The move follows the discovery that a number of health boards had no usable stocks of iodine, contrary to claims made earlier this week by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin.
A spokesman for the Department confirmed last night that iodine tablets - which can be effective in preventing thyroid cancer in certain people exposed to radiation - would be pre-distributed to households, although not necessarily by post. "Distribution could be through local churches, schools or pharmacies. We have not decided yet," he said.
Early yesterday, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, apologised for claiming erroneously last Thursday that all health boards had stocks of iodine.
The Minister said he had made the claim "in good faith" on receipt of information from his Department. "I take responsibility ... and I apologise for that."
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland yesterday, Mr Martin added: "We have made arrangements and we're in the process of making arrangements to order new stocks and to pre-distribute to every household." The move, he said, was aimed at correcting an "inherent flaw" in the 1992 nuclear emergency plan whereby tablets were being stockpiled by health boards.
Iodine is said to offer limited protection, in the case of a major nuclear accident, to children or young people whose thyroid glands are still growing.
The gland is susceptible to absorbing cancer-causing radioactive iodine in radioactive clouds. The risk of such absorption can be minimised by ingesting non-radioactive iodine in advance.
Mr Martin said the Government was going beyond what many nuclear-powered countries did by pre-distributing. "The most they do is they have stockpiles at nuclear plants for residents and staff in the vicinity of those plants. Indeed, the World Health Organisation (WHO) do not recommend that we pre-distribute to every house in the country," he said.
The Minister's comments drew further criticism from Opposition politicians, including Green Party MEP Ms Nuala Ahern, who said the WHO had recommended in 1999 that pre-distribution to households "be seriously considered".
She accused the Government of being "completely adrift" on the matter of nuclear safety. Fine Gael TD Mr Charlie Flanagan called on the Government to lift the "information blackout" and publish its national nuclear emergency plan.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Enterprise, which has responsibility for the plan, said the "2001 version" would be published within a matter of weeks. She stressed the plan was operational in the meantime.
***************************************************************** 10 North Korea calls on atomic energy agency to remain impartial BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 30, 2001 Text of report in English by North Korean news agency KCNA Pyongyang, 29 September: Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei at the annual conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened on 17 September said that "the IAEA is continuing to monitor the freeze on facilities in North Korea under the 1994 agreement between the United States and North Korea, but the agency is unable to verify the accuracy of North Korea's nuclear programme" and a senior Japanese official was impudent enough to "urge North Korea to cooperate with inspections and to comply with its obligation under the safeguard agreement promptly and completely," Kyodo News said. This cannot be construed otherwise than reckless acts of the riffraff to shift the responsibility for the non-compliance with the [North Korea-USA] Agreed Framework on to the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], defying international justice and impartiality, pursuant to the US policy. As the DPRK clarified more than once, the issue of implementing the DPRK-US Agreed Framework (AF) allows no interference by others, as it is a matter to be solved between the two countries. If the IAEA conference wants to know who is to blame, it should, first of all, call the US into question for being insincere in the implementation of the Agreed Framework. 2003, the target year for the US provision of LWR [light-water reactors] to the DPRK is near at hand. If the US had remained sincere in implementing the AF, it would have been implemented to such a level as to enable the DPRK and the IAEA to start negotiations on verifying the accuracy and perfectness of the initial report on nuclear substance. Turning away from all these facts, the IAEA raised the unreasonable issue of inspection which had originally been expected to be discussed only after a considerable part of the LWR project was carried out and before the delivery of major nuclear-related parts. Evidently, this is an act of putting a brake on implementation of the AF. Japan, in particular, should drop its bad habit of reading big powers' faces and pulling up others to meet its own interests. Japan has secretly stockpiled plutonium enough to make thousands of nuclear weapons and is accelerating the development of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons despite the international community's strong protest and condemnation. It is, therefore, shameless and foolish for Japan to raise a hue and cry over someone's "fulfilment of obligation". In a word, some forces of Japan and the IAEA, hell-bent on the anti-DPRK hostile policy, have become so reckless as to be unable to distinguish truth from lies and preserve neutrality and impartiality. The IAEA should bear in mind that it should be impartial if it is to honestly remain true to international justice. Source: KCNA news agency, Pyongyang, in English 0811 gmt 29 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 11 Czechs silent on test failure at nuclear power station - Austrian official BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 28, 2001 Linz, Austria, 28 September: The Czech electricity utility CEZ, which operates the nuclear power plant in Temelin, southern Bohemia, keeps silent on the failure of a dynamic test of the plant's turbine because interruption of the launch process is politically undesirable, Radko Pavlovec said today. In a letter sent to CTK in Vienna, Pavlovec, Upper Austrian government commissioner for nuclear power facilities in border areas, refers to confidential information from Temelin staff. Pavlovec claims that pressure is exerted on the National Nuclear Safety Authority (SUJB) to issue permission to raise the reactor's output to a further degree, that is 75 per cent of its nominal output, in spite of the failed test. He also says that CEZ, in spite of all problems, would evidently like to gain the green light for the first bloc's operation in order not to mar Industry Minister Miroslav Gregr's privatization plans. Such procedure however is "entirely incompatible" with safety culture in European Union countries, Pavlovec writes. He further claims that Temelin operators have so far avoided, after repairs carried out, to burden the turbo-set with stronger changes in output, and says that dynamic tests have been repeatedly postponed. In the first attempt on 20 September, the reactor had to be shut down and the repeated test on Thursday has failed as well, according to confidential information. The turbo-set did not allegedly reach the needed operation stability, Pavlovec writes. "The Czech National Nuclear Safety Authority is evidently unable to resist political pressure and issues agreement with steps which are linked with further raising risks implied," Pavlovec claims. That is why it is most urgent that the results of the tests carried out be assessed by international experts. "Referring to CEZ's claim that its steps are transparent, we call on it to make public the test results," Pavlovec concludes... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1354 gmt 28 Sep 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 12 Hungary powers up EU-ready nuclear warning system Planet Ark Environmental News: HUNGARY: September 28, 2001 BUDAPEST - Hungary has completed installation of a nuclear warning and analysis system, initiated by the European Commission in case of a repetition of the Chernobyl catastrophe, EU officials said yesterday. After a nuclear reactor exploded at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union in 1986, exposing five million people across Europe to radiation, EU countries started to install national warning systems. In 1995, the European Commission decided that one coordinated system for the EU should be introduced. Of the 15 EU member states, only France and Britain have elected to retain their own systems. "After Chernobyl we realised in Europe that we need better use of our resources should an emergency happen again," Neale Kelly, principal scientist at the European Commission's Directorate General for Research told a news conference. The RODOS system (real-time on-line decision support system) has already been implemented in Germany - the core of the entire project - as well as in Finland, Spain, Portugal, Slovakia and Poland. It is currently being built in Slovenia and the Czech Republic, while Romania, Bulgaria and the Ukraine are scheduled for next year. The system, comprising a high-capacity computer centre incorporating digital maps, information about a country's nuclear plants and other hazardous industrial facilities and meteorological data, can help predict the spread of radiation and contains dozens of scenarios for different emergencies. "(Although) Chernobyl is forgotten in the political mind...the past two weeks have reminded us that we should always be diligent," Kelly told Reuters, referring to the hijacked airliner attacks against New York and Washington. He said that the system, when fully operational, would enable participant countries to have real-time information about any nuclear incident. Kelly put development costs at around 20 million euros ($18.4 million) and implementation at 500,000 euros ($460,400) per country. Hungary has one nuclear power plant at Paks, some 50 km south of Budapest. The Soviet-built plant was completed in 1982 and has four VVER pressurised water reactors of 460 megawatt capacity each, providing 40 percent of Hungary's electricity. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 13 British firms to bid for Czech power company The Scotsman Online - Andrew Turpin Deputy City Editor (aturpin@scotsman.com) BRITISH Energy and International Power will next week separately make bids to buy parts of the Czech Republic’s state power company CEZ, up for sale with a £2.7 billion price tag. It is understood British Energy will on Tuesday make a bid to buy CEZ’s two big nuclear plants, which are more than one-third of the size of the East Kilbride-based group’s entire UK nuclear generating capacity. At the same time, International Power, the international generating group, is teaming with German utility E.ON to make a separate consortium bid for the 64 per cent stake in CEZ being sold by the Czech government. CEZ, which produces three-quarters of the country’s power, includes 12,000 megawatts of generating capacity, of which the two nuclear plants, Temelin and Dukovany, comprise 3,350mW. It also includes several other power stations and the Czech high voltage transmission network. However, both International Power and E.ON, which is buying the PowerGen generating group in the UK, are thought likely to spell out in their bid that they are not interested in the nuclear plants. British Energy is understood to have discussed joining the International Power consortium, but has decided not to at this stage, partly because of the complexities of mounting a three-way bid. It is still hoping to persuade the Czech Republic to sell the nuclear plants separately, which it has so far declined to do. Alternatively, it will seek to buy them from whoever bids successfully for the whole of CEZ. One industry source said: "There are several ways this cat could be skinned." If successful, it would be British Energy’s first acquisition in Continental Europe and would follow a string of recent deals in the US and Canada. There is a Tuesday deadline for bids in outline form, but not including a cash figure, to be submitted to the Czech government’s financial advisers, Deloitte & Touche. Previously, 12 potential bidders have expressed preliminary interest. The Czech Republic is believed to be seeking around £2.75 billion for the 64 per cent stake in CEZ, valuing it at £4.3 billion, far above its current market capitalisation on the Prague Stock Exchange where 33 per cent of its shares are floated. The Czech government is also selling mainly majority stakes in six regional electricity distribution companies. A spokesman for British Energy declined to discuss whether the group’s submission on Tuesday would be part of a consortium or not. However, he added: "We are keen to own and operate the reactors at Dukovany and Temelin. On the right terms they would be a real asset for British Energy, taking the expertise we have already demonstrated in North America into Central Europe." A spokeswoman for International Power, which was created from the demerger of National Power last year, confirmed it would be submitting an outline bid. ***************************************************************** 14 Reactor work to bring 900 temporary employees [St. Petersburg Times Online: Citrus County news ] Florida Power shuts down its nuclear reactor for a month of refueling and maintenance. Contract workers are arriving by the dozens, filling hotels. By ALEX LEARY © St. Petersburg Times, published September 29, 2001 CRYSTAL RIVER -- Florida Power today shut down its nuclear reactor for a monthlong refueling and maintenance operation that will bring 900 temporary workers to the region. None of the full-time employees will be affected. One-third of the plant's 177 fuel bundles, metal rods filled with uranium pellets, will be replaced and others will be shifted to maximize energy production. "It's almost like a fire," spokesman Mac Harris said. "You need to roll the logs around." Grouped by the dozens, the fuel bundles produce nuclear energy when tweaked by control rods, unleashing a chain reaction of neutrons within the uranium pellets. Used fuel bundles, which remain highly radioactive, will be lifted from the reactor with a mechanical arm and guided through a tunnel to the company's spent fuel storage building. This is the 832-megawatt Crystal River Nuclear Plant's 12th refueling since it opened in 1977, or once every two years. The last occurred over 42 days and ended Nov. 12, 1999. Since then, the nuclear plant has generated more than 13.3-billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to supply the needs of 750,000 homes for one year, according to Harris. Florida Power is a subsidiary of Progress Energy, the company formed after Carolina Power &Light acquired Florida Power's now-defunct parent, Florida Progress Corp. Citing competitive concerns, Harris declined to say how much the outage would cost or how long it would last. During the outage, the company buys power from other sources and releasing details could raise the price, Harris said. In 1999, however, Florida Power reported the outage that year would cost $30-million, including $1-million per week for labor. Contract workers, who are arriving by the dozens, come from two main sources: Framatome ANP of Lynchburg, Va., and the Atlantic Group of Norfolk, Va. The workers, who complement nearly 600 full-time employees, will perform several large maintenance tasks in addition to refueling. These include work on emergency diesel generators and valves that control steam to the main turbines. Harris refused to provide specifics about increased security since the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. All employees, however, must pass background checks, he said. The infusion of workers is sure to provide a shot, if only temporary, to the local economy. "Our rooms are all packed out," reported Harold Mack of Hayes Motel near the Crystal River Mall on U.S. 19. Main Street Gym in downtown Crystal River said about 10 contract workers have already signed up for the month. - Information from Times files was used in this report. Staff writer Alex Leary can be reached at 564-3623 or leary@sptimes.com. ***************************************************************** 15 Japanese Town Holds Nuclear Drill Las Vegas SUN September 29, 2001 TOKYO (AP) - Kindergarten and elementary school students donned gauze masks and vacated their classrooms Saturday as part of a nuclear disaster drill staged before the anniversary of Japan's worst atomic energy accident. About 2,600 people - including pupils, local officials and soldiers from the Self Defense Forces - participated in the exercise, which centered on the town of Tokaimura, a rural community 70 miles northeast of Tokyo. A radiation leak at a fuel-reprocessing plant there on Sept. 30, 1999, killed two workers and affected hundreds of others. The disaster was triggered when two workers tried to save time by mixing excessive amounts of uranium in buckets instead of using special mechanized tanks. Tokaimura city official Kunihiko Yasu said Saturday's drill was the first to include elementary school and kindergarten pupils. Municipal officials rushed to command posts after receiving a mock report of a dangerous radiation leak, sirens wailed and buses shuttled evacuees to safe areas. Six former reprocessing plant officials have been charged with negligence in the 1999 radiation leak. -- All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 Irish Minister claims enough Iodine for public ireland.com - The Irish Times - WORLD IRELAND: Assurances from the Minister for Health that there were sufficient iodine tablets for citizens in the event of a nuclear accident have turned out to be incorrect.
Mr Martin said on Wednesday and again yesterday there were stocks of iodine tablets in all health board areas.
"They're stocked in the health boards in accordance with the 1992 plan and we have sufficient stock in all health board areas," he said.
However, when contacted yesterday by The Irish Times, a number of health boards said they had no usable stock.
Last night the Minister revised his earlier statement and said: "It has emerged that some health boards have disposed of their stocks as they were past their best-before date and these boards believed they were ineffective."
He stressed, however, he had given the earlier information in good faith.
Last night's statement said the Department was "currently finalising the necessary arrangements for the purchase of new stocks of iodine tablets for pre-distribution in the event of a national nuclear emergency".
A statement from the Eastern Regional Health Authority said: "A large stock of iodine tablets is held in the eastern region, sufficient to cover those who might require it in the region.
"Although this stock has passed the use-by date, it has been tested regularly and is still effective".
