***************************************************************** 10/21/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.247 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 FTW: TERRORIST SAM'S MAY BE IN U.S. - NUKE PLANTS POSSIBLE 2 Nuclear reactor arrives amid protest 3 Russian Atomic Energy Minister appointed to CIS nuclear energy 4 Sellafield accident 'could cause one million cancer cases 5 Russia develops world's first comprehensive radiation scanner 6 Egypt renews call to put nuclear installations under 7 Rowland stands by refusal to deploy National Guard troops at 8 Terrorism protection comes at a (high) cost 9 Nuclear Plants Could Be Attacked by Terrorists 10 US anthrax scare spreads to nuclear safety 11 Belarus to build nuclear power plant - energy chief 12 OTHER OPINION: Nuclear power plants vulnerable to terrorists 13 Thinking the unthinkable: Is nuclear terrorism next? 14 France positions missiles to protect nuclear plant 15 Time to go public on energy debate 16 Nuclear fuel waste shipment delayed 17 Nuclear Plant Surveillance Continues 18 Opinion: Skull Valley HLW storage... Too Risky 19 Electricity numbers still don't add up to good deal 20 Green Party Hears Call to Block N-Waste 21 Greens stage nuclear protest 22 Sinn Fein calls for Sellafield closure 23 Egypt renews call to put nuclear installations in ME under IAEA supervision 24 Peers oppose Buyer's idea to use nuclear device 25 Legislators back off nuclear-waste issue 26 Statewide Security Could Expand To Nuclear Plants 27 Gov Gets Feds to Keep Patrolling Nuke Plant 28 Frustrating U.S., China Balks at Pact to Stem Nuclear Sales 29 Ont. energy minister takes heat for report on dangers at nuclear plant 30 BNFL on the brink of bankruptcy 31 Potassium iodide pills available for those living near Seabrook Station 32 Don't Sacrifice ANWR 33 Canada orders tighter security at nuclear plants 34 [Nuclear Power is a] Terrorist Invitation 35 The Sunday Times: Terrorism 36 IRISH FEARS: Jacob ordered to release emergency response plan 37 Thinking the unthinkable: Is nuclear terrorism next? 38 Austrian head pessimistic about Czechs' plan to complete nuclear 39 Romania, Russia sign agreement on warning in case of nuclear 40 Ukraine to extend service life of its nuclear reactors 41 Russia completing Iran nuclear plant, planning another NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Peers oppose Buyer's idea to use nuclear device 2 HAZARD: Missing Radiation Sources Pose Risks 3 Elite U.S. team works to keep nuclear bombs from terrorists 4 Families rush radiation tests 5 Crisis Restores Trust in Government 6 Rocky Flats clean up resumes 7 Kursk set to surface again - 8 Three agencies resort to wire-tapping - ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 FTW: TERRORIST SAM'S MAY BE IN U.S. - NUKE PLANTS POSSIBLE Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 00:35:29 -0500 (CDT) Terrorist Surface to Air Missiles Possibly in U.S. Government is in "No Comment" Mode by Michael C. Ruppert [ Copyright 2001, Michael C. Ruppert and From The Wilderness Publications. All Rights Reserved. - May be recopied or distributed for non-profit purposes only.] (Editorial Note: Although FTW has received many reports pertaining to the likely nature of future terrorist attacks we have refrained from publishing them because we either felt that they were unsubstantiated or risked causing unnecessary alarm. This story is the first such story that we have felt it essential to report. We view the anthrax outbreaks of recent weeks as a distracting form of psychological warfare, which do not pose an immediate risk to any large numbers of people.) FTW, October 19, 2001, 1400 PDT - Credible information received by FTW from a source long connected to intelligence operations, and circumstantially supported by recent but little publicized events - including government alerts - indicates that a number of hand-held surface-to-air missiles, perhaps as many as 35, may have been smuggled into the U.S. from Canada. Events in the last two days at U.S. and French nuclear generating plants lend credibility to the source's claims. On October 15 Michael Riconosciuto, a computer programmer connected by government documents to CIA and FBI intelligence operations involving Promis software, made contact with a radio talk show host who has requested anonymity. Riconosciuto passed on a warning that as many as 35 Russian-made surface to air missiles had been smuggled across the Canadian border into the U.S. The movement of the missiles reportedly occurred within the last week to ten days. According to the broadcaster the missiles were part of a two-phase attack on the United States that began with the World Trade Center attacks on September 11. The second phase of the plan was to shoot down large aircraft over population centers and/or "high value" targets. Although Riconosciuto is currently an inmate in the federal penitentiary at Allenwood, PA - serving a sentence on a drug conviction - he has repeatedly been the source of highly accurate information as documented in a number of press stories, even while in prison. His status as a credible intelligence source, both for U.S. and foreign agencies was confirmed last year in an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) national security staff. During that investigation, members of the RCMP - tracking developments around an intelligence software program known as Promis - visited FTW editor Michael Ruppert and acknowledged that Riconosciuto was a key player with highly sensitive intelligence knowledge. However, both the RCMP investigators and Ruppert shared the opinion that Riconosciuto's information was not always 100% accurate. (To read a fuller description on the RCMP/Promis investigation please visit http://www.copvcia.com/stories/may_2001/052401_promis.html.) In a recent and unrelated development, United States government agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, acknowledged in FOX News reports on October 17, that they had stopped using Promis. FTW has confirmed that the FBI now admits use of the software. These sudden reversals came after years of denials - including court testimony - from those agencies that they had ever used the software. These confirmations support longstanding claims made by Riconosciuto. On the evening of October 17, as confirmed by brief but unpublicized stories by the Associated Press and in direct interviews by FTW, the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant outside of Harrisburg, PA was put on a state of high alert. At the same time the FAA ordered an immediate and unexplained shutdown of the Harrisburg airport located just a few miles from the plant. On October 19, an AP report disclosed that France had suddenly set up a radar system in northwest France to "sweep the skies above Europe's largest nuclear reprocessing plant as a precaution against airborne suicide attacks." Taken at its face the AP story seems to indicate preparations for a different kind of attack. However, it raises questions about why military and civilian radar systems currently in operation would not detect an aircraft moving off course toward the plant and might possibly be a cover to disguise other kinds of preparations. There are too many operational variables to determine, one way or another, if the French move is connected to events at TMI. Harrisburg airport spokesperson, Scott Miller, told FTW that he had no knowledge of why the FAA ordered the shutdown of the Harrisburg airport on Wednesday night. "We were just following orders from the FAA." FAA Eastern Regional spokesperson Jim Peters told FTW, "Even if I knew, I'd have to refer you to the FBI. An unidentified spokesperson at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. told FTW, "No comment." The Harrisburg airport reopened yesterday morning. What is clear is that nuclear facilities have become a very clear priority for defensive precautions since September 11. There are 103 nuclear power plants in the United States. The French facility at La Hague is a reprocessing facility that handles highly radioactive nuclear waste from reactors in Europe and Asia, according to the AP story. France is almost totally dependent on nuclear energy. Dave Carl, speaking for the TMI plant's owner, Exelon Nuclear, told FTW, "The events of Wednesday night began when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified TMI that a security threat had been made against the plant. The good news was that nothing happened. We are taking extra security measures." Carl declined to state whether there was a known direct connection between events at TMI and the Harrisburg airport. According to Carl, TMI is currently undergoing a scheduled refueling and maintenance period. The plant is currently shut down and scheduled for a restart in early November. Riconosciuto allegedly told the talk show host who forwarded the information that he has been warning the FBI of terrorist-related surface-to-air missile attacks for months and that the FBI has attempted to silence him. The talk show host told FTW that Riconosciuto fears direct reprisals for having issued a warning to the media. end ***************************************************************** 2 Nuclear reactor arrives amid protest China Post; Oct 21, 2001 Despite angry protests from local residents, two main parts of the nuclear reactor yesterday arrived in Taipei County's Kungliao township, a small fishing place the site of the under-construction fourth nuclear power plant. Shipped on two barges, the arrival of the nuclear reactor's parts once again riled sentiments among Kungliao residents some of who think that the monetary compensation awarded by the government for the construction of the plant in their home town was not enough. According to resident representatives, each time authorities ship the nuclear reactor's parts into town, they are asked to stay home and are not able to fish. And that, as many of them claimed, has cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue. To make up for the money lost, the Kungliao residents now demand authorities pay them an additional NT$50 million. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials in the area said, even though there were only some 30 fishermen from the fishing town showed up for yesterday's protest, they still had to dispatch 17 patrol boats from the coast guard to prevent protesters from blocking the waterway. In addition to the "escort on the sea", police have also mobilized some 300 officers to arrive the area in clearing the path on land for Saturday's delivery. And with a brief "held between the protesters and authorities to set up time for later negotiation, the protest ended in peace with the parts of the nuclear reactor shipped to the construction site as planned. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 3 Russian Atomic Energy Minister appointed to CIS nuclear energy commission BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 20, 2001 Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Russian Atomic Energy Minister Aleksandr Rumyantsev has been appointed to the CIS commission on the use of atomic energy. Former Russian Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeniy Adamov has been dropped from the commission. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed the appropriate order, RIA was told in the department of governmental information. Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0706 gmt 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 4 Sellafield accident 'could cause one million cancer cases online.ie 21 Oct 2001 An unpublished EU report says up to one million people could die from cancer if an accident were to occur at the Sellafield nuclear plant. A report in today's newspapers says that, according to the report, an accident at the plant in Cumbria would release nearly 40 times the amount of radioactive material that was released by the Chernobyl disaster. The Taoiseach has expressed his concern to the British Prime Minister concerning the controversial nuclear plant. The Irish Government has vowed to fight the new plans for a new mixed oxide facility at the plant, which is situated on the Irish Sea. ***************************************************************** 5 Russia develops world's first comprehensive radiation scanner BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 18, 2001 Text of report by Russian NTV on 18 October [Presenter] A unique development from scientists in St Petersburg: They have invented a new device which identifies the presence of all kinds of radio-nuclides in the human body, including the effects of high-energy radiation. The metal from which the device is constructed is the only one on the planet with neutral background radiation. A report on how they developed it from our correspondent in St Petersburg, Valeriy Dragilev. [Correspondent] At the moment the unique device-to-be for human radiological testing does not look very presentable, the experts need just a steel shell with an imposing door. Inside the device there will be 23 various detectors, highly sensitive low-background spectrometers of human radiation for expert investigations, which is the correct title for the whole unit. It is here that for the first time in the world they have been able to identify all three forms of radiation - alpha, beta and gamma - simultaneously in the human body. This seat is called a human radiation spectrometer, HRS [Russian acronym is SICH] for short. It can only measure gamma radiation and specialized Russian clinics at present can only test for this kind of radiation. The even more dangerous alpha and beta radiation still go undetected, not just by the eye but by instruments, too. However, the spectrometer, if they manage to build it, will be able not only to identify sources of any kind of radiation, but will locate it to within a few centimetres, whether it is radiation-contaminated food in the stomach or a radioactive speck that has got into the lungs of an emergency worker at Chernobyl. Not finding a speck like that in good time can have the gravest consequences. [Voldemar Tarita, head of the human radiation spectrometer laboratory at the All-Russian Centre for Emergency Radiation Medicine of the Russian Emergencies Ministry] Ultimately, it can be removed. To take an example, if you remove a part or a whole lung, the person will be disabled. If you can detect this hot particle at an early stage and remove it using modern microscopic methods, the person will come out of it healthy and in a year's time will be back to what they were, living a normal working life. That's very important. And there's nothing like that in the world right now. [Correspondent] This accuracy is possible thanks to this 100t box with its 17cm-thick steel floor, ceiling and walls, plus a centimetre-thick coating of lead, a coating of cadmium and a coating of copper. Inside there is no incidental radiation, even the effect of natural background radiation is completely excluded. The scientists call the steel from which the protective shell has been constructed "pre-Chernobyl", in other words it was smelted before the disaster and, as the scientists say, it was difficult to find. At the moment the All-Russian Centre for Emergency Radiation Medicine, where the unit is being developed, is marking its 10th anniversary. It has spent almost that long now developing the new spectrometer. They built the chamber first and then constructed the premises in which they are now around it. The premises were built, then there was not enough money for the spectrometer itself. Now, in order to complete the 5m-dollar project, - in the West it is estimated at 50m - they only need 107,000 dollars more, which the department's accountant will wring out of somewhere. Source: NTV, Moscow, in Russian 1200 gmt 18 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 6 Egypt renews call to put nuclear installations under international supervision BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 20, 2001 Text of report in English by Egyptian news agency MENA web site New York, 19 October: Egypt renewed its call for putting nuclear installations in the Middle East under guarantees supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It pointed to the real danger threatening the security and safety of the Egyptian people and neighbouring countries as a result of the presence of the Israeli nuclear reactor in the Negev Desert on Egypt's eastern borders. Israel has been refusing to put its nuclear reactors under international supervision. Egypt's ambassador to the united Nations Ahmad Abu-al-Ghayt said on Friday [19 October] that he reiterated the Egyptian demands during the United Nations General Assembly discussions on the issue of atomic radiation. He said that Israel must comply with the international resolutions in that respect, including the one approved by the IAEA last September. Source: MENA news agency web site, Cairo, in English 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 7 Rowland stands by refusal to deploy National Guard troops at Millstone TheDay.com: Local and National News October 20 By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Tim Martin/The Day Joe Besade of Waterford, secretary of Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, holds a badge representing his view on Millstone. Besade is in his basement, which contains videotapes of all the meetings he has attended in the past five yeas. Hartford — Gov. John G. Rowland stood fast in his refusal to dispatch National Guard troops to Millstone Nuclear Power Station, even as critics of that policy took to the steps of the State Capitol on Thursday and the federal government reacted to the first specific threat on a nuclear plant. Rowland's press secretary, Dean Pagani, said the governor is satisfied that the nuclear station in Waterford is adequately protected. After the Sept. 11 attacks Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, the owner of Millstone, installed barriers to restrict traffic to the nuclear station and increased the number of guards working each shift. Rowland has also rejected calls to use the National Guard at the closed Connecticut Yankee reactor in Haddam. Though the plant has not operated for five years, highly radioactive nuclear waste remains stored there. Several members of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone held a morning news conference at the Capitol to urge Rowland to utilize the National Guard at both plants. They also urged that Millstone station cease operations, a move that would not eliminate the terrorist threat, but might make the station a less attractive target, they said. Millstone has two operating reactors and a substantial amount of high-level nuclear waste. The latest call for added security at Millstone came one day after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission responded to the first specific threat to a nuclear plant since the Sept. 11 attacks. Intelligence agencies informed the NRC of a specific threat against the Three Mile Island nuclear power station in Pennsylvania between 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, said Neil A. Sheehan, a spokesman for the agency. As a result of the threat, the nuclear plant went to a higher state of alert and additional NRC personnel arrived at both the NRC's regional offices in King of Prussia, Pa., and at its national headquarters in Rockville, Md., to coordinate all responses to the event. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency was also activated and both Harrisburg International Airport and Lancaster Airport were closed to reduce the threat of an airborne attack. They did not reopen until 1 a.m. Sheehan said that by Thursday morning law enforcement authorities determined the threat was not credible. Nancy Burton, an attorney for the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, said the Three Mile Island incident was evidence of the need to have the highest level of security possible at the nation's nuclear plants. She said the spent fuel storage pools, which contain the nuclear waste generated by the nuclear plants, are particularly vulnerable to a terrorist attack. Connecticut would respond to a specific threat much as Pennsylavania did, said Pagani. The Three Mile Island incident is not a reason to station the National Guard at Millstone or Connecticut Yankee, he said. Joe Besade, a Waterford resident who lives just a couple of miles from Millstone station, charged Rowland with risking a catastrophe by not providing more security. He attended the Hartford news conference. “Thousands of tons of high-level radioactive waste are in storage in vulnerable pools at the Millstone and Connecticut Yankee reactors,” said Besade. “They are virtually unprotected against air attack, sea attack and land attack.” The Coast Guard defended its operations near Millstone. Capt. Joe Coccia, commander of Group Marine Safety Long Island Sound, said the Coast Guard is aggressively patrolling and protecting both Millstone and the Naval Submarine Base, Groton. Two local legislators, state Sen. Melodie Peters and Rep. Andrea Stillman, both Democrats representing Waterford, have asked to meet with the governor about Millstone security. Pagani said he was not sure the governor would hold such a meeting, but that regardless, his position on not using the Guard remains unchanged. © 1998-2001 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 8 Terrorism protection comes at a (high) cost The San Francisco Examiner By Fred Dodsworth Of The Examiner Staff San Francisco department heads claimed Tuesday that while our lives are safe, our wallets may not be. Speakers from seven city departments told members of the city's economic vitality committee that they need more long-term funding, especially if they are going to maintain the current state of heightened security. Figures were not immediately available, but estimates run into the millions. "We are prepared to handle chemical, biological and radioactive events," said John Brown, medical director of the Emergency Medical Services section of the Department of Public Health. The department is responsible for detecting biological attacks, both visible and invisible, communicating the danger level to the public, and treating and decontaminating us if we are attacked, he said. Addressing biological weapons like anthrax and smallpox, Dr. Brown said his department -- and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta -- would have appropriate treatment on the streets within six to eight hours, and within 24 to 48 hours for exotic biological agents. "We've seen that anthrax isn't the horrible disease we thought it was," said Lucien Canton, director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Services. "We can treat it and it's not something to live in fear of." Brown said the preparedness of the general public is of greater concern. He stressed the importance of having a home emergency kit with sufficient food, water and other necessities to get through a minimum of three days disruption. The security of our water supply system was addressed by Steven Leonard of the Public Utilities Commission. Leonard said that due to its enormous size and the fact that main water lines are highly pressurized, the possibility of bioterrorist attacks was "virtually impossible." San Francisco supplies 100 million gallons a day for local use and an additional 200 million gallons a day to other cities. The system was specifically engineered to withstand earthquakes, fires, pipe failures, treatment plant failures and terrorist attacks. The police, fire and sheriff's departments also expressed confidence in their abilities. "We are prepared -- at least as prepared as any city in this country," said Earl Saunders, assistant chief of the San Francisco Police Department. The fire, police, sheriff, emergency services and public health departments have been training together since 1996 to respond to earthquakes, fires, and terrorists. Saunders, also, stressed that the public needs to prepare itself "For the first 24 to 48 hours, citizens are going to be on their own," he said. "They're going to need to be responsible for their non-hospital emergency needs." He also asked citizens to be aware of unusual events or suspicious activities and report them to the police. "We will use those same principles we use to fight crime to fight terrorists," said Saunders. "If someone had just bothered to notice when Timothy McVeigh was buying 5,000 pounds of fertilizer that he was wearing tennis shoes, that he wasn't a farmer, we could have avoided Oklahoma." ***************************************************************** 9 Nuclear Plants Could Be Attacked by Terrorists October 20, 2001 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Re "We Need the National Guard to Protect Our Nuclear Plants," Commentary, Oct. 11: Driving north and south on I-5, I and thousands of others pass right by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, on the northern edge of Camp Pendelton. Suddenly, it dawned on me how incredibly easy it would be for two or three suicidal 18-wheelers heading south on the 5 to pull over to the side of the freeway (as many of them do), exactly opposite the two domes of the nuclear reactors, only 50 or 60 yards from them, and within 10 to 20 seconds detonate themselves! Even if they didn't rupture the domes, even if radiation leakage was kept to a minimum, the psychological impact would be huge. Southern California would empty itself. Businesses couldn't function due to the exodus of workers who, rightly or wrongly, would fear for their lives. We must have a military force on the San Onofre premises. There should be F-16s circling overhead and some force stationed on both sides of the freeway as well as on the ocean side to immediately intercept any vehicle that stops within a mile of the facility. Are all of our futures here in Southern California really left to a small, overworked, privately run security force? Call out the Marines! Richard Armstrong Carlsbad Why is the National Guard not protecting San Onofre? Gerald A. Caterina Huntington Beach We have 103 nuclear weapons distributed across our nation, waiting to be detonated by our enemies. Why would we need a missile defense system to protect us against nuclear weapons when the weapons are already here, conveniently built and placed by us? The federal and state governments have done nothing to protect us. As Daniel Hirsch points out, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has failed in its responsibility to protect us. Instead, it has bent over backward to protect industry profits. Just as those who designed and built the New York twin towers didn't think of our airliners as bombs that could annihilate the buildings, so the great geniuses who conceived of, built and managed our nuclear plants didn't imagine having to protect these plants from a Chernobyl-type meltdown. If the containment dome or the controls of the plants were destroyed, there would be thousands of square miles of cancer-inducing radioactive contamination lasting eons around the site of each plant disaster. Could America survive this? The twin towers incident sounds the death knell for nuclear power. Richard Saxon Encino Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 10 US anthrax scare spreads to nuclear safety New Zealand News - World - 19.10.2001 WASHINGTON/KABUL - US fears of unconventional terrorist attacks spread from anthrax and germ warfare to nuclear safety on Thursday with a major power plant threatened as US planes pounded Afghanistan for the 12th day in their war on terrorism. The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was put on high alert after receiving a "credible threat," further jangling American nerves already frayed by last month's mass killings in New York and Washington and three dozen subsequent cases of anthrax or exposure to the potential germ warfare weapon. "We were notified last night that a security threat had been made against Three Mile Island. That threat was deemed credible. We took extra security measures and we remain at that heightened state of alert," said David Carl, spokesman for operators Exelon Nuclear. On the military front, US planes in Afghanistan continued a fierce bombardment of targets of the ruling Taleban, who are sheltering Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks with hijacked airliners that killed nearly 5400 people. On the diplomatic front, President George W. Bush arrived in China for an Asian summit, hoping to shore up support from countries as diverse as China, the world's largest remaining communist country, and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. But it was the home front with anthrax and the latest nuclear warning that preoccupied Americans. Harrisburg International Airport and Lancaster airport near the nuclear plant were shut for four hours. Local television stations said temporary flight restrictions were put into effect for a 32km radius around the airports and military aircraft were dispatched to protect Three Mile Island -- the site in 1979 of the worst nuclear accident in the United States. Melanie White, spokeswoman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said later the plant "is implementing safety standards" as governed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She added, "Everything appears back to normal." Although no hard evidence has been found linking anthrax-laced letters to bin Laden, Bush has said there could be a link. The government offered a $US1 million ($2.41 million) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for mailing anthrax, FBI Director Robert Mueller announced. The spread of anthrax contamination by letter forced an unprecedented closing of part of US Congress on Wednesday and spooked financial markets around the world. The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives closed until Tuesday for anthrax testing on their side of the Capitol Hill complex, but the Democratic-controlled Senate remained in session after 31 congressional staffers tested positive for anthrax exposure. The contamination arrived in an anthrax-tainted letter at the office of senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on Monday. The closures marked an unprecedented halt to business for an environmental safety check. The last time there was such a closure was on the day of the September attacks when the Senate also shut down. US Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge said five people had tested positive for anthrax out of thousands who have been given tests after letters containing powder arrived at media offices in Florida and New York, Congress and many other addresses, some of them clearly hoaxes. A CBS employee who works with TV News anchor Dan Rather in New York tested positive for skin anthrax, making the company the third major network to be exposed to the potentially deadly disease. The anthrax scare has spread far beyond US borders. Security guards sealed off the mailroom of the lower house of the French parliament after a letter containing a suspect white powder triggered a new anthrax alert in Paris. Part of Australia's national parliament was evacuated for five hours after an employee of Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock opened a package that spilled out white powder. Later tests showed the package contained no anthrax. But in Nairobi, a letter sent to an unidentified Kenyan businessman tested positive for anthrax. Kenyan Health minister Sam Ongeri said the letter was posted from Atlanta on September and passed via Miami. In Japan, letters containing suspicious powder were delivered to the US consulate in Osaka and three major Japanese newspapers. In Afghanistan, the 12th day of air raids went ahead despite appeals from aid agencies for a break to get badly needed food into the country. For the first time ever, the United States is flying armed, unmanned drones into combat. "Predator" spy planes, armed with anti-tank missiles are taking to the skies over Afghanistan, US defence officials said on Thursday. The remote-controlled RQ-1 aircraft have been modified by the Air Force to carry two Hellfire missiles, which have been fired several times in the intense 12-day air campaign. "It is a first, a small revolution. It's certainly not widespread or overwhelming, but we have said nothing is ruled out," said one official, who asked not to be identified. Defence experts have called such a move a first step toward perhaps one day building unmanned, long-range bombers that can carry dozens of missiles and bombs to overseas targets without risking human crews. The Taleban's ambassador to Pakistan said more than 400 people had been killed so far in the US-led strikes on Afghanistan and confirmed that the country was running short of food and medicines. Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef's statement accused the United States of "committing state terrorism ... under the cover of fighting terrorism." More than 60 people have been killed in a fierce bombardment of the capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar since Wednesday morning, the Afghan Islamic Press said on Thursday, quoting Taleban officials. Thursday morning raids hit at targets around Kandahar, which was rocked by a series of powerful explosions, and Jalalabad in the east -- the hub of Afghanistan's notorious guerrilla training camps, witnesses told Reuters. At least seven civilians were killed and several injured by exploding ammunition after US warplanes bombed a Taleban munitions dump to the north of Kabul, witnesses said. But the Taleban, who have denounced the air strikes as a war on Islam, said all their leaders were alive and well and so was their guest bin Laden. "They are all safe. None of the leaders of the Islamic Emirate (Taleban) and nor our guests have been hurt since the start of the American attacks," Education Minister and top government spokesman Amir Khan Muttaqi told Reuters in Kabul. Bush's first official visit to China is his first trip outside the United States since the September 11 suicide attacks. With the US president keen to ensure global backing for his war on terrorism, latest developments in that region threatened to complicate his task of selling the idea to sceptical Muslims. Israel, incensed at Wednesday's assassination of right-wing cabinet minister and former general Rehavam Zeevi, threatened to invoke the war on terrorism to justify attacking the Palestinians if they fail to hand over Zeevi's killers. Any flare-up in the Middle East could alienate the very Muslim nations Bush is courting. Flexing its military muscle, Israel sent tanks and troops into two Palestinian-ruled areas on Thursday, sparking battles in which two Palestinians died. It told Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to deliver Zeevi's killers or face retribution. Cabinet secretary Gideon Saar said Israel would "act against the Palestinian Authority in the way currently accepted by the international community to act against a leadership that supports terror" if Arafat fails to do so. US Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared the ground for Bush at a meeting of foreign and trade ministers on Thursday at which he said he won support for the strikes against Afghanistan. Despite previous public opposition by predominantly Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia, Powell said there was no dissent among the ministers. "I found understanding among my colleagues," Powell told a news conference." - REUTERS ©Copyright 2001, New Zealand Herald ***************************************************************** 11 Belarus to build nuclear power plant - energy chief BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2001 Minsk, 19 October: "Our country has been programmed to have a nuclear power plant because of its own scarce energy resources," the head of the Belenerha [Belarus Energy state-owned] concern, Yawhen Mishura, told a news conference held in Minsk today. He added that the building of a nuclear power plant was "a matter of distant future". "Our country has virtually no organic fuel of its own," Mishuk said. "Belarus extracts only 1.8-2m tonnes of oil every year and less than 1bn cu.m. of associated gas. As far as peat is concerned, it cannot be used at power plants, what it can be used for is only to produce fertilizers." The Belenerha head said that in future nuclear technologies "will significantly advance, and we will also have to cooperate on these issues and to build a nuclear power plant. However, this will not occur within this decade. One of the reasons is that we have enough generating facilities at present and have extensive plans to modernize them," he said. [Passage omitted: Belarus will host international conference on nuclear technology on 24-26 October; several heating plants have been modernized] Source: Belapan news agency, Minsk, in Belarusian 1557 gmt 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 12 OTHER OPINION: Nuclear power plants vulnerable to terrorists Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ajc.com OPINIONSUNDAY • October 21, 2001 Tim Zink - For the Journal-Constitution After emerging unscathed from the Cold War, when nuclear annihilation was the ultimate possible consequence, the nuclear specter has again closed on us. Terrorists, our opponents in this newest war, have the capability to launch a nuclear attack on American soil, so long as the perimeters of domestic nuclear reactor sites remain chronically porous. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has in recent years attempted to move away from a highly effective security evaluation program known as Operational Safeguards Response Evaluations, in which teams simulating armed attacks attempt to penetrate reactor sites. A former U.S. Navy SEAL and NRC contractor, Capt. David Orrick, ran the OSRE program. Orrick's teams often were able to compromise sensitive areas within reactor sites --- sometimes gaining access to plants' control rooms --- even though the managers of the sites frequently were notified in advance of coming evaluations. Despite the proven ability of OSRE to expose weaknesses in reactor fortifications, the NRC in 1998 canceled the program. After apparently learning of the cancellation from media sources, NRC Director Richard Meserve reinstated OSRE, but the commission subsequently announced it would this fall start a pilot program under which the operators of reactor sites would essentially police themselves. The move drew criticism from nuclear watchdog groups and Orrick himself. Orrick wrote in 1999, "In effect, it [OSRE] is the only program NRC has that directly focuses on the terrorist threat against nuclear power plants --- significant weaknesses were identified in 27 of 57 plants (or 47 percent) evaluated to date. 'Significant' here means a real attack would have put the reactor in jeopardy with the potential for core damage and a radioactive release, i.e., an American Chernobyl." These results came after the average plant used 82 percent more armed defenders in the simulated attack than they commit to using in the event of a real attack. Very few other potential terrorist operations could match the sheer destructive potential of a strike on a domestic nuclear reactor. After being considered unlikely targets for years because of a perceived unwillingness on the part of terrorists to kill extremely large numbers of civilians, the events of Sept. 11 forced an immediate re-evaluation of reactors' strategic importance. As Congress crafts nuclear-specific measures as part of larger anti-terrorism legislation, guaranteeing the future of OSRE should be a priority. The project comes with a relatively low price tag --- its total operating budget is slightly more than $100,000 --- and is consistent with other recent congressional actions to bolster nuclear security. The U.S. House of Representatives recently proposed extending laws prohibiting nuclear sabotage to include nuclear waste fabrication, treatment and disposal facilities. By extending these laws, legal protections would be bolstered should any aspect of the nuclear handling process come under attack. The House also approved an amendment to study nuclear plants' design vulnerabilities and possible protection measures. If made law, the results of this analysis would be due back to Congress within 90 days of enactment, presumably to provide the basis for future, more stringent anti-terror measures. Stronger action still needs to be taken now. Several measures to be debated could quickly elevate our national nuclear security. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has submitted legislation to take the design-vulnerabilities study steps further, guaranteeing revisions to NRC standards within one year of enactment. This revision would be done in consultation with the defense secretary; directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security; the national security adviser and others, including the public, before completion. Other voices within Congress have called for the protection of reactor sites nationwide by National Guard troops. New York Gov. George Pataki dispatched guardsmen this month to the state's nuclear power plants, and troops have been in place at selected installations in New Jersey since the Sept. 11 attacks. The decision to use National Guard troops remains up to individual states, however, and many, including Georgia, have chosen not to use them for plant protection. Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, spurred by a Sept. 13 incident in which an unidentified airplane swooped close to a nuclear power station, recently urged federal officials to create no-fly zones around U.S. reactors. The Federal Aviation Administration responded with a warning that these zones would allow terrorists to pinpoint the exact location of every plant in the country. The locations of U.S. nuclear power plants are in no way secret, however, and recent events have transformed these plants into installations of fundamental military importance, in terms of their basic threat to American lives. The use of National Guard troops and no-fly zones to protect nuclear installments is now simply necessary, and will be well into the future. © 2001 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ***************************************************************** 13 Thinking the unthinkable: Is nuclear terrorism next? Thestar.com/ Sun Oct 21, 2001 - Updated at 08:53 PM `All you'd need would be a graduate student specializing in physics' - Ivan Safranchuk,Centre for Defence Information Olivia Ward MOSCOW - Nuclear terrorism used to be the domain of thriller writers and science fiction buffs. But thinking the unthinkable is now the stuff of everyday life, as a traumatized public wonders what may come next. If biological terror is here now, people reckon, will the ultimate threat, nuclear attack, happen tomorrow? Anxiety is heightened by replays of testimony from Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, a member of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, who was on trial for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. He told a New York district court that he arranged meetings with smugglers in Sudan in the 1990s, offering $1.5 million for weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear attack. The revelations have sent American officials speeding to tighten security in U.S. nuclear facilities. But in Russia and the former Soviet republics, where the past decade has seen an unsettling decline in nuclear security, there is more cause for alarm. For years rumours have circulated of small "briefcase bombs" gone astray, and of loose nuclear material for sale on the black market. There are allegations that bin Laden, the suspected mastermind in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S., paid millions of dollars to stockpile some of the portable weapons at a hideout near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Russian and Western experts are skeptical. But they are now taking hard looks at the possibility of nuclear terrorism originating in their midst. And some of their conclusions are far from reassuring. "If you ask me if nuclear terrorism is possible, I think the short answer is yes," admits Ivan Safranchuk, director of the Centre for Defence Information's Moscow office. "But if we're talking about using a sophisticated modern weapon, like those in the hands of the U.S. and Russian special forces, it's very unlikely." In the mid-1990s, Gen. Alexander Lebed, then head of the Russian Security Council, said there were 84 missing "briefcase bombs" that could be strapped into backpacks and carried over short distances. They would be capable of killing some 100,000 people. But the flamboyant military man, famous for terse and dramatic statements, never proved his case, and was later fired from then-president Boris Yeltsin's administration. Alexei Yablokov, head of the Russian Centre for Environmental Policy and Yeltsin's former environmental adviser, did his own investigation, and concluded the rumoured bombs existed. But, he said, "I had several meetings with the military authorities responsible for these weapons, and they assured me all were under strict control." Proof that the weapons would not be viable for terrorists, Yablokov said, was that they were developed and stored under top-secret conditions by the KGB in the 1970s, but never deployed. "Now, I don't think (workable) suitcase bombs exist in Russia, because each of them needs to have its fissile material replaced," Yablokov said, referring