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12/21/01 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 9.303
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   RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
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                    NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS
 
 1  Sellafield go-ahead 
 2  Dublin protests at move on production at Mox plant
 3  Smith calls for closure of Sellafield 
 4  British Energy appeals decision to ringfence NEA revenue from 
 5  Protesters plague start of `white elephant' N-plant 
 6  Finnish, Slovak premiers discuss nuclear safety, mutual ties, EU 
 7  German nuclear power law contravenes EU law 
 8  Russia earmarks funds for floating nuclear power plants 
 9  Reactor halted for repairs and refuelling at Ukrainian nuclear 
10  Nuclear power to solve energy crises of Russian Far East, says 
11  Russian Duma passes law on allowances for nuclear tests victims 
12  Protests greet plutonium decision
13  AU: Nuclear security easily breached 
14  Officials can't justify battle after review
15  What Spencer Abraham missed
16  Gibbons urges labor to go it alone on Yucca
17  SA: Nuclear Energy Boss to Face Probe
18  Guinn seeks support against Yucca
19  Letter: Send nuke waste to Washington
20  GAO: Yucca would 'not be practical'
21  No-fly zones over nuclear facilities unlikely  
22  IAEA Daily Press Review     Date 2001-12-21 Number 240   
23  MOX plant start-up widely condemned 
24  MOX plant begins production
25  Wis. 535-MW Kewaunee nuke returns to full power
26  NRC must ensure nuke plant decommissioning funds-GAO
27  Dublin protests at move on production at Mox plant
28  Mox open for business
29  Sellafield plant opening unleashes wave of fury 
30  Comments from Sellafield outrage anti-nuclear protesters 

                    NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS
 
 1  Russia: There is no crime  
 2  Fast Flux Test Reactor Closed Permanently
 3  Russia's Gepard submarine arrives at permanent base 
 4  K-25 worker ambivalent about $150,000 check
 5  FFTF loses restart fight
 6  More funds needed for FFTF
 7  Nuclear Waste Vessel, Sub Collide
 8  FFTF decision must not hurt Hanford cleanup
 9  FFTF: Citizens made difference
10  Permanent Shutdown Ordered for Fast Flux Reactor
11  Hanford facility runs out of reprieves
12  Nwep: Richard Butler comments on defector 
13  LANL Cleanup Project Completed

****************************************************************
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                     NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES
*****************************************************************
 1 Sellafield go-ahead 

The Scotsman - UK - Sellafield go-ahead

Fri 21 Dec 2001

A CONTROVERSIAL new nuclear reprocessing plant was switched on 
yesterday, amid protests from environmental campaigners. 

After standing empty for more than five years, the mixed oxide 
(MOX) plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, began recycling used uranium 
and plutonium to produce fuel to be used in power stations across 
the world. 

British Nuclear Fuels said that plutonium would be gradually 
phased into the manufacture of fuel. 

Jack Allen, head of operations at the plant, said: "This is 
wonderful news and is the best Christmas present we could have 
had." 

But environmental campaigners promised that protests were far 
from over. 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".

Š2001 scotsman.com | contact
*****************************************************************
 2  Dublin protests at move on production at Mox plant

By Andrew Taylor, Utilities Correspondent

Published: December 20 2001 21:43 | Last Updated: December 20 2001 
22:15

The first steps towards starting commercial production at the 
controversial nuclear fuel recycling plant in Cumbria prompted 
angry responses on Thursday from the Irish government and 
environmental protesters. 

About 70 protesters, mainly from the Irish Republic, gathered 
outside the Ł472m ($684.8m) Sellafield plant as plutonium-bearing 
material was introduced to test equipment before commercial 
manufacture could start. 

The British government last month authorised state-owned British 
Nuclear Fuels to start production of the mixed oxide fuel after 
an independent study concluded that it was more viable to let the 
project proceed. 

The Irish government and environmentalists have since mounted a 
series of legal challenges to stop the plant, so far to no avail. 
They say pollution from the works will be carried to Ireland. Joe 
Jacob, the Irish minister responsible for nuclear safety, said on 
Thursday that the republic would "continue to exploit every 
available legal avenue" to halt the plant so "that justice be 
gained for the people of Ireland". 

He said: "It is morally wrong to pollute the environment, any 
environment. 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 Dublin government is challenging the development under the 
United Nations convention on the law of the sea and under the 
Oslo and Paris convention, a treaty signed by north Atlantic 
countries to protect the marine environment. 

Its attempt at an inter-national tribunal to win an interim 
injunction to stop the plant opening was defeated last month in 
Hamburg. 

Borge Brenda, Norwegian environment minister, this week visited 
Dublin, London and Sellafield in an attempt to persuade British 
authorities to halt Mox production. 

Environmental groups Greenpeace and and Friends of the Earth said 
starting the controversial plant would lead to huge clean-up 
costs for taxpayers; increase pollution, threatening safety; and 
increase the risk of radioactive materials ending up in terrorist 
hands. The decision to start commissioning the plant followed 
approval this week by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, an 
arm of the Health & Safety Executive. 

Jack Allen, British Nuclear Fuels' head of Mox operations, said: 
"This is the best Christmas present we could have had. 

"I also want to thank our customers, who have been very patient, 
and we now want to get on with the job of manufacturing Mox fuel 
for them. 

"This is just the beginning of Mox fuel manufacture," he added. 
*****************************************************************
 3  Smith calls for closure of Sellafield 

Thu December 20th 01

Welcome to The Anglo Celt

By Michael Cryan

THE Irish government has strong reservations about the building 
of the new MOX plant at Sellafield and has constantly raised the 
matter with their British counterparts at every opportunity, 
stated Deputy Brendan Smith this week. 

The Fianna Fail deputy said the decision of Government to place a 
full-page advertisement in The Times newspaper was an attempt to 
address the concerns of the party directly to the British public. 

The Cavan-Monaghan TD added that from Cumann to Cabinet level 
members were determined that Sellafield be shut once and for all. 
In Hamburg recently the Government sought an injunction against 
the opening of the proposed Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) Plant at 
Sellafield. 

Pursuing 

Twenty-one judges from the various counties assembled there to 
hear their case under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, he 
said. The Government was pursuing its case under the OSPAR 
Convention and they also intended to bring a case against 
Sellafield to the European Court of Justice. They would 
relentlessly pursue every legal avenue to shut the plant, said 
Deputy Smith.

According to the Fianna Fail TD Sellafield posed an unacceptable 
risk to the environment of these islands. From the Windscale fire 
in 1957 right up to the present, it had polluted these Islands 
with nuclear waste, he claimed. Continuing Deputy Smith said that 
as the largest party in Ireland they wanted to bring home to the 
British public just how strongly they felt about the existence of 
Sellafield and in particular, the proposed new MOX Plant. 

Believed 

He believed that the issue of Sellafield was as much an issue for 
the people of Britain as for Ireland. That's what Fianna Fáil was 
seeking to highlight.

They also indicated to the British Government that they would 
campaign relentlessly to prevent the opening of MOX and for the 
final closure of the entire Sellafield operation. 

Concluding, he said he was surprised at Fine Gael's statement 
criticising their actions, and he was disappointed with their 
attitude to an issue which should command all party support. 

      Š Copyright Unison
*****************************************************************
 4  British Energy appeals decision to ringfence NEA revenue from 
Scottish Power 

AFX (UK); Dec 21, 2001

LONDON (AFX) - British Energy PLC said it will appeal a court 
ruling saying that some revenue due to be paid by rival Scottish 
Power PLC should go into a special account while a dispute 
between the two companies plays out.

Yesterday afternoon the Scottish Court of Session ruled that a 
neutral designated trust account be established into which is to 
be placed sums that Scottish Power claim they have overpaid and 
will in future overpay to British Energy for electricity supplied 
under the Nuclear Energy Agreement. Scottish Power estimates that 
this amounts to 52.3 mln stg to date.

British Energy said it will seek leave to appeal this decision. 
It is anticipated that its application will be heard on Jan 4 
2002.

The judgement has no bearing on the principal NEA case, as the 
Court were not ruling on the principal dispute, which will not be 
discussed until August 2002.

British Energy said it remains confident that it will be 
successful in securing a satisfactory outcome in the principal 
dispute.

Scottish Power decided in May to take legal action over pricing 
of wholesale nuclear power in Scotland, challenging the NEA that 
covers that pricing signed more than 11 years ago on the basis 
that the market place had fundamentally changed. Scottish 
consumption accounts for one quarter of British Energy's nuclear 
output.

mps/shw NNN For more information and to contact AFX: 

www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com World Reporter All Material 
*****************************************************************
 5  Protesters plague start of `white elephant' N-plant 

The Birmingham Post - United Kingdom; Dec 21, 2001
BY JOHN ASHTON

Work finally got underway yesterday at the site of a 
controversial new nuclear reprocessing plant amid protests from 
environmental campaigners.

After standing empty for more than five years, the mixed oxide 
(MOX) plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, yesterday began recycling 
used uranium and plutonium to produce fuel to be used in power 
stations across the world.

And after finally getting the go-ahead to begin commissioning, 
managers at the plant described it as ``the best Christmas 
present we could have had''. The National Installation 
Inspectorate inspected the plant yesterday and gave its owners, 
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, the go-ahead.

Yesterday, BNFL confirmed that the process of addingplutonium to 
help create MOX fuel pellets had finally begun. It said plutonium 
would be gradually phased into the manufacture of MOX fuel.

Jack Allen, head of operations at the site, said: ``This is 
wonderful news and is the best Christmas present we could have 
had.

''I am very proud of the MOX workforce who have worked so hard to 
get us to this stage.''

But environmental campaigners said the decision was far from the 
end of the protests against the plant, which they called a 
``white elephant'' for the area.

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''.

''You will end up with far too much nuclear fuel for no 
business,'' he said. ``It is just a whiteelephant for the 
Sellafield area.'' He added: ``I find it frankly incomprehensible 
that this company can find any satisfaction in opening this plant 
that was losing money from day one.

''It really confirms that this area is forced into domination by 
BNFL. That is wholly against the thoughts of the people in this 
area.''

He warned the company that the protests against them were not 
over.

''If the BNFL think their problems are over now then they can 
think again. They have major headaches in front of them, they 
have no prospects.''

Outside the plant, around 70 demonstrators from the Irish protest 
group Gluaiseacht -- mostly made up of students -- marched from 
the north gate to the south gate of Sellafield at 7am.

With chants of ``Ireland says no, MOX must go'', the protesters 
beat drums and danced outside the gates as workers arrived this 
morning.

When the decision to begin commissioning was announced, around 20 
of the protesters chained themselves to the railings outside the 
plant's main gate for two hours before winding the protest down 
around midday.

Despite being completed in 1996, the MOX plant in Cumbria has 
lain idle ever since.

Earlier this year Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth failed in 
their attempt to block the Government's go-ahead for the 
facility.

Approval for the plant had initially been withheld following 
financial concerns after documents had been found to have been 
falsified.

Once fully operational, the pounds 470 million plant aims to 
recover around 97 per cent of used fuels, reducing the amount of 
high radioactive waste.

BNFL will then ship MOX pellets -- each of which is equivalent to 
one tonne of coal -- to reactors in Japan where it will be used 
to generate electricity.
*****************************************************************
 6  Finnish, Slovak premiers discuss nuclear safety, mutual ties, EU 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 20, 2001


Text of report in English by Slovak news agency TASR web site

Helsinki, 20 December: 

Slovakia is among the safest countries in the field of nuclear 
energy from among all candidate countries of the European union 
(EU), Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen told media on 
Thursday [20 December] after meeting his Slovak counterpart 
Mikulas Dzurinda.

Lipponen said that the distrust of the EU-member countries stems 
from the failure of the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl and the 
continued use of "Russian technologies" in Central and Eastern 
Europe. "Our expertise, however, showed that the security of 
nuclear power stations in Central Europe is as high as in the 
West," Lipponen said, adding that nuclear energy will play an 
important role in the future of the EU.

Dzurinda reiterated that Slovakia pledged to adhere to the 
planned side-tracking, or early stopping of production, of the 
two blocks of Jaslovske Bohunice (Trnava region) in 2006 and 
2008.

Lipponen stressed that Finnish ties with Slovakia are good and 
that he enjoys a personal relationship with Dzurinda. He 
highlighted the success of Slovakia in its accession talks as 
well as the need for "small countries of the EU" and the 
candidates to work together on a regional level. 2004 is "a 
probable" deadline for the EU expansion, he said.

During private talks with Lipponen, Dzurinda expressed his 
satisfaction with the accession process as well, and assured that 
Slovakia should finish negotiations on all the chapters of the 
acquis communautaire by the end of 2002. He highlighted the fact 
that Slovakia overtook other countries of the Visegrad Four (V4) 
in the talks, which is partly due to close regional cooperation. 
Dzurinda said he hopes that a similar V4 summit as was held 
recently with the Benelux countries will be held with the Nordic 
countries. Dzurinda said his visit to Finland is also focusing on 
luring Finnish investors, as he sees great potential there.

Source: TASR web site, Bratislava, in English 1501 gmt 20 Dec 01 
/BBC Monitoring/ Š BBC. World Reporter
*****************************************************************
 7  German nuclear power law contravenes EU law 

(Kommission: Atomnovelle verstost gegen europaisches Recht) 

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - 

Germany; Dec 20, 2001


According to the EU Commission, a planned amendment to German law 
regarding nuclear power contravene EU law. The EU energy and 
transport department recently informed the German government that 
plans to forbid exports of used nuclear fuel for reprocessing are 
against the law on a common nuclear energy market. Two days 
later, however, Germany's ruling coalition voted in favour of the 
amendment.

The German department of the environment says that legislative 
proceedings can continue as planned, as the letter from the EU 
does not entail a standstill. The German government has a month 
in which to make a statement. 