A spokeswoman for the North Western Health Board said: "In accordance with the national emergency plan of a nuclear accident, we did receive stocks of potassium iodide tablets.
"These tablets have been out of date for some time, although this does not necessarily mean they are ineffective."
A spokeswoman for the South Eastern Health Board said the board had no in-date iodine tablets.
She said the board received a delivery around 1988, after the Chernobyl disaster, but these stocks were now out of date.
The Southern Health Board said it had no usable iodine at present. "The board is waiting for direction from the Department of Health and Children on the sourcing of fresh iodine," a spokeswoman said.
"At present, all other health boards are in the same position."
A spokeswoman for the North Eastern Health Board said it was yesterday reviewing stocks and their expiry dates.
A statement from the Midland Health Board said: "An iodine tablet stock was maintained by the board.
"Expiry dates on stocks were monitored and all stocks, which were out of date, were destroyed in 2000.
"There were concerns in relation to the effectiveness of the distribution arrangements in the event of a nuclear incident and there were also concerns about the product authorisation and licensing of the iodine products," it continued.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland yesterday, Mr Martin said there was no plan in place at the moment for dealing with any possible biological attack.
"We have to strengthen our response to biological attack," he said.
He said local authorities had a plan for dealing with an accident in, for example, a chemical plant.
Referring to biological attack, he said there were vaccines for the effects of some biological weapons, but "unfortunately, for others we do not have an effective vaccine. The world does not have one. The Twin Towers was a wake-up call. There are terrorists out there who are capable of outrageous attacks".
Plans for dealing with emergencies were being reviewed in the light of the attacks on the US, he said, and when they were completed - in about three months - a factsheet would be issued.
Referring to the calls for the resignation of junior minister Mr Joe Jacob because of his handling of questions on this issue on radio on Tuesday, he said: "If someone is going to resign over a radio interview we'd all be gone."
He said there was not, and could not be, a single "plan" for dealing with all eventualities.
There would be a different kind of response depending on the type of disaster, but there would be a committee of Government ministers overseeing that response.
He said the Air India disaster (in 1985) was a classic example of how our emergency services, health boards and local authorities could respond in the event of an emergency.
While stating that the Government had to be "prudent" in terms of preparing for any eventuality, he added: "We have to go on living."
*****************************************************************
17 Terrorist attacks wouldn't explode nuclear plants
KnoxNews: Local
By Richard Powelson, News-Sentinel Washington bureau
WASHINGTON - If terrorists crashed a commercial airliner into a
nuclear power plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority,
it would not cause a Hiroshima-like nuclear explosion, federal
officials say.
"It's a physical impossibility," spokesman Victor Dricks of the
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. "There is no way you can
get a nuclear power plant's (radioactive fuel) to explode" like
an atomic bomb.
One of TVA's nuclear plants, Watts Bar, is only about 60 miles
southwest of Knoxville.
However, the NRC says it does not know how much damage would be
caused to a nuclear plant and whether any radiation would be
released if an airliner like those used by the terrorists on
Sept. 11 crashed into a plant.
"It would depend on a myriad of factors," Dricks said. "It's very
difficult to make any meaningful projection."
Both an environmental group's official and the Nuclear Energy
Institute agree that there is too little enriched uranium, a 4
percent concentration of U-235, in nuclear plant fuel to trigger
a bomb-like explosion. A nuclear warhead contains about a 90
percent concentration of U-235.
TVA spokesman John Moulton said the agency would not comment on
how its nuclear plants would react to a crash by a large
airliner, but he noted the NRC's published comments on the
matter.
The NRC analysis concluded if a 727 airliner crashed into a
nuclear plant containment building, which has a steel and
concrete shell 4 to 6 feet thick, "it would be sufficiently
strong to maintain its integrity" with no release of radiation.
However, the NRC has begun a study of whether more safety and
security systems are needed at the 103 U.S. nuclear reactors at
65 sites in light of terrorists using somewhat larger aircraft,
hijacked 757s and 767s, to crash into both towers of the World
Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican, said that
judging on what he has read and heard of the safety and security
of nuclear power plants and their hardened containment buildings,
the terrorists' use airliners is no reason to stop building
nuclear plants or to not extend the operating licenses of current
plants.
"I'm not worried about that at all," Duncan said. "I would be
very much opposed to shutting down the nuclear power plants."
Stephen Smith, an environmental activist and veterinarian who
works with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy in Knoxville,
welcomed the NRC's review of whether more safety and security
systems are needed.
In the last year federal officials have learned of tentative
plans by terrorists to target power plants. An Algerian, Ahmed
Ressam, earlier convicted in a terrorist conspiracy, testified at
a trial in New York in July that training in camps in Afghanistan
included the targets of power plants, airports, railroads and
large corporations.
TVA operates three nuclear plants - Watts Bar near Spring City,
Sequoyah near Chattanooga and Browns Ferry near Athens in north
Alabama.
Since the terrorist attacks, all of the nation's nuclear plants
have been placed on the highest level of security - Level 3 - for
the first time in history. TVA will not describe what extra
security that entails, but Moulton said the agency has closed all
four of its visitors centers at hydroelectric dams and stopped
public tours as part of extra security.
Richard Powelson may be contacted at 202-408-2727 or
PowelsonR@shns.com
Copyright 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
*****************************************************************
18 Tribune Editorial Besmirched Reputations of State Regulators
The Salt Lake Tribune --
Sunday, September 30, 2001
BY KEN ALKEMA
A recent editorial by The Salt Lake Tribune ("Strange
Business," Sept. 10) is a travesty to justice and presented a
fictional representation of the truth. The person or persons
responsible for the editorial were obviously poorly informed or
deliberately distorted the facts to create some kind of
sensationalism to sell papers.
All of the detailed investigations by the U.S Attorney's
Office and numerous other state and federal agencies have proved
that there was only one state employee -- Larry Anderson -- who
tried to benefit from his position in the state and who clearly
abused the public trust. On the other hand, the evidence is clear
that there were a number of "heroes" within state government in
both the Division of Radiation Control and the Attorney General's
Office who prevented any harm to the public or the environment.
The Larry Anderson story sadly shows that there are
individuals who will violate what I consider a sacred trust to
the public. However, this story has also a very positive side.
Because of other state employees who were doing their job well,
Mr. Anderson's actions did not cause risk to the public in any
way. These "heroes" made sure that all licensing and regulation
of the Envirocare facility was done right and that all
requirements were met.
Since Mr. Anderson's actions came to light five years ago,
Envirocare's licenses and permits have been thoroughly reviewed
and scrutinized by several state and federal government agencies,
including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, and several divisions within the
Utah Department of Environmental Quality. All licenses and
permits were found to be proper and in full compliance with all
applicable laws.
In truth, this case demonstrated the strength of our
government system that regulates industry. No single person, even
in a senior position, can negatively alter the quality of the
review performed by many other individuals.
I am very disappointed that a major newspaper like The
Tribune misled the people of Utah in its editorial with this
undeserved and unsubstantiated disservice to Utah's stalwart
government employees.
Volumes of materials have been compiled from the
investigations surrounding Mr. Anderson. In all of these
materials there is absolutely no evidence that any other state
employee did anything improper or illegal. In fact, the evidence
shows the contrary: State employees did an exemplary job in all
that they did. There are volumes of depositions and information.
No question has gone unanswered.
