***************************************************************** 08/22/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.202 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Mini nuclear power plant proposals 2 DOE: Yucca would make EPA mark 3 N.K. officials receiving nuclear safety training in Australia 4 List asked to reconsider decision 5 DOE: Yucca waste would be safe 6 Report fuels battle over nation’s nuclear waste 7 Energy Alliance Applauds DOE's Release of Yucca Mountain 8 CMC Construction wins $2.2M contract for SNS cooling towers 9 Reservations on the Nuclear Train 10 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Wednesday, August 22, 2001 11 NRC Issues Notices of Violations Following Investigation of 12 Full power restored at Indian Point 2 nuclear plant 13 Promising Solutions to Nuclear Waste Management 14 Energy Secretary Announces Key Steps in Site Analysis of Yucca Mountain 15 TVA: New facility for Browns Ferry plant: Spent fuel rod site 16 DOE says radiation from Yucca Mountain would meet EPA standards 17 Brookhaven Physicists Produce "Doubly Strange Nuclei"; First 18 Yucca Site Is Called Safe in Federal Report, NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Government should probe public, private pensions 2 Oak Ridge project will be big, bad and dirty 3 Madia happily embraces role in ORNL's ambitious future 4 Plutonium deal falters over cost 5 Bush dropping plans to dispose of plutonium 6 Rivals Agree on Fighting Plutonium | 7 Alliance member details INEEL water concerns 8 UCD to produce iodine for cancer treatments at McClellan 9 Bush's nuclear threat -- 10 US Balks on Plan to Get Plutonium out of Warheads 11 Legal probe sought on K-25 water issue 12 Advisory board must decide its future of Pantex 13 U.S. DEFENSE: Missile system is a waste of money 14 Governor calls on Bush to keep plutonium out 15 SRS plans could be abandoned 16 Salazar proposes amendment to protect land 17 Man May Have Tried to Kill Girlfriend With Plutonium **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Mini nuclear power plant proposals BBC News | SCI/TECH | Scientists funded by Japan's Atomic Energy Research Institute are developing a nuclear reactor so small that it would fit into the basement of a block of flats. In future it will be quite difficult to construct further large nuclear power plants because of site restrictions Mitsuru Kambe CRIEPI The reactor, known as the Rapid-L, was conceived of as a power source for colonies on the Moon, New Scientist magazine says. But the 200 kilowatt reactor measures only six metres (20 feet) by two metres (6.5 feet). It uses molten lithium-6 as a coolant in a system which the researchers hope will automatically shut down if it overheats. Planning trouble "In future it will be quite difficult to construct further large nuclear power plants because of site restrictions," Mitsuru Kambe, head of the research team at Japan's Central Research Institute of Electrical Power Industry (CRIEPI) told New Scientist. "To relieve peak loads in the future, I believe small, modular reactors located in urban areas such as Tokyo Bay will be effective," he said. Conventional nuclear reactors use solid rods to control the rate at which the nuclear fuel releases energy and thereby control the temperature of the reactor. Liquid solution The rods absorb neutrons, the subatomic particles which keep the nuclear chain reaction going. Rapid power plants could be used in developing countries where remote regions cannot be conveniently connected to the main grid Mitsuru Kambe CRIEPI But they have to be lowered in and out of the reactor to control it. The Japanese researchers aim to make the process automatic by using molten lithium-6 instead. As the temperature rises in their reactor, the molten liquid expands and rises through tubes into the reactor core, absorbing neutrons and slowing the chain reaction to a safe rate. Mr Kambe was both optimistic and realistic about the future of his team's work. "Rapid power plants could be used in developing countries where remote regions cannot be conveniently connected to the main grid," he told the magazine, adding: "The success of such a reactor depends on the acceptance of the public, the electricity utilities and the government." The reactor would still face the problems of waste transport and disposal associated with larger power stations. ***************************************************************** 2 DOE: Yucca would make EPA mark [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Wednesday, August 22, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Repository will be safe, study says By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL A report released Tuesday by Yucca Mountain Project scientists shows that a repository for the nation's most lethal nuclear waste will perform well within radiation safety standards set this year by the Environmental Protection Agency. "The bottom line is it looks like the site will meet the EPA standards. We're way under them," said one Department of Energy official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The report said that a repository, if built, will perform as designed regardless of either volcanic activity beneath the ridge or undetected flaws in welds of metal canisters that will hold 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste. Release of the report paves the way for a decision late this year or early next year by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on whether to recommend the site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for construction. The 1 1/2-inch-thick report titled "Yucca Mountain Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation" is the last major Yucca Mountain Project document and arguably the most crucial to Abraham's decision. It is part of a battery of documents that will be finalized after public hearings next month before he begins his review. Late Tuesday, the Energy Department's headquarters released a statement quoting Abraham as saying, "Any decision regarding a permanent repository for this nation's nuclear waste will be made based on sound science. "The measures I am taking today are designed to assist me in this effort. I am committed to making sure that we arrive at the right decision for America," Abraham said. The report spurred a bitter reaction from Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has battled plans for a Yucca Mountain repository for 15 years. "It is clear to me that I cast the right vote in voting against Spencer Abraham," Reid said in a telephone interview from Lake Tahoe. "He has a preconceived idea that nuclear waste should be placed in Nevada and no other place," Reid said. "The one thing DOE keeps ignoring is how they're going to get nuclear waste to Nevada, and there is only one answer: train and truck. "Once they start hauling, it's in everybody's back yard, and the American people are not going to stand for this," Reid said. But two organizations supportive of the nuclear power industry lauded the report. "This scientific report is the most significant milestone accomplished to date in the federal government's effort to develop a geological disposal facility," according to a statement from Joe Colvin, president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington-based lobby group. "It is the capstone scientific document of an extensive ... effort that has spanned nearly two decades at a cost of $7 billion," Colvin said. A statement from the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, a broad coalition of small and large energy users, producers and distributors, said the report is a step toward ultimate approval of the site by President Bush. "We are encouraged to see progress on this project. By meeting its responsibility to safely manage used nuclear fuel, the Energy Department will help make it possible for the nation to continue to derive maximum benefit from nuclear power," the alliance's statement said. Gov. Kenny Guinn and staff members of other Nevada lawmakers said they expected Yucca Mountain scientists would show the site would conform to federal standards and siting guidelines. "It is not a surprise to us. They have now printed it," Guinn said. "They are going to make certain rulings, and without making rulings, you can't have a contest of that ruling whether it is the right or wrong thing. It is a process we have to go through before we can get to an end result." Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., still believes the Energy Department will have difficulty meeting the EPA's radiation standards, according to Gibbons's spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer. "The Energy Department has always maintained that it will meet the radiation standards, so this report doesn't sound like anything new," Spanbauer said. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said through spokesman Michael O'Donovan that the report was issued by the Energy Department to drum up support for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. "The EPA rule, and now the Energy Department's report, ignore the fact that the waste will remain toxic long after the man-made structures (at Yucca Mountain) have rotted away," O'Donovan said. "Also, the range of uncertainty claimed by the Energy Department is so ridiculously small as to be totally untrustworthy." A spokeswoman for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said the senator wouldn't comment on the report until he's had a chance to review it. Unlike previous Yucca Mountain reports released by the Energy Department this year, the latest document compares how the repository would perform in light of EPA standards that were finalized in June. Those standards call for annual doses to people beyond 11 miles of the site to be no more than 15 millirem from all pathways -- exposure through air, water, soil and the food chain. The EPA also set a 4 millirem per year standard for radiation measured in groundwater that would be tapped for crops and dairy cattle over the 10,000-year regulatory period. While offering no conclusions on the suitability of the site, the new report says the largest expected dose from a worst-case release during the regulatory period not to be more than 0.1 millirem, a small fraction of the doses allowed under the EPA standards. A chest X-ray exposes a person to about 5 millirems of radiation. Yucca Mountain Project officials have said a person living in the United States receives an annual average dose of 360 millirems from naturally occurring radiation and fallout remaining from past nuclear weapons tests. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman defended the standards, saying they afford the same protections for drinking water as those in other states. "Our involvement initially was whether or not to set a separate groundwater standard, which we did," she said. "We felt that was in the best interest of Nevadans. "Now the process is kind of an automatic process that goes forward, and I know the governor is going to be very engaged in it. He has been up to now, believe me," Whitman said. Yucca Mountain is the only site government scientists are studying to entomb high-level nuclear waste, most of which is spent nuclear fuel pellets currently stored at commercial power reactor sites across the nation. Federal guidelines require that the mountain with its maze of tunnels and engineered barriers must safely hold the waste for at least 10,000 years. That point has been challenged by state officials who noted in a federal lawsuit against the EPA that peak doses are expected up to 800,000 years after waste is put in the repository, if one is built. lasvegas.com GAMING WIRE writer Tony Batt and Donrey Capital Bureau writer Sean Whaley contributed to this report. This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Aug-22-Wed-2001/news/16822779.html ***************************************************************** 3 N.K. officials receiving nuclear safety training in Australia http://www.koreaherald.com Following is the third in a series of interviews The Korea Herald had marking its 48th anniversary. - Ed. By Kim Ji-ho Staff reporter North Korean officials are currently participating in nuclear safeguard training programs in Australia, the Australian ambassador to Seoul said yesterday. "We want to teach North Koreans how to run nuclear safeguard systems," Amb. Colin Heseltine said. Six North Korean nuclear experts have been on a 12-day "Training Course on State Systems of Accounting for and Control of Nuclear Material" in Canberra and Sydney. The program, which is scheduled to end tomorrow, also drew officials from South Korea, China and New Zealand. "One of the top priorities of our government's North Korea policy is based on whether or not the North abides by the terms of international nuclear treaties," Heseltine said in an interview with The Korea Herald. North Korea is under international pressure to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which wants to verify whether or not Pyongyang has complied with previous nuclear safeguard agreements with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. The agreement was one of the key elements of the 1994 Agreed Framework, under which North Korea froze its nuclear program in exchange for the U.S. promise to offer safer nuclear power plants. Australia, which has contributed $9 million to an international consortium constructing two light-water reactors in North Korea, restored official ties with the Pyongyang government in May last year. The two sides severed diplomatic ties in 1975. Last November, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made his first trip to Pyongyang, which was reciprocated by the visit to Canberra by North Korean Foreign Minister Baek Nam-sun in June this year. "The biggest outcome from their (Canberra) talks was an announcement by Baek that the North will open an embassy in Australia within this year," Heseltine said. Amb. Heseltine, who took his Seoul post Aug. 4, led the Australian side in the negotiation with North Korea on reestablishing official ties. The envoy said the Australian government would be able to set up a resident embassy in Pyongyang by 2003. Heseltine said that although the two countries restored an official relationship, he does not expect the Australian government to drastically increase its economic aid to the impoverished North. "We would not begin any bilateral development assistance or aid programs until we feel there are enough changes in the North's economic systems," Amb. Heseltine said. "Any major step forward in developing our bilateral relations in general will also depend on what happens in North Korea," he added. Since 1994, Australia has provided the North with $24 million worth of economic aid, including food. Heseltine reaffirmed Australia's support for the new missile defense system being pushed by U.S. President George W. Bush. Australia is one of the few nations that openly backs the Missile Defense (MD), which is opposed by Russia, China and North Korea. The missile shield plan will never undermine regional stability, Heseltine said. "The most difficult issue lies in the states in concern that develop missiles capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction, not a defense system against them," he said. (jihoho@koreaherald.co.kr) (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 List asked to reconsider decision Las Vegas SUN Today: August 22, 2001 at 10:39:45 PDT By Cy Ryan and Mary Manning SUN CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- Three Democratic leaders in the Legislature Tuesday called on former Republican Gov. Bob List to reconsider his decision to represent the nuclear industry, which is promoting a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins of Henderson, Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley of Las Vegas and Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, also of Las Vegas, sent a letter to List. The lawmakers wrote that the former governor's decision was "disturbing and disappointing," and that it sends a mixed message to Washington. They noted the past Legislature passed a strong resolution opposing the waste repository. The resolution urged a full investigation into allegations of Department of Energy bias favoring the nuclear industry. List has signed on with the Nuclear Energy Institute, which is pushing for the federal government to designate Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository for nuclear waste. "I fully understand and respect the role of the Legislature in protecting the health and safety of Nevadans and the environment of our state," List said. "That is their job." List said he was not advocating the Yucca Mountain project. "I'm simply helping prepare for the potential if it happens," he said. "My responsibility is to help the private sector of business and labor to plan for that potential if Yucca Mountain is developed as a repository and to help maximize the economic benefits if it happens." List said he would not support the project if scientists find it unsafe. Buckley noted GOP Gov. Kenny Guinn is a strong opponent of Yucca Mountain, but said there is "some reluctance" among Republicans to join the fight. The majority leader said she hoped the GOP would follow them in suggesting that List pull out. The Legislature, the congressional delegation, Guinn and two former governors -- Richard Bryan and Bob Miller -- have joined the fight against the repository. The group said they respect the right of an individual to advocate any point of view either as a private citizen or in the course of earning a livelihood. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 5 DOE: Yucca waste would be safe Las Vegas SUN Today: August 22, 2001 at 11:29:39 PDT By Mary Manning Public hearings The Energy Department has scheduled public hearings on a possible recommendation of Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear waste repository. The deadline for written comments is Sept. 20. HEARINGS: + Sept. 5 -- 5 to 9 p.m., Suncoast Hotel and Casino, 9090 Alta Drive. + Sept. 12 -- 5 to 9 p.m., Longstreet Inn and Casino, Amargosa Valley. + Sept. 13 -- 5 to 9 p.m., Bob Ruud Community Center, Pahrump. WRITTEN COMMENTS: Address written comments to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, (M/S #025), P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas, NV, 89036-0307, or by electronic mail to YMP]SR@ ymp.gov. Written comments should be identified on the outside of the envelope and on the comments themselves with: "Possible Site Recommendation for Yucca Mountain." To submit by FAX: 1-800-967-0739. Nuclear waste buried 1,000 feet inside Yucca Mountain would pose no public health threat for at least 10,000 years, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the Energy Department. The report is another step by the DOE toward recommending the site as the nation's nuclear waste repository. Radiation equal to one-tenth of a chest X-ray emanates from natural sources, such as uranium, already found in the mountain's volcanic rocks, DOE scientists said in the report. The 77,000 tons of nuclear waste that would be buried at Yucca Mountain would not contribute to current radiation levels, DOE scientists say. Nevada officials aren't convinced. The state is prepared to spend up to $3 million to fight federal efforts to open what would be the world's first high-level nuclear waste repository. Gov. Kenny Guinn has gained approval to spend $4 million -- dubbed the Nuclear Protection Fund -- to hire an out-of-state law firm that specializes in nuclear issues, Chief of Staff Marybel Batjer said. The remaining money would be used to launch a national public information campaign. The state is coordinating its legal efforts with all Nevada counties and cities, Batjer said. Former Sen. Richard Bryan, a Democrat, and former Attorney General Brian McKay, a Republican, are leading a team to study the impact of nuclear waste entering Nevada, she said. The findings in DOE's "Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation" were not unexpected, state officials said. Still, a lengthy political and regulatory process faces the DOE before a repository could open, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. "Any decision regarding a permanent repository for this nation's nuclear waste will be made based on sound science," Abraham said in a prepared statement. "The measures I am taking today are designed to assist me in this effort." The public has until Sept. 20 to comment on the latest DOE evaluation. "After studying Yucca Mountain for over 20 years, the secretary of energy is now considering whether the site should be recommended to the President," Lake Barrett, DOE's acting director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said in a notice published in the Federal Register Tuesday. Federal scientists continue to study the mountain, according to the report. No longer focusing on the consequences of earthquakes or a nuclear criticality -- an event that could produce a runaway nuclear chain reaction if too much waste piled up in a small space -- the DOE is reviewing the potential and fallout of a volcanic eruption or human intrusion. The containers that would hold the nuclear waste would remain intact during an earthquake registering 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale or higher, according to the report. Once Abraham considers public comments he can recommend Yucca Mountain to President Bush. The president would then recommend the site to Congress. Once a recommendation is in congressional hands the state has 60 days to officially disapprove the Yucca Mountain repository. The mountain's development as a repository cannot continue unless Congress passes a joint resolution to override the state approve the site. The president would then have to sign off on the proposal. It could then take up to four years for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to permit repository construction. At the earliest, a repository would open at Yucca Mountain in 2010. The DOE has already signed Chicago-based Winston &Strawn for $16 million to represent the government in its effort to secure the site. However, the DOE Inspector General is investigating the firm for alleged conflict of interest. Winston &Strawn represented the DOE, which by law must remain impartial on Yucca Mountain, while it lobbied for the nuclear industry. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said he was disappointed, though not surprised, by the DOE document. Reid called the report "window dressing" on behalf of the nuclear industry. "Although they claim that science will serve as the basis for an open public review of this proposal, there is precious little evidence that they will really do so," Reid said in a prepared statement. "The Department of Energy has long since made up its mind that it is willing to manipulate the science and cast aside any veil of objectivity in their zealous pursuit of shipping deadly radioactive waste through America's heartland to Nevada." Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., had not seen the report. He said he would comment after reviewing the document, spokeswoman Traci Scott said. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., did respond, however. "This document once again proves just how badly this country has distorted the original standards of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act," Berkley said. "The federal government is preparing to spend an astronomical $58 billion to bury nuclear waste just outside Las Vegas, and we are not even being given an honest assessment of the risks involved." Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., had not reviewed the report, according to a spokeswoman. "It's not news to us, it is not a shocking revelation and it is something we expected," said Gibbons' spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer. Officials with the Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear industry, say it is time to move forward with Yucca Mountain. "The project is already 12 years behind schedule," Joe Colvin, NEI's president and chief executive officer, said. "And after nearly 20 years of in-depth scientific investigation of every environmental facet of Yucca Mountain, there is no reason for further delay." All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 6 Report fuels battle over nation’s nuclear waste Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nev., is the only site being considered for long-term storage of the nation's nuclear waste. Report fuels battle over nation’s nuclear waste Senator vows to derail plan to use Nevada desert for storage By Miguel Llanos MSNBC Aug. 22 — The Energy Department has signed off on using Nevada’s Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste from across the nation, but the state’s senior lawmaker — who happens to be the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate — says killing the project is his top priority. ‘What the DOE has also failed to admit or address are the dangers inherent in shipping more than 70,000 tons of nuclear waste through our nation’s cities, towns, and communities.’ — SEN. HARRY REID, D-NEV. IN A REPORT released Tuesday, the Energy Department gave a favorable safety assessment for building a dump deep beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Spent fuel from the nation’s 103 nuclear power plants would be stored there, much of it remaining radioactive for thousands of years. But Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, a Democrat who now wields more clout as the new Senate assistant majority leader, vowed to stop the project. “The Department of Energy has long since made up its mind that it is willing to manipulate the science and cast aside any veil of objectivity in their zealous pursuit of shipping deadly radioactive waste through America’s heartland to Nevada,” Reid said in a statement. “What the DOE has also failed to admit or address are the dangers inherent in shipping more than 70,000 tons of nuclear waste through our nation’s cities, towns, and communities.” Nuclear power plants now store their waste on-site, either in pools or containers, but those are filling up fast and pose their own set of safety issues. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev [File Photo: Reid] A 1987 federal law essentially designated Yucca the nation’s only potential long-term burial option, but the site has not formally been approved. Some $8 billion has been spent since then evaluating the mountain, and a tunnel has already been dug to move the waste deep below ground. MSNBC environment coverage The evaluation issued Tuesday found that radiation levels from storing nuclear waste at Yucca would fall well below limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. INDUSTRY HAILS REPORT Nuclear power proponents welcomed the report as a sign the Bush administration would eventually endorse Yucca as the nation’s nuclear storage site. “The measures I am taking today are designed to assist me in this effort,” he said. “I am committed to making sure that we arrive at the right decision for America.” Reid called the report and Abraham’s announcements “window dressing for an issue that the department and the big nuclear polluters have long since viewed as a foregone conclusion based on the bottom line and not on the health and safety of the American people.” In a bow to Reid, the Democratic-led Senate Appropriations Committee in July slashed $125 million from Yucca Mountain’s development budget. Nevada’s other senator, Republican John Ensign, supports Reid’s position, which reflects the view of most Nevadans, opinion polls show. Even though Yucca Mountain doesn't have a green light for nuclear waste storage, the federal govenrment has built this tunnel and rail line to carry waste deep below ground. REID’S STRATEGY Abraham is expected to send his recommendation to President Bush by the end of the year. If Abraham recommends Yucca, Nevada’s legislature and governor have said they would oppose the recommendation, sending the issue to the Senate. A simple majority there is required to override Nevada. The last time a Yucca vote went before senators was in February 2000. A bill designating Yucca as the nation’s interim site for nuclear waste passed but, Reid got enough support — 33 senators — to make sure that then President Clinton could veto the Republican bill. A spokeswoman for Reid said that even before any new vote he’d try to derail the project. Reid sits on a committee that oversees the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Tessa Hafen noted, and he might soon hold hearings to look into the safety of “dry cask containers” — the nuclear industry’s preferred method for shipping waste. Nevadans nervous over Yucca Reuters contributed to this story. ***************************************************************** 7 Energy Alliance Applauds DOE's Release of Yucca Mountain Preliminary Site Suitability Report Tue, Aug 21 5:42 PM EDT WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth welcomes the Energy Department's release of a key science report that may help the federal government meet its longstanding obligation to safely dispose of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive U.S. defense waste. The Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation report supports the use of Yucca Mountain, Nev., as a permanent underground repository for high-level radioactive waste. If ultimately approved by President George W. Bush as the repository site, and then licensed to operate by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the disposal facility could begin operating as early as 2010. "We are encouraged to see progress on this project. By meeting its responsibility to safely manage used nuclear fuel, the Energy Department will help make it possible for the nation to continue to derive maximum benefit from nuclear power -- our country's largest emission-free source of electricity," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and spokesman for the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, a broad coalition of small and large energy users, producers and distributors. Nuclear energy provides 20 percent of U.S. electricity needs. It is part of a balanced energy supply that ensures more reliable and affordable energy, while protecting the environment. The Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth represents more than 550 energy users, ranging from small, independent businesses to the nation's largest manufacturers, as well as companies that generate and distribute energy from a diverse mix of sources -- including natural gas, coal, oil and nuclear energy -- supplying millions of households and workplaces. To learn more about the Alliance, see the web site: http://www.yourenergyfuture.org . ©2001 At Home Corporation. All rights reserved. Excite, @Home, ***************************************************************** 8 CMC Construction wins $2.2M contract for SNS cooling towers Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:01 a.m. on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 from staff reports A $2.2 million contract has been awarded to an Oak Ridge company to design and build two multicell cooling towers for the Spallation Neutron Source project. The contract was awarded to CMC Construction Co. Inc., officials said. Construction management for the project is performed by Knight/Jacobs Joint Venture. The contract schedule for designing and building the cooling towers is 260 calendar days, with the completion date estimated to be on or before June 2002. The cooling towers will be used to provide the initial cooling of water fed to the chillers, which provide cooling to office, laboratory and equipment rooms for the entire SNS site. When completed in 2006, the SNS will be a research facility for study of the structure and dynamics of materials using neutrons. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 9 Reservations on the Nuclear Train Motherjones.com -- Web Exclusives The Bush/Cheney energy plan has breathed new life into the nuclear industry -- but we still don't know where the waste will go, or how it will get there safely. by Brooke Shelby BiggsAugust 17, 2001 When a train carrying hydrochloric acid derailed and caught fire in a tunnel near Baltimore last month, a silent tremor of fear must have shivered through the boardrooms of nuclear-energy corporations. Nuclear executives know, as few Americans do, that the train could theoretically have been carrying radioactive material; the Department of Energy has approved the use of that trackfor transport of high-level nuclear waste. Trains loaded with highly radioactive waste from nuclear plants will be rolling across the American heartland sooner than most people may realize, in large part because the Bush administration intends to re-emphasize nuclear power as part of its energy plan. But more nuclear plants and increased production at existing plants means more waste, which presents a sticky problem for the government and its friends in the energy industry. It's been about three decades since the US began producing significant amounts of energy from nuclear fission, but the country has yet to decide on a long-term storage solution for the resulting waste. And assuming, as most experts do, that the controversial storage facility at Yucca Mountainis approved, how will the waste get there? Or to the private storage facilityproposed for the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah? The US Department of Energy may be sending it via train (or truck)through a town near you. Critics of so-called "nuke trains" point out that train derailmentsin general are on the rise, and there have been dozens of serious "incidents"involving spent fuel shipments since 1949. By some calculations, the contents of a single container of spent nuclear fuel could release as much radioactivity as 200 Hiroshima bombs. Nuclear industry scientists say safety precautionsmake the chances of a container breaking open and leaking, even in a serious train wreck, minute. But the Baltimore accident raises questions about their assurances. Casks designed for transport of radioactive waste are built to withstand temperatures of as much as 1,475 degrees for up to 30 minutes. The Baltimore Sun reported that the Baltimore train burned at temperatures as high as 1,500 degrees for several days. There is also the real threat of terrorism against trains carrying such dangerous cargo -- what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls "radiological sabotage." At a 1996 counter-terrorism symposium in Las Vegas, researchers presented a reporton the risks of terrorism and sabotage against nuclear spent-fuel shipments to Yucca Mountain, and urged the NRC to "completely reexamine" their estimates of a terrorist threat. In Europe, controversy over nuclear waste transport has resulted in massive protests, culminating this year with demonstrators chaining themselves to the tracks. Only "the biggest security operation since World War II" allowed authorities to clear a path for the train. The hubbub spread through Europe; now London is considering an outright banon nuclear shipments