carson City ***************************************************************** 18 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Tuesday, September 18, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Tuesday, September 18, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012600295 Accession Number: ML012570400 Document Date: 3/21/00 Title: 03/21/2000 Resolution of 1998 Annual Meeting Action Items. Author Affiliation: NRC/STP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600130 Accession Number: ML012570451 Document Date: 9/14/01 Title: 09/19/2001 Cancellation of Public Meeting with General Electric (GE) Representatives to Discuss Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) and RIP50 OPTION 2. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600235 Accession Number: ML012600023 Document Date: Title: ACRS Meeting, September 5, 2001, Pages 1-132/196-303. Closed Session Pages 135-195. Author Affiliation: Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600198 Accession Number: ML012500203 Document Date: 8/31/01 Title: Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Response to Preliminary Compliance Evaluation Reports for the Safety Analysis Report Upgrade. Author Affiliation: United States Enrichment Corp Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600265 Accession Number: ML012540148 Document Date: 7/2/01 Title: Press Release-II-01-028: NRC To Meet With FP&L Nuclear Officials To Discuss Safety Performance At Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant Author Affiliation: NRC/OPA:RGN-II/FO Document/Report Number: Press Release-II-01-028 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600266 Accession Number: ML012570072 Document Date: 7/5/01 Title: Press Release-III-01-035: NRC To Meet With Exelon Generation Co. To Discuss Safety Performance At The Dresden Nuclear Plant. Author Affiliation: NRC/OPA:RGN-III/FO Document/Report Number: Press Release-III-01-035 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600267 Accession Number: ML012600184 Document Date: 7/5/01 Title: Press Release-III-01-036: NRC To Meet With Exelon Generation Co. To Discuss Safety Performance At The Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant. Author Affiliation: NRC/OPA:RGN-III/FO Document/Report Number: Press Release-III-01-036 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600268 Accession Number: ML012600198 Document Date: 7/6/01 Title: Press Release-III-01-037: NRC To Meet With Exelon Generation Company To Discuss Safety Performance At The Clinton Nuclear Plant. Author Affiliation: NRC/OPA:RGN-III/FO Document/Report Number: Press Release-III-01-037 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600123 Accession Number: ML012490471 Document Date: 9/7/01 Title: Response to letter dated August 16, 2001 regarding contamination at BWXT facility in Parks township, PA. Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600225 Accession Number: ML012570337 Document Date: 9/14/01 Title: SECY-01-0172 - "Weekly Information Report - Week Ending 09/07/01" Author Affiliation: NRC/EDO/AO Document/Report Number: SECY-01-0172 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012600282 Accession Number: ML012600246 Document Date: 9/4/01 Title: Summary of August 16, 2001, Discrimination Task Group Public Meeting in Rockville, Maryland. Author Affiliation: NRC/OE Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 19 Testimony of Governor Kenny C. Guinn, U.S. Department of Energy Public Hearing, September 5, 2001 TESTIMONY OF GOVERNOR KENNY C. GUINN U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PUBLIC HEARING SEPTEMBER 5, 2001 Good evening. On behalf of the citizens of the State of Nevada I would like to welcome you here this evening and hope my remarks and the remarks of the many concerned Nevadans who will speak later will be taken in the spirit in which they are intended. That is, honest, constructive, and impassioned public input on an issue that is paramount to the health and safety of every Nevadan, and every American whose home, school or place of business sits along the proposed paths that the deadliest substance on earth, if the DOE has its way, will take to Nevada. This debate is not new. As many of you know, Nevada's fight to keep the nuclear waste repository from coming to Yucca Mountain has raged on for nearly 20 years. Unlike many of the policy battles that grip Washington, however, this fight transcends party affiliation, socio-economic classes, race or gender and galvanizes Nevadans from every corner of this state in opposition. Though the debate is not new, I must say that recent developments-those that bring us here tonight-are quite alarming and raise a number of new concerns. The very purpose for this meeting is in question. You have invited me and many good people here tonight so you and the Department of Energy can gather public comment on scientific evidence that is not complete and has not been made public. Public comment in the absence of this all-important evidence is premature and grossly irresponsible. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the way we do business in Nevada, and certainly this is not the way the Government should handle its affairs. I am very disappointed that you have chosen to disregard essentially all of my offices' recommendations and decided to hold these meetings prematurely and over our reasonable objections. We in Nevada will not stand for it. Therefore, I would strongly advise and today formally request you schedule additional hearings over the course of the coming months across Nevada to give our citizens and their elected leaders a fair and appropriate chance to respond to your completed findings. And, I assure you, my outrage at the lack of protocol that has permeated this process will be detailed in letters directly to Secretary Abraham and the President. It is my sincerest hope that you recognize this error and your duty to correct it. I don't have to remind anyone here today that it was not long ago that Nevadans and all Americans were assured that nuclear testing was safe. It was less than 50 years ago. Since that time, the DOE admitted that the aftermath of testing of the Hydrogen bomb at YUCCA flats caused innocent Americans to die--and that cancer benefits should be paid to the families of the dozens of men and women who were contaminated by the fallout from nuclear testing. I am not talking about casualties of war in some distant country. I am talking about the small farmers in neighboring Utah who tragically suffered from contaminated nuclear air. I am talking about the Nevada workers and their families who took the government at its word and trudged to and from the test site every day with assurances that they were not in harms way. And I am talking about generations of patriotic American families financially wiped out fighting cancer while they awaited some word of admission or assistance from their government. The DOE, pathetically, only made that admission, just a few years ago, and it came only after years of denial and government red tape. And just yesterday we learned for the first time that germ warfare testing…imagine…germ warfare testing...was conducted at that same test site without any knowledge whatsoever by our own Congressional delegation or my office. With a track record like this, it is no wonder the Department of Energy lacks credibility, not only in Nevada, but also in our neighboring states. Given the history, I trust you can understand why I view this proceeding as morally illegal, if not technically so. It violates everything we believe in as Americans. It duplicates all that was wrong in the past and gives credence to the mistrust and cynicism harbored by so many of our people. Our concerns are clear. This wonderful state has been ignored for far too long. We demand fairness, and we demand accountability in this process. We will not sit idly by and let the Department of Energy run roughshod over our citizens with empty promises and bad science. We did it once, in good faith, as proud and loyal Americans. But sadly, we did not get back what we gave, and so we have learned from the past, and we are not about to repeat it. ***************************************************************** 20 San Onofre isn't jetliner-proof, either Orange County Register - Top News State Tuesday, September 18, 2001 September 18, 2001 By CHRIS KNAP The Orange County Register SAN ONOFRE California's nuclear-power plants at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon are some of the strongest in the nation -- built with extra concrete and steel to withstand seismic tremors. Protected by miles of fences, automatic weapons and their own security forces, the plant operators are confident that they can repel almost any invader -- unless they are descending from the sky in a 200-ton jet airplane. "I am confident in saying that San Onofre's containment buildings are the strongest structures in all of Southern California,'' said Ray Golden, San Onofre business manager for Southern California Edison. "They are designed to withstand earthquakes, floods and mudslides. But they are not designed to protect against the type of aircraft used in last week's terrorist attacks.'' That said, Edison's nuclear engineers want people to realize that a jet crashing into one of the reactors at San Onofre or Diablo Canyon on the Central Coast would not result in a nuclear explosion. The fuel inside the 8-inch-thick carbon-steel reactor is highly radioactive -- but not unstable enough to explode. Should a terrorist jet crash through the 4-foot-thick walls of the containment dome, the 8-inch reactor crack open, and all of the plant's emergency cooling water systems fail, radioactivity might well leak into the atmosphere, endangering the health of any residents downwind. "We would characterize (the terrorist attacks) as President Bush did -- an act of war,'' Golden said. "We are not certain what could happen to the plant from that type of event, and we cannot protect completely against it. Nor, from a security standpoint, are we required to.'' The Orange County Register ocregister@link.freedom.com--> ***************************************************************** 21 Yankee flyover response questioned Boston.com By Associated Press, 9/18/2001 07:28 BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) Questions are being raised about Vermont Yankee's response when a small plane flew too close to the nuclear power plant last Thursday. Reports of the plane overhead prompted Vermont National Guard jet fighters to scramble and look for it. Vermont Yankee ended up turning off its outside security lights. A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said blacking out the plant did not violate the plant's operating license. ''We can confirm they did turn off the lights, but it was not a violation,'' said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ''They took the appropriate steps under the circumstances,'' Sheehan said. Vermont Yankee, along with every other reactor in the country, has been operating under a heightened state of security since the terrorist attacks last Tuesday. Last Thursday night, many area residents were frightened when they heard a low-flying airplane very close to Vermont Yankee. Two F-16 fighter jets were dispatched to the southeastern corner of the state, but by the time they reached Vernon the plane was gone. State officials said the plane was a United Parcel Service plane on its way to Bennington. Sheehan said there are safety systems at Vermont Yankee and at other plants around the country that protect the public, no matter what the circumstances. ''Although nuclear power plants are not explicitly designed to withstand the crash of a large commercial airliner, plants have inherent capability to provide for the protection of public health and safety,'' Sheehan said. Robert Williams, a spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said the plant remained at the highest level of security. He did not comment on Thursday night's events nor the plant's reaction to it. A former Vermont Yankee employee who is now an anti-nuclear activist said Monday that under normal circumstances, it would have been a violation of its operating license if the outside lights were off. ''Two weeks ago, it would have been a reportable offense,'' said Michael Mulligan of Hinsdale, N.H. The lights would have been ''a beacon to a terrorist driving an airplane,'' he said. Mulligan said Vermont Yankee was too vulnerable to a terrorist attack and he favored additional security, such as anti-aircraft devices. Boston Globe Electronic Publishing, Inc. ***************************************************************** 22 Developer offers second plan to TVA - Sunday, 09/16/01 CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Chattanooga developer Franklin L. Haney has offered a counterproposal to the Tennessee Valley Authority after the federal utility dismissed his initial offer to finance the restart of its oldest nuclear reactor. Haney said Thursday he would go even further in helping TVA cut its debt costs and increase its power generation. It will be at least next year before Haney's latest proposal for restarting the Unit 1 reactor at the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens, Ala., may be considered along with other financing options. ''First and foremost, TVA is not going to make a decision on financing one of our nuclear plants until the board makes a decision whether we want to restart the plant,'' TVA vice president Jack Bailey said after meeting with Haney and his representatives. ''That decision won't be made until early next year and, when we get to the financing issue, we will certainly look at all the options and solicit proposals from many sources.'' The reactor began generating electricity in 1977 and was shut down in 1985 because it failed to meet new federal safety standards. TVA estimates it will cost from $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion to repair Unit 1. Final environmental and cost estimates are not expected until next year. Haney has offered to pay up to $1.6 billion to restart the reactor through an investor group called Nuclear Leasing. The financier is trying to take advantage of near-record low interest rates, including a source of long-term financing he says is cheaper than what TVA may obtain. Haney also submitted an offer to TVA Thursday to finance the completion of the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Ala., under a similar leasing plan. ''The markets are as favorable as they are likely to get in years for long-term financing, and we understand that there is equipment and technologies in these nuclear plants which will become obsolete if they are not used in the next couple of years,'' said Joe Conner, a Chattanooga attorney who represents Haney. TVA chairman Glenn McCullough said last month he will not be rushed into any decision about Browns Ferry or Bellefonte. TVA provides electricity to almost 8.3 million people in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia. © Copyright 2001 The Tennessean A Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper ***************************************************************** 23 Russian to start supplying equipment for Chinese nuclear power plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 18, 2001 Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Beijing, 18 September: Russia will start supplying equipment for the construction of a nuclear power plant to the north of Shanghai in China at the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, the Chinese trade mission in Moscow told journalists on Tuesday. The trade mission said that, according to an agreement between Russia and China, Russia was supposed to give China a credit worth 2.5bn dollars for the construction of the power plant. The credit is intended for the purchase of equipment. The trade mission said that the credit was being spent very slowly, and that only 600m dollars had been spent so far. The plant will include two 1,000 mW units. Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0629 gmt 18 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 24 EU entry talks depend on nuclear plant shutdown pledge - Lithuanian premier BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 18, 2001 Text of report in English by Baltic news agency BNS Vilnius, 18 September: Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas admitted on Tuesday [18 September] that Lithuania would only finish its ongoing negotiations on EU accession once it decides what to do with both reactors at the Ignalina nuclear power plant. "Undoubtedly, it is (the conclusion of negotiations - BNS) linked with Lithuania's pledges to close the nuclear power plant," Brazauskas told reporters after meeting with European commissioner for EU enlargement, Guenter Verheugen. He reiterated Lithuania's intention to end EU accession negotiations by the middle of next year during the Spanish EU presidency. Brazauskas said he was therefore asking the EU to name quickly its demands on Lithuania for closing the nuclear power plant north of Vilnius. "Until now rumours have been flying that the EC and the Council of Ministers are demanding the generating plant be closed by 2009. So we are posing the question directly, explain your position officially, and we will deliberate the problem in the government, the parliament and all government institutions," the Lithuanian prime minister said. "The time has come to make all this firm," he added. The director-general of the European Committee under the Lithuanian government, Petras Austrevicius, said that although there are records of negotiating positions, they are to be understood as "more of a technical nature". He said "a clear political signal" is needed. Brazauskas said he was glad to hear from Verheugen's lips that closure of the Ignalina nuclear plant is "not just Lithuania's business, but the business of the entire EU". "The plant was not Lithuania's idea. The then Soviet state decided to build the atomic electrical generating plant on Druksiu Lake, and that was a categorical decision," the Lithuanian prime minister recalled. Austrevicius told reporters the meeting with Verheugen saw agreement on the need for a joint Lithuanian-EU group of experts to evaluate by the end of this year the political, social, economic and ecological consequences of the plant's closure. "The very words of the commissioner, that the nuclear plant is not a problem that Lithuania created for itself, really do give hope that that political recognition will be translated into financial figures," Lithuania's top negotiator with the EU, Austrevicius, said. He said the end of negotiations with the EU was not the final date by which Lithuania and the EU have to decide which party pays what for decommissioning Ignalina plant. "We shall seek to put a full stop to it in our entry agreement," Austrevicius said. Lithuania has promised to shut the first reactor at Ignalina down by 2005. A date for mothballing the second reactor hasn't been decided yet. Ignalina nuclear power plant contains two Soviet-made high-power pressure-tube reactor, originally designed for dual use as generator and breeder reactors and the same design employed at Chernobyl. The design is now considered inherently insecure by nuclear engineers. Source: BNS news agency, Tallinn, in English 1324 gmt 18 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 25 Last 24 nuclear waste tanks removed from congressional watch list - 9/17/2001 - ENN.com The N Reactor, a plutonium production reactor located on the Hanford Site, operated from 1963 to 1987. Safety issues have been resolved for the final 24 worrisome high-level nuclear waste tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeastern Washington. U.S. Department of Energy officials have announced the tanks have been removed from the Wyden congressional safety watch list well before the Sept. 30 deadline, closing the list. The safety watch list is named for Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, who today is a member of the Senate Energy Committee which has oversight and legislative responsibilities for the nation's nuclear waste policy. Wyden authored a law in the early 1990s requiring the Department of Energy (DOE) to watchdog the most dangerous underground radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford Site. The law required identification of tanks having the potential for release of high-level waste from uncontrolled increases of temperature and pressure. Based on this, the DOE identified four problem areas that could result in releases of high-level waste: generation of flammable gases, presence of flammable organic chemicals, presence of potentially explosive ferrocyanide, and high-heat levels generated by certain types of wastes. "A decade ago, I responded to the dangerous threat posed by certain nuclear waste storage tanks at Hanford by passing a law to protect the people of the Northwest from possible radioactive tank explosions," Senator Ron Wyden said in Richland, Washington. "I'm proud to see the watch list become extinct. The hard work of the Department of Energy and many others has helped protect the people of Hanford and communities down stream from the potentially devastating effects of a radioactive explosion," he said. As a weapons-grade plutonium production complex, Hanford played a role in the nation's defense for more than 50 years beginning in the 1940s with the creation of the site as part of the Manhattan Project and continuing until the late 1980s. Today, 177 underground tanks in the center of the Hanford Site store about 53 million gallons of waste from decades of plutonium production. Dr. Mujid Kazimi, chairman of the Nuclear Engineering Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, chairs the Tanks Advisory Panel that assisted the DOE in reviewing the documentation that concluded the safety issues were closed and the tanks could be removed from the watch list. The panel includes experts from several universities and industry with expertise in hazardous waste, radioactive materials, and waste management. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of River Protection was created by Congress in 1998 to manage America's largest and most complex environmental cleanup project -- retrieval and treatment of tank waste at the Hanford Site. "Getting these tanks off the watch list is the result of years of effort to improve safe storage and to understand the nature of the waste in the tanks. We have confirmed the controls are in place to safely maintain the waste until it is retrieved and treated," said Harry Boston, manager of the Office of River Protection. "This important milestone brings us one step closer to closing the tanks for good. We will continue to monitor the tanks to ensure safe storage of the waste until we can send it to the Waste Treatment Plant." Twenty-eight of the Hanford tanks are newer doubleshell tanks that can hold over one million gallons of waste, and the remaining 149 are older single-shell tanks ranging in size from 500,000 to one million gallons in storage capacity. "I am pleased to join Senator Wyden in celebrating the removal of the last tanks from the watch list," said Representative Doc Hastings. "Successful removal of all the tanks from the watch list eliminates one of the major risks to the citizens of the Northwest and is another example of the excellent progress the Office of River Protection is accomplishing." Removal of the remaining 24 tanks was based upon analysis of the waste, monitoring of tank conditions, and identification of potential hazards. Ventilation and monitoring of tank conditions and ignition source controls will remain in place on all Hanford tanks until the waste is retrieved and delivered to the Waste Treatment Plant, scheduled to begin hot operations in 2007. The waste will be vitrified into glass logs in a treatment plant to be built on the Hanford site. "Our employees have worked hard to improve the conditions in these tanks, not only to remove them from the watch list, but also to make them available for normal operations," said Fran DeLozier, president and general manager of CH2M HILL Hanford Group, the Office of River Protection's tank farms contractor. "We're proud of this accomplishment and of our efforts to improve safe storage of waste in the Hanford tanks." Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network ***************************************************************** 26 Chopper mystifies nuclear plants [charlotte.com] Published Tuesday, September 18, 2001 no explanation Military-style craft sighted at night over2 S.C. power plants By NICHOLE MONROE BELL LAKE WYLIE, S.C. -- Reports of an unidentified helicopter near nuclear power plants on Lake Wylie and near Clemson brought fighter jets in response and triggered an alert at the Savannah River Site this weekend. On Monday, area public safety officials and U.S. Rep. John Spratt, whose district includes York County, were trying to learn what happened Saturday night and early Sunday. Their questions came as the government ordered increased security for energy facilities nationwide in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks. York County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Channell said sheriff's deputies responded about 10p.m. Saturday to a report of a helicopter heading toward the Catawba plant on Lake Wylie. Deputies saw what they described as a military helicopter. The aircraft took no hostile action, said York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant. Still, the sighting concerned officials, who say they received no notice a military helicopter would be in the area. "If this had happened two weeks ago, we probably would have received no calls," Bryant said. "Because of the disaster in New York and Washington, obviously, people are really on edge. Everyone is being very, very cautious." Duke Power spokesman Joe Maher confirmed reports of unidentified aircraft near its Catawba and Oconee plants. There were no such sightings at Duke's N.C. plants. Maher declined to say how the nuclear plants responded. He said the facilities have been on heightened alert since last week. Bryant said at least two F-16 fighter jets were called to York County to check the skies for the helicopter. He said he was unsure who summoned the jets, which startled residents on the lake and prompted numerous 911 calls. Air traffic controllers at Charlotte/Douglas airport saw the chopper on radar but could not contact it by radio, Channell said. An Oconee emergency management official said his office received similar reports of unidentified aircraft about midnight, and fighter jets showed up there as well. That nuclear power plant is west of Clemson. The Savannah River Site learned of the York and Oconee county sightings shortly after midnight, said Rob Davis, a spokesman for Wackenhut Services, which provides security for the site. He said no helicopters were actually seen at SRS, but the facility closed a 20-mile stretch of highway that runs along the perimeter. The site near Aiken stores high-level nuclear waste. Air Force and Pentagon officials declined to comment or could not be reached Monday. The security of nuclear sites is a topic of international discussion. On Monday, delegates from 132 nations opened an annual atomic energy conference in Austria with calls for tighter security. But industry officials acknowledged that while reactors have numerous levels of protection, there may be no defense against the kind of attack that happened last Tuesday. While there have been no specific threats against power plants, dams and oil and gas pipelines, the heightened security is likely to remain for some time. According to some industry officials, permanent effects may include increasing energy prices. Staff writers Jennifer Talhelm and Dan Huntley and The Associated Press contributed. "If this had happened two weeks ago, we probably would have received no calls." Bruce Bryant York County Sheriff ***************************************************************** 27 Secretary of Energy Expands Public Input Process To Provide Nevada Citizens Increased Opportunities To Comment on Yucca Mountain Project energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2001 [Print Friendly Version] ---> WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced today that he will go well beyond what the law requires and beyond the process contemplated by previous Administrations to expand the public input process by providing Nevada citizens reasonable opportunities to participate in the public comment process. Abraham said, "The views and the comments of Nevada citizens on this issue are very important. I have received requests advocating many different actions for addressing Yucca Mountain from both proponents and opponents. My goal is to ensure a fair and impartial process. Moreover, we have taken steps well beyond what the law requires involving the public and beyond what had been planned prior to this Administration's taking office, and we will continue to do so. "At my direction, Under Secretary Robert Card attended the recent public hearing held in Las Vegas. I had asked him to report personally to me both on the views expressed by citizens of Nevada and on steps that could be taken to ensure Nevada citizens are afforded unfiltered and comprehensive opportunities to share their views on Yucca Mountain. Under Secretary Card offered a series of recommendations to increase opportunity for public involvement, and I have directed the Department of Energy to move forward on those recommendations, the first phase of which is announced today." "First, ensuring our commitment to the citizens of Amargosa Valley and Pahrump, we have rescheduled our hearings postponed due to the terrorist attacks on the United States," Abraham said. Specific dates, locations and times for the Amargosa Valley and Pahrump hearings are: Monday, September 24, 2001 Longstreet Casino Amargosa Valley, Nevada 2:00 – 9:00 p.m. – poster session 3:00 – 9:00 p.m. – hearing Monday, September 24, 2001 Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Hall #10054 4651 Homestead Road Pahrump, Nevada 2:00 – 9:00 p.m. – poster session 3:00 – 9:00 p.m. – hearing "Each hearing will begin with a poster session of facilities, research, and other items for citizens to review. The public participation and comment period will begin promptly at 3:00 p.m. and run until 9:00 p.m., or until all citizens wishing to comment are heard. "Time for public comment and the availability of experts to answer substantive questions during the poster session has been expanded to provide the public wishing to participate flexible hours to do so. "Second, to further increase opportunities for citizens to offer their comments and to provide for greater public involvement, the Department will also hold additional public meetings this year, at each of which I or senior members of my team, including Deputy Secretary Frank Blake, Under Secretary Robert Card, and other appointed officials at the Department of Energy will attend. "Third, at specific times and dates to be announced, the Department will station a DOE official at the Yucca Mountain Science Center in Las Vegas to receive public input. "Finally, as Under Secretary Card continues to monitor the progress of the public comment process, we will determine additional steps that accomplish the goal of providing reasonable opportunities to participate in the public comment process. "In just the last five years, the Department has made available over 2,000 documents, held 39 public hearings, afforded nearly 400 days of public comment periods, and received almost 20,000 public comments on topics related to the Yucca Mountain site. "The current comment period for Yucca Mountain opened May 4, 2001. The Department has extended that comment period to October 5, 2001, providing Nevada citizens more time to register their remarks. "In addition, at the request of the Nevada congressional delegation, the Department arranged live video teleconference links tied-in to the Las Vegas hearing from Carson City, Elko, and Reno, Nevada. The Department also arranged for a direct live-satellite link allowing members of the Nevada