***************************************************************** 12/20/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.301 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Leak Found at Japan Power Plant 2 Nuclear foes cite risk of attacks 3 House OKs thorium cleanup cash 4 Protests at Sellafield's Mox plant 5 Congenital Deformity Rate Remains Low Near Nuclear Power Plant 6 Radioactive substance leak reported at Niigata nuclear plant 7 Radioactive leak found inside nuclear reactor 8 Congenital Deformity Rate Remains Low Near Nuclear Power Plant 9 Sellafield emissions reach Arctic Ocean 10 Professor says Sellafield no danger 11 Safe Sellafield claim "senseless" 12 Protesters gather for D-Day at Sellafield 13 European Commission Official Objects To Nuclear Phaseout 14 NRC Offers to Supply Potassium Iodide to States That Request it 15 Russian Nuclear Waste Referendum Bid Wins Overseas Support 16 Yucca health, safety studies sought 17 Nevada files lawsuit against Energy Department over nuclear dump guidelines - 18 Slovenia, Croatia sign agreement on the joint management of a nuclear power 19 "It is just a white elephant for the Sellafield area" 20 BNFL starts up Sellafield nuclear plant 21 Prairie Island Tribal Council President Meets with Secretary of 22 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-19 Number 238 23 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-18 Number 237 24 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-11 Number 236 25 MOX plant set to start up today despite objections 26 Nuclear plant to go ahead 27 Letters: Response to Gilinksy statement on KEDO 28 WNA NEWS BRIEFING 01.51 | 12 - 18 December 2001 29 December 2001 Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin 30 Waste Dump May Be 31 NWSC: Urgent Need to Advance Nuclea Waste Program 32 Irish Vow to Force Nuke Plant Shutdown NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Resting Nuclear Plant Is Finally Put to Sleep 2 Hanford Nuclear Employee Dismisses Litigation Against 3 Utility officials urge fast approval of Yucca facility 4 Bio, nuke labs in Baghdad, claims defector 5 Hanford reactor ordered closed 6 Nuclear Strike on Bunkers Assessed 7 Fate of Oak Ridge incinerator unknown 8 Ya'acov: I didn't believe I was revealing secrets 9 Department of Energy To Permanently Deactivate Fast Flux Test 10 Accused spy Pasko to court: I'm not a traitor ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Leak Found at Japan Power Plant Las Vegas SUN Today: December 20, 2001 at 13:15:16 PST TOKYO (AP) - A radioactive leak was found in the turbine room of a massive nuclear plant in northern Japan but was quickly contained, a company official said Thursday. Officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant discovered the leak during a spot check of a radioactive waste disposal area inside reactor No. 5, the official said on condition of anonymity. More precisely, the leak was detected within a device that analyzes gas formed as a byproduct of the plant's operations. The device is part of the building that houses the turbine. No one was injured, he said. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's seven reactors have a combined capacity of 8.2 million kilowatts, making it the world's largest power-generating nuclear facility. The company official refused to specify what the radioactive substance was, but said that there was no danger of radioactivity escaping outside the building. The reactor was functioning normally, he added. Katsuyuki Ishii, a spokesman for Niigata state, where the plant is located, said monitors in the area indicated no abnormally high radioactivity levels. It is in the village of Kariwa, 160 miles northwest of Tokyo. Resource-poor Japan depends on nuclear power for about 30 percent of its electricity needs. A recent spate of accidents and cover-ups, however, have made many Japanese uneasy about nuclear power. Japan's worst nuclear accident killed two workers and exposed hundreds of others to radiation at Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, in September 1999. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 Nuclear foes cite risk of attacks [charlotte.com] December 19, 2001 CATAWBA, MCGUIRE Licensing board hearsarguments against20-year extensions By BRUCE HENDERSON Opponents of 20-year license extensions for the two Charlotte-area nuclear plants on Wednesday raised the possibility of terrorist attacks in a meeting with a federal licensing board. Since Sept. 11, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a top-to-bottom review of security at all 103 of the nation's nuclear reactors. The commission also suspended exercises that measure the ability of nuclear plants to repel terrorist attacks. The Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an anti-nuclear group, says the Catawba and McGuire nuclear plants near Charlotte deserve special scrutiny. Duke Power wants to extend the plants' operating licenses by 20 years, keeping them in operation into the early 2040s. "We're in a new time," since the attacks on New York and Washington, said Mary Olson, the group's Southeastern director. "Something has happened that could change everything." Duke responded that Olson raises no security concerns that are unique to Catawba and McGuire, so the issue shouldn't become a licensing question. An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a panel named by the NRC, met Tuesday and Wednesday in Charlotte to discuss opponents' opposition to the license extensions. The three-member board will decide next month whether any of the claims merit a more exhaustive hearing. If it denies security as an issue worthy of a full hearing, Olson asked that the board refer it to the full commission. Her group also claims that Duke's planned use of a plutonium blend of fuel at McGuire and Catawba, beginning in 2007, should be considered during license renewal. Those would become the first U.S. nuclear plants to use fuel that contains surplus weapons plutonium. Duke Power insists questions about the mixed-oxide fuel should be handled separately. Duke plans to begin seeking permission in March to use test batches of the new fuel. An application for production use of the fuel would be filed in late 2003 or early 2004. Opponents may raise any questions about mixed-oxide fuel when the utility files applications to use it, Duke said. The Nuclear Information and Research Service also raised questions about the effects of age, stress and metal fatigue when reactors originally licensed for 40 years are pressed into service for 60. Duke said those issues are covered by a system of inspections and programs meant to detect aging components. ***************************************************************** 3 House OKs thorium cleanup cash Chicago Tribune | December 20, 2001 Kerr-McGee's reimbursement level would rise By Craig Linder States News Service Published December 19, 2001 WASHINGTON -- The House approved an extra $225 million Tuesday for the cleanup of radioactive waste at a West Chicago site that once produced thorium for the nation's nuclear weapons. The voice vote marked the second time the House has moved to increase the spending cap on the 8-year-old effort to remove several hundred thousand tons of contaminated sand-like materials that were spread around the city for decades. Tuesday's action raises the project's congressionally authorized spending cap to $365 million, up from $40 million at the project's creation. Congress increased the initial cap to $140 million in 1998. "What we are seeking to do is provide authority for the federal government to meet its obligations," said Rep. John M. Shimkus, a Collinsville Republican who was the legislation's prime sponsor, pointing to the factory's role in nuclear-weapons programs like the Manhattan Project. Since 1994, Kerr-McGee Corp., an Oklahoma City chemical company that owned the West Chicago plant from 1967 until it closed in 1973, has spent more than $405 million to remove the contaminated materials. Called tailings, the materials were initially a byproduct of the manufacture of gaslight mantles and later a result of the plant's production of thorium for the government. Home builders often used those tailings as fill or for landscaping in the neighborhoods surrounding the plant. Because thorium bound for the federal nuclear program was partially the cause of the contamination, the federal government agreed to reimburse Kerr-McGee for its share of the cleanup process. The Department of Energy determined that the government would be responsible for covering 55.2 percent of Kerr-McGee's costs. The company has spent more money on its cleanup than its share, but has not been reimbursed because of the spending ceiling, Shimkus said. Earlier this year, officials said the thorium cleanup was nearing an end. "Today, there is already a shortfall in authorized funding for the federal share of West Chicago cleanup costs of more than $60 million," Shimkus said. Funding for the federal government's share of the decontamination costs comes from a special account supplied by charges on utility companies. Congressional leaders negotiated a compromise provision in the bill designed to ensure that increased funding for the West Chicago cleanup does not prevent thorium decontamination efforts at three uranium enrichment sites and 13 uranium-mining sites nationwide from obtaining similar federal dollars. "There is no doubt that all of these sites need to be cleaned up and that these activities do not come cheaply," said Rep. Ted Strickland, an Ohio Democrat whose district includes a uranium-enrichment plant. As part of that compromise, utility companies will be required to pay an additional $37.5 million annually into the federal decontamination fund, an increase Shimkus said the companies could accept. "No one was coming and banging on our door saying, `This can't be done,'" Shimkus said. "Everyone benefits when you clean up polluted sites." Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune ***************************************************************** 4 Protests at Sellafield's Mox plant BBC News | ENGLAND | Thursday, 20 December, 2001, 21:04 GMT Irish politicians joined protesters outside Sellafield A controversial nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria has begun formal operations involving plutonium. BNFL confirmed on Thursday it had spent the day testing the sensitivity of plutonium detectors in the mixed oxide (Mox) plant at Sellafield, Cumbria. A spokesman said: "Things have gone as normal, I am not aware of any problems." Once the testing is complete, which is expected to take a fortnight, the plant will begin producing the Mox fuel. Environmental challenges The plant is testing its manufacturing process after surviving five rounds of public consultation and legal challenges from the Irish government and two environmental groups. On Thursday, protesters shouted at workers as they arrived. [BNFLs nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield] Neil McCann, a barrister and former mayor of Dundalk, was one of several Irish politicians to join in the protests outside Sellafield. He said: "It is a threshold because this is effectively the commissioning of Mox which presents a hazard to all the people of Ireland." John Gormley, 42, the Green Party member for Dublin South East, said: "This marks a new era for Sellafield - without Mox it really is a goner. "It is completely uneconomical." Nuclear fuel will be produced at Sellafield by the recycling of uranium and plutonium. The first batch of plutonium was transferred to the site at 0215 GMT on Thursday after a licence to operate was granted by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. Jack Allen, BNFL's head of operations at Mox said: "This is the best Christmas present we could have had. "This is just the beginning of Mox fuel manufacture and our focus is now on delivering the first fuel to customers." But Martin Forwood, a spokesman for Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, said: "The plant has no future from day one. Pollution concerns "You will end up with far too much nuclear fuel for no business. "It is just a white elephant for the Sellafield area." Environmental groups Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have previously argued that health and environment ministers took a "distorted" view when they decided the introduction of Mox was "economically justified" under European Union law. Ireland is concerned about radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea. [A woman joins the protest] And Norway has threatened legal action after finding pollution along its west coast, and in the Arctic. The United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg has already rejected arguments that the £470m development broke international laws on sea pollution and posed safety and security concerns. Recycling used fuel recovers 97% of valuable, reusable materials and separates out the remaining 3% as waste. The Mox plant in Cumbria was completed in 1996 but has lain idle since. Commercial go-ahead for the plant was withheld following financial concerns, and an incident when workers were found to have falsified data. There have also been fears that the plant could become a target for terrorists or those wishing to steal nuclear materials. 'Think again' Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace reacted angrily to the announcement. Charles Secrett, director of Friends Of The Earth, said: "MOX is a political, economical and environmental nightmare. "Allowing MOX to go ahead will simply anger our neighbours and threaten their security. "We call on the Government and BNFL, even at this late stage, to think again and stop the commissioning of this dangerous plutonium plant before its too late." Greenpeace also condemned the decision and said it was a major step backwards for the environment and international security. Spokesman Mark Johnston said: "The news of this act will be greeted with condemnation and incredulity in countries around the world opposed to the plutonium industry and BNFL in particular. ***************************************************************** 5 Congenital Deformity Rate Remains Low Near Nuclear Power Plant Xinhua News Agency ( December 19, 2001 ) HANGZHOU, Dec 19, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The morbidity rate of people born with congenital anomalies has remained low in Haiyan, an east China county where Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has been operating for 10 years. Data collected by Chinese and US scientists during the past decade shows that the morbidity rate of those with the congenital deformity in Haiyan County stood at 0.72 percent between 1991 and 1995 and 0.667 percent between 1996 and 2000. Meanwhile, the morbidity rate in the city Jiaxing, located within Haiyan, was at an optimistic 0.792 percent during the period. The statistics, certified by China's Ministry of Public Health and the US Center for Disease Control, shows that China's first self-designed, constructed and managed nuclear power plant has not brought any harm to the environment, said a local official, who is a member of the research team. It is widely agreed in the medical circle that excessive radiation intake during pregnancy can cause congenital deformities in newborns. The discharge of nuclear waste and the radioactive level of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant have been controlled since it started to generate power in 1991, said a source of the plant. To date, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has produced 16.78 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, making a profit of some 4.88 billion yuan (588 million U.S. dollars). Copyright 2001 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY ***************************************************************** 6 Radioactive substance leak reported at Niigata nuclear plant KYODO NEWS NIIGATA, Dec. 20, Kyodo - A nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture in central Japan on the Sea of Japan coast Thursday experienced a radioactive leak in a building housing a turbine, Niigata prefectural government officials said. The incident will not have any impact on the surrounding area as the radioactive substance was contained within the building, they said. The leakage occurred at a radioactive gaseous waste disposal facility area of the No. 5 reactor in the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), at around 11:45 p.m. Thursday. A monitor had showed a slight increase of radioactive gas in the area, the officials said. The leakage seems to have stopped and the company continued to operate the 1.1 million-kilowatt reactor, company officials said. Operators of the reactor had been inspecting the disposal system when the incident occurred, TEPCO officials said. Seven radioactive substance monitors of the local government showed no abnormal figures in the surrounding areas, according to the local government officials. TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, which has seven reactors with a combined total generating capacity of 8.21 million kilowatts, is the world's largest nuclear power plant in terms of capacity. 2001 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. ***************************************************************** 7 Radioactive leak found inside nuclear reactor The Times of India FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2001 TOKYO: A radioactive leak was found in the turbine room of a nuclear plant in northern Japan but it was quickly contained, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant discovered the leak during a spot-check inspection of a radioactive waste disposal area inside the Number 5 reactor, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. No one was injured, he said. He refused to specify what the radioactive substance was, but said that there was no danger of radioactivity escaping outside the building. The reactor was functioning normally, he added. Kariwa village is northwest of Tokyo. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's seven reactors have a combined capacity of 8.2 million kilowatts, making it the world's largest power-generating nuclear facility. Resource-poor Japan depends on nuclear power for about 30 per cent of its electricity needs. A recent spate of accidents and cover-ups, however, have made many Japanese uneasy about nuclear power. Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident killed two workers and exposed hundreds of others to radiation at Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, in September 1999. ( AP ) Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. | ***************************************************************** 8 Congenital Deformity Rate Remains Low Near Nuclear Power Plant Xinhua News Agency ( December 19, 2001 ) HANGZHOU, Dec 19, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The morbidity rate of people born with congenital anomalies has remained low in Haiyan, an east China county where Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has been operating for 10 years. Data collected by Chinese and US scientists during the past decade shows that the morbidity rate of those with the congenital deformity in Haiyan County stood at 0.72 percent between 1991 and 1995 and 0.667 percent between 1996 and 2000. Meanwhile, the morbidity rate in the city Jiaxing, located within Haiyan, was at an optimistic 0.792 percent during the period. The statistics, certified by China's Ministry of Public Health and the US Center for Disease Control, shows that China's first self-designed, constructed and managed nuclear power plant has not brought any harm to the environment, said a local official, who is a member of the research team. It is widely agreed in the medical circle that excessive radiation intake during pregnancy can cause congenital deformities in newborns. The discharge of nuclear waste and the radioactive level of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant have been controlled since it started to generate power in 1991, said a source of the plant. To date, Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has produced 16.78 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, making a profit of some 4.88 billion yuan (588 million U.S. dollars). Copyright 2001 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY ***************************************************************** 9 Sellafield emissions reach Arctic Ocean Aftenposten Nettutgaven, Local Norwegian researchers claim that adioactivity from the Sellafield nuclear plant in northwestern England has passed Svalbard and reached the Arctic Ocean. The Sellafield plant on the Cumbrian coast continues to cause concern in Norway. "We have taken tests in the Norwegian Sea and west of Svalbard and found technetium the whole way," said researcher Hilde Elise Heldal of the Ocean Research Institute in Bergen. Heldal told Tromsø newspaper Nordlys that radioactivity from the technetium is highest just outside Troms in northern Norway. Technetium, she said, is a radioactive byproduct that's liberated when used uranium is upgraded for new uses. That's how Heldal traces the radioactivity to Sellafield, which is a nuclear reprocessing facility. Heldal will present her findings Friday when she orally defends her doctoral dissertation at the University of Bergen. Heldal said radiation levels were 10 times the norm, but she stressed that the radioactivity was not hazardous. "Nonetheless we know that the radioactive emissions are creating concern in the markets for Norwegian fish," she said. The embassy of Japan, a major customer of Norwegian seafood, has, for example, sought more information from Norwegian authorities. Nuclear physicist Nils Bøhmer of the environmental group Bellona said Heldal's findings indicate that demands for a new purification plant at Sellafield are justified. Bøhmer noted that both Great Britain and Norway have helped fund efforts to clean up Russia's nuclear facilities on the Kola peninsula. "And it's not the Russians that are polluting the Barents Sea with more radioactivity," he said, suggesting Britain should direct funds to Sellafield. Norway's environmental minister Børge Brende is in England this week and was to tour Sellafield Tuesday. Norway has expressed its concerns over Sellafield, but Brende received no promises during a meeting with his British counterpart Margaret Beckett on Monday. Aftenposten English Web Desk Nina Berglund/NTB Utgiver: Aftenposten Multimedia A/S, Oslo, Norge. Telefon +47 22 86 30 00. Alt innhold er opphavsrettslig beskyttet. © Aftenposten Multimedia. ***************************************************************** 10 Professor says Sellafield no danger Aftenposten Nettutgaven, Local Updated 19.12.01, kl 10:03 (GMT +01:00) Norwegian chemistry professor Per Hoff calls Minister of Environment Børge Brende's anti-Sellafield campaign "pure populism". The nuclear plant poses no danger to Norway's coastal seafood industry, says Hoff. Hoff does not see the emissions from the Sellafield plant as a health threat. "It's like walking a dog in the neighbor's garden - rude and unnecessary, but not directly dangerous," Hoff said. The professor said that the fear generated by Brende's enthusiastic backing for Ireland's battle against the Sellafield plant was doing more damage to Norway's seafood industry than pollution. "Lobster is most vulnerable to technetium. But a person would have to eat 150 tons of lobster a year to achieve the levels of natural radiation we are all exposed to," Hoff said. Hoff believes that the radiation danger posed by technetium emissions is microscopic compared to the natural background radiation we are exposed to daily. The State Radiation Board should have intervened to clarify what the pollution levels mean, rather than letting an environmental concern get mixed up with trade issues. Hoff agreed with Brende that the sea should not be a garbage dump, and said only Britain's stinginess prevented them from purification or alternative emission practices. But Hoff said that Brende had more pressing environmental issues to address. Aftenposten's Norwegian reporter Agnar Kaarbø Aftenposten English Web Desk Jonathan Tisdall Utgiver: Aftenposten Multimedia A/S, Oslo, Norge. Telefon +47 22 86 30 00. Alt innhold er opphavsrettslig beskyttet. © Aftenposten Multimedia. ***************************************************************** 11 Safe Sellafield claim "senseless" Aftenposten Nettutgaven, Local Updated 20.12.01, kl 08:40 (GMT +01:00) Norway's Minister of Environment Børge Brende dismissed claims that the controversial technetium emissions from Britain's Sellafield nuclear plant are harmless, and said demands that they clean up would continue. A frustrated Brende said that "meaningless" comments from chemistry professor Per Hoff in Aftenposten on Wednesday weakened Norway's arguments in efforts to get the plant to stop dumping radioactive waste into the Irish Sea. "During our visit to Sellafield Tuesday it became clear that they considered storing the discharge from the plant in the ground. This was rejected by authorities on the grounds of health and safety. Instead they chose to continue to release the substance into the Irish Sea. That says it all," said Brende. Brende said he was surprised that professor Hoff did not question the wisdom of introducing a synthetic radioactive substance into nature, and raising general levels of radiation. "For certain organisms in the Irish Sea the becquerel count is in the process of reaching European Union limits set for use in nuclear accidents," Brende said. Brende agreed that one could not necessarily define the dangers as acute, but stressed that there was little knowledge about how technetium affected the environment. "In the 50's no one talked about PCB being dangerous - today they are among the worst environmental toxins. We should also not forget that technetium has a half-life of over 200,000 years," Brende continued. Brende also admitted that Norway had work to do in order to limit environmental damage being done to the North Sea by its petroleum industry. The goal of supporting Ireland's fight to clean up or shut down Sellafield is to end the release of radioactive technetium into the environment. "There is a long way to go before we get the British authorities to choose purification. But we will not give up until they stop polluting our food supply," Brende said. Aftenposten's Norwegian reporter Agnar Kaarbø Aftenposten English Web Desk Jonathan Tisdall Utgiver: Aftenposten Multimedia A/S, Oslo, Norge. Telefon +47 22 86 30 00. Alt innhold er opphavsrettslig beskyttet. © Aftenposten Multimedia. ***************************************************************** 12 Protesters gather for D-Day at Sellafield Irish Newspapers - December 20th 01 IRISH protesters will gather outside Sellafield nuclear plant today amid fears the controversial MOX facility will get the go-ahead. The British Installation Inspectorate is expected to rule today on whether it should commence operations to recycle uranium and plutonium as fuel for power stations. Earlier this month, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth failed in their legal bid to block the plant on the Cumbrian coast of the Irish Sea. Last night demonstrators were gathering in Cumbria to blockade the plant using "non-violent direct action". Frank Khan © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 13 European Commission Official Objects To Nuclear Phaseout F.A.Z. - English Version F.A.Z. BERLIN. Two days before Germany's parliament decided to gradually end the country's use of nuclear energy, a high-ranking official with the European Commission warned the Berlin coalition that a key section of the legislation violated a treaty. In a Dec. 12 letter, the official took aim at the section of the law that could remove a source of large anti-nuclear protests that require the massive mobilization of police forces to contain: a ban on the transport of nuclear waste for reprocessing in other European countries starting in the middle of 2005. But Francois Lamoureux, the general director for energy and transportation in the Commission, said this restriction would actually violate an article of a European treaty governing atomic energy. This article requires all member countries to remove restrictions on the import and export of nuclear materials, Mr. Lamoureux said. Despite the warning, officials in the German coalition said they had no legal reason to bring the legislative process to a halt last week, said a spokesman for German environment minister, Jürgen Trittin of Alliance 90/The Greens. Instead, officials have a month to respond to the objections. But the spokesman noted that officials had already considered the issues during their work on the legislation. "The conclusion was that the planned legislation was determined to be in compliance with European law," the spokesman said. A Christian Democrat, whose party rejected the atomic legislation, criticized the government over the letter. "The government either knew nothing, which would be bad, or did not pay attention to the letter, which would be just as bad," said Kurt-Dieter Grill. The shutdown, which received final approval in the parliament on Friday, represents the culmination of more than two decades of work by Mr. Trittin's party. Under the law, the country's 19 nuclear power plants will be taken off-line over roughly the next 20 years. The law allows each plant to operate for 32 years and produce a fixed amount of energy. But producers can trade these quotas among plants, allowing older facilities to be closed in order to extend the life of other sites. Because of this flexibility, Mr. Trittin has said the last German plant will be taken out of service by around 2020. The section to which Mr. Lamoureux objected is designed to eliminate the shipments to reprocessing facilities at Sellafield, England, and at La Hague, France. Such shipments are often accompanied by protests. In November, for instance, police detained 780 people and formally arrested an additional 45 when Castor transports carrying 80 tons of waste were shipped from La Hague to a temporary storage site at Gorleben in Lower Saxony. Dec. 19, 2001 © Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 ***************************************************************** 14 NRC Offers to Supply Potassium Iodide to States That Request it NRC: Press Release - 2001 - 135 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] Public Affairs Web Site No. 01-135 December 20, 2001 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent letters to those states that have nuclear power plants located within the state, or nearby, offering to supply potassium iodide to requesting states within about 30 days. NRC regulations require that consideration be given to including potassium iodide as a protective measure for the general public to supplement evacuation and sheltering in the event of a severe nuclear power plant accident. Potassium iodide, if taken in time, blocks the thyroid gland's uptake of radioactive iodine and thus would help prevent thyroid cancers and other thyroid diseases that might be caused by exposure to radioactive iodine that could be dispersed in a severe nuclear accident. The Commission has found that potassium iodide is a reasonable, prudent and inexpensive supplement to evacuation and sheltering for specific local conditions. The Commission left it to the states to make a final decision on whether to use it in their emergency preparedness program, but decided to fund the initial purchases of potassium iodide for any state that decided to stockpile it. The states of Alabama, Arizona, and Tennessee already provide potassium iodide for the general public around nuclear power plants as a part of their emergency preparedness program. In addition, emergency plans for all nuclear power plants provide for distribution of the drug to emergency workers and certain institutionalized populations, such as hospital patients within designated emergency planning zones. The Commission has set aside $800,000 to fund initial stockpiles of potassium iodide for one to two doses for individuals within about 10 miles around each plant. The agency is currently negotiating with pharmaceutical suppliers, who would ship the drug directly to the address indicated by each state. The NRC will provide potassium iodide to requesting states on a first-come, first-served basis. Attachments to the NRC's letters to the states provide Food and Drug Administration guidance on use of potassium iodide and guidelines developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for implementation of a potassium iodide program. ***************************************************************** 15 Russian Nuclear Waste Referendum Bid Wins Overseas Support Environment News Service: MOSCOW, Russia, December 19, 2001 (ENS) - Environmental groups from seven countries today urged the governor and members of the local parliament in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia to support polling the voters in a local referendum on nuclear waste. Public groups in the region are now attempting to collect enough signatures for a referendum on the import of foreign nuclear waste for storage and reprocessing in Krasnoyarsk. Environmental activists Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States urged the Krasnoyarsk authorities to support a regional referendum on the issue. [Krasnoyarsk] City of Krasnoyarsk (Photo courtesy Sveta) Russia's largest spent nuclear fuel reprocessing center is planned for the Krasnoyarsk Mining and Chemical Combine at Zheleznogorsk on the Yenisei River in central Siberia. Deep underground, Krasnoyarsk-26, once a secret Soviet nuclear city, was established in 1950 to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. Construction of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant began in 1983, to include a spent fuel wet storage facility, waste disposal facilities and a plant to produce mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel. The reprocessing plant was due for completion in 1998, but funding was cut drastically in 1985 and stopped completely in 1989. In January 1995, a presidential decree authorized Krasnoyarsk to seek foreign investors. An expert commission in October 1996 decided that nothing more could be done until a full environmental impact study was completed. The plant is 30 percent complete and is being prepared for further construction. "Unfortunately, no country has found a solution to the spent nuclear fuel problem that would be safe for the environment and technically perfect," the environmental organizations said in their joint letter. "We believe the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is unacceptable from both non-proliferation and environmental points of view." Before the referendum can be approved, 35,000 signatures must be collected, and the deadline for submitting the signatures is January 7, 2002. According to the local center organizing the referendum, about 38,000 signatures had been collected as of December 18, 2001. But even if all the required signatures are collected, Russian environmental activists are not sure the Krasnoyarsk referendum will be held. Earlier this year, Russian authorities did not allow public groups to organize a national referendum on the import of spent nuclear fuel even though millions of people signed the petition forms. Over 2.5 million signatures for the referendum were collected nationally by environmental groups, but then half a million were disqualified by officials for unclear reasons. The remaining signatures did not come up to the necessary number. Soon after, Russian legislators approved a new law allowing the nuclear industry to import nuclear waste. [Krasnoyarsk] Residential area of Krasnoyarsk (Photo courtesy Jacob Kearl [http://cc.usu.edu/~sl8vf/index.html ] ) Russia's Ministry for Atomic Energy (MINATOM) has stated that over the next decade it could import up to 20,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from countries including Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Taiwan, South Korea and China in contracts worth up to $21 billion. MINATOM maintains that by accepting the rest of the world's unwanted radioactive waste it will be able to upgrade its own nuclear waste storage, clean up heavily contaminated land, and expand its nuclear reprocessing operations at the Mayak nuclear complex in the Ural mountains. In their appeal to the Krasnoyarsk governor and parliament the environmentalists said, "Building democracy is not an easy task. In this light, we were very glad to hear that in your region you are making another very important step to democracy by allowing the public to express its point of view on nuclear waste policy." The appeal was signed by: the Nuclear Information and Resource Service of the United States, Citizens Nuclear Information Center and Green Action Kyoto of Japan, EU Enlargement Watch and CORE of the United Kingdom, the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements, Friends of the Earth Australia, Urgewald of Germany, Ecodefense! of Germany and Ecodefense! of Russia which launched the appeal internationally. The environmental groups appealing to Krasnoyarsk authorities are from countries that have accumulated stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel that amount to over 95 percent of the world's stocks of spent nuclear fuel. These countries are viewed by the Russian nuclear industry as potential exporters of nuclear waste to Russia - customers for Russia's waste disposal services. "We have a common position on the issue of moving radioactive waste, including spent nuclear fuel, across the national borders - it must never be allowed," the environmental groups said in their appeal. "Each country that produces waste must take responsibility for it. With this letter we are informing you that the environmental groups represented here will work to prevent non-Russian nuclear industries from exporting waste to Russia." the groups said. About 200,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel has been produced by the world's nuclear reactors, a figure that increases by about 12,000 metric tons a year. Currently, almost half of this is reprocessed, 38 percent is disposed of and 15 percent is in long term storage. Email the Environment Editor [news@ens-news.com] © Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 16 Yucca health, safety studies sought Las Vegas SUN Today: December 20, 2001 at 10:17:58 PST State geologist says more research needed By Mary Manning < [manning@lasvegassun.com] > Federal scientists studying Yucca Mountain have left many gaps in their research as it relates to the health and safety of nearby residents and, as a consequence, the Department of Energy should continue researching the site, Nevada's geologist said. A panel representing the National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday listened to a report from state geologist Jonathan Price regarding a lack of evidence pointing to the safety of a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Extensive research on geology and ground water near Yucca Mountain has been conducted at Nevada universities, Price said, but monitoring the health of the public, as well as repository workers, is essential. The DOE needs to study people 12 miles away in Amargosa Valley and as far as 90 miles away in Las Vegas to determine their current state of health and monitor potential problems after the waste is shipped to the site, Price said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board have recently criticized the DOE for proceeding with plans for a repository, as nearly 300 technical issues remain unanswered. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, in a recently released report urged the DOE to indefintely postpone plans for the nuclear waste site. Questions about earthquake activity, a possible volcano under Yucca Mountain, how fast water flows through fractures in the proposed repository's rock and the potential for radioactive gas escaping from buried waste in the tunnels have yet to be answered by the Energy Department, Price said Wednesday. "There are a lot of things we don't completely understand in the Yucca Mountain area," Price told the panel, which is proposing a deliberate, step-by-step construction process should the repository be built. Nevada, which opposes the repository, earlier this week sued the DOE in an effort to prevent Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham from even recommending the site to President Bush. Abraham Van Luik, a DOE technical adviser to Yucca Mountain, said federal scientists believe they can make an argument in favor of the repository. "We believe the nation can be confident in the safety of a repository," he said. But the public will not be able to read the scientific basis for DOE's stance until Yucca is recommended, Van Luik said. "It's very possible Yucca Mountain could be the death of geological repositories in the United States," said Judy Treichel, executive director of the Nuclear Waste Task Force, a citizen watchdog organization. Treichel also said that putting nuclear waste on top of the mountain while the DOE builds a repository in stages does not prove the site safe. More than $8 billion has been spent by the DOE to study the mountain during the past 15 years. The academy's National Research Council committee is expected to complete its final report on Yucca Mountain in November 2002. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Nevada files lawsuit against Energy Department over nuclear dump guidelines - 12/20/2001 - ENN.com Thursday, December 20, 2001 By Ken Ritter, Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Nevada sued the federal Energy Department this week, challenging the agency's criteria for deciding whether the nation's radioactive waste can safely be buried 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The state wants the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to stop the project before Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham decides whether to recommend Yucca Mountain as a suitable place to bury the nation's spent nuclear waste, said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency. "The DOE is changing the rules about how they assess whether Yucca Mountain is suitable or not," Loux said. "We believe the new rules are not in compliance with the law." The lawsuit charges the Energy Department has constructed a new plan that relies on engineered barriers such as corrosion-resistant casks — rather than the geology of Yucca Mountain — to contain the intense radioactivity at the site. But Joe Davis, Energy Department spokesman, said the agency reshaped its guidelines to take advantage of emerging technology. Davis said he had not seen the lawsuit. Abraham said last week he has not made a decision whether to recommend to President Bush the volcanic ridge for storing 77,000 tons of nuclear waste for 10,000 years or more. Congress has asked for a decision by Feb. 28. Abraham's aides have said he intends to make a recommendation this winter. The mountain, at the western edge of the vast Nevada Test Site, is the only place under study. Copyright 2001, Associated Press Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 Slovenia, Croatia sign agreement on the joint management of a nuclear power plant - 12/20/2001 - ENN.com Thursday, December 20, 2001 By Associated Press KRSKO, Slovenia — Slovenia and neighboring Croatia settled a long-standing dispute Wednesday, agreeing to jointly manage a nuclear power plant they built together while still provinces of Yugoslavia. Representatives of the countries' electric companies signed an agreement committing them to jointly manage the Krsko plant, built in Slovenia in the 1980s, and share the electricity it produces until the facility's closure, scheduled for 2024. The plant became a source of tension between the two otherwise good neighbors in 1991 when they both simultaneously declared independence from Yugoslavia. Since then, the two countries had repeatedly failed to agree on how to manage the plant. Relations worsened between the two states in 1998 when Slovenia cut off its electricity supply to Croatia, complaining that its neighbor was long overdue on payments to the plant. Croatia, which then depended on the plant for about 18 percent of its electricity needs, was forced to buy more expensive electricity elsewhere. Wednesday's agreement finally settled the dispute, but the deal still needs to ratified by each country's parliament. Residents in Krsko, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of the capital Ljubljana, protested, saying they doubt Croatia will fulfill its obligation to take half of the plant's nuclear waste. Croatia's Environment Minister Bozo Kovacevic complained that the agreement didn't solve questions of waste management. The deal says the waste should be stored at the plant until its closure, at which time the two countries would be required to find a way of disposing of it. Copyright 2001, Associated Press Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 "It is just a white elephant for the Sellafield area" - CORE spokesman Martin Forwood itv.com Sellafield plant decision due 9.50AM GMT, 20 Dec 2001 A controversial nuclear reprocessing plant could be set to get the go-ahead. The Government is due to will rule whether the site at Sellafield can begin producing mixed oxide fuel (MOX) for power stations. The project has provoked furious debate ever since its completion in 1996. The site has been idle as the Government debated the plant's sustainability and potential profitability. Permission was granted in October this year despite protests from Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE). Both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth lost their appeal earlier this month to block the plant,but the judge did criticise the Government's refusal to take MOX's construction costs into account when considering its economic viability. Martin Forwood, a spokesman for CORE, said the group would be following proceedings closely and was not convinced BNFL would get the go-ahead. He said: "There has been suspicion that in pushing their case, the BNFL have been rather optimistic and they may not be in a position to start. "Whether that is true or not, we don't know. If it does happen, we would say it was a retrograde step - certainly for this area. "You will set in motion a plant that has no future from day one. You will end up with far too much nuclear fuel for no business. "It is just a white elephant for the Sellafield area." MOX has also faced resistance from the Irish government, which fears emissions from the Cumbrian plant will have a dire affect on the country and the Irish Sea. ***************************************************************** 20 BNFL starts up Sellafield nuclear plant Reuters | Ananova | Sky News | Photos Thursday December 20, 12:39 PM By Matthew Jones LONDON (Reuters) - State-owned British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has said it is starting up a 472 million pound nuclear fuel manufacturing plant that has been the focus of several legal challenges to stop it opening. "BNFL has today commenced the first stage of active plutonium commissioning of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP)," the company said in a statement. The news that highly toxic plutonium is being introduced into SMP will come as a blow to opponents of the plant, including environmental groups Grenpeace and Friends of the Earth and the government of Ireland. All three have tried and failed to block the plant from opening via the courts. "This is a major step backwards for the environment and international security. BNFL and the British government clearly have little regard for either," Mark Johnston of Greenpeace told Reuters. The plant, which will mix plutonium with uranium oxides to produce MOX (mixed oxide) to be used in nuclear reactors, has lain idle since it was completed in 1996 because of legal challenges and concerns it would not make any money. The latest legal battle was tied off on Monday when a United Nations court announced that both Britain and Ireland had submitted reports outlining consultations they had been ordered to have. The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which ordered the two countries to consult each other about safety and pollution concerns, had earlier this month rejected a request from Ireland for an injunction to prevent the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) from opening. Ireland says it is worried about safety and pollution from Sellafield because the BNFL's MOX plant will discharge low level radioactive emissions into the Irish Sea. Environmental groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, also say that apart from the pollution concerns, the MOX fuel will find few customers because it is more expensive than conventional uranium reactor fuel. The two groups recently lost a court action in Britain to halt SMP opening. An international furore erupted in 2000 when it was revealed data on a pilot batch of MOX fuel sent to Japan had been falsified. The ensuing row and cancelled orders led to the UK government shelving plans to part privatise BNFL. Jack Allen, Head of Operations MOX said, "the focus is now on delivering the first fuel to customers". A government commissioned report into SMP published earlier this year said the plant would deliver net financial benefits of 216 million pounds over its lifetime once build costs were excluded. Ireland is currently considering a complaint to the OSPAR tribunal which rules on the OSPAR convention on maritime issues in the northeastern Atlantic, and a possible challenge in the European Court of Justice. Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 Prairie Island Tribal Council President Meets with Secretary of Energy to Discuss Nuclear Waste Issue Wednesday December 19, 7:24 pm Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Prairie Island Tribal Council Prairie Island Tribal Council President Meets with Secretary of Energy to Discuss Nuclear Waste Issue WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Prairie Island Tribal Council President Audrey Kohnen today urged U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to act quickly to remove nuclear waste from a storage site 600 yards from the Prairie Island Indian Community. Kohnen was among several representatives with the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC) who met with Secretary Abraham to discuss plans for a permanent repository for the nation's nuclear waste. ``Nuclear waste is a serious issue for my community,'' President Kohnen said. ``No other community lives as close to nuclear waste as we do. We live every day with the federal government's failure to deal with this problem. We want the waste removed from near our reservation and placed in a safe, militarily secure repository. If the government determines that Yucca Mountain is that site, then we want the nuclear waste that currently sits in our backyard moved there as soon as possible.'' The Prairie Island Indian Community is located 600 yards from Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear power plant and nuclear waste storage site. No community in the nation lives as close to nuclear waste as Prairie Island. Adding to the tribes concern, in an event of an accident, there is only one permanent evacuation route off the reservation and it's subject to flooding and often blocked by train activity. President Kohnen is a member of the NWSC. The coalition is made up of representatives from utilities, state governments and tribal governments. The NWSC is urging the federal government to approve a permanent storage facility at Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Prairie Island Indian Community is a federally recognized Indian Nation, located 50 minutes southeast of the Minneapolis/St. Paul along the Mississippi River. SOURCE: Prairie Island Tribal Council Copyright © 2001 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-19 Number 238 1. Non-proliferation ROK's Defense Ministry says DPRK would need "at least several years" to complete first nuclear weapons, although it is estimated to have extracted enough plutonium to build one or two nuclear bombs. US to present detailed report to UN of steps it has taken to combat international terrorism, hoping that it will give substance to Security Council resolution requiring all nations to join struggle, administration officials say. (NYT; R - 19/12) Dem. P.R. of Korea; Korea, Republic of; UN; United States of America 2. Nuclear power Lithuania to receive 55 ml Euros from EU for projects related to closure of Ignalina NPP. China's state-owned nuclear energy company plans to build 2000 Megawatt NPP in Sanmen, Zhejiang Province. Ukrainian president confirms difficulties in EBRD talks on reactor funds and reveals precise sum of money which Russia agrees to allocate for completion of reactors at Rovno and Khmelnitski NPPs. (R - 18, 19/12) China; European Union; Lithuania; Ukraine 3. Nuclear Safety Controversy over construction of replacement research reactor at Australian Lucas Heights continues. Australia; IAEA 4. Radiation, health According to report, new Canadian plant designed to produce almost two-thirds of world's supply of medical isotopes is already two years behind schedule and still plagued by safety issues that have caused delay. Canada 5. Radwaste, fuel Japan Nuclear Fuel Service Co. plans to produce MOX fuel at Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, and seeks approval from Prefecture. Controversy over Sellafield continues: Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland defends its decision not to inspect plan's radwaste, despite being invited there six weeks ago. (ASS - 19/12) Japan; United Kingdom ***************************************************************** 23 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-18 Number 237 1. Non-proliferation According to article, for UN inspection to be meaningful, Iraq needs strong incentive to comply: only motivation that might move Saddam Hussein is prospect that US would agree to lifting of UN economic sanctions. President Putin reportedly sees continued alliance with US despite end of ABM Treaty; US and Russia to begin talks next month on how and when to make deep cuts in their strategic nuclear arms, despite continued disagreement over anti-missile treaty. (IHT; NYT - 18/12) ABM; Iraq; Russian Federation; United States of America; UNMOVIC 2. IAEA UNGA adopts resolution urging all Member states to support IAEA in its efforts to prevent terrorist attacks involving nuclear and other radioactive materials. (UNW - 17/12) IAEA; UN 3. Nuclear power Twenty DPRK nuclear experts begin two-week tour of French-built nuclear installations in ROK: team members first of nearly 300 who will be trained in ROK under KEDO agreement to build two LWRs. Russia and Ukraine sign intergovernmental agreement to complete Khmelnitski-2 and Rovno-4, weeks after EBRD loan accord to complete project was unexpectedly postponed. Russia announces it will build at least four NPPs at home and abroad. Czech Government's plans for multibillion-dollar privatization bonanza suspended in confusion and recrimination: country's electricity monopoly left unsold. While German Parliament votes to phase-out nuclear over next two decades, Environment Minister gives go-ahead for restart of unit two of Philippsburg NPP. It is reported that Hungarian Paks NPP's lifetime could be extended by 10-20 years. Tony Blair will reportedly keep open option of building new generation of NPPs, despite receiving report calling for much more investment in renewable sources of energy. (BBC; I; NUC; NYT - 14, 17, 18/12) Czech Republic; Dem. P.R. of Korea; Germany; Hungary; KEDO; Korea, Republic of; Russian Federation; Ukraine; United Kingdom 4. Nuclear Safety According to nuclear safety group, US NPPs are ill-prepared for nuclear attacks. Russian security service finds security breach at NPP. (BBC; NYT - 17/12) Russian Federation; United States of America 5. Radiation, health Environmental factors may be to blame for increase in rates of certain types of childhood cancer. (BBC - 18/12) 6. Radwaste, fuel Panama signs Protocol with IAEA to supply Agency with information on R activities related to nuclear fuel cycle. Panama ***************************************************************** 24 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-12-11 Number 236 1. Non-proliferation Russia calls on Washington to join it in new arms control treaty, committing two countries to radical reduction of nuclear warheads. Renewed EU support for non-proliferation on Korean Peninsula. (G; R - 11/12) Dem. P.R. of Korea; European Union; KEDO; Russian Federation; United States of America 2. IAEA IAEA denies it is in talks with DPRK over wider inspections of country's key nuclear facilities and says DPRK isotope production laboratory is not a "frozen facility" and invitation to visit thus did not amount to breakthrough. Mongolia and IAEA sign Additional Protocol to NPT Safeguards Agreement. (BBC; R - 10/12) Dem. P.R. of Korea; IAEA; Mongolia 3. Illicit trafficking Arrest of men trying to sell uranium near Moscow heightens longstanding concerns that Russia's nuclear material is vulnerable to theft or sale to terrorist groups; Report: " The Nuke Pipeline: the Trade in Nuclear Contraband is Approaching Critical Mass. Can We Turn Off the Spigot?" (TIME; WF; WSJ - 11/12) Russian Federation 4. Terrorism Various reports on the nuclear threat: cost to US state governments for NPP protection expected to reach $58-million; interview with nuclear terrorist expert. US FDA calls for widespread use of cheap, readily available pill soon after a radiological release to protect people against thyroid cancer. (CNN; NW; WP - 6/12) United States of America 5. Nuclear power More on Temelin NPP: reactor's output raised from 2 to 15 pct; Czech scepticism over proclaimed end to Czech/Austrian dispute. Chernobyl NPP a year after shutdown: plant personnel has been almost halved since then. British Energy Minister reportedly continues to champion nuclear despite reports that prime ministerial review recommends wind, wave and solar alternatives. Russia looking to build nuclear power stations in Finland, Vietnam, Egypt and Kazakhstan. (BBC; HER; INT; ITAR; R - 10/12) Austria; Chernobyl; Czech Republic; European Union; Russian Federation; Ukraine; United Kingdom 6. Nuclear Safety According to report, by 2010 approx. 