***************************************************************** 7/22/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.179 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Calls to close leaking N-plant 2 Canton residents unconvinced by study on high cancer rate 3 Energy without sunshine 4 AI vows to trounce PPP in Nawabshah 5 Nuclear revival - TVA has facilities waiting 6 PACRO set to take flourine elsewhere if current talks fail 7 SNP wants Chapelcross closed 8 NCPA - Regulation Issues - The Costs Of Nuclear Power 9 Chernobyl expose scientist is jailed 10 Impasse on nuclear plants stalls climate talks 11 Las Vegas SUN: Experts: Volcanic activity no threat to Yucca Mountain 12 Fresh nuclear plant investigation 13 Experts: Volcanic activity no threat to Yucca NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Former DOE Employees Attend Compensation Meeting 2 Report: Staff shortage contributed to lab problems 3 reports of second nuclear theft case in south Germany 4 Sick uranium-enrichment workers to get federal help 5 ITN - Environmentalists fear raising the Kursk 6 Omaha Corps booted from cleanup 7 Summary of safety at Lawrence lab misleading 8 British report disputes Indian claim on yield of nuclear test 9 Puerto Rico Tests Vieques Meat 10 Openness, Russian style 11 EDITORIAL: Overdue compensation ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Calls to close leaking N-plant Sunday Herald By Rob Edwards Environment Editor The Scottish National Party and environmentalists yesterday called for the ageing Chapelcross nuclear power station in Dumfries and Galloway to be closed down as details emerged of a second accident involving radioactive materials. Uranium oxide leaked from old waste drums, seeped through a wall and contamin-ated the ground. British Nuclear Fuels, the state-owned company that runs the plant, said the drums were corroded by water leaking from a gutter. It is the second incident at Chapelcross in a fortnight. Managers are still trying to retrieve 12 highly radioactive fuel rods that were dropped five and a half feet during a defuelling operation on July 5. Another 12 rods were recovered after falling 85 feet down a fuel shaft . Three were broken and released radioactive gas, though BNFL says the amount was so small it did not increase radiation levels in the plant. The SNP, which is sending senior representatives to Chapelcross next Friday, fears BNFL is cutting corners on safety. 'I am worried that the company may be running the station into the ground in order to make more profit while failing to put in investments on safety,' said shadow deputy environment minister Fiona McLeod. If that were the case, she argued, the plant should be closed . Chapelcross, which is 43 years old, is Scotland's oldest nuclear power plant. As well as making electricity, it plays a unique role producing tritium for Trident nuclear warheads . 'Are they keeping the plant going for military purposes, not just electricity generation?' asked McLeod. Both Friends of the Earth Scotland and Greenpeace said Chapelcross was well past its sell-by date. Shaun Burnie from Greenpeace also suggested the plant was kept going because of its military function. After it had located all 24 dropped rods last week, BNFL revised its plans to shut down the two Chapelcross reactors currently generating power . There was also confirmation yesterday that all eight pressure release valves on the two reactors at Torness nuclear power station, in East Lothian, had been at the wrong setting for three years. During a routine check more than a week ago, operators found that the setting of both reactors' safety valves was out 'by a couple of decimal points'. The station's operator, British Energy, said the incident had not jeopardised safety . ' We have taken steps to make sure that it doesn't happen again,' said a spokesperson. British Energy also denied that the incident was connected to the sacking of Torness manager David Williams earlier this month. ©2001 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088. all rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Canton residents unconvinced by study on high cancer rate Sunday, July 22, 2001 By Matt Saxton A recently released study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said there is no link between a high local cancer rate and radioactive material at Molycorp Inc. Some residents remained unconvinced. "We do disagree with some of their points," supervisors Chairman Chad Smith said Wednesday. Smith said he had asked the agency to investigate the high cancer rate, and representatives decided to focus on the Molycorp site. No one from Canton contended Molycorp was causing the problem, he said. In January, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission required Molycorp to remove soil that contained a low radioactive material called thorium. Not all the material has been removed, Smith said. "It seems like there's a lot of sick people in [the area near Molycorp]," said Francis Flynn, who lives about a quarter-mile from the plant. For example, residents in 10 houses on the same side of the street in the Ellwood Park neighborhood were diagnosed with cancer, Flynn said. Three people died within a six-day period, he said. Smith said Canton does not have the resources to continue investigating the high cancer rate but said he hopes government funding will help continue the study. Supervisors could decide as early as this week if the township will pay to have a professional planning group assist in deciding how to redevelop the area near the Jessop Place exit of I-70. EDAW Inc. of Alexandria, Va., presented its plan Wednesday during a meeting at the California University of Pennsylvania's Southpointe Campus. Smith said professional planning is necessary to develop the best strategy for the project. Matt Saxton is a free-lance writer. ***************************************************************** 3 Energy without sunshine [St. Petersburg Times Online: Opinion: Editorials and Letters] A Times Editorial By refusing to turn over records of his energy task force, Vice President Dick Cheney adds to the perception that it was dominated by his corporate cronies. © St. Petersburg Times, published July 22, 2001 The suggestion that Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force was influenced by insiders in the oil, coal and nuclear power industries is gaining credibility. The meetings were held in private, and the list of participants from outside government was kept a secret. Now, Cheney is refusing to turn over task force records to the General Accounting Office. What is Cheney hiding? The energy plan that emerged from the task force gives only a token nod to conservation while encouraging increased oil drilling, coal mining and nuclear power plant construction. Perhaps the critics are right that Cheney listened only to buddies from his oil days and campaign contributors. Records from task force meetings would shed light on the matter. In April, two ranking House Democrats asked the GAO to investigate the task force. "We have become concerned about the conduct and composition of the task force," said Henry Waxman of California and John Dingell of Michigan. "The process of energy policy development needs sunshine." The GAO cited legal precedent for the investigation, but Cheney refused to release the records or even say who talked to the task force. In a defiant letter, Cheney's attorney, David Addington, said the task force was exempt from the law because it carried out its work under authority of the Constitution. That's a dubious argument. The law authorizes the GAO to "investigate all matters related to the receipt, disbursement and use of public money." The task force met in federal buildings, used government employees and spent public money. Its work product is of vital public interest, especially given the windfall profits energy companies have enjoyed during California's electricity crisis and the recent high cost of gasoline. Cheney is being hypocritical, as well, in questioning the GAO's authority. Republicans smacked their lips with glee when the non-partisan office went after the Clintons. In 1995, the GAO found that Hillary Clinton's ill-fated health care task force had spent not the $100,000 it originally budgeted, but nearly $14-million. That task force's activity was also cloaked in secrecy as it worked to change the nation's health care system. And in 1996, the Clintons were less than responsive when the GAO exposed the seamy details of White House firings that became known as "Travelgate." Now, a Republican administration finds itself in the same spot. Cheney has tried to portray his task force's work as balanced, but the few known details belie that characterization. The vice president's office said no invitations to speak to the task force were issued, but they acknowledge that executives from oil, gas, coal and energy companies were allowed to address the group. Richard S. Shapiro, senior vice president of Enron Corp., the nation's largest trader of wholesale electricity and a major Republican contributor, told the New York Times that he spent a half hour discussing the energy plan with Cheney. But consumer and environmental groups were treated differently. Consumer Federation of America, the nation's largest consumer advocacy group, was shut out of the meetings. "It's an incredible insult to the consumers of this country