***************************************************************** 08/01/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.195 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Police search office of nuclear agency worker* 2 N. Korea: Mixed signals 3 Increased Russian activity at Iran's reactor? 4 'Russia must end Iran nuclear deal' 5 Pritchard to visit North Korea for KEDO ceremony Aug. 7 6 US weighs dialogue with North Korea NUCLEAR REACTORS 7 US: NPPD OKs nuclear plant settlements 8 US: NE - Talks to proceed over private management of nuclear plant 9 Under U.S. pressure, Russia stands ground over Iranian nuclear progr 10 Galloping costs of ecology cult -- 11 US: Inside the Briefcase: R. Michael Morris, Nuclear Regulatory 12 US: NRC Cites Fort Calhoun Station for Finding of Low to Moderate 13 US: Plant: Residents get chance to discuss 14 US: NRC Reduces the Significance of River Bend Safety Finding NUCLEAR SAFETY 15 Powell, ASEAN Sign Anti-Terror Pact 16 US: $293 Million Paid Out To Nuclear Weapon Workers NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 17 US: Volcanic hazard at proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste 18 US: Judge strikes down state N-waste laws 19 US: Radioactive alert closes U-M building 20 US: Yucca Mountain project director wants to trim billions from budg 21 US: Energy Dept. Ends Waste Disposal 22 *Unicoi Residents Say Tourism, Not Nuclear Energy, Should Be Focus O 23 US: Study: Yucca volcano would be destructive 24 US: Yucca Mountain project director wants to trim billions from budg 25 US: New study warns of volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain 26 US: Yucca Editorial: Just what's the rush, anyway? 27 US: Yucca Letter: Why would any Nevadan ever vote Republican? 28 US: Activists criticize federal plan for nuclear waste 29 SELLAFIELD WORKER'S 'SABOTAGE' SACKING WAS FAIR, TRIBUNAL DECIDES 30 US: Judge strikes down Utah laws banning nuclear waste, saying it's 31 US: CCMUA to take water from Superfund site 32 US: Volcanic zone threatens planned nuclear facility 33 USEC blames delays on Russian uranium for drop in earnings 34 US: Volcanic Hazard at Proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Reposit 35 AU: Gallop urged to oppose nuclear fuel ship 36 US: Yucca Mountain project director wants to trim billions from 37 US: New study warns of volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain NUCLEAR WEAPONS 38 US: FPIF News: The Empty Promise of Global Missile Defense 39 American nuclear scientists tell Bush to ratify test treaty 40 Kursk closure leaves questions unanswered 41 Iraq 'close to nuclear bomb goal' 42 Coffee With North Korea 43 Iraq could get nukes by 2005 44 US: Study finds nuclear tests not needed US DEPT. OF ENERGY 45 11 students participate in RAM program at ORNL 46 TDEC concerned with DOE funding of EM program 47 Roll Call: Current News 48 Patton to bring cleanup update 49 Whitfield says DOE cleanup a priority 50 DOE Preserves History of Significant Structures at Hanford OTHER NUCLEAR ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Police search office of nuclear agency worker* Friday, August 2, 2002 ** Police on Thursday morning searched the office of a Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency employee who was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of taking bribes. Police also searched the Diet office where Toshiyuki Takahashi, 45, was employed prior to his transfer to the agency, as well as two companies suspected of bribing him, one in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, and the other in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. Takahashi, a deputy division chief at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, contacted power companies in a bid to sell computer software that had been developed from nuclear plant designs he had stolen from the government and sold to two businessmen, police sources alleged earlier Thursday. Takahashi allegedly received 10.05 million yen from August 1999 through August 2001 in exchange for the stolen information. Tokyo police also arrested Yoshinori Okamoto, 39, a former board member of a computer software company based in Shizuoka Prefecture, Wednesday night on suspicion of bribing Takahashi. Police are also looking for a 52-year-old former president of a waste management firm based in Tsukuba who is also suspected of bribing Takahashi. Neither firm was named. Takahashi, a chief safety inspector of Japan's nuclear plants, allegedly began passing on government information to the pair when he served as a Diet aide on science and technology in 1998. The information he reportedly sold included computerized designs of nuclear plant facilities, desalination projects and other industrial data. Takahashi is believed to have received nearly 20 million yen from Okamoto and the waste management executive whose name was not provided, to pay off personal debts, but police charged him only with receiving bribes that fell within the statute of limitations. Takahashi, a former technician at the now defunct Science and Technology Agency, served in the House of Representatives office on science and technology from 1998 until January 2001, when he was transferred to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. Police said Takahashi worked on legislative matters for Diet members and had access to nuclear plant designs kept at the Science and Technology Agency as well as other government information. Okamoto and the waste management executive allegedly used the information provided by Takahashi to develop a seawater treatment company in Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, and a waste treatment firm in Tsukuba, but both companies failed. Takahashi made contacts with electric power companies in a bid to help sell computer software developed by Okamoto. But no utilities took up the offer, police said. *The Japan Times: Aug. 2, 2002* (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 2 N. Korea: Mixed signals Economist.com Aug 1st 2002 From The Economist Global Agenda *North Korea seems to be engaged in one of its periodic efforts to break out of its diplomatic isolation, making overtures to America, Japan and South Korea. But, just a month after a serious naval clash with South Korea, it is too early to tell whether Pyongyang has made a strategic policy shift, or is merely making tactical manoeuvres* Reuters *The outgoing Mr Paek * A FIFTEEN-MINUTE meeting between foreign ministers hardly allows time for more than a stilted exchange of diplomatic pleasantries. But that an encounter between North Korea?s Paek Nam-sun and Colin Powell, the American secretary of state, took place at all is a big step in bilateral relations. The meeting, held on Wednesday July 31st in the margins of a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations in Brunei, marked much the highest-level contact between the two countries since the election of President George Bush. It followed an offer by North Korea, conveyed through the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, to open talks with both America and Japan, ?without any preliminary conditions?, and the arrangement, for Friday August 2nd, of working-level talks between North and South Korea to prepare for a ministerial meeting. North Korea, it seems, is trying to come out of its shell. Certainly, it has reason enough to want to. Just this week, a report from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) highlighted the dire predicament into which North Korea?s political and economic isolation has dragged its people. After many years of widespread food shortages, North Korea is still in desperate need of foreign help because, says the WFP, its ?domestic production remains well below minimum consumption requirements, its capacity to import commercially is limited, and aid pledges by the international community have been slow in coming.? There are even signs that the plight has become so acute that North Korea?s ruling communist party has resorted to tinkering with some of the most fundamental tenets of its Stalinist economic system, by introducing some market-based pricing for basic commodities such as rice and housing. Also, even in the enclosed world of Pyongyang, North Korea?s leaders cannot have been deaf to the bellicose noises coming out of Washington, DC. Although these are largely directed at Iraq, North Korea (along with Iran) was also cited by Mr Bush in January as part of an ?axis of evil?, because it, too, is known to have tried to acquire weapons of mass destruction and to have engaged in terrorism outside its borders. North Korea, as an exporter of missile technology, also poses a weapons-proliferation problem in its own right. That is an important reason why Mr Powell was receptive to North Korea?s offer of a handshake and chat. Another is the risk of conflict between the two Koreas themselves. The Korean war ended in 1953 with a ceasefire rather than a peace agreement, and with hundreds of thousands of soldiers on either side of the border, the peninsula remains one of the world?s most dangerous hotspots. When it took office, the Bush administration, sceptical about the friendly gestures towards Pyongyang made by President Bill Clinton and by South Korea under the ?sunshine policy? of its president, Kim Dae-jung, put relations with North Korea on hold during a four-month review. But in June last year, Mr Bush announced he was ready for ?serious discussions? and wanted ?improved implementation? of the 1994 agreement, under which America, Japan and South Korea would help North Korea build two nuclear reactors, in return for its verifiably abandoning its nuclear-weapons programme. He also said he was willing to resume talks on North Korea?s missile exports. Pyongyang has demanded compensation for any promise to curtail them. Now, Mr Paek has said that it had been agreed that James Kelly, America's assistant secretary of state for Asia, will visit Pyongyang. The state department has yet to confirm the trip, which was originally scheduled for last month. There is plenty to talk about. Implementation of the nuclear agreement is going badly. Construction of the foreign-built, ?safe?, nuclear reactors is years behind schedule, bogged down in wrangles over the sequence in which each side should meet its commitments. A ceremony is planned for next week to mark the pouring of the first concrete into the plant?s foundations. But sensitive technology will not be transferred until North Korea opens its other nuclear facilities to international inspection. Its continued refusal to do so could wreck the deal altogether, and cause a crisis. Unpredictable, hostile and even more isolated, North Korea would perhaps continue or resume its efforts to build nuclear weapons, posing a serious threat to the South, where some 37,000 American soldiers are based. So the signs of a thaw in North Korea?s icy outlook in the past few days are cheering. But they do not in themselves provide convincing evidence of a genuine warming up. It is only just over a month since North Korean naval ships fired on a South Korean frigate, provoking a sea-battle in which five South Korean sailors were killed. That incident led to the postponement of Mr Kelly's visit. Last week, North Korea expressed ?regret? over it. But on July 31st, even as its foreign minister was meeting Mr Powell, its navy accused South Korea?s of ?premeditated provocations?, by sending ships into its waters two days in succession. That North Korea?s official media should also that same day call America ?the kingpin of evil?, and accuse it of being intent on invasion, hardly suggests a concerted charm offensive. So obscure are the inner workings of the North Korean state that it is impossible to interpret these conflicting signals. They may reflect policy disagreements in Pyongyang, poor co-ordination, or even an attempt by a desperate, crippled regime to talk tough even as it seeks help from those it most excoriates. Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited ***************************************************************** 3 Increased Russian activity at Iran's reactor? WorldNetDaily WEDNESDAY JULY 31 2002 *GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF* Satellites show Moscow stepping up construction of nuclear facility Posted: July 31, 2002 5:00 p.m. Eastern /Editor's note: WorldNetDaily brings readers exclusive, up-to-the-minute global intelligence news and analysis from Geostrategy-Direct, Israel and the United States have detected a significant acceleration in Russia's efforts to build a nuclear reactor in Iran, according to a report published in a pro-West Gulf military journal. The report said that Russia and Iran have increased the number of personnel working on the Bushehr nuclear reactor. So far, the report said, more than 20,000 people are at the site. The report, published in the monthly journal by the United Arab Emirates military, said Israel and the United States have determined that the number of personnel at Bushehr has increased significantly over the last few months. The increase consists of scientists and technicians and the activity in the area has been described as unusual. Authored by Egyptian Gen. Saad Shaaban, the report, which was not described as an official study by the Egyptian government or military, said Israeli and U.S. spy satellites have increased their monitoring of the Bushehr area. Shaaban, an army officer and regarded as a leading strategist, said the focus of the satellite reconnaissance is the Helila oasis, about 17 kilometers from Bushehr. "It is no secret that both the United States and its ally Israel have been extremely worried about the growing Iranian nuclear capabilities with the support of Russia," the study, published in the UAE's Gulf Defense magazine, said. "This was demonstrated in the recent summit between U.S. President George Bush and his Russian counterpart. That is why it is clear that the basic mission of the Israeli satellite is to monitor and picture the Iranian nuclear oasis near the city of Bushehr." In May, Israel launched its Ofeq-5 spy satellite, said to be capable of relaying images with a high-resolution of 0.8 meters. Israeli defense officials said the satellite has exceeded expectations and has focused on threats from Iran and Iraq. Ofeq-5 has similar capabilities to U.S. spy satellites, which have been monitoring Iran and Iraq for the past decade, the report said. Shaaban suggested that Ofeq's remote-sensing capability is far higher than 0.8 meters. "It is no exaggeration to say that pictures by such satellites can detect nails in wooden doors, car plate numbers or even letters in a newspaper headline on the ground," the report said. The Egyptian study said the Ofeq-5 launch has transformed Israel into the eighth largest space power in the world. The satellite launch could be the prelude of a strategic strike on either Iran or Iraq. Shaaban said Israel and the United States are in coordination regarding satellite surveillance of the strategic programs of Iran. His study said the coordination reflects increased concern over Iran's nuclear weapons and intermediate-range capability. On May 1, about four weeks before the Ofeq-5 launch, Iran was said to have successfully tested a Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile. The missile has a range of 1,300 kilometers and can be tipped with nonconventional warheads. "The launch of the Israeli spy satellite followed U.S. intelligence information about the growing Iranian nuclear potential," the report said. "The choice of the satellite's orbit and height show that it was designed for this purpose and perhaps for taking preemptive action." /Subscribe to Geostrategy-Direct. © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. ***************************************************************** 4 'Russia must end Iran nuclear deal' BBC NEWS | Middle East | Thursday, 1 August, Russia's closeness to Iran worries Washington US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham says he has urged Russia to give up all nuclear cooperation with Iran, insisting it is a matter of "utmost concern" to the United States. Speaking after talks with energy officials in Moscow, Mr Abraham said he was deeply worried by Russia's decision to expand its construction of nuclear reactors in Iran, and he wanted all such projects to stop. We consistently urge Russia to cease all nuclear cooperation with Iran, including its assistance to the reactor in Bushehr Spencer Abraham Last week Moscow announced a 10-year nuclear cooperation accord with Iran - one of three countries denounced by President Bush as an "axis of evil". The US has long opposed Russia's involvement in the construction of a nuclear power plant at Bushehr in southern Iran, and this new accord provides for further reactors to be constructed. Nuclear weapons risk Mr Abraham's comments came after talks with Russian officials on energy and nuclear disarmament. "We consistently urge Russia to cease all nuclear cooperation with Iran, including its assistance to the reactor in Bushehr," Mr Abraham said. [Spencer Abraham] Abraham: concerned about Iran's intentions His message was reaffirmed by US Under-Secretary of State John Bolton, who was also present at the discussions in Moscow. Mr Abraham accused Iran of "aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons as well as weapons of mass destruction". Civil atomic energy projects would only fast-track the country's nuclear weapons programme, he warned. US officials argue there can be no other reason for a country with Iran's oil resources to want so many nuclear power reactors. But both Russia and Iran have said their nuclear cooperation is purely for peaceful purposes, and Iran consistently denies developing nuclear weapons. New nuclear deal The ambitious 10-year plan signed last week by Russia and Iran includes the construction of up to five nuclear reactors. This is in addition to Russia's agreement made in the 1990s to build the Bushehr plant on the Gulf coast. [Iran's (non-nuclear) Shahab-3 missile on show] Iran's nuclear capabilities are in the spotlight The new accord came as a surprise to US officials. In the wake of 11 September, Russia emerged as one America's key allies in its anti-terror campaign. Less than a month ago, Moscow even agreed to a confidence-building $20bn aid package for dismantling Russia's weapons of mass destruction. But the BBC's regional affairs analyst Steven Eke says the issue of Russia's nuclear co-operation with Iran is one of the most contentious problems in US-Russia relations, and the reactor at Bushehr is at the heart of the problem. The plant should be running within two or three years and, while Moscow insists it has adequate controls in place, previous failures have provoked suspicion in the US. The reactor itself could not be used to make a nuclear bomb, our correspondent says, but weapons-grade plutonium could theoretically be extracted from its spent fuel. The nuclear issue is part of a wider strategic disagreement between Washington and Moscow over Iran. Russia has derided the idea that Iran belongs to what President Bush calls "the axis of evil" - and has even accused Washington of orchestrating an anti-Iranian campaign. ***************************************************************** 5 Pritchard to visit North Korea for KEDO ceremony Aug. 7 Korea Herald!!