***************************************************************** 11/21/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.275 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 We Have Technological Answer to the Nuclear [waste] 2 Yucca Mountain Site Decision 3 History-making battle with huge legal fallout 4 Train with nuclear fuel reaches Czech nuclear plant 5 Poland: Railway official says nuclear fuel transport 6 Lithuanian PM says nuclear plant shutdown conditional on EU 7 Editorial Page (Letters To The Editor): Nuclear Emergency Plan 8 Russia to start using floating nuclear waste processing plant 9 Forty-one tonnes of Bulgarian used nuclear fuel now in storage in 10 Clinton calls for 50-mile nuclear evacuation plan 11 U.S. Chamber of Commerce: News Yucca Mountain Site Decision 12 Yucca Mountain Site Decision: Statement by Hon. John H. Sununu 13 NRC to Hold Regulatory Conference With Energy Northwest 14 NRC Staff to Meet With Nuclear Management Co. Nov. 27 To Discuss 15 France Deploys Missiles at Key Site 16 Few cities donate to fight nuclear waste dump 17 Anti-Radiation Pills, Information, FAQ Available On Net 18 LV chamber cuts ties to U.S. group 19 State awards contract in grass-roots Yucca fight 20 Bankruptcy threatens radioactive cleanup 21 Nuke firms behind U.S. Chamber's pro-Yucca campaign 22 New nuclear-fuel shipment reaches Poland en route to Czech 23 U.S. Chamber, Energy Alliance Urge Action to Open a Permanent Nuclear Waste Site 24 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-11-21 Number 222 25 Irish case on MOX plant part of a 'wider war' on Sellafield 26 Maine Yankee lowers heat over fuelpool fire issue 27 Govt gives go ahead to SA uranium mine 28 Russia to start using floating nuclear waste processing plant 29 Energy Secretary Abraham Orders Additional Public Hearings on 30 Sellafield terrorist threat claims rejected 31 The shadow cast from Sellafield 32 Maine Yankee blasting is termed successful 33 Federal Control Will Be Sought for Protection of Nuclear Plants 34 Japan: Gas explosion suspected at nuclear centre in Tokaimura 35 Tension builds with UK over 'dirty' nuclear MOX plant 36 Yucca panel fires shots in war of words NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Interview with a Bombmaker 2 Company's plan to cut Piketon jobs angers Ohio lawmakers 3 Is it time to reconsider fallout shelters? 4 Medical program to undergo changes 5 Last-minute deal averts USEC walkout - 6 Safeguarding Uranium ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Reporter: We Have Technological Answer to the Nuclear Power's TheStreet.com ( BW)(ID-NUCLEAR-SOLUTIONS)(NSOL) Nuclear Solutions to Wall Street 50-Year-Old Waste Problem MERIDIAN, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2001-- Nuclear Solutions, Inc.'s (OTCBB:NSOL) technology for radioactive waste remediation and electricity generation "is the solution the nuclear power industry has been looking for, for 50 years," the company told the Wall Street Reporter Internet service last week. In a Nov. 16 Internet broadcast, NSOL President and CEO Dr. Paul M. Brown said, "We have a technology whereby we can render nuclear waste no longer radioactive. We can make it stable." He added, "The real beauty of this process is it actually produces power, so we have a safe, clean, efficient method of generating power that just happens to burn nuclear waste" as fuel. The patented and patent-pending technology is an electron Accelerator-Driven System (ADS), the feasibility and validity of which has recently been confirmed by Japanese and French experts. Brown refers to the process, which stabilizes nuclear waste, as the HYPERCON(TM) ADS process. Asked by the Wall Street Reporter whether the ADS process is revolutionizing, Brown responded, "extremely. The nuclear industry, when it was first born, gave us the promise of clean, cheap electric power. However, the nuclear waste issue has been a problem that has been unresolved for the last 50 years...The current solution is to put the waste into drums and bury it underground and, of course, that isn't a solution. Our process is the solution the nuclear industry has been looking for..." The Wall Street Reporter suggested that many people would be surprised that such a solution should come out of the private sector, rather than from the government. But Brown explained, "The technology exists today. We've been working on it for three years. We can develop it right now. There isn't anything that has to be developed. And I was afraid that if I took this to a national laboratory or to the government, they'd spend the next 20 years researching it. That's not necessary. It works right now." NSOL is currently engaged in computer modeling of its HYPERCON(TM) ADS process using the MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) code, which the company has been expanding for photonuclear applications. This press release may be deemed to contain forward-looking statement that could affect the financial condition and results of operations of the company and its subsidiaries. Further information on potential factors that could affect financial conditions, results of operations, and expansion projects of the company are included in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. NOTES TO EDITORS: 1. Nuclear Solutions, Inc. (NSOL) is pioneering the application of photonuclear physics for the treatment of nuclear waste and the safe, efficient generation of electricity. Development of this patented and patent-pending technology could result in the elimination of nuclear waste and a new generation of nuclear reactors that are able to burn their own waste. The application of photonuclear physics to nuclear waste is called Photodeactivation (a term coined by the inventor, Dr. Paul M. Brown). Photodeactivation involves the irradiation of specific radioactive isotopes to force the emission of a neutron, thereby producing an isotope of reduced atomic mass. These resultant isotopes are characteristically either not radioactive or radioactive with a short half-life. NSOL's technology works on the laboratory scale, and preliminary computer simulations suggest that this technology will also work on the industrial scale. NSOL is taking the steps necessary for commercialization of the technology. As for most of the advanced nuclear technologies developed today, computer simulation is one of the most important and necessary steps. NSOL will use and improve a series of nuclear simulation codes. The new set of simulation codes will allow the NSOL research and development team to design, test, improve, and develop experiments and commercial facilities through computer modeling. NSOL plans to capitalize on its patent and patent-pending technology by forming strategy alliances and joint ventures with well-established leaders in the nuclear industry. Continued revenue streams are expected through licensing of the technology with both upfront fees and ongoing royalties. 2. NSOL's technology, the HYPERCON(TM) ADS process, is an electron accelerator-based photodisintegration process, incorporating the most recent advances in the photo-nuclear industry. 3. The technology could be developed into new applications for remediation of nuclear waste. Industrially, it would operate at a sub-critical level, so the heat produced by the process could also be used to generate electricity in a safe and environmentally benign manner. © 1996-2001 TheStreet.com, Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Yucca Mountain Site Decision U.S. Chamber of Commerce: News Statement by Hon. Geraldine Ferraro Alliance for Energy & Economic Growth November 15, 2001 If I had been asked to co-chair this initiative prior to September 11th, I am not sure how I would have responded. However, September 11th made my decision and the issue before us very clear-cut. We have to realistically look at life in the United States and assess how we can best address both safety and security for the future. As a mother and grandmother, I have always been sensitive to our legacies to our future generations. As I said 17 years ago in accepting the Vice Presidential nomination, “our faith that we can shape a better future is what the American dream is all about.” And as a Member of Congress, I was acutely aware of the importance of moving forward to responsibly address national issues of concern, particularly ones of multi-generational concern. In just a few seconds, September 11th crystallized the challenges to this generation, framed our responsibilities to future generations and provided clarity to the prioritization of national issues at hand. Effective management of used nuclear fuel and defense nuclear materials is clearly one of those national priorities. It is at the intersection of many profound issues -- energy security, national security, environmental progress and non-proliferation management. We have benefited and prospered in part from the domestic energy provided over the past 40 years by nuclear energy generation and quietly benefited from its clean air attributes. We have not, however, faced up squarely to the issue of providing a path forward to resolve the management of used nuclear fuel and defense waste. In recent years, we have seen the repository project schedule slide 12 years while Republican and Democratic Administrations have sidestepped tough decisions. The Bush Administration has an easy decision to make with regard to Yucca Mountain. An abundance of science, a 20-year contract with the taxpayer and electric utility ratepayer, energy and national security – and issues raised in the glare of September 11 – make both the suitability of Yucca Mountain and the need for it overwhelming. It is my hope that the Bush Administration will demonstrate vision and leadership in the days and weeks to come by exhibiting the necessary political courage to take this important step forward to meet our generation’s responsibility for sound management of used nuclear fuel and defense waste. [http://www.uschamber.com ***************************************************************** 3 History-making battle with huge legal fallout Irish Newspapers - Date: Wed November 21st 01 HOUSED in a futuristic courthouse, built at a cost of more than £55m, the 21 judges flown in from around the world to consider Ireland's case against Britain, know the proceedings could make international legal history. The UN institution has never before heard a case with the same repercussions. The judges have the power to halt the British nuclear industry in its tracks or they could simply declare the Irish case outside its jurisdiction. Apart from a tuna war case fought against Japan by Australia and New Zealand, the court has mainly dealt with shipping arrests. Now it must consider a case which pits the friendly governments of two neighbouring islands at each other's legal throats. The eloquent flow of parry from both legal teams was heard by the blue-gowned judges seated in a curve around the two teams. Lofty tones from Lord Goldsmith's team were politely ignored by the Irish side. Attorney general Michael McDowell sat anxiously yesterday morning looking ready to jump to his feet with a few sharp words of his own. Instead, he had to fly home and another former attorney general, Eoghan Fitzsimons, summarised the Irish case. His understated, yet meticulous style, contrasted sharply with the British QCs who couldn't resist cloaked barbs "that our Irish friends will appreciate". Yet with the legal arguments for both sides effectively at cross-purposes, lawyers familiar with the court said it was simply impossible to guess how it will eventually rule. If it endorses the Irish claim, it would then establish a three-person tribunal, including an Irish-British representative, that would hear the detailed case against MOX. For now, it must decide if the Irish allegations can justify an injunction that Britain warns will cost hundreds of millions of pounds and many jobs. Although the detailed legal arguments yesterday sent one or two judges quietly into slumberland, the court was packed with Greenpeace lobbyists, BNFL lawyers and large delegations from the British and Irish governments, all keenly aware of the consequences. Irish officials defiantly dismissed British claims that they were unfairly launching a three-pronged attack on MOX at the Hamburg Court, the European Court of Justice and Ospar the Northern Atlantic Maritime body. It was entirely within Ireland's rights to seek legal redress wherever it could to halt the development at Sellafield, they said. Despite the intense Irish interest in the proceedings, the case has been largely ignored in Britain. However, if the verdict on December 3 should back Ireland, that will change dramatically. The implications will be felt right across Europe as campaigners in Germany, France and Austria are all seeking to halt similar nuclear developments. Conor Sweeney in Hamburg © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 4 Train with nuclear fuel reaches Czech nuclear plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Temelin, southern Bohemia, 21 November: A train with fuel for the Temelin nuclear power plant reached without any problems the plant at 1:35 p.m. [1235 gmt] today. The train left the Polish port of Szczecin on Tuesday [20 November] noon. The transport was accompanied with tight safety precautions, including the flight of a police helicopter. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1240 gmt 21 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 5 Poland: Railway official says nuclear fuel transport "environmentally safe" BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Text of report in English by Polish news agency PAP Szczecin, 20 November: A nuclear fuel contingent currently under way from the port of Szczecin to the Temelin nuclear power plant in the Czech Republic is environmentally safe and no threat to human life, officials from the PKP Cargo company in charge of the transport said in a statement to PAP on Tuesday [20 November]. The fuel, stored in twenty 33-tonne containers, arrived in Szczecin this morning where it was reloaded onto a train. It is currently under way across Poland. According to PKP Cargo, all the containers have been attested by the Polish Atomic Agency and the transport is taking place in accord with all international rulings on the forwarding of dangerous cargos. Robert Cyglicki from Szczecin's Green Federation told PAP that the fuel's passage through Poland had been kept secret and that his organization's protests against the transport will be limited to posters in major Polish cities. This is the second batch of nuclear fuel for Temelin to pass through Poland. The first transport took place last April. Source: PAP news agency, Warsaw, in English 1714 gmt 20 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 6 Lithuanian PM says nuclear plant shutdown conditional on EU funding BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas has said that a complete decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant is still subject to talks with the EU. Speaking to Lithuanian radio, he said the government would try to secure separate EU funding for the decommissioning process. Brazauskas believes it should come in addition to the EU's general financial allocations to the country. The following are excerpts from the interview conducted by Ilona Rukiene and broadcast on 20 November; subheadings inserted editorially: Premier dismisses fears of electricity price hikes as premature [Correspondent] The government is gearing up for a revolutionary change in its profit tax policy. Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said this in an interview to Lithuanian radio. Hello, I am Ilona Rukiene, and next comes the interview with the prime minister recorded at the government office. [Correspondent] We have seen media reports recently about an imminent rise in electricity prices. Prime minister, will electricity prices really go up? [Brazauskas] Everybody is afraid of any price increase in any sector. We are currently carrying out a programme to restructure Lithuania's entire energy sector, which is to be completed in December this year. Therefore, all the speculation to the effect that prices will or will not go up has no serious grounds whatsoever. These essential issues have not been discussed yet. Probably many radio listeners will know that there is a commission in Lithuania that is called the State Commission for the Control of Prices and Energy Sector. It is this commission, not the government, that fixes electricity prices. The prices are not fixed by the government's institutions, the industry ministry [Economics Ministry] or Lietuvos Energija [Lithuanian Energy, national power utility]. So, I cannot answer this question today. This will depend on how successful the restructuring turns out to be and on how new economic entities are arranged. I have in mind power stations and high-voltage transmission networks that will operate individually. These will make the segments that will not be privatized. Meanwhile, there will also be two lower-level segments - the Eastern and Western electricity distribution and sale organizations. We will need to analyse all the possible factors in order to determine whether the prices of electricity must go up or whether they should not increase. We will consider possibilities to pay some kind of compensation in the event these prices increase. So, I would not like to terrify our radio listeners today by telling them anything in very specific terms. Of course, the government and people are always averted to any need to increase prices. Complete nuclear plant shutdown is "subject to talks" [Correspondent] In assessing Lithuania's readiness for EU membership, the European Commission has once again reminded us of the need to decommission power unit two of the Ignalina nuclear power plant by the year 2009. Meanwhile, you have said earlier that Lithuania would not be satisfied with the deadline of 2009. Does that mean that the position of the EC has clashed with that of the Lithuanian government? Or will you try to negotiate? [Brazauskas] I have always said and I am still saying that the future of power unit two of the Ignalina nuclear power plant is subject to negotiations. Yes, I did receive an official letter from the [EU enlargement] commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, last week, in which he presents the opinion of the EU Commission. According to the letter, this nuclear power plant, i.e. its power unit two, must be decommissioned in 2009. Well, this is not news to us, but we had not heard it officially before. We should hardly solve everything so quickly, because we have to take a decision by the end of 2002, i.e. by the end of all the membership talks. Therefore, we still have some time and I think we will be able to do a lot of work in that time. At the very least, we will be able to negotiate seriously to make sure that special funds should be allocated towards the decommissioning of this power plant. [We need to make sure] that these funds should not be the same 4 per cent of GDP, which we are going to receive in EU funding until 2006. Given that our GDP is 50bn [litas, 12.5bn dollars], this funding would amount to 2bn litas. Of course, this is a very large amount of money for us. If we had to divert a considerable share of this funding to the nuclear power plant, we would not be able to finance other sectors, e.g. agriculture. So we are putting in every effort [to secure additional funding]. I am pleased to say that the letter [by Guenter Verheugen] states that this [Ignalina nuclear power plant's decommissioning] is a common problem of the European Union. It is good that it has been recognized as the European Union's problem rather than a problem of Lithuania only. I think that, having identified this nuclear power plant as a common problem of entire Europe, it will be much easier for us and we will really be able to receive adequate funding without hurting Lithuania. Lithuania appreciates Sweden's contribution to nuclear safety [Correspondent] You are going to Sweden tomorrow. Sweden is one of the countries that have allocated considerable funding to boost safety at the Ignalina nuclear power plant. Incidentally, Sweden itself has not decommissioned its own nuclear power plant despite Denmark's pressure to do so. Sweden's nuclear power plant is on the border with Denmark. Meanwhile, the Swedes are inclined to make demands that Lithuania should decommission its nuclear power plant as soon as possible. [Brazauskas] Sweden had taken a decision long ago to start decommissioning its nuclear power plants starting from the year 2000. Unfortunately, it has not decommissioned a single power plant. I do not know the reasons why. But, of course, it would be not very tactful of us to interfere in the affairs of another state. Going back to their assistance, their specialists, funding and support have increased the operational safety of the Ignalina nuclear power plant considerably. That was a great contribution... Premier reassures farmers about sale of land to foreigners [Correspondent] Let us go back to Lithuania. Lithuanian farmers are discontent with the constitutional amendment that will allow the sale of agricultural land to foreigners who will come to engage in farming in Lithuania. The reason is that foreign farmers enjoy EU quotas that will allow them to export Lithuanian-grown products. Lithuanian farmers demand the same kind of quotas, because land is worthless without quotas. Is the fear that all of Lithuania's land will be bought up well-founded? As a matter of fact, a large number of countries will join the EU simultaneously, and the supply of land will be higher than demand. What do you think? [Brazauskas] For instance, we have a huge quota for milk, and we have been by far unable to use it. I feel the same will happen this year with winter crop areas, which have decreased considerably. In addition, large areas of arable land in Lithuania are not being used and are overgrown with thistle, forests and shrubbery. [Correspondent] Does Lithuania really need a transition period? [Brazauskas] Lithuania is always free to request a transition period. People do not know well the procedures and safeguards contained in the bills that the Seimas is currently discussing. These bills envisage very strict requirements for [foreign] farmers who will want to acquire land in Lithuania. These people will be required to have appropriate qualifications in farming. They will have to live on the land and not some 1,000 kilometres away... Source: Lithuanian Radio, Vilnius, in Lithuanian 0930 gmt 20 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 7 Editorial Page (Letters To The Editor): Nuclear Emergency Plan Irish Times; Nov 20, 2001 Sir, - Your report on the test of the National Nuclear Emergency Plan appears less than fair (The Irish Times, November 12th). To ridicule a Government Minister may provide entertaining spectator sport, but it is nonetheless true that simple sheltering is the most effective way to reduce radiation doses to those unfortunate enough to be downwind of a serious nuclear accident. This is stressed in all official expert recommendations on short-term measures in the event of a nuclear disaster and was clearly explained in the recent article in your pages by the chief executive of the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. To conclude, as your report did, that the only useful result of the test would be to inform people that Wylfa is the nearest nuclear installation to Ireland is neither accurate nor fair to the individuals and organisations involved in the exercise last Saturday week. It would be reasonable to castigate the Department of Public Enterprise if its advice on nuclear emergencies did not conform to the expert opinions expressed by internationally recognised scientific bodies. However, constant ill-informed criticism, from all sections of the media, of measures designed to reduce radiation doses will inevitably result in a reduction in the efficacy of public response if there is a future nuclear accident likely to affect this country. - Yours, etc., I.R. McAulay, Associate Professor of Physics, Trinity College, Dublin 2. ***************************************************************** 8 Russia to start using floating nuclear waste processing plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 20 November: A plant that will process liquid, low-radioactivity nuclear waste that has been built in the settlement of Bolshoy Kamen near Vladivostok with Japan's financial aid will be made available to Russia tomorrow, the Japanese embassy's information division says in its report. The plant is installed on a barge moored to the jetty of a factory that processes Russian nuclear-powered submarines. The two countries decided in 1993 to build the plant in the framework of cooperation aimed at preventing the dumping by Russia of radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan. Construction started in 1994, and costs totalled nearly 40m dollars. The plant will process 7,000 cubic metres of liquid nuclear waste a year. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1709 gmt 20 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 9 Forty-one tonnes of Bulgarian used nuclear fuel now in storage in Russia BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 20 November: Used nuclear fuel supplied from Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant in early November is now in storage at the Zheleznogorsk mining and chemical plant on Krasnoyarsk Territory, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy told ITAR-TASS today. The planting of 96 used fuel elements from Bulgaria in the storage "was done in the same way as the planting of more than 6,000 used fuel elements from Russian and Ukrainian nuclear power plants within the past 16 years", the press service said. The first used fuel elements were brought to the storage on 31 December 1985. The fuel will be stored for several decades until its radioactivity reduces. Then it will be processed and returned to Bulgaria. The recent delivery of used nuclear fuel from Bulgaria to Russia caused a scandal. Environmentalists claimed that the transportation was illegal and turned Russia into "a nuclear dump". Russian and Bulgarian officials disagreed. The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry said that the approximately 41 tonnes of used nuclear fuel were brought from Bulgaria in eight special containers under the bilateral agreement of 1995. The contract worth 25.7m roubles "fully conforms to the Russian laws, nature conservancy bills included", they said. The containers fully meet the international standards and prevent a discharge of radioactivity even in major accidents. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1957 gmt 20 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 10 Clinton calls for 50-mile nuclear evacuation plan Wednesday, November 21, 2001 The Associated Press BUCHANAN, N.Y. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that New York City should be included in a new evacuation plan that would be implemented if there were a serious release of radiation from the Indian Point nuclear power plants. "I favor a 50-mile evacuation plan," the senator said after a tour of the plants in Buchanan, 35 miles up the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan. Current evacuation plans include only a 10-mile evacuation area. Clinton also said the federal government should keep stockpiles of potassium iodide, which fights illnesses caused by radiation, for residents near nuclear plants. The leveling of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 raised fears that terrorists could produce a nuclear nightmare in metropolitan New York by targeting the two Indian Point plants. Experts say the concrete dome of the plants' containment buildings might not withstand the impact of a jetliner, which could expose the area to lethal radiation. The spent fuel stored at the site could also give off radiation and is even less protected, activists say. Clinton said including New York City in the plan "would be a way of using some of New York City's experience. . . . They have the best emergency response team and plan in the country as we've seen since Sept. 11. So we need to consult with them." About 20 million people live within 50 miles of Indian Point. Copyright © 2001 North Jersey Media Group Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 U.S. Chamber of Commerce: News Yucca Mountain Site Decision Statement by Bruce Josten Executive Vice President U.S. Chamber of Commerce Alliance for Energy & Economic Growth November 15, 2001 The Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth is pleased today to announce a new bipartisan initiative to encourage a timely, favorable decision by the Bush Administration with regard to the pending Yucca Mountain site recommendation decision for the establishment of a federal repository for used nuclear fuel and defense waste materials. We are especially pleased that this initiative will be led by two extremely qualified and capable co-chairs, former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John Sununu -- and former Congresswoman and Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. The Alliance is the broadest and deepest energy alliance ever assembled. It is a diversified coalition of more than 1,200 members that develop, deliver and consume energy from all sources. Our goal is to build a national consensus for a comprehensive U.S. energy strategy that balances supply and demand. We are striving to achieve this without compromising environmental safeguards while fueling America’s dynamic economy and quality of life. In addition to measures such as energy efficiency and conservation, energy assistance to low-income households and investment in new energy technologies, one of the principal focuses of the Alliance is assuring adequate and secure energy supplies and generation. Nuclear energy –which provides electricity to one of every five homes and businesses in the United States – is obviously a key element of any U.S. energy strategy. Nuclear energy’s contribution and potential have been impeded by policy and programmatic failures to deliver a path forward for the government’s obligation for the management of used nuclear fuel at a centralized underground government site. The Alliance supports a positive determination by the Bush Administration with respect to the suitability of Yucca Mountain and is strongly behind the initiative, which is being announced today by Governor Sununu and Congresswoman Ferraro, to encourage the Secretary and the President to move this process forward expeditiously. Copyright © 2001 U.S. Chamber of Commerce ***************************************************************** 12 Yucca Mountain Site Decision: Statement by Hon. John H. Sununu Alliance for Energy & Economic Growth November 15, 2001 In the next 60 to 90 days, the Secretary of Energy and the President have a unique opportunity to take a critical step forward to meet our generation’s responsibility for the stewardship of used nuclear fuel and defense waste. At the same time, they have a propitious opportunity to restore confidence in the compact that the federal government made twenty years ago with American taxpayers and electric utility customers for the management of these materials. And they can take concrete action to enhance U.S. energy and national security, as well as environmental progress and energy independence. President Bush and Secretary Spencer Abraham can achieve this confluence of national interests by making a favorable site determination with regard to the suitability of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the establishment of a centralized underground federal repository for used nuclear fuel and defense waste. Given the importance of this decision, Geraldine Ferraro and I are announcing today that we are co-chairing a bipartisan initiative under the auspices of the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth to encourage the Secretary to use his statutory authority to recommend Yucca Mountain to the President as the site suitable for the location, construction and operation of a central repository. Under the process laid out in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, if the President approves the recommendation, the Yucca Mountain site will move to the next phase, which is a comprehensive multi-year licensing review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). After decades of scientific investigation, almost $20 billion of electric ratepayer investment, 20 years of site characterization and bipartisan work by four Presidents and eight Secretaries of Energy, it is time to move this process and this trust with the American people forward. It is time for an expeditious, swift decision. The case for a timely, expeditious decision on Yucca Mountain’s suitability for a federal repository is clear and convincing. Suitability of Yucca Mountain It is abundantly clear that after 20 years and nearly $7.0 billion of site suitability and scientific investigation there is an adequate basis for determining that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for a permanent repository subject to NRC licensing. In fact, a recent study by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said, “it is probably fair to say that it [Yucca Mountain] has the most extensively studied geology of any place on Earth.” In short, no scientific showstoppers – which might delay a site recommendation -- have emerged with respect to Yucca Mountain’s qualification for submission of a final construction licensing application to the NRC. Taxpayer & Electric Ratepayer Investment Based on National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners estimates, approximately $20 billion has been invested by U.S. electric utility customers under the provisions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. When you add taxpayer investment in Yucca Mountain for defense materials and investments by U.S. utility in spent fuel storage and readiness, the investment in the Yucca Mountain paradigm is considerably more. Taxpayers and ratepayers have already seen a 12-year delay in their compact with the government and little tangible return for their investment. The cost of further delay on top of this stranded investment would be enormous and an unnecessary waste of taxpayer and ratepayer funds. Growing urgency Even before September 11th, there was a growing sense of urgency with respect to the need to consolidate nuclear used fuel and defense materials at an underground federal repository on an expeditious basis. There are already 16 plants – stretching from coast-to-coast – that are – in words of one state official – facing the possibility of becoming “Yucca Mountain without the Mountain.” One hundred and three nuclear energy plants are both continuing to send a check to the government and/or store used nuclear fuel at their sites at increased expense -- notwithstanding the fact that the federal government was obligated to begin accepting this material three years ago. Another 10 states are storing the legacy of Cold War defense waste. September 11th has heightened the need to move forward. The issue is not safety; it is security. Logic suggests that the contraction of used fuel from operating plants to a federal repository at Yucca Mountain and eliminating stand-alone fuel storage at shutdown plants in an orderly fashion is prudent. Energy & Economic Security Compounding these national security concerns is the day-to-day importance of nuclear energy generation, which provides 20 percent of our nation’s electricity. Nuclear energy has also contributed enormously to environmental progress, particularly in the last ten years as a key source of clean air electricity generation. This contribution and its potential to avoid even more air emissions will continue to be hamstrung without the emergence of a central federal repository at Yucca Mountain. Bipartisan Support These strong technical, economic, national security, energy and environmental considerations in support of moving forward with a decision on Yucca Mountain have been manifested in unprecedented bipartisan support for Yucca Mountain. On several occasions, the U.S. House and Senate have voted – by majorities of up to two-thirds – to accelerate progress on Yucca Mountain. Numerous governors and state officials have - time and time again – expressed their public support for the need for Yucca Mountain and its suitability as a permanent repository. