***************************************************************** 11/18/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.272 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 ERA defends Jabiluka water management system 2 Nuclear power strike averted 3 Nuclear power workers agree pay deal 4 Bulgaria: Russian firm wins tender for nuclear fuel supplier 5 Reactor compartment to be cut out of Kursk nuclear submarine 6 International fund approves aid to modernize Bulgarian nuclear 7 Nuclear Power Plant in Western Ukraine Confirms Contamination of 8 Concerns over run-off at Jabiluka mine 9 Nuclear Power Plant in Western Ukraine Confirms Contamination of 10 Almost half Austrians want Czech EU entry veto over nuclear plant 11 Almost half Austrians want Czech EU entry veto over nuclear plant 12 Japan reactor leak may have started July-company 13 Lithuanian PM to visit Sweden to discuss EU enlargement, nuclear plant 14 U.S. Chamber lobbies for Yucca 15 Nuclear sites guarded, official says - 16 Federal Guards for Nuke Plants Sought 17 Environmental Minister exasperated at Sellafield decision 18 Environmental Minister exasperated at Sellafield decision 19 Chained up protesters dragged from Downing Street 20 Russia hopes to build a nuclear power station in Finland 21 Official: Nuclear Plants Are Safe 22 Slovakia oks EBRD deal to fund nuke plant shutdown 23 IAEA mission to inspect Czech Temelin n-plant 24 NATIONAL NEWS: 'Costly delay' on nuclear waste storage 25 Loud boom and dust mark implosion of Maine Yankee's turbine building 26 Two new reactor ideas proposed for energy park 27 Reid developing legislation to improve plant security 28 Vegas chamber says it was undercut on Yucca Mountain position 29 Public spat puts nuclear rebirth at risk 30 Nuclear plant praised highly 31 Kerala gives nod to N-power plants 32 LaDuke keeps the activism fires lit 33 Layoffs looming at Ohio plant 34 Nuclear security money in dispute 35 Govt accused of putting nuclear programme at stake 36 N.C. citizens stock up on potassium iodide pills 37 FOCUS: Public confidence in nuclear power shaken 38 Speculation turns to spent fuel pool 39 U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports Yucca 40 Technology:Backers seek to extend site life 41 In the shadow of Limerick 42 Activists stand united against new power plant 43 Uphill battle : The future of Weldon Spring NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 DU In Afghanistan 2 Was Paper on Bomb a Parody? 3 Plan made for SRS in case of strike 4 Expert: Taliban probably unable to unleash poison, nukes 5 Plans for isotopes plant stay quiet 6 Potomac Institute Presents: 'New War Challenges' 7 Abraham to make first visit as energy secretary to Nevada 8 'Dirty bomb,' not nuke, appears more likely threat 9 DOE shuts down Pantex board 10 Nuclear materials on sale in Afghanistan 11 The Tough Task of Nuclear Reduction 12 The UK's newest terrorists: the MoD 13 Science and security: Chasing nuclear 'secrets' 14 U.S. Arsenal: Treaties vs. Nontreaties 15 William F. Buckley Jr. on Rogue Nuclear Weapons on National 16 Billions to fight terrorism, and no one knows where it's going **************************************************************** **************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 ERA defends Jabiluka water management system ABC News - Posted :Sat, 17 Nov 2001 16:32 AEDT Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has defended the water management system at the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory. Environment groups and representatives of traditional owners inspected the mine site yesterday. The Gundhjehmi Aboriginal Corporation says it remains concerned contaminated water kept in ponds at the site will overflow during the approaching wet season and says monitoring systems are inadequate. But an ERA spokesman says the ponds can withstand a one in 10,000 year wet season and are under constant supervision. © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 2 Nuclear power strike averted The Guardian - United Kingdom; Nov 17, 2001 The threat of strike action by thousands of nuclear power workers was averted yesterday after union leaders reached agreement with British Energy on a new pay deal. The revised offer, agreed during lengthy talks at the conciliation service Acas, will give workers a 3% increase from the beginning of July. Unions have agreed to put industrial action on hold pending a ballot and said they would recommend a yes vote. Workers, who had voted overwhelmingly for industrial action, were due to begin a work to rule and overtime ban on Monday and hold a one-day strike on November 29. All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 3 Nuclear power workers agree pay deal online.ie 17 Nov 2001 The threat of industrial action by thousands of nuclear power workers was averted today after union leaders agreed a new pay deal. Officials from five unions reached agreement with British Energy during talks at the conciliation service, Acas. The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, the biggest at British Energy, said the company had improved its pay offer from 1.9% to 3%. "We are very pleased that the company has seen sense and helped to avert a strike. "But there was no need for the unnecessary lengthy procedures in these negotiations and we hope that things can be improved in the future," said a union official. ***************************************************************** 4 Bulgaria: Russian firm wins tender for nuclear fuel supplier BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 16, 2001 Kozloduy, 16 November: The Russian company TVEL won a tender for supplier of fresh nuclear fuel for the 440-megawatt units of the Kozloduy nuclear plant, said the plant's Executive Director Yordan Kostadinov. During the tender's second round, the other bidder decided to withdraw. TVEL has the advantage of being a traditional supplier and its offer was more attractive. In early December, TVEL and the plant are expected to sign a contract regulating the amount and the prices of the fresh fuel... Source: BTA web site, Sofia, in English 16 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 5 Reactor compartment to be cut out of Kursk nuclear submarine BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 16, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian AVN Military News Agency web site Moscow, 16 November: A plan to utilize [scrap] the submarine Kursk will be approved before the end of the month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov told the press on Friday [16 November]. The submarine will be cut up at the Nerpa ship repair plant [in Murmansk Region] where the reactor section will be cut off for subsequent utilization [scrapping] elsewhere, he said. This will be done after the Prosecutor-General's Office investigators bring their work on the Kursk to its completion, Klebanov said. Source: AVN Military News Agency web site, Moscow, in English 1101 gmt 16 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All ***************************************************************** 6 International fund approves aid to modernize Bulgarian nuclear plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 17, 2001 Text of report by Bulgarian radio on 16 November A meeting of the International Fund for the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant took place in London today. During the meeting, agreements were signed to allocate 7m euros in outright grants to build the chief administration centre of the project in the 2002-06 time frame and to implement a pilot project to reduce the non-technical losses in measuring energy. The donors approved in principle two more agreements on allocating outright grants to build a tailing pond to store spent nuclear fuel. An agreement was also signed to allocate 20m euros to improve the efficiency of heating companies. Source: Bulgarian Radio, Sofia, in Bulgarian 0000 gmt 16 Nov /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 7 Nuclear Power Plant in Western Ukraine Confirms Contamination of Local River BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Political ( November 17, 2001 ) Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Lviv, 17 November: The management of the Rivne nuclear power plant in western Ukraine on Saturday [17 November] confirmed the contamination of the local river Styr by transformer oil that leaked from reactor one. Because of malfunction in the reactor, personnel drained the oil in rainy weather. As a result, more than 20 kg of oil were washed away into the sewer and then into the river of Styr, the Rivne State Department of Environmental Safety told ITAR-TASS. Fortunately, environmentalists prevented the oil from getting into water intakes. The Department of Environmental Safety has begun an investigation. (C) 2001 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Political. via ***************************************************************** 8 Concerns over run-off at Jabiluka mine ABC News - Posted :Fri, 16 Nov 2001 20:05 AEDT The traditional owners of the Jabiluka uranium mine site in the Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park, have raised concerns about the disposal of contaminated water after a visit to the site today. The Mirrar people have been granted access to the site to inspect the new water management system. Justin O'Brien, from the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, says he remains concerned about the run-off of contaminated water during the wet season. "Today's visit really highlighted the need for a complete rehabilitation of the Jabiluka site," Mr O'Brien said. "The concerns of the traditional owners regarding the possibility of contaminants leaving that site when the first flush of the wet season occurs, they weren't allayed by today's visit." © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 9 Nuclear Power Plant in Western Ukraine Confirms Contamination of Local River BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Political ( November 17, 2001 ) Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Lviv, 17 November: The management of the Rivne nuclear power plant in western Ukraine on Saturday [17 November] confirmed the contamination of the local river Styr by transformer oil that leaked from reactor one. Because of malfunction in the reactor, personnel drained the oil in rainy weather. As a result, more than 20 kg of oil were washed away into the sewer and then into the river of Styr, the Rivne State Department of Environmental Safety told ITAR-TASS. Fortunately, environmentalists prevented the oil from getting into water intakes. The Department of Environmental Safety has begun an investigation. (C) 2001 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union - Political. via ***************************************************************** 10 Almost half Austrians want Czech EU entry veto over nuclear plant - poll BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 17, 2001 Vienna, 17 November: A total of 47 per cent of Austrians believe that the Austrian government should proceed strictly and veto the Czech Republic's entry into the EU if Prague refused to close down the Czech nuclear plant Temelin, a poll conducted by the OGM institute has shown. Forty-one [per cent of] Austrians believe the opposite, showed the poll the results of which will be published in Monday's [19 November] issue of the Austrian magazine Format... Austria is strongly opposed to putting Temelin, situated in south Bohemia, some 60km from the Austrian border, into commercial operation. The Austrian government as well as Austrian, Czech and German environmentalists say the plant, which started to be launched in October 2000, is not safe because it combines Soviet design with western fuel and safety technology. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1211 gmt 17 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 11 Almost half Austrians want Czech EU entry veto over nuclear plant - poll BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 17, 2001 Vienna, 17 November: A total of 47 per cent of Austrians believe that the Austrian government should proceed strictly and veto the Czech Republic's entry into the EU if Prague refused to close down the Czech nuclear plant Temelin, a poll conducted by the OGM institute has shown. Forty-one [per cent of] Austrians believe the opposite, showed the poll the results of which will be published in Monday's [19 November] issue of the Austrian magazine Format... Austria is strongly opposed to putting Temelin, situated in south Bohemia, some 60km from the Austrian border, into commercial operation. The Austrian government as well as Austrian, Czech and German environmentalists say the plant, which started to be launched in October 2000, is not safe because it combines Soviet design with western fuel and safety technology. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1211 gmt 17 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 12 Japan reactor leak may have started July-company JAPAN: November 16, 2001 TOKYO - Chubu Electric Power Co Inc said yesterday that a water leak found at a nuclear reactor at its power plant in central Japan late last week may have started in July. "It is not conclusive, but some facts suggest that it may have been leaking since July," a company spokesman said. Chubu Electric, Japan's third largest power utility in terms of electricity sales, first found the leak - which contained some radiation - on Friday during an inspection of the 540-megawatt No 1 reactor at the Hamaoka power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture. The No. 1 reactor was shut down on Wednesday last week after emergency alarms sounded. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, a government agency under Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), has tentatively classified the steam leak accident a "Level one" on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The water leak was tentatively designated a "Level zero +" on the scale which runs from zero minus to seven, with seven being the most severe form of accident. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 13 Lithuanian PM to visit Sweden to discuss EU enlargement, nuclear plant Friday, 16-Nov-2001 10:30AM Story from AFP Copyright 2001 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) VILNIUS, Nov 16 (AFP) - Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas will visit Sweden on Monday to discuss EU enlargement and shutting down the Ignalina nuclear power plant, the government's information bureau said Friday. During the visit Brazauskas is scheduled to meet his Swedish counterpart Goran Persson and King Carl XVI Gustaf. Lithuania, which hopes to wrap up talks and join the European Union in 2004, is trying to delay the closure of its Chernobyl-design reactor at Ignalina. The EU has demanded Lithuania completely shut down by 2009 the facility's Soviet-built RBMK reactors, which it considers unsafe by design, despite large sums spent to improve their safety over the past decade. Sweden has been a major contributor to improving safety at Ignalina, granting close to 40 million dollars (45 million euros) over the past 10 years. It has allocated six million dollars for the international fund for decomissioning the reactor. ***************************************************************** 14 U.S. Chamber lobbies for Yucca [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Sunday, November 18, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal EDITORIAL: Meanwhile ... The Las Vegas chapter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was blindsided by its Washington headquarters on Thursday. The national office unveiled a coalition of 1,200 trade associations and other business groups pulled together to openly lobby for the rapid deployment of high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. This news was not welcomed by the local chamber, which has made no secret of its opposition to the repository. "We are the third-largest chamber in the United States, and we consider we should be consulted when making huge decisions," said the local office's government affairs director, Kami Dempsey. The Las Vegas chapter may offer a more forceful protest to the headquarters' actions: It may withdraw from the national organization (and save $3,000 in annual dues) at its next board meeting. It's a start. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-18-Sun-2001/opinion/17470318.html [http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-18-Sun-2001/opinion/17470318.html] ***************************************************************** 15 Nuclear sites guarded, official says - Sunday, November 18, 2001 The Detroit News. By Associated Press GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The United States has not received any credible threats to its nuclear power plants and there are multiple layers of defense in place to prevent an attack, a nuclear regulatory official said Saturday. "I'm here to try to reassure the people of the United States that we are doing well," said Nils Diaz, one of five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told an audience at the University of Florida. Diaz, who has been in the industry for 40 years, also said he doesn't believe suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden or his al-Qaida terrorist organization has access to nuclear weapons. "I believe they have no capabilities whatsoever," Diaz said. "Some of those things are purposely planted to create fear." Since Sept. 11, the commission has tightened security as well as information it gives the public. Diaz would not elaborate on security measures, except to say that all nuclear power plants are on high alert. "The bottom line is that the public health and safety will be protected even if there is an attack," Diaz said. "There are multiple layers of defense." ***************************************************************** 16 Federal Guards for Nuke Plants Sought Las Vegas SUN November 16, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - Two Democratic senators plan to introduce legislation after the Thanksgiving congressional recess to federalize security guards at the country's nuclear power plants. "We can no longer leave the security at our nation's nuclear power plants to chance," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who along with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., were drafting the legislation. Reid, who is assistant Senate majority leader and chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over nuclear issues, noted that Congress just agreed to federalize passenger and baggage screeners at airports. "It's time we focus the same energy to improve safety at nuclear power plants," said Reid. GOP conservatives in the House had opposed making the airport workers federal employees, and may also object to federalizing guards at nuclear plants. Private guards hired by the plant operators now handle security at the 103 nuclear reactors in 31 states. Although they carry weapons, they have no police power. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the private security forces at many of the plants have been augmented by local or state police and in at least seven states by National Guard troops. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Environmental Minister exasperated at Sellafield decision The Norway Post - Doorway to Norway 16. November 2001 Norway's Environmental Minister, Boerge Brende, reacts strongly to the decision by the British High Court to allow increased emissions of nuclear pollution from the Sellafield plant. The British High Court has turned down an appeal from the environmental organizations Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The two organizations had wanted to stop the building of a new plant for the production of of so-called MOX nuclear fuel at the Sellafield plant in north west England. The plant will use plutonium and uranium oxide as basis for the production. -We protest strongly against the new plant. This will mean a further increase of nuclear pollutants in the oceans close to Norwegian shores, the Norwegian Environmetal Minister says to Nettavisen. -We regret that Great Britain at the outset said yes to the establishment of the reposession plant, Brende says. He points out that the reposession plant will increase the risk for nuclear accidents and lead to increased emissions of the strong nuclear pollutant Technetium 99, traces of which have already been found in marine organizms along the Norwegian coast. -The emissions are unnecessary, since Technetium may safely be stored ans treated on land, Brende says. (Nettavisen) Rolleiv Solholm ***************************************************************** 18 Environmental Minister exasperated at Sellafield decision The Norway Post - Doorway to Norway 16. November 2001 Norway's Environmental Minister, Boerge Brende, reacts strongly to the decision by the British High Court to allow increased emissions of nuclear pollution from the Sellafield plant. The British High Court has turned down an appeal from the environmental organizations Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The two organizations had wanted to stop the building of a new plant for the production of of so-called MOX nuclear fuel at the Sellafield plant in north west England. The plant will use plutonium and uranium oxide as basis for the production. -We protest strongly against the new plant. This will mean a further increase of nuclear pollutants in the oceans close to Norwegian shores, the Norwegian Environmetal Minister says to Nettavisen. -We regret that Great Britain at the outset said yes to the establishment of the reposession plant, Brende says. He points out that the reposession plant will increase the risk for nuclear accidents and lead to increased emissions of the strong nuclear pollutant Technetium 99, traces of which have already been found in marine organizms along the Norwegian coast. -The emissions are unnecessary, since Technetium may safely be stored ans treated on land, Brende says. (Nettavisen) Rolleiv Solholm ***************************************************************** 19 Chained up protesters dragged from Downing Street Ananova - Anti-nuclear campaigners who chained themselves to the gates of Downing Street have been dragged away by police. More then 50 protesters from the campaign group Trident Ploughshares had gathered in Whitehall in a protest at Britain's nuclear weapons stockpile. Eleven objectors chained themselves to the gates of Downing Street, but were cut away by police and carried into waiting vans. Another protester climbed to the top of the railings and was led down by a fire crew. The group's spokesman, David Mackenzie, said: "We are an anti-nuclear weapon campaign group and are down in London this weekend to take direct action against Trident-related sites in the capital. "While the British Government is making loud noises about terrorism and the sanctity of human life, they are persisting in actively deploying a weapon which is one of terror." He said the group had delivered a letter to Tony Blair calling for the Government to adhere to what he called civil values, and get rid of weapons of mass destruction. He added: "Trident is the nuclear weapon system of the UK, which is based on four submarines on the Clyde, north of Glasgow. Each warhead has seven times the destructive power of the bomb that fell on Hiroshima." Story filed: 17:53 Saturday 17th November 2001 CHECK FOR MORE ON: [PDA Ananova] ***************************************************************** 20 Russia hopes to build a nuclear power station in Finland BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 17, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 17 November: Russia plans to participate in an international bidding in 2002 to build a nuclear power station in Finland. "We stand a good chance to win," Viktor Kozlov, general director of Atomstroyexport, a structure coming under the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry, told ITAR-TASS. Other bidders will include Germany, France, Britain and Sweden. "We will face a tough competition from the world's leading atomic energy firms," Kozlov went on to say. Nevertheless, he is optimistic and thinks that Russia may well win the contest. The thing is that Russia suggests building a station operating on light-water reactors similar to those which it is already building in China. "By the time of the bidding, the Chinese project will nearly be completed, and Russia will take this opportunity to prove its ability to build highly technological nuclear power stations and supply competitive products to the world atomic energy market," Kozlov explained. Finland is still operating one Soviet-built nuclear power station but has not commissioned any new orders to Russia. Russia is building three nuclear power stations -in Iran, China and India - at the moment. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 0959 gmt 17 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 21 Official: Nuclear Plants Are Safe Saturday November 17 4:09 PM ET GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The United States has not received any credible threats to its nuclear power plants and there are multiple layers of defense in place to prevent an attack, a nuclear regulatory official said Saturday. ``I'm here to try to reassure the people of the United States that we are doing well,'' said Nils Diaz, one of five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told an audience at the University of Florida. Diaz, who has been in the industry for 40 years, also said he doesn't believe suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden ( [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news? p=%22Osama%20bin%20Laden%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw] - [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=Osam a%20bin%20Laden] ) or his al-Qaida terrorist organization has access to nuclear weapons. ``I believe they have no capabilities whatsoever,'' Diaz said. ``Some of those things are purposely planted to create fear.'' Since Sept. 11, the commission has tightened security as well as information it gives the public. Diaz would not elaborate on security measures, except to say that all nuclear power plants are on high alert. ``The bottom line is that the public health and safety will be protected even if there is an attack,'' Diaz said. ``There are multiple layers of defense.'' Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 Slovakia oks EBRD deal to fund nuke plant shutdown SLOVAKIA: November 16, 2001 BRATISLAVA - The Slovak government yesterday gave final approval to an agreement with the EBRD to set up a fund financing the shutdown of two reactors in the controversial nuclear power plant Jaslovske Bohunice. Slovakia has pledged in an agreement with the EU to phase out the Soviet-designed V1 Jaslovske Bohunice reactors by 2006 and 2008. Jaslovske Bohunice has drawn repeated criticism from Slovakia's nuclear-free neighbour Austria, which has questioned the plant's safety standards. Under the approved agreement, the EBRD and Slovakia will co-manage a fund providing finances needed to rebuild the plant's infrastructure for a different use in the energy sector and to cover social programmes and retraining for V1 employees. "The agreement will be signed in London tomorrow," Economy Ministry spokesman Peter Chalmovsky told Reuters. The EU will contribute 6.5 billion crowns ($133.7 million) to the new fund. Economy Minister Lubomir Harach said in September that the entire cost for the shutdown of the two Bohunice reactors was estimated at 14.8 billion crowns. The plant in Jaslovske Bohunice is the oldest nuclear power plant in Slovakia, with its first block put into operation in 1978 and the second in 1980. The blocks, equipped with Soviet-type VVER 440 reactors, are to be taken off line in 2006 and 2008, respectively. The government's original shut-down plan called for the V1 plant to be preserved for 70-80 years before being demolished. The third and the fourth blocks of the Jaslovske Bohunice complex - part of the V2 plant - came on line in 1984 and 1985. The country also has two more nuclear reactors equipped with western technology in its more-modern Mochovce plant. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 23 IAEA mission to inspect Czech Temelin n-plant CZECH REPUBLIC: November 16, 2001 PRAGUE - A mission of nuclear experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will inspect the controversial Czech nuclear power station at Temelin which has sparked a bitter row with neighbouring Austria, the plant said. Temelin spokesman Milan Nebesar said yesterday the mission of 11 foreign experts would check the way the new Soviet-designed station has tackled objections from the fiercely anti-nuclear Austria. Vienna fears an accident at the plant, built just 60 km (37 miles) from its borders. An Austrian observer will take part in the mission, which starts on Sunday and will last one week. "The November inspection will focus on purely technical issues. It will evaluate the advance of their solution after five years, since a 1996 inspection," Nebesar said in a statement. "Technical solutions which have been put in doubt by Austria and Germany will also be considered," the statement said. Temelin is one of the key assets of power company CEZ , which the government aims to sell to a foreign investor by early 2002. IAEA has carried out 17 missions at the station, which uses Soviet-designed VVER-1,000 reactors and a modified western control system. Austria, which opposes the usage of nuclear energy as such, has threatened to block the Czech Republic's entry into the European Union, expected in 2004, if the plant is put into full operation. But the EU has said Temelin is not a European issue but rather a bilateral one. The Czechs claim the plant is safe. Temelin's first of two blocks was launched last year but has gone through a number of minor glitches and has not been put in full operation. Austrian and domestic opposers have criticised the design of high-pressure steam pipes and relief valves at the plant. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 24 NATIONAL NEWS: 'Costly delay' on nuclear waste storage Financial Times; Nov 17, 2001 By MATTHEW JONES The government's delay in deciding a long-term nuclear waste storage policy will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, Britain's atomic decommissioning and research body warned yesterday. The UK Atomic Energy Authority, which is responsible for decommissioning six experimental nuclear sites around Britain, has told MPs its aim of minimising costs to the public is being hampered by the delay. In asubmission to the environment, food and rural affairs committee, it said it was having to take decisions on medium-term storage that could be "incompatible" with the eventual long-term strategy. "This inevitably introduces a risk that we will need to rework wastes in the future and could result in additional costs of hundreds of millions of pounds," said an official. The authority's largest site is Dounreay on the northern tip of Scotland, where it is planning to vitrify waste in advance of government guidance and store it above ground in specially designed buildings. It said this could be done safely for more than 100 years, but that sites would be unattractive for commercial development, a policy that would benefit taxpayers and rural communities. Britain's nuclear waste stockpile stands at 10,000 tonnes but is set to grow to 500,000 tonnes over the next century, even if no new power plants are built. Michael Meacher, environment minister, launched a public consultation into nuclear waste storage in September but admitted it could be five years before a decision was taken. It could then be decades before a long-term storage facility became operational. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "The only way to resolve what to do with nuclear waste is to hold a rigorous, transparent and impartial review of all the options." Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-1998 ***************************************************************** 25 Loud boom and dust mark implosion of Maine Yankee's turbine building By Associated Press, 11/17/2001 13:06 WISCASSET, Maine (AP) The collapse of the turbine building with a thunderclap-like boom followed by a cloud of dust on Saturday marked another milestone in Maine Yankee's decommissioning. A contractor used 100 pounds of explosives to bring down the bulk of the 120-foot-tall building that was erected in 1969 to house steam turbines that generated electricity when the nuclear plant was in operation. The blast was preceded by a five-minute warning whistle and more buzzers leading up to noon. Then it was over in seconds. People gathered in Westport, across the Sheepscot River, and from other vantage points to watch. Some people cheered. The structure imploded as expected with no damage to the domed containment building next door or a building 200 feet away that contains a pool where 1,432 highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies are kept. Seismograph readings from six sites in Wiscasset and Westport indicate the blast was within parameters, said Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes. ''From our perspective, the implosion of the building occurred as we expected and we're pleased that it was done safely,'' Howes said. Maine Yankee decided to implode the southern side of the turbine hall because it would be safer for construction workers than having to manually demolish a building so tall and expansive. More than two thirds of the building came down. The northern part of the building will be demolished with a crane because of its proximity to the plant's control room, which is still being used. Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc., which already used explosives to demolish the concrete pedestal that supported the building, was enlisted to finish the job of demolishing the turbine hall. The demolition plan was reviewed by federal, state and private officials to ensure the safety of nearby residents. The spent fuel is stored in a building 200 feet from the turbine hall, but the risk to the public of detonating 100 pounds of explosives so close to radioactive materials was minimal, officials said. ***************************************************************** 26 Two new reactor ideas proposed for energy park Gas turbine/modular helium, 'pebble bed' styles are under consideration Web posted Sunday, November 18, 2001 By [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer General Atomics and Entergy Nuclear have a plan for a nuclear reactor that they say would never melt down. To prove it, the company might come to Savannah River Site. Entergy is one of several utilities being wooed by boosters of a proposed energy park at SRS. The park's developers want companies such as Entergy to build demonstrations of a new generation of nuclear reactors. Entergy would get a pilot plant that would demonstrate the safety and viability of its gas turbine/modular helium reactor and ease the federal licensing process. The energy park would get jobs, investment and clout as a hot spot in the nation's nuclear future. "A lot of people in the nuclear business believe these kinds of reactors are the reactors of the future," said Mal McKibben, the executive director of Aiken-based pro-nuclear group Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness. Besides Entergy, the park's boosters mentioned Exelon Corp. as a possible tenant. Exelon is working to license and build another new type of reactor based on a "pebble-bed" design. Entergy and Exelon's power plants would heat helium in the reactor core, then use the pressurized gas to spin turbines to create electricity. Supporters of the designs say the new reactors would be cheaper to build and more efficient than today's nuclear-power plants, which use steam instead of helium to spin turbines. And, proponents say, the new reactors would be immune to meltdown. Although other U.S. Department of Energy sites are in the running, an Entergy executive said an SRS energy park would be a good spot for a demonstration of a gas-turbine reactor. "It's going to have to be a cooperation between the federal government and industry, and that's where Savannah River comes in," said Dan Keuter, Entergy's vice president for nuclear business development. "It fits very nicely into what the strengths of SRS are." The Energy Department already is funding development of a gas-turbine reactor in Russia, to help that nation dispose of its excess plutonium. But it will cost at least $1 billion to deploy the technology in the United States, Mr. Keuter said. Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] 1996 - 2001 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. Read our privacy ***************************************************************** 27 Reid developing legislation to improve plant security [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Saturday, November 17, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Plan would call for federal agents at nuclear power facilities By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday he is developing legislation with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to improve security at nuclear power plants, including stationing federal agents at reactors to deter potential terrorists. "This is very serious stuff. These plants are very old and they weren't designed with security in mind," Reid said. "My personal feeling is we need to do a lot more." Reid said he was briefed on nuclear plant safety at a "disturbing" meeting with Richard Meserve, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC is reviewing and is assumed to be updating a broad range of security rules that utilities must have in place at their plants. Among other things, Reid said he supports stationing federal agents to guard power plants, which now are protected by armed private security forces. "If professional law enforcement agents are the right answer for America's airports, then surely they're also the answer for guarding America's nuclear reactors," he said. While he said the bill is nearly finished, Reid offered few details about what it will contain other than provisions for a federal security force. He said it will be introduced after Thanksgiving. "It's a work in progress," he said. "We're going to need help from experts." Hearings are planned in the nuclear regulation subcommittee the Nevadan heads, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have a hand in fashioning the finished product, Reid said. "What we're going to do is ask people to come up with standards. I don't have them now," Reid said. Reid said there is an indirect connection to nuclear waste disposal: If nuclear plants and their spent fuel storage pools can be made more secure, there may be no need to develop the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. "If we're going to have nuclear plants that are safe, then maybe we don't need to haul stuff out of there," he said. Legislation is being debated in the U.S. House to improve nuclear plant security and transportation of nuclear materials. Reid said he believes the bill he and Clinton are putting together will serve as the base for action in the Senate. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-17-Sat-2001/news/17473064.html [http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-17-Sat-2001/news/17473064.html] ***************************************************************** 28 Vegas chamber says it was undercut on Yucca Mountain position Las Vegas SUN November 16, 2001 LAS VEGAS (AP) - A new U.S. Chamber of Commerce campaign for approval of a nuclear waste dump in Nevada stirred talk of secession Friday at the Las Vegas chamber, which had taken a strong position against the proposed Yucca Mountain project. The 6,900-member Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the third-largest chamber in the nation, is considering withdrawing membership over the issue, Las Vegas chamber President Pat Shalmy said. "It's power politics. Nevada just got aced out," he said. "We're pretty upset about this. We think we deserved more consideration." The U.S. chamber announced Thursday in Washington, D.C., that two high-profile legislative figures - John Sununu and Geraldine Ferraro - will head an Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth campaign to encourage selection of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository. Sununu is a former governor of New Hampshire and was chief of staff for former President George Bush. Ferraro is a former Democratic congresswoman who ran for vice president with presidential candidate Walter Mondale in 1984. "Nuclear energy provides electricity to one of every five homes and businesses in the United States," alliance spokesman and Chamber executive vice president Bruce Josten said in a statement, "and is clearly a key element of any U.S. energy strategy." After 17 years and some $7 billion worth of exploratory drilling and scientific study, federal Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected within weeks to submit a recommendation to President Bush about whether Yucca Mountain is a suitable site to bury the nation's nuclear waste. It is the only site being considered. If the recommendation goes forward, Nevada is expected to formally oppose it - sending the question to Congress. The state also is threatening lawsuits. Project officials say it would cost $58 billion over 17 years after approval. Shipments from the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants, plus military and industrial sites, would start arriving in 2010 at the earliest. Some 77,000 tons of radioactive waste would be encased in casks and entombed 1,000 feet below the volcanic ridge at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site, some 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Las Vegas chamber last spring approved a resolution opposing the project, saying that a mishap involving a truck or train hauling radioactive material past Las Vegas casinos to the site would create hysteria and forever tarnish the image of the tourism-dependent city. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 29 Public spat puts nuclear rebirth at risk Guardian Unlimited David Gow and Paul Brown Guardian Friday November 16, 2001 Britain's two nuclear power groups, British Energy and British Nuclear Fuels, have embarked on an unprecedented row over fuel and reprocessing costs that threatens to tear the industry apart. Privatised BE this week took the gloves off in the dispute. It is urging the government to impose an immediate ban on BNFL reprocessing spent fuel from BE's modern reactors and is threatening to take the state-owned business to the office of fair trading. Fresh from its high court victory over ministers' approval for its £472m mixed oxide (Mox) plant at Sellafield, BNFL yesterday began a counter-charge against BE, in effect accusing it of seeking scapegoats for self-induced financial troubles. The unseemly dispute comes as the companies are jointly campaigning to convince the government of the case for a nuclear renaissance - involving the construction of some two dozen new atomic power stations to fill a looming energy gap. In demanding an immediate moratorium on reprocessing of its spent fuel, BE called into question both BNFL's new Mox plant, which makes fuel from reprocessed plutonium and uranium, and its existing Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria. The two plants are critical to loss-making BNFL's financial success and efforts to get itself ready for a planned part privatisation - initially due this year but postponed by ministers until at least 2004. But BE, which has been trying forlornly to renegotiate its reprocessing contracts with BNFL, said these cost it six times more - at £300m a year - than its preferred solution of underground storage. Without them, the group would have made a healthy profit in the first half instead of a £17m pretax loss. In language more usually associated with green groups opposing nuclear power, BE said reprocessing was "uneconomic" and added "unnecessarily to the UK's plutonium stockpile". It has no use for the 2.5 tonnes produced so far, and claims a further 22.5 tonnes of useless fuel could emerge over the next 20 years. The group, which also wants to build Canadian-designed reactors rather than BNFL's new-generation reactors to lessen fuel costs, warned that failure to settle swiftly the atomic waste issue could force it to carry "excessive" provisions on its balance sheet. BNFL simply parried such assaults with a blunt statement: "We have got robust contracts in place that we are delivering to our customers." But privately its executives accuse BE directors of seeking to divert the blame for financial problems, and are understood to be thinking of raising the public stakes in the row with their biggest customer. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 30 Nuclear plant praised highly Wichita Eagle | The Wolf Creek power plant encounters few slip-ups in a drill and receives a good review from federal inspectors. By Mike Berry The Wichita Eagle BURLINGTON -- The Wolf Creek nuclear power plant, along with state and local officials, received high marks from federal inspectors Friday following a two- day simulation of an accident at the plant. The simulated disaster involved a leak in a steam pipe and a failure of a containment system that would have allowed radiation to escape from the plant. The only glitch involved public relations. The plant lost points for issuing a news release that left some confusion about whether nursing homes and hospitals had been evacuated under the accident scenario. "And that was a pretty minor problem ... nobody would have been hurt by that," said Eric Jenkins of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "None of the issues that came up were of a nature to threaten our ability to protect the public," added Paul Elkmann, chief inspector for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission team supervising the exercise. Although federal inspectors are stepping up procedures to guard against terrorist attacks, the Wolf Creek simulation did not involve such a scenario, only a series of mechanical failures. Wolf Creek's last terrorist attack test was three years ago, and the plant passed that test -- with high marks, too. Inspectors did not say when the next terrorist attack simulation might occur. "We look at security as a part of our routine, especially since Sept. 11," said Frank Brush, the senior on-site NRC inspector at Wolf Creek. He said the plant conducts multiple tests of its safety and security systems throughout the year. The simulated accident involved approximately 400 personnel, from local ambulance drivers to the National Guard, and Jenkins said he was impressed with their performance at all levels. He said several of his inspectors described the cooperation among the various agencies as "seamless." Otto Maynard, Wolf Creek president and chief executive, said exercises such as the one conducted Wednesday and Thursday help area emergency personnel prepare not just for the unlikely occurrence of a radiation accident, but all kinds of natural disasters. "We are very happy with their performance," Jenkins said. "Everyone was working together, almost as a family. We have been doing these simulations now for over 20 years, and people are getting pretty good at this.'' The inspectors will prepare a preliminary report on the simulated disaster within 30 days, and state and local officials will have a chance to comment on its findings or challenge them, although that seems unlikely given Friday's assessment. Then, within 90 days, the federal officials will present a final written report on the exercise. Reach Mike Berry at (620) 628-4899 or mberry@wichitaeagle.com. ***************************************************************** 31 Kerala gives nod to N-power plants The Times of India; Nov 18, 2001 BY P K SURENDRAN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: "Heads or tails, we lose. Then, why be left behind in reaping the gains?," wondered Kerala Power Minister Kadavoor Sivadasan. The minister was referring to the state's new stance that it was not averse to having nuclear power plant. A few years ago, during the Left Front's rule, the state government had rejected the idea fearing nuclear disasters, a la Chernobyl. "We will not hesitate to go in for nuclear power projects," he assured the Kerala Assembly on Friday. Lately, there has been a lot of heartburn after Kerala lost a nuclear power plant project to neighbour Tamil Nadu. "The nuclear power plant of Koodamkulam in Tamil Nadu is only 75-km from Thiruvananthapuram. If there is an accident, the state capital would also be hit," is the new line of thinking, supporting N-power plants in the state. Blaming the "intellectual-environment" lobby that smothered the proposal of nuclear plant in the state, the minister rued that while Tamil Nadu reaped the benefits from the plant, Kerala may bear the consequence if something goes wrong in the Koodamkulam plant. The Koodamkulam plant was originally proposed to be set up in the Kerala capital. But the opposition to nuclear plant from some quarters helped Tamil Nadu snatch the opportunity. Sivadasan, however, dwelt on the brighter side of it. Technology available today make atomic power project near-total safe, he reasoned. With a minuscule risk on the flip side, the temptation of getting cheap energy notched-up the credit side, he added. Kerala, after rejecting atomic plant, readily gave green signal for a thermal power plant at Kayamakulam in Alappuzha district. But soon, the state learnt that thermal power is an expensive proposition. The current thermal power rate being Rs 5 per unit as against the prevailing power sale tariff in Kerala of 75 paise per unit, Kerala finds itself a loser. "We have urged the Centre to draw into the central grid the total power produced at the plant," the minister said. Meanwhile, the Congress-led ruling coalition has decided to go slow on the LDF-sanctioned Chinese-aided 18 mini hydel projects. Work on four pilot projects is on. The fate of rest of them hangs in balance. The power minister has indicated that the government would not go blindly on the project "just because the technology is from China". The work on 14 small and mini hydel projects would be taken up only if the four pilot projects prove viable. According to Sivadasan, the rate of interest on the financial package was higher than that offered by the Asian Development Bank. Besides, the technology offered too was not unique as the same was available with BHEL at more economical rate. For the record, during the past LDF regime, there was a clamour for the Chinese micro hydel power projects. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 32 LaDuke keeps the activism fires lit The Daily Iowan - The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa November 16, 2001 By John Molseed The Daily Iowan Winona LaDuke's message is simple: Be politically active. During a lecture at the IMU Thursday, the mother of three compared her political agenda to parenting, saying her kids and the four children she is helping raise at home in Minnesota are the main reasons for her political activism. "I look out there, and I see immense potential for change," LaDuke, 42, said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. "I like to encourage people to engage politically in society." The two-time Green Party vice presidential candidate said the United States violates the fundamental values she tries to instill in her children. The U.S. government has broken the simple rule against stealing by taking land from the American Indians, she told a group of 200 listeners at the lecture later Thursday. LaDuke warned audience members that the recent increase in patriotism should not cloud the truth about American history. "We have towns named after mass murders," she said. "One day, I hope someone in the audience will be a member of Congress and realize the only compensation for land is land." LaDuke, a Chippewa, lives on the White Earth Indian Reservation, where worsening environmental conditions have encouraged her to become politically active, she said. Lakes in the area contain traces of mercury and harmful chemicals from neighboring coal-burning powerplants, LaDuke said. Procedures for nuclear waste disposal on Indian reservations are racist, environmentally reckless, and violate one of her own household rules -- don't make a new mess before you clean up your old mess, she added. "It's hard to tell your kids this broad set of values while you look up and see they're not being followed in the rest of the world," she said. "I've tried everything to enact political change, and I do think running for office is an important way to enact political change. You should not have to be a millionaire to run for office." U.S. energy policies also came under attack. Alternative-energy sources, such as wind energy, should be utilized instead of nuclear power and fossil fuels, LaDuke said. "We should have an energy policy that redoubles our efforts to have a secure and clean energy policy," she said, describing the Great Plains as the "Saudi Arabia of wind potential." She described the non-voters as the largest political party, adding that democratic process is great way to enact change, but it has some serious flaws, such as voter disenfranchisement and campaign spending. Some listeners took LaDuke's message to heart. "Supporting and being involved politically on issues in the community Ι are our responsibilities if we want to have a good place to work and live," said Iowa City resident Laura Crossley. E-mail DI reporter John Molseed at: jmolseed@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu Copyright 2001 The Daily Iowan ***************************************************************** 33 Layoffs looming at Ohio plant The Tribune Chronicle - Your Mahoning Saturday, November 17, 2001 COLUMBUS (AP) - More than 400 shipping-operation jobs at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion plant in Piketon soon may be eliminated, years ahead of schedule, The Columbus Dispatch reported Friday. The United States Enrichment Corp. ceased uranium enrichment operations at the Piketon plant earlier this year and scaled back to just its enrichment facility in Paducah, Ky. The Piketon plant was put on cold standby with about 1,200 of its 1,700 jobs expected to be preserved, many for four or five years. But a USEC spokeswoman told the Dispatch that the company is considering consolidating shipping and transfer operations at the Paducah plant and eliminating those jobs at Piketon. ''We are considering it, but no decision has been made at all at this point,'' spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said. A decision probably won't come before the end of the year, she added. If USEC decides to shift the shipping operation to Paducah, it could be done by the middle of next year, Stuckle said. She added that more than 200 USEC administrative jobs, separate from the government cleanup and cold standby slots, would remain at Piketon. However, more government-funded jobs could be created at the plant, Stuckle said. What's needed is to step up the cleanup of highly enriched uranium left behind from Cold War plant operations that produced weapons-grade material for nuclear weapons, she said. Gov. Bob Taft and Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland of Lucasville have been conferring about what to do to stop the shipping jobs from leaving the Piketon plant sooner than expected. ''We're definitely concerned about it,'' said Joe Andrews, Taft's spokesman. ''We're continuing to try to get some answers.'' Strickland said he has been contacted by employees who are upset at the prospect of more good-paying Piketon plant jobs disappearing. ''It's a serious matter,'' Strickland said. The 430 shipping and transfer operations employees at Piketon are handling Paducah-manufactured material. USEC had said when it ceased enrichment operations at Piketon that the shipping operation would be maintained for four or five years. Meanwhile, even though they say no final decision has been made, USEC officials are slated to meet with federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials Tuesday to ask permission to conduct shipping operations at Paducah, Stuckle said. That process will proceed regardless of whether USEC decides to accelerate the elimination of the Piketon shipping operation, because USEC officials want to start at least some transfer operations at Paducah, Stuckle said. www.tribune-chronicle.com [http://www.tribune-chronicle.com] 240 Franklin St. S.E. | Warren, Ohio 44482 330.841.1600 (local) | 888.550.TRIB (toll-free) ***************************************************************** 34 Nuclear security money in dispute [charlotte.com] Published Friday, November 16, 2001 Replacing 3 plutonium production REACTORS Nuclear security money in dispute Pentagon, House GOP do not want to pay to protect Russian holdings By JONATHAN S. LANDAY Observer Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Despite growing fears of nuclear terrorism, the Pentagon and House Republicans are trying to block money for a program designed to prevent terrorists and rogue nations from buying or stealing plutonium from Russia. Under the program, Russia would pay for closing three aging, defect-plagued plutonium production reactors in Siberia, and the United States would pay to build and refurbish fossil fuel plants to supply hundreds of thousands of people with heat and electricity now provided by the reactors. The reactors together add 1.5 metric tons of plutonium - enough to make as many as 500 thermonuclear warheads - annually to a mountain of excess Russian nuclear weapons fuel that U.S. studies warn is poorly guarded and vulnerable to theft. Many experts also say these reactors are among the most unsafe in the world. But senior Pentagon officials, with the blessing of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are working with GOP members of the House Armed Services Committee to block the use of Pentagon money for the program, said government officials who follow the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Pentagon's stance is raising questions about the depth of the Bush administration's commitment to help Russia improve the security of its nuclear weapons fuel. The Pentagon and its congressional allies say that while they support a shutdown of the three reactors, U.S. defense dollars are too precious to be used to build and refurbish replacement fossil fuel plants. Advocates respond that the plan is the cheapest and fastest way to eliminate sources of Russian nuclear weapons fuel that might find its way into the hands of terrorists or nations such as Iraq. In recent weeks, President Bush and senior U.S. officials have warned of the growing danger of nuclear terrorism and of suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge on Thursday said information about nuclear weapons that could have been obtained on the Internet was found in a suspected al Qaida safehouse in Afghanistan. At a news conference Tuesday with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush pledged to "strengthen our efforts to cut off every possible source of nuclear weapons materials." Yet Bush on Nov. 6 told lawmakers he would veto proposed additional spending that included a $221 million increase in funds for improving the security of Russian nuclear arms. Bush has declined to overrule the Pentagon's opposition to the reactor replacement program, said the government officials and congressional aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon opposed the program even though it passed a White House-led review of U.S. efforts to help Russia dispose of excess nuclear weapons and boost the security of its arsenal, they said. ***************************************************************** 35 Govt accused of putting nuclear programme at stake The Frontier Post From Peshawar Pakistan Updated on 11/17/2001 11:17:42 AM ISLAMABAD (Online): Acting Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Munawar Hassan coming hard on government policies has said that its lack-wisdom Afghan policy has led to establishment of pro-Russia and India government on its western borders with setting the dangers loom large for the integrity of the country, Kashmir issue and nuclear assets.Addressing a mammoth protest demonstration held here at Aabpara on Friday under Pak-Afghan defence council he called on President Musharraf to set an interim government forthwith to extricate the country from the difficult situation instead of pursuing US agenda. Flaying US bombing of Afghanistan, he said that the brutal attacks can make no dent in the courage and unity of the Taliban militia and Afghanistan will now turn into graveyard for US-led forces as it had been for all the invading forces like Britain and USSR in the past. Lamenting over reign of brutalities and atrocities being leashed on the innocent Afghans and Taliban Militia by the Northern Alliance, he said that the world community silence over these inhuman tortures looks very eerie and strange. Taliban or Osama have taken no wrong steps and they are being punished for their Islamic entity, he alleged. He said that US wants to pit people of Pakistan against Army while General Musharraf has committed an anti country act with siding US. Both Pakistan army and people are inculcated with the spirit of piety and Jehad and this factor will never allow US to succeed in its nefarious designs, he continued. Had Musharraf gone to people instead of US, the result in Afghanistan would have entirely different, he asserted. Hitting hard US policies, he said that motive behind US onslaughts on Afghanistan is very heinous as it is out to create another Israel in South Asia in order to hold sway on the Muslim countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. He regretted that President Musharraf showed utter cowardice with taking U-Turn on Afghanistan policy on merely one telephonic call from President Bush and on other side Mullah Omar showed resistance and stood like a rock in the face of threats and brutal bombing from the US-led forces. He warned military regime against sending of army to Afghanistan alongwith Turkey and Bangladesh as peace keeping force as it is US ploy to bring the Muslim countries on confrontational path and pitch the Muslims against their brethren Muslim. Any such decision from the army will spark strong reaction among the masses, he continued. He blamed that government is colliding with the elements to save its skin who should have been held accountable for their loot and plunder spree. Benazir Bhutto who is always after promoting her image as democratic leader is on the hot pursuit of coming into power through the backdoors, he added. He asked the government to transfer the power to the elected representatives of people by holding general elections through an interim government. The other leaders of PADC including Shmas-ul-Haq Awan, Abdul Rashid Ghazi and Gul Andaz Abbasi also addressed the protest rally. © Copyright 2001 The Frontier Post ***************************************************************** 36 N.C. citizens stock up on potassium iodide pills NC News Wire [newsobserver.com, Raleigh, NC] RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- People living around a nuclear power plant in Wake County are stocking up on potassium iodide pills to protect their thyroid glands in case radiation ever leaks into their neighborhood. State emergency managers, however, say the potassium iodide may do little more than give the residents a false sense of security. The state managers have 15,300 bottles of the tablets on hand for emergency workers and some hard-to-move residents, but they don't think everyone living near a reactor needs it. "Our whole focus from the emergency-management standpoint is to get those people evacuated out of such an area, rather than giving them something that would just provide thyroid protection," said Mel Fry, the state's top radiation safety official. Nevertheless, some Triangle residents and leaders think it is prudent to distribute the drug to everyone in the 10-mile emergency zone around the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County. "It gives a little bit of control to the people," said Karen Randle, an educator and mother of two who lives in Apex. "Right now there's not a lot we feel like we can control." Elected officials in Orange, Durham and Chatham counties made the request for the tablets in a letter Oct. 10 to Carolina Power &Light chief William Cavanaugh. The letter also called for updating the regional evacuation plan and changing the way the company stores its used nuclear fuel. At that time, CP spokesman Keith Poston characterized the potassium iodide request as a "scare tactic" of anti-nuclear advocates. But potassium iodide has become a standard tool in nuclear emergency-response plans worldwide. Taken before or during exposure, potassium iodide saturates the thyroid glands with iodine. That protects the organ from one of the harmful contaminants in a nuclear release, radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer and other ailments. Some think the mass administration of potassium iodide in Poland after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster saved thousands of children from disease. In December 2000, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it would pay for potassium iodide stockpiles for any state that wants one. North Carolina's Division of Emergency Management already maintains enough doses for those sent into a "hot zone" to help with evacuation and cleanup, as well as elderly and disabled people who would have trouble fleeing. CP also keeps some on hand for workers at its plants but said it is up to the government to decide whether the general public should get it. Top emergency officials have so far declined to expand the potassium iodide supply. "We thought changing the policy in North Carolina to stockpiling it for the general public would be a discouragement to people who would otherwise evacuate," Fry said. With each pill costing as little as 25 cents, however, people have rushed to buy what they perceive as a terrorism vaccine. One Internet retailer of the drug, KI4U Inc. of Gonzales, Texas, has seen its mail-order sales grow 15- to 20-fold since Sept. 11, owner Shane Connor said. "We run three pick-up truck loads a day up to the post office," Connor said. Before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Connor ran his business as a sideline with one other employee and help from his kids. Since then, he said, "I had to hire 14 people, get incorporated, find an accountant." Observer. All material found on newsobserver.com is copyrighted The News & ***************************************************************** 37 FOCUS: Public confidence in nuclear power shaken KYODO NEWS By Takashi Miura TOKYO, Nov. 17, Kyodo - Public confidence in nuclear power has been shaken amid a series of recent accidents at a nuclear reactor in the town of Hamaoka in Shizuuoka Prefecture in the heart of earthquake-prone central Japan. One female resident recalled how during an earthquake she was about to rush out of her house ''but the possibility of a radioactive leak flitted through my mind.'' The town had been hit by a quake measuring 4 on the Japanese scale of 7. ''I learned about the accidents through news reports. The administration was too late getting in touch with us residents,'' she said. A carbon steel pipe in the emergency cooling system at the No. 1 reactor operated by Chubu Electric Power Co. ruptured Nov. 7, resulting in the leakage of steam and some radioactive material. Two days later, a radiation water leakage was detected in a pressure vessel at the same reactor. ''This is serious trouble,'' said Kenkichi Hirose, a senior official of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry who visited the site. But even 10 days after the first accident the causes still remain unknown. Destruction power experts said enormous pressure, more than 10- times the usual amount, may have been applied to the carbon steel pipe before it ruptured. The pipe is usually filled with steam with a pressure of 70 kilograms per 1 square centimeter, but if the experts are correct, a pressure of more than 700 kg was applied to the pipe. ''We have never seen a crack like this,'' said all the engineers at Chubu Electric Power and Toshiba Corp. which manufactured the pipe. Emerging as one of the causes of the rupture is a ''water hammer phenomenon'' -- a drastic change in pressure. The pressure change directly hits part of the pipe where it bends 90 degrees. The rupture in the pipe occurred in the L-shaped part. The pipe used to be straight but it was changed to an L-shape around 1993 and 1994 -- a change requiring no authorization from the state. ''It's up to operators how to connect pipes. The design isn't drawn up to guarantee that no pipe will crack,'' said Kazuhiko Motobu, chief nuclear power generation safety inspector at the agency, a statement that conflicts with the public's understanding. ''The No. 1 reactor at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant is one of the most dangerous ones,'' said Jun Tateno, a professor of Chuo University and a former researcher at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. He said the rate of operation at the No. 1 reactor had been 59% until 1997, the second lowest following the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan. Accidents and trouble at the No. 1 reactor in the Hamaoka facility have forced it to close down 40 times, for long periods. The No. 1 reactor reached a critical point for the first time in 1974. ''It is an old-generation reactor having a materials problem. The leakage occurred because of damage in the bottom of the pressure vessel. It is also problematic that the reactor is located where major quakes most likely occur,'' Tateno said. The agency, which was established in January under an administrative reorganization, said it sent inspectors soon after the first accident and set up an investigative task force three days after the accident. The Science and Technology Agency, now defunct, was under fire for not quickly responding to Japan's worst nuclear accident two years ago. On Sept. 30, 1999, a self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction occurred at a uranium processing plant in the village of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, 120 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, killing two people and exposing more than 600 others to radiation. Scientific experts said the response to the accidents this time will serve as a test of the nation's new nuclear energy safety administration. 