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                    NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS
 
 1  NRC Prohibits a Former Radiation Safety Officer from 
 2  TVA heightens security around nuclear plants
 3  Security at state's nuclear plants increased to highest level
 4  Catawba Nuclear Station Sets Records
 5  NRC Issues Finding of Substantial Importance to Safety to Calvert 
 6  ADAMS: Items of Interest - Thursday, September 20, 2001
 7  Nevada Hires Nuclear Lawyers for NRC Battle over Yucca Mountain
 8  BNFL gets go-ahead for Mox recycling facility 
 9  Czech nuclear power plant idling again due to more turbine 
10  Russia: Nuclear heating project likely to be resumed 
11  NRC: Pair tampered with sirens 
12  Public can shape U.S. radioactive scrap metals policy - 
13  N-plant disaster a stretch: Experts
14  Sellafield security reviewed
15  Nuclear vs Renewables in UK Energy Review

                    NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS
 
 1  Can Nuclear Weapons Deter State-Sponsored Terrorism?
 2  Sandia, LANL Roles To Expand
 3  U.S. may aid nuclear security 
 4  Russian Expert Warns US Against Using Nuke Weapons in Afghanistan 
 5  Budget board briefed on uranium in wells 
 6  Cleanup budget still up in the air 
 7  Japan to study effect of nuclear weapons tests in Kazakhstan 
 8  Kursk's reactors to be examined before final salvage operation 
 9  Russia proposes measures for stepping up nuclear safety, 
10  Expert interrogations under way  
11  Hanford building destroyed
12  Expert warns of 'nightmare' nuclear scenario in Pakistan 
13  Analysis: The Status of Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
14  County panel examines terrorism preparedness
15  U.S. and Russia Make Progress on Storage of Nuclear Materials
16  Pantex personnel set to return to work 

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                     NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES
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 1 NRC Prohibits a Former Radiation Safety Officer from 
Participating in Nrc-licensed Activity for Five Years
 
  Press Release - 2001 - 110 - 


 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/OPA  

  No. 01-110     September 20, 2001  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued an order 
prohibiting a former radiation safety officer from involvement in 
NRC-licensed activities for five years due to his deliberate 
violation of various NRC regulations.
 
The action was taken against Virgil J. Hood, Sr., president of 
Moisture Protection Systems Analysts, Inc. (MPSA), which was 
formerly located in McLean, Virginia, following his failure to 
control licensed nuclear material and deliberate failure to 
notify the NRC of a missing or stolen portable moisture density 
gauge containing material licensed by the agency.
 
The nuclear gauge, which incorporates a radioactive source of 
Americium-241, was used to measure the moisture density of roof 
surfaces. The missing gauge was received at a Virginia landfill. 
Hood, Sr. may submit a response to the NRC's order and request a 
hearing within 20 days of the date of the order. 

In addition, the NRC has issued a Demand for Information to the 
president's son, Virgil J. Hood, Jr., as a result of an 
investigation begun in December of 1997 that concluded he used 
the moisture density gauge even though he wasn't named as an 
authorized user. 

Among other things, the Demand requests a description of Hood, 
Jr.'s responsibilities as vice president of MPSA , an explanation 
as to whether he was an authorized user of the gauge, the reasons 
as to why he did not heed two NRC subpoenas for interviews in 
1998 and 1999, as well as why he did not respond to an NRC letter 
dated March 23 of this year, and a statement that demonstrates 
Hood, Jr.'s commitment to compliance with regulatory requirements 
and that provides a basis for why the agency should have 
confidence that he will comply with applicable NRC requirements 
in the future. The NRC revoked MPSA's license after they failed 
to submit answers to agency inquiries.
 
Hood, Jr. has 30 days to respond from the date of the information 
request if his current employment involves NRC-licensed 
activities or within 20 days of acceptance of employment 
involving agency-licensed activities or his becoming involved in 
NRC-licensed activities for five years from the date of the 
Demand.
 
*****************************************************************
 2  TVA heightens security around nuclear plants

 By Robert Palmer
 Staff Writer
 September 20, 2001
 Email this story.
 
Security around the Tennessee Valley Authority's nuclear power 
plants remains in a heightened state after last week's terrorist 
attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., but other facilities 
have been reopened to the public.
 
TVA officials are reluctant to discuss details about security at 
Browns Ferry and other nuclear facilities, but they say the 
plants are being closely watched.
 
"We have heightened security at all of our facilities and have 
taken added measures at our nuclear sites," said TVA spokesman 
John Moulton.
 
He would not comment on what the added measures include.
 
Security at TVA's nuclear plants is provided by Pinkerton, a 
private contractor. The work is no longer performed by TVA 
employees.
 
Craig Beasley, TVA spokesman at Brown Ferry, said security 
personnel and procedures at the nuclear plant meet Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission standards.
 
"The existing security requirements are the same as they've 
always been," Beasley said. 

"They are very strict and stringent, and they continue to serve 
us well."
 
Moulton said all TVA employees must wear photo identification and 
must have a key card to enter facilities not ordinarily open to 
the public.
 
Heightened security at all TVA facilities will continue for an 
indefinite period, he said.
 
For several days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the 
World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, 
D.C., all TVA power facilities were closed to the public. But 
some have reopened.
 
The Wilson Dam visitor's center in Muscle Shoals is open again, 
said Tim Meeks, TVA Muscle Shoals spokesman. However, that does 
not mean security at the dam and other areas has been cut, he 
said.
 
"We are monitoring all the gates at the sites and the parking 
lots," Meeks said. "TVA police are watching people coming and 
going. Deliveries coming into the dam are being checked."
 
TVA's campgrounds and boat launches in the Shoals area are open 
as well, Meeks said.
 
"But at all those locations, TVA police are carefully monitoring 
traffic in and out. Anything that looks suspicious will be 
checked out," he said.
 
TVA police are federal officers assigned to patrol and protect 
TVA property. However, they are not permanently assigned to power 
production facilities.
 
"Safety is the highest priority for us and for the public, and we 
are taking every measure that is appropriate," Meeks said.
 
Meeks said anyone who sees suspicious activity near TVA 
facilities should call TVA police at (256) 386-2444.
 
Robert Palmer can be reached at or 740-5734.

 Copyright © 2001 TimesDaily | Privacy Statement [ BORDER=] 

*****************************************************************
 3  Security at state's nuclear plants increased to highest level

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ajc.com
 
September 20, 2001   

 Amid national effort, several points in energy infrastructure go 
on alert. AFTER THE ASSAULT

 Matthew C. Quinn - Staff Thursday, September 20, 2001
 
Extraordinary security measures are in effect at Georgia's two 
nuclear power plants as part of an effort to protect the nation's 
energy infrastructure against terrorist attack. 

Plant Vogtle near Augusta and Plant Hatch near Baxley were 
included in last week's unprecedented directive from the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission that all 103 of the nation's 
nuclear reactors at 66 sites be put on the highest level of 
security. 

Both plants in Georgia are operated by Atlanta-based Southern 
Co., parent of Georgia Power Co. The plants supply about 20 
percent of Georgia's electricity. Other Georgia power plants, 
transmission lines and pipelines are under heightened security. 

Rick Kimble, a spokesman for Southern Nuclear Operating Co., 
declined to discuss specific measures at the Georgia nuclear 
plants but said public tours and school visits have been 
canceled. "We're not allowing anybody on site unless you undergo 
a background investigation,'' he said. 

Victor Dricks, a spokesman for the NRC in Washington, declined to 
discuss specific security steps. But measures could include 
increased patrols, additional security posts and personnel, 
increased contact with local law enforcement and limited access, 
he said. 

In a false alarm last weekend, an unidentified helicopter flying 
near two South Carolina nuclear plants triggered dispatch of F-16 
fighter jets. Georgia Power Co. owns 50.1 percent of Plant Hatch 
and 48 percent of Plant Vogtle. 

No one knows whether nuclear plants could withstand an attack of 
the magnitude of the crashes of fuel-laden jetliners that leveled 
two World Trade Center towers last week. Reactors are encased in 
domed shells of 4-foot-thick concrete lined with steel and are 
designed to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes and "airborne 
objects." 

Dricks said it is "unlikely that a large commercial plane would 
penetrate the containment structure'' of a plant. Redundant 
safety procedures would "limit the consequences of any 
accident,'' he added. 

But Kimble said the nuclear plants are not designed to withstand 
acts of war. A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy 
Agency in Vienna, Austria, said this week that nuclear plants 
across the world are at risk from airborne suicide attacks. 

The NRC said its alert is a precaution. But Dricks said there 
have been "several dozen'' bomb threats and reports of suspicious 
activity at various facilities. "None have turned out to be 
credible,'' he said. 

Steve Baker, spokesman for Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline Co., 
which operates one of two oil pipelines that cross Georgia, said 
heightened security is in place along the company's 2,700 miles 
of Houston-to-New York pipelines. 

"We're on our toes to make sure procedures are followed to the 
letter," said Pat Wente, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma-based 
Transco pipeline, one of three interstate natural gas pipelines 
that serve Georgia. 
  
© 2001 Cox Interactive Media 
*****************************************************************
 4  Catawba Nuclear Station Sets Records
                                        
September 19, 3:50 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Duke Energy
 
YORK, S.C., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Catawba Nuclear Station set 
two reliability records before its unit 2 was taken off line for 
a planned maintenance and refueling outage last week.

Both units at the Duke Power-operated facility remained on line 
for 238 consecutive days. Unit 2 had been operating continuously 
for 463 days. Both are station records.

``Our highly skilled, professional team is dedicated to reliably 
meeting the energy needs of our customers,'' said Gary Peterson, 
vice president, Catawba Nuclear Station. ``This record is an 
example of what a motivated team can do with proper planning and 
a focus on safe, quality operations.''

Catawba Nuclear Station is a two-unit power plant located on Lake 
Wylie in York County, S.C. Each of its units produces enough 
electricity to power a city the size of Charlotte. Catawba unit 1 
began commercial operation in 1985, unit 2 in 1986.

