***************************************************************** 09/05/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.227 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Homer Simpson invades Tokyo Electric 2 TEPCO finds division chiefs instructed cover-ups 3 UK OPS: Nuclear power alongside renewable sources of energy 4 Greenpeace Protests Inaction at World Summit 5 Ministry comes under fire for TEPCO nuke plant scandal 6 US: Pupils get a nuclear education 7 US: Activist seeks $1.5 billion in reparations for Kiski towns NUCLEAR REACTORS 8 US: Nuclear site troop shifts stir concern in Lacey 9 US: GAO opens Davis-Besse inquiry 10 US: Nuclear plant remains on high alert* NUCLEAR SAFETY 11 UK: The heavy metal logic bomb 12 US: $9bn plan to shield against terrorist attacks - 13 US: Activist seeks $1.5 billion in reparations for Kiski towns NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 14 US: Rio vows to clean up Jabiluka 15 Irish to Monitor British Nuclear Fuel 16 US: Groups File Reply Brief in Case Against EPA?s Yucca Mountain 17 Irish navy, planes to monitor British cargo of nuclear fuel - 18 US: PEC helps track Yucca Mountain hearings - 19 Public alarm over nuclear shipment spreads 20 Old Australian strata make ideal nuclear dump 21 US: Rio Tinto may abandon Australian uranium mine for good 22 US: Greens call for immediate Jabiluka clean-up. 23 US: AU: Mining industry disappointed at Jabiluka decision NUCLEAR WEAPONS 24 Independent.co.uk 25 Arabs push Iraq to let U.N. inspectors return 26 Al-Qaida's desire for ever more deaths raises spectre of germ, 27 Iraq: war is not the way 28 The standards by which war with Iraq must be judged 29 Washington's case against Saddam 30 Paris wants dossier on Iraq arms sealed -- 31 Brand new US sponsored defuelling site unable to handle Typhoons 32 Britain preparing dossier said to prove Iraqi nuclear threat 33 Britian: Iraq Can't Be Ignored US DEPT. OF ENERGY 34 Appeals Court Supports Plutonium Shipments * OTHER NUCLEAR 35 Mo Mowlam: The real goal is the seizure of Saudi oil ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Homer Simpson invades Tokyo Electric South Africa Business Report Bloomberg September 05 2002 at 08:17AM Tokyo - News that Tokyo Electric Power had shut a nuclear reactor on Tuesday after detecting the first radiation leak in 20 years, hot on the heels of admitting it had falsified two decades of safety reports, leads to the question: Who put Homer Simpson in charge? Japan's nuclear safety record resembles that of the Springfield nuclear power plant, where Homer is the head of safety. He once went on an eating binge to qualify for disability and work from home, was sent to college after causing a meltdown in a simulator, and was the only worker fired when Montgomery Burns sold to German owners. Japan's 126 million people now have reason to wonder if Homer's dedication to slackness - and Burns' famed penny-pinching - are shared by its nuclear industry workers and owners. It is no laughing matter. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms for officials from supervising body JCO in connection with the nation's worst nuclear accident, which killed two people and exposed 600 others to radiation three years ago. In that case, workers were mixing radioactive materials in buckets. Tokyo Electric's admission that it had falsified safety reports has already cost chairman Hiroshi Araki, president Nobuya Minami and three other executives their jobs. The toll could be much higher by destroying confidence in an industry that supplies about a third of the nation's power. "It's scandalous," said Seiji Murata, the vice-minister of economy, trade and industry. "This action has damaged the credibility of the government's nuclear energy policy and betrayed the trust of our citizens." That's a vast understatement. The news hasn't just betrayed trust, it has scared the hell out of many Japanese. That the leaking reactor was just 250km from Tokyo only increased public outrage and foreboding. Television news coverage has featured vox pops with irate businessmen and disillusioned housewives. Few Japanese are likely to find comfort in assurances from Tokyo Electric that the leak was "not serious and didn't leak outside the plant". When someone has the audacity to say a reactor leak isn't serious, be afraid - be very afraid. Also be afraid of what else is out there. The leaky reactor in Fukushima Daini is one of five Tokyo Electric will shut down over the next two months for inspections, after admitting it had doctored reports for at least 15 years. That's on top of two other reactors the company earlier said it would close for inspections. More concerning, radiation leaks and doctored safety reports are not isolated cases of corporate malfeasance in Japan. They are part of a wider pattern of companies cutting corners to save money, with no regard for consumer safety. The most infamous case involved Snow Brand Foods, which was responsible for Japan's biggest beverage recall when more than 13 000 people were sickened by bacteria-tainted milk two years ago, after the company reused expired milk. Then, earlier this year, the company's food unit got busted for mislabelling imported beef as domestic to get money from a government buyback programme earmarked to help processors hurt by the nation's outbreak of mad cow disease. Another company that committed the same sin, Nippon Meat Packers, is suffering the wrath of consumers - but not investors. The company's shares, which plunged 46 percent after it was revealed it had pulled the same scam, rebounded more than 10 percent on Monday when Tokyo lifted a ban on its beef sales. Rather than come down hard on these companies, the government often acts swiftly to get them back in business. Sometimes it even bails them out. Even though the public is concerned about letting scandal-tainted Nippon Meat resume beef-related operations, authorities sided with the firm. Two years ago, Mitsubishi Motors was fined just '4 million (R366 000) after admitting it had concealed customer complaints from the ministry of transport for more than two decades. These consumer scandals are a microcosm of what's wrong in the world's second-largest economy. It's a reminder of the lengths to which politicians will go to sacrifice the economy for their own interests. Everyone knows Japan's politicians and big business are in bed together. It's seldom, however, that such a sordid example of their intimacy comes to light. As Homer Simpson would say: D'oh! - Bloomberg ***************************************************************** 2 TEPCO finds division chiefs instructed cover-ups Thursday, September 5, 2002 at 16:50 JST TOKYO ? Internal investigations by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) have confirmed that division chiefs were responsible for at least three cases of covering up damage at its nuclear plants, company sources said Thursday. The officials, called "group managers," had instructed workers of General Electric International Inc (GEII), which was inspecting TEPCO's facilities, to falsify specific inspection reports, according to the firm's findings. The officials were stationed at TEPCO's No. 1 and No. 2 Fukushima plants in Fukushima Prefecture. False reports were also filed for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture. TEPCO is finalizing its internal probe with the aim of compiling results in an interim report by Sept 20, including punishment measures for the officials involved, the sources told Kyodo News. TEPCO, the largest power utility in Japan, has found that the managers involved in the Fukushima cases directly pressured GEII inspectors to falsify reports about the indications of cracks by deleting some information and through other means, they said. The instructions concerned inspection reports related to the shrouds for reactor cores and steam dryers in the two plants. TEPCO has found false reports for five of the 10 reactors at the plants. The findings are based on gaps between inspection records submitted by the GEII side to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and those retained by TEPCO, the sources said. TEPCO believes three to four officials are to blame for the cover-up scandal, but will check to see if more were involved as the agency has found evidence that TEPCO failed to report the possibility of cracks at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. The inspection of the shroud is usually conducted by two to three GEII inspectors and about 10 assistants, with a TEPCO assistant manager attending, the sources said. If a crack is detected, the GEII inspectors report the findings to the group manager concerned, who then decides whether to pass the report up to senior officials. The sources said the group managers involved might have feared that if they notified the government they would have to suspend operations at the reactor to carry out the necessary checks. TEPCO officials have said that the cover-ups may have been motivated chiefly by an increased need to keep up with rising electricity demand during Japan's economic boom in the 1980s and early 1990s. At the time of the "bubble" economy, maintaining power supply was the company's top priority, they said. TEPCO has submitted to the agency a list of 29 possible false inspection reports from the late 1980s to 1990s at 13 of 17 reactors at the three plants. It later admitted to falsifying records. (Kyodo News) Japan Today Discussion ***************************************************************** 3 UK OPS: Nuclear power alongside renewable sources of energy Times Online September 05, 2002 From Professor Dennis Anderson Sir, In the 1990s, £8 billion of subsidies were diverted to nuclear power, even though by then all nuclear stations had been built and were enjoying the higher prices paid to generators before the new electricity trading arrangements were introduced last year. According to the industry’s latest cost estimates, such subsidies alone should have been sufficient to finance the rebuilding of the UK’s entire nuclear capacity (leading article, September 2; see also letters, September 3). Nuclear energy should be exempted from the climate change levy, since it is a non-carbon energy form; but this will not be enough. The Treasury and the regulator will need to ask hard questions about nuclear finance and subsidies before turning to taxpayers and consumers for yet new cash injections. They will also need to ask what the alternatives are. It is therefore disappointing that the Royal Academy of Engineers has poured scorn on renewable energy (report, August 30), which enjoyed barely 10 per cent of the subsidies received by nuclear power in the 1990s. Renewable energy is dismissed as a marginal and intermittent resource, incapable of contributing significantly to the UK’s energy needs. Yet the engineering journals are replete with papers on progress being made in the field, and costs are falling and applications expanding. The “intermittency problem” of renewable energy could be solved through the production and storage of hydrogen, and good progress is being made in technologies that would utilise hydrogen efficiently. The finance required to develop such technologies would be small compared to the amount needed by nuclear power, and would open up the route to a zero-carbon energy economy in the long term with no legacy of hazardous wastes. Yours sincerely, DENNIS ANDERSON (Director), Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy and Technology, Prince Consort Road, SW7 2BP. September 2. From Professor Emeritus B. J. Brinkworth, FREng Sir, For better or worse, I have been acknowledged as a pioneer of the use of renewable energy sources. When my book on solar energy appeared at the beginning of the 1970s, I found it was almost universally assumed that I would automatically be opposed to nuclear energy, though my book made clear my view that nuclear energy was a fortunate development that would help to sustain energy supply for the time that would be required for renewable energy to become established. My argument then, that energy demand would soon outstrip supply, has been only strengthened by subsequent concern about carbon dioxide emission. Pressure groups do their cause no good by maintaining a false antithesis between nuclear and renewable energy; we need both. By any rational analysis, nuclear is the safest and least environmentally damaging of the sources available for the large-scale production of electricity. We cannot now wait for the gradual acceptance through familiarity that has happened with gas. Imagine the outcry today, and the earnest social, environmental and economic counter-arguments, if there was a proposal to cover the country with a network of pipes that would take an explosive gas under our streets and into nearly every home. But engineers have made that safe to use, and will do so for nuclear energy. Yours faithfully, BRIAN BRINKWORTH (Author, Solar Energy for Man, Wiley, 1972), Cotswold, 11 Wellesley Close, Waterlooville, Hampshire PO7 7JD. September 2. From Dr Leslie M. Smith Sir, As a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers I was surprised at the views on nuclear power expressed by Mark Whitby, our President (letter, September 3). In a 2002 “position statement” on energy the institution’s Energy Board states: There is serious doubt that sufficient sustainable sources of non-fossil generation will be developed in parallel with the closing of the (existing) nuclear stations to fully replace their greenhouse gas-saving capacity. And it concludes: The institution recognises, however, the importance of current fossil and nuclear sources, which will be required for some considerable time to come, and therefore encourages environmental enhancement (such as the cleaner handling and burning of fossil fuels and treatment of nuclear wastes) wherever possible as renewable capacity is increased. British Energy, although a nuclear operator, is actively promoting the development of renewable energy sources. The public have too often been conned into believing that one single energy source could be a panacea for the cheap, safe and secure supply of electricity. It is the duty of engineers to try to prevent this happening by insisting on diversity of supply. Yours faithfully, L. M. SMITH (Senior Engineer), Civil Engineering Group, British Energy, 3 Redwood Crescent, Peel Park, East Kilbride G74 5PR. September 3. From Mr R. G. Anstee Sir, For wind power to provide any significant, reliable contribution to the national demand for energy there would have to be perhaps thousands of wind-driven turbines (report, August 30). Vast amounts of maintenance would be required over very large areas, often in hostile conditions, to limit the failures inherent in very large moving parts in uncontrollable conditions. Wave power is inefficient but there might be significant contributions from tidal power. A reliable electricity supply can best be provided by a nuclear energy base sufficient in itself such that unreliable renewable sources can be ignored. The French manage pretty well with their string of medium-sized, fairly standardised reactors along their coast; indeed, we import significant energy from there. In the recent past we have done fairly well with our own Magnox stations which became the workforce of the nuclear generation industry and operated well beyond their strict design life. Yours faithfully, R. G. ANSTEE (Department of Energy, 1963-88), 3 Turner Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 5NL. August 31. The Sunday Times ***************************************************************** 4 Greenpeace Protests Inaction at World Summit JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 4, 2002 (ENS) - Unhappy with how world leaders were addressing environmental issues at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, activists from Greenpeace have spent the past two weeks protesting at a variety of sites in South Africa and around the globe. Today, the final official day of the summit, Greenpeace targeted the oil industry in South Africa and Austria. [oil refinery] A Greenpeace activist hangs from a bridge spanning oil pipes from the Sapref oil facility in South Africa, operated by Shell and BP. (Photo © Greenpeace/Daniel Beltra) Early this morning, five Greenpeace activists gained access to a bridge spanning pipelines from the at an oil refinery plant outside Durban, South Africa. Three climbed the 30 meter (98 foot) bridge and hung flags, which read "Clean Energy Now." "The Earth Summit has failed to take action against dirty energy policies which are fueling climate change," said Paul Horsman from Greenpeace. The fossil fuel facility outside Durban, jointly operated by Shell and BP, is notorious for oil leaks and toxic air emissions from poorly maintained pipes that run through nearby communities, Greenpeace activists charged. Neither company has accepted any responsibility for the poor health of local people nor have they made sufficient attempts to clean up plant pollution that has continued for 40 years. "The earth summit was on the brink of bringing corporations like Shell and BP to task, by making them accountable for the damage they do," said Zeina Alhajj of Greenpeace. "But in the dying moments of the conference even that hope has been being undermined. Once again governments are caving in and allowing