40% of Japanese NPPs will have been in operation for more than 30 years, putting them at advanced age by Government's own standards. NRC identifies 13 NPPs developing tiny cracks that could seriously damage plant equipment and cause lengthy shutdowns for repairs. (R - 9/12) Japan; United States of America 7. Radiation, health US reportedly changes its stance on drug treatment to prevent thyroid cancer after nuclear emergency, saying children should be treated at far lower anticipated levels of radiation exposure than previously recommended. New guidelines drawn up by UK researchers that aim to protect nurses from exposure to potentially harmful amounts of radiation from treated patients. (NS; NYT - 6/12) United Kingdom; United States of America 8. Radwaste, fuel Chief negotiator for Multilateral Nuclear Environment Programme for Russia who also heads IAEA's Contact Expert Group to co-ordinate Russian nuclear cleanup problems urges learning lessons from Norway’s Russian cleanups. More on Yucca Mountain proposed radwaste storage site: US GAO draft report suggests DoE delay Yucca Mountain decision. (NW; WP - 6, 11/12) IAEA; Norway; Russian Federation; United States of America 9. UN Various reports on UN SG accepting Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo: Kofi Annan Annan appeals for renewed efforts to fight poverty, ignorance and disease. (CNN; CSM; WP - 11/12) Norway; UN ***************************************************************** 25 MOX plant set to start up today despite objections ireland.com - The Irish Times - IRELAND Front: MOX nuclear plant to start with opening of radioactive plutonium New legal cases will fail to prevent damage Thursday, December 20, 2001 By Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor Sellafield's controversial MOX plant comes into operation this morning despite strenuous diplomatic and legal moves to block it. The Government and the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland have criticised the decision to commission the plant. Sellafield's operators, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, confirmed yesterday that the MOX plant, which will manufacture nuclear reactor fuel pellets, will open today as planned. "It is our current plan that we will be introducing plutonium into the facility on or around the 20th as planned," a spokesman said yesterday. "All the legal challenges have basically been cleared, the last one being the judicial review brought by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth." One of the first actions in the plant will be to load highly toxic plutonium dust into its production systems. The MOX (mixed oxide) facility will blend plutonium and uranium into reactor fuel and once exposed to these substances the plant will become a radioactive biohazard. "We are currently on schedule to do that on or around Thursday," the spokesman said. It will still take some weeks of preparation before the plant can begin making usable fuel, he added. "It is not a question of pushing a big green button and you get MOX out the other end." The plutonium and uranium will come from material recovered by the Thorp spent-fuel reprocessing plant which sits adjacent to MOX on the Sellafield complex. The company has an estimated 70 tonnes of plutonium on site. The Minister of State with special responsibility for nuclear safety, Mr Joe Jacob, strongly criticised the decision to open the plant, describing the action as extremely arrogant. "It defies logic. It defies reason. It defies the laws of natural justice," he said. It was morally wrong to pollute the environment, he said, "but when that environment forms part of another jurisdiction I can only describe it as a form of selfishness that knows no bounds and one that recognises no boundaries". The chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute, Dr Tom O'Flaherty, also condemned the decision. "It is highly objectionable that the environment, particularly the marine environment is being contaminated with radioactive substances," he said. "The RPII greatly regrets that the start up of the MOX plant at Sellafield is to go ahead today." Green party TD Mr John Gormley travelled to Cumbria yesterday with members of the Union of Students in Ireland. They hope to protest outside the gates of Sellafield this morning and plan to take "direct action" in blockading the plant. "This is a historic but black day for Ireland," he said yesterday. Ms Nuala Ahern MEP warned that the decision to commission the plant "is irreversible" once plutonium is introduced. "I think this is a really nasty Christmas present to give everyone," she said. ***************************************************************** 26 Nuclear plant to go ahead news.telegraph.co.uk (Filed: 20/12/2001) A CONTROVERSIAL nuclear reprocessing plant has been given approval to go ahead despite opposition. The mixed oxide (MOX) plant at Sellafield will recycle used uranium and plutonium to produce MOX fuel for power stations. Permission has been granted by the Nuclear Installation Inspectorate. When it was given approval to begin commissioning, managers at the plant described it as "the best Christmas present we could have had" Once the testing is complete, which is expected to take a fortnight, the plant will begin producing the MOX fuel. And the site has been idle as the Government has debated the plant's sustainability and potential profitability. The go-ahead was granted in October this year despite protests from Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and CORE - Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment. Both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth lost their appeal earlier this month to block the plant, but the judge did criticise Whitehall's refusal to take construction costs into account when considering its economic viability. Environmental campaigners said today's decision was far from the end of the protests against the plant. Martin Forwood, a spokesman for Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, said that in bringing plutonium into the plant for the first time, BNFL was setting in motion "a plant that has no future from day one". © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited ***************************************************************** 27 Letters: Response to Gilinksy statement on KEDO to the Editor [http://www.nationalreview.com] Korean Power posted 12/19/01 In the December 7 edition of National Review Online, you published an article entitled "Holding North Korea Acccountable [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-sokoloski120701.shtml] " in which Henry Sokolski and Victor Gilinsky urge an immediate halt to the construction of two nuclear power plants that the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) is building in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), unless the North Korean authorities agree to inspections by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). As an organization directed by an executive board composed of the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and the European Union to construct the two light water reactors (LWR) in North Korea, we must take issue with this approach. Halting construction at this point would not only be unfounded, it may well prove counterproductive. Under the U.S.-DPRK Supply Agreement, the DPRK needs to come into "full compliance with its IAEA safeguards agreement …before delivery of key nuclear components" for the two reactors. This means that the reactors cannot be completed unless the IAEA will have gained full access to North Korea's nuclear program. Stopping the construction of the reactors at this point would remove the incentive for North Korea to accept — even if reluctantly — the very inspections that are meant to allow completion of the reactor project. Failure by the DPRK to cooperate with the IAEA would indeed delay the construction of the reactors, but we are not that point yet. Thus the KEDO project, which is supported by no fewer than 30 countries that are also IAEA members, remains an effective tool for bringing the DPRK into the international non-proliferation fold. Even more seriously misleading is the writers' allegation that the two light water reactors (LWRs) which KEDO is building in the DPRK, could produce "some 50 bombs' worth of essentially weapons-grade plutonium during the first 15 months of operation." They offer no support for this allegation. In reality, the DPRK has neither a suitable facility nor the expertise to separate the plutonium produced by light water reactors. This was made abundantly clear in October 1999 by two independent experts, David Albright and Holly Higgins, of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. Also, any future North Korean attempt to build such a separation facility would easily be detected and would simply not be tolerated by the international community. Since its establishment in 1995 KEDO's agreements with the DPRK have helped ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula through nuclear non-proliferation. The repetition of seriously flawed arguments by Sokolski and Gilinsky is misleading, especially in the aftermath of September 11. Marc Vogelaar, Director for Public Promotion and External Support Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) New York, NY Henry Sokolski &Victor Gilinsky respond: KEDO is building two nuclear-power reactors for North Korea that the Clinton administration promised in 1994 in exchange for the North freezing its indigenous plutonium-production facilities. The main recommendation we made was that the U.S. should enforce the 1994 agreement. It requires the DPRK to be in "full compliance" with its pledge to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) not to be making nuclear weapons or hiding nuclear-weapons materials To assure this, the l994 agreement requires North Korea to open its nuclear facilities up to a thorough IAEA inspection process before it can get the "key nuclear components" it needs to complete the U.S.-promised power reactors. The IAEA says that this inspection process will take at least three years. Meanwhile, to keep construction of the two power reactors on schedule requires that North Korea receive the nuclear components in about three years. Our point is that if the North doesn't allow the IAEA to start inspecting now, we can be quite sure the North will not be in full compliance in three years. Under these circumstances, KEDO is under no obligation to continue with construction until North Korea opens its nuclear facilities to full IAEA inspections. Mr. Vogelaar says holding up construction now would be "counterproductive." He agrees that DPRK failure to cooperate with the IAEA should eventually delay construction, but contends that "we are not at that point yet." He then makes three points on behalf of KEDO: 1. If the DPRK hasn't fully complied when the project needs the nuclear components, then KEDO will stop at that point. The trouble with KEDO's contention here is that when the project needs the nuclear components, the first U.S.-promised power reactor will be more than half built. At this point, there will be considerable pressure to continue building rather than to force the large construction force present at the construction site to stand idle. Most worrisome is the likelihood that this will place tremendous demands on the IAEA to rush its inspections. This is what the North is counting on. In fact, the current regime has no intention of opening up fully. And when we are "at that point" (when the key nuclear components are needed and North Korea has still not met its IAEA obligations), we can be sure there will be voices urging lenience again. The DPRK are masters at playing this game. Thus, North Korea's latest line on inspections is that they don't have to allow the IAEA in until after the first reactor is built. We should not play along. 2. We needn't worry about the substantial weapons-grade plutonium production of the U.S.-promised power reactors because the DPRK doesn't have a facility to extract the plutonium from the new reactors' spent fuel. We have relied on the analysis of the bomb-making experts at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory regarding how much weapons-grade plutonium the two U.S.-promised reactors could quickly produce. KEDO does not contradict these estimates. Instead, Mr. Vogelaar argues North Korea does not have the facilities to separate this weapons plutonium from the power reactor's spent fuel. To obtain this capability, the DPRK would have to build a new front-end addition to their existing indigenous spent-fuel reprocessing plant. KEDO assumes that North Korea will not be able to acquire this addition to their reprocessing plant. This, however, seems dangerous to us. Certainly, North Korea has surprised us in the past with nuclear technology and rocketry and it is clear from his last point that Mr. Vogelaar allows that it might surprise us again. 3. Any future DPRK attempt to build such a separation facility would be detected and would "not be tolerated by the international community." This contention is perhaps KEDO's boldest. After all, the last time "the international community" caught North Korea violating its treaty obligations the North walked away with the promise of two large power reactors — the ones KEDO is building. Indeed, just how tough the international community would be and how quickly it might act is unclear. What's indisputable, however, is that with an improved reprocessing capability, North Korea could a mass a fairly large arsenal of nuclear weapons in a matter of months. Mr. Vogelaar ends his letter by invoking September 11. Presumably, this reference was made to strengthen his case. But we think that date stands for being tougher with violators of international agreements on weapons of mass destruction, not for delaying such vigilance. • Click here to Send a Letter to the Editor! Whose Sleeping Giant? posted 12/13/01 Victor Davis Hanson, in his "Dates of Infamy [http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/history/history-hanson120801.shtml] " column, mistakenly attributes the "sleeping giant" quote to Admiral Nagumo, when it was in fact Admiral Yamamoto who made it. Yamamoto was probably the only high-ranking officer who truly understood what Japan was getting into. He also once stated that the only way Japan could dictate terms would be to do it from the White House, a statement that was mischaracterized in America as a boast to do exactly that, when it really was a warning (of course unheeded) to the militarists that Japan could not win a limited war against the U.S., and lacked the resources to fight a total war. Previously, Japanese wars against China and Russia had been fought against the peripheries of their opponents' strength (even their First World War experience was limited to the reduction of German outposts in the Far East and convoy escort in the Mediterranean), but Yamamoto knew that America would respond with overwhelming force (hence his promise to "run wild" for six months to a year, but no guarantees beyond that). He knew firsthand of America's economic and industrial strength and rightly feared the consequences for Japan were it ever mobilized against them. In fact, while most historians now dismiss Pearl Harbor as a blunder, it was only one in the grand strategic sense, while tactically and strategically it achieved precisely what it was intended to. The real goal of the attack on Oahu was to incapacitate the U.S. response to Japanese aggression southwards, and forestall a U.S. response until the Japanese could consolidate their defensive perimeter and present the U.S. with the choice of a long bloody oceanic war, or a negotiated peace. Hence there was no concern with fueling and repair facilities or disruption of shipping — by the time a confused America was ready to respond, the Japanese were supposed to be immovably entrenched. Their blunder was in their grand strategic concept, which held Americans morally incapable of sustaining the effort of total war. Which, come to think of it, is the same point Professor Hanson makes concerning bin Laden and his cave-cowering cronies. Stephen Skubinna Union, Wash. Victor Davis Hanson responds: In response to Stephen Skubinna's interesting note, it is hard to know exactly what Japanese admirals like Yamamato and Nagumo actually said about Pearl Harbor — especially in hindsight by 1943, when the war began to go badly for the Japanese — so we can only rely on reported hearsay and the published notes of acquaintances. Neither wrote memoirs nor survived the war. In the planning for the December 7th attack, Admiral Yamamato, who adamantly had pushed for targeting Hawaii, purportedly remarked to an associate, "I shall run wild for the first six months or a year, but I have no confidence for the second or third year." Yet other accounts suggest that, in fact, despite his familiarity with the American character, he had contempt for the culture of the United States, and felt that a strong first attack might well crush our morale. Similar sentiments about the futility of attacking the United States at Pearl Harbor were (only) later attributed to Vice Admiral Nagumo. My quotation of his comments that his planes had done nothing more than to awaken "a sleeping giant, and to fill her with terrible resolve," are found in a variety of sources (see, for example, most recently R. Holmes, ed. The Oxford Companion to Military History [Oxford 2001] s.v. "Pearl