***************************************************************** 09/02/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.224 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Japan, N. Korea Agree to More Talks 2 UK: Nuclear option How to boost the domestic power industry 3 Bosses quit in Japan nuclear scandal 4 Jail sought for Japan nuclear staff 5 More TEPCO paperwork said false Utility allegedly concealed 6 Japan: N-agency to rush new safety bill through Diet 7 Tepco executives to quit over atomic plant scandal* 8 Nuclear fund £80m shortfall adds to British Energy's woes 9 US: Whistle-Blower Report Cites Abuses 10 Prosecutors demand prison terms over Japan's worst nuclear accident 11 Heavy fallout from Japan nuclear scandal - 12 TEPCO execs linked to cover-up as 100 investigated from within 13 TEPCO chiefs likely to quit over scandal 14 Japan: Utility OKs on early probe 15 Japan: Other firms to review records 16 Japan: TEPCO hit by new allegations 17 UK: It's clean and efficient but blighted by link to death and destr 18 Uncertainties remain for both U.S., Russia programs 19 Kremlin can't control secretive nuke agency / 20 Russian work on nuclear plant in Iran enters key stage, official 21 UK: Blair set to put nuclear power back on line 22 US: Feds missed chance to catch rust hole at Ohio nuclear plant 23 UK: Nuclear power set for a comeback NUCLEAR REACTORS 24 State moves in after breach at Koeberg 25 Russia begins work on Iranian reactor 26 Russia begins work on Iran nuke plant 27 US: NRC establishes restricted zones 28 US: Russia begins work on Iranian reactor NUCLEAR SAFETY 29 US: Anti-radiation pills to be distributed at TMI festival 30 UK: Nuclear safety report 'covered up' by officials 31 US: Sick nuclear workers unhappy with federal plan NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 32 US: Nuke plants still searching for ways to store waste 33 US: Letter: Dangerous Proposal 34 US: Accidents Are Inevitable 35 US: Envirocare Seeks Reversal of Violation Fine 36 US: Some Facts About Skull Valley 37 US: For Goshutes, the Issue Has Always Been Simple: Survival 38 US: Plutonium transfer marks beginning of MOX mission at SRS locatio 39 US: Nuclear plants avoid conversion 40 US: Local officials find positives in MOX plant 41 SA: Waste, not nuclear power the problem 42 US: Public input sought on Cotter uranium mill safety NUCLEAR WEAPONS 43 US: October 5 -15th: Action for Nuclear Abolition 44 !*"Israel's Nuclear Arsenal" By Lorenzo Komboa Ervin 45 US: U.S. "Dirty Bombs" US DEPT. OF ENERGY OTHER NUCLEAR 46 Arkansas: Nuclear plant employee works to overcome hearing problems ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Japan, N. Korea Agree to More Talks Las Vegas SUN: September 01, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS TOKYO- High-ranking officials from Japan and North Korea wrapped up a weekend meeting in Beijing on Sunday with an agreement to meet again for further talks before the first-ever summit between their leaders, news reports said. The talks in the Chinese capital were intended to clarify both countries' positions on long-running disputes and lay the groundwork for the upcoming summit, said a Japanese Foreign Ministry official, who refused to disclose details of what was discussed. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced Friday he would make a one-day visit to Pyongyang on Sept. 17 for an unprecedented meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Officials from the two sides agreed over the weekend that the summit agenda would include discussing Japanese allegations that its citizens have been abducted by North Korea and North Korean demands for compensation for Japan's militaristic past, public broadcaster NHK reported. They also agreed to hold a conference with the United States, South Korea, China and Russia to discuss regional security, NHK said. Japan, which ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910 until 1945, has had no diplomatic ties with North Korea's communist regime since its formation in 1948. The Japanese government alleges that North Korea abducted at least 11 Japanese citizens to train communist spies in Japanese language and customs - allegations denied by the North Koreans. North Korea's missile program and nuclear capability are also stumbling blocks. Pyongyang demands an apology and compensation for Japan's colonial occupation of Korea. something Tokyo has been hesitant to offer. Also Sunday, Japan's Foreign Ministry said a team of 14 diplomats and defense officials will head for Pyongyang on Tuesday to set up an office to prepare logistics for the historic summit. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 2 UK: Nuclear option How to boost the domestic power industry Times Online September 02, 2002 In assessment of the future of the nuclear power industry, emotion is a poor guide to policy. The rundown in nuclear power generation, a response to the green lobby and public fears of an industry whose hazards have become all too obvious, has been a disaster. Western governments are set on a course of gradual decommissioning of old reactors, replacing what was once seen as the energy source of the future with oil or gas generators. Germany is committed to phasing out nuclear energy altogether. Already Britain, once the industry leader, relies on nuclear power for only 22 per cent of its energy, 5 per cent less than three years ago. In ten years’ time, under present plans, all seven of the older Magnox stations will have gone, and by 2023 all nuclear plants, except the newest at Sizewell B, will be closed. As a result, even if Britain meets its target of generating 20 per cent of electricity from renewable resources by 2020, the net effect on carbon emissions will be nil. The Government must soon take urgent decisions on Britain’s long-term energy needs. Labour, like most left-of-centre parties, has fallen out of love with nuclear, unduly influenced by a lobby whose opposition stems from its horror of nuclear weapons. But unless replacements for the 15 ageing stations are ordered now, Britain will become wholly reliant on fossil-fuel generation or on imported energy — much of it from France, where nuclear power accounts for 70 per cent of supply. Brian Wilson, the Energy Minister, is clear about the danger. The world can no longer be divided into pro and anti-nuclear clubs, he says. He is under pressure now to give the go-ahead for at least five new plants, most sensibly sited at existing stations: the public is used to their presence, the expertise and infrastructure are in place and political objections would be fewer. The three most likely sites are Sizewell in Suffolk, Hunterston in Ayrshire and Hinkley Point in Somerset. The green lobby agrees that more oil and gas plants are no answer. Britain does not produce enough of either, would rely even more on imports from turbulent producer states, and would, even with the best technology, produce more greenhouse gases. Greenpeace argues that needs can be supplied by a vast expansion of renewable sources. This is unrealistic. Wind farms are producing the kind of furious opposition, especially in areas of natural beauty, provoked by roadbuilders or polluters. The technology is still inefficient — a vast array of windmills will power only a small town, a bagatelle compared with the voracious needs of British industry. Wave power is in its infancy. And the demand by environmentalists for 15,000 turbines to be built at sea — at the rate of three a day for the next 15 years — is utterly impractical. Nuclear energy has problems — chiefly in waste disposal. But most current waste is the result of the former military use of nuclear energy. Even replacing all Britain’s nuclear stations would add only 10 per cent to the waste over the next 40 years. What to do with a substance whose half-life may last 30,000 years is something that must be resolved. The Government must also sort out the financial problems of British Energy and decide how it should fit in to the cheaper, deregulated electricity market: relieving the company of previous, unrelated, liabilities is an essential first step. What Labour cannot afford is to be guided by emotion and allow the collapse, by inaction, of a vital sector of Britain’s energy resources. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 3 Bosses quit in Japan nuclear scandal BBC NEWS | Business | Monday, 2 September, 2002, [Demonstration against Japanese nuclear firms] Japanese voters are nervous about nuclear safety Top executives at Japanese electricity producer Tepco are to quit, after the firm admitted possibly having falsified nuclear safety records. Tepco admitted last week that there may have been problems with maintenance work at its nuclear power plants between the late 1980s and early 1990s, and launched an internal investigation. The company denied that procedural lapses caused any serious decline in safety, but nonetheless apologised to those living in the vicinity of the affected plants. "I deeply regret the incident and cannot apologise enough for it," Tepco president Nobuya Minami told a news conference. Mr Minami will step down in mid-October, and the firm's chairman, vice-president and two advisers will also leave by the end of September. Touchy issue The Tepco affair is likely to touch a raw nerve in Japan, which is increasingly dependent on nuclear power. The Japanese public is highly nervous about the safety of nuclear plants, especially since a radiation leak at a uranium processing facility in Tokaimura three years ago. Tepco's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear reactor, the world's largest, will be shut down along with four other reactors for urgent safety checks. Consumers are also sceptical about corporate honesty after a string of ethical scandals, the most recent involving mislabelled beef at Japan's largest sausage maker, Nippon Meat Packers. Tepco shares ended down 2%, after losing about 5% since last week when it admitted the investigation. ***************************************************************** 4 Jail sought for Japan nuclear staff BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Monday, 2 September, 2002, 09:57 GMT 10:57 UK [Emergency workers in Tokaimura on the day of the accident] The accident occurred after safety procedures were ignored Japanese prosecutors have demanded prison sentences for six employees of a uranium processing plant on trial over the country's worst nuclear accident. Lawyers prosecuting the six men for negligence at the plant in Tokaimura, 120 kilometres (75 miles) north-east of Tokyo, have demanded they serve sentences of between two and a half and four years. The damage was extremely serious and it affected the nuclear industry significantly Prosecutors Three workers at the plant set off a critical reaction in September 1999 when they ignored proper safety procedures and used buckets instead of a pump to transfer a uranium solution to a tank. The accident exposed more than 400 residents to radiation and resulted in the death of two workers. Boss on trial The six men on trial include the head of the plant, owned by JCO Co, Kenzo Koshijima, and an injured survivor. The lawyers are asking that Mr Koshijima serve a four year prison term and that he also be fined 500,000 yen ($4,202). [Tokaimura uranium processing plant] It took 20 hours to control the nuclear chain reaction They are also demanding that JCO Co be fined one million yen for being negligent in its supervisory role and putting profits ahead of safety. "The damage was extremely serious and it affected the nuclear industry significantly," prosecutors said at the Mito District Court, in Ibaraki prefecture, about 100km north-west of Tokyo. The demands were made as the prosecution team gave their closing arguments in the negligence trial which is predicted to last until spring of next year. Illegal changes The staff were charged with allowing employees to use buckets illegally. Mr Koshijima and other officials allegedly approved the procedures by which staff were allowed to transfer uranium in buckets at an in-house safety committee in 1995. [Local man shows the rash on his hand] More than 400 people were exposed to radiation Operators of nuclear facilities are required by law to obtain approval from the prime minister before changing production methods. The workers mistakenly loaded 16 kilograms (35 pounds) of condensed uranium into a mixing tank - nearly eight times the proper amount - causing it to reach "criticality", the point at which a nuclear reaction becomes self-sustaining. The first such accident in Japan, it exposed hundreds of residents, plant workers and emergency personnel to radiation. JCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd 5713.T, still exists although it no longer operates having lost its uranium fuel processing license in March last year. ***************************************************************** 5 More TEPCO paperwork said false Utility allegedly concealed nuclear reactor cracks found in '80s and '90s Daily Yomiuri On-Line Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is alleged to have made another inaccurate report to the government in January this year to conceal the existence of cracks that had been found in the late 1980s and in the 1990s in a nuclear reactor in Fukushima Prefecture, sources close to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Friday. The agency, part of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, is aware of the allegation and has been expediting efforts to determine the details because the alleged false report might have violated a law that obliges nuclear power plant operators to report any problems or accidents to the central government, the sources said. According to the sources, the company falsified records on the No. 4 reactor of TEPCO's Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant in Narahamachi and Tomiokamachi, Fukushima Prefecture. TEPCO was informed in the late 1980s and in the 1990s by inspectors of General Electric International Inc., which was entrusted with inspection work for the reactor, that they had found two cracks where two parts were joined in the middle in the reactor's core shroud. Each crack measured about nine centimeters, according to the sources. However, TEPCO allegedly falsified records on the inspections to cover up the faults in the reactor at that time. Judging that the cracks would pose no serious threat to the reactor's safety, the firm continues to use it without repairing or changing the parts in question. Upon the discovery of a number of cracks up to 1.4 meters long in a core shroud at the plant's No. 3 reactor in July last year, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency instructed six electric power companies that operate reactors of the same type as the No. 3 reactor to inspect each one. In response, TEPCO carried out a three-day inspection on the shroud of the No. 4 reactor from Jan. 16 to 18 this year. However, the company falsely reported to the agency that it had found no problems in the reactor, covering up the existence of the two cracks, according to the sources. Discipline looming? The agency is considering the possibility of meting out administrative discipline to TEPCO if the power utility is confirmed to have conducted illegal activities in connection with the series of cover-ups that recently have been coming to light, the sources said. The agency is expected to compile an interim report on the allegations. This report will take TEPCO's own report of its in-house investigation into consideration, but will be prepared independently of the utility's efforts. The agency's report is expected to be completed by the end of the month. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 6 Japan: N-agency to rush new safety bill through Diet Daily Yomiuri On-Line Yomiuri Shimbun The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is to introduce a new inspection system for nuclear power plants in fiscal 2003, bringing forward the scheduled implementation date by a year, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Saturday. The decision to adopt the new measures earlier than scheduled was prompted by Thursday's revelation that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) had habitually falsified records regarding structural damage at its nuclear plants. The earlier-than-planned introduction of the system is aimed to preventing further instances of fraudulent record-keeping. Under the current system, nuclear power station operators are obliged to keep records of administrative and voluntary inspections for at least a year until the next regular inspection is held. However, in light of the TEPCO incident, the agency is considering extending this period and increasing penalties for offenders, sources said. The agency may submit a bill to reform the law by as early as autumn's extraordinary Diet session, the sources said. Under the current system, government inspectors perform annual inspections of some components of nuclear reactors, and the operators themselves inspect other components. But according to industry observers, these inspections have become mere routine because it is difficult to determine the level of safety awareness among workers at the nation's nuclear power plants. The observers believe that a lack of such awareness lay behind TEPCO's papering over the cracks found at its nuclear power plants. To prevent such deceptions, the new inspection system will introduce a quality assurance system similar to the one used in manufacturing industry. It also will take into account a plant's daily safety measures--including inspections--when evaluating a plant's performance. The new system will include surprise inspections and will require the operators to keep records of each and every process so that independent institutions will be able to monitor what is happening at a plant. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 7 Tepco executives to quit over atomic plant scandal* September 1, 2002 ** REPAIR REPORTS FALSIFIED The president and chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company are likely to step down to take responsibility for a scandal involving false reports on inspections and repairs at the company's nuclear power plants, sources said Saturday. Formal announcements of the resignations are expected in mid-September, when Tepco reveals the results of an internal investigation into the affair. Sources added that more heads may roll should the scandal turn into a criminal case. Tepco, the nation's largest utility, is suspected of concealing 29 cases of damage at three nuclear power plants during the 1980s and 1990s. The most serious damage involved cracks in nuclear reactor shrouds. The other cases are not considered to pose safety risks. Tepco President Nobuya Minami and Chairman Hiroshi Araki will also resign their posts at various business and industry organizations, according to sources. Araki is a vice chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), while Minami serves as chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies and is a vice chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai). Tepco advisers Gaishi Hiraiwa and Sho Nasu, who headed the firm during the suspected coverups, will also step down from their posts, the sources added. The firm is now moving to have Tsunehisa Katsumata succeed Minami as president. Katsumata is one of Tepco's five vice presidents and is currently head of an in-house investigation into the scandal. Minami assumed his post in June 1999 with the expectation that he would revamp Tepco to better prepare the firm for the liberalization of the electric power industry. Observers said Tepco probably decided on the personnel changes because of the harsh public reaction to recent corporate scandals, including the mislabeling of beef by a subsidiary of Nippon Meat Packers Inc. Immediately after the Tepco fiasco came to light, Minami said he would consider what form of responsibility to take once all the facts were known. His departure became more likely, however, after it became increasingly clear that Tepco employees directly ordered the falsification of records, sources said. The government has also expressed its dissatisfaction with the company. It was also learned Saturday that Tepco employees may not have placed enough importance on cracks found at its nuclear facilities during inspections. The employees apparently believed there was no need to repair the damage and did not report the problem. They based their decision on similar cases abroad that had not been considered dangerous, sources said. Cracks are usually caused by decay and stress. A number of similar problems have been reported in the United States and Europe since the 1990s. Cracked shrouds are usually replaced in Japan. In the U.S. and Europe, however, they are often mended, or left alone if the damage is not considered dangerous, the sources said. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to investigate the suspected coverup when it begins inspecting the three Tepco plants on Monday. The investigation is to cover the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility -- one of the world's largest nuclear power plants. TEPCO and its subcontractor may have acted illegally in their alleged failure to report the damage, according to the agency. *The Japan Times: Sept. 1, 2002* ***************************************************************** 8 Nuclear fund £80m shortfall adds to British Energy's woes Independent.co.uk 01 September 2002 19:52 BDST By Jason Nissé British Energy, whose financial position has led the Government to consider a bail-out, is facing a provision of up to £80m for its decommissioning fund. The fund has been set aside to cover the cost of decommissioning the group's nuclear reactors when they start closing, which is expected to begin in about 15 years' time. Last year British Energy paid £18m into the fund, but as most of the money is invested in the stock market, this was more than wiped out by a £27m loss as equities tumbled. Since the company's year end in March, the performance has deteriorated. The stock market has fallen further and industry watchers believe the fund's value could fall as much as £80m. British Energy's chairman, Robin Jeffrey, will be pressed to increase payments into the scheme when the group announces its half-year figures to the City later this year. If British Energy has to top up the fund, this will add to its financial worries, with the City expecting it to run out of cash in the next 12 months. The group, which generates a fifth of Britain's electricity, has to pay back more than £450m of loans, the first due in March. The Independent on Sunday revealed last week that the Department of Trade and Industry was drawing up contingency plans to bail out British Energy. These include backing the sale of six Magnox nuclear reactors to the group from BNFL. The news led to a 46 per cent hike in British Energy's share price. British Energy's woes have largely been caused by a collapse in the price of electricity after the introduction of the New Electricity Trading arrangement (Neta), to below the group's cost of production. The Government has pledged to review Neta. British Energy's strategy of putting the majority of its decommissioning fund in equities has been criticised in the nuclear industry. At BNFL, where the liabilities are larger, most of its £4bn nuclear liabilities fund is invested in government securities and only a small amount in shares. http://www.independent.co.uk ***************************************************************** 9 Whistle-Blower Report Cites Abuses Las Vegas SUN September 01, 2002 By SAM HANANAEL ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- Most employees who expose workplace wrongdoing face some form of retaliation, and many still lack the legal right to protect themselves, says a report released Sunday by a whistle-blowers advocates organization. About half the whistle-blowers who responded to a survey by the nonprofit National Whistleblower Center in Washington said they were fired after reporting unlawful conduct. Most of the others said they faced on-the-job harassment or unfair discipline. The report recommends that Congress pass legislation to protect all government and private sector whistle-blowers from reprisals in the same way that existing laws shield from retaliation victims who report discrimination based on race or sex. "The survey shows that people who blow the whistle perceive they are being discriminated against," said Stephen Kohn, the center's board chairman. "There's a strong need for greater legal protection." A patchwork of more than a dozen federal laws now allows whistle-blowers to fight employer reprisals in certain cases, such as airline safety and nuclear power plant violations. Legislation passed in July protects for the first time employees who report financial misconduct at publicly traded companies. Workers who expose many other types of abuse - election fraud, campaign finance abuse, obstruction of justice, witness intimidation and the like - remain without legal recourse if an employer decides to retaliate, the report said. An amendment to the homeland security bill pending in Congress would protect from retaliation potential whistle-blowers in the proposed huge new agency. The Bush administration opposes it as an unnecessary restriction on personnel policies. Large businesses and industry groups often oppose more comprehensive whistle-blower protection laws, fearing they will inundate businesses with frivolous claims. An official with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government agency that protects government workers from reprisals for whistle-blowing, said she was not familiar with the report and could not comment on it. Jane McFarland, the OSC's director of congressional and public affairs, said the agency investigates about 700 complaints a year from federal whistle-blowers claiming retaliation and has a good success rate in helping them out. The unscientific survey of both government and private sector whistle-blowers was based on a random sample of 200 cases reported to the group this year. About 51 percent of respondents said they reported fraud or criminal practices, while 19 percent exposed health and safety-related problems, 10 percent disclosed environmental problems, 12 percent complained of discriminatory practices and 9 percent found wrongdoing in the medical profession. On the Net: National Whistleblower Center: http://www.whistleblowers.org/ [http://www.whistleblowers.org/] U.S. Office of Special Counsel: http://www.osc.gov/ [http://www.osc.gov/] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 10 Prosecutors demand prison terms over Japan's worst nuclear accident Monday September 2, 1:27 PM Japanese prosecutors have demanded prison terms of up to four years for six employees of a uranium processing plant operator on trial over the nation's worst nuclear accident. The six men, including an injured survivor, are charged with negligence resulting in death, with the company JCO Co., also charged with violating the Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law over a 1999 nuclear accident at the plant in the village of Tokaimura, 120 kilometres (75 miles) northeast of Tokyo. On Monday prosecutors were seeking a four-year prison term and a 500,000 yen (4,202 dollars) fine for Kenzo Koshijima, 56, who was the head of the uranium processing plant. They demanded lesser terms of between two and a half years and three and a half years for the other five men. Three workers at the plant set off a critical reaction in 1999 when they poured too much uranium into a precipitation tank, using steel buckets instead of mechanical methods. The accident exposed more than 400 residents to radiation. Two of the workers later died. The worker who survived, Yutaka Yokokawa, 57 is one of the six defendants, facing prosecution calls for a two and half year jail term. Prosecutors also demanded a one million yen fine for the company for supervisory lapses which permitted dangerous practices to be conducted routinely, and for putting profits ahead of safety. "The damage was extremely serious and it affected the nuclear industry significantly," prosecutors said at the Mito District Court. Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 Heavy fallout from Japan nuclear scandal - CNN.com - September 2, 2002 TEPCO President Nobuya Minami will resign along with other TEPCO officials to take responsibility for the scandal TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- The president, vice president and chairman of Japan's largest utility are quitting following a nuclear safety scandal, along with two advisers. The Monday announcements came after Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) admitted last week that it may have failed to accurately report cracks at its nuclear reactors in the late 1980s and 1990s. The company and the Japanese government are probing whether workers covered up reports of the cracks. TEPCO is suspected of falsifying 29 cases of safety repair records. The company's nuclear reactor is the world's largest, and will be shut down temporarily along with four others for urgent safety checks. Japan's nuclear power industry provides a third of the country's electrical power, and has been criticized for other accidents in recent years. 'No room for excuses' [Hamaoko] This nuclear reactor at Hamaoko Nuclear Power Plant, 124 miles west of Tokyo, was shut down in May due to coolant leakage TEPCO shares skidded again on Monday after two weeks of declines, ending down more than 2 percent at the close. "There is no room for excuses," TEPCO President Nobuya Minami said on Monday, as he announced he would leave his post in mid-October. "I deeply regret the incident and cannot apologize enough for it." Minami said he would reveal in mid-September the results of TEPCO's probe. Chairman Hiroshi Araki, Vice President Toshiaki Enomoto and advisers Shoh Nasu and Gaishi Hiraiwa will step down at the end of September. "What I thought was impossible has actually occurred," Minami said this weekend, according to the Asahi Shimbun. "As I failed to perceive it, I think managerial responsibility lies with me." 'Unacceptable' Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) vice minister Seiji Murata said that Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma branded the company's actions as "unacceptable." "It betrayed the public's trust over nuclear energy," Hiranuma told Murata. METI says it has evidence of false inspection records, with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency saying that up to eight reactors may still be running with unfixed cracks, though the cracks don't pose an immediate threat. The company is conducting an inquiry of its own, and has submitted a list of 29 cases of possible cover-ups of cracks on the core of 13 nuclear reactors, at three plants. GE tests [stock chart] TEPCO stock is underperforming on Monday and has lost almost 10 percent in the last two weeks The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency inspects nuclear plants in Japan every 13 months, checking the cooling system and other essential parts. But it leaves the inspection of the shrouds and pumps around the core to the company, which is required to report flaws. TEPCO contracted its testing to General Electric International Inc., GE's Japan subsidiary. Local media report that cracks were found on the reactor shrouds. Defective shrouds, important nonfuel parts of a reactor, are normally replaced in Japan but may be repaired in the United States or Europe, or even left alone if the cracks aren't serious. A GE insider reportedly informed the Ministry of International Trade and Industry as far back as July 2000. GE officials then approached Minami in March about launching an investigation into possible false reporting. Misconduct GE workers inspected the shrouds while TEPCO workers were present. TEPCO workers then may have failed to report cracks to senior officials, the Nikkei Weekly reports, because they determined they were not significant. TEPCO stock was down 2.04 percent at 2,395 yen at the close Monday, underperforming the broad Topix, which was off 1.2 percent. Though the possible cover-up has been long running, TEPCO has dropped about 10 percent in the last two weeks. The scandal comes amid a lengthening list of corporate misconduct in Japan. The Nikkei reported on Monday that Mitsui &Co. President Shinjiro Shimizu and Chairman Shigeji Ueshima are under pressure to resign. They are likely to step down to take responsibility over alleged bribes by Mitsui workers to a Mongolian official, to win an order on a diesel-power facility there. © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 12 TEPCO execs linked to cover-up as 100 investigated from within Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] JAPANESE The Asahi Shimbun The scandal embroiling Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) likely involves up to 100 employees, including senior executives, according to sources close to public and in-house investigations. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency will start a three-day on-the-spot probe today at TEPCO's three nuclear power plants in Fukushima and Niigata prefectures for evidence of false reports. Agency officials want to know whether executives heading the plants knew about equipment cracks and corrosion detected in earlier inspections. They also want to know how far the nuclear power divisions at TEPCO's head office were aware or involved in the cover-up attempts, sources said. The agency has so far uncovered 29 false reports from the late 1980s through the 1990s. The inquiry will also look into new allegations of four more false reports filed during the past year. The four reports allegedly concealed damage to the nuclear-core part known as a shroud in four reactors, apparently because they had been withheld from the earlier inspection reports. The reports, spanning last summer to this past May, did not cite problems in the shrouds or welding. Thirty of about 100 TEPCO officials suspected of involvement had been questioned in an in-house company probe as of this weekend, sources said. They are believed to include former heads of the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata, as well as senior officials of the nuclear power headquarters at head office. Plant bosses are chosen from the board directors or other executives. The nuclear power headquarters is led by an executive vice president. A senior TEPCO official in charge of nuclear technology admitted that ``a crack in a shroud, when detected, should immediately be reported to a plant head or those responsible.'' Problems detected during inspections are supposed to be reported to the nuclear power headquarters so head office can respond. The cover-up surfaced after a whistle-blower tipped off the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The agency then found discrepancies between TEPCO reports and data prepared by General Electric International Inc. (GEII), subcontracted by TEPCO to conduct inspections. Sources said GEII staff translating reports into English were allegedly asked by TEPCO employees to drop entries on cracks. (09/02) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction ***************************************************************** 13 TEPCO chiefs likely to quit over scandal Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] JAPANESE The Asahi Shimbun The president and chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) will likely resign and give up their industry group posts over the scandal involving a long-time cover-up of problem spots in nuclear power plants. TEPCO President Nobuya Minami said he will take responsibility for the falsified records at three nuclear power plants of the nation's largest power utility company. Chairman Hiroshi Araki is expected to join him. ``What I thought was impossible has actually occurred,'' Minami, 66, said. ``As I failed to perceive it, I think managerial responsibility lies with me.'' Minami indicated he will also resign as chairman of the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan on grounds the current scandal severely undermined public trust in nuclear power and stalled the nation's ``pluthermal'' fuel recycling program. Minami talked with Araki in Tokyo on Saturday immediately after the chairman flew back from China, cutting short his trip as head of an exchange mission. The two top executives apparently discussed how to cope with the scandal and to call top executives to account. TEPCO is expected to announce a personnel reshuffle in mid-September, when it will release the results of its in-house probe of the scandal and announce measures to prevent a recurrence. Araki, 71, who admitted his ``managerial responsibility'' Saturday, is expected to not only resign as TEPCO chairman, but also give up his post as vice chairman of Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren). He also indicated he would vacate the post of chairman of Keidanren's Committee on Corporate Behavior, which covers business ethics. Two TEPCO advisers, Gaishi Hiraiwa and Sho Nasu, are also expected to resign from their posts at TEPCO and related business organizations. They served as president and chairman of TEPCO in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, when the cover-up allegedly took place. (09/02) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction or ***************************************************************** 14 Japan: Utility OKs on early probe Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] The Asahi Shimbun Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) decided to temporarily shut down its nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture for early inspections amid public outrage that cracked equipment surrounds one of the reactor cores. The regular inspection at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant was originally scheduled for Sept. 24. But Niigata Governor Ikuo Hirayama asked TEPCO to advance the date of the inspection. No new date was given for the shutdown. (09/02) JAPANESE | HOME [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction or ***************************************************************** 15 Japan: Other firms to review records Daily Yomiuri On-Line Yomiuri Shimbun Several electric power companies with nuclear power plants, in addition to Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), have either launched or are preparing comprehensive reviews of inspection records of their plants in compliance with instructions issued Friday by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, sources said. The agency's move apparently was a response to revelations Thursday that TEPCO falsified records of past voluntary inspections at its plants, the sources said. Tohoku Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Co. operate the same type of reactors as those of TEPCO. The reactors were jointly developed by General Electric Co., Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi, Ltd. It has been revealed that Tohoku Electric Power asked General Electric International Inc. (GEII) to conduct a routine inspection at its Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture in 1995. TEPCO also commissioned GEII to inspect its Niigata plants. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 16 Japan: TEPCO hit by new allegations Daily Yomiuri On-Line Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), which was found to have falsified records of inspections at its nuclear power plants, also concealed faults found in government-ordered inspections, sources said Saturday. Since last year, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has ordered electric power firms to carry out inspections, yet TEPCO avoided inspecting welded sections of core shrouds on which cracks had been found but concealed. TEPCO later told the agency that no faults were detected with the core shrouds, the sources said. The agency plans to question TEPCO officials as it suspects the company intentionally excluded the damaged parts from the inspection so it would not have to replace or repair them. During the latter half of the 1980s and the 1990s, TEPCO entrusted inspections of its nuclear power plants to General Electric International Inc. (GEII). Though GEII found cracks on welded sections of the core shrouds, TEPCO altered the inspection records to hide the problem. GEII's inspection found a total of 35 cracks in eight locations at five nuclear power reactors in three power plants, but the plants continued their operations without the sections being repaired or replaced. The reactors included the No. 4 reactor at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture; the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 reactors of Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant; and the No. 1 reactor of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture. TEPCO eventually reported the most serious case, a 1.4-meter-long crack in the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima No. 2 plant, to the agency in July last year, saying that the firm had found it during its voluntary inspection that month. After receiving the report, the agency instructed electric power companies with nuclear power plants to inspect core shrouds in September last year. The agency gave the order because it feared similar cracks might have occurred on identical nuclear reactors and that they might lead to safety problems. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 17 UK: It's clean and efficient but blighted by link to death and destruction Times Online British News September 02, 2002 By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent IN MANY ways nuclear power should be the answer to environmentalists’ prayers: it offers by far the most reliable alternative to fossil fuels for the generation of electricity, producing neither greenhouse gases nor toxic emissions that cause acid rain. It has been proven, in countries such as France and Finland, as a dependable way to satisfy the bulk of electricity requirements, unhindered by the vagaries of the weather that can affect many renewable sources of energy. And it causes none of the ecological damage of hydroelectric schemes, which flood valleys and kill fish. Despite those advantages, the technology has been strongly resisted by green groups since the construction of Britain’s first reactor at Calder Hall in Cumbria, in 1956, and campaigners oppose the replacement of the country’s ageing nuclear plants. Until recently they appeared to have won the argument. Opposition to nuclear power is based largely on the perceived risk to the environment and to human health of the radioactive material that it harnesses to generate electricity. The civilian industry grew out of military programmes, and it has yet to shed an association in the public mind with death and destruction, made worse by the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters. Its safety record is, however, very good: even including Chernobyl, the statistical probability of a member of the public dying in a nuclear accident is about the same as being struck by a meteorite. Modern reactors release virtually no extra radiation, and claims that there are “leukaemia clusters” around nuclear installations are largely rejected by scientists. There is serious concern, however, that nuclear power stations and reprocessing plants are vulnerable to terrorist attack, particularly since September 11. The most serious objection is to the radioactive byproducts that the industry produces as waste. Disposal is a significant problem. At present low-level waste is stored at a facility in Drigg, near Sellafield, and intermediate-level waste is stored on the sites at which it is produced. High-level waste, some of which will remain potentially hazardous for tens of thousands of years, is stored at Sellafield in liquefied form in stainless-steel tanks, which are encased in glass blocks and sealed inside stainless-steel containers. For anti-nuclear groups this waste is a near-permanent hazard. Roger Higman, of Friends of the Earth, said: “Imagine that the people who created the Lascaux cave paintings 30,000 years ago had built a nuclear power station instead. We would still be suffering the legacy today.” Even the nuclear industry accepts that the solution for high and intermediate-level waste is no more than a stopgap, and that a permanent method of disposal will have to be found. The most popular proposal is to bury it. Advocates of nuclear power say that the existing volume of waste — most of it from outdated Magnox reactors — will have to be dealt with regardless of any decision to build new plants. As modern pressurised water reactors produce only a fraction of the waste created by older models, they would scarcely add to the problem: a network of new plants would add just 10 per cent to existing waste volumes over 40 years. This, they argue, would be a small price to pay for the reductions in greenhouse gas output that could be achieved should Britain replace the 14 nuclear power stations that will be decomissioned over the next 20 years, leaving only Sizewell B active. The Government plans to invest in renewable energy so that it accounts for 20 per cent of supply by 2020. But without new nuclear plants, this will merely replace the country’s lost nuclear capacity, leaving consumption of fossil fuels unchanged. Even some nuclear sceptics, such as Professor David King, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, now believe that the technology’s advantage on greenhouse gas emissions now outweigh its ecological costs. Green groups feel that the risk of a catastrophic leak, along with the waste problem, weigh too heavily against the technology. They also see it as too dependent on subsidies that would be better spent on renewable energy. DEBATE Should we build more nuclear power stations? E-mail your views to debate@thetimes.co.uk [debate@thetimes.co.uk] Times [http://www.newsint-archive.co.uk/] Copyright 2002 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 18 Uncertainties remain for both U.S., Russia programs Augusta Georgia: Metro: Web posted Sunday, September 1, 2002 By [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau Most people have never heard of MOX, but the term likely will find its way into political science and history books. How history will record the results of the mixed-oxide fuel program, meant to get rid of excess weapons-grade plutonium, is anybody's guess. "The plutonium disposition program still confronts major challenges," said Matthew Bunn, a senior research associate at Harvard University. "Strong, sustained leadership from the highest levels of government will be needed for it to succeed." The array of challenges arise from the complexities of the expensive program and the danger of the materials involved. A down payment on the $3.8 billion MOX program in the United States already has proved a stretch. The economy is recessionary, and not everyone in Washington agrees on the program's value. Making matters worse is the economic devastation of the former Soviet Union. Russia has made little progress in committing financially to its own efforts. [http://augustachronicle.com/images/headlines/090102/MOX.jpg] Weapons-grade plutonium stored in cannisters would be converted to fuel for nuclear reactors at the MOX plant. FILE/STAFF A 2000 agreement between the United States and Russia stipulated that plutonium-reduction efforts, which ultimately would remove 34 tons from each side, be under way in the next five years. "There's not a snowball's chance in hell either country can be ready by 2007," Mr. Bunn said, although the United States is well ahead of Russia. At this year's G-8 Summit, a gathering of leaders from the world's wealthiest countries, $20 billion was committed to be applied to Russia's more expensive effort. The money is to be spent during the next 10 years, much of it to safeguard the plutonium from seizure by terrorists. Finding reactors The Department of Energy has said it intends to eliminate as much as 3 1/2 tons of plutonium each year by 2019. So far, however, only two nuclear power plants, with a total of four reactors, have signed on to the MOX project. They are owned by Duke Energy, whose affiliate is the designer of the fuel fabrication plant, Duke COGEMA Stone &Webster. Critics say more reactors are needed. "A minimum of three new reactors - and probably four - would be needed to accommodate another 1.5 (tons) per year without exceeding the current maximum core loading," wrote Edwin S. Lyman, the scientific director of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington, in a recent report. Political woes As the slow licensing and authorization process continues, anti-nuclear groups are challenging the MOX project in court. Glenn Carroll, the coordinator for Georgians Against Nuclear Energy, supports immobilization, which entombs plutonium in glass-filled stainless steel casks. She said it's safer than MOX. "Our goal is to stop MOX and get immobilization back," she said. "A project as elaborate, expensive, risky and inefficient as MOX is pretty much doomed from the start. If we are sincere about safeguarding plutonium from use as weapons, immobilization is the obvious, cheap and straightforward path." The plan is for Duke COGEMA to achieve construction authorization by 2003 or early 2004, but if the courts delay that, the rest of the process probably will be slowed. Expansion In the long run, Mr. Bunn said, the MOX project will be an expensive failure if the program is not expanded. He said the United States and Russia each have more than 100 tons of weapons-grade plutonium in various forms. Ms. Carroll said it seems self-defeating that the government is considering SRS as a site for creating new nuclear bomb triggers, also known as plutonium pits, in 2020 - a year after the MOX project is to be completed. "Now it seems the plan may be to consolidate plutonium in South Carolina to make triggers," she said. Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 19 Kremlin can't control secretive nuke agency / Stalin's creation making reactor for Iran Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer [chronfeedback@sfchronicle.com] Sunday, September 1, 2002 --> Moscow -- The United States and Russia, whose cooperation in the war on terrorism seemed to be laying to rest memories of Cold War hostility, are once again on the opposite sides of a major dispute -- this time over Washington's suspicion that Russia is secretly supporting Iran's nuclear weapons program. The main suspect is not the Russian government, but its Atomic Energy Ministry, or Minatom -- a colossal, opaque and virtually unsupervised agency created by Joseph Stalin -- that experts say is knowingly helping Iran become a nuclear military power. President Bush has cited Iran as an exporter of terrorism and one of the three nations, along with Iraq and North Korea, that comprise an "axis of evil." Nor is the nuclear plant in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr the only source of U.S. irritation with Minatom. Earlier this year, the Kremlin's official accountants reported that hundreds of million of dollars of American and European aid for managing disposal and security of Russia's nuclear waste has disappeared. The Kremlin, too, has its problems with the secretive agency. Even though Minatom employs more than 600,000 people and has an annual budget estimated to be about $1 billion, about 1.5 percent of Russia's federal budget for 2002, it keeps many of its actions hidden from both parliamentary and government monitoring agencies -- and even from President Vladimir Putin. More than a decade after the end of the Cold War, the nuclear agency continues to enjoy virtually the same level of confidentiality it did when hundreds of thousands of its employees packed away in "closed cities" across the Soviet Union were designing and building nuclear weapons. Critics charge that Minatom takes advantage of its secrecy status in order to engage in transactions that have little to do with Russian defense and pay little regard to the country's strategic interests. BUSINESS AS USUAL The Bushehr deal with Iran, experts say, is emblematic of Minatom's way of doing business. Although Iran has expressed willingness to obtain nuclear weapons technology and, according to the Bush administration, has ties to international terrorist groups, Minatom regards the $840 million Bushehr reactor simply as a successful business venture and could care less about its potential uses, according to a Russian nuclear scientist who frequently travels to the project site. "Yes, Iran will get their weapons-grade plutonium and build a bomb. Everybody knows that," said the scientist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "So what? We are making money today." With Russia eager to boost its overseas trade and bring in badly needed hard currency, the government goes to great lengths to justify the Iran plant as only a civilian project. The Kremlin insists that the Bushehr plant can be used only for civilian purposes, is in strict adherence to international nonproliferation guidelines and cannot in any way boost Iran's weapons programs. "Turning Iran into a nuclear military power is more dangerous for Russia than for the United States," said Russian legislator Sergei Mitrokhin, who has repeatedly charged that Minatom knowingly funnels sensitive technologies into Iran under the cover of building the plant in Bushehr. Mitrokhin said the long-term chances of a conflict between Russia and Iran - - its power rival in Central Asia -- are "enormous" because of Iran's support for Islamic fundamentalism. Militant Muslim groups have mounted insurgencies in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. RUSSIAN POLICY 'CRAZY' "It is crazy to build them reactors," Alexei Yablokov, a senior adviser to former President Boris Yeltsin on environmental issues, said in a recent interview. Noting that the technology used in a civilian nuclear reactor can be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, Yablokov and other Russian experts say that Iran could manufacture enough plutonium to build a nuclear bomb by replacing the control rods in the Bushehr plant's nuclear fuel assembly with rods filled with uranium 238 and bombarding them with neutrons. Uranium 238 can be found in conventional weapons, such as depleted-uranium artillery shells. "That is why sharing nuclear technology with such unstable countries as Iran is a suicidal step," said Yablokov, who now heads the Center for Russian Environmental Policy. It was Yablokov who in 1995 learned of a secret deal Minatom had struck with Tehran to build breeder reactors and other facilities that would help Iran produce weapons-grade plutonium. When he passed this on to Yeltsin, the Russian leader was furious and the deal was called off -- publicly, at least. But Yablokov and others insist that the secret dealings continued. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham voiced worries about Iran's intentions last month. "Iran is aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles," he said. "For that reason we consistently urge Russia to cease all nuclear cooperation with Iran, including its assistance to the reactor at Bushehr." Putin pointedly told Bush at a May summit in Moscow that Russia was building exactly the same type of reactors in Iran that the United States had offered to North Korea, another "axis of evil" country. 'A COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY' Analysts say the agency's continuing disregard of the Bush administration's urging to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran is not part of some Cold War- style plot to exact revenge on the United States. "The construction in Bushehr is not an ideological act," Pikayev said. "It's a commercial activity." Minatom announced in July a 10-year, $10 billion plan to build five more reactors on the eastern banks of the Persian Gulf, drawing scathing criticism from Abraham. Alexander Rumyantsev, Minatom's head, has repeatedly issued assurances that the project poses no risks for nuclear weapons proliferation and that it "fully corresponds to all requirements of the international law and Russia's international obligations." "We have agreed with Iran that all spent nuclear fuel (from the Bushehr plant) would be returned to Russia, and this means Russia will fulfill its obligations concerning nuclear nonproliferation," Rumyantsev told the Russian NTV channel in June. Yet Mitrokhin and others question whether Putin -- confronted by severe economic problems -- has the means or will to monitor whether Iran lives up to its agreement. "The Kremlin controls Minatom much less than Minatom controls the Kremlin," Mitrokhin said. "Minatom acts like a powerful lobbying structure and has no opponents in the Kremlin, and the president is obviously under (its) influence. " AGENCY NOT ALL BAD Minatom has its defenders as well as critics. Alexander Pikayev, an arms control expert at the Moscow office of the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for Peace, and other analysts argue that the secretive agency actually deserves credit for helping prevent the uncontrolled proliferation of nuclear weapons around the globe amid the chaos that followed the Soviet collapse in 1991. Citing the ministry's Soviet-style management and penchant for the clandestine, Pikayev said, "Had it not been for Minatom, (Russian) nuclear scientists would have been selling nuclear bombs all over the place in the early 1990s." Others say that its style has no place in the kind of open government system that Russia is trying to build. In July, a group of legislators, including Mitrokhin, approached Putin with a proposal for sweeping changes in the structure of the colossal ministry, including a plan to subjugate Minatom to three other government bodies and strip it of the secrecy that surrounds its civilian activities. According to a report by Bellona, an environmental group in Norway, Putin has ordered his staff to gather experts for an official meeting on the topic. And at a meeting recently with parliament leaders, Putin said that he was "worried" by some of Minatom's activities, said Mitrokhin. He added that Putin did not elaborate. Because of the classified nature of Minatom's operations, even parliament does not know how much of the money the agency receives from Iran makes it into government coffers, Mitrokhin said. The Russian scientist who has spent time at the Iran site leveled another explosive charge at Minatom officials -- accusing the ministry of embezzling vast sums of money through money-laundering schemes, covert transfers and illegal transactions. When asked to elaborate, the scientist refused. "Why would I do that?" he said. "I don't want to lose my cut of the pie." He confirmed, however, a report that Minatom had billed Iran at four times the going rate after it purchased ventilation systems for the Bushehr reactor from a Czech company. Maxim Shingarkin, an expert at the Moscow office of Greenpeace who monitors Russia's nuclear projects, said "millions" of dollars were pocketed by Minatom officials as a result of the scheme. "I know how it works," said Shingarkin, a former major in the Russian military's secretive 12th Department, which is in charge of strategic weapons. "I was part of the system myself." The work in Bushehr is not the only source of allegations about corruption among ministry officials. In January, Russia's Accounting Chamber (the equivalent of the U.S. General Accounting Office) issued a report charging that $270 million in U.S. and European aid, intended to clean up and build safe storage facilities for Russia's radioactive waste, had disappeared. The aid was delivered to Minatom so that former Soviet stockpiles of nuclear materials would not fall into the wrong hands. But the Accounting Chamber reported that the ministry had diverted the money to obscure research projects and had provided no accounting of how it had been spent. A Minatom spokesman said last week that the ministry needed up to 45 days to answer any questions regarding the money. Shingarkin charged the funds were either stolen by Minatom officials or diverted to projects more lucrative than improving the security of Russia's nuclear facilities. Although 40 percent of Russia's nuclear storage sites have received U.S. assistance to upgrade security, new security systems have been installed in only 20 percent of facilities. Shingarkin and other whistle- blowers blame this on embezzlement and red tape within Minatom. To attract attention to the problem, Shingarkin and Mitrokhin earlier this year easily broke into two high-security sites where Minatom stores spent nuclear fuel and radioactive materials. Shingarkin said they climbed through gaps in metal fences and got close enough to be able to steal enough mildly radioactive waste to make a "dirty bomb" but did not encounter any guards along the way. "There is no question that . . . terrorists, if they so desire, can easily reach places where Russian plutonium is stored," Mitrokhin said. ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.   Page A - 1 ***************************************************************** 20 Russian work on nuclear plant in Iran enters key stage, official says September 01, 2002 AP World Politics MOSCOW - Some 600 Russian specialists began work Sunday on a key phase of the dlrs 800 million project to build a nuclear reactor in Iran, a deal that has drawn strong U.S. criticism. "We have reached the stage of assembling our reactor and the turbine," Viktor Kozlov, managing director of Atomstroiexport company was quoted as telling ITAR-Tass news agency. Washington has expressed concern that the planned 1,000 megawatt reactor in Bushehr will help advance Iran's weapons program. But Russia has insisted that the nuclear plant would serve purely civilian purposes and remain under international supervision. Kozlov told ITAR-Tass that as construction of the nuclear plant in Iran enters its final stage "the number of Russian specialists will rise and will reach 2,000 people by year-end," he said. Despite a new, friendlier relationship with Washington, Moscow has continued to pursue close ties with Iran, Iraq and North Korea the three countries labeled an "axis of evil" by U.S. President George W. Bush because of their attempts to obtain weapons of mass destruction. The Kremlin has floated preliminary plans to help Iran build another five nuclear reactors over the next 10 years. Moscow is also discussing a long-term economic cooperation program which Baghdad that Iraqi officials say is worth dlrs 40 billion. The Kremlin, however, has downplayed the program and insisted that it would not violate U.N. sanctions. Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il visited Russia for the second consecutive summer and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss economic ties. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 21 UK: Blair set to put nuclear power back on line Times Online British News September 02, 2002 By Philip Webster, Political Editor and Mark Henderson TONY BLAIR is edging towards a decision to back a new generation of nuclear power stations in a policy shift that would outrage environmental groups and many on the Left. The Prime Minister is under mounting pressure from ministers, advisers and industry to reverse Labour’s traditional caution on nuclear power and approve the building of at least three new stations, almost certainly on existing sites, before the end of the year. Ministers are also telling him that the severe funding problems of British Energy, the commercial nuclear generator, will have to be eased to prevent a new Railtrack-style crisis and to maintain confidence in the nuclear power industry. Mr Blair is being advised that, unless the Government sanctions new stations now, lengthy planning and building procedures mean that security of electricity supply at reasonable prices cannot be guaranteed from about 2010, when most of the old Magnox stations will have been shut. Government figures suggest that Britain might need to import 90 per cent of its gas needs by 2020. Recent government reviews have dodged the sensitive nuclear power issue, declaring merely that the nuclear option should be kept open. But in outspoken remarks to The Times yesterday, Brian Wilson, the Energy Minister, said that such a stance would no longer do without a firm commitment to the industry. “There comes a point at which a formulation about keeping an option open actually becomes a formula for closing it down,” he said. A decision to build more nuclear stations would produce an outcry from environmental groups and the Left, but Mr Blair is being told that Labour must “bite the bullet” now if it is to prevent the death of the nuclear industry. Sizewell in Suffolk, Hunterston in Ayrshire and Hinckley in Somerset are the most likely locations for new stations. Ministers believe that choosing existing sites will limit local objections because people are accustomed to them and because employment in the area is dependent on them. A key figure behind the expected shift in government policy is David King, Mr Blair’s chief scientific adviser. Previously a sceptic on conventional nuclear power, Professor King now believes that the option needs reviving if Britain is to combat global warming. He has said that the country’s dependence on fossil fuels would be unchanged unless there were new nuclear stations at least to replace the existing ones. Nuclear stations produce 22 per cent of Britain’s electricity, but by 2020 virtually all of Britain’s nuclear generating capacity will have gone. Professor King has concluded that renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and wave power, would not be able to bridge the gap in 20 years’ time. Key decisions will be made over the next three months as the Government completes its review of energy policy, based partly on a report from the Cabinet Office performance and innovation unit. Ministers were surprised by the lack of opposition to nuclear power voiced during a Commons debate in June. Tam Dalyell, MP for Linlithgow, said yesterday that a “sea change” had taken place. Senior figures from the nuclear industry are telling the Government that the review, which will be completed by a Cabinet committee in the autumn, must be the point at which new stations are authorised. There will be a White Paper at the turn of the year. But it will also be the forum in which the present difficulties of British Energy will have to be addressed. “We will not get private companies coming forward to invest in the nuclear industry unless it is profitable,” a ministerial source said. “British Energy is in trouble through little fault of its own.” The troubles stem from the wholesale price of electricity having fallem below the point at which British Energy can produce economically. The Department for Trade and Industry is looking for a mechanism to raise the price it is paid or to cut its costs. Ministers say it is unfair that the industry faces the climate change levy because nuclear power does not produce carbon emissions. Its impact will almost certainly be eased as a result of the review. In the short term there will also be a renegotiation of links with British Nuclear Fuels to cut costs. In a further signal to the nuclear industry, the Government is legislating to relieve British Nuclear Fuels Ltd, which is state-owned, of liabilities from its costs of dealing with inherited nuclear waste so it can become profitable and attract private sector investment. Once the short-term problems of British Energy have been tackled, ministers and advisers believe that the Cabinet will see the advantage of a renaissance for nuclear power. The Royal Academy of Engineering says that it takes so long to build nuclear power stations that they needed to be commissioned soon to be on stream in time to prevent shortages. Skilled people were retiring so rapidly from the industry that Britain would soon be reliant on the nuclear expertise of other countries. Roger Higman of Friends of the Earth said that any decision to build new nuclear plants would be a disgrace, particularly given British Energy’s recent troubles. “Our reaction would be one of horror that ministers and a chief scientific adviser could still be contemplating this, when the British nuclear industry is so unpopular and so uneconomical.” Copyright 2002 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 22 Feds missed chance to catch rust hole at Ohio nuclear plant The Plain Dealer Ohio News 08/30/02 John Mangels and John Funk Plain Dealer reporters When Davis-Besse nuclear plant workers and managers unwittingly let acid from leaking reactor coolant completely rot two nuts holding a key valve in 1998, the penalty could have stung. The corrosion, which percolated unnoticed for four months, violated a pair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's basic operating rules and could have threatened the plant's safe operation, an investigation by the agency found. The NRC determined that the lapses warranted a $55,000 fine. But the regulators decided to give FirstEnergy Corp.'s nuclear division a break. The "effective" and "comprehensive" actions that Davis-Besse managers took to stop the acid leak and correct the cause of the damage earned them a pass on the punishment, the NRC ruled. Actually, though, the nuclear plant's supposed leak repairs and the improvements it promised in its anti-corrosion program were anything but effective or comprehensive, Davis-Besse's owner now acknowledges. At the same time the NRC was lauding Davis-Besse's newfound corrosion vigilance, plant personnel were ignoring numerous warnings that something much larger than a couple of fasteners was rusting away inside the containment building. These included boric acid residue on equipment throughout the reactor containment building. And they even included clumps of dried acid on the reactor's lid. The 1998 incident was a harbinger of a much more serious event that finally came to light this March - an unprecedented hole the size of a hefty paperback book all the way through the reactor's thick metal lid, the result of another long-undetected acid leak. Only a slim steel liner, bulging from the reactor's high-pressure coolant, prevented a major nuclear accident. The plant remains closed as major repairs and investigations continue. Had the NRC probed deeper four years ago rather than waiving Davis-Besse's fine and closing the case, some critics say, it might have headed off the extensive reactor lid corrosion and a brush with disaster. Once the agency is satisfied that a reactor operator has proposed proper remedies and begun the fixes, "we may not necessarily do a follow-up inspection" to determine how well the corrections are carried out, said NRC spokesman Jan Strasma. "In the best of all worlds, yes, we'd want to do that. Hindsight says it would have been nice to pursue it further," Strasma said, but the agency's limited inspection resources and pressing problems at other plants limited what more it could do at Davis-Besse. The RC-2 event, as the 1998 valve incident has come to be called, "was an opportunity for the NRC to probe a little deeper and see a serious problem," said nuclear engineer David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a watchdog group that is closely following the Davis-Besse affair. "Had they done it, there's no guarantee it would have led to the discovery of the hole in the reactor's lid. But it's less likely it would have been overlooked." Said U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, "These new reports are troubling and demonstrate the need to continue efforts to ensure that Davis-Besse is safe before it can reopen. I will be asking the NRC inspector general to investigate these latest findings." An NRC task force already is weighing the significance of the RC-2 event as part of a larger review of the agency's oversight of Davis-Besse. The nuclear division of FirstEnergy, operator of the Toledo-area reactor, has documented its own failings in the 1998 event as part of a sharply self-critical analysis of overall plant management problems. The report, as yet unreleased by the NRC or FirstEnergy but obtained by The Plain Dealer, discloses that: The chronic leaks of acidic coolant that caused two of the eight walnut-sized hex nuts holding the reactor's RC-2 valve to disappear happened again several months after the NRC closed its review in August 1999, satisfied that the company had effectively solved the problem. The NRC gave Davis-Besse managers credit for resolving the leaking-valve problem, but FirstEnergy's report says the problem's return in 2000 "indicates the ineffectiveness of previous root cause evaluations and preventive actions." The NRC in its 1999 decision praised Davis-Besse managers for strengthening maintenance workers' training to recognize the harmful effects that leaking coolant could have on metal parts, and for improving corrosion-inspection plans. But the beefed-up training didn't take. Plant personnel allowed the boric acid that had accumulated on the reactor's lid since 1996 because of coolant leaks to remain and actually increase. Workers in April 2000 used crowbars to pry away some of the inch-thick "lavalike" deposits covering the lid. Managers let them leave what they couldn't reach. An estimated 900 pounds of the stuff had built up by early 2002, contrary to company and nuclear industry standards. Beneath this blanket, acid ate away at the lid undetected for at least six years. FirstEnergy now acknowledges that its anti-corrosion training was insufficient, and that plant staff didn't apply the lessons from the valve incident to the acid deposits on the reactor's lid. In the wake of the 1998 incident, Davis-Besse engineers were specifically taught that red or brown acid residue is a sign of rust damage, FirstEnergy's report says. But the training "was less than adequate" in helping personnel recognize that the red and brown on the lid meant corrosion there, too. A photo from the plant's inspection in April 2000 clearly shows long smears of dried acid and rust on the huge steel reactor lid, but no one figured out that there might be damage under way on the 6½-inch-thick dome. Using the lessons from the missing nuts, "we should have recognized this situation" with the corroding reactor lid, FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Schneider said. "We are developing a new boric acid control program which will provide a permanent remedy to problems like this. And we are taking steps to ensure that this program will be implemented correctly." If it had looked more closely at the valve incident, the NRC might also have recognized that the situation was more serious. FirstEnergy's new report shows that: Davis-Besse workers in 1998 reported "a lack of comprehensive actions" by management to fix the valve. Its leaks were repeatedly documented in 20 repair orders spanning 22 years. Managers in November of that year ordered an in-depth review, called a "root cause analysis," but only after workers had filed six reports in five months warning that the leaky valve might threaten plant performance. Davis-Besse's quality assurance manager looked into the matter and reported in January 1999 that the initial response, corrective actions and management attention given to the leaky valve were "inadequate." When one group couldn't solve the problem, said the 1999 report, "no other organization(s) stepped up" to help. And when managers gave assignments, "there was confusion among organizations as to what responsibilities they had incurred." Still, the NRC concluded seven months later that the plant deserved credit for its corrective work and its recent violation-free record. Plant personnel had "a much greater sensitivity to the effects of [acid corrosion] on plant equipment," the NRC said at the time. The agency also praised workers for checking more than 500 other bolts on reactor equipment to ensure that they were stainless steel, and for finally fixing the leaky RC-2 valve. This time around, FirstEnergy promises that the corrections it is making will be better and more thorough than those it attempted after the RC-2 event. Davis-Besse's workers will be more focused on safety, and the plant's all-new management will look at the big picture rather than viewing malfunctions as isolated events. And the problematic RC-2 valve, as well as many others, will be replaced before the reactor is restarted, Schneider said. The NRC's oversight also is shaping up to be far more thorough this time. There are five ongoing reviews that will have an impact on when the agency allows FirstEnergy's idled power plant to rumble back to life. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842 jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. ***************************************************************** 23 UK: Nuclear power set for a comeback Times Online September 02, 2002 THE Prime Minister is under pressure from his ministers, advisers and industry to approve at least three new nuclear power stations. They would almost certainly be built on existing sites, and approved before the end of the year. The policy shift that would outrage environmental groups and many on the Left. Mr Blair is being advised that unless the Government sanctions new stations now, security of electricity supply at reasonable prices cannot be guaranteed from about 2010, when most of the old Magnox stations will have gone out of existence. Government figures suggest that Britain might need to import 90 per cent of its gas needs by 2020. Recent government reviews have dodged the nuclear power issue, but yesterday Brian Wilson, the Energy Minister, said that such a stance would no longer do without a firm commitment to the industry. Copyright 2002 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 24 State moves in after breach at Koeberg Edward West September 01 2002 at 08:47AM South Africa: Business Report http://www.busrep.co.za Cape Town - Accusations and counterclaims became the order of the day between authorities as they began digesting the safety implications of the Greenpeace protest on the roof of the Koeberg nuclear plant last week. Ebrahim Rassool, business promotion and tourism minister and ANC leader in the Western Cape, said the provincial government was "a little concerned" about the ability of the protesters "to come so close". Concerns about safety at the plant had caused Rassool and the premier to visit. But the events had to be seen in the context that Eskom had been forewarned. Karin de Villiers, the spokesperson for Koeberg, said the protesters had come off lightly as the station manager had been warned about the action and the security personnel had decided not to create "an international incident". Koeberg's surveillance facilities had monitored the Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, and the launch of rubberducks. Koeberg was satisfied with its safety procedures and no additional security measures would be implemented, apart from what had already been planned prior to the incident. However, Koeberg's story does not exactly tally with that of Greenpeace. Mike Townsley, the spokesperson for Greenpeace said: "If there were armed guards on the roof while we were climbing the wall they must have been bloody well hidden because we didn't see them. They are just trying to cover up the breach of security." Greenpeace had a number of concerns about Koeberg, notwithstanding the fact it believed the plant should be shut down entirely. These related to the lack of a waste removal policy, the risk of accidents, nuclear proliferation policies and the fact that nuclear energy was diverting funding from other renewable energy sources. Townsley slammed the controversial plan to build the pebble bed modular reactor at Koeberg, saying there was no way it could be commercially viable because there was no policy on the waste and US company Exelon had pulled out. The provincial government said it had been holding meetings with Koeberg and Eskom to address safety issues. Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk issued a statement expressing concerns with the storage of high-level nuclear waste at Koeberg, the emergency planning zones around it and urban creep into these zones. It raised questions relating to evacuation procedures and to the "late-phase planning" dealing with the environmental impacts of a nuclear disaster. De Villiers said both Koeberg and the nuclear regulatory body had approved low-density urbanisation within the 16km safety zone around Koeberg and more development could take place. ***************************************************************** 25 Russia begins work on Iranian reactor BBC NEWS | Middle East | Sunday, 1 September, 2002, 12:19 GMT 13:19 UK [President Khatami and President Putin] The US is unnerved by Iran's friendliness with Russia Russian technicians have begun assembling heavy equipment due to form part of the first reactor at a nuclear power plant in Iran. Russia is going ahead with the $800m project - at the port of Bushehr - despite strong objections from the United States, which says it is concerned that Iran intends to develop weapons-grade plutonium there. [Map of Iran showing Tehran and Bushehr] The plant is scheduled to begin operating in June 2004 with the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor set for December 2003, Russia's atomic energy ministry said. That represents a delay from the September 2003 start date originally promised by the Russian firm who took on the project which was started by a German firm in 1972 but abandoned after the Iranian revolution in 1979. The main shell of the water-cooled nuclear reactor, built in St Petersburg, was delivered to Iran last November. Viktor Kozlov, director general of Atomstroyexport which is building the reactor, said there were now 600 Russian experts in Iran, and the number would increase to about 2,000 by the end of the year. "They will be joined by their families and will live in a special village that has been set up for them near the site of the plant," he said. Warming ties The nuclear project has been the result of warming ties between the two countries which have also seen Iranian President Mohammed Khatami travel to Moscow for friendly talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The relationship has unnerved the US which had said the building of the Bushehr reactor was an issue of "great concern". US President George W Bush has named Iran, alongside Iraq and North Korea, as part of an "axis of evil" which he claims is seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction. Russian officials, however, have insisted that its nuclear co-operation programme with Iran is transparent, legitimate and in line with Russia's commitments under the non-proliferation treaty. ***************************************************************** 26 Russia begins work on Iran nuke plant United Press International: Published 9/1/2002 8:55 AM MOSCOW, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Russia Sunday began work on a critical phase of an Iranian nuclear plant project strongly opposed by the Bush administration. "All equipment, provided for by a contract with the Iranian side, was manufactured by Russian factories and successfully brought by sea from St. Petersburg to Iranian Gulf ports," Viktor Kozlov, managing director of Atomstroiexport, told Russia' ITAR-TASS news agency. He said the scientists would work on assembling the reactor and the turbine. The United States has said the 1,000-megawatt reactor in Bushehr could help advance Tehran's nuclear program, but Russia maintains the plant will be under international supervision and serve civilian purposes alone. Kozlov said at present there were 600 Russian specialists working on the facility in Iran and that number was expected to grow to 2,000 by the end of the year. "In connection with the fact that we have started assembling heavy equipment and enter the final stage of work on building the first unit, the number of Russia specialists will rise and will reach 2,000 people by the year-end," he said. President George W. Bush regards Iran as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea. Russian cooperation with Tehran goes beyond the construction of nuclear power plants and includes Russian assistance to Tehran in exploring new oil fields, the launching of space satellites and joint production of passenger aircraft. Copyright © 2002 United Press International Copyright © 2002 United Press International. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 NRC establishes restricted zones Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter - Posted Aug. 30, 2002 TWO RIVERS -- To meet new regulations from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Kewaunee and Point Beach nuclear plants have received permission from the federal government to establish restricted zones in Lake Michigan. Buoys marking the restricted areas are being placed in the lake this week. "It's an unfortunate result of the new environment in which we live," said Fred Cayia, a Kewaunee/Point Beach site vice president. "There have been no threats against the plants and we feel very confident in our security. These new restricted zones are another enhancement to the security measures that have been in place since, and prior to, Sept. 11." The restricted zones extend an average of 250 yards into Lake Michigan and about 250 yards north and south of each plant. Cayia said the buoys would help boaters by clearly marking the restricted area. The adjacent beaches are also off limits, and signs will be posted indicating the location of the restricted zones. Violating the restricted zone can result in fines up to $10,000, and imprisonment up to 10 years. The new security regulations have also resulted in the closure of the public fishing piers at both plants. [http://www.wisinfo.com/heraldtimes ***************************************************************** 28 Russia begins work on Iranian reactor BBC NEWS | Middle East | Sunday, 1 September, 2002, 12:19 GMT 13:19 UK [President Khatami and President Putin] The US is unnerved by Iran's friendliness with Russia Russian technicians have begun assembling heavy equipment due to form part of the first reactor at a nuclear power plant in Iran. Russia is going ahead with the $800m project - at the port of Bushehr - despite strong objections from the United States, which says it is concerned that Iran intends to develop weapons-grade plutonium there. [Map of Iran showing Tehran and Bushehr] The plant is scheduled to begin operating in June 2004 with the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor set for December 2003, Russia's atomic energy ministry said. That represents a delay from the September 2003 start date originally promised by the Russian firm who took on the project which was started by a German firm in 1972 but abandoned after the Iranian revolution in 1979. The main shell of the water-cooled nuclear reactor, built in St Petersburg, was delivered to Iran last November. Viktor Kozlov, director general of Atomstroyexport which is building the reactor, said there were now 600 Russian experts in Iran, and the number would increase to about 2,000 by the end of the year. "They will be joined by their families and will live in a special village that has been set up for them near the site of the plant," he said. Warming ties The nuclear project has been the result of warming ties between the two countries which have also seen Iranian President Mohammed Khatami travel to Moscow for friendly talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The relationship has unnerved the US which had said the building of the Bushehr reactor was an issue of "great concern". US President George W Bush has named Iran, alongside Iraq and North Korea, as part of an "axis of evil" which he claims is seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction. Russian officials, however, have insisted that its nuclear co-operation programme with Iran is transparent, legitimate and in line with Russia's commitments under the non-proliferation treaty. ***************************************************************** 29 Anti-radiation pills to be distributed at TMI festival Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Health, Science and Environment Saturday, August 31, 2002 By The Associated Press HARRISBURG -- A watchdog group that monitors Three Mile Island, the site of the nation's worst commercial nuclear accident, is planning to hand out anti-radiation pills to patrons of a Labor Day weekend festival in Harrisburg. The free distribution of potassium iodide pills by Three Mile Island Alert is intended to supplement the state's recent efforts to provide them to people who live or work near Pennsylvania's five nuclear plants, said Eric Epstein, the organization's chairman. Three Mile Island is on the Susquehanna River, about 10 miles south of Harrisburg. "We have been overwhelmed with requests to provide potassium iodide," Epstein said. "We think there needs to be a second round of distribution." The tablets, which are to be taken only upon instruction by the governor, protect the thyroid gland against cancer in the event of a nuclear accident. The state Health Department distributed more than 400,000 of its 2 million pills to people who live or work within 10 miles of all nuclear plants during a weeklong period earlier this month. TMI Alert was formed in 1977, two years before an accident in which the core of one of the plant's reactors partially melted. Potassium iodide was stockpiled at evacuation sites, but was not distributed during the 1979 accident. Copyright ©1997-2002 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 UK: Nuclear safety report 'covered up' by officials Sunday Herald By Stephen Naysmith [stephen.naysmith@sundayherald.com] , Science Correspondent A NUCLEAR consultant who wrote an analysis of the vulnerability of Britain's nuclear power industry to terrorist attack is demanding an inquiry after his findings were secretly circulated to government departments and branded a security risk. The paper, The Implications Of September 11th For The Nuclear Industry, by independent nuclear engineer and consultant Dr John Large, was rejected for publication by a journal of the Institute of Mech anical Engineering (IMechE). But the letter that informed him of the decision revealed that his paper had been forwarded, without his approval, to the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS). Large's subsequent inquiries and a request for files under the Data Protection Act revealed that the study had also been passed to the chief inspector at the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). The eight-page document had become the subject of more than 130 pages of e-mails and other correspondence. Among them were memos stating that the journal had been advised by the NII not to publish the paper but instead to explain to Large that it was 'out of scope'. One e-mail, from an NII official, said: 'As a matter of policy we wouldn't want to comment on these matters and we should discourage others from doing so in public.' Along with e-mails and other correspondence about the submission, Large found memos that were critical of him, others that suggested publishing the study might be harmful to national security, and notes that indicated he was to be kept in the dark about the scrutiny his paper was receiving. The president of IMechE, John McDougall, has now launched an independent inquiry into the row, while Large has threatened to resign from the professional body over the affair. A highly experienced nuclear scientist, who oversaw the raising of the Russian submarine Kursk from the Barents Sea, Large is a fellow of the institute and has been a member for nearly 40 years. As is normal practice for scientific journals, Large's paper had been sent by IMechE to a small number of referees to give their opinion about its suitability for publication. On this occasion at least one referee also sent the paper to OCNS and other security ex perts, apparently concerned it might be useful to terrorists. Large said all the facts in his paper were already in the public domain, and could be of no assistance to terrorists. He added: 'I toned down my paper for publication to make sure it could not be of use to terrorists. The issues I raised are well-known by the nuclear industry and the government and it was time the public knew the generalities as well.' The paper revealed the risks of a terrorist strike at several installations in Scotland, in cluding Dounreay in Caithness, the nearby Vulcan submarine reactor testing facility and the Hunterston, Torness and Chapelcross power stations. 'The risk is not to their reactors, which are well-protected, but their fuel stores which are largely unprotected and are virtually in tin sheds,' said Large. He said it was disturbing that the institute was collaborating with government departments to silence debate on a major issue of concern. 'I hadn't had great expectations of my paper being published,' he said, 'but when I received the file it was clear that other factors were involved. 'These amateurish spooks from the NII, Department of Trade and Industry and OCNS should sit down and take heed of what people with experience in this field say, rather than jumping on people who make any comment. 'If our nuclear industry is vulnerable to terrorist attack then we, the engineers who created the nuclear plants, should first admit to it, then thoroughly and openly discuss it to identify the weaknesses and then set about fulfilling our duty so that these weaknesses might be remedied and not replicated in future designs.' Large is also furious that the institute's staff colluded to conceal the attention his analysis had received. One hand-written memo in the file records actions to be taken following a meeting, including: 'To let everyone know that the author is not to be made aware of investigation'. A further e-mail from a senior editor at the journal's publishing house clarified the position: 'This means to say that, should the author, J H Large contact us about his paper for any reason he should be told the paper is under review and nothing more.' In a letter of formal complaint to IMechE, Large wrote: 'I am very disturbed that the institution would see fit to instruct its staff to participate in what was clearly a measure to deceive.' A spokeswoman for IMechE said Large's comment was now under internal investigation and she could not comment further. A spokesman for the DTI confirmed that OCNS had received the paper from IMechE and said it had now 'been destroyed'. He added: 'There is no suggestion that the DTI in any way puts pressure on any individuals or organisations to send us reports of this nature.' forums [http://www.thesundayherald.com] - reports ©2002 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088. all rights reserved. contact ***************************************************************** 31 Sick nuclear workers unhappy with federal plan Las Vegas SUN: August 31, 2002 By NANCY ZUCKERBROD ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Sick nuclear weapons workers say a new federal program aimed at compensating them for on-the-job exposure to toxic substances will leave many without the help they need, and they want Congress to do something about it. Under the program, the Energy Department will reverse a decades-old policy and help people who worked for contractors at government weapons plants file for assistance under the nation's state worker compensation programs. Workers exposed to toxic substances, such as asbestos and harsh chemicals, were not included in a year-old program in which the government agreed to compensate nuclear workers sickened by cancer-causing radiation or silica and beryllium, which cause lung problems. The Energy Department plans to tell contractors not to oppose claims if government-appointed medical panels determine people got sick while working at DOE nuclear facilities. The agency will reimburse contractors who pay the compensation and will no longer reimburse them for fighting the claims. Historically, the workers have had trouble getting help through state worker compensation, in part because contractors have put on vigorous defenses. But circumstances at roughly half the nation's nuclear facilities could still make it extremely difficult for the Cold War-era workers to get help. The Energy Department currently has no authority to pay the claims outright, since the workers were not technically federal employees. And problems exist at sites where no contractors are left or where contractors are not self-insured but have bought worker compensation insurance from a private company. The Energy Department has no contractual relationship with the private insurers and cannot instruct them to pay the claims. Similarly, if contractors get worker compensation insurance by paying into state-run insurance funds, the Energy Department has no authority to instruct the state funds to pay compensation claims. That's a problem in Nevada, Ohio and Washington - all states with Energy Department plants. Labor advocates say it is wrong for workers who built the nation's bombs across the country to be treated differently from one another. Nuclear worker Rod Cook, who believes he was exposed to asbestos at the government's uranium plant in Paducah, Ky., says he doesn't think he should have to go without compensation just because there is no government contractor left there. USEC Inc. leases the western Kentucky plant from the Energy Department to produce nuclear fuel for commercial use. But since it isn't a government contractor, the Energy Department cannot tell the company to pay the claims. Cook says he used cloth woven with asbestos to prevent getting burned by hot pipes at the plant in the 1970s, and he says crews removed insulation from his work area - allowing the fibrous dust to settle all around him. "At the time you never thought about it being asbestos," he said. Today he thinks about it often. Doctors recently removed part of Cook's lung and 7 feet of tissue around his chest cavity due to asbestos exposure. "When I hired in, I told them I'd give them 40 hours of work for 40 hours of pay. I didn't tell them I'd give them part of my lung," he said. "Somehow, I'd like to be compensated by somebody." Labor advocates are lobbying Congress to solve the problem by requiring the federal government to pay the claims directly, guaranteeing all nuclear workers exposed to toxic substances will receive compensation if doctors' panels determine their jobs made them sick. The program that compensates people sickened by radiation, silica or beryllium is an example of such an entitlement program. It provides medical care and $150,000 to those who qualify. It's not fair that people exposed to toxic chemicals and other dangerous substances were left out, said Janet Michel, who worked at the now-shuttered uranium facility at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., nuclear facility. "If you have found your illness is caused by your work place, then you shouldn't be treated any differently than someone who was exposed to beryllium or silica," said Michel, who suffers from numerous ailments and who says she has tested positive for cyanide, mercury and nickel exposure. Government officials expect workers at Oak Ridge to generally fare better under the new Energy Department program than those at some of the agency's other facilities. The Oak Ridge contractors are self-insured. In addition, their agreements with the government state that they will process claims against former site contractors. Similar circumstances are expected to benefit workers at the Savannah River facility near Aiken, S.C., and Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas. Republican Rep. Ed Whitfield, whose district includes the Paducah uranium plant, says he hopes he can convince his colleagues that the inconsistencies need to be resolved. But