The Catawba Nuclear Station is owned jointly by North Carolina 
Municipal Power Agency Number 1, North Carolina Electric 
Membership Corp., Piedmont Municipal Power Agency, Saluda River 
Electric Cooperative, Inc., and Duke Power.

Duke Power, a business unit of Duke Energy, is one of the 
nation's largest electric utilities and provides safe, reliable, 
competitively priced electricity to approximately two million 
customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. Duke Power 
operates three nuclear generating stations, eight coal- fired 
stations, 31 hydroelectric stations and numerous combustion 
turbine units. Total system generating capability is 
approximately 19,300 megawatts.

More information about Duke Power is available on the Internet 
at: www.dukepower.com.

Duke Energy, a diversified multinational energy company, creates 
value for customers and shareholders through an integrated 
network of energy assets and expertise. Duke Energy manages a 
dynamic portfolio of natural gas and electric supply, delivery 
and trading businesses -- generating revenues of more than $49 
billion in 2000. Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., 
is a Fortune 100 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange 
under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is 
available on the Internet at:

www.duke-energy.com. CONTACT:  Rose Cummings Office:   
803/831-3600 24-Hour:  704/382-8333
 
SOURCE: Duke Energy 

*****************************************************************
 5  NRC Issues Finding of Substantial Importance to Safety to Calvert 
Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release - Region I - 2001- 057 - 

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I
475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406  

  No. I-01-057     September 20, 2001  

  CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov
Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that a violation 
of NRC regulations at Calvert Cliffs Unit 1 nuclear power plant 
should be characterized as "yellow," meaning it is an issue of 
substantial importance to safety that will result in additional 
NRC inspection. The plant, located in Lusby, Md., is operated by 
Constellation Nuclear.
 
An NRC inspection was conducted in June and July of this year to 
look into the failure of an auxiliary feedwater pump during a 
test on May 16. The auxiliary feedwater system is a backup system 
that provides water to the plant's steam generators in the event 
that the main feedwater system is lost. The inspectors found that 
workers failed to adhere to maintenance instructions during 
maintenance on the pump and applied too much sealant to the 
bearing housing, contaminating the bearing oil, resulting in the 
bearing failure.
 
Under the NRC's new reactor oversight process, inspection 
findings are evaluated under a significance determination process 
and assigned a color that indicates safety significance. Findings 
with very low safety significance are labeled "green." "White" 
findings have low to moderate importance to safety and may 
require additional NRC inspection. "Yellow" findings have 
substantial safety significance, and "red" findings high safety 
significance. 

A preliminary "yellow" finding was described in an inspection 
report dated August 24 of this year. The letter transmitting the 
report provided the company with an opportunity to either request 
a regulatory conference to discuss this issue or to respond in 
writing. The company declined the conference and did not contest 
the characterization of the risk significance of this finding.
 
The company has taken corrective action to correct the problem 
and the pump was tested satisfactorily. The company is required 
to respond in writing within 30 days, detailing its immediate and 
long-term corrective actions. A supplemental NRC inspection will 
be scheduled to follow-up on Constellation's corrective actions. 
*****************************************************************
 6  ADAMS: Items of Interest - Thursday, September 20, 2001
 State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects

ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - 
Thursday, September 20, 2001 

These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web 
site

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Item ID: 012620105 Accession Number: ML012530390 Document Date: 
8/22/01 Title: 08/22/2001 - USEC/NRC Meeting Depleted Uranium 
Import License Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS Document/Report 
Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620218 Accession Number: ML012620267 Document Date: 
9/19/01 Title: 10/01/2001 Notice of Meeting With Exelon 
Generation Company, LLC (Limerick/Peach Bottom) Re Management 
Meeting to discuss at the licensee's request, recent emergency 
preparedness performance issues and program improvements. Author 
Affiliation: NRC/RGN-I Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620220 Accession Number: ML012620121 Document Date: 
9/19/01 Title: 10/11/2001 - Notice of Meeting with Nuclear Energy 
Institute (NEI) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) 
Regarding Licensing Digital Upgrade Issues. Author Affiliation: 
NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620221 Accession Number: ML012620131 Document Date: 
9/19/01 Title: 10/18/2001 - Notice of Meeting with Nuclear Energy 
Institute (NEI) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) 
Regarding EPRI Topical Report on Motor-Operated Valve Thrust 
Uncertainty method. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP 
Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620155 Accession Number: ML003750618 Document Date: 
9/14/00 Title: G20000438/LTR-00-0583 - Ltr. Sen. Robert Bennett 
re: Request Extension of Comment Period for the Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Private Fuel 
Storage
 
Author Affiliation: US SEN Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620146 Accession Number: ML003756669 Document Date: 
9/20/00 Title: G20000455/Ltr-00-0603 - 362 pages of 700 page 
Attachment to Ltr fr Gov. Leavitt, UT, re proposed PFS DEIS - 
(SCANNED NO. S101708-01) - ML003756669 (part of Pkg ML003756868) 
Author Affiliation: State of UT Document/Report Number: 
NUREG-1714 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620199 Accession Number: ML003754256 Document Date: 
9/15/00 Title: G20000460/LTR-00-0609 - Senator Orrin G. Hatch Ltr 
re Extension Request and Request for Public Hearings for 
Consideration of the DEIS for the Proposed Private Fuel Storage 
LLC Author Affiliation: US SEN Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620229 Accession Number: ML003754268 Document Date: 
9/21/00 Title: LTR-00-0605 - E-mail fm Linda Bonar, John 
Stratton, Lauren Stratton & Johnny Stratton re: Opposing the 
Opening of the Goshute Skull Valley Nuclear Waste Storage 
Facility Author Affiliation: - No Known Affiliation 
Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620233 Accession Number: ML010310046 Document Date: 
1/18/01 Title: LTR-01-0069 - Ernest Moniz, DOE Ltr re: Storage of 
Certain Spent Nuclear Fuel at the General Atomics Facility Author 
Affiliation: US Dept of Energy (DOE) Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620234 Accession Number: ML010610097 Document Date: 
2/16/01 Title: LTR-01-0130 - Marvin Resnikoff Ltr re: Spent Fuel 
Pool Risks Study Author Affiliation: Radioactive Waste Management 
Associates Document/Report Number: 
_________________________________________________________________ 
Item ID: 012620224 Accession Number: ML012610664 Document Date: 
9/18/01 Title: NRC Staff Comments on Steam Generator Inspection 
Intervals. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR Document/Report Number: 
*****************************************************************
 7  Nevada Hires Nuclear Lawyers for NRC Battle over Yucca Mountain
 
For Immediate Release
 
 September 11, 2001
 
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects today executed a $2.5 
million contract with Egan & Associates, PLLC, a Washington D.C. 
area law practice known for its handling of large nuclear 
litigation matters. The firm was engaged to assist Nevada with 
its ongoing battle over the federal Energy Department's proposed 
Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, as the project heads for 
anticipated certification by President Bush and licensing 
proceedings at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 
Under the three-year contract, Egan & Associates will assemble 
and manage a team of nuclear lawyers and government litigators. 
"This is the first step in a larger effort planned by Nevada," 
said Robert Loux, Executive Director of the agency. "We aim to 
fight the project on the merits, and with a world-class legal 
team."
 
Joseph R. Egan, chairman of Egan & Associates, is an MIT-trained 
nuclear engineer who has handled some of the highest profile 
nuclear matters in the world in recent years. He was recently 
elected U.S. Director of the International Nuclear Law 
Association. His firm represented numerous foreign research 
reactor operators and their governments in their successful 
attempts to return to the United States some 22,000 weapons-grade 
spent nuclear fuel elements, most of which are being shipped to 
the Energy Department's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. 
South Carolina twice sued to block the shipments. The firm was 
also involved in large cases concerning the South Texas Nuclear 
Project, the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Connecticut, the 
Energy Department's Paducah uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky, 
and a billion-dollar antitrust action against the nation's 
leading radioactive waste disposal operator. The firm represented 
Italy in a spent fuel dispute against the Energy Department in 
federal court. 

Egan brings to the Yucca Mountain effort a nine-person team of 
NRC insiders and litigators, including William H. Briggs, former 
NRC Solicitor, Howard K. Shapar, former NRC Executive Legal 
Director, and Charles J. Cooper, a prominent Washington 
litigator. While at NRC, Mr. Briggs, currently a partner with 
Ross Dixon & Bell in Washington, handled several landmark nuclear 
cases, including the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear 
station, the licensing of the Diablo Canyon reactor in 
California, and the attack by Massachusetts against NRC's 
emergency planning rule. Mr. Shapar directed numerous licensing 
hearings and rulemakings while at NRC, and also served in the 
mid-1980s as Director General of the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency 
in Paris. Mr. Cooper, former Assistant Attorney General for 
President Reagan's Office of Legal Counsel, was a law clerk to 
Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist. For several years he 
ran the government litigation practice of the Washington firm of 
Shaw Pittman. He currently heads the D.C. firm of Cooper & Kirk. 
Among other victories, he represented New York in a 
constitutional challenge to the Line Item Veto Act, defeating 
President Clinton's first line-item veto. His firm also assisted 
presidential candidate George W. Bush in the election dispute 
before the Florida Supreme Court, and has joined Egan & 
Associates in a pending fraud case against an Energy Department 
contractor. 

*****************************************************************
 8  BNFL gets go-ahead for Mox recycling facility 

Financial Times; Sep 20, 2001
By ROBERT SHRIMSLEY and ANDREW TAYLOR

The government will today finally approve the British Nuclear 
Fuels' Pounds 470m plutonium recycling plant at Sellafield in 
Cumbria. 

The decision, due to be confirmed by the Department for 
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, comes after years of delays, 
which have left the plant designed to handle mixed oxide - known 
as Mox - unable to begin commercial operations even though it was 
completed in 1996. 

The decision is likely to spark legal action by environmental 
groups determined to prevent it opening for business. 

The go-ahead will irritate the Irish government, which is 
concerned about radioactive emissions from Sellafield and had 
asked for a delay to allow an international investigation, under 
a north-east Atlantic environmental treaty. 

The Mox plant, which will take reprocessed plutonium oxide from 
BNFL's neighbouring Thorpe complex to make nuclear fuel for power 
stations, has been a source of contention between the Department 
of Trade and Industry and Michael Meacher, the environment 
minister. 

