***************************************************************** 03/21/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.73 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Decision might end work at Piketon 2 Letter to NRC calling for postponement of Paducah proposal 3 Nuclear protest at Berlin rail office - 4 Vandals smash railway building windows in nuclear protest 5 Czech CEZ privatisation achievable in 2001-adviser 6 Nuclear Bill Debate Heats Up 7 PNNL could aid nuclear test ban treaty, general says NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Moving of device to Nevada questioned 2 Feds halt project to construct SRS plutonium plant 3 Canada ends India nuclear freeze 4 Bikini islanders awarded millions 5 A-bomb survivor asks Pakistan, India to work for peace 6 Massive neutrino project coming to Finland 7 Which came first — the artist or the physicist? Both, it seems 8 Lawmakers write Bush to stump for Hanford 9 Move to stop money laundering 10 K Basins project source of worries 11 3rd firm submits Hanford vit offer 12 3 teams submit bids to handle vit project 13 Hanford layoff notices delayed, officials say 14 Health Effects group seeks sick worker 15 A nuclear experiment's troubling legacy ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Decision might end work at Piketon *Tuesday, March 20, 2001* Jonathan Riskind *Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief* WASHINGTON -- The final bell might have tolled yesterday for current operations at southern Ohio's uranium-enrichment plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission formally approved the upgrade of a similar plant in Paducah, Ky., to produce commercial material suitable for use as fuel by U.S. nuclear power plants. The Paducah plant is run by USEC, a privatized federal corporation that plans to close the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, in June. But USEC needed yesterday's Paducah upgrade approval before it could end operations at Piketon. The regulatory commission had been expected to hand down a decision Friday. But the commission delayed after two lawmakers, including Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, raised objections. USEC critics question whether Paducah, built to complete the first part of the enrichment process, will be able to consistently produce commercial-grade enriched uranium. They say the Piketon plant, which was built to manufacture fully enriched uranium, should not be shut down until it has been proven that Paducah will be a reliable domestic supplier of the material. The regulatory commission didn't buy that argument and issued both a response to the lawmakers' objections and the authorization for the Paducah upgrade. In a letter to Strickland and Rep. John D. Dingell of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Commerce and Energy Committee, commission Chairman Richard A. Meserve said, "We do not believe that there is a basis to delay the issuance'' of the upgrade certification. USEC officials will begin increasing the Paducah plant's uranium purity level as part of an enrichment demonstration scheduled for completion in late April. "This positions the company to move forward with our business strategy to consolidate current enrichment operations at Paducah and to continue to increase efficiencies and reduce costs,'' said Morris Brown, USEC vice president of operations. Strickland and other USEC critics disagree. "I think they're (the regulatory commission) making a mistake,'' said Dan Minter, president of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union Local 5-689, which represents many of the 1,700 Piketon workers. "They're jeopardizing the domestic enrichment capability of the United States until there's a demonstration that Paducah in fact can do it.'' One thing USEC and its critics agree on is that new enrichment technology eventually must be developed. The Clinton administration proposed a $630 million plan to keep Piketon on "cold standby,'' allowing it to restart within 18 months if needed, and launch an advanced technology program at the site. That would save at least 1,200 jobs at Piketon. The Bush administration hasn't signed onto that plan, although Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham recently released an initial payment of $125 million. President Bush said that money is a "pretty darn strong commitment'' toward keeping the plant open in some form. jriskind@dispatch.com Copyright © 2001, The Columbus Dispatch ***************************************************************** 2 Letter to NRC calling for postponement of Paducah proposal March 14, 2001 The Honorable Richard A. Meserve Chairman Nuclear Regulatory Commission One White Flint North Building 11555 Rockville Pike Rockville, Maryland 20852 Dear Chairman Meserve: We are writing to urge you to postpone the issuance of a certificate amendment to the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant until important issues are examined. We understand that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is preparing to make a final decision on the certificate for the upgrade at the Paducah plant this week. We are concerned that the NRC may be abrogating its responsibility in assuring a reliable and economic domestic supply of enrichment services as outlined in the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) Privatization Act, P.L. 104-134. At this point, we understand that the NRC staff has declined to apply the requirements of Section 3116 of P.L. 104-134 and we do not understand why. Under Section 3116, such a certificate cannot be issued if the NRC decides it "would be inimical to (A) the common defense and security of the United States; or (B) the maintenance of a reliable and economic domestic source of enrichment services.” Because we believe that ceasing production at Portsmouth before the Paducah plant proves its ability to enrich to commercial fuel specifications threatens the reliability of our domestic source of enrichment services, we urge you to carefully examine these matters before acting. As you know, USEC is planning to shut down uranium enrichment operations at Portsmouth a few weeks after the anticipated NRC approval date for the certificate amendment at Paducah. Presently, Paducah produces 2.75 % assay and ships it to Portsmouth for final enrichment to approximately 5.5% assay. The loss of such backup capacity, along with the release of electric power supplies needed to enrich uranium, means that USEC is taking a gamble that it can produce the quantity (8 Million SWU per year) and assay (approximately 5.0% finished product) at economic levels at the Paducah plant. If USEC is wrong, and the Portsmouth plant already has been shut down, U.S. energy security could be compromised. First, in a recent report to Congress, the Department of Energy (DOE) raised concerns that USEC can achieve its stated goals, even if NRC approval is granted for Paducah in a timely fashion. This report was prepared in response to the Fiscal Year 2001 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Conference Report, House Report 106-907, which asked the Secretary of Energy to undertake an evaluation and make specific recommendations on the various options to support a domestic uranium enrichment industry in the short and long term. The report stated with respect to Paducah: "Paducah GDP Technical Concerns. Before the Paducah GDP can operate as a stand-alone enrichment source able to meet domestic requirements, it requires an NRC amendment of USECs operating certificates to produce enrichment at 5.5% U-235. Issues have been raised about Paducah’s ability to reach 8 million SWU at commercial assays. This issue, which is related to managing the content of lighter isotopes in order to meet commercial fuel specifications, is being examined. Also, Paducah is an old plant that could be prone to future operating problems." Second, the threat to domestic "reliability" is underscored by the fact that Portsmouth is the only plant in the United States that can reliably produce at 5.5%, and USEC is closing it. Meanwhile, USEC is upgrading a plant that has never accomplished this level of assay. With five interruptions in Russian HEU shipments in the past years, the Russian material cannot be considered a reliable substitute for production from Paducah. And, of course, the Russian material is not a domestic source. This situation is compounded by the fact that at least one large nuclear utility is pursuing advanced reactor technology which would require 8% assay. While Portsmouth is licensed to enrich