over the city's trouble-prone rails. On this side of the Atlantic, a growing alliance of activists is betting that if Americans -- especially those who live in the towns on the designated rail lines -- knew of the potential dangers, they too would take to the streets in protest. A shipment of spent fuelfrom New York to an Idaho processing plant planned for this year may "be the first of tens of thousands of shipments" the federal government would like to see approved, Kevin Kamps, an organizer for the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, told Newsweek. In Springfield, Ill., which is on the New York-to-Idaho route, residents in the past protested shipments of napalm through their town. Anti-nuke organizer David Kraft told the Evansville Courier Press, "This stuff makes napalm look like cupcakes." Brooke Shelby Biggs is a contributing editor of MotherJones.com. © FOUNDATION FOR NATIONAL PROGRESS ***************************************************************** 10 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Wednesday, August 22, 2001 State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Wednesday, August 22, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 012330161 Accession Number: ML012330201 Document Date: 6/5/01 Title: 06/13/2001 meeting to discuss NRC Annual Performance Assessment of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-II Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330138 Accession Number: ML012320401 Document Date: Title: 08/07/01 - Meeting Summary: Memo to C. L. Miller re: July 25, 2001, Summary of JL Shepherd meeting Author Affiliation: Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330154 Accession Number: ML012320424 Document Date: 8/7/01 Title: 08/07/01 - Memo to C. L. Miller From: S. L. Baggett and T. J. Kobetz Subject: Meeting with JL Shepherd and Associates on the NRC Order Issued on July 3, 2001 Attachments: 1.) Transcript; 2.) Attendance List; and 3.) Presentation Materials Author Affiliation: NRC/NMSS/SFPO Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330127 Accession Number: ML012280079 Document Date: Title: 08/08/01-Meeting Summary for Mtg with NEI on Circuit Analysis Methodology NEI 00-01. Author Affiliation: Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330125 Accession Number: ML012320352 Document Date: 8/20/01 Title: 08/08/2001 - Summary of Meeting with Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) on Risk-Informed Post-Fire Safe Shutdown Circuit Analysis Methodology Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330166 Accession Number: ML012330163 Document Date: 8/20/01 Title: 08/13/01 Meeting Summary With The Boiling Waters Reactor Owners Group (BWROG) To Discuss BWROG Topical Report NEDO-33003, "Regulatory Relaxation For the H2/O2 Monitors And Combustible Gas Control System Dated June 22, 2001 Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DLPM/LPD1 Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330158 Accession Number: ML012330091 Document Date: 8/17/01 Title: 08/28/2001 Meeting with Industry on Issues Regarding Technical Basis for Reactor Pressure Vessel Closure Flange Rulemaking. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DE Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330128 Accession Number: ML012290559 Document Date: 8/17/01 Title: 08/28/2001-Meeting with Industry on Issues Regarding Technical Basis for Reactor Pressure Vessel Closure Flange Rulemaking. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DE/EMCB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330096 Accession Number: ML012250216 Document Date: 8/3/01 Title: American Ecology Corporation, as holder of License No. WN-I019-2 and Quality Assurance Program Approval for Radioactive Material Packages No. 0258, Wishes to Register as a User of the Chem-Nuclear Systems Model No. CNS 10-160B. Author Affiliation: American Ecology Corp Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330111 Accession Number: ML012250414 Document Date: 6/28/01 Title: Annual Safety and Environmental Review Panel Report for July 1, 2000 - June 30, 2001 for White Mesa Uranium Mill - Blanding, Utah. Author Affiliation: International Uranium (USA) Corp Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330107 Accession Number: ML012250343 Document Date: 8/3/01 Title: Diablo Canyon Unit 1 Response to NRC Technical Issues on the Diablo Canyon Refueling Outage 9 Steam Generator Inspection 90-Day Report. Author Affiliation: Pacific Gas & Electric Co Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330080 Accession Number: ML012250170 Document Date: 8/3/01 Title: Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2, Review of WCAP-15573 for License Amendment Request 00-06, "Alternate Repair Criteria for Axial PWSCC at Dented Intersections in Steam Generator Tubing." Author Affiliation: Pacific Gas & Electric Co Document/Report Number: WCAP-15573 _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330034 Accession Number: ML012270011 Document Date: 8/14/01 Title: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Final Exercise Report for the April 11, 2000, Plume Exposure Pathway Exercise for the Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear Power Station Author Affiliation: NRC/RGN-I/DRS Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330001 Accession Number: ML012250023 Document Date: 8/1/01 Title: Groundwater and Surface Water Monitoring Results for First and Second Quarters 2001. Author Affiliation: Western Nuclear Inc. Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330059 Accession Number: ML012140130 Document Date: 8/13/01 Title: July 31, 2001 Report on the Status of Public Petitions Under 10 CFR 2.206. Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330093 Accession Number: ML012250269 Document Date: 8/10/01 Title: Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Certificate Amendment Request - Update the Application Safety Analysis Report - Proposed Changes. Author Affiliation: United States Enrichment Corp Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330066 Accession Number: ML012250043 Document Date: 7/27/01 Title: Pre-Decisional Enforcement Conference on July 20, 2001 Rockville, MD. Author Affiliation: Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 012330108 Accession Number: ML012250362 Document Date: 8/7/01 Title: Regulatory Testing of the CBC Watertight UF6 Cylinder. Author Affiliation: Columbiana Boiler Company Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 11 NRC Issues Notices of Violations Following Investigation of Improper Efforts to Dispose of Waste from New Jersey Center Press Release - Region I - 2001-052 - UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 No. I-01-052 August 22, 2001 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued several Notices of Violation in connection with improper efforts to dispose of radioactive waste removed from a New Jersey mental health facility in 1997. Among those receiving notices are the center, the state official who authorized the incorrect classification of the material, a Pennsylvania firm hired to dispose of the waste and the president of that company. In October 1997, the NRC was notified that a tritium exit sign had been broken by a patient at the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center, which is located in Farmingdale, N.J., and operated by the New Jersey Department of Human Services. The sign held tritium, a radioactive isotope used to illuminate the device but one that releases a relatively weak form of radiation and is not hazardous as long as it is contained. When the sign was ruptured, the release of the tritium created extensive contamination that required almost 60 barrels to clean up and remove. Following an NRC inspection at the center, an inquiry was launched by the NRC Office of Investigations to look at whether the material had been disposed of in a proper manner. The Office of Investigations subsequently determined that the chief of the Bureau of Environmental Compliance for the New Jersey Department of Human Services had deliberately and inappropriately classified the waste as medical waste. The Office of Investigations also learned that the firm hired by New Jersey to dispose of the waste, SMI East Coast Medical Waste Inc. of Morrisville, Pa., was not authorized to handle such material. Despite this fact, SMI removed from Arthur Brisbane a barrel holding the broken exit sign, which contained about 12 curies of tritium, and stored it at its facility awaiting disposal. SMI also removed several other barrels containing contaminated objects and shipped them to a medical waste incinerator in South Carolina not authorized to accept radioactive material. (The waste was retrieved before being burned there.) In issuing a Notice of Violation to the Arthur Brisbane facility, the NRC notes that a fine is not being imposed because South Carolina issued a $15,000 civil penalty against the New Jersey Department of Human Services in January 1998 for violations related to the event. Further, all exit signs containing radioactive material have since been removed from the facility and therefore the center is no longer an NRC licensee. SMI was not fined by the NRC because there were no radioactive doses to individuals or potential doses that would create a serious health risk, and the material was eventually disposed of in a proper manner. ***************************************************************** 12 Full power restored at Indian Point 2 nuclear plant Newsday.com - August 21, 2001 BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP)--The Indian Point 2 nuclear plant has returned to full power after repairs were completed on a leaking water pipe. The plant had reduced power to 65 percent last Wednesday, but returned to full power on Friday, Chris Olert, a spokesman for plant operator Consolidated Edison, said Tuesday. There was no release of radioactivity, he said. It was the second leak detected in the feedwater system in less than a week, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asked Con Ed to ensure the system was not suffering from metal fatigue. Olert said the utility had run tests and said the system was "holding up well." The pumps, which send hot, highly pressurized water to the plant's steam generators, are part of the plant's original equipment and have been in use since 1972. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 13 Promising Solutions to Nuclear Waste Management NCPA - Daily Policy Digest - August 21, 2001 The Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory-West, at Scoville, Idaho, has come up with the first laboratory-scale process employing pyroprocessing -- which scientists hope will allow nuclear garbage to be transmuted into something that can be stored safely or recycled. It also would discourage theft of plutonium by persons bent on making a bomb. + Pyroprocessing uses an electrolysis process borrowed from aluminum smelting -- whereby plutonium is extracted from nuclear waste in a way that taints it with other materials. + This leaves a metal that is hot, difficult to work with and lethally radioactive -- posing additional problems for potential bomb makers. + Plutonium and other heavy elements with long radioactive lives account for only 1 percent of nuclear wastes. + So if these elements can be safely removed, 96 percent of the waste remaining is U-238 -- a relatively harmless, lead-like material that can be stored in low-level existing waste facilities. The laboratory's John L. Sackett does not consider the plutonium as waste. He says isotopes could be extracted and used for medical purposes. Then the plutonium can be broken into other elements and processed, for example, into xenon, a nonradioactive gas. Sackett and others claim the process could largely pay for itself, by selling the electricity the government reactors would produce in the transmuting process. The wastes that remain would be radioactive for only about 300 years -- posing a far less daunting storage problem than wastes with radioactive lives of 100,000 years. Source: John J. Fialka, "Scientists Tout Methods for Reprocessing Nuclear Wastes," Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2001. For text (WSJ subscribers) http://interactive.wsj.com/
articles/SB998340399919734457.htm For more on Energy http://www.ncpa.org/pd/budget/budget-7.html Dallas: 12655 N. Central Expy., Suite 720 - Dallas, TX 75243-1739 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924 Washington: 655 15th St. N.W., Suite 375 - Washington, DC 20005 - 202/628-6671 - Fax 202/628-6474 Copyright © 2001 National Center for Policy Analysis ***************************************************************** 14 Energy Secretary Announces Key Steps in Site Analysis of Yucca Mountain energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: August 21, 2001 [Print Friendly Version] Extends Public Comment Period An Additional 30 Days WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the dates, locations, and times for public hearings in Nevada to receive comments on whether or not the Secretary of Energy should recommend Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a site for a potential geological repository for nuclear waste. The Department also issued today the Yucca Mountain Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation, which provides a preliminary assessment of the Yucca Mountain site's performance against the strict safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The preliminary evaluation is additional information that is intended to facilitate public review and comment on a possible site recommendation. With the scheduling of public hearings and the release of the Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation, the Department also announced that the public comment period on a potential site recommendation by the Secretary will be extended to September 20, 2001. DOE began the public comment period on May 4, 2001, when the Yucca Mountain Science and Engineering Report was issued. In order to facilitate public scrutiny of the data related to the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site, the Secretary is also directing the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management to send the preliminary evaluation to stakeholders in this process – including opponents of the siting of a repository at Yucca Mountain and is asking them to provide comments either as part of the written record or as part of several public hearings. He is also directing that the study be sent to a number of leaders in the scientific community and is asking them to participate in the public comment process. "Any decision regarding a permanent repository for this nation's nuclear waste will be made based on sound science. The measures I am taking today are designed to assist me in this effort. I am committed to making sure that we arrive at the right decision for America," said Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. Information on the scheduled public hearings follows: September 5, 2001: Suncoast Hotel and Casino, 9090 Alta Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89144, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Poster Session; 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Hearing. September 12, 2001: Longstreet Inn and Casino, Highway 373, Armagosa Valley, Nevada 89020; 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Poster Session; 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Hearing. September 13, 2001: Bob Ruud Community Center, 150 Highway North #160, Pahrump, Nevada 89048, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Poster Session; 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm – Hearing. As required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, DOE is holding these hearings in the vicinity of the Yucca Mountain site for the purposes of informing the residents in the area and receiving their comments regarding DOE's consideration of the site for possible recommendation. These hearings will not be trial-type evidentiary hearings that require a lawyer. They will be informal, and DOE intends to use a facilitator in an effort to ensure they are fair and productive. Media Contact: Joe Davis/Jill Schroeder 202/586-4940, Jacqueline Johnson 202/586-5806 Release No. R-01-150 ***************************************************************** 15 TVA: New facility for Browns Ferry plant: Spent fuel rod site receives approval News from the Tennessee Valley [State, Local and National news] AUGUST 22, 2001 By Franklin Harris DAILY Online Editor Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant will get a new on-site storage facility for spent nuclear fuel rods following action today by the Tennessee Valley Authority's governing board. But board members remained noncommittal about the possibility of restarting the plant's Unit 1 facility, which has been idle since 1985. Citing the agency's long history with Decatur, members of the TVA Board of Directors had their monthly board meeting at Cedar Ridge Elementary School. Board Chairman Glenn McCullough and member Skila Harris approved a contract supplement with Holtec International Inc., which will provide a dry-cask storage system for the plant. The third member of the three-member panel, Bill Baxter, is still awaiting confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The agreement increases the contract ceiling TVA already has with Holtec by $19.5 million. Holtec is already under contract to provide a similar spent-fuel storage system at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Tennessee. Browns Ferry began operations in 1972 