company profits to dictate government policy." [glacier] 70 Greenpeace activists lined up this morning in front of a giant banner with the motto "Climate change powered by BP, Esso, Shell" on the Pasterze Glacier. (Photo © 2002 Greenpeace/Juraj Rizman) Throughout the Earth Summit, governments have failed to agree on targets for increasing production of renewable energy, due in part to pressure from the United States and energy industry lobbyists. U.S. opposition also undermined an early agreement to develop an intergovernmental framework that would make corporations accountable for their actions and pollution. "Big business and polluting governments like the U.S. have joined forces in Johannesburg once again to deny people the right to clean and safe energy," said Greenpeace's Horsman. "Even now in the last few hours of the conference they are also trying to undermine any attempts to make corporations accountable for the devastation they bring not just to the climate but also to local communities." International oil companies were also the target of Greenpeace activists in Carinthia, Austria this morning, where 70 demonstrators helped to unfurl a giant banner on the Pasterze Glacier in the Hohe Tauern mountains. The banner, which read "Climate change powered by Esso, Shell, BP," covered about 5,000 square meters (about 5,980 square yards). [nuclear] Twelve activists were arrested during a demonstration at the Koeberg nuclear power plant in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo © 2002 Greenpeace/Daniel Beltra) Pasterze Glacier, situated in the High Alps near Grossglockner, is thinning by about five meters (16 feet) and receding by 20 meters (66 feet) every year. Glacial melting is considered to be one of the most visible and reliable signs of global warming. Climate change provoked by the emission of greenhouse gases was one of the topics discussed at the World Summit, but the meeting produced few promises for concrete action on climate change. "Esso, Shell and BP are sending our climate up in smoke," said Karsten Smid, a climate expert with Greenpeace. "At the Earth Summit, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia joined hands with the oil lobby to prevent greater support for renewable energy forms. Esso and its parent company ExxonMobil, in particular, are sabotaging climate protection." In an August 2 letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, obtained by Greenpeace, oil lobbyists paid by ExxonMobil urged Bush not to attend the World Summit, and applauded his opposition to signing new international environmental treaties. [Tutu] On August 23, Archbishop Desmond Tutu blessed the Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza as the crew looked on in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo © Greenpeace/Daniel Beltra) "The least important global environmental issue is potential global warming, and we hope that your negotiators at Johannesburg can keep it off the table," the letter states. "On the final day of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Greenpeace, through global protests is doing what governments failed to achieve: stopping the onward march of fossil fuels and expanding the use of clean energy, " concluded Smid. Summit attendees did pledge to take steps to increase energy efficiency, boost the use of renewable energy, and begin to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels, "where appropriate," according to a release from the United Nations (UN). European energy companies signed a range of agreements with the UN to support sustainable energy projects in developing countries. But for many environmentalists at Greenpeace, those pledges were not enough. Outside the final plenary session today, dozens of protesters wore stickers that said "No More Shameful Summits," and refused to be moved until South African police herded them into a group and propelled them out of the public square. [balloon] On August 30, Greenpeace floated a balloon over the crude oil refinery of Con Con next to Viña del Mar in Chile. (Photo © Greenpeace) Today's protests followed a week of worldwide actions protesting the dominance of business interests at the World Summit. Greenpeace activists kicked off the Summit by dropping "Nuclear Power - out of Africa" banners from top of the nuclear reactor at Koeberg, South Africa, criticizing nuclear energy as polluting and unsafe. "Since the protest at Koeberg it has become apparent that the Greenpeace activists are not the only people who have broken the law," said Mike Townsley of Greenpeace. "The total failure of the plant owners, Eskom, to provide safety, security and evacuation plans should be investigated by the authorities and is yet another reason why this first nuclear facility in Africa should be the last." In Thailand, Greenpeace launched a Stop Global Warming balloon over the Mae Moh coal plant in Lampang. On the seas off Cape Town, the group's activists tracked down a ship carrying a plutonium cargo. [demonstrators] Greenpeace and other nongovernmental activists demonstrated outside the summit on Tuesday after renewable targets were dropped from the Earth Summit Action Plan dealing with energy and climate policy. (Photo © 2002 Greenpeace/Steve Morgan) On the streets of Manila, Greenpeace collected signatures to petition the Philippine's Board of Investors not to invest in dirty fossil fuels. In Australia, climbers hung banners from the nation's flagpole reading "Stop climate change." And in Chile, the group launched a balloon over the crude oil refineries plant at Vina Del Mar. "Governments failed to do the job," said Greenpeace climate policy director Steve Sawyer. "Now it's up to all of us." Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 Ministry comes under fire for TEPCO nuke plant scandal Asahi Shimbun [http://www.asahi.com/] The Asahi Shimbun METI's attempts to deflect all the criticism onto the power utility are unsuccessful. Now that heads have rolled at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) for its cover-up of serious defects at nuclear reactors, public anger is turning toward the ministry responsible for the industry. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which was aware of the defects at the three TEPCO reactors two years before the scandal went public, did not bother to let the people living near the power plants know something was wrong. Instead, it continued to actively promote nuclear power, including the controversial pluthermal nuclear fuel cycle project. The ministry's efforts to distance its own policies from TEPCO's wrongdoing has done nothing to stem the criticism. Niigata Governor Ikuo Hirayama rounded on Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma on Tuesday for allowing TEPCO to cover up problems at its reactor in the village of Kariwa in the prefecture. ``These actions shake the trust of the regions where nuclear power plants are located, and I am extremely resentful,'' the governor said. Accompanying the governor was Kariwa Mayor Hiroo Shinada, who said: ``On the issue of the pluthermal project, we did everything we could, like setting up meetings at 20 different locations throughout the village so residents could discuss the issue. But we now feel a sense of betrayal.'' The plant in Kariwa was a leading candidate to become the nation's first pluthermal plant-meaning it would use a composite fuel consisting of uranium and plutonium. TEPCO said after the cover-up scandal surfaced last week it would put the project on hold. Although Hiranuma reportedly told the governor he was ``truly sorry'' for the scandal, he went on the same day to dismiss regional criticism. ``It was not clear whether or not the suspicions were true,'' he said at a news conference. Asked why METI withheld its knowledge of the cover-up for two years, the minister said it was because ``until August this year, TEPCO did not acknowledge the existence of the suspicions and did not make available adequate material and data.'' He said the ministry plans to set up an evaluation committee of outside experts. Some executives of business organizations are already comparing METI's handling of the nuclear power plant cover-up to the way the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries dealt with the recent series of meat mislabeling scandals. And officials in other branches of the government also have their doubts about Hiranuma's attempts to deflect all the blame to TEPCO. Even a METI official admitted the ministry had made mistakes, saying: ``One would have expected there were measures that could have been taken, such as using legal proceedings to request a report from TEPCO. There was a tendency to work too closely with the industry.'' Its complicity in the TEPCO cover-up has highlighted organizational problems within METI. Since its creation in the government's January 2001 reorganization of ministries and agencies, METI has been responsible for both nuclear power plant safety and the development of the industry. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which investigated the defects at the plants, was reconstituted as a stronger, more independent body within the ministry. Its functions were separated from those of the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, which is now responsible for developing the industry. But problems remained: The latter agency continued, as if oblivious to the reactor defects, to push for the pluthermal project up to the minute the scandal broke last week. ``There is a need to conduct a review that will also examine the organizational structure behind the administration of nuclear power,''a top METI official said.(IHT/Asahi: September 5,2002) (09/05) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights reserved. No reproduction ***************************************************************** 6 Pupils get a nuclear education Augusta Georgia: Metro: Web posted Thursday, September 5, 2002 By [ashlee.griggs@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer How do you explain nuclear fission to a bunch of fourth-graders? Answer: You don't. That's what employees of Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant found out Wednesday. Instead, engineers visiting Craig-Houghton Elementary School steered talk toward more familiar things - including X-rays. Jarrett Sims could relate. "I was just laying there having my leg X-rayed," the 9-year-old said, recalling a trip to the doctor's office. "I didn't know nuclear science was being used." Working with the North American Young Generation in Nuclear, Plant Vogtle employees introduced pupils to the world of nuclear science. Plant Vogtle chemical engineer Adam Harris shows fourth-graders how the plant works. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF "Last year was the first year for this program, and we hope to reach even more students this year," said Nicole Hobbs, a chemical engineer at Plant Vogtle. The nuclear educational group hopes to educate 2,000 pupils this year, Ms. Hobbs said. About 50 fourth-graders sat quietly in the school's gymnasium as Ms. Hobbs and her colleague Adam Harris explained how electricity is made using nuclear science. The engineers also explained its many uses in everyday life. After the presentation, pupils were asked to draw a picture illustrating the use of nuclear power. The drawings will be submitted for competition in the group's annual contest. Still, some of the finer points of nuclear power were apparently lost on the audience. At one point, Ms. Hobbs asked pupils what they thought Plant Vogtle produced. Among the answers were "plants" and "cheese." Reach Ashlee Griggs at (706) 823-3552 or [ashlee.griggs@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 7 Activist seeks $1.5 billion in reparations for Kiski towns PittsburghLIVE.com - [Valley News Dispatch] By [jszish@tribweb.com] VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH Wednesday, September 4, 2002 LEECHBURG: An environmental activist is pushing for $1.5 billion in reparations from Congress to pay back Kiski Valley communities that have suffered from faulty government oversight of the nuclear industry. Patty Ameno, a longtime critic of nuclear operations in Apollo and Parks, got preliminary support from Leechburg Council on Tuesday for her reparations campaign. Leechburg is Ameno's hometown and the first of 13 Kiski Valley communities she will visit to get support for the payback effort. The payback is needed, she said, to restore economic lifeblood: The area's nuclear stigma has caused falling property values and other economic hardship in Kiski River towns. By the end of October, Ameno hopes to get a petition calling for the reparations into the hands of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown. He then may present the reparations request to Congress. "It won't necessarily be easy, but we do think it should definitely be explored," Murtha spokesman Brad Clemenson said after Tuesday's council meeting. The reparations are deserved, Ameno said, because government agencies such as the Atomic Energy Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission looked the other way when they should have been protecting the public. "They need to make things right," Ameno said. She referred to nuclear sites in Apollo and Parks owned from 1960 to the present by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) and its successors, Atlantic Richfield Co. and Babcock &Wilcox (now BWX Technologies). For example, Ameno points out that, from 1973 to 1974, Babcock &Wilcox was issued 333 violations, yet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission still renewed the company's license. These reparations are just because of government abuses, Ameno said, not because of any culpability the nuclear processing companies may have had. Ameno has found support from Apollo resident Bill Kerr, a former Apollo mayor, Armstrong County commissioner and now Armstrong School District superintendent. Add to that list, classmate. Kerr and Ameno graduated from Apollo High School in 1969. "An answer to the economic well-being of this entire area begins with reparations," Kerr said. In a letter to Ameno, Kerr said that "providing compensation for the damages to Kiski Valley communities, especially property on and near the Apollo and Parks Township nuclear production sites, should be a concern and a priority for all citizens." Kerr said some money, if awarded by the government, could go toward a new education center associated with a major university for environmental studies, research and development. A museum depicting the history of the nuclear industry, including its Cold War successes but also the ill effects and sacrifices of the local community, could also be built to "turn a negative into a positive," Kerr said. In coming weeks, Ameno plans to visit 12 more governing bodies - those in Apollo, North Apollo, Kiski Township, Oklahoma, Washington Township, East Vandergrift, Vandergrift, Parks, Hyde Park, Glipin, Allegheny Township and West Leechburg. Every Kiski River town could benefit from the reparations. "Clearly, Allegheny Township hasn't suffered as much as Apollo, but it should be entitled to some environmental monitoring," Ameno said. To build a case before Leechburg Council on Tuesday, Ameno shared documents about how the U.S. government paid reparations to the people of the Bikini Atoll during U.S. nuclear weapons tests of the 1940s and '50s in the Marshall Islands. Tuesday, Leechburg Council voted 6-0 to have the borough solicitor draw up a resolution supporting Ameno's effort, which will be considered for final approval at council's Sept. 16 meeting. Councilman Richard J. Meyer was absent. "My opinion, if somebody knowingly subjected us to that type of hazard, then that's a crime," said Council President Tony Defilippi. "$1.5 billion doesn't begin to touch the value of a human life." Jonathan Szish can be reached at [jszish@tribweb.com] or (724) 226-4675. © 2002 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 8 Nuclear site troop shifts stir concern in Lacey Asbury Park Press | Story   September 4, 2002 The Jersey Shore's News Source   Published in the Asbury Park Press 9/04/02 By RICK HEPP and ERIK LARSEN STAFF WRITERS LACEY -- Several security changes at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant over the weekend, including the removal of armed soldiers who had been stationed at a barricade visible from the highway, alarmed township residents who mistakenly feared yesterday that the New Jersey National Guard had withdrawn its troops. For those who routinely drove past the plant on Route 9 in recent months, the changes proved stark and disconcerting. A normally manned white guard booth was deserted; chain-link fence gates that previously barricaded the entrance were swung open; and a tractor cab that had been parked in front of the gate since the afternoon of Sept. 11 was removed. "I think it's criminal leaving the gates unattended like that," said Frank Horvath, 37, of Hill Top Drive in the township's Lanoka Harbor section. The gates may be unattended, state officials said, but that doesn't mean the plant is less safe. According to government and power officials, the National Guard moved its posts nearer to the nuclear facility Saturday and will conduct roving patrols in the front and rear of the plant. "We have the same contingent of troops available," said Lt. Col. Dennis Devery, public affairs officer for the New Jersey Military and Veterans Affairs Department, who declined to provide details on the security change. After hearing that area lawmakers received complaints from worried constituents, National Guard Gen. Glenn K. Rieth moved to quell their concerns by agreeing to meet on Sept. 13 with Sen. Leonard T. Connors and Assemblymen Jeffrey Moran and Christopher Connors, all R-Ocean, to discuss the plant's security. "There are no plans at this time to pull off the power facilities," the general said. "Things can change as far as the way we augment security, but the bottom line is we are still there and we're going to be there." The security changes were made the same day Exelon Corp., which operates the Oyster Creek plant, was to meet a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission deadline on mandatory security enhancements. "It's absolutely a coincidence that those things took place on the same day," said Devery. The new standards, set out by the regulatory commission in February, require all 104 nuclear plants in the United States to add more guards, increase the number of security checkpoints and defense positions, and alter the distance between the security checkpoints and the facility to reduce the impact of potential car bombs, said Mike Weber, deputy director of the NRC's office of nuclear security and incident response. Exelon spokeswoman Dana Fallano said the security force added the necessary security measures, adding: "A lot of them were done immediately following Sept. 11. It's all part of an ongoing process of evaluating security." In light of those changes, State Police brass and Gov. McGreevey's chief of staff recently met to discuss the continued deployment of the National Guard at the state's nuclear facilities. "They determined that the presence was still needed," said a McGreevey spokesman, Kevin Davitt. Result of Sept. 11 The New Jersey National Guard was dispatched to the power plant to supplement Oyster Creek's own security force following the initial U.S.