The public should be able to depend on the accuracy of
information in an editorial. In this case The Tribune failed all
of us. _________
Ken Alkema is the former executive director Utah Department
of Environmental Quality. He now works for Envirocare, a company
his agency once regulated.
© Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on
*****************************************************************
19 At Volgodonskaya Plant IAEA Holds International Seminar On
Nuclear Power Safety
Pravda.RU
Sep, 25 2001
AT VOLGODONSKAYA PLANT IAEA HOLDS INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON
NUCLEAR POWER SAFETY
At the Volgodonskaya nuclear power facility, the International
Atomic Energy Agency holds the international seminar
Self-Assessment of Operation Safety and Safety Engineering at
Nuclear Power Plants. The seminar will be over on September 28,
RIA Novosti was told on Tuesday at the press service of the
Rosenergoatom concern.
Nuclear power plants all over the world today are doing
everything possible to make the concept of nuclear safety uniform
for all nuclear workers, Robert Nickols (Britain) of the IAEA
said in his utterances. Analysis of events at nuclear power
stations shows that many incidents could have been avoided, if
more attention were given to the human factor in matters of
safety, he added. The seminar is attended by IAEA specialists
from Bulgaria, Germany and as well from some Russian nuclear
power facilities.
RIA 'Novosti'
*****************************************************************
20 Senator from Searchlight has risen steadily despite rocky start
[Las Vegas Review-Journal]
Sunday, September 30, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
The Senator from Searchlight
By TONY BATT
DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU
PHOTOS by JEFF SCHEID REVIEW-JOURNAL
A man who could not get elected mayor of Las Vegas in 1975 is
potentially a presidential election away from being the majority
leader of the United States Senate.
Nevada Democrat Harry Reid played a key role in a historic Senate
power shift in May by helping to persuade Sen. Jim Jeffords of
Vermont to bolt the Republican Party and become an Independent.
The move gave Democrats control of the Senate and elevated Reid
to assistant majority leader.
The majority leader, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., is frequently
mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2004. If
Daschle seeks the White House, Reid would be ideally positioned
to succeed him on the Senate's ultimate throne, and Reid does not
dismiss such talk.
"(Daschle) would be a great president, but I have to be very
careful about that because I don't want him or anyone else to
think I'm saying all these good things about him for my own
selfish aggrandizement," Reid said.
The Searchlight native does not relate to springtime in
Washington with its celebration of cherry blossoms and the
explosion of greenery. His point of reference when it comes to
natural beauty is the desert.
"There is a smell to the desert that is unique," he said. "I can
turn on the light inside my home in Searchlight, and on a summer
night, hundreds of bugs will hit my window. You can hear them
crash and bang."
Reid resists any profound analysis of his bond with his hometown,
but he won't deny its influence in shaping his life.
"It's where I formed my feelings, not ideas, but feelings," he
said. "It's where I got the feeling that I wanted to do
something. I saw a little 9-year-old boy in front of the post
office in Searchlight just the other day. He reminded me so much
of me. There isn't a lot to do there and he was just hanging
around the post office. I used to count cars."
Even members of Reid's family have difficulty understanding the
pull Searchlight still has on him. It's where he wants to go when
he needs to make important decisions.
"Many times, I've gone to Searchlight alone to spend some time,"
he said. "Some might call it meditation."
Reid's political future did not look so bright when he lost his
first Senate race by 625 votes in 1974 to former Gov. Paul
Laxalt, a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan and a darling of the
political right.
It was a devastating setback for Reid, who had been a political
golden boy in Nevada. By 31, he had risen from an impoverished
upbringing as a miner's son to establish himself as a successful
Las Vegas attorney, state legislator and lieutenant governor.
Stung by the close, unexpected loss to Laxalt, Reid sought to
resurrect his political career the following year by entering the
Las Vegas mayoral race. But he lost again, this time to Democrat
Bill Briare.
"He made a poor decision to run for mayor. It was just a disaster
from the beginning," said former Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev. "He
lost that race, and everybody had written him off."
Reid emerged two years later when Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, D-Nev.,
who had been his high school civics teacher and boxing coach,
appointed him chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. During
Reid's tenure, the FBI uncovered evidence of the influence of
organized crime in the Nevada casino industry.
A reputed mobster accused Reid of being on the take. Reid was
cleared of charges he intervened on behalf of organized crime
leaders before the Gaming Commission. By the time he left the
commission in 1981, he was being praised for helping to eliminate
criminal elements from the gambling industry.
In July 1981, three months after Reid left the Gaming Commission,
someone placed a bomb in one of his cars. His wife, Landra,
discovered the explosive device after noticing the car's engine
was not running smoothly. Upon opening the hood, she found a
wiring device. Someone had removed a spark plug from the engine
and extended a wire to the gas tank in a botched attempt to make
the car blow up when started. A bomb squad from the Las Vegas
Fire Department dismantled the bomb. No arrests were ever made.
Nevada's population boom gave the state a new congressional seat
in 1982 for a district covering Las Vegas. Reid won the seat with
58 percent of the vote, defeating former Republican Assemblywoman
Peggy Cavnar.
After two terms in the House, Reid defeated former Rep. Jim
Santini, a Democrat turned Republican, to win election to the
Senate in 1986. This would be the first of three razor-thin
Senate victories for Reid.
Upon arriving in the Senate, Reid told an aide what he intended
to do.
"I came here to wield power and spend money," he said.
From the beginning, sources said, Reid knew he wanted to be in
the Senate leadership.
He got to where he is largely because he did jobs nobody else
wanted to do. Collecting favors always was the centerpiece of his
strategy. A lot of U.S. senators owe Reid, and that's just the
way he likes it.
With his appointment to the Senate Appropriations Committee,
which he aggressively pursued after his 1986 election, Reid was
able to curry favor with the committee chairman, Sen. Robert
Byrd, D-W.Va., one of the Senate's most powerful members. The
appropriations panel also would prove to be Reid's primary
vehicle for steering money to Nevada for federal projects.
After surviving a surprisingly close re-election in 1992 against
Elko rancher, Demar Dahl, Reid continued his push toward
leadership.
By 1994, eight years after he was first elected to the Senate,
Reid was considering challenging Daschle to succeed retiring Sen.
George Mitchell, D-Maine, as majority leader. But he backed off
after realizing he did not have the votes.
Reid threw his support behind Daschle, who rewarded him with his
first leadership post in December 1994. Reid became chairman of
the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, and it was the beginning
of a close and fruitful partnership between Daschle and Reid.
Four years later, in 1998, Reid continued his climb up the
leadership ladder by succeeding retiring Sen. Wendell Ford,
D-Ky., as Democratic whip. This made Reid the second leading
Democrat in the Senate, behind only Daschle.
As assistant minority leader, Reid set up his own political
action committee to funnel money to other Democratic candidates.
"When Harry Reid calls with something dealing with Nevada, more
often than not he gets everyone to say, `Amen,' " said Sen.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "Selflessness is not a quality one
usually thinks of when it comes to members of the Senate. But
Harry has done so much to help so many senators that he usually
gets what he wants."
A former Senate staffer who requested anonymity said Reid's
ascension has been anything but selfless. "Every step has been
calculated. He doesn't have an altruistic bone in his body," the
source said.
Jennifer Duffy, who covers the Senate for The Cook Political
Report, a nonpartisan Washington newsletter, said Reid has
methodically positioned himself to become Senate majority leader.
