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                    NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS
 
 1  Russia's Siberia may stop nuclear waste import next year 
 2  Nuclear power play 
 3  WNP-1 study prudent last look at potential
 4  Critics See `Pot Of Gold' In Millstone Close-Up Fund
 5  No stay in Nevada suit against DOE over nuke dump guidelines
 6  Court rejects Nevada appeal of radiation standard
 7  State loses another skirmish in fight against Yucca dump
 8  County may stockpile potassium iodide pills 
 9  Kansai Electric cancels MOX orders
10  EDITORIAL: Creators of basic energy law need to get back to the basics
11  NRC mulls reissue of nuclear plant status report
12  AU: Reactor 'unaffected' by crisis - 
13  Compensation Wish List if Nuclear Dump Comes to Area
14  North Korean delegation ends inspection tour of South nuclear 
15  RWE in talks to buy nuclear power in Bulgaria 
16  Bulgaria: cabinet approves programme on nuclear plant reactors' 

                    NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS
 
 1  THE “NUCLEAR TROOPS” AT “THE STEALTH LAB”
 2  Weapons of Mass Destruction - The Nuclear Bombing of Iraq
 3  Russia to allow US experts to its secret nuclear centres 
 4  Scrapping of Russian nuclear subs held up by Kursk salvage 
 5  UK: Inquiry into 1958 nuclear tests
 6  Restore Funds for Speedy Brookhaven Lab Cleanup
 7  Pilot told to fly through atom bomb cloud Widow of airman who 
 8  Police inquiry into 50s nuclear tests                  
 9  Man to Plead Guilty in Nuclear Case
10  US to Help Russia on Nuclear Control
11  UK's nuclear tests under scrutiny
12  Weapons of mass destruction - going nuclear in Iraq
13  Pasko Sentenced to 4 Years on Treason Charge
14  Nuclear folly clouds India-Pakistan crisis  
15  Flats cleanup may be delayed
16  IAAP events numerous in 2001
17  Nuclear folly clouds India-Pakistan crisis
18  Russian Court Delays Researcher's Spy Case
19  Russian court calls for further inquiry for spy trial

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                     NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES
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 1 Russia's Siberia may stop nuclear waste import next year 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 28, 2001


Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax

Novosibirsk, 28 December: 

The import of nuclear waste to Siberia may stop in 2002, Valeriy 
Denisov, head of the state nuclear safety supervision 
inspectorate's Siberian District, told Interfax on Friday [28 
December].

The inspectorate is checking compliance with safety procedures in 
moving nuclear waste from Bulgaria's Kozloduy station to the 
mining and chemical plant in Krasnoyarsk Territory, he said.

Rods with burning absorbers that are part of fuel elements, but 
are not fuel and pose radiation threats, are reported by the 
Krasnoyarsk media to have been found in nuclear waste containers.

"Until the check is over there is no question of moving new lots 
of nuclear waste to Siberia," Denisov said.

Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 0659 gmt 28 Dec 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter 
*****************************************************************
 2  Nuclear power play 

Business Day (South Africa); Dec 27, 2001

BY JOHN LEDGER AND ROGER WEDLAKE


ROBYN Chalmers (Weighing pros and cons of pebble bed reactor, 
Business Day, December 14) was wrong in writing that proponents 
and adversaries of nuclear power agree that there is no solution 
yet for handling spent nuclear fuel. Proponents know that there 
are no technical obstacles, only political and legislative ones. 
She also perpetuates the Earthlife Africa myth that “No 
country in the world has found an acceptable plan for 
this…” 

On May 18 this year, Finland's parliament ratified a decision to 
build a spent nuclear-fuel storage facility. We predict that many 
other countries will follow, as soon as the 50-year period for 
on-site storage at power stations draws to an end. We object to 
members of Earthlife Africa being referred to as 
“environmentalists”. They are radical antinuclear 
activists, with funding and technical resources from overseas to 
stop the development of the pebble bed reactor in SA by whatever 
means they can. If Earthlife activists were at all concerned 
about the environment, they would acknowledge that the threat of 
global climate change, resulting from the burning of fossil 
fuels, poses a far greater challenge to human civilisation and 
biodiversity than the nuclear power industry.

While we share the dreams of true environmentalists to generate 
most of our electricity from renewable sources, unless waking 
giants like China and India are given an alternative, they will 
burn their fossil fuel reserves at increasing rates and rapidly 
accelerate global climate change. 

If Earthlife's zealots were at all interested in the environment, 
they would have to agree with Prof James Lovelock, the creator of 
the “Gaia theory”, who had the following to say: 
“I would like to see a genuine drive for energy efficiency, 
a full-scale use of renewable resources and the proper use of 
nuclear power as a way to offset the global greenhouse. Nuclear 
power should be considered as a useful way to fill the gap 
between our fossil fuel energy supply and that from renewable 
resources. Above all, remember that we have little, if any, time 
left in which to make the replacement.” John Ledger 
President Roger Wedlake Consultant Endangered 

Wildlife Trust Johannesburg

All Material Subject to Copyright
*****************************************************************
 3  WNP-1 study prudent last look at potential
 
Published Dec. 27, 2001
 
Energy Northwest is doing the prudent thing in giving electricity 
buyers a last chance at the power potential in its 
never-completed nuclear plant.
 
The public power consortium that operates the Columbia Generating 
Station north of Richland has been studying whether it's feasible 
to finish its domed companion plant, which was about 60 percent 
complete before the project was canceled in 1982.
 
Energy Northwest hired some Portland consultants, including 
former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and two former PacifiCorps 
executives, to pitch the project nationwide. So far, the idea has 
drawn little interest among Northwest public utilities.
 
The idea was a bit more attractive earlier this year as the 
energy crisis pushed power rates to all-time highs and the 
nuclear generation of the trusty Columbia Generating Station 
helped ease the Northwest through the crunch. The nuclear power 
was like gold for the Northwest as market rates soared. In the 
year ending July 1, the market value of Energy Northwest's power 
reached $1.5 billion - but Northwest ratepayers got it at cost 
for nearly one-tenth the market price.
 
Now that supplies are more stable and the power rate increases 
were not as severe as earlier anticipated, the argument for 
finishing WNP-1 is not so strong in a region that has become 
skeptical of nuclear power, partly because of massive 
construction bond defaults nearly 20 years ago.
 
Still, as our region grows, we are likely to see more energy 
crises in the future.
 
The Goldschmidt group is armed with some firm data about the 
plant's completion costs, thanks to a study commissioned by 
Energy Northwest at the behest of U.S. Reps. Doc Hastings and 
George Nethercutt. Estimates put the cost of finishing WNP-1 at 
about $4.2 billion, under a scenario where most of the power 
would be sold to public power utilities so the project could 
qualify for tax-exempt bonds. Other scenarios would have higher 
costs.
 
The Energy Northwest board apparently also is open to other uses 
for the building besides power generation, said John Cockburn, 
Energy Northwest's executive board chairman.
 
The consultants are supposed to have a report ready by April 15. 
They'll be paid no more than $200,000 - which would put the cost 
of studying WNP-1 at about $1 million.
 
While that's a lot of money, it makes sense to review all the 
possibilities to see if that never-finished asset, which 
ratepayers already are paying for, can be finished for its 
original use or put to some other purpose. What's your opinon? 

Copyright 2001 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This 
*****************************************************************
 4  Critics See `Pot Of Gold' In Millstone Close-Up Fund

ctnow.com: 

December 28, 2001 
By AL LARA, Courant Staff Writer 

The record $1.3 billion that Virginia utility Dominion Resources 
Inc. paid for the Millstone nuclear power complex in Waterford 
was a headline-grabber.

Receiving less fanfare was the transfer of another Millstone 
asset that potentially could make the purchase price look like 
small change.

Dominion also received $800 million to eventually dismantle 
Millstone's reactors - plus permission to keep whatever is left 
over after cleanup costs.

The company says it will put off the reactor decommissionings 
until 2050, letting radiation die down naturally for a cheaper 
cleanup. All the while, the invested decommissioning money will 
grow - to at least $2 billion, the company expects, but as much 
as $18 billion, anti-nuclear groups estimate.

"What they're doing is basically stealing a pot of gold," insists 
Deb Katz, executive director of the western Massachusetts group 
Citizens Awareness Network. "This is ratepayer money, and they're 
not entitled to it."

Katz warns that giving plant operators a profit motive in reactor 
decommissioning is inviting an environmental nightmare.

"If you make decommissioning profit-driven, it can only lead to 
cutting corners on the cleanup. It's more profitable for them to 
do less," Katz said.

Dominion Resources, the state Department of Public Utility 
Control, and even the state's consumer advocate on utility issues 
say that because decommissioning costs have been wildly 
unpredictable and have only risen historically, Dominion deserves 
the excess money for taking the risk of a financial shortfall.

Maybe some, said Katz, but not all the money. She said her group 
successfully lobbied against similar money grabs in recent sales 
of the Vermont Yankee nculear power plant and New York's Indian 
Point 3 and James A. Fitzpatrick reactors. The buyer of all three 
facilities, New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., agreed to return 
half of any excess decommissioning funds to ratepayers.

It's too late to do anything about Millstone, Katz said, but as 
electricity deregulation takes hold nationwide there will be more 
reactor sales. Bids are currently being accepted for New 
Hampshire's Seabrook Power Station, which is owned in part by 
Northeast Utilities.

Decommissioning is the dismantling of a nuclear reactor at the 
end of its operating life and the efforts to reduce radiation at 
the site.

Millstone actually has three owners. Dominion bought 93 percent 
of the plant. But Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. 
held on to to its 4.8 percent share, and Central Vermont Public 
Service still holds a 1.73 percent share. Each company also 
controls a corresponding share of the decommissioning funds. 
However, with voting power proportional to the ownership 
percentage, Dominion calls all the shots, said Steve Costello, a 
spokesman for Central Vermont Public Service.

Millstone has two operating reactors. Millstone 1 was shut down 
in 1995, and is now in storage in preparation for 
decommissioning. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 are officially scheduled to 
be decommissioned in the years 2017, 2010 and 2015.

Decommissioning costs can be calculated two ways. The Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission standard is the cost to reduce 
radioactivity at the cite to safe levels. The other is the cost 
of returning the site to the state it was in before a reactor was 
built.

According to Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher, a cleanup by 
NRC's mininum standards today would cost $912.7 million. 
Returning it to a pristine "greenfield" would cost $1.6 billion.

Dominion plans to apply to federal regulators to extend the 
operating license of the two operating reactors by at least 20 
years. The first application is expected as early as next year. 
After a delayed decommissioning, Dominion would then economically 
dismantle the less radioactive reactors simultaneously, and by 
the less costly NRC standards.

When the electricity industry was fully regulated by the state, a 
portion of each ratepayer's electricity bill included a charge 
that set aside money for decommissioning.

Ratepayers no longer pay into the fund, but it continues to grow. 
Dominion's majority share of the funds is maintained by the plant 
owner in an independent fund invested in "high-quality corporate 
equities, Treasury notes, and fixed-income securities" valued at 
$802.7 million today, Zuercher said.

The investment goal of the funds is 2 percent, after inflation, 
Zuercher said. The company won't project growth, but assuming an 
inflation rate of 3 percent, by 2049 the funds could grow to 
about $2.11 billion.

But the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone believes those 
are conservative estimates. By its own projections it believes 
returns will be far greater, growing the fund to as much as $18 
billion.