that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the consumer organizations were invited to the meetings or otherwise participated," said Howard Metzenbaum, federation chairman and former U.S. senator. The largest environmental organizations got no closer than a brief group meeting with a couple of task force staffers. "The meeting felt like window dressing for us, but they got to check off the box that they consulted with stakeholders," said Alys Campaigne, legislative director of the National Resources Defense Council. zzSo whom did Cheney listen to? The answer matters because Americans are being asked to give up some of their most valuable public land and waters to drilling, mining and energy production. Under the Bush administration's energy plan, we face a degraded environment and increased energy costs with little leadership on conservation and the development of alternative fuels. Who whispered those ideas in Dick Cheney's ear? ***************************************************************** 4 AI vows to trounce PPP in Nawabshah -DAWN - National; 23 July, 2001 By Our Correspondent NAWABSHAH, July 22: "Senior members have left the Pakistan People's Party of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and now the party is in the custody of Zardaris, who have broken all records of corruption," said Syed Shabbir Ahmed Shah of Nawabshah Awami Ittehad while speaking at a reception here the other day. The reception was arranged by Sardar Dr Mushtaq Ahmed Rahu and Haji Ghulam Nabi Rahu in honour of the elected nazims, naib nazims and councillors of Nawabshah Awami Ittehad at Sabu Rahu near Sarkand. He said that due to corruption, the PPP government had been dissolved twice. Mr Shah said that Zardaris had looted the country and had made palaces and bank balances abroad. The Syed family, he said, had been serving the people for a long time and had always helped and worked for the masses. Mr Shah, a former MNA, assured the people that the Awami Ittehad had become strong and united and its nazims and naib nazims would win the elections with a big margin throughout the district. For clean political culture to develop, he said, it was necessary that the accountability process initiated by the National Accountability Bureau should continue in the country. Khan Mohammed Dahri, the Awami Ittehad-backed candidate for the seat of district nazim, said that Syed Shabbir Ahmed Shah had nominated him only on merit. He said that he had got a majority and his panel would win the forthcoming election. Ghulam Nabi Khan Rahu, Syed Zain Shah and Syed Fasih Shah also spoke on the occasion. © The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2001 ***************************************************************** 5 Nuclear revival - TVA has facilities waiting The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Saturday, July 21, 2001 TVA has facilities waiting The Tennessee Valley Authority acquired its whopping $26 billion debt in large part because soaring costs forced the agency to abandon its nuclear program in midstream. Now TVA has a genuine shot at reviving that program and reaping the financial rewards for its ratepayers. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that TVA is taking a close look at finishing the Bellefonte nuclear plant in northern Alabama. TVA poured $4 billion into that facility before stopping construction in 1988. Bellefonte is about 70 percent completed, which makes it a prime candidate for revival. Alabama officials are urging TVA to reopen an idle nuclear unit at the Browns Ferry plant, the Journal reported. The agency also has a partially completed unit at the Watts Bar nuclear facility in Tennessee. Against a background of growing national concern over the threat of California-style power shortages, the generating potential of TVA's dormant nuclear units is impressive. If the Bellefonte plant is completed, it will produce 2,400 megawatts of power. That represents the combined generating capacity of eight or nine of the 18 new power plants proposed in Kentucky. Nuclear power is getting a second chance in the United States thanks to the power crisis in California and the Bush administration's strong interest in stepping up energy production. Bush wants to put nuclear power plants back on the table. Nuclear power produces negligible air pollution, has an excellent safety record in the United States and western Europe and has become increasingly efficient over the past decade. Japan and several western Europe countries rely on nuclear for most of their power production. With its mothballed facilities, TVA is in a good position to benefit from a comeback for nuclear power. For one thing, the agency wouldn't have to fight hammer-and-tongs against environmentalist groups in order to acquire new plant sites. Even so, the Journal notes the federal utility could incur major costs in trying to bring these units on line. Still, TVA may be able to sell some of the units to private utilities eager to increase their generating capacity as they bid for business in deregulated power markets. Selling the nuclear units would allow TVA to substantially reduce its debt — and offer power at lower rates to its customers in the Tennessee Valley. It's good news for power customers that TVA and other utilities at least have a chance to recoup something from their massive investments in nuclear power. Only a few years ago, this possibility did not exist. Vestiges of the hysteria over the relatively minor Three Mile Island incident prevented rational discussion of nuclear power. But that changed when wealthy California got a rude reality check about the importance of ensuring power production keeps up with the demands of a high-tech economy. Referring to California's power woes, Craig Barrett, chief executive of Intel Corp., said, "Nuclear power is the answer, but it's not politically correct." President Bush and Vice President Cheney are working on making nuclear power a more acceptable political option. If they succeed, the lights almost certainly will remain on in the rest of the nation. ***************************************************************** 6 PACRO set to take flourine elsewhere if current talks fail The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Thursday, July 19, 2001 A committee has made it a stipulation that any recycler create jobs in Paducah, a sticking point in talks with ToxCo. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Economic development officials say they will approach a second group of firms if talks are unfruitful with a company that wants to recycle fluorine at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The facilities reuse committee of the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization (PACRO) has met several times with California-based ToxCo, and has another meeting set for Aug. 9 in Paducah, said Henry Hodges, committee chairman. Because of confidentiality agreements, he would not discuss specifics, but said the committee has not changed its stance that ToxCo must create jobs locally if it is hired. In giving a report Wednesday during PACRO's monthly meeting, Hodges did not indicate if ToxCo had changed its position. He said earlier that the company wanted to buy the fluorine for recycling elsewhere, rather than build a conversion facility at the Paducah plant. Depending on results of the next meeting with ToxCo, the committee may seek negotiations with another group of firms regarding fluorine recycling, he said, without naming the companies. "I am prepared to deal beyond that meeting," he said in an interview. "But we're hoping for the very best (with ToxCo)." Hodges said the committee will hold a teleconference Monday with officials of Chemical Vapor Deposition Manufacturing (CVD), a Canadian firm interested in recycling contaminated scrap metal at the plant. Since the committee began negotiations with the firm several months ago, continued testing has produced "very positive results" toward CVD's ability to convert the metal at the plant, he said. "What we'll be looking for over the next 30 to 60 days is to get a clear proposal from CVD, negotiated down so that we can bring it back to this committee (PACRO) and start working it through public channels," Hodges said. CVD is blocked by a temporary U.S. Department of Energy ban on selling radioactively contaminated scrap metal at any of its plants because of safety concerns. Hodges said his committee regularly speaks with DOE officials to see if and when the ban will be lifted. ***************************************************************** 7 SNP wants Chapelcross closed Scotland on Sunday Online - Scotland's biggest selling quality Sunday newspaper 22 July 2001 By Jason Allardyce Political Editor The SNP wants to close Scotland’s oldest nuclear power station which has been the subject of a series of recent safety scares, because it is secretly producing components for Trident warheads. Fiona McLeod, the Nationalists’ shadow environment minister, said the Chapelcross station near Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, which employs more than 400 workers, may be "past its sell-by date". Her comments, which have infuriated Labour politicians, came as an investigation was under way at the plant after its second safety scare in a month. British Nuclear Fuels Ltd confirmed that "a small quantity" of uranium powder had been washed from corroded drums at a store complex. Workers