to the material that fuels an atomic reaction. "A warhead needs replacement every five to 10 years. As these devices are quite old, it doesn't seem feasible that they could be used today." Terrorists would also have to contend with the security codes, stored in Moscow, that would allow the weapons to be fired. More likely, experts say, a terror network like Al Qaeda could acquire enough nuclear material to make a small but dirty bomb of its own. "They could create a primitive nuclear device based not exactly on a chain reaction," said Safranchuk, "but an explosion of nuclear material. It's somewhere between an explosive device and a nuclear weapon." That would kill people in a relatively small radius of a kilometre or more. But the most devastating effect would be widespread terror. Scientists say it would be difficult for a terrorist to put together even a simple atom bomb, such as those first developed in the U.S. and Russian nuclear programs. That would require large resources to hire top specialists and build a laboratory where a chain reaction could be developed. But a "primitive device" such as the one described by Safranchuk, could be more easily achieved - especially with loose nuclear material gleaned from Russia, the former Soviet Union, or any of the dozens of unstable countries that have nuclear plants. "All you'd need would be a graduate student specializing in physics," said Safranchuk. As for materials, there have been numerous reports of enriched and unenriched uranium, and plutonium, smuggled out of Russia since 1991. "There have been several thousand attempts to sell radioactive material to citizens," said Vladimir Slivyak of the environmental lobby group Nuclear Defence. "Some of it was stolen from plants, some from research laboratories, even weapons-grade uranium." And, he said, criminals are ready and waiting to help the terrorists - for a price. "It's not a difficult job for a terrorist to find material. There's a nuclear mafia operating in eastern Europe that specializes in smuggling nuclear materials." In the mid-1990s, German police intercepted several containers of deadly plutonium that were traced to Russia, and the government's own nuclear watchdog Gosatomnadzor complained of an alarming "lack of a state system for accounting and control of nuclear materials." The result, it said, was no "effective state control of transportation, security and treatment of nuclear materials." Environmentalists have petitioned the government for years for help in shoring up nuclear safety. But the plummeting economy, and low priority for environmental matters, has meant that little has been done. Although nuclear weapons were removed from former Soviet republics in the late 1990s, lack of proper inventories, and lack of official interest, have boosted fears that tonnes of weapons grade materials are still sitting in Russia's former fiefdoms. "I just came back from Kazakhstan, and can tell you it's a big problem there," Slivyak said. "Once a year they catch people trying to sell off radioactive material and those are only the attempts we know about." Carelessly guarded material is vulnerable to buyers for black market nuclear goods, ranging from warring ethnic groups to religious and political extremists. According to a recent study by Alex Schmid of the United Nations Terrorism Branch in Vienna, more than 130 terrorist groups pose a nuclear, chemical or biological threat, and a number of those are capable of developing a nuclear-based weapon. Among them is the Al Qaeda network. Sales of nuclear materials by black marketeers are a distinct possibility, given the laxness of guarding nuclear materials in civilian plants in the former Soviet Union. "There are plenty of security violations in nuclear power plants," said Sergei Kharitonov of the Centre for Human Rights and Ecology. "Physical security is poor, especially checkpoints. When you enter and go out of the plants, they aren't well organized." Kharitonov, a former nuclear technologist in the Leningradskaya nuclear plant near St. Petersburg, said drunkenness and drug abuse are also rife among the workers. And with low wages, which were sometimes months in arrears during the 1990s, there was little incentive for guards to be honest or conscientious. "I took big parcels through," he said. "Nobody checked." After Kharitonov was fired for blowing the whistle on the sloppy plant practises, his pass to enter the complex wasn't revoked. The run-down operating condition of the plants is also a danger that terrorists could exploit, experts say. Even cutting power lines to the plants could set off a devastating Chernobyl-like explosion if emergency generators failed to start up. Russian nuclear safety authorities deny the plants are unsafe. But anecdotal evidence shows that the likelihood of a thief or saboteur entering a Russian plant remains a frightening possibility. "The problem is that financing for our nuclear installations is only 5 to 10 per cent (of what is needed)," said energy co-ordinator Vladimir Tchouprov of Greenpeace's Moscow office. "In some places there are no fences." But in the opinion of Russia's nuclear activists, the most dangerous exposure to nuclear terrorism is in the transfer of spent nuclear fuel through Russia for storage and reprocessing. About 14,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste is currently stored in the country, and the only reprocessing plant, Mayak, in the Ural mountain region, has been condemned as a potential second Chernobyl. The anti-nuclear activists are most disturbed about the import of a trainload of waste that is to set off from Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear plant for reprocessing next week. The atomic energy agency Minatom plans to bring in some 20,000 tonnes of spent fuel, a business they hope will be lucrative. "Why we care so much is that a train is a very easy terror target," said Sliyak, whose group is urging the West to offer compensation for Russia to drop the contract. "We have only one train that can carry spent fuel outside the country. If you have a well-trained surveillance team, you know exactly when it will leave and how it can be tracked." Although Russia has had surprisingly few threats of nuclear terrorism - the most well-publicized one was from Chechen rebels in the 1990s - there have been documented cases of nuclear crime using stolen materials. In 1994, a Moscow company director was killed by when a small radioactive device was implanted in his chair. According to Moscow safety authorities, similar devices stolen from plants, hospitals and construction sites pose dangers. "For years we've had no luck alerting the authorities to nuclear threats," said Tchouprov. "Maybe now that they've seen how terrorists operate, they may change their minds. But something must be done quickly." Legal Notice:- Copyright 1996-2001. Toronto Star Newspapers ***************************************************************** 14 France positions missiles to protect nuclear plant Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Security at other key sites may be tightened Stuart Jeffries in Paris and Paul Brown Saturday October 20, 2001 The Guardian France is deploying ground-to-air missiles near a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Normandy in order to thwart possible terrorist suicide bombers in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The French defence ministry announced yesterday that the Crotale missiles were being deployed near the plant at La Hague as part of security rein forcement measures to protect possible targets which, if hit, could cause massive loss of life and injury. Alain Richard, the French minister of defence, said France was prepared to use warplanes to shoot down hijacked aircraft and that putting missile batteries in place was a complementary measure. The government had not been informed of any particular threats. Mr Richard announced that missile batteries and military jets could also be used to protect other nationally important potential targets such as dams and large industrial plants, as well as major cities. France has 19 nuclear power plants producing 76% of the country's electricity, the highest proportion of any country. French military aircraft have previously been deployed to create a so-called protection "bubble" around sites for special events, such as summits of the G7 group of major industrial nations and the World Cup football finals in 1998. In Britain, security has been stepped up at all nuclear sites since September 11 but no measures similar to those announced in France are being contemplated. The most vulnerable and dangerous installation is the Sellafield plant in Cumbria which employs 6,000 people and has vast stores of plutonium, uranium and volatile tanks of high-level radioactive waste in its buildings. A successful attack on the high level waste tanks would devastate a vast area, potentially the whole of northern England if the wind was westerly. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 15 Time to go public on energy debate Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | It's nuclear versus renewables Friday October 19, 2001 The Guardian A way from the war on terrorism, an exhaustive debate about the future of power is under way in Whitehall, company boardrooms, think tanks and eco-groups. The power in question is energy and the debate has been triggered by the government's review of British energy needs over the next 50 years. There are more than 150 submissions available on the website of the cabinet office's performance and innovation unit which is conducting the review. But, stripped to its essentials, this is a debate about how we intend to live our lives in 2050. Even more starkly, it's about how to square security of energy supply - as our own gas and oil reserves are rapidly depleted - with the recognised need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by then. Unfortunately, the debate has become a polemic between proponents of nuclear energy and renewables. The atomic lobby, using some heroic assumptions about cost, planning consents, waste disposal, and public acceptance, has led the field, arguing that a dozen or more new power stations should be built to replace old plants. The existing nuclear crop, supplying a quarter of present energy needs, will be closed by 2025 at the latest; new ones cannot only guarantee that share but, uniquely, help meet the necessary emission targets; renewables are said to be too unreliable to supply base-load power generation. But the green lobby is striking back. This week the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, which includes BP, Shell and Greenpeace, argued that solar power alone could provide energy for 1bn people globally by 2020 and replace the output of 75 new coal-fired power stations and 664m tonnes of CO2. This would imply annual investment of $75bn (£52bn) - another heroic assumption based on huge transnational government support to create a global industry delivering economies of scale and price cuts and, ironically, on exponential energy consumption. Greenpeace's unheroic assumption is that Brian Wilson, the UK energy minister chairing the review, is dead-set on the nuclear renaissance. He is. But Mr Wilson is equally keen on a growing role for renewables. It's time to help him settle the matter. This debate needs to be held in public. Gutsy show Three cheers for Corporate Synergy, an obscure advisory boutique which has shamed the City's big boys by sticking up for Huntingdon Life Sciences. A 14-person outfit headed by a former GP, Synergy floated on Aim earlier this year. The firm provides advice to firms worth up to £100m but has hardly made the City's thundering herds quake in their hooves. This boutique has emerged from the City's backwaters to prove its mettle, stepping in where the sometime "masters of the universe" have so spinelessly fled. It is sad that the firm's role entails advising Huntingdon on its move to Wall Street, where financiers are rumoured to have more guts. The City's desertion of Huntingdon is among the most shameless aspects of the targeting of the animal testing firm. Despite their packages, bankers are rarely asked to make a stand on principle and in this case, they have failed. No doubt Synergy knows what it is up against. A glance at the protesters' website provides a reminder - drugs firm Merck is "scum of the week" because it uses Huntingdon to test its life-saving medicines. Curbing greed It has taken more than two years, an avalanche of numbers on just how greedy Britain's boardroom bosses can be, followed by a full-dress policy U- turn, for the government to decide that companies need to be forced to give their shareholders a vote on executive pay. It is about time. It was so puzzling to watch Stephen Byers at the department of trade ducking an issue which so patently warranted action. This year's Guardian Inbucon survey disclosed a 28% annual increase for the bosses, six times the growth of average earnings. Such discrepancies could be argued away if pay and performance was routinely linked. Too often the relationship has proved too loose, leading to the gross "rewards for failure" which never seem to subside, whatever the economic weather. Institutional shareholders have begun to show that they can influence boards even without a compulsory right to vote, such as at Marks & Spencer earlier this year, where chairman Luc Vandevelde finally gave up the £800,000 bonus he was due for simply turning up to work each day. Now that the government is to make it compulsory for executives to put their policies to the owners of the business, it is time for big institutional shareholders to start using their vote. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 ***************************************************************** 16 Nuclear fuel waste shipment delayed 10/20/01 A shipment of nuclear fuel waste the federal government planned to move through Ohio by train this fall will stay in New York, at least until spring. The U.S. Department of Energy postponed the shipment so it could concentrate on moving other radioactive waste from its laboratory in Idaho to a burial spot in New Mexico, agency spokesman John Chamberlain said yesterday. The 47 tons of waste will remain stored at the closed fuel reprocessing plant outside Buffalo, N.Y., where it's been since the early 1970s. The department planned to ship the waste fuel from New York to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. But it has a commitment with Idaho to move 15,000 barrels of waste from the lab by Dec. 31 of next year, spokesman Brad Bugger said. So far only about a quarter of the waste has been moved, Bugger said. © 2001 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Nuclear Plant Surveillance Continues Las Vegas SUN October 20, 2001 NEW YORK (AP) - Gov. George Pataki said around-the clock surveillance of the Indian Point nuclear power plants will continue, three days after the Coast Guard announced plans to halt the patrol on the Hudson River. The governor, who made a visit to the facility Friday morning, said state and federal officials would continue to assess the long-term security needs at the facility and the Coast Guard will remain on site until completion of the review. On Tuesday, Rear Admiral R.E. Bennis told Entergy Nuclear, the owner of the power plants, that the Coast Guard would no longer provide 24-hour security, "and will be conducting only random patrols in the near future," starting Monday. Entergy officials said the company was confident it could protect the plant. But Rep. Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., whose district includes the two plants, called the Coast Guard's decision misguided and unwise. In a letter to James Kallstrom, the state's new anti-terrorism coordinator, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, wrote: "Your security expertise is urgently needed at Indian Point. The public must be assured that Indian Point is secure on all fronts - air, land and water." The nation's nuclear power plants - 103 reactors at 64 sites in 31 states - have been under heightened alert since the terrorist attacks. National Guard troops were assigned by Pataki to nuclear power plants across the state to provide additional assistance. The National Guard also has been deployed to reactors in other states. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 Opinion: Skull Valley HLW storage... Too Risky The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, October 21, 2001 Although I am a member of the Utah Radiation Control Board, I offer the following thoughts as a private citizen. The response to the recent terrorist attacks included heightened security at nuclear installations. All of a sudden, the threat of a devastating terrorist attack at a "temporary" storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Skull Valley does not seem like such a far-fetched idea. After all, prior to Sept. 11, the notion that the World Trade Center towers would be brought down might have seemed equally far-fetched. However improbable such an attack at Skull Valley might be, we have further reason to question whether building the PFS facility is a risk worth taking. Recent events underscore the fact that this country needs a nuclear waste policy that places spent nuclear fuel deep underground at a repository like Yucca Mountain, Nev. Until that can happen, it makes little sense to create a new terrorist target by assembling waste at a centralized location in Utah's west desert (or anywhere else). Until a repository is ready, the waste should remain where it is. STEVE NELSON Dept. of Geology Brigham Young University Provo © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 19 Electricity numbers still don't add up to good deal sunspot.net - Jay Hancock Originally published Oct 21, 2001 IN A RARE example of harmony, both Baltimore Gas & Electric and state regulators agreed that a column here on electricity deregulation was "distorted" and did not get the "facts straight." The column chastised regulators for costing Baltimore-area ratepayers millions as the government moves to introduce competition to the electricity business. BGE, the Public Service Commission and Maryland's Office of People's Counsel disputed my conclusion that Baltimore-area consumers could have done better than the 6.5 percent cut and six-year freeze on electric rates won under BGE's deregulation deal. At the heart of the argument is the cost footed by customers to cover what BGE claimed was a decline in the value of its generation plants. I figured the tab for consumers to be an average of $4.60 per month, every month for every household, between now and 2006. This is the famous "stranded cost" payment, the gimmick that launched a thousand hearings. I argued that BGE did not deserve stranded-cost compensation, that the payment is part of BGE's rates, that it limits competition and that it keeps metro Baltimore electricity costs higher than they otherwise would have been. The stranded-cost payment exists because BGE and other utilities feared that their plants, built in good faith when regulation protected their profits, would be low-value white elephants in a deregulated world. In response, regulators in many states guaranteed utilities some continuing revenue to help retire old mortgages - even after the launch of competition. The revenue would equal the difference between the (supposedly) bloated book value of the generators and the (supposedly) much lower market value that would result after deregulation. But there was a problem. The stranded-cost gap disappeared in real life. Instead of being worth less than book, generation plants in most cases turned out to be worth much more. As electricity competition progressed across the country, eager investors bid up the prices of all types of generation assets - even nuclear facilities. It's too late As a result, the reason for BGE's stranded-cost recovery payment has disappeared. But it's too late. The payment is part of a deregulation settlement being vigorously defended by everybody who signed off on it. BGE and affiliate Constellation Energy will enjoy $528 million in total stranded-cost collections. With me so far? Stranded-cost payments are not a meaningless bookkeeping figment. They're real money, so real that Wall Street's hottest products this year include tradable bonds backed by the stranded-cost revenue that utility customers are locked into paying. "I am surprised that columnist Jay Hancock did not check his numbers with my office," writes Maryland People's Counsel Michael Travieso, whose job is to represent utility consumers. What numbers? The $528 million? That's the total stranded-cost collection that BGE and Constellation are entitled to under the Maryland settlement. The $4.60 per household per month? That's the average of the stranded-cost component of consumer rates over the next five years, multiplied by the average Maryland household energy use per month according to the U.S. Energy Department. My contention that Constellation made a paper gain on its Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant? Last month, NAC International, a big Atlanta-based energy consultancy, analyzed the market value of U.S. nuclear plants based on how much buyers are paying for each megawatt and each year remaining on a plant's license. Using NAC's formula and the price Constellation is paying for the Nine Mile Point nuclear plant in New York, Calvert Cliffs is worth about $1.4 billion - a huge premium over the facility's depreciated book value of $1 billion. But that might be aggressive. Let's give BGE a break and assume Calvert Cliffs is worth less than book - say, $800 million. Even then, the rise in market value of Constellation/BGE's conventional plants is enough to erase that shortfall, wipe out stranded costs and generate a companywide gain that could have been shared with customers. That's one way rates could be lower. Regulators say that even if BGE were awarded no stranded-cost recovery, the company's expense structure would legally entitle it to charge prices similar to what it gets now. Propping up rates OK, but BGE's stranded-cost deal is still propping up rates by acting as a competition deterrent. Even if you fired BGE, your bill would still include the $4.60 for stranded costs, and your new utility would have to send the money to BGE/Constellation. How can outside companies compete when they must pad their bills and then rebate the extra money to an entrenched rival? Without a stranded-cost charge, companies in the Mid-Atlantic Power Supply Association (MAPSA) would be seeking your business, undercutting BGE/Constellation's rates and perhaps forcing BGE to cut prices. Travieso argues that the present level of wholesale electricity prices would keep competitors from