"It's breathtaking when you consider how much that money could 
grow over the course of five decades," coalition organizer Nancy 
Burton said.

At the time of the sale, the state's Office of the Consumer 
Counsel, then under Guy Mazza, argued that the trusts were 
already "overfunded," and that excess money should be returned to 
ratepayers. State regulators disagreed, citing volatile 
decommissioning costs. Ultimately Mazza's office consented and 
gave its approval to the sale and the decommissioning plans.

New Consumer Counsel Mary Healy still believes it was the right 
decision. "The sale took consumers off the hook for stranded 
costs, and it prevents Dominion from going back to ratepayers and 
asking for more money later," she said.

In the New York and Vermont regulatory proceedings, Katz said, 
she was frustrated by the lack of concern shown by state 
officials and the public with regard to decommissioning funds.

"They're stealing the decommissioning funds. Doesn't anybody 
care?" she said.

However there is one point that Katz and Dominion agree on, and 
that is the wisdom of delaying decommissioning.

"Long-term onsite cooldown is the only reasonable solution to 
minimizing radiation," she said. "It minimizes the danger of 
worker exposure, it reduces the radioactivity of waste left 
behind, and it's cheaper." 

ctnow.com is Copyright © 2002 by The Hartford Courant
*****************************************************************
 5  No stay in Nevada suit against DOE over nuke dump guidelines
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 27, 2001 
 
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A federal appeals court in Washington, 
D.C., won't stay proceedings in Nevada's challenge of radiation 
standards for a proposed nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. 

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, who sought the stay, said 
Thursday the refusal by the U.S. Court of Appeals was "a minor 
and temporary setback" in a multi-pronged battle against the 
dump. 

Nevada state and federal lawmakers strongly oppose the Yucca 
Mountain project and are fighting it on various political, 
environmental, public relations and legal fronts. 

In its challenge of the radiation standard, the state claimed the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standard didn't do enough 
to protect the public health and safety and Nevada's groundwater 
resources. 

But the federal court said Nevada must first seek an 
administrative stay from the EPA. Del Papa said she went to the 
appeals court first on the assumption that getting a remedy from 
the EPA "would be futile." 

In line with the court order, Del Papa said the EPA will be asked 
to hold up the standard. If that's denied, she said the federal 
court will be petitioned again. 

Word of the Washington, D.C., appeals court order follows a 
Christmas eve decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San 
Francisco to not reconsider its order that U.S. District Judge 
Roger Hunt of Las Vegas hear a water case involving Yucca 
Mountain. 

Earlier, Hunt had refused to hear the federal Department of 
Energy's challenge of Nevada's denial last February of water 
rights for the project. He said it was an issue for state courts. 

Hunt's action was appealed by the DOE. A three-judge panel of the 
9th Circuit Court then put the case back in Hunt's hands. Nevada 
sought a rehearing, but that was rejected. 

Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been 
under study for 14 years and is the only site being considered 
for a possible repository. The DOE, beginning in 2010, wants to 
entomb 77,000 tons of radioactive waste in tunnels 1,000 feet 
below the surface. 

Waste is currently stored in casks at 103 commercial nuclear 
reactors and various military and industrial sites around the 
country. 

All contents copyright 2001 and 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 6  Court rejects Nevada appeal of radiation standard

  [Las Vegas Review-Journal] 
    
Friday, December 28, 2001
 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal 
 

By SEAN WHALEY 
DONREY CAPITAL BUREAU 

CARSON CITY -- The state has suffered a setback in its efforts to 
fight construction of a high-level nuclear waste repository at 
Yucca Mountain, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said 
Thursday. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has denied 
a state request to halt the implementation of a radiation 
standard for Yucca Mountain established by the Environmental 
Protection Agency. The order denying the stay was signed Dec. 19. 

The court said the state should first seek to challenge the 
standard through the EPA. 

"The next step is to seek the administrative remedy ordered by 
the court," Del Papa said. "If it is denied, we will then refile 
the motion with the court of appeals for an emergency stay." 

The state alleges the EPA-backed standard does not protect public 
health and safety. 

The challenge is one of several legal efforts under way to stop 
construction of the repository, which would be built about 100 
miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

Also Thursday, Gov. Kenny Guinn announced $8,500 in additional 
contributions to the state fund established to pay for the legal 
challenge to Yucca Mountain. 

The city of Fallon provided $7,500, and Douglas County put $1,000 
into the Nevada Protection Fund. 

The largest contribution to the fund so far is $1 million from 
Clark County. 

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to decide whether to 
recommend Yucca Mountain for the repository early next year.
 
This story is located at: 
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Dec-28-Fri-2001/news/17758365.html
[http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Dec-28-Fri-2001/news/17758365.html]
*****************************************************************
 7  State loses another skirmish in fight against Yucca dump
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 28, 2001 
 
By Cy Ryan 
< [cy@lasvegassun.com] >
 SUN CAPITAL BUREAU
 
CARSON CITY -- The state has suffered a second setback this month 
in its legal fight to stop the designation of Yucca Mountain as 
the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository.

 Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Thursday the U.S. 
Court of Appeals in Washington D.C., refused on Dec. 19 to grant 
a motion to put off the radiation guidelines set by the U.S. 
Department of Energy for the proposed site.

 Del Papa called the ruling by the appeals court a "minor and 
temporary setback."

 The attorney general's office filed suit in the appeals court 
saying the radiation standards for Yucca Mountain, set by the 
Energy Department, failed to protect public health and safety, 
particularly the underground water resources.

 The suit asked for a stay before the rules went into effect. But 
the court rejected the petition, saying the state should have 
first asked the Environmental Protection Agency to delay 
implementation of the rules.

 "The strategic decision was made to seek the stay directly from 
the court as we believed that to seek an administrative remedy 
from the EPA would be futile," Del Papa said.

 The state now will ask the EPA to postpone implementation of the 
regulation. If that fails, Del Papa said the state will return to 
the circuit court of appeals for an emergency stay of the rules.

 The suit says the federal law that called for the burial of the 
nuclear waste envisioned that the rock formations would prevent 
any leakage of radiation.

 Under the present scenario, the Energy Department plans to bury 
the waste in metal containers. The state contends that water 
seeping down into the burial chambers would hit containers, which 
would then corrode, releasing radioactivity into the water that 
flows off the site.

 Those new standards by the Energy Department "change the 
criteria for evaluating the suitability of the proposed 
high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain," Del Papa 
said.

 Earlier this week the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San 
Francisco refused to reconsider its decision on granting 
permanent water rights to the Energy Department for Yucca 
Mountain.

 A panel hearing the case, in a 2-1 decision, initially ruled 
that the case should return to the federal court in Las Vegas to 
determine if the federal law supersedes the state law that 
prohibits a nuclear dump in Nevada.

 The state Engineer's Office had denied the federal agency 
permanent water rights. The Energy Department filed suit but lost 
a decision before U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Las Vegas. 
The DOE then appealed to the 9th Circuit and got Hunt's decision 
reversed. The appeals court sent the case back to Hunt.

 The state Attorney General's Office said it will probably appeal 
that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 Meanwhile, Gov. Kenny Guinn announced that the city of Fallon 
has donated $7,500 and Douglas County has contributed $1,000 to 
the fund to fight against Yucca Mountain.

 That money will be added to the $4 million the Legislature set 
aside for legal and other costs in the battle against the Energy 
Department. Clark County has contributed $1 million and donations 
have been received from Mesquite, Wells, Lovelock, Mineral County 
and Sparks.
 
All contents copyright 2001 and 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 8  County may stockpile potassium iodide pills 

If taken in a timely manner, the compound helps prevent thyroid 
cancer in people exposed to radiation. 

December 27, 2001
By JOEL ZLOTNIK
The Orange County Register 

Neighbors of the San Onofre nuclear power plant could soon have 
easier access to a pill that reduces the effects of exposure to 
radiation. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set aside 
$800,000 to purchase potassium iodide and is offering it to 
states with nuclear plants, said Ray Golden, spokesman for the 
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

The pill, known as KI, taken right before or after exposure to 
radiation, can prevent thyroid cancer, Golden said.

KI has been available over the counter for years, and since 1984 
the state has recommended it be stockpiled by counties near 
nuclear plants, said Eric Lamoureux of the state Office of 
Emergency Services. It was only recently, however, that the FDA 
published KI dosage guidelines, prompting the NRC offer. 

State officials plan to meet in January with officials in Orange, 
San Diego and San Luis Obispo counties, Lamoureux said. "We are 
going to revisit the state's existing policy and find out if 
counties are interested. We're leaving it up to the three 
individual counties."

 None of the counties currently stockpiles KI, he said. Dana 
Point Mayor Joe Snyder said he wasn't familiar with KI, but he 
would favor having it on hand. "Any kind of preparedness measure 
at all makes sense in today's world," he said.

Greg Ware, pharmacy director at San Clemente Hospital, is a 
member of a county task force on bioterrorism. "Our goal is to 
not stockpile, but to be prepared," he said. 

Ware doesn't recommend people keep the pill at home. Officials 
warn that the pill is not a cure-all. "It's important to remember 
it's only protecting one part of your body from one radioactive 
element," Lamoureux said. 

 The Orange County Register ocregister@link.freedom.com-->   
*****************************************************************
 9  Kansai Electric cancels MOX orders

asahi.com : ENGLISH
 
  The Asahi Shimbun   
  
Kansai Electric Power Co. decided Wednesday to cancel orders for 
mixed oxide fuel (MOX) from a French company due to fears it 
would fail stricter fuel checks. 

New government controls introduced in July last year were 
considered too strict for the fuel, which was intended for use in 
the company's pluthermal project. 

The decision effectively puts Kansai Electric's pluthermal 
ambitions on hold at least for several years. 

The government has long talked of using plutonium-uranium mixed 
oxide as a fuel for ordinary nuclear reactors. 

The MOX project is considered a key part of the national nuclear 
power policy. 

But the project's future is increasingly in doubt. It remains 
uncertain whether the nation's largest utility, Tokyo Electric 
Power Co., will be able to proceed with its own pluthermal 
operations anytime soon. 

The Kansai Electric project has been dogged by scandal, most 
notably when inspection data on MOX fuel ordered from a British 
nuclear fuel company was found to have been falsified. 

Kansai Electric does not have any useable MOX fuel on hand 
because it suspended all orders while the earlier case was being 
investigated. 

The six containers of MOX fuel ordered from France will be 
destroyed at a cost to Kansai Electric of around 6 billion yen. 

The company's decision underscores the unexpectedly strict stance 
taken by inspectors from the government's Agency of Nuclear and 
Industrial Safety. The policy marks a sharp departure from the 
past, when the government and the utilities worked together to 
promote nuclear power. 

The inspection agency was created through a reorganization of 
government ministries and agencies in January. It brought 
together inspectors previously separated in the Ministry of 
International Trade and Industry and the Science and Technology 
Agency. 

Skeptics believed the new regulatory body would lack teeth 
because it was set up within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and 
Industry, which promotes the use of nuclear power. 

But the agency's unprecedented, strict position showed its 
independence from the economy ministry and surprised its critics.
 
