***************************************************************** 04/06/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.87 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Armenian official rejects EU demand to close down nuclear plant 2 US: NRC blasts nuclear plant vigilance 3 Korean exchange prompts talk of progress 4 US: U.S. companies eye early permits for nuclear sites NUCLEAR REACTORS 5 International inspectors give Russian nuclear power station clean 6 Russian power utility loses R8bn in fruitless competition with 7 U.N. humanitarian chief proposes Chernobyl economic recovery package 8 US: NRC Forms Security Office To Protect US Reactors News 9 US: FP&L's 839-MW St. Lucie Unit 1 To Begin Refueling In Sept 10 US: New Nuclear Response Office Opens 11 US: Fermi back at full power 12 US: Electrical accident blamed on cable 13 Chernobyl’s echo can still be heard 14 US: Davis-Besse key to its area 15 US: U.S. Faults Nuclear Reactor Operator for Corrosion Problem 16 US: Monitors needed to watch radiation from Seabrook 17 US: FP's 839-MW St. Lucie Unit 1 To Begin Refueling In Sept 18 US: NRC Forms Security Office To Protect US Reactors NUCLEAR SAFETY 19 US: This guy's stuff glows in the dark 20 US: Air Force to Resume Uranium Use 21 US: Nellis jets to resume using depleted uranium rounds 22 US: Investigators say man arrested in radiation case is sloppy chemi 23 Soldiers' illness not caused by radiation: study NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 24 US: Save Us, President Truman! 25 US: Nuclear Waste Likely to Travel through Amarillo 26 US: INEEL: Feds retract plan to leave waste in ground 27 US: Amarillo key to nuke route 28 US: Owens OKs limits on radioactive shipments 29 US: Bryan says Nevada's legal case against Yucca strongest ever 30 US: Panel OK's emergency funds for Nevada's nuclear dump fight 31 US: Plans to transport radioactive materials scares Colo. residents 32 US: Bryan optimistic about Yucca 33 US: Guinn push to fund Yucca fight advances 34 US: YUCCA FIGHT: Myers: 'West Wing' no 'plant' 35 US: Nuke veto first move in congressional chess game 36 US: Don't quit nuke fight 37 US: Editorial: Will nation see through nuke lies? 38 US: Benjamin Grove: Nuke waste goes prime time, creates fuss 39 US: Columnist Erin Neff: Prepare to be spun on euphemistic Yucca tou 40 US: Colorado governor signs bill to restrict radioactive waste NUCLEAR WEAPONS 41 Envoy Says NKorea Seeks New Dialogue 42 Key breakthrough at Korean talks 43 Musharraf ready to use nuclear arms 44 US: Pentagon seeks to ease rules 45 U.S. told to prove nuclear trade charges 46 Let's just learn to stop worrying and love the bomb: What we read 47 US: Imagining the unimaginable 48 Pakistan: Official tells Japanese agency of "elaborate" nuclear US DEPT. OF ENERGY 49 Politics cited in Flats delays ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Armenian official rejects EU demand to close down nuclear plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 6, 2002 Yerevan, 5 April: The chairman of the Armenian [parliamentary] power commission, Vardan Movsesyan, regards the European Union's demands to close the Armenian nuclear power station as unrealistic for a number of reasons. Speaking at a news conference today, he noted that that there were no grounds for closing the station in 2004 because of the sufficient level of safety - the main reason for the EU's concern. "I know that the station's resources will allow it to operate until 2016," he said. However, Movsesyan described as insufficient EU's credit of 100m euros for closing down the station and creating alternative sources. He said that Armenia currently had no funds for new facilities whose construction would cost 250-300m dollars. Movsesyan said that the plan to construct a new station was still on the agenda. [Passage omitted: background details] Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 1210 gmt 5 Apr 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 2 NRC blasts nuclear plant vigilance The News - Amy Ryder, a member of Ohio Citizen's Action, demonstrates at a meeting. Mark Duncan, AP John Seewer, AP - 4/6/2002 OAK HARBOR, Ohio - An acid leak that ate through a steel cap over a nuclear plant's reactor vessel should have been spotted as long as four years ago, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report released Friday. Inspectors said there were many opportunities for the operator of the Davis-Besse plant to find the problem, which wasn't discovered until the plant was shut down in February for refueling. "It should have been recognized," said NRC spokesman Jan Strasma. The NRC said the damage did not pose a safety threat, but it did order operators of all 69 pressurized water reactors in the United States to submit information on the structural integrity of their plant's reactor head. The NRC said it was the most extensive corrosion ever found on top of a U.S. nuclear plant reactor. Inspectors spotted a second cavity 1 3/4 inch deep two weeks later. The NRC is still reviewing data from other plants but so far has found no such corrosion elsewhere, Strasma said Friday. Plant employees found leaking boric acid created a 6-inch hole in the steel cap near a cracked control rod nozzle. The hole was stopped by a steel layer three-eighths of an inch thick impervious to the acid. Significant corrosion began at least four years ago, according to preliminary findings of an NRC inspection. Inspectors said it was caused by cracked control rod nozzles. FirstEnergy Corp., which operates the plant, said it was not surprised by the findings and that its own investigators came to the same conclusion. The NRC report was released at a public meeting attended by hundreds of residents. About a dozen people protested, holding up signs saying "No nuclear time bombs" and interrupting the meeting several times by yelling "You failed" and "Shut it down." The plant had visual inspections over the years, but corrosion was overlooked because plant staff and management for years did not realize the significance of boric acid deposits on top of the vessel head, according to FirstEnergy's findings. The company said similar corrosion can be found or avoided at similar plants if engineers know how to look for it. Howard Bergendahl, a company vice president in charge of Davis-Besse, acknowledged that the problem should have been discovered earlier. "We could have and should have found it in earlier inspections," he said. The acid is a byproduct of the nuclear fission process inside the reactor. The reactor has 69 control rods. The nozzles are vertical tubes that house the rods, which absorb excess neutrons in the reactor core. The damage to the reactor's steel cap will keep the plant shut down until at least June. The plant is along Lake Erie and about 25 miles east of Toledo. © Copyright 2002 AP ©Copyright 2002 TheNewsMexico.com ***************************************************************** 3 Korean exchange prompts talk of progress BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | there are signs of movement By Caroline Gluck BBC Seoul correspondent Officials at South Korea's Unification Ministry were visibly relieved by the apparent progress in dialogue. The key to the impasse came on Thursday night, when South Korea's presidential envoy, Lim Dong-won, finally met North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il. "We're very happy that North Korea is resuming dialogue", said South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Jung-ro. North Korea does want dialogue... But it's difficult to expect any major breakthroughs at this time Moon Chung-in Professor of political science "Maintaining dialogue is important for peace." Much was resting on Mr Lim's visit, because there had been no public contact between the two sides since last November. South Korean newspapers had suggested this could be a make-or-break visit. President Kim Dae-jung has less than a year left in office, and his successor may not be so active in pushing for exchanges with the North. Also, South Korean preoccupations will soon switch to the World Cup football finals, which it is co-hosting with Japan. 'Axis of evil' The meeting took place with North Korean relations with the United States at a low ebb. Pyongyang has accused Washington of adopting a hostile policy. It was infuriated when President George W Bush labelled the regime part of an "axis of evil", blaming the US for raising tensions on the Korean peninsula. [North Korean children against backdrop of the late-president, Kim Il-sung] North Korea wants people to visit for its Arirang festival There are also fresh concerns of a potential nuclear crisis. Next year marks the end of North Korea's self-imposed missile test moratorium period. It is also the target date for the completion of two light water reactors due to be built by a US-led international consortium, in return for North Korea freezing its nuclear programme. But the reactors are not likely to be completed until 2005 at the earliest, leading to fears North Korea may not stick to the agreement. "North Korea does want dialogue and there's still life in the 'sunshine policy' of engagement", says Moon Chung-in, professor of political science, who accompanied the South Korean president on his ground-breaking trip to Pyongyang for summit talks in June 2000. "But it's difficult to expect any major breakthroughs at this time. "What is important is to have incremental agreements, to have confidence-building measures in various areas, so that eventually you can move on to military confidence building measures." Two-way visits There is speculation that the two sides may agree to allow reciprocal visits to World Cup matches in the South. South Koreans may also be able to attend a mass gymnastic and artistic display, Arirang, which begins in the north at the end of April. "North Korea is eager to have many South Koreans visit for its festival", says Professor Suh Dong-man, an expert on North Korea. "It wants as many tourists as possible so it can earn some money. " But he also believes that the visit has helped iron out differences on a range of issues. "I think North Korea is very serious now in its attitude to the talks. Kim Jong-il is determined to weaken the effect of President Bush's "axis of evil" comments. "But to show the image of peace, North Korea has to have dialogue with the South in order to open relations with the North. South Korea is taking the role of mediator." ***************************************************************** 4 U.S. companies eye early permits for nuclear sites By Vibeke Laroi SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (Reuters) - Several energy companies are taking early steps that might lead to licensing the first nuclear power plant in the U.S. since the Three Mile Island disaster in 1979, although the plans appear likely to remain on the drawing boards for the next few years. The move comes amid growing concern about safety and potential terrorist threats against the reactors. Dominion Resources Inc. (D) said on Friday it told the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week it intends to seek an early site permit for a possible new reactor at its two-unit North Anna power plant in Virginia. "We want to keep our options open, but we have no plans to build a new nuclear power plant," said Dominion Resources spokesman Richard Zuercher. "We're more interested in demonstrating the process than building anything," he said, adding that Dominion plans to apply for an early site permit in autumn 2003. An early site permit allows a company to "bank" the land for up to 20 years for possibly building a new reactor -- without having to specify the reactor type or committing to construction. The program, launched by the NRC in 1999 to smooth the way for new reactors, has not yet been tested. Exelon Nuclear, the largest nuclear fleet operator in the country and a unit of Exelon Corp.(EXC), has said it intends to submit an early site bid by June 30, 2003. A company spokesman said Exelon will identify the site, or sites, by June 30 this year. And a spokesman for Entergy Corp.(ETR), the nation's second largest operator of nuclear plants, said the company is "actively" considering filing one or two early site permits. "All three have indicated some interest in filing an early site permit, but nobody has formally done anything," NRC spokesman Victor Dricks told Reuters. A LONG PROCESS Although plans are preliminary, the fact that three utilities are considering permits is a big step for an industry that has been virtually in a deep freeze for decades. No commercial nuclear power plant has been ordered in the U.S. since the 1979 Three Mile Island accident when there was a partial meltdown of the reactor core. And new problems are raising questions about the future of atomic reactors. Corrosion in a massive piece of carbon steel atop the reactor at FirstEnergy Corp.'s (FE) Davis-Besse plant in Ohio has alarmed regulators. The NRC said today the problem represents an "unacceptable reduction of the margin of safety" at the plant. The NRC is reviewing 68 similar reactors in the U.S. fleet of 103 nuclear plants, which provide one-fifth of the nation's electricity. Moreover, the NRC also said today it was stepping up its oversight of security risks at nuclear plants by developing contingency plans for emergencies and assessing potential terrorist threats in light of the Sept. 11 attacks. Despite these concerns, the NRC's Dricks said "We think chances are very good that someone will choose to build a new nuclear plant, whereas a few years ago that didn't seem possible." Dominion's Zuercher, who does not see anyone announcing plans to build a new nuclear plant in the next few years, believes the euphoria of last summer, when there was talk of building new nuclear plants for the first time in decades, stemmed from unrealistic expectations. To build new nuclear plants, costs would have to be competitive with those of other types of plants, a permanent storage facility for nuclear waste would have to be in place and the government would have to be committed to supporting new reactors, he said. Even if companies decide to apply for an early site permit, the process could be lengthy and expensive. Zuercher said it would take about 18 months to produce an application, and an NRC evaluation could take one year to 18 months. ©2002 Reuters Limited. Copyright © 1999-2002 iWon.com ***************************************************************** 5 International inspectors give Russian nuclear power station clean bill of health BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 5, 2002 St Petersburg, 4 April: The Leningrad nuclear power plant operates in full compliance with all state laws and international rules, the chief of Ukraine's national power production company, Enerhoatom, Danko Biley said on Thursday [4 April]. The inspection was held by the World Association of Nuclear Operators, WANO, on the partnership basis. A team of 20 experts from Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, the Czech Republic, India, the United States and other countries probed into the main aspects of the power plant's operation, such as administrative management, current operation, repairs and radiation safety. The purpose of such inspections is to help nuclear power plant personnel achieve the best results and benefit from advanced world experience. The inspections are identical to those by the International Atomic Energy Agency. WANO, as a public association of nuclear operators, holds them at the request of the power plant that wants to be inspected... Following the successful completion of a series of pilot peer reviews in 1992 and 1993, WANO began a formal programme of voluntary peer reviews of WANO member plants in 1994. Under the programme, international teams of 12 to 20 experienced plant personnel review the operations of the host plant to identify areas of strength to share with other plants, and areas where the host plant could improve its operational safety and reliability. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1447 gmt 4 Apr 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 6 Russian power utility loses R8bn in fruitless competition with nuclear plants BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 5, 2002 Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Sochi, 5 April, RIA-Novosti correspondent Natalya Shmonova: The UES [Unified Energy Systems] of Russia has proved that it is not yet ready to compete with Rosenergoatom [Russian nuclear power utility] and has lost R8bn. This, as a RIA-Novosti correspondent reports, has been acknowledged by the head of the electricity holding company, Anatoliy Chubays. He cited figures which show that 4.6 per cent less electricity was generated this winter compared with the previous winter. This reduction was due both to the warm winter and to a reduction in the country's consumption of electricity, Chubays noted in a speech on Friday [5 April] to a nationwide energy conference in Sochi. Chubays said another reason for the reduction in the consumption of electricity produced by the holding company's power stations was increased production by nuclear power stations. Thus, while UES's output fell by 3.7bn kWh in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared with the same period of the previous year, nuclear power stations increased their output by 5.8bn kWh. A similar state of affairs obtained in the first quarter of 2002, when the electricity holding's power stations reduced their output by 13bn kWh, while the nuclear power plants, for their part, increased it by 2.8bn kWh. As Chubays himself acknowledged, this indicates that the holding company's power stations are not yet ready to compete and that they have lost some of their customers. Rosenergoatom, for its part, was entitled to occupy its niche on the electricity market. In this context Chubays stressed that one of the main tasks, especially when a competitive market in electricity services is being established, is "to win customers". The electricity holding is forecasting that consumption of electricity will not increase to any great extent in 2002. Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0818 gmt 5 Apr 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 7 U.N. humanitarian chief proposes Chernobyl economic recovery package for Belarus Sat Apr 6, 6:03 AM ET MINSK, Belarus - The United Nations (news - web sites)' top humanitarian official on Saturday urged Belarus to boost business development in impoverished rural regions affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Kenzo Oshima, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, last week visited villages in Belarus and Ukraine devastated by the 1986 accident. He also visited Russia, and in all three countries he promoted a new tack to aiding Chernobyl victims that focuses on economic development rather than emergency aid. The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in then-Soviet northern Ukraine was the world's worst nuclear disaster. The accident spewed radiation over parts of Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia that has affected millions of people. "The problem of Chernobyl is not over," Oshima told reporters in the Belarusian capital Minsk. "We must not leave our job at Chernobyl half-finished, because there is still a lot to be done." He said he had presented a U.N.-designed project to Belarusian officials for improving incomes in Chernobyl-afflicted areas by promoting rural business development, developing credit unions and improving children's health. He did not say how the proposal was received by Belarus' government, whose Soviet-style economic policies under President Alexander Lukashenko have left much of the populace impoverished and private enterprise struggling. Lukashenko, after meeting with Oshima, urged more international financing of efforts to solve Chernobyl-related problems. "The United Nations and the international community as a whole is gradually forgetting about the Chernobyl tragedy, more and more are leaving behind joint efforts to overcome its consequences," he said. Lukashenko complained that more international attention and money is being paid to shoring up the concrete and steel "sarcophagus" covering the destroyed reactor than to helping people affected by the accident. (sg/adc) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 8 NRC Forms Security Office To Protect US Reactors News Fri Apr 5, 6:07 PM ET NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday that it was boosting its protection of the nation's 103 operating nuclear power reactors with the creation of a central office that will work with other federal agencies in the event of an emergency or a terrorist threat. The move came out of a top-to-bottom review of reactor security in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, said NRC spokesman Victor Dricks. In a statement, the agency said that "it had concluded that a centralized security organization is a more effective way of organizing security activities." Since last September, the agency has been criticized for not doing enough to ensure the safety of reactors and other nuclear facilities, or guarantee that employees at the facilities are adequately screened. As of Sunday, the new Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Office will become the NRC's point of contact for the Office of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (news - web sites) and other agencies. The office's responsibilities will include oversight of security and safeguards at nuclear facilities, threat assessment, coordination with intelligence and law enforcement communities, and the administration of NRC counterintelligence and secure communications. The NRC currently has a four-tier threat assessment scale that ranges from unusual event to general emergency, while the Office of Homeland Security has recently implemented a 5-tiered, color-coded terrorism alert system. Dricks said the two agencies were in the process of integrating the two systems. "We're still working out the details," he said. The office will have a staff of 90 members, transferred from existing NRC offices, and will be housed at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. -By Jennifer Morrow, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4377; jennifer.morrow@ dowjones.com Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 9 FP&L's 839-MW St. Lucie Unit 1 To Begin Refueling In Sept Fri Apr 5, 6:54 PM ET NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Florida Power & Light Co .'s 839-megawatt St. Lucie nuclear unit 1 is scheduled to go off line for a refueling outage in September, according to documents the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made public this week. Citing competitive reasons, a company spokeswoman declined to estimate how long the unit will remain off line, but said the utility expects the outage to be a standard one. Refueling outages typically last less than a month. FP&L, a unit of FPL Group Inc. (FPL), operates the twin-unit plant in Florida . It owns 100% of unit 1 and 85% of unit 2. The remaining 15% of unit 2 is owned by a consortium of municipal power agencies. While the unit is off line, FP&L said it will perform a complete inspection of the reactor vessel head. The company said it has already thoroughly examined the heads of St. Lucie unit 2 and its Turkey Point plant and didn't find any boric acid leaks or boron accumulation. FP&L provided the NRC with this outage and inspection information in response to a questionnaire the agency sent to the 69 pressurized water reactors in the U.S. last month to determine whether corrosion discovered at FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE - news) 's Davis Besse reactor in Ohio could be occurring a similarly designed plants. The company said it developed a heightened awareness of the damage boric acid leaks can cause after experiencing a leak at its Turkey Point unit 4 in 1987. This discovery (news - web sites), along with an industrywide alert the NRC issued last April on the potential for cracking on pressurized water reactor vessel head penetrations after Duke discovered cracks at its Oconee's plant, led FP&L to step up its procedures for detecting and preventing boric acid leaks. The company said it identified boric acid leaks at its St. Lucie units in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2001 but made repairs before the leaks could cause any damage. -By Kristen McNamara, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2061; kristen.mcnamara@ dowjones.com Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 New Nuclear Response Office Opens Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - Washington, D.C. Friday, April 5, 2002 By JOHN HEILPRIN ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it is creating a new, streamlined office for security in response to the September terrorist attacks. NRC's newly created Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response combines security duties from the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards and the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. The Nuclear Reactor office handles operating nuclear power plants and non-power reactors. The Nuclear Material office handles non-reactor nuclear sites, such as waste storage facilities. "We think it's going to make a lot of sense in light of the post 9-11 world to have one office," said NRC spokesman Victor Dricks. "It's a matter of efficiency - eliminate repetition, better oversight." The new office is being housed on the fourth floor of one of the NRC's buildings in Rockville, Md., and will become operational Sunday. Roy Zimmerman, who was deputy director of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, will oversee it. It will have 90 employees who are being transferred from existing NRC offices. NRC plans to make the changes without asking Congress to increase the Bush administration's proposed $605 million budget for the agency in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. NRC said the move results from an internal review of nuclear safeguards and physical security ordered by chairman Richard Meserve since last September. The nuclear power plants - 103 reactors at 64 sites in 31 states - have been under heightened alert since the Sept. 11 attacks. The agency said its aims are to improve the quality and timeliness of its information and have a more visible point of contact to the Office of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. Within the new office the NRC will: -Run the NRC program for responding to incidents and be in charge of NRC communications with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. -Handle security policy and oversight for nuclear reactors, decommissioning facilities and spent fuel storage installations. -Oversee international safeguards for nuclear material. -Offer technical support and coordination for safeguards and develop contingency plans. -Administer NRC counterintelligence, secure telecommunications and classified and declassified programs. On the Net: Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com ©1999-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer ***************************************************************** 11 Fermi back at full power Monroe Evening News BY EVENING NEWS STAFFApril 05, 2002 Power was cut back earlier l this week because of an electrical problem. Detroit Edison Co.'s Fermi 2 nuclear plant resumed operating at 100 power early today after workers repaired an electrical problem on a recirculating water pump that had kept the reactor running at half power since Saturday. Operators began increasing reactor power Thursday afternoon. It had reached the 100 percent level by early this morning, said Edison spokesman John J. Austerberry. While power was reduced, the utility took the opportunity to do other maintenance work and adjustments that would have been more difficult if the plant was running at full power, including adjusting several valves on the plant's turbine-control system. Fermi has two main recirculating pumps that move water through the reactor core to control steam and power production. They both must be working for the plant to operate at full power. Because it has been operating more consistently, the Fermi plant has become a larger factor in Edison's electric generation mix. In 2001, the power it generated represented nearly 18 percent of all the electricity generated by all Edison plants. ©Monroe Evening News 2002 ***************************************************************** 12 Electrical accident blamed on cable By Dennis Sherer Staff Writer April 5, 2002 Safety investigators have determined that a copper cable placed too near a high-voltage circuit breaker caused a March 26 accident at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant that injured four electrical workers. "The experts we had investigating the electrical accident have reported an electrician brought a safety