had not been exposed to the material and the incident discovered last Thursday posed no risk to the public. It follows an incident when 24 fuel rods fell from a machine during a routine refuelling operation on a reactor on July 5, prompting claims that workers narrowly escaped death. An operation is continuing to retrieve the rods. The SNP has attacked the performance and alleged secrecy of management at the plant, claiming yesterday: "This is a nuclear facility, not a kiddies’ playground but they’re not even telling people if they’re at risk." McLeod, who will quiz Chapelcross management at a meeting later this week, said she doubted that the 43-year-old facility is fit to continue. z She said: "Is it safe to be running this? Is it beyond its shelf life and should it be shut?" One of the SNP’s biggest concerns is that the power station houses a secretive military plant which produces radioactive tritium for Trident warheads. McLeod said she suspected this accounted for more of the plant’s effort than its modest contribution to the national grid and, if this proves to be the case, the SNP would demand its closure. "If it is only being kept for military purposes then our starting point is that we don’t want Trident [submarines] in our waters and we don’t want to be making nuclear warheads on our soil." Her comments angered the local the Labour MP, Russell Brown, who accused the Nationalists of playing politics with people’s jobs. The plant was strongly policed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and always responded positively to inspectorate recommendations. He added: "If Chapelcross shut down it would mean £12m a year suddenly disappearing from the economy and we cannot run away from that. There are 430 jobs here." scotsmansunday.news ***************************************************************** 8 NCPA - Regulation Issues - The Costs Of Nuclear Power Regulation Issues Daily Policy Digest Friday, July 20, 2001 The Costs Of Nuclear Power Nuclear power plants are cheaper to operate than coal or natural gas fired electric generating plants, say economists. But when higher construction costs for new reactors and the price of decommissioning old plants and disposing of waste are factored in, coal and natural gas processes are cheaper overall. + The Nuclear Energy Institute says a nuclear reactor generates electricity at an average cost of 1.83 cents per kilowatt hour -- compared to 2.07 cents from coal and 3.5 cents for natural gas. + Construction costs for nuclear reactors like the ones currently in use are about $2,000 per kilowatt -- compared to $1,000 to $1,200 for coal plants and $500 to $600 per kilowatt for natural gas fired plants. + But the nuclear industry expects that new designs will drive down future construction costs -- possibly to $1,200 to $1,500 per kilowatt, or even cheaper. Whatever the outcome, the 103 commercial nuclear reactors now operating in the U.S. are turning out power at record rates. They have increased their overall output by 25 percent during the last 10 years. They ran at 88.5 percent of capacity in 1999 -- up from just 58.5 percent of total capacity in 1980. Source: Charles Oliver, "Nuclear Power's Future Glowing Despite High Costs, Safety Issues," Investor's Business Daily, July 18, 2001. For more on Electrical Power http://www.ncpa.org/pd/regulat/reg-4.html Dallas Headquarters: 12655 N. Central Expy., Suite 720 - Dallas, TX 75243-1739 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924 Washington Office: 655 15th St. N.W., Suite 375 - Washington, DC 20005 - 202/628-6671 - Fax 202/628-6474 © 2001 NCPA ***************************************************************** 9 Chernobyl expose scientist is jailed THE SUNDAY TIMES: WORLD NEWS July 22 2001 EASTERN EUROPE Peter Conradi Lukashenko: dodging truth A LEADING Belarussian scientist who tried to highlight the disastrous effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster on the health of the country's children has been sentenced to eight years in a labour camp. The jailing of Yuri Bandazhevsky, the former dean of the medical institute in the southern city of Gomel, appears to be part of a long-running campaign by President Alexander Lukashenko to play down the consequences of the world's worst nuclear accident. Lukashenko presides over arguably Europe's most repressive regime. Reviled in the West, he was accused by two top former officials last week of helping to set up a death squad blamed for the disappearance of four opposition politicians in the past two years. Bandazhevsky was convicted by a military court, ostensibly of taking bribes in exchange for college admission. He denied the corruption charge but, under Belarussian law, has no right of appeal. His family fears for his health as jail food is virtually inedible and he is receiving no medical attention for a stomach ulcer. Amnesty International and other human rights groups monitoring the case said his conviction was linked to work aimed at establishing the full extent of damage caused by Chernobyl. Human rights campaigners say the catalyst for Bandazhevsky's arrest was a study of children close to Gomel, 80 miles northeast of the Chernobyl plant. It found that 80% of children who had been exposed to the highest levels of radiation had irregular heart rhythms and other cardiac disorders which, in many cases, proved fatal. "He has been breaking new ground," said Solange Fernex, a former French MEP and head of a group campaigning against the conviction. "Nobody has been able to carry out the number of autopsies he has done to show the effect of radiation on people's organs." Belarus was especially badly hit by the Chernobyl accident. As much as 23% of the land was contaminated by the radioactive cloud, and some 500,000 children and nearly 2m adults are believed to live in the worst affected areas. Lukashenko, who took to the streets of Minsk earlier this month on inline skates for Belarus's independence day, ahead of a re-election battle in September, has urged the international community to help with the clean-up. At home, however, he has refused to acknowledge the extent of the damage caused. Vasily Nesterenko, the director of the Belarussian institute for radiation security, said Bandazhevsky had been arrested soon after sending Lukashenko a letter complaining about the handling of the clean-up. "He was jailed because the health ministry does not like his findings," Nesterenko said. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided on Times ***************************************************************** 10 Impasse on nuclear plants stalls climate talks Chicago Tribune Traditional Version - Nation/World [Chicago Tribune] Sunday, July 22, 2001 EU firmly opposes construction in the Third World By Ray Moseley Tribune foreign correspondent July 22, 2001 BONN Talks on how to deal with global warming reached a critical stage here Saturday, and the European Union warned that the negotiations involving 180 nations could break down unless a deadlock over nuclear power plants is overcome. Belgian Energy Minister Olivier Deleuze, head of the 15-nation EU delegation, said the EU is prepared to compromise on some issues but would allow the conference to fail rather than budge on its opposition to nuclear power plants in developing countries. Japan introduced a proposal at the last climate conference in The Hague eight months ago opposing nuclear plants. But it has reversed itself in Bonn and is pushing to allow industrial nations to gain credits toward their greenhouse gas emission targets by funding such plants in developing countries. Japan is reported to have Canada's backing for this. "We have made clear that, for the EU, nuclear power . . . means `yes or no' to an agreement," Deleuze said. The ministerial level of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change is due to end Sunday night, but there were indications it could be extended to give delegates more time to reach a deal and avoid the failure that occurred at The Hague. The United States is represented in Bonn but is not actively engaged in negotiations because President Bush renounced the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming in March on grounds that it would damage the U.S. economy. Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk, the conference chairman, asked ministers to cancel any plans to leave Sunday night, and some sources said he expected that talks could continue until Tuesday. Pronk submitted a detailed compromise document to the conference Saturday night to try to break the logjam, and some delegates said talks might continue throughout the night while officials studied the document. `Problems get worse' "The moment of truth is approaching," Deleuze said. "We have been discussing climate change for 10 years. . . . I don't think we should discuss it for years more, or even months more. . . . We have been discussing this question for a long time, and the problems [of global warming] get worse and worse." European Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom of Sweden said the talks were "like dancing the tango--two steps forward and one step back." She said she hoped there would suddenly be "three steps forward" and that compromise was needed. But she said a provision to make compliance with any agreement reached in Bonn legally binding is "an absolute must" for the EU. Japan, Australia and Russia have insisted that compliance be voluntary, but negotiators appeared to be hopeful of overcoming their objections. Before the United States renounced the Kyoto Protocol, whose implementation is the subject of this conference, it strongly supported the EU position on compliance. The EU position is that there must be consequences for nations that fail to meet their Kyoto obligations, but that these would take the form of requiring them to get back into compliance rather than imposing financial penalties. "You have to be an absurd optimist to be part of these negotiations," Wallstrom said. "But the atmosphere is good. Behind the scenes there are contacts that bring things forward." Deleuze said the EU was prepared for compromise on the difficult issue of "sinks"--trees and agricultural land that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Japan, Canada and Australia have been pushing for a more liberal use of sinks in meeting carbon emission targets than the EU has been willing to accept. Some countries criticized Several environmental pressure groups at the conference as observers accused Australia and Canada on Saturday of trying to wreck the talks. But EU officials in public statements and privately said they had detected no such intention and believed these nations genuinely want an agreement. Australian Bill Hare of Greenpeace International was especially critical of his own country. He said Australia's "tough line" on nuclear power was "a deal breaker, a poison pill." He also denounced its opposition to binding compliance and said: "Australia is the poodle of the U.S. in the South Pacific. It is defending what it sees as the interests of the U.S. rather than seeking a successful conclusion to the conference." Hare also said Australia was pushing for a loophole on the sinks question that would allow it to increase emissions. "Greed is not a strong enough word to describe what is happening here," he said. "Australia wants to wreck the protocol." Jennifer Morgan of the World Wildlife Fund said it was clear that Australia, Japan and Canada "are trying to kill this protocol." She said they wanted to defer agreement until another climate conference at Marrakech, Morocco, in October in the hopes of "making it weaker yet." ***************************************************************** 11 Las Vegas SUN: Experts: Volcanic activity no threat to Yucca Mountain ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Las Vegas SUN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today: July 22, 2001 at 16:30:44 PDT Experts: Volcanic activity no threat to Yucca Mountain LAS VEGAS (AP) - Scientists studying the consequences of molten rock penetrating the proposed national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain say it's highly unlikely the mountain could erupt. It's been 86 years since lava flowed in Northern California, the nearest province for volcanic activity outside the region where Yucca Mountain sits. And it's been 80,000 years since molten rock penetrated the surface near Yucca Mountain, the place where the government wants to entomb the nation's most lethal radioactive waste. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was formed some 13 million years ago from alternating periods of volcanic ash falling from the sky and lava oozing out of a caldera near Timber Mountain, 12 miles north of Yucca Mountain. The volcanoes and cinder cones near Yucca Mountain are extinct, according to Department of Energy geologist Eric Smistad. Smistad leads a team studying the consequences of molten rock entering the proposed dump. A plan to develop calculations analyzing those consequences will be ready for Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff later this year, he said. Smistad's team of a dozen scientists already has calculated what would happen if molten rock rose through the repository floor, wiped out a waste canister and continued upward to the mountain's surface, spewing radioactive materials into the air. The chance of such an event happening is 1-in-70 million per year. The team calculates that the release would result in maybe one-tenth of a millirem dose to the nearest person downwind if the waste packages come in contact with 2,200-degree Fahrenheit molten rock several hundred years after the repository opens. That would be a small fraction of the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 15 millirems per year of allowable radiation exposure from all pathways - air, soil, water and the food chain. A millirem is one-thousandth of a rem, the measurement of a radiation dose. A person living in the United States receives an average annual 360-millirem dose of radiation from natural and man-made sources. "The bottom line is the doses that we're calculating are still very low," Smistad said. "You'd really have to involve a lot more packages to get a dose of concern. "The current calculation is based on a dike penetrating the repository floor, impacting a waste package and its entire contents are ejected from an eruption at the surface. In reality, that's not going to happen. Some waste will be left." Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Las Vegas SUN main page ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions or problems? Click here. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 12 Fresh nuclear plant investigation BBC News | SCOTLAND | Saturday, 21 July, 2001, 11:04 GMT 12:04 UK [Chapelcross nuclear power station] A second investigation is being carried out An inquiry is underway at a Scottish nuclear plant after the second safety alert in as many weeks. British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) said uranium powder had been washed from a number of corroded drums at a store complex at the Chapelcross plant, near Annan, Dumfries and Galloway. It follows an incident when 24 fuel rods fell from a machine during a routine refuelling operation on a reactor on 5 July. An operation is currently under way to retrieve the rods from within the sealed container. BNFL said the latest incident has been rated as level one - the lowest level on the International Nuclear Event Scale. It said "a small quantity" of uranium powder escaped from corroded drums which had been kept in a store complex in the Chapelcross plant. The company insists that workers were not exposed to the material and the incident posed no risk to the public. Russell Brown: Given assurances by management at the nuclear plant It is understood that a blocked gutter within the store complex, combined with heavy rainfall, had caused water to seep down an internal wall. The storage drums corroded and, as a result, the uranium powder seeped through the wall of the building. The Health and Safety Executive have been informed about the incident and a clean-up operation is currently underway. After the previous incident, Labour MP for Dumfries Russell Brown said he had been assured by plant bosses that there were no signs of increased radioactivity readings, and fuel rods involved in the incident appeared to be undamaged. ***************************************************************** 13 Experts: Volcanic activity no threat to Yucca LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Sunday, July 22, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Scientists study effects molten rock would have on nuke waste By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL It's been 86 years since lava flowed in Northern California, the nearest province for volcanic activity outside the region where Yucca Mountain sits. And, it's been 80,000 years since molten rock penetrated the surface near Yucca Mountain, 12 miles south of the place in Nye County where the government wants to entomb the nation's most lethal radioactive waste. Scientists are studying the consequences of molten rock penetrating the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. They say it's highly unlikely that Yucca Mountain could experience an event such as the 1915 eruption of California's Lassen Peak or the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. "This is not a Mount St. Helens situation," explained Department of Energy geologist Eric Smistad. Yucca Mountain, a flattop ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was formed some 13 million years ago from alternating periods of volcanic ash falling from the sky and lava oozing out of a caldera near Timber Mountain, 12 miles north. The volcanoes and cinder cones near Yucca Mountain are extinct, according to Smistad. The area includes as many as 20 dikes, which are pathways for molten rock through the Earth's 12-mile-thick crust. In contrast, he said, the so-called dacite lava flows of Lassen Peak and Mount St. Helens "are really quite different than the alkaline basalt-type flows we could expect in the Yucca Mountain area." Dacite magma -- a type of molten rock beneath the surface -- is about 500 degrees cooler than molten rock beneath the Yucca Mountain area. Dacite magma also causes more violent eruptions, sending ash to higher altitudes and spreading it over greater distances. Lava is magma that penetrates the surface. Smistad leads a team studying the consequences of molten rock entering the proposed dump. A plan to develop calculations analyzing those consequences will be ready for Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff later this year, he said. Smistad's team of a dozen scientists already has calculated what would happen if magma rose through