Abstracted from  Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

*****************************************************************
 8  Russia earmarks funds for floating nuclear power plants 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 20, 2001


Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax

Archangel, 19 December: 

The Russian government on Tuesday [18 December] made the decision 
to allocate R130m to Archangel Region in 2002 to develop floating 
nuclear power plants. This money will be taken from resources 
reserved for the implementation of investment projects in the 
nuclear energy sector, the press service of the governor of 
Archangel Region announced on Wednesday.

The Rosenergoatom concern plans to build two 75-MW floating 
nuclear power plants for Archangel Region at the Sevmash 
shipyards. Each floating nuclear plant is estimated to cost 
100-120m dollars. Construction will last for about five years. 
Floating nuclear power plants are expected to fully meet the 
needs of Severodvinsk in electricity.

Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1131 gmt 19 Dec 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ Š BBC. World Reporter
*****************************************************************
 9  Reactor halted for repairs and refuelling at Ukrainian nuclear 
plant 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 20, 2001


Text of report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN

Kiev, 20 December: 

The No 4 power generating set was stopped for scheduled repairs 
at 0114 hours on 20 December [2314 gmt 19 December] at the 
Zaporizhzhya nuclear power station, the Ukrainian State Nuclear 
Regulation Administration's information centre has told UNIAN.

Fresh nuclear fuel will be loaded into the reactor during the 
repairs. According to the Enerhoatom national nuclear energy 
company's schedule, the reactor is expected to be reconnected to 
the grid by 9 March 2002.

As of today, 11 of Ukraine's 13 reactors are in operation. 
Planned repairs are also under way at the No 3 reactor of the 
Rivne nuclear power station. It is expected to be reconnected to 
the grid on 6 February 2002.

Source: UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 0727 gmt 20 Dec 01 
/BBC Monitoring/ Š BBC. World Reporter 
*****************************************************************
 10  Nuclear power to solve energy crises of Russian Far East, says 
local governor 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 21, 2001


Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Vladivostok, 21 December, 

ITAR-TASS correspondent Leonid Vinogradov: Construction of a 
nuclear power station is to begin in 2015 in Maritime Territory. 
A serious shortage of energy capacity means the Far East is in 
urgent need of ways of producing electricity, Maritime Territory 
governor Sergey Darkin said today.

He said there would be a parallel search for alternative sources 
of electricity. There are plans to build an oil refinery and a 
plant to produce liquified gas in Maritime Territory. These will 
use the hydrocarbons that are currently being extracted on the 
Sakhalin Shelf.

According to the governor, there will be a referendum for 
residents of the Territory to express their attitude to the 
construction of a nuclear power plant. It will only be built 
after comprehensive studies into its ecological safety.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0829 gmt 21 Dec 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ Š BBC. World Reporter 
*****************************************************************
 11  Russian Duma passes law on allowances for nuclear tests victims 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 21, 2001


Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 21 December, 

ITAR-TASS correspondent Ivan Novikov: The Russian State Duma 
today adopted a law on social guarantees for citizens affected by 
radiation as a result of nuclear tests carried out at the 
Semipalatinsk testing ground.

Social guarantees are established for citizens living in 1948-63 
in populated areas of the adjacent territories within the Russian 
Federation as well as outside it. Social guarantees are also set 
for children under 18, the first and the second generation 
descendants of the said citizens, who suffer ill health as a 
result of their parents being affected by radiation. The Russian 
government is to set up a procedure of establishing which persons 
are to be included in such categories.

Citizens affected by significant dozes of radiation are 
guaranteed to receive a number of allowances and compensations, 
including free medical help and medicines, specialized mandatory 
health checks throughout their lives, priority in receiving 
annual treatment at health spas and resorts, also free of charge. 
In addition, they are to receive monthly compensations to be used 
for purchasing foodstuffs. There are a number of allowances set 
for children under 18, who suffer ailments resulting from the 
radiation effects on their parents. They are entitled to free 
treatment at health spas and special resorts, as well as free 
medical help and prescription medicines.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0813 gmt 21 Dec 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ Š BBC. World Reporter
*****************************************************************
 12  Protests greet plutonium decision

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | 

Paul Brown 

Friday December 21, 2001 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk]                
 		
Protests on both sides of the Irish Sea, including at Sellafield, 
greeted the news yesterday that British Nuclear Fuels has finally 
introduced plutonium into its Ł470m mixed oxide (mox) plant at 
Sellafield after a five-year wait. 

The plant uses plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel 
reprocessed in the giant Thorp reprocessing plant next door to 
make new fuel for nuclear reactors around the world. 

The plant has been fiercely criticised by environmental groups 
and foreign governments, particularly Ireland and Norway, which 
object to what they see as more radioactive pollution. Irish 
students chained them selves to the gates of the Sellafield plant 
yesterday in protest. 

Staff at the plant were delighted with the start-up which 
safeguards 200 jobs directly and about 2,000 in the reprocessing 
works. 

Attempts in the high court and court of appeal by Friends of the 
Earth and Greenpeace failed to stop the plant. 

The Irish government has cases pending in three international 
courts disputing the decisions by the Department of Environment 
to give the go-ahead for the plant in October after four years of 
indecision. 

Jack Allen, head of operations at the site, said: "This is 
wonderful news and is the best Christmas present we could have 
had. I am very proud of the mox workforce who have worked so hard 
to get us to this stage." 

Martin Forwood, a spokesman for Cumbrians Opposed to a 
Radioactive Environment, said: "It is just a white elephant for 
the Sellafield area. I find it frankly incomprehensible that this 
company can find any satisfaction in opening this plant that was 
losing money from day one." 

Outside the plant, about 70 demonstrators from Irish protest 
group Gluaiseacht - mostly made up of students - marched from 
Sellafield's north gate to the south gate at 7am. 

Green MEP Nuala Ahern said the action was "arrogant, 
irresponsible and irreversible and would make a nightmare 
Christmas present for people living around the Irish Sea." 
	
Useful links

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd 
[http://www.bnfl.co.uk/website.nsf/default.htm] Campaign for 
Nuclear Disarmament [http://www.cnduk.org/] HSE nuclear glossary 
[http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/ilrwglos.htm] UK atomic energy 
authority [http://www.ukaea.org.uk/] National Radiological 
Protection Board [http://www.nrpb.org.uk/] World Nuclear 
Association [http://www.uilondon.org/] 

[UP] Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
*****************************************************************
 13  AU: Nuclear security easily breached 

The Australian: 

[December 22, 2001]
 	 	
    THE NATION              
 		 		 
    By Claire Harvey 
    
FIVE months before two jets flew into the World Trade Centre in 
New York, the designers of the new nuclear reactor planned for 
Sydney's Lucas Heights were pondering a strange scenario.

What would happen if an aeroplane was flown at full speed into 
the reactor?

 It was just a wild theory  but the safety report written in May 
2001 declared the new reactor was so safe it could even withstand 
the impact of a light aircraft.

 The designers, Argentine firm INVAP, included in their report a 
startling diagram showing a Cessna 500 jet flying into the 
fortified reactor.

 At the same time, Greenpeace nuclear activists James Courtney 
and Steve Campbell were dreaming up a brash protest to show the 
world how vulnerable Lucas Heights would be to an attack.

 They wanted to infiltrate the Lucas Heights facility and climb 
to the top of the reactor, just to prove how easy it would be for 
a terrorist to do the same. They spent months planning the 
protest: scouting the facility, enacting role-plays in which 
protesters took the role of guards and training workers in 
climbing large structures. 

The idea occurred to Courtney and Campbell on January 22 this 
year, as they stood in the dry suburban heat outside the reactor, 
trying to stop the exportation of a load of radioactive waste.

 Security at Australia's only nuclear plant was almost 
non-existent  a couple of Australian Protective Service officers 
standing inside the gate.

 Campbell and Courtney were intrigued: if security was this poor, 
what was to stop terrorists getting inside the facility itself?

 The idea was to show that Lucas Heights' managing authority, the 
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, was lying 
when it claimed its facility was secure and presented no danger 
to the people of Sydney's south.

 "The people who are telling us that Lucas Heights is completely 
safe and secure are the same people who are telling us that Lucas 
Heights is essential for producing medical radioisotopes  when 
in fact there are much safer ways of producing them," Courtney 
says.

 Planning for the protest was so secret that not even the other 
anti-Lucas Heights community groups saw it coming.

 Staff and volunteers were flown in by Greenpeace from Brisbane, 
Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth.

 The volunteers were simply told they were needed for an 
important protest. On Friday night last week, when they had all 
assembled in Sydney, they were informed of their mission and 
issued with cardboard barrel costumes marked "Uranium".

 "The point of dressing up as barrels was to make sure we didn't 
look like terrorists," Courtney says.

 "It's very important in this kind of direct action not to scare 
the security guards or the police into opening fire, so we wanted 
to look as innocuous as possible."

 The job of the human barrels was to run around being as comical 
as possible to distract the guards and clear the way for three 
climb teams, each composed of eight recruits trained in climbing 
large structures.

 The climbers would scale two of Lucas Heights' supposedly most 
secure buildings: the reactor itself and Building 27, where 
radioactive waste is stored. The third team was to climb another 
metal tower, used as a weather station, to unfurl banners and 
conduct telephone media interviews. "We're all trained as 
industrial access technicians," Courtney says. "Some of the guys 
have worked as riggers and we could all get rigging jobs with our 
qualifications."

 At 7pm on Sunday, Greenpeace media officer Carolin Wenzel rang 
trusted journalists at each of Sydney's three commercial TV 
stations, ABC radio, the wire service AAP, and one newspaper 
reporter, telling them to be ready at a shopping centre car park 
near Lucas Heights at 6.45am.

 Before dawn on Monday, the climb teams assembled at a Greenpeace 
warehouse, drove to the suburban fringe and walked through the 
bush to Lucas Heights, waiting at the fence for orders.

 "All teams proceed at your leisure," came the two-way radio 
message at 7.10am.

 The human barrels arrived at the Lucas Heights gate in two 
Thrifty rental trucks, jumped out and tried to run into the site. 
The two Australian Protective Service guards on the gate, 
scrambling to round up the barrels and TV camera crews, didn't 
notice the climb teams scaling the 4m fence at the back of the 
establishment and climbing up the buildings.

 The APS officers called 000 for help, but Greenpeace claims the 
extra police did not arrive until 45 minutes later  at 7.55am.

 Detective Inspector Laurie Pettiford of Sutherland police says 
the time lag was more like 15 minutes.

 "Police were on the scene very promptly. The call came out for 
cars which were on the road to go to the facility, and with the 
traffic at that time of the morning, that is simply how long it 
takes."

 All protesters were arrested for trespassing.

 Security was supposed to be beefed up at Lucas Heights after the 
air strikes on Afghanistan began in October, on instructions from 
the federal Government.

 In November, ANSTO was ordered to conduct a review of security  
including the likely impact of a large jet being flown into the 
reactor  by John Loy, head of the Australian Radiation 
Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the watchdog that oversees 
Lucas Heights. The report is due out in mid-January.

 But public tours of the facility continue and Courtney says 
Greenpeace cannot find any evidence of extra security at the 
site.

 Nuclear scientist Jim Green, a researcher at Wollongong 
University, regularly enters Lucas Heights to use the library. 
"They issue you with a visitor's pass, but nobody ever checks the 
pass," Green says.

 "When you go in on the bus, the security guards get on and ask 
everyone to wave their pass in the air but I'd just not bother 
and I have never been stopped."

 Construction is due to begin on a new research reactor on the 
Lucas Heights site in April.

 The INVAP report said terrorism was nothing to worry about 
because anyone who entered the facility would have to show 
identification.

 "The facility has design provisions to deter attacks or 
sabotage," the report declared. "To access the facility, a person 
must go through several physical barriers and ID checks."

 INVAP consulted experts in terrorism and explosive devices, who 
found "none of these attacks would threaten the integrity of the 
reactor core or create radioactive releases greater than those 
analysed from other . . . accidents."

 But, with Bankstown Airport only 14km away and Sydney airport 
22km to the northeast, the possibility of an aircraft crashing 
into the building had to be considered.

 The federal Government's Environment Australia department had 
warned in a report dated February 1999 that: "An aircraft crash 
at the proposed reactor could have catastrophic consequences."

 But the INVAP report said the reactor core was protected by 
"Aircraft Impact Steel Framed Grillage", a casing which could 
withstand the blow of a Cessna 500 aircraft.

 "The vertical component of an aircraft impact would be 
transferred to the foundations through the four corner columns," 
the report notes. "The loading will impart little if any 
additional stress to the reactor block."

 Green says thousands of Sutherland Shire residents could suffer 
radiation doses if there was an accident or attack on the 
facility and the 800 Lucas Heights workers would certainly be 
seriously affected, suffering cancer and organ failure.

 But ANSTO's website says that in any accident, the reactor would 
automatically close down and the reactor's steel casing would 
contain any radioactivity.

 "No member of the public would be exposed to significant doses 
of radiation."
		 		
Š 2001 The Australian   
*****************************************************************
 14  Officials can't justify battle after review
 
This story was published Thu, Dec 20, 2001

 By Les Blumenthal Herald Washington, D.C., bureau WASHINGTON -- 
It was a decision a string of energy secretaries tried to avoid, 
an issue that left Washington state's two Democratic senators 
walking a political tightrope and a top priority for an Oregon 
senator who never stopped trying.
 
But in the end, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham couldn't find a 
mission to rationalize keeping the Fast Flux Test Facility open, 
and even U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., whose district includes 
the Hanford reservation, appeared resigned to the fact the fight 
may finally be over.
 