"I think all of what he has been doing in the last few years are
building blocks to take him to the next level," Duffy said. "He
definitely has put together the fund-raising framework to run for
majority leader."
The increase in Reid's power is good news for Nevada's casino
industry. Reid's control of the Senate's floor schedule already
has forced changes in strategy by supporters of a bill to ban
Nevada sports books from taking bets on college games.
"I think our chances of getting our bill passed are better in the
House now that Senator Reid is assistant majority leader," said
NCAA President Cedric Dempsey.
But when it comes to gambling, Reid draws the line at the Nevada
state border.
"I've never been a senator who represents national gaming
interests," Reid said. "I don't like gambling outside the state
of Nevada. ... I'm going to do everything I can to protect
Nevada's number one industry, to help it. But I'm not going to be
seen as a national gambling leader."
Reid insists he is not being inconsistent, that he can support
the Nevada casinos of companies such as MGM Mirage, Park Place
and Harrah's without boosting their gambling businesses outside
the state.
"I am not concerned about the success of gaming outside Nevada no
matter who does it," he said.
MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said Reid's stand against
gambling outside Nevada does not cause problems for the casino
industry.
"Although companies based here (in Nevada) are publicly held, and
we must seek opportunities wherever gaming is legal, there is no
requirement for Senator Reid to participate in that," Feldman
said. "We know we have his full, unyielding support on issues
affecting the people of Nevada."
Reid said it will be his new role as a subcommittee chairman,
rather than his leadership authority, that will enable him to
strengthen Nevada's resistance to a nuclear waste repository at
Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"I'm chairman of the (Senate Appropriations) energy and water
subcommittee. That will give me the opportunity to slow down
(funding for) Yucca Mountain," he said. "Can't stop it, but I can
slow it down."
A nuclear waste dump in Nevada is not inevitable, Reid said, and
he will continue to oppose it.
"But what a lot of people don't understand is that there already
is a law in place for Yucca Mountain, and site characterization
is going forward," he said. "What Nevada and opponents of Yucca
Mountain can do is file lawsuits and point out the problems of
transporting nuclear waste across the country. There are a lot of
people on our side today that weren't just a few years ago."
The increase in Reid's power stems from Jeffords' defection from
the Republican Party, which gave Democrats control of the upper
body of Congress.
Reid said he doesn't remember how many times he met with Jeffords
before he became an Independent. He declines to discuss specifics
of their negotiations, but said he sensed Jeffords was unhappy
with the GOP and ready to make a move.
Only one of their meetings occurred away from the Senate floor,
Reid said, and that was in Jeffords' hideaway office in the
Capitol. Reid scoffed at reports that he and Jeffords had several
secret meetings.
"All these secret meetings I had with Jeffords took place on the
Senate floor," he said. "Democrats and Republicans were walking
by. People were up in the Senate gallery looking down. That's
where we had our confidential meetings. None of them took very
long, but they were meetings of substance."
Jeffords remembers the meetings differently. He acknowledged
having private conversations with Reid about the switch, but said
only one occurred on the Senate floor.
"I said (four) words (to Reid on the Senate floor): `The answer
is yes,' " Jeffords said.
Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut was the first Democrat he
confided in, Jeffords said. "He passed it on to Harry, and then
Harry started conversations with me," Jeffords said.
Jeffords denied that the deal was clinched when Reid offered to
step down as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee so Jeffords could succeed him. Jeffords said he already
had made the decision to switch before Reid made the offer.
As he recalls the Jeffords' episode, Reid invokes a baseball
analogy. He is an inveterate fan of the Cleveland Indians, the
only team whose broadcasts beamed into Searchlight when he was
growing up. Reid can still reel off the starting lineup of the
1948 Indians who won the World Series.
"Every day is a new at-bat," Reid said. "I think Jeffords was at
least a triple, if not a home run."
While Jeffords continues to be vilified by Republicans, Reid said
he has been amazed by the cordial treatment he continues to
receive from GOP colleagues.
"I have a lot of respect for Harry," said Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
who is no longer chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
because of Jeffords' move. "Now other (Republicans) feel he's too
liberal. On the other hand, some of the Democrats bad mouth him
because he's anti-abortion and pro-mining (Nevada's second
leading industry)."
Despite these political issues, Reid's quiet personality has
served him well in cultivating relationships on both sides of the
aisle.
"Have you ever heard him raise his voice?" asked O'Callaghan, the
former governor who acted as Reid's mentor early in his career.
Senators also appreciate Reid's round-the-clock presence on the
floor where he frequently dispenses advice to Republicans as well
as Democrats whenever they find themselves in a parliamentary
bind.
Reid spends so much time on the floor he is sometimes derisively
referred to as the Senate's most senior staffer. He decided to
make the floor his primary workstation after Daschle told him he
would have to develop his own leadership role.
"I don't know how he could be any more effective than he is,"
Daschle said. "He enjoys broad bipartisan support and respect for
what he does (on the floor)."
Yet as recently as three years ago, Reid came within 428 votes of
losing his Senate seat. He spent election night, walking the
floor, dismayed that his pollsters could be so misleading in
their projections.
Election night seemed to stretch on for six weeks because that's
how long it took for a recount to certify his victory over former
Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev. Two years later, Ensign would join Reid
in the Senate after winning an election to succeed Bryan, who
retired.
During the 1998 recount, Reid read "The Endurance," a book about
an ill-fated expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton to traverse
the Antarctic in 1914. Shackleton's ship, for which the book was
named, became trapped in sea ice just one day short of reaching
Antarctica. All expedition members were rescued, but the ship was
crushed by ice pressure.
"I was already fascinated by the story because I had watched a
Discovery film about it," Reid said. "I didn't read the book
because of the recount, but it certainly played into what I was
going through. It taught me a great lesson about patience."
That book no longer seems appropriate for Reid.
"He is a player in Washington," said Stuart Rothenberg, a
political analyst for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
"Right now, Reid is truly a formidable political figure."
This story is located at:
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-30-Sun-2001/news/16865933.html
*****************************************************************
21 LETTERS: The DOE doesn't truly want Yucca input
[Las Vegas Review-Journal]
Sunday, September 30, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
To the editor:
Nevadans should beware of Department of Energy ploys that
sidestep genuine public participation on Yucca Mountain decision
making. In a Sept. 17 statement, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham
promised to "hold additional public meetings this year" and to
"station a DOE official at the Yucca Mountain Science Center in
Las Vegas to receive public input." Whether such "meetings" and
visits -- as opposed to formal, on-the-record hearings --
actually count as official public comments is another matter
entirely.
DOE's past behavior leaves much to be desired. In response to a
groundswell of public opposition to a proposed truck shipment of
experimental weapons-grade plutonium nuclear reactor fuel through
Michigan, DOE held three "public meetings" in the Great Lakes
State in late 1999. DOE then pulled an end-run around any
pretense of public participation, trampling environmental laws
and secretly forcing the shipment through in the dead of night
under the veil of "national security."
DOE explained that its "public meetings" were not formal
hearings, but rather had been held merely to educate the public
about the decision that it had already made.
Mr. Abraham was U.S. senator from Michigan back then. Prior to
the controversial shipment, he wrote to then-Energy Secretary
Bill Richardson that "it is imperative that a public hearing be
conducted," and that "to not do so would be irresponsible and
offensive to Michigan residents." How ironic that as energy
secretary, Mr. Abraham is rushing to conclude the final public
comment period on Yucca Mountain by Oct. 5.
