***************************************************************** 10/31/01 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 9.256 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS 1 Report That 6 Men Were Carrying Material Re Florida NPP & An Alaskan Pipeline 2 Russia tightens nuclear waste transportation safety requirements 3 Koreas: Energy development delegation in North for talks on 4 Slovak nuclear regulator approves nuclear plant for further 10 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Being realistic about nuclear plant 6 Public tours planned Saturday at Yucca 7 New security measures added at nuclear power plant 8 Blaze at Japanese nuclear site 9 Reactor documentation recovered from salvaged Russian nuclear 10 Official: Yucca woes not limited to Nevada 11 Security Increased At Nuclear Plants 12 Japanese Sellafield shipments to resume 13 Japan: Fire breaks out at Joyo nuclear reactor 14 FBI Furious Over Release of Detainees - 15 USA respects Taiwan's non-nuclear policy says official 16 Security tightens at Minnesota nuclear plants 17 Planes Banned Near Nuclear Plants 18 Feds: Terrorists Would Have Used Nukes 19 Power Workers' Union Says Public Benefits of Bruce Nuclear Lease 20 Congress Should Not Reauthorize Price-Anderson Act 21 US steps up nuclear security 22 N.H. officials urge stock of iodide pills 23 Taiwan, USA agree on exchanges on enhancing nuclear power plant 24 DOE, FAA heighten security 25 States Assign More Troops After U.S. Terror Warning 26 Nuclear attack 'a real possibility' 27 Troops deployed to nuclear plant 28 Attacks heighten nuclear waste worries 29 Negotiators cut proposed spending for Yucca Mountain by $70 million 30 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Wednesday, October 31, 2001 31 Private Flights Are Halted Near Nuclear Installations 32 Still Seeking a Fusion Solution 33 Nuclear alert: FBI: Six men had material about plant in Florida 34 Reid gets his way on Yucca budget 35 Public- and private-use airports impacted by nuclear power plant 36 FAA forbids flights near nuclear sites 37 Nevada test site may be nation's next bioterrorism training ground 38 Warnings prompt new security measures at San Onofre - 39 Out of thin air: John Vidal asks the renewable energy industries 40 Six sought in possible threat to nuclear plant 41 Feds Explain Terror Alert NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS 1 BUSH HAWKS WANT TO USE MINI-NUKES IN AFGHANISTAN 2 Bin-Ladin has no nuclear weapon, Russian general says 3 Reid grabs another $10 million for Test Site 4 Airstrikes on Afghanistan condemned - 5 Russian official accuses EU of raising unfair barriers for 6 Indian/Pakistan: Nuclear capabilities 7 Paris report slams state of human rights in French Polynesia 8 Japan to press Pak to sign nuclear test ban treaty 9 SRS adds checkpoints, barriers 10 Used nuclear fuel discharged from 12 Russian submarines this year 11 Pakistani Nuke Scientist in Hospital 12 Cleanup funding increased 13 Report: Environmental impacts minimal to Y-12 14 US says studies deny link between uranium and leukaemia 15 Bill offers $30 million for flood control 16 State Dept. Concerned About Weapons 17 Leaders pledge to trace terror links 18 Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program 19 House Dems Lose Russian Nukes Move 20 Pakistan in firm control of its nukes 21 Russian experts call for cut in number of nuclear warheads in 22 Bin Laden may have miniature nukes 23 ORNL restricts truck traffic from its main roadway 24 Karakuram Highway opened for Raiwind event - 25 Armenian paper says Russian debt fines cast shadow over 26 US DOD: DoD studies medical impact of depleted uranium in the 27 Russia's interest in SA good for trade 28 Pak's nukes are safe, says George, then goes ballistic 29 Byers to face the music at the CBI 30 Officials Have Misgivings About Soviet Weapons' Whereabouts 31 Dark deeds and dirty dealings from "the secret army' 32 DU: The days after 33 From Plutonium to Plowshares 34 A great nuclear opportunity 35 Sheridan to sue following Faslane arrest 36 Bush: fear of bin Laden nukes 37 UN: Urgent steps to reduce risk of accidental use of nuclear **************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 Report That 6 Men Were Carrying Material Re Florida NPP & An Alaskan Pipeline Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 22:08:47 -0500 MOTHERSALERT HOME PAGE: http://www.mothersalert.org & http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-a ttack-release.html?searchpv=reuters October 31, 2001 Ashcroft Rejects Report of Search for Six Men By REUTERS Filed at 4:13 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Wednesday dismissed a newspaper report that federal agents were searching for six men who had been carrying material about a nuclear power plant in Florida and an Alaskan pipeline. ``To the best of my knowledge that's a story and nothing more,'' Ashcroft told reporters. ``I don't have any reason to believe it to be true.'' He was referring to a report in The Miami Herald, which said federal agents were searching for six men who had been detained in the Midwest but later released even though they were carrying photographs and information on a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline. ``We have absolutely no information at this point in time to substantiate that story,'' said Russ Bergeron, spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Ashcroft also refuted claims in the story that he and FBI Director Robert Mueller were ``furious'' that the INS had allowed the men to be released. ``It was noted that I had responded emotionally to this situation, when, as a matter of fact, I hadn't even known about the situation until I read about my response in the newspaper,'' Ashcroft said. According to the report, police stopped the six men traveling in two cars in an unidentified state over the weekend. In addition to the photographs, they were carrying box-cutters and other ``suspicious equipment,'' it said. Those who hijacked four planes on Sept 11, killing more than 4,800 people and triggering the U.S. war against terrorism, used box-cutters to overpower flight crews. The Miami Herald said the men in the Midwest incident appeared to be from the Middle East and carried Israeli passports. The INS decided the passports were valid and they had entered the United States legally and it released the suspects without consulting the FBI, the newspaper said. Florida has three nuclear power plants -- at Turkey Point, south of Miami, St. Lucie, and the Crystal River plant north of St. Petersburg. http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/terrorism /digdocs/088964.htm Published Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Nuclear plants tighten security FBI seeking 6 men seen in Midwest BY MARTIN MERZER, CURTIS MORGAN AND LENNY SAVINO mmerzer@herald.com WASHINGTON -- As the nation again stands on high alert, the FBI is searching for six men stopped by police in the Midwest last weekend but released -- even though they possessed photos and descriptions of a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline, a senior law enforcement official said Tuesday. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------ War on terrorism U.S. forces side by side with rebel fighters Elite troops moving into position Taliban continue trade through 'closed' borders Graphic: U.S. troops on ground in north Militants block fabled trade route in Pakistan Anthrax investigation 3 mail centers will be tested; spores found in W. Palm Beach 2 nonpostal cases redefine risks Postal Service seeks $2 billion to offset costs Homeland security INS targets Arab nationals, activists say Unprecedented safeguards surround World Series in New York Status of baggage screeners at core of House bill debate In Florida Decision on proposed state security measures could be delayed State job retraining program starts today Around the world Activist charged in rebel military leader's killing Chávez condemns bombings by U.S. Bin Laden was in Albania in 2000, tribunal told Opinion Robert Steinback: Trio's fiery views deserve protection Robert Fisk: Afghan doctor tells his story Silas House: Fear at work Editorial: Dimming the sunshine Letter: Younger generations learn patriotism's value Letter: Send donations where they belong Letters: Bombing is pointless -------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Carl Juste's photo montage of America at war NYC woman dies of inhalation anthrax -------------------------------------------------- ------------------ The Federal Aviation Administration imposed new flight restrictions around nuclear plants nationwide Tuesday, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission advised the nation's 103 nuclear plants late Monday to fortify security. The FAA temporarily banned all flights near New York's Yankee Stadium, where President Bush stood before a huge crowd at a World Series game Tuesday night and -- wearing a New York City Fire Department jacket -- tossed the ceremonial first pitch. ``It helps to keep the fabric of our country strong,'' said spokesman Ari Fleischer. Meanwhile, an administration official said the urgent terrorism alert sounded Monday evening by Attorney General John Ashcroft was based largely on a message transmitted Sunday night by an Osama bin Laden supporter in Canada to Afghanistan. The message referred to a major event that was going to take place ``down south'' this week, the official said. It apparently was a reference to south of the U.S.-Canada border. The Herald reported Monday that American officials feared that members of bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network had been unleashed to launch attacks without specific permission from their superiors. On Tuesday, agency spokesmen said the FAA's flight restrictions and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's security recommendations were based on Ashcroft's general alert rather than a specific threat. Ashcroft warned that Americans at home or abroad could be struck by another terrorist attack this week. The incident in the Midwest apparently contributed to the new terror warning. The six men stopped by police were traveling in groups of three in two white sedans, said the senior law enforcement official, who requested anonymity. SUSPICIOUS MATERIAL In addition to the photographs and other suspicious material, they carried ``box cutters and other equipment,'' the official said. They appeared to be from the Middle East and held Israeli passports. They were let go after the Immigration and Naturalization Service determined that the passports were valid and that the men had entered the United States legally, the official said. The FBI declined to comment. An INS spokesman called the report unfounded. ``We have absolutely no information at this point in time to substantiate that story,'' said the agency's Russ Bergeron. It could not be learned in what state the six men were stopped or how they aroused suspicion. It was not known whether their true identities matched those on the passports, or why the FBI was not releasing their names or descriptions. Investigators think the men almost certainly have changed cars by now and have fled to Canada or elsewhere. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were ``furious'' that the INS allowed the men to be released without consulting the FBI, the official said. Ashcroft and Mueller appeared Monday evening at a hastily called news conference to announce that the government had ``credible'' but vague information that another wave of terrorist attacks could strike Americans within a week. SECURE LOCATION Shortly after that announcement, Vice President Dick Cheney moved once again to an undisclosed secure location and remained there Tuesday. There are three nuclear power facilities in Florida: Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point facility, south of Miami, and St. Lucie facility, near Fort Pierce, and Florida Power Corp.'s Crystal River plant, about 85 miles north of St. Petersburg. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a new threat advisory Monday night to all nuclear power plants, other electrical plants, a dozen decommissioned reactors and three nuclear fuel-manufacturing facilities, said spokesman Victor Dricks. The action was in response to the FBI's general warning, he said, and the commission was ``not aware of any specific threats'' against any power plant. The advisory suggested the plants fortify perimeter security and, if necessary, call in help from local or state law officers or the National Guard. At least one Florida plant was doing that Tuesday. At Crystal River, workers installed concrete road barricades at strategic spots inside the sprawling site, which includes one nuclear reactor and four fossil-fuel plants. Citrus County sheriff's deputies were summoned to supplement the plant's full-time security force, said Florida Power spokesman Mac Harris. Florida Power & Light, which runs the two other nuclear plants in Florida, would not discuss security measures or threats in detail. ON ALERT Spokeswoman Rachel Scott said FPL's plants remained at the highest level of alert. ``We are in very close communication with all levels of law enforcement, including the FBI, to ensure we have the security measures in place to protect the plants,'' she said. Also Tuesday, the FAA restricted all flights below 18,000 feet and within 10 miles of 86 ``sensitive nuclear sites'' until Tuesday, the agency said. Exceptions can be made for law enforcement, medical and firefighting flights. The 800-mile-long Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which delivers 17 percent of the nation's domestic oil production, runs from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez on the Pacific. An employee at the Valdez security office for Alayeska, the company that runs the pipeline, said there has been no company-wide alert. Still, the incident in the Midwest apparently contributed to the many pieces of information that triggered the FBI's general alert. A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency's warning was based on messages from known or suspected operatives of al Qaeda in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jakarta, Indonesia, Afghanistan and elsewhere during the last week, coupled with a new message Sunday that suggested an attack within the next week. However, the official said the sudden flood of messages could be ``deliberate deception of the kind we saw before Sept. 11,'' when bin Laden associates sent a flurry of messages suggesting a forthcoming attack on U.S. interests in Europe or the Middle East. Those messages held no hint of the U.S. hijackings to come. U.S. ATTACKS Bin Laden is suspected of orchestrating the attacks on the four jetliners, the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon that killed nearly 5,000 people. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge defended the administration's decision to issue the alert and said it was unavoidably imprecise. He said it was a ``convergence of credible sources that occasioned the alert. More than the usual, is all I can tell you.'' Ridge urged Americans to find new reservoirs of patience and to remain alert, but also to find a way to proceed with life as normally as possible. He noted that Bush was keeping his commitment to attend the World Series game. ``America has to continue to be America,'' Ridge said. ``What terrorists try to do is instill such uncertainty, such fear, such hesitation, that you don't do things that you normally do. And all we're saying with a general alert is to continue to live your lives, continue to be America, but be aware, be alert, be on guard.'' Herald staff writer Alfonso Chardy contributed to this report, as did Knight Ridder reporters Sumana Chatterjee, Jackie Koszczuk and The Philadelphia Inquirer's Mark Fazlollah in Washington. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Site Tools E-MAIL TO A FRIEND PRINT THIS STORY E-MAIL TO A FRIEND PRINT THIS STORY Special Report Anthrax in South Florida -------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Photos Pakistan Photo Gallery -------------------------------------------------- ------------------ New York State of Mind: A visitor's look at Manhattan South Florida rescue workers help New York Slide show of the terrorist tragedy Slide show from RealCities Commentary LEONARD PITTS: We'll go forward from this moment The Suspects Photos released by FBI Victim Information Search the RealCities database VICTIMS' STORIES: Flight 11, Flight 77, Flight 93, Flight 175 Video S. Florida Connection -- Reports from NBC6.net Attack On America -- More reports from NBC6.net Video, audio, first-hand accounts from RealCities Online Extras Day-by-day coverage Download images of the American flag Talk about it on our message boards Send a letter to the editor Graphics (Click any image for a larger one) Hijackers lived near stricken tabloid How anthrax kills U.S. Strikes: A look at Sunday's attacks. Forces of war: warships, troops, planes and their bases. A look at Afghanistan: the land, history and military About the prime suspect Osama bin Laden Inside the Taliban More graphics Credits: Hiram Henriquez, Jere Warren, Lynn Occhiuzzo, Marco A. Ruiz Herald Staff; Robertson Adams, Special to the Herald; KRT; AP; Herald Wires. ***************************************************************** 2 Russia tightens nuclear waste transportation safety requirements - official BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Novosibirsk, 31 October: The Russian Nuclear Safety Inspectorate has tightened the requirements on the transportation of spent nuclear fuel on the territory of Russia, head of the inspectorate's Siberian section Valentin Denisov told today's news conference in Novosibirsk. A train with solid spent fuel to be delivered to the Zheleznogorsk reprocessing plant in Krasnoyarsk territory, Siberia, is being currently formed in Kozlodui, Bulgaria. Denisov said additional precautions will be adopted during its transportation. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1354 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter ***************************************************************** 3 Koreas: Energy development delegation in North for talks on reactor project BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap Seoul, 31 October: A delegation from the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) flew into Pyongyang Tuesday [30 October] to attend a meeting of high-level experts between North Korea and KEDO, Radio Pyongyang, monitored here, reported Wednesday. The talks are held two or three times a year to monitor progress of the 1994 Agreed Framework that provided the North with two light-water nuclear reactors to be constructed by an international consortium in return for Pyongyang freezing its nuclear development programme. A Unification Ministry official in Seoul said the talks, the third of their kind this year, will run through Saturday. Source: Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0714 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 4 Slovak nuclear regulator approves nuclear plant for further 10 years BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Bratislava, 31 October: The Nuclear Regulatory Office (UJD) has approved the operation of the block No 2 of the Jaslovske Bohunice V-1 reactor nuclear power plant for the next 10 years. "However, the UJD decision does not affect the cabinet's resolution to decommission the block in 2008," the Slovak news agency TASR was told by a UJD spokesman. He says that the UJD decision is based on the current high safety standards of the block. In the past 10 years, V1 went through a gradual reconstruction costing approximately 8.4bn Slovak korunas, which substantially increased the safety of the plant. During the reconstruction, UJD was granting approvals only for one fuel season (less than one year)... [One dollar equals 48.30 Slovak korunas.] Source: TASR web site, Bratislava, in English 1519 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Being realistic about nuclear plant closures Financial Times; Oct 31, 2001 By MARK WHITBY From Mr Mark Whitby. Sir, One would have greater confidence in British Nuclear Fuels if the company were to be realistic about the "closure of all but Sizewell B by 2023" ("Nuclear power 'not needed' to hit green targets", October 29). Granted, only Sizewell B is licensed beyond 2023, but the licensing of other stations will be subject to review and, as has been the case in the US, it is likely that many of these existing licences will, on review, be extended. It is also likely that these stations will provide more power with improved productivity resulting from evolving technologies and management. In the US these same circumstances, as reported in its own National Energy Policy, mean that, despite several closures, the current nuclear plants produce in total more electricity than ever before. Mark Whitby, Senior Vice President, Institution of Civil Engineers, One Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA Copyright: The Financial Times Limited ***************************************************************** 6 Public tours planned Saturday at Yucca Las Vegas SUN October 30, 2001 The public can tour Yucca Mountain on Saturday. Visitors to the site of the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, will be able to talk with scientists and engineers and view the work accomplished so far. "One important way we can increase the quality and scope of information available to the public is to allow those citizens who wish to see the site for themselves to do so at an open house," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. Reservations for buses leaving Las Vegas, Pahrump and Beatty may be made by calling (800) 225-6972. Buses will leave every 15 minutes between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Visitors must be at least 14 years old and U.S. citizens. Visitors will be required to present photo identification. Long sleeves, long pants and closed-toe shoes are also required. No recording devices, cameras, binoculars or weapons are allowed on the Nevada Test Site, the gateway for the Yucca Mountain tours. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 7 New security measures added at nuclear power plant Tuesday, October 30, 2001 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RICHLAND -- New security measures have been added at the Northwest's only nuclear power plant in response to an FBI warning of possible terrorist attacks this week in the United States. A security checkpoint has been set up on the main access road to the 1,200-megawatt Columbia Generating Station, which is 10 miles north of Richland on leased land at the Hanford nuclear reservation. People in all vehicles must be identified by badge, be able to confirm their business at the plant and be escorted. Vehicle searches are also possible, said Energy Northwest, the 16-utility public power group that owns the nuclear plant. "We have taken the appropriate steps to protect this region's vital asset by enhancing our already heightened security measures," Vic Parrish, chief executive officer for Energy Northwest, said Tuesday. Additionally, the access road to two mothballed plant sites nearby has been closed. The Benton County sheriff's office has been working with Energy Northwest's security force on the measures, which will remain in effect as long as needed. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Send comments to newmedia@seattle-pi.com [newmedia@seattle-pi.com] ***************************************************************** 8 Blaze at Japanese nuclear site BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | Wednesday, 31 October, 2001, 17:32 Japan is no stranger to nuclear emergencies A fire broke out on Wednesday at the site of an experimental fast-breeder nuclear reactor north-east of Tokyo, but police say it was quickly brought under control. The blaze occurred in a maintenance building about 30 metres (100 feet) from the experimental reactor. Police said no-one was hurt and the fire did not threaten the reactor, which has been closed down for more than a year for inspection. A spokesman said the authorities had ruled out the possibility of a radiation leak. The plant, in the town of Oarai about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Tokyo, suffered a controlling rod malfunction in April last year, forcing the reactor to shut down. The site is operated by the state-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC), which is responsible for nuclear and nuclear-waste research and development Accident record Japan is heavily reliant on nuclear power but correspondents say that a number of accidents over the past decade have undermined public support for the nuclear energy programmes. The most serious incident happened in September 1999 at the nearby Tokaimura reprocessing plant. Two people died and more than 40 others were treated for radiation exposure after an uncontrolled nuclear fission reaction was triggered when workers added uranium to tanks using buckets. ***************************************************************** 9 Reactor documentation recovered from salvaged Russian nuclear submarine BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 30, 2001 [Presenter] By this evening eight Granit cruise missiles had been removed from the Kursk submarine at the Northern Fleet's Roslyakovo base. Altogether there were 22 missiles aboard the submarine. The supersonic, anti-ship missiles were housed in shafts on both sides of the submarine. The missiles are being lifted out of the shafts on the end of cables and placed in special containers. Here is one of these containers by the submarine's side. Inside it there is a Granit missile. On this photograph you can now see, possibly for the first time, what it looks like. Each missile weighs eight tonnes. New documents, including another note written by a seaman, Senior Warrant Officer Oleg Borisov, before he died, were recovered from inside the submarine today. Here is what officials said about this. [Russian Navy C-in-C Vladimir Kuroyedov, captioned, addressing news conference] Documentation has been retrieved from the main compartment, the fifth one, from where the nuclear reactor is supervised. As I left, I was talking to investigators, who say the documents need to dry out, because they are all in a very poor condition. The investigators are promising to start examining these documents in about three days' time... Source: TV6, Moscow, in Russian 1800 gmt 30 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 10 Official: Yucca woes not limited to Nevada Las Vegas SUN Today: October 31, 2001 at 9:25:31 PST By Mary Manning Problems posed by a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain are not limited to Nevada, state officials said during a meeting Tuesday of the state's Commission on Nuclear Projects. An act of terrorism involving a shipment of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain could expose more than 53 million people -- who are within a mile of national road or rail routes -- to radiation, according to studies Nevada has conducted on the Yucca project. Even before Sept. 11, those who have studied the project have spent time analyzing a fiery train derailment, which occurred this summer in a Baltimore tunnel, and how the accident may relate to a similar incident involving a train or truck hauling nuclear waste to Yucca, said Joe Strolin, planning administrator for the state Agency for Nuclear Projects. Preliminary results indicate the temperature from the fire in the tunnel would crack open a metal cask hauling nuclear waste, releasing radiation that could be carried by the wind more than 43 miles. Cleanup costs from a radioactive accident such as the Baltimore tunnel crash could top $10 billion, Strolin said. Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams said the recent terrorist attacks have heightened the public's awareness regarding America's vulnerability. "The reality is that terrorism is here," Williams, a commission member, said. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Security Increased At Nuclear Plants Wednesday October 31 01:56 PM EST Armed Louisiana National Guardsmen were stationed at the Waterford 3 nuclear power plant in St. Charles Parish Tuesday in response to the latest warning about the threat of new terrorist attacks. Guardsmen are patrolling the grounds and guarding the entrances to the plant in an effort to secure the facility. "Gov. Foster authorized the mobilization of members of the National Guard to supplement our security forces," Entergy Waterford spokesman Michael Duhe said. "It will be that way until further notice." A similar scene is being played out at 86 nuclear power plants throughout the country. Federal Aviation Administration (news officials also have restricted general aviation flights within 10 nautical miles of each of these plants through Nov. 6. That decision closed 454 landing facilities across the nation. The St. John airport in Reserve is one of those affected. Flight instructor Frank Mammelli said that many pilots are now stranded, and that the flight school he operates will face more hard times. "We were recovering slightly from the setback we had (due to Sept. 11 attacks), but now it looks like we are going to be shut down again for at least another week," Mammelli said. The new airspace restrictions do not affect commercial flights, although they will keep small planes from taking off and landing at Louis Armstrong International Airport, which is within the 10-mile radius. Although the National Guard is not being specific about its role at Waterford 3, access to the plant is restricted. Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! and ***************************************************************** 12 Japanese Sellafield shipments to resume online.ie : News The Irish Examiner 31 Oct 2001 By Carl O'Brien Political Reporter LARGE-SCALE shipments of nuclear waste to Sellafield are expected to resume shortly, it emerged last night. One of Sellafield's largest customers, Japan, has suspended ship-ments since it emerged an employee of British Nuclear Fuels had falsified data. But Britain's junior environment minister, Lord Whitty, said yesterday the plant hoped to resume reprocessing Japanese nuclear fuel shortly. "The processing of Japanese fuel has been the subject of continuous correspondence with the Japanese authorities which appear to be reaching a successful conclusion," Lord Whitty said. Meanwhile, Britain is determined to press ahead with the controversial new Sellafield plant despite opposition from the Government. A spokesperson for the British department of energy said they were satisfied environmental tests on the proposed MOX plant indicated it would meet EU safeguards. However, the Government has launched an international case against the Britain, claiming it has violated a UN convention by authorising production at the plant. The Government is also seeking an injunction preventing the plant from starting operations. Junior Minister Joe Jacob said the injunction could be avoided if Britain agreed to postpone development of the plant. However, a spokesperson for the British energy department said they had no such plans. The Norwegian government is also exploring the possibility of taking a lawsuit against Britain after radioactive pollution from Sellafield was found along the Norwegian coastline. ***************************************************************** 13 Japan: Fire breaks out at Joyo nuclear reactor BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo Mito, Japan, 1 November: A fire broke out Wednesday night [31 October] at a facility close to the experimental fast-breeder reactor Joyo in the town of Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture and burned for nearly 3 hours, authorities said. There were no reports of casualties. Officials also ruled out the possibility of a radioactive leak or of fire spreading to the reactor. The police said the fire broke out around 8.40 p.m. on the first floor of a three-story maintenance facility some 50 meters from the experimental reactor in the compound of the Oarai Engineering Centre of the government-run Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute. The fire was put out at around 11.30 p.m., the Oarai fire department said. There were no reports of casualties. The institute said it stopped operating Joyo in June last year as it needed to replace the reactor core with a new one. The maintenance facility is a square concrete structure. It accommodates maintenance equipment to clean pumps used in the reactor. The science and technology ministry also said fuel bars have been pulled out from the reactor as it is undergoing renovation. Joyo is Japan's first fast-breeder reactor, which went into operation in 1978, after reaching criticality in April 1977. It is a research facility for Japan's development of fast-breeder reactor technology, designed to produce more fuel than it consumes, using plutonium. Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1506 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 14 FBI Furious Over Release of Detainees - Herald Wednesday October 31 10:09 AM ET MIAMI (Reuters) - Federal agents are searching for six men who were detained in the U.S. Midwest but later released even though they were carrying material about a nuclear power plant in Florida and an Alaskan pipeline, the Miami Herald reported on Wednesday. FBI (news [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news? p=%22FBI%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw] - web sites [http://rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/manual/*http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__Gove rnment/Executive_Branch/Departments_and_Agencies/Department_of_Justice__DOJ_/Fed eral_Bureau_of_Investigation__FBI_/] ) director Robert Mueller was said to be ``furious'' at the release, the Herald said, citing an unidentified senior law enforcement official. The incident apparently contributed to the new terror warning issued by the U.S. government, it said. FBI and INS officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. Police stopped the six men traveling in two cars in an unidentified state over the weekend, the paper said. They were carrying photographs and information on a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline. They also carried box-cutters and other ``suspicious equipment,'' it said. The men who hijacked four planes on Sept 11, killing more than 4,800 people and triggering the U.S. war against terrorism, used box-cutters to overpower flight crews. The suspects in the Midwest incident appeared to be from the Middle East and carried Israeli passports, according to the Herald report. The Immigration and Naturalization Service decided the passports were valid and they had entered the United States legally and it released the suspects without consulting the FBI, it said. Florida has three nuclear power plants -- at Turkey Point, south of Miami, St. Lucie, and the Crystal River plant north of St. Petersburg. Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 USA respects Taiwan's non-nuclear policy says official BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 30, 2001 Text of report by Elisa Kao in English by Taiwanese Central News Agency web site Taipei, 30 October: A United States official responsible for nuclear affairs said Tuesday [30 October] that the US government respects Taiwan's non-nuclear policy, although it still considers nuclear power as a safe energy source. Alex Burkart, deputy director of the Office of Nuclear Energy Affairs under the State Department's Nonproliferation Bureau, made the remarks in Hualien, eastern Taiwan, during a nuclear energy cooperation conference between the two countries. More than 90 experts in nuclear energy affairs from both countries attended the two-day conference, which was scheduled to conclude Wednesday. Ouyang Min-shen, vice-chairman of Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council under the Executive Yuan, expressed his shock at the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States and stressed that Taiwan has strengthened security measures at its nuclear power plants since the incidents. However, he added, the government's energy policy is to make Taiwan a country free of nuclear power. Burkart, who led a 20-member delegation made up of US officials responsible for nuclear affairs, environmental protection and laboratory heads, made no comment on Taiwan's non-nuclear policy, but stressed that nuclear power still accounts for the most important part of the US energy policy. He cited statistics to emphasize the safety and low cost of nuclear energy and added that his country will continue to pour billions of dollars into funding new technologies in nuclear power generation and nuclear waste disposal. The participants will discuss issues such as the safety of nuclear energy, protection against radiation, nuclear power for consumers and nuclear waste disposal, and will review existing cooperation projects. Source: Central News Agency web site, Taipei, in English 1135 gmt 30 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material ***************************************************************** 16 Security tightens at Minnesota nuclear plants Published Tuesday, October 30, 2001 Statewire MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Nuclear Management Co. said Tuesday it tightened security at the six nuclear plants it operates in the Midwest, including ones near Red Wing and Monticello, in response to the latest alert issued by federal authorities. Nuclear Management asked local law enforcement agencies to station officers at its facilities after Attorney General John Ashcroft warned Monday that terrorists may again attack the nation this week. " This is not a response to any specific information or any credible concern at either plant in Minnesota or any NMC plant, " Maureen Brown, spokeswoman at the company' s Hudson, Wis., headquarters, said. " This is strictly a response to the comment from the attorney general." The company restricted access, began car searches and increased patrols at its six plants immediately after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. In addition to its two plants in Minnesota, Nuclear Management operates facilities in Palo, Iowa; Covert, Mich.; and Kewaunee and Two Rivers, Wis. In mid-October, authorities briefly detained nine people who parked near the training center of the Prairie Island plant, which is near Red Wing. The group told officials they were looking at the fall foliage. The incident prompted the company to issue another request for the public to stay away from its facilities. Key utilities and law enforcement throughout Minnesota were told Monday to be on an " elevated level of alert" after the FBI warned about possible terrorist attacks this week in the United States and abroad. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver also said extra troopers have been deployed to the State Capitol following the new warning. The Mall of America, the country' s largest shopping mall, continues to add more security measures, spokeswoman Maureen Cahill said. Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. © Copyright 2001. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Planes Banned Near Nuclear Plants Las Vegas SUN October 30, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned private planes from flying near nuclear power plants after Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of possible new terrorist attacks. The FAA on Tuesday imposed the restrictions "for reasons of national security." The ban on flying within 11 miles of 86 nuclear plants and other nuclear sites such as the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico expires Nov. 7. Also in response to Ashcroft's warning, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta told his department's administrators to make sure that the trucking, aviation, railroad, shipping and other industries maintained high levels of security. The ban on private flights near nuclear power plants will force nearby small airports to close, said Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. "A small, general-aviation aircraft is not a significant risk to a nuclear facility," Morningstar said. "On the other hand, we also have to accept that there are serious national security threats, and we will do our best to protect the nation and keep people safe." Commercial airplanes, which fly at higher altitudes, will not be affected. Nor will the ban apply to medical, law enforcement, rescue and firefighting operations when authorized by air traffic controllers. The FAA also announced restrictions on private planes because of the World Series. Only pilots who file flight plans with the FAA will be allowed to fly within 34 miles of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. The restrictions will be in effect from 6:45 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST during all World Series games played at Yankee Stadium. Bans remain in effect on all private planes within 20 miles of Kennedy Airport or Reagan Washington National Airport. In Boston, New York and Washington, all private pilots must file flight plans with the FAA. Blimps, news helicopters and banner-towing planes remain grounded in 30 metropolitan areas. ---- On the Net: Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov [http://www.faa.gov] Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association: http://www.aopa.org [http://www.aopa.org] -- All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 Feds: Terrorists Would Have Used Nukes Las Vegas SUN Today: October 31, 2001 at 10:40:31 PST WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior State Department official said Wednesday he was convinced if the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center in New York had possessed nuclear weapons they would have used them. "Had these people had ballistic missile technology, there's not the slightest doubt in my mind that they would have used it," John R. Bolton said. And "if they could couple that with a weapon of mass destruction, nuclear or whatever, and dropped it on lower Manhattan, as tragic as the destruction of the World Trade Center was, the loss of lower Manhattan or any comparable place would obviously be a lot worse," he said. The undersecretary of state for arms control and international security said the Sept. 11 attacks underscored a need to deter the spread of nuclear technology and a need for an American defense against missile attack. "It is obviously a national priority," Bolton said. But, he said, "it's hard to see how people with that belief system could be deterred." Describing himself as deeply concerned, Bolton said the pursuit of ways to avert terrorists' use of nuclear or other devastating weapons was "a national priority." "Had these people had ballistic missile technology and nuclear weapons there isn't the slightest doubt they would have used it," he said. President Bush will try again next month to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to cut off the spread of sophisticated technology and conventional weapons to Iran when they meet next month in Washington and at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Bolton said. "It would go a long way to improve the strategic structure if Russia's behavior was more like ours," he said. Senior Israeli officials raised their concerns about Iran in talks last week at the White House and State Department, he said. The issue is likely to be on the agenda for talks Secretary of State Colin Powell will hold in Washington on Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Bolton said in a breakfast meeting with military and diplomatic reporters that the anthrax breakout has already put the United States under terrorist attack with a weapon of mass destruction. Bolton said he could not shed any light on the source of the anthrax. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 Power Workers' Union Says Public Benefits of Bruce Nuclear Lease a Good Deal for Ontario Source: Canada Newswire Date: 10/31/2001 11:06 Story Filed: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 11:06 AM EST TORONTO, Oct 31, 2001 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) -- The following statement is issued by Don MacKinnon, President of the Power Workers' Union. Recent critics of the Bruce nuclear facility lease arrangement with a British Energy-led consortium are failing to provide important information that bears on the true value of the transaction for Ontario's economy and environment. When you add up all the public benefits of the Bruce Power lease, it would have been a good deal for Ontario no matter what the nominal lease rates were. Here are the main benefits to the province of the continued operation of the four units now online and the planned refurbishment of two others: - Several thousand high tech jobs for at least the next 18 years and possibly longer. This is direct employment alone and does not take into account the significant multiplier effect of private sector industrial employment. - The continuing economic health of entire communities in the Bruce Region. - A major boost to Ontario's high-tech industries and their employment levels to supply hundreds of millions of dollars of material and expertise to the project. - The tax revenues to the public treasury from all the above positive economic impacts. - An improved environment, since nuclear power produces virtually no atmospheric emissions. Millions of tonnes of emissions will be avoided. Nuclear energy is a global industry and British Energy is one of the world's most experienced and successful nuclear operators. Their lease of the Bruce facilities was an important milestone in the creation of a stable and vibrant electricity marketplace in Ontario. They are enhancing the value of this important public asset to the benefit of the entire province. Critics of this deal should step back a little ways and take in the bigger picture. It's a lot nicer-looking than the one they've been trying to paint. VIEW ADDITIONAL COMPANY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION: http://www.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/inquiry.cgi?OKEY=83711 CONTACT: For further information: please contact Deb Carey, Communications Department, Power Workers' Union at (416) 481-4491 News release via Canada NewsWire, Toronto 416-863-9350 ***************************************************************** 20 Congress Should Not Reauthorize Price-Anderson Act Oct. 31, 2001 H.R. 2983 Extends Taxpayer Indemnification of Nuclear Industry WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Energy and Commerce Committee should not approve a bill that continues taxpayer subsidies to the nuclear power industry and paves the way for the construction of new power plants, Public Citizen said today. The committee first took up H.R. 2983, a bill to reauthorize the Price-Anderson Act, on Oct. 11 and resumed the markup this morning. "This bill would improperly pave the way for new nuclear power plants without adequately addressing the issue of increasing security and improving safety at nuclear facilities," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "In light of the recent terrorist attacks, there should be a thorough assessment of security needs at U.S. nuclear power facilities before Congress considers reauthorizing the Price-Anderson Act." The Price-Anderson Act was enacted in 1957 as a temporary measure to support the fledgling nuclear power industry, and it has been reauthorized throughout the years. The act establishes a taxpayer-backed insurance regime for nuclear power plants that limits the liability of nuclear operators in the event of an accident and reduces the amount of insurance they are required to carry on operating reactors. The limits set by Congress are far below the potential cost of an accident, and provide the industry with a financial boost so it can operate much more cheaply. Almost half a century later, the inherent risks of nuclear power should be fully incorporated into the cost structures of any proposal for new nuclear reactors, Public Citizen argued. Opponents and proponents of atomic energy have both recognized that industry proposals for new nuclear power plants hinge on the reauthorization of the Price-Anderson Act, which will sunset in August 2002 without congressional action. "Not only does Price-Anderson give nuclear power an uncompetitive advantage over cleaner, safer energy options, but it leaves the nuclear industry with virtually no incentive to increase security," Hauter said. "With such small liability, the industry won’t ever put a premium on making plants secure. "Given the current heightened security concerns, Congress should not pass legislation that would facilitate the construction of new nuclear targets." Public Citizen ***************************************************************** 21 US steps up nuclear security BBC News | AMERICAS | 31 October, 2001, 06:14 GMT [Three Mile Island nuclear plant] There are more than 80 nuclear plants in the US The United States has tightened security around major nuclear facilities following a new warning about the threat of further terrorist attacks. The Federal Aviation Authority has placed a week-long ban on any aircraft movements within 20 kilometres of more than 80 nuclear plants. Aircraft can only pass over these sites at altitudes above 5,500 metres, which means commercial flights should not be affected. FAA administrator Jane Garvey called for co-operation from the aircraft industry. President Bush pitched the first ball in New York "The FAA realises these restrictions inconvenience general aviation pilots and airports," Ms. Garvey said in a statement. "As the FAA and other federal agencies continuously review measures to ensure national security, we look for the understanding and co-operation of the general aviation community." World series Tough flight restrictions have also been imposed over New York during this week's World Series baseball matches, at which President George Bush symbolically pitched the first ball on Tuesday evening. These new measures follow a warning by Attorney General John Ashcroft that there was a "credible" threat of fresh terrorist attacks on the United States. An unacceptable number of deficiencies continue to occur; the result is a growing lack of confidence Norman Mineta Us Transportation Secretary On Tuesday, US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced a reinforcement of security at US airports. These will include more thorough searches of baggage and of passengers. Mr Mineta said that the security measures taken so far since the 11 September attacks were inadequate. Airport checks "An unacceptable number of deficiencies continue to occur. "The result is a growing lack of confidence and increasing criticism of the actions that are being taken by the Federal Aviation Administration, and I want to reverse that trend," he said. Mr Mineta spoke of continuing security problems Mr Mineta said that FAA officials were determined to crack down on any failures in the security systems in place, even if it meant delaying flights. The new measures come after a man carried a pistol undetected through security checks at New Orleans airport last week. ***************************************************************** 22 N.H. officials urge stock of iodide pills The Telegraph Online Monday, October 29, 2001 By The Associated Press MANCHESTER (AP) – Despite encouragement by state officials, pharmacies in New Hampshire have yet to stock the drug that would provide some protection against radiation in the event of a nuclear disaster. But pharmacists throughout southern New Hampshire said it isn’t their fault. They said their suppliers list the potassium iodide tablets as available only to state and federal agencies, and the state hasn’t done anything to help them get it. The availability of the pills has been an issue in New Hampshire since 1990, the year the Seabrook nuclear plant went online, and the state began stockpiling them in the event of an accident. But the Sept. 11 attacks prompted fears of attacks against Seabrook, and the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on New Hampshire’s western border. With that come fears the state’s supply of the pills, and its delivery system, are insufficient. Potassium iodide works by saturating the thyroid with iodine, which protects it from the radioactive iodine that could be released in a nuclear accident. But the state’s stockpile would be distributed during an emergency only to those who would have to work in or near the nuclear plant, or to those unable to leave the area, such as prisoners, nursing home residents and hospital patients. And two years ago a study committee reported to Gov. Jeanne Shaheen that it would be “inappropriate and ineffective” for government agencies to distribute the tablets to the public during an emergency. The reported suggested the state “encourage retail pharmaceutical outlets in New Hampshire to maintain supplies of KI (the chemical symbol for potassium iodide) for purchase by members of the public.” James Van Dongen, spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Management, said his agency thinks it’s good for people to maintain their own supply. “The only problem is that people haven’t physically been able to lay their hands on it,” he said. “We’ve been trying for two years to get pharmacies to stock this stuff as a public service.” He said last week he is sending lists of pharmacies in southern New Hampshire to two companies that make the pills, hoping they will contact the pharmacies. But Jennifer Hicks, director of the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League, said the state isn’t doing enough. “I don’t think the pharmacies have been given any real incentive to do this,” she said. “We’re depending on a for-profit system to take care of a public health need.” And even with incentive, the pharmacists may still need government help getting the pills. Donald Messina, president of the New Hampshire Pharmacists Association, said potassium iodide is essentially unavailable in New Hampshire. “As far as we’re concerned, right now, there is no potassium iodide available,” he said. “I checked the catalogs and I cannot come up with any potassium iodide tablets.” Several companies do offer the tablets to the public, but they are available only over the Internet and is not sold to drug wholesalers, the companies that supply pharmacies. Telegraph Online Portions © 2001, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire ***************************************************************** 23 Taiwan, USA agree on exchanges on enhancing nuclear power plant safety BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by Lilian Wu; carried by Taiwanese Central News Agency web site Taipei, 31 October: Participants in a civil nuclear cooperation meeting between the Republic of China [ROC] and the United States agreed on Wednesday [31 October] to increase exchanges on nuclear power plant safety and to establish formal communication channels regarding the matter. The participants, including more than 90 experts in nuclear energy affairs from both countries, pointed out during the two-day meeting in Hualien, eastern Taiwan, that after the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States, nuclear power plant safety has become a major concern. The meeting opened Tuesday. They discussed issues related to measures to strengthen nuclear power plant safety to deter terrorist attacks and decided to cooperate in the areas of nuclear power plant safety, examination and research on nuclear reactor control rod cracks, and emergency response plans outside nuclear power plants. Shen Li, director of the Department of Nuclear Regulation under the Atomic Energy Council (AEC), said that since the 11 September attacks, the United States has reviewed its nuclear power safety plan, adding that the AEC has also instructed the state-owned Taiwan Power Co. to step up related safety measures at the island's existing nuclear power plants. Shen said that if Taiwan can obtain the US plan, it will benefit Taiwan's safety measures regarding nuclear power plants. But he also said that the plan has to be kept secret so as not to allow terrorists to use it as a reference in planning attacks on nuclear power plants. Both sides decided that they would not go into details regarding substantive security measures and that they would act cautiously by leaving the matter for future face-to-face meetings. As there have been several incidents of control rod cracks at Taiwan's nuclear power plants, both sides also agreed to cooperate on research into the causes of nuclear rod cracks as well as repair and maintenance work. On emergency responses outside nuclear power plants, both sides agreed that the AEC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States will conduct exchanges on drills, mobilization and response measures. In response to Taiwan's "nuclear-free homeland" policy, the participants also agreed to cooperate on the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, with Taipower and the US Energy Department to establish bilateral communication channels. The AEC's Fuel Cycle and Materials Administration will also send officials to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to receive six-month training on the disposal of highly radioactive waste. Alex Burkart, deputy director of the Office of Nuclear Energy Affairs under the State Department's Nonproliferation Bureau, led a 20-member delegation made up of US officials responsible for nuclear affairs, environmental protection and laboratory heads to the meeting in Hualien. During the meeting, participants also discussed the issues of nuclear energy safety, protection against radiation, nuclear power for consumers and nuclear waste disposal, as well as reviewed existing cooperation projects. Source: Central News Agency web site, Taipei, in English 1001 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material ***************************************************************** 24 DOE, FAA heighten security Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 by Paul Parson and Beverly Majors Oak Ridger staff Due to a national warning that more terrorist threats could occur, Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials closed Bethel Valley Road indefinitely Tuesday to all trucks except those that have direct business with the laboratory, and the Federal Aviation Administration has issued restrictions on flying over local federal plants. Lab officials, in a media advisory issued Tuesday afternoon, indicated this "closure" was implemented in light of Attorney General John Ashcroft's warning earlier this week that more terrorist attacks were likely. Ashcroft issued the warning -- the second this month -- based on what he called credible information. The type of trucks impacted by ORNL's action are "larger than a pickup truck or those towing a trailer," according to the media advisory. Personal vehicles will still be permitted on Bethel Valley Road. Billy Stair, a spokesman for ORNL, said lab officials began talking about the restrictions to Bethel Valley Road late Tuesday morning and developed the plan early Tuesday afternoon. He said Gov. Don Sundquist's office, the Department of Energy and some of its contractors and the city of Oak Ridge had been consulted about the decision. Initially, DOE informed The Oak Ridger Tuesday that no added security measures were being implemented at its Oak Ridge facilities due to Ashcroft's warning. However, that changed quickly Tuesday, according to DOE spokesman Frank Juan. "Security is keeping a lot of stuff close to the vest," Juan said. "There may be additional things security does." McGhee Tyson Airport Authority spokeswoman Becky Huckaby said this morning that the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a 10-nautical-miles no-fly-zone order until Nov. 7 for all air traffic over federal plants in Oak Ridge. Prior to Sept. 11, the FAA discouraged flying or loitering over the plants but had not issued a no-fly-zone order, Huckaby said. Police Capt. Bill Moehl said DOE officials planned to close two roads later this morning. He said Warehouse Road and Laboratory Road will be closed to through traffic until Nov. 5. He said the city is working with DOE officials to approve traffic control and safety issues. Traffic will be allowed on a portion of Warehouse Road but not the portion directly behind DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information building. In addition, a checkpoint on the east end of Bear Creek Road will remain in operation 24 hours per day, and, an additional checkpoint has been established on New Hope Pond Road, according to Bill Wilburn, a spokesman for BWXT Y-12, which manages the Y-12 National Security Complex. Wilburn said all Y-12 personnel have been advised "to be especially observant and to report anything suspicious to their supervisor or security." Oak Ridge Police Lt. Rick Stone said police officers are working regular patrols except for assisting DOE in its security measures. "We will have extra patrols for trick-or-treaters this evening," he said. "Unfortunately, we can only do so much until something happens." Oak Ridge isn't the only DOE site taking increased security measures. The Savannah River Site, located near Aiken, S.C., has spent $10 million to upgrade security after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. And, similar to Oak Ridge, the site has added checkpoints, restricted parking and added more security personnel on duty. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 25 States Assign More Troops After U.S. Terror Warning October 31, 2001 By PAUL ZIELBAUER State officials in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey have deployed more National Guard troops at transportation centers, water supplies and nuclear power plants after the federal government's warning of possible additional terrorist attacks. In New York, the Pataki administration said it would put more than 400 Guard troops on active duty for 90 days, the longest call- up in decades, starting tomorrow to help patrol train stations, airports, bridges and tunnels. By the end of this week, more than 1,500 guardsmen will be stationed at sites in and around New York City, including the city's upstate reservoirs and the state's four nuclear power facilities, said Gov. George E. Pataki. In Connecticut, Gov. John G. Rowland ordered Guard troops deployed on Monday night to two nuclear power plants, in Waterford and Haddam Neck. A Rowland spokesman, Chris Cooper, said the number of troops was being kept secret for security reasons. About three weeks ago, Guard troops were stationed at Bradley International Airport, north of Hartford, and about 11 smaller airports around the state. In addition to its Guard deployments at nuclear power plants, Connecticut is using its one state police helicopter to patrol the coast of Long Island Sound, Mr. Cooper said. And, he said, the waters of the Sound are being patrolled by the United States Coast Guard and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. Nuclear plants around the region were experiencing heavy security. At Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pa., security personnel were a heavy presence at the entrance of the plant. In New Jersey, Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco has ordered more Guard troops deployed to bolster the more than 1,200 troops already in place to protect "critical assets" around the state, including its four nuclear reactors, said his spokeswoman Rae Hutton. Besides these deployments, each state is setting up additional security measures. Over the weekend, for example, New York National Guard members — one state official said 420; another said "just under 500" — were notified that tomorrow, they would have to leave their families, jobs and homes for 90 days. State officials said there had not been such a long call-up since at least the 1970's. The National Guard and Naval Militia troops deployed since the attack on the World Trade Center had been serving generally two weeks at a time, with units taking turns. And now, some of them will be more heavily armed. Starting today, 1,000 of New York's guardsmen patrolling Grand Central Terminal, Pennsylvania Station and New York City's bridges and tunnels will carry sidearms, said Mr. Pataki's press secretary, Michael McKeon. Guardsmen patrolling airports and nuclear facilities are already armed with machine guns. State officials want them armed with 9-millimeter pistols, not assault rifles. "Familiarity and training with the 9-millimeter is not a skill set in abundance with Guard members," said Scott Sandman, spokesman for the state's Division of Military and Naval Affairs, which oversees the National Guard. So few soldiers are familiar with sidearms, he said, that rotating them frequently is not an option. Only two units train with pistols, he said: the 101st Cavalry, headquartered in Staten Island, and the 442nd Military Police, based in Orangeburg, in Rockland County, and in Whitestone, Queens. He said they would learn policing techniques from the New York Police Department. Guard members risk losing their employer-based health insurance during a long activation. Mr. McKeon said the state would ensure that the soldiers' families were covered. Mr. Pataki has also ordered 140 state corrections officers to guard the city's reservoirs, supplementing the State Department of Environmental Conservation officers already there, Mr. McKeon said. About 470 state troopers are stationed in New York City, he added. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 26 Nuclear attack 'a real possibility' NATIONAL POST ONLINE | News story October 31, 2001 U.S. leaders would be bin Laden's target, White House fears Richard Sale United Press International WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is concerned the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden might try to use a small nuclear weapon in a super-spectacular strike to decapitate the U.S. political leadership, according to a half-dozen serving and former U.S. government and intelligence officials. "They believe it's a real possibility," said one former senior U.S. government official, adding that secret plans for protecting the U.S. President and his successors in the event of a nuclear attack were in place. The Bush administration believes that bin Laden -- the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- may possess one or more small, portable nuclear weapons, according to a former senior intelligence official. Other experts agree the danger is real. "We're not at all discounting that possibility," said Rose Gottemoeller, senior associate and Russian weapons expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Bin Laden's efforts to get hold of nuclear material are no secret. Peter Probst, an anti-terrorism analyst formerly with the Pentagon's Office of Special Operations, said the Saudi fugitive "has been obsessed with nuclear weapons." During his trial for involvement in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, Jamal Ahmad al-Fadl, an al-Qaeda operative, outlined bin Laden's efforts to spend US$1.5-million to obtain a cylinder of enriched uranium. Plans were made, said al-Fadl, to test uranium samples to see if they could be made into a bomb. The project fell through, he said, according to court documents. This week, however, The Times of London cited unnamed Western intelligence sources as saying bin Laden had obtained nuclear materials from Pakistan. And there have also been several reports -- variously citing unnamed intelligence sources from Israel, Russia and Arab nations -- about bin Laden's attempts to purchase a small nuclear device from the arsenal of a former Soviet republic, through terrorist or mafia groups in Chechnya or Central Asia. According to Mr. Probst, what the U.S. intelligence community fears is that tactical nuclear weapons of one kind or another have been sold to terrorists via corrupt Russian military officers or the Russian or Chechen mafias with whom bin Laden is known to have had contact. Mr. Probst explained that portable nuclear weapons were developed by the Soviets in the 1960s. They were designed for use by their Spetznaz special operations forces against NATO command and control sites. A former senior U.S. intelligence and Eastern Bloc specialist cautioned that "the Soviets were able to build weapons of such smallness and lightness that they could be carried by one person," pointing out that one U.S. nuclear warhead weighs less than 30 kilograms. "The possibility that these devices have been stolen and sold to terrorist groups is nearly anyone's worst nightmare," said Carey Sublette of the Federation of American Scientists. General Aleksandr Lebed, the former Russian security czar, said in 1997 that portable nuclear bombs and tactical nukes had disappeared from Russia's arsenal. In testimony before the Congressional Military Research and Development Subcommittee in October, 1997, Gen. Lebed said there were bombs made to look like suitcases that could be detonated by one person with less than 30-minutes preparation. Mr. Probst said he believes Gen. Lebed is correct about missing Soviet weapons. "I firmly believe that some were sold to groups by corrupt Russian military, probably in the Central Asian republics," he said. On Oct. 28, 1999, Congressman Curt Weldon said he believed some 48 Russian nuclear devices remained unaccounted for. "We simply don't know what was floating around out there when the Soviet Union dissolved," an administration official said. "That's one of the questions we need to ask: What are the threats?" Copyright © 2001 National Post Online | Privacy Policy | ***************************************************************** 27 Troops deployed to nuclear plant Back to Index Published on 10/31/01 By MARSHA SHULER and JAMES MINTON Advocate staff writers Advocate staff photo by Travis Spradling Louisiana National Guardsmen were assigned Tuesday to supplement Entergy's Riverbend Nuclear Power Plant 's normal security. ST. FRANCISVILLE — Louisiana Army National Guard troops joined private guards and sheriff’s deputies Tuesday in further tightening security at the River Bend nuclear power plant. The deployment of National Guardsmen to the nuclear plant and other sensitive sites around the state followed a general warning by federal officials Monday of possible terrorist attacks in the United States this week. State officials withheld details about the duties to which the National Guardsmen were assigned. "We do have ready response teams doing various missions," said Dusty Shenofsky, Louisiana National Guard public affairs officer. "We can’t disclose at how many locations or how many soldiers are involved." Meanwhile, State Police spokesman Lt. Mike Edmonson said a news report Tuesday of a possible arrest of a boater near a nuclear power plant in the state was untrue. Entergy Corp. operates two nuclear power plants on the Mississippi River in Louisiana: River Bend and the Waterford 3 plant in St. Charles Parish. Entergy also operates the Grand Gulf nuclear plant in Claiborne County, Miss., across the Mississippi River from Tensas Parish. West Feliciana Parish Sheriff J. Austin Daniel said the security director at River Bend asked him Monday to assist in beefing up protection around the plant’s perimeter. The introduction of National Guard troops, however, will lessen the need for additional deputies, he said. "We’ll continue to make routine passes on the roads around the plant, but they’re more or less taking over what we’ve been doing," the sheriff said. "There’s no specific threat. I want to stress that it’s not because of any direct threat. It’s just tightening up one more notch," Daniel said. Also Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned private planes from flying near nuclear power plants after U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of possible new terrorist attacks. The activity at River Bend came as the Guard — acting on Gov. Mike Foster’s order — put into service "Ready Reaction Forces" as Louisiana and the U.S. went on high alert. "Our intent is to respond quickly and professionally to the governor’s order," the Guard’s Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau said. Foster could not be reached for comment. Landreneau said new teams will be poised to assist parish and municipal law enforcement agencies, first responders and all state military installations in case of "emergencies or terrorist incidents." The special teams will provide site security and restore order in protection of life and safety on an as-needed basis, Guard officials said. A Guard news release said the teams, which are located across the state, "will remain on standby as dictated by the current state of our nation." The Guard is coordinating efforts with the Louisiana State Police. Just last week, the Legislature’s top money panel agreed to spend an extra $1 million to hire 30 new military policemen to add additional security at various military bases. Officials said the money would allow the Guard to double the number of military police working statewide. The FAA on Tuesday imposed the nuclear plant airspace restrictions "for reasons of national security." The ban on flying within 11 miles of 86 nuclear plants and other nuclear sites such as the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico expires Nov. 7. Also in response to Ashcroft’s warning, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta told his department’s administrators to make sure that the trucking, aviation, railroad, shipping and other industries maintained high levels of security. Commercial airplanes, which fly at higher altitudes, will not be affected. Nor will the ban apply to medical, law enforcement, rescue and firefighting operations when authorized by air traffic controllers. Editor’s note: Advocate writer Will Sentell and The Associated Press also contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 28 Attacks heighten nuclear waste worries LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: NEWS: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Transportation of radioactive waste to Nevada a national concern, Bryan says By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL With prospects for more terrorist attacks looming across the country, Nevada's Nuclear Projects Commission on Tuesday stressed the importance of building out-of-state opposition to federal plans for hauling the nation's most lethal radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain. "Terrorism is now a part of the decision-making process that governs our daily conduct," Commissioner and former U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan said after a two-hour meeting at the Clark County Government Center. "It seems to me the dimension of the national debate has been greatly expanded," he said, referring to heightened awareness nationwide about nuclear waste transportation risks in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "It has been perceived as a Nevada issue. This helps makes the case; this is a national issue," Bryan said. He said public outcry against rail and truck shipments of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste, most of it spent nuclear fuel stored at some 100 reactor sites across the nation, "could absolutely delay" a decision by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on recommending Yucca Mountain for construction of a repository to entomb the waste. The decision is expected late this year or early next year. Yucca Mountain, a volcanic-rock ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site under consideration for disposing of the nation's highly radioactive wastes. Proponents of the plan have said leaving nuclear waste at reactor sites presents a greater risk than consolidating it at Yucca Mountain. But critics argue that reactor sites still will be potential terrorist targets and a repository at Yucca Mountain simply would create one more in addition to greater risks posed by transporting the waste. State Nuclear Projects Agency chief Bob Loux said that with some $5 million in reserve from the Legislature and local government contributions to battle the Yucca Mountain Project, he expects roughly $2.5 million will be spent this year on legal defense and a national public relations campaign. About $1 million of that has been earmarked for a combination of media advertising and financial support for grass-roots anti-nuclear efforts in key cities and communities along transportation routes. The goal, Loux said, is to "get the campaign started in other states affected by transportation." Twice since the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, the federal government has suspended radioactive waste shipments nationwide, including some that were planned to haul spent nuclear fuel from a West Valley, N.Y., facility to a government site in Idaho. Joe Strolin, Planning Division administrator for the State Nuclear Projects Agency, said preliminary findings of the July 18 train collision in a Baltimore tunnel show the fire that broke out was hot enough to breach a nuclear waste cask and release a cloud of suspended, radioactive particles. Contamination would spread over 28 square miles and cost more than $10 billion to clean up, he said. Strolin raised questions about transportation safeguards that were considered to be adequate by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before Sept. 11. "They can no longer make that case," he said. "The risks of sabotage and terrorism are real." Bryan told the commission that it is essential to find qualified, independent experts to verify transportation studies and scientific studies being conducted on the integrity of titanium shields the Energy Department plans to put inside Yucca Mountain. The shields are being designed to deflect corrosive water away from waste packages during the repository's 10,000-year regulatory life span. One study shows water laced with fluoride and chloride could erode and crack a titanium shield in six months under accelerated conditions. Susan Lynch, Technical Division administrator for the State Nuclear Projects Agency, said state scientists plan to collect water samples from soil on Yucca Mountain to determine what will be in water that first reaches waste canisters if they are put there. The ingredients, she said, could be quite different than what Energy Department contractors are using in their studies. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 29 Negotiators cut proposed spending for Yucca Mountain by $70 million Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By STEVE TETREAULT DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Congressional negotiators on Tuesday night cut proposed spending for nuclear waste studies at Yucca Mountain by $70 million. The move, which marked the seventh consecutive year of budget cuts for the project, came as the Energy Department prepares to decide whether the site should be recommended for a nuclear waste repository. An energy spending bill completed by a conference committee and now heading for final passage grants the department $375 million for the coming year to complete site characterization of the mountain, which is 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Bush administration had requested $445 million, saying it would be spent to prepare a site recommendation and lay the groundwork for a possible repository license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Instead, the latest budget cuts might result in layoffs and schedule delays, an Energy Department spokesman said Tuesday night. The conference committee increased Yucca Mountain spending over an earlier energy bill version, written by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., that cut the program by 38 percent, to $275 million. Reid, chairman of the Senate energy and water subcommittee, led the meeting on Tuesday where the $24.6 billion bill was finalized by teams of 15 senators and 15 House members. The legislation sets 2002 spending for the Energy Department, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies. The $70 million difference between what the Bush administration wanted and what Congress allocated is the deepest reduction in the nuclear waste program since 1996, when a $630 million budget request was cut in half, forcing a major redirection in the project. The Energy Department will review the new bill before deciding its course, spokesman Allen Benson said. "The administration asked for $445 million and at the $375 million level we're going to have to assess the impacts, but it most likely will have an impact on schedule and personnel levels," Benson said. "We will have to determine what the impacts are going to be." Despite annual budget shortfalls since 1995, officials have sought to maintain a schedule that could see spent fuel stored in Nevada by 2010. Program officials have said they expect to have gathered all the material necessary for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to make a recommendation on Yucca Mountain late this year or early next year. The nuclear energy industry believes the Energy Department "can make the adjustments necessary to keep the Yucca Mountain program moving forward," said John Kane, senior vice president of governmental affairs for the Nuclear Energy Institute. "We are disappointed that the underfunding of the Yucca Mountain project continues to be problematic and contrary to the national interest," Kane said in a statement. At $375 million, the Energy Department "is going to be able to do some of the work on some of the critical areas that need attention." said Bob Loux, head of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Office. But Loux questioned when the department will be able to finalize studies necessary to demonstrate whether the geology of Yucca Mountain, coupled with man-made repository features, could contain radiation from spent fuel rods for 10,000 years. Loux also said the trend in Congress to tighten purse strings on Yucca Mountain spells trouble for the program in coming years, when more than $1 billion will be needed annually to meet licensing and construction schedules. Reid, a persistent critic of the Yucca Mountain program, expressed satisfaction with the budget cut. He set the stage for the cut in July when he wrote an energy bill with deep cuts for nuclear waste. Reid said after the session he was unconcerned about potential layoffs. "They will talk about how bad it is, but when you think of the hundreds of millions of dollars they have spent, I'm not going to lose one wink of sleep over this," he said. It was not immediately clear how the $375 million was reached in negotiations. "That was just a number I picked," Reid said. The senator also suggested he tried to reduce funding further, but met resistance from House negotiators who were more supportive of the program. House lawmakers could not be reached Tuesday night. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2001 ***************************************************************** 30 ADAMS: Items of Interest - Wednesday, October 31, 2001 State of Nevada [http://www.state.nv.us/] Agency for Nuclear Projects [http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/] ADAMS - Items of Interest Recent Released Documents Added - Wednesday, October 31, 2001 These documents and others may be retrieved at the NRC PERR web site [http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/login.html] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Item ID: 013030197 Accession Number: ML012540087 Document Date: Title: 09/07/2001- Summary of Meeting on 08/21/2001 with GE Nuclear Energy Re: GENE Licensing Topical Report NEDC-3272IP. Author Affiliation: Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030290 Accession Number: ML012320428 Document Date: 8/21/01 Title: Implementation of Commission Action: Proposed Rule to Standardize the Process for Allowing a License to Release Part of its Reactor Facility or Site for Urestricted Use Before NRC Has Approved its License Termination Plan (WITS No. 200000064)` Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030120 Accession Number: ML012950164 Document Date: 10/17/01 Title: International Uranium Corporation, Information on Drummed Uranium Material Amendment Request to Process as Alternate Feed Material from Molycorp at Source Material License No. SUA-1358. Author Affiliation: International Uranium (USA) Corp Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030133 Accession Number: ML012950357 Document Date: 10/12/01 Title: Letter from Petrotomics Company informing that no radionuclide liquid effluents were released to surface unrestricted areas during the six months prior to 1 July 2001. Author Affiliation: Petrotomics Co Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030132 Accession Number: ML012950353 Document Date: 10/12/01 Title: Letter from Petrotomics Company reporting results of the land survey conducted in the fall of 2001. Author Affiliation: Petrotomics Co Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030158 Accession Number: ML012980208 Document Date: 10/23/01 Title: Letter from Tom Thompson, NAC International on Proposed Rule PR-72 regarding List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks: NAC-UMS Revision. Author Affiliation: NAC International Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030116 Accession Number: ML012950200 Document Date: 10/10/01 Title: NAC International Submittal of Supplement to the Safety Analysis Report Changed Pages for the NAC Multi-Purpose Canister System Amended for the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company Fuel. Author Affiliation: NAC International Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030200 Accession Number: ML012850454 Document Date: 10/29/01 Title: NRC Discussion of Operational Comments - University of Missouri-Columbia Construction Permit Recapture Amendment (TAC No. MB0850). Author Affiliation: NRC/NRR/DRIP/REXB Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030201 Accession Number: ML013020342 Document Date: 10/13/01 Title: NUREG/CR-5632 "Incorporating Aging Effects into Probabilistic Risk Assessment - A Feasibility Study Utilizing Reliability Physics Models" Author Affiliation: NRC/RES/DRAA Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030108 Accession Number: ML012950081 Document Date: 10/5/01 Title: Spanish Data on Boral Deformation (Blistering) in NAC's Cask Design. Author Affiliation: AAR Cargo Systems Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030212 Accession Number: ML012980300 Document Date: 10/10/01 Title: STATE OF UTAH'S REQUEST FOR ADMISSION OF LATE-FILED CONTENTION UTAH RR (Suicide Mission Terrorism and Sabotage) Author Affiliation: State of UT Document/Report Number: _________________________________________________________________ Item ID: 013030121 Accession Number: ML012950153 Document Date: 9/28/01 Title: Submittal of modified report "Fuel Classification Protocol for Dry Fuel Storage." Author Affiliation: Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Document/Report Number: ***************************************************************** 31 Private Flights Are Halted Near Nuclear Installations October 31, 2001 THE SMALL AIRPORTS By MATTHEW L. WALD ASHINGTON, Oct. 30 — The government today temporarily banned private airplanes from flying within 11.5 miles of 86 nuclear power reactors and government nuclear sites "for reasons of national security." Also today, the secretary of transportation scolded the airlines for the job they are doing in screening passengers at airports, and President Bush lobbied members of Congress for a new aviation security bill that would allow the federal government to take over responsibility but contract out the work. The order banning private planes from 86 areas except at high altitude was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration using a list drawn up by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees power reactors, and the Energy Department, which makes nuclear weapons. The order is effective immediately and will last until midnight Tuesday, the F.A.A. said. It includes all the power reac- tors, several sites where the nuclear weapons are produced, a site where the Navy stores uranium fuel for its submarines, and the Nevada Test Site, where nuclear bomb tests were conducted. The decision closes 84 airports and hundreds of private landing strips and heliports, said Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. That includes Harrisburg airport, near Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, for private plane operations, and the Groton-New London airport near Millstone Point, in Connecticut. Mr. Morningstar said, "We are certainly very cognizant of the national security alert and the notice from the F.B.I.," referring to a warning on Monday that more attacks might be imminent. "We understand the national security concerns on the macro scale," he said. "But on the micro scale, we have a very difficult time understanding how a general aviation aircraft is a significant threat." The planes are too small to do much damage, he said. In a statement, the administrator of the F.A.A., Jane F. Garvey, said she understood the inconvenience but added, "We look for the understanding and cooperation of the general aviation community." The list is available at http: //notamweb.nas.faa.gov. Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont asked the F.A.A. last month to establish a permanent no-flight zone five miles in diameter around Vermont Yankee, in Vernon, just north of the Massachusetts border. But the agency has so far resisted any permanent rules. On Oct. 21, when the F.A.A. announced the resumption of private flying in 12 metropolitan areas where it had been banned since Sept. 11, it warned pilots not to "loiter" near reactors or other industrial plants. The military has been studying ways to protect nuclear reactors and other important industrial plants from terrorist attacks, including from the air. Soon before the F.A.A. made its announcement, Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a speech to a transportation group that aviation security "must show improvement right away." He cited the example of a passenger who inadvertently carried a gun on board a plane in New Orleans, and said such lapses were intolerable. "An unacceptable number of deficiencies continue to occur," Mr. Mineta said. "The result is a growing lack of confidence and increasing criticism of the actions taken by the F.A.A." He said that if secure areas in airports were compromised, then terminals would be evacuated and searched and the passengers again screened, delaying flights if necessary. That happened at Logan Airport in Boston on Sept. 29 and had occasionally occurred before Sept. 11. The airlines soon seem likely to give up responsibility for security under a new security system being considered in Congress. The House plans to vote on Thursday on a bill that would have the federal government employ the security screeners. It has already been passed unanimously in the Senate. The House also plans to vote on another bill, written by Republicans, under which the screeners would continue as employees of private contractors, and the contractors would sign agreements with the government instead of with the airlines. President Bush called several members of Congress to the White House today to lobby for the House version. At a news conference, the House majority leader, Representative Dick Armey, predicted that the Republican bill would pass. In the Senate, three Republicans — John McCain, John W. Warner and Kay Bailey Hutchison — joined Senators John D. Rockefeller IV and Ernest F. Hollings on the Democratic side in urging the House to approve their plan. Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 32 Still Seeking a Fusion Solution Mark K. Anderson"> Wired News Wired Magazine HotBot 2:00 a.m. Oct. 31, 2001 PST The sun and all the stars in the sky couldn't shine without it -- and this week, an international delegation of scientists gather to study ways we can tap into it too. Nuclear fusion has been a dream energy source since [http://www.itercanada.com/introduction/s2/history_ie.cfm] , when its study was first declassified and opened up for international collaboration. This week the [http://www.aps.org] holds its annual plasma physics conference in Long Beach, California -- the premier gathering for fusion energy science and engineering research. Burning the fuel that lights up the galaxy is no trivial task; replicating an environment like the core of the sun has to date required more energy than what the nuclear reactions generate. No one has yet simply broken even -- where the amount of energy spent equals the amount created. For all its difficulty, though, fusion offers the tantalizing prospect of an endless and cheap supply of fuel (lithium and sea water are the only natural resources a fusion reactor would require) and a "nuclear waste" byproduct that's so harmless it almost sounds too good to be true. "The 'exhaust' is helium," said Rob Goldston, director of Princeton's [http://www.pppl.gov] . "You can line kids up and fill their balloons." Goldston is quick to caution that this does not mean radioactive disposal issues wouldn't arise. The insides of the fusion reactors themselves will be extremely hot and will need to be swapped out occasionally. "There is nuclear waste in a fusion reactor, but it lasts like a human lifetime, not the lifetime of all civilization," he said. "The machine absorbs neutrons from the fusion reactions. And that kind of stuff can be mildly or even significantly radioactive. It tends to go to nothing-to-worry-about in 100 or 80 years. But it's not of the same type (as nuclear waste today) -- it's not easily released if there were an accident, for instance." One of the problems engineers now tackle, in fact, is finding the ideal materials to build fusion reactors out of. "You want to be able to use the right sort of steel where the radioactivity falls off very rapidly -- and that's possible," said Alan Sykes, project manager of the U.K.'s [http://www.fusion.org.uk/mast/] reactor project. "People are developing these sorts of steels. So let's say you run your power plant for 20 years, and then you put a padlock on the front of it for another 20 years -- and by that time the level of radioactivity of the structure is at such a low level that you can saw it up and dispose of it normally." The major fusion research project being planned and discussed this week is the building of a "burning plasma" reactor -- one that would be well beyond the break-even point. The project is called the [http://www.iter.org] (ITER), and it is planned to be the first ever to produce power at the level of a commercial power station. The $5-billion [http://www.iter.org/ITERPublic/ITER/con_text.html] is now considered the last crucial step before a prototype commercial fusion reactor could be built. Most estimates still put the prospect of viable commercial nuclear fusion at least one or two decades away. Part of this time lag, however, is political. In 1998, citing budgetary restrictions, Congress nixed American participation in ITER, leaving the European Union, Japan, Russia and Canada to develop it on their own. America's fusion research budget is currently $250 million per year. Current estimates suggest another $100 million would be necessary for full participation in ITER. According to Anne Davies, the U.S. Department of Energy's director of the [http://www.ofes.science.doe.gov/] , there's still a chance the United States could re-join ITER. "We are watching very carefully what happens with our former partners," she said. "We've met with a number of them. Japan has asked ardently for the U.S. to return to ITER.... The Canadians have come and various European government representatives have talked with us about ITER, too." The internationalist spirit of fusion research certainly has currency on the political stage today, said Goldston. "With all these partners eager to do this internationally and with this new issue of our needing to be strongly allied with Russia and so on, this may be a geopolitical moment to move forward," he said. "The political situation is such that the panoply of energy sources needs increased focus, and the idea of doing a major scientific effort to generate new energy sources just seems obvious." [http://www.lycos.com ***************************************************************** 33 Nuclear alert: FBI: Six men had material about plant in Florida Sun Herald (Biloxi) | Top Stories Wednesday, October 31, 2001 < By MARTIN MERZER,LENNY SAVINOand SUMANA CHATTERJEE KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS WASHINGTON - As the nation again stands on high alert, the FBI is searching for six men whom police stopped in the Midwest last weekend but released, even though they had photographs and descriptions of a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline, a senior law enforcement official said Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed new flight restrictions around nuclear plants nationwide Tuesday, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission advised the nation's 103 nuclear plants late Monday to fortify security. The FAA temporarily banned all flights near New York's Yankee Stadium, where President Bush threw out the first pitch at the World Series game Tuesday night. Vice President Dick Cheney remained in an undisclosed secure location. Both agencies said their actions were based on the general alert sounded Monday evening by Attorney General John Ashcroft rather than a specific threat. Ashcroft warned that Americans at home or abroad could be struck by another terrorist attack this week. The six men police stopped in the Midwest were traveling in groups of three in two white sedans, said the senior law enforcement official, who requested anonymity. In addition to the photographs and other suspicious material, they carried "box cutters and other equipment," the official said. They appeared to be from the Middle East and held Israeli passports. They were let go after the Immigration and Naturalization Service determined the passports were valid and that the men had entered the United States legally, the official said. It could not be learned in what state the six men were stopped or how they aroused suspicion. It was not known if their true identities matched those on the passports. Investigators think the men almost certainly have changed cars by now and have fled to Canada or elsewhere. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were "furious" that the INS allowed the men to be released without consulting the FBI, the senior law enforcement official said. A spokesman for the INS called the report unfounded. "We have absolutely no information at this point in time to substantiate that story," Russ Bergeron said. Three nuclear power units are in Florida: Florida Power &Light Co.'s Turkey Point facility, south of Miami, and St. Lucie facility, near Fort Pierce, and Florida Power Corp.'s Crystal River plant, about 85 miles north of St. Petersburg. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a new threat advisory Monday night to all nuclear power plants, other electrical plants, a dozen decommissioned reactors and three nuclear fuel-manufacturing facilities, said spokesman Victor Dricks. The action was in response to the FBI's general warning, he said, and the commission was "not aware of any specific threats" against any power plant. The advisory suggested the plants fortify perimeter security and, if necessary, call in help from local or state law officers or the local National Guard. At least one Florida plant was doing that Tuesday. At Crystal River, workers installed concrete road barricades at strategic spots inside the sprawling site, which includes one nuclear reactor and four fossil-fuel plants. Citrus County sheriff's deputies were summoned to supplement the plant's full-time security force, said Florida Power spokesman Mac Harris. The 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which delivers 17 percent of the nation's domestic oil production, runs from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez on the Pacific. An employee at the Valdez security office for Alayeska, the company that runs the pipeline, said there has been no companywide alert. Still, the incident in the Midwest apparently contributed to the many pieces of information that triggered the FBI's general alert. A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency's warning was based on messages from known or suspected operatives of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jakarta, Indonesia, Afghanistan and elsewhere during the last week, coupled with a new message Sunday that suggested an attack within the next week. However, the official said the sudden flood of messages could be "deliberate deception of the kind we saw before Sept. 11," when bin Laden associates sent a flurry of messages suggesting a forthcoming attack on U.S. interests in Europe or the Middle East. Those messages held no hint of the U.S. hijackings to come. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge defended the administration's decision to issue the alert, and said it was unavoidably imprecise. "If we had specific information about the type of weapon or a specific location, this would have certainly been shared with the local or state officials," Ridge said. "Unfortunately, we view the information as credible, but not specific." He said it was a "convergence of credible sources that occasioned the alert. More than the usual, is all I can tell you." © 2001 Sun Herald. * ***************************************************************** 34 Reid gets his way on Yucca budget Las Vegas SUN Today: October 31, 2001 at 9:50:01 PST By Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning WASHINGTON -- Every year congressional lawmakers who want to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada engage in a months-long tussle with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the Yucca Mountain budget. Reid, the influential No. 2 Senate Democrat and Appropriations Committee member, proposes a small budget for the nuclear waste project. Pro-Yucca lawmakers argue for a larger one. The annual budget scuffle ended Tuesday with surprisingly little negotiating. Key lawmakers and their staffers did not haggle over the details, did not bicker about what budget cuts would mean to the project and did not swap favors over the Yucca plan, Reid and several aides said. Reid simply proposed a budget he thought other key lawmakers could accept -- $375 million. The amount was a compromise: $100 million more than what Reid proposed in July but $70 million lower than what the Bush administration requested in April. Key lawmakers Tuesday night agreed to it as part of a larger deal -- and that was that, Reid said. "There was not a lot of discussion," Reid said. "I picked a number and they went with it." Yucca Mountain is the proposed site of the world's first high-level nuclear waste repository. The Department of Energy has been studying the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas since 1987 to determine if it is a safe site to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from the nation's 103 active nuclear power plants and government storage areas. About $7 billion has been spent on the 14-year-old Yucca project. It is expected to cost an estimated $58 billion upon completion. It was not immediately clear how the $70 million budget cut would slow the project in the coming fiscal year. The DOE will decide how to proceed with its ongoing Yucca studies depending on how the final budget is worded, DOE Yucca Mountain Project spokesman Allen Benson said. "Sometimes Congress is very specific in what it wants done," Benson said. The DOE is preparing to make a recommendation to President Bush about whether it is safe to bury nuclear waste at Yucca. Scientists are still studying how fast ground water is flowing through the mountain; how much water Yucca's rock contains; whether water inside the mountain will corrode nuclear waste containers; and threats of a volcanic eruption from nearby lava cones. Nevada lawmakers have been trying to kill the Yucca project for years. Earlier this year Reid had slashed the Yucca budget to $275 million. The DOE had requested $445 million; the House approved $443 million. Congress last year gave the DOE a $391 million for Yucca projects. Reid has an important perch as chairman of a panel of House and Senate lawmakers who have been meeting to work out the complicated details of a $24.6 billion appropriations bill that sets a budget for energy and water projects nationwide, including the Yucca project. Controversies arose over use of the Missouri River and giving money to Russia to better protect its nuclear materials from thieving terrorists, but not about Yucca Mountain, Reid said. The House-Senate panel worked out a final agreement on the energy and water bill in a crowded room in the Capitol Tuesday night. The full House and Senate are expected to approve it soon, and President Bush is expected to sign it. If Yucca is approved the DOE would need $1 billion a year to license, design and construct the repository, Lake Barrett, acting director of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said earlier this year. The DOE has asked Congress for more flexibility in spending a national nuclear waste fund, which has about $11 billion in it. Ratepayers nationwide who use nuclear-generated electricity pay taxes into the fund. The DOE has suggested removing annual congressional budget caps on the Yucca project, which would allow the DOE more access to the fund to use money as needed. Nevada's lawmakers oppose that. Nuclear energy officials who support the Yucca plan vowed to continue lobbying for bigger Yucca budgets and for more DOE access to the fund. Yucca budget cuts by Congress continue to be "problematic and contrary to the national interest," John Kane, vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said in a written statement. "While the program is significantly under funded, we believe the Department of Energy can make the adjustments necessary to keep the Yucca Mountain program moving forward," Kane said. "We will continue working with Congress to see that the program is properly funded." The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the state's Yucca watchdog, has been watching the budget process closely this year, Executive Director Bob Loux said. Final agreement on a $375 million budget didn't surprise him. "It's pretty much what I expected," Loux said. "We think Senator Reid did a great job." The state also will receive $2.5 million for technical oversight of DOE's activities at Yucca Mountain and local governments in Nevada will share $6 million for oversight. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 35 Public- and private-use airports impacted by nuclear power plant notam FDC 1/1763 AOPA Online - [Aircraft Owners And Pilots Association] Nuclear Site Code Airport Name City State Browns Ferry DCU PRYOR FIELD RGNL DECATUR AL Palo Verde BXK BUCKEYE MUNI BUCKEYE AZ Livermore National Labs C83 BYRON BYRON CA Livermore / Sandia National Labs LVK LIVERMORE MUNI LIVERMORE CA Livermore National Labs TCY TRACY MUNI TRACY CA Rocky Flats 1V5 BOULDER MUNI BOULDER CO Rocky Flats BJC JEFFCO DENVER CO Rocky Flats 48V TRI-COUNTY ERIE CO Millstone GON GROTON-NEW LONDON GROTON NEW LONDON CT Hope Creek / Salem EVY SUMMIT MIDDLETOWN DE Crystal River CGC CRYSTAL RIVER CRYSTAL RIVER FL Turkey Point HST HOMESTEAD ARB HOMESTEAD FL Quad Cities CWI CLINTON MUNI CLINTON IA Idaho National Lab IDA IDAHO FALLS RGNL IDAHO FALLS ID Dresden I01 EMPRESS RIVER CASINO JOLIET IL Dresden JOT JOLIET REGIONAL JOLIET IL Honeywell / Paducah M30 METROPOLIS MUNI METROPOLIS IL Dresden C09 MORRIS MUNI - JAMES R. WASHBURN FIELD MORRIS IL Byron C55 BARNETT MEMORIAL MOUNT MORRIS IL Wolf Creek Station UKL COFFEY COUNTY BURLINGTON KS Honeywell / Paducah PAH BARKLEY REGIONAL PADUCAH KY River Bend Station HZR FALSE RIVER AIR PARK NEW ROADS LA Waterford 3 1L0 ST JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH RESERVE LA Seabrook 2B2 PLUM ISLAND NEWBURYPORT MA Pilgrim PYM PLYMOUTH MUNI PLYMOUTH MA Calvert Cliffs 2W6 CAPT WALTER FRANCIS DUKE RGNL AT ST MARY'S LEONARDTOWN MD Cook C20 ANDREWS UNIVERSITY AIRPARK BERRIEN SPRINGS MI Fermi W87 WICKENHEISER CARLETON MI Fermi ONZ GROSSE ILE MUNI DETROIT/GROSSE ILE MI Fermi TTF CUSTER MONROE MI Palisades 0D1 SOUTH HAVEN AREA REGIONAL SOUTH HAVEN MI Palisades 40C WATERVLIET MUNI WATERVLIET MI Monticello 8Y6 LEADERS CLEAR LAKE CLEAR LAKE MN Monticello MGG MAPLE LAKE MUNI MAPLE LAKE MN Kansas City 0L8 HEART KANSAS CITY MO Kansas City MKC KANSAS CITY DOWNTOWN KANSAS CITY MO Catawba AKH GASTONIA MUNI GASTONIA NC Harris TTA SANFORD-LEE COUNTY RGNL SANFORD NC Brunswick SUT BRUNSWICK COUNTY SOUTHPORT NC Cooper Station K01 FARINGTON FIELD AUBURN NE Fort Calhoun K46 BLAIR MUNI BLAIR NE Fort Calhoun 3NO NORTH OMAHA OMAHA NE Seabrook 7B3 HAMPTON AIRFIELD HAMPTON NH Oyster Creek MJX ROBERT J. MILLER AIR PARK TOMS RIVER NJ Los Alamos Labs LAM LOS ALAMOS LOS ALAMOS NM Sandia National Labs E98 MID VALLEY AIRPARK LOS LUNAS NM Nevada Test Site TPH TONOPAH TONOPAH NV Millstone 0B8 ELIZABETH FIELD FISHERS ISLAND NY Indian Point H43 HAVERSTRAW HAVERSTRAW NY Indian Point 7N2 PEEKSKILL PEEKSKILL NY Ginna 3G7 WILLIAMSON-SODUS WILLIAMSON/SODUS NY Beaver Valley 02G COLUMBIANA COUNTY EAST LIVERPOOL OH Perry 2G1 CONCORD AIRPARK PAINESVILLE OH Portsmouth EOP PIKE COUNTY WAVERLY OH Beaver Valley BVI BEAVER COUNTY BEAVER FALLS PA Beaver Valley P64 MILLER BURGETTSTOWN PA Limerick N10 PERKIOMEN VALLEY COLLEGEVILLE PA Three Mile Island CXY CAPITAL CITY HARRISBURG PA Three Mile Island MDT HARRISBURG INTERNATIONAL HARRISBURG PA Susquehanna HZL HAZLETON MUNI HAZLETON PA Three Mile Island N71 DONEGAL SPRINGS AIRPARK MOUNT JOY/MARIETTA PA Limerick N47 POTTSTOWN MUNI POTTSTOWN PA Limerick PTW POTTSTOWN LIMERICK POTTSTOWN PA Oconee CEU OCONEE COUNTY REGIONAL CLEMSON SC Robinson HVS HARTSVILLE RGNL HARTSVILLE SC Oconee LQK PICKENS COUNTY PICKENS SC Catawba UZA ROCK HILL/YORK CO/BRYANT FIELD ROCK HILL SC Sequoyah 1A0 DALLAS BAY SKY PARK CHATTANOOGA TN Watts Bar 2A0 MARK ANTON DAYTON TN Pantex AMA AMARILLO INTL AMARILLO TX Bryan Mound CFD COULTER FIELD BRYAN TX Bryan Mound CLL EASTERWOOD FIELD COLLEGE STATION TX Comanche Peak F55 GRANBURY MUNI GRANBURY TX North Anna 7W4 LAKE ANNA BUMPASS VA North Anna LKU LOUISA COUNTY/FREEMAN FIELD LOUISA VA Lynchburg Naval LYH LYNCHBURG REGIONAL/PRESTON GLENN FLD LYNCHBURG VA Lynchburg Naval W24 FALWELL LYNCHBURG VA Surry PHF NEWPORT NEWS/WILLIAMSBURG INTERNATIONAL NEWPORT NEWS VA Surry JGG WILLIAMSBURG-JAMESTOWN WILLIAMSBURG VA Columbia S98 VISTA FIELD KENNEWICK WA Columbia PSC TRI-CITIES PASCO WA Columbia RLD RICHLAND RICHLAND WA Prairie Island Station RGK RED WING RGNL RED WING WI Beaver Valley 7G1 HERRON NEW CUMBERLAND WV ©1995-2001 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association ***************************************************************** 36 FAA forbids flights near nuclear sites Rocky Mountain News: America Under Attack Ban grounds general aviation at 3 metro airports By Kevin Vaughan, Sarah Huntley and Marlys Duran, News Staff Writers Federal officials, reacting Tuesday to a new terrorist threat, banned private pilots from flying within 11.5 miles of nuclear facilities, effectively shutting down three Denver-area airports. Colorado has two of the 86 facilities on the list -- the defunct Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant between Golden and Boulder and the decomissioned Fort St. Vrain Power Plant near Platteville. Federal Aviation Administration officials imposed the flight restrictions for "reasons of national security." The ban on what is known as "general aviation" near the facilities comes as the industry is reeling from the fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. "If it is really going to be a national security issue, we're happy to hunker down and do what we have to do," said Jeff Price, manager of Jefferson County Airport, which counts on general aviation for about 85 percent of its business. Along with Jefferson County, the order closed Boulder Municipal Airport and Tri-County Airport in Erie. The ban also imposes a restriction on flying above the facilities below an altitude of 18,000 feet. Since commercial aircraft fly at a much higher altitude, they were not affected by the order, which is expected to last until 10 p.m. Nov. 6. Although Rocky Flats was closed in 1989, it is home to a stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium, the exact amount of which has not been publicly disclosed. The Fort St. Vrain plant was converted to natural gas in 1989, but it holds a vault of radioactive waste. The ban came a day after Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of a credible threat for more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil or against American interests abroad. It makes exceptions for law enforcement, medical and fire-fighting flights. It also appeared that charter flying may be allowed. "That is not written down, but that's what we're being told by our FAA tower folks," Price said. "We are advising all pilots to make sure they've got permission from the appropriate agencies." In addition to Jefferson County, Boulder Municipal and Tri-County, several small, private-use airports and landing pads also were named in the order. Among them is the Kugel-Strong Airport near Platteville, about 10 miles from Fort St. Vrain. "All it's used for is (crop) spraying operations, and this time of year there's not much of that going on," said Cole Kugel, who built the tiny airstrip in the 1940s. He sold it about six months ago. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said he knew of no specific threat that prompted the grounding. "It's another aspect of our overall security focus," he said. Ashcroft's announcement Monday that the nation was on highest alert "might have been an impetus to help this along," Fergus said. The order stranded several pilots who had landed at Jeffco for refueling, county spokesman John Masson said. Several people who were diverted to Centennial Airport in Arapahoe County rented cars to drive to Jefferson County to get their cars. One pilot told Shanda Peyer at Denver Air, a refueling company at Jeffco, that he was going to drive home to Casper and would return to get his plane later. All three airports fall within 10 nautical miles of Rocky Flats, which was used to manufacture nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War. A nautical mile is 6,076 feet. All of the plutonium at Rocky Flats has been moved to building 371 so that workers can tear down the rest of the complex. At the height of nuclear weapons production during the Cold War, the plant contained an estimated 14 tons of plutonium. But the amount of the highly radioactive material is now far less, since all of the nuclear weapons once stored at Rocky Flats have been shipped to a Texas facility. The building chosen to store the remaining plutonium is considered one of the strongest, with reinforced concrete walls several feet thick. The plutonium is kept in a vault. The stockpile includes both pure plutonium, which can be used for making bombs, and plutonium oxide, which must be processed before it can be used in bombs. Plans for protecting the plutonium are classified. However, "worst-case scenarios" studied at the facility are believed to include a plane crashing into a building. It was the second time since Sept. 11 that the FAA shut down general aviation in the United States. At Jefferson County, the restrictions won't close the airport completely. But they will have a significant impact. Price estimated that 85 percent of the airport's flights will be grounded; that's somewhere between 400 and 450 a day. He said he is concerned about the short-term and long-term effects of the security measures. "We're still doing business, but we're not doing a lot of business," he said. "We've been told this will last at least seven days. Even that seven days will represent a significant economic impact for the airport and the businesses at the airport." Airports like the one in Erie, which depend solely on general aviation, will feel the blow hardest, one pilot said. "Financially, they can't afford to be down like this," said Ron Denight, a pilot who flies out of Tri-County Airport. "We personally don't like it, but at the same time, the consequences of not trying to do something are horrendous." Two flight schools and a glider business were among the operations shut down at Boulder Municipal Airport. "There are several dozen planes hangared here that people don't know they can't fly yet. The phone's been ringing off the hook here," said Sarah Barclay, a co-owner of Flatirons Aviation, one of two fixed-base operators at the airport. "There is no doubt that it will be anything but business as normal," Barclay said. "Our students can't fly. We can't pump fuel. "Unfortunately," she said, "we're getting a little used to this. We just keep our chin up and try to keep going forward." Officials at other airports just outside the affected zones breathed a sigh of relief. "You bet we're glad," said Fred Anderton, manager of the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport, which is 15 miles from Fort St. Vrain. "We barely missed it." News staff writers Berny Morson and John C. Ensslin contributed to this report. October 31, 2001 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 37 Nevada test site may be nation's next bioterrorism training ground By V. Dion Haynes KNIGHT RIDDER October 31st, 2001 MERCURY — On a remote site the size of Rhode Island in a Nevada desert previously used for atomic bomb testing, some federal officials envision constructing mock office buildings, factories, houses and subways—and then blowing some of them up. They want to send into the rubble fire fighters and police officers, who would have to face chemical or biological agents in their struggle to find victims. The urban rescue operation is the centerpiece of a new proposal in Congress to turn the Nevada Test Site into the National Center for Combating Terrorism. About 1,200 recovery workers train at the test site every year. But Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is seeking $60 million in federal money to establish a center where experts could research and develop technology to better detect biological and chemical agents and where thousands more rescuers across the country could train for disasters caused by weapons of mass destruction. Known as the place where atmospheric nuclear explosions sent huge mushroom clouds billowing into the sky during the Cold War, the test site offers trainees a big advantage: It’s a remote prepolluted area and the only place in the country where the emission of radiation and chemical agents for training exercises are allowed. “Like training for a sports game, you play like you practice,” said Nathan Naylor, Reid’s spokesman. “If you don’t have the training, you’re not going to be able to go out on the field and win.” John Spahn, program manager for the Hazmat Spill Center at the facility, said: “After a trainee has been in this environment for a few hours, it’s no longer training—it’s real.” Surrounded by mountains on a 1,370-square-mile area scattered with cactuses and sagebrush, the Nevada Test Site was the scene of nearly 1,000 underground and atmospheric explosions from the 1950s to the ’80s. Vestiges of the past remain: Huge craters from the detonations, large enough to drive a vehicle through, are carved into the ground. Wooden bleachers on which reporters witnessed the blasts five decades ago are rotting in the sun. And some Quonset huts that once housed thousands of employees who worked at the site are used for offices. In 1992, President George Bush signed a moratorium on nuclear testing. Since then, Department of Energy officials, noting that only trace amounts of radiation from the atomic experiments remain, have marketed the site as a place where chemical companies could test hazardous materials, military officials could set off explosives and police and fire departments could hone their rescue skills. Responding to a flood of calls from rescue workers who suddenly felt ill-prepared in the wake of the terrorist attacks and anthrax threats, Reid is urging President Bush to sign an executive order increasing the training center’s budget six-fold. To promote the proposal, federal officials last week led reporters on a rare tour through the test site and demonstrated a training exercise. Using two abandoned five-story aluminum tanks that once served as fueling stations for an experimental nuclear ramjet, training leaders set up a mock terrorist attack on a chemical plant. An explosion caused a release of “hazardous” chemicals at the factory. Police and rescue officials stormed the building, apprehending a suspect and treating victims. For the purposes of the demonstration no chemicals were used. But officials said low levels of hazardous materials are emitted in real training exercises to help trainees adapt to real-life conditions. “When they’re going through the experiment we put them in an environment with psychological and physical stresses. The stress causes the students to really produce,” said Curt Wargo, a former captain in the New York City Police Department and now senior operating specialist for the training program. “Police departments don’t always have training facilities, and those that do are not as realistic as this one where you deal with real contaminants,” he said. “Students always want to deal with the real thing.” Because the proposal for the expanded counterterrorist center is in the conceptual stage, officials at the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration are seeking feedback from police, fire fighters and emergency medical technicians across the country on what they want to see. Officials say that most are interested in training in a World Trade Center scenario, wading through rubble, smoke and hazardous materials. Under federal law, the test site is authorized to emit hazardous materials as part of an effort to improve emergency planning. “We have a permit under the Clean Air Act that allows the facility to release 150 toxic chemicals into the environment. Our own limit is that we don’t release chemicals that have residual effects,” said James Barrett, senior adviser for national security in the National Nuclear Security Administration. “We wouldn’t release (the nerve gas) sarin, but we can release a chemical with the same properties as sarin,” Barrett added. “We’re the only site in the country that the government allows to do this.” Test site officials displayed a range of high-tech instruments that rescuers use to detect radiation and chemical contaminants. No reliable portable equipment is available for anthrax and biological agents, but test site officials say they hope the counterterrorism center would be used by researchers to develop such a device. Moreover, they want researchers to go a step further, developing “smart” buildings that could respond on their own to threats. “Smart compounds could be used to immunize a building and detector systems would allow it to respond to a threat that occurred inside,” Barrett said. “This could involve the release of compounds to counteract the release of chemicals or biological threats in the building.” Under the plan the new center would intensify its curricula and training methods. Rather than enroll individual rescuers, officials said, the idea would be to train police and fire departments collectively as a unit. “Sen. Reid has heard time and time again that police and firefighters are ill-prepared to handle an industrial chemical spill, let alone an intentional chemical or biological attack,” Naylor said. “He wants them to train together because they will have to work hand in hand in a disaster.” © 2001 Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 38 Warnings prompt new security measures at San Onofre - 10/31/01 - NCTimes.net PHIL DIEHL Staff Writer SAN ONOFRE ---- New restrictions were announced Tuesday for aircraft traveling near the nation's 103 nuclear reactors, including the San Onofre nuclear power plant; the edict keeps planes 10 miles away and at altitudes over 18,000 feet. Also Tuesday, a Coast Guard lieutenant said the Coast Guard now prohibits boats of any type within a "security zone" in the ocean within a 1-mile radius of the San Onofre nuclear power plant, which has been on its "highest alert" since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Federal Aviation Administration officials said that effective immediately all general aviation aircraft flights are prohibited within a radius of 10 nautical miles and below 18,000 feet at the nation's 103 commercial nuclear reactors at 86 sites. A nautical mile is slightly farther than a regular mile. The aircraft prohibition is in response to the FBI's security alert issued Monday and will remain in effect until midnight Nov. 6, said FAA administrator Jane F. Garvey. Only emergency medical, rescue, law-enforcement and firefighting aircraft are excepted. The agency issued a more general "notice to airmen" Sept. 27, advising pilots to avoid airspace above or near all power plants, dams and industrial complexes. The security zone took effect Friday, said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Chris Lee. The Coast Guard is enforcing the prohibition by patrolling the area with helicopters, cutters and smaller boats, Lee said. Anybody who wishes to pilot a boat within one mile of the San Onofre plant must request permission from the Coast Guard, Lee said. The nearest Coast Guard station is in San Diego. "In most cases, we would not let someone (enter the area)," he said. "It's not a critical transit area. There's no need for recreational boats in there." A similar no-boating zone has been in effect for weeks in the ocean near California's only other nuclear power plant at Diablo Canyon on the Central Coast, he said. Until this week only occasional kayakers and Jet Skiers entered the water near the San Onofre nuclear plant, said San Onofre spokesman Ray Golden. Sport fishermen often gather at the plant's cooling system outlet, which is 1 1/2 miles offshore, because the currents and warmer water attract fish to the spot, he said. But they are outside the 1-mile security zone. The plant remains on its "highest alert," Golden said. The California Highway Patrol and rangers at nearby San Onofre State Park have increased their patrols along the perimeter of the nuclear plant. "There are officers up there ... within the immediate area," CHP spokesman Rick Sablan said Tuesday. He declined to say exactly where the CHP officers were stationed, but said they were assigned to places where they can quickly contact any driver that stops along Interstate 5 or Highway 101 near the nuclear plant. "We are in a position to decrease our response time," Sablan said. Roads near San Onofre are marked with signs that state "emergency stopping only," he said, adding that the phrase means only "a vehicle breaking down" is allowed on the side of the road there. Elected officials, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Assemblywoman Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel have visited San Onofre in recent weeks to review safety measures there. Issa and Bates said they believed San Onofre's security measures to be sufficient. They said San Onofre probably is safer than most other nuclear plants because it's built to withstand earthquakes and it's on land leased from the Defense Department in a corner of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. Public access to the military base and to the airspace above it was restricted even before Sept. 11. Neither Issa nor Bates said there was any need to assign National Guard troops to San Onofre as governors in three other states have done. Bates said it's unlikely that the state has the jurisdiction to place troops on federal property. Some watchdog groups, including the Los Angeles-based Committee to Bridge the Gap, have called for the government to place anti-aircraft missile batteries near nuclear power plants. "I don't think we see a need for that," Eric Lamoureux, a spokesman for the governor's Office of Emergency Services, said Tuesday. "There isn't a credible threat that would warrant that action." Law enforcement agencies near California's two nuclear power plants have taken sufficient steps to protect them, Lamoureux added. "We're asking the public as well to help us if they see anybody suspicious," he said. Suspicious activity should be reported to local authorities. San Onofre increased its security measures immediately after the East Coast terrorist attacks and has continued those measures since then. Armed guards are stationed at all gates, employee photo identification checks are mandatory, and public access has been limited. The power plant is designed to withstand most accidents, natural disasters and terrorist attacks, but last month's terrorist attacks brought new concerns about any nuclear power plant's ability to survive a hit by a large commercial aircraft. San Onofre and Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesmen initially said nuclear containment structures would withstand any plane crash. However, Chairman Frank Meserve said Sept. 25 that the structures could be vulnerable, and further studies were needed to determine what might happen in such a crash. Last week the National Whistleblower Center released portions of a 1982 report, completed by the Department of Energy for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that said an accidental jetliner's crash into a nuclear containment structure could release large amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Such an accident could kill thousands of people quickly and thousands more from radiation-related illnesses over the years, the report said. San Onofre and federal commission spokesmen said the 1982 report was highly speculative and outdated, and that the chances of such an accident are remote. The concrete-and-steel containment structure is seven-feet thick at its base, more than three-feet thick at the top, and additional barriers protect the reactor's radioactive core. The commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency require the operators of the nuclear power plant to prepare for the possibility of terrorist attacks and to rehearse a possible response. The most recent anti-terrorist drill at San Onofre was a year ago, Golden said. Southern California Edison Co. operates San Onofre and owns 75 percent of it. San Diego Gas &Electric Co. owns 20 percent, and the cities of Riverside and Anaheim own small percentages. Contact staff writer Phil Diehl at (760) 901-4087 or pdiehl@nctimes.com. ***************************************************************** 39 Out of thin air: John Vidal asks the renewable energy industries how they would spend the money currently used to finance nuclear power, while Paul Brown , right, argues that the government's energy policy is deeply flawed The Guardian - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Some time in the next few months the government will decide whether to allow the next generation of nuclear power in Britain. It will be contentious, especially with new security considerations, but the industry has said it wants six new power stations which they would hope to build on existing sites. At a very conservative estimate, on today's prices, a new generation of six 600MW nuclear stations generating 3,600MW of electricity a year would cost about pounds 6bn. But could Britain do without nuclear power, and if so what would be the political and social costs and benefits? We asked Britain's renewable and energy-efficient industries what they could do for the same money, and to consider the wider implications of being charged with taking up the near 20% of power that Britain now gets from nuclear energy, as well as the expected growth in demand. We offered wind, solar and combined heat and power a nominal pounds 1bn each, spread over 10 years, and we then further "invested" pounds 500m into wave power and fuel cells - two power generation sources expected to have a major impact in the future. On top of that we offered pounds 500m towards energy saving. This compares with the government's commitment to "stimulate the market in renewables" to over pounds 1bn a year, but only to spend pounds 250m on development of renewables over the next three years. The wind industry, though in line for pounds 39m in offshore wind development grants, said that they did not need money to expand massively to take the place of nuclear. "The market, the technology and the understanding of the environmental benefits are there already," says Nick Goodall, chief executive of the British Wind Energy association which represents more than 160 companies now generating wind on shore and off. "Wind energy is already the cheapest fuel in Britain. All we would need to expand is for local planning decisions to reflect national policy, and a removal of the government-imposed artificially high cost of wind power." Goodall says that major companies are now drawing up plans for 500MW wind farms, (almost as large as the expected new nuclear plants) and that 117 new on- and off-shore farms will be built in the next year. "Oil and gas companies are starting to diversify. We've never had so much interest," he says. But he would like to see the national grid strengthened and better access given to it for smaller companies whose wind farms are in remote places. This, he says, might cost pounds 100m. He sees no reason why wind could not provide up to 20% of all Britain's energy needs within 10 years. Wind power today is where solar would like to be in 10 years' time. Jeremy Leggett of Solar Century, Britain's largest "solar solutions" company, says pounds 1bn invested in photo-voltaic (PV) electricity would kickstart the British industry, build a manufacturing base which would have infinite export potential, and could, within 10 years, provide 1,000MW of electricity for the same price as nuclear today. Right now, with only pounds 16m development money from the government, Leggett foresees only 10MW of solar power in Britain in four years' time. Yet two of the largest companies in the world, Shell and BP, are both investing heavily in solar, though not in Britain. "They say the government needs to move from sending signals to stimulating real demand," says Leggett. "They think a 30MW per year market, or 15,000 roofs per year, would be needed before manufacturing could be justified in the UK. "Solar is job-rich," he says. "Every manufacturing job is estimated to lead to five jobs downstream." Rather than retro-fit roofs, he would like to see the 2.5m new homes and tens of thousands of new business premises expected to be built in the next 10 years equipped with solar power. "The average home takes about 2MW, so this investment could easily provide for 500,000 homes," he says. Combined heat and power (CHP), an old energy-efficient technology which converts mainly gas directly into electricity to heat and power groups of buildings, is forecast by the government to expand considerably over the next decade."If pounds 1bn was invested in the industry it would have a dramatic effect on British energy supply and could take its share to 30% of all electricity generation," says David Green, chief executive of the CHP association. Last week the government announced a scheme to install 6,000 micro-CHP plants in poor households. British Gas suggests that 1m to 3m households could be using micro-CHP within 10 years. There would be massive energy savings, with social benefits, and new factories could be built on old nuclear sites. But there are other nascent technologies that are widely predicted to play a major part in moving the world from a dependence on oil, nuclear eneregy and coal to a truly sustainable electricity generating industry over the next 50 years. Wave power has perhaps the greatest global potential of all. In the UK alone it is estimated that the recoverable energy resource exceeds all electricity demand. "A pounds 500m investment over some years would put us into a different sphere because we could build larger generators, and greatly cut down on costs. We could produce about 750MW of power for pounds 500m," says David Langston of Wavegen in Inverness. The other nascent industry with the potential to change the way we live is fuel cells. Several thousand companies are working on the technology which potentially could power everything from mobile phones to cars and homes. It is run on hydrogen, with next to no pollutants, no carbon monoxide, and is as cheap as electricity today. Efficient energy saving could be the easiest way to avoid building nuclear plants. Eoin Lees, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, says Britain could save 12.5% of the power it uses in its homes by 2010 at no extra cost (in fact, with a paper profit of pounds 150 for every ton of carbon saved). Simple measures like ensuring energy companies waste less, stimulating community environment projects, tackling fuel poverty in homes, and tightening the screw on domestic appliance makers would all make a difference. The back of the envelope balance sheet therefore runs as follows: money offered to renewables: pounds 4.5bn. Money accepted: pounds 3.1bn. Total MW generated: at least 5,000MW. Between them, the industries consulted believed that they could also employ the numbers - and more -who would be made redundant from Britain's nuclear plants. To put it in perspective, said one renewable industry leader, the pounds 4.5bn it would cost Britain to truly embrace sustainable energy is "less than two months' spending on education and the equivalent of about 600 cruise missiles". The cheapest fuel in Britain: a wind farm near Truro in Cornwall ***************************************************************** 40 Six sought in possible threat to nuclear plant Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON -- As the nation again stands on high alert, the FBI is searching for six men stopped by police in the Midwest last weekend but released -- even though they possessed photographs and descriptions of a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline, a senior law enforcement official said Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration imposed new flight restrictions around nuclear plants nationwide Tuesday, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission advised the nation's 103 nuclear plants late Monday to fortify security. The FAA temporarily banned all flights near New York's Yankee Stadium, where President Bush stood before a huge crowd at a World Series game Tuesday night and tossed the ceremonial first pitch. "It helps to keep the fabric of our country strong," said spokesman Ari Fleischer. Meanwhile, an administration official said the urgent terrorism alert sounded Monday evening by Attorney General John Ashcroft was based largely on a message transmitted Sunday night by an Osama bin Laden supporter in Canada to Afghanistan. That message referred to a major event that was going to take place "down south" this week, the official said. Knight Ridder reported Monday that American officials feared that members of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network had been unleashed to launch attacks without specific permission from their superiors. On Tuesday, agency spokesmen said the FAA's flight restrictions and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's security recommendations were based on Ashcroft's general alert rather than a specific threat. Ashcroft warned that Americans at home or abroad could be struck by another terrorist attack this week. The incident in the Midwest apparently contributed to the new terror warning. The six men stopped by police were traveling in groups of three in two white sedans, said the senior law enforcement official, who asked that his name not be used. In addition to the photographs and other suspicious material, they carried "box-cutters and other equipment," the official said. They appeared to be from the Middle East and held Israeli passports. They were let go after the Immigration and Naturalization Service determined the passports were valid and that the men had entered the United States legally, the official said. A spokesman for the INS called the report unfounded. "We have absolutely no information at this point in time to substantiate that story," said INS spokesman Russ Bergeron. It could not be learned in what state the six men were stopped or how they aroused suspicion. It was not known if their true identities matched those on the passports, or why the FBI was not releasing their names or descriptions. Investigators think the men almost certainly have changed cars by now and have fled to Canada or elsewhere. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were "furious" that the INS allowed the men to be released without holding them at least until the FBI could be consulted, the official said. Ashcroft and Mueller appeared Monday evening at a hastily called news conference to announce that the government had "credible" but vague information that another wave of terrorist attacks could strike Americans within a week. Shortly after the announcement, Vice President Dick Cheney moved once again to an undisclosed, secure location and remained there Tuesday. There are three nuclear power plants in Florida: Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point plant, south of Miami, and St. Lucie plant, near Fort Pierce; and Florida Power Corp.'s Crystal River plant, about 85 miles north of St. Petersburg. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a new threat advisory Monday night to all nuclear power plants, other electrical plants, a dozen decommissioned reactors, and three nuclear fuel-manufacturing plants, said spokesman Victor Dricks. The action was in response to the FBI's general warning, he said, and the commission was "not aware of any specific threats" against any power plant. The advisory suggested the plants fortify perimeter security and, if necessary, call in help from local or state law officers or the local National Guard. At least one Florida plant was doing that Tuesday. At Crystal River, workers installed concrete road barricades at strategic spots inside the sprawling site, which includes one nuclear reactor and four fossil-fuel plants. Citrus County sheriff's deputies were summoned to supplement the plant's full-time security force, said Florida Power spokesman Mac Harris. Also Tuesday, the FAA restricted all flights below 18,000 feet and within 10 miles of 86 "sensitive nuclear sites" until Nov. 6, the agency said. Exceptions can be made for law enforcement, medical, and firefighting flights. The 800-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which delivers 17 percent of the nation's domestic oil production, runs from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez on the Pacific. Tim Wolston, a spokesman for Alayeska, the company that runs the pipeline, said it had not received any information about the Midwest incident but that it has enhanced security in recent weeks. Still, the incident apparently contributed to the many pieces of information that triggered the FBI's general alert. A senior administration official, who asked that his name not be used, said the agency's warning was based on messages from known or suspected operatives of Bin Laden in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Afghanistan; and elsewhere during the last week, coupled with a new message Sunday that suggested an attack within the next week. However, the official said the sudden flood of messages could be "deliberate deception of the kind we saw before Sept. 11," when Bin Laden associates sent a flurry of messages suggesting a forthcoming attack on U.S. interests in Europe or the Middle East. Those messages held no hint of the U.S. hijackings to come. Bin Laden is suspected of orchestrating the attacks on the four jetliners, the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon that killed about 5,000 people. On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers criticized the White House warning, questioning whether it could do more to alarm than protect an already anxious public. "Whenever general warnings are given, the people we represent don't know what to do, and we don't know how to advise them," Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said after a noontime meeting with Tom Ridge, the White House's homeland security director. "You wonder what these warnings achieve, other than to create more fear." "We all know that there could be another terrorist threat, and we know it could be imminent," Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, D-N.J. Others said the president was doing the best he could under the circumstances. "I give him the benefit of the doubt," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Ridge defended the administration's decision to issue the alert and said it was unavoidably imprecise. "If we had specific information about the type of weapon or a specific location, this would have certainly been shared with the local or state officials," Ridge said. "Unfortunately, we view the information as credible, but not specific." He said it was a "convergence of credible sources that occasioned the alert. More than the usual, is all I can tell you." Copyright © 2001 North Jersey Media Group Inc. ***************************************************************** 41 Feds Explain Terror Alert CBS News | | Wed, 31 Oct 2001 11:15:06 EST Law enforcement and investigative agencies worldwide will work together to unravel who is behind the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Find out how they will do it. The United States and its allies have embarked on a campaign to rid the world of terrorists and to put a stranglehold on the nations that harbor them. Follow Americas war against terrorism and its international network. "It's fair to say that until the war on terrorism is brought to a successful conclusion...this is going to be the case in our country." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer The government said a threat from Osama bin Laden is the reason for the latest terror alert. Feds Explain Terror Alert + It's Based On Intelligence Linked To Osama Bin Laden + FBI Says Previous Terror Alert Might Have Prevented An Attack + Release Of Six Detainees Contributed To Alert WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2001 (CBS) The FBI issued its latest nationwide terrorist alert following "the convergence of information from credible sources," Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Tuesday, material deemed related to Osama bin Laden or his al-Qaida network. At a White House news conference, Ridge said Americans should be on alert at the same time they continue to go about their normal lives. "America has to continue to be America," he said. Ridge spoke as officials disclosed that Vice President Dick Cheney had been taken to an undisclosed secure location Monday night and remained there Tuesday in order to safeguard the continuity of government in the event of an attack on President Bush. With the vice president in a secure location, Mr. Bush took in the national pastime, heading to New York's Yankee Stadium Tuesday evening to throw out the first pitch in Game 3 of the World Series. Contributing to the warning was a report that Federal agents have been searching for six men who were detained in the U.S. Midwest but later released even though they were carrying material about a nuclear power plant in Florida and an Alaskan pipeline, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday. FBI director Robert Mueller was said to be "furious" at the release, the paper said citing an unidentified senior law enforcement official. FBI and INS officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. Police stopped the six men traveling in two cars in an unidentified state over the weekend, the paper said. They were carrying photographs and information on a nuclear power plant in Florida and the Trans-Alaska pipeline. They also carried box-cutters and other "suspicious equipment," it said. The suspects appeared to be from the Middle East and carried Israeli passports, according to the Herald. The Immigration and Naturalization Service decided the passports were valid and they had entered the United States legally and it released the suspects without consulting the FBI, it said. Florida has three nuclear power plants -- at Turkey Point, south of Miami, St. Lucie, and the Crystal River plant north of St. Petersburg. On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed new restrictions on private planes, because of the terror alert. The private aircraft have been banned, at least temporarily, from flying near nuclear power plants. That distresses Warren Morningstar, a spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, who says the ban will force some small airports to close down. "A small, general aviation aircraft is not a significant risk to a nuclear facility," objected Morningstar. "On the other hand, we also have to accept that there are serious national security threats and we will do our best to protect the nation and keep people safe." The FAA also adopted another new security-minded policy Tuesday, with a rule in which airlines are encouraged to report safety problems but are promised that any data they provide won't be used to charge the airlines with violating federal rules. Attorney General John Ashcroft has said that the FBI's terror alert was issued following receipt of intelligence that terrorists may attack U.S. interests. Officials said members of bin Laden's network could be plotting attacks in retaliation for the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan. "The administration has concluded based on information developed that there may be additional terrorist attacks within the United States and against United States interests over the next week," Ashcroft said. He said that while the information was not specific, the FBI was issuing the alert to the American people because "they can make good judgments and can understand this kind of information." This warning, like the one issued earlier this month, is based on assessments made by the CIA and National Security Agency and is founded on information gathered by foreign intelligence agencies as well as communications intercepts and tips picked up by U.S operatives. What is slightly different from the Oct. 11 threat warning is that this one is specific for this week, but that is about all that is specific about it, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart. The attorney general asked citizens to be patient if they encounter additional security measures and to note any suspicious activities. At his news conference, Ridge provided little by way of elaboration. The announcement was made because the "decibel level was louder" in routine intelligence information, suggesting an attack. "It was just the convergence of credible sources that occasioned the alert, more than usual, he said. Asked about the quality of the information, he replied, "Credibility we leave to the experts but I think you can fairly assume that the experts view this tied in, this information somehow related to al-Qaida or bin Laden." Like Ridge, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer sought to prepare the public for a new lifestyle in a terrorist age. "This is what has been called the new normalcy," he said. "It's fair to say that until the war on terrorism is brought to a successful conclusion, ... this is going to be the case in our country." As on Oct. 11, when the FBI issued a similar warning, Ashcroft tried to walk a fine line between giving the public prompt and necessary warnings and not causing panic. The alert "gives people a basis for continuing to live their lives the way they would otherwise live them, with this elevated sense of alertness or vigilance," Ashcroft told a news conference. FBI Director Robert Mueller said the Oct. 11 warning may have helped avert an attack. Ashcroft said the absence of an attack should not lull people "into a false sense of indifference." "It's important for the American people to understand that these (alerts) are to be taken seriously," said Ashcroft, who canceled plans to travel Monday to Toronto to address a conference of police chiefs. Officials said the warning was based in part on intelligence that bin Laden's al-Qaida network may be agitating to strike again in the aftermath of the Afghan bombings by U.S. and British forces. Ashcroft said 18,000 law enforcement agencies were advised to go on the highest alert. Federal agencies, meanwhile, were increasing security and immigration authorities were boosting their efforts to keep suspected terrorists from coming onto U.S. soil. Authorities have arrested or detained over 1,000 people in connection with the terrorism investigation, including 180 detained for immigration violations. The alert came as investigators continued to search for the source of the anthrax that has killed three people and infected dozens of others on the East Coast. So far scientists have not matched the anthrax mailed from New Jersey with any samples of anthrax available in the United States, a source speaking on condition of anonymity said. Investigators suspect that a single person, perhaps a deranged U.S. resident with a biochemistry background, may be behind the attacks. Officials have ruled out the presence of the additive bentonite, which could make the spores spread more easily through the air. The absence of bentonite suggests Iraq was not the source of the bacteria, said Greg Poland, a professor at Mayo Clinic who advised the U.S. military on biological threats. Iraq used aluminum, a key ingredient in bentonite, to make anthrax more lethal, he said. But the anthrax found in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle included silica, a crystal commonly used as a drying agent to control clumping in pharmaceuticals. Experts said the presence of silica suggests that whoever sent the anthrax wanted it to float in the air so people would inhale it. The new warning came as jumpy Americans prepared to celebrate Halloween. Stories circulating on the Internet warned about possible attacks on the children's holiday. Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said authorities had received no specific information about a Halloween attack. The alert follows the enactment Friday of a new anti-terrorism law that provides prosecutors with intelligence files on suspected terrorists and gives them greater surveillance powers. Tucker said the Justice Department received information about the possibility of an attack on Monday, but she wouldn't comment on whether that information was gleaned from intelligence files or wiretaps pointed to new attacks. ©MMI CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report. ©MMI, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARTICLES ***************************************************************** 1 BUSH HAWKS WANT TO USE MINI-NUKES IN AFGHANISTAN Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 04:12:17 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal ONGOING THREAT OF NUCLEAR WINTER IS THE BEST ARGUMENT FOR NUCLEAR ABOLITION: http://www.mothersalert.org/nuclearwinter.html MOTHERSALERT HOME PAGE: http://www.mothersalert.org & http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html USA SPACE COMMAND & "Vision 2020," THE US PLAN TO DOMINATE EARTH FROM SPACE: http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace From Kevin Hall: http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/26/news2.shtm l Trigger Happy Bush administration hawks want to deploy "mini-nukes" against Osama bin Laden. by Jeffrey St. Clair How should the Pentagon get Osama bin Laden? With a discreetly placed nuke, says Rep. Steven Buyer, the right-wing congressman from northern Indiana. "Don't send special forces in there to sweep," Buyer told an Indianapolis TV station. "We'd be very naive to believe that biotoxins and chemical agents were not in these caves. Put a tactical nuclear device in and close these caves for a thousand years." Buyer doesn't just want to kill bin Laden and his Taliban cohort. He wants to send a message to the world that America is now willing to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield. "I just want the [Bush] administration to know that I think the United States needs to send a message to the world that we are prepared to do that," he says. During his campaigns, Buyer has relentlessly pushed his service as a Gulf War vet. He touts himself as an expert on "asymmetrical warfare," Pentagon-speak for attacks waged on U.S. targets by terrorists using unconventional weapons. Buyer wants to smoke them out with radioactive weapons. Admittedly, Buyer is one of the kookier members of Congress. But he is far from a lone voice. A day after the World Trade Center attacks, Sen. Robert Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat, vowed that the United States would "unleash hell upon them." And Buyer's view was echoed by Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, in a radio interview on October 21. "I would never rule out tactical nuclear weapons if I thought they could do the job, and if they were needed," King told WABC. "If the military people said we think certain chemical weapons are going to be used, we know where they are, and the only way we can stop their use is by using tactical nuclear weapons." Among the wizards of Armageddon, there is an almost palpable desire to see nuclear weapons put to use on the battlefield. The frail doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction has been jettisoned with the wreckage of the Soviet Union, and in its place nuclear war planners are pushing a more robust and offensive role for the U.S. nuclear stockpile. Two weeks after September 11, the Japan Times reported that Pentagon war planners had presented Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush with a scenario for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. The Tokyo newspaper quoted a Pentagon source, who said that Bush had rejected the option, fearing almost certain global backlash. However, Rumsfeld was more circumspect when he was asked directly on ABC's This Week whether the United States was considering the use of nuclear weapons against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "We ought to be very proud of the record of humanity, that we have not used those weapons for 55 years," he told Sam Donaldson. "And we have to find as many ways as possible to deal with this serious problem of terrorism." But Rumsfeld's cagey response was actually a significant statement that may signal a chilling shift in U.S. policy. Since the mid-'70s, the official U.S. line has been that it will not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear nations. Rumsfeld's deputy, the hyper-hawkish Paul Wolfowitz, has warned the Taliban that the United States will "use a very large hammer." In case the Taliban had trouble reading between the lines, Thomas Woodrow, a Wolfowitz pal and veteran of the Defense Intelligence Agency, made the point clear in a column for the Washington Times. "At a bare minimum, tactical nuclear capabilities should be used against the bin Laden camps in the desert of Afghanistan," Woodrow wrote. "To do less would be rightly seen by the poisoned minds that orchestrated these attacks as cowardice on the part of the United States and the current administration." The bomb of choice seems to be low-yield nuclear weapons, the so-called bunker-buster nukes that could be used as a kind of radioactive assassination weapon, designed to knock out the leadership of hostile regimes. In this twisted logic, proponents are pushing the bomb as a humanitarian device that could save civilian lives. "We've seen examples as recently as the air war with Serbia, when we attacked underground targets with conventional weapons with very little effect," said Paul Robinson, director of the Sandia National Laboratory, in a September interview with the National Journal. "It just takes far too many aircraft sorties and conventional weapons to give you any confidence that you can take out underground bunkers. By putting a nuclear warhead on one of those weapons instead of high explosives, you would multiply the explosive power by a factor of more than a million." There's another reason the nuclear hawks are pushing the idea of shifting the U.S. nuclear arsenal toward the low-yield nukes: They can develop new weapons without (in their minds, at least) violating the non-proliferation treaty. "We would neither have to conduct testing nor redesign for such a weapon, because we have them already," Robinson said. "We could develop these lower-yield weapons without forcing the nuclear testing issue back onto the table, with a richer database of past tests, and at relatively low cost." It seems very unlikely that the United States would use nuclear weapons against the Taliban. However, the nuclear hawks and their allies in the bomb-making industries seem to have succeeded in exploiting the war in an effort to breathe life (and billions of dollars) a new generation of nuclear weaponry. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ ***************************************************************** 2 Bin-Ladin has no nuclear weapon, Russian general says BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 30, 2001 Text of report by Tajik news agency Asia-Plus Dushanbe, 30 October, Varorud: [Usamah] Bin-Ladin has neither nuclear weapons nor component parts for warheads, the head of the 12th main department of the Russian Defence Ministry, Col-Gen Igor Volynkin, said. He is convinced that the American intelligence information that the Taleban have some Soviet-made nuclear warheads is incorrect. According to Volynkin, if terrorist had a nuclear bomb they would behave differently, furthermore, warheads in the [former] USSR could not disappear. Source: Asia-Plus news agency, Dushanbe, in Russian 0608 gmt 30 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material ***************************************************************** 3 Reid grabs another $10 million for Test Site By Doug Abrahms Reno Gazette-Journal October 31st, 2001 WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has secured another $143 million in an energy and water appropriations bill for Nevada projects, including several at the University of Nevada, Reno. The bill is expected to pass Congress this week. The money for Nevada in the energy and water bill includes: •$2.5 million to move a petawatt-laser program to the University of Nevada at Reno from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. •$5 million for research money for the UNR and University of Nevada at Las Vegas for nuclear weapon research programs. •$2.5 million for a South Lake Tahoe environmental restoration project, $2 million for the Newlands Project Water Right Fund, and $500,000 for Truckee Meadows preconstruction activities for flood control. •$8.5 million to provide oversight of Yucca Mountain activities by state and local governments. © 2001 Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 4 Airstrikes on Afghanistan condemned - DAWN - National; Bureau Report PESHAWAR, Oct 31: The continuation of US ground and air offensive against Afghanistan and the US declared intention to remain there for a long time to come is not only ominous for the innocent people of Afghanistan but also a matter of grave concern for Pakistan, said Barrister Baachaa in a statement issued here on Wednesday. He said when Pakistan conducted successful N-tests in retaliation for the Indian tests, the US and Israel had started a propaganda, terming it an Islamic bomb and vowing to destroy it in its infancy. In this context, Barrister Baachaa asked now that on the pretext of fighting terrorism the Americans had entered Afghanistan and they were so close to the Islamic bomb, would they miss the opportunity to target Pakistan's nuclear installations? He added that the arrival in India of Israel elite military intelligence men simultaneously with the American airstrikes against Afghanistan was an indicator that there was more to it than met they eye. He explained that Israel had more to fear from Pakistan than any other Muslim country because Zionists and Americans were aware that at the slightest sign of excesses committed against any Muslim country the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan were prepared to offer any sacrifice. © The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2001 ***************************************************************** 5 Russian official accuses EU of raising unfair barriers for commodities BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 31 October: The European Union is applying unjustified and sometimes discriminatory anti-dumping measures against Russian commodities, including nuclear-cycle articles, Russian First Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Trade Mikhail Dmitriyev told the Russian-Austrian Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation in Moscow on Wednesday [31 October]. "Russia still has serious problems with the European Union, which hampers dynamic development in Russia's relations with the European Union," Dmitriyev said. "So far, the European Union has not recognized Russia as a country with a market economy," he said. Moreover, Russia has disagreements with the Council of Europe over its admission to the World Trade Organization, he said. He said that the WTO member-states are demanding more from Russia than from countries that joined the organization earlier. The main requirement is, he said, that Russia must bring its laws into compliance with WTO regulations before it joins the organization, and not at the moment of joining it. This is seriously complicating talks on Russia's admission to the organization, Dmitriyev said. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1123 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 6 Indian/Pakistan: Nuclear capabilities KnoxNews: Sci/tech INDIA India's nuclear complex contains large civilian and military including 16 reactors. Highly enriched uranium and/or plutonium from at least one of those reactors has been used in nuclear warheads possibly up to 100. India also can launch satellites and likely can launch small nuclear weapons atop its missiles. Its most powerful missile could penetrate deeply into Central and Southeastern Asia, including most of China. Nuclear potential - Reactors operating: 14 - Reactors under construction: 2 Current missile range - Prithvi (93 miles) Potential missile range - Prithvi (155 miles); Agri (1,243 miles) . PAKISTAN Pakistan's small nuclear complex consists of two atomic reactors, which presumably provided material for its arsenal of 35 or more bombs. The nation also has F-16 jets that can be fitted for nuclear weapons. Pakistan is testing missiles; to date its nuclear weapons are probably too heavy for missiles. Its most powerful missile can purportedly travel more than 1,200 miles. z Nuclear potential - Reactors operating: 2 - Reactors under construction: 0 Current missile range - Hatf I (50 miles); Hatf III (186 miles); Ghauri (808 miles) Potential missile range - Shaheen I (466 miles); Shaheen II (1,243 miles) (Ranges claimed by Pakistan) (Sources: International Nuclear Safety Center, U.S. Department of Defense) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.) October 30, 2001 ***************************************************************** 7 Paris report slams state of human rights in French Polynesia BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report by Radio New Zealand International on 31 October A human rights report on French Polynesia says the territory is marked by outrageous social inequality and a democracy at risk. The report was published in Paris by the International Federation for Human Rights after consulting political, church and union leaders including the territorial president, Gaston Flosse. Don Wiseman has more. [Wiseman] It says the territory is affected by cronyism and corruption, with the local government trying to perpetuate its power by using the state's means for its own political ends. The report says the Polynesian people's rights to cultural identity were violated by the constitutional position accorded to the French language. It criticizes the judiciary for its lack of access and for being biased, with its slowness to deal with cases involving President Flosse. It also says French Polynesia fails to adhere to international conventions, citing poor labour protection, for example for divers in the pearl industry. The report also calls for access to archives that keep medical records on those involved in and affected by the French nuclear weapons tests. It concludes that France is falling short of meeting its responsibilities in the field of justice and public liberties. Source: Radio New Zealand International, Wellington, in English 0800 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 8 Japan to press Pak to sign nuclear test ban treaty Expressindia.com PTI/AP Tokyo, October 31: Japan will press Pakistan to sign the nuclear test ban treaty, warning it could impose economic sanctions again, a senior ruling party official said today. "Regarding ratification of CTBT (the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty), our stance has not changed," Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Taku Yamasaki told a news conference ahead of a visit to Pakistan. "We will strongly ask" Pakistan to ratify the treaty, said Yamasaki, the LDP's number two after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Yamasaki and senior members of the three-party ruling coalition will fly to Pakistan on Friday for a three-day visit to hold talks with President Pervez Musharraf and other top government officials. Japan has been urging Pakistan and India to ratify the treaty after they both conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998, prompting economic sanctions from several countries including Japan. Last Friday, Japan said it was removing the sanctions against India and Pakistan in light of their contributions to the US-led war on terrorism. But Yamasaki warned that Japan could reimpose sanctions if Pakistan did not now comply with the CTBT. "There is concern about its possession of materials related to nuclear arms," he said. "We will fully seek" to remove the concern during the visit. Japan has said it will reschedule 550 million dollars of Pakistan's debt in recognition of Musharraf's support for the international war on terrorism. © 2001: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All rights ***************************************************************** 9 SRS adds checkpoints, barriers [charlotte.com] Published Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Anti-terrorist Security tightened SRS adds checkpoints, barriers Hodges fights on to keep plutonium out until assured it won't stay Associated Press AIKEN -- More checkpoints, guards and concrete barriers have been added at Savannah River Site to tighten security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The former nuclear weapons site near Aiken also has created vehicle-free zones around buildings, said Kevin Hall, Department of Energy security director at SRS. The facility has spent about $10million on the upgrades but is expected to recoup about half that through an emergency spending request being considered by President Bush, said DOE spokesman Bill Taylor. While new security measures are rolling in at SRS, Gov. Jim Hodges is stepping up his fight to keep plutonium shipments out of the facility until he receives assurance from federal officials that the nuclear material won't stay in South Carolina permanently. In a letter Friday to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the governor protested ongoing work in Colorado to prepare plutonium for shipment. Hodges says the preparations indicate the federal government is not serious about maintaining an agreement to suspend shipments to SRS until it can resolve its differences with South Carolina. "Preparations to ship plutonium suggests Undersecretary (Robert) Card and other members of your staff are not acting in good faith on their promise to South Carolina," Hodges wrote. DOE spokesman Joe Davis said last week the agency still intends to honor its "gentleman's agreement" with South Carolina. ***************************************************************** 10 Used nuclear fuel discharged from 12 Russian submarines this year BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian AVN Military News Agency web site Moscow, 31 October: During the 10 months of the current year Russian Atomic Energy Ministry experts discharged used nuclear fuel from 12 Russian navy submarines that are to be scrapped, Deputy Atomic Energy Minister Valeriy Lebedev told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday [31 October]. Lebedev said that in the years to follow nuclear fuel would be discharged from approximately 90 submarines of the Russian navy that are to be scrapped. Twenty of the submarines are based at the Pacific Fleet and ninety at the Northern Fleet. Lebedev also stressed that financing of the scrapping programme began early last year, with R1bn (33.66m dollars) having been allocated in 2000. Part of the sum was spent on equipment repairs and additional works necessary for speeding up fuel discharging and maintaining better safety standards. Nuclear fuel was discharged from 17 nuclear submarines in 2000. A total of R1.2bn (40.38m dollars) has been allocated for the programme this year. Nuclear fuel is to be discharged from 18 or 19 strategic submarines before the end of the current year. Lebedev said Russia had refused US assistance in the scrapping programme, for Americans demanded access to every cycle of fuel discharging process, with some of its elements being state secret. The term of the programme will be reduced from 15-20 years to 7-10 years provided the scrapping is funded the way it is financed now. Experts believe 35 submarines will have been cleared of nuclear fuel by 2005-2006. Source: AVN Military News Agency web site, Moscow, in English 1002 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All ***************************************************************** 11 Pakistani Nuke Scientist in Hospital Las Vegas SUN Today: October 31, 2001 at 3:45:23 PST ISLAMABAD, Pakistan- A Pakistani nuclear scientist detained for questioning last week about his links with Afghanistan's Taliban has been hospitalized after complaining of chest pain during interrogations, his family said Wednesday. Sultan Bashir-ud-Din Mehmood was admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology on Tuesday, according to his son, Asim Mehmood, who is a doctor. Government officials confirmed the scientist was being treated. Mehmood, who was first detained last week, was briefly released and taken into custody again this week. Six of his colleagues, including one other scientist, remained in custody Wednesday, government sources said. U.S. intelligence officials have also interrogated Mehmood and his friends, according to a source at Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. The source spoke on condition of anonymity All those detained are members of a non-governmental organization, run by Mehmood, that works on development projects to help rehabilitate Afghanistan and stimulate its economy. The organization had operated inside Afghanistan with the backing of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Mehmood, one of Pakistan's top nuclear scientists, played a crucial role in helping the nation become a nuclear power in the 1990s. The international community is particularly concerned about Pakistan's nuclear weapons in recent weeks, given recent militant unrest related to the government's support of U.S. attacks on Afghanistan. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly insisted that the country's nuclear arsenal is safe. Officials also have said they do not suspect Mehmood of leaking any nuclear information to the Taliban. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 12 Cleanup funding increased Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:16 a.m. on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff About $60 million has been added to the fiscal year 2002 budget to clean up Oak Ridge's Department of Energy facilities. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District, said this morning that a House and Senate conference committee met Tuesday evening to finalize funding levels. Wamp said the energy and water appropriations bill, which includes the cleanup funding, looks good. "It's the final step in the process," Wamp said. "It now comes to the House and Senate unamendable," he said of the bill. Wamp couldn't provide a specific breakdown of dollar figures for each cleanup project. He said it could be three or four days before those numbers are available. Things haven't been looking too bright over the last couple of months for DOE's environmental management efforts. While DOE has been tight-lipped on the budget, several community members have expressed outrage that the environmental management budget could be reduced by as much as $90 million in FY 2002 when compared to the current fiscal year. That's a drop from $423.7 million to $332.457 million. However, Wamp said the $60 million should keep work on track. "It's so much of what they needed Š they can continue all the missions," he said. "They can continue all the programs." Officials with DOE's environmental management program were not available for comment this morning. Dennis Hill, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental manager, said the company could not comment this morning on the increased funding. He said Bechtel Jacobs had not seen the final numbers and that the company did not know how projects would be impacted. Additionally, for FY 2002, Wamp said the Spallation Neutron Source will be fully funded at $291 million for FY 2002, $11.405 million has been allotted for the construction of a new Mouse House and an additional $40 million, if not more, should be going to the Y-12 National Security Complex. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 13 Report: Environmental impacts minimal to Y-12 Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:28 a.m. on Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Report: Environmental impacts minimal Plans to modernize Y-12 are analyzed by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Plans for modernizing the Y-12 National Security Complex have cleared one of the last hurdles with the release of a final environmental impact statement emphasizing the need for the updated facilities. Gary Hartman, the document's manager, said Tuesday that the Department of Energy expects to publish a notice that the document is available in Friday's edition of the Federal Register, which means a record of decision can be issued around 30 days afterward. The document evaluates the environmental impact associated with operations at the nuclear weapons facility as well as the construction and operation of the following facilities: * Highly enriched uranium facility --It will serve as a storage area for assembled weapons secondaries and other forms of highly enriched uranium. The preferred site for this facility would be in the West Portal parking lot, just north of Portal 16. * Special materials complex -- It will be used for the production of unspecified "special materials." The preferred site for this facility is on 20 acres on the north side of Bear Creek Road, situated on the drainage divide of the East Fork Poplar Creek and Bear Creek watersheds. The environmental impact statement was prepared by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the quasi-independent agency within DOE that oversees the nuclear weapons complex. DOE's preferred alternative of constructing the new facilities should result in no geological impacts, no significant radiological emissions, no impacts to endangered species and some impact to two acres of wetlands, the report states. The decision to upgrade Y-12 has been panned by peace activists and praised by numerous elected officials, including Gov. Don Sundquist, U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd District. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 14 US says studies deny link between uranium and leukaemia theage.com.au, Breaking News Source: AFP|Published: Wednesday October 31, 1:52 PM WASHINGTON - Medical and environmental studies have found no link between between depleted uranium munitions and leukaemia or other medical problems among peacekeepers in the Balkans, the Pentagon said today. The Pentagon reached that conclusion after reviewing studies by a number of countries, international organisations and private groups that were launched following news reports in January of a "Balkans Syndrome" among Italians who served as peacekeepers there. US Air Force A-10 aircraft fired some 31,000 30mm depleted uranium (DU) rounds in Kosovo and another 10,000 rounds in Bosnia, which raised suspicions of a link to a rash of leukaemia cases reported in Italy. Depleted uranium is a mildly radioactive heavy metal that is prized by the military because munitions made with it can slice through armour. "The medical and environmental assessments and investigations made by various countries, international organisations and private groups have had generally similar results," the Pentagon paper said. "None have found a connection between DU exposure and leukaemia or other medical problems in people, and none have found widespread DU contamination sufficient to impact the general health of the general population or deployed military personnel." It said at least 13 countries had sent teams to the Balkans to collect and analyse samples of soil, air, water, vegetation and food, and the United Nations and other international organisations also conducted environmental surveys. "These surveys consistently report no widespread DU contamination and no current impact on the health of the general population or deployed personnel," the paper said. Most of the countries that sent troops on peacekeeping missions in the Balkans had begun medical monitoring and epidemiological studies, it said. "To date, none have found a connection between DU exposure and leukaemia or any other pathology," the paper said. Copyright © 2001 The Age Company Ltd. Any unauthorised use, ***************************************************************** 15 Bill offers $30 million for flood control Las Vegas SUN October 30, 2001 The Senate's energy and water appropriations bill includes $143 million for Nevada projects, including $30 million for continuing construction of flood control projects in two of the Las Vegas Valley's major washes. The bill also funds up to $59.6 million for activities at the Nevada Test Site, the Department of Energy and the University and Community College System of Nevada, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate's majority whip, said. The flood protection package contains $22 million for new construction in the Flamingo and Tropicana washes and $8 million to reimburse the Clark County Regional Flood Control District for work it has completed. "If approved, this would be the largest appropriation for flood control from the federal government in our history," Gale Fraser, director of the Regional Flood Control District, said. The district has existed since 1989. For 2001 the flood control projects received $21.6 million, and in 2000 Congress approved $29 million. The House version of the budget bill recommends $25 million for flood-proofing the two local washes. A committee from both congressional houses has to meet to reconcile the appropriations before the budget becomes final. Among the energy appropriations in the bill is $10 million to fund a proposed national center for combating terrorism, Reid said. The Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would host the center for training emergency responders. "No other location in the country is better than the Nevada Test Site for this kind of training, and the funding in this bill will help get the center up and running immediately," Reid said. In an effort to protect Nevada residents from the Department of Energy's plan to build a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, the budget includes $2.5 million for the state to oversee technical studies and another $6 million for 10 local governments, including Clark County. The rest of the $143 million coming to the state will be spread among energy and water projects in Northern Nevada. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 State Dept. Concerned About Weapons Wednesday October 31 11:19 AM ET By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior State Department official said Wednesday he was convinced if the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center in New York had possessed nuclear weapons they would have used them. All of lower Manhattan could have been devastated, with far more damage than the deadly toll in the Sept. 11 suicide attacks, John R. Bolton said. The undersecretary of state for arms control and international security said the threat underscored a need to deter the spread of nuclear technology and a need for an American defense against missile attack. But, Bolton said, ``it's hard to see how people with that belief system could be deterred.'' Describing himself as deeply concerned, Bolton said the pursuit of ways to avert terrorists' use of nuclear or other devastating weapons was ``a national priority.'' ``Had these people had ballistic missile technology and nuclear weapons there isn't the slightest doubt they would have used it,'' he said. President Bush will try again next month to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to cut off the spread of sophisticated technology and conventional weapons to Iran when they meet next month in Washington and at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex., Bolton said. ``It would go a long way to improve the strategic structure if Russia's behavior was more like ours,'' he said. Senior Israeli officials raised their concerns about Iran in talks last week at the White House and State Department, he said. The issue is likely to be on the agenda for talks Secretary of State Colin Powell will hold in Washington on Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Bolton said in a breakfast meeting with military and diplomatic reporters that the anthrax breakout has already put the United States under terrorist attack with a weapon of mass destruction. Bolton said he could not shed any light on the source of the anthrax. ***************************************************************** 17 Leaders pledge to trace terror links 10/2001 22:30 - (SA) Madrid - Eastern European, African and Latin American leaders acknowledged here on Friday the right to self-defence against terrorism and pledged to trace links between terrorists and illegal traffic in nuclear, chemical and bacteriological weapons. A conference on democracy attended by 14 heads of state and government and chaired by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev issued a declaration condemning without reservation the September 11 attacks in the US. The meeting "acknowledges the right to legitimate individual and collective defence against such aggression", it said. The signatories "commit themselves to tracing international links between the world's various terrorist networks and organised crime, drugs trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking and illegal movement of potentially nuclear, chemical and bacteriological substances," it said. Leaders from Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Brazil, Ghana and Mozambique were among those present. They "reaffirm their will to prosecute those responsible and reinforce the struggle against terrorism in all its dimensions", the document said. "The strength of national and international democracy and participation by civil society in our countries are the best shield against vicious attacks..." the statement stressed. The Madrid conference was debating recommendations presented by 80 democracy experts on anti-corruption measures, bureaucratic reform, armed forces and security democratisation, and constitutional law. Countries were invited according to three criteria: they had undertaken the democratisation process within the last 25 years, have a population of more than two million, and were given a positive "freedom rating" by the Freedom House non-governmental organisation. Fourteen heads of state and government and 19 former leaders attended the first day, including former US president Bill Clinton. The conference is organised by the Gorbachev Foundation and the Foundation for International Relations and Exterior Dialogue. - Sapa-AFP About News24 - all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 18 Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program Find more information about uranium [http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/about/news/index.cfm] in the news media. NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: Steve Wyatt, 865/576-0885 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, October 30, 2001 Department of Energy Reschedules Upcoming Meetings on the Depleted Uranium Conversion Project Written Comment Period Extended an Additional 46 Days The Department of Energy (DOE) has rescheduled three upcoming scoping meetings on the Depleted Uranium Conversion Project. The meetings, originally scheduled for Nov.1, 2001, in Portsmouth, Ohio; Nov. 6, in Paducah, Ky.; and Nov. 8, in Oak Ridge, Tenn. will now be held during the following times and locations: Portsmouth, Ohio Nov. 28, 2001/6-9 p.m. Vern Riffe Vocational School 175 Beaver Creek Rd. Piketon, Ohio 45661 Oak Ridge, Tenn. Dec. 4, 2001/6-9 p.m. Pollard Auditorium, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education 210 Badger Ave. Oak Ridge, Tenn. 37830 Paducah, Ky. Dec. 6, 2001/6-9 p.m. Great Hall, Information Age Park Resource Center 2000 McCracken Blvd. [http://] Paducah, Ky. 42001 In addition, the department has extended the written comment period an additional 46 days to comments postmarked by January 11, 2002. Written comments can be sent to: Kevin Shaw, Office of Environmental Management/Office of Site Closure - Oak Ridge Office (EM-32), 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, Md. 20874, fax: 301/903-3479, or e-mail: DUF6.comments@em.doe.gov. Please use "NOI Comments" for the subject line. Additional information about the Depleted Uranium Conversion Project can be found at the following websites: http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium [http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium] or http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/duf6disposition/ [http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/duf6disposition/] . -DOE- 10/29/2001 The public scoping meetings originally scheduled for Thursday, November 1, 2001, in Piketon, Ohio; Tuesday, November 6, 2001, in Paducah, Kentucky; and Thursday, November 8, 2001, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, by The Department of Energy’s Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Management Program have been postponed. The time and place of the rescheduled meetings will be announced shortly. ***************************************************************** 19 House Dems Lose Russian Nukes Move Las Vegas SUN October 30, 2001 WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats lost an effort Tuesday to add money to a program aimed at keeping Russian nuclear weapons away from terrorists. By voice vote, House lawmakers working with senators to craft a compromise energy and water spending bill rejected an effort by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, that would have added $131 million to a $173 million program that helps Russia guard its nuclear facilities. The $173 million is the same amount that was provided for the program last year. "That's business as usual," Edwards said after the meeting. "We're faced with a war against terrorism, and the terrorists have declared war on us." Opponents objected to Edwards' plan to take the money from a separate program for nuclear-armed cruise missiles. But they also agreed that nuclear nonproliferation efforts must be strengthened and told him they look for extra money in future bills. "There's no question we should be helping the Russians," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees energy and water spending. "It's really in our interest to help them." Overall, the bill contains $803 million for nuclear nonproliferation, including money for other programs that create jobs for Russian nuclear scientists so they won't be tempted to work for terror groups. That is $69 million less than this year, but $29 million more than President Bush requested. The bill has a $24.6 billion price tag, $573 million more than last year and $2 billion above Bush's request. The measure must now be approved by the full House and Senate. The legislation includes $60 million for new water projects, a favorite of lawmakers, and extra money for renewable energy research and cleanups of Energy Department nuclear waste sites. Bargainers also decided to drop House-approved language that would have blocked the Army Corps of Engineers from seasonally altering water flows on the Missouri River, a battle that has pitted upstream and downstream business interests against each other. A Senate-passed provision, which remains in the bill, lets the Corps study various alternatives. The battle will be fought again next year. House-Senate bargainers also adopted a second spending bill, a near $3 billion measure to finance Congress' own operations. It is $245 million higher than was spent last year, and $13 million more than Bush sought. All contents copyright 2001 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 20 Pakistan in firm control of its nukes The Frontier Post From Peshawar Pakistan Updated on 10/31/2001 11:52:45 AM F.P. Report ISLAMABAD- Pakistan Tuesday rejected reports that the US was planning to take control of its nuclear assets. Replying a question at a joint press briefing at the foreign office, both the Foreign Office spokesman and Director General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi have dismissed a report in this regard. They described a report appeared in the New Yorker Magazine as ridiculous. The report has suggested that the US was planning to take control of Pakistan's nuclear assets. They said it shows gross ignorance about the procedure and safeguards being observed for security and protection of our vital nuclear assets. They ruled out the question of any one attempting such a thing. Replying to another question by newsmen senior officials said Pakistan has been most generous in extending refugee to such a large number of Afghans, which has no example in the world. Major General Raashid Qureshi said it is unfair to say that Pakistan is assisting in the destruction of Afghanistan. He said Pakistan is supporting and cooperating with the international community in the elimination of terrorism. He said Pakistan remains committed to the welfare of Afghanistan and its people. To a question about a report of United Nations Military Observers Group in occupied Kashmir of increasing tension on the LoC, the Director General ISPR said Pakistan is not responsible for the increase in tension either on the LoC or in occupied Kashmir. He said it is the Indians who are doing that. He said as a defensive measure, Pakistan takes minimum possible defensive measures to safeguard our land or airspace. To a question, he said a thirty-member shoora is discussing ways and means to lift the blockade of Karakoram Highway and hoped that it would be resolve today or tomorrow. To another question, they also denied that three nuclear scientists have been handed over to the United States. They said one of them Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood is a retired government servant and was involved in running an NGO and in the process jehad gone to Afghanistan a number of times. There were certain questions that needed to be asked from him. They said he is not well and is presently in a hospital. To yet another question, foreign office spokesman said Pakistan has repeatedly expressed its desire to resolve all outstanding issues with India including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir through peaceful negotiations. He said for this purpose Pakistan extended invitations to Prime Minister Vajpayee to visit Pakistan. © Copyright 2001 The Frontier Post ***************************************************************** 21 Russian experts call for cut in number of nuclear warheads in high readiness BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of report in English by Russian AVN Military News Agency web site Moscow, 31 October: Russia and the United States have 6,000 strategic weapons each, a report entitled "Reduction of combat readiness of Russian and US nuclear forces is a way to step down nuclear threat" says. The report was elaborated by the armament non-proliferation and reduction sector of the Political and Military Forecast Centre under the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Global Economy and International Relations. A deputy director of the institute, Vladimir Baranovskiy, a co-author of the report, said a major share of nuclear munitions was permanently in a high degree of combat readiness. It means that Russian and US intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can be launched several minutes after the order, and ballistic missiles deployed on patrolling submarines 15 minutes after the order. The total number of Russian and US warheads in a high degree of combat readiness makes 3,500 to 4,000. The report's authors believe that stepping up combat readiness of strategic nuclear forces and extending the term of nuclear strike authorization is the most obvious way of preventing a mistake or incorrect interpretation of data from missile launch early warning systems. Reduction of combat readiness would also contribute to the strategic nuclear weapons cut without affecting the containment potential, Baranovskiy stressed. The report will soon be forwarded to Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and George W. Bush of the United States, as well as to interested federal and legislative bodies of the two nations. The research director of the Strategic Nuclear Forces Centre under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Dvorkin, told Interfax-Military News Agency that "a consolidated agreement and decision of all nuclear nations, not only Russia and the United States" would be a real contribution to the problem's solution. The parties have even discussed the possibility of reducing the number of Russian and US nuclear warheads in a high-degree of combat readiness to 300 to 350 units, as in the inventory of France, Great Britain and China, Dvorkin said. "This measure is possible, but it will have no effect on theoretical risks of accidental launchers if a part of nuclear missiles is in the combat-ready mode," he said. "The making of such consolidated decision is possible as a small step towards strengthening of general trust, but it will not have a serious effect at once," Dvorkin stressed. Source: AVN Military News Agency web site, Moscow, in English 0942 gmt 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All ***************************************************************** 22 Bin Laden may have miniature nukes The Frontier Post From Peshawar Pakistan Naveed Miraj Updated on 10/31/2001 11:52:45 AM ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and USA investigation agencies are sifting and analysing information that suggests Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda may be in possession of some tactical nuclear weapons, The Frontier Post has learnt. A Pakistani retired nuclear scientist Bashir ud Din Mehmood along with two others is under arrest since last few days in connection with his visits to Afghanistan and his work there. He is being investigated both by Pakistani and US agencies. Dr Mehmood was employed with Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) before his retirement. A numbers of items have been identified by the intelligence sources that are reportedly in possession of Osama and his colleagues. The materials that are suspected to be in possession of Al Qaeda are Zirconium rods/powers (Refractory material which is highly heat resistant and used in Ceramics) Titanium is another metal that is of industrial use and its alloys are used to make heat exchange tubes. Its alloys are the most used item in defence industry. Enriched Uranium, is another material that is suspected to have been purchased by Al Qaeda from rogue elements in Russia and Central Asian States. Meanwhile experts with nuclear sciences background when approached said that it is highly unlikely that Al Qaeda or its associates have the necessary technological base for using these different materials to make a fission device. "Enriched Uranium may be a very important basic material but using it for making devices and that too tactical or miniaturized ones is a very expensive and highly sophisticated job", these experts said. Asked about Dr Bashiruddin Mehmood's possible role, these sources said that no doubt that he was a capable person but he or one or two other scientists could not build a weapon. The infrastructure involved in weapon making is very elaborate and requires great amount of funding. There have been reports that Al Qaeda had bought nukes from Russia or Central Asian States. But Defense experts said that even if Nuclear weapons are bought the next step is their storage, delivery mechanism and other technological support for the use of such weapons. Intelligence sources have also been suspecting that Al Qaeda may have developed nerve gas (biological agent) that can prove harmful to large number of people by paralysing them. Some of the sources claim that the United States has information on the whereabouts of Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden but was analysing whether these hideouts had some radioactive materials stocked up that could lead to a major radioactive activity in the region. © Copyright 2001 The Frontier Post ***************************************************************** 23 ORNL restricts truck traffic from its main roadway KnoxNews: Local By Frank Mungerand Laura Ayo, News-Sentinel staff writers The main road to Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been closed to truck traffic indefinitely because of new terrorist concerns. The restrictions went into effect at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Dr. Bill Madia, the director of ORNL, said vehicles larger than pickup trucks or those pulling a trailer will be stopped at checkpoints on the east and west ends of Bethel Valley. Those with official business at ORNL will be allowed to proceed, and others will be turned back, he said. "I know it's an extra burden in getting here, but it's the right thing to do," Madia said. State troopers will assist with the checks, he said. The decision to limit trucks on Bethel Valley Road was made after ORNL officials reviewed the Monday advisory from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who warned of the potential for new terrorist acts this week. That same advisory prompted local law enforcement agencies, as well as local offices of federal law enforcement agencies, to remain on heightened security status Tuesday. Spokespeople for most of the agencies reported they have been at their highest security status since Sept. 11, when the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked by terrorists. "We've never stepped back from our heightened state of awareness," said Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell Debusk. FBI Special Agent Scott Nowinski said the Knoxville office of the FBI has re-established its 24-hour command center in response to Monday's announcement. "We have an agent on duty at the office 24 hours a day," he said. Becky Huckaby, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, said no changes in security had occurred at McGhee Tyson Airport since Ashcroft's latest alert. Security at the airport is "already at highest alert and has been since the bombing in Afghanistan began," she said. Madia said he had not received any complaints from laboratory employees about the road restrictions, even though it may slow their commute to work. "There are a lot of concerned people out here," he said. Meanwhile, Steven Wyatt, a U.S. Department of Energy spokesman, said other security precautions have been enacted in Oak Ridge, but he declined to be specific. Bill Wilburn of BWXT, the managing contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, said an existing checkpoint on the east end of Bear Creek Road will remain in operation 24 hours a day and another check point has been established on New Hope Road - which provides secondary access to the plant. "All personnel are asked to be especially observant and to report anything suspicious to their supervisor or security," Wilburn said. Frank Munger may be reached at 865-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. Laura Ayo may be reached at 865-342-6341 or ayo@knews.com. News-Sentinel business writer Stan DeLozier also contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 24 Karakuram Highway opened for Raiwind event - DAWN - By Our Correspondent MANSEHRA, Oct 31: The armed workers of religious parties and local tribesmen have partially opened the Karakuram Highway for traffic to make it possible for people to attend the three-day annual congregation of Tablighee Jamaat being held from Nov 1 at Raiwind near Lahore on Thursday. "One of the reasons of lifting the road blockade is to provide passage to the faithful proceeding to Raiwind," said Qari Mohammad Afzal, a JUI leader, at a press conference here on Wednesday. He said that if the government did not meet the demands of the Pakistan Afghan Defence Council and the Majlis-i-Ulema, all roads in the Hazara division, including the Silk Route, would be blocked in the first week of November. The armed protesters, who have ended blockade of the road on the assurances of religious leaders, are still occupying the hilltops at certain points along the Karakuram Highway. The local authorities are busy removing boulders, which were scattered on the on the road by blasting of hills, to resume traffic which remained suspended for six days. The Majlis-i-Ulema, an umbrella organization of the religious scholars of Hazara and Malakand divisions, has demanded of the government to review its Afghan policy and withdraw support to America against Taliban. The talks between the government team, headed by Corps Commander of Peshawar, Lt-Gen Ali Jan Orakzai, and local leaders of the Pakistan Afghan Defence Council and Majlis-i-Ulema and other religious scholars, headed by Mufti Nizamuddin Shamazai, were held at Besham, the headquarters of Shangla district, on Tuesday evening. He said that if the government did not change its Afghan policy till Nov 6, the religious parties would be left with no other option but to start a civil disobedience movement. The personal staff officer of District Nazim Battagram, Abdullah, told this scribe by telephone from Battagram that the decision to lift the blockade was taken at a meeting held at Besham. The government team has assured the Ulema that their demands would be conveyed to the government. He said that a delegation of Ulema had left for Chilas and Gilgit to persuade the protesters to lift the siege of the abandoned airstrip of Chilas airport. Our Gilgit correspondent Safdar Khan adds: The Gilgit-based transporters on Wednesday said that they could not ply their buses on Rawalpindi-Gilgit route as a section of the Karakoram Highway at Thuck, Chilas, was still not open to traffic. They said that negotiations between the police officials and religious leaders in Chilas were still underway. The transporters said that the KKH was opened in Kohistan district in the NWFP, but the police in Diamer had warned that they should not operate between Gilgit and Rawalpindi until further notice. And added that it would take another two days to clear hurdles that are spread over a stretch of 1.5 km in Chilas area. © The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2001 ***************************************************************** 25 Armenian paper says Russian debt fines cast shadow over Yerevan-Moscow ties BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Oct 31, 2001 Text of Garnik Gevorkyan report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak on 31 October entitled "What is the price of complementarity?" Or are the Russians fining Armenia? Despite the