congressional delegation, who did not attend the hearing, to provide comment from Washington, D.C.," Abraham said. The attendance figures for the remote teleconference sites, as well as the Las Vegas hearing, are as follows: Las Vegas, Nevada Approximately 450 people in attendance (based on registration and seating capacity) 132 registered to comment, 105 commented before the panel or the off-line court reporter Reno, Nevada 28 people in attendance, 7 commented Carson City, Nevada 55 people in attendance, 7 commented Elko, Nevada 15 people in attendance, 8 commented Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. R-01-159 ***************************************************************** 28 SEMO fined for radioactive leak 09/16/01 [News Tribune State News] 091601 state 3 The Jefferson City News Tribune CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) -- Southeast Missouri State University has agreed to pay an $11,000 fine from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission because of radiation overexposure to a man working at the university. --> Sunday, September 16, 2001 CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) -- Southeast Missouri State University has agreed to pay an $11,000 fine from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission because of radiation overexposure to a man working at the university. "We are in agreement with the findings of the NRC," Chris McGowan, dean of science and mathematics, said Friday. The contamination occurred to a contract worker in June 2000. The man was hired to remove radioactive material stored in a safe in the basement of Magill Hall, the university's science building. The contamination has since been cleaned up, university and NRC officials said. The man, whose name was not released, was exposed to airborne americium-241, a man-made chemical found commonly in household smoke detectors. When inhaled, the chemical is largely deposited in a person's bones. The man received a radiation dose of 263 rems to the bone surface, exceeding the NRC annual dose limit of 50 rem. It was not immediately known how the exposure affected his health. The material had likely been on campus since the 1960s, but university officials thought it had been removed in 1991. The university was cited for failing to determine the hazards were present, failing to control activities to avoid exceeding NRC radiation dose limits, and possessing radioactive material that was not authorized in its NRC license. The amount of the fine was doubled because the university took four months to determine the contents of the safe once it was questioned by an NRC inspector, because it possessed the material for 10 years without an authorized license, and for failing to implement an effective radiation protection program. All Contents ©Copyright 2001 News Tribune Co. All rights reserved. NT@newstribune.com. ***************************************************************** 29 BNFL plant to win approval The Times MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17 2001 BY CARL MORTISHED BRITISH NUCLEAR FUELS (BNFL) will this week receive government consent to open a controversial plutonium fuel plant fiercely opposed by environmental groups. The mixed oxide (MOX) fuel manufacturing plant at Sellafield will receive a permit from the Environment Department to use plutonium, a prerequisite for starting operations. The MOX plant, which converts spent plutonium and uranium into usable fuel, was mothballed in 1999 after a scandal in which quality-control staff at Sellafield falsified data on a shipment of MOX fuel. The Ł470 million plant is crucial to the financial future of its owner, the state-owned BNFL. In July BNFL received comfort when a report by Arthur D Little, the consultant, concluded that the plant had a net present value to the taxpayer of Ł216 million, but closure would cost taxpayers Ł58 million. Friends of the Earth, the green group, which is opposed to the plant, argues that the net present value calculation fails to take account of the Ł470 million invested in the plant. Green groups are preparing legal action to try to stop the MOX plant. The Cabinet and the Department of Trade and Industry are thought to have overruled opposition to it. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided ***************************************************************** 30 N-plant shield urged Tuesday, September 18, 2001 By DICK CHAPMAN, TORONTO SUN The Canadian military should protect all nuclear power plants in this country 24 hours a day because of vulnerability to World Trade Center-type terrorism, says Energy Probe. The Toronto-based watchdog group has asked Prime Minister Jean Chretien, as well as Canada's defence minister and solicitor-general, that nuclear power plants be protected around-the-clock from terrorist attacks. "We've asked the Canadian military be deployed to protect the stations," Energy Probe's Tom Adams said yesterday. Adams said a kamikaze-style terrorist attack on a Canadian nuclear reactor could spark an uncontrollable meltdown. Adams said he doesn't doubt terrorists could figure out how best to wreak massive destruction at a Canadian nuke plant -- by crippling the cooling systems that jointly service four reactors at each station. "We just have to make the assumption they know where the cooling pumps are, because it's public knowledge," Adams said. "If we could figure this stuff out, somebody who meant to do harm could figure it out." Ontario Power Generation, which operates the nuclear generating stations, would not comment on Energy Probe's claims. OPG's John Earl reiterated that "appropriate additional security measures" have been taken. International intelligence analyst John Thompson said yesterday any past threat assessment of nuclear plants is "outdated." "The United States is deploying 50,000 troops to protect its infrastructure," he said. "Canada should be doing the same thing." Previous story: Eggleton is set to send troops Next story: THE SEARCHERS Copyright © 2001, CANOE Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 Sitting ducks? Porous security makes nuclear power plants inviting targets Monday, September 17, 2001 By Don Hopey, Post-Gazette Staff Writer In February 1993 -- 19 days before militant Muslim terrorists first attacked the World Trade Center in New York City by exploding bombs in its underground parking garage -- other terrorists associated with that group practiced a nighttime mock assault on an electric substation in Perry County, 30 miles west of the Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant in Harrisburg. At Three Mile Island, truck barriers were installed only after an intruder in 1993 crashed into the plant's turbine building. (Tim Shaffer/Associated Press) In an unrelated incident that same 1993 weekend, an intruder deliberately crashed a car through a door at TMI's turbine building, eventually stopping 63 feet inside the building. 'Highest level' security In the wake of terrorist attacks that toppled the World Trade Center buildings in New York City and gouged a hole into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., security was tightened at the 103 nuclear power plants in the United States, including Beaver Valley, Three Mile Island and three others in Pennsylvania. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that the power plants increase security to the "highest level," details of which are classified. "While there's been no credible general or specific threats," Diane Screnci, a spokeswoman for the NRC, said, "the recommendation was considered prudent, given the acts of terrorism." And Pennsylvania State Police were deployed as a precaution at the entrances to Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, 22 miles northwest of Pittsburgh; Three Mile Island near Harrisburg; Limerick in Montgomery County; Susquehanna/PPL Electric in Luzerne County and the Peach Bottom Power Station in York County. But that response is not good enough for Three Mile Island Alert, a citizen's nuclear watchdog group formed in 1977. It claims that nuclear power plants remain extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. "We are highly critical of the NRC for just recommending and not ordering all nuclear plants to increase security to the highest level," said Scott Portzline, chairman of Alert's security committee. Coincidental to the terrorist attacks last week, Portzline said Alert has formally petitioned the NRC to issue a rule directing utilities to post guards at the entrances of their nuclear power stations. The absence of such a rule makes the nuclear plants "soft targets" for terrorists, he contended. "Posting armed guards at the entrances of nuclear power plants serves as a physical deterrent, would 'harden' those sites and demonstrates to local communities that the NRC and the nuclear industry are serious about public health and safety," Portzline said. "It's hard to imagine that nuclear plant entrances remain unguarded in the 21st century. Not enough Although U.S. nuclear power plants probably have the world's best safeguards, Alert is not the only group that says they need to get much better and fast. Physicians for Social Responsibility has called nuclear power plants "land mines waiting to be stepped upon." And the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nuclear non-proliferation group, said that nuclear power plants are vulnerable to terrorists, and a successful attack that breaches a reactor's containment systems could cause severe panic. "Potentially, it could be many times worse than what we've seen [in New York] because it could result in radiation and fallout over a vast area that would have a devastating economic effect," said Tom Clements, head of the Institute. While a thermonuclear explosion is not possible, a powerful steam explosion in a plant's containment building could disperse enormous amounts of radioactive particles into the air. Clements said nuclear facilities are just as vulnerable to airborne threats -- from missiles or crashing jetliners -- as was the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. "Aerial attack is not really considered," he said, "and we think that the plants are vulnerable, even though they have a thick containment dome." In 1993, Portzline, who has testified before the NRC and U.S. Senate on nuclear power plant issues, rented a small plane and flew at low altitudes over the TMI containment dome and the adjacent Susquehanna River. "I wanted to demonstrate the possibility of an air attack," he said. "I believe a boat attack is also possible." Rings of protection Nuclear plants have three security zones -- the outermost "owner-controlled area," the middle "protected area," and the innermost "vital area," where safety systems and fuel rods are located. Nuclear power plants are required to employ site protection officers who are usually stationed in the protected area. That's also where truck bomb barriers -- required by the NRC only after the 1993 "vehicle intrusion" at TMI -- can be found. Portzline said most of those truck bomb barriers, including 12 of 14 installed at TMI in 1994, are so close to the vital areas of nuclear power plants that an Oklahoma City-sized truck bomb could cause a catastrophe. One of those barriers at TMI is only 10 feet from a vital area building. In addition, Portzline said, security at TMI's main entrance has decreased over the years. During the 1970s, the north entrance was guarded and vehicles were required to stop for a credentials check before entering the site. In 1993, a truck bomb barrier was installed, but it is unmanned and is left open more than half the time. A parking garage-style barrier lifts automatically to approaching vehicles. "I don't think they're doing better," he said. "TMI's new owners have reduced the guard force. I think they're doing a lot of cost cutting." "We meet or exceed all federal requirements for security," said Ralph DeSantis, a spokesman for Exelon Nuclear, co-owner of TMI with AmerGen Energy Co. "We are in a heightened state of security awareness and are in regular contact with the NRC." DeSantis said the containment buildings that house the reactor and equipment are "robust, sturdy structures" built with 4-foot-thick reinforced concrete walls to withstand hurricanes, airborne objects and airplane impacts. He said extending security to the entrances in the owner-controlled area has been an issue at many nuclear plants, but few, if any, have guards or barriers in that outer area. Dave Poeppelmeir, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, the Akron, Ohio-based company that operates the Beaver Valley Nuclear Plant, said security was increased at the plant even before the NRC issued its recommendation, but he declined to give any details. "We're reviewing our procedures and working with the NRC," Poeppelmeir said. "If the NRC requires that we do something, we will meet those increased standards, but I'm not going to get into any specifics about our security." But Portzline said tougher security measures -- including some that would be highly visible -- are long overdue to deter terrorists from planning to bomb the nuclear plants. In an eerily prophetic news release sent the day before Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Portzline explained why TMI Alert was asking the NRC to require entrance guards: "The 1990s have shown that terrorism is no longer just about instilling fear or gaining attention for a particular ideology. Some terrorists are now seeking a large body count. Clearly, adequate protection of nuclear power plants is a matter of national security." Post-Gazette ***************************************************************** 32 EU entry talks depend on nuclear plant shutdown pledge - Lithuanian premier BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 18, 2001 Text of report in English by Baltic news agency BNS Vilnius, 18 September: Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas admitted on Tuesday [18 September] that Lithuania would only finish its ongoing negotiations on EU accession once it decides what to do with both reactors at the Ignalina nuclear power plant. "Undoubtedly, it is (the conclusion of negotiations - BNS) linked with Lithuania's pledges to close the nuclear power plant," Brazauskas told reporters after meeting with European commissioner for EU enlargement, Guenter Verheugen. He reiterated Lithuania's intention to end EU accession negotiations by the middle of next year during the Spanish EU presidency. Brazauskas said he was therefore asking the EU to name quickly its demands on Lithuania for closing the nuclear power plant north of Vilnius. "Until now rumours have been flying that the EC and the Council of Ministers are demanding the generating plant be closed by 2009. So we are posing the question directly, explain your position officially, and we will deliberate the problem in the government, the parliament and all government institutions," the Lithuanian prime minister said. "The time has come to make all this firm," he added. The director-general of the European Committee under the Lithuanian government, Petras Austrevicius, said that although there are records of negotiating positions, they are to be understood as "more of a technical nature". He said "a clear political signal" is needed. Brazauskas said he was glad to hear from Verheugen's lips that closure of the Ignalina nuclear plant is "not just Lithuania's business, but the business of the entire EU". "The plant was not Lithuania's idea. The then Soviet state decided to build the atomic electrical generating plant on Druksiu Lake, and that was a categorical decision," the Lithuanian prime minister recalled. Austrevicius told reporters the meeting with Verheugen saw agreement on the need for a joint Lithuanian-EU group of experts to evaluate by the end of this year the political, social, economic and ecological consequences of the plant's closure. "The very words of the commissioner, that the nuclear plant is not a problem that Lithuania created for itself, really do give hope that that political recognition will be translated into financial figures," Lithuania's