***************************************************************** 08/20/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.200 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Bulgaria: Radiation at Kozloduy nuclear plant "unchanged" after 2 Czech power utility not worried about planned Austrian lawsuit 3 High stakes in Nevada: Future of nuclear energy in U.S. hinges on 4 Berkley plans to ignore opponent in 2002 as she did in 2000 5 Letter: List has lost his credibility 6 Studies urged on nuke waste as terrorist target 7 Chelyabinsk Wants a New Nuclear Power Plant 8 List loses Nevada trust by siding with nuclear industry 9 Secret report shocks 10 Back to a Future of Atomic Energy / Why not nuclear? / Still a bad idea 11 Letter: Nuclear power may have chance to get back on track 12 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Monday, August 20, 2001 13 Letter from Bob Loux to Lake Barrett, Deputy Director, DOE, 14 Spokesman says tests on Czech nuclear plant to go on despite 15 Controversial Czech nuclear power station shut down again 16 Czech pressure group says latest problem of dispute nuclear plant 17 Bulgaria: Minor accident reported at Kozloduy nuclear plant NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Billboard has a message for residents near lab 2 Bush choices may save USEC 3 Federal dependence not part of Tri-Cities' future ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Bulgaria: Radiation at Kozloduy nuclear plant "unchanged" after accident Make FT.com your homepage Sunday Aug 19 2001 All times: GMT BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Aug 20, 2001 Text of report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA web site Kozloduy (on the Danube), 20 August: The radiation situation remains unchanged after an incident at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. A watertight barrier broke during planned repairs of the cold canal hydrotechnical facility on 19-20 August. The site was flooded and construction was suspended. The plant said all the necessary measures had been taken to drain the site. The chief designer of the facility, Energoproekt of Sofia, has been consulted about the rebuilding of the barrier. The incident has not disrupted the technological scheme and production and has not caused changes in the radiation situation, the plant's press office said. Energy production is going on according to the normal technological schedule. There are no deviations from the normal parameters of safe operation and radiation protection. Deputy Prime Ministers Nikolay Vasilev and Kostadin Paskalev were informed of the incident early on Monday [20 August], the Economy Ministry said. No one was injured and the plant's normal operation is unaffected by the incident. The Committee on the Use of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes has been notified. Source: BTA web site, Sofia, in English 20 Aug 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 2 Czech power utility not worried about planned Austrian lawsuit Make FT.com your homepage Sunday Aug 19 2001 All times: GMT BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Aug 20, 2001 Temelin, south Bohemia, 20 August: Though power utility CEZ, which operates Temelin nuclear power station, does not yet know the precise contents of the lawsuit which Austrian antinuclear activists today said they planned to file, the company does not fear the suit, spokesman Milan Nebesar told CTK today. CEZ operated Temelin in full compliance with Czech law and had no reason to be worried about the suit, Nebesar said. The Austrian activists also said they would file a suit, with the intention of imposing full liability for any damage caused by the plant, against the US company Westinghouse, which supplied Temelin with its technology. The environmentalists plan to file the suit at an Austrian court in September... "The guarantee of damages of that character (a nuclear accident) is established by international agreements which the Czech Republic has signed. Insurance is dealt with by the Vienna convention, which the (Czech) nuclear law fully respects," said Nebesar. "States have accepted in the case of an energy-producing nuclear plant, stores and dumps, liability for compensation to the value of 6bn korunas, which would be partly met by CEZ and partly by the state. If it comes to greater compensation for any country we will respect that," Nebesar continued. The anti-Temelin activists are also planning to file suits against the plant in the US, the Czech Republic and other European countries. "It is only the first in a series of lawsuits against CEZ and Westinghouse, that is against their legal representatives," Josef Puehringer of the Upper Austrian Platform Against Nuclear Danger said today... (One dollar equals 37.27 korunas.) Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1319 gmt 20 Aug 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 3 High stakes in Nevada: Future of nuclear energy in U.S. hinges on waste-storage decision The Seattle Times: Nation &World: KEITH MYERS / KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Visitors get a close look at one of the tunnels in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, which has been tagged for 20 years to become a possible nuclear-waste site. AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. — Just watching jackrabbits jerk across the bleak and baked landscape above the tunnel most likely to swallow America's nuclear leftovers is enough to parch the throat. And though rain is uncommon here — 7 inches a year on average — it does fall and work its way ever so slowly through the few tight faults and fissures in the volcanic rock of Yucca Mountain. The rugged few who populate the Amargosa Valley worry that the rain is enough to penetrate the work of both man and nature to create a disaster neither could undo. "The mountain leaks like a sieve," said Kalynda Tilges, an activist joined with other Nevadans in trying to stop Yucca Mountain from being stuffed with nuclear waste. As those locals worry about contamination in their back yard far in the future, they emphasize that getting highly radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain means shipping it by your front porch tomorrow. Defenders of Yucca Mountain's ability to contain the country's nuclear detritus counter that it will be safe — and certainly safer than leaving the waste scattered across the United States at nuclear plants. Environmentalists and others, they insist, simply sound false alarms about the Nevada site as a ploy to keep the nuclear industry from opening new plants — not because the science suggests real flaws in the plans for Yucca Mountain. "Sure, there's risk with anything," said Cash Jaszczak, who works with one of the contractors studying the mountain. "But this thing will work. The geology is right, and the technology is right." Yucca Mountain has been tagged for more than 20 years as a possible waste site. Should Congress approve the plan, a nearly constant flow of shipments would start in 2010. Yet the issue is far from settled. President Bush needs the site approved if his plan to recharge the nation's electricity supply with more nuclear plants is going to be realized. But the second most powerful Senate Democrat is from Nevada — positioned and determined to block the waste plan. Environmentalists argue it is unsafe to move the waste along Interstate 70 or to store it inside Nevada rock. They multiply the annual 7 inches of rain by 10,000 years — the time federal law says the site must hold tight — factor in the fissures of the mostly solid rock, and say the mountain could become a radioactive disaster. Yucca Mountain champions respond that almost no water passes through the mountain. What does trickle through moves at the pace of the ages. Should it penetrate the storage chambers, it would confront the sturdiest of tanks holding waste already transformed into solids of glass or ceramic. Think, they say, of trying to dissolve your toilet in water. The stakes in the scientific debate rank no smaller than the future of nuclear power. Until a waste site is approved, says nearly everyone in the field, no utility is likely to plunge ahead with plans to build another nuclear plant. After all, who wants to be responsible for looking after highly toxic trash that federal law says