Armenian authorities' claims that Russia is our strategic partner, it has become obvious, particularly since the recent events, that it is necessary to redefine Armenian-Russian relations in quite different terms. Russia is demanding the wholesale giveaway of our more or less valuable enterprises instead of Armenia's debt, and because of the delayed repayment of a debt of several million dollars Russia is threatening to cut off Armenia's gas supply. And lately Russia is adding up and demanding all of Armenia's debts, which were mainly 'forgiven' earlier. Finally, except for Robert Kocharyan's and Vladimir Putin's handshakes and smiles, it is difficult to find evidence of anything "strategic" in Armenian-Russian relations. But in its financial relations with Armenia, Russia is not only limited to demands for the timely repayment of debts for gas and nuclear fuel. It becomes clear that Russia is not only demanding repayment on time but has set fines for delayed repayment. On the whole, because of delayed repayment Armenia was "fined" about 3.5m dollars. In 1996 Russia set a fine of 130,000 dollars for the untimely repayment of the Russian credit of 98.3bn roubles for purchasing nuclear fuel. In 1998 a fine of 850,000 dollars was set for the delayed repayment of an allocated credit 20.5m dollars. So our strategic partner Russia (which its leader says is interested in the economic development of Armenia) has applied financial punitive measures, recovering about 3.5m dollars in fines. Of all the countries granting loans to Armenia, Russia is the only one which has fined the Armenian government for delayed credit repayment. It is no secret that in the matter of fulfilment of credit obligations Armenia is careless towards almost all of its creditor organizations and states. Not even its official bodies are trying to hide this. For example, a recent report published by the Finance and Economy Ministry says that in 2000 "Armenia failed to fully fulfil its external financial obligations". However, this is normal for countries in transition. And as for delayed credit repayment, no world financial organization or even CIS member-countries, which are also in transition, have ever fined Armenia. For example Turkmenistan rescheduled Armenia's 34m-dollar debt (postponed from 2002 to 2004) without fines. Russia is the only country that is so calculating towards Armenia's credit obligations. This contrasts views that Armenian-Russian relations are at top level. It turns out that in reality Armenian-Turkmen relations are better than the age-old Armenian-Russian relations. But the Russian "sector" of Armenia's complementary foreign policy is reflected in financial indices which are more convincing than handshakes and smiles. Source: Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan, in Armenian 31 Oct 01 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. World Reporter All Material Subject to ***************************************************************** 26 US DOD: DoD studies medical impact of depleted uranium in the Balkans Source: M2 Communications Ltd. Date: 10/31/2001 05:16 Story Filed: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 5:16 AM EST Oct 31, 2001 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- The Department of Defense released today an information paper, "Depleted Uranium Environmental and Medical Surveillance in the Balkans," which summarizes medical and environmental assessments performed in the Balkans area by a number of countries. On the whole, these assessments have not found any connections between depleted uranium exposure in the Balkans and negative health effects. Most of the work assessed was done independently, by organizations outside the Defense Department. The information paper examines assessments performed by the United Kingdom Royal Society, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Environmental Programme and others. Investigators supporting the special assistant for Gulf War illnesses, medical readiness and military deployments compiled and analzyed those reports and referenced them in the new information paper. Most of the cited references are available in public libraries or on the Internet. The special assistant's support staff is the same organization that previously investigated depleted uranium use in the Gulf War. Both tanks and aircraft employed depleted uranium ammunition in the Gulf War. However, all the depleted uranium used in the Balkans was in the form of 30-millimeter rounds fired from Air Force A-10 aircraft. About 10,000 rounds were fired in Bosnia and approximately 31,000 rounds were fired in Kosovo. That adds up to nearly 13 tons of depleted uranium, much less than the 320 tons of depleted uranium used during the Gulf War. Concerns about possible health effects of depleted uranium in Europe were first raised by newspaper reports. Italian media reports initially tried to link an apparent rise in the incidence of leukemia in Balkan veterans to exposure to depleted uranium. After an extensive scientific study, the Italian government concluded that the incidence of leukemia was not as high in Balkan veterans as it was in the general population. Many other countries started medical screening programs for their Bosnia veterans. So far, none has reported elevated uranium levels in their soldiers' urine, or any negative health consequences they attribute to depleted uranium exposure. Because depleted uranium is a heavy metal, it can be potentially harmful under certain circumstances. For that reason, the NATO nations have instituted training in the safety precautions to use in an area where depleted uranium was used militarily. Much of this training is based on the training programs created by the U.S. ARMY. Information papers are reports of what the Defense Department knows today about military procedures and equipment. This information paper is intended to provide a basic understanding of depleted uranium use in the Balkans. Although not an investigative report, the report will be updated if additional information becomes available. This report is posted on the DeploymentLINK Web site at http://deploymentlink.osd.mil/du--balkans/index.html. M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information ***************************************************************** 27 Russia's interest in SA good for trade Business Day (South Africa); Oct 30, 2001 BY JOHN HELMER Moscow Correspondent MOSCOW Trade links between SA and Russia are to receive a boost as Russia ends its policy of noninvolvement with Africa. A visit to SA by Russian parliamentarians last month demonstrated that there was a lot of interest towards Russian industry, and certain SA companies have already expressed interest, according to Piotr Svechnikov, a member of the Duma committee on industry. He said that parliamentarians were working on formulating business links between their constituents and SA. "The main result of the visit was that after a long period of time when Russia's policy was one of not having contacts with African countries, we have ended this period. Our visit demonstrated there is a lot of interest towards industry and trade relations between SA, Botswana and Russia, and that the previous policy of no contacts was completely wrong," Svechnikov said. He said Chelyabinsk-region manufacturers of heavy trucks and tractors for mining areas were now working on enquiries from potential buyers in SA and Botswana. SA steel importers are also interested in metal product supplies from two of Russia's largest steel manufacturers, Magnitogorsk and Mechel, both Chelyabinsk-based. Svechnikov said the imposition of SA penalty duties on imports of Russian steel was "partially raised during the meetings. I think the two sides will put forward proposals on how to solve the problems that occur. "The main thing is that we reached have an understanding that, in spite of all the barriers that may arise, there is a strong interest in SA for Russian products," he said. Last year, according to Russian customs data, total trade turnover between SA and Russia fell from $155m to $104m, a decline of 33%. SA imports from Russia are roughly half the value of SA exports to Russia. Imports to SA fell from $44m to $34m, while SA exports to Russia dropped from $111m to $71m. The biggest import from Russia is iron and steel followed by Mineral fertilisers. SA trade officials say SA exports to Russia were under-counted in the Russian customs data. This was especially true of SA citrus, grapes and apples, which make up the second largest SA export to Russia. Precious metal concentrates for refining in Russia were the single largest SA export last year, accounting for about $10m. Mikhail Yemelyanov, a deputy from Rostov, said it was understood in Moscow that Russian tariff treatment unfairly penalised SA fruit exports, compared with South American supplies. According to Yemelyanov, the head of the Russian delegation, Duma speaker Gennady Seleznev, promised to help resolve the problem. Yemelyanov also said that there had been a discussion of "administrative barriers" facing the Gorky Automobile Works (GAZ) in the Johannesburg taxi tender. GAZ produces a low-cost minibus called the Gazel. According to Yemelyanov, opposition to the inclusion of Gazel in the competition "has been eliminated, and now GAZ will participate in the tender". The parliamentary group also discussed co-operation and trade in the nuclear power sector. Possible participation by Russian aerospace firms in SA rocket-testing facilities, is also under discussion, according to SA sources. ***************************************************************** 28 Pak's nukes are safe, says George, then goes ballistic The Indian Express : Top Stories ://www.indian-express.com] Wednesday, October 31, 2001 ‘Pak’s existence under threat’; Takes on other George too; ‘‘We may have to fight our own war once US leaves region’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30: DEFENCE Minister George Fernandes today claimed that Pakistan’s nuclear assets are in safe hands and then went on to hold forth on how because of its support to the US coalition, Pakistan’s very existence was under threat. Reacting to a news report that US and Israeli forces were preparing to ‘‘take out’’ Pak’s nuclear assets in the event of General Pervez Musharraf’s fall, he said: ‘‘I would like to give them (the Pakistani government) credit. Those concerned with Pakistan’s nuclear programme are responsible people.’’ Speaking here at a seminar on terrorism organised by the Institute for Conflict Management, Fernandes said the authorities in Pakistan would not allow anybody to tamper with the devices. ‘‘They (Pakistani government) will not allow it to happen,’’ he said. That said, he took off. ‘‘For Pakistan which used the Taliban to pursue its own nefarious designs in India, this (joining the global war against terror) is perhaps the most bitter pill it has had to swallow in its 54 years of existence.’’ He said this could lead to civil and military disturbances. ‘‘That would be a cause of worry not only for the leadership for Pakistan but also for India. Any breakup of Pakistan will jeopardise the stability of the sub-continent with consequences that defy imagination,’’ he added. As for US president George Bush’s wish of getting Osama bin Laden ‘‘dead or alive,’’ Fernandes said that might very well end up as an ‘‘unfulfilled wish.’’ He also said it was an irony that Pakistan which not only harboured, trained and sent terrorists into India is the most loyal ally in the global action against terrorism. ‘‘Perhaps there is some sort of poetic justice in this turnaround. It was the US which collaborated with Pakistan in creating the Taliban militia. Now it is again Pakistan that has become the cat’s paw for the US to destroy the Frankenstein they jointly fathered,’’ Fernandes said. Fernandes then took a swipe at the US President. ‘‘India has been shouting hoarse at Pakistan’s crimes but no nation thought that a global war will have to be waged or that Pakistan’s leadership should be captured dead or alive...The Indian armed forces would have decimated long ago the various terrorist outfits operating in J&K. India has scrupulously avoided even targeting the terrorist training camps which are not far from the country’s borders with Pakistan for the simple reason that civilian population could be killed in collateral damage.’’ Fernandes, however, cautioned against terming terrorist activities by a few people as ‘‘Islamic terrorism’. ‘‘To brand terrorism as an Islamic evil is to overlook the reality. Because of Osama bin Laden or Pakistani leadership who train, equip and send terrorists to India pointing an accusing finger at Muslims would exhibit a prejudiced mind,’’ he said. On Washington’s support to India’s ‘‘fight’’ against terrorism, Fernandes wasn’t so hopeful. ‘‘One should not, therefore, rule out the likelihood of India having to fight its own war against terrorism on its border once the US-led coalition calls off its engagement in Afghanistan and goes back to its five-decade-old cosy relationship with Pakistan,’’ he said. ***************************************************************** 29 Byers to face the music at the CBI The Times WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31 2001 BY MARTIN WALLER A LAST-MINUTE change to the CBI conference in Birmingham next week. Stephen Byers, Transport Secretary, is out of a session on “A Planning System for Business”, so depriving business leaders of the opportunity of quizzing him on how you plan for a Government smash-and-grab raid like that on Railtrack. But all is not lost. Byers will instead provide the day’s keynote speech in place of Gordon Brown. I hear that the subject is expected to be Railtrack, and he has agreed to take questions afterwards and even stay for the lunch. Brave man. And the morning session he has vacated will not be entirely ruined either. Slotting in for him on the subject of business planning is Lord Falconer of Thoroton — the man behind the Dome. GREAT hilarity at the Treasury as Sir Howard Davies, whose star perhaps does not shine as brightly with new Labour as it once did, received a duffing up from the Select Committee over Equitable Life yesterday. Strange to say, Ruth Kelly, former Blair Babe and economic secretary to the Treasury, was let off with a far easier ride. Nothing to do with the fact that she used to serve on the committee, of course. Come to light A FEW weeks back British Energy, the power generator whose name inexplicably fails to mention its main business of running nuclear power stations, was brandishing its green credentials, having won the contract to supply Tony Blair at No 10 with “100 per cent green energy”. Said Robin Jeffrey, the company’s chairman: “When Tony Blair switches on his lights, he is being powered by British Energy.” Er, yes and no. You might have assumed that No 10 is lit by electricity generated by British Energy. As it happens, the green brigade does not regard nuclear power as renewable, so in order to justify that boast, British Energy has had to do a deal with a genuine “green” producer, one using windmills or whatever, and then flog the stuff on to No 10. So it’s not really your juice at all, is it, I ask the company? “Well it is ... indirectly.” It must make sense to someone. I AM glad to see one of those full-page “vanity ads” puffing recent deals appearing in the Financial Times on behalf of Lehman Brothers. Such ads have rather dried up in recent weeks, what with the lack of deals, so congratulations to Lehmans for winning, among others, the franchise for, er, Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners. Hell to pay SIR JOHN BANHAM, chairman of Whitbread, is an experienced operator, but he got himself into a twist yesterday. Alan Parker, head of the hotel side, confirmed that he would be taking the same pay freeze as that imposed on staff at Marriott hotels. So Banham jumped up, unscripted, and cried: “So will I.” Then the rest of the board were asked whether they would be taking a similar pay freeze. David Thomas, chief executive, muttered something about “not writing policies on the hoof”, as Banham moved things along swiftly on to the next subject. I think the word he was grasping for was “no”. AFTER my note on the undignified spat between Sir Terence Conran and Stephen Bayley, a voice from the past pops up. It is Philip Birch, who sold his Ward White business to Boots ten years ago. The deal was a disaster — for Boots. Birch recalls that during the late 1980s Ward White was the subject of takeover rumours. “A persistently named predator was Sir Terence Conran, then a great builder of retail empires.” (Imagine! Such times!). “Terence was reported to have said that he could not imagine anything less attractive than Ward White.” So it went to Boots instead. As Birch now points out cheekily: “Caveat emptor.” city.diary@thetimes.co.uk [city.diary@thetimes.co.uk] Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided ***************************************************************** 30 Officials Have Misgivings About Soviet Weapons' Whereabouts FOXNews.com AP Tuesday, October 30, 2001 WASHINGTON — The United States has spent as much as $5 billion since 1991 to help secure the former Soviet Union's vast nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal, but U.S. officials say they still can't account for all the weapons. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the United States should be very concerned that some of these Soviet weapons of mass destruction may have slipped into the wrong hands, said Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. "That is the worst-case scenario," he said. "That is the one thing we must make certain did not happen." Lugar co-authored legislation a decade ago that launched the U.S. effort to safeguard the Soviet arsenal during the political, economic and social chaos that surrounded the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since then, he said, roughly half the Soviet nuclear warheads have been destroyed. The secure disposal of the materials that those weapons use for nuclear explosions -- plutonium and highly enriched uranium -- is still difficult, he said, and the progress of securing the chemical and biological stockpiles has proceeded far more slowly than the destruction program. The United States has upgraded security systems that cover about one-third of the almost 700 tons of weapons-grade nuclear material identified as at risk of theft or diversion from Russia, according to the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Restrictions imposed by Russia have kept the U.S. Department of Energy from installing security systems at about 100 buildings that contain hundreds of metric tons of nuclear material, according to a February GAO report. The report cites a wide-open gate at one Russian nuclear facility. Ken Alibek, a former top scientist in the Soviet biological weapons program who came to the United States in 1992, said economically struggling Soviet weapons scientists pose the greatest threat. Finding raw materials for biological weapons is easy because each country has its own pathogenic microorganisms, Alibek said, but such materials are worthless without the ability to transform them into weapons. "In the field of biological weapons, the real threat is knowledge," he said. The State and Defense departments have programs to put Soviet weapons scientists to work on beneficial research to reduce the risk they will be recruited by terrorists or smaller nations out to develop mass-destruction armaments. Alibek said the money from those programs doesn't always go to the right people in the biological weapons area. Hundreds of bioweapons scientists have received not a penny. In addition, he said, security remains lax at some Soviet facilities that work with deadly biological agents. Chris Kessler, spokesman for the State Department's nonproliferation bureau, said the agency "has no reason to believe that Russia or any Central Asian country has been the source of anthrax or any other pathogen" used in the mail attacks in the United States. He declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation. Former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said U.S. programs to support Soviet weapons scientists are a good start but are insufficient given the magnitude of the problem. An international effort is needed, he said. "Now, hopefully, the warming of relationships between the U.S. and Russia will enhance cooperation," he said, "but you still cannot prevent a hungry Russian scientist who cares about feeding his family from defecting for the right price to Iraq, Iran, North Korea or even" Osama bin Laden. Former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., who authored the Soviet nonproliferation legislation with Lugar, said Americans are safer than they were during the 40 to 50 years that the threat of a Cold War-driven nuclear holocaust hung over their heads. Still, he said, the United States cannot be sure some weapons and expertise have not leaked out of the former Soviet Union. "We'll never be sure, and we'll never be absolutely safe," said Nunn, who now heads the Nuclear Threat Initiative foundation. Fox News Network, LLC 2001. All rights reserved. All market data ***************************************************************** 31 Dark deeds and dirty dealings from "the secret army' New Zealand News - World - Mahmood Ahmed 31.10.2001 RAHUL BEDI looks at the seamy side of Pakistan's intelligence service. NEW DELHI - Pakistan's shadowy Inter Services Intelligence, a main source of information for the United States-led fight against Afghanistan's Taleban regime, has long been linked with political assassinations, smuggling narcotics and nuclear and missile components and backing fundamentalist Islamic movements. Locally called Pakistan's "secret army" and "invisible government", the counter-intelligence agency founded soon after independence in 1948 dominates the country's domestic and foreign policies. The ISI also manipulates Pakistan's volatile religious elements, ethnic groups and political parties to ensure the army's omnipotence and continuance in office. Modelled on Savak, the Iranian security agency and, like it, trained by the CIA and France's external intelligence service, the ISI "ran" the Afghan mujahideen in their decade-long fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, who headed the ISI's Afghan Bureau for four years until 1987, says the ISI funnelled US money and weapons to the mujahideen to minister the guerrilla tactic of death by a thousand cuts on the Soviet "Bear", which collapsed soon after it was driven from Afghanistan in 1989. "It was the only way to defeat a super power on the battlefield with ill-disciplined, ill-trained tribesmen whose only asset was an unconquerable fighting spirit welded to a warrior tradition," Yousef says in The Bear Trap, a fascinating book about the ISI's workings. In the early 1990s, the ISI gave logistical support to the Taleban that grew from Pakistani madrassahs (religious schools) and helped it seize power in Kabul five years ago. It then maintained a "formidable" presence across Afghanistan, helping the Taleban, who are mostly Pathans, consolidate their hold over the country through "Trojan horse "tactics, bribing the opposition and brutal military activity." Intelligence sources said Osama bin Laden, held responsible by the US for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Mir Aimal Kansi, who assassinated two CIA officers in Langley, Virginia, in 1993, Ramzi Yousef and his accomplices in the New York World Trade Center bombing in 1998 and a host of international narcotics smugglers emerged from the ISI-CIA collaboration in Afghanistan of the 1980s. Opium growing and heroin production in Pakistan's northern tribal belt and adjoining Afghanistan were also an offshoot of the cooperation. This turned Soviet troops into addicts and offset the costs of the "unholy war" in Afghanistan by selling heroin in Europe and the US through an elaborate web of deception, transport networks, couriers and payoffs. "The heroin dollars contributed largely to bolstering the Pakistani economy, its nuclear programme and enabled the ISI to sponsor its covert operations in Afghanistan and northern India's disputed Kashmir state," an intelligence officer said. In the late 1970s, the ISI set up a division to procure military nuclear and missile technology, particularly from China and North Korea. It also smuggled in critical nuclear components and know-how from Europe. A Director-General heads the ISI. Its leader for the past month, Lieutenant-General Ehsanul Haq, has three assistants, major generals, heading the agency's political, external and administrative divisions. Haq replaced Lieutenant-General Mahmood Ahmed who was dismissed, along with two other Islamist army commanders sympathetic to Afghanistan's Taleban regime, reportedly under US pressure. The agency's sections include the Joint Intelligence North (JIN) which oversees Afghanistan and Kashmiri militancy. JIN also controls the Army of Islam that includes organisations such ase Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda, and the opium cultivation and heroin and smuggling. The Joint Intelligence (Miscellaneous) runs covert operations aboard and procures nuclear and missile technologies The Joint Intelligence Bureau looks after human intelligence col-lection. The Joint Counter-Intelligence Bureau conducts counter-intelligence activities inside Pakistan and abroad. The concern now for Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, is whether the ISI will remain loyal to him or pursue its own Machiavellian aims. ©Copyright 2001, New Zealand Herald ***************************************************************** 32 DU: The days after The days after | October 31, 2001 | SFBG News If past wars are any indication, the missile strikes and carpet bombing of Afghanistan could do lasting ecological damage, poisoning the country's air, soil, and water and threatening the health of those Afghans lucky enough to elude the ordnance dropping from the sky. The United States' favored antitank munition is armor-piercing depleted uranium shells, which unleash clouds of mildly radioactive uranium dust. Some epidemiologists think D.U. rounds may be responsible for the mysterious Gulf War syndrome, a collection of gruesome ailments, including leukemia and other cancers, that has plagued Gulf War vets. So far the Defense Department hasn't commented on whether the United States is using D.U. rounds in Afghanistan. One controversial weapon already raining down is the CBU-87 cluster bomb – essentially an air-dropped land mine designed to shoot shrapnel into "soft targets" (i.e., people). "Up to 20 percent of all ordnance will not go off when it hits the ground," says Saul Bloom, head of ARC Ecology, a San Francisco group focused on the military-environmental nexus. "Sometimes [cluster bombs] lie on the ground waiting to explode; sometimes they'll burrow into the ground." The dud rate means American bombs will be blowing the limbs off innocent people for years to come. Even conventional munitions are packed with poisons – toxins that are cast to the wind when the bombs detonate. Bigger bombs' metal components include lead (a neurotoxin) and beryllium (which causes lung disease and cancer); explosive charges include compounds like RDX and cyclonite, a probable carcinogen. Perhaps a greater danger than the weapons themselves are their targets. The Pentagon has acknowledged that the United States is going after Taliban oil reserves. Similar attacks during NATO's bombing of Kosovo created what U.N. researchers called "a new type of complex humanitarian emergency." NATO bombs obliterated dozens of oil refineries and chemical plants along the Danube River, sending up plumes of toxic smoke and spilling tons of hazardous chemicals into the water. After the war, scientists with the Eastern European Regional Environmental Center reported, "Many of the toxic compounds released through bombings are known to seriously affect human health, including causing miscarriages, birth defects, and fatal nerve and liver diseases." (A.C. Thompson) A time to give As Americans struggle to cope with terrorist attacks, anthrax scares, and economic jitters, congressional Republicans are doing their part by handing out money to giant corporations. The economic stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives would dole out six kinds of corporate welfare, from special tax breaks for banks and insurance companies to increased write-offs for the technology industry. The total cost is in the billions. "What we have here is political donors profiteering in the name of economic stimulus," said Celia Wexler, senior policy analyst for campaign finance watchdog Common Cause. The bill's provisions, she says, were "on a lot of corporate wish lists for many years." One of the biggest giveaways is the repeal of the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax and a whopping 15-year retroactive rebate. Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that 16 companies would pocket $7.8 billion in rebates as a result: IBM, for instance, would get an instant check for $1.4 billion. The bill "does not provide relief to corporations who are in any way needy," said Richard Sims, director of tax policy at the organization. Nor does it contain any guarantee that corporations will use the bonuses to create or protect jobs, rather than increase profits or executive salaries. The Bush administration is also trying to wrap legislation to expedite global trade in red, white, and blue. Pushing for legislation that would enable him to negotiate free-trade pacts without input from Congress, President George W. Bush said, "The terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and we will defeat them by expanding and encouraging world trade." Congress rejected a similar measure during Bill Clinton's second term after opponents argued that giving the president "fast-track" negotiating authority could weaken labor and environmental standards. In another giveaway to industry, this year's bill also contains stealth provisions that would bar treaties from requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods. The bill is likely to come up for a vote soon. (Will Evans) SF Bay Guardian ***************************************************************** 33 From Plutonium to Plowshares October 31, 2001 By BRENT SCOWCROFT and DANIEL PONEMAN In a world awash in excess nuclear bomb fuel, a few kilograms could spark an explosion on the scale of the attack on Hiroshima. Russian stocks of nuclear weapons-grade material include more than 1,000 tons of highly enriched uranium and nearly 150 tons of plutonium. Over the past decade, numerous thefts of such material have been detected, and we now see reports that Osama bin Laden has tried to obtain nuclear weapons. Fortunately, none of these attempts has produced catastrophe. But we must seize this moment to adopt a new approach. "So far, so good" is not good enough, since a plutonium ingot the size of a soda can could fuel a nuclear explosion that could kill 50,000 people. Worse, terrorists do not need a sophisticated device to succeed. They could simply surround a conventional explosive with a blanket of radioactive material to disperse radiation in a city—killing many, sickening more and terrorizing all. Americans and Russians are working together to reduce the threat. Over the past decade, the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program has deactivated thousands of warheads and missiles while funding peaceful work for former weapons scientists. The United States contracted to buy 500 tons of Russian highly enriched uranium, to be blended down to nonexplosive uranium for sale in the commercial market. Bilateral cooperation has produced significant improvements in the security systems protecting nuclear materials throughout Russia. But we need a comprehensive approach that would move beyond locking up materials to the actual reduction of the vast stocks of plutonium and uranium that could be fashioned into weapons. To date, the uranium deal has eliminated the equivalent of 5,000 warheads. Getting rid of plutonium, which remains highly toxic and radioactive for millenniums, has proved more difficult. Despite years of discussion, governments have yet to construct a viable plutonium disposition program. Plutonium is more expensive and more difficult to handle than other fuels, so some incentive would be needed to persuade reactor operators to use it. One option would be to offer government support or tax breaks to promote improved reactor designs or fuels that utilized weapon-origin material. Reactors don't emit greenhouse gases; governments could reward that. Another option would harness market forces by offering to lease weapon-origin fuel to utilities. The fees utilities would pay to avoid the expense and liability of having to dispose of spent fuel could be enough to subsidize the use of plutonium as fuel. Why should governments or companies support plutonium burning? Because we should not allow the pure, easily handled plutonium left over from the Cold War to remain in its metallic form, ideally suited for terrorist use. Irradiating it in reactors consumes some of the plutonium, with the balance embedded in spent fuel that is so hot, in temperature and radioactivity, that terrorists could not handle it for many years. Some have argued that plutonium disposition is too expensive, so we should focus on the easier task of storing it securely. This is a false choice; we need both safe storage and ultimate disposition. Our generation produced this plutonium; it would be immoral to shunt to our grandchildren the responsibility to eliminate it. Others worry that burning plutonium from weapons would lead to its widespread commercialization. But it is unlikely that a program aimed at reducing total quantities of weapons-usable plutonium would stimulate increasing those quantities through the costly separation of plutonium from spent fuel. Integrating plutonium from weapons into the marketplace would give Russia an incentive to ensure that these materials are protected and accounted for as a revenue-generating asset, rather than depending on continued U.S. handouts for safe storage. Adding a commercial component to burning plutonium also would free more public money for other fronts in the war against terrorism. A public-private partnership to get rid of Cold War plutonium would be a difficult challenge. But the costs of failure are unacceptable. Sept. 11 proved that those costs are real. ____ Brent Scowcroft, former national security advisor to President Ford and former President Bush, is president of an international consulting firm. Daniel Poneman, who served on the National Security Council staffs of Bush and President Clinton, is a principal in the company. For information about reprinting this