Government plans to float 49 per cent of BNFL, which ministers 
had expected would raise about Pounds 1.5bn, have been postponed 
due to concerns over the Mox project and BNFL's recent poor 
financial performance. 

Environmentalists say failure to proceed will place the much 
larger Thorpe operations in jeopardy and call BNFL's financial 
strategy into question. 

The DTI, which backs the Mox project, says it is supported by 
lucrative Japanese contracts. Mr Meacher, however, has resisted 
the plans, insisting on a number of reviews that have delayed 
approval. 

An independent report, commissioned by the government, concluded 
in July that the fuel recycling plant would be cheaper to operate 
than to mothball, paving the way for a go-ahead. 

The study, by Arthur D Little, the consultants, said the plant 
would have a net economic benefit of more than Pounds 200m at 
today's prices if allowed to open. This compared with a loss of 
Pounds 58m if permission were refused. 

Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, the environmental pressure 
groups, argue that the findings do not take account of the Pounds 
470m spent on the project, which the government asked to be 
treated as sunk costs. The environmentalists say the report 
glossed over opposition to the project in Japan. The discovery in 
1999 that quality control records had been falsified for an 
experimental batch of Mox fuel delivered to Japan has seriously 
damaged the company's reputation in the country, say 
environmentalists. 

Copyright: The Financial Times Limited
*****************************************************************
 9  Czech nuclear power plant idling again due to more turbine 
problems 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 20, 2001


Text of report by Czech radio on 20 September 

[Presenter] The instability of turbogenerator's revolutions is 
the reason for the [latest] shutdown of the first reactor at 
Temelin nuclear power station. 

At the moment technicians are adjusting the generator, preparing 
to renew the fission reaction and repeat the test. We have asked 
Temelin spokesman Milan Nebesar what will happen next: 

[Nebesar] Fission reaction will be resumed within the next few 
hours. The reactor's output will be increased to 38 per cent, the 
turbogenerator will be reconnected and we shall once again 
prepare starting conditions for the final and most difficult load 
test before the reactor goes on an island mode. 

If this test is successful, we shall tell the State Nuclear 
Safety Office that all the criteria of the tests carried out 
during this substage [of the start-up] have been met and we shall 
ask for an authorization to raise the output to 75 per cent. 

Source: Czech Radio-Radiozurnal, Prague, in Czech 1000 gmt 20 Sep 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to 
Copyright
*****************************************************************
 10  Russia: Nuclear heating project likely to be resumed 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 20, 2001

Text of report by Rauf Akhmedov "Our Common Boiler" in Russian 
newspaper Izvestiya (Internet version) on 14 September 

By the end of the year all Russia's nuclear electric power 
stations are due to be amalgamated into a single power-generating 
company under the Rosenergoatom concern. The appropriate Russian 
Federation government decrees were issued this week. Apart from 
nuclear power companies, it will include several other special 
facilities, including the Voronezh Nuclear Heat Supply Company - 
one of the first such companies in the world, and the first in 
our country. Along with Atommash it is regarded as the most 
important construction project in the country's nuclear power 
sector that has overrun its schedule. 

Construction began in the mid-eighties. In 1990 the building 
project was mothballed. This was demanded in a referendum of the 
city's population, who had been frightened by the Chernobyl 
catastrophe. In recent years the heat supply deficit in the 
capital of the Central Black Earth region has only increased; 
thankfully, mild winters have become more frequent. 

This autumn, following the latest rise in gas and electricity 
prices, changes have been noted in the fate of the special 
facility. The Regional and city leadership have intimated that it 
will be necessary to finish building the nuclear boiler after 
all. Aleksandr Sachkov, deputy director of the Voronezh Nuclear 
Heat Supply Station, commented for Izvestiya on the situation 
regarding the project: "Transfer to the Rosenergoatom 
power-generating company means only a change of signboards for 
us. The completion of the construction of the heat supply station 
now depends on whether Voronezh really does have a heat deficit, 
and if so, how great it is. 

According to our information, not more than 70 per cent of the 
city's fuel and heating requirements are currently met. 

According to other calculations, there is plenty of everything, 
and there is even capacity to spare; only these calculations are 
not quite correct." 

While waiting for the real fuel balance sheet for the city 
(population: one million), the sides are calculating how much the 
completion of the station building project would cost. Its 
supporters are confident that R7bn would be enough, but opponents 
work on twice that sum. However, the main expense would fall to 
Rosenergoatom, which is committed to bringing this facility on 
stream; after all, the station's technology could be exported. 
And meanwhile, the are signs of a thaw, albeit a "political" one, 
in Sachkov's words. The fact that Rosenergoatom is still not 
crossing Voronezh's overrun construction project off its list is 
confirmation of that. 

Source: Izvestiya, Moscow, in Russian 14 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ 
© BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright
*****************************************************************
 11  NRC: Pair tampered with sirens 
                                        
Tuesday, September 18 
By Ad Crable
New Era Staff Writer 

   A contractor at the Peach Bottom nuclear plant placed bypass 
wires on some emergency sirens, which may not have warned the 
public in an emergency, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory ÁCÁommission 
officials say.

 The plant is in York County, but some of the sirens to alert the 
public of an accident at the plant are located in southern 
Lancaster County.

 The contracted technician and a fellow worker also fabricated 
siren-testing maintenance records and performed deficient tests 
on sirens serving the Peach Bottom and Limerick nuclear plants, 
the NRC said after an investigation.

 Both workers have been fired by Exelon Generation Co., which 
runs the plants. Exelon faces three violations of NRC 
regulations. Exelon notified the regulatory agency of the 
infractions.

 One of the technicians placed jumper wires on at least 10 
sirens, disabling important system functions, the NRC said. It 
did not specify which sirens were affected.

 "If there had been an emergency at one of the two facilities 
during this time, there could have been an apparent failure to 
meet the emergency preparedness function to notify the public of 
needed action..." the NRC said of its investigation.

 The bypass wires disabled failure-detection systems in the 
siren, and would have showed the sirens were working, even if 
they were not.

 The NRC said it has not decided what enforcement action it will 
take against Exelon. 
  

Copyright © 2001 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 12  Public can shape U.S. radioactive scrap metals policy - 

9/20/2001 - ENN.com
 
 Thursday, September 20, 2001 By Environmental News Network 

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Sequoyah Unit I nuclear plant 
near Chattanooga, Tenn., began operating in 1981.  

 Radioactive scrap metal from federal weapons-production 
facilities amounts to thousands of tons of materials, and the 
government must figure out what to do with it. There have been 
perennial plans to recycle it, but opponents of recycling fear 
the contaminated metal would end up in pots, pans, silverware, 
zippers, and children's dental braces.

 Between now and Nov. 9, the public can send comments to the 
Department of Energy (DOE) on the scope of policy options for 
managing these scrap metals on DOE sites.

 The comments were to be due Sept. 10, but the DOE has extended 
by 60 days the public comment period for a programmatic 
environmental impact Statement (PEIS) on the disposition of these 
scrap metals. 

In January 2000, the Energy Department retreated from plans to 
sell thousands of tons of these radioactive metals as scrap, 
saying the potential health concerns needed to be more clearly 
examined.

 Then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson blocked plans to sell 
6,000 tons of nickel taken from a defunct uranium enrichment 
plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn., keeping it out of the civilian 
marketplace.

 But in January 2001, Dr. Richard Meserve, chairman of the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), asked the National Academy 
of Sciences to examine the practice of releasing radioactively 
contaminated solid waste materials with an eye to finding ways to 
deal with the growing stockpiles. 

The amount of scrap metal potentially available for recycling is 
about 171,000 metric ton, the DOE estimated in 1997.

 The primary metals to be considered in the analysis are carbon 
steel and stainless steel. Other metals such as copper, aluminum, 
lead, silver, gold, and platinum, which exist in smaller 
quantities, will also be addressed in the impact statement. 

In its notice of the intention to prepare a PEIS, the DOE 
expressed its own concerns about the impact of these radioactive 
metals. Steven Cary, acting assistant secretary in the DOE Office 
of Environment, Safety, and Health, said,

"The recycling of materials that have residual radioactivity 
could affect workers involved in the recycling of those materials 
and also the general public, because products manufactured from 
recycled materials may have many exposure pathways to the 
public."

 The Energy Department is proposing to examine four alternatives 
for disposing of the metals. First, the department might take no 
action and continue the existing ban on the release of scrap 
metals from DOE radiological areas for unrestricted use in 
recycling. Second, the release of scrap metals for recycling 
might be allowed either under existing DOE requirements or under 
alternative requirements. And finally, the DOE might determine 
that there should be no release for recycling scrap metals with 
any potential for residual surface radioactivity.

 Environmental groups across the United States have been fighting 
against the recycling of these radioactive metals for years. They 
are alarmed at statements such as this one from the executive 
summary of a DOE Preliminary Technical Support Document, dated 
March 11, 1997: 

"The U.S. commercial nuclear power industry includes 123 reactor 
plants. At present, eight of these reactors have been shutdown. 
In the next two to three decades, most of the reactors currently 
in operation will have reached their projected 40-year 
lifetime.... Quantities of both carbon steel and stainless steel 
will potentially be available for recycling from decommissioned 
commercial nuclear power plants." 

The department held six public scoping meetings in July and 
August 2001. During these meetings, DOE received requests for 
additional meetings as well as an extension of the scoping 
period. In response, the department has extended the scoping 
period by 60 days to Nov. 9 and has scheduled four additional 
public meetings. 

These include: 

Oct. 8, 2001, 8-10 p.m.
 Ken Edwards Community Center
 1527 Fourth St.
 Santa Monica, CA 90401
 Oct. 9, 2001, 8-10 p.m.
 Simi Valley City Hall
 2929 Tapo Canyon Road
 Simi Valley, CA 93063
 Oct. 16, 2001, 2-5 p.m. and 8-10 p.m.
 Zuhrah Shrine Center
 2540 Park Ave.
 Minneapolis, MN 55404
 Oct. 18, 2001, 2-5 p.m. and 8-10 p.m.
 American Conference Centers
 780 Third Ave., C2
 New York, NY 10017 

All deadline dates connected with the DOE's consideration of 
radioactive metals recycling have also been put forward 60 days. 
Completion of the draft PEIS is now due in March 2002. The final 
PEIS will be ready for presentation to the public in August 2002. 