"The secretary promised a fair, open and thorough review," said 
Hastings, who had convinced Abraham to conduct an eight-month 
study of whether enough medical isotopes could be manufactured at 
FFTF to justify its restart. "While not the result we had hoped 
for, this was a battle absolutely worth fighting -- and those in 
the Tri-Cities community who fought the battle with us have every 
reason to be proud of their tremendous effort."
 
Former Energy Secretary James Watkins first suggested it might be 
time to permanently shut down the test reactor, but the first 
Bush administration never followed through.
 
Former Clinton administration Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary put 
FFTF on "hot" standby in 1993 but never agreed to close it for 
good or order a restart. Another Clinton administration energy 
secretary, Federico Peńa, also declined to make a final decision.
 
Washington state politicians, led by Hastings, former Republican 
Sen. Slade Gorton and former Republican Rep. Sid Morrison, always 
appeared able to tantalize Congress and the energy secretaries 
with one more possible mission for FFTF. Those included producing 
tritium for nuclear weapons, destroying warheads facing 
elimination under arms control treaties, burning highly 
radioactive waste, producing nuclear fuel for deep space probes, 
testing fuel for the next generation of nuclear reactors and, 
finally, producing medical isotopes.
 
State politicians took on some of the toughest members of 
Congress, including U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., the 
longtime chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee who 
considered restarting FFTF a direct threat to the Energy 
Department's Savannah River complex. They also battled with 
powerful appropriations chairmen such as former U.S. Sen. J. 
Bennett Johnston, D-La.
 
In the end, former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson pulled the 
plug in the final days of the Clinton administration. On 
Wednesday, Abraham declined to plug it back in.
 
For the state's two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria 
Cantwell, FFTF has been a no-win proposition. On the west side of 
the state, their core Democratic constituencies traditionally 
have included the environmental and anti-nuclear communities. 
Both groups adamantly opposed restarting FFTF.
 
In the Tri-Cities, community leaders and organized labor, another 
core Democratic constituency, have supported restarting the 
reactor. But the senators have to run statewide, and there are 
simply more voters west of the Cascades.
 
Though lukewarm in her support, Murray believed DOE needed to 
thoroughly study the medical isotope proposal. She took a lot of 
heat at a state Democratic Party convention several years ago for 
her stand.
 
Last year, when the department needed to reprogram money to pay 
for an ongoing study, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sought to 
block it. Wyden had long complained money to restart the reactor 
would come out of Hanford's cleanup budget. And he argued nothing 
should be allowed to interfere with cleaning up the reservation, 
which he considered part of Oregon's back yard.
 
Wyden went to New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who as the top 
Democratic senator on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee could have stopped the reprogramming for the FFTF 
study. Murray, however, convinced Bingaman that the study needed 
to be completed. Murray also essentially told Bingaman that she 
would abide by the study's conclusions and support any decision 
Richardson reached. 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights 
*****************************************************************
 15  What Spencer Abraham missed

Yucca Mountain, which Spencer Abraham has not seen in person.

By Heidi Walters

So, there's this guy, and his name is Spencer Abraham, and he's 
the energy secretary for the United States. That means he gets to 
decide - soon, within weeks perhaps - whether to recommend that 
the nation's high-level, deadly, toxic, really really bad nuclear 
waste be buried in Yucca Mountain. 

Yucca Mountain is one of those classic, long-spined, tan, 
slant-ridges out in the Southern Nevada dese rt. It's beautiful. 
But it's also on a fault zone, a nd though it looks dry as 
dinosaur bones scientists have found that a surprising amount of 
water can trickle down through its Mojave skin and eventually 
into the groundwater. A few miles downgradient of Yucca Mountain 
lies one of Nevada's richest, groundwater-fed farm regions, 
Amargosa Valley, and a small town of humans. A little farther 
downstream is one of the most endemic-species-rich regions on the 
planet, springs-dotted Ash Meadows Nation al Wildlife Refuge, 
plus more small towns, the Amargosa River and Death Valley 
National Park. And 90 miles southeast of Yucca Mountain, there's 
Las Vegas, the fastest growing city in the nation. Nuke waste 
trucks headed for the mountain would necessarily trundle through 
the Top Ramen of freeways in Northtown.

Anyway, this guy Abraham: People have been wanting him to show up 
at a local hearing on the site suitability study of the proposed 
Yucca Mountain nuke waste dump since forever. He never came. 
There was one reall y big meeting in La s Vegas on Sept. 5, where 
500 people showed up and 400 spoke, talking long past midnight. 
He missed that. Then Sept. 11 happened, and then more hearings, 
and still he didn't come. He explained, later: "Sept. 11 made it 
really difficult to travel." Which doesn't really explain why he 
missed the big Sept. 5 hearing.

So Abraham shows up finally last week, Wednesday, for the 50th 
and final hearing, in Las Vegas. Unannounced - which means, for 
whatever somnambulant reason, Nev ada's Congressional delegates 
weren't there to defend their state before the No. 1 important 
witness. (Boy, were they pissed.)

So, Abraham heard Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who'd rushed 
down to the hearing at Cashman Center as soon as he'd heard 
Abraham was there, threaten to sue the DOE if the dump's 
approved. He listened to pro-waste wingnuts, including ex-Nevada 
Gov. Robert List who's now a paid promoter for the nuclear power 
industry, talk importantly a bout the "te chnical illiteracy" of 
their fellow Nevadans and about the joys of nuclear waste-reaped 
riches - jobs! pride! retail! (Perhaps here the Secretary's mind 
wandered a moment in pleasant reverie: "Heh heh! I can just see 
those kids at the raves waving their DOE glowsticks.")

He also heard Calvin Meyers, chair of the Moapa Band of Paiutes, 
whose people have been in this region for thousands of years 
longer than the State of Nevada, white people and their atom, and 
the DOE.

"I do think the DOE has a trust responsibility to the tribe," 
Meyers said. Then, saying, "I'm going to do what you people 
probably don't want me to do," he prayed. Then he said, 
"Spirituality is something I hold dearly. But how much longer am 
I going to be able to be a Paiute? The DOE has not offered us one 
thing, [except] to run us over with their [nuclear waste] casks. 
To me, it's another onslaught against tribal people."

A few more yay and nay speeches from the people, and then Abraham 
scooted upstairs for a token news conference with Las Vegas' 
hungry media. Where he said, in essence, nothing. His decision, 
he offered, would be based on "a thorough review of the science" 
and on the public's comments.

Ah? Well, then, tell us, Mr. Energy Secretary, what did you feel 
when people from local tribes, for instance, said they don't want 
your nuclear waste on their land? 

"It 's important to hear from different people," he nonanswered. 
"I will try and take all those feelings into hand."

But the question was, were you<i> personally touched</i> by any 
of the testimony, either for or against the project, you heard 
today?

"That's why I chose personally to extend the comment period..." 
he nonanswered.

Meanwhile, the hearing downstairs limped along. People kept 
drifting in, look ing frazzled but driven, after having seen on 
Channel 13 that the energy secretary had dropped in for a 
surprise visit. They were angry they'd missed him - after the 
briefing, he left. Jennifer Viereck, who has spoken at nearly 
every hearing, was one of them.

"When I heard the energy secretary was going to be here today, I 
took off from my job as an advocate for children and drove three 
hours to be here, only to miss him by five minutes," she said. "I 
understand that the secretary's visit was unannounced for reasons 
of security. Well, I ask the DOE, if you believe one man is a 
serious target, what on Earth do you think will happen" when all 
those targets are driving across the country?

Abraham also missed testimony from Heather Waitman, who for the 
first time decided to come to a hearing after she saw on TV that 
Abraham was in town.

"My friends, my famil y, everybody is here," she said. "And we lo 
ve Nevada. I didn't even know this was going on! I got home from 
work, got into my pajamas, turned on the television ..."

And even though the secretary was long gone by the time she got 
there, she pleaded, "Please don't do this. My grandfather and my 
father worked at the Test Site." One fought cancer twice, she 
said. Sixty of their coworkers have died from cancer. "Gosh, I 
don't know if one person like me will make a difference in this 
world, but I hope you think of me wh en you go back to Washington 
to make this decision."

Las Vegas City Life
*****************************************************************
 16  Gibbons urges labor to go it alone on Yucca

  [Las Vegas Review-Journal] 
    
Friday, December 21, 2001
 Copyright Š Las Vegas Review-Journal 

By STEVE TETREAULT 
DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU 

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons has challenged the Nevada AFL-CIO 
to distance itself from its national counterpart over the 
proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. 

The Nevada Republican urged Danny Thompson, executive secretary 
of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, to "withdraw" from the national 
AFL-CIO, whose construction trade branch supports the disposal of 
spent nuclear fuel in the state. 

"I call on you, at the earliest opportunity, to take the 
necessary and appropriate action," Gibbons said in a letter sent 
Wednesday. 

Gibbons told Thompson the Nevada AFL-CIO should follow the 
example of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which withdrew 
membership from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after the national 
group launched a pro-repository campaign. 

Thompson responded that he will not act on the suggestion. He 
said the support of one union branch for Yucca Mountain is not 
indicative of the entire AFL-CIO, which he said has not taken a 
position on nuclear waste. 

"Rather than lecturing me, he would be better served by lecturing 
the Republican secretary of energy against Yucca Mountain and the 
Republican president and the Republican House," Thompson said 
Thursday. 

The Nevada State AFL-CIO, with 165,000 members, has not adopted a 
policy on Yucca Mountain, and Thompson acknowledged that its 
membership is split on a project promising a couple of thousand 
jobs during years of construction. 

"There are groups who support Yucca Mountain just like there are 
businesses in the chamber who support it," he said. 

"We don't want it any more than anybody else does," he said of 
the repository. "But if they build it, they should do it with 
qualified people." 

Officials from the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades 
Department in Washington did not respond to e-mailed questions 
about its Yucca Mountain policy. 

The national head of the Building and Construction Trades 
Department, an AFL-CIO branch of 14 affiliated trades, has 
expressed support for a repository in Nevada. 

President Edward C. Sullivan wrote a Sept. 21 letter to Energy 
Secretary Spencer Abraham in which he said the building trades 
"heartily endorse the expedited approval and construction of the 
Yucca Mountain storage facility" for nuclear waste. 

"A highly secure, state-of-the-art facility like the one proposed 
for Yucca Mountain is unquestionably in the best interest of our 
country," he wrote. 

In its latest newsletter, the Nuclear Energy Institute lists the 
union organization and other backers of the Yucca Mountain 
Project as evidence that support for a repository "comes from a 
wide range of business, labor and policy groups." 

Following a Dec. 6 delegation meeting, Nevada's four members of 
Congress announced a coordinated effort to oppose the government 
proposal to develop Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las 
Vegas, as a repository for spent nuclear fuel. 

Gibbons' challenge to Nevada unions was done on his own, said 
Mike Dayton, his chief of staff. 

"Every member of the delegation does their own thing at times," 
Dayton said. "The national AFL-CIO supporting Yucca has political 
implications that are pretty major." 

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she wants to talk to Thompson 
first "and see what the facts of the case are," said Richard 
Urey, her chief of staff. With the House adjourned for the 
holidays, Gibbons and Berkley were flying to Nevada on Thursday 
and could not be reached for comment. 

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., had not seen the letter and would not 
comment on it, his spokeswoman said. 

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., had no immediate comment. Reid aides 
"are trying to figure out what Gibbons wants," one said.
 
    
This story is located at: 
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Dec-21-Fri-2001/news/17720836.html
[http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Dec-21-Fri-2001/news/17720836.html]
*****************************************************************
 17  SA: Nuclear Energy Boss to Face Probe

allAfrica.com: 

Business Day (Johannesburg)
 
December 20, 2001 

Pule Molebeledi
 
THE newly appointed CEO of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA, 
Senti Thobejane, might be headed for trouble following an inquiry 
by his former employers, the Northern Province government, which 
revealed possible irregularities in the awarding of a R94m tender 
to a local information technology (IT) company.
 
Sources said yesterday the main findings of the four-person 
inquiry, which was appointed by Northern Province health MEC 
Sello Moloto, found that there was inadequate management of the 
tender process.
 
The inquiry also raised questions about dealings concerning the 
awarding of the department's hospital information system tender 
to a local IT company.
 
The report is likely to recommend that Moloto invoke the Public 
Finance Management Act against Thobejane, who was the head of the 
provincial health department, and hence its accounting officer, 
at the time.
 
The act provides for a fine, or imprisonment for up to five 
years, for accounting officers who are found to be willfully 
negligent and who fail to comply with general budgetary controls 
or reporting responsibilities.
 
If the MEC acts on the report, Thobejane would become one of the 
first casualties of the act, which has stringent provisions for 
accounting officers.
 
The results of the inquiry, commissioned in October, are expected 
to be released today.
 
It is seen as very likely, because of the limited powers of the 
investigation, that Moloto will refer the matter to external 
agencies, including the SA Police Services, for further 
investigation.
 
Sources said heads could roll after the implementation of the 
report and the completion of the police investigation.
 
The investigation followed a furore sparked in the province by 
the cancellation by Thobejane of a R116m IT tender held by IBM 
since 1996 after he joined the provincial health department as 
superintendent-general in 1999.
 
Thobejane, who was also chairman of the provincial tender board, 
appointed the local company to manage the IT tender.
 
The company's brief was, allegedly, to undo much of the work 
conducted by IBM.
 
The inquiry was conducted by Lazarus Mahlangu of provincial legal 
services, John Petje of the provincial IT bureau, Antonio 
Fernandes of the Gauteng health department and Jack Buitendag of 
the State Information Technology Agency.
 
Its terms of reference included determining whether there were 
any flaws in the processes leading to the awarding of the tender, 
whether the tender complied with specifications and whether the 
implementation process provided value for money.
 
The report came a month after Thobejane assumed his new position 
at the nuclear corporation.
 
Thobejane could not be reached for comment last night.
 
