***************************************************************** 08/05/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.199 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Nuclear reactors: Mitsubishi to enter sector 2 Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi. 3 US: Building the 'atomic plant' 4 US: Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield Takes Oath of Office for 5 KEDO leaders discuss nuclear project before launch of new 6 Opposition to pluthermal project softening 7 North Korea makes progress with nuclear power plant 8 Nuclear Project Meeting Tops Busy N.Korea Calendar 9 ROK to Export Nuclear Power Technology 10 Sept 11 was setback for antinuke movement NUCLEAR REACTORS 11 US: (vermont Yankee) Entergy comes to town 12 US: NRC's Top Executives to Meet with NPPD Board 13 US: NRC Cites Oconee Nuclear Plant For Violation of Low to Moderate 14 US: Leak Closes Millstone 2 NUCLEAR SAFETY 15 US: Lack of radiation data troubles feds 16 US: PNNL creates security system allowing scanner to see through clo 17 US: Downwinders Appeal Eligibility Decision NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 18 US: N-waste setback for Utah 19 US: Kern may be on nuclear waste path 20 US: Waste trial ends, but not controversy 21 US: West Valley task force will review plan 22 US: State of Nevada Position on How DOE Must Approach Spent Fuel NUCLEAR WEAPONS 23 Dockyard in MoD fraud probe 24 Saudi Arabia may buy Pak nukes 25 US: A-bomb use still raises questions 26 UK: Dockyard in MoD fraud probe 27 Iraq Invites U.S. Congress for Tour 28 Nuclear Ministry Plays Down Iran Plans 29 Anti-nuke campaigners target NATO - 30 Leaks are confusing, but aim is clear 31 Symposium tackles nuclear disarmament 32 Americans profess peace in Hiroshima 33 Japan was close to having A-bomb 34 Hiroshima, an awful lesson of history* 35 Anti-nuclear groups hold conferences in Hiroshima 36 Japan was 'days away from test' of A-bomb US DEPT. OF ENERGY 37 DOE: UC Davis budget for neutron beam reactor 38 DOE delays plan's release 39 14 Arrested at Tenn. Nuke Plant 40 Soil contamination stalls hanford site work 41 DOE seeks public comment on commenting to the public 42 Paducah: New focus sets priorities - OTHER NUCLEAR 43 War With Iraq Likely, Senator Says 44 Lawmakers: Bush Must Make Iraq Case ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Nuclear reactors: Mitsubishi to enter sector The Taipei Times Online: 2002-08-05 Monday, August 5th, 2002 STAFF WRITER, WITH AGENCIES Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd plans to spend ?10 billion (US$83 million) on producing reactors and other equipment for nuclear power generation by March 2004, a report said yesterday. It will be the firm's first big capital spending in 10 years in the field of nuclear power generation, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. Mitsubishi Heavy plans to introduce large cranes and new machine tools at its Kobe shipyard in western Japan, with a view to producing an advanced model of pressurised water reactors (PWRs), the economic daily said. The reactors will be for use at a power plant in Tsuruga, central Japan, but the company also plans to export them to the US. This story has been viewed 232 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/08/05/story/0000159134] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi. Iranmania.com TEHRAN, Aug 5 (AFP) - Iran defended its nuclear cooperation with Russia on Monday and stressed the Islamic Republic's "will to finish" construction of a plant which has been strenuously opposed by Washington. "We don't pay attention to threats and are determined to finish the works on the Bushehr station, which has already been enormously costly," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said on state radio. The under-construction Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, for which Tehran has signed a 800-million-dollar deal with Moscow, has been inspected "many times by international agencies," Assefi said. c2002 Spaceimaging.com A space photograph of the Bushehr nuclear reactor. It is currently expected to be operational by September 2003. "The experts from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) have confirmed the peaceful nature of the plant," he said, adding that Russia only undertook the project after Germany's Siemens company pulled out under pressure from the United States. Together with Israel, the United States has voiced repeated fears over Russian-Iranian cooperation in the construction of the Bushehr plant, where only one reactor of four has been completed. Russia recently sparked fury in Washington with an announcement that it intended to put up a second two-block Iranian nuclear power plant along with building three additional reactors at the Bushehr project. On Friday, however, Russia made an apparent key concession to the United States on the issue by announcing that "political factors" would determine if it goes through with plans to vastly expand its nuclear cooperation with a state that is viewed as a pariah by Washington. Iranian leaders have not yet explicitly reacted to Russia's declaration. c2002 Spaceimaging.com A satellite image of the Bushehr nuclear site. This image was chosen as the 10th best satellite image of the year. However, a spokesman for Iran's official atomic energy organisation also put on a brave face on Friday and said authorities were determined "to finish the Bushehr power plant for economic considerations." "Considering the costly investments on the project, we want to finish and therefore increase our electricity production", Khalil Musavi said. ***************************************************************** 3 Building the 'atomic plant' Brattleboro Reformer By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- In 1965, Vermont Gov. Philip Hoff proposed locking the state into a long-term power contract to buy hydroelectric power from Canada. The state would have purchased electricity from Churchill Falls, Quebec, for a fraction of what it ended up costing in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. But that was not what Vermont utilities wanted. Shortly after Hoff's proposal was defeated in the Legislature, Central Vermont Public Service CEO Albert Cree stood before the newly created Legislative Council studying Vermont's energy future and made an unprecedented promise. ... story Sale critics: Aging VY may need costly fixes Editor's note: This is the second article in a series that examines the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- In the 1990s, several states began the process of "deregulating" their electricity markets. Essentially, corporations that produced power and distributed it were required to choose one or the other. Those that wanted to continue distributing electricity were told to sell their generating stations. ... story Market shifts for reactors Editor's note: This is the third article in a series that examines the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Between 1999 and 2001, prices for nuclear power plants skyrocketed, and AmerGen Energy Co.'s offer of no more than $23 million for Vermont Yankee nuclear power station was superseded by a $180 million bid from Entergy Nuclear. This article looks at why. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- In late 1999, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. entered into an agreement to sell its Vernon reactor to AmerGen Energy Co. for anywhere from $23 million to $10 million, depending on when the sale closed. ... story Buyers eye new reactors Editor's note: This is the fourth article in a series that examines the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- What's in it for Entergy? At first glance, the sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant doesn't appear to make much sense. Entergy Nuclear will pay Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. $180 million for a smallish reactor with only 10 years left to operate -- and then sell all 540 megawatts of power back to Vermont and New England utilities for less than it currently costs Vermont Yankee to produce it. ... story Opinions differ over benefits of Yankee sale to ratepayers Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series of articles that examine the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- The proposed sale of their Vernon reactor is clearly good for the utility companies that hold stock in Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. -- that's why they agreed to it. But what does $180 million paid to Vermont Yankee Corp. mean to Vermont ratepayers? And is a power purchase agreement -- an 11-year deal under which Vermont utilities will buy power from Vermont Yankee at 3.9 to 4. ... story Board, department keep own counsel on state's rate cases Editor's note: This is the sixth in a series of articles examining the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- The offices of the Vermont Public Service Board and the Department of Public Service are on the third and fourth floors of a Chittenden Bank in Montpelier. As bank clients stream in and out through the shiny glass doors, deposit envelopes in hand, the occasional lawyer slips through an unmarked metal door near the bank's back entrance and climbs the stairs to the clerk's office or the board's hearing room. ... story Proposed waste site already overfilled This is the seventh in a series of articles that examines the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- From above, Yucca Mountain looks like a spine jutting from the Nevada desert -- a steep, sharp line of sandy mountain emerging from flats and waves of sand. From inside, Yucca is a morass of equipment and railroad tracks; a tunnel leads deep into the earth's innards. This is where the nuclear industry hopes it will soon begin storing the tons of highly radioactive spent fuel that currently sits at hundreds of sites around the nation. ... story How safe are aging reactors? This is the eigth in a series of articles that examines the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. BRATTLEBORO -- In December 1986, a pipe broke at the 13-year-old Surry nuclear power station in Virginia, killing four workers. The accident made national headlines, especially after it was discovered that the pipe failed because it had been corroded by the simple wear and tear of use. Two years later, Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Kenneth Rogers warned that "the aging of nuclear power plants is one of the most important issues facing the nuclear industry worldwide" and likened a reactor with many aged parts to a "loaded gun. ... story As electric demand rises, what is "clean energy"? This is the final in a series of articles that examines the background to the pending sale of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. By MEGGAN CLARK Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- Turning slowly on an almost windless day, 11 windmills stand silhouetted against the sky on a Searsburg hilltop. On a good day, they can produce up to six megawatts of power, enough to supply 2,000 homes - with no carbon monoxide emissions, no waste, and virtually no threat to public health and safety. ... story ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and NENI ***************************************************************** 4 Commissioner Jeffrey S. Merrifield Takes Oath of Office for Second Term at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 086 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-086 August 5, 2002 Jeffrey S. Merrifield was sworn in this morning for a second term as one of the five members of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). By a voice vote on August 1, the Senate unanimously confirmed Mr. Merrifield to serve a second term as an NRC Commissioner through June 30, 2007. Mr. Merrifield said that "I am honored that President George Bush and the Senate have put their faith in me that I can continue this Agency's important mission of protecting the health and safety of the American people from the peaceful, civilian uses of nuclear materials." He further stated, "I am eager to rejoin my colleagues in responding to the events of September 11th, and ensuring that the nuclear plants we regulate remain among the securest industrial facilities in the United States. Additionally, now that Congress has chosen to move forward on Yucca Mountain, our Agency will be actively engaged in determining whether this site is safe to be licensed to store spent nuclear fuel." First appointed to a vacant seat on the NRC by then-President Bill Clinton, Mr. Merrifield began his first term on October 23, 1998. The NRC, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, employs 2,900 staff to ensure the safe, cradle-to-grave, civilian uses of radioactive materials, including uranium mines, medical isotopes, fuel enrichment and fabrication facilities and the 103 operating nuclear power plants. Since joining the NRC in 1998, Mr. Merrifield has participated in a number of important changes in the Agency, including issuing 20-year license extensions for 10 nuclear reactors, overseeing over 3,500 megawatts of power uprates for the existing plants, and responding to the security issues associated with September 11, 2001. He has visited all 103 operating nuclear power plants, the communities surrounding Yucca Mountain, fuel fabrication facilities, uranium mines, and an oil rig 100 miles off the coast of Louisana. Subsequent to these visits, Mr. Merrifield has personally met with and briefed almost 100 Members of Congress. Immediately before joining the NRC, Mr. Merrifield served since 1995 as the Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Control and Risk Assessment. From 1992 to 1995, he was an associate with the Washington, D.C., law firm of McKenna and Cuneo. Previously, he served as a legislative assistant to Senator Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.), and from 1987 to 1990 as a legislative assistant to then-Senator Gordon J. Humphrey (R-N.H.). A native of Antrim, N.H., Mr. Merrifield received his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, in political science and history from Tufts University in 1985 and his Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1992. Commissioner Merrifield's official biography and photograph are available on NRC's website at: http://www.nrc.gov/who-we-are/organization/commission/merrifield.html ***************************************************************** 5 KEDO leaders discuss nuclear project before launch of new construction stage Korea Herald!!_National http://www.koreaherald.com The Executive Board of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) held a meeting in Seoul yesterday to discuss issues related to the international consortium's power plant construction project in North Korea. Jack Pritchard, Washington's special envoy for negotiations with Pyongyang, attended the meeting, held at the Office of South-North Dialogue. Also on hand were three other executive members - Chang Sun-sup from the South, Katsunari Suzuki from Japan and Jean-Pierre Leng from the European Union. "The board members discussed pending issues on the power plant project in the North, including the project's future direction following the pouring of concrete for the light-water reactors," said an official at Seoul's policy coordination office for the nuclear reactor project. The board meeting came ahead of KEDO's ceremony tomorrow marking the first use of concrete in construction work for the power plants in the North's eastern coastal village of Kumho. A 135-member delegation, including KEDO's four executive board members, officials from construction companies and journalists will attend the ceremony. "The ceremony heralds the beginning of full-scale construction for the main buildings of the light-water reactors," the official said. KEDO, which is led by South Korea, the United States, Japan and the European Union, is building two 1,000-megawatt light-water reactors in the North under the 1994 Agreed Framework. Under the accord, Pyongyang promised to freeze its nuclear weapons program in return for the power plant construction. The delegates to the ceremony will leave for the construction site today aboard a cruise ship and return to Seoul on Thursday. Observers said the event is another positive sign in the North's recent engagement with the South and several foreign countries. Over the last week, Pyongyang agreed to restart dialogue with both the United States and Japan. The two Koreas agreed to hold inter-Korean ministerial talks, which have been suspended since November last year, Aug. 12-14 in Seoul. North Korea also promised to participate in the Busan Asian Games slated for Sept. 29-Oct. 14 in the South's southern port city. A North Korean Air Koryo passenger jet made a preliminary flight last month on a new direct inter-Korean air route over the East Sea, which will be used to transport workers and materials for the power plant construction. (shj@koreaherald.co.kr By Seo Hyun-jin Staff reporter 2002.07.06 (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 Opposition to pluthermal project softening Daily Yomiuri On-Line Masashi YoshidaC Takashi Yoshida and Hiroyuki Yokota / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers Local governments of municipalities hosting nuclear power plants have been showing subtle changes in their attitude toward the so-called pluthermal project, softening their opposition to the project in response to persuasion by the central government and electric power companies. Pluthermal power generation is the process of generating electricity in conventional nuclear power plants fueled by plutonium extracted from spent nuclear fuel. The pluthermal project has been at a standstill due to the opposition of host local governments, though it is a main pillar of the central government's nuclear power policy. While Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) plans to implement pluthermal programs at the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima Prefecture and in the No. 3 reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station in Niigata Prefecture, the programs have not progressed due to opposition in the host communities. Meetings with local residents have begun in Niigata Prefecture and the Fukushima governor will hold talks with the central government over the project, prompting concerned officials to expect the project may get a green light. At a meeting with village residents on July 23, Kariwamura Mayor Hiroo Shinada said, "The question of the pluthermal project has not been resolved." The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station is located in the village. At the first meeting, the mayor pointed out that the issue has been an impediment to merger talks with neighboring municipalities. The mayor called on the residents to resolve the issue of whether the pluthermal program should be implemented in the power plant as soon as possible. Shinada emphasized the decision was up to the residents, saying, "The meetings are not held on the premise that the pluthermal program will be implemented." The mayor went to Belgium in early July to visit a plant that produces mixed oxide fuel (MOX) and to confirm the safety of MOX nuclear fuel. MOX is a mixture of uranium and plutonium that will be used in the