***************************************************************** 01/25/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.23 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Federal agents in LV for Yucca probe 2 Criteria for development sought at Maine Yankee 3 NRC says risk low for spent fuel fire 4 Restraints against Foreign Uranium Worry Carolinas 5 Plan to save Piketon plant put on hold 6 DPUC approves sale of Millstone plants to Virginia company 7 AECL accused of making $50M bribe 8 Cook Islands PM wants compensation deal 9 Radioactive waste dump sparks outback anger 10 ACF says SA to become radioactive dumping ground 11 Desert testing site to be nuclear waste dump 12 Aboriginal elders go online in fight against nuclear dump 13 GOFF WANTS EARLY WARNING OF NUCLEAR SHIPMENTS 14 Notice Given Of Nuclear Shipment 15 PLUTONIUM SHIPMENTS TO JAPAN SHOULD BE ABANDONED AFTER 16 Efficient nuclear fuel 17 Plutonium Found in Processing Plants 18 TEMELIN MISHAPS RENEW OPPOSITION 19 Norway concerned over plans for shipment of nuclear waste 20 Boxer protests soil transport 21 Nuclear Waste Ships May Sail Arctic Seas 22 State Angry at Decision To Halt Nuclear Transport 23 Capping Lab Dump Debated NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 Tauzin demands records on US nuclear labs contract 2 Debate about health risks of depleted uranium turns attention to 3 Science Murky on Health Risk From Depleted Uranium 4 University Cited for Nuclear Breach 5 EU urged to probe U.K. nuclear sub - 6 NATO Finds Uranium No Link to Cancer 7 We will use uranium again - 8 UN discussing DU in Sarajevo 9 Nato ready to use DU again in Kosovo 10 NATO: 50 Countries See No Depleted Uranium Illness 11 U.N. Officials Discuss Uranium Study in Bosnia 12 Depleted Uranium Rounds Can Cause Cancers in Animals 13 Europe call to ban depleted uranium munitions 14 Depleted uranium: Bosnia tests start 15 MOD PUBLISHES COMMENTARY ON DEPLETED URANIUM DOCUMENTS 16 Depleted Uranium Issue a Kremlin Ploy to Spilt NATO 17 Research Indicates Internal Blasts Sank Kursk 18 Eurotech Successfully Completes EKOR Acceptance Testing For DOE 19 News from Bulgaria 20 Tight INEEL budget could hamper cleanups With many projects, the 21 Residents skeptical on DU use 22 DOE mulls reduction in security 23 Parties weigh in on the issue of modernizing Y-12 **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Federal agents in LV for Yucca probe January 25, 2001 BY JEFF GERMAN LAS VEGAS SUN Agents with the Energy Department's inspector general are in Las Vegas investigating possible bias in the Yucca Mountain site- selection process, a spokeswoman confirmed this morning. "Our agents have been out there for several weeks," Wilma Slaughter told the Sun in a telephone interview from Washington. She would not discuss the investigation any further. In a press release earlier this week, Slaughter confirmed that the inspector general had launched the investigation, which was requested by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. "Until such time as the review is complete, no further comment is anticipated," she said. Reid said earlier this month that he was told federal agents would be looking at the DOE's "correspondence and briefing materials" to determine whether there is any evidence of bias in favor of Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the site of the nation's only nuclear waste repository. The investigation, he said, would not be quick. "This isn't something they can do in a few days," Reid said. "It's going to take a matter of months. It's a big project." Reid asked the inspector general to investigate the circumstances surrounding preparation of documents that suggested Yucca Mountain is safe to store radioactive waste, even though lengthy studies of the Nevada site haven't been completed. Reid said the documents, obtained by the Sun, appeared to show the DOE collaborating with its chief Yucca Mountain contractor, TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc., to win approval for the Nevada site. The Sun reported it had obtained a 60-page draft of a DOE overview on Yucca Mountain declaring the site suitable for nuclear waste storage. Attached to the draft was a two-page memo that suggested the overview could be used to help the nuclear industry sell Yucca Mountain to Congress. The DOE had been preparing to make a recommendation on Yucca Mountain's suitability in June, but the decision has been delayed because of the investigation. Talk of the probe has stirred up new opposition to the repository. Strip executive Stephen Cloobeck has been organizing a grass-roots effort to raise money to fight the dump. Cloobeck said he has scheduled a another meeting of elected officials, business leaders and citizens at 1 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Clark County Government Center. Gov. Kenny Guinn is counting on Cloobeck to help raise money to mount an ambitious nationwide media campaign to solicit support in the fight. Guinn announced in his State of the State address Monday that he is including $5 million in his budget for the unprecedented advertising campaign. He wants to double that amount with contributions from local governments and private citizens. On Wednesday, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to discuss a resolution for the first time opposing to a Yucca Mountain repository, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority plans to do the same thing at its next board meeting on Feb. 13. Reid expects to hold hearings on Yucca Mountain in Washington after the inspector general issues a report on the bias investigation. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 2 Criteria for development sought at Maine Yankee JAN 25, 2001 Serving Maine and Lincoln County for Over A Century VOL. 125-NO. 43 Greg Foster People representing a broad spectrum interested in the future development of 600 acres of Maine Yankee land in Wiscasset met last week and Monday at the Chewonki Foundation to brainstorm about vision and criteria for development. PA Strategies, under contract with Maine Yankee, sought public input for a report it expects to present Feb. 15 at a public meeting. "The area north of Ferry Road is undeveloped land while Bailey Point has significant infrastructure that might be of interest to a developer, " company spokesman Eric Howes said. He listed existing buildings, municipal and raw water supply, electrical power, a rail line, a barge slip, cooling water and transmission lines the could be used for re-powering, and on site roads among examples. Howes also announced that Maine Yankee has applied for release of the 200-acre site known as Eaton Farm, which the company has previously stated will be donated to a non-profit environmental educational entity. The property will serve three purposes: public access, a nature preserve and an environmental education center. "We have been approached by a number of entities interested in developing portions of the site," he said. "We think the site has great potential, and we are working with the community to explore the possibilities and identify a success path that works for both the community and Maine Yankee, whose primary task is safely completing the decommissioning on schedule and on budget." Currently the decommissioning is 40 percent complete, according to Howes. He also said, "Maine Yankee intends to seek early release from our NRC license of the 350 plus acres north of Ferry Road." Steve Levesque, director of the state Department of Community and Economic Development told the gathering the department has a three- pronged strategy for growth in the state, including support for a good business climate, good infrastructure and a good workforce. "You need to think of the long view. This isn't going to happen over night," he said. "You're not going to go anywhere unless you forge some really strong partnerships." Since Maine Yankee is not in the site development business, Howes said the company has retained George Campbell of PA Strategies, who is former head of economic development as well as transportation commissioner under Governor Brennan. "We are convinced that successful development of the site will require a regional effort, and we are pleased that others seem to agree," he said. Howes explained that the purpose of the meetings last Thursday and Monday was to begin dialogue to hear about criteria people believe should be applied when weighing development proposals. However, Maine Yankee has previously stated that time is limited regarding the buildings set for demoliton. "In order for a building to remain, a reuse must be identified and agreed to well in advance of its scheduled demolition." He said the company plans to demolish the buildings between now and mid-2004 to three feet below grade and removed from the site and that buildings will be cleaned as necessary to meet release standards before being back filled and left in place. A main criterion Maine Yankee has for any development in the immediate future is that it must complement the decommissioning project. "The vast majority of the clean up activity is on the footprint of the former nuclear power plant. That area is roughly 30 acres," Howes said. "The rest of the 800 acres is essentially clean as we sit here tonight." Maine Yankee has had a number of discussions over the past several weeks regarding the site with Wiscasset, Stafford Business Advisors, the Lincoln County Economic Development Office, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and the state along with other entities, according to Howes. Maine Yankee recruited a panel of economic development experts reflecting statewide perspectives to provide the company with advice. They attended the meetings along with Community Advisory Panel members to participate in the small group discussions. Various issues addressed concerned aspects about the access such as roads and waterfront; preservation, such as protection of open space, wildlife habitats and opportunities for recreation; power, multi-source uses such as wind and gas power; cultural, the kind of environment conducive to the arts; economic development, kinds that would enhance the tax base and at the same time be clean, non- polluting, light industry; residential development, like cluster housing for company employees and education, like training school for a workforce targeted toward clean industry or information and research center. There was not a consensus about everything, but that was not the intention of the meetings. Participants did reach a consensus that they should not vote on which criteria should be priorities. Instead it was the general feeling that PA Strategies should take the input from the group discussions, which representatives from each of the seven groups summarized Monday night at the Chewonki Foundation. PA Strategies will now come up with a synthesis of the total input from the community criteria discussions for a report next month. The public will have a chance for feedback at that time before it is finalized and ready for Maine Yankee's use in its development proposal selection process in the coming months. ***************************************************************** 3 NRC says risk low for spent fuel fire JAN 25, 2001 Serving Maine and Lincoln County for Over A Century VOL. 125-NO. 43 Greg Foster The risk of a spent fuel pool accident at Maine Yankee in Wiscasset is low but not zero, according to a staff report the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has just released after studying the potential at decommissioning nuclear power plants like Maine Yankee. "The risk is low because of the very low likelihood of a zirconium fire even though the consequences from a zirconium fire could be serious," the report said. If it did happen, however, the NRC said it could have serious radiological effects because of off-site release of radioactive material such as ruthenium. "The report confirms what we thought all along," Maine Yankee spokesman Erik Howes said. "Maine Yankee has been storing fuel for 30 years without anything ever happening." Maine Yankee is currently storing its fuel in a spent fuel pool inside the reactor dome and is expected to store the same fuel in steel- lined dry casks that will be inserted in concrete silos at the new spent fuel storage installation on site. "The discussion of a fire was purely hypothetical. The risk associated with it s extremely small," Howes said. "I'm not aware of it ever happening anywhere." Used fuel is stored in spent fuel pools all over the world. As for Maine Yankee specifically, the likelihood of a major earthquake is historically unlikely in this part of the county, Howes said. The report contained nothing concerning dry cask storage as critics anticipated. Before the report came out, the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that it would. However, the NRC may be conducting another study, according to Howes. "It is my understanding that the NRC intends to do a separate risk analysis," he said. Ray Shadis of the Friends of the Coast has said there may be similar risks associated with dry cask storage whether the report is related to it or not. The purpose of the report released at the end of last week is for use in reviewing exemption requests and to serve as a framework for making regulations concerning nuclear power plants operation and decommissioning. Maine Yankee's current plan for dry cask storage is NRC approved. Work is underway to construct the concrete silos for the dry casks. An earthen berm surrounds the six-acre site on Maine Yankee property. The NRC began the study because of a question about zirconium alloy used in the fuel tubes combined with the heat of decaying fuel. Zirconium alloy (zirco-alloy) tubes surround the uranium pellets in forming the fuel rod. Even if something like an earthquake causes the water that cools fuel in the spent fuel pool to be released, the possibility that exposure of air to the zirco-alloy combined with the overheating of fuel could result in a fire is low, according to the report. The main reason the NRC gave for its conclusion that there is no immediate safety concern is because of a low likelihood of a fuel uncovering event that could result in a zirconium fire and a potentially significant off-site radiological release. The generic report is in keeping with Maine Yankee President Mike Meisner's estimation of the potential danger at the Wiscasset plant. Meisner said that the spent fuel at Maine Yankee had reached a level of decay to make a zirconium fire impossible, according to an NRC August 1999 assessment of the fuel. Spent fuel, however, does continue to generate decay heat after it is no longer in use in the reactor, but the water in the pool cools it. The spent fuel will go into steel-lined dry casks once the spent fuel storage installation now under construction is ready. The casks themselves are air convection cooled and it is unknown if a similar risk could be involved should interfere with the natural flow of air around the casks, but the purpose of the another study on dry cask storage is to examine any risk factors. There are other problems with the report, in particular, what it does not say, according to the assessment of Dave Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The staff did not consider sabotage/ terrorist action even though it could lead to a spent fuel fire," he said. The report lists the odds of the nine possible threats but does not include sabotage. "Oklahoma city suggests that the odds are not zero, " he said. The possibility of that happening at Maine Yankee was the topic of a Community Advisory Panel discussion in December when Ray Shadis questioned the limited scope of the security plan for the ISFSI. Although Howes was not at liberty to define what security measures there are, he said that Maine Yankee has security in place including security guards who are already at the storage site. Lochbaum also said that the report indicates there is a significant risk to the health of the nearby population if evacuated quickly. Because of that, he argues for keeping sirens and other emergency planning provisions. Yet neither have been in place since Maine Yankee shut down operation of the plant and began the work of decommissioning. The subject of the emergency plan and sirens also came up during the December CAP meeting. In its staff report, the NRC does state that there is a small change in risk at decommissioning plants if off site emergency planning is relaxed. Another complaint Lochbaum levelled at the NRC report concerns a list of ten commitments that the nuclear power industry made to reduce the spent fuel pool risk at decommissioned plants. "The NRC report assumes that every plant has already complied with all ten commitments, but at last check the NRC was not aware of any plant that was in full compliance," he said. The NRC is expected to hold a public meeting on the report Feb. 20. Industry and public stakeholders will be invited to make presentations. Then the NRC will use the input from the Feb. 20 meeting to prepare a proposed new rule on improving decommissioning regulations for nuclear power plants. One objective is to reduce the need to process exemption requests in areas of insurance, security and emergency preparedness, and