***************************************************************** 06/23/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.156 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Utah in Peril 2 Scientists: Chances slim that radioactivity could escape 3 Yucca funding proceeds 4 GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS INVADE DUTCH NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN PROTEST 5 Kaiga atomic plant gets go ahead 6 Nuclear waste shipments to pass through KC this summer 7 New 100 million Euro fund will aid the decommissioning of 8 Letter: Nuclear industry steers Congress 9 Letter: State's strategy on nuke waste is all wrong 10 Yucca plan gains political support 11 FORATOM: European Parliament discusses role of nuclear energy 12 USEC role uncertain on new power plant during moratorium 13 Secret Shipment of Nuclear Materials Leaves Japan 14 Another View ; Storage of Radioactive Spent Fuel Is the Energy 15 NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Safety 16 Closing of Plant Brings More Strain 17 Nuclear regulatory panel gives Energy NW reactor top grade NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Lawyer: Influence fueled Flats coverup 2 Colo. Workers' Case in Final Arguments 3 Hanford monument planning committee meets 4 Radioactive Russia? -- The Washington Times 5 Attorney: Beryllium co. sought to protect profits 6 Jury deliberating beryllium-disease case 7 Closing of Cold War plant strains region 8 Piketon workers get severance package 9 Harkin calls for action on Army plant secrecy 10 U.S. labor department to brief IAAP workers 11 Beryllium producer knew of danger, attorney says 12 One killed in Russian factory blast 13 Cleanup deadline at risk - 14 New President Selected for Bechtel Nevada 15 Bill would pay IOUs to radiation victims 16 Senators Want More FEMA Funds ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Utah in Peril Friday, June 22, 2001 The Salt Lake Tribune I am writing to alert Utahns about something that is going to happen in the next session of our Legislature unless we, as citizens, act to stop it. Envirocare, a company that operates a waste facility in Tooele County that currently accepts Class A nuclear waste, filed an application that, if granted, will allow it to accept Classes B and C "low level" nuclear waste. I put quotation marks around the "low level" in reference to the B and C waste because, as I see it, they are anything but low level. Whereas the Class A waste currently being accepted is mostly the medical waste you may have been hearing about in the recent radio ads, the latex gloves, syringes, etc., Class B and C wastes are much hotter. Whereas the vast majority of medical waste is hazardous for less than eight months, these other classes of nuclear waste include virtually any component found in a nuclear power plant, with the exception of the fuel rods. These items contain elements with hazardous lives of hundreds, thousands, even millions of years! Is this the legacy we want to leave our children, poisoning our environment for time and virtually all eternity? Plus these things will have to be trucked past our homes, a further risk. We all need to learn all we can, then call, write and e-mail our governor and state legislators and tell them to act in our best interests and deny this application. For more information, try your local library or try the Nuclear Information and Resource Service at www.nirs.org. Please do all you can. These people are counting on ignorance and apathy on the part of the citizenry to accomplish their goals. MIKE CROOKSTON Lehi © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 2 Scientists: Chances slim that radioactivity could escape [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Friday, June 22, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL Scientists told a technical review panel Thursday that the chances are slim that radioactive materials could escape through undetected flaws in nickel-alloy canisters at the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Out of 11,770 waste packages, the number expected to have undetected manufacturing flaws is less than one, according to Joon Lee, a scientist from Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. His comments came during the second day of meetings in Las Vegas of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a panel of presidential appointees that makes recommendation to Congress and the energy secretary on the technical aspects of the government's plan to entomb 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste in the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Another Sandia scientist, Bob MacKinnon, told the panel on Wednesday that "We've done substantial work in the past three to four months quantifying uncertainties and increasing our knowledge." The scientists used computer models to analyze chemical interaction with hot, briny conditions that could affect metals that serve as barriers. Titanium shields would be used to deflect surface water that scientists predict will drip through fractures in the volcanic rock, possibly corroding the canisters. Anticipating that some welds used to seal the canisters could fail, the scientists believe small radioactive releases on the order of one-billionths of a rem could occur 1,000 years after the waste is entombed in the mountain. A rem is a measurement of a radiation dose. Gregory Gdowski, a scientist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California reported that corrosion does not appear likely at temperatures below 572 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists are designing the repository to operate in a way that would keep the temperatures in surrounding rock between 185 degrees Fahrenheit and 212 degrees. ***************************************************************** 3 Yucca funding proceeds LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Saturday, June 23, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal $443 million about to pass receptive House By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives is on a path to largely grant the Bush administration's budget request for the Yucca Mountain program next year. The Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider a $23.7 billion energy and water spending bill on Monday that contains $443 million for radioactive waste disposal in fiscal 2002, a decrease of $2 million from what the Energy Department requested. The action is an early development in this year's congressional spending process. The House, where a proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has stronger support, customarily has funded the project at close to levels requested by the Energy Department. The Senate, where Yucca Mountain critic Harry Reid, D-Nev., sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, usually follows by seeking deeper reductions. Final compromises in Congress have left the nuclear waste disposal program with budget cuts in recent years ranging between 4.5 percent and 14 percent. Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., chairman of the House energy and water subcommittee, which is recommending the $443 million allocation, said he wanted to largely comply with the Energy Department's request. After the subcommittee developed its recommendation, it released a statement saying the nuclear waste allocation "will keep the program on schedule." Energy Department officials have said they hope to complete a site recommendation late this year or early next year. Callahan said he toured the Yucca Mountain work site several weeks ago and came away satisfied with the work being done. "This is not a matter of right or wrong," he said, adding that Congress has decided that the mountain ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas should be studied as a potential repository. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 4 GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS INVADE DUTCH NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN PROTEST AT COMPANY RENEGING ON 2004 CLOSURE DATE 21 June 2001 AMSTERDAM - Greenpeace activists climbed the nuclear power plant Borssele, in southern Holland, this morning in protest at the utility's intention to keep the plant operating beyond the December, 31, 2003, the closure date agreed with the Dutch government. Six activists climbed the building and painted the slogan "Stop on 31-12-2003", on the dome of the power plant at 4.30 am. Police climbers later arrested all six activists. The Dutch government has launched a legal action against the utility, Electricity Producer of South Holland (EPZ), in attempt to close the plant by the Dec 31 2003 deadline, which represents the end of the 30-year design life of the plant. The hearing has been set for tomorrow in Den Bosch. The government is seeking a 2 million guilder fine for every day the plant remains open beyond the agreed closure date. The Dutch legal action follows a majority decision in 1994 by the national parliament to close the nuclear power plant by 2004. Afterwards agreements were made between Minister Wijers, then Minister of Economic Affairs, and the then co-ordinating organisation for the energy sector in the Netherlands, the SEP, of which EPZ was a member (SEP was dissolved with the start of the liberalisation of the Dutch electricity market last year). The agreement followed pressure from Greenpeace (1) Bezwaarschrift Greenpeace tegen de goedkeuring d.d. 11-07-1994 van het Electriciteitsplan 1995-2004. for the plant to be closed before 2004. The Netherlands will be one of the first countries to phase out nuclear power, since Italy in the late 1980's. The Dutch government has already made a $70 million loan to EPZ in order to facilitate the closure of the plant. "The closure of the nuclear power plant at Borssele was based on a democratic decision, by which the current Dutch government is bound," said Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner Simon Boxer. "The reasons why nuclear power has no future have not been changed: Borssele produces radioactive waste that will be dangerous for ten-thousands of years." Boxer said the nuclear industry's attempt to use climate change as an excuse for continued operation was both bogus and dangerous. Greenpeace is organising, together with Vereniging Milieudefensie, WISE, Onkruit vergaat niet en Stop Borssele, a demonstration on Friday in Den Bosch. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: SIMON BOXER, Greenpeace Nuclear Campaigner: +31-629001132 FEMKE BARTELS, Greenpeace Netherlands Energy Campaigner (AT BORSSELE) +31-625031009 Notes to editors: 1 Bezwaarschrift Greenpeace tegen de goedkeuring d.d. 11-07-1994 van het Electriciteitsplan 1995-2004. ***************************************************************** 5 Kaiga atomic plant gets go ahead 22 June 2001 : The Times of India MUMBAI: The Centre recently gave the go ahead for the construction of the third and fourth units of the Kaiga atomic power plant at Karnataka, chairperson and managing director of Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) V K Chaturvedi stated. Speaking to mediapersons here on Thursday he said each unit will be of 220 megawatts and the project is slated for completion in 2005. The cost of the programme will be around Rs 3000 crores, he stated. Earlier, the NPC chief was felicitated along with other top nuclear scientists for being a Padma award winner. Those honoured were chairperson of atomic energy commission Anil Kakodkar, director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre B.Bhattacharjee, chairperson of the atomic energy regulatory board S P Sukhatme, director of the Kolkata-based variable energy cyclotron centre Bikash Sinha, chairperson of the national board of higher mathematics M S Raghunathan, vice chancellor of Hyderabad University P Rama Rao, and a Homi Bhabha chair professor Ashoke Sen. Two other Padma award winners also recognised were Mr M M Sharma, former director University Department of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, and Dr (Ms) K A Dinshaw, director of the Tata Memorial Centre. The audience at the Homi Bhabha auditorium included the country's former nuclear chiefs - R Chidambaram, P K Iyengar, Homi Sethna, M R Srinivasan and A N Prasad. Mr Chaturvedi told the media that the Centre has also sanctioned a sum of Rs 125 crores for carrying out the excavation work related to the Russian-aided Kudankulam atomic power station at Tamilnadu. He said the government of India will be signing the much-awaited agreement with the Russians in October. On February 1, 2002 the first concrete will be poured at the site marking the start of the construction of the power project which consists of two light water reactors each of 1000 megawatts. He said the first unit is scheduled to go critical in 2007 and the second one will become operational a few months later. With regards to the Tarapur Atomic Power Station, he said the third unit will be commissioned in 2005 and the fourth one a year later. He said the problem of the resettlement