***************************************************************** 05/02/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.112 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 IAEA Deems Iran's Nuclear Activities Peaceful NUCLEAR REACTORS 2 US: Millstone personnel put to the test 3 US: NRC to Meet with Firstenergy May 7 to Discuss Root Cause of 4 US: NRC Issues Draft Safety Evaluation Report on Proposed Mox 5 US: Coalition file brief against OPPD plan 6 Armenia seeks Russian help to run nuclear power plant 7 Minatom Shuts Down World's First Nuclear Reactor NUCLEAR SAFETY 8 US: Ed: More Money for Nuclear Security 9 US: HHS: Compensation of Nuclear Workers for Job-Related Cancers 10 US: Conn: State tests response to nuclear emergency State News 11 US: Anti-cancer pills stored by nuclear plants NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 12 US: [EMMAS] Nuclear Waste 13 US: S.C. sues to block Flats waste 14 Taiwan: Aborigines protest nuclear waste 15 US: S.C. Governor Sues Energy Dept. 16 US: Forum to air nuclear waste peril 17 US: Decision to cut off water affecting work 18 US: Nuke waste chief making first official LV trip 19 US: SHIPMENT SAFETY: Yucca Mountain foes spotlight rail incident 20 US: Nevada representatives launch final push to slow Yucca Mountain 21 US: Anti-Yucca effort wins $50,000 boost 22 'Wrong to close' Sellafield says Blair 23 US: No case to close Sellafield, says Blair 24 US: Berkley to discuss Yucca in national radio address 25 US: New Yucca project director meets with staff in 26 US: Train hoppers show nuke security risks 27 Blair Sellafield comment sparks Dail reaction 28 BNFL'S Pricey 'Humble Pie' Voyage Begins 29 US: Fla. Editorial: No to Yucca Mountain 30 US: Berkley Organizes Yucca Whip Group 31 US: Another spill at Beverley uranium mine. 32 Nuke waste landfill on Johnston Island plan assailed 33 US: Hodges' suit targets DOE 34 US: Stanford Database Tracks Lost Radwaste to Stem Nuclear Terrorism NUCLEAR WEAPONS 35 FCNL: Legislative Action Message 05/02/02 36 Peace Action: Call for Real Nuclear Reductions on May 15th 37 US: Nevada License Plate Shows Nukes 38 US: LETTERS: Mushroom cloud plate a symbol of lives ruined 39 US: Letter: Mushroom cloud is a symbol of death to many 40 US: Nuclear Plates In Nevada Breed Fallout 41 US: Atomic bomb builder became nuclear arms critic 42 US: Moving Target on Policy Battlefield US DEPT. OF ENERGY 43 Oak Ridge cleanup job mostly done 44 Protesters urge 'No' vote on Hanford contract offer 45 New tank farm chief optimistic 46 Training facility losing funding 47 2 CBC students taking FFTF petition to D.C. 48 DOE draft plan to speed Hanford cleanup unveiled 49 Hanford union workers reject contracts 50 Hanford recognized for worker safety 51 DOE awards $17M road maintenance contract 52 Y-12 tax collections increase 53 OR 'environmental guide' released today 54 Livermore Weapons Lab Candidate Out OTHER NUCLEAR 55 NAS Suppresses Public Documents on Chem/Bio Weapons ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 IAEA Deems Iran's Nuclear Activities Peaceful May 2, 2002 [News Content] [TehranTimes Navigation] TEHRAN TIMES POLITICAL DESK TEHRAN - The general director of the Russian Nuclear Organization said in an interview with Moscow Radio that construction of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant will be completed by the end of 2003 or the beginning of 2004. He added that there is no serious problem hindering the project. The Russian official also said that the financial problems have been solved and that the necessary equipment is being sent to Iran from Russia. He added that the apparatus that is being constructed in Bushehr can not be used to manufacture nuclear weapons and that, according to an agreement between Iran and Russia, the nuclear waste, which contains uranium, will be returned to Russia. Therefore, he said, Iran-Russia cooperation on nuclear energy will not help Iran develop weapons of mass destruction. He also said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has already joined the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and therefore, the construction of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has been supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from the beginning. The Russian official added that a great number of U.S. experts work in this agency and have traveled to Bushehr as part of IAEA delegations to carry out investigations. He said that over the past year, some 60 IAEA delegations have thoroughly investigated the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. [webmaster@tehrantimes.com] ***************************************************************** 2 Millstone personnel put to the test TheDay.com: Reactions are tested in mock emergency By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 05/02/2002 Hartford — State emergency management officials conducted a drill Wednesday to test their reaction to a potential accident at Millstone Power Station in Waterford. Officials confronted a hypothetical situation that began with a small release of radiation from the station that grew steadily worse, eventually requiring an evacuation. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency monitored the drill, conducted at the State Armory and at emergency response centers throughout southeastern Connecticut. Robert Swartz, the project officer overseeing the drill for FEMA, said the agency was looking to see if emergency response officials took the proper steps to the hypothetical situations that confronted them, whether communications were adequate, and whether actions were taken in a timely fashion. The federal agency will issue its preliminary conclusions during a public meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. May 11 at the City of Groton Municipal Building. A final report will take several months, Swartz said. The drill does not involve the actual evacuation of any individuals or other concrete measures, but only the imaginary movement of people and deployment of rescue workers. Involved in the drill were numerous state and federal agencies, including the state departments of Public Safety, Public Health, Environmental Protection, Transportation, Agriculture, Consumer Protection and Correction. Also taking part were the American Red Cross, the Coast Guard and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Local towns taking part were Montville, East Lyme, Ledyard, Groton, Lyme, Old Lyme, Waterford, New London and Fishers Island, N.Y., all located totally or partially inside the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone around the plant. College students and Millstone employees played reporters; they questioned state and Millstone officials, who gave periodic updates in the Joint Media Center in the armory. An actor played the role of the governor. The exercise lasted about six hours. Real journalists who watched the drill were not allowed to get involved in the questioning. The hypothetical accident began with a steam-line break at the Millstone 2 reactor, a situation that grew worse when a steam generator tube ruptured, forcing radioactive steam to be vented into the atmosphere. Damaged fuel rods within the reactor increased the severity of the radiation that was released. Pete Hyde, a spokesman for Millstone owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, said having three such mishaps occur is extremely unlikely but added that it is the job of the plant operators to create a scenario requiring a substantial emergency response. Lacking from the exercise was the panic and unexpected developments that could happen during an actual serious accident at the nuclear station. Citizens in the drill were assumed to act as directed. For example, the drill had emergency sirens sounding throughout southeastern Connecticut at 10:18 a.m., but no evacuation order was given for another two hours. The drill assumed residents would wait to leave when told. John T. Wiltse, director of the Office of Emergency Management, was asked how officials would handle the traffic that presumably would crowd area roads as soon as the emergency was reported, and certainly after sirens began sounding. “We don't base our planning on assumptions, we base our planning on our procedures,” Wiltse said. Those procedures do not address a massive involuntary evacuation, he added. The procedures also call for parents to join their children at designated reception centers in New Haven, Norwich, Windham, Mansfield and East Hartford. Parents are not to go to schools and get their children before evacuating. A mock reporter asked how police were handling those parents who did show up at schools to get their children. “At this time there has been no (such) problems in terms of the evacuation,” responded a state police spokesman. Ed Wilds, director of the Division of Radiation at the DEP, said at the height of the imagined accident, radiation levels three miles from the plant were the equivalent of receiving one chest X-ray per hour, or four x-rays per hour at the plant itself. p.choiniere@theday.com © 1998-2002 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 3 NRC to Meet with Firstenergy May 7 to Discuss Root Cause of Davis-Besse Vessel Head Degradation NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 56 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] No. 02-056 May 2, 2002 The staff of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet May 7 with representatives from FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company to discuss the licensee's root cause analysis of the degradation to the reactor pressure vessel head at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. The meeting will be held from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Commissioners' Conference Room in the agency's One White Flint North Building, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The meeting will be open to the public for observation and NRC officials will be available before the meeting adjourns to answer any questions. The meeting contacts are Stephen Sands at (301) 415-3154 and Douglas Pickett at (301) 415-1364. Interested individuals may listen to the meeting via telephone by calling: 888-810-3138 and entering passcode 1234 at the prompt. One hundred and fifty phone lines will be available. Davis-Besse, located at Oak Harbor, Ohio, shut down February 16 for refueling and maintenance. Inspections revealed a cavity in the top of the reactor pressure vessel head caused by boric acid corrosion. As announced March 12, the NRC sent an Augmented Inspection Team to the site to monitor the licensee's investigation and evaluation of the degradation to the reactor pressure vessel head and issued a bulletin requesting prompt information from all its pressurized water reactor licensees on vessel head inspections. An exit meeting to discuss the team's findings was held in Oak Harbor, Ohio, on April 5. To help keep the public informed of its activities, NRC has established a section on its web site where information about reactor pressure vessel head degradation is posted and updated, including press releases, correspondence with NRC licensees and other related documents. The web address is: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/vessel-head- degradation.html [http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/vessel-head -degradation.html] . ***************************************************************** 4 NRC Issues Draft Safety Evaluation Report on Proposed Mox Facility in South Carolina NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 57 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] No. 02-057 May 2, 2002 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a draft safety evaluation report concerning the construction of a proposed mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Savannah River site near Aiken, South Carolina. The draft report is a snapshot of the staff's present positions, based on information received to date. The staff expects to issue a revised draft and a final safety evaluation report on construction of the facility, after evaluating further information to be submitted by DOE's contractor, Duke Cogema Stone &Webster (DCS). In the draft safety evaluation report just issued, the NRC staff concluded that DCS needs to provide additional information on a number of issues before a construction authorization can be granted. A complete list of the items that the staff considers unresolved is provided in the draft report. A copy of the "Draft Safety Evaluation Report on the Construction Authorization Request for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility" will be available at: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/mox/licensing.html [http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/mox/licensing.html] on the NRC's web site. The report will also be available through the NRC Public Document Room at 301/415-4737 or 1/800-397-4209. If NRC authorizes construction, DCS could begin building a MOX facility designed to convert surplus weapons-grade plutonium, supplied by the Department of Energy, into MOX fuel for use in commercial nuclear power reactors authorized to use such fuel. Converting weapons-grade plutonium into MOX fuel helps advance the cause of nonproliferation by converting the material into a form unsuitable for use in weapons. DCS is required to submit a separate application for a license to operate the proposed MOX facility. ***************************************************************** 5 Coalition file brief against OPPD plan Journalstar.com: Local BY LARRY PEIRCE / Lincoln Journal Star A coalition formed to defend the future of Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville continues to oppose a proposal for a new coal-fired plant near Nebraska City. The Cooper Coalition announced Wednesday that it had filed its final brief with the Nebraska Power Review Board to intervene in the application of the Omaha Public Power District. OPPD filed its application for the new plant in March. The plant would run 24 hours a day, seven days a week and generate up to 600 megawatts of electricity. The utility has predicted it will need an additional 300 megawatts of capacity by 2009. The utility serves a 5,000-square-mile area that includes Omaha, as well as Cass, Otoe, Nemaha, Pawnee and Johnson counties. The Cooper Coalition is arguing that OPPD hasn't shown that a new plant is needed and that the plant threatens the future of Cooper. "The coalition finds that the OPPD proposal does not meet the state's criteria requiring that new facilities must be in the public's convenience and necessity, nor does it prevent duplication of existing facilities such as Cooper Nuclear Power Station, located 20 miles from OPPD's existing facility near Nebraska City," the coalition said in a press release. The coalition formed in April among community leaders and economic development specialists in six Southeast Nebraska counties, along with others from neighboring communities in Iowa and Missouri. Jeff Hanson, spokesman for OPPD, said the coalition hadn't raised any new points. He said that OPPD has looked at the future needs for power, the price and the reliability of Cooper beyond a decade. "We have looked at all options and we have found that by building that plant, it's the lowest-cost and most reliable option for our customer owners," Hanson said. A new coal-fired plant would last 50 years, he said, while Cooper's future has questions. "We don't know if Cooper is going to be around in 2014, but we do know that our customers will need additional power," Hanson said. The coalition argued that Cooper would meet OPPD's future needs and that it is the most ideal source for base-load power generation. The $1 billion public asset, the coalition stated, would be paid for in two years, and engineers have said it has decades of operational life. NPPD, which owns Cooper, is working to reduce its staff turnover and resolve management and safety preparedness concerns raised by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Jed Wagner, director of the Nemaha County Development Alliance, which led the effort to organize the coalition, said the coalition is interested in more than just OPPD's plans for one plant. "We simply need to see what type of planning they have done," Wagner said. "All these power districts are doing their (own) things like they've always done ... we need to be working together." Wagner said the coalition is asking the board to look at the issue of power generation in a "holistic sense." "People generally don't like change," Wagner said. "They like the way things have always been done. We're rocking the boat here in ways we feel are absolutely necessary." Tim Texel, executive director of the Nebraska Power Review Board, said that OPPD, the coalition, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska and Lincoln Electric System filed briefs on Wednesday. The board will decide whether to approve OPPD's application at its May 31 meeting, he said. Reach Larry Peirce at (402) 228-1245 or lpeirce@journalstar.com. Copyright © 2002, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. 926 P Street Lincoln NE 68508 402 475-4200 feedback@journalstar.com ***************************************************************** 6 Armenia seeks Russian help to run nuclear power plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; May 1, 2002 Yerevan, 1 May: Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan said it is hard for his country to finance its nuclear power plant. Armenia is now negotiating with Russian specialists for joint operation of the station. One of the ways of doing this is timely supplies of nuclear fuel for the station. This is one of the main provisions in the long-term agreement on economic cooperation with Russia, the minister said on Wednesday [1 April]. Armenia owes Russia about 29m dollars for nuclear fuel supplies. In September of last year, the then energy minister of Armenia [Karen Galustyan] said the nuclear power plant would be handed over to Russia for trust management. At that time, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan ruled out the transfer of the station into anyone's ownership. "The nuclear power plant must be only the property of the Republic of Armenia," he said, adding that only joint operation of the plant was possible. Commissioned in 1979, the atomic power station was stopped in 1989 after a devastating earthquake. In 1996, it was restarted with the assistance of Russian specialists who helped resume the operation of power unit No 2. Today the station accounts for almost 40 per cent of Armenia's energy output. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1951 gmt 1 May 02 /© BBC Monitoring ***************************************************************** 7 Minatom Shuts Down World's First Nuclear Reactor Russia has 10 nuclear power plants (NPPs) in operation. The safety standards of the Soviet designed reactors have been highly questioned by international experts. During the last decade, the social issues at the Russian NPPs have become of major concern in line with the technical flaws. (Moscow:) The Russian Nuclear Power Ministry (Minatom) shut down the world's first nuclear reactor in Obinsk earlier this week and announced plans to turn the 48-year-old nuclear relic into a museum, Ministry officials told Bellona Tuesday. Obninsk, a small town 60 miles south of Moscow, is the host for Russian nuclear research. photo: www.obninsk.ru Charles Digges, 2002-05-02 10:19 The plant in Obninsk, a small town 60 miles south of Moscow, was unveiled by the Soviet government on June 27th 1954 as the first nuclear generator of electric power. It was dubbed AM-1, AM being the Russian-language acronym for "peaceful atom." It was a triumph for Soviet science over the United States in the race for nuclear power during the darkest days of the Cold War. The reactor was used for military research as well as civilian power needs. On Monday, almost 48 years after its birth, the reactor was retired amid Pomp and ceremony with nuclear scientists and Atomic Energy Ministry officials standing by. Nikolai Shingaryov, Minatom's deputy minister for information policy told Bellona that the shutdown went smoothly. The Obninsk plant was similar in design to the fatally flawed RBMK-1000 reactor at Chernobyl, site of the world's worst radiation disaster in 1986. The Chernobyl plant, in the Ukraine, was finally shut down in 2000. "(Obninsk) is not only the world's first nuclear power station, but the first one to be taken out of service correctly," Shingaryov told Bellona, suggesting the Obninsk shutdown would set the standard for future closures. "It was (closed down) for purely economic reasons ... it could have continued to work, but it had not been profitable for a long time and was working off government subsidies," he said. Minatom spokesman Yury Bespalko further added that the 5-megawatt reactor no longer served any scientific or technological purpose, Itar-TASS reported. Shingaryov said the plant would be turned into a nuclear museum. When it first went on line, the Obninsk reactor helped Soviet scientists research the possibility of propelling submarines with nuclear power. Military research continued for years, although the plant also provided for local power needs. The small government-funded, water-cooled reactor had not produced electricity since 1968, but was still used for experiments and to warm the town's centrally distributed hot water supply. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 8 Ed: More Money for Nuclear Security The Ledger: Letters to the Editor [http://www.theledger.com/] Lakeland, Florida Thursday, May 2, 2002 After Sept. 11, President Bush vowed that fighting the war against terrorism would become the main focus of his presidency. But the administration is apparently giving short shrift to the security needs of the nation's nuclear arms and nuclear-waste stockpiles. In March, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wrote a letter to the Office of Management and Budget requesting a total of $379.8 million to better protect nuclear weapons and radioactive-waste stockpiles. "Failure to support these urgent security requirements is a risk that would be unwise," Abraham warned in the letter, which was recently obtained by The New York Times. "We are storing vast amounts of materials that remain highly volatile and subject to unthinkable consequences if placed in the wrong hands." Of Abraham's total laundry list, the OMB has approved just $26.4 million for congressional consideration, including $7 million for a security assessment, and $20 million to better respond to incidents involving nuclear weapons. Asked about the administration's failure to better fund Abraham's security requests, an Energy Department spokeswoman told The Times "our nuclear weapons complex is among the most secure facilities in the world." Perhaps someone should have told that to Abraham before he wrote to OMB warning of the department's vulnerabilities. Since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has been nearly fanatical in its insistence on official secrecy, and it's a good bet that Abraham's letter would have never seen the light of day if it hadn't been leaked to the media by, The Times reports, "someone who favors more spending on nuclear security." But given the decision to ignore most of the department's security-related requests, one wonders whether the Bush administration's mania for secrecy, at least in this case, is intended to protect national security, or simply to provide political damage control. "Should we give Enron executives the $250 million tax break President Bush proposed, or should we use that money to secure our country against a nuclear attack using our own nuclear materials?" asks David J. Sirota, spokesman for the Democratic minority staff of the House Appropriations Committee. Under the circumstances, that's not a bad question. © 2002 The Ledger ***************************************************************** 9 HHS: Compensation of Nuclear Workers for Job-Related Cancers U.S. Newswire 30 Apr 14:55 For Job-Related Cancers To: National Desk Contact: CDC/NIOSH Press Office, 202-401-3749 WASHINGTON, April 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today issued two final rules under which the department will provide scientific expertise to assist decision-making under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will use these regulations in processing claims by current and former employees of nuclear weapons production facilities and their survivors who seek compensation for certain cancers caused by occupational radiation exposures but who are not requesting compensation under the "Special Exposure Cohort" provisions of the Compensation Act. The Special Exposure Cohort includes workers who were employed at specific production or test sites designated in the Act. "Today's rules establish strong scientific methodologies to help carry out this complex and important program," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "These methodologies, which have been reviewed by the public, by scientific experts, and by the independent Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, will help to provide the civilian veterans of the Cold War or their survivors with claims assessments that are as fair, timely and equitable as possible." The final rules, "Methods for Radiation Dose Reconstruction" and "Guidelines for Determining the Probability of Causation," address comments from the public and an independent advisory board. The final rule on dose reconstruction establishes the methods that will be used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in estimating claimants' past occupational exposures to radiation, in cancer cases referred to CDC/NIOSH by DOL. Under an interim final rule issued for public comment last October, CDC/NIOSH began to conduct dose reconstructions for initial claims referred by DOL, pending public comment and completion of a final rule. Issuance of the final rule allows CDC/NIOSH to begin transmitting dose reconstructions to DOL, when completed, for use in processing claims. The final rule on probability of causation specifies the scientific guidelines that DOL will use in determining whether it is at least as likely as not that an energy employee's cancer was caused by occupational exposure to radiation at nuclear weapons production sites. To the extent that the science and data involve uncertainties, those uncertainties will be handled to the advantage of the claimant. The final rule follows a proposed rule that also was issued for public comment last October. Both the interim rule on dose reconstruction and the proposed rule on probability of causation also were reviewed by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, which was established by the Compensation Act to advise HHS on its duties under the Act. The Advisory Board found that the rules were fair, that they make the best use of current science, and that they meet the expressed intent of Congress to give the benefit of the doubt to claimants in instances where scientific uncertainties exist and radiation records are limited or do not exist. The methods and guidelines rely on well-established scientific procedures and principles for estimating radiation exposures and determining radiation-related cancer risks. They take into account available radiation exposure and health data, including information obtained from the work sites and from parties with expertise on exposure conditions at the work sites, which includes the employees themselves. CDC/NIOSH is drawing on scientific models developed by the National Cancer Institute. Under the final rule, HHS also will obtain reviews by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, with public input, for the purpose of keeping the implementation of the rules in step with scientific progress on dose reconstruction and probability of causation. The two final rules will be published in the May 2 Federal Register and also will be available online at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh [http://www.cdc.gov/niosh] . Copies may be obtained by calling 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674). ------ Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at www.hhs.gov/news [http://www.hhs.gov/news] . http://www.usnewswire.com Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 10 Conn: State tests response to nuclear emergency State News Thursday, May 02, 2002 Associated Press HARTFORD — It was a test — only a test — of Connecticut's emergency response system. For the first time since Sept. 11, state officials went through the motions Wednesday, reporting a steam line break at the Millstone nuclear station and declaring a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was on hand to evaluate the simulation. They will grade the exercise based on factors such as the amount of time it takes officials to notify the public, the speed with which they respond to each development, and the condition of emergency facilities, said FEMA project officer Robert Swartz. FEMA will issue a preliminary report on May 11 containing observations and any recommendations for improvement. The agency's final analysis won't be released for 30 to 60 days after that. The scenario, developed by Millstone officials, involved the rupture in the plant's steam generator which caused the release of radiation. Gov. Dan Moreland — actually the proclamation writer for the real governor, John G. Rowland — made the disaster announcement to a group of real reporters at the state Armory. Emergency offices across the state participated, going through the motions they will repeat in the event of an actual disaster. The scenario is based on events that could happen, said Peter Hyde, spokesman for the nuclear station. "It's designed to improve the process," Hyde said. "We're looking for real-world training." Swartz said the simulation is a reliable test of the state's emergency mechanism, though it compresses a situation that would probably play out over several days into just a few hours. "(Officials) go through the mill because it's compressed and they have to think quicker," he said. Swartz said state officials have requested permission to repeat any part of the simulation that is found to need improvement. "The state of Connecticut is emphatic about doing things right, and they're extremely concerned about protecting the people of Connecticut," he said. American-Republican Inc. ***************************************************************** 11 Anti-cancer pills stored by nuclear plants PalmBeachPost.com: By Deborah Circelli, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 2, 2002 State health officials revealed Wednesday that 784,000 potassium iodide pills have been stored in undisclosed locations near the state's three nuclear power plants to protect residents against thyroid cancer in the event of a nuclear disaster. The Florida Department of Health says it is still working with county emergency management officials throughout the state to determine how the pills would be distributed. They expect to have a final plan in the next couple of months. But emergency management officials in St. Lucie and Martin counties expressed concerns about how the pills will be handed out. They also fear residents may get the wrong message; that they don't need to evacuate if they take a potassium iodide pill. In St. Lucie County -- where 95 percent of the population lives within a 10-mile radius of the Florida Power & Light Co. plant -- officials were contacted by the state late Wednesday and were told that a draft plan will be available in early June. Then, the state said, it will seek comment from St. Lucie and Martin counties. State and local health officials stressed that the pills are no panacea. Evacuation remains the first and best line of defense against a radiation leak, they said. "We don't want people to lose sight of the fact that if there is an incident, they need to get out of the area," said William Parizek, a spokesman for the state health department. Potassium iodide, known as KI (its chemical symbol), works by flooding the thyroid gland with a safe iodine so it does not absorb radioactive iodine that is sometimes present in the air after a reactor accident. The pill, available on some Web sites, helps prevent thyroid cancer and other thyroid diseases. For optimal protection, the pill should be taken before or immediately after exposure to radiation, though it may still have a "substantial protective effect" if taken three to four hours after exposure, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Potassium iodide protects only against thyroid problems and does not reduce or prevent all the harmful effects of radiation. Local officials say that's one more reason to evacuate. If something causes a dangerous release of radiation, the pills would be distributed to people within a 10-mile radius of the state's three nuclear plants: • The St. Lucie plant on Hutchinson Island; • The Turkey Point plant south of Miami near Homestead; • The Crystal River plant on the Gulf Coast north of St. Petersburg. At least one medical group, the American Thyroid Association, believes the pills should be distributed to residents within 50 miles of the nuclear plant. But state and local emergency management officials say radiation exposure is generally limited to within 10 miles. The state health department, along with Gov. Jeb Bush, decided in February to accept the free pills from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as an added precaution for nearby residents. The NRC has shipped about 3.7 million pills valued at $532,000 to 10 states in the last few months. The NRC has $800,000 remaining to purchase more pills, according to Sue Gagner, a commission spokeswoman. There are 103 nuclear reactors in 31 states. NRC officials say the pills have nothing to do with fears stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks. They decided in December 2000 that the pills would provide added protection. The commission had been awaiting guidelines from the FDA that were finally released last December. In addition to concerns that residents will not evacuate if they get potassium iodide pills, Martin and St. Lucie emergency management officials worry that the pills will not be stored close enough to the plants to make a difference. Possible side effects -- such as swelling, difficulty breathing and even death -- are another concern, said Jim Kammel, radiological emergency plan administrator for Martin County. He said he has about 8,000 pills, or 300 doses for his staff. Kammel said emergency management officials in St. Lucie, Martin, Citrus, Levy, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties all opposed the state accepting the pills from the NRC. Even officials with the state Bureau of Radiation Control, within the health department, expressed reservations as far back as December. "Our concern is the public will think the pill protects them from all forms of radiation. That is truly not the case," said Kammel, who said some of the pills are rumored to be stored in Orlando. There are 177,696 people located within 10 miles of FPL's St. Lucie Nuclear Plant, 127,919 near FPL's Turkey Point plant and about 15,000 in a similar radius around Florida Power Corp.'s Crystal River plant. The state has two pills for each resident within those areas. One pill is effective for 24 hours. Charles Grande, president of the Presidents Council of Hutchinson Island, representing about 5,000 residents, thinks the pills should be given to residents now, so they can store them at home -- just in case. The state health department's Parizek said all those details are still being worked out, but that preliminary plans are for the pills to stay in "strategic locations" so that if there is an emergency in one part of the state they can be moved quickly. "Rest assured, if there is an incident before the final plan is done, they are located in areas where they will be readily available," he said. [deborah_circelli@pbpost.com] ***************************************************************** 12 [EMMAS] Nuclear Waste Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 23:30:29 -0500 (CDT) April 11, 2002 redpoet@swbell.net Volume 2002.63 The Oread Daily is a Peoples^ Paper and is Responsible Only to the People (whoever they might be) OREAD DAILY BACKYARD BARBECUE I bet you wish that you could have a hazardous nuclear waste dump in your backyard. Well, of course, if you live in Nevada or Utah, the Feds and private industry want to make it a wish come true. However, the people and even the states are doing what they can to stop it. On Wednesday the state of Nevada shut off water to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. Nevada State Engineer Hugh Ricci banned the Energy Department from drawing water from all but one Nye County well after a temporary permit letting the federal government draw up to 140 million gallons per year expired at midnight Tuesday. "Beginning today, the permit is no longer valid," Ricci said Wednesday. The state engineer noted that the remaining well is providing less than 1 percent of the 140 million gallons a year the Energy Department has requested. The site has shifted to back up water, but that won^t last. Robert Loux, Nevada^s top administrative appointee in the fight against Yucca Mountain, said Gov. Kenny Guinn^s veto of President Bush^s approval for the project means the Energy Department doesn^t need water at the site. "The project is over with, unless Congress overrides the governor^s veto," Loux said. However, the governor himself told students at the University of Nevada the battles is not over. "Congress will hear our message loud and clear. [Congress] should not permit Yucca Mountain to happen, and it will not happen if there is fairness in this land because the project is based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy." The nuclear power industry had given a reported $100 million in support of the Yucca project. And just to the east a similar but in some ways more significant battle is underway in Utah where the issue can best be described as "environmental racism." A consortium of utilities known as Private Fuel Storage plans to build a $3 billion facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, where nuclear waste would be stored until a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain is ready. Yucca Mountain is not expected to be ready to accept waste until 2010 at the earliest. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also must issue a license, a process that could take several years. Nuclear industry officials say that is why a temporary repository is needed. But Skull Valley opponents say the nod toward a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain doesn't mean the Skull Valley facility won't be built, nor does it mean it won^t continue in existence after Yucca Mountain is ready. "Approval of Yucca Mountain, should it happen by the president and Congress, would make PFS's temporary facility much more likely," said Steve Erickson of the Utah-based anti-nuclear group Citizens Education Project. Even if Yucca Mountain is approved it has too little space for all the nuclear waste headed there. Despite all this, Leon Bear, who was actually ousted in a recall vote last year, but continues to be recognized by the BIA as tribal leader, is moving ahead with plans to allow the construction on the reservation of the Goshute Band of Skull Valley Indians. A handful of brave and committed tribal members are resisting in an effort to protect what remains of their ancestral lands. The plan to store the nation^s nuclear waste on this isolated, disadvantaged Indian reservation is a classic example of "environmental racism" said Larry EchoHawk, a former Idaho Attorney General whose Pocatello law firm represents Goshute tribal members who oppose the deal. One of their clients, Marjene Bullcreek, a local activist and mother, said the $3 billion incentive offered by Private Fuel Storage, LLC, threatens to make the 112-member tribe cash-rich, but could bankrupt them culturally with the loss of land, language and even lives. "The PFS dump would threaten our tribe^s health, culture and community life," she said. "They think if they give us enough money, we^ll just give up the land and move away. But our traditional values are closely linked to the land and our ability to live and pray here. That^s where our real sovereignty lies." (The reservation is even now is surrounded by toxic industries, including biological and chemical weapons plants and incinerators, an aluminum chloride plant deemed the most polluting in the country, and a low-level radioactive waste dump). After hearing about a "secret deal" between Chairman Leon Bear and PFS five years ago, Bullcreek wanted to know why the proposed lease of tribal land for a nuclear waste storage site was not brought to the general council for consideration and approval. "What I found out was that most people had never seen the lease," she said. "We didn^t have a chance to vote on it or talk about it until after it was already signed by three people who sit on our Executive Council." Two have since had a change of heart and have called for public disclosure of the terms of the lease. "We had a traditional government where everybody looked at budgets and plans and came to a consensus. But Leon changed that since he got in there in 1995. Now he uses resolutions and makes up rules as he goes along. "Where did we change from a traditional government to this corporate mentality?" she asked. "The people did not approve this kind of government. It^s tearing us apart." The eight utilities participating in the project are led by Minnesota based Northern States Power, and include Con-Edison, GPU Nuclear, Southern Nuclear Operating Company and other industry giants. Their strategy is simple: use unlimited amounts of money to buy out any potential opposition to locate a dump on the reservation. "It's pretty clear that utilities are willing to spend billions to move the spent fuel out of their back yard into ours," said Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, who opposes the project. If complete, the waste storage would take up to 4,000 casks, or 40,000 metric tons, of nuclear wastes transported from all over the U.S. by railroads and highways. The waste would be spent nuclear fuel rods from nuclear reactors. These are officially classified as "high level" waste. High-level and low-level nuclear wastes can contain elements like Strontium-90, with a half-life of 28.6 years, to Iodine-129, with a half-life of about 16 million years. The casks of spent fuel would sit above-ground, in a parking-lot-type facility until a permanent federal repository is supposedly constructed at Yucca Mountain. Experts for the State of Utah estimate that an accident could cost as much as $300 billion to clean-up. Earlier this week as Federal Regulators met in the Salt Palace Convention Center hundreds of Utahns rallied two blocks away protesting the Skull Valley plan. "We will not allow our tribal government to be hijacked," Goshute dissident leader Margene Bullcreek told the crowd. "And we will not allow our reservation to become a national nuclear-waste dump." Jerry Johnson said he lives within a mile from the railroad tracks that would transport the nuclear waste to the site in Tooele County about 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. As a downwinder from atomic tests in the 1950s, the proposal brings back those horrors. He told commented, "As an adolescent I lived in southern Idaho. The fallout to this day has caused me skin cancer. My wife takes daily medication for thyroid cancer," he told the Atomic Safety Licensing Board. "Why do we have to go through this again?" Sources: Rebel Yell (UNLV), Heal Utah, KUED, Indian Country Today, Honor the Earth, Desert News, Salt Lake Tribune, Reno Gazette Journal ################################################################# "If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution." Emma Goldman This message comes to you from the emmasdance list. To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to the emmasdance list send email to with the message subscribe/unsubscribe emmasdance. [No subject is needed.] ################################################################# ***************************************************************** 13 S.C. sues to block Flats waste Denver Post.com Some fear move imperils 2006 cleanup deadline By Mike Soraghan [msoraghan@denverpost.com] Denver Post Washington Bureau Thursday, May 02, 2002 - WASHINGTON - South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges went to federal court Wednesday to block nuclear-waste shipments from Rocky Flats, raising fears that a judge could cause the suburban Denver bomb plant to miss its 2006 cleanup deadline. Hodges has been fighting the Bush administration's plans to ship about 6 tons of plutonium from Colorado to South Carolina's Savannah River Site. He's threatened to send out the state patrol or lie down in the road to block the shipments, saying he doesn't want his state to become the nation's nuclear weapons "dumping ground." Hodges said he'll keep working on a legislative solution in Congress and will withdraw his lawsuit against the government if he gets a guarantee that the plutonium will someday leave his state. "Unless we act now, plutonium could be crossing our border two weeks from today with no safeguards for South Carolina," Hodges said in a statement Wednesday. "While some progress has been made, the clock is ticking." Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said the Rocky Flats waste must be shipped by May 15 to meet the 2006 deadline. The waste is not expected to be shipped now until at least May 22. Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard has warned that if the 2006 deadline slips, the whole plan to accelerate the cleanup of Rocky Flats could fall apart. Others say it's not so crucial to begin shipping within weeks from Rocky Flats, the large complex near Broomfield that made triggers for nuclear bombs for 40 years until 1989. Top staffers for U.S. Rep. Mark Udall of Boulder say delays would make meeting the deadline more expensive, not impossible. In a statement, the Bush administration and other Republicans accused Hodges of "running to the courthouse" while others work to find a solution. Two South Carolina congressmen are expected to introduce a bill today which would guarantee that the nuclear waste would eventually leave South Carolina. "We will continue working to solve the problem, rather than engaging in political grandstanding for the cameras," said a Department of Energy statement. "Sen. Allard is beginning to wonder if the governor is really interested in solving the problem or if he's just interested in having an issue down there," said Allard spokesman Sean Conway. In Denver, Gov. Bill Owens called Hodges' lawsuit "just as frivolous as his threat to lay down in front of a truck." Conway and the DOE also raised the threat that, given Hodges' bitter resistance, the federal government should look for a new site to convert nuclear-weapons waste to reactor fuel. That would cost South Carolina thousands of jobs. The essence of the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Aiken, S.C., has little to do with Hodges' fears about his state becoming a dumping ground. Instead it complains that the DOE failed to conduct a new environmental impact statement when it changed its plans for disposal of 34 tons - including 28 tons from other plants - of weapons-grade plutonium. The government decided not to "immobilize" a portion of the plutonium in glass, instead turning all of it into fuel for nuclear reactors. At the time, Abraham said a new environmental statement was not needed. The suit also complains that the DOE plans to ship some of the material in unsafe containers, called DT-22s, which have not passed the government's "crush test." But when the DOE notified Congress that it planned to start shipping the waste, it said it would use a different container. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to stop the shipments. No hearing date has been set. U.S. Justice Department lawyers have indicated they might try to move the case to Washington, D.C. All contents Copyright 2002 The Denver Post ***************************************************************** 14 Taiwan: Aborigines protest nuclear waste The Taipei Times Online: 2002-05-02 Thursday, May 2nd, 2002 Men from the Tao tribe perform an exorcism ritual during a demonstration on Orchid Island against the nuclear-waste storage site there. PHOTO: LI KUANG-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES UNFILLED PROMISE: Hundreds of demonstrators called on President Chen Shui-bian to fulfill his campaign pledge to remove all radioactive waste from the island By Chiu Yu-tzu STAFF REPORTER Hundreds of Aboriginal protesters from the Tao (¹F®©) tribe protested yesterday to demand that government officials remove roughly 98,000 barrels of low-level nuclear waste from their Orchid Island home. The protesters demonstrated in front of a temporary repository on the island operated by state-run Taiwan Power Co (¥x¹q) and called on President Chen Shui-bian (³¯¤ô«ó) to keep his promise to find another home for the radioactive waste. "We hope that President Chen Shui-bian can do what he ought to do with courage," said Shyman Faagien (³¢«Ø¥­), a Taitung County councilor who led the protest. Demonstrators demanded that the waste be removed from Orchid Island by the end of the year. During the 2000 presidential campaign, Chen promised Orchid Island's residents that, if elected, he would find a new storage place for the nuclear waste. The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) opened the waste repository in 1982 and management control was turned over to Taipower in 1990 under an agreement that required all waste to be relocated by the end of this year. Demonstrators in talks with Taipower officials yesterday asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs -- which oversees Taipower -- for a clear promise to remove the waste. Protesters gave officials a petition containing four demands. First, the Orchid Island residents asked that Chen not break his campaign promise made in 1999. They also demanded a clear time-frame for the removal of the radioactive material. In addition, until the relocation takes place, the residents asked for a trustworthy task force composed of environmental groups and social organizations be established to oversee the repository's operations. Finally, the demonstrators asked that government officials not consider Orchid Island as a permanent repository for radioactive material. Minister for Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (ªL¸q¤Ò) responded to protesters' demands yesterday by fax, saying he would order Taipower to reinforce safety measures at the repository. In addition, Lin said he would order the AEC to establish a task force to supervise the repository's operations. As for government plans to build a permanent repository, Lin said Taipower has picked Hsiaochiu Islet (¤pËúÀ¬) in Kinmen County as one of its choices. But the Environmental Protection Administration has not yet approved the environmental impact assessment for the site. Lin's responses, however, didn't satisfy demonstrators, who said the answers didn't go far enough to meet their demands and repeated earlier statements made by the government. The protesters tried to break into the repository to show their disappointment. This story has been viewed 607 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/05/02/story/0000134212] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 S.C. Governor Sues Energy Dept. Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 COLUMBIA, S.C.- Gov. Jim Hodges has filed a lawsuit that could prove to be a different kind of roadblock in his standoff with the federal government. Hodges sued the Energy Department on Wednesday to block shipments of weapons-grade plutonium that are scheduled to begin arriving in South Carolina later this month. Hodges, who has already ordered state law officers to practice blocking plutonium shipments, wants an agreement to ensure that the nuclear material won't remain in his state indefinitely. "While some progress has been made, the clock is ticking," Hodges wrote to the state's congressional delegation. "Unless we act now, plutonium could begin crossing our borders two weeks from today with no legal safeguards for our state." Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said the agency is disappointed with Hodges' decision to go to court. "This action is totally inconsistent with a desire to work things out," Davis said in a written statement. A constitutional law expert said Hodges may have improved his chances by going to court. Eldon Wedlock, a professor at the University of South Carolina, said the U.S. government has "the upper hand, but this complaint throws the entire case into federal court. Hodges needs that because he needs federal judicial power on his side to stave off federal executive power." Hodges ordered his lawyers to sue Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and the Energy Department because he feared the plutonium could enter the state without any agreement on when it should leave. The suit claims the department failed to file environmental impact statements. The plutonium is coming to the Savannah River Site near Aiken, next to the Georgia border, to be processed into fuel for nuclear power plants. Energy officials say the first shipments from the Rocky Flats facility in Colorado could start as soon as May 15. Hodges worries the conversion program will never be funded and the plutonium will stay in South Carolina indefinitely. He wants the shipments blocked until the federal government complies with the law. Conducting environmental impact studies could take six months to a year. "If we're successful, there will be a significant delay," Hodges said. Hodges promised to keep negotiating with the Energy Department toward an agreement while the suit makes its way through the courts. If talks fail, he said the state likely will file for a temporary restraining order within a week to prevent the shipments. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the lawsuit will make negotiations tougher. "I've always believed that a lawsuit against the federal government involving high-level national security issues will fail," Graham said. "For those reasons, I've been pursuing a legislative solution." Under a plan proposed by Graham, the federal government would be fined $1 million a day starting in 2011 if more than 1 ton of the plutonium has not been made into fuel. The government would have to move the plutonium or speed up the conversion to stop the fines. The fines would resume on Jan. 1, 2017, if all the plutonium is not converted. The penalties, capped at $100 million, would continue until all the nuclear material has been converted or removed. Hodges and Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said Graham's proposal never spells out when the plutonium would leave. They said more negotiation was needed. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 Forum to air nuclear waste peril [newsobserver.com, Raleigh, NC] Thursday, May 2, 2002 5:23AM EDT N.C. WARN tells how a fugitive boarded a train carrying spent fuel rods By JAMES ELI SHIFFER, Staff Writer In March, a North Carolina fugitive's brief ride on a freight train carrying radioactive waste ended without harm to him or the potentially lethal cargo. But Triangle nuclear safety advocates say the incident shows how terrorists could easily attack Progress Energy's regular shipments of spent fuel rods to its nuclear plant in southwest Wake County. N.C. WARN, an environmental group based in Durham, publicized the incident on the eve of public discussion this evening of the vulnerability of Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear plant to sabotage. The forum at the William Friday Center in Chapel Hill is sponsored by Orange and Chatham county commissioners. It will feature speakers who have criticized existing safety policies as inadequate. One of those policies involves Progress Energy's regular shipments of spent fuel from its nuclear plants in Wilmington and Hartsville, S.C., for storage in water-filled basins at the Harris plant. "It's a risk that's entirely avoidable," said Jim Warren, director of N.C. WARN. "There's no benefit for the people of North or South Carolina. It's an intercompany transfer to save money." Progress Energy, the parent company of CP, defends the safety of its rail shipments, which have taken place since the late 1980s. Progress Energy is the only private utility in the Southeast shipping spent fuel between its facilities, said Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Atlanta. Keith Poston, a company spokesman, said, "We're confident if there were actual terrorists looking to target the facilities, our security forces, along with partners in state and local law enforcement, can handle keeping those shipping casks safe." The incident took place about 5 p.m. March 6 near the Richmond County town of Marston, several miles from the South Carolina border. Two convicts on the lam from a state boot camp program tried to hitch a ride from a freight train, Poston said. Unfortunately for them, the train happened to carry shipping casks loaded with used uranium fuel rods from Progress Energy's H.B. Robinson plant in South Carolina. That meant armed company security guards, as well as state troopers, were riding with it, Poston said. The guards had already been alerted that they might see the escapees, said Sgt. Everett Clendenin, a Highway Patrol spokesman. When the guards and troopers saw one of the fugitives jump on an empty flatbed car on the train, they hollered at him, Clendenin said. About 30 seconds later, he said, the man jumped off. The fugitives, identified as Melvin Lee Taylor, 19, and James D. Winfield Jr., 20, were apprehended a few minutes later in the woods, he said. "If there was any question about whether they were threatening the actual shipment, they would have been shot," Poston said, adding, "We learn something from every action or incident. We'll learn from this one. We believe in this case, the system worked." That argument doesn't convince Warren, who found out about the incident when Progress Energy filed a mandatory report with the NRC last month. "No one should have been allowed to get that close to the train," he said. "I don't think anyone could see this as anything other than a real serious breakdown in security." Warren's viewpoint will find a sympathetic audience this evening in Chapel Hill. Twenty-four elected officials from Orange, Durham and Chatham counties have already signed on to N.C. WARN's "risk reduction" principles, which urge Progress Energy to abandon its train shipments and instead store used fuel on-site in dry casks protected from attack by mounds of dirt and gravel. The Orange County commissioners are also continuing their legal battle against Progress Energy's expanded use of waste storage pools at the Harris plant. No one from Progress Energy will participate in the 7:30 p.m. discussion in Chapel Hill. Poston said the event was billed as a discussion of regional emergency planning, but that's not what it turned out to be. "The event appears to us to be more of a policy forum on nuclear power and not a planning meeting," he said. Poston said the company wants to answer any questions the elected officials in Orange and Chatham have. "We just don't believe a policy forum would be a productive setting for that kind of a meaningful dialogue." Staff writer James Eli Shiffer can be reached at 836-5701 or jshiffer@newsobserver.com. [jshiffer@newsobserver.com.] b © Copyright 2002, The News &Observer. All material found on ***************************************************************** 17 Decision to cut off water affecting work Thursday, May 02, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Documents: Move causing delays at Yucca By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL A decision by Nevada officials to cut off water at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project three weeks ago is starting to affect the Department of Energy's work at the site, court documents say. A statement by Scott Wade, DOE team leader for environmental safety and health, said some work has been halted, resulting in delays to drilling activities as scientists attempt to collect more geological information about the mountain for the proposed repository's license application. Wade's statement was attached to papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court by Justice Department attorneys seeking an injunction to force the state to extend temporary permits for 140 million gallons per year from five Nye County wells near the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The documents are part of a case centered on former State Engineer Michael Turnipseed's denial two years ago of DOE's request for permanent water permits to build and operate a Yucca Mountain repository. In anticipation that water would be cut off, the Department of Energy stockpiled more than 1 million gallons in tanks in February, including two that have since leaked about 14,000 gallons of nonpotable water, according to Wade's statement Friday. In a March 27 statement, he told the court the supply would last only 18 days with normal use. The Department of Energy has since taken measures to conserve water, including use of portable toilets and controlling access on 55 miles of unpaved roads at the site where water has been used to control dust. In his latest statement, Wade said three vendors who had offered to sell potable water to the Energy Department for use at the site have withdrawn their offers after they were contacted by a state Health Division representative "who told these sources that their permits would not allow them to provide water to Yucca Mountain." A Yucca Mountain Project spokesman on Wednesday would not comment on how much water remains in storage, citing the pending legal matter. In their court papers, Justice Department attorneys countered the state's arguments that the Yucca Mountain Project is "legally dead" until Congress overrides Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of President Bush decision to proceed toward licensing and building a repository for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. "Common sense and the (Nuclear Waste Policy Act) read as a whole dictate that studies continue in the event of congressional approval," the lawyers wrote. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 18 Nuke waste chief making first official LV trip Thursday, May 02, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal REVIEW-JOURNAL Margaret Chu, the nation's Civilian Radioactive Waste Management chief, will meet today with representatives from local governments and special interest groups affected by federal plans to put spent nuclear fuel in Yucca Mountain. Chu, who was appointed by President Bush and sworn in March 20, met Wednesday with members of the Yucca Mountain staff at the project's Hillshire Drive offices in what an Energy Department spokesman described as a fact-finding mission to learn about the project. The two-day trip marks her first official visit to Las Vegas. Before becoming director of the DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management she had been a government science manager in charge of the Nuclear Waste Management Program Center at Sandia National Labora- tories. Chu will meet behind closed doors today with state and county government officials and with representatives from at least two watchdog groups, Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental group, and the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force. She replaces former acting Director Lake Barrett, who had headed the office since Ivan Itkin left when the administration changed on Jan. 20, 2001. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 19 SHIPMENT SAFETY: Yucca Mountain foes spotlight rail incident Thursday, May 02, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Two escapees jumped aboard train hauling nuclear waste By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Two teen-agers looking to escape from a North Carolina work camp chose the wrong train to ride out of town: The train was carrying high-level nuclear waste and an armed security detail. One of the escapees jumped aboard an empty flatbed car for about 15-30 seconds before he realized guns were trained on him, and he jumped off as the train was slowing through rural Richmond County, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said. Both unarmed males were captured a short time later, said Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Everett Clendenin. "It's not being viewed as a threat," Clendenin said. "It was two guys trying to get the hell away from town, and they picked the wrong train." The March 6 incident has become the latest ammunition in the fight over the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. The episode was seized by Yucca foes to challenge the safety of nuclear waste shipped to the underground repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department is proposing more than 10,000 truck and rail shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel and government radioactive waste from at least 77 locations to the Nevada site. Had the two escapees been terrorists armed with heavy weapons, they could have done catastrophic damage, said Jim Warren, a spokesman for the North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network. "They got to where they needed to cause a lot of damage," Warren said. "Security didn't come into play because they got on the train and off the train. Studies show any number of weapons could have caused a big radioactive release." Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., were preparing a letter to House colleagues calling their attention to the incident and urging them to vote against the Yucca Mountain Project when it reaches the House floor next week. "If prisoners on the run can hop on board a nuclear train, how can anyone possibly suggest that these trains would be defensible from committed terrorists," Berkley said. A spokesman for the utility shipping the waste said the incident showed the waste material was safe. "The security for the train worked. These guys were successfully confronted by security, and they fled. We didn't use any force, but we certainly were prepared to do so," said Keith Poston, spokesman for Progress Energy, the parent company of Carolina Power and Light. The utility operates four commercial nuclear reactors in the Carolinas and Florida. The train was carrying two casks of spent fuel weighing at least 75 tons apiece aboard flatbed railcars. Poston said the nuclear waste was en route from a company plant in South Carolina to be stored at a North Carolina plant. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 20 Nevada representatives launch final push to slow Yucca Mountain momentum Thursday, May 02, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- A week before the House is expected to approve the Yucca Mountain Project by a wide margin, Nevada lawmakers are mounting a final push to make the vote halfway respectable. Nevada probably will receive less support than it did two years ago, when 167 out of 435 House members opposed nuclear waste storage in the state, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said Wednesday as she organized Democratic allies to lobby undecided lawmakers and those who don't have strong feelings on the issue. "That (167) is a benchmark for us, but candidly, I don't think we can get there," Berkley said. While they are gathering votes, Nevadans also are exploring a procedural attack against the House resolution that would override Gov. Kenny Guinn's nuclear waste veto and finalize President Bush's Yucca Mountain site designation. After consulting parliamentarians, Nevada aides are preparing for a possible challenge on the grounds the resolution amounts to an "unfunded mandate" that could force states to spend millions of dollars on highways and emergency training without federal reimbursement. In that case, the resolution could violate congressional budget rules. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., raised a similar point when the House debated nuclear waste in 2000. He lost by a single vote, 206-205. "It's an option we're looking at," Gibbons said Wednesday. "We haven't had a chance to review it thoroughly." The House is scheduled tentatively to vote Wednesday on shipping 77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. A big difference in the expected vote count this year is that powerful Michigan Democrat John Dingell supports the Yucca Mountain legislation, Berkley said. Dingell opposed Yucca legislation two years ago, saying that, if anything, it was not pro-nuclear enough. Also, five of the 18 Republicans who voted with Nevada two years ago have left Congress. And a sixth, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is a leading supporter of this year's Yucca Mountain bill. "Anything over 100 (next week) would be very respectable" Berkley said. This year's bill also is being pushed hard by the White House, the House GOP leadership and the nuclear power industry in hopes of securing a lopsided vote for momentum when the Yucca Mountain issue moves to the Senate later this year. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., in particular has been energized by the upcoming vote. Despite the bleak outlook in the House, Berkley said it is important to obtain as many votes as possible to improve the state's chances of gaining 51 votes in the Senate. "In other words, we're the dam holding back the water," she said. With help from House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Berkley organized her own whip operation this week to lobby undecided Demo- crats. Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said there is no consensus among House Democrats about how to vote on Yucca Mountain. "We know we're not going to win so we're not whipping it officially," Daly said. "But Congresswoman Pelosi thought (helping Berkley) was the right thing to do because she is very concerned about the transportation of nuclear waste across the country." In a morning meeting in Berkley's office, Reps. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Jim Matheson, D-Utah, were given lists of undecided or leaning lawmakers to pressure. Berkley's office would not disclose how many lawmakers remain undecided. A source said targeted lawmakers include those from Iowa, Utah, Missouri, Maine, Washington, Minnesota, Vermont and Colorado. Also recruited was Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, who has contacts among Hispanic members and others. "They've deputized me," said Herrera, who is seeking a seat in the new 3rd Congressional District. "I'm reaching out to members that have local government experience and members I've established a personal relationship with." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 21 Anti-Yucca effort wins $50,000 boost Thursday, May 02, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal REVIEW-JOURNAL Nevada's public-relations campaign against the Yucca Mountain Project received a $50,000 boost Wednesday from the Las Vegas City Council, which already had authorized $100,000 to fight the project. Council members voted unanimously to allocate money from its capital projects account, which normally pays for park construction and other public works projects. With the U.S. House and Senate preparing to vote on whether to override Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the project, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, city officials said it's important that the Nevada Protection Fund receive the money right away. Councilman Michael Mack said "it's vitally important that we don't wait until July," when the city's 2003 fiscal year begins. By then it's likely that both houses of Congress will already have voted on the issue. The city's contribution is dwarfed by that of Clark County, but it's in line with what other local municipalities have given. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 22 'Wrong to close' Sellafield says Blair BBC News | ENGLAND | Thursday, 2 May, 2002, Tony Blair: "Sellafield is subject to strict regulations" Jobs should not be put under threat by closing Sellafield without proof the nuclear facility is dangerous, Tony Blair has said. Mr Blair said it would be wrong to shut down the British Nuclear Fuels plant in Cumbria, without official evidence to back up claims it posed a threat. He was responding to SDLP Leader John Hume in the House of Commons, after the Irish MP asked Mr Blair if he was aware of the widespread concerns about the plant. There are fears in the UK and Ireland Sellafield might be leaking nuclear pollution into the Irish Sea. 'Strict standards' The wife of U2 pop singer Bono is spearheading a protest campaign against the plant. Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Blair said: "I am aware of the concern that is expressed. "However, the Sellafield plant, and indeed any other plant in this country, is subject to the strictest, not just national but international, standards." He said the plant is regularly inspected and none of the types of problems alleged by campaigners have been found. Mr Blair said: "Of course we take these concerns seriously, but there is a proper procedure. Protest postcards "I think it would be wrong to either close down nuclear facilities or to start putting large numbers of people out of work if there wasn't sufficient evidence from the relevant bodies to back it up." On 26 April, the wife of U2 singer Bono, Ali Hewson, visited Downing Street to protest against the operation of Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. The anti-nuclear campaigner was highlighting a mail-out of 1.3m protest postcards calling for the plant to be closed. Mr Blair and the Prince of Wales were among recipients of the cards, which highlight fears in the Irish Republic about alleged pollution risks from Sellafield. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria] ***************************************************************** 23 No case to close Sellafield, says Blair Irish Newspapers IT would be wrong to shut down the Sellafield nuclear plant without official evidence to back up claims it was dangerous, the British Prime Minister said in the Commons yesterday, writes Joe Churcher. Mr Blair played down safety fears after last week's mass postcard campaign from Irish protesters demanding closure of the complex in Cumbria. At question time former SDLP leader John Hume said the protest, spearheaded by the wife of U2 pop singer Bono, was the largest correspondence on one issue received by any British Prime Minister. He asked: "Are you prepared to take steps to remove those concerns?" Mr Blair told him: "I am aware of the concern that is expressed. However, the Sellafield plant, and indeed any other plant in this country, is subject to the strictest, not just national, but international standards. "Those standards are regularly reviewed. The plants themselves are regularly inspected and these inspections have never found there is a problem such as that alleged in parts of the press and amongst other political parties. "I think it would be wrong to close down nuclear facilities if there wasn't sufficient evidence to back the closures." © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 24 Berkley to discuss Yucca in national radio address Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., will outline flaws in the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project during a national radio address Saturday. Berkley was tapped by the House Democratic leadership Wednesday night to deliver the Democratic response to President Bush's weekly radio address. The Democrats use the five-minute address to promote issues on their agenda, and leaders are allowing Berkley to use the time to explain the state's opposition to the Yucca project. A draft of the address was being finalized today. Berkley plans to explain the nation's nuclear waste problem and outline why Yucca Mountain is not a good solution, Berkley spokesman Michael O'Donovan said. She will tell listeners that even if Yucca Mountain becomes a waste repository, waste will continue to pile up at reactor sites nationwide as long as power plants continue to operate. Berkley also plans to argue that shipping waste from sites around the nation would be dangerous and that the site is not scientifically sound. Berkley will tape the message today or Friday, O'Donovan said. This will be Berkley's second national radio address. Democratic leaders chose her to speak about the party's plans to stimulate the economy in November. The Berkley address will be available after Saturday on Berkley's website: www.house.gov/berkley. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 25 New Yucca project director meets with staff in Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 Margaret Chu, the Energy Department's new Yucca Mountain project director, is in Las Vegas this week to meet for the first time with the project's local staff. Chu, based in Washington, has visited the proposed nuclear waste respository site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas before, and will not be visiting it this trip, Energy Department officials said. Chu met Wednesday with department staffers and is meeting today with state and local government representatives, including officials from Clark, Nye, Lincoln and Inyo (Calif.) counties, Energy Department spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said. Chu also planned to meet with a representative with Citizen Alert, a local anti-Yucca group, Fisher said. Energy Department officials would not disclose details of the briefings but described them as routine progress report meetings. Chu arrived in Las Vegas Tuesday afternoon and will be leaving today or Friday. President Bush nominated Chu director of the Energy Department's Civilian and Radioactive Waste Management Project office and the Senate confirmed the nomination. She was sworn in March 20. She replaced former acting director Lake Barrett. Chu, a physical chemist, was a longtime nuclear waste program manager at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 26 Train hoppers show nuke security risks Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Two young men who fled a North Carolina labor camp briefly hopped a train carrying high-level nuclear waste in March, further illustrating the risks of shipping waste, Nevada lawmakers said. "The fact that these were just kids, and not trained terrorists, and able to get on the train, even for a brief period of time -- can you imagine if these had been trained professionals?" Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., asked. "That's why we need to study these issues a lot more." As part of their multi-pronged approach to battling the federal proposal to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada officials argue that shipping waste cross-country to Nevada is needlessly dangerous. In recent weeks, they have pointed to train accidents in Florida and California. The March 6 train-hopping incident gives them more fodder for debate, they said. "This event proves that we can't protect these shipments of nuclear waste," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "They cannot be defended and they pose a tremendous security risk to the entire country." Melvin Lee Taylor, 19, and James Whitfield, Jr., 20, were running from Richmond County Sheriff's deputies at about 5 p.m. March 6 after escaping a state-sponsored work camp, county highway patrol spokesman Renee Hoffman said. The two saw the train as it slowed near an intersection in Richmond County near the North Carolina-South Carolina border and decided to jump on, Hoffman said. One of the men was able to jump onto an empty flatbed car that acts as a spacer on the waste shipment train; the other fell but was unhurt, Hoffman said. She did not know which one fell, and which one had jumped unaware onto a guarded nuclear waste train. The man who hopped onto the train immediately noticed a gun -- possibly more than one -- pointed at him and security officers began yelling at him. After just 10 or 15 seconds on the train the man jumped off and the two fled again, Hoffman said. They were apprehended in a nearby woods about 30 minutes later. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said, "This is the consummate example of just how vulnerable this toxic nuclear waste is in transport around this country." But authorities disagree. "They picked the wrong train," Hoffman said. "The important thing for the public to know is that the security system worked." According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, nuclear plant officials do not release information about armed security on nuclear waste shipments. Progress Energy officials confirmed that at least one county sheriff's officer was on board. The county sheriff and the company work together on waste shipments. The sheriff had even notified the company to be on the lookout for the two escapees, officials said. If the man had threatened the waste containers in any way, the train's security officer or officers were prepared to use force to prevent it, a company spokesman said. "He was absolutely shocked to hop a train and look up to see guys with guns," Progress Energy spokesman Keith Poston said. "From our perspective, the security measures worked." Still, Nevada officials say they were shocked two young men on foot got that close to the train at all. In response, Poston said, "It would be virtually impossible to keep everyone away from the train tracks. We obviously can't get into the business of shooting anyone walking near the train tracks." The train was hauling two cars each loaded with spent nuclear fuel from the Robinson Nuclear Power Plant in Hartsville, S.C., operated by Progress Energy. The train was on its way to another company plant in New Hill, N.C., where the company stores the waste from four Progress Energy nuclear reactors in the Carolinas. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 27 Blair Sellafield comment sparks Dail reaction Tony Blair THURSDAY 02/05/02 08:48:42 A claim by Tony Blair that it would be wrong to close the Sellafield nuclear waste complex unless the move was recommended by inspectors has featured in the Irish general election campaign. The British prime minister`s comment during question time in the House of Commons was criticised by Marian McGennis, of Fianna Fail, the main party in the Dublin government. Ms McGennis, one of a delegation from the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary body to visit Sellafield earlier this year to raise on-going Irish concern about the Cumbrian facility, declared: ``Our proximity to Sellafield represents a real danger. ``It is a major concern for this government - and we are serious about tackling the dangers posed by the plant.`` Ms McGennis, who is defending a Dublin parliamentary seat in the May 17 election, added: ``Following the events of September 11, there is a heightened awareness of potential security risks. ``We are all aware of the effects of a nuclear accident. We need to ensure that such an accident never happens close to our shores. ``Sellafield poses an unacceptable risk to the environment of this island. ``It is important that it is brought home to the British authorities - and to Tony Blair - just how strongly we in Ireland feel about the existence of Sellafield.`` RoI parties Fianna Fail Planning - Friends of the Irish Environment - planning info On 02/05/02 09:53:31, True Blue from Waterford said: I can't believe how we Irish are shown ourselves up as irogant hypocrites. We have a massive waste problem of our own so therefore we can't thrown stones or point the finger. If bono's wife (forgotten her name already) wants to do something worthwhile why can't she campaign for a cleaner Ireland? The reason why she doesn't is because she wouldn't get the lime light and praise that she is getting now. Like most anti sellafield morons they all need to grow up. On 02/05/02 10:21:57, Andrew from Yorkshire said: Blair must tell the Irish, in no uncertain terms, exactly what he thinks of their petty and ultimately futile protestations. On 02/05/02 17:21:55, NC from belfast said: this dangerous, polluting blot on the landscape must be closed now! ***************************************************************** 28 BNFL'S Pricey 'Humble Pie' Voyage Begins [http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/] THE WHITEHAVEN NEWS Thursday, May 02, 2002 One of the most expensive apologies by BNFL started last week as two ships, both of them armed, left Barrow to sail to Japan to bring back eight MOX nuclear fuel assemblies that led to Sellafield loosing key business. It will cost state owned BNFL several millions of pounds to bring back the unwanted MOX fuel. The fuel will then stay at Sellafield as nuclear waste. BNFL said: "The future use of the fuel is yet to be determined but will be in accordance with the customer's wishes and with the relevant regulatory requirements.'' Cumbrian anti-nuclear group CORE said: "Heightened security around BNFL's two armed MOX ships and increased dockside activity over the past week has preceded the ships' departure. The security has included UKAEA police squads guarding the terminal around the clock, sweeps of the ships' hulls by a police diving team and police inflatables patrolling the dock waters. "Despite the ships carrying no more than empty transport flasks, Barrow Docks were sealed off for the departures and both ships were escorted out to sea by police inflatables. The Pacific Pintail and Pacific Teal will take around 6 weeks to reach Japan where they will collect the MOX fuel produced at Sellafield's MOX Demonstration Facility (MDF) and subsequently rejected by BNFL's customer Kansai Electric after BNFL was forced to admit that the plutonium fuel's quality assurance data had been deliberately falsified by MDF workers.'' The ships are expected to arrive back with the rejected fuel sometime in August. The waste fuel will be transported under heavy guard by rail to Sellafield. CORE added: " The THORP reprocessing plant has no licence to process the degraded plutonium fuel rods which are therefore likely to languish indefinitely as yet more nuclear waste at Sellafield. "We are wholly opposed to its return. The shipment is at raised risk of terrorist action and represents a blatant breach of Government policy which forbids the import of nuclear waste into the UK.'' BNFL Chief Executive, Norman Askew said: "This is an important milestone for BNFL as it begins to draw a line under the issue." ***************************************************************** 29 Fla. Editorial: No to Yucca Mountain [St. Petersburg Times Online: Opinion: Editorials and Letters] alt="TampaBay.com" border="0"> [http://www.tampabay.com/] A Times Editorial Congress should not approve plans to store highly radioactive nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which would pose too many risks along the transport route and to nearby Las Vegas. © St. Petersburg Times published May 2, 2002 When President Bush picked Yucca Mountain in Nevada to store the nation's nuclear waste, he set in motion a tight schedule that requires Congress to resolve the issue within the next three months. It's a shame the decision has to be made that quickly, because the details are complex and there is no room for error. Yet forced to act, Congress should say no to Yucca Mountain. The odds are in favor of Congress' saying yes, however. The nuclear power industry has spent a lot of money trying to assure that outcome. The industry contributed $13.8-million to federal candidates during the 2000 election cycle and spent $25-million in one year lobbying Congress and federal agencies, according to Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization. So far, in every action it has taken, Congress has gone along with the wishes of the nuclear power industry. Energy legislation in the House and Senate would give the industry tax breaks to expand nuclear power and make taxpayers underwrite liability insurance on nuclear reactors. The most pressing issue, however, is Yucca Mountain. Highly radioactive waste from spent fuel is stacking up at more than 100 reactor sites in 31 states, and utility companies need to resolve that problem before they can expand. (In Florida, there are two nuclear reactors on the Southeast coast and one on the central Gulf coast in Crystal River.) A repository beneath the Nevada mountain could hold 77,000 tons of the waste, one of the most dangerous substances known to man. But there are great risks. The material poses a potential threat to Las Vegas, only 90 miles away, and to millions of Americans who live along the routes where the waste would be shipped. Stuck in traffic next to a truck carrying the waste, a person could be exposed to unnecessary radiation, about the equivalent of an X-ray. And an accident or act of terror that breached the waste container could have catastrophic consequences. Who are we counting on to face a challenge of such magnitude? The U.S. Department of Energy, an agency not known for its competence. If Congress approves Yucca Mountain, the DOE would have 90 days to apply for a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, yet "DOE is not prepared to submit an acceptable license application to NRC within the statutory limits that would take effect if the site is approved," concluded the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, in a recent report. The DOE has left more than 200 questions unanswered that relate to the ability of manmade and natural barriers to contain the deadly waste, the GAO found. Even if Yucca Mountain were to be approved and meet all expectations, it would not lessen the threat to communities near a reactor. Spent fuel will still have to remain on the power plant site for five years as it is cooled in pools of water. Even if Yucca Mountain were opened in 2015 (GAO's best estimate), there would already be more than enough waste to fill it, so spent fuel would once again pile up at reactor sites. In short, Yucca Mountain is at best a temporary solution to a longterm problem. Congress would be more responsible to reject the repository for now until DOE has studied the project more thoroughly and assured the nation of its safety. In the meantime, Congress should help the industry improve on-site storage, which will be with us as long as there is nuclear power generation. ***************************************************************** 30 Berkley Organizes Yucca Whip Group Congresswoman Shelley Berkley - Legislation: Press Releases 2001 (Washington, D.C.) Early this morning, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley organized an ad hoc "whip" group of Members committed to the fight against Yucca Mountain. Over the past weeks, Berkley has addressed a number of coalition and caucus meetings regarding the Yucca project, and explained the many reasons to vote with the State of Nevada, and against the project. In response to her arguments, a number of lawmakers called Berkley to express their support for her efforts, and offered to help in her anti-Yucca campaign. Berkley, with the help and support of Democratic Whip, Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic Leader, Richard Gephardt, organized the most supportive Members into an informal "whip" team that will lobby undecided lawmakers. The anti-Yucca team of about 15 offices met this morning in Rep. Berkley's office to assign themselves to lobby undecided or "leaning" votes. The Nevada delegation expects the vote to occur the week of May 6th, and most likely Wednesday, May 8th, 2002. The short time frame means that Nevada's House delegation will have less time to change minds, and the efforts of the team of sympathetic Members becomes even more crucial. "The support I've received from the Democratic leadership has been outstanding," noted Berkley. "This issue naturally tends to pit 49 states against Nevada, and it's tough to win converts when they think the best interests of their constituents are incompatible with Nevada's position. But I am hopeful that our anti-Yucca whip team will be able to ensure a respectable vote margin in the House, and take away any real momentum that the nuclear industry has built as the Yucca vote moves over to the U.S. Senate." As a bellwether, Berkley and the whip team are using a Yucca Mountain related vote from 1997, 2 years before Berkley came to Congress, in which the House passed a Yucca related measure by a vote of 307 - 120. The 1997 vote, however, incorporated some provisions that were considered objectionable even to Yucca proponents, thereby increasing the apparent anti-Yucca vote tally. The vast majority of Members voting against the dump (97) were Democrats, of which 79 are still serving in Congress. Berkley is confident that she can add to the base number of 79, and hopes that the anti-Yucca forces will be able to marshal more than 100 votes, in order to send the measure to the Senate with substantial opposition, despite the aggressive support for the Yucca project by the House Republican leadership. Concluded Berkley, "We're not going to win the vote in the House - not by a long shot - but we're going to give them the best fight we can, and in the end, that can make a difference in the Senate. And if not in the Senate, then in the Courts, or in future battles in Congress. But in the end, we're going to win this fight." ***************************************************************** 31 Another spill at Beverley uranium mine. 2/5/2002. ABC News Online [Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online] Thursday, May 2, 2002. Posted: 20:05:52 (AEDT) There has been another spill at the Beverley uranium mine in South Australia's north-east. It has involved almost 7,000 litres of brine solution containing some uranium. Heathgate Resources, the company running the mine, claims all of the solution was contained within the plant area and that the spill posed no threat to the environment or workers at the plant. It says the spill contained less than one kilogram of uranium. There was a minor sulphuric acid spill at the mine in March during maintenance work. © 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 32 Nuke waste landfill on Johnston Island plan assailed Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News Wednesday, May 1, 2002 The EPA questions a Pentagon plan to bury radioactive materials at Johnston Island By Diana Leone dleone@starbulletin.com The Environmental Protection Agency is questioning the wisdom of another federal agency's plan to bury plutonium and other radioactive materials in a shallow landfill on Johnston Island. At issue is coral, metal and concrete debris that was contaminated in 1962 by two aborted nuclear missile launches. The rubble has higher-than-acceptable concentrations of plutonium oxide and americium, a decay product of plutonium. Manmade plutonium, used for weapons and nuclear reactors, is one of the most hazardous radioactive elements, remaining dangerous for 6,000 to 24,000 years. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a Defense Department unit charged with reducing risk from weapons of mass destruction, proposes burying the contaminated material in Johnston Island's Radiological Control Area at a cost of $1.5 million. Johnston Island is about 800 miles west-southwest of Honolulu. Ray Saracino, the San Francisco-based EPA project manager who has been reviewing the plan, told the Star-Bulletin yesterday that his concerns include: >> Anything buried on Johnston Island faces the likelihood of being released into the ocean as the island erodes. The seawall around the island is expected to collapse in the near future. >> He is not satisfied with the defense agency's conclusion that there are no observable effects of current radiation levels on the marine environment and suggests that more extensive studies should be done. >> Unless the current radiation levels can be proved to have no ill effect, he's not comfortable with creating a situation where additional radiation could be released into the ocean. His comments expressing these concerns were mailed to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency yesterday, the final day of a public comment period on its plans. However, the EPA does not have authority over the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Defense Threat Reduction Agency officials could not be reached for comment. There are three separate military cleanup operations on Johnston Island, each handled by a separate government agency, plus the planned overall closure of military operations there, which is spearheaded by the Air Force. The three operations are: >> An Air Force cleanup of soils where it stored Agent Orange, the herbicide used in the Vietnam War, and where there is some PCB contamination. A 10-year EPA permit was granted to the Air Force yesterday regarding its plan for thermal treatment of these areas, at a cost of about $15 million. >> The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's proposal for cleanup of radioactive materials. >> The Army's Johnson Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System, which has completed destruction of chemical weapons and is moving into the closeout phase. Johnston Atoll consists of four small islands, the largest of which is the 625-acre Johnston Island. The island is home to a national wildlife refuge and about 700 military personnel. Military use of the island is slated to end in 2003 or 2004, Saracino said. © 2002 Honolulu Star-Bulletin ***************************************************************** 33 Hodges' suit targets DOE Augusta Georgia: Technology: Lawmakers dispute actions to block plutonium Web posted Thursday, May 2, 2002 By Brandon Haddock [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer The courts could decide who wins the standoff over plutonium shipments to Savannah River Site. South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges sued the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday in an attempt to stop the shipments, which could begin as soon as May 15. "Unless we act now, plutonium could be crossing our border two weeks from today with no safeguards for South Carolina," Mr. Hodges said in a statement. The Energy Department countered with a statement decrying the governor's action. Legislation proposed last weekend by members of the state's congressional delegation have assuaged Mr. Hodges' concerns, agency spokesman Joe Davis said. "We are therefore disappointed that in light of our most recent good-faith efforts to satisfy the governor, and on what seemed to the brink of the resolution to this problem, he chooses instead to run to the courthouse," Mr. Davis said. "This action is totally inconsistent with a desire to work things out. ... We will continue working to solve the problem, rather than engaging in political grandstanding for the cameras." The governor said he would continue to work with the state's congressional delegation on a bill to resolve the months-old dispute. The delegation has worked feverishly on such a bill in recent weeks, but negotiations broke down Tuesday along party lines. The lawsuit is intended to at least stall shipments until a bill is passed, Mr. Hodges told lawmakers. "While some progress has been made, the clock is ticking," the governor wrote in a letter to the South Carolina delegation. "I will continue to work diligently toward a legislative answer to our dilemma, but the time has come to commence legal action to ensure that weapons-grade plutonium is not shipped to SRS before that legislation becomes law." The governor's action drew criticism from U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, a Republican whose district includes SRS. "To believe that today's lawsuit doesn't chill negotiations with the Energy Department is unrealistic," Mr. Graham said in a statement. "I've always believed that a lawsuit against the federal government involving high-level national security issues will fail." Politicians from both parties want assurances that plutonium will be treated at SRS and then shipped out of South Carolina. Their concerns stem from fears that the Energy Department will ship plutonium to South Carolina but abandon plans to build new plants at SRS to treat the radioactive metal. Without those plants, South Carolina would become a de facto permanent storage site for plutonium, state officials said. The radioactive metal can cause cancer if inhaled or ingested, even in small amounts. Mr. Hodges' lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Aiken and assigned to Judge Cameron M. Currie. The suit accuses the Energy Department of violating federal laws governing environmental policy and administrative procedure in its recent decision to go forth with shipments to SRS of plutonium from the Rocky Flats site in Colorado. No hearings in the suit had been scheduled as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the U.S. District Court clerk's office in Columbia. Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or bhaddock@augustachronicle.com [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] . ***************************************************************** 34 Stanford Database Tracks Lost Radwaste to Stem Nuclear Terrorism Stanford Database Tracks Lost Radwaste to Stem Nuclear Terrorism (Moscow:) In the Baltic Sea republic of Lithuania, investigators recovered material from a decade-old uranium heist — but not all of it. On April 3, Zirconium cylinders that used to hold uranium were discovered buried in a forest near the Ignalina nuclear power plant. Weeks earlier, police said they recovered another highly radioactive cylinder from the same fuel assembly lying in a field, containing 20 kilograms of uranium. A seven meter long fuel assembly was smuggled out of Ignalina NPP underneath a bus in 1992. photo: USDOE-INSP, http://www.insc.anl.gov Charles Digges, 2002-05-02 15:55 Searches over the past 10 years have recovered 80 kilograms of the uranium itself, buried in fields near Vilnius and Ignalina. But around 15 kilograms — enough to make a crude nuclear weapon — remain missing. Amazingly, this is a routine story. More than two kilograms of highly enriched uranium that went missing from a research reactor in the former Soviet Union years ago remains unaccounted for. Consider as well the recent announcement by American officials about a top al Qaeda field commander in their custody who said his network is capable of making a radiation spewing "dirty bomb" that could easily be smuggled across international borders. And just this month, Akram Jurayev, Tajikistan's atomic energy chief, admitted to the Asia-Plus newspaper that his agency had lost track of seven highly radioactive cesium-137 radioisotope sources from various local industries. "We have lost control of out radioisotope sources," Jurayev told the newspaper. If terrorists have that lost uranium, it would not be the first time poorly guarded radioactive materials in Russia and republics of the former Soviet Union were passed to people with bad intentions. In recent years, there were the Chechen rebels who planted a container holding the cesium-137 core of a radiography machine in a Moscow park and then alerted Russian media. And in 1993, a thief outside a shipyard near Murmansk squeezed through a fence hole and cut the padlock on a container of nuclear submarine fuel — making off with more than 15 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. Mikhail Kulik, the incident’s chief investigator, was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying there were no alarm systems, no lights and few guards. "Even potatoes," he told the paper, "are probably much better guarded today than radioactive materials." Then again, the three creators at California's Stanford University of the world’s most comprehensive database of smuggled, missing, stolen and abandoned radiation sources assert that the former Soviet Union is nothing short of a supermarket for the would be terrorist. Their Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft and Orphan Radiation Sources documents some 850 incidents from the past decade — everything from radioactive trash carelessly tossed out by a cancer clinic to weapons-usable plutonium and uranium smuggled out of the former Soviet Union. Sept. 11 accelerated the project. Although most experts think Osama bin Laden's boast of nuclear capability is a bluff, they think there might be some truth to al Qaeda field commander Abu Zabaydah's claim that the group can build a "dirty bomb" out of the kind of radioactive material available in clinics, colleges and poorly guarded nuclear waste storage facilities in Russia and worldwide. Rigged with ordinary explosives and then detonated, such a device could shower an area with radioactive contamination — not so much a weapon of mass destruction as mass disruption and hysteria. Radioactive materials are not just up for grabs in the former Soviet Union either. In the United States itself, disappearing radioactive material is almost a daily occurrence. "Within the United States, you're losing track of radioactive material literally every other day. Every other day. And controls there are among the highest in the world," said nuclear physicist Fritz Steinhausler — who fostered the database as a visiting professor at Stanford — in a telephone interview from Austria with Bellona Web. He said that the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) lists an average of 200 radiation sources that are stolen, lost or abandoned within the United States every year. Nonetheless, with Russia's comparatively lax controls and accounting procedures, Steinhausler said that annual figures for stolen or lost radioactive material is "impossible to assess, but certainly higher," than figures posted by the NRC. Many countries in the database either do not even have a central register of radioactive materials or, like Russia, have registries that are often years out of date, which causes difficulties in tracking radiation sources. At Stanford, Kazakstan-born researcher Lyudmila Zaitseva pours over databases, government records, technical journals and newspapers to identify cases and assess their credibility. She then enters them into the Stanford database and categorizes incidents by three ratings of veracity. The highest rating goes to incidents of loss or smuggling that are reported by governments to the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA). But the advantage that Stanford's database has over the IAEA's is that it takes into account incidents that governments are reluctant to officially report, which is especially important in Russia's case. Zaitseva's medium level of probability is founded on newspaper article and other reports that include comments about lost or stolen radiation sources from law enforcement agents but are not officially acknowledged by the concerned governments. In Russia, this often includes comments from the Ministry of Emergency Services. The lowest level is founded on articles and reports that give a technical description of the lost or stolen device but include no official comment. The data are also classified by material type of incident perpetrators presumed destination and intended use. Her assessment: Accounting, protection standards and border detection capabilities have been so weak in the former Soviet Union and elsewhere that the database probably lists only a fraction of the incidents that occur every day somewhere around the globe. Some 650 of the incidents she's established to date involve nuclear smuggling. "Right now, law enforcement is picking up only about 10 to 30 percent of other illicit contraband" such as smuggled drugs, illegal immigrants or conventional arms, said Zaitseva in a telephone interview from California. "Using those patterns as a model, we calculate that what (radioactive material) is being detected as missing or stolen is probably 10 to 30 percent of what's really gone. So much goes unreported, so much we simply don't know about." Zaitseva's figures on intercepted nuclear contraband from Russia, Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics offer a chilling contradiction to those posted by authorities, who say they foil 60-70 percent of the attempts to smuggle radioactive materials out of those countries. In Zaitseva's assessment, the situation is the reverse: 60 to 70 percent of smuggled materials leaving those countries actually get through. Individual countries, nonetheless, do not like announcing their oversights to the world. A spokesman for the IAEA told Bellona Web that the agency had documented 18 cases of nuclear trafficking in the past 10 years involving small amounts of plutonium or enriched uranium. Practically all of them came from the former Soviet Union, but each time material was seized. The spokesman added that manifests at the effected facilities showed that nothing was missing. So far only one country has given the Stanford database a full accounting, though researchers will not say which. They did add, though, that it was not Russia or the United States. Most estimates put the world stock at hundreds of tons of plutonium and highly enriched — that is, weapons grade — uranium. A small nuclear bomb could be made with less than 25 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, or from a sample of plutonium small enough to fit in the palm of one's. "Those seeking to acquire nuclear material will go wherever it is easiest to steal, and buy it from anyone willing to sell," said George Bunn, a former US arms control negotiator, now a Stanford professor and the third member of the database trio in an interview with Bellona Web from California. But perhaps a ray of hope lies in the general ineptitude of an average radioactive materials thief. "Most people stealing and purchasing radioactive materials are common criminals who know simply that the material is considered valuable," he said. Indeed, said Bunn, the bulk of known smuggled material is not close to weapons-grade. Some of the peddled plutonium, said Steinhausler, has been extracted from trace amounts in overseas home smoke detectors. Furthermore, potent weapons grade material is uncontrollable by anyone but a sophisticated bomb maker and would certainly poison or kill a bungling amateur. Nonetheless, law enforcement has seized more than 40 kilograms of missing Russian uranium and plutonium since the Soviet Union disbanded in 1991. The United States alone has spent more than a billion dollars over the past decade under programs like the Comprehensive Threat Reduction Act to help upgrade facilities there by fortifying storage sites, installing alarms and putting up fences. Even so, progress is slow and only a third of former Soviet stockpiles have been secured. Other dangers are underpaid nuclear scientists and plant workers in the closed nuclear cities. Once the pride of the Soviet military complex, they now earn pariahs’ salaries to sit on material and knowledge worth millions. This particular danger to Russia's nuclear security system were made dreadfully visible in 1998, when a police official in Chelyabinsk publicly exposed a conspiracy to swipe more than 20 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium from one of the closed nuclear sites near the city — though authorities have never said which. "This was especially serious because it was a group of people probably working inside the nuclear facility: and it was a lot of material," said Zaitseva. "[The Russians] certainly didn't want the public or the world to know about that and the police official was reprimanded for making it public," Zaitseva said. "The public, however, has an absolute right to know about these things." While authorities in Russia and Europe recently have reported fewer theft attempts and seizures of nuclear material, Bunn said thieves may be getting more clever or redirecting their supply routes to the Middle East and Central Asia, where borders are porous and detection is less likely than on the more established smuggling routes through Germany. A recent report by the CIA warned that nuclear material inside Russia remains vulnerable. It noted several incidents, including a day last year when US investigators found a storage site fence gate open and unguarded. Steinhaulser, who read the classified report, would not divulge which site that was. The report's conclusions were buttressed by Duma Deputy Sergei Mitrokhin, who — accompanied by a television crew of three and two activists from Greenpeace — walked into a Siberian nuclear waste storage facility via a two-by-two-meter hole in a security fence. Mitrokhin and his crew followed a well-worn footpath that took them directly into the facility, where they posed for pictures next to 3,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. "The guards drove past us several times and we passed by their sentry boxes," but were ignored, Mitrokhin recounted at a February press conference in Moscow. According to Steinhausler, there is really no way of knowing how much nuclear waste should be in Russia, though the Russian Nuclear Power Ministry and environmental groups fix the figure of only spent nuclear fuel to be at more than 14,000 tonnes. "In Soviet times, you accounted for the waste, sealed it and forgot about it," he said from Austria. "But the seals on many of the containers are easily opened and if someone stole the contents years ago, you could be guarding an empty container." Even outside the realm of terrorism, the Stanford database lists enough incidents of orphaned sources of radioactivity in Russia and worldwide to strike environmental fear. Last December in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, international investigators scoured the countryside by land and air, searching for small abandoned radioactive power generators filled with strontium-90. The hunt was launched after three Georgian lumberjacks stumbled across two such nuclear batteries. The remaining batteries were recovered as of last week, according to Russian press reports, but the lumberjacks remain in the hospital, battling severe radiation poisoning. There are dozens more of these batteries in the Arctic region both in the western part and in coastal Chukotka. According to Russian government documents recently cited by The Washington Post: "The generators are placed on open land, are clearly visible from the sea and are visited by staff no more than once a year (in recent years, staff has not visited the sites at all)." According to Stanford's Institute for International Studies' website, accidents from abandoned radiation sources abound worldwide. Take for instance a case from Goiania, Brazil where, in 1987, scavengers sold a junkyard operator a canister from an abandoned cancer clinic's radiotherapy machine. Opening the canister, the operator discovered it filled with glowing blue granules. As news of the discovery spread, the web site said, townspeople were fascinated. Children spread it on their faces like glitter and one man rubbed it on his penis to boost his sexual performance. The glowing blue granules turned out to be cesium-137. Of the 100,000 people tested for contamination, the web site said, 249 tested positive for exposure and four people died. "The level of effort devoted to securing and accounting for stocks of even a few kilograms of fissile material should be even higher than that devoted to protecting stores of millions of dollars worth of cash, gold or diamonds," Stanford's Bunn maintained in a recent scientific article quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle. "This is manifestly not the case at many facilities in many countries today. Indeed, a strong case can be made that the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons should be protected roughly as rigorously as nuclear weapons themselves are." Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 35 FCNL: Legislative Action Message 05/02/02 Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 12:37:43 -0500 (CDT) FCNL LEGISLATIVE ACTION MESSAGE - May 2, 2002 The following action items from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) focus on federal policy issues currently before Congress or the Administration. TOPIC: URGE REDUCTIONS IN THE U.S.-RUSSIAN NUCLEAR ARSENALS. This month, the U.S. and Russia will hold a series of arms control negotiations on reductions in nuclear arsenals. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov are scheduled to meet in Washington on May 2-3, and again in Iceland on May 14 or 15. Later in the month, on May 23-26, President Bush will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Putin. It is crucial that these negotiations produce a legally binding agreement on substantial reductions in both countries' nuclear arsenals. ACTION: Please contact Secretary of State Colin Powell. Urge him to negotiate a permanent, verifiable, and legally binding agreement with Russia that requires cuts as deep as possible in both countries' nuclear arsenals. USE FCNL'S WEB SITE TO MAKE LETTER-WRITING EASIER: Start with the sample letter posted in our Legislative Action Center, personalize the language, then send your message as an email or fax directly from our site. You can also print it out and mail it. To view a sample letter to Secretary of State Powell, click on the link below, then click in the box. Here is the link: BACKGROUND: Russia has about 20,000 active and retired nuclear weapons, of which about 5,500 are strategically deployed warheads. The U.S. has about 10,000 nuclear weapons, 6,000 of them strategically deployed. President Putin has proposed limiting each side to 1,700-2,200 strategically deployed weapons. The U.S. has agreed in principle to this proposal, but still insists on retaining a reserve force for unforeseen events. Also, the proposed schedule of reductions is slow, with the 1,700-2,200 levels not being reached until the year 2012. If the U.S. retains this reserve force, it will be able to re-deploy as many as 2,400 strategic nuclear warheads by 2015. The U.S. proposal is unacceptable. The U.S. must work with Russia to de-alert and dismantle all weapons removed from strategic deployment. There must also be a verification system for these reductions. And the rate of retirement of weapons should be accelerated. Because of the expected U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty on June 13, 2002, it is important that the U.S. and Russia pursue measures that increase nuclear stability and transparency. Real reductions in nuclear arsenals are essential to this goal. CONTACTING LEGISLATORS Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 Sen. ________ U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Rep. ________ U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Information on your members is available on FCNL's web site: http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/directory/directory.dbq?command=congdi \r CONTACTING THE ADMINISTRATION White House Comment Desk: 202-456-1111 FAX: 202-456-2461 E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov WEB PAGE: http://www.whitehouse.gov President George W. Bush The White House Washington, DC 20500 CONTACTING SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL: State Department Switchboard: 202-647-4000 FAX: 202-261-8577 E-MAIL: secretary@state.gov WEB PAGE: http://www.state.gov Secretary of State US Department of State Washington, DC 20520 ----------------------------------------------------------------- This message supplements other FCNL materials and does not reflect FCNL's complete policy position on any issue. For further information, please contact FCNL. Mail: 245 Second Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795 Email: fcnl@fcnl.org Phone: (202) 547-6000 Toll Free: (800) 630-1330 Fax: (202) 547-6019 Web: http://www.fcnl.org Your contributions sustain our Quaker witness in Washington. We welcome your gifts to FCNL, or, if you need a tax deduction, to the FCNL Education Fund. You can use your credit card to donate