he acknowledged getting an entitlement through Congress will be difficult because of the cost, which has not yet been tallied. The Energy Department has said the potential cost of its new program to help workers secure state worker compensation is roughly $130 million. More than 12,000 people have already filed for help under the program, which is just getting started. Whitfield says a federal entitlement program would be limited and would help people who were doing the government's work. "It is not an entitlement program that would go on forever. We have a limited pool of people," Whitfield said. "It's only right that the federal government step up to the plate." --- On the Net: Energy Department: http://www.energy.gov/ [http://www.energy.gov/] -- All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 Nuke plants still searching for ways to store waste Las Vegas SUN: Photo: Prairie Island plant August 30, 2002 By Benjamin Grove < [grove@lasvegassun.com] > RED WING, Minn. -- A decade ago, Prairie Island nuclear plant operators here were running out of space in the 41-foot deep pool they use to store highly radioactive waste. And it was increasingly clear the federal government would not keep its promise to begin hauling waste away to Nevada's Yucca Mountain by 1998. None of the nation's nuclear plant waste pools were designed to store the material long-term. So plant operators at Prairie Island turned to a solution adopted at other plants: 17-foot-tall steel "dry cask" waste containers. "We were facing quite a logjam at that point," said Scott Wilensky, spokesman for Xcel Energy Co., which owns the plant. "It was becoming a very serious situation." The company decided to build waste containers on a concrete pad a quarter-mile from the plant and won regulatory approval to build 48 so-called "dry casks." Construction on the project began promptly. But then the plan hit a snag. Nobody had asked for the Minnesota Legislature's permission. Political and court battles erupted, with the Legislature winning the final right to determine the fate of the waste. After an emotional debate that enveloped the issue -- during which a bill sponsor received a death threat -- the Legislature decided to allow 17 casks. Now more controversy looms at Prairie Island because the 17 waste containers are full, and plant managers are scrambling to avoid closure in 2007. There is no more room for waste. "I'm hopeful that we'll be able to keep the plant running, but the fact is, we just don't know," Xcel spokesman Wilensky said. Over the years, the politically charged, often emotional debate about the fate of America's high-level nuclear waste has played out not just in Nevada and in Congress, but on local, state and tribal levels, too. As scientists studied -- and politicians debated -- Yucca Mountain during the last 20 years, nuclear plants all over the nation have searched for somewhere to dump their waste. Prairie Island's struggle is a dilemma shared by the nation's 72 commercial nuclear power plants. The Minnesota plan illustrates the commercial nuclear waste problem in America -- 103 nuclear reactors producing 20 percent of the nation's energy each year, along with 2,000 metric tons of nuclear waste that no one wants. Nuclear plant waste is actually bundles, or "assemblies" of 12-foot metal rods filled with solid, half-inch-long uranium dioxide pellets. The rods are placed in a reactor where a nuclear reaction is triggered. The intense heat produced generates steam and, ultimately, electricity. The uranium rods are efficient for about 4 1/2 years and are then said to be "spent." The spent fuel, which is still highly radioactive, is then removed and put in a giant waste pool made of concrete, lined with steel. Water in the 60-by-20-foot pool at Prairie Island cools the waste and keeps radioactivity from escaping into the air. The 29-year-old Prairie Island plant's two reactors produce 1,150 megawatts of electricity, enough to power homes for about 1.5 million people in Minnesota and neighboring states. The plant also has produced 630 tons of waste. Nuclear plants were not designed to store that much waste because in the early days of commercial nuclear power beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, plant operators believed the United States would "reprocess" spent fuel. But President Carter banned fuel recycling in the late 1970s because the process separates out plutonium that Carter worried could fall into enemy hands. By 1982, Congress adopted a new plan -- to bury the nation's waste. Lawmakers and the Energy Department set out to find a permanent geological repository. As Nevadans well know, the department, President Bush and Congress this year officially chose Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as that spot. Waste could be shipped to Yucca from all over the nation as early as 2010, pending Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval. Officials at plants nationwide cheered the Yucca approvals, but at Prairie Island the celebration was short-lived. In July, plant officials filled the last of the 17 waste containers, freeing up enough room in the waste pool for five more years worth of spent fuel. By 2007 the plant could become the first in the nation to close because it has nowhere to put waste. Xcel officials are pursuing several avenues to keep the plant open, but no one is laying odds that any of the strategies will work. "It's a very difficult question to guess at," Xcel's Wilensky said of the plant's future. Company campaign To be sure, plant officials are fighting to prevent plant closure, and they have several plans in motion to keep the plant operating beyond 2007. One strategy may be lobbying state lawmakers next year for more waste containers. "A number of state lawmakers have said publicly this plant is too important to shut down," said Scott Northard, site engineering director for Nuclear Management Co., the company that runs the plant. "We continue to evaluate all the options for spent fuel storage both here and off-site." Several lawmakers already have introduced bills that allow for more dry casks. State Sen. Mark Ourada said the legislation has a good chance of passing next year. The measure is likely to draw controversy, but not like in 1994, he said. "No. 1, it's been done now. You have the site there and it's been used very safely," Ourada said. "No. 2, Congress finally moved ahead and Yucca Mountain seems much more of a reality." Plant officials say their best strategy for saving the plant may hinge on the controversial proposal by the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians in Utah to construct a temporary waste storage area on tribal land. A group of eight nuclear utilities called Private Fuel Storage LLC, led by Prairie Island owner Xcel, has been working with the 112-member tribe and aims to ship waste from its plants to the site by 2005. The project is opposed by many in Utah, including its senators and governor. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is taking a close look at the proposal and could rule on a license for the site by the end of this year. "We're optimistic that all the work we've done on PFS will result in a license to build and operate the (Goshute) facility," Northard said. Company officials, along with others in the nuclear industry, also are said to be quietly mulling an option sure to draw fire from Nevada officials: lobbying Congress to again consider an interim storage site near Yucca. Congress in 1999 rejected a temporary storage site near Yucca. But if the Goshute option doesn't pan out, Xcel officials and those at other plants may consider asking lawmakers again to allow for a temporary site near Yucca where waste could be shipped until the permanent Yucca facility is open, insiders say. It may be too controversial to pursue, Xcel's Wilensky said. But an interim storage site clearly "makes sense," Wilensky said. In a final strategy, Prairie Island is leaning on the Energy Department in the form of a lawsuit. Department officials can't do much to help the plant with its most immediate race to find waste space by 2007 -- but it can do a lot to ease the company's future pain and suffering. Xcel has sued the department -- U.S. taxpayers -- for roughly $1 billion for breaking its contract to begin removing waste by January 1998. That damage estimate is based on the assumption that the plant would be forced to close and lose future profits. The lawsuit is tied up in court and it is difficult to say when the case will conclude, plant officials say. Dinosaur eggs Like the nation's other plants, Prairie Island has not offered media tours since Sept. 11, and waste pool tours were mostly off-limits even before the attacks. But last month Prairie Island did allow a Sun reporter an up-close look at the 17 waste containers at its outdoor "Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation." The tour was given under the escort of two armed plant security officers, one clad in SWAT gear and toting a machine gun. The 122-ton white containers, which a local Associated Press writer once likened to giant dinosaur eggs, are huddled in the middle of the concrete pad designed for nearly three times their number. The pad is rimmed by two chain-link fences topped with razor wire, as well as strategically spaced boulders, which plant officials jokingly call "BDRs" -- big damn rocks, Nuclear Management Co. spokeswoman Maureen Brown said. The entire enclave is surrounded by a 30-foot mound of earth, obscuring it from any view. The facility wasn't cheap -- it cost roughly $30 million to $35 million, Northard said. Ratepayers who pay for the plant's electricity picked up the tab -- the same ratepayers, plant officials note -- who have paid more than $400 million into a federal fund for Yucca Mountain during the last 19 years. NIMBY Virtually everyone in this neck of Minnesota has an opinion about Prairie Island's waste. Not surprisingly, most want it gone. The most vocal opponent of the waste -- and the plant -- has been the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Indian community. About 200 tribal members live near the plant, a few as close as 600 yards. The Mdewakanton are among the region's most avid Yucca supporters. The tribe operates a casino near the plant and their leaders scoff at Nevada officials who fear Yucca's economic impact on tourism. The nearby plant hasn't hurt their gaming business, they note. Still, the tribe has been a vocal opponent of the Prairie Island plant since it was constructed, and leaders say plant officials have rarely been straight with them about waste issues. The tribe adamantly opposed the dry cask waste containers. "It's just not a safe place to store waste," tribal treasurer Alan Childs said. Other locals didn't much like the idea of above-ground waste containers, either, said Kay Kuhlman, administrator for the Red Wing town council. But many locals embrace the plant as vital to the community and accepted the casks as the only way for the plant to keep operating, she said. "There were a lot of people locally saying, 'We don't want this stored in our backyard,' " Kuhlman said. "But in the end it's really an economic issue." Prairie Island not only powers the homes of Red Wing residents, it has been a good neighbor, donating $160,000 for a city business park pro- ject and $25,000 for an aquatic center, Kuhlman said. More importantly, the plant employs about 700 workers. And it still accounts for about 42 percent of Red Wing's tax base, although state officials have begun devaluing the plant as it nears a possible 2007 closure, which has reduced tax revenues, Kuhlman said. "They have provided stability for the area and really made a commitment to hire local people," Kulhman said. "These are good jobs." Back in 1994, most Red Wing residents assumed the 17 waste containers would give the plant the storage room it needed until Yucca Mountain opened, Kuhlman said. "Nobody even considered the possibility that (the plant) would go away," she said. Lawmakers certainly didn't, several said. "Everyone walked away from that session thinking, 'We just resolved that issue unless something unforeseen happens,' " said state Sen. Steve Murphy, who works for Xcel and whose support for the waste containers in 1994 prompted an activist to dump a dead raccoon on his driveway. "It's just taken longer than most folks thought it would to open the Yucca Mountain site." Local environmental activists, who have battled the plant on a number of issues, hope the plant's waste storage dilemma will cause its demise. "The waste issue is the lever that we have to guide our decision-makers toward a more responsible energy future," said George Crocker, who led the Prairie Island Coalition in a fight against the dry cask containers. Crocker said while plant workers, along with city and county officials, led an effective campaign to erect the dry casks, many people opposed the temporary waste site. "Throughout the entire state of Minnesota there was adamant and organized opposition," he said. Environmentalists say there is no easy solution to the waste problem at Prairie Island or any other plant. They object to everything: storing waste on-site, shipping waste and burying it at Yucca Mountain. They would prefer that the plants close, and the waste stay where it is until there's a better option. "There's no choice there," Crocker said. "It's not a matter of what I want, or what the environmentalists want, or the Indians want. We are bound by the physical realities that the plant has created." In the near term, Crocker advocates closing Prairie Island and investing in renewable energy sources. "One of the first rules of good management is when you find that you have dug yourself into a hole, stop digging," he said. But what should be done with the waste stored in dry casks and pools? When pressed, Crocker said the concept of a geologic repository "has merit." But Yucca is not a good place for one, he said. Until the nation can find a safe burial site and devise a safe transportation plan, Minnesota is stuck with the radioactive material, Crocker said. "Waste that is sitting in those casks now is destined to stay there for a long time," Crocker said. Hope for plant The battle over waste at Prairie Island will continue, and likely intensify in the next five years. "My gut feeling says that the plant will not close," state Sen. Murphy said, "because it is so important to the economic vitality of the state. Environmentally, nuclear is one of the better energy options we have in this country." Still, opposition is certain. Prairie Island Mdewakanton leaders vow to either fight more casks, or to negotiate for some benefits. The tribe does not receive electricity or property tax benefits from the plant, despite its proximity. Few if any of the tribe's members work at the plant because they feel ostracized, Childs said. "This tribal community has not benefitted one penny from having that plant here," Childs said. Jim Pumarlo, editor of the Red Wing Republican Eagle, has watched controversy swirl around the plant's waste issues for years. He predicted that plant officials would find a way to keep operating. If they fail, he said, "I don't think Red Wing would die, but you would have a real exodus of people." The whole waste predicament has been a vexing one for locals who rely on the plant in a number of ways, Kuhlman said. "It is a frustration among local people with the federal government over what are they going to do with the stuff," Kuhlman said. "Of course, you may see it very differently in Nevada, but the community here is extremely supportive of Yucca Mountain. We think it's the best long-term solution." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 33 Letter: Dangerous Proposal The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, September 1, 2002 I am writing in response to the article "Nuclear Route a Bit Too Close for Comfort?" (Tribune, Aug. 25). More precisely, the quote from Mayor Rocky Anderson citing a Department of Energy study that the DOE expects 31 deaths due to nothing more than transporting this high level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. Did anyone else catch that? We are talking incident-free! Why is the government OK with this? Why are we citizens OK with this? Why are 31 lost lives acceptable? I have a firm belief that every person on this planet, let alone every person in this country, has the right to a life, period. Some might call me a radical by saying that, but it is what I believe. In an era where tragedy equals hundreds dying at a time in plane crashes, automobile pile-ups, floods, earthquakes and terrorist attacks, I feel we must be reminded that one family is stricken with grief for every one death. There is no less grief when a husband, wife, child or grandparent dies alone of cancer or a car accident than there is when a husband, wife or child who dies in a plane crash alongside 250 other individuals. My point is, every individual of those 31 who will die of cancer according the U.S. Department of Energy because of accident-free disposal of high level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain deserves the same amount of protection by the U.S. government as every other individual in this country. Enough is enough. Until our government can guarantee that it is not putting my life, my fiancŽ's life, or any other American's life in danger with this proposal, then it does not have the right to go ahead with it. DAVE ROSE Salt Lake City © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 34 Accidents Are Inevitable The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, September 1, 2002 The Nuclear Energy Institute, the atomic power industry's lobbying and public relations arm, claims that there have been just four accidents involving the transport of highly radioactive waste over more than four decades, and that radiation was not released in any of them. But the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects has documented 72 "incidents," including four with radioactive material contamination beyond the vehicle. The 1996 document, "Reported Incidents Involving Spent Nuclear Fuel Shipments: 1949 to Present," is based on U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and U.S. Department of Energy reports. It lists a leaking train container in 1960 which contaminated three rail yards with radioactivity, a 1962 truck shipment that leaked radiation onto a roadway, and shipping leaks in 1964 and 1984 which contaminated transport terminals. The report also lists 49 incidents of "surface contamination," radioactive hot spots on the exterior of shipping containers, just between 1974 and 1992 alone. The discovery of hundreds of such contamination accidents in Europe, concealed from the public for many years, led to a major scandal and a three-year halt on waste shipments to Germany. All atomic waste shipments are like mobile x-ray machines that cannot be turned off, exposing unsuspecting bystanders to harmful radiation. Contaminated shipments are even worse. The 4,000 planned shipments to Private Fuel Storage in Skull Valley far outnumber all U.S. shipments combined over the past 60 years. Accidents are inevitable. KEVIN KAMPS Nuclear Information and Resources Service Washington, D.C. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 35 Envirocare Seeks Reversal of Violation Fine The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, September 1, 2002 BY JUDY FAHYS Envirocare of Utah wants state regulators to reverse a penalty imposed last week over the accidental disposal of wet paint in one of the company's radioactive waste cells. Ken Alkema, compliance manager for the Tooele County landfill, noted that his company spent $50,000 extracting the unapproved waste as soon as the problem was discovered. "Our system did fail," he said, "and we caught it." The state Division of Radiation Control issued the "notice of violation" and a $5,000 fine Aug. 23, more than three months after Envirocare reported the situation. Division director Bill Sinclair noted that the severity of the mistake made the punishment fitting. Workers had evidently emptied into the disposal cell barrels of waste containing two kinds of chemicals that are prohibited under state law -- radiation-tainted paint and chelating agents that can make a noxious mix of the waste. Seven barrels had been set aside from a shipment of 88 to be returned to Tennessee because they contained materials Envirocare is not licensed to accept. Sinclair noted that, while the company's environmental record has been good this year, the dangerous potential of the material forced his hand. "That never should have happened," Sinclair said of the accidental dumping. "Should I blink at that? I don't think so." Nonetheless, his division is now considering the company's request to have the violations and the associated fines dismissed. It also will be discussed Friday at 2 p.m. by the Radiation Control Board. In its letter requesting reconsideration, Envirocare suggested that the board revisit the policy on sometimes punishing companies that have reported a violation in the process of policing their own activities. "Notice of Violations and civil penalties are for deterrents, not for punishment," said Alkema in an Aug. 26 letter to the radiation division. "Licensees should be encouraged to identify and correct errors they discover on their own; they should not be punished when they do." Envirocare has been in the news lately for fighting a citizens' initiative to add further restrictions to radioactive waste. The proposed waste law, ordered onto the statewide ballot Monday by the Utah Supreme Court, would prevent Envirocare from expanding its services by accepting more intensely radioactive waste. It also would increase the taxes on radioactive waste to a level the company insists will drive it out of business. fahys@sltrib.com © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on ***************************************************************** 36 Some Facts About Skull Valley The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, September 1, 2002 * In 1997, Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight nuclear power companies, signed a deal with Skull Valley Goshute leader Leon Bear to bring up to 4,000 casks to the reservation. The casks would hold roughly 44,000 tons of waste -- about 10.4 million discarded fuel rods. * Neither PFS nor Bear will say what is being paid for the deal, although for a similar project the Mescalero Apache tribe in New Mexico was offered $250 million in "direct and indirect" benefits. The Mescaleros abandoned that deal in 1996. * Historians estimate as many as 20,000 Goshutes inhabited the area from Nevada's Deep Creek Mountains to what is now Park City. Today there are fewer than 500, just 121 of them associated with Skull Valley. * A typical shipment will carry 240 times the radiation of the Hiroshima bomb. * A 32-mile rail spur would take the waste from existing tracks along I-80 to the facility. * Each 3-foot-thick concrete-and-dirt slab that makes up the storage pad will hold eight 172-ton storage casks. * Casks will not be tied down or otherwise secured to the pads, although designers say there is only barely a chance they will tip over. * The 500 slabs will cover the area of 845 football fields or about 100 square acres. * The license would be good for 20 years, with the possibility of a 20-year extension. * Two earthquake faults lie beneath the site. Highway bridges are required to meet a state standard for safety that is tougher than the federal standard for the waste storage. * This is the first time federal regulators have considered licensing a site that would be used exclusively for storing power-plant waste. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 37 For Goshutes, the Issue Has Always Been Simple: Survival The Salt Lake Tribune -- Sunday, September 1, 2002 BY BOB MIMS Skull Valley: Even in uttering the name of their sun-baked reservation, Goshutes taste the bitter irony of their sometimes bloody, consistently sad, 150-year sojourn with the white man. The tiny tribe's homeland 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City wasn't always the sagebrush wasteland it is today, where a smattering of Goshutes share 18,000 hardscrabble acres with field mice, rattlesnakes and the occasional hawk. Before Brigham Young and his Mormon refugees spilled into the neighboring Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the range within the Stansbury, Onaqui and Cedar mountains was called Spring Valley. The hills were covered with wild wheat grasses, winnowed and ground by Goshute women into mush that served as a tribal staple. A few dependable springs provided water. "Then, we knew how to live on the land," says Margene Bullcreek, one of just two dozen of the 121-member tribe who still live on the reservation. "We knew where there was water, knew about the plants and the animals; there was plentiful food. "Life out here was never easy. It was hard, but the land sustained us. It was sacred to us and it still is sacred to us." In their tens of thousands, whites came, setting up ranches at the few strategic watering holes and unleashing their cattle on sensitive grasslands. The Pony Express, Overland Stage and transcontinental telegraph all followed, as did Mormon communities at Tooele, Grantsville, and Ibapah -- all important tribal campsites. By 1855, the Goshutes were starving. Raids on homesteads for steers escalated to a war of attrition the tribe was ill-prepared to wage. Mormon militia and Army troops crushed the uprising, exacting a deadly toll on Goshute camps before forcing their survivors to sign a peace treaty in 1863. With the passage of six more years -- in a tribal division eventually formalized in 1940 -- the western Goshutes had been forced onto white-supervised farming projects in Deep Creek near the Nevada border, while the eastern Goshutes hung on to what became Skull Valley, renamed by settlers for buffalo skulls found in the area. That the new moniker also became an economic epitaph for their desolated homeland is a truth to which all Goshutes today acquiesce, even as they continue an angry, five-year debate over a proposal to store nuclear waste on the reservation. To Bullcreek, tribal leadership's plans to accept up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods from repository developer Private Fuel Storage, is a too familiar historical deja vu. "When the white settlers came here, they wanted our land. We're still trying to hold on to it today, but now here comes that nuclear waste," she says. "It just seems to be starting all over again." Bullcreek, along with neighbor Sammy Blackbear, represent tribal traditionalists who see their reservation as a spiritual and cultural heritage. It should be, Blackbear says, the holy place where he rises with the sun to commune with ancestral spirits and deities -- not a dumping ground for the nation's most dangerous refuse. "This land is there for us to take care of for the next generations, just like our grandfathers did for us," he says. "It is history repeating itself, the white man using an Indian to do their bidding." Blackbear says the white man's foil in this case is his cousin, tribal chairman Leon Bear, who in 1997 signed a lease with PFS's consortium of eight out-of-state utilities for the planned $3.1 billion facility. It was a decision that split the 121-member Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, triggering lawsuits that have stalled the repository and challenged Bear's leadership. Bear respects his people's beliefs, but has pledged his allegiance to a tradition that has always been at the heart of the Goshute people -- survival. He points to extensive studies assuring the safety of the proposed 40-acre, above-ground concrete storage site as a remedy to radioactive fears. The site is supposed to be temporary, and is designed to be replaced in 2010 by a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Among the extremely limited economic options available to the tribe, Bear insists that PFS is the best. "We look at the land and see that out of 7.3 million acres that once was our aboriginal territory, we get 18,000. We have no natural resources and are surrounded by hazardous sites already, which mitigates what we can do," he says. Bear points to neighboring Dugway Proving Ground's chemical and biological warfare laboratories, the Army's nearby Deseret Chemical Depot -- storing the nation's aging chemical weapons stockpile -- along with three hazardous waste dumps, one storing low-level radioactive waste, and U.S. Magnesium (formerly MagCorp), which emits poisonous chlorine. "The state of Utah deemed this area out here an industrial waste zone already," Bear says. "That's what we deal with trying to enhance our land, but there's not much you can do without money. PFS will provide that, and [hundreds of] jobs." The battle, which has drawn stiff opposition from Gov. Mike Leavitt, leaves other Indians with mixed feelings. The Skull Valley Band's cousins, the 412-member Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation at Ibapah, Utah, has gone on record opposing the dump site. So have other area tribes, but they also defend the Skull Valley Band's sovereignty -- the right to make their own decisions without outside interference. To the northwest, for example, the related Shoshone-Bannock tribes of Fort Hall, Idaho, have remained neutral, but are sympathetic. "We understand what their plight is," says Sho-Ban spokeswoman Dianna Yupe. "Traditions are a means of promoting our people. The harsh reality of economics can be a driving force in trying to benefit [the tribe]." Jackie Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C., says her influential body also has stayed out of the debate. Once again, sovereignty is the issue. "We don't weigh in on whether this is the right decision for the Goshutes," she says. "One would hope a tribe would have more opportunity to develop economics more consistent with who they are, but sometimes we have to explore less popular options." Forrest Cuch, who heads Utah's Division of Indian Affairs, stresses he has consistently urged negotiations between the Goshutes and state over the issue. When all is said and done, though, he says tribal sovereignty should remain inviolable. "Where do you draw the line? That is very difficult," Cuch says. "But it is true that the only way the tribes can protect their traditional ideology is through protecting their sovereign rights." Even Grace Thorpe -- daughter of the late Indian athlete Jim Thorpe and president of the Prague, Okla.-based, anti-nuclear National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans -- hesitates to criticize the Skull Valley Band. "Tradition versus economic development? I think they are both probably right to an extent. There isn't a heck of a lot going for them there," she says. "I don't think putting nuclear waste on their land is the answer, but I understand why they are tempted." So does David Lewis, a Utah State University professor specializing in Native Americans in the West. "The last thing in the world I want to see is nuclear waste coming to Utah," he says. "But as a historian, I have a deep commitment to sovereignty and native rights established by law and treaties." He condemns as hypocritical state government's attempts to block the Skull Valley repository plan, given the long-standing status of the West Desert as a dumping ground -- and the lack of viable alternatives offered by the governor or Legislature. "Do I think this is a good idea for them? Not really," Lewis says. "Is it a viable option for them -- and do they have the right to do this? Absolutely." bmims@sltrib.com © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 38 Plutonium transfer marks beginning of MOX mission at SRS location Augusta Georgia: Metro: Unleashing old energy Web posted Sunday, September 1, 2002 By [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau AIKEN - This summer, a secretive government mission began. The first convoy of unmarked 18-wheelers carrying weapons-grade plutonium and escorted by vans and sport utility vehicles arrived at Savannah River Site. Only a select few know the exact date of the arrival. Some people who live and work near the gates of the site have told The Augusta Chronicle that they have yet to witness the SSTs - "safe secure transports" or "safe secure trailers" - described in court documents. The DOE has refused to acknowledge the timing and many other specifics of the plutonium movement, although an official from the National Nuclear Security Administration reported that shipments were under way weeks ago. More unannounced shipments are expected from the closing out of the DOE's Rocky Flats, Colo., installation. South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, fearing that the plutonium might never leave South Carolina, had sought an injunction to stop the shipments. But last month a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal of a lower court ruling denying the injunction. He has promised yet another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, a case unlikely to be picked up because similar cases already have established a legal precedent, experts say. The arrival of the old nuclear bomb triggers, also known as plutonium pits, marks the beginning of an expensive, politically contentious mission at SRS fraught with more challenges. Scientists will take the plutonium from the spherical pits - so called because they resemble cherry pits - turn it into a purified form of oxide powder and mix it with uranium oxide to form a mixed-oxide fuel. The MOX fuel will power four nuclear reactors at two nuclear power plants, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina. The burned plutonium will be rendered useless for weapons. That transformation carries a significance that extends well beyond the Carolinas. The beginning of the MOX program in the United States, government officials say, symbolizes the country's intention to make good on an international peace agreement. In 2000, the United States and Russia committed to reducing each country's stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium by 34 tons - effectively reducing a significant portion of the arms threat. Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 39 Nuclear plants avoid conversion Augusta Georgia: Metro: Expense of changing reactor systems dissuades companies Web posted Sunday, September 1, 2002 By Eric Williamson [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau AIKEN - The Department of Energy's mixed-oxide fuel project will turn readily available plutonium from shelved nuclear weapons into a fuel component for commercial nuclear reactors. However, nuclear power plants aren't rushing to convert their reactors to burn the fuel, which will be available for little or nothing. The reason: The expensive program is driven more by an international disarmament agreement than by economics. The United States and Russia formalized an agreement in 2000 to dispose of 34 tons each of weapons-grade plutonium, a process that will take years to complete. Duke Energy, the company whose affiliate is contracted to build the plant at Savannah River Site, has applied for licensing at its Catawba plant near York, S.C., and its McGuire plant near Huntersville, N.C. Virginia Power had agreed to use MOX fuel in its Mount Anna plant but backed out in April 2000, saying it wanted to apply the capital toward newly purchased plants elsewhere. So far, there have been no other takers. Regina Waller, a spokeswoman for Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant, said parent company Southern Nuclear decided against MOX because of the expense of converting the nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Ga., and converting the plutonium to fuel. Government incentives were not as persuasive as the bottom line. "The economics of the fuel were problematic," she said. "We did not want to go into a situation to commit to using a fuel that's more costly than what it is now." Scientists say typical low-enriched uranium can cost as little as one-fifth what it will cost to produce the MOX fuel. MOX and uranium assemblies produce about the same amount of power - enough to supply 150,000 homes with electricity for a month. When combined with uranium to create MOX, 1 gram of plutonium produces electricity equal to that from 1 to 2 tons of oil. Creating a MOX assembly is expensive. The estimated cost of processing plutonium will be $110 million per ton. Many industry observers say the $3.8 billion cost attached to the program, which includes the SRS fuel fabrication plant, is far too conservative. The costs come with the new infrastructure, operation expenses and stepped-up security. The power plants, too, will have to make their own costly adjustments - although with the help of generous government subsidies. Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Energy, said there is a positive side, at least for the consumer, to using MOX. "The cost savings of using the discounted government-supplied MOX fuel will be passed on to the ratepayers, although we expect the ratepayers' savings will be minimal," he said. He could give no specifics. Nuclear power is the cheapest form of energy, but nuclear power plants are the most expensive to build, according to Brian Duncan, a spokesman for South Carolina Electric &Gas. "You haven't seen many new nuclear plants because it's too hard to do," he said. "What's needed is a more standard design and a more streamlined process to be licensed. What you're seeing rather than new construction is license extension (for old plants)." SRS initially planned to bake 19 tons of the total plutonium scheduled for disposition into ceramic pucks, then store them inside glass-filled stainless steel canisters. That plan, known as immobilization, was abandoned last year because the Russians feared it would not eliminate the plutonium, said Matthew Bunn, a Harvard arms control expert who conducted classified research for the Clinton administration. Although MOX will be more expensive, U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said a dollar figure cannot be put on world peace. "MOX is a win-win for South Carolina and the world," he said. Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . www.augustachronicle.com ***************************************************************** 40 Local officials find positives in MOX plant Augusta Georgia: Metro: Web posted Sunday, September 1, 2002 Mox impact By [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] South Carolina Bureau AIKEN - The MOX fabrication plant at Savannah River Site may turn out to be the linchpin to continued peace with Russia, but observers are trying to keep its local impact in perspective. The Department of Energy says the project will create more than 1,000 jobs over its planned life span - about 750 construction jobs, then about 400 full-time jobs when the plant begins production. The plant is scheduled to make the mixed-oxide fuel for more than a decade. Fred Humes, the director of the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties, said the plant's long-term employment is the equivalent of a major new private industry being announced for the area - although the federal government won't be paying into the tax base. Regardless, he said, the project will have a positive economic impact. "If you look at what those jobs will pay and the type of people they will bring in, there is an upside in the community," he said. Management and project experts will come from as far away as France. About half of the high-paying jobs - salary figures have not been released - will be filled by local workers. Frank Roberson, the associate superintendent of instruction for the Aiken County school system, said he looks forward to the cultural diversity the eight French families in particular will add to the schools in the next few years. Fuel fabrication could begin at the plant as early as 2008. According to an agreement the United States signed with Russia in 2000, each country is to dispose of at least 2 tons of weapons-grade plutonium a year until each has eliminated 34 tons. The U.S. goal, however, is to dispose of 3 1/2 tons of plutonium a year. DOE spokesman Joe Davis said the total plutonium that would be eliminated is enough for 8,500 nuclear weapons. But that tonnage could be increased, in turn expanding the number of years the mission lasts. Both nations have more than 100 tons of weapons plutonium. The tradeoff is the danger involved in transporting and handling plutonium. DOE boasts 1.6 million transport miles without incident. But anti-nuclear groups point out that DOE's record is not without blemish. A government transport carrying nuclear materials overturned in a Nebraska snowstorm in 1996. It took nine hours for authorities to determine that there had been no radioactive release. DOE's team arrived 15 hours after the incident. Mr. Davis said the end result of MOX will be a safer world. "We are trying to keep the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world's most dangerous people," he said. "This program is aimed at preventing the theft or diversion of surplus plutonium by terrorists or rogue nations." Many who live and work near the gates of SRS said they see more good than bad in the coming of MOX. Frampton Eaves, the owner of Eaves Oil Co. Inc. in New Ellenton, views the new mission as one more way to keep the site and the surrounding community viable, given the job losses in recent years. "Savannah River Site has been good to our community for a long time," Mr. Eaves said. "The plutonium is already out there. It's better in a safe facility like this." MOX IMPACT COST OF U.S. PROJECT: At least $3.8 billion NUMBER OF JOBS FOR SRS: 750 for construction, 400 during production LENGTH OF MISSION: 10-12 years REDUCTION IN WEAPONS (UNITED STATES AND RUSSIA): 8,500 Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 279-6895 or [eric.williamson@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 41 SA: Waste, not nuclear power the problem [http://www.news24.com] 25/08/2002 21:59 - (SA) Ziegfried Ekron Cape Town - Environmental activists hope that protest action such as the incident at the Koeberg nuclear power station on Saturday would lead to government abandoning its plans to build more such power generators. Members of the international environmental group Greenpeace faced the wrath of the police and Eskom when they hung banners on the Koeberg nuclear power station to protest against the use of nuclear power. The group's leader, Mike Townsey, said nuclear power stations generated radio-active waste which could not be adequately stored. "No one knows what to do with the waste, and it is a threat to the environment. One of the discussion points on the agenda of the World Summit for Sustainable Development is how to supply power to two billion people in Africa. "It is imperative that people are supplied from renewable sources that will not destroy the environment." Townsey said the South African government had the opportunity to be a world leader in the use of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. "We want the government to intervene in Eskom's plans to erect more nuclear power stations. They should rather concentrate on other sources for electricity." Wilhelm le Roux, the New National Party's (NNP) spokesperson on environmental affairs, however, believes that nuclear power could solve many problems. "I have an understanding of people's concerns about the waste that is produced, but it remains one of the safest methods to generate power. Conventional power stations running on coal, create bigger problems for the environment." "The only problem with nuclear power is handling the waste. If we have removed this obstacle, nuclear power will be acceptable to many more people." He admitted, however, he believed that hopelessly too little money and time was being spent on the resources. "I agree that we will have to pay more attention to this, but it is not economically viable [feasible] at this stage. [http://www.news24.com ***************************************************************** 42 Public input sought on Cotter uranium mill safety The Pueblo Chieftain Online - Friday August 30th, 2002 [http://www.chieftain.com] Public input sought on Cotter's safety By TRACY HARMON The Pueblo Chieftain CANON CITY - Public comment is being accepted by the Colorado Department of Public Health in connection with worker safety problems at Cotter Corp's uranium mill here. The health department announced Thursday it will accept public comment Sept. 3-24. Written comments will be considered by the department before it makes a final decision on whether to allow the plant to again receive outside materials for processing. Cotter has been barred from receiving shipments since July 9 due to unresolved violations of worker safety and other issues related to the processing of uranium at the mill. Cotter responded Aug. 19 with procedures designed to resolve the issues. Doug Bevevento, health department director of environmental programs, said the public comment period was established at the request of state Rep. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas. "Rep. Kester requested that the citizen comment period be established on the specific issue of worker safety so that members of the public, Cotter employees, and the union that represents Cotter employees could comment before the department makes a final decision," Benevento said. Cotter officials hope to receive radioactive materials from Li Tungsten, N.Y., and the Maywood, N.J., cleanup sites in order to make ends meet while it works to finalize plans to process zirconium ore, which is relatively low in radioactivity. Delays have forced Cotter to lay off 45 workers since May 1. An additional 10 workers were laid off in mid-August. Cotter Corp. Manager Patrick Mutz referred calls for comment to Cotter Vice President Rich Ziegler. However, Ziegler could not be reached for comment Thursday. Public access: The public can view the Cotter-related documentation at [http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/lr/lrhom.asp] . Written comments on worker safety issues can be sent to Jake Jacobi, manager, Radiation Services Program, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 8100 Lowry Blvd., Denver, CO 80230; or via e-mail to [jake.jacobi@state.co.us] . Pueblo, Colorado U.S.A. ***************************************************************** 43 October 5 -15th: Action for Nuclear Abolition Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 12:26:01 -0500 (CDT) 1. October 5 -15th: Action for Nuclear Abolition 2. Participants Guide for Action For Nuclear Abolition 3. Registration form for Action for Nuclear Abolition --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2002 01:50:30 -0600 From: Shundahai Network Subject: October 5 -15th: Action for Nuclear Abolition >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< Action for Nuclear Abolition, October 5 -15, 2002 http://www.actionfornuclearabolition. org 800-471-4737, shundahai@shundahai.org >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< Dear Friends, This past year the U.S. government has made moves to resume full scale nuclear weapons testing and open the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Newe Sogobia, the Western Shoshone Nation, already the most bombed nation on earth. Since 1951 over 1000 full scale nuclear weapons explosions have shook the desert there. Sub-critical nuclear weapons testing continue and the Nevada Test Site has become the nationms largest low level nuclear waste dump. Enough is enough! Itms time to Stop the Madness! We invite you to join us, October 5th 15th, 2002, in international nonviolent resistance to U.S. nuclear policies at the upcoming Action for Nuclear Abolition events in Nevada. Together we will build community and take direct action for nuclear abolition. With our Western Shoshone hosts and friends from around the world, we will wise up, rise up, honor and resist. The big day we ask people to come for is Saturday October 12th - Indigenous Peoples Day. We will hold ceremonies and events conducted by our Native hosts to honor and stand in solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the world who have suffered the deadly consequences of nuclear colonialism. Representatives from Indigenous nations, organizations and communities will lead a rally and sunset candle-light vigil at the gates of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The campaign will kick off on Hiroshima Day, August 6th, at Los Alamos, New Mexico, birthplace of the nuclear bomb, where the Family Spirit Walk For Mother Earth - "Walking in wellness so that our children will follow"- will begin its 800-mile pilgrimage through the indigenous peoples lands of the southwest to the Nevada Test Site. The walk will commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the Walk Across America For Mother Earth and the U.S. moratorium on full-scale nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site (www.angelfire.com/retro/nuclear). The walk will arrive in Las Vegas, NV on October 4th where activists dedicated to protecting Mother Earth will converge. On October 5th we will hold a Peoples' Nuclear Abolition Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. Speakers from Indigenous and environmental justice organizations will educate and inspire us. Good food, music and celebration will also be part of the mix. (We are still looking for the suitable venue for our camp, but we will let you know the details as soon as possible. Affordable motel rooms will also be available nearby.) >From October 6th 10th, the Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth will cover the 65 miles from Las Vegas to Peace Camp at NTS. Beginning with a rally at the Department of Energy's headquarters, the walk will cross into Newe Sogobia (Western Shoshone country) with nightly trainings addressing: oppression awareness and cultural sensitivity, nonviolence, peacekeeping and action planning. During the main weekend of October 11th -14th, we will hold our Action for Nuclear Abolition Nonviolent Direct Action Camp across from the main entrance to NTS. This will be a weekend of ceremony, education, planning and nonviolent direct action to challenge the Test Sitems existence and "Reclaim the Land for All Life.n Friday October 11th, will feature the Keep Space for Peace Workshops, Rally and Nonviolent Direct Action at the gates of the NTS in solidarity with a week long series of international events organized by the Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons and Power in Space (www.space4peace.org.) The day will end with Unchained Reaction: a dance music celebration of resistance. Saturday, October 12th, Indigenous Peoples Day, will feature ceremonies, workshops, and trainings that build a multi-cultural community. Our indigenous hosts will lead our lcommunityn, in a sunset candlelight vigil, to the NTS gates. The celebration continues with ceremonies and a concert to honor indigenous peoples. On Sunday, October 13th workshops, trainings, and planning sessions will prepare us to lStop the Madness!n An evening raffle will be held to raise money for Western Shoshone resistance. Early morning on Monday, October 14th, Corbin Harney, Western Shoshone Spiritual Leader, will lead Sunrise Ceremony on reclaimed Test Site land. Kicking off a day of occupations, blockades, and nonviolent resistance to the US policies of genocide on indigenous lands. These events are being organized with the guidance of the Western Shoshone National Council and have a strict policy prohibiting alcohol, drugs, and weapons. Please be respectful of our Western Shoshone hosts and their traditional customs. There will be daily sunrise ceremonies and sweat lodges open to all. At Peace Camp we will continue the work that was started 10 years ago during the l500 Years of Resistancen and the first Healing Global Wounds gathering. We oppose the generation of more nuclear waste, and want to ensure the clean up of toxic and radiological contamination on Native lands, in communities of color and in the many disenfranchised communities of this country. It is time to end the legacy of nuclear colonialism Participants will be asked to sign a pledge of nonviolence and to take the appropriate nonviolence or related trainings available at Peace Camp. Activists wishing to participate in the nonviolent direct actions at the Nevada Test Site will be asked to join affinity groups or, better yet, to form affinity groups in their local areas and come prepared to join other affinity groups in creative direct action. Be prepared for desert camping: hot days and cold nights. Please bring your own folding chairs, plates, eating and drinking utensils. Good food, water and toilet facilities will be provided. We are asking a small donation of $7 a day (How ever many days you can stay) to cover our logistical expenses. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Even if you can not come for our events, please make a donation to support the event and sponsor a low-income activist / participant. We seek your participation, endorsement and/or financial sponsorship and would love to include your organizational name in our participantsm packet. Please fill out the included form and return to Shundahai Network, PO Box 1115, SLC, UT 84110 Participating Organizations: American Friends Service Committee; Ashland Peace House; Center for Energy Research; Citizen Alert; Citizens Awareness Network; Columbus Campaign for Arms Control and For Mother Earth; East Bay Food Not Bombs; Fellowship of Reconciliation; For Mother Earth Belgium; Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth; Global Exchange; Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space; Indigenous Environmental Network; Midnight Special Legal Collective; National Coalition for Peace and Justice; Nevada Desert Experience; The Nuclear Resister; People for Peace and Justice of Utah; Promoting Enduring Peace; Proposition One; Oregon Peace Works; Pax Christi; Seeds of Peace; Shundahai Network; SPAZ; Subversive Soundz; Tewa Women United; Tri Valley CARES; Tribal Environmental Watch Alliance; Veterans for Peace; War Resisters League; Western Shoshone National Council; Western States Legal Foundation; Wild Rockies Earth First!; Womenms International League for Peace and Freedom --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2002 02:05:17 -0600 From: Shundahai Network Subject: Participants Guide for Action For Nuclear Abolition >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< Action for Nuclear Abolition, October 5 -15, 2002 http://www.actionfornuclearabolition. org 800-471-4737, shundahai@shundahai.org >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< We look forward to seeing you in October at Action for Nuclear Abolition and Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth October 5th - 15th, 2002 Las Vegas to Peace Camp at the Nevada Test Site Participants Guide Participating Organizations: American Friends Service Committee, Ashland Peace House, Center for Energy Research, Citizen Alert, Citizens Awareness Network, Columbus Campaign for Arms Control and For Mother Earth, East Bay Food Not Bombs, Fellowship of Reconciliation, For Mother Earth - Belgium, Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth, Global Exchange, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Indigenous Environmental Network, Midnight Legal Collective, National Coalition for Peace and Justice, Nevada Desert Experience, Nuclear Resister, People for Peace and Justice of Utah, Promoting Enduring Peace, Proposition One, Oregon Peace Works, Pax Christi, Seeds of Peace, Shundahai Network, SPAZ, Subversive Soundz, Tewa Women United, Tri Valley CARES, Tribal Environmental Watch Alliance, Veterans for Peace, War Resisters Legue, Western Shoshone National Council, Western States Legal Foundation, Wild Rockies Earth First, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Included: Directions to Peace Camp What To Bring To Peace Camp Participating in Community Respecting Our Western Shoshone Hosts Protocol for Ceremonies & Sweat Lodges Participant's Nonviolent Guidelines Action for Nuclear Abolition Tentative Schedule Directions to Peace Camp Peace Camp is on the South side of US Hwy 95 at the Mercury exit, 65 miles Northwest of Las Vegas. If you are coming from Las Vegas, take the Mercury exit. Before entering the Nevada Test Site pull over to the right sholder, come to a complete stop and make a legal U turn to go under the freeway. You can not miss us. The nearest place to get gas, telephone access, food, water or a motel is Indian Springs, about 20 miles south of the camp, back towards Las Vegas on Hwy 95. What To Bring To Peace Camp At the gatherings we try to provide good hospitality, including toilets, meals, and potable local water. However, the quality of your experience at desert gatherings depends on personal preparedness. Things we recommend: 7 Self-sufficient arrangements for transportation. Shuttles will be provided from Las Vegas to Peace Camp. 7 Camping gear, shoes and clothing for hot days and cold nights; sunglasses, sunscreen, hat, water bottle. 7 Personal supply of drinking water (one gallon per day), snacks, drinks and fresh foods, utensils and dishes. 7 Materials from your group (and a table). If making sales, consider a donation. 7 Musical instruments, art supplies, banners, signs, decorations for fence. 7 All batteries to operate your equipment, or your own power source for recharging. Please be sure to register, as important information is available there concerning selecting a camp site, radiation safety, cultural guidelines, and the latest schedule information. A $7 per day share of costs donation is suggested But no one is turned away fro lack of funds. Limited motel accommodations are available in Indian Springs (18 miles away) for those unable to camp in desert conditions. Participating in Community 7 We ask all participants in advance to make every effort to familiarize themselves with the information that will be available on Native protocols. In this way, we can be respectful of our Western Shoshone host and create a harmonious and enjoyable community for all who attend. 7 The Community Cafe is open at all times for informal gathering. Browse the library, make new friends and participate in evening Community Meetings, which will provide important tips in being a respectful guest of the Western Shoshone. 7 Three meals a day, local potable water and sanitation facilities will be provided. 7 First aid will be available, but people with health problems are strongly advised not to come, for the comfort of themselves and others. Respecting Our Western Shoshone Hosts Gatherings at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site bring together people from diverse cultures, religions and backgrounds. Symbols, history, language and behavior have many different meanings. To promote respect, peace, understanding and common ground, we ask that you observe the following: Weapons, Alcohol & Illegal Substances: We request that you do not bring firearms, alcohol or any illegal drugs. Besides the legal ramifications to individuals and our Western Shoshone hosts, substances could compromise the medicine bundles of others. Those who feel that the U.S. laws are wrong must take it up with that government. Elders: Elders always go first at meal times. Please be considerate and watchful over this precious resource. Ask elders to share their thoughts during discussions, and respect their opinions. Helping: We are a community, with a short time to get to know each other. A good way to do that is simply offering to help. Two people can always stake down a flapping tent or carry a bucket of water easier than one. Dogs: Please keep your dogs at home. Dogs wandering through ceremonial and food areas disrupt sacred circles and stir up toxic dust. Please always keep your dog at least 50 yards away from the kitchen, ceremonial areas and main gathering area. Please do not let your dog wander freely during the day or night, and please properly dispose of any dog doo. Be aware that your dog needs a lot more water than usual and adequate shade. Check the camp map for doggy camp- a place for your dog to hang out and make friends. Protocol for Ceremonies & Sweat Lodges Sunrise Ceremony: This ceremony is a traditional daily practice, which gives thanks for all that we enjoy and depend upon. The sacred fire must be respected- so do not put anything other than prayer tobacco into it. We move around the fire in a clockwise direction when we pray. The Elders ask ask that we each pray in our own way. Sweat Lodge: Please go only to the sweat lodge area if you intend to participate in the ceremony. This is not a gathering place. Respect the sacred fire. Follow the directions of the Sweat leaders and their assistants. Once the fire is lit, the ceremony has begun Participant's Nonviolent Guidelines As a guest of the Western Shoshone Nation and participant in Action for Nuclear Abolition - I agree to abide by the following Participants Nonviolent Guidelines 7 I will not bring or use alcohol - illegal drugs - or weapons. 7 I will treat every one I meet with respect and courtesy and always conduct myself in a dignified and exemplary manner. 7 I will honor the customs and traditional ceremonies of our Western Shoshone hosts and all of our Indigenous friends. 7 I will participate in and help the Peace Camp community to the best of my ability. 7 If I choose to risk arrest - I will attend the appropriate nonviolence and action trainings and join with an affinity group. 7 If I choose to risk arrest - I assume full responsibility for my actions. 7 If I participate in a nonviolent direct action - I agree to follow the direction of the Affinity Group Spokes-council Action Planning Meeting. 7 If I participate in a nonviolent direct action - I will act in accordance with these nonviolent guidelines. 7 If I am arrested I will not resist arrest by running away or trying to evade the consequences of my actions. 7 I understand that the Western Shoshone National Council and Action for Nuclear Abolition organizers do not condone or encourage any property destruction. 7 I understand that Action for Nuclear Abolition organizers have limited provisions available for legal support, but neither they nor the Western Shoshone National Council will provide medical expenses that may result from my actions. 2002 Action for Nuclear Abolition Tentative Schedule There will be daily Sunrise Ceremonies and Sweat Lodges open to all Oct 4th Friday Las Vegas - Family Spirit Walk arrives in LV 7 Peacekeeper Training 7 Nonviolence Action Training Oct 5th Saturday Las Vegas - Peoples' Nuclear Abolition Summit- All Day 7 Legal Observer and Peacekeeper orientation 7 Celebration and Spokescouncil meeting Oct 6th Sunday Family SpiritWalk through LV 7 Rally at D.O.E. headquarters in Las Vegas 7 Family SpiritWalk through LV 7 Family Spirit Walk Community meeting Oct 7th Monday Hwy 95 - Family Spirit Walk 7 Oppression Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity training Oct 8th Tuesday Hwy 95 - Family Spirit Walk 7 Nonviolent Direct Action Tr. 7 Peacekeeper Training Oct 9th Wednesday Cactus Spring - Family Spirit Walk 7 Affinity Group Strengthening 7 Spokescouncil meeting Oct 10th Thursday Peace Camp - Family Spirit Walk 7 Welcoming Ceremonies 7 Peace Camp orientation. 7 Possible nonviolent Direct Action at gates to NTS. 7 Sweatlodges for walkers 7 Spokescouncil meeting Oct 11th Friday Peace Camp - Keep Space for Peace Day 7 Panel Discussion on Space and nuclear issues. 7 RALLY to Keep Space for Peace 7 Procession to gates of NTS 7 Nonviolent Direct Action 7 Sweatlodges 7 Unchained Reaction: Dance of Resistance 7 Spokescouncil meeting Oct 12th Saturday - Peace Camp - Indigenous Peoples Day 7 Panel Discussion on N.A. Indigenous issues. 7 Oppression Awareness and Cultural Sensitivity training 7 Panel Discussion on Yucca Mountain - NTS - and Western Shoshone Issues 7 RALLY and Ceremony to honor all Indigenous People. 7 Candlelight procession to gates of NTS. 7 Nonviolent Direct Action 7 Concert featuring Indigenous performers 7 Youth Program 7 Art Tent workshops 7 Spokescouncil meeting Oct 13th Sunday - Peace Camp - Action Training Day 7 All Day Basic Nonviolence Training 7 Panel Discussion on NTS 7 Panel Discussion on Yucca Mt 7 Peacekeeper Training 7 Affinity Group Formation 7 Nonviolent Blockade training 7 Nonviolent Lockdown training 7 Affinity Group Support training 7 Legal Observer training 7 Direct Action First Aid training 7 Media Spokeperson training 7 Youth Program 7 Art Tent workshops 7 Raffle to raise money for Western Shoshone Resistance. 7 Spokescouncil meeting Oct 14th Monday - Peace Camp 7 Sunrise Ceremony and Spiritual Occupation of NTS 7 Nonviolent Direct Actions at NTS and Yucca Mountain Oct 15th Tuesday - Yucca Mountain 7 Sunrise Ceremony and Spiritual Occupation of Yucca Mountain 7 Nonviolent Direct Actions at NTS and Yucca Mountain --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2002 02:12:28 -0600 From: Shundahai Network Subject: Registration form for Action for Nuclear Abolition >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< Action for Nuclear Abolition, October 5 -15, 2002 http://www.actionfornuclearabolition. org 800-471-4737, shundahai@shundahai.org >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< Action for Nuclear Abolition: donation / sponsor / endorsement / registration form: Please mail to Shundahai Network PO Box 1115 Salt Lake City Utah 84110 Name: Organization: Mailing Address: City / State / Zip: Phone number: Email: Web Page: Our organization would like to sponsor / endorse these events. (We are asking sponsors to contribute $50 - $500 towards the logistical costs and helping with travel costs for indigenous representatives and sponsoring low income activists / participants) We are able to send you ________________ I am not ready to sponsor, endorse or register yet. Please send me more information by: email / snail mail (circle one) I / we would like to pre-register ________ (number) people for these events. Please Circle: October 5th - Peoples' Nuclear Abolition Summit, October 6th -10th - Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth, October 11 - 14th Action for Nuclear Abolition Nonviolent Direct Action Camp. If you are coming for the Family Spirit Walk from Las Vegas to Peace Camp at the Nevada Test Site we recommend that you arrive in Las Vegas on Friday Oct 4th to prepare for the walk. I / we are interested in joining an affinity group to participate in the nonviolent direct action. __________ I / we have an all ready formed affinity group and we would like to participate in the nonviolent direct action. __________ The Affinity Group Name is_______________________________________ I / we are interested in taking the following trainings: Basic Nonviolence Training; Basic Nonviolent Action Training; Affinity Group Strengthening Training; Oppression Awareness and Movement Building Training; Cultural Sensitivity and Movement Building Training; Legal Observer Training; Affinity Group Support Training; Media Spokesperson Training; Nonviolent Blockade Training; Nonviolent Lockdown Training; Direct Action First Aid; Legal Observing Training; Peacekeeping Training; I/ we are interested in helping with organizing these events. I would like more information about the Organizing Collective(s) circled below: Nonviolence and Direct Action Planning and Preparation; Nonviolence and Legal Trainings: Rallies and Legal Direct Action Planning: Youth Program; Art Tent; Peacekeepers / Legal Observers / Vibes watcher; Legal Defense; Media; Outreach; Camp and Walk Logistics; Fundraising/Bookkeeping; Entertainment; I / we have a newsletter and would like to put a camera-ready event ad in it. Name of newsletter and deadline: I / we can offer a ride for ________ (number) people. I / we need a ride from: --------------------------------------------------------------------- >|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|<>|< Reinard Knutsen Shundahai Network PO Box 1115, Salt Lake City UT 84110 (801) 359-2614 reinard@shundahai.org http://www.shundahai.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Search /RENEGADE/ for articles that mention nukes - http://fornits.com/renegade/peaars.cgi?NUCLEAR /RENEGADE/ Search - GO TO: http://fornits.com/renegade/peaars.cgi? and just type in your topic. For differing results you may uncheck "article" and search on just "subject," etc. /RENEGADE/ also has "time-frame" in the search, so you can tailor your results that way, too. ----- Peace! *STRIDER* Sector Air Raid Warden at /RENEGADE/ http://fornits.com/renegade/ DEDICATED TO SPIRIT, TRUTH, PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM e-list info: http://fornits.com/renegade/peaars.cgi?fetch=3763 usenet: news:misc.activism.progressive e-mail: mailto:strider@fornits.com strider@fornits.com WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -- Ethiopian Proverb ***************************************************************** 44 !*"Israel's Nuclear Arsenal" By Lorenzo Komboa Ervin Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 21:42:14 -0500 (CDT) FORWARDED ARTICLE =================== --- Original Message --- From: "Lorenzo Ervin" Sent: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 13:09:44 -0700 (PDT) THE REST OF THE NEWS by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin Israel's Nuclear Arsenal (Part one of a series) As I pointed out last week, we are being falsely told by President Bush and Vice President Cheney that Iraq is "suspected" of having chemical and biological weapons, and is seeking to build or purchase nuclear weapons. They are telling us that the United States should go to war and overthrow the Iraqi government because of this "threat." None of this is true and cynically masks some serious realities. Israels program to develop a nuclear device goes back to the 1950s when U.S. nuclear scientists began training Israeli nuclear scientists. But it was France that built a large uranium research reactor and plutonium reprocessing plant at a place called Dimona in Israels Negev desert in 1955. It is still the main nuclear testing facility in Israel to this day. All of this information comes from international news reports and from Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear technician who defected from his native country in the 1980s. He was kidnapped in England by Israeli authorities and sentenced to 20 years in prison in Israel. Israel has possessed nuclear weapons, believed to number some 250-400 thermonuclear devices, since the 1980s. But the American media has suppressed all this and is only focusing on perceived threats by the Arab countries. The American press has demonized Libya, Iraq, Iran, and other governments through the years for allegedly creating a nuclear weapons program, even on various occasions claiming that Palestinian guerrilla movements like Hamas and the PLO, or the Islamic Al-Qaida are procuring nuclear weapons to attack America or other Western countries. In fact, innocent people are sitting in military custody in America as "enemy combatants" based solely on these rumors and paranoid fears of the White House. All the while, Israel has the bomb...for real! According to a report by the Federation of American Scientists: "The Israeli nuclear weapons program grew out of the conviction that the [Jewish] Holocaust justified any measures Israel took to ensure its survival. In 1949 , HEMED GIMMEL, a special unit of the Israeli Defense Force's Science Corps, began a two-year geological survey of the Negev Desert with an eye toward the discovery of uranium reserves. Although no significant sources of uranium were found, recoverable amounts were located in phosphate deposits." You can read the full FAS report at http://www.fas.org/ nuke/guide/israel/nuke/index.html. Israel now has the capacity to bomb any country in the Middle East with nuclear devices from jet fighters or bombers, to launch weapons from nuclear submarines, and to fire nuclear tipped artillery shells on the battlefield. With these nuclear weapons, Israel can hit Russia, Italy, Spain, parts of Southern and Eastern Europe, and even most parts of Africa and South Asia. What does a small country about the size of New Jersey need with such a nuclear strike force? This is way beyond what any country of this size needs for its own defense. Instead, Israel has developed the offensive capacity to threaten global nuclear war. Let's look at this logically: In 1998, Israel purchased three German submarines capable of carrying nuclear armed cruise missiles. According to Jane's military review of all the world's military arms, the three Dolphin-class subs are among the most technically advanced of their kind in the world. They weigh 1,900 tons when immersed and are more than twice as big as the 20-year-old Gal class subs the Israeli navy had relied upon. Israel is the only country in the 3rd world to have such submarine-launched nuclear devices, which means that it has offensive capacity to attack most countries in the world without detection. In addition to nuclear submarines, a recent Pentagon study said that Israel has developed an air-launched cruise missile that became operational this year. The missile, called the Popeye Turbo, will have a range of more than 200 miles although it can also be easily adapted for launch by a submarine. The Popeye also can be easily adapted with a nuclear-tipped warhead. Jane's says that years ago Israel stored 150 nuclear warheads and 50 Jericho IIs of just under one ton, easily enough to accommodate even a hydrogen bomb. The current Israeli arsenal contains as many as 400 nuclear devices of all types, with a combined yield of 50 megatons, according to a recent report by the U.S. Air Force. One alarming new development in Israel's nuclear development is U. S. collaboration with Israeli nuclear scientists to produce neutron bombs. The bombs were completed and are now deployed by the IDF. They are miniaturized thermonuclear bombs designed to maximize deadly gamma radiation while minimizing blast effects and long-term radiation--in essence designed to kill people while leaving property intact. They can be easily manufactured in the hundreds. So, if the U.S. government is aware that Israel has the nuclear bomb and other weapons of mass destruction, why then is it sanctimoniously accusing Iraq? The answers are simple. The Bush administration wants to disarm the Arab countries, protect Israel's regional monopoly of nuclear weapons, and hide Israel's role as a nuclear warmonger. Israel has already threatened to use nuclear weapons against Iran, Iraq, and other countries in the Middle East, but now it can threaten countries all over the world with nuclear blackmail. So, we must not be fooled with the propaganda by Bush, Cheney and the others calling for a new war against Iraq. Their concern is to continue to use Israel as a military proxy and to safeguard the flow of Middle Eastern oil to the USA. Furthermore, Bush, Cheney and other top White House officials are oil men, with ties to the major oil companies and thus have an economic stake in all this. A war which destroys Iraq or Iran would be good for the rich oil companies, removing all major political obstacles from the way of total Western domination of the region. That is the real objective of this proposed war, not the bogus excuse to stop Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction," "remove a mad dictator" or make the Middle East safe for democracy." The bottom line is greed and power by the usual suspects: Israel and the United States. ----END----- ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: map@pencil.math.missouri.edu EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?b1dk1d.b20mef Or send an email to: nattyreb-unsubscribe@topica.com T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ ***************************************************************** 45 U.S. "Dirty Bombs" Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 21:52:50 -0500 (CDT) U.S. Dirty Bombs Radioactive Gene Busting Munitions Spiked with Plutonium by John M. Laforge Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), www.globalresearch.ca August/2002 "Plutonium is a fuel that is toxic beyond human experience. It is demonstrably carcinogenic to animals in microgram quantities [one millionth of a gram]. The lung cancer risk is unknown to orders of magnitude. Present plutonium standards are certainly irrelevant." - Dr. Donald P. Geesaman, health physicist, formerly of Lawrence Livermore Lab The Bush White House fooled most of the world's press with its unverified claims of intercepting a "dirty bomb" attack against the U.S. On its front page, USA Today barked: "US: 'Dirty Bomb' Plot Foiled." Newspapers everywhere explained breathlessly what radioactive materials could do if dispersed in populated areas. As Alex Cockburn reports in The Nation, when the story faced some mild scrutiny, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz backed away from the propaganda saying, "I don't think there was actually a plot beyond some fairly loose talk." Meanwhile, the real-time, worldwide use by the United States of radiological dirty bombs has moved well beyond the plotting and shooting stage, and has begun to produce dire consequences. Toxic, radioactive uranium-238 -- so-called depleted uranium -- used in munitions, missiles and tank armor may be responsible for deadly health consequences among U.S. and allied troops and populations in bombed areas, and has probably caused permanent radioactive contamination of large parts of Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and perhaps Afghanistan. Depleted uranium "penetrators" as they are called burn on impact and up to 70 percent of the DU is released (aerosolized) as toxic and radioactive dust that can be inhaled and ingested and later trapped in the lungs or kidneys. In January 2001, the world press finally discovered depleted uranium (DU) weapons(1), the super hard munitions made with waste U-238 -- an alpha emitter with a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years. Nine years of radiation-induced death, disease, and birth abnormalities in Iraq did not move major news organizations to investigate, but the deaths from leukemia of 15 Western Europeans -- after their participation in military missions in Bosnia and Kosovo -- prompted the major media, the European Parliament and 11 European governments to launch investigations into the health and environmental consequences of what Dr. Rosalie Bertell calls "shooting radioactive waste at your enemy." DU is left after uranium ore has gone through the gaseous diffusion process that removes most of the fissionable isotope U-235. The refuse also of nuclear weapons and reactor fuel production, some 700,000 tons (2) are now left in the U.S. as "resource material" -- a legal definition that saves the Energy Department the cost of managing DU as radioactive waste. Prized for its high density, DU is used in munitions for piercing armor plate. Shot from planes like the USAF A-10 Warthog, the DU shells are called "tank killers." But by building radioactive waste into armaments, the U.S. is, in effect using poisoned weapons as gene busters in war. At least five types of U.S. munitions contain DU, which is also used in casings for bombs, shielding on tanks, counter-weights for commercial jet aircraft, and "ground penetrators" on missiles. DU shells are made by Starmet Corporation in Concord, Mass., Aerojet Corp. in Sacramento, Calif. and others. Alliant Techsystems in Minneapolis (formerly Honeywell Corp.) assembled over 15 million DU shells for the Air Force in the 1990s. Between 300 and 800 tons of DU munitions were blasted into Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait by U.S. forces in 1991.(3) The Pentagon says the U.S. fired about 10,800 DU rounds -- close to three tons -- into Bosnia in 1994 and 1995. More than 31,000 rounds, about 10 tons, were shot into Kosovo in 1999 according to NATO.(4) British journalist Dai Williams (an independent researcher and occupational psychologist) reports that as much as 1,000 tons of DU may have been used against Afghanistan, although the Pentagon and the British MOD have not acknowledged its use. They say a "heavy metal" is used in bunker busting and earth penetrating munitions, but have not specified what this metal is. Williams writes: "If DU is the mystery metal used in most of the systems suspected in the report then I estimated that 500-1000 tons (of DU) may have been used by the end of December. "(4.5) A total of 24 soldiers from Europe have died of cancer since their 1994 and '95 service in Bosnia.(5) In response, Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Guterres wrote to NATO's Robertson demanding an explanation of where and why DU munitions were used in Europe. The Pentagon and the nuclear industry reacted typically to European politicians who in 2001 demanded health physics information from the Pentagon; after a laughable week-long, study NATO assured them that DU used in the Balkans can be "ruled out" as a significant health hazard.(6) And when Italy, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Norway all called for a moratorium on the use of DU, NATO ministers flatly rejected the suggestion.(7) NATO denials contradicted Prominent scientists also worked to calm the uproar. Dr. John Boice, of the International Epidemiology Institute, told the New York Times, "To get leukemia you need to get the radiation to the bone marrow. The radiation does not go to the marrow. And Uranium 238 will not get to the bone marrow. I don't think it causes leukemia at all."(8) U.S. physicist Steve Fetter told the Times that uranium did not penetrate to bone and bone marrow where leukemia originates. This sophisticated obfuscation refers to external DU exposure and ignores the hazard from DU ingestion or inhalation. Jean Francois Lacronique, director of France's National Radiation Protection Agency, flatly contradicted NATO, saying, "U-238 has been found stored in bone, and if it gets into bone, it can reach the bone marrow."(9) Dr. Frank von Hipple, author of a December 1999 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article on DU, told me, "Yes, it does get to the bone. We looked at that in our study." And the December 2000 Science for Democratic Action -- from the Institute for Environmental and Energy Research (IEER) -- reports that, "Some [DU] particles remain in the body where they can build up in lung [tissue], or enter the blood stream where it can accumulate in bone tissue." Internal exposure, the IEER article says, "increases the risk of leukemia and lung, bone and soft tissue cancers, particularly when inhaled or ingested." At the height of the January 2001 media frenzy over cancers among peacekeeping troops deployed in Bosnia, a 17-year-old advisory bulletin from the Federal Aeronautics Administration (FAA) was leaked to the press. Still in effect today, it puts the lie to industry, Pentagon, UK and NATO denials of health risks associated with DU exposure. The 1984 memo warns FAA crash site investigators that, "if particles are inhaled or ingested, they can be chemically toxic and cause a significant and long-lasting irradiation of internal tissue."(10) More recently, the prestigious British Royal Society's second DU study found that troops who inhale or ingest "high levels" of DU could suffer kidney failure within days, and that children in DU-bombed areas face a long-term risk of cancer and heavy metal poisoning.(11) The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned in March 2002, that there is a danger of groundwater contamination from corroding DU ammunition at six sites in Serbia and Montenegro bombed in 1999. UNEP president Pekka Haavisto said he, "was surprised to find DU particles still in the air two years after the conflict's end."(12) Canadian researchers have found "unequivocal evidence" of long-term DU contamination of Persian Gulf vets: they found that eight years after the bombing, Canadian veterans were still passing U-238 in urine.(13) Italy announced last August 5 that its soldiers -- afflicted with cancer after service in the Balkans and potential exposure to some of the three tons of DU exploded there by U.S. jets -- will be awarded medical compensation. British researcher Albrecht Schott has found that UK soldiers exposed to DU in wartime have suffered 10 times more genetic damage than the general population. Prof. Schott said of this study, "This level of genetic damage doesn't occur naturally."(14) And in the U.S., a Dept. of Veterans Affairs study recently found that children of veterans of the Persian Gulf bombardment are two to three times as likely as those of other vets to have birth defects. The U.S. vets also reported more miscarriages.(15) In Iraq, government figures show an increase in cancer cases from 6,555 in 1989 to 10,931 in 1997 -- mostly in areas bombed by the U.S.-led coalition in 1996 -- and the number of reported cancer cases increased 12 fold between 1991 and 2001.(16) Ironically, the clearest U.S. government admission of the dangers of DU, came from U.S. intelligence officers fighting in Afghanistan, when Knight Ridder Newspapers reported Dec. 21, 2001, that uranium-238 had been found in "Taliban hideouts." U.S. officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, had concluded, "al-Qaida intended to use the U-238 to make dirty bombs, which use conventional explosives to spread radioactive material over a wide area. In addition to killing people in the bomb blast and poisoning others with radiation, the officials said, such a bomb could render large areas unusable and require lengthy and expensive clean-up efforts." Agreeing it had sufficient evidence of harm from DU, the European Parliament, on Jan. 17, 2001, voted 394 to 60 in favor of a moratorium on the use of DU among its members. NATO commanders issued a one-page statement Feb. 13, 2001 dismissing concerns. But the Navy and Marines decided sometime before June to stop using DU. "Were not considering [DU] anymore because of the environmental problems associated with it.... We don't want to be in a position of having someone say, You can't bring your armor piercing rounds on the battlefield," said Col. Clayton Nans, head of the Marines Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle program.(17) As press coverage began to fade, and NATO felt it was bringing the DU "hysteria" under control, the weapons contamination with highly radioactive plutonium was disclosed. Plutonium contamination raises stakes In Europe, a wildfire of publicity was lit anew by the United States official admission that its DU contains plutonium and other reactor-borne fission products far more radioactive and carcinogenic than uranium-238. The discovery of uranium-236 contamination in spent munitions used against Kosovo revealed that the DU was not obtained before the nuclear reaction process. The Pentagon, NATO and the British Ministry of Defense have always downplayed the danger of DU saying it was "less radioactive than uranium ore." But at least half of the DU (250,000 metric tons) is now known to have been left over from the reprocessing of irradiated reactor fuel (done to extract weapons-grade plutonium), leaving it salted with fission products.(18) "If it has been through a reactor, it does change our idea on depleted uranium," says Dr. Michael Repacholi of the World Health Organization, which has demanded to know how much plutonium is in DU ammunition. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is still working on an answer to that question. As early as January 2000, the DOE admitted that its DU munitions are spiked with plutonium, neptunium and americium "transuranic" (heavier than uranium) fission wastes from inside nuclear reactors.(19) The health consequences here are fearsome: americium-243 -- with a half-life of 7,300 years -- decays to plutonium-239, which is more radioactive than the original americium. DU "contains a trace amount of plutonium," said the DOEs Assistant Secretary David Michaels, who wrote to the Military Toxics Project's Tara Thornton January 20, 2000. "Recycled uranium, which came straight from one of our production sites, e.g. Hanford [Reservation, in Richland, Washington], would routinely contain transuranics at a very low level...." Michaels wrote. "We have initiated a project to characterize the level of transuranics in the various depleted uranium inventories," he said. Dr. Von Hippel says in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that plutonium-239 is 200,000 times more radioactive than U-238. Plutonium "is probably the most carcinogenic substance known," according to Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of IEER, writing in his 1992 book Plutonium. The governments bland assurances regarding material carcinogenic to animals in microgram quantities appear scientifically preposterous, yet the AP reported Feb. 3, 2001: "U.S. officials have said the shells contained mere traces of plutonium, not enough to cause harm." On Jan. 19, after a one-week "investigation," NATO officials said, "traces of highly radioactive elements such as plutonium and americium were not relevant to soldiers health because of their minute quantities."(20) This public relations ploy failed to calm the furor raised across Europe, especially after the leak of a July 1, 1999, "hazard awareness" memo issued by the Pentagon. The memo warned military personnel entering Kosovo against touching spent ammunition, suggested the use of protective masks and skin covering while in contaminated areas, and recommended follow-up health assessments.(21) The warning was sent to defense ministries in Europe but it is not known to have been given to civilians or returning refugees. Poison weapons illegal in any armed conflict The U.S. Air Forces 1976 manual, "International Law: The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations" governs the actions of all USAF commanders and pilots, including the top guns shooting DU. "It is especially important," the Air Force manual says, "that treaties, having the force of law equal to laws enacted by the Congress on the United States, be scrupulously adhered to by the United States armed forces." The manual names treaties specifically recognized as binding, including the Hague Conventions of 1907, the Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925, and the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, 1949.(22) The Geneva Gas Protocol outlaws, " ... asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices." The Hague Conventions explicitly outlaw poison saying, "It is especially forbidden: To employ poison or poisoned weapons." Poison is defined by the Air Force manual as, "biological or chemical substances causing death or disability with permanent effects when, in even small quantities, they are ingested, enter the lungs or bloodstream, or touch the skin." Although the law could not be clearer, NATO spokesman Francois Le Blevennec told Knight Ridder that depleted uranium, "has never been declared illegal by any war convention." However, the Air Force law manual says, "any weapons may be put to an unlawful use." The Air Force declares unequivocally that, "A weapons may be illegal per se if either international custom or treaty has forbidden its use under all circumstances. An example is poison to kill or injure a person." Because the U.S. government has known since at least 1984 about the poisonous effects of its DU warfare, the commanders of its bombing raids over Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan may well hope the White House wins its fight for immunity in the International Criminal Court. If not, the Pentagons dirty bomb contamination may move from the gene pool and the water table into the court room. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- In the first move by someone in Congress to investigate the military's use of DU weapons, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) has introduced the Depleted Uranium Munitions Suspension and Study Act of 2001, H.R. 3155. McKinney's bill would: * Suspend the U.S. military's use and approval for foreign sale or export of DU munitions, pending a certification from the Sec. of Health and Human Services that DU munitions will not pose a long-term threat to the health of U.S. or NATO military personnel or jeopardize the health of civilian populations in the area of use; * Suspend the foreign sale and export of plutonium-contaminated DU munitions; * Initiate a GAO investigation of plutonium contamination of DU, and * Initiate a study of the health effects of DU on current or former U.S. military personnel who may have been exposed and medical personnel who treated such affected personnel. In an appeal for co-sponsors McKinney wrote, " ... the U.S. should take care not to leave a toxic legacy for either people in a foreign land, nor to our own military personnel. Approximately 300 tons of DU munitions were used in the Gulf War, much of which still sits on the ground in Iraq. Since we really do not know the comprehensive consequences of DU contamination, I urge you to support this legislation, and protect our soldiers and innocent citizens from any unnecessary health threats." -- JML ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Notes: 1. "Alarm over NATO uranium deaths," BBC News, Jan 3, 2001; "UN raises alarm on toxic risk in Kosovo," Guardian Weekly, March 30 - April 5, 2000, p.5. 2. The New Nuclear Danger, by Helen Caldicott, The New Press, New York, 2002, p.146; The Nation, April 9, 2991, p.24; Dan Fahey uses the figure 505,000 tons in his chapter "Collateral Damage," in Metal of Dishonor: Depleted Uranium, Ed. by DU Education Project, New York, 1997, p.26. 3. The Nation, May 26, 1997. 4.Knight-Ridder, Jan.2, 2001. 4.5 Dai Williams, Letter to J.M. LaForge, Feb. 21, 2002. (See also, Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2002) 5. New York Times, Feb. 14 & Jan. 29, 2001. 6. New York Times, Jan. 17 & 19, 2001. 7. Wis. State Journal, Jan. 1; New York Times, Jan. 11, 2001. 8. New York Times, Jan. 13, 2001. 9. New York Times, Jan. 29, 2001. 10. "Avoiding or Minimizing Encounters With Aircraft Equipped With Depleted Uranium Balance Weights During Accident Investigations," FAA Advisory Circular 20-123, by M.C. Beard, Dec. 20, 1984. 11. "The health hazards of depleted uranium munitions, Part II," The Royal Society, March 2002, p. ix. 12. United Nations Environment Program, Press Advisory, March 27, 2002. 13. BBC, Aug. 27, 1999. 14. The Express, UK, Dec. 24, 2001. 15. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Oct. 6; Chicago Tribune, Oct. 10, 2001. 16. Arabic News, Feb. 18, 2002. 17. USA Today, June 25, 2001. 18. Ibid. 19. New York Times, Feb. 14, 2001. 20. New York Times, Jan. 18, 2001. 21. New York Times, Jan. 9, 2001. 22. Department of the Air Force, "International Law -- The Conduct of Armed Conflict and Air Operations," Judge Advocate General Activities, Air Force Pamphlet 110-31, 19 Nov. 1976. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- MORE INFORMATION ON DU Campaign Against Depleted Uranium, CADU One World Center, 6 Mount St. Manchester M2 5NS ENGLAND Tel.: (+44) 161-834-8176 Web: www.cadu.org.uk Email: gmdcnd@g.apc.org Military Toxics Project P.O. Box 558 Lewiston, Maine 04240 Tel.: (202) 783-5091 Email: miltoxpr@ime.net Web: www.miltoxproj.org See MTP's report: "Don't Look, Don't Find." International Study Team on Depleted Uranium, IDUST P.O. Box 1688 Bernalillo, NM 87004 Tel.: (505) 867-0141 Fax: (505) 771-0182 Email: IDUST@swcp.com Institute of Concern for Public Health 710-264 Queens Quay West Toronto ON M5J IB5 CANADA Tel: (416) 260-0575 Fax: (416) 260-3404 Email: drrbertell@home.com Low Level Radiation Campaign RADIOACTIVE TIMES magazine The Knoll, Montpellier Park Llandrindod Wells Powys LD1 5LW ENGLAND Tel. & Fax: (+44) 01597-824771 Email: bramhall@llrc.org Web: www.llrc.org Swords to Plowshares 1062 Market St. San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel.: (415) 252-4788 Web: www.swordstoplowshares.org Nukewatch P.O. Box 649 Luck, WI 54853 Tel.: (715) 472-4185 Fax: (715) 472-4184 Email: nukewatch@lakeland.ws Web: www.nukewatch.com Nukewatch P.O. Box 649 Luck, WI 54853 Phone (715) 472-4185 Fax (715) 472-4184 Web http://www.nukewatch.com Original URL for this article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/LAF208A.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- John LaForge is on the staff of Nukewatch, a peace and environmental action group in Wisconsin, and edits its quarterly newsletter The Pathfinder. .Copyright ) John LaForge 2.002. For fair use only ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ***************************************************************** 46 Arkansas: Nuclear plant employee works to overcome hearing problems TheCabin.net :: Arkansas News :: 09/02/02 By CHRISTINA FOWLER The Courier RUSSELLVILLE (AP) -- When trying to describe what it is like to be deaf, Carel Dunaway has an exercise he likes for "hearing people" to try. "Imagine I am hearing and you are deaf, and I say to you..." and he mouths what seems to be "I love you." But what he really says is "lake view." An employee of Arkansas Nuclear One, the 48-year-old Dunaway was born deaf. Doctors suspect that his auditory nerves never fully developed. As a young man, Dunaway worked as a custodian at a Russellville shop of the company that is now Entergy. In 1982, he got a drafting job at Entergy's nuclear power plant. The job interview was conducted without an interpreter, with Dunaway speaking and reading lips, and the interviewers writing down the questions if Dunaway was unable to understand them. On his first day, he received notes from the drafters telling him who they were, what they did and where they went to school. At meetings, someone volunteered to write notes. When Dunaway had an office partner, he would help that person learn sign language so the two of them could communicate. In turn, that person would help him pronounce his words correctly. In his work, Dunaway prepares engineering drawings of the nuclear plant, checks drawings that other drafters have revised, updates drafting standards, and makes new symbols when needed. Now e-mail and TTY, the teletypewriter, have made it easier for him to communicate with others and do his job. Pagers, closed-captioned programs, alert devices, and vibrating alarms also have made his life easier. Dunaway learned to make sounds and read lips when he was 2. He usually communicated with his family by lip-reading and speaking. His mother, Kathy Dunaway, eventually learned sign language and now even Dunaway's dog Macy knows sign. Dunaway has taught her to follow sign commands, such as sit and lay. As a child, Dunaway attended programs for deaf children until 1968, when his family moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where Dunaway attended a school that practiced "mainstreaming." That meant Dunaway attended classes with "hearing" children. The school did not provide interpreters and the teachers did not know sign language. Dunaway kept up by copying notes from the blackboard and reading the textbook. In high school, though, he had a special counselor, who helped him and other students get into classes they needed for college or a job. At Trimble Technical High School, he studied commercial art then transferred to industrial drafting so he could combine his interest in math and science with his artistic ability. In describing school, Dunaway signed: "It was hard. There were some deaf kids so I had some social time. If it weren't for my deaf friends being there, then I would have been isolated." When he began a semester, he would ask the teachers to write as much information on the blackboard as possible, especially what was assigned as homework. After high school, Dunaway attended Gallaudet, a liberal arts college for the deaf, then switched to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, N.Y., to study architectural technology and drafting. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************