Harbor"). Japanese officers later claimed that there were severe disagreements over the tactics, strategy, and grand strategy surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack. After the strikes, disappointed veteran air officers like Fuchida and Genda allegedly begged Nagumo to allow immediate follow-up raids to hit fuel depots and dry-docks, and to begin looking for the critical missing carriers. They were turned down by the vice admiral ("even a burglar hesitates to go back for more"), and told that Yamamato supported Nagumo's decision. In post-battle Japanese analysis, the reality set in that the temporary sinking (but not in every case destruction) of the old battleships in shallow water, and the ruin of less than 200 near-obsolete planes — for all the psychological shock — had done little to impair the United States Navy either in the immediate tactical or strategic sense, but much to inflame America — analogous, as Stephen Skubinna agrees, to the similar short-sightedness and ignorance of American military power, politics, and national will shown by the present terrorists. • Click here to Send a Letter to the Editor! Defining Buddhism Down posted 12/07/01 I want to thank Kate O'Beirne for " American Taliban's Dad." I am an attorney and the executive director of the Amitabha Foundation, a Buddhist charitable organization. I have been Buddhist since 1970. As a conservative, I can only sadly agree with your characterization, "Mr. Lindh is amicably separated (natch) from Abdul's mother, Marilyn Walker, who is a Buddhist (natch) and equally stumped about how their 'sweet, shy' 20-year-old son wound up becoming one of Osama bin Laden's armed jihad warriors." Your "natch" is right on. But, based on the little family history reported as of today, I have a hunch that Ms. Walker's understanding of Buddha's teaching is severely limited. In my experience many Americans simply project their tepid Kumbaya beliefs onto the vacuum of their understanding of Buddhism. They have not bothered to take Buddhism 101. Some will say that "their" Buddhism is "from the heart" — which unfortunately often means that they are incapable of cycling an opinion through their head. Others talk about "collective wisdom" and other such self-created, non-Buddhist concepts. I write only to suggest that many Americans who loosely identify themselves as Buddhist do not really understand its ethic, its teachings, or its history. Certainly a tradition of 2,500 years that has enriched cultures as varied as China's and India's did not survive by teaching the muddleheaded philosophies espoused by so many "Western" Buddhists. It took 500 years for Buddhism to successfully transmit from India to Tibet. It will — if it happens — take at least that long to transmit to America. A Tibetan lama recently made the joke, "Buddhism in Japan is all about the group. Buddhism in China is all about incense and statues. Buddhism in Tibet is all about lamas. But Buddhism in America is all about feeling good." Frank Howard Executive Director, Amitabha Foundation Rochester, N.Y. Kate O'Beirne replies: I appreciate Mr. Howard's informative letter. It figures that Marilyn Walker's Buddhism is of the "all about feeling good" variety — as authentic as her former husband's "strict Irish Catholicism." • Click here to Send a Letter to the Editor! “I'm an al Jazeera Watcher” posted 12/07/01 While some of Victor Davis Hanson's specific criticisms of al Jazeera ("Questions Not Asked [http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson120401.shtml] ") are right on target, on the whole he misses the point about this Arab satellite channel. I watch al Jazeera several hours a day and report on its coverage for Newsmax.com. In response to the questions Mr. Hanson says we should ask about al Jazeera, here are the answers: It is true that al Jazeera talk shows just about never subject Muslim clerics to the critical questions they ask of their other guests, but nonetheless, al Jazeera is predominantly an Arab news channel, not a Muslim propaganda outlet. (Here is my analysis [http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/2/155934.shtml] of how al Jazeera handles Islam.) After Kabul fell from Taliban control, al Jazeera did broadcast women discussing their new freedoms with delight, Sikhs rejoicing, children flying kites, and men happily playing soccer in shorts. Sometimes — granted, not often, but sometimes — there are critiques of the political systems in the Arab countries. There is room for far more, but at least this is a start. Al Jazeera sometimes considers questions about the rights of Christians in Muslim countries. For example, on November 25, on a show about the rights of Muslims in the West, the moderator selected a viewer question sent by fax about the rights of Christians in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries and he read it live on air; the response (by a Saudi cleric) was pathetic, but at least the question got air time. There are some opportunities for minorities in Arab countries to air their concerns, such as at the time of the U.N. conference on racism in Durban when the al Jazeera talk show The Opposite Direction had a fierce debate about the treatment of the Berbers in Algeria. There are some positive aspects to al Jazeera. Women, all without veils, play a prominent role. One al Jazeera talk show, More Than One Opinion with moderator Sami Haddad, indeed has more than one opinion, and not just varying degrees of anti-Americanism. Also, al Jazeera is starting to explore important social issues and the domestic reasons for social problems, as with a recent excellent investigative report about child labor in Arab and Muslim countries. Al Jazeera is at times troubling and it has anti-American and anti-Israeli bias — sometimes, a lot of it. Yet it is not a completely lost cause. Al Jazeera is already influential; if we only complain about its bias and refuse to participate, we will be the ones who stand to lose, which is not an option in the media and information campaign of this crisis. There is potential for Americans to engage al Jazeera critically and constructively. We should do so. Jennifer Bryson Arlington, Va. Victor Davis Hanson responds: Jennifer Bryson mostly missed the thrust of my criticisms of the American media's absence of real analysis and critical examination of al Jazeera. The point is not that there are not occasional disagreements voiced on al Jazeera (even Pravda and Radio Havana aired squabbles among the true believers), but that it is largely a government mouthpiece for consistently one-sided presentations of the Muslim and Arabic world's point of views masquerading as Western-style free commentary and inquiry‹and in that regard is in no way equivalent to networks in the West. I rest my case with her own vocabulary of equivocation: "but," "it's true," "sometimes," "granted," "not often," "at times," "at least," "not completely," "a start," "starting to," "there is room for," "some positive," and on and on. I have read Ms. Bryson's own synopses of Al Jazeera's broadcasts on newsmax.com and they surely are part of the problem, not the solution, in determining the nature of the station's intellectual independence and integrity. Earlier in the war (October 22), she breezily remarked, "The questions come from Arabs all over the world. The hallmark of the Al-Jazeera talk shows is their inclusion of a broad range of opinions, as well as vigorous and even raging debate." In contrast, more recently (December 3) she now confesses, "Thus, Islam on Al-Jazeera is generally not subject to critical analysis and debate like other topics." Such nuanced prevarication finely tuned to the tempo of the war is fine, but in the meantime millions of viewers at a period of world crisis have consistently and deliberately been mislead and misinformed by a propaganda organization that mimics only the veneer of a Western news organization. • Click here to Send a Letter to the Editor! The Big Questions posted 12/07/01 While I agree with Stephen Moore that a national playoff system is needed for college football, what I can't understand is his somewhat, shall I say, emotional attachment to a tradition that was certainly no better at determining a national champion — that being the "granddaddy" Rose Bowl. The conservatives' predilection for tradition alone is not a strong enough argument. Traditions that are saved must be saved based upon other conservative values, such as efficiency and utility, values I am sure Mr. Moore praises in the economic world. The fact that college football's strongest teams for over a decade have come from the Big 12 (Nebraska, Oklahoma), the SEC (FLorida, Tennessee), Big East (Miami), or ACC (Florida State) must leave Big-10 and Pac-10 lovers feeling out in the cold. And how can Mr. Moore argue that BYU should have a shot at the title, with their perfect record, against teams like St. Mary's School for the Blind — while in the same paragraph decrying the fact that Miami schedules games against Northern Illinois? That's a double standard. The answer to this question is strength of schedule — the same reason Florida State got to play Oklahoma last season in the Orange Bowl, despite having lost to Miami. (Miami had played a poor game against Northern Louisiana and lost to Washington.) Bring on the playoff format; but don't do so because of some nostalgic attachment that's left the Big-10 and Pac-10 having to travel to Phoenix. Chances are that whoever Illinois draws in the Fiesta Bowl will be happy to be there, and will be a great matchup. E. G. Tenbus Warrensburg, Mo. ***************************************************************** 28 WNA NEWS BRIEFING 01.51 | 12 - 18 December 2001 A weekly summary of international news relevant to the nuclear energy industry. [NB01.51-1] US: European governments have subsidised the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) by Eurodif and Urenco, the US Department of Commerce has ruled. The trade action was brought against the European enrichers by USEC Inc in December 2000. Eurodif has been subjected to combined antidumping and countervailing duties of 32.78% on the value of LEU imported into the US from France. Urenco - a UK, Dutch and German consortium - must pay a countervailing duty rate of just 2.26%. The International Trade Commission (ITC) will vote on 18 January to determine whether the trade practices of Eurodif and Urenco have actually caused material injury to USEC. (USEC, 14 December; Urenco Ltd, 17 December; FreshFUEL, 17 December, p1; Financial Times, 15 December, p9; see also News Briefing 01.48-7) [NB01.51-2] Canada: British Energy (BE) has reportedly offered to purchase the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant from NB Power. NB Power is said to be considering the offer but will not make a decision until spring 2002 when a study determining the feasibility of extending the plant's operating life until 2032 will be completed. Meanwhile, BE has been awarded the 'Global Energy Award for Successful Investment Decision of the Year' from the Financial Times for its creation of Bruce Power in Canada. (Ux Weekly, 17 December, p4; FreshFUEL, 17 December, p5; see also News Briefings 00.48-17 and 01.20-2) [NB01.51-3] Canada: Cameco Corp has become the official operator of the Cigar Lake uranium project following the decision of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to approve the transfer of the site preparation licence to Cameco from the Cigar Lake Mining Corp. Cameco is the principal shareholder of the venture with a 50% stake, with Cogema Resources Inc holding 37%, Idemitsu Uranium Exploration Canada Ltd 8% and TEPCO Resources Inc 5%. (FreshFUEL, 17 December, p4; Nuclear Canada, 17 December, p1; see also News Briefing 01.32-3) [NB01.51-4] Framatome ANP of France will supply Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) with nine years' worth of fresh fuel assemblies for all four of its boiling water reactors (BWRs) - Chinshan-1 and 2 and Kuosheng-1 and -2. The fuel assemblies will be fabricated in the USA at the Richland, Wash., fuel production plant previously owned by Siemens. (Nuclear Fuel, 10 December, p3; see also News Briefing 00.21-15) [NB01.51-5] Russia: A new federal programme is to be launched that will boost nuclear electricity generation in the country over the next decade. The plan - part of the Ministry of Atomic Energy's (Minatom's) 'Energy Efficient Economics' programme - will be implemented in 2002-2005 and continue until 2010. By 2005, generation capacity of Russian nuclear plants should reach 25.24 GWe and 30.05 GWe by 2010. The plan calls for the 10-year extension of the operating lives of Novovoronezh-3 to -5, Kola-1 and -2, Leningrad-1 to -3, Kursk-1 and -2, Bilibino-1 to -4 and Beloyarsk-3. In addition, the programme stipulates the completion of Rostov-2 and Kalinin-3, as well as Kursk-5 and Balakovo-5. (Nuclear Market Review, 14 December, p2; see also News Briefing 01.39-4) [NB01.51-6] Legislation limiting the operating lifetime of Germany's 19 operating nuclear power reactors to 32 years has been ratified by the German parliament. The lower house of parliament passed the new law - signed in June - with votes from the Social Democrat/Green Party coalition. No approval is necessary from the upper house of parliament. Under the new law, all of Germany's reactors will be shut down within the next 20 years. The legislation also phases out shipments of spent nuclear fuel from German reactors to Cogema's La Hague reprocessing facility in France and BNFL's Sellafield, UK, reprocessing plant. However, it does not set a deadline for waste being returned to Germany. The last shipment of spent fuel will take place by 30 June 2005, meaning that utilities will now need to build storage facilities close to the reactors. (SpentFUEL, 17 December, p2; Ux Weekly, 17 December, p3; Associated Press, 14 December; see also News Briefing 01.37-6) [NB01.51-7] Germany: The Philippsburg-2 nuclear power reactor has restarted, following approval by environment minister Jurgen Trittin. The reactor had been off-line since an incident in August involving a coolant system fault, which was given a final rating of level 2 on the INES scale. A statement from Mr Trittin said that there was no further reason to postpone the resumption of operations at the reactor. (NucNet News, 390/01, 17 December; see also News Briefing 01.49-10) [NB01.51-8] US: A comprehensive review of security measures at Entergy Corp's Indian Point nuclear power plant has been conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), at the request of the New York State Office of Public Security (OPS). Although the report found that long-term security at the plant was adequate, it also included several recommendations on ways to 'further shore up security' at the site. (NucNet News, 387/01, 14 December; Associated Press, 14 December; see also News Briefing 01.45-1) [NB01.51-9] US: Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a 20-year extension of the operating licence of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant. The licence is currently set to expire in 2013. The re-licensing process is expected to be completed by early 2004 and cost OPPD US$13.5 million, of which US$6.8 million have already been spent. (Nuclear Market Review, 14 December, p2; Ux Weekly, 17 December, p4; see also News Briefing 00.24-12) [NB01.51-10] Ukraine and Russia have signed an intergovernmental agreement to complete construction of the Khmelnitski-2 and Rovno-4 (K2/R4) nuclear power reactors, following the recent postponement of a US$215 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma said the latest agreement 'did not exclude' further negotiations with the EBRD. (Nuclear Market Review, 14 December, p2; NucNet News, 389/01, 17 December; see also News Briefing 01.50-4) [NB01.51-11] US: 13 nuclear power reactors have been identified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as requiring repairs because they have developed small cracks or are considered susceptible to developing cracks. Fixing the cracks could cause each reactor to be taken offline for weeks so that inspections and repairs can be made. The NRC said that the cracks did not pose an immediate safety threat, but if left unrepaired could result in damage to reactor equipment. Hairline cracks were found at Duke Energy's Oconee-2 and -3, as well as Progress Energy's Crystal River-3 reactor. (Ux Weekly, 17 December, p5; Reuters, 12 December; see also News Briefing 01.34-9) [NB01.51-12] US: Exelon Corp is considering building a plant in the US to demonstrate the safety design of the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), currently under development in South Africa. The company aims to construct a demonstration plant in the US around the same time as one is built in South Africa. The US plant would serve to satisfy questions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) about the PBMR and accelerate the Department of Energy's (DOE's) programme on near-term deployment for new nuclear technology. Exelon will not consider building a multi-module plant unless the costs were in the range of US$1000 to US$1200 per installed kilowatt. (Nucleonics Week, 13 December, p1; see also News Briefing 01.50-8) [NB01.51-13] Lithuania: Ukrainian specialists involved in the closure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant may assist in the closure of Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear plant, which also has Soviet-designed RBMK channel-type graphite-moderated reactors. Although no formal agreement has been reached, the move was discussed during a meeting between Ukrainian prime minister Anatoliy Kinakh and Lithuanian foreign minister Antanas Valionis. (NucNet News, 383/01, 12 December; see also News Briefing 01.39-13) [NB01.51-14] Switzerland: The first batch of vitrified high-level radioactive waste from Cogema's reprocessing plant in La Hague, France, arrived by rail at the Swiss central interim storage facility, Zwilag, on 12 December. The consignment of 28 containers - containing waste from 110 spent fuel elements from the Gosgen nuclear power plant - is the first of at least three shipments of vitrified waste during the next 12 months. (NucNet News, 382/01, 12 December; SpentFUEL, 17 December, p3; see also News Briefing 01.03-16) [NB01.51-15] Australia: 46 people were charged with trespass after Greenpeace protesters forced their way onto the site of the Lucas Heights research reactor in Sydney. (ABC News Online, 17 December; Guardian, 18 December, p12; see also News Briefing 01.23-19) [NB01.51-16] Czech Republic: The government will postpone a decision on the winning bid for the sale of a 67.6% stake in utility CEZ until 7 January 2002. The eligible bidders for the stake have now be narrowed down to Electricite de France (EDF) and ENEL of Italy. (Ux Weekly, 17 December, p5; see also News Briefing 01.43-18) [NB01.51-17] South Africa and China are expected to sign a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement by the end of the first quarter of 2002. During a recent visit to China, South African president Thabo Mbeki said the two governments were 'close to concluding a cooperation agreement on the peaceful uses of atomic energy'. Mr Mbeki also referred to possible technical cooperation on the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) project, but a project spokeswoman could not confirm any details. (NucNet News, 385/01, 14 December) [NB01.51-18] Belgium: Electrabel SA will purchase Tractabel's 50% share in their nuclear fuel supply joint venture Synatom in 2002. The acquisition is part of an agreement with the Belgian government over provisions for future dismantling of Electrabel's nuclear power plants and for the treatment of spent fuel. (Ux Weekly, 17 December, p4) NB01.51 is the last News Briefing or 2001. NB02.01 will be published on Wednesday 2 January. Notice: The WNA secretariat will be closed from Friday 21 December until Wednesday 26 December. A reduced staff will operate on Thursday 27, Friday 28 and Monday 31 December. The offices will again be closed on 1 January 2002. Normal staffing will resume on 2 January. Seasons greetings to all our News Briefing readers from the WNA staff. Previous News Briefing NB01.50 ***************************************************************** 29 December 2001 Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin December 2001 Covers new material for November 2001 The monthly bulletin only lists new and updated material. It is distributed by e-mail to registered users of the Nuclear Energy Agency's Online Services and is available online at [http://www.nea.fr/html/new.html] . The bulletin is sent monthly by e-mail to subscribers. It is best received in HTML if you have a mail reader that can display mail in HTML. To request the HTML version of the bulletin, please e-mail [nea@nea.fr] with the subject "HTML Bulletin" and give your full name. If you are not already a subscriber, use the [http://www.nea.fr/html/signon.html] to subscribe. An online archive of [http://www.nea.fr/html/general/newsletter/index.html] is available. The December bulletin covers the following items: New publications Nuclear development Nuclear safety Radiation protection Legal affairs Data Bank -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New publications Publications on sale can be ordered at the OECD bookshop: [http://electrade.gfi.fr/cgi-bin/OECDBookShop.storefront] . [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?662001171P1] ISBN 92-64-19687-0. Price: 20, US$19, £12, ¥1900. 