-led air strikes on Afghanistan in October. The troops spelled local officers and state troopers who had became a fixture at the plants after Sept. 11. That any security changes at Oyster Creek were made without first consulting local elected officials caught some them off guard. "There's been no communication between the governor's office and our office," said Sen. Connors. "If they decide to withdraw troops (at some point), I'd want assurances that the security force is stabilized there and there's no possibility of sabotage or attack on the plant." It also angered nearby residents including Robert Hoebee, 74, a resident of Lacey's Pheasant Run -- an age-restricted development of 434 homes. "Myself and my neighbors are concerned having seen the visible presence of the National Guard removed," he said. "In addition to that, we've noticed that the entrances are much more accessible with many of the obstacles to prevent terrorism having been removed." The changes may be off-putting to neighbors, but security officials said the real reason they were made was to derail potential terrorist plots. "People drive by and expect to see the same thing every day," said Devery. "Same with those who want to do bad things. For security reasons, we adjust the way we do things. . . . so it doesn't become routine." ***************************************************************** 9 GAO opens Davis-Besse inquiry The Plain Dealer Ohio News 09/05/02 John Funk and John Mangels Plain Dealer Reporters The investigative arm of Congress will look into why federal regulators allowed the Davis-Besse nuclear plant to continue operating last winter when government engineers suspected it was leaking reactor coolant. The General Accounting Office's decision to take up the case, at the request of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, brings to seven the number of probes into the troubled Toledo-area plant and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's oversight of it. The plant has been idle since workers in March discovered a large, long-festering rust hole in the reactor's lid. The multiple reviews of how the plant's management and the agency missed the rust hole's growth for as long as eight years makes the Davis-Besse incident one of the most heavily scrutinized events in the recent history of the American nuclear industry. Five of the reviews are by the NRC itself. Spokesmen for the NRC and Davis-Besse's operator, FirstEnergy Corp., said yesterday that they would cooperate. The GAO likely will begin its work within the next three months, said Bob Robinson, managing director of the agency's natural resources and environmental team. Whether the GAO completes its investigation before the plant is restarted is uncertain. FirstEnergy intends to have the reactor ready to run by year's end, but the NRC has the final say. Kucinich is concerned that the GAO will not complete its review before the restart decision, so he will seek assistance from other, higher-ranking members of Con- gress to move up the investigation's timetable. "Given that the industry is pushing to re-open Davis-Besse, it's just as urgent that the GAO push to address the issues I have brought to its attention," Kucinich said. "There's no way that plant should be permitted to restart without the GAO having investigated and presented its report." Kucinich's request for the investigation was prompted by a Plain Dealer report last month. The newspaper's story revealed that the NRC staff was nearly certain that Davis-Besse's reactor lid was leaking and had prepared a shutdown order by early October. But after a vigorous campaign by FirstEnergy, the agency's management ultimately accepted a compromise that allowed the plant to operate until Feb. 16. The NRC's decision violated its own guidelines for making risk-related judgments. The delayed safety inspection found not only cracked and leaking nozzles in the reactor's lid but also a 6-by-8-inch rust hole. Only a thin stainless steel liner remained to contain the highly pressurized reactor coolant While a probe into the NRC's handling of Davis-Besse is by itself a "very legitimate issue," Robinson said, the GAO may broaden the scope of its inquiry into an overall review of the NRC's performance. That would make the findings more relevant to the entire Congress, to which the GAO reports. "There is a lot to be learned by investigaing the manner in which the NRC handled the crisis at Davis-Besse," Kucinich said. "This has relevance for every nuclear plant in America." For complete coverage of Davis-Besse go to www.cleveland.com/davisbesse/ To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. © 2002 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Nuclear plant remains on high alert* By Heather Douglas Almost a year after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Xcel Energy?s nuclear power plant remains at a heightened level of security. ?We are where we were at the day after Sept. 11,? said Brian Linde, security manager for the Monticello plant. ?The security here at the plant really is the front line of homeland defense. It?s a very important job.? Since the attacks, security across the nation has tightened and the threat of an attack on nuclear power plants has become a more pressing concern than it was pre-9/11. While Linde and members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) take security threats seriously, the likelihood of an incident occurring is minimal because of the reactor?s size, he believes. ?For (terrorists) to actually be able to hit them would be pretty significant,? said Linde, who has been the plant?s security manager for two-and-a-half years and has worked at the Monticello site since 1984. The nuclear reactor is located inside a building made of three-foot thick reinforced concrete and the reactor itself is enclosed in four to eight inches of actual steel. ?In general, the buildings are very robust,? Linde said. Should something, such as a plane, crash into the nuclear plant, it wouldn?t explode. ?Nuclear reactors can?t blow up,? Linde said. ?They aren?t like a nuclear bomb.? What would likely happen is that a fire would break out. Linde said there are redundant systems in place to make sure that if such a situation were to occur, the fire would quickly be extinguished. Besides fire protection, other security measures at the plant include key-cards which limit employee access to specific areas of the plant. ?There?s a whole series of barriers to allow us to get into the building,? Linde said. All vehicles entering the plant are searched and any person trying to get in must have identification checked. Two security fences surround the entire nuclear plant with cameras, gates, armed guards, metal detectors and delay barriers positioned throughout the area. ?We have the ability to detect where the bad guys are at,? Linde said. ?We have a protective strategy at each site.? Of the 400-500 staff members working at the site each day, Linde said about 80 percent have some previous military, law or security experience. ?We?re constantly training both off site and on shift,? he said. ?We run drills yearly with them and have scenarios developed.? Monticello?s Xcel Energy had made significant changes in the way training was done prior to last year?s terrorist attacks. Because of that, Linde said there were few changes made after Sept. 11. ?We?re not really doing anything different,? he said. ?We?re just doing more of what we were doing before. We?re obviously doing things different, but our basic strategies haven?t changed. Our training is counter-terrorist. We are not a law enforcement agency.? Monticello?s Xcel Energy is one of six plants run by Nuclear Management Company (NMC). Each site has its own security manager and the six sites have been working together to implement new procedures so that all plants are doing things in the same way. ?We?re developing as a fleet,? Linde said. ?We?re not all re-inventing the wheel. We?re figuring out the best ways to handle things.? Federal regulators recently issued an order to all nuclear plants in the United States to get all facilities up to a basic level of security. The NMC sites already met those general rules. ?In general, the NMC plants have done or are doing these types of things,? Linde said. So what has changed since Sept. 11? Xcel Energy has always had a vehicle barrier system (consisting of crash resistant gates) in place, but since Sept. 11, that barrier has been moved to the checkpoint location due to the threat of vehicle bombs. ?Nothing we?re doing is new, we were already doing this,? Linde said. ?We pushed that perimeter out. We had that detection before, we just pushed it further out.? An armed guard now checks each car before it is allowed to enter the site. The car?s interior, engine, cargo and underside are all searched. ?We?re a little more aggressive in our vehicle patrols,? Linde noted. Guards now carry rifles instead of side arms for enhanced security protection and delivery trucks go through even more extensive searches. ?Sometimes there are time delays due to searches,? Linde said. ?It?s basically just a more thorough search that is completed on delivery trucks.? Drivers? IDs are checked and compared to a list of suspect people before admission is allowed. ?We?ve been working real close with Wright County because Wright County is where our responders come from,? Linde said. ?(We have) increased cooperation in working with intelligence and law enforcement agencies.? Linde said the additional security procedures will make refueling outages, which occur once every 18 months, take a little longer. The next outage in Monticello is scheduled to occur in the spring. ?We try to minimize the impact on employees,? Linde said. ?People have been cooperative. They understand and they?ve been very patient with the changes that have taken place.? With redundant systems and contingency plans in place, Linde is pleased with the level of security at the plant. ?We?re fairly happy with how things are protected,? he said. For now, and possibly forever, tours of the plant have ceased due to the security threat. Though from Linde?s perspective not much has changed for the local nuclear plant?s security, the world around the plant has changed forever. ?Security has always been seen but not heard,? Linde said. ?Now, since Sept. 11, there?s been more interest. At all levels, the country has changed how it does business. We take this very seriously.? ***************************************************************** 11 UK: The heavy metal logic bomb Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Do new bombs use depleted uranium? David Hambling does the sums Thursday September 5, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Attacks on buried targets are likely to be a feature of the next Gulf War. Key Iraqi assets are concealed under layers of concrete. The US aims to take out these targets with bunker-busting bombs, and the concern is that massive amounts of depleted uranium (DU) will be used in the process. DU has been used in anti-tank weapons for decades, and it has been suggested it could add weight to bunker-busting weapons. Although they maintain that DU is not an environmental hazard, the military is reluctant to discuss specific uses. So can we identify DU in bombs from the available information? It's all a matter of density, like a modern version of the problem put to Archimedes by King Hiero. The King had given some gold to a goldsmith to fashion a crown. The crown was the right weight, but Hiero suspected that some of the gold had been replaced with silver. Archimedes had to find out if the goldsmith was a crook. Archimedes knew gold was denser than silver. If he could calculate the density of the crown he could determine its purity. His "Eureka!" moment came when he realised that immersing it in water would displace a volume of water equal to the volume of the crown. Given both the weight and the volume, he could calculate the crown's density. Archimedes proved the crown had been alloyed with silver. A triumph for physics, it was a disaster for the goldsmith, who was put to death. Density is the key for a bunker-busting bomb. Its forward momentum is determined by weight and speed. When travelling through earth or concrete, the resistance is proportional to its cross-sectional area. Ideally, it should concentrate as much weight as possible into a long, slender shape. DU is more than twice as dense as steel, making it an obvious choice for ballast. We know the density of explosives, steel alloys and DU, so we can make some calculations from the weights and dimensions of bombs. The BLU-109 is the standard one-ton bomb for attacking hard targets, capable of penetrating six feet of concrete. It has a payload of 243Kg of PBX (plastic explosive) which occupies about 140 litres. We can calculate the volume of the casing and hence its density. The figure is close to that for steel. In the Gulf War, the BLU-109 was ineffective against some well-protected targets, and a programme was instituted to build something better. The end product was the BLU-113, twice the weight and with three times the penetrating power. Was depleted uranium added for extra punch? Again, these calculations yield a density that closely matches steel. The latest development is the Advanced Unitary Penetrator. This has the same weight and external dimensions as the 109, but the exterior is a thin shell that breaks away on impact. Inside is a smaller, denser "subcalibre penetrator" capable of piercing 11 feet of concrete. The internal dimensions of the AUP have not been disclosed, nor the explosive payload; this makes density calculations more difficult. However, a picture of the AUP going through a target shows a ruler marked in feet, so we can estimate its size fairly accurately. Explosive is comparatively light; the more explosive the AUP contains, the more likely it is to have DU ballast. If it contains only 100 kg of explosive, the casing must be far denser than steel. Even if it has half that - a very modest amount for this size bomb - it is still too dense. Taking the lower figure implies that the AUP has around a quarter of a ton of dense metal ballast. This ballast might not be DU at all; tungsten is similarly heavy. But DU is the military's usual choice. There are alternatives to heavy metal penetrators. Royal Ordnance's Broach warhead uses a series of explosive charges, and in tests it has performed as well as the AUP. On its first test, the BLU-113 ended up more than 100 feet below the New Mexico desert floor. A DU weapon doing the same would present environmental problems, because if it did not detonate, it would soon break down into uranium oxide and get into groundwater. The small DU antitank rounds fired from aircraft weigh about 90g and penetrate a few feet into the ground. The DU from a bunker-busting bomb would end up far below the water table, where it would remain a threat to the environment for thousands of years. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 12 $9bn plan to shield against terrorist attacks - smh.com.au By Linda Morris September 5 2002 On the eve of the first anniversary of September 11, the Federal Government is considering indemnifying owners of high-rise office buildings for up to $9 billion against terrorist attacks. The Government will act as an insurer of last resort, underwriting claims against a new insurance pool that will be set up to pay out claims for terrorist bombings and biological and chemical attacks. A confidential discussion paper prepared for the Federal Treasury by Trowbridge Consulting has recommended a three-year levy that would collect $100 million every year from insurers. The insurance pool could be topped up in the event of an attack and would be backed up by a $1 billion commercial bank loan. If these funds are exhausted, then the Federal Government becomes the underwriter of last resort to meet further losses of up to $9 billion. It has been decided that the insurance pool should not cover nuclear attacks, but consider payouts for claims for biological and chemical attacks. ");document.write(" advertisement Excesses are expected to be the same as existing property insurance policies. Options for the insurance pool have been kept confidential and those invited to workshops organised by Trowbridge Consulting have been sworn to secrecy. The Federal Government is under pressure to conclude its proposal soon amid fears that it will become increasingly difficult for developers and landlords to obtain financing for new office blocks and infrastructure projects. The Herald has been told there has been intensive behind-the-scenes debate among key industry bodies about the pricing and levying of premiums. "We've been told that the proposal is a constantly evolving one," one Sydney-based industry specialist told the Herald. In general, the insurance scheme is expected to operate along similar lines to that of Pool Re, which was set up by the British Government at the height of the IRA's terror campaign. Under that scheme, premiums cover bombings and, if reserves are exhausted, member companies contribute another 10 per cent, with any remaining liabilities idemnified by the British Government. Any surpluses are returned to taxpayers so the pool works out revenue neutral. But Australia does not have a large insurance sector to sustain a pool with deep reserves. The Australian Bankers Association says affordable terrorism insurance is virtually impossible to find. The Property Council of Australia and bankers argue the levy should be compulsory and collected from as wide a range of businesses as possible to make the scheme sustainable. In turn, the insurance industry is worried about a consumer backlash from the imposition of another levy on insurance policies. The Property Council's chief executive, Peter Verwer, refused to discuss details of the insurance pool, but said an industry backlash was unlikely. "This is a matter of national interest because we have to do more than protect borders. We have to protect our national infrastructure, and the Government recognises that," he said. Copyright © 2002. The Sydney Morning Herald. ***************************************************************** 13 Activist seeks $1.5 billion in reparations for Kiski towns *By Jonathan Szish VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH * /Wednesday, September 4, 2002/ LEECHBURG: An environmental activist is pushing for $1.5 billion in reparations from Congress to pay back Kiski Valley communities that have suffered from faulty government oversight of the nuclear industry. Patty Ameno, a longtime critic of nuclear operations in Apollo and Parks, got preliminary support from Leechburg Council on Tuesday for her reparations campaign. Leechburg is Ameno's hometown and the first of 13 Kiski Valley communities she will visit to get support for the payback effort. The payback is needed, she said, to restore economic lifeblood: The area's nuclear stigma has caused falling property values and other economic hardship in Kiski River towns. By the end of October, Ameno hopes to get a petition calling for the reparations into the hands of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown. He then may present the reparations request to Congress. "It won't necessarily be easy, but we do think it should definitely be explored," Murtha spokesman Brad Clemenson said after Tuesday's council meeting. The reparations are deserved, Ameno said, because government agencies such as the Atomic Energy Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission looked the other way when they should have been protecting the public. "They need to make things right," Ameno said. She referred to nuclear sites in Apollo and Parks owned from 1960 to the present by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) and its successors, Atlantic Richfield Co. and Babcock & Wilcox (now BWX Technologies). For example, Ameno points out that, from 1973 to 1974, Babcock & Wilcox was issued 333 violations, yet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission still renewed the company's license. These reparations are just because of government abuses, Ameno said, not because of any culpability the nuclear processing companies may have had. Ameno has found support from Apollo resident Bill Kerr, a former Apollo mayor, Armstrong County commissioner and now Armstrong School District superintendent. Add to that list, classmate. Kerr and Ameno graduated from Apollo High School in 1969. "An answer to the economic well-being of this entire area begins with reparations," Kerr said. In a letter to Ameno, Kerr said that "providing compensation for the damages to Kiski Valley communities, especially property on and near the Apollo and Parks Township nuclear production sites, should be a concern and a priority for all citizens." Kerr said some money, if awarded by the government, could go toward a new education center associated with a major university for environmental studies, research and development. A museum depicting the history of the nuclear industry, including its Cold War successes but also the ill effects and sacrifices of the local community, could also be built to "turn a negative into a positive," Kerr said. In coming weeks, Ameno plans to visit 12 more governing bodies - those in Apollo, North Apollo, Kiski Township, Oklahoma, Washington Township, East Vandergrift, Vandergrift, Parks, Hyde Park, Glipin, Allegheny Township and West Leechburg. Every Kiski River town could benefit from the reparations. "Clearly, Allegheny Township hasn't suffered as much as Apollo, but it should be entitled to some environmental monitoring," Ameno said. To build a case before Leechburg Council on Tuesday, Ameno shared documents about how the U.S. government paid reparations to the people of the Bikini Atoll during U.S. nuclear weapons tests of the 1940s and '50s in the Marshall Islands. Tuesday, Leechburg Council voted 6-0 to have the borough solicitor draw up a resolution supporting Ameno's effort, which will be considered for final approval at council's Sept. 16 meeting. Councilman Richard J. Meyer was absent. "My opinion, if somebody knowingly subjected us to that type of hazard, then that's a crime," said Council President Tony Defilippi. "$1.5 billion doesn't begin to touch the value of a human life." /Jonathan Szish can be reached at jszish@tribweb.com or (724) 226-4675./ ***************************************************************** 14 Rio vows to clean up Jabiluka NEWS.com.au | September 06, 2002 By Linda McSweeny MINING giant Rio Tinto has vowed to clean up a contaminated part of its Jabiluka uranium mine and shelve plans to develop the area at Kakadu. The company's chairman, Sir Robert Wilson lifted hopes of the traditional owners, the Mirrar people, by announcing rehabilitation of a part of the mine containing contaminated water. The Mirrar people want discussions with the company and governments to begin immediately to remedy the damage. Sir Robert has told the BBC the area would be rehabilitated and no work would be undertaken on the site without the consent of the traditional owners. The company acquired the mine two years ago but announced within months there would be no development without traditional consent, a statement repeated this year. Until now the Mirrar people understood work could be undertaken within a decade despite their protests. "I am saying we won't develop it without their consent. Full stop," Sir Robert told BBC. Sir Robert disputed suggestions sacred sites had been desecrated but said what he termed a tiny hole, or adit, would be rehabilitated. "There is on this projected site no more than a tiny - a tiny - hole, an adit, in technical terms, an adit of the development," Sir Robert said. "What we will do is to rehabilitate that area, we will block off the adit, but this is not a very large area, nor is it in any way a threat to the environment." Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the Mirrar people, said Rio Tinto had not contacted them regarding the latest comments, made a week ago. "Is this just rhetoric for the sake of the earth summit at Johannesburg, or are they deadly serious about talking to all stakeholders and governments about putting these words into action and rehabilitating the area once and for all?" executive officer Andy Ralph said. Rehabilitation would focus on a one-kilometre deep hole in the ground pumping contaminated water. One litre of uranium-contaminated water was being pumped to the surface every minute, every hour, from the hole in the ground, he said. Traditional owner, Yvonne Margarula said her mind was firmly set and no consent would ever be given to mine the site. Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner, Dave Sweeney said Rio Tinto must clean up the mess. "We are calling on Rio to do that and to enter a process with the Territory and Commonwealth governments and the traditional owners that is going to deliver the result which will ultimately ensure the permanent removal of the threat to Jabiluka," he said. "And that means folding the Jabiluka mineral lease into the jurisdiction of the Kakadu National Park." Australian Democrats nuclear spokeswoman, Lyn Allison, who will next month chair a Senate inquiry into uranium mining, said the rehabilitation plan must be developed. "Rio Tinto must now develop a rehabilitation plan that is acceptable to the traditional owners," she said. AAP © News Limited ***************************************************************** 15 Irish to Monitor British Nuclear Fuel Las Vegas SUN: September 04, 2002 By SHAWN POGATCHNIK ASSOCIATED PRESS DUBLIN, Ireland- Ireland's military forces will monitor a British shipment of nuclear reactor fuel through the Irish Sea this month, the government and navy confirmed Wednesday. The Defense Department said it had ordered the deployment partly to assuage public fears of a nuclear disaster or terrorist hijacking of the two armed vessels heading to Britain carrying fuel rods for nuclear power plants. At least one Irish Navy frigate and two Irish Air Corps turboprop aircraft would keep tabs on the British Nuclear Fuel Ltd. vessels as they pass through international waters, en route from Japan to the Sellafield nuclear complex on England's west coast, according to Commandant Kieran McDaid, spokesman for the Irish Defense Forces. The ships were to steer well clear of Irish territorial waters, which extend 12 miles off its coast. Environmental protesters from Greenpeace in their flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, planned to lead a protest flotilla to shadow the British vessels. Japan ordered the fuel to be returned to Sellafield after the British firm admitted that workers forged safety checks on their product. The company insists its cargo, which includes low-grade plutonium not of immediate use in weaponry, couldn't be used in making a nuclear bomb. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 16 Groups File Reply Brief in Case Against EPA?s Yucca Mountain Standards, Seek Stronger Radiation Protection Rule* *Sept. 4, 2002* WASHINGTON, D.C. ? Seven environmental and public interest organizations suing the federal government over its weakening of groundwater standards for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump have asked the court to require the government to strengthen a rule regarding how to measure contamination from the dump. The request, contained in a reply brief filed jointly with the state of Nevada late Tuesday to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is part of a legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency?s (EPA?s) radiation standards for the proposed storage of nuclear waste at the site. The proposed high-level nuclear waste dump would sit atop an underground aquifer that area residents rely on for drinking water. National and Nevada-based environmental and public interest organizations contend that the EPA illegally weakened groundwater protection standards at Yucca Mountain to allow the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to proceed with its flawed plan to create a national nuclear waste dump at the site. The case has been consolidated with a similar lawsuit brought by the state of Nevada. A primary issue is the compliance boundary ? the distance from the proposed repository within which no limit will be placed on the amount of radioactive contamination in the groundwater. In its Yucca Mountain rule, the EPA changed that distance from three miles to more than 11 miles, so a cap on the amount of contamination that can seep from the dump would begin only at a line drawn 11 miles from the dump. In a response filed last month, the EPA said its congressional mandate to establish a site-specific standard for radiation protection at Yucca Mountain gave it the right to weaken the rule as it did. But in the reply brief yesterday, the groups maintained that EPA?s action undermines the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. "The EPA?s Yucca Mountain rule assumes the proposed repository will leak and inappropriately allows the DOE to rely on dilution in order to meet national standards. The agency should not be permitted to misuse its discretionary powers to undermine the Safe Drinking Water Act in this way," said Geoff Fettus, attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, lead petitioners in the case. "The Yucca Mountain ?house of cards? rests on a regulatory structure that has been ridiculously weakened by the Bush administration," said Lisa Gue, senior energy analyst with Public Citizen, another petitioner. "By taking this issue to court, we are challenging the EPA?s presumption that public health and the environmental regulations can be sacrificed for nuclear industry interests." The DOE?s controversial Yucca Mountain site recommendation won congressional approval in July. The agency must now apply for a license to construct and operate a nuclear waste dump from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The licensing process will assess projected compliance with the EPA radiation protection standards. Public Citizen ***************************************************************** 17 Irish navy, planes to monitor British cargo of nuclear fuel - 9/5/2002 - ENN.com Thursday, September 05, 2002 By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press DUBLIN — Ireland's military forces will monitor a much-feared shipment of British nuclear fuel through the Irish Sea this month, the government and navy confirmed Wednesday. The Defense Department said it had ordered the deployment partly to assuage public fears of a nuclear disaster or terrorist hijacking of the two armed vessels heading to Britain carrying mixed-oxide fuel rods for nuclear power plants. At least one Irish Navy frigate and two Irish Air Corps turboprop aircraft would keep tabs on the British Nuclear Fuel Ltd. vessels as they pass through international waters to the Sellafield nuclear complex on England's west coast, according to Commandant Kieran McDaid, spokesman for the Irish Defense Forces. Ireland's government and opposition parties have been issuing antinuclear rhetoric at the approach of the British ships' expected arrival next week. The ships were to steer well clear of Irish territorial waters, which extend 12 miles (19 kms) off its coast. Environmental protesters from Greenpeace in their flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, planned to lead a protest flotilla to shadow the British vessels. "I believe paranoia to be the only adequate response to the magnitude of the Sellafield threat. It's no exaggeration to call it apocalyptic," Enda Kenny, leader of the major opposition party Fine Gael, said in a news conference aboard the Rainbow Warrior. The ships — the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal — are carrying cargos of mixed-oxide fuel designed to power nuclear reactors. Sellafield specializes in making these rods from recycled nuclear waste. Japan ordered the fuel to be returned to Sellafield after the British firm admitted that workers forged safety checks on their product. Irish opponents of nuclear energy, and particularly Sellafield, claim the English plant is responsible for increased rates of cancer on Ireland's eastern seaboard, although scientists have consistently rated the level of Irish Sea radiation well within safe limits. Since the Sept. 11 terror strikes, critics have warned that Sellafield could be targeted by airplanes, while the ships that have carried nuclear material to and from the plant for the past three decades could sink or be hijacked by terrorists. British Nuclear Fuels insists its double-hulled ships are