article, go to http://www.lats.com/rights/register.htm Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times By visiting this site, you ***************************************************************** 34 A great nuclear opportunity Chicago Tribune | A great nuclear opportunity October 31, 2001 By Stansfield Turner. Retired Adm. Stansfield Turner, a former director of the CIA, is the author of "Terrorism and Democracy" and "Caging the Genies: A Workable Solution for Chemical, Biological and Published October 31, 2001 It could have been much worse. On Sept. 11, the terrorists could have detonated a "small" nuclear weapon inside the World Trade Center. Not only the two towers and their adjacent buildings would have collapsed, but many more to a radius of more than a mile; perhaps 100,000 people would have lost their lives immediately and many more over time as a radioactive cloud would sail downwind depositing lethality hundreds of miles away. Preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of rogue states and terrorists groups have been only an academic matter for most Americans. It now must become a matter of grave concern. If we are to lead the world away from further proliferation of these weapons, we must drastically reduce the roughly 12,000 nuclear warheads we now have. We, the most powerful nation by far, cannot insist on weaker nations forgoing these weapons entirely if we need anything like 12,000 of them. Fortuitously, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to look at reducing nuclear warhead inventories in the range of 1,500 to 2,000 each. That would be considerable progress, but with two reservations. The first is that the numbers 1,500 and 2,000 do not include all warheads. Under the traditional counting rules, each side may retain any number of "spare" warheads, that is warheads not mounted on delivery vehicles, plus any number of smaller "tactical" warheads. Setting a number of 2,000 for instance, would likely result in an inventory of 5,000 total warheads. The second reservation is that just pledging reductions to 1,500 to 2,000 is not enough. The U.S. can demobilize only about 2,000 warheads a year and the Russians probably less. We need to demonstrate a greater sense of urgency. Only if we do can we persuade the world that we are serious about downgrading nuclear weapons and that, hence, others do not need them. Even more important, one likely source of proliferation is Russia. Nuclear components and even weapons there are inadequately guarded. And we just cannot forecast what economic and political conditions within Russia will be like in the years ahead. It is very much in our interest that as many Russian weapons as possible be demobilized as soon as possible in order to reduce the risks of weapons being stolen, sold, fired accidentally, or fired by rogue officers without authorization. We should certainly, then, agree to the 1,500 number the Russians proposed and set a date of only 18 months for neutering all other warheads. We could do that by separating the warheads from their delivery vehicles and removing them to storage sites at least 300 miles away to await demobilization. Doing this in 18 months would take a major effort, as sufficient storage space may not exist. Concrete bunkers on remote military bases are all that is needed. Each side would invite the other to place observers at the storage sites. Thus, any moves to return warheads to their delivery vehicles before they are demobilized would be detected. This process, known as "strategic escrow," would be a big step forward, but not nearly enough. We have no conceivable need for 1,500 ready warheads and we definitely do not want an unstable Russia sitting on any more of these than we can talk them down to. Thus a second step we should take is to engage the Russians in negotiating a treaty to carry both sides to 750 ready warheads. At that level, whether we really need it or not, we would want the assurance of a treaty with provisions for verification. We have found over the years that such treaties are painfully slow to negotiate. We should, then, commence these negotiations almost simultaneously with the discussions on going down to 1,500 ready warheads. Finally, at the point of 750, we would need to deal with the other six nuclear powers, all of which are believed to have less than 750 warheads each. Surely the present crisis has focused our attention on the grave dangers of nuclear weapons in the hands of Pakistan and India. It is in everyone's interest that all nuclear weapons of these six other powers be neutered by being placed in escrow. A third simultaneous negotiation should be started with that objective, plus a reduction of all nuclear arsenals to some number like 200 warheads. This could lead to a world in which, although there would be eight powers with nuclear weapons and all others without, there would be no weapons immediately ready to fire, and there would be international observers to warn of any preparations to fire. These three steps are a big order. The World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings tell us the world faces a great challenge. As a result of those bombings, however, we are witnessing an unprecedented cohesiveness of the responsible nations of the world. We need to take advantage of this and move rapidly to ward off the most ominous threat terrorists could pose. Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune ***************************************************************** 35 Sheridan to sue following Faslane arrest The Scotsman - United Kingdom; Oct 30, 2001 BY TRACEY LAWSON TOMMY Sheridan, the leader of the Scottish Socialist Party, is to launch a legal action for wrongful arrest against Strathclyde Police, after he was detained for allegedly breaching the peace during a protest outside the Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane. Mr Sheridan is alleging that police officers breached his right to liberty while denying him his right to peaceful protest when they detained him at the anti-nuclear protest on the west coast on 22 October. Legal experts believe that the MSP has a good chance of winning his case - a result which could leave the Strathclyde force facing wrongful arrest actions from the other 167 activists they charged with breach of the peace for taking part in the demonstration. The development has highlighted the vulnerable position of police forces as they attempt to interpret ever more complex laws relating to breach of the peace. The loosely worded common law crime has for centuries acted as a convenient catch-all for police seeking to charge people in relation to minor disturbances. Human rights campaigners claim that the way the charge is used jeopardises an individual's rights to liberty and peaceful protest - both of which are enshrined under articles 5 and 11 in the European Convention on Human Rights, which was enshrined in Scottish law in May 1999. Mr Sheridan's action against Strathclyde Police is not the first challenge breach of the peace has faced recently. Earlier this month, four appeal judges rejected a claim by Faslane protester Pamela Smith that a charge against her of breach of the peace contravened her human rights because its loose wording failed to define the limits of acceptable behaviour. Just days before his arrest on 22 October, Mr Sheridan was acquitted of an earlier charge of breach of the peace for his part in a similar demonstration at the Faslane base in February this year. Anthony Stirling JP, sitting at Argyll and Bute District Court in Helensburgh, found that mass arrests at peaceful demonstrations infringe an individual's human right to hold a peaceful protest, as set out in the ECHR. The Crown is appealing the decision. Mr Sheridan was among almost 800 protesters who staged the demonstration outside Faslane earlier this month. He was among a group sitting in the public highway outside Faslane's north gate, when he was carried away by four police officers and charged with breach of the peace. He will deny the charge when his case comes to court. Following his arrest, Mr Sheridan said he was determined to exercise his right to protest. He said: "As far as I am concerned, my human rights have been breached by the police and it is vital I use every legal avenue open to me to defend those rights." Mr Sheridan emphasised that he would not be seeking financial compensation from Strathclyde Police, who he said acted in a "very friendly manner". He said: "This is not about money, it is about defending our liberty." Professor Allan Miller, a director of international human rights consultancy McGrigor Donald Rights, said that Mr Sheridan has an "arguable" legal case. He pointed out that the traditional test for breach of the peace under Scottish law was that a person's actions had put a reasonable person in a state of fear or alarm, or were likely to put them in such a state. Prof Miller said: "If there were no members of the public around at the time (as Mr Sheridan claims), only protesters, who was there to be alarmed?" He said a situation in which protesters were sitting on the public highway - which has in the past been interpreted as the crime of obstruction - was no longer in itself sufficient grounds for arrest. "There is now specific European case law which states that protests on the public highway must also be viewed as part of the right to peaceful assembly, and a balance must be struck by police between allowing people to exercise that right, even on the public highway, and the right of other people to go about their business." Prof Miller also highlighted that the timing of arrests could be crucial in ascertaining whether the rights to liberty and peaceful protest had been breached. He said: "If somebody is lifted early on, just as a demonstration is getting under way - as I understand Tommy Sheridan was - that really is getting into the area of preventing them from protesting peacefully, and the police would be on very shaky ground in doing this." John Scott, chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Centre, said Strathclyde Police's actions could be viewed as political rather than legal. He said: "The arrests smacked of politics rather than the law. The government is operating with an air of no opposition being tolerated to anything it does - opposition from inside or outside the Labour Party - and it may well be that there is pressure being brought to bear on police from the highest political level." However, Mr Scott said he was not optimistic that Mr Sheridan might win his case, but not necessarily due to legal considerations. He said: "To be honest, I don't have enough confidence in the court system to believe he stands a good chance - political pressure can be brought to bear everywhere." If Mr Sheridan's case succeeds, the ruling would have far-reaching implications for the policing of mass protests and demonstrations throughout Scotland. ACPOS president Andrew Brown, who is Chief Constable of Grampian Police, said it would be inappropriate to comment on the Faslane arrests. He added: "If there is confusion, this should be cleared up by the appeal process." A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said last night that the force had not yet received any notification of legal action by Tommy Sheridan. ***************************************************************** 36 Bush: fear of bin Laden nukes The Clinton Courier Copyright 2001 by United Press International.October 30, 2001 Oct 29, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- The Bush administration is concerned that the al Qaida network of accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden might try to use a small nuclear weapon in a super-spectacular strike to decapitate the U.S. political leadership, according to a half dozen serving and former U.S. government and intelligence officials. "They believe it's a real possibility," said one former senior U.S. government official, adding that secret plans for protecting the U.S. president and his successors in the event of a nuclear attack were in place. The Bush administration believes that bin Laden -- the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- may be in possession of one or more small, portable nuclear weapons, according to one former senior U.S. intelligence official. Other experts agree that the danger is real. "We're not at all discounting that possibility," agreed Rose Gottemoeller, senior associate and Russian weapons expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Bin Laden's efforts to get hold of nuclear material are no secret. Peter Probst, an anti-terrorism analyst formerly with the Pentagon's Office of Special Operations Low-Intensity Conflict says the Saudi fugitive "has been obsessed with nuclear weapons." During his trial for involvement in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa, Jamal Ahmad al-Fadl, an al Qaida operative, outlined bin Laden's efforts to spend $1.5 million to obtain a cylinder of enriched uranium. Plans were made, said al-Fadl, to test uranium samples to see if they could be made into a bomb. The project fell through, he said, according to court documents. But Monday, the Times of London cited unnamed Western intelligence sources as saying bin Laden had obtained nuclear materials from Pakistan. And there have also been several reports -- variously citing unnamed intelligence sources from Israel, Russia and Arab nations -- about bin Laden's attempts to purchase a small nuclear device from the arsenal of a former Soviet republic, through terrorist or mafia groups in Chechnya or Central Asia. According to Probst, what the U.S. intelligence community fears is that tactical nuclear weapons of one kind or another have been sold to terrorists via corrupt Russian military officers or the Russian or Chechen mafias with whom bin Laden is known to have had contact. Probst explained that portable nuclear weapons were developed by the Soviets in the 1960s. They were designed for use by their Spetznatz special operations forces against NATO command and control sites. Until recently, the best information the United States had about these weapons described them as "suitcase bombs," although former CIA counter-terrorism expert, Vince Cannistraro, says that they are the size of a footlocker and Gottemoeller adds that they actually come in two sections, "both rather cumbersome." Cannistraro denounces reports that bin Laden has obtained such weapons as "total crap." But a former senior U.S. intelligence and Eastern Bloc specialist cautioned that "the Soviets were able to build weapons of such smallness and lightness that they could be carried by one person," pointing out that one U.S. nuclear warhead weighs less than 60 lbs. While much has been written about suitcase bombs, until now, nothing has appeared in any public report about these smaller "backpack" nuclear weapons, according to several U.S. government sources. One U.S. government expert said that the United States gained new knowledge of the backpack weapons in the 1990s through Russian double agents run by the CIA. One U.S. source familiar with the program said: "We had defectors who trained on backpack weapons and who bluntly told the agency that everything they knew about the devices was wrong. We didn't understand how they were assembled or how they were to be used." In 1998, this new information was put into a CIA "blue border" report, meaning it "contains material from a foreign source of the greatest sensitivity," a former senior U.S. intelligence official said. The report was presented to then President Bill Clinton and his National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. The report was so secret, the two men were only allowed to initial the document before it was returned to the agency's custody, U.S. government officials said. Berger's assistant told United Press International that he declined to comment because, "It's an intelligence matter." But the Federation of American Scientists says, "nuclear weapons that can fit in a very heavy, normal-sized suitcase are a real possibility." "The possibility that these devices have been stolen and sold to terrorist groups is nearly anyone's worst nightmare," said Carey Sublette of the Federation of American Scientists. General Aleksandr Lebed, the former Russian security czar, said in 1997 that several nuclear suitcase bombs and tactical nukes had disappeared from the Russian arsenal. In testimony before the Congressional Military Research and Development Subcommittee in October 1997, Lebed said there were bombs made to look like suitcases that could be detonated by one person with less than 30-minute preparation. Lebed also said that nuclear bombs only 24 x 16 x 8 inches were distributed among Soviet military intelligence units. He made no mention of nuclear backpack bombs. Probst told UPI he believes that Lebed is accurate about missing Soviet tactical nuclear weapons. "I firmly believe that some were sold to groups by corrupt Russian military, probably in the Central Asian republics," he said. On Oct. 28, 1999, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) said that he believed that some 48 Russian nuclear devices remained unaccounted for. "We simply don't know what was floating around out there when the Soviet Union dissolved," especially in the Central Asian republics, an administration official said. "That's one of the questions we need to ask: what are the threats?" By RICHARD SALE, UPI Terrorism Correspondent ©The Clinton Courier 2001 ***************************************************************** 37 UN: Urgent steps to reduce risk of accidental use of nuclear weapons called for in draft resolution approved by First Committee Zawya.com | arab business and finance Thu, November 01, 2001, 05:39 GMT Ten resolutions, two decisions approved; Issues addressed include convention banning nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon-free zones -- Part 2 of 2 Oct 31, 2001 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Speaking after the vote, the representative of the Republic of Korea said the draft did not reflect his concerns on whether assurances were to be given multilaterally, so he had abstained. When the Committee's attention turned to discussion of a draft resolution on the negotiations for a fissile material treaty (document A/C.1/56/L.31), the representative of Pakistan, speaking before the vote, said his country had agreed to open talks on a treaty banning the production of fissile material under the auspices of the Conference on Disarmament. He agreed that the Conference on Disarmament should adopt a programme of work that included such an item in it. Pakistan would be happy to join in the adoption of the resolution without a vote. Before the vote, the Committee Secretary informed delegations that the following countries had become co-sponsors of the resolution: Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mali, Monaco, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The Committee approved the resolution without a vote. The representative of Israel, speaking after the vote, said he had joined the consensus on negotiation of a treaty for the banning of the production of fissile materials because the idea of the was subsumed in Israel's concept of a nuclear-weapon-free zone for the Middle East. That effort could not be separated from the efforts to build peace and reduce armaments in the region. The Committee next turned to the draft resolution on the NPT (document A/C.1/56/L.38). The representative of Pakistan said that he had expressed his reservations on the results of the Fifth NPT Review Conference last year in the Committee. Consequently, he would abstain in the vote relating to the Conference, and for the same reason, he would dissociate himself from the text. Following an announcement by the Secretariat that the draft's co-sponsors would like to see the text's approval without a vote, the representative of India requested a recorded vote on the text. The Committee then approved the draft resolution on the NPT (document A/C.1/56/L.38) by a recorded vote of 141 in favour to one against (India), with three abstentions (Cuba, Israel, Pakistan). (Annex IV). The representative of India, speaking after the vote, said his delegation's views on the NPT were well known. That instrument had remained discriminatory and remained inadequate and ineffective. The proliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery system had continued unabated, and the commitments made under Article VI towards nuclear disarmament had remained unfulfilled. Further, he had not seen any progress in the Conference on Disarmament to commence any substantive and meaningful negotiations on nuclear disarmament. The draft resolution under consideration, he said, sought to welcome the Final Document of the 2000 NPT Review Conference, which had made a number of unacceptable and unwarranted references to his country, a non-party to the NPT. He had rejected those references, unequivocally and in their entirety and, he therefore, cast a negative vote on the draft resolution. The Committee then took up the draft resolution on the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (document A/C.1/56/L.45). The representative of El Salvador said that, as in previous years, he would join the text as a co-sponsor. The Secretariat announced the following additional co-sponsors: Uruguay, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Qatar and El Salvador. Voting first on operative paragraph 1, which underlined the unanimous conclusion of the Court that there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith negotiations on nuclear disarmament, the Committee approved it by a recorded vote of 139 in favour to 4 against (France, Israel, Russian Federation and United States), with 2 abstentions (Federated States of Micronesia, United Kingdom). (Annex V). By a recorded vote of 99 in favour to 28 against, with 19 abstentions, the Committee approved the draft resolution as a whole (Annex VI). Speaking after the vote, the representative of Japan said that because those weapons had immense potential to cause grave suffering, the use of nuclear weapons ran contrary to the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law. Nuclear weapons must never be used again. Japan supported the decision of the International Court of Justice that States should pursue nuclear disarmament and conclude negotiations leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons. That could be achieved only through a step-by-step process. It was premature to call upon all States to take all steps to begin negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons by the end of 2002. More practical steps could be taken first, before this sort of negotiations could take place. The representative of the Netherlands, spoke on behalf of the Benelux countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, as well as the following countries that had aligned themselves with the statement: Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal and Spain. He said he supported the advisory opinion of the International Court of justice on the legality of nuclear weapons, which stated that there was an obligation to pursue in good faith negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament under strict and effective international control. Though he supported the idea contained in the resolution that the ultimate aim of nuclear disarmament was the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, could not support the resolution as a whole, he said. Only one aspect of the International Court of Justice's decision was included in the resolution, which was regrettable because the decision should be considered as a whole. Nuclear disarmament could only be achieved on a step-by-step basis. The international community should focus on implementing the practical measures decided upon at the sixth Review Conference of the NPT. The representative of the United States said he voted against the resolution and the related paragraph because the texts used the International Court of Justice on the legality of nuclear weapons decision as their basis. Unilateral and bilateral efforts were yielding significant results on nuclear disarmament. That approach was the only practical way to achieve progress on such a complex issue. Ongoing unilateral and bilateral negotiations continued to make real progress, and the Conference on Disarmament would continue to make progress on nuclear disarmament. None of those successful measures were affected by the International Court of Justice's decision. States were reminded that the Court's decision on the matter was only advisory, and not binding. Next, the Committee approved the draft on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia (document A/C.1/56/L.48) without a vote. The Committee next took up the text on implementing the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (document A/C.1/56/L.32). The representative of Egypt, speaking before the vote, said he had supported all proposals leading to regional stability. From that position, he sympathized with the general thrust of the draft resolution on chemical weapons, as that Convention had banned, globally, an entire class of weapons of mass destruction. Nevertheless, he would stress his well-known position on the Convention with respect to the Middle East -- while he favoured the prohibition of those and all weapons of mass destruction, as evidenced by its initiative to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, all States in the region should make reciprocal commitments. He said that lasting peace could not be achieved through military superiority or a qualitative edge. Although his country had been particularly active in the long and arduous negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament leading to the elaboration of the Convention, its position, since day one of its opening for signature in 1993, had emanated from its regional considerations and concerns. In particular, Israel had declined to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention or join the NPT. Despite all of those considerations, he said he had not requested a recorded vote on the text, but he did not consider himself to be part of any consensus decision, particularly with respect to the first operative paragraph, which emphasized the necessity of universal adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The representative of Pakistan said he supported the draft resolution and, as a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention and of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had wished to underline the Convention's importance. A number of States parties had not yet submitted their initial declarations to the OPCW. He underscored the need for the early destruction of chemical weapons by certain States which, even after adhering to the Convention, had not declared the destruction of their chemical weapons. The Committee then approved the draft resolution on the Chemical Weapons Convention (document A/C.1/56/L.32) without a vote. The representative of Israel, speaking after the vote, joined consensus on the draft. It had signed the Convention and had been very active in the preparatory commission leading to its elaboration, in order to shape the treaty into a workable mechanism. By signing it, Israel had reflected its moral vision and commitment to a world free of chemical weapons. Unfortunately, when it signed it in 1993, other countries in the region, including those that had used chemical weapons in the past or were believed to be working to improve their chemical weapons capabilities, had failed to follow suit. Those had indicated that their position would remain unchanged even if Israel ratified the Convention. He said that his country's decision not to ratify the Convention thus far had related to its geopolitical environment. At the signing ceremony in 1993, it had made clear it would seek to ratify the Convention, subject to regional security concerns. The threat of chemical warfare against Israel had not diminished since then. In fact, the overall security concern had actually increased. Positive changes in the security climate in the Middle East would be a major impetus towards Israel's ratification. Speaking before the vote on a draft resolution on the prohibition of the dumping of radioactive wastes (document A/C.1/56/L.33), the representative of the Dominican Republic said that there were important ideas in the draft. Countries like his own could be victims of such dumping and they were conscious of the threat posed to the coasts and marine environment. The Dominican Republic had always made sure that shipping and air companies complied with international laws prohibiting the dumping of dangerous wastes. Given the susceptibility of developing countries to the dangers of the dumping of radioactive wastes, special consideration should be given to the concerns of small island States. The representative of Pakistan said he supported the main objectives of the resolution, which were rooted in legitimate concerns. Pakistan took issues of radioactive waste very seriously, having passed resolutions on the matter and created a nuclear regulatory committee to watch after the safety of all nuclear materials. Pakistan's support did not imply their approval of operative paragraphs 8 or 9 of the resolution, which dealt with the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management. The resolution was adopted without a vote. The representative of India, speaking after the vote, said India was one of few countries that supported the inclusion of radiological weapons on the agenda of the Conference on Disarmament. In regards to operative paragraph 8, however, which referred to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management, India stressed that spent fuel was not a waste. It was useful for energy-related purposes. At the end of the meeting, several procedural issues were discussed. The representative of the Netherlands wanted to know why the draft text on transparency in armaments (document A/C.1/56/L.40) had not been included in the list of texts ready for action in the Committee's working paper. The Secretary explained that it had been left out because on oral statement on the text was expected. The representative of Nepal said that, in the working paper, the title given to the resolution on a Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (document A/C.1/56/L.50) was misleading, because it did not mention development. The Acting Chairman explained that a similar document on the Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Latin America and the Caribbean did mention development. Having been brought to his attention, he said, the problem would be corrected. The Committee Secretary read a letter from the United States delegation to the First Committee explaining that arrangements had been made for a visit to the site of the World Trade Center disaster. Participation would be limited to the first 110 persons to register with the delegation. Each delegation could only send one person and there would be two separate visits. ANNEX I Vote on Convention Prohibiting Nuclear Weapon Use The draft resolution on a Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons (document A/C.1/56/L.12) was approved by a recorded vote of 90 in favour to 42 against, with 11 abstentions, as follows: In favour: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C'te d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe. Against: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Federated States of Micronesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia. Abstain: Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Ukraine. Absent: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Nigeria, Palau, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia. (END OF ANNEX I) ANNEX II Vote on Reducing Nuclear Danger The draft resolution on reducing nuclear danger (document A/C.1/56/L.14) was approved by a recorded vote of 89 in favour to 43 against, with 13 abstentions, as follows: In favour: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C'te d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia. Abstain: Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, China, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine. Absent: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Nigeria, Palau, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu. (END OF ANNEX II) ANNEX III Vote on Security Assurances to Non-Nuclear States The draft resolution on security assurances to non-nuclear weapon States (document A/C.1/56/L.26) was approved by a recorded vote of 94 in favour to none against, with 52 abstentions, as follows: In favour: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C'te d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: None. Abstain: Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia. Absent: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu. (END OF ANNEX III) ANNEX IV Vote on 2005 NPT Review The draft resolution on the 2005 Review Conference of the NPT (document A/C.1/56/L.38) was approved by a recorded vote of 141 in favour to 1 against, with 3 abstentions, as follows: In favour: Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C'te d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: India. Abstain: Cuba, Israel, Pakistan. Absent: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu. (END OF ANNEX IV) ANNEX V Vote on Operative Para 1/ICJ Advisory Opinion Text Operative paragraph 1 of the draft resolution concerning the ICJ Advisory Opinion (document A/C.1/56/L.45) was approved by a recorded vote of 139 in favour to 4 against, with 2 abstentions, as follows: In favour: Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C'te d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: France, Israel, Russian Federation, United States. Abstain: Federated States of Micronesia, United Kingdom. Absent: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu. (END OF ANNEX V) ANNEX VI Vote on ICJ Advisory Opinion The draft resolution on the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the legality of the use of nuclear weapons (document A/C.1/56/L.45) was approved by a recorded vote of 99 in favour to 28 against, with 19 abstentions, as follows: In favour: Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, C'te d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. Abstain: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Yugoslavia. Absent: Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niger, Palau, Panama, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu. M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com. (C)1994-2001 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD Copyright © 2001 Zawya.com Ltd. All rights reserved. Please read our User ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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