68 pages. Disponible également en français : [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?662001172P1] ISBN 92-64-29687-5. Prix : 20, US$19, £12, ¥1900. 76 pages. Free publications are available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/pub/webpubs/] . Paper copies may be requested by sending an e-mail to [nea@nea.fr] . [http://www.nea.fr/html/rp/reports/2001/nea3308-policy.pdf] ISBN 92-64-18474-0. 28 pages (129 kb). Disponible également en français : [http://www.nea.fr/html/rp/reports/2001/nea3309-policy.pdf] ISBN 92-64-28474-5. 32 pages (424 kb). [http://www.nea.fr/html/rwm/reports/2001/nea3140.pdf] ISBN 92-64-18471-6. 52 pages (212 kb). Version française a paraître. [http://www.nea.fr/html/rwm/reports/2001/nea3142.pdf] ISBN 92-64-18472-4. 47 pages (281 kb). Disponible également en français : La gestion des déchets radioactifs : le rôle des laboratoires souterrains ISBN 92-64-28472-9. 50 pages (363 kb). Nuclear development The NEA and the International Energy Agency (IEA) held a joint workshop on "Energy Policy and Externalities: The Life Cycle Analysis Approach" on 15-16 November 2001. Papers presented at the workshop covered the following areas: a methodology for assessing external cost (based upon the "ExternE" project); the issues related to external cost estimates and life cycle analysis (LCA) of coal, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable energy sources; and comparisons between the technologies used in electricity generation and transportation. A round table discussion examined the uses and relevance of life cycle analysis and external costs in policy making. More information on the workshop is available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/01-12-ndd.html] . Nuclear safety A new edition of the "Status Report on Inspection Philosophy, Inspection Organisation and Inspection Practices" is now available. The report brings together information from 29 countries (19 NEA Member countries and 10 non-member countries). The report was first issued in 1995 and an update released in 1997. The full text of the new edition is available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/docs/2001/cnra-r2001-8.pdf] . Regular features + The list of all nuclear safety documents produced since 1973 by the CSNI is available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/reports/csnirepindex.html] . Documents produced by the CNRA are available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/docs/indexcnra.html] . + Information regarding forthcoming workshops and seminars may be found at [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/calendar.html] . Radiation protection Representatives from NEA standing technical committees and sub-groups on radiation protection, radioactive waste management, nuclear safety and nuclear development met with the chair of the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP), Professor Roger Clarke, during November. The ICRP is due to release in 2005 a new set of general recommendations on radiation protection. This meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the NEA and ICRP approaches to the modifying these recommendations. During its November meeting, the Steering Group of the Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) decided to prepare a report summarising the experience gained during the programme's first ten years of operation. The Steering Group also decided to form a new expert group to contribute to the development of new ICRP optimisation recommendations. This expert group will concentrate on gathering operational experience of managing occupational radiation exposure at levels "as low as reasonably achievable" (ALARA). Data entry and analysis software for ISOE databases on occupational exposure and ALARA practice were approved during the meeting. More information on the ISOE is available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/jointproj/isoe.html] . Legal affairs The INEX Programme addresses Member Countries' concerns to promote means of ensuring effective co-ordination between the various bodies which have a role to play in the event of a nuclear accident, in order to ensure rapid and efficient management of such a situation. The programme consists of a series of exercises simulating nuclear accidents in which interested countries may participate. As part of the INEX 2000 International Nuclear Emergency Exercise, a nuclear emergency exercise took place on 22-23 May 2001 at the Gravelines nuclear power plant in the north of France, and was followed on 26-28 November 2001 by a workshop on the Indemnification of Damage in the Event of a Nuclear Accident. This was the first time that third-party liability aspects had been incorporated into the exercise. More information on the workshop is available at [http://www.nea.fr/html/01-12-law.html] . Data Bank Computer program services A page listing all new programs in the last 12 months can be found at [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/cpsnew.html] . Detailed news concerning the computer program service is available at: [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/Newsletter/Whatsnew.htm] . New software packages available from the Data Bank: 20-NOV-2001 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1517.html] SINBAD-REACTOR, Shielding Benchmark Experiments (Arrived) 20-NOV-2001 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/ccc-0658.html] VIM4.0, Stead-State 3-D Neutron Transport using ENDF/B or Multigroup Cross Sections (Arrived) 20-NOV-2001 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/ccc-0702.html] ORIGEN-ARP 1.00, Isotope Generation and Depletion Code System-Matrix Exponential Method with GUI and Graphics Capability 16-NOV-2001 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1210.html] ZZ HATCHES-14, Database for Radio Chemical Modelling (Arrived) Instructions on retrieving material from the NEA may be found at [http://www.nea.fr/] . Please note that scientific database access is only available to residents of OECD/NEA Data Bank member countries. Distribution: all users of online services; NOS Bulletin subscribers. To unsubscribe, please send a mail to [nea@nea.fr] . ***************************************************************** 30 Waste Dump May Be THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS Thursday, December 20, 2001 THE government minister in charge of the Millennium Dome project has recommended that Parliament should have "fast track" powers to vote through major planning issues such as a nuclear waste dump for West Cumbria. Plans for the "fast track" approach to planning big projects were announced, on Monday, by Lord Falconer. If the new approach is approved by Parliament, major projects such as a nuclear waste dump would no longer be left to county councils to decide. The changes are being considered just as the environment minister, Michael Meacher, told MPs, at Westminster, that a nuclear waste dump would spark less outrage in West Cumbria than elsewhere in Britain. Mr Meacher claimed Cumbrians were more likely to accept a waste repository on their doorstep because of the thousands of nuclear jobs at Sellafield. His controversial comments raised the spectre of a fresh attempt to bury Britain's nuclear waste stockpile near Sellafield - almost five years after Nirex's plan for a dump for medium level waste at Longlands, Gosforth, was thrown out. Mr Meacher told a Commons environment select committee that "Not In My Back Yard" was the common attitude towards nuclear waste. But he said: "There is no doubt that the Cumbrian people have accepted the benefits of the nuclear industry in terms of jobs and in other ways. There is a different attitude there to other parts of the country." Mr Meacher, who is in charge of the government's consultation on future options for storing nuclear waste, said that public acceptance as well as good science would inevitably be a factor in deciding where to store waste. He stressed that a final decision was five or six years away. Mr Meacher said he believed the nuclear waste, estimated to reach 500,000 tonnes later in the century, should be stored in a way that was "retrievable and monitorable," suggesting that burial, deep underground, was no longer favoured. Copeland councillor, John Henney, said of Mr Meacher's remarks: "Nirex were given the impression by advisers that because the people of Copeland had lived with the nuclear industry for 50 years they would just roll over. That simply was not the case then and it isn't now." nTony Blair called for the so called fast track proposals to try to banish the impression that Britain was slow and indecisive in approving major infrastructure developments such as a nuclear waste dump. For example, it took eight years for Terminal Five at Heathrow to be approved, despite neither party in power during that time being against it, in principle. The consultation paper published by Lord Falconer, Mr Blair's confidant and planning minister, proposes that in future ministers would first decide whether a scheme fitted the criteria to be considered under the new fast-track planning procedures. A minister would make a statement proposing the development, at which point detailed plans would be published. Objectors would have 42 days to send comments. Hugh Ellis, planning campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "The government has completely caved in to industry. ***************************************************************** 31 NWSC: Urgent Need to Advance Nuclea Waste Program U.S. Newswire 19 Dec 13:00 To: National Desk Contact: Martez Norris of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC), 952-431-1676 WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 19, with the Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, members of the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC) urged the Secretary to make positive recommendations to the President to site Yucca Mountain as the nation's permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste. "We feel confident that the Secretary recognizes the need for this program to move forward after 'decades' of program delay," stated Commissioner Koppendrayer, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and Chairman, NWSC. "Further, scientific documents clearly demonstrate that Yucca Mountain should be recommended to the President as the permanent repository contrary to what is stated in the draft report recently leaked from the General Accounting Office." The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) mandates the Department of Energy (DOE) conduct a multistep process for identifying and licensing the repository. Russell Mellor, President and CEO of Yankee Atomic and Connecticut Yankee and DPC Chair further stated, "It is the Decommissioning Plant Coalition's (DPC) strong conviction that the necessary scientific and technical foundations for Yucca Mountain have been successfully completed and it is time for a favorable recommendation by the Secretary to develop Yucca Mountain as a federal repository. We also encourage the Secretary to expedite and assure that the transportation infrastructure is in place to move the waste." A no action alternative by the Secretary would mean stranding high-level nuclear waste indefinitely at plant sites. "Consequently, the nation's ratepayers would be burdened with additional costs estimated by the NWSC to be $5 Trillion (1998 dollars)," stated Koppendrayer. Both, the President's energy plan and the environment would be affected. More fossil and gas power plants would be built to replace the 20 percent of our electricity generated by nuclear power, an emission-free source of electricity. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear power plants avoid annually nationwide the emission of 147 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 2.5 million tons of nitrogen oxide that significantly helps our air quality. Nuclear generating power plants are an environmentally clean, affordable, reliable and highly efficient source of electric power. Since 1983, the nation's ratepayers have paid more than $19 billion, including interest, into the NWF, for the DOE to obtain a license, construct, operate and monitor a repository for commercial high-level nuclear waste. Since 1987, the DOE has spent approximately $7 billion to characterize a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. The 1982 NWPA and subsequent contracts the DOE signed with each electric utility, specified that the DOE had a contractual and statutory obligation to remove waste from civilian nuclear power plants by Jan. 31, 1998. "The DOE is authorized and obligated to do so. It has not happened," said Commissioner Philip Bradley, Public Service Commission of South Carolina. As stated in the President's energy plan, the Federal government is more than ten years behind schedule for accepting high-level nuclear waste from power plants and the NWSC expects the Government to deliver on its contractual and statutory obligations. Our mission is to pursue administrative and congressional actions; assist with legal remedies on behalf of the ratepayers; secure a centralized, interim storage facility for high-level nuclear waste; and ensure timely development of a cost-effective, safe, and environmentally sound repository for permanent disposal of high-level nuclear waste based on "sound science." The NWSC is comprised of state regulators, state attorneys general, nuclear electric utilities and associate members working together to hold the federal government accountable for its contractual and statutory obligations to remove spent nuclear fuel from power plants across the nation to interim storage and eventually to a permanent repository. The NWSC is made up of participants from 43 organizations in 25 states. Copyright 2001, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 32 Irish Vow to Force Nuke Plant Shutdown Las Vegas SUN Today: December 20, 2001 at 9:15:23 PST DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Ireland vowed Thursday to force Britain to shut down its Sellafield nuclear complex, as Irish lawmakers and environmentalists led protests outside a new facility at the plant designed to produce recycled fuel for reactors worldwide. "We cannot allow this situation to stand. It is an act of supreme arrogance," said Joe Jacob, Ireland's government minister responsible for public safety, who warned of a possible Sept. 11-style terrorist strike on the Irish Sea plant. Sellafield, Britain's major nuclear facility, has been a sore in Anglo-Irish relations ever since Queen Elizabeth II opened the first reactor there in 1956. British Nuclear Fuels PLC, which operates the complex in northern England, said it had drastically reduced emissions of radioactive material into the sea since the 1970s. It insisted that the Mixed-Oxide Fuel plant, which opened Thursday after a 5-year delay over safety concerns, would not produce any harmful emissions at all. "This is wonderful news and is the best Christmas present we could have had," declared Jack Allen, head of operations at Sellafield, where the MOX plant is expected to underwrite at least 1,200 jobs. Britain says it will have a strong market for the MOX plant's product, particularly in Japan. The plant - completed in 1996 but delayed partly because of a scandal involving forged security checks at a sister recycling facility - would receive shipments of spent plutonium and uranium from several countries to be converted into new rods of fuel, each equivalent in energy to a ton of coal. The sea shipments in and out would receive armed escort. Ireland, which has no nuclear energy, has complained for decades of its potential exposure to any accidents at the plant, which lies some 150 miles across the sea. Pressure groups in two coastal towns, Drogheda and Dundalk, claim their communities suffer higher-than-average rates of cancer and birth defects because of Sellafield. British politicians and scientists, however, insist that recent studies by independent nuclear watchdogs had all found no evidence of dangerous emissions from Sellafield. They suggest Irish ire has more to do with a pending general election in Ireland, where all parties consider opposition to Sellafield a vote-winner. "We are not aware of any scientific or epidemiological evidence showing any ill effects from Sellafield operations in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland," said Dr. Michael Clark, editor of Britain's Radiological Protection Bulletin. As Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's ruling Fianna Fail party promised to pursue every legal and diplomatic channel against Britain, opposition lawmakers traveled to Sellafield to join protesters who handcuffed themselves to the gates of the MOX plant. The Sept. 11 attacks on the United States have given local lawmakers a particularly fearful new angle of protest. "If Sellafield goes up in an attack, the prevailing wind will take it right to our country," warned John Gormley, a former mayor of Dublin and a lawmaker from Ireland's Green Party, who took part in Thursday's demonstrations. Dr. Tom O'Flaherty, chief executive of Ireland's nuclear watchdog, the Radiological Protection Institute, which has not been permitted to visit Sellafield, said radioactive clouds would be released if an aircraft crashed into key storage tanks or reactors. He estimated that, depending on winds, the radiation could produce fatal cancers in 30 out of every 50,000 people in Ireland. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Resting Nuclear Plant Is Finally Put to Sleep December 20, 2001 By MATTHEW L. WALD wASHINGTON, Dec. 19 — The Energy Department announced today that it was closing a nuclear reactor that was built for a program canceled almost 20 years ago. The department has spent about $1 billion on the reactor, with almost half of the money used to keep it in standby condition since 1992 in case anyone could find a use for it. The Fast Flux Test Facility, on the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington State, was the last gasp of the American program to build breeder reactors, which create more nuclear fuel than they consume. The Test Facility, completed in 1982, was intended to test components for a full-scale breeder, the Clinch River Breeder Reactor, which Congress canceled in 1983 after the Energy Department spent $4 billion on it. But the Hanford plant remained in operation for another nine years before being put on standby in 1992. Since then it has been maintained in operable condition. Members of Congress from Washington State lobbied to keep it open, and the state and local business interests tried to find a use for it. Producing tritium for nuclear weapons, plutonium for space missions or electricity for local use were discussed. Local boosters once said it could be used to make medical isotopes. A few days before the end of the Clinton administration, the Energy Department decided to close the Hanford plant, but that decisions was stayed by the incoming Bush administration. Today, Spencer Abraham, the secretary of energy, said that no customers for the isotopes had been identified, and that it could cost $2 billion to set up the reactor to make them even if there was a market. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has fought to stop nuclear operations at Hanford and clean up radioactive pollution there, said that "millions and millions of dollars that could have gone for cleanup, for public health and safety, was lost as the Department of Energy went on this scavenger hunt trying to find a mission for this boondoggle." The "fast flux" in the title refers to the speed of neutrons, the subatomic particles that sustain a chain reaction in a reactor. Fast neutrons are needed to make plutonium, the nuclear fuel that the breeder was meant to produce. To cool the reactor without slowing the neutrons, the Fast Flux Test Facility used sodium, a metal, in a molten form. The problem was that if the sodium was allowed to solidify, the reactor could not be used again. So the standby reactor was kept for years at a temperature of several hundred degrees. Joseph H. Davis, a spokesman for the Energy Department, said that estimates of the cost of tearing down the plant ran as high as $300 million but that the department believed it could be done for less. Opponents had fought the project for years and were frustrated by the momentum that kept it alive. "I figured they'd drag this out and give it $30 to $40 million a year ad infinitum," Tom Clements of the Nuclear Control Institute, a nonprofit antiproliferation group, said. "The reactor has always been in search of a mission." Some nuclear experts had talked about using the reactor to destroy surplus plutonium from the weapons program, but most nuclear weapons opponents favor mixing that bomb fuel with contaminants instead, to ensure it is not put back into weapons. Representative Doc Hastings, a Republican whose district includes Hanford, said he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision to close the facility. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 2 Hanford Nuclear Employee Dismisses Litigation Against StockHouse USA -- News -- Brush Wellman 12/19/01 CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2001--Brush Wellman Inc. announced today that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington has granted the plaintiff's motion for dismissal in Craig Hall v. Brush Wellman and Starmet Corp. The dismissal is the latest in a consecutive series of legal developments favorable to Brush Wellman that have involved occupational exposure to beryllium. Craig Hall is an employee of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Nuclear Reservation. In an unopposed voluntary motion, Mr. Hall noted that he was dismissing his claims against both defendants with prejudice to pursue federal benefits under the DOE's Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP). The EEOICP provides benefits for eligible employees affected by chronic beryllium disease (CBD) and other illnesses such as silicosis and radiation-induced cancer. In July, the government began making tax-free $150,000 compensation payments to qualifying workers affected by CBD while working for the DOE, certain vendors or subcontractors throughout the nuclear weapons program. Less than two weeks before the Hall case was dismissed, Brush Wellman received a favorable decision in a similar case in Arizona. In Gamez v. Brush Wellman, the Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the Superior Court's 1999 grant of summary judgement. The plaintiff in that case was Rudy Gamez, a former employee of Brush Wellman's ceramics facility in Tucson. Gamez v. Brush Wellman was initially filed in June 1996. Mr. Gamez alleged willful misconduct, breach of contract and bad faith in connection with his employment-related exposure to beryllium particulate at the company's Tucson facility. Courts in Colorado, Tennessee and California have also ruled in favor of Brush Wellman in similar cases heard previously. In a statement, Brush Wellman said, "Each of these decisions, whether made by juries or judges, involved similar issues and resulted in the same conclusions. With the precedent these decisions set, other plaintiffs need to reassess the strength of their claims." Instead, the company stated that the EEOICP provides a more expedient and certain benefit for eligible employees affected by CBD and other illnesses. Brush Wellman continues to work to end CBD and to minimize the risk to its workers and customers. The company remains steadfastly committed to this objective while ensuring that the substantial benefits from using beryllium products remain available to society. Brush Wellman Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brush Engineered Materials Inc. (NYSE:BW). Brush Engineered Materials Inc. is headquartered in Cleveland. The company, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, supplies worldwide markets with beryllium products, alloy products, electronic products, precious metal products, and engineered material systems. NOTE TO EDITORS: Following is a summary of the Brush Wellman litigation mentioned in the above press release. Summary of Workplace-Related Litigation Decided in favor of Brush Wellman Inc. and voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs Judges and juries in a number of states have consistently ruled for Brush Wellman in cases involving workers exposed to beryllium particulate at Brush Wellman or contractor facilities. Craig Hall v. Brush Wellman and Starmet Corporation Dismissed in favor of Brush Wellman October 18, 2001, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. U.S. District Judge Edward F. Shea granted Craig Hall's Voluntary Motion for Dismissal so, as stated in the motion, Mr. Hall could pursue federal benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, EEOICP. The suit was filed in 1999 by Mr. Hall, an electrician since 1981 at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned and contractor operated facility. Mr. Hall alleged he became ill from working around fuel production operations involving beryllium-containing products. Mr. Hall initially sued Brush Wellman only, but later joined Starmet Corporation as a defendant when he discovered that Starmet's predecessor made the beryllium-containing products he worked around. Gamez v. Brush Wellman Inc. Decided in favor of Brush Wellman September 27, 2001 in the Arizona Court of Appeals. The Arizona appellate court affirmed the Superior Court's June 1999 granting of the company's motion for summary judgement in Pima County. The trial court case was originally filed in September 1996. The plaintiffs alleged willful misconduct, breach of contract and bad faith in connection with Mr. Gamez's employment-related exposure to beryllium particulate at Brush Wellman's Tucson, Arizona production facility. Troy Murphy Morgan, et al. v. Brush Wellman Inc., et al. Decided in favor of Brush Wellman September 4, 2001 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. U.S. District Court Judge James H. Jarvis granted Brush Wellman's motion for summary judgement. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in June 1994 by Mr. Morgan, three other plaintiffs, and two of their spouses. The plaintiffs alleged they had become ill from handling beryllium or beryllium-containing products while working for Union Carbide or Martin Marietta Energy Systems, contractors of the DOE's Oak Ridge, Tennessee facility. In its motion filed with the court, Brush Wellman argued that: -- It was not responsible for health and safety of another company's employees. -- It had adequately warned the government's Oak Ridge contractors of the need to properly protect workers from known unsafe levels of respirable beryllium. -- Under Tennessee law, Oak Ridge contractors were "sophisticated users" and had the responsibility to provide proper safety and health programs to protect employees against workplace hazards. -- Products supplied by Brush Wellman were to government specification. -- The plaintiffs' "conspiracy theory" was not supportable. Michael D. Ballinger, et al. v. Brush Wellman Inc. Decided in favor of Brush Wellman on June 26, 2001 by a unanimous jury in Jefferson County, Colorado District Court. The plaintiffs, who initially filed their case in November 1996, alleged they had become ill from handling beryllium or beryllium-containing products while working for Dow Chemical or Rockwell, contractors of the DOE's former Rocky Flats, Colorado facility. In a three-week trial covered by national news media, Brush Wellman argued that it had adequately warned the government's Rocky Flats contractors of the need to properly protect workers from known unsafe levels of beryllium particulate. The verdict also exonerated Brush Wellman of the unsupported "conspiracy" theory the plaintiffs' attorneys advanced when they were not successful in challenging the company's record of hazard communication and product labeling. This "conspiracy" theory was also rejected in an earlier determination by the U.S. Government Accounting Office. On September 5, the Jefferson County District Court denied the plaintiffs' motion for a new trial. Donald Polensky v. Brush Wellman Inc. Jury verdict for Brush Wellman March 19, 1993. The judge in the case had previously dismissed the plaintiff's punitive damage claim. The suit was filed in Superior Court of Orange County, California in January 1990. Mr. Polensky, the plaintiff, was a ceramics engineer employed by Ceradyne, Inc. The plaintiff alleged that Brush Wellman's warnings were inadequate and that Brush Wellman understated the risk of handling beryllium ceramic pieces. CONTACT: Brush Wellman Inc. Investors: Michael C. Hasychak, 216/383-6823 Media: Patrick S. Carpenter, 216/383-6835 http://www.BEMinc.com © 2000 StockHouse.com | Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 3 Utility officials urge fast approval of Yucca facility Thursday, December 20, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Energy undersecretary hears complaints from nuclear industry By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- A group of state utility regulators and nuclear power executives met with a top Energy Department official Wednesday to urge speedy recommendation of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste burial. The delegation of 15 officials, including a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, spent 45 minutes with Undersecretary Robert Card, the point man on nuclear waste for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "We're urging the secretary and the undersecretary to go forward with the site suitability recommendation as quickly as possible to keep this issue moving," said LeRoy Koppendrayer, a member of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. "This is not us against Nevada. It's not the industry trying to pawn something off on a particular state," he said. Rather, the states and utilities want the waste removed from power plants that have been decommissioned or that are running out of on-site storage capacity, he and others said. A "no action" decision would mean stranding high-level nuclear waste indefinitely at plant sites, they said. An Energy Department spokesman described the meeting as one of a series Card had been holding with interested parties, including sessions with local officials and environmentalists when he was in Las Vegas last week. "We're meeting and listening to folks like we said we would," spokesman Joseph Davis said. Abraham is expected to decide in the coming weeks whether to recommend Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for nuclear waste disposal. Attending Wednesday's session were Koppendrayer; Philip Bradley, a South Carolina Public Service Commission member; and Paula Craighead, nuclear safety adviser to Maine Gov. Angus King. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is spearheading a lobbying campaign for Yucca Mountain development, was present. Representatives of Maine Yankee and Connecticut Yankee utilities, Xcel Energy, the Prairie Island Indian Community in Minnesota, and the American Electric Power Corp. also attended. Irene Navis, manager of the nuclear waste division in Clark County's planning department, said representatives from nine counties in Nevada and Inyo County in California met for about an hour with Card Dec. 13 in Las Vegas. Officials from most of the counties urged Card to delay decisions on Yucca Mountain until questions are resolved about transportation and other matters. Representatives from Lincoln and Nye counties urged the Energy Department to "get on with a site recommendation," and were open to negotiate for benefits, Navis said. Card "got a mixed message," from the Nevada group, Navis said. "We certainly did not provide a united front as far as concerns over Yucca Mountain." "I did not feel it was the best use of our time," she said. "There were 10 of us in the room, and we had less than an hour. That gave us less than five minutes apiece." webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 4 Bio, nuke labs in Baghdad, claims defector The Times of India FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2001 THE TIMES OF INDIA WORLD: AMERICAS POWERED BY EW YORK: An Iraqi defector describing himself as an engineer has claimed he worked on renovations of secret facilities for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons in underground wells, private villas and under the Saddam Hussein Hospital in Baghdad as recently as a year ago. The defector, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, gave details of the projects he said he worked on for President Saddam Hussein's government in an interview with the New York Times last week in Bangkok. Government experts were quoted as saying that he had also been interviewed twice by American intelligence officials, who were trying to verify his claims. One of the officials said he thought Saeed had been taken to a secure location. The experts said his information seemed reliable and significant. The interview with Saeed was arranged by the Iraqi National Congress, the main Iraqi opposition group, which seeks the overthrow of Hussein. If verified, Saeed's allegations would provide ammunition to officials within the Bush administration who have been arguing that Hussein should be driven from power partly because of his unwillingness to stop making weapons of mass destruction, despite his pledges to do so. Saeed's account, according to the Times, gives new clues about the types and possible locations of illegal facilities, laboratories and storage sites that American officials and international inspectors have long suspected Iraq of trying to hide. It also suggests that Baghdad continued renovating and repairing such facilities after barring international inspectors from the country three years ago. ( PTI ) Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. | ***************************************************************** 5 Hanford reactor ordered closed FFTF restart too costly, Energy Dept. chief says Thursday, December 20, 2001 By CAROL SMITH SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER The U.S. Department of Energy yesterday ordered the permanent shutdown of the Fast Flux Test Facility on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation -- scuttling a five-year campaign aimed at using the experimental reactor to make medical isotopes. The decision was celebrated by environmentalists and health groups, but it disappointed researchers and economic-development boosters. "This is like Seattle losing Boeing," said Darrell Fisher, a researcher at Pacific Northwest National Labs in Richland, who uses isotopes in his work. "It's a significant part of the local economy." But a restart of the FFTF is impractical and could cost the government as much as $2 billion, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham concluded. The decontamination and dismantling of the 23-year-old facility, which employs about 250 people, could take four to six years and cost an estimated $300 million, according to the DOE. The 400-megawatt reactor, originally designed to test advanced nuclear fuels, materials and reactor safety designs, was shut down in 1993. Since then, various groups have tried to keep it operating -- as an economic powerhouse and producer of isotopes for treatment of cancer and other diseases. "It will mean the loss of some jobs," said Sam Volpentest, executive vice president of the Tri-City Development Council, a non-profit community-development organization based in Kennewick. "There are a lot of disappointed people who worked hard because they thought that medical isotopes were a good mission." Some restart proponents, however, aren't admitting defeat. "We're not giving up," said Claude Oliver, a Benton County commissioner and chairman of the board for Citizens for Medical Isotopes, a Tri-Cities organization. Over the next couple of days, Oliver said he and others will come up with a new proposal that he hopes will persuade DOE to keep their dream alive. At least one group opposed to the restart expected the Bush administration to reach a different conclusion. "It does come as a surprise," said Paige Knight, president of Hanford Watch, a Portland-based group. "I feel this administration is very pro-nuke. The pro-medical isotope people in Richland had lobbied very hard for this." Knight and other supporters of the shutdown said it will refocus money and attention on cleanup efforts at the 560-square-mile nuclear reservation. Hanford, which made plutonium for nuclear weapons for four decades, remains the most contaminated nuclear site in the nation. Keeping the reactor on standby while deciding its fate has been costing the Energy Department $40 million a year. That money initially came out of the Hanford cleanup budget, said Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest, an environmental watchdog group. Other opponents included Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Sierra Club and Columbia Riverkeeper. "There's not going to be a lack of jobs because of this decision," Pollet said. "The $40 million would fund 400 (cleanup) positions. "This will mean more people have jobs, not fewer." Last January, the Clinton administration ordered the FFTF shut down permanently. After the Bush administration took office, Abraham rescinded the order and began an eight-month review of the proposals. Advanced Nuclear Medical Systems, based in Richland, proposed using the reactor to make medical isotopes. A second proposal by Argonne National Laboratory would have used the facility as a demonstration project for nuclear fuels. But the proposals, collectively, would have cost the DOE more than $2 billion, according to Abraham. The department was also concerned about the lack of identified commercial purchases for the isotopes and the possibility that DOE would have to assume the cost of disposing of radioactive wastes. "Of course I'm deeply disappointed by DOE's decision," said U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., who fought for the restart. "While not the result we had hoped, this was a battle that was absolutely worth fighting." Opponents, however, argued that medical isotopes are available through other sources. "The DOE has at least 45 sites where we produce medical isotopes," said Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis. Some scientists and doctors, including nuclear medicine researchers at the University of Washington, argued that there isn't sufficient demand for the radioactive elements used in the isotopes to merit the proposed restart. Bill Uffelman, spokesman for the national Society of Nuclear Medicine, said recently that there are isotope shortages from time to time, but they are related to a variety of issues, including problems with transportation and quality control of the isotopes. But Fisher, who uses the radioactive elements to develop new drugs, said isotopes are sometimes difficult to obtain. "This takes away one of the principal U.S. sources and reduces competition," he said. And there is other fallout from the loss of the reactor. "The biggest impact will be on the science and education opportunities," he said. Pacific Northwest National Labs had planned to use the reactor to develop nuclear-education programs. "Hanford poses massive threats of nuclear catastrophe from accidents or terrorism," countered Pollet, adding that leaking waste tanks continue to threaten the Columbia River. "These are the challenges that our region must unite to solve, and put behind us the divisive political battle over FFTF." P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler contributed to this report. P-I reporter Carol Smith can be reached at 206-448-8070 or carolsmith@seattlepi.com [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 ©1999-2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer ***************************************************************** 6 Nuclear Strike on Bunkers Assessed (washingtonpost.com) Congress Receives Pentagon Study By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 20, 2001; Page A29 The Pentagon and the Energy Department have completed initial studies on how nuclear weapons could be modified to attack hardened bunker complexes and buried tunnels that conventional weapons cannot destroy, but no decision has been made to go ahead with such a program, according to a Defense Department report to Congress made public yesterday. The two departments have also been studying the need for a new, low-yield nuclear weapon to find a military means, conventional or nuclear, to attack and verify destruction of the growing number of such underground facilities that protect the "most valued and strategic capabilities" of such potential enemies as North Korea, Iraq and China, the report said. The study was completed in July, before U.S. military forces in Afghanistan were faced with trying to bomb and destroy caves where Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network may be holed up. "Any development and procurement of advanced nuclear capabilities would be considered in the context of nuclear stockpile policy, plans and priorities as well as future [Defense Department] strategic programs," according to the Pentagon report. It was sent to Congress in October and disclosed yesterday by Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, a nonprofit organization concerned with safety, environmental and nonproliferation issues surrounding nuclear weapons. A decision on whether design work will begin on a new or modified nuclear weapon to go after hardened underground targets is expected to be contained in the long-awaited Bush administration nuclear posture review, which sources said yesterday is at the White House for final review. Under law, it is required to be completed by the end of this month and may be released Dec. 28, according to sources. Although some Pentagon and nuclear weapons laboratory experts have been pushing for more than a year to have design work begun on such a weapon, as of July, when it was completed, the report said, "There is no current program to design a new or modified [hard target] nuclear weapon." Nonetheless, the report said, the Defense and Energy departments "continue to consider and assess nuclear concepts" that could result in a requirement for such a weapon, and a planning group is working to define the scope for a design feasibility study. Although most publicity has been devoted to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's use of underground bunkers, U.S. intelligence "suspects" there are more than 10,000 potential hardened targets "and their numbers will increase over the next 10 years," according to the report. Such underground facilities are being used to protect not only a country's leadership, but also command, control and communications centers; weapons production facilities; and missile launching sites for chemical, biological and nuclear warheads, the report said. One advantage nuclear weapons have over conventional weapons when it comes to destroying bunkers containing chemical and biological warfare materials is that they "destroy both agent containers and the CBW agents," the report says. The "lethality is optimized," the report added, "if the fireball is proximate to the target. This requires high accuracy; for buried targets, it also may require a penetrating weapon system." © 2001 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 7 Fate of Oak Ridge incinerator unknown The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:53 a.m. on Thursday, December 20, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Will the Department of Energy elect to shut down its Oak Ridge toxic waste incinerator or is there any chance it could be sold to the commercial sector for continued operations? DOE officials tackled those subjects Wednesday evening during a meeting of the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board's Waste Management Committee at the Jacobs Engineering Group's office. Helen Belencan, a waste program manager with DOE headquarters' Office of Integration and Disposition, says there is a need for several years to come for treatment of mixed low-level wastes containing polychlorinated biphenyls and other hazardous materials. From fiscal year 2002 through FY 2010, Belencan said close to 12,000 cubic meters of this type of waste is targeted for incineration or some other form of destruction. Around 1,227 cubic meters comes from Oak Ridge. The Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator, which is located at the Oak Ridge K-25 site, is presently DOE's only operating incinerator. DOE has been considering shutting down TSCA in 2003, but Belencan said it could be March or possibly later before the federal agency makes a decision on the incinerator's fate. In the meantime, DOE is looking at developing and evaluating alternative technologies to incineration for treatment of various types of waste, including mixed low-level. An advisory board for this task has been created and is expected to have its second meeting in February in Washington, D.C. Also at Wednesday's meeting, DOE addressed the feasibility of selling TSCA to a commercial sector company. Joy Sager, program manager for the incinerator, said a commercial company would probably run into problems trying to obtain permits for TSCA. In addition, there are doubts that a commercial business could actually generate a profit from operating the incinerator. TSCA resumed operations earlier this year after a four-month shutdown for maintenance and repairs. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 8 Ya'acov: I didn't believe I was revealing secrets The Jerusalem Post Newspaper : 5 Tevet 5762 12:10Thursday December 20, 2001 By Allison Kaplan Sommer TEL AVIV (December 20) - Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Ya'acov, being tried on suspicion of divulging classified security information, testified that he never believed he was breaching state security any more than British agent and spy novelist John LeCarre jeopardized his nation's security with his writings. The Tel Aviv District Court gave permission for parts of Ya'acov's court testimony to be published today. His trial has taken place behind closed doors since last spring. Ya'acov, a former chief of IDF research and development, was charged in March with divulging classified security information, and passing secret information to unauthorized persons with the intention of harming state security. He was arrested after he was believed to be writing memoirs in which he revealed secrets from his work in the defense establishment, and sent copies of the memoir to unauthorized persons, as well as working on another work of fiction. In an effort to promote his writing and find a publisher, he granted an interview to a Hebrew daily in which, it is charged, he revealed classified information. He testified that he had been certain the newspaper interview would be approved by the military censor, and had not been concerned about its content. In court testimony, Ya'acov said the newspaper interview involved an effort to "sell himself" and his writing to a potential US publisher. "In America, it is common to do this using superlatives and exaggeration, of course," he said. "This is the only explanation I have. I did not believe then that these were state secrets, and obviously, I did not think my fiction contained classified information." He said he made the decision to write his memoirs this year at the age of 75, when his health was failing. "I thought that I wanted to write my memoirs, largely in order to leave a legacy," he said. "That was the true reason. There are those who said I wanted to show offÉ. You can call it what you want, but I certainly do not think I am the first person to want to write their memoirs." Since he was charged, he has been living under house arrest at his own expense at a hotel next to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, because of his fragile health. Recently, conditions of his confinement have been eased by the courts, which criticized his harsh treatment by the Shin Bet. Ya'acov, who is believed to have been connected to the country's nuclear weapons program, retired from the defense establishment in 1973. © 1995-2001, The Jerusalem Post ***************************************************************** 9 Department of Energy To Permanently Deactivate Fast Flux Test Facility Research Reactor energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: December 19, 2001 [Print Friendly Version] WASHINGTON, DC - After an exhaustive, eight-month review of possible missions and future commercial uses for the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) research reactor ordered by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and conducted by Under Secretary Robert Card, the U.S. Department of Energy announced today that restart of the FFTF is impracticable and that the department will proceed with the deactivation of the facility. The department's decision comes after Secretary Abraham ordered, on April 25, a thorough and comprehensive review of the FFTF, which included an initial 90-day review of all information that might be relevant to a decision on the future of the FFTF, as well as a review of expressions of interests by public and private groups to commercially operate the facility. "I want to thank the FFTF review teams who committed countless hours to this process," Secretary Abraham said. "And in particular, I want to thank Congressman Doc Hastings, who worked longer and harder than anyone else to identify options for the potential restart of the FFTF. This review was conducted in an objective, exhaustive and thorough manner. The department's final determination is based on sound science, an extensive analysis of the costs and benefits of disposition options and an in-depth consideration of the feasibility of commercial use options." During the review process, the department asked for submissions of proposals outlining potential commercial uses for the FFTF. Only one commercial proposal, submitted by the Advance Nuclear and Medical Systems (ANMS) proposing to use the FFTF for medical and research isotope production, provided new information that the department deemed worthy of further review. Subsequently, Secretary Abraham ordered an analysis of that proposal. A working group of department personnel, directed by Under Secretary Robert Card, ultimately concluded that the ANMS proposal introduced significant drawbacks and presented potentially new legal and financial liabilities to the Department of Energy. Separate consideration was given to a related DOE-funded research mission proposed by Argonne National Laboratory to use the facility as a demonstration project related to nuclear fuel issues. Both proposals, collectively, were deemed to introduce significant liability and funding requirements for the DOE that could exceed $2 billion dollars. Specifically, the review team determined that the ANMS proposal presented significant operational and legal obstacles likely to result in project delays and increased costs to taxpayers; including: + worker-related financing of operations; + the lack of any identified commercial purchasers of medical or research isotopes; + DOE's assumption of costs associated by fuel disposal, as well as, DOE's assumption of costs associated with ultimate decontamination and decommission of the site if the commercial operations of the FFTF by ANMS proved unsuccessful; and + operational and safety oversight and approval of the FFTF by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are questionable, given that the reactor was not originally built to NRC specifications. Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. PR-01-216 ***************************************************************** 10 Accused spy Pasko to court: I'm not a traitor Vladivostok News :: December 19, 2001 By Anatoly Medetsky In a final address to the court on Tuesday, the military journalist accused of treason, Grigory Pasko, said he was critical of his country, but did not betray it. Pasko is charged with high treason for divulging state secrets on the combat readiness of Russia's Pacific Fleet to Japanese news media. He and his supporters maintain the charges are retribution for his reports of alleged environmental abuses by the navy, which included dumping radioactive waste into the sea. "I preferred to criticize my motherland, but not deceive it (by failing to report on the abuses)," he said according to a copy of his speech from the closed-door trial. "This criminal case has been born of a dislike for the truth." He said the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which investigated his case and was suspicious of his contacts with Japanese journalists, acted as if it was stuck in the era of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. "The FSB, as in 1937, regarded my contacts with foreigners as espionage," he stated referring to the peak year of Soviet purges and spy mania. The prosecution last week demanded nine years in a maximum security prison for Pasko, maintaining that his alleged treason was aggravated by the fact that Russia still hasn't signed a peace treaty with Japan after World War II, a defense lawyer said. Still, the nine-year sentence is three years below the minimal punishment for high treason. According to the lawyer, Anatoly Pyshkin, the prosecutor said a shorter sentence would be appropriate because Pasko didn't inflict any harm on national security and had two minor children. Prosecutor Alexander Kondakov also dropped five charges from the initial 10-count indictment, Pyshkin said. He said the most prominent charge against Pasko is that of passing a drawing of a naval facility for the storage of spent nuclear fuel to the Japanese news media. In four other counts, Pasko is accused of collecting sensitive information with the purpose of handing it over to the same news media, the lawyer said. The information includes a list of accidents that happened to Pacific Fleet nuclear-powered submarines, an official report on the decommissioning of naval weaponry and notes that Pasko made at a meeting of naval top brass which he had been permitted to attend, Pyshkin said. The court has recessed until Dec. 25 when it is expected to hand down a verdict. Editor Anatoly Medetsky [amedetsky@hotmail.com] Translation and layout Roman Dyablov [romario@vladnews.ru] Copy editors Chris Hoegemeyer [engl@vladnews.ru] Suzette Habel ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************