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Significant progress was made during the Clinton Administration toward characterizing Yucca Mountain. Critical actions were taken during the Clinton Administration, which have brought us to this point where we know that the scientific investigation supports the suitability of Yucca Mountain for licensing a repository. It is time now for the Bush Administration to carry this bipartisan progress forward by taking the key step of determining that Yucca Mountain is suitable for licensing and development as a national repository for used nuclear fuel and defense waste. It is time for our generation to carry-out the responsibility that the Congress entrusted to it 20-years ago. Scientific assessments and site characterization support it. Taxpayer and electric ratepayer investment warrant it. National security, energy security and environmental progress demand it. Copyright © 2001 U.S. Chamber of Commerce ***************************************************************** 13 NRC to Hold Regulatory Conference With Energy Northwest Region IV -- 2001- 50 - UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 No. IV-01-050 November 21, 2001 CONTACT: Breck Henderson Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 e-mail: bwh@nrc.gov [bwh@nrc.gov] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a regulatory conference with officials of Energy Northwest, operator of the Columbia Generating Station nuclear power plant near Richland, Wash., on Monday, November 26. Conferees will discuss a "yellow" inspection finding involving Energy Northwest's emergency preparedness plan. The meeting, which is open to public observation, will begin at 8:30 a.m. in NRC Region IV offices in Arlington, Texas. NRC officials will be available after the meeting to answer questions. The NRC will discuss with Energy Northwest an inspection finding with a preliminary determination of "yellow," meaning it may have substantial safety significance. The finding was identified in an inspection from July 23 to September 24 and involves the apparent failure to include several private businesses operating on the property at Columbia Generating Station in site emergency plans. This oversight could have prevented people working at these businesses from being notified promptly, included in protective actions or provided with radiological monitoring in the event of a plant accident releasing radioactive material. The inspection finding also may be a violation of NRC safety requirements. The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a color coded significance determination process which classifies regulatory findings as being in one of four color categories: green, white, yellow, or red in increasing order of regulatory safety significance. ***************************************************************** 14 NRC Staff to Meet With Nuclear Management Co. Nov. 27 To Discuss Safety Significance of Diesel Problem at Minnesota Plant Region III -- 2001 - 054 -- UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532 No. III-01-054 November 21, 2001 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630)829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov [rjs2@nrc.gov] Pam Alloway-Mueller (630)829-9662/e-mail: pla@nrc.gov [pla@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet November 27 in Lisle, Illinois, with Nuclear Management Company officials to discuss the safety significance of NRC inspection findings concerning damage to an emergency diesel generator during testing in April at the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Station. The two-reactor facility is located near Red Wing, Minnesota. The meeting, called a Regulatory Conference, will be at 1 p.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room of the NRC's Region III Office, 801 Warrenville Road, in Lisle. The meeting is open to public observation. Members of the NRC staff will be available following the meeting to answer questions from the public and the news media. The NRC staff has preliminarily evaluated the findings as being "white" - having low to moderate safety significance. The agency uses a four-color scale to evaluate inspection findings: green, white, yellow, and red in order of increasing safety significance. During a test of a Unit 2 emergency diesel generator on April 9, the plant staff observed unexpected operating conditions and shut the diesel down. Subsequently, the plant staff determined that damage to diesel components had occurred as a result of an incompatibility of the fuel oil and the lubricating oil used in the diesel. When the company decided that the problem could also affect the second Unit 2 diesel generator, the plant was shut down on May 9 to repair the two diesel generators. Unit 1 has two diesel generators of a different design and was not affected. The emergency diesel generators are designed to supply electrical power to plant safety systems in the event of a loss of normal electrical power sources. An NRC inspection in May found that the plant's corrective action program had failed to properly identify and resolve previous indications of the oil compatibility issue. The purpose of a regulatory conference is to discuss the concern about a potential problem and its causes, the proposed safety significance categorization, and the apparent violation. The licensee -- in this case the Nuclear Management Company -- is provided with an opportunity to clarify aspects of the NRC inspection report, as necessary, and to outline its proposed corrective action. The NRC staff will later make a final determination of the significance. A "white" finding can lead to additional inspections or meetings with the company. ***************************************************************** 15 France Deploys Missiles at Key Site Las Vegas SUN November 20, 2001 PARIS (AP) - The French military has increased the number of surface-to-air missiles stationed near a key nuclear processing site in western France, a precaution against airborne suicide attacks following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, an Air Force official said. The new installment of anti-aircraft missile defense systems near La Hague - the site of Europe's largest nuclear waste reprocessing plant - is intended to bolster missiles already moved into place near the site last month. An Air Force official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the additional deployment was part of the normal development of the defense plan for the region. The official added that there had been no threat against France and the measures were purely precautionary. The missiles were placed about a mile from the plant, a top regional official said. In October, the Defense Ministry said that radar systems capable of detecting low-flying planes and surface-to-air missiles had been positioned at La Hague and at a military base for nuclear submarines at Ile Longue, off the Brittany coast in northwest France. France has been bolstering defense in the northwest since the Sept. 11 attacks, because many of the country's air bases are located in the south. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 Few cities donate to fight nuclear waste dump RGJ.com - By Tim Anderson Reno Gazette-Journal Wednesday November 21st, 2001 Only a half dozen Nevada governments have responded to Gov. Kenny Guinn’s September call for money to prevent nuclear waste from being buried at Yucca Mountain. But Bob Loux, director of the state’s Agency for Nuclear Projects, said Tuesday he’s not discouraged. “Even though we haven’t seen a groundswell of support, it’s early in the process. And we recognize these are difficult economic times for local governments. Still, we’re hoping some others will come through with assistance,’’ Loux said. A little more than $5 million has been raised for the Nevada Protection Fund, including $4 million appropriated by the Nevada Legislature earlier this year. Clark County followed up with a $1 million contribution, and one other county and four cities have provided support. Nevada has 17 counties and 18 incorporated cities. The biggest contribution, $50,000, from a city in Nevada came from Mesquite. Mineral County and the cities of Sparks and Lovelock each have given $1,000. And the city of Wells came up with $1,867 -- or a dollar for each resident of the Elko County community. Douglas County officials discussed the matter recently and opted to defer action. Although indicating they believe the issue is one for the state to handle, Douglas commissioners are expected to officially take action later this year. Commission Chair Bernie Curtis said Tuesday he got additional information from the state about program goals. Loux said he wants the business community to contribute. All Nevada’s top political leaders solidly oppose the Department of Energy’s consideration of Yucca Mountain as the national site for a high-level nuclear waste repository. They contend the federal agency has mismanaged the program and hasn’t provided a fair and objective groundwork for debate. In announcing the establishment of the defense fund in January, Guinn called the proposed site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas “the single greatest threat to the health and safety of the people of this state.’’ It is the only site under study, and many Nevadans have expressed concerns about the transport of nuclear waste to the site, and how it will be managed once it gets there. The special state fund was created to mount legal challenges to the proposed federal action and to create a public awareness campaign to make residents of other states aware of the risks and impacts from the transportation of spent nuclear fuel. Loux said the State Board of Examiners Tuesday approved the nuclear projects office’s recommendation to hire Las Vegas-based Brown and Partners for the public relations work. The contract calls for spending an amount not to exceed $1 million over a two-year period. Earlier, state officials awarded a two-year, $2.5 million contract to Egan &Associates law firm in McLean, Va. Also, $300,000 has been given to Rossman &Associates of San Francisco to handle environmental aspects. Some Nevada residents believe more than enough has been done to ensure safety at the state, and point to the economic benefits and research grants that would be generated. © Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 17 Anti-Radiation Pills, Information, FAQ Available On Net URLwire announces only top web launches and web events. I post a selection of them here which are designed for online headline pointer services to index and cover via headline link. Subscribe to the the advance Email version by sending me a brief profile of the types of sites you review and write about. ( [ericward@urlwire.com] ) URLwire for Tuesday, November 20, 2001 While various government agencies continue a 20 year long debate over funding the stockpiling of Potassium Iodide (KI) in case of nuclear accidents, war, and now even terrorism, many Americans aren't waiting any longer. At [http://www.ki4u.com] , since 1999, they have been learning all about these FDA approved non-prescription anti-radiation pills while discovering the sources to also buy them on the Internet. [http://www.ki4u.com] Health experts estimate that the greatest health concerns affecting the largest number of people from a nuclear accident, or nuclear bomb explosion(s) anywhere in the world, will likely be from the release of radioactive iodine then carried downwind. As Chernobyl proved, and health physicists now agree, the greatest health concerns affecting the largest number of people from a nuclear accident or explosion are likely to be from radioactive iodine readily carried by the winds many miles downwind from the site of a nuclear 'event'. (Thyroid cancer attributable to Chernobyl has been documented up to 500 km away.) The author of the FAQ at [http://www.ki4u.com] , Shane Connor, says "as a result, governments world-wide have been stockpiling potassium iodide. Amongst them are Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Sweden, and Russia, but, amazingly, not the U.S. However, American citizens aren't waiting anymore; they are discovering at www.ki4u.com where to buy it on their own". (Currently over 3,500 unique visitors daily primarily via word-of-mouth alone.) "With news of the potential for nuclear terrorism, and continuing reports of the growing numbers of thyroid cancers amongst unprotected Chernobyl victims, Americans are increasingly seeking out their own sources for these proven radiation protection medicines," says Connor. "Sadly, though, this is an over-the-counter drug that is currently on very few counters here in the U.S." Connors comprehensive and documented "Potassium Iodide Anti-Radiation Pill FAQ," which draws extensively from government agencies, medical research and qualified experts, fully answers: - What Is Potassium Iodide (KI)? - How Does Potassium Iodide Provide Anti-Radiation Protection? - Is This The Magic Anti-Radiation Pill? - Dosage and Safety Regarding Potassium Iodide Usage? - Is Iodized Salt, Kelp, tincture of iodine or other Iodine Sources Effective? - Is the Government Ready with Emergency Stocks of Potassium Iodide? - Where are the sources for KI Over-The-Counter? - What About Potassium Iodate (KIO3)? - How Much Personally Stocked KI is Enough? - When & For How Long Should I Take KI? Connor says, "Visitors to the FAQ come looking for, and are finding, reliable anti-radiation pill information and resources to protect their families from future nuclear emergencies. He continues, "The FAQ visitors also discover that, after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, all available potassium iodide supplies disappeared for months, almost overnight. They are wanting to put some aside today for their families and an uncertain future." Besides families, he counts among his customers today; state and county emergency management agencies, DoD contractors, numerous doctors and, finally, some pharmacies and health food stores that will soon begin stocking these products. The author of the FAQ at [http://www.ki4u.com] , Shane Connor from South Texas, has been a life-long advocate of family preparedness. He equates stocking away some anti-radiation pills to the Life and medical insurance his Dad, at 75, still sells. "Just like buying insurance we hope our families will never need, we also fervently hope and pray these products will get a chance to collect much dust upon all our shelves for many years." For more information visit the Potassium Iodide Anti-Radiation Pill FAQ at [http://www.ki4u.com] . ***************************************************************** 18 LV chamber cuts ties to U.S. group Las Vegas SUN November 20, 2001 By Diana Sahagun In the high-stakes fight to keep nuclear waste from being transported to Nevada, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has severed its ties with its national organization, which is backing a repository at Yucca Mountain. The move could hurt the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as the city's chamber is the third largest in the nation. After last week's decision by the U.S. chamber to back the repository, other local chambers, including Henderson's, have threatened to yank their memberships. On Monday Las Vegas Chamber President Pat Shalmy sent a letter to the national president, severing the group's ties, said Kami Dempsey, government affairs director. "The primary reason is due to the fact that on such an important issue facing our economy and our future, the fact that they didn't even call their members ... We're really disgruntled by that," she said. The local chamber's 25-member board in January adopted a resolution opposing the storage of high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The resolution was the organization's first formal stance against the repository. Dempsey said the national organization failed to get an opinion from local members before making its announcement of support and has yet to contact the organization. "We didn't want to be part of an organization that doesn't seek feedback from those who pay their dues," she said. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 State awards contract in grass-roots Yucca fight Las Vegas SUN November 21, 2001 Campaign will warn nation of nuke waste transportation By Cy Ryan < [cy@lasvegassun.com] > SUN CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- A $1 million contract has been awarded to a Las Vegas public relations firm to conduct a grass-roots effort to pressure U.S. senators in other states to vote against locating a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The state Board of Examiners approved the two-year contract for Brown &Partners to design and carry out a national public information program to inform residents of other states regarding the dangers of transporting nuclear waste through their communities and cities. This effort is aimed in part at offsetting an initiative by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that has hired former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu and former New York congresswoman and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro to push for selection of Yucca Mountain. Sununu is a Republican and Ferraro is a Democrat. Mark Brown, chief executive officer of Brown &Partners, said it will look at some of the key transportation states and match them with senators who are "undecided or flexible" on this issue. There will be a combination of a media and a grass-roots campaign in those states, Brown said. Attempts will be made to talk with influential people -- such as leaders in the chambers of commerce, banks and other industries -- to alert them to the potential dangers of truck or rail shipments through their areas. The state Office for Nuclear Projects says there may be 143,000 shipments hauling 77,000 tons of nuclear waste through hundreds of major cities and thousands of communities across the nation en route to Yucca Mountain. "We believe most of them are not aware of the number of hazardous waste shipments, both by truck and by rail, that will be coming through their communities," Brown said. The goal is to get people in these states to call their senators and urge them not to support Yucca Mountain. The campaign is aimed at swaying votes in the Senate. Brown, a former vice president for Station Casinos, conducted an anonymous campaign to defeat incumbent Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone. Brown is fighting in the courts an attempt by the secretary of state's office to fine him $5,000 for allegedly violating election law. Rose McKinney James is president of Brown &Partners and a recognized expert in alternative energy. McKinney, a Democrat, lost to Republican Lorraine Hunt for lieutenant governor in 1998. Brian McKay, chairman of the state Commission on Nuclear Projects, said the Brown firm was selected from a field of three applicants, including the Creative Group and F/F/E Associates, both of Las Vegas. Gov. Kenny Guinn, chairman of the Board of Examiners, said, "Our mission during the course of this national outreach effort is to educate Americans on the harsh realities of transporting nuclear waste and give them the opportunity to challenge transportation of this dangerous material to protect future generations." The 2001 Legislature, at Guinn's request, set aside $4 million to help conduct a national fight against selection of the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation's nuclear waste repository. The $1 million contract will be paid from that fund. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 20 Bankruptcy threatens radioactive cleanup NewsOK.com 2001-11-21 By Lisa Tatum The Oklahoman MUSKOGEE -- Radioactive cleanup plans ordered by the government nearly 10 years ago at a Muskogee metal products plant site are uncertain after an announcement that the responsible company plans to file for bankruptcy protection next month. Fansteel Inc. announced this week it has canceled plans for a processing plant that would have cleaned up radioactive materials from the site while enabling the company to make money by extracting commercially valuable materials from the radioactive soil. While 75 acres of the 110-acre plant northeast of Muskogee are contaminated with uranium and thorium, officials say the contamination doesn't pose any immediate health threats. The company hoped to fund the cleanup by selling materials such as tantalum. Operational problems and a declining market for tantalum have rendered the plant unprofitable, Fansteel said. The Chicago-based company, which makes metal components and tungsten carbide products, said it has failed to get financing needed to keep the business operating, and will likely file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by Dec. 15. A third-quarter loss of $80.4 million reflects charges and reserves relating to the Muskogee processing plant, the company said in a prepared statement. The company's president did not return calls Tuesday. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said constructing a processing plant was one of several plans Fansteel has proposed since it was identified in 1992 as one of 50 sites nationally having serious radioactive contamination. Initially, the company planned to demolish the plant and ship the contaminated dirt to approved disposal sites. That proved to be an expensive option, said Bob Evans, Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector. Meanwhile, contamination at the site remains much the same as it was in 1989, when the company shut down its Muskogee operations. © 2001, Produced by NewsOK ***************************************************************** 21 Nuke firms behind U.S. Chamber's pro-Yucca campaign Las Vegas SUN November 21, 2001 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- A national alliance of energy companies that includes nuclear utilities led the effort to craft the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's lobbying campaign to promote Yucca Mountain. The U.S. Chamber manages the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, but officials are releasing few behind-the-scenes details about how the lobbying initiative was developed -- or specifically who developed it. The campaign was announced last week at a Washington press conference. What's clear is that the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the federal plan to ship 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, was not contacted for input. The local chamber withdrew its U.S. Chamber membership over the issue Monday. "There are those times when good organizations disagree on policy, and this is one of those times," said J.P. Moery, a U.S. Chamber vice president. "Obviously we wish they had not withdrawn their membership over a single issue." The Yucca Mountain plan is backed by nuclear power companies, but Nevada officials oppose it. Nuclear power companies have long demanded that the Department of Energy, which manages the proposed Yucca project, honor a legal commitment to haul their high-level waste to a national dump. The Yucca plan has not been approved by Congress, the president or Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The U.S. Chamber and energy alliance on Thursday launched the campaign led by high-profile figureheads Geraldine Ferraro and John Sununu to urge final approvals of the Yucca plan. Leaders of the energy alliance developed the strategy, Moery said. The alliance is a group of 1,200 members including the nation's top nuclear lobby group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and nuclear power companies including the Southern Co., Duke Energy and Exelon Corp. U.S. Chamber officials said details were not available about how the initiative was developed but said the Las Vegas Chamber was not contacted about it. Energy alliance leader and U.S. Chamber vice president Bruce Josten has not been available for comment this week, U.S. Chamber officials said. Like the Las Vegas group, local Chamber of Commerce chapters in cities on nuclear waste transportation routes had no input in developing the U.S. Chamber strategy. But unlike the Las Vegas chamber, other chapters contacted by the Sun have limited interest in the issue. They don't mind that their parent group is promoting a plan to ship high-level waste to Nevada through their cities, several chamber leaders said. The Gary, Ind., Chamber of Commerce has no formal position on the federal plan to ship waste through town bound for permanent burial at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "From what I have read and hear, they are providing for safe (waste transportation)," Gary Chamber board chairman Ross Amundson said. "How safe is a subject of some scrutiny. Apparently the U.S. Chamber thinks it's safe." No pro-Yucca nuclear utilities belong to the Gary chamber, but Indiana relies on nuclear-generated electricity from neighboring states, Amundson said. He believes the nation needs a national nuclear waste repository and supports the Yucca plan. "I support the U.S. Chamber," Amundson added. The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce does not have much regular contact with the U.S. Chamber, although it is a member of the parent group, president and CEO Lou Burgher said. "If they had called me, I certainly would have been supportive of the (Yucca) project," Burgher said. "We've always got the problem of not-in-my-backyard. It's got to go somewhere." Nearly 8,000 casks could be shipped near Omaha, according to an estimate by the anti-Yucca Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. "To the best of my knowledge, (waste shipping) goes on now, and we haven't had any problems," Burgher said. "I'm more concerned about anhydrous ammonia being spilled than I am about nuclear waste shipments." The St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association has no formal position on Yucca, even though 4,800 casks of nuclear waste in the coming years could be transported on trucks and trains near St. Louis, according to Nevada estimates. "It just hasn't risen to a level of taking a formal position," said Tom Irwin, a St. Louis chamber vice president. The chamber's president and CEO Dick Fleming is not familiar with the details of the Yucca plan, Irwin said. A spokeswoman for the Missouri state chapter of the Chamber of Commerce said the chapter's officers were not familiar with the Yucca project or the new U.S. Chamber initiative. The U.S. Chamber has had a pro-Yucca position for about 12 years, Moery said. The new lobbying campaign is still being developed, U.S. Chamber spokeswoman Linda Rozett said. The chamber enlisted former Democratic vice presidential candidate Ferraro and former President George Bush chief-of-staff Sununu to lead the effort. Rozett would not say if Ferraro and Sununu were being paid. She would not say how they were chosen. Ferraro, of New York, and Sununu, of New Hampshire, hail from states with nuclear power plants. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 22 New nuclear-fuel shipment reaches Poland en route to Czech Republic's Temelin plant - 11/21/2001 - ENN.com Wednesday, November 21, 2001 By Andrzej Stylinski, Associated Press WARSAW, Poland — A shipment of uranium fuel bound for a Czech plant that is a source of friction with nuclear-free Austria was transferred to a train Tuesday in the Polish port of Szczecin, a city official said. It is believed to be the second shipment of fuel from the United States to be transported across Poland to the new Temelin plant, 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of the Austrian border. A similar shipment last April drew protests from Polish environmentalists. It was disclosed only after it was under way, and the route across Poland was kept secret. Poland has no nuclear power plants. Szczecin authorities were informed of the current shipment by the governor of Zachodniopomorskie province in northwestern Poland, said Sylwia Kalwaryjska, a spokeswoman for the city. Witold Lada, deputy president of the Polish Atomic Agency, said the fuel rods were packed in special containers and posed no environmental threat. The shipment was expected to leave Poland by late Wednesday, traveling with special police protection. Lada said its route wouldn't be disclosed. The state rail company, PKP, confirmed in a statement that it was transporting a shipment of 20 containers, weighing about 33 tons. The Temelin plant is a Soviet-type facility upgraded with Western technology. Testing started last year, but the plant has been shut down several times because of technical problems. It currently is undergoing a weeklong inspection under the direction of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A spokesman for the Czech energy concern CEZ, Ladislav Kriz, said any information on a possible shipment of nuclear rods for Temelin would be classified. He acknowledged, however, that any such shipment would be coming from the United States. The environmental group Greenpeace said Tuesday that the shipment left the port of Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2 aboard the vessel Capricorn, the Austria News Agency reported. Copyright 2001, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 23 U.S. Chamber, Energy Alliance Urge Action to Open a Permanent Nuclear Waste Site The U.S. Chamber - one of the founding members of the Alliance for Energy & Economic Growth – announced a bipartisan initiative to encourage the Bush administration and the Congress to approve a permanent, federal waste site for used fuel from nuclear power plants and from the Defense Department at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The federal government is required to locate, build and operate a nuclear waste site - under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 - but is years behind schedule, despite repeated favorable findings regarding a potential site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. During a press briefing with John H. Sununu, chief of staff to former President Bush, and Geraldine Ferraro, former vice presidential candidate, the Alliance urged lawmakers and President Bush to officially select Yucca Mountain as a permanent site and begin work on an underground storage facility. Statements: Bruce Josten, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hon. John H. Sununu Hon. Geraldine Ferraro Copyright © 2001 U.S. Chamber of Commerce ***************************************************************** 24 IAEA Daily Press Review Date 2001-11-21 Number 222 1. IAEA Die Welt interview with IAEA DG calling for strengthening of security measures at all nuclear facilities. US Energy Secretary next week to attend official opening of oil export pipeline from Caspian Sea and be present at upcoming Agency's Board of Governors. Media Resources: (DW; R - 21/11) IAEA; Russian Federation; United States of America 2. Terrorism Article: "Terrorism Threat Draws New Line on What Information is Public." Documents found in Afghanistan said to prove Osama bin Laden intended to build nuclear weapon may have been spoof: webmaster who'd viewed news footage of document recognized it as a 1979 parody. US Federal Government should assume responsibility for protecting country's NPPs to safeguard them from terrorist attack, group of Democratic members of Congress suggest. French air force says it stepped up defence at country's international nuclear reprocessing plant, placing a third battery of ground-to-air missiles near site at La Hague. Report: "Secret Soviet Atomic Cities Fuel Nuclear Nightmares." Media Resources: (HT; NW; NYT; R; SCO - 19/11) Afghanistan; France; Russian Federation; United States of America 3. Nuclear power It is reported that KEDO has completed 15 per cent of DPRK reactor project. More on Temelin NPP: plant operators finish assembly of turbine and are checking all equipment before relaunch and planned tests; Czech/Austrian dispute continues. First unit of Russian-built Lianyongang NPP in China to be commissioned in 2004. Reopening of Armenian NPP, scheduled for November 5, postponed indefinitely due to financial and technical problems. Media Resources: (BBC; INT; R - 20/11) Armenia; Austria; China; Czech Republic; Dem. P.R. of Korea; KEDO; Russian Federation 4. Nuclear safety IAEA confirms it will send Operational Safety Review Team (Osart) to Philippsburg-2 in light of safety culture problems this fall. Media Resources: (NW - 22/11) Germany; IAEA 5. Radwaste, fuel Nuclear fuel shipment currently under way from port of Szczecin to Temelin NPP is environmentally safe and poses no threat to human life, according to Polish railway officials. Media Resources: (BBC - 21/11) Czech Republic; Poland 6. Miscellaneous Norwegian environmentalists have no doubts about safety of nuclear reactor on Russian submarine "Kursk." Man faces charges on illegal nuclear exports to Israel. Media Resources: (G; INT - 20/11) Israel; Norway; Russian Federation; United States of America ***************************************************************** 25 Irish case on MOX plant part of a 'wider war' on Sellafield ireland.com - The Irish Times - OPINION Wednesday, November 21, 2001 The Threat from Sellafield Any move by the British Government to approve the start-up of a new Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX)nuclear processing plant at Sellafield, before legal rights of redress have been exhausted by our Government, would be tantamount to an unfriendly act. As things stand, the British authorities appear to be hell-bent on commissioning the plant by December 20th in spite of objections by a range of European countries - including Ireland - on grounds of health, safety, pollution and environmental protection. For the past two days, a legal team led by the Attorney General, Mr McDowell, has attempted to prevent the facility from opening and has argued that Irish people had the right not to be subjected to further radioactive pollution. The team sought a temporary injunction from the United Nations International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, in Hamburg, pending a full hearing of the case. All 21 judges will now decide, within weeks, on the merits of the Irish application, subject to a full hearing of the case in February or March. If an injunction is granted, it will add muscle to the Irish case that the 460m nuclear reprocessing facility at Sellafield, in Cumbria, should be abandoned. Five Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - have been seeking the closure of Sellafield for the past three years under the separate, OSPAR Convention, which requires all 15 member-states, including Britain, to take all possible steps to prevent and eliminate marine pollution. At the same time, the Minister of State with responsibility for nuclear matters, Mr Joe Jacob, asked the British Government to postpone commissioning of the MOX plant pending the outcome of the OSPAR arbitration and believed he had received a commitment to that effect. Because of that, a British announcement in October that the plant would open in December caused fury in Government circles. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, raised the matter directly with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair. He described Sellafield and the new MOX plant as the single most serious threat to Ireland's environment. The Government was "implacably opposed" to the decision to proceed with the plant. And he said the heightened threat from international terrorism meant that existing risks were unacceptably high at the plant while nuclear fuels would have to be transported through the Irish Sea. In recent months, the British Prime Minister has spoken eloquently about how self-interest and mutual interests are inextricably woven together on the international stage. But his government has not put that concept into effect. Indeed, according to Mr McDowell, the British government is "essentially uninterested in our views and interests"; is unwilling to take them into account and sees no need for co-operation. It would be a serious mistake for the British to underestimate the depth of public concern that exists on this side of the Irish Sea in relation to Sellafield. More than any other issue, it could poison Irish/British relations that have gradually improved in recent years. International conventions and treaties should take precedence over short-term self-interest. editor@irish-times.ie [editor@irish-times.ie] [http://www.ireland.com ***************************************************************** 26 Maine Yankee lowers heat over fuelpool fire issue Vol. 126-No. 47 Greg Foster A Maine Yankee nuclear engineer last week challenged a statement about the prospects of a zirconium fire in the spent fuel pool from a partial or full draining of the water. As far as he is concerned, it would not happen. Responding to a question from David Hall of West Bath, John McCann argued that the spent fuel currently stored in the fuel pool is too old for any fire to occur. The youngest was removed from the reactor five years ago. "We disagree on the extent of the hazard," McCann said. "We're confident and the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) is confident it could not happen." An NRC report, updated early this year, stated that it was generally possible to have a fire if the water drained partially because of the lack of sufficient space for the air to circulate. However, the report was not specific about sites or the age of the fuel, Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes said. Hall mentioned the statements of Dr. Gordon Thompson, a nuclear physicist and waste fuel expert for the Institute of Resource and Security Studies in Cambridge, Mass., at last week's panel discussion, which the Friends of the Coast nuclear activist group raised about the hazards of spent fuel pools. Thompson mentioned the NRC update in his remarks as support for his argument. The NRC report states that the zirconium jacket which holds the nuclear fuel pellets can burn if super heated beyond a certain temperature. McCann said that a partial draining would cause steam from the partial exposure of the 1432 spent fuel rod assemblies, which can transfer heat. "The heat transfer capacity of steam is many times more than air," he said. Hall, who has been a firemen, agreed. However, the NRC report fails to take that fact into consideration, McCann said. He estimated the spent fuel rods would initially after a drain down have as much heat as a hair dryer could give and that it would take 10 to 12 hours before it is heated up. In the meantime, he believes the company would have time to resupply water into the pool. During the first quarter of 2002, Maine Yankee will begin the task of transferring the spent fuel from the fuel pool to the 60 dry casks at the recently completed storage installation on site, according to Howes. Reporting on the status of the decommissioning work, James Garvey said the removal of the greater than class C nuclear waste started the week before. The waste will first go into four separate transportable, airtight steel canisters, which in turn will go into the steel-line concrete casks, sometimes called silos because of their cylindrical shape. The last of the total 64 casks were finished last week, according to Garvey. Garvey said decommissioning at Maine Yankee is now about 56 percent complete and that few hours have been lost due to injuries. He credited the various contractors, such as Manafort, Inc. for the success of the operations so far. Much of the work that remains at Maine Yankee also entails cleanup of contamination and now will also include the low water shoreline along Bailey Cove. Paula Craighead, state nuclear advisor, announced that a settlement in the state case on the License Termination Plan as it relates to the low water mark has been reached. "Maine law says that the low water mark to the shore is part of the property of the landowner," Craighead said. "Maine Yankee should make sure it meets standards of cleanup there." Herbert Scribner spoke about Maine Yankee's comprehensive approach to National Resource Protection Act permitting related to its end use vision of the site. He said the approach allows the decommissioning team to develop an end-use focus with input from other environmental agency stakeholders. In support of the approach, Scribner said it allows for option analysis by all parties, provides a technical, social, and environmental basis for decision making, and provides the community with facts and information on the project, including a public comment process. Parts of the property included in the company's NRPA permit application will be the information center, fire pond, storm drain outfalls, storm drains, roads and utilities, Bailey farm house, Foxbird Island pipes, intertidal structures and pipes, buried pipes in the mud flats, diffuser pipes and the forebay. There are several considerations in the option analysis he enumerated, such as water quality, fish habitat; worming, lobstering, and clamming activities; sturgeon and salmon habitat disturbance, potential of a navigational hazard from pipe disturbance by natural or accidental incidents, and impact of construction on recreational uses of the Back River estuary. Peacock addressed the cleanup of various sites, such as the Foxbird Island pipe. The options for that are to install gates, demolish structures and excavate the pipe, and fill, grade and plant vegetation. The preferred option is to install gates, demolish the structures to minus three feet, fill, regrade and plant vegetation. Excavation of the pipe would create a considerable disturbance of the environment, and the area is radiologically and chemically clean. As for the intertidal structures and pipes, there is the possibility of removing the pipes using cofferdam, demolition of structures and regrade and vegetate as necessary. The preferred option for that is to leave the pipes, install a permanent gate, place riprap on the pipe to secure it and demolition of the structures. "Excavation would be very extensive and would have a short term impact on the worming," Peacock said. The preferred option for the diffuser pipes is to leave the pipes with no added ballast. For the forebay, the preference is to cut the dikes to plus 10 feet and fill and vegetate as opposed to total removal of the dikes and other options. There is an added concern about the forebay concerning the high concentration of the presence of nuclides, according to Partridge. An estimated 19 pico curies is present, much higher than the acceptable three pico curies requiring the challenge of a cleanup. The nuclides there are primarily cesium 137 and cobalt 60. Peacock believes the cleanup may require silt removal in order to reduce the radioligical contamination of the area where the waste water from the plant has been dumped during plant operation. In the absence of Mike Meisner, chief nuclear officer, Howes went over statements Meisner made at the state hearing last week concerning Maine Yankee's security. Meisner had made the comment that in order for its security to be effective it must remain secret. Meisner also addressed the issue of actual security versus the public's perception of it. "Security not being generally visible could suggest the appearance of weakness," he said. "However, just because it is not visible does not mean it is not there or that it is insufficient." Lately the company has paid more attention to the public's perception, according to Meisner. "Numerous changes have been implemented to correct that perception." Maine Yankee has scheduled its next CAP meeting on Thurs., Dec. 13, the location to be announced. Editor@LCNews.Maine.Com [Editor@LCNews.Maine.Com] Lincoln County News PO Box 36, Damariscotta, ME 04543 Tel: 207.563.3171 ***************************************************************** 27 Govt gives go ahead to SA uranium mine ABC Sci-Tech - 21/11/01 : Wed, Nov 21 2001 9:20 PM AEDT The Federal Government has given the final environmental clearances to the Honeymoon Uranium mine in South Australia. The project plans to reinject radioactive waste into an underground water aquifer. Federal Environment Minister, Robert Hill, ordered a further report into the proposal in January. Senator Hill says the supplementary report was provided in August and after three different assessments, he has been advised by his department the waste would be confined, and remain isolated from the biosphere. The Minister says he has accepted the advice and is satisfied the waste disposal is environmentally acceptable. © 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 28 Russia to start using floating nuclear waste processing plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 20 November: A plant that will process liquid, low-radioactivity nuclear waste that has been built in the settlement of Bolshoy Kamen near Vladivostok with Japan's financial aid will be made available to Russia tomorrow, the Japanese embassy's information division says in its report. The plant is installed on a barge moored to the jetty of a factory that processes Russian nuclear-powered submarines. The two countries decided in 1993 to build the plant in the framework of cooperation aimed at preventing the dumping by Russia of radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan. Construction started in 1994, and costs totalled nearly 40m dollars. The plant will process 7,000 cubic metres of liquid nuclear waste a year. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1709 gmt 20 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 29 Energy Secretary Abraham Orders Additional Public Hearings on Yucca Mountain Project energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: November 21, 2001 [Print Friendly Version] WASHINGTON, DC B Following the Nov. 14 opening of a supplemental 30-day public comment period, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today ordered the Department to schedule nine supplemental public hearings in Nevada to provide citizens with additional opportunities to submit their comments on the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Process. "I committed to actively seek increased opportunities for public involvement in the consideration of the Yucca Mountain Project as a possible geological repository," Secretary Abraham said. "Scheduling these nine additional hearings and opening an additional 30-day comment period are the department's latest steps in providing Nevada citizens opportunities to participate in the process." To date, the Department of Energy has held 57 public hearings on the consideration of Yucca Mountain across Nevada's 17 counties, and in Inyo County, Calif., providing more than 170 days of public comment and 345 hours of public hearing time. The purpose of the comment period and hearings is to provide citizens an opportunity to register their comments on issues that could not have been addressed prior to the close of the May 7 - Oct. 19 public comment period. Information relevant to the site consideration process is available on the Internet at www.ymp.gov [http://www.ymp.gov] or by calling 702-794-1322. The schedule of the dates, times and locations for the nine additional hearings are as follows: Dec. 5, 2001: Cashman Field Center, Rooms 103-106, 850 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, Nev. 89101, 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. The Bob Ruud Community Center, 150 North Highway #160, Pahrump, Nev. 89060, 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Battle Mountain Civic Center, 625 South Broad Street, Battle Mountain, Nev. 89820, 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Dec. 8, 2001: Cashman Field Center, Rooms 203-206, 850 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, Nev. 89101, 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Reno/Sparks Convention Center, Meeting Room B3, 4590 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nev. 89502, 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Bristlecone Convention Center, 150 6th Street, Ely, Nev. 89301, 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. Dec. 12, 2001: Cashman Field Center, Rooms 103-106, 850 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, Nev. 89101, 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Longstreet Inn and Casino, Highway 373 Amargosa Valley, Nev. 89020, 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Olson Senior Citizens Center, 240 Front Street, Caliente, Nev. 89008, 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Written comments should be addressed to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (M/S #025), P.O. Box 364629, North Las Vegas, Nevada, 89036-8629. Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. R-01-197 ***************************************************************** 30 Sellafield terrorist threat claims rejected Belfast Telegraph Digital 21 November 2001 By David Gordon ALLEGATIONS of an increased terrorist risk at Sellafield have been lambasted by the British Government in an international court, it was revealed today. The UN's International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg is hearing objections to the planned mixed plutonium and uranium oxide (MOX) plant at Sellafield. The case has been taken by the Irish government, with the aim of blocking the opening of the MOX operation on the Cumbrian coastline. Critics of the nuclear energy scheme claim it will provide a major target for international terrorism, putting thousands of lives at risk on both sides of the Irish Sea. British Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith QC, yesterday sought to counter this argument. He told the tribunal of the international regulatory framework governing both Sellafield and the transportation of nuclear waste. "The tribunal is again confronted by a spectre of danger not anything approaching a real risk of serious harm to the Irish Sea." Lord Goldsmith continued: "Ireland has not particularised its concerns in this area. There are various facets of security around, including patrols at the Sellafield site, measures taken to safeguard transport, (land, sea and air) the security of the wider territory and airspace around Sellafield, and other similar sites. "There are other domestic initiatives to combat terrorism and broader global initiatives to address such matters as proliferation." He asked the tribunal to recognise that the UK had demonstrated "great concern" on such matters since the September 11 terror attacks. "Given the acute sensitivity of these matters, the security measures, it is not the policy of the United Kingdom Government to engage in discussion on such issues without cause. Ireland ought, at least, to be identifying issues with which it has particular concern." He also stated that the Office for Civil Nuclear Security had advised that the manufacture and transport of MOX fuel presented "negligible security risks". Belfast Telegraph Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 31 The shadow cast from Sellafield Belfast Telegraph Digital Wednesday, 21 November 2001 NUCLEAR RISK: Good reason to challenge assurances of governments post-September 11 By Eric Waugh The Irish government has been making the running in an international campaign to stop the MOX nuclear reprocessing plant opening in Sellafield next month, but Northern Ireland has even more cause for concern. Directly opposite the Co Down coast, the new facility considerably increases the risk from both pollution and terrorist attack. Despite their co-operation on the peace process, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair disagree fundamentally on the Sellafield issue. For many years, the Irish have campaigned for the closure of the original plant and now they have taken Britain to the high-powered International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, hoping for an injunction to prevent the opening of the £500m MOX facility on December 20. If the judgement, due on December 3, goes against the British, a full hearing of the tribunal would be held in February and March, at which all the implications would be considered in detail. Meanwhile, the initial submissions of the two governments in two days of legal argument should have alerted local politicians - apart from Eddie McGrady, a long-time opponent of Sellafield - to the present and potential dangers. Clearly the government is primarily concerned with the financial losses that would be incurred if the project were to fold. According to the Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, these would be "catastrophic". He dismissed the risk of serious harm to the Irish Sea and opposed the Irish claim that their rights under the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea would be infringed. While no one questions that the loss of public investment and jobs would be considerable, the tribunal will have to weigh up the likely effect, now and in the future, of the opening of another hazardous plant in Cumbria. As the Irish pointed out, as far back as 1985 a select Commons committee reported that a quarter-tonne of plutonium from the