beating BGE/Constellation's rates even without a stranded-cost handicap. But it's early. Generation capacity is coming on line that should reduce wholesale prices. MAPSA is spending tons of money on lawyers to try to overturn Constellation's stranded costs. They're not doing it for fun. Like all deregulation deals, the BGE settlement was a complex cocktail of compromise. Regulators argue that if they had dug in on stranded costs, they would have had to give ground elsewhere. Maybe. But the reason utilities fought so hard for stranded-cost compensation was to fend off competition and preserve their regulated revenue for as long as possible. Seems like it's working. Copyright © 2001, The Baltimore Sun ***************************************************************** 20 Green Party Hears Call to Block N-Waste The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, October 21, 2001 BY MIKE GORRELL Unless Utahns want to pay a fatal price once again, environmental activist Chip Ward said Saturday, now is the time for residents to organize a grassroots campaign to keep nuclear waste out of the state. Delivering the keynote address at the first Green Party of Utah convention in Salt Lake City, Ward spoke out against efforts by the nuclear-power industry to move spent fuel rods to the west desert lands of the impoverished Goshute Tribe, and by Envirocare of Utah to accept greater quantities of mildly radioactive waste at its disposal facility in western Tooele County. "Nuclear power is fundamentally unacceptable. Once we grasp that, we can turn to alternatives," said Ward, a Grantsville resident who also has fought against the U.S. Army's program to incinerate aging chemical weapons at Tooele Army Depot and for tighter controls on chlorine emissions from MagCorp's production plant along the Great Salt Lake's southwestern shore. "We must build a civic culture from the ground up. The challenge is worth taking because we have a unique chance to make difference," he said. "Let's not shy away from it. Let's embrace it." The opportunity presents itself now because environmentalists are in a rare position: Their effort to stop Private Fuel Storage from moving spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants to the Goshute Reservation has unlikely allies in Gov. Mike Leavitt, Rep. Jim Hansen and Tooele County commissioners. Ward attributed Leavitt's support to his background as a native of southwestern Utah, a region victimized by exposure to radiation from open-air nuclear testing in the 1950s. Other Utahns died from cancers contracted while mining uranium for nuclear weapons and the power industry, despite shallow assurances from government officials that the work they were doing was safe. "Utahns could write a book about misunderstood risks," Ward said, contending that even with the backing of people such as Leavitt and Hansen, a grassroots effort is needed to raise the consciousness of a populace "vulnerable to predatory corporations because it is reticent to challenge authority" and to overcome a state bureaucracy "indifferent or at worst hostile to environmental regulations." Beyond human protection, he said, advocacy also is essential to protect the fragile desert environment from contamination by fuel rods that remain radioactive for roughly 10,000 years. Ward's speech highlighted the Green Party's inaugural convention, which attracted three dozen delegates to adopt bylaws, elect state officers, establish an affiliation with the national party and to discuss issues from electoral reform to promoting a "living wage" for all employees. Delegates elected Penny Archibald-Stone of Salt Lake City and Rob Morrison of Logan as spokespersons; Linda Parsons, West Valley City, secretary; Andy Schoenberg, Salt Lake City, treasurer, and David Orr, Moab, local liaison. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 21 Greens stage nuclear protest BBC News | SCOTLAND | 19 October, 2001, [Dounreay] The Greens oppose more stations like Dounreay Green politicians from Scotland and Ireland have joined forces to mount an internet campaign against the expansion of nuclear power. The action by Scottish Green MSP Robin Harper and Irish Green MEP Patricia McKenna was sparked by the government's refusal to rule out the expansion of nuclear energy plants north of the border. Both politicians say any new build programme will damage the environment and have urged ministers to support renewable energy sources. More than 50% of Scotland's energy comes from nuclear power plants but all of these are due to be decommissioned in the next 20 years. Nuclear waste is polluting the Irish Sea and any new nuclear power stations in Scotland will increase pollution Patricia McKenna, Irish MEP The government launched an energy review in June, which is being conducted by the Cabinet Office Performance and Innovation Unit and chaired by UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson. A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry, which covers energy policy, said "all things" were being considered by the energy review. It is this refusal to rule out the expanded use of nuclear power that has enraged environmentalists on both sides of the Irish Sea. The Scottish Greens said that while the Dounreay plant is due to be decommssioned, the plants at Hunsterston and Torness sites are being "actively considered" for new plants. On Friday, Mr Harper and Ms McKenna staged a protest outside the Scottish Executive headquarters in Edinburgh. The Scottish Green Party has launched a campaign website and is urging all those opposed to nuclear power to use it and petition First Minister Henry McLeish. Robin Harper: "Nuclear power is on the cards" Robin Harper said: "The executive have tried to prevent public disquiet by claiming new nuclear plants will not be approved until it's decided what to do with radioactive waste but the public should be aware that behind the scenes new nuclear power is on the cards. "People need to be able to make their voices heard and that's why we are launching this internet campaign against nuclear power and in support of renewable energy and energy efficiency." Irish MEP, Patricia McKenna said she was worried that any new nuclear plant built in Scotland could release dangerous radioactivity into the Irish Sea. She said; "I'm pleased to come to Scotland to help launch the campaign. Nuclear waste is polluting the Irish Sea and any new nuclear power stations in Scotland will increase pollution and other dangers. "It's vital the UK government is sent a strong message, stop dallying with nuclear power and start making plans for energy from wind, wave, hydro, solar and bio fuels." ***************************************************************** 22 Sinn Fein calls for Sellafield closure BBC News | EUROPE | 20 October, 2001, [Sellafield, Cumbria] Further calls for closure of Sellafield A Sinn Fein politician has called for "people power" to force the closure of the Sellafield nuclear waste disposal plant near Cumbria. The party's sole member of the Dublin parliament, Caoimhghin O Caolain, made the call during a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament conference in London on Saturday. He said efforts were needed on both sides of the Irish Sea to bring about the end of the complex. "Sellafield is a most serious and immediate danger to all the people of Ireland and Britain - a potential Chernobyl in our midst," he said. It has turned the Irish Sea into the most nuclear polluted stretch of water in the world Caoimhghin O Caolain He said the British Government's decision to open a new mixed oxide (Mox) fuel facility at Sellafield meant Prime Minister Tony Blair was guilty "of an act of bad faith and disregard for the Irish people". Mr O Caolain said it was "on a par with anything done by his predecessors in the long and sorry history of Anglo-Irish relations". He added: "The demand for the complete closure of Sellafield is now growing as people realise the threat posed to us all by an attack on the plant similar to that in the United States on September 11. "That is the real danger." 'United effort' Mr O Caolain, who represents the Cavan-Monaghan constituency in the parliament, said that even if 11 September had never happened, Sellafield should still be closed down. "It has turned the Irish Sea into the most nuclear-polluted stretch of water in the world," he said. "I take this opportunity to call for a united effort by people on both sides of the Irish Sea to have Sellafield shut down. Bertie Ahern: Appalled by the decision to approve the Mox plant "This plant endangers the lives of people in Britain as much as in Ireland." Earlier this month, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern called for the Sellafield plant to close amid concerns about terrorist threats and environmental damage. He accused Tony Blair of timing the announcement that the Mox operation would open, to coincide with the aftermath of the US terror attacks. The Mox plant, which processes a blend of plutonium and uranium, was given the go-ahead at the start of this month. Mr Ahern said the risk from the site in Cumbria was "unacceptably increased" with the announcement to push ahead with the new operation. He added that the plant, which lies only 200km from Dublin, represented the biggest threat to Ireland's environment. Mr Ahern described the plant as "being kept on a life support machine" by the British taxpayer. The nuclear industry believes recycling the used fuel and turning it into Mox can help reduce the world's growing stockpile of plutonium, one of the most toxic substances known to humankind. ***************************************************************** 23 Egypt renews call to put nuclear installations in ME under IAEA supervision Egypt-Regional, Politics, 10/20/2001 Egypt renewed its call for putting nuclear facilities in the Middle East under guarantees supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It pointed to the real danger threatening the security and safety of the Egyptian people and neighboring countries as a result of the presence of the Israeli nuclear reactor in the Negev desert on Egypt's eastern borders. Israel has been refusing to put its nuclear reactors under international supervision. Egypt's permanent delegate to the United Nations Ahmad Abul Gheit said on Friday that he reiterated the Egyptian demands during the United Nations General Assembly' discussions on the issue of atomic radiations. He said that Israel must comply with the international resolutions in that respect, including the one approved by the IAEA last September. On the other hand, Egypt late Friday highlighted the importance of setting up a mission for peace in Somalia. Addressing an ad hoc UN Security Council session on Somalia, Abul-Gheit called upon the UNSC to shoulder its responsibility and play a more effective role in settling the conflict in Somalia. 'The UN should be ready to face the challenges in Somalia as it has been always ready to face them in several parts of the world,' Abul Gheit said. 'Egypt, meanwhile, welcomed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal to form a group of friends of Somalia, to be in charge of highlighting the Somali problems and meeting the needs of the Somali people,' he added. Copyright © 1995-2001 Arabic News.com, All Rights ***************************************************************** 24 Peers oppose Buyer's idea to use nuclear device By Sylvia A. Smith Washington editor WASHINGTON - Dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan - even little ones - would be overkill, Hoosier lawmakers said Friday after one of their colleagues suggested using them against caves where Osama bin Laden's forces are hiding. In an televised interview, Rep. Steve Buyer, R-5th, said that if bin Laden's network is responsible for the anthrax cases in Florida, Washington, New York and New Jersey that killed one person, "I would support the use of a limited precision tactical nuclear device." A tactical nuclear weapon is not as powerful as the atom bombs used in World War II. Rep. Mark Souder, R-4th, said the United States "needs to be reasonable in our responses. I believe that would be overreaching." Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said he is confident U.S. objectives could be accomplished using conventional forces, and said all other possibilities should be exhausted before the nuclear option is on the table. "I don't think we have the evidence or the circumstances to warrant the use of a weapon of mass destruction at this time in a way that would be acceptable to world opinion," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-2nd. Pence said the world recognizes the "moral right" of a country to retaliate with weapons of mass destruction if it has been attacked that way, but "I would think the evidence would not have to be clear and convincing, it would have to be overwhelming." "I certainly understand the emotion," Souder said of Buyer's comments. "But I think it's important to factor in at this point we don't have lots of deaths. . . . If a half-million people were killed (from the anthrax attacks) or even 10,000 were killed, it would be one matter." One American has died, eight have been infected, and dozens others have tested positive for anthrax exposure. "We are already bombing the people we think are responsible for terrorism. . . . Presumably with nuclear bombs, even tactical nuclear, you're going to hit a lot more innocents," Souder said. "Don't send special forces in there to sweep," Buyer said. "We'd be very naive to believe that biotoxins and chemical agents were not in these caves. Put a tactical nuclear device in, and close these caves for a thousand years." Buyer said, "I am not someone who says use offensive nuclear weapons. We're the ones attacked. This is a bio-attack. It's also important to figure out who is doing it. But I want you to know . . . if he (President Bush) has to make difficult decisions - like Truman did to save lives - that he'd have support here." ***************************************************************** 25 Legislators back off nuclear-waste issue [startribune.com] Robert Whereatt Star Tribune Published Oct 20 2001 The chief sponsors of legislation that would remove the limit on how much radioactive waste can be stored at Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear plant said Friday that they won't push their bills in the 2002 legislative session. Rep. Loren Jennings, DFL-Harris, said legislative leaders and Gov. Jesse Ventura's administration have told him they don't want a protracted fight over the contentious issue next session. "The administration wanted to keep an agenda as limited to the [capital improvements] bonding bill as possible," Jennings said. House Republican and DFL leaders also said they would like to steer clear of the issue to keep the session short, he said. "Clearly Xcel itself wasn't ready," Jennings said, adding another central party to the decision to delay the debate until at least 2003. The bill would undo the 1994 state law that permits a maximum of 17 casks to be filled with radioactive spent fuel rods and stored on the grounds of the Red Wing power plant. Twelve casks have been filled so far. The maximum of 17 will be reached in 2007 when the plant, according to the 1994 law, is supposed to shut down. The legislation would allow enough additional casks to continue operating one of the two nuclear generators at the plant until 2013 and the other until 2014, the end of their federally licensed lives. Senate sponsor Mark Ourada, R-Buffalo, said Xcel Energy also has misgivings about pushing the bill next year. Ourada, whose district includes Xcel's nuclear plant at Monticello in Wright County, said he doubts that reopening the debate over the number of casks at Prairie Island would be as contentious as the 1994 debate that deeply divided the majority DFL caucuses in the House and Senate. The state and the utility industry need time to develop and build new generating supplies if the nuclear plug is pulled on Prairie Island, Ourada said. "We're far enough out that if we can get something done in 2003, we're going to be OK," he said. -- Robert Whereatt is at rwhereatt@startribune.com. Return to top © Copyright 2001 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 26 Statewide Security Could Expand To Nuclear Plants Friday October 19 09:22 PM EDT Armed National Guard troops recently began patrolling all of California's commercial airports, and now Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) is on the verge of expanding those patrols to the state's infrastructure. Davis is concerned about security at a number of vital assets that need additional protection. Although the former Rancho Seco nuclear power plant has been closed for 12 years, the used nuclear fuel is still onsite. Experts say that disrupting the facility would not really endanger the public, but an attack could cause widespread fear -- a goal of terrorists. At Rancho Seco, concrete barriers are in place near the main entrance and no visitors are allowed inside. Rancho Seco is not a vital resource anymore, but state officials are considering having a National Guard presence there, as well as the state's two operating nuclear plants -- San Onofre near San Clemente and Diablo Canyon near San Luis Obispo. Thursday night, the FBI (news - web sites) took action in and around the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, closing two nearby airports and adding security at the plant. Officials said Friday that it was false alarm. Diablo Canyon is currently online producing 2,300 megawatts of power and security has been enhanced. "Every since September 11, all the nation's nuclear power plants have been at what we call a "level 3 security Posture." It involves added patrols, expanded perimeters, more people and just a higher state of alert all around," Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Breck Henderson said. The Coast Guard is enforcing a one-mile exclusion zone around the plant's Oceanside. Fortunately, all nuclear plants have very high security with armed guards, bomb detectors, metal detectors, X-ray machines, handprint identification in protected areas and double perimeter fences with multiple alarms. The commission said that the domes over Diablo's two nuclear reactors could survive earthquakes, tornados and probably the effects of a jetliner crash. California cities, including Sacramento, are conducting a risk assessment of facilities that might be vulnerable. The governor spoke to this concern when visiting a Sacramento water plant earlier this week. Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! and . ***************************************************************** 27 Gov Gets Feds to Keep Patrolling Nuke Plant New York Daily News Online | Saturday, October 20, 2001 By GREG WILSON Daily News Staff Writer Not ready to say the coast is clear at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester, Gov. Pataki has persuaded federal officials to continue round-the-clock security patrols. The Coast Guard will maintain patrols near Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester. Coast Guard personnel from nearby states have been watching over the plant, on the Hudson River in Buchanan, monitoring ship traffic in the area and enforcing an exclusion zone around Indian Point. This week, the Coast Guard announced plans to send the sailors back to their home states as early as Monday. But Pataki, visiting the plant yesterday, said he reached an agreement with Coast Guard officials to maintain the patrols until a comprehensive security review is completed. "While security hasn't been an issue at Indian Point, Sept. 11 dictates that we take another look at the security plans at these important facilities," Pataki said. He added that the patrols provide an extra "layer of security and peace of mind to local residents." Former FBI official James Kallstrom, whom Pataki appointed to the newly created state Office of Public Security, will head the review, working with federal agencies, including the FBI, and officials from Entergy Nuclear Operations, which owns and operates Indian Point's three reactors — two of which are active. The governor did not say how long the review might take. Rep. Sue Kelly (R-Westchester), whose district includes Indian Point, said she contacted the Coast Guard and the new federal Office for Homeland Security to complain when she heard patrols would be reduced. "Residents were left wondering who was going to protect the plant if the Coast Guard is reducing patrols," said Kelly. "The federal government and the Coast Guard have a responsibility to protect this community." Since the attack, the government has stepped up security around 103 nuclear reactors at 65 sites, which supply 20% of the nation's energy. Pataki assigned National Guard troops to plants around the state to provide additional security. Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-Orange) has asked the National Security Council to support a no-fly zone over Indian Point. He said the Federal Aviation Administration has prohibited planes from flying over sports stadiums and should do the same at nuclear facilities. FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the agency has decided not to go as far as establishing a no-fly zone. "There is an advisory advising pilots not to fly low or circle over certain facilities, including power plants," he said. ***************************************************************** 28 Frustrating U.S., China Balks at Pact to Stem Nuclear Sales October 20, 2001 SUMMIT By CRAIG S. SMITH HANGHAI, Oct. 19 - President Bush and President Jiang Zemin celebrated warming relations between their two countries today, but behind the smiles little of substance has yet changed. In particular, the two sides remain in a standoff over implementation of a nonproliferation agreement signed nearly a year ago. The Bush administration had hoped that action on the issue would be the one concrete achievement the president could announce at the summit meeting today. Yet despite what one senior administration official called a ``full- court press'' in the weeks leading up to today's meeting, China would not agree to what the United States considered a relatively simple deal. Chinese government officials could not be reached for comment, but American officials and Chinese arms control experts suggested that Beijing might want further concessions from the United States. The lack of progress has frustrated administration officials, who said today that stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the missiles designed to deliver them is more important than ever. Most of China's exports of nuclear weapons technology and missile- making equipment have gone to Pakistan, where simmering Islamic fundamentalism raises the concern that such technology could someday fall into the hands of extremists in the region. Pakistan relies largely on China for its weapons, which China has been willing to sell because it has helped create a counterbalance to India, with which China has longstanding territorial disputes. But the American-Pakistan alliance formed after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States promises to reduce Pakistan's military dependence on China, at a time when China itself has begun to worry about the nuclear weapons program in what is a potentially unstable country. This would seem to be an especially opportune time for China to follow through on its year-old nonproliferation agreement. That it has not underscores how the outlines of United States-China relations remain largely unaltered beyond Beijing's expressions of support for the American antiterrorism campaign. ``Despite the improved atmosphere, there remain a number of concrete areas in U.S.