must be kept safe for eons? Crossroads for the industry "Waste disposal is the biggest issue facing the industry," said Michael Mariotte, the executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an anti-nuclear power, anti-Yucca Mountain group. But the industry says objections to storing waste at Yucca Mountain grow from opposition to nuclear power — not from the $4.5 billion spent on studies for the site. Its view is that the mountain doesn't leak and that the engineering at the site will keep radiation locked in casks as tight as anything man has designed. "We see it as purely a political issue," said Melanie White, spokeswoman for the Nuclear Energy Institute. Its members — in costs passed on to virtually anyone in America who uses electricity — have contributed to a fund that has spent $6 billion to study waste disposal and has set aside $16 billion to eventually operate a site. Although the newest nuclear plant started kicking out power in 1996, the last order for such a generator came during the Carter administration. The federal government started out studying a handful of possible repositories — places in Washington state, Texas and Kansas. But several years ago in what is described around here as the "Screw Nevada Bill," Congress told the Department of Energy to put all its effort into Yucca Mountain. The site is remote — Las Vegas, the closest metropolitan area, sits 100 miles away — and in an area where the acreage is largely undeveloped and government-owned. Next door sits Nellis Air Force Base — arid ground pockmarked by years of use as a bombing range — and the Nevada Test Site, where America for years tested the might of its nuclear warheads. But water wells drawing from an underground reservoir 1,000 feet below the Amargosa Valley turn patches of the desert — virtually invisible from atop Yucca Mountain — a luminescent green. They produce fields of grain, nurture orchards and replenish dairy cattle by the thousands, with each animal slurping up to 50 gallons of water a day. Nevadans see the site as a choice made of political convenience — believing a sparsely populated state was picked because it lacked much clout to fight back. They see it as unfair because no nuclear plants sit in the state. (During peak demand periods, Nevadans pull a small amount of their electricity from nuclear plants in other Western states. Nuclear plants churn out about one-fifth of the nation's electricity.) "People look out on that mountaintop, and they talk about how desolate and uninhabited it is out here," said pistachio farmer Ralph McCracken, setting up a line he has become fond of. "I guess that makes me an uninhabitant." Both sides of the issue expect the Department of Energy to tell President Bush this year that Nevada can safely hold the country's nuclear waste. Bush, in turn, is expected to agree and send the matter to Congress. Conceivably, that could lead to a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by 2003, approval as soon as 2005 and operation by 2010. Congressional arena The consensus is that Bush could coax the Republican-led House his way. The Senate won't prove so easy. When Democrats seized control there earlier this year, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada became chairman of a key appropriations committee. Opposition to Yucca Mountain is mandatory for political success in Nevada. Attending a recent fund-raising event for Reid, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle vowed that the Democrats would not let Yucca Mountain consent move ahead. Indeed, in mid-July the Senate passed a resolution slashing in half the money for continuing operations at Yucca Mountain. The Nuclear Energy Institute's president, Joe Colvin, described the move as a blow to "scientific decision-making." The anti-nuke lobby, meanwhile, cheered. So the outcome of the 2002 congressional elections could determine whether the nation is ready to open its first permanent nuclear-waste dump. Decades ago, fission was trumpeted as an inexhaustible font of the country's power needs — a source of electricity that would be "too cheap to meter." But put into practice, nuclear energy proved something short of a power panacea. After a partial core meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, far tighter regulations sent the cost of building and erecting the plants soaring. De facto dumps Now the dilemma of disposal nags at the industry. Consider the Callaway plant run by AmerenUE in central Missouri. As it generates enough electricity to power 750,000 homes, the nuclear generator there has new fuel-rod assemblies put in place every 18 months. When that happens, spent fuel-rod assemblies — the nuclear waste — move through a short indoor canal into a pool about 50 feet deep turned a surreal teal by neutron-absorbing boron. Each spent fuel assembly is made up of pencil-thick metal rods filled with eraser-sized pellets of waste. Bundled together they measure 12 feet long by 8-1/2 inches wide and stand racked together vertically in the pool. When the plant opened in 1984, plans called for beginning to move some of the waste by 2004. But no one expects a nuclear dump open by then. So two years ago the plant rearranged the underwater racks more tightly — now the assemblies have a quarter-inch to spare for a fuel assembly instead of an inch. The resulting setup means Callaway has room for the waste it will have created through 2024, when its license is due to expire. "We don't have any crisis," said John Blosser, the utility's manager of regulatory affairs at the plant. "But it's a long-term issue that's pretty important. We'll need to get rid of it eventually." Plants across the country have moved their older waste into dry casks outdoors, and some waste has been shipped from older plants with little storage space to newer plants with room. So, contrary to the plans of the industry in its infancy, the plants have become de facto dumps for storing their own waste. Critics of the Yucca Mountain idea say that for now, the safest thing is to leave the waste where it is, wait for the scientific understanding of nuclear waste to mature and move the stuff with more confidence later. "The plants are already dumps. Keep it there," said Wenonah Hauter, director of energy and environment programs for the anti-nuclear Public Citizen. "Making thousands of shipments only makes things worse." Two plans — at best, preliminary — call for moving the waste to Yucca Mountain either over highways or mostly by rail. In transit "We'll be prepared and safe here for anything that comes near," said Stephen Cloobeck, who is leading the ad hoc Save Nevada group of businesses and casino interests lobbying against waste storage at Yucca Mountain. "But is every town along these routes ready for a nuclear disaster? Are their fire departments prepared? Anything we do here, you better have ready in your town." The nuclear industry and the Department of Energy have great faith in the durability of the shipping casks. They've doused prototypes in burning fuel and rammed them with locomotives running full tilt. Each test, they say, has proved them practically indestructible. High-level nuclear waste is already shipped in the country. Most of it comes from military submarine reactors, and some shipments involve moving waste from one plant to another. Of about 2,000 shipments — typically taking shorter routes than to Nevada — eight have been involved in accidents that released small amounts of radioactivity. That accident number serves as fodder for both sides. Nuclear critics cite the number as evidence that sooner or later something will go more seriously wrong. Boosters counter that accidents were expected and that there has been no leak of truly dangerous radiation, and no leak at all since 1981. If waste ever arrives at Yucca Mountain, it will be placed in chambers 25 feet tall carved from the side of a five-mile underground tunnel. Plans call for the chambers to be filled with 70,000 metric tons of waste over 24 years before being plugged up with concrete. Now there is only the tunnel, chewed out of the mountain to test the rock. Train tracks run down its center, a conveyor belt along its side. Barrel-size ventilation tubes hang from overhead. Near the tunnel's deepest probe into Yucca Mountain — the rock is really more of a ridge in a desert mountain