the staff will present policy options in May, according to the NRC. ***************************************************************** 4 Restraints against Foreign Uranium Worry Carolinas ˙LCG, Jan. 24, 2001—In a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce, ˙members of the Congressional delegations of North and South Carolina ˙say that if a petition by U.S. Enrichment Corp., the only American ˙supplier of fuel for nuclear power plants, is granted it could ˙mean higher fuel costs for U.S. nuclear power plants. ˙More than half of South Carolina's electricity is generated in nuclear ˙power plants, and almost a third of North Carolina's. ˙In a letter released yesterday, the lawmakers say that if USEC wins ˙its trade complaint against Urenco, a British-Dutch-German consortium, ˙and Eurodif of France it "would only serve to raise costs ˙for utilities and consumers at a time when U.S. energy costs are ˙rising." ˙The letter was signed by South Carolina Reps. Lindsey Graham and ˙Jim DeMint, both Republicans, and John Spratt, a Democrat. North ˙Carolina Reps. Richard Burr, Sue Myrick and Howard Coble, all ˙Republicans, also signed the document. ˙The ITC, in a preliminary finding, agreed with USEC that it has been ˙injured or faces the threat of injury from uranium sale by the ˙European companies. The Commerce Department will now consider ˙whether European governments have unfairly subsidized Urenco and ˙Eurodif. ˙USEC is the world's leading source of enriched uranium fuel for nuclear ˙power plants, but has suffered financially recently from an ill- ˙starred contract to process and sell uranium recovered from Soviet ˙weapons. EnergyOnline Forums ***************************************************************** 5 Plan to save Piketon plant put on hold Thursday, January 25, 2001 JONATHAN RISKIND Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief WASHINGTON--The Bush administration has put a hold on the $630 million plan to keep southern Ohio's uranium-enrichment plant on standby after it is closed in June. The Department of Energy's decision to suspend the initiative doesn't mean it won't happen after a review. "We know about the issue. It's a priority, and we're working on it expeditiously,'' said Joe Davis, an Energy Department spokesman. "We're going to make sure we get this thing done.'' But for now the holdup raises uncertainty about the plan's fate. It is designed to save at least 1,200 jobs at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, and safeguard the country's domestic uranium-enrichment supply. In one of the agency's final acts under former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, a $161 million first installment was released Friday. That money was frozen Monday, though, according to an Energy Department memo obtained yesterday by The Dispatch. "Pending review of this program activity by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, the Oak Ridge Operations Office should suspend the commitment of funds'' to the program, according to the memo by William D. Magwood IV, director of the department's office of nuclear energy, science and technology. Richardson unveiled the program Oct. 6 in front of cheering workers at the Piketon plant. That plant is being closed by USEC, a private federal corporation formerly known as the U.S. Enrichment Corp. The closing would leave the country with a single enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky., which also is operated by USEC. Richardson, Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Lucasville, Gov. Bob Taft and others had advocated keeping the Piketon plant on standby so the country wouldn't have to rely on just one plant for nuclear fuel. The plan to keep Piketon on standby was announced in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Shortly before the announcement, Taft made public a letter from George W. Bush that criticized the Clinton administration for allowing the closure of the plant without ensuring a reliable domestic enrichment supply. "If I am elected president, my administration will aggressively explore how the work force and facilities at the Piketon site can continue to serve our national interest,'' Bush said in the letter, dated Oct. 4. After the Richardson announcement, Lee Johnson, then Taft's development director, gave assurances that a Bush administration would honor the commitment made by the Clinton administration. "We don't want you to have any more sleepless nights,'' Johnson said. "We will work together, and this will happen.'' The suspension of the program comes on the heels of an opinion issued Friday by the General Accounting Office--an independent agency that investigates issues at the behest of Congress--that the $630 million was being used improperly. The money can be used for "expenses of privatization,'' the GAO said, but that doesn't cover Richardson's plan. The opinion does not carry the force of law. Strickland said he is confident the Bush administration will find that the money can be used as Richardson intended. "The only way this program can be killed is if the new administration -- and primarily the new president--chooses not to proceed,'' Strickland said. "So I believe that we're going to be OK here.'' Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, isn't surprised about the review, said spokesman Scott Milburn. But Voinovich is urging the Bush administration not to hold things up too long. Voinovich "hopes we move forward quickly and do as much as we can while being sensitive to the issues the GAO report raised,'' Milburn said. "It is heartening that President Bush understands this and has made a commitment to helping as he did on the campaign.'' Dave Celona, Taft's executive assistant for business and industry, said that although the governor is "concerned about recent events, '' he knows that the incoming administration needs to get its feet on the ground and resolve any potential conflicts about the plan. Taft will be in Washington on Friday and might see Bush, Celona said. If that happens, Taft will "look for every opportunity to discuss this issue'' with the president, Celona said. Copyright c 2001, The Columbus Dispatch ***************************************************************** 6 DPUC approves sale of Millstone plants to Virginia company Boston.com / Latest News / Business / BY DIANE SCARPONI, ASSOCIATED PRESS, 1/24/2001 14:15 Connecticut regulators gave final approval Wednesday for the sale of the Millstone nuclear power complex to Dominion Resources of Virginia for $1.3 billion, the highest price ever paid for a nuclear plant. Connecticut Light and Power and The United Illuminating Company are required to sell their interest in the plants under the state's electric deregulation law. ''It is by far and away the most productive sale of a nuclear asset conducted up to this point,'' said Department of Public Utility Control Chairman Donald Downes. Anti-nuclear groups opposed the sale. The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone said it would appeal the DPUC's ruling to state Superior Court. Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce the old utility debts called ''stranded costs'' that consumers still have to for under the deregulation law. CL&P estimates its stranded costs will be reduced by $500 million because of the high sale price. The agency also ruled that that Dominion has the financial strength and expertise to run the Millstone reactors. The Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone and other groups, which want to see the reactors shut down, argued that Dominion had a poor track record of running nuclear plants in Virginia. The group pointed to a coolant system leak last week at Dominion's North Anna plant in Virginia as proof that the company is unfit to run nuclear power plants. ''These nuclear lemons should be shut, not operated for profit under deregulation,'' said Nancy Burton, a lawyer for the group. Other critics of the nuclear industry and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that Dominion has among the best records for the safe, efficient operation of nuclear plants. Dominion is required to offer all nuclear employees jobs for at least a year following the sale. Any workers laid off for six months after that would receive $3,000 toward retraining and help to get a new job. Additionally, Dominion has offered to pay severance benefits to any worker laid off within five years of the sale. Some workers from the Millstone Station Employees Association questioned the sale because they thought their pension benefits would be reduced under the new owners. David M. Collins, a design engineering analyst at Millstone, said employees will not be able to retire as young or receive the same size pensions once Dominion takes over. Peter Hyde, a spokesman for Millstone, said a final employee benefit package has not been presented yet, so it is hard for employees to say their concerns are not being met. Dominion spokesman Rick Zuercher said the company will continue to discuss employee benefits with Millstone management before the takeover. ''Dominion certainly values the talented employees at Millstone, and recognize them as an asset going forward to the safe and reliable operation of the station,'' Zuercher said, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and state regulators in New Hampshire and New York still must approve the deal. Dominion hopes to close on the sale in April. [*]Advertise on Boston.com or Use Boston.com to [*]do business ***************************************************************** 7 AECL accused of making $50M bribe National - Ottawa Citizen Online [I] Thursday 25 January 2001 Turkish report is 'utter nonsense,' corporation says MICHAEL PETROU The Ottawa Citizen Turkey's military is investigating allegations that Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. bribed a politician with $50 million as part of a failed bid to build a nuclear reactor, a Turkish newspaper says. But AECL calls the accusation "utter nonsense." According to Cumhuriyet, a Turkish national daily, the General Commandant of the Gendarmerie, an investigative unit of the Turkish military, has filed a report outlining allegations of corruption and bribery within its country's Energy Ministry. The report centres on the Akkuyu Bay nuclear project, which the Turkish government scrapped in July. Canada was competing for the contract against bids from French-German and Japanese-U.S. partnerships. According to the newspaper, the report includes an allegation by a director of Turkey's state electrical corporation that an unnamed cabinet minister intervened in the tendering process after AECL gave the minister $50 million. "It's absolute, complete and utter nonsense," Larry Shewchuk, a spokesman for AECL, said. "We don't engage in bribery." "AECL is a Crown corporation," Mr. Shewchuk said. "As such, all of its financial transactions, its revenues, its expenses and its profits are audited and scrutinized by the Auditor General of Canada. We're talking $50 million," he said. "The Auditor General would notice that pretty quickly." Mr. Shewchuk blamed the Turkish media for reporting rumours fed to them by Canadian anti-nuclear groups. Were the bribery allegations serious, Mr. Shewchuk said he would have been contacted by the Turkish government or the Gendarmerie. Dave Martin, a nuclear policy adviser at the Sierra Club of Canada, which lobbied against the AECL bid in Turkey for four years, said: "If bribery is part of getting Candu reactors abroad, then the Canadian government should not be in the nuclear export business." The Turkish energy minister is not speaking publicly about the investigation. "I thought preliminary investigations were supposed to be secret, " Cumhur Ersumer is quoted as saying. "The fact that these things are making the rounds is scandalous." The Gendarmerie's current investigation is part of a larger effort to demonstrate Turkey is combatting corruption within its government. The European Union has said Turkey must reduce government corruption as a prerequisite for EU membership. Mr. Shewchuk of the AECL said it was not uncommon for anti-nuclear groups to "feed the media in Turkey information about Candu technology that was absolutely false, incorrect, outright lies." He said misinformation would often be reported in the Turkish media, "and we'd never get a telephone call from the Turkish media about it to say, 'We've received this comment about your technology. Is this true?' " Copyright 2001 Ottawa Citizen Group Inc. ***************************************************************** 8 Cook Islands PM wants compensation deal Radio Australia News - 25/01/01: The Cook Islands has called for a greater commitment to establish compensation standards in the event of a nuclear waste spillage in Pacific island waters. Prime Minister Terepai Maoate says the Pacific Islands Forum should take the lead in putting more weight behind talks with the government of Japan and other parties to reach an agreement over a compensatory mechanism for island states. Dr Moate says waste shipments between Europe and Japan pose a threat to the livelihood of Pacific islanders and every effort must be made to reach an agreed solution on liability. Dr Maoate's concerns come as another shipment of nuclear waste makes its way to Japan from France with fears that the two freighters will sail past Pacific island nations. (07:00:23 AEST) [*][I][*][I][*][I] This service includes material from Pacnews, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters ***************************************************************** 9 Radioactive waste dump sparks outback anger ABC News - There has been an angry backlash from outback residents against the latest move to site a national radioactive waste dump in northern South Australia. Yesterday, the Federal Government named a site within the Woomera Prohibited Area as its preferred location for a low-level dump. Woomera residents have overwhelmingly petitioned against the dump, with the president of the local Small Business Association, Bob Little, saying the move is likely to tarnish the region's image. Mr Little says Woomera's future would be better served in promoting the rocket and space industries for which it has developed a name. "I would sooner see these people coming in and the rockets going up again for the tourists, and the commercial side of it and bringing money into the state, rather than the stigma and all the negatives and all the protesters coming up every 12 months to upset our livelihood, " he said. Former Coober Pedy councillor Dale Price, who lobbied vigorously against the dump, says the famous Opal mining town will also be stigmatised. Mr Price says although it is about 200 kilometres away, Coober Pedy's image as an international tourist attraction is at risk. "It's a terrible decision for Coober Pedy and it just shows that the governments will do what they want, despite all the consultation and everything that they say they do," he said. "It's only to justify their own position that they've already decided on." [*][I] ***************************************************************** 10 ACF says SA to become radioactive dumping ground ABC News - The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) believes South Australia is destined to become the home of all radioactive waste, including medium and high level nuclear waste. It claims the selection of a preferred site for low-level nuclear waste at Evetts Field West, in the Woomera prohibited zone, is an essential precondition to the construction of a new reactor in Sydney. The foundation's David Noonan suspects it will lead to South Australia being a national dumping ground for all nuclear waste. He says the storage method for the low level waste is inappropriate for the area. "The waste that is on site at Woomera, with perhaps a little bit of application of some more technical assistance and staff on site - it would be best to leave that as it is at present until there may be at some time in the future a better scenario proposed," he said. "It certainly is not an improvement, in that waste management in any respect, to simply bury it out of sight, out of mind in our fragile desert ecosystem." ***************************************************************** 11 Desert testing site to be nuclear waste dump Independent AP 24 January 2001 A remote desert site once used to test missiles was chosen by the Australian government today as the nation's low-level nuclear waste dump, prompting angry protests from environmentalists. The desert plateau in South Australia state has been chosen as the government's preferred location for the dump after eight years of searching, Industry Minister Nick Minchin said. If approved by an environmental study, the site will be used to store solid nuclear waste from hospitals and research institutions across Australia. Minchin said the site is 250 miles from Adelaide, the state capital which has a population of 1.1 million people. The nearest town to the site is Woomera, within 30 miles, which also houses a detention center for illegal immigrants. Between 1947 and 1980, the site was used as a missile testing facility by Australia and Britain, and by the United States' NASA for tracking space vehicles. The low-level waste