(12/28)
   

  [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction 
*****************************************************************
 10  EDITORIAL: Creators of basic energy law need to get back to the basics

asahi.com : ENGLISH
 
Legislation to implement a basic law on energy policy, as 
submitted by members of the three parties of the ruling 
coalition, has been held over to the next regular Diet session 
that begins in January. The nation's energy situation is becoming 
increasingly more complex. Japan produces only 20 percent of the 
energy it consumes and dependence upon Middle East oil increases 
every year. Energy conservation and promotion of alternative 
natural energy sources that would counter global warming are 
urgent priorities. Deregulation of electric power and gas is 
moving ahead. And it is harder than ever to build new nuclear 
power generating plants at new or established sites. 

In these times, new energy strategy and planning are necessary. 
The lawmakers are to be commended for at least trying to come up 
with solutions. 

But the legislation is too limited by dependence upon 
conventional measures, and there are no persuasive new ideas. For 
example, the legislation calls for a ``basic plan on supply and 
demand'' from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which 
means the same kind of long-range plan the ministry has made in 
the past. 

The ministry's ``long-range prospect in supply and demand of 
energy'' developed up to now has been a forecast of anticipated 
energy demands based on extrapolation of past use, and was used 
to bridge the gap between supply and demand. But energy policy 
must be based on a comprehensive perspective, and must address 
transportation, home energy conservation and how the tax system 
is used. It can no longer be the work of a single government 
ministry or its advisory panel. 

The legislation invokes the opinion of ``the appropriate 
government minister.'' But establishing a long-range plan must 
engage the whole government and should tap opinions from all 
walks of life. Planning must also set priorities of need and how 
objectives should be achieved by departing from conventional 
thinking that puts too much emphasis upon balancing energy supply 
with demand. 

The Liberal Democratic Party's subcommittee on comprehensive 
energy policy had a key role in preparing the legislation. It is 
said that the subcommittee was guided by the will of the electric 
utilities, which do not want the electric power industry to be 
changed too dramatically. 

The legislation might include provisions that serve the interests 
of the utilities. It says the government's basic energy policy is 
built on three principles: ensuring a stable energy supply; 
adapting to the environment; and use of the market forces. But 
the legislation also says that market forces-meaning 
liberalization-should be carried out with ``sufficient 
attention'' given to the other two principles. 

But stable energy supply and liberalization should not be 
regarded as mutually exclusive concepts. The way the legislation 
is written should not be seen as discouraging limits on 
deregulation of the electric power industry, which is working 
toward both a stable energy supply and exercise of market forces. 

The legislation also calls for local governments to assume 
responsibility for carrying out the central government's energy 
policies. Critics are vehemently against this provision, claiming 
it will force local governments to accept nuclear power reactors. 
The authors of the legislation need to rethink such provisions. 

Basic legislation on energy policy must truly promote the concept 
of using natural energy sources such as solar and wind power and 
biomass. While some have suggested separate legislation for that 
purpose, care must be taken to ensure that the bills are 
consistent. 

The basic law must be truly appropriate as the foundation for 
energy policy for decades to come. The authors of the legislation 
need to go back to the basics and try again. (The Asahi Shimbun, 
Dec. 27)
 
(12/28)
    
  [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction 
*****************************************************************
 11  NRC mulls reissue of nuclear plant status report
                                        
[Reuters]   

Friday December 28, 8:26 am Eastern Time
 
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - After withdrawing data from its Web 
site for security reasons after the Sept. 11 attack, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Thursday it still has not 
decided whether to reissue its daily plant status report.

The NRC report listed the daily operating status of the nation's 
nuclear power reactors.

``We're still evaluating. It's a Catch 22. Our concern is a 
security issue. We're trying to balance that with the public's 
right to know,'' said Victor Dricks of the NRC Office of Public 
Affairs in Rockville, Maryland.

``We understand the plant status report is sorely missed ... not 
just by the trade press but by John Q. Citizen who likes to log 
onto the Web site and find out if the plant he lives near is up 
or down,'' Dricks said.

Wholesale electricity traders use the report, along with other 
data, to determine whether the price of spot power will rise or 
fall. Nuclear power, which accounts for about 20 percent of all 
energy consumed in the United States, is one of the cheapest 
means of generating electricity.

When a nuclear power plant is shut, the regional grid operator, 
which dispatches the cheapest units available to meet the daily 
demand, has to turn on several smaller, more expensive fossil 
plants that burn oil or natural gas to generate electricity.

Shortly after the terror attacks in New York and Washington, the 
NRC and other federal agencies removed data from Web sites to 
evaluate whether that information could be used to harm the 
public.

Over the past few weeks, the NRC redesigned its Web site, 
www.nrc.gov [http://www.nrc.gov] , but did not reissue the plant 
status report or a related document, the daily events report, 
which lists safety-related events at the plants.

WHY OPERATORS WON'T HELP

In the wholesale power market information is king.

Those with knowledge of what will happen tomorrow can make a lot 
of money buying and selling electricity. To the power trader, 
electricity is a commodity, similar to oil, grain or gold. It 
rises and falls in value based on the law of supply and demand.

An electricity trader with nuclear plants has an advantage over 
other traders because he or she knows when the reactors will shut 
for work and how long they will be off line.

With this knowledge, traders with nuclear plants can buy power 
supplies at lower cost before prices rise when the reactor shuts. 
To maintain the competitive edge, many nuclear operators, 
including the federally-owned Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) 
which operates nuclear plants in the Southeast, refuse to discuss 
the operating status of their reactors.

``We can't force the utility to give you the information. We 
don't have that authority. We try to exercise whatever leverage 
we have to get (the operators) to be more forthcoming about 
(their plants) in the interest of building public confidence in 
nuclear power,'' the NRC's Dricks said.

``If they want to withhold the information, I'm not sure there's 
much we can do,'' Dricks explained, especially since the NRC 
itself has yet to decide what information the agency wants to 
make public on its Web site.

NEW YORK'S INDIAN POINT

But people who live near a nuclear reactor often care more about 
safety. They want to know whether the plant they live near is 
operating and when it is not operating.

Wednesday morning, unit 2 at the Indian Point nuclear station in 
New York tripped off line.

An official at Entergy Nuclear, a unit of energy giant Entergy 
Corp. (NYSE:ETR [http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=etr&d=t]  - news) 
of New Orleans which operates the station, would not discuss the 
outage for competitive reasons.

The company, however, did tell the NRC and Westchester County, 
where the plant is located, about the shutdown.

Despite rumors of the outage in the New York electricity market, 
news of the outage did not surface until Wednesday afternoon when 
Westchester Executive Andrew Spano issued a statement informing 
county residents of the shutdown. In his statement, Spano said 
the plant, which is located about 35 miles north of New York City 
in the town of Buchanan, shut at about 0720 EST (1220 GMT) 
Wednesday morning.

He then told the public what they really wanted to know, that 
``there were no safety issues associated with the shutdown'' and 
``there was no risk of radioactive release.''

Some people who live near Indian Point are concerned about the 
possibility of a nuclear catastrophe in the heavily populated 
area following a string of safety-related shutdowns at the plant 
over the past few years, including a radioactive steam leak that 
shut unit 2 for most of last year.

``We're trying to resolve this the best we can,'' the NRC's 
Dricks said. ``We have to balance the public's right to know with 
security sensitivity.'' 

    Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 12  AU: Reactor 'unaffected' by crisis - 

smh.com.au - National
 
  Friday, December 28, 2001     

The Federal Government says it is monitoring the collapse of the 
Argentinian economy in light of the fact a state-sponsored 
Argentinian company is building Sydney's new nuclear reactor.
 
INVAP won the bid to build the $300-million-plus reactor last 
year. A spokeswoman for the Science Minister, Peter McGauran, 
said yesterday there had been no "indications anything will go 
wrong".
 
But Greenpeace Australia's nuclear campaigner Stephen Campbell 
said INVAP had several directors on its board from the country's 
nuclear authority and was partly run by the national government.

"I seriously think we could be getting into deep water given the 
economic catastrophe in Argentina," he said.
 
Mr McGauran's spokeswoman said the Australian Nuclear and Science 
Technology Organisation was liaising with the embassy to monitor 
anything that might affect the project and that INVAP's technical 
and financial capacity remained unchanged.
 
Copyright © 2001. All rights reserved.  
*****************************************************************
 13  Compensation Wish List if Nuclear Dump Comes to Area
 
THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS
 
Friday, December 27, 2001
 
A two lane motorway into West Cumbria or dramatically slashed 
council taxes and business rates were among the possible 
"compensation" ideas floated by participants at a Westlake Think 
Tank meeting into the return of a Nirex underground nuclear dump 
to the area.
 
The government has re-activated interest in solving the problems 
of Britain's growing stockpile of nuclear waste, most of which is 
currently at Sellafield. And the meeting last Friday at Westlakes 
heard from Coun Tom Clare that central government had set a 
deadline of March 12 next year for responses to the latest 
re-think.
 
Participants were left in no doubt that there is discussion going 
on towards a possible pay-off to Cumbria, if it is selected as 
the site for Britain's nuclear waste dump. John Hetherington, 
County Environmental Planning Officer said: "Output from recent 
dialogue is that local compensation for blight and benefits in 
exchange for hosting a repository.''
 
During an interval at the meeting The Whitehaven News asked 
particpants for their views on what Cumbria should expect in 
return for its possible selection for a dump. Copeland councillor 
Janet Johnston (Lab) said: "I would be looking for an improved 
attitude from central government....possibly we could suggest 
business rates and council taxes be dramatically slashed.''
 
Another senior county councillor, who did not wish to be named 
said: "All the rock from an underground dump should be enough to 
create a two-lane link to the M6.''
 
Cumbria county council leader Rex Toft (Con) said: "If an area 
has to have an underground repository then that area has to be 
compensated. Road improvements spring to mind, but the outcome 
would have to be in billions of pounds.'' 

But Coun Bryan Dixon (Lab) said: "You can't put a price on 
people's health...I do not like any talk of a fast track 
decision.''
 
Coun Henry Wormstrup (Lab) pointed out to the meeting: "It is 
international radioactive waste down there...not just ours.''
 
But there was widespread acceptance in the gathering of 
councillors and nuclear experts that the Sellafield area was in 
the line for a new nuclear dump.
 
County Coun Alan Clarke (Lab) said: "I am astonished to see Nirex 
are considering Cumbria again. I would draw attention to the fact 
that no other area in the country is holding a meeting like 
this.''
 
Dr Peter Manning for BNFL said the company had only made 10% of 
its stockpile of intermediate level waste into a state ready for 
long term storage.
 
Councillor Tom Clare who chaired the meeting and is Chairman of 
the Economic Forum told the meeting: "We want to be a volunteer 
community rather than a chosen one.''
 
Gilbert Finlinson made a surprise appearance at the meeting and 
urged the experts to use his Egremont Iron Ore Mine as a future 
repository for nuclear waste.
 
Nirex spokesman Chris Murray said he knew of six other possible 
repository locations in the UK, but he was not allowed to 
publicise these by the government.
*****************************************************************
 14  North Korean delegation ends inspection tour of South nuclear 
reactors 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 28, 2001


Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

Seoul, 28 December: 

A 20-member North Korean delegation of high-level atomic 
energy-related officials will return to Pyongyang via Beijing 
Sunday [30 December], wrapping up their two-week tour of nuclear 
facilities in South Korea.

The group will make their final inspections Friday, which will 
include a visit to the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety in 
Taedok Science Town, South Chungchong Province.

The delegation arrived in Seoul 16 December, but their activities 
have been conducted secretly due to the North's request that 
information not be disclosed to the press.