Written comments may be mailed to: Kenneth G. Picha Jr.

 Office of Technical Program Integration, EM-22 Attn: Metals 
Disposition PEIS Office of Environmental Management U.S. 
Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 
20585-0113

 Comments can be faxed to Metals Disposition PEIS at: (301) 
903-9770 or emailed to: Metals.Disposition.PEIS@em.doe.gov. 
Copyright 2001, Environmental News Network

*****************************************************************
 13  N-plant disaster a stretch: Experts
 
 Thursday, September 20, 2001 

By , TORONTO SUN
 
A top Canadian nuclear industry spokesman says Energy Probe has 
exaggerated claims about the vulnerability of nuclear power 
stations to World Trade Center-style terrorism. 

"There would not be a nuclear explosion. That would not happen," 
said Fred Boyd, acting communications director for the Canadian 
Nuclear Association. 

However, industry sources conceded there's no guarantee a 
widespread catastrophe could never be caused by terrorists flying 
a fuel-laden jumbo jet into a nuclear plant. 

Energy Probe said in a recent statement that Candu reactors could 
be crippled -- even made to melt down -- if hit by a jumbo jet. 

In Vienna, delegates from 132 countries to an International 
Atomic Energy Association conference this week called for tighter 
security -- while conceding little can be done to shield a 
nuclear plant from airborne assaults. 

OLDER DESIGNS 

Most nuclear plants were built during the 1960s and 1970s and 
were designed to withstand only accidental, glancing impacts from 
smaller aircraft, IAEA spokesman David Kyd said. 

"If you postulate the risk of a jumbo jet full of fuel, it is 
clear their design was not conceived to withstand such an 
impact." 

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission spokesman Jim Levesque would 
not speculate on the outcome of such a terrorist act. "I don't 
think it's in anybody's interest to speculate about other 
events." 

Boyd said the Canadian-made Candu is believed to be less 
vulnerable to impacts due to its use of heavy water and separate 
containment buildings. 

"They're a little bit more susceptible to what they used to call 
'the China Syndrome'," said Boyd, an engineer-physicist who is a 
35-year veteran of the Canadian nuclear industry. 

"Fail-safe" systems in a Candu nuclear plant will instantaneously 
shut down the core nuclear reaction if its delicate monitoring 
and control systems are disturbed even slightly, Boyd said. 
Previous story: PM smacks critics Next story: Gabrielle slams St. 
John's 


CANOE Limited Partnership. All 
*****************************************************************
 14  Sellafield security reviewed

BBC News | UK | 

 			 
 20 September, 2001, 12:35 GMT 13:35 UK

[Sellafield]                    

Spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed at Sellafield

The security of a new nuclear recycling plant at Sellafield will 
be considered in the light of fears about international 
terrorism. 

Ministers want to learn more about the security implications of 
the mixed oxide fuel (Mox) plant in Cumbria following the 
terrorist attacks on America. 

But a Defra spokesman said that a decision on the plant's opening 
had not been held up by last week's events in New York and 
Washington. 

It had been anticipated that a decision might be taken this week 
on the controversial site. 

If they can organise to capture four commercial airlines and fly 
them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then they can 
certainly capture a ship on the high seas
   	 		
   	 	 Dr Frank Barnaby, of the Oxford Research Group 	 	 	   

Concern has been raised about the possible risks associated with 
moving spent nuclear fuel, such as uranium and plutonium, from 
customers in Germany and Japan, and then in exporting the Mox 
fuel. 

Dr Frank Barnaby, of the Oxford Research Group, told BBC Radio 
4's Today programme: "If they can organise to capture four 
commercial airlines and fly them into the World Trade Center and 
the Pentagon, then they can certainly capture a ship on the high 
seas I would have thought. 

"And the concern is the plutonium is easily separated chemically 
from the uranium and that plutonium could then be used to make a 
nuclear explosion, a nuclear weapon. 

"If you are producing and using Mox and exporting it then you are 
significantly increasing the risk of nuclear terrorism," he said. 

Nuclear terrorism 

BBC correspondent Tom Fielden said that defence experts had told 
him that the American terrorist attack had changed the nature of 
a likely risk. 

It was now not just merely a question of whether terrorists 
wanted to steal the nuclear fuel but whether they were prepared 
to die to blow it up, he said. But he added that the decision on 
whether to open the plant five years after it was completed also 
depended on whether it would be commercially viable. 

As soon as it was switched on it would be contaminated with 
nuclear materials and would incur the full cost of 
decommissioning if it were not to make a profit. 

A Defra spokesman told BBC News Online that there was no strict 
timetable for when a decision would be made on the opening of the 
new plant. 

Terrorism assessment 

"It is not true to say that the decision has been held up by last 
week's events," he said. 

"An assessment of terrorism will be included but a number of 
issues are being looked into," he said. 

A BNFL spokesman said: "The Sellafield Mox plant will meet 
international safety requirements relevant to the control of 
nuclear material. 

"In common with all government establishments we are now on a 
higher state of alert in the short term though there is no reason 
to believe that our facilities are under threat." 

And he disputed Dr Barnaby's assertion that nuclear fuels could 
be easily separated saying that a nuclear reprocessing plant 
would be needed. 
*****************************************************************
 15   Nuclear vs Renewables in UK Energy Review

Environment News Service: 

 LONDON, United Kingdom, September 19, 2001 (ENS) - A choice 
between nuclear or renewables based energy futures for the UK is 
emerging in responses to a government policy review announced in 
June. Recent submissions from Greenpeace and the British Nuclear 
Industry Forum (BNIF) typify the debate. 

Echoing similar statements from other nuclear interests, BNIF 
urges maintanance of nuclear's share of electricity generation at 
about one-quarter. The industry group recommends fiscal measures 
to "recognize and reward the strategic and environmental benefits 
of nuclear energy," particularly its low carbon emissions. 

To maintain nuclear output at current levels will require new 
power station construction, BNIF acknowledges. Unless the 
government enables this, it warns, Britain faces becoming a major 
net importer of oil and natural gas by 2020, endangering national 
energy security. 

[Blyth] Blyth Harbour Wind Farm, Blyth, Northumberland (Photo by 
Ian Britton courtesy ) Greenpeace rejects all these arguments, 
offering a choice between renewables or nuclear as "a step into 
the future or one foot in the past." 

"It is deeply depressing that all the debate has been about a 
nuclear revival," commented Greenpeace UK director Stephen 
Tindale. "To endorse that would be to look backwards to an 
industry that has had its chance and failed." 

The government should phase out nuclear power, Greenpeace urges, 
while setting a target to meet half of electricity needs from 
renewables within 20 years. A 50 percent reduction in final 
energy use should be targeted over 50 years, Greenpeace says, and 
diversity and security of supply should be achieved through 
investment in many different renewable energy technologies. 

Prime Minister Tony Blair asked the Performance and Innovation 
Unit to carry out a review of the strategic issues surrounding 
energy policy for Great Britain. The review is set within the 
context of meeting the challenge of global warming, while 
ensuring secure, diverse and reliable energy supplies at a 
competitive price. 

          © Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All Rights 
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                     NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES
*****************************************************************
 1 Can Nuclear Weapons Deter State-Sponsored Terrorism?
 
National Center for Policy Analysis

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 

Nuclear weapons showed their deterrence capability in the Cold 
War and since, says physicist C. Paul Robinson - interviewed by 
the National Journal before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

 During the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein killed tens of 
thousands of people using chemical agents. Robinson, former head 
of the U.S. nuclear weapons program and an adviser to the U.S. 
Space Command, says Hussein possessed large stockpiles of 
chemical and biological weapons during the Gulf War.

 But those weapons were not used. Why?

 Robinson suggests that America's nuclear capabilities deterred 
their use. "Many military experts I've talked to are absolutely 
convinced it was because of a secret letter sent by President 
Bush threatening the gravest consequences if such weapons were 
released."

 However, says Robinson, we need different nuclear weapons to use 
deterrence in the post-Cold War era.
 
+ We are increasingly threatened by biological, chemical and 
radiological weapons that could kill huge numbers of people.
 
+ Bombing with conventional weapons has little effect against 
hardened underground sites, as was demonstrated in Serbia and 
Iraq.
 
+ And the American arsenal of half-megaton, multiple warhead 
strategic nuclear missiles and so-called tactical nuclear 
weapons, with yields above 100 kilotons, are too destructive to 
consider using short of retaliation for a nuclear attack.
 
+ Instead, we could use the primary stage of existing nuclear 
weapons - which yield less than 10 kilotons unless boosted by 
secondary stage - as a ground- penetrating "bunker busters" with 
little collateral damage (i.e., civilian casualties).
 
+ Such weapons would require no new nuclear testing and could be 
readied quickly, since dummy second-stages were regularly used in 
nuclear weapons tests. Robinson adds that he supports deep cuts 
in offensive nuclear weapons proposed by President Bush, and the 
development of a national missile defense. Source: James 
Kitfield, "Ban the Bomb? Heck No, It's Too Useful," National 
Journal, Sept. 8, 2001.
 
All Rights Reserved © NewsMax.com
*****************************************************************
 2  Sandia, LANL Roles To Expand
                                        
Wednesday September 19 05:22 PM EDT 
 
 New Mexico's two national laboratories can be expected to 
provide their "unique capabilities" to new anti-terrorism 
efforts, a U.S. senator said Wednesday.

Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, 
both under the auspices of the Department of Energy, have several 
specific tools available that may become useful, said Sen. Pete 
Domenici, R-N.M.

DOE representatives briefed senators on Wednesday regarding the 
talents — which are classified — that the labs can provide.

"The laboratories have unique capabilities for threat assessment 
and vulnerability analysis, monitoring and surveillance, 
mitigation and response, including specific technologies that can 
assist our military in this pursuit," Domenici said in a written 
statement released by his office.