pluthermal project if it moves ahead. The attitude of the villagers seems to have changed subtly, as a regular inspection of the No. 3 reactor for implementation of the pluthermal program will start Aug. 10. Niigata Gov. Ikuo Hirayama had been reluctant to make his prefecture the first local entity in the nation to accept implementation of the pluthermal operation, saying he felt "a sense of discomfort." But on July 10, the governor said: "It's possible that (Niigata Prefecture) will be the first in the nation," indicating a change in his position. The village held a referendum in May 2001 and the majority of voters rejected the pluthermal plan. After seeing the result of the poll, TEPCO officials said, "It was because our company was not seen as a trustworthy member of the local community." TEPCO assigned a public relations team to promote the pluthermal plan in the village in July last year. The team has been visiting all households in the village in an attempt to sway the residents. In May, TEPCO started construction of Fureai Salon, a 100 million yen local culture center. In addition, TEPCO proposed a plan to residents in which heat discharged from the power plant would be used to heat greenhouses for agriculture in the village. "In the past year, we've made all possible efforts to regain the trust of local residents," a TEPCO official said. Since a mayoral election in 2000, the village assembly had been equally split between those who support the mayor's acceptance of the pluthermal plan and those who oppose him. In June, the village assembly passed a resolution saying that the nuclear power plant was important for the future development of this village by an overwhelming margin. It is likely that a three-way meeting of concerned local government heads, including Shinada and Hirayama, to be held late this month will decide whether the village will accept the pluthermal program. TEPCO President Nobuya Minami said, "Local residents have deepened their understanding to the point where they say that TEPCO has changed." In Fukushima Prefecture, mayors of eight municipalities to be affected by the pluthermal program at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station proposed promoting the plan during a meeting with Fukushima Gov. Eisaku Sato on June 3. A statement by the local government heads, including the town mayor of Okumamachi, where the nuclear power plant is located, reads, "The pluthermal project, which is a national policy, should be driven forward as soon as possible." Backed by the local governments, TEPCO applied to the central government for permission to start the pluthermal program after starting a regular inspection of the plant on July 18. However, there have been no signs that the program will move forward soon. Sato has said he feels the central government's way of conducting energy policy amounts to "bulldozing" its opponents. The governor's deep-rooted distrust of the central government's policy has resulted in Sato stopping the program, saying implementation is "impossible under the current circumstances." Sato had approved the implementation of the pluthermal program in the prefecture in November 1998, but later became doubtful about the safety and trustworthiness of nuclear power following a criticality accident in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, and an incident in which falsified data was produced on MOX fuel to be used in Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Takahama nuclear power plant. Sato's distrust turned to anger when TEPCO unilaterally decided in February last year to halt a plan to construct another thermal power plant in the prefecture, which would have had a major impact on the local economy. Sato turned his anger toward the central government's energy policy and changed his attitude toward the pluthermal program. While opposing the pluthermal program for the time being, Sato has established the prefectural government's own panel to discuss energy policy. The governor has taken a position of questioning the central government's energy policy, including the nuclear fuel recycling plan. Sato has flatly refused to meet with representatives from TEPCO and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Natural Resources and Energy Agency despite repeated requests. "Because the panel is continuing its debates, I have no intention of meeting them," Sato said. In addition, the prefectural government recently decided to raise the rate of local nuclear fuel tax from 7 percent to 13.5 percent--the highest in the nation. As a result, the dispute between the prefectural government and TEPCO has escalated, and the problem has become more complicated. Amid this deadlock, a meeting has been set for Monday between Sato and members of the central government's Atomic Energy Commission. The commission backs the nuclear fuel recycling plan, including the pluthermal project. Prefectural assembly members and local business leaders have voiced concern that relations with the central government and the national business community may worsen. Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 7 North Korea makes progress with nuclear power plant Radio Australia News - An international project to build nuclear reactors in North Korea will take a step forward this week as the North and South move closer to re-starting stalled peace talks. The first concrete is to be poured on Wednesday into the foundations of the plant near North Korea's eastern port of Sinpo, signalling a significant breakthrough for the much-delayed project. The ceremony will bring together representatives from the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union, as well as those from North Korea. The event is expected to further sweeten the atmosphere created by a flurry of diplomatic gestures in recent weeks from North Korea toward South Korea, the United States and Japan. 06/08/2002 01:12:38 | ABC Radio Australia News [http://www.abc.net.au ***************************************************************** 8 Nuclear Project Meeting Tops Busy N.Korea Calendar ABCNEWS.com : August 4, 2002 [Reuters] — By Paul Eckert SEOUL (Reuters) - Officials of an international project to build nuclear reactors in North Korea gathered in Seoul on Monday, a day after North and South Korea set ministerial talks next week to revive their stalled dialogue. The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) officials will travel to North Korea to pour concrete on Wednesday for reactors being built under a 1994 pact which suspended the North's suspected nuclear weapons program. KEDO executives from the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea will head a large delegation traveling to the isolated village of Kumho on the North's eastern coast for a ceremony to mark the start of work on the $4.8 billion reactors. After a tense showdown with the United States, North Korea pledged in 1994 to freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program in exchange for supplies of heating oil and two light-water reactors, which experts describe as proliferation-resistant. The KEDO ceremony follows a flurry of international contacts with North Korea last week, capped off by an agreement on Sunday to resume North-South dialogue, which set the stage for a busy diplomatic calendar on the world's last Cold War flash point. Officials from the rival Korean states said on Sunday they would hold cabinet-level talks from August 12 to 14 in Seoul to discuss economic cooperation, a railroad project and family exchanges and a resumption of long-suspended military dialogue. U.S., JAPAN EYE NORTH TALKS On Tuesday, the U.S.-led United Nations Command in South Korea will hold talks with the North Korean military at the Panmunjom truce village on the North-South border. The Panmunjom talks will discuss a June naval clash on the Yellow Sea in which North Korea sank a southern ship, killing five South Koreans. North Korea, which lost some 13 sailors, has expressed "regret" and pledged to prevent future incidents. North Korea also confirmed plans to play friendly soccer matches in the South next month, and agreed to send a team to the Asian Games to be held in South Korea's second-largest city, Pusan, from September 29 to October 14. The newest burst of inter-Korean contacts will be closely watched by Tokyo and Washington, which do not have formal diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, but are preparing to reopen contacts with North Korea. Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi held talks with their North Korean counterpart Paedk Nam-sun in Brunei. The United States wants to discuss security issues with North Korea, including the North's ballistic missile development and exports and unfinished business from the 1994 nuclear deal. Before North Korea receives critical nuclear equipment for the KEDO reactors, it must undergo U.N. nuclear inspections to clear up concerns about its pre-1994 nuclear activities. North Korea has dragged its feet on starting the inspections, which are expected to take about three years, since its relations with Washington deteriorated when George W. Bush became president in 2001 and put U.S. diplomacy with the communist state on hold. In January, Bush angered North Korea by branding it part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq, each suspected of proliferating weapons of mass destruction. Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 9 ROK to Export Nuclear Power Technology KoreaTimes : By Kim Sung-jin Staff Reporter Korea is expected to emerge as one of leading exporters of nuclear power plant facilities. Vietnam, Romania, China and the U.S. are among the promising markets for the Korean-style nuclear power plant design technology, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE). Seoul has submitted a proposal last May to the Vietnamese government that it would conduct a feasibility study into building the Southeast Asian country¡¯s first nuclear power facility. With Japan and Korea vying for the two trillion won Vietnamese nuclear construction project, Korea seeks to gain a more favorable stance in the auction by participating in the feasibility study where the nuclear technology standard and construction locations will be determined, said the MOCIE. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), the nuclear arm of state electricity monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), is also pushing for participating in the Romanian nuclear power plant construction projects, projects that were put off due to a financial crunch but are expected to be resumed soon. In addition, the government plans to boost component exports for nuclear power plants to the U.S. as some 10 new nuclear plants are expected to be built in the U.S. since the Bush administration recently switched its energy policy to a pro-nuclear policy. In addition, many decades-old American nuclear facilities will require upgrades or replacement. A majority of the 100 U.S. nuclear facilities were built before the late 1970s. Although the U.S., as a global nuclear powerhouse, far outclasses Korea in terms of nuclear power technology, Korea has a chance to advance into the U.S. market, a MOCIE official said. There are no major nuclear construction projects emerging in China, but the Korean government is promoting its technological power in the nuclear power industry by supporting related technologies such as nuclear engineer education and training programs to prepare for future demands for nuclear power plants. ``We plan to foster companies that specialize in nuclear power plant construction to beef up Korea¡¯s overseas competitiveness. KHNP will be developed into a nuclear power plant design company. Local nuclear plant component makers will be fostered to become nuclear plant equipment suppliers for the Asian region,¡¯¡¯ said the official. He added, `` Our combined nuclear power facility related exports were a mere $200 million between 1991 and last year. This is extremely miniscule. We plan to step up efforts to boost our nuclear related exports by focusing on Asian markets.¡¯¡¯ sjkim@koreatimes.co.kr [sjkim@koreatimes.co.kr] ***************************************************************** 10 Sept 11 was setback for antinuke movement japantoday Yasushi Azuma The Sept 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and following events at home and abroad have cast a cold wind on the antinuclear and peace movement in Japan. The movement, spearheaded by survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has also been losing momentum as many survivors get older and the incident fades further into the past. After Sept 11, Japan sent the Self-Defense Forces to the Indian Ocean to provide U.S.-led forces with noncombat support and the Diet started debating long-shelved war contingency laws. Outside Japan, the U.S. conducted several subcritical nuclear tests, including one with Britain, and tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan over the Kashimir region have flared up ? posing the threat that the world's first nuclear war could be unleashed in South Asia. "We have an imminent sense of crisis for war at home and abroad," said Sunao Tsuboi, secretary general of the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Confederation of A-Bomb and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo). "To make the matter worse, nuclear weapons could be used (in the India and Pakistan conflict). Because we are A-bomb survivors, we cannot help being sensitive to the issues of nuclear weapons." Tsuboi was 20 years old and was walking to Hiroshima University when the world's first atomic bomb exploded on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. He was tossed about 10 meters by the blast and suffered heavy burns. He did not remember anything for about 40 days while he was treated at a hospital. Controversial remarks made by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda hinting at a review of Japan's nonnuclear policies on May 31 fueled Tsuboi's anger and that of other A-bomb survivors. The Japanese government adopted the three principles of not possessing, manufacturing nor allowing nuclear arms on Japanese soil in 1967. "But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is so cunning that he shrewdly fended off the issue," Tsuboi said. Hidankyo planned to hold an A-bomb exhibition at the U.N. headquarters in New York from Sept 18 to Oct 27, which would mark the first such display at the venue. However, the event has been foiled, or at least postponed, at the request of the United Nations on the grounds some pictures are too horrible to be seen by children viewers. Despite the U.N.'s decision, Tsuboi, 77, has not yet given up his commitment to eradicate nuclear weapons around the globe. "I regret we could not abolish all nuclear weapons in the 20th century," he said. "But I must persevere for a while because I may be very feeble within several years." He still is looking for the possibility of holding the exhibition even by compromising to remove some of the photos, saying holding the event at the U.N. headquarters had a different meaning. As a part of his mission to pass on A-bomb experiences to future generations, Tsuboi is collecting written testimonies from all the around 18,000 A-bomb survivors who are members of Hidankyo's Hiroshima branch. Only 10% of A-bomb survivors have written about their experiences in the atomic bombings, he said. "Even only a few words will be fine," he said. "The important thing is for many A-bomb survivors to write some messages to pass them on to next generations." Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Director Minoru Hataguchi is another person who feels that the antinuclear and peace movement is under threat. Regarding subcritical nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. and Britain, Hataguchi said, "Frankly, I also want to stage a sit-in protest (like other peace activists) but I cannot considering my position." Hataguchi also lamented that the staff members at the museum do not seem to be bothered by these setbacks for the movement. "The memory of the A-bombings is indeed fading after 57 years, as even parents of contemporary children were born after World War II." About 350 visitors wrote down comments on the Sept 11 terror attacks and the U.S.-led military campaign against Afghanistan in a notebook at the museum. Only two of them supported the military campaign, while all the rest were opposed. This encouraged Hataguchi and has given him hope for the future. (Kyodo News) August 5, 2002 More commentaries by Yasushi Azuma ***************************************************************** 11 (vermont Yankee) Entergy comes to town Brattleboro Reformer Thursday, August 01, 2002 - 12:30:30 AM MST With an arduous and thorough yearlong review process at an end, it is time for southern Vermont to extend a welcome to Entergy, the new owner of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Despite a flurry of last-minute activity, with other New England states suggesting that they might obstruct the consummation of the $180 million deal over the disposition of the $300 million shutdown fund, Entergy closed on the sale Wednesday, almost a year after it emerged as the successful bidder at auction for the 30-year-old reactor. The sale gives Entergy control of its fifth working nuclear reactor in the Northeast, and its 10th overall. The New Orleans-based parent corporation, with annual revenues of $11 billion, also owns gas-, coal- and oil-generating plants in the South; its nuclear operations are headquartered in Jackson, Miss. The sale means different things to different people. For Vermont Yankee's 460 full-time employees, it means an end to months of uncertainty, and the sense that their economic future is once more on a firm footing. For the town of Vernon, the implications are similar, and the financial benefits undeniable. For the former utility owners, including Central Vermont Public Service Corp. and Green Mountain Power Corp., it must come as a great relief and a cause for celebration. For the rest of the state and the region, the consequences are less clear. Economically, state regulators have concluded, the sale is likely a benefit to electric ratepayers, because the cost of power from Vermont Yankee will be capped until 2005, and can only be adjusted downward after that. As a global energy company with the advantage of economies of scale, Entergy clearly expects to be able to shave some operating costs at Vermont Yankee. The understandable fear is that this will mean laying off workers and cutting corners on safety. The impression gained through the sale hearings that Entergy is a maze of shell corporations with no accountability only strengthened the suspicion that little Vermont would have trouble making its voice heard should it object to the company's actions. There will be no wholesale changes at the plant; Jay Thayer replaces Ross Barkhurst at the helm, but mostly it will be the same people in charge of the day-to-day operations as before. The only difference is that plant personnel will be answerable to someone in an office in White Plains, N.Y., or Jackson, Miss., not on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro. So, while we extend a welcome, we also ask our new corporate neighbor to be responsive, accessible and neighborly; to honor the trust that Vermont has shown it by approving its ownership of the state's only nuclear reactor; and to operate Yankee in a manner that always places safety and security above profits. After all, our health and well-being depend on it. ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and NENI Newspapers ***************************************************************** 12 NRC's Top Executives to Meet with NPPD Board NRC: Press Release Region IV - 2002 - 36 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 www.nrc.gov No. IV-02-036 August 2, 2002 CONTACT: Roger Hannah Phone: 817-860-8128 E-mail: [opa4@nrc.gov] Dr. William D. Travers, Executive Director of Operations from NRC Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, and Ellis W. Merschoff, Regional Administrator for Region IV in Arlington, Texas, will meet with the Board of Directors of Nebraska Public Power District Thursday, August 8, in North Platte, Nebraska, to discuss the NRC's assessment of the current safety performance of NPPD's Cooper Nuclear Station. The regularly scheduled board meeting will be held in the Employee Development Center at Gerald Gentleman Power Station, North Platte, beginning at 9 a.m. The board meeting is open to the public. Regulatory performance has declined at Cooper since October 2000, when the NRC identified the first of five inspection findings with low to moderate safety significance. Four of the findings were associated with failures in Cooper's implementation of its emergency preparedness program, while the fifth finding involved a compromise of the biennial requalification exam for plant operators. While these issues are of concern to the NRC, the Cooper plant continues to be operated in a manner that adequately protects public health and safety. ***************************************************************** 13 NRC Cites Oconee Nuclear Plant For Violation of Low to Moderate Safety Significance NRC: Press Release Region II - 2002 - 43 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 www.nrc.gov No. II-02-043 August 5, 2002 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: [opa2@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has determined that a violation of NRC safety regulations at Unit 1 of the Duke Energy's Oconee nuclear power plant near Seneca, South Carolina, should be characterized as "white," meaning that it is of low to moderate importance to safety. An NRC inspection in January, 2001, identified the fact that a lack of adequate procedural controls existed at Oconee Unit 1 to ensure closure of the containment building upon a possible loss of shutdown cooling capability during a refueling outage in the Fall of the year 2000. No problem occurred, but the NRC said a procedure to combat a loss of shutdown cooling while the reactor was partially defueled was inadequate because it lacked sufficient instructions to ensure that operators would disconnect temporary services running through a temporary hatch cover and shut the outer emergency hatch door, instead of relying upon the non-qualified temporary cover for containment closure. Under its safety significance determination process, NRC officials classify certain conditions at nuclear power plants as being one of four colors which delineate increasing levels of safety significance, beginning with green and progressing to white, yellow or red. The NRC staff informed Duke Energy in a letter dated August 1 that the agency's final significance determination was that the procedural control concerns at Oconee Unit 1 constituted a White finding and issued the company a Notice of Violation. The NRC said procedural revisions and corrective actions taken by the company were adequate, and that the finding does not represent a current safety issue. Additional details on the white finding and on the Notice of Violation are available from the NRC's Region 2 Office of Public Affairs at the above address or online in the NRC's electronic reading room in the agency's ADAMS document system, accessible at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room at 301- 415-4737 or 1-800-397-4209. ***************************************************************** 14 Leak Closes Millstone 2 CONNECTICUT August 5, 2002 Associated Press WATERFORD -- The Millstone 2 nuclear reactor at the Millstone Power Station was still shut down Sunday night with a leak in a cooling pump, plant officials said. Millstone spokesman Peter Hyde said the pinhole-size leak in a pump that supplies water to cool the reactor was discovered Friday and was not a cause for public concern. "The unit was shut down out of an abundance of caution," Hyde said. Hyde said he was not sure when it would be restarted. "We'll be done with it when it's safe and ready to go back online," Hyde said. "The important thing is to get the unit stable." ctnow.com is Copyright © 2002 by The Hartford Courant ***************************************************************** 15 Lack of radiation data troubles feds This story was published Sun, Aug 4, 2002 By Annette Cary Herald staff writer The federal government is considering how to deal with cases of nuclear workers who have cancer but don't have good information on how much radiation they were exposed to at Hanford and other nuclear sites. "We cannot be put in a position of one group of workers favored over another," said Sylvia Kieding, health and safety consultant to the Paper Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers International union, or PACE. Under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, Hanford workers with cancer are being held to a higher standard of proof of exposure to radiation to be eligible for federal compensation than some nuclear workers elsewhere. A public forum Wednesday in Richland could give organized labor officials and others a chance to make a case to ease federal regulations. The federal government is considering rules stricter than advocates for ill workers are likely to request. A year ago, the federal government started accepting claims from former and current nuclear workers who believe their health was harmed by working at Hanford or other federal sites doing nuclear weapons work. Those found eligible or their survivors will be given $150,000 and coverage of continuing related medical costs. For Hanford workers filing claims, the federal government will reconstruct their work history, estimate how much radiation they were exposed to and use medical records they supply to decide if there's at least a 50 percent chance that radiation caused the cancer. But for some workers at other sites, the burden of proof is far less. Workers at the underground nuclear tests in Amchitka, Alaska, and at gaseous diffusion plants in Paducah, Ky., Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tenn., fall into a group the federal government calls the special exposure cohort. They must show only that they have one of about 20 types of cancer, should have been monitored for radiation and worked at least 250 days at a gaseous diffusion plant, or, in the case of Alaskan workers, were exposed to radiation from underground nuclear tests. Because Congress believed dose records for those workers were unreliable or do not exist, those workers do not have to prove they received enough radiation to make it the likely cause of their cancer. Payments have been made to some workers with cancer or their survivors in the special exposure cohort. But so far, no Hanford workers with cancer have received compensation. In fact, only five dose reconstructions have been completed for workers required to prove exposure levels out of 6,289 requests made nationwide. Now the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, is considering rules to allow others, possibly including groups of Hanford workers, to join the special group exempt from dose reconstruction. The proposed rules to be discussed Wednesday say that if the radiation dose cannot be reconstructed -- because radiation dose records are missing, unreliable or never kept -- NIOSH will come up with estimates based on known doses of those doing similar work. "It's only in cases where we exhaust all techniques for dose reconstruction and feel we cannot (get a dose), they would be candidates for the special exposure cohort," said Dave Sundin, deputy director of the NIOSH office of compensation analysis and support. But those workers who petition to join the special group also would need to show there would be a "reasonable likelihood" that their radiation dose may have endangered them. That likelihood would be assessed by indications of how much radiation they were exposed to, what types and whether that likely would cause cancer. Once a class of workers were assigned to the special group, they would not have to prove their individual radiation doses to receive compensation. But advocates for Hanford workers said making a guess at the dose when it could not be calculated, then plugging it into epidemiological formulas is not a reliable method to assess risk. It also holds Hanford workers to a more rigid standard of proof than other workers in the special group, advocates complained. "It shouldn't be the claimants' fault if the government failed to properly monitor them or keep their records," said Richard Miller of the Government Accountability Group, a watchdog organization. "When people cannot get a dose estimate, NIOSH can't guess." At some sites, groups of workers already are being suggested for inclusion in the special exposure cohort. For instance, a new study of workers at Rocky Flats, Colo., relying on autopsies, shows dose estimates may not account for plutonium inhaled during a huge fire, Miller said. At Hanford, urine samples were used as one way to monitor radiation exposure. But for decades those tests showed only the activity level in the urine, not whether radiation was from isotopes being quickly excreted or insoluble ones that remained in the body longer to do damage, Miller said. NIOSH will explain its proposed rules to allow more workers and former workers to petition to join the special exposure group and take public comments at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The meeting will be at the Red Lion Inn, 802 George Washington Way. For more information, go to www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas on the Internet. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 16 PNNL creates security system allowing scanner to see through clothing This story was published Mon, Aug 5, 2002 By Annette Cary Herald staff writer A decade after volunteers at Sea-Tac Airport tested a security scanner that could see through clothing to spot weapons and explosives hidden beneath, several industries may begin using the system for real. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have been working for 13 years on technology that uses ultra-high-frequency radio waves to find objects hidden under clothing. But interest has been renewed in the system since terrorists used hijacked commercial airliners to attack the Pentagon and World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Battelle, which operates the Richland lab for the Department of Energy, has licensed the technology to SafeView, a new corporation formed to commercialize the security system. It could be on the market within 18 months. The system looks similar to the metal detectors that airline passengers pass through at security check points. But in addition to detecting metal knives and guns, it also can find ceramic and plastic weapons, including plastic explosives, hidden beneath clothing. Its resolution is high enough that it can show objects within other objects, such as plastic tucked into a pack of cigarettes. But that high resolution has been a blessing and a curse. Before Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration had been concerned that the millimeter wave system worked so well that it showed not only weapons concealed beneath clothing, but also a person's physical features. Researchers at the lab have been working on improvements to the system to protect privacy. They're reprogramming it to display concealed objects on a generic human silhouette or wire-frame mannequin, rather than displaying the image of the person being scanned. Work is continuing on the changes, but the concept has been proved to work, said Richard Rowe, chief executive of SafeView. The system takes about 10 seconds to check each person, projecting radio waves onto the front and back off the body. The waves penetrate the clothing to bounce of the person and the items he is carrying. The reflected waves are detected by sensors and sent to a computer that displays a three-dimensional image. Unlike X-ray machines, such as those sometimes used to check luggage at airports, the scanner developed at the Richland lab uses no ionizing radiation and is safe to use repeatedly on people. The system was developed primarily with money from the FAA, which wanted to see if imaging technologies developed to evaluate nuclear reactors in the 1970s could be used to screen passengers. But SafeView believes many other agencies could be interested in the scanner. "When you pass through (the entry portal), you would know the people you join are free from threats," Rowe said. It could provide security in courtrooms, military bases, embassies and office buildings or check for smuggled goods at border crossings, said Mike Lyons, chairman of SafeView's board. It also could be used to screen people entering sports arenas and concert halls, he said. Although there have been privacy concerns, in some cases it actually could have privacy advantages, such as serving as an alternative to strip searches at prisons or jails. "While the technology was developed to identify dangerous objects or contraband that people might try to bring into a facility, we believe it also could be used to protect against theft by identifying concealed items that people might try to remove from facilities ranging from museums to nuclear plants," said Doug McMakin, a lab engineer who was a principal developer of the technology. The lab has estimated that initially the system could cost about $100,000, but the cost should drop as the market for it grows. SafeView is based in Menlo Park, Calif., but will establish a product development office in the Tri-Cities. Under Battelle's contract to operate the Richland lab, it works to transfer government-developed technology to industry so it can be widely used. It retains an equity interest in the technology, with any income generated reinvested in the Richland lab. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 17 Downwinders Appeal Eligibility Decision The Salt Lake Tribune -- Saturday, August 3, 2002 BY JUDY FAHYS Cancer survivor Evelyn K. Jessop chose not to wait for Congress to correct the bill-writing error that cost her a share of the federal compensation fund for Downwinders. The 76-year-old, who has lived nearly all her life in the Arizona-Utah polygamist community of Colorado City, has appealed a U.S. Department of Justice decision that she does not qualify for $50,000 under the 1990 Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act (RECA) because of where she lives. In a plea on Jessop's behalf, attorney Raymond Scott Berry of Salt Lake City said residents of Mohave County, Ariz., deserved the money despite a legislative blunder that accidently left Mohave off a list of qualifying counties when the bill was updated. Prior to that update two years ago, Berry said, Mohave County residents like Jessop were eligible for compensation to cover illness they suffered after radioactive fallout from 1950s atomic-weapons tests drifted through the Four Corners region. "To acknowledge her sacrifice in one breath, and with the other to tell her that as a result of a clerical error she is to be denied any restitution for her suffering, is shameful and cruel," said Berry in a July 12 letter appealing the Justice Department's decision. Lawmakers immediately recognized the mistake and began offering bills to fix the problem more than a year ago. Congressional infighting, however, has snagged progress. Until a few months ago, the trouble was over plans to expand the compensation program, which had to hand out IOUs for some time because of an $86 million funding shortfall for a program that had pledged $266 million to cover 690 claims. And since spring, the problem has been a Justice Department bill to which the Mohave County correction is attached. The House and Senate have been wrangling over the Justice Department reauthorization for months. Sen. Orrin Hatch has begun eyeing other possible vehicles for carrying the RECA corrections to ensure they will be implemented right away. An aide to the Utah Republican described fixing the Downwinders law as a top priority. "These people are so sick, the last thing they need is to be jerked around," said the aide. "That's why this is so important to Sen. Hatch." The news is certain to be welcomed by Jessop and other Mohave County residents. Rachel Cooke, another elderly client of Berry's in Colorado City, said her claim was wrongly rejected, too, and has filed an appeal. Jessop had a mastectomy in April and needs the money to help with her cancer treatments. In a poignant letter to the Justice Department caseworker reviewing her claim, she pointed out that her family had endured the infamous Short Creek polygamist raid in 1953 and that her daughter, Rosemary, who was 5 at the time of the raid, desperately needed Downwinder money, too. Rosemary Jessop Burnham, who was in the late stages of breast cancer, filed her claim last fall. "Please reconsider our claim!" Jessop wrote. "We do need your help badly! And as soon as possible." © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 18 N-waste setback for Utah [deseretnews.com] Saturday, August 3, 2002 Deseret News editorial Federal judge Tena Campbell's ruling this week on Utah's efforts to keep nuclear waste off the Goshute Reservation is difficult to argue with. The final decision, as she said, rests with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the state would have to appeal that ruling to the courts, if and when the time comes that the NRC votes to inflict the state with these dangerous spent fuel rods. And yet the ruling has one extremely vexing aspect to it. Indian tribes have sovereign rights on their reservations. But what happens when a reservation exercises its rights in such a way that it causes danger to people outside the tribal lands? By storing 40,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste above ground a scant 40 miles from Salt Lake City, the tribe would indeed be creating a potential hazard to the people around them. In addition, they would harm the state's reputation. Utah ought to be known as much more than a dumping ground for waste no one else wants, but it feels a sense of helplessness against the system. The state could breathe easier if it knew the NRC would take all factors into account, including the state's interests. But that would be wishful thinking, at best. To solve this problem, Utah will have to rely on the clout and political skill of its congressional delegation. At the urging of Gov. Mike Leavitt, the Legislature passed laws that banned spent nuclear fuel in the state, required the Goshute facility, run by a consortium known as Private Fuel Storage, to post a $150 billion bond and imposed a $10,000 fine on