top negotiator with the EU, Austrevicius, said. He said the end of negotiations with the EU was not the final date by which Lithuania and the EU have to decide which party pays what for decommissioning Ignalina plant. "We shall seek to put a full stop to it in our entry agreement," Austrevicius said. Lithuania has promised to shut the first reactor at Ignalina down by 2005. A date for mothballing the second reactor hasn't been decided yet. Ignalina nuclear power plant contains two Soviet-made high-power pressure-tube reactor, originally designed for dual use as generator and breeder reactors and the same design employed at Chernobyl. The design is now considered inherently insecure by nuclear engineers. Source: BNS news agency, Tallinn, in English 1324 gmt 18 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 33 Letter: Nuclear options The Independent - United Kingdom; Sep 18, 2001 BY DR DAVID LOWRY Sir: Ray Wilkes (letter, 15 September) is miguided in his assertion that further reliance on nuclear power would increase our security. The anti-nuclear analysts are correct in highlighting the vulnerability of nuclear facilities to attack. Chernobyl showed how far radiological pollution can spread from reactors whose containment system is breached by accident. Moreover, if the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, is serious about his warning to MPs in the Commons debate on Friday on the risk of nuclear terrorism, he should advise his Cabinet colleagues not to give permission to BNFL to operate its plutonium fuels MOX plant at Sellafield, which is currently under consideration. To sanction the operation of this plant - two years after your newspaper exposed poor operations and data falsifications by BNFL relating to fuels sent to Japan - would be ill judged. To put the prime nuclear explosive, plutonium, into international trade at this moment of global insecurity would not be calculated to assist combating terrorism. Dr DAVID LOWRY Stoneleigh, Surrey ***************************************************************** 34 GOVERNMENT LOOKS FOR PUBLIC CONSENSUS ON MANAGING RADIOACTIVE WASTE NEWS RELEASE Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3JR Tel: 020 7238 1133/1128/1134 Out of hours: 020 7270 8960 Fax: 020 7238 5529 12 September 2001 More than 10,000 tonnes of radioactive waste are currently stored in the United Kingdom, pending a decision on their long-term future. Even if no new nuclear plants are built, and reprocessing of spent fuel ends when existing plants reach the end of their working lives, another 500,000 tonnes of waste will arise during their clean-up over the coming century. Some of the substances produced will be radioactive and potentially harmful for hundreds of thousands of years. To help stimulate thorough public debate on the options for managing the UK's radioactive waste, Environment Minister Michael Meacher today published a paper inviting comments on a number of issues. These include whether any or all of the nation's plutonium should be regarded as a waste product and therefore be included in the management strategy. The Government's advice from its Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) on managing radioactive waste was also published today. Involving as many people as possible in the debate on how radioactive waste should be managed over the coming centuries will be key to getting the right decision for this and future generations. Support for future policy can only be achieved through thorough public debate, Michael Meacher said, as he announced plans for wide-ranging and comprehensive consultation. Managing Radioactive Waste Safely sets out proposals from the Government and the Devolved Administrations on how best to initiate a UK-wide debate on future radioactive waste management policy. Through opinion polls, the internet, workshops, citizens' juries, consensus conferences, stakeholder dialogues, local authority and community groups and research panels, hundreds of thousands of the UK's population could give their views on managing radioactive waste over the coming centuries. To ensure that all the information provided is accurate, objective and complete, the Government and Devolved Administrations propose setting up an independent advisory body. This would advise on what information there is, what more is needed, and when enough has been gathered and analysed to decide how radioactive waste should be managed. It will help seek the public's views, for example, on whether waste should be put in an underground repository; or be stored until more is known about its risks and better ways of dealing with it or whether indeed there are other options. Only then can the debate start on where in the UK we should keep this waste in the long term. Mr Meacher said: "Protecting the public, workers and the environment now and in the future is the top priority for the Government and Devolved Administrations. Any decisions made on managing radioactive waste cannot and must not be rushed. The legacy of a wrong decision could be catastrophic. "The solution we find must protect not only our own future, but that of generations to come. "That solution may take many decades to implement. We need to start the national debate today". The paper sets out a five stage proposed programme of action for taking decisions: Stage one This six month consultation about the proposed programme; considering responses; planning the next stage 2001-2002 Stage two Research and public debate, to examine the different waste management options and recommend the best option 2002-004 Stage three Further consultation seeking public views on the proposed option 2005 Stage four Announcement on the chosen option, seeking public views on how this should be implemented 2006 Stage five Legislation, if needed 2007 The shape and speed of the programme may change to reflect future developments, including public responses to today's consultation paper. Although the Government would like to press ahead as quickly as possible, it is determined to ensure that the overall strategy wins public confidence. Notes for editors 1. Media copies of Managing Radioactive Waste Safely - proposals for developing a policy for managing solid radioactive waste in the UK are available from DEFRA Press Office. Other copies are available on the DEFRA website: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/index.htm Hard copies are available from: Claire Herdman Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 4/F7 Ashdown House 123 Victoria Street London SW1E 6DE 2. An on-line debate is also being held on the subject. To join in, anyone can visit www.ukonline.gov.uk/online/ukonline/home 3. In this paper the Government and the Devolved Administrations are launching a national debate which will lead over a period of years to a decision on the management of low, intermediate and high-level radioactive wastes. The aim is to encourage a debate via traditional and new techniques so as to inspire public confidence in the decisions and the way in which they are implemented. The period of consultation on this first phase will be six months long. 4. The Radioactive Waste Advisory Committee (RWMAC) today publishes its advice to Government on the way in which it believes future policy for the long-term management of the UK's solid radioactive waste should be decided. RWMAC is suggesting a fresh approach, one that is based on fundamental principles of openness, accessible decision-making and fairness. RWMAC is keen that for the first time, all the practicable solutions need to be evaluated on, as far as possible, a common bases, both openly and transparently, to decide what is best. The Committee has advised Government on the form of process that it believes needs to be gone through to arrive at a decision. The committee is also suggesting that the process is overseen by an independent or, at least, balanced interest body that is widely perceived as being capable of representing the broader public interest. 5. The Government has also commissioned Wilkinson Environmental Consulting to carry out a review of information needs in relation to options for managing radioactive waste. This will help to inform the national debate and research programme. The project will be completed next year. Public Enquries: DEFRA Helpline on 08459 33 55 77 ***************************************************************** 35 Nuclear plants deemed safe Security has increased at the now-defunct Maine Yankee and at Seabrook, in New Hampshire. --> Tuesday, September 18, 2001 Nuclear plants deemed safe By GISELLE GOODMAN, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. Officials from the coastal region's nuclear power plants said Monday they are confident their plants are safe, despite mounting concern that America's nuclear facilities are vulnerable to a terrorist attack like the ones last week in New York and Washington, D.C. Officials from the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire and the now-defunct Maine Yankee in Wiscasset say they have increased security to the level requested by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They also said they are not aware of any direct threats against their nuclear facilities. "Our structure is extremely strong and would be able to withstand the type of impact we saw in New York," said Alan Griffith, Seabrook's spokesman. "The security here is as good as any military institution." Eric Howes, spokesman for Maine Yankee, said the plant, now in the process of decommissioning, has different concerns than Seabrook, although the heightened security measures in place are similar. Maine Yankee was permanently closed in 1997, but it still faces the task of disposing of 1,432 spent nuclear fuel rod assemblies, which are cooling in the reactor's 40-foot-deep reactor pool. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission report earlier this year indicated that a fire at a plant using wet pool storage could pose a greater danger to the public than previously thought. "Our concern is the protection of the spent nuclear fuel," Howes said. "The risks are different. You don't have the same pressurized systems." Neither Griffith nor Howes would discuss the specifics of security at their facilities. Diane Screnci of the NRC said the heightened security measures could include increased security personnel, increased patrols and limited access to the plant. Critics say the security measures are not enough, leaving all power plants in a state of vulnerability. Edwin Lyman of the Nuclear Control Institute, a nuclear industry watchdog in Washington D.C., said his organization would like to see more governmental action to protect America's 103 active commercial nuclear plants: "We're calling for immediate response — add National Guard protection at nuclear plants as well as some anti-aircraft patrol." The possibility of an attack on a nuclear plant is also generating international discussion. Delegates from 132 nations opened the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual conference in Vienna, Austria, on Monday with calls for tighter security and calls to make sure nuclear materials are kept out of terrorists' hands. Japan's minister for economy, trade and industry noted that his country's nuclear plants were built to withstand earthquakes — not ''hits from above by missiles or aircraft.'' David Kyd, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said most plants were designed to withstand only accidental, glancing impacts from the smaller aircraft widely used in the 1970s, he said. Lyman said he hopes that such statements will result in tighter security, not just now, but for the future. Lyman said he could not speculate on the likelihood of the plants in Maine or New Hampshire as targets. "I wouldn't let my guard down," he said. "Terrorists will search for vulnerabilities." Griffith said he is assured the dome surrounding the reactors at Seabrook, designed in the 1970s and licensed for commercial use in 1990, is not vulnerable. The 200-foot-tall nuclear reactor dome is made up of a foot-and-a-half layer of steel reinforced concrete, which covers a second dome that Griffith said is 4-foot-thick steel reinforced concrete. "The reactor vessel itself is surrounded by a wall of steel, 9 inches to a foot thick," he said. While Maine Yankee would seem less of a target because it is inactive, Bruce Clary, a professor of public policy and management at the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Policy, said he is just as concerned about the plant because of the amount of high-level nuclear waste stored there. Releasing that material into the environment, he said, would be catastrophic because of the long-term biological devastation it could cause. "Frankly, I'd be much more worried about nuclear waste than nuclear power," he said. Material from the Associated Press was used in this article. Staff Writer Giselle Goodman can be contacted at 324-4888 or at: ggoodman@pressherald.com Copyright© Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Contingency Plans Drawn Up For Kursk Reactor Disaster Pravda.RU ą Sep, 16 2001 Contingency plans have been drawn up in Severomorsk in case of a nuclear reactor disaster following the Kursk submarine's placement in a floating dock off Roslyakovo. Civil defense experts say the probability of the disaster in question is negligible, since no work is planned on the reactor in the floating dock. Even so, they are prepared for the eventuality. The acting civil defense and emergencies chief in the Severomorsk city hall, Valery Zverev, told RIA Novosti "units of various civil defense organizations will be committed to the operations." These would include a firefighters' team, emergency technical and emergency repair teams, medical groups, etc., Zverev said. "Each civilian organization has its own representatives of such formations," he added. In addition, Zverev pointed out that all necessary assets are in place to notify the population of Severomorsk and Roslyakovo. Among other things, electric sirens, outdoor loudspeakers, and loudspeakers mounted on police vehicles could be used to warn the locals of the disaster. Zverev went on to say that the Severomorsk radio, the Northern Fleet television, and the Roslyakovo cable network could be used to communicate emergency information. The Severomorsk and Roslyakovo police force has been directed to maintain public order in case of panic. RIA 'Novosti' ***************************************************************** 2 U.S. Calls for More Vigilance on Nuclear Exports Monday September 17 10:04 AM ET VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (news - web sites) called Monday for tougher controls on the export of nuclear materials to keep them out of the hands of criminals. Speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, he said the 132 member countries of the world's nuclear watchdog should not shrink from their responsibility to protect the world from ``nuclear terror.'' ``We cannot assume that tomorrow's terrorist acts will mirror those we have just experienced,'' Abraham said, referring to last week's attacks in New York and Washington in which more than 5,000 people are dead or missing. ``This is why the work of the IAEA is so pivotal...We know our security, and that of nations around the world, largely depend upon what this agency does to prevent the proliferation and the misuse of nuclear materials.'' Abraham added: ``The terrible events of last week demonstrate in the clearest possible fashion the importance of maintaining the highest levels of security over nuclear materials.'' Existing commitments on the physical protection of nuclear materials needed to be strengthened, ``particularly those that can be converted to weapons use,'' he said. ``We will work with others but we expect others to act responsibly as well,'' he said. ``We expect the members of this body to prohibit nuclear exports in cases where there is a significant risk of diversion.'' Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 3 US moves to prevent nuclear terrorism - September 18, 2001 Posted: 2:30 AM (Manila Time) | September 18, 2001 By Agence France-Presse VIENNA The United States asked the IAEA nuclear watchdog agency Monday to take measures to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear material following the attacks that shocked the world last week. US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) here that nuclear safeguards must be put in place and a ban on exports of material to countries where it could be stolen. "The terrible events of last week demonstrate in the clearest possible fashion the importance of maintaining the highest levels of security over nuclear materials," said Abraham. "I want to discuss the global effort, led by the IAEA, to ensure that nuclear materials are never used as weapons of terror. We will need the IAEA's skills and expertise in this area, now more than ever," said Abraham. The request follows reports that Saudi-born extremist Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's unprecedented attacks, has tried in the 1990s to buy enriched uranium in order to make a bomb. A defector from bin Laden's militant group has said he served as an intermediary between bin Laden, then in Sudan, and an unidentified seller who demanded 1.5 million dollars for a one-meter long cylinder of uranium. Jamal Ahmed al Fadl made the claim in February during the trial in New York of four men accused in the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, but said he did not know if bin Laden successfully completed the purchase. In October 1998 the Arabic newspaper al-Hayat claimed bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group had acquired nuclear weapons from former Soviet republics in Central Asia using a network of "influential friends." Abraham called on members of the IAEA "to prohibit nuclear exports in cases where there is a significant risk of diversion." Three hijacked passenger planes rammed New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, in the worst terrorist attack in which more than 5,000 people are missing and believed dead. According to a Western diplomatic source, who requested anonymity, Washington "is taking the threat of a terrorist attack using a home-made nuclear bomb very seriously and looking at measures to prevent it." All of the country's 103 nuclear power plants have been put on maximum alert since Tuesday. British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday also warned that terrorists would not hesitate to use weapons of mass destruction if they could get their hands on them and called for urgent action against nuclear trafficking. IAEA general director Mohamed El-Baradei from Egypt drew attention to the need for "increased cooperation" between the atomic watchdog, governments, Interpol and customs officials to fight off "potential threats, theft, sabotage and illicit trafficking" of nuclear materials. ©2001 www.inq7.net all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 4 NORWEGIANS START CLEANING RUSSIAN ZAPOLYARIE [A&G Information Services] Story Filed: Monday, September 17, 2001 9:40 PM EST ST.PETERSBURG, RUSSIA, SEP 16, 2001 (A News via COMTEX) -- In Murmask the representatives of local administration and Norwegian district Finnmark signed an agreement on the development of infrastructure of Andreeva Bay, where the largest radioactive waste dump in Russia is located. There about 20 thousand of fuel cores withdrawn from nuclear submarine reactors are stored. The agreement includes 12 projects of polluted territory rehabilitation. The district of Finnmark is planning to invest NOK 10 million in the infrastructure development in 2001. URL: http://www.aginform.com Copyright (C) 2001, A Information Services, all rights reserved Copyright © 2001, A Information Services, all rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 Some in U.S. fear for security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal Published Tuesday, September 18, 2001 By Paul Richter LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON -- Pakistan's nuclear arsenal has become a source of concern to U.S. officials as they consider launching a military campaign in Afghanistan that could send political shock waves through its troubled southern neighbor. Although Pakistan's small nuclear arsenal is now believed to be under firm control of the army, some officials fear its security might be imperiled if a regional war involving an unpopular American force further polarizes a sharply divided country. A war could set off new civil upheaval that could allow dissidents to seize weapons, or it could usher in a new fundamentalist government, hostile to the United States, that might pass on nuclear know-how to Osama bin Laden or other U.S. enemies. One official said that while the United States is confident in the status of the weapons now, "this is the kind of thing you've got to think about." Pakistan is generally thought to have about 30 tactical nuclear weapons that are somewhat larger than the one dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Although analysts' opinions differ on whether Pakistanis have actually prepared a weapon to be dropped from an airplane or fired on the tip of a missile, the country tested nuclear devices in May 1998 and is believed to be moving ahead with its weapons program. While the nuclear program has been conducted to protect Pakistan from the perceived nuclear threat from India, some groups in the region view its nuclear arsenal as the "Islamic bomb" that could be used to defend the broader interests of the Muslim world. The threat of a U.S. military assault on Afghanistan has thrust the weak government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf into an anguished situation. While the Pakistani government would like the financial and other benefits that a better relationship with the United States could bring, many Pakistanis are violently opposed to the idea of support for a U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. An American military presence in the country could be the most controversial step, and would be considered intolerable by many of the country's 25 million citizens. Ivo Daalder, a former National Security Council aide, said the weapons offer a "nightmare scenario" that "deserves to be very high on the radar screen" of U.S. policymakers. He said the issue of nuclear security is worrisome all over the world, but is especially so "in a country that's as crisis-prone as this one." The Pakistani army is seen as generally pro-Western in its outlook, said Stephen P. Cohen, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written a book on the Pakistani army. At the same time, many of Pakistan's military leaders are not pro-American, believing that the United States has "let Pakistan down time and again, and is in bed with the Indians," Cohen said. In the event of a civil crisis, the army could be sharply divided, he said. And the nuclear weapons certainly would be "an object of great desire." Analysts noted that the Pakistani devices apparently do not have some of the mechanical safeguards installed on Russian nuclear bombs -- safeguards, for example, to keep them from being used by unauthorized persons. Bruce Blair, president of the Center for Defense Information, a think tank that advocates arms control, said concern about the seizure or disappearance of the Pakistani weapons is "what keeps me up at night." Blair said he is convinced that senior Bush administration policymakers must have already thought through what action they might take if the weapons fell into the wrong hands. He said he believes they have already ordered increased intelligence-gathering on the nuclear arsenal, and may have assigned special forces teams to try to seize or disarm them if a civil upheaval put them at risk. But one U.S. official, who asked to remain unidentified, said that the Pakistani army is "huge" and would not permit such an intervention. This official said that although the Pakistani nuclear weapons do raise serious issues, the risks should not be exaggerated. ContraCostaTimes.com ***************************************************************** 6 Nuclear terror team on standby Sunday, September 16, 2001 They operate in secret, seeking to prevent a catastrophe many times worse than the destruction of the World Trade Center. They're the nation's nuclear SWAT team -- an elite band of scientists, engineers, computer experts and technicians that would respond to terrorists armed with stolen or homemade nuclear weapons or radioactive materials. And they went on alert Tuesday, just in case, shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. That day, members of the Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) based in Las Vegas were "alerted they could potentially be called out (for duty). . . . so they were asked to be on standby," said Kevin Rohrer, a spokesman for the Nevada operations office of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the emergency team. The alert was ordered as a precaution, not in response to any specific nuclear threat. The emergency team, which includes many experts from the University of California-run Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, are the men and women who would be charged with finding nuclear weapons or materials stolen by terrorists. The team sometimes secretly conducts the nuclear-terrorist equivalent of "war games" in U.S. cities. In these games, staff members use sophisticated sensors to track deliberately planted radioactive sources, which are too weak to harm civilians. They can even spot stolen fissionable materials from a plane or helicopter, although they won't say exactly how. "The people in the program are all very proud to be in it and very proud of the job we've done over the last 25 years," said Alan Mode, a 22-year veteran of the team who formerly served as division leader for counterterrorism and incident response at Lawrence Livermore. Mode is now retired, but Livermore officials asked him to speak on behalf of team members at Livermore in response to a Chronicle query. NEST members are drawn from technically trained personnel at the nation's three nuclear weapons laboratories: Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories' twin facilities in Livermore and New Mexico. "It's scientifically challenging, and that's why we're able to get the best and brightest for the program," said Mode, who has a doctorate in inorganic and nuclear chemistry. "We always get volunteers -- in many cases, more than we can use." The team at Livermore includes about 70 employees, plus 65 to 70 part- timers, Mode said. Livermore's annual budget for anti-terrorist activities, including the emergency team program, is about $40 million. Emergency team officials declined to answer questions about the feasibility of disarming nuclear weapons in ways depicted by Hollywood in such thrillers as "The Peacemaker," the 1998 film starring Nicole Kidman. Mode joked that he wanted to hire Kidman, "but they wouldn't let me." The team's hardware presumably includes sensors able to detect subatomic particles called neutrons emitting from nuclear warheads, but NEST doesn't discuss its technology for obvious reasons. How much damage could a terrorist nuclear attack do? According to Stanford University physicist Steve Block, the two hijacked airliners full of jet fuel that crashed into the World Trade Center set off explosions equivalent to one kiloton, or 1,000 tons, of TNT -- about one- twentieth the energy of the primitive atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. By contrast, even a medium-size nuclear weapon in the modern U.S. or Russian arsenal carries an explosive kick equal to hundreds of kilotons. While the emergency team serves a vital role, the public needs to remember that a terrorist nuclear attack "is the lowest probability incident regarding terrorism," cautioned Jason Pate, manager of the terrorism project at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. ". . . It's important not to be too alarmist," he said. "Of course (the risk of nuclear theft) needs to be addressed, and there are many, many programs designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and materials," Pate said. For example, "the Chechens left a small container of (radioactive) cesium-137 in a park in Moscow to show they could (obtain) it" -- evidently from a nuclear reactor in the former Soviet Union. In theory, terrorists could use a small rocket or explosive to disperse radioactive materials and extend the damage. However, experts know how to clean up such a radioactive spill, and it would not "cause a catastrophe like a (nuclear) fission weapon would," Pate said. Asked whether any terrorist groups might have independently developed nuclear weapons, Pate scoffed, pointing out the extreme difficulty of obtaining the crucial ingredient: fissionable enriched uranium or plutonium. Even "countries with nuclear power infrastructures . . . have worked for years and years and years trying to develop nuclear weapons and have failed," he said. As for stolen nuclear bombs, that's far easier to pull off in the movies than in real life, even in the political ruins of the former Soviet Union, Pate said. "We're 10 years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, and we see no indication of a significant threat of smuggling of nuclear weapons," Pate said. "Yes, there are problems with (Russian) security. Yes, there are millions of U.S. dollars pouring into (Russia and) raising those levels of security." But "even if you could steal a weapon, getting it to detonate is not a trivial task. There's not a red button on it that you can push." ©2001 San Francisco Chronicle   Page A - 14 ***************************************************************** 7 Uprfront, Protester in the pokey 'Trespasser' prosecution is first in a decade By Kate Silver (silver@vegas.com) For the past decade, thousands of protestors at the Nevada Test Site have been detained in a desert-surrounded pen for trespassing charges. After a few hours, the "prisoners" are always cited and released, causing some of them to refer to these actions as "ceremonial citings." That is, until Aug. 6 of this year. A group of protestors from Nevada Desert Experience, a faith-based organization opposed to nukes, was at the site to commemorate the 56th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Las Vegas resident Erik Thompson, 44, entered the fenced area surrounding the Test Site and was immediately confronted by Nye County sheriffs, who led Thompson to the 100-by-300-foot holding pen. Authorities later returned, offering to cite and release Thompson. He refused. They offered two more times. He remained steadfast. On the fourth refusal, Thompson told the officers to just take him to jail--he wasn't leaving the Test Site on his own. And that's just what they did. Though Thompson has protested at the site since 1984, and says he's been cited for trespassing close to 100 times, he'd never been taken to jail. He sees the outcome as an opportunity to go before a judge and garner attention for the issue. His hearing is Oct. 4. "I will certainly have some impact. If nothing else, than to make Nye County realize what they're doing," he says. "I would like to raise these issues in court, issues of how the United States is in violation of international law (by continuing nuclear tests)." Sounds like Christmas at Ground Zero to me. FALSE IMPRISONMENT Another issue in Thompson's case is how can he face trespassing charges when he holds a permit to protest on the land? As outlined by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, Nye County has no jurisdiction over the Nevada Test Site. The treaty states that the 1,863 acres of land belongs to the Western Shoshone Nation, which grants permits to protestors each year, allowing their presence on the Test Site. "One of the contentions we have with Nye County is that this is land that belongs to the Shoshone. That we have permits to come and go. And that we're here by invitation of the Shoshone," says Paul Colbert, office manager for Nevada Desert Experience. Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke sees ownership of the land differently. When asked about the protestors having Shoshone permits to protest on the land, Lieseke seemed to stifle his laughter. "Well, I guess that's their contention," he says. "The other contention is that they're on Department of Energy land and the Department of Energy runs the Nevada Test Site and we contract our services through the Department of Energy. The venue would be for a court of law to make that determination." FEDERAL CRACKDOWN Thompson's case has local activists worried about the future. "There's a trend now that the authorities are coming down very harshly compared to the past," says Sally Light, executive director of Nevada Desert Experience. "A few years ago I was arrested and put in the pen, held for a while and individually cited. I asked for the time frame that I'll hear from the court, and the police officer said I could go home and make the citation into a paper plane." Light fears those days are over. "The Bush administration is moving very quickly to consolidate a military posture in the world," she says. "We can't draw a single line of causation, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility." Since the Nevada Test Site is owned by the Department of Energy--it's federal land--Light fears the worst, citing the encounters at Vandenberg Air Force Base as evidence of the recent federal crackdown. The May Vandenberg protest resulted in 15 Greenpeace activists--Star Wars protestors--and two journalists facing felony charges of "conspiracy to violate a safety zone." If convicted, they'll face up to six years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. All this for a peaceful protest consisting of actions which, according to Light, "were all but ignored in the past." Another local activist who's witnessed this change in attitude is Susi Snyder, project coordinator for the Shundahai Network, an organization opposed to nukes that advocates the rights of indigenous people. About a year ago, Snyder was arrested and sent to jail for 16 days for what she calls "a simple line cross." A deputy insisted that she tried to bite him; Snyder says she was simply trying to reason with him (Las Vegas Weekly, "Continuing the Fight," Oct. 19, 2000). "I think security are very worried because Southern Nevadans are taking more action opposing Bush's policies, which include the possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing and Cheney's plan to ship waste out to Yucca Mountain," says Snyder. "People are ... willing to put their bodies on the line and make sure their voices are heard. The security people are worried about that." As well they should be, given the nuclear tests being performed at the Test Site, the possibility of nuclear waste coming to Yucca Mountain and the recent discovery of a military germ factory at the Nevada Test Site. Protestors could soon deluge the site faster than a mushroom cloud, and Snyder's convinced that a cop crackdown won't deter them. "It's to scare people away, but people won't be scared like that." [ border=] All contents © 1998 - 2001 Radiant City Publications, ***************************************************************** 8 Kursk lifters compromise safety Northern Fleet incidents Background information and news about the numerous accidents and incidents that involve the nuclear vessels in the Northern Fleet. Jump to section Energy Russia You are here: www.bellona.no : Russia : The Russian Navy : The Russian Northern Fleet : Northern Fleet incidents : News story | Focus Search Bellona Web Site map Advanced Search Kursk lifters compromise safety Both Russian officials and Mammoet start to neglect safety procedures, as they feel the time pressure. The torpedo section may still be attached to Kursk. The torpedo section of the Kursk submarine is cut off, and the divers go on installing the so-called directing buckets into the holes in the hull, where the lifting cables will be inserted. The Russian Navy officials, however, are still unsure whether the torpedo section has been sliced off completely. The news that the torpedo section was separated came from Mammoet on September 13th. The Russian Navy officials promptly denied the report, saying basically that no protocol had been signed so far, and that the survey of the slicing line had to be conducted before any conclusions could be made. The Rubin design bureau would not give any comments on the situation at all. The Rubin design bureau is the agency, which engaged Mammoet from the Russian side. The Rubin design bureau was also the agency designing Kursk. Furthermore, it was said that cutting through the keel plate of the submarine at the bottom of the torpedo section, was a challenge. Even though the sediments were washed away, the currents continously brought them back. This made it difficult to discern whether the section was actually cut off. It seems that the meeting between Mammoet and the Navy representatives concerning the evaluation of whether the section was actually cut off, which took place onboard the Mayo on September 13th, was not entirely unproblematic. On the one hand, Mammoet, apparently backed by the Russian president's administration, was pushing to get the operation started, despite the lack of confirmation that the torpedo section was actually separated. The Navy, on the other hand, feels responsible for the outcome, and consequently they want to be positive that nothing will go wrong. A compromise was reached by including one sentence into the protocol on the separation of the torpedo section, which was signed by Mammoet and Rubin on September 14th. The sentence said that facts confirming the complete separation of the section would be established during the lifting of the submarine. In other words, the Russian side made Mammoet responsible if the torpedo section is still attached to the rest of the submarine, and any potential problems that this will generate on the procedure of the actual lifting, which is scheduled to start next week. The safety passport for the lifting operation, worked out by Rubin and the Navy, says that the torpedo section, due to sever damages, may fall off, distorting all the dynamic load calculations on the lifting cables and hoists installed onboard the Giant 4 barge. Thus, it has to be cut off before the submarine is lifted. The second reason for cutting off the section was the fear of unexploded torpedoes still present in this section of the submarine. Due to time running out fast, the participants of the operation started to compromise safety procedures that had been worked out and agreed upon earlier. The only precaution the Russian officials have taken so far, was to ensure that the responsibility is not theirs but Mammoets, if anything should go wrong. From now on they can always point their finger at Mammoet when the Russian president demands an explanation for possible failures occurring in the week to come. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 9 Of Atomic Secrets, Loyalty and Bitter Deceit September 18, 2001 By JAMES BAMFORD High in the frigid, crystalline air off the Kamchatka Peninsula of Siberia, a filter in a specially modified American B-29 began picking up traces of microscopic particles containing disintegrating nuclei. Like cancer cells in their earliest stages, the tiny bundles of atoms would portend devastating consequences. Scientists later determined that the invisible grains of matter caught in the plane's sniffer were highly radioactive and part of a cloud that was drifting east. Further analysis determined that they were produced by an explosion in a Russian desert about 100 miles south of Semipalatinsk. On Sept. 23, 1949, President Harry S. Truman announced to the nation the troubling discovery. The Soviet Union had successfully tested its first atomic weapon. The United States' short-lived nuclear monopoly was over, and the cold war suddenly shifted into high gear. Adding to the worry, the device appeared to bear a striking resemblance to the bomb the United States had dropped on Nagasaki four years earlier. Thus began the search for the mole who passed America's deepest atomic secrets to its mortal enemy. "The Brother," by Sam Roberts, takes a fresh look at the atomic- bomb spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg from the perspective of the man who stole the secrets, and then gave up the Rosenbergs to the F.B.I. — David Greenglass. What makes the story especially poignant is that those whom Mr. Greenglass strapped into the electric chair as a result of his testimony were members of his own family — his sister and brother-in-law. Mr. Roberts, an editor at The New York Times, doggedly tracked down the elusive Mr. Greenglass in the early 1980's and pursued him for an interview, unsuccessfully, for 13 years. Then in 1996, on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of a failed business, Mr. Greenglass finally agreed to be questioned — for a share in the proceeds of the sale of the book. Thus he went full circle, first selling out his country for cash, then selling out his relatives for a deal with the prosecutors, and finally selling his story for a piece of a book. While Mr. Greenglass adds some personal detail and a bit of color, most of the key facts have long been known. He testified in court during the Rosenberg trial and gave a shorter interview to authors in the late 1970's. One exception, however, concerns Mr. Greenglass's testimony in which he confirmed a courtroom statement by his wife, Ruth, that Ethel typed up Mr. Greenglass's A- bomb notes. Now he says that he never actually remembered that happening. "I can only assume my wife didn't make it up," he said. But given the climate at the time — for example the jury only deliberated for 7 hours and 40 minutes — it is likely that the jury would have believed Ruth even without confirmation from Mr. Greenglass. Mr. Greenglass also adds little depth and insight into what J. Edgar Hoover called "the crime of the century." One keeps listening for Kim Philby but hears only Forrest Gump. Luckily, Mr. Roberts made up for the lackluster confession by doing a wonderful job of research. He went through box loads of yellowing archives and newly declassified memos. He interviewed nearly everyone still living who was connected with the case, and he uncovered numerous unpublished notes and manuscripts of key figures. The result is an important and highly readable tale of blind loyalty and bitter deceit, of hysteria and horror. Today's world of treachery is populated mostly by those who, out of need or greed, sell secrets to rescue a mortgage or buy a speedboat. But in the early 1940's ideology was a key reason for espionage, both in the United States and Britain. With the United States engaged in a world war, there was great uncertainty about who would eventually emerge as friend or foe. Few would have guessed that western Germany and Japan would become America's great allies, or that the United States would soon be looking down the barrel of our ally at that time, the Soviet Union. This led some Americans to sympathize with the Soviet Union's plight, facing Hitler on its doorstep, and with the utopian ideal of Communism. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were among the few who went several steps beyond sympathy to espionage. True believers in Communism almost from puberty, they also indoctrinated Mr. Greenglass early on. Like many teenagers David had a paper route, only he delivered The Daily Worker. Bounced from college, Mr. Greenglass married a woman who shared his Communist sympathies and shortly thereafter, in 1943, was drafted into the Army. As chance would have it, he was assigned to Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. For Mr. Rosenberg, by then deeply involved in espionage for the Soviets, it was a perfect opportunity, and he persuaded Mr. Greenglass to pass secrets to a courier, Harry Gold. The F.B.I. finally caught up with Mr. Greenglass in 1950, and he quickly agreed to trade a reduced sentence for himself and freedom for his wife for damning testimony against his sister and her husband. In a truly unusual move for a spy case, the Rosenbergs chose loyalty to the cause and silence instead of selling out anyone else. They were duly rewarded with the electric chair by a judge who maintained that God had told him to impose the death sentence. After 10 years, Mr. Greenglass walked out of prison with a new name and straight into anonymity, aided by the F.B.I. Eventually he and his family managed to retreat far enough into the background that even his grandchildren still do not know his true identity. "No. I still don't believe I did anything wrong," Mr. Greenglass replied when Mr. Roberts asked him about his espionage. "Can you imagine if there wasn't mutually assured destruction?" he said, single-handedly taking credit for keeping the world safe from nuclear destruction. "Would you ever say you're sorry to Ethel and Julius?," the author asked. "Never," Mr. Greenglass replied, adding that the Rosenbergs had an opportunity to cooperate with the government and foolishly decided against it. "To die for something as nebulous as that is stupidity," he said, quoting his and Ethel's mother. In the end, like Forrest Gump, Mr. Greenglass managed to encapsulate the entire case in a single phrase. "All you need is one guy to get caught," he said. "One guy that's not smart." Copyright 2001 The New York Times ***************************************************************** 10 IAEA opens, expected to adopt resolution to inspect N. Korea VIENNA, KYODO NEWS Japanese Chinese Members Subscribe 2001/09/19 updated 16:01 News TOP Sept. 17, Kyodo - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened its annual conference on Monday, with IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei requesting that North Korea cooperate with on-site inspections of nuclear facilities. ElBaradei made the request in an opening speech before government representatives of 132 member states. In a message to the IAEA, U.S. President George W. Bush urged the agency to step up the control of all nuclear materials and ensure that they would not end up in the hands of terrorists. ElBaradei said the IAEA is continuing to monitor the freeze on facilities in North Korea under a 1994 agreement between the United States and North Korea, but that the agency is unable to verify the accuracy of North Korea's nuclear program. The IAEA conference, slated to run through Friday, is expected to adopt a resolution urging North Korea to accept the inspection. Koji Omi, Japan's state minister on science and technology policy, also urged in a speech that North Korea cooperate in the inspection and to mend ties with the IAEA. ''From the perspective of security in Northeast Asia, the agency's role in the context of suspended nuclear weapons development by North Korea is a grave one,'' he said. ''I urge North Korea to improve its relationship with the agency and to comply with its obligation under the safeguard agreement promptly and completely,'' Omi said. Under the 1994 agreement, North Korea is supposed to be subjected to an inspection before the main body of the first of two light-water reactors to be built by a U.S.-led international consortium is put in place. North Korea has refused an inspection, claiming that there has been no progress on the building of the light-water reactor and that the country has incurred economic losses. The IAEA conference will also examine a variety of matters, including measures to strengthen international cooperation in nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety. It will also examine strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system, and measures to improve the security of nuclear materials and other radioactive materials, among other issues. At the opening of the conference, participants offered a silence prayer to honor the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the U.S. Earlier Monday, IAEA spokesman David Kyd told a news conference that if terrorists used commercial jetliners to attack nuclear power plants in Europe, the damage could have been devastating. Kyd said nuclear power plants could survive an accidental crash of a commercial jetliner or a military aircraft but an airborne terrorist attack such as what took place in New York and Washington last Tuesday had not been anticipated. The main body of a reactor may not explode, however, a groundwater explosion could occur if cooling devises inside are damaged, he added. Kyd said it may be difficult for terrorists to attack from the air as such nuclear power plants are small, compared with the World Trade Center which were struck and demolished by two hijacked airplanes Tuesday. The Pentagon was struck by a third airplane in a similar attack. Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 11 Not so many 'secrets' after all The Pasko Case Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. While former FSB investigator Izotov was sweating in the Pacific Fleet courthouse, the experts on state secrets finalised their conclusions. It turns out that the number of 'secrets' in the case materials has been considerably reduced. Nikiforov Jon Gauslaa, 2001-09-17 21:04 Last week the Pacific Fleet Court finally managed to interrogate former FSB-investigator Evgeny Izotov, who took part in the search of Pasko's flat on November 20, 1997. Mr. Izotov was supposed to appear as a witness on September 4, but then he did not show up, which led the Court to issue an order to the police to bring him in. -- These are difficult times Although the police did not have to use force to carry out its task, it was clear that Izotov did not enjoy the experience. Before the interrogation, Izotov had a short conversation with Aleksandr Tkatchenko of the Russian Pen club. -- These are difficult times, when even I, a former FSB-investigator, is brought to Court for questioning like this, Izotov said. The cross-examination of Mr. Izotov revealed that the search was carried out under dubious and downright illegal circumstances. Izotov admitted that he had allowed several persons who were not members of the search party to enter the flat, which is a clear law violation. Besides, the search took place in the middle of the night, which also violates the law, and the protocol of the search was not set up according to the demands of the Criminal Procedure Code. Izotov tried to excuse the violations with claiming that the FSB had an urgent need for carrying out the search, but personally he had not paid much attention to what was going on. It was not his case and he had not known what they had been looking for. Vladivostok sea port. Who gave the order? The presiding judge, Dmitry Kuvchennikov, then asked why Pasko's wife had not been present in the room they had searched, which she should have been according to the law (since Pasko was arrested when the search was carried out). Izotov said that he was ordered to keep her away, so that she would "not be involved". This led to the following exchange of words between the judge and the former FSB serviceman: -- And who gave this order? Perhaps Pushkin, the poet? -- No, it was not Pushkin. It was chief-investigator Egorkin... -- Mr. Izotov's testimony was important, said defender Ivan Pavlov after the court session. We have previously filed a petition to the Court where we point out that the search was carried out illegally. The protocol of the search does not prove that the material, which the FSB now claims was confiscated at the search, actually was confiscated. It could just as well have been "inserted" to the protocol later. Izotov's testimony confirms our points and thus, our demand that the protocol must be precluded as evidence was substantiated. Experts: Less 'secrets' than before Simultaneously as former investigator Izotov was sweating in the witness stand, the experts from the Ministry of Defence who have evaluated whether there are state secrets or not in the materials that allegedly were confiscated at Pasko's flat, finalised their work, which was presented to the Court on September 14. It turns out that the conclusions in the experts' 47 page document differs considerably from previous expert conclusions on the same issue. Although the experts still maintain that there are state secrets in the disputed materials, the number of such secrets has been reduced. -- While the previous experts claim that Pasko on ten different occasions has collected or disclosed information pertaining to state secrets, the new experts are of the opinion that three of these ten episodes do not contain state secrets, said Ivan Pavlov. These episodes are an article Pasko wrote on the decommissioning on nuclear submarines; a report on the economical and social situation in the Vladivostok area; and a film Pasko shot of a train carrying spent nuclear fuel. The latter episode is a key point in the charges and thus, it is an interesting development that the experts no longer consider the film as a secret object. Environmental journalist Grigory Pasko in the streets of Vladivostok. Photo: Vlad Nikiforov The experts also disagree with previous experts regarding which concrete provisions the disputed information actually pertains to state secrets according to. Moreover, the legal foundation for the expert evaluation is still the secret decree 055:1996 from the Ministry of Defence. On September 12, 2001 the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court ruled that this decree should be published and brought in accordance with the Russian Constitution and other federal laws. - We have many questions to ask the experts and we will obviously focus on these issues, said Pavlov. Experts interrogations to start on September 19 The Court has announced a break until September 19, when it will start its interrogation of the experts. The length of the interrogation will depend on the need for asking the experts questions, but the interrogations may well take several days. Grigory Pasko was arrested in November 1997 on charges of espionage on behalf of the Japanese TV-station 'NHK'. He was acquitted of espionage in July 1999, but convicted of abuse of his official authority and freed under a general amnesty. Seeking a full acquittal, Pasko appealed the verdict, but so did the prosecution, insisting he was a spy. The Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in November 2000, and sent the case back to Vladivostok for a re-trial. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway Menu ***************************************************************** 12 Thwarting terrorism, ORNL ideas may blossom as America recovers, reinforces KnoxNews: Columnists By Frank Munger News-Sentinel senior writer Vivian Baylor works in the national security directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she manages non-proliferation research projects. The Oak Ridge work, mostly hush-hush because of the sensitivity of research sponsors, may help subvert the future use of weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear, chemical, biological -- in the United States or elsewhere. But Baylor's thoughts last week, like everyone else's, were focused on New York, Washington and rural Pennsylvania and the almost unfathomable events that took place one after another, and she was feeling frustrated. "I just wish there were more things that Oak Ridge could do immediately with the recovery, just searching through the rubble," she said. Top scientists and engineers at ORNL and other research institutions around the globe are already exchanging ideas about new technologies or new applications for old ones that could help prevent a recurrence of the Tuesday tragedies and threats yet to be imagined. In the weeks and months ahead, some of those ideas will likely become projects and perhaps lead to meaningful results. It's not yet clear what contributions ORNL may make, but Baylor said there are several areas of expertise that could be tapped, including information technology. Better software tools for processing and correlating pieces of information from passenger manifests and other sources might reveal unusual situations to airport officials in advance of trouble. "Of course you'd have to control access, not for just any Tom, Dick and Harry," Baylor said. Methods developed for scientific studies already enable researchers to put information in whatever format is needed. The Oak Ridge laboratory has a number of technologies under development that could be applied to the war against terrorism, ranging from advanced sensors and detectors to new forensics tools for fingerprint analysis. But, according to Baylor, technology isn't the only issue. "You've got to look at operational solutions," she said. "The technology is there, but are we willing to let people fly near the World Trade Center? Are we willing to let the FBI do the surveillance it's capable of? Are we willing to let the CIA hire unsavory people to infiltrate Osama bin Laden's network? We haven't been. So it's not just a technological fix." There are tough choices for the American people to evaluate, and some decisions could result in invasive security checks and infringe on civil liberties, Baylor said. It's not yet clear how much inconvenience the public is willing to withstand, she said. Baylor served on a blue-ribbon panel that reviewed airport security a couple of years ago, and she said vulnerabilities that became apparent last week were identified back then, such as the potential for smuggling weapons aboard airplanes. There has been a reluctance to put tough measures into place, she said. The Federal Aviation Administration previously considered a security proposal that would eliminate use of overhead bins for carry-on baggage, Baylor said. That was never mandated, however, because of concerns over the reaction of the traveling public, she said. Like other observers, she believes the United States will probably be forced to adopt some of the airport procedures and attitudes already common in Europe. At U.S. airports, some of the ground crew members do not undergo any background clearances, Baylor said. "Look at the people who are doing baggage security," she said. "In the U.S. they have been minimum wage-type people with a high turnover rate. ... If you look at Europe, the people are government employees, fairly well paid, and it's considered to be a really responsible position. You get higher quality people devoted to their jobs." This country probably relaxed a little too much at the end of the Cold War, maybe didn't devote enough of its federal budget to national security programs and combating the not-so-obvious adversaries, Baylor said. "I imagine we're going to have a lot of people taking a look at lessons learned," she said, "but at this point it's hard to say definitely what will happen. Everybody is so discombobulated at the moment." Senior writer Frank Munger can be reached at 482-9213 or by e-mail at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This weekly column on science and technology also is available on our Web site at http://www.knoxnews.com/science/munger/. Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 13 Terrorism Haunts Nuke Delegates Las Vegas SUN September 17, 2001 VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Haunted by last week's terrorism, delegates from 132 nations opened an annual atomic energy conference Monday with calls for tighter security - and admissions that little can be done to shield a nuclear power plant from an airborne assault. Governments, fearing a similar suicide jetliner crash at a nuclear plant, have tightened security outside nuclear power and radioactive waste facilities worldwide in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But Japan, which is heavily dependent on nuclear energy and has 52 nuclear plants, warned Monday that nothing can shield the plants from a direct hit from a missile or an aircraft. At the same time, the world must also "ensure that nuclear materials are never used as weapons of terrors," U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told the International Atomic Energy Agency gathering in Vienna. "We cannot assume that tomorrow's terrorist acts will mirror those we've just experienced," he said. In a message to delegates, President Bush also urged the Vienna-based agency to keep pace with "the real and growing threat of nuclear proliferation." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the effort "more important than ever in the aftermath of last week's appalling terrorist attack in the United States." The architects of the world's nuclear plants designed them more with ground vehicle - not airborne - attacks in mind, IAEA spokesman David Kyd said. Most nuclear plans were built during the 1960s and 1970s, and like the World Trade Center, were designed to withstand only accidental, glancing impacts from the smaller aircraft widely used at the time, he said. "If you postulate the risk of a jumbo jet full of fuel, it is clear that their design was not conceived to withstand such an impact," Kyd said. In Japan, Takeo Hiranuma, minister for economy, trade and industry, noted that his country's nuclear plants were built to withstand earthquakes - not "hits from above by missiles or aircraft." A direct hit of a nuclear plant by a modern jumbo jet traveling at high speed "could create a Chernobyl situation," said a U.S. official who declined to be identified. The 1986 nuclear explosion in Chernobyl, Ukraine, killed more than 4,000 people. Tens of thousands more were disabled in the cleanup afterward. However, the buildings that house nuclear reactors themselves are far smaller targets than the Pentagon posed, and it would be extremely difficult for a terrorist to mount a direct hit at an angle that could unleash a catastrophic chain of events, Kyd said. If a nuclear power plant were hit by an airliner, the reactor would not explode, but such a strike could destroy the plant's cooling systems. That could cause the nuclear fuel rods to overheat and produce a steam explosion that could release lethal radioactivity into the atmosphere. In the United States, one solution could be installation of anti-aircraft weaponry manned by military personnel who would be stationed outside the nation's 104 commercial reactors, said Paul Leventhal, president of the Washington-based Nuclear Control Institute, a nonproliferation advocacy group. Last week, military fighter jets were alerted to civilian airlines veering off course - but failed to get there in time. "We're in a new era, and we must protect these plants in extraordinary ways," Leventhal said. On the Net: International Atomic Energy Agency: www.iaea.org/worldatom Nuclear Control Institute: www.nci.org All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 14 Of Atomic Secrets, Loyalty and Bitter Deceit September 18, 2001 By JAMES BAMFORD High in the frigid, crystalline air off the Kamchatka Peninsula of Siberia, a filter in a specially modified American B-29 began picking up traces of microscopic particles containing disintegrating nuclei. Like cancer cells in their earliest stages, the tiny bundles of atoms would portend devastating consequences. Scientists later determined that the invisible grains of matter caught in the plane's sniffer were highly radioactive and part of a cloud that was drifting east. Further analysis determined that they were produced by an explosion in a Russian desert about 100 miles south of Semipalatinsk. On Sept. 23, 1949, President Harry S. Truman announced to the nation the troubling discovery. The Soviet Union had successfully tested its first atomic weapon. The United States' short-lived nuclear monopoly was over, and the cold war suddenly shifted into high gear. Adding to the worry, the device appeared to bear a striking resemblance to the bomb the United States had dropped on Nagasaki four years earlier. Thus began the search for the mole who passed America's deepest atomic secrets to its mortal enemy. "The Brother," by Sam Roberts, takes a fresh look at the atomic- bomb spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg from the perspective of the man who stole the secrets, and then gave up the Rosenbergs to the F.B.I. — David Greenglass. What makes the story especially poignant is that those whom Mr. Greenglass strapped into the electric chair as a result of his testimony were members of his own family — his sister and