uranium above the 8% level, we are concerned about Paducah’s capability to meet 5.5% assay and question whether it will ever be able to meet this higher assay. Third, it was brought to our attention that USEC is presently filling Paducah feed cylinders with approximately 3% enriched material from the Portsmouth plant that may be shipped to Paducah for enrichment to commercial grade. We are concerned that USEC will claim that the Paducah facility is a reliable source for producing the higher assay material needed for its customers when it was actually Portsmouth that provided Paducah with material. If they are using already 3% enriched material from Portsmouth, they cannot demonstrate that the Paducah plant is able to enrich original feed material to 5.5% assay. We urge you to pursue an immediate investigation into USEC’s activities to demonstrate the Paducah plant’s enrichment capability before issuing a certificate. We note that one practicable way for the NRC to meet its statutory obligation is to make the certificate amendment conditional on USEC providing an "insurance policy" throughout a "demonstration and validation period at Paducah." The NRC could require USEC to maintain the capability to enrich uranium to meet commercial grade demand by keeping a portion of the Piketon plant on warm standby. This approach would probably require keeping the "top" end of the cascade operating in a hot-operating or hot-standby condition at Portsmouth through the demonstration and validation period at Paducah, and require the use of some 50MW of power, until USEC has demonstrated, and NRC has validated, that Paducah will be both reliable and economic. The question for NRC is whether it is going to exercise its statutory obligations to assure that USEC will be able to achieve production and quality in an economic manner as intended by Congress in Section 3116 of P.L. 104-134. In declining to make a determination on whether NRC’s approval would be inimical to the maintenance of a reliable and economic domestic supply of enrichment services, the NRC's staff letter (January 10, 2001) relied upon a letter you sent to then Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley on September 11, 2000. That letter echoed the "view" of the NRC General Counsel that the concept of a reliable and economic domestic supply "is principally directed to the possibility of foreign entities gaining control and undermining domestic enrichment capabilities in the privatized USEC." This interpretation is thoroughly inconsistent with the legislative intent woven throughout the Privatization Act, and to our knowledge, this concern was not voiced in any Congressional hearing on the Act. Section 3116 was added to ensure that USEC did not shut down its plants and become a broker over time, an issue raised in Congressional hearings and floor statements. As such, we draw your attention to the Act's sections entitled "Sale of the Corporation" and "Method of Sale" (see §§3103 and 3104 of the Privatization Act), which are focused on USEC keeping two plants operating, being viable, and maintaining a domestic fuel cycle. They were not in any way juxtaposed with or rooted in deterring or precluding foreign ownership. Beyond licensing plants to operate safely, NRC was assigned two separate and distinct regulatory responsibilities--one dealing with foreign ownership and the other dealing with whether the certificate holder will be reliable and economic. It is not our intent to block the NRC's approval for the upgrade of the Paducah plant. Rather, the NRC has added legal responsibilities, not usually associated with its licensing decisions, that are part of protecting the nation's energy security, and which may require additional conditions related to keeping domestic capacity to produce 5.5% U-235 enriched uranium until Paducah has achieved its stated goals. These should be addressed fully before you make a decision on USEC’s certificate for upgrade. Sincerely, _______________________________ f John D. Dingell Ted Strickland Ranking Member Member Committee on Energy and Commerce Committee on Energy and Commerce cc: The Honorable W. J. “Billy” Tauzin, Chairman Committee on Energy and Commerce Mr. Bill Magwood Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy ***************************************************************** 3 Nuclear protest at Berlin rail office - March 21, 2001 CNN.com - BERLIN, Germany -- Windows have been smashed at Germany railway offices in an apparent protest against planned shipments of nuclear waste, police say. Smoke bombs and other objects were hurled at the Berlin headquarters of Deutsche Bahn early on Wednesday morning and the slogan "No Castor," a reference to the nuclear transports, was daubed on a wall. Waste from German nuclear power plants is due to be sent next week on Castor rail wagons back from France's La Hague reprocessing plant for storage at Gorleben. Such shipments had been suspended for about three years because of safety concerns. Police expect thousands of demonstrators to try to block the shipments. Vandals have attacked railway property in protests several times this month. A train was damaged after a metal hook was placed over an overhead line near Frankfurt on Tuesday. Reuters contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 4 Vandals smash railway building windows in nuclear protest Independent AP 21 March 2001 Vandals smashed dozens of windows at a German railway building in an apparent protest against the planned resumption of nuclear waste transports to Germany, police said. Nearly 80 windows were broken in the pre-dawn attack in eastern Berlin, and graffiti at the scene criticized the national railways for helping transport radioactive waste that originates at German nuclear power plants, police said. No one was in the building at the time of the attack. The assailants were at large. German nuclear waste shipments are due to resume next week with a transport from a reprocessing plant in France to a storage site in northern Germany. The German government suspended transports in 1998 out of safety concerns but has since tightened safety rules. Anti–nuclear protesters have called for rail blockades to disrupt the shipment and police in several German states are on alert. In the 1990s, nuclear waste transports often led to battles between police and demonstrators. Germany's Greens party, which grew out of the anti–nuclear movement and now sits in the government, has endorsed only peaceful demonstrations. Rebecca Harms, one of the party's most prominent anti–nuclear activists, called Wednesday's attack "dumb and dangerous." Interviewed on InfoRadio, she said such vandalism hurt the Social Democrat–led government's continuing effort to press German utilities to phase out nuclear power. © 2001 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd. ***************************************************************** 5 Czech CEZ privatisation achievable in 2001-adviser Reuters Company News March 21, 11:36 AM Get the cheapest broker commission PRAGUE, March 21 (Reuters) - The Czech government should be able to sell its stakes in dominant power producer CEZ and six regional energy distributors before the end of this year, one of the sale advisers said on Wednesday. "I think the sale is achievable this year but I can't comment further until we have signed a contract with the government," Deloitte and Touche local chief Otto Jelinek told Reuters by telephone. The privatisation agency, National Property Fund, selected the consortium of Deloitte and Touche, N.M. Rothschild and Sons Ltd. on Tuesday to advise it on the sale. CEZ controls 65 percent of the Czech market and is a growing power exporter, mainly into neighbouring Germany. It operates two Soviet-designed nuclear power stations, including the new Temelin plant. The government has said it would look for strategic investors with experience in nuclear energy. Electricite de France, E.ON and International Power (LSE: IPR.L- news) are seen as potential buyers. The deadline for showing non-binding interest in CEZ was set for Wednesday. CEZ will be sold together with controlling stakes in six of the country's eight regional power distributors, some of which already have minority foreign investors. The total market capitalisation of CEZ is 50 billion crowns ($1.3 billion). The state officials have said some 200 billion crowns could be raised from CEZ but analysts were more cautious, saying that the price would not exceed 100 billion, still making it the largest privatisation in the country's history. CEZ officials have warned against any delays in its privatisation, arguing this could further threaten its domestic position as the market is due to be gradually opened up to competition. Next year is an election year in the Czech Republic and political bickering could drown out economic arguments, the company said last November. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 Nuclear Bill Debate Heats Up Wednesday, Mar. 21, 2001, 1:07 AM Moscow Time By Staff Writer As parliament prepares to vote on a bitterly disputed bill on importing spent nuclear fuel, a top nuclear safety expert warned Tuesday that funds raised from the shipments could end up being spent on upgrading nuclear weapons and building new ones. The $20 billion that the Nuclear Power Ministry intends to earn from the import of spent fuel could be spent on arms because the package of amendments set to be passed Thursday allows those funds to be placed in an account closed to public scrutiny, said Vladimir Kuznetsov, a State Duma official and former head of the government nuclear safety watchdog. The Nuclear Power Ministry, which is lobbying to get the bill passed on a second — and perhaps an immediate third — reading this week, denied the allegations Tuesday. The bill sailed through the Duma on its first reading in December. After a third reading it goes to the Federation Council and then to President Vladimir Putin for approval. Kuznetsov told a news conference that any denials are meaningless because Nuclear Power Ministry deals are typically cloaked with secrecy. "I personally believe that the money raised from the imports will be spent on the creation of new types of nuclear weapons and the modernization of existing ones," said Kuznetsov, a member of the environmental advisory council in the Duma and an assistant to Deputy Sergei Mitrokhin. "Sergei Sergeyevich [Mitrokhin] and I wrote many requests to the Nuclear Power Ministry demanding financial details about different nuclear programs. … Similar requests have been written by other deputies. But there have never been any replies," Kuznetsov said. What the ministry has provided parliament are broad proposals for how the money raised by shipments will be spent, he said. The ministry says $7 billion will be used to build new storage sites for spent fuel and radioactive waste and an equal amount will be spent on environmental programs. In addition, it intends to pay $3.5 billion in taxes to the government and sink the remaining $2.5 billion into the upgrade of nuclear facilities. Yury Vishnevsky, who heads the nuclear safety watchdog Gosatomnadzor once led by Kuznetsov, said last weekend that he also doubts the ministry would spend its earnings as earmarked. "Some cash will be paid as taxes, some to build new transportation systems, some to build new [reprocessing] facilities and some to maintain them and pay the staff. There will be no cash to spent on ecological programs," he told the "Itogi" program on NTV. But the Nuclear Power Ministry will never be held accountable if it gets its way in opening a special fund in which to place cash from the nuclear program, said Kuznetsov and Deputy Mitrokhin. Provision for such a fund is among the package of nuclear bills to be considered Thursday, they said. "Only a tiny group of selected deputies have access to the closed parts of the budget," Mitrokhin said. "There is no Duma or public control over them. And if we allow the ministry to collect all the revenues from those imports in their own fund, we will never know where the money went." The Nuclear Power Ministry rejected the allegations as "rubbish." "This is all rubbish," said ministry spokesman Yury Bespalko. "The fund will be open and transparent. The public and the Duma will control it. "And the allegation that we are going to make weapons is just ridiculous. I don't even want to talk about it." However, the Nuclear Power Ministry's current fund — which is part of the federal budget — is not fully open even now, said Galina Anisimova, adviser to the State Duma's budget committee. She said the fund is slated to hold 13.9 billion rubles ($485.3 million) in 2001 and has "open and closed parts." She would not reveal any details about the closed parts of the fund. The Moscow Times ***************************************************************** 7 PNNL could aid nuclear test ban treaty, general says This story was published Wed, Mar 21, 2001 By Annette Cary Herald staff writer Technology developed in Richland could help overcome one problem preventing the United States from ratifying the proposed international nuclear test ban treaty, said retired Gen. John Shalikashvili on Tuesday. The general, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President Clinton, said critics have had legitimate concerns that the treaty is difficult to verify and enforce. However, he said problems can be overcome with the aid of devices such as those produced in Richland identifying nuclear explosions elsewhere on the globe. "My hope is that the Bush administration will take appropriate action on fixing things that need to be fixed," he said. Although President Bush has not taken a stand on the treaty since being elected, he had earlier said the treaty would be too difficult to enforce. It would prohibit nuclear testing, which is essential for developing sophisticated nuclear weapons. Shalikashvili was a guest Tuesday at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to discuss his work on the treaty and learn about the lab's nuclear nonproliferation and other national security programs. After the Senate split along party lines to reject verification of the treaty in 1999, Clinton asked Shalikashvili to come out of retirement to investigate ways to build support for the treaty. In a report finished in the final days of the Clinton administration, the general said his 10 months of study strengthened his belief that the treaty is essential to prevent the development of more sophisticated nuclear weapons. Building up the U.S. nuclear stockpile may have deterred the Soviet Union during the Cold War years, but now the United States faces former rogue nations with less rational leadership, such as Iraq and North Korea. China has yet to ratify the agreement, and North Korea, India and Pakistan have not signed the agreement. Nations that have signed and ratified the pact include Britain, France and Russia. The United States was the first to sign the treaty but is among 13 of 44 countries that have not yet ratified it. To build support for the treaty, he's recommended that it be reviewed by the Senate and administration every 10 years and has recommended a greater effort to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Better technology, such as that developed at the Richland lab, also will allow verification that nuclear weapons are not being tested. Under the treaty, an international organization would have a global system of sensors to detect shaking in the ground, air and water that could mean a bomb had been detonated and other sensors to detect radionuclides released by weapons testing. Eleven of the stations to be located on U.S. territory would have radionuclide detectors based on designs developed at the Richland lab. Other countries also have asked for information about the systems for the total of 80 monitors planned globally. Germany is operating one of them. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Moving of device to Nevada questioned Wednesday, March 21, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- The U.S. Department of Energy is questioning the need for a $49 million pulsed-power machine at Los Alamos National Laboratory that is expected to be moved to Nevada for an additional $12 million. The National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the Energy Department that oversees parts of the nation's weapons complex, disagrees with the report by the department's Inspector General's Office, a spokesman said. The Atlas Pulsed Power Experimental Facility went into operation in December, said a February audit report by the inspector general. Atlas stores electricity, then shoots it out in intense bursts to simulate nuclear warhead detonations. But Atlas has not been used aside from test runs that show it works as planned, the audit said. The audit questioned how valuable the machine is and said that if Atlas "was important enough to build, then it should have received enough priority ranking to allow it to operate." Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group, a Santa Fe-based nuclear watchdog organization, called the report "a small measure of truth bubbling up to the surface." He said moving Atlas would be a waste of money when it has been complete at Los Alamos for only a few months. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Mar-21-Wed-2001/news/15687728.html ***************************************************************** 2 Feds halt project to construct SRS plutonium plant Published Wednesday, March 21, 2001 *Associated Press * AIKEN -- The Energy Department has suspended work on one of three plutonium-treatment plants planned for the Savannah River Site because federal officials are looking to move the money to other projects. "The administration is looking at the budget and programs for the next fiscal year and wants to ensure the most effective use of monies available," said Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration in Washington. The immobilization plant was one part of the Energy Department's plan for disposing of surplus plutonium, a dangerous, radioactive metal used in nuclear weapons. It would have baked about 19 tons of the plutonium into ceramic pucks which then would be put into glass-filled canisters. The canisters' extreme radioactivity would make it difficult for anyone to retrieve the plutonium for use in nuclear weapons, federal officials say. The immobilization plant, scheduled to open later this decade, would have employed about 350 people and construction would have created up to 1,000 short-term jobs, according to Energy Department estimates. Operating the plant for 10 years would cost a total of $585 million, the department estimated. Many anti-nuclear activists had supported the immobilization project. They had hoped 55 tons of surplus plutonium from around the nation would be stored there. Instead, the Energy Department plans to use about 36 tons of the radioactive metal in mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel for nuclear-power plants, a more controversial use of the weapons-grade material. Some observers didn't understand why the government decided to shelve the immobilization project. "I can't understand why, at a time when there are enormous budget surpluses, such vital programs costing so little would be cut," said Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. Agreements with Russia require the United States to immobilize some plutonium, said Tom Clements, executive director of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington. Halting the immobilization program would require amending those agreements and could alienate U.S. allies in Europe, he said. "The Energy Department's defunding of immobilization will reveal to the European allies that the United States is not as committed to plutonium disposition as it's been telling its partners," he said. ***************************************************************** 3 Canada ends India nuclear freeze BBC News | AMERICAS | Tuesday, 20 March, 2001, 23:20 GMT Canada says it is to resume most diplomatic relations with India, which it froze after the Indian nuclear tests of 1998. The foreign affairs minister, John Manley, said Canada was still deeply concerned about nuclear proliferation in South Asia. But full ties were needed for effective dialogue with India, which he described as a vigorous democracy. The official Canadian statement made no mention of Pakistan, which Canada also froze ties with for the same reason. But Mr Manley told the Reuters news agency that sanctions would remain on Pakistan, which he said was not a functioning democracy. *From the newsroom of the BBC World Service* ***************************************************************** 4 Bikini islanders awarded millions From AFP 21mar01 19:35 (AEDT) MAJURO: Bikini islanders were today awarded $US563 million ($1.13 billion) in compensation for the US nuclear tests on their island, but there is no money to pay the award. The order was made by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal which was set up by the United States with just $US45 million ($90 million) as part of an overall compensation package for the Marshallese who endured 67 US nuclear atmospheric tests, including 23 on Bikini itself, in the 1940s and 1950s. The tribunal said in its decision nothing can compensate the Bikini people for the "damage, loss and hardship suffered". But it added it hoped the $US563 million dollars award "will help bring closure to this tragic legacy, and allow the Bikini community to move forward empowered to make their own future." The Marshall Islands government has been lobbying Washington to increase the tribunal's funding. news.com.au ***************************************************************** 5 A-bomb survivor asks Pakistan, India to work for peace -DAWN - Top Stories; 21 March, 2001 By Omar R. Quraishi HIROSHIMA, March 20: A well-known survivor of the August 6, 1945, atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima in Western Japan, Sunao Tsuboi, said here on Tuesday that Pakistan and India must realize the horrors of a potential nuclear conflict and should work towards a durable peace. Mr Tsuboi, who also happens to be the co-chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Survivors Organization (he works out of his office a few hundred metres from the hypocentre, or where the bomb exploded), told a visiting group of nine journalists from Pakistan that as someone who actually survived an atomic bomb explosion he was in a good position to talk about the adverse effects that came when countries possessed such devices. Referring to a visit that he made to India and Pakistan in 1997 along with some other members of the Survivors Organization, Mr Tsuboi said that the best way towards creating durable peace between any two conflicting nations was dialogue and trust. He said trust was especially important, and gave an anecdote from one of his walkabouts in Lahore when local people coaxed him to be their guest for a cup of tea. Talking in detail about his own experiences, Mr Tsuboi said that everything within a two kilometre radius of the hypocentre (the bomb actually exploded 580 metres above a government building) was destroyed. He said the shockwave was such that windows as far as 27 kms from the centre of the blast were shattered. The heat of the explosion, which reached well over 1,200 degrees Celsius was enough to melt iron and steel in nearby structures and some rocks even melted. By the end of 1945, he said, a total of 140,000 people had died in Hiroshima alone, but this was at best an official estimate because many bodies were obviously never found, much less identified. To a question, he said that around 40 per cent of people in the main city centre survived the blast. He said that though he had "hated America for 20 or 30" years that was not the case anymore because everyone should try to build bridges. He also said that some Japanese survivors had met US pilots and airforce personnel who took part in the actual bombing and that some of the latter had apologized. Talking about his own medical condition, Mr Tsuboi said that several times doctors said that he would die - in fact in 1946 for 90 continuous days they told his relatives that he would die but he lived on, and now he was 75. However, he said this did not mean that he had completely weathered the effects of the blast, which included cancer of the colon. The group of journalists, from three English and six Urdu newspapers, were taken by their host, Japan's Foreign Press Centre, to the Peace Memorial Park and Museum where a detailed history of the events that led to the bombing, and several issues relat-ed to nuclear weapons were on exhibition. NEWSPAPER VISIT: A senior editor of Hiroshima and Western Japan's main newspaper, the Choguku Shimbun, also met the journalists and had a 90-minute discussion on nuclear- related issues, especially vis-a-vis Pakistan and India's tests in 1998. ***************************************************************** 6 Massive neutrino project coming to Finland HS Home 20.3.2001 - [HELSINGIN SANOMAT international] Home - Tuesday 20.3.2001 *Genius* to be Finland's most massive scientific experiment + *By Erkki A. Kauhanen* An international group of physicists decided in late February that an old Finnish zinc mine would be the ideal location for *Genius*, an international research project into the sub-atomic particles known as neutrinos. The Pyhäsalmi mine is located at Pyhäjärvi in Western Finland. + The project is a massive one, which is set to compete with the neutrino research of some of the world's most famous laboratories, such as Japan's Kamiokande. + The costs of the project go into the hundreds of millions of *markka*, possibly as much as a billion. The group hopes to get funding from international sources. + Under initial plans, Finland is to provide the necessary facilities, including sufficient data communications. Finland must also provide a sufficiently capable group of scientists to support the project. + Efforts have been underway for some time to bring together a group of scientists for the Genius project, and the second precondition appeared to have been met on Monday when the development plan of the Center for Underground Physics in Pyhäsalmi, or CUPP was approved by regional authorities. + Other locations competing for the project included Gran Sasso in Italy, which has already established a reputation in neutrino research. The decision to choose Finland as a venue is seen as recognition of the high standard of Finnish particle physics. + The Genius experiment is to be located at the bottom of the Pyhäsalmi mine shaft at a depth of nearly 1.5 kilometres. Excavation is to be done by the mining and metallurgical company Outokumpu. + The project is to proceed in stages and its final dimensions will depend on financing. Initially there has been talk of underground facilities comprising about 6,000 cubic metres but some plans call for a space as big as 30,000 cubic metres. + The basis of the experiment is to be new kinds of germanium indicators which are to be suspended in large steel containers filled with liquid nitrogen. The nitrogen both keeps the germanium cold, and helps in the detection of radiation interference. + The purpose of the experiment is to detect neutrinos coming in from outer space, both from the sky above, and below, from the other side of the planet. + Also, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is planning to build a new "neutrino factory", or particle accelerator, which can fire streams of neutrinos through the crust of the earth to monitoring stations in different parts of the world. + Pyhäsalmi is one of the possible monitoring stations, and the approval of the Genius experiment will make it easier for Pyhäsalmi to get the second experiment as well. + At the moment the Pyhäsalmi mine already has a pilot project of the University of Oulu for measuring cosmic radiation. + In the best of cases the Genius experiment could start in about three years, first on a smaller scale, and later with more massive equipment. + Neutrinos are particles created in atomic nuclei as the result of *beta decay*, a phenomenon which puzzled physicists for a long time, because contrary to one of the most basic laws of physics, beta decay appeared to involve the disappearance of energy. + In 1930 the Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli proposed as a solution to the problem that in addition to electrons, beta decay would result in the creation of another particle, which had not been detected because it has no mass, and which would account for the missing energy. + The particle was called a *neutrino* and it was finally detected in 1956. + Finding a neutrino took so long because it interacts with other matter very weakly. They do not react to electromagnetic fields, strong nuclear energy, or even gravity. It is only when a neutrino hits an atom very precisely that it is influenced by the weak nuclear energy inside the atomic nucleus and interacts with the outside world. + In such an event it can cause a nuclear reaction or send off an electric particle, and it is these rare events that the Genius experiment is aimed at observing. + As collision targets for neutrinos, researchers generally chose a substance that will give a reaction that can be easily observed. + For instance, the Homestake neutrino observatory in the United States uses huge vessels containing nearly half a million litres of a chemical more commonly used as a floor cleaning liquid. + The substance is cheap, and its chemical composition makes it possible to count the number of collisions. When a neutrino collides with a chlorine nucleus the chorine turns into argon. Therefore, the number of neutrino collisions can be determined by measuring the amount of argon. + Meanwhile, the world's largest neutrino experiment to date, in Japan, uses a tank containing 50,000 tonnes of water. + When a neutrino collides with a water molecule, it gives of, one electron which carries energy. This produces a faint flash of light in the water, known as Cherenkov radiation, which can be detected with the help of a photovoltaic cell. + The Genius experiment is to use germanium, which reacts with neutrinos through the creation of a massive electric event known as ionisation. Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.3.2001 ERKKI KAUHANEN / Helsingin Sanomat erkki.kauhanen@sanoma.fi ***************************************************************** 7 Which came first — the artist or the physicist? Both, it seems The Times WEDNESDAY MARCH 21 2001 They blinded me with science BY RACHEL CAMPBELL-JOHNSTON I spent a couple of days at the European Centre for Nuclear Research (Cern). It’s on a campus site, northwest of Geneva. Outside, dismal poplars were dropping their leaves on to roads named after dead physicists: Planck, Bohr, Maxwell. Inside, scientists with the complexions of people who don’t get enough daylight squidged along linoleum corridors in crêpe-soled shoes. The central heating was stifling. On the surface of things, Cern isn’t an obvious source of inspiration. But then nothing at Cern is to be taken at surface value. Even its greatest asset is buried deep underground. More than 150ft below the fields is (or was — it recently closed) the Large Electron Positron in which physicists recreated the conditions which existed a split second after the Big Bang. They studied that fragment of time in which all the laws that govern the workings of our planet were laid down. There can hardly have been a more inspirational moment since God lent back against the abyss and said let there be light. Of course it takes a honed mathematical intelligence even to begin to comprehend anything more than the simplest basics of it all. Conversations at Cern tend to take place on blackboards with equations involving at least three types of brackets. But the sorts of ideas that physicists are tackling, the sorts of questions they are asking, are those which artists also approach. Why things? Why not just nothing? Why is the world like it is? A conversation with a theoretical physicist is like having a pair of jump leads clipped to your brain. Sparks of inspiration fly. These theoreticians think about extra-dimensional membranes of the Universe and parallel planes of existence. They wonder about time travelling and talk of quark-gluon states. “Being a theorist is not that different from being an artist,” one of them told me. “We can create new ideas by coming up with crazy associations. We have to be rebellious, go against conventional ways of thinking. It’s like a game of chess, wondering if the crazy move might be the one that wins.” Scarcely surprising then that artists seek inspiration in scientific discoveries, and have done so since the days of Leonardo da Vinci. Duchamp was inspired by the mathematician Poincaré, Dalì by the physics of extra-dimensional perspective, Seurat by the theories of the colour spectrum. Now, under the auspices of the London Institute, a dozen or so artists from all over Europe have been invited to spend time at Cern, to develop their own notations and responses to its scientific research.* Signatures of the Invisible* is the result. A few of the pieces have a simple visual clarity. Patrick Hughes’s paradoxical relief paintings were apparently most popular with the scientists who immediately related to their trick of reverse perspective. A piece in which a set of doors open and close on to an Alpine scene speaks about the relationship between nature and culture, tests and exposes the presumptions or perception. His work is always effective, especially to first-time viewers unfamiliar with his trademark tricks. But the power of this show lies in the ideas behind the artworks. Yes, there are lots of pleasing things to look at — little boxes of captured light to peer into, maps of lost time to pore over — but what makes such pieces more than passingly pleasing are the explanations that underpin them. Indeed, some pieces are made intriguing purely by virtue of the explanation. Paradoxically, the pieces that are the least visually interesting are the ones that are the most interesting. Richard Deacon’s *Detector 2000 *lacks the wonderful curvilinear line, the sense that someone has been drawing in space, that characterises his best work. And yet the philosophies that inform this work — inspired by intriguing similarities between a Tibetan ghost trap and the physicists’ hunt for elusive particles whose existence has been predicted but never proved — give a very real sense of an artistic mind struggling to engage with an expanded set of concepts. There is a sense that this piece could well be part of something ongoing, something which, when it has been worked through, might have changed and developed the artist. It’s worth putting up with art that is not conventionally pleasing for the sake of this. After all, as one of the physicists said, beauty often proves a bad guide when it comes to developing an idea, because that which is considered beautiful is simply an acquired response. A better idea than beauty then, is elegance, the sense of one idea having many associations. Artists can learn to get to the heart of the matter from the scientists who study the heart of matter. + *Signatures of the Invisible *is at the Atlantis Gallery, Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 (020-7514 8898), until March 29 Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided ***************************************************************** 8 Lawmakers write Bush to stump for Hanford This story was published Wed, Mar 21, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer Gov. Gary Locke and Attorney General Christine Gregoire have taken Hanford's funding fears directly to the top. The two sent a letter to President Bush voicing concerns the Department of Energy's proposed 2002 budget will not have enough money to meet DOE's legal cleanup obligations -- and asking for more federal money. The letter is prompted by the Bush administration announcement that DOE's budget request to Congress seeks $19 billion in 2002 -- a $700 million drop from 2001. Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told Gregoire last week that DOE's nationwide cleanup budget in 2002 could drop by possibly $425 million from 2001's approximately $6.2 billion. DOE officials at Hanford believe the site's 2001 cleanup budget of about $1.5 billion needs to increase to about $1.85 billion in 2002 to meet all the site's legal obligations. Almost $1.9 billion is needed to accelerate cleanup along the Columbia River. Other DOE sites besides Hanford also contend they need more money in 2002. Locke's and Gregoire's letter said if DOE trims Hanford's budget, it "would significantly threaten" the ability to meet legal obligations under the Tri-Party Agreement, the legal pact governing Hanford cleanup. Allowing no increase would jeopardize Hanford's plants proposal to glassify the site's radioactive tank wastes, which are the site's biggest problem, they wrote. "You have been quoted as saying that cleaning up nuclear waste is a priority for you -- but the budget cuts that your administration is proposing belie your statements," their letter said. "We respectfully request that you demonstrate your unequivocal support for cleaning up Hanford within the agreed-to timelines by requesting and advocating the appropriate level of funding." So far, DOE in Washington, D.C., has been silent about how it wants to allocate the $19 billion it is seeking from Congress. The agency expects to unveil detailed proposals -- including Hanford's share -- in the first week of April. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. ***************************************************************** 9 Move to stop money laundering Daily Nation On the Web March 27, 2001 By Nation Reporter UN members have been urged to adopt an international treaty aimed at speeding up the tracing, recovery and repatriation of wealth stolen from developing countries and transferred abroad. Representatives of Transparency International (TI) from 11 African countries made the call following a meeting in Nyanga, Zimbabwe. The declaration also calls for "the sealing of all known loopholes, requiring banks to open their books for inspection where there is reasonable cause to suspect illegal activity and mandatory liquidation and repatriation of assets known to have been corruptly acquired." Last year, TI brought together 11 leading international banks to announce their agreement on the Wolfsberg Anti-Money Laundering Principles. Under the new guidelines on business conduct in international private banking, banks are required to prevent the use of their world-wide operations for criminal purposes. Banks are also required to "endeavour to accept only those clients whose source of wealth and funds can be reasonably established to be legitimate." The African TI representatives also expressed support for the Wolfsberg Principles as "a first step towards stopping the movement of illicit wealth". The Nyanga Declaration was adopted by TI representatives from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Copyright Nation Newspapers Limited ***************************************************************** 10 K Basins project source of worries This story was published Wed, Mar 21, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer A federal panel is worried about operating errors and the slow pace of moving fuel at Hanford's K Basins project. However, Hanford officials say the beginner's mistakes will soon go away and fuel movement will speed up to meet the project's deadlines. Right now, Fluor Hanford is 312 months into a nearly four-year effort to move 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel from two indoor, water-filled pools to a huge underground vault in central Hanford. So far, the company has moved five special canisters -- dubbed Multi-Canister Overpacks, or MCOs -- from the K West Basin to the vault. Each MCO holds approximately 5.5 tons of fuel. So far, 27.5 tons of radioactive fuel have been moved from the basins near the Columbia River to safer storage. The project has two legal Tri-Party Agreement deadlines. All fuel is to be removed from the K West Basin by December 2002. The other basin is to be empty by July 2004. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Hanford office regulate the project. John Conway, the defense board's chairman, said the panel is worried about the number of mistakes by operators in moving the fuel in the basin and in removing the moisture from the MCOs' interiors. Fuel that workers are dealing with now is some of the easiest to move, which only adds to the board's worries, Conway said. The underwater cylinders holding the K West fuel are mostly intact and capped at the ends. Much of the K East Basin's fuel is in open-ended cylinders with the fuel corroding and falling apart, so collecting it will be more difficult. Dave Van Leuven, Fluor's executive vice president, and Mike Schlender, DOE's deputy manager for site transition at Hanford, said the errors come from operators learning a new and complicated process with rigid procedures -- all on a type of project that has never been done before. "I think the mistakes being made are not unusual at the start-up of an operation," Van Leuven said. "The learning curve is steep, and improvements are very apparent." Mistakes are only part of the board's concerns, however. Conway echoed criticism voiced earlier by the EPA about the pace of moving the MCOs. The K West Basin might move 100 to 200 tons in 2001 at its current pace. That would leave about 1,000 tons, which would all have to be moved in 2002 to stay on schedule. However, Fluor plans to drastically accelerate its pace later this year by a combination of factors, Van Leuven said. A few weeks ago, Fluor submitted its new acceleration plan to DOE for approval. DOE is discussing that plan with the EPA and hopes to make a decision on Fluor's recommendations in a few weeks, Schlender said. Van Leuven said Fluor's new acceleration plan is based on a proposal to move the K East Basin's fuel to the K West Basin, instead of sending it directly to an MCO-vacuuming facility and the underground vault. Moving fuel from K East to K West would require less preparation in the K East Basin. Also, this change would mean Hanford would not have to duplicate the K West Basin's extensive MCO-loading equipment and procedures in the K East Basin. DOE is studying this proposal. Fluor also plans to expand from one shift on weekdays to two shifts on weekdays. Eventually, Fluor wants to staff the project 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Van Leuven said. Right now, the K Basins' work force is shrinking as it switches from preparation work to actually moving fuel. The project employed 950 to 1,000 people in October, but construction and other preparation people are being laid off. The work force expected to dip below 600 by April 1. After that, it's expected to grow to about 650 people, then stay steady for most of the project's life. Van Leuven and Schlender believe Fluor's new acceleration plan is capable of meeting the Tri-Party Agreement's December 2002 and July 2004 deadlines. Schlender said DOE would have to negotiate a change in the Tri-Party Agreement if the K East Fuel is moved to the K West Basin before it is packed into MCOs and sent to central Hanford. Such a change would allow DOE to move the equivalent of the K West Basin's 1,210 tons of fuel to central Hanford by December 2002 instead of emptying the K West Basin itself. Van Leuven said the K Basin's $187 million budget for fiscal 2001, and a $187 million budget for fiscal 2002, which begins Oct. 1, would be sufficient to keep the project on schedule. However, a major question is whether DOE in Washington, D.C., will allocate $187 million to the K Basins project for fiscal 2002. DOE has not yet unveiled how it plans to allocate money among its nationwide cleanup sites, including Hanford. That information is expected to be released in early April. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. ***************************************************************** 11 3rd firm submits Hanford vit offer This story was published Wed, Mar 21, 2001 By the Herald staff Duke Engineering & Services is the third firm to submit a bid to become the Hanford glassification project's "operability and commissioning" subcontractor, the corporation confirmed Tuesday. The other two bidders are BNFL Inc. and a team led by CH2M Hill that includes Cogema Engineering Corp. and Duratek Federal Services as major subcontractors. When Bechtel-Washington took over Hanford's radioactive waste glassification project last December, its team lacked a subcontractor to shepherd and test the project's construction from the future operating company's perspective. No later than 2011, Bechtel-Washington is expected to turn over the new glassification plants to an operating company. Bechtel-Washington hopes to have the new subcontractor signed up by April. A subsidiary of Duke Engineering & Services used to be Fluor Hanford's major subcontractor in charge of the K Basins project. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. ***************************************************************** 12 3 teams submit bids to handle vit project This story was published Tue, Mar 20, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer Three corporate teams have submitted bids to be hired to test and assure the operability of plants to be built to handle Hanford's most difficult radioactive wastes. The three teams want the role of "operability and commissioning" contractor for the waste glassification project. The lead contractor for the work, Bechtel-Washington, confirmed it had three bidders but declined to identify them. Its procurement rules forbid releasing bidder identities, said spokesman John Britton. The Tri-City Herald confirmed the makeup of two of the three teams, which include a list of familiar contractors. One is BNFL Inc., which managed the overall contract until it was dismissed a year ago. BNFL spokesman David Campbell said his firm has joined with a couple of unnamed small local firms. The second team is led by CH2M Hill Inc., with Duratek Federal Services and Cogema Engineering Corp. as the major subcontractors, said Mike Rengel, a CH2M Hill spokesman. This team also will contain an unnamed handful of local small firms. Bechtel-Washington leads the overall project, which is to design, build and test plants to convert the site's radioactive tank wastes into glass. Since Bechtel-Washington took over last December, there has not been an "operability and commissioning" subcontractor on the job. While partners Bechtel National and Washington Group International design and build the plants, the operability subcontractor's role is to shepherd and test the construction from the operator's perspective. Hanford's master plan calls for producing the first glass by 2007 and operating at full speed by 2011. Once the plants are fully functional, the plan is for Bechtel-Washington to step aside, with a new contractor operating them until at least 2018. Bechtel-Washington hopes to select a partner from the three applicants and recommend it to the Department of Energy by March 28. DOE aims to pick the new contractor by April 9. DOE fired BNFL late last spring when its cost estimates on the project soared from $6.9 billion to $15.2 billion. BNFL is a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. of the United Kingdom, which operates a glassification plant in England. BNFL always has wanted to return to the glassification project in a narrower, more focused role -- and sees the operability contract as the way to do it, Campbell said. Meanwhile, the CH2M Hill company leading the second team is a subsidiary of Denver-based CH2M Hill. It is a separate company from CH2M Hill Hanford Group, which manages the site's tank farms and a third small CH2M Hill subsidiary that is part of Bechtel Hanford's environmental restoration team. Duratek Federal Services is a subsidiary of Maryland-based Duratek Inc. The parent Duratek has subsidiaries that built glassification plants at DOE sites at Savannah River, S.C., and Fernald, Ohio. Duratek also was the melter specialist of BNFL's original team. Cogema Engineering is a subsidiary of Cogema, which operates glassification plants near Cherbourg, France. However, Cogema's glassification equipment designs are different from BNFL designs planned for the Hanford project. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. ***************************************************************** 13 Hanford layoff notices delayed, officials say This story was published Tue, Mar 20, 2001 By the Herald staff Layoff notices at Fluor Hanford have been delayed, the company told employees Monday. Fluor Hanford has been planning to lay off up to 300 of approximately 4,300 workers this spring to rejuggle some job skills, shift money and efforts from low-priority to high-priority projects and cope with the K Basins' fiscal 2000 work going $12 million over budget. However, Fluor still has to resolve some matters with the Department of Energy's Washington, D.C., headquarters before settling on how many people will be laid off and how that would be accomplished, said a memo from Fluor Hanford President Ron Hanson to the company's employees. The announcement of the actual layoffs originally had been scheduled for Monday. Fluor does not know when the layoffs will be announced, except that it will be in "a short period." Fluor has been trying to shift some potentially to-be-laid-off workers to other more secure projects. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. ***************************************************************** 14 Health Effects group seeks sick worker Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 1:01 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff A local sick worker is being sought to serve on the Oak Ridge Reservation Health Effects Subcommittee, which recently suffered some criticism for its composition. Officials overseeing the subcommittee say they are accepting nominations for a current or former worker that is affected with an illness believed to have been caused by exposure to contaminants on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The subcommittee consists of citizens primarily from the Oak Ridge area, including Knoxville and Roane County residents, who will work with community members and advocacy groups to offer advice and recommendations to several federal agencies regarding health concerns in Oak Ridge. However, one local advocacy group says it's not happy with the makeup of the subcommittee. The Roane County chapter of Save Our Cumberland Mountains recently sent a letter to the subcommittee and several elected officials stating that the subcommittee does not truly represent the Oak Ridge Reservation. Formed in 1972, Save Our Cumberland Mountains has worked closely with local residents who say they suffer from illnesses related to releases from the Oak Ridge Reservation. In the letter, Save Our Cumberland Mountains officials state "a person with off-site contaminants in their bodies" should be immediately appointed to the subcommittee. "Š Provisions should be made to ensure that participants be able to continue on disability while serving on the committee," the letter states. Individuals serving on the subcommittee are classified as special government employees and are reimbursed for their participation. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for appointing subcommittee members. Jack Hanley with the agency said the subcommittee is a "fair representation" of the Oak Ridge Reservation. Also, Hanley said when the subcommittee was being created about a year ago, a sick worker was selected to be part of the group. But Hanley said the worker had to decline the position due to health reasons. Hanley said subcommittee members decided at their January quarterly meeting that a new member was needed, specifically a sick worker. Thus, the nomination process was announced. In addition to being a local sick worker, the nominee should be at least 18 years old, a current or former resident of or near the Oak Ridge Reservation and have knowledge of the reservation and worker health concerns. Nominations for the sick worker must be received or postmarked by April 30 and should be sent to Marilyn Palmer, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1600 Clifton Road, NE (E-54), Atlanta, GA 30333 Anyone can nominate a sick worker by sending a request for the individual to be considered and the person's resume, which should include date of birth, citizenship and ethnic status, sex and length of residence in the Oak Ridge area. The nominator should also include answers to the following questions: * What would the individual's participation add to the subcommittee? * How would the individual facilitate communication between the subcommittee and other workers? * Does the individual have any experience working on committees or advisory boards? If so, please describe that experience. * How and when did the individual become interested in issues related to the Oak Ridge Reservation and/or health effects from hazardous substances? Also, the nominator should compare the nominee to a specific set of attributes that characterize an "effective subcommittee" member, officials said. Those attributes are as follows: * An understanding of and concurrence with the charter and mission of the subcommittee. * An earnest and serious interest in the subcommittee's work. Conscientious in meeting attendance and acknowledging the importance of time lines. * Willingness to speak in public. Ability to communicate knowledge, ideas and points of view to the public. * Ability to present rational arguments and support or provide evidence for positions. * Basic diplomatic skills and open-mindedness. Belief in constructive participation and willingness to engage in productive dialogue. * Receptive and responsive to public participation. Sensitive and compassionate to the emotions and concerns of multiple constituencies. * Willingness to report back to interested individuals and groups. * No conflict of interest (such as the possibility of receiving a direct personal financial gain or gaining an unfair competitive edge from decisions made in the area of health research or other activity that may come before the subcommittee). A nomination packet, containing the entire guidelines for the process, can be obtained from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry by calling 1-888-422-8737. All Contents ©Copyright* The Oak Ridger * ***************************************************************** 15 A nuclear experiment's troubling legacy [KnoxNews.com] March 21, 2001 By Frank Munger News-Sentinel senior writer Several years ago, John Royster learned that his father had participated in a nuclear experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the early 1960s. He's been troubled by it ever since. George W. Royster Jr., a health physicist, was among five Oak Ridge scientists who voluntarily drank milk containing radioactive iodine. It was part of a research study to see how much iodine-131 went to the thyroid gland and to assess how quickly the nuclear material left the body. George Royster died six years later of brain cancer. He was 42 years old. John Royster was only 12 when his father died, and he retains good and bad images of their times together. The best memories are of fishing trips and other outdoor adventures with a man who loved golf, bowling and Tennessee football. The worst memories are of a frail and trembling loved one, bedridden for his final months and forced to use a wheelchair to attend his only daughter's wedding. Royster, as would anyone in his situation, wants to know if the nuclear experiment contributed to his father's illness and death. Unfortunately, that's not an easy question to answer or maybe it's impossible to answer with certainty. So far, Royster's efforts have turned up little -- just more questions. "It's tough," he said. Although ingestion of I-131 has been linked to thyroid cancer and other diseases of the gland where it gathers inside the body, there apparently isn't much medical evidence to suggest the radioactive material causes brain tumors or other types of cancer. That does little to ease the mind for Royster and other family members. George Royster never told his wife, Martha, about the iodine experiment -- maybe because he didn't want to worry her or didn't think she would understand. He did, however, confide the information to his brother-in-law, who told Royster's widow and five kids in the mid-1990s when national attention was focused on human radiation experiments. As have many relatives of former Oak Ridge workers, John Royster requested his father's work and medical records from the U.S. Department of Energy and also records from the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies -- where George Royster received experimental treatments for an inoperable brain tumor shortly before his death. The documents are insightful regarding Royster and his career, and it tracks with some detail the decline of his health in the mid-1960s. But there's nothing to explain why Royster died at such an early age, and some of the records are personal, almost too painful to read. Before his brain tumor was diagnosed, doctors were at a loss to explain his headaches, insomnia and bouts with depression. In a dispensary note, a physician shared information he had received from a clinical psychologist. "He tells me that Mr. Royster is a very sensitive individual. He is subjected apparently to a lot of ribbing and teasing, and this doesn't set too well with him, and this may be the cause of his depression." That description baffles family members, as well as Jim Muir, a lab colleague and neighbor who used to ride to work with George Royster. Royster, according to Muir, was a big joker himself and enjoyed the give and take. Muir, however, does remember Royster getting upset when doctors suggested the cause of his headaches might be all in his head. As a volunteer in the 1962 ORNL study, Royster was trying to advance the knowledge of how the body processes radioactive iodine. This was timely information, coinciding with the period of maximum fallout from atomic bomb testing. Iodine-131 was the isotope of most concern because it worked its way through the food chain by cows eating contaminated grass. John Royster has been unable to locate other participants in the Oak Ridge experiment. The research results were published in Health Physics, a scientific journal. Although the participants were not identified by name in the article, only by letters of the alphabet, George Royster was listed as one of the paper's co-authors, as were others involved. His son was able to identify his father as Subject B (because of the age and weight listed), who received the second highest radiation dose among the five male participants. Royster and one other individual engaged in both parts of the study, taking small daily doses of I-131 for 11 consecutive days, as well as receiving another, significantly larger dose. In an interview for a 1994 newspaper article, Bob Bernard, who headed the ORNL study and drank iodine-laced milk for 63 consecutive days, said he did not believe the radiation doses were harmful. John Royster doesn't know whether to share that belief. He's not sure the answer is that simple. "I'd just like to get to the bottom of this, maybe get rid of this uncertainty," he said. Senior Writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News-Sentinel. He can be reached at 865-482-9213 or at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This column is also available on the Web at www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/ ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************