range — a sealed room roasts with electric heaters around the clock. The heaters are standing in for nuclear waste. Once casts are packed in and the site sealed off, scientists predict the heat from their radioactivity will cook the rock so much that the tiny drops of water trapped in the rock will boil for an estimated 1,565 years. Department of Energy scientists expect that heat will push the water away from the chambers and dry out the rock while the waste gradually loses its radioactivity. If water does drip into the chambers, it will first hit thick plates of titanium — drip shields draped over the casks like high-tech carports as part of a heavily engineered series of deliberately redundant structures aimed at protecting the waste. Critics seize on the faith put in those systems as a chief flaw in making a nuclear dump out of Yucca Mountain. The idea, they point out, was to use the existing rock for safety. Man-made reinforcements were added to make up for the faults and fissures that earthquakes have created over time. "We believe that (the Department of Energy) has virtually conceded all of the site suitability concerns that we've raised," said Bob Loux, the executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. "So now they're trying to beef up the container." Loux said faith should not be put into something required by law to last 10,000 years — and to hold materials such as plutonium 239, which has a half-life of 24,000 years — when nothing man-made has been tested beyond a fraction of that. Government nuclear engineers such as Richard Spence — who like to call Yucca Mountain the world's most-studied real estate — concede that for the first 10 millenniums the chief protection from pollution will be human engineering rather than the natural rock barrier. "But this isn't something that's just thrown together," Spence said. There are intense tests of materials. Those combine with myriad computer models, hundreds of test wells and the massive hillside tunnel that plumbs Yucca Mountain. "This will be safe." The natives are restless Yet with every draft environmental-impact statement, transportation preview or public hearing that Yucca Mountain's scientists crank out, nearby residents find cause for worry and skepticism. Ed Goedhart manages Ponderosa Dairies, which consumes a third of the water used in the valley to keep roughly 8,000 Holsteins fit and productive. Much of the milk is marketed as organic, so Goedhart grows anxious that the dairy's milk would take on even the perception of contamination. "We're worried that the decision was made long ago to put (the waste) here," Goedhart said. "It's the needs of the many put before the needs of a few." seattletimes.com home ***************************************************************** 4 Berkley plans to ignore opponent in 2002 as she did in 2000 [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Monday, August 20, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Congresswoman leading House delegation on trip to Israel By JANE ANN MORRISON REVIEW-JOURNAL Rep. Shelley Berkley plans on running her 2002 campaign much like she did her 2000 race -- by attempting to ignore her Republican opponent. In 2000, Congress stayed so late in session that she ended up canceling the few joint appearances she had scheduled with state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson. With fewer side-by-side debates, Porter ended up with less press coverage than he had hoped. As Democrat Berkley runs for her third term, it's a strategy she hopes to continue, ignoring the comments of her challengers who try to engage her in debate. "I learned the hard way over 20 years," Berkley said. "Why should I give any opponent any more free press than they're entitled to by using me?" Berkley has declined to comment on the possibility that Las Vegas Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, a Republican, may challenge her. "Until I have an actual opponent, there's no one to respond to," Berkley said. "What happens if there's 10 people who decide to think about running against me? I just don't have to comment on everything." She rejected any suggestion it's a sign she's gutless. If she were gutless she might not be leading a dwindling group of House members to Israel on Saturday. The original group of 13 has dropped to five as violence there has intensified. While her mother is worried about her safety, Berkley said if she pulls out the trip is dead. "It's easy to be a staunch supporter when things are good, you need to go during the bad times as well." The State Department, however, could block the trip. Before heading off on her fifth trip to Israel, Berkley discussed what she would do if she were directing the Middle East peace efforts. Her solutions: Stop foreign aid to the Palestinian Labor Organization and put more pressure on U.S. Arab allies such as Egypt. Berkley, who is Jewish, said she's introduced legislation to stop foreign aid to the PLO, but has the support of just 27 out of 435 House members. "It's not exactly a huge number," she said. "But I felt I had to make a statement." Berkley said that as long as Chairman Yasser Arafat "refuses to renounce terrorism and enforce that, I see no reason to keep paying the PLO for instituting terrorist attacks on Israel." Berkley has met Arafat one on one and described him as "very conciliatory." But she said his speeches to his own people offer frightening rhetoric. "We also need to put some pressure on our Arab allies and so-called moderate nations like Egypt," she said. "Egypt is now in violation of the Camp David accord because they've withdrawn their ambassador from Israel. That does not help, especially in the current situation. They've also called for a renewal of the economic boycott against Israel." She said about half the $2 million in foreign aid that goes to Egypt goes to the military and should be shifted to economic aid to the people. "The Egyptians have the second most powerful army in the Middle East, and they have no enemies," the congresswoman said. "I don't see the Egyptians doing anything to put pressure on Arafat." Guilt by association Former Gov. Robert List's decision to work for the Nuclear Energy Institute immediately created some problems for his old law partners at Beckley Singleton, the Las Vegas firm that once carried his name. "One of our partners has received calls from the business community and was told they are planning a boycott of Beckley Singleton because of what List is doing," partner Dan Polsenberg said Friday. List joined the firm after he was defeated in 1982 in his bid for re-election and worked out of its Reno office before joining Boomtown Casinos. Because List's name has been tied with the firm for so long, and because of the recent developments, Polsenberg is eager to point out the former Republican governor and the firm have parted ways. Meanwhile Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, a member of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, said though commission chairman Jack Libby is backing List's efforts to find out what Nevadans would like in exchange for accepting nuclear waste, that's not the position of the commission. "The commission takes no position," she said. "We'd never trade the speed train for Yucca Mountain." Lobbying the EPA Gov. Kenny Guinn arranged some valuable face-to-face time Tuesday with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman during her trip to Northern Nevada. Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, chairman of the county's new Department of Air Quality Management, and Christine Robinson, the county's air quality expert, will have breakfast at the Governor's Mansion Tuesday with the two, offering the county a chance to talk with Whitman about the county's critical air quality issue. The county faces sanctions by the EPA if plans to control various types of pollution aren't developed. Maybe ham and eggs will smooth the way. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Aug-20-Mon-2001/news/16763358.html ***************************************************************** 5 Letter: List has lost his credibility Las Vegas SUN Today: August 20, 2001 at 9:10:23 PDT After serving the residents of Nevada, former Gov. Bob List has chosen to follow the money. Signing on as a hired gun for the Nuclear Energy Institute to promote use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump places this Republican former governor in the category of money grubber. He'll do anything for anybody as long as it puts money in his pocket. Not much complicated about his motives. Who cares what Nevadans think or want? He's clearly out of touch with the citizens of Nevada about the future of our state and Yucca Mountain. Mr. Money Grubber has lost his credibility with the people of Nevada. ANDY HERESZ All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 6 Studies urged on nuke waste as terrorist target Today: August 20, 2001 at 10:37:26 PDT By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN Western governors, fearing the federal government cannot ensure the safety of nuclear waste transported to Nevada or Utah, asked for updated studies on terrorism and sabotage threats posed to spent fuel shipments. Gov. Kenny Guinn and Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt succeeded at the Western Governors Association last week in passing a resolution that calls for more federal analysis on sabotage threats to nuclear waste shipments. The nuclear industry and the Bush administration are seeking a solution to nuclear waste sitting at 103 reactors across the country, most of them in Eastern states. Nuclear power advocates are supporting a plan for a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for burying 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Meanwhile, eight utilities are seeking a federal license to store spent nuclear fuel at the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The Utah site is a temporary stop for waste while studies at Yucca Mountain are completed. A Yucca repository would open in 2010 at the earliest. The governors noted that a DOE contractor reported in the 1970s that a spent fuel shipment ambushed in an urban area could result in hundreds of early fatalities and thousands of latent cancer fatalities, as well as "economic losses in the billions." Nevada and Clark County officials have estimated medical costs and property losses from a nuclear accident en route to Yucca Mountain ranging from $1 billion to $12 billion. Nevada officials have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is licensing the temporary storage site in Utah and would have to license a Yucca Mountain repository, to analyze a terrorist attack using modern weapons such as anti-tank missiles. While the governors can only suggest action, the resolution will be sent to Washington policymakers, including the secretaries of Energy and Transportation and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "The NRC should conduct a comprehensive assessment of the consequences of attacks that have the potential for radiological sabotage," the resolution says. The governors said the assessment should consider threats to roads or railroad tracks, the capture of a nuclear waste shipment and the use of high-energy explosives against a shipping container. In 2000 Guinn persuaded the association to approve a resolution that requested Congress fund emergency training and equipment for shipping nuclear waste across the country for up to 30 years. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 7 Chelyabinsk Wants a New Nuclear Power Plant Monday, Aug. 20, 2001. Page 3 By Nabi Abdullaev Staff Writer Chelyabinsk Governor Pyotr Sumin has warned the prime minister that water levels in some of his region's radioactive waterways are reaching dangerous levels and has proposed a solution — building a nuclear power station that would use the polluted water as a cooling agent. Environments warned that such a project could spell disaster for the region in the southern Urals that is still fighting to contain the fallout of a nuclear blast in 1957. The letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, obtained by environment watchdog Ecodefense! and confirmed by Sumin's office, proposes building the nuclear power station near the Mayak plutonium plant, which spouts polluted water into the Techa River. For more than 40 years, Mayak has been dumping water polluted with radionuclides into the Techa River, which has been artificially turned into a cascade of pools divided by dams. The June 7 letter signed by Sumin, a copy of which was obtained by The Moscow Times, said that in three to four years the pools will overflow and contaminate the Iset, Tobol and Ob rivers. The pools now contain 400 million cubic meters of waste, according to the letter. Using water from one of the pools for cooling at the proposed South Urals Nuclear Power Station would effectively avert this threat, Sumin wrote. Deputy Chelyabinsk Governor Gennady Podtyosov said that the situation will become even more critical once Russia begins importing spent nuclear fuel for reprocessing and storage, as outlined in recently passed legislation. "Russia is expecting to import nuclear waste, part of which will be processed at Mayak," Podtyosov said by telephone from the city of Chelyabinsk. "Now the plant dumps 10 million cubic meters of polluted water a year. This amount will increase when nuclear waste from abroad arrives." Podtyosov said building new storage pools, which would require the resettlement of villages and pollute dozens more square kilometers of land, would cost considerably more that the construction of the nuclear power station. Podtyosov said he discussed the issue with the Nuclear Power Ministry two months ago and was told that no funds could be earmarked for a power station until 2010. After the governor's appeal, Kasyanov ordered the ministry to start fresh talks with Chelyabinsk officials about the plant, which would cost about $1.5 billion to build, he said. Nuclear power experts said feeding contaminated water though the nuclear power plant is safe. "Technically, the idea of evaporating polluted water is a possible solution to the problem," said Alexander Pikayev, an nuclear power expert with the Moscow Carnegie Center. "The technology of Russian nuclear power plants can handle it." But the idea of placing a new nuclear enterprise just 65 kilometers from Chelyabinsk is sparking protests from environmentalists. Natalya Mironova, an environmentalist from Chelyabinsk, said that according to documentation she has seen about the proposed station as a member of an Economy Ministry commission, the station does not have an alternative source of water. "Imagine what would happen if a pool is exhausted or the old dams burst and all the water floods out," Mironova said. "Without the inflow of cool water we'll have a new Chernobyl at the nuclear station." Moreover, Mironova said she believes it is dangerous to place two nuclear enterprises close to each other. The nuclear power station — the construction of which was started in 1983 and then suspended in late 1992 — is located only three kilometers from the Mayak plant. "If one facility goes off, it will cause a catastrophe at the other," Mironova said. "The negative effect of any error will drastically increase for us." "The motives of the regional administration are clear — the project means hefty transfers from the federal budget," said Vladimir Chuprov of Greenpeace. "But don't you see something dubious in averting one nuclear threat by creating another?" www.moscowtimes.ru ***************************************************************** 8 List loses Nevada trust by siding with nuclear industry Reno Gazette-Journal Monday August 20th, 2001 It was nothing short of shocking last week to hear that former Nevada Gov. Bob List has taken up with the nuclear power industry and will be pushing to build a nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. List is going to work for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry’s lobbying arm, making his primary job to promote the construction of a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain to store 77,000 tons of radioactive commercial and military waste from across the country. List contends that the likelihood of waste coming to Nevada is growing and the repository will be found scientifically safe, the environmental standard the Bush Administration has set for project approval. Given the Department of Energy’s bias on the project (remember the memo attached to the DOE report stating that the findings would surely be favorable to the nuclear power industry?), List may very well be right about the dump’s future. However, that’s little excuse for a Nevada leader to switch loyalties in some misguided attempt to help Nevada “make the most of it.” The residents haven’t seemed willing in the past to trade their health and safety for a payoff to store the waste, and that hasn’t changed yet. Looking for some good here, some state leaders are calling the nuclear industry’s move on List a sign that the project isn’t a slam-dunk. That may be true, but it doesn’t change the outcome. Whether the motive is money or some bizarre effort to help the state, List’s decision to work with the nuclear industry is a blow to many Nevadans who see List as a turncoat, siding with the enemy. © Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 9 Secret report shocks Analyst fears G-8 summit with no anti-terrorism plan By PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN  The leader of Alberta's largest union says he's appalled to learn the government was keeping secret just how poorly prepared Canada is to deal with biological terrorism. Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, was commenting on a Department of National Defence evaluation of Canada's ability to deal with chemical or biological terrorist attack. Part of the report, marked "SECRET: Canadian Eyes Only," was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. "This should not be a secret," said MacLennan, whose 45,500 members could be on the frontline of any terrorist attack as government workers. "Issues such as this should be out in the open and debated. "No one should have to wait for an Access to Information request to be processed before something like this gets into the public arena." The report, completed in May, warns budget shortages mean research into chemical/biological weapon defence in Canada is lagging well behind its allies. Both Britain and the United States now have large chemical/biological warfare units but the report says Canada has no long-term plan to maintain a first-response team for nuclear, biological or chemical threats. "Attack using (nuclear, biological or chemical) weapons could have high consequence," notes the report. It suggests improved training for military medics to help them deal with chemical/biological attacks and more communication with the Canadian Forces on the issue. A spokesman for the Edmonton Garrison, Capt. Ronnie Van Diepen, said there is no specialized unit at the base which deals with chemical/biological emergencies. "All the troops are trained and equipped to deal with these threats in a war situation but not for something like a terrorist attack in Alberta," she said. "Such a unit might have limited value because something like that would be over in about five minutes - long before they could get from the garrison to the scene. "But we are always prepared to support the local emergency services to deal with any mass casualty situation which arises." A working group looking at the report is expected to come up with proposals to deal with the shortcomings identified in it by March next year. The study drew sharp comment from Toronto-based security consultant Alan Bell, who said he was skeptical Canada can get itself up to anti-terrorist speed by the time of next year's G-8 summit in Kananaskis Country west of Calgary. "Until something happens and thousands of people die, nothing's going to get done," said Bell, of Globe Risk Holdings. "The Canadian government is not going to spend millions and millions of dollars preparing for a situation that could or probably will not happen. "Any plan that's hastily botched together in the next 10 months before the next G-8 summit will be superficial - it'll just scratch the surface." Previous story: Military scraps $65M computer project Next story: Coun. Lawson has a bit of a ring to it Copyright © 2001, CANOE Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Back to a Future of Atomic Energy / Why not nuclear? / Still a bad idea Rochelle Becker Sunday, August 19, 2001 In the search for solutions to California's energy woes, nuclear power is back on the table -- and so is the debate over whether it's good or bad. Alan Ross, a nuclear industry consultant, and Rochelle Beckner, president of the board of directors of TURN, give their views. The "cheap, clean, and safe" cloak in which the Cheney-Bush energy policy attempts to wrap nuclear power is a lie. Nuclear power is not the answer to California's problems. It brings with it an entirely new set of environmental and safety problems. The high energy prices and power shortages we suffer from stem in part from the nuclear push of more than 20 years ago. After a $3 trillion taxpayer investment, nuclear power currently provides little more energy than wood. At least 21 nuclear power plants -- almost 20 percent of the total number in the United States -- have been shut down due to safety hazards or abandoned because they were not financially viable. These shutdowns have cost billions to ratepayers. Additional costs include expensive replacement parts, clean-up of abandoned sites and waste removal. Cost overruns are another area where ratepayers get soaked. The government predicted that 75 nuclear reactors constructed between 1966 and 1977 would cost $45 billion. The actual cost of those plants was $145 billion. The cost overruns for PG's Diablo Canyon were so great that the California Public Utilities Commission staff recommended that $4.4. billion of PG's $5.7 billion investment be disallowed. But the commission didn't follow that recommendation, instead reaching a closed-door settlement with PG that raised rates substantially and eventually led us to the current deregulation fiasco. Given what we know about nuclear power, it is shocking that any politician would again attempt to go down such an expensive, polluting and dangerous path. The nuclear industry has attempted to sell the preposterous lie that nuclear power is clean. Although we cannot see, taste, or smell this toxic pollution, it radiates daily from nuclear facilities. Emissions of radioactivity, one of the few absolutely proven human carcinogens, are released daily, a hidden cost that cannot be measured in dollars and cents. High-level radioactive waste is stored on-site at California's nuclear plants. There are more than 500 containers of this deadly waste at nuclear plants across the country. These containers last only about a century, even though radioactive materials are dangerous for thousands of years. The truth is that safe methods and repositories for radioactive waste do not exist. For decades, the government has pushed hard to license the Yucca Mountain Facility in Nevada so it can pursue an unimpeded nuclear agenda. Still, after sinking millions of dollars into research, neither the federal Department of Energy nor anyone else has been able to find a safe way to bury or otherwise dispose of nuclear waste. On March 28, 1979, equipment problems and worker error at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania resulted in a partial meltdown of the reactor core, releasing deadly radioactivity into the atmosphere. The full results of that radioactive release are not yet known, but what we do know is that larger and more dangerous accidents are possible, and become more likely as plants and equipment age. The safety problems inherent in nuclear power are exacerbated by deregulation because inspections, equipment replacement, testing and other safety measures all add to the costs of nuclear power, costs that must be brought down to make it competitive under deregulation. To follow either of these paths -- nuclear power or deregulation -- could prove disastrous. The two combined are especially deadly. The Bush-Cheney attempt to revive this expensive and dangerous technology offers no help for California or the rest of the nation. Nuclear power is an experiment that failed for many reasons. It is not the solution to power shortages or overpriced power. Most important, it is a technology that leaves behind deadly radioactive waste for generations. Rochelle Becker is president of the board of directors of TURN, The Utility Reform Network and a founding member of the anti-nuclear group Mothers for Peace. ©2001 San Francisco Chronicle   Page D - 8 ***************************************************************** 11 Letter: Nuclear power may have