  
(allAfrica.com).   
*****************************************************************
 18  Guinn seeks support against Yucca
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 21, 2001 
 
Governors asked to consider other options

 By Cy Ryan 
< [cy@lasvegassun.com] >
 SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

 CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn called on governors in nine 
states where nuclear power plants are located to join him in 
opposing Yucca Mountain as a burial site for high-level 
radioactive waste.

 "While I am not unsympathetic to the very legitimate concern you 
face having nuclear waste stored in your state, we should not 
rush headlong into placing that waste in an inferior site," Guinn 
said in the letter, referring to the proposed dump 90 miles 
northwest of Las Vegas.

 Guinn complained that the Nuclear Energy Institute has started a 
massive advertising campaign to convince Congress and the Bush 
administration that the Nevada site was safe after 20 years of 
studies.

 The governor said there has been a pile of reports by the 
Department of Energy, but he suggested the governors read a 
preliminary site suitability evaluation released last July by the 
agency.

 The report said rain or snow could seep into the repository and 
corrode the metal packages that contain the nuclear waste. The 
water could then transport this radioactive material into the 
water table.

 "If you find it acceptable that the citizens of Nevada be 
exposed to nuclear waste contamination through the water table," 
Guinn wrote, "than I suppose the statements in the NEI 
advertisement can be justified.

 "However, it is far more likely that the NEI has failed to 
explain the true status of the Yucca Mountain project."

 The governor's letter was prompted by advertisements in 
Washington news publications with a headline, "Governors Agree." 
He said he cannot disagree more with the NEI.

 The letters went to governors of Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, 
Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and 
Vermont.

 Guinn said it may be 15 years before any of these states could 
ship its nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, if the Energy 
Department ever found it suitable.

 As a short-term solution, Guinn cited an example in 
Pennsylvania. He said the Energy Department has negotiated an 
agreement with PECO energy to take title to waste at its 
Pennsylvania reactor and assume the liability for the spent fuel.

 The governors, Guinn said, should demand Congress reassess the 
nuclear waste program for a long-term solution.

 "The goal should be to assure the safety of spent fuel at 
reactor sites immediately, develop technology to dramatically 
reduce the quantity of waste and locate a suitable long-term 
disposal option thereby assuring that nuclear power has a viable 
future as an energy source." 

All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 19  Letter: Send nuke waste to Washington
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 21, 2001 

I read the Dec. 18 letter from Washington, D.C., resident Brian 
O'Connell, who is program director for the Nuclear Waste Office 
of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. 
He argues against there being any threat to the health and safety 
of people who live in Nevada if high-level nuclear waste is 
buried at Yucca Mountain.

 If people like him feel so strongly that there is no danger to 
us here, I strongly feel that the waste should be buried in 
Washington, D.C., along with the waste that lives there.

 Has anyone noticed that politicians and individuals who live 
far, far away are always happy to tell us here how safe it is to 
live with nuclear waste? Let them have it.

 KERRY ADAMS- WHITE
 
All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.

*****************************************************************
 20  GAO: Yucca would 'not be practical'
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 21, 2001 
 
By Mary Manning 
< [manning@lasvegassun.com] >

 The Energy Department should indefinitely postpone construction 
of a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, the 
General Accounting Office said in a report today.

 The GAO, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, 
concluded in a 35-page final report released this morning that 
making a site recommendation at this time would "not be prudent 
or practical."

 Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham had been expected to recommend 
Yucca Mountain to President Bush this winter. But in a recent Las 
Vegas visit, he said no decision has been made and he has no 
deadline.

 The report says, "We agree that the secretary has the discretion 
to make such a recommendation at this time; however, we question 
the prudence and practicality of making such a recommendation at 
this time, given the expressed statutory timeframe for a license 
application."

 If Abraham were to recommend Yucca now, the law requires the 
Energy Department apply for a license from the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission within 90 days. However, the report says 293 technical 
and scientific issues remain unanswered.

 "We are glad GAO has acknowledged in their final report that the 
Secretary has the discretion to make a decision on Yucca Mountain 
suitability at this time. What this tell us is, that contrary to 
the opinions expressed by some that the draft GAO report signaled 
the beginning of the end for this program, the final report may 
in fact be the end of the beginning -- whatever the decision may 
be," said Joe Davis, Energy Department spokesperson.

 The final report included comments from the Energy Department, 
but the bulk of the response to a draft report released earlier 
this month was based on technical aspects such as wording.

 Bechtel SAIC, Yucca's main contractor, took issue with the 
draft's characterization of its difficulties with the project.

 The draft said that Bechtel scientists had said they would not 
be able to complete studies of the mountain until 2006. In the 
final report, the company denied that it would be unable to 
complete them on time.

 A DOE spokesman could not be reached this morning for comment.

 The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and a National Academy 
of Sciences panel have criticized the Energy Department's 
research and progress.

 To date, the department has spent $8 billion and 15 years 
studying the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., requested the GAO investigation in 
January after receiving an anonymous letter criticizing the 
project.

 "The conclusions of this report is a major victory in Nevada's 
campaign to stop the Yucca Mountain project," Berkley said today. 
"The GAO report combined with Nevada's aggressive strategy in the 
courts and on Capitol Hill puts us in the best position to kill 
the Yucca Mountain project that we've ever been in. The momentum 
has changed 180 degrees. The approval of Yucca Mountain is not 
inevitable."

 Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who joined Berkley's request, was 
flying to Nevada and could not be reached for comment, press aide 
Tessa Hafen said today.

 Nevada officials, who oppose the repository, lauded the report.

 Bob Loux, Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects director, said, "We 
didn't think there would be any substantial response, because the 
GAO used the DOE's own data," Loux said. "What else could (it) 
say?"

 The Energy Department and Nuclear Energy Institute -- the trade 
organization for nuclear utilities -- are the main supporters of 
a Yucca repository for 77,000 tons of radioactive waste, Loux 
said.
 
All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 21  No-fly zones over nuclear facilities unlikely  

  [Thestar.com]   
  Dec. 20, 05:45 EDT   
  
OTTAWA (CP)  Canada is unlikely to impose no-fly zones over its 
nuclear reactors or station missiles around them, a senior 
nuclear regulatory official says.

 In the event of a credible threat to the reactors, Norad would 
likely be called on to protect them with jet fighters, said Jim 
Blythe, manager of security review project at the Canadian 
Nuclear Safety Commission.

 There's also an ongoing study of engineering and procedural 
improvements to make the reactors less vulnerable to attack, 
Blythe said in an interview Thursday.

 Washington imposed no-fly zones over U.S. reactors after Sept. 
11 and France installed missile units around some of its nuclear 
facilities, fuelling speculation about similar measures in 
Canada.

 But the feeling is that it wouldn't be feasible to impose no-fly 
zones in Canada, said Blythe.

 "That you could, say, draw an arc around Pickering of a certain 
diameter and a certain height and say commercial and private 
aircraft shall never fly in these zones  from a navigational 
perspective, that would be exceedingly difficulty."

 Enforcement would be equally problematic.

 "The Canadian Armed Forces doesn't have the resources, the 
personnel or materiel to have, say, F-18s in the area on a 
continuous basis."

 It's also hard to justify the use of missiles that automatically 
shoot down any aircraft violating a defined space, Blythe said.

 "That instantaneous, irreversible application of deadly force is 
not something that, in the absence of dire circumstances, I think 
. . . is acceptable in this society." 

He denied that U.S. measures are tougher, saying the no-fly zones 
there are temporary and not vigorously enforced. Planes that 
violate the zones are simply warned or fined, he said.

 As for France, anti-aircraft units have not been installed at 
reactors, only at fuel reprocessing facilities where the 
potential for radioactive release is much greater, he said. Candu 
reactors don't require such facilities.

 The commission is continuing to work with intelligence agencies, 
police and Transport Canada to ensure that appropriate measures, 
such as jet patrols, can be invoked quickly in case of a credible 
threat.

 The study of how to make the facilities less vulnerable to air 
attack could come down to straightforward measures such as 
reinforcing protective walls.

 Nuclear plant operators have already taken extra security 
measures against the risk of ground attack, such as stationing 
armed guards on site.

 Canada has 22 nuclear power reactors, a few research reactors, 
and some 4,000 facilities that use radioactive materials in 
military or industrial applications.

any material from www.thestar.com
*****************************************************************
 22  IAEA Daily Press Review     Date 2001-12-21 Number 240   

  1. Non-proliferation
 US House of Representatives calls on Iraqi President to allow 
unrestricted return of UN weapons inspectors, warning his 
continued refusal poses mounting threat to US. 

(DAW; T - 20/12) Iraq; UN; United States of America

  2. Terrorism
 Bush administration discloses new details that suggest Osama bin 
Laden may know much more about building nuclear weapons than 
originally thought. 

(NBC - 20/12) United States of America 

  3. Nuclear power
 According to poll, 66% of Austrians do not believe that upcoming 
national petition campaign will manage to halt Temelin NPP; plant 
staff prepares repeated test of feedwater pumps. Report on 
Slovene-Croatian agreement on joint ownership and status of Krsko 
NPP. EU critical of Germany's nuclear phase-out. Senior official 
of European Commission's transport and energy directorate-general 
gives outline of how EC sees its own role in shaping future of 
nuclear energy policy among EU member States.
 
(DW; NUC; R - 20, 21/12) Austria; Croatia; Czech Republic; 
European Commission; European Union; Germany; Slovenia 

  4. Nuclear Safety
 Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPP unit 5 operating normally, despite 
radioactive leak in turbine room. 

(JAP - 21/12) Japan 

  5. Radwaste, fuel
 Russia's State Duma gives initial approval to commission on 
importing spent nuclear fuel. UK consent to BNFL for plutonium 
plant commissioning at Sellafield prompts angry responses from 
Irish Government and environmental protesters. 

(BBC; FT; R - 20/12) Russian Federation; United Kingdom 

  6. UN
 According to WHO, if world's rich countries were to increase 
spending on health in Third World fivefold over next two decades, 
about 8 million lives could be saved each year. 

(WP - 21/12) UN 

*****************************************************************
 23  MOX plant start-up widely condemned 

ireland.com - The Irish Times - IRELAND
 
Friday, December 21, 2001                       

By Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor 

The Government and Opposition parties reacted angrily to 
confirmation that operations have begun at the controversial MOX 
plant at Sellafield. Workers brought radioactive plutonium into 
the plant early yesterday morning in a move that will see 
increased levels of nuclear waste dumped into the Irish Sea. 

The action was universally condemned here but heralded by 
Sellafield as a positive development. "This is wonderful news for 
[the MOX plant] and is the best Christmas present we could have 
had," the head of operations for MOX, Mr Jack Allen, said 
yesterday. 

Sellafield's operator, BNFL, acknowledged that it had "commenced 
the first stage of active plutonium commissioning" of the plant. 
At 2.15 a.m. yesterday morning it had "transferred 
plutonium-bearing material" into the plant as part of a "phased 
and prudent ramp-up of commissioning for MOX fuel manufacture". A 
group of about 100 Irish protesters gathered later yesterday 
morning outside Sellafield's north gate. Two politicians, Mr John 
Gormley (Greens) and Senator Fergus O'Dowd (Fine Gael) also 
attended.

 There were police on hand but no arrests were made, Mr Gormley 
said. He criticised the Government's performance on the issue, 
claiming it was "completely reactive". 

The opening of the MOX plant was regrettable, according to the 
Minister of State for Public Enterprise, Mr Joe Jacob. He added, 
however, that it represented the beginning "of a long journey of 
legal initiatives from which we will not be diverted".

 "Today's start-up serves to harden our determination to stop 
this MOX facility and to have Sellafield shut down," said Mr 
Jacob, who holds special responsibility for nuclear safety. 

The commissioning of MOX was "a damning indictment" of the 
Government's record on Sellafield, according to the Labour TD, Mr 
Emmet Stagg. "The Government should hang its head in shame at 
today's news," he said, while criticising its "belated efforts" 
to challenge the decision to authorise the MOX plant.

 "An examination of the Government's record reveals the fact that 
Ireland's campaign against Sellafield was significantly 
downgraded when FF and the PDs came to office," he added. "Its 
record has been appalling."

 Senator O'Dowd, who also attended the Sellafield protest action, 
urged the Government to begin forming a coalition of 
parliamentarians from other EU states who could help lobby 
against the Sellafield complex. He also said the Government 
should publish a UN document, Report on Protection Against 
Nuclear Terrorism, published on November 30th by the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), of which the Republic 
is a member.

 It was not for the Government to publish the UN report, a 
spokeswoman for the Department of Public Enterprise said 
yesterday. "It is a restricted document and not in the public 
domain," she added. Any decision to release the report lay with 
the IAEA. 

BNFL built the Ł663 million (&#8364;842 million) MOX plant to 
manufacture fuel pellets for use in nuclear reactors. It blends 
powdered uranium and plutonium recovered from spent reactor fuel 
and bakes this into ceramic pellets for export to reactors around 
the world. It will take two or three weeks before the plant 
begins manufacturing useable fuel pellets. 

*****************************************************************
 24  MOX plant begins production

news.telegraph.co.uk - 

By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
 (Filed: 21/12/2001) 

THE controversial mixed oxide fuel (MOX) plant at Sellafield 
finally began preparing to make fuel for nuclear power stations 
yesterday despite protests from environmental campaigners and the 
Irish government.
  
After standing empty for five years while it waited for approval 
from the Government and environmental regulators, the plant 
received the go-ahead from the Nuclear Installations 
Inspectorate.
 
British Nuclear Fuels managers the permission as "the best 
Christmas present we could have had". Earlier this year, 
Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth failed in their attempt to 
block the operation of the Ł470 million facility in the High 
Court.
 
The Irish Government, which has opposed the expansion of 
Sellafield, said the decision represented "supreme arrogance" on 
the part of the British authorities.
 