grounding cable too near an energized portion of the circuit breaker, and that produced an electrical arc between the cable and the energized portion of the breaker," Browns Ferry spokesman Craig Beasley said Thursday. The arc of electricity burned David Letson and Dan Young of Florence, Fred Pendergrass of Muscle Shoals and Ed Minyard of Athens. The four men are at home after being treated for burns at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Beasley said. The four were attempting to install the cable on a de-energized portion of the 4,160-volt circuit breaker when the accident occurred, Beasley said. When the cable was passed near a portion of the circuit breaker that was still electrically charged, it produced a powerful arc of electricity. The safety cable had been attached to grounding straps on the floor, he said. Energy from the circuit breaker traveled along the cable to the straps. "This allowed the electricity to flow to ground and away from electricians as it is properly supposed to do," Beasley said. "But as the energy jumped the distance between the cable and the energized portion of the circuit breaker, it caused the electrical flashover that burned the guys." Minyard was released from the hospital Saturday. Letson and Pendergrass returned home Sunday, with Young returning Tuesday, Beasley said. The men were part of a team working on a refueling and maintenance shutdown of the Unit 3 reactor at the nuclear plant near Athens. The shutdown began about nine hours before the accident, which occurred in the turbine room at the plant. "The accident posed no health risk to the public," TVA spokesman Terry Johnson said about a release of radiation. "It was strictly an industrial accident." Since the accident, TVA has implemented new safety rules at Browns Ferry. Beasley said anyone working within 10 feet of a high-voltage energy source must wear protective clothing that prevents burns and electrical shock; only one of the injured workers was wearing such clothing. TVA safety officials are still investigating the accident and looking for ways to prevent similar injuries. Beasley declined to say how long the shutdown of Unit 3 is expected to last. He said the length of such outages is not disclosed to prevent utilities that sell electricity to TVA from knowing its power needs. Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com [dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com] . Copyright © 2002 TimesDaily | Privacy Statement ***************************************************************** 13 Chernobyl’s echo can still be heard Pravda.RU Apr, 05 2002 There is a serious danger to the health of the people, living in the territory, which suffered as a result of the Chernobyl tragedy. The UN and the international community urged everyone to pay attention to it in the recent report about the humanitarian consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The scientists from different countries, which were included in the expert group, were working in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, trying to find out the scale of the deterioration 16 years after the tragedy, which happened on April 26. The report also summed up the results of the efforts, taken by three countries, which had suffered from the explosion, as well as by the international community for the liquidation of the consequences of the tremendous breakdown. Scientists believe that the scale and the consequences of the Chernobyl tragedy have not yet received an adequate estimation in the world, although they have accelerated the development of the wide international cooperation in the field of science, humanitarian aid, and technologies. For the time being, there are 100-200 thousand people living on the polluted territory, the exact number is not known, but all of them are in strong need of help and rehabilitation. Moreover, those people, who had to leave their homes 16 years ago, are currently coming back, the migrants from the former Soviet Union republics are settling in the polluted areas too. The Parlamentskaya Gazeta wrote that the Russian specialists were “ousted” from Chernobyl. There is no money assigned for the research, the St.Petersburg experts were dismissed from the project of the new construction. The regulation to shut down the Chernobyl nuclear station has not been coordinated with the project organizations that control the station. The Ukrainian chiefs were hoping for millions of dollars, which would be transferred from the West for closing the nuclear station and building the new capacities. But the words never took the shape of money, in spite of the fact they were pronounced by the leaders of the Group of Eight. There is a strong lack of medical personnel in the area of the pollution. On the whole, the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarussian governments are not working coordinately, and the UN experts concluded that the current situation could result in new disasters. Kenzo Oshima, the UN coordinator for the international cooperation on Chernobyl issue, started his three-day visit to Belarus yeasterday. The key subject for the discussion with the Belarussian government will be the latest report from the expert group. RIA Novosti informed, one of the results of the visit could be the change of the UN’s policy regarding the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe. It goes about the change of the financial mechanism, which is used for funding the works, connected with the Chernobyl nuclear station. The money used to be assigned for the humanitarian aid for the citizens of the regions that suffered most, but now the cash flows can be re-directed for creating and restoring the industrial infrastructure in those regions. The UN programs will be aimed at assistance for stable socio-economic development of the suffered regions, and investments in the economy of the regions. The governments of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were reconsidering their politics for the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The first priority is the economic rehabilitation of the suffered territories, providing jobs to people, liquidating the poverty. Sergey Yugov PRAVDA.Ru Translated by Dmitry Sudakov Copyright ©1999 by " [http://www.pravda.ru/] ***************************************************************** 14 Davis-Besse key to its area Beacon Journal | 04/05/2002 | [http://www.macon.com] Posted on Fri, Apr. 05, 2002 Regulators report today on cause of damage Davis-Besse key to its area Government officials, neighbors voice little fear over plant safety, cite economic impact By Jim Mackinnon Beacon Journal business writer [The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant's cooling tower looms over the Toussaint River just north of the village of Oak Harbor in Ottawa County east of Toledo.] Bob DeMay / ABJ The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant's cooling tower looms over the Toussaint River just north of the village of Oak Harbor in Ottawa County east of Toledo. OAK HARBOR - When Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials unveil their preliminary findings this morning on how and why boric acid damaged the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant, they will be in a modern school auditorium built largely with revenue from that plant. The 9 a.m. meeting, open to the public, will take place in Oak Harbor High School, several miles from the Lake Erie shore location of Davis-Besse. Indeed, a sampling of residents and public officials in the area said that the FirstEnergy plant, built in the 1970s, is a major part of the region's economic backbone. Without the plant, they said, Oak Harbor and surrounding communities would still be largely dependent on agriculture -- the flat land still boasts numerous orchards and other farms -- and a lot poorer. Ottawa County administrator Jere Witt said the plant, which has more than 800 workers, is the county's largest employer. Anti-nuclear groups in the state and around the nation have loudly criticized the boric-acid damage that ate nearly all the way through the reactor head vessel, a crucial safety component that covers the radioactive fuel. They plan to attend today's Oak Harbor meeting. `It's got to be safe' But at least some of the people who live close to Davis-Besse said yesterday they aren't worried about their hulking neighbor, although their views were not unanimous. ``It's built right on my grandparents' peach orchard,'' said Gary Goldstein, a bartender for the last 15 years at the Oak Harbor Hotel in the village's downtown. ``The cooling tower sits right where they had the peach trees. I figure if there's that many people working out there, it's got to be safe. I'm not worried about it. I trust them.'' The 43-year-old Oak Harbor native said he counts plant workers among his customers, and he hasn't heard a bad word about the plant from them. Even so, Goldstein said, he was glad the damage was discovered before it led to an accident. ``They know what they're doing,'' he said. Plant generates taxes Gary Quisno is a math teacher at 700-student Oak Harbor High and has coached the football team the last 23 years. ``I'm not a foe of nuclear energy,'' he said. ``This day and age, you need all the energy sources you can get.'' The community has benefited from Davis-Besse in part through the plant's property taxes, which finance modern school facilities, Quisno said. Besides being the county's largest employer, the plant is also the largest taxpayer, said plant spokesman Richard Wilkins. Davis-Besse pays about $9 million annually in property taxes, plus about $3 million in payroll taxes, he said. The plant also buys a large portion of services and goods in the area, part of about $15 million a year it spends with 800 vendors throughout Ohio, Wilkins said. Paul Druckenmiller, who owns an insurance agency in downtown Oak Harbor, said he does think about Davis-Besse. ``But not from the standpoint of any safety,'' the 47-year-old said. ``It's such a large employer. It's certainly helped our tax base here. The (loss) of that power plant would be devastating to our economy.'' Many Davis-Besse employees live in the community and have families here, he said. If the employees thought the plant was unsafe, why would they let their families live here, he said. ``I have always lived here. I have no fear,'' Druckenmiller said. ``You always have people who are against nuclear power.'' While he was surprised to hear about the damage, the plant's safety systems did what they were supposed to do, he said. ``They did find it. It's being taken care of. I'm not concerned. I hope they get it repaired and back up and running again.'' This morning's NRC meeting will include the release of the preliminary findings of a five-person inspection team that looked into how boric acid ate two cavities in the top of the reactor vessel head. The first cavity that was discovered extended all the way through the 6-inch carbon-steel outer layer; the acid was stopped only by a thin lining of stainless steel cladding. The second cavity is much smaller, officials have said. FirstEnergy is hoping to repair the damage and get the plant restarted by the end of June. Davis-Besse has been shut down since Feb. 16 for refueling and a safety inspection that led to the discovery of the cavities. Repairs could cost FirstEnergy as much as $10 million, plus $10 million to $15 million in additional energy costs each month that the plant can't make electricity. The NRC investigation is independent of one done by a team of FirstEnergy experts. They said the acid damage probably started years ago and that plant workers didn't note the significance of several telltale signs that indicated boric acid was damaging the vessel head. Kevin Raypole, a 45-year-old construction worker from nearby Port Clinton, said he'd like to see Davis-Besse dismantled and put on President George W. Bush's Texas ranch. He sat with a friend at the Toussaint Restaurant &Lounge. ``If this would have corroded all the way through the stainless steel, would it have caused a meltdown?'' he asked. ``How close were they to really having a problem?'' Cindy Squire moved to Oak Harbor 2 ½ years ago from Toledo and said she's glad she doesn't live next to the plant. The 37-year-old said she's not sure the public is being told the whole truth about the damage. ``I think it's very scary,'' she said. But she doesn't plan to leave, saying she likes the area, especially in the summer. Witt, who became the county administrator 25 years ago, about the same time that Davis-Besse began generating electricity, said the plant has been a good community citizen over the years. ``They keep us very well informed,'' he said. ``Frankly, we ask them the tough questions. They have been open and upfront with people. I feel comfortable that they'll come up with a fix. I think in general, (local) people are comfortable with it.'' Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com [jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com] ***************************************************************** 15 U.S. Faults Nuclear Reactor Operator for Corrosion Problem April 6, 2002 By THE NEW YORK TIMES OAK HARBOR, Ohio, April 5 — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today placed the blame for extensive corrosion discovered in the lid of a nuclear reactor squarely on the power company that operates the reactor. A commission report cites several missed opportunities for officials at the company, the FirstEnergy Corporation, and its Davis-Besse plant, east of Toledo, to have detected the corrosion as much as four years ago. The Davis-Besse staff had information that could have resulted in identification of the problem before it became a significant issue, the report said. In addition, had the Davis-Besse staff properly carried out programs required by the commission, "this problem would have been prevented," said John A. Grobe, director of the commission's reactor safety division. The report, presented today to an audience of 300 area residents assembled in the local high school, detailed a lavalike boric acid buildup that had accumulated for so long that it had to be pried off with crowbars. FirstEnergy officials did not dispute the findings and took full responsibility for the corrosion, the worst reported case at a nuclear power plant in United States history. "We are clearly responsible for this condition of the reactor head," Robert F. Saunders, president of FirstEnergy's nuclear division, said. Mr. Saunders qualified this admission with an explanation that FirstEnergy was a "learning organization" and would inevitably encounter occasional problems. His remarks were interrupted occasionally by agitated members of the audience who shouted, "Shut it down!" Fred Cohn, 74, of Curtis, Ohio, asked officials of the nuclear agency and FirstEnergy, "How can you people tell us you're learning, you're learning, you're learning? Don't you think this is a pretty expensive way to learn at our expense?" The corrosion was detected in a routine shutdown for refueling in February. The plant, which has not reopened since, will not reopen for several more months at least while plant officials determine whether to repair or replace the reactor head. Both the nuclear agency and FirstEnergy maintained that the public was never in danger as a result of the corrosion. The worst-case scenario, the agency said, would have been a "radiological mess" contained within the reactor building. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy ***************************************************************** 16 Monitors needed to watch radiation from Seabrook Community Commentary - Wednesday, April 3, 2002 By Martin A. Cameron Portsmouth I recently attended a meeting at Phillips Exeter sponsored by the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League on 7 March. It concerned our neighbor, Seabrook Station, the nuclear power plant in the new terrorist era. The panel speakers were: Mr. Bob Backus, SAPL; Mr. Donald Bliss, acting director, N.H. Office of Emergency Management; Ms. Sandy Gavutis, C-10 Research and Education Foundation; Mr. Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information Resource Service; and Mr. Allen Griffith, spokesman for Seabrook Station. Also present as audience participants were two governor hopefuls, Bev Hollingsworth, N.H. state senator, and former U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey. Topics: 1. Nuclear power plants as terrorist targets; 2. Security and safety within the plant; 3. Current emergency plan within the plant’s 10-mile radius; 4. Effects of radiation from nuclear power plants; 5. Protective role of the federal government with terrorism. I was most concerned with the presentation of Ms. Gavutis, who discussed the effects of radiation in the emergency 10-mile radius around the plant and the radiation monitors. The plant originally proposed a 1-mile radius —completely ridiculous. Humphrey was soundly applauded for his role (U.S. senator at the time) in mandating the 10-mile radius emergency area. The residents of Massachusetts appealed to their state government to supply radiation monitors within the 10-mile radius of the plant. They received 18 monitors for alpha, beta and gamma radiation. They have been there for nine years. How many does New Hampshire have? Four, and those have been privately funded, however, there are no real time monitors. Our Legislature and governor believe that Seabrook Station will sound any warnings. Contrary to the facts. During Nov 1995 the monitors in Massachusetts showed heavy release of beta and gamma radiation, 17½ times the established background level for five hours. The plant was called; they denied there was a problem. After repeated calls, the plant acknowledged the radiation release and said their on-site monitors had failed. How often do they fail? Seabrook Station has a time span of 15 months to inform the state of any radiation releases within the past year. A release in January ’02 might not be disclosed until March ’03. How important are the monitors? Gamma radiation penetrates everything — your house or concrete buildings are transparent. Alpha and beta radiation can be repelled with a sheet of paper; they have to be inhaled or enter through an open wound to access your body. Their effects may not appear for 25 years depending upon the individual body tolerance. A pregnancy is the worst case scenario. The cost of a monitor is about $7,000 and the funding comes from the ratepayer. Each plant owner receives a certain amount from each ratepayer’s bill. This is sent to a special state emergency fund. The monitor funding would not affect the general fund. The Research and Education members have appeared before the N.H. Legislative Science and Technology Committee appealing the need for the monitors. No interest, they only asked how many members in the group. The group twice presented their appeal to the governor for the monitors. The governor was polite and courteous, but no monitors as yet. New Hampshire would be entitled to 17 monitors, one for each community within the 10-mile radius. The residents of Rockingham County should be worried about this situation. Our world has changed; our battle lines have changed. They are not 3,000 miles away. The U.S. Air Force News Magazine for March ’02 revealed documents of U.S. nuclear power plants and municipal water supplies that were confiscated in captured al-Qaeda quarters. We need to be contacting our state senators, legislators and the governor to install the radiation monitors. The first obligation of any and all governing bodies is to ensure the safety and protection of its citizens. There is no compromise on this matter. The health and safety of every resident in Rockingham County is being put at risk, an unwise gamble. This is unpardonable government apathy at its worst. State of New Hampshire Office of the Governor, Statehouse Room 208-214, Concord, N.H. 03301-4990; fax 271-5686; telephone 1-800-852-3456; www.state.nh.us/governor/comment.html [http://www.state.nh.us/governor/comment.html] N.H. State Sen. Bev Hollingsworth, 209 Winnacunnet Road, Hampton, N.H. 03842; office telephone 271-2709. N.H. State Sen. Russell Prescott, 8 Farm Road, Kingston, N.H. 03848; office telephone 772-4321. N.H. State Sen. Burt Cohen, P.O. Box 208, New Castle, N.H., 03854-0209; office telephone 431-0066. N.H. State Sen Arthur Klemm, Room 302 Statehouse, Concord, N.H. 03301-4951; office telephone, 893-1941. ©2002 Geo. J. Foster Co. ***************************************************************** 17 FP's 839-MW St. Lucie Unit 1 To Begin Refueling In Sept Fri Apr 5, 6:54 PM ET NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Florida Power &Light Co .'s 839-megawatt St. Lucie nuclear unit 1 is scheduled to go off line for a refueling outage in September, according to documents the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made public this week. Citing competitive reasons, a company spokeswoman declined to estimate how long the unit will remain off line, but said the utility expects the outage to be a standard one. Refueling outages typically last less than a month. FP, a unit of FPL Group Inc. (FPL), operates the twin-unit plant in Florida . It owns 100% of unit 1 and 85% of unit 2. The remaining 15% of unit 2 is owned by a consortium of municipal power agencies. While the unit is off line, FP said it will perform a complete inspection of the reactor vessel head. The company said it has already thoroughly examined the heads of St. Lucie unit 2 and its Turkey Point plant and didn't find any boric acid leaks or boron accumulation. FP provided the NRC with this outage and inspection information in response to a questionnaire the agency sent to the 69 pressurized water reactors in the U.S. last month to determine whether corrosion discovered at FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis Besse reactor in Ohio could be occurring a similarly designed plants. The company said it developed a heightened awareness of the damage boric acid leaks can cause after experiencing a leak at its Turkey Point unit 4 in 1987. This discovery, along with an industrywide alert the NRC issued last April on the potential for cracking on pressurized water reactor vessel head penetrations after Duke discovered cracks at its Oconee's plant, led FP to step up its procedures for detecting and preventing boric acid leaks. The company said it identified boric acid leaks at its St. Lucie units in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2001 but made repairs before the leaks could cause any damage. -By Kristen McNamara, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2061; kristen.mcnamara@ dowjones.com [http://dowjones.com] ***************************************************************** 18 NRC Forms Security Office To Protect US Reactors Fri Apr 5, 6:07 PM ET NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday that it was boosting its protection of the nation's 103 operating nuclear power reactors with the creation of a central office that will work with other federal agencies in the event of an emergency or a terrorist threat. The move came out of a top-to-bottom review of reactor security in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, said NRC spokesman Victor Dricks. In a statement, the agency said that "it had concluded that a centralized security organization is a more effective way of organizing security activities." Since last September, the agency has been criticized for not doing enough to ensure the safety of reactors and other nuclear facilities, or guarantee that employees at the facilities are adequately screened. As of Sunday, the new Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Office will become the NRC's point of contact for the Office of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies. The office's responsibilities will include oversight of security and safeguards at nuclear facilities, threat assessment, coordination with intelligence and law enforcement communities, and the administration of NRC counterintelligence and secure communications. The NRC currently has a four-tier threat assessment scale that ranges from unusual event to general emergency, while the Office of Homeland Security has recently implemented a 5-tiered, color-coded terrorism alert system. Dricks said the two agencies were in the process of integrating the two systems. "We're still working out the details," he said. The office will have a staff of 90 members, transferred from existing NRC offices, and will be housed at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. -By Jennifer Morrow, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4377; jennifer.morrow@ [http://dowjones.com] ***************************************************************** 19 This guy's stuff glows in the dark The San Francisco Examiner Publication date: 04/05/2002 By Chelsea J. Carter Associated Press SANTA ANA -- A bio-nuclear chemist who pleaded no-contest to illegal possession of radioactive material that resulted in a lab explosion was arrested Thursday after authorities said they found evidence he was again in possession of such materials. Riad Mohamad Ahmed, 62, was taken into custody after items in his Westminster home tested positive for radioactivity. The radiation was not at a level deemed hazardous to the public, but exceeded what is allowed outside a laboratory, authorities said. Ahmed was booked on one misdemeanor count of illegal possession of radioactive material, said Orange County district attorney's spokeswoman Tori Richards. In Los Angeles, the District Attorney's Office was considering filing probation violation charges stemming from the 1997 lab explosion. "He was prohibited from possessing any radioactive materials," said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Daniel Wright. "We will review the case to determine what, if any, charges should be filed." The latest arrest resulted after federal and state officials conducted a routine probation search of his home on Feb. 6. The search included testing for radioactive material. Richards said at the time that two items in his home tested positive for radioactive carbon 14. On Thursday, authorities seized three briefcases, a suit and a desk that tested positive for radiation, she said. Ahmed pleaded no-contest last year to a misdemeanor count in the 1997 lab explosion. The prosecutor in the case said Ahmed was working with carbon 14 at his California Bionuclear Corp. lab in Gardena when a small explosion and fire occurred. The building was contaminated and the federal government labeled it a Superfund cleanup site. "It was so contaminated, he had to take the building down to the studs," he said. Ahmed also ran into trouble with another lab in 1986. Ahmed was charged with mishandling radioactive, flammable and explosives materials at his Sun Valley lab. He later pleaded no-contest to several counts of state radiation-control violations and was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. He also was sentenced to 60 days in jail. ***************************************************************** 20 Air Force to Resume Uranium Use Las Vegas SUN: Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) - The Air Force plans to resume using depleted uranium rounds in testing and training at a Nevada base, officials said Friday. The Air Force stopped all testing and training with the tank-killing rounds in 1993 because of health and environmental concerns, though the ammunition was still used in combat in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere. The Air Force said several studies showed the rounds are not a health or environmental threat. The Air Force said it completed an environmental study of using depleted uranium rounds and agreed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that testing and training with the ammunition could resume. Depleted uranium is the hard metal left after much of the radioactivity has been processed out of uranium ore. Its density makes it useful to use in rounds designed to penetrate tanks' heavy armor. The Air Force supplies 30mm depleted uranium rounds for use in the cannons aboard the A-10 Thunderbolt ground attack jet. Testing and training with the rounds will resume at the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is associated with Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Michael Estrada, an Air Force spokesman at Nellis, said pilots will be limited to using less than 10,000 rounds of the depleted uranium ammunition per year. Each A-10 usually carries about 1,000 rounds for its 30mm cannon, which can fire at up to 3,500 rounds per minute. The depleted uranium rounds are each about 2 inches long and as wide as an adult's pinky finger, Estrada said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Nellis jets to resume using depleted uranium rounds Saturday, April 06, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL Tank-destroying jets from Nellis Air Force Base will resume