_National http://www.koreaherald.com By Seo Hyun-jin Staff reporter Jack Pritchard, Washington's point man on negotiations with Pyongyang, will visit North Korea on Aug. 7 to attend a ceremony at the construction site of two nuclear power plants in his capacity as an executive board member of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), Seoul officials said yesterday. An international consortium led by the United States, South Korea, Japan and the European Union, KEDO is building two 1,000-megawatt light-water reactors (LWRs) in Kumho, on the East Coast in the North, under the 1994 Agreed Framework. made in Geneva. "Pritchard will attend a board meeting in Seoul on Monday before flying to the North for a ceremony marking the pouring of concrete for the power plants," a KEDO official said. The official said the executive board meeting will review the overall process of LWR construction in the North and discuss its future direction. Three other senior KEDO officials to attend the ceremony are Chang Sun-sup from the South, Kathunari Suzuki from Japan and Jean-Pierre Leng from the European Union. About 150 delegates, including officials from KEDO and construction companies as well as journalists, will travel to the North for the event. Pritchard's visit to the North comes at a time when the Pyongyang government is sending conciliatory gestures toward South Korea, the United States and Japan. The North expressed regret over the June 29 inter-Korean naval clash and offered to resume dialogue with the South and the United States. Despite the ups and downs in inter-Korean relations, Pyongyang has been relatively faithful in engaging the international consortium, Seoul officials said. A North Korean Air Koryo passenger jet made a test flight July 20 on a new inter-Korean air route over the East Sea, which will be used to transport workers and materials for the power plant construction. Twenty-five North Korean officials participated in monthlong education programs on safety for the power plants at an institute in the South last month. Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, the North promised to freeze its nuclear weapons program in return for KEDO's construction of two LWRs. (shj@koreaherald.co.kr) 2002.08.01 (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. / Lincoln Journal Star COLUMBUS -- Years of litigation over Cooper Nuclear Station ended Wednesday when the Nebraska Public Power District Board approved settlement agreements with two of its partners in the plant, Lincoln Electric System and Mid­American Energy Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. LES Administrator and CEO Terry Bundy praised the agreement, saying it's a good thing not only for all the Cooper partners but also for LES customers. "It puts a lot of contentious litigation behind us and lets us go about the business of meeting the needs of our customers," Bundy said. "It will help with our long-term relationship with NPPD." Both NPPD and LES say the settlement will not significantly affect rates. MidAmerican Energy officials could not be reached for comment. Litigation between LES and NPPD dates back to 1995. That's when LES sued the state's largest electric utility, saying it lost millions of dollars because NPPD failed to properly operate Cooper Nuclear Station. MidAmerican made similar complaints. Under the settlement agreement, LES would continue to be a customer of NPPD and buy electricity at a favorable rate until October 2003. Also, LES will no longer pay a percentage of Cooper's expenses. LES gets 12.5 percent of the power from Cooper and MidAmerican receives 50 percent. The rest goes to NPPD. Both LES and MidAmerican earlier notified NPPD officials that they did not want to renew their Cooper contracts once they expire, in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The settlement also ends all past, present and future litigation between NPPD and LES, and absolves LES of any future risk stemming from the operation or decommissioning of Cooper. "I think there are a lot of uncertainties surrounding a nuclear power plant," Bundy said. "NPPD assumes all the benefits and liabilities associated with the share of Cooper that we had." NPPD will retain LES's share of decommissioning and reserve funds, worth about $50million. "Public power has been served with this settlement," said NPPD President and CEO Bill Mayben. "The agreement brings LES's relationship with Cooper to a simple and orderly conclusion." Bundy said LES plans to keep about $5million in decommissioning funds that it has been holding in an escrow account while the litigation was pending. The LES Administrative Board unanimously approved the settlement at a special meeting Wednesday. LES will not be paid any money by NPPD. However, Bundy, estimates that LES will get about $25million in benefits from parts of the settlement agreement over the next 15 years. MidAmerican will receive a lump sum. NPPD officials, citing a confidentiality clause, declined to name the amount. However, The Associated Press reported that officials believe hundreds of millions of dollars could be involved. MidAmerican also would buy electricity from NPPD until December 2004 and, like LES, would no longer pay a percentage of Cooper's expenses. The settlement also ends all past, present and future litigation over Cooper, and MidAmerican would not be responsible for any future risk. NPPD also would retain Mid­American's share of decommissioning and reserve funds estimated at more than $200million. Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com. Copyright © 2002, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. written permission from the Lincoln Journal Star. 926 P Street Lincoln NE 68508 402 475-4200 ? feedback@journalstar.com ***************************************************************** 8 NE - Talks to proceed over private management of nuclear plant Thursday, Aug. 1, 2002 COLUMBUS, Neb. - Intense federal inspections of a troubled nuclear power plant show continued problems with personnel, equipment and attempts to correct those inadequacies, the leader of the power district in charge of Cooper Nuclear Station said. Turning around the plant in southeast Nebraska will take up to three years and cannot be done with current management, Nebraska Public Power District president Bill Mayben told his board of directors Wednesday before they voted 9-2 to negotiate a contract with a private management firm. "I don't believe we're going to be successful with a turn around unless we augment our management at Cooper Nuclear," Mayben said. Problems responding to an emergency drill and then a fire near the plant prompted the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to give it the lowest rating possible this year without shutting it down. Inspectors from the federal agency spent three weeks inspecting the plant near Brownville and expected to issue a final report by the end of August. Preliminary results showed problems that will take time to fix, Mayben said. The board will have to approve any contract that power district officials reach with the Nuclear Management Co. of Hudson, Wis., which has been under a short-term agreement with NPPD to lend expertise at the plant. The management company serves five power districts in the upper Midwest and operates eight nuclear reactors at six sites. More experienced nuclear power plant leaders not already on site can be pulled from the management company into the Cooper plant if Nuclear Management takes over, Mayben said. The firm also can provide consistent management at the plant, which has suffered from high turnover. Nuclear Management oversees a number of nuclear power facilities and offers better career opportunities than NPPD's one nuclear plant, Mayben said. Board member Larry Kuncl voted against approving negotiations with management company. Extending the current contract would allow the power district to maintain control of the plant while working to staff it with its own personnel, Kuncl said. "I think it is pathetic that in 10 years our management has not developed people from within to step up and take over that plant," Kuncl said. Board member Gary Thompson also voted against immediate negotiations with Nuclear Management, arguing that other management options may not have been fully explored. "Let's get out, so we can assure ourselves that this is our best option," Thompson said. The power district was running out of time to correct problems at Cooper Nuclear and the board had to make a decision, said board member Ralph Holzfaster. "I'm really comfortable with NMC and I think they would fit us as well as anyone that is out there," Holzfaster said. Board chairman Wayne Boyd said he wants the power district to run Cooper Nuclear to the end of its license term and extend it beyond that date if possible. The power district would have to pay $2.8 million to sign up with the Nuclear Management, and other costs and details would have to be negotiated, Mayben said. The power district's budget this year for Cooper Nuclear was about $200 million. On The Net: Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov/ Lincoln Electric System: http://www.les.com/ MidAmerican Energy: http://www.midamericanenergy.com/ - Copyright 2002 The Associated Press Copyright © 2002, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. 402 475-4200 ? feedback@journalstar.com ***************************************************************** 9 Under U.S. pressure, Russia stands ground over Iranian nuclear program AFP - 8/1/2002 MOSCOW - Russian diplomats stood their ground Wednesday under grilling from two top U.S. officials over Moscow's unexpected decision to vastly expand its nuclear cooperation with Tehran despite Washington's designation of Iran as part of an "axis of evil." U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham met Russia's Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev behind closed doors in Moscow for delicate talks which Washington officials said would focus squarely on Iran. The joint visits by Abraham and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton were scheduled before Russia's announcement last Friday that it had approved a new 10-year nuclear program that foresees construction of a second Iranian nuclear power plant. They had been due to focus on a routine round of preparations for an October Russia-U.S. energy summit in Houstin, Texas. But the meetings have since emerged as some of the most sensitive since Russian-U.S. relations reached new highs following President Vladimir Putin's decision to give all-out support for Washington's anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan. Moscow's announcement on Iran appeared to stun both the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon, having come after expressions of concern from Washington that an existing nuclear power plant project may be helping Tehran develop weapons of mass destruction. But Russian officials stuck to their tough new line Wednesday, with one diplomat saying that Moscow demanded to see firm proof from Washington that Iran was developing nuclear weapons with Russia's help. "Our cooperation is focused on economic aspects that do not undermine the non-proliferation regime," one Russian official told the Interfax news agency under condition of anonymity. "If the U.S. side has any doubts about this, then we want to hear specific facts." Former Russian prime minister Yevgeny Primakov, now a leading member of parliament, added: "These accusations are baseless." And the chairman of the upper house of parliament's defense committee, Viktor Ozerov, declared that Russia "is not going to be dictated to by others when our own national interests are at stake. "This cooperation is beneficial for Russia from all points of view," said Ozerov. Both the United States and Israel fear the projects are helping Iran develop a nuclear weapons program, with the Washington Post reporting that the Israeli military is considering bombing the Bushehr plant before it goes on stream. "The press reports that Russia is considering helping in the construction of additional reactors in Iran we find disturbing," said State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker. "We have talked about our concerns over this for some time, and we have consistently urged Russia to cease all cooperation with Iran, including assistance to the reactor at Bushehr." During a summit in Moscow in May, U.S. President George W. Bush raised Washington's concerns about Russian nuclear aid to Iran, expressing fears that Tehran's leaders could put the technology to ill use. While mentioning Bushehr, Bush said he was also concerned that Russian research institutes were supplying Tehran with blueprints for the development of sophisticated long-range missiles that could deliver a devastating nuclear attack. But Putin at the time dismissed the charges, arguing that he had evidence that Iran was using Western, and not Russian, technology to develop its missile program. © Copyright 2002 AFP ©Copyright 2002 TheNewsMexico.com ***************************************************************** 10 Galloping costs of ecology cult -- The Washington Times August 1, 2002 Thomas Sowell Now that we have all breathed a sigh of relief at the rescue of the miners trapped underground in Somerset, Pa., perhaps we might reconsider some of the things that send men down into such hazardous places to get us the fuel to power our economy. The cost of coal is more than dollars and cents. It is also danger and lives. So are the costs of other ways of producing power for our homes and industries. Hydroelectric dams can burst and wipe out whole communities. Oil can spill over vast areas of land or sea, or catch fire and pollute the air. Nuclear power has its dangers as well, as Chernobyl demonstrated. Too often, individuals, organizations and movements seize upon one particular kind of cost or danger and try to block it by all means possible. But how many miners' lives are we prepared to risk, in order to spare any inconvenience to Caribou near the Alaskan oil reserves? Or to spare the delicate feelings of nature cultists who will wring their hands over oil drilling that neither they nor 99 percent of the American people will ever see? Children can set their hearts on one thing and throw tantrums when they can't get it, or can't get it right now. But the mark of maturity is weighing one thing against another in an imperfect world. An adult weighing tradeoffs cannot demand that nuclear power be "safe" because nothing on the face of this Earth is 100 percent safe. The only meaningful question is: Compared to what? Compared to digging for coal or burning oil? Compared to hydroelectric dams? Compared to running out of electricity and having blackouts? Demanding "clean" air and water is like demanding "safe" sources of power. There are no such things. There are air and water containing greater and lesser amounts of other elements and compounds, some of which represent varying amounts of danger that can be removed at varying costs. Some of these elements and compounds are dangerous pollutants, which can be removed to a great extent at relatively modest costs. But to remove that last infinitesimal fraction of pollutants means skyrocketing costs to avoid ever more remote, or even questionable, dangers. Some things that might be lethal in high concentrations may be easily handled by the body's natural defenses when there are only minute traces in the air or water. Unfortunately, such complications do not lend themselves to political slogans or to ideological crusades that can energize zealots in environmental cults or Chicken Littles who demand absolute "safety." Politicians pander to such people, especially during election years, as California's Governor Gray Davis has done by approving more stringent "clean air" standards for automobiles sold in that state. Since there is no way to burn fuel without producing emissions, the mantra of "lower emission standards" is a blank check for never-ending escalations of costs for removing ever more remote dangers. The most fraudulent of these lower emissions efforts are those directed toward producing electric cars, which will have no emissions at all, because the pollutants are emitted where the electricity is produced, rather than in the cars where it is used. But the emissions are still produced. True zealots say that "if it saves just one human life," any measure for the sake of safety is worth whatever it costs. But what if its costs can include other human lives? Wealth saves lives. The miners who were trapped underground in Pennsylvania would have been dead in many Third World countries, because the costly technology and the highly trained specialists who rescued them would simply not have been there, and could not have been gotten there in time over dirt roads or through jungles. An earthquake that kills a dozen people in California will kill hundreds of people in a less affluent nation and thousands in a truly poor country. Not only does wealth enable buildings and other structures to be built to more earthquake-resistant standards, wealth also provides more advanced rescue equipment and more elaborately equipped hospitals with more highly trained personnel to treat the injured. They say talk is cheap. But some kinds of political rhetoric can end up costing lives as well as money. Thomas Sowell is a nationally syndicated columnist. ***************************************************************** 11 Inside the Briefcase: R. Michael Morris, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Green Bay Press-Gazette - Posted July 28, 2002 Name: R. Michael Morris Age: 49 What is the news? Named Nuclear Regulatory Commission resident inspector at Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant in Two Creeks. Job description: “Our basic job is protecting the health and the safety of the public. We are the eyes and the ears of the agency in the field. Our job is to watch the day-to-day operations of the power plants. We are involved in the full spectrum of plant events. We are here to have a feel of the pulse of what is going on at the power plant. We are not just eight-hour employees. (One of us) is on call 24 hours a day. We do get phone calls if anything goes on. We are first responders.” Previous job: For past two years Morris was in the Operator Licensing Branch of the Region III office, Lisle, Ill. Before joining the NRC, he worked at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He has 28 years of nuclear power experience, including service in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear machinist on a submarine. Education: Bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from the University of South Carolina. He received senior reactor operator certification while at Diablo Canyon. Why nuclear power? “I was in the Navy and the Navy didn’t ask me, they told me. When I got out of the Navy, I went to college. After I graduated, nuclear power offered me the best options.” The best part of the job: “Mostly just being able to deal with people. I enjoy dealing with people. Working at the power plant, I get to deal with everybody from the vice president down to maintenance workers.” Career plans: “I’m here as a resident inspector. The longest I’m allowed to stay is seven years. I hope sometime in next three to five years to pick up a senior resident position. The senior resident is in charge. There is a lot more administrative responsibility with that.” Employer: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Point Beach inspectors report to Region III headquarters in Lisle, Ill. Who’s the boss? Paul Krohn, senior resident inspector at Point Beach. Description: The NRC’s mission is to regulate the nation’s civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear materials to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment. It oversees reactors, materials and waste. Work force: There are two inspectors at Point Beach on a daily basis. During supplemental inspections, there can be as many as 10 on site for several weeks. Who owns the company? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an agency of the United States government. Discuss this topic in our forums [http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/forums/] [http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com ***************************************************************** 12 NRC Cites Fort Calhoun Station for Finding of Low to Moderate Safety Significance NRC: Press Release Region IV - 2002 - 34 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 www.nrc.gov No. IV-02-034 July 31, 2002 CONTACT: Breck Henderson Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 E-mail: [opa4@nrc.gov] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued its final determination that a May inspection finding at Fort Calhoun Station is of low to moderate safety significance and will be characterized as "white." The Fort Calhoun Station nuclear plant near Blair, Nebraska, is operated by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). The issue involves an April 24 shipment of low-level radioactive waste from Fort Calhoun. Low-level waste material shifted inside a shipping container during transit to a waste processing facility in Tennessee such that radiation levels on contact with the container exceeded the NRC maximum of 200 mrem per hour on arrival. A study of the incident indicates that no one received a radiation dose above NRC limits from contact with the container. The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a color coded significance determination process which classifies regulatory findings as being in one of four color categories: green, white, yellow, or red in increasing order of regulatory safety significance. In addition to a white inspection finding, the NRC has issued a Notice of Violation to OPPD for shipping the waste with higher than allowed radiation levels at the exterior of the container. OPPD is required to submit a written response explaining the reason for the violation and the corrective actions taken. The white finding may require additional NRC inspection at Fort Calhoun. ***************************************************************** 13 Plant: Residents get chance to discuss LancasterOnline.com Thursday, August 1 By Rebecca Ritzel Intelligencer Journal Staff DELTA --Allowing Exelon Nuclear to continue operating Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station would be a sound environmental decision, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said Wednesday. This angered national anti-nuclear activists who were among 75 people to converge on Peach Bottom Inn for an afternoon meeting. At a calmer second session with the same agenda Wednesday night, several Lancaster County residents greeted the NRC's news with mixed reviews. The commission hosted the meetings to get public feedback on a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on the Peach Bottom plant. Exelon is seeking a license to operate the station's two reactors through 2034. Its current license expires in 2014. The EIS evaluates Peach Bottom's effects in 10 categories: land use, ecology, water quality, air quality, waste, human health, socioeconomics, aesthetics, historic resources and environmental justice. In every category, extending the plant's license would have only "small" effects on the environment, NRC officials determined. Because denying Exelon a license extension would hurt the region economically, allowing the plant to continue operating is the best option, according to the NRC. Duke Wheeler, NRC's environmental project manager for Peach Bottom, brought a team of engineers and scientists to Delta to defend and explain NRC's recommendation. NRC official Bob Palla addressed what the commission calls "severe accident mitigation alternatives" at Peach Bottom. Palla considered 134 possible changes Exelon could make to minimize the effects of a nuclear accident at Peach Bottom, but said none of those changes would be cost-effective for the company and therefore would not be recommended. Alan Brinser, of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Plans, answered questions about how Amish residents would be evacuated in the event of an emergency. Although it is Exelon's responsibility to sound alarm sirens, Brinser said, counties are responsible for evacuating residents. The state sends out a special-needs questionnaire each year to residents who live in the emergency plan zone within a 10-mile radius of a nuclear power plant. For the first time this year, Brinser said, the state will ask whether residents have access to a radio or telephone so isolated Amish families can be identified. Municipalities also can help evacuate residents, Brinser said. He cited West Nottingham Township, Chester County, as an example. That township's plan requires police officers to visit each Amish farm during an emergency. After the presentations, the NRC opened the floor to residents and activists. At the afternoon meeting, Joseph Mangano of the Manhattan-based Radiation and Public Health Project presented cancer statistics for Lancaster, York and Chester counties. Among the most alarming, thyroid cancer cases jumped from 26 in 1985 to 110 in 1998 in the three counties, he said. Dr. Gene Weinberg, an oncologist with the state Department of Health, confirmed those statistics for the Intelligencer Journal. At the evening meeting, Holtwood resident Shirley Leibman spoke in support of the plant. "It's acknowledged by all reasonable people that no human actions are totally risk-free at home, in the community or throughout the environment," she said. Leibman, a retired industrial waste researcher with a doctorate in organic chemistry, said she supports the NRC's recommendation to keep Peach Bottom running. "I believe that the stated plans given in the draft EIS provide for the highest level of safety and efficiency," Leibman said. Little Britain Township resident Ernest Guyll disagreed, saying the statement does not adequately address cancer cases and past problems at the plant. "It is my opinion that the NRC had already decided to renew the license of the Peach Bottom plant when it received the application," Guyll said. "The only reason meetings are held is to meet a requirement." The NRC will decide whether it will grant Exelon its extension in July 2003, Wheeler said. While one NRC team has studied Peach Bottom's effects on the environment, another is evaluating safety at the plant. After the safety team tours the site Aug. 15, the NRC will host a public meeting at Peach Bottom Inn. Copies of the EIS and other Peach Bottom documents are available at Quarryville Library or online at www.nrc.gov./reading-rm/doccollections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement10/. Through Sept. 17, NRC will accept comments on the EIS via e-mail at Peach_Bottom_EIS@nrc.gov. Updated: 08/01/02 07:12 ©2001 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. ***************************************************************** 14 NRC Reduces the Significance of River Bend Safety Finding NRC: Press Release Region IV - 2002 - 35 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 www.nrc.gov No. IV-02-035 August 1, 2002 CONTACT: Breck Henderson Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov [opa4@nrc.gov] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has reduced the significance a preliminary regulatory finding at the River Bend nuclear plant near St. Francisville, La., from yellow to white. This means the issue is of lesser safety significance than the NRC initially believed. Entergy Operations Inc., which operates the plant near St. Francisville, La., was notified of the NRC's final significance determination on July 31. The issue involved application of River Bend Station's emergency plan to members of the public who use facilities on the plant property. In a regulatory conference held June 3, Entergy presented new information indicating that some of the regulations the NRC asserted had been violated were in fact properly complied with. This resulted in the more significant (yellow) safety finding being rescinded by the Agency. In its final significance determination, the NRC maintained that Entergy had not met requirements to periodically provide members of the public who use on-site facilities with information on actions to be taken in the event of an emergency. This problem was evaluated as a white finding. The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear power plants with a color- coded significance determination process which classifies regulatory findings as being in one of four color categories: green, white, yellow, or red in increasing order of regulatory safety significance. ***************************************************************** 15 Powell, ASEAN Sign Anti-Terror Pact Thursday, August 01, 2002 World - AP Asia Thu Aug 1, 5:55 AM ET /By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer/ BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) - The United States and a bloc of Southeast Asian nations signed a sweeping anti-terrorism treaty Thursday that is intended to plug security holes, boost U.S. aid to the region and free the United States to more easily confront terrorists there. (AP) Secretary of State Colin Powell signed the pact Thursday with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, whose region has become a second front in the war against al-Qaida and other international terrorists. Powell wants the treaty to lead to a substantial upgrading of security in the region, a senior U.S. official said Thursday. Under the agreement, the countries would share information and increase police cooperation. It would also mean more U.S. technical and logistical aid to the region. On Wednesday, ASEAN joined the United States, China and 11 other countries ? meeting under the ASEAN Regional Forum security grouping ? in a separate bid to block extremists from accessing the money they need to carry out terror attacks. Their agreement targets terrorists' finances with a range of cooperative efforts from freezing assets to creating "financial intelligence units." "We will block terrorists' access to our financial system," the regional forum promised in a joint statement. They agreed to freeze the assets of suspected terrorist groups "without delay." The forum comprises the ASEAN countries ? Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam ? along with other nations that have security interests in the region. Both accords dovetail with what ASEAN has made into a theme in its first meeting since the Sept. 11 attacks: fighting terrorism before it happens. For Southeast Asia, it's not only a security issue but an economic one: Fear of terror activity here, the region's leaders say, impedes investment and economic recovery. Their annual meeting ? derided in the past as an ineffective, bureaucratic talk shop ? has been the scene of intense diplomatic contacts dealing with issues ranging from tensions on the Korean peninsula to the conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said Southeast Asians had no reason to fear that India would go to war with Pakistan, but insisted that talks between the nuclear rivals would not occur until cross-border terrorism halts. "There is absolutely nothing to fear," Sinha said. Powell, who recently visited both India and Pakistan, told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi that tensions had eased considerably and that an outbreak of war is unlikely, a Japanese official said. But Powell added that "much still needs to be done," the official said on customary condition of anonymity. U.S. officials traveling with Powell were not immediately available for comment. Powell also told Kawaguchi that the United States has absolutely no plans to attack Iraq, which Washington accuses of threatening world peace by sponsoring terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. In another regional alliance against terrorism, Malaysia and Australia plan Friday to sign a pact promoting intelligence-sharing and cooperation between the nations' immigration, legal, defense and customs officials. Powell had a brief meeting Wednesday with North Korea's foreign minister Paek Nam Sun in a session that could lead to a resumption of a long-stalled dialogue. Paek told reporters Thursday that a U.S. envoy, James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for Asia, would be visiting North Korea at a date to be proposed by the United States to pursue the dialogue. The renewal of regular contacts would be an important move aimed at defusing rising tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program and a deadly naval clash June 29 between the North and U.S. ally South Korea (47 msg Aug 1, 1:39 PM ET) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 16 $293 Million Paid Out To Nuclear Weapon Workers U.S. Newswire 31 Jul 17:14 $293 Million in Compensation Paid Out on First Anniversary of Implementation of Nuclear Weapon Workers Program To: National Desk Contact: Quinta Buker of the U.S. Department of Labor [http://www.dol.gov] , 202-693-0399 WASHINGTON, July 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On the first anniversary of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, $293 million in compensation payments have been paid out to current and former nuclear weapon workers, or their survivors. "I am proud of the work the Department of Labor has done to help these men and women who were harmed as a result of their hard work and loyal service to their country," said Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. "These workers and their families have paid a terrible price for their role in preserving our freedom. The Department of Labor is helping our country repay these individuals for all their sacrifices." The Act was implemented on July 31, 2001. It provides for compensation of $150,000 and payment of medical expenses to employees who worked for the Department of Energy and its contractors and subcontractors in the development, testing and production of nuclear weapons. Radiogenic cancers, beryllium diseases and chronic silicosis are covered under this program. Qualified survivors of covered employees, including adult children, are also eligible for compensation. The Departments of Labor, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Justice were tasked with administering this very complex program. The agencies have been working cooperatively to deliver benefits. As the lead agency, DOL published Interim Final Regulations, developed user-friendly forms to assist claimants, created a Web site and a toll-free Call Center to answer routine program questions and process requests for forms and informational brochures. In addition, the Departments of Labor and Energy conducted sixty-one public town hall meetings to educate prospective claimants and established Resource Centers in ten locations to assist claimants in filing claims. By the date mandated by Congress for program implementation, July 31, 2001, DOL had set up four district offices, each operational for processing claims. Just nine days after the implementation of the program, the first compensation payment of $150,000 was made. Thanks to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health having completed its final rules governing the handling of most radiogenic cancer claims, DOL has now made payments in all categories of claims covered under the Act. In its first year, DOL has received 31,822 claims associated with 25,781 workers, and rendered 6,285 final decisions associated with 5,001 workers. In addition, DOL has referred 6,405 cases to NIOSH for dose reconstruction and has issued 9,741 recommended (initial) decisions associated with 7,810 workers. --- U.S. Labor Department releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov [http://www.dol.gov] . The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755. http://www.usnewswire.com Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 17 Volcanic hazard at proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 08:32:53 -0500 (CDT) [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 31-Jul-2002 Contact: Harvey Leifert hleifert@agu.org 202-777-7505 American Geophysical Union Volcanic hazard at proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository greater than previously thought WASHINGTON - A volcanic eruption might cause greater damage than previously thought to the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility beneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This, according to research presented by Andrew Woods of the BP Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and colleagues this month in the journal, Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union. Yucca Mountain is located within a long-lived volcanic field. Risk assessments have suggested that the probability of volcanic activity occurring during the 10,000-year compliance period of the repository is around 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000. However, because such activity could have a significant impact on public health and safety, Woods and his colleagues developed a physical model to understand some of the risks associated with volcanic disruption of the repository. Eruptions from volcanoes located within 12 miles [20 kilometers] of the proposed repository have tended to produce small volumes of magma, or molten rock. However, the content of volcanic gases in the magma means that the eruptions have been quite explosive. The model developed by Woods and others envisions that magma rising from below Yucca Mountain would form a narrow body of molten rock called a dike. The dike is hypothesized to cut through several of the repository drifts and be diverted into them. Upon entering a drift, the high gas content of the magma would cause it to expand rapidly. Based on their models, the scientists found that magma in the drifts could reach speeds on the order of 200-600 mph [100-300 m/s], filling parts of the repository with magma within a matter of hours after the initial eruption. Flowing magma might displace canisters holding radioactive waste. Additionally, intense heat associated with the magma would be expected to cause extensive damage to the containers. The results suggest that a greater number of canisters could be affected than previously estimated. The researchers also suggest that the pressure associated with the magma could be sufficient to open new and existing fractures at Yucca Mountain, providing a conduit for material to reach the surface. Woods and his colleagues note that although their models are simplified relative to the complex interactions that would occur in the repository during a volcanic eruption, the models are consistent with understanding of these types of eruptions. Therefore, while previous estimates suggest that the probability of a volcanic event may be very low, potentially significant impacts on the site during such an event warrants further research to fully assess the risk. ***************************************************************** 18 Judge strikes down state N-waste laws [deseretnews.com] Wednesday, July 31, 2002 They conflict with fed law, judge says; Leavitt to appeal By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret News staff writer Gov. Mike Leavitt is vowing to appeal a federal court ruling that struck down Utah laws designed to block the storage of 40,000 tons of nuclear waste on Goshute tribal lands and to impose rigid state regulations and taxes if the waste should come here. Although disappointed in the ruling, it was somewhat expected. "We figured it would ultimately end up in an appellate court," said Natalie Gochnour, Leavitt's spokeswoman. "And we look forward to continue our challenge and make our case. This is just one of the many strategies." U.S. District Court for Utah Judge Tena Campbell ruled Tuesday the state's laws designed to block a consortium of nuclear power utilities from shipping waste to Utah were in conflict with federal law, and the state cannot interfere with the sovereign rights of the Goshute tribe. "Clearly, Utah may not prevent radiological waste from entering Utah because of