and has been storing radioactive spent fuel in pools since 1976. It will be at least five years before the new, aboveground storage area is ready. Even when ready, the new storage facility is only a stopgap measure. McCullough said TVA is working to establish a national storage facility inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain. But that site is 12 years behind schedule. Board members said the storage area will be for spent fuel from the plant's active units and has nothing to do with speculation that TVA might restart Unit 1. "We've yet to make any decision on whether we will start Browns Ferry Unit 1," Ms. Harris said. She and McCullough are awaiting the results of an environmental impact study to be released in January. And even then, further study will be necessary, McCullough said. Restarting Unit 1 would be a decision made within the context of adhering to TVA's long-term goals of protecting the environment and providing affordable and reliable electric power, he said. If started, Unit 1 would provide about 3.5 percent of TVA's power generation, McCullough said. But even the suggestion of relying more on nuclear power brought critics. "TVA has never come in under budget or on time with nuclear power," said Steve Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. TVA officials estimate restarting Unit 1 could cost between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion. Smith and others also questioned TVA's environmental record and, in particular, the agency's recent decision to hire former Republican Party Chairman Haley Barbour as a lobbyist. And Ed Passerini, a resource economist at The University of Alabama, question the need for additional power sources, citing what he said is an expensive history of TVA overbuilding. But Calvin Underwood, a representative of the union for engineers and scientists at TVA, said he favors starting Unit 1 because doing so would bring jobs to the Decatur area. "This is a safe plant," Underwood said. "There is less radiation inside than there is outside from naturally occurring sources." Copyright 2001 THE DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved. AP contributed to this report. --> Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala. 35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com ***************************************************************** 16 DOE says radiation from Yucca Mountain would meet EPA standards Las Vegas SUN August 21, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - A Department of Energy study concludes that the proposed Yucca Mountain burial site for nuclear waste would comply with stringent radiation protection standards. The Environmental Protection Agency said in June that radiation exposure from groundwater near the site must be no more than 4 millirem per year. Overall radiation from all sources from the site would be capped at 15 millirem. "The results of the site suitability evaluation indicate that it would meet the strict safety standards outlined by EPA," Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said Tuesday. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham had previously said he expected that the Yucca Mountain site would meet the requirement. In issuing the preliminary site suitability report, Abraham said the Energy Department is inviting comments from opponents and others with a stake in the nuclear waste dump. In addition, the department will hold three public hearings in Nevada in September - in Las Vegas on Sept. 5, Armagosa Valley on Sept. 12 and Pahrump on Sept. 13. "Any decision regarding a permanent repository for this nation's nuclear waste will be made based on sound science," Abraham said in a statement. "The measures I am taking today are designed to assist me in this effort." Abraham intends to make a final recommendation to President Bush by the end of the year, Davis said. A staunch opponent of the Yucca Mountain proposal, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the new report is more evidence of the department's bias in favor of entombing the nation's nuclear waste about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "It confirms that my vote against Spencer Abraham as energy secretary was the right one," Reid said. "He has a preconceived notion about where nuclear waste should go." The site is the only one in the nation under study as a repository for the nation's 77,000 tons of highly radioactive commercial and military nuclear waste. The earliest it could begin accepting nuclear waste would be in 2010. Nevada's congressional delegation is united in its opposition to the Yucca Mountain proposal as are most of the state's lawmakers. Reid said he is counting on increased opposition to the proposal when the Energy Department conducts an environmental review of how to ship waste to the site by truck or rail. He has called attention to recent accidents that involved trains or trucks carrying hazardous materials to point out "the dangers inherent in shipping nuclear waste through our nation's cities, towns and communities." On the Net: Energy Department's Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov/ All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Brookhaven Physicists Produce "Doubly Strange Nuclei"; First Large-Scale Production Of Nuclei Containing Two Strange Quarks ScienceDaily Magazine -- Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory (http://www.bnl.gov/) Date: Posted 8/21/2001 Brookhaven Physicists Produce "Doubly Strange Nuclei"; UPTON, NY -- Strange science has taken a great leap forward at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. There, physicists have produced a significant number of "doubly strange nuclei," or nuclei containing two strange quarks. Studies of these nuclei will help scientists explore the forces between nuclear particles, particularly within so-called strange matter, and may contribute to a better understanding of neutron stars, the superdense remains of burnt-out stars, which are thought to contain large quantities of strange quarks. The 50 physicists collaborating on the experiment, who represent 15 institutions in six countries, describe their findings in an upcoming isssue of Physical Review Letters. "This is the first experiment to produce large numbers of these doubly strange nuclei," said Brookhaven physicist Adam Rusek, a co-spokesperson for the collaboration. Four previous experiments conducted over the past 40 years in the U.S., Europe, and Japan have produced one such nucleus each, with varying degrees of certainty. In the current publication, which is based on data taken in 1998, the Brookhaven collaboration describes 30 to 40 events out of several hundred produced. "That's enough events to begin a study using statistical techniques," Rusek said. To create the nuclei, the scientists aim the world's most intense proton beam -- produced at one of Brookhaven's particle accelerators, the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron -- at a tungsten target. From the particles produced in those collisions, the scientists separate out an extremely intense beam of negatively charged kaons, which are each composed of one "strange" quark and one "up" antiquark. When these negative kaons then strike a beryllium target and interact with its protons, some of the energy is converted into new strange quarks and strange antiquarks. These quarks then regroup to form a variety of particles, some of which continue to interact. Occasionally, a structure containing a proton, a neutron, and two lambda particles (each composed of one up, one down, and one strange quark) is formed. This double-lambda structure, with its two strange quarks, is the observed doubly strange nucleus. Detecting the formation of this strange species is no easy task. It's more like finding a subatomic needle in a particle-soup haystack. For one thing, many other species are produced in the collisions. Plus, the scientists can't "see" the double lambda structure directly. Instead, they look for pions, a subatomic product the lambdas emit as they decay in less than one billionth of a second. Furthermore, in order to infer that the pions came from a nucleus containing two lambdas, there must be two pion decay signals at very specific energies. Sophisticated computers and careful analyses helped narrow the search from 100 million potentially interesting events, to 100,000 where two strange quarks were produced, to the 30 to 40 where those two strange quarks existed for a fleeting instant inside the same nucleus. "The most important part is eliminating all the other possible explanations for these events," said Sidney Kahana, a theoretical physicist at Brookhaven. "We're left with this double lambda species as the only explanation," he said. Now that they believe they have a reliable method for producing the double lambda species, the scientists would like to produce more so they can get better measurements of the binding energy, or force of interaction, between the two lambda particles. "We can use this nucleus as a laboratory in which the two lambdas can be held together long enough to study," Kahana said. Based on the current data, the interaction between lambdas appears to be rather weak -- possibly too weak for the two particles to merge to produce a postulated, six-quark structure called an H particle. But further experiments are necessary, the scientists say. The interaction between lambdas may also offer insight into the properties of neutron stars, which are thought to contain vast numbers of strange particles, including lambdas. Neutron stars are the only place in the universe scientists believe such strange matter exists in a stable form. With the ability to produce appreciable numbers of doubly strange nuclei, "Brookhaven is now the best place in the world to study strange matter," said Morgan May, who leads the strangeness nuclear physics program at Brookhaven. This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, which supports basic research in a variety of scientific fields. The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also builds and operates major facilities available to university, industrial, and government scientists. The Laboratory is managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited liability company founded by Stony Brook University and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization. For information about fundamental particles and interactions, go to: http://particleadventure.org/, and specifically: http://particleadventure.org/frameless/chart.html Editor's Note: The original news release can be found at http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/bnlpr082001.htm Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Brookhaven National Laboratory for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit Brookhaven National Laboratory as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010821075526.htm Copyright © 1995-2001 ScienceDaily Magazine | Email: ***************************************************************** 18 Yucca Site Is Called Safe in Federal Report, The Salt Lake Tribune -- August 22, 2001 BY JUDY FAHYS Plans inched forward Tuesday to make Yucca Mountain, Nev., a disposal site for the nation's used nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste. The U.S. Energy Department deemed the site safe in a preliminary scientific review of its suitability and announced three public hearings next month in Nevada. "Any decision regarding a permanent repository for this nation's nuclear waste will be based on sound science," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said, adding that hearing testimony and comments will also help him decide. "I am committed to making sure that we arrive at the right decision for America." The release of the site-suitability report, extending the comment period to Sept. 20 and the scheduling of public hearings are all signs that the federal government intends to push for a decision on Yucca Mountain by the end of the year. Utahns are watching the Yucca decision closely in hopes of divining the future of a high-level waste storage site proposed for the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Plans for Utah's $3.1 billion facility are being reviewed in a separate process by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A decision is expected by next spring. Proponents of the Skull Valley storage say it will be needed for "parking" nuclear waste until a permanent disposal facility is ready. The federal government has spent about $6.7 billion over two decades exploring Yucca Mountain's suitability for high-level waste. The Department of Energy is being sued by nuclear-power utilities that say the government promised waste disposal for them by 1998. About three-quarters of the nation's 103 nuclear plants say they will run out of on-site storage by 2010. "This scientific report is the most significant milestone accomplished to date in the federal government's effort to develop a geological disposal facility," said Joe Colvin, president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry trade group. John Hadder, an activist with the anti-nuclear watchdog group Citizen Alert in Nevada, criticized the Energy Department for leaving too little time for the public to read and evaluate the most recent safety report. "We don't feel like the DOE is ready for this process yet," he said. Hadder also noted that the agency's decision-making may be premature, considering that other steps, such as site-review guidelines and radiation-dose exposure standards, are in dispute. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on Utah OnLine is ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Government should probe public, private pensions KnoxNews: Letters To Editor Editor, the News-Sentinel: It appears Craven Crowell, former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, may be in a position to feel some empathy for displaced Oak Ridge workers and others who receive a pittance for their pension after many years of loyal service to an organization. According to an article in The Knoxville News-Sentinel ("No Extra Compensation for ex-TVA Chief - Crowell Without Perks Given to Others," Aug 5), Crowell receives TVA pension benefits of just $1,000 per month ($12,000 per year), which is based on reaching age 55 and working at TVA from 1980-89. Upon resigning this year, he did not receive any of the deferred compensation or pension supplements given to some previous top executives. However, the article also reports that, in addition to receiving the TVA pension, he participates in the federal pension plan as well, not to mention his consulting activities, so I suspect he is not exactly in the same situation as many displaced workers. In comparison, however, chief administrative officer Norman Zigrossi received $1 million deferred compensation after retiring last year, along with a pension supplement of over $11,000 per month ($136,000 per year) for life. Why the huge difference? The article indicates the TVA Act passed by Congress in 1933 limits total compensation for TVA's board members, including the chairman, to amounts set by Congress. As a result, they cannot receive bonuses or other packages used to attract or retain executives. However, several TVA executives, including Zigrossi, have qualified for extra compensation, which prompted Rep. Zach Wamp to request an inspector general's evaluation of the matter. I applaud Wamp in taking this initiative but would like to encourage him to expand his analysis to include private-sector executive compensation and pension practices. I encourage everyone to read an enlightening article on this issue by John Balzar (News-Sentinel, Aug. 4, "Corporate executives riding high on pensions"). The following was his assessment of the differences in pension benefits between highly compensated executives and others: "The differences are, to use the proper term, shocking." I totally agree with Balzar's assessment and believe Congress should investigate this issue more thoroughly. Susan Arnold Kaplan Solway August 22, 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Oak Ridge project will be big, bad and dirty KnoxNews: Columnists By Frank Munger The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that it will take eight years and about $300 million to clean up and tear down two oversized remnants of the early atomic age. Pardon me, but I'm skeptical. I think DOE may be guessing. The federal agency and its contractors already have spent a good bit of time and money doing engineering evaluations and cost estimates on the Oak Ridge demolition project. I just don't think those detail-packed documents adequately convey the uncertainties involved in this big, dirty job. Of course, that's just my opinion. I'm sure the feds would tell you everything is under control. But history is on my side. You could have made good money over the years betting against DOE's estimates on time schedules and costs. The upcoming project involves two of the World War II-era buildings at the K-25 plant, a former uranium-enrichment facility now officially known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. The new name signifies DOE's intent to convert the sprawling site to private industrial uses. The two buildings - K-25, constructed in 1943, and K-27, added two years later - are enormous structures. That's particularly true of K-25, a mile-long, U-shaped behemoth, which was the world's largest building under one roof at the time it was constructed. These facilities are as dirty as they are big. The principal radioactive contaminant is uranium. There's