-China relations that won't be affected by the current cooperation against terrorism, such as missile defense, Taiwan and evidently nonproliferation,'' said David Shambaugh, director of the China Policy Program at George Washington University in Washington. The Bush administration wanted China to fulfill its November 2000 agreement today by handing over a list of missile parts and missile-making technology that it would ban from export to third countries, like Pakistan. As part of that agreement, China is also required to show how it would enforce such a ban. In return, the United States promised to allow American businesses to resume launching satellites on Chinese rockets, a lucrative business for China that the United States has blocked since February 2000 because of the proliferation concerns. Fulfillment of the accord was initially held up by the change of administrations at the beginning of this year and then by the crisis caused by the collision of an American surveillance plane with a Chinese fighter jet off China's southern coast in April. In July, the United States formally complained about China's failure to follow through on the agreement, and experts from the two sides have met several times since then to try and resolve the issue. By last week, administration officials were saying that they expected a deal in time for today's meeting between Mr. Bush and Mr. Jiang. But by the end of last week, the talks had broken down. It is not entirely clear why. China has threatened in the past to use proliferation to punish the United States for its arms sales to Taiwan or for the deployment of Washington's proposed missile defense shield. China has made various nonproliferation commitments since it began raising alarm in the early 1990's with its sales of nuclear weapons technology, missiles and missile technology, but adhered to nobe of them. In June 1991, Mr. Bush's father barred the export of supercomputers, satellites and missile technology to China to punish it for transferring missile technology to Pakistan. Those sanctions were waived in March 1992. But a little more than a year later, the Clinton administration imposed new sanctions on China for again shipping missile equipment to Pakistan. In November 1994, the United States waived the sanctions yet again after China signed a statement vowing not to export missiles capable of delivering a 1,100-pound warhead 180 miles or more. By the late 1990's, though, it became clear that China had shipped such missiles, called M-11's, to Pakistan. Last November, the Clinton administration imposed sanctions for those sales. But it waived the sanctions in return for an agreement under which China would give the United States a list of missile components and technology that it promised not to export, and would explain how it planned to enforce the ban. The Chinese never provided that list or the explanation and the United States says that earlier this year, the China Metallurgical Equipment Corporation delivered components for Pakistani two-stage, solid-fuel missiles. The United States warned China that it would again face sanctions if it did not carry out the 2000 agreement, but nothing was done. On Sept. 1, the State Department imposed sanctions against the Chinese company and its Pakistani counterpart. The sanctions have the effect of once again blocking American companies from launching satellites on Chinese rockets. The current sanctions are all the more galling for the Chinese because the United States has since lifted the companion sanctions against Pakistan's National Development Complex, the entity that the United States says received the Chinese missile parts. Those sanctions were lifted to encourage Pakistan's cooperation in the war in Afghanistan. China has said that its own extensive investigation found that the Chinese company had not sold missile parts. It has said it will not carry out the November agreement until the new sanctions are lifted. ``Technically there should be no difficulty in making the list available, but politically China needs a U.S. quid pro quo,'' said Shen Dingli, an America-watcher at Fudan University in Shanghai. ``I can't understand why the U.S. could not implement its commitment of November 2000 to permit the Chinese launching of U.S.-made satellites.'' Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 29 Ont. energy minister takes heat for report on dangers at nuclear plant Monday, Oct. 22, 2001 TORONTO (CP) -- Ontario's energy minister defended the safety of the province's nuclear facilities Monday, one day after a 1998 evaluation of the Bruce plant revealed dangerous practices were in place.  Jim Wilson argued that the report, which was obtained through a freedom of information request, was kept secret because of security concerns which have only multiplied following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.  "(Nuclear facilities) need to deal with those issues in confidence with their regulators, with the federal government and with police agencies, and then when appropriate the issues can be made public," he said. "Otherwise, the terrorists might get a leg up."  The report was completed by a group of independent nuclear experts from the World Association of Nuclear Operators, an industry advisory group based in Atlanta.  It found that inexperience, sloppy work habits and poor maintenance were evident at the plant.  In the daily legislative question period Monday, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty demanded to know why the results of the report weren't made public sooner.  "Why have you conspired to hide this information from Ontarians since 1998?" he asked, quoting a statement from Information and Privacy Commissioner Anne Cavoukian in which she says there is "a compelling interest for the public to have nuclear safety information."  McGuinty rejected Wilson's argument that secrecy was needed even more after the events of Sept. 11, saying Ontarians need to know the truth in order to know they are secure, particularly in the wake of the terrorist attack which killed more than 5,000 people.  "I think there's a need for peace of mind for Ontarians that comes in knowing that, although there was a problem, we have a minister who has taken the bull by the horns and done everything he reasonably can to make a substantive improvement," he said.  McGuinty criticized Wilson for not telling the legislature what steps, if any, were taken to address the safety issues raised by the report.  "That's his responsibility and he's failing to live up to that," he said.  "What else is out there which might be disconcerting if made public and has he or has he not acted on it?"  The report was given to Ontario Power Generation, the provincially owned utility, in 1999.  Among its findings:  -- Some operators were unaware of important topics such as the time it would take for water in the reactors to begin boiling away if flows of coolant water were blocked.  -- Nuclear plant workers disconnected warning alarms they found too noisy.  -- Operators sometimes did not watch instrument panels.  -- More than 2,500 changes to the nuclear plant were not added to design manuals, leading to confusion on how the plants run.  A Bruce station official said the plant's performance has improved since the report was written.  The nuclear operators association now considers the Bruce to be "one of the fastest improving nuclear plants in North America," said Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive officer at the site on Lake Huron, northwest of Toronto. 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 BNFL on the brink of bankruptcy money.telegraph.co.uk - Monday 22 October 2001 [ By Mary Fagan (Filed: 21/10/2001) BNFL, the state-owned nuclear services group, is on the verge of bankruptcy because of its inability to meet nuclear clean-up costs, estimated to be up to £34bn. Nuclear nightmare: BNFL cannot afford the clean-up costs of its plants The Government, which has been in discussions with the company for months over its finances, could be forced to declare BNFL insolvent within weeks unless it agrees to underwrite the company's long-term liabilities. BNFL has asked the Government to create a Liabilities Management Authority that would review, underwrite and fund the massive costs of nuclear clean-up faced by BNFL, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and the Ministry of Defence. Together these are said to be almost £60bn. A government decision on whether to set up the authority, which was proposed by the AEA almost a year ago, is expected by the end of next month. BNFL has liabilities of £34bn for decommissioning its ageing nuclear power stations and disposing of radioactive waste over the next 100 years. The liabilities are increasing every year as more of its Magnox nuclear power stations close and as environmental and safety standards become more stringent. Both the AEA and BNFL have been pressing the Government for months to help them resolve the issue of their liabilities. BNFL's balance sheet has shareholders' funds of just £253m after a series of write-offs - only a fraction of the amount needed for it to fund its massive nuclear clean-up bill in the future. The company, which is based at Sellafield in west Cumbria, will be able to keep operating and paying its employees as it earns cash coming in from its waste processing operations. Although BNFL is technically bankrupt, much of the bill for plant decommissioning and dealing with waste will not have to be paid for decades. But an insolvency will be a huge embarrassment for the Government, coming in the wake of the collapse of Railtrack. The Government still says it wants to privatise the nuclear company after 2002 by selling a 49 per cent stake. Greenpeace said yesterday that BNFL's financial situation came as no surprise. A spokesman for the environmental campaign group, which opposes fuel reprocessing, said that they have suspected the company to be in serious difficulties for some time. "They had it coming. The folly of reprocessing has been highlighted by environmental groups and others. There are safer and less expensive options for dealing with spent fuel. Our claim that Sellafield is a white elephant is becoming a stark reality," he said. Part of BNFL's liabilities were inherited by the company when it was created in 1971. There are also huge liabilities related to the ageing Magnox nuclear power plants, which BNFL was force to take over from British Energy in 1996 to allow that company to be privatised. Of the 11 Magnox plants, seven are still in operation. BNFL refused to comment but Hugh Collum, the group's chairman, is known to be keen to see BNFL rid of the Magnox burden. The company has been struggling to recover from a scandal in 1999 when data on uranium and plutonium fuel pellets bound for Japan was falsified. BNFL received a boost last month when the Government approved the use of the group's new £470m mixed-oxide fuel plant at Sellafield. Without this, the company had said that the future of the entire Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site was under threat. © Copyright of 2001. Terms &Conditions of reading. Privacy ***************************************************************** 31 Potassium iodide pills available for those living near Seabrook Station Saturday, October 20, 2001 By DAN TUOHY N.H. Statehouse Writer HAMPTON — For $10 you, too, can buy a little peace of mind. The purchase: 14 tabs of potassium iodide. It can be used to limit the body’s uptake of radiation in the unlikely event of an accident at Seabrook nuclear power station. Living within the 10-mile emergency planning zone, possession of potassium iodide is reassuring, even though mine will be lost in the medicine cabinet. But this medicine — abbreviated as KI — is no magic pill. By any means. Experts agree that evacuation is the best protective action in a radiological emergency. There is not much of a market for KI, but some pharmacies are starting to provide it. Shop ’n Save Food and Drug Store in Hampton just received 100 units after a year of trying to secure some, said Sue Collins, a pharmacist at Shop ’n Save. And after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League is urging the state this month to stockpile KI in schools and pharmacies around Seabrook. "This is a real threat," said Jenn Hicks, executive director of the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League. "I just think the state doesn’t take it very seriously. There should be a mandate." Seabrook Station is under heightened security and there have been no threats since Sept. 11, said Alan Griffith, the plant’s spokesman. While Griffith has said that the dome over the 1,160 megawatt nuclear reactor was designed to hold up to a plane crash, Hicks said there is no way to be sure. A Sept. 21 news release from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission fuels her speculation. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said nuclear plants have capability to protect public health and safety — for example, Seabrook Station has double containment barriers and a 15-inch dome. Yet, the commission reported: "However, the NRC did not specifically contemplate attacks by aircraft such as Boeing 757s or 767s and nuclear power plants were not designed to withstand such crashes. Detailed engineering analyses of a large airliner crash have not yet been performed." Hicks said there is legislation pending in Massachusetts to require stockpiling of KI. She hopes New Hampshire will do the same. Jim Van Dongen, a spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Management, said the state decided not to stockpile KI. But state officials don’t object to pharmacies providing potassium iodide because it is not dangerous, nor expensive. "I suspect you’ll see a few more outlets," Van Dongen said. Given the minimal radiological exposure possible from the power plant, KI is more of a feel-good minor protection, he said. KI does not protect a person or the thyroid from direct exposure to radiation. To be most effective, it should be taken just before or just after exposure. Its use is not recommended before consulting a physician or public health official. The recommended dosage is one tab of 130 mgs. a day for 10 days. Side effects are possible, especially if people take more than the recommended dosage. Side effects include skin rashes, swelling of the salivary glands, sore teeth and gums, symptoms of a head cold and diarrhea. In the past, people opposed to the stockpiling of KI said it promoted a false sense of security. Hicks, however, said it is an important component of a responsible response to an emergency. Evacuation may be the most effective protective action, but it would take 24 hours to evacuate the densely populated Seacoast, according to Hicks. The risks, she added, are apparent, especially if it is peak tourism season and there are more than 100,000 people on Hampton Beach. The Seacoast Anti-Pollution League just issued new recommendations for the state. The seven ideas are: + Deploy National Guard units with sufficient anti-terrorism training and weaponry that protects the plant from attack from the ground, air and water. + Implement a "No-Fly Zone" in the greater power plant vicinity. + Establish a tighter background check for all plant employees and outside suppliers. + Review security protection of radioactive waste materials stored on site and call for upgrades and improvements as needed. + Review adequacy of the current evacuation plan and require stockpiling of potassium iodide in schools, receiving areas, and pharmacies within the so-called 10-mile radius around Seabrook Station. + Require that the plant be in either "stand down" or "shut down" modes during a terrorist threat. + Require that all bidders of the Seabrook plant provide evidence of their capabilities to protect the plant from the new heightened threat of terrorism. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen created the Commission for Preparedness and Security to review the state’s ability to respond to terrorism. The new commission is examining whether there should be a no-fly zone over Seabrook Station, even though there is no such restriction over any of America’s 103 nuclear power plants. On the Web: + Seabrook Station: www.seabrookstation.com Seabrook provides electricity for about 1 million homes. It has 11 owners, the largest being North Atlantic Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities of Connecticut, with 36 percent ownership. + State Office of Emergency Management: www.state.nh.us + Nuclear Regulatory Commission: www.nrc.gov N.H. Statehouse Writer Dan Tuohy can be reached at 226-3633 or dtuohy@fosters.com © 2001 Geo. J. Foster Co. ***************************************************************** 32 Don't Sacrifice ANWR The Salt Lake Tribune -- Utah's Statewide Newspaper Saturday, October 20, 2001 ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS George Bush is wrapping his energy program in the Stars and Stripes, and urging Americans to embrace it. Overdependence on Middle East oil harms national security, he says, as he argues for opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. If wisdom prevails, the Senate will see through such false logic and stand firm in protecting the refuge. Bush's energy program, passed by the House in August, focuses far too much on production and too little on conservation. It leans toward old solutions, awarding billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks to producers of oil, nuclear power and coal. The president and House neglected the more obvious source of energy savings -- increased fuel-efficiency standards for sports-utility vehicles. Bush has long advocated opening up ANWR to drilling. But even facing a prolonged war, there is no compelling need. The Senate would do well to hold the line if it takes up the energy plan before recessing in two weeks. In the face of previously unimaginable threats, America is approaching national security in myriad new ways. There's no reason the country should remain stuck on old-way thinking about energy. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 33 Canada orders tighter security at nuclear plants Friday October 19, 4:53 pm Eastern Time By David Ljunggren OTTAWA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Canada said on Friday it had ordered the operators of the country's seven nuclear power plants to increase security immediately following a review of their procedures in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Linda Keen, president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, said that while there was no evidence of any increased threat to the plants it was clear that security had to be tightened because of a higher perceived risk. She also said the commission was studying the idea of widening an existing ban on flights over the plants, which could, in theory, mean air force jets would be on alert to shoot down threatening aircraft. The nuclear power generators had already boosted security in the wake of the attacks but Keen said she wanted to ensure every plant followed the same set of rules. Late on Thursday she ordered operators to station armed response units at the plants. They must also boost security checks on people and vehicles entering the plants, tighten access to sensitive areas, upgrade security checks on some workers and provide better equipment to security guards. ``I want these measures put into place over a short time period...Some of them are immediate,'' she told a small group of reporters in her Ottawa office. Five of the seven plants are in Ontario. Two are run by Bruce Power, a partnership between British Energy Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: ) and Cameco Corp. (Toronto: - news), and three by Ontario Power Generation Inc. Quebec and New Brunswick have one nuclear station each. The new security measures also apply to the Chalk River nuclear laboratory, northwest of Ottawa, operated by the federal agency Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Keen met the operators of all seven plants earlier on Friday to explain the new measures, which were put in place in response to queries she made on Oct. 1 as to what exactly the facilities were doing about security. ``I asked them if there were any impediments to putting this in place...but there was no questioning of the order at all. The order is in place,'' she said. In the United States, which has over 100 operating nuclear power plants, fears are high that a major attack on a facility could spread radioactive contamination over a large area. Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant returned to normal on Thursday, a day after the operator reported receiving what it called a credible threat. ``There has not been an attack or the threat of an attack against a nuclear facility in Canada but we talked (to the operators) on the basis of a higher perceived risk by the regulator based on the events on Sept. 11 in the United States and our proximity to the United States,'' Keen said. Her officials said the CNSC -- which is in very close contact with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- would be sending its security chief to Washington for talks next week. The CNSC will now start looking at what other security measures could be introduced at the seven plants, including the idea of broadening air exclusion zones over the facilities. ``The question of exclusion zones for aircraft is under active consideration,'' Keen said. Asked if this meant fighter jets could one day be asked to shoot down aircraft deemed to be a threat, she replied: ``If you're going to have one (an exclusion zone) in place you have to be prepared to enforce it as well.'' She declined to discuss the topic further, saying it was a matter for the transport and defense ministries to decide. A CNSC official said that if a plane did crash into a Canadian power plant it would shut down and any radioactivity leaks would be contained locally. The safety commission, which regulates more than 4,000 enterprises using nuclear material, will now start studying security at other less critical nuclear facilities. These include fuel processing plants as well as operations that process radioactive isotopes and nuclear waste. Canada's seven nuclear power stations -- which contain a total of 22 working reactors -- provide about 15 percent of the country's electricity. Cameco Corp (Toronto: - news) ***************************************************************** 34 [Nuclear Power is a] Terrorist Invitation The Salt Lake Tribune -- Utah's Statewide Newspaper Sunday, October 21, 2001Sunday, October 21, 2001 In light of the Private Fuel Storage proposal to store high-level nuclear spent fuel rods at Skull Valley, the Nuclear Institute demonstrates a complete failure to grasp the problem. This is clearly evidenced by Ralph Beedle's response to "Nuclear Hyperbole" (Tribune, Sept. 24), with particular reference to Utah's security. It's unsettling at best that his think tank believes terrorist attacks can be thwarted by "robust steel and concrete structures" and "expertly trained security forces" at reactor sites. Nowhere in Beedle's letter is there any mention of the Skull Valley proposal that his Nuclear Institute endorses. Nowhere in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the PFS proposal is the risk of terrorist attack addressed. To date, response by the NRC and Nuclear Institute to countless concerns about terrorism expressed by Utah citizens after reading the 1,200-page DEIS has been nil. Spent fuel rods are the most vulnerable component of the nuclear reactor industry. Do Beedle and his cohorts at the NRC expect that Utah citizens are immune to an act of terrorism that would render an expeditious delivery of lethal doses of radioactivity for another 10,000 years to the entire Wasatch Front population, 40 miles downwind from Skull Valley? According to Beedle's logic, we'll consolidate all the nation's waste rods above ground in neat little rows out in Utah's desert, we'll publish countless maps to ensure that all terrorists know exactly where they are, we won't bother with any "robust steel and concrete structures" or "expertly trained security forces," and we'll then characterize anyone who sees a fatal flaw as "irresponsible." JIM WEBSTER Salt Lake City © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 35 The Sunday Times: Terrorism October 21 2001 TERRORISM Mission aborted: the downed plane's flight path took it close to five nuclear plants Photograph: Gary Tramontina NUCLEAR MYSTERY: Crashed plane's target may have been reactor Nicholas Rufford, David Leppard and Paul Eddy THE hijackers who forced a fourth passenger jet to crash during the September 11 attacks in America may have been intending to use it to bomb a nuclear power station to cause a Chernobyl-type disaster. The FBI is studying a report that the four terrorists who seized the plane may have been attempting to steer it towards a cluster of nuclear power stations on the east coast of America. The most likely target was Three Mile Island, site of America's most serious nuclear accident in 1979. United Airlines flight 93 crashed into a field near the tiny town of Shanksville, in Pennsylvania, 90 minutes after taking off from Newark, New Jersey. All 44 passengers and crew on board died. Until this weekend it had been assumed that the hijackers of the plane, a Boeing 757, were planning to fly it either to the presidential retreat at Camp David, or to Washington and crash it into the White House or the Congress and Senate buildings on Capitol Hill. But security officials have now revealed that within a week of the attacks, the FBI sent a report to MI5 saying that a "credible source" had said that the terrorists might have been planning to hit a nuclear plant. Had it breached the plant's reactor vessel, such a strike could have caused an incident on the scale of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, which spread radioactive material over thousands of square miles in 1986. US security sources say that Three Mile Island, which is part-owned by British Energy, was the subject of surveillance by some of the hijackers and their associates in the months before the terrorist attacks. One security official said: "Early on in the investigation we did receive a report from the FBI that the plane may have been heading for a nuclear power station. This was based on their analysis that Pittsburgh is near several power stations. "There is some plausibility to this and we're not trying to dismiss it. But it may well be that nobody will ever know where the plane was going." The "nuclear meltdown" assessment has not been independently confirmed but was taken seriously enough by the FBI to pass to European governments, including Britain and France. The analysis is based on a study of flight 93's flight path and the fact that there are five nuclear power stations in the area. Experts say that the plane does not appear to have been hijacked until it was passing over West Virginia, some 200 miles beyond Washington. It then made a series of sharp turns before going into a steep descent. Aviation experts say that at this point there were three nuclear power stations between the plane and Washington and directly in its line of flight: Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom and Hope Creek. Investigators cannot understand why the plane would have descended so early, unless its intended target was much nearer than Washington. The descent could have been an error by one of the hijackers, but if so, they cannot understand why the plane did not then climb again once control was regained. America has since tightened security around nuclear stations and has taken steps to withdraw maps on the internet showing the location of nuclear plants. A French government minister said last week that fighters would shoot down aircraft heading for its nuclear plants. A missile defence system had been positioned at the Le Havre nuclear reprocessing plant. In Britain, security around all nuclear sites has also been increased. David Blunkett, the home secretary, has given new powers to the 500-strong police force that guards the sites. Atomic Energy Authority police will be able to patrol an extra 13 civil nuclear sites, including Sizewell, Hinkley Point and Dungeness. Engineering experts are divided over whether concrete containment shields around nuclear power stations could withstand a direct hit from a large passenger aircraft, especially one carrying 200,000lb of fuel, as was flight 93, enough to reach its destination of San Francisco. The containment buildings generally have an outer structure, which for much of the dome is 3ft-thick concrete containing large amounts of reinforcing steel. Inside is a steel "lining" 1in-4in thick. There are usually two more concrete walls close to the reactor, each 1ft thick and with reinforced steel bars. But these walls do not enclose the top of the reactor completely. The reactor vessel itself is about 4in-6in thick and made of high-carbon steel. All reactors are designed to withstand impact by a light plane. Experts say it is unclear whether a larger modern jet loaded with fuel, deliberately flown at high speed, could break open the reactor vessel. The resultant fire could, however, cause enough damage to allow radioactive material into the air. The drama aboard flight 93 as a small group of passengers tried to seize control of the plane from the hijackers during its final few minutes has become an emblem of American heroism during the events of September 11. Delayed 40 minutes in taking off from Newark's congested airport, the plane was in the early stages of its journey when its passengers started hearing that other aircraft had been hijacked and at least one had flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Todd Beamer, one of the passengers, called an emergency operator on an onboard telephone after he and fellow passengers learnt of the first attack. He explained that flight 93 had also been hijacked. He said there were three hijackers - two with knives and one with what he thought was a bomb strapped to his waist. In fact, there were four, and by this time the fourth was almost certainly flying the plane. Beamer, who was married with two young sons, told the operator: "We're going to do something. I know I'm not going to get out of this." He explained that some of passengers had decided to jump on the terrorist thought to have the bomb. With the telephone left on, he could be heard saying: "Are you guys ready? Let's roll." The operator heard screams and a few minutes later the line went dead. + The FBI is looking into whether another United Airlines flight, scheduled to leave Kennedy International Airport for San Francisco, was a target of hijackers on September 11. When the plane was grounded because of the attacks, four Middle Eastern-looking men refused to return to their seats and hurriedly left as soon as its doors opened. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This page is provided by www.sunday-times.co.ukon Times Newspapers' standard terms and ***************************************************************** 36 IRISH FEARS: Jacob ordered to release emergency response plan The Sunday Times: Terrorism October 21 2001 TERRORISM Maeve Sheehan JOE JACOB, the junior minister responsible for Ireland's response to a nuclear disaster, has been ordered to publish his public information "fact sheet" next week. The orders came from a new taskforce, set up by the taoiseach on Thursday after further evidence emerged that the government's emergency response plans are a shambles. Following the September 11 terror attacks in America, Jacob promised to make the document available to every Irish home "within weeks". Last week, his department delayed publication again to November. The leaflet details what steps people should take in the event of a nuclear emergency. The nuclear action plan became an enormous embarrassment to the government after Jacob's widely ridiculed radio interview failed to reassure the public that a nuclear emergency plan was in place. Bertie Ahern's concern at the delay in publishing the leaflet was compounded by the confused emergency responses to the anthrax scares across the country last week. Ahern has appointed Michael Smith, the defence minister, to head a new co-ordinating taskforce. "There is a very significant nuclear plan already in place. One of the things that our committee will do is communicate what is already there to the public very soon," said Smith. "I would expect notices appearing in the local and national newspapers in the next week in relation to this, and if certain things have to be added to it later, we'll add them to it, but present it to the public as it is now." Smith has been told to ensure that a national protocol on handling emergencies is sent to all health and security agencies. His taskforce, which met for the first time on Thursday night, ordered the distribution of the long-awaited nuclear fact sheet, even though it is still incomplete. He has also asked health authorities to prepare for smallpox and plague outbreaks, ensuring sufficient vaccines are on order and hospitals are issued guidelines in the event of an outbreak. New protocols are also to be drawn up for security and health agencies to determine who does what in the event of an emergency. It has emerged that the government is only now drawing up contingency plans to evacuate the president, taoiseach, army and police chiefs, and other VIPs in the event of a national emergency. A control centre in Athlone built for such emergencies is now obsolete. The taskforce is discussing new evacuation procedures to ensure that government and other key personnel can continue to run the country if disaster strikes. Smith said the taskforce would "speak with an authoritative, consistent voice about what is to happen in the case of an emergency". It is the seventh committee set up by the government to cope with a national disaster. He acknowledged that official responses to last week's anthrax scares were inadequate. Gardai were only issued with guidelines on dealing with anthrax scares on Wednesday, after 10 suspected scares had already been reported. In some cases, hospitals were reluctant to admit patients exposed to suspect packages. Smith singled out the response to a suspect anthrax package in Sligo for commendation but added: "That is one instance: there are others that perhaps might not be as good as we want them and we want to upgrade all of that activity." The defence minister is accelerating plans to bolster the army following the September 11 terrorist attacks. He hopes to recruit up to 30 more personnel to the army rangers, a specialist anti-terrorist wing. He has also speeded up the purchase of armed trainer aircraft. Up to 4,000 protective chemical and biological suits are on order. Smith said Irish soldiers could have a peacekeeping role in Afghanistan, if the Taliban are dislodged. "That would be a matter for the government to decide, but it seems to me that if there was a United Nations resolution recommending a peacekeeping force, we would be looking at the resources we have to see what way they could help." Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided ***************************************************************** 37 Thinking the unthinkable: Is nuclear terrorism next? Thestar.com/ Sun Oct 21, 2001 - Updated at 08:53 PM `All you'd need would be a graduate student specializing in physics' - Ivan Safranchuk,Centre for Defence Information MOSCOW - Nuclear terrorism used to be the domain of thriller writers and science fiction buffs. But thinking the unthinkable is now the stuff of everyday life, as a traumatized public wonders what may come next. If biological terror is here now, people reckon, will the ultimate threat, nuclear attack, happen tomorrow? Anxiety is heightened by replays of testimony from Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, a member of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, who was on trial for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. He told a New York district court that he arranged meetings with smugglers in Sudan in the 1990s, offering $1.5 million for weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear attack. The revelations have sent American officials speeding to tighten security in U.S. nuclear facilities. But in Russia and the former Soviet republics, where the past decade has seen an unsettling decline in nuclear security, there is more cause for alarm. For years rumours have circulated of small "briefcase bombs" gone astray, and of loose nuclear material for sale on the black market. There are allegations that bin Laden, the suspected mastermind in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S., paid millions of dollars to stockpile some of the portable weapons at a hideout near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Russian and Western experts are skeptical. But they are now taking hard looks at the possibility of nuclear terrorism originating in their midst. And some of their conclusions are far from reassuring. "If you ask me if nuclear terrorism is possible, I think the short answer is yes," admits Ivan Safranchuk, director of the Centre for Defence Information's Moscow office. "But if we're talking about using a sophisticated modern weapon, like those in the hands of the U.S. and Russian special forces, it's very unlikely." In the mid-1990s, Gen. Alexander Lebed, then head of the Russian Security Council, said there were 84 missing "briefcase bombs" that could be strapped into backpacks and carried over short distances. They would be capable of killing some 100,000 people. But the flamboyant military man, famous for terse and dramatic statements, never proved his case, and was later fired from then-president Boris Yeltsin's administration. Alexei Yablokov, head of the Russian Centre for Environmental Policy and Yeltsin's former environmental adviser, did his own investigation, and concluded the rumoured bombs existed. But, he said, "I had several meetings with the military authorities responsible for these weapons, and they assured me all were under strict control." Proof that the weapons would not be viable for terrorists, Yablokov said, was that they were developed and stored under top-secret conditions by the KGB in the 1970s, but never deployed. "Now, I don't think (workable) suitcase bombs exist in Russia, because each of them needs to have its fissile material replaced," Yablokov said, referring to the material that fuels an atomic reaction. "A warhead needs replacement every five to 10 years. As these devices are quite old, it doesn't seem feasible that they could be used today." Terrorists would also have to contend with the security codes, stored in Moscow, that would allow the weapons to be fired. More likely, experts say, a terror network like Al Qaeda could acquire enough nuclear material to make a small but dirty bomb of its own. "They could create a primitive nuclear device based not exactly on a chain reaction," said Safranchuk, "but an explosion of nuclear material. It's somewhere between an explosive device and a nuclear weapon." That would kill people in a relatively small radius of a kilometre or more. But the most devastating effect would be widespread terror. Scientists say it would be difficult for a terrorist to put together even a simple atom bomb, such as those first developed in the U.S. and Russian nuclear programs. That would require large resources to hire top specialists and build a laboratory where a chain reaction could be developed. But a "primitive device" such as the one described by Safranchuk, could be more easily achieved - especially with loose nuclear material gleaned from Russia, the former Soviet Union, or any of the dozens of unstable countries that have nuclear plants. "All you'd need would be a graduate student specializing in physics," said Safranchuk. As for materials, there have been numerous reports of enriched and unenriched uranium, and plutonium, smuggled out of Russia since 1991. "There have been several thousand attempts to sell radioactive material to citizens," said Vladimir Slivyak of the environmental lobby group Nuclear Defence. "Some of it was stolen from plants, some from research laboratories, even weapons-grade uranium." And, he said, criminals are ready and waiting to help the terrorists - for a price. "It's not a difficult job for a terrorist to find material. There's a nuclear mafia operating in eastern Europe that specializes in smuggling nuclear materials." In the mid-1990s, German police intercepted several containers of deadly plutonium that were traced to Russia, and the government's own nuclear watchdog Gosatomnadzor complained of an alarming "lack of a state system for accounting and control of nuclear materials." The result, it said, was no "effective state control of transportation, security and treatment of nuclear materials." Environmentalists have petitioned the government for years for help in shoring up nuclear safety. But the plummeting economy, and low priority for environmental matters, has meant that little has been done. Although nuclear weapons were removed from former Soviet republics in the late 1990s, lack of proper inventories, and lack of official interest, have boosted fears that tonnes of weapons grade materials are still sitting in Russia's former fiefdoms. "I just came back from Kazakhstan, and can tell you it's a big problem there," Slivyak said. "Once a year they catch people trying to sell off radioactive material and those are only the attempts we know about." Carelessly guarded material is vulnerable to buyers for black market nuclear goods, ranging from warring ethnic groups to religious and political extremists. According to a recent study by Alex Schmid of the United Nations Terrorism Branch in Vienna, more than 130 terrorist groups pose a nuclear, chemical or biological threat, and a number of those are capable of developing a nuclear-based weapon. Among them is the Al Qaeda network. Sales of nuclear materials by black marketeers are a distinct possibility, given the laxness of guarding nuclear materials in civilian plants in the former Soviet Union. "There are plenty of security violations in nuclear power plants," said Sergei Kharitonov of the Centre for Human Rights and Ecology. "Physical security is poor, especially checkpoints. When you enter and go out of the plants, they aren't well organized." Kharitonov, a former nuclear technologist in the Leningradskaya nuclear plant near St. Petersburg, said drunkenness and drug abuse are also rife among the workers. And with low wages, which were sometimes months in arrears during the 1990s, there was little incentive for guards to be honest or conscientious. "I took big parcels through," he said. "Nobody checked." After Kharitonov was fired for blowing the whistle on the sloppy plant practises, his pass to enter the complex wasn't revoked. The run-down operating condition of the plants is also a danger that terrorists could exploit, experts say. Even cutting power lines to the plants could set off a devastating Chernobyl-like explosion if emergency generators failed to start up. Russian nuclear safety authorities deny the plants are unsafe. But anecdotal evidence shows that the likelihood of a thief or saboteur entering a Russian plant remains a frightening possibility. "The problem is that financing for our nuclear installations is only 5 to 10 per cent (of what is needed)," said energy co-ordinator Vladimir Tchouprov of Greenpeace's Moscow office. "In some places there are no fences." But in the opinion of Russia's nuclear activists, the most dangerous exposure to nuclear terrorism is in the transfer of spent nuclear fuel through Russia for storage and reprocessing. About 14,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste is currently stored in the country, and the only reprocessing plant, Mayak, in the Ural mountain region, has been condemned as a potential second Chernobyl. The anti-nuclear activists are most disturbed about the import of a trainload of waste that is to set off from Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear plant for reprocessing next week. The atomic energy agency Minatom plans to bring in some 20,000 tonnes of spent fuel, a business they hope will be lucrative. "Why we care so much is that a train is a very easy terror target," said Sliyak, whose group is urging the West to offer compensation for Russia to drop the contract. "We have only one train that can carry spent fuel outside the country. If you have a well-trained surveillance team, you know exactly when it will leave and how it can be tracked." Although Russia has had surprisingly few threats of nuclear terrorism - the most well-publicized one was from Chechen rebels in the 1990s - there have been documented cases of nuclear crime using stolen materials. In 1994, a Moscow company director was killed by when a small radioactive device was implanted in his chair. According to Moscow safety authorities, similar devices stolen from plants, hospitals and construction sites pose dangers. "For years we've had no luck alerting the authorities to nuclear threats," said Tchouprov. "Maybe now that they've seen how terrorists operate, they may change their minds. But something must be done quickly." Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. For information please ***************************************************************** 38 Austrian head pessimistic about Czechs' plan to complete nuclear assessment BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 20, 2001 Gent/Vienna, 20 October: Austria still misses "legally binding commitments" [of Prague] concerning the controversial Czech nuclear power plant Temelin, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told journalists last night. Responding to journalists' questions during the current top level EU meeting in Gent which focuses on international terrorism, Schuessel did not specify what he meant by "legally binding commitments". Schuessel also said he considered the Czech Foreign Ministry's plan to close the Melk process of Temelin's assessment within a week to be "unrealistic". Under an agreement signed by Schuessel and Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman in Melk, Lower Austria, in December 2000, a commission of experts had to assess Temelin's safety and environmental impact by June 2001. Although the assessment was carried out, the two sides still fail to agree on the wording of the final report. Prague wants the document to contain a clause saying that the Melk agreement was fulfilled and implemented. The Austrians, on their part, want it to include a list of still unsettled or persisting problems in Temelin... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 0945 gmt 20 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 39 Romania, Russia sign agreement on warning in case of nuclear accidents BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 19, 2001 Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres Bucharest, 19 October: The Romanian executive endorsed the signing of an agreement between the Romanian and the Russian governments on the quick notification of a nuclear accidents and the exchange of information about the nuclear installations. The agreement provides for exchanging data in case a nuclear accident occurs on the territory of the two states and conveying technical data about the nuclear installations, the assessment of the consequences of a nuclear accident and the taking of the necessary steps for the people's protection. The agreement refers to civil nuclear power stations and the warehouses of fresh and used fuel on the territory of the two states. The convention on the quick notification of a nuclear accident, adopted in Vienna, on 26 September 1986, signed by Romania and the Russian Federation, encourages the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral agreements on the exchange of information and the notification of the nuclear accidents. Source: Rompres news agency, Bucharest, in English 1255 gmt 19 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material ***************************************************************** 40 Ukraine to extend service life of its nuclear reactors BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 20, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Kiev, 18 October: Ukrainian national atomic generating company Enerhoatom is to extend the operational life span of generating sets at Ukrainian nuclear power plants by 10-15 years, company President Yuriy Nedashkovskiy told journalists. "With our Russian colleagues - Rosenergoatom - we have prepared joint programmes to carry out work to extend the life spans of generating sets," he said. Nedashkovskiy explained that this work includes the development of legislative documents and calculations for the reconstruction of generating sets, with the replacement of obsolete equipment, in addition to steps to increase safety at power-producing units in accordance with modern requirements. "This work is very broad in nature and very expensive," he said. According to Enerhoatom specialists, the cost of work to extend the life span of one VVAR-1000 unit by 10-15 years amounts to about 150m dollars, which the company considers to be economically viable. "Calculations show that this is very profitable," the company president said. The 13 generating sets at Ukraine's four nuclear power plants were launched in 1981-1995 and have a 30-year life span. This means that 12 of the units should be mothballed in 2010-2020. Enerhoatom accounts for 45 per cent of electricity production in Ukraine. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1031 gmt 18 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 41 Russia completing Iran nuclear plant, planning another BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 20, 2001 Moscow, 17 October: The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry has provided Iran with a feasibility study for the construction of a new VVAR-1000 type nuclear power-producing unit, Deputy Minister Yevgeniy Reshetnikov told Interfax. "The Iranian side asked a delegation from the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry to set up a joint working group to consider the new Russian project and to submit prepared documents to the Iranian government in December this year," he said, commenting on the results of negotiations in Iran recently. Reshetnikov stressed that Iran will independently decide on the location of the construction site for the new nuclear power station. The deputy minister noted that work on the first generating set at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant is being completed. "The actual launch will take place in December 2003," he said. According to Reshetnikov, one ship has already been sent to Iran with the main equipment for the first set at Bushehr. Another ship will deliver the reactor and other energy equipment, worth a total of 50m dollars, to Iran in December this year, he said... Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1214 gmt 17 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Peers oppose Buyer's idea to use nuclear device Saturday, October 20, 2001 By Sylvia A. Smith Washington editor WASHINGTON - Dropping nuclear bombs on Afghanistan - even little ones - would be overkill, Hoosier lawmakers said Friday after one of their colleagues suggested using them against caves where Osama bin Laden's forces are hiding. In an televised interview, Rep. Steve Buyer, R-5th, said that if bin Laden's network is responsible for the anthrax cases in Florida, Washington, New York and New Jersey that killed one person, "I would support the use of a limited precision tactical nuclear device." A tactical nuclear weapon is not as powerful as the atom bombs used in World War II. Rep. Mark Souder, R-4th, said the United States "needs to be reasonable in our responses. I believe that would be overreaching." Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said he is confident U.S. objectives could be accomplished using conventional forces, and said all other possibilities should be exhausted before the nuclear option is on the table. "I don't think we have the evidence or the circumstances to warrant the use of a weapon of mass destruction at this time in a way that would be acceptable to world opinion," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-2nd. Pence said the world recognizes the "moral right" of a country to retaliate with weapons of mass destruction if it has been attacked that way, but "I would think the evidence would not have to be clear and convincing, it would have to be overwhelming." "I certainly understand the emotion," Souder said of Buyer's comments. "But I think it's important to factor in at this point we don't have lots of deaths. . . . If a half-million people were killed (from the anthrax attacks) or even 10,000 were killed, it would be one matter." One American has died, eight have been infected, and dozens others have tested positive for anthrax exposure. "We are already bombing the people we think are responsible for terrorism. . . . Presumably with nuclear bombs, even tactical nuclear, you're going to hit a lot more innocents," Souder said. "Don't send special forces in there to sweep," Buyer said. "We'd be very naive to believe that biotoxins and chemical agents were not in these caves. Put a tactical nuclear device in, and close these caves for a thousand years." Buyer said, "I am not someone who says use offensive nuclear weapons. We're the ones attacked. This is a bio-attack. It's also important to figure out who is doing it. But I want you to know . . . if he (President Bush) has to make difficult decisions - like Truman did to save lives - that he'd have support here." ***************************************************************** 2 HAZARD: Missing Radiation Sources Pose Risks ctnow.com: October 21, 2001 By JACK DOLAN, Courant Staff Writer Last year, an Egyptian farmer and his young son died of radiation poisoning after taking home a tiny metal cylinder left behind in their village by a construction crew. Five other family members were hospitalized with skin eruptions, and some of their neighbors fell ill. The 2½-inch long cylinder, containing radioactive iridium, came from a camera commonly used to X-ray pipe welds. It was one of hundreds of industrial and medical tools containing dangerous radioactive sources that are abandoned, lost or stolen worldwide each year. In the United States alone, more than 1,700 were reported missing over the past 15 years, Nuclear Regulatory Commission records show. Although those sources don't contain the sort of material that would allow someone to build a nuclear bomb - at worst they could kill or sicken people who came in close contact - officials have become increasingly concerned that they could be turned into terrorist tools. Six years ago, Chechen rebels used a canister of radioactive cesium to scare shoppers in a Moscow marketplace. In the wrong hands, even a relatively small amount of radioactive material can sow the kind of low-grade terror seen in the spate of anthrax-laced mail sent to government and media offices. The FBI warned of "radiological hazards" in a recent advisory on potential mail threats, which says to "shield yourself from the object" and dial 911. "Radiation is a red-flag word. The fear factor is going to be what causes panic," said Cindy Cardwell of the Texas Bureau of Radiation Control. "We've talked a lot about that down here. It wouldn't be like a plane into the trade center, or even a biological weapon where you'd see immediate health effects. But the panic factor would be a big problem." A Courant analysis of the NRC's Nuclear Materials Events Database - a repository for reports of incidents involving radioactive tools, substances and machines regulated by the NRC - found that since 1986, 1,704 radioactive sources potent enough to trigger the NRC's "immediate report" requirement were lost or stolen in the United States. Sixty percent of them have not been found. That figure does not include thousands more that are not deemed serious enough to warrant immediate action; only items that pose a potentially significant health threat are included in the reports. It also does not include foreign incidents, although the database does track cases of deaths and serious injuries in other countries. Two years ago, a radiography camera containing a powerful iridium source was stolen from a locked shed in Pembroke Pines, Fla. An NRC report on the incident noted that the thief also took the key that allows access to the inside of the camera. In 1996, six radiography cameras were stolen from a Houston company and never found. In 1997, someone in Colorado used a bolt-cutter to steal a soil moisture-density gauge, a radioactive tool commonly used in construction, that had been chained to the bed of a pickup truck. Industrial tools are not the only items to be reported missing. In July 2000, a chemical agent detector containing a radioactive source was stolen from a U.S. Army training area in South Korea. It is one of dozens of such detectors reported stolen or missing from U.S. military bases overseas during the past 15 years. NRC spokesman Victor Dricks would not talk about the agency's records of lost or missing radioactive sources. Since the terrorist attacks, the NRC has shut down its website and tightly restricted the release of nuclear-related information. "Given the sensitivity of the issues, it's not something we want to get into," Dricks said. Terrorism experts have long envisioned scenarios in which biological, chemical or nuclear materials were employed as a "weapon of mass destruction." Government preparedness plans are fashioned around the expectation of such a weapon being unleashed, all at once, in an attack aimed at killing thousands of people. But in light of the recent anthrax attacks, which have targeted individuals through the mail, officials have become much more attuned to the potential threat posed by small, yet powerful, radioactive materials. Although the United States has been largely spared disastrous consequences from such items, their potential for damage has been frighteningly demonstrated in some foreign countries in recent years. In an Estonian village in 1995, five people in one home, along with the family dog, were wiped out after someone found a tiny radioactive metal fragment in a nearby field and stuck it in a kitchen drawer. The fragment, whose origins are unknown, poisoned the family over several weeks. Last year in Thailand, a group of scrap dealers cut through the shiny metal innards of a stolen cancer treatment machine and removed the highly radioactive cobalt-60 core. Soon, their hands began to itch, and some grew dizzy and vomited. Before long, three of the dealers were dead and 11 others were suffering from severe radiation poisoning. Investigators found two more stolen cancer treatment machines awaiting the scrap dealers in a suburban Bangkok parking lot. Alarmed by similar accidents in Brazil and Turkey - and afraid that terrorists could take advantage of the rise in illicit trafficking of nuclear material - the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1998 called on world governments to keep a tighter lid on nuclear material of all types. Earlier this month, the NRC and the U.S. Department of Energy approved hundreds of thousands of dollars in new funding to help companies pay for the proper disposal of old or unwanted radioactive sources to make them less likely to become abandoned, lost or stolen. But Joel Lubenau, a former NRC health physicist and one of the authors of the international energy agency's report, said the real problem in the United States is that it's too easy to get radioactive sources and too expensive to dispose of them when companies go out of business. He suggested adopting stricter European standards on who gets the devices in the first place. "There are just too many sources out there in the U.S.," Lubenau said. So far, deliberate attempts to kill or sicken people with radiation have been rare and unsuccessful. In 1996, three men, including the self-proclaimed president of the "Long Island UFO Network," plotted to kill four Suffolk County politicians - accused by their would-be attackers of covering up visits from extraterrestrials - by contaminating their houses, cars and food with radium believed stolen from an abandoned factory. The plot was discovered before the poisonings could begin. In 1995, Chechen terrorists buried a canister of cesium-137 in a popular Moscow marketplace, then gave a TV news crew directions to the spot, in an effort to demonstrate that ordinary people in the Russian capital could become victims of the country's war in the breakaway republic. Because it was buried, the isotope proved harmless. If it had been exploded in the air - or even left exposed in the open, above ground - the health risks would have been much greater, Russian officials said. Exploding a conventional bomb packed with a potent radioactive material is perhaps the most serious use of radiological terror envisioned by experts. Iraq reportedly tested such a "dirty bomb" in the late 1980s, but abandoned it after finding it too difficult to create lethal radiation levels. But even the threat of nonlethal, but still harmful, radioactive contamination through a public place would be enough to magnify the terror of a conventional attack, preparedness planners say. Emergency workers responding to a site with radiation meters would sense the heightened activity, possibly delaying help to people injured in the blast. Then, after specially trained hazardous materials experts were summoned, news of the event would lead to a situation similar to the current anthrax scare, said Joseph G. Klinger, of the Illinois Division of Radioactive Materials. Even if the nuclear material used in such an attack had decayed past the point of serious threat, or was dispersed so widely that the concentrations weren't particularly dangerous, Klinger said, the anxiety it would cause might be more disruptive than the attack itself. "Something like cesium, with a 30-year half life, you'd have to seal off the area and get into a very expensive cleanup," Klinger said. "People would go, `Oh my God, it's radioactive.'" ctnow.com is Copyright © 2001 by The Hartford Courant ***************************************************************** 3 Elite U.S. team works to keep nuclear bombs from terrorists STLtoday - news By Andrew Schneider Of the Post-Dispatch 10/20/2001 12:54 PM Nuclear Emergency Search Team members work on installing the radiation-sensing equipment into a helicopter, 1997, at the NEST facility on a remote corner of Nellis Air Force Base in North Las Vegas, Nev. (AP) Twenty-seven years ago, extortionists threatened to blow up Boston with a nuclear device unless $200,000 was paid. A pickup team of federal agents scrambled to the scene. Scientists with the Atomic Energy Commission flew into one airport. Their radiation detection equipment went to another. No one was sure what to look for or how to find it or exactly what to do if they did. As it turned out, the government's bewilderment really didn't matter. The extortionist never picked up the money that the FBI left at a prearranged spot, and the matter was declared a hoax. Fortunately for Boston, there was no bomb. Fortunately for the United States, emergency planners admitted that the response was chaotic and bumbling; and President Gerald Ford ordered the government to get its act together. Within a year, in 1975, the nation's Nuclear Emergency Search Team was created. While reports of anthrax and fears of bioterrorism have permeated America's psyche in the last few weeks, security experts have not forgotten their decades-old concern about terrorists obtaining and detonating a nuclear device. The job of protecting the nation from such a catastrophe falls to NEST. This carefully crafted group of more than 1,100 men and women work for the Department of Energy. They are nuclear physicists - some who designed America's own atomic weapons - chemists, engineers, meteorologists, physicians, nurses and computer specialists and security experts. Most work at the nation's weapons plants, but when alerted to a NEST call-up, they can be delivered, fully equipped, to any place in the country within four hours, they say. The heart of the NEST operation is the security force. The small group of government employees and civilian contractors is highly trained, well armed and equipped with an evolving collection of James Bond-like radiation detectors. If necessary, these science-commandos on the security team believe they can fight their way into a terrorist stronghold and secure a nuclear device. They have trained the Delta force and other elite military and government units in how to search for radioactive material. In almost all cases, they do their work unobtrusively. Hard hats and jeans are worn on the docks, pin-striped suits and leather briefcases near the Capitol and on Wall Street, and team colors at the stadium. Their toolboxes, briefcases and beer coolers often contain the most sophisticated tracking devices available. Today they have their own aircraft to get the team and equipment where they are needed. They have a fleet of nondescript vans and trucks to carry tons of gear to receive satellite information, lathes to machine their own equipment on the scene, cameras, scuba and climbing gear, tents, special foam and freezing chemicals and detection devices of all types and sizes. They train all the time and, as of last December, had responded to about 125 actual call-ups. All but 30 were classified as hoaxes or unsubstantiated. No one, not even former NEST members, would discuss any of the 30, other than to say that several dealt with extortion attempts by employees in various areas of the nuclear industry. Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson tells the tale of a call the FBI received on Feb. 20, 1999, that radioactive material was aboard Amtrak's Empire Builder and "it's passengers are in danger." The Empire, bound from Chicago to Seattle, and an eastbound passenger train were diverted to a remote stretch of track in Montana. NEST teams were flown to the site and the trains were searched. Nothing was found. "It's not a plot in a Tom Clancy thriller. It was real," Richardson said. There has long been concern that someone - a militia member, an irate student, a disgruntled government worker - might try to put together an atomic device. How-to-do-it guides for building nuclear devices can be found all over the Internet, in college collections of doctoral theses and in some survivalist or anarchist books or handouts. NEST investigators collect and evaluate all of these as well as spy novels and movie scripts dealing with the topic. In 1979, the government fought to stop Progressive Magazine from publishing details on how to build a hydrogen bomb. But the information eventually was published by several sources. "Fortunately, most of these home-brewed recipes are missing key ingredients or vital steps, so the only real threat they present would be to anyone crazy enough to try building a device," said a former NEST team leader. "Some of movies and novels come closer to the truth - frighteningly closer - but without the right (weapons grade nuclear) material, they remain interesting fiction." Whereabouts of Soviet weapons Uppermost on the "to do" list of those guarding against nuclear terrorism is the security of nuclear weapons and radioactive material. Richardson questions "how much longer will America's luck hold?" The fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s did nothing to ease the angst of those concerned about nuclear weapons and material getting into the wrong hands. Intelligence groups reported that between 4,000 and 6,000 former Soviet weapons scientists who were no longer being paid by the new Russian government were being heavily courted by Iraq, Iran, North Korea and terrorist groups. Of greater importance, there was little or no security for the thousands of nuclear devices spread out across Russia and its breakaway republics. President Bill Clinton pressured the Russian leadership to allow the United States to help. "Since 1994, we have employed more than 4,000 scientists at 170 institutes and organizations throughout Russia and the Newly Independent States," Richardson said in a speech in 1999. Scores of NEST members and other American specialists went into Russia's secret nuclear cities to coach their former enemies on how to safeguard the weapons and material within. Russian guards found themselves outfitted in new U.S. winter boots, heavy coats and heaters supplied to keep them from leaving their posts. Department of Energy personnel also have supplied the technology and equipment to detect nuclear material at border crossings, ports and airports leaving Russia. Were these highly unusual steps successful? No one really knows. Nor is it known how much, if any, Russian nuclear material has been given or sold to terrorists. But Interpol, the CIA and other intelligence services all report that the firmly entrenched Russian mob can acquire anything and will sell anything to anyone willing to pay. Concern soared in May 1997 when former Russian Security Council Secretary Aleksandr Lebed told U.S. congressmen visiting Moscow that his nation once had between 80 and 100 atomic demolition weapons, suitcase-size one-kiloton bombs, that had been ordered built in the 1970s by the KGB. He said they were missing. (A kiloton has the explosive power of a thousand tons of dynamite.) The Russian government disputed the existence of the tiny weapons. It then allowed that if they had been built, all were accounted for. In October of that year, Aleksey Yabokov, an adviser to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, told members of the U.S. House subcommittee on Military Research and Development that many of the portable weapons were missing. The controversy continues. "We believe we have a full accounting of all of Russia's strategic weapons, but when it comes to tactical weapons - the suitcase variety - we do not know, and I'm not sure they do either," said Charles Curtis, former deputy energy secretary under Clinton and the president of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Some U.S. officials still dispute that a weapon that small could be built by anyone, but until the mid-'70s select Marine and Army units carried what was called the "backpack bomb," which weighed less then 163 pounds. "It's ridiculous to say that technology doesn't exist to make small nuclear devices," said Bruce Blair, president of the Defense Information Center. "In the late '70s, scientists from the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore labs built a one-kiloton bomb that fit into a standard attache case." New worries for NEST Pakistan, America's newest ally in our war against terrorism, has 30 to 80 atomic weapons of its own. "These bombs, with explosive yields ranging from 1 to 15 kilotons, are at a missile complex about 250 miles from Afghanistan," Blair said. "The ranks of the (Pakistani) government and military are riddled with sympathizers of the radical Islamic faction. This presents a real opportunity to spirit away an atomic bomb or two for bin Laden or other terrorists." Curtis, the former deputy energy secretary. shared the concern. "Our government has got to understand the threat the limited safeguards on these weapons really present," he said. Not all the challenges for the NEST searchers come from outside the border. Radiological dispersal devices - known as dirty bombs - can be constructed from waste from nuclear power plants wrapped in conventional explosives. These would not produce a nuclear explosion. But, depending on the size of the package, large quantities of radioactive particles would be spewed into the environment. "Detonation of a dynamite-laden casket of spent fuel from a power plant would not kill quite as many people as died on September 11," Blair said. "But if it happened in Manhattan, you could expect 2,000 deaths and thousands more suffering from radiation poisoning." Can NEST intercept and disable this litany of deadly devices before they are used by terrorists? The ease of detection depends greatly on the nuclear material used. Some will emit alpha radiation, which can be shielded by a single sheet of paper. Most beta rays won't make it through wood or dry wall. It's the neutrons and gamma rays, which can shoot out hundreds of yards, that offer the best bet for detection while driving up a city street or walking through a convention center, hotel or office building or flying low over a community. False alarms abound. The granite used in the Capitol and many federal buildings as well as orange Fiesta Ware dinner plates contain enough radioactivity to set off detectors. But new sensing equipment and techniques are being developed for the team members, and many new people are being rushed through training to help. Curtis said the teams are highly experienced "and there is a high degree of confidence that if they locate the device, they can disarm it." Blair said that locating a device is the problem. "The ability to find a smuggled nuclear weapon is going to be between difficult and impossible unless there is good intelligence to give these teams a clue. If you've got intelligence and can pin the device down to a certain neighborhood or area, bring in NEST and their gadgets, and they'll find it." Stephen Bolhafner and Jennifer LaFleur of the Post-Dispatch assisted in researching this story. Reporter Andrew Schneider: E-mail: aschneider@post-dispatch.com Phone: 314-340-8101 ***************************************************************** 4 Families rush radiation tests news.com.au - 21oct01 HUNDREDS of Australian families are having radiation levels checked in their homes after a British report found a link between high-voltage power lines and childhood cancer. The demand has created a 10-week waiting period for radiation scans by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). A spokesman said the agency had received hundreds of inquiries from concerned parents since the British report, the first reputable investigation to find the leukaemia link, was published in March. The scans check for levels of radiation coming from power lines and household electrical wiring. The agency reported the rush in its quarterly report to Parliament which details any nuclear or radiation accidents in Australia. There are very few radiation scanners in Australia and the agency's resources have been in constant use this year. They charge a nominal $25 fee. Scanners can also be hired at commercial rates from engineering firms. The UK report from the National Radiological Protection Board found electromagnetic fields in the vast majority of homes were not of concern. But strong fields did increase the risk of childhood leukaemia. Australian IT ***************************************************************** 5 Crisis Restores Trust in Government The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, October 21, 2001 BY DAVID BRODER WASHINGTON POST WRITERS GROUP WASHINGTON -- Whatever their views before Sept. 11, Americans of all stripes have relearned the lesson that when there is a crisis, it's handy to have a government that can cope. Not just the heroic firefighters, police and rescue workers, but bureaucrats in the Pentagon and State Department and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control have won acclaim. Trust in government is at a 35-year high. How long this will last, no one can say. But a variety of people, both in the private sector and in public office, have decided that this is the moment to launch an effort to repair and improve the federal bureaucracy -- an institution they say is in crisis. Last week, President Bush took time from his work as commander in chief to address an awards ceremony for outstanding senior civil servants and to set forth an initiative to make work more rewarding for those already in government and more attractive to the thousands of talented people Uncle Sam will have to recruit in the years just ahead. While reiterating his opposition to expanded government, he described federal employment as "a noble calling and a public trust," and vowed to make federal jobs "more challenging, more satisfying and more fulfilling." Tuesday will see the formal roll-out of the Partnership for Public Service, a new nonprofit dedicated to attracting talented people -- both recent graduates and those in midcareer -- to government and improving the bureaucratic environment. The Partnership is funded with a $25 million gift from Samuel Heyman, who worked for Attorney General Robert Kennedy 40 years ago and made his fortune as a Connecticut businessman. Next week, also, two Republican legislators, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio and Rep. Constance Morella of Maryland, will introduce legislation designed to make it easier to hire and retain high-quality employees and to emulate the modern management techniques that have made America's outstanding private companies good places to work. Their legislation is strikingly similar in purpose and in detail to the "freedom to manage" proposals unveiled by the Bush administration at the ceremony where the president spoke. This emphasis on the quality of the federal work force is timely, and not just because of the appreciation for public service so many Americans have developed in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Dramatic action is necessary now to improve the conditions for government workers to prevent a mass exodus that could cripple agencies' ability to function. As Max Stier, the Partnership president (who has worked in all three branches of the federal government), points out, in the next three years more than half of federal workers will be eligible for retirement; more than seven out of 10 top government managers can claim their pensions by 2004. In some agencies, the demographic gap is even more dramatic. Voinovich told me that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- responsible for the safety of atomic energy -- has six times more people over 60 on its payroll than under 30. "That is not unusual," he said, "and it explains why Jim Schlesinger [the former secretary of defense] says we are facing an unprecedented crisis" in staffing government. There is broad agreement on many of the steps needed to make government work better: Increase the earning potential of specialists and top managers; make it easier for agencies to bring in both young talent and proven midlevel executives; make personnel issues a higher priority within the agencies. But beyond those rather mechanical changes, much will depend on the kind of message and encouragement career people receive from their political bosses. One Bush Cabinet member who clearly understands this is Treasury's Paul O'Neill. In a recent appearance before the Council for Excellence in Government, another nonprofit working to improve the quality of the bureaucracy, O'Neill, a onetime White House deputy budget director who went on to run International Paper and Alcoa, talked about the difference between leading an organization and simply managing it. "Leadership," he said, "is really about creating the conditions where people are comfortable with change and they know that they have an opportunity to make a contribution . . . and they're not in the business of taking orders." A great organization, in O'Neill's terms, is one where everyone "is treated with dignity and respect . . . is given the tools and assistance needed to make a contribution that gives meaning to life" and receives recognition and thanks for making that contribution. When all government agencies are like that, the crisis in public service will be over. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 6 Rocky Flats clean up resumes [www.TheDailyCamera.com] By Katy Human Camera Staff Writer Officials at Rocky Flats said Friday a recent work stoppage was caused by a pattern of too-frequent safety problems, not just a chemical exposure incident. Plant managers stopped all cleanup work Oct. 12, in what they called a "safety pause," after a series of procedural violations at the federal site, said safety engineer Gary Voorheis. It was the first time since 1999 all cleanup was halted for safety reasons. "We had experienced some concern about work control in general on site, work packages (procedures) not being followed as closely as they should be, documentation issues ... relatively minor things, but we have seen several of them," said Voorheis, who works for Kaiser-Hill. Since 1995, the Department of Energy has been paying Kaiser-Hill to clean up and close down Rocky Flats, which was heavily contaminated by nuclear weapons-building and research from 1952 to 1989. Work on some cleanup projects resumed earlier this week, but a few projects in nuclear buildings remained suspended Friday pending further safety review. Kaiser-Hill managers stopped work a day and a half after discovering that a worker without authorization had been cleaning out chemical bottles improperly in building 776 for several weeks. The man was venting bottles of butadiene, butylene and 1-butene gases on Oct. 10, Voorheis said. Several workers in the building reported dizziness and nausea that day. The chemicals are carcinogenic with long-term exposure, but blood tests of 50 workers revealed three with slightly elevated white blood cell counts, said John Corsi, spokesman for Kaiser-Hill. The slight elevations may not be related to chemical exposure; they may mean the workers are coming down with colds, he said after consulting with a site doctor. Voorheis called the chemical exposure incident "the straw that broke the camel's back" and said it gave managers the excuse to step back and take a careful look at safety procedures. The last time the entire site stopped operations — except for security reasons following Sept. 11 — was in November 1999, also in response to "negative trends" in work control, Corsi said. Patrick Etchart, spokesman for the energy department at Rocky Flats, said the cleanup involves a tremendous number of unknown and hidden risks. "Every day, things are new, and it becomes even more important that rules and procedures are followed," he said. Energy department manager Barbara Mazurowski sent a letter to Kaiser-Hill president Alan Parker on Oct. 12 expressing her concerns about the recent chemical exposures of workers. She requested a thorough investigation of the event and placed two energy department observers on the investigation team. In July, the Department of Energy chided Kaiser-Hill for ongoing safety problems, fining the company $385,000 for violating safety rules designed to prevent dangerous nuclear chain-reactions and other problems. The fine was the third costliest ever levied under the 1996 Price-Anderson Act, which deals with incidents at Energy Department nuclear sites. In November 2000, federal officials fined Kaiser-Hill $250,000 for other safety problems, including an "overall negative trend in work control site-wide," according to Mazurowski. Contact Katy Human at (303) 473-1364 or humank@thedailycamera.com. October 20, 2001 Copyright 2001 The Daily Camera. All rights reserved. Any ***************************************************************** 7 Kursk set to surface again - CNN.com - October 21, 2001 The Kursk sank with the loss of 118 sailors MOSCOW, Russia -- Salvage operators are preparing to put the barge carrying the wreck of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk into dry dock. The 18,000-ton vessel, which sank in August 2000 during naval manoeuvres, killing its entire 118-man crew, was raised earlier this month from the bottom of the Barents Sea. It was then towed under a giant barge to the northern Russian town of Roslyakovo but the docking of the submarine was delayed for two weeks because of safety fears over the delicate operation. The salvage team are scheduled to hoist it into a half-submerged floating dock on Sunday which will finally bring the Kursk into daylight after 14 months under water. Once in dry dock in Roslyakovo, outside Russia's Arctic port of Murmansk, the submarine will be examined by investigators and forensic experts. It will be stripped of its arsenal of missiles and then sealed. Officials will also remove the remains of the crew to prevent damaging contact with the air. Russian Navy spokesman Vladimir Navrotsky has said officials expected to find 30 or 40 bodies, because the others on board were probably atomised by the powerful explosions that sank the submarine. At least 23 Kursk sailors survived for several hours in the stern compartments, according to letters found when divers entered the vessel in November 2000 and recovered 12 bodies. Afterwards the Kursk will be towed to the nearby town of Snezhnogorsk, where nuclear fuel will be extracted from its reactors and its remains fully dismantled. Divers retrieved seven fragments of the first compartment of the nuclear submarine Kursk shortly after the wreckage was raised from the Barents Sea floor. The first compartment, which was badly damaged when the Kursk exploded and sank, was cut off and left on the sea floor for possible lifting next summer. Vice Admiral Mikhail Barskov told the Interfax news agency on Saturday that he was on the Mayo salvage ship when the hulk of the submarine was raised. "We examined the place where the sub was lying, we examined what was left of the first compartment, we filmed and documented all that," Barskov said. "The seven fragments were raised, we just didn't need to raise anything else." He said in the state the compartment was in, it would be impossible to raise it as a whole. "It doesn't exist," said Barskov, the official representative of the Russian Defence Ministry in charge of placing the submarine in dry dock. "There are elements, it is like an element now." Investigators say clues to the tragedy could lie in the first compartment, which contained the torpedoes. The favoured theory is that Kursk sank after a practice torpedo exploded, causing others to detonate and rip the submarine apart. © 2001 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 8 Three agencies resort to wire-tapping - DAWN - National; 22 October, 2001 By Bahzad Alam Khan KARACHI, Oct 21: At least three intelligence agencies resort to wire-tapping in the country in their bid to procure information, Dawn learnt here on Thursday. The Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and the Military Intelligence are the three organizations that tap people's phones invoking article 54 of the Pakistan Telecommunications (Reorganization) Act 1996. The article, which is titled "national security", says: "Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, in the interest of national security or in the apprehension of any offence, the federal government may authorize any person or persons to intercept calls and messages or to trace calls through any telecommunication system." Well-placed sources said that originally the Intelligence Bureau had been mandated to indulge in what in technical parlance is referred to as 'electronic eavesdropping'. Its safe house in Clifton - called the Bhopal House - had been equipped with gadgetry required to eavesdrop on phone calls made by shady characters suspected of taking part in anti-state activities or espionage. An official of the Inter-Services Intelligence, who requested not to be named, said that his intelligence outfit had procured extremely sophisticated monitoring devices in 1996 when Naseerullah Babar had been the interior minister. "The intelligence agencies laid their hands on electronic eavesdropping devices. The successful manner in which the police and other law-enforcement agencies subsequently tracked down criminals and terrorists has few parallells in police history," he said. Explaining how modern monitoring devices were different from the old ones, he said modern wire-tapping devices were programmed for a set of certain words, such as India, president and the governor house. The moment a subject - a euphemism for the person under observation - uttered one of these words, the device was activated and recorded snatches of conversation. The choice of words naturally varied from subject to subject. He, however, admitted that these hi-fi monitoring devices were used for purposes other than those which were permissible under the Constitution. "For instance, the intelligence agencies eavesdrop on phone calls made by political activists, consulate officials, journalists, senior police officials, judges, corps commanders, etc," he said. Insiders told Dawn that occasionally the intelligence agencies employed wire-tapping devices to spy on one another as well. The abuse of these devices had become so rampant that the president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, had to recently order the national intelligence agencies to concentrate on terrorism and sectarianism-related activities instead of gathering "political intelligence". According to news reports, the president directed the intelligence agencies to reorientate their focus towards criminal activities, sectarian violence and terrorism instead of pursuing other activities like political intelligence gathering. In February a former deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau, Abdur Rahman, admitted to having tape-recorded telephone conversations between Justice Malick Qayyum of the Lahore High Court, the LHC chief justice, Justice Rashid Aziz, the former law minister, Khalid Anwer, and former NAB chief Saifur Rehman. The transcript of the conversations - parts of which were at first published by The Sunday Times - called into question the verdict announced by Justice Qayyum in the SGS/Cotecna case against the former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. © The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2001 ***************************************************************** 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. 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