***************************************************************** 03/06/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.57 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 AU: Stott Despoja vows to stop Government's nuclear 'madness' 2 uk: Wilson admits Holyrood could veto nuclear plans 3 UK: Salmond warning on nuclear plants 4 uk: Glowing indignation 5 uk: SNP fails to exploit nuclear power 'split' 6 US: House committee revives USEC's tax exemption 7 US: Plant union rejects 5-year USEC contract 8 US: The defining moments of terrorism hit home (excellent) NUCLEAR REACTORS 9 Incident at Brunsbuettel NPP, Germany, Dec. 14, 2001 10 US: NRC Appoints Alfred Sanchez Resident Inspector At Comanche Peak 11 US: NRC to Meet with Exelon to Discuss Peach Bottom Plant Performanc 12 US: NRC Issues Annual Assessments for All Nuclear Plants NUCLEAR SAFETY 13 US: Senator Harry Reid focusses on Fallon Leukemia clusters 14 Belarusian police seize radioactive substance from crime ring 15 NZ: Review of IEER nuclear testing cancer study NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 16 US: Denvir asks Attorney General to review Haddam's nuclear storage 17 US approves Japan's plan to send MOX fuel back to Britain 18 BNFL hires former EU environment director 19 Russian parliament passes law on spent nuclear fuel imports 20 US: Anti-Yucca effort seeks influential Republican 21 uk: Minister urged to back nuclear shut-down 22 US: West Valley Task Force will meet 23 US: Editorial: Yucca not just hazard to Nevada 24 US: Editorial: Leaders in Congress have need to know 25 US: Letter: Reid calls them as he sees them 26 US: Eco-Groups Are Wary Of N-Waste Proposal 27 US: -Under rules, Senate vote on Yucca might be difficult 28 US: lawsuit seeks to prevent DOE from abandoning waste 29 US: AU: ERA apologiese for uranium stockpile breach 30 US: Editorial: Of all the highways and railways in America 31 US: Nevada not solution for nation's nuclear waste 32 US: AU: Warning that Kakadu national park is seriously threatened 33 US: The Yucca Lemon 34 US: Yucca Mountain won't hold waste NUCLEAR WEAPONS 35 2002 Hiroshima Flame Walk: Star Wars DharmaWalk on Net-TV Mar.1-8 36 The Sunflower March 2002 (No. 58) 37 Marshall Islanders not optimistic on full test payout 38 Bikini Islanders' spokesman says lobbying US harder since 11 39 US: Can We Stop the Next Attack? 40 US: Threats most foul -- 41 Rep. Weldon Details Missing Soviet Suitcase Nukes 42 North Korea accuses US of jeopardizing nuclear accord 43 US: Ashcroft: No end near for alerts 44 US: White House, Hill Democrats at Odds (over nuclear information) 45 US: Nuclear Officials Describe Bombs US DEPT. OF ENERGY 46 Livermore facility to address pressing national needs 47 ENERGY DEPARTMENT SUPPORTS CLEAN COAL, NUCLEAR POWER 48 U.S. attorney: Plant suit trial can be avoided 49 DOE PR on Hanford cleanup 50 Aiken talk addresses new DOE criticism OTHER NUCLEAR 51 NUCLEAR BREAKTHROUGH OR BOO-BOO? 52 WNA NEWS BRIEFING 02.10 | 27 February - 5 March 2002 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Stott Despoja vows to stop Government's nuclear 'madness' canberra.yourguidewww.yourguide.com.au By EMMA MACDONALD Australian Democrats Leader Natasha Stott Despoja celebrated her party's 25th anniversary last night with a commitment to wiping out the nuclear industry in Australia. Senator Stott Despoja said the party's opposition to nuclear weapons, power and testing was as strong today as it was when the party was created in 1977 - the same year the French conducted nuclear tests on Muruora Island and the Fraser Government decided to allow uranium mining and export in Australia. Senator Stott Despoja delivered her speech from the Melbourne Town Hall, where party founder Don Chipp first banded supporters together in "the politics of hope" in 1977. Also speaking was Peter Garrett, lead singer of rock group Midnight Oil and president of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Senator Stott Despoja said the Democrats would call on the Government to table documents in Parliament next week which outline security systems at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydne. If the party was not assured the facility was safe from potential attacks, in light of the September 11 terror attacks in the US, the Democrats would call for a Senate inquiry. She accused the Government of being deceitful and recalcitrant on several nuclear-related issues. "Whether it is leaks from the Beverly uranium mine or plans for a low-level nuclear waste dump in my home state of South Australia, the ongoing battles over the Lucas Heights facility in NSW or the rehabilitation of Kakadu, the Democrats will continue to question the Government, to expose the madness and to oppose Australia's participation in the nuclear industry. "It is bad enough for Australia to be involved in the nuclear industry; it is made even worse by intransigent and unaccountable government," she said. The Democrats had revealed the Government's lack of an effective waste-management strategy at Lucas Heights and had consistently opposed the construction of any new reactors anywhere in Australia. "Australia's involvement in the nuclear madness is becoming increasingly secretive and political," she said. The "anti-nuke" message was chosen as the first topic in a series of speeches marking the Democrats' 25th anniversary. Other topics would include refugees, indigenous rights, anti-discrimination, women, world heritage and government accountability - all issues in which the party had a "proud history". ***************************************************************** 2 uk: Wilson admits Holyrood could veto nuclear plans The Scotsman - Wed 6 Mar 2002 Brian Wilson accused the Nationalists of squandering a rare debating opportunity by choosing an undisputed subject. FRASER NELSON BRIAN Wilson, the Trade Minister, last night tried to ouflank the SNP by accepting their claims that Holyrood could veto any new nuclear power stations in Scotland. But he accused the Nationalists of squandering a rare debating opportunity by choosing an undisputed subject. The SNP used their first Commons debate in four years yesterday to focus on the apparent split between Holyrood and Westminster on nuclear power. They wanted to exploit the difference in the view expressed by George Foulkes, the Scotland Office Minister who has claimed that the final decision on new power stations rests with Westminster, and the Scottish executive, which has insisted that it has the power. In its first Westminster debate since June 1998, the SNP sought to prove that Holyrood and Westminster were at odds over the renewal of Scotland’s ageing nuclear power stations. Energy policy is reserved to Westminster but planning applications fall under the remit of the Scottish parliament. Holyrood could impose a nuclear ban. Mr Wilson, who was in Scotland last night, insisted there was no rift and no dispute over the SNP’s central point - that "the Scottish parliament should have full planning powers" over the siting of nuclear stations. "Planning is devolved and if anyone wants to build a power station of any kind in Scotland, it will be a matter for the Scottish executive to determine - full stop, end of story," Mr Wilson said. "The SNP has been given three hours of Westminster debating time and has chosen this non-issue. What a waste." Alex Salmond, SNP group leader, said afterwards Mr Wilson should have been in the debating chamber to make this point for himself. He added: "We’re only hearing one side of the Labour argument in parliament. They are clearly split on this issue." ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 3 Salmond warning on nuclear plants The Herald (United Kingdom); Mar 6, 2002 ALEX Salmond, the SNP's Westminster leader, claimed late last night the Scottish Parliament would not have the final say on nuclear energy stations, and they could be imposed on Scotland. Helen Liddell, the Scottish secretary, said in a debate that both parliaments ''may have legislative competence to make law relating to controls governing such infrastructure developments'' ***************************************************************** 4 uk: Glowing indignation The Guardian - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 Bernard Ingham, once Margaret Thatcher's press chief, and lately scourge of wind power as figurehead of Country Guardians and a heavyweight in Supporters of Nuclear Energy, has never been one to win prizes for diplomacy. Last week, when the government had its first public seminar on what to do with radioactive waste, Ingham was cross about lack of nuclear industry representation and about Michael Meacher, the environment minister, who would be there. His comments to Sydney Roper, director of QMW, the body that set up the seminar at London University, came in an email message: "I can confidently predict that, from the anti-nuclear minister downwards, an enormous amount of codswallop will be talked the entire day. There is no problem with storing nuclear 'waste' - where it is really waste or whether it is recyclable uranium or plutonium. No financial problem. No technological problem. No safety problem. The only problem is political, which Meacher does his best to intensify in his visceral anti-nuclear stance." He asks: "Is this a seminar designed to enlighten or reinforce prejudices?" Ingham, who seems to have no prejudices himself, is obviously still on top form. ***************************************************************** 5 uk: SNP fails to exploit nuclear power 'split' The Scotsman - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 BRIAN Wilson, the energy minister, last night tried to ouflank the SNP by accepting their claims that Holyrood could veto any new nuclear power stations in Scotland. But he accused the party of squandering a rare debating opportunity by choosing an undisputed subject. The SNP used its first Commons debate in four years yesterday to focus on the apparent split between Holyrood and Westminster on nuclear power. It wanted to exploit the difference in the view expressed by George Foulkes, the Scotland Office minister, who has claimed that the final decision on new power stations rests with Westminster, and the Scottish executive, which has insisted it has the power. "Planning is devolved and if anyone wants to build a power station of any kind in Scotland, it will be a matter for the Scottish executive to determine - full stop, end of story," Mr Wilson said. ***************************************************************** 6 House committee revives USEC's tax exemption The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, March 06, 2002 By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 A bill to exempt the state sales tax on enriched uranium produced at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant was brought back to life Tuesday and now appears ready for action on the House floor. "I think there will be some opposition from northern Kentucky legislators, but I believe it is now going to pass," said Rep. Frank Rasche, D-Paducah. USEC Inc., which operates the Paducah plant, asked for the exemption because of its plan to move the final shipping operation from its closed plant at Portsmouth, Ohio, to Paducah. Moving the shipping will save the company about $40 million a year. Exempting the sales tax will save USEC and its customers as much as $6 million a year. USEC announced about three weeks ago it would move the shipping to the Paducah plant, adding as many as 50 jobs. Rasche and Rep. Charles Geveden, D-Wickliffe, resurrected the bill from the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, where it was sent last week after being removed from the agenda of bills scheduled for consideration by the full House. It was met with opposition from lawmakers who represent counties close to Portsmouth who complained moving the shipping operations would cost their constituents jobs. Usually, reassigning a bill to Appropriations and Revenue this late in the session means it is dead. Geveden and Rasche said they were able to convince members of the committee to reconsider the measure. It was sent to the House floor by a 20-4 vote during a special meeting late Tuesday. USEC official Charles Martin told committee members that if the exemption isn't approved, the company would change its method of shipping to transfer ownership out of state, rather than the traditional practice of customer picking up the material at the plant. Geveden and Rasche also argued that it is an economic development issue because it will make USEC more competitive with foreign competitors that also sell the processed uranium that is used in nuclear fuel. ***************************************************************** 7 Plant union rejects 5-year USEC contract The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, March 06, 2002 Staff Report Union security workers at the Paducah uranium enrichment plant rejected a five-year contract with USEC Inc. Tuesday night, but will not strike as labor and management head back to the bargaining table. Mike Kaufman, vice president of the 34-member Local 111 of Security Police and Fire Professionals of America, would not release the tabulation, but said, “I would not call it a close vote.” The old five-year contract expired at midnight Thursday. The membership’s major concerns with the proposed contract were salaries and hiring unarmed security guards, Kaufman said. “I do not want to go that far (in discussing guards’ wages,) but many of them feel like they could make more for working for the laundry,” Kaufman said. “Since 9/11, our emphasis at the plant has been on security, and now they say they want to hire unarmed guards.” The union bargaining committee is expected to meet today and set a time to meet with plant officials, Kaufman said. A tentative agreement was reached late Sunday afternoon after negotiations started Feb. 26, Kaufman said. The union bargaining committee recommended that members approve the contract. “But we brought it to the rank and file, and they turned it down,” Kaufman said. All 34 members cast votes at the Teamsters union hall on Cairo Road, Kaufman said. ***************************************************************** 8 The defining moments of terrorism hit home (excellent) Pahrump Valley Times By HORACE B. (RAY) LANGFORD, Sr.March 06, 2002 It took only 90 minutes to destroy that which was developed in more than 10 years. On Sept. 11 the United States experienced one of the most despicable acts of violence when the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were set upon with violent force and destroyed. As a result, more than 3,000 people representing 80 nations died at the hands of the perpetrators. Subsequent to the event, President George W. Bush has declared the destruction of the buildings and the loss of people's lives an act of terrorism. Recently, there has not been a speech, press release or an informal statement made by President Bush when the word "terrorism" was not used. It appears he has made the word an integral part of his vocabulary. And why not? To impress upon the world the importance of his newly defined mission of antiterrorism, he must constantly remind us of the horrible deed. To derive a better understanding of what he has been trying to tell us, I took the liberty of visiting the library and looked up the word in the "Random House Unabridged Dictionary (Second Edition, Copyright 1993), which states: Terrorism n. 1. The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. 2. The state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization. 3. A terroristic method of governing or resisting a government. Wow, that definition sure hit on a sensitive nerve! When I stopped, sat back and thought about the word terrorism, I found we, as a nation, are not immune from the act. Throughout the history of the United States violence, threats of intimidation and coercion have been used for political purposes. We can say it started when the first Europeans reached the shores of the Western Hemisphere, and subjected the indigenous Indians to near annihilation. In North America, Central America and South America, the Dutch, British, French, Spanish and Portuguese used terroristic methods to control and govern the people native to this hemisphere. To this very day, Indians are suffering at the hand of unjust political treatment. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been accused of mismanaging $10 billion of tribal assets. It seems that proceeds from natural gas and oil produced on tribal lands has somehow been lost or misplaced. That misappropriated money could go a long way to reduce poverty, provide quality healthcare and improve education amongst the Indians. And most important, enhance their concept of self-determination. What a way to govern. And it didn't stop there. The embryo of the nation, the 13 Colonies, and the union of states that came thereafter, evidently learned the lesson well from the initial explorers. To promote economic growth, the Colonists fostered, abetted and practiced another from of terrorism - slavery. For more than 250 years, people were transplanted from their homes in Africa to America and forcibly used as instruments of labor against their will. Again, the use of threats, intimidation and coercion, characteristics of terrorism, were used to nurture the inhuman treatment of a group of people. The results of which are still evident to this day, long after so-called emancipation. The negative social/psychological effects of slavery remain to this very day. The attitudes of modern day whites and blacks alike have been affected by the prejudicial disposition of America's forefathers. The cloak of terrorism takes on many different guises. Near the close of World War II, President Truman was confronted with the ethical issue of dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The written order for General Groves drafted the use of the atomic bomb against Japanese cities. President Truman and Secretary of War Stimson approved the order of Potsdam. The order made no mention of targeting military objectives or sparing civilians. The cities themselves were the targets. The order was also open-ended. "Additional bombs could be dropped ... as soon as made ready by the project staff." The 509 Composite Group, 20th Air Force delivered its first special bomb as soon as weather permitted visual bombing. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were totally destroyed by the first atomic bombs ever used in warfare. Fortunately, Kokura and Niigata were spared the same horrible fate. The number of civilian casualties in Hiroshima and Nagasaki far exceeded those killed on Sept. 11. Men, women, children, old and young, fell prey to the horror of the atomic bomb. Those that died at the initial thrust were fortunate. It's the generations that followed who suffered the agonies of nuclear poisoning. For more than 55 years, the offspring of the survivors have been in constant fear of passing contaminated genes on to the next generation. The use of the atomic bomb epitomizes to the maximum extent terrorism for political purposes. Granted, the political leaders at the time had no idea of the amount of devastation the bomb would yield. But, in the history of mankind, the results of its use has never been equaled or surpassed. Not all terrorist activities are accomplished by nations. There are those committed by small groups or individuals. The 1920 bombing on Wall Street in New York City can characterize this. In that occurrence, a wagonload of explosive material was detonated near the Morgan Bank, causing immeasurable damage to life and property. And let's not forget the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Or the bombing of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., where four young black girls were killed. Or Andrea Yates, the mother in Houston who drowned her five children in the bathtub. Or Susan Smith of South Carolina, who locked her two children in her car and let it drift into a lake for them to drown. All of these are a form of terrorism. Obviously, terrorist acts do not have to be politically motivated. However, the common denominator is violence directed toward person or property. Bringing the specter of terrorism closer to home, Nevada, and more to the point, Nye County, is to be the latest casualty of potential violence, intimidation and coercion for political reasons. On Feb. 15 President Bush gave approval for the generators of nuclear power to store their waste nuclear material in the bowels of Yucca Mountain. Some members of the local community have identified this day as a day of treachery, resembling that of the "Valentine's Day Massacre." Of the 3,141 counties in the United States, Nye County is the only county tagged to receive this high level radioactive nuclear waste. The 70,000 metric tons of lethal nuclear waste to be stored in Yucca Mountain cultivates a state of fear and submission that is generally a product of terrorism. The primary concern of everyone at this time is the effects the long-term storage is going to have on the local water, especially in Amargosa Valley, and the means to safely transport the waste material from it source to Yucca Mountain. Evidently, no serious consideration or concern was given to the residents of Nye County. We are just expected to accept the heedless decision of individuals who have no sincere regard for the well being of Nevadans. In the minds of some, the decision was evil. Defined as: 1. Morally wrong or bad; 2. Harmful, injurious; 3. Characterized or accompanied by misfortune or disaster; 4. Due to imputed bad conduct or character; 5. Marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc. ©Pahrump Valley Times 2002 ***************************************************************** 9 Incident at Brunsbuettel NPP, Germany, Dec. 14, 2001 Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 00:49:15 +0100 Dec. 14, 2001. Sources: Der Spiegel, Greenpeace Germany, German Federal Ministry for Environment, and others by Bernd Frieboese, March 6, 2002 1. What happened On December 14, 2001, the control room crew of Brunsbuettel NPP (BWR) noticed alarms from several reactor monitoring systems, including rising pressure in the containment. They detected a steam leak in pipework to the reactor dome sprinkler. Within 4 minutes, the defective pipe section was isolated by closing remote-operated valves, effectively stopping the leakage. By then, the steam equivalent of 260 liters of slightly radioactive cooling water had escaped into the containment building. 2. Reactions The morning and afternoon shifts in the control room prepared a shutdown of the reactor for inspection of the damage. In the meantime, their bosses went shopping: The owners of the plant, Hamburgische Electricitaets-Werke (HEW), bought electricity for about 1 Million DEM at the power exchange "Nordic Powerhouse" to supply their customers during the reactor outage. Then they rethought their plans: Someone decided that the leak had to be a defective gasket in a flange joint and thus a minor problem wnich could rest until the scheduled refueling period in May 2002. The bad news for the management was that they had to sell the freshly-bought electricity contingent for a mere DEM 200k, but this prevented much greater losses in late December when spot market prices were expected to peak. The state authorities were informed about the incident on December 17. They did not completely accept the operator's "gasket failure" explanation, but apparently they lacked the power or the will to order an immediate inspection. Instead the matter was discussed for several weeks. In the end both parties agreed to inspect the reactor during a power output reduction which had been planned for other (unspecified) reasons, on January 18, 2002. 3. Inspection Results The mixed inspection team found that about 2 to 3 meters (6 to 10 feet) of the pipe were missing, apparently ripped away by a hydrogen explosion. The pipe is 10 cm (4 inches)in diameter, the material thickness is 5 millimeter (3/16 inches). (photos at http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,185739,00.html) 25 bent pieces were scattered around the area. A return valve between the exploded pipe section and the reactor had prevented a major loss of cooling accident. 4. Consequences After the inspection, the reactor was brought to a cold shutdown. The Federal Ministry for Environment Protection (Bundesministerium für Unmweltschutz, BMU) is investigating and NGOs are demanding the withdrawal of the Operator's license. On March 4, the BMU declared that they welcomed the fact that the operators do not plan to restart the reactor before all the conditions set by the authorities have been fulfilled. The incident was classified as level 2 on the INES scale. NGOs demand that Brunsbuettel NPP should be closed for good and that 4 other reactors of similar design should be checked for poblems in the reactor dome sprinkler system. 