"At the same time, getting those considerable technological and 
analytical capabilities out of the laboratories and into the 
hands of law enforcement, policy makers or the intelligence 
community is difficult. We must do better."

DOE was authorized in 1996, via legislation co-sponsored by 
Domenici, to develop technologies that may help contain the 
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction that could be used 
by terrorists.

Training for first-responders on dealing with such an attack — 
whether it would be nuclear, biological or chemical — was part of 
the authorization.

"The labs, New Mexico Tech, the Air Force Research Laboratory at 
Kirtland and other programs in the state give New Mexico a real 
role in our stepped-up battle against terrorism," Domenici said.

Sandia and Los Alamos both are integral elements in the nation's 
nuclear weapons development, but their roles have expanded in the 
post-Cold War era.
 
Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc.
*****************************************************************
 3  U.S. may aid nuclear security 

Orange County Register - 

September 20, 2001   

Bush considers providing devices to prevent unauthorized access 
to weapons. 

By BRYAN BENDER
 The Boston Globe 

WASHINGTON -- Concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear 
weapons, the Bush administration is considering providing 
Islamabad with perimeter security and other assistance to prevent 
unauthorized access to its nuclear facilities during what could 
be a destabilizing conflict in neighboring Afghanistan, current 
and former government officials said. 

In the near term, the United States could assist Pakistan by 
providing such things as blast-proof doors at its nuclear 
facilities. Other safety measures under consideration are 
Permissive Action Links, or PALs, high-tech devices applied to 
warheads to prevent an outsider from detonating a nuclear weapon. 

Aid to Pakistan's nuclear program, however, would be a stark 
reversal of American policy. Washington has used a variety of 
economic and diplomatic levers to punish Pakistan for its recent 
nuclear tests and its refusal to sign the nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty. 

Pakistan is believed to have as many as three dozen nuclear 
weapons, and Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said in 
an address to his nation Wednesday that the "safety of nuclear 
missiles" is one of his priorities as the expected U.S. military 
campaign in Afghanistan gets underway. U.S. and Pakistani 
officials say Islamabad has yet to mount nuclear weapons on 
missiles or fully develop other means of delivering them to a 
target. 

The United States has been helping to strengthen nuclear security 
in Russia and the former states of the Soviet Union since the 
mid-1990s under a Department of Defense program known as 
Cooperative Threat Reduction. 

Last year, Pakistan requested foreign help, including from the 
United States, to improve what it calls the "custodial safeguard" 
of its nuclear weapons, a system considered primitive by U.S., 
European, Russian and Chinese standards. But the Clinton 
administration, which leveled sanctions against Pakistan and 
India after it detonated five nuclear devices in 1998, declined 
to help Pakistan so as not to legitimize its nuclear capability. 

The Bush administration, however, has been reviewing the nuclear 
policy toward India and Pakistan since taking office. Bush 
administration officials recently said they plan to lift the 
sanctions against India, but have not indicated plans to do the 
same for Pakistan. 

Pakistan's crucial role in supporting any U.S.-led military 
operation against exiled Saudi terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden 
and the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan has changed 
Washington's calculus on the nuclear issue. 

A U.S. State Department official said it is unclear to what 
extent Pakistan would allow the United States to help on nuclear 
security should it decide to make such a proposal. Islamabad 
would be effectively giving the United States an inside look at 
some of its nuclear capability just as Washington is 
strengthening military ties with India, Pakistan's mortal enemy. 

However, Brig. Gen. Feroz Hassan Khan, director of Pakistan's 
arms control and disarmament affairs, said during a visit to 
Washington in December, "We look up to the experience of others 
... to make sure that no matter how safe we are, we should be 
surer. And this is the area where I think the West ... should 
help with their experience." 

He specifically cited a need for "improved electronic locks and 
better software and communication reliability so that it is 
foolproof." 

Should the United States decide to ahead, it may not be able to 
move quickly, according to specialists. Because Pakistan has not 
signed the Nonproliferation Treaty, the United States is 
prohibited by law from participating in nuclear-weapons-related 
activities. The negotiations on how to proceed could also get 
bogged down. 

 The Orange County Register ocregister@link.freedom.com-->   
*****************************************************************
 4  Russian Expert Warns US Against Using Nuke Weapons in Afghanistan 

September 20, 2001, updated at 08:14(GMT+8)   
   
Russian Expert Warns US Against Using Nuke Weapons in Afghanistan 
It is absolutely inadmissible if the US uses nuclear weapons in 
contemporary conditions against Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as 
a reprisal for last week 's terror attacks in the U.S., a top 
Russian ecologist said Wednesday. 

Commenting on unofficial American reports that Washington could 
use tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan in retaliation for 
the terrorist attacks, Viktora Danilov-Danilian, leader of the 
Russian Ecological Union, told reporters here that such a step 
"would be actually a signal to drop nuclear bombs for whoever can 
get them." 

The scientist recalled that nuclear weapons have not been used 
since the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Japan's Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki in 1945. "The treaty banning nuclear tests in the 
atmosphere, outer space, and under water has become a powerful 
deterring factor for terrorists' using such weapons," he added. 

The U.S. has become a victim of an act of terrorism unprecedented 
by its scope, and all normal people are mourning over the 
tragedy, the expert said. However, the U.S. administration should 
seriously anticipate consequences of its strikes upon Afghanistan 
and the chain reaction it would trigger, he said. 

Despite the fact that hundreds of nuclear bombs have been set off 
in the world, ecological consequences of these explosions are 
unpredictable, Danilov-Danilian said. 

If the U.S. make nuclear strikes upon Afghanistan, no one can 
guarantee that this will not harm states bordering this country 
when a nuclear cloud covers Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, 
China, Pakistan, or Iran, he said. 

"It is impossible to give guarantees on any nuclear explosion, 
especially if it is carried out not in experimental conditions at 
a testing range but in actual combat conditions," he warned. 


  Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved     | 
*****************************************************************
 5  Budget board briefed on uranium in wells 

September 19, 2001
 
Associated Press 

GREENVILLE, S.C. - State testing of Upstate wells for uranium 
shows about one in ten private wells exceed safe drinking water 
standards.

 Daphne Neel, of the state Department of Health and Environmental 
Control, briefed the State Budget and Control Board on well 
testing Tuesday.

 So far, the state has tested about 1,000 wells. Tests show 76, 
or 12 percent, of the 616 private wells tested don't meet the 
drinking water standard.

 Seven of 322 public wells failed tests for naturally occurring 
uranium and radon. Four of those public wells are in Oconee 
County, two are in Greenville County, and one is in Pickens 
County. Those public water operators have been told to inform 
customers of the uranium levels, Ms. Neel said.

 The testing has been limited mostly to the Upstate, Ms. Neel 
said.

 Most of the high results were in Simpsonville. High 
concentrations were also found in at least one well tested in 
Fountain Inn, Pelzer, Laurens, Gray Court and Lexington.

 The budget board took no action on the information, but 
continues to look for ways to deal with the problem.

 The department's Mike Gulledge said it's uncertain whether the 
state will get $2 million requested from Congress to complete 
South Carolina's $5.75 million response to the uranium 
contamination. It's possible that federal funding intended for 
the project could be diverted elsewhere in the wake of last 
week's terrorist attacks.
 
All contents ©1996 - 2001 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights
*****************************************************************
 6  Cleanup budget still up in the air 

Oak Ridger Online --> 

Story last updated at 12:07 p.m. on Thursday, September 20, 2001

by Paul Parson 
Oak Ridger staff 

Fiscal year 2002 for the federal government begins Oct. 1, but 
there has yet to be written a happy ending for the saga of 
getting adequate funding for the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge 
cleanup efforts during that time period.

 In fact, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, says a continuing 
resolution may be needed until the FY 2002 budget can be 
approved. However, the congressman said he doesn't expect the 
already troubled cleanup funding to be sacrificed for national 
security and defense activities in light of last week's terrorist 
attacks in the United States.

 "I'm not discouraged," said Wamp during a phone interview 
Wednesday afternoon. Things have looked grim for Oak Ridge 
cleanup efforts since the budget process began earlier this year. 
While DOE has been tight-lipped on the budget, several community 
members have expressed outrage that the environmental management 
budget could be reduced by as much as $90 million in FY 2002 when 
compared to the current fiscal year. That's a drop from $423.7 
million to $332.457 million.

 In June, the House Appropriations Committee approved an 
additional $20 million for cleanup work at the Oak Ridge K-25 
site. And Wamp said Wednesday that getting increased funding for 
Oak Ridge cleanup efforts will be his "No. 1 critical priority" 
when a House and Senate conference committee meets to address 
funding levels.

 The conference committee probably won't meet until after the 
first of October, according to Wamp, thus the need for a 
continuing resolution on the budget.

 But a continuing resolution could pose some problems, according 
to Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the Oak Ridge 
Reservation Local Oversight Committee.

 "The major impact would likely be a number of projects would go 
on hold because of the uncertainty of FY 2002 funding levels," 
Gawarecki said. "This would disrupt schedules, force 
renegotiation of milestones and aggravate the regulators and the 
public."

 Gawarecki fears that the problems with DOE's cleanup budget will 
extend past FY 2002. Her organization provides advice to local, 
state and federal officials regarding DOE environmental 
management decisions.

 For recent budget cycles through FY 2001, officials with DOE's 
Oak Ridge Operations office and stakeholders met to review 
priorities and to agree that the various projects and needs were 
appropriately prioritized.

 "This was done by [the Oak Ridge Operations office] as a 
courtesy to the community, one we greatly appreciated," Gawarecki 
said.

 Oak Ridge would then send its budget request to DOE 
headquarters, which would then send its request to the president.

 "What came back from the Office of Management and Budget was 
called the 'President's Budget' and DOE acted like it was what 
they wanted all along, although we always saw cuts to Oak Ridge 
cleanup programs," said Gawarecki. "So then we'd fight to get it 
increased, generally with OK success."

 This process wasn't the case for the FY 2002 budget, according 
to Gawarecki.