the repository floor, wiped out a waste canister and continued upward to the mountain's surface, spewing radioactive materials into the air. The chance of such an event happening is 1-in-70 million per year. The team calculates that the release would result in maybe one-tenth of a millirem dose to the nearest person downwind if the waste packages come in contact with 2,200-degree Fahrenheit molten rock several hundred years after the repository opens. That would be a small fraction of the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 15 millirems per year of allowable radiation exposure from all pathways -- air, soil, water and the food chain. A millirem is one-thousandth of a rem, the measurement of a radiation dose. A person living in the United States receives an average annual 360-millirem dose of radiation from natural and man-made sources. In the spring, the NRC staff charged Yucca Mountain Project scientists with a task: Find out what would happen if more waste packages were compromised. They're trying to determine the consequences of magma entering the repository and following a path of least resistance -- a tunnel where many canisters are stored -- causing an eruption at the surface or staying in the tunnel where the mix of molten rock and radioactive materials would pose a threat to groundwater. For the worst case, an eruption, ash that is possibly laden with radionuclides from a number of waste packages would spew, Smistad said. Based on their models, even if a dozen packages are involved, he said, the scientists don't think that would translate to a dramatic increase in the dose from that created by the normal operation of the proposed dump. "The bottom line is the doses that we're calculating are still very low," he said. "You'd really have to involve a lot more packages to get a dose of concern. "We're not talking anywhere near a situation like Chernobyl," he said, referring to the 1986 nuclear power plant meltdown in the Ukraine that blew the top off of the reactor building and spewed clouds of deadly radioactive material into the atmosphere for 10 days. "The current calculation is based on a dike penetrating the repository floor, impacting a waste package and its entire contents are ejected from an eruption at the surface. In reality, that's not going to happen. Some waste will be left." webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Former DOE Employees Attend Compensation Meeting KIFI-TV Idaho Falls/Pocatello/Blackfoot Tuesday, July 17, 2001 Idaho Falls - THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR MET WITH HUNDREDS OF FORMER INEEL WORKERS TODAY WHO SUFFER FROM VARIOUS ILLNESSES THEY SAY WERE CAUSED BY EXPOSURE TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AT WORK. LESLIE CHARBONEAU WORKED WITH TOXINS AT THE INEEL FOR 10 YEARS. NOW SHE'S GOT A LOT IN COMMON WITH HUNDREDS OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO TURNED OUT AT THE SHILO TODAY. CHARBONEAU NEVER KNEW THE HAZARDS SHE WAS DEALING WITH.NOW SHE SUFFERS AS A RESULT. LESLIE CHARBONEAU\FORMER INEEL EMPLOYEE: "I'm on a lot of medication, I'm on oxygen every night, I have a muscle disease.all kinds of problems I never had before." TODAY'S GATHERING WAS THE FIRST OF 2 IN IDAHO FALLS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO PEOPLE WHO MIGHT QUALIFY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR'S "ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS COMPENSATION PROGRAM ". D-O-L OFFICIALS KNOW THEY CAN'T HEAL SICKNESS.BUT SAY 150-THOUSAND DOLLARS AND MEDICAL EXPENSES IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION "Obviously people would rather be in a situation without cancer, silicosis and beryllium disease and be wondering whether they would qualify for benefits, but this is a concrete effort by the government to remedy whats been a substantial problem." THEY'VE HELD MEETINGS LIKE THIS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.AND WHILE NOT EVERYONE IS SATISFIED WITH THE LAW.REACTION HASN'T BEEN ALL BAD. "There have been expressions of unhappiness. there have been expressions of skepticism and there have also been expressions of people who come up to us and thanked us for coming out and doing the program and explaining the law." LESLIE IS JUST HAPPY SHE'S GETTING THE CHANCE TO BE HELPED. "Its a start. its nice to see they can acknowledge it now or take some responsibility for our health. I'm glad to see something's being done." ANOTHER MEETING IS BEING HELD TONIGHT AT 7:30 AT THE SHILO. THE LAW GOES INTO EFFECT JULY 31ST. ANYONE WHO DOESN'T QUALIFY FOR THIS PROGRAM CAN STILL GET COMPENSATION FROM THE STATE'S WORKER HEALTH PROTECTION PROGRAM. INEEL May be Planning on More Layoffs INEEL - ABOUT 400 LAYOFFS ARE BEING PLANNED AT THE IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY. BECHTEL B-W-X-T IDAHO OUTLINED ITS RESTRUCTURING PLAN FOR THE LAB IN RESPONSE TO A CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY ON BEHALF OF WORKERS. THE RESTRUCTURING PLAN ALSO INCLUDES PROVISIONS TO TRY TO ENTICE A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER 400 WORKERS TO LEAVE VOLUNTARILY. THE PROPOSAL AWAITS DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY APPROVAL. THE LAB WAS A SOURCE OF CONTENTION INVOLVING RESIDENTS OF NORTHWEST WYOMING'S JACKSON HOLE AREA LAST YEAR OVER EMISSIONS FROM THE FACILITY'S INCINERATOR. Copyright 2001 by the Post Company ***************************************************************** 2 Report: Staff shortage contributed to lab problems 07/22/2001 - Updated 02:16 PM ET WASHINGTON (AP) — Staff shortages resulting from Energy Department budget cuts in the Clinton administration have contributed to problems at nuclear weapons laboratories, the agency's internal watchdog reports. Budget cuts from 1995 to 1998 reduced staff by about one-quarter, leading to a critical shortage from which the department has yet to recover, Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman said in his recent report. Among the problems cited: + A two-year shutdown in California of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's plutonium facility, attributed partly to high turnover. + A 6,000-gallon mineral oil leak at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that destroyed more than $1 million worth of laser equipment. No federal workers were present at the time. + At some of the department-run labs, emergency management, laser safety, and the safety of high explosives and nuclear weapons are the responsibility of a single person. The staffing shortages have not jeopardized public safety, department spokesman Jeanne Lopatto said. "Safety at our labs is very secure and it is something that we are constantly vigilant of," she said Sunday. The report recommended that department officials develop a strategy to recruit and retain scientific and technical personnel and restructure the work force to prevent future problems. As of January 2001, the department faced a shortage of 577 scientific and technical specialists. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is leading a campaign to recruit and retain workers, Lopatto said. Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 3 reports of second nuclear theft case in south Germany Germany-Crime /WRD/ Weekly Berlin, July 21, IRNA --A German prosecutor's office opened here court proceedings against a nuclear plant laboratory assistant for having repeatedly smuggled small quantities of highly radioactive material from his work place in southern Germany between 1971 and 81, the weekly Spiegel reported on Saturday. The unidentified 74-year-old assistant who worked for the Siemens company in the town of Erlangen, is accused of stealing small quantities of uranium and other highly radioactive materials and storing it at his home. Authorities noticed the theft, after the man, inflicted with bronchitis, delivered the material for testing at a local environment ministry in the southern state of Bavaria, in an effort to receive special compensatory benefits for occupational disease. According to the report, the theft included 0.8 grams of highly enriched uranium, used to make nuclear weapons. This is the second nuclear theft disclosed in less than a week, after police arrested a nuclear reprocessing plant worker in southern Germany for stealing highly poisonous plutonium, leading to the contamination of at least two other people. OT/MHJ/JH ***************************************************************** 4 Sick uranium-enrichment workers to get federal help The Columbus Dispatch July 22, 2001 Jonathan Riskind Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Jeff Adkins / For The Dispatch Former Piketon worker Tim Gannon -- with his wife, Angie, left, and benefits representative Jeanne Cisco -- has cancer and spends most of his time in his bedroom. WASHINGTON -- When Tim Gannon began working at southern Ohio's uranium-enrichment plant in 1980, the Ironton resident was ecstatic to have a well-paying job in the economically depressed region. More than two decades later, his body wracked by cancer at age 41, Gannon is simply relieved the federal government appears ready to offer some compensation to him and potentially thousands of other Cold War warriors nationwide who put their health at risk to fuel the country's atomic defense program. Relieved, but not ecstatic. Gannon, diagnosed with cancer about two years ago, might be one of the first nuclear workers in