money securely to FCNL through a special page on FCNL's web site http://www.fcnl.org/suprt/indx.htm FCNL also accepts credit card donations over the phone. For more information about donating, please contact the Development Team directly at development@fcnl.org. Thank you. ----------------------------------------------------------------- This message may be found regularly on FCNL's web site http://www.fcnl.org where a printer-friendly version is available and on PeaceNet in the fcnl.updates conference. This message is distributed regularly via the fcnl-news mailing list. To subscribe to this list, please visit FCNL's web site at http://www.fcnl.org/listserv/quaker_issues.php. Alternatively, you can send an e-mail message to majordomo@his.com. Leave the subject line blank. The message should read "subscribe fcnl-news." Please Note: Make sure that you are sending this message from the e-mail address to which you would like fcnl-news materials to be sent. If you currently receive this message via the fcnl-news mailing list and are no longer interested in receiving messages from this list, send an e-mail message to majordomo@his.com. The message should read "unsubscribe fcnl-news." ----------------------------------------------------------------- We seek a world free of war and the threat of war We seek a society with equity and justice for all We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled We seek an earth restored... ***************************************************************** 36 Peace Action: Call for Real Nuclear Reductions on May 15th Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 23:43:53 -0500 (CDT) Action Alert Call for Real Nuclear Reductions on May 15th President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet May 23-25 to discuss nuclear weapons reductions. Both Presidents have agreed to cut their country's nuclear arsenals. Yet President Bush has made it clear that he doesn't mean to get rid of these nuclear weapons - he plans to put them in storage where they can be reactivated in a matter of weeks. While the ongoing discussions between the United States and Russia are a positive move toward increasing global securit y , we must ensure that this effort is truly successful by encouraging the United States and Russia to reach a legally binding, transparent agreement to irreversibly reduce nuclear weapons to levels between 1,700 and 2,000. For more information see: http://www.peace-action.org/home/reduce.html Call the President on May 15th at (202) 456-1414 Tell the President to: a.. work for an agreement with Russia to remove, dismantle and eliminate the weapons slated for reduction; a.. work with Russia to create a system by which each country is able to verify the other's nuclear reductions; a.. and most importantly to enter into a legally binding agreement with Russia, so that the nuclear weapons reductions are irreversible. The President must strengthen the basis of trust and mutual security upon which our relationship with Russia currently stands by signing into a legally binding agreement for real cuts in the US and Russian nuclear arsenals. We need an agreement which reduces the risk of nuclear proliferation by ensuring verifiable and irreversible reductions. Our future and our safety depends on it. Carrie Benzschawel Program Associate Peace Action Education Fund mailto:cbenzschawel@peace-action.org http://www.peace-action.org 202.862.9740x3041 fax: 202.862.9762 1819 H St., NW, #425 Washington, DC 20006 -------------------------------------------- If you would like to unsubscribe from one of our email lists, please email Carrie Benzschawel at mailto:cbenzschawel@peace-action.org. Thank you. The Peace Action Education Fund works for global elimination of nuclear weapons, an end to the conventional arms trade, and cutting military spending in order to address human needs. ***************************************************************** 37 Nevada License Plate Shows Nukes Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 RENO, Nev.- A cloud of controversy is rising over a Nevada license plate commemorating nuclear testing. The Nevada license plate shows a mushroom cloud hovering over the desert. According to the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation, it's a testament to the workers at the nuclear weapons test site who helped win the Cold War. But some in Utah, Nevada and Arizona say the plate is tasteless and offensive. They say radioactive fallout caused higher rates of cancer for those living downwind. Some of the registration fees for the plate are being earmarked for a test site museum. Opponents say the museum will glorify nuclear testing and ignore the suffering it caused. The designer of the license plate says those who don't like it should choose another plate. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 LETTERS: Mushroom cloud plate a symbol of lives ruined Thursday, May 02, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal To the editor: Nevadans will soon be able to purchase a license plate featuring the symbol of death, deformities and destruction -- and some thought the idea of a mob museum tasteless. I used to have a dad. He was a U.S. Marine pilot, a major who rose through the ranks and fought with distinction in Korea and World War II, earning five air medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He told corny jokes, he had a deep dimple in his chin, he was awful at home-plumbing jobs and he loved to fly. He was 56 when he died the agonizing death of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 20 years after participating in two above-ground tests at the Nevada Test Site. He was in the front-line trenches at shot Hood, still the largest and most powerful bomb ever detonated in the continental United States. My father was killed on July 5, 1957, but it took him 20 years to die. Three days before my 1977 wedding, my father entered the hospital for the last time. As my husband and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this summer, we will relive our visit to his hospital room after our ceremony, where, still in our wedding attire, we played him an audiotape of the service and sobbed together. When I read the DMV has announced that we Nevadans will be able to purchase a license plate bearing the image of the mushroom cloud, my heart broke once again. The 2001 Legislature approved a plate to honor the history of the Nevada Test Site and its role in the Cold War, proceeds from which will be used to build the Nevada Atomic Testing Institute. Must the design feature the cloud that devastated so many? To many, the mushroom cloud is a symbol of lives ruined. I dread the times I will see that image on the car in front of me. I'll have to pull over and stop. It is too hard to drive and cry at the same time. STEFANI EVANS LAS VEGAS Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 39 Letter: Mushroom cloud is a symbol of death to many Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 Nevadans will soon be able to purchase a license plate featuring the symbol of death, deformities and destruction ... and some thought the idea of a mob museum tasteless. I used to have a dad. He was Charles A. Broudy, a United States Marine pilot, a major who rose through the ranks and fought with distinction in Korea and World War II, earning five air medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He told corny jokes, he had a deep dimple in his chin, he was awful at home plumbing jobs and he loved to fly. He was 56 when he died the agonizing death of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 20 years after participating in two above-ground tests at the Nevada Test Site. He was in the front-line trenches at Shot Hood, still the largest and most powerful bomb ever detonated in the continental United States. My father was killed on July 5, 1957, but it took him 20 years to die. Three days before my 1977 wedding, my father entered the hospital for the last time. As my husband and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this summer, we will relive our visit to his hospital room after our ceremony, where, still in our wedding attire, we played him an audiotape of the service and sobbed together. When I read that the DMV has announced that we Nevadans will be able to purchase a license plate bearing the image of the mushroom cloud, my heart broke once again. The 2001 Legislature approved a plate to honor the history of the Nevada Test Site and its role in the Cold War, proceeds from which will be used to build the Nevada Atomic Testing Institute. Must the design feature the cloud that devastated so many? The mushroom cloud is a symbol to too many of lives ruined. I dread the times I will see that image on the car in front of me. I'll have to pull over and stop. It is too hard to drive and cry at the same time. STEFANI EVANS All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 Nuclear Plates In Nevada Breed Fallout The Salt Lake Tribune -- Thursday, May 2, 2002 BY GLEN WARCHOL A mushroom cloud of controversy is rising over a commemorative Nevada license plate that pits former cold warriors against downwinders. The design, which won a contest held by the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation, depicts a mushroom cloud and other symbols of nuclear energy. "It was meant to honor former workers at the test site and the role it played in winning the Cold War," says Bob Agonia, a member of the foundation's executive committee. "I was taken aback that it offended some people." But the mushroom cloud is a symbol that evokes powerful emotions, particularly in those who believe they or their kin were sickened by the radioactive fallout that followed the 928 nuclear weapons tests in the desert 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Though the government has never acknowledged deaths as a result of the testing, which was conducted from 1945 to 1992, downwinders say residents in Nevada, Utah and Arizona suffer higher rates of cancer. "I find it extremely tasteless and I can only imagine what kind of pain this will cause people who have lost family members to fallout," says Denise Nelson, director of Support and Education for Radiation Victims. "Even Germany had enough conscience to not put a gas chamber on their license plates. Is Nevada truly proud that what happened there has caused nationwide illness and death?" Darwin Morgan, a foundation spokesman, says the plate "is simply acknowledging history." But it is this history argument that only further outrages anti-nuclear activists. Some of the registration fees the plate will bring in are earmarked for a Test Site museum that they are concerned will give a heroic view of nuclear testing and ignore the suffering it caused. "It's an insult to all of us who didn't exactly have a wonderful time as a result of what went on in Nevada," says J. Preston, a founder of Downwinders, the oldest of the victims groups. "These are the same people who lied to those who were downwind. Now, they intend to run a museum about how wonderful the whole experience was." Though Agonia says the foundation wants the anti-nuclear side represented, Preston remains suspicious. A token exhibit "in some corner out there," he says, would only help the government minimize the impact of testing. The designer of the plate, Rick Bibbero, says he never imagined his design would win. "I really didn't think -- to put it bluntly -- that the foundation would have the guts to choose something that aggressive," says the Minden, Nev., real estate agent. Bibbero has no apologies for the symbolism. "This is history, whether you like it or not." Besides, he says, "If they don't like it, get another plate." © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 41 Atomic bomb builder became nuclear arms critic May 2, 2002 Physicist described attack on Nagasaki as 'a crime' Kenneth Chang The New York Times After helping to create the world's first atomic bomb, Victor F. Weisskopf became an ardent arms control advocate. Victor F. Weisskopf, who has died at the age of 93, was a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb in the Second World War. He later became an ardent advocate of arms control. Mr. Weisskopf was one of the first physicists to warn of the possible dangers of atomic research. In 1939, he and Leo Szilard, another atomic physicist, recommended that physicists keep secret their findings on nuclear fission instead of publishing them in academic journals, out of fear that the information could help Nazi scientists build atomic weapons. In 1943, Mr. Weisskopf joined the Manhattan Project as associate head of the theory division. In a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991, he recounted the rationale for dropping the bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945: the destruction needed to have a strong psychological effect on Japan. The second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki three days later, was more troubling to him. "The second bomb I don't hesitate to call a crime," Mr. Weisskopf told an audience at MIT. He also called the Cold War "a collective mental disease of mankind." Early in his career, Mr. Weisskopf laid the groundwork for fixing a fundamental flaw in applying quantum mechanics to electromagnetism. After the Second World War, he furthered understanding of how the nuclei of atoms behave. Weisskopf also lent his name and voice to political issues. In letters and opinion pieces in newspapers, he repeatedly warned of the dangers of nuclear war. Although he was of Jewish descent, he was appointed by Pope Paul VI to the 70-member Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1975, and in 1981 he led a team of four scientists sent by Pope John Paul II to talk to President Ronald Reagan about the need to prohibit the use of nuclear weapons. Victor Frederick Weisskopf was born Sept. 19, 1908, in Vienna. He earned his doctorate in physics at the University of Goettingen in Germany in 1931. In postdoctoral studies at the University of Berlin, University of Copenhagen, Cambridge University and the Institute of Technology in Zurich, Mr. Weisskopf apprenticed with many great founding physicists of quantum mechanics: Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schroedinger, Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli. In 1937, shortly before Germany absorbed Austria, Mr. Weisskopf immigrated to the United States, landing a position at the University of Rochester. After the war, he became a professor at MIT. From 1961 to 1965, he served as director-general of the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland before returning to MIT. He retired in 1974. In the 1930s, he and Wolfgang Pauli wrote a paper applying quantum mechanics to "spinless" particles, which they regarded as a mathematical obscurity, because at that time all known particles like protons, electrons and neutrons carried spin, or angular momentum, like a spinning top. Only a few years later, such spinless particles appeared in the high-energy collisions at particle accelerators. In the 1930s, Mr. Weisskopf tackled the application of quantum mechanics to electromagnetic fields. At the time, physicists' calculations were producing absurd answers: electrons were infinitely massive and produced infinitely powerful electric fields. Mr. Weisskopf was among the first scientists to suggest a mathematical technique to rein in the unruly equations, essentially imagining that an infinitely large charge would induce a cloud of "virtual particles" fluttering in and out of existence around it that would nearly offset infinite charge. A decade later, the theory was completed by physicists Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger and Richard Feynman. It won them a Nobel Prize in 1965. Mr. Weisskopf was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was president of the American Physical Society in 1960-61 and president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences from 1976 to 1979. His 1952 textbook, Theoretical Nuclear Physics, written with John M. Blatt, was the basic reference for the new field. He also wrote essays for a public audience, including his memoir, The Joy of Insight: Passions of Physicist (Basic Books, 1991). His honours included the Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Physics and the Enrico Fermi Award. His first wife, Ellen, died in 1989. He is survived by his second wife, Duscha; a son, Thomas; a daughter, Karen Worth; and five grandchildren. Copyright © 2002 National Post Online ***************************************************************** 42 Moving Target on Policy Battlefield (washingtonpost.com) Increasingly, 'Science' Used by Proponents and Critics to Score a Shot By Eric Pianin Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 2, 2002; Page A21 President Bush, in pulling out of an international global warming treaty last year, said he wasn't convinced by scientific research that the problem was all that serious. Similarly, the president and senior aides cited conflicting scientific studies for their decisions to postpone adoption of tough new standards for arsenic in drinking water, oppose increased fuel efficiency standards for automobiles and suggest a relaxation of a proposed ban on snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park. On these and many other environmental and energy-related issues, the president has said his commitment to "sound science" justified his generally industry-friendly policies. "When we make decisions, we want to make sure we do so on sound science," Bush said recently. "Not what sounds good, but what is real." The Bush administration's approach to science policy has become increasingly controversial, however. Some scientists and lawmakers said the White House selectively uses studies to fit its political agenda and to justify its challenge to dozens of environmental rules drafted during the Clinton administration. The debate is highly subjective, frequently turning on nuanced interpretations of complicated scientific research, which makes it difficult to prove or disprove many of the White House claims -- or the claims of Bush's critics. "I'm afraid that in politics, science just becomes a tool to be manipulated by both sides," said Fred L. Smith Jr., president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank dedicated to free enterprise and limited government activity. "The problem with the concept of 'sound science' is that it presumes you can depoliticize policy, and of course you can't." Controversy over the scientific basis of public policy has raged for years in Washington, peaking in the mid-1990s, when conservative Republicans in control of Congress waged war on the Clinton administration's environmental programs. Democrats and environmental leaders fought back with a flurry of studies purporting to show how the Republicans were wreaking havoc on the environment. Republicans, conservative think tanks and industry groups dismissed the analyses as "junk science." Bush and his top aides picked up on this theme, vowing to challenge environmental regulations if their scientific underpinnings appeared shaky, and to steep their policymaking in the best scientific research available. But some environmentalists said "best science" can be code for currying favor with the business community and private property interests. For example, two prominent scientists last week took the administration to task for approving development of a huge, centralized nuclear waste repository in Nevada "in the face of the scientific uncertainties about the site." Bush last month authorized the Department of Energy to proceed with plans for the repository beneath Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, despite the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently identified 293 unresolved technical issues. They ranged from the extent of faulting and fracturing of the repository rock over time to the speed with which water can seep through heated rock and corrode storage canisters. "To move ahead without first addressing the outstanding scientific issues will only continue to marginalize the role of science and detract from the credibility of [the government's] efforts," said Rodney C. Ewing of the University of Michigan and Allison Macfarlane of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an analysis appearing in the latest issue of the journal Science. Administration officials contend that the decision on Yucca Mountain -- still subject to congressional and NRC review -- is backed by years of exhaustive scientific research. "We made a recommendation based on sound science," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said last week. Administration officials said they have studiously used strong scientific research to buttress a wide range of decisions, from global warming and air quality standards to expanded mineral exploration and energy efficiency standards for industry. "I think the history of the field is that weak science hurts the reputation of environmental regulation," said John D. Graham, the White House regulatory affairs chief. The administration has recruited conservative regulatory experts and former industry executives for senior positions at the White House and key agencies to serve as filters for government regulations and to assess the cost-benefit ratio of new proposals. Graham, former director of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, serves as one of the chief regulatory gatekeepers within the Office of Management and Budget. James L. Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the president's chief adviser on environmental regulation, is a lawyer and former environmental corporate lobbyist. The EPA, meanwhile, is using more outside scientists for peer review of government research and rule-making and it has adopted new internal data quality guidelines and standards for evaluating outside research to weed out "junk science." Paul Gilman, a former senior researcher at the National Academy of Sciences, was recently appointed the EPA's new chief science adviser in a bid to improve the quality of research, and the administration asked Congress for a $35 million increase in the budget for the EPA's office of research and development. "What we're trying to do is match science against science to see what makes sense," EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said in an interview. "The most important thing is to get science in at the beginning, to provide some scientific validation for what we're doing aside from the policy." Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the Science Committee, credits the administration with being willing to seek out opposing views on environmental issues. "Whether they will heed them is another question," Boehlert said yesterday, during an EPA forum on science and public policy. "But they're moving in the right direction." Still, some environmentalists and scientists said the Bush administration frequently dictates or manipulates the results of studies when they conflict with the president's political agenda. The government's increased use of outside peer review, they said, gives greater influence to industry-sponsored scientists. "Science is only a public relations tool for this White House," said Philip E. Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust. "Saying that you are going to use 'best science' is simply the Bush administration's way of explaining why they are not taking action to address environmental problems." For instance, Clapp said, after environmentalists and world leaders condemned the president's decision to disavow an international global warming treaty, the White House last May asked the National Academy of Sciences to assess climate science and identify any weaknesses. The subsequent report largely confirmed previous studies, showing that global warming was a serious threat to civilization and that it was at least partly the result of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. But the White House highlighted sections raising uncertainties in climate science to bolster its argument against a treaty calling for mandatory emission reductions. In March, the administration played down National Academy of Sciences findings that improvements in fuel economy standards for automobiles would decrease U.S. dependence on oil imports, save consumers money and reduce global warming. The administration, joined by the auto industry in opposing the higher standards, instead cited government and insurance industry findings that a switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars might lead to more traffic deaths -- and required further study. Whitman disputed claims that the administration was manipulating or distorting scientific findings for political advantage. "I don't think we're cherry-picking," she said. "We're just trying to decide what is the best approach. Science doesn't always give you a definitive answer." Earlier last month, an EPA official in Denver gave the worst rating possible to an environmental impact assessment on a proposal to drill for gas in Wyoming's Powder River Basin. That posed a serious obstacle to the proposed development of 39,000 gas wells favored by the Interior Department. The EPA's assessment was immediately challenged by Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, who said it "will create, at best, misimpressions and possibly impede the ability to move forward in a constructive manner." Gilman, EPA's chief science adviser, played down the significance of the interagency conflict. "I view the fact we go around on a topic with another agency as very healthy," he said. An Interior Department spokesman said Griles merely wanted to urge the two agencies to work on their concerns together. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 43 Oak Ridge cleanup job mostly done April 2004 finish set By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel senior writer May 2, 2002 OAK RIDGE - BNFL Inc. is more than half finished with a massive cleanup project in Oak Ridge, and the company expects to complete the work in April 2004, slightly behind the original schedule, officials said Wednesday. BNFL, the American subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels, was months ahead of schedule until safety-related issues last fall forced the company to shut down its compactor operation, suspend other activities and alter work schedules to keep its large Oak Ridge work force intact. John Christian, BNFL's vice president for decontamination and decommissioning, said the Oak Ridge project performed at only 32 percent of normal efficiency between November and March because of the problems. Nonetheless, he said the contractor has completed virtually all of the work in K-33, one of three huge uranium-enrichment facilities BNFL is cleaning up under its $238 million, fixed-price contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. So far, the company has removed more than 72,000 tons of equipment and material. There are lingering financial issues with DOE. BNFL has filed several "requests for equitable adjustment," seeking compensation for cleanup problems that were not anticipated when the contract was signed in 1997. Christian would not say how much money the company is seeking, but he did outline the issues. BNFL is seeking compensation for losses incurred because DOE halted the recycling of radioactively contaminated materials a couple of years ago - eliminating the original plan to sell metals and equipment taken from the old uranium-processing buildings. The company also is billing DOE for unexpected materials found in the buildings and unusual amounts of radioactive contamination in K-31, another of the three buildings undergoing cleanup. BNFL, however, isn't seeking total compensation for its losses. Christian said BNFL already has agreed to write off $150 million in losses on the Oak Ridge project. "We'll swallow those costs," he said. "That's already on the books." Much of BNFL's work was put on hold last fall because of concerns that the contractor wasn't fully prepared to safely dismantle and remove uranium-contaminated equipment. Additional steps were taken to improve nuclear safety procedures. There has been some speculation that BNFL's requests for compensation from DOE could double the original $238 million price tag on the project. Asked if that could happen, Christian said, "Probably not." BNFL already is looking ahead to future projects, including upcoming bids on the cleanup of K-25 and K-27, two other Oak Ridge buildings used years ago to enrich uranium for use in nuclear bombs and reactor fuel. Christian said he believes BNFL can save the government hundreds of millions of dollars because of valuable lessons learned during the past four years in Oak Ridge. He said the company has submitted a proposal to DOE outlining some of the advantages a BNFL presence would have on other cleanup activities. He noted that BNFL already has a sizable work force in Oak Ride - about 850 at present - and has a super-compactor on site that greatly reduces the waste volume. Frank Munger can be reached at 865-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net. The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 44 Protesters urge 'No' vote on Hanford contract offer This story was published Sat, Apr 27, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer About 100 Hanford union workers rallied Friday in Richland's John Dam Plaza to urge a vote against a proposed contract with three of Hanford's prime contractors. Hanford Atomic Metals Trades Council members are to vote Tuesday on the tentative three-year agreement. HAMTC is an umbrella organization for 15 Hanford-related union locals that covers 2,600 to 2,800 employees. Friday's rally-goers were unhappy that the tentative agreement calls for them to pay more money for medical insurance benefits. And they protested the agreement would limit their medical benefits to fewer doctors. "All we want is a fair and equitable wage and benefits package," said John Kirby, an electrician with CH2M Hill Hanford Group. HAMTC official Keith Smith confirmed the proposed contract would increase union workers' medical insurance payments, but added the total amount is less than what non-Hanford employees normally pay. The tentative three-year agreement calls for a 4 percent annual wage increase, compared with a 3 percent annual increase in the 5-year HAMTC contract that expired April 1. Smith speculated the extra insurance payments likely would soak up the extra 1 percent in the increase. Union workers organized Friday's rally through word-of-mouth independently of any official HAMTC participation. Rally-goers zeroed in on medical benefits, saying Hanford's workers are more likely to use those benefits than people in other industries. They noted Hanford is a heavy industrial site that began handling massive amounts of radioactive materials in the past two years. That increases the likelihood of on-the-job injuries and potential long-range health problems related to radiation and toxics, they said. "We have an aging work force that's going to require more medical benefits soon," said Michael Robbert, a CH2M Hill nuclear-chemical operator. Hanford's work force occasionally has been described as older on average than people working in other industrial areas. A recent federal General Accounting Office report said the average age of a Department of Energy employee is 48. DOE, Fluor Hanford and Bechtel Hanford officials declined to comment on the upcoming HAMTC vote. An appropriate CH2M Hill spokesman could not be reached for comment Friday. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 45 New tank farm chief optimistic This story was published Sun, Apr 28, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer His accent is Southern. His birthplace is the Bronx. And Richland will be Roy Schepens' new home. Schepens has just finished a two-week visit to Richland, hunting for a house and introducing himself to numerous Hanford players as he prepares to take over the Department of Energy's Office of River Protection on July 1. He has returned home to Augusta, Ga., where he is the assistant manager of materials and facilities stabilization at DOE's Savannah River, S.C., site. Schepens, 49, will replace Harry Boston, who DOE is transferring to a yet-to-be-defined post in Washington, D.C. Schepens becomes the Office of River Protection's third manager since it was created three years ago. The office supervises Hanford's 53 million gallons of highly radioactive wastes in 177 underground leak-prone tanks, plus the upcoming construction of a complex to convert those wastes into glass. "I'm really looking forward to working here," Schepens said. In the past two weeks, he has gone through numerous briefings and discussions on Hanford's tank waste projects. And he has met with Gov. Gary Locke, Attorney General Christine Gregoire, Washington Department of Ecology officials and representatives from Oregon, the Hanford Advisory Board and the Tri-City Industrial Development Council. At Savannah River, Schepens is seen as competent but extremely low-key. That led some Savannah River observers to speculate how he would deal with a more public and political post at Hanford. "Roy Schepens is a fantastic tanks manager. He applied himself very well there," said Wade Waters, chairman of the Savannah River Citizens Advisory Board, that site's counterpart of the Hanford Advisory Board. "I've operated openly, honestly and candidly. ... I think I've been successful because I've been upfront with all stakeholders," Schepens said. Waters said Schepens was DOE's backup representative to the Savannah River Citizens Advisory Board. "He was very accessible to us," Waters said. Both of Schepens' predecessors were highly respected in Hanford circles. And state, Tri-City and environmental leaders strongly protested DOE's decisions to remove Dick French and Boston. French ran the office from spring 1999 to October 2000 before DOE's headquarters fired him in a dispute over how a new contract for a lead tank waste glassification company should be written. Boston replaced French. Schepens spent the last few years in charge of Savannah River's tank farms where 51 tanks hold 34 million gallons of wastes. Savannah River also has a troubled, but functional, glassification plant operating. At Hanford, he will inherit a draft plan that the Office of River Protection is scheduled to send to the Washington Department of Ecology this week on how to accelerate cleanup efforts at Hanford's tank farms. Under DOE's nationwide master plan to speed cleanup efforts, the federal agency hopes to have the state agree to this plan by Aug. 1. If DOE and the state can agree on an accelerated plan, DOE has promised to ask Congress for an extra $229 million for the Office of River Protection's work in fiscal 2003 on top of the $903 million it is already requesting for Hanford's tank waste work for that year. Schepens will take over the office in the middle of those DOE-state talks. If those talks fail, Hanford's tank farms probably will have to cope with a $903 million budget for fiscal 2003, which would cause that work to fall behind its legal timetables. Some expected components of this draft plan include exploring ways to neutralize much of Hanford's tank wastes without glassifying them, plus permanently closing some tanks in 2004. Also, the Office of River Protection has talked about beginning glassification in 2006, one year ahead of its legal deadline of 2007. But so far, the office has stopped short of making that an official change in writing, opting to keep some cushion in the construction schedule. Schepens has spent 12 years at Savannah River, starting with the restart and later shutdown of a reactor that created tritium to boost the explosive power of the nation's atomic bombs. Then he switched to Savannah River's tank farms, where he rose up the chain of command to become the site's top tank wastes official. DOE's cleanup czar Jessie Roberson cited Schepens' experience in building a glassification complex as a major reason for his transfer to Hanford. Under Schepens, Savannah River closed two of its 51 tanks, removing all wastes and permanently sealing the tanks. Schepens also is in charge of Savannah River's waste glassification complex. The plant went online in 1996. In 1999, part of the complex's pretreatment process had to shut down because a design flaw led to the production of too much potentially explosive benzene gas. The design flaw was identified in the early 1990s but was not addressed. This part of Savannah River's glassification complex is still being revamped. However, some tank wastes do not have to go through this pretreatment process, and the glassification plant is currently working. It is producing 250 glassified waste cylinders a year. Schepens said he took over the project just as construction of the pretreatment process was being finished. "My job was to start it up. ... I'll take the lessons learned from that and apply them to this project," he said. Schepens was born in the Bronx, but grew up on a family farm in Delaware. Following a family Merchant Marine tradition, he went to the Maine Maritime Academy, where he studied engineering. But he didn't inherit his family's sea-going instincts. Instead, he worked two years in a naval shipyard in Mississippi, overhauling and refueling nuclear submarines. Then he worked several years in General Electric Co.'s nuclear division, eventually being put in charge of overhauling and refueling reactors and doing jobs at about 15 nuclear plants. He then did a four-year stint with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a resident inspector for the Vogtle reactor complex in Georgia. He transferred to DOE and Savannah River in 1989. Schepens and his wife, Susan, have three children. Cissy, 22, attends Louisiana State University. She is a competitive swimmer who tried out for but didn't make the United States' 2000 Olympics team. Patrick, 20, attends the University of Georgia. Clare, 15, who likely will attend Hanford or Richland high schools, also is a competitive swimmer. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 46 Training facility losing funding This story was published Wed, May 1, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer The HAMMER training facility likely will receive a 40 percent cut in its budget for fiscal 2003. It is not known what that will mean to the site's training efforts. The Department of Energy's proposed fiscal 2003 budget for HAMMER will be close to $3.5 million, compared with $5.8 million in the current fiscal 2002, said Paul Kruger, DOE's associate manager for science and technology at Hanford. Fiscal 2003 begins Oct. 1. The cut comes from DOE's nationwide efforts to trim nuclear cleanup costs. That effort means DOE wants its environmental management program -- where HAMMER's money traditionally comes from -- to focus exclusively on cleanup matters. In fact, DOE's 2003 Hanford budget request to Congress originally said no money would be allocated to the HAMMER facility. That sparked concerns in Hanford circles on whether safety training at the site would suffer. Kruger said DOE now plans to pay for HAMMER in 2003 by taking about $3.5 million from various Hanford programs that use the site for their safety training. Tom Schaffer, president of the Hanford Atomic Metals Trades Council, which is an umbrella organization for 15 Hanford-related union locals, said the council would need more details before saying if it would support a trimmed-back HAMMER. Fluor Hanford, which manages HAMMER with a 30-person staff, also needs more study to say what might be cut. HAMMER, officially called the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response training center, is a $29 million southern Hanford facility that opened in 1997. Its purpose is to train large numbers of Hanford employees plus emergency workers from the rest of the nation in handling chemical and radiological materials and accidents. It also has picked up a hodgepodge of other programs, from archaeological training to anti-smuggling tactics pertaining to nuclear materials. HAMMER has a building filled with classrooms. But its main feature is about 40 outdoor mockups for hands-on training. These mockups include fake radiological sites, burning buildings and railcars, enclosed spaces for rescue practices, a six-story tower for a wide range of training exercises and other so-called props. HAMMER's original plan was to attract more than half its trainees from agencies outside Hanford. However, a 2001 DOE Inspector General's report said HAMMER's non-Hanford trainees never exceeded 5 percent of the site's annual use, despite extensive marketing dollars and efforts. The Inspector General's definition of "use" was not noted in the report. HAMMER posted 37,007 student-days in 2000 with Hanford employees making up 81 percent of the total and non-Hanford trainees accounting for 19 percent, according to Fluor. In 2001, HAMMER's 38,816 student-days breaks down with Hanford employees accounting for 89 percent and non-Hanford trainees accounting for the rest. This year, DOE has begun narrowly defining what "environmental management" means in allocating cleanup dollars. That limits DOE's environmental management allocations to HAMMER to what is necessary and sufficient to train Hanford workers to safely do their jobs, Kruger said. Some programs, such as Battelle's nuclear anti-smuggling training, can use the HAMMER as long as they pay for their own training. Most of HAMMER's marketing money will be cut, Kruger said. The Inspector General's report said that averages $750,000 annually. HAMMER won't actively seek non-Hanford customers for individual training classes, although it will honor its existing training commitments to local fire departments, Kruger said. Also, some hands-on training for radiological control technicians, support to local safety expositions, some tours and some outside agency evaluations of HAMMER could be trimmed in 2003, he said. DOE is looking at other agencies to help foot some of HAMMER's bills so it can offer more than the bare minimum of Hanford safety programs. The National Guard and DOE's National Nuclear Security Agency branch have been approached. DOE has not yet nailed down any partners but plans to aggressively pursue them, Kruger said. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 47 2 CBC students taking FFTF petition to D.C. This story was published Thu, May 2, 2002 By Annette Cary Herald staff writer Two Columbia Basin College students have more than reached their goal of collecting 5,000 signatures to save Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility. "Basically, the president really doesn't know that it's going to be shut down," said CBC student Rachael Aeling. She and CBC student Brandie Didier plan to take the signed petitions to Washington, D.C., later this month and hope to get them to President Bush. Supporters of the Hanford reactor want it restarted primarily to make radioactive medicines to treat cancer in new ways. Bush should be familiar with the concept because radioactive isotopes were used to treat the thyroid disease of both his parents, Aeling said. However, Republican and Democratic administrations have concluded the federal government has no use for the reactor. The students collected 2,802 signatures in support of FFTF on paper ballots passed around the Tri-Cities and nearby areas. The rest of the 5,544 signatures collected by Wednesday afternoon came from a petition posted on the Internet. Many Mid-Columbia residents signed on the Internet, but the electronic petition also allowed people elsewhere to sign. Signatures were collected from all 50 states and countries including Holland, Greece, Ireland and Canada. The students now are working to raise money to get to Washington, D.C. They'll continue to collect signatures on their online petition until they leave. To sign, go to www.medicalisotopes.org on the Internet. Those wishing to donate money for the trip may call 737-8463 or send the donation to Citizens for Medical Isotopes at 3315 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, WA 99336, with a note that it is intended for the trip. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 48 DOE draft plan to speed Hanford cleanup unveiled This story was published Thu, May 2, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Hanford would glassify 10 percent of its radioactive tank wastes four years early under a draft plan to speed up the site's cleanup efforts. At stake is an extra $433 million for Hanford's cleanup in fiscal 2003 plus a guarantee of solid annual funding through at least 2008. The draft calls for the most radioactive 10 percent of Hanford's 53 million gallons of tank wastes to be converted into a benign glass by 2014, instead of by the legal deadline of 2018. It also wants to accelerate closing Hanford's tanks, disposing of its cesium and strontium capsules and shipping off the site's plutonium. And it proposes that Hanford accept some radioactive wastes from smaller Department of Energy sites to help them speed their cleanup efforts, a proposal expected to spark controversy. DOE's two Hanford offices sent a draft acceleration plan to DOE in Washington, D.C., the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday. By Aug. 1, DOE hopes to get its regulators to agree to an acceleration plan. If those talks fail, Hanford faces the possibility that its 2003 budget will be drastically underfunded. DOE's Hanford Manager Keith Klein said the draft plan is a starting point for the next three months of negotiations with Hanford's regulators. The regulators and DOE's headquarters kept tabs on DOE's Richland office and the Office of River Protection as they put together the draft plan. "We don't think there are any surprises in here," Klein said. Steve Wiegman, senior technical advisor at the Office of River Protection, said the draft does not seek changes in any environmental regulations or standards. In recent months, Hanford observers voiced fears about DOE taking environmental shortcuts to speed up cleanup. Early this year, DOE asked Congress for $5.9 billion for nationwide nuclear cleanup in 2003, plus an extra $800 million to $1.1 billion to go solely to DOE sites that produce accelerated cleanup plans. So far, Hanford is the only site with a foothold on that extra money -- $433 million if DOE and its regulators agree on an accelerated plan. That $433 million would join DOE's $1.46 billion basic 2003 budget request for Hanford, totaling $1.893 billion. Hanford's draft acceleration plan says the site will need slightly more than $2 billion annually through at least 2010. DOE believes this acceleration will move the end of Hanford's cleanup from 2070 to sometime between 2025 and 2035. The agency also believes that will trim Hanford's total cleanup costs from $90 billion to less than $60 billion. Meanwhile, the state never has accepted DOE's 2070 target as valid. Instead, the state constantly has said the Tri-Party Agreement's 2028 completion deadline is the legitimate target. Here are some highlights of DOE's draft plan: -- Glassification. DOE wants to add more melters than originally planned to the glassification complex. Plus it wants to explore other ways besides glassification to neutralize the majority of the tank wastes. A major question is how those alternative technologies actually will shape up, the report said. DOE hopes to pin down some alternatives in the next two to four years. Meanwhile, contractor Bechtel National aims to start building the complex by July 2, instead of the legal deadline of Dec. 31. It plans to complete construction in 2006, before the late 2007 deadline. DOE believes this plan means glassification will finish by 2028, instead of 2048. The state never accepted the 2048 target, sticking instead to the 2028 legal deadline. -- Closing single-shell tanks. Legally, the first single-shell tank is to be closed in 2014, and 50 to 140 are supposed to be closed by 2024. Overall, Hanford has 149 leak-prone single-shell and 28 safer double-shell tanks. DOE wants start to closing single-shell tanks in 2004 with 50 to 140 done by 2018. A big question is whether DOE and the state can agree on what "closing" a tank means. -- Columbia River corridor. DOE will receive bids May 20 on a contract to remove contaminated soil from the river area, finish demolishing and sealing six defunct reactor complexes, and cleaning up and demolishing much of the 300 Area by 2012. The new contract is supposed to be awarded by Aug. 26. This contract will not cover cleanup of the highly radioactive 618-10 and 618-11 burial grounds, plus several still-active 300 Area facilities. Major questions include the exact contents of 50 burial sites and a still-being-developed master plan to deal with contaminated ground water, the report said. -- Fast Flux Test Facility. The reactor's shutdown is not covered in this draft because the funding comes from DOE's nuclear energy money, not from cleanup funds. -- Radioactive wastes in barrels. Hanford would complete disposal of its mixed wastes and a much of its transuranic wastes by 2008, instead of 2012. Mixed wastes are low-level radioactive junk mingling with dangerous chemicals. Transuranic wastes are junk contaminated with extremely slow-decaying highly radioactive particles. The draft plan noted that Hanford is the only DOE site with permitted mixed waste burial areas. And it has a state-of-the-art facility to check and repack barrels of transuranic wastes to ship to an underground storage site in New Mexico. Consequently, the draft proposes that Hanford accept and bury mixed wastes from some small DOE sites. And it proposes Hanford takes those sites' transuranic wastes to check and repack for eventual trips to New Mexico. The report noted Hanford importing other sites' wastes will generate controversy in Washington and Oregon. -- Cesium and strontium capsules. Hanford has 1,936 of these capsules in pools inside a 200 East Area building. These capsules contain 37 percent of Hanford's total radioactivity. They are scheduled to go to the glassification complex in 2018. DOE wants to look at transferring these capsule to a dry storage site in central Hanford by 2007 before being shipped to the New Mexico storage site. The major question is whether the state will agree to the dry storage concept. -- Plutonium Finishing Plant. The PFP is scheduled to finished converting its scrap plutonium to safer forms by 2004, ship that material to Savannah River, S.C., between 2010 and 2014 and demolish the complex by 2016. The draft plans calls for the PFP to start shipping plutonium to Savannah River this October with shipments up to full speed by April 2003. If DOE can route another $3 million to the PFP this month, it believes it can finish demolishing the site by 2009. Without the extra $3 million, demolition would finish in 2010. The big question is South Carolina. DOE plans to convert plutonium at Savannah River into reactor fuel. But South Carolina does not trust DOE to eventually move the plutonium and plutonium fuel elsewhere and wants a court order mandating that DOE eventually will remove all plutonium from that site. South Carolina says it will block plutonium shipments to Savannah River until it gets that court order. -- K Basins. All nuclear fuel, sludge, debris and water are supposed to be removed from the K Basins by July 31, 2007. The draft plans pushes that date up to Sept. 30, 2006. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 49 Hanford union workers reject contracts This story was published Thu, May 2, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Hanford's union workers overwhelmingly rejected proposed three-year contracts with four of the site's leading corporations. Members of the Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council rejected the proposed contracts by a 2-1 split Tuesday, HAMTC officials announced Wednesday. About 75 percent of the organization's 2,600 to 2,800 members voted. HAMTC is an umbrella organization for 14 Hanford-related union locals. HAMTC members were voting on contracts with Fluor Hanford, Bechtel Hanford, CH2M Hill Hanford Group and Battelle. Tom Schaffer, HAMTC president, speculated that workers' dissatisfaction with the proposed medical benefits played a major role in rejecting the contracts. "Like everyone else, our members fear that medical costs are eroding their wage gains," he said. Last Friday, about 100 HAMTC members rallied on Richland's John Dam Plaza to urge a no vote on the proposed contracts. They cited increased medical insurance payments and the limiting of those benefits to fewer doctors as their main reasons for opposing the tentative agreement. The rejected three-year agreement also called for a 4 percent annual wage increase, compared with a 3 percent annual wage increase in the five-year HAMTC contract that expired March 31. The extra insurance payments were expected to soak up the extra 1 percent in the annual wage increases. HAMTC contract negotiators plan to meet next week to regroup. They also plan to obtain feedback from shop stewards and rank-and-file members. HAMTC members will continue to work under the terms of the expired contracts until new ones are reached and ratified, Schaffer said. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 50 Hanford recognized for worker safety This story was published Thu, May 2, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Hanford has six entities that have received the top ranking in a nationwide worker safety program. And Beverly Cook, the Department of Energy's assistant secretary for environmental safety and health, honored the site for that achievement Wednesday. In fact, Hanford now accounts for six federal Voluntary Protection Program's star status recipients among 19 scattered across all Department of Energy sites. "The Hanford site has set the standard for excellence all across the (DOE) complex," said Shirley Olinger, DOE's assistant manager for safety and engineering at Hanford. Cook focused Wednesday on Pacific Northwest National Laboratory becoming Hanford's sixth star status program in 2001. She spoke at the Trade, Recreational and Agricultural Center in Pasco during the first day of a two-day Hanford safety exposition. The expo is open to the public from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. today The Voluntary Protection Program was conceived by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and was later adopted by DOE. The program emphasizes cooperation between managers and workers to improve safety habits and records. A star rating means DOE has examined and approved dozens of a company's procedures and activities to improve safety. Star status also cuts down on the number of safety inspections that a company is required to go through. "Our safety statistics are the best we've ever had," said PNNL Director Lura Powell. She noted a December survey of PNNL employees showed 92 percent agreed that safety is emphasized at the lab, and two-thirds agreed employees are involved in safety programs. Cook said PNNL and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are the only national labs to obtain star status, noting that scientists are traditionally difficult to get to participate in such programs. "Our goal is to get every single site in the (DOE) complex to this level," Cook said. Cook also gave an award to DOE Hanford Manager Keith Klein for the site obtaining six star status programs. Klein said he hopes six more Hanford programs will reach that level by the end of 2003. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 51 DOE awards $17M road maintenance contract Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 2, 2002 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The Department of Energy has awarded a $17 million contract to a Knoxville-based company for road and heavy equipment maintenance on the Oak Ridge Reservation. DOE's contract with East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors Inc. has a two-year base period, with three one-year option periods not to exceed five years. The contract went into effect Wednesday. Under the deal, East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors will be responsible for maintenance of roads, light vehicles and heavy equipment, according to information from DOE. The work will also include utility line right-of-way clearing, refueling vehicles and limited construction such as paving and earthwork on the Oak Ridge Reservation. DOE officials stressed that the deal with East Tennessee Mechanical Contractors supports the employment of approximately 26 workers who are part of the Knoxville Building Trades Union. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 52 Y-12 tax collections increase Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:58 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, 2002 by R. Cathey Daniels Oak Ridger staff City Manager Paul Boyer said Wednesday that one recent positive piece of economic news is an "upswing" in sales tax collections from Anderson County federal facilities. Boyer spoke at noon to the Anderson County/Oak Ridge Communications Committee at the Sagebrush Steakhouse &Saloon in Oak Ridge. "BWXT Y-12 is getting back into production, and we're seeing that now in our sales tax collections," said Boyer. Boyer said that while the increase is not enough yet to offset tax collections lost from the change in mission at K-25, "it's still a positive upswing." Assistant City Manager Steve Jenkins said Wednesday that he had received the first quarter's report earlier this week and that there was an increase over last year's collections from federal facilities, though he declined to specify numbers. Jenkins cautioned that the city has seen upswings in collections from federal facilities before, only to see them disappear in future quarters. "I've seen these increases come, and then turn around and go the other way," said Jenkins. "We'd need several quarters to determine whether this is a trend or not. Certainly we hope this increase in the use-tax collection is related to increased production at Y-12." Use taxes are roughly the equivalent of sales taxes, and for BWXT are paid in Oak Ridge, at the point where the materials and supplies for construction or other work are actually used. Bechtel Jacobs at K-25 pays use tax at the point of purchase, which is why the city lost about $600,000 in sales tax collections in Roane County this year. Bechtel Jacobs subcontracts work to companies that cannot be permitted under the use tax law, said Jenkins. The Y-12 weapons plant is gearing up for a $4 billion modernization effort, but officials were unable to say this morning whether new construction efforts are under way. Boyer also stressed that while industrial recruitment, retail revitalization and housing are all critical in stabilizing and stimulating the Oak Ridge economy, the bottom line is attracting new residents. "Everybody wants to know whether Target is coming (to Oak Ridge)," said Boyer. "Well, we're not going to get Target until we get more people here." Boyer said that a market area likely needs a population base of about 40,000 to attract Target. "The flip side of that is that we got Home Depot, which means other (retailers) will look at us to see what they missed. Home Depot was an important step forward." Boyer expressed optimism heading into the next few years. "We feel as a staff Š that we are on the threshold of big, good news for Oak Ridge," said Boyer, noting that regardless of one's opinion of the downtown redevelopment project, the fact that a developer is interested in the Oak Ridge area market is encouraging news. "Just the fact that a developer with a track record is willing to come into our community with a new idea Š is a positive sign that there are things here we haven't always recognized," said Boyer. R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or danielsrcd@oakridger.com [danielsrcd@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 53 OR 'environmental guide' released today 05/02/02 Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 1:03 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, 2002 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff After well over a year's worth of production work and a few delays in its release date, an "environmental guide" that officials hope will set the record straight on Oak Ridge is finally being issued to the public today. The guide is being distributed as a paid special publication in today's edition of The Oak Ridger and additional copies are available at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike. The underlying message of the guide is that the city of Oak Ridge is a healthful and environmentally safe place to live despite the presence of three major Department of Energy facilities. "Every worthwhile project has its critics," said Steve Kopp, who participated on the project as a representative of the Oak Ridge Site-Specific Advisory Board. "This will certainly have its critics. But it provides a good balanced view of Oak Ridge." Altogether, more than 50 local citizens and community leaders volunteered to work on the project for well over a year. This undertaking was spurred by a number of factors, including the desire to draw a distinction between DOE and the city of Oak Ridge and to clear up some misconceptions and myths such as Oak Ridge's water is unsafe to drink or that the city's residents glow in the dark. The environmental guide points out that Oak Ridge is one of the most monitored, sampled and analyzed cities. In fact, the document states the city's air, water and natural resources are so closely watched and so completely understood by so many different groups that residents are far more informed about and protected from environmental pollution than in a "typical community." "With few exceptions, contamination is confined to the immediate process areas at the plants and to waste disposal sites on the DOE reservation," the environmental guide states. "Contamination on the reservation does not affect the commercial and residential sections of the city." The environmental guide does acknowledge that some former and current workers at the DOE facilities have developed illnesses caused by past operations at the site. The document states these illnesses are the result of less stringent safety practices and equipment in place during earlier facility operations, a lack of industrial hygiene technology and fewer protective government regulations. Kopp said there was no attempt to downplay the sick-worker issue since it is part of "the fabric of the community." Bill Pardue, who was a volunteer on the project from its inception, said it is important to emphasize that the environmental guide is not a new study. He also stressed that the project received no DOE or government funding. Instead, more than 20 civic groups and businesses working together donated all necessary services and resources. The environmental guide was initially supposed to be issued to the public in March, but the release got held up as the project's participants fine-tuned the guide and its content. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or [pparson@oakridger.com] . [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 54 Livermore Weapons Lab Candidate Out Las Vegas SUN May 02, 2002 LIVERMORE, Calif.- The top finalist to become director of the Livermore National Laboratory dropped out, saying his "unwarranted link" to the Wen Ho Lee debacle would have made it difficult to lead the lab. "Events of the last week, including the unwarranted linking of my name to the Wen Ho Lee affair in an attempt to cast a cloud of the appropriateness of my appointment, suggest that the unfounded controversy may hinder my effectiveness in leading the Laboratory," Ray Juzaitis wrote Wednesday. University of California President Richard Atkinson selected Juzaitis for the Livermore job last week. But the Energy Department became concerned about the perceived connection to Lee at the last moment and UC called off Friday's announcement, university officials said. Juzaitis, who did not actively seek the Livermore position, leads nuclear weapons research at the national laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M. He had supervised Lee through several layers of management in the Los Alamos lab's top-secret X Division where Lee was working when he became the focus of a federal investigation. Lee was eventually indicted on 59 felony counts alleging he transferred nuclear weapons information to unsecure computer terminals and computer tapes. He was held in solitary confinement for nine months, though never charged with spying. As the government's case crumbled, Lee pleaded guilty to a felony count of downloading sensitive material, and was set free. Lee's case, coupled with a nearly two-month disappearance of several Los Alamos hard drives and news that Livermore's $1 billion laser project faced substantial delays and was hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, put UC's management of America's nuclear labs in jeopardy. UC runs Livermore and Los Alamos for the Energy Department. In January, 2001, UC reached an agreement extending its contract, but the government demanded changes to prevent future security lapses including new powers over who could work at the labs. Atkinson on Wednesday described Juzaitis as "a brilliant scientist," and said UC reviewed documents about Lee and found nothing to change that assessment. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 55 NAS Suppresses Public Documents on Chem/Bio Weapons Edward Hammond: [http://www.counterpunch.org/] / May 1, 2002 Edward Hammond Hiding History: NAS Suppresses Chem/Bio War Documents April 30, 2002 Hiding History National Academy of Sciences Suppresses Once Public Documents on Chem/Bio Weapons by Edward Hammond Move over ENRON and Arthur Andersen, the US National Academies of Science is vying for the document disappearance award of the year... a very disturbing situation for the Sunshine Project, and one which we think other persons working in the field should know about. And, for those interested, please contact me as we would love to talk about ways to generate pressure for release. Last year, the Pentagon Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program commissioned a study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, Naval Studies Board. The study, which is now in final preparation, is titled "An Assessment of Non-lethal Weapons Science and Technology". As part of the study, hundreds of documents on non-lethal weapons were deposited in the public access records file of the National Academies. These records are available for inspection and copying by the general public and form the written record of the basis of the recommendations of the panel in its report(s). In March of this year, the Sunshine Project contacted the NAS Public Records Office and requested a bibliography of documents deposited for the non-lethal weapons study. We received this bibliography, which identified the title, date, and author of each study as well as its date of deposit, which often corresponded to the date of the Panel meeting at which the documents were apparently discussed. We identified 77 documents from this list which suggested US interest in chemical and biological "non-lethal" weapons. These include such juicy titles as "Anti-Material Biocatysts", "Anti-Material Chemical Agents", "Enhanced Degradation of Military Material" (by the folks at the US Naval Research Laboratory, note the deletion of "Defense" found in the title of similar, publicly-available papers), "Metabolic Engineering", "Legal Review of Proposed Chemical-Based Nonlethal Weapons", "Establishment of Odor Response Profiles: Ethnic, Racial and Cultural Influences", "Antipersonnel Calmative Agents" (by US Army Edgewood), etc... 77 documents in total. We requested the documents on March 12th and were assured they would be quickly forthcoming after they had been retrieved from the file, copied, the pages counted, and a bill for .25 cents a page paid. Most of these documents are also found on the unclassified Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program CD-ROM, over which we have been locked in a Freedom of Information battle with the Marine Corps for over a year. After non-responses from NAS for several weeks, today I got on the phone to find out what was happening with our request. The NAS Public Affairs Office said the documents had been checked out by the Program Staff and were unavailable, perhaps for a few more days, perhaps longer. The Program Staff - which the Public Affairs Office did not want me to call - said that this was wrong. According to the panel staff, what really happened was that the NAS National Security Office had placed a "security hold" on the file. This hold came after our request for copies was made and is somewhat disturbing to us, as we did not publicize our request and do not know how or why the National Security Office was alerted to our interest. I called Mr. Kevin Hale, NAS Security Chief, who confirmed that he placed the "security hold" on the public documents based on "concern expressed" by someone. But Hale refused to say who requested the hold or describe the basis on which he placed it. He also refused to describe, in even the most general terms, what issues has provoked the "security hold". Hale said the "public" documents would undergo security review and that some may be post-facto expunged from the public record, denying public access to the raw material of the scientific deliberations of the Academy panel. Disturbingly, in contrast to the NAS Public Affairs Office and the Panel staff, Mr Hale had a third story about the documents' location. According to Hale, the documents might not ever have been physically deposited with NAS. Hale refused to say more, and referred all questions to the NAS General Counsel's Office. I called Audrey Mosley, the NAS Counsel handling the situation. Ms. Mosley professed ignorance of detail of the situation and refused to discuss at whose instigation or why this most unusual hold had been placed. She said the documents would be reviewed for "security markings" and reiterated that they may physically have never been in NAS possession. Paradoxically, she also said that "somebody, probably Kevin Hale; but not me" would review the documents and determine if they would be deleted from the public record. This, of course, begs the question of how Hale could review documents he says NAS may not possess!!!! In sum, it looks like NAS is pulling sensitive documents from the public access file. I am uncertain of the legalities; but am inclined to believe that at a minimum, this will undermine the integrity of panel conclusions and of NAS itself. In addition, some senior NAS staff appear to be lying about possession/location of documents. The differing stories cannot be reconciled. In addition, the "classification" issue is a red herring because the Marine Corps has stated that the documents are not classified (but isn't releasing them either!). NAS cannot identify a responsible person to explain its actions. The Public Access Office refers questions to the Panel staff. The Panel staff refers questions to the Security Office. The Security Office refers questions to General Counsel's office. The General Counsel's office does not answer questions and refers back to the Security Office. The account of the facts by each office is both lacking in detail and, in the little detail that they provide, contradictory. It's all very ugly and disturbing. If these documents disappear from the public record it will be a sad day for the US National Academies and another blow to US transparency on CBW. In some ways a more disturbing one than others, because this involves expunging items previously available for public view and which form the basis of recommendations from a very high, quasi-public US scientific authority. Let us hope that it doesn't happen. If it does, we are considering options for fighting it. I'll be happy to provide the NAS bibliography to anyone interested. Edward Hammond is director of [http://www.sunshine-project.org/] , based in Austin, Texas. He can be reached at: [hammond@sunshine-project.org] ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************