On 17 December, the team travelled to Ulchin, North Kyongsang 
Province, to look around Nos. 3 and 4 reactors there, the 
standard models the Korean Peninsula Energy Development 
Organization (KEDO) is building in North Korea's Kumho area 
according to the 1994 Pyongyang-Washington Geneva Accord.

In South Kyongsang Province, the group visited the Kori nuclear 
power station near Pusan, where North Korean staff will receive 
most of their technical training, and Doosan Heavy Industries and 
Construction Co in Changwon, which is manufacturing parts for the 
North's reactors.

The visit was made in accordance with a training protocol signed 
between KEDO and North Korea on 20 October 2000. "The delegation 
extensively toured the training facilities to be used for North 
Korean nuclear experts and technicians in the coming years," said 
an official at the Planning Office for the Light-water Reactor 
Project.

"They expressed keen technological interest while visiting Doosan 
Heavy Industries," the official said.

According to the training protocol, KEDO will train some 530 
North Korean technicians in the first half of next year at a 
training centre near the site of the new reactors.

In addition, 290 North Korean technicians will also be trained in 
centres in the South over the next two years in separate groups, 
with courses running from six to 40 weeks.

All training costs will be born by KEDO pertinent to the 
protocol.

Source: Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0231 gmt 28 Dec 01 
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter 
*****************************************************************
 15  RWE in talks to buy nuclear power in Bulgaria 

AFX Europe; Dec 27, 2001


ESSEN (AFX) - RWE AG's unit RWE Trading said it is in talks to 
buy nuclear power from Bulgaria's nuclear power station Kosloduj.


"The talks have been going on for some time and nothing has been 
signed," said Ralf Schaefer, spokesman of RWE Trading, declining 
to comment on prices or volumes of a potential deal. RWE plans to 
sell the electricity exclusively in Eastern Europe, RWE Trading 
said.


Schaefer did not say when the contract is expected to be 
finalised.


nb/jfr NNN


World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright
*****************************************************************
 16  Bulgaria: cabinet approves programme on nuclear plant reactors' 
decommissioning 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 27, 2001


Text of report in English by Bulgarian news agency BTA web site

Sofia, 27 December: 

The government approved a 70m euro financial memorandum under the 
special assistance programme for the decommissioning of units of 
the Kozloduy N-plant and for subsequent domestic energy sector 
measures.

The programme provides assistance to this country in the first 
stage of the decommissioning of the N-plant's older units. 
Measures to restructure and modernize the production and 
distribution of electricity and improve energy efficiency have 
also been drawn up.

The money under the programme will be transferred via the 
international fund to assist the closure of the Kozloduy N-plant. 
The grant aid fund was created on 12 June 2000, with the European 
Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD] blessing to 
finance the closure of units one to four of the N-plant and 
measures to modernize and restructure the domestic energy sector.

The European Commission put EBRD in charge of the fund's 
management. The Bulgarian side does not have any commitments 
towards the financial management of the project.

The programme will facilitate this country's decision for early 
closure of the units taken in pursuance of the memorandum of 
understanding signed on 29 November 1999.

Source: BTA web site, Sofia, in English 27 Dec 01 /BBC 
Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter 
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
                     NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES
*****************************************************************
 1 THE “NUCLEAR TROOPS” AT “THE STEALTH LAB”
 
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 20:16:49 -0800 (PST)

 
  Ernest Sternglass <mssejs@aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="0-1589269445-1009513009=:51840"

LETTER TO THE EDITOR                                  
                       December 27, 2001

THE “NUCLEAR TROOPS” AT “THE STEALTH LAB”

On September 14, 2001, the National Institutes of
Health (NIH) and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL)
jointly announced the closure of the National Tritium
Labeling Facility (NTLF) due to lack of research and
the failure of NTLF to hire a required Certified
Health Physicist.  Five days later, on September 20,
2001, LBNL filed a secret petition with the State of
California Department of Toxic Substances Control
(DTSC) to resume operations, which will continue to
contaminate the environment with tritium emissions. 
The “Nuclear Troops” at the “Stealth Lab” are now
secretly requesting that activities be resumed which
have extensively contaminated the environment with
tritium and now qualify it as a Superfund Site. 

During the week of December 10-14, 2001, letters and
phone calls were made by Berkeley Citizens objecting
to the petition sent by LBNL to DTSC to resume
tritiated mixed waste treatability studies.  Concerns
about public health and safety and past radioactive
emissions were addressed to Antonette Benita Cordero,
Chief Counsel, and Joseph Smith, Staff Council, at
DTSC headquarters in Sacramento.  On Friday, December
14, 2001, Joseph Smith insisted that “the decision had
not been made” but would be made by his office on
“December 17 or 18”.  Citizens requested that he take
more time to consider the concerns of the public and
that of the City of Berkeley government before making
his decision.

At the City Council Meeting on Tuesday evening,
December 18, members of the City Council and the media
said they had been given information in conversations
they had that afternoon, indicating “the decision
would be made in several days or several weeks”.  The
Berkeley City Council twice voted unanimously to close
the National Tritium Labeling Facility.  In the 1998
Resolution 59,695A-N-S, they added “…and to cease all
oxidation/incineration/treatment of mixed waste and
all radioactive releases.”  

Dr. Nabil Al-Hadithy, from the City of Berkeley
Department of Toxics, made a written recommendation to
the City Manager on December 18, 2001, that the
treatability study not be restarted.  He objected to
the questionable purpose of the LBNL “study”, which
violates “the spirit of the law”.  The “study”  is
clearly intended to treat an entire waste stream
generated in the facility as stated in a DOE letter to
Mr. C. M Kawashige, DTSC, on December 3, 1996.

The Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste obtained a copy
of  a DTSC “Fact Sheet” on the National Tritium
Labeling Facility on Wednesday, December 19, 2001. 
Its stated purpose was for  “…(DTSC) to provide the
public with information about operation of the
treatability study at the National Tritium Labeling
Facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(LBNL)”.  It also stated “On December 18, 2001, DTSC
issued a letter to LBNL stating that they may resume
performing the treatability study.”

On December 19, 2001, a letter was sent to Antonette
Cordero and Joseph Smith requesting information about
the December 18, 2001, DTSC letter to LBNL, which
prompted a phone call from Jim Marxson and Laura
David, DTSC Public Participation Specialist.  They
both stated that “the decision had not been made”, but
Ms. David admitted she had written the “Fact Sheet”
the week before at the request of Joseph Smith.  When
I told her the information she had provided in the
“Fact Sheet” indicated that the decision had been made
the week before in defiant opposition to local City
Government and citizens concerns, and her statements
did not truthfully present the hazards of tritium, she
told me she “would be rewriting it next week…”  She
demanded to know who the “Fact Sheet” had been
distributed to in the City Government and the media.  
By December 19, Joseph Smith no longer was taking
phone calls from the public or the media.  On December
20, a request for an investigation of the issue and
the DTSC decision was sent to Director Winston Hickox,
California EPA.  

On Friday, December 21, Joseph Smith sent an email
stating  “We have taken more time to consider your
input and that of other interested parties. We are
postponing our LBNL treatability study decision until
December 27 or 28, 2001.”  

It is clear that when push-comes-to-shove, the
agencies that are mandated to protect public health
and the environment, side with the polluter.  Pressure
from the public through media coverage and lawsuits is
the most effective way to challenge political
decisions made by those agencies.  

On December 26, 2001, a San Francisco-based
Environmental Group, Our Children’s Earth (OCE),
announced that they had reached a court settlement
with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
(BAAQMD)  to reinstate diesel pollution limits to the
previous standard of 10 parts per million.  In
“back-room policy making” the BAAQMD had recently
increased the diesel pollution limit to 100 parts per
million, despite the known health hazards.  After the
OCE filed seven lawsuits this year against the BAAQMD,
the BAAQMD will be required to hold public hearings in
Bay Area communities most effected by diesel
pollution.  Tiffany Schauer, Executive Director of
OCE, said “The public has a right to know when public
officials are about to expose them to increased cancer
risk.”    

It is incomprehensible that DTSC would permit LBNL to
resume activities shut down by DTSC one year ago, and
which have greatly impacted public health and
contaminated the environment with radioactive tritium
for miles around LBNL.  Tritium has been measured in
goat milk and droppings at LBNL, in trees cut and
shipped to Korea and Japan from LBNL, and in rain
gauges as far as Albany. 

Joseph Smith, Staff Council at DTSC, and the “Nuclear
Troops” at the “Stealth Lab” should be committed to a
transparent decision-making process instead of
“back-room policy making”.   Only public pressure and
media coverage will make that happen. 


LEUREN MORET  
Commissioner, City of Berkeley Community Environmental
Advisory Commission*
President, Scientists for Indigenous People
2233 Grant St. Apt.1, Berkeley, CA  94703
(510) 845-3139     <leurenmoret@yahoo.com> 
(*for identification purposes only)


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send your FREE holiday greetings online!
http://greetings.yahoo.com
Attachment Converted: "c:\lib\news\attach\EDITOR12.26.01BDP.doc"
*****************************************************************
 2  Weapons of Mass Destruction - The Nuclear Bombing of Iraq
 
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 11:00:45 -0600 (CST)

 
http://www.jordantimes.com/Thu/region/region1.htm

Weapons of mass destruction - going nuclear in Iraq

By Ramzi Kysia

BAGHDAD - Dr Alim Abdul-Hamid's office at Al Mustanseriya Medical
College in Baghdad is decorated in bright, cheerful colours, but
what he has to say is anything but cheerful. Formerly Dean of Basra
Medical College, Abdul-Hamid has had plenty of first-hand experience
with Iraq's unprecedented plague of cancers and birth defects.
"We have seen cases of breast cancer among women in their 20s. In
their 20s!," says Abdul-Hamid. "This is really tragic, because,
you know, in America, probably when you come across a case of breast
cancer in a woman in her late 30s, you would consider that this is
a young age for cancer, while we see cases of breast cancer in the
20s. There are increased incidences of colon cancer, thyroid cancer,
in addition to, of course, leukaemias and lymphomas."

What's the source of this epidemic? According to Abdul-Hamid the
problem is depleted uranium. Depleted uranium, or "DU", is an
extremely dense, heavy metal, and a waste product of atomic bomb
production.  It has a half-life of over 4 billion years. It contains
trace amounts of plutonium and is 60 per cent as radioactive as
naturally occurring uranium.  The US military uses it as ballast
in their missiles, and they use it to coat shells and pellets.
Because of its density, it is armour piercing - so it is used as
an anti-tank weapon. DU is also aerosolising. When a shell coated
with DU hits, it burns, releasing uranium oxide dust. This dust
then rises in the air, is carried by the winds, and contaminates
the entire surrounding environment.

The Pentagon admits to dropping 320 tonnes of DU in Iraq. The
environmental organisation Greenpeace puts the estimate at over
800 tonnes. Hospitals throughout Iraq have reported as much as a
10-fold increase in overall cancer rates and birth defects over
the last 11 years.

Abdul-Hamid points to an epidemiological study he headed in Basra,
demonstrating the connection between DU and cancer in Iraq. The
study looked at five factors: biological plausibility, strength of
association, incidence rate, increased incidences of cancer among
younger children, and the dose-response relationship. According to
Abdul-Hamid, all these factors point to a strong, casual link
between DU exposure and cancer in Iraq.