will be sealed in steel or concrete drums at the site, with the drums to be buried in trenches, the government said. Minchin said the site, which extends over 1.5 square kilometers, will operate for some 50 years and hold about 10,000 cubic meters of low-level waste. It is expected to be functional by next year. The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), an environmental group, said the dump was a step toward clearing the way for a medium- level repository of radioactive waste that would contaminate the land for 300 years. "There is no other reason to create a single national dump for low- level waste," said John Hill of the opposition Australian Labor Party. Australia has a nuclear reactor in Sydney and there are proposals to upgrade it for another 40 years of service, ACF anti-nuclear campaigner David Noonan said. "The national nuclear dump is being pushed to facilitate the new nuclear reactor (which) under licensing conditions has to show a site to take its place in the long term," Noonan said. "Minchin reserves the right in the future to upgrade the use of the repository to co-locate interactive waste...or take the reactor's place." The ACF wants a guarantee from the federal government that it will not allow medium-level waste to be dumped in South Australia. ***************************************************************** 12 Aboriginal elders go online in fight against nuclear dump Source: AAP|Published: Thursday January 25, 4:22 PM Aboriginal elders have gone online in their fight against a nuclear dump being located on traditional land in South Australia's far north. Senior Aboriginal women of Coober Pedy say the preferred site of the low-level nuclear dump is traditional land of the Kokatha people. The elders accuse the federal government of excluding Aboriginal groups from consultation about the dump site. The government said yesterday its preferred site for a low-level nuclear dump was located northwest of Woomera, about 500 kilometres north of Adelaide. Rebecca Bear-Wingfield, a spokeswoman for the Senior Aboriginal Women of Coober Pedy, says the Kokatha people have never been consulted about their concerns. She says the community consultative process has been a sham and their new website, www.iratiwanti.org, chronicles the elders' fight to stop the dump. Meanwhile, Woomera Small Business Association spokesman Bob Little says locating the dump near the township will tarnish the region's reputation. Environmental assessment is expected to take about a year and the minister says the earliest the dump could be operational is some time in 2002. Copyright © 2000 The Age Company Ltd. Any unauthorised use, ***************************************************************** 13 GOFF WANTS EARLY WARNING OF NUCLEAR SHIPMENTS New Zealand Herald Online - Newspaper Phil Goff 25.01.2001 Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff maintains Australia should improve how it notifies other countries about the shipment of nuclear waste. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer yesterday rejected Mr Goff's assertion New Zealand had been given insufficient notice about a waste shipment from Australia to France. A shipment of spent nuclear rods from Sydney's Lucas Heights research reactor sailed on Tuesday for processing. Mr Goff said he had been told of the movement the same day. A spokesman for Mr Downer rejected this, saying Australia told a number of countries, including New Zealand, last week about the shipment. "We assured them that the shipment would comply fully with the international obligations in relation to nuclear waste safeguards," he said. "In terms of the level of information provided, we consider we have fulfilled all our obligations." A spokesman for Mr Goff said New Zealand was told last week only that the shipment was "imminent." He would prefer Australia to follow international protocols as other countries did. It is understood the protocol followed by Japan and France - two countries that regularly transport nuclear waste - is to inform interested countries in advance about the ships involved and their travel details. This is done on the understanding that the information will not be publicly released. "It is a matter of protocol," said the spokesman. "It is not a major issue between two friendly neighbours. We would like prior notification." The shipment to France is the fifth from the reactor and the third since September 1997, when the Australian Government announced it would provide money to get rid of stored nuclear waste. With the latest shipment, the largest so far, more than half the spent fuel from the entire lifetime of the reactor will have been sent overseas. New Zealand opposes all shipping of nuclear waste and wants countries to process their own waste. Officials at the Lucas Heights reactor say this is not practical considering the small amounts turned out at their facility. New Zealand gains some benefit from the work done at the reactor as it uses radioisotopes from Lucas Heights in hospitals for the detection and treatment of cancer. - NZPA ***************************************************************** 14 Notice Given Of Nuclear Shipment sp;at 10:16am, 24th January 2001 Australian diplomatic officials claim that New Zealand did receive advance notice of the departure of a shipment of nuclear waste from Sydney. New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister, Phil Goff, said his Government only received formal notice after the shipment left on Monday night taking spent nuclear fuel to France. Mr Goff said in general, nations shipping nuclear waste through waters close to New Zealand gave two or three days warning. He said the Government would like to have received better prior notification than it had received on this occasion. However, a spokesperson for the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said notification was sent to New Zealand last week. He said the shipment met all international safety requirements, and Australia had fulfilled its obligations by notifying the New Zealand Government as well as a number of Pacific Island states. Mr Goff said the risk of an accident was very small scale, but that there would be major implications for the country's fisheries, tourism and clean, green non-nuclear image if there were one. The Minister said New Zealand had no legal ability to block the transportation of such material through its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) if the shipment met regulations set out under internationally agreed rules. He said it would be futile and counterproductive to pass legislation banning shipments — such as would be done under a Green Party bill currently being considered by a Parliamentary select committee — that would be overridden by international law. He said the Government had been able to keep all shipments outside the EEZ to date by working by persuasion and diplomatic pressure. c NewsRoom 2001 ***************************************************************** 15 PLUTONIUM SHIPMENTS TO JAPAN SHOULD BE ABANDONED AFTER IMPORTING COMPANY ADMITS MOX PLAN COULD BE SCRAPPED 24 January 2001 AMSTERDAM - The shipment of plutonium MOX fuel, enroute to Japan from France, should be abandoned, Greenpeace said today, following an announcement by the Japanese power company importing the fuel, that it would scrap the program if a majority of residents living near the nuclear plant are against it. The plutonium MOX fuel is due to be loaded in July into the Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) reactor, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa-unit 3, in the Niigata region of western Japan. It will be the first reactor in Japan to use this type of nuclear fuel about which there are a number of safety concerns. Last night the TEPCO President, Naoya Minami, told Kariwa local residents at a public meeting that the company would not load the fuel if a majority of the town's population were against the plan. Local Kariwa politicians and anti-nuclear groups have begun the process to initiate a referendum on whether the MOX fuel should be loaded into the nuclear power plant. First a majority of the town's population has to agree to hold a referendum, canvassing for which will begin on February 4th . If the mayor agrees to a referendum then it would be held in May of this year. TEPCO last week deployed one hundred representatives of the company to visit each household in the Kariwa town to persuade people not to support a referendum. The plutonium and uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel left France on January 19th onboard the British flagged armed freighter, Pintail, together with its armed escort the Pacific Teal. Greenpeace estimates that the two vessels are now passing the Canary Islands in the north Atlantic Ocean, 1,500 nautical miles from their departure port Cherbourg in northern France. The entire voyage to Japan, via South Africa, the Tasman Sea and the South Pacific, is over 18,000 miles. “The Tokyo Electric statement shows the callous disregard the company has for the enroute nations in Africa and the Asia Pacific," said Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner Shaun Burnie. "It appears the company is prepared to listen to local residents in Japan while still ignoring the opposition of enroute nations regions which have been forced to accept the dangers of these nuclear shipments passing their shores. With less than 10 per cent of the voyage complete these unwanted nuclear freighters should be instructed to return to France immediately." In the last 18 months the use of MOX fuel in Japan has become particularly controversial following revelations that quality control data for MOX fuel produced by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) was falsified. Tokyo Electric is now at the centre of a court battle over the quality control standards of MOX fuel delivered in 1999 and produced by the Belgium MOX fuel manufacturer, Belgonucleaire. A court is due to make decision within the next few months on claims that quality control data had been deliberately manipulated and that the use of the MOX would increase the risk of nuclear accident. Belgonucleaire and French MOX fuel manufacturer, Cogema, which produced the MOX fuel delivered in 1999 and the fuel currently being shipped to Japan, have refused to release significant quality control data to the court. “The commitment to listen to public opinion is welcome, however they should stop trying to intimidate the genuinely worried people of the town, and instead scrap their program," said Burnie. "No plutonium shipped to Japan in the last 15 years has been used. MOX fuel makes no economic sense, is inherently dangerous, has quality control problems, and threatens the environment of all en-route countries between Europe and Japan." Cogema and British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) are currently desperate for Japan’s much delayed MOX program to begin, hoping that they will secure large-scale commercial contracts. Cogema has a limited contract for MOX fuel production for both Tokyo Electric and Kansai Electric. BNFL has no contracts with Japan for MOX fuel and is unable to open a new US$500 million dollar MOX production plant, SMP. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Shaun Burnie – Greenpeace International: +31 629 00 11 33 ***************************************************************** 16 Efficient nuclear fuel The Hindu on indiaserver.com : Online edition of India's National Newspaper on indiaserver.com Thursday, January 25, 2001 SCIENTISTS AT Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have shown that an unusual nuclear fuel could speed space vehicles from Earth to Mars in as little as two weeks. Standard chemical propulsion used in existing spacecraft currently takes from between eight to ten months to make the same trip. These calculations were reported in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research by Prof. Yigal Ronen, of BGU's Department of Nuclear Engineering and graduate student Eugene Shwagerous. The researchers demonstrate that the fairly rare nuclear material americium-242m (Am-242m) can maintain sustained nuclear fission as an extremely thin metallic film, less than a thousandth of a millimeter thick. In this form, the extremely high-energy, high- temperature fission products can escape the fuel elements and be used for propulsion in space. Obtaining fission-fragments is not possible with the better-known uranium- 235 and plutonium-239 nuclear fuels: they require large fuel rods, which absorb fission products. Ronen became interested in nuclear reactors for space vehicles some 15 years ago at a conference dedicated to this subject. Speaker-after- speaker stressed that whatever the approach, the mass (weight) of the reactor had to be as light as possible for efficient space travel. At a more recent meeting, Carlo Rubbia of CERN (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1984) brought up the novel concept of utilizing the highly energetic fragments produced by nuclear fission to heat a gas; the extremely high temperatures produced would enable faster interplanetary travel. To meet the challenge of a light nuclear reactor, Ronen examined one element of reactor design, the nuclear fuel itself. He found at the time that of the known fission fuels, Am-242m is the front-runner, requiring only 1 percent of the mass (or weight) of uranium or plutonium to reach its critical state. The recent study examined various theoretical structures for positioning Am-242m metal and control materials for space reactors. He determined that this fuel could indeed sustain fission in the form of thin films that release high-energy fission products. Moreover, he showed how these fission products could be used themselves as a propellant, or to heat a gas for propulsion, or to fuel a special generator that produces electricity. "There are still many hurtles to overcome before americium-242m can be used in space," Ronen says. "There is the problem of producing the fuel in large enough quantities from plutonium-241 and americium-241, which requires several steps and is expensive. But the material is already available in fairly small amounts. In addition, actual reactor design, refueling, heat removal, and safety provisions for manned vehicles have not yet been examined. Copyrights c 2001 The Hindu & indiaserver.com, Inc. ***************************************************************** 17 Plutonium Found in Processing Plants January 24, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP)--The Pentagon has tracked traces of plutonium in U.S. ammunition used in Kosovo to contaminated equipment at plants in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Officials said there was no danger to soldiers, but a researcher expressed concern for people who worked at the plants decades ago. Plutonium is one of the deadliest substances known, but so little tainted the depleted uranium used to make armor-piercing bullets that officials say they are not worried about extra health or environmental concerns for the troops from the United States and other countries involved in Kosovo. "We have seen nothing in our studies that would indicate that this has more than an insignificant amount of impact on either personal health or the environment," said Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman. Quigley said someone exposed to a millionth of an ounce of the material would inhale "1/23 of a quadrillionth of a gram of plutonium, corresponding to an estimated increase in fatal cancer risk of about one in 13 trillion." Physicist Marvin Resnikoff, who has studied plutonium contamination in the government's gaseous diffusion plants, said Wednesday that if any plutonium is in the ammunition, "It has to be the merest trace" because of the way plutonium reacts during processing. "I can understand why there's concern," said Resnikoff. "Plutonium is an extremely toxic material. But I wouldn't necessarily dispute their finding that it's not a serious hazard. There is not going to be much in there." The real danger, he said, was to workers unknowingly exposed from the 1950s to the 1970s, when plutonium contamination was kept secret by plant operators. The government revealed in 1999 that plants in Piketon, Ohio; Paducah, Ky.; and Oak Ridge, Tenn., had handled recycled uranium containing plutonium, neptunium and technetium-99, all of which are highly toxic. "In those plants, we found trace elements in the equipment," Quigley said. "The source of the (munitions) contamination, as best we understand it now, were the plants themselves." Countries that sent peacekeepers to Bosnia and Kosovo have recently been looking for links between the depleted uranium ammunition fired by U.S. warplanes and illnesses later contracted by veterans. Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the European Parliament have called for a moratorium on using the ammunition. Australia is testing its soldiers for radioactive exposure. Italy is studying the illnesses of 30 Balkans veterans, seven of whom died of cancer, including five cases of leukemia. Germany sent troops to a former military compound in Bosnia to measure radiation, and reported finding no indication that plutonium was present in the ammunition found there. NATO said Wednesday that its special committee on depleted uranium has found no link between the armor-piercing ammunition and cancer among peacekeeping troops. The committee was informed about the plutonium traces, Quigley said. Depleted uranium munitions were employed during NATO's 78-day air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, and in Bosnia during 1994 and 1995. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 18 TEMELIN MISHAPS RENEW OPPOSITION News: The Prague Post Online WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2001 Turbine problem prompts delay, inspection demands Temelin is again where it least likes to be in the news. Turbine problems shut down the nuclear power plant in south Bohemia, whose opponents include environmentalist forces in Germany and Austria, two nations whose overall support is vital if the Czech Republic is to enter the European Union. Vibrations in steam pipes in what plant officials stressed was the non-nuclear area of the complex led to the precautionary closure, while technicians worked to pinpoint the problem. "The series of failures in the recent weeks raises fears that not only the turbine is faulty, as other parts of the plant show shortcomings as well," said Ulrike Sima of the Austrian Social Democrats Party (SPOe). Non-nuclear Austria has been especially critical of the plant, which is 60 kilometers (37 miles) from its northern border. The incident made it unclear if Temelin, nearing 30 percent of its capacity, could keep to a schedule that calls for it to reach full operation by spring. The turbine was expected to undergo up to three weeks of tests. At full speed, the plant is expected to provide 40 percent of the nation's electrical energy. So far, about 100 billion Kc ($2.6 billion) has been spent on the plant, a hybrid of 1980s Soviet technology and late 1990s Western upgrades. Since starting operation last autumn, Temelin has endured fierce opposition from environmental groups in Austria and Germany, with experts under EU supervision expected to provide a safety study at Vienna's request. According to plant director Frantisek Hezoucky, Temelin was scheduled for a routine shutdown when its two reactor blocks reached 45 percent of full capacity, within days of the turbine woes. "Due to [the turbine] complications ... we decided to do it earlier, " Hezoucky told The Prague Post. The decision to halt operations was made by plant owner CEZ, the Czech power utility, and subcontractor Skoda Energo, which maintains the turbine. Repairs and tests are expected to wind up by Feb. 5. State Office of Nuclear Safety (SUJB) Chairwoman Dana Drabova said technicians could now address both the problem and go through with the planned checks. "If [CEZ] manages to do everything, it will not have to repeat the steps after output reaches 45 percent and will not have to shut down the reactor again," she said. EXCESSIVE SCRUTINY Hezoucky, a staunch defender of the plant against both diplomatic and activist criticism, again insisted Temelin had been demonized. "Do you know any other nuclear power plant with such open and frank publicity? Comparable nuclear power plants had even more problems, " he said, noting that similar vibrations have occurred with large nuclear turbines in the United States and Western Europe. CEZ supported such contentions by revealing that Temelin's sister plant, Dukovany, suffered 32 reactor shutdowns leading up to its 1987 completion. While Dukovany has remained free of serious problems since then, activists say the two plants cannot be compared. Opponents of Temelin insist it should not be reactivated before the EU's planned "environmental impact assessment." Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel said the suspension presented an ideal opportunity to conduct inspections under EU supervision. Schussel and Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman signed an agreement Dec. 12 in Melk, Austria, in which both sides agreed that European officials would monitor a safety study. Disagreements over the plant had undermined relations between the countries. The turbine problem wasn't Temelin's first technical gaffe. There was a turbine valve failure Dec. 22, an automatic reactor shutdown during Jan. 7 testing and a small oil fire Jan. 12. A spokesman said none of the incidents threatened nuclear safety. Safety concerns have prompted widespread demonstrations, including repeated blockades of Austrian-Czech border crossings from September into December. About a dozen anti-Temelin protesters carried a coffin outside Schussel's Vienna office Jan. 16. "Stopping the fission reaction for 18 days is not a solution," said Eva Marsalkova of the International Anti-Atomic Movement. Activists also demanded that the Czech Republic's attempts to join the EU be linked to Temelin, but the Melk agreement appeared to end that possibility. Still, opponents were resolute in their call for an increased moratorium on reactor operation. "Now it is the right opportunity for a longer outage of the reactor and the carrying out of the tests which have been agreed on [in Melk], " said Andrea Paukovits, spokeswoman for the environmental group Global 2000. The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have ***************************************************************** 19 Norway concerned over plans for shipment of nuclear waste The Norway Post - Doorway to Norway 24. Januar 2001 The Norwegian Foreign Office has expressed concern over plans for the transport of high grade nuclear waste along the Norwegian coast. (Our report yesterday). ARussian shipping line on Wednesday confirmed that negotiations are underway for such shipments from France and Great Britain to Japan. The Murmansk Shipping Company says a test trip may take place already this summer, accompanied by a Russian nuclear powered icebreaker. The Foreign Office has contacted Russian authorities, but this is apparently a private venture, NRK reports. It is the Japanese nuclear industry which wants to transport so-called HLW-waste from the cracking of plutonium in France and Great Britain, according to the Danish news agency Ritzau. The plan calls for the ships to take the Arctic lane, along the coast of Norway, past the Murmansk, along the coast of Siberia to Japan. A Russian nuclear driven ice-breaker will precede each freighter, according to Greenpeace. Greenpeace Norway demands that Norwegian authorities react strongly to these plans. (NRK) Rolleiv Solholm ***************************************************************** 20 Boxer protests soil transport Thursday, January 25, 2001 BY ERIK N. NELSON STAFF WRITER Saying it poses an "unacceptable risk" to public health, Sen. Barbara Boxer urged the nation's new energy secretary on Wednesday to halt the shipment of radioactive soil from Simi Valley's Rocketdyne facility to a Kern County dump. "In recognition of the clear danger to public health posed by radioactive contamination, I ask you to reconsider the department's new position and undertake a comprehensive review of low-level radioactive waste disposal policies," the Democratic senator from California wrote in a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham dated Wednesday. On Monday, Boeing, Rocketdyne's parent company, began transporting nearly 800 truckloads of chemically and radioactively tainted soil from Rocketdyne's former nuclear facilities in Simi Valley through West Valley residential neighborhoods to the Safety-Kleen Buttonwillow Hazardous Waste Disposal Facility. The landfill, 27 miles west of Bakersfield, is licensed for hazardous, or chemical waste, but not for radioactive waste. Anti-nuclear activists say the dirt should instead go to a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Utah. Energy Department spokesman John Belluardo said the department was drafting a response to Boxer's letter, and reiterated that the material is classified as hazardous because it contains toxic chemicals - - not dangerously radioactive material. "The state environmental agencies agree with the Department of Energy that it is hazardous waste, and therefore it is appropriate to ship the waste to that facility," Belluardo said. ***************************************************************** 21 Nuclear Waste Ships May Sail Arctic Seas Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001. Japanese power companies are considering shipping radioactive waste from Europe to Japan through Russia's northern seas, a Russian official said Wednesday. The international environmental group Greenpeace says the project is a nightmare scenario: a Soviet-era nuclear icebreaker crashing through the ice, followed by a ship carrying radioactive materials through the fragile Arctic. Alexander Ushakov of the Transport Ministry said plans for such shipments have been under discussion for a year. However, the Japanese consortium interested in the route denied it was involved in any negotiations but said it was working with a Russian concern on a feasibility study. Shigeki Okada, spokesman for Japan's Federation of Electric Power Companies, refused to elaborate. In an interview broadcast by the Norwegian state radio network NRK, Vladimir Blinov of the Murmansk Shipping Co. also said that talks were under way. He said a test run, which would not involve any waste on board, was planned for this summer, with shipping to begin in 2002. NRK said he refused to discuss details of the talks. "There are such negotiations, such positions, but nothing more," Blinov said in English. "In principle, it is good business." News of the negotiations, which was first reported by Japan's Kyodo news agency, comes as the government is seeking ways to increase exploitation of the northern sea route, which proponents say is the fastest and cheapest route between Europe and Asia. Russia has the largest fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, which are operated by the Murmansk Shipping Co., but aside from shipments by Norilsk Nickel, the route is largely unused. It also comes as the government is pushing through legislation that would allow Russia to import spent nuclear fuel for storage. That plan has been met with outrage from environmentalists, who were no more pleased about the shipping plan. Igor Forofontov, nuclear campaign coordinator of the Moscow office of Greenpeace, said the northern sea route was a particularly dangerous way to ship nuclear waste. "The northern sea route is a tough waterway, and sailors who navigated it were always called heroes," he said. The Japanese companies and their European partners have been shipping waste since 1995 as part of a deal to reprocess spent uranium and plutonium from Japan at La Hague in France and Sellafield in Britain. The resulting mixed oxide nuclear fuel and the high-level waste that is a by-product of the process are then shipped back to Japan. So far, two routes have been tried — through the Panama Canal and around the tip of South America. Both were met with protest by the countries along the routes. Caribbean states, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Australia and other South Pacific countries have protested the shipments, forcing the Japanese to look for other routes. A shipment launched Jan. 19 and set to travel around South Africa is also expected to meet with strong opposition, said Tobias Muenchmeyer, a nuclear campaigner at Greenpeace International, speaking by telephone from Berlin.(AP, MT) ***************************************************************** 22 State Angry at Decision To Halt Nuclear Transport F.A.Z. - English Version BERLIN. The Baden-Württemberg state government accused German Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin on Wednesday of failing to uphold the law with his order to suspend shipments of nuclear waste from the Neckarwestheim atomic plant to the interim waste storage facility in Ahaus, North Rhine-Westphalia. Activists had vowed to disrupt any resumption of the controversial transports. Ulrich Müller, the state's Christian Democratic Union environment minister, said it would be "against the law" to leave the used nuclear rods inside the Baden-Württemberg facility. He said the plant had official permission to store only 786 rods, "but this number is being raised by 114 by Trittin without any approval process." The environmental affairs spokesman for the CDU's parliamentary group in the state parliament, Peter Paziorek, alleged "legal arbitrariness." On Monday, leaders of Mr. Trittin's party, Alliance 90_The Greens, agreed to the resumption of "essential" transports as a quid pro quo for the government's earlier decision to phase out nuclear energy. But dissidents in the party have vowed to block any further transports, which have often required massive police escorts in the face of determined demonstrators. (AFP) Jan. 24, 2001 ;Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 Capping Lab Dump Debated ˙˙˙ Wednesday, January 24, 2001 Journal Staff Writer State environmental regulators do not believe a Sandia National Laboratories landfill poses a risk to the environment or public health, and capping it rather than digging up its radioactive contents "may be an appropriate measure," a state official said at a public meeting Tuesday. A final decision will be up to state Environment Secretary Peter Maggiore, but the Environment Department staff reviewing the landfill issue believes there is no radioactive or chemical contamination in the ground water beneath Sandia's Mixed Waste Landfill, said department official Will Moats. Moats' comments came at the first of two Albuquerque public meetings this week being held by the Environment Department to hear public comment on the controversial landfill, an old dump southeast of the Albuquerque airport containing radioactive and chemical waste. More than 150 people came to Tuesday night's meeting, with public comment split between those who think it should be cleaned up and those who think the landfill is not a risk. Sandia and the Department of Energy would like to leave the waste in place, putting a soil cap over the landfill to keep rainwater from soaking in and carrying off the waste. Capping the landfill requires state Environment Department approval, and Maggiore said this week's meetings were being held to solicit public comment before a final decision is made. "I know there's been a lot of interest and a lot of concern by folks about the Mixed Waste Landfill," Maggiore said at the start of Tuesday's meeting. Sue Dayton, leader of Citizen Action, a group pushing for cleanup, disagreed with Moats' characterization, calling the landfill a "leaking toxic waste dump." A second public meeting will be held Thursday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Mountain View Community Center, 201 Prosperity SE. Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Tauzin demands records on US nuclear labs contract / Media Central / 01/23/2001 19:41 CST 4225 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City, MO 64111 816-300-0300 WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - The chairman of the House Energy Committee on Tuesday demanded records related to a new contract keeping the University of California as the manager of U.S. nuclear weapons labs cited for security lapses. The Energy Department signed the contract that extended by three years to 2005 the university's management of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California. The contract was signed last Thursday amid the final flurry of activities before President Clinton left office. In a letter to Energy Undersecretary for Nuclear Security Gen. John Gordon dated Monday, Tauzin chastised the Energy Department for extending the contract without more review. Gordon's spokesman had no immediate comment. The committee would likely hold a hearing on the contract, Tauzin said and asked for copies of the final contract, draft versions, and records related to the contract decision. ``Should you fail to timely provide these requested materials, I will not hesitate to issue a subpoena compelling their production,'' Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican, said. A separate letter requesting the same information was sent to the University of California. Tauzin noted that he had asked the department to delay signing the contract until Congress and the new administration had been fully briefed on proposed changes. The Los Alamos lab was rocked by several security scandals in the past two years, including former scientist Wen Ho Lee who pleaded guilty to downloading nuclear secrets onto an unclassified computer. In another incident, two computer hard drives containing nuclear secrets disappeared, but later turned up behind a copy machine. Tauzin in a separate letter asked Gordon for information related to an Energy Department official's recommendation that a Notice of Violation be issued to the University of California due to nuclear safety violations at Los Alamos. The alleged violations included one worker being exposed to radiation 18 times higher than the dose that should not be exceeded in a year, a spokesman for Tauzin said. ^REUTERS@ c 2000 Media Central, an IndustryClick community. All rights ***************************************************************** 2 Debate about health risks of depleted uranium turns attention to Lake City Ammunition Plant RELATED SITES: BY JOE ROBERTSON - THE KANSAS CITY STAR DATE: 01/24/01 22:15 The alarm about depleted uranium in the debris-strewn battlefields in the Balkans and the Persian Gulf is turning many eyes back to potential dangers as close as the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in eastern Jackson County. The presence of depleted uranium is nothing new at Lake City. The Army in 1986 cleaned two buildings in which munitions with depleted uranium had been manufactured and shaped. It has been cleaning contaminated areas around a pair of firing ranges since 1993, records show. Officials at a public hearing Tuesday at Lake City assured the community that the depleted uranium remaining at Lake City presents no urgent health risk to people on the plant grounds or in the surrounding area. Still, the news from foreign shores and questions surrounding plant records prior to the 1980s had some onlookers feeling uncertain about the government's response. Scientists are always gathering new information about the short- and long-term health effects of waste buried in the past, said Greg Perry, a member of a citizens advisory board that is overseeing the cleanup at Lake City and held Tuesday's meeting. He said the communities around the ammunition plants should not let down their guard. "It seems to me, with all this hazardous waste, anybody who lives in this area ought to be involved and asking the right questions, " Perry said. Depleted uranium refers to the leftover material when the fissionable uranium that is used in making bombs is removed. The depleted uranium, which is still radioactive, is heavier than lead and has been used in recent years as the core of various munitions that are typically designed to penetrate the armor of tanks. It is what happens when these munitions explode and scatter airborne dust that has drawn international attention. Some NATO nations have given soldiers on peacekeeping missions in the Balkans leave to return home if they are concerned about depleted uranium. Veterans groups for soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf War have been blaming depleted uranium for long-term illnesses, including leukemia and other cancers. The Department of Defense says there is no clear link that depleted uranium caused the illnesses. Army officials say health concerns at Lake City do not compare to the concerns on battlefields. Lake City has not produced or test- fired any munitions with depleted uranium, or DU, since the mid-1970s, officials say. "It's important to understand, we have never produced any ammunition with DU that was used in the Balkans or the Persian Gulf," said Col. Ronald Alberto, the commander at Lake City. Mitchell Sherzinger, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' project manager at Lake City, said depleted uranium ranked well below other compounds at Lake City in potential health risks to the public. "The biggest threat would be if it got in the groundwater," he said. "We monitor it, and we don't see it." While plant officials say they have found documents outlining precautions the Army took in handling the radioactive material during the '60s and '70s, the full extent of health risks incurred from that era remains unclear. "We'll research," said the plant's contract operations officer, Bill Melton, while addressing residents at the hearing. "We can do the math and science and find an answer." Perry suggested that the community keep watch as the cleanup continued, in light of the fact that "all these people on other shores are getting pretty concerned about it." To reach Joe Robertson, call (816) 234-7806 or send e-mail to JROBERTSON@KCSTAR.COM. All content © 2001 THE KANSAS CITY STAR ***************************************************************** 3 Science Murky on Health Risk From Depleted Uranium WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24 5:47 PM ET By Andrew Stern CHICAGO (Reuters) - Does depleted uranium pose a cancer risk, or is it a benign legacy of modern warfare? Many scientists believe the low-level radiation emitted by depleted munitions in the Balkans and the Gulf War, is too weak to be carcinogenic. But while most dismiss the ``Balkans Syndrome'' cancer scare among peacekeeping troops patrolling old battlegrounds, they say a more immediate concern is kidney damage from ingesting the metal, which is denser and heavier than lead. Close monitoring of 63 US Gulf War veterans wounded by ''friendly fire'' show the depleted uranium (DU) shrapnel in their bodies that surgeons could not remove has yet to cause any cancers. While the veterans have high levels of uranium in their urine, none as yet has suffered kidney damage or cancer, nor have they fathered children with birth defects, said Dr. Kelley Brix, deputy chief of research and development for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The most common scientific argument made against the existence of Balkans syndrome is that the radiation from DU munitions have added only 1% to background radiation normally absorbed from the ground, food and other sources. ``Whether we like it or not we live in a sea of uranium. What the soldiers were exposed to is much lower than the naturally occurring level,'' said John Boice, scientific director of the International Epidemiology Institute near Washington and an expert on radiation exposure. But he was speaking before traces of highly radioactive plutonium were detected in DU munitions, reigniting the furor. Scientists say it is difficult to gauge the risks from DU in the Gulf War because of simultaneous exposures to a veritable ''toxic soup'' in the battlefields. Possible exposure to chemical and biological weapons, smoke from Kuwaiti oil well fires, an array of powerful pesticides and the controversial vaccines and anti-nerve gas pills administered to soldiers have all been blamed for a range of ailments collectively known as Gulf War syndrome. LAB RESULTS PROMPT WORRIES Even the most sanguine scientists say more research is needed to clarify laboratory findings that reveal genetic abnormalities in cultured human cells exposed to DU. ``Depleted uranium is a transforming agent to cells in cell cultures...(causing) measurable genomic instability,'' said Alexandra Miller, a scientist at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Genetically damaged cells can die, get repaired by the body's enzymes or replicate wildly and grow into a tumor. Exposed cells may exhibit abnormalities after dividing only twice, or after 40 divisions, Miller said. ``It's the offspring that manifest the damage and it is measured primarily in alpha particle exposures and not as readily with gamma.'' Gamma radiation is emitted by more highly radioactive uranium-235, one of the isotopes separated from natural uranium for use in nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. The relatively small gamma particles can pass through the body. In contrast, depleted uranium, which makes up more than 99% of natural uranium and is left over after the more radioactive isotopes are extracted, is primarily an alpha particle emitter. The relatively large alpha particles, which were compared to basketballs rolling on a billiard table, are blocked quickly and cannot even penetrate clothing or skin. But DU could gain entry to the body through the lungs. Upon impact, shards from pulverized DU ammunition catch fire and burn, leaving an extremely fine dust that can be inhaled. Based on animal studies, DU is highly soluble once inside the body, and can spread to the organs or to bones including the skull, Miller said. It is not clear how inhaling DU that has been oxidized by fire might react inside the body. Higher-than-normal lung cancer rates among uranium miners, especially smokers, is blamed on years of inhaling radon gas that permeates underground shafts, Boice said. A product of decaying uranium, radon gas decays much faster than DU, meaning it emits many more alpha particles. ``The radioactivity is indeed less (in DU versus radon), but on the other hand an alpha is an alpha. If it traverses a cell it causes the same type of damage,'' Miller said. NO HEALTH EFFECTS SEEN IN URANIUM PROCESSORS Boice pointed to piles of evidence accumulated from uranium processing workers that reveals little risk of cancer even after years of inhaling uranium dust, which is referred to as ``yellow cake'' in the industry for its sweet taste. ``These (uranium processing) workers have ingested or inhaled uranium since the early days of the (1940s-era) Manhattan Project and have demonstrated no health effects, either in terms of cancer or kidney damage,'' Boice said. Miller, Boice and other scientists agree that the dozen leukemia cases among European peacekeepers serving in the Balkans cannot be blamed on DU exposure because the illness requires at minimum two years to develop. But Boice and Miller disagree about whether DU can migrate to the bone marrow, where leukemia originates. Iraq has blamed post-Gulf War outbreaks of cancer and birth defects on what it terms NATO ``cancer bombs.'' Doug Rokke, an environmental physicist involved in Defense Department research into DU and assigned to clean up Gulf War vehicles hit by friendly fire, insists he and other members of his team have been sickened by DU exposure. Rokke termed government denials a ``massive coverup.'' In his battle to win government medical care for himself and his colleagues, he said their illnesses were a product of the ``toxic mess'' left from the 1990-91 war. ``We have cancer, respiratory problems, birth defects, rashes, kidney problems, eye problems and immune system problems to mention only a few of those who were exposed to depleted uranium,'' Rokke said. ***************************************************************** 4 University Cited for Nuclear Breach January 24, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP)--The Department of Energy said Wednesday it had cited the University of California for violations of nuclear safety rules at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The citation, listing several infractions, detailed an incident in March in which eight workers were exposed to airborne plutonium during a leak. Investigators said the mishap could have been prevented. "Up to three workers may have received exposures that exceeded the annual regulatory limit set for this work; one worker's exposure has been estimated at over five times the annual limit," the department said in a news release. The citation claimed plutonium was released when a worker disturbed a loose connection in an airtight device that allows workers to handle hazardous materials without being exposed to radiation. By law, the university and the lab are exempt from fines. "Our institution will take the necessary steps to correct safety deficiencies," said Los Alamos director John Browne. Lab spokesman John Gustafson refused to provide details about what measures could be taken against the university, which has until Feb. 19 to refute the claims. The Energy Department did not return calls seeking further comment. ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 5 EU urged to probe U.K. nuclear sub - CNN.com - January 25, 2001 Tension increases between Spain and Britain over HMS Tireless BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters)--The European Ombudsman said on Thursday that it had asked the European Commission to launch an inquiry into the possible risks posed by a damaged British nuclear submarine moored in Gibraltar. HMS Tireless, which sprang a leak in the cooling system of its nuclear reactor, has been anchored in the British colony since last May despite protests from nearby Spanish communities, irritating ties between Madrid and London. "The inquiry should allow the Commission to establish whether the situation contravenes relevant EU law, in particular several directives on the protection of the public against radiation risks," the Ombudsman's office said in a statement. The European Commission has limited powers in dealing with such matters. Its main role is ensuring that the public is adequately informed about health protection measures to be applied in the case of a radiological emergency. The Commission has already requested and received information from Britain on the state of the Tireless and is now analysing the data. Thursday's statement said the Ombudsman had made his request to the Commission after receiving a complaint from his counterpart in Spain's Andalusia region adjacent to Gibraltar. The Ombudsman is an independent watchdog appointed by the European Parliament to monitor malpractices within the EU. On Wednesday, Spain's foreign ministry said the British Royal Navy had indicated it would need about two months to finish repairing the submarine. Both the Spanish and British governments insist that the submarine poses no health threat and London says moving the ship would be risky. Copyright 2001 [*]Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. RELATED STORIES: -=- [PREFORMATTED] ***************************************************************** 6 NATO Finds Uranium No Link to Cancer January 24, 2001 ASSOCIATED PRESS BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)--A special committee still has found no link between armor-piercing munitions using depleted uranium and cancer among peacekeeping troops who served in the Balkans, NATO said Wednesday. The 19-member alliance provided concerned nations with detailed maps of Bosnia and Kosovo pinpointing air strikes in which 30mm depleted uranium rounds were fired by American aircraft. The maps also were made available on NATO's Web site. Depleted uranium, a slightly radioactive heavy metal, is used in anti-armor munitions because of its high penetrating power. U.S. forces fired weapons containing depleted uranium in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, and in 1999, NATO fired the weapons during its 78-day bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. Public concern about the munitions has swept Europe in recent weeks as various nations have reported cancer cases among soldiers sent to the Balkans as peacekeepers. NATO's Ad Hoc Committee on Depleted Uranium was created Jan. 10 as a clearinghouse for information about possible health risks associated with the munitions. It has met twice, Jan. 16 and Tuesday. "To date, no nation has found evidence of an increase in incidence of illness among peacekeepers in the Balkans compared with the incidence of illness among armed forces not serving in the Balkans," said Daniel Speckhard, the panel's chairman. "None of the nations reported finding a health link between health complaints of personnel employed in the Balkans and depleted uranium munitions." Scientists say depleted uranium has about 40 percent of the radiation of natural uranium, which itself is not a health hazard. But since Italy started studying the illnesses of 30 Balkans veterans--seven of whom died of cancer, including five cases of leukemia--more than a dozen nations have been testing soldiers serving or having returned from the Balkans. None have found any traces of depleted uranium, Speckhard said. A number of other nations have sent teams to the Balkans to analyze the environment for health risks. To date, there has been no indication of increased level of radiactivity at any of the sites tested. NATO spokesman Mark Laity said the alliance itself was not conducting any investigation, though a number of member countries are. The ad hoc committee is compiling and sharing that information as it comes in. NATO acknowledged last week that the depleted uranium used in allied munitions contains trace amounts of plutonium, a highly radioactive element. But it said these traces were so small they "do not add to the low-level health risks." ALL CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2001 LAS VEGAS SUN, INC. ***************************************************************** 7 We will use uranium again - CNN.com - NATO chief: January 24, 2001 A German team measure radiation levels in Kosovo ATHENS, Greece--NATO will use depleted uranium (DU) shells in the future if its soldiers are at risk, a high-ranking NATO official has said. NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Joseph Ralston said on Wednesday it would be "irresponsible" not to fire DU-tipped weapons if his soldiers came under attack. Some NATO countries fear a link between the DU munitions fired during the Kosovo crisis in 1999 and subsequent cases of cancer-related illnesses among their soldiers, dubbed "Balkans syndrome." Ralston was speaking as NATO prepared for a briefing on a DU study by its ad hoc committee. It also coincides with a four-member team of experts from the World Health Organisation visiting Kosovo to collect information on the possible exposure of civilians to DU and other environmental pollutants. Erik Schouten, head of the WHO office in Kosovo said: "This mission is here to look at the civilian population in Kosovo and the internationals working here"--and not with the military personnel in the region. NATO's Ralston is in Greece on a two-day visit to discuss the use of DU weapons, and the general Kosovo situation, with defence officials and the Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou. After