 "In FY 2002, and now FY 2003, a small group of headquarters' 
people meet and hammer out the environmental management budget 
without input from the sites or stakeholders," said Gawarecki. 
"As the FY 2002 President's Budget illustrates, there is more 
politics than appropriate cost estimates involved in this 
process. We're fearful of what FY 2003 levels will leave us 
with."

 DOE headquarters has been conducting a comprehensive review of 
its environmental management program. Energy Secretary Spencer 
Abraham has said the review is being conducted in order to 
determine more effective cleanup methods that could be 
accomplished in shorter time frames and to make sure taxpayer 
dollars are spent efficiently.

 "I am discouraged that each new set of political appointees at 
DOE headquarters feels a need to redefine the environmental 
management program such that the host communities can't count on 
continuing progress in addressing the environmental legacy of the 
Cold War," Gawarecki said.

 "Although cleanup activities are not cheap, they become much 
more expensive the longer DOE delays."

 In addition, it's being reported that DOE headquarters may cut 
around 186 jobs in its environmental management program. The Oak 
Ridger was unable to get a comment from DOE's Oak Ridge 
Operations office on whether this would have a local impact.

All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger 
*****************************************************************
 7  Japan to study effect of nuclear weapons tests in Kazakhstan 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 19, 2001

Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax 

Astana, 19 September: The Japanese government plans to carry out 
a project to study the effects of radiation on human health in a 
Kazakh region affected by former Soviet nuclear weapons tests and 
hammer out measures to deal with the problem, a Kazakh group said 
on Wednesday [19 September]. More than 450 nuclear weapons tests 
were carried out on a testing ground in Semipalatinsk from 1949 
to 1989. 

Aleksandr Serkebayev, director of the centre for the study and 
overcoming of the effects of radiation, a public association in 
Kazakhstan, said in Astana that the centre and the Japanese 
radiation effects association signed an agreement on 1 August 
this year to study the health effects of radiation on the 
Semipalatinsk population and make the Kazakh health service use 
Japanese recommendations. 

Japan's government has undertaken the entire funding of the 
project. But the cost of the project is still unclear, Serkebayev 
said. 

Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1346 gmt 19 Sep 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to 
*****************************************************************
 8  Kursk's reactors to be examined before final salvage operation 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 19, 2001


Text of report by Russian TV6 on 19 September 

[Presenter] As the operation to raise the Kursk submarine 
continues, it was announced today that divers will shortly start 
clearing out the area between the hulls in the fifth compartment. 

Here you can see divers working at a depth of almost 100 metres. 
These pictures, which were supplied by the press service of the 
Russian navy, show ongoing work on the submarine's first 
compartment, which will remain on the sea-bed after the rest of 
the Kursk has been raised. The next task will be an external 
examination of a particularly important part of the submarine - 
the reactor compartments. 

The submarine's reactors probably shut down immediately after the 
first explosion. 

Submarines of this type have two nuclear reactors, known as 
"Oka-656", which contain nuclear fuel at their heart. Special 
rods above the fuel slow down the nuclear reaction. The higher 
the rods rise, the harder the reactor works. In emergencies the 
rods drop down, the process terminates and the reactor stops 
working. For over a year the reactors have been lying idle behind 
the padding you can see here. This is the seventh compartment. 

According to a number of military experts, if the nuclear 
reactors had continued working after the explosion, the crew of 
the Kursk could have attempted to start up the emergency support 
systems in the stern compartments of the submarine. But they 
thought not of themselves but of others, and decided not to go 
ahead, perfectly aware that they were giving up the opportunity 
to save themselves. 

[Video shows divers working on the submarine, followed by 
graphics illustrating how the nuclear reactors work] 

Source: TV6, Moscow, in Russian 1700 gmt 19 Sep 01 /BBC 
Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to 
*****************************************************************
 9  Russia proposes measures for stepping up nuclear safety, 
nonproliferation 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 19, 2001


Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS 

Vienna, 19 September: Russian Atomic Energy Minister Aleksandr 
Rumyantsev said that it is necessary to rivet as much attention 
to the development of nuclear power engineering as to other IAEA 
[International Atomic Energy Agency] major functions - nuclear 
safety and the nuclear nonproliferation. The Russian minister is 
leading a delegation at a session of the IAEA General Assembly. 

"We can ensure nuclear safety and strengthen the nonproliferation 
regime not only by toughening control or imposing sanctions, but 
we can achieve such goals by creating technological barriers 
which prevent the spread of nuclear weapons," the minister said. 

This can be achieved on reactors capable of working on 
low-enriched fuel and in a regime of the closed fuel cycle, he 
added. 

Moreover, at the previous session of the IAEA General Assembly, 
Russian experts put forth their proposals and contributed to 
adopting a resolution on stepping up the activity of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency in such areas as nuclear 
science and technologies. 

"We believe that a new international project on innovation 
nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel cycles will be an important 
event. We think that this project is one of practical steps in 
light of Russian President Vladimir Putin's initiative put forth 
at the Millennium Summit last year," Rumyantsev said. 

The goal of the project is to work out coordinated criteria to 
choose perspective nuclear technologies of the new generation, he 
added. 

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1443 gmt 19 Sep 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to 
*****************************************************************
 10  Expert interrogations under way  

      Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for 
the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 
by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about 
the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. 

The interrogations of the experts on state secrets have started 
in the Pacific Fleet courthouse. A confident defence-team is 
ready to question the experts' independence and competence, as 
well as their methods.

Jon Gauslaa, 2001-09-19 19:04

The experts from the 8th Department of the Russian Ministry of 
Defence (MoD) arrived in Vladivostok on August 29. Their task was 
to evaluate whether there are state secrets or not in the 
documents that allegedly were confiscated at Pasko's flat in 
November 1997. 

The commander of the eight men brigade from the MoD, Mr. Repin, 
read their 47-page conclusions in Court on September 14. The 
Court's interrogation of the experts started on September 19 and 
is expected to continue for several days. 

'Same shit, new wrapping'

Defence attorney Anatoly Pyshkin said that the conclusions of the 
experts were more or less as the defence had expected. The 
experts are strongly connected with the FSB and have no legal 
competence, but still they have answered questions of a legal 
nature. -- It is quite obvious that the experts, who never have 
carried out a similar evaluation before, have been guided by a 
'bandmaster' who have helped them with their conclusions, Pyshkin 
said. 

The expert brigade's main legal instrument when carrying out 
their evaluation has been the infamous secret MoD decree no. 
055:1996. On September 12, 2001 the Russian Military Supreme 
Court ruled that this decree must be published and brought in 
accordance with the Russian Constitution and other federal laws. 

This may have led the experts to reduce the number of state 
secrets in the allegedly confiscated documents compared with 
previous expert evaluations of the same documents. The methods of 
the experts do however, remain the same. Thus, their conclusions 
are nothing but the 'same shit, in new wrapping'. 

Experts wearing blinkers

-- The experts' approach is extremely formalistic, said Pyshkin. 
They have put on their blinkers and used the MoD decree, without 
paying much attention to other legislation or to the fact that 
the 'secret' information already is available in the public 
domain. -- One of the main questions for the Court will therefore 
be to decide whether or not an item of information that already 
is well known to the public still can be a state secret. 

According to the experts, the documents do for instance reveal 
'the real names of military units', which in their eyes are a 
state secret. -- But turn on the TV any day, and you will see 
that in most reports related to the armed forces the real names 
and numbers of our armies, divisions, battalions and fleets are 
revealed by the officers of these units, Pyshkin said. -- If one 
follows the logic of the experts those officers should be 
prosecuted for disclosure of state secrets, which would seriously 
affect our defence capacity as our officers then would be busy 
standing trial all the time, commented the lawyer sarcastically. 

Sketches of secrets

One of the other alleged 'secret' items in the case is a drawing 
of a sketch of a technical navy base, which indicates where spent 
nuclear fuel is stored. Throughout the trial a number of officers 
have said under oath that the sketch is indistinct, outdated and 
not in accordance with the reality. Moreover, several open 
sources give an accurate and detailed overview of the base. -- 
For the experts these facts are irrelevant, said Pyshkin. In 
their eyes the indistinct and outdated sketch still reveals state 
secrets. 

The former military prosecutor turned defence attorney also 
referred to the fact that a MoD research institute has published 
a report with detailed information on the base. -- The defence 
asked for the report both from the headquarters of the Pacific 
Fleet and from the base itself, and we got it, but in both 
editions the page containing a detailed map of the base was 
removed, Pyshkin said. It is obvious that somebody wants to 
prevent the Court from discovering the truth in this case. 

Confident defence team

The defence has prepared many questions for the experts, although 
it does not expect them to withdraw their conclusion. 
Nevertheless, the defence is calm and confident before the 
'battle' with the experts. 

-- Our main purpose with questioning the experts is to underline 
that the evaluation of the question whether there are state 
secrets or not in the disputed material must be done by the Court 
and not by the experts, said co-defender Ivan Pavlov. The 
experts' conclusions do not prove that any of the disputed 
documents in the case contains state secrets. Besides, there is 
nothing in the case that proves that the documents actually were 
confiscated at Grigory's flat, there is no information suggesting 
that he collected them with the purpose of handing them over to 
anybody, or that the documents actually were handed over. -- 
Thus, we have a strong position, added Pyshkin. 

*****

Journalist Grigory Pasko was arrested on November 21, 1997 and 
charged with espionage in favor of the Japanese TV-channel NHK. 
At his first trial in July 1999, he was acquitted for espionage, 
but in stead convicted for 'abuse of his official authority' and 
released under a general amnesty. After appeals from both sides, 
the Military Supreme Court cancelled the verdict on November 21, 
2000, and sent the case back to the Pacific Fleet Court for a 
re-trial. The re-trial started in Vladivostok on July 11, 2001. 

      Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge 
Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: 
webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 
38 38 62  * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway Menu 
*****************************************************************
 11  Hanford building destroyed
 
This story was published Wed, Sep 19, 2001
 By John Stang Herald staff writer 

As Hanford buildings go, No. 303K was pretty nondescript.
 
A glorified concrete storage shed with a number.
 