To test the biological plausibility of their hypothesis, the team
of scientists studied the types of cancer being reported, most
notably leukaemias, and explored their relationship to DU. The
results strongly indicate a radioactive, rather than chemical,
contaminant. Explains Abdul-Hamid: "Leukaemia is known to be related
to radiation. We don't have evidence that leukaemia is related to
chemicals."

Additionally, if the source of the epidemic were chemical, there
would have been a sharp spike in cancer rates following the Gulf
war, followed by rapid decreases as the source of the contamination
disappeared. In contrast, with radiation the strength of association
increases as time passes. The fact that cancer rates are still
increasing at an exponential rate in Iraq strongly implies a
radioactive source.

This increase is enormous. According to the study, malignancies
and leukaemias among children under the age of 15 have more than
tripled since 1990. Whereas in 1990 young children accounted for
only 13 per cent of cancer cases, today over 56 per cent of all
cancer in Iraq occurs among children under the age of 5. Abdul-Hamid
explains that it isn't just direct exposure of the children to the
radiation still present in the environment; it's also the cumulative
exposure of their parents over time. This cumulative exposure does
permanent damage to parental genes, damage which is then passed on
to their children.

Finally, pointing to a map of Basra, Abdul-Hamid highlights the
dose-response relationship between DU and cancers. "If we look at
the map of Basra, southern Iraq, and monitor the incidences in
different districts over time, we can come out with a very important
conclusion. And that is that areas which have got the higher level
of background radiation have higher levels of cancers." These
factors overwhelmingly point to DU as the source of Iraq's current
cancer plague.

Iraqi doctors aren't the only ones complaining about DU. US veterans
are upset as well. DU may be a leading cause of the unprecedented
levels of illnesses effecting Gulf war veterans. "The Pentagon
claims that there are no significant health effects from exposure
to depleted uranium, but their own research and documents show that
this is not true," says Charles Sheehan-Miles, a Gulf war veteran
and former president of the National Gulf War Resource Centre.
Almost 25 per cent of US soldiers who fought in the Gulf war are
currently receiving disability benefits from the US Veteran's
Administration. This is twice the rate of disabilities as among
Vietnam veterans.

Unfortunately, DU remains an integral part of the American military
arsenal.  According to Sheehan-Miles, "Depleted uranium, like
landmines and cluster bombs, is a weapon with effects far beyond
the battlefield, with innocents and children as the frequent victims.
I resent this.  As a former American soldier, I was trained to
protect the innocent, not to kill them."

As the United States gears up for a new "Desert Storm" against
Iraq, using weapons like DU, that is a lesson that more American
soldiers, and the politicians who command them, should be reminded
of.

The writer is a Muslim-American peace activist, and serves on the
board of directors for the Education for Peace in Iraq Centre
(www.saveageneration.org). He is currently in Iraq as part of a
Voices in the Wilderness (www.vitw.org) peace delegation trying to
end the war .  He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.
*****************************************************************
 3  Russia to allow US experts to its secret nuclear centres 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 27, 2001


Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Washington, 28 December: 

The Russian Atomic Energy Ministry and the US Department of 
Energy have designed the rules for the visits of US experts to 
the so-called Russian "nuclear cities".

A corresponding agreement was initialled in Moscow and is now 
subject for the final approval by the Russian government, 
according to Steve Black, a high-ranking official of the Energy 
Department who is in charge of nuclear non-proliferation 
programmes.

He told ITAR-TASS on Thursday [27 December] that the final 
approval is expected from Moscow already in January and that the 
access agreement was an important step in the implementation of 
the "Nuclear cities" programme.

The "Nuclear cities" programme was launched by former US 
President Bill Clinton to promote Russian military conversion in 
nuclear research centres and the employment of experts from 
converted nuclear enterprises.

The programme covers three nuclear cities - Sarov (former 
Arzamas-16), Snezhinsk (Chelyabinsk-70) and Zheleznogorsk 
(Krasnoyarsk-26). However another seven cities are expected to 
join it.

The US draft 2002 budget envisaged 42 million dollars for 
non-proliferation purposes.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 2310 gmt 27 Dec 
01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter 
*****************************************************************
 4  Scrapping of Russian nuclear subs held up by Kursk salvage 
operation 

BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 27, 2001


Text of report in English by Russian AVN Military News Agency web 
site

Moscow, 27 December: 

Russian defence industry increased production by 115 per cent, 
while production of materiel went up 118 per cent in 2001, Deputy 
Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said at the government session on 
Thursday [27 December].

Eight nuclear-powered submarines were disposed of and 18 nuclear 
reactor fuel cores were unloaded this year, Klebanov said. "That 
was less than planned," he remarked. The reason is that efforts 
were concentrated on lifting the submarine Kursk from the Barents 
Sea, he noted.

This year, Russia has been considerably increasing financing for 
chemical arms disposal, the deputy prime minister said. Financing 
was increased six times in 2000 and doubled in 2001, he said. 
Russia is now keeping up with the schedule for chemical arms 
disposal set by its international commitments.

One of the gravest problems of Russian industries is wear on 
capital assets, Klebanov said. Only 3.5 per cent of equipment has 
been used for less than five years. The share of equipment that 
has been used for more than 30 years exceeds 30 per cent. The 
profitability of Russia's industries reached 10.7 per cent in 
2001, Klebanov said.

Source: AVN Military News Agency web site, Moscow, in English 
1201 gmt 27 Dec 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All 
Subject to Copyright
*****************************************************************
 5  UK: Inquiry into 1958 nuclear tests

by Danielle Gusmaroli

Scotland Yard has launched a criminal investigation into 
Britain's nuclear bomb tests, amid allegations an RAF pilot was 
exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation and later died. 

Officers are scrutinising claims that military chiefs ordered 
former Squadron Leader Eric Denson to fly his plane through an 
atom bomb cloud several times to gather radioactive samples. 

Police stepped in after his widow, Shirley, complained the 
government "knowingly and maliciously" exposed her late husband 
to deadly and legally prohibited levels of radiation, which she 
said ultimately led to his death. 

Prior to the tests in April 1958, he was a fit 26-year-old, she 
said, but afterwards he developed chronic respiratory problems 
and depression which caused him to commit suicide, after three 
attempts, in 1976. 

Mrs Denson told The Guardian: "He never spoke about it except for 
once when he said all he could think of as he flew his plane were 
the words 'into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell'. 

Her lawyer, Alan Care, says he was exposed to around 20 times the 
safety limit. 

The inquiry by the Metropolitan Police's specialist crime unit is 
focusing on whether it was legal for military chiefs to order Mr 
Denson and his crew to fly through the mushroom cloud after 
scientists had detonated a nuclear weapon on Christmas Island in 
the South Pacific. 

In Operation Grapple Y, the British military dropped a 
three-megaton atomic bomb above the sea off the Island on 28 
April 1958. 

Mr Denson was ordered to fly through the swelling cloud several 
times and then to take readings of the radiation. His widow says 
he had not been given any protective clothing and started 
vomiting within hours of landing from his mission and was sent 
back to Britain. 

A colleague described him as "full of life, confident, kind and 
unflappable before the tests". But afterwards he became "a 
dreadfully deep depressive who suffered mood swings," he said. 

© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 28 December 2001 This Is London
*****************************************************************
 6  Restore Funds for Speedy Brookhaven Lab Cleanup

Newsday.com - 

December 28, 2001

It's too early to panic, but not too soon to be concerned, about 
the federal Department of Energy's proposal to slow down the 
accelerated cleanup of toxic wastes at the Brookhaven National 
Laboratory. Whatever the department's reasons, it's a bad idea.

Under this plan, the lab would get a flat $25.7 million in the 
2003 budget and in subsequent years. The accelerated plan would 
have provided $35.6 million in 2003, $43 million in 2004, and 
$44.7 million in 2005, to remove contaminants that threaten the 
groundwater, to start work on decontaminating closed nuclear 
reactors and to clean up the Peconic River.

Under the accelerated plan, the lab could have completed the 
cleanup by 2005 or sooner, except for final decommissioning of 
the reactors, which would take longer. The cuts could prolong the 
process to 2008 or 2009.

One cogent argument for accelerated cleanup is that it would cost 
less in the long run - an estimated $22 million less, in fact. 
Another factor is that the department has much more difficult 
tasks to tackle, such as the Savannah River site in South 
Carolina and the Hanford site in Washington State. Compared to 
them, Brookhaven is simplicity itself.

By far the most important argument for retaining the accelerated 
schedule is this: Like every other structure on Long Island, the 
lab sits above the vulnerable aquifer that supplies our drinking 
water. Any delay would further risk endangering that precious 
water supply.

A year ago, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Energy Secretary Bill 
Richardson and the lab's director, John Marburger, announced an 
additional $41.3 million for the cleanup. Now, Richardson is out 
of office and Marburger is President George W. Bush's science 
adviser.

We urge Marburger to whisper in Bush's ear about the need for 
this funding and Schumer to work hard - along with Rep. Felix 
Grucci (R-East Patchogue), whose district the lab is in, and the 
rest of the congressional delegation - to keep the accelerated 
cleanup on track. Copyright © 2001, Newsday, Inc. 
  
Copyright © Newsday, Inc. Produced by Newsday Electronic 
Publishing.
*****************************************************************
 7  Pilot told to fly through atom bomb cloud Widow of airman who 
killed himself blames nuclear test ordeal

Guardian Unlimited | Archive Search
 
Rob Evans

Guardian
Friday December 28, 2001

Squadron leader Eric Denson spoke little about the day he was 
ordered to fly his Canberra plane through the centre of a nuclear 
mushroom cloud at the age of 26. He did not even tell his wife 
Shirley much. 

But one day she overhead him telling her father what it was like, 
and how he had had a great deal of trouble controlling the 
aircraft as the powerful cloud rumbled skywards. 

Two lines of a famous poem kept going through his mind as he 
battled on through the cloud - "Into the jaws of Death, into the 
mouth of Hell." 

The lines from Tennyson lament the cavalry killed in the 
notorious military blunder, the Charge of the Light Brigade in 
1854. They were mown down after they had been ordered to charge, 
armed only with sabres, at Russian guns. For Mrs Denson, the 
military's treatment of her husband a century later is 
uncomfortably reminiscent of that blunder. 

Her husband, who had joined the RAF in 1950, was posted to take 
part in Britain's nuclear tests on Christmas Island, a coral 
atoll in the South Pacific. In Operation Grapple Y, the British 
military dropped a three-megaton atomic bomb above the sea off 
Christmas Island on April 28 1958. 

Mr Denson was ordered to fly through the swelling mushroom cloud 
several times and then to take readings of the radiation. 

However, according to Mrs Denson, he was not given any protective 
clothing and was in the contaminated Canberra aircraft - 
codenamed Sniff Two - for more than 40 minutes. 

Electrical fitter Ken Sutton, now dead, recorded in a statement: 
"We gave the pilot (Mr Denson) a wave as he came in to land, but 
he seemed a bit concerned." 

Next day Mr Sutton had to go into the radioactively "hot" plane 
and get the recordings out. 

He said he was scared to death of the radiation in the plane: 
"You couldn't see it, you couldn't smell it, you couldn't touch 
it or anything, but you knew damn well it was a killer." 

Mr Sutton was informed that the aircraft was the "hottest" one 
that had landed at Christmas Island. 

Logs for 76 Squadron record that the Canberra "slightly exceeded 
the permitted dose (of radiation) on single penetration". 