Mr. Abraham claims that he "will go well beyond what the law
requires" to hear Nevadans' concerns. Is he referring to two
days' worth of hastily-arranged hearings in Nevada, and the
absurdly short 45-day comment period to review 20 year's worth of
voluminous DOE documents? What about the 42 other states across
the country that would see tens of thousands of high-level
nuclear waste truck and train shipments pass by the homes of 50
million of their residents? Despite Mr. Abraham's earlier concern
about nuclear materials transportation, those states will enjoy a
grand total of zero final public hearings on DOE's "Mobile
Chernobyl" scheme that would so seriously impact them.
It seems Secretary Abraham is going above and beyond the call of
duty, to discourage meaningful public participation.
KEVIN KAMPS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The writer is a nuclear waste specialist with the Nuclear
Information &Resource Service.
This story is located at:
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-30-Sun-2001/opinion/17075971.html
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES
*****************************************************************
1 High Seas Delay Lifting of Sub
Las Vegas SUN
September 28, 2001
MOSCOW (AP) - Worsening weather thwarted preparations Friday for
raising part of the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine, officials
said.
Divers practiced attaching lifting cables linked to 26 hydraulic
jacks on a jumbo barge to precut holes in the Kursk's hull, but a
spokeswoman for a Dutch consortium working to raise the Kursk
said Friday that worsening weather makes starting the actual work
impossible at this point.
The lifting, which requires 12 hours and calm seas, was
originally set for Sept. 15, but has been pushed back
continuously because of storms and technical difficulties. The
latest target date for lifting the Kursk had been Sunday or
Monday.
The winds were expected to ease Monday or Tuesday, said Larissa
van Seumeren, a spokeswoman for the Mammoet-Smit International
consortium, in a telephone interview from the Russian port of
Murmansk. That would mean they could begin actual lifting by the
middle of next week, she said.
The Dutch consortium has cut off the submarine's mangled forward
section, which officials feared might contain unexploded
torpedoes and jeopardize the lifting. The Russian Navy plans to
lift some fragments of the bow next year.
The Kursk exploded and sank in the Barents Sea in August 2000
during maneuvers, killings all 118 crew members. Russian
officials want to raise the submarine to eliminate any potential
threat to the area's rich fishing grounds from its twin nuclear
reactors and try determine the cause of its sinking.
All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
2 Are electromagnetic pulses terrorists' next weapon of choice?
[Las Vegas Review-Journal]
Sunday, September 30, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Energy wave from small nuclear blast could disable computer
chips, electronic equipment
By KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
The list of weapons available to terrorists now ranges from
passenger jets to atomic devices and biological and chemical
agents.
But the United States has made little progress in guarding
against what might be its most devastating threat -- widespread
damage to domestic electronic systems from a powerful,
split-second wave of energy from a nuclear bomb.
Although some of the last full-scale nuclear weapons tests
conducted in tunnels at the Nevada Test Site were designed to
protect or "harden" military systems against electronic failure
in a nuclear exchange, little of that preventive technology has
been transferred to civilian equipment, sources said Friday.
"I don't think there has been any significant effort to harden
the private sector against electromagnetic pulse," said John
Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a defense and intelligence
policy organization based near Washington, D.C.
Twice in the past four years, and as recently as 1999, Congress
was warned that a relatively small, 10-kiloton nuclear bomb,
which would produce energy equal to exploding 10,000 tons of TNT,
would cause widespread damage to computer chips and electronic
equipment if detonated over the United States.
Called EMP, an acronym for electromagnetic pulse, the phenomenon
from tens of thousands of volts of energy from a nuclear
explosion could cause enough damage to cripple an economy
dependent on computer networks and electronic communication
systems. The damage from burnout or overloads on electrical
circuits would extend far beyond the area directly affected by
the blast and radiation, government scientists told Congress in
1999 and 1997.
But almost none of the technology to protect against EMP that was
developed through Defense Department nuclear tests at the Nevada
Test Site as late as 1992 was put to use in the private sector.
Officials with two Las Vegas Valley public utilities said Friday
their electrical systems have no protections against EMP.
"We did not design our system with that in mind," said Nevada
Power Co. spokeswoman Sonya Headen. "I was also informed, to our
knowledge, there isn't any utility in the country that was
designed to withstand EMP."
J.C. Davis, a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority,
said water operations depend on electrical circuitry that is
vulnerable to EMP. "We do not have specific protections against
electromagnetic pulses," he said.
Nevertheless, he said, "We have backup and recovery systems. We
have redundant systems at various locations throughout the valley
to deal with things that are generally within the realm of our
scope."
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency -- the agency that replaced
some functions of the now-defunct Defense Nuclear Agency --
fielded questions Friday from the Review-Journal about EMP and
making protective technology available for civilian use. But an
agency spokesman did not offer an immediate response.
Likewise, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's
Western Pacific Region was asked whether the nation's air traffic
control system has been hardened against EMP. He did not respond
Friday.
Pike, however, said part of the nation's air traffic control
system probably relies on less-vulnerable fiber optics that might
be somewhat more resistant to EMP than a desktop computer. But
the extent of the risk to FAA systems from electromagnetic pulse
is probably classified, he said.
Inquiries to the North Las Vegas office of the National Nuclear
Security Administration -- a branch of the Department of Energy
that oversees operations at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas -- were forwarded to officials at national
weapons laboratories in Livermore, Calif., and Los Alamos, N.M.
But an administration spokesman said, "Classification guidance
prohibits detailed information from cleared individuals at both
of the labs."
Nevertheless, government scientists on at least two occasions
discussed the issue of potential EMP damage on military and
civilian systems at meetings of the House Military Research and
Development Subcommittee.
"Special purpose nuclear warheads on a kiloton scale, can have
much more EMP effect than ordinary nuclear warheads on the
megaton scale. Warheads of less than 10-kiloton yields can put
out very large EMP signals," Lowell Wood, a prominent physicist
from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, told a
House Armed Services subcommittee in October 1999.
Two years earlier, in July 1997, Wood told the subcommittee that
since the EMP threats were realized at the onset of nuclear
testing more than four decades ago, its potential effects on U.S.
power grids and communication systems have increased
substantially.
"There is reason to believe," Wood said, "that the
semiconductor-based portions of our communication system, which
is to say essentially all of it, would be extremely vulnerable."
Civilian passenger jets, as well, are at risk, Wood told the
subcommittee in 1997.
"It is probably clear that if this attack occurred at night that
most of the planes, most of the civilian airliners in the air,
would be lost for obvious reasons," he said. "They simply won't
be able to land. They won't have landing aids, probably no lights
on landing strips and so forth. Those would be lost."
Military experts say the cost of hardening their systems would be
between 2 and 10 percent. Pike said how the cost of protective
measures would translate to the commercial sector is unclear, but
he imagines it would be substantial.
The late Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif., asked Wood and other
scientists about specific threats. "Like the war in the Middle
East, could they pull out EMP and use that as an aggressive
weapon, or as a defense weapon, to knock out some of the smart
stuff we have?"
Wood replied that the scenario "is one of very real concern
because in those circumstances, very modest, very short-range
rocketry could be used to loft a nuclear explosive over our
forces ... and impose preferential EMP damage on our forces.