huge volume of liquid waste from the Sellafield pipeline had made the Irish Sea "the most radioactive sea in the world". The British contend that the new plant, which would produce ceramic-coated plutonium fuel pellets for export to countries like Japan, would in fact reduce shipments of toxic plutonium oxide through the Irish Sea. Special flasks would reduce the risk and, besides, precautions against terrorist attacks were robust enough to cope with any credible threat. After September 11, people living along the Irish Sea coast, in Britain as well as Ireland, have good reason to question the assurances of governments. No connection has been proved between Sellafield emissions and the high incidence of cancer in Northern Ireland, but public fears remain. People would rest easier if the Irish campaign succeeded, and the government proved that health risks were non-existent. Belfast Telegraph Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 32 Maine Yankee blasting is termed successful Nov 22, 2001 Vol. 126-No. 47 Greg Foster A large section of the turbine building at Maine Yankee in Wiscasset collapsed as planned on schedule at about noon Saturday, visible to spectators on the Westport side of the river. The implosion, which could be heard for miles, was the result of one controlled explosion. Controlled Demolition, Inc. conducted the project, which is a part of the ongoing demolition work Maine Yankee is doing in decommissioning the plant. Known internationally for its work, the contractor has done similar projects for other decommissioning nuclear power plants. "The blasting went very safely and well," said Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes. The south side of the turbine building, which was the section imploded, was about 1000 square feet and 120 feet high. The project is the second one CDI has done at the plant. The first was done in September over a period of about three days requiring a series of controlled explosions to weaken the concrete turbine pedestal. Originally, CDI planned to implode the rafters in order to drop the roof to 40 feet above ground. The remainder was supposed to be taken down with cranes. However, it became technically feasible to safely implode the building down to ground level because of favorable progress in removing piping and other internal equipment from the building, according to a CDI spokesman. The turbine building is on the non-nuclear side of the power plant and presented some challenges to CDI to keep the building within limited confines of the plant. Maine Yankee will demolish the north side of the turbine building through mechanical, non-explosive means, according to Howes. Terrance Peacock, manager of projects for site restoration, explained the Saturday demolition work as well as other projects to Community Advisory Panel members last Thursday. Peacock said the final decision to implode the building was based on worker safety. Lincoln County News PO Box 36, Damariscotta, ME 04543 Tel: 207.563.3171 ***************************************************************** 33 Federal Control Will Be Sought for Protection of Nuclear Plants November 21, 2001 By ROBERT F. WORTH BUCHANAN, N.Y., Nov. 20 — The federal government should assume responsibility for protecting the country's nuclear power plants to safeguard them from terrorist attack, a group of Democratic members of Congress from New York said today. Speaking outside the Indian Point nuclear plant here, the lawmakers — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representatives Nita M. Lowey and Eliot L. Engel — said they planned to introduce legislation that would include the creation of a security force within the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Mrs. Clinton also proposed to expand the evacuation zone around nuclear plants to 50 miles from 10 miles, along with other measures to protect people living close to the plants. The federalization of airport security ignited a fierce debate in Congress before a compromise was reached. But so far, the Democrats' proposal, whose details remain vague, has not drawn a clear response. Security at the nation's 103 nuclear plants is handled by each plant's owner, or a subcontractor, and that arrangement has not drawn serious criticism. David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said federalizing security at the plants would probably be helpful, because security is uneven, with some owners doing the job well and others cutting back to save money. "Having federal oversight would tend to be better than what we've had in the past," he said. Spokesmen for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy, the company that owns Indian Point, said they supported better security but that it was too early to comment on the proposals. Several elected officials have urged tighter security measures at nuclear plants since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, including Senator Charles E. Schumer, who toured Indian Point last week. But none have yet proposed that the job be federalized. "I don't think a piecemeal approach to security is what the people of Westchester or New York is really asking for," said Mrs. Clinton, who plans to co-sponsor a bill next week with Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. "We're asking for a comprehensive approach." The bill also calls for an expansion of the evacuation zone, and new measures to toughen the simulated terrorist attacks the federal government already conducts periodically on nuclear plants to evaluate their safety. Mrs. Clinton said she would also propose stockpiling potassium iodide, which helps to prevent cancer and other diseases among people exposed to radiation. Safety measures have been enhanced at all of the nation's nuclear plants since Sept. 11. At Indian Point, National Guard troops can still be seen and the Coast Guard has patrolled the Hudson nearby. But many believe that the plant's proximity to New York makes it inherently dangerous. About 20 million people live within 50 miles of the plant, and two weeks ago four members of Congress and a number of officials signed a petition urging that Indian Point be closed until its safety could be guaranteed. Expanding the evacuation zone to 50 miles would include New York City, which is 30 miles to the south. Mrs. Clinton did not offer details but said "the direction and force of the wind" would be the major determinant of where an evacuation would be needed. The evacuation plan has become a sore point for many people in Westchester County who believe that it would not work in a serious accident. Many questions about the proposals remained unanswered, including their cost. "I don't think you can put a price tag on real security and peace of mind," Mrs. Clinton said. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy ***************************************************************** 34 Japan: Gas explosion suspected at nuclear centre in Tokaimura BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001 Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo Mito, 21 November: An explosion of gas generated by ashes from nuclear waste might have occurred Wednesday [21 November] at a nuclear research centre in Tokaimura in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, officials of the centre said. The ashes from nuclear waste were found in a room in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute's incineration building where they are packed into drums after a fire alarm went off shortly before 1500 [local time]. The officials confirmed there was no fire about 10 minutes later. According to the centre, the ashes are believed to have leaked into the room when a rubber glove on a packing machine broke, adding there was no damage to employees or the environment at the centre. "Flammable gas generated from smouldering ashes inside a pipe in the machine may have caught fire and exploded," said Tadami Kondo, deputy chief of the low-radioactive waste control division at the centre. The ashes are remains of low-radioactive waste such as paper towels and paper dustbins used at the centre and have no effect on the surrounding environment, the centre said. Tokaimura is the village where Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident occurred 30 September, 1999. Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1258 gmt 21 Nov 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 35 Tension builds with UK over 'dirty' nuclear MOX plant Irish Newspapers - Date: Wed November 21st 01 ANGLO-IRISH tensions over Sellafield erupted into a war of words between top legal teams from the two countries in an international court yesterday. The new nuclear reprocessing MOX plant at the controversial site in Cumbria is illegal, environmentally damaging and a money-making exercise, the State claimed at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg. But the British team hit back, claiming the Irish case was spurious and based on "pseudoscience". The unprecedented attempt by Ireland to stop the facility becoming operational next month now rests in the hands of the 21-judge international court which has retired to consider the evidence and will deliver its verdict on December 3. The court could rule it has the power to suspend operations at MOX, pending a further tribunal that would consider the arguments in detail. In the Hamburg courtroom yesterday, Britain's attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, led a hard-hitting defence of his government that made no concessions whatsoever to Irish fears over the plant's operations. Lord Goldsmith and his legal team poured scorn on the Irish allegation that the Court of Sea was entitled to hear the case, arguing it fell outside its jurisdiction. Britain further alleged that the oral presentation from the attorney general, Michael McDowell, and his team of Irish, British and Indian lawyers and academics had failed to prove that their concerns were linked to the MOX plant and not the existing Thorpe reprocessing centre. "This is part of the wider war against Sellafield," Lord Goldsmith told the court. "Ireland has a long-standing objection to existing nuclear energy operations." He warned that any delay in the start up of the MOX operations could cost thousands of jobs and would result in economic losses running to hundreds of millions of pounds. His team also hotly disputed Irish statistics about the maritime damage from radioactive discharges insisting that these would be "infinitesimal". In the closing comments, the Irish team, led by Eoghan Fitzsimons, urged the court to ignore British legal arguments which they claimed were largely irrelevant. The action was not just about human health but the broader maritime impact for the Irish Sea, which is the most radioactive in the world, Mr Fitzsimons said. Quoting a British House of Commons Select Committee report from 1985, he said that back then a quarter of a tonne of highly radioactive plutonium had been dumped in the Irish Sea. "How much more has gone into the sea since 1985?" he asked. At the heart of the justification for the plant was the profit motive, Mr Fitzsimons said. "British Nuclear Fuels consider they will make a lot of money from the MOX plant, and we submit this fully vindicates Ireland's case," he said. His legal team also urged the court to adjudge that since the case was based on the environmental impact of MOX and the subsequent increase in radioactive discharges from the connected Thorpe reprocessing plant, it was therefore under its jurisdiction. They warned that once a canister of spent nuclear fuel is opened at the MOX plant, as planned, the environmental fall-out will be irreversible. "Some of the discharges will reach Ireland and to all intents and purposes will stay there forever," said Prof Philippe Sands for the Irish case. Although present at the hearing, BNFL representatives refused to comment and referred all queries to their press office in Cumbria. Conor Sweeney European Editor © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 36 Yucca panel fires shots in war of words www.infospace.com By David Hare, Staff Writer A group of scholars claim the U.S. Department of Energy is guilty of using faulty science, back room politics and flat-out chicanery in efforts to bring a nuclear waste repository to the Nevada desert. The presentation - Judging Yucca Mountain: Nevada Speaks - was sponsored by UNLV and the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. The panel gathered six nuclear waste management scholars who spoke on such topics a s transportation risks in light of Ameri ca's new threat of terrorism, stigma effects associated with nuclear energy and the socioeconomic impact of a nuclear waste site. The few dozen audience members, mostly from the anti-Yucca Mountain camp, seemed to have heard it all before, but as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. "The DOE's decision on Yucca Mountain is purely political. That's why Yucca is the only sit e being considered (to store about 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste)," said Steve Frishman, a technical policy coordinator with the Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office. Casting doubt on the DOE's science and risk analysis at Yucca Mountain was Kristin Shrader-Frechette, a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. "The (DOE's) models used for the test site tend to be validated by other models, not empirical data," she said. She claimed experts spent billions of dollars "to cover up any uncertainties" about the viability of the test site. Citing several reports commissioned by the U.S. General Accounting Office, Shrader-Frechette said the GAO, as far back as 1988, expressed concern about the DOE's safety record in its handling of nuclear waste. According to her, the GAO went so far as to recommend either abolishing the DOE altogether or placing the agen cy under external regulations. "We still don't have external regulation of the DOE. And why?" she said. "Because the politicians and the (DOE) managers have coopted and ignored science." "There's nothing controversial here about what we need to do about Yucca Mountain," she concluded. "Common sense, good science, good ethics. That's all we're asking." No one from the DOE participated in the public forum. In response to an audience member's question about Nevada holding the DOE culpable in allegedly using faulty science in its Yucca Mountain project proposal, Frishman, representing the state's Nuclear Waste Project Office, responded, "Within 30 days we'll be suing the DOE." Paul Slovic, a professor at the University of Oregon, ended the evening in a presentation entitled "Risk Perception and Economic Stigma." As president of Decision Research, Slovic and his organization were commissioned by the state of Nevada in the late 1980s to conduct research on the social-economic impacts associated with a nuclear waste site. Slovic told the audience last week that he and his team of researchers produced more than 100 reports, many published in various scientific journals, in which a majority of the data concluded Southern Nevada's economy could be impaired based upon what he calls "stigma effects" as sociated with a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. "In 1985, a DOE report stated that locating a repository at Yucca Mountain could damage the image or aesthetic appeal of Las Vegas," Slovic said during his presentation. "But they never went any further than that." ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Interview with a Bombmaker According to Khidhir Hamza, U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq were successful but only to a point Saddam Hussein’s former atomic-bomb developer says Iraq is on course to gain ‘full nuclear status’ NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE Nov. 21 — Khidhir Hamza is a rarity: a high-level Iraqi defector with an insider’s knowledge of Saddam Hussein’s weapons capabilities. As he detailed in his autobiography from last year, “Saddam’s Bombmaker (with Jeff Stein),” Hamza was the overseer of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program. In the 1960’s, he studied nuclear physics at MIT and Florida State University but was forced to return to Baghdad in the early 70s when the Iraqi government made thinly-veiled threats against his parents. HE SPENT THE NEXT 20 years enduring nightmarish outbursts from Hussein, who once forced him to watch a videotape of colleagues who had supposedly betrayed the regime being shot to death by a firing squad. By 1994, he’d seen enough, and fled Iraq before making his way to the American embassy in Budapest, Hungary. Hamza, who now lives in hiding somewhere in Virginia with his wife and children, recently spoke with NEWSWEEK’S Suzanne Smalley about the two decades he spent developing deadly weapons. NEWSWEEK: What was it like working under Saddam Hussein? In your book you talk about colleagues who dared to challenge his authority being tortured and killed. How did his mind seem to work? Khidhir Hamza: He is a man who came to power through murder and intimidation. Talking to him you feel this immediately. He talks in a transparently dismissive and haughty manner. He is literally a bully in private. In public, especially on TV, he is the gracious and smiling father figure. But the worst part of dealing with him is getting him angry. Do you believe that Hussein is helping to finance Al Qaeda? Did any of your experiences in Iraq give you reason to believe that Hussein has ties to bin Laden operatives? Khidhir Hamza [IMG: Khidhir Hamza] When I left Iraq in 1994, bin Laden was not on the world’s radar yet and there was no reason for me to hear about him. But knowing Saddam, it would be the perfect organization for him to support. There were sightings of bin Laden in Baghdad...before the African Embassy bombings in 1998. Recent Iraqi defectors do confirm training foreign Islamic fundamentalists. You were educated at MIT and Florida State and then forced to return to Iraq to make an atomic weapon. Were any of the other 12,000 people you worked with making the bomb also educated in the West? Did your colleagues and you ever comment on the irony of the way your education was being channeled against the countries that had hosted you? It was not meant to go against the U.S. or the West. We started with a modest program to achieve strategic parity with Israel. But Saddam had other ideas. When they became clear at the onset of the Gulf War we gave up. It took me three years to plan an escape without immediately jeopardizing my family’s safety. The problem for the scientists was that we were not sure of the reception we would get if we attempted defection. Muayad Naji attempted defecting to the U.S. in 1993. He escaped to Jordan with his family. Denied a visa by the U.S. embassy, he was trying to find a country to accept him. This gave enough time for Iraqi intelligence to arrange a hit on him. He was murdered in front of his family by two Iraqi agents in one of Amman’s major streets. To compound the terror, the murderers were released by the Jordanian government on a promise of a trial in Iraq. A year later when I left, I was denied a visa despite the fact that the head of the Iraqi opposition vouched for me. It took another year and a harrowing time for my family before the U.S. agreed to help. Not a single major scientist in the military program managed to escape after my experience. Dr. Nasser Hindawi, the real brain behind the bio-warfare program [and educated in the U.S.] , is still languishing in jail because of an attempt to escape. What about the U.N. weapons inspections? Were they a farce? Actually the inspectors did a good job of uncovering the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, despite many lapses initially. However, the mandate they were under limited their scope. Monitoring the knowledge base was not within [the UN’s] scope. When I left, I was surprised by how little follow-up they had on the scientists. It was remedied to a degree later, but it was too late. The long process alerted Saddam and he kept the scientists mostly out of reach. Later he kicked the inspectors out to preserve what he had and to have more room to rebuild his weapons program. If you know what to do, equipment is replaceable. For Saddam, who has a very extensive purchasing network all over the world, this is especially easy. Also, Iraq has good knowledge in manufacturing some of the major pieces of equipment, including fermenters for the bio-warfare program. How did Saddam view America’s dependence on oil and what did he think it could do for him? The invasion of Kuwait was meant to control the Gulf oil. This is the next step in the danger Saddam presents the region. If he nuclearizes his forces he will be invincible to attempts to remove him from power. This will encourage him to terrorize the region the way he did before the Gulf War. His invasion of Kuwait was based on the claim that it flooded the world market with cheap oil and thus damaged Iraq’s oil income. [The U.S.] did not take him seriously then, but when he is back fully weaponized, this time they will. You believe that with some Russian brainpower Hussein could go nuclear. Were there any Russian scientists working with you in Baghdad? Do you think the West would know if Hussein had nuclear capabilities? Russians worked in the chemical weapons program but until I left there were no Russians in the nuclear program. However, I describe in my book how the Russian scientists were desperate for work when I visited Russia in 1990. Iraq did use a German engineer to help in the uranium enrichment program in the late 80’s. If Russian scientists are employed, Iraq can cut considerably the time needed to produce bomb grade uranium in large quantities. I have no direct knowledge that this is happening now but I think this is a logical move that Iraq was considering for sometime. Saddam may choose to detonate one [a nuclear weapon]. This will make him an instant hero in the Arab and Muslim world. And it will also provide him with the deterrence he needs to have more of a free hand in the region. You say that if the embargo were lifted, as Russia, China, and France have pushed for, Saddam could easily “cross the nuclear bomb finish line.” Could you explain the correlation? Lifting of the sanctions will allow Iraq to trade more or less freely with the outside world. It will also allow Iraq to control and keep the revenues of its oil sales. Most of the nuclear weapons components and support structure can be achieved with conventional engineering and dual use equipment. With open borders and large revenues these are easily obtained. Thus, Iraq will be able not only to produce the three bombs that German intelligence estimates it will have in 2005, but a much accelerated rate of production and eventually full nuclear status at least as large as that of India and Pakistan. The bomb program employed more than 2,000 engineers, 300 of whom held Ph.D.s in the hard sciences. Were they all Iraqi? What percentage were educated in the West? All of the leaders of the Iraqi nuclear program are trained in the West. You write that Hussein was very close to having atomic capability when you defected. Do you think he could have achieved it by now? Can you convey how close he was in terms that the average person would understand? The German BND [intelligence network] accumulated a very thorough analysis of the Iraqi nuclear weapons program. They used information from various sources including defectors and aerial and satellite surveillance. Their report, which was published last December, estimates that Iraq will possess three nuclear weapons by 2005. This is assuming that Iraq will use only existing uranium stockpiles and no foreign input. Iraq already had a workable nuclear design when I left. A minor enrichment capability is all that is needed to provide the nuclear core for three weapons. How far do you think Hussein would go to punish America? How mentally unstable did he seem to you? America did the one unforgivable sin with Saddam. It humiliated him but kept him in power. It is like playing with a highly poisonous snake. Keeping it hungry and confined but alive waiting for a chance to strike back. There was a serious misunderstanding of his stamina and ability to survive. But one thing about Saddam is clear to all those who know him: He never forgives and never forgets. Remember the attempt on former President Bush during a visit to Kuwait? He was no longer in office, but Saddam could not let go. Also, the murder of his two sons-in-law despite his personal promise of forgiving and forgetting if they came back from Jordan. He could do neither. His two daughters are still under house arrest the last we heard. If Saddam can unleash any disease in the U.S. with deniability, my guess is that he will not hesitate for one minute. I don’t think that he is suicidal or mad. He is calculating and determined and evil. But under pressure he can go into a rage. © 2001 Newsweek, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 Company's plan to cut Piketon jobs angers Ohio lawmakers The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday, November 21, 2001 Jonathan Riskind [jriskind@dispatch.com] Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief WASHINGTON -- Despite protests from Ohio's governor and members of Congress, the company that runs southern Ohio's uranium- enrichment plant is moving forward with plans to eliminate more than 400 shipping jobs at the facility in Piketon, Ohio. Company officials met yesterday with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members to outline a proposed timetable that could move shipping and transfer operations to a sister enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky., as early as May. USEC, a privatized federal corporation, shut down enrichment operations at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant earlier this year but at the time said the 430 shipping and transfer jobs would remain for four or five years. USEC also runs the enrichment plant in Paducah, which after Piketon closed became the country's sole supplier of the enriched uranium used as fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. USEC now is considering moving the shipping jobs to the Paducah plant years ahead of schedule, although company officials say a decision won't be made until at least the end of the year. And even if the move occurs, it is likely to be at least the middle of next year before the Piketon shipping operation is shuttered, USEC officials say. Regardless of when it happens, eliminating the shipping jobs would leave only about 800 workers, employed by government-funded operations to keep the Piketon plant on cold standby and to clean up contamination. Ohio officials hope the sprawling facility eventually will land an advanced technology uranium-enrichment project. When it ceased enrichment operations, the Piketon plant employed about 1,700 people in some of the most lucrative jobs in southern Ohio. At its peak during the Cold War, the plant, which once made weapons- grade material for the nation's atomic-defense program, employed about 3,000. The fact that USEC is considering eliminating the shipping jobs ahead of schedule has provoked outrage from Gov. Bob Taft; Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville; and Ohio's two U.S. senators. "The proposed transfer . . . violates the agreement to maintain these operations in Piketon for the next four or five years,'' said Republican Sens. Mike DeWine and George V. Voinovich in a letter to William Timbers, USEC president and chief executive officer. "Violating this agreement could prove devastating to the Piketon economy and work force.'' Taft told Timbers in a separate letter that eliminating the jobs ahead of schedule "is unacceptable.'' But USEC officials said the move is necessary to be more efficient. They said that although USEC is seeking regulatory commission approval to build shipping and transfer facilities in Paducah, the decision about when to actually begin shipping from Paducah depends on a number of factors. "Other business considerations have to come together to say, 'Yeah, we can do this now and make the choice to do this now,' '' said Elizabeth Stuckle, USEC spokeswoman. She added that "no decision has been made as to whether or not to accelerate the move of the transfer and shipping facility, and that decision won't be made until at least the end of this year.'' The meeting yesterday with regulatory commission staff members at the commission's suburban Washington headquarters was an informational session where USEC officials outlined when the company hopes to gain commission approval. USEC hopes to have permission by April 30 to have most of the shipping and transfer capacity in place in Paducah and approval to have the rest of the move in place by June 30. The Piketon jobs could be eliminated by April 30, although the move isn't likely to occur that quickly, Stuckle said. However, before USEC can gain the necessary approvals it will have to go through a public hearing process, Strickland said he was told yesterday by Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Meserve. The congressman met with Meserve in Strickland's Capitol Hill office after the meeting between USEC and commission staff members. Copyright © 2001, The Columbus Dispatch. ***************************************************************** 3 Is it time to reconsider fallout shelters? sunspot.net - america at war In the days of 'civil defense,' we built fallout shelters for survival. Now those stand empty, and the era of 'homeland security' offers few assurances. By John Woestendiek Sun Staff Originally published November 21, 2001 Had Russia dropped the big one, this was the place to be: deep beneath fire station No. 9 in a bunker with 17-inch concrete walls, an emergency power generator and enough water to last its occupants - Baltimore's mayor and 20 or so top city officials - for two weeks. Prepared as the city was - warning sirens tuned, evacuation plan ready, more than 1,000 public fallout shelters stocked - the big one never came. And as the nuclear bomb threat dwindled, so did the city office of Disaster Management and Civil Defense. Its staff, headquartered in the bunker, shrunk to three mole-like souls who some days felt as much in demand as the Maytag repairman. Its shelves, stocked with never-opened radiation detection sets, rotting gauze and yellowing brochures, accumulated dust for decades. And the "impenetrable" bunker itself, built in 1952 to survive a nuclear blast, sprung - of all things - a leak. "Here you have a building that's supposedly bombproof, and radiation-proof, and the ceiling leaks?" William Codd, a former director of the office, said during a recent visit, shaking his head the way a lot of Americans have since Sept. 11. What happened to the bunker beneath the firehouse at 1201 E. Cold Spring Lane is not an exception: Whether a result of arrogance or ignorance, optimism or fatalism, neglect or design, civil defense in America - the idea of protecting ourselves from enemy attack - all but died. Remember Pearl Harbor? No one under 60 was even around for that; and no one under 40 was around for the most searing days of the Cold War. Our collective memory is as faded as the old fallout shelter signs that still hang rustily on some buildings - three yellow triangles on a black circle. The public fallout shelters they once marked are long gone, along with air raid wardens, "duck and cover" classroom drills, and most "civil defense" offices themselves, their duties absorbed under the broader mission of "emergency management" agencies more primed for weather-related disasters. Gone too, or at least serving different purposes, are most backyard fallout shelters - the sort President Kennedy urged citizens to build at the height of the Cold War. Today, some are playrooms, wine cellars, or even museum pieces. The Smithsonian put one on exhibit in 1994 - a relic, like much of the civil defense arsenal, of a fearful bygone era. But on Sept. 11, bygone came back. The attacks by terrorists on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the subsequent anthrax scare - though the latter has yet to be officially linked with the same foreign terrorists, or foreign terrorists at all - have given civil defense its biggest boost, more so even than Y2K, since the Cold War. Today, there is a new set of fears; a new, but far from complete, set of tips to protect your home and family; a new set of symbols. And, of course, a new name. "Homeland security" has replaced "civil defense." A wily bin Laden has replaced a shoe-banging Khrushchev. Refuge, once to be taken in your basement, is now, most likely, to be taken upstairs. Solace, once found in having an underground shelter in your backyard, is now a bottle of Cipro in your refrigerator. And the one symbol that said it all - the mushroom cloud - has been replaced by ... what? The crumbling World Trade Center? The airliner? The envelope? White powder? The question mark? That we can't pick one image that sums up our fear is one way it's different this time. Then, there was one enemy, and it was Russia; one threat, and it was nuclear annihilation - or at least something so close to it that life afterward wouldn't be worth surviving. Today, it's less large-scale, but more pernicious: who knows who, from who knows where, doing who knows what. As a result, civil defense, in its reborn and still evolving form, is a fuzzier notion this time around. How do you protect yourself and your family in your home? Well, that depends. Should you have a gas mask? Probably not. Fifty gallons of water on standby? Maybe so. What is overreacting? What is under-reacting? Are we heading back to a Cold War bunker mentality? Should we be? Define the threats "The government isn't really defining the threats. In the 1960s, they did. They said where they wanted people to go, what they wanted them to do. Now it's everyone go on high alert, but go about your business, go to the ballgame, go to the mall," said Laura McEnaney, a history professor at Whittier College and author of Civil Defense Begins at Home. "I don't know what [Homeland Security Secretary] Tom Ridge is planning for us, but as of now they haven't articulated a domestic program in which ordinary Americans can participate, and as a result we feel just as impotent against a terrorist attack now as we did in the 1960s against a nuclear attack." Information on home preparedness is available - from FEMA, state emergency management agencies and the Red Cross - but, while you can seek it out on the Internet or telephone, it's not likely, at least not yet, to land on your doorstep or come from the president's mouth. In a recent speech that was more pep rally than practical advice, President Bush called for Americans to be "alert" but not "intimidated." Nearly two months after the attack, he outlined no steps to take - other than to do volunteer work and inspect their mail carefully. But he did announce the creation of a task force that will recommend ways for citizens to prepare at home, work and school for potential terrorist attacks. In the 1960s, it was a different story. The government was trying to sell Americans on civil defense - never an easy task - and it wasn't afraid to use fear or paint some grisly pictures to make the sale. The now defunct federal Office of Civil Defense went so far as to put out an album (back then CD stood for civil defense) called Complacent Americans. It was full of blaring sirens, exploding bombs and admonishments to take civil defense seriously, including one from an atomic bomb victim, speaking from the grave, regretting that he hadn't learned more about civil defense. "Save This Plan ... It May Save Your Life!" the city warned 30 years ago when it sent its "Community Shelter Plan" to Baltimore homes. Besides how to make a shelter in a basement, it