Joe Jacob, minister with responsibility for nuclear safety, said: 
"It is morally wrong to pollute the environment, any environment, 
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."
 
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk
*****************************************************************
 25  Wis. 535-MW Kewaunee nuke returns to full power
                                        
    [Reuters]   

Thursday December 20, 1:20 pm Eastern Time
 
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Wisconsin Public Service 
Corp.'s 535-megawatt (MW) Kewaunee nuclear unit in Wisconsin 
returned to full power on Wednesday following a refueling and 
maintenance outage, plant operator Nuclear Management Co. (NMC) 
said on Thursday.

Kewaunee's steam generators were replaced during the outage, a 
$100 million project that was the largest in the plant's 27-year 
history, the statement said. The plant, in Carlton, Wis., had 
been limited to about 96 percent of its output for the past five 
years because the efficiency of the steam generators had 
declined.

The return of 35 megawatts, bringing the plant back to its full 
535-MW output, is enough to serve an additional 25,000 homes with 
electricity. Kewaunees's outage began Sept. 23 and ended Dec. 4.

But the ascent to full power was slower than in prior outages 
because plant operators conducted additional tests and monitoring 
associated with the new steam generators before returning to full 
power, the statement said. Nuclear Management Co. operates the 
Kewaunee plant for Wisconsin Public Service's parent, WPS 
Resources Corp. NMC also operates the nuclear units of Alliant 
Energy, Wisconsin Energy Corp.'s Wisconsin Electric Power, Xcel 
Energy Inc. and CMS Energy's Consumers Energy. 

*****************************************************************
 26  NRC must ensure nuke plant decommissioning funds-GAO
                                        
[Reuters]   

Thursday December 20, 6:27 pm Eastern Time
 
By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
falls short in its oversight of funds for U.S. nuclear power 
plant decommissioning, according to a report released on Thursday 
by Congress' main investigative arm.

Decommissioning a retired nuclear plant typically costs between 
$300 million and $400 million, and involves dismantling it and 
removing its radioactive components for safe storage.

The General Accounting Office report said that in some instances, 
the NRC's reviews were ``not always rigorous enough'' to ensure 
adequate decommissioning funds, according to the report.

The shortfall could leave U.S. taxpayers on the hook for 
``potential liability in the billions of dollars'' if private 
companies are not able to obtain the funds needed to decommission 
mothballed nuclear plants, said a spokesman for Rep. Edward 
Markey, a California Democrat and long-time nuclear industry 
critic who requested the GAO report.

``The commission will review the report carefully and take 
whatever action they feel is appropriate,'' an NRC spokesman 
said. The agency oversees all 103 U.S. nuclear plants.

The NRC failed to obtain needed information from Exelon Corp, the 
biggest owner of U.S. nuclear plants, the report said.

Exelon was formed by the merger of Unicom and PECO Energy Co. 
Through three subsidiaries, the newly created company controls 16 
operating and four decommissioned nuclear plants in Illinois, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania. ``The new companies involved in the 
merger did not provide, nor did NRC request, copies of 
contractual agreements'' documenting access to decommissioning 
funds for the plants, GAO said.

Markey linked the findings to a failure of federally mandated 
deregulation of wholesale electricity markets in 1996. The new 
regulations allowed utilities to sell assets they viewed as 
economically unpromising, and many nuclear plants were sold to 
other companies. Reorganizations and mergers have led to 30 
license transfers, GAO said.

When those transfers occurred, ``NRC did not always adequately 
verify the new owners' financial qualifications to safely own and 
operate the plants,'' GAO said in the report.

In most instances, GAO found that post-deregulation license 
transfers have seen enhanced assurance of decommissioning funds, 
which have traditionally been raised by charges embedded in 
utilities' billing structure, GAO said.

The upshot of deregulation is that new nuclear operators no 
longer have access to a secure pool of funding for 
decommissioning costs, Markey said. ``Deregulation of electricity 
markets has led to many mergers and ownership transfers ... with 
the potential for the plants' decommissioning funds to be lost in 
the shuffle,'' Markey said. The NRC must ensure such funds are 
available, he said. 

*****************************************************************
 27  Dublin protests at move on production at Mox plant

 By Andrew Taylor, Utilities Correspondent
 Published: December 20 2001 21:43 | Last Updated: December 20 2001 22:15
  
The first steps towards starting commercial production at the 
controversial nuclear fuel recycling plant in Cumbria prompted 
angry responses on Thursday from the Irish government and 
environmental protesters. 

About 70 protesters, mainly from the Irish Republic, gathered 
outside the Ł472m ($684.8m) Sellafield plant as plutonium-bearing 
material was introduced to test equipment before commercial 
manufacture could start. 

The British government last month authorised state-owned British 
Nuclear Fuels to start production of the mixed oxide fuel after 
an independent study concluded that it was more viable to let the 
project proceed. 

The Irish government and environmentalists have since mounted a 
series of legal challenges to stop the plant, so far to no avail. 
They say pollution from the works will be carried to Ireland. 

Joe Jacob, the Irish minister responsible for nuclear safety, 
said on Thursday that the republic would "continue to exploit 
every available legal avenue" to halt the plant so "that justice 
be gained for the people of Ireland". 

He said: "It is morally wrong to pollute the environment, any 
environment. 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 Dublin government is challenging the development under the 
United Nations convention on the law of the sea and under the 
Oslo and Paris convention, a treaty signed by north Atlantic 
countries to protect the marine environment. 

Its attempt at an inter-national tribunal to win an interim 
injunction to stop the plant opening was defeated last month in 
Hamburg. 

Borge Brenda, Norwegian environment minister, this week visited 
Dublin, London and Sellafield in an attempt to persuade British 
authorities to halt Mox production. 

Environmental groups Greenpeace and and Friends of the Earth said 
starting the controversial plant would lead to huge clean-up 
costs for taxpayers; increase pollution, threatening safety; and 
increase the risk of radioactive materials ending up in terrorist 
hands. 

The decision to start commissioning the plant followed approval 
this week by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, an arm of 
the Health &Safety Executive. 

Jack Allen, British Nuclear Fuels' head of Mox operations, said: 
"This is the best Christmas present we could have had. 

"I also want to thank our customers, who have been very patient, 
and we now want to get on with the job of manufacturing Mox fuel 
for them. 

"This is just the beginning of Mox fuel manufacture," he added. 
*****************************************************************
 28  Mox open for business

THURSDAY 20/12/01 17:22:11

A controversial nuclear reprocessing plant finally opened for 
business today despite protests from environmental campaigners 
and the Irish government.
             
After standing empty for more than five years, the mixed oxide 
(MOX) plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, began preparing to recycle 
used uranium and plutonium to produce fuel for power stations 
across the world. It expects to be producing fuel early next 
year.

When it was given approval to begin commissioning, managers at 
the plant described it as ``the best Christmas present we could 
have had``. 

The National Installation Inspectorate inspected the plant 
yesterday and gave its owners, British Nuclear Fuels Limited, the 
go-ahead. The decision was formally announced today.

Tonight BNFL confirmed it had spent the day testing the 
sensitivity of plutonium detectors in the plant.

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 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``. 

``You will end up with far too much nuclear fuel for no 
business,`` he said. ``It is just a white elephant for the 
Sellafield area.`` 

And he added: ``I find it frankly incomprehensible that this 
company can find any satisfaction in opening this plant that was 
losing money from day one.``

He warned the company that the protest was not over. 

``If the BNFL think its problems are over, then it can think 
again. It has major headaches in front of it, it has no 
prospects.``

Outside the plant, around 70 demonstrators from the Irish protest 
group Gluaiseacht - a 200-strong organisation mostly made up of 
students - marched from the north gate to the main gate of 
Sellafield at 7am.

With chants of ``Ireland says no, MOX must go``, the protesters 
beat drums and danced outside the gate as workers arrived this 
morning.

When the decision to begin commissioning was announced, around 20 
of the protesters chained themselves to the railings outside the 
plant`s main gate for almost two hours before winding the protest 
down around midday. No-one was arrested.

Despite being completed in 1996, the MOX plant in Cumbria has 
lain idle ever since.

Earlier this year, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth failed in 
their attempt to block the Government`s go-ahead for the Ł470 
million facility.

Outside the plant, John Gormley, the Green Party member for 
Dublin South East, said protesters were there to highlight the 
problems with MOX fuels.

Sellafield directly affects Ireland with its nuclear emissions, 
especially with the heightened terrorist threat following the 
atrocities of September 11, he said. 

``If Sellafield goes up in an attack, the prevailing wind will 
take it right into our country.``

Speaking after the decision was announced, the 42-year-old 
politician added: ``It is just very regrettable. It is something 
we expected, nevertheless it is still very depressing.

``MOX is essential for the future of Sellafield which means the 
plant is going to be with us for quite some time.

``We are vowing to continue fighting against this and it has only 
reinvigorated the campaign.``

Tonight BNFL would not add to its earlier statement but said the 
introduction of plutonium was simply one process of many within 
the plant. 

The Irish Government said today`s decision represented ``supreme 
arrogance`` on the part of the British authorities.

Joe Jacob, minister with responsibility for nuclear safety, said: 
``It defies logic. It defies reason. It defies the laws of 
natural justice.``

He went on: ``The expansion of Sellafield with the operation of 
the MOX plant flies in the face of reason.

``It is morally wrong to pollute the environment - any 
environment - 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.``

Mr Jacob, from the Department of Public Enterprise, vowed that 
the Fianna Fail Government would continue to exploit every 
available legal avenue to ``determine that justice be gained for 
the people of Ireland``.

``The operation of the MOX plant serves to harden our resolve to 
have Sellafield shut down, including the MOX facility,`` he said.

The Irish Labour Party also attacked the commissioning of the MOX 
plant as a ``bleak day for Ireland``.

Public enterprise spokesman Emmett Stagg said it represented ``an 
expansion and intensification of role Sellafield plays in the 
British nuclear industry``.

But the criticism was not just directed at Britain.

Mr Stagg said: ``Recent belated efforts by the (Irish) Government 
to challenge the MOX decision have been little more than a public 
relations exercise, designed to cover up its record of inaction 
since day one.``

*****************************************************************
 29  Sellafield plant opening unleashes wave of fury 

Irish Newspapers - 

Date: Fri December 21st 01

THE controversial new nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield 
yesterday opened for business, pushing Anglo-Irish relations to 
their lowest ebb in years. 

After standing empty for more than five years, the mixed oxide 
(MOX) plant began preparing to recycle used uranium and plutonium 
to produce fuel for power stations across the world. 

It expects to be producing fuel early next year. 

The development was hailed as "wonderful news" by British Nuclear 
Fuels Limited (BNFL), the company that runs the plant, and 
welcomed locally as a jobs boost.

But yesterday's 2.15am move provoked the fury of the Irish 
Government.

Joe Jacob, Minister with Responsibility for Nuclear Safety, 
described the action by the British authorities as "one of 
supreme arrogance".

"It defies logic. It defies reason. It defies the laws of natural 
justice," he said.

"It is morally wrong to pollute the environment any environment. 
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." Mr Jacob vowed 
that the Government would continue to exploit every available 
legal avenue to shut down the plant. 

It is believed that the first highly radioactive shipment was 
moved into the Cumbrian plant under darkness.

Commissioning the plant will increase radioactive discharges to 
the Irish Sea and expose Ireland to potentially catastrophic 
contamination from an accident or terrorist attack at Sellafield, 
the Government warned.

Yesterday's move also clears the way for armed shipments of 
nuclear waste and MOX nuclear consignments to travel through the 
Irish Sea next year less than 30 miles off the east coast of 
Ireland.

Green Party deputy John Gormley, who led a protest outside the 
plant yesterday, also expressed outrage that the British 
Government had allowed the new MOX plant to open. 

The protest started at 8am yesterday with protestors chaining 
themselves to the railings outside the plant. Mr Gormley fronted 
a blockade with more than 100 protesters from the environmental 
campaign group, Gluaiseacht, in a bid to disrupt the plant's 
commissioning.

"This is an outrageous decision," Mr Gormley said. "This new MOX 
plant poses an enormous threat to the well-being of future 
generations of Irish people. 

"It is unnecessary, it is not an economically viable proposition 
and it will now make it easier for terrorists to obtain nuclear 
material."

Mr Gormley said opponents would concentrate on future action. 
This would include continuing with the UN case; a possible legal 
challenge in the EU Court of Justice; a review of the Euratom 
Treaty and the building of a diplomatic international coalition 
against Sellafield. 

This would include bringing pressure to bear on countries such as 
Japan and Germany who are sending spent fuel to Sellafield for 
reprocessing. The National Installation Inspectorate gave the go 
ahead after inspecting the plant yesterday.. 

Operations head Jack Allen said: "I am very proud of the MOX 
workforce who have worked so hard to get us to this stage." 

Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent


Š Copyright Unison
*****************************************************************
 30  Comments from Sellafield outrage anti-nuclear protesters 

online.ie : News

The Irish Examiner 21 Dec 2001 

By Michael O' Farrell

ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters at the MOX facility in Sellafield were 
outraged yesterday when the plant boss described the opening of 
the facility as the best Christmas present ever.

"This is the wonderful news for SMP (Sellafield MOX Plant) and is 
the best Christmas present we could have had," said head of 
operations Jack Allen. "This is just the beginning of MOX fuel 
manufacture and our focus is now on delivering the first fuel to 
our customers."

Over 70 protesters from Environmental group Gluaisteacht who 
travelled to Sellafield to disrupt the plant's operation were 
outraged at the comment, saying it was a present that would 
remain highly radioactive for the next 100 generations.