But Mrs Denson believes that other official radiation readings 
show that her husband was actually exposed to around 20 times the 
recommended safety limit, one of the highest levels among the 
test veterans. 

She and other veterans allege that military chiefs were negligent 
and that they did not provide adequate protection to the people 
who participated in the radiation tests. 

The harmful effects of the exposure set in quickly with her 
husband, according to Mrs Denson. He started vomiting within 
hours of landing from his mission and was sent back to Britain. 

He suffered gastric problems as well as dermatitis on his chest, 
which she now believes were radiation burns. 

A colleague described him as "full of life, confident, kind, 
thoughtful with a keen sense of humour, and unflappable" before 
the test. 

But afterwards he changed. Mrs Denson said: "He experienced 
dreadfully deep depressions and mood swings. 

"He knew something was happening to his head, but he did not know 
what." Mr Denson was no longer able to cope with life, and after 
three attempts, he finally killed himself in 1976. 

He left behind four children, three of them still at school at 
the time. Mrs Denson only began to connect his suicide with the 
nuclear test in the mid-1990s after reading about the plight of 
the veterans in a newspaper. 

She began to collect scientific evidence on how radiation can 
cause depression, and after three years of fighting, she managed 
to win a war widow's pension.  
 		      		      		   
[UP]    	 	 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 
*****************************************************************
 8  Police inquiry into 50s nuclear tests                  

Guardian Unlimited | Archive Search
 
Rob Evans
Guardian
Friday December 28, 2001

Police are conducting a criminal inquiry into Britain's nuclear 
bomb tests following allegations that a RAF pilot was exposed to 
dangerously high levels of radiation and later died, the Guardian 
has learned. Scotland Yard is scrutinising claims that military 
chiefs ordered former Squadron Leader Eric Denson to fly his 
plane through a mushroom cloud several times to collect technical 
data after scientists detonated a nuclear weapon.
 
The investigation has been started after his widow, Shirley, 
complained that the government "knowingly and maliciously exposed 
my late husband to deadly and legally prohibited levels of 
radiation which ultimately led to his death".
 
She says he was an "extremely healthy" 26-year-old before the 
test in April 1958 but afterwards developed chronic respiratory 
and psychological illnesses and then committed suicide after 
three attempts in 1976, suffering from depression.
 
She and her lawyer Alan Care claim that he was exposed to around 
20 times the safety limit.
 
The inquiry by the Metropolitan police's specialist crime unit 
has concentrated on looking at whether it was legal for military 
chiefs to order Denson and his aircrew to fly through the 
mushroom cloud to gather radioactive samples.
 
More than 22,000 British servicemen helped run and witnessed 21 
tests in which nuclear bombs were exploded in Australia, 
Christmas Island and other Pacific islands between 1952 and 1958.
 
Twenty years after the tests, many of the servicemen began to 
complain that they were suffering from cancers and illnesses 
which they believed resulted from being exposed to radiation in 
the tests. Many of them have since died.
 
The Ministry of Defence has consistently denied the claims, 
pointing out that scientific studies into the health of the 
veterans had shown that there was no more illness among the 
veterans than a comparable group of servicemen.
 
The government, although supportive in opposition, has so far 
refused to admit that their diseases have been caused by the 
tests.
 
Detective Sergeant John Skelly of the Met, has written to Mrs 
Denson promising a "totally impartial" investigation, but warned 
that "there are very many hurdles to overcome" before any 
criminal prosecution can be started.
   	 	
 		      		      		   
[UP]    	 	 
Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 
*****************************************************************
 9  Man to Plead Guilty in Nuclear Case
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 27, 2001 
 
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A man accused 16 years ago of illegally 
exporting potential nuclear triggers to Israel will plead guilty 
Friday to two charges in federal court, his attorney said. 

Richard Smyth, 72, a former electronics supplier, will plead 
guilty to two of 30 counts contained in his indictment, his 
attorney James D. Riddet said Thursday. He had previously pleaded 
innocent to all charges. 

The remaining counts will be dismissed as part of a plea 
agreement. 

The original indictment involved the alleged export of about 
$60,000 worth of krytrons, two-inch triggering devices that can 
be used in nuclear weapons. Smyth intends to plead guilty to a 
single count each of illegal shipments and preparing false 
documentation for the export of roughly 800 of the tubelike 
devices. Authorities said they were sent to Heli Corp. in Israel 
between January 1980 and December 1982. 

Krytrons may not be exported without a license or written 
approval from the State Department. 

Smyth faces a maximum of seven years under sentencing guidelines. 
Riddet said he would ask that Smyth, who has been held since 
July, be sentenced to time already served. 

Smyth fled the United States after pleading innocent in 1985. He 
was extradited from Spain last month, and re-entered his innocent 
plea Nov. 26. He is being held without bail. 

All contents copyright 2001 and 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 10  US to Help Russia on Nuclear Control
 
Las Vegas SUN
 
December 27, 2001 
 
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said Thursday it would expand 
programs to help Russia keep nuclear weapons material under 
control and to speed up installation of detection devices at U.S. 
and Russian border posts. 

A Bush administration review reflects rising concern over 
terrorists' acquiring nuclear material from loosely managed 
Russian stockpiles and smuggling it over U.S. and Russian 
borders. 

Some analysts have questioned whether Russian officials know 
exactly how many nuclear weapons and how much weapons-grade 
material are stored in Russia. More than 30 U.S. programs, with a 
combined budget of about $750 million, were reviewed, and a 
summary of the conclusions was released by the White House. Most 
of the programs were found to work well, the statement said. 

However, the review proposed that the State Department and Energy 
Department find a less costly and more efficient way to help 
Russia dispose of excess plutonium, a key element of nuclear 
weapons. 

The program is expected to cost about $2 billion by the time it 
is completed several years from now. 

The project to end Russian production of weapons-grade plutonium 
will be transferred to the Energy Department from the Defense 
Department and several programs to help Russia shutter nuclear 
weapons factories and install nuclear detection devices at border 
posts will be merged. 

At the same time, programs to find jobs for Russian nuclear 
weapons scientists are to be expanded. The aim is to limit any 
incentive to sell dangerous material to suspect groups or 
nations. 

And the United States will work with Russia to destroy tons of 
nerve gas at Shchuch'ye. 

The decisions from the administration's review will be 
implemented vigorously, the statement said. 

In a separate development, Secretary of Defense Donald H. 
Rumsfeld said the results of a review of U.S. nuclear weapons 
programs would be announced next week. 

He said it would lay the groundwork for a new approach to 
strategic deterrence - one that will include "truly deep 
reductions" in U.S. arsenals combined with deployment of an 
anti-missile defense capable of protecting the United States, 
allies and friends from attack. 

All contents copyright 2001 and 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 11  UK's nuclear tests under scrutiny

BBC News | UK | 

28 December, 2001, 

[Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean]                         

Nuclear tests took place on Christmas Island

The Metropolitan Police has begun an investigation into aspects 
of Britain's nuclear testing programme in the 1950s. 

Thousands of veterans who took part in the tests in Australia, 
Christmas Island and other islands in the Pacific later 
complained of ill health - a large number have since died. 

Almost no-one had any kind of protective clothing and many now 
blame the tests for making them ill. 

The issue is already in the civil courts, but now Scotland Yard 
says it has begun a criminal investigation against the Ministry 
of Defence and some of the scientists involved. 

Papers seen by the BBC suggest the inquiry has already been under 
way for three months. 

It focuses on the case of an RAF squadron leader, Eric Denson, 
who fell ill and committed suicide years after allegedly being 
ordered to fly his aircraft unprotected through a highly 
radioactive mushroom cloud. 

Mr Denson was healthy before the test in 1958 but then developed 
chronic illness which led to depression and eventual suicide in 
1976. 

Human guinea pig 

Alan Care, the solicitor acting for Mr Denson's widow Shirley, 
told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The claim is that he was 
instructed by the Ministry of Defence to pilot an aircraft 
through a mushroom cloud and in effect was being used as a human 
guinea pig." 

The police inquiry will investigate whether it was legal for 
military chiefs to order the air crew to fly through the cloud. 

Mrs Denson alleges the government "knowingly and maliciously" 
exposed her husband to "deadly and legally prohibited levels of 
radiation which ultimately led to his death". 

The MoD has denied that Mr Denison was used as a human guinea pig 
to test radiation, but said it was co-operating fully with the 
police. 

Scotland Yard said on Thursday: "We can confirm that the 
Metropolitan Police Service specialist crime group are carrying 
out preliminary assessment of information received in August this 
year. 

"We are not prepared to say who requested this assessment to be 
carried out or in connection with what." 
	         
Grey, British Nuclear Tests Veterans Assoc. "I have serious 
doubts about the MoD being willingly co-operative"
 	   
 Atomic veterans 
[http://www.angelfire.com/tx/atomicveteran/index.html] Ministry 
of Defence [http://www.mod.uk/] The BBC is not responsible for 
the content of external internet sites
*****************************************************************
 12  Weapons of mass destruction - going nuclear in Iraq
 
Jordan Times (Amman) [http://www.jordantimes.com/] 
By Ramzi Kysia 
Posted Thursday December 27, 2001 - 10:00:23 AM EST 

BAGHDAD - Dr Alim Abdul-Hamid's office at Al Mustanseriya Medical 
College in Baghdad is decorated in bright, cheerful colours, but 
what he has to say is anything but cheerful. Formerly Dean of 
Basra Medical College, Abdul-Hamid has had plenty of first- hand 
experience with Iraq's unprecedented plague of cancers and birth 
defects. 

"We have seen cases of breast cancer among women in their 20s. In 
their 20s!," says Abdul-Hamid. "This is really tragic, because, 
you know, in America, probably when you come across a case of 
breast cancer in a woman in her late 30s, you would consider that 
this is a young age for cancer, while we see cases of breast 
cancer in the 20s. There are increased incidences of colon 
cancer, thyroid cancer, in addition to, of course, leukaemias and 
lymphomas." What's the source of this epidemic? According to 
Abdul-Hamid the problem is depleted uranium. Depleted uranium, or 
"DU", is an extremely dense, heavy metal, and a waste product of 
atomic bomb production. It has a half-life of over 4 billion 
years. It contains trace amounts of plutonium and is 60 per cent 
as radioactive as naturally occurring uranium. The US military 
uses it as ballast in their missiles, and they use it to coat 
shells and pellets. Because of its density, it is armour piercing 
- so it is used as an anti-tank weapon. DU is also aerosolising. 
When a shell coated with DU hits, it burns, releasing uranium 
oxide dust. This dust then rises in the air, is carried by the 
winds, and contaminates the entire surrounding environment. 

The Pentagon admits to dropping 320 tonnes of DU in Iraq. The 
environmental organisation Greenpeace puts the estimate at over 
800 tonnes. Hospitals throughout Iraq have reported as much as a 
10-fold increase in overall cancer rates and birth defects over 
the last 11 years. 

Abdul-Hamid points to an epidemiological study he headed in 
Basra, demonstrating the connection between DU and cancer in 
Iraq. The study looked at five factors: biological plausibility, 
strength of association, incidence rate, increased incidences of 
cancer among younger children, and the dose-response 
relationship. According to Abdul-Hamid, all these factors point 
to a strong, casual link between DU exposure and cancer in Iraq. 