5. Background: The History of Brunsbuettel Nuclear Power Plant by Susanne Ochse, Greenpeace Germany (English by Bernd Frieboese) Brunsbuettel NPP, the oldest operating boiling water reactor in Germany (operating since December 12, 1976), holds a negative record: The total outage time caused by technological problems adds up to around 7 years. In 1992 alone a routine inspection found 61 cracks in the pipework. In June 1978 Brunsbuettel made the headlines with an incident that raised doubts about the reliability (required by law) of the operators, HEW. 2 tons of radioactive vapour escaped through a steam tube leak. The crew simply blocked the automatic shutdown system to keep the reactor running for almost another 3 hours. Brunsbuettel has always had plumbing problems. On 2 occasions large sections of the piping hat to be replaced, as they had been built of an inferior steel quality in the 1970es. So some of them were already replaced by the supposed "super steel" Austenite in the early 80es. about 10 years later, in 1992, cracks were detected in the stainless Austenite tubes as well. HEW first claimed that the cracks dated from the manufacturing of the pipe material. Later they had to admit that the cracks had grown during operation. The reactor was closed for piping replacements for several years. Cracks in the reactor dome sprinkler pipes were detected in early 1995, delaying the restart until June that year. ***************************************************************** 10 NRC Appoints Alfred Sanchez Resident Inspector At Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station NRC: Press Release Region IV - 2002 - 7 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington TX 76011 www.nrc.gov No. IV-02-007 March 5, 2002 CONTACT: Breck Henderson Phone: 817-860-8128 Cellular: 817-917-1227 E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov [opa4@nrc.gov] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has appointed Alfred Sanchez resident inspector at Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station, a nuclear power plant near Glen Rose, Texas. He joins senior resident inspector Don Allen. Mr. Sanchez earned a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering in 1993 at Texas A University and a master's degree in industrial engineering in 1999, also from Texas A. Mr. Sanchez joined the NRC in April 2000 as an operations engineer. Prior to joining the NRC, he worked as a senior operator at the Texas A Nuclear Science Center's TRIGA research reactor. Mr. Sanchez and his family reside in Fort Worth, Texas. ***************************************************************** 11 NRC to Meet with Exelon to Discuss Peach Bottom Plant Performance NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 13 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-013 March 6, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Exelon Generation Company, LLC, on Tuesday, March 12, to discuss the results of the agency's annual assessment of safety performance at the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant. The facility, which has two operational reactors, is located in Delta, Pa., and operated by Exelon. The meeting, which will be the open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Peach Bottom Inn, 6085 Delta Road, Delta. NRC staff will be available after the meeting to answer questions from the public on the safety performance of Peach Bottom and the role of the NRC in ensuring safe plant operation. The performance period to be discussed is April 1, 2001, to December 31, 2001. In addition, NRC staff will provide an overview of the agency's Reactor Oversight Process. A letter sent from the NRC Region I office to Exelon addresses plant performance during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/pb_2001q4.pdf Current performance information for Peach Bottom Unit 2 is available on the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PB2/pb2_chart.html Current performance information for Peach Bottom Unit 3 is available on the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PB3/pb3_chart.html ***************************************************************** 12 NRC Issues Annual Assessments for All Nuclear Plants NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 27 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-027 March 6, 2002 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued annual assessment letters for all 103 operating nuclear power plants and posted them to its web site. Every six months each plant receives either a mid-cycle review letter or an annual assessment letter along with an NRC inspection plan. Updated information on plant performance is posted to the NRC web site every quarter. The next mid-cycle assessment letters will be issued in September. The assessment letters sent to each licensee are available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/index.html and through ADAMS, the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System. Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRC Public Document Room by calling (301) 415-4737. Public meetings at each plant are planned. Details of the meetings, which will be open to the public, will be announced as they are scheduled. ***************************************************************** 13 Senator Harry Reid focusses on Fallon Leukemia clusters Senate Hearing Focuses on Reid/ Clinton Health Tracking Legislation Wednesday, March 6, 2002 Washington, D.C. - Continuing his work to help Fallon families find answers to the childhood leukemia cancer cluster, Senator Harry Reid today spoke on the need to identify and track chronic illnesses and their environmental factors. Reid testified at a Senate health committee hearing exploring the links between the environment and human health. "I am here today to bring the personal experience of the small Fallon community in Nevada to you as you consider the important issue of tracking and responding to chronic disease," Reid testified. "We don't know what caused this leukemia outbreak, and we don't have a tracking system to tell us how many other Fallons there are out there yet to be identified." Last April, Senator Reid was joined by Senator Hillary Clinton at a field hearing in Fallon to look at possible causes and solutions to the childhood leukemia outbreak in the community. That hearing and the on-going response to the Fallon cancer outbreak have provided a roadmap for what the senators will seek to establish on the national level. Senator Reid recently secured a $17.5 million down payment to develop pilot programs in states as a first step in the development of a nationwide health tracking network. Reid and Clinton will introduce their national health tracking legislation in the coming weeks. The bill would provide for a nationwide network to track both chronic diseases and environmental exposures so that correlations between disease and environmental factors may be identified, tracked and monitored. The legislation would also establish a public health rapid response system to respond to higher than normal incidents of chronic diseases. "In the case of Fallon, the Centers for Disease Control has done a good job responding and helping us investigate possible causes and connections. But this is the first cancer cluster investigation they have conducted since the 1980s," Reid added. "If we had a nationwide tracking system and a federal response team, we could focus the resources of the CDC and other federal agencies. We could, perhaps, find some answers and help other communities avoid the anguish that has befallen Fallon." The hearing looked at the overall need for improved surveillance data on health outcomes and relevant environmental factors needed to either document or rule out possible links between environmental risk factors and chronic disease. Reid and Clinton will use information from today's hearing as the final step before introducing their bill. ### STATEMENT OF SENATOR HARRY REID Committee on Health, Education Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee on Public Health Hearing on Health Tracking: Improving the Surveillance and Response to Chronic Disease and Links to Environmental Exposures March 6, 2002 ? I thank the Subcommittee for the opportunity to testify here today. ? I am here to bring the experience the small community of Fallon, Nevada to you as you consider the important issue of tracking and responding to chronic disease. ? That is the most important reason for me to be here today. ? Fallon is a small rural community outside of Reno. In the short span of just a few years, 15 children in that community of about 8,000 have been inflicted with leukemia. ? Since I was joined in Fallon by my colleague from New York, Senator Clinton, at the first hearing on this issue nearly a year ago, two children have passed away. ? We don't know what caused their leukemia. We don't know whether there was an environmental cause. ? We don't have a tracking system to tell us how many other Fallons there are out there yet to be identified. ? We don't have a system that allows us correlate possible connections between a chronic disease like leukemia and pollution. ? And, we don't have a federal rapid response team to help communities like Fallon when it becomes apparent that they have been hit with a cancer cluster or other chronic disease outbreak. ? In the case of Fallon, the Centers for Disease Control has done a good job helping us investigate possible causes and connections. So too has the Agency for Toxic Substances Control and Disease Registry. ? They have done fine work in Fallon. ? But this is the first cancer cluster investigation CDC has conducted since the 1980s. ? If we had a nationwide tracking system and a federal response team, we could focus the resources of the CDC and other federal agencies. ? We could - perhaps - find some answers. ? More important, we could help other communities avoid the anguish that has befallen Fallon's families. ? These are the reasons why my colleague Senator Clinton and myself believe our bill to bring a new national commitment to understanding the role the environment plays in chronic diseases is so important. ? It is why we have worked so hard on our bill to help communities track chronic diseases like childhood leukemia, to help them correlate disease with pollution, and to help them respond when a tragedy like a cancer cluster hits. ? We hope to introduce that bill within the next week so that the nation can benefit from our experience in Fallon, Nevada, Long Island, New York and the other communities around the nation. ? That bill will help states establish networks to monitor, track and correlate chronic diseases like cancer with environmental pollution. ? States will get grants to do this work. The federal government will help them with technical advice and will establish minimum standards for what information they should collect. ? The bill then requires the federal government to synthesize that information into a nationwide network. ? What's the benefit of that network to a community like Fallon? ? If it existed today, investigators from the CDC would be able to identify other places in the nation with higher than normal incidences of childhood leukemia. ? CDC would be able to look to see whether those other communities shared a similar environmental problem in common. ? This would let CDC focus in on possible causes. It could help answer some questions about cancer and other chronic diseases. It could help us find the underlying cause. ? Since I began my service in the Senate, I've worked on the issue of how environmental pollution can affect health. ? For example, we don't know if the environment plays a role in the development of breast cancer, and if it does, we don't know how significant that role is. ? Senator Chafee and I have sponsored legislation, the Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Act, that would give scientists the tools they need to pursue a better understanding of potential links between breast cancer and the environment. ? In addition, several years ago, I served as the Chairman of what was then known as the Subcommittee on Toxic Substances and the Environment. It was a subcommittee of the Environment Committee on which I still serve. ? In that Subcommittee, we worked on a number of bills and held hearings on the possible connections between exposure to chemicals like pesticides and chronic disease. ? We tried for years to make improvements in the environmental legislation that regulates the use of chemicals in the environment. The industry fought us in that effort at the time. ? They told us that we couldn't show them any connection between chemical exposures and chronic diseases. ? My view at the time was that it was their burden to show us that there was no connection. ? That debate ended in a stalemate. ? I think they recognize today that an effort to track and monitor chronic disease and environmental pollution is something we need to do. ? We need to answer the questions about whether there are indeed connections so that - if there are - we can deal with them. ? It is an idea - for all the Fallons out there - whose time has come. ***************************************************************** 14 Belarusian police seize radioactive substance from crime ring BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 Text of report by Belarusian news agency Belapan Minsk, 6 March: The Belarusian Prosecutor's Office is investigating a criminal case involving crimes committed by an armed ring which acted in Homel and Brest Regions [southern Belarus] in 1998-2000, Belapan has learnt from the Prosecutor's Office's press centre. The investigation has revealed over 20 members of the gang, led by a resident of the village of Kalinkavichy, Homel Region, Yakusevich. During the investigation 17 individuals, including 12 former convicts, were arrested. The gang has been charged with committing more than 100 crimes, including three premeditated murders, cases of robbery, intentional destruction of property by setting houses and flats alight and stealing cars and other property. The press centre also reported that the accused had been working out criminal operations against staff of law-enforcement agencies. For this purpose they had acquired explosives and tested them at the former military training ground near Kalinkavichy. Members of the ring had radioactive materials which they planned to plant on the premises of the Interior Ministry's departments in Kalinkavichy and Mazyr [Homel Region]. The police have seized from the accused firearms, a grenade, explosives, four containers with a radioactive substance, six stolen cars and other objects. Source: Belapan news agency, Minsk, in Belarusian 1242 gmt 6 Mar 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 15 NZ: Review of IEER nuclear testing cancer study NZOOM - ONE News - Health News Fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing will cause an estimated 80,000 US residents to contract cancer, an anti-nuclear interest group said. The findings reported by the non-profit Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) concluded that over 15,000 of the cancer cases would be fatal. "This report and other official data show that hot spots occurred thousands of miles away from the test sites," said Dr Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. "Hot spots due to testing in Nevada occurred as far away as New York and Maine," Makhijani said. The government provides similar fallout estimates for testing sites outside the continental United States, in the Marshall Islands and Johnston Atoll in the Pacific region, Soviet tests in Semipalatinsk (now in Kazakhstan) and Novaya Zemlya (Russia), and British tests on Christmas Island. Those reports were similarly alarming, IEER officials said. "Hot spots from US Pacific area testing and also Soviet testing were scattered across the United States from California, Oregon, Washington, and in the West to New Hampshire, Vermont and North Carolina in the east," said Makhijani. The group, based in Takoma Park, Maryland, just outside Washington, reached its conclusion in a report released last week, after analysing US government statistics of people who resided in the United States between 1951 and 2000. The group studied recent, as yet unreleased government data and official fallout maps showing cumulative fallout and county-by-county radiation dose and fallout patterns. The government data, prepared by the National Cancer Institute and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, provides estimates of radiation doses from nuclear testing sites in Nevada, showing that fallout was detectable far from the site of the original tests. The group was critical of US government health policy to address the adverse side effects of radiation exposure. "Despite the fact that its own studies have long shown extensive harm to people, including children, the US government has had no effective public health response," said Lisa Ledwidge, a biologist and IEER's Outreach Director for the United States. > Published on Mar 04, 2002 ONE News sourced from TVNZ, RNZ, Reuters and ['Bridge'] TOP STORIES - Rugby Union under pressure to sign [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85373-1-7,00.html] - Arrests again in Cowley Place [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85566-1-7,00.html] - US tariffs blow for steel industry [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85440-1-7,00.html] - Top school in enrolment row [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85379-1-8,00.html] HEALTH - Health funding may only pay debts [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85437-1-6,00.html] - Cosmetic surgeon suspended again [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85562-1-6,00.html] - Search for unwelcome mosquito [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85599-1-6,00.html] - Inquiries find other missing organs [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85209-1-6,00.html] - Two people to replace Dr Peters [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85227-1-6,00.html] - Hospitals in territorial dispute [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85180-1-6,00.html] - Ministry surprise at Pacific pig trial [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84737-1-6,00.html] - Hi-tech surgery bus hits the road [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85381-1-6,00.html] - Lack of beds for mentally ill [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84882-1-6,00.html] - Screening programme boss resigns [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,85044-1-6,00.html] - Cancer from nuclear testing fallout [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84821-1-6,00.html] - Agent Orange still contaminating [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84523-1-6,00.html] - Call for smaller, stronger condoms [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84192-1-6,00.html] - Heart inquiries halt surgery [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84440-1-6,00.html] - Attack of the courgette [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84416-1-6,00.html] - Supporters of research speak out [http://onenews.nzoom.com/news_detail/0,1227,84462-1-6,00.html] ***************************************************************** 16 Denvir asks Attorney General to review Haddam's nuclear storage settlement Clinton Recorder By: Shannon OCork, Recorder CorrespondentMarch 05, 2002 KILLINGWORTH - Writing on behalf of a consortium of 15 Connecticut River Valley towns, Selectman David Denvir called on state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to immediately "investigate and review" the recent agreement between the town of Haddam and the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co. That agreement allows CY to build a $40 million storage facility for its spent, but still radioactive, nuclear fuel rods on a 15-acre piece of land in Haddam Neck. The locale is less than a mile from the plant site on the Connecticut River, but beyond the plant's so-called footprint. In return for permission to build and store its nuclear spent-fuel rods, CY pays the town of Haddam $800,000 up front. CY then pays taxes to the town of a minimum of $1 million the first year, with increases in the tax payment of 2.5 percent each year for ten years. And if the CY complex is sold for a gas-powered electric generating plant, the town would receive a percentage of around 10 percent on the sale, up to a certain base amount of about $1.5 million. In his letter to Blumenthal of Feb. 25, Denvir writes the agreement, which permits CY to construct a "dry cask storage facility for nuclear fuel rods in the center of the river valley," sets a "remarkable precedent for future land use disputes." Denvir's argument is that the settlement legally allows a town's Board of Selectmen to override the decisions of town committees and commissions, and that should not be so. Denvir writes: "The agreement not only allows the Selectmen to substitute their judgment for that of the Planning and Zoning Commission, it mutes the efforts of any other arm of town government to oppose construction or to enforce local zoning laws." Denvir continues, "As an attorney and as an elected official, I am shocked that the court would sanction an agreement that directly sidesteps local land use regulations simply because town officials, in settling litigation, consent to allow construction of a non-permitted use.... It is a clear and far-reaching challenge to the autonomy of municipal land use agencies." The town of Haddam is not a member of the Connecticut River Valley Council of Elected Officials. Haddam Selectman Keith Ainsworth, an attorney with the New Haven legal firm of Evans, Feldman & Boyer, said his town did not join the organization because of what is in the Council's charter. "They say in their charter that they could become a taxing authority to raise monies for themselves," Ainsworth said, "although they haven't done that and they have promised not to." Haddam First Selectman Tony Bondi said he has not talked with Killingworth First Selectman Denvir about the settlement matter or Denvir's letter to Blumenthal. "But it doesn't surprise me," Bondi said. "Earlier in time, (Killingworth's) former First Selectman David LeVasseur told me that if we settled with CY, the selectmen's board would be held accountable for it, if it didn't benefit the town." Bondi, the lone Democrat on Haddam's three-person selectmen's board, voted against accepting the out-of-court settlement agreement with CY. The other two selectmen, Ainsworth and Middletown Police Captain Phil Pessina, voted to settle with CY, accept the terms and not press the matter in the courts. The decision passed in a 2-to-1 vote on Jan. 23. Ainsworth said about Denvir's letter to Blumenthal, "Denvir is seriously misguided, and the 15 towns have been misled. He is not aware of the fact that (the Haddam selectmen) met before we voted with the members of Planning and Zoning. They were in agreement that if we, the selectmen's board, did not settle with CY, they were poised to issue the regulations that would allow CY to build the storage facility anywhere they wanted to. So our motivations were several, and the information from P and Z played a part in our decision. We did the best we could in the situation as it existed, and we did what we thought was in the best interests of the town." Denvir's letter also expresses concern that the claim "was settled barely 60 days after filing." Ainsworth said about the implication of a too-hasty agreement, "He is misguided about that, too. This settlement has been in the works since April 2001. The settlement was rushed in no way and there was no new information." Ainsworth also disagreed with Denvir's worry about setting a precedent in future land-use disputes. "This agreement only settled a particular case between two parties and has no precedential value," he said. About the long-lived radioactive quality of the nuclear material, Denvir writes, "(The dry-storage casks) will contain material that remains lethally toxic for thousands of years and once constructed, it is unlikely they will be disassembled." Ainsworth agreed that Denvir is right about that. The nuclear material will stay alive "for 10,000 years," Ainsworth said. "And clearly, the casks will be in that wooded place at CY for at least 20 years. The fuel will move when it's ready. Until that happens, dry fuel storage is better and safer than the wet fuel storage in which those spent nuclear rods now sit. I won't say that the material will be safe, stored for all that long time. It would be better if all of it was out of Connecticut. But the storage, for the foreseeable future, is sufficient, and it's out in the woods, as far away as possible from a sensitive environment." Ainsworth ended up, "I stand behind our decision and most of our community strongly supports what we have done." CY began as a nuclear power plant in 1968 on a 525-acre site beside the Connecticut River in Haddam Neck on land that had once been an airport. In 1996, CY officials decided to close and decommission the operation. According to a fact sheet from CY, decommissioning should be complete by 2004. One fear that some residents and neighbors have about the plant is that it will become, in time, a storage locker for other states' spent nuclear fuel. CY has promised to store only its own fuel at Haddam, but suspicion lingers. In December 2000, the Haddam Planning and Zoning Commission denied CY's application to rezone a portion of its property for dry fuel storage. CY then filed a federal suit against the town and subsequently the settlement agreement between corporation and town was reached. But before the selectmen voted to accept the out-of-court settlement, a petition, signed by almost 400 residents urging them not to settle, was presented to them. And, last Wednesday, on Feb. 27, Andrew Egri, a Haddam resident and abutting neighbor to CY's property in Haddam Neck, filed a lawsuit in Middletown's Superior Court contesting the agreement. Denvir's letter concludes by asking for "immediate action" from Blumenthal. The 15-town Council is unanimously concerned, Denvir writes, that the agreement "amounts to judicial approval of a means by which land use regulation, as delegated by Connecticut statutes to local planning and zoning agencies, may be subverted and transgressed." Blumenthal said on Wednesday, two days after the letter was mai Member towns of the Connecticut River Valley Council of Elected Officials are Chester, Clinton, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Killingworth, Lyme, Middlefield, Middletown, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland and Westbrook. ©Clinton Recorder 2002 ***************************************************************** 17 US approves Japan's plan to send MOX fuel back to Britain BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo Tokyo, 6 March: The United States has approved a Japanese government plan to send plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel stored at a nuclear power plant in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, back to Britain, Japanese sources said Wednesday [6 March]. The MOX fuel contains about 3,500 kg of US-origin uranium and 250 kg of plutonium, and its transfer required approval by the US government under a Japan-US accord on the use of nuclear energy. The US approval paves the way for the transfer of the MOX fuel from Kansai Electric Power Co's Takahama plant on the Sea of Japan coast to Britain as early as this summer, the sources said. In 1999, Kansai Electric Power imported the MOX fuel from British Nuclear Fuels PLC (BNFL) but the British company was found to have falsified manufacturing data for the fuel. Following the revelation, a plan to use the MOX fuel for the first time in Japan was cancelled, and Japan and Britain agreed that BNFL would take the fuel back to Britain. According to the transfer plan, the MOX fuel will be carried by two British armed vessels with armed police from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) aboard. The vessels will each be equipped with three 30-mm guns and can deploy a high-speed armed boat. The UKAEA officers will be armed with assault rifles, shotguns and pistols, and equipped with gas masks. The US government sees no problem with the transfer plan, and no risk of the MOX fuel being seized by terrorists, the sources said. The plutonium in the MOX fuel could be converted for use in nuclear weapons. The shipment of the MOX fuel is the first of its kind following the 11 September terror attacks on the United States. Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 0432 gmt 6 Mar 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 18 BNFL hires former EU environment director Irish Newspapers THE former head of the European Commission's Environment directorate, Jim Currie, has joined the board of British Nuclear Fuels Limited as a non executive director. Mr Currie, who took a form of early retirement last October from the Commission in Brussels, is currently paid a fixed amount of €100,000 from the EU. He will now in addition receive stg£20,000 (€32,000) from the controversial nuclear company, which runs the Sellafield complex in Cumbria. Apart from acting as a watchdog over European legislation and drafting new EU environmental laws, Mr Currie's directorate is responsible for both nuclear safety and civil protection. His successor is Irishwoman Catherine Day, who has not yet taken over his duties. The announcement comes shortly before Ireland is expected to launch a case against the British government in the European Court of Justice, possibly with the backing of his former directorate, over the new Mox plant at Sellafield. Conor Sweeney in Brussels © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 19 Russian parliament passes law on spent nuclear fuel imports BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Moscow, 6 March, RIA-Novosti correspondent Pavel Shevtsov: The State Duma on Wednesday [6 March] passed at the third and final reading a bill under which the import of spent nuclear fuel from atomic reactors, produced in foreign countries, will take place on the basis of a positive finding of a special commission under the Russian president, RIA-Novosti's correspondent reports. The committee will consist of a chairman and 20 members, five each representing the president the Federation Council [upper house], the State Duma [lower house] and the government. According to the proposed law, the special commission will submit to the president and both houses of parliament annual reports on the state of affairs regarding the import of foreign produced spent nuclear fuel into Russia. The rules on the special commission will be confirmed by a presidential decree. The bill has now been sent for consideration by the Federation Council. Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0832 gmt 6 Mar 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 20 Anti-Yucca effort seeks influential Republican Wednesday, March 06, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By TONY BATT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Nevada senators plan to recruit a prominent Republican by week's end to serve as a partner to former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta in the fight against a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Podesta agreed Monday to lobby for Nevada after meeting with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "From an environmental perspective, (Yucca Mountain) is a monumental decision which I don't think has been thought through," Podesta said Tuesday. Podesta, chief of staff for President Clinton from October 1998 through January 2001, is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. With Podesta on board, Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., will focus their recruiting efforts on high-profile Republicans. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is among the candidates being considered, Reid said. Sources said other candidates include former Sens. Connie Mack, R-Fla., and Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., and Tom Korologos, a veteran GOP lobbyist in Washington, D.C. "We should have that done in the next day or so," Reid said. Ensign said through spokeswoman Traci Scott, "I think it's great that we hired someone of John Podesta's stature. We hope to do the same on our side, too." The hiring of heavyweight lobbyists is part of Nevada's strategy to sustain an anticipated veto by Gov. Kenny Guinn. The governor has said he will veto a Feb. 15 decision by President Bush to approve Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a nuclear waste repository. Guinn has 60 days from that date to veto Bush's decision, and Congress would have 90 legislative days to override the veto by a majority vote in both the House and Senate. Guinn and other state officials have acknowledged that Nevada cannot win in the House; the strategy is to concentrate on the Senate, where Democrats hold a one-seat majority. Podesta said his role will be to inform the public and the Senate that President Bush's decision on Yucca Mountain is flawed. "This kind of rush to a solution short-circuits a real discussion of environmental problems caused by the transportation of as many as 100 shipments a day of high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain for literally 40 years," Podesta said. Former Vice President Al Gore would not have made the decision Bush issued Feb. 15, Podesta said. But Podesta said he did not take the Nevada job to strike back at the Bush administration. The money to pay Podesta and the Republican lobbyist will come from an anti-Yucca Mountain fund including $5 million from the Nevada Legislature, $250,000 from the Nevada Resort Association, and $500,000 from the American Gaming Association. Reid declined to say how much Podesta will be paid. Podesta said the money he receives will be paid to Podesta Associates Inc., a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm he founded in 1988 with his brother, Tony. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 21 uk: Minister urged to back nuclear shut-down [BBC NEWS] 5 March, 2002, [Sellafield plant, Cumbria] A campaign is ongoing to have the Sellafield plant shut down Politicians in Northern Ireland have lobbied the enterprise minister to support a campaign calling for the closure of all nuclear power plants on the west coast of Britain including the controversial Sellafield plant in Cumbria. The assembly's enterprise committee made the call on Tuesday as they presented a report to Sir Reg Empey, in the assembly. Deputy chairman Sean Neeson said the committee was concerned at the long term implications of nuclear energy on the province's environment. "We were concerned at the long term environmental effects of nuclear energy and would like to see its eventual replacement by sustainable energy," said the Alliance member. The executive should investigate the possibility of abolishing government Royalty tax and reducing the differences in corporation tax between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Pat Doherty Committee chairman "The committee also believes that the substantial government subsidies to the nuclear energy industry should be redirected to the renewable energy industry." The report, which examined the high cost of electricity in Northern Ireland but did not offer any recommendations on reducing prices, called on the Ulster Unionist minister to explore all possible avenues in bringing down prices for the consumer. The committee said they were "content to await the outcome" of a report by Sir Reg's department on developing new energy markets for the province. Sinn Fein committee member Dara O'Hagan said she and her colleagues had agonised long and hard over the various options available, which include the buying out of bonds and allowing contracts to expire. "We got the feeling that we weren't in full possession of all the information in respect to the contracts," she said. Renewable resources "Vested interests were pushing us in a certain direction to go for bonds." Committee chairman Pat Doherty outlined the gains that could be made from an all-island energy market. However, the Sinn Fein assembly member added: "There would need to be adequate electricity and gas interconnector capacity, common approaches both to the applicable fiscal regimes and charging policies. "The executive should investigate the possibility of abolishing government Royalty tax and reducing the differences in corporation tax between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to enable companies to trade in a fair and equitable all-island energy market." Another key recommendation of the report was the development of environmentally-friendly sources of renewable energy such as wind farms. Mr Doherty called for grant aid to be given to domestic consumers seeking to obtain energy from renewable sources. The report also dealt with the issue of fuel poverty, and supported a previous assembly recommendation that the Energy Efficiency Levy should be increased to an average of £5 per customer per year. Environment Minister Dermot Nesbitt, also an Ulster Unionist, last week criticised the Irish Government for bringing its court action against the British Government in an attempt to close the Sellafield reprocessing plant because of concerns over raditation and pollution. Mr Nesbitt said the British-Irish Council of ministers was the proper place to raise any concerns over Sellafield. ***************************************************************** 22 West Valley Task Force will meet Buffalo News - 3/4/2002 ASHFORD - The West Valley Citizen Task Force will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the status of its appeal for congressional intervention to resolve the standoff in negotiations between the federal Department of Energy and New York State Energy and Research Development Authority for final decontamination of a former nuclear fuel reprocessing facility near West Valley. The group is also expected to discuss future uses of the site and then will be given an update from DOE officials on a proposal to extend a contract with West Valley Nuclear Services. The meeting is in the Ashford Office Complex on Route 219 and is open to the public. Copyright © 1999 - 2002 The Buffalo NewsTM ***************************************************************** 23 Editorial: Yucca not just hazard to Nevada Las Vegas SUN Today: March 06, 2002 at 8:43:30 PST Yucca Mountain wasn't in the vocabulary of most Americans a month ago, but that began to change in a big way on Feb. 15. That was the date of President Bush's belated Valentine's Day gift to Nevada, when he designated Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump. Prior to Feb. 15 Nevada's congressional delegation and local and state officials hadn't encountered great success in their efforts to get other cities and states concerned about the possibility that the nuclear waste transportation routes would come close to their neighborhoods and businesses. But nothing seems to focus the mind like the specter of trucks or trains hauling nuclear waste through a lawmaker's district or state. One of the most prominent opponents of Yucca Mountain outside Nevada -- and who isn't a Johnny-come-lately to the issue -- is the House minority leader, Richard Gephardt, D-Mo. Last weekend Gephardt did the kind of thing that will help Nevadans significantly as they try to garner enough votes in Congress to override Bush's decision. Gephardt spoke at an anti-Yucca Mountain rally held at a train depot in Webster Groves, a city in the metropolitan area of St. Louis. Gephardt said that unless the waste stays on site at the nuclear power plants where it now is safely kept, nuclear waste would soon be lumbering through Webster Groves and other cities across the United States. The Utah Legislature, meanwhile, is considering a resolution to oppose the dump. Utah is concerned about transportation risks and is worried that some nuclear waste could be temporarily st ored on an Indian reservation in the state until Yucca Mountain was ready to accept the waste. The fight for Nevada over Yucca Mountain won't be easy, though, because Republicans in the House will be reluctant to rebuff their congressional leaders who are ardent dump supporters, such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. And Republican senators -- even Democrats for that matter -- may be unwilling to cross the president. Still, that shouldn't deter Nevada's congressional delegation from looking everywhere for votes. For example, pockets of opposition can be found in Southern California's Inland Valley, which includes portions of San Bernardino County. "I've got a huge problem with it," Rep. Gary Miller, a California Republican from Diamond Bar, told the Los Angeles Times on the day Bush chose Yucca Mountain. "All I see is a huge risk," Miller said, referring to the dangers of transporting nuclear waste through rural areas of California. Miller als o isn't sold on the Department of Energy's assurances that the canisters holding the nuclear waste would be invulnerable to! an accident. "Space shuttles are pretty safe, too," Miller said sarcastically, noting the space shuttle Challenger explosion. It's been said that all politics is local. Well, if Nevada can just peel off enough like-minded members of Congress such as California's Gary Miller, then it just may have a shot at pulling off an upset over the nuclear power industry and its influential friends in Congress. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 24 Editorial: Leaders in Congress have need to know Las Vegas SUN Today: March 06, 2002 at 8:43:30 PST With news reports filtering out that portable nuclear weapons the size of suitcases may be in the hands of terrorists, the Sept. 11 decision by President Bush to activate secure worksites out of Washington for key government officials appears even more justified. The devastation at the World Trade Center was reason enough for the president's decision, notwithstanding the Boeing 757 that crashed into the Pentagon and the Boeing 757 apparently headed for Washington until passengers brought it down. The label that now defines the remote and secret federal offices -- shadow government -- has an ominous tone but the president acted correctly in ensuring that there would be no leadership gap in the event of another attack on Washington that might be even more devastating. The secure offices have been in place since the Cold War days, when the prospects of a third world war were thought to be high. For the past six months the government has been quietly staffing them once again. While it was legitimate for the government to treat the operation as classified, it wasn't right that key members of Congress were not informed. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, second in line to succeed Bush, was briefed. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who as Senate president pro tempore follows Hastert in the line of succession, says he was not briefed. Neither was Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, although the Bush administration had briefed the secretary of the Senate, and the Senate sergeant at arms had been briefed on the contingency plans last September. So far President Bush has enjoyed public support for his post-Sept. 11 leadership. One way to see that support erode is to boot leaders of the public's representatives out of the loop. When that happens, "shadow government" takes on an ominous tone for real. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 25 Letter: Reid calls them as he sees them Las Vegas SUN Today: March 06, 2002 at 8:43:30 PST As a Nevadan, I take great exception to two statements made by Douglas Bryant in his March 4 letter, "Reid's attacks on president bad for Nevada." With regard to Mr. Bryant's statement that thousands of Nevadans pray for President Bush's success in the war effort, I respond as an American first and a Nevadan second that I pray for my country's success, not the president's success. Mr. Bryant lacks credibility in suggesting that the war on terror is about President Bush and not our country. Sen. Harry Reid has not made this "personal" with the president. Sen. Reid is calling the shots the way most objective Nevadans see it. Sound science does not exist in relation to Yucca Mountain, so President Bush did not do what he said he'd do. Nevadans are lucky to have a leader like Sen. Reid who's not afraid to tell the truth. JOHN WALLIN Editor's note: The writer lives in Reno and is director of the Nevada Wilderness Project. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 26 Eco-Groups Are Wary Of N-Waste Proposal The Salt Lake Tribune -- Wednesday, March 6, 2002 BY CHUCK OXLEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOISE, Idaho -- Environmental groups contend the U.S. Department of Energy's attempt to reclassify residual nuclear waste could threaten aquifers in three states. A lawsuit in U.S. District Court asks that the Energy Department not be allowed to reclassify former waste storage tanks buried in the ground at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington and the Savannah River site in South Carolina. The tanks held millions of gallons of liquid acid that was used to reprocess spent fuel rods until the late 1990s. The rods were bathed in the liquid, which extracted the uranium but left behind a highly radioactive stew of other metals along with the acid. The waste fluid was stored in buried tanks. About 800,000 gallons of sludge remain in 10 tanks at INEEL. The Energy Department plans to remove all but about 1,000 gallons in each tank, leaving a total of about 10,000 gallons in place, said department spokesman Brad Bugger. The Energy Department has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to reclassify the last remaining sludge and tanks at a level that would allow them to be filled and capped with cement and abandoned in place. "We think that is a violation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and that they are using regulatory rule-making as a sleight-of-hand way to define away the problem," said Gary Richardson, director of the Snake River Alliance. The Snake River Alliance is joined by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Yakima Nation in the legal action. The lawsuit isn't new; the groups renewed the claim last week after review by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which sent it to the lower court in Boise. The Energy Department must respond by April 30. Oral arguments are set for July 22 in Boise before U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 27 -Under rules, Senate vote on Yucca might be difficult [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] March 6, 2002 By Doug Abrahms [online@rgj.com] WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday a Senate rule could make it difficult to bring up for a vote on the Senate floor a bill that designates Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste dump. Reid said under Senate rules, only the majority leader can bring bills to the Senate floor for a vote. President Bush chose Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste dump last month, and Congress must vote on the designation when Nevada’s governor vetoes Bush’s decision — a step expected soon. “There are some who say (Senate Majority Leader Tom) Daschle can keep this from the Senate floor,” he said. But the law that creates establishment of a national nuclear repository also mandates that both houses of Congress take up a vote of the designated site within 90 days of a governor’s veto. Daschle has vowed to oppose Yucca Mountain, but it was unclear whether he could prevent the bill from being brought to the Senate floor for a vote. Reid also said he is close to hiring a top Clinton administration official as lobbyist for Nevada to oppose Yucca Mountain. Many Washington lobbyists have done some type of work for the nuclear power industry over the years and therefore declined Reid’s offer due to a conflict of interest, he said. “The nuclear power industry has bought everybody,” Reid said. “It is unbelievable who they hired and how much they’re paying people.” Reid said he is now focusing the argument against Yucca Mountain on the transportation issue because nuclear waste must move through 43 states to get to Nevada. But he acknowledged that the chances of defeating Yucca Mountain if it does come up for a vote are “pretty slim.” © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 28 lawsuit seeks to prevent DOE from abandoning waste 3/6/2002 - ENN.com Wednesday, March 06, 2002 By Chuck Oxley, Associated Press BOISE, Idaho — Environmentalists have sued the Department of Energy, contending water resources in three states could be threatened if the agency follows through on a proposal to abandon radioactive waste that has been buried in storage tanks. The tanks, buried at sites in Idaho, Washington, and South Carolina, held millions of gallons (liters) of liquid acid used to reprocess spent fuel rods until the late 1990s. The rods were bathed in the liquid acid, which extracted uranium, plutonium, and other radioactive substances but left behind a highly radioactive stew of other metals. The waste fluid was stored in the underground tanks. Although much of the fluid has been pumped out and processed into a more solid form, a residual sludge remains, coating the tanks' bottoms and sides. The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Boise, asks that the department not be allowed to abandon the tanks. About 800,000 gallons (3,028,240 liters) of sludge remain in 10 tanks at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The Energy Department plans to remove all but about 1,000 gallons (3,785 liters) in each tank, leaving a total of about 10,000 gallons (37,850 liters) in place, said department spokesman Brad Bugger. The other waste is buried at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. All three sites are near aquifers or rivers that could become contaminated if the containers leak, the lawsuit contends. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has classified the buried material as high-level waste, a designation which would not allow the department to abandon it. The Energy Department wants the waste's rating downgraded so it has the option of leaving the waste at the three sites. Bugger said there has been no decision to cap the tanks and that other options are also under consideration, including removing them. Gary Richardson, director of the Snake River Alliance, one of the plaintiffs, said the department was trying to circumvent established rules for handling high-level radioactive material. "We think that is a violation of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and that they are using regulatory rule-making as a slight-of-hand way to define away the problem," Richardson said. Copyright 2002, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 29 AU: ERA apologiese for uranium stockpile breach theage.com.au, Breaking News DARWIN, March 6 AAP|Published: Wednesday March 6, 8:21 PM Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) apologised today for breaching its own guidelines for stockpiling uranium ore at its Ranger mine within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park. The breach coincided with an elevated level of uranium contamination found at four checkpoints downstream from ERA's Ranger and Jabiluka leases in January. Traditional land owners are angered by the stockpiling and by breaches in protocol in ERA's failure to notify them in early January of the elevated uranium levels in water. ERA chief executive officer Bill Cleary blamed a communication breakdown for uranium ore being added to the Ranger stockpile during the current wet season. But he was not convinced that the error was responsible for uranium levels in water up to six times higher than usual. "It was an oversight in terms of communication within our organisation," Mr Cleary told ABC radio. "I need to apologise because we clearly carried out a practice that would have been acceptable during the dry season but was not acceptable in the wet season." The Commonwealth Office of the Supervising Scientist (OSS), which monitors the environmental effects of the Ranger and Jabiluka leases, has demanded a full report by next week with assurances that steps had been taken to prevent a repeat. "ERA clearly erred there; they contravened their own management plan for that stockpile and we're very concerned about that," OSS assistant secretary Alex Zapantis said. He said the elevated uranium levels were well below what was considered dangerous to the Kakadu environment. The Mirrar traditional owners were not told for more than a month that uranium contamination six times the natural level had been found in Swift Creek in Kakadu downstream from Jabiluka, said Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the Mirrar. "The company and the government spend millions of dollars on protecting the environment in Kakadu and on those two uranium leases every year," Gundjehmi executive officer Randy Ralph said. "But a simple reporting matter can't be adhered to. How can traditional owners continue to trust the mining company, the Department of Mines and Energy and the supervising scientists if these breaches continue to occur?" Northern Territory Mines and Energy Minister Paul Henderson said the elevated uranium levels found in Swift Creek posed no threat to the environment. He did not believe that ERA had attempted to conceal the findings. By Rod McGuirk Copyright © 2002 John Fairfax Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 Editorial: Of all the highways and railways in America Lakewood Sun Post [http://www.sunnews.com/] February 28, 2002 With apologies to all the true, die-hard fans of the classic movie "Casablanca," one of Humphrey Bogart's most famous quotes applies to the debate about possibly shipping nuclear waste through Northeast Ohio. "Of all the highways and railways in America, why'd you have to consider using those through our area?" The transport of nuclear waste from power plants across the country is due from a plan by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a nuclear waste dump beneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada. While President George W. Bush supports the plan, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn promised to veto use of the site. Congress can override Nevada's objections. There is good reason for Ohio's senators and congressional representatives to send this plan down the highway to never-never land. That's because anywhere from 35,000-100,000 shipments of highly radioactive waste would pass through this area during Yucca Mountain's proposed 25-year service life. Some of the waste could be put on special trucks routed over Interstate 90. Other waste might be put on dedicated trains that would use Norfolk Souther Corp. tracks through Lakewood and Lorain, or a more southerly track through Olmsted Falls and North Ridgeville. Northern Ohio has some of the most densely populated cities between Chicago and the East coast and is adjacent to the largest supply of fresh water on the face of the Earth - the Great Lakes. Surely, if there is to be a nuclear dump in Nevada, less risky routes can be found to get there. We're aware that nuclear transport equipment used by the DOE is extremely sturdy, with thick walls to guard against puncture. Leaks are nearly impossible. But why not strive to reduce the risk even further by finding paths around the largest cities and towns that dot America's landscape? There are a myriad of limited-acess highways and major railways through rural parts of Ohio that totally avoid large population centers like Greater Cleveland. When the DOE considers using highways and railways through the heart of a major city, it doesn't sound like every effort is being made to reduce the potential hazards. It's true that some routes may end up being circuitous, but for whose convenience are these shipments being made? Ours, or the government's? Citizens and community leaders need to make their concern known to their two U.S. senators and member of Congress. Only then can a full debate be possible and, from that, a more rational solution be found. ***************************************************************** 31 Nevada not solution for nation's nuclear waste Savannah NOW: Opinion: posted Tuesday, March 5, 2002 The Feb. 27 Morning News editorial, "A safe place for nukes" indicated that the writer is very much out of touch with both the scientific integrity of Yucca Mountain and the attitudes of the people of Nevada, or that the information for the editorial came from the commercial nuclear power industry. The thorough study and extraordinary precautions referred to in the editorial have been called inadequate and/or incomplete by the General Accounting Office, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Broad and several international peer review panels. The editorial said: "There can never be a guarantee that Yucca is fool-proofed against all acts of God or some exceptionally clever terrorist." Not so. The scientific team studying Yucca Mountain will readily tell you that the question is not if the repository will release its contents, but when. They are now trying to convince everyone watching that they have a metal container that will resist any and all corrosion until the dump has made it past the 10,000-year regulatory period. The editorial also said that "many Nevadans would prefer some other state assume the risk..." That too, is not so. We believe that millions of people in more than 40 states will be put at unnecessary risk if Yucca Mountain goes forward, in spite of assurances by the government. Nevadans were promised, when Yucca Mountain was singled out as the only site to be studied, that if it could not meet all rules and regulations it would be dropped from consideration. When the commercial nuclear industry complains about the long time involved in the exhaustive studies, perhaps it is forgetting the amount of time and energy spent in changing every standard, regulation and rule to be applied in determination of the suitability of the site. Under the old rules. the site could be disqualified if certain conditions were present. That is no longer the case. To believe that putting thousands of tons of this deadly material on the nation's roads and rails is a move toward safety is pure insanity. The chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure announced that he believes a national shipping campaign to Yucca Mountain is too dangerous. If, in fact, waste is not safe at reactor sites, that is a problem that Nevada cannot solve. Assuming that there are no plans to pull the plug on those reactors, any waste that leaves will just be replaced. Yucca Mountain will never be the only place for high-level nuclear waste, it would only be an additional place. Nevadans will not accept that decision. JUDY TREICHEL Executive Director Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force Copyright 2001 Savannah Morning News. ***************************************************************** 32 AU: Warning that Kakadu national park is seriously threatened Radio Australia News - The traditional owners of Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory says the park's future has been seriously threatened after high uranium levels were found at four different check points. The Gundjemi Corporation says the mining company E-R-A found elevated uranium levels downstream from the Jabiluka mine site and the Ranger mine in January situated on leases surrounded by the park. The Corporation's Andy Ralph claims the levels rose after 250 kilograms of uranium was sprayed onto land last year and washed downstream during the wet season. Mr Ralph says people swim, fish and drink in the creeks: "After a rainfall event some of this uranium has been washed down from the elevated site at Jabiluka down into the Magella floodplain via Swift Creek for the first time Kakadu is in danger, it is clear that this is a clear and present danger to Kakadu, there's elevated levels of uranium found in the creek as we speak." 06/03/2002 13:31:25 | ABC Radio Australia News ***************************************************************** 33 The Yucca Lemon The Nation 03/05/2002 @ 4:30pm Imagine you're buying a car. You ask: Does it have an air bag? The salesman hems and haws--and then offers to sell you a titanium crash helmet, a flame-retardant racing suit and a comprehensive health insurance plan. Would you buy that car? Would you buy it if George W. Bush himself was doing the selling? Welcome to Yucca Mountain, the site President Bush--in a historic decision--has recommended to Congress to permanently store radioactive nuclear waste. Bush and his Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, say his February 15 decision is based on sound science. In reality, sound science says: There's no air bag. Twenty years ago, Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which sought a permanent home for more than 70,000 tons of waste from the nation's nuclear power plants. Because man-made containers corrode over time, Congress stipulated that the permanent home had to be geologically up to the task. Any site's natural features had to be uniquely suited to holding this hot waste for thousands of years. The Energy Department identified nine likely sites, from New Hampshire to Utah. But no state was eager to become America's pay toilet, and after a politicized process of elimination, Congress mandated a tentative focus on Yucca Mountain in Nevada. As Energy Department literature notes, the new legislation "stressed that if, at any time, Yucca Mountain is found unsuitable, studies will be stopped immediately...and DOE will seek new direction from Congress." Since then, the Energy Department has spent $3.6 billion studying Yucca Mountain and has done some excellent work pretty much proving that the site is...unsuitable. The mountain is made of volcanic tuff that's riddled with crooks and fissures--more a leaky sieve than a granite bowl--and is plagued by earthquakes. Four dormant volcanoes are nearby, so scientists are studying what would happen if a lava eruption blasts up through thousands of tons of radioactive waste. (Actually, they are mostly contenting themselves with asserting, correctly, that this is a highly unlikely scenario. But so was September 11.) Initially thought to be a good candidate because it seemed arid, Yucca has turned out to be quite wet underground. Corrosive elements like fluoride have been found and, if carried by dripping water, could eat rapidly through engineered barriers. Furthermore, water moves through and under the mountain far more rapidly and unpredictably than initially thought--and Nevada's cities depend on underground aquifers for drinking water. But take just the earthquakes: Nevada ranks behind only Alaska and California in seismic activity, and over the past twenty years there have been more than 620 earthquakes above 2.5 on the Richter scale (i.e., strong enough that you'd feel the ground shake) within in a fifty-mile radius of Yucca. One quake in 1992, just eight miles from the mountain, registered 5.6--and cracked walls and windows at the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain field office. Warnings don't come much more bluntly than that, short of a burning bush in the desert that cries out, "Thou shalt not bury all the nuclear waste under me!" Nevertheless, in May, Vice President Dick Cheney came down from the mountain with his energy plan. It recommended building new nuclear power plants and using "the best science to provide a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste." "There is no question that Vice President Cheney met on several occasions with nuclear power executives," says Democratic Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. On February 25, Reid announced he would join the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, in suing the White House for records of Cheney's energy meetings. "Cheney needs to stop hiding the truth," Reid says. "He should tell the public which executives he met with and when he met with them." Then again, the White House and the nuclear power industry were hardly strangers before Cheney's secret sitdowns. According to Public Citizen, utilities that own nuclear power plants gave nearly $300,000 to Bush's presidential campaign and $80,000 to Abraham's failed re-election bid for the Senate. Whatever the reason, last month Abraham gave a thumbs-up for Yucca--despite the porous rock, the unpredictable water flows and the earthquakes. He claimed to have the endorsement of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board--an eleven-member board of presidentially appointed scientists--but that body's most recent judgment called the science behind Abraham's call "weak." The GAO, in a December 2001 report, also panned the science behind the decision, and added that the Yucca Mountain program was poorly managed. With all the obvious problems with using Yucca, the Energy Department should have reported back to Congress for new direction. Instead, as late in the game as December 2001, it slyly issued new rules: No longer was it judging a geological site. Now it was judging an entire waste-storage package, in which some hair-raisingly expensive engineering miracles were plugged into computer models to mask the site's unsound geological foundation for storing nuclear waste. Asked by Congress for a car with a geological air bag, Abraham was evasively offering the titanium crash helmet. "DOE retroactively changed the rules for site suitability in December 2001 after it had become apparent that the original rules, which had been used for 17 years...could not be met for Yucca Mountain," says John Bartlett, none other than the former director of the Yucca Mountain program. Energy was given one task: Find a suitable geologic repository for US nuclear waste. Once that was done, Energy was to design a storage system and get it approved ("licensed") by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But in December, despite the uncertain geology at Yucca, Energy quietly announced it was moving on from step one and directly to step two. Victor Gilinsky, a former NRC commissioner, says "DOE is not free to choose an inferior site because it has a waste container" it thinks highly of. "Congress did not intend this, and neither did the scientific community." "DOE's new site-suitability standard is so lax, it could be met in the basement of DOE headquarters at the Forrestal Building," Gilinsky says. "Instead of reporting to Congress the bad news about the Yucca Mountain site, DOE decided to prove it could get a license despite the site's deficiencies." * By spring, Bush's recommendation on Yucca will be before Congress. It's already before the courts, as Nevada has sued to block it. A lobbying outfit that misleadingly calls itself the US Chamber of Commerce has hired former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu and former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro to talk up Yucca, and the debate is already predictably nasty. When Sununu was a governor, he fought fiercely to keep nuclear waste out of New Hampshire. These days, he hectors Nevadans about their patriotic duty to fight Al Qaeda and swallow that same waste. "If Nevada is not willing to do its part in what is part of a national plan for homeland security--maybe Americans ought to vacation somewhere else," Sununu suggested in January. This faux patriotism has been the tactic among many Bush Administration figures. In notifying the Nevada governor he would recommend Yucca, Abraham called his decision "important to our national security" and likely to "enhance protection against terrorist attacks." This doesn't stand up in a light breeze. We have nuclear waste stored on-site at 131 locations across America, and more waste is being produced every day. Nearly all of this hazardous material is vulnerable to the sort of low-tech yet determined assault we saw on September 11. The patriotic thing would be to make every effort to safeguard this material and squarely address the problems at Yucca. And even with Yucca operational--which is unlikely before 2010--we still would have nuclear waste in local communities across America, because for the first few years after it's removed from reactors, nuclear waste is too hot for transport. So, we would have the same existing dangers we already have--plus the added dangers of waste on our highways, leading to and from Yucca Mountain. Waste would be on the roads and rails every day of the year for decades--passing once a day through Chicago and Des Moines, once a week through Pennsylvania, South Carolina and New York. (To see how close waste shipments would pass by your home, check out Public Citizen's Atomic Atlas.) The whole justification for moving so much waste across such vast distances at such huge cost was that it would be bound for a geologically unique site. Absent the geology, why move the waste at all? Why not continue to store it on-site next to reactors? That, of course, would puncture the illusion that there is a simple final solution for nuclear waste--one that lets the industry continue producing it indefinitely. And like a used-car dealer hawking a lemon, the industry needs its illusions. Welcome to "Failsafe Point," a new project funded by the Nation Institute. A failsafe point is the last point at which we can still exert control over events. We are at such a point now with regard to the environment, energy issues and nuclear weapons. FSP will follow the money and the science involving these issues, as well as the secretive bureaucracies, the public health issues, the national and international politics, and possible alternatives. © 2002 The Nation Company, ***************************************************************** 34 Yucca Mountain won't hold waste Sun-Sentinel: Sidney M. Ziring boca raton Posted March 6 2002 Your editorial approving President Bush's decision to designate Yucca Mountain as the national repository for high-level radioactive nuclear waste is incomprehensible. A lack of conviction in the hope that Yucca is "probably [italics mine] the best that could be found" is unacceptable. Probably is not good enough. Nuclear power plants have in storage more than 40,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear waste. According to a General Accounting Office report, the Department of Energy estimates accumulation at nuclear weapons facilities to be 100 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste and 2,500 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel. The same report does not foresee Yucca storage before 2013 or beyond. The storage area at Yucca Mountain is projected to hold 77,000 tons. If we do a little arithmetic, by the time Yucca is ready, there will be enough waste to fill the mountain storage area to overflowing and the nuclear power plants will still be producing high-level waste at the rate of 2,000 plus tons per year. The continuous traffic of railroad cars and tractor-trailers loaded with waste converging on Yucca Mountain could be easy prey for a terrorist attack or unexpected accident of horrendous proportions. Nuclear power plants have refused to pay the costs for security. Nuclear power plants have refused to pay for full clean-up of nuclear waste and in fact are suing the government (taxpayers) to the tune of billions of dollars because a storage facility does not exist for their waste. While the cost of completing Yucca Mountain storage is estimated at about $60 billion, I would bet it will be double that and beyond. Nuclear power is expensive -- and a constant public danger due to poor management and aged facilities. Your editorial seeks closure on the nuclear waste problem. Yucca is not the final answer. There is only one solution. Phase out and close down the nuclear power plants. Each and every one of them is a potential menace to the community and the country every day of the year. Your support for Yucca Mountain storage of high-level radioactive waste and the fallacy of cheap nuclear power is wrong. Dead wrong. Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel ***************************************************************** 35 2002 Hiroshima Flame Walk: Star Wars DharmaWalk on Net-TV Mar.1-8 Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 09:31:00 -0800 (PST) CC: "Arnold Erickson" , brian@freespeech.org From: "David Crockett Williams" | Block Address | Add to Address Book Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 08:49:55 -0800 Subject: !b_a_Act: Star Wars DharmaWalk on Net-TV Mar.1-8 Reply-to: bay_area_activist@yahoogroups.com A Global Emergency Alert Response: Please forward this to your lists of interested contacts who are interested to watch streaming video on the internet about the 2002 Hiroshima Flame Interfaith Pilgrimage available until March 8, 2002, Friday. Perhaps webmasters can arrange continued link to this coverage for at least duration of the walk until May12th at UN from http://www.dharmawalk.org to a file donated for this purpose by http://www.freespeech.org? This walk is being conducted as a prayer to end the proposed "Star Wars" scenario of US plans for military domination of space including nuclear weapons in space, and for the elimination of nuclear weapons, global peace now, etc. These prayers are being answered by the movement for a global Space Preservation Treaty to ban the weaponization of space and avert this Star Wars scenario by seriously and intensely focusing on June13 ABM treaty abrogation deadline effected by President Bush as the date for global treaty and compatible new national Space Preservation Act law implementation. Please alert all of your networks to go imjmediately to http://www.peaceinspace.com and to easily fax from there sending letters of support and encouragement to their congresspeople and senators to support the Space Preservation Act of 2002 to ban space based weapons, as the "first domino" ready to fall (one way or the other) in a string of policies which this expanding global network can "topple our way" to avert the numerous bad policies that the Bush administration is planning to implement from escalation of war on terror into a third world war, to drilling for oil in the Arctic, to abrogation of Kyoto protocols to avert global climate change, etc etc etc. FSTV SPECIAL REPORT MARCH 1 - 8 2002 (Streaming Video) --Peace activists carrying a flame from the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima march across the US for an end to nukes http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/html/sr_fstvnews030102.html From: "Brian Drolet" To: Subject: Free Speech Online Newsletter March 6, 2002 Date: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 9:45 PM Free Speech TV Online -- Newsletter for March 6, 2002 ==============================================Free Speech TV on Television: Dish Network Channel 9415 Free Speech TV on the Internet: http://www.freespeech.org =============================================This week, in addition to a video stream of our weekly televised news and analysis Special Report, we bring you a perceptive interview on the real depth and implications of the Enron collapse, a remarkable selection of provocative and truthful videos about the US War on Colombia, and audio and video presentations from the recent Radical Women of Color Conference: Practicing transgressions. http://www.freespeech.org FSTV SPECIAL REPORT MARCH 1 - 8 2002 (Streaming Video) --Peace activists carrying a flame from the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima march across the US for an end to nukes http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/html/sr_fstvnews030102.html GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER (Streaming Video) Colombia: Torture and Murder of Peasants - How the right-wing death squads and military serve the wealthy elites. A provocative and shocking documentary about the real causes of the civil war in Colombia. Human Rights worker and film maker Daniel Bland examines the methods used by the Colombian military and their paramilitaries to drive the indigenous and Afro-Colombian people off their resource rich lands. Most of the people who spoke out in this film have since been murdered. http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/ramfiles/columbia_bland.ram THE UWA (Streaming Video) Defending the Heart of the World In Columbia, Occidental Petroleum's exploration in the territory of the UWA people promises to bring both ecological and cultural destruction. The root of the conflict in Columbia is the effort of the big money interests to drive the indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities from their resource rich lands. It is this ruthless displacement, creating more than 2 million Colombian refugees, that the US is backing in the name of first the "war on drugs," and now the "war of terrorism." http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/ramfiles/uwa.ram ==============================================Can't Watch FSTV on your Television? Get a Dish Network System. It's FREE! Free dish antenna, receiver and installation. Subscriptions for as low as $21.00 per month. Get your Free Dish System in the Free Speech Online Store http://www.freespeech.org DID YOU KNOW? (From FSTV's weekly Special Report) COLUMBIA -At least 112 Colombian trade unionists were the victims of extrajudicial executions in 2000. (Source: Amnesty International) -In the first 3 months of 2001, 35 union activists were killed, 3 'disappeared' and 5 survived assassination attempts. (Source: Amnesty International) NUKES -Estimated Global Nuclear Arsenal: China: 400 - 410 France: 400 - 482 North Korea: 10 Russia: 13,000 - 20,000 UK: 200 United States: 10,500 - 12,000 (Source: Abolition 2000) --Nuclear Warhead Production Capacity Estimates: India: 85 - 90 Israel: 100 Pakistan: 15 - 20 Source: Abolition 2000 --Estimated number of times the current arsenal could destroy all life on earth: 16 times (Source: One World) http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/html/sr_fstvnews030102.html ====================================================== ======Please forward this newsletter to your friends. If you want to unsubscribe, go to http://www.freespeech.org and click on the "subscribe" button, it will allow you to unsubscribe yourself. ========================================== [above forwarded by:] David Crockett Williams III, C.L.U., B.S. General Agent, Chartered Life Underwriter, Chemist http://www.GeneralAgencyServices.com Tehachapi, California formerly Santa Barbara '74-'97, San Fernando Valley '49-'74 CLU degree 1971 American College BS degree with honors, Chemistry 1969 CSUN For the direct cause of true peace with harmony among all life and free natural abundance as paradise on Earth via a future global computer network psibernetics program called Torahk. Global Emergency Alert Response http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 Science and Technology in Society and Public Policy http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dcwilliams http://groups.yahoo.com/group/new-energy-solutions American Simultaneous Policy Committee Cultures and Community Advice http://groups.yahoo.com/group/american-simultaneous-policy Global Citizens for a Sustainable Existence Now! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gcsen http://groups.yahoo.com/group/an-american-peace-movement ------------------------ Yahoo! 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email! http://mail.yahoo.com/ ***************************************************************** 36 [sunflower] The Sunflower March 2002 (No. 58) Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 09:17:33 -0600 (CST) The Sunflower Online monthly newsletter of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation March 2002 (No. 58) The Sunflower is a monthly e-newsletter providing educational information on nuclear weapons abolition and other issues relating to global security. Back issues are available at http://www.wagingpeace.org/sf/backissues.html I N T H I S I S S U E PERSPECTIVE SPOTLIGHT MISSILE DEFENSE NUCLEAR TERRORISM NUCLEAR MATTERS NUCLEAR ENERGY NUCLEAR SOUTH ASIA NUCLEAR WASTE NUCLEAR INSANITY ACTION FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES RESOURCES ************ PERSPECTIVE ************ Dismantling Disarmament By David Krieger The Bush administration has been systematically dismantling the structure of nuclear arms control that has been built up over the past four decades. President Bush has given notice of US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty so that the US can proceed with ballistic missile defenses. Withdrawal from the ABM Treaty will also allow the administration to proceed with testing for space weaponization, which will lead to violating the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The president has opposed US ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and ordered studies on the possibility of the US resuming underground nuclear testing. He has also proposed nuclear "disarmament" measures that, instead of dismantling and destroying deactivated warheads, will place them in storage and will thus be easily reversible. These policies will undoubtedly anger the non-nuclear states that are parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). They are policies that fly in the face of the 13 Practical Steps agreed to by the parties to the NPT, including the US, at the 2000 NPT Review Conference. Among these agreed upon steps were the preserving and strengthening of the ABM Treaty, the early entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the principle of irreversibility as applied to nuclear disarmament, and a "diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies to minimize the risk that these weapons ever be used and to facilitate the process of their total elimination." The Bush administration has been acting with unbridled arrogance in its nuclear policies. It is behaving as though it exists in a vacuum in which previous US promises and obligations to other countries are inconsequential. It is also acting on the assumption that the security of the United States will not be seriously diminished by undercutting long-standing international agreements. Unfortunately, the security of every US citizen is being undermined by the administration's short-sighted policies that are dismantling decades of effort to build a foundation for nuclear disarmament. ********** SPOTLIGHT ********** New Website Launched In February, Bayleaf, a Vancouver, Canada based developer of interactive media, teamed up with Nuclear Age Peace Foundation to create The End of Existence, a narrative interactive website about nuclear weapons. The experience begins with the chronological moments following the tragic 1945 bombing of Hiroshima as told through the personal account of atomic bomb survivor and peace activist Miyoko Matsubara. The narrative is supported by detailed nuclear facts and history developed by the Foundation. The project was lead by Bayleaf's Art Director, Tony Ke. The primary goal of the site is to raise awareness for peace among those who are not well acquainted with issues surrounding nuclear weapons. Using Macromedia Flash, the site evokes history and presents a compelling experience of nuclear war. An interactive quiz developed by Carah Ong was incorporated to engage viewers and encourage self-education. Viewers may then ask questions of themselves that they might not have previously considered. With its interactive content and dramatic feel, the site attempts to cast a new spotlight on the universal peace movement. By generating new interest for the peace movement, The End of Existence hopes to strengthen the call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The project can be viewed at http://www.endofexistence.org. **************** MISSILE DEFENSE **************** Pentagon Officials--US Will Have Prototype Interceptors by 2004 On 27 February, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz told a Senate Appropriates subcommittee that four prototype interceptors capable of shooting down incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) should be in place by September 2004. The US is seeking to develop several types of missile defense system--land-, air-, sea- and space-based. According to Wolfowitz, the land-based missile defense program capable of destroying ICBMs is furthest along. The Department of Defense plans to build missile silos for the interceptors at Fort Greely, some 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Lt. General Ronald Kadish, head of the Missile Defense Agency, also told the House Armed Services Committee on 27 February that the US plans to have operational prototypes in place by 2004. Chris Madison of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation responded, "It's wishful thinking." General Kadish also told the Committee that the next test launch is scheduled take place on 15 March. President Bush's Budget Request for the 2003 Fiscal Year includes about $7.5 billion for missile defense. In the 2002 Fiscal Year budget, $7 billion was slated for all forms of missile defense, with an additional $1.3 billion for use at President Bush's discretion to spend on either missile defense or the war on terrorism. (source: AP; 27 February 2002) Japan Rethinking Missile Defense Cooperation "As a result of Navy Theater Wide (NTW)'s incorporation into the new Sea-Based Midcourse Missile Defense System (SMD), Japan is rethinking the utility of cooperating in missile defense programs with the United States. NTW was being designed to protect theaters of war and would have been well-suited to bullwark Japan's national security, but the new SMD is shifting focus to protecting the continental United States from missile attacks. Wondered a Japanese defense industry expert, 'Is the cooperative research and development just to aid the United States?'" (source: Defense News, 25 February-3 March 2002) PAC Missiles Miss Targets Two Patriot Advance Capability (PAC) intercept missiles missed their targets in a test on 16 February that took place at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Three targets and three missiles were fired into the air at the same time. While one of the Raytheon built PAC-2 missiles successfully hit a full-scale drone aircraft, a second PAC-2 and a PAC-3 both missed their targets. Lockheed-Martin designed the PAC-3 to collide with a target in mid-air. In the 16 February test, the PAC-3 failed to hit a cruise missile target. Prior to the 16 February test, according to Army officials, the PAC-3 has successfully completed 11 development flight tests, including two controlled tests, three cruise missile intercepts and one aircraft intercept. PAC testing is part of the Pentagon's testing of a land-based missile defense system. (source: AFP; 17 February 2002) ******************** NUCLEAR TERRORISM ******************** US Deploys Shadow Government In the first hours after the 11 September events, President George W. Bush ordered the deployment of a "shadow government" comprised of some 100 senior civilian managers to live and work outside Washington, D.C. The "shadow government" is the first-ever activation of the Cold War-era "Continuity of Operation Plan" to ensure that the government would continue in the event of a catastrophic attack on the US capital. According to three officials with first-hand knowledge of the plan, the "shadow government" was deployed because of heightened fears that the al Qaeda network might somehow obtain a portable nuclear weapon. While US intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, government officials believe the risk is great enough to justify deploying the "shadow government" and the expenses associated with it. The plan has evolved into an indefinite precaution and high-ranking government officials representing various departments will rotate in and out of assignment at one of two clandestine fortified locations on the East Coast. (source: Reuters; 1 March 2002) Stricter Security at US Nuclear Power Plants As part of the "war on terrorism" campaign, the US ordered the nation's 103 nuclear power plants to adopt more rigorous employee screening and guard training on 14 February. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, cars and trucks approaching nuclear power plants will also be stopped farther away from plant gates. As part of the security measure, employees at nuclear power plants will also be subject to new restrictions on where they can go within a facility. There will also be more screening and identification checks for employees and sub-contractors visiting the plants. Long-time nuclear industry critic Representative Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) called the new security measures "too little, too late and too temporary." Markey explained, "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still operating in a pre-September 11 world. We know all too well that the terrorists of al Qaeda have contemplated and would carry out an attack on a nuclear facility." (source: Reuters; 14 February 2002) ******************* NUCLEAR MATTERS ******************* US Clarifies Position on Negative Security Assurance In an interview printed on 11 February, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton announced that a long-standing agreement to avoid using nuclear weapons reflected "an unrealistic view of the international situation." Bolton questioned the value of the negative security assurances the US has offered since 1978 stating, "We are not ruling anything in and we are not ruling anything out. We are just not into theoretical assertions that other administrations have made." President Carter first made the pledge to not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states in 1978. The policy has been honored implicitly by all subsequent administrations. It was explicitly reaffirmed in 1995 by then Secretary of State Warren Christopher as a "negative security assurance" at the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conference in order to persuade non-nuclear states to perpetuate the treaty. After serious concerns were raised by Bolton's comments, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher repeated identical language from the "negative security assurance" on 22 February. Clarifying the Bush administration's policy on the issue, Boucher stated that the US would not use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state unless the state attacked the US or its allies in conjunction with a nuclear state. He added that the US reserves the right to any kind of military response if it or its allies come under attack by weapons of mass destruction. (sources: Reuters, 22 February 2002; Daily Press Briefing, Richard Boucher, Spokesman, Washington, D.C. 22 February 2002) World Commemorates Nuclear Free & Independent Pacific (NFIP) Day On 1 March, concerned individuals, peace activists and liberation movements from around the world commemorated Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) Day. NFIP Day marks the anniversary on which the US conducted an extremely powerful hydrogen bomb test, code-named Bravo, in 1954 on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Radiation from the test forced the evacuation of Marshallese and US Military personnel on nearby atolls. Those exposed to the radioactive fallout suffered severe health problems. Half a century later, the legacies of the test live on with atolls still uninhabitable, a high incidence of cancer-related deaths in the region and radioactive illnesses passing on through the generations. Today, while the Marshallese petition for increased compensation, the US continues to use the North Pacific nation as a testing ground. The NFIP Movement commemorated this day of destruction calling for an end to all nuclear activities and militarism in the Pacific, advocating against all forms of injustice, exploitation and subjugation, highlighting the region's struggle for self determination and peace. For more information on the NFIP Movement, please visit http://www.pasifika.net/pacific-action/nfip.html French Public Prosecutor Files Civil Suit Against Government Over Chernobyl France's Independent Commission on Research and Information on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD) is filing a civil suit against President Jacques Chirac's government on the grounds that the government covered-up risks to public health after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. According to the CRIIRAD, the French government was aware that the radioactive fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant posed risks to public health, but deliberately failed to warn the public. CRIIRAD said allegations were based on documents seized by official investigators probing the effects of a radioactive cloud that drifted across France between 27 April and 5 May 1986. More than 150 French citizens have filed suit against their government after falling sick of thyroid and other ailments, accusing the French government of failing to warn them of the risks. West Germany, Austria and Italy took precautions after the incident that included placing restrictions on consumption of milk and other dairy products. However, French officials say there was no need for special measures to protect against health risks. In November 2000, Yohann van Wayenberghe, a 31-year-old Frenchman suffering from thyroid cancer, lost a case to launch criminal proceedings against the French government for alleged bodily harm in connection to the Chernobyl fallout on the grounds that he could not demonstrate a scientific link between his illness and the accident. (source: Reuters; 27 February 2002) US Government Withholding Report on Effects of Radioactive Fallout Excerpts from a report whose publication has been delayed by the US government estimates that 80,000 people born in the US in the past 50 years have contracted or will contract cancer due to radioactive fallout from above ground nuclear testing. The National Cancer Institute and the Center for Disease Control conducted the study ordered by Congress in 1998. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) obtained portions of the study that was scheduled to be published over a year ago. According to Senator Harkin, "There should be no more waiting. People are still waiting for the real communication on their exposure risks and the steps they can take." The study is the government's first effort to assess the nationwide effects of radiation from the hundreds of above-ground nuclear tests and detonations conducted worldwide before such testing was banned in 1963. The cancer figures are general nationwide estimates and the study does not assess cancer risks in other countries. The summary obtained by Senator Harkin was dated August 2001, but claimed it had not been made public because of unwillingness of governments to acknowledge the impact of past nuclear weapons testing. The study concludes that some 22,000 cancers, half of them fatal, occurred because of external exposure to radioactive fallout. The study attributes thousands of additional cancers to internal radiation exposure (e.g. from inhalation to ingesting tainted food), including 550 fatal leukemias and some 2,500 thyroid cancer deaths. The study found, "Any person living in the contiguous United States since 1951 has been exposed to radioactive fallout and all organs and tissues of the body have received some radiation exposure." A summary of the report may be found at the website of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research at http://www.ieer.org. US and UK Conduct Joint Subcritical Nuclear Weapons Test Government scientists conducted a subcritical nuclear weapons experiment on 14 February at the Nevada Test Site. Scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico conducted the experiment, code-named "Vito." According to the National Nuclear Security Administration, the United Kingdom participated in the experiment under terms of the1958 Mutual Defense Agreement and data from the test was fed into a supercomputer at Aldermaston, UK. Subcritical nuclear tests are not considered full nuclear tests because they do not achieve a self-sustained chain reaction. However, the tests do involve high explosives blown up with fissile material (usually plutonium). Although not full nuclear weapons tests, subcritical testing violates the heart and spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The US and other nuclear weapons states claim that subcritical tests are needed to maintain the safety and reliability of their nuclear stockpiles. The last US subcritical experiment, "Oboe 7," was conducted by scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California on 13 December 2001. "Vito" is the nation's 16th subcritical nuclear weapons test since the program was started 2 July 1997. For more information on subcritical nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site, please visit: http://www.nuclearfiles.org/articles/2002/020305ongsubcrittesting.htm Lab Workers Have Blood Abnormalities from Beryllium Exposure During recent nation-wide testing by the US Department of Energy (DoE) undertaken to screen potential beryllium victims, seven current or former workers at Argonne National Laboratory were discovered to have blood abnormalities caused by exposure to the toxic metal. These are the first such cases discovered at the lab, and the seven have been referred to medical specialists to determine if they have beryllium disease, an incurable lung illness that has already killed many nuclear industry workers. Argonne National Laboratory, located in a suburb outside Chicago, has used beryllium since the 1940s and has reported that some 1,775 current and former workers have had potential exposure to beryllium dust. Of the 97 former workers tested, six of them have blood abnormalities and of the 48 current Argonne workers, one had an abnormality. Three of the seven worked at Site B, a former laboratory at the University of Chicago, which used beryllium to construct the world's first atomic bomb. According to the DoE, as of December 2001, 27,835 workers nationwide have been screened. Of those, 183 have beryllium disease and 546 have blood abnormalities. (source: AP; 12 February 2002) Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Advances Doomsday Clock The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the "Doomsday Clock" forward two minutes on 27 February due to growing concern about the security of nuclear weapons materials stockpiled around the world and a lack of U.S. support for several global disarmament pacts. The minute hand is now positioned at seven minutes to midnight, the same position as when the clock made its debut in 1947. The move marks the third time the hand has been advanced since the end of the Cold War in 1991. The hand was last moved in June 1998, from 14 minutes to nine minutes to midnight. The clock has been reset 16 times previously in its 55-year history. For more information on the "Doomsday Clock" and to read the full report regarding the minute hand advancement, please visit: http://www.bullatomsci.org. (source: PRNewswire; 27 February 2002) ******************* NUCLEAR ENERGY ******************* Despite US Pressure, Russia Will Not Break Contract With Iran Despite US pressure for Russia to end a deal with Iran to help build a nuclear reactor, Russia stated on 14 February that it intends to fulfill the contract. According to Deputy Nuclear Energy Minister Valery Lebedev, Russia plans to complete the construction of the nuclear plant at Bushehr in late 2004 or early 2005. The deal is said to be worth about $800 million. The US says a nuclear reactor could advance Iran's efforts to build nuclear weapons. However, Russia argues that the plant will only be used for civilian purposes and it will be under international control. Lebedev also stated that Russia will take back spent nuclear fuel from the Bushehr plant to reprocess it under compliance with the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. He said Russia has applied the same practice to nuclear power plants the country has agreed to build in China and India. (source: AP Europe; 14 February 2002) ******************** NUCLEAR SOUTH ASIA ******************** Russia Trains Indian Navy Submarine Crew For the past year, an Indian Navy submarine crew team has been training in Russia, including training in an Akula-II SSN nuclear powered attack submarine. According to sources in New Delhi and Moscow, India is currently negotiating with Russia to lease an unfinished Akula-II Bars class nuclear submarine. Akula-Iis, the fastest Soviet submarines, are known to be armed with up to 12 cruise missiles and Starfish and Stallion anti-ship missiles. Between 1991 and 1998, the Indian Navy did little to retain