2001 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. ***************************************************************** 38 Speculation turns to spent fuel pool [St. Petersburg Times Online: Citrus County news ] Industry experts say the nuclear waste storage sites are safe. Others wonder how safe. By ALEX LEARY © St. Petersburg Times, published November 18, 2001 CRYSTAL RIVER -- Its thick concrete walls reinforced with steel bars the diameter of a soda can, the building that protects Florida Power's nuclear reactor is a formidable sight. In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, the containment building has been the source of great speculation. Some say there is no way it could withstand the impact of a jetliner; others insist it could. But amid that debate, a less-protected target has largely been overlooked: the area where two decades of nuclear waste is stockpiled. "An active reactor poses, psychologically, a bigger target," said Tyson Slocum, research director for Public Citizen, a California-based group that is critical of the nuclear industry. "But spent fuel is kind of the soft underbelly. It is a highly radioactive substance and it can provide fodder for an attack." The nuclear industry says fears about spent fuel and the reactors themselves are overblown and note that much of the criticism comes from antinuclear groups, such as Public Citizen. "There are questions that are raised from time to time that are legitimate," Florida Power spokesman Mac Harris said. "But there are also people whose motive is to undermine credibility of the industry. It's a balance that you want." Florida Power opened its Crystal River nuclear plant in 1977. About every two years since then, one-third of the fuel has been replaced. The latest refueling ended last month, with workers adding 72 fuel assemblies -- metal rods filled with uranium pellets -- to the pool. Today there is more than four times the nuclear material in the pool than in the reactor. The pool has 840 assemblies and room for 640 more. At first, the pools were intended to store the waste temporarily, until the federal government came to take it away. But that plan became embroiled in politics and though a site in Nevada, Yucca Mountain, has been selected, lawmakers still have not resolved the issue. So here it sits, 630 tons in all, under 25 feet of water. The water acts as a radiation shield by absorbing neutrons and gamma rays. Boron, which is added to the water, adds to this protection. "It's like a sponge," Harris said. Water also carries away heat that emanates from the rods long after they are out of service. Florida Power said the above-ground pool is protected by a "hardened" building made of concrete and steel. The pool itself is covered by steel -- the company would not say how thick -- designed to endure hurricanes and earthquakes. "It's a pretty rugged structure," said Scott Stewart, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector who works at the Crystal River plant. "My general assessment would be that it's not vulnerable to any sort of attack." Still, the NRC is taking an "across-the-board, top-to-bottom look at all safety procedures and regulations. Certainly, spent fuel is part of those considerations," spokesman Roger Hannah said. Critics point out that pools, like reactor containment buildings, were not designed to withstand acts of war. And while mock attacks are staged periodically at the reactor complex, there is no drill testing the security at the spent fuel pools. To get to the fuel pool from inside, one would have to go through the containment structure, which is heavily secured. So what would happen in an attack? If the cooling capability was disrupted and a significant amount of water was lost, the fuel could begin to heat and the cladding, the metal sheath around each fuel rod, could break up, releasing radioactive gas into the environment. "The issue is how much longer would it take before the fuel starts melting," said Ed Lyman of the Nuclear Control Institute, an antiproliferation group. "Once the fuel starts melting, you get a release of the nongaseous isotopes in the fuel itself." A study conducted last fall for the NRC, which called for more safeguards for used fuel, concluded that between 2,460 and 25,800 people could die from cancer as a result of exposure to radiation from a spent fuel pool accident. But that was a worst-case scenario. Indeed, the study also said the risk of spent fuel pools was low. Hannah said he could not discuss the report because it's been classified since the Sept. 11 attacks. An aircraft or explosive force, such as a bomb or missile, would not have to level the fuel building to cause harm, according to the Union for Concerned Scientists, a nuclear watchdog group in Cambridge, Mass. It would merely need to crack the wall or floor allowing the water to drain out. Harris was reluctant to discuss the possibility of an attack. "One has to say that it is really no sure bet that a person with an airplane could get it to a location and find the spent fuel pool." He noted that it would take hours for the fuel to heat and that some of the fuel is so old that it might not pose a threat. In that time, problems could be fixed, he said. "It's not like you shut off the cooling and then there is nothing you can do. We can get water to the spent fuel." ***************************************************************** 39 U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports Yucca Las Vegas SUN November 16, 2001 By Benjamin Grove and Erin Neff WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has announced a large-scale lobbying effort in favor of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste plan, jilting its powerful local Las Vegas chapter. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the third-largest chamber in the country, is now considering withdrawing membership over the issue. "We're just really disappointed," said Kami Dempsey, government affairs director for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. "We sent a letter to the U.S. Chamber saying we will potentially withdraw our membership." The Las Vegas chamber adopted a resolution in January opposing nuclear waste storage in Nevada. Chamber President Pat Shalmy has kept in contact with U.S. Chamber President Thomans Donohue, expressing the local chamber's opposition. But Shalmy, who is out of town and could not be reached for comment today, wasn't able to sway the national chamber from backing Yucca Mountain. Dempsey said the local chamber got a hint the national chamber might support Yucca in two recent email briefings, but nobody from the national group even contacted Las Vegas to inform the local chamber of its decision. Now the local chamber will wait to hear back from the national group before deciding whether to withdraw, Dempsey said. The U.S. chamber's bipartisan national initiative launched here Thursday will be led by two high-profile figures: John Sununu and Geraldine Ferraro. Sununu is a former governor of New Hampshire and was chief of staff for former President George Bush. Ferraro is a former Democratic congresswoman and was presidential candidate Walter Mondale's vice presidential running mate in the mid-1980s. The chamber will lead the effort, along with its affiliate, the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, a diverse group of more than 1,200 members that "develop, deliver and consume" all sources of energy. After years of study and billions of dollars invested in the Yucca project, "It is time for an expeditious, swift decision," Sununu said. Nevada officials said they weren't surprised at the chamber's nuclear waste offensive. The U.S. chamber apparently never contacted the Las Vegas Chamber, state Agency for Nuclear Projects Director Bob Loux said today. "It goes to the sleazy nature of the (nuclear) business. "They do business behind closed doors." Gov. Kenny Guinn's spokesman Greg Bortolin noted that not all Republican governors support the nuclear industry. And Nevada's real strength against such an advertising campaign rests with Nevada's growing political power in Congress, he said. Sens. Harry Reid, the second highest ranking Democrat, and John Ensign, a Republican, "are a pretty good team," Bortolin said. At issue is the federal plan to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste in tunnels under Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada officials oppose the plan. Nuclear energy advocates strongly support it. The Department of Energy, which manages the project, by law was supposed to begin hauling waste away to Nevada from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants by 1998, but delays have plagued the project. Nuclear power companies, with a strong lobbying force on Capitol Hill, have demanded action. The announcement Thursday came at a key time in the project's history -- and the coalition will likely begin a mad scramble of lobbying in the next few months. The DOE this week released a report that asserts the department has enough evidence to make a recommendation about the site. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is likely to make a recommendation to President Bush about the site early next year. If Abraham and Bush approve the project, approvals would be needed from Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which would license the waste site. Sununu and Ferraro gave a glimpse of their strategy: tie the nuclear waste issue to larger issues of energy needs at a critical time in the nation. "If I had been asked to co-chair this initiative prior to Sept. 11, I'm not sure how I would have responded," Ferraro said, "speaking as a mother and a grandmother." "However, Sept. 11 made my decision and the issue before us very clear-cut. We have to realistically look at life in the United States and assess how we can best address both safety and security for the future." Nuclear power provides electricity for about 20 percent of U.S. homes but the industry is threatened by the waste issue. Plants are "choking" on the waste piling up at their sites, leading congressional Yucca supporter Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, has said. The waste issue also threatens proposals to begin building nuclear power plants in America again, industry advocates say. Nevada lawmakers sharply criticized the Chamber for launching the campaign. "It is apparent to me that the Chamber has again been bought and paid for by yet another special interest group, this time the nuclear energy industry," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he was disappointed in the Chamber and said Bush should delay a decision about Yucca Mountain, not heed the Chamber's call for quick action. Gibbons said he was not surprised to see Sununu and Ferraro leading the effort because they are from states with nuclear power plants. "But what they don't understand is that the Yucca Mountain project has been biased and flawed, even since its inception," Gibbons said. "I think they have only heard one side of the story." Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this article. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 Technology:Backers seek to extend site life SRS supporters say 'energy park' would help boost plant's potential Web posted Sunday, November 18, 2001 By Brandon Haddock [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer Savannah River Site employs more than 13,000 people, has an annual budget of $1.5 billion, and is South Carolina's largest industrial employer. Some SRS supporters think the federal nuclear-weapons installation has more potential than that. They want the site to become a bigger catalyst for local economic expansion. The best way to accomplish that goal, they say, would be a mammoth makeover of the site's political and industrial landscape - the creation of a civilian "energy park" within the 310-square-mile site's guarded borders. Such a park could hold a number of nuclear facilities, ranging from a new generation of nuclear-power plants to a smaller, university-operated reactor used to conduct research. The complex would be instrumental in shaping the nation's nuclear future, supporters said. It also would do much to secure a long, viable life for a site that doesn't have one, supporters said. "If you look at the business we have, most of it is cleanup," said Mal McKibben, the executive director of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness, an Aiken-based pro-nuclear group. "That's not permanent, long-term work. "If you look 20 years down the road, unless we get new business, you're looking at a staff reduction from 12,000 to about 4,000." Some nuclear-policy experts aren't sold on the idea - especially if it requires taxpayers' money. "I haven't heard any discussion about this issue except coming from the Aiken-Augusta area," said Tom Clements, the executive director of the nonprofit Nuclear Control Institute in Washington. "As far as using Energy Department lands for any other kind of project, given the downplayed role of weapons production, I think the discussion of using the land for other purposes should be pursued more and more," Mr. Clements said. "But as far as this particular project, if it is based on a massive government subsidy, I don't think it would be viable." Some watchdogs worry that the park would divert attention from the cleanup of the radioactive and chemical pollution that remains from the site's decades of nuclear-weapons work. "We're opposed to any new production missions at SRS," said Don Moniak, an Aiken resident and a community organizer for Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. "This is something that's been proposed by economic development," Mr. Moniak said. "There's been no discussion for it, and it appears there's not forum for one either. The plan traces its roots to the early 1990s, when the end of the Cold War reduced the need for nuclear weapons, and the employees who make them. Subsequent rounds of downsizing slashed the site's work force from 25,000 employees to today's level of about 13,000. "There's no secret that it's the engine that drives a lot of our economy," said Fred Humes, the executive director of the Aiken-Edgefield Economic Development Partnership, of the site. "It doesn't take a genius to find out that there won't be a big need for tritium out there. What else can you do? "What you're seeing has evolved over the years from those possibilities." Those possibilities are numerous. Among the facilities proposed for the park: Demonstrations of "next-generation" nuclear-power plants that proponents say would be safer, less expensive and more efficient than current plants. Utilities and nuclear-engineering companies will have to build small plants to demonstrate the new technologies before they can be licensed for use by the federal government. Supporters of the SRS Energy Park want the site to have those "pilot" plants. Civilian nuclear-power plants. The plants could be based on current technology or evolve from the aforementioned demonstration plants, SRS supporters said. A small reactor that would be operated by a consortium of regional universities. The reactor would be used for nuclear research and teaching, Mr. McKibben said. A linear accelerator that would produce radioactive isotopes for medical use. Although the accelerator could be located in the park, another site in New Ellenton's Savannah River Research Campus is under consideration, Mr. Humes said. The park proposal has support from many local members of Congress. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., has introduced a bill that would direct Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to explore establishing such "energy campuses" at SRS and other sites. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also supports the park plan, but warned that it is not a short-term priority. "It's on our long-term plan," said Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for Mr. Graham. However, Mr. Humes says the foundation for the park could be completed within two years. Under one proposal, the Energy Department would lease about 10,000 acres of SRS land to the Savannah River Site Redevelopment Authority, Mr. Humes said. The authority was chartered in 1998 by former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley to promote civilian uses of SRS property. The authority, which has the ability to issue bonds, would build the park's infrastructure, such as roads, water and sewer systems, Mr. Humes said. The board then would sublease the land to companies and organizations that would build the park's various components, he said. If the park comes to fruition, it would make Aiken and Augusta a national force in nuclear energy, boosters said. "I would see us becoming a renowned site for applied technology," Mr. Humes said. "Those are the goals for what the site would be, but if you never invest in it, and you never do it, you'll never know what can be done." But some nuclear critics foresee a less positive future for the park. "Funding for aggressive cleanup and containment of the existing contamination should be the number one priority at SRS," said Sara Barczak, of the group Georgians for Clean Energy. "Adding to the burden by allowing the construction of experimental nuclear-reactor designs is a waste of taxpayer money and a guarantee to further degrade the region's environmental and public health. "The nuclear reactors that once operated there contributed to the contamination and were eventually shut down. Why repeat the mistake?" Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or bhaddock@augustachronicle.com [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] . AugustaChronicle.com is a proud member of Augusta.com [http://augusta.com] . ***************************************************************** 41 In the shadow of Limerick By Tarek Tannous, Staff WriterNovember 18, 2001 Staff photo by John Taggart Lisa Wunderlich and her son, Michael, stand in the front yard of their house with the Limerick Power Plant looming in the distance in East Coventry. Wunderlich said she was concerned about recent events. LIMERICK -- Tucked away in a former farming community, near the sprawl and the bustle that is suburban Philadelphia, one of the country's 103 nuclear power plants sits just north of the county line. "It's fall. The plant's more visible after the leaves come off the trees," said Sandy Swartz, who, for the better part of two decades, has lived in full view of the 500-foot steaming cooling towers. "We built our house at around the same time the power plant was being built," she said. "So we knew it was going to be there." Exelon Nuclear's Limerick Generating Station is capable of producing enough electricity for more than one million homes. Built in the late 1970s, it is one of five nuclear power plants in the commonwealth. For years, many locals in northern Chester County and western Montgomery County said they did not think twice about the plant next door. It is part of the landscape, something only noticed by newcomers or visitors. "We've lived here 17 years. We moved up to the area and they were already there," said Sharon Redding, a North Coventry resident. "It really didn't concern me -- for the kids, it was something different, and I always thought it was safe." In the last few months, however, after the World Trade Center towers came crashing down and a small group of religious zealots indicated that their only interest was to kill as many Americans as possible, a disturbing idea emerged -- the fear that the nuclear power plant down the road can become a powerful, if unlikely, weapon. "I do worry that it would be a spot that the terrorists would target," Redding said. "Every once in a while, I think about it. Not every day. I don't know, it just comes and goes, and I think, 'Gee, what if..'" Redding, with her husband, Michael, and teen-age daughter, Brandi, live about 10 miles from the plant, and can see it clearly from their home. Before Sept. 11, Sharon Redding only noticed the plant occasionally, such as when one of the towers stops pumping steam for a monthly test, or when one is steaming heavier than the other. There is no doubt the towers are there, now, though she said that she has been reassured from her initial fears by the increased security presence at the plant. "Security was reinforced, and they had more guards," Redding said. "One weekend, I saw a helicopter just flying around, and that made me feel better." Since the terrorist attacks and subsequent warnings from the government about potential further strikes, nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania have been guarded by a combination of national guard troops and state police officers. The skies above Limerick are reportedly monitored by jets from the Willow Grove U.S. Naval Air Station as well as a facility outside Harrisburg. Nuclear plants in the state also maintain private security guards. Federal officials and nuclear industry spokesmen have emphasized that there has not been a specific threat against any of the country's reactors, and that measures are being taken to protect the plants that house them. In an effort to calm a public's jittery nerves, John L. Skolds, the chief operating officer of Exelon Nuclear, wrote an Op-Ed piece in the Daily Local News. "Both safety and security are so ingrained in the nuclear culture that they are part of the very construction of our plants. Nuclear power plants built in the United States are among the strongest, most robustly engineered structures in the world. They are protected by highly and specially trained, well-armed security forces and numerous, redundant physical systems and barriers to thwart possible terrorist actions designed to gain access to or destroy what we refer to as 'vital' plant areas, where the reactors are housed. There are additional redundant safety systems and barriers engineered specifically to prevent the release of radiation, even under extreme conditions," he wrote. Confident words from officials and executives are not enough for some residents, however. "My thought of it is if they can get on a plane and crash them into the World Trade Center, they can get Limerick if they really wanted to," Swartz said. "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. I try to just live my life. If it does happen, it probably wouldn't matter if you are two miles or 50 miles from there." Swartz, who moved to the area because she liked the school district, said she sometimes is asked why she lives near a nuclear power plant. "My mother panics. She lives in Clinton County, where it's very mountainous. On Sept. 11, she called and said, 'Please pack up and come up here.' I said, 'Mom, this is my home, this is where I live, I can't leave.' This is where I belong, if something's going to happen, it's going to happen," Swartz said. The day of the attacks, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission urged all 103 nuclear power plants in the nation to go to Level III, the highest level of security. According to published reports, some officials initially feared that a fourth plane could be targeting Three Mile Island near Harrisburg. There have been several instances in the last few months that added to the anxiety. On Oct. 17, airports in Harrisburg and Lancaster were closed temporarily after officials received information about a threat against Three Mile Island. More recently, on Oct. 30 at the Beaver Valley Power Station, a nuclear power plant in Beaver County, planes were grounded at Pittsburgh International Airport and military jets were scrambled after a single-engine airplane violated the federal government's 10-mile "no-fly" zone near the plant. The October incidents turned out to be false alarms, but combined with repeated alerts from government officials about an unknown but possibly eminent terrorist strike, some are feeling a little frayed. "A couple of weeks ago, that alert, that concerned me," said Lisa Wunderlich, who has lived in East Coventry for about 14 years. "It made me feel a little nervous. I notice every little airplane in the air." Like the Reddings, she and her husband live with a teen-age child, Michael, and have been in view of the plant for much of their lives. "I grew up in Pottstown and my husband grew up in the house we live in now," she said. Some nervous residents have called Chester County Emergency Services to voice concerns or find out about evacuation plans. "We've gotten a few calls, maybe three or four," said Patty Mains, spokeswoman for the county's emergency services. "Once we explain to them our emergency plans and evacuation procedures, that seems to calm their fears. We haven't heard from the same caller again." Not everyone said the plant worried them. Joe and Catherine Byrne, who have lived in Spring City for 23 years, expressed confidence in the security force protecting the reactor. "I don't really worry about it ..it'd be pretty hard to get into Limerick," Joe said. His wife, Catherine, agreed. When asked if she was worried about living so close to the plant, she said, "not at all," before adding that she believes there is more of a threat of a catastrophe caused by a maintenance crew making a mistake then by a terrorist attack. The Byrnes, who can see the nuclear plant from one window and the coal-fired Cromby Power Plant in East Pikeland from another, did concede that there were a few moments of doubt. "Early on, we heard a plane fly by and we began to sweat bullets," Joe Byrne said. "Planes weren't supposed to be flying that day. But then we saw it was a fighter plane, and it was OK." Pennsylvania's reactors are located at five power stations -- two each at Limerick, Susquehanna Stream in Luzerne County, Peach Bottom and Beaver Valley, and one at Three Mile Island. ©Daily Local News 2001 ***************************************************************** 42 Activists stand united against new power plant Sunday, November 18, 2001 By CANDY J. COOPER Staff Writer HILLBURN, N.Y. -- Unlit cigarette in one hand, cordless telephone in the other, Roderick Perry receives guests under the maple trees in his back yard, the office he shares with occasional black bears and rattlesnakes. One recent visitor was Guy Marchmont, vice president of American National Power Inc., the firm seeking to build a 1,100-megawatt power plant in Torne Valley, about a mile from Perry's hillside home. What could the power plant offer the activist to quell his resistance to the plan? Kill the project, was Perry's unequivocal answer. It is a position he has taken in public hearings, backyard chats, and in a civil suit recently filed against the company. In it, he asserts a new claim: environmental injustice against the Ramapough Mountain People. Along this rocky stretch of green known as The Ramapo Pass, where New York's rivers and aquifers provide drinking water to 2 million New Jersey residents, the lineup of toxic waste sites, recycling plants, and gas and electrical lines might seem the perfect place for a new power plant. But to Perry, the spokesman for the Ramapough Mountain People, a group of some 1,200 New Jersey and New York residents who live among the Ramapo Mountains and lay claim to Native American roots, enough is enough. "We're a minority community, we have no money or political clout, and if all of us voted we'd only have 800 votes," said Perry, who offers a tour of his extended neighborhood around the Torne Valley,a mix of spectacular beauty and unattractive industrial sites about three miles north of the New Jersey border. "They keep dumping more and more and more and more on us. Forget the snakes. It's the [local] people who are currently under threat of extinction," he said. "By putting up this plant, they'll kill off the rest of us." The claims of groups such as the Ramapoughs are heard increasingly around the country, as poor and minority groups assert that too much industrial junk is being dumped in their back yards. One such case is unfolding in Camden, where a citizens group sued the state Department of Environmental Protection this year, asserting that a new cement plant violated their civil rights. The poor, mostly African-American and Latino residents complain that they already have a sewage treatment plant, a trash-to-steam plant, and numerous toxic waste sites. American National argues that the plant it hopes to build in Torne Valley would release no hazardous emissions and therefore would not harm residents nearby. They say the plant, operating alone, would cause no additional harm to the environment because it would not exceed safe emissions levels. "Our report makes very clear that there is no environmental justice issue at all," Marchmont said in an interview. "Our facility fits in with the industrialized use of the area. We're not violating anything." Hearings on the proposed Torne Valley plant began Nov. 7 before the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment, which questioned company officials about the project's effect on water supplies that serve New Jersey. The board is expected to make a decision on the application to build the gas-fired plant by late March. Many have lined up against the plant, including acting New Jersey Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco and mayors of some 70 towns and villages in New York and New Jersey. Governor-elect Jim McGreevey has not yet taken a stand on the plant, said Jo Glading, his spokeswoman. "The issue is still under study," she said. But residents have packed community meetings by the hundreds, concerned about the plant's potential damage to scenery and to water supplies in New York and New Jersey. Some worry that blasting during construction would disturb an aquifer that serves Rockland County and North Jersey, and that the plant's water needs could jeopardize communities from Mahwah to Newark to Paterson. "This valley has been bastardized for 20 years," said Phil Tisi, assistant to the supervisor in the town of Ramapo, where the village of Hillburn and the Torne Valley are located."This is just the latest invader. It would be unjust to the people here to put one more potentially hazardous site in this area." American National says it has modified its plans to reduce water use, maintain its own water supply on site for emergencies, and eliminate discharge of wastewater into the Ramapo River. The proposed site, which lies at the end of Torne Valley Road, is zoned for industrial use. It is viewed by power officials as ideal because the area offers a criss-cross of natural gas lines to fuel the plant, electrical transmission lines that would help transport electricity across New York and beyond, and ample water for cooling. An analysis conducted by the company and released in August states that if both American National's plant and another under consideration, an 827-megawatt plant proposed by Sithe Energies, were to operate simultaneously, the resulting emissions would impose an "adverse environmental burden" on the community. But American National's project alone would create no adverse effect, it adds. And Sithe has claimed its plant would be idle most of the time, operating only in periods of high demand. The report also acknowledges that the area qualifies as a "community of concern" -- an area in which unequal treatment may be an issue -- because of the American Indian population. The outcry from the Ramapoughs resonates among some environmentalists who see a disproportionate burden of energy production occurring near Native Americans. "Uranium is mined on the Navajo reservation, processed on the Cherokee reservation, used in reactors in Native American facilities, and disposed of at storage sites on Indian reservations throughout the country," said Luke Cole, director of the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment in San Francisco. "You'll find the same thing in coal mining and hydroelectric power." The federal government has not recognized the Ramapough Mountain People as Native Americans, but they are considered a tribe by the states of New York and New Jersey. Whatever their roots, the Ramapoughs can certainly point to a litany of industrial sites in their back yard. The Torne Valley, the subject of panoramic landscape paintings by at least one Hudson River School artist, Jasper Francis Cropsey, is also home to the Ramapo Landfill, 96 acres of a hilly dump that slopes toward the Ramapo River, a New Jersey drinking water source. The landfill contains cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and car company sludge. The federal government, which placed the site on its Superfund list of most contaminated sites, said any contact with the soil or water around it could have posed a health threat. Today the site is capped, though damage from 1999 storms was only repaired in recent weeks. Another Superfund site is just down the road. Hudson Technologies Inc. spilled nearly 8,000 pounds of freon into the ground two years ago, contaminating nearby soil and wells, EPA records show. Exposure to freon can cause dizziness, lack of coordination, and heart problems. Then there are the toxins in Hillburn, soon to be cleaned up by the Ford Motor Co., which dumped paint sludge from its Mahwah plant onto a nine-acre site, said Christopher Alonge, project manager from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Other industrial neighbors along Torne Valley Road include the county's recycling and wastewater treatment plants, a garbage transfer station, and a large Con Ed transmission substation. Those spots may be just unsightly, even smelly on a hot day, but some residents wonder whether there is a connection between toxins in the area and poor health, a point raised both by lawyers who filed the Ramapoughs' suit as well as by residents during public hearings on the plant. "You have to look at the total picture," said Lydia Cotz, the Mahwah attorney representing Perry and seven other members of the Ramapough Mountain People. "There's a cumulative effect that we believe is related to the high breast cancer rate in the county. Historically, environmental agency decisions have ignored Native Americans and their communities." Rockland County had the highest rate of breast cancer in New York State from 1993 to 1997, and the second-highest rate from 1994 to 1998, according to the latest state figures available. The breast cancer rate in Hillburn alone was 50 percent to 100 percent above expected levels from 1993 to 1997. "We've lost whole families from cancer," said Walter "Silent Wolf" Van Dunk, principal chief of the Ramapough Mountain People and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "We have very young people dying of leukemia and lupus. Nobody has been able to figure out where this comes from." Perryshares the concern. His lawsuit, financed by his lawyers, is in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York before Judge Charles Brieant. It aims to stop the plant from being approved. And if the law can't stop it and the plant tries to break ground, Perry vows to erect a teepee at the top of the mountain and beat a drum of resistance. The Lenape Indianshad no such teepees, Perry says, but for this, he will scuttle historical accuracy for a modern-day stand. Staff Writer Candy Cooper's e-mail address is cooper@northjersey.com [cooper@northjersey.com] Copyright © 2001 North Jersey Media Group Inc. ***************************************************************** 43 Uphill battle : The future of Weldon Spring STLtoday - news By Bill Lambrecht Post-Dispatch Washingtion bureau 11/17/2001 12:15 PM Denise Mercer, a worker at the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project, climbs the seven-story "tomb" that holds the site's contaminated debris. (Kevin Manning/P-D) WASHINGTON - Late next year, the Department of Energy will conclude 16 years of cleanup at Weldon Spring and leave behind a tomb of dangerous wastes visible on a clear day from the Arch, 30 miles east. The government will have spent $900 million for remedies, including burial of 1.5 million cubic yards of radioactive materials and chemicals in the seven-story hill that will stand as a monument to the bombmaking era of the 20th century. In the 1940s the site was used to make bombs and in the 1950s to process uranium for weapons. But as the end of the cleanup project draws near, the federal government is doing far less to plan for the future of Weldon Spring than the state of Missouri and St. Charles County residents would like. Less than a year from finishing the project, the Energy Department has only a draft "stewardship plan" for Weldon Spring's future, a document that ignores recommendations on safeguarding waste sites by the National Academy of Sciences. The Energy Department's plan fails thus far to spell out clear lines of authority for surveillance, for testing surrounding water for contamination and generally for overseeing a site that will contain dangerous material for centuries. The plan calls for an Energy Department office in New Mexico to be in charge but another office in Colorado to maintain the site. Missouri officials say they were told that still another Energy Department office in Tennessee would have a role. "Management muddle" was how Steven Mahfood, the director of Missouri's Department of Natural Resources, referred to the government's sketchy plan in a recent letter to the Energy Department. Nor has the Energy Department mapped out a long-term mechanism to pay for monitoring and maintenance at the site. Lacking special funding provisions, state officials and community leaders worry that they'll be forced to wage yearly fights to persuade Congress to protect their community. Paul Mydler, vice chairman of the Weldon Springs Citizens Commission, put it this way: "The question is, how in the hell is all this stuff going to be funded?" He asked, "Will Congress say, 'It's been five years and this site is cleaned up and since people aren't barking loudly, maybe we can save a little money here'?" Thomas Nelsen, another commission member, said, "There's a concern that DOE (the Department of Energy) is going to try to wash its hands of the whole thing and just walk away and leave it sit." Energy Department officials did not return repeated phone messages left at several offices around the country last week regarding planning for the future of Weldon Spring and other sites. But Pam Thompson, the Energy Department's project manager at Weldon Spring, asserted that such fears were misplaced. "Maybe DOE won't be here, but people will be here and American citizens have governments, and someone will be here to respond to citizens," she said. Nonetheless, the government has done little to reassure Missouri. Since July, when the Energy Department finished the latest draft of its stewardship plan - its third - Missouri officials have been rebuffed in demanding more details. They are troubled by a preliminary suggestion that less than $4,000 yearly will be made available for a state and local role. They are insulted by what they regard as better planning for the future of other waste sites when they are closed. In correspondence with the government, the Missourians belittle the Energy Department's Weldon Spring plan as being loaded with jargon and "insider talk" that would have little meaning to people trying to protect the site in the future. The dispute has generated a series of indignant letters to the government from Missouri's Department of Natural Resources, one as recently as last week complaining about the lack of attention to long-term funding. Mahfood summed up the state's underlying fear in a letter written Sept. 27 to Jesse Roberson, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for environmental management. "We are concerned that the Energy Department appears to be committing the same fundamental lapse which occurred during the Cold War: waiting until the project is done to consider the full long-term and life-cycle environmental implications of the decisions that are made," he wrote. "We can not stand idly by and allow the same mistake to be repeated." Model for stewardship The contents of the containment cell, as the tomb of wastes is called, reflect the hectic pace of military preparations in St. Charles County that began during World War II and proceeded for two decades. Radioactive and chemical wastes were removed from 44 structures for burial in the cell, which covers 45 acres and stands 75 feet tall. Whole buildings were shredded and entombed with tons of contaminated soil beneath clay, a synthetic liner, more layers of gravel and sand and more than three feet of rock. Before pronouncing the project completed, the Energy Department must finish securing a nearby quarry where the old Atomic Energy Commission dumped material from a uranium processing plant in the 1960s. Missouri officials are not taking issue with the engineering. As recently as Nov. 8, the Department of Natural Resources congratulated the Energy Department team in Weldon Spring and its contractors for "hard work and good faith . . . toward a successful cleanup." What Missouri officials worry about is the future. And what the Energy Department does next at Weldon Spring is being watched far beyond Missouri. Weldon Spring is the first of many such complex cleanup operations that the government will be finishing in the coming years. Then the next stage of an enormous obligation - safeguarding still-dangerous sites - will begin. "I think DOE is under pressure to demonstrate that they can close these sites, and what they do at Weldon Spring will serve as a model, at least in the short-term," said Thomas Leschine, a professor at the University of Washington and the chairman of the National Academies of Science panel that identified deficiencies in the Energy Department's planning for waste sites. "I have the general feeling that they are trying to do a better job of planning. But what they have is something inherently difficult to manage," he said. "Faustian bargain" Already, the government has spent $50 billion on cleaning up nuclear waste. The scientists' report estimated that the cost would surpass $200 billion - more than enough to run the state of Missouri for a decade. In a famous quote recalled in the Academies of Science report, nuclear scientist Alvin Weinberg referred to these obligations as "a Faustian bargain with society . . . The price we demand of society for this magical energy source (atomic power) is both vigilance and a longevity of our social institutions that we are quite unaccustomed to." Nonetheless, the panel of scientists lamented, the potential problems have received little public debate. Among its sobering conclusions, the scientists' report says few Energy Department sites will be cleaned up sufficiently to allow unrestricted use. Most will require long-term monitoring and activities that include "pump-and-treat" operations to minimize the spread of water pollution. The scientists observe in their report that future problems at nuclear waste sites cannot be predicted and that the severity of future risks are not well understood. Many of the sites, their report says, will pose "risk to humans and the environment for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years." The scientists faulted the Energy Department for its lack of preparation to oversee waste sites, noting that stewardship plans will be required for about 100 of 144 cleanup operations. The report criticizes the Energy Department for taking what it calls a "restrained and piecemeal approach" which, among other things, has no provision for long-term funding. It also says plans must have "a clear system of governance that specifies what is to be done and by whom." The report also stresses the need for the Energy Department to be open about its planning and give the public the right to review and comment on stewardship plans while they are being written. "Transparency," the scientists wrote, "lays the groundwork for accountability." Thompson, the Weldon Spring project manager for the Energy Department, said she was forbidden to talk about future government policies. She added, "I don't think there is anything to worry about. I believe that people can be assured that nobody is going to walk away from the site." But without details, Missouri officials are not finding such statements assuring. In Washington last week, Robert Geller, who heads the federal facilities section in Missouri's Department of Natural Resources, said he was unable to get clear answers about Weldon Spring from Energy Department officials at a National Governors' Association meeting about waste sites. "We still don't know who is going to be ultimately responsible. We have been told several different things at several different times," he said. "We're hoping they understand that Missouri is serious about moving forward." Reporter Bill Lambrecht: E-mail: blambrecht@post-dispatch.com Phone: 202-298-6880 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 DU In Afghanistan Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 22:19:30 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal http://www.zolatimes.com/V5.44/afghan_uranium.html Depleted Uranium Toxicity in Afghanistan by Richard S. Ehrlich ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - American warplanes are attacking Afghanistan with depleted uranium weapons which could poison combatants and civilians, especially children, according to U.S. officials. The possibility of radioactive dust storms sweeping across Afghanistan and polluting rivers has meanwhile sparked fears in Pakistan. "The radioactive dust released by the impact of these weapons can easily get into the food chain and the water supply through the Kabul River in Afghanistan and thus into Pakistan's Indus [River]," reported Dawn newspaper. "There are simply no contingency measures to brace people against such a disastrous humanitarian fallout," Dawn added. The narrow Kabul River cuts through the center of the heavily bombed, mile-high Afghan capital and provides drinking water for the people who dwell there. After meandering east along the highway past Jalalabad and other U.S. bomb targets, the Kabul River crosses into Pakistan and feeds the Indus River, the country's biggest waterway. The Indus provides much of the liquid nourishment to Pakistan's farms and people along its route south to the Arabian Sea. Pakistani Dr. Ali Rind warned Dawn's readers: "All flying bombs - Tomahawk, JDAM etc. - are made of depleted uranium metal." Many experts insist the dangers of depleted uranium are often exaggerated. Dr. Michael H. Repacholi of the World Health Organization, however, said in a January report: "DU [deleted uranium] is released from fired weapons in the form of small particles that may be inhaled, ingested or remain in the environment." Dr. Repacholi said, "For smaller particles, a larger fraction will deposit in the lungs, where they may remain for months or years, unless they dissolve. Very small amounts may be retained in the lymphatic system for longer." He added, "Breathing ultra-fine particles could lead to a theoretical risk of cancer. "In arid regions, most DU remains on the surface as dust. It is dispersed in [non-arid] soil more easily, particularly in the areas of higher rainfall." Dr. Repacholi stressed, "Children rather than adults may be considered to be more at risk of DU exposure when returning to normal activities within a war zone through contaminated food and water, since typical hand-to-mouth activity of inquisitive play could lead to high DU ingestion from contaminated soil." Depleted uranium is "used in several types of munitions, but primarily in two types: it's used in 120-millimeter tank rounds and it's used in 30-millimeter rounds fired by the A-10," Defense Department spokesperson Kenneth H. Bacon told a newsconference in January. The dreaded A-10 "Wart Hog" is a so-called a "tank killing" aircraft. Every 30-millimeter round it fires has a 0.3-kilogram, depleted uranium "penetrator" to bust through armor, according to military reports. Depleted uranium is "primarily for anti-armor, and those are its main uses," Mr. Bacon said. "We obviously put out instructions about avoiding depleted uranium dust," he added. "Troops are instructed to wear masks if they're around what they consider to be atomized or particle-ized depleted uranium - that is if rounds have struck tanks, there could be depleted uranium dust around. "So if they were working around an [enemy] tank that had been disabled by a depleted uranium round, they would be instructed to wear some sort of mask to prevent breathing in particles," Mr. Bacon said. "All our studies show that in cases where there is dust, it [depleted uranium] is washed away and nullified by the first heavy rain. "But there aren't a lot of heavy rains in the desert, so obviously, when we were advising our soldiers how to deal with depleted uranium damage, or damaged vehicles in the desert, we were careful to point out that they should wear masks." Depleted uranium is described as uranium that is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium, though it retains identical chemical properties. Natural uranium is found in everyday air, water and soil and, as a result, is also in each person's body. Depleted uranium, however, has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. In 1998, the Pentagon noted: "Depleted uranium is the most effective material for [military] uses because of its high density and the metallic properties that allow it to 'self-sharpen' as it penetrates armor. "Armor containing depleted uranium is very effective at blunting anti-tank weapons," the Pentagon added. "The major health concerns about DU relate to its chemical properties as a heavy metal rather than to its radioactivity, which is very low." Shrapnel from a depleted uranium weapon's explosion can pepper a victim's body much like a shotgun blast. If the shrapnel remains embedded in a person, then the radiation "isn't eliminated," an expert said at a Defense Department briefing. "By accumulation, is the [radioactive] dose increasing with time? Yes, it is," the expert added. Dr. Ross Anthony, from the Rand Corporation, told the Defense Department briefing, "The kidney is the part that is the most susceptible." In experiments with animals, however, "there seem to be no real highly negative effects until you get a very, very high dose," Dr. Anthony said. In 1999, Steve Fetter and Frank von Hippel wrote in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: "Radiation doses for soldiers with embedded fragments of depleted uranium may be troublesome. "Apart from radiation, however, the risks related to the heavy-metal toxicity of uranium inhaled and ingested by soldiers in direct and unprotected contact with vehicles struck with DU munitions could be significant. "Primarily at risk are those who were in vehicles when they were struck, or their rescuers, as well as those who worked for extended periods in cleanup efforts inside the vehicles without adequate respiratory protection," they added. "Very prolonged exposure to high concentrations of depleted uranium is required to give radiation doses significantly above [normal] background" levels. "Pieces and particles of depleted uranium lying about would be sources of most of the external radiation dose, which would come primarily from penetrating gamma rays. "Inhalation of DU-contaminated dust - either directly or after resuspension [in the air] - would be the source of most of the internal dose, which would be primarily from very short-range alpha particles." Referring to desert dust storms, the bulletin said, "The ground the DU-contaminated plumes passed over would be coated with a thin layer of DU dust, some of which would be later kicked up by wind and human activity. "The munitions could deposit a layer of [depleted uranium] dust on crops that could be eaten directly by humans or by animals later consumed by humans. "However, rough estimates suggest that the cancer risk from consumption of contaminated produce would be less than from inhalation." As a result of the U.S.-Gulf War, "the number of Iraqi soldiers with embedded DU fragments could be in the thousands," the bulletin said. "Natural curiosity may also lead children and other passersby to investigate the interiors of destroyed tanks and other vehicles...which would subject them to danger from DU dust," it warned. "Such vehicles should be made inaccessible, perhaps by being buried and then pumped full of concrete." Critics have expressed concern over depleted uranium contamination on battlefields which do not receive environmental clean-ups. Some critics claimed birth defects among babies born in Iraq after the Gulf War - including headless victims and others with deformed limbs - may be linked to the U.S. use of depleted uranium. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ Richard S. Ehrlich lives in Bangkok, Thailand. His web page is located at http://members.tripod.com/ehrlich, and he may be reached by email at animists@yahoo.com. -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 5, No 44, October 29, 2001 -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Click Image to Jump to Next Article Back to Home Page Quick Menu Back Issues and MORE...---Back Issues >1997Writers IndexExclusive Interviews---Search MenuArticles on LFCity---Book ShopBook ReviewsFilm Reviews---Mission StatementWant to Write?Email ZOLA -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Interactive Forum Depleted Uranium Toxicity in Afghanistan ***************************************************************** 2 Was Paper on Bomb a Parody? November 17, 2001 By NICHOLAS WADE or whatever other dark business may have occurred in the Al Qaeda safe houses in Kabul, a lot of time and effort had been devoted within them to researching the creation of an atomic device," The Times of London reported on Thursday. But according to Jason Scott, a reporter for a Web newsletter, rotten.com, the document was not quite so chilling a display of nuclear knowledge as The Times might have believed. Mr. Scott searched the Web for phrases visible in a film of The Times's document broadcast by the BBC and discovered its source, a spoof published in 1979 in a takeoff on scientific journals known as The Journal of Irreproducible Results. The BBC showed a paragraph that described the implosion principle by which a nuclear fission weapon is triggered. But the next paragraph in the parody reads, "In next month's column, we will learn how to clone your neighbor's wife in six easy steps." Chris Broadhurst, an editor on The Times's foreign desk, said he was unable to reach the author of its article, Anthony Loyd, and could not comment on the assertions in the rotten.com article. The BBC did not respond to questions. Rotten.com posts articles that include the weird and the scatological. The editor, who would not give his name for reasons of personal safety, said he ran a "shock Web site" that published "all the news that's not fit to print." Mr. Scott said he had written his article about the "nuclear" report because "here you have some guy acting like this is the end of the world, and all it is is some idiotic joke file." Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 3 Plan made for SRS in case of strike [charlotte.com] Published Friday, November 16, 2001 Energy Department confident Plan made for SRS in case of strike Security company says it has experienced nonunion workers Associated Press AIKEN -- The U.S. Energy Department says it has confidence in a proposed plan to protect the Savannah River Site if the security force for the former nuclear weapons plant decides to go on strike at the end of this month. The site's security contractor, Wackenhut Services Inc., is in a labor dispute with 450 members of the site's uniformed security force. The employees, represented by Security Police and Fire Professionals of America Local 330, are upset over the start date for a retiree medical plan. Wackenhut said it has a force of nonunion employees who have had experience protecting the site. "If the union votes to strike, we have reviewed Wackenhut's security plan, and we believe that the contingency plan will protect the site," Energy Department spokesman Rick Ford said. Because of their experience, Wackenhut spokesman Rob Davis said, "we certainly feel that they are fully qualified." The union local's president said employees were surprised when Wackenhut presented "its best and final offer" Oct. 25, a day after the groups agreed to a one-month extension. Employees want the start date the for retiree medical plan in the first year, while Wackenhut wants it in the third. "Our goal is not to strike," union president Herb Coleman said. "We recognize the importance of our national assets, especially with what's going on with the world today with the terrorist attacks." The union has contacted federal arbitrators to see whether they can help resolve the dispute, Coleman said. The Energy Department has not stepped in, Ford said. "This is truly between the contractor and the union," he said. ***************************************************************** 4 Expert: Taliban probably unable to unleash poison, nukes by Jules Crittenden BostonHerald.com AMERICA'S NEW WAR -- FBI HOTLINE -- Anyone with info on the attacks is encouraged to contact the FBI Toll Free: (866) 483-5137 Internet: www.ifccfbi.gov The discovery of a formula for the deadly poison ricin and instructions for making nuclear weapons in an al-Qaeda house in Kabul is more evidence that Osama bin Laden has no limit to how many people he is willing to kill, a terrorism expert said. But Juliette Kayyem, a former Department of Justice terrorism expert now at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said that with the law enforcement action after Sept. 11, and the apparent collapse of the Taliban this week, the risk of an al-Qaeda attack is diminishing. ``They have not been able to surmount the difficulties of obtaining weapons of mass destruction. If they had them, they would have used them,'' she said. Al-Qaeda may want to assert its power at a time when it is on the run, but Kayyem said, ``If anything was to happen, it would have had to have been put into place before Sept. 11. Al-Qaeda is now so dispersed and so desperate that their ability to initiate anything is seriously compromised.'' A Times of London staffer reported finding the ricin and nuclear papers in the missile-pocked ruins of an al-Qaeda building this week. Ricin is a biological chemical derived from castor beans with no known antidote. It is described as twice as deadly as cobra venom if ingested, inhaled or injected. Experts say they doubt al-Qaeda could disperse enough ricin to kill large numbers of people. Nor is it believed to have the equipment and expertise to produce a nuclear weapon. Ricin kills by causing severe, irreversible diarrhea and fluid loss. It was used to kill Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov in London in 1978, when a pellet was injected into his thigh. Bulgarian agents were suspected. [http://www.bostonherald.com/privacy_commitment.html] ***************************************************************** 5 Plans for isotopes plant stay quiet Web posted Sunday, November 18, 2001 By Brandon Haddock [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer Fred Humes won't say much about plans to build a plant near Savannah River Site that would produce medical isotopes. But his smile speaks volumes. A study paid for by Mr. Humes' Aiken-Edgefield Economic Development Partnership indicates that a "linear accelerator" to produce such isotopes could generate $70 million in gross annual revenue, create dozens of jobs and help treat 2 million people annually, Mr. Humes said. Now, the trick is persuading a private industry to build it. "If people believe in this vision we have, we'll go do it," Mr. Humes said. "If there's no interest, then the work we've done is good, and we've identified some need, and someday somebody will be able to use it." Isotopes are different, radioactive forms of basic elements. Although some isotopes already are used to diagnose and treat diseases, there are dozens more with potential for wider medical use, Mr. Humes said. A study, produced by Mendel Group Inc. for the Economic Development Partnership at a cost of $170,000, identified 30 isotopes that have great promise for future medical use. The partnership narrowed that list to 15 isotopes, Mr. Humes said. The partnership approached AES, a New York engineering firm, to get a ballpark estimate of the cost to design and build an accelerator to manufacture the isotopes. The results were promising, Mr. Humes said. "What is coming out of this whole process is that it is becoming apparent that we can produce not only those 15 isotopes, but more at less power than originally envisioned," he said. "I know from this study that I can produce in quantity, and the problem has been producing in quantity." But Mr. Humes remains tight-lipped when asked for details of the plan. He won't reveal which isotopes the partnership has focused on, nor will he reveal cost estimates for the accelerator, for fear of informing competitors. "We've invested a lot of time and money," Mr. Humes said. "Until we get a business partnership, I don't want to do somebody else's work." Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or bhaddock@augustachronicle.com [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] . 2001 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. Read our ***************************************************************** 6 Potomac Institute Presents: 'New War Challenges' From Aviation to Nuclear Terrorism?' 16 Nov 13:30 To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Craig Bannister of the Potomac Institute, 703-525-0770 News Advisory: What: From suicide pilots using planes as manned guided missiles to potential nuclear bomb and radiological attacks from terrorist organizations, the world faces threats of previously unimaginable proportion and dimensions. On Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2001, Professor Yonah Alexander, co-editor of Super Terrorism: Biological, Chemical, and Nuclear, will join a team of experts to discuss "The New War Challenges: From Aviation to Nuclear Terrorism?" A question and answer session will follow. When: Tuesday, Nov. 20 from 4-6 p.m. Where: International Law Institute 1615 New Hampshire Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. (2 Blocks East of Dupont Circle Metro Station on the Red Line) Program: -- Co-Chairmen: Prof. Yonah Alexander, director, International Center for Terrorism Studies, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and co-director, Inter-University Center for Legal Studies Prof. Edgar H. Brenner, co-director, Inter-University Center for Legal Studies Opening Remarks: -- Stuart Kerr, Esq., executive director, International Law Institute -- Michael S. Swetnam, CEO and chairman of the Board, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Panelists: -- Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace -- Dr. Milton Hoenig, nuclear physicist -- Dr. Feisal Keblawi, Federal Aviation Administration -- Fred Roder, Federal Aviation Administration (invited) Media Inquiries: Craig Bannister, 703-525-0770 RSVP Required: Kerrie Martin, 703-525-0770 Established in 1998, the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' International Center for Terrorism Studies (ICTS) is a non-profit research organization dedicated to educating the public and the nation's policymakers about the nature and intensity of, and most effective responses to, the terrorist threat in the 21st century. ICTS serves as the coordinating body for three worldwide consortia of universities and think tanks: the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies, the Inter-University Center for Information Warfare and Cyber-terrorism Studies, and the Inter-University Center for Science and Technology Studies. ICTS is also affiliated with the Inter-University Center for Legal Studies at the International Law Institute. Copyright 2001, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 7 Abraham to make first visit as energy secretary to Nevada [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Saturday, November 17, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Official to consider training center at test site By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Spencer Abraham has agreed to make his first trip to Nevada as energy secretary early next year as he considers a proposal to establish a counterterrorism training center at the Nevada Test Site, the state's U.S. senators said Friday. Abraham met Thursday with Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev. During a half-hour meeting at the Energy Department, Reid pitched the proposal to establish a National Center for Combatting Terrorism at the test site. The idea, developed by Reid after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, calls for the test site to be employed as the government's center to train federal agents and local police, fire and rescue workers to respond to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. "We're making progress," said Reid, who has tried to sell the plan to President Bush and other key members of his administration. Abraham spokesman Joe Davis said the secretary has not been to Nevada since becoming Energy Department head earlier this year. Davis believed Abraham may have visited the state once when he represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate between 1994 and January. "The boss is very interested in what (the Nevadans) had to say," Davis said. "It was a good initial meeting, and there will be more details as we go along. He has taken a personal interest in this." Ensign said Abraham's interest was apparent at the meeting. "Walking into that meeting, not only was Abraham excited about it, he was talking about adding things to it," Ensign said. "If we can get (homeland security director Tom) Ridge excited about it, too, we should be set." Abraham inquired about the possibility that private companies could use the facility to train their security forces, Ensign said. Ensign said boosts in anti-terrorism spending at the test site could bring "a couple hundred quality jobs." Reid has suggested a $60 million effort, although he said he is not wedded to that amount. Still to be determined would be which agency would oversee the programs. Ridge has expressed interest in the test site proposal, and Reid said an effort may be made to coordinate his trip with Abraham's. John Gordon, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, is expected to accompany Abraham. The test site already hosts some training programs, including classified training for government agents who would be called to respond to nuclear attacks. Reid has stuck money into legislation this year to boost annual training spending at the test site to $17 million. An undisclosed additional amount is believed to be set aside in the government's budget for "black book" secret programs. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-17-Sat-2001/news/17472549.html [http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-17-Sat-2001/news/17472549.html] ***************************************************************** 8 'Dirty bomb,' not nuke, appears more likely threat Orange County Register - Top News Report says such a weapon, a conventional bomb loaded with radioactive material, is cheaper and easier to make. November 18, 2001 By DAVID EGGERT Hearst Newspapers WASHINGTON -- A terrorist group like al-Qaida is more likely to detonate a van packed with radioactive materials and explosives than use a nuclear weapon against the United States, according to a report sent to Congress. Such an attack would be "catastrophic but manage able" - with contamination likely being contained but fear and panic certainly spreading, according to the report compiled by a committee of top radiation scientists. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements called its report "timely" but said it had been completed prior to Sept. 11. The council, chartered by Congress nearly 40 years ago, sent the study to House and Senate committees that deal with the environment, terrorism and technology. William M. Beckner, executive director of the council, said that while a so-called "dirty bomb" is more probable as a terrorist weapon than a nuclear bomb, it is not necessarily a likelihood. "You just gather up some radioactive materials and explosives in a van and blow it up," he said. Such a dirty bomb would explode like a conventional bomb, spreading the radioactive material. Such a bomb would cause damage similar to that inflicted on the federal building in Oklahoma City and the U.S. embassies in Africa, according to Leonard S. Spector, deputy director of the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "It's really like a normal bomb but has an extra dimension," he said. "You have radioactive contamination. It's not immediately life threatening except in very rare hotspots." Exposure to the radioactive material could cause radiation sickness and possible long-term illnesses such as cancer. A nuclear bomb uses radioactive material such as plutonium or enriched uranium to set off a chain reaction of subatomic particles. This process - known as fission - releases huge amounts of energy, causing an explosion. A dirty bomb is much easier to make and can use low-grade radioactive materials like cesium, cobalt or nuclear waste. Spector said the radioactive materials in a dirty bomb would be dispersed in relatively small amounts. This means people would suffer immediate health problems only if they were exposed at the site for long periods of time. Those exposed during the blast could be washed and treated, he said. "There would probably not be a catastrophe much beyond the bombing itself," Spector added. The council's report, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, called for government agencies and first-responders such as fire fighters and first-aid workers to be equipped with Geiger counters and dosimeters. This would enable them to measure radiation levels so that government agencies could assess the risk and respond accordingly. [http://www.ocregister.com] The Orange County Register ocregister@link.freedom.com--> ***************************************************************** 9 DOE shuts down Pantex board ->Web posted Saturday, November 17, 2001 3:58 a.m. CT Move disbands advisory group By JIM McBRIDE jmcbride@amarillonet.com Energy Department officials shut down the Pantex Plant Citizens Advisory Board on Friday, disbanding an advisory group that monitored environmental, safety and health issues at the nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly plant since 1994. The board and DOE officials had been at odds after DOE officials told advisory board members this year that they could no longer provide recommendations on Pantex's nuclear operations. Pantex Board Co-Chair Paula Breeding said Amarillo Area Office Manager Dan Glenn notified her Friday that he was eliminating the board. "I think that even if we were going to be a board and even if we just worked on environmental stuff, it would be difficult getting information out of Pantex," Breeding said. "I think it's definitely a setback for public participation." Pantex Board Co-Chair Walt Kelley said Glenn notified him Friday by telephone that the board was being disbanded. Kelley declined further comment until he receives DOE's letter formally disbanding the Pantex board. "That's about all he said is that he has made a decision and that the decision at this particular point is that the board won't continue," Kelley said. In September, the board voted 12-1 to continue under DOE's new restrictions, but the decision was not the unanimous vote sought by the Amarillo DOE office. This month, Pantex officials, citing security concerns, also seized all the board's public documents and shut down its Amarillo office. In a statement, Glenn cited the board's inability to vote unanimously for a revised scope that focused on environmental issues. "Based on this failure to reach consensus on this fundamental issue, and my opinion that the board has not been effective in providing advice to the plant, I have decided to terminate the advisory board," Glenn said. Glenn said public input remains important to Pantex's environmental management program and thanked board members for their work. A final board meeting is set for Nov. 27. "I intend to continue community participation mechanisms that have proven effective and explore new avenues for gathering public input as appropriate," Glenn said. Glenn also mailed a letter to board members notifying them that the board is being scrapped. "I have no confidence that this board will be able to perform effectively in the future due to existing provisions in the board's bylaws and the divisive effect of the board's caucus structure," the letter said. For years, the Pantex board had issued recommendations and advice to the DOE on issues ranging from environmental cleanup to plutonium storage. Its members included Pantex boosters and critics. But in May, DOE officials told board members that the board's charter no longer included Pantex's nuclear operations. Board members then asked a top general to intervene in a dispute with Pantex officials about the board's role. Ralph E. Erickson, a DOE official in Washington, wrote to the board in July and told board members that they could no longer make recommendations on Pantex health, safety and operational issues. "The PPCAB needs to focus its resources on environmental concerns faced at Pantex rather than defense programs and operations," the letter said. 2001 Amarillo Globe-News [http://www.amarillonet.com/copyright.html] ***************************************************************** 10 Nuclear materials on sale in Afghanistan The Frontier Post From Peshawar Pakistan Naveed Miraj Updated on 11/17/2001 11:17:42 AM ISLAMABAD: Some of the exotic metals used for high-grade weapon and industrial purposes are abundantly available in Afghanistan for trading. Sources privy to trade in these metals said that after the splitting up of Soviet Union and Central Asian States becoming independent, Afghanistan became a major hub of trade in exotic materials. At least two sites in Afghanistan have been stocked up with exotic materials that can be used for multiple purposes. These materials were brought in Afghanistan from central Asian States and lay there for trading purposes. This is yet another indication that trading in exotic materials or even technologies from the Central Asian States and Russia had been going on since last many years. These materials and there quantities still available for trading include, Ta 205, 20-25% Nb 15-20% SN 5-15% Fe 5-23% Titanium 4% (5 Metric Tons), these alloys are most used for heat exchangers, nuclear reactors, corrosion and hear resistant alloys. Cadmium metal Cd 99.98% in pigs 30 Metric Tons, it is mainly used for batteries, paint pigments, stabilisers. Cadmium alloys can be used for special applications. Tantalite - 1000 kg, this metal are used in capacitors. High Purity tellurium 5n6n.7n-99.99 300 Kg, are used to making detonators and alloying element for steel and also used in enhancing rubber properties. Yiltrium 99.83% -Plates 30, 120 mm used in alloys. Powdered material of the metal can be used for several applications in lasers, radars, refractory materials and photography. Scandium 99.99% - 3Kg. Scandium oxides are used for optical quoting and alloys of the metal are multi purpose use. Isotope Osmium 187 purity 99.99% -0.5 kg this isotpee is used fo nuclear shielding applications as another isotope is used for cancer treatment. Rubidium 99.99% 124 Kg, packed in metal cylinders. Can be used for making vacuum tubes and photocells. Tin Slag containing 2.5% TA 205 ND 2.5 NB- 100 Tons is used for tin extraction. GA 5n 3000 plastic tubes 100 gms- 300 Kg is used to make Gallium Nitride for application in optical and bio medical area. Stabilized Zirconia powder 99.99 % purity, 10 Mol%y, 203 out of filter press approximately 5% water content, average grain size 2-5 microns - 25 M Tons can be used for ceramic applications and refractory materials. Ta 205- 99.99% — 100 kgs another form of Tantalite. Cobalt grade A 99.96 purity (chips) 60 M Tons packed in 250Kg drums, 3 container, each weigh 17-20 M Tons. This material is mainly used for alloying to make special sheets. Selenium 74 non active isotpe- 0.38 kg, Solar cells and optiocal and glass industry usegae. Lithium metal purity 99.93%, 3200 Kg 40 metal containers, batteries are a major use for this mineral. Platinum Rondels 999.5- 496 Kg- 0.31 grams per Rondel - 1600 pieces, these can be used for electronic applications. Cesium metal 99.99% and cesium nitrate, cesium carbonate, cesium Sulphate, cesium chloride etc. 100 Kg, photoelectric cells are made from the material. Mercury 99.99% R-1, 5000 Kg, 34.5 Kg metal balloons, thermometers, barometers and lighting equipment is a major use. High purity SB 5n,6n -200 kg, is used for soldering and alloying metals. Indium metal min 99.99% purity-2 MT- 500 grams, usages include electroplating and its ixides are used for special applications Ta 205 powder, 99.99 % purity, 63 pounds, major use id a composite materials. Rhodium powder 99.95%- 3MT, can be used for spotlight reflectors, and its alloy with Platinum is used for thermocouples. Strontium metal 99.95% purity -1 MT, compounds are made for varying uses. Barium metal -99%, 2 MT compounds used in plugs and optics. Red Mercury Oxide Powder 20/20 non activehg 60%- 100 kg with igas lab report. Gallium 99.99%- 200 Kg. 2000 plastic tubes 100 grams batteries. Beryllium-aluminum alloy- 100 Kg, Berllium ingots (9 pieces)- Be> 97.80, A1<0.050, Fe<0.30, Si<0.050, Mg<0.030, Mn<0.030, Cu <0.50, Ni <0.50, Pb< 0.10, C<0.120, O, .2.0, Fe<0.050, Cr<0.080- 700kg used to produce copper beryllium alloys. © Copyright 2001 The Frontier Post ***************************************************************** 11 The Tough Task of Nuclear Reduction (washingtonpost.com) History Shows Weapons Are Hard to Eliminate By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 17, 2001; Page A03 In January 1992, President George Bush announced he was prepared to eliminate all 50 MX "Peacekeepers," a 10-warhead intercontinental ballistic missile that is the largest in the U.S. strategic arsenal, if Russian President Boris Yeltsin made a comparable offer. Yeltsin responded the next day by saying he would dismantle all of Russia's giant SS-18 ICBMs as part of a deal to cut each nation's nuclear stockpiles from 6,500 warheads, the level set by the 1972 START I treaty, to between 2,000 and 2,500. This week, President Bush offered a unilateral reduction in the U.S. strategic force to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads. Among those to be cut would be the 500 warheads on the MX missile that his father offered to eliminate nearly a decade ago. The story of the resilient MX is something of a cautionary tale about Russian-American efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles. History has shown that eliminating nuclear weapons is far more difficult than designing and building them. Indeed, even as Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a three-day summit this week at which they said they were laying the foundation for a new strategic framework based on a relationship between friends rather than adversaries, both countries continued to modernize the nuclear weapons they intend to keep. The United States is spending billions of dollars to refurbish and make more accurate its warheads, whose yields are more than 10 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The only purpose for such weapons is to strike hard targets, such as missile silos, found only in Russia. Some Bush aides also are pushing to design a new, lower-yield, earth-penetrating warhead suitable for use against deep underground shelters like those that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is supposed to possess. Under current plans, the U.S. warheads taken from ICBMs scheduled to be dismantled are not to be destroyed and their weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium made unusable. As with the weapons dismantled under START I, many of the weapons' plutonium triggers will be maintained in a strategic reserve at the Pantex plant in Texas, and the thermonuclear elements will be stored in facilities at Oak Ridge, Tenn. Putin said this week that Russia would also drastically reduce its nuclear stockpile. Though he did not give an exact goal for his reductions, he has in the past used 1,500 warheads by the end of the decade as a target. Most U.S. experts believe Russia would be able to afford to keep only 1,000 or fewer operational by that time. Even so, Russia is still building new warheads to replace those on ICBMs it intends to keep. Russia is also building the SS-27, a new ICBM to replace those already dismantled because of obsolescence, though economic problems have cut SS-27 production levels to fewer than 10 a year. Under START II, signed by Bush's father and Yeltsin in January 1993, dismantling the MX was to be accomplished by next month. But when President Bill Clinton suggested he might unilaterally begin dismantling some of the 50 ICBMs before the Russians had ratified START II, Republicans in Congress passed legislation prohibiting any such reductions under the treaty until ratification was complete. Earlier this year, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he wanted to begin taking down the missiles, although ratification was still not complete, he had to go to Congress to get the restriction repealed. The House agreed to exempt the 50 MX missiles from the prohibition, and the Senate eliminated the restriction entirely, permitting the president to reduce any number of strategic warheads he wished. The House-Senate conference on the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill has yet to vote on the issue, according to congressional sources. A second problem Rumsfeld faced was that there was no money in the budget to pay for the reduction. "The situation I was left with when I arrived was that the budget for the Peacekeeper missile had no money to continue it provided by the Congress, and no money to terminate it. It was just there, and not a happy situation," he said. The Bush administration requested $5.1 million in its fiscal 2002 defense budget for the missile system, to which the Senate added $12.2 million to cover preliminary expenses for dismantling the 50 missiles. Even with congressional approval and funds, the Air Force plan to eliminate the 50 MX missiles stretches out until 2007. Under the plan, one missile at a time will be taken off alert and withdrawn from its silo. The 10 warheads from each missile will be sent to Pantex, and the missile itself will be destroyed. Which other weapons would be kept and which ones would be dismantled under Bush's new proposal have yet to be determined. © 2001 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 12 The UK's newest terrorists: the MoD Sunday Herald The Ministry of Defence has published details of the routes taken by nuclear convoys -- and could fall foul of new terrorism laws By Rob Edwards Environment Correspondent Convoys carrying nuclear weapons and radioactive materials that could be targets for terrorists and cause disastrous accidents are regularly driven through most of Scotland, according to a revealing new report from the Ministry of Defence. As well as giving a detailed description of the safety and security arrangements for the convoys, the report lists the 21 Scottish local authorities through which they travel by road. Accidents could result in explosions which could spread plutonium and other harmful radioactivity over large areas, it says. The report has been made available on the MoD's website at the same time as another arm of government is preparing to clamp down on the publication of details of nuclear movements. Home Secretary David Blunkett's anti-terrorism bill, unveiled last week, makes the disclosure of any information which might prejudice the security of nuclear materials in transit a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years. This has prompted anti- nuclear groups, who welcome the MoD's new-found openness, to decry the ludicrous position in which the government now finds itself. 'The new anti- terrorism bill is far too sweeping,' said John Ainslie from the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. 'If Scottish CND repeats what the MoD has just published, we could be breaking the law. If the government wants to apply this legislation fairly then it should prosecute itself.' The MoD report spells out the emergency procedures for local authorities in case of accidents with the nuclear convoys. The worst risk is from the Trident nuclear warheads, which are frequently moved for refurbishment between the Coulport nuclear submarine base on the Clyde and the bomb factory at Burghfield in Berkshire. The Sunday Herald can reveal that six such journeys have been made so far this year . The most recent convoy crossed Britain after the terrorist attacks against the US on September 11, leaving Coulport on Saturday October 20 and arriving at Burghfield two days later. According to the MoD, the roads 'in regular use' by the nuclear bomb convoys run through or adjacent to 17 Scottish and 43 English local authorities. The Scottish council areas include Glasgow, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Stirling, Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Borders. The biggest hazard from an accident would be caused by the detonation of the conventional explosives packed around the plutonium in warheads, the MoD says. If the explosive overheats in a fire it could spread radioactivity and endanger the health of local people. Anyone living up to five kilometres away within a 45-degree arc of the wind direction will be instructed to stay indoors. 'Close all doors, windows and ventilators,' says the MoD report. 'Do not leave the shelter of a building until advised that you may do so by the police. Do not try and collect children from school, unless told to do so.' The report stresses that such an accident is very unlikely, and is adamant that 'there is no risk of an 'atomic bomb' type of explosion'. But there have been at least seven accidents with British nuclear weapons , including the dropping of a Pol aris missile at Coulport in 1977 and the overturning of a nuclear weapons truck during icy conditions in Wiltshire in 1987. Blunkett's bill, which is expected to become law before Christmas, is being pushed through Parliament at Westminster as part of the government's war on terrorism. Section 79 of the draft legislation makes it an offence to disclose 'any information or thing the disclosure of which might prejudice the security of any nuclear site or of any nuclear material.' The movement of every nuclear warhead for the last decade has been assiduously tracked by anti-nuclear groups . Now they fear that the new law will turn them into criminals. 'If there are any terrorists lurking out there, nukewatchers will be the first to spot them -- not the police and MI5,' claims Nukewatch co-ordinator Di Macdonald. 'We may need medals rather than to be locked up.' But the MoD argued that it had to walk a tightrope between the need for public accountability and operational security, and that hadn't been changed by the events of September 11. 'The information available is information that we judged was safe to go into the public domain,' said a ministry spokesman on Friday. The information provided by the MoD has been welcomed by local authorities. Not so Blunkett's proposed legislation. 'It simply risks criminalising local people concerned about transport dangers,' said Stewart Kemp, secretary of the group of Nuclear Free Local Authorities. 'It will not improve MoD transport safety and security. If the government judges that there is an increased terrorist threat then the right thing to do is stop the transports altogether.' ©2001 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088. all rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 13 Science and security: Chasing nuclear 'secrets' The Dallas Morning News: 11/17/2001 By [tsiegfried@dallasnews.com] / The Dallas Morning News TEMPE, Ariz.  In searching science books for help with homeland security, you wouldn't be likely to linger over the chapter on neutrinos. Elementary particle physics seems as far from the war on terrorism as Afghanistan is from Albuquerque. What neutrinos are and what they do rarely makes the Top 10 list of things every public policy-maker should know. Yet these subatomic particles may offer diplomats a new device for strengthening treaties to counter one of terrorism's most fearsome threats  nuclear explosives. Building a nuclear bomb isn't all that easy, but the blueprints aren't exactly secret anymore. Experts agree that technically trained terrorists could construct a crude nuclear explosive device. The main obstacle to creating such a nuclear nightmare would be acquiring the raw materials  substances capable of rapid nuclear fission. Fission, or "splitting the atom," was discovered in 1938, originally in uranium. Ordinary uranium poses no explosive danger, though; for a bomb you need a highly-enriched recipe containing mostly a form found only in traces in uranium ore. Or you could use plutonium, an element rare in nature but copiously produced in nuclear reactors. Worldwide, about 1,000 reactors operate nowadays, more than 400 to produce electric power, with most of the others used for research. It's possible to extract the plutonium produced in either reactor type and use it to build a nuclear explosive. International treaties have attempted to prohibit any such plutonium diversion. Those treaties call for safeguards including video monitoring and occasional inspections. But nobody really thinks the system is foolproof. "I think it's well-known in that community that you can't trust the monitoring very well," says Giorgio Gratta, a physicist at Stanford University. But you can trust neutrinos. Seven decades ago, the Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli suspected that some radioactive substances emitted an invisible particle along with other particles easier to detect. By the 1950s, other physicists figured out how to record the presence of Pauli's particle, by then known as the neutrino. Neutrinos are famous for their ghostly properties  able to zip through a wall of lead a light-year thick, so light as to be nearly massless, so fast as to be nearly as fast as light itself. But scientific neutrinobusters can apprehend the elusive particles anyway  if they are present in sufficient abundance. And nuclear reactors are the most prolific neutrino factories on the planet. When a uranium or plutonium atom splits, the fragments are just the sort of radioactive substances that emit neutrinos like crazy. (Actually, we're talking about antineutrinos here, but let's keep it simple.) What's more, the neutrinos zip out of the reactor core carrying different amounts of energy, depending on what atoms made them. Measuring the energy of neutrinos flying from a reactor, therefore, can tell scientists what substances the reactor is hiding inside, Dr. Gratta explained last week at a seminar sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Dr. Gratta and Yifang Wang of Stanford have collaborated with Adam Bernstein and Todd West of Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., to calculate just how effective neutrino monitoring of a reactor could be. (Don't tell O.B.L., but you can read their paper at xxx.lanl.gov/abs/nucl-ex/0108001.) In most cases, it would be possible to detect the extraction of plutonium from a reactor or even to tell whether the reactor fuel had been altered to produce plutonium more rapidly. Unlike ordinary inspections, which might take place only twice a year, when the reactor was turned off, neutrino monitoring could go on constantly. "You could have it on the Internet," says Dr. Gratta. "You're looking in real time at what's happening inside the core of the reactor." All it takes is connecting computers to a cube about 3 feet on each side filled with the proper organic solvents, along with detectors to record the flashes of light created by neutrinos striking hydrogen atoms in the solvent. (These collisions also produce neutrons, so you have to measure them, too.) Computers can analyze the collisions to determine the neutrinos' energy. This plan is about to be tested at the San Onofre reactor in California, where the detecting cube will be positioned in a service area about 80 feet from the core. The cube should record nearly 3,000 neutrino hits a day. Of course, to know whether anybody is messing with the reactor, you have to know what the energy of those neutrinos is supposed to be in the first place. So this system works only because scientists have been playing around with neutrinos for decades  not for homeland security, but for understanding the particles that nature is made of, how the sun shines, and how the universe works. It's the kind of physics that politicians often criticize as not sufficiently relevant to daily life to be worth a lot of funding. Knowledge and security, though, are both precious to society, and it's unwise to demand one without the other. ***************************************************************** 14 U.S. Arsenal: Treaties vs. Nontreaties November 14, 2001 MILITARY ANALYSIS U.S. Arsenal: Treaties vs. Nontreaties By MICHAEL R. GORDON Arms Control: Bush and Putin Agree to Reduce Stockpile of Nuclear Warheads WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 — President Bush did not mention it, but the arms control approach he presented today would undo one of the signal accomplishments of his father's administration: the ban on multiple- warhead missiles based on land. Throughout the cold war, it was widely assumed that such missiles were particularly destabilizing weapons. NATO was so worried about the Soviet Union's 10-warhead SS-18 that its code name for the missile was Satan, and Reagan administration hard-liners warned darkly that it would be useful for a surprise strike. Start II, a treaty signed in 1993 by the first Bush administration, banned land-based Mirvs, as the multiple-warhead missiles are known, a move that arms control specialists agreed made the nuclear balance more stable. But the new Bush administration does not see Russia as a nuclear adversary and, officials say, has no interest in rescuing Start II, which has never taken effect because of disputes about conditions attached by both the United States Congress and the Russian parliament. By omitting any mention of Start II, the administration signaled that its strategy is to leapfrog over that agreement and move to a more streamlined arrangement in which the United States and Russia separately announce plans for deep cuts. That means that Start II and its provisions, including the ban on land- based missiles with multiple warheads, becomes an artifact of history, one policymaker said. Administration officials say there is no need to perpetuate a ban hammered out during the tense days of the cold war. Much of the new American deterrent will be based on submarines, making it almost invulnerable to surprise attack. But some arms control proponents are critical. "It means abandoning one of the most hard fought gains for U.S. national security," said Joseph Cirincione, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Multiple warhead missiles are dangerous weapons and will remain in the Russian arsenal long after Putin is gone." The new administration stance is part of a broad rethinking about arms control that has led the administration to announce reductions in its nuclear arsenal. In considering how deeply to cut America's nuclear arsenal, President Bush faced a quandary. The Russians, whose own nuclear force is shrinking by the day because of economic pressures, wanted the United States to reduce the number of warheads to 1,500. But the United States Strategic Command, which oversees American nuclear forces, had been actively resisting such a deep cut, hoping to keep the level at around 2,250 warheads. Today, Mr. Bush gave them both what they were looking for. With President Vladimir V. Putin by his side, Mr. Bush announced that the United States would cut the number of its warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 over 10 years, from the current level of more than 6,000. When Mr. Bush took office, he called for a fresh look at the United States' nuclear posture, taking full account of the end of the cold war competition with the Soviets. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld began a review of the country's nuclear requirements. Still, there was no consensus on how deep the nuclear cuts should go, particularly because of the hawkish views of Adm. Richard W. Mies, the commander of the Strategic Command, who also resisted the push for deep cuts during the Clinton administration. While Bush administration officials insist that their review was driven by a hard-headed look at nuclear requirements, no one was oblivious to the foreign policy implications. A public pledge to slash the number of nuclear arms, officials understood, would help make the case to the Russians, as well as to other Europeans, that the administration's plan to build a missile defense was not part of a drive for strategic dominance. It might even make the Russians more willing to go along with the administration's plans to conduct antimissile tests. These were not permitted by the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, an accord that is still a bone of contention. The results of this American promise to cut the arsenal to 1,700 to 2,200 warheads over the next decade are significant. It would bring about a two-thirds reduction in the current arsenal. It is also an important advance over Start II, which called for reductions to 3,000 to 3,500 warheads. "The Bush team are on a positive trend line for the first time toward moving below 2,000 warheads," said Rose Gottemoeller, a senior Energy Department official from the Clinton administration. Still, the cuts were not as deep as some arms control advocates would have liked. They are only a little lower than the goals President Clinton and President Boris N. Yeltsin set in 1997 — 2,000 to 2,500 warheads each. (The Pentagon assumed that American warheads would be on the high end of that range and Russian warheads would be on the low end.) In outlining the cuts today, the administration also changed how nuclear weapons are counted, excluding those on submarines and bombers that are being overahuled. This will reduce the count by several hundred weapons without actually eliminating them. Still, some of the most important shifts had nothing to do with numbers. In addition to quietly walking away from Start II's ban on land- based multiple warhead missiles, the Bush administration says there is no need for formal treaties on offensive nuclear arms. Instead, the administration's approach is to spell out the reductions the United States is planning while the Russians do the same. The reductions would be verified by provisions for on-site monitoring carried over from Start I, signed in 1991. Administration officials say that dispensing with treaties will enable them to avoid the lengthy process it takes to negotiate them. But critics say it will also leave the two sides without a solid legal undertaking on nuclear arms that would outlast the Bush and Putin administrations. Mr. Putin was skeptical as well, saying he was prepared to codify all of the understandings between the United States and the Russians "in treaty form." Mr. Bush signaled that he did not think that a formal treaty was necessary, but added he would be willing to make a less formal commitment. "If we need to write it down on piece of paper," he said, "I'd be glad to do that." Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 15 William F. Buckley Jr. on Rogue Nuclear Weapons on National Review Online [http://www.nationalreview.com] Nuclear Babies Stillborn On the Kabul Compound Library of weapon construction. November 16, 2001 3:00 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/redirect.asp?jump=http://www.pfizerforum .com] he Northern Alliance gang in Kabul reports that our air force had a really good hit, an American rocket that opened up a Taliban compound that seems to have been a library/laboratory for ultimate war. It stored, in the account of the Associated Press, "room after room filled with papers, formulas and maps . . . some with handwritten Arabic notations." The Times of London reported written "descriptions of how the detonation of TNT compresses plutonium into a critical mass, sparking a chain reaction, and ultimately a thermonuclear reaction." There is a way of contriving an optimistic reading of the Kabul Compound Library, with scattered notes on weapon construction. We can say we don't have much to fear from people who need Atom Bombs for Dummies manuals. That's true, but also it is apparently true that not a great deal of sophistication is required, given presumptive knowledge of modern scientists, to piece together a nuclear device. On the specific question of such weaponry in Afghanistan, we bear in mind that President Bush has declined to say that we know the enemy to be without a nuclear repository. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld would go no further than that he "doubted" they had such weapons. We know that two Pakistani nuclear scientists sympathetic to the Taliban were brought in and questioned in Islamabad. Stretching away from believable commentators on the question, we get to the statement of Osama bin Laden, that in the event the United States used chemical or nuclear weapons, he would retaliate in kind. How far they are (were) from developing a dirty bomb is a fit study for the Rand Corporation in years to come. What is a fit subject for the moment is concern over the critical need to take the loose information we have got from the sorcerers' apprentices loose in Afghanistan and apply it to strategic action elsewhere, specifically Iraq. One reasons reasonably in the matter of nuclear weapons. If we learned at midnight that the Swiss had developed a nuclear bomb, we could turn over in our beds and go back to sleep. On the other hand we know there are active leaders in the world who, if they had the stuff and could profitably deploy it, would not hesitate, for moral reasons, to do so. Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons against the Kurds in northern Iraq. In decades to come it will strike Western moralists as simply unbelievable that, in the 1990s, the United States failed to force its hand against Iraq, notwithstanding that it had international sanction for probing the country for its little quarries of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. With the confidence that has come to us this week on the tide of our achievements in Afghanistan, we need to press on in the direction of pursuing al Qaeda wherever it festers, and Iraq is the most qualified target. In the New York Times, William Safire worried last week about the presidential decision to empower military courts to administer justice. He proposed an arresting compromise, namely to inform Osama bin Laden, or whoever is left in the crypt in which he is found, that we require the surrender of the al Qaeda organization wherever it is encysted, whether in Pakistan or in Libya or in the Philippines or in Indonesia: They must give themselves up or endure the relatively undiscriminating brunt of general wars in the style of ours against Afghanistan. The idea of an ultimatum is appealing, and ours to Saddam Hussein would be: Remove yourself and your court to the island of Elba, or on Day 3 the following airfields, arsenals, and military camps will be bombed; on Day 5, the following industrial centers; on Day 7, the internal transportation system. Upon your removal, with guaranteed personal safety, an Iraqi unit will exercise power in Baghdad under a U.S./U.N. mandate to identify and eliminate every trace of atomic/biological/chemical research and material. Remember, too, that we are discovering in Afghanistan the true human subculture, which is the response to liberation, expressed there by shaving beards and removing burqas from the women. After Iraq cooled down, even as France cooled down after Napoleon was finally, verifiably off, we could expect the relief, felt particularly in Iraq, and derivatively in humankind. [http://www.nationalreview.com/full_coverage/atwar.shtml] [http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry111601.shtml] NEW YORK — Reports say we may have killed Mohammed Atef, a top bin Laden lieutenant. By Rich Lowry. 11/16/01 4:20 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/buckley/buckley111601.shtml] NEW YORK — On the Kabul Compound Library of weapon construction. By William F. Buckley Jr. 11/16/01 3:00 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-plaut111601.shtml] HAIFA — Ariel Sharon deserves an apology. By Steven Plaut. 11/16/01 2:25 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg111601.shtml] WASHINGTON, DC — Why Safire &co. need to calm down. By Jonah Goldberg. 11/16/01 2:05 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/balance/balance111601.shtml] WASHINGTON, DC — A complete cave. By Stephen Moore. 11/16/01 1:10 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/daily/nr111601.shtml] WASHINGTON, DC — He’s waited long enough, and Florida’s finally over. By John J. Miller &Ramesh Ponnuru. 11/16/01 1:00 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-barnett111601.shtml] BOSTON — No coincidence. By Randy E. Barnett. 11/16/01 12:10 p.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/03dec01/week120301c.shtml] NEW YORK — The Republican parties in both New Jersey and Virginia doomed this year’s gubernatorial candidates. By NR Editors. 11/16/01 11:10 a.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/derbyshire/derbyshire111601.shtml] NEW YORK — On torture. By John Derbyshire. 11/16/01 10:15 a.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/contributors/robbins111601.shtml] WASHINGTON, DC — A dream destroyed. By James S. Robbins. 11/16/01 9:25 a.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-miller111601.shtml] WASHINGTON, DC — Assessing the fast-paced events in Afghanistan. By Charles E. Miller. 11/16/01 9:10 a.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/document/document111601.shtml] TEXAS — Bush and Putin grilled by high-school students. Primary Document. 11/16/01 8:30 a.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/03dec01/russia120301.shtml] NEW YORK — The U.S.-Russian friendship. By NR Editors. 11/16/01 8:15 a.m. [http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson111601.shtml] FRESNO — The world anew. By Victor Davis Hanson. 11/16/01 8:10 a.m. ***************************************************************** 16 Billions to fight terrorism, and no one knows where it's going By Mark Fazlollah, Peter Nicholas and David Zeman Knight Ridder Tribune WASHINGTON - The U.S. government allocated $13 billion this year to head off terrorist attacks or prepare to respond to them, and the Bush administration wants to add another $7 billion to that effort in the wake of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings. What does that money buy? WHO'S GETTING THE MONEY This is the list of agencies that receive anti-terrorism funding, according to the federal Office of Management and Budget. About three-fourths of the money is concentrated in the national security agencies, the Justice Department and the State Department. + Department of Agriculture + Department of Commerce + Department of Energy + Environmental Protection Agency + Federal Emergency Management Agency + General Services Administration + Department of Health and Human Services + Department of Interior + Department of Justice + Nuclear Regulatory Commission + Department of State + Department of Transportation + Department of Treasury + U.S. Agency for International Development + The federal court system + The national security agencies, including the Department of Defense In West Virginia, the National Guard is using some of it to build a premier center with hotel-style suites to train FBI agents, CIA officers, local police officers and hospital employees to respond to terrorist attacks. There's already a similar, though more Spartan, training center in Fort McClellan in Alabama. The Energy Department, Justice Department and Federal Emergency Management Agency spent millions of dollars of that money to train local workers to respond to terrorist attacks, but sometimes the courses each department offered were identical. Anti-terrorism spending has mushroomed in recent years as the nation's vulnerability has become frighteningly apparent. Clearly, the United States is more prepared than it once was. In a Sept. 20 report, the General Accounting Office cited progress being made in "agencies' response at the site of a terrorist incident." And it said the "federal government also has improved its capabilities to prevent, deter and respond to domestic terrorist incidents." But the truth is, no one in the government is quite sure where all the counterterrorism money goes. Once Congress and the president approve it, the money is parceled out to at least 15 departments, which decide how and where to spend it. There is no single agency in charge of deciding where the greatest weaknesses are, making sure money is spent to fix them and evaluating the entire process. And without a national risk assessment and spending plan, it's impossible to determine whether the Bush administration's proposed $7 billion increase would be spent effectively. NOT THE WAY A BUSINESS OPERATES Business functions very differently. The major U.S. oil corporations, for example, allocate anti-terrorism money after completing a detailed assessment of risks. The most serious risks are covered first and lesser ones receive less attention, industry officials say. "I wouldn't use any other method to make decisions," said one oil company executive, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. Under the federal government's current structure, competing interests fight for a share of the counterterrorism money. Millions are spent on overlapping programs that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., calls "rampant abuse of the budget process." "It's the great boondoggle. It's sort of like the gold rush in California," said Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer who headed the State Department's counterterrorism office in the early 1990s and now is a prominent private security consultant. Tom Ridge's appointment to the newly created post of homeland security chief would seem to foreshadow a more organized approach, but the former Pennsylvania governor has a challenge just getting 40-plus agencies to communicate, much less align their budgets efficiently. Ridge has no authority to control the budgets of the many agencies that already are spending money on counterterrorism. He acknowledged recently that he might need new laws to "give clearer lines of accountability." Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., reported that in a meeting with Republican senators, Ridge charted a tangled mishmash of counterterrorism agencies. "I don't think he knows what's wrong," Specter said. "It's a real quagmire." Counterterrorism was not a big federal priority until the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. Government reports began to identify weaknesses that terrorists could exploit, and the funding began to grow. It increased dramatically after a federal building in Oklahoma City was blown up in 1995 and a cult group released deadly sarin nerve gas in a Tokyo subway. In 1998, the first year the government tracked spending on counterterrorism, the nation spent $7.21 billion. That had nearly doubled by 2001. As government agencies began to develop their own counterterrorism programs, the Pentagon expanded the National Guard's role and set up full-time teams to respond to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. But because the 32 guard teams are stationed around the country, it can take them many hours to reach the scene of such an attack, which renders them largely useless. Even if they can respond more quickly, they often duplicate the work of trained local or federal teams. FEDS TAKE 96 PERCENT OF FUNDS Figures from the federal Office of Management and Budget show that 96 percent of the billions allocated for counterterrorism goes to federal departments - the remaining 4 percent goes to the local communities whose police, fire and emergency departments actually respond to terrorism attacks. For the price of posting a 22-member National Guard anti-terrorism team - $3.5 million for equipment and salaries - more than 2,300 hospitals or fire stations could be equipped with basic decontamination facilities, according to the nonprofit Henry L. Stimson Center, which specializes in national security issues. Michigan offers an illustration of how the whole process can degenerate into a poorly refereed scramble for dollars. Last year, the Justice Department gave the state $1.4 million to get ready for any terrorist attacks, part of a national effort to assess the risks in 100 cities, counties and hamlets. Michigan got the money before the communities were asked to evaluate their risks. Knowing that a lot of money was available for endangered communities, 98 percent of Michigan's local officials declared that their areas were highly or moderately vulnerable to attack. When the money was parceled out, none of it went to three counties that have nuclear power plants. "We asked for basic equipment," said Sgt. Alain Svilpe, emergency management coordinator for Van Buren County, home of the Palisades Nuclear Plant. "We want to know we can operate in an area and go home healthy." Michigan State Police, which doled out the money, said those counties didn't need their own equipment; they could borrow it from regional state emergency offices or from FEMA. But FEMA says it provides only training, not equipment. Academia has gotten into the act, too. Universities are giving birth to government-funded research centers with little coordination to their work. In Philadelphia, Drexel University received $500,000 on Oct. 1 to start a "national bioterrorism center" even though officials at other universities said the project duplicated their own federally funded bioterrorism centers. Drexel promises to develop a prototype for an Internet-based system that will receive alerts about suspected attacks and notify a wide range of emergency responders. Its Web site also would train doctors and emergency workers. Other schools, such as Johns Hopkins University, the University of Texas, St. Louis University, the University of Findlay in Ohio and West Virginia University, also have received grants and are in various stages of developing similar programs. The West Virginia project got $1 million last year to help medical workers assess their preparedness for weapons of mass destruction. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has won Senate approval for another $2 million. Rep. Michael G. Oxley, R-Ohio, gained $941,000 last December for Findlay's National Center for Terrorism Preparedness, which was started in 1999 and trains emergency room workers to "recognize potential biological and chemical contamination." McCAIN SMELLS PORK McCain and the Washington-based Citizens Against Government Waste have blasted the overlapping programs. The group calls them "pork" - bring-home-the-bacon projects that politicians push for their constituents. Two weeks after September's terrorist attacks, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., proposed making the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala., the nation's principal facility for training emergency workers in chemical and biological attacks, a status that would ensure a stream of federal money. "We need to strike while the iron is hot," Sessions said publicly, vowing to get more money for the center, at the old Fort McClellan military base. The center is the only one in the nation where emergency workers can train with real chemical agents. Sessions has competition. Byrd, a master at winning lucrative projects for his state, had won Senate approval Sept. 13 for a new $2 million West Virginia University computer network serving the Robert C. Byrd Regional Training Institute, which is under construction at the National Guard's Camp Dawson post in Kingwood, W.Va. The computer network will link emergency workers with national specialists who can get help to people nearby. It's part of a dream to transform the National Guard camp into a model anti-terrorism center. Ultimately, the National Guard hopes to spend $400 million on the site. Fort McClellan already performs a very similar function. Camp Dawson is off a meandering, two-lane back road along the Cheat River. The institute, built with state and federal money, should be up and running next spring. It consists of 183 hotel-style rooms, including 15 suites with three and four bedrooms for VIPs and families. There will be a gym and a 35-foot-high rotunda that will display the West Virginia state seal. The state is throwing in money for an Olympic-size swimming pool that will be the biggest in West Virginia. The guard expects to train FBI and CIA agents, firefighters, cops and anyone else who would respond to terrorist acts. The curriculum will offer everything from SWAT team training to hospital decontamination. The guard currently does mostly routine training at the base for its citizen-soldiers. "When we're talking about FBI agents, CIA agents, department heads, you've got to have something that's attractive," said Alan Tackett, adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard and a former chairman of the state's Democratic Party. Tackett envisions building a mock city neighborhood for training special operations units and SWAT teams. He wants to build a model air traffic-control tower and a runway, where he can station an airplane and simulate hijackings. He hopes to create a functioning emergency room to train hospital workers in decontamination. Much of the new infrastructure planned for Camp Dawson already exists at Fort McClellan and other facilities around the country. In three years, Fort McClellan has trained 6,000 police, firefighters and emergency workers. It has a waiting list of more than 3,000. Classrooms and other facilities are unused because of a lack of money. Tackett said the Camp Dawson complex is necessary because the training needs are so great. He asked: "Can Fort McClellan train everyone?" It all sounds very familiar. Three weeks ago, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the country should build a national counterterrorism center at the Nevada Test Site, which trains small groups of firefighters and law enforcement officials to respond to terrorist attacks. "In this time of national crisis, a training facility expanding on these programs could be immediately established," Reid said Oct. 25 in a news release. "No other location in the country is better." ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************