the country to receive $150,000 and lifetime health benefits when the compensation program takes effect July 31. His wife, Angie, 35, was forced to quit her job to help care for him. And family members, friends and fellow workers also pitched in with their time and money. But Gannon faces a pile of medical bills amounting to about $100,000 that won't be covered by the new federal benefits. His claim for state workers' compensation to pay for old bills may be difficult to win, a potential problem for many at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon and other nuclear sites around the country. zAnd after nine surgeries that began in his colon and spread to his liver, kidney and rectum -- and facing the prospect of continuing chemotherapy and two or three more operations -- Gannon doesn't feel much like celebrating. "I am pleased that they finally looked into this and finally made a decision toward helping the uranium workers. (But) I'd give 'em that $150,000 and then some not to have went through what I went through,'' Gannon said last week, his voice strained by the effort to talk. "It's been a terrible experience, unexplainable, and it still hasn't stopped. That money to me is probably not going to mean that much other than to pay off some medical bills.'' Gannon's story is not unique, said Jeanne Cisco, the benefits representative for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Local 5-689, the union that represents many Piketon workers. Cisco for years worked alongside Gannon as a process operator helping to produce the weapons-grade enriched uranium that was a key component in manufacturing nuclear bombs during the Cold War. Workers such as Gannon and Cisco were directly involved in the often-dirty process of enriching uranium to heighten the material's purity -- and radioactivity -- and many suffered frequent exposures to uranium and other hazardous materials. In passing the compensation law, the government, which for decades denied there were any problems, acknowledged that nuclear employees were not properly protected for years and deserve some payment for the sometimes-tragic fallout. In her union role, Cisco already has helped process about 50 claims by Piketon workers and, in a number of cases, their survivors, for the federal benefits. "I think there will be a lot more claims . . . hundreds,'' Cisco said. Nationally, an estimated 650,000 nuclear workers or their survivors could be eligible for benefits, according to the Department of Energy. The Piketon facility employed 2,000 or more throughout most of its nearly 50-year life span. The first two years of the program could yield 80,000 applications for benefits, at an estimated cost of more than $900 million by the end of 2002, said Roberta Mosier, deputy director of the Energy Department's division that compensates ailing workers. Unlike a decade-old radiation- compensation law meant to benefit people such as the miners who toiled to gather raw uranium, benefits under the new law are guaranteed as a federal entitlement. There have been complaints the older program has not had enough money to pay out proper benefits. Cisco said she's satisfied with what she's seen so far of the new federal compensation program, which will be run mainly by the Department of Labor. But the federal program pays medical bills only starting July 31, when the law goes into effect. Many workers like Gannon also have claims they will file for state workers' compensation. Sometimes the state claims will be for past medical bills not covered by the federal benefits; in other cases people may have nuclear-workplace-related illnesses not covered by the federal law. Cisco and other advocates have two concerns. First, they believe state workers' compensation systems, which require solid proof of the cause of medical problems before benefits are paid, will be difficult for nuclear workers who can't produce definitive histories of their exposures and work conditions because of government secrecy. Piketon workers in particular may have a problem. USEC, a privatized federal corporation that has run the plant, which ceased operations earlier this year, hasn't changed the way it does business since 1993, in light of the nuclear workers' compensation law. That means USEC, a self-insured company that pays its own state workers' compensation claims, will not automatically certify an occupational-disease claim filed by someone like Gannon without medical exams and an Ohio Industrial Commission hearing, said Angie Duduit, a USEC spokeswoman. "I am not aware of any changes to our current system as result of the federal program at this time,'' she said. "We would still have to have verification from physicians that they feel the disease is related to work.'' In Gannon's case, an Aug. 7 hearing has been set. When the federal law passed that guaranteed federally funded benefits for some illnesses and exposures but relegated other ailments to the state compensation system, the energy department established a Worker Advocacy Program to help file state claims. Federal officials said they hoped credible workers' claims for state benefits would not be vigorously contested. But the question Gannon is encountering is why the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation lobbied to make all sickened nuclear workers eligible for the guaranteed federal benefits, said Jim Samuel, a spokesman for the Ohio bureau. Samuel said the bureau intends to do its best to help nuclear workers but added that state requirements may hinder that effort. jriskind@dispatch.com Copyright © 2001, The Columbus Dispatch ***************************************************************** 5 ITN - Environmentalists fear raising the Kursk @import url(/css/story2.css); Russian officials say one goal of the salvage operation is to recover the Kursk's two nuclear reactors, which haven't leaked radiation so far but remain a threat Almost a year has passed since the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea, killing all its 118 crewmen and dealing a sharp blow to the prestige of the Russian Navy. Now the Kursk is again in the global spotlight as a costly and daring effort to raise it to the surface gets underway. Environmentalists are warning that the operation could put one of the world's most fragile marine environments at risk. The Barents Sea, where the stricken submarine lies, is one of the only remaining areas of pristine ocean wilderness remaining in the world. It extends from the Norwegian Svalbard Islands in the West to Russia's Novaya Semlya in the East. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is calling on the Russian government to consider delaying the operation. It says there are fears of radioactive contamination from naval bases and yards on the Kola Peninsula, oil and gas exploration, overfishing, shipping, expansion of aquaculture, toxic pollution, and climate change. Andreas Tveteraas, marine co-ordinator, WWF Norway, said: "WWF and other conservation organisations are hoping that the world will not forget that this is an area which is facing a large amount of other threats. "These include oil and gas development, the transportation of nuclear material, toxics, the Barents Sea serves as a sink for pollution coming from other parts of the world and also climate change will have drastic effects on this environment." Salvage goals Russian officials say one goal of the salvage operation is to recover the Kursk's two nuclear reactors, which have not leaked radiation so far but which remain a threat. Another motive appears to be to demonstrate the government's strength, resolve and openness - which were all absent in the days following the catastrophe. President Vladimir Putin has said that one of Russia's main problems in the last few years has been lack of trust in the leadership. Putin says he thinks this trust can only be restored if the government is seen to fulfill its promises. After communications with the Kursk were lost during naval manoeuvers on August 12 last year, the Navy command waited hours before launching a search. They wasted precious time which could have been spent trying to save survivors trapped in the sub's rear compartments. The government refused Western help and Russian mini-submarines spent several days in futile attempts to hook onto the submarine's escape hatch. Moscow finally asked for the help of foreign divers - who took just a few hours to open it. The recovery effort that began this week, estimated to cost around $70 million, is unprecedented in naval history. Submarines have been raised before, but as the Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo explains, none have been as huge as the Kursk. Russian Navy officials say raising the Kursk could solve the question of why it sank. Russian officials say the disaster was triggered by a practice torpedo. But they remain uncertain whether it was caused by an internal malfunction in the torpedo - the theory favoured by most outside experts - or by a collision. The project, led by the Dutch firm Mammoet, envisages raising the Kursk using cables connected to 26 hydraulic jacks anchored to a giant barge. Moscow Times ***************************************************************** 6 Omaha Corps booted from cleanup The Hawk Eye Special: IAAP [The Hawk Eye Special Edition] Sunday, July 22, 2001 [Unknown dangers at IAAP] By Dennis J. Carroll The Hawk Eye · St. Louis office will take over