reported to be about 3 tons of uranium (with a high percentage of U-235, the fissile isotope) inside the K-25 and K-27 buildings. Much of that is coating the inside of process pipes, but there's plenty of contamination on the exterior of equipment and other surfaces as a result of accidents. A planning document lists about 30 uranium releases inside the buildings that exceeded one kilogram (about 2.2 pounds), beginning with an accident inside K-25 on April 28, 1945. Long-time workers at the plant say the list doesn't begin to cover the discharges they witnessed routinely. Because these buildings processed gaseous uranium compounds at highly concentrated levels of U-235 (up to 95 percent at one point), there is always the potential for a criticality accident - an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction with severe release of radiation. "It has been determined that in its current configuration, the equipment in these buildings is safe,'' the engineering evaluation report said. "However, there are limited number of items in the K-25 building cascade that could potentially pose a criticality risk if the configuration of equipment changes.'' Uranium processing in these facilities was shut down decades ago, and that magnifies the opportunity for surprises and makes the cleanup operation all the more difficult. There are other radioactive materials present besides uranium, notably technetium-99 but also some plutonium and neptunium and trace contaminants left from a period when the Oak Ridge plant processed uranium that had previously been in a nuclear reactor. DOE reports that more than 1,500 radiation surveys have been performed in recent years at the buildings but adds this cautionary note: "... The majority of surveys were performed in routinely accessible areas of the facilities and, thus, the results are not indicative of contamination levels in cell housing, escape alleys and pipe galleries.'' Indeed, a 1952 accident in the K-27 building released about 1,700 pounds of uranium hexafluoride and caused massive contamination. Despite extensive efforts to clean up the hazardous mess, the intricate piping layout in some areas made that impossible. "After removing as much as could be accessed, a cocoon material was sprayed over the surfaces in the pipe galleries to seal in any remaining uranium materials,'' a DOE analysis said. "Based on this release, it is assumed that the majority of the K-27 building pipe gallery is radiologically contaminated.'' Inside the miles and miles of piping, there are deposits of uranium that accumulated over the years. An effort to remove some of the bigger deposits in the mid-1990s had limited success. The biggest surprise of all would be if the contractors find what they expect when they begin tackling this enormous cleanup project. BNFL Inc., which currently is dismantling equipment inside three other big buildings at the Oak Ridge plant, has come to expect the unexpected - despite a world-class effort to characterize the conditions before that project got started. Besides the radioactive materials, there is an enormous amount of asbestos and chemical hazards, ranging from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to mercury and hydrogen fluoride. Plus, there's a constant worry that parts of the old structure may collapse due to its deteriorated state. In an introductory section to the K-25/K-27 project's engineering evaluation, it is noted, "A number of potential physical, chemical, biological and radiological hazards exist in both ... buildings. The following summary of hazards includes those that are known to exist at the present time.'' The next line could be even more telling: "Additional hazards may be present that are not identified.'' Eight years? $300 million? We'll see. .Senior Writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News-Sentinel. He can be reached at 865-482-9213 or at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This column is also available on the Web at www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/ ***************************************************************** 3 Madia happily embraces role in ORNL's ambitious future KnoxNews: Business Lab keeping a key ingredient By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel Senior Writer Bill Madia was among the finalists recently to become president and chief executive officer of Battelle, but he resents any suggestion that his job for the past year and a half - director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory - is a "consolation prize'' or something convenient to fall back on. "Those are fighting words,'' Madia said. Actually, someone did say something to that effect, and there's no report of a bloody brawl taking place. Madia makes his point nonetheless. Battelle earlier this month announced that Carl Kohrt, former executive vice president and chief technology officer at Kodak, would take over the reins of the technology organization in mid-October when CEO Doug Olesen retires. The announcement ended months of speculation in Oak Ridge that Madia might be called to Columbus, Ohio, headquarters of the Battelle organization. "First and foremost, I'm really happy to be at Oak Ridge National Laboratory,'' Madia said when the inevitable questions came. "Yes, I was one of the individuals considered (for Battelle's top post), but I told many, many people that I've been having very mixed feelings about going to Columbus.'' Madia, former director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, came to Oak Ridge last year when the University of Tennessee and Battelle joined in a bid that won the management contract at ORNL. He was a critically important part of UT-Battelle's proposal. If Battelle had turned around a year or so later and tapped Madia to come back to Columbus, there would have been real questions about the organization's commitment to the U.S. Department of Energy and ORNL. Indeed, Madia has enjoyed an extended honeymoon as the ORNL director. UT-Battelle's ambitious plans for modernizing the aging research complex in Oak Ridge have been popularly received, and the federal contractor has gotten a lot of credit for sustaining progress on the Spallation Neutron Source - the $1.4 billion project that's on schedule and within budget. "We're just building momentum for the laboratory, and I think Battelle would have felt there'd have been questions about our commitment or a loss of momentum if I'd gone,'' Madia acknowledged. Madia said he got a call from Kohrt immediately after the announcement. "He wanted to reinforce how important the DOE part of Battelle's business was for the strategy,'' the ORNL chief said. "It's one of the things that attracted him to the job.'' When Madia talks about the good things taking place at Oak Ridge, he doesn't have to exaggerate. There really are some highlights in the making, including six new laboratory facilities that will begin to take shape within the next six months. ORNL is likely to announce in the next few days the winner of a competition to privately finance and construct a series of three buildings on the lab's campus. According to reports, the top proposal was almost too good to be true, at least from UT-Battelle's perspective. Madia basically confirmed as much. He said the three finalists were all good, but one offer was spectacular. "It exceeds our expectations,'' he said. "The team we're negotiating with has done very similar things for other federal agencies (Centers for Disease Control and the Federal Aviation Administration) ... so they are very experienced in this sort of private-sector financing for public-sector clients.'' Madia also was very happy with a DOE on-site review that took place at the laboratory a week ago. Jim Decker, acting director of DOE's Office of Science, admitted he came away impressed from his Oak Ridge visit. "There are a lot of exciting, very positive changes taking place at the laboratory,'' Decker said in a brief telephone interview from his office in Washington. "Obviously, the push to improve the infrastructure is very impressive. The innovative financing approaches that have been taken are going to allow the department to move forward in a way that would have been difficult to do totally using federal and state funds.'' Many of the national laboratories are faced with old and deteriorating physical plants, but Decker said none is charting as dramatic a makeover as Oak Ridge. Decker toured the SNS construction site and noted "things are coming along very well.'' In reviewing the science programs at ORNL, the DOE official said he was hesitant to single out any one for praise. But he did note, "It clearly is one of the leading institutions for materials research and has been for many, many years.'' Decker also talked about the aggressive movement in computing at Oak Ridge and the overall effort in neutron-based research. "It's going to be a fantastic center for neutron-scattering, with the upgrades at HFIR (High Flux Isotope Reactor). I was out there and that's pretty impressive. Between HFIR and SNS, it's going to be incredible,'' he said. Meanwhile, now that the top Battelle post has been filled, Madia sounds like he definitely plans to stick around for a while. UT-Battelle's timetable for ORNL matches up with his personal plans, he said. "In five or six more years of this, we'll have a new Oak Ridge National Laboratory,'' he said. Senior writer Frank Munger can be reached at 482-9213 or by e-mail at twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. This weekly column on science and technology also is available on our Web site at http://www.knoxnews.com/science/munger/. August 19, 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 Plutonium deal falters over cost BBC News | BUSINESS | 21 August, 2001, 17:16 GMT 18:16 UK [Nuclear power station at San Onofre, CA] Bush sees 1,300 new US nuclear plants in next 20 years By Jonathan Marcus in Washington A programme initiated by former US President Bill Clinton to rid the world of tons of plutonium from Russian and US nuclear weapons is increasingly under threat. It could even be abandoned by his successor, George W Bush. According to The New York Times newspaper, it is largely the cost that is threatening the programme but, as yet, the Bush team seems to have no viable alternative for getting rid of the plutonium. Plutonium scare During the Clinton years there was growing concern about the fate of plutonium removed from Russian nuclear weapons. There were fears that this could fall into the wrong hands, enabling a so-called rogue state to press ahead with a nuclear weapons programme of its own. [The Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton, June 2000] The plutonium deal was seen as a neat solution to a Cold War problem So Washington and Moscow each agreed to remove 50 tons of plutonium from their stocks and put it beyond weapons use, either by converting it into fuel for nuclear reactors or by mixing it with other highly-radioactive nuclear waste. So much for the theory. In practice, little has been done, in large part due to the growing costs of the programme. The Clinton administration did set aside money for the conversion programme but the necessary plants have not yet been built. And the Russians have also made little progress with the scheme, much of which it was hoped would be funded by other western industrialised countries. Nuclear power Now the Bush administration is said to be close to abandoning the programme. As an alternative, the Bush team is reported to be looking at building a new generation of nuclear reactors to dispose of the waste plutonium. But in the United States, new nuclear power plants would be highly controversial and again might not be financially viable. The failure of efforts to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium contrasts markedly with the progress made in utilising uranium from Soviet-era weapons which, once diluted, provides a significant share of the fuel for existing US nuclear power plants. The uncertainty surrounding the joint US-Russian programme means that for the immediate future there may be no alternative to Russian plutonium remaining in secure storage, pending a decision on what to do with it. The security of nuclear materials in Russia has always caused concern in the United States. This is why the Pentagon and the US Department of Energy have helped fund various programmes in Russia, not just to improve security, but also to try to contain Russian nuclear know-how by giving Russian scientists new projects to work on. Such schemes have had some success, but here too the Bush Administration has sought to review spending. Even in the United States the fate of plutonium drawn from the nuclear weapons stock-pile is uncertain. The US plans to build a huge plant at the Savannah River facility near the State-line between Georgia and South Carolina. The plant, intended to turn weapons grade plutonium into reactor fuel and to encase the remainder in glass and steel for storage, was due to be completed by 2005. But here too funding has been cut and there is growing local opposition to plans to begin shipments of plutonium to the Savannah River site even before the new building is completed. b ***************************************************************** 5 Bush dropping plans to dispose of plutonium The Times AUGUST 22 2001 FROM EDWARD WELSH IN WASHINGTON PRESIDENT BUSH is expected to drop plans to dispose of 100 tonnes of plutonium extracted from American and Russian nuclear weapons. The rising cost of the operation is said to have led to opposition in the White House, as have doubts about the technology needed to turn 50 tonnes of each country’s plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors or making it unusable by mixing it with nuclear waste. The programme, which was first proposed by President Clinton in the mid-1990s, was aimed at reducing the chances of the Russian plutonium reaching rogue states or terrorists. It was also hoped that the project would help efforts to cut the numbers of American and Russian warheads by making it more difficult to re-use plutonium from decommissioned missiles. The Russians have 160 tons of the material, the Americans have 100 tons and both could turn their stockpiles into thousands of nuclear weapons. Officially, the Bush Administration says that the plan is under review, but The New York Times reported yesterday that briefings from within the White House point to the imminent abandonment of the project. “There is no enthusiasm for it whatsoever,” said a congressional aide, who had been told of the President’s thinking by the National Security Council. The Energy Department found this year that the cost of converting the American plutonium into fuel had risen threefold, to $6.6 billion (£4.5 billion). Russia’s outlay would be about a quarter of that, still beyond its means. The White House argues that there are other ways of disposing of the plutonium. Mr Bush’s opposition received part backing from the Nuclear Control Institute, which monitors proliferation. It believes that turning the stocks into fuel is exorbitantly expensive and would create a global market in the material. Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 6 Rivals Agree on Fighting Plutonium | The Sun News - Myrtle Beach, SC August 22, 2001 EDITORIALS Finally, Gov. Jim Hodges and his most vocal opponent, Attorney General Charlie Condon, agree on something. Both want to prevent the federal government from trucking about 55 tons of radioactive plutonium into the state. Predictably, Hodges, a Democrat, and Condon, one of seven Republicans seeking the nomination for governor, don't agree on how to fight the government. Hodges' plan is to have troopers and other public safety workers form roadblocks to keep the shipments out. The governor has even said he'll lie down in front of the trucks if necessary. Condon plans to sue the federal government to stop the shipments. He has said it's important the state put up a united front in the battle. For years, the federal government has used the Savannah River Site near Aiken to process plutonium, used to make nuclear weapons, and to store spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. Now Hodges says the Energy Department is backing away from an agreement the state had with the Clinton administration. The site was to be used to convert plutonium into fuel for power plants, but plutonium not pure enough to convert would be encased in glass, shipped to Nevada and buried. In the spring the Bush administration said it was delaying the costly glass-encasing process and would temporarily store the plutonium at the Savannah River Site. We approve of Hodges, Condon and other state officials fighting efforts to bring the plutonium here. But we also recognize that states usually lose when they go up against the U.S. government. Also, the state's long history of storing waste makes it unlikely that we won't be forced to take the shipment. Hodges' approach reminds us of Southern governors who, in the 1960s, blocked schoolhouse doors to fight federal orders to integrate. Fortunately, states lost those battles. We find it unlikely that a state will fare better in this one. This is one time when Hodges and Condon need to work together. A lawsuit is a better way to fight the federal stand than troopers blocking roads. All content © 2001 The Sun News ***************************************************************** 7 Alliance member details INEEL water concerns Burley South Idaho Press: By RENEE WELLS South Idaho Press BURLEY -- Burley city officials got a taste of drinking water concerns Tuesday.