listed all the public fallout shelters in town. It was frightening, maybe futile, but in it people found comfort. "Back then people got a certain amount of reassurance from knowing the fallout shelters were there," said Richard McKoy, the city's director of Disaster Management and Civil Defense. McKoy has been receiving calls since Sept. 11 from citizens asking which shelter they should use in an emergency. Some of them, he said, get perturbed when he tells them the shelters no longer exist. Baltimore's is one of few emergency management agencies that still uses the term "civil defense" in its title. McKoy had planned to remove it once the old letterhead ran out. Now he's not so sure. In the aftermath of Sept. 11 - and in reaction to July's train derailment and five-day fire in the Howard Street Tunnel - the city is updating the disaster management offices beneath the firehouse so that it may again be used as a shelter and command post for the mayor and top city officials. It is considering updating its warning siren system. And it is working on a new evacuation plan to replace the outdated one from the 1960s. Basically, now - as then - we head to West Virginia in an orderly fashion. There are no plans, though, to return to the public shelter system. Those shelters - mostly in large public and private buildings - were phased out during the reign of Codd, who, like other civil defense directors in the 1980s, was told by the federal government to remove the rations that, then 20 to 30 years old, had gone bad. To avoid the expense of disposing of them, Codd cut a deal and bought the office's first computer with the profits. He sold the rations, biscuits mostly, to pig farmers. Forewarning On July 15, nuclear war survival guru Cresson Kearny - 88, ailing and, quite honestly, a little tired from four decades of unsuccessfully exhorting a country to prepare itself against attack - hauled himself to the 19th annual meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, and this is what he said: "Until an attack kills at least several hundred people living in part of the United States, there will be no effective civil defense system designed to protect Americans." His remarks, less than two months before the attack, would seem eerily omniscient were it not for the fact that Kearny and pockets of civil defense zealots across the country have been saying it all along. Suddenly, though, they don't seem quite so nutty. Kearny, author of the 1979 book Nuclear War Survival Skills, said in his speech that the government was failing to prepare the public for terrorist attacks. In a recent telephone interview from his home near Montrose, Colo., he said it's still not. "Stockpiling antibiotics, developing vaccines, it all should have been done before now," he said. "Our national solution appears to be don't pay any attention to it." Although Kearny's book may be in large part out of date, he remains on top of defense issues - whether nuclear, biological or chemical. The same, he says, cannot be said of Americans, or their civil defense system. Historically, it has had to play catch-up with technology. The federal Office of Civil Defense was established in 1941 and spent its early years preparing Americans for an enemy air attack, conducting drills and appointing neighborhood air raid wardens. In the 1950s, after the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bombs, the stakes became higher and the strategies trickier. Evacuation was seen as the best answer, since - with long-range bombers being the only method of delivery - several hours of warning would likely precede any attack. With the advent of intercontinental ballistic missiles, little if any warning was envisioned. America turned to creating shelters. The Army Corps of Engineers surveyed buildings whose basements could serve as shelters, safe from nuclear fallout if not a nuclear blast. By 1971, 200,000 had been identified and stocked nationwide. Families were urged to build shelters at home. Between 1960 and 1962, according to a Smithsonian magazine article, 200,000 families built shelters or had them installed by companies with names like Acme, Peace-O-Mind and Lancer Survival Corp. Despite fears about how people would get along in crowded public shelters, how families would defend their backyard enclaves, whether shelters would work in a massive nuclear attack, and if the world afterward would be worth emerging into, shelters remained the focus in the 1970s. In the 1980s, developments in satellite reconnaissance turned things around again. A nuclear attack could be detected as many as three days before it took place. Evacuation became the preferred option again. Today, those calling for stronger civil defense are quick to point out that the only remaining shelters are those designed to protect the president and other elected officials - the same people who, in their view, have never done enough to make this country safe. Other than Kennedy - and then only at the height of the Cold War - no president in the second half of the 20th century championed civil defense. Even under Reagan, the federal government spent less per person on civil defense than it did to fund the Smithsonian Institution. The federal civil defense office became a division of FEMA in the 1980s and was closed by President Clinton in the mid-1990s. Citizens haven't taken it too seriously, either - seeing preparing for attack as futile, a fringe activity, or somehow making one more likely. But probably the biggest reason of all - then and now - is that we don't like to think about it. "We are a nation in total denial," said Sharon Packer, vice president of Utah Shelter Systems and a member of The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA), formed in the 1960s. "People are living with their heads in the ground. If only they would get the rest of their body buried, they'd be OK." Packer, 61, whose company's sales have increased 500 percent since Sept. 11, has been selling shelters for 15 years. But she has been concerned about nuclear bombs since she was a child. After Hiroshima, she and her brother dug a hole in the back yard and put wood over the top. "Fear is healthy," she added. "I fear an automobile accident, so I put a seatbelt on. I fear fire, so I have a smoke detector. I fear sickness, so I have health insurance. People who refuse to acknowledge fear are psychologically unstable." Find a 'safe room' The government isn't recommending going underground these days, but it is suggesting being prepared to make a "safe room." FEMA and the Red Cross urge basic preparation - an emergency kit at home including flashlights, batteries, first-aid supplies, sleeping bag, battery-powered radio or TV, bottled water, canned or dehydrated food and tools. They recommend being prepared to both evacuate and "shelter in place." For this, they recommend turning off all fans, heating and air conditioning, closing the fireplace damper, closing and locking all windows, vents and exterior doors and going to an upstairs room. In the event of a chemical attack, above ground is preferable because some chemicals are heavier than air. They recommend sealing all windows, heat registers and outlets with plastic (such as garbage bags) and duct tape. TACDA, by comparison, recommends face masks or gas masks and, in some of its literature, a makeshift air filtration system: " ... Consider placing the sucking end of your vacuum cleaner hose outside a window with pillows around either side and close the window around them so that air is being sucked into your home through the vacuum cleaner and does not come in around the pillows. A vacuum with a half-full dirty filter bag works best." Government agencies aren't recommending stocking up on Cipro, either, as some groups suggest. "Everybody should have a bottle of Cipro in their freezer," said Jane Orient, a Tucson internist who is president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. "That's hysteria," said Milton Leitenberg, a professor at the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies. A longtime critic of nuclear proliferation, his research now focuses on biological and chemical weapons. "Many, many more people will die five years from now because Cipro is being misused now than will die from this anthrax," he said. Back at the bunker beneath Baltimore's fire station No. 9, paint fumes - not anthrax - are Richard McKoy's most immediate worry. Painters have covered the once-beige concrete walls with white, and, windowless, it is not the kind of place you can easily air out. McKoy and his secretary make frequent trips upstairs for fresh air during the renovations at the bunker. It's out with the old: movie reels and record albums about first aid and civil defense, dosimeters that clip to one's pocket and measure radioactivity, bullhorns, hardhats and fallout shelter signs. And in with the new: more sophisticated computer and communications equipment, safety manuals on how to deal with chemical attacks. Still playing catch-up, the city wants to be a model of "preparedness" - with a civil defense system that is out in front of history, rather than a piece of it. It is plugging up its holes, big and small, real and figurative - like the leak in the ceiling. Most of the water comes from upstairs, when the fire engines are washed. Crews have come out to fix it several times, and while they haven't quite gotten it right, McKoy assures visitors they will. "We're working on it," he said. Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun ***************************************************************** 4 Medical program to undergo changes Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 10:31 a.m. on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Some changes could be in store for the Department of Energy's occupational medicine program. Officials with DOE's Office of Independent Oversight addressed some of these Monday afternoon during a meeting with Lester Raby, a Roane County resident who's been pushing for improvements in the program for seven years. "We're not going to change the world," said Glenn Podonsky, director of the Office of Independent Oversight, adding that he hopes his office will have a significant impact on several overlooked programs, including occupational medicine. Podonsky said Raby was the "catalyst" for some of the changes that are planned in the program, including accreditation reviews by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Inc., which are funded by DOE. So far, 15 medical clinics have been reviewed and eight have achieved accreditation, including the one at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Inc. recently recommended that the clinic at Oak Ridge National Laboratory be accredited. "We're looking for continuous improvements," said Pat Worthington, director of DOE's Office of Environment, Safety and Health Evaluations, which falls under the Office of Independent Oversight. Worthington and Marvin Mielke, health systems specialist with DOE's Office of Environment, Safety and Health Evaluations, said the future success with the occupational medicine program will depend on a number of factors. Those include continued resources and consistent requirements for all of DOE's medical clinics. Raby maintains that one of the biggest changes DOE needs to consider making is preventing the same contractor from operating a facility such as Y-12 or ORNL along with its associated medical program. He said a separate contract should be issued for the clinics. Raby started working on improving DOE's occupational medicine program in 1994 after his wife, Mary, died of cancer. He says her death might have been prevented had she received "adequate care" at ORNL's medical clinic, where her annual physical examinations were conducted. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 5 Last-minute deal averts USEC walkout - The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, November 21, 2001 Last-minute deal averts USEC walkout A tentative contract, reached at 1 a.m. Tuesday after 17 hours of bargaining, will be voted on Monday by 664 PACE union members. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Before settling on a last-minute deal in Tuesday's wee hours, union leaders and management were poised for the first strike in 22 years at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, the nation's sole remaining uranium-enrichment facility. A tentative 18-month contract, reached at 1 a.m. after 17 hours of bargaining, averted a walkout and will be voted on all day Monday by 664 members of Local 5-550 of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International. They had been working under a temporary no-strike agreement with plant operator USEC Inc. since Aug. 29, four weeks after soundly rejecting an offer to replace their five-year contract that expired July 31. Donna Steele, president of the union, said about 75 percent of the members attended one of three informational meetings on Tuesday to learn details of the contract. "That was a pretty good turnout and shows they are interested," she said. "Overall, I think they are pleased to have something to vote on, but I don't think they are real pleased with everything we brought back to them," she said. "I'd rather not say how I think they are leaning, but I can tell you that every member of the negotiating committee recommended that it be ratified." In the waning minutes of the negotiations Tuesday morning, Steele was repeatedly on the phone with union officials at the plant to prepare to strike. The walkout initially would have affected about 100 union employees — electricians, instrument mechanics, firefighters, operators and others — working from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Steele said additional USEC supervisory personnel were at the facility to take over in the event of a walkout. The union had made signs and picket participation lists. In 1979, the last time the union struck, workers were off the job a month. Union Carbide was running the plant for the U.S. Department of Energy. "We were as close to a strike as we've been since then," Steele, a longtime union official, said of the tension early Tuesday morning. "I think if something hadn't broken last (Monday) night at 11:30, we'd have been out. I felt I didn't have any choice but to have called them out, and I would have done it." Thirty minutes before the strike deadline, bargainers in a conference room at J.R.'s Executive Inn began making significant progress on the finer points of the agreement. The two sides repeatedly swapped proposals, meeting together then separately to plan the next move. "The big thing was our insurance," Steele said. "It was a problem for us." She said USEC wanted to raise the union's part of the insurance cost, called a co-pay, from 9 percent to 12 percent, but the union held out for 10 percent. The company agreed to that and also eased off substantial increases in overall insurance costs, she said. Another critical issue was pension. Steele said workers were unhappy that their company-paid retirement wasn't keeping pace with the soaring cost of health care. Although USEC officials refused to give a percentage increase, they did agree to raise from $18 to $50 the amount added monthly to pension payouts, she said. "That was one of our sticking points," she said. "We wanted to help people that wanted out of the plant to be where they could retire and enjoy their lives a little better and not spend everything they earned on medical insurance." A third hurdle was contract length. USEC wanted roughly a 16-month agreement, retroactive to July 31 and expiring Nov. 26, 2002. Because they didn't want another pre-Thanksgiving bargaining marathon, Steele and other union leaders insisted the pact last until January. If approved, the new contract will last until Jan. 31, 2003. It will continue a 4 percent pay raise, effective July 31 under the temporary agreement, until next July 31. A 3.4 percent increase will then last the duration. USEC, struggling to compete in a glutted world uranium market, wanted the union to participate in a so-called "strategic alliance" to improve working conditions, increase efficiency and otherwise make the plant more profitable. Steele said the international and local unions will agree to try the effort if the contract is ratified, but union laws prohibited tying it to the negotiations. USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle declined to discuss bargaining issues, but said, "We are certainly pleased we were able to reach this tentative agreement and hope that it is ratified by a vote from the membership Monday." Steele held three informational meetings Tuesday at the union hall on Cairo Road to explain the agreement. Although a new contract could result from the gains made since workers overwhelmingly rejected the August offer, Steele would not make that prediction. "I don't know," she said, weary from about three hours' sleep. "I'm hoping we'll get a new contract because we're tired." ***************************************************************** 6 Safeguarding Uranium November 20, 2001 Can Bush and Putin Control Russia's Arsenal? (November 13, 2001) o the Editor: Senators Christopher J. Dodd and Chuck Hagel are right to say financing should be "drastically increased" for programs aimed at keeping weapons-grade uranium and plutonium in the former Soviet Union out of terrorists' hands (Op-Ed, Nov. 13). The Bush administration's budget now calls for cutting funds to those very programs: $40 million from the Pentagon's cooperative threat reduction program and $100 million from the Energy Department's nonproliferation programs. One hopes it will not take another catastrophic attack for the administration to get its priorities straight on this matter. MARTIN MALIN Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 13, 2001 The writer is program director of the Committee on International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************