of the villagers in the project area was solved last week. According to him capacity utilisation of all the existing 14 nuclear power plants in the country will go up from 82 to 85 per cent on an average during the financial year 2001-2002. Addressing the gathering AEC chief Anil Kakodkar forecast that nuclear power will make a big impact on industry and society in the coming years. SRC="http://til.speedera.net/www.timesofindia.com/images1/arrow_next.gif" ***************************************************************** 6 Nuclear waste shipments to pass through KC this summer By MICHAEL MANSUR - The Kansas City Star Date: 06/22/01 22:15 A load of spent reactor fuel from Europe -- the first in a decade of nuclear waste shipments planned to cross the nation's heartland bound for Idaho -- should pass through Kansas City this summer via Interstate 70. But its arrival will be confidential. State officials will be notified seven days in advance of the shipments, but the authorities will be prohibited from saying anything about them, said Dru Buntin of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. "We're opposed to it, but that doesn't mean we can block it," Buntin said. "The state has no statutory authority to block these shipments." Gov. Bob Holden, following the lead of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, has opposed federal nuclear waste shipments through Missouri. Last year Carnahan managed to stop the first shipment -- carrying waste from England -- by having it rerouted onto Interstate 80 in Iowa. Carnahan cited concerns about the safety of shipping the wastes on Interstate 70, as federal officials had planned. But then the U.S. Department of Energy blocked any state shipments from the University of Missouri-Columbia's nuclear reactor, saying roads in Missouri must not be safe for state shipments if they are not safe for federal ones. The blockage of Missouri's waste shipments raised concerns among state officials, who say it threatened to halt production of radioactive drugs used to treat cancer. Buntin said the federal action probably was in retaliation for Missouri's opposition to the federal shipments. Joe Davis, the Energy Department's deputy director of public affairs, said Friday the shipments from the university were halted because of state officials' warnings that I-70 was not a safe route. "Both shipments would use Interstate 70," Davis said. "After the governor's office raised these safety issues, it was not appropriate to ship any nuclear waste on that route until we could get the safety concerns resolved." Now that state and federal officials have agreed to safety precautions, the state's nuclear waste is flowing again to a disposal site in South Carolina. Buntin said Missouri had no choice but to negotiate with the federal agency to resolve the impasse. Precautions planned for federal shipments of nuclear waste include: + A Missouri Highway Patrol escort. + A safety inspection of the truck carrying waste, as well as a check for radioactivity. + The designation of special parking areas in the event of bad weather or congestion. + Coordination with state officials to ensure no construction or weather delays. + Staying away from St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City during peak traffic periods. The shipment scheduled to travel through Missouri this summer comes from nuclear reactors in Germany. The United States accepts foreign waste since it promoted the building of research reactors in Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. Kay Drey, a nuclear activist who resides in St. Louis, said the United States is concerned about storing the wastes -- which contain highly radioactive plutonium and uranium -- in places where it might be stolen by terrorists. But shipping the wastes over the ocean, then across highways as notoriously dangerous and bumpy as I-70, doesn't make sense, Drey said. "The more (wastes) are moved around, the greater the risks are," she added. Drey contends that terrorism is as much a threat in the United States as overseas, citing the Oklahoma City bombing, and that even a small radioactive leak during transport could endanger neighborhoods. The Energy Department, however, maintains that specially designed metal casks decrease the risks of radioactive leaks. The department says it has been shipping such wastes around the nation for 30 years without serious incident. State and federal officials overseeing nuclear waste shipments are still wrangling over how shipment routes are chosen. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information on the route selection process. Davis said federal regulations require the Energy Department to ship nuclear waste in a timely, efficient manner using the interstate highway system. The route selection process is reviewed by the Department of Transportation and nuclear regulators to ensure that it is unbiased and treats all states fairly, he said. Buntin said state officials are concerned that the federal agency may be underestimating the risks of various accidents that might cause delays along I-70 that could affect a shipment. But so far, he said the state hasn't received any information. The safety precautions that the Energy Department and Missouri officials are taking should alleviate any remaining concerns, Davis said. "We do this a lot," Davis said. "We take extraordinary steps to ensure that shipments are made safely. If it wasn't safe, we wouldn't do it." A shipment of nuclear waste from a U.S. site also is expected to travel through Missouri sometime this summer. But it is expected to go by rail. Nationwide, 60,000 metric tons of spent fuel awaits disposal at more than 70 nuclear plants. Federal officials have said much of that waste could come through Missouri, once a final depository is identified. The Star's Kit Wagar contributed to this report. To reach Michael Mansur, environment writer, call (816) 234-4433 or send e-mail to mmansur@kcstar.com All content © 2001 The Kansas City Star ***************************************************************** 7 New 100 million Euro fund will aid the decommissioning of Bulgarian nuclear power plant Edie weekly summaries 22/06/2001 A new internationally-backed fund to support the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power station has been formally put into action following the signing of the technical document outlining the shutting-down of the facility. The fund is to be administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which hosted the first meeting of the Assembly of Contributors to the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund during which the signing took place. The fund was started with donations purely from European Commission funds, but has since been added to by Member States from their own GDPs, an EBRD spokesman told edie. Significant additional contributions to the fund are expected following an agreement on the final date for closing Units Three and Four of the power plant. “Today’s meeting is a clear sign that the implementation of the decommissioning programme of Kozloduy has started and the EU and the other donors are closely assisting Bulgaria in this task,” said Matthias Ruete, Director of Enlargement at the Directorate-General of the European Commission, and elected Chairman of the Assembly of Contributors. He added that he was particularly pleased that six countries, namely Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK, have already contributed to the fund, and several more have indicated their intention to do so in the near future. “The establishment of this fund will focus the international support on the essential investment projects for Bulgarian energy-sector development,” said Ivan Shiliashki, President of the State Agency for Energy and Energy Resources (SAEER), who signed the document on behalf of the Bulgarian Government. “The joint work of Bulgarian institutions and the EBRD will help secure implementation of the main strategic objectives for Bulgaria – security of supplies, guarantee of nuclear safety and improved energy efficiency.” “The EBRD has been administering Nuclear Safety Funds since 1993 and is very pleased to see this important mandate grow further,” said Joachim Jahnke, a Vice President at the bank. “The EBRD signed a similar agreement with Lithuania for the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant in April and will shortly start operating in the Slovak Republic as well.” It is expected that there will be further meetings of the Assembly in order to update the contributors to the fund on how the decommissioning is progressing. © Faversham House Group Ltd 2001. This article may be copied or ***************************************************************** 8 Letter: Nuclear industry steers Congress June 22, 2001 The nuclear power lobby sues the EPA! The reason for the suit is the EPA had the nerve to set any radiation standard on water. The nuclear power lobby would rather have no standards. Do you realize the Amargosa River flows near Yucca Mountain, and if there is a nuclear accident due to cask deterioration, earthquake or other malfunction, a good deal of water downstream of Yucca Mountain may be poisoned? The nuclear power lobby would disagree because they know that the Department of Energy pays little attention to plans for accidents, electrical or mechanical malfunctions at Yucca Mountain. The nuclear power industry was given favored treatment in 1954 when the Eisenhower administration and Congress gave the liability of toxic nuclear waste to the American people. That is right, we are legally responsible! In what other industry are we responsible for its garbage? Ever since then, generous Congresses have given this industry subsidies and tax breaks, research and development funding and subsidized education. Congress also passed the Price-Anderson bill to limit liability in the event of a nuclear accident, while we have no insurance coverage. Nuclear energy producers now want Congress to ignore sound science and unnecessarily ship toxic nuclear waste through 41 states to Yucca Mountain. The 1987 legislation was a "NIMBY" bill that ignored other suitable sites. FRANK PERNA All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 9 Letter: State's strategy on nuke waste is all wrong June 22, 2001 It's becoming apparent that our state officials realize their only chance in winning the fight against a repository at Yucca Mountain is to galvanize opposition nationally against the transportation of the waste. But I believe the $4 million Gov. Kenny Guinn is looking at spending to take the state's anti-Yucca Mountain gospel to other states is a waste of our taxpayer dollars and becomes basically a self-fulfilling prophecy. The state's strategy is indirectly telling Nevada's tourists and customers not to come here to play, shop and spend because of Yucca Mountain. That fear-mongering strategy plays well for our elected officials by giving them some sound bites and photo ops, but there is a serious disconnect between the reality of the situation and the political games being played by our elected officials. The bottom line: The study of Yucca Mountain goes forward with a decision on the site expected later this year and a site recommendation by the president sometime next year. It doesn't matter who is in office, the reality of the situation is nuclear is going to play a bigger role in the national energy policy, so it's easy to figure out the Nevada connection -- a repository at Yucca Mountain is ultimately inevitable. With the stuff being housed at over 70 locations in over 30 states, I think Congress and the other 49 states will opt for one location at the remote and already contaminated Nevada Test Site. DAVY VALENTIN All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 10 Yucca plan gains political support June 22, 2001 By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN The prospect of Yucca Mountain becoming a repository for the nation's waste gained political support Thursday amid the doubts of independent scientists who questioned the depth of the Department of Energy's study. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said he would support a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain if the DOE determines the site to be safe. Bingaman's comments run counter to those made by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, who said last month the proposal would die under a Democratically controlled Senate. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham could recommend approval of the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to President Bush by the end of the year, DOE officials said during Thursday's meeting in Las Vegas. Scientists, during a meeting of Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board members Thursday, called the DOE's data "highly simplified, highly idealized" and "strikingly ambiguous." The comments were made as the board -- a group of independent scientists charged with overseeing the DOE's research -- awaits more than 1,300 pages of the DOE study containing new evidence regarding the viability of Yucca as a repository for nuclear waste. The DOE reports presented Wednesday and Thursday show that people within 12 to 20 miles of the site would be exposed to small amounts of radiation from the about 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste buried inside Yucca Mountain. The report also states that radiation could move through the saturated zone and into the ground water in fewer than 1,000 years. Government scientists said they are relying on titanium drip shields to prevent moving water from corroding buried containers inside the mountain. Nevertheless, some review board members criticized the DOE for the limited information on radiation and its effect on the population, as well as the inherent problems of using computer models to predict the state of the project 100,000 years from now. The DOE predicts that no radiation will escape the repository during its first 10,000 years of operation. Scant laboratory results do not help the DOE's case, board member Paul Craig, an emeritus engineering professor at the University of California, said. The data are "strikingly ambiguous," he said. "What does it mean? Is the repository incredibly robust or is something drastically wrong?" Craig asked. DOE officials insisted that the new information builds confidence in regard to the viability of the site. "There are people in the Yucca Mountain Project that want to bring it back here, to zero," Senior Policy Adviser William Boyle said, pointing to radiation exposure curves during a slide show. "Perhaps they don't realize they will have to pay the price of getting to zero." Craig said he was frustrated. "It doesn't yet do the job in my estimation," Craig said of the array of DOE computer models. Corrosion expert Alberto Sagues, also a board member, said experiments that implemented a metal alloy -- C-22 -- were "highly simplified, highly idealized" by the DOE scientists. Something as simple as changing the material used to hold the metal, even during a laboratory experiment, could dramatically change the outcome, he said. "I have a lot of concern about the results," Sagues said. As did Kalynda Tilges, nuclear coordinator for Citizen Alert, a Nevada watchdog group. "I'm a wife, a mother and a grandmother," Tilges said. "But, according to the DOE, I am also a dose receptor." Tilges also questioned whether the DOE has considered radiation in ground water, the result of more than 1,000 nuclear weapons experiments at the Nevada Test Site, in addition to contamination from stored waste at Yucca Mountain. The Denver Post contributed to this report. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 FORATOM: European Parliament discusses role of nuclear energy [M2 Communications Ltd.] Story Filed: Thursday, June 21, 2001 1:18 PM EST Brussels, Jun 21, 2001 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- In the context of the European Commission's Green Paper on Security of Energy Supply, the European Parliament has held a public hearing on the issue of energy policy. The Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy Committee heard testimony from representatives of all energy sectors - oil and gas, coal, nuclear and renewable energy sources - as well as statements from energy consultants and the International Energy Agency. Nuclear expert Mr. Bertrand Barre told the committee: "It is the duty of European institutions to set up a framework which will enable a secure supply of energy at an affordable price for our economies without worsening the environmental situation. This can only be achieved by a future energy mix where all energies have a role to play. Nuclear energy can offer great benefits which have to be capitalised on." Representing the nuclear industry, Mr. Barre, who is Vice-President for Research and Development at French nuclear company Cogema and Vice-President of the European Nuclear Society, outlined the important role that nuclear energy can play in ensuring security of energy supply in Europe. In his summing up at the end of the hearing, Mr. Dominique Ristori, of the European Commission, emphasised that nuclear energy supplies 35% of all the electricity generated in the European Union, and has the advantage of emitting virtually no greenhouse gases. He added that nuclear had an important part to play in helping the EU to meet its Kyoto Protocol CO2 emission target. Around 25 members of the European Parliament from all political parties attended the hearing. MEPs, including Mr. Nick Clegg (ELDR, UK), Mr. Gerard Caudron (PSE, France), Mr. Philippe A.R. Herzog (GUE/NGL, France), Mr. Esko Seppanen (GUE/NGL, Finland) and Ms. Piia-Noora Kauppi (PPE, Finland), raised points covering topics such as the financing of the nuclear industry, the Kyoto Protocol, research into nuclear fission and nuclear waste. FORATOM Secretary General Dr. Wolf-J. Schmidt-Kuster applauded the European Parliament examination of the Commission's Green Paper on security of energy supply. He said: "We welcome the European Parliament's rational discussion of these important energy issues. This is a clear indication that decision-makers have decided to take the passion out of the energy debate and enter into a balanced assessment of the European Union's future energy mix including fresh consideration of nuclear energy." The full text of Mr. Barre's speech, the FORATOM position statement on the Green Paper and links to the European Commission Green Paper website are available at the FORATOM website ( ). CONTACT: Jack Ashton, Media Relations Manager Tel: +32 2 505 32 26 e-mail: ja@foratom.skynet.be Karen Daifuku, Communications Director Tel: +32 2 505 32 20 e-mail: kd@foratom.skynet.be M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information ***************************************************************** 12 USEC role uncertain on new power plant during moratorium The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, June 22, 2001 The group including the company did not file its permit application before the beginning of the six-month suspension. By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Key officials aren't sure what effect Gov. Paul Patton's moratorium on applications for power plants will have on bids submitted to the Tennessee Valley Authority for building a 600-megawatt plant to meet future power demands. While TVA would not divulge how many bids were received from Kentucky, the United States Enrichment Corp. confirmed it is part of a consortium that wants a huge gas-fired power plant near the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant in western McCracken County. The USEC group did not file its permit application with the Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet prior to imposition of the moratorium Tuesday. The moratorium is in effect for at least six months. TVA is reviewing bids from Kentucky and other states, and by July 16 is expected to announce a list of finalists, with a decision on who gets the project expected Oct. 15, two months before the Kentucky moratorium is lifted. If TVA is concerned about the moratorium, it could reject bids by USEC and any others proposed in Kentucky. A 600-megawatt plant would cost as much as $1 billion and provide hundreds of jobs during construction plus a number of good-paying permanent jobs after it is completed. "We are continuing to assess the situation in an effort to determine if it will affect us," said USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle. The comment from TVA was similar. "We are continuing to look into it," said spokesman Gil Francis. The initial reaction was that it would have little effect on any of the bids, but Francis wasn't aware that USEC did not submit its permit application to the state prior to the deadline. He said application reviewers would decide if that is a factor. Patton issued an executive order Tuesday instructing state agencies to suspend acceptance of power plant applications while the new Kentucky State Energy Policy Advisory Board assesses environmental and energy issues related to power plants. He wants the group to complete its work by Dec. 7. “It is important that we ensure a continued, reliable source of energy for our citizens, but it is also necessary that we study the potential effects that additional air emissions from new plants could bring to the state as well as their effect upon the electric supply grid,” Patton said. “We must strive to strike a balance between our energy needs, our ability to generate energy for others and our commitment for a clean, safe environment.” The fact that no one from western Kentucky was appointed to the energy advisory board drew concern from state Rep. Buddy Buckingham, D-Murray, chairman of the 20-county western region New Economy task force. Buckingham plans to encourage Patton to expand the board to include someone from western Kentucky. Buckingham's point man is Don Bowles of Madisonville, a retired coal operator and president of the Kentucky Coal Council. "I've asked him to make contact to see if he couldn't influence a couple of spots on that commission," Buckingham said. The Pennyrile area, strong in coal mining, should have a say in the moratorium because 51 percent of Kentucky's power plants are coal-fired, he said. Patton said the advisory board will be attached to the Kentucky Public Service Commission. Standing members are secretaries of the natural resources, public protection and economic development cabinets; the chairman of the Public Service Commission; the director of the Division of Energy in the Natural Resources Cabinet; and the director of the Kentucky Center for Applied Energy and Research at the University of Kentucky. Appointed board members are: --Jack Conway of Louisville, who will serve as chairman and the governor's designee. --Victoria I. Weber of Louisville, the consumer representative. --George Siemens of Louisville, the utility industry representative. --Haydon Timons of LaGrange, also a utility industry representative. --Tom FitzGerald of Frankfort, representing environmental advocates. --Robert Addington of Ashland, the coal industry representative. --Donald B. Daily of Ghent, representing industrial consumers. --Bill Daugherty of Berea, representing the oil and gas industry. ***************************************************************** 13 Secret Shipment of Nuclear Materials Leaves Japan CNIC cnic.jca.apc.org Citizens' Nuclear Information Center 21 June, 2001 A freighter carrying highly radioactive used or "spent" nuclear fuel left Tokai Port today without any official announcement of its departure. Due to recent strong international concerns over Japan'snuclear shipments, electric companies and the industry have began to announce the departure dates and routes. However, despite our request for information disclosure, Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPCO) continuesto refuse to follow the examples of others. The cargo contains 1,320 gas-cooled reactor fuel from JAPCO's Tokai Plant, and is being transported on the British-flagged, Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) freighter "Pacific Sandpiper". PNTL is a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL) known in Japan for the 1999 scandal in which the company falsified quality control data of mixed plutonium-uranium oxide (MOX) fuel for Japanese reactors Takahama3 and 4. Hideyuki Ban of Citizens' Nuclear Information Center said "There is no reason why JAPCO should not release information on the departure date and the route since other companies are releasing such information for the shipments of MOX fuel and radioactive waste." The companyexplains that they cannot release such information for security reasons. Based on past experience, the ship will most likely transit through Panama Canal and the Caribbean Sea. Concerns and oppositions against the transportation of Japanese nuclear materials strengthened in Panama after it regained control over the Canal at the end of 1999. Moreover, en-route countries have increasingly become vocal of their oppositionagainst such shipments and have become to assert that the international law not only gives them sovereignty over territorial marine waters but also jurisdiction in matters concerning the protection and preservation of the marine ecosystems in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ). (Ex. March 2001 "Rio Group" declaration etc.) "JAPCO must respect the concerns of the en-route countries and immediately release information on this shipment. Moreover, Japanese utilities and the government must sincerely listen to the concerns andoppositions of the en-route countries, and should promptly make arrangements to end such dangerous transportation of nuclear materials through international waters." said Hideyuki Ban. Photos of the Pacific Sandpiper at Tokai and Hitachi Port available at http://www.cnic.or.jp/english/transport/photo/photo03.html For more information contact: Gaia Hoerner, International Relations, CNIC, (tel) 81-3-5330-9520 http://www.cnic.or.jp/ 3F Kotobuki Bldg., 1-58-15 Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003 Japan Tel: 81-3-5330-9520; Fax: 81-3-5330-9530 http://www.cnic.or.jp/
cnic-jp@po.iijnet.or.jp (C) Citizens' Nuclear Information Center ***************************************************************** 14 Another View ; Storage of Radioactive Spent Fuel Is the Energy Story Needing Attention Welcome to The PMA OnLine Power Report ( June 22, 2001 ) While energy prices get the headlines, another energy battle with important implications for Pennsylvania consumers rages in Washington, attracting little attention. This fight is over disposal of highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power plants and nuclear waste from the nation's defense program. Unlike low-level nuclear waste that loses most of its radioactivity within a few weeks and is compacted and easily disposed of at a licensed waste facility, spent-nuclear fuel must be isolated from the environment essentially forever. Today, about 43,000 metric tons of spent fuel are stored safely in water pools and concrete casks at more than 70 nuclear plant sites around the country, awaiting burial at a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Also awaiting shipment to Yucca Mountain is the equivalent of another 10,000 metric tons of high-level waste from the nation's weapons program and Navy reactors. This waste is stored at government installations mainly in Idaho, Washington State and South Carolina. There is no immediate safety hazard. But long-term, on-site storage of highly radioactive spent fuel at nuclear power plants is impractical, because so many aboveground sites have to be kept under constant custodial care. Commercial nuclear plants were built to provide electricity, not to be de facto waste repositories. Yet, environmental lobbies oppose efforts to transport spent fuel to Nevada for storage in a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, contending that people along the routes would be at risk. Never mind that for years -- and with scarcely any opposition from environmentalists --spent fuel from research reactors in Europe and Asia has been shipped to the United States and transported long distances for storage at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Steel drums holding the wastes -- which must be isolated from the human environment essentially forever -- are being transported by truck for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a government repository a half-mile beneath the desert in Southeastern New Mexico. The first shipments to WIPP began more than two years, and they have been carried out with absolute safety. Like WIPP, the Yucca Mountain repository would be licensed to hold nuclear waste for 10,000 years. Fourteen years have passed since Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the candidate site for a high- level waste facility. Congress directed the U.S. Department of Energy to determine whether the waste could be safely placed there. Since then, the DOE has assigned teams of scientists to evaluate the site's geology, hydrology and geochemistry in what is probably the most comprehensive and systematic assessment ever conducted of a piece of land anywhere on the planet. Yucca Mountain is arid, geologically stable, and the chambers holding waste canisters would be a safe distance from underground water. And it is remote. So remote nuclear weapons used to be tested in this part of the Nevada desert. In other words, it's the perfect place for a nuclear burial ground. Incredible as it seems, given what is at stake, billions of dollars that electric utility customers pay into a Federal trust fund to cover the cost of evaluating the Yucca Mountain site and building a repository are being diverted to help balance the federal budget. Successive administrations have let the Nuclear Waste Fund grow into a huge surplus which they have used for accounting purposes to offset the budget deficit. Established by Congress under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the fund receives about $700 million each year, paid through a fee of one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour sold, borne by consumers of nuclear-generated electricity. Nationwide, payments to the fund exceed $17 billion. Pennsylvania ratepayers alone have paid nearly $1.5 billion. Failure to open the repository will require spent fuel to be stored at nuclear plant sites indefinitely and might force some plants to close prematurely if they run out of storage space and states refuse to allow additional storage. Electricity ratepayers would bear the brunt of any further delays, since they pay twice -- once to the Nuclear Waste Fund for work on the repository, then again for continuing on-site storage of spent fuel at nuclear plants. That might please some Nevada politicians and anti-nuclear activists, but it would require more coal to be burned for electricity generation, increasing pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions. The DOE needs to announce its decision on Yucca Mountain and should make its recommendation to President Bush no later than the end of this year. Congress should approve full funding for the nuclear waste program. An impasse would be the worst possible outcome. There may never be a politically smart time to resolve the nuclear waste problem. But the right time is now. (Michael J. Kolar is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.) www.powermarketers.com ***************************************************************** 15 NRC to Meet with Nuclear Management Company to Discuss Safety Performance at the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Station Region III -- 2001 - 25 - UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532 No. III-01-025 June 22, 2001 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630)829-9663/e-mail: rjs2@nrc.gov Pam Alloway-Mueller (630)829-9662/e-mail: pla@nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet with Nuclear Management Company officials June 29 to discuss the NRC's annual assessment of safety performance at its Prairie Island Nuclear Power Station near Red Wing, Minnesota. The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. CDT and will be held at the Prairie Island Training Center, which is located across the street from the plant. (From Highway 61, take County Road 18 to the first stop sign, which is Sturgeon Lake Road. Follow Sturgeon Lake Road about one mile, and the Training Center will be on the right). The public is invited to observe the meeting. NRC officials will be available after the meeting to answer questions. The annual assessment, referred to as the End-of-Cycle assessment, evaluates safety performance at Prairie Island from April 2000 through March 2001, and informs plant officials of the NRC's plans for future inspections at the facility. The Prairie Island assessment letter and inspection plan are available at http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/ppror from the Region III Public Affairs Office. Current performance information for the plant is available at http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/index.html. ***************************************************************** 16 Closing of Plant Brings More Strain June 21, 2001 PIKETON, Ohio- In the coming months, Marybeth Hamel and hundreds of her co-workers at one of the nation's last two uranium enrichment plants will lose some of the best-paying jobs in a region long plagued by high unemployment. U.S. Enrichment Corp. says it can no longer afford to operate the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a massive facility the government built in the 1950s to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and submarines, because of low prices caused by a market glut for nuclear plant fuel. Production stopped last month, and this month layoffs of nearly a quarter of the plant's 1,700 workers began. The rest will remain to handle contract work and maintain equipment. At its peak in the 1980s, the plant employed more than 3,000 people. The company will keep a sister plant in Paducah, Ky., open, and it will buy highly enriched Russian uranium from that country's decommissioned nuclear warheads. Some members of Congress, who agreed to make the company private in 1998 to give it more flexibility to respond to market conditions, are now angry that it is laying off former federal workers who helped get the country through the Cold War. At the Department of Energy's insistence, the company will keep the southern Ohio plant in a "cold standby status" so that it can be restarted if needed. For Hamel, it will be her second layoff from the plant in a decade. But unlike last time, she isn't going to wait around for another job to open up - she already has been accepted into a nurse training program in Nashville, Tenn. "The first time I was laid off, I had Tums on my desk and Zantac," Hamel said. "This time, I look at it as a temporary transition." U.S. Enrichment has earmarked $20 million for community development, severance pay and extended benefits for laid-off workers, who on average earned $40,000 a year with another $20,000 in benefits. But that does little to cushion the shock for workers who have spent decades at the plant, union officials say. "We have people who have never worked anywhere else," said Garry Sexton, a safety representative for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy International Union Local 5-689. "They came out of high school here. "We've been on a roller coaster ride for a long time, ever since privatization," said Sexton, a 17-year employee. "It's been a ride, with people not knowing what their destiny is going to be." Union president Dan Minter said meeting with plant veterans who are losing jobs is an emotional drain. He has traveled to Washington repeatedly - four times last month alone - to lobby for government attention for the workers. "It's the most difficult thing I've had to deal with in my lifetime," Minter said. The region, with rolling green hills and sweeping views of the Ohio River, historically has the state's highest unemployment. Pike County, home to the plant, had a 6.9 percent unemployment rate in April, nearly double the statewide rate. Hamel, 35, of Lucasville, said she doesn't know when exactly her layoff date will be. She just knows it is coming. Her father worked at the plant and has retired. Her brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law also work there. Her current job is working as a safety representative for plant subcontractor Bechtel Jacobs. She is hoping to parlay her experience into a new career as an occupational nurse. Her daughter, Bethany, an eighth-grader, cries at the prospect of leaving her 300-student school for a 1,700-student building full of strangers in Nashville. "She's been a cheerleader since third grade," Hamel said. "She didn't go out for cheerleading this year because she didn't want to take another girl's spot. It broke her heart." On the Net: U.S. Enrichment Corp., http://www.usec.com Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, http://www.pace-union.org All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Nuclear regulatory panel gives Energy NW reactor top grade This story was published Fri, Jun 22, 2001 By John Stang Herald staff writer The Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the Columbia Generating Station a generally good annual report card on the reactor's safety performance. The NRC briefed Energy Northwest officials Thursday on the 1,150-megawatt reactor's safety record from April 2, 2000, to April 1, 2001. Energy Northwest owns and operates the power-generation reactor just north of Richland. Throughout that year, NRC inspectors kept an eye on several safety areas. These include incidents that would start a chain of events resulting in major danger to the reactor, workers and public; the safety systems that would stop the chain of events from those initial incidents; physical barriers and safeguards; emergency preparedness; protecting works and the public from radiation; and security matters. Energy Northwest scored straight "greens" throughout the year in all areas, said William Jones, an NRC branch chief, and George Replogle, an NRC senior resident inspector. The NRC grades using a color scheme with green being the best and red the worst. A green does not translate to perfect, Jones said. Instead green means no safety problems were found that are significant enough to require extra NRC oversight beyond its routine inspections. Jones and Replogle said there are some relatively minor engineering and design problems at the reactor that should be addressed. These issues are unlikely to lead to significant safety troubles, but the right combination of events and accidents happening simultaneously on these matters could possibly lead to major safety problems, they said. Scott Oxenford, the Columbia Generating Station's general manager, said: "We are very proud about performing in the green band. ... But we're not satisfied with our performance (regarding the need for some engineering upgrades)." Oxenford said Energy Northwest will study the NRC's observations to come up with fix-it plans. Some matters could be resolved soon, and some might have to wait to piggyback when some major modifications are tackled, he said. The Columbia Generating Station recorded two "trips" during the graded year. A trip is when the reactor automatically shuts down for safety reasons. The first trip occurred in June 2000 when a short-circuit in some electrical equipment just outside of the reactor complex sent a false alarm to the reactor system. The second trip took place last September. Extremely high-pressure steam from the reactor goes through the plant's turbine into an area of extremely low air pressure. A broken pipe caused the post-turbine pressure to increase, which led to turbine troubles that shut down the reactor. Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Lawyer: Influence fueled Flats coverup Denver Post.com Closing arguments in beryllium suit Stacie Oulton Denver Post Staff Writer --> Friday, June 22, 2001 - GOLDEN - Brush Wellman Inc., the company that supplied beryllium to Rocky Flats, "walked the halls of power" in Washington, D.C., getting help to cover up what it knew about the toxic metal and how it made workers sick, an attorney for ill Rocky Flats workers said Thursday. The company has used its powerful influence with government officials over the past 60 years to keep a federal safety standard in place that failed to protect workers, and Brush supported the standard to sell its product and keep lawsuits at bay, Al Stewart said in closing arguments. "If they admit that the 2-microgram standard doesn't work, they know folks like you will find them liable," Stewart said to a Jefferson County jury. The federal safety standard limits the amount of dust or fumes workers can be exposed to, setting that limit at 2 microcrams of dust per cubic meter of air. Four workers from the former nuclear weapons plant and their wives are suing Brush, an Ohio-based company. The four contracted chronic beryllium disease, an often debilitating lung ailment that's caused by inhaling the metal's dust or fumes. The workers allege that Brush conspired with the federal government to keep information secret, allowing a constant flow of the metal to the defense industry. "Are we talking about whether men will live or die? Yes," Stewart said of what was at stake in the alleged coverup. Jurors listened to 13 days of testimony and must decide whether Brush has any liability for the workers' illness and whether the workers filed their suit in enough time under the statute of limitations. The jurors can assign some or all of the blame to Brush, to other companies or to the workers themselves. If the jury finds Brush liable, the case will continue with a second phase to determine monetary damages. The case also is being watched across the country because Brush faces more than 70 similar lawsuits, and it's the first time claims about the conspiracy will go to a jury, observers have said. Another 47 workers also are part of the same Jefferson County suit, but how their claims will be handled depends on the outcome of the current suit. Brush's attorney countered in her closing arguments that the conspiracy idea was ridiculous. She noted that the United Steelworkers of America, one of the main unions at Rocky Flats, and companies such as Dow Chemical and Rockwell International that operated the weapons plant near Arvada, knew the standard didn't protect all workers from the lung disease. "If this was a conspiracy, it was one of the worst conspiracies," said Sydney McDole. "It's almost ludicrous that we were suppressing information." But the workers have a bigger problem with their case, McDole said. The workers can't prove that Brush had anything to do with their getting sick at Rocky Flats, she said. The company drew a picture of a sloppily run plant with makeshift ventilation or none at all around machines handling beryllium. Evidence showed exposures in the beryllium machine shop and other areas commonly exceeded the safety standard by as much as 1,580 percent. The workers also testified that they weren't trained about the metal's hazards. The workers' case is pinned on hundreds of pages of internal company documents and declassified federal records. One of the most critical is the diary of Brush's president, which admitted in 1951 that the company's workers were getting sick from exposures below the federal safety standard. Stewart called the document "very important," while McDole said there was no way to know what the diary meant, since the writer has died. All contents Copyright 2001 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 2 Colo. Workers' Case in Final Arguments June 22, 2001 GOLDEN, Colo.- Ailing defense workers suing a company that provided beryllium for nuclear warhead triggers are aiming at the wrong target, the company's attorney said during closing arguments. Four workers at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant and their spouses are suing Cleveland-based Brush Wellman Inc., claiming they were sickened by exposure to beryllium that the company sold. Jury deliberations were expected to begin Friday in Jefferson County District Court. The case is the first of 76 lawsuits against Brush Wellman over beryllium exposure. Allen Stewart, an attorney for the four workers, said Brush Wellman knew employees were being exposed to dangerous levels of beryllium. He said the company knew the federal exposure standard of 2 micrograms of beryllium per cubic meter of air was not safe but still promoted it to protect the company's bottom line. "For Brush Wellman, it's a barrier to sales," Stewart said. "For my clients, it's the difference between health and sickness." Brush Wellman attorney Sydney McDole said Thursday that the operators of Rocky Flats exposed the workers to levels of beryllium up to 1,500 times higher than the federal workplace standard and never warned them of the dangers. Brush Wellman shipped beryllium with warning labels on the containers and Rocky Flats removed them, McDole said. "These plaintiffs sued the wrong people," McDole said. "Where is the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Energy?" McDole said that the 2-microgram standard was based on the best knowledge at the time and that the plaintiffs had not proved they were sickened when exposed to beryllium levels below federal standards. Chronic beryllium disease saps the ability to breathe. Of the four workers in court Thursday, two were breathing supplemental oxygen. Beryllium also has been used in cars, cell phones, computers, bicycles, dental work and golf clubs. As many as 800,000 employees in a variety of industries could be working with it, the federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration said. On the Net: Rocky Flats Closure Project: http://www.rfets.gov All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 3 Hanford monument planning committee meets , provided by Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce DJC.COM: June 22, 2001 RICHLAND (AP) -- An advisory board charged with guiding the management of the 193,000-acre federally protected Hanford Reach area has begun its monumental task. "We can love this resource to death," Ed Rykiel, an associate professor at the Tri-Cities branch of Washington State University, said Wednesday. "That's one of the things we need to be concerned about." Rykiel is an alternate to the 13-member board, formed after the Hanford Reach National Monument was designated last year. The board brings together a variety of interests, including government agencies, Indian tribes, conservation groups, scientists and utilities. The monument, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, includes the 560-square-mile Hanford nuclear reservation and a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia River known as the Hanford Reach. Much of the area is relatively unspoiled by development because of limited access to the nuclear reservation, which was set up in 1943 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to make plutonium for nuclear weapons. The river reach includes some of the most productive salmon spawning grounds in the Northwest, and the surrounding shrub-steppe habitat includes a variety of rare plants and animals. Robert Tomanawash, a Wanapum Band tribal elder from Priest Rapids, was born on the river. Now he's eager to support efforts to protect it. "As I grew up, I saw a lot of bad things happen to the river, to the land and to my people," he said. Karen Wieda, a science education specialist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory here, said when she moved to the high desert of south-central Washington from Seattle, she thought it was "the ugliest place" on Earth. "I've learned to love this landscape, and I want to teach people about this place." The panel is expected to spend the next two or three years working on the plans. The Fish and Wildlife Service will have the final say. "We do make the ultimate decision," said Anne Badgley, Fish and Wildlife regional director in Portland, Ore. There are national guidelines on how monuments should be managed, but if panel members are able to reach a consensus on what sort of things they want, "we would sure be listening to their voices," Badgley said. Jim Watts of Richland, a district president for the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, is representing the Tri-City Industrial Development Council on the committee. Establishing a national monument at Hanford should enhance the ability of the region to lobby for cleanup funds for the U.S. Department of Energy site, he said Earlier this month, state Attorney General Christine Gregoire and nine other attorneys general wrote to the Energy Department to complain that the national nuclear cleanup program was insufficiently funded. Washington and other states have threatened to sue if the federal government does not meet its obligations. Copyright ©1995-2001 Seattle Daily Journal and djc.com. ***************************************************************** 4 Radioactive Russia? -- The Washington Times June 22, 2001 Ximena Ortiz OSLO -- Norway feels remote. The fjord-surrounded, ethnically homogeneous country, with its Nordic climate, seems something like a lost Viking colony, though any inclination to rape and pillage has been replaced by flights of neighborliness and environmental consciousness. Indeed, a traveler may well feel they´ve arrived at the globe´s edge. Unfortunately for Norway, its remote locale won´t protect it from a potential crisis of radioactive proportions. Small, but rich, Norway shares a border with large, nuclear and impoverished Russia. And what a neighbor to have. While Norway provides the Kremlin with funding to store its Soviet-era nuclear waste more safely, Russia´s Duma on June 6 gave final approval to President Vladimir Putin´s ambition to convert Russia into the world´s hub for fee-based nuclear waste disposal. (Mr. Putin always did have an eye for restoring Russian glory.) And while Norway (and the Russian people, for that matter) may feel the sting of this decision most sharply, it remains very much a global problem. Once feared for its nuclear arsenal, Russia is now dreaded for the environmental havoc it could wreak, especially if its cash-for-nuclear waste designs hit stride. The Kremlin is angling to import up to 20,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors in Germany, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Taiwan, South Korea and China in exchange for as much as $20 billion. More than 90 percent of Russians say they oppose the scheme. Large-scale international transport of nuclear waste increases the risk of ecological disaster for a number of countries and much of the world´s supply of fish comes from waters in and off of Norway, in close proximity to Russia´s huge build-up of nuclear waste. But there are more ominous concerns regarding Russia´s plans. Since the Kremlin has said it would reprocess its imported nuclear waste and convert it to energy, it will thereby increase its supply of weapons-grade material. And in Mafia-infested, cash-strapped Russia, a dramatic proliferation of this material would be alarming, since the country is ill-equipped to store it properly and there are plenty of elements willing to peddle it to mischief-makers. So in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a new global challenge has emerged. Meeting this challenge will require diplomacy, resolve, firmness and money. Which is where Norway comes in. Norway has a unique relationship with Russia. Indeed, Norway helped Russia with food during the hard winters between 1910-1920, which may be part of the reason the Soviet Union withdrew from Norway after it liberated the country in 1944 after four years of Nazi occupation. And when the Russians´ Kursk submarine crisis hit in August, the Kremlin allowed only Norwegian divers to launch a rescue attempt, although Britain had sent ships to help. Russians do appear to lend the Norwegians a special trust. At the same time, World War