among the sturdiest boats afloat and, armed with cannons and squads of armed officers from Britain's Nuclear Energy Authority, make difficult targets for pirates. And the company insists its cargo, which includes low-grade plutonium not of immediate use in weaponry, couldn't be converted by terrorists or a renegade state to make a nuclear bomb. Mixed-oxide fuel is made by reprocessing spent uranium fuel rods from nuclear plants. The Sellafield plant separates the rods' plutonium radioactive waste from the remaining unused uranium. Recycled uranium and plutonium is made into ceramic pellets which can be used again in a nuclear power plant. British Nuclear Fuels says one fingernail-sized pellet could give as much energy as a ton of coal. Copyright 2002, Associated Press Copyright © 2001 Environmental News Network Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 PEC helps track Yucca Mountain hearings - 2002-09-03 - Washington Business Journal Jeff Clabaugh Staff Reporter PEC Solutions will help the Nuclear Regulatory Commission keep tabs on all information submitted on the proposed nuclear waste facility in Yucca Mountain, Nev. The Fairfax-company has been awarded a contract to develop a digital data management system to support proceedings related to the Department of Energy's application for construction of the High Level Waste repository. The contract is initially worth $1.5 million, and if all options are exercised it has a total value of $3 million over two years. The NRC estimates the Yucca Mountain hearings will involve more than 50,000 documents, the largest volume of materials ever assembled for an NRC hearing. PEC will develop a conceptual design and will provide proof-of-concept implementation for the NRC's Rockville hearing room. If the other two options on the contract are exercised, PEC Solutions will also integrate audio and visual equipment for the hearings. PEC Solutions calls the work a strategic landmark in courtroom management, melding electronic courtroom operations with online content for multimedia and traditional documents. © 2002 American City Business Journals Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 Public alarm over nuclear shipment spreads Go Asia Pacific Breaking News Pacific - [http://www.abc.net.au/ra] A consignment of nuclear material which sparked protests when it passed through the Pacific Ocean is causing uproar in Ireland. Public fears about the radioactive cargo are so great that the Irish military is being mobilised to shadow it as it crosses the Irish Sea. Our correspondent Michael Dodd reports that last week the Irish marine minister rejected calls by Greenpeace for the country's defence forces to be deployed to track the nuclear consignment. But public alarm about the cargo is now so great that the Irish government has announced a U-turn and will accede to the environmentalists' demands. Planes from the Irish airforce and ships from the Irish navy will patrol the material, which consists of five tonnes of plutonium and uranium mixed oxide. The material, which left Japan in July, is being sent back to Britain after the Japanese nuclear industry refused to handle it when it arrived three years ago. 05/09/2002 17:33:25 | ABC Radio Australia News ***************************************************************** 20 Old Australian strata make ideal nuclear dump Radio Australia News - RADIO AUSTRALIA"> [http://abc.net.au/ra/] Australia has been described by an international nuclear industry association as the ideal dumping ground for the world's nuclear waste. Called Arius, and based in Switzerland, the group claims to be a non-profit organisation seeking solutions for toxic waste storage. It's made up of former members of the nuclear dump proponent, Pangea, as well as nuclear industry represenatives from several countries. Spokesman, Charles McCrombie, says his group wants a single international waste dump ... and Australia is the most obvious choice. "Scientists around the world including scientists in Australia recognise that the stable continent, the old rocks in Australia, are more stable than anywhere else in the world, or if you had a world wide choice it's certainly the kind of area you would tend to go." 05/09/2002 14:46:09 | ABC Radio Australia News ***************************************************************** 21 Rio Tinto may abandon Australian uranium mine for good Radio Australia News - alt="RADIO AUSTRALIA"> [http://abc.net.au/ra/] The interntional mining giant Rio Tinto is under pressure to hand back land set aside for a uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory. Plans to develop the Jabiluka uranium mine have been shelved after opposition from aboriginal communities and environmental groups. Now, Samantha Hawley reports Rio Tinto has given its firmest commitment yet that there will be no further development of its mining operations without the consent of the traditional land owners and has even committed to rehabilitating the land. The Greens senator Kerry Nettle says she wants to see the area - which is surrounded by the Kakadu National Park - cleaned up immediately. "Radioactive material on the land ... there is stil radioactive material being pumped up to the surface," she says. The opposition Labor Party's environment spokeman, Kelvin Thompson, says Rio Tinto should now give the land back to the Commonwealth. "The ultimate objective would be to have the Jabiluka mine returned to the Kakadu national park," he says. 05/09/2002 19:10:34 | ABC Radio Australia News ***************************************************************** 22 Greens call for immediate Jabiluka clean-up. 5/9/2002. ABC News Online alt="Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online"> [http://abc.net.au/] Thursday, September 5, 2002. Posted: 15:01:10 (AEDT) The Australian Greens have called on mining giant Rio Tinto to hand back land used for the Jabiluka uranium mine to the Commonwealth. Rio Tinto had put the mine on the border of the Kakadu National Park on hold for at least ten years and has agreed not to pursue the mine without the traditional land owners' consent. The company has now also committed to clean up the site. Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says rehabilitation of the land should commence immediately. "There is still radioactive water being pumped up to the surface and that creates enormous hazards for the local indigenous people and for ruining the immediate environment in that area as well," Senator Nettle said. "There's a range of rehabilitation measures that need to happen in an environmental sense." © 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 23 AU: Mining industry disappointed at Jabiluka decision The World Today - 5/9/2002: [http://www.abc.net.au/news] The ABC is currently reviewing the provision of full online transcripts for The World Today program. We apologise for any inconvenience. In order to assist the users of our site, the ABC is providing audio-on-demand files and a summary of each current affairs report. Previous transcripts are still available through the online archives. JOHN HIGHFIELD: While it's being heralded as a victory for tradition owners in the Top End, news of the closure of the Jabiluka uranium mine is today being met with surprise and disappointment by the mining industry. Rio Tinto chairman Sir Robert Wilson has emphatically reaffirmed the company's view that the controversial deposit, near the world-heritage-listed Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, will never be mined without the consent of the area's traditional owners. But he also admits that global market conditions aren't conducive to ramping up the mine. The decision means that Australia will still only have two mines. The market for uranium has dropped to historic lows after free-falling from its highs in the 1980's. Tanya Nolan reports. TANYA NOLAN: Rio Tinto says its position on the proposed Jabiluka uranium deposit has not changed. But the company's chairman Sir Robert Wilson has now given a firm undertaking on what most have only ever suspected ROBERT WILSON: We won't develop it without their consent. TANYA NOLAN: It effectively spells the end of any possibility Jabiluka will ever be developed, and that's a sad thing, says CEO of the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, George Savell. GEORGE SAVELL: I think it's a marvellous illustration of what we've been saying for a number of years now, that it's getting very difficult to do business in Australia. It's certainly getting to be very difficult to get mines that are sensitive in the terms of the social issues up and running. I think it's a very bad thing for Australia, quite frankly. We've got competitors, Canada is a prime example, who are absolutely profiting from the fact that we can't develop uranium mines, and they're developing them very regularly and therefore taking the line share of the world market. TANYA NOLAN: Why don't you think Australia can develop uranium mines? GEORGE SAVELL: We've got a huge debate within the community as to whether it's safe to have uranium mines, and the environmentalists are saying you're going to ruin the environment, the Aboriginal people are probably saying "We don't want uranium mines next to us". It's a bit like the 'NIMBY' (not in my back yard) syndrome. But in fact you can develop uranium mines, they're no different really to any other mineral. TANYA NOLAN: But the difference between uranium and many other minerals at the moment is how difficult it is to make a buck out of. While prices for yellowcake have been firming in recent months, climbing to more than $US9.50 a pound, they're a far cry from the heady days more than 20 years ago, when a pound of the mineral would set you back around $US45. Diversified resources analyst Tim Gerard, from BNP Parabar Global Mining, says a range of factors have lead to the demise of the uranium market, including the decommissioning of military materials with the end of the Cold War. TIM GERARD: It had been declining gradually, as globally it became environmentally unacceptable for new uranium plants to be built, and so there was a surplus of uranium at the same time as a lot of material that had been in the USSR, used in the armaments brought up, suddenly became available for fuel purposes, as well as the Cold War ended. TANYA NOLAN: Jabiluka was meant to replace ERA's Ranger mine when it is expected to exhaust its deposit in the next decade. But the decision not to develop the deposit won't hamper Australia's reputation as the world's second largest supplier of uranium, according to Tim Gerard, who says conditions are priming for international demand to grow. TIM GERARD: There are signs that in the US, the government has recently given the go-ahead for a large waste repository, in Nevada I think. So there are signs that the waste problems that the plants intend to deal with that. Finland recently agreed to build their fifth fringe, their fifth power unit. And there are signs elsewhere in the world, elsewhere in the world that new nuclear plants are going to be constructed. Now this is all tied up in the whole Kyoto and greenhouse gas emissions debate at the moment, there's a lot of pressure on coal as an energy source because it is a high emitter of CO2. So uranium can possibly come back into a favour as a clean fuel. JOHN HIGHFIELD: Tim Gerard is a resources analyst with BNP Parabar. Tanya Nolan with our story. ***************************************************************** 24 Independent.co.uk Analysis: Saddam's arsenal: from chemical weapons to nuclear programme UN experts, now barred from Baghdad, previously uncovered a terrifying arsenal which, if reactivated, could engulf the entire region By Anne Penketh 05 September 2002 Two hours after American warplanes struck Iraqi targets at the beginning of the Gulf War in 1991, President George Bush went on national television to report that a main war goal was to "knock out Saddam Hussein's nuclear bomb potential". Forget liberating Kuwait. Eleven years later, his son, President George Bush Jnr, is using remarkably similar language about weapons of mass destruction to justify a new military intervention to topple the Iraqi leader. In 1991, the United States was well aware of the risk to the Gulf region from President Saddam's chemical and biological weapons, long-range missiles and clandestine attempt to build a nuclear bomb. After all, he had already gassed to death some 5,000 Iraqi Kurds while putting down a Kurdish uprising. "When you've got an insect problem, you use insecticide," was how an Iraqi general shrugged off the event to the former chief UN weapons inspector Richard Butler. President Saddam's military had earlier killed an estimated 5,000 Iranians with chemical bombs dropped on troop concentrations during the Iran-Iraq war.But the extent of Iraq's success in acquiring a vast arsenal of weapons of mass destruction only became apparent when the UN weapons inspectors were sent into the country to confirm the elimination of Iraq's suspected illegal arms programmes. Since 1991, leading experts in these weapons ? ranging from Russia to Australia ? have braved a hostile environment to track down and destroy the weapons in an extraordinary cat-and-mouse game. They have supervised the destruction of hundreds of missiles and rockets modified to carry poison gases and their launchers ? weapons the Iraqis claimed had never existed or had already been destroyed. They certified the destruction of 68,000 chemical munitions, and rendered harmless 600 tons of chemical weapons agents. The same goes for about 1,000 instrument parts that were used or intended to be used for chemical warfare. The Iraqis' main chemical development and production complex at al-Muthanna, largely destroyed by the allies in the Gulf War, was dismantled and closed, still reeking with the fumes of mustard gas. The inspectors also oversaw the destruction of Iraq's biological weapons plant at al-Akam in 1996, one year after Iraqi officials finally admitted, after four years of strenuous denials, that they even had an offensive germ warfare programme. Several gyroscopes ? the main component of a missile's guidance system ? fished out of the river Tigris on the Jordanian border in 1995 demonstrated that the Iraqis were attempting illegally to increase the range of their missiles. Inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, working with the New York-based experts, accounted for Iraq's secret nuclear programme. But worrying aspects of Iraq's arsenal remain to be fully detailed: the inspectors pulled out in 1998 before they could determine the exact quantities of lethal VX nerve gas still held by President Saddam. And although the UN inspectors uncovered much about Iraqi germ warfare programmes, the Baghdad government never provided a full account. The inspectors have outstanding questions about tons of deadly anthrax and of botulinum toxin ? which causes death from acute muscular paralysis ? which could still be in Iraq. The Iraqis were also known to be working on other deadly agents. Iraq, from day one, set out to conceal its weapons from the inspectors, who have been barred from the country for almost four years. As the 1990s wore on, its concealment was more and more ingenious, including mobile germ warfare units, which were kept on the move to confuse the UN monitors. Part of the deception involved lorries painted with the markings of the Tip Top ice cream factory. "Cheat, retreat. Cheat, retreat," was the inspectors' description of the Iraqi tactics, intended to avoid punitive military strikes by America. "International law? UN resolutions? Disarmament? They would have none of it," Mr Butler recalls in a book on his Iraqi experience. "They wanted the freedom to sell oil, to travel and to trade without restrictions. They wanted, above all, to hold on to their weapons of mass destruction. All other topics merely bored and annoyed them." As the UN experts, "middle-aged people with floppy hats and cameras" armed only with notebooks and pencils, worked up the chain of command to President Saddam's military elite, the Iraqi stalling became more desperate. The inspectors' biggest stroke of luck came in August 1995, when the son-in-law of Saddam Hussein, Hussein Kamal, defected to Jordan and released a wealth of information. He led the inspectors to a chicken farm, where they uncovered some 1.5 million pages of documents. Rolf Ekeus, then chief UN inspector, was staggered by the enormity of what the UN inspectors had missed. Mr Kamal, who was murdered on his return to Iraq, revealed that the Iraqis had successfully hidden much of their nuclear programme from the IAEA experts. Another stroke of luck came when two Iraqi officials were intercepted running down a stairway with a briefcase bulging with documents. Their contents concerned the feared germ agents anthrax and botulinum toxin. There were tense stand-offs outside government and defence buildings as the investigation drew closer to the President's immediate entourage. IAEA inspectors were held at gunpoint in a car park for hours in sweltering temperatures during one confrontation in 1991. Documents were burnt inside government offices while the white UN Jeeps drove up to bar the exits. UN helicopter pilots were jostled and harassed as they flew over sensitive sites. The grounds of a palace were scoured in search of a suspected