the meeting he said: "I have a responsibility to protect the soldiers in Kosovo. "In the unlikely event that KFOR soldiers or citizens were attacked tonight by a tank I would be irresponsible not to use depleted uranium." NATO has repeatedly said armour-piercing DU bullets were not related to leukaemia or other health problems. A NATO chief U.S. Admiral James Ellis said: "Research over decades, in many nations, has failed to establish such a linkage." But he confirmed that "very, very small trace amounts" of plutonium had been identified in some depleted uranium rounds--"so small as to add nothing to the danger or the risk associated with that." January 22, 2001 January 22, 2001 January 22, 2001 January 20, 2001 January 16, 2001 January 15, 2001 ***************************************************************** 8 UN discussing DU in Sarajevo BBC News | AMERICAS | Thursday, 25 January, 2001, 08:25 GMT A two-man team from the United Nations Environment programme is going to Sarajevo today Thursday for discussions on determining levels of depleted uranium left behind from NATO bombing. Several European countries including Italy, Portugal and France have reporterd a higher incidence of cancer among soldiers who served in the Balkans and were exposed to munitions incorporating depleted uranium. NATO has always insisted that there is no significant risk to health from using such bombs and shells. Allied forces dropped the greatest concentration of DU ammunition on the town of Hadzici, near Sarajevo, where the Bosnian Serb army had a weapons depot. Most of the Serbs from Hadzici are now living in the town of Bratunac, in eastern Bosnia, and doctors there have reported a greatly increased incidence of cancer-type illnesses. ***************************************************************** 9 Nato ready to use DU again in Kosovo ISSUE 2071 Thursday 25 JANUARY 2001 BY MICHAEL SMITH, DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT NATO's senior military commander insisted yesterday that his troops would use depleted uranium ammunition in Kosovo if they came under attack, despite a campaign to brand it dangerous. General Joseph Ralston, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said: "I have a responsibility to protect the soldiers in Kosovo." Although Nato had no need at present to use depleted uranium because there was no fighting, senior officers were willing to order its use, he said. "In the unlikely event that Kfor soldiers or citizens were attacked tonight by a tank, I would be irresponsible not to use depleted uranium." His comments came after a meeting with George Papandreou, the Greek Foreign Minister, in Athens. Greece is among a number of European countries concerned about possible health risks from DU ammunition force. Nato admitted that it would not be surprised if traces of highly radioactive plutonium and uranium 236 were found in Kosovan soil, but said it did not see that as a cause for concern. A spokesman said: "We're not predicting it but we would not be surprised. Neither would we be worried." The traces would be too small to "add in any way to the existing low-level health risk". He said a committee of 50 nations hastily set up by the alliance two weeks ago had found no evidence to support claims that the ammunition, which Nato says is the most efficient means of penetrating modern tank armour, could cause cancer. America admitted that the DU rounds in use by its A10 tankbuster aircraft still contained dirty depleted uranium, tarnished by traces of plutonium introduced during the manufacturing process. The Pentagon said the batches of depleted uranium used in US rounds had come from two American factories which were reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. A spokesman said: "In these plants we found elements in the equipment itself that would have produced these trace elements in the depleted uranium as it was processed through those plants." The plutonium and other trace elements would still be in the ammunition because America had not made any new DU ammunition since then, he said. But he insisted that there was no risk. He said: "If you would inhale one-millionth of an ounce of depleted uranium that contained levels of plutonium found in our studies, this would result in you inhaling 1/23rd of a quadrillionth of a gramme of plutonium. We have seen nothing in our studies that would indicate that this has more than an insignificant amount of impact on either personal health or the environment." shells uranium poisoning ***************************************************************** 10 NATO: 50 Countries See No Depleted Uranium Illness THURSDAY JANUARY 25 10:16 AM ET By Douglas Hamilton BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A committee of 50 nations hastily set up by so far to support claims that depleted uranium (DU) munitions can cause cancer, NATO says. Soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the NATO-led missions in Bosnia and Kosovo--where US aircraft fired some 40,000 DU shells--were no sicker than those who had not, committee chairman Daniel Speckhard told a news conference. NATO spokesman Mark Laity said Wednesday that it was ``quite possible'' that tiny traces of highly radioactive plutonium and uranium 236 would turn up in Balkans soil samples now being taken or analyzed by international experts. ``We're not predicting it...we will not be surprised, neither will we be worried,'' he said, stressing that scientific evidence showed the traces were too small to ``add in any way to the existing low- level health risk.'' RISK OF POLITICAL HEART ATTACK The toxic chemical effects of DU, a heavy metal used for its armor- piercing capability, could cause kidney problems if its dust were ingested in sufficient quantities. The mere mention of plutonium contamination, however, can trigger political heart attacks among some of Europe's most environmentally sensitive governments. On Tuesday, in a bid to help European allies allay public fears, got into DU rounds made 30 years ago because of contaminated equipment at a nuclear plant, but amounts were incredibly small and harmless. Plutonium and U-236 would still be in America's DU munitions today, he said, because no new stocks were made since the 1970s. In Athens, NATO's supreme commander Europe, US Air Force General Joseph Ralston, said he would not hesitate to authorize firing DU rounds ``tonight,'' in the unlikely event that peacekeepers or civilians in Kosovo faced a tank attack. NATO says there is simply no evidence that DU's weak radioactivity can cause cancer. That is questioned by some recent studies that suggest ingested DU emits alpha radiation that can cause significant damage to cells. ``To date, no nation has found evidence of an increase in the incidence of illness among peacekeepers in the Balkans compared with the incidence of illness among armed forces not serving in the Balkans,'' Speckhard said. ``None of the nations reported finding a health link between health complaints of personnel employed in the Balkans and depleted uranium munitions,'' he added. Tuesday's meeting of the committee reinforced the report issued last week by NATO's top military medical officers showing no link to cancer, but the committee would continue meeting weekly as ``scores'' of studies--national and multilateral--were carried out. EVERYONE'S TESTING Speckhard said more than a dozen nations had tested their soldiers or sent teams to the region since the DU scare erupted shortly after Christmas. ``To date, based on preliminary findings, there has been no indication of increased levels of radioactivity at any of the sites tested,'' he said. Countries on the DU committee include the 19 NATO members and some 30 partners, most of which have deployed troops in the Balkans missions. showing the target sites in Bosnia and Kosovo where DU munitions had been fired. The alliance was determined to provide ``maximum transparency and openness,'' he said. ***************************************************************** 11 U.N. Officials Discuss Uranium Study in Bosnia THURSDAY JANUARY 25 11:36 AM ET SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Top United Nations ([*]news - [*]web sites) environmental officials arrived in Sarajevo on Thursday to discuss prospects for an investigation of sites in Bosnia hit by depleted in 1995. The leader of the Balkans Task Force of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP), Pekka Haavisto, and another official met U.N. Bosnia envoy Jacques Klein to discuss their future activities in Bosnia, U.N. spokesman told Reuters. UNEP, which has been looking at sites in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo to analyze possible health risks from radiation, announced earlier this month that it wanted to expand its mission to Bosnia as well. Even though NATO and the United States insist there is no evidence of a link between the use of DU weapons and cases of leukemia in troops who have served in the Balkans, UNEP has urged wider uranium studies in the region. ``We do expect the team to conduct the work,'' U.N. spokesman Douglas Coffman said, who added that the investigation was not expected to kick off for several more months. ``The U.N. Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina is offering full assistance to any future work of UNEP in this country,'' Coffman said. A spokesman for UNEP in Geneva confirmed a Bosnia mission was possible in spring, but added it was still not decided. ``We can't do it in winter because of snow, so it couldn't be before May,'' Michael Williams told Reuters. Williams said Haavisto was scheduled to visit Belgrade on Friday to discuss with Yugoslav officials ``a handful of sites over the border from Kosovo'' ahead of a mission to the rest of Serbia, which he said seemed likely to begin around May. Haavisto said earlier his team has collected samples at 11 sites in Kosovo. Pieces of DU ammunition and evidence of beta-radiation were found at eight. Results of analyzes are due in early March. NATO said on Wednesday a committee of 50 nations it set up two weeks ago had found no evidence so far to support claims that depleted uranium munitions can cause cancer. ***************************************************************** 12 Depleted Uranium Rounds Can Cause Cancers in Animals WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24 5:43 PM ET By Todd Zwillich WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Depleted uranium of the same type found in the US military's armor-piercing ammunition has been shown to cause cancer when implanted in the muscles of laboratory animals. The study is the first of its kind to show that depleted uranium, or DU, can cause cancer in animals. Depleted uranium has been the source of a recent controversy centered mostly in Europe, where veterans' groups have blamed DU-containing rounds for leukemia and other illnesses in military personnel who handled munitions during the Balkans War. But the study's investigator cautioned that his results do not yet prove that the radioactive metal is dangerous to humans, or that the type of exposure the experimental rats received is analogous to exposure soldiers may have received in the Balkans. ``It's a warning flag that says we shouldn't ignore this. It doesn't mean that (DU) is carcinogenic to humans,'' Fletcher F. Hahn, a senior scientist at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, told Reuters Health. Hahn and his research team implanted pellets containing 99.25% depleted uranium and 0.75% titanium into the muscles of experimental rats. The combination is identical to the alloy the military uses in its armor-piercing rounds. They implanted a second group of rats with non-radioactive metal pellets to serve as ``controls,'' and injected a third group with a different radioactive suspension. The investigators found that the soft-tissue sarcomas, a form of cancer, were significantly more likely to occur in the muscles of animals that received the DU-containing implants than in control animals. ``The greater the size of the pellets, the greater the number of tumors produced,'' Hahn said during an interview at a research forum The researchers performed the study with a grant from the US Army, which is concerned about the possible effects of depleted uranium once it is inside the body in solid form. As many as 62 American soldiers were wounded with shrapnel from DU rounds when their tanks or Bradley armored vehicles were hit by friendly fire during the Gulf War. That is not the same kind of exposure that has caused controversy in Europe over the past month. There, researchers and veterans are concerned about possible cancers resulting from either handling DU rounds or from inhaling radioactive dust left after rounds penetrate armor and vaporize. So far none of the American men hit with shrapnel has developed cancer, Hahn said. The Army will give his research group $400,000 to $500, 000 over the next 2 years to look into the possible mechanisms of DU-induced sarcomas in the animals, he said. ***************************************************************** 13 Europe call to ban depleted uranium munitions Source: AFP|Published: Thursday January 25, 7:24 AM STRASBOURG, Jan 24 AFP - The Council of Europe today demanded a ban on the production, use, testing and sale of munitions containing depleted uranium or plutonium. The council's parliamentary assembly also asked its executive body, the committee of ministers, to demand that both NATO and the United Nations set up a medical testing program for civilians, service personnel, members of aid organisations and journalists who worked in the Balkans. US forces acting for NATO have used depleted uranium munitions in both Bosnia and Kosovo. Critics have alleged that some of the weapons may also have contained more toxic substances, including plutonium. Service personnel from several European countries have contracted cancer, especially leukaemia, after tours of duty in the region, but the alliance has steadfastly denied any scientific link between the use of DU munitions and the development of illness, including cancer. Copyright © 2000 The Age Company Ltd. Any unauthorised use, ***************************************************************** 14 Depleted uranium: Bosnia tests start BBC News | EUROPE | Thursday, 25 January, 2001, 08:04 GMT [I] There are concerns about the possible effects of DU in Bosnia BY ALIX KROEGER IN SARAJEVO A team of experts from the United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep) arrives in Sarajevo on Thursday, to begin preliminary tests aimed at determining levels of depleted uranium (DU) left behind from Nato bombing. NATO'S DU STRIKES 112 strikes 96 targets attacked 84 targets in Kosovo 10 targets in Serbia 1 target in Montenegro There's growing concern about the possible effects of depleted uranium in Bosnia both on peacekeepers and on the local population. Nato warplanes dropped ten-thousand rounds of depleted uranium ammunition in Bosnia in 1994 and 1995. Soldiers from several troop contributing countries, including Italy, Portugal and France, have fallen ill with what's being called Balkan Syndrome. The Nato-led Stabilisation Force, S-For, has said it has no plans to monitor the effects of DU on Bosnia's civilian population. Unep is now making a visit to Bosnia, after testing soil samples in Kosovo.The full results of those tests will be released in March. The World Health Organisation may also be asked to monitor the health of Bosnian civilians. ILLNESSES Nato dropped the greatest concentration of DU ammunition on the town of Hadzici, near Sarajevo, where the Bosnian Serb army had a weapons depot. [I] Paratrooper Alan Joy served in Bosnia and died of leukaemia Most of the Serbs from Hadzici are now living in the town of Bratunac, in eastern Bosnia. Doctors there have reported a greatly increased incidence of cancer- type illnesses. Out of a 105 people buried last year in Bratunac cemetery, 51 are reported originally to have come from Hadzici. The S-For peacekeeping force, which has done its own soil tests in Hadzici, says DU presents a negligible hazard. Most peacekeepers serve six months in Bosnia. If there is a risk from DU, the population in Hadzici and elsewhere have been exposed for up to five years. ***************************************************************** 15 MOD PUBLISHES COMMENTARY ON DEPLETED URANIUM DOCUMENTS Ministry of Defence BSP;25/01/2001 Category: DEPLETED URANIUM Press Release Number:016/01 nbsp; The MoD today released a series of documents and a commentary clarifying the department's position on the risks associated with depleted uranium (DU). The Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, answering a parliamentary question from Vernon Coaker MP (Gedling), said: "THIS DEMONSTRATES THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE'S DETERMINATION TO BE OPEN AND TRANSPARENT ON THE MATTER." None of the documents released changes the MoD's position on DU. We believe that there were no significant health risks posed to personnel who served either in the Gulf or the Balkans from exposure to DU. However, in recognising the concern over the issue, the MoD is currently consulting with experts to establish an additional appropriate voluntary screening programme