To test the biological plausibility of their hypothesis, the team 
of scientists studied the types of cancer being reported, most 
notably leukaemias, and explored their relationship to DU. The 
results strongly indicate a radioactive, rather than chemical, 
contaminant. Explains Abdul-Hamid: "Leukaemia is known to be 
related to radiation. We don't have evidence that leukaemia is 
related to chemicals." Additionally, if the source of the 
epidemic were chemical, there would have been a sharp spike in 
cancer rates following the Gulf war, followed by rapid decreases 
as the source of the contamination disappeared. In contrast, with 
radiation the strength of association increases as time passes. 
The fact that cancer rates are still increasing at an exponential 
rate in Iraq strongly implies a radioactive source. 

This increase is enormous. According to the study, malignancies 
and leukaemias among children under the age of 15 have more than 
tripled since 1990. Whereas in 1990 young children accounted for 
only 13 per cent of cancer cases, today over 56 per cent of all 
cancer in Iraq occurs among children under the age of 5. 
Abdul-Hamid explains that it isn't just direct exposure of the 
children to the radiation still present in the environment; it's 
also the cumulative exposure of their parents over time. This 
cumulative exposure does permanent damage to parental genes, 
damage which is then passed on to their children. 

Finally, pointing to a map of Basra, Abdul-Hamid highlights the 
dose-response relationship between DU and cancers. "If we look at 
the map of Basra, southern Iraq, and monitor the incidences in 
different districts over time, we can come out with a very 
important conclusion. And that is that areas which have got the 
higher level of background radiation have higher levels of 
cancers." These factors overwhelmingly point to DU as the source 
of Iraq's current cancer plague. 

Iraqi doctors aren't the only ones complaining about DU. US 
veterans are upset as well. DU may be a leading cause of the 
unprecedented levels of illnesses effecting Gulf war veterans. 
"The Pentagon claims that there are no significant health effects 
from exposure to depleted uranium, but their own research and 
documents show that this is not true," says Charles 
Sheehan-Miles, a Gulf war veteran and former president of the 
National Gulf War Resource Centre. Almost 25 per cent of US 
soldiers who fought in the Gulf war are currently receiving 
disability benefits from the US Veteran's Administration. This is 
twice the rate of disabilities as among Vietnam veterans. 

Unfortunately, DU remains an integral part of the American 
military arsenal. According to Sheehan-Miles, "Depleted uranium, 
like landmines and cluster bombs, is a weapon with effects far 
beyond the battlefield, with innocents and children as the 
frequent victims. 

I resent this. As a former American soldier, I was trained to 
protect the innocent, not to kill them." As the United States 
gears up for a new "Desert Storm" against Iraq, using weapons 
like DU, that is a lesson that more American soldiers, and the 
politicians who command them, should be reminded of. 

The writer is a Muslim-American peace activist, and serves on the 
board of directors for the Education for Peace in Iraq Centre 
(www.saveageneration.org). He is currently in Iraq as part of a 
Voices in the Wilderness (www.vitw.org) peace delegation trying 
to end the war . He contributed this article to The Jordan Times. 


© 2001 Jordan Times (Amman). This news item is distributed via 
Middle East News
*****************************************************************
 13  Pasko Sentenced to 4 Years on Treason Charge
 
Friday, Dec. 28, 2001. 

 By Sharon LaFraniere 	 
The Washington Post 

Grigory Pasko, a military journalist who exposed nuclear waste 
dumping by the navy was convicted Tuesday of treason and 
sentenced to four years in prison, a case that critics said 
illustrates the risks of antagonizing the military. 

The ruling capped four years of legal twists and turns for Pasko, 
a 39-year-old navy captain from Vladivostok who reported on 
environmental abuses by the Pacific Fleet. 

Although the judge threw out nine counts of treason against 
Pasko, he was found guilty of collecting information on secret 
military exercises with the intention of passing it on to 
Japanese journalists, his lawyers said.
 
"I find the sentence absolutely incomprehensible," Pasko said 
after it was handed down.
 
Human rights activists, environmental groups, and members of the 
political elite immediately denounced the verdict as an example 
of how the authorities can twist innocent behavior into acts of 
treason against the state.
 
Sergei Ivanenko, deputy head of the Yabloko party, said the 
verdict was "a challenge to all those people who believe there 
should be democracy, freedom of speech in Russia, that our 
citizens should have full and precise information about events to 
do with their security, their lives and health."
 
Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov ridiculed the 
accusations Friday and said Pasko should ask President Vladimir 
Putin to pardon him. "I consider it unnecessary for him to go and 
prove his innocence along the circles of hell of appeals to 
court," Mironov said. "The world public has long figured out who 
is right and who is to blame here."
 
Pasko's lawyers and relatives said that a presidential pardon 
would not satisfy Pasko because it would imply that he is guilty. 

Pasko's wife, Galina Morozova, said Pasko signed a request for an 
appeal at the guard's desk before he even left the courtroom.
 
But she said he has little faith that a Russian court will acquit 
him, and hopes eventually to be vindicated at the European Court 
of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. The court arbitrates human 
rights for nations, including Russia, that are members of the 
Council of Europe.
 
Like other espionage trials in Russia, Pasko's was conducted 
entirely in secret, and the only detailed accounts of what 
transpired in the courtroom came from Pasko's lawyers and 
relatives. His case paralleled that of Alexander Nikitin, a 
retired navy captain who was charged with treason for exposing 
the hazards of Russian nuclear submarines. Nikitin was cleared 
last year after a long legal struggle.
 
Pasko was initially acquitted of the treason charge 2 1/2 years 
ago. He was then convicted on a lesser charge of misuse of 
office, then freed from jail under a grant of amnesty.
 
Pasko and the prosecutors both appealed the earlier conviction. 
The military division of the Supreme Court then ordered a second 
treason trial. Given what appeared to be the military's desire to 
dispose of the controversy, as well as the seeming sympathy of 
the judge, Pasko's supporters were optimistic that he would be 
found not guilty.
 
"We were all expecting him not just to be acquitted, but maybe 
even to be apologized to, because it appeared it was already a 
thing of the past, that it was already a relic," said Anatoly 
Pristavkin, chairman of the president's pardon commission, in a 
televised interview Tuesday night.
 
Pasko was working for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper Boyevaya 
Vakhta, or Combat Watch, when the Federal Security Service 
arrested him in November 1997. As a military reporter, he had 
collected information about nuclear contamination from 
decommissioned submarines and waste sites.
 
Accounts differ about whether he also freelanced for Japan's 
largest television network. Earlier reports said he received as 
much as $300 a month from the Japanese news media.
 
But Anatoly Pyshkin, one of his lawyers, said Tuesday that while 
Pasko talked frequently to Japanese journalists, he never 
received any money.
 
According to Pyshkin, the Federal Security Service taped Pasko's 
telephone conversations for about six months and arrested him as 
he prepared to take a trip to Japan on military matters. He spent 
20 months in jail before his first acquittal.
 
The judge Tuesday ruled that Pasko intended to give Japanese 
journalists his notes on a meeting of military officers in which 
they described secret naval exercises, Pyshkin said. In one taped 
telephone call, a Japanese journalist had asked him about the 
exercises.
 
Pyshkin said that conversation was general in nature, and no 
Japanese journalists testified against Pasko. "There was no 
evidence that he had any plans of passing that information to 
anybody," he said.
 
Nikolai Patrushev, director of the security service, said the 
judge's verdict was "an objective one." A spokesman for the FSB 
said Pasko was convicted not because he was an aggressive 
journalist, but because he failed to protect state secrets 
entrusted to him as a military officer. 

Outside the FSB, the verdict was widely condemned. William 
Schulz, director of the American branch of Amnesty International, 
compared Pasko to Soviet dissidents who were punished merely for 
exercising the right to free speech. "His prosecution has been a 
window into a justice system that continues to operate in secrecy 
and in the service of political masters rather than the law," he 
said.
 
Alexander Pikayev, a military expert with the Moscow Carnegie 
Center, said he believes that Pasko might have "used his 
professional prerogatives to gain access to some materials." But 
the treason allegations, he said, seem to be "complete nonsense."
 
http://www.themoscowtimes.com

*****************************************************************
 14  Nuclear folly clouds India-Pakistan crisis  

  [Thestar.com]   
  Dec. 28, 01:00 EDT   

Prestige. Power. Security. The people of India and Pakistan were 
promised all that, plus freedom from fear, when their governments 
test-fired nuclear bombs three years ago. It hasn't turned out 
that way.

Both countries now stand at the brink of war following a Dec. 13 
terror attack on India's parliament in which 14 died. India 
blames Kashmiri separatists backed by Pakistan's security 
services. Pakistan denies it.

Though the South Asian rivals have fought three wars since 1947, 
the next could prove far more ruinous.

By arming with nuclear weapons, then allowing themselves to be 
goaded into a crisis by terrorists, India and Pakistan have 
become an exponentially greater threat not only to each other but 
also to South Asia and the world. Dreadful as the Dec. 13 attack 
was, it does not legitimize war, much less nuclear war.

India's worrisome military buildup may be nothing more than a 
gambit to get Washington to press Islamabad to shut down the 
terrorists.

But Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee must give 
Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf some time to crack down, far 
harder than he has, on provocateurs like the Jaish-e-Muhammad and 
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba groups. Musharraf ended Pakistan's support for 
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and he should 
shut down anti-India groups.

Vajpayee, who implausibly claims that "war is being thrust on 
us," must know that bellicose threats will only provoke more 
tension, making it harder for Musharraf to crack down. Vajpayee 
is wrong to reject talks to resolve the dispute.

As this crisis sorts itself out India's 1 billion people and 
Pakistan's 140 million have an occasion to ponder where their 
endless rivalry is taking them. 

Kashmir need not be an eternal irritant. Its people crave peace.

Moreover, nuclear weapons are a costly folly. At low numbers they 
are destabilizing, because each side has an incentive to strike 
with them, lest they be "taken out" by the other. And they give 
generals overmuch influence on politicians.

Having been seduced by nuclear weapons, there's no easy escape 
from the instability they occasion.

But Indians and Pakistanis must now see the need to improve the 
tone of their political discourse, and military communications. 
They need better safeguards against the use of these weapons. And 
they should share confidence-building information on military 
movements and weapons tests.

Better yet, moderates on both sides might draw wisdom from this 
latest near-death experience. Nuclear bombs do not offer 
security, only anxiety. They are weapons no one needs.   

Legal Notice:- Copyright 1996-2001. Toronto Star Newspapers 
*****************************************************************
 15  Flats cleanup may be delayed

By BERNY MORSON
 
        Plutonium must begin leaving Rocky Flats next month to 
meet a 2006 deadline to close the defunct nuclear weapons plant, 
the head of the cleanup company says. 

        And it may not happen. 

        Shipments of the highly radioactive material were 
supposed to begin in October to a storage facility in South 
Carolina. But that plan is on hold, with South Carolina Gov. Jim 
Hodges threatening to lie down in front of the trucks to keep the 
stuff out. 

        The 2006 deadline can be met if shipments begin in 
January, as currently planned, said Alan Parker, the president of 
Kaiser-Hill Co., the firm conducting the cleanup. 

        "Anything after that puts major stress on the system, and 
that system does not always respond well," Parker said. 

        But a January departure is becoming less likely as the 
impasse with Hodges continues. 

        The Energy Department must give South Carolina 30 days 
notice before shipments begin. Unless the notice goes out by 
Monday, the earliest the shipments could begin is Feb. 1. 