chance to get back on track The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Monday, August 20, 2001 EDITOR: I applaud the Sun’s support of nuclear power. That the Tennessee Valley Authority is beginning to consider finishing plants is great news. Frankly, President Carter's stupid betrayal of this nation and various industries, including TVA, has embittered me to the point that I simply no longer trust Democratic presidents or knee-jerk followers of the radical anti-nuclear forces in Congress to make rational energy policies. I hope current events will cause nuclear power to again get on track. I would urge TVA and others who are considering risking the huge sums necessary to wait until it is clear that Congress is ready to back President Bush and commit to a long-term policy of progress on a rational and non-political basis based on solid scientific grounds, not radical nonsense. It may well be that we will not see any progress for years until the nation is driven to desperation, which is inevitable without moves being made very soon. Of course, I'm not a political person, having had to work in the no-nonsense field of uranium processing and flourine-applied manufacturing. Science and real world industries simply can't rely on silly politics and somehow manage to accomplish something of importance regardless. We can only hope this is the dawn of a new and wiser America. CHARLES PAYNE Metropolis, Ill. ***************************************************************** 12 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Monday, August 20, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Monday, August 20, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012290178 Accession Number: ML012280422 Document Date: 8/16/01 Title: 08/20/2001 Meeting with the TVA, the DOE, and the NRR Regarding DOE's Tritium Production Program. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD2-2 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290180 Accession Number: ML012280465 Document Date: 8/16/01 Title: 08/27/2001 Forthcoming Meeting with (CEOG) Combustion Engineering Owners Group. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD4 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290005 Accession Number: ML012250192 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: 08/27/2001 Meeting - Predecisional Enforcement Conference With Tennessee Valley Authority Re Apparent Violation of 10 CFR 50.5, Deliberate Misconduct. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB6 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290004 Accession Number: ML012250198 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: 08/27/2001 Meeting Announcement - Predecisional Enforcement Conference with Tennessee Valley Authority Re Apparent Violation of 10 CFR 50.5, Deliberate Misconduct.. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB6 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290327 Accession Number: ML012280435 Document Date: 8/16/01 Title: 08/28/2001 - Notice of Public Meeting with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Other Stakeholders on the Safeguards Performance Assessment (SPA) Program Toolbox and Other Implementation Details. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP/RGEB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290312 Accession Number: ML012290395 Document Date: 8/17/01 Title: 08/30/2001 Teleconference with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), Boiling Water Reactor Owners' Group (BWROG) & Other Interested Stakeholders re Potential Changes to 10 CFR 50.46 (LOCA/LOOP Requirement). Author Affiliation: NRC/RES/DRAA/PRAB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290188 Accession Number: ML012260111 Document Date: 8/17/01 Title: 09/19/2001, MEETING WITH ENTERGY NUCLEAR NORTHEAST TO DISCUSS A COMMON QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA) MANUAL FOR FITZPATRICK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, INDIAN POINT NUCLEAR GENERATING UNIT NO. 3 AND PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER PLANT Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290012 Accession Number: ML012010426 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: June 2001 Congressional Report on NRC's Status of Licensing and Regulatory Duties Author Affiliation: OCM-RAM Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290328 Accession Number: ML012290489 Document Date: 8/15/01 Title: M010815B - Affirmation Session: SECY-01-0097 - Final Rule: Interim Storage for Greater than Class C Waste Author Affiliation: Court Reporter Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290003 Accession Number: ML012250202 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: Meeting Announcement - Predecisional Enforcement Conference. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II/DRP/RPB6 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290298 Accession Number: ML012290135 Document Date: 8/16/01 Title: Meeting Handouts for 08/16/2001 Meeting with General Electric re Part 21 Notification on Stabiilty Reload License Calculations. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290308 Accession Number: ML012290295 Document Date: 8/17/01 Title: Press Release-01-104: NRC Invites Public To Submit Nominations For The Advisory Committee On Nuclear Waste. Author Affiliation: NRC/OPA Document/Report Number: Press Release-01-104 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290202 Accession Number: ML012290159 Document Date: 8/15/01 Title: SRM-M010815B - Affirmation Session, SECY-01-0097 Final Rule: Interim Storage for Greater than Class C Waste. Author Affiliation: NRC/SECY Document/Report Number: SRM-M010815B _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290084 Accession Number: ML012220237 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: US NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PUBLIC MEETING IN HOMESTEAD, FLA - TESTIMONY PRESENTED BY CONGRESS REGARDING THE RENEWAL OF THE PRICE-ANDERSON ACT (MA9940, MA9944). Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012290198 Accession Number: ML012290078 Document Date: 8/16/01 Title: VR-SECY-01-0097, "Final Rule: Interim Storage for Greater Than Class C Waste." Author Affiliation: NRC/OCM, NRC/SECY Document/Report Number: VR-SECY-01-0097 ***************************************************************** 13 Letter from Bob Loux to Lake Barrett, Deputy Director, DOE, OCRWM re: Winston & Strawn conflict of interest KENNY C. GUINN Governor STATE OF NEVADA [State Seal] OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR AGENCY FOR NUCLEAR PROJECTS 1802 N. Carson Street, Suite 252 Carson City, Nevada 89701 Telephone: (775) 687-3744 • Fax: (775) 687-5277 E-mail: nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us ROBERT R. LOUX Executive Director August 16, 2001 Lake Barrett, Deputy Director Department of Energy, OCRWM 1000 Independence Avenue, SE Washington, D.C. 20585 Dear Mr. Barrett: As you are aware, recently it has been discovered that the law firm retained by your office to represent the Department of Energy (DOE) before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding a possible license application for Yucca Mountain, Winston &: Strawn, had also been retained, until after the report of this discovery, by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) to lobby on Yucca Mountain related issues. Further, this same firm was retained in 1992 by the Department’s management and operating contractor, TESS, Inc.(TRW), at the Yucca Mountain site apparently to perfect and prepare studies, reports and other materials for possible use in a licensing proceeding before the NRC. Governor Guinn has recently written to Secretary Abraham regarding this situation. I am requesting, therefore, that you provide this office with a complete inventory, by title, date and document number of all of the reports, studies, analyses and other materials that Winston &: Strawn had any involvement in perfecting, preparing or reviewing. I am not requesting, at this time, that you provide actual copies of these materials, but rather a complete list of these materials. I look forward to your prompt response to this request. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, --/s/-- Robert R. Loux Executive Director State of Nevada Office of the Governor Agency for Nuclear Projects 1802 North Carson Suite 252 Carson City, NV 89701 (775) 687-3744 voice (775) 687-5277 fax nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us- e-mail * ***************************************************************** 14 Spokesman says tests on Czech nuclear plant to go on despite latest shutdown Make FT.com your homepage Sunday Aug 19 2001 All times: GMT BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Aug 20, 2001 Text of report by Czech radio on 19 August Temelin nuclear power station has been shut down again because of a fault on one of the regulators of the system. The power station's spokesman, Milan Nebesar, has more details: [Nebesar] This morning it was established that there was an error in the functioning of one of the regulators. Back-up systems shut down the reactor. Today's development does not represent nuclear safety related problem and when the error has been rectified and the regulators reset, the tests of the reactor will continue at the output level of 55 per cent. Source: Czech Radio-Radiozurnal, Prague, in Czech 1200 gmt 19 Aug 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 15 Controversial Czech nuclear power station shut down again BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Aug 20, 2001 Text of report by Czech radio on 19 August Temelin [nuclear power station] is at the standstill again. Technicians shut down the reactor of the first bloc after 0300 hours [0100 gmt] this morning after the power station staff found out a fault on one of the regulators of the system. The power station spokesman, Milan Nebesar, has given an assurance that the fault is not in the nuclear part of the power station and that nuclear safety is therefore not jeopardized. [The power station was restated recently after a three-month break necessary to repair the vibration on the plant's turbine.] Source: Czech Radio-Radiozurnal, Prague, in Czech 1100 gmt 19 Aug 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 16 Czech pressure group says latest problem of dispute nuclear plant serious Make FT.com your homepage Sunday Aug 19 2001 All times: GMT BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Aug 20, 2001 Ceske Budejovice, south Bohemia, 19 August: The CEZ power utility informed about today's shutdown of the reactor of the first block of the Temelin nuclear power plant late, Dana Kuchtova, chairwoman of the environmentalist organization South Bohemian Mothers, has told CTK. The reactor was halted due to a failure of one of the system regulators after 0300 hours [0100 gmt] today. Temelin spokesman Milan Nebesar informed about it at noon. He told CTK in the evening that the time corresponded with the seriousness of the accident. Nebesar said that the failure did not concern the nuclear part of Temelin and that a shutdown was a usual step connected with the adjustment of system regulators. Shortly after 1800 hours [1600 gmt] Temelin was launched again. According to Kuchtova, the failure of one of the regulators is a new serious problem. Together with problems with the old design and construction of the plant, this fault will cause that the turbine will not be able to be used for a long time, she said... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1755 gmt 19 Aug 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 17 Bulgaria: Minor accident reported at Kozloduy nuclear plant Make FT.com your homepage Sunday Aug 19 2001 All times: GMT BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Aug 20, 2001 Text of report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA web site Sofia, 20 August: An incident occurred at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant on Monday [20 August] morning, of which Deputy Prime Ministers Nikolay Vasilev and Kostadin Paskalev have been informed, the Economy Ministry said. A temporary retaining wall fell during repairs of a canal linking the plant and the Danube River at 0400 [0100 gmt] local time. No one was injured and the plant's operation is unaffected by the incident. The Committee on the Use of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes has been notified. Emergency recovery work is under way, involving teams of the plant, the designer Energoproekt and the repair company. Source: BTA web site, Sofia, in English 20 Aug 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Billboard has a message for residents near lab ContraCostaTimes.com Published Monday, August 20, 2001 + Nuclear watchdog group's sign near Livermore asks people to think about implications of weapons research By Daphne Hsu CONTRA COSTA TIMES LIVERMORE -- Every day, people drive by billboards that promote a product. Now there's a billboard that asks residents here to think about a local institution. A nuclear watchdog group has leased a sign that invites people to think about the implications of nuclear weapons research and the use of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's National Ignition Facility, which will likely house the world's largest laser. The 24-foot billboard has an image of the target chamber of NIF, where 192 laser beams will meet. It reads, "Nuclear weapons science? NIF is intended to train a new generation of bomb designers." The sign concludes with "Your mind is a terrible thing to waste." The billboard was inspired by similar advertising in New Mexico that targets the Los Alamos National Laboratory. "The purpose of the billboard is to appeal to the scientists and engineers and other employees at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to ask them to consider that NIF advances nuclear weapons science and to ask them to renounce work on NIF and other nuclear weapons projects," said Marylia Kelley, president of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, also known as Tri-Valley CAREs. NIF is part of the national stockpile stewardship program, which ensures the safety and reliability of existing nuclear weapons. The $2.3 billion project also will be involved in basic scientific experiments to help astrophysicists understand stars and will be used to study fusion processes. Experiments will begin in 2004. "It's a good expression of the freedom of speech," said Susan Houghton, deputy director of public affairs at the lab. She has seen the sign and said that if anything, scientists think they are working on an important project. The billboard, which was put up Friday, sits on Alameda County land right outside Livermore on the corner of Portola Avenue and Murrieta Boulevard. It is illegal to have billboards within Livermore. "I think I shall never see a billboard as lovely as a tree," said Livermore Councilman John Stein, quoting poet Ogden Nash. "We have little or no control over what the county does." The city has supported NIF in the past because it stimulates research in the region and represents a significant return of federal taxes to the area, Stein said. Tri-Valley CAREs has a three-year contract and has rights to the billboard for one month each year. About 24,100 people pass by the sign each day. Reach Daphne Hsu at 925-847-2119 or dhsu@cctimes.com. ***************************************************************** 2 Bush choices may save USEC The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Monday, August 20, 2001 Russian uranium costs, whether USEC is the sole agency, and other factors are believed key to the Paducah plant's future. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Union leaders say the future of Paducah's 1,500-employee uranium enrichment plant and its broad economic outreach is in the hands of the Bush administration. They say they hope White House officials will decide by September or October whether the plant will continue as the nation's sole producer of enriched uranium that is used by nuclear power plants. If not, the country will depend solely on foreign uranium mostly coming from Russia in a deal brokered several years ago to foster nuclear disarmament. "The bottom line is the plant here is at risk," said Philip Potter, Washington, D.C.