Esther Ceja of the Snake River Alliance, an environmental group, presented information about the contamination concerns of the INEEL burial dumps.

Ceja said, as part of her master's degree research, she is traveling to cities over the aquifer in hopes community leaders and residents will get involved in working to preserve Idaho's water supply.

She told the council that in the next 18 months, the Department of Energy will hold public hearings to alert Idahoans to the issues surrounding the contamination of the grounds at and around the Idaho National Engineering and Energy Laboratory and explain work and plans to improve the situation there.

In March of this year, state and federal officials announced that plutonium, a radioactive isotope which has a half-life of 240,000 years, was detected in the Snake River Aquifer beneath the INEEL.

Officials there originally predicted that it would take 30,000 years to contaminate any area of concern. A second prediction, made 30 years after the first, shortened that time to 30 years, she says.

The Snake River Aquifer is the second largest underground body of water in North America. It is the sole source of water for 20 percent of Idaho, over 200,000 people.

Radioactive waste and hazardous materials buried at INEEL from the middle of the last century to the present time, pose a threat to the people and the economy of Idaho, she says.

Ceja told the board that presently the INEEL officials have no plan to clean up the mess. The cost would be high and currently Congress is spending more money on technologies and weapons to create more nuclear waste.

As a spokesman for the Snake River Alliance, Ceja outlined some of the things the organization is doing to bring INEEL into compliance at the laboratory near Arco, east of Craters of the Moon.

The alliance helped stop the planned injection of nuclear waste into areas where it might get into aquifers in 1981; helped stop production of three new nuclear weapons plants in 1984, 1989 and 1991; helped stop construction of a plutonium waste incinerator in 2000; and slowed the flow of nuclear waste from other sites into Idaho.

They have also researched the issues surrounding nuclear waste and informed the public, advocating responsible nuclear policies for more than two decades.

"We are a watchdog for INEEL, but we are not at odds with them," Ceja said. "The pictures and information about much of what we tell in our presentation came directly from the department of energy and INEEL."

Ceja said INEEL has been very cooperative in working with the alliance. They are allowed to take two in depth tours of the facility annually, where they see much more than what a regular public tour might expose.

"They have taken us directly to the dumpsites and showed us a number of things that show where problems have existed for some time," Ceja said. "Pictures of early disposal practices and dumpsites where barrels and containers have been breached were provided to us by the Department of Energy."

Ceja told the council that her presentation is not one meant to alarm citizens or belittle the INEEL, but rather one to educate the public and help them understand the need to insist on cleanup of the INEEL dumpsites.

The INEEL has 88 acres of unlined pits and trenches where radioactive waste has been disposed. Enough plutonium to make 200 nuclear bombs has been dumped in those burial grounds, she says.

Ceja said while INEEL is cooperating in some respects, there is still things that Idaho residents may not know.

While the INEEL ships its most safely stored radioactive materials to a dumpsite in New Mexico, six times that amount of waste is coming into Idaho from other areas.

Ceja said there have been no funds allocated to dig up and properly dispose of the much waste.