safety concerns," Campbell wrote in a 30-page summary judgment. "Nor may Utah create a separate state licensing process for spent nuclear fuel." Private Fuel Storage and the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes filed suit last year to void various state laws, steered through the Legislature at Leavitt's behest, claiming they were unconstitutional and violated federal supremacy. The laws included an outright ban on spent nuclear fuel, a requirement the facility post a $150 billion bond and a $10,000 a day fine for anyone who provided services to the facility. The laws were but one of Leavitt's strategies to keep the spent nuclear fuel out of the state. The state is also challenging the federal licensing process, now before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, which is expected to rule on the license by the end of the year. Utah's congressional delegation is seeking to block the consortium by designating access routes into the reservation as federal wilderness, meaning a railroad spur could not be built. Campbell's ruling drew praise from PFS. "What it really does is take away the hurdle of unconstitutional legislation, and it sends a message the state cannot be allowed to pass unconstitutional laws to try and achieve their purposes," said Mike Bailey with Parsons Behle and Latimer, the Salt Lake firm representing PFS. "It allows us to proceed through the licensing process with the assurance these state laws will not get in the way," added Sue Martin, spokeswoman for PFS. Campbell made it very clear in her ruling that federal law pre-empts state law, citing earlier court rulings that the "federal government has occupied the entire field of nuclear safety concerns," and "the federal interest is so dominant that the federal system will be assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the same subject." "The question of whether plaintiffs have a right to own and operate a spent nuclear fuel facility will be resolved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with the right of appeal to the appropriate court of appeals, and not by this court," Campbell wrote. Hearings before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board were held in April, May and June on the PFS environmental impact statements, the final step before the NRC grants a license. The consortium of mostly Eastern nuclear power utilities is proceeding with the licensing phase despite congressional action that designated Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel. Six of the eight members say they will not participate in the Skull Valley project if the federal government moves swiftly on Yucca Mountain. E-mail: donna@desnews.com [donna@desnews.com] © 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 19 Radioactive alert closes U-M building The Ann Arbor News Low-level reading spurs response from university safety team Wednesday, July 31, 2002 BY AMALIE NASH News Staff Reporter The chemistry building on the University of Michigan's Central Campus was sealed off Tuesday evening and 15 people were kept inside for more than two hours while officials checked for radioactive contamination. The incident began at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when someone inside a fourth-floor laboratory was performing routine safety precautions before leaving and discovered a reading of low-level contamination in a part of the room, said Diane Brown, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety. Police officers cordoned off the building to ensure that the contamination didn't spread and called in a university radioactive safety team, part of the Occupational Safety and Environmental Health Department. "There was no risk of injury, but we needed to make sure nothing was tracked anywhere," Brown said. The contaminant was determined to be a chemical called P32, but the people inside the lab had not used that radioactive chemical for some days, Brown said, "so we don't know if it was poorly taken care of last time it was used." OSEH team members used a Geiger counter, which measures radioactive activity, to ensure none of the 15 people in the building were contaminated, Brown said. Once it was determined that none was, they were released after 11:30 p.m., she said. The OSEH crew then isolated the area. Amalie Nash can be reached at anash@annarbornews.com or at (734) 994-6832. © 2002 Ann Arbor News. Used with permission © 2002 mlive.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 20 Yucca Mountain project director wants to trim billions from budget* RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL August 1, 2002 Associated Press LAS VEGAS ? The director of the federal Yucca Mountain Project said she wants to cut billions of dollars from the projected cost of building and opening a national nuclear waste repository in the Nevada desert. Energy Department administrator Margaret Chu told a nuclear waste board of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that she hopes to reduce by $10 billion the $58 billion estimated cost of opening the dump in 2010 and managing it for decades into the future. ?I have told my bosses my personal goal is I would like to reduce the life cycle costs of the program,? she said. Chu, the director of the department?s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, outlined Yucca Mountain plans now that Congress and President Bush have chosen the Nevada site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Chu said she intends to evaluate waste packaging and the need for expensive components such as cask-covering titanium drip shields, which add billions to the repository price tag. She said savings could be found through a stepped-up science and technology program she plans to put in place beginning next year. Sustained research might also result in advances in materials and repository designs, she said. Chu called the schedule ?really tight? to submit a license application by December 2004 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to have a repository ready to entomb radioactive waste by 2010. ?It?s very little time to build a whole repository if we are going to keep the 2010 date,? she said. With site selection finished, Chu said the Energy Department now wants to step up planning for shipping nuclear waste to Nevada from 103 nuclear power plants and more than 30 military and industrial sites in 39 states. ?We have a lot of catch-up to do in the transportation program,? she said. Chu said the DOE later this year will declare it intends to ship most nuclear waste to Nevada by rail and will issue a draft transportation policy to be finalized in 2003. Next year, the department plans to select a Yucca railroad corridor within Nevada, begin soliciting bids to buy shipping casks and start working on matters involving emergency responders along transportation corridors. Railroad and highway routes for waste shipping will be selected in 2005, she said. Chu said the Energy Department continues to lean toward a modular strategy to build the repository and corresponding above-ground waste preparation facilities in segments so costs can be spread out. ?I don?t have to ask for billions of dollars in one year,? she said. Under that plan, the repository would accept 400 metric tons of waste its first year, 600 the second year and 1,200 tons a year after that. Yucca Mountain is expected to hold 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal , a Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Energy Dept. Ends Waste Disposal Newsday By JIM SALTER Associated Press Writer August 1, 2002, 12:02 AM EDT WELDON SPRING, Mo. -- After 16 years and $852 million, the Energy Department said Wednesday it has completed the disposal of hazardous debris left over from an old ordnance plant. The Army manufactured explosives at the Weldon Spring plant 30 miles west of St. Louis during World War II. From 1958 to 1966, the Atomic Energy Commission used the site to produce uranium and thorium for atomic weapons. Officials determined that improper storage of radioactive and chemical waste polluted the plant and a nearby quarry. Work that begin in 1986 included the removal of 43 buildings and millions of tons of soil, debris and waste. The waste is now housed in a seven-story tall mound beneath layers of rock, clay, soil and synthetic liners. "It is a safe, well-designed, well-constructed facility," Energy Department spokesman Walter Perry said. Over the years, area residents have said the site may be responsible for cancers involving young children, but health officials found no link. The site will cost $850,000 to maintain. Officials have not yet formed a plan to contain uranium-tainted groundwater that surfaces in springs at a nearby wildlife area. Tests show the uranium level is still within federal guidelines and the water is not used by people for drinking, officials said. Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 22 *Unicoi Residents Say Tourism, Not Nuclear Energy, Should Be Focus Of Economic Development There * *125 West Summer Street - Greeneville, TN - (423) 798-0545* * Sun Photo by Phil Gentry In the photo above, Kent Akin, speaking behind microphones, addresses a meeting of ?Citizens to Preserve the Valley Beautiful? Tuesday night in Unicoi. About 100 people attended the meeting, which was held at the business of Unicoi Alderman Johnny Lynch, pictured to the left of Akin. Seated to the left of Lynch is David Ramsey, another of the leaders of the group that opposes the possible location of a uranium enrichment plant in the town of Unicoi. In the lower photo, Dr. Frances Lamberts, tells the audience what she had learned from residents of Gronau, Germany, about a similar uranium-enrichment plant there. By: /By BILL JONES /Staff Writer / Source:/ The Greeneville Sun / 07-31-2002 UNICOI ? About 100 people attending a Tuesday night meeting of a group opposed to the possible location of a uranium enrichment plant heard several speakers suggest that tourism ? not nuclear energy ? should be the focus of economic development efforts in Unicoi County. A 100-acre site in the town of Unicoi has been mentioned as a possible site for a uranium enrichment plant planned by an international consortium. An announcement about the proposed location of such a plant could come as early as an Aug. 6 meeting between the Louisiana Energy Services consortium and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to to published reports. (Please see accompanying article.) Johnny Lynch, a Unicoi alderman at whose Farmhouse Gallery and Gardens the meeting was held, opened the 7 p.m. meeting of ?Citizens for the Preservation of the Valley Beautiful? by discussing the economic impact of tourism on Northeast Tennessee. Although tourism contributes $405 million annually to the economy in Northeast Tennessee, Unicoi County currently garners the second fewest tourism dollars among Northeast Tennessee counties. Lynch said the disparity in tourism dollars indicated to him that Unicoi County was not being sufficiently marketed as a tourist destination. David Ramsey, who said he grew up in Unicoi County but now lives in Johnson City where he manages a store that sells camping equipment and other outdoor supplies, then read to the audience a letter he had written about the uranium-enrichment plant issue. Reading from his letter, Ramsey told the audience that the citizens group had been called ??flag-waving tree huggers? and, I?m sure, probably a lot worse,? by supporters of the proposed uranium enrichment plant. ?But I think most of us here would agree that when you?re talking about bringing into a special community, such as Unicoi and Unicoi County, a plant involved in the world?s most controversial and stigmatized industry, concern is a pretty natural reaction.? Although the Citizens for Preservation of the Valley Beautiful is concerned about health, safety and economic issues, Ramsey said, its ?major concern is about the direction bringing such a facility (a uranium enrichment plant) into Unicoi locks us into. It?s a direction we will be forced to follow for generations to come, if not forever.? Locating a uranium enrichment plant in Unicoi, he said, ?will take the community down the road of heavy, potentially degrading industry, as opposed to industry that is compatible with the natural and cultural heritage, the famous scenic mountain identity and the very character of the community.? Boost Seen Coming From I-26 Ramsey said that, in July 2003, Interstate 26 from North Carolina is expected to be completed into Unicoi County. ?I believe that when this happens, Unicoi County will be sitting in the most advantageous, potentially prosperous position of its 126-year history,? Ramsey told the audience. When I-26 is completed, Ramsey said, Unicoi County will be come the gateway to Northeast Tennessee from most points south. ?We?ve all hear the old real estate phrase ?location, location, location?; well, no other community in Northeast Tennessee has such an incredible opportunity to capitalize on its location when the new interstate highway opens," he said. However, he said, allowing a uranium enrichment plant to be built in Unicoi could ruin Unicoi County?s opportunity to capitalize on the opportunity presented by the opening of I-26. ?Given a choice, how many people would truly seek out a small community such as this to live in, vacation in or open a business in when it has sold its soul and traded its history and beautiful mountain character for the exaggerated promises of an industry that already has shown itself to be harmful?? he asked. Ramsey also told the audience that the citizens group believes that the key ?to long-term progress and vitality for this community and our region is in building on the tremendous natural and cultural heritage that this area is blessed with, and in protecting that heritage from threats, such as the one it?s now faced with.? Kent Akin, another leader of the citizens group, spoke about the advantages of what he termed ?sustainable development.? He said plans for a linear park trail through a portion of the area designated for possible location of the uranium-enrichment plant already are on the drawing board. Akin, also a Johnson City resident, pointed out that the current issue of Southern Living magazine features an article on Erwin. He also spoke briefly about the area?s water quality, noting that the water table is close to the surface of the earth in Unicoi County and, as a result, could be polluted easily. Also speaking during the Tuesday evening meeting was Marty Landis, a Unicoi County resident, who told the audience that a ?visioning? process successfully used to revitalize downtown Chattanooga could be used to help map the future of Unicoi County if citizens were willing to become involved. ?I hope we will,? Landis said. Information On Similar Plant Dr. Frances Lamberts, a retired psychologist who resides in Jonesborough but is a native of Germany, told the group she had spoken with citizens of Gronau, Germany, where Urenco, a firm linked to the uranium-enrichment plant that possibly could be located in Unicoi, already operates a similar plant. Dr. Lamberts said she had learned from German contacts that Urenco is currently seeking permission from German authorities to increase production at its German plant from 1,400 tons per year to 4,500 tons per year. A large increase in the amount of on-site storage of uranium oxide has been requested as part of the expansion, she said. A group calling itself ?the Gronau Task Force? is opposing the expansion plans of the German plant, she said. Dr. Lamberts said German activists are concerned that the facility could become a possible target for terrorists. They also are concerned about safety issues related to the movement by truck of raw material and finished products to and from the plant. She said the current plant employs only about 180 workers, most of whom are not engineers or other highly paid professionals. Dr. Lamberts also said that after reading a paper presented at a British nuclear-industry conference last year by a Urenco executive, she has concerns about the gas centrifuge technology used by the firm in its uranium-enrichment process. Comments about our site © 2002 East Tennessee Network - R.A.I.D. (Regionalized Access Internet ***************************************************************** 23 Study: Yucca volcano would be destructive Thursday, August 01, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- A volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain could do more damage than previously thought, possibly forcing radioactive waste from its burial site to the surface, according to a new study. If long-dormant volcanoes near the prospective high-level nuclear waste dump sprang back to life, molten rock moving at up to 600 mph could fill the repository deep beneath the Nevada desert within hours, said an article in the July issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. Intense heat and pressure could cause some canisters of spent nuclear fuel that are to be buried at Yucca Mountain to rupture and allow radioactive material to flow toward the surface, the article said. "It can potentially affect a large number of waste canisters," wrote a team of English, Dutch and American scientists that developed computer models to assess the risk of a volcanic eruption. Seven dead volcanoes are within 27 miles but the last eruption was 80,000 years ago. Project scientists calculate that the chance of one occurring within the waste repository over the next 10,000 years is 1 in 70 million. Previous government studies have said volcanic eruptions would do little damage to the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But project scientists who commented on a draft of the new study said it presents a potentially useful model for evaluating what could happen if an eruption were to occur. President Bush last week designated Yucca Mountain as the nation's lone long-term waste repository. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 24 Yucca Mountain project director wants to trim billions from budget Associated Press [online@rgj.com] 7/31/2002 10:30 pm LAS VEGAS — The director of the federal Yucca Mountain Project said she wants to cut billions of dollars from the projected cost of building and opening a national nuclear waste repository in the Nevada desert. Energy Department administrator Margaret Chu told a nuclear waste board of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that she hopes to reduce by $10 billion the $58 billion estimated cost of opening the dump in 2010 and managing it for decades into the future. “I have told my bosses my personal goal is I would like to reduce the life cycle costs of the program,” she said. Chu, the director of the department’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, outlined Yucca Mountain plans now that Congress and President Bush have chosen the Nevada site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Chu said she intends to evaluate waste packaging and the need for expensive components such as cask-covering titanium drip shields, which add billions to the repository price tag. She said savings could be found through a stepped-up science and technology program she plans to put in place beginning next year. Sustained research might also result in advances in materials and repository designs, she said. Chu called the schedule “really tight” to submit a license application by December 2004 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to have a repository ready to entomb radioactive waste by 2010. “It’s very little time to build a whole repository if we are going to keep the 2010 date,” she said. With site selection finished, Chu said the Energy Department now wants to step up planning for shipping nuclear waste to Nevada from 103 nuclear power plants and more than 30 military and industrial sites in 39 states. “We have a lot of catch-up to do in the transportation program,” she said. Chu said the DOE later this year will declare it intends to ship most nuclear waste to Nevada by rail and will issue a draft transportation policy to be finalized in 2003. Next year, the department plans to select a Yucca railroad corridor within Nevada, begin soliciting bids to buy shipping casks and start working on matters involving emergency responders along transportation corridors. Railroad and highway routes for waste shipping will be selected in 2005, she said. Chu said the Energy Department continues to lean toward a modular strategy to build the repository and corresponding above-ground waste preparation facilities in segments so costs can be spread out. “I don’t have to ask for billions of dollars in one year,” she said. Under that plan, the repository would accept 400 metric tons of waste its first year, 600 the second year and 1,200 tons a year after that. Yucca Mountain is expected to hold 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. [http://www.gannett.com] Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 25 New study warns of volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain Associated Press [online@rgj.com] 7/31/2002 10:39 pm WASHINGTON — A volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain could do more damage than previously thought, possibly forcing radioactive waste from its burial site to the surface, according to a new study. If long-dormant volcanoes near the prospective high-level nuclear waste dump sprang back to life, molten rock moving at up to 600 mph could fill the repository deep beneath the Nevada desert within hours, said an article in the July issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. Intense heat and pressure could cause some canisters of spent nuclear fuel that are to be buried at Yucca Mountain to rupture and allow radioactive material to flow toward the surface, the article said. “It can potentially affect a large number of waste canisters,” wrote a team of English, Dutch and American scientists that developed computer models to assess the risk of a volcanic eruption. Seven dead volcanoes are within 27 miles, but the last eruption was 80,000 years ago. Project scientists calculate that the chance of one occurring within the waste repository over the next 10,000 years is 1 in 70 million. Previous government studies have said volcanic eruptions would do little damage to the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But project scientists who commented on a draft of the new study said it presents a potentially useful model for evaluating what could happen if an eruption were to occur. President Bush last week designated Yucca Mountain as the nation’s lone long-term waste repository. It is scheduled to open in 2010, but the government first must obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC will consider potential volcanic activity during its review of the license application. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 26 Yucca Editorial: Just what's the rush, anyway? Las Vegas SUN Today: August 01, 2002 at 8:45:53 PDT A National Academy of Sciences panel recently heard an update from the Energy Department on the future work at the Yucca Mountain project, and what that scientific panel was told Tuesday was anything but reassuring. The Yucca Mountain project's top administrator, Margaret Chu, outlined an ambitious goal to meet the nuclear waste dump's planned 2010 opening. No one seriously believes the department can meet that deadline, which means that Chu's plan to do so almost certainly will require dangerous shortcuts. The Energy Department wants to use what it calls a "modular" approach to building the dump. Chu envisions that nuclear waste will be shipped to Yucca Mountain, and stored on the site's surface, before construction of the nuclear waste dump is complete. "Instead of building a whole house at one time, we build part of the house in order to begin receiving waste," Chu said. Rather than dubbing it a "modular" approach, we'd say that it was a "half-baked" idea that resembles the rest of the project's failures to date. It would appear to us that Chu's incentive to meet the 2010 goal has more to do with a political deal that the Bush administration struck with Utah's U.S. senators, Republicans Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, to get their votes last month to send nuclear waste to Nevada. The senators received a pledge from the administration that it would work to block storing nuclear waste at a temporary site proposed in Utah, a dump that may be more likely to open if Yucca Mountain gets delayed past 2010. Of course, those assurances from the White House may not mean much. The utilities that want to store the waste in Utah are willing to do so with their own money, not the federal government's, and a federal judge on Wednesday ruled that a Utah law banning nuclear waste from the state was unconstitutional. Welcome to the club, Utah, whose members include small Western states that are treated like the nation's dumping ground. It also is troubling that Chu is contemplating not using titanium "drip shields," which are supposed to prevent water from corroding metal waste containers inside Yucca Mountain. While we believe that the "drip shields" won't offer the needed protection their supporters claim they would, and their consideration at all signals why the project is so dangerous that it shouldn't get a license to open, it's amazing that what nominal protection has been considered may now be discarded. Chu's comments this week demonstrate just how little the Bush administration cares about the safety of Nevadans in its rush to bury nuclear waste in our state. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 27 Yucca Letter: Why would any Nevadan ever vote Republican? Las Vegas SUN Today: August 01, 2002 at 8:45:53 PDT It is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that there is even one Nevadan who is still a registered Republican. Can they not even see the evidence that our five electoral votes are just so much garbage to their appointed administration's politically motivated, oil-oriented public servants? We heard President Bush promise to first determine if there is solid scientific evidence that it is safe to dump nuclear waste at earthquake-prone Yucca Mountain. This comforted only the most naive and uninformed. The majority of intelligent Americans realized that President Clinton's eight-year long fight against this horrendous hazard would soon be history. Then the grinning, insufferable Spencer ("Screw Nevada") Abraham, Vice President Dick Cheney, nuclear power lobbyist John Sununu and countless other Republicans who visited Las Vegas promising to "look into this serious matter," pretending to be concerned -- hurried back to Washington, D.C., where they promptly voted with their leader Dubya, to turn Nevada into America's radioactive trash can. It is alarming but not surprising to hear the ridiculous excuses from Republicans attempting to slither out of this latest outrageous deception by their party, money always being the bottom line to these "compassionate conservatives." And this catastrophe was forced upon us despite the courageous efforts of Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Shelley Berkley and our other decent Democratic representatives who care deeply about our children and the safety of our environment. The only logical conclusion is that some Nevada Republicans are afflicted with what is widely recognized in psychiatric circles as a "martyr complex." This of course means that they actually enjoy being lied to and betrayed. How else can we explain the phenomenon of one single Nevada resident ever voting Republican again? It does not compute. RUTH DI MAGGIO All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 28 Activists criticize federal plan for nuclear waste Wednesday, July 31, 2002 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PORTLAND -- Anti-nuclear activists and state authorities are questioning the federal government's proposal to route tons of nuclear waste through Oregon on its way to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington. They say a federal draft plan underestimates the damage that such a move would have on Oregon's environment. The environmental impact statement, released by the U.S. Department of Energy, considers three plans for dealing with chemical and radioactive waste once it is shipped to Hanford. The Energy Department estimates that effects on the environment "are relatively small and would not be expected to contribute substantially to cumulative impacts of other activities at Hanford or in the surrounding region." But Ken Niles, administrator of the Nuclear Safety Division of the Oregon Office of Energy, said the document lacks good scientific evidence to back such claims or even enough specifics to figure out what the environmental impact is likely to be. For instance, he said, the draft report does not "identify volumes or types of materials they might dispose of at Hanford," information he called "a basic necessity" for determining the impact of the solid waste. Rather, the draft mentions three broad categories of waste: low-level, mixed chemical and nuclear waste. And it considers a widely varying volume of material, from about 9.2 million square feet to 21.2 million square feet. Niles said the report also doesn't address the probable environmental impact of shipping wastes to Hanford, instead referring to estimates made in a 1997 national report. Those are general, nationwide estimates, Niles said, and don't take into account Oregon's specific concerns, such as the danger of travel on snowy mountain passes. The draft plan does estimate that traffic accidents during shipping would cause four deaths. Activists said they are upset that the draft continues the government's plan to truck radioactive waste from other sites to Hanford. Others are upset that the plan considers burying much of the low-level radioactive waste in soil trenches without protective liners. They said the plan did not consider many reasonable alternatives, including not shipping waste to Hanford at all. "Many of the risks of moving the waste are not even disclosed or discussed in the environmental impact statement," said Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest, a Seattle-based anti-nuclear group. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com [newmedia@seattlepi.com] ©1999-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer ***************************************************************** 29 SELLAFIELD WORKER'S 'SABOTAGE' SACKING WAS FAIR, TRIBUNAL DECIDES [The Whitehaven News] A SELLAFIELD worker deliberately sabotaged safety equipment at the nuclear plant, an employment tribunal was told. Silloth-based company Johnson Controls Ltd sacked instrument mate, James John Hunter, 58, believing he had deliberately punctured screens on body monitors which tested workers' radioactivity levels. Mr Hunter, of Holly Terrace, Hensingham, Whitehaven, had claimed unfair dismissal but he lost his case after a day-long hearing in Carlisle recently. He had been dismissed for gross misconduct after the company's investigations linked him to the damage. Mr Hunter, whose job was to test the machines, told the tribunal that he had been blamed because people bore grudges against him. He had been removed from the relevant buildings after the company's initial suspicions, but the tribunal heard that he continued to go into the building for short periods after this. He was eventually suspended from work on January 31, last year, while the company investigated the incidents. Technical services manager, Paul Blinco, who compiled a report on the investigation, told the tribunal: "I have no doubt that Mr Hunter was responsible for the deliberate damage to the IPM8 monitors. "It was reported that levels of damage were not normal and that these problems seemed to decrease when Mr Hunter was not on the site. "Although I couldn't say it was definitely Mr Hunter who caused the damage, I had concluded that in all probability, it couldn't be caused by anyone else." A disciplinary hearing and an appeal hearing had been held but Mr Hunter was not reinstated. Mr Hunter, who said he enjoyed his job and was due for a bonus, could not explain the link between him and the damage. He said: "I guess that about three people had it in for me. Two notes had been written on my locker. "I was unfairly singled out. I do not believe that anyone else was ever suspended." He said he had continued to go into the building for short periods only on orders. Simon Smith, representing the applicant, said there was no direct evidence that Mr Hunter had sabotaged the machines. He told the tribunal that Mr Hunter was not made aware at his hearings of the specific acts of sabotage he was accused of. "He should have had the case put to him so he could have answered it. Mr Hunter should have the opportunity to know what he was facing. He only knew this on a general basis," said Mr Smith. But a company representative, who declined to be named, said there was a real belief that Mr Hunter was linked with the incidents. "The respondents genuinely believed he was responsible for the damage which endangered others," Mr Smith said. "On the question of allegations he did face two specific allegations. But the defendant isn't relying on specific allegations. The key circumstances are the fundamental safety issues which have to be faced in a nuclear environment," he added. Tribunal chairman, Nick Garside, said the company had faced a serious health and safety issue. Other workers could have been at risk if the machines were not operating properly. He said: "The employer had reasonable grounds to sustain their belief. "They did have sufficient information upon which to make the decision they did. We are satisfied that Mr Hunter fully understood the allegations which were being made against him and he understood what was being said he had done. "Various people had indicated that Mr Hunter was responsible. He claimed that others were out to get him but would not say who. He couldn't explain the link between him being there and the damage being caused [http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk ***************************************************************** 30 Judge strikes down Utah laws banning nuclear waste, saying it's a federal decision - 8/1/2002 - ENN.com Thursday, August 01, 2002 By Rich Vosepka, Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's laws designed to keep radioactive waste out of the state are illegal because only the federal government has jurisdiction over nuclear safety, a judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said state officials had unfairly hindered a group of nuclear utilities that is seeking a federal permit to store used nuclear power plant fuel at a desert site on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation. Her ruling late Tuesday prohibits the state from enforcing laws that regulate nuclear waste and impose large fees on waste-storage businesses. State officials have said they will appeal. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has gathered testimony on the proposed site before advising the Nuclear Regulatory Commission whether to grant a permit. If approved, the site could store 40,000 tons of waste for 40 years. The project on the reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City could bring the small, impoverished tribe as much as $3 billion. Sue Martin, a spokeswoman for the utlities group, Private Fuel Storage, said the ruling could erase doubts regulators may have on granting a license. "Having this ruling I think makes it easier for them to rule," she said. The decision also removes financial obstacles the state had imposed, such as a $5 million license application fee and a requirement that PFS pay a "transaction fee" equal to 75 percent of the value of its contracts. A spokeswoman for Gov. Mike Leavitt did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Private Fuel Storage, a group of eight nuclear utilities, considers Skull Valley a stopgap measure to deal with a looming waste-storage crisis, Martin said. The federal government has pledged to take charge of all nuclear waste generated by utilities. Nevada's Yucca Mountain has been selected as the permanent dump for the nation's radioactive waste, but it won't be completed until at least 2010. Copyright 2002, Associated Press Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc. ***************************************************************** 31 CCMUA to take water from Superfund site [http://www.courierpostonline.com] Thursday, August 1, 2002 By LAWRENCE HAJNA Courier-Post Staff GLOUCESTER CITY Camden County's sewerage authority, under fire for making plans to accept radioactive wastewater from one area Superfund cleanup, plans to accept radioactive water from another for treatment at its Camden plant. The Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority is drawing up a permit to accept water from the Superfund cleanup of residential properties in Gloucester City tainted by thorium and other radioactive elements. The contamination resulted from burial of wastes from two companies that once made gas-lantern mantles in Gloucester City and Camden. The federal Environmental Protection Agency in March launched a $17 million cleanup of residential properties on Essex Street in Gloucester City. During excavation, the EPA has come into contact with contaminated ground water, which is now being held in storage tanks. Officials stressed the water will be treated to federal drinking water standards before it is discharged into the sewer system. "We're duty-bound to treat it and render it harmless before it's discharged into any system," EPA spokesman Richard Cahill said Wednesday. The permit could be issued in about a month, CCMUA deputy director Andrew Kricun said. After public outcry, the CCMUA recently decided to require any future discharge of radioactive water from another Superfund site, the GEMS Landfill in Gloucester Township, also be cleansed to drinking water standards. Reach Lawrence Hajna at (856) 486-2466 or [lhajna@courierpostonline.com] ***************************************************************** 32 Volcanic zone threatens planned nuclear facility Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ajc.com: August 1, 2002 Officials say molten rock hitting Yucca repository remote Jeff Nesmith - Cox Washington Bureau Thursday, August 1, 2002 Washington --- A volcanic eruption beneath Nevada's Yucca Mountain could cause rivers of molten rock to explode inside tunnels where the government plans to store nuclear waste for thousands of years, a team of scientists said Wednesday. The mountain is in an active earthquake zone and an area of active volcanism. There are six small volcanoes within 12 miles of Yucca Mountain. Government officials regard the likelihood that molten rock would spew upward into Yucca Mountain and actually hit the planned nuclear waste repository inside it as extremely remote --- on the order of seven chances in 100 million for any given year. And even if such an event were to occur, it would be next to impossible for it to take place in the way the team of geologists, mathematicians and other scientists suggested, said the chief scientist for the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain Project. But in a scenario that seemed plucked from a horror film, scientists from the United States and two other countries describe waste canisters being torn open under the stress of enormous heat, shock waves and rushing rivers of molten rock, or magma. After only a few hours, they said, the volcanic eruption could fracture the all-rock mountain, allowing radioactive material to