From the enemy's viewpoint, Wood said, "You are not interested in
covering an entire continent, but rather than stretching 4,000
kilometers (2,480 miles), you might only be interested in EMP
damage over 400 kilometers (248 miles), which is a major theater
of operations. And in those circumstances, quite modest nuclear
explosives on very modest rockets, Scud-type rockets, would
suffice to potentially impose very severe damage."
In addition to the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom,
China and France, several other countries are believed to have
nuclear capabilities. The list includes Iraq, North Korea,
Pakistan, India and Israel.
According to Pike, American enterprise faces a substantial risk
from EMP under existing conditions.
"Any country capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to an
American city could be capable of detonating that weapon in space
above the North American continent," he said.
This story is located at:
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-30-Sun-2001/news/17108356.html
*****************************************************************
3 High seas cause new delay in lifting Kursk
MOSCOW (AP) — Worsening weather thwarted preparations Friday for
raising part of the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine, officials
said.
Divers practiced attaching lifting cables linked to 26 hydraulic
jacks on a jumbo barge to precut holes in the Kursk's hull, but a
spokeswoman for a Dutch consortium working to raise the Kursk
said Friday that worsening weather makes starting the actual work
impossible at this point.
The lifting, which requires 12 hours and calm seas, was
originally set for Sept. 15, but has been pushed back
continuously because of storms and technical difficulties. The
latest target date for lifting the Kursk had been Sunday or
Monday.
The winds were expected to ease Monday or Tuesday, said Larissa
van Seumeren, a spokeswoman for the Mammoet-Smit International
consortium, in a telephone interview from the Russian port of
Murmansk. That would mean they could begin actual lifting by the
middle of next week, she said.
The Dutch consortium has cut off the submarine's mangled forward
section, which officials feared might contain unexploded
torpedoes and jeopardize the lifting. The Russian Navy plans to
lift some fragments of the bow next year.
The Kursk exploded and sank in the Barents Sea in August 2000
during maneuvers, killings all 118 crew members. Russian
officials want to raise the submarine to eliminate any potential
threat to the area's rich fishing grounds from its twin nuclear
reactors and try determine the cause of its sinking.
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
*****************************************************************
4 Nuclear terrorism "impossible" in Russia - army expert
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Sep 28, 2001
Text of report by Russian news agency RIA
Moscow, 28 September: Vladimir Bentsianov, member of the
coordinating council of the Russian armed forces and chairman of
the Russian committee of veterans of the special risk unit, is
convinced that nuclear terrorism in Russia is impossible.
RIA-Novosti says he expressed this view today at a news
conference entitled "Is nuclear terrorism possible in Russia? -
50 years of war without nuclear weapons being used". He said that
"there can be no nuclear terrorism in Russia".
Sergey Alekseyenko, who took part in the testing of nuclear
weapons in Semipalatinsk, noted that from 1955 to 1975 such
robust special depots, shelters and fortifications were created
on the territory of the USSR that it is simply impossible to
somehow steal an atomic bomb or nuclear weapon part.
Also, Alekseyenko stressed, the depots were designed in such a
way that they could withstand an impact of 40 kilotonnes, and
were built to last for 500 years. He also believes that special
emphasis has to be placed on guarding atomic power stations.
He stressed that physicists and nuclear specialists have to look
at the real problems of reprocessing nuclear waste, the storage
of which he believes is a very expensive business. Science must
therefore make every effort now to make a thorough study of the
atom, he noted.
Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0928 gmt 28 Sep 01
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to
*****************************************************************
5 Plutonium plant needed, reps say
[charlotte.com]
Published Sunday, September 30, 2001
savannah river site Plutonium plant needed, reps say
Officials fear if it is not destroyed, enemies will get ahold of
material
By JENNIFER TALHELM
AIKEN -- The Sept.11 terrorist attacks drive home the need to
transform bomb-grade plutonium into a less dangerous form at a
processing plant planned for South Carolina, state officials say.
Officials worry terrorists could steal or buy plutonium now
packed in warheads to make a bomb that would cause far more
damage than the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Sept.11
"was the worst kind of explosion," U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-York,
said.
"One shudders to think what would happen if other means were
used."
That fear gives South Carolina's U.S. representatives more
reason to fight for a plan to dispose of U.S. and Russian
plutonium. The American disposal plants would be built at the
federal government's Savannah River Site, a nuclear facility near
Aiken.
The U.S. plans to help Russia build similar facilities. Officials
worry that if the S.C. plant loses funding, the Russian facility
would never be built either.
Budget cuts threaten an agreement between Russia and the United
States that would help prevent terrorists from ever getting
plutonium.
Under the agreement, Russia and the United States plan to
dispose of 50tons of plutonium from nuclear weapons by turning
some of it into fuel for Duke Power's Catawba and McGuire nuclear
plants. The rest would be "immobilized" in ceramic pucks to be
stored in canisters of radioactive glass.
But the immobilization plant is now indefinitely on hold.
Funding for other parts of the program also is in doubt, Spratt
and other officials say.
S.C. officials say they worry most that the Russian facilities
won't be built. They fear terrorists will get ahold of plutonium
because of lax security at Russian nuclear facilities. Removing
50tons of plutonium would take about a third of Russia's
plutonium out of commission.
"If Russia doesn't build their facilities, we're back where we
began," Spratt said.
Said U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca: "Now is the time to
act. (Terrorists') ability to steal it is our biggest threat."
But critics of the program to turn bomb-grade plutonium into
fuel are concerned about security at American nuclear plants,
too.
Tom Clements of the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Control
Institute, worries that trucking plutonium fuel from Aiken to the
Charlotte region gives terrorists one more chance to hijack the
volatile substance. And members of his group fear commercial
reactors would be vulnerable to attack as well.
The Sept.11 attack "underscores the need to get plutonium in a
form that can't be seized and can't be used for weapons,"
Clements said.
S.C. officials are now more concerned than ever that South
Carolina will end up storing plutonium for good, putting
residents at risk of an environmental disaster or a terrorist
attack.
Gov. Jim Hodges has threatened to use state troopers to block
shipments unless federal officials specify in writing when the
plutonium will leave the state. The governor's office
participated in a teleconference last week with the Department of
Energy and the Savannah River Site about the issue. Talks will
continue, said Hodges spokeswoman Cortney Owings.
Plutonium shipments to Aiken from former weapons facilities in
Colorado, Texas and elsewhere were to begin next month. After
Sept.11, the Department of Energy halted all shipments of nuclear
material around the country.
The department earlier this week lifted the ban on low-level
waste and medical isotopes. But spokesman Joe Davis said he could
not comment on whether the ban on transporting high-level
radioactive waste and plutonium was still in place. The
department typically does not reveal any information on the times
and routes of high-level waste shipments.
Owings said that in the teleconference last week Hodges, "again
expressed his anxiety as well as the increasing anxiety of South
Carolinians considering the events of two weeks ago."
Jennifer Talhelm: (803) 327-8507; jtalhelm@charlotteobserver.com
*****************************************************************
6 Rabbis call for Vanunu release
THE SUNDAY TIMES: WORLD NEWS
September 30 2001 MIDDLE EAST
Peter Hounam
Vanunu: parole refused
TWELVE prominent rabbis from Britain, Israel and several other
countries have demanded the release of Mordechai Vanunu, the
Israeli technician jailed for 18 years in 1986 for revealing the
secrets of his country's nuclear weapons programme to The Sunday
Times.