"During the Cold War, the U.S. appropriated $3.8 billion to the construction of nuclear weapons," Ceja noted. "Today, with no Cold War, the government is asking for $5.3 billion for nuclear weapons. We continue to spend billions to build them, and have nothing for cleaning up the problems they create."

But, in accordance to earlier agreements with state government, there is only 18 months left for the INEEL to clean up a certain amount of waste at the site. The alliance is hoping Idahoans will get involved to pressure the government to clean up the dumpsites.

Councilman Dave Ringle said his son, who recently attended a workshop at the INEEL, came home with a much different picture of the waste situation at the site. "It's interesting to hear this side of the issue," Ringle said.

Published August 22, 2001

***************************************************************** 8 UCD to produce iodine for cancer treatments at McClellan - 2001-08-21 - Sacramento Business Journal The McClellan Nuclear Radiation Center of the University of California at Davis, will produce iodine-125, used for treating prostate cancer, under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy. "With isotopes such as this, prostate cancer has become one of the most treatable forms of cancer today," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. "This initiative with UC Davis will allow for an important medical isotope to be commercially available here in the U.S. to save lives." "We are proud to be recognized by the Department of Energy as the sole U.S. source of the iodine-125 isotope that is so effective in treating cancer, especially prostate cancer," said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UCD."We look forward to continued collaboration with the Department of Energy, which provides key support for the UC Davis McClellan Nuclear Radiation Center, as we develop our research programs." Manufacture of iodine-125 by the UC Davis reactor would help support the department's national isotope program, said Wade Richards, director of the McClellan center. Under the terms of the agreement, the center will sell iodine-125 for cancer treatment and other uses. It will also supply iodine-125 to the UC Davis Medical Center free of charge. To treat prostate cancer, tiny radioactive seeds of iodine-25 are implanted in a cancerous tumor using ultrasound imaging and a thin hollow needle. The seeds are precisely located in the tumor, minimizing radiation exposures to surrounding tissues and other side-effects while enabling a higher, localized dose to be delivered over a period of several months to the tumor. Using iodine-125 for radioactive seed implantation is a fast-growing market currently worth about $12 million per year. The market is currently dominated by Canadian companies, and there are few domestic suppliers. The center at the former McClellan Air Force Base is operated for UCD by Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego. [Get Copyright Clearance] Copyright 2001 American City Business Journals Inc. Click for permission to reprint (PRC# ***************************************************************** 9 Bush's nuclear threat -- The Washington Times August 22, 2001 By Carter Dougherty THE WASHINGTON TIMES An ongoing Bush administration review of nuclear security policy is threatening the financial prospects of USEC Inc., a Bethesda, Md. company that markets fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. The White House is considering whether to revamp an 8-year-old program that give USEC the exclusive rights to purchase commercial nuclear fuel derived from Russian missile warheads. The pro- gram has been a cornerstone of U.S. efforts to prevent weapons-grade uranium from getting into terrorist hands. The potential loss of business comes at a tough time for USEC, which is struggling as a result of tough foreign competition. USEC has purchased the fuel since 1993 from Tenex, its Russian counterpart. But the White House review has stalled new purchases, irritating USEC's relations with Russian agencies. Tenex told USEC that the Russian government wanted the two companies to "promptly" schedule deliveries for early 2002, according to a July 27 letter obtained by The Washington Times. Tenex said in the letter that the complex technological requirements of preparing the fuel for delivery, and the need for various government approvals, required quick action by USEC. But the administration, which is rethinking USEC's entire role in the process, has asked the company not to place new orders until the review is complete, said sources close to the company. "We are conducting a review of all nonproliferation programs with Russia and . . . USEC falls under that review," White House spokesman Sean McCormick said. In particular, the administration is skeptical about the costs of certain programs, Mr. McCormick said. The delay caused by the review soon will eat into USEC's business because it cannot meet demand in the United States without deliveries from Russia, say nuclear industry analysts. "If they don't have this deal with the Russians, they won't be able to supply their customers," said Eric Webb, vice president of Atlanta-based UX Consulting Co., which studies the nuclear industry. The Bush administration's review of the USEC program is the latest blow to the Bethesda company, which is still struggling to carve out a role for itself eight years after it was created out of the government-owned U.S. Enrichment Corp., and three years after it went public. But the company's biggest problem is political. USEC began a 20-year program — negotiated in 1993 by the administration of George Bush — to buy nuclear fuel made from Russian warheads. It was a centerpiece of efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles. Since then, USEC, the sole U.S. company involved in the project, has paid the Russian government $2 billion for fuel that once filled nearly 5,000 warheads. The program does not use taxpayer money. Last year, the company negotiated a new purchasing contract with Tenex, the state-owned Russian corporation that converts weapons-grade uranium into less-concentrated commercial fuel. But, wanting the approval of the new administration, it held off putting the deal into effect. The Bush administration, instead of quickly approving the deal, decided to undertake a comprehensive review of nuclear security policy that included the USEC-Tenex program. The White House put former Harvard University professor Richard Falkenrath, a bitter critic of USEC, in charge of the review. Mr. Falkenrath declined to comment on the issue. The administration is under pressure from other U.S. companies that would like to purchase reactor fuel from Russia, which would break USEC's monopoly. Company officials also declined to speak for the record. But USEC Senior Vice President Philip Sewell said in a July 25 speech that the company desperately needs the administration's approval of the new contract. "The new commercial terms reached by USEC and Tenex are vital to the continuing success of the [warhead conversion] program," he said. USEC produces its own nuclear fuel at a plant in Paducah, Ky. But the 50-year-old Paducah plant is not nearly as efficient as those operated by European companies. Only by purchasing cheap Russian fuel can USEC hold its ground against the competition, Mr. Webb said. The administration's review could erase this advantage. "They could go from having everything to nothing at all," he said. USEC's stock has fallen from a high in late May of $11, partly as a result of problems with the Russian deal. The stock closed yesterday unchanged at $7.20. USEC reported on Aug. 1 that its earnings were $41.1 million for the fiscal year ending on June 30, down from $109.1 million the year before. It has announced several rounds of layoffs, including at the Bethesda headquarters. All site contents copyright © 2001 News World Communications, ***************************************************************** 10 US Balks on Plan to Get Plutonium out of Warheads August 22, 2001, updated at 08:07(GMT+8) The Bush administration is likely to abandon a program conceived by Clinton administration to rid the world of 100 tons of American and Russian weapons-grade plutonium, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Under the plan, 50 tons of American plutonium and 50 tons of Russian plutonium would be taken out of nuclear weapons and either converted onto fuel for nuclear reactors or rendered useless for weapons by mixing it with highly radioactive nuclear waste. Bush administration officials deny the program is dead, but acknowledge that it has difficulties, primarily financial ones. "The issue is under review," said an administration official who would speak only if not identified. "We've made no secret of that. But no decisions have been made. It's no secret that there are a lot of equities to balance here." One major equity, he said, is money. Early this year the Energy Department predicted a cost of 6.6 billion dollars, triple the initial estimates, to convert the American stocks to fuel for civilian nuclear reactors. It put Russia's cost at 1.76 billion dollars, which is money Russia does not have. Despite the program's expected benefits, the Bush administration's proposed Energy Department budget this spring did not include the money needed to mix some of the plutonium with nuclear waste. Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved | ***************************************************************** 11 Legal probe sought on K-25 water issue Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:04 a.m. on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The hint of a legal investigation continues to loom over an examination into historic water contaminations at the Oak Ridge K-25 site. And distrust of the Department of Energy seems to be guiding the push for legal action. "We can't trust them," said Sherrie Farver, who represents Coalition for a Healthy Environment on the Community Input Team for the K-25 project. The team met Tuesday afternoon in the Bank of America building. The historic water contamination project has been hit with several controversies over the last several months. Those include missing computer hard drives and the demolition of Building K-1001, a facility several sick workers say they worked in. Due to these problems, members of the Community Input Team asked a couple of months ago that the matter be turned over to Roane County District Attorney General Scott McCluen. On Tuesday, Mal Knapp, facilitator for the Community Input Team, said he has tried repeatedly to contact McCluen about a possible investigation. "I have received no response to my calls," Knapp said. Farver added that she faxed a letter to McCluen asking him or someone from his staff to attend Tuesday's Community Input Team meeting. She said she got no reply. The Community Input Team then nixed, for the time being, sending more information to McCluen addressing the need for an investigation. That didn't sit well with some groups represented on the team. Farver and Mary Pinckard, who also represents the Coalition for a Healthy Environment on the team, said their organization has pursued McCluen about an investigation and will continue to. "We're going to hold their feet to the fire until they meet with us Š and hear our concerns," Farver said. "It's time that legally something be done. Let's do what's ethically right. We are not going to get answers from the Department of Energy." William Noe and Mike Russell, who are sick worker representatives on the Community Input Team, say they are willing to work with the Coalition for a Healthy Environment on getting McCluen to investigate the matter. The investigation into K-25's water system was sparked by a presentation the two men gave last year. Initial tests indicated that K-25's current drinking water is safe to consume. Findings stated that there were no contaminants in the drinking water at the Oak Ridge K-25 site whose levels exceeded Environmental Protection Agency- and state-regulated standards. The historic water contamination project involves investigating and assessing K-25's drinking water and steam systems and the potential for exposure through any possible route due to cross-connections or via other means from other utility systems including firefighting water, recirculating cooling water, storm drains and sanitary sewers. The Oak Ridger contacted McCluen's office this morning, but the district attorney was unavailable for comment. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 12 Advisory board must decide its future of Pantex Amarillo Globe-News: Local News: 08/22/01 2001 Amarillo Globe-News By Jim McBride The Energy Department could eliminate the Pantex Plant Citizens Advisory Board's funding if its members do not accept DOE plans limiting the board's role to environmental monitoring, board members learned Tuesday.

Board Co-Chairs Walt Kelley and Paula Breeding said Tuesday they recently met with DOE Amarillo Area Office Manager Dan Glenn to discuss the board's advisory role.

The DOE rejected a proposal that would have allowed advisory board members to continue issuing recommendations on Pantex's nuclear weapons operations. In May, local and national DOE officials said the board's charter does not include Pantex's nuclear operations.

The board then asked DOE headquarters to intervene in a dispute over the board's advisory role. For years, the board has issued Pantex recommendations on issues ranging from storage to environmental cleanup.

Ralph E. Erickson, DOE's acting associate administrator for facilities and operations, told board members in a July 28 letter that DOE will not allow the board to continue making recommendations on Pantex health, safety and operational matters.

"The PPCAB needs to focus its resources on environmental concerns faced at Pantex rather than defense programs and operations," Erickson's letter said.

Kelley said Tuesday that DOE's Amarillo office manager must follow federal laws governing how the Pantex board will function.

"He said he would be hard-pressed to provide funding," Kelley said after the meeting. "There were no threats made."

During Tuesday's meeting in Panhandle, Pantex critic Pam Allison said DOE agreed in 1993 to discuss Pantex operations when it set up the board after a series of community meetings.

"As of May this year, DOE abandoned that commitment," Allison said.

Pantex neighbor Doris Smith said local DOE officials agreed years ago to let the board review Pantex nuclear issues and that the DOE now is breaking its promise.

"DOE accepted it and now they are reneging," Smith said.

Board member Rusty Donelson told board members they now must decide whether they can fulfill their duties to the public under the board's revised role.

Board member Sidney Blankenship said he had no problem focusing on environmental issues and that the board should follow the DOE's environmental work plan.