anyone who provided services to the facility. These were desperate measures, part of the Leavitt's whatever-it-takes philosophy for keeping nuclear waste out. But they were noble efforts. Campbell struck them all down as she ruled that the state can't keep nuclear waste out because of safety concerns. Leavitt has vowed to appeal. In the meantime, the only sure way to keep hot nuclear waste out of Utah is to get the federal government to reject it. Rep. Jim Hansen's plan to turn land around the site into protected wilderness has some merit, but it may not have the support it needs to become law. Other proposals may face tough sledding in a Congress that recently voted to put a permanent nuclear repository in Nevada. This is different from Yucca Mountain. Here, the spent fuel rods would be stored above ground and close to the city. In Nevada, they will be stored under a mountain far from any population center. The trick is in getting the right people to understand that. © 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 19 Kern may be on nuclear waste path [http://www.bakersfield.com] By MARYLEE SHRIDER , Californian staff writer e-mail: mshrider@bakersfield.com Sunday August 04, 2002, 10:29:58 PM Trucks and trains bearing nuclear waste may travel through Kern County on their way to a Nevada repository as early as 2010, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Energy. Potential routes are included in the final environmental statement of the Yucca Mountain project. Yucca Mountain, in Nye County, Nev., approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the site of the nation's first long-term repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Gayle Fisher, Yucca Mountain project spokeswoman, would not discuss the proposed routes, but said Energy Department officials are expected to finalize their selection of a rail or road corridor within the next two years. "If a northern corridor is selected in Nevada then little or no shipments will go through Kern County," Fisher said. "More would come through Bakersfield if we pick a southern route, but the middle valley is still up in the air." Transporting by rail, Fisher said, tends to be the state's preference. Should a rail corridor be selected, about 55 shipments over the next 24 years could pass through Kern on the Union Pacific line, which cuts through Kern parallel to Highway 99. Union Pacific railroad spokesman Mike Furtney said the line has years of experience in the transportation of nuclear waste and will be ready if and when the call comes. "There's no question the stuff has to move. That's not an option," Furtney said. "The question is what's the safest way to do it? There's never been an accident on rail transport of nuclear waste in the United States. The rail industry is five to six times safer than trucking." The Senate voted last month to seal thousands of tons of radioactive waste inside Yucca Mountain. Once the Energy Department secures a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it will move the waste from Northern California power plants to the repository. Specifics on shipments, like dates and times, are classified and will be released to a limited number of city officials on a need-to-know basis, which is all right by Furtney. "Anybody who has watched television since September 11 knows it's not something you want every Osama bin Laden out there to know in advance," he said. "When they get closer to actual shipping, local law enforcement will be informed." Bakersfield fire Chief Ron Fraze said his department's environmental services division, which handles hazardous materials, would normally get first notification on such shipments. Fraze said he appreciates the secrecy that shrouds nuclear waste shipments, but is less than pleased with the notification process. "When you're dealing with federal government a lot of times that notification slips through the cracks," Fraze said. "We do have our contingency plans in place and hope we never need 'em." City and county hazardous material teams often train together, working through a variety of accident scenarios. Hazardous shipments, Fraze said, are routinely trucked through the county via Highway 99. Waste materials are shipped in containers measuring 18 feet in length and weighing about 130 tons. Waste material makes up only about 10 percent of the shipment -- the remainder is packing that provides shielding and protection. Every precaution is taken, Fraze said, to ensure public safety. "Yes, we are concerned, absolutely," he said. "We're concerned any time the public safety is involved. Are we going to panic? No. The chances of anything bad happening are very slim." ***************************************************************** 20 Waste trial ends, but not controversy Omaha.com August 5, 2002 *BY ROBYNN TYSVER* WORLD-HERALD BUREAU LINCOLN - The tumultuous years of the 1990s, when the debate over a proposed low-level nuclear waste facility in Nebraska was at its zenith, are gone. For the time being, anyway. A trial that ended last week in U.S. District Court could reignite the bitter fight that divided neighbors in Boyd County. It also could lead to the first regional waste facility in the nation. A five-state compact sued Nebraska after the state denied a license for the facility in 1998. Former Gov. Ben Nelson's administration essentially went on trial for nine weeks in a federal courtroom. The compact, seeking $100 million in damages, alleged that Nelson, who had campaigned against the facility, stacked the deck against the license. The state countered that Nelson ordered regulators to follow the book in reviewing the license application. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf, who presided at the trial, now has asked attorneys to advise him who, if anyone, should be appointed as a special master to independently review the license as a possible remedy to the long-running dispute. The case isn't simply about $100million, said Jim O'Connell, a Kansas City, Mo., lawyer who is chairman of the compact that wants to build the facility in Nebraska. "We feel strongly that we have an obligation to seek a safe disposal facility," O'Connell said. "I don't think that just saying, 'Pay us money, and we'll go away' gets the job done." The five states in the compact are Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana. A federal law promoted the formation of regional compacts to dispose of low-level nuclear waste generated by hospitals, utility companies and others. In 1983, with little debate, Nebraska joined the compact. Four years later, a fight erupted when Nebraska was selected by the compact as the site of the waste facility. Lawyers for the state maintain that Nebraska had legitimate grounds to deny the license. They said the proposed site was waterlogged and unsuited for the facility, and the company chosen to develop the facility, U S Ecology, had financial woes. "We presented a good case, and we think we deserve to win," said John Wittenborn, one of six Washington, D.C., attorneys who represented Nebraska. Wittenborn said the state does not concede that a special master is needed. He said the appointment of an out-of-state person or scientific panel to review the licensing procedure would violate Nebraska's sovereignty. "That's a terrible precedent for every future administrative proceeding conducted in Nebraska," Wittenborn said. "This is not a federal issue. It's a state issue." He said that if there is to be another review, it should be conducted by someone appointed by Gov. Mike Johanns or another state official. Kenny Reiser supports the appointment of a special master. Reiser is a Butte, Neb., farmer and staunch supporter of the facility, believing it would bring jobs and dollars to Boyd County. He said an independent review would go a long way in assuaging people's fears that the waste facility would be unsafe. He said it may be the only reasonable end to the dispute. "I think a lot of people would respect the views of a special master," Reiser said. Lowell Fisher, a Butte farmer who went on a hunger strike to oppose the facility, strongly disagreed. Fisher said an independent review is not needed. He said it might resolve the safety questions surrounding the facility but not the political dispute over the selection of Boyd County. The county was chosen, he said, because it was sparsely populated and politically vulnerable. "We do not want our county turned into a radioactive garbage dump," Fisher said. "It would not be a five-state garbage dump. It would be a national garbage dump." Like others, he is concerned that a Nebraska facility would also become a national repository for low-level nuclear waste. No facility has been developed under the 1980 federal law that encouraged states to enter into compacts and to build regional facilities. "The law is still on the books, but there is no one out there calling for its application and enforcement," said Cheryl Runyon of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Compacts that tried to build regional facilities came under intense opposition akin to what happened in Boyd County. However, few lawsuits like the one in Nebraska have been filed. The other states worked out agreements to send their waste to one of three low-level nuclear waste facilities currently in operation in Utah, South Carolina and Washington. There is a lawsuit under way in the southeast compact, alleging that North Carolina is dragging its feet in the licensing process. Fisher said he worries that if Nebraska is chosen, it will become a national facility. "The writing is on the wall," he said. "If you build the dump, you've got a national dump." wow wrote: If they build the dump they should name after Bob Kerry. Its about the biggest thing he did for Nebraska as gov. It sure was thoughtful of him to sign us up for the dump. ©2002 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved. Copyright ***************************************************************** 21 West Valley task force will review plan Buffalo News - ASHFORD - The West Valley Citizens Task Force will meet Wednesday to review a revised draft of comments on funding for an accelerated cleanup plan at the West Valley Demonstration Project, site of a former nuclear waste processing center. According to the Department of Energy's Accelerated Cleanup proposal, the time frame for some radioactive waste decontamination and waste management operations would be compressed to five years. At their June meeting, most task force members said they hoped their comments would stress continued progress in negotiations for long-term site management between the DOE and the State Energy Research and Development Authority, and for stable funding of activities at the site. West Valley Demonstration Project officials next month are scheduled to shut down vitrification operations, which enclose one type of high-level nuclear waste into glass logs. That waste, a trainload of spent nuclear fuel assemblies awaiting shipment to an interim storage site out of state, and other wastes also are present there. Also at Wednesday's meeting, the task force will hear an update on negotiations between the federal and state agencies, and will discuss Congressional involvement in West Valley issues with representatives of elected officials. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Ashford Office Complex on Route 219 and is open to the public. Copyright © 1999 - 2002 The Buffalo NewsTM ***************************************************************** 22 State of Nevada Position on How DOE Must Approach Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Transportation Planning NEVADA'S POSITION ON HOW DOE MUST APPROACH SNF AND HLW TRANSPORTATION PLANNING Preface The State of Nevada has filed suit challenging DOE's final Yucca Mountain Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) as inadequate and in violation of both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). The State contends that DOE should have fully and adequately addressed transportation of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) to Yucca Mountain in the FEIS, and that the transportation analysis contained in the FEIS is legally and substantively deficient and entirely inadequate. These talking points do not, in any way, diminish the legal arguments. Rather, they are intended to set forth Nevada's position relative to any Yucca Mountain SNF/HLW transportation planning effort DOE may undertake. DOE is now proposing to move ahead with decisions about SNF and HLW transportation without having conducted adequate analyses of proposed decisions and their alternatives and without legally required public and stakeholder input. It is Nevada's position that such decisions can only be made - and the activities required to make them can only be undertaken - within the context of a comprehensive and legally sufficient NEPA process. State Position: + The ONLY acceptable vehicle for engaging in planning for SNF and HLW shipments in Nevada or nationally is the process set forth by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its implementing regulations. + The NEPA process provides a clear and unambiguous framework by which DOE can set forth its proposal(s) for developing and implementing a transportation system in a manner that assures adequate public involvement and that guarantees consistency and transparency. + The NEPA process assures that there is a level playing field and that DOE will not be able to make one set of representations to one group, region, or area, and another set of representations to other groups, regions, or areas. The NEPA process enhances public involvement while severely limiting opportunities for gamesmanship, manipulation, and playing one set of stakeholders/affected parties off against another. + This means that DOE must commit to the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the transportation program. Such EIS must encompass an integrated transportation program that covers BOTH the national transportation system and the transportation system within Nevada. The EIS must show how the national and Nevada components function in a consistent and integrated manner, and how decisions with respect to the national system affect the Nevada system, and vice versa. + DOE should begin the process by first setting forth it's proposed action and alternatives for the national transportation system. Once the national system has been fully scoped and alternatives identified and described, DOE should develop the Nevada component (proposed action and alternatives) in a manner that is fully consistent with the national system. + All interactions with the public, state and local governments, and other interested parties and stakeholders must be done ONLY through the formal NEPA process. All information made available must be the same for all groups and in all forums. DOE must follow the letter and spirit of NEPA in informing and involving the public and affected parties, both nationally and in Nevada. + A formal record of all NEPA proceedings, interactions, comments, information requests, etc. must be maintained by DOE, and this record must become a part of the overall record for the EIS and the NEPA process. + State of Nevada agencies will interact with DOE only via the formal NEPA process. + All meetings and interactions must be public and formally noticed so that there can be no manipulation of the process - such as the playing off of one party or set of parties against others. + The EIS should include the DOE's proposal for how to accomplish the transportation project. This is the place to air the alternatives, such as regional transportation service contractors, etc. + The EIS should include the policy and procedures for implementation of Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the provision for training and equipping state and local public safety and emergency response personnel. In 1998 DOE started the process, and their original offering and all comments received are on the OCRWM page, just waiting for the next phase of "make it up as you go." An EIS is the proper place to sort this out. Steps to be Followed in the Process: 1. DOE develops a draft national transportation plan describing a proposed action and alternatives. This draft plan is to be used to initiate the formal NEPA scooping process. 2. Once the national plan has been developed, DOE develops a draft Nevada component, assuring that the proposed action and alternatives are fully consistent with the national plan (action plus alternatives). There must be complete symmetry between the two plans. 3. The integrated draft plan must clearly identify all proposed shipping modes and routes, clearly depicting all preferred shipping routes and alternatives. 4. Once both draft plans have been developed, DOE initiates a formal scooping process for the transportation EIS. This must involve a lengthy comment period (at least 180 days) and formal hearings in states and cities along all proposed transportation routes, both nationally and in Nevada. 5. Upon completion of the scoping process, DOE must prepare a draft EIS that fully addresses both the national system (proposed action and alternative) and the Nevada system (proposed action and alternatives). 6. The draft EIS must be put out for public comment for an extended period (9 months to a year, at least). DOE must take extraordinary steps to assure that the public and affected cities, counties, and communities along transportation routes, both nationally and in Nevada, are aware of the draft EIS and have ample opportunity to comment on it. DOE must hold hearings in communities all along transportation routes. 7. Hearings and the comment period/comment solicitation must be fully and adequately noticed all along the transportation routes, both nationally and in Nevada. Such notices must NOT be done in the fashion employed for the Yucca Mountain draft EIS, where public notices were placed so as NOT to draw public attention and where the wording of the notices made no mention of nuclear waste transportation or the potential for impacts to people and communities along the transportation routes. 8. Upon completion of all hearings and close of the comment period for the draft EIS, DOE must incorporate public input into a revise draft EIS. While not required by NEPA, the issuance of a revised draft EIS is essential due to the extraordinary complexity of the transportation program and the extreme public interest in and sensitivity to this issue. DOE should initiate another comment period on the revised draft EIS, with additional public hearings as needed to assure a full on open public airing of the proposed action and alternatives. 9. Upon completion of the comment period and hearings on the revised draft EIS, DOE will prepare a final EIS that fully complies with NEPA and CEQ requirements. The final EIS will set forth the alternative(s) selected by DOE for both the national and Nevada system, assuring that all aspects of each will be internally consistent. 10. DOE must issue a formal Record of Decision setting forth the integrated SNF and HLW transportation system (both the selected national and Nevada components and the interface between them). 