for armed forces and civilian personnel who have served in the Balkans or the Gulf. ©Crown Copyright 2000 ***************************************************************** 16 Depleted Uranium Issue a Kremlin Ploy to Spilt NATO ˙˙˙COL. STANISLAV LUNEV WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24, 2001 In the past few weeks, Russia’s government-controlled press has been running a new anti-Western propaganda campaign, harshly criticizing NATO’s military operation against Yugoslavia and accusing the United States and its European allies of using it as a "dumping ground" for depleted uranium (DU). DU, used to enhance the armor-piercing capabilities of shells, has caused leukemia and other diseases among the peacekeeping troops in the Balkans, according to the Russian media. This propaganda campaign is increasing despite the fact that Russian defense officials said they had found no cases of DU-related diseases among the 3,600 Russian military personnel serving in Kosovo. The Moscow press criticizes these Russian experts because in their official statements they fail to see a link between DU and leukemia and other diseases. In this campaign Moscow is using reports from some European countries whose governments are among the leading critics of DU-enhanced weapons. A front-page editorial in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, for example, depicted the DU debate as "the latest example of continental Europe’s struggle to come out from under the yoke of Anglo-Saxon hegemony in security and defense." The Russian press also quotes officials in Greece, where the war against Serbia was deeply unpopular, who said that they were pressured to keep their own concerns about the use of DU quiet by fellow NATO members during and after the war. The government in Athens said that in the wake of reports about potential health risks from DU, some 140 Greek soldiers have asked for permission to return home. The Moscow press also headlined an interview German defense Minister Rudolf Scharping gave to a newspaper in which he criticized U.S. handling of the release of information on the possible dangers of DU munitions. The U.S. had not kept its allies properly informed, the German official told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. In particular, he dismissed a recent statement from Washington that said the relevant information had long been available in full on the Internet. In early February Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev is due to visit the Balkans to hold talks with Yugoslav leaders and inspect Russian peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo, according to Russian news agencies. Russia has been the leading critic of NATO’s military operation against Yugoslavia in 1999, but it subsequently took part in the NATO-led peacekeeping operation. The Russian press recalls that, after getting a nod from former President Boris Yeltsin in June 1999, Russian General Staff Chief General Anatoly Kvashnin ordered a column of paratroopers to proceed through Serbia to the airport of Kosovar’s capital Pristina and occupy it before Western peacekeepers could arrive. At the time this move was very popular in Russia, and many believed that the West had been snubbed and Russian influence in the Balkans enhanced. Today it is obvious that Russian military bravado only heightened Western suspicions and gave Russia no advantage. At present Russian influence in the Balkans and throughout the former Yugoslavia is virtually zero. The Russian press quoted Russia’s Defense Ministry’s Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov as saying Sergeev would discuss Kosovo with Yugoslav military and political leaders, and would visit Russian troops before leaving. He also said Moscow favored lifting a ban on arms sales to Yugoslavia imposed by NATO during the rule of former President Slobodan Milosevic, who was ousted last year. We know that Moscow, which is looking to expand the market for its arms, is interested in resuming ties with Yugoslavia, whose armed forces are equipped with Soviet-designed or Soviet-made weapons. But there is no doubt that the visit of Russia’s top military official to Yugoslavia will also bring on a new wave of anti-Western propaganda in connection with DU. Officially, Moscow is pressing for an international investigation into the possible consequences of the use of DU munitions by the Western alliance in Kosovo and during the 1991 Gulf War. NATO insists there is no proven link between weapons of DU and cancer. But in reality, Moscow is trying to use the so-called Balkans syndrome for achieving its old target – the cultivation of a split between the U.S. and its traditional European friends and allies. It is not a new tactic but it works, and now the alarm over the armor-piercing DU material has exposed rifts in the alliance not seen since the 1999 Kosovo war. And there is no doubt that Kremlin leaders would like to use DU-related questions in future negotiations with NATO officials who, following the practice of the previous U.S. administration, are trying to establish partnership-like relations with Moscow. For example, NATO Secretary- General George Robertson said on Jan. 19 he would visit Moscow next month in a sign of improving ties between Russia and the Western alliance. "I hope to visit Moscow during the week beginning Feb. 19," Robertson said, adding that the trip would cap a steady thaw in ties after the strains of the 1999 Kosovo crisis. "Russia and NATO are not enemies but partners today. We are trying to create a security zone in Europe," he told reporters a couple of days earlier. Of course, the "Balkans syndrome" is not the only sore point used by Kremlin leaders to create a split in NATO. There is also Moscow’s attempt to undermine the idea of the U.S. NMD (Nuclear Missile Defense) among European governments, with Kremlin support of the creation in Europe of a non-NATO military force, and with other problems in the alliance which have arisen over the last eight years. It is very difficult right now to predict the future of NATO, which was, and is currently, a cornerstone of European and international strategic stability. But in the months to come, the future of this alliance will be deeply dependent on the policies of the new Bush administration as it seeks to correct the mistakes made by the Clinton- Gore team during last eight years, and to find a way to fully cooperate with our allies in achieving security for the Western Hemisphere. NewsMax.com [?] Your e-mail address ***************************************************************** 17 Research Indicates Internal Blasts Sank Kursk Thursday, Jan. 25, 2001. By Richard Benke The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Analysis of seismic waves supports conclusions that two onboard explosions, not a collision, destroyed a Russian submarine in August, killing all 118 crew members. The first explosion was relatively small, consistent with a misfiring torpedo aboard the Kursk, according to a report by Arizona and New Mexico researchers published Tuesday in the geophysical journal Eos. That blast was followed about two minutes later by an explosion 250 times larger than the first, the researchers said. Most investigators have said they believed an explosion sank the sub in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12, but Russian researchers have left open the possibility of a collision —possibly with a ship shadowing the sub. < The Eos authors, led by Keith Koper and Terry Wallace of the University of Arizona, say their data were collected by a network of seismic stations used in part to monitor a Russian nuclear test site 805 kilometers from the location of the Kursk sinking. Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists Steve Taylor and Hans Hartse participated in the study. "The main shock is consistent with the explosion of approximately five tons equivalent TNT detonated near, or on, the sea floor," they wrote. That second blast was likely caused by fire from the first blast setting off other torpedo warheads or propellant fuel, Wallace said Tuesday by e-mail from Chile, where he and Koper are doing other research. Divers who entered the sub found two notes written by sailors trapped in a rear compartment after the explosions. One note described 23 crew members as suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning from a fire and the other described how its author was writing by feel in the dark. Taylor said the research team is not suggesting either blast was a nuclear explosion. The report refers only to conventional explosives. In December, an American diver who worked on the Kursk recovery team said damage he saw convinced him the sub blew up. c 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ***************************************************************** 18 Eurotech Successfully Completes EKOR Acceptance Testing For DOE Nuclear Waste Marketplace FAIRFAX, VA, January 24, 2001 - EUROTECH Ltd. has announced that the first EKOR product, EKOR Sealer, has successfully passed a rigorous testing program developed both to define the properties of this unique product and to showcase its performance. Chad Verdi, Eurotech's Chairman, stated, "With the completion of acceptance testing and the business development and engineering team now in place, Eurotech is in position to deliver on the technological promise of EKOR." Don Hahnfeldt, Eurotech's President and CEO said, "Eurotech is poised to enter the multibillion dollar US market for nuclear and environmental clean up and to move rapidly to other major markets outside the United States." Jeff Stephen, Eurotech's Chief Operating Officer explained, "EKOR is a unique family of ultra long life products that provide significant performance benefits such as extreme resistance to radiation damage, resistance to a broad range of chemical environments and outstanding barrier properties that were previously not available. The EKOR family of products addresses a broad spectrum of applications where its multiple forms can be used as sealers, coatings, and waste encapsulation matrices, or foamed into cavities to control airborne contamination." In the coming months Eurotech will roll out the initial members of the EKOR family of products. Eurotech is currently testing and preparing to test four other forms of the EKOR product family - EKOR Coating, EKOR Grout, EKOR Matrix and EKOR Foam. The tests on US fabricated EKOR products are expected to continue confirmation of the years of product development and testing performed by Eurotech's partner the EuroAsian Physical Society. Stephen went on to say that Eurotech developed the EKOR Materials Testing Program in coordination with leading engineering contractors to the US Department of Energy (DOE). The program consisted of tests aimed at defining the properties of the revolutionary material and demonstrating the unique performance of EKOR in tests typically used by the DOE to judge a material's acceptability for project use at its facilities. All tests were performed under a nuclear-grade Quality Assurance program that meets DOE and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requirements. Seven different labs were used for material definition tests that included linear shrinkage/coefficient of thermal expansion, steady state heat flux, mass loss from aging, tensile strength/elongation, and water absorption. The material performance tests included chemical resistance, volatile organic content, permeability, adhesion, weathering, salt spray, ignitability, leachability, aging, compressive strength, and flame spread/smoke development. EKOR Sealer's performance in all tests was excellent, meeting all criteria for top ranking in project application. For example, in the chemical resistance test, separate EKOR Sealer coupons were immersed for 30 days in twenty different liquid solutions ranging in pH from 0.36 to 13.84. In all cases the test coupons of EKOR Sealer coated metal plates emerged without any loss of performance, demonstrating EKOR as an extremely valuable resource for a broad range of environmental challenges to the integrity of the product. In a unique aging test, EKOR Sealer test coupons were thermally conditioned to a simulated age of over 170 years. The conditioned coupons were tested for chemical resistance, tensile strength/elongation and adhesion. Proving EKOR Sealer's ultra long life, the aged coupons completely protected the encapsulated metal plates indicating outstanding integrity and flexibility while meeting the highest standard for coating adhesion. EKOR Sealer is the first EKOR product form to complete acceptance testing. EKOR was developed to encapsulate and "cocoon" nuclear and environmental waste and keep it from the environment. Unlike conventional radiation-resistant geopolymers, EKOR can maintain its superior encapsulating properties for hundreds of years in a severe radiation environment. EKOR Sealer will provide a barrier on irregular, unprepared, corroded, or even wet surfaces. One of the early significant applications for EKOR Sealer is to coat entire nuclear waste containers or to repair existing containers, tanks or drums that are leaking contaminants into the environment. EKOR Sealer's aggressive adhesion properties in combination with superior chemical resistance make it ideal for long term patching of waste containers that range in size from 55- gallon drums to million-gallon tanks. Paul Childress, Eurotech's General Manager, Nuclear and Environmental Division stated, "EKOR Sealer's near term objective is to provide a quick, but long-term solution to the leaky containers that the DOE is managing across its complex. We now have the necessary testing and documentation to generate contracts with the DOE in the first quarter of 2001. Long term, we expect the family of EKOR products to be a significant tool used globally to prevent nuclear and hazardous waste contamination from leaching, dusting or seeping into the environment." EUROTECH Ltd. works with scientists and research institutes in Russia, Israel and other countries to develop and commercialize innovative technologies that have widespread or critical application. For more ***************************************************************** 19 News from Bulgaria Central Europe Online Daily News - By Matilda Nahabedian IN KOSOVO Samples taken by Bulgarian environmental and military experts in Kosovo in order to test for evidence of depleted uranium (DU) contamination have been sent for analysis to the laboratory of the Environment Ministry. The analysis conducted at the laboratory of the Defense Ministry did not reveal any traces of DU contamination, Defense Minister Boiko Noev said. A comprehensive program for taking medical and environmental analysis of DU contamination is being discussed. The Bulgarian servicemen in Kosovo may also be subjected to additional medical check-ups. "Our experts are tackling the problem around the clock," he said. Noev is of the opinion that there are no grounds to doubt the Bulgarian civilian and military experts and the methods used to take samples in Kosovo. "At present none of the countries that have sent a contingent to Kosovo is planning a recall of troops. There are no reasons why we should be thinking about it," he said. PRESENTING BULGARIA'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN BERLIN Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova spoke about Bulgaria's achievements regarding the transition from a controlled to a free market economy at a forum of the European People's Party (EPP) in Berlin on Friday. Mihailova, Vice President of the EPP, also addressed a colloquium on the "New Challenges to the Social Market Economy" held within the framework of the 14th EPP congress. Mihailova said that the transition to democracy and a working market economy was successful because of serious effort. She talked about how Bulgaria has become a model for successful development. While Bulgarians were concerned about their physical survival in the winter of 1996-97, the question now is when exactly Bulgaria will become an EU member. Over 70% of Bulgarians firmly support future EU membership and are eager to see this occur. Most Bulgarians think that since they carried the burden of reforms, they should now see the results, Mihailova added. AN OPENING FOR HODAC, PERHAPS? The National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT) announced a new procedure for appointing a director of the National Radio, after it failed to approve any of the three candidates. The deadline for presenting the new nominations is 19 January. The three rejected candidates—Alexander Velev (current director), Valeri Todorov and Dimitar Dimitrov, failed to satisfy NCRT's criteria, as they lacked vision for the development of the national radio. Any non-profit organization, media or institution may propose a candidate for the post, according to the new rules. FORCED ASSIMILATION UNDER COMMUNISM Five years of archival research by a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) correspondent in Bulgaria has resulted in a documentary film that sheds light on the forced assimilation of ethnic Turks in the 1980s. Reporter Tatiana Vaksberg of Radio Free Europe found documents showing that assimilation was ordered by