II also reminded the Norwegians that, despite their remoteness and tradition of neutrality, they are nonetheless vulnerable to aggressors. "If Russia and Norway were to end up in some sort of quarrel, Russia might be inclined to demonstrate its position of power in the area," said John Kristen Skogan, a researcher at the Institute of International Affairs in Norway. "That´s in the back of the Norwegian mind." So Norway values its NATO membership, and Norway and the United States have many concerns in common regarding Russia. This is why the three nations entered a partnership in 1996 known as the Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation (AMEC) Program, which is chiefly geared to helping Russia improve its nuclear waste storage. The economic program has made effective (if incremental) improvements in Russia´s nuclear waste disposal. By 2002, when funding for the program runs out, the United States will have spent $25 million on the program and Norway $9 million. "Our main concern is that the United States is planning to withdraw by 2002. The mood seems to be swinging that way," said Rear Adm. Ole-Gerhard Ron, commander of naval forces in northern Norway. It would be a shame if the United States pulled out, since Russia has been demonstrating increasing glasnost on its nuclear waste problems. Although not part of the AMEC program, earlier this month Russia allowed Norwegian officials to inspect the Bay of Andrejev nuclear waste site near the border with Norway. Once a very secretive Soviet-era military base, Russia continues to keep nuclear submarines at the installation. However, the Kremlin built high walls around the installation for the Norwegian visit, in order to restrict officials´ view of non-waste-related equipment. Norway had been trying for six years to gain access before the Russians approved the visit in June. "We actually knew quite a bit about this site, but to actually see it causes a big impression," said Norway´s State Secretary Espen Barth Eide. Mr. Eide said that one of the installations doesn´t even have a roof, and one of Norway´s goals is to develop robotics technology to get that waste to a more secure place, but the first step is to stabilize containers. "It´s first and foremost their problem and their rubbish. But on the other hand, it could affect us as much as them. So it´s become a shared legacy of the Cold War," he said. But if Russia becomes a large-scale importer of that rubbish, this already daunting problem could become worse. And what dangerous rubbish it is. Ximena Ortiz is an editorial writer for The Washington Times. All site contents copyright © 2001 News World ***************************************************************** 5 Attorney: Beryllium co. sought to protect profits [www.TheDailyCamera.com] By P. Solomon Banda Associated Press GOLDEN — Beryllium producer Brush Wellman knew employees were being exposed to dangerous levels of the substance but did nothing, an attorney for workers suing the company said Thursday. Four workers at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant and their spouses are suing the Cleveland company, claiming they were sickened by exposure to beryllium. Attorneys for Brush Wellman, the only company that processes beryllium, wrapped up their case Thursday. Brush Wellman supplied beryllium to Rocky Flats to make triggers for nuclear weapons. The workers' attorney, Allen Stewart, said in closing arguments that Brush Wellman knew the federal exposure standard of 2 micrograms of beryllium per cubic meter of air was not safe. Stewart said the company knew workers were still getting sick but covered it up. He said the company used government health reports, textbooks and medical lectures to promote the 2-microgram exposure standard to protect its bottom line. He said Brush Wellman treated the beryllium issue more like a public relations matter than a health and safety concern. "For Brush Wellman, it's a barrier to sales," he said. "For my clients, it's the difference between health and sickness." Stewart pointed out a 1948 government document saying beryllium should be treated like plutonium and that the safe exposure standard was zero because there was too little evidence on what a safe level should be. Defense attorney Sydney McDole responded that Rocky Flats exposed workers to levels of beryllium up to 1,500 times higher than the federal standard and never warned them of the substance's dangers. She also said the plaintiffs had not proven that workers were sickened when exposed to beryllium levels below federal standards. McDole said beryllium disease appears to be related to a subject's immune system, and the severity of the disease depends on the subject's sensitivity to the substance. Brush Wellman also shipped beryllium with warning labels on the containers and Rocky Flats removed them, McDole said. "These plaintiffs sued the wrong people," McDole said. "Where is the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Energy?" The first phase of the case was expected to go to the jury by early Friday. Damages, if any, will be determined later. Defense lawyers have also argued the plaintiffs did not meet the state's two-year statute of limitations for the lawsuit. About 32 people with chronic beryllium disease and their spouses have sued Brush Wellman, claiming it is responsible for causing the illness, which saps the ability to breathe. They say the company conspired with the federal government to conceal the dangers of beryllium because it was needed for nuclear weapons. They also say the company conspired to prevent the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from tightening the standard in the 1970s by threatening to halt the supply of beryllium to the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. The only other producer had just dropped out of the business. McDole said the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense decided to leave the standard unchanged months before the competitor went out business. Nationwide, Brush Wellman faces 71 lawsuits involving 192 plaintiffs. The four workers who sued the company were in court Thursday, two of them breathing supplemental oxygen. They declined to comment because of a judge's gag order. Beryllium has also been used in cars, cellular phones, computers, bicycles, dental work and golf clubs. As many as 800,000 employees in a variety of industries could be working with the metal, according to the federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration. June 22, 2001 Copyright 2001 The Daily Camera. All rights reserved. Any ***************************************************************** 6 Jury deliberating beryllium-disease case Rocky Mountain News: Local By Ann Imse, News Staff Writer A six-person Jefferson County jury began deliberating Friday in a case that could help determine the future of dozens of beryllium-disease lawsuits from workers at Rocky Flats and other companies across the nation. Lawyers for those suffering from the disease told the jurors that beryllium should have contained this warning: "Do not use this product without using a glove box, or a space suit." Brush Wellman Inc. of Cleveland, the last remaining beryllium producer, should be held liable for allegedly causing chronic beryllium disease in 32 people who worked for the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant or Coors Porcelain, the attorneys said. Brush Wellman attorney Sydney McDole argued that the company put warning labels on all its beryllium products but Rocky Flats clerks removed them. As a result, workers who ground, polished and molded beryllium at Rocky Flats had no idea that 1 to 5 percent of those who breathed in the metallic element would contract a wasting lung disease. Plaintiffs' attorney Allen Stewart said Brush Wellman's warnings were defective because they gave no hint how dangerous even an infinitesimal amount of beryllium could be. The labels didn't say, "the most deadly element known to mankind," Stewart told the jury. "They didn't say, 'The dust you can't see can kill you. The fumes you can't smell can kill you.' " For 50 years, Brush Wellman told the public that no one would come down with chronic beryllium disease if the factory kept beryllium dust to 2 micrograms per cubic meter of air. That's the equivalent of a ground-up pencil tip scattered across a football field of air six feet high. In fact, Brush Wellman and federal officials knew in the 1940s that even less than that could kill, Stewart said. He claims the company and government officials conspired to keep the information secret so beryllium needed to make nuclear weapons would be available and Brush Wellman's private sector customers would not be scared away. McDole argued that Rocky Flats and its operators, Rockwell International and Dow Chemical, were responsible for the workers' illness because they failed to provide enough ventilation, training and respirators. "We believe Dow should be here, we believe Rockwell should be here -- not us," she said. June 23, 2001 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 7 Closing of Cold War plant strains region June 22, 2001 By John Nolan, Associated Press Editor's note: The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant was modeled after the Oak Ridge K-25 plant, the nation's first gaseous diffusion operation that was shut down in 1985. Before the government's uranium-enrichment program was transferred to the U.S. Enrichment Corp., the Portsmouth plant came under the management of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge office, and Oak Ridge is still responsible for environmental cleanup and management of legacy wastes at the site in southern Ohio. PIKETON, Ohio - In the coming months, Marybeth Hamel and hundreds of her co-workers at one of the nation's last two uranium enrichment plants will lose some of the best-paying jobs in a region long plagued by high unemployment. U.S. Enrichment Corp. says it can no longer afford to operate the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a massive facility the government built in the 1950s to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and submarines, because of low prices caused by a market glut for nuclear plant fuel. Production stopped last month, and this month layoffs of nearly a quarter of the plant's 1,700 workers began. The rest will remain to handle contract work and maintain equipment. At its peak in the 1980s, the plant employed more than 3,000 people. The company will keep a sister plant in Paducah, Ky., open, and it will buy highly enriched Russian uranium from that country's decommissioned nuclear warheads. Some members of Congress, who agreed to make the company private in 1998 to give it more flexibility to respond to market conditions, are now angry that it is laying off former federal workers who helped get the country through the Cold War. At the Department of Energy's insistence, the company will keep the southern Ohio plant in a "cold standby status" so that it can be restarted if needed. For Hamel, it will be her second layoff from the plant in a decade. But unlike last time, she isn't going to wait around for another job to open up - she already has been accepted into a nurse training program in Nashville. "The first time I was laid off, I had Tums on my desk and Zantac," Hamel said. "This time, I look at it as a temporary transition." U.S. Enrichment has earmarked $20 million for community development, severance pay and extended benefits for laid-off workers, who on average earned $40,000 a year with another $20,000 in benefits. But that does little to cushion the shock for workers who have spent decades at the plant, union officials say. "We have people who have never worked anywhere else," said Garry Sexton, a safety representative for the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy International Union Local 5-689. "They came out of high school here. "We've been on a rollercoaster ride for a long time, ever since privatization," said Sexton, a 17-year employee. "It's been a ride, with people not knowing what their destiny is going to be." Union president Dan Minter said meeting with plant veterans who are losing jobs is an emotional drain. He has traveled to Washington repeatedly - four times last month alone - to lobby for government attention for the workers. "It's the most difficult thing I've had to deal with in my lifetime," Minter said. The region, with rolling green hills and sweeping views of the Ohio River, historically has the state's highest unemployment. Pike County, home to the plant, had a 6.9 percent unemployment rate in April, nearly double the statewide rate. Hamel, 35, of Lucasville, said she doesn't know when exactly her layoff date will be. She just knows it is coming. Her father worked at the plant and has retired. Her brother, sister-in-law and brother-in-law also work there. Her current job is working as a safety representative for plant subcontractor Bechtel Jacobs. She is hoping to parlay her experience into a new career as an occupational nurse. Her daughter, Bethany, an