underground nuclear facility. Documents on Iraq's production of VX gas were found when the inspectors tunnelled under a destroyed chemical weapons building. The inspectors were subjected to organised demonstrations and were asked why they were killing Iraqi babies. Mr Ekeus moved from a government hotel into a villa after receiving death threats. As the 1990s wore on, the Iraqi spin machine kept up a barrage of attacks on the inspectors: they were accused of riding roughshod over Muslim sensitivities, by staging lightning raids on Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer. The IAEA inspectors were accused of using a geiger counter in a cemetery as they searched for information on the Iraqi nuclear programme.But the most damaging accusations levelled against the UN inspectors were allegations that they were used by American and Israeli intelligence for their own purposes. Although Mr Butler strenuously denied he knew of such piggy-backing, the charges ultimately led to the creation of a new body of inspectors. *The threat * *Chemical and biological* * A droplet of VX nerve gas on the skin is enough to kill a person. A warhead loaded with the most deadly chemical agent known to man could kill up to a million people. Chemical agents sprayed into the air could kill thousands of people. Other chemical weapons already used by Iraq include mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin. The biological agent anthrax can cause death within a week if particles are inhaled, while aflatoxin causes liver cancer years after being ingested. *Nuclear* * A "dirty bomb" would disperse radioactive particles through a conventional explosion. If set off in an urban area such a bomb would contaminate the region for years. Building one is much easier than making a nuclear device, but experts assume that President Saddam Hussein is still attempting to acquire a nuclear weapon. Fears abound of nuclear proliferation from the former Soviet Union. *Long-range missiles* * A modified Iraqi missile filled with chemical or germ agents would be able to reach Israel, where several Iraqi Scud missiles landed during the 1991 Gulf War. While Baghdad's weaponry essentially aims to secure a dominant place for President Saddam Hussein in the region, there have been reports that Iraqi experts are working on missiles capable of reaching European capitals. *Inspectors in Iraq* * *April 1991* UN sets up weapons inspections after the Gulf War to account for the elimination of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction under sanctions regime. * *1996-98* Stand-offs between the Iraqi government and UN arms inspectors increase over Baghdad's refusal to allow access to suspected weapons sites. * *January 1998* Iraq accuses American head of inspection team, Scott Ritter, of spying. * *February 1998* Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, reaches deal with Saddam Hussein to allow inspectors access to "presidential sites". * *October 1998* Iraq breaks off co-operation with UN. * *November 1998* Inspectors return to Iraq. * *December 1998* Inspectors pulled out after chief monitor says Iraq is not co-operating. Hours later, America and Britain bomb Iraq. ***************************************************************** 25 Arabs push Iraq to let U.N. inspectors return Tri-Valley Herald Thursday, September 05, 2002 - 3:00:24 AM MST Saddam vows to fight in a way that 'makes the enemy angry' if attacked By Sarah El Deeb Associated Press CAIRO, Egypt -- Hoping to find a way out of the Iraq crisis, Arab ministers urged Baghdad on Wednesday to negotiate a return of weapons inspectors and warned Washing-ton that an attack to oust Sad-dam Hussein would spark unrest across the Middle East. In Baghdad, the Iraqi leader vowed his country would put up a tough fight if the United States attacked. "We shall fight in a way that pleases you and makes the enemy angry," he told participants at a meeting of Arab parliamentarians convened in the Iraqi capital. In Cairo, foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League opened a two-day meeting Wednesday to discuss Iraq and other issues. "The critical challenge that's facing us now is the threat directed at Iraq," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told the ministers. "This constitutes a danger for the stability of the entire region." Moussa urged Iraq to work with the U.N. to resolve problems, starting with the return of the weapons inspectors and moving from there to Iraq's demands that U.N. sanctions be lifted and its territorial integrity be guaranteed. Speaking at the end of the evening session, Iraqi foreign minister Naji Sabri said the Arab ministers "are in consensus" in objecting to a U.S. strike against Iraq, a stance he said would be reflected in a final statement to be issued today. He dismissed comments made by President Bush earlier Wednesday that Saddam was a serious threat. "None of our neighbors say that we are posing a threat to (them). ... These are pretexts built on evil plans," Sabri told reporters. Iraq said Tuesday it was ready to discuss a return of the inspectors, but only in a broader context of ending the sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The United Nations says the inspections must resume before the other issues can be addressed. "I hope we will find a solution based on the Security Council's resolution, so I don't want to be a prophet of doom," said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher when asked Wednesday what would happen if Iraq continued to block U.N. arms inspectors. Arab governments oppose any U.S. attack, saying it would lead to destabilizing protests among ordinary Arabs already angry at a United States they see as biased toward Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. President Bush says he aims to remove Saddam because of his alleged drive to amass weapons of mass destruction, but Bush says he has not yet decided whether to launch a pre-emptive attack. The administration has given mixed signals on whether a resumption of U.N. arms inspections would be enough to avert military action. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said inspectors should return first, then the next move can be decided -- while Vice President Dick Cheney has said inspections could be counterproductive. Since 1988, Iraq has blocked U.N. arms inspectors, who are charged with verifying that Baghdad has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction. Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri held negotiations this year with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the issue. In an exchange of letters last month, Annan declined further talks until Iraq accepts the return of inspectors. Saddam, in a letter published Wednesday in state-run newspapers, said Iraq could defeat any attacker in the world. "Our victory over the enemy will be accomplished, regardless of their types of weapon, schemes and technical capabilities," Saddam wrote in the letter addressed to the Iraqi and Arab people and "all free men in the world." ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 26 Al-Qaida's desire for ever more deaths raises spectre of germ, chemical or nuclear attacks Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Bullets and bombs remind Afghanistan that Kabul's fragile peace is an illusion Civilian informers on the front line in Colombia's war In brief New halo for rappers' gangster hero Al-Qaida's desire for ever more deaths raises spectre of germ, chemical or nuclear attacks Thursday September 5, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] No terrorist group has come close to the killing power unleashed on September 11. The deaths of more than 3,000 people drove home Osama bin Laden's central point: terrorism was not simply a means to an end. The more people killed the better. "Al-Qaida is the world's first terrorist campaign for universal jihad," terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said. "It sees itself as the global spearhead or vanguard. It is only interested in attacks of such magnitude they will inspire Islamist terrorist groups everywhere." It is that simple insight that drives the frantic search for Bin Laden and his men, and which underlies the most important question of all. Could al-Qaida strike again on the scale of September 11? That question will be on the minds of Americans next week, but it should concern us all. There is no doubt the US remains the prime target, but it has become harder to hit as Washington scrambles to shore up its defences. Next on the list are America's allies, starting with Britain. Already the organisation has attempted to strike again. If Richard Reid, the jihad convert from Brixton, south London, had managed to light the fuse to the explosives hidden in his trainers on December 22, he could have brought down an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. The sophistication of the bomb, together with a hair and palmprint found on the device, confirms he was not alone. The plot has all the hallmarks of an operation by an al-Qaida cell. Had it worked it would have been a stunning victory. US intelligence failed to stop September 11 because it failed to match al-Qaida's imagination. American spies did not see airliners as potential missiles. The CIA vowed not to repeat the mistake and even asked Hollywood scriptwriters to dream up spectacular plots, aware that al-Qaida has historically tried to make each of its major attacks more deadly than the last. Many counter-terrorist experts are convinced that al-Qaida's logical next step is the use of a weapon of mass destruction - chemical, biological or nuclear. Videos from Bin Laden's collection, showing dogs being killed by poisonous gas or a nerve agent, were recently aired on CNN. Al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan and Afghanistan told interrogators they had experimented with botulinum and cyanide. In February Italian police arrested four Moroccans who had cyanide and maps of water pipes feeding the US embassy in Rome. The poisoning of a city water supply worries western agents, but what keeps them up at night is the thought of a nuclear device in al-Qaida hands. Bin Laden is known to have met sympathetic nuclear scientists from Pakistan, almost certainly with an eye to creating a "dirty bomb": radioactive waste packed around a conventional explosive and designed to blast out a plume of lethal dust. Such a bomb detonated in downtown Washington might not kill thousands, but would induce panic and could make a symbolic institution such as the White House uninhabitable for a generation. Vincent Cannistraro, the former CIA counter-terrorism chief, said: "From what we found in Afghanistan, they took the dirty bomb idea very, very seriously." Jose Padilla, 31, a Chicago mobster turned al-Qaida volunteer who was arrested while trying to re-enter the US in May, studied how to build a dirty bomb at an al-Qaida safe house in Pakistan, according to a US defence department memo. But the memo made clear that al-Qaida leaders Padilla met did not take him seriously. He seems to have been sent back to the US with little back-up. The organisation uses oddballs like him to strike at targets of opportunity. It reserves its truly spectacular attacks for a core of trusted operatives, mainly Wahabi and predominantly Saudi, drawn from the same pool of driven young men as the 19 September 11 hijackers. Unlike the peripheral networks, al-Qaida's core appears to have operated through a rigid chain of command, which also made it vulnerable to disruption. "Al-Qaida always functioned on multi-operational levels, and the most spectacular operations had a high degree of command and control," said terrorism researcher Bruce Hoffman. That is the good news. The hierarchical structure responsible for the really big operations has been badly damaged by the war in Afghanistan. Mohamed Atef, head of operations, is dead. Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are in hiding and the chief recruiter, Abu Zubaydah, who probably knew more than anyone about al-Qaida's network of agents, is in US custody. "Right now, I don't think they're capable of another spectacular action," Mr Cannistraro said. There is, however, a chilling exception to this prognosis. Previous experience suggests al-Qaida had two or three big operations in the pipeline at any one time. When truck bombs were being driven at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the attack on the USS Cole and September 11 were being planned. These attacks have come at intervals of between one and two years, implying that another major operation, set in motion long before September 11, could be imminent. Larry Johnson, a former deputy director for counter-terrorism at the state department, is convinced that there are probably al-Qaida cells in America, but argues that their threat could be diminishing: "Their skills are perishable. The passage of time counts against them." According to Mr Cannistraro, some of the sleeper cells involved in planning a post-September 11 outrage inside America were based in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington. "We know there was a suicide squad of 19 to 20 people in the US that was probably lined up to do something. The location and presence of these people has been identified but they've scattered. They've gone to ground." Last week six men were indicted by a grand jury in America on charges of supporting Islamist terrorist activities, including five who are accused of forming a sleeper cell in Detroit. Investigators believe the men were targeting Disneyland, in California, and Las Vegas. Whether or not a group will surface to etch another date into the world's memory will depend on an extraordinary battle of wits between US, with all its might, and al-Qaida, with its twisted passion and grit. Never in the field of conflict has there been such a mismatch. The most powerful military machine in history has been sent on a $20bn (£12.8bn) manhunt for a band of bearded zealots, whose appearance, speech and general outlook would have been familiar a thousand years ago. Yet al-Qaida is undefeated. It has suffered casualties and has been driven out of its Afghan base, but it has demonstrated its ability to strike back across the globe even while on the run, as the suicide bomb on the Tunisian island of Djerba showed. It was only by a stroke of luck that al-Qaida was prevented from bringing down an airliner with a shoe bomb or poisoning Rome's water supply. For all its contempt for the modern world, al-Qaida has mastered its achievements, such as aviation and the internet, and used them to devastating effect. Its organisational structure is a tour de force in globalisation that many multinationals would like to emulate. It is also what makes al-Qaida so difficult to destroy. Perhaps the best the west can hope for in the foreseeable future is containment: keeping al-Qaida under enough pressure to stop another spectacular. But even if special forces on the Afghan-Pakistan border track down Bin Laden tomorrow, the al-Qaida network will keep functioning. That was what it was built to do. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 27 Iraq: war is not the way Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Thursday September 5, 2002 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] We are told a war on Iraq is needed to preempt a threat to the region and to free the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein's tyranny (Blair: Saddam has to go, September 4). We, as Iraqis already free from that tyranny, living outside Iraq and in the western democracies, say that both these claims are false. As professionals, writers, teachers and other responsible and concerned citizens, many of whom have personally experienced the persecution of the dictatorship in Iraq, we say "No to war; not in our name, not in the name of the suffering Iraqi people". Generations of Iraqis have endured a succession of tyrannical regimes, two devastating wars, and 12 years of "the most pervasive sanctions ever imposed on a nation in the history of mankind" (Sandy Berger, US national security adviser, November 14 1997). On the arms issue, Iraq underwent seven and a half years of intrusive inspection and its proscribed production facilities were controlled or destroyed, while the most threatening power in the region, Israel, refuses inspection of its nuclear, chemical and biological facilities. In Iraq, the regime of Saddam Hussein has nothing left but bombast. Hence it tries to exploit the genuine explosive rise of anger in the whole Middle East at the unbelievable suffering of the Palestinian people. It is the inhumanity of the civilised world in letting Sharon's atrocities continue in defiance of scores of UN resolutions that leaves the Iraqi regime with any credibility at all. In the meantime, the sanctions have been catastrophic for the welfare of the people of Iraq. They have made the lives of Iraqis dependent on the state machine rather than on free production and distribution. The fabric of society is barely holding out under the brutality of UN siege, manipulation by the regime and unscrupulous regional intrigues. Sectarian and ethnic politics has displaced modern civil political activity, and intellectual and cultural life is in accelerated decline, with the flight of creative talents and technically qualified people. Another war will crush a vulnerable society and may mean civil war, with unpredictable spill-overs all over the Middle East and potential destabilisation to Europe and the world at large. Already, Iraqis form a large proportion of those risking their lives while seeking asylum in the west. Our aspirations for Iraq - and indeed the whole of the Middle East - is for nations that respect human rights, guarantee the national rights of the Kurdish people, universally apply international law and are free of weapons of mass destruction. We believe Saddam's regime is responsible for leading Iraq from a situation of great promise into one of unmitigated catastrophe, and this regime must be held to account for its abject failure and for the crimes it committed against Iraqi people, Arabs and Kurds, of all beliefs and persuasions. But the remedy must not cause greater damage to the innocent and to society at large. Real change can only be brought about by the Iraqi people themselves within an environment of peace and justice for all the peoples of the Middle East. A change of this kind, combining truth and reconciliation with legal processes of punishing offenders is being espoused all over the world. Why shouldn't that be the case for Iraq? We call on the UN to put together a timetable for the lifting of the economic sanctions and do all it can to halt the drive for war that will only plunge the region into the abyss. We also call on everyone to challenge the dangerous and irresponsible war plans of the US. Mundher Al-Adhami Kamil Mahdi Haifa Zangana (novelist) Kings College, London, Exeter University and 97 other Iraqi exiles [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 28 The standards by which war with Iraq must be judged Times Online September 05, 2002 Cormac Murphy-O'Connor A conflict on the current evidence and terms would be difficult to support A key section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church urges us, because of the evils and injustices that accompany war, to pray and to do all we can not to be drawn into armed conflict. Indeed, it goes further: “All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.” There are good reasons why many, including our own and the US Government, regard the regime in Iraq as a threat to the security of the region and, presumably, the West. President Saddam Hussein has committed numerous atrocities against his own people. He has persistently refused to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions which require Iraq to surrender its weapons of mass destruction. There have been suggestions, but no proof to date, that he is intent on acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. Discussion among Western leaders today is now focused not just on the nature of the threat, and on the desirability of a regime change in Iraq, but whether that change should be enforced by outside military action: in other words, by beginning a war. The Catechism sets out a number of rigorous conditions for an act of self-defence — in this case a possible pre-emptive strike — to be regarded as legitimate. One is that “the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated”. It notes that “the power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition”. A war in Iraq would cause great destruction and suffering. It would also entail grave consequences for our own country and for the world. There is reason to be concerned that military intervention would set the Arab world against the West, and undermine efforts directed at peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. The Prime Minister has now promised to publish evidence to support his growing conviction that the threat posed by Iraq is both grave and imminent, and that the regime must change itself or be changed. Without persuasive, preferably incontrovertible, evidence of this kind it is difficult to see how concerns in this country and abroad about this course of action could be allayed. Then there are other, related and equally pressing, questions which must be addressed: + Is military action intended to neutralise a threat, to effect a regime change, or both? + Will military intervention stabilise or destabilise the region? Will it advance or delay peace between Israelis and Palestinians? + Does it have the endorsement of the UN Security Council and, in the case of Britain, of the European Union? If not, what will be its effect on our efforts to establish a structure of international law which all nations will respect? It seems to me that many British people will find it hard to support the British and US Governments in what is now being contemplated unless, in addition to the evidence promised by the Government, they can be given convincing answers to such questions. But there is another possibility to consider. Head-on confrontation in a time of crisis may be unavoidable, but it is liable to create as many problems as it solves. Underlying causes also have to be addressed. Soon after the dreadful events of September 11, I attended a meeting in Rome of bishops from all over the world. Great sympathy was conveyed to the US bishops and, through them, to the American people. There were also present, however, bishops from some of the poorest countries in the world who, while fully sharing this sympathy for the US, reminded their fellow bishops of other kinds of atrocity. Millions were slaughtered in Rwanda in 1994, with no effective response from the international community. The African bishops also drew our attention to the tragedy that thousands of children in their dioceses were dying every week for lack of food and potable drinking water. Weighed in the balance with the resources available to the world as a whole, such destitution is not just an awful human tragedy — it is a terrible international injustice. It would be easy to regard this tragedy as entirely separate from the “war against terrorism” or instability in the Middle East. But there is a connection. By pouring almost inconceivably massive resources into preparing for, and then prosecuting, military conflict, we inevitably divert funds from the war on world poverty. By so doing, we further endanger the fragile lives of millions of people, over and above those who become victims of conflict itself. Perhaps the time has come to consider an unprecedented coalition of aid to the poorest peoples of the world — to Africa in the first place, but also to the displaced and impoverished peoples of the Middle East. Would not that be a more far-reaching, sustainable and positive way to challenge both the evil of terrorism and the scandal of world poverty? Terrorism can never be portrayed or defended as a protest against poverty; but neither can it be defeated simply by force of arms. Even a decisive and “successful” war would create swaths of new victims and tend to deepen existing patterns of hostility. I am convinced that the might of generous self-sacrifice, rather than the might of arms, is the only way to construct a more just and more peaceful world. There are occasions when a short-term response to an imminent threat serves an important preventive purpose. However, the problems of our planet cannot be solved by unilateral military action alone. In a globalised world, the wisdom of specific actions or policies with international impact must ultimately be judged by the extent to which they improve the lot of all mankind, especially the poorest, and enhance the prospects for world peace. At present there are genuine reasons to doubt that military action against Iraq would pass that test. Contribute to Debate via comment@thetimes.co.uk [comment@thetimes.co.uk] [http://www.newsint-archive.co.uk/] [http://www.timesonline.co.uk ***************************************************************** 29 Washington's case against Saddam BBC NEWS | Middle East | Reprint: Thursday, 7 March, 2002, 12:41 GMT [Saddam Hussein] Saddam: Accused of sponsoring terror Amid growing signs that the United States - possibly backed by the UK - is preparing to take action to topple Saddam Hussein, BBC News Online looks at Washington's accusations against the Iraqi leader. In his State of the Union speech at the beginning of the year, President George Bush spoke of an "axis of evil" comprising Iran, North Korea and Iraq. President Bush summarised Washington's case against Baghdad in one paragraph, broadly outlining four issues. He said: + Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. + The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade. + This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. + This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilised world. Weaponry "The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade." Washington and London say this accumulation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) poses a threat not just to the region but to the wider world. [Scud missile launcher] Iraq is still believed to have Scud missiles But exactly what kind and how many weapons Baghdad has is not known, as UN weapons inspectors have not been in the country since December 1998. A report published by the US State Department earlier that year, said that Iraq had the potential to develop WMD. "Enough production components and data remain hidden and enough expertise has been retained or developed to enable Iraq to resume development and production of WMD." It is believed, the report adds, that Iraq maintains "a small force of Scud-type missiles, a small stockpile of chemical and biological munitions, and the capability to quickly resurrect biological and chemical weapons production". In the same document the State Department says that "Baghdad's interest in acquiring or developing nuclear weapons has not diminished". A UN report released in March last year suggested that Iraq still had chemical and biological weapons - as well as the rockets to deliver them to targets in other countries. Iraq denies this. And, on Wednesday, US diplomats said photographs taken by spy satellites show that trucks imported by Baghdad for civilian purposes have been converted into mobile missile launchers. Arms control "This is a regime that agreed to international inspections, then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilised world." [Unscom inspectors leaving Baghdad] UN weapons inspectors have not been in Iraq since 1998 Saddam Hussein agreed to allow UN inspectors into the country as part of the ceasefire accord that ended the Gulf War in 1991. But the body in charge of the inspections, Unscom, complained it was not allowed to its job and was withdrawn in 1998 ahead of a bombing campaign by the US and the UK. Iraq, meanwhile, accused the commission's monitors of spying for Washington. After its withdrawal, Unscom was replaced by Unmovic (UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission) which has not been allowed into the country. Baghdad has allowed limited inspections to be carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). But the group says it is not enough to determine whether Iraq may be engaged in a secret nuclear weapons programme. Sanctions against Iraq will be lifted if it complies fully with international inspections of its weapons industry, the UN says. 'Supporter of terror' "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror." Since 11 September certain officials in Washington, led by US Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz, have argued that attacks of such magnitude would need state-backing, and pointed at Iraq. So far no evidence appears to have been found to back a link between Saddam and 11 September. Investigations into a suspected link between one of the alleged hijackers, Mohammad Atta, and Baghdad have reportedly proved inconclusive. Baghdad has not been accused of planning direct attacks against the US since 1993 - when Iraqi intelligence agents tried to assassinate the then President Bush. But Washington accuses Saddam of sponsoring and training groups on its "terrorist list". Domestic front "This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children." [Marsh Arab] Thousands of Marsh Arabs have been forced from their homes Saddam Hussein has repeatedly been accused of killing and torturing opposition and minority groups, particularly the Kurdish population. He is said to be responsible for the deaths of between 70,000 and 150,000 Kurds in 1989, including 5,000 in nerve gas attacks. The campaign against the Kurds of Iraq in the late 1980's, known as the Anfal (or spoils in Arabic), was pursued at time when Iraq was an ally of Washington and the UK. The Iraqi regime is also accused of having forcibly relocated around 150,000 Marsh Arabs from southern Iraq by draining the marshes in which they lived. The Iraqi leader also has a record of dealing brutally with dissent against his rule. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 30 Paris wants dossier on Iraq arms sealed -- The Washington Times September 5, 2002 From combined dispatches PARIS — France yesterday said it does not support publishing top-secret evidence on Iraq's purported development of weapons of mass destruction, objecting to plans announced by the United States and Britain. "We have information of a confidential nature, and you know the importance we've placed on making sure it stays that way," Agence France-Presse quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero as saying. On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would in the coming weeks release damning information about Baghdad's efforts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and demonstrate the threat posed by Iraq. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday in Johannesburg that the United States would also release evidence showing Iraq to be seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction "with even greater vigor" than in the past. But Mr. Valero said Paris remained focused on getting U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq. "Since the inspectors left in 1998, it has been by definition more difficult to make any statements" about Baghdad's weapons programs, he said. Comments by British government officials yesterday suggest the evidence promised by Mr. Blair will offer few, if any, revelations, Reuters news agency reported. Asked to give an idea of what the evidence might be, one of Mr. Blair's Cabinet colleagues cited findings dating from the early 1990s. "We have already indicated that the U.N. inspectors discovered vast amounts of chemical and biological weapons when they were there," Junior Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien told the British Broadcasting Corporation. "We know also that Saddam Hussein was trying to develop a nuclear capability and develop a ballistic missile capacity before 1991 and we know that he continued to seek to develop that after 1991 while the U.N. inspectors were there." ***************************************************************** 31 Brand new US sponsored defuelling site unable to handle Typhoons Decommissioning The decommissioning process of around 100 nuclear powered submarines pulled out of operation in the Northern Fleet. Submarine spent nuclear fuel unloading site commissioned at Zvezdochka shipyard, Severodvinsk, in late August encountered problems trying to defuel a Typhoon class submarine. A TK-18 transport container is being loaded into railway car in Severodvinsk — the old defuelling scheme. Bellona archive Igor Kudrik, 2002-09-04 16:36 The construction of the unloading site was funded by the USA via Cooperative Threat Reduction Act, or CTR, in consent with a contract signed on May 29th 1998. Starting in 1992 and until 1997, CTR has been delivering equipment for scrapping ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to Zvezdochka in Severodvinsk, Nerpa at the Kola Peninsula and Zvezda shipyard in the Russian Far East. The equipment was used to dismantle five SSBNs. After 1997, CTR started to contract directly with the shipyards themselves and funded the dismantlement of submarines, as the scarce Russia's budget would not let the work to proceed. In 1998, due to the lack of defuelling capabilities and storage space for spent nuclear fuel, US officials granted CTR a waiver of the non-reprocessing policy. It was agreed that CTR would fund shipment of spent nuclear fuel to the Mayak reprocessing plant from 15 SSBNs dismantled on CTR's money. But funding of shipment to the Mayak plant was still not enough. New infrastructure was to be created to ensure that defuelling SSBNs, including Typhoons, could be carried out. Defuelling operations at Severodvinsk were carried out at military site coded "09" The fuel casks were first loaded onboard Malina class ship PM-124, which has been in operation for 20 years without overhaul repairs. Then an old crane — DPK-125 — in a very bad state of repair took empty TK-18 transport containers and placed them into compartment four onboard PM-124 — one at a time. TK-18 was then loaded with fuel and, with the use of crane DPK-124, was transferred into railway car. The site had no pad for intermediate storage of TK-18 containers and hardly met requirements for safe management of spent nuclear fuel. The brand new $15 million defuelling site sponsored by the USA is located at Zvezdochka shipyard. It is equipped with an 80-tonne crane, an intermediate storage pad for 12 fuel transport casks, a parking area for railway transport cars, and a building where the fuel is transferred to casks. The annual capacity of the site is four Delta class or two Typhoon class SSBNs. The site, however, cannot deal with damaged reactor cores, thus the condition of fuel in laid up submarines should be verified before they are placed for defuelling there. The site was scheduled for commissioning in November 2001, but due to various delays it was put into operation in August 2002. The first submarine to be defuelled is Typhoon class — TK-202 — which has been laid up in Severodvinsk since July 1999. In mid June this year it was reported that the works to defuel the Typhoon had been in progress. Apparently, those were preparations onboard the submarine as the defuelling site was not ready by that time. The actual defuelling was to be started last week of August but again the schedule was not followed. According to Nikolay Kalistratov, the manager of Zvezdochka, there are technical problems to match the systems onboard the Typhoon and those in the onshore defuelling site. To resolve the problem one month of work can be required. Should the process go smoothly, the operation takes 67 days. Russian official sources suggest that all together three Typhoon will be scrapped. Those are TK-202, TK-12 and TK-13. The remaining three Typhoons will perform some testing of new weapons to be placed on newer generation submarines. With commissioning of the defuelling site the USA may watch only one Typhoon being emptied of spent nuclear fuel and consequently scrapped. Local newspapers in Severodvinsk reported that the bridge separating the Yagry Island, where Zvezdochka is located, from the mainland is in poor condition and requires either an upgrade or total reconstruction. The bridge can hardly be used for the trains laden with spent nuclear fuel crossing it. The situation suggests that the US officials may very well be soon notified that in order to proceed with Typhoons decommissioning more cash is required — this time for the bridge. 