using depleted uranium rounds this year to test the accuracy of their cannons at a target area six miles south of Indian Springs, Air Force officials said Friday. Use of armor-piercing bullets fired by A-10 and OA-10 Thunderbolt jets for training and testing activities at the Nellis range was halted in 1993 after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raised concerns about low-level radioactive fragments contaminating the landscape. The ammunition was used during the Gulf War and after 1993 in combat in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere. It was thought to have played a role in medical disorders of people who were near combat zones, but the World Health Organization has reported that there is no firm medical evidence to link medical cases in Kosovo to depleted uranium exposure. After the Air Force and the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to stop using depleted uranium munitions on the Nellis range, an Air Force environmental assessment in 1998 determined there would be no significant impact on human health or the natural environment. About 30 tons of depleted uranium have been left at the target area from previous Air Force activities, which is about six tons less than was left on battlefields in the Persian Gulf War, according to the environmental assess- ment. The decision comes at the same time a draft bill to exempt military installations from environmental laws is circulating in Washington, D.C. The bill calls on the government to give priority to military training over conservation, endangered species protection and other environmental laws that restrict the use of public lands for bombing exercises. The target area for firing depleted uranium rounds is south of Indian Springs in a valley 12 miles from U.S. Highway 95 that is restricted from public access. About 150 U.S. tanks, foreign tanks and armored vehicles are available for use as targets there, said Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada. "It's the only range in the world where it's fired from the air," he said about use of depleted uranium rounds. He said use of depleted uranium will be limited to a relatively small number of rounds for targeting purposes. Each A-10 usually carries about 1,000 rounds for its 30mm cannon. Uranium rounds are desired because of their heavier physical properties that allow them to pierce armor more effectively. "We're going to shoot less than 10,000 rounds per year out there," he said. Estrada said the decision to resume use of depleted uranium munitions was made by the Pentagon based on the need to upgrade software in the ground-attack jets so that they can strike with greater accuracy at longer distances. "It went all the way to the top level of the Air Force," Estrada said. An Air Force statement quotes Gen. Hal Hornburg, commander of Air Combat Command as saying, "Depleted uranium munitions are absolutely critical to our future success in combat. Resuming ballistics testing will ensure our pilots have the confidence and skill to use these munitions effectively." Estrada said that in the 1970s and 1980s, the normal shooting range of the attack jets' cannons was 2,000 feet to 3,000 feet. Better anti-aircraft weapons by enemy forces, however, warrant that the jets fire from 15,000 feet away. Although depleted uranium metal is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium, fragments from the 2-inch-long rounds ignite and turn into a very fine dust. Exposure to the dust was suspected of causing leukemia and lung or kidney disorders in soldiers and civilians in the Balkans. But several studies showed the rounds are not a health or environmental threat, according to the Air Force. For the environmental assessment, Estrada said monitors were placed at the edge of the target area and tests were conducted "to see if anything was being blown by the wind or leaching into the groundwater." "Depleted uranium particles are so heavy they're just not moving," he said. "There is no health risk. The public can't get on that target area anyway." After the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed that the Air Force could resume using depleted uranium at the Nellis target area, Air Force officials said they would launch a "rigorous management and monitoring plan that covers every aspect of (depleted uranium) testing and training, from weapons use to clearance and disposal." Most of the depleted uranium remains in the targets although the target area will be policed to recover large fragments, Estrada said. "We're working on a plan that eventually will move tank targets out of there. One of the options would be to clean them up and melt them down. Another would be to break them up into pieces and bury them at low-level radioactive waste sites," he said. Estrada said he wasn't sure exactly when planes will resume firing depleted uranium rounds in the target complex, known as 63-10. "We know it's going to be some time this year, but it could be later than sooner." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 22 Investigators say man arrested in radiation case is sloppy chemist SignOnSanDiego.com > News > State/The West -- By Chelsea J. Carter ASSOCIATED PRESS April 5, 2002 SANTA ANA  A man arrested after radioactive materials were found at his home is no terrorist, just a sloppy commercial chemist with a record of run-ins with regulators dating back to the 1980s, environmental and state officials say. Riad Mohamad Ahmed, 62, who pleaded no-contest last year to illegal possession of radioactive material that resulted in a lab explosion, was arrested Thursday for allegedly possessing such material again. He was released Friday on $50,000 bail. "I have great concerns because Dr. Ahmed has repeatedly demonstrated a matter of utter disregard for the health and safety of the public and his employees, and for the appropriate handling of radioactive material," said Orange County Deputy District Attorney Nick Thompson. A telephone call to Ahmed's home was not answered, and court filings do not list an attorney. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Ahmed was not a terrorist, just a chemist with a history of sloppily handling dangerous materials. "He was sloppy. He had a fire and explosion at one (lab) ... and a problem at another one," said Dan Suter, an EPA field specialist who oversaw the cleanup of Ahmed's labs. The Egyptian-born Ahmed was arrested Thursday after a routine probation check at his Westminster home turned up evidence of radioactive carbon 14, which is used to tag and trace chemicals. Although the chemical contains low levels of radiation and is found naturally, it has been linked to cancer when ingested or inhaled. Investigators seized a desk, a suit and three briefcases contaminated by carbon 14. Although it was not clear whether Ahmed was using carbon 14 now or the contamination was a remnant from previous work, investigators said the amount found at his home exceeded what he had been previously licensed to dispose of. Authorities say Ahmed had used carbon 14 in such work as research on hair products as well as preparing it for use by commercial research laboratories. Ahmed's arrest was the latest in a string of run-ins with authorities over his handling of radioactive materials, which he prepared for use in private research laboratories. Ahmed pleaded no-contest last year to a misdemeanor for the 1997 lab explosion. Los Angeles County prosecutor Daniel Wright said Ahmed was working with carbon 14 at his California Bionuclear Corp. in Gardena when a small explosion and fire occurred. The federal government labeled it a Superfund site and spent $1.4 million to clean up the contamination. "There was radioactive contamination throughout the laboratories not just from the explosion but from sloppy or improper handling from carbon 14," Wright said. "It was so contaminated, he had to take the building down to the studs." Ahmed's state license to handle radioactive material was revoked and the lab closed. Ahmed also ran into trouble in 1986 with a Sun Valley lab, which was shut down. He was charged with 90 counts of mishandling radioactive, flammable and explosives materials. He later pleaded no-contest to 10 counts of state radiation-control violations and was ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. He also was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Authorities at the time said radiation readings at that lab were 100 times higher than permissible. The lab, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up, was across a street from homes and less than two blocks from an elementary school. In addition, the chemicals were improperly stored and mishandled. Then-City Attorney James Hahn, now mayor of Los Angeles, described the situation as "a bomb waiting to go off." Authorities also found carbon 14 leaking into a plumbing business next door. In another incident, several tanks of hydrogen and compressed liquid chlorine were stolen in 1987 from a lab he ran in Carson. © Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 23 Soldiers' illness not caused by radiation: study April 5, 2002 Soldiers' illness not caused by radiation: study Researchers find normal uranium levels in troops who served in Gulf War, Balkans: Bullets suspected source Adrian Humphreys National Post Hans Deryk, The Canadian Press Canadian soldiers on patrol during the Gulf War: Depleted uranium in bullets and armour plating has been ruled out as a factor in ensuing illnesses. A scientific study of Canadian Forces soldiers who served in the Gulf War and Kosovo has found normal levels of uranium in their bodies, casting doubt on claims that they faced toxic exposure to radiation from armour-piercing bullets. An analysis of urine and hair samples from soldiers and, in one case, a piece of skeleton from a dead veteran, found no elevated levels of depleted uranium, according to a study published this week in the American academic journal Health Physics. Many soldiers who served in campaigns oversees, some of whom are now ailing or have since died, have pointed to the use of depleted uranium in ammunition and armour plating as the likely culprit for health problems. While the Department of National Defence has long dismissed a connection between mysterious ailments of Canadian soldiers and the use of depleted uranium, this is believed to be the first study of the issue to appear in an academic, peer-reviewed journal. That means the study's sampling methods and handling of the data were accepted as sound by a panel of independent scientists. "There are a lot of numbers that are floating around out there that the media picks up on or people quote. What we wanted to do was make sure that we quantify it and put it into writing," said Dr. Brent Lewis, an analytical chemist at the Royal Military College in Kingston, an author of the study. "The numbers we are getting [for the soldiers] are comparable to what we should see in the general population," he said. The scientists analyzed urine from 103 Canadian Forces personnel who volunteered to provide two samples; 79 had served during the Gulf War and 39 had been stationed in the Balkans -- with 15 of the subjects having served in both. The levels of uranium found in the samples was extremely low, so low in fact that separating naturally occurring uranium -- found in everyone because it is in water and soil -- from depleted uranium could barely be done, according to the paper. The scientists then turned to hair samples, which allow a better measure. Only 19 soldiers provided hair samples, which were found to have no unusual levels of depleted uranium, the paper says. The bone sample, provided by the family of a soldier who died when he was 27 after serving overseas, was also studied. That sample had higher than normal levels of naturally occurring uranium but showed no sign of exposure to depleted uranium. The study was funded by the defence department and conducted by professors at the Royal Military College in Kingston, a university operated by the federal government. Dr. Lewis said that should not make the findings suspect. "Nobody gave us any marching orders about we had to find," he said. "Nobody tells us what to say. We say what we want to say based on our best judgment of what the data shows and all of the available information. Nobody from DND said this is what you bunch of scientists have to go ahead and say." Depleted uranium is a mildly radioactive by-product left after highly radioactive isotopes are extracted for use in nuclear weapons or reactors. The high density of the depleted uranium gives bullets added punch -- allowing for the penetration of tanks or other armoured vehicles -- and enhances the strength of armour plating. Critics say the depleted uranium in the bullets, when crashing into a target, is pulverized into dust that, when breathed in, can cause a variety of illnesses. It is often blamed for an array of symptoms found among military personnel who served in recent conflicts, often called Gulf War Syndrome. The military has produced several past studies, including a health survey distributed in 1997 to thousands of Canadian Forces personnel, that showed no unusual rates of illnesses such as cancer. ahumphreys@nationalpost.com [ahumphreys@nationalpost.com] Copyright © 2002 National Post Online ***************************************************************** 24 Save Us, President Truman! The Nation 04/05/2002 @ 7:05pm The Secretary of Energy, exasperated with his critics, opened a March 26 Op-Ed in the Washington Post with the following whimsy: "Imagine that at the dawn of the nuclear age, President Truman and Congress had agreed to bury all the radioactive waste that this new source of energy would produce in sturdy casks covered by a secure shield 800 feet beneath a barren desert owned by the government, guarded against intruders, under federally restricted airspace and located 90 miles from the nearest major population center. "Had that choice been made, would anyone today argue that it would be safer to remove all this high-level nuclear waste and scatter it around the nation to 131 sites located near cities and waterways, and to place the waste in temporary, above-ground storage facilities?" Heady stuff. However, as long as we are imagining, I would prefer to imagine that at the dawn of post-Civil War Reconstruction, President Lincoln and the Congress had agreed to bury all the radioactive waste produced by nuclear power. Because then it would have been buried much earlier than if Truman had buried it. Opponents of