        Theoretically, mid-spring is the latest possible date the 
shipments could begin and still meet the 2006 closure date, but 
the Energy Department's entire fleet of specially designed trucks 
would have to be assigned to the Rocky Flats cleanup, Parker 
said. 

        All of the plutonium has been moved to a single building 
so that the rest of the plant can be demolished. Once the 
plutonium is gone, the last structure can come down. 

        The plutonium is supposed to go to the Energy 
Department's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. 

        The governor doesn't object to temporary storage at 
Savannah River. But before the stuff comes into the state, Hodges 
wants assurances in writing that the Energy Department has plans 
for long-term storage someplace else. 

        The Energy Department had plans to convert the plutonium 
to reactor fuel or to immobilize it in glass. Neither plan was 
funded by Congress. 

        Energy Department officials have said they'll start 
looking for alternative places to put the plutonium unless Hodges 
cooperates. That would cost jobs in South Carolina. 

        Kaiser-Hill workers have filled more than 250 special 
containers with plutonium. Eventually, some 19,000 containers 
will be shipped. 

(Contact Berny Morson of the Denver Rocky Mountain News at 
http://www.rockymountainnews.com.) December 27, 2001  

The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights Reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 16  IAAP events numerous in 2001

The Hawk Eye Newspaper
 	
[http://www.thehawkeye.com]     

December 28, 2001
  

 
By Dennis J. Carroll
 The Hawk Eye

 •  Effects of Sept. 11 attacks, $1 million health study among 
the happenings this year.

 Though most revelations were less dramatic and far fewer than in 
the previous two years, 2001 remained an eventful year at the 
Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown.

 The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted beefed-up security at 
the plant, including the installation of higher fences, concrete 
barriers around the administration center and a ban on hunting 
and fishing on the sprawling 19,000-acre complex.

 The year ended with the arrival of about 50 military police 
units from Missouri to patrol the grounds and bolster security. 
The Army Reserve troops represent the largest number of uniformed 
military personnel posted at the plant in its 60-year history.

 In the weeks following the Sept. 11. attack, the FBI 
investigated reports of suspicious characters attempting to get 
maps and photos of the plant from the Des Moines County auditor's 
office, but the issue quickly quieted down. Other notable events 
at the plant this year included the departure of Col. Bruce 
Elliot as the plant's commander. After the standard two-year 
stint at IAAP, he was replaced by Lt. Col. Yolanda Dennis-Lowman, 
who had been stationed in Germany.

 Elliott was reassigned to the Pentagon, where he watched as a 
hijacked jetliner crashed into the building. He was not injured.

 Meanwhile, former nuclear weapons workers at the Middletown 
plant received a boost when Congress passed legislation to expand 
the number of survivors who could receive a federal benefits 
package created for former workers, or their survivors, who 
suffered long-term illnesses or died from exposure to hazardous 
materials at the plant.

 In addition, Congress approved $1 million for a health study of 
nonnuclear workers at the plant. Iowa officials, including the 
state's governor and two U.S. senators, called on the Army to 
conduct a low-level flyover of the plant to detect possible 
radioactive contamination that may have been left behind by the 
Atomic Energy Commission, which manufactured and tested atomic 
weapons components at the plant for about 25 years.

 Officials cited evidence in previously classified documents of a 
possible radioactive "waste stream" and a possible "blue flash" 
runaway nuclear chain reaction that may have killed or injured at 
least two workers. In another matter, the Army paid to connect 
about 30 homeowners southeast of the plant near U.S. 61 to 
Rathbun rural water system.

 Although there did not appear to be any immediate danger, the 
homes were connected to Rathbun as cleanup officials sought to 
determine the extent of an explosives-contaminated plume of 
groundwater that had leached off the plant, apparently over many 
years.

 Health researchers from the University of Iowa College of Public 
Health came to Middletown to assist former workers or their 
survivors in sorting papers and documents and to ensure that the 
former workers, many of them elderly, fill out applications for 
the federal government's $150,000 compensation package. The U of 
I researchers and health experts began their second year of a 
Department of Energy contract to find and screen for health 
problems in thousands of people who helped build nuclear bombs at 
the plant.
   
The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 
Front Desk · 319-754-6824 FAX · 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free 
*****************************************************************
 17  Nuclear folly clouds India-Pakistan crisis

Dec. 28, 01:00 EDT 

Prestige. Power. Security. The people of India and Pakistan were 
promised all that, plus freedom from fear, when their governments 
test-fired nuclear bombs three years ago. It hasn't turned out 
that way.

Both countries now stand at the brink of war following a Dec. 13 
terror attack on India's parliament in which 14 died. India 
blames Kashmiri separatists backed by Pakistan's security 
services. Pakistan denies it. Though the South Asian rivals have 
fought three wars since 1947, the next could prove far more 
ruinous.

By arming with nuclear weapons, then allowing themselves to be 
goaded into a crisis by terrorists, India and Pakistan have 
become an exponentially greater threat not only to each other but 
also to South Asia and the world. Dreadful as the Dec. 13 attack 
was, it does not legitimize war, much less nuclear war.

India's worrisome military buildup may be nothing more than a 
gambit to get Washington to press Islamabad to shut down the 
terrorists.

But Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee must give 
Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf some time to crack down, far 
harder than he has, on provocateurs like the Jaish-e-Muhammad and 
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba groups. Musharraf ended Pakistan's support for 
the Taliban and Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and he should 
shut down anti-India groups.

Vajpayee, who implausibly claims that "war is being thrust on 
us," must know that bellicose threats will only provoke more 
tension, making it harder for Musharraf to crack down. Vajpayee 
is wrong to reject talks to resolve the dispute.

As this crisis sorts itself out India's 1 billion people and 
Pakistan's 140 million have an occasion to ponder where their 
endless rivalry is taking them. 

Kashmir need not be an eternal irritant. Its people crave peace. 
Moreover, nuclear weapons are a costly folly. At low numbers they 
are destabilizing, because each side has an incentive to strike 
with them, lest they be "taken out" by the other. And they give 
generals overmuch influence on politicians.

Having been seduced by nuclear weapons, there's no easy escape 
from the instability they occasion.

But Indians and Pakistanis must now see the need to improve the 
tone of their political discourse, and military communications. 
They need better safeguards against the use of these weapons. And 
they should share confidence-building information on military 
movements and weapons tests. Better yet, moderates on both sides 
might draw wisdom from this latest near-death experience. Nuclear 
bombs do not offer security, only anxiety. 

They are weapons no one needs. 

Legal Notice:- Copyright 1996-2001. Toronto Star Newspapers 
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 18  Russian Court Delays Researcher's Spy Case

Rights Groups Have Derided Charges 

By Sharon LaFraniere
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 28, 2001; Page A15 

MOSCOW, Dec. 27 -- A judge today delayed issuing a verdict in the 
espionage case of Igor Sutyagin, saying the prosecution's case 
was too vague and must be reinvestigated, according to Sutyagin's 
attorney, Anna Stavitskaya.

The decision means that Sutyagin, 37, an arms control researcher 
at the prestigious Institute for the Study of the United States 
and Canada, will remain there indefinitely while the new 
investigation is conducted.

Sutyagin, who already has spent two years in prison, is accused 
of betraying secrets about Russia's nuclear submarines, nuclear 
weapons and early warning systems.

Prosecutors claim that the London-based firm Alternative Futures, 
which hired Sutyagin as a part-time consultant, was a front for 
the CIA. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) identified one 
of the firm's founders, Sean Kidd, and an employee, Nadya Lock, 
as career U.S. intelligence agents, the Russian Interfax news 
agency said today.

Tonight, in an apparent attempt to rebut the judge's criticism, 
the FSB gave Interfax a videotape in which Sutyagin admitted that 
he suspected both Kidd and Lock had ties to a foreign 
intelligence service, the news agency reported. 

Sutyagin told the FSB agents he realized he was acting against 
his country's interests and nearly decided to cut off contacts 
but was persuaded otherwise, Interfax said.

Human rights activists and some Western observers contend the 
case against Sutyagin is bogus and, together with several other 
treason cases now underway, suggests a disturbing rise in the 
influence of Russia's security services.

On Tuesday, military journalist Grigory Pasko was sentenced to 
four years in prison for treason in a case that has been 
ridiculed even by some of President Vladimir Putin's political 
allies. Pasko was convicted on charges of collecting secret 
information about the Pacific Fleet with the intention of giving 
it to Japanese journalists. He has appealed.

The judge in Sutyagin's case in Kaluga, a town 100 miles south of 
Moscow, determined that prosecutors had failed to identify 
precisely which state secrets Sutyagin had revealed that were 
harmful to Russia's security, said Vladimir Vasiltsov, one of 
Sutyagin's attorneys.

The judge also said investigators failed to look into Sutyagin's 
contention that he used only public information, the attorney 
said. He added that the investigators never translated or studied 
numerous English-language texts on which Sutyagin relied.

Vasiltsov said Sutyagin will appeal the decision to keep him in 
custody. He said he and Sutyagin's other attorneys need to study 
the rest of the judge's findings before their client can decide 
whether to appeal them. 

Vasiltsov said he fears that Sutyagin may spend another year in 
jail on accusations that the prosecution failed to prove in 
court. "It's outrageous," he said.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company 
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 19  Russian court calls for further inquiry for spy trial

The News - 

Journalist Grigory Pasko is now behind bars. File photo, AP

AFP - 12/28/2001

MOSCOW - A Russian court hearing the trial of a defense expert 
accused of spying for the West called for a further inquiry 
Thursday amid reports of serious irregularities during the 
original investigation, the Interfax agency reported.

The court had been expected to issue its verdict in the case 
later in the day, but has put off a ruling pending the new probe.

One of the lawyers representing Igor Sutyagin, a defense expert 
charged with passing state secrets to U.S. authorities when he 
worked for the USA-Canada research institute, said that the 
decision was taken after "grave violations of the procedural 
code" were uncovered.

Sutyagin will remain in custody while the new information is 
gathered.

Earlier, Sutyagin denied the charges against him, reiterating 
that all he handed over were studies compiled from information 
already in the public domain, his lawyer Vladimir Vasiltsov told 
Interfax.

"This is clear to the investigators and prosecutors, but they 
still cling to their accusations," Sutyagin told the court in 
Kaluga, south of Moscow, according to the attorney.

Prosecutors have demanded a 14 year prison sentence for "high 
treason," Interfax added.

Sutyagin, who was arrested in October 1999 at Obninsk, south of 
Moscow, has told the court that he did provide British firm 
Alternative Futures with analyses of Russian investment 
opportunities, especially in the defense sector.

Russia's FSB Federal Security Service (ex-KGB), alleges that the 
British company was a front for espionage for "one of the 
(Western) secret services."

The FSB and Russian courts have greatly stepped up investigations 
and prosecutions for alleged spying since the election in March 
last year of President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB colonel.

Russian journalist Grigory Pasko, who in 1997 exposed dumping of 
radioactive waste by the Russian navy in the Pacific Ocean to 
Japanese media, received a four-year jail sentence Tuesday for 
"espionage" and "high treason."

Human rights defenders condemned the ruling as a blow to freedom 
of expression, saying the Russian secret services had 
orchestrated the judgment by a military tribunal in the Far East 
port city of Vladivostok. 

©Copyright 2001 TheNewsMexico.com
    
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