"I wonder how he would rate Chernobyl on his scale of Christmas 
presents?" asked Fine Gael Senator Fergus O' Dowd who joined the 
protesters in blocking Sellafield's main gate. "We knew it would 
happen but it was important to come to show the British 
Government the Irish people will not stand for this," he said.

Protesters marched from Sellafield's north gate at 7am yesterday 
chanting "shut down Sellafield" and blockaded the main gate for 
several hours. Some members chained themselves to the plant's 
perimeter fence, but no-one was arrested.

Green Party TD John Gormley, who also joined the protesters, was 
outraged the MOX plant went ahead despite health and safety 
concerns.

"The decision of the British Government to open this new MOX 
plant is a defiant and aggressive act. This new MOX plant poses 
an enormous threat to the well-being of future generations of 
Irish people," said Mr Gormely.

"We now have to concentrate on future action and this means 
continuing with the UN case, tightening up the OSPAR agreement (a 
marine environment convention), a possible legal challenge in the 
European Court of Justice, a review of the Euratom Treaty and the 
building of a diplomatic international coalition against 
Sellafield," he said.

Earlier this year, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth failed in 
an attempt to block the plant's go-ahead.

Martin Forwood, a spokesman for Cumbrians Opposed to a 
Radioactive Environment, said: "If the plant is commissioned 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," he said.

Recycling of uranium and plutonium

THE mixed oxide (MOX) plant at Sellafield will recycle used 
uranium and plutonium to produce fuel for power stations.

* Recycling used fuel recovers 97% of valuable, reusable 
materials and separates out the remaining 3% as waste.

* Recycling plutonium reduces the amount of high radioactive 
waste which must be disposed of.

* One pellet of MOX has the energy equivalent of one tonne of 
coal.

* The Ł470 million 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 in the wake of a data falsification 
incident.

* BNFL, who own the plant, have had a contract to reprocess 
Japanese used nuclear fuel since the 1960s.

* Fuel produced at the plant will be shipped back to reactors in 
Japan, and used to generate electricity.

* The plant only needs contracts for 40% of capacity in order to 
break even.

* MOX fuel is used by utilities supplying electricity in France, 
Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

* The fuel will be transported in ceramic rods in specially 
designed casks on ships made specifically for transporting 
radioactive materials.

*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                     NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES
*****************************************************************
 1 Russia: There is no crime  


The Pasko Case

      Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for 
the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 
by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about 
the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. Jump to 
section Energy Russia       

The Pacific Fleet Court will on December 25 announce its verdict 
in the case against Grigory Pasko, who is charged with high 
treason through espionage. If the Court rules by the law, Pasko 
should be acquitted. 

Jon Gauslaa, 2001-12-21 12:39

The re-trial of Grigory Pasko started on July 11, 2001 in the 
Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok. The subsequent proceedings 
have been considerably delayed by a number of unjustified 
postponements caused by the prosecution. This has - in violation 
of Pasko's right to have the charges against him determined 
within reasonable time - contributed to the process dragging out 
for more than four years. 

No criminal content

Ivan Pavlov of Pasko's defence-team, said after concluding his 
closing speech, that he was sure that Pasko would be acquitted if 
the Court rules by the law. 

Pavlov, who also took part in the defence of Aleksandr Nikitin - 
who was acquitted on similar charges as Pasko by the Presidium of 
the Russian Supreme Court on September 13, 2000 after almost five 
years of proceedings, said that "the trial has proven that the 
case contains no crime". 

The Pasko case and the Nikitin case are similar both in content 
and in the character of violations done by the Russian security 
police (the FSB), which investigated the case. 

Illegal use of secret military decree

Pasko is accused with collecting and transferring information on 
the environmental situation in the Russian Pacific Fleet to the 
Japanese TV Company NHK. The disputed information is however, 
available in the public domain. 

Moreover, the charges are based on an expert evaluation of 
various documents that were confiscated from Pasko, of which ten 
contains state secrets according to the experts. This allegation 
is based on secret decree 055:96 of the Ministry of Defence. 

The use of the decree as the basis for the case violates article 
15 (3) of the Russian Constitution, according to which 
unpublished normative acts can not be used for prosecuting a 
person.

In addition the Russian Supreme Court declared on November 6, 
2001 the decree as "illegal and invalid" because it was not 
registered in accordance with the law. This ruling has reached 
legal force, but the prosecutor still insists to base his charges 
on the decree. 

95% of the evidence gathered illegally

Almost 95% of the 'evidence' in the case are gathered illegally. 
No protocol was kept over what was confiscated at the search of 
Pasko's flat in November 1997, and neither Pasko nor any other 
persons representing him were present in the room where the 
investigators worked. Thus, they had every possibility to insert 
what they wanted to the heap of 'confiscated evidence'. 

The above-mentioned violates several provision of the Russian 
Criminal Procedure Code. According to Article 50 (2) of the 
Russian Constitution all evidence that is obtained in violation 
with the law should be excluded from the case. 

Some evidence is also downright falsified. At the first 
Pasko-trial in 1999, the Court made a separate decision on this 
issue, addressed towards the FSB and the prosecutor's office. One 
investigator was reprimanded, but the false evidence was not 
removed from the case. Moreover, throughout the trial in 
Vladivostok, several witnesses have claimed that they were 
pressed by the FSB to testify against Pasko. 

Half of the charges dismissed

Even the prosecutor seems to realise that he has a week case. In 
his closing speech he dismissed the charges related to five of 
the ten documents Pasko was originally charged with. 

Besides, regarding four of the remaining five documents, the 
prosecutor changed the qualification of Pasko's actions from 
claiming that he had transferred them to the Japanese, to 
claiming that he had kept the documents at his flat "with the 
intention to transfer them". The prosecution is however not even 
close to prove that this was Pasko's intention. 

The prosecution has neither proven that the last document was 
transferred. The only basis for this allegation is that a witness 
said that he at the NHK-office in Vladivostok saw a document 
"similar" to a document that was confiscated at Pasko's flat. 
However, the witness made his observation at the NHK-office in 
October 1997, while the document was allegedly confiscated from 
Pasko in November 1997&#8230; 

Prosecutor demands nine years

Despise the weaknesses of his case, the prosecutor still asked 
the Court to convict Pasko to nine years of hard labour. This is 
three years below the minimum penalty for treason through 
espionage. The reason for the prosecutor's "mildness" is that it 
had not been established that Pasko's actions had led to any 
damage. 

The prosecutor also admitted that some "violations" had occurred 
in the case. He did however, ask the Court to leave them out of 
account since they were made by inexperienced investigators, who 
never before had worked with similar cases. 

-- Besides, the case has also aggravating circumstances, said the 
prosecutor and focused particularly on "the fact" that there 
still is an official state of war between Russia and Japan, since 
no peace treaty after WW II have been signed. 

Court under pressure?

Pasko's defence asked for a full acquittal, and was sure that 
Pasko would be acquitted if the Court rules by the law. Ivan 
Pavlov had however, still his doubts regarding the outcome of the 
case. 

-- The Court has handled the case adequately, but we are 
uncertain whether it will be allowed to base its decision on the 
law or if it have to give in for FSB-pressure, Pavlov said. -- We 
have noticed throughout the last part of the trial that the Court 
have been subject to pressure, and the date chosen for the 
announcement of the verdict - Christmas Day - does not seem like 
a coincidence, he said. 

Whether the Court will rule by the law or not should be known on 
December 25, around 3 PM local time (5 AM GMT). Bellona web hopes 
to be able to announce the outcome of the case as soon as 
possible after that. 

*

Grigory Pasko was an investigative reporter with "Boyevaya 
Vakhta", a newspaper run by the Pacific Fleet. He was arrested in 
November 1997 and charged with high treason. He spent twenty 
months in custody, before being acquitted in July 1999. He was 
however, convicted of abuse of his official authority, but 
released under an amnesty. The verdict was appealed by both 
sides. On November 21, 2000, the Military Collegium of the 
Russian Supreme Court cancelled the first verdict and sent the 
case back to a new trial in Vladivostok.

      Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge 
Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: 
webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 
38 38 62  * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
 2  Fast Flux Test Reactor Closed Permanently

Public Citizen 

Dec. 20, 2001

Citizen Activist Victory! 

Statement of Wenonah Hauter 

Director, Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Environment 
Program We applaud the U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) 
long-overdue announcement that the Fast Flux Test Nuclear Reactor 
(FFTR), in eastern Washington, will be shut down permanently. 
This is very good news for the people of the Northwest who live 
near the reactor, located at the most contaminated nuclear site 
in the world. "Fast breeder" reactors such as the FFTF, are 
unstable and dangerous and have experienced at least two 
meltdowns in the United States.

The FFTF was built at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in 
Washington in 1980 to serve as a fuel and material irradiation 
test facility but was closed in 1993. The DOE spent more than $40 
million a year to keep the reactor maintained for restart. The 
facility could be used for making tritium for nuclear weapons. 
However, it was considered unprofitable to keep open solely for 
research purposes, and commercially viable uses for it could not 
be identified.

Large-scale opposition to reopening the FFTR led to a November 
2000 decision by Bill Richardson, energy secretary during the 
Clinton administration, to permanently shut the reactor and honor 
a 1995 agreement to begin cleaning up. Spencer Abraham, the Bush 
administrations energy secretary, reversed the decision. But 
criticism from both citizen activists and members of Congress has 
resulted in a favorable decision. Once again we have witnessed 
the impact that citizens can have. Not only were thousands of 
activists in the Northwest advocating the shutdown of this 
dangerous boondoggle, but around the country citizens took 
action. We hope DOE can now put its energy toward preventing acts 
of terrorism and cleaning up the deadly contamination, which is 
threatening the Columbia River.

The successful resolution of this five-year battle is due to 
citizen activism in the Northwest, which involved thousands of 
concerned citizens. Citizen activists in other regions of the 
nation also were active in advocating the shutdown of this 
unstable and dangerous fast-breeder reactor.

*****************************************************************
 3  Russia's Gepard submarine arrives at permanent base 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 21, 2001


Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Murmansk, 21 December, 

ITAR-TASS correspondent Vladimir Novikov: The Gepard, a new 
multipurpose nuclear submarine, arrived in Gadzhiyevo, a 
settlement on the Kola Peninsula, today. It will be part of the 
North Fleet submarine unit that is based here.

During its transfer from Severodvinsk where the missile-carrier 
was built at the Sevmash works, the crew, under the command of 
Captain First Rank Dmitriy Kosolapov, were engaged in combat 
training.

The Gepard travelled on the surface across the White and Barents 
Seas to Gadzhiyevo.

When they arrived at the base the sailors were met by Northern 
Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Gennadiy Suchkov, and by a line-up 
of the unit's personnel.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1000 gmt 21 Dec 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ Š BBC. World Reporter
*****************************************************************
 4   K-25 worker ambivalent about $150,000 check

By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel senior writer

OAK RIDGE - Sam Hall isn't sure he deserves a $150,000 check from 
the federal government, but he's happy as heck to have it. 

"I feel real lucky,'' the 56-year-old Roane County man said 
Thursday. "It's something I never expected. I feel blessed.'' 

Hall, a former instrument mechanic at the Department of Energy's 
K-25 Site, was one of the first Oak Ridge workers to qualify 
under the federal program that compensates workers made sick by 
exposures at government nuclear facilities. But Hall readily 
admits he has doubts about whether his K-25 work caused his lung 
cancer. He was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, worked with 
asbestos in another job and lived not far from the smokestack at 
TVA's Kingston Steam Plant. 

Plus, he is a lifelong smoker, having taken up the habit when he 
was still in grade school. Even today, after having part of a 
lung removed and undergoing radiation treatments for cancer, he 
still smokes. He pulled a pack of unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes 
from his shirt pocket to prove his point. Hall was one of three 
local recipients of $150,000 checks who gathered Thursday at the 
U.S. Department of Labor's Oak Ridge office in Jackson Plaza, 
where sick workers or their survivors can get help filling out 
claims forms. 

The others who met with the news media were Georgia Herron, a 
retired stores clerk at K-25, who suffered from kidney cancer and 
breast cancer, and Edna Bunch, the Campbell County widow of 
Robert Bunch, a K-25 maintenance mechanic who died 2 1/2 years 
ago of lung cancer. 

Most of the Oak Ridge workers who've qualified for the program so 
far were employed at K-25. K-25 workers are part of a "special 
cohort'' created by the federal legislation and are not required 
to prove that radiation caused their cancers. It's assumed that 
the workplace was the cause. 

Besides K-25, the special cohort includes workers at two other 
gaseous diffusion plants at Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio. 

Cancer-stricken workers at other DOE nuclear facilities, such as 
the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, must have their work 
records reviewed by an expert panel to determine if their 
radiation exposures likely caused their cancers. The difference 
in how claims are handled has upset some workers at Y-12 and Oak 
Ridge National Laboratory who believe their plants were just as 
hazardous as K-25 and the other facilities. 

Hall, Herron and Bunch expressed thanks for help and support they 
received at the Oak Ridge office in filing out their claims 
applications, which ultimately are processed at the Labor 
Department's regional center in Jacksonville, Fla. The Oak Ridge 
office's telephone number is 1-865-481-0411, and the toll-free 
number at the Jacksonville office is 1-877-336-4272. 

All three of the recipients said they had ready use for the money 
deposited in their checking accounts. 

Hall and his wife paid off their mortgage. Herron, who lives in 
Knoxville, said she'll use the money to offset the cost of her 
many medical bills not covered by the federal benefits. And Bunch 
said she'll get her check just in time to buy the family 
Christmas gifts she didn't think she could afford. 

Shirley White, who manages the Oak Ridge office for Eagle 
Research, a Department of Labor contractor, said the local staff, 
including four case workers - tries to process the claims as 
quickly as possible. 

Many of the worker stories are sad, according to White, who 
herself worked at the Oak Ridge nuclear facilities for about 20 
years. 