project. After nearly 10 years of digging, hauling and treating hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of yards of contaminated soil and groundwater at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, the Omaha, Neb., office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been removed from the Superfund cleanup project. In one of his last acts as plant commander, Col. Bruce Elliott transferred Army responsibility for the cleanup from Omaha to the St. Louis office of the Corps. "It was his prerogative to do it, and we agreed with it," said Bob Whistine, a public affairs spokesman for the Army's Operations Support Command in Rock Island, Ill. The move prompted concerns by several local civilian monitors that the restoration might be delayed or conducted with less thoroughness. The St. Louis office has not been involved with the cleanup other than conducting a preliminary assessment of possible radioactive contamination of IAAP sites by the now-defunct Atomic Energy Commission. The AEC assembled, tested and in later years disassembled nuclear weapons components from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. Army officials would say only that the decision was made to consolidate the Corps work under one headquarters. Scott Marquess, manager of the IAAP cleanup for the Environmental Protection Agency, said Elliott made the decision without consulting the EPA. "We were not privileged as to why the Army made the change," Marquess said. "It certainly was not something that the EPA requested ... We are not sure of the impact of the change at this point." "The EPA has been very pleased with Omaha's performance," Marquess said. In a memo to EPA project managers in Kansas City, Kan., obtained by The Hawk Eye, Elliott wrote: "Responsibility for program and schedule management for Iowa AAP has been transferred from the Omaha District to the St. Louis District Corps of Engineers. "The St. Louis District is best qualified to manage the full range of programmatic and scheduling issues confronting the Iowa AAP Installation Restoration Program," Elliott wrote. The move drew concern from several members of the plant's Restoration Advisory Board. "This bothers me because continuity is important," said RAB member Mark Hagerla, West Burlington. "And I question the reasoning behind this." He said Elliott did not advise the civilian panel before making the decision. "I am disappointed that the decision was made without consulting the board," Hagerla said. "Things like this destroy the confidence that has built up." Hagerla praised the work of Omaha Corps project manager Kevin Howe, who kept the RAB up to speed on the plant cleanup, often taking considerable time to explain even the most technical details. "Kevin has been the head person from the get-go," Hagerla said. "We have had an awful lot of confidence in his ability and his integrity." RAB member Larry Orr, West Burlington, also lauded Howe's work. "The successes that we have had are largely due to Kevin," Orr said. "St. Louis is really going to have to prove itself to me. "We want them to do well," Orr said. "We don't expect any disruptions." Likewise, Maggie Oldham, a Corps spokeswoman in Omaha predicted continuity. "We are confident that the program there will continue to be executed in an effective manner," said Oldham. The St. Louis Corps of Engineers office referred all questions to the Army's public affairs office in Rock Island. Oldham said that from October 1991 to June 30, 2001, $51.8 million had been spent on the cleanup. Officials have said they expect the restoration to continue through at least 2014, with spending that could total more than $100 million. Elliott, who assumed command of the IAAP in July 1999, recently was reassigned to the Pentagon as chief of the Technical Inspections Division of the Army's Inspector General Agency. He was replaced by Lt. Col. Yolanda Dennis-Lowman earlier this month. Commanders typically serve a two-year stint at the plant. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk ' ' '| ' ' '319-754-6824 FAX ' ' '| ' ' ' 1-800-397-1708 Outside Burlington [this is a line and that's all that it is] ©' 2000 The Hawk Eye, all rights reserved. ' ' Updated daily ' 'Questions? - WebMaster ***************************************************************** 7 Summary of safety at Lawrence lab misleading Published Friday, July 20, 2001 By Mark McDonald The July 6 "Don't worry -- be happy" column by Elmer Grossman regarding Lawrence Berkeley Lab's (LBNL) radioactive pollution from its Tritium Facility is a snowstorm of omissions, half-truths and wishful thinking. The presentation by Mr. Franke, Berkeley's hired consultant, included evidence that the normal operations at the facility were significantly reduced for the last two years which is all he reported on. Local activists believe that procedures involving the dumping of deadly tritium waste were curtailed after researchers discovered alarming levels of contamination locked up in the vegetation, water and air at the site; including the air inside the Lawrence Hall of Science immediately downwind from the tritium stack. Given that it was found to be Super-Fund eligible, plus the presence of a huge underground radioactive plume, the Tritium Facility became vulnerable and this convinced LBNL to reduce activities about three years ago. Repeated requests to evaluate the high contamination levels and tens of thousands of curies of missing tritium inventory were ignored by Mr. Franke, who said LBNL's records were so funky that no sense could be made of them, something Mr. Grossman forgot to mention. Despite all the assurances by LBNL these past 20 years, it turns out that the site had nowhere near enough radiation monitors to determine if children visitors got dosed or not, thus no evidence. There is no proof that the Tritium Facility won't return to its insane level of rad-waste dumping once things quiet down again. Its horrendous history of accidents involving large releases and sleazy secret activities like incinerating its rad-chemical waste (a three-year sham they called an oxidation study) demonstate clearly what a menace they are to their neighbors. Lately we have learned that LBNL never had equipment to measure its tritium rad-waste recycling shipments . It just made up quantities far greater than the receiving site recorded and then broadcast far and wide the sucess of the program. Where did all that tritium that was not really recycled end up? Whether or not media reports were exaggerated, Mr. Franke stands by his conclusion that a catastophic release of the facility's entire storage due to earthquake, fire or accident would subject the next-door museum visitors to much more radiation than LBNL's cooked calculations. Mr. Grossman plays that tired old game of substituting one-time exposure to the very different reality of long-time radiation damage from an internal source like tritium which has been absorbed. The Straume report actually says that LBNL minimizes the danger from tritium and that tritium is more bio-effective (harmful) than gamma radiation. The other government-funded studies suffer from accepting LBNL's data declarations uncritically, as when the McKone report uses the EPA's stack model for stack emissions designed for flat terrain when anyone can see that the tritium stack sits below the Lawrence Museum and blows its rad waste upward, engulfing it. Or when the source of the rad-waste is mysteriously moved from the stack to the building so as to be in Zone 2 with its lower calculations. The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances, which produced only a consultation instead of a study , later showed higher than expected breast cancer occurrence in an already high incidence area in the Panoramic Hill area. It was no surprise when Oak Ridge's SENES report studied the last two years of reduced tritium activity and came up with no danger to the public. One local city lawmaker who usually supports LBNL said: "You can argue millirems and exposure until the cows come home, but as long as this area is vulnerable to fire and earthquakes, this work should be done elsewhere". Mr. Grossman is well aware of the problems related to the Tritium Facility but has chosen instead to bamboozle the public and promote LBNL's deceptions. There is nothing remotely normal about the Tritium Facility and its continuous dumping of long-lasting, disease-causing rad-waste into our community and no snake-oil salesmen are going to change our concerns or our determination to close this disaster and clean up the site before it spreads any further. ContraCostaTimes.com ***************************************************************** 8 British report disputes Indian claim on yield of nuclear test The Indian Express : National Network NEW DELHI, JULY 22: Reopening a three-year old controversy, British defence scientists have dismissed India’s claim that the May 1998 Pokharan nuclear tests had a yield of 60 kilotons. Scientists at the Aldermaston weapons establishment have said that the combined yield of the fission device and the thermonuclear bomb exploded by India on May 11, 1998 was closer to 20 kilotons, thus implying that the thermonuclear device failed to explode fully. In a report in the Current Science, they say ‘‘our conclusion is that there is no significant evidence’’ that the yield was near 60 kilotons as claimed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The British scientists said their estimate tended to support calculations of two groups of American seismologists who had earlier said that that the total explosive energy of the Indian bombs was in the range of 10-15 kilotons. Former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Rajagopalan Chidambaram, one of the key scientists involved with the Pokharan test described the British report as ‘‘incorrect’’. Chidambaram said that BARC estimate of 60 kilotons was based on an analysis of the seismic waves and radioactivity of rock samples and was therefore, more accurate.