An industrial-sized caterpillar-tracked excavator stood next to 
the building, its scoop replaced by a massive set of shears. The 
Bechtel Hanford excavator looked like a mechanical tyrannosaurus 
rex ready to rip apart its prey.
 
And that's what it did Tuesday afternoon.
 
Tuesday's destruction of Building 303K marked the first 300 Area 
structure to be destroyed and leveled under a fledgling Hanford 
master plan to speed up cleanup along the Columbia River and in 
the 300 Area.
 
The one-story building -- controlled by Fluor Hanford -- was 
about the size of a small house and mostly was used to store 
uranium. It was one of several existing "303" storage buildings 
in the center of the 300 Area. The last uranium stored in 303K 
now is buried in the 200 West Area.
 
But the question remains: When will the next 300 Area building be 
demolished under this accelerated cleanup proposal?
 
Several months ago, Keith Klein, the Department of Energy's 
Hanford manager, proposed to speed cleanup along the Columbia 
River, aiming for an accelerated finish date of 2012.
 
That proposed acceleration would include cleaning out wastes and 
demolishing most of the buildings around Hanford's Cold War 
plutonium-production reactors. And the proposal includes cleaning 
out and destroying most of the more than 100 contaminated 
buildings in the 300 Area just north of Richland. The idea is the 
only buildings to remain would be those needed by Pacific 
Northwest National Laboratory.
 
DOE's Richland office submitted a proposed budget for fiscal 
2002, which included this proposed cleanup acceleration. Fiscal 
2002 begins Oct. 1.
 
However, the Bush administration trimmed Hanford's budget from 
its 2001 level -- sending a $1.4 billion fiscal 2002 budget 
request to Congress when DOE's own figures said $1.83 billion was 
needed to meet the site's legal obligations plus accelerating 
river shore cleanup.
 
By apparently veto-proof margins, the Senate and House decided to 
fund the $1.832 billion needed to keep Hanford on its legal 
timetable.
 
But the Bush administration's initial reaction was to oppose that 
increase because it wants to conduct a "top-to-bottom" review of 
all of DOE's nuclear cleanup programs before it boosts funding to 
any of them.
 
The administration and Congress have not fought out their 
different views formally on Hanford's budget.
 
Last week's terrorist attacks have put the accelerated cleanup 
timetables and budgets in limbo, said Dave Evans, DOE's 
facilities transition division director.
 
Before the attacks, the federal government calculated that its 
overall budget surplus is less than believed earlier this year, 
and the administration already asked this summer for increased 
defense spending. Those facets already had clouded predictions on 
how Hanford's budget would come out for 2002.
 
In the aftermath of last week's attacks, Congress overwhelmingly 
passed a $40 billion emergency appropriation for the United 
States' war against terrorism.
 
That further clouds Hanford's budget, including speeding up 
cleanup along the Columbia River and in the 300 Area, Evans said.
 
He said another wrinkle exists. Bechtel Hanford's contract to 
clean up Hanford's river shore area expires on June 30, 2002. DOE 
wants to put a new type of contract in place in which the 
rivershore contractor would be locked in for at least 10 years.
 
But potential bidders, including Bechtel, cannot submit their 
proposals until Hanford's 2002 budget is known and DOE makes up 
its mind on accelerating river shore cleanup.
 
Those future contractor bids likely will map out how fast and in 
what order the 300 Area's buildings will be cleaned out and 
destroyed, Evans said. 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 12  Expert warns of 'nightmare' nuclear scenario in Pakistan 

Irish Newspapers - Irish Independent Online -

Sunday Independent , 

A LEADING authority on Pakistan's nuclear programme has given 
warning of a "nightmare scenario" in which a destabilised 
Pakistan lost control of its nuclear weapons to supporters of the 
Taliban. 

Any military action against Muslim terrorists within Afghanistan 
will have to take account of that, said George Perkovich, a 
nuclear weapons expert at the W Alton Jones Foundation in 
Charlottesville, Virginia, who has specialised in the nuclear 
arms race between India and Pakistan.

He dismissed any prospect that the present Government of Pakistan 
would use its nuclear armoury, but said that questions about the 
security of the weapons should be high on the agenda of the 
military planners.

"My guess would be that the US and the UK are thinking about that 
now," Mr Perkovich said. "If things go wrong, what do we do? Do 
we send commandos in to get the weapons and take them out in 
helicopters, like the last days in Saigon? Has this even been 
discussed with the Pakistanis?"

Militarily, Pakistan's nuclear weapons are its "crown jewels," 
but valuable as they may be for asserting national pride in the 
rivalry with India, they are of little use in the awkward 
diplomatic situation the Pakistani Government now faces.

Mr Perkovich said that Pakistan has about two to three dozen 
potential nuclear weapons, all based on enriched uranium. Tests 
carried out in 1998 demonstrated that they work. 

Pakistan also has medium-range missiles capable of reaching 
targets in India, if no farther afield.

"In normal times, they keep the warheads separate from the 
missiles," he said, "and the fissile uranium the core of the 
weapon is not kept in the warhead, which consists of electronics 
and high explosives, but doesn't have the fissile core in it. 
It's all dressed up and nowhere to go."

Assuming this is still true, it would make it much harder for 
those unfamiliar with the system to assemble the weapon and make 
it work.

In addition to having the weapons disassembled and safely stored, 
he said that the Pakistanis will have given thought to how they 
would be evacuated in an emergency.

"The most worrisome thing is the fissile core. That's easily 
moveable, which is both good and bad. It's bad because Saddam 
Hussein could make a bid for it, good because it means it could 
be put on a helicopter and taken out of harm's way." 

(* The Times, London) Nigel Hawkes

© Copyright Unison
*****************************************************************
 13  Analysis: The Status of Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
 
Analysis: The Status of Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons NewsMax.com Wires

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2001 WASHINGTON -- Pakistan's leader says 
the need to protect its nuclear weapons and save its economy from 
a possible collapse compelled the country to cooperate with the 
United States in attempts to bring suspected terrorist mastermind 
Osama bin Laden to justice and to flush out alleged terrorists 
from neighboring Afghanistan.

 On Wednesday, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said in an 
internationally broadcast television address from Islamabad that: 
"In this situation if we make the wrong decisions it can be very 
bad for us."

 "Our critical concerns are our sovereignty, second our economy, 
third our strategic assets (nuclear and missiles), and forth our 
Kashmir cause," he said. "All four will be harmed if we make the 
wrong decision. When we make these decisions they must be 
according to Islam."

 Earlier, he said: "Our nuclear facilities would have been in 
jeopardy and the economy would be completely down the drain" if 
Pakistan had not cooperated with the United States in the fight 
against terrorism.

 Credible defense sources such as Jane's Defense Weekly say 
Pakistan possesses between 15 to 25 strategic nuclear weapons, as 
well as about 60 short- and medium-range missiles to deliver the 
weapons and 34 F-16 aircraft capable of carrying nuclear 
warheads.

 Western experts have long expressed fears that Pakistan's 
nuclear weapons, as those of former Soviet republics of Central 
Asia, could get into the hands of terrorists and be smuggled to 
the West. Senior Pakistani officials have always rejected those 
fears as unfounded.

 But maintaining safe control of the weapons is one concern as 
the United States seeks Pakistan's help in tracking down bin 
Laden.

 So far Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have refused to hand over 
bin Laden or change their policy of giving refuge to Muslim 
fundamentalist radicals despite demands from the United States

 Pakistan sent a six-member delegation to Afghanistan on Monday 
to convince the country's Taliban rulers to expel bin Laden, a 
man President Bush has said is "wanted dead or alive" for his 
alleged involvement in last week's terrorist attacks in which 
some 6,000 people were killed or missing. The team returned to 
Pakistan Wednesday with no definite answer from the Taliban.

 Pakistan, which has so far maintained close links with the 
Taliban without breaking up its ties with the West, has now been 
forced to take sides. In a war against the Taliban it would find 
itself fighting against its former Afghan allies along with the 
international force that the United States is trying to put 
together.

 For Pakistan, it would be an unpopular war. It shares with 
Afghanistan a 1,500-mile mountainous border, which is difficult 
to monitor even in peace. People living on both sides of the 
border belong to the same ethnic and religious groups and are 
often related to each other. Any political movement on one side 
often has followers on the other.

 So the Taliban have many sympathizers on the Pakistani side of 
the border. According to Pakistan's Ministry for Religious 
Affairs there may be as many as 25,000 religious seminaries in 
Pakistan that have produced hundreds of thousands of Taliban, a 
word that means students and is used for those who go to 
'madaris' or Muslim seminaries.

 They are already out in the streets, protesting Musharraf's 
decision to cooperate with the Americans.

 "Fear God, not America," says Sami ul-Haq, a prominent Muslim 
cleric who has taught hundreds of Talibs both in Pakistan and 
Afghanistan.

 Urging Musharraf to dissociate Pakistan from a U.S.-led alliance 
against the Taliban, another fundamentalist leader, Kazi Hussain 
Ahmed, warned, "The army will be divided if you go along with the 
Americans. You will be fighting your own people."

 So far it is only the fundamentalists who come to such protests. 
They represent a tiny minority and have never won more than 10 
seats in a parliament of 217. But a war against Taliban can 
change that. Analysts say that a continued presence of U.S. or 
other Western troops in Pakistan cannot only win more sympathies 
for the fundamentalists but also create divisions within the 
Pakistan army.

 The possibility of a division within Pakistan's 600,000-strong 
armed forces scares many, both in and outside Pakistan. Despite 
their opposition to military rule in Pakistan, many Western 
analysts see the army as the only unifying force in a country of 
140 million people with more than a dozen ethnic and religious 
factions that are often fighting each other.

 Pakistan is not only strategically important; it is also the 
only Muslim country to have nuclear weapons. Pakistan tested a 
nuclear device in May 1998 in response to similar tests by rival 
India.

 Since then, both have been developing nuclear weapons and 
delivery systems.

 Senior Pakistani officials say their country's nuclear weapons 
are safeguarded.

 "We have a credible command and control structure and our 
weapons are in safe hands," says Mirza Aslam Beg, a former chief 
of the Pakistan army.