Board member Billie Poteet and Kelley urged board members to ponder the board's future mission and go forward.

"I don't want to give up this thing totally," Kelley said.

Roger Mulder, an official who oversees Pantex issues for Gov. Rick Perry, said the board's work should continue.

"I think the board has a lot of areas it could do a lot of good work in," he told the board.

In a letter to the board, Glenn, the DOE's Amarillo manager, asked the board to focus on groundwater contamination and other environmental issues.

"Even though I recognize that this final decision is not what everyone wanted, it is essential that a consensus on the charter be reached for the PPCAB to function effectively," Glenn wrote. "I hope that we can all accept it, move forward and work in a positive and productive way."

***************************************************************** 13 U.S. DEFENSE: Missile system is a waste of money 08/22/01 082201 op letters readers 2 Jacksonville.com Contrary to popular belief, liberal Democrats are not the only ones opposed to President Bush's proposed missile defense system. --> Wednesday, August 22, 2001 Story last updated at 11:08 p.m. on Tuesday, August 21, 2001 U.S. DEFENSE: Missile system is a waste of money Contrary to popular belief, liberal Democrats are not the only ones opposed to President Bush's proposed missile defense system. I am a Republican and I am adamantly opposed to wasting billions of our tax dollars on a missile defense program. For the sake of argument, let's assume for a moment that the enormous technical challenges can be overcome and that such a system might actually work. Even under the most ideal of scenarios no one believes the system would stand up to and stop an all-out assault of thousands of nuclear warheads launched by one of the larger nuclear powers like Russia or China. No, the missile defense system is instead planned to thwart a small number of missiles that might be launched from some terrorist state like North Korea, Iraq or Iran. How many millions of pounds of cocaine and marijuana are illegally imported into this country each and every year? We can't stop that. So, what makes anyone think that one of those terrorist countries would be forced to rely on a missile to deliver a nuclear weapon to a target in the United States? How about hiding it on a boat pulling into the harbor in New York or Miami? How about placing it on a private jet landing in Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles? We have had no luck stopping all of the drugs that are illegally imported into our country. We won't be able to stop another method of delivery, even if the missile defense program does stop missiles themselves. If a missile is launched, we would at least have the benefit of knowing exactly where it came from. Those people (fanatics or not) would surely know that it would be responded to with devastating force. Another method of delivery might leave us with no clue as to the origin and no way to reply in kind. No, the proposed missile defense system is nothing more than a multibillion-dollar illusion of safety. Count this Republican and Bush supporter as being strongly against wasting our tax dollars on a missile defense system. DARYLE V. SCOTT, business owner, Jacksonville Beach ***************************************************************** 14 Governor calls on Bush to keep plutonium out Hodges, others want guarantee material won't remain at SRS By MICHELLE R. DAVIS Washington Bureau WASHINGTON (--) Gov. Jim Hodges fired off a blistering letter to President Bush on Tuesday, after reports that a plan to treat plutonium at the Savannah River Site will likely be scrapped. Hodges urged Bush to ban shipments of plutonium to the state until issues surrounding its ultimate destination are settled. He said the U.S. Department of Energy's "recent behavior reflects a profound lack of respect for South Carolina." A staff member from the governor's office and Undersecretary of Energy Bob Card are scheduled to meet Thursday in Washington to discuss the issue. But Hodges wrote that he had "little confidence, given DOE's recent behavior, that these discussions will be fruitful." On Tuesday, The New York Times reported sources inside the Bush administration saying the future of two programs to deal with the bomb-making plutonium is on shaky ground. One would convert the material into a fuel called mixed oxide, or MOX, for commercial nuclear reactors. The other would immobilize it into glass logs for permanent storage in Nevada. Russia and the United States have agreed to process plutonium to prevent the material from being used by terrorists. Joe Davis, spokesman for the Department of Energy, said Tuesday that rumors that the MOX program is in jeopardy are "speculative." DOE officials have said the immobilization project is on hold. "We're moving forward based on actual policy decisions," he said. Davis said that any plutonium brought into South Carolina for processing will leave the state. The first shipment of plutonium into the state is expected to come from a nuclear site in Colorado in October. U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from Seneca, said that with all that's occurred in the past several weeks, "the future of MOX is uncertain at best." Other state officials have balked, worried that DOE will renege on a promise not to store radioactive plutonium at SRS permanently. Attorney General Charlie Condon has said he will file a lawsuit to block plutonium shipments. Hodges has threatened to call out state troopers to block them. "The transitory and shifting nature of DOE's decisions is not acceptable to us," Hodges' letter stated. Recent estimates for disposal of the plutonium have come in 50 percent over budget. Andy Davis, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, said Tuesday that he was not surprised by rumors that the plan would be scrapped. Hodges and Graham have both said that Washington officials have been unresponsive. "We're getting the runaround," Graham said. "Nobody is taking ownership of this problem." In his letter, Hodges said that South Carolina had agreed to treat the plutonium at SRS with the understanding that there would be a "dual track" approach for dealing with the material. "It now appears that the dual-track strategy is now a no-track strategy," Hodges wrote. Graham, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday he believes someone within the National Security Council has decided against MOX. He said he did not know who that person might be. "There's been discussion of trying to cancel or redesign the MOX program without any thought of what would happen," Graham said, later adding, "The person doesn't have a clue about the political environment and legal circumstances when they worry about the Russians." Graham said his goal was to get "decision-makers" at the table to try to work out the details of an agreement. U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a Democrat from York and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he doesn't think the MOX facility "is quite that dead." He said South Carolina must be assured that the plutonium will not stay in South Carolina indefinitely. Spratt and Hollings have introduced legislation designed to keep the plutonium from coming to South Carolina to stay. "We need pretty ready assurance that the stuff is going to processed here and transferred on," he said. "If you take away the MOX fuel plant, then everything has changed." Michelle R. Davis covers Washington issues from a South Carolina perspective. Reach her at (202) 383-6023 or by e-mail at mdavis@krwashington.com. © Copyright 2001 The State-Record Company ***************************************************************** 15 SRS plans could be abandoned Augusta Georgia: Technology: Web posted Wednesday, August 22, 2001 By Staff Writer Savannah River Site's proposed plutonium plants might be stillborn. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Tuesday that the Bush administration might abandon plans for disposing of about 55 tons of plutonium. Under the plans, Savannah River Site would be responsible for treating the radioactive metal to prepare it for disposal. The federal nuclear weapons site probably would receive at least $3.9 billion in new plants should the plan go forward. SRS supporters lobbied hard for the new mission, in part because it was expected to create more than 1,000 long-term jobs. In anticipation of the mission, shipments of plutonium to SRS are scheduled to begin in October, despite the concerns of South Carolina political leaders about the fate of the proposed plutonium plants. A U.S. Department of Energy spokesman called the Times article ''speculative'' and said his agency continues to work on the proposed SRS plants. ''We're moving forward unless there's a set announcement from the administration on the policy of this,'' Joe Davis said. ''So far, there's not been such an announcement. We're not going to base our actions on speculative articles.'' A spokesman for the National Security Council would not comment publicly Tuesday about the article. The council has acknowledged that it is reviewing the plutonium-disposition program, particularly efforts to help Russia get rid of its surplus plutonium. U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he wanted to find out who was behind that review. ''This unknown group, or person, who created this policy change without talking to anybody is the group we need to corral,'' Mr. Graham said. ''Whoever thought it might not be the way to go internationally had no understanding of the domestic implications of their decision. ''They're going to study this thing all through next year. In the meantime, we're going to get the plutonium. No way.'' Plutonium, a radioactive metal used in nuclear weapons, can cause cancer if inhaled or ingested even in small amounts. Concern about the status of the plutonium mission had grown in recent months. Last winter, the Energy Department suspended work on one of the proposed SRS plants, the ''plutonium immobilization facility.'' Cost estimates for the second plant, which would use plutonium to make fuel for nuclear-power plants, rose from $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion. Such setbacks have made South Carolina's elected officials uneasy about accepting the plutonium some of them once lobbied to get. South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges has threatened to use roadblocks to stop plutonium shipments to SRS until the federal government clarifies its plans for treating the metal and shipping it back out of the state. ''I will not allow South Carolina to be the permanent dumping ground for our nation's plutonium,'' Mr. Hodges wrote Tuesday in a letter to President Bush. ''Further, I will use every available means to protect the health and safety of South Carolina families.'' South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon has said he will sue to stop the shipments, which are scheduled to begin in October. South Carolina's congressional delegation has added provisions to federal funding bills that would stop shipments if the Energy Department doesn't agree to a deadline for removing plutonium from SRS. ''This confirms the concerns that U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings and Governor Hodges have had for many months,'' said Andy Davis, a spokesman for Mr. Hollings, D-S.C. ''The administration's budget was grossly inadequate to fund the work at SRS, and there were no long-term plans to move the material out of the state,'' Andy Davis said. ''That means it would be coming to South Carolina to sit, and that's not acceptable.'' Mr. Graham said he thought such a situation could be avoided. ''If plutonium comes to South Carolina in October, I expect it to be under a disposition plan which has everybody on board and is acceptable to the state and the nation,'' the congressman said. ''Failing that, it's going to be an all-out political fight.'' Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or . All contents 1996 - 2001 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights ***************************************************************** 16 Salazar proposes amendment to protect land Rocky Mountain News: State By The Associated Press Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar began a push Tuesday to earmark $1 billion to preserve the state's "crown jewels" from development with a constitutional amendment that would establish a Crown Jewels Legacy program. Projects include the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Lowry Bombing Range and ranch land in Pueblo and El Paso Counties. Other proposed purchases include land along the St. Vrain, Colorado and Gunnison rivers, Glenwood Canyon and the Yampa River corridor. Salazar asked legislators Tuesday to take up the plan during a special session on growth beginning Sept. 20. If lawmakers approve, voters would be asked to spend up to $50 million a year to preserve undeveloped lands, such as working farms or ranches in conservation easements, open space separating communities, lake shores, river banks and other land worthy of preservation. Dick Wadhams, spokesman for Gov. Bill Owens, said the governor has not had a chance to review the plan and had no comment. State Sen. Doug Linkhart, D-Denver, said Senate Democrats may sponsor Salazar's plan. If lawmakers reject the plan, the amendment still could get on the ballot by the petition process. August 21, 2001 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 17 Man May Have Tried to Kill Girlfriend With Plutonium F.A.Z. - English Version23. Aug. 2001 F.A.Z. STUTTGART. A 47-year-old locksmith who stole plutonium from a nuclear reprocessing plant in Karlsruhe may have attempted to murder his girlfriend with it. She was found to be contaminated with cesium 137, an element in plutonium, prosecutors in the Baden-Württemberg city said on Tuesday. The prosecutors are investigating whether the radioactive waste may have been put into the 51-year-old woman's food, since traces of cesium 137 were found in both her stomach and that of her daughter. The locksmith has refused to say if he knows how the woman and her child were contaminated. The prosecutor gave no information as to the state of their health. The locksmith has admitted stealing a flask of radioactive material containing plutonium and an irradiated cloth six months ago from a heavily contaminated room in the now inactive plant, and later said he did so to highlight the facility's security shortcomings. Baden-Württemberg's environment minister, Ulrich Müller, immediately dismissed this version of events, saying that the man had harmed himself in the process of stealing the radioactive material and had acted in a manner "neither skilled nor intelligent."Aug. 21, 2001 © Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************