escape. They described the what-if scenario in an article in the Geophysical Research Letters, a journal published by the American Geophysical Union. ''The assessments suggest a greater number of waste packages may be adversely affected than previously recognized,'' they wrote. President Bush signed a bill last week that adopted Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository for spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. The action came after the House and Senate voted to override a ''veto'' of the Yucca Mountain site by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn. Authors of the paper included scientists from Cambridge University and the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, the University of Twente in the Netherlands and the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. ''I'm aware of the Department of Energy's views on this work, but I believe our document speaks for itself,'' Brittain E. Hill of the San Antonio institute said Wednesday. ''It was put through a very rigorous technical review.'' ''We've been aware of this paper for about a year,'' Michael Voegele, the Yucca Mountain Project chief scientist, said Wednesday, ''and we take it seriously.'' Authors of the paper acknowledged they used simplified assumptions for the scenario and urged further study. > ON THE WEB: The American Geophysical Union: www.agu.org © 2002 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ***************************************************************** 33 USEC blames delays on Russian uranium for drop in earnings The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Thursday, August 01, 2002 By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 USEC Inc. blamed the Bush administration's slow approval of cheaper Russian uranium partly for a $64.2 million drop in earnings last fiscal year. The operator of the 1,500-employee Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant reported net income Wednesday of $16.2 million, or 20 cents a share, during the fiscal year ending June 30. That compares with $78.4 million, or 97 cents per share, in 2001. "Due to government delay in approving new pricing terms for USEC purchases of Russian enriched uranium, USEC's fiscal 2002 costs were substantially higher than originally anticipated," the firm said. USEC said it expects to earn $9 million to $12 million this fiscal year. The continued drop is reflected in the roughly $150 million the firm will spend over the next five years to prepare to build a gas centrifuge plant at either Paducah or Piketon, Ohio, in the 2010-11 time frame. Centrifuge technology will eventually replace the outdated, power-costly process used at the Paducah plant. Although USEC's revenue from selling enriched uranium rose $252 million, or 24 percent, from 2001 to 2002, its sale costs jumped $329 million, or 33 percent, resulting in a $47 million drop in gross profit. USEC gained $4.2 million after a special tax credit for closing the Piketon diffusion plant and consolidating work at Paducah. Federal approval of the Russian deal in June will boost profitability during the remaining 12 years of the contract, USEC said. Mixing the cheaper material, derived from dismantled former Soviet nuclear warheads, with the Paducah plant's more expensive product helps hold down overall production costs, the company says. USEC said enriched uranium sales rose despite a 3 percent drop in the average price billed to customers. The rise was mainly because of higher sales to domestic nuclear power plants based on timing and movement of reactor refueling orders, the company said. USEC declared a quarterly dividend of 13.75 cents per share of common stock, payable Sept. 15 to shareholders of record Aug. 23. ***************************************************************** 34 Volcanic Hazard at Proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository Potentially Greater than Previously Thought, Researchers Say American Geophysical Union [http://www.agu.org] 31 July 2002 AGU Release No. 02-27 For Immediate Release Contact: Emily Crum (202) 777-7513 ECrum@agu.org [ecrum@agu.org] WASHINGTON - A volcanic eruption might cause greater damage than previously thought to the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility beneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This, according to research presented by Andrew Woods of the BP Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and colleagues this month in the journal, Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union. Yucca Mountain is located within a long-lived volcanic field. Risk assessments have suggested that the probability of volcanic activity occurring during the 10,000-year compliance period of the repository is around 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000. However, because such activity could have a significant impact on public health and safety, Woods and his colleagues developed a physical model to understand some of the risks associated with volcanic disruption of the repository. Eruptions from volcanoes located within 12 miles [20 kilometers] of the proposed repository have tended to produce small volumes of magma, or molten rock. However, the content of volcanic gases in the magma means that the eruptions have been quite explosive. The model developed by Woods and others envisions that magma rising from below Yucca Mountain would form a narrow body of molten rock called a dike. The dike is hypothesized to cut through several of the repository drifts and be diverted into them. Upon entering a drift, the high gas content of the magma would cause it to expand rapidly. Based on their models, the scientists found that magma in the drifts could reach speeds on the order of 200-600 mph [100-300 m/s], filling parts of the repository with magma within a matter of hours after the initial eruption. Flowing magma might displace canisters holding radioactive waste. Additionally, intense heat associated with the magma would be expected to cause extensive damage to the containers. The results suggest that a greater number of canisters could be affected than previously estimated. The researchers also suggest that the pressure associated with the magma could be sufficient to open new and existing fractures at Yucca Mountain, providing a conduit for material to reach the surface. Woods and his colleagues note that although their models are simplified relative to the complex interactions that would occur in the repository during a volcanic eruption, the models are consistent with understanding of these types of eruptions. Therefore, while previous estimates suggest that the probability of a volcanic event may be very low, potentially significant impacts on the site during such an event warrants further research to fully assess the risk. * Notes for journalists: The article, "Modeling magma-drift interaction at the proposed high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA," appears in Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 29, No. 13, 10.1029/2002GL014665, 2002. A pdf or fax copy of the article may be obtained upon request to Emily Crum (ecrum@agu.org [ecrum@agu.org] ). Please provide your name, name of your publication, and your email address or fax number. The article and this press release are not embargoed. Contact information for the authors: • Andrew W. Woods, BP Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK: andy@bpi.cam.ac.uk • Steve Sparks, Centre for Environmental and Geophysical Flows, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK: steve.sparks@bristol.ac.uk [steve.sparks@bristol.ac.uk] , + 01 1795-45419 • Onno Bokhove, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands: o.bokhove@math.utwente.nl [o.bokhove@math.utwente.nl] , + 3105348934100 • Anne-Marie LeJeune, Centre for Environmental and Geophysical Flows, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK: a.m.lejeune@bris.ac.uk [a.m.lejeune@bris.ac.uk] , + 441179287788 • Charles B. Connor, Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA: cconnor@chuma1.cas.usf.edu, +1 (813) 974-0325 • Brittain E. Hill, Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA: bhill@swri.edu [bhill@swri.edu] , +1 (210) 552-6087 ### [http://www.agu.org/homepage.html] [AGU] ***************************************************************** 35 AU: Gallop urged to oppose nuclear fuel ship The West Australian + August 01, 2002 THE WA Government has been urged to publicly denounce two shipments of nuclear fuel expected to pass off the State's south-west coast over the coming days. The cargo, made up of mixed oxide plutonium/uranium nuclear fuel, is being carried by two ships from Japan to England and has already been condemned by New Zealand and Ireland. Greens MLC Robin Chapple said while there was little the Gallop Government could do to stop the ships' progress, it should at least voice its protest. "I am sickened to think that while nations and citizens' groups all along the transport route have voiced their opposition to this insane traffic, Australian governments have been notable by their invisibility," Mr Chapple said. "A single accident or attack involving exposure of the cargo to the marine environment would have catastrophic consequences." -AAP © 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 36 Yucca Mountain project director wants to trim billions from budget Las Vegas SUN July 31, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS (AP) - The director of the federal Yucca Mountain Project said she wants to cut billions of dollars from the projected cost of building and opening a national nuclear waste repository in the Nevada desert. Energy Department administrator Margaret Chu told a nuclear waste board of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that she hopes to reduce by $10 billion the $58 billion estimated cost of opening the dump in 2010 and managing it for decades into the future. "I have told my bosses my personal goal is I would like to reduce the life cycle costs of the program," she said. Chu, the director of the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, outlined Yucca Mountain plans now that Congress and President Bush have chosen the Nevada site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Chu said she intends to evaluate waste packaging and the need for expensive components such as cask-covering titanium drip shields, which add billions to the repository price tag. She said savings could be found through a stepped-up science and technology program she plans to put in place beginning next year. Sustained research might also result in advances in materials and repository designs, she said. Chu called schedule "really tight" to submit a license application by December 2004 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to have a repository ready to entomb radioactive waste by 2010. "It's very little time to build a whole repository if we are going to keep the 2010 date," she said. With site selection finished, Chu said the Energy Department now wants to step up planning for shipping nuclear waste to Nevada from 103 nuclear power plants and more than 30 military and industrial sites in 39 states. "We have a lot of catch-up to do in the transportation program," she said. Chu said the DOE will later this year declare intends to ship most nuclear waste to Nevada by rail, and will issue a draft transportation policy to be finalized in 2003. Next year, the department plans to select a Yucca railroad corridor within Nevada, begin soliciting bids to buy shipping casks and start working on matters involving emergency responders along transportation corridors. Railroad and highway routes for waste shipping will be selected in 2005, she said. Chu said the Energy Department continues to lean toward a modular strategy to build the repository and corresponding aboveground waste preparation facilities in segments so costs can be spread out. "I don't have to ask for billions of dollars in one year," she said. Under that plan, the repository would accept 400 metric tons of waste its first year, 600 the second year and 1,200 tons a year after that. Yucca Mountain is expected to hold 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 New study warns of volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain Las Vegas SUN July 31, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - A volcanic eruption at Yucca Mountain could do more damage than previously thought, possibly forcing radioactive waste from its burial site to the surface, according to a new study. If long-dormant volcanoes near the prospective high-level nuclear waste dump sprang back to life, molten rock moving at up to 600 mph could fill the repository deep beneath the Nevada desert within hours, said an article in the July issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union. Intense heat and pressure could cause some canisters of spent nuclear fuel that are to be buried at Yucca Mountain to rupture and allow radioactive material to flow toward the surface, the article said. "It can potentially affect a large number of waste canisters," wrote a team of English, Dutch and American scientists that developed computer models to assess the risk of a volcanic eruption. Seven dead volcanoes are within 27 miles but the last eruption was 80,000 years ago. Project scientists calculate that the chance of one occurring within the waste repository over the next 10,000 years is 1 in 70 million. Previous government studies have said volcanic eruptions would do little damage to the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But project scientists who commented on a draft of the new study said it presents a potentially useful model for evaluating what could happen if an eruption were to occur. President Bush last week designated Yucca Mountain as the nation's lone long-term waste repository. It is scheduled to open in 2010, but the government first must obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC will consider potential volcanic activity during its review of the license application. Yucca Mountain project's Web site: http://www.ymp.gov [http://www.ymp.gov] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 FPIF News: The Empty Promise of Global Missile Defense Date: Thu, 1 Aug 2002 00:10:35 -0500 (CDT) What's New from FPIF? July 31, 2002 **The Empty Promise of Global Missile Defense Frida Berrigan and William D. Hartung The Bush administration has been widely criticized worldwide for its go-it-alone foreign policy. But in one area the administration is enthusiastically embracing multilateralism, along with the Pentagon and U.S. defense corporations. All are working hard to get other countries to buy into their internationally unpopular missile defense program by giving their corporations a piece of the Star Wars action. Given the "boutique" nature of missile defense production the billions spent on missile defense are likely to have very little "bang for the buck" in terms of generating jobs. Spreading this work out internationally will further dilute any job-creating potential, undermining industry claims that missile defense funding will spur job and economic growth either here or abroad. The highly touted Star Wars pork barrel will more likely turn out to be less than half full for American and international defense workers alike. (William Hartung is the President's Fellow and Frida Berrigan is a research associate at the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute. Both are military analysts with Foreign Policy In Focus (http://www.fpif.org).) See new FPIF Commentary online at http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2002/0207mdefense.html **************************************************************** Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) Siri D. Khalsa Communications Coordinator Email: siri@irc-online.org IRC projects online: IRC | "Working to make the U.S. a More Responsible Global Leader and Partner" (www.irc-online.org) Americas Program | "A New World of Ideas, Analysis, & Policy Options" (www.americaspolicy.org) Foreign Policy in Focus | "A Think Tank Without Walls" (www.fpif.org) Self Determination In Focus | "Exploring the Future of Self-determination, Sovereignty, & Governance" (www.selfdetermine.org) ***************************************************************** 39 American nuclear scientists tell Bush to ratify test treaty Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Julian Borger in Washington Thursday August 1, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] The US National Academy of Sciences issued a report yesterday strongly backing US ratification of the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT), in a rebuff to the Bush administration's policy of shelving the agreement. The report was compiled over two years by a panel that included some of the country's leading nuclear scientists and the former commander of US forces in the Pacific, Charles Larson. It addressed the major security concerns raised by the Senate when it refused to ratify the treaty in 1999, and on each issue judged that the US would face "a more dangerous world" without the treaty. The report was commissioned by the Clinton administration but President George Bush views the accord, which has yet to come into force, as unverifiable and a constraint on America's ability to develop and test new nuclear weapons. Soon after Mr Bush took office, officials examined ways to withdraw the treaty from the Senate to ensure it was not ratified, but they were told by legal advisers that they had no constitutional power to do so. Since then, the treaty has been in limbo, although radical conservatives in the administration have continued to press for the US to go further and renounce the treaty. In December, the Pentagon put forward three options for consideration: one involved renunciation of the US signature on the treaty and cutting off all funds to the commission in Vienna established to monitor compliance; the second included renunciation but continued partial funding for the commission's global network of monitors; the third was to maintain the status quo, but the Pentagon made it clear this was not its preferred option. Moderates at the National Security Council, wary of the diplomatic consequences of scrapping the treaty, blocked a high-level discussion on the Pentagon's options, in effect, shelving the debate. But as the unilateral US moratorium on nuclear tests approaches its 10th anniversary in September, some arms control advocates are concerned that the administration could use the occasion to withdraw from the CTBT. Most diplomatic observers think that is unlikely. But they believe pressure from radicals to ditch the moratorium and the treaty will mount during the remaining two years of President Bush's first term. Pentagon hawks are keen to test a new generation of tactical nuclear missiles aimed at destroying deep, heavily reinforced bunkers. The need for such weapons was expressed by the administration's nuclear posture review, which was leaked earlier this year. The 2003 defence budget earmarks $15.5m (£9.8m) to modify existing weapons for that purpose. The report by the Academy of Sciences represents a blow to Pentagon radicals. It rejects the chief technical criticisms of the treaty: that it would prevent the US conducting tests essential to maintain its nuclear readiness, and that it was unverifiable because other countries could conduct tests in secret. On the first issue, the panel found that "the United States has the technical capabilities to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of its existing nuclear-weapon stockpile under the CTBT". It argued that there was an array of increasingly sophisticated means of checking and maintaining weapons without nuclear tests. It also suggested that if the international monitoring system of seismic and other sensors being developed by the treaty's preparatory commission in Vienna was fully deployed then an underground explosion with as small a yield as 0.1 kilotons (100 tons) could be "reliably detected". The report conceded that if sophisticated masking techniques were used, a rogue state could hide a blast of up to two kilotons. But the academy maintained that this would be extremely difficult. "A future no-CTBT world _ could be a more dangerous world than today's, for the United States and for others," the report said. Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, welcomed the report as a "clear, definitive and authoritative rebuttal" of the administrations arguments. But Baker Spring, a national security expert at the Heritage Foundation, argued that the report was incomplete. "It does not address military effectiveness," he said. "It assumes the military requirement will forever remain the same." [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 40 Kursk closure leaves questions unanswered BBC NEWS | Europe | Wednesday, 31 July, 2002, The Kursk was to be the pride of the Northern Fleet By Nikolai Gorshkov BBC correspondent in Moscow After nearly two years of investigation the Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov has ordered the criminal case on the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster closed. He told President Vladimir Putin and the Russian public that no-one, but a faulty torpedo was to blame for the loss of 118 lives. To the victims' families the verdict is nothing short of a whitewash. Many of them refused to accept it and are considering civil action to try to find out the truth. The prosecution says it has nothing to hide and is offering the relatives free access to the 133 tomes of the case, even those containing military secrets. Mistakes made But the question remains: Why was a state-of-the-art nuclear submarine, designed to withstand the full wrath of an enemy fleet, so easily destroyed by a practice torpedo, which didn't even have a warhead? And why had the torpedo - which was apparently leaking explosive fuel - not been checked properly? [Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov] Ustinov: torpedo was to blame for the loss of the submarine The prosecution admits mistakes were made by the Russian Northern fleet command during the preparation and conduct of the exercises that ended in tragedy. But they allegedly had nothing to do with the disaster itself. However, the fleet Commander, Vyacheslav Popov, and his chief of staff, Mikhail Motsak, were sacked by President Putin following the catastrophe. This ambiguity reflects the general state of affairs in the Russian Navy and, indeed, the Russian armed forces. The top brass still thinks of itself as a force to be reckoned with, while junior officers go unpaid for months, and essential supplies and maintenance procedures are cut short because of financial constraints. Modern weapons produced by the Russian defence industry have been out of reach for the armed forces, the industry itself living from hand to mouth on foreign orders. The need for a radical shake-up of the Russian armed forces, a reform that will make them leaner and meaner is obvious. [Chief of staff Mikhail Motsak and his boss, Fleet commander Vyacheslav Popov were sacked by President Putin] Motsak, sacked by President Putin following the catastrophe But the generals have been dragging their feet, fearing to lose their cushy jobs. They were fairly sure that President Putin, who owed his election success largely to the military campaign in Chechnya, would not dare to touch them. But the Kursk disaster turned the tables on them. From the start the president was advised that the situation was under control and that he should stay out of it. Top brass sacked He took the advice and remained at his Black sea retreat. A huge public outcry ensued. The Russians wanted to see their president at the scene of the tragedy. His previously sky-high ratings had dropped dramatically. That, apparently was the end of the influence the military had been exercising on President Putin. He removed a professional general from the post of the defence minister, which in Russia has always been the domain of the military, and appointed the first ever civilian to run the armed forces. [Family members of a seaman killed, when the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea] A relative mourns one of the 118 crew members who perished The military was dumbstruck but from now on appears to be afraid openly to argue with the president. He has been more active lately in his attempts to kick-start military reform, and the Russian army will get its first fully professional division as soon as August. Still, it's a far cry from a modern and efficient army that the Kremlin is aspiring to have so as to be on truly equal terms with its Nato partners. And the full truth about the Kursk disaster, the victims' relatives say, is as much needed by them as it is crucial for the future of the Russian armed forces. ***************************************************************** 41 Iraq 'close to nuclear bomb goal' Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Senate hears dire warnings by dissidents Julian Borger in Washington Thursday August 1, 2002 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Saddam Hussein will have enough weapons-grade uranium for three nuclear bombs by 2005, a former Iraqi nuclear engineer told senators yesterday, as the US Congress held hearings on whether to go to war. Launching what it called a "national discussion" amid frequent reports that the Bush administration is honing its plans for an assault on Iraq, the Senate foreign relations committee was also warned by an expert on the Iraqi military not to underestimate the strength of Saddam's army and air defences and not to doubt that any invasion would require overwhelming force. A succession of expert witnesses at the high-profile hearings argued that the danger posed by Saddam to the US and the rest of the world was constantly increasing as the Iraqi dictator attempted to build chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Khidir Hamza, who played a leading role in Iraq's nuclear weapon programme before defecting in 1994, cited German intelligence in saying: "With more than 10 tonnes of uranium and one tonne of slightly enriched uranium...in its possession, Iraq has enough to generate the needed bomb-grade uranium for three nuclear weapons by 2005." He also claimed: "Iraq is using corporations in India and other countries to import the needed equipment for its programme and channel it through countries like Malaysia for shipment to Iraq." Mr Hamza, who now works for a New York thinktank, said that the chemical and biological weapons programmes were making strides and Baghdad was "gearing up to extend the range of its missiles to easily reach Israel". His pessimistic assessment was echoed by other witnesses, including the former UN chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler. However, experts with dissenting views, such as Scott Ritter, another former UN inspector, had not been invited. There were also calls for caution as the media reported that the Bush administration might be considering a lightning assault on Baghdad and other command centres using fewer than 80,000 troops. Anthony Cordesman, a senior analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and the author of a new assessment of Iraqi military strength, had bitter criticism for hawks in the administration who portrayed the 400,000-strong Iraqi army as an easy opponent. "Iraq might be a far easier opponent than its force strengths indicate," he said, "but it is also potentially a very serious military opponent indeed, and to be perfectly blunt, I think only fools would bet the lives of other men's sons and daughters on their own arrogance and call this force a 'cakewalk' or a 'speed-bump'." He said that though regular army units had less than 70% manning levels, Iraq still had 2,200 battle tanks, 3,700 other armoured vehicles and 2,400 major artillery weapons. He also warned that US warplanes attacking Iraqi cities would fly into a blizzard of anti-aircraft fire from "one of the most dense air defence networks around urban and populated areas in the world". The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, continued to insist yesterday that no final decision had been taken, but made it clear that he believed that other initiatives, such as renewed UN weapons inspections, would not work because Iraq would not agree to a "thoroughly intrusive inspection regime". At talks in Vienna last month, the Iraqi government and the UN failed to agree on terms for the return of inspectors, and Baghdad has since maintained a defiant stand. Mr Rumsfeld also said air power alone was unlikely to be enough to destroy Iraq's chemical and biological weapons programmes as many sites were hidden and mobile biological warfare laboratories were being used. Congress has grown uneasy with the slide towards war. On Tuesday, two Democrat senators, Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, introduced a resolution opposing the use of force against Iraq without congressional authorisation or a formal declaration of war. Chairing yesterday's committee hearings, Senator Joseph Biden urged the Bush administration to put more thought into how to deal with the aftermath of Saddam's fall if a military operation were successful. "If we participate in Saddam's departure, what are our responsibilities the day after?" he said. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 42 Coffee With North Korea (washingtonpost.com) Thursday, August 1, 2002; Page A26 IT WAS only a 15-minute meeting in a lounge over coffee, but Secretary of State Colin Powell's encounter yesterday with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun broke an impasse between the two countries that had extended the length of the Bush administration. It's not clear where the renewed dialogue will go: Mr. Powell made clear the administration's insistence that any further talks cover North Korea's missile exports, its deployment of conventional military forces near the South Korean border and its adherence to a 1994 agreement on freezing its nuclear program. Pyongyang may not be willing to accept such an agenda, which extends well beyond the topics of its previous dialogue with the Clinton administration. And even if talks continue, it's not clear that Mr. Bush's competing foreign and defense advisers have agreed on what, if anything, they should aim to achieve through talks with a country the president included in his "axis of evil." Still, the meeting offered a sign of a possible way forward with North Korea, not so much for what was said between Mr. Powell and Mr. Paek but because of the intriguing context around it. In the last week, North Korea's despotic and secretive Communist regime has fully lived up to its reputation for unpredictability: After refusing for months even to respond to U.S. offers of dialogue, and provoking a naval skirmish with South Korea late last month, it suddenly reversed course, issuing a statement of regret for the incident and agreeing to renew talks with both Japan and South Korea as well as Washington. Even more interesting are reports of a major economic reform introduced July 1; though there has been no public announcement, it appears the government of Kim Jong Il may have taken a step toward the introduction of a market economy. A visiting journalist from the British magazine the Economist reported last week that authorities had abruptly raised prices for food and fuel to near-market levels while handing workers large raises to pay for them; other reports, from diplomats in Pyongyang, suggest that state rationing may have been abolished. By themselves, such steps are unlikely to revive North Korea's prostrate economy, which still depends on international food aid. But the reported reform suggests that Mr. Kim, who has visited China and Russia, may have decided at last to embrace economic liberalization, an initiative whose success would heavily depend on improved relations with the outside world. Any such warming in relations between North Korea and the United States probably will have to begin with Mr. Kim. He will have to convince a highly skeptical Bush administration that he is genuinely ready to give up the production and sale of weapons of mass destruction, accept international monitoring of his nuclear materials and facilities, ease tensions along the border, and begin to liberalize his regime. These would be large steps, but not unreasonable ones for a government that is seeking to join the international community. If Mr. Kim can show readiness to take them, the Bush administration would finally be forced to decide whether it is prepared to negotiate seriously with North Korea -- or whether Mr. Powell's coffee break was just a hollow gesture. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 43 Iraq could get nukes by 2005 Chicago Sun-Times - News August 1, 2002 BY DAVID WESTPHAL Senators hear cautions, but they're skeptical about war --> WASHINGTON--Experts warned Congress on Wednesday that Iraq could acquire nuclear weapons capability by 2005, and suggested that inspections might not be enough to keep Saddam Hussein from perfecting nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Iraqi scientists may also have acquired the ability to deploy biological and chemical weapons in ways that could prove deadly to thousands of people, the analysts said. And they warned that Saddam, the Iraqi leader, could act in precipitous and unpredictable ways. ''The idea that you have enough warning to tell you an attack is imminent, on the United States or our allies, particularly from a man like this with biological weapons or nuclear weapons, this is not the world we are going to live in,'' analyst Anthony Cordesman said. Even so, leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said President Bush has a tall sales job ahead if he hopes to gain widespread approval at home and abroad for an invasion of Iraq. ''The president and the administration will have to make the case to the American people,'' said Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). ''But the president will also have to make a persuasive case to our friends and allies, particularly those in the region.'' Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden began two days of hearings to draw public attention to the administration's developing discussions on how to dislodge Saddam. Biden said he believes that no military action against Iraq would begin until next year, and that Bush hasn't yet made a firm decision about how to achieve his stated policy of regime change. But Biden said he fears the administration hasn't given enough thought to what would happen if Saddam were toppled. ''It would be a tragedy if we removed a tyrant in Iraq only to leave chaos in its wake,'' he said. Wednesday's hearing came amid a flurry of stories chronicling a debate within the administration about how to stop Saddam's development of weapons of mass destruction. While some favor a return to the United Nations inspections that began at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the foreign policy experts testifying Wednesday agreed that a resumption of inspections would not, by themselves, stop Saddam. ''An ideal situation would be the resumption of arms control in Iraq,'' said Richard Butler, who directed the inspections program in the late 1990s. But not, he said, if that means ''phony inspections, more deceit, more concealment.'' Even under favorable circumstances, the experts said, some action beyond inspections will be needed to ensure the weapons programs are stopped, because of Iraq's ability to disguise even advanced biological, chemical and nuclear weapons development. Scripps Howard News Service [http://www.telegraph.co.uk] Copyright 2002, Digital Chicago Inc. ***************************************************************** 44 Study finds nuclear tests not needed [The Boston Globe Online] [Boston.com] By Associated Press, 8/1/2002 [W]ASHINGTON - The United States does not need to perform nuclear explosion tests to reliably maintain its atomic weapons, a National Academy of Sciences panel concluded in a report released yesterday. The report rebutted several arguments against the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Republican-led Senate rejected in 1999. The panel said the United States would be more secure under the treaty than if a test ban was not in force. The United States has held to a self-imposed nuclear testing moratorium since 1992. President Bush has said there is no immediate need to resume testing. Panel members said nuclear tests are not needed to ensure the safety and reliability of the weapons stockpile because most of the 6,000 or so parts of a nuclear weapon can be tested without a nuclear explosion. Nearly all past US tests have been to develop new weapons designs, the scientists said. ''The United States never relied primarily or even heavily on nuclear tests to determine safety and reliability,'' said John Holdren, a Harvard professor who was chairman of the panel. The report rejected the main criticisms of the treaty: that the United States needs to have periodic tests to maintain its arsenal and that the pact would do nothing to curb the nuclear ambitions of countries such as Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. ''The worst-case scenario under a no-CTBT regime poses far bigger threats to US security - sophisticated nuclear weapons in the hands of many more adversaries - than the worst-case scenario of clandestine testing in a CTBT regime,'' the report said. This story ran on page A28 of the Boston Globe on 8/1/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. ***************************************************************** 45 11 students participate in RAM program at ORNL The Oak Ridger Online - Community - 08/01/02 Eleven students from seven U.S. colleges and universities are participating in summer internships under the Research Alliance for Minorities Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The goal of the RAM program, according to a press release from the lab, is to increase the number of African-American, Hispanic-American, Native American and women students who pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in science, mathematics, engineering and technology. Students in the program are conducting computational sciences-related research projects under the direct supervision of an ORNL scientist or engineer. The Research Alliance for Minorities Program is supported by the Department of Energy's Mathematical, Information and Computational Sciences Division, Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research. "Having the opportunity to be exposed to the research environment of a DOE national laboratory is a wonderful experience for the students," an ORNL news release quotes Samuel j. Barish of the MICS Division as saying. "We expect this collaboration between ORNL, universities and colleges to contribute to a more diverse workforce in these science and technology areas." More information on RAM and other student research opportunities can be found at [http://www.csm.ornl.gov/RAM.html] and at [http://www.csm.ornl.gov/Internships/] (click on RAM 2002). Students participating in the program include: + Oluwatomisin "Tosin" Adeyeye, a Fisk University sophomore majoring in computer science. Adeyeye's research in computer and environmental science analyzes field data captured from U.S. Forestry Service labs to develop an acoustic model that can be used to identify particular insect species from environmental noise factors. + Three students from the City University of New York - York College: juniors William Burke and Lori Collins and sophomore Amara Diggs, all majoring in information systems management. Their cluster computing research analyzes programming environments and technologies used in high-performance computing. + Dene Farrell, a freshman engineering major from the State University of New York - Binghamton. Farrell's research in nanoscale electronics and single-electron transport in quantum-dot arrays focuses on simulations of single-electron transport in one- and two- dimensional arrays of quantum dots. + Talisha Haywood, a Wofford College junior majoring in physics, with an emphasis in computational sciences. Haywood's research in computational mathematics focuses on development of a parallel implementation of a three-dimensional integral method. + Ryan Hurd, a junior from the University of Notre Dame majoring in computer science. Hurd's research in visualization involves three-dimensional modeling to create objects for visualization and the tuning of visualization software for specific platforms and applications. + Jason McKay, a Morehouse College senior majoring in biology. McKay's research in computational biology focuses on recognition principles of DNA-protein interactions. + Ja'Nera Mitchom, a senior from Fisk University majoring in mathematics and computer science. Mitchom's research in computational biology involves the development of computational techniques to discover how genes are regulated. + Timothy Salter, a junior from Alabama A University majoring in mechanical engineering. Salter's research in computational materials science and engineering involves the development of methods for modeling and analysis of the mechanical properties of random fiber networks. + Valerie Spencer, an Alabama A senior majoring in mechanical engineering. Spencer's research in high performance cluster computing focuses on solving a multi-dimensional conduction heat transfer problem using Parallel Virtual Machine. ORNL research divisions hosting RAM students are the Computer Science and Mathematics Division, the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, and the Networking and Computing Technologies Division. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram research facility managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy. [http://www.oakridger.com/dailydouble] [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 46 TDEC concerned with DOE funding of EM program The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- Thursday, August 1, 2002 by R. Cathey Daniels Oak Ridger staff A state department has asked a citizen oversight board to examine "inequities" in funding among Department of Energy sites. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation DOE Oversight Division sent a June 14 letter of recommendations to the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board, and included discrepancies between DOE's handling of the Oak Ridge site and other sites in regard to environmental issues. Director John Owsley wrote that the state department would like to see the SSAB, which is a broad group of citizens dedicated to providing informed advice to the DOE environmental management program, "address inequities in environmental funding between the Oak Ridge Reservation and other DOE sites." Also, wrote Owsley: "Address inequities in recognition of accomplishments at the ORR as compared to other DOE sites. Address inequities in risk perception/evaluation between the ORR and other DOE sites. "How can it be so important to remove and send to the permanent repository (contact-handled transuranic) waste from other DOE sites, while (remote-handled transuranic) waste at the Oak Ridge site has lower priority, and in some instances may remain in shallow burial on the reservation?" continued Owsley. "Address inequities in perception of the size and complexity of the environmental issues that the reservation has as compared to other sites." Owsley's recommendations were housed in a two-page memorandum of recommendations to the board. Other concerns included the cumulative impacts from economic development and other expansion on air, land and water resources on the reservation; DOE's internal emergency preparedness planning and ensuring all occupants on the reservation are aware of and involved in the process; and proposed volumetric standards for recyclable material, especially metal, to help set "needed DOE guidance and National Regulatory Commission standards." The SSAB had solicited input for topics for its annual retreat, which will be held from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Rothchild Catering, 8807 Kingston Pike, Knoxville. All SSAB meetings are open to the public. R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or danielsrcd@oakridger.com [danielsrcd@oakridger.com] . [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 47 Roll Call: Current News August 1, 2002 Freddie Mac Aids DSCC's Move By [amk@rollcall.com] The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, which bills itself as the entity that makes the American dream of affordable housing a reality for millions of consumers, has gone the extra mile to make sure that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will have a new roof over its head. The corporation, better known as Freddie Mac, has pumped $625,000 in soft money into the DSCC's 2002 Building Fund, a special account used for rent as well as the upkeep or purchase of new buildings. The money will come in handy as the DSCC completes the purchase of a building at 300 Independence Ave. SE for its new headquarters. At the same time, corporations and trade groups affiliated with the nuclear power industry gave more than $360,000 in soft money contributions to the DSCC's building fund, according to Federal Election Commission records, leaving the account with a cash balance of $1.35 million at the end of June. The DSCC is in a race against the clock to finance the new headquarters before the recently enacted campaign finance reform law, which will limit such activities, goes into effect Nov. 6. "It shows why [reformers] wanted to bring the building funds in under the ban of the party committees accepting soft money," said Larry Noble, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics. "The building funds are a place where the big money givers can go. It's not surprising to see [contributions from] these givers - Freddie Mac, which is a big giver, and the nuclear power industry, which has a number of concerns to be worried about, including Yucca Mountain." Between the legislative concerns of the industries and new fundraising prohibitions looming on the horizon, Noble sees "two things coming together ... and in light of that, the Democrats get their building built." Officials at the DSCC - which is purchasing the Capitol Hill row house where the conservative Liberty Lobby once set up shop - did not return several calls seeking comment. The DSCC isn't the only party moving quickly to take advantage of a fleeting source of funding. The Democratic National Committee has been engaged in an extensive soft money fundraising campaign as it purchases property from the Democratic Club and expands its offices on Ivy Street Southeast. Key financiers of the DNC's efforts have included such Hollywood entertainment moguls as Haim Saban and Stephen Bing, who together contributed $10 million to the DNC's building fund. Meanwhile, other big contributors to the DSCC's soft money building fund include Fannie Mae - the Federal National Mortgage Association - which made $250,000 in contributions, and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), who recently contributed $100,000. Dayton's father, Bruce Dayton, also contributed $100,000 to the fund. Dayton, a multimillionaire retail store heir who financed much of his own bid for Congress in 2000, refused money from the DSCC for his first Senate bid and has been active helping the organization raise money. In a prepared statement, Dayton praised the project. "The current DSCC space [at 430 South Capitol St. SE] is cramped and not well-located for Senators' access," Dayton said. "The proposed new office space will permit more efficient staff operations and its proximate location will permit more frequent utilization by members. It is a farsighted project which will benefit the DSCC for many years ahead." According to FEC records, the DSCC put a $100,000 deposit on its new digs on June 28, the same day it received $50,000 from the Edison Electric Institute, a trade association of shareholder-owned electric utilities, and $30,000 from Southern Company Services. Among the companies and groups filling the DSCC's building coffers were some of the industry's most vocal proponents of the controversial Yucca Mountain initiative - companies such as the Louisiana-based Entergy, the Exelon Corporation, FirstEnergy Corporation and the Nuclear Energy Institute. Democratic lobbyist Hunter Johnston - who along with his father, ex- Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), represents several of the above-mentioned groups, including Exelon Energy and the Nuclear Energy Institute - praised the DSCC for making the move, and defended the contributors. Johnston said that Democrats "should have something as nice as the Ronald Reagan Building" on Capitol Hill that houses the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Johnston also said he didn't see anything unusual about the contributions to the DSCC's building fund and chalked it up to business as usual in Washington. "I think most companies contribute to both parties as a means of being active in Washington and participating in the different events that are presented. ... Whether it's the President's Dinner or this building fund or that building fund, I presume this is just one of the many opportunities that seems like it's within their budgets and that they participated in - and nothing more than that," Johnston said. In fact, a check of FEC records showed that many of the same companies together have given even more in soft money to the building fund of the DSCC's counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. All together, Dominion Resources Inc., Entergy, the Nuclear Energy Institute, Progress Energy Services, Southern Company Services and Xcel Energy Services have given the NRSC's building fund a total of nearly $400,000 this cycle - and many of those same companies have also made donations to the building funds of other federal party committees. Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said it's simply easier to give money to the parties' building funds, particularly in light of arcane regulations that limit how the NEI can spend funds it collects from companies that fall under the Public Utility Holding Company Act. According to Kerekes, there are "prohibitions on the money from PUHCA companies going to state-based political activities, so for those folks, since they cannot make a corporate contribution for state-based political activities, that same percentage of money is earmarked for the building fund." "That's how it ends up explicitly in the building fund," Kerekes explained. "But overall, we're supporting campaign committees in the interest of supporting generically political activities that we believe advance good government." [http://www.rollcall.com/] ***************************************************************** 48 Patton to bring cleanup update The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Thursday, August 01, 2002 The governor will be in Paducah on Friday and is expected to bring good news about the state's talks with DOE and EPA on the plant cleanup. By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Gov. Paul Patton is expected to tell community leaders Friday that the state has agreed to a portion of the accelerated cleanup work that the U.S. Department of Energy wants to do at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The governor's visit comes as the initial deadline passes today for the state to sign a letter of intent that would result in an extra $34 million once the federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $134 million, and the House has approved $100 million. The deadline now appears to be early September when House and Senate negotiators meet to resolve differences over the funding. If an agreement isn't reached with the state, the extra $34 million will be removed from the budget, according to Sen. Jim Bunning. Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Natural Resources Cabinet, said the state, DOE and federal Environmental Protection Agency have been negotiating this week. However, he would not comment on progress that has been made since top officials of all three agencies met last week in Frankfort. He said Patton would give a progress report when he meets Friday with community leaders in Paducah. The governor is expected to announce agreements reached last week related to the removal of hundreds of tons of scrap metal and to some groundwater remediation. Permits for that work reportedly would be issued when DOE provided revised data on that work. Critt Luallen, secretary of the governor’s cabinet, acknowledged that progress was being made on an agreement but said she would leave the details for the governor to announce Friday. "We are encouraged with the continuing discussions that the secretary of natural resources is having with DOE and EPA," she said. "The governor will comment (on Friday) that negations are moving forward and they are making progress." Luallen said that DOE officials have told the state that today's deadline is not crucial as long as the state continues to negotiate in good faith toward reaching an agreement in principle. DOE officials did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment on the latest developments. Last week, DOE spokesman Joe Davis said "DOE, EPA and Kentucky are all working hard together to make progress, and we continue to meet." In the past, environmental activists have expressed concern that if the accelerated plan is approved, it would reduce DOE's long-term commitment to properly clean the compound of chemical and radioactive contamination. Luallen said that although DOE would spend more money in the short term, it would spend less in the long term, leaving some to argue that DOE would end up doing less than it committed to five years ago when it signed the original agreement with the state. DOE, however, says the key to the accelerated cleanup work is reducing some of the state oversight, which is costly because it increases paperwork. Also, it says spending more money now will save money later. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said he doesn't understand why Kentucky hasn't agreed to DOE's new plan. He expressed concern that missing today's deadline would cause Paducah to lose the extra money. "It would help get a majority of the cleanup work done before the expected completion date of 2024," said Bunning, adding that under the accelerated plan the major work would be done by 2006. "I'm not advocating cutting corners and health and safety to get a quick deal," Bunning said. "No one agrees more than I that we need to watch DOE like a hawk, but Frankfort is letting us down. "It boggles my mind that the Patton administration couldn't get a deal signed with DOE ... when DOE was able to get agreement with officials at 17 other sites. "If I had a method by which I could accelerate cleanup in Paducah, I'd sign off on it." ***************************************************************** 49 Whitfield says DOE cleanup a priority The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Thursday, August 01, 2002 Whitfield says DOE cleanup a priority By Matt Sanders msanders@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 In a year plagued by economic uncertainty and global unrest, one of U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield's biggest concerns has been the inability of the U.S. Department of Energy and Kentucky leaders to reach an agreement for accelerated cleanup at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, he said. Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, spoke Wednesday at the Rotary Club of Paducah. A deadline of today had been set for states, including Kentucky, to qualify for extra funding under a program that would refocus attention on eliminating waste that poses a threat to the environment. That deadline has since been relaxed. “An agreement needs to be reached, or Kentucky runs the risk of losing money that will clean up the plant,” Whitfield said. A Senate appropriations bill calls for Paducah to receive $134 million in cleanup funds next year, and a House bill calls for about $100 million. Whitfield also urged elected officials and leaders in the business, tourism and civic communities to continue working together to bring new jobs to the area. When he worked with CSX Railroad, Whitfield said he met with Saturn automotive executives when they selected Spring Hill, Tenn., as the plant site. Spring Hill is near a CSX rail line. Whitfield asked the executives if they had considered Hopkinsville, and they said it was a divided community, where city, county and industrial leaders did not work together. “That is not a problem in Paducah,” Whitfield said. “Manufacturers will not see that kind of division here.” He praised local leaders for several unified efforts, including the development of a regional industrial park in northern Graves County to recruit a major manufacturer, which would draw its work force from all Purchase counties, and attempts to land a new uranium enrichment plant that uses centrifuge technology. The enrichment plant will be located in either Paducah or Piketon, Ohio. “Ohio will do everything it can to get that plant,” Whitfield said. “But I know Paducah and Kentucky have everything together.” ***************************************************************** 50 DOE Preserves History of Significant Structures at Hanford Hanford Press Release 2002 Privacy &Security Notice [DOE NEWS] Release date: July 26, 2002 For more information contact: Andrea Powell, 509-376-0626 Marla Marvin, (509) 376-8230 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a book containing the history of 190 significant structures built on the Hanford Site during the Manhattan Project and Cold War. The book, "History of the Plutonium Production Facilities at the Hanford Site Historic District, 1943 - 1990," preserves this history in words, diagrams, and photographs. It describes the events that led to the creation of the Manhattan Project, the resulting plutonium production facilities, the workers, and the role of secrecy and security during the production era. DOE, the Washington State Historic Preservation Office, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation signed an agreement in 1996 that modified compliance with two sections of the National Historic Preservation Act with respect to historic buildings on the Hanford Site. By identifying the historic "district" in the programmatic agreement, the three groups were able to treat the Site as a single complex of interrelated buildings, rather than treating each building individually, thus avoiding approximately $43.5 million in documentation and mitigation costs. The majority of the identified structures have already been or will be demolished during accelerated cleanup of the Hanford Site. A multi-contractor team coordinated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Bechtel Hanford Inc. completed the book. To read an electronic copy of the book, please visit http://www.hanford.gov/doe/culres/historic/index.htm. Hard copies are available for viewing at the local libraries and DOE's Public Reading Room at Washington State University Tri-Cities' Consolidated Information Center, 2770 University Drive, Room 101L, Richland. RL 02-0035 [http://www.cast.org/bobby/] ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************