 Although experts like Rodney Jones, president of the U.S. think 
tank Policy Architect, have in the past pointed out "weaknesses 
in Pakistan's nuclear command, control and communication 
structure," others have trusted the army's capability of 
preventing these weapons from falling into wrong hands.

 But what happens if the army is divided? Can nuclear weapons get 
into the hands of someone like bin Laden?

 People like Beg rule out the possibility of a division within 
the army, which, they say, is one of the "most organized and 
trained in the region." They argue that there has never been a 
division within the army since 1947, when Pakistan separated from 
British India as an independent Muslim state.

 "The army has ruled the country for more than half of its 
history, toppling elected but weak and divided civilian 
governments. But it has always remained loyal to its central 
command," says Rasheed Khalid, who teaches defense and strategic 
studies at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University.

 "Aware of the responsibility that comes with possessing nuclear 
weapons, the army has created a command and control structure 
which is capable of dealing with any situation," says Khalid 
Rahman, a researcher at Islamabad's Institute for Policy Studies.

 In February 2000, Pakistan formed a centralized structure called 
the National Command Authority as "a unified command and control 
mechanism for its nuclear weapons and missile systems," says an 
army spokesman. The NCA is responsible for "policy formulation, 
employment and development control over all strategic nuclear 
forces and strategic organizations," he said. Headed by the 
president, the NCA includes ministers for foreign affairs, 
defense and interior and chiefs of the army, air force and the 
navy and heads of strategic organizations responsible for nuclear 
and missile development.

 On Nov. 27, 2000, Pakistan's military government "further 
consolidated its nuclear weapons management" by giving more 
control to Musharraf, who is both the president of the country 
and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan army. While announcing 
the "consolidation," a government spokesman said it would reduce 
the chances of a mishap and "should assure everyone that 
Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in safe hands."

 Such assurances seem to have positive impact on people like 
Rahman.

 "The army has its own command and control system and can be 
trusted with the weapons," he said.

 Pakistan also has a Strategic Force Command led by a serving 
army general responsible for the deployment of strategic 
missiles. Pakistan possesses two versions of a medium-range 
nuclear-capable missile called Ghauri. Its Shaheen-I and 
Shaheen-II missiles also belong to the same class.

 The existing version of the Ghauri missile has a range of 800 to 
1,200 miles; the ability to carry nuclear, biological and 
chemical warheads; and can be launched form land or air. It is 
equipped with an accurate guidance system.

 Pakistan is also working on a new version of the Ghauri with a 
range of up to 1,800 miles.

 Pakistan claims "having a unified command structure for its 
nuclear weapons and missiles places it in a better position than 
India."

 "In India, the military and political branches of power are not 
linked together with regard to nuclear weapons. India's civilian 
government executes full control over design, research and 
production of nuclear weapons, while the Indian military is in 
charge of operational control over nuclear weapons," says a 
spokesman for Pakistan's military government.

 But not everybody agrees with his assessment.

 "Politicians, and not generals, should have the final say in a 
matter as sensitive as this," says A.H. Nayyar, an associate 
professor of physics at the Quaid-i-Azam University and an 
outspoken critic of Pakistan's nuclear program.

 Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights 
reserved.
 
*****************************************************************
 14  County panel examines terrorism preparedness

  [Las Vegas Review-Journal] 
    
Thursday, September 20, 2001
 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal 
 
Group sees need for upgrades in training, communications 
By FRANK GEARY 
REVIEW-JOURNAL 

Southern Nevada is prepared for a hotel fire or a plane crash, 
but local emergency management officials said Wednesday that more 
needs to be done to protect the area from a terrorist attack. 

Doctors need training in biological and chemical warfare, 
emergency communications must be protected from computer hackers 
and vaccinations must be immediately accessible after a 
biological attack, members of the Clark County Local Emergency 
Planning Committee said after its quarterly meeting. 

Others said Cold War-era civil defense measures need to be 
resurrected, local emergency agencies need more reliable federal 
funding and security provisions for the proposed Yucca Mountain 
nuclear waste dump must be revamped. 

"Have things changed? Yes, definitely. And we are going to have 
to define things anew from this point forward," said Bob Andrews, 
Clark County Emergency Management director. "The emergency 
management system needs to focus more on our communities and our 
residents in ways we never considered before." 

The Emergency Planning Committee was established in 1987 to 
coordinate emergency agencies to respond to a large-scale 
disaster, whether natural or man-made. It consists of 42 members 
from federal, state and local government agencies, as well as 
representatives of the American Red Cross and executives from 
local chemical companies. 

Mike Myers, coordinator of the federally funded Metropolitan 
Medical Response System, said the blossoming regional program is 
designed to handle a chemical, biological or nuclear attack 
producing as many as 10,000 victims. 

"Whether a chemical release on the Strip, an airplane into a 
building, a biological attack, it doesn't matter what it is -- 
whatever yields 1,000 to 10,000 or more patients, the 
Metropolitan Medical Response System is ready to handle it," he 
said. "The planning to this point has been solid. We need another 
six months to polish up the rough edges." 

Tim McAndrew, emergency manager for the city of Las Vegas, said 
local officials in New York and Washington, D.C., responded 
efficiently to last week's terrorist attack, and Clark County is 
equally prepared. However, more reliable federal funding is 
needed to enhance and maintain the area's capabilities, he said. 

Irene Navis, planning manager for the county's Nuclear Waste 
Division, said the U.S. Energy Department hasn't adequately 
addressed security for trains or trucks that might deliver 
nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, but now it must. 

"This terrorist act of last week is going to add a new dimension 
to this program," she said. "Things that seemed far-fetched a 
couple weeks ago seem a lot more realistic now."
  
This story is located at: 
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-20-Thu-2001/news/17039246.html
*****************************************************************
 15  U.S. and Russia Make Progress on Storage of Nuclear Materials
 
 Environment News Service: 

 VIENNA, Austria, September 19, 2001 (ENS) - The development of a 
system to verify the location and status of nuclear weapons 
material released from defense programs in the United States and 
Russia has passed its annual review at the International Atomic 
Energy Agency (IAEA) conference in Vienna this week. 

The agency's 45th General Conference opened on a somber note with 
a moment of silence followed by a performance by the Vienna Boys 
Choir to honor the victims of the tragedy in the United States. 

[elBaradei] The IAEA General Conference approved by acclamation 
the reappointment of Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, incumbent director 
general. (Photos courtesy IAEA) IAEA verification of Russian and 
American nuclear material is intended to promote international 
confidence that fissile material made subject by either of the 
two nations to agency verification "remains irreversibly removed 
from nuclear weapon programs," the agency said. 

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, together with Minister of 
the Russian Federation on Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev, and 
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency 
Mohamed ElBaradei met in Vienna Tuesday to review progress. 

The three leaders said "significant progress was made" in the 
development of a model for the Subsidiary Arrangements that 
provide details for the implementation of the new agreements. 
These arrangements include facility-specific information, 
reporting requirements, the technical criteria for verification 
and the inspection procedures to be applied. 

Specific storage facilities being considered under the agreement 
are the Mayak Fissile Material Storage Facility in the Russian 
Federation, and the Savannah River K-Area Material Storage 
Facility, and the Lynchburg Babcock and Wilcox Uranium 
Downblending Facility in the United States. 

"The removal of weapon origin fissile material from the defense 
programs of the Russian Federation and the United States is in 
furtherance of the commitment to disarmament undertaken by the 
two States pursuant to Article VI of the Treaty on the 
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)." the IAEA said. 

Technically, the three parties are collaborating in developing 
and testing special verification equipment for use with 
classified forms of plutonium. This equipment will incorporate 
neutron and gamma ray measurement systems operating within a 
system of "information barriers" designed to allow the inspectors 
to derive sufficient information for the verification to be 
credible and independent, while preventing access to classified 
information. 

A prototype of this equipment has been demonstrated in the United 
States. The U.S. and Russia are developing contracts to support 
the design, construction and testing of such a measurement system 
in the Russian Federation. 

[seals] IAEA safeguards seals are verified with laser disk 
recording. The three parties are also collaborating on an 
inventory monitoring system that will assure the IAEA has 
continuity of knowledge once an item of material is verified and 
placed in storage to assure the material remains in storage as 
declared by either nation. 

A number of technical workshops were conducted in the past year. 
A technical workshop was held in the United States at the Sandia 
National Laboratories in November 2000 to consider appropriate 
inventory monitoring techniques. 

A second technical workshop was held at the Plutonium Fuel 
Production Facility of the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development 
Institute in April 2001 to consider how state-of-the-art 
safeguards systems employed for non-proliferation purposes could 
be adapted for disarmament verification. 

In addition, a technical visit was made in March 2001 to British 
Nuclear Fuels Ltd. in Sellafield, United Kingdom to observe 
measurement and monitoring activities in a large plutonium 
storage facility. 

Secretary Abraham, Minister Rumyantsev, and Director General 
ElBaradei committed their respective organizations to a work 
program aimed at the completion of a new verification agreement, 
the Subsidiary Arrangements, the specific verification 
arrangements for the facilities identified by both countries and 
the development of specialized verification and inventory 
monitoring systems. 

They agreed that the parties would meet again in September 2002 
to oversee the implementation of the initiative. 


Environmental Press Releases 
*****************************************************************
 16  Pantex personnel set to return to work 

Amarillo Globe-News: Local News: 

September 19, 2001

All cleared Pantex Plant personnel are scheduled to return to 
work today. Normal operations were suspended after last week's 
terrorist attacks.<P>

Normal operations will resume because the plant's heightened 
security ended, said Perry Hoag, Pantex Plant public affairs 
manager. <P>

Nonessential Pantex workers were sent home Sept. 11 in response 
to the attacks. Throughout the suspension, essential personnel 
reported to work.<P>

Security workers, including police officers and firefighters, are 
examples of essential personnel, said Jud Simmons, Pantex Plant 
media relations coordinator. Examples of daily operations that 
were suspended were maintenance and evaluation of nuclear 
weapons, Simmons said.<P>

Hoag said Tuesday that U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear 
Security Administration officials made the decision to suspend 
normal operations.<P>


2001 Amarillo Globe-News  
    
*****************************************************************

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: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
*****************************************************************