2002-06-12 Nuclear powered vessels Russia scraps Typhoons Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] , President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 32 Britain preparing dossier said to prove Iraqi nuclear threat The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA [Tribnet.com] The Associated Press LONDON (September 4, 8:55 p.m. PDT) - British evidence on Saddam Hussein's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction will convince skeptics the Iraqi threat cannot be ignored, a foreign office minister said Wednesday. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who supports the U.S. policy of forcing a regime change in Iraq, said this week that his government hoped to publish a dossier of the evidence in the next few weeks. "As far as nuclear weapons are concerned we believe that (Saddam Hussein) is in the process of developing that capacity," Mike O'Brien, a junior minister in the Foreign Office, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Obviously it's not just having the nuclear weapons but the ballistic missile technology in that capacity in order to deliver them. We believe he's in the process of trying to get that so we'll set out all the details and the evidence in the dossier," he continued. "But we think when we do set that out that it will be indeed very convincing," O'Brien said. "The dossier that we will publish is something that will tell people why we believe the United Nations was right to pass resolutions insisting on a proper inspection regime for Iraq," he told reporters Wednesday during a visit to Stockholm, Sweden. He said publication of the dossier had been delayed because the government was trying to convince Iraq to accept United Nations weapons inspectors. "The prime minister made it very clear that we would publish the dossier when we were ready to do so," he said. Britain also published a dossier last year, more than a month after the start of U.S. strikes against Afghanistan, laying out evidence against Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network. Tacoma News, Inc. 1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742 Fax Machines: Newsroom, 253-597-8274 Advertising, 253-597-8764 Send comments to the Webmaster [webmaster@tribnet.com] at webmaster@tribnet.com [webmaster@tribnet.com] . ***************************************************************** 33 Britian: Iraq Can't Be Ignored Las Vegas SUN September 04, 2002 ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON- British evidence on Saddam Hussein's efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction will convince skeptics the Iraqi threat cannot be ignored, a foreign office minister said Wednesday. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who supports the U.S. policy of forcing a regime change in Iraq, said this week that his government hoped to publish a dossier of the evidence in the next few weeks. "As far as nuclear weapons are concerned we believe that (Saddam Hussein) is in the process of developing that capacity," Mike O'Brien, a junior minister in the Foreign Office, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Obviously it's not just having the nuclear weapons but the ballistic missile technology in that capacity in order to deliver them. We believe he's in the process of trying to get that so we'll set out all the details and the evidence in the dossier," he continued. "But we think when we do set that out that it will be indeed very convincing," O'Brien said. "The dossier that we will publish is something that will tell people why we believe the United Nations was right to pass resolutions insisting on a proper inspection regime for Iraq," he told reporters Wednesday during a visit to Stockholm, Sweden. He said publication of the dossier had been delayed because the government was trying to convince Iraq to accept United Nations weapons inspectors. "The prime minister made it very clear that we would publish the dossier when we were ready to do so," he said. Britain also published a dossier last year, more than a month after the start of U.S. strikes against Afghanistan, laying out evidence against Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 34 Appeals Court Supports Plutonium Shipments * ENS Home *WASHINGTON, DC,* August 7, 2002 (ENS) - A federal appeals court has ruled that the Department of Energy (DOE) may continue to ship plutonium to South Carolina for conversion to mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The three judge panel from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals denied South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges' appeal of a lower court ruling allowing the shipments to proceed. The judges' ruling was unanimous. "We are pleased that the court (4th Circuit Court of Appeals) affirmed the lower court's ruling today which said that DOE's decisionmaking and actions on this matter complied with the law," said DOE spokesperson Joe Davis. "This Administration is committed to ensuring America's national security and the security of the people of South Carolina are maintained by proceeding with a program to dispose of weapons grade plutonium in a safe and responsible manner." On Tuesday, Hodges vowed to take his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. "This weapons grade plutonium is a threat to the health and safety of our state," Hodges said. The governor said he plans to prepare a brief requesting that the Supreme Court hear the case. The DOE intends to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons grade plutonium by the end of 2019, through the conversion of the material to MOX fuel for use in commercial nuclear power reactors. The plutonium, pure enough to be used in nuclear weapons, is now located at Rocky Flats, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and at the PANTEX Facility in Amarillo, Texas. About 76 trailer loads of plutonium are expected to be shipped from Rocky Flats alone. The plutonium would be treated at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, in an as yet unbuilt conversion plant. But the DOE's MOX program has been plagued by escalating costs, legal challenges and delays. In February, Duke Power, the utility selected to use the MOX fuel in its McGuire and Catawba reactors, testified before a Nuclear Regulatory Commission proceeding that "the future use of MOX fuel at McGuire and Catawba reactors is not a certainty. Substantial uncertainties and contingencies continued to surround the program." Governor Hodges, a Democrat, has argued that the DOE has not done sufficient environmental studies to ensure that processing the plutonium into MOX would be safe, or that storing the plutonium in South Carolina - as might happen in the MOX program is terminated - would not harm the public or the environment. The appeals court judges disagreed. "We are satisfied that the DOE took a 'hard look' at the environmental consequences," of shipping and treating the plutonium, the judges ruled, calling the DOE's plans "neither arbitrary nor capricious." Hodges said the federal government has promised not to store the plutonium in his state, where it would be processed, but has failed to make a legally binding pledge. He is demanding a court decree enforcing the federal government's promise. Critics of the MOX fuel proposal charge that burning MOX in nuclear reactors increases the public health risks from nuclear accidents, particularly when the reactors were not originally designed to burn MOX fuel. * * DOE Speeds Up Oak Ridge Cleanup * *OAK RIDGE, Tennessee,* August 7, 2002 (ENS) - Federal and state officials have signed an agreement to accelerate environmental cleanup at the Energy Department's Oak Ridge facilities. The Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state of Tennessee officials crafted the Oak Ridge Accelerated Cleanup Plan, laying out the remaining actions needed to finalize accelerated cleanup plans and establishing specific milestones for work to be completed in the next three years. The Accelerated Cleanup Plan supplements a letter of intent signed May 14, detailing the DOE's plans to accelerate cleanup at the Oak Ridge Reservation. Facilities at Oak Ridge were used to build and test the radioactive components of nuclear weapons until the mid-1990s. "This agreement builds on DOE's commitment embodied by the letter of iIntent to work with states and other regulatory agencies to reduce health risks and expedite environmental cleanup," said Jessie Roberson, assistant secretary for environmental management at the DOE. "With the continued support of EPA and Tennessee, we have a clear path forward for accelerating risk reduction in Oak Ridge." Under the agreement, the partners will close the East Tennessee Technology Park, a former gaseous diffusion plant, by 2008. Remaining environmental cleanup at Oak Ridge will be completed by 2015. Some of the major activities to be completed in the next three years include the following: * Removal of contaminated scrap metal, remediation of two major areas of soil contamination, and decontamination and decommissioning of the K-29, K-31, and K-33 facilities at the East Tennessee Technology Park * Completion of capping activities at Solid Waste Storage Area 4, plugging and abandonment of hydrofracture wells, and decontamination and decommissioning of the New Hydrofracture Facility in Melton Valley * Removal of contaminated sediments from the Main Plant Surface Impoundments and completion of a groundwater engineering study in Bethel Valley * Installation of a water treatment system for contaminated surface water at the Y-12 National Security Complex * Removal of contaminated material at the Boneyard/Burnyard in Bear Creek Valley, located west of Y-12 The DOE is now finalizing an implementation plan that contains more detailed information about the accelerated cleanup initiatives. That plan, along with the Oak Ridge Accelerated Cleanup Plan Agreement, can be viewed at: http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/newpages.html Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights ***************************************************************** 35 Mo Mowlam: The real goal is the seizure of Saudi oil Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Iraq is no threat. Bush wants war to keep US control of the region Mo Mowlam Thursday September 5, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] I keep listening to the words coming from the Bush administration about Iraq and I become increasingly alarmed. There seems to be such confusion, but through it all a grim determination that they are, at some point, going to launch a military attack. The response of the British government seems equally confused, but I just hope that the determination to ultimately attack Iraq does not form the bedrock of their policy. It is hard now to see how George Bush can withdraw his bellicose words and also save face, but I hope that that is possible. Otherwise I fear greatly for the Middle East, but also for the rest of the world. What is most chilling is that the hawks in the Bush administration must know the risks involved. They must be aware of the anti-American feeling throughout the Middle East. They must be aware of the fear in Egypt and Saudi Arabia that a war against Iraq could unleash revolutions, disposing of pro-western governments, and replacing them with populist anti-American Islamist fundamentalist regimes. We should all remember the Islamist revolution in Iran. The Shah was backed by the Americans, but he couldn't stand against the will of the people. And it is because I am sure that they fully understand the consequences of their actions, that I am most afraid. I am drawn to the conclusion that they must want to create such mayhem. The many words that are uttered about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction, which are never substantiated with any hard evidence, seem to mean very little. Even if Saddam had such weapons, why would he wish to use them? He knows that if he moves to seize the oilfields in neighbouring countries the full might of the western world will be ranged against him. He knows that if he attacks Israel the same fate awaits him. Comparisons with Hitler are silly - Hitler thought he could win; Saddam knows he cannot. Even if he has nuclear weapons he cannot win a war against America. The United States can easily contain him. They do not need to try and force him to irrationality. But that is what Bush seems to want to do. Why is he so determined to take the risk? The key country in the Middle East, as far as the Americans are concerned, is Saudi Arabia: the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, the country that has been prepared to calm the oil markets, producing more when prices are too high and less when there is a glut. The Saudi royal family has been rewarded with best friend status by the west for its cooperation. There has been little concern that the government is undemocratic and breaches human rights, nor that it is in the grip of an extreme form of Islam. With American support it has been believed that the regime can be protected and will do what is necessary to secure a supply of oil to the west at reasonably stable prices. Since September 11, however, it has become increasingly apparent to the US administration that the Saudi regime is vulnerable. Both on the streets and in the leading families, including the royal family, there are increasingly anti-western voices. Osama bin Laden is just one prominent example. The love affair with America is ending. Reports of the removal of billions of dollars of Saudi investment from the United States may be difficult to quantify, but they are true. The possibility of the world's largest oil reserves falling into the hands of an anti-American, militant Islamist government is becoming ever more likely - and this is unacceptable. The Americans know they cannot stop such a revolution. They must therefore hope that they can control the Saudi oil fields, if not the government. And what better way to do that than to have a large military force in the field at the time of such disruption. In the name of saving the west, these vital assets could be seized and controlled. No longer would the US have to depend on a corrupt and unpopular royal family to keep it supplied with cheap oil. If there is chaos in the region, the US armed forces could be seen as a global saviour. Under cover of the war on terrorism, the war to secure oil supplies could be waged. This whole affair has nothing to do with a threat from Iraq - there isn't one. It has nothing to do with the war against terrorism or with morality. Saddam Hussein is obviously an evil man, but when we were selling arms to him to keep the Iranians in check he was the same evil man he is today. He was a pawn then and is a pawn now. In the same way he served western interests then, he is now the distraction for the sleight of hand to protect the west's supply of oil. And where does this leave the British government? Are they in on the plan or just part of the smokescreen? The government speaks of morality and the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, but can they really believe it? · Mo Mowlam was a member of Tony Blair's cabinet from 1997-2001 momwlm@aol.com [momwlm@aol.com] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************