11. The final EIS and the Record of Decision will become the basis for any discussions with the State of Nevada, Nevada local governments, other states and local governments, the transportation industry, etc. for moving ahead with SNF or HLW transportation activities. ***************************************************************** 23 Dockyard in MoD fraud probe Scotsman.com /IAIN DEY/ A FRAUD investigation has been launched by the Ministry of Defence into labour practices at the Devonport naval dockyard. Sub-contractors at the Plymouth-based yard are suspected to have swindled millions of pounds on work relating to Devonport?s lucrative nuclear submarine refit contract. The news comes as a blow to Devonport as it bids to land a share of the MoD?s massive £2.5 billion aircraft carrier contract, which is expected to bring up to 1,000 jobs to Scotland. A spokesman for Devonport Management Limited (DML) said: "I can confirm that there is a MoD police investigation underway, which includes sub-contractors working for one of DML?s principal contractors, and is looking at possible fraudulent activity." He added: "Whilst DML is not directly involved, it has supplied information to the Ministry of Defence police in relation to the investigation." Subcontractors working for Rolls Royce Marine are alleged to have fiddled time sheets and charged for workers who never actually existed. The alleged fraud relates to the upgrade of the Devonport yard which took place ahead of the nuclear sub refit programme and is understood to have taken place about 12 months ago. A source close to the investigation insisted the sums involved were "small beer" relative to the overall project cost. He insisted it was a "small percentage" of the multi-million pound contract which is now understood to have more than doubled from the original estimate to £890 million. But the amount involved is still expected to have run into millions of pounds. Rolls Royce Marine declined to comment. Devonport, 51 per cent owned by Halliburton, the oil services company formerly run by US vice president Dick Cheney, is part of the hotly-tipped bid led by French firm Thales to land the MoD?s prestigious new aircraft carrier contract. The move would see up to 1,000 jobs created at the Nigg yard in Easter Ross, where the two massive new vessels would be assembled before being passed on to Devonport, which would have the largest chunk of the contract. The Devonport spokesman insisted the investigation would have no bearing on the bid and the Thales bid was still "very much in the running," alongside a rival offer from BAE Systems. Scottish yards would also benefit if BAE won the contract. But it is understood that Nigg bay is the only place in Britain large enough to assemble the huge vessels, which will weigh around 15,000 tonnes and stretch the length of three football pitches. Halliburton, Devonport?s majority shareholder, is currently under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over claims it accelerated earnings on construction projects starting in 1998. Devonport?s other shareholders are Balfour Beatty and Glasgow-based engineering firm Weir Group, which both hold 24.5 per cent. ©2002 scotsman.com ***************************************************************** 24 Saudi Arabia may buy Pak nukes TUESDAY, AUGUST 06, 2002 THE TIMES OF INDIA INDIATIMES ANI [ MONDAY, AUGUST 05, 2002 6:06:19 AM ] NEW YORK: Reports that senior Saudi officials have discussed the prospect of nuclear weapons cooperation with Pakistan have been corroborated by US officials, according to Washington-based World Tribune.Com. This is based on a report published in the State Department's strategic journal /US Foreign Policy Agenda/ which cited Saudi interest and stressed that the kingdom does not have nuclear arms. The journal was published on the department's web site and focused on the topic Weapons of Mass Destruction: The New Strategic Framework. "Saudi Arabia does not have weapons of mass destruction," the report, authored by former Pentagon official Anthony Cordesman, said. "It did, however, buy long-range CSS-2 ballistic missiles from China. Very senior Saudi officials have held conversations with officials involved in the Pakistani nuclear programme, and possibly with similar officials in other countries." Saudi leaders, it is said, have also discussed the procurement of new Pakistani intermediate-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and officials were invited to tour Pakistan's nuclear weapons facilities. But no sale has been arranged. The report by Cordesman, a senior fellow of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, also supports assertions that Egypt has been developing an intermediate-range missile based on North Korea's No-Dong. Congress has been told that Egypt obtained 24 No-Dong missiles over the last year. It also possesses Scud missiles and is seeking to create extended-range Scud missiles similar to North Korean designs. Copyright © 2002 Times Internet Limited. ***************************************************************** 25 A-bomb use still raises questions KnoxNews: Local A photo from the National Archives shows the utter devastation that was inflicted on Japan by the unrelenting bombing campaign conducted by the Allies, but the Japanese military exhibited no willingness to capitulate until atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and on Nagasaki on Aug. 9. UT prof wonders if it was worth cost By Fred Brown, News-Sentinel senior writer August 4, 2002 Was the atomic bomb necessary to end World War II? The answer depends on whom you ask. Veterans of the conflict are almost unanimous in agreeing that the bomb saved lives on both sides. Some historians and others, however, claim that while the war was no doubt shortened by the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan, it could have been won by conventional means because the Japanese were already staggering on their last legs. The allied blockade of Japan and continuous bombing, coupled with the loss of the Philippines and Okinawa, had sapped the energy of Japan's military. Historical hindsight is always sharply focused. "You are really playing 'what if,' " says Dr. G. Kurt Piehler, assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee who focuses on war, peace and American society. Piehler is the director of UT's Center for the Study of War and Society. He is the author of "Remembering War the American Way" and co-editor of "Major Problems in American Military History." He is also the consulting editor for the "Oxford Companion to Military History." "You could almost make a case for the U.S. naval blockade and traditional air power and Japan would have surrendered. And, of course, there were the guarantees to Emperor Hirohito (that the monarchy would be left intact)," Piehler says. "But it is still a 'what if' question." At 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, a flash of light far brighter than the morning sun illuminated Hiroshima. Within seconds, about 80,000 people and 90 percent of the city were destroyed, and the world was forever changed. Heat and fire evaporated simply many people and turned others into walking nightmares whose flesh hung from their limbs like torn rags. A mushroom cloud climbed five miles into the sky. The new weapon was created from the explosive power in the fission of atomic nuclei. When the nucleus of a heavy atom, such as uranium-235, is split, a certain amount of mass is lost, releasing an equivalent amount of energy. This released energy is the extraordinary powerful atom bomb. On a pound-for-pound basis, the U-235 in an atomic bomb can discharge a million times more energy than TNT. The bomb that exploded 1,800 feet above the city of Hiroshima 57 years ago was a weapon of about 15 kilotons. It was transported to the city by a U.S. B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay that was piloted by Col. Paul Tibbets and manned by a handpicked crew. The energy released from the bomb, dubbed "Little Boy," was at that time equal to about the total amount of energy that would be consumed in all of the United States in about half a minute. But the bomb's energy was released in a few millionths of a second. American veterans, those who had been fighting for four years in both the European and Pacific theaters, will almost universally say the detonation of that bomb saved their lives and the lives of Japanese soldiers as well. "There would have been over a million people to lose their lives on both sides if we had invaded Japan," says Marshal McCloud, state chairman of the Pearl Harbor Survivor's Association. McCloud was with the 34th Combat Engineers at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked and drew America into the war. "Invasion of the (Japanese) mainland would have caused the destruction of that whole country," he says. At the time the bomb was dropped at Hiroshima, McCloud was stationed in the United States and preparing for the Japan invasion as part of a backup force. The main invasion force, he says, was already on its way, staging at Okinawa. Today, nearly six decades after the event, some historians question whether such a horrendous weapon should have been employed to bring the war to a close. Germany had already surrendered, and now the U.S. and the Allies were free to turn their attention entirely toward ending the conflict with Japan. The Manhattan Project, set up in Oak Ridge and Hanford, Wash., and tested at a site called Trinity in the desert near Alamogordo, N.M., produced "Little Boy," the first atomic bomb used in warfare, and "Fat Man," the second bomb that exploded over Nagasaki on Aug. 9. After the two nuclear explosions, the Japanese military leaders bowed to pressure from Hirohito and surrendered on Aug. 14, ending World War II. Thousands of American GIs who had been preparing to invade the Japanese mainland were now reassigned. They were going home to pick up their lives, ushering in the 1950s, one of the great peacetime periods in American history. At the same time the Cold War with what was then the Soviet Union heated up, eventually igniting the Korean Conflict in 1950. "Even if you think the bomb played a role in ending the war," says Piehler, "it is still a question as to whether it is acceptable to kill civilians in war. We killed American POWs in Hiroshima. "Was it worth that cost? That will keep the debate going on for years. But the more important issue is to consider what the bomb represented. It was that larger pattern of attacking civilians - and the arms race." Piehler says the argument that by dropping the bomb, Japanese lives were saved came after the end of the war. "We can only make educated guesses about if there had been an invasion," he said. "We don't know for sure about those casualties. It may have been like Germany. The opposition (within Germany) was stiff at first but then collapsed quickly. "I think the bomb was used because it was known that it would end the war. It was a very experimental weapon, so it was irresistible. Those who developed it wanted to use it. "But I mainly argue that the debate over (using) the bomb has become over-simplified. We tend to forget that there were a lot of other factors going on. "The scientists were right, of course. There was a huge arms race after the war. We are still paying the price for that in terms of contaminated sites, like Oak Ridge and Hanford. We won the Cold War, but there is a real cost in terms of nuclear contamination." Piehler said there are two points to keep in mind concerning use of the bomb. First, the Soviet Union's declaration of war upon Japan was a very significant factor in bringing about the capituation. "The other thing about the bomb," Piehler says, "is we have to keep it in context. It was the start of the atomic age. A majority of Americans thought this was the creation of a world government, and after the bomb and the initial exhilaration after the war, there was a lot of misgiving." Fred Brown can be reached at 342-6427 or brownf@knews.com A photo from the National Archives shows the utter devastation that was inflicted on Japan by the unrelenting bombing campaign conducted by the Allies, but the Japanese military exhibited no willingness to capitulate until atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and on Nagasaki on Aug. 9. News-Sentinel photo by Paul Efird Historian Dr. Kurt Piehler looks through archival photographs from World War II at the University of Tennessee Center for War and Society. Piehler says use of the atomic bomb on Japan is still surrounded by a lot of 'what ifs.' Copyright 2002 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. ***************************************************************** 26 UK: Dockyard in MoD fraud probe The Scotsman - Business - Mon 5 Aug 2002 IAIN DEY A FRAUD investigation has been launched by the Ministry of Defence into labour practices at the Devonport naval dockyard. Sub-contractors at the Plymouth-based yard are suspected to have swindled millions of pounds on work relating to Devonport’s lucrative nuclear submarine refit contract. The news comes as a blow to Devonport as it bids to land a share of the MoD’s massive £2.5 billion aircraft carrier contract, which is expected to bring up to 1,000 jobs to Scotland. A spokesman for Devonport Management Limited (DML) said: "I can confirm that there is a MoD police investigation underway, which includes sub-contractors working for one of DML’s principal contractors, and is looking at possible fraudulent activity." He added: "Whilst DML is not directly involved, it has supplied information to the Ministry of Defence police in relation to the investigation." Subcontractors working for Rolls Royce Marine are alleged to have fiddled time sheets and charged for workers who never actually existed. The alleged fraud relates to the upgrade of the Devonport yard which took place ahead of the nuclear sub refit programme and is understood to have taken place about 12 months ago. A source close to the investigation insisted the sums involved were "small beer" relative to the overall project cost. He insisted it was a "small percentage" of the multi-million pound contract which is now understood to have more than doubled from the original estimate to £890 million. But the amount involved is still expected to have run into millions of pounds. Rolls Royce Marine declined to comment. Devonport, 51 per cent owned by Halliburton, the oil services company formerly run by US vice president Dick Cheney, is part of the hotly-tipped bid led by French firm Thales to land the MoD’s prestigious new aircraft carrier contract. The move would see up to 1,000 jobs created at the Nigg yard in Easter Ross, where the two massive new vessels would be assembled before being passed on to Devonport, which would have the largest chunk of the contract. The Devonport spokesman insisted the investigation would have no bearing on the bid and the Thales bid was still "very much in the running," alongside a rival offer from BAE Systems. Scottish yards would also benefit if BAE won the contract. But it is understood that Nigg bay is the only place in Britain large enough to assemble the huge vessels, which will weigh around 15,000 tonnes and stretch the length of three football pitches. Halliburton, Devonport’s majority shareholder, is currently under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over claims it accelerated earnings on construction projects starting in 1998. Devonport’s other shareholders are Balfour Beatty and Glasgow-based engineering firm Weir Group, which both hold 24.5 per cent. [http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/s2.cfm?id= 844082002] ***************************************************************** 27 Iraq Invites U.S. Congress for Tour Las Vegas SUN August 05, 2002 By SAMEER N. YACOUB ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraq- Iraq invited U.S. Congress members and experts of their choice Monday to search sites in Iraq where they suspect weapons of mass destruction are hidden. The invitation for a three-week visit, made by parliament speaker Sadoun Hammadi, follows last week's offer for chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix to visit Iraq for technical talks that could lead to a resumption of inspections. The invitations come at a time when speculation that a U.S. war against Iraq is imminent has been strong, with President Bush saying the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is a U.S. policy goal. The invited congressional delegation could bring "whatever data your government chooses to supply them with in substantiation of its misguided claim that Iraq has produced chemical and biological weapons and is in the process of constructing nuclear weapons," Hammadi wrote. Hammadi said his letter was prompted by recent U.S. lawmakers' remarks that they expect to be consulted ahead of any decision to wage war on Iraq. Bemoaning a lack of Iraq-U.S. dialogue, Hammadi urged U.S. lawmakers to "see the true facts through direct dialogue, and then reach your own conclusions." After the delegation has "had the chance to see and search in Iraq ... the decision will subsequently still be yours," he wrote. The four-page letter addressed to speakers of the U.S. House and Senate and members of Congress was delivered to Polish diplomats who run the U.S. interests section in Baghdad, according to the official Iraqi News Agency. Iraqi officials distributed an English copy of it to journalists in Baghdad. After Iraq's invitation for U.N. inspector Blix to visit Baghdad, Bush said that "nothing's changed," and pledged to use all means at his disposal to change the regime in Baghdad. The United Nations hasn't formally responded to the invitation for Blix to meet with Baghdad officials. The United States, which led the 1991 Gulf War coalition that ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait, accuses Iraq of trying to rebuild its banned chemical, nuclear and biological weapons programs and of supporting terrorism. Bush has threatened unspecified consequences if weapons inspectors, who left the country ahead of U.S.-British strikes in December 1998, are not allowed to return. About 10,000 Iraqis rallied Monday outside ruling Baath Party headquarters in a demonstration against the threat of U.S. military action, burning effigies of Bush and American flags. Participants carried banners pledging their support for Saddam. Salim al-Qubiesi, a member of the Iraqi parliament, called on the world to get rid of Bush instead of Saddam, saying the U.S. president "represents a danger to human civilization because he is the No. 1 terrorist in the world." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 28 Nuclear Ministry Plays Down Iran Plans [http://www.sptimesrussia.com] [http://www.themoscowtimes.com Monday, Aug. 5, 2002. By Maura Reynolds Los Angeles TIMES After three days of tense talks with top U.S. envoys, Russian officials appeared to back away a half-step Friday from plans to expand their nuclear cooperation with Iran. The Nuclear Power Ministry issued a statement saying that a program announced July 26 to expand the number of nuclear reactors it plans to build in Iran is only a list of "existing technical possibilities." "Their implementation depends on many factors, including political factors," the statement said. One U.S. official familiar with the talks described the new statement as "big progress." "We're very pleased," the official said. "That's a change from what they were saying early in the week." Since 1995, Russia has been working to complete construction of a nuclear reactor in the Iranian city of Bushehr, a project begun by German firm Siemens and abandoned after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The plans released July 26 described a much larger, $10 billion program of nuclear cooperation -- three more reactors at Bushehr and two at a new site, Ahvaz, bringing the total to six over the next 10 years. That program was announced just days before the scheduled arrival of two U.S. officials, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Undersecretary of State John Bolton. Russian officials insist that the reactors are for civilian energy use only and will not be used to develop fuel for nuclear weapons. They point out that they will be light-water reactors, with the same technology the United States is using in North Korea in an effort to rein in that country's nuclear program. But the United States believes that Iran's purpose in acquiring the reactors is not energy but the expertise and equipment it would gain along the way. "We have long been concerned that Iran's only interest in nuclear civil power, given its vast domestic energy resources, is to support its nuclear weapons program," Abraham told a news conference Thursday. "For that reason, we have insistently urged Russia to cease all nuclear cooperation with Iran, including its assistance to the reactor in Bushehr." Russian nuclear experts suggested that the release of the new plan was a negotiating tactic. "There is a strong impression that is shared by many Russian experts that the United States and Russia have already reached a mutually acceptable agreement on Iran -- everything is in the bag already," said Anton Khlopkov, a nuclear expert with the PIR Center think tank. "Both sides seem to have an understanding that Russia will supply light-water reactors to Iran, but nothing besides such reactors." But Radzhab Safarov, director of the Iranian Studies Center, said that to convince Moscow to drop its programs in Iran, the United States will have to put its money where its mouth is. "Iran is a solvent country that is quite capable of paying," Safarov said. "The West, however, confines its efforts to words alone: Do not do any business with Iran because it will affect global security. These are good words, but they are just words, nothing else. It is very unlikely that Russia will be convinced to change its priorities only with the help of words." Iranian diplomats are expected to visit Moscow later this month to discuss nuclear cooperation in more depth. [http://www.themoscowtimes.com ***************************************************************** 29 Anti-nuke campaigners target NATO - CNN.com - August 4, 2002 [http://ar.atwola.com/link/93101484/aol] [Ralston] Targeted: NATO's military chief, U.S. General Joseph Ralston BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A Belgian anti-nuclear group says it has lodged a complaint against NATO's military head, General Joseph Ralston, and Belgium's defence minister for allegedly violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "There is a treaty which prohibits the presence of nuclear weapons in Belgium and that treaty has been violated," Marcel Poznanski, spokesman for the NATO Alerts Network told Reuters. The complaint against U.S. Air Force General Ralston and Belgian Defence Minister Andre Flahaut was filed on Saturday. Poznanski referred to the Belgian Air Force base of Kleine Brogel in the east of Belgium where anti-nuclear activists believe U.S. nuclear bombs for nuclear-strike capable F-16 aircraft are stored. Poznanski said the international non-proliferation treaty stipulated that states with nuclear weapons should not transfer such weapons to states without them. The 1970 treaty bars most states from acquiring nuclear arms and commits signatories that do possess them -- Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States -- to negotiate their elimination. Poznanski said the public prosecutor would have to appoint an examining magistrate to look into the case. A spokesman from the public prosecutor's office in the southern Belgian town of Mons, near NATO's military headquarters, was not immediately available for comment. The air force base of Kleine Brogel has been the target of anti-nuclear demonstrations for several years. [http://ar.atwola.com/link/93101486/aol] © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 30 Leaks are confusing, but aim is clear opinion.telegraph.co.uk - By Anne Applebaum (Filed: 04/08/2002) Not one, not two, but three articles quoting from "secret" plans to invade Iraq have appeared on the front page of the New York Times in the past month. One version of events calls for 250,000 US troops to attack Iraq from three sides. Another calls for fewer troops to invade Baghdad and topple the government. Previous "secret" plans have been discussed in the Los Angeles Times (250,000 troops, invading from Kuwait) and the Washington Post (200,000 troops, plus airstrikes) among many other public places. If this superabundance of highly public secret information was intended to scare people, it has: this week, Saddam Hussein suddenly reversed his longstanding refusal to deal with UN weapons inspectors. With equal abruptness, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee decided to hold hearings on the invasion of Iraq. Not everybody is acting worried: the Bush administration firmly tells anyone who asks that there are "no plans" to invade Iraq, while reassuring everyone who matters that in any case, the invasion won't take place before next autumn's Congressional elections. It is only fair to forgive outsiders - Tony Blair among them - if they are confused about what is actually happening. Yet amid the cacophony, a few things are clear. It is clear, for example, that the apparent confusion reflects a real argument, taking place both within the administration and outside it, about what, if anything, should be done in Iraq. And although it is too early to say for certain who will win, it is also clear that the advocates of invasion are far louder and more articulate, often because they have been making this argument for a long time. Among them, for example, are people such as Richard Perle - a Reagan official and now an adviser to President Bush - who have long dreamed of changing the Middle East, of creating a democratic Iraq, which will then go on to destabilise the other dictatorships of the Arab world. Among them are also people in the media, in think tanks as well as in the administration, who fear that Saddam's nuclear and chemical arsenal will be used, if not against the United States, then against Israel (Israel, after all, was in the business of bombing Iraqi nuclear plants long before even the US thought that was acceptable). Nowadays, the democracy-spreaders and the backers of Israel intersect both with one another, and with a larger group of people - almost certainly the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, among them - who still feel that the Gulf War ended without resolution, and that Saddam's continued, unpunished defiance of the US and the UN has set a bad example for others, most particularly, al-Qa'eda. Yet the support for invasion is not only about lobbies and interests. At a deeper level, the argument about Iraq reflects a larger uncertainty about the War on Terrorism itself. In fact, the destruction of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was almost too swift and too easy. After the enormous build-up of anger, the wild flights of patriotic rhetoric, and the proliferation of American flags, the sight of John Simpson strolling into liberated Kabul was a bit of an anti-climax - particularly since Osama bin Laden appears to have been walking with equal leisure in the opposite direction at the same time. Since then, Americans have been treated to a few stories about covert actions in the Philippines, endless revelations about the incompetence of the FBI, and the tale of a stewardess who caught a man trying to set fire to his shoes (probably because she thought he was trying to smoke a cigarette on board an aeroplane, a crime almost on par with terrorism itself) Something more substantial is wanted - but what? Leaving aside the legitimate reasons for invading Iraq - the mounting, if still murky, evidence of Iraqi nuclear, chemical and biological weapons research - such an invasion would serve an important psychological purpose. George Bush has several times spoken of a new military doctrine, emphasising pre-emptive strikes and preventive measures, whenever America's national security is at stake. He has yet to put his money where his mouth is, yet to prove to the world that he means what he says: the bombardment of Afghanistan was a reaction, after all, not a pre-emptive strike. An invasion of Iraq would not only establish that he means what he says, it would satisfy the American people's lust for blood. In the immediate wake of September 11, more than 80 per cent of Americans supported an invasion of Iraq, even though no one then had established an unshakeable connection - or indeed any connection - between the Iraqi regime and al-Qa'eda. More than 60 per cent of Americans still support an invasion, even though the Bush administration still has not put the case for invasion to the country. One cannot help but think that if Osama bin Laden were right now being dragged through the streets of Manhattan, the numbers might be far lower. But he is not - and they are high. Finally, the sense of moral purpose which has always motivated American foreign policy should never be underestimated. Those who speak of an invasion of Iraq often talk of "doing the world a favour", of removing Saddam for everybody's benefit, even if everybody (Europeans in particular) doesn't immediately appreciate it. Here, of course, is where most Europeans will lose track of the argument: "doing the world a favour" is rarely a component of European foreign policy, or any traditional foreign policy (for that matter, it bothers much of the American State Department). Oddly enough, Tony Blair may be an exception: he might not have made up his mind yet, he might still be telling different things to the King of Jordan and the American president - as King Abdullah rather embarassingly revealed last week - but he'll probably want to be on the side wearing white hats. Not that it matters: the opinions of European governments, who even in theory could contribute only minimal men and weapons to an Iraqi invasion, hardly count for anything in Washington these days. Expect President Bush to look rather to US public opinion and to the strength of the American budget. The rest is just static on the airwaves. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002. Terms &Conditions of ***************************************************************** 31 Symposium tackles nuclear disarmament Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] By MASATO TAINAKA, The Asahi Shimbun HIROSHIMA-Amid escalating concerns Washington will resort to nuclear weapons in its war against terrorism, participants from Japan, the United States and Morocco joined an international symposium here Sunday to seek a move ``from retaliation to dialogue.'' The symposium, titled ``Recovering the Trend toward the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons,'' was sponsored by The Asahi Shimbun, the city of Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. In his keynote speech, writer Yo Hemmi denounced the ``systematic killing'' of at least 4,000 innocent Afghans during the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign. Hemmi, who visited Afghanistan in December, exhibited a fragment of a U.S. cluster bomb he found littering the ground in the war-torn country. ``Although the United States tries to cover up the reality of the anti-terrorism war, the scattered pieces of this bomb tore apart Afghan bodies. It is very real,'' Hemmi said. Mahdi Elmandjra, a professor at University Mohamed V in Morocco, meanwhile, stressed the importance of diversity and respect for diverse values in understanding international relations and creating a world without inequality. Another participant, Joseph Cirincione, director of the nonproliferation project at the Carnegie Endowment, blasted what he said was U.S. hypocrisy. Cirincione argued that, on the one hand, Washington portrays itself as a hero by working to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction while also maintaining nuclear arms of its own as the ultimate guarantee of national security. Cirincione also urged Japan to take a more effective role in stamping out U.S. aggression. ``Japan is still too timid on the international stage, and your timidity empowers other's aggressions,'' he said. Mitsuru Kurosawa, professor of international public policy at Osaka University, urged Tokyo to minimize its support of the U.S. military buildup. ``We should strive to correct U.S. unilateralism instead by pressing it toward multilateral cooperation within the international community,'' Kurosawa said.(IHT/Asahi: August 5,2002) (08/05) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 32 Americans profess peace in Hiroshima Asahi Shimbun www.asahi.com [http://www.asahi.com/] By MASATO TAINAKA, The Asahi Shimbun Two women call for restraint in the fight against terrorism. HIROSHIMA-Two Americans dedicated to preventing the U.S. use of nuclear weapons carried their message of tolerance and peace to Hiroshima over the weekend. Rita Lasar, whose brother died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the only lawmaker to oppose U.S. President George W. Bush's military action in Afghanistan, met for the first time near Ground Zero on Saturday afternoon. Lasar's younger brother Abe Zelmanowitz worked as a computer programmer in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Zelmanowitz, then 55, was killed trying to help a friend, who was in a wheelchair, escape from the tower. Bush praised Zelmanowitz's bravery during a speech at the National Cathedral in Washington on Sept. 14, a national day of prayer and remembrance. The speech hit a nerve with Lasar, 70. ``I knew my president and my country were going to use my brother's death to justify the deaths of millions of people in other countries, and I was horrified. I did not want that,'' she said. With the help of others who lost friends and relatives in the attacks, Lasar set up the nongovernmental organization September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Japanese civic groups, including hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) organizations, invited Lasar to Hiroshima to speak about her experiences protesting the use of nuclear arms before the annual Aug. 6 memorial. Lee, a Democrat representative of California, vetoed a resolution authorizing Bush to use military force against anyone associated with the terrorist attacks. She was invited to Tokyo by Japanese lawmakers and citizens inspired by her single-mindedness. The pair met accidentally at the International Conference Center Hiroshima in the Hiroshima Peace Park. Lee was invited to attend a discussion meeting with hibakusha, which Lasar observed. At the meeting, hibakusha from Hiroshima detailed experiences from their 57 years of suffering and spoke of their concerns about the increasing likelihood of nuclear war. ``Many people were killed by the atomic bomb 57 years ago. At the same time, we survivors were handed a chance to testify against the cruelty of nuclear weapons,'' said Akira Ishida, 74, a hibakusha who suffers from laryngeal and skin cancer caused by exposure to radiation. ``The United States is considering using nuclear weapons in the name of retaliation. But we hope more people like Barbara Lee will come out of the woodwork in Congress and pass on the message from Hiroshima to their president.'' After the meeting, Lasar approached Lee and the two exchanged name cards. ``If she (Lee) reaches out to people devoted to peace, we can form a large bloc. Until I die, I will keep on saying to the world, we must find a better way than killing each other,'' Lasar said. After the meeting, Museum director Minoru Hataguchi guided Lee around the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Atomic Bomb Dome. She asked Hataguchi whether Washington has compensated survivors. ``Unfortunately, no,'' said Hataguchi, adding: ``The victims' pain didn't end with the bombing. About 290,000 survivors still suffer from the aftereffects of the A-bomb.'' Lee stuck by her goal. ``It is up to us, especially for myself, to go back to my own country and remind members of Congress, remind our administration that nuclear war, the use of nuclear weapons, should never ever be an option,'' she said. In the museum's notebook, Lee wrote: ``Words cannot express my sense of sorrow and shame. Nuclear war must never be an option.''