"It's really hard to detach yourself and not get emotionally 
involved,'' she said. "But we step back, and we just try to help 
people the best way we can.'' 

Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.               
*****************************************************************
 5  FFTF loses restart fight
 
This story was published Thu, Dec 20, 2001
 By Annette Cary Herald staff writer 

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham found a proposal to restart 
Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility for commercial use too big a 
gamble and Wednesday ordered the reactor permanently shut down.
 
With the previous Democratic administration coming to the same 
conclusion as the current Republican administration, the 
announcement left little possibility that DOE's largest and most 
modern reactor will operate again. It also ends the potential for 
any nuclear production at Hanford.
 
"(I) understand that this decision may come as a disappointment 
to you and many in your community," Abraham wrote in a letter to 
U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "Nevertheless, I want to assure 
you that this review was conducted in an objective and thorough 
manner."
 
An analysis of costs concluded that if the commercialization plan 
went sour, DOE could be left with $1 billion in extra expenses. 
That's in addition to the $1 billion cost of an unbudgeted 
federal research project proposed for the reactor.
 
Supporters of restarting the research reactor called those 
estimates ridiculous. With leadership from Hastings, they've 
pushed for a restart of the reactor primarily to make isotopes 
for medical use, including promising new ways of treating cancer.
 
Instead of restarting the reactor, DOE is working to expand 
medical isotope programs, including at Richland and Oak Ridge, 
Tenn., said DOE's report on the commercialization review.
 
That presumably refers to a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 
program, now commercialized, to produce medical isotopes from 
waste. Oak Ridge National Laboratory also is producing medical 
isotopes from stockpiled uranium 233.
 
Those programs produce a total of three types of isotopes for 
medicine, while FFTF was being considered for production of 30 
different isotopes for cancer treatment.
 
In the FFTF proposal, Advanced Nuclear and Medical Systems, or 
ANMS, of Richland was proposing leasing the reactor for 35 years 
and operating it with a team of companies well known for their 
nuclear expertise, including Duke Engineering and Services. 
Surplus mixed oxide fuel would be imported from Germany.
 
But DOE was concerned about the financing and costs the 
government would be responsible for, according to the review 
report.
 
"The ANMS proposal contained business and legal obstacles that 
would likely result in lengthy project delays," Abraham wrote in 
the letter to Hastings.
 
ANMS was asking that DOE continue to spend about the same amount 
of money it spends now annually on the dormant reactor, $40 
million, for a total of $120 million over three years. But DOE 
questioned whether the reactor could surmount legal and other 
hurdles to begin operating in three years, requiring further 
financial help from DOE.
 
That includes getting clearance from the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission to operate the reactor. DOE has provided safety and 
oversight regulation of the reactor to date, but the commission 
oversees safety of commercial nuclear ventures.
 
In the only other situation where a nuclear facility, an Ohio 
gaseous diffusion plant, has switched from DOE to NRC regulation, 
legislation was required.
 
DOE also suggested that expensive upgrades might be needed at 
FFTF to allow it to meet NRC regulations, which differ from DOE 
regulations, even though safety of the reactor has been 
unquestioned by DOE.
 
Should the ANMS venture fall apart during the lease, DOE would be 
left with some expensive problems, the report said.
 
That included surplus fuel from Germany. It's enough of a problem 
that Germany is giving $35.8 million to DOE to take the fuel. The 
money would cover transportation and conversion costs.
 
ANMS also would establish a $400 million trust fund for the 
eventual decontamination of FFTF from its profits under the 
proposal.
 
"However, if the venture were to prove unviable, DOE would be 
left with the entire, and significant, cost of decontamination 
and decommissioning," the DOE report said.
 
However, Bill Stokes, ANMS president, pointed out that DOE 
already is faced with decommissioning costs, whether the reactor 
restarts or not. If DOE was left with surplus German fuel, a 
portion of the $35.8 million would also be unused to deal with 
it, he said.
 
DOE also appeared unimpressed with the Compass Group in Spokane, 
an investment advisory firm to building-trade pension trusts, 
which would finance the FFTF restart with pension money.
 
The report characterized Compass as "a small company that, to 
date, does not have experience with large projects and has 
handled projects valued at $30 million or less."
 
However, Stokes countered that Compass has invested assets in 
excess of $1.3 billion and had a potential pool of as much as $5 
billion to be drawn on for the $200 million it was considering 
investing in the reactor.
 
Finally, the Bush administration had the same concerns as the 
Clinton administration about commercial demand for medical 
isotopes.
 
"Representatives from the medical industry have voiced general 
support of isotope production using FFTF, but there are no 
identified commercial buyers in the ANMS proposal," the report 
said.
 
Stokes said with time, ANMS could have produced those 
commitments. Its proposal was submitted under a 30-day deadline 
for companies to provide proposals for using FFTF.
 
There were 90 other responses, although none had the kind of 
specific commitments that caused DOE to take a second look.
 
However, DOE interest in also using the reactor for research was 
revived by the new administration's energy policy that called for 
developing new nuclear energy technologies.
 
Argonne National Laboratory proposed FFTF be used to demonstrate 
a new process that would allow the recycling and reuse of spent 
nuclear fuel.
 
However, the program would cost $1 billion over eight years, 
which is not included in budget projections for future years, the 
DOE report said.
 
Tri-City supporters of the reactor said Wednesday that they'll 
continue to fight.
 
"It's a huge blow for the community," said Benton County 
Commissioner Claude Oliver. "It's a huge slap in the face to 
organized labor."
 
He and other supporters plan a trip to Washington, D.C., in 
January to point out the flaws in the report signed by Abraham, 
he said. Organized labor also plans to continue lobbying for a 
restart.
 
Top DOE officials knew that Mid-Columbia supporters believed they 
were close to receiving an additional $1 million for the project 
from the Hanford Area Economic Development Fund, Oliver said. For 
the review to be fair, DOE should have given ANMS and supporters 
enough time to finish details of the proposal, he said.
 
Stokes had proposed a six-month period to identify pharmaceutical 
company customers, provide specific financial details for a 
binding commitment from the Compass Group and refine other 
financial details.
 
Stokes said the Senate has been more influenced by strong 
opposition from Oregon senators than statements from Washington's 
Democratic senators calling for a fair review of an FFTF restart.
 
The Government Accountability Project, which opposed a restart, 
credited U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., with forcing DOE to order a 
shutdown.
 
"The fight is over," said Gerald Pollet, executive director of 
Heart of America Northwest, which has opposed a restart. "It's 
done with, and now it's time for all of us to put the fight 
behind us and get FFTF deactivated as fast as possible."
 
DOE stopped using FFTF after 10 years in 1992 for lack of a 
mission for the reactor, but several attempts have been made 
since then to find a new use for it. However, once the sodium is 
drained from the reactor, it cannot be restarted. 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. 
*****************************************************************
 6  More funds needed for FFTF
 
This story was published Thu, Dec 20, 2001
 By John Stang Herald staff writer 

It likely will be months before Hanford crews begin closing the 
Fast Flux Test Facility.
 
Before then, millions of extra money must be found. More workers 
must be hired. Training must be updated.
 
It is expected to take almost $250 million over five years and 
eight months to shut down the FFTF to the point where all it 
requires is one or two surveillance checks a year, according to a 
Department of Energy report issued in July.
 
That translates to about $44 million a year. Right now, $36.5 
million is allocated to keep the FFTF in standby mode for the 
2002 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.
 
FFTF critic Gerald Pollet, director of Heart of America 
Northwest, argued Wednesday that the shutdown could be sped up to 
take just three years and to save money.
 
The biggest parts of shutting down FFTF are draining its heated 
liquid sodium coolant and properly treating and packing its spent 
nuclear fuel.
 
According to various sources, here is how the shutdown should 
unfold:
 
One revolutionary aspect of the FFTF is the 260,000 gallons of 
liquid sodium used to cool the reactor. It flows through miles of 
pipes from the reactor's core to the distinctive squat, 
square-shaped cooling towers.
 
Once the sodium is drained, the reactor will for most purposes 
have reached the point of no return. Within a fairly short time, 
flaws will begin developing in the cooling pipes. DOE was about 
to drain the sodium in 1995, but FFTF supporters convinced the 
agency to keep the reactor dormant for more studies -- which led 
to Wednesday's shutdown decision.
 
But Hanford is not as ready today as it was in 1995 to begin 
shutdown. Training must be redone and procedures checked. 
Equipment must be upgraded. And a few workers must be hired to 
join the approximately 240 to 250 employees presently at FFTF.
 
Then, within a yet-determined number of months from now, crews 
will begin draining the liquid sodium coolant, which is heated to 
about 400 degrees.
 
Sodium will have to be cleaned off the spent fuel rods before 
they are stored in special casks, which eventually are to go to a 
proposed DOE storage site in Nevada.
 
The FFTF now has 126 fuel assemblies stored in 18 casks, with 
another 100 to 200 fuel to be cleaned and stored.
 
An extra $9 million will be needed for the first year of spent 
fuel work. It is unknown now whether that money will come from 
the current 2002 budget or in DOE's 2003 budget request, which 
goes to Congress in February.
 
One question is whether FFTF's closure will be financed from 
cleanup funds or nuclear energy funds. Its standby budget has 
come from nuclear energy funds. Hanford watchers such as Pollet 
will be watching to make sure the FFTF shutdown doesn't divert 
cleanup funding. 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 7  Nuclear Waste Vessel, Sub Collide
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 21, 2001 
Nuclear Waste Vessel, Sub Collide
 
MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian vessel that collects spent nuclear fuel 
collided with a decommissioned nuclear submarine from which it 
was supposed to be unloading, but there was no radiation leak, a 
marine spokesman said Friday. 

The Imandra waste carrier bumped into a mothballed Northern Fleet 
submarine in the Arctic Kola Bay, said Vladimir Blinov, spokesman 
for the Merchant Marine service in the port of Murmansk. 

Blinov would not say what type of submarine it was or when the 
accident happened. Russia's state-controlled ORT television said 
the collision occurred on Dec. 13. 

Radiation experts were rushed to the scene, but an inspection 
showed that neither vessel had leaked radiation or suffered any 
damage, Blinov said in a telephone interview. 

Russia has more than 180 decommissioned nuclear submarines, 
according to official data, and most of them have stayed afloat 
with nuclear fuel onboard, raising the risk of a nuclear 
accident. Some have languished dockside for 10-15 years, their 
hulls rusting through. Officials said they lacked funds to build 
dismantling and storage facilities. 

Some European Union nations have offered to provide funds for 
dismantling the submarines, but the talks have stalled over 
Russia's refusal to accept full legal responsibility for all 
nuclear risks, offer tax breaks or give Western inspectors 
unlimited access to all dismantling sites. 

All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 8  FFTF decision must not hurt Hanford cleanup
 
Published Dec. 21, 2001
 
A national asset that seemed to have more lives than a cat 
apparently has reached the end, given the Bush administration's 
decision to close the Hanford Fast Flux Test Facility 
permanently.
 
Now, Hanford cleanup advocates will have to ensure that its 
deactivation does not divert money from other cleanup at the 
site.
 
Although Secretary Abraham's decision is clear-cut - there is no 
wiggle room - the conclusion is lamentable because FFTF's 
potential will go unrealized. Perhaps given different 
circumstances, including more solid commitments from customers 
and a more hospitable political climate in the Northwest, the 
reactor might well have found new life manufacturing medical 
isotopes for cancer treatment and as a nuclear research center.
 
But it apparently is not to be. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham 
concurred with Undersecretary Robert Card's recommendation that 
both options - isotope production and research - had "major 
drawbacks" and potentially could leave the Energy Department on 
the hook for $2 billion.
 
That makes two administrations - the first Democratic, the second 
Republican - to come to the same conclusion. Three, if you 
consider former Energy Secretary James Watkins' 1992 suggestion 
to close the reactor under the first President Bush because of 
the reactor's high operation costs and no mission.
 
It was sometime after that first decision that the idea of a 
medical isotope mission was spawned. Advanced Nuclear and Medical 
Systems proffered an unsolicited proposal to run FFTF for medical 
isotopes. Former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary paused FFTF's 
march toward decommissioning to study the possibilities. And 
about a year ago, Bill Richardson, another former Energy 
secretary, decided to shut FFTF down permanently, saying the 
United States could fulfill its isotope and research needs 
elsewhere.
 
But Richardson's ruling, made shortly before the Clinton 
administration ended, left many questions unanswered. Thanks in 
large part to a dedicated band of Tri-Citians who believed FFTF 
could provide much-needed medical isotopes, U.S. Rep. Doc 
Hastings persuaded Abraham to take another look based on new 
information not considered in the previous decision.
 
This last-chance review produced the same conclusion that FFTF 
should be deactivated. Where Richardson's ruling was vague, 
Abraham's decision is specific and difficult to dispute - and 
political insiders say ironclad.
 
There apparently are no more considerations to hang another FFTF 
incarnation on, although some FFTF advocates vow to keep up the 
fight.
 
If the Bush administration is determined to close FFTF, Energy 
Department officials need to make sure the process - expected to 
cost $240 million over six years - does not hinder nor delay 
other Hanford cleanup.
 
If FFTF has to go, its closure must not derail existing cleanup 
plans. What's your opinon? 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This 

*****************************************************************
 9  FFTF: Citizens made difference
 
Published Dec. 21, 2001
 
If there is a silver lining to the Fast Flux Test Facility saga, 
it is the Citizens for Medical Isotopes.
 
This Tri-City-based band of devotees - some community leaders, 
some cancer survivors or their family members - can take credit 
for helping to create a public awareness that a stable domestic 
supply of medical isotopes is necessary. 

Citizens for Medical Isotopes, which has signed up members around 
the nation, was hoping FFTF would be restarted to manufacture a 
portfolio of isotopes to be used in cancer treatment and 
diagnostic procedures. Their hopes were dashed Wednesday, 
although they vow to fight on.
 