Spencer Abraham's recommendation to ship nuclear waste to Nevada are organizing an April 16 rally outside the Capitol. www.ni rs.org/rallyagainstyuccamtnapril16.html It's unlikely their placards will say "Scatter Nuclear Waste 131 Places Across the Nation!" or "Nuclear Waste Belongs Near Cities and Waterways!" However, the protesters will sound some odd echoes to Abraham. The two sides now agree nuclear waste is hair-raisingly scary stuff-too scary, each says, for what the other contemplates. "Yucca Mountain is essential for homeland security," Abraham wrote in the Post. "More than 161 million people live within 75 miles of one or more nuclear waste sites, all of which were intended to be temporary. We believe that today these sites are safe, but prudence demands we consolidate this waste..." His opponents counter that shipping waste to Nevada would send a steady stream of it past millions of front doors for a generation, tempting both fate and terrorists. To which Abraham replies: "So far as terrorists are concerned, why wouldn't they first attack stationary, above-ground facilities that lie in known locations near heavily populated cities...?" Yes, why wouldn't they? How surreal to see supporters of nuclear power emphasizing the dangers of nuclear waste. Such voices used to soothingly insist that we should trust the experts as they, say, built a nuclear plant 35 miles from downtown Manhattan. Now we are told, if only by implication, that those experts were irresponsible-that they scattered radioactive waste at "131 sites located near cities and waterways." And then, we are asked to trust those same experts as they produce more waste, on the weak grounds that some of that waste will get shipped to Nevada. Antinuclear activists counter by preaching the dangers of "Mobile Chernobyl"-yet many are oddly diffident about fighting for better nuclear plant security, on the grounds that the industry gets enough taxpayer-funded freebies without fighter jets overhead and Coast Guard vessels offshore. Certainly nuclear power is hogging up our tax dollars. But it's still jarring to argue that moving waste past some cities is dramatically more dangerous than leaving it poorly secured next to others. If waste is too dangerous to hit the highways ten years from now, why is it safe sitting in the here and now just 50 miles up the coast of Lake Michigan from Chicago? Perhaps next week's People's Nuclear Waste Summit in Middletown, Connecticut, will offer a more clear-eyed discussion of how to think about the most dangerous material on the planet. After all, if nuclear waste is too dangerous to move and too dangerous to leave where it is, then it's certainly too dangerous to make. Particularly when quickly deployed cleaner options, from natural gas to wind power to high-tech efficiency, abound. [See "Fighting for America's Energy Independence," by Matt Bivens, The Nation, April 15.] When spent fuel is removed from a reactor, it has to cool for years in ponds of water. This alone torpedoes Abraham's argument that Yucca will bring security: As long as we have nuclear power, we will have spent fuel pools next door. Some of these pools are steel-lined concrete structures; others are just concrete, or are located not in holes in the ground, but several stories up in a reactor complex. Should the water in such pools drain - say, after being smashed into by a jumbo jet-the fuel would ignite and burn. Such a fire would be extremely difficult to extinguish, not least because the radiation would kill firefighters. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists reports that a fire at a typical spent-fuel pool could easily release several times more radiation than, say, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Entire cities, even entire states, could be sacrificed. www.thebulletin.org/issues/2002/jf02/jf02alvarez.html The Energy Department says we have accumulated about 46,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel, and are creating more at a rate of roughly 2,000 metric tons per year. Enter Yucca Mountain-the mythological solution. If it clears all political, legal and engineering hurdles, the mountain could open for business in 2010. By then we will have more waste, about 63,400 metric tons, on our hands. www.em.doe.gov/idb97 /tab13.html And what do you know-that's already more than the 63,000 metric tons of civilian nuclear waste Yucca is designed to hold. That's right: The morning Yucca opened, we would already need a whole second Yucca Mountain. And this is the best-case scenario! These numbers and dates from the Energy Department assume, for example, that the Yucca project will turn out as predicted. This from the department that now says Yucca will cost about $59 billion to construct-yet as recently as 1998 was guessing the total would come to $28 billion. The rosy scenario also assumes no growth in our fleet of 103 operating reactors-even though the Bush Administration's energy plan calls for more. Dick Cheney won't tell us how he hatched this ugly duckling, but lawsuits have pried loose Abraham's meetings. The man who took $82,728 from the nuclear industry for his failed Senate bid met last year with not a single environmentalist or consumer group as he helped develop Bush Administration energy strategy. But Abraham did find time on at least thirty-six occasions for execs from the Nuclear Energy Institute, Westinghouse Electric, Duke Power, Entergy, Exelon, UtiliCorp United (now Aquila) and other corporate representatives. (What, no Enron? Never fear, Abraham's staff met Enron staff.) www.citi zen.org/hot_issues/issue.cfm?ID=260 You may be thinking: That's all very alarming, but if we can get Yucca open we can console ourselves with a quick partial fix. Not so: There will be nothing quick about any of this. The Energy Department says Yucca plans to start slow in 2010, and then by 2014 ramp up toward accepting 3,000 tons of waste each year. Only then will fuel pool inventories finally start to drop-by a mere net 1,000 tons per year, as reactors generate 2,000 tons each year and Yucca takes in 3,000. Leave aside for a moment that radioactivity will drop far less rapidly, as the hottest stuff gets shipped last, and that the White House wants us to be running even more reactors. In a good scenario, it wouldn't be until the 2070s or so that we would "catch up"-i.e., that we would "only" have something like 10,000 metric tons of the hottest waste, the kind that can't move until cooled, spread across 131 sites near cities and waterways. The existing Al Qaeda network will have died of natural causes-and Yucca Mountain will be full-long before we reach that point. If only President Truman could have solved this vexing problem for us! The irony is, Truman indeed showed us the way out: In 1952, a Truman-appointed energy strategy board, the Paley Commission, told the President to forget about young nuclear power, and turn instead to renewables like solar and wind power (today, after long neglect, the world's two fastest growing energy industries). Eisenhower then came into office and promulgated "Atoms for Peace," the plan under which we would prove the atom could do good as well as Nagaski. Perhaps we should thank the Energy Secretary for referring us to the Truman era, and dust off some 50-year-old wisdom from the Paley Commission? <(older) Fallout, Cancer and Politics 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. ARTICLES BY MATT BIVENS Articles with black links are only available in our print edition. Fighting for America's Energy Independence Renewables are coming on strong, despite fat subsidies for oil and coal. Harvard's 'Fitting Choice' © 2002 The Nation Company, L.P. Permissions ***************************************************************** 25 Nuclear Waste Likely to Travel through Amarillo Kiplinger.com News WASHINGTON, Apr 3, 2002 (States News Service via COMTEX) -- Trucks and trains hauling radioactive nuclear waste to the Nevada desert could start rumbling through Amarillo later this decade. The Bush administration wants to move nuclear waste that currently is scattered in 131 facilities in 39 states to a single facility under Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 80 miles outside of Las Vegas. If, as expected, the proposal wins congressional approval in the next few months, hundreds of thousands of truck- and train-loads of radioactive uranium pellets will have to be transported to the new nuclear graveyard. Shipping will start as soon as the Yucca facility is built in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is managing the project. The department says it will take nearly 40 years to move all of the waste. Cutting through Amarillo, Interstate 40 and the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railways could become primary corridors for waste coming from the Midwestern and Southern United States, including the Comanche Peak power plant in Glen Rose and the South Texas Project in Bay City. The Energy Department has proposed shipping routes in which up to 10 percent of the nation's nuclear waste would go through Amarillo. But some experts say it is equally likely that perhaps more than 90 percent of the country's nuclear waste will travel along rail and highway corridors that pass through Amarillo. By some estimates, an average of seven trucks would carry radioactive nuclear waste through Amarillo every day. "We will need additional training and additional equipment to deal with that type of response," said Walt Kelley, emergency management coordinator for the city of Amarillo and Potter and Randall counties. The last time local officials received training on how to deal with a nuclear disaster was more than 10 years ago, he said. Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said the federal government would offer training to emergency response teams in communities along the nuclear waste transport routes. Still, environmental and community groups are alarmed by the prospect of nuclear waste rolling through Amarillo. "You can get harmful doses of radiation just getting stuck in traffic next to these trucks," said Erin Rogers of the Sierra Club's Texas branch. Others worry that caravans of radioactive trucks and trains are likely to hurt local property values. The biggest concern, though, is the potential for attacks, accidents or sabotage. "Putting this (uranium) on the roads is like handing terrorists free nuclear weapons," Rogers said. The Energy Department vehemently denies that its shipping plans will jeopardize anyone's safety. "We have an incredible track record of doing this safely and securely," said Davis, noting that the government has been transporting radioactive waste for decades without any catastrophes. The government will employ several new safety measures. To avoid helping would-be terrorists, the vehicles will appear indistinguishable from normal 18-wheelers and freight trains. They will have heavily reinforced sides to prevent leaks. Armed law-enforcement officials will escort them through some urban centers. And the federal government will monitor the trucks and trains, on the lookout for signs of a hijacking or other irregularities. The Energy Department hopes to ship about 90 percent of the waste by rail, which, compared to trucking, is a safe, cheap and fast way to move large amounts of hazardous waste. But there are problems with relying so heavily on trains. Dozens of nuclear plants are not near railroads. Neither is Yucca Mountain. The department says it could build a rail system crossing miles of rugged terrain to reach Yucca. But critics say the railroad project is unlikely to ever get off the ground because it would require a decade of work and billions of dollars. "The only option which is currently feasible is the mostly-trucks option," said Bob Halstead, a transportation expert who advises Nevada's state government, which strongly opposes construction of the Yucca Mountain dump. "It's factually inaccurate to imply to people that you're able to do it (mostly by rail). It is possible there will be no rail shipments." Analysts say that in an attempt to keep costs low, government contractors will probably ship most of the waste through a network of railroads and highways that winds from Ohio to Oklahoma before slicing through Amarillo on its way to Nevada. "I-40 could be the primary east-west highway corridor and (the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line from Kansas City to Southern California) could be the primary east-west rail corridor," said a planning document prepared by private consultants for the Nevada governor's office. Davis dismissed that as premature speculation and said all transportation routes are preliminary. Indeed, Yucca Mountain is not certain to be selected as a nuclear waste repository. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, plans to veto the Bush administration's plan, and the House and Senate will have 90 working days to override that veto with majority votes. Most observers expect the House to approve the Yucca plan by a wide majority, but the vote could be closer in the Senate, where Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada is a high-ranking Democrat. Reps. Larry Combest, R-Lubbock, and Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, were unavailable for comment. By David Enrich Copyright States News Service, all right reserved. © 2002 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc. ***************************************************************** 26 INEEL: Feds retract plan to leave waste in ground The Times-News Online -- Twin Falls, Idaho Monday, April 8, 2002 Twin Falls, Idaho By Jennifer Sandmann Times-News writer TWIN FALLS -- The U.S. Department of Energy has retracted an initial report that details options for a faster, cheaper nuclear-waste cleanup program at INEEL -- including options that would let plutonium-contaminated waste remain buried at the eastern Idaho site. A federal official said the report "no longer accurately reflects" the government's thinking. Despite the retraction, however, one environmental group leader suggested the report reveals the federal government's true intentions for the Idaho nuclear site. The nuclear watchdog group Snake River Alliance obtained a copy of the report and released it to the public Thursday. As part of the Bush administration's top-to-bottom review of the nation's progress on nuclear waste cleanup, the report discussed alternatives for cleanup at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory near Idaho Falls. The report outlines two faster, cheaper cleanup alternatives estimated to reduce total INEEL cleanup costs over the coming years from $34.4 billion to under $20 billion. It says any significant changes to site cleanup would require discussion with the state, Idaho's congressional delegation, and interested citizens. Both of the alternatives call for finishing the Pit 9 project, the one-acre test project to retrieve buried waste, and then capping other plutonium-contaminated waste that is buried beyond Pit 9's boundaries. The second, more expensive alternative would not only cap that waste but also would stabilize it with a cement grout. Idaho wants all of the buried waste removed and maintains it's covered by former Gov. Phil Batt's 1995 cleanup agreement with the Department of Energy. The waste is buried above the Eastern Snake River Plain aquifer, the sole source of water for much of southern Idaho. Documentation obtained by the Snake River Alliance shows that the Energy Department sent the report to the state Feb. 8. In a March 18 letter, the Energy Department's Idaho offices informed the state that the report was "pre-decisional and is being withdrawn and no longer accurately reflects DOE-ID's thinking." Warren E. Bergholz, acting manager of DOE-Idaho, requested the state return the report to the agency. Steve Allred, director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, wrote back explaining that because the report already had been logged into DEQ's records, DEQ legally was obligated to keep a copy. Beatrice Brailsford of the Snake River Alliance said the alliance has not yet received copies of the report through official channels, despite having made federal and state records requests. She said the report is telling. "Our thinking is that it's an accurate reflection of DOE's intentions," she said. News reports that came out in February about the faster, cheaper cleanup method initially noted that it didn't cover the buried waste. At a public meeting in Twin Falls, Energy Department officials said remediation of the buried waste was included. The report shows the plan called for leaving all of it in the ground, except for the Pit 9 waste. The cheapest alternative lists as a "barrier/issue" the fact that by addressing other priorities first, spent nuclear fuel mandated to be removed from Idaho by 2035 would be delayed until 2050. The Snake River Alliance also takes issue with a proposal that would delay dealing with a powdered waste and ship it out of the state in powdered form. The alliance says such a plan is fraught with technical difficulties and regulatory roadblocks. Existing plans called for encapsulating the powder -- known as "calcine" -- in glass before shipping and disposal, the alliance said. "There have been murmurs about all of this," Brailsford said. "For the DOE to say, 'This does not reflect our intentions' -- that they would send this as a final report is a good indicator of what they want to do." Department of Energy spokesman Tim Jackson at INEEL said the report was a draft and "doesn't reflect the current state of our continuing discussions on how to proceed with accelerated cleanup at INEEL." "It is by no means final," he said. Kathleen Trever, director of Idaho's program monitoring INEEL, said the Department of Energy has taken the report off the table. She said she didn't think commenting on a retracted plan was "fair, productive or fruitful." The state has not seen an updated proposal resulting from the agency's top-to-bottom review, she said. It's possible that changes in INEEL cleanup strategies will better accomplish the cleanup, but state cleanup goals won't change, Trever said. She likened the situation to finding a different way to a football end zone -- but not moving the goal posts. This week's revelation is the second time this year that the Energy Department has been forced to retract published plans regarding INEEL. In February, under pressure from Idaho's congressional delegation, the department disavowed a proposal in its 2003 budget to close INEEL. Times-News writer Jennifer Sandmann can be reached at 733-0931, Ext. 237, or jsandmann@magicvalley.com. Copyright © 2002, Magic Valley Newspapers ***************************************************************** 27 Amarillo key to nuke route Amarillo Globe-News: US & World News: Web posted Thursday, April 4, 2002 Amarillo key to nuke route Experts: City might be corridor to 90 percent of nuclear waste By David Enrich States News Service WASHINGTON - Trucks and trains hauling radioactive nuclear waste to the Nevada desert could start rumbling through Amarillo later this decade. The Bush administration wants to move nuclear waste that is scattered in 131 facilities in 39 states to a single facility under Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 80 miles outside of Las Vegas. If, as expected, the proposal wins congressional approval in the next few months, hundreds of thousands of truck- and train-loads of radioactive uranium pellets will have to be transported to the new nuclear graveyard. Shipping will start as soon as the Yucca facility is built in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is managing the project. The department says it will take nearly 40 years to move all of the waste. Cutting through Amarillo, Interstate 40 and the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railways could become primary corridors for waste coming from the midwestern and southern United States, including the Comanche Peak power plant in Glen Rose and the South Texas Project in Bay City. The Energy Department has proposed shipping routes in which up to 10 percent of the nation's nuclear waste would go through Amarillo. But some experts say it is equally likely that more than 90 percent of the country's nuclear waste will travel along rail and highway corridors that pass through Amarillo. By some estimates, an average of seven trucks would carry radioactive nuclear waste through Amarillo every day. "We will need additional training and additional equipment to deal with that type of response," said Walt Kelley, emergency management coordinator for the city of Amarillo and Potter and Randall counties. The last time local officials received training on how to deal with a nuclear disaster was more than 10 years ago, Kelley said. Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said the federal government would offer training to emergency response teams in communities along the nuclear waste transport routes. Still, environmental and community groups are alarmed by the prospect of nuclear waste rolling through Amarillo. "You can get harmful doses of radiation just getting stuck in traffic next to these trucks," said Erin Rogers of the Sierra Club's Texas branch. Others worry that caravans of radioactive trucks and trains are likely to hurt local property values. The biggest concern, though, is the potential for attacks, accidents or sabotage. "Putting this (uranium) on the roads is like handing terrorists free nuclear weapons," Rogers said. The DOE vehemently denies that its shipping plans will jeopardize anyone's safety. "We have an incredible track record of doing this safely and securely," said Davis, noting that the government has been transporting radioactive waste for decades without any catastrophes. The government will employ several new safety measures. To avoid helping would-be terrorists, the vehicles will appear indistinguishable from normal 18-wheelers and freight trains. They will have heavily reinforced sides to prevent leaks. Armed law-enforcement officials will escort them through some urban centers. And the federal government will monitor the trucks and trains and be on the lookout for signs of a hijacking or other irregularities. The Energy Department hopes to ship about 90 percent of the waste by rail, which, compared to trucking, is a safe, cheap and fast way to move large amounts of hazardous waste. But there are problems with relying so heavily on trains. Dozens of nuclear plants are not near railroads. Neither is Yucca Mountain. The department says it could build a rail system crossing miles of rugged terrain to reach Yucca. But critics say the railroad project is unlikely to ever get off the ground because it would require a decade of work and billions of dollars. "The only option which is currently feasible is the mostly trucks option," said Bob Halstead, a transportation expert who advises Nevada's state government, which strongly opposes construction of the Yucca Mountain dump. "It's factually inaccurate to imply to people that you're able to do it (mostly by rail). It is possible there will be no rail shipments," he said. Analysts say that in an attempt to keep costs low, government contractors will probably ship most of the waste through a network of railroads and highways that winds from Ohio to Oklahoma before slicing through Amarillo on its way to Nevada. "I-40 could be the primary east-west highway corridor and (the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line from Kansas City to Southern California) could be the primary east-west rail corridor," said a planning document prepared by private consultants for the Nevada governor's office. Davis dismissed that as premature speculation and said all transportation routes are preliminary. Indeed, Yucca Mountain is not certain to be selected as a nuclear waste repository. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, plans to veto the Bush administration's plan, and the House and Senate will have 90 working days to override that veto with majority votes. Most observers expect the House to approve the Yucca plan by a wide majority, but the vote could be closer in the Senate, where Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada is a high-ranking Democrat. U.S. Reps. Larry Combest, R-Lubbock, and Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, were unavailable for comment. © 1996-2002 Amarillo Globe-News ***************************************************************** 28 Owens OKs limits on radioactive shipments Denver Post.com By The Associated Press --> Saturday, April 06, 2002 - Gov. Bill Owens signed a bill Friday that would require two public meetings and state approval before a Canon City company could accept 470,000 tons of radioactive soil from a Maywood, N.J., Superfund site. "Requiring two public hearings and detailed environmental and public health information before radioactive waste is stored in a community will give families the input and the information they deserve," Owens said. Under House Bill 1408, the state Department of Public Health and Environment would have to approve plans such as the proposal by Cotter Corp. to store the waste. The bill requires the health department to hold at least two public hearings and gather information on the potential environmental and economic effects of waste disposal before issuing a permit. County commissioners would be able to conduct an independent review of the environmental assessment. Rep. Lola Spradley, the House sponsor, said a permit could still be issued if the company meets all the requirements. "This bill does not ban the shipments," she said. A spokesman for Cotter did not return two phone calls seeking comment. At Owens' request, the health department has delayed issuing Cotter a permit until the law could be passed and signed. Area residents formed a group, Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, to protest the plan. One member, Sharyn Cunningham, said she lives less than 2 miles from the proposed disposal site and worried about groundwater contamination and health problems. Cotter also said it was interested in accepting another 30,000 tons of radioactive waste from a site on Long Island, N.Y. Cotter is appealing verdicts awarded by federal court juries that heard lawsuits filed by nearby residents alleging that radioactivity from Cotter's uranium-processing operations caused health problems. All contents Copyright 2002 The Denver Post ***************************************************************** 29 Bryan says Nevada's legal case against Yucca strongest ever Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 RENO, Nev. (AP) - Nevada's legal case to block a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain is the strongest it has been in two decades, primarily because the Bush administration rushed its decision before all the evidence was in, former Sen. Richard Bryan said. Bryan, a former Democratic governor, lawyer and member of Nevada's Nuclear Projects Commission who retired from the U.S. Senate in 2000, said the state hasn't conceded victory in Congress. "The strategy is still to get to 51 votes to sustain the governor's veto," Bryan said. Gov. Kenny Guinn is scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday to veto President Bush's recommendation of Yucca Mountain and send the issue to Congress where a simple majority is needed to sustain or override. Nevada officials don't think they can win in the House and are pointing at the Senate. But "ultimately, the probability to me seems we'll be fighting this in court," Bryan said in an interview this week. "I think the actions by the administration and DOE have greatly strengthened our case. I think the state's legal case is the strongest it's been in the 19 years I've been fighting this," he said. Bryan said the administration could have undermined Nevada's legal challenges by slowing the review of Yucca Mountain, completing pending studies and addressing points of concern raised by Congress' General Accounting Office, among others. "But they helped our legal case by rushing," he said. "There are 300 studies yet to be completed. It is so obvious this is a payback to the nuclear power industry." Bryan said he was glad to see Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., intercede with the GAO lawsuit to get records of administration meetings with energy executives. "It shows Vice President (Dick) Cheney's secret meetings with industry officials," Bryan said. Bryan said those records of meetings could prove useful in Nevada's legal battle. A spokesman for the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain project office in Nevada referred calls Friday to department headquarters in Washington, where officials did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. President Bush has designated Yucca Mountain to receive and store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from more than 100 sites across the nation. The shipments would pass through 43 states. Bryan said DOE wanted to rush the process because most of the nation isn't yet tuned into Yucca Mountain and wasn't aware of transportation concerns. "As far as the nuclear industry is concerned, this is not an issue like a fine wine that gets better with age. As more of the American public becomes aware it is not just a Nevada problem, it becomes more difficult for the nuclear industry," Bryan said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 30 Panel OK's emergency funds for Nevada's nuclear dump fight Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A $3 million emergency allocation was recommended Friday for Nevada's uphill effort to get Congress to reject President Bush's designation of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump. The state Board of Examiners, chaired by Gov. Kenny Guinn, endorsed the funding - well under the $10 million sought for the effort by Nevada's U.S. senators, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign. But Guinn, who next week will exercise the dump veto authority that Congress gave Nevada in 1982, said it would take a special legislative session to get the higher amount. Many state lawmakers resisted a special session, questioning whether the state could afford the $10 million and if it would be money well-spent. The GOP governor said the $3 million in emergency funding is the best move because the state is facing a $100 million revenue shortage by summer. He added that he's hopeful Clark County will match the state's $3 million. The County Commission postponed a vote on the funding request this week. Clark County takes in Las Vegas, which is about 90 miles southeast of Yucca Mountain. Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Secretary of State Dean Heller, also on the three-member Board of Examiners, joined Guinn in supporting the emergency funding. "This is a 'make it or break it' time in Nevada's fight against the proposed nuclear dump," Del Papa said. She noted the 2001 Legislature approved $4 million for the fight, and Guinn has helped to raise $2 million more from local governments, casinos and other businesses and individuals. The board's recommendation goes to the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee, which is scheduled to consider the $3 million emergency funding Wednesday. State officials hope to use part of the money to hire experts in terrorism to persuade U.S. senators to vote against the high-level radioactive waste dump. Nevada officials don't believe they can win a majority House vote. The money also would pay for television ads that would air in states through which nuclear waste will travel en route to Nevada. A report to the Board of Examiners states the senators need to realize their support of Yucca Mountain "amounts to asking their constituents to share the highways, the railways and waterways with hundreds of shipments and thousands of tons of high level waste for the next three or more decades." Guinn flies to Washington, D.C., on Monday to deliver his Yucca Mountain veto. Congress then will have 90 days to decide whether to override the governor. Reid and Ensign have been struggling to line up a majority that would sustain Guinn's veto of Bush's recommendation. Del Papa also said the state has a strong legal case against the dump, even if the congressional battle is lost. "No matter what so-called 'science' the administration claims to be relying on, we know that Yucca Mountain cannot geologically isolate the waste and transporting 70,000 tons of nuclear waste to Nevada makes no sense," she said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 31 Plans to transport radioactive materials scares Colo. residents New York Times News Service April 05, 2002 09:00:00 DENVER - Residents of Canon City, a small town in central Colorado, are accustomed to taking in the worst society has to offer. The 13 nearby state and federal prisons are filled with examples, like Theodore J. Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber, and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers. But prisoners are one thing. Up to 470,000 tons of radioactive dirt - enough to fill 9,700 rail cars - are quite another. The possibility that the dirt may be headed there from New Jersey has set the town on edge, making Canon City the latest community in the West to join the nationwide debate over what to do with toxic waste. Political battles over the storage of radioactive and nuclear material are not uncommon in the West. In Nevada, for example, residents are fighting the government over the use of Yucca Mountain as a site for the storage of radioactive waste. But there and elsewhere, people opposed to waste storage almost always knew what was coming and who was bringing it. In Canon City, a town of 15,000 on the Arkansas River, people never even knew they would have a fight until they read about the shipment in a local newspaper. The newspaper reported that a local processing plant operated by Cotter Corp., a division of the San Diego-based nuclear technology company General Atomics, had contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers to receive the radioactive dirt from a Superfund cleanup site in Maywood, N.J. The dirt would fill existing disposal ponds of uranium tailings, residue from processing. Otherwise the company would have to buy ordinary dirt. The deal is worth millions of dollars to Cotter - company officials declined to say how much - and psychological comfort to people in Maywood, where neighborhoods were built on ground contaminated with thorium, a radioactive mineral once used in gas lanterns, from a chemical plant that operated from 1916 through 1959. But residents of Canon City say the deal was a sucker punch, because Cotter had failed to share details with local residents. "We're scared, really scared," said Lynn Dillon, a member of Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, the citizens group that was formed to stop the shipment. "We're a sleepy little town. We don't want to become a dumping site." The group organized quickly. Its members began complaining to local, state and federal officials, insisting that the community had never been informed about the possible health and safety risks of bringing such a large quantity of toxic material into the area, which itself became a Superfund site in 1983. (Leaching from the Cotter ponds contaminated air and water near the plant.) Responding to the complaints, Gov. Bill Owens asked the state Department of Public Health and Environment to review Cotter's deal. That request was enough to delay shipment until Cotter addressed a list of concerns raised by the department. Doug Benevento, the department's director of environmental programs, said the company had not yet responded. In addition, state lawmakers moved a bill quickly through the legislature that would make public input and environmental reviews a requirement of any deal to bring toxic waste into Colorado. Owens signed the bill into law Friday. The new law could cause further delay of the shipments, although Patrick R. Mutz, the plant manager, conceded that the company had not expected smooth sailing. "It's part of the cost of doing business," Mutz said in an interview, referring to delays. "We'll do what they ask us to do." But delays, he said, would do more harm than good. He said the Maywood dirt would benefit the community because it had a lower level of radioactivity than the materials it would cover. "As a result," Mutz said, "it would reduce the radioactivity in the area." That is the kind of answer that leaves opponents gnashing their teeth. Cotter, they contend, has never had community interest in mind. They base that assertion on the federal lawsuits the company has lost over health and property damage. A 1989 case was settled eight years later, with 542 plaintiffs winning a large settlement - the amount was sealed by the court - and other judgments against the company are now under appeal. Residents also say they were never told about the recent revision of Cotter's license to allow for disposal. Mutz said the change, made 18 months ago, was approved by the state and the Environmental Protection Agency. But to that point, the plant had been relatively dormant for years, owing to the decline in the nation's nuclear energy industry. Expecting no major new activity there, developers began building large single-family homes on the hills within a mile of the plant, selling them for as much as $500,000. "Cotter made the change in license with no public input, with no environmental impact studies, with no communication with the community," said Larry LaBuda, a member of the citizens group. "We formed the group to make sure that doesn't happen again." Once public outrage began building over the Maywood deal, Cotter invited residents to a meeting to discuss the issue, a session that grew so heated that the police were called in. Other meetings are planned. Mutz said that residents' overheated emotions had clouded their thinking about the proposed deal, and that if they truly understood what Cotter was doing, they would see the operation in a better light. "This is a controversial subject," he said. "We appreciate people's fears. It's not something we hold against anybody." Mayor H. Ben Johnson, a lifetime city resident who took office in January, said he sympathized with his upset neighbors but believed that many people were reacting to fear, not facts. The mayor said that Cotter had become a better neighbor after losing the lawsuits, and he predicted that no matter what the plant did, Canon City would continue to thrive as a tourist attraction. Thousands visit the city every summer to gaze at the Royal Gorge and the suspension bridge above it, the highest in the world at 1,050 feet, and to raft along the river. "My wife and I were talking about this the other day," Johnson said. "We've traveled all over the world and, as she reminded me, I can't remember the last time I called ahead to ask if they have a uranium dump." Copyright 2002, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 32 Bryan optimistic about Yucca Saturday, April 06, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Former senator says Nevada's case against nuclear waste site strong By SCOTT SONNER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RENO -- Nevada's legal case to block a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain is the strongest it has been in two decades, primarily because the Bush administration rushed its decision before all the evidence was in, former Sen. Richard Bryan said. Bryan, also a former governor, lawyer and member of Nevada's Nuclear Projects Commission who retired from the Senate in 2000, said the state hasn't conceded victory in Congress. "The strategy is still to get to 51 votes (in the Senate) to sustain the governor's veto," Bryan, a Democrat, said. Gov. Kenny Guinn is scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday to veto President Bush's recommendation of Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and send the issue to Congress where a simple majority is needed to sustain or override. Nevada officials don't think they can win in the House and are pointing at the Senate. But "ultimately, the probability to me seems we'll be fighting this in court," Bryan said in an interview this week. "I think the actions by the administration and DOE (Department of Energy) have greatly strengthened our case. I think the state's legal case is the strongest it's been in the 19 years I've been fighting this," he said. Bryan said the administration could have undermined Nevada's legal challenges by slowing the review of Yucca Mountain, completing pending studies, and addressing points of concern raised by Congress' General Accounting Office, among others. "But they helped our legal case by rushing," he said. "There are 300 studies yet to be completed. It is so obvious this is a payback to the nuclear power industry." Bryan said he was glad to see Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., intercede with the GAO lawsuit to get records of administration meetings with energy executives. "It shows Vice President (Dick) Cheney's secret meetings with industry officials," Bryan said. Bryan said those records of meetings could prove useful in Nevada's legal battle. President Bush has designated Yucca Mountain to receive and store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from more than 100 sites across the nation. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 33 Guinn push to fund Yucca fight advances Saturday, April 06, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Board calls for $3 million allocation; legislative panel to meet next week By ED VOGEL and SEAN WHALEY REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- A state board headed by Gov. Kenny Guinn unanimously recommended Friday that a legislative committee allocate $3 million for an anti-Yucca Mountain fight. The vote by the Board of Examiners was necessary before Guinn could ask the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee to grant emergency funds for a campaign to induce Congress to reject President Bush's plan to put a nuclear dump in Yucca Mountain. The committee meets Wednesday in Carson City. Guinn intends to veto Bush's Yucca plan on Monday in Washington. Never in American history has a governor vetoed any action of a president. Congress then has 90 legislative days to decide whether to overturn the governor's veto. "This is a very necessary thing we need to do," said Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, a member of the Board of Examiners. "We are with you, governor. This is a make-it or break-it time in Nevada's fight against the proposed nuclear dump." The governor said he hopes Clark County and private individuals will contribute a combined $4 million or $5 million to the anti-Yucca campaign. Just before the Board of Examiners meeting, the 12-member Legislative Commission unanimously adopted a resolution opposing Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste site. Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said the resolution will be forwarded to Guinn for inclusion in his veto message. Perkins chairs the commission. The commission, consisting of Senate and Assembly members, acted on the resolution because the entire Legislature does not meet until February. Through the years, however, several anti-Yucca resolutions have received legislative approval. The 1989 Legislature even passed a law, still on the books, that makes it illegal to dispose of nuclear waