***************************************************************** 10/19/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.246 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 ' No need' for more nuclear power 2 Sierra Club demands nuclear plant shutdowns 3 U.S. wants Goshutes to finalize leadership 4 Lawmakers says slim chance for nuclear waste bill next year 5 Transporting of fuel rods is derailed 6 Radium superfund trouble 7 House OKs tough hazardous materials bills 8 Public Citizen Opposes North Anna Relicensing; 9 Threat to Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Deemed Non-credible; 10 Reactors focus of terror fears 11 Nuclear plants on alert after 'credible' threat 12 ' No need' for more nuclear power 13 DOE taking last comments on Yucca Mountain nuclear dump plan 14 French Warplanes Set to Shoot Down Hijackers Aiming at Key Sites 15 Anti-nuke groups make Yucca pitch 16 Two bills earmark money for Nevada 17 Letter: Discussing nuclear safety 18 Ukraine: Antiterrorist exercise staged at Europe's biggest 19 Anti-nuclear group calls for National Guard to patrol power plants 20 Radar Protects French Nuclear Plant 21 Reactors focus of terror fears 22 Hot milk? 23 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-10-19 Number 201 24 Russia, India to sign nuclear power plant contract in weeks 25 Maine Yankee security faces residents' test 26 NRC denies U.S. nuclear plants security shutdowns 27 Conectiv unit completes sale of nuclear interests 28 Chernobyl friends hold their AGM 29 Mox Plant Challenge Sparks Delays 30 Bryan to speak at town meeting 31 On high alert, nuclear plants face unknown vulnerability 32 Threat at TMI an apparent hoax 33 Transporting of fuel rods is derailed 34 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Nuclear waste and a risk we cannot take 35 All safety concerns about Czech nuclear power station eliminated 36 Nuclear waste disposal plant commissioned in Russia's far north NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 ATTACK ON AFGHANISTAN ANTHRAX ALERT: Radiation bomb seen as 2 ORNL slow to sign response agreement 3 Sen. Bayh Hopes Nuclear Weapons Won't Be Necessary 4 Former Weapons Inspector Worries About Nuclear Attack 5 Secretary of Energy Applauds Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee's 6 Raised Kursk fragments do not explain causes of tragedy - Russian ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 ' No need' for more nuclear power Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Terry Macalister Friday October 19, 2001 The Guardian A government-backed organisation has told the cabinet that a controversial expansion of nuclear power would not be needed if it were to reduce demand by adopting a range of energy efficiency measures. The Energy Saving Trust (EST), run by a former scientist from the UK Atomic Energy Authority, believes a mix of tax incentives and regulation could cut household fuel consumption by 12.5%. "If renewable energy sources are expanded in the way we expect by 2010 I do not believe there is a need for major new investment in large centralised nuclear or coal plants," said Eoin Lees, chief executive of EST. The government is in the middle of a major overhaul of energy policy in the face of declining oil and gas production from the North Sea as nuclear plants are nearing the end of their life cycles. Environmental groups are worried that senior ministers are increasingly open to arguments from British Energy and others for new nuclear facilities to be built as they reduce fossil fuel burning and help Britain to meet its global warming targets. But the EST, established by government and private sector companies including BP, argues in a submission to the performance and innovation unit of the cabinet office that this might not be necessary. Its research showed that the electricity shortfall in the household sector from the expected withdrawal of nuclear and coal-fired stations could be more than covered by energy efficiency. Mr Lees had confidence that similar savings were available in the commercial, industrial and public sector uses of electricity. Among the measures suggested are a widening of the 5% value added tax to include all energy efficiency products such as condensing boilers and compact fluorescent lights; tightening of building regulations so that new constructions have zero household carbon dioxide emissions, and a major public awareness campaign. Greenpeace welcomed the views of EST. "We have very real fears that the energy review under Brian Wilson might lead to a resurgence of nuclear power rather than creating the launch pad for renewable energy which everyone wants." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 2 Sierra Club demands nuclear plant shutdowns Thestar.com/ Oct. 19, 2001. 02:00 AM Security tops agenda at Ottawa meetings today John Spears BUSINESS REPORTER Ontario's nuclear generating stations should be shut down for one month until security can be reviewed, says a policy consultant for the Sierra Club of Canada. Dave Martin said yesterday that a terrorist attack on an idle nuclear facility could still result in a radiation leak, but the risk of a catastrophic meltdown would be greatly reduced by its closing. Martin was speaking following an address at the Empire Club by Robin Jeffrey, executive chairman of British Energy, whose subsidiary, Bruce Power Inc., operates the Bruce nuclear generators. Martin said Canadian facilities aren't well enough protected from physical attacks. ``We need security scenarios that protect from armed intervention on the ground, from inside sabotage, from airborne attacks,'' he said. ``We need more physical protection, more concrete. And ultimately the only alternative is anti-aircraft.'' Jeffrey and Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive of Bruce Power, said that security has been increased at the Bruce plant but he wouldn't discuss details. Security at the Bruce came under question when two fishermen whose boat had capsized in Lake Huron came ashore unnoticed on the property of the station on Sept. 23. Hawthorne said yesterday that the men were several kilometres from the actual reactors. They would have encountered a security barrier before arriving at the reactor buildings. Martin said that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks make it imperative for security to be reviewed and increased. Hawthorne said that nuclear plants are designed with a wide range of safety features. Nuclear station operators, he also said, will be meeting federal regulators in Ottawa today to discuss security measures. Asked whether he will be requesting air defences for the Bruce plant, he said: ``I don't believe it's for the industry to ask that.'' Hawthorne said that protecting nuclear plants from air attack is a national security measure and ``national security is really a matter for government.'' The government should make that decision based on advice from its military and intelligence experts, he said. Martin said this month offers a good opportunity to take the nuclear stations out of service. Electricity demand is lowest in spring and fall when there's not strong demand either for heating or for air conditioning. Taking down all the nuclear stations would make power supplies extremely tight. Traditionally, power demand in Ontario at this time of year runs at 18,000 to 20,000 megawatts, compared with this summer's record peak of 25,269 megawatts. Ontario Power Generation Inc., Ontario's dominant power supplier, has about 17,000 megawatts of non-nuclear capacity available. That assumes all plants are running at 100 per cent capacity, however - a level that Ontario Power Generation concedes is unrealistic. - Copyright 1996-2001. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All ***************************************************************** 3 U.S. wants Goshutes to finalize leadership Recent tribal elections have been confusing Deseret News Archives October 18, 2001 By Jerry Johnston Deseret News staff writer The Skull Valley band of Goshutes continues to wrangle over tribal leadership, but the federal government has decided it's time to get on with things. "The point is coming that, for federal purposes, we're going to have to recognize one side or the other," said David Allison, a superintendent for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. "We met with both sides yesterday (Wednesday) and requested information regarding their positions." Because the Goshutes have no charter or by-laws and function outside the 1934 Indian Reorganization pact, recent tribal elections have been murky and confusing at best. On Sept. 22, the "Rex Allen faction" of the tribe held an election in which allegedly 38 tribal members participated -- a majority of the General Council. At that election Marlinda Moon was named tribal chairman. Earlier this week Leon Bear, who has refused to abdicate tribal leadership, held an election in which he claimed victory for himself and his supporters. And though the federal government cannot determine leadership for the tribe itself, Allison says the time has come for the government to recognize a Goshute leader so that its agencies move on with their business. "We are looking at the elections to determine how those meetings were called," Allison said. "We want to look at all the data before making a decision." Allison intimates the government's decision will likely come sooner than later. And though he says the federal decision will have no bearing on the Goshute plan to store nuclear waste on Skull Valley tribal lands, he says it will help the government to deal more effectively with the tribe. Along with the nuclear issues, accusations of bribery, theft and lying have been hurled. The state of Utah, like the BIA, has been relegated to the role of observer because of the tribe's autonomy. Press releases and mailings from the Allen camp that speak of the "illegitimate Bear regime" have been sent to many news outlets. Leon Bear himself has refused to speak with the media. E-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com © 2001 Deseret News Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 4 Lawmakers says slim chance for nuclear waste bill next year Published Thursday, October 18, 2001 Statewire ST. PAUL (AP) -- Backers of a bill that would remove the limits on the amount of nuclear waste that can be stored in casks outside the Prairie Island nuclear plant say they' re giving up hope of passing it in the next Legislature session. Election-year politics and the prospect of a short session mean the chances are slim for the plan, conceded Sen. Mark Ourada, R-Buffalo. " The way things are lining up, it seems we won' t be able to have a real push on it until 2003, " he said Thursday. The bill by Ourada and Rep. Loren Jennings, DFL-Harris, would essentially undo a 1994 agreement that allows Xcel Energy' s plant to store waste in up to 17 concrete casks. The casks are expected to be full in 2007. Rep. Ken Wolf, chairman of the House Regulated Industries Committee, also said it has little chance. " I think pretty much everybody' s agreed to that, " said the Burnsville Republican. " There' s no enthusiasm to bring it up, certainly not with any intent to pass it." The backers had hoped their bill would clear the way for both of the state' s nuclear plants to extend their federal operating licenses. The plant in Monticello expires in 2010. Licenses on Prairie Island' s two reactors expire in 2013 and 2014. Environmentalists saw the bill as an effort to break the 1994 deal and had vowed to actively oppose the plan. Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 5 Transporting of fuel rods is derailed Buffalo News - By JOHN F. BONFATTI News Staff Reporter 10/19/01 Two days after she said West Valley Demonstration Project officials still hoped to ship highly radioactive nuclear waste to Idaho this year, Department of Energy site director Alice C. Williams said Thursday DOE officials told her the rail shipment remains on hold. "It has been postponed, and the railroads have been told," Williams said. She added that she had no further information on the reasons for the decision by DOE officials in Washington, and no indication how long the delay would last. West Valley officials for years have been planning to ship 125 spent nuclear fuel rods on a 2,360-mile journey from the site of the former nuclear fuel reprocessing center to a government facility in Idaho. The shipment was ready to go until the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. At that point, the DOE postponed the shipment, but Williams said Tuesday that West Valley officials "have not been told we cannot ship this year." She said she was told of the postponement the next day. The fuel rods had been taken out of the storage pool they were in earlier this year and loaded into specially engineered casks, which were then loaded on rail cars for the trip. But the casks are not certified to be transported in temperatures below minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Williams said the latest postponement means the casks must be taken off the rail cars and stored inside for the winter. "The first issue we're working on is to make sure we can secure the casks safely over the winter," she said. "We want it safe and secure, but in a manner that will be conducive to redeployment of the shipment at a later date." e-mail: jbonfatti@buffnews.com Copyright © 1999 - 2001 The Buffalo NewsTM ***************************************************************** 6 Radium superfund trouble Newsday.com - Superfund Trouble Queens toxic waste sites still need cleanup By Marc Ferris Marc Ferris is a freelance writer. October 18, 2001 In 1983 when Radium Chemical Company abandoned its Woodside factory, which supplied hospitals with specially packaged radium to treat cancer patients, rods containing 120 curies of radioactivity were left buried in the ground. Under the federal Superfund program, designed to tackle the nation's worst hazardous waste sites, the federal Environmental Protection Agency spent $18 million to clean up the property in 1989 and sent the rods to a special storage facility in Nevada. The agency also disposed of 812 tons of radioactive soil, 500 pounds of mercury, 92 tons of radioactively contaminated waste, and another 197 gallons of hazardous material. Today, a parking lot covers the grounds. Although the EPA cleaned up Radium Chemical, Queens' most serious toxic waste situation, eight other Class 2 hazardous waste sites in the borough also require remedial action under New York State's Superfund program. Few residents are aware of their locations, however, and funds to administer the program have dried up. In the Rockaways, for instance, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which administers the Superfund program, capped the Edgemere landfill at Beach Channel Drive and Beach 49th Street. The DEC still monitors the site, though toxins continue to leak into Jamaica Bay and residents regularly fish the adjacent waters. At Beach Channel Drive and Beach 108th Street, the soil and groundwater at the former Long Island Lighting Company plant absorbed benzene and cyanide between 1894 and 1959. The EPA investigated the property in 1989 and the state placed it on the Superfund list. In October, 2000, the DEC took one acre of the 9.8-acre site off the list, allowing LILCO's successor, the Long Island Power Authority, to build a generating station there. Construction commenced in the summer, but some community members say the state never provided notification of the change in status. "We had been told for years that it was horribly contaminated. Five years ago there were men in white suits working there getting felled by cyanide poisoning," said Liz Sulick, president of the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce. "We want them to remediate it and then build on it." In addition to the borough's Superfund sites, about 1,200 so-called brownfield lots in Queens cover 536 acres, where the toxic threat is unknown. That figure omits sites on the tax rolls, along with active commercial and residential property that might be be tainted. Thousands of underground oil spills also await cleanup. In all, said Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, an Ithaca-based environmental mapping company, Queens has 10,000-15,000 contaminated sites. "It's just boggling how many sites there are out there." Ken Pokalsky, director of environmental programs at the New York State Business Council, cautioned that some environmentalists magnify the danger to further their own interests. "There are certain advocates whose professional careers are based on issues related to Superfund," he said. Given the sums involved in cleaning up contaminated waste sites and the inexact nature of the science of toxicity, it's not surprising that controversy has shadowed the state's Superfund initiative. Under the law, established in 1982, polluters are required to pay for mitigation. In New York, responsible parties have picked up the tab at about 70 percent of the approximately 800 properties that have been cleaned up. At the remaining locations, where the polluter is unknown or has gone bankrupt, Superfund reserves support the state DEC's documentation and enforcement efforts as well as bringing sites as close to pre-release conditions as possible and eventually declassifying them.. Statewide, another 760 sites remain unfunded, including 19 in Queens that are under evaluation in addition to the ones on the state's Superfund list. Superfund derived its war chest from a $1.1 billion Environmental Bond Act passed in 1986, which went bankrupt in March. To repay part of the bond, the legislature levied fees on oil producers, who passed the costs on to consumers. Taxpayers assumed the other half of the obligation. The 1996 Clean Air/Clean Water Bond Act provided another $200 million to help clean up brownfields. Gov. George Pataki proposes folding all toxic waste cleanup activities into a more streamlined $138 million annual program funded by the state and by fees on industries. Critics charge that his plan dilutes Superfund's environmental strictures, however, and he faces a fight in the state legislature. Compounding the controversy, scientists disagree over the impact of toxic waste on human health and many politicians are reluctant to make decisions unless prodded. Superfund's depletion, however, will eventually force the state legislature's hand. The key issue for places like Queens lies in balancing environmental diligence with the benefit to be gained by putting properties back into productive use. "In minority communities like Jamaica, the current regulations have the effect of keeping brownfields as they are," said John Steinberg, senior vice president of the greater Jamaica Redevelopment Corporation. "It's in everyone's interest to have a rule of reason about cleaning up these sites and having them redeveloped." Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc. Copyright © Newsday, Inc. Produced by Newsday Electronic Publishing. ***************************************************************** 7 House OKs tough hazardous materials bills Lansing State Journal Stop dissent Betty Gardner of Lansing clearly didn't think much of my recent defense of the First Amendment and rights of Americans to express unpopular - even repugnant - points of view: Published 10/19/2001 By Robert Snell The House has approved legislation to stiffen penalties for threats involving biological, chemical and radioactive materials. The bills would add prison time and increase fines for those convicted of terrorist acts - even hoaxes. It comes after a week involving dozens of calls to local hazardous materials teams to check for anthrax at homes and businesses - including two state offices. "We simply cannot give away precious resources to chase down hoax phone calls," said state Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, who amended one of two bills Thursday. It is a misdemeanor to make an implied threat, such as sending a powdery substance through the mail with the intent of frightening someone. Under the proposed legislation, it would be a felony. The bills will be returned to the Senate and could be voted on as early as next week. The two bills include: + Senate Bill 497 would penalize someone for making, delivering, possessing or releasing chemical or biological weapons. The penalty would be up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 for the felony. If the crime damages property, the penalty would be up to seven years and up to $10,000. If the crime hurts someone, the penalty would be up to 10 years and $15,000. Serious injury is a 25-year sentence and up to $25,000. Death could bring up to a life term and $40,000. And making a false threat would be a felony punishable by five years in prison and $10,000. A person, if convicted, would be required to reimburse governmental agencies for the cost of responding to the hoax. "That is the key to the whole thing - that they will be ordered to reimburse the costs," Bishop said. + Senate Bill 675 would increase penalties for using a chemical irritant to cause property damage. Property damage could include incidents similar to the case in Florida, where a tabloid publishing company is moving out of its headquarters due to anthrax contamination. Offenders' sentences could be increased if they had or used a biological or chemical weapon and if they interfered with emergency services. Contact Robert Snell at 377-1052 or rsnell@lsj.com. ***************************************************************** 8 Public Citizen Opposes North Anna Relicensing; Oct. 18, 2001 Cites Security and Safety Concerns Louisa, Va. – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should not relicense the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant because aging reactors are more likely to experience breakdowns and questions remain about nuclear plants’ vulnerability to attack, Public Citizen told the agency today. Public Citizen made the statement today while testifying at an NRC meeting in Louisa, Va. The North Anna Nuclear Power Plant is owned by Virginia Electric and Power Company and is situated on the North Anna River about 60 miles northwest of Richmond. The first reactor (Unit 1) came online in 1978 and is currently licensed to operate until 2018. A second reactor (Unit 2) was added in 1980 and is licensed to operate until 2020. Relicensing the plant would extend the lifetime of each reactor for an additional 20 years. Public Citizen contends that U.S. nuclear reactors were not designed to operate safely beyond their original 40-year license period and that safety risks increase as reactor components age. Extreme temperatures, a corrosive chemical environment and intense radiation bombardment within operating nuclear reactors can cause components to thin and crack, compromising their structural integrity. The reactor pressure vessel can become brittle over time, increasing the risk of a catastrophic explosion. Steam generator tubes – part of the cooling system – also cause concern because when they deteriorate, dangerous radiation leaks can occur. In fact, earlier this year, North Anna Unit 2 was shut down due to excessive leaking from the reactor coolant system. The owner attributed this failure to aging. Further, each operating nuclear reactor generates about 20 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste annually. Relicensing North Anna would add 800 metric tons of waste over 20 years to the nation’s mounting radioactive waste stockpile, which already poses health, safety and environmental concerns. "Irradiated fuel rods remain dangerously radioactive virtually forever," said Hugh Jackson, policy analyst for Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "It is grossly irresponsible to generate more of this toxic waste when there is no known way to dispose of it." The federal government has proposed building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but that dump could not accommodate the additional volume of waste from relicensed reactors. Further, Public Citizen and other organizations oppose the Yucca Mountain project because of concerns about transporting waste to the site and the potential for environmental disaster and the release of radioactivity at the dump. Jackson also told the NRC that it must consider the vulnerability of nuclear plants to attacks before permitting them to run for an additional 20 years. "This proposal is all-around objectionable and is particularly inappropriate considering current unresolved security issues at nuclear power plants," Jackson said. "In light of current concerns, it is more urgent than ever before to reduce our dependence on nuclear power and begin a transition towards a safe energy future. Relicensing North Anna is a step in the wrong direction." Jackson also criticized the NRC for not responding to requests that public meetings and rulemakings be postponed since the agency last week blocked access to its Web site after citing security concerns. The calendar of public events was not available on the Internet from Oct. 11-16, and information about regulatory processes and specific plant activity still was not posted on Wednesday. "By blocking access to its Web site, the NRC gave the impression that its public processes were suspended," Jackson said. "It is ridiculous that the agency has not rescheduled this hearing. The basic information necessary to fully participate still is not readily available to the public." Public Citizen wrote a letter to the NRC and issued a press release regarding the agency’s Web site. ### ***************************************************************** 9 Threat to Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Deemed Non-credible; NRC Monitoring Continues and Website Restored Press Release - 2001 - 124 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Web Site: http://www.nrc.gov No. 01-124 October 18, 2001 A potential terrorist threat directed at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been determined by the intelligence community to be non-credible. However, when the threat came into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it was taken seriously, resulting in a number of security measures taken by TMI's licensee, Exelon, as well as by other Federal and State authorities. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is continuing to closely monitor security at all nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel facilities around the country. Contrary to some rumors, the agency has not ordered any plants to shut down for security reasons. Some plants are, as usual, shut down for normal refueling and maintenance. All nuclear power plants have remained at the highest level of security since September 11. Subsequently, the agency has advised all of its licensees of additional actions considered prudent and appropriate to strengthen security further. The NRC is closely monitoring the actions being taken to enhance security. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks and the continuing uncertainty about future terrorist intentions, the agency is conducting a comprehensive review of its safeguards and physical security program at the direction of Chairman Richard A. Meserve, with the support of the Commission. On September 26, Chairman Meserve sent letters to the governors of 40 states that have nuclear power plants or other NRC-regulated nuclear facilities, advising them that it would be prudent to establish clear liaison between nuclear facilities and state authorities in the event that state security forces might be needed to augment security. Clear lines of communication among the State, the NRC and licensees have been established. The NRC continues to maintain close contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, other intelligence agencies and other law enforcement, military and state authorities to assess the latest threat information and to discuss current conditions and plans. NRC's website, which was closed down last week, was restored Wednesday with a limited amount of information. Taking down the agency website was a precaution to make sure it did not contain information that could be helpful to terrorists. As the agency's review continues, other information and documents deemed non-sensitive will be added to the site. ***************************************************************** 10 Reactors focus of terror fears Chicago Tribune | October 22, 2001 Three Mile Island threat proves false By Jeff Long Tribune staff reporter Published October 19, 2001 A threat against the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania turned out to be bogus, officials decided Thursday morning--after the scare had shut down three nearby airports for several hours. The incident underscores the heightened level of alertness surrounding the nation's 103 commercial nuclear reactors. It comes while security at those reactors is already tightened because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Three Mile Island is operated by Exelon Nuclear, the same company that runs the six nuclear power plants in Illinois. Those six sites have 11 nuclear reactors. Although the threat against Three Mile Island turned out to be false, there are other indications of sensitivity over nuclear security. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is continuing to revamp its Web site so that information there does not help would-be terrorists. By Thursday, only mundane press releases about upcoming meetings, the agency's mission statement and similar material remained on the site--not the detailed technical information that, before Sept. 11, was often praised as a model of open government. "We took our Web site down Oct. 11 to enable us to thoroughly go through it and see if there was any information there that shouldn't be," said Pam Alloway-Mueller, an agency spokeswoman. She said the watered down Web site was put up Wednesday and agency staff will continue to evaluate what other information can be returned to the site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already acknowledged that nuclear power plants were not designed to withstand the deliberate crash of a jumbo jet; officials are studying what would happen in such an attack, and what might be done to protect against it. Ann Mary Carley, a spokeswoman for Exelon Nuclear, said the agency notified the company of a "credible" threat against Three Mile Island at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, but that by Thursday morning federal officials had decided the threat was not credible. At the time, however, Exelon responded by putting its emergency operations center into action and bringing in additional personnel. "I can't tell you what they were," said Carley, "but there were additions put in place." Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration shut down airports within 20 miles of the power plant at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the largest airfield, Harrisburg International Airport, which is just a couple miles from Three Mile Island and has 120 flights per day--60 in and 60 out. "There was some kind of threat there," said the spokesman, Scott Miller. "We still don't know what it was." Neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nor Exelon would say what the threat was or how it was later determined to be "non-credible." Miller said the threat also shut down Lancaster Airport, which only has four commercial flights per day, and Capital City Airport, which is a general aviation airport for small, private aircraft. The FAA lifted the flight ban by about 1 a.m. Thursday, Miller said. By that time, three flights scheduled to fly into Harrisburg International had been canceled and two other flights had been diverted. That caused delays for five flights scheduled to leave Harrisburg Thursday morning, but by Thursday afternoon everything was back to normal, Miller said. "Our passengers said they would rather be inconvenienced a bit," said Miller. "Err on the side of safety, rather than take a chance." Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune ***************************************************************** 11 Nuclear plants on alert after 'credible' threat Independent News © 2001 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd By Anne Penketh 19 October 2001 The prospect that Osama bin Laden might strike at an American nuclear facility was raised yesterday as the atomic power plant at Three Mile Island received a "credible threat". The alert came as nuclear authorities expressed concern that Mr bin Laden's al-Qa'ida organisation was attempting to build an atomic bomb. The airport at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was shut down for four hours early yesterday because of the security alert at the Three Mile Island plant nearby. Temporary flight restrictions were put into effect throughout a 20-mile radius around the airport, until federal officials were able to discredit the threat. They said later that the plant, whose reactor had been shut down for maintenance earlier this month, remained under high alert. As fears of germ warfare spread into the nuclear safety field, a representative of the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, would not rule out the possibility of "rogue state" backing for Mr bin Laden's attempts to acquire an atomic bomb. A key prosecution witness in the New York trial stemming from the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which handed down sentences yesterday, told the court in February that Mr bin Laden had attempted to buy uranium in 1993-94. The witness, Sudanese national Jamal Ahmad al-Fadl, said he was instructed by a senior al Qa'ida operative to meet with a contact in Khartoum who wanted to sell South African uranium for an arranged price of $1.5m (£1m). "They took us inside house in Bait el Mal and after a few minutes they bring a big bag and they open it, and it is a cylinder, like this tall," Mr al Fadl told the court, gesturing to a height of two to three feet. He said he remembered the cylinder was marked "South Africa" with a serial number. But he also said he was not told whether al Qa'ida actually purchased the uranium, which was to be tested in Kenya. South Africa's nuclear weapons programme was shut down in 1991-92 and the arms destroyed under international supervision. The New York representative for the International Atomic Energy Agency, Gustavo Zlauvinen, said yesterday there was "no evidence" to prove that Mr bin Laden's network had obtained the uranium, nor was there any evidence that subsequent attempts had succeeded. Mr Zlauvinen said: "It's one thing to get your hands on radiological sources, you can get it through hospitals and engineering sources. "But it is highly improbable that non-state organisations could acquire a nuclear weapon. That would require much more effort than an organisation alone could provide, because of the technical complexity. The Iraqis tried for many years, and still they didn't succeed. Mr Zlauvinen said there was much more concern about so-called "orphan sources" of highly enriched uranium finding their way into terrorists' hands. These are the radiological sources that were produced for Soviet nuclear weapons and research reactors, and the nuclear waste from civilian reactors. "Not even the Russians know where all those sources are," Mr Zlauvinen said. "We are helping the Russians to track down those sources." He said that Iraq and North Korea appeared to be the most likely states who might be prepared to pass on their nuclear know-how to terrorist groups. The UN weapons inspectors have been refused entry to Iraq since December 1998. "We cannot give any kind of assurances that Iraq has not been involved in another clandestine programme," Mr Zlauvinen said. The IAEA has also been refused entry into North Korea, to verify that its atomic arms programme has been frozen in line with a 1994 agreement. With regard to North Korea, the IAEA director general, Mohammed Elbaradei, said on Wednesday: We are still where we had been a year ago." Search this site: ***************************************************************** 12 ' No need' for more nuclear power Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Terry Macalister Friday October 19, 2001 The Guardian A government-backed organisation has told the cabinet that a controversial expansion of nuclear power would not be needed if it were to reduce demand by adopting a range of energy efficiency measures. The Energy Saving Trust (EST), run by a former scientist from the UK Atomic Energy Authority, believes a mix of tax incentives and regulation could cut household fuel consumption by 12.5%. "If renewable energy sources are expanded in the way we expect by 2010 I do not believe there is a need for major new investment in large centralised nuclear or coal plants," said Eoin Lees, chief executive of EST. The government is in the middle of a major overhaul of energy policy in the face of declining oil and gas production from the North Sea as nuclear plants are nearing the end of their life cycles. Environmental groups are worried that senior ministers are increasingly open to arguments from British Energy and others for new nuclear facilities to be built as they reduce fossil fuel burning and help Britain to meet its global warming targets. But the EST, established by government and private sector companies including BP, argues in a submission to the performance and innovation unit of the cabinet office that this might not be necessary. Its research showed that the electricity shortfall in the household sector from the expected withdrawal of nuclear and coal-fired stations could be more than covered by energy efficiency. Mr Lees had confidence that similar savings were available in the commercial, industrial and public sector uses of electricity. Among the measures suggested are a widening of the 5% value added tax to include all energy efficiency products such as condensing boilers and compact fluorescent lights; tightening of building regulations so that new constructions have zero household carbon dioxide emissions, and a major public awareness campaign. Greenpeace welcomed the views of EST. "We have very real fears that the energy review under Brian Wilson might lead to a resurgence of nuclear power rather than creating the launch pad for renewable energy which everyone wants." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 13 DOE taking last comments on Yucca Mountain nuclear dump plan Las Vegas SUN October 18, 2001 LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Energy Department is staying up late Friday to collect last-minute opinions about its proposal to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada. A science center in Las Vegas will stay open until midnight with an agency official and a court reporter to record public comment, department spokesman Allen Benson said. "We want to make sure people have a chance to be heard," he said. The center also features displays about the proposed Yucca Mountain project. At UNLV, former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan will speak at a Friday evening Yucca Mountain Education Project town hall meeting about the proposal. Brad Eden, meeting coordinator, said the forum will be non-partisan and educational. The former senator, a Democrat, is a leading opponent of the Energy Department proposal to bury the nation's 77,000 tons of radioactive waste at the Nevada Test Site about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department has been exploring the mountain, studying its geology, designing the repository and engineering containment tunnels since the 1980s. The agency has been collecting public comment on the proposal since May. Formal hearings were held in North Las Vegas, Amargosa Valley and Pahrump. Less formal hearings were held in each county in Nevada and in Inyo County, the California county closest to the site. About 450 people commented during those sessions, Benson said. The DOE plan is to ship the nation's radioactive waste from more than 100 commercial, industrial and military sites around the country to Yucca Mountain beginning in 2010. The nuclear waste would be entombed in a maze of tunnels beneath the mountain for 10,000 years. Yucca Mountain is the only site under consideration. Federal scientists and engineers say the project would be safe. Opponents say shipping to the site would be dangerous and that stored nuclear material would eventually leak radioactivity into the environment. Energy Department Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to make a recommendation to President Bush by the end of the year. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 14 French Warplanes Set to Shoot Down Hijackers Aiming at Key Sites IHT: Compiled by Our Staff From Dispatches AP, Reuters Friday, October 19, 2001 PARIS France is ready to use warplanes to shoot down hijacked aircraft aimed at key sites such as nuclear plants, Defense Minister Alain Richard said Thursday. He also said the government could deploy surface-to-air missiles to protect sensitive sites. Mr. Richard said that France was working "to establish aerial protection zones through rapid intervention of aircraft." Asked on the French news television station LCI if ground-to-air missiles might also be used, he said: "It is one of the possibilities, but the aircraft, when they are sent to intervene in the case of a hijacked plane, are also armed. The two measures are complementary." Mr. Richard said the government had not been informed of any particular threat but wanted to ensure the security of military and civilian sites including large dams, nuclear installations and some urban and industrial zones. France has 19 nuclear power plants producing 76 percent of its electricity, the highest proportion of any country. The national power producer EDF declined to give details of security measures at its installations beyond saying that heightened government security arrangements in place since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States also included safeguarding the plants. An EDF spokesman said the company also managed about 500 dams in France. Mr. Richard said that proximity to residential areas was another factor in assessing risks. The regional newspaper Ouest-France quoted unnamed sources Thursday as saying that missiles with a range of 20 kilometers (13 miles) would be placed around the large nuclear waste reprocessing plant in La Hague, northern France. A Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed that La Hague was among the sites considered sensitive, but gave no further details. Cogema, the company that runs the La Hague plant, said measures would be put in place "in the coming days" but did not say what exactly they would involve. French military aircraft have previously been deployed to create a so-called protection "bubble" around sites for special events, such as summit meetings or the soccer World Cup in 1998. France also has tightened security at public places such as train stations and airports. Mr. Richard said that French special forces could take part in a U.S.-led ground operation in Afghanistan. He said France was now in the "planning phase" with U.S. military officials about a possible joint ground operation, saying there was no limit to what France's role might be - although he said the decision had not been made yet. "Because this series of limited ground operations is surely going to last for some time, in effect it is possible that French special forces may be associated with lending a hand," Mr. Richard said. His remarks came a day after President George W. Bush said he believed the war on terrorism could take at least two years. U.S. special operations troops aboard an aircraft carrier were ready for search-and-destroy missions in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. "What the United States is developing," Mr. Richard said, "is a series of limited actions on different, well-targeted sites, and it's absolutely not a step toward taking overall control of the entire territory." The defense minister said that planning would take time because French forces were scattered and a deployment would take several weeks. "We don't send soldiers to strike a site they know nothing about," he said. He added that British special forces were also likely to participate. (Reuters, AP) Copyright © 2001 the International Herald Tribune ***************************************************************** 15 Anti-nuke groups make Yucca pitch Las Vegas SUN October 19, 2001 By Mary Manning The public comment period on the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain ends at midnight, and a group of activists are in town to urge Department of Energy officials to dump the idea of transporting radioactive waste to Nevada. National representatives for 36 anti-nuclear groups visited Las Vegas Thursday to stress why Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, should not serve as the only site for the disposal of 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste. Representatives for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability are saying that tens of thousands of residents from across the country would never allow high-level nuclear waste, stored at 103 commercial reactor sites and DOE facilities nationwide, to leave their respective states. Prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, New Mexico since March 1999 had received 400 truckloads of waste that contained plutonium, said Don Hancock of the Southwest Research Center in Albuquerque, an independent nuclear watchdog group. The DOE, which halted shipments to the New Mexico site after the attacks, opened the Waste Isolation Pilot Project for the purpose of burying plutonium from defense sites that had at one time been used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. However, the site could become the repository for the nation's nuclear waste should the Yucca Mountain project fall by the wayside, Hancock warned. But that would take an act of Congress. In 1987 lawmakers singled out Yucca Mountain as the only site to be studied for the burial of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. The DOE has studied the site for 20 years, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to recommend the site to President Bush for approval by the end of the year. As the comment period winds down, former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, who also served as Nevada's governor, will speak about the proposed nuclear waste repository during a town hall meeting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Bryan's presentation, part of UNLV's Yucca Mountain Education Project, is slated 6 to 8 p.m. in the Classroom Building Complex, Room A-106. Project Director Brad Eden said Bryan is speaking free of charge. The DOE until midnight will accept public comment on the Yucca project at the Las Vegas Science Center at 4101-B Meadows Lane across the street from the Meadows Mall. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 Two bills earmark money for Nevada Las Vegas SUN October 19, 2001 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Congress this week passed the final version of two of the 13 spending bills that set budgets for the federal government. Both bills contain money for Nevada. Nevada's four-member delegation voted in favor of both bills, and President Bush is expected to sign them into law. A $10.5 billion military construction bill contains $46 million for Nevada military bases, including $19 million to buy 220 acres of privately owned land near a runway at Nellis Air Force Base northeast of Las Vegas. It includes $12.6 million to construct a "red flag" war games control center at Nellis. A $19.1 billion bill that funds the Interior Department, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management sets annual budgets for those agencies and also contains money for special Nevada projects, including about $18 million for continued Lake Tahoe restoration and $750,000 for Lake Mead watershed research. The Interior bill also includes money, called payments in lieu of taxes, for counties that contain federally owned land. The money helps counties that have little privately owned land pay for roads, schools, firefighting and law enforcement, because county taxes typically pay much of those expenses. It's not clear how much PILT money Nevada will get next year. The state got $7.6 million last year; Clark County got about $1 million. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Letter: Discussing nuclear safety [newsobserver.com, Raleigh, NC] Letters to the Editor Subscribe to The N&O Regarding the Oct. 11 article "Safety at Harris called into question": I was appalled but not particularly surprised at the quoted remarks of CP spokesman Keith Poston regarding the letter from elected officials about their safety concerns surrounding the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. As usual, CP continues to squelch public debate about safety issues that are important to Triangle residents, and dismisses our concerns as scare tactics. Their arrogance is simply unbelievable. The government just recently issued warnings and ordered beefed-up security at many facilities, including nuclear power plants. The last time I looked, Shearon Harris was in the flight path of some airplanes departing from and landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. In view of the events of Sept. 11, CP should make every attempt to minimize risk by decreasing expansion of the waste storage facility there. CP needs to admit that the public has a right to be heard on this issue. JOYCE BAIRD Chapel Hill © Copyright 2001, The News & Observer. All material found on newsobserver.com is ***************************************************************** 18 Ukraine: Antiterrorist exercise staged at Europe's biggest nuclear power station BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2001 Text of report by Ukrainian television on 18 October [Presenter Lyudmyla Dobrovolska] Ukraine has an extremely sad record of nuclear accidents, and it was rather slow to develop procedures to counteract terrorists at its nuclear establishments. Emergency security measures at nuclear power stations were introduced long ago, but an exercise to practice repelling an attack has been staged for the first time. Vyacheslav Sarychev reports from Europe's biggest nuclear power station in Zaporizhzhya. [Correspondent] There have been no outsiders at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station since 11 September: tours have been banned. The military unit guarding the station is perfecting its hand-to-hand fighting skills. [Passage omitted: a platoon commander says the station is safe after security was tightened in the wake of the terrorist strikes in the USA] [Viktor Kulinich, captioned as deputy director-general of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station] There is a network of high-voltage transmission lines around [the station], which is a death trap to any plane, helicopter or any other flying object. This means that only fragments of this flying object can fall here. [Correspondent] The nuclear power station's management has given assurances that the nuclear reactors and spent uranium storage facilities are sufficiently protected from cannon shells, napalm bombs and from the possibility of plane crashes. The deputy director of operations refused to comment on the details of tightened security for secrecy reasons. There was more willingness here to stage military and sport shows with the participation of special purpose units. [The platoon commander says there are three levels of security at the station, but refuses to specify them] [Correspondent] The station employees don't think the security measures are uncalled for. The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station has six nuclear reactors and is an attractive target for potential malefactors. [Counter reading: 2530-2726. Video shows: special purpose units in combat gear, practising hand-to-hand fighting, firing firearms, nuclear power station grounds] Source: Ukrainian Television Second Programme, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1630 gmt 18 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All ***************************************************************** 19 Anti-nuclear group calls for National Guard to patrol power plants Boston Globe Online: Print it! By Associated Press, 10/18/2001 18:34 HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Anti-nuclear activists repeated their call for Gov. John G. Rowland to send National Guard troops to protect the Millstone and Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plants from potential terrorist attacks. On the front steps of the state Capitol on Thursday, five members of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone said existing security measures are inadequate at Millstone in Waterford and Connecticut Yankee in Haddam. Coalition members said the plants are vulnerable to attacks from the air and from Long Island Sound. The Federal Aviation Administration has not instituted no-fly zones over nuclear plants, and the Coast Guard has decreased patrols near Millstone, they said. ''We are here today because our nation is in crisis, and our state is in a nuclear crisis,'' said Nancy Burton, a lawyer for the coalition. State Sen. Melodie Peters, and state Rep. Andrea Stillman, both Democrats from Waterford, also have asked Rowland to place National Guard troops at Millstone. The governor said he recognizes the concerns but said the nuclear plants are protected. ''I know there's concerns about the water and air precautions around Millstone, and if that's the case they should go try and contact the FAA and the members of Congress and the Coast Guard,'' Rowland said Thursday. Rowland said it's important to identify threats and where support is most needed. ''The nuclear faciliies are well protected. The malls aren't protected,'' he said. ''There are three layers of concrete protecting those (nuke) facilities. I don't think we should needlessly scare people.'' Ken Holt, a spokesman for Millstone, would not discuss details of beefed up security. ''We are in our highest security level and we have the highest level of confidence in our plans and our people,'' Holt said. ***************************************************************** 20 Radar Protects French Nuclear Plant World - Associated Press - Friday October 19 11:14 AM ET PARIS (AP) - French defense officials have stationed a radar system in northwest France to sweep the skies above Europe's largest nuclear reprocessing plant as a precaution against airborne suicide attacks, a defense official said Friday. The radar system, called Crotale and capable of scouting out airplanes flying at low altitude, is mounted on a large military vehicle parked near the nuclear center at La Hague, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said there had been no threats and that the measure was purely a precaution. The radar system can be used in conjunction with missiles, but none has yet been set up, he said, declining to discuss future plans. The military can also use fighter planes to shoot down aircraft picked up on radar screens, he said. The radar system is part of a broader initiative to bolster defense in northwestern France since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Most of France's air bases are located in the southeast. France has transferred military aircraft to the country's western regions, including Mirage fighter planes that have been moved to a base in Lann-Bihoue in the Brittany region. The official declined to provide more details about protection at the nation's other nuclear facilities. France is one of the world's most nuclear-dependent countries, getting more than three-fourths of its energy from nuclear power. The ministry is keeping most of its plans secret, and revealed details about the La Hague site only because of intense public interest in the nuclear reprocessing plant, which treats waste from reactors in Europe and Asia. French Defense Minister Alain Richard said Thursday that France may deploy surface-to-air missiles to protect sensitive civil and military sites across France. Among the sites the government promised to protect was the La Hague nuclear facility, French nuclear officials said. La Hague stocks 8,250 tons of nuclear fuel, officials say. Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 Reactors focus of terror fears Chicago Tribune | Special reports Three Mile Island threat proves false By Jeff Long Tribune staff reporter Published October 19, 2001 A threat against the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania turned out to be bogus, officials decided Thursday morning--after the scare had shut down three nearby airports for several hours. The incident underscores the heightened level of alertness surrounding the nation's 103 commercial nuclear reactors. It comes while security at those reactors is already tightened because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Three Mile Island is operated by Exelon Nuclear, the same company that runs the six nuclear power plants in Illinois. Those six sites have 11 nuclear reactors. Although the threat against Three Mile Island turned out to be false, there are other indications of sensitivity over nuclear security. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is continuing to revamp its Web site so that information there does not help would-be terrorists. By Thursday, only mundane press releases about upcoming meetings, the agency's mission statement and similar material remained on the site--not the detailed technical information that, before Sept. 11, was often praised as a model of open government. "We took our Web site down Oct. 11 to enable us to thoroughly go through it and see if there was any information there that shouldn't be," said Pam Alloway-Mueller, an agency spokeswoman. She said the watered down Web site was put up Wednesday and agency staff will continue to evaluate what other information can be returned to the site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already acknowledged that nuclear power plants were not designed to withstand the deliberate crash of a jumbo jet; officials are studying what would happen in such an attack, and what might be done to protect against it. Ann Mary Carley, a spokeswoman for Exelon Nuclear, said the agency notified the company of a "credible" threat against Three Mile Island at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, but that by Thursday morning federal officials had decided the threat was not credible. At the time, however, Exelon responded by putting its emergency operations center into action and bringing in additional personnel. "I can't tell you what they were," said Carley, "but there were additions put in place." Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration shut down airports within 20 miles of the power plant at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the largest airfield, Harrisburg International Airport, which is just a couple miles from Three Mile Island and has 120 flights per day--60 in and 60 out. "There was some kind of threat there," said the spokesman, Scott Miller. "We still don't know what it was." Neither the Nuclear Regulatory Commission nor Exelon would say what the threat was or how it was later determined to be "non-credible." Miller said the threat also shut down Lancaster Airport, which only has four commercial flights per day, and Capital City Airport, which is a general aviation airport for small, private aircraft. The FAA lifted the flight ban by about 1 a.m. Thursday, Miller said. By that time, three flights scheduled to fly into Harrisburg International had been canceled and two other flights had been diverted. That caused delays for five flights scheduled to leave Harrisburg Thursday morning, but by Thursday afternoon everything was back to normal, Miller said. "Our passengers said they would rather be inconvenienced a bit," said Miller. "Err on the side of safety, rather than take a chance." Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune ***************************************************************** 22 Hot milk? Las Vegas City Life Farm-rich Amargosa Valley lies downstream from a proposed nuke waste dump. Do its residents care? By Heidi Walters Photos by Jennifer Reynolds Poison. Corrosive. Radioactive. Dangerous. Explosive. Flammable solid. Bad shit. The hazard signs, all genuine but one, are nailed into the wall framing the open doorway of the kitchen at the Stateline Saloon in Amargosa Valley. From that wall, the bar extends to a wideframe window opposite, and a door which opens onto what at the moment is a road-construction dustcloud of enormous size enveloping this remote valley. Just beyond the dust cloud -- a black sky flooded with stars. We're 90-some miles northwest of that other world, Las Vegas, where electricity is king. Back inside the saloon, here is its tiny owner, Doris Jackson, dressed tonight in a fine charcoal velvet ensemble with cream trim, standing at the saloon's kitchen end under those nasty signs, cigarette propped in right hand, talking and laughing with patrons. It's Wednesday night, the barstools are half-filled -- mostly men and a couple of women. Most are drinking Natural Light beer -- a deal for a buck. Idle chatter: "What kind do you chew -- Copenhagen?" one female patron asks another. A can on the bar silently asks for donations for Corbert Spears, a former Nevada Test Site worker who needs a $250,000 liver transplant, less than half of which his insurance will pay. Another room lurks like an exquisite corpse of Las Vegas' past, with items collected by Jackson who moved from the big city in 1973: fancy trim and mirrors from the Stardust, booths out of the Golden Nugget, blackjack chairs from the Aladdin, barstools from the Frontier. The buzz around the bar is friendly and punctuated by laughter, and people seem to enjoy frequent hello and goodbye hugs. Coming across the room to say hello, Jackson -- when asked -- allows that she doesn't as a rule impose her politics inside the saloon. But her views are evident. And it isn't just the signs, or even the old stack of fliers announcing Sept. 12 and 13 public hearings, later canceled, on the U.S. Department of Energy's proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The saloon owner, town ringleader, fund-raising queen, dance and party thrower and Amargosa Valley Town Advisory Board chairwoman, who turns 71 this Christmas Eve, has just returned from the rescheduled public hearing across the street at the Longstreet Inn and Casino, where she sang a funny protest song. It went something like this: "Oh, we love Amargosa in the summer!/We love Amargosa in the fall!/We love Amargosa mostly cuz' we're/the dumbest people of them all!/The people here just think of jobs and money/Burying all those rods just ain't that funny!/With the money earned they'll really be in good stead/But you can't take it with you when you're dead!/ ... The state and county get their dirty money/From the government; the money is called PET/The money's spent for a lot of good causes/But, not one cent does Amargosa get!/ ... We don't need the waste of our whole country/We don't want to be our nation's dump!/If you think that you can bury all your problems/Well, you know that you can kiss our rural rump! ..." But inside here, where all kinds of viewpoints sit at her bar and drink her beer and liquor and play the slots and video poker -- friends, locals, neighbors, passersby -- Jackson repeats she keeps things neutral. Although, quietly on the side, she'll say plenty: "More are for [the dump] than are against," she says, eying her patrons gently and talking about Amargosans in general. "They think they're going to get a lot of jobs, that Amargosa land is going to be worth a lot of money." Amargosa Valley is an unincorporated town consisting of a string of lone establishments sprinkled across a Mojave expanse of 480 square miles, atop a huge underground river that is fed partly by a canyon near Yucca Mountain and flows to its terminus in Death Valley. About 1,500 people live here: 10 percent on welfare, 25 percent retired and the rest employed mostly in the valley, Jackson says. About 200 kids attend the K-8 school on Farm Road, and 75 more go to high school in Beatty. It's also a typical American melting pot, and Jackson says about 40 percent of the residents, some in the valley for generations, are of Mexican descent. There are three mines, numerous farms (pistachios, almonds and more), a huge dairy, a clinic, a post office, at least three churches, a market, a park, a restaurant or two, some boutiques and shops, a casino and, of course, Jackson's saloon. It's a small enough populace, you'd expect any divide between pro-dump folks and anti-dump folks would be deeply drawn. But Jackson says many of her patrons are "blase about it, because they worked at the Test Site." So what if the DOE wants to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste and expects it to stay put for 10,000 years? Then again, in such a farm-rich town whose groundwater aquifer is directly downstream from Yucca Mountain, that attitude is surprising -- you'd expect that Amargosans would stand united against the proposed dump. After all, if something happened and that radiation leaked ... "Hey, you're talking to someone who doesn't give a shit!" says kindly, scruffy Jim Hooton, raising his hand -- he's an odd-jobs man in weary clothes and a crusty straw hat stuck with two American flag pins. He's lived here 20 years. Up until a couple weeks ago, he worked for Marta Becket, the dancer/artist of Amargosa Opera House fame at Death Valley Junction down the road a few miles. Hooton notes that he's been interviewed before about this. When pressed, he says there's nothing to fear about the dump. "I worked 12 years at the Test Site, working with high-level radiation. If you can take a nuclear bomb, and explode it, and 10 years later it ain't in your water supply -- look at me, I'm fine," he says, lifting his outer shirt. "I'm 60 years old. I drank the water at Mercury." Ronette "Ronnie" Fowler comes over, says I can interview her. She grew up in Amargosa Valley, has lived here for 37 years, and for a long time has been opposed to the Yucca Mountain dump. But she's changed her mind. "I'd like to see Yucca Mountain come in," she says. "But, I don't think people should have to go to Vegas to join the union and get a job at Yucca Mountain. The office should be out here." As for the danger -- well, she says, she won't be around by the time any radiation leaks out, if it ever does. "We're all gonna die" at some point, she says. Well, what about future generations? "I hate kids. I hate dogs. And I hate cats. Next question?" OK ... so we're in a bar and people are having some beers. Anyway, Jim Hooton continues the not-worried theme: "The normal man on the street, he's gonna come up with fear," he explains. "The difference between us is, I am government educated, and they are media educated. I have satisfied myself, from working there, that they will handle this right." He agrees, however, that "the danger is the human element," but he thinks that won't be a problem at Yucca. Standing next to Hooton, construction worker Ralph Matteson abruptly joins in, suspicious at first about all this questioning: "It's work," he says gruffly. But after some discussion, pro and con, he says, "You know what? I don't really care. The dump -- what's it going to do for me? Nothing." Neither good nor bad. But, maybe if they used the Test Site to figure out how to recycle the stuff ... Here Ed Goedhart interrupts to remind him that transmutation would create a side product of pure plutonium, which might be misused, and illegally so, to make nuclear weapons. Goedhart manages the Ponderosa Dairy here in Amargosa Valley -- a $40 million operation that yields 25 percent of the milk produced in Nevada and sends yet more out to the rest of the country, including Southern California. He is decidedly against the Yucca Mt. nuclear waste dump, and like Doris Jackson has just been across the street at the hearing offering his comments for the record. "People think there will be dollar bills falling from the sky," Goedhart says, fluttering his hands to illustrate. He contends that even though the federal government has spent $7 billion so far on the Yucca Mountain Project, only five people from Amargosa Valley have had jobs out there during the site characterization phase. "So if they spend an additional $50 billion putting it in, then what do we get -- 20 jobs?" Big deal, he says. And, though the federal government gives Nye County (host to the dump project) both oversight money and payment equal to taxes, or PET (the DOE doesn't pay Nevada or the county taxes), very little of the money finds its way to Amargosa Valley, Goedhart complains. If the government really wanted to show good will, he says, it would inject money into education, training and facilities, so locals might have a fighting chance for whatever jobs would arise over at the waste dump, or into local emergency crews who are the first to respond to, say, an overturned hazardous-waste-hauling truck. Such trucks, carrying low-level radioactive waste, already rumble with regularity along Amargosa Valley's main, crunchily resurfaced thoroughfare, Highway 373. "The [Amargosa Valley volunteer] fire department is so broke, they come to local businesses for donations to get new tires. I paid for their tires the last time they blew out," Goedhart says. "And then a motor broke." He says the money the feds give the county are not even close to being equal. "That's how they keep Nye County down on their knees. We're basically a red-haired, illegitimate welfare child. Nye County is 98.1 percent owned and controlled by the federal government. We're the second largest county in the United States, and they pay us pennies on the dollar. And the federal government says, 'We're going to cut you off if you don't cooperate with us.' They wouldn't give us a new rope to hang us with." Goedhart, like many critics, questions the safety of transporting high-level nuclear waste through 43 states and through his town. He also is concerned with the inequity: Nevada didn't invite the DOE in, the DOE chose Nevada after eliminating all other possible hosts from consideration over a decade ago. And he's worried about what would happen to life downstream of Yucca if radiation leaked into the groundwater. "We have a significant risk," he says. "Eighty-seven percent of all the sites where the federal Department of Energy has handled significant amounts of high-level nuclear material have significant nuclear contamination issues, to the air, ground and water. Hanford, Oak Ridge, the Rocky Mt. arsenal ... their track record is, they screw up nine times out of 10." Goedhart, who came to Amargosa Valley five years ago to run the dairy after a long, varied career in finance and even a long stint selling Chevrolets, is also concerned that the local people with fool's gold in their eyes will be disappointed by the reality of Yucca Mountain. But perhaps most of all, he fears the stigma on valley products that could come with the nuclear waste -- leaks or no leaks. Which takes us out of the nighttime saloon, and into the brightness of a new day. Out here on Mecca Road in Amargosa Valley, touring the biggest dairy in Nevada with manager Goedhart, it's almost possible to forget, for a moment, about the country's immediate preoccupation with terrorism and war. Instead, thoughts of milk -- comforting, nourishing -- take over. There are 8,000-plus cows here at the Ponderosa Dairy: 2,000 calves, 1,000 "dry" cows waiting to be rebred, and 5,100 milking cows. Some of them poke their big, black-and-white heads in unison through the long rows of clanking metal-slat feedlots. Others, their udders abulge, troop into the warm and fetid milkbreath of the long, narrow milking barn, where they back up to the apronclad workers whose plastic gloved hands hook them to the milking tubes. Outside, bright green fields of alfalfa and other forage shimmer toward the hovering Funeral Mountains. Straight up, the sky pounds an impossible blue. The nearly 2,000-acre farm has its own water rights, and Goedhart uses recycled water to irrigate the nearby fields of all-organic forage (where no pesticides or herbicides are applied). Twenty percent of the milk produced here is certified organic. He employs 100 people directly. He can drive good cars and take his young family on horizon-broadening trips. But now the big-world worries return: like the impacts that would come from a high-level nuclear waste dump upgradient of his dairy cows. "We are the closest to Yucca Mountain," he says, and points to a reddish-gold butte off to the near northeast, on the Nevada Test Site. Cows, like people, are good radiation "dose receptors." And it gets into their milk. When the meltdown occurred in the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Chernobyl in April 1986, it caused explosions that spewed radioactive material into the atmosphere for days, killing more than 4,000 people (including many who had helped with the cleanup). It also contaminated agricultural crops and products far and wide in Europe -- among the first things to be tossed out was the affected region's milk. So, an association with a nuclear waste dump could cast a stigma on Amargosa food products. (As an aside, Goedhart doesn't mention that dairies, themselves, can be big polluters -- even his, which has erred in the past.) At any rate, and economically speaking, Goedhart says the long-term economic impacts from the nuclear waste dump will far outweigh any long-term benefits. But the perceived benefits are mighty alluring to a starved county. So, this nuclear waste dump -- what, really, is in it for Nye County? What's in it for Nevada? Depends on whom you ask. Allen Benson, spokesman for the DOE, lays it out straight one night outside a DOE public hearing in Pahrump. "Section 170 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act provides for a benefits agreement between the DOE and the state of Nevada," he says. "That would allow Nevada $10 million a year during the site characterization process, but prior to receipt of spent nuclear fuel." Once waste begins arriving, Nevada would get $20 million a year. But this would all be on the condition, Benson says, that the state give up "impacts assistance" money it gets from the DOE, and gives up its right to oppose the dump. Nevada has shunned this "benefits" package, and opted instead for what the NWPA's Sect 116 provides: money to conduct independent oversight studies of the project. Last fiscal year, it got $2.5 million, and the 10 other "affected units of local government," including Nye County, divvied up $6 million. Nye County also has received $10 million in PET the past two years. As for jobs, Benson says the DOE employs "100 feds" at Yucca Mountain now, and hires an additional 1,500 contractors. "If we go into construction, it will employ several thousand workers, and then several hundred during operation." On the grand scheme of things, it ain't a lot of jobs -- and there's no requirement that anyone be hired from Nye County. A minority of Nevadans think citizens need to accept the dump, and pressure their Congressional delegates into getting a better deal. Nye County government, meanwhile, sort of rides the fence by neither officially coming out for or against the waste dump. "No one has ever asked Nye County what it wants," says Les Bradshaw, director of Nye County's Department of Natural Resources and Federal Facilities, which conducts that county's Yucca Mountain Oversight Program. "Congress has ordered the Department of Energy to do this work. In the event that Yucca Mountain becomes a reality, Nye County hopes that the project will provide adequate protection for the citizens of Nye County." Furthermore, he says, Yucca Mountain is but one in "a long string of projects at the Nevada Test Site. We hope that, as we have with all Department of Energy programs, that the Nye County business community can do business with" the DOE. "We hope to make Nye County attractive. As you know, every night at quitting time, employee buses [leaving the Test Site] are going to Las Vegas." He'd like to see them housed in Nye County. The DOE's Benson says, however, that while "nothing would stop Nye County from going to Congress and saying, 'What can you do for us,'" the DOE is "not making [specific promises]. We're not going to begin that kind of discussion until the project's been approved -- there's no point." And even then, the DOE, unless Congress directed otherwise, would have to pursue its procurements through open and fair competition. Some dump supporters also point to what they perceive as New Mexico's successful negotiation with the federal government for millions in benefits in return for hosting the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, a permanent dump for transuranic waste (from weapons production and testing). But, says Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico hardly got what it wished for. He says the correlation isn't exact with Yucca, because New Mexico invited the feds in. "But," he says, "there are some people who are relatively close to the site, and they have gotten absolutely zero." Plus, while the site brought 800-plus jobs and some economic prosperity to the nearby town of Carlsbad, population 20,000, the equally close town of Hobbs, same population, got nothing. And little Loving, New Mexico, population 1,000 and even closer to the dump, was also ignored. "If the people in Amargosa Valley think they're going to get jobs and have people set up housing there, how realistic is that, with Las Vegas nearby?" Even if it were profitable, though -- how much money makes nuclear waste OK? That's what Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for the Nevada grassroots group Citizen Alert, wants to know. "I can't tell you how sick I am of profits over people," Tilges says. "With WIPP, basically, New Mexico sold out to the Department of Energy for $57 million. However, in typical DOE style, New Mexico had to take the DOE to court to get the money. It took eight years in civil court, and it took an additional seven years to actually [begin to] collect any money. And let's just say we do get paid for this. How does money buy our children's future? I've never been for sale, and my children certainly are not for sale. And, I think the irradiated Test Site workers would rather have their health than compensation bills." She says finding a better way to store the existing spent nuclear fuel above ground would create jobs, as would developing alternative energy sources. And, what really, really bothers her is this notion some people promote, whether from weariness or something else, that Yucca Mountain is "a done deal." "The thing is, we're very close to winning this fight," she counters. "The state is poised to launch lawsuits, and probably the nonprofit groups will be right alongside it. Forty-three states are on the transportation routes -- everybody's ready to come out to Nevada to help fight this." Former Nevada Senator Richard Bryan also insists that Yucca Mountain is not a done deal. "There has been what I call a Fifth Column movement in Nevada, an infiltration behind the lines, for the better part of 18 years, " Bryan says. "This is a group that, even though they're for the dump, they don't want to come out and say it publicly because of the overwhelming" majority against it. "So they say, 'Gosh, I hate it too, but it's a done deal. So let's negotiate for benefits.'" He says he understands that, among this faction, are some actual desperate people. "Several years ago, there was [this perceived] 'pot of gold' at the end of the nuclear rainbow." He says Lincoln County, the impoverished county north of Las Vegas, still pursues this pot of gold, and Nye County "hasn't exactly been opposed" to Yucca Mountain. "In these small communities, even five jobs is significant." Plus, there is also a lingering loyalty to the Nevada Test Site -- what Tilges calls "nuclear patriotism." Nevertheless, Bryan says the state's case against the dump is strong. And why, he asks, would the DOE fight so hard, litigating the Environmental Protection Agency's' radiation standards, for example, and hiring expensive lobbyists such as (disgraced) former Nevada Governor Bob List? "If it's a done deal, why not also lobby to have the sun come up in the morning?" Plus, the project itself has changed, Bryan says. Back when the siting for a dump began, the DOE hoped for a self-contained geologic repository. Yucca was chosen for its remoteness and its rock type. But today, as studies continue to reveal vulnerabilities, the project has evolved into a largely manmade construct. And that makes many people say, why not just build the same thing closer to the plants where the waste is generated? And, it has to sit there another 10 years before Yucca could even open -- might as well work on improving that dry cask technology, says Citizen Alert's Tilges. Keeping the waste where it is -- right under the industry's nose -- has another compelling attraction: slowing down the production of nuclear power, which has proven to be a dangerous, unprofitable and uninsurable nightmare that leaves taxpayers liable for accidents. And it only provides 15 to 20 percent of the nation's power, a percentage conservation alone could replace, or alternative energy like wind and solar, Tilges says. "Clearly the nuclear industry is in its death throes right now," she says. "How else do you explain their desperation?" Back in Doris Jackson's Stateline Saloon, patron Earl Griffin says he's "not pro-nuclear, because of the waste," and allows that nuclear power is probably a dying industry. But he and his wife A.J., both long-time residents of the Amargosa Valley, are all for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. "In the interest of mankind," says A.J., "if there's gotta be a place to put it, I think this is the best place. It's gonna happen anyway." Earl, who says he "worked all over the Test Site" as an electrician, says that the waste ought to be flown in by airplane rather than ground transported, though. And pshaw to the people who fear the stuff. "The only ones I ever hear complaining is the two newspapers, the Sun and the Review-Journal, and the weirdo groups from Las Vegas," he says. "They're the ones drumming up" anti-dump sentiment. Furthermore, he says, "I think the state's crazy to be fighting it. There's millions in this." Doris Jackson, meanwhile, sits at a far table smoking her cigarette. She benevolently invited the Griffins down here today to share their pro-dump views with the press. And, though she's against the dump herself, she's got a plan if it looks like Yucca's going to happen. Right now, she says, "properties are going up." And people are submitting parcel maps like crazy these days, thinking they'll sell some lost down the road, perhaps. She's listed some of her land, and plans to sell it before the dump arrives. But she says she'll never move. "This is home." Besides, she says, she couldn't leave even if she tried. "It's the space, and that magnetic field." The magnetic field, she says, is as strong as the one in Sedona, Ariz. "There aren't very many like it. And you can't leave. Well, you can, but you always come back. It's very mind-expanding. People come out here and they do things they never did before: poetry, painting ..." And running a congenial saloon. Maybe fighting nuclear waste. Copyright 2001 Las Vegas City Life ***************************************************************** 23 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-10-19 Number 201 1. Non-proliferation Russia, US see breakthrough on US missile defense, NATO issues. (FT; NYT - 18/10) United States of America 2. Terrorism Asia-Pacific summit participants agree on anti-terror declaration. Threat to US Three Mile Island NPP discredited by officials, NPP reopened. US nuclear watchdog denies any NPP shutdown linked to terrorist fears. France tightens security around NPPs, sets up air protection zones. 'No need' for more nuclear power, UK government-backed organization says. More on anthrax: Kenyan officials report first case outside US. Battle against terrorism to dominate EU summit. Tighter controls of nuclear weapons and fissile material needed to prevent access for terrorist groups, UN Institute for Disarmament Research urges. Japanese forces set to support US-led military campaign in Afghanistan. (BBC; CNN; DAW; FT; G; R - 18, 19/10) Afghanistan; Asia; EUROPE; France; Japan; UN; United Kingdom; United States of America 3. Nuclear power Kazakhstan should reconsider NPP project, Kazakh Prime Minister says. (FT - 18/10) Kazakhstan 4. Nuclear safety Latvia, Ukraine to cooperate in nuclear safety. (FT - 18/10) Latvia; Ukraine 5. UN Differences over future UN peacekeeping role in Afghanistan to be discussed by UN, US officials. (DAW - 18/10) 6. Miscellaneous Kofi Annan receives sample of petitions signed by more than 9 million people calling for urgent efforts to preserve uncontaminated Earth. Russian official outlines further 'Kursk' plans; Norwegian experts confirm normal radiation levels in Barents Sea. Heated coolant water from Finnish NPP to 'warm' wine production. (FT; G - 117, 8/10) Finland; Russian Federation; WORLDWIDE ***************************************************************** 24 Russia, India to sign nuclear power plant contract in weeks [ITAR/TASS News Agency] Story Filed: Friday, October 19, 2001 7:39 AM EST MOSCOW, Oct 19, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Russia and India will sign a nuclear power plant construction contract late October or early November, Russian Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Reshetnikov told Itar-Tass in an interview Friday. Pre-contract negotiations are practically over and nearly all necessary documents have been drafted. The agreement is expected to be signed when a group of Indian specialists visits Moscow, presumably late October, he said. Under a future contract Russia will help India build a nuclear power plant having two water-cooled VVER reactors. One unit is scheduled to go operational in 2005 and the other, in 2006, Reshetnikov said. The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry will provide equipment and selected specialists, while most construction work be done by India on its own. According to the Russian official, the nuclear power plant will be built on credit. The value of the contract is not disclosed. According to analysts, construction costs of one reactor may lie within a range of 1.5 billion dollars to 2.5 billion dollars, depending on the region's seismicity, construction site condition and terms of reference. By Veronika Voskoboinikova (c) 1996-2001 ITAR-TASS. All rights ***************************************************************** 25 Maine Yankee security faces residents' test Oct 18, 2001 "Serving Maine and Lincoln County for Over a Century" Vol. 126-No. 42 Greg Foster Amid all news reports about security risks at nuclear power plants throughout the country, local people are having a case of the jitters. Some area residents want to see National Guardsmen at Maine Yankee in Wiscasset, a visible presence that will give them a sense of security, or even a no-fly zone. They are especially nervous after hearing about a few Westport residents and a news columnist, who freely drove around the Maine Yankee site unhindered and virtually unnoticed. Whether that is a matter for concern or not is debatable to Maine Yankee and state officials. Maine Yankee argues that it is in a "heightened state of security," and the state has been discussing whether a National Guard presence is appropriate now. A new protocol calling for a checkpoint went into effect Monday. "There's a lot of concerns that Maine Yankee does not appear to be in a heightened state of alert," said Westport resident David Bertran, who along with Second Selectman Stanley Lane said they drove around the plant at night in a pickup truck last week. Nevertheless, Maine Yankee insists it is and has been in a heightened state of security since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but is not at liberty to say exactly what that means for fear of compromising security, according to company spokesman Eric Howes. That sort of statement makes Lane nervous. Security is insufficient in his opinion, and he believes the federal government should be doing something. "This is a federal problem and they should be paying for it," Lane said. He voiced fear that unless something is done, the situation will affect the economy. On the heels of Lane's visit, there is at least one visible sign this week of security measures in place with the posting of a guard at one of the access roads into the plant. "It is in response to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission advisory and in anticipation of the movement of the spent fuel from the spent fuel pool to the storage installation," Howes said. "We're again controlling access to the site roads." Pinkerton vans have been visible from time to time at the site lately and along the roadside near the entrance to the plant. Pinkerton is the security agency hired by Maine Yankee to provide protection at the plant, according to Howes. Howes said that Maine Yankee is in communication regularly with the NRC and the state and has met with the Governor's task force on security. Asked whether there is the possibility of National Guard protection, he said, "That is the Governor's call." The NRC conducted an inspection of Maine Yankee on Tuesday, and the state is discussing peoples' request for National Guardsmen there, according to Paula Craighead, state nuclear safety advisor. "We are looking at the request and seeing how it would make sense," she said. The gate to the other access road is closed, but there is no fence on either side of the gate preventing vehicles from going on the grass and past the gate. Howes had no comment when asked about it. Howes stated that the main concern at Maine Yankee is the high level radioactive spent fuel, is presently stored below ground level beneath several feet of concrete. "Anyone can drive around the access road," Howes said, noting that Lane reported that he had done that as if he had breached security but which was not the case. "You can drive in someone's driveway, but that doesn't mean you're supposed to be there," Craighead said. She confirmed what Howes has been saying all along that there has been on ongoing review of security with the state and NRC. She remarked that people's perceptions vary as to what is enough security and that the state is listening to what people have to say about it and responding to them. Howes explained that the building where the spent fuel is stored is inaccessible to people, since a metal fence surrounds it. "We're in a heightened state of security," he said. "The NRC has the lead on the situation." The former gate into the plant is no longer in use for the decommissioning of the plant, which company officials have said is over 50 percent complete. That is the gate that Lane was surprised is left open and unattended. Lane, Bertran and other residents want more limited access. In a recent letter to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Westport selectmen requested a perimeter of protection around the entire plant site, especially including the newly constructed spent fuel storage facility on the grounds. State Sen. Marge Kilkelly (D-Wiscasset), who serves as chairman of the Community Advisory Panel for Maine Yankee, said she has relayed concerns people have to the company. "It's a troubling time. People are concerned about lots of things," she said. "It's my job to communicate to Maine Yankee that lots of people are concerned." Kilkelly said she recognizes the desire many of her constituents have to be able to have assurance of stiff security measures. "Of course there are some aspects of security plans that have to be kept confidential in order to be effective," she said. Kilkelly has been a vocal proponent of getting the spent fuel off the site and into a federal repository, which was supposed to have been ready in 1998. She echoes Gov. King's statement this month to the NRC to put pressure on the federal Department of Energy to follow through on its promise sooner. "All of this material ought to be moved to a central facility away from people," she said. "It's time for the federal government to take it more seriously." Kilkelly plans to lead a coalition of state legislators to push the Maine Legislature to pass a resolution that will send a message to the federal government to take action. She expects other states to join in on the crusade to pressure for stepped up plans for a national repository. In the meantime, Maine Yankee is required to store the spent fuel in the new storage installation until there is a national storage place like the proposed site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, if Nevada people have anything to say about it, there is going to be a political battle to prevent it from happening. If it does go through, the earliest it could possibly be ready to receive spent fuel from around the country and Maine Yankee is 2010, according Gayle Fisher, public information officer for Yucca Mountain Project. The public hearing process is still going on in the state. Fisher anticipates the site review for the proposal will be ready for President Bush to study by the end of this year or by January and then will go before Congress. "The state has the right to disapprove it, and I have no reason to believe they are not going to," Fisher said. However, the Congress can override the state's veto by a simple majority. There is no indication that there is any change in federal Department of Energy plans to step up the project due to public pressure. "We are just going on with our normal plan," said Karen Threlkeld, project spokesperson. While there remains some doubt in the surrounding community about enough security, people like Lane believe the future of the site is questionable for industry and business or even a proposed location for a regional jail. "There are an awful lot of implications for the future of the place," Lane said. He believes it would be foolish to locate a prison there. "I think they're crazy if they do. It's going to lead to nothing but lawsuit alley." Unless the federal government provides some kind of repository elsewhere, the spent fuel will go to the new on-site installation until there is one, making the site a potential target for terrorists as long as it is there. Lincoln County News PO Box 36, Damariscotta, ME 04543 Tel: 207.563.3171 http://lcnews.maine.com/2001-10-18/my_security.html rev 2001-10-18 ***************************************************************** 26 NRC denies U.S. nuclear plants security shutdowns Thursday October 18, 4:34 pm Eastern Time NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - With talk of shutdowns swirling through the power market, the U.S. nuclear industry's top watchdog said on Thursday none of the country's reactors had been closed down because of heightened security following the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks on New York and the Pentagon. ``Contrary to some rumors, the agency has not ordered any plants to shut down for security reasons,'' the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said in a statement. Energy traders said talk earlier this week of shuttered plants had pushed up prices in the wholesale power and natural gas markets. The NRC, based in Rockville, Maryland, shut down its Web site last week to review whether any of the data it posted there could be of value to anyone seeking to attack U.S. nuclear power facilities. As a result, wholesale electricity prices in some regions of the country rose because of a lack of information about power supplies. One suspended set of data is the NRC's daily plant status report, listing the operating status of the country's 103 nuclear reactors that provide about 20 percent of the country's electricity. The NRC restored parts of its Web site on Wednesday, but not the daily plant status report. NRC chairman Richard Meserve, in a Sept. 26 letter to the governors of the 40 states with nuclear plants or facilities, advised them to liaise with state law enforcement forces in the event they might be needed to beef up security. In Thursday's statement, the NRC also dismissed a ``potential terrorist threat'' to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania as ``non-credible.'' The threat, which came into the NRC and was initially taken seriously, triggered a heightened alert from the plant's operator, Exelon Corp. (NYSE: - news), and involved precautionary action by several other federal and state authorities. The NRC said it has continued to monitor closely the security at all nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel facilities around the country. All plants have remained at the highest level of security since the Sept. 11 attacks. Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy ***************************************************************** 27 Conectiv unit completes sale of nuclear interests [Reuters] Friday October 19, 8:40 am Eastern Time NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Conectiv Inc. (NYSE:CIV - news), a leading Mid-Atlantic energy provider, said one of its subsidiaries completed the sale of its interests in three nuclear plants. Atlantic City Electric Co., the subsidiary, sold the interests for about $11.3 million to the PSEG Nuclear unit of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE:PEG - news) of Newark, New Jersey, and to the Exelon Generation Co. unit of Exelon Corp. (NYSE:EXC - news) of Chicago, Conectiv said in a statement late Thursday. The interests included a 7.51-percent interest (164 megawatts) in the Peach Bottom nuclear station units 2 and 3 that was sold in equal shares to co-owners PSEG Nuclear and Exelon, each of which, prior to the sale, owned about 46 percent of Peach Bottom. Exelon operates Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania. A 7.41-percent interest (167 megawatts) in the Salem nuclear station units 1 and 2 was sold to PSEG Nuclear. PSEG Nuclear is the operator of Salem in New Jersey. A 5.00-percent interest (52 megawatts) in the Hope Creek nuclear station units 1 and 2 was sold to PSEG Nuclear. PSEG Nuclear is the operator of Hope Creek and, prior to the sale, owned 95 percent of that facility. PSEG Nuclear and PECO, another unit of Exelon Corp. that delivers electricity in the Philadelphia area, also assumed full responsibility for the ultimate decommissioning of Atlantic's interests in Peach Bottom, Salem and Hope Creek in New Jersey. Conectiv President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Shaw said the sale is consistent with the Wilmington, Delaware-based company's focus on its two core energy businesses: Conectiv Energy, a generation and energy marketing group; and Conectiv Power Delivery, a regulated power delivery business. Shaw said, ``We have sold baseload nuclear and fossil-fired power plants that do not fit our strategy and have made progress developing and building new, fast-response, mid-merit generation units that can meet the region's need for power.'' Mid-merit units can start and stop quickly in response to changes in the demand for power. Baseload units run at a constant rate to provide a system's minimum demand for power at a minimal cost. Shaw pointed to the additional 350 megawatts of mid-merit capacity the company put in service this past summer at its Hay Road power plant in Wilmington, Del. --Scott DiSavino, New York Power Desk, +646-223-6072, fax +646-223-6079, e-mail scott.disavino@reuters.com ***************************************************************** 28 Chernobyl friends hold their AGM World / International News A large number of people attended the Annual General Meeting of Wexford Friends of Chernobyl in White's Hotel on November 2nd 1998. Chairperson Phyllis Gordon P.C. welcomed everyone and gave a summary of all the work carried out during the year both here in Wexford and in Mozyer Belarus. Aileen Ironside secretary informed the meeting of the years events. Phil Breen and Ann O' Connor Treasurers circulated balance sheets. Plans will be made in December for the visit of the children next year. Anyone wishing to take a child can contact :- Phyllis Gordon (053) 24137. A convoy of trucks filled with essential medical supplies, food and equipment will leave next week for Mozyer Belarus. The committee would like to thank everyone who helped to fill these trucks. A letter was sent to Pembrokshire County Council in Wales in support of their protest of the building of the nuclear waste dump near Fishguard. The following committee was elected:- Phyllis Gordon, Chairperson, Jackie McGrath,Vice-Chairperson, Aileen Ironside, Secretary, Caroline Dixon Asst. Secretary , Phil Breen and Ann O' Connor, Treasurers. Unison ***************************************************************** 29 Mox Plant Challenge Sparks Delays THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS Thursday, October 18, 2001 The Sellafield Mox facility is not expected to be started for at least another six weeks. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have launched a joint judicial review challenge into the government's approval for Mox. They claim the government approval was "illegal". But it will be six weeks before time can be allocated at the High Court for an anticipated three-day legal hearing. But BNFL appear to be taking the view that they can carry on commissioning the Mox facility regardless of any legal challenge. Spokeswoman Ali Dunlop said yesterday: "The current legal challenge is not affecting our commissioning programme. "When we introduce plutonium is up to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) and the only reason they would say 'No' would only be on the grounds of safety. "Once the regulator is happy we will introduce plutonium. "The legal challenge is not to BNFL but is to the government.'' If plutonium is used inside the plant and then a judge ruled the plant should not operate, its subsequent decommissioning or clean-up would be a vast cost to the taxpayer. l Meanwhile BNFL has angrily rejected claims by anti-nuclear group CORE that it had tried to introduce plutonium into Mox before the judicial review. BNFL spokesman Jamie Reed said: "CORE needs to get its facts straight, what we have done is to bring plutonium into the Sellafield Mox plant in a sealed can in order to perform calibration and function testing. "Following completion of the test the sealed can was returned to the Thorp product store and SMP has been returned to pre-test conditions. "It is therefore completely incorrect to talk of 'contamination' and utterly ridiculous to call us irresponsible. This activity has been conducted with the full authorisation of the NII.'' ***************************************************************** 30 Bryan to speak at town meeting Las Vegas SUN News briefs for October 18, 2001 Bryan to speak at town meeting Former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, who also served as Nevada's governor, will speak about the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain during a town hall meeting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Friday. Bryan's presentation, part of UNLV's Yucca Mountain Education Project, is slated 6 to 8 p.m. in the Classroom Building Complex, Room A-106. Bryan will offer insights and opinions on the political process that led to the selection of Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for the burial of the nation's nuclear waste. The meeting is being co-sponsored by UNLV's departments of sociology and anthropology, the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History, the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies and the education project office. ***************************************************************** 31 On high alert, nuclear plants face unknown vulnerability By Ralph Vigoda and Maureen Graham INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS There isn't much disagreement that nuclear plants are layered with protective measures. They are, in the jargon of counterterrorism, "hardened targets," with fences, concrete barriers, barbed wire, surveillance cameras, motion detectors and armed-response teams. The towers are made of reinforced concrete, as much as five feet thick at the bottom and up to two feet thick at the top. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, nuclear plants have been under even more protection. Facilities across the country are on the highest alert, and an unspecified threat against the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg Wednesday night caused authorities to shut down two nearby airports. Yesterday morning, law enforcement officials said the threat was not credible. "We believe we have the most well-protected facilities in the world," said Melanie White, a spokeswoman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group for the industry. "We can't tell you the sites are impervious to every single scenario that can be envisioned, but we are very robust facilities," White said. New Jersey's acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco has ordered the National Guard to the state's four nuclear power plants. At Salem I, Salem II and Hope Creek in Salem County, state police and guard members patrol in the marshes that surround the three facilities as well as work inside. Only visitors who have business at the plants are allowed in, and checkpoints are in place on all access roads. "It's almost impossible for any visitor to get in," said spokesman Jim Clancy, who was prevented from bringing his young son to the facility. The state's fourth plant is Oyster Creek in Forked River. Pennsylvania officials have not asked for help from the National Guard, but they have placed at least two state troopers at the state's five nuclear plants around the clock, including the Limerick facility near Pottstown. Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shut down its Web site to remove certain information, such as the coordinates of the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power reactors. A statement on the site (www.nrc.gov) says: "In support of our mission to protect public health and safety, the NRC is performing a review of all material on our site." But could all the new measures stop a 767 airplane from slamming into a tower, causing a meltdown and releasing radioactivity into the air? That's a possibility that might not have been considered until the hijacked planes were flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "We have not analyzed what would happen if a 767 crashed into a reactor," said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "And until we've done that, we can't say with certainty that they could withstand it." However, Sheehan noted, there have been tests to determine what would happen if an F-4 fighter jet slammed into a tower at 475 m.p.h. The result: The jet disintegrated. "It's very difficult to say nothing can go wrong," Sheehan said. "On the other hand, we feel that everything that can be done is being done. The FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] has put out notice that pilots can't fly near the plants. NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] is watching airspace. The military has been given authority that if an airliner strays from its flight path, they can shoot it down. We have to take everything very seriously, and that's what happened [Wednesday] night at Three Mile Island." Sheehan said details of the threat at TMI, in Middletown, could not be revealed. He did say a report from the intelligence community with a specific threat was received about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Harrisburg International Airport and Lancaster Airport were closed from about 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. as military aircraft patrolled and state and federal agencies sent manpower to the plant. At 7:30 yesterday morning, authorities said the threat was not credible. "I think the chairman of the NRC put it best when he said the entire equation has changed in light of Sept. 11," Sheehan said. "We're going to do a top- to-bottom review of security and see if any changes need to be made." David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists can suggest a few. The plants, he said, have a poor record in thwarting mock-terrorist raids that have been carried out at each facility by the NRC. For instance, Lochbaum said, in six of 11 mock raids staged in the last two years, intruders - usually three or four people trained in military tactics and weapons - were able to breach security and simulate the destruction of equipment that could lead to a meltdown. In 57 previous raids, serious security flaws - short fences, unlocked doors, guards not in position - were found 27 times. "Things are being done to fix these past problems, which is good," he said. "But it's bad to still see a high problem rate." Lochbaum acknowledged that it may be impossible to plan for every contingency, and questioned whether enough attention is being given to the 22 plants that have been permanently shut down, but still hold dangerous material. "What we would like," he said, "is for the authorities responsible for plant security to be in a position that, if there was a successful attack, they could look the public in the face and say, 'We did everything we reasonably could to prevent it.' " Ralph Vigoda's e-mail address is rvigoda@phillynews.com. ***************************************************************** 32 Threat at TMI an apparent hoax Daily News | Friday, October 19, 2001 < Plane flies over Three Mile Island nuclear plant as towels dry behind home near Middletown, PA (AP) By RAMONA SMITH smithra@phillynews.com Military fighter jets scrambled to protect the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg this week in the face of an undisclosed but "specific" threat to the plant. By yesterday morning, the "credible threat" that also forced the shutdown of airports in that area Wednesday night had turned into an apparent hoax. "The FBI is going to look into this and if it's determined that it's a hoax, if we can catch somebody, we will prosecute," FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said. "If they think this is a game or joke - we're going to prosecute hoaxes." The nation's nuclear power plants - including TMI, as well as Limerick in Montgomery County, Pa., and Salem and Hope Creek in Salem County, N.J. - have been on high alert since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Officials admit they don't know what would happen if a terrorist flew a wide-bodied jetliner into a nuclear plant. Though they're designed to contain deadly radioactivity, the reactors weren't designed with suicide airline crashes in mind. The alert at TMI escalated around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when federal intelligence officials notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of "a threat with TMI that was very specific in nature," said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. "It was taken very seriously." He declined to release further details. Maria Smith, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said at least three F16 fighters flew into the area "to minimize the threat." Harrisburg International Airport and smaller airports in Lancaster and New Cumberland were shut down for several hours to keep other aircraft out of the pilots' way. By yesterday morning, though, the time period covered by the threat had passed. "It's an ongoing investigation and there is no threat to the public," said Smith. "Nothing happened at the plant." TMI was the scene of the nation's worst nuclear crisis in 1979, when the partial meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor core forced evacuation of nearby Middletown and other communities within 10 miles. Only Unit 1 is active; it currently is shut down for refueling. At NORAD, the command in Colorado that dispatches military planes to evaluate and approach threatening aircraft, Maj. Barry Venable said that since Sept. 11, more than 100 fighter aircraft have been waiting on alert at 25 sites across the country to respond to requests for assistance by the Federal Aviation Administration. Before the terrorist attacks, just 14 fighters were on alert. Since the attacks, he said, NORAD had begun anticipating domestic, as well as foreign, attacks. And it now maintains continuous combat air patrols in some areas, particularly in New York and Washington. In late September, the FAA notified pilots to avoid the airspace over or near nuclear plants, dams and industrial facilities. * comments@staff.philly.com ***************************************************************** 33 Transporting of fuel rods is derailed Buffalo News - News Staff Reporter 10/19/01 Two days after she said West Valley Demonstration Project officials still hoped to ship highly radioactive nuclear waste to Idaho this year, Department of Energy site director Alice C. Williams said Thursday DOE officials told her the rail shipment remains on hold. "It has been postponed, and the railroads have been told," Williams said. She added that she had no further information on the reasons for the decision by DOE officials in Washington, and no indication how long the delay would last. West Valley officials for years have been planning to ship 125 spent nuclear fuel rods on a 2,360-mile journey from the site of the former nuclear fuel reprocessing center to a government facility in Idaho. The shipment was ready to go until the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. At that point, the DOE postponed the shipment, but Williams said Tuesday that West Valley officials "have not been told we cannot ship this year." She said she was told of the postponement the next day. The fuel rods had been taken out of the storage pool they were in earlier this year and loaded into specially engineered casks, which were then loaded on rail cars for the trip. But the casks are not certified to be transported in temperatures below minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Williams said the latest postponement means the casks must be taken off the rail cars and stored inside for the winter. "The first issue we're working on is to make sure we can secure the casks safely over the winter," she said. "We want it safe and secure, but in a manner that will be conducive to redeployment of the shipment at a later date." e-mail: jbonfatti@buffnews.com Copyright © 1999 - 2001 The Buffalo NewsTM ***************************************************************** 34 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Nuclear waste and a risk we cannot take Financial Times; Oct 19, 2001 By DARREN JOHNSON From Mr Darren Johnson. Sir, Throughout our lives we make decisions based on what we perceive as acceptable risks. Whether we are crossing a busy road or taking a trip on a precarious aeroplane, we balance the probability of an accident and decide accordingly. As you reported ("Call for nuclear waste review", October 15), the London Assembly's committee investigating the rail transport of spent fuel through London, which I chaired, has recommended that an urgent risk assessment of this potentially hazardous practice be undertaken without delay. The events of September 11 have changed people's view of what constitutes an acceptable risk. We now know that fanatical terrorists are prepared to kill themselves as well as thousands of others in order to get their message across. The risks of transporting nuclear waste from power stations to Sellafield cannot now be dismissed. In the light of current events, the US government has suspended these shipments and I have called on Brian Wilson, the energy minister, to do the same. Darren Johnson, Leader of the Greens on the London Assembly, Greater London Authority, Romney House, Marsham Street, London SW1 Copyright: The Financial Times Limited ***************************************************************** 35 All safety concerns about Czech nuclear power station eliminated - EU BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2001 Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Brussels, 19 October: The assessment of the safety of the Czech Temelin nuclear power plant within the Melk process [a safety and environmental impact assessment agreed on by the Czech prime minister and the Austrian Chancellor in December 2000] is finished and it should be closed, EU enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen writes in a letter to Czech Premier Milos Zeman and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel today. He wrote that he would like the completion to take place at the top level as soon as possible, preferably by mid-November. "All safety concerns have been eliminated," wrote Verheugen, according to the leader of the Austrian Social Democrats, Alfred Gusenbauer, who met Verheugen earlier today. The information has also been confirmed by European Commission sources. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1404 gmt 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 36 Nuclear waste disposal plant commissioned in Russia's far north BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Severodvinsk (Archangel Region), 19 October: A plant to handle low-activity wastes was commissioned on Friday at the "Zvyozdochka" naval yards in Severodvinsk where nuclear-propelled submarines are being repaired or scrapped. "Zvyozdochka" press secretary Nadezhda Shcherbinina told ITAR-TASS on Friday that the plant was built a year ago, but was being put into operation only now after it got the required licence. It was built in keeping with the most up-to-date world technologies and is able to handle solid and liquid wastes. The obtained concentrate is to be packed in standard 200-litre barrels. The latter are to be put into special containers for storing, transporting or burying the wastes. The plant ranks among the most important projects implemented in accordance with an agreement between Russia and the United States on the reduction of the mutual threat (Nunn-Lugar Programme). The main purpose of the project is to improve the ecological situation and to reduce the risks involved in handling radioactive wastes from scrapped nuclear submarines. Severodvinsk plants are to scrap about one hundred nuclear submarines within the next few years. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1322 gmt 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 ATTACK ON AFGHANISTAN ANTHRAX ALERT: Radiation bomb seen as big threat NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Financial Times; Oct 19, 2001 By FRANCES WILLIAMS Tighter controls on stockpiles of tactical nuclear weapons and fissile material are needed to prevent theft by terrorist groups, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (Unidir) says in a report published today. A small nuclear or radiological device placed in Manhattan or any other big city, as well as killing perhaps thousands of people on impact, could spread deadly radiation over a large area and make it uninhabitable for many years. The report, prepared for the UN General Assembly's disarmament committee which will discuss the issue next week, points out that tactical nuclear weapons are subject to no formal arms control agreement, unlike their strategic counterparts that are all accounted for. While the US has retained fewer than 1,000 tactical nuclear warheads, held in the US and seven European countries, Russia is thought to possess up to 16,000 weap ons but has not disclosed their numbers or whereabouts. Some of these battlefield weapons, which include nuclear artillery shells, nuclear land mines, tactical bombs and cruise missiles, are small enough to be carried in a backpack or in the back of a pick-up truck. In addition, some older weapons do not require codes to make them operational. In its report Unidir urges the US to repatriate its European warheads and calls on Russia to reveal the extent of its armoury and accelerate its weapon reduction programme. However, Unidir does not give credence to rumours that Osama bin Laden may already have a nuclear device. Stealing enriched uranium or even plutonium would be a simpler matter, they say, noting that Mr bin Laden is said to have tried to buy uranium in Khartoum, Sudan, as early as 1993. Though reported incidents of theft have involved relatively small quantities of fissile material, larger amounts could have slipped through the security net. Making a crude atomic bomb would be possible but even easier would be a radiological weapon - a conventional bomb with a radioactive core - which could contaminate large areas. To combat this threat, analysts are recommending radiation scanners at ports and border crossings, and tighter security at nuclear facilities including power plants and naval depots. Pakistan needs to take particular care to safeguard its nuclear weapons systems and fissile material, the report says. *Time to control tactical nuclear weapons, at www.unog.ch/unidir Copyright: The Financial Times Limited ***************************************************************** 2 ORNL slow to sign response agreement KnoxNews: Business By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel senior writer OAK RIDGE - Regional emergency responders this week expressed concern that Oak Ridge National Laboratory had not signed a "mutual-aid agreement," saying the Department of Energy facilities are especially susceptible to events that would require a large response. "Without a signed agreement in place, the requesting agency could be liable for all injuries and damages that might occur to the responding agencies and their personnel," Jack Cochran, president of the East Tennessee EMS Directors Association, wrote in a Oct. 17 letter to DOE. "This lack of cooperation from this facility is causing serious concern with the emergency medical community that would be asked to respond to this facility because of a catastrophic event." DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt said Thursday there had been an unfortunate delay in signing the agreement for ORNL, but he said the federal agency expects to resolve the issue in the near future. Wyatt said DOE already has signed mutual-aid agreements for two of its other Oak Ridge facilities - the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and the East Tennessee Technology Park. "We want to have (the ORNL agreement) in place and, of course, we want to have a good working relationship with the regional emergency responders," Wyatt said. He noted that DOE regularly holds test drills with local and regional agencies to prepare for various emergencies. The regional association also said DOE had failed to live up to a promise to provide a training video with specific information about hazards at the Oak Ridge nuclear facilities. Wyatt said DOE intends to fulfill that commitment during the current fiscal year. Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 3 Sen. Bayh Hopes Nuclear Weapons Won't Be Necessary Indianapolis Star | WRTV TheIndyChannel.com Thursday October 18 09:56 PM EDT Sen. Bayh Hopes Nuclear Weapons Won't Be Necessary U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (news - bio- voting record), D-Ind., hopes that nuclear weapons won't be necessary in the fight against those responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Bayh told RTV6 Thursday that he's confident that the United States can successfully use conventional forces to remove Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), most of his leaders and the Taliban. "I think resorting to nuclear weapons is something that should not be done very lightly and should only be done as a last, last resort when every other step has been tried and has failed," Bayh said. U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer (news - bio- voting record), R-Ind., said Wednesday that the United States should use tactical nuclear weapons against bin Laden's terrorist network in Afghanistan (news - web sites) if it is linked to recent anthrax incidents in the United States. Buyer said that small, specialized nuclear weapons -- not as powerful as the atom bombs that were used in World War II -- could be used on the caves where members of bin Laden's network have taken shelter. Bayh also has sent a letter to President Bush (news - web sites) asking for help in destroying tons of deadly VX nerve agent in Newport, Ind. Members of the 101st Airborne are providing extra security at the depot, but Bayh said that's not good enough. Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! and . ***************************************************************** 4 Former Weapons Inspector Worries About Nuclear Attack Friday October 19 09:05 AM EDT For several years the United States has tried to help Russia keep nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists. NewsChannel5's Adam Shapiro reports in Special Assignment that one of the most respected experts on the subject is sounding an alarm that nobody can afford to ignore. Richard Butler: "I'm not painting a doomsday scenario. Nor am I prone to exaggeration. My deepest concern is what we saw on the 11th is a beginning not an end and that the next time it might be nuclear." Adam Shapiro: "Richard Butler is a man whose word carries a lot of weight. He is the former chief United Nations ( - ) weapons inspector in Iraq and an internationally recognized expert on arms control. America's attention is focused on biological threats like anthrax but Butler says the more immediate danger comes from nuclear weapons." /> Richard Butler: "I am pointing to the existence of small portable nuclear weapons that you don't need a missile to deliver that could be brought in with a suitcase which may have fallen into the hands of these terrorist groups." Adam Shapiro: "A few months ago this would have sounded preposterous, but now they're taking it quite seriously -- a device no bigger than my briefcase capable of destroying a city like New York or Cleveland. The only saving grace they say is that the technology needed to miniaturize that kind of nuclear device is very difficult to come by and most nations don't have it, at least not yet." Richard Butler: "There are credible reports that a dozen or so small nuclear weapons suitcase bombs have gone missing." Adam Shapiro: "[They are] Missing from the former Soviet Union. The secretary of Russia's security council testified before Congress in 1997 that as many as 43 of those small nukes were missing. At one point he said it was as many as 80." Joe Cirincione --Carnegie Endowment: "Russian officials deny it. U.S. officials deny it. The truth is we may never know until one of those weapons shows up." Adam Shapiro: "Joe Cirincione is the director of the Carnegie Endowment's non-proliferation project. He says the U.S. should immediately triple the half-billion dollars it currently spends helping Russia control, guard and account for its nuclear weapons. One of Osama bin Laden ( - )'s operatives on trial for his role in the two U.S. embassy bombings testified that bin Laden was attempting to buy enriched uranium and ingredients in nuclear bombs as early as 1993 and 1994." Joe Cirincione: "There is no question that the nuclear issue is the No. 1 unmet national security threat to the United States. What I doubt is whether or not work or energy is put into this problem. We need to solve it, and we need to solve it soon. It is a matter of urgency." Adam Shapiro: "It's a threat the U.S. has known about for years -- but now -- can no longer ignore." U.S. customs agents are equipped with devices that can measure radioactivity to screen cargo shipped into the states. Richard Butler says that the only way to remove the threat is to drive terrorists and their networks out of the civilized world. Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! and . ***************************************************************** 5 Secretary of Energy Applauds Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee's energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: October 19, 2001 [Print Friendly Version] (CROET) Nomination for Global Innovator's Award PG is Key Participant ---> WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today congratulated the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) for being named one of 12 finalists for the International Development Research Council's Global Innovator's Award. Earlier this year, as part of his initial tour of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Operations sites, Abraham reviewed many of CROET's reindustrialization activities ongoing at the former K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. The Department's reindustrialization efforts focus on cleaning up and transforming former Department facilities into sites for commercially viable use thereby saving taxpayer dollars. CROET is the lead organization for instituting reindustrialization efforts as part of the East Tennessee Technology Park. "Regardless of who wins the Global Innovator's Award, I believe CROET is already a winner because is has demonstrated a valuable service to the American taxpayer by helping establish reindustrialization as an important tool in support of the Department's environmental management cleanup and reuse activities," Secretary Abraham said. "Lawrence Young and his team of innovators should be congratulated for their hard work." The International Development Research Council's Global Innovator's Award recognizes excellence in the strategic management of corporate real estate. Other notable nominees, along with CROET, include General Motors, Ford Motor Land Services Corporation, Georgia Power, and CIGNA Corporate Real Estate. Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. R-01-181 ***************************************************************** 6 Raised Kursk fragments do not explain causes of tragedy - Russian admiral BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2001 Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Murmansk, 19 October, ITAR-TASS correspondents Vladimir Nuyakshev, Vasiliy Belousov: The fragments of the Kursk nuclear submarine which have been raised from the bottom of the Barents Sea do not explain the causes of the tragedy. This was stated at a briefing in Murmansk by the deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Vice-Adm Mikhail Barskov. He is a member of the government commission for investigating the causes of the Kursk tragedy. According to the admiral, approximately 40 tonnes of fragments of the Kursk were raised in November 2000 and another seven after the nuclear submarine was raised. Two fragments from the cut of the first compartment were raised in Belokamennaya Bay, where the Giant barge carrying the Kursk submarine is now anchored. He has information that all these fragments are being sent to St Petersburg, where Russian civilian scientific-research institutes are working with them. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1339 gmt 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************