In the decision to close FFTF, Department of Energy officials 
noted the agency was expanding its medical isotope programs in 
Richland and Oak Ridge, Tenn. Apparently that refers to Pacific 
Northwest National Laboratory work at creating isotopes from 
waste and Oak Ridge National Laboratory's program producing them 
from uranium 233.
 
These programs produce three different types of isotopes - a 
number that pales in comparison with the 30 planned for FFTF. But 
at least the Energy Department has acknowledged its 
responsibility to provide a stable supply of these medical 
isotopes.
 
Although it's not much consolation, Citizens for Medical Isotopes 
no doubt had a role in that realization. What's your opinon? 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 10  Permanent Shutdown Ordered for Fast Flux Reactor

   Environment News Service: 

 By Cat Lazaroff

 WASHINGTON, DC, December 20, 2001 (ENS) - The Department of 
Energy has decided to permanently close the Fast Flux Test 
Facility, a research reactor at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation 
in Washington state. The decision was applauded by anti-nuclear 
activists and environmental groups that have spent nearly a 
decade battling against a proposed restart of the controversial 
nuclear reactor. 

[reactor] The Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), located north of 
Richland, Washington (Photo courtesy Pacific Northwest National 
Laboratory) An "exhaustive, eight month review" of the facility 
(FFTF) led to the conclusion that "restart  is impracticable," 
wrote Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in a letter to 
Representative Doc Hastings, the Washington Republican whose 
district hosts the Hanford site. 

Under the terms of the 1995 Hanford Clean-Up Agreement between 
Washington State and the DOE, the reactor must now be fully 
deactivated before 2006. 

The FFTF is a 400 megawatt sodium cooled nuclear reactor. As part 
of the Hanford Reservation, the reactor operated from 1982 until 
1992 to test advanced fuels and materials in support of the 
national Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor Program. 

Breeder reactors burn uranium, and produce weapons grade 
plutonium. Many nations, including the U.S., have canceled their 
breeder reactor programs due to problems with their operation and 
concerns that their plutonium byproducts could be stolen and 
turned into weapons. 

The FFTF, the last of the U.S. breeder reactors, was also used to 
produce a variety of medical and industrial isotopes, including 
tritium, and provided research and testing of components and 
systems for advanced power systems. Representative Hastings said 
Wednesday that he is "deeply disappointed by DOE's decision. 
We've worked too long and too hard not to be." 

[Hastings] Washington Representative Doc Hastings (Photo courtesy 
Office of the Representative) Hastings led efforts to have the 
reactor reopened as a potential source for radioactive isotopes 
which are used in research and medical treatments. When the 
Clinton administration announced plans to deactivate the FFTF in 
January, Hastings persuaded Secretary Abraham to review that 
decision and consider new uses for the reactor. 

"We all hoped - frankly believed - that there was a private 
market for medical isotopes, and we believed FFTF could help meet 
that need," Hastings said. 

The Department of Energy (DOE) has spent more than $40 million a 
year since 1992 to keep the reactor maintained for possible 
restart. Among the uses proposed for the reactor were 
manufacturing tritium for nuclear weapons, or producing plutonium 
238. 

Under a 1995 agreement, the reactor was to be permanently closed, 
and the funds saved were to be devoted to cleaning up the Hanford 
site, where dozens of aging, corroding tanks hold millions of 
gallons of radioactive wastes. The Clinton administration decided 
to close the reactor, but the new Bush administration opted to 
review that decision. 

Over the past eight months, a team of DOE personnel solicited 
proposals from various commercial interests, and narrowed the 
possibilities down to two: a DOE funded research mission or 
commercialization of the FFTF by a company called Advanced 
Nuclear and Medical Systems. 

"In the end, both these options were found to have significant 
drawbacks and present potential DOE liabilities that collectively 
could exceed $2 billion," Secretary Abraham wrote. "Based on 
these considerations, prolonged consideration of future missions 
was deemed to be impracticable." 

[FFTF] Representative Hastings hoped the FFTF would support a 
lucrative business in medical isotope production, pumping funds 
into his district (Photo courtesy FFTF) Opponents of the 
controversial restart applauded the Secretary's decision. 

The Nuclear Control Institute (NCI), a nuclear nonproliferation 
watchdog group, called the move "a clear nuclear 
non-proliferation victory [that] closes the book on the nation's 
misguided flirtation with the plutonium breeder reactor." 

"Hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted keeping this 
dinosaur alive since the first decision to shut it down in 1992," 
said NCI executive director Tom Clements. "The closure of FFTF 
brings to a conclusion U.S. pursuit of plutonium breeder 
reactors, a type of reactor which can explode in the event of a 
core meltdown and which should be shunned because it produces 
weapons grade plutonium." 

Even the official review of the proposed FFTF restart raised 
controversy. In October, public interest groups charged that the 
review was tainted by illegal conflicts of interest on the part 
of the company that prepared an Environmental Impact Statement on 
the proposed restart. 

The groups released evidence indicating that the DOE had paid 
SAIC Corporation to review allegations that the Environmental 
Impact Statement which SAIC itself prepared was inadequate. 
SAIC's review recommended further government funding for the 
project. 

[tank] The millions of dollars saved by shutting down the FFTF 
can be used to help clean up radioactive wastes from storage 
tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which have contaminated 
soil and groundwater (Photo courtesy DOE) SAIC Corporation 
announced on October 5 that it had withdrawn from the FFTF 
reactor restart proposal because of the conflicts of interest. 

This fall, Congress indicated that it too opposed restarting the 
FFTF. At the urging of Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, the Senate 
Energy Committee added language to the Senate version of 
comprehensive energy legislation that would bar a restart. 

The House included language restricting federal funding for 
restart studies in its fiscal year 2002 budget bill for the 
Department of Energy. "Keeping this last vestige of the breeder 
program on stand-by wasted over $400 million, money that should 
have been spent on shutdown and on waste cleanup at Hanford," 
noted NCI's Clements. 

The citizens' watchdog group Heart of America Northwest (HAN), 
one the most steadfast of the FFTF's opponents, says that 
Secretary Abraham's decision will "end one of the most visible 
and politically potent environmental battles in the Northwest." 

"Families across Washington and Oregon can rest easier tonight 
knowing that citizens were able to prevent adding more wastes and 
risks of nuclear catastrophe to the threats Hanford poses to our 
region and the Columbia River," said Gerald Pollet, executive 
director of HAN. 

More information on the FFTF is available at: 
http://www.fftf.org/

*****************************************************************
 11  Hanford facility runs out of reprieves

The Seattle Times: 

Editorials & Opinion : Friday, December 21, 2001 


Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility has had more second acts than 
Laurence Olivier, and a record of saves the envy of Kazu Sasaki. 

A lot of expensive luck ran out when Energy Secretary Spencer 
Abraham pulled the plug Wednesday on the experimental reactor. 

Years of searching across a succession of presidential 
administrations could not find a credible mission for the FFTF. 

All of the numbers surrounding the reactor have been big, and 
they stay big right until permanent shut-down is final, perhaps 
six years in the future. 

President Carter built the plant as part of a short-lived 
breeder-reactor program. The first Bush administration put the 
reactor on standby, but that order was stalled by the new Clinton 
administration. 

Eight years later, the departing Clinton White House ordered the 
FFTF phased out. That decision was postponed by the incoming Bush 
administration until it could do its own search. 

Nothing ever panned out. Keeping the reactor on life support 
costs $40 million a year, and has drained money and attention 
from cleanup efforts. Secretary Abraham heard the same pleas and 
refusals from the same people. The local community worked hard to 
sell the idea of fashioning medical isotopes at the facility. 
That was dealt a fatal blow when the National Institute of 
Medicine said the reactor was not needed. 

A military role in the nation's nuclear arsenal producing tritium 
was given to the Tennessee Valley Authority, another blow to 
reviving the Hanford shop. 

DOE never had a good answer with what to do with any new 
radioactive waste from a reactivated FFTF. Finally, the dollars 
were daunting. Start-up would cost an estimated $2 billion. 
Shutting it down forever will still cost taxpayers $300 million. 

Bush made the right call. Stay focused on Hanford's legacy: 
cleanup. 

Copyright Š 2001 The Seattle Times Company 
*****************************************************************
 12  Nwep: Richard Butler comments on defector 

AM - 21/12/2001: 

This is a transcript of AM broadcast at 0800 AEST on local radio. 

AM - Friday, December  21, 2001  8:04 

LINDA MOTTRAM:  And after hearing the defector's claims Peter 
Cave spoke to Richard Butler who was the chief weapons inspector 
for the United Nations in Iraq until UNSCOM was thrown out by 
Saddam Hussein in 1998 after ever escalating disputes about 
UNSCOM's real motives and about access to sites. 

Ambassador Butler spoke via satellite from New York.

RICHARD BUTLER: Peter I've read a lot of such reports from 
defectors, from people who have left Iraq. I can't tell you how 
many. And you get a feel about them. And as I read what he said I 
thought my goodness, this has a real ring of authenticity about 
it. Just the detail, the names of places, the sorts of stuff he 
was discussing. I thought this is true.

PETER CAVE:     What level of production of chemical and 
biological weapons is Iraq capable of at the moment?

RICHARD BUTLER: Well they were doing the whole range of both 
chemical and biological weapons in the past. When we were there 
we destroyed a lot of the manufacturing capability and a lot of 
the weapons but it is critical to recognise Peter that why they 
threw us out in 1998 was that we wanted to get all of it and we 
didn't. 

        And you know, so they're capable in terms of know how, 
equipment, and I think materials, of doing the whole range. And 
of course they've been without inspection for three years and 
reports like that of this guy and other defectors suggest to us 
quite strongly that they're back in business.

PETER CAVE:     So clearly it doesn't surprise you at all that 
this fellow has said that they vastly increased their production 
capabilities as soon as you left.

RICHARD BUTLER: Not in the slightest and you know, I want to 
repeat again, just the place names he mentioned and some of the 
technologies, it had such a ring of authenticity to me. As I said 
I've read many of these things and in considering quite frankly 
whether or not to do this interview with you, I asked first to 
see that material and when I saw it I thought, you bet, I will do 
this interview because this seems to me to be real coin [sic].

PETER CAVE:     He spoke mainly about the chemical and biological 
weapons. What about nuclear weapons?

RICHARD BUTLER: Well Saddam had a nuclear weapons program which 
we stopped after the Gulf War. At that stage the assessment was 
he was about six months away from making a bomb. In the meantime 
he's got a stockpile of raw uranium, some enriched uranium and in 
the three years without inspection I've seen reports that he's 
recalled his nuclear weapons design team and Lord knows what he's 
been able to acquire on the black market. You know I don't know 
if he's got a nuclear weapons capability but it is established 
that he wants one and has been seeking one. 

PETER CAVE:     It's no secret that the White House is looking at 
the options of moving the War Against Terrorism to Saddam Hussein 
and Iraq. Given this information, given what you know personally, 
is that a wise move?

RICHARD BUTLER: Well there's a very vigorous debate taking place 
in Washington right now on the issue of whether or not to move 
the conflict, the war, to Iraq. It's not yet been resolved. 
Information like this, the current information we're dealing 
with, could feed into that. 

Is it a good or a bad idea? That's actually not my place to say. 
I can think of very good reasons why Iraq should be dealt with 
because of the threat they pose to their region, because of 
Saddam's weapons of mass destruction policies. 

        On the other hand I'm very well aware of the dangers that 
could flow from military action against Iraq and those things 
have to be weighed in the balance. That's - you know they're 
decisions that will be taken in Washington and you know, they're 
not things that I have a particular view on. I'm concerned about 
the weapons of mass destruction. That was my job in the past. 
That's my concern now. The wider issues other people have to 
decide on. 

PETER CAVE:     Do you know anything about links between the 
regime in Iraq and Al Qaeda?

RICHARD BUTLER: Well I don't know directly. There is 
circumstantial evidence of such links; the meetings in Prague, 
the Iraqi Ambassador in Turkey who was a very senior intelligence 
official went south and met Al Qaeda some time ago. There's a 
terrorist training camp outside Baghdad which was next to a 
biological weapons facility that we used to visit and so we were 
aware of that place. There's lots of circumstantial stuff Peter 
but the so-called "smoking gun", the direct links, they've not 
yet been established.

LINDA MOTTRAM:  Richard Butler, the former chief United Nations 
weapons inspector in Iraq speaking from New York to our foreign 
affairs editor Peter Cave. 

  
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 13  LANL Cleanup Project Completed
                                        
Thursday December 20 12:22 PM EST 
 
 A project to dig up and inspect barrels containing radioactive 
waste from a national laboratory has been completed, drawing both 
praise and a desire for more from environmental groups.

The state Environment Department in 1992 ordered that 17,000 
barrels on Los Alamos National Laboratory property be dug out of 
the ground and stored above ground for inspection until they are 
sent to their permanent home.

About 30 percent of the barrels had corroded and holes were found 
in about 200 barrels after the project's recent completion, LANL 
officials said.

Concerns about corrosion and possible leakage of radioactive 
material into the ground was what prompted the removal of the 
barrels.

"They are now in a state that you can walk around them, to do a 
good visual, to determine if you're having any problems with the 
barrels," LANL project manager Gilbert Montoya said.

The barrels eventually will be shipped with other LANL 
radioactive materials to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near 
Carlsbad for permanent storage.

Environmentalists said the removal was good, but expressed 
concern that other sites that also pose a threat to the 
community's health.

"Eventually, everything moves in the environment," said Greg 
Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group, a LANL watch dog 
organization. "This waste will be pumped up by roots, washed away 
by water and blown away by spring winds."
 
Copyright Š 2001 Yahoo! Inc.
    
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