those at the highest levels. Most Bulgarians saw the evidence for the first time last week when the film aired on national television. The film raises questions about why those in the Communist leadership, who ordered the forced assimilation of some one million Turks, were never brought to justice. Bulgarian judicial authorities say the lack of any documents clearly ordering assimilation has prevented them from convicting anyone. Vaksberg, however, says prosecutors never conducted an extensive search of state archives, the files of the Interior Ministry or the Bulgarian Communist Party. Vaksberg searched the archives and discovered exactly the kind of documents that the courts have said are necessary for convictions. One document from the Interior Ministry archives shows that former Interior Minister Dimitar Stoyanov ordered a campaign in December 1984 to force ethnic Turks in Bulgaria to adopt Slavic names. Stoyanov, who died last year, served as Interior Minister under late Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov from 1973 until 1988. A January 1985 document found by Vaksberg shows that Georgi Atanasov, then secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, also ordered the forced assimilation of ethnic Turks in northern Bulgaria. Atanasov was prime minister at the time of Zhivkov's ousting in November 1989 and continued in this position until the first post-Communist elections in early 1990. Vaksberg did not find any assimilation orders coming directly from Zhivkov himself, but the document of Zhivkov's Interior Minister strongly suggests that Zhivkov was behind the campaign—a position generally accepted by historians. DENIAL ABOUT THE CRIME Vaksberg says there is still much denial in the country about the ethnic cleansing of Turks during the mid-1980s. "I know many people, students, who've never heard about this. I think the country is not yet ready to understand this crime—the dimension of this crime." Zhivkov first deported thousands of alleged ringleaders to Turkey and then gave ethnic Turks the right to emigrate to Turkey. The exodus quickly developed into one of the largest human migrations in post- World War Two Europe. Ankara estimates that about 370,000 people entered Turkey—although some 50,000 later returned to Bulgaria after receiving little support from Turkish authorities. UNITING THE LEFT A new political force was created on 7 January when leaders of four left parties signed a coalition agreement, aiming to win the parliamentary elections, due in June this year. The leaders—Georgi Parvanov of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Petar Agov of the Bulgarian Social Democrat Party, Krastio Petkov of the United Workers' Block and Nikolay Kamov of the Social Democrats signed a political memorandum for the creation of a union called the New Left. BULGARIANS ON TRIAL IN TRIPOLI Emil Manolov, the Bulgarian ambassador in Libya, was assured on Wednesday by the prison authorities that the six Bulgarian medical workers detained in Tripoli were in good health. Five nurses—Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropoulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova and Kristiana Vulcheva, and one doctor, Zdravko Georgiev, have been put on trial for intentionally infecting 393 Libyan children with HIV and for acting in breach of the Libyan norms and traditions. Manolov made his usual Wednesday visit to the male and female wards of the prison where the Bulgarians are held, bringing them food and fruits, crosswords, detergents and medicine as requested. The trial of the six Bulgarians was adjourned for the eighth time as requested by the defense and the next sitting is scheduled for 10 February. After the 6 January sitting, Manolov accompanied Vladimir Sheitanov, the lawyer hired by the defendants' relatives, to the People's Claim Bureau. [*][I]   c 1995-2001 European Internet Network Inc. All ***************************************************************** 20 Tight INEEL budget could hamper cleanups With many projects, the agency has less for nuclear waste IdahoStatesman.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2001 The Associated Press IDAHO FALLS--State and federal watchers question whether the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory can fulfill its promises for cleanups amid an increasing number of priorities. A federal memo announcing a hiring freeze there last week refers to the site's apparent "budgetary problem." While Congress approved a 7 percent increase in cleanup funds this year, the Energy Department did not pass that on to Idaho when assigning money to individual laboratories. Despite upcoming deadlines under Superfund laws and a court-ordered agreement with the state to ship waste to a New Mexico repository, the site's total cleanup budget for this year decreased from $665 million to $625 million. "It's shorter than we would like," said Laurel Hall, natural resources chief for U.S. Rep. Michael Simpson, R-Idaho. In the next year, the INEEL has to significantly increase the number of shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, according to an historic agreement with the state. That project is already behind schedule to ship 3,100 cubic meters by December 2002. Hall said Simpson is looking at forming a coalition of congressmen who represent states with energy facilities to support their activities. "We've got to work together on a coalition with congressionals from other sites, and we've got to share our funding problems. I'm sure we're not the only ones short somewhere." Energy Department officials maintain that while the site has a tight budget this year, funding is adequate to meet cleanup responsibilities. The decrease in cleanup dollars resulted from the way money is assigned to several privatized projects, Energy spokesman Brad Bugger said. Those companies get paid only when they reach certain milestones, so funding levels fluctuate. But Simpson's office is reviewing the most recent figures and sees a shortfall it is concerned about, Hall said. "We have got to have the right kind of funding to meet the settlement agreement," she said. Kathleen Trever, the state's INEEL oversight director, said her office had not received answers to questions about the memo. But the state shares concerns about whether cleanup funding levels will be adequate. The outgoing administration essentially give the labs flat funding until 2006, when certain sites are due to close and money can be distributed. "There are lots of projects that are just ramping up, and that is a concern from the state's perspective to make sure those funding needs get met," Trever said. The INEEL must make a decision on how to clean up 88 acres of buried waste by the end of next year. ***************************************************************** 21 Residents skeptical on DU use 01/ 24/01 The Examiner News: BY DARLA MCFARLAND The Examiner Residents near the Lake City Army Ammunition plant remain skeptical of the Army's claim that depleted uranium poses no threat to people near the plant. "No, I do not believe it one bit," said Nancy Scott, an Independence resident who lives just north of the plant. "If this is anything like other government operations, how can we know that they are telling the truth?" Scott was one of about 20 residents at the quarterly meeting of the Restoration Advisory Board Tuesday night. The crowd was quite a bit larger than the handful that usually attends the meetings. Scott has reason to be skeptical of the Army's explanations. Just last week, Lake City commander Col. Ronald Alberto denied that Lake City ever produced DU penetrator shells. Officials said last night that the plant produced about 3,500 DU penetrator casings but denied that the shells were ever tested or fired at Lake City. Alberto attended Tuesday's meeting by speakerphone from Florida, where he is attending a conference. He was not available for comment this morning. Many residents at the meeting had questions about DU and, in particular, about whether activities at Lake City could have produced airborne DU particles that might have traveled onto surrounding properties. Lake City officials did not have the answer to that question precisely. Bill Melton, the top civilian administrator at Lake City, said he did not know exactly how much of the DU material was recovered from the impact areas, as compared to the amount of material fired. "All we have to go on is the historical records from that period and I have not seen any documentation like that in my review of those documents," Melton said. In other words, the percentage of material that might have vaporized into dust particles is not precisely known. Melton promised to research the matter further before the next RAB meeting March 27. He also offered assurances that what DU remains on the site poses no threat to people around the plant. Representatives of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency echoed those assurances. "We agree with the Army that, as long as there is no one being exposed to the DU, there is not really a threat," said EPA representative Scott Marcus. The DNR representative, Mitchell Scherzinger, said that the state requires careful monitoring of all activities at the plant now, including cleanup projects. Scherzinger said that air tests during a DU cleanup project last year found no airborne DU near the work site. "I believe that when these shells impacted, a very small quantity went airborne. Such a small amount is just not detectable," Scherzinger said. He said any airborne DU would likely not travel far from the impact point because it is such a heavy metal. The assurances offered little comfort to Scott. She worked at Lake City for 11 years, calculating product tests and doing other administrative work, during the 1970s when DU shells were being decommissioned at the plant. Her husband and father-in-law were also employed at Lake City. Scott said her work exposed her to every area of the plant and she now believes that exposure to contaminants is at the root of her chronic health problems. She has already scheduled an appointment with her physician to talk about toxic exposure. "I have been around this place long enough to know that the Army only tells you want they want you to know," Scott said. Greg Perry, a resident member of the RAB, on Tuesday requested that RAB meetings be held every two months. He said he hopes specific answers will be forthcoming at the next meeting. "I think citizens surely have a right to be skeptical," Perry said. "There are so many unknowns out there when you really get into it." To reach Darla McFarland e-mail darlam@examiner.net or call 350-6321. Copyright 2000 The Examiner ***************************************************************** 22 DOE mulls reduction in security Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:16 p.m. on Thursday, January 25, 2001 BY PAUL PARSON Oak Ridger staff Department of Energy officials are evaluating possibly reducing security at two federal facilities. DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt confirmed this morning that the federal agency is facing a budget shortfall as regards security. He could not specify how much the shortfall would be. The shortfall could lead to a reduction in security at the Federal Building and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Wyatt said. A reduction in security would affect Wackenhut Services Inc. DOE awarded Wackenhut a $75 million, three-year contract in September 1999 to provide security at its Oak Ridge facilities. The Oak Ridger was unable to reach Wackenhut officials for a comment this morning. The security contract was expected to save DOE money. But DOE announced in May 2000 that the deal ended up costing the government $10 million more than expected during the first six months. The increased costs were attributed to a variety of factors including the cost of Wackenhut's transition into the role as security provider. Wyatt said DOE is examining the budget shortfall and looking into various areas, including trying to obtain additional funding, to remedy the situation. Wyatt said a resolution is expected soon on the security issue but declined to narrow it down to a specific date. However, Jeff Smith, deputy for operations at ORNL, said this morning that a reduction in security should have no major impact on the lab. He said UT-Battelle, which manages the lab for DOE, plans to make ORNL a more open, campus-like environment. "We won't need as many guards," Smith said. "It won't have an impact on us protecting the lab's assets." [*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 23 Parties weigh in on the issue of modernizing Y-12 Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:17 p.m. on Thursday, January 25, 2001 BY PAUL PARSON Oak Ridger staff Plans for the modernization of the Y-12 National Security Complex are being considered both a good thing for national security and a violation of international disarmament treaties. The Department of Energy recently released a draft site-wide environmental impact statement outlining alternatives for the modernization of Y-12. BWXT Y-12 manages the facility for DOE. The document proposes the construction of a storage area for highly enriched uranium and a special materials complex as part of the plant's modernization. Existing Y-12 facilities for storage of highly enriched uranium are in buildings that are 35 to 55 years old and require significant maintenance and funding to maintain operations and security protocol. Six congressman, including U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, sent a letter this week to DOE supporting the Y-12 modernization and the construction of the new facilities. Similar letters were sent by Oak Ridge Mayor Jerry Kuhaida, Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe and county executives from Anderson, Knox, Loudon and Roane counties. "The national security mission is an integral part of the heritage of the city of Oak Ridge and we are extremely proud of our track record of working closely with [DOE] on all issues related to Y-12, " Kuhaida's letter states. "Certainly modernization of Y-12 is good for Oak Ridge, but more importantly, it is good for our national security." A letter from Anderson County Executive Rex Lynch stated, "While [Y-12] currently operates in a safe and environmentally compliant manner and continues to perform critical defense program missions, it is time to modernize many of [the plant's] facilities and processes." Roane County Executive Ken Yager's letter stated, "The modernization of the Y-12 plant processes and facilities, and the construction of new facilities for some missions, will ensure continued long-term rapid response by Y-12 to its national security role while reducing operating costs and more effectively meeting health, safety and environmental requirements." However, at least one group has already gone on the record in opposition to the plans for Y-12. The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance issued a press release Wednesday afternoon stating its objection to the modernization of Y-12. "DOE's environmental study reveals a plan to build a new $4 billion bomb plant in violation of international treaties and our nation's stated nonproliferation goals," Ralph Hutchinson, coordinator for the Peace Alliance, states in the press release. "The Y-12 [environmental impact statement] is a profoundly dangerous document. A quick reality check shows this document is a Cold War relic. If DOE goes ahead with its plans to build a new bomb plant, we launch a new global arms race. "The Y-12 [environmental impact statement] says activities at Y-12 do not impose increased risks on communities of color even though DOE's own studies show that the predominantly African-American Scarboro [neighborhood], located less than a half a mile from the plant, has highly enriched uranium in the soil and the rest of Oak Ridge does not." Hutchinson also stated that Oak Ridge DOE officials have zero credibility due to the agency's past deception of workers regarding exposures to hazardous materials. DOE officials was to hold two public meetings today focusing on the environmental impact statement. The meetings were scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. in the Cumberland Room of Oak Ridge Mall. DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt this morning said, "The draft environmental impact statement discusses whether there is a need to modernize the production facilities and infrastructure at Y-12 so that we can continue to meet our national security mission. Our preferred alternative is to modernize the aging infrastructure at Y-12 and construct new, more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly facilities. "We expect there to be a wide range of opinions regarding decisions of this magnitude. It is very important for National Nuclear Security Administration to hear comments from the public before making decisions that will affect our ability to remanufacture weapon secondaries in a safe, secure and reliable manner." The National Nuclear Security Administration is a quasi-independent agency within DOE that oversees the nuclear weapons complex. [*][I] All Contents cCopyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************