(PTI) © 2001: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All ***************************************************************** 9 Puerto Rico Tests Vieques Meat Today: July 22, 2001 at 12:35:30 PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico- Puerto Rico has barred the sale of meat from livestock grazing near a U.S. Navy bombing range on Vieques island while the meat is tested for toxic substances. "If these substances are present, we're not going to certify (the meat) as fit for human consumption," agriculture official, Eduardo Siberio, said in a television interview Friday. Officials did not say how much meat is produced on the 51-square-mile island just east of the main island of Puerto Rico. The department expects results from the meat testing in two to four weeks. The Navy controls about two-thirds of Vieques and uses it for military training. It has carried out bombing exercises for six decades, although it stopped using live ammunition after errant bombs killed a civilian guard on the range in 1999. Navy opponents have alleged the bombing poses a health threat, which the Navy strongly denies. President Bush has said the Navy will leave the island of 9,100 people in 2003, but opponents want it to leave now. The next round of Navy training will begin next month. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 10 Openness, Russian style BBC News | FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT | Saturday, 21 July, 2001, 12:45 GMT 13:45 UK [Kursk wreckage] The wreckage of the Kursk is being raised To demonstrate the Russian government's new policy of openness, western journalists were recently taken to see the site of the Kursk submarine. The BBC's Moscow correspondent Caroline Wyatt was on the first ship. I knew something was wrong the minute we stepped on board. The Russian customs officers from Murmansk were smiling at us. They even waved our papers away, and jokingly asked if we wanted to declare any currency. Russian customs officials don't smile, and they certainly don't make jokes. It was clear this trip was something new. As they died, trapped just 100 metres under water, President Vladimir Putin continued his summer holiday And so it was. A year ago, the Russian people were horrified by the way the authorities tried to cover up what was happening on the Kursk. For almost a week, they watched in horror as a mixture of panic, pig-headedness and secrecy condemned almost two dozen men to an agonising death. As they died, trapped just 100 metres under water, President Vladimir Putin continued his summer holiday in Sochi, only belatedly realising the anger among ordinary Russians. Letters found on the bodies of some of the crew recovered last year show their fading hopes of rescue, as they wrote last messages to their families. But when their wives and mothers were given those letters, the authorities had scrawled through whole paragraphs with thick black ink - even the dates, which would have revealed just how long the men survived. New policy A chastened president promised to recover the rest of the bodies for burial - and the Kremlin promised a new policy of openness. Which is how we found ourselves on board an old Russian naval ferry, the Glavdia Yelanskaya, sailing to where the Kursk is to be raised. As the ship pulled slowly out of the harbour, we passed top secret naval shipyards. Each was pointed out by our helpful captain, and - unusually - all could be filmed. We peered over the railings in astonishment. Everywhere we looked was a submarine graveyard - the blackened, rotting hulks were half submerged, an eerie reminder of the Kursk. Almost 100 of those decommissioned submarines still have nuclear reactors on board - each a floating Chernobyl, a nuclear disaster waiting to happen. I started with an easy question - why was Russia raising the Kursk? "Ah," he said, "that's a political question. I can't answer that." A few hours later, the icy waters of the Barents Sea were a clear, calm grey, reflecting a silvery midnight sun. "It never sets this far north in summer," explained a press spokesman, appearing behind me on deck. He spoke almost perfect English - a dapper young man, whose open-necked shirt and hint of stubble spoke of a new era at the Kremlin. I asked if we could interview him. "Well," he replied, "I'll have to ask my boss." "Yes," said his boss. "No problem." No answers The spokesman seemed a little nervous, and explained there were some questions he wasn't allowed to answer. So I started with an easy one - why was Russia raising the Kursk? "Ah," he said, "that's a political question. I can't answer that." I tried again. Wasn't this a very dangerous mission, with two nuclear reactors still on board the Kursk and any number of torpedoes and cruise missiles? He shook his head sadly, and gently pushed away the microphone. He couldn't talk about that either. So what about the British divers, I asked. What were they doing? Another shake of the head. All 118 crew members lost their lives But then he smiled, and took the microphone again. What he could tell me about was the Kremlin's new policy of openness to the media, this trip being a prime example. He could talk at length about the special press centre in Murmansk and its marvellous facilities. No longer, he said, would journalists have their questions fobbed off by Russian officials. I asked him how he spelled his name. With a sad smile, he replied: "I'd rather you didn't use my name." Honouring the dead At six o'clock that morning, the ship's horn sounded. The captain asked for a minute's silence in honour of the dead. We'd stopped just one mile from where the Kursk lay, and for three hours we circled the site, surrounded by salvage vessels. A Russian admiral held a ship-to-ship press conference by radio, revealing little over a long time. I thought of Galina, the widow we had spoken to the day before, whose husband Viktor's body lay somewhere below. Some relatives now want the victims' bodies to stay where they are "What happened there that day doesn't matter to me any more," she said, "but it does matter for my son. He's in the navy too, and I don't want the same thing to happen to him." Many other relatives have said they would prefer the bodies to remain where they are, at rest in a fitting grave for men who loved the sea. But this operation, it seems, is about much more than recovering those remains, or even the wreckage of the Kursk. It's about salvaging the reputation of the Russian authorities, who know just how badly they misjudged the mood last year. And yet, the international team of divers here won't be bringing up the front section of the Kursk - the part that will tell experts what really went wrong. That will only happen next year, with divers from the Russian navy. We set sail again back to Murmansk. Standing on deck looking into the opaque waters of the Barents Sea, I wonder just how much the new policy of openness will reveal then. ***************************************************************** 11 EDITORIAL: Overdue compensation LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Sunday, July 22, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal At long last, the victims of Cold War-era nuclear testing will get the compensation they are due. On Thursday, Washington lawmakers struck a deal which allows uranium miners and residents exposed to radiation from nuclear tests -- and their survivors -- to receive payment from the federal government. The compensation was approved by Congress in 1990. The program offered cash payments of $100,000 to uranium miners and $50,000 to residents who lived downwind from nuclear tests and became ill from exposure to fallout from nuclear blasts. More than 400 victims -- including 65 Nevadans -- qualify for the payments, but the program ran out of money a year ago. In the meantime victims have been receiving IOUs rather than cash. The cash ran dry because Congress -- in a rare fit of fiscal restraint -- refused to add funding when the law was expanded to cover more people last year. Republican leaders were taken aback by the program's new costs, which could exceed $1 billion over five years. Considering the billions of dollars squandered each year on programs which have the most tenuous justification under the Constitution -- farm subsidies and education immediately come to mind -- the money required to pay these victims is a pittance. More important, though, these people deserve to be compensated as a matter of principle: When government actions place individuals in harm's way -- particularly without their consent -- it is a public duty to compensate them for any genuine harms they may suffer. Paying the victims of nuclear testing, and doing so in cash, is both moral and just. Lawmakers belatedly did the right thing. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************