eighth-grader, cries at the prospect of leaving her 300-student school for a 1,700-student building full of strangers in Nashville. "She's been a cheerleader since third grade," Hamel said. "She didn't go out for cheerleading this year because she didn't want to take another girl's spot. It broke her heart." Copyright © 2000, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 8 Piketon workers get severance package Friday, June 22, 2001 Associated Press PIKETON, Ohio (AP) -- Laid-off workers at a uranium-enrichment plant will be eligible for thousands of dollars in severance pay, health-care coverage and retraining benefits under a deal signed yesterday. The plan will cover only salaried workers for now at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon. Hourly workers will not be eligible until the union that represents them agrees to the plan, said Angie Duduit, a spokeswoman for USEC, which manages the plant. The company began laying off about 400 workers on May 31. The layoffs will continue through March. Of the 189 workers who have left the company since May 31, 106 were salaried. The agreement between the company and the U.S. Department of Energy provides workers with a lump-sum payment of $17,500 if they have worked at the plant since before July 1, 1993 -- the date USEC took over the plant -- and $12,500 after that. Duduit said workers also had the option of taking normal severance benefits that are available to workers. The amount of those benefits would depend on how long they had worked at the plant. Workers also will be eligible for health-care coverage if they can't get it elsewhere, and for retraining and relocation expenses. Dan Minter, president of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy International Union Local 5- 689, which represents workers at the plant, said the package is similar to what previously laid-off workers have received. The benefits are in addition to the $8,400 to be given workers losing their jobs between last November and through 2003. That money comes from a deal the company made to resell unused electricity. Production stopped at the plant last month as layoffs of nearly one-quarter of the plant's 1,700 workers began. The rest will remain to handle contract work and maintain equipment in case production at the plant needs to be restarted. At its peak in the 1980s, the plant employed more than 3,000 people. "We are trying to do the right thing to make this available for employees so they have an option,'' Duduit said. Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, whose district includes the sprawling plant about 60 miles south of Columbus, said the plan is better than what had been initially proposed, but falls short of what the workers deserve. "The plan, in my opinion, did not come up to what I expected,'' he said. Strickland was particularly unhappy that the plan did not come with an early-retirement option to help workers who are near retirement age or have nearly enough years of credit to retire. Such an option would have made them eligible for a full pension. He said the government has spent $11 million of the $20 million it committed to help the laid-off workers and has money available to cover the option. Copyright © 2001, The Columbus Dispatch ***************************************************************** 9 Harkin calls for action on Army plant secrecy The Hawk Eye Special: IAAP [The Hawk Eye Special Edition] Friday, June 22, 2001 [Unknown dangers at IAAP] By Dennis J. Carroll The Hawk Eye Iowa senator's letter to secretary of defense says Pentagon should carry out policy OK'd by Congress. A frustrated Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin called on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Tuesday to immediately move to lift the Army's veil of secrecy surrounding nuclear weapons work at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant at Middletown. "It is time for the (Department of Defense) to come out of the shadows and let the light shine at IAAP," Harkin said. In a letter to Rumsfeld, Harkin said the Pentagon is still mired in infighting over how a Congressional order mandating changes in secrecy policies at IAAP is to be carried out. Harkin said the Pentagon is six weeks overdue in reporting back to Congress as to how the policy will be altered to ensure that former IAAP nuclear workers feel free to talk about their experiences at the plant with health care providers. The measure also required the Pentagon to identify former employees at IAAP and other nuclear weapons plants who may have been exposed to radioactive and other hazardous materials, and to notify them of any exposures. "To my knowledge, no worker has yet been contacted," Harkin said. "In fact, I have been told that more than six months after the bill was signed and six weeks after the report was due, officials within the Pentagon are still arguing over who is responsible to do the review, notify the workers and write the report." The Democratic senator said the infighting is threatening workers' access to health care and their help with plant cleanup efforts. Although many former workers have come forward to talk about their work at the plant, many others have remained silent fearing repercussions, such as loss of their pensions or even prison sentences. The AEC workers were sworn to secrecy. The Democratic senator condemned as "nonsensical" the Army's policy of neither confirming nor denying that nuclear weapons were assembled at the Middletown plant. It is commonly known, and even acknowledged by the Department of Energy, that the Atomic Energy Commission assembled and disassembled nuclear weapons at IAAP from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, and in later years test-fired nuclear components. He called the Pentagon's continued silence "an insult to those who served our government by working at (IAAP)." Harkin urged Rumsfeld to designate an official with responsibility for implementing the legislation, and to set a timetable for the report. "The workers of IAAP and their families devoted their lives to our national security," Harkin said. "It is time we devote ourselves to their safety." IAAP Commander Col. Bruce Elliott has attempted to assure former workers they will not suffer repercussions if they help cleanup officials locate possibly contaminated sites, or discuss their experiences with University of Iowa scientists who are conducting health screenings of former workers. The U of I team recently issued its first report on its survey, noting that former Line 1 (AEC) workers were exposed to a variety of radiation and chemical hazards that may have caused lifelong illnesses or even deaths. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk ' ' '| ' ' '319-754-6824 FAX ' ' '| ' ' ' 1-800-397-1708 Outside Burlington [this is a line and that's all ***************************************************************** 10 U.S. labor department to brief IAAP workers The Hawk Eye Special: IAAP [The Hawk Eye Special Edition] Friday, June 22, 2001 [Unknown dangers at IAAP] By Dennis J. Carroll The Hawk Eye U.S. Department of Labor officials will brief former Middletown nuclear weapons workers on how to apply for compensation benefits during meetings July 17 in Burlington. The meetings will be held at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium, the department said. The department is charged with administering the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act passed by Congress last year. The program was proposed by former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to compensate former nuclear weapons workers, or their survivors, who suffered health problems or even died because of their exposure to radiation and other hazardous materials. Former workers or their survivors -- if they were under 18 years old when the worker died -- can begin applying for the compensation benefits on July 31. The compensation package includes a lump sum payment of $150,000 and medical costs incurred after applying for the benefits. The diseases covered are limited to those that may have been caused by exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica, which caused silicosis among uranium miners. Kristina Venske with the University of Iowa health research team surveying former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant workers, said AEC workers who have tested positive for beryllium sensitivity but have not contracted the disease will qualify for medical expense coverage but not the $150,000. Venske said IAAP claimants must: nĘBe able to prove they were AEC workers. nĘShow documentation of their diagnosis. nĘIf they are survivors of AEC workers, have a birth certificate to show they are a relative of a worker and have the worker's death certificate. She said the compensation program does not cover relatives of workers who may have been made ill by hazardous materials the workers brought home from the plant on their clothing or in some other way. Venske said her researchers will help former workers fill out their compensation forms and document their disease diagnoses. However, she said, health reports from private physicians will also be accepted. Anyone wishing information on the compensation program can find detailed information and claim forms on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov/dol/esa/public/regs/compliance/owcp/eeoicp/main.htm. Former workers may also contact the Department of Labor toll-free at (866) 888-3322. The compensation is to be paid with federal money through state worker compensation programs. Venske also said former IAAP workers made ill by exposure to hazardous materials not associated with AEC work may be eligible for state worker compensation, although not through the federal program. The Atomic Energy Commission assembled and dismantled nuclear weapons and in later years test-fired components of those weapons at the plant from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s. The labor department recently announced that special offices will be set up at nine locations around the country to help former nuclear weapons workers file their claims. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk ' ' '| ' ' '319-754-6824 FAX ' ' '| ' ' ' 1-800-397-1708 Outside Burlington [this is a line and that's all ***************************************************************** 11 Beryllium producer knew of danger, attorney says Rocky Mountain News: Local By Ann Imse, News Staff Writer Beryllium producer Brush Wellman Inc. told jurors Thursday it did not make a political deal to stop safety officials from tightening standards in the late 1970s -- even though the company thought it did. Brush Wellman attorney Sydney McDole was responding to evidence that Brush told federal officials that if they didn't keep the beryllium standard unchanged, Brush would stop producing the metal and they'd have to stop producing nuclear weapons. McDole produced a document stating Defense and Energy officials had already persuaded OSHA to stand down, before meeting with Brush Wellman. "They didn't tell us they decided two months earlier," she said. "We may have thought we had a deal with them, but it had already been decided." Thirty-two former beryllium workers and their spouses are suing the Cleveland company, claiming it conspired with the federal government to hide the dangers of beryllium. The workers suffer from chronic beryllium disease, which robs them of the ability to breathe. In closing arguments Thursday, plaintiffs' attorney Allen Stewart detailed his claims that Brush Wellman repeatedly lied about the danger of breathing infinitesimal, invisible amounts of beryllium. Publicly, Brush said workers were safe if they breathed less than 2 micrograms of beryllium per cubic meter of air, Stewart said. At the same time, he added, private documents showed Brush had substantial evidence to the contrary from its own staff. He also detailed Brush Wellman's elaborate public relations campaign to "saturate the public domain" with scientific publications claiming beryllium was safe below 2 micrograms, and discounting the work of scientists who said otherwise. McDole countered that the very existence of the contradictory articles showed there was no conspiracy to hide the danger. McDole also argued that the plaintiffs did not prove Brush Wellman caused their illness. June 22, 2001 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 12 One killed in Russian factory blast ABC News - One person has been killed and seven others have been injured in a blast in a factory in central Russia that processes minerals for the nuclear industry. The RIA Novosti news agency says four of the injured suffered third-degree burns and remain in intensive care in hospital. The explosion occurred in the city of Glazov in the central republic of Udmurt, when workers reportedly ignored safety procedures during the processing of calcium. The factory is one of the biggest centres specialising in making alloys of enriched uranium and zirconium, a metal which can ignite spontaneously in contact with air when