brother-in-law. Mr. Roberts, an editor at The New York Times, doggedly tracked down the elusive Mr. Greenglass in the early 1980's and pursued him for an interview, unsuccessfully, for 13 years. Then in 1996, on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of a failed business, Mr. Greenglass finally agreed to be questioned — for a share in the proceeds of the sale of the book. Thus he went full circle, first selling out his country for cash, then selling out his relatives for a deal with the prosecutors, and finally selling his story for a piece of a book. While Mr. Greenglass adds some personal detail and a bit of color, most of the key facts have long been known. He testified in court during the Rosenberg trial and gave a shorter interview to authors in the late 1970's. One exception, however, concerns Mr. Greenglass's testimony in which he confirmed a courtroom statement by his wife, Ruth, that Ethel typed up Mr. Greenglass's A- bomb notes. Now he says that he never actually remembered that happening. "I can only assume my wife didn't make it up," he said. But given the climate at the time — for example the jury only deliberated for 7 hours and 40 minutes — it is likely that the jury would have believed Ruth even without confirmation from Mr. Greenglass. Mr. Greenglass also adds little depth and insight into what J. Edgar Hoover called "the crime of the century." One keeps listening for Kim Philby but hears only Forrest Gump. Luckily, Mr. Roberts made up for the lackluster confession by doing a wonderful job of research. He went through box loads of yellowing archives and newly declassified memos. He interviewed nearly everyone still living who was connected with the case, and he uncovered numerous unpublished notes and manuscripts of key figures. The result is an important and highly readable tale of blind loyalty and bitter deceit, of hysteria and horror. Today's world of treachery is populated mostly by those who, out of need or greed, sell secrets to rescue a mortgage or buy a speedboat. But in the early 1940's ideology was a key reason for espionage, both in the United States and Britain. With the United States engaged in a world war, there was great uncertainty about who would eventually emerge as friend or foe. Few would have guessed that western Germany and Japan would become America's great allies, or that the United States would soon be looking down the barrel of our ally at that time, the Soviet Union. This led some Americans to sympathize with the Soviet Union's plight, facing Hitler on its doorstep, and with the utopian ideal of Communism. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were among the few who went several steps beyond sympathy to espionage. True believers in Communism almost from puberty, they also indoctrinated Mr. Greenglass early on. Like many teenagers David had a paper route, only he delivered The Daily Worker. Bounced from college, Mr. Greenglass married a woman who shared his Communist sympathies and shortly thereafter, in 1943, was drafted into the Army. As chance would have it, he was assigned to Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. For Mr. Rosenberg, by then deeply involved in espionage for the Soviets, it was a perfect opportunity, and he persuaded Mr. Greenglass to pass secrets to a courier, Harry Gold. The F.B.I. finally caught up with Mr. Greenglass in 1950, and he quickly agreed to trade a reduced sentence for himself and freedom for his wife for damning testimony against his sister and her husband. In a truly unusual move for a spy case, the Rosenbergs chose loyalty to the cause and silence instead of selling out anyone else. They were duly rewarded with the electric chair by a judge who maintained that God had told him to impose the death sentence. After 10 years, Mr. Greenglass walked out of prison with a new name and straight into anonymity, aided by the F.B.I. Eventually he and his family managed to retreat far enough into the background that even his grandchildren still do not know his true identity. "No. I still don't believe I did anything wrong," Mr. Greenglass replied when Mr. Roberts asked him about his espionage. "Can you imagine if there wasn't mutually assured destruction?" he said, single-handedly taking credit for keeping the world safe from nuclear destruction. "Would you ever say you're sorry to Ethel and Julius?," the author asked. "Never," Mr. Greenglass replied, adding that the Rosenbergs had an opportunity to cooperate with the government and foolishly decided against it. "To die for something as nebulous as that is stupidity," he said, quoting his and Ethel's mother. In the end, like Forrest Gump, Mr. Greenglass managed to encapsulate the entire case in a single phrase. "All you need is one guy to get caught," he said. "One guy that's not smart." Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 15 Kursk lifters compromise safety Background information and news about the numerous accidents and incidents that involve the nuclear vessels in the Northern Fleet. Jump to section Both Russian officials and Mammoet start to neglect safety procedures, as they feel the time pressure. The torpedo section may still be attached to Kursk. Igor Kudrik, 2001-09-18 16:02 The torpedo section of the Kursk submarine is cut off, and the divers go on installing the so-called directing buckets into the holes in the hull, where the lifting cables will be inserted. The Russian Navy officials, however, are still unsure whether the torpedo section has been sliced off completely. The news that the torpedo section was separated came from Mammoet on September 13th. The Russian Navy officials promptly denied the report, saying basically that no protocol had been signed so far, and that the survey of the slicing line had to be conducted before any conclusions could be made. The Rubin design bureau would not give any comments on the situation at all. The Rubin design bureau is the agency, which engaged Mammoet from the Russian side. The Rubin design bureau was also the agency designing Kursk. Furthermore, it was said that cutting through the keel plate of the submarine at the bottom of the torpedo section, was a challenge. Even though the sediments were washed away, the currents continously brought them back. This made it difficult to discern whether the section was actually cut off. It seems that the meeting between Mammoet and the Navy representatives concerning the evaluation of whether the section was actually cut off, which took place onboard the Mayo on September 13th, was not entirely unproblematic. On the one hand, Mammoet, apparently backed by the Russian president's administration, was pushing to get the operation started, despite the lack of confirmation that the torpedo section was actually separated. The Navy, on the other hand, feels responsible for the outcome, and consequently they want to be positive that nothing will go wrong. A compromise was reached by including one sentence into the protocol on the separation of the torpedo section, which was signed by Mammoet and Rubin on September 14th. The sentence said that facts confirming the complete separation of the section would be established during the lifting of the submarine. In other words, the Russian side made Mammoet responsible if the torpedo section is still attached to the rest of the submarine, and any potential problems that this will generate on the procedure of the actual lifting, which is scheduled to start next week. The safety passport for the lifting operation, worked out by Rubin and the Navy, says that the torpedo section, due to sever damages, may fall off, distorting all the dynamic load calculations on the lifting cables and hoists installed onboard the Giant 4 barge. Thus, it has to be cut off before the submarine is lifted. The second reason for cutting off the section was the fear of unexploded torpedoes still present in this section of the submarine. Due to time running out fast, the participants of the operation started to compromise safety procedures that had been worked out and agreed upon earlier. The only precaution the Russian officials have taken so far, was to ensure that the responsibility is not theirs but Mammoet’s, if anything should go wrong. From now on they can always point their finger at Mammoet when the Russian president demands an explanation for possible failures occurring in the week to come. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway Menu system java script courtesy of Peter Belesis at the Dynamic HTML lab. ***************************************************************** 16 Pakistan's nuclear arms increase risks to region Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Special report: Terrorism in the USSpecial report: the India-Pakistan conflict Rory McCarthy in Islamabad Monday September 17, 2001 The Guardian As well as an impending war, a refugee crisis and the threat of an Islamic revolution, Pakistan has one more element to throw into this combustible mix: the nuclear bomb. Since last Tuesday, it has stepped up security around its nuclear bases, including the key site at Sargodha, near Lahore, from which targets in India are well within range. Senior military officers are deeply concerned that US or Nato forces using Pakistani airspace for a military strike on Afghanistan will be able to glean information about the nuclear programme. Islamic clerics have condemned the Pakistani regime for offering its "unstinted cooperation" to the US for its impending strike at Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban regime, Pakistan's long-time ally. Most analysts discount the chance of an Iranian-style Islamic revolution in the near future, but many senior army officers are deeply Islamic and much more rightwing than their urbane leader, General Pervez Musharraf. Some of the most senior Islamists include his deputy Lieutenant General Muzaffar Usmani and the Lahore corps commander, Lt Gen Mohammad Aziz. In April, Gen Musharraf replaced his Peshawar corps commander, Lt Gen Imtiaz Shaheen, after less than a year in the job. Gen Shaheen was a critic of support for the Taliban. A CIA report this year said Pakistan's nuclear programme was well developed and its ballistic missile development relied heavily on Chinese aid. Pakistan is putting the finishing touches to its Shaheen-II ballistic missile, able to hit targets 1,550 miles away. On May 28 1998, Pakistan announced it had successfully held five nuclear tests. Two days later another device was tested. It has not signed the comprehensive test ban treaty. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 17 Not so many 'secrets' after all Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. While former FSB investigator Izotov was sweating in the Pacific Fleet courthouse, the experts on state secrets finalised their conclusions. It turns out that the number of 'secrets' in the case materials has been considerably reduced. Grigory Pasko in Vladivostok. Photo: Vlad Nikiforov Jon Gauslaa, 2001-09-17 21:04 Last week the Pacific Fleet Court finally managed to interrogate former FSB-investigator Evgeny Izotov, who took part in the search of Pasko's flat on November 20, 1997. Mr. Izotov was supposed to appear as a witness on September 4, but then he did not show up, which led the Court to issue an order to the police to bring him in. -- These are difficult times Although the police did not have to use force to carry out its task, it was clear that Izotov did not enjoy the experience. Before the interrogation, Izotov had a short conversation with Aleksandr Tkatchenko of the Russian Pen club. -- These are difficult times, when even I, a former FSB-investigator, is brought to Court for questioning like this, Izotov said. The cross-examination of Mr. Izotov revealed that the search was carried out under dubious and downright illegal circumstances. Izotov admitted that he had allowed several persons who were not members of the search party to enter the flat, which is a clear law violation. Besides, the search took place in the middle of the night, which also violates the law, and the protocol of the search was not set up according to the demands of the Criminal Procedure Code. Izotov tried to excuse the violations with claiming that the FSB had an urgent need for carrying out the search, but personally he had not paid much attention to what was going on. It was not his case and he had not known what they had been looking for. -- Who gave the order? The presiding judge, Dmitry Kuvchennikov, then asked why Pasko's wife had not been present in the room they had searched, which she should have been according to the law (since Pasko was arrested when the search was carried out). Izotov said that he was ordered to keep her away, so that she would "not be involved". This led to the following exchange of words between the judge and the former FSB serviceman: -- And who gave this order? Perhaps Pushkin, the poet? -- No, it was not Pushkin. It was chief-investigator Egorkin... -- Mr. Izotov's testimony was important, said defender Ivan Pavlov after the court session. We have previously filed a petition to the Court where we point out that the search was carried out illegally. The protocol of the search does not prove that the material, which the FSB now claims was confiscated at the search, actually was confiscated. It could just as well have been "inserted" to the protocol later. Izotov's testimony confirms our points and thus, our demand that the protocol must be precluded as evidence was substantiated. Experts: Less 'secrets' than before Simultaneously as former investigator Izotov was sweating in the witness stand, the experts from the Ministry of Defence who have evaluated whether there are state secrets or not in the materials that allegedly were confiscated at Pasko's flat, finalised their work, which was presented to the Court on September 14. It turns out that the conclusions in the experts' 47 page document differs considerably from previous expert conclusions on the same issue. Although the experts still maintain that there are state secrets in the disputed materials, the number of such secrets has been reduced. -- While the previous experts claim that Pasko on ten different occasions has collected or disclosed information pertaining to state secrets, the new experts are of the opinion that three of these ten episodes do not contain state secrets, said Ivan Pavlov. These episodes are an article Pasko wrote on the decommissioning on nuclear submarines; a report on the economical and social situation in the Vladivostok area; and a film Pasko shot of a train carrying spent nuclear fuel. The latter episode is a key point in the charges and thus, it is an interesting development that the experts no longer consider the film as a secret object. The experts also disagree with previous experts regarding which concrete provisions the disputed information actually pertains to state secrets according to. Moreover, the legal foundation for the expert evaluation is still the secret decree 055:1996 from the Ministry of Defence. On September 12, 2001 the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court ruled that this decree should be published and brought in accordance with the Russian Constitution and other federal laws. - We have many questions to ask the experts and we will obviously focus on these issues, said Pavlov. Experts interrogations to start on September 19 The Court has announced a break until September 19, when it will start its interrogation of the experts. The length of the interrogation will depend on the need for asking the experts questions, but the interrogations may well take several days. Grigory Pasko was arrested in November 1997 on charges of espionage on behalf of the Japanese TV-station 'NHK'. He was acquitted of espionage in July 1999, but convicted of abuse of his official authority and freed under a general amnesty. Seeking a full acquittal, Pasko appealed the verdict, but so did the prosecution, insisting he was a spy. The Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in November 2000, and sent the case back to Vladivostok for a re-trial. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************