skills for operating a nuclear powered submarine and until 1998, there was no effort to procure even a nuclear propulsion simulator for training. On 16 January, Indian Navy Chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh said it would take two-and-a-half years to retrain the Indian Navy to operate a nuclear submarine. By training with Russia, India is beginning to retrain its Navy. (source: Hindustan Times; 22 February 2002) Danger of Nuclear Exchange in South Asia Greater Than Ever Before Speaking at a press conference in Washinton, D.C, Admiral L. Ramdas, retired Chief of the Indian Navy stated that the military and political situation in South Asia poses a danger of a nuclear exchange in the region. Although Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf has proposed a "No War Pact" with India and the denuclearization of South Asia, India has rejected the offer saying that without global disarmament, the denuclearization of South Asia is meaningless. According to Admiral Ramdas, "India and Pakistan lack effective command, control, communication and intelligence systems. When these infrastructures are not there, it makes the whole system more sensitive, accident-prone, and therefore dangerous. Global zero alert would be a major step towards providing a de facto security guarantee." Admiral Ramdas also pointed to complications in the region stating, "At the same time, greater U.S. presence in Central and South Asia as a sequel to the 'war against terror' is not a positive development in terms of regional stability and peace. There are indications that US presence in this region [is] to be of a longish duration. This may trigger a new demand for other forms of emerging strategic partnerships and the possible commencement of a Cold War II -- with the US and the West on the one hand, and China, Russia and India on the other." More statements from Admiral L. Ramdas are available online at http://www.ieer.org/latest/ramdas2.html. India Will Maintain Moratorium on Nuclear Weapons Testing On 14 February, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told foreign policy leaders at the European Union that his country will maintain a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. According to Singh, "We have publicly stated that there is a voluntary moratorium that is in force. It shall remain in force and it is not time bound." (source: Reuters; 14 February 2002) **************** NUCLEAR WASTE **************** Bush Endorses Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Site On 15 February, President Bush endorsed the US Department of Energy (DoE) recommendation to locate a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The site would store some 70,000 tons of nuclear waste. Opponents of the plan argue that the radioactive waste could pose health and environmental risks. Additionally, there are many risks involved in transporting nuclear waste, including accidents and the increased potential for terrorists to obtain nuclear materials. Responding to President Bush's announcement, Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn filed a lawsuit on 15 February in the US District Court against the Bush administration. His suit charges that the DoE violated the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act and accusing the DoE of not allowing the state to review environmental studies 30 days before approving the site. On 17 February, Guinn also said that he was going to move forward with legal action against the DoE. Guinn stated, "We are going to certainly move forward with a suit with the Department of Energy, Secretary Abraham, the president of the United States because they have made their decision based on a false premise that the science is sound and it is not. The preponderance of evidence shows that it is not safe." By law, the state of Nevada has the right to reject Bush's decision. The state of Nevada has already filed two lawsuits over Yucca Mountain and will soon file a third. Because of the state's rejection, the decision would be sent to Congress for a simple majority vote. (source: Reuters; 15-18 February 2002) Nuclear Fuel Plant Linked to Tainted Well Testing over the past two months near a plant where fuel rods for the nation's nuclear reactors were once made revealed that radioactive and chemical waste have resurfaced in well water nearby. According to Randy Maley, a Missouri environmental specialist, the testing near Mallinchkrodt Chemical Co. plant revealed chemical solvents and possible traces of technetium-99, a radioactive fission product believed to have been at the plant during the Cold War. Low levels of technetium-99 turned up in a monitoring well at the plant in the early 1990s, but later tests of area drinking wells showed no contamination. Chuck Hooper, a Department of Health environmental engineer, said the technetium-99 levels are not considered a health threat, but the solvents do exceed the state and federal safety standards, therefore posing cancer risks. Westinghouse Electric Co., the plant's current owner, confirmed the presence of the solvents, but requested more testing. Westinghouse's parent company, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., bought the nuclear fuel holdings of Switzerland-based ABB, which had run the plant since 1989. (source: AP World Business; 14 February 2002) ******************* NUCLEAR INSANITY ******************* Nixon Proposed Using Nuclear Weapon in Vietnam Discussing options for targets including power plants and docks in the Vietnam War in April 1972 with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, then-US President Richard Nixon stated, "I'd rather use the nuclear bomb." The conversation was released in 500 hours of declassified tapes at the National Archives on 28 February. Dr. Kissinger replied to the suggestion, "That, I think, would just be too much." President Nixon went on to say, "The nuclear bomb. Does that bother you? I just want you to think big." The conversation took place just weeks before President Nixon ordered the largest escalation of the US effort in the Vietnam War since 1968. One month after the conversation, President Nixon said of North Vietnam, "We want to decimate that goddamned place." Prior to the exchange with Henry Kissinger, Nixon had alluded to exploring the possibility of the "nuclear option," but said he had ruled it out because he was presented with civilian and not military targets. (source: The Times Ltd, UK; 1 March 2002) USSR Deployed Missiles Targeted at West In German Democratic Republic A documentary broadcast in Germany on 28 February revealed that for four months, two secret bunker complexes at Furstenberg and Vogelsang, in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), housed R5M missiles with nuclear warheads targeted at western European capitals. Four of the R4M missiles were targeted at London and another eight were targeted at Paris, the Ruhr, the West German capital, Bonn and Brussels. The R5M was the first Soviet missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead and could travel up to 745 miles. Then-Soviet Premier Nikita Krhrushchev signed Order 589-365, deploying the 72nd Brigade to position the weapons and was notified in May 1959, "Units ready for action." On word from the USSR, the East German military would have the missiles ready for launch in five hours. In early September 1959, Khrushchev recalled the 72nd Brigade. Researchers discovered details of the secret movement of the weapons to the GDR in former Stasi secret police files. (source: The Times Ltd, UK; 1 March 2002) ******** ACTION ******** Urge Senate Hearings on ABM Withdrawal Call or write Senator Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and urge him to hold hearings in the US Senate to challenge President Bush's decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Contact Senator Biden at: 439 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Tel: (202) 224-4651 Fax: (202) 224-3612 Email: senator@biden.senate.gov http://foreign.senate.gov/menu.html Sign the Petition for a Missile Freeze Weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery pose an intolerable threat to peace and security. An arms race between ballistic missiles, anti-missile systems and space weapons would move the world closer towards annihilation. The best response to these threats is the establishment of a comprehensive security framework that prohibits weapons of mass destruction, missile and anti-missile systems and the weaponization of space. To reduce the danger, we call for the following immediate steps: 1. Stop missile and anti-missile testing; and 2. Initiate negotiations for an international treaty banning ballistic missiles and space weapons. To download, endorse and circulate this petition, please visit the website of the Moving Beyond Missile Defense Project at http://www.mbmd.org/missilefreezepetition.html Sign a Petition to Get the University of California Out of the Nuclear Weapons Business For more than five decades, the University of Calaifornia has managed three Department of Energy (DoE) weapons laboratories: the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, both in California, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The University of California has been responsible for overseeing research, design, testing and development of most of the nation's nuclear arsenal. By managing the development of the US nuclear weapons arsenal, the University of California is associating higher education with the creation of weapons that are immoral and illegal under international law. There are few things as corrupting of our youth as an educational institution committing itself to the development of weapons of mass destruction. To sign the petition and get more information about the campaign to sever ties between the University of California and the Department of Energy, please visit: http://www.ucnuclearfree.org. Urge Ratification of the Women's Rights Treaty To celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th, write to your Senator and to Senator Joseph Biden, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and encourage the Senate to ratify the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To find the contact information of your Member of Congress, please visit: http://www.wagingpeace.org/action/legislativeaction.htm ********************** FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES ********************** Wagingpeace.org Receives Facelift In February, the Foundation launched the new version of its website, WagingPeace.org. The new version of the site has been designed with our users in mind and reorganized into new sections. Both the layout and website pages have been optimized to limit loading times and make the site more user-friendly for visitors who do not have access to high-speed connection. The new navigation framework allows visitors the flexibility to navigate any section of the site from any page within the site, while providing more relevant links on each of the pages. The site has been divided into seven main sections. In addition to our existing "Mail-This-Page" feature, a "Site Map" and "Contact Information" is readily available on every page of the website. The "Site Map" provides guidance for navigation within the new layout. Foundation articles in "Print-Friendly Format" are also a new addition to the site. Experience the new site at http://www.wagingpeace.org. ************ RESOURCES ************ Visit the ever-evolving website of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation at Http://www.wagingpeace.org Moving Beyond Missile Defense is a joint project of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation. The MBMD website contains information on missile defense and features information on US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Visit the MBMD website at http://www.mbmd.org. Take a journey through the Nuclear Age. Visit the Nuclear Files at Http://www.nuclearfiles.org Peaceful Tomorrows is an advocacy organization founded by family members of September eleventh victims. Its mission is to seek effective nonviolent responses to terrorism, and identify a commonality with all people similarly affected by violence throughout the world. "By conscientiously exploring peaceful options in our search for justice, we choose to spare additional innocent families the suffering that we have already experienced-as well as to break the endless cycle of violence and retaliation engendered by war." http://www.peacefultomorrows.org. "Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Stability and Nuclear Strategy in Pakistan," a report of a visit by Landau Network Centro Volta, Como, Italy, January 2002 [with updated note on 11 February 2002] is available in pdf format online at: http://lxmi.mi.infn.it/~landnet/Doc/pakistan.pdf A new book accessibly and informatively explaining the history of the International Court of Justice, including the nuclear weapons case and much more, has just been published by Rowman and Littlefield. "The World Court in Action: Judging Among the Nations," by Howard Meyer, a social historian and attorney and member of the board of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, is available online at: http://www.lcnp.org/pubs/howardmeyerbook.htm "The threat of nuclear terrorism : from analysis to precautionary measures," by Mycle Schneider, Contribution to the International Conference organized by the Paris Member of Parliament, Pierre Lellouche, on "Democracies facing mass terrorism", National Assembly, 10 December 2001. To download the report (16 pages) http://www.wise-paris.org/english/reports/011210Terrorisme.pdf ********** EDITORS ********** Carah Ong David Krieger -- Carah Lynn Ong Director of Research and Publications The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation PMB 121, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1 Santa Barbara, California 93108-2794 USA Tel: 805-965-3443 Fax: 805-568-0466 Email: research@napf.org Http://www.wagingpeace.org Http://www.nuclearfiles.org http://www.mbmd.org Http://www.abolition2000.org "He aha te nui mea o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata." (A Maori Saying) "What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, the people, the people." To become a free on-line participating member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, click here: https://www.sbwh.com/wagingpeace/mbrshp.html. ***************************************************************** 37 Marshall Islanders not optimistic on full test payout BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 Text of report by Radio New Zealand International on 6 March Bikini Islanders exposed to American nuclear tests will receive less than 500 US dollars each from a token down payment on their successful multimillion-dollar compensation claim. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal in the Marshall Islands recently awarded them 563m dollars for suffering and hardship caused by the tests from 1946 to 1958. However, it could only pay out 1.5 million to them after having all but exhausted its funds. It has already made payments of 45m dollars in paying personal injury claims to about 1,700 Marshall Islanders. Jack Niedenthal from the Bikini Council says the islanders have been told the tribunal has no more money. He says the 1.5 million might be all they get. [Niedenthal] They told the people here that I work for, don't expect this kind of payment too often, if ever again. There's just not the money there. So what we did was we took the (?loot) - it's approximately 1.5m dollars - we paid every man, woman and child 490 dollars, to our community of about a little over 3,000 right now. Source: Radio New Zealand International, Wellington, in English 0800 gmt 6 Mar 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 38 Bikini Islanders' spokesman says lobbying US harder since 11 September BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 6, 2002 Text of report by Radio New Zealand International audio web site on 6 March Bikini Islanders affected by the United States nuclear tests during the Cold War are lobbying the US government to pay the balance of their awarded claim for suffering and hardship. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal in the Marshall Islands recently awarded them 563m dollars for suffering and hardship caused by the tests from 1946 to 1958. However, it could only pay out 1.5 million to them after having all but exhausted its funds. It had already made payments of 45m dollars in paying personal injury claims to about 1,700 Marshall Islanders. Jack Niedenthal from the island council says the real task now is to get the rest of the award from the US government. He says it is difficult playing the victim to the US government. [Niedenthal] After 9.11, after the terrorist attack occurred on the World Trade Centres, suddenly being a victim in Washington doesn't play too well. And that's really what we do when we go back to Washington - we have to go around to various congressional, senators' officers and congressmen's offices and re-tell the history of Bikini in a very short amount of time to a lot of different people that don't really understand that there is an obligation that the United States has out here in the Marshall Islands. It's very, very difficult. Source: Radio New Zealand International audio web site, Wellington, in English 0330 gmt 6 Mar 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 39 Can We Stop the Next Attack? TIME.com: A 10-kiloton nuclear weapon detonating in New York City? It didn't happen, but it could have. That knowledge keeps the CIA and FBI scrambling to fix a broken system before another strike comes BY [daily@timeinc.net] STUART RAMSON/AP Sunday, Mar. 03, 2002 For a few harrowing weeks last fall, a group of U.S. officials believed that the worst nightmare of their lives—something even more horrific than 9/11—was about to come true. In October an intelligence alert went out to a small number of government agencies, including the Energy Department's top-secret Nuclear Emergency Search Team, based in Nevada. The report said that terrorists were thought to have obtained a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon from the Russian arsenal and planned to smuggle it into New York City. The source of the report was a mercurial agent code-named DRAGONFIRE, who intelligence officials believed was of "undetermined" reliability. But DRAGONFIRE's claim tracked with a report from a Russian general who believed his forces were missing a 10-kiloton device. Since the mid-'90s, proliferation experts have suspected that several portable nuclear devices might be missing from the Russian stockpile. That made the DRAGONFIRE report alarming. So did this: detonated in lower Manhattan, a 10-kiloton bomb would kill some 100,000 civilians and irradiate 700,000 more, flattening everything in a half-mile diameter. And so counterterrorist investigators went on their highest state of alert. "It was brutal," a U.S. official told TIME. It was also highly classified and closely guarded. Under the aegis of the White House's Counterterrorism Security Group, part of the National Security Council, the suspected nuke was kept secret so as not to panic the people of New York. Senior FBI officials were not in the loop. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani says he was never told about the threat. In the end, the investigators found nothing and concluded that DRAGONFIRE's information was false. But few of them slept better. They had made a chilling realization: if terrorists did manage to smuggle a nuclear weapon into the city, there was almost nothing anyone could do about it. In the days after Sept. 11, doomsday scenarios like a nuclear attack on Manhattan suddenly seemed plausible. But during the six months that followed, as the U.S. struck back and the anthrax scare petered out and the fires at Ground Zero finally died down, the national nightmare about another calamitous terrorist strike went away. The terrorists did not. Counterterrorism experts and government officials interviewed by TIME say that for all the relative calm since Sept. 11, America's luck will probably run out again, sooner or later. "It's going to be worse, and a lot of people are going to die," warns a U.S. counterterrorism official. "I don't think there's a damn thing we're going to be able to do about it." The government is so certain of another attack that it has assigned 100 civilian government officials to 24-hour rotations in underground bunkers, in a program that became known last week as the "shadow government," ready to take the reins if the next megaterror target turns out to be Washington. Pentagon strategists say that even with al-Qaeda's ranks scattered and its leaders in hiding, operatives around the world are primed and preparing to strike again. "If you're throwing enough darts at a board, eventually you're going to get something through," says a Pentagon strategist. "That's the way al-Qaeda looks at it." Thousands of al-Qaeda terrorists survived the U.S. military assault in Afghanistan and are beginning to regroup. Last weekend, U.S. forces attacked some 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters holed up in the rugged, icy mountains outside the eastern town of Gardez, near the Pakistani border. The targets: four al-Qaeda training camps that were bombed last fall but, sources tell TIME, have since been reoccupied by al-Qaeda. Over the past month, locals say, groups of armed men have moved into the area from the Pakistani border town of Miren-Shah. The latest battle involved at least 1,000 Afghan troops and 60 U.S. Special Forces, who advanced on an al-Qaeda encampment by taking control of roads around Shah-e-Kot. The lead forces were rebuffed by heavily armed al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. U.S. aircraft, including B-52s, F-15Es, F-18s and AC-130 gunships, were called in to fire at enemy positions. At least one American was killed by hostile fire. "This could go on for several days," a Pentagon official said. As TIME reported in January, Western intelligence officials believe that al-Qaeda may now be under the control of Abu Zubaydah, a peripatetic aide of Osama bin Laden's who has run training camps in Afghanistan and coordinated terror cells in Europe and North America. A European terrorism expert says Zubaydah oversaw the training of 3,000 to 4,000 recruits in al-Qaeda terrorist camps, most of whom are "out there somewhere in the world right now." Zubaydah has instructed operatives to shave their beards, adopt Western clothing and "do whatever it takes to avoid detection and see their missions through," the expert says. In the past six months, the Administration and Congress have mobilized massive amounts of government money, intelligence and personnel to track terrorists at home and abroad and tighten the country's protective net. But all nets have holes. A TIME investigation found some good news—notably that the CIA, FBI and other intelligence and law-enforcement agencies are finally starting to work as a team. But in other critical areas, such as gathering and analyzing intelligence, strengthening homeland security and rounding up al-Qaeda, the U.S. has yet to solve its most grievous problems. Much of the more than $1 billion that Washington has poured into intelligence services since 9/11 is merely high-octane fuel flooding a leaky and misfiring engine. America's national security system is designed to fight Soviets rather than suicide bombers. Sources in the Pentagon, White House and Congress grumble that the CIA and the nation's other intelligence bureaucracy were caught flat-footed by the Sept. 11 attack—"It was an abject intelligence failure," a White House aide says—and many still doubt that the U.S. intelligence community is capable of seeing the next one coming. Copyright © 2002 Time Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 40 Threats most foul -- The Washington Times EDITORIAL • March 6, 2002 Foul foes often find a way to use the foulest weapons available. That's probably why so many individuals are so worried that terrorists — al Qaeda or otherwise — will detonate either a nuclear bomb or a "dirty" radiological device somewhere on American soil. It's a terrifying possibility that could all too easily come to pass. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the Bush administration has placed the Delta Force on alert to respond to warnings from hundreds of radiological sensors it has placed in strategic locations around the country and at overseas U.S. facilities. On Monday, Time reported that the Nuclear Emergency and Search Team (NEST) forces had been placed on high alert last October, a consequence of a terrorist plot to detonate a nuclear bomb in New York City. This was first reported in Insight magazine. The threats we face today are unprecedented, though. Dave McIntyre, deputy director of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security, points out that even enemies usually establish a certain understanding of acceptable means to ends — as the United States and the Soviet Union did throughout the Cold War. However, that consensus can no longer be counted on, as both the indiscriminate attacks of September 11 and the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl so tragically illustrated. Since Americans are potential targets of radiological or nuclear attack, the question for policy-makers is how to reduce the risk of such an event and how to deal with its potential consequences. At least part of the solution is abroad. Heat and pressure must be kept on Osama bin Laden and his cohorts, since thermobaric bombs have the tendency to suck the breath out of planned terrorist operations. So does good intelligence, and while the point has been made before, the United States needs to continue to develop human intelligence resources in terrorist communities. America and her equally vulnerable allies also need to continue to share intelligence information on terrorist plots and potential targets. Information is also important at home, it has to be said. While it is understandable that the administration did not want to create the potential for panic in New York, Mayor Rudy Giuliani should have been informed of the suspected nuclear threat to his city. Indeed, Mr. Giuliani handled the potential for panic during last fall's anthrax attacks, showing sound judgment. The administration seems to have become more sure-foooted since then. Deploying radiological sensors was a smart idea, as was almost doubling the budget for homeland defense. But even if every precaution is taken, terrorists might still find a way to strike at Americans with the foulest weapons imaginable. In that terrifying case, Americans should be told how to respond. As we know, September 11 may just have been the beginning. All site contents copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. ***************************************************************** 41 Rep. Weldon Details Missing Soviet Suitcase Nukes With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff Tuesday, March 5, 2002 11:19 p.m. EST National Security expert Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., detailed Tuesday night a chilling 1997 conversation he had with a former top aide to then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who revealed that scores of suitcase-size nuclear weapons had vanished from the old Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal. "This goes back to May of 1997 when I took one of my delegations to meet with General [Aleksandr] Lebed, who had just stepped down as Yeltsin's top security adviser," Weldon told Fox News Channel's "Hannity &Colmes." "He was talking about the state of the Russian military and how generals and admirals were selling off technology they used to control because they felt betrayed by the motherland. "It was then that he related a story to myself and six of my colleagues that he was assigned by Yeltsin to account for 132 small atomic demolition munitions. These are commonly referred to as suitcase nukes." Weldon continued: "He said, 'Congressman, I used all the leverage I have as the president's adviser. We could only locate 48.' Which meant that there were over 80 small atomic demolition devices with the capacity of one to 10 kilotons that they just could not locate. "I came back and briefed the CIA and they said, 'Basically, we have no way of knowing [if that's true],'" Weldon recalled. Over the weekend Time magazine reported that a tipster had warned U.S. anti-terrorism probers last fall that one of the missing Soviet suitcase nukes had been smuggled into New York City by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. The tipster's information proved bogus, but the Time report has drawn new attention to accounts of missing Soviet nuclear weapons. All Rights Reserved © NewsMax.com ***************************************************************** 42 North Korea accuses US of jeopardizing nuclear accord Wednesday March 6, 3:21 PM North Korea has threatened to end a 1994 aggreement to freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program, slamming what it called an "antagonistic" US attitide. The Stalinist state also rejected US President George W. Bush's demand for a full inspection of North Korean nuclear facilities at its Yongbyon research base. "The agreed framework is now at risk owing to the US unilateral and antagonistic attitude and stand," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Wednesday. Under the 1994 Agreed Framework, the North froze nuclear development suspected of underpinning an atomic weapons program in exchange for receiving two nuclear energy reactors that produce less weapons-grade plutonium. The International Atomic Energy Agency wants full inspections of the Yongbyon site north of Pyongyang. The North, however, has refused full access, citing the delayed construction of the new reactors. The 4.6-billion-dollar reactor project was due to be completed by 2003, but delays have pushed back the finish until at least 2008. US officials have warned that the construction of the reactors might suffer further delays if the North refuses to allow checks on its nuclear activities. "Under this situation, the DPRK (North Korea) can no longer underline the significance of the framework now gathering dust but will go its own way, not unilaterally bound to the framework," the North said. "The historical process of implementing the agreed framework and the present reality prove that the US side had no political will to sincerely implement it from the outset." There have been calls from some conservative politicians in Washington for the deal to be scrapped, and that position was bolstered last month when US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton called on North Korea to live up to international non-proliferation commitments. But General Thomas Schwartz, chief commander of 37,000 US troops in South Korea, has praised the 1994 accord, as a "stepping stone" for future US-North Korean relations. "It's the roadmap to the future in my opinion. It is serving us well at this time. It stopped their nuke development, there is no doubt about it," he told the Senate Armed Services committee in Washington on Tuesday. Schwartz, however, said North Korea had stepped up its global exports of missile technology. "They are the number one proliferator of missiles and they are also of conventional weapons," he said. "That's where they get their money, that's how they have kept their economy alive." "Just as of late, the last couple of months, it has increased." Schwartz said North Korea was exporting various types of missile technology as well as artillery and tanks. US officials say North Korea's exports of missile and other weapons technology endangers US security, a concern that has multiplied since the September 11 terror attacks. Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 43 Ashcroft: No end near for alerts By Kevin Johnson USA TODAY WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft says there is no hard evidence that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network possesses a nuclear device, but the risk of a future al-Qaeda attack on U.S. soil remains a constant and ''serious threat.'' He also says Americans should not expect any relief, possibly for their lifetimes, from a series of high alerts against ongoing threats of terrorism. Ashcroft's statements came in an interview with USA TODAY as the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches. The nation's chief law enforcement officer offered the most definitive assessment yet of al-Qaeda's nuclear capability and its ongoing threat. He largely directs the government's federal law enforcement effort to prevent attacks and describes it as an incremental struggle with no endgame in sight. He says every-day successes buy just ''one more day.'' ''They (al-Qaeda) didn't train tens of thousands of people for a single day's assault,'' the attorney general says. ''Take the words of Osama bin Laden himself: He didn't view (Sept. 11) as the end of the effort. He viewed it as part of a sustained effort.'' Authorities have expressed growing concern about al-Qaeda's capacity to direct a nuclear, chemical or biological strike against the United States. CIA Director George Tenet told a Senate committee last month that bin Laden was ''seeking to acquire or develop a nuclear device.'' He also warned that al-Qaeda ''may be pursuing a radioactive dispersal device -- dirty bomb.'' This week, New York officials complained they were not informed by federal authorities about a past nuclear threat that later proved baseless. As a precaution, the government confirmed recently that it has deployed sensors near Washington and at the nation's borders to try to detect radioactive material. But the attorney general says there is no conclusive evidence that bin Laden's forces have obtained the capacity to launch a nuclear offensive. ''What we have here is a clear understanding of their interest,'' Ashcroft says. The attorney general says a successful homeland defense program depends increasingly on the government's ability to gather critical intelligence from the battlefields in Afghanistan, the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the streets of U.S. cities. To assist that effort, Ashcroft says, federal authorities are providing secret security clearances to about 1,000 local law officials. The authority gives local police access to sensitive government information, including the nature of existing threats against the United States. Although Ashcroft emphasizes that global efforts at rounding up potential terrorists have been successful, he warns that investigators' progress has been slow on another front: the anthrax attacks. He says authorities are ''not on the verge'' of any significant breakthrough in the search for the source of the bacteria attacks that killed five people last fall. © Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. ***************************************************************** 44 White House, Hill Democrats at Odds (over nuclear information) (washingtonpost.com) Leaders, Bush's Aides Swap Allegations on Contingency Government Briefings By Dana Milbank and John Lancaster Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, March 6, 2002; Page A04 Tensions over the Bush administration's sharing of information with Congress flared anew yesterday as the White House excluded the House Democratic leader from a confidential briefing and Bush aides swapped charges with lawmakers about who was told of White House contingency plans dealing with a hypothetical nuclear attack on Washington. House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) first learned from a reporter about yesterday's classified briefing for congressional leaders on the contingency plans, his aides said. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer blamed a "scheduling matter" and said Gephardt had "already been talked to," which Gephardt's aides said was untrue. The White House also disputed lawmakers' claims that they had not been advised of the administration's contingency plans, reported last week in The Washington Post, involving scores of career government officials taking rotations in underground bunkers outside of Washington. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) – who as Senate president pro tempore is third in line to the presidency – and Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) had said they were not informed of the plans. The White House released records showing that the secretary of the Senate and the Senate sergeant at arms had been briefed Sept. 22. Administration officials said the briefing included a tour of one of the facilities. They said Byrd was offered a similar briefing Sept. 24 but declined. In a statement, the two Senate officials said the briefing was not about executive branch contingency plans. The charges and countercharges come as the administration is embroiled in a series of disputes about Congress's right to information. The White House has rejected bipartisan requests to have Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge testify before Congress. And the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm, has gone to court to force Vice President Cheney to relinquish information about the drafting of the administration's energy policy. Meanwhile yesterday, outsiders seeking to force more disclosure won another court ruling. It requires several Bush Cabinet agencies to hand over thousands of documents related to Cheney's energy task force. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman rejected an administration motion to dismiss the case, brought by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. The ruling goes further than the order obtained last week by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which directs the Energy Department to release records related to the task force. The Judicial Watch order demands that the Office of Management and Budget, the departments of Interior, Agriculture, Energy, Transportation and Commerce, and the Environmental Protection Agency hand over similar records and describe each document they withhold. The EPA alone has withheld 19,524 pages while releasing 809. The ruling, like the NRDC order, does not address White House documents sought by the GAO. "Case by case we're peeling away the veneer of secrecy by this administration," said Larry Klayman, the Judicial Watch chairman. Congressional aides in both parties have complained of the administration's confidentiality practices. In early October, President Bush accused some lawmakers of leaking classified information and placed new restrictions on the sharing of secret material with Congress. The issue resurfaced last week when Byrd and Daschle suggested that the administration was not consulting Congress as it should on plans to expand the war beyond Afghanistan. Lawmakers complained yesterday that they learned of administration plans for limited troop deployments in the Philippines, Yemen and Georgia through the news media. "They've got to recognize that Congress is constitutionally inscribed – it happens to be in Article One," said Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution scholar who worked in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations. "It's their Achilles' heel. They've got to let some sunlight in." The White House moved to soothe lawmakers yesterday. Bush aides told Gephardt they would brief him today. They invited the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate international relations committees to meet with Bush today, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is scheduled to meet privately with some lawmakers. After yesterday's briefing, Daschle sounded a conciliatory note, saying he was not "going to get into any more finger-pointing" about contingency government plans. "The point is not who knew and who didn't. I think the point is that the facts are accurately stated and that we have an appreciation of what this effort is." Many GOP lawmakers have dismissed complaints about consultation as Democratic carping. "This has been way overblown," Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott(Miss.) said yesterday. But other Republicans say the administration should have done more to keep Congress informed. "It does not facilitate cooperation and a spirit of working together," Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), said Monday. "This isn't the way we like to be informed of things – reading it on the front page of the newspaper." Gephardt aides said a reporter's call alerted them to yesterday morning's briefing, in which White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr., congressional liaison Nicholas Calio and people involved in the contingency plans spoke with Daschle, Lott and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Gephardt aides said they called Calio's office and were told there was no such briefing. Later, they said, they were told the meeting was based on the line of presidential succession, although Lott and Daschle are not in that line. Fleischer told reporters that Gephardt "has already been talked to – his office has already been talked to." If Gephardt was excluded, he said, "it was inadvertent." Steve Elmendorf, Gephardt's chief of staff, said the problem getting information from the White House is chronic. "They have a responsibility to consult with the top four leaders of Congress," he said. The White House rebutted claims by Daschle and Byrd that they were not informed of the White House plans. Fleischer said yesterday's briefing was merely "to reiterate" what had already been disclosed, adding: "When members of Congress have a chance to pause, to think, and to talk to each other, they will recognize that this administration informed the Congress properly." The White House released documents with the signatures of Jeri Thomson, the secretary of the Senate, and Alfonso Lenhardt, the Senate sergeant at arms, indicating they had received a security briefing. An unclassified page from the briefing mentions "preplanned devolution of authorities, responsibilities and essential functions." Lenhardt and Thomson said in a statement last night they "visited a classified location to receive information regarding [presidential] line of succession in the event of a national emergency. We were not briefed on a program involving executive branch personnel being assigned on a rotating basis to insure operation of the executive branch." © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 45 Nuclear Officials Describe Bombs Las Vegas SUN Today: March 06, 2002 at 9:30:11 PST WASHINGTON- "Dirty bombs" are in many ways an ideal terrorist weapon: they're far easier to come by than a nuclear device, but they use radioactive materials and have the potential to create widespread panic, top nuclear officials told senators on Wednesday. Such a weapon could contaminate dozens of city blocks with radioactivity, but not kill a soul, the officials told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Or it could cause a few more cancers later in life for its victims - say, four additional cancers in 100,000 people. "The health consequences are not very great," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Meserve. "The concern is a psycho-social one." A radiological device detonated by terrorists would require the evacuation and decontamination of a downtown area, disrupting the local economy and possibly creating a panic, according to top officials from U.S. nuclear laboratories, who joined Meserve before the committee. Hospitals would be overrun by fearful patients. If the contamination is bad enough, buildings might have to be razed, officials said. But an orderly evacuation would limit exposure to radioactive materials, and the actual health effects would be minimal. Still, the officials called for increased controls of industrial radioactive materials, citing fears that such materials could be used by terrorists. A "dirty bomb" - also called a radiological weapon - would use conventional explosives to spread radioactive materials. Officials said isotopes of cesium, cobalt and irridium are likely candidates for such devices, as some remain radioactive for years. Those material, however, are easily found by detectors of radioactivity - easier, in fact, than the uranium and plutonium used in actual nuclear weapons. Officials also described fears of terrorists obtaining an actual nuclear weapon - either through the purchase of an existing military weapon, or by constructing one on their own. This is deemed a much more difficult, and thus less likely, prospect, the officials said, although the potential for death and destruction is far worse. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 46 Livermore facility to address pressing national needs Tri-Valley Herald Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - 3:09:57 AM MST --> Lab workers take on Grand Challenge By Glenn Roberts Jr. STAFF WRITER Wednesday, March 06, 2002 - -->LIVERMORE -- While federal agen-cies are working to counter terrorist threats, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory managers have devised a new Grand Challenge -- a grant program to sponsor research based on pressing national needs. Jeff Wadsworth, Livermore Lab deputy director for science and technology, sent a memo in January to all lab scientists and engineers, calling upon them to submit ideas for research projects to address national problems. This Grand Challenge program is "potentially one of the most ambitious initiatives to support far-reaching research and development in recent times," Wadsworth said earlier this month. About 40 Grand Challenge proposals were submitted by lab researchers. These proposals "cover the broad spectrum of scientific challenges at the forefront of all our mission areas: national security, energy and environment, bioscience and biotechnology, and fundamental science and technology explorations," Wadsworth said. Members of the lab Council on Strategic Science and Technology, a group formed in 1996 by lab Director C. Bruce Tarter, are meeting within a week to develop a method for reviewing and selecting the proposals. The council, led by Wadsworth, includes the leaders of various lab program areas, including lasers, compu- tation, energy and environmental sciences, engineering, physics and space technology, and chemistry and materials science. And the lab's Science and Technology Office is performing an initial review of the proposals to identify those projects that are consistent with program goals. "Continuing terrorist activities underscore the fact that the nation needs to invest now in the science and technology that can effectively anticipate emerging threats," lab officials said in announcement about the Grand Challenge grant program. A goal of the program is to engage a wide cross-section of lab disciplines. "From the ideas we've received so far, it's clear that the Grand Challenge concept has already stimulated innovative approaches to solving important national challenges," Wadsworth said. Grand Challenge proposals are expected to be supported through the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, a lab internal grant program. Proposals not selected as Grand Challenge projects also may qualify for other research money or other sources of lab money. Lynda Seaver, a lab spokeswoman, said most of the Grand Challenge projects will be team efforts and could be paid for as long as five years. Other Laboratory Directed Research and Development projects typically run for three years or less and can be conducted by individual researchers. Grand Challenge projects will likely receive more money than the typical $1 million to $2 million that has been awarded to a similar category of team-oriented LDRD projects, Seaver added. ©1999-2001 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 47 ENERGY DEPARTMENT SUPPORTS CLEAN COAL, NUCLEAR POWER Environment News Service: AmeriScan: March 5, 2002 AmeriScan: March 5, 2002 WASHINGTON, DC, March 5, 2002 (ENS) - The Department of Energy (DOE) has launched initiatives aimed at supporting so called clean coal research and encouraging the construction of new nuclear power plants. The initiatives were outlined in President George W. Bush's national energy plan, unveiled last year. The initial stage of the $2 billion, 10 year clean coal technology initiative began with the DOE offering $330 million in federal matching funds for industry proposed projects. Industry has until August 1 to submit proposals, and winning projects will be selected by late December. "This solicitation signals our willingness to begin a new partnership with the private sector to enhance our energy supply," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "Technologies like this will help us preserve our environment while we strengthen America's energy security." Clean coal technologies represent a new class of pollution control and power generating processes aimed at reducing air emissions from coal burning plants. Some of the technologies promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by boosting power plant efficiencies and releasing carbon gases in a form that can be captured and prevented from entering the atmosphere, Abraham said. The DOE is seeking projects that demonstrate or accelerate the commercial deployment of any technology advancement that "results in efficiency, environmental and economic improvement compared to currently available state of the art alternatives." More information is available at: http://www.fossil.energy.gov [http://www.fossil.energy.gov] The DOE also announced the latest phase of the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative, aimed at establishing public-private partnerships to share in the cost of selecting U.S. sites for new nuclear plants and for submitting formal applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for early site approval. "This is a critical step in paving the way for deploying more nuclear power in the United States," Abraham said. "Identifying and obtaining NRC permits for acceptable sites will answer the question of where we will build new plants and thereby remove a major hurdle to building a new U.S. nuclear plant by 2010." The DOE will match industry investments of as much as $48.5 million over the next two years to explore sites that can host new nuclear plants; make licensing of new plants more efficient and predictable; and conduct research into advanced nuclear plant technologies. More information on the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative is available at: http://www.nuclear.gov [http://www.nuclear.gov] » Lycos Worldwide © Copyright ***************************************************************** 48 U.S. attorney: Plant suit trial can be avoided The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, March 06, 2002 Lawyers for whistle-blowers at the gaseous diffusion plant predict a resolution. Meanwhile, a judge grants the Justice Department another extension. By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 An assistant U.S. attorney expressed optimism that a trial can be avoided in the whistle-blower lawsuit filed against Lockheed-Martin Corp., former operator of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The lead attorney for plaintiffs also predicted resolution by the end of the year. A federal judge on Monday gave the U.S. Department of Justice until May 17 to decide if the federal government should become a plaintiff in the suit, filed in June 1999 by three plant workers and an environmental watchdog group. Justice lawyers have now been granted nine three-month extensions to decide whether to enter the suit. At stake are hundreds of millions of dollars paid as bonuses to Lockheed and companies that operated the plant earlier, including Martin Marietta, for meeting environmental standards that the suit claims were not met. Plaintiffs stand to gain up to 25 percent of any amount refunded to the U.S. Department of Energy, which paid Lockheed to run the plant from 1982-92. "I would love for this case to be resolved (without a trial) and that is what we are working toward," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Campbell, lead government investigator. "If we didn't think there was a chance of that happening, we wouldn't continue to ask for extensions." Attorneys for Lockheed and Justice toured the plant in recent weeks, and Campbell anticipates "further discussions based upon information obtained during the tour." He termed such discussions useful in resolving the case. "I can't comment on the substance of our discussions, but if we felt like they weren't being productive, we would pursue other avenues," he said. Joe Egan, the Washington, D.C., attorney who filed the suit, said he agreed to go along with Campbell's request for another delay because talks have been productive. "I am hopeful this matter can conclude in this calendar year," Egan said. At issue are allegations that Lockheed filed false environmental reports when it operated the Paducah plant for the Department of Energy. The suit claims the company was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in operating bonuses for meeting certain environmental milestones that the suit claims were not met. A spokesman for Lockheed disputes the allegations. "We are continuing to cooperate with the Department of Justice as we have been for more than three years," said James Fetig, Lockheed's director of media relations. "There have been no settlement discussions with them. We stand by our belief that ... (those who filed the suit) have no merit to their claim." He said the nature of discussions with government investigators had been to answer questions and provide information to help in their investigation. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Paducah by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental watchdog in Washington, D.C.; Thomas Cochran, nuclear program director for the council; and Paducah plant workers Charles Deuschele, Garland Jenkins and Ronald Fowler. ***************************************************************** 49 DOE PR on Hanford cleanup Department of Energy and Washington State Agree To Pursue Accelerated Cleanup Strategy for Hanford Site Letter of Intent Pushes For Cleanup Completion 35 to 45 Years Sooner; $433 Million Set Aside Under DOE’s Expedited Cleanup Account energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2002 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following a series of meetings between the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and state of Washington officials, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced today that a Letter of Intent has been signed to accelerate cleanup of the Department’s Hanford operations. Under the plan, the parties will work to complete cleanup operations at Hanford 35 to 45 years sooner than the current estimated completion date of 2070. This is the first agreement reached under the Department’s new Environmental Management Accelerated Cleanup Program, whose goal is to streamline operations by working with states and regulators to clearly target and reduce the greatest health and environmental cleanup risks at the country’s Cold War nuclear weapons production facilities. “The Hanford pact provides the framework necessary to accelerate clean up and it is a major step to more effectively reduce health risks and expedite the environmental restoration of the nation's nuclear sites,” Abraham said. “Working with the states and other regulatory agencies, DOE is proposing a new way of doing business, leading to greater accountability, responsibility, and opportunities for both the Department and the states.” Abraham added, “This agreement demonstrates the Bush Administration’s commitment to accelerated cleanup and ensures progress long sought by the Department, EPA, and Washington State. Progress was only made possible with the helpful cooperation of Governor Locke and Attorney General Gregoire, the strong leadership and support of Cleanup Caucus Chairs Rep. Doc Hastings and Senator Patty Murray, and Senator Maria Cantwell, who worked with us to bring this to a successful conclusion.” Funding requests for environmental management activities at the Hanford site will increase by $433 million as details of the accelerated cleanup plan are finalized, bringing the total budget request to more than $2 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 for the Hanford Site. Abraham noted that the Expedited Cleanup Account might be augmented to accommodate cleanup activities at all environmental management sites if they choose to expedite cleanup. Under the Administration’s proposal, all sites that reach an agreement will receive a FY 2003 funding request at least equal to their record FY 2002 appropriation, and in most cases, a funding request above the FY 2002 appropriation. Previous appropriated funding levels for the Hanford Site were $1.64 billion in FY 2001 and $1.87 billion in FY 2002. The parties to the agreement will use results of Hanford’s Cleanup Constraints and Challenges Team, the EM Top-to-Bottom Review, and other improvements to develop future planning and funding requests, outline details of an accelerated cleanup plan, and meet commitments outlined in the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement). Forty-two improvement initiatives for accelerating cleanup and reducing the greatest risks first are identified under the agreement framework. They include: + Accelerate retrieval of high-level waste from storage tanks; + Accelerate cleanup of the Columbia River corridor; + Improve Waste Treatment Plant capabilities to accommodate more waste; + Examine alternative technologies for low activity tank waste disposal; + Accelerate plutonium de-inventory work at the Plutonium Finishing Plant; + Accelerate clean out of spent nuclear fuel storage facility; + Accelerate and improve waste management disposal options; and + Accelerate transfer of cesium and strontium capsules from wet storage to dry storage. Under the agreement, DOE will develop a set of specific goals for physical progress by 2007 and 2012 that will represent a major acceleration from current cleanup plans as a first step. A draft of the work plan will be available to all parties by May 1, 2002, and the parties plan to produce a final work plan by Aug. 1, 2002. DOE and the regulators will, if necessary, then propose changes to the Tri-Party Agreement. “Accelerated cleanup agreements will accomplish results in a manner that is safe, protective of human health and the environment, and in compliance with State and Federal environmental laws,”Abraham said. “The Hanford pact is a framework for all Department sites to follow in moving toward an accelerated cleanup plan because it provides the necessary level of detail and criteria to reach a commitment to faster, safer cleanup.” Copies of the agreement are available, please call. Media Contact: Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Tom Welch, 202/586-5806 Release No. PR-02-038 ***************************************************************** 50 Aiken talk addresses new DOE criticism 03/06/02 Augusta Georgia: Technology: Web posted Wednesday, March 6, 2002 By [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer Efforts to protect the nation's nuclear secrets since Sept. 11 have hurt the U.S. Department of Energy's credibility, a federal official said Tuesday. "Many documents that were declassified, and some of us with a background in national defense security would say should not have been declassified, have been available to the public and potential terrorists for years," John Conway, the chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, said during a breakfast at Newberry Hall in Aiken. "Attempts to withdraw them from the public Web sites and public document rooms are resulting in not-unexpected criticism," he told more than 120 people at the breakfast. The Energy Department won't bear the brunt of such criticism alone, Mr. Conway said. He said he expected the work of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to become harder. The board was created in 1988 to provide independent recommendations on safety issues at nuclear-weapons facilities such as Savannah River Site. "The extent to which the board will be able to continue to play a role or, as Congress stated, be instrumental in restoring public confidence in the Energy Department's management capabilities will be made more difficult," Mr. Conway said. Rick Ford, an Energy Department spokesman at SRS, said the agency in committed to a policy of openness with the public but that the events of Sept. 11 forced it to look at previously public information in a new light. "Since the September 11 tragedy, and the subsequent war effort of our country, I believe any reasonable person would agree that the Energy Department and all government agencies should review previously released documents that once seemed perfectly acceptable to be in the public domain, for information that terrorists now could use to attack the American people," Mr. Ford said. "We've been doing these reviews as expeditiously as possible and getting information back out in the public domain as quickly as we can," he said. "We remain committed to being open about our activities and the potential impacts of those activities." A local nuclear watchdog said any doubts about the Energy Department's new security procedures stem from its secretive past. "The reason this is hurting the Energy Department is that it cannot afford to go back to secrecy," said Don Moniak, of Aiken, a community organizer for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. "It has no credibility with the public, and any time it withholds anything, people are going to expect the worst," said Mr. Moniak, who called the classification process "highly subjective." Since Sept. 11, some records involving environmental and public-health issues have been withdrawn, he said. Documents that seem to be more sensitive - such as a primer on how security forces can detect night-vision goggles - have been released, Mr. Moniak said. "Information is being released that has no value to the public whatsoever," he said. "It only has value to someone who seeks to do harm. Yet the public is being denied very basic information that anybody who seeks to do harm probably has. "A lot of people are classifying things that I suspect are very well-known already. I suspect our potential enemies already know it. Hiding it from the general citizenry hurts the country." Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 51 NUCLEAR BREAKTHROUGH OR BOO-BOO? Watercooler Stories By Dennis Daily United Press International Published 3/5/2002 8:56 PM If American and Russian nuclear experts are right, an amazing leap forward has been achieved in that science. But, if their findings are flukes, then they may have created just an interesting chemical soup. Published reports indicate that the experts say they might have created long-awaited "cold fusion" in the laboratory. The entire thing was carried out in a group of beakers on a single table using what some are calling "souped-up nail polish" and ultrasound. For years scientists have been trying to produce energy by fusing atoms together rather than by splitting them apart in costly, messy, dangerous and polluting nuclear fission reactors and bombs. Fusion allows for the use of tamer atoms, such as those in hydrogen, with far fewer side effects. What the scientists created in this recent experiment were tiny bubbles that imploded. No larger than pin points, the bubbles may have, for a short time, produced a heat hotter than the sun. A-BOMB USE SCARE UNCOVERED The latest issue of Time magazine reports that less than a month after the terror attacks of 9/11 government officials were tipped off to the fact that a terror group had reportedly gotten hold of a 10 kiloton nuclear bomb and had plans to smuggle it into New York City. The publication says that highest classified intelligence alerts were circulated, but only to a few top American officials -- otherwise a wholesale panic in the city might have resulted. It's estimated that a bomb that size, triggered in Lower Manhattan, could have killed up to 100,000 people and contaminated an additional 700,000 with serious radiation poisoning. Everything would have been flattened within half-a-mile of the blast site. When a thorough investigation was completed it was surmised that the alarm was a false one. No such plot was in the works. But the scenario caused a lot of people to rethink the threat. One result of the scare was the placement of high-tech equipment at key border crossing points to look for nuclear material. Copyright © 2002 United Press International ***************************************************************** 52 WNA NEWS BRIEFING 02.10 | 27 February - 5 March 2002 A weekly summary of international news relevant to the nuclear energy industry. [NB02.10-1] Belgium: Plans for a 40-year operating limit for the country's seven existing nuclear power plants have been approved by the government. The bill would mean the first reactor would shut in February 2015 (Doel-1) and the last in 2025 (Tihange-3). The draft law - approved by the cabinet on 1 March - would also prohibit the construction of new reactors in Belgium. A provision in the bill would allow the timetable for the phase-out to be changed if a future government, acting on the advice of the country's energy regulator, decides that there are pressing circumstances. The bill must still be approved by parliament. (Ux Weekly, 4 March, p3; NucNet News, 89/02, 4 March; see also News Briefing 02.09-10) [NB02.10-2] South Korea's 16 operating nuclear power reactors generated a total 112 TWh of electricity in 2001, a 2.75% increase from the 109 TWh produced in 2000. The average capacity factor rose from 90.4% to 93.2%. However, the nuclear share of total domestic electricity production (257 TWh) dropped slightly in 2001, from 40.9% to 39.3%. (NucNet News, 84/02, 28 February; see also News Briefing 01.03-2) [NB02.10-3] US: Cotter Corp has agreed to process some 450 000 tonnes of 'alternate feed material' from a Superfund site in New Jersey. The material consists of soil contaminated with thorium tailings created by the cleanup of 20 commercial properties near Maywood, NJ. The material is likely to be transported by rail to Cotter's Canon City Mill in Colorado. Cotter Corp is an affiliate of General Atomics. (FreshFUEL, 4 March, p4; see also News Briefing 00.07-2) [NB02.10-4] Czech Republic: Fuel loading has begun at CEZ's Temelin-2 nuclear power reactor. Permission to commence fuel loading was granted by the state office for nuclear safety on 4 March following a final inspection of the unit. Loading of a total 163 fuel assemblies is expected to take some 10 days. Criticality at the reactor is expected to be achieved in about six weeks time. (NucNet News, 90/02, 4 March; see also News Briefing 01.35-9) [NB02.10-5] UK: British Energy (BE) and British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) are working together to resolve a dispute over 300 million UK pounds (US$426.5 million) annual reprocessing contracts. BE does not want to pay for reprocessing because storing the spent fuel would be less expensive. Meanwhile, the two companies announced a proposed 9 billion UK pound (US$12.8 billion) plan to build nine nuclear power reactors to replace the UK's ageing advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs). The plan is not definite and would depend on government agreement and financial consideration. Sites for two of the reactors have already been selected at the Hunterston and Hinkley Point nuclear power plants, where AGRs are set to close by 2011. (Ux Weekly, 4 March, p3; Guardian, 27 February, p2; Financial Times, 27 February, p22; see also News Briefings 02.09-1 and 01.47-17) [NB02.10-6] Lithuania remains cautious in its decision whether to commit to a proposed 2009 closure date for its Ignalina-2 nuclear power reactor. President Valdas Adamkus said the country should not be pressurised by the European Union (EU) into shutting the reactor. He has suggested that instead of decommissioning the plant, upgrades should be considered. Lithuania has agreed to shut Ignalina-1 by 2005. The government is expected to bring a proposal on closing Ignalia-2 to the parliament in March. (Nuclear Market Review, 28 February, p3; Nucleonics Week, 28 February, p9; see also News Briefing 02.02-12) [NB02.10-7] Romania has 'expressed its Interest' in building a new reactor using Russian technology at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, according to Russian atomic energy minister Alexander Rumyantsev. He said that a VVER-1000 reactor could be built for about US$800 million, compared with the US$1 billion to build a reactor based on Western technology. (NucNet Business News, 16/02, 26 February; Ux Weekly, 4 March, p4; see also News Briefing 01.09-10) [NB02.10-8] US: Orders imposing interim additional security measures at the country's 104 nuclear power reactors have been issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in order to 'sustain the nuclear energy industry's heightened security readiness'. Plant licensees were ordered to begin immediately implementing the requirements, but have until 31 August to complete making the changes. The specific requirements have not been made public, but the NRC said they include increasing patrols at the facility, augmenting security personnel, installing certain physical barriers, checking vehicles at 'greater stand-off distances', coordinating with law enforcement and military authorities and tightening restrictive site access controls. (NucNet News, 82/02, 27 February; NEI InfoWire, #02-08, 26 February; Nucleonics Week, 28 February, p1; see also News Briefing 02.08-7) [NB02.10-9] Canada: NB Power has filed evidence with the New Brunswick Public Utilities Board (PUB) seeking a recommendation to refurbish the 650 MWe Point Lepreau nuclear power plant for C$845 million (US$532 million). An economic and technical assessment conducted in 1996 determined that a major refurbishment would be required around 2008. NB Power is proposing to re-tube the reactor and refurbish other components in order to extend the plant's life to 2032. (Ux Weekly, 4 March, p4; see also News Briefing 00.48-17) [NB02.10-10] US: Millstone-1's missing two fuel rods are probably located in a licensed low-level waste (LLW) facility, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has concluded. The NRC's investigating team also concluded it is highly unlikely that the rods, in their entirety, remain in the Millstone-1 spent fuel pool. The team found no evidence to support the possibility of theft or diversion of the rods. The NRC said that former plant operator Northeast Utilities (NU) violated several regulations with respect to the loss of the fuel and that any appropriate enforcement action would be announced later. (SpentFUEL, 4 March, p3; see also News Briefing 02.04-12) [NB02.10-11] Canada: A national Nuclear Fuel Waste Act has been approved by the Canadian parliament. According to the bill presented to parliament, the act provides a framework that will enable the 'major owners of nuclear fuel waste' to establish a non-profit waste management organisation to carry out the managerial, financial and operational activities to implement long-term management of 'nuclear fuel waste'. The organisation will propose disposal strategies within three years, and later implement them. The act also provides for utilities, as well as Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), to establish trust funds to finance the management and disposal of 'fuel wastes'. (NucNet News, 88/02, 1 March; see also News Briefing 01.18-15) [NB02.10-12] Russia: The Supreme Court has overturned a 1998 governmental decision that exempted Hungarian reprocessing waste from being returned to Hungary. The court decision follows a 1998 agreement whereby Russia allowed Hungarian radioactive waste to remain within Russia after reprocessing. Hungary was granted permission to export spent nuclear fuel from the Paks nuclear power plant to Russia by the Russian ministry of atomic energy (Minatom) in 1997. The Supreme Court annulled the agreement as a result of action taken by a group of Russian environmentalists from the Chelyabinsk region, supported by Greenpeace Russia. (NucNet News, 86/02, 28 February; Nucleonics Week, 28 February, p15; see also News Briefing 97.10-14) [NB02.10-13] US: The revised US plutonium disposition programme will need at least two more commercial nuclear power reactors converted to take mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel by 2019, according to a Department of Energy (DOE) report to Congress. The plutonium disposition programme faces many political and commercial challenges, including whether or not the DOE will be able to find at least two nuclear plant operators willing to burn MOX fuel - a significant hurdle given the USA's restructured electricity markets. (SpentFUEL, 4 March, p1; Ux Weekly, 4 March, p4; see also News Briefing 02.05-16) [NB02.10-14] US: A decision to select one or two facilities to convert about 700 000 tonnes of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) has been delayed until 2003, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced. The stalling of the decision is reportedly stemming from disagreements between DOE and the Office of Management and Budget concerning how many conversion plants should be built despite a 1998 law mandating that two plants at Paducah and Portsmouth be constructed and operating by 2007. (Ux Weekly, 4 March, p5; see also News Briefing 02.04-13) [NB02.10-15] Sweden: A temporary ban on the transport of radioactive substances from Studsvik Nuclear AB's Isotope Service has been lifted by the Swedish radiation protection authority, the SSI. The ban was removed after Studsvik complied with the SSI's requirements, following an incident involving the transport of iridium-192. The SSI will in future grant permission for the transport of iridium-192 on a case-by-case basis, but could remove this restriction by 26 April 2002. (NucNet News, 85/02, 28 February; see also News Briefing 02.07-16) [NB02.10-16] The 15 members of the European Union (EU) have agreed to be legally bound to the terms of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, backing plans to ratify the agreement before the end of May. The EU environment commissioner, Margot Wallstrom, repeated her call for the US to re-enter the Kyoto process and urged countries such as Russia and Japan to ratify quickly so that the 1997 protocol could enter into force in time for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in September. (BBC News Online, 4 March; Financial Times, 5 March, p8; see also News Briefing 01.45-18) [NB02.10-17] US: Corbin McNeill, Chairman, co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of Exelon Corp, announced that he will be retiring on 23 April. John Rowe takes over as Exelon Corp's Chairman and sole CEO. (Nucleonics Week, 28 February, p1; Ux Weekly, 4 March, p5; see also News Briefing 01.37-18) [NB02.10-18] The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) announced plans to elect Mr Hajimu Maeda of Kansai Electric Power Co as its next chairman at its meeting in Seoul, South Korea, on 17 March. Mr Maeda will succeed Dr Zack Pate, who has served as Chairman of WANO since May 1997. (WANO, 28 February) Previous News Briefing NB02.09 ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************