-based policy analyst for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Union. "If you shut Paducah down, then the Russians have the only surplus capacity in the world, certainly in the short term, and that makes us virtually 100 percent dependent on the Russians." He said American nuclear plants need about 11 million units of enriched uranium annually to produce electricity for roughly 20 percent of the population — 40 percent in the South, Midwest and Northwest. Half that supply comes from Russian uranium derived from dismantled nuclear warheads and purchased by the U.S. Enrichment Corp. for about $90 per unit. Three million to 4 million units come from the USEC-run Paducah plant at a cost of about $105 per unit, and the rest from European competitors whose production costs range from about $60 to $100, Potter said. In short, the Russian uranium displaced plant output and drove production costs up so much that USEC shut down its other plant in Ohio in June, he said. Meanwhile, European sales increased, driving the market price down. "The combination of those factors certainly made the diffusion plants uneconomic," Potter said. "As long as the (market) price stays in the 80s or low 90s, it's going to be tough to break even at Paducah." USEC has offset that somewhat by blending the Russian and Paducah plant prices. The big problem comes in late 2002 and early 2003 when most of USEC's higher-priced, long-term contracts with utilities expire, he said. Those contracts, inherited by USEC from the Department of Energy, are for $110 to $130, giving the company a good profit margin even with Paducah's higher production costs, Potter said. But in a market swollen with uranium, world prices have dropped considerably since those deals were struck. "USEC got all those contracts when it was privatized, and it's been living off those contracts. That's been a significant part of its profitability," he said. "If you're looking at a chart and you go out to 2003, it looks like you go off a cliff." The new price has to be in the $100 to $105 range, given the plant's production costs, to make it worthwhile to replace those contracts, Potter said. "If it doesn't replace them, then it's certainly not going to continue to run a plant at a loss for material it doesn't need, or that it can't sell at a profit." Potter visited Paducah last week during a break in the union's contract talks with USEC. Discussions have been rocky since Aug. 2 when the union local, representing about 700 plant workers, soundly rejected USEC's offer for a new, five-year contract. Discussions could resume sometime this week, but nothing is set, said David Fuller, president of the union local. Its members are working under the old contract that expired July 31, and could strike by giving USEC a day's notice. "Obviously, there are a lot of people that have reason for us not to strike, including us," Fuller said. USEC wants the contract to expire after a year if the company does not achieve three major financial goals related to the Russian uranium. Potter said the union agrees the Russian deal is critically important to the plant, but it "has no place" in contract language. Instead, he said, it should become part of USEC's agency agreement between the United States and Russia. The union tried to get a written agreement with USEC making it clear "that the executive agency was tied to the continued operation of the plant — meaning if they didn't continue to operate, they had to give up the agency," Potter said. USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said the firm has offered in writing to include in the contact a guarantee of a minimum production level at the Paducah plant as long as USEC remains sole agent or an advanced technology plant is operational several years from now. Union officials say that would not be enforceable if the Russian deal and market conditions made USEC do otherwise. "We certainly would have no objection if the government were to require that any executive agent must have domestic production capacity in operation," she said. "If the government were to impose such a requirement, we would applaud it. That would be in the best interest of USEC, the Paducah plant and community." USEC wants to remain sole agent of the Russian uranium to control its flow into the United States and help keep prices competitive. It also wants government approval to lower Russian prices and buy Russian commercial uranium, at a significant markup, some say. All those issues are under review by the Bush administration. Like the union, USEC wants a decision soon, Stuckle said, adding that it "could have serious impact on USEC, the Paducah plant and the Paducah community." The issue grows more complicated because nuclear utilities are lobbying for another agent to receive some of the uranium. Otherwise, USEC will have market control to drive its prices up, ultimately causing nuclear power costs to increase and be passed on to consumers, they argue. If another agent is allowed to buy some of the Russian material, it will hurt USEC — and perhaps the plant and community — with cheaper prices, Stuckle said. Potter said the union will remain diligent in seeking measures to protect workers against world market forces over which they have little control. "All the people who live in Paducah are caught in the middle of it," he said. "You don't want to be a pawn. You don't want to be powerless. You want to have some say over the outcome here." ***************************************************************** 3 Federal dependence not part of Tri-Cities' future Published Aug. 20, 2001 Shrinking the Department of Energy's land holdings at Hanford is the kind of progress that this community should encourage, not resist. The upcoming construction of the vitrification plant that's going to turn some of Hanford's nastiest radioactive wastes into stable glass - and provide a boon to the Tri-City economy - should not obscure one important fact. Nuclear cleanup and the Energy Department's presence in this community should not not last forever. The community must wean itself from dependence on federal dollars. There will be blows to suffer along the way but delaying them keeps this community unprepared for the inevitable. Such is the case with the Energy Department's consideration of cutting the Hanford reservation by more than a third by transferring 223 square miles to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A federal report recently recommended the transfer. The proposed transfer of land - which would shift lands that last year were named a part of the Hanford Reach National Monument - has an added bonus of freeing up $1.5 million that the Energy Department could redirect toward cleanup. The only catch is local governments and school districts count on that money, doled out to them as payments in lieu of taxes for lost property taxes on land owned by the federal government. Benton County led the hard-fought charge in the early 1990s to win those payments for its own jurisdictions and others in Franklin and Grant counties. And the recipients have come to rely on the money to fund important projects and services. The counties are studying whether the payments would continue after the proposed transfer. The Bureau of Land Management, which manages other national monuments, makes some payments in lieu of taxes but at a lesser rate than the Energy Department. Certainly, the counties should not be cut off from the money cold turkey. Some compensation still is justified given that the use of these lands won't cease to make demands on the neighboring community just because they move from a national defense purpose to one of environmental preservation. The prospect of a shrinking Hanford reservation has benefits of its own. A smaller Hanford is a tangible representation of the site's cleanup progress, one that could save the Energy Department money now and better arm it to fight future funding battles. That's why this community should encourage the transfer, while working on convincing Congress to give the Fish and Wildlife Service enough money to pick up at least a portion of the counties' payments. At the same time, we must be careful not to shift an undue burden to the agency and thus further hamper its ability to manage and plan for the future of the Hanford Reach monument, which to date has been sorely underfunded. The federal government's goal rightfully is to clean up Hanford and get out of there. This community also should be committed to getting on with it. What's your opinon? Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 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. 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