The 12 - who include Yitzhak Newman, a former chief rabbi of the
Royal Air Force - have written to Moshe Katsav, the Israeli
president, asking for a pardon on humanitarian grounds and to
"demonstrate the strength of Israeli democracy and improve
Israel's standing in the world".
The request was organised by Daniel Rohrlich, an Israeli-based
campaigner for Vanunu's release, who took part in a vigil outside
the presidential palace in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Similar events
were held in other cities including London and Washington.
Avigdor Feldman, Vanunu's lawyer, said he is trying to convince
the authorities that, after 15 years, none of Vanunu's knowledge
could present a security risk.
Vanunu became concerned at the scale of Israel's nuclear
programme after working in the weapons plant near Dimona in the
Negev desert. He has been refused parole, and may be prevented
from leaving Israel when he completes his sentence in 2004.
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This page is provided by
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7 The truth about terror: the real risks of nuclear and biochemical weapons
The Sunday Times: Terrorism
September 30 2001 TERRORISM
Could terrorists make and set off a nuclear bomb?
Yes, providing they had the right materials. Guidance on how to
make a nuclear device is available on the internet, and only 9lb
of plutonium is needed to make a bomb that could destroy a city.
But getting hold of plutonium is far from simple. Unskilled
bomb-makers might need 15lb or more of plutonium - and it is very
rare. The Ministry of Defence believes that no terrorist group
has obtained anything like sufficient nuclear material.
But what if terrorists had a small amount of nuclear material?
They might try to make a "dirty bomb" - one that uses
conventional explosives to spread radioactive material over as
wide an area as possible. Some intelligence experts believe Osama
Bin Laden is trying to make such a device, but there is no
evidence he has succeeded.
Okay, if the terrorists do not have a bomb, might they attack a
nuclear power plant?
Nuclear installations in the UK are designed to take the impact
of light planes or military aircraft, but not commercial
airliners laden with fuel. Scientists fear a terrorist could fly
a plane into radioactive liquid waste tanks at Sellafield,
causing a disaster worse than that at Chernobyl.
Short of placing anti-aircraft batteries outside such plants or
ordering the RAF to shoot down suspect aircraft, experts believe
little can be done immediately to improve security.
What about chemical weapons? Are they a real threat?
When the Aum Shinri Kyo cult in Japan released sarin nerve gas on
the Tokyo subway in 1995, it forced western governments to accept
that terrorists could use chemical weapons.
Getting hold of chemical agents, however, is only half the story;
deploying them effectively is far more difficult. They are
dangerous to handle and need to be spread widely. Hence the
concerns in America about crop-spraying planes. Britain has very
few such planes. A Ministry of Defence study concluded that the
risk of chemical attack by terrorists was low.
But if there were an attack, what would they use?
The security service believes terrorists are trying to make or
buy chemical agents including phosgene, which damages the lungs;
hydrogen cyanide, which interferes with the transfer of oxygen
from the blood to human tissue; and mustard gas, which causes
painful blisters.
They sound terrible. Would anyone survive?
Most people would. All the chemicals can be fatal but it depends
on the dose. The sarin attack on the Tokyo subway killed 12
people. They were either nearby or elderly people with other
health conditions that were exacerbated by the gas.
If you can get away from the gas and receive prompt chances of
survival are high. Chemicals tend to attack internal or external
organs and can be countered. The problems will come if medical
facilities are overloaded with thousands of serious casualties.
Okay, but what about biological weapons - might terrorists try to
use these instead?
Evidence from a terrorist trial indicates that Osama Bin Laden
has been trying to obtain anthrax. Other potentially deadly
agents are botulism, smallpox and Venezuelan equine encephalitis
(VEE). Again, there are difficulties in creating, storing and
using such weapons.
How harmful are these bugs?
Theoretically, 100kg (2cwt) of anthrax spores spread over London
by plane could cause 3m fatalities, although some studies put the
figure much lower, at about 200,000.
This presumes that everyone exposed develops the disease. But
many people have natural immunity, and anthrax can be cured with
large doses of antibiotics. Whether there are enough antibiotics
and health services to cope with such huge number of casualties
is another matter. There is also a vaccine that would be useful
if applied in time.
Smallpox kills between 30% and 50% of its victims, but a vaccine
is available. Good medical treatment usually leads to recovery
but a cure is not certain. Neither is there a known cure for VEE,
which is fatal in humans.
In theory, botulism could kill millions of people, but
fortunately it dies off quickly once released and anti-toxin
treatment can reduce the severity of the disease if it is
recognised and treated early.
So should I buy a gas mask?
Modern gas masks, such as the S10 - standard issue in the British
army - have two barriers to lethal agents. The first filters
catch tiny particles in the air such as anthrax spores; behind
them, discs of porous carbon offer further protection against
biological agents and chemicals such as cyanide. The problem is
that by the time you have realised an attack is taking place, it
may be too late for a mask to be of any use. Biological agents
can spend several days incubating in the body before the
illnesses they cause become detectable.
Unless you wear a mask 24 hours a day, you cannot hope to be
fully protected. Most gas-mask filters last for only three to 12
hours, depending on the type of agent and its concentration.
The government and scientists believe protective measures are of
only limited use. Instead, efforts are centred on prevention -
with a heavy emphasis on MI6 detecting plots before they come to
fruition - and dealing with them efficiently.
Aside from nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, what about
ordinary bombs?
Some cells of Islamic terrorists may be present in the UK. But
judging the likelihood of an attack now more than at any other
time can only be speculative. The Home Office says "there is no
intelligence at the moment to suggest that there is any immediate
threat".
How Britain is dealing with the crisis
+ Every government-run organisation is now on the second highest
alert: amber. The next level could see troops in the street
+ MI5 is giving fresh advice to utilities such as nuclear
installations and water treatment plants on how to combat attacks
+ G-branch, the anti-terrorist division of MI5, has been promised
£16m by the government to recruit more staff, especially
linguists
+ MI6 is working to prevent the spread of nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons. It is particularly targeting unstable former
Soviet republics, which have supplies of such weapons
+ The government is reviewing emergency plans held by all its
departments. It believes contingency plans are now in place to
cope with disruption to food or fuel supplies
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This page is provided by
www.sunday-times.co.ukon Times Newspapers' standard terms and
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8 Kyl refuses to rule out U.S. nuclear retaliation
Associated Press
Sep. 30, 2001
TUCSON - The United States should retaliate with nuclear weapons
if terrorists launch chemical or germ warfare against the nation,
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Friday during a town hall meeting.
"I can't think of any other appropriate response in the case of a
massive attack with biological weapons. We have to let terrorist
states know that nothing is off the table."
Kyl wasn't specific about the potential targets for such a
counterstrike and conceded that that response would kill innocent
civilians.
Nonetheless, he suggested the United States should consider using
nuclear missiles even if it wasn't clear who launched a chemical
or biological attack.
"I would probably go a step further and say to all terrorist
states that we're probably not going to know exactly where it
came from," Kyl said. "So we're going to hold them all
responsible."
The Sept. 11 attacks have heightened fears that terrorists might
release anthrax, smallpox or other potentially fatal airborne
agents in American cities.
Kyl said he believes terrorists will attempt another massive
strike against the United States in some fashion during the next
several months.
Copyright 2001, azcentral.com. All rights reserved.
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