it is finely cut up. The emergency situations ministry says there have been no radioactive leaks as a result of the accident. © 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 13 Cleanup deadline at risk - The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, June 22, 2001 Without more funding, 'it’s going to push the (2010) deadline back to somewhere around 2015 at least,' the DOE's top official in Paducah says. By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 The U.S. Department of Energy will not meet its 2010 deadline for cleaning up the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant unless Congress adds at least $83 million to President Bush's funding recommendation for next year, according to DOE's top official in Paducah. DOE needs at least $158 million during the 2002 fiscal year to meet normal operating expenses and to keep on track to meet the 2010 cleanup deadline, according to Don Seaborg, DOE's Paducah site manager. Bush, however, has recommended only $75.4 million. It was the first time that anyone for DOE has publicly stated that the cleanup deadline was in jeopardy. "If we don't get the funds, it’s going to push the deadline back to somewhere around 2015 at least," Seaborg said. DOE faces legal action from the Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet if it gets behind in the schedule that it agreed to in 1999. Gov. Paul Patton has said a lawsuit would be filed to force DOE to meet the deadline if the necessary funding was not allocated through the normal budget process. Seaborg said cleanup priorities are made between those areas required in the agreement with the state and those required to meet other state and federal environmental laws. "The situation comes down to which laws you are not going to meet," he said in a report Thursday to the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Citizens Advisory Board. Seaborg also reported that the cleanup cost first estimated at $1 billion over 10 years will increase by at least $500 million. The increase is due to revised estimates on several projects and the cost of meeting the state Environmental Protection Agency's mandate to remove contaminated material from more than 150 material storage areas. The cost could be even more if DOE and state and federal regulators can't agree on how to dispose of contaminated dirt that will be removed from an area known as the North-South Diversion Ditch, believed to be a major source of groundwater contamination. DOE contends that 95 percent of the dirt can be placed in an on-site landfill because it contains levels of toxic chemicals and radioactive material that are below EPA limits. State and federal regulators, however, say the on-site landfill is not adequate to prevent further environmental problems. Carl Froede Jr. of the federal Environmental Protection Agency said the landfill failed performance testing because it does not contain adequate drainage and does not have sufficient wells to monitor runoff from the landfill. If DOE must place all of the dirt in containers and send it to another landfill, it will increase the cost by more than $30 million, Seaborg said. Another area of dispute is what to do with a landfill that was used to dispose of classified material from work done for the Department of Defense, including disposal of dismantled nuclear weapons. DOE plans to keep the material in the ground and cap the landfill. Regulators, however, say the classified material should be removed, which would increase the cleanup cost by an additional $232 million. "We have the advantage of knowing what is in the landfill, and the regulators don't have that information because it's classified," Seaborg said. He said Tuss Taylor of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management was recently given security clearance to review classified records. Taylor said he has reviewed some, but not all of the records, and hasn't been given enough information to decide if the materials pose a threat to the environment. ***************************************************************** 14 New President Selected for Bechtel Nevada Thursday June 21, 2:28 pm Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Bechtel National, Inc. SAN FRANCISCO, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomas Hash, President, Bechtel National, Inc., announced today the selection of Dr. Frederick A. Tarantino as President and General Manager of Bechtel Nevada. Dr. Tarantino is expected to assume his new position on August 6, 2001. In making the announcement, Mr. Hash said, ``I am pleased to announce the selection of Fred Tarantino as the new President of Bechtel Nevada. We consider our operation at the Department of Energy Site in Nevada to be one of our flagships. I am proud that Bechtel can continue to provide individuals with Fred's depth of experience to manage these important national resources.'' Bechtel Nevada is the management and operating contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Operations Office (NNSA/NV). Dr. Tarantino will be responsible for managing the Nevada Test Site and its related facilities and laboratories. ``I have admired the dedication of everyone involved in operating this very important national testing center for many years,'' said Dr. Tarantino in accepting the appointment, ``It is an honor to join them. I look forward to working with the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Operations Office, the Bechtel Nevada employees, the three national weapons laboratories, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and other Nevada stakeholders to both preserve and extend Bechtel Nevada's contributions to our National Defense.'' Dr. Tarantino joined Bechtel in 1996 as a Project Manager in the McLean, Virginia, offices where he was responsible for a capital project to store excess weapons grade plutonium in Russia. He was assigned as a Space and Defense Business Development Manager in 1997 in San Francisco, California, where he managed all aspects of multiple contract awards in the Space and Defense business line. In 1998 he became Manager, Space and Defense Operations, returning to the McLean offices, to lead Bechtel's High-Tech Space and Defense Business Line. In this position, he has been responsible for managing a world-wide cross-functional team of project management, engineering, construction, contracting, and cost and scheduling professionals. In 2001 he was named a Principal Vice President in Bechtel and assumed responsibility for environmental project management in addition to Space and Defense projects. Prior to joining Bechtel, Fred Tarantino served in the United States Army in a variety of combat arms and acquisition assignments including serving as a Military Research Associate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1985 to 1987. He was appointed Project Manager for Space Power, Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, in 1991. He served as Defense Liaison to the White House Science Office from 1992-1995. In 1995 he was appointed Chief, Air and Missile Defense Branch, Office of the Secretary of the Army. In this position he oversaw the development of several missile systems including NMD, THAAD, and Patriot. He also oversaw experimental operations at Army test sites, including the White Sands Missile Range laser testing and Kwajalein Space and Missile Range. During this time, he led an Army task force to Israel to examine real-time defense assistance for countering short-range rocket attacks. Dr. Tarantino, 45, is married with three children. Three companies make up the Bechtel Nevada team: Bechtel Nevada Corporation; Johnson Controls Nevada, Inc.; and Lockheed Martin Nevada Technologies, Inc. Besides its work for NNSA/NV, Bechtel Nevada partners with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories on many projects. Bechtel Nevada also works on projects for other federal agencies such as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy. The company has satellite offices in Livermore, California (Livermore Operations) and Los Alamos, New Mexico (Los Alamos Operations) as well as the Special Technologies Laboratory in Santa Barbara, California. Bechtel Nevada also operates the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Nellis Air Force Base and its sister group located at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. SOURCE: Bechtel National, Inc. Copyright © 2001 PR Newswire. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 Bill would pay IOUs to radiation victims Chicago Tribune Traditional Version - Nation/World June 21, 2001 WASHINGTON, D.C. Ill uranium miners and residents sickened by radioactive fallout from nuclear tests are a step closer to long-awaited compensation from the government. Money to pay government IOUs worth $84 million will be included in the version of a $6.5 billion spending bill going Thursday to the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Our people don't have to wait very long," said Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed in 1990 to provide cash payments of $100,000 to uranium miners and $75,000 to "down-winders" -- residents exposed to radioactive fallout caused by nuclear weapons tests in Nevada. Many of the uranium mines were in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona and many of the miners were Navajos. The down-winders lived in southern Nevada and Utah and northern Arizona, where fallout settled from nuclear weapons tests near Las Vegas. Last year, the act was expanded to cover more people, but no new money was added. Starting in May 2000, qualifying claimants received letters informing them the program was out of money. Several have died from their illnesses awaiting payments. President Bush has proposed spending $97 million next year and $710 million over the next decade to pay RECA claims, but that money would not be available until the next fiscal year, which begins in October. ***************************************************************** 16 Senators Want More FEMA Funds June 21, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators of both parties said Thursday they may press President Bush to release disaster aid as tensions with the White House seemed to build over the aftermath of Tropical Storm Allison. The issue arose as the Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation providing an additional $6.5 billion this year for defense and other programs. Unlike a similar bill the House approved on Wednesday, the Senate measure allocates $389 million in disaster assistance that House Republicans cut in their drive to hold down spending. The administration opposed the House cut in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, saying it would limit the agency's ability to quickly help people and communities recover from disasters. But senators Thursday expressed concern that Bush has not yet released $1.1 billion in FEMA funds, which he can do by declaring the spending an emergency. When the bill reaches the Senate floor, they might offer an amendment prodding Bush to do so, said panel Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., top committee Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "We think Allison could take every single nickel out of FEMA," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. Besides the $1.1 billion, FEMA has $600 million more left for this year but expects to use $450 million of it within the next month for earlier disasters, said FEMA spokesman Don Jacks. Fiscal 2001 ends Oct. 1. FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh has said damage in Texas alone could exceed $4 billion. The storm killed 50 people and left thousands homeless in six states, rampaging from Texas to New England. Hutchison said she thought some of the FEMA money would be released soon. When Bush's father was president, Democrats accused him of responding slowly to Hurricane Andrew, which raked South Florida and Louisiana in 1992. But while Bush wants to avoid similar accusations over Allison, he also has stressed his desire to avoid emergency spending, which he and his aides have said Congress has abused in the past. "They don't want to break the dam by starting the year with emergency spending," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla. Of the Senate bill's $6.5 billion total, $5.9 billion is for defense. It also includes $300 million to help low-income families pay air conditioning and heating bills, and the first money - $100 million - the U.S. would contribute to a fund the United Nations wants to establish to combat AIDS in Africa and other countries. The bill is also dotted with funds for lawmakers' home states, particularly those of committee members. There is $5 million for workers at a federal laboratory in Idaho, home state of GOP Sen. Larry Craig; $6.6 million for a nuclear waste site in South Carolina, home of Democratic Sen. Ernest Hollings; and $9 million for an environmental cleanup at McClellan Air Force Base in California, represented by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************