(IHT/Asahi: August 5,2002) (08/05) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction or ***************************************************************** 33 Japan was close to having A-bomb Times Online August 05, 2002 From Robert Whymant in Tokyo AS JAPAN prepares to remember the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the blueprints for Japan’s own atomic bomb have resurfaced after more than half a century. A scientific institute in Tokyo has been given a 23-page dossier on the Japanese Army’s atomic plans by the widow of the man who smuggled it out of the country after the Second World War, a Japanese newspaper reported. It is well known that Japan was developing its own nuclear weapons, which military leaders were planning to use against cities on America’s West Coast. But the nation still did not have a finished bomb when it was forced to surrender in August 1945 after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The value of the documents to historians is that they show how close Japan came to creating weapons of its own, the Asahi Shimbun said. However, the documents show that the atomic bomb planned by Japan would not have been very powerful even if it had been developed. The dossier has emerged on the eve of the 57th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an occasion when Japanese emphasise their victimhood as the first to suffer atomic bombing. Hundreds of thousands died in the two cities. However, a scientist who worked on the Japanese project has said that the Japanese Army would have had no scruples about dropping the bomb had its scientific team won the race to develop a nuclear weapon. When Japan was on the verge of surrender, the army gave the order to destroy all documents relating to the ultra-secret project to prevent their falling into enemy hands. But a member of the development team disobeyed the order and handed the highly sensitive dossier to Kazuo Kuroda, a young chemist who went to work in the United States after the war. Dr Kuroda, a professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas who died last year, remained silent about the documents throughout his life. His widow agreed to return the papers to the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, known as Riken, the nation’s leading scientific research body, where the professor had worked as a young man, the newspaper said. Copyright 2002 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,549,00.html] Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 34 Hiroshima, an awful lesson of history* canberra.yourguide.com.au By SUE WAREHAM TOMORROW is Hiroshima Day, an annual reminder of one of the most awful lessons of history - that nuclear weapons must never be used again. In 2002 that lesson is particularly critical as plans unfold for a showdown between two nations that have each demonstrated their preparedness to use weapons of mass destruction. If Saddam Hussein does in fact have such weapons, as President Bush tells us, one might have thought that starting a war with him would be the worst available option. After all, wartime is when weapons tend to be used. What's to stop the Iraqi dictator, as a final act of inhumanity and defiance before possible defeat, launching a chemical weapon or two (if indeed he has any) at US troops in the region, or at Israel? Very little, really. But logic seems pretty scarce these days, as does any questioning of the enormous legal, humanitarian and political implications of not only the proposed United States attacks on Iraq but of US preparedness to use its own nuclear weapons. The US Nuclear Posture Review which was leaked early this year named seven countries, including Iraq, as possible targets of a nuclear first strike. According to Ron McCoy, president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, this is a "slippery slope to damnation" and a violation of international law. Similarly British Prime Minister Tony Blair talks self-righteously of the need to rid the world of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and his Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced on March 20 that states like Iraq "can be absolutely confident that in the right conditions we would be willing to use our nuclear weapons". Increasing US contempt for international law, with the tacit or explicit support of Australia, sets a dangerous precedent. We must decide if we really want to live in a lawless world. As the Chinese proverb says, if we don't change course, we may end up where we are heading. In addition, the utter futility of using nuclear weapons to deal with weapons of mass destruction in the possession of terrorists and thugs such as Saddam Hussein has been known for years. Nuclear weapons are by nature indiscriminate. To be sure, they will kill as many terrorists and thugs as we want, but they will kill many thousands of innocent people also, and leave a hell-on-earth for the survivors. How then do we define terrorism so as to remain squeaky-clean ourselves? In any event, terrorists are unlikely to be deterred by the thought of such overwhelming suffering. They specialise in suffering. The US Government speaks of "mini-nukes", conjuring images of wee little things which cleverly distinguish terrorists from the rest of us. It is estimated that if a one-kilotonne "mini-nuke" were launched at the Iraqi presidential bunker in south central Baghdad, about 20,000 innocent people would die. Many more would be left with horrific injuries and no medical care. One wonders whether President Bush and his handful of supporters such as John Howard really comprehend the enormity of such suffering. On February 2, 1998, General Lee Butler, former commander of US strategic nuclear forces, addressed the National Press Club in Washington on the risks, moral and strategic, of such an event. He said, "What could possibly justify our resort to the very means we properly abhor and condemn? What target would warrant such retaliation? Would we hold an entire society accountable for the decision of a single demented leader? In a singular act we would martyr our enemy, alienate our friends, give comfort to the non-declared nuclear states and impetus to states who seek such weapons covertly." Despite the rhetoric, non-military options for ensuring Iraq's disarmament are by no means exhausted . The Iraqi Government recently presented 19 questions about weapons inspections to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. Foremost among them was a request for assurances that the US would call off its planned military campaign if Iraq cooperated on weapons inspections. The US refused to respond to the Annan on this question. On May 13, / Time / magazine reported a top US Senate foreign-policy aide as saying, "The White House's biggest fear is that UN weapons inspectors will be allowed to go in." The proposed attacks on Iraq raise many grave concerns far beyond the possible use of weapons of mass destruction, and, for us in Australia, our Government's ready support for current US military policy raises dangers much closer to home than war in the Middle East. In late September 2001, in response to serious concerns that the Government's unequivocal support for the proposed war against Afghanistan would increase the risk of a terrorist attack against Australia, the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) received the following reply from Cabinet: "The Government is acutely aware that Australia's involvement in this fight could attract greater terrorist interest in Australia . . ." The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has confirmed that Australia's profile as a terrorist target has increased since September 11. Australia's participation in further illegal US military aggression can only raise our profile even higher. Whether or not Howard cares for the upholding of international law, he should at least attempt to reduce the threat to his own people by condemning such acts of aggression. At the 2000 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the US, Britain and all the major nuclear powers gave an unequivocal undertaking to fulfil their obligations to the treaty by getting rid of their own nuclear weapons. There has been no progress, and the US has made it clear that its weapons are here to stay. Until the world's most powerful nation strives for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction, including its own, we can forget about convincing "rogue states" of their moral duty. And the scourge of nuclear weapons will remain with us, despite the lesson of August 6, 1945. / Dr Wareham is president of the Medical Association for Prevention of War, Australia, an affiliate of the International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War. / ***************************************************************** 35 Anti-nuclear groups hold conferences in Hiroshima Monday, August 5, 2002 at 09:20 JST HIROSHIMA ? The Japan Congress Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikin) opened a three-day conference Sunday evening in Hiroshima with some 4,000 people participating. Shigetoshi Iwamatsu, chairman of the meeting's executive committee, stressed that Gensuikin aims not only for the abolition of nuclear weapons but also for the scrapping of nuclear power stations in the country. Tuesday and Friday mark the 57th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. Gensuikin is backed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), Japan's largest labor group. Meanwhile, the Japan Council Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo), a rival group, wrapped up its international conference earlier in the day in Hiroshima by adopting a declaration calling on all nuclear powers to renounce a nuclear first-strike policy. (Kyodo News) Japan Today ***************************************************************** 36 Japan was 'days away from test' of A-bomb Independent.co.uk 05 August 2002 14:39 BDST By David McNeill in Tokyo Japan's secret plans to build its own atom bomb have resurfaced with the uncovering of a dossier smuggled out of the country at the end of the Second World War. The papers, containing crude diagrams for a small nuclear weapon, were part of a six-year effort by military scientists to make the country the world's first nuclear power. According to yesterday's /Asahi/ newspaper, the American widow of a Japanese researcher, who fled to the US with the document in 1945, has returned it to the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, where he worked during the war. The researcher, Kazuo Kuroda, who later became a professor at the University of Arkansas, kept the document secret for half a century until his death in America in April last year. The liberal-left /Asahi/, which seems to be the only Japanese media organisation to have picked up the story, says the military ordered the destruction of the plans the day before Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. Scientists at the institute, however, thought this was "a waste" and decided to save at least part of the plans by giving them to Mr Kuroda. Although suppressed in postwar Japanese education, the race by imperial scientists to develop the bomb has long been the stuff of wartime legend. Scientists at secret bases in Korea worked furiously to make a viable weapon before abandoning the facilities to the advancing Red Army. Several historians have claimed Japan was days away from testing an atomic weapon in Nagoya when Hiroshima was obliterated by one American bomb on 6 August 1945. The discovery of the dossier comes as Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which was bombed on 9 August, are preparing to commemorate the deaths of more than 250,000 nuclear victims. ***************************************************************** 37 DOE: UC Davis budget for neutron beam reactor The Davis Enterprise In December 2001, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the university with a multi-million dollar grant, a percentage of which will facilitate the development of neutron beam computed tomography as well as a neutron microscope. The microscope will integrate X-ray and neutron tomography techniques. Beginning this year and for the next five years, UC Davis will have in the neighborhood of $900,000 to p ut toward research, technological and educational efforts related to the nuclear reactor. The grant will also help to support a partnership between UCD, Idaho State University, UC Berkeley, Washington State University and Oregon State University. Each of the universities owns a nuclear reactor site that, in conjunction with the others, will strengthen the nation's nuclear science and engineering framework. Built by the government in 1990 an d sold to the university in 1999, U CD's reactor is the newest and most up-to-date university reactor in the United States. We are very pleased to be a major participant in these efforts that are so important to the nation's technology and educational bases in the area of nuclear science and engineering," said Barry Klein, UCD's Vice Chancellor for Research. Sunday, August 4, 2002 Copyright 2002 The Davis Enterprise. All rights ***************************************************************** 38 DOE delays plan's release This story was published Fri, Aug 2, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer The Department of Energy's master plan and proposed budget to accelerate nationwide nuclear cleanup were supposed to be made public Thursday. They weren't. Even so, Hanford believes it can speed up its cleanup, including glassifying 10 percent of its tank wastes by 2014 instead of the current target of 2018. That was spelled out in Hanford's piece of the acceleration plan, sent to DOE's Washington, D.C., headquarters on July 24. Most of that proposal mirrors and adds details to Hanford's first draft acceleration plan released on May 1. DOE declined to release Hanford's July 24 draft until its Washington, D.C. headquarters has decided what to do with it. The Herald obtained a copy of the draft outside of DOE channels. DOE's Washington, D.C., headquarters is supposed to mesh acceleration proposals from all of its sites to create a national cleanup plan. That plan was supposed to be unveiled Thursday, along with the proposed fiscal 2003 budget figures to get it started. No reason for missing the Thursday deadline was given, but DOE's Richland office speculated the documents might become public next week. So instead of coming into focus Thursday, the national and Hanford cleanup pictures remain clouded without the acceleration plan. Clearing up the mess depends four major players: -- Hanford. DOE's Richland office and Office of River Protection developed accelerated cleanup plans with regulators and contractors. Hanford expects to get almost $1.9 billion for fiscal 2003, which begins Oct. 1, to put cleanup plans into action. So right now, Hanford knows what it wants to do. It just doesn't know if it will get the green light and the cash to do so. -- DOE's Washington, D.C., headquarters. DOE's 2002 national cleanup budget was $6.7 billion, with $1.78 billion for Hanford. For 2003, DOE asked Congress for a basic $5.9 billion, including $1.46 billion for Hanford -- plus another $1.1 billion, including $433 million for Hanford, to go only to sites with acceleration plans. Hanford's total would be $1.893 billion Right now, DOE still is trying get all the individual plans to fit together, and it is still trying to divide the extra $1.1 billion among its sites. So far, $973 million has been promised to sites in six states, including Hanford. That leaves $127 million to go to major sites at Fernald, Ohio, Pantex, Texas and Paducah, Ky., plus numerous small sites. DOE is supposed to submit its revised 2003 budget to the federal Office of Management and Budget by Aug. 8. The OMB then sends it to Congress. -- U.S. Senate. The Senate is frustrated with DOE waiting for at least four months to produce solid 2003 budget figures. Last week, the Senate's Appropriations Committee ignored DOE's upcoming master plan. Instead, it recommended appropriating $7 billion to nationwide cleanup, with about $1.9 billion for Hanford, regardless of what DOE's master plan ultimately says. The committee wants to send $761 million to go to the Richland office and $1.13 billion to the Office of River Protection, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's office. The allocation appears sufficient to start accelerating the glassification project in 2003. So right now, the Senate waits to see what DOE unveils and if there are serious differences. -- U.S. House. So far, the House is backing DOE's overall approach and could stay in DOE's corner if major differences surface between the Senate's and DOE's allocations. Meanwhile, Hanford is waiting to put its acceleration proposal into action. July 24's draft is more detailed than the May 1 draft. Here are some highlights: -- Tank waste glassification. DOE believes it can glassify the most radioactive 10 percent of Hanford's 53 million gallons of radioactive tank wastes by 2014, four years ahead of the legal deadline. That would theoretically put Hanford on track to finish all glassification by the 2028 legal deadline. DOE had indicated it might miss that target by 20 years. The accelerated plan also calls for glassification efforts to hit full speed in 2010, one year ahead of the 2011 legal deadline. Acceleration would come partly from installing more melters earlier than previously planned. The glassification contractor, Bechtel National, believes DOE is underestimating the costs of accelerated cleanup in the years beyond 2003. DOE expects to decide this fall whether to accept Bechtel's contention. DOE also proposes studying whether to substitute theoretically cheaper ways than glassification to neutralize some tank wastes. One possibility is mixing some wastes with cementlike grout inside movable containers. Another is "bulk vitrification," in which the waste is glassified inside a large container instead of pouring molten wastes into smaller containers. Steam reforming, which heats chemically-injected wastes to create crystals, is another technology under consideration. The unresolved question is if any of these methods meet Hanford's technical and legal requirements. -- K Basins. The legal deadline to remove the nuclear fuel, sludge and water from storage ponds near the Columbia River is July 2007. DOE's draft moves that up to September 2006. -- Plutonium Finishing Plant. The July 24 draft moves shipment of Hanford's plutonium to Savannah River, S.C., from 2014 to 2005. The PFP's demolition would end in 2009 instead of the current 2016 deadline. -- Cesium and strontium capsules. The 1,936 cesium and strontium capsules contain 37 percent of Hanford's radioactivity. Right now, they are scheduled for glassification in 2018. The July 24 draft calls for moving them from an indoor pool to a dry storage site at Hanford by 2008 to await eventual shipment off-site. Hanford is supposed have a plan ready by 2004. -- Columbia River corridor. The draft proposes demolishing and sealing six of Hanford's nine reactor complexes, cleaning the 300 Area, plus removing most of the rivershore's contaminated soil by 2012. A loose end is that DOE does not expect to award a contract, with cost figures, for this work until November. -- Ground water. DOE was criticized for not adequately addressing ground water contamination in its May draft. The July 24 draft calls for an overall ground water strategy to be ready by October. -- Radioactive waste in barrels. The draft calls for accelerating efforts to examine, fix and bury barrels of low-level radioactive wastes and mixed chemical-and-radioactive wastes. Also, Hanford wants to speed packing and shipping transuranic wastes -- highly radioactive with slow decay rates -- to a New Mexico site. This segment is controversial in that DOE wants to transfer low-level, mixed and transuranic wastes from other smaller sites to be processed and stored -- temporarily or permanently -- at Hanford as a way to conduct cleanup elsewhere quicker and cheaper. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 39 14 Arrested at Tenn. Nuke Plant Las Vegas SUN August 05, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS OAK RIDGE, Tenn.- Fourteen protesters were arrested at an annual demonstration outside the Y-12 nuclear plant to commemorate the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. One person was charged with federal trespassing and the other 13 with state misdemeanor charges of blocking a road and refusing police commands to move. An estimated 550 demonstrators participated in the protest Sunday, organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. Y-12 is a semiannual protest target for groups commemorating the Hiroshima bombing because the plant produces uranium used to fuel nuclear bombs such as the one dropped on Hiroshima. Demonstrators protest at the plant each April and August. They have said in the past one of their goals is to be arrested. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 Soil contamination stalls hanford site work This story was published Mon, Aug 5, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer A greater-than-expected amount of soil contamination has delayed completion of a southern Hanford project by 3 1/2 months. Other than that, the removal of hundreds of barrels of uranium chips stored in oil has gone smoothly. The project was scheduled to be completed last Wednesday. But workers discovered much more lead-laced soil than was anticipated in the 618-4 burial site, just north of Hanford's 300 Area. That bumped the expected completion date to mid-November. The 618-4 site is one of Hanford's more recent headaches. It was a routine, obscure waste burial site when Hanford began digging it up in 1998. But then, workers found hundreds of barrels filled with uranium chips and depleted uranium oxide powder where none was expected. That stalled work while experts tried to figure out what was in the barrels, the number of barrels, where the barrels came from, and how to dispose of them. No records were ever found on the barrels' origin nor why they were there, said David Duranceau, Bechtel Hanford's subcontract technical representative. The burial site was used from 1955 to 1961. The combination of uranium chips and oil turned out to be a ticklish one. The oil prevents the uranium chips from becoming "critical" -- meaning causing an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that shoots off bursts of harmful, maybe fatal, radiation. Then in 2000, Hanford's massive range fire came within a few hundred feet of about 300 exposed barrels of uranium chips and oil -- the closest the flames came to reaching radioactive materials, and in this case, very flammable ones. The 618-4 site is three miles north of Richland and a few hundred feet from the Columbia River. Last January, Bechtel awarded a $3.9 million contract to a team of two Richland-based firms -- Federal Engineers & Constructors and Thompson Mechanical Inc. -- to remove barrels and contaminated debris from the 618-4 and neighboring 618-5 burial sites. The barrels are being stored in central Hanford on concrete pads at a landfill or in some metal buildings until their final disposal is figured out. Overall, the excavation, properly packing the materials, transportation and disposal are expected to cost $15.8 million for both sites, according to Bechtel. Excavation will begin on the 618-5 site as the 618-4 work winds down and is expected to finish sometime in 2003, Bechtel officials said. The 618-4 project has been a sort of "good-news-and-bad-news" venture. Workers found much fewer barrels this year than they'd expected. Originally, Bechtel expected to remove about 1,500 barrels, including 338 dug up in 1998. Almost 80 percent held uranium chips, and the rest held depleted uranium oxide powder. But the Federal Engineers-Thompson team dug up 447 barrels this year, with slightly more than half holding uranium chips and the rest holding uranium oxide or soil. Since almost all the barrels are dug up, that puts the total slightly above the 785 barrels already excavated. On the "bad news" side, workers found lots of lead-laced soil. "There is a lot more lead here than what I was expecting," Duranceau said. Lots of lead objects and junked equipment were found in the 525-foot-by-105-foot 618-4 site, which is now a pit 15 to 20 feet deep. But the unexpected lead consists of lead oxide powders now mixed with the soil. That calls for cautious scooping, mixing some with concretelike grout and putting the material in containers to ship to central Hanford. This is what slowed down the project. Meanwhile, no one is sure what will be found in the 618-5 site, said Matt Haass, Bechtel's resident engineer for the project. The 185-foot-by-315-foot 618-5 site is smaller than the 618-4 site. It is southeast of 618-4, making it closer to the river. It was used from 1945 to 1962. And right now, no one knows if barrels of uranium chips and powders are in the 618-5 site. "I sure hope not," Duranceau said. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 41 DOE seeks public comment on commenting to the public The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- 08/05/02 According to a Department of Energy press release, the DOE is inviting public comment on how it disseminates information to the public. Comments are on a draft report to the Office of Management and Budget that contains draft DOE guidelines setting forth policy and procedures "to ensure and maximize the quality, utility, objectivity, and integrity of the information that DOE disseminates to members of the public," according to the release, and are due Aug. 22, 2002. DOE has prepared this draft report pursuant to Office of Management and Budget government-wide guidelines under section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2001 (Act) (Pub.L. 106-554, 114 Stat. 2763). The DOE draft report was scheduled to appear in the Federal Register on July 22, 2002. Comments should be sent to: Office of the Chief Information Officer, Attention: DOE Quality Guidelines Review, U.S. Department of Energy, Forrestal Building - Room 8H-089, 1000 Independence Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20585, or via fax to (202) 586-7966. Comments sent via electronic mail should be sent to the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Attention: DOE Quality Guidelines Review at cio.webmaster@hq.doe.gov. [http://www.oakridger.com/contact/index.html] [http://www.oakridger.com] All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 42 Paducah: New focus sets priorities - The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Saturday, August 03, 2002 The Paducah work would begin with the worst problems, and talks would continue on the remaining elements that are in dispute. By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 The state is no longer actively negotiating with the U.S. Department of Energy for a comprehensive accelerated cleanup agreement but instead is negotiating to make it easier for DOE to adhere to commitments it made in a 1998 agreement, according to state and federal environmental regulators. Kentucky Natural Resources Secretary James Bickford said that Jessie Roberson, DOE's top environmental official, has agreed to the new direction for negotiations that will allow DOE to begin on some of the most important cleanup work. He said that in a meeting last week, DOE agreed to revised plans that would lead to work beginning soon to excavate the contaminated north-south diversion ditch, remove thousands of tons of scrap metal and clean contamination under the C-400 building, which is considered a major source of groundwater contamination. Once that work is started, he said, plans will be discussed for other cleanup, such as removal of contaminated material in landfills and how to deal with groundwater contamination that is headed for the Ohio River. Bickford said he will join Roberson on Tuesday in Paducah when she makes her first visit to the plant. "I want her to walk through the trenches and see what we are talking about out there," Bickford said. Bickford said the lack of a formal agreement on DOE's accelerated plan should not jeopardize the extra money that has been promised for cleanup next year. He said the Senate appropriations bill earmarks $134 million for Paducah, of which $34 million originally had been tied to an agreement on the accelerated plan by the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Bickford said the Senate bill, which the House must also agree to, is a direct appropriation and does not tie the extra money to the agreement. He said he thinks U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a member of the appropriations committee, has the clout to keep the funding in the bill. "I worked hard to secure an extra $34 million for cleanup at Paducah, but just because the Senate has recommended this increase does not guarantee that the final version of the bill will include the additional funding," McConnell said. McConnell said an agreement on a revised cleanup plan would make it easier for him to keep the extra funding. "Achieving an agreement supported by all parties will strengthen my hand immensely as I work to sustain the funding in the final Energy and Water Appropriations Bill," he said. "The bottom line is, we all share the same goal: cleaning up this facility as quickly and as safely as possible." Bickford and Jimmy Palmer, director of Region 4 for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said DOE's proposal for the accelerated cleanup is unacceptable because it reduces the scope of the work, leaves waste at the plant that could jeopardize the safety of workers and the community, and would eliminate most of the oversight by state and federal environmental regulators. The two officials said that under the accelerated plan, DOE would spend $482 million on cleanup, as opposed to $1.3 billion under the original plan. "We aren't going to give up the oversight under any circumstances," Bickford said. "But we have agreed to work with them so that they can move forward with some of the work much faster." Palmer agreed, saying there is no need to continue negotiations if an agreement is tied to giving up oversight. "It is a very complicated issue," he said. "We have told DOE repeatedly that we would fairly review and consider any proposals for flexibility and innovation while being mindful of the expectations of the public to see that work is done properly and doesn't lead to worse environmental and health-care risks." DOE spokesman Joe Davis denied that DOE wants the state and EPA to give up any oversight of the cleanup work in Paducah, but only to approve revised plans that would take care of the most serious problems in a more timely manner. "What we are trying to do is very simple," Davis said. "No. 1, we are trying to identify the greatest risks at these sites; No. 2 is to accelerate cleanup in a timely manner; and No. 3 and just as important is in a cost-effective manner." Davis disputed claims that DOE wouldn't do as much cleanup work in the accelerated plan as it would in the original 1998 agreement. "We are not trying to get away from our original commitment," he said. Bickford and Gov. Paul Patton discussed the environmental cleanup Friday during a visit to Paducah; Palmer discussed it in an telephone interview from the EPA's regional headquarters in Atlanta; and Davis in a telephone interview from Washington. Patton and Bickford complimented the work done by McConnell on cleanup issues related to the Paducah plant. Without his help and cooperation, they said, it is unlikely that Paducah would be getting the money it needs for cleanup. In recent weeks, McConnell and U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning have expressed concern that the state did not agree to the accelerated plan because it could jeopardize future funding. They pointed out that Kentucky is one of only two states that haven't agreed to accelerated cleanup plans. Palmer, who has negotiated accelerated cleanup plans at DOE facilities in Tennessee and South Carolina, said the issues are different in Paducah. He said the other two plans were more detailed and comprehensive than the plan for Paducah. He said DOE has not said why it does not want to follow the original cleanup plans and has not given a timeline for meeting goals. Also lacking are details on how some of the work will be accomplished, Palmer said. "EPA and the state of Kentucky have been in lock step on the situation at Paducah," Palmer said. "We have every significant environmental issue at Paducah — surface contamination, groundwater contamination, buried waste, and other matters — that present both environmental and public health issues. "What we have been advocating is for DOE to immediately begin some of the cleanup work they already have agreed to," Palmer said. "We just want them to get on with it." Palmer said he is concerned that little progress on cleanup has been made in Paducah in the past 15 years. "It is frustrating when you compare funding made available to Paducah during the 1990s with the progress toward environmental cleanup," Palmer said. "You immediately ask the question of why more progress hasn't been made." DOE in the past has said much of the early expense was related to studying the contamination problems, planning how to correct them and managing the contamination to keep the situation from getting worse. Bickford also said that top officials from the state, EPA and DOE agreed last week to meet quarterly to assess the progress of work in Paducah and discuss future work. "It is essential that those of us at the top do the assessment," Bickford said. "One of the problems in the past, I think, has been that the top officials weren't as involved." The top officials who will meet quarterly will be Bickford, Palmer and Roberson. ***************************************************************** 43 War With Iraq Likely, Senator Says Las Vegas SUN: August 04, 2002 By CALVIN WOODWARD ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- The United States probably will go to war with Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman said Sunday, believing the timing uncertain but that force must be used to oust Saddam Hussein. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., led hearings last week that highlighted both the gravity of the threat posed by the Iraqi president and the difficulty of replacing him with stable leadership. Other lawmakers, too, spoke supportively of President Bush's goal of removing Saddam. But Democrats in particular said the administration must do far more to convince Americans, allies and Iraq's neighbors that force is necessary. They also said Bush must seek congressional approval if he decides on war. "I think the case can be made but there's a lot more to do," Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I believe there probably will be a war with Iraq. The only question is, is it alone, is it with others and how long and how costly will it be?" Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Congress must weigh in before America goes to war. "I don't think the president has the authority to launch a full-force effort" without congressional approval, said Daschle, D-S.D. "We all support strongly a regime change," Daschle said on ABC's "This Week." "But I think we have to get our ducks in order. Do we have the support of our allies? Do we have an appropriate plan?" Biden, citing expert testimony in his committee hearings, said it is clear Iraq has chemical and biological weapons of some sort. Less certain is whether Saddam has the means yet to use them effectively, he said. "We have no choice but to eliminate the threat," he said. "This is a guy who's an extreme danger to the world." He said the United States, acting alone if necessary, probably could get Saddam out of power but America would then face a long rebuilding job in Iraq. "This is very difficult to do by yourself," he said. "There's a lot to do after he's taken down." Biden cited estimates that 75,000 U.S. soldiers might be needed in Iraq for anywhere from 18 months to 20 years. Like Bush, Biden brushed off an Iraqi offer to negotiate over the return of weapons inspectors. "I think it's important we push for real inspections," he said, and not negotiate over a faint offer. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who favors a hard line on Saddam, said leaks from the administration have raised questions about whether Bush's advisers are all on board with his tough policy. "I think we're at a point where it's critically important for the president, as commander in chief, to take hold here," said Lieberman, D-Conn. "He's got obvious disagreement within his administration." Lieberman said "every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 44 Lawmakers: Bush Must Make Iraq Case Las Vegas SUN August 05, 2002 By CALVIN WOODWARD ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON- Members of Congress say President Bush should make the case to them before sending the armed forces after Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The war-powers debate that arises whenever the United States girds for a potential conflict spilled over the airwaves Sunday, with lawmakers from both parties saying Bush has much work to do to sell the country, allies and Iraq's neighbors on the need to use force to oust the Iraqi leader. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who led hearings last week that highlighted both the gravity of the threat to other nations posed by Saddam and the huge military operation needed to remove him, said he saw little chance of avoiding a confrontation down the road. "I believe there probably will be a war with Iraq," said Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The only question is, is it alone, is it with others and how long and how costly will it be?" Similar sentiment was expressed by other lawmakers appearing on the network talk shows. But, like Biden, they said the administration must make the case. Administration officials were absent from the shows, letting lawmakers drive the debate. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Congress must weigh in before America goes to war. "I don't think the president has the authority to launch a full-force effort" without congressional approval, he said. "We all support strongly a regime change," Daschle said on ABC's "This Week." "But I think we have to get our ducks in order. Do we have the support of our allies? Do we have an appropriate plan?" Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said earlier it would be ridiculous for Bush to lay out a war plan in public view. And he recalled the bitterness of some of the congressional debate that preceded the Persian Gulf War against Iraq. But on Sunday, Lott acknowledged a need to engage the public. He said he probably would support a resolution urging the administration to bring the matter before Congress. "While you may not have to come to Congress, America needs to be united," he said. "We need to understand what our problem is, what our goals are. We need to try to bring the world in." Congress authorized Bush last fall to use all necessary force against nations or groups that aided the Sept. 11 hijackers or harbored such terrorists. Few, if any, solid leads have come out linking Saddam to the al-Qaida terror network tied to the attacks and the debate remains unsettled over whether Bush must come to Congress specifically to get approval to attack Iraq. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Saddam is not likely to launch an attack with biological or chemical weapons unless he is provoked by a U.S. move against him. "Does he love himself more than he hates us?" he asked on CBS' "Face the Nation." "And I think the answer is probably yes. "And if that's true, then it would be unlikely that he would initiate an attack with a weapon of mass destruction because it would be certain that he would be destroyed in response." But Biden said divining the Iraqi leader's plans "is like reading the entrails of goats." What matters is his capacity to unleash the weapons, whatever his intentions, Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Biden, citing expert testimony in his hearings, said it is clear Iraq has chemical and biological weapons of some sort. Less certain is whether Saddam has the means yet to use them effectively, he said. "We have no choice but to eliminate the threat," he said. "This is a guy who's an extreme danger to the world." Does that mean war? "I think that's where we end up," Biden said. He said the United States, acting alone if necessary, probably could oust Saddam but America would then face a long rebuilding job in Iraq. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who favors a hard line on Iraq, said leaks from the administration have betrayed splits among Bush's advisers over his tough policy. "I think we're at a point where it's critically important for the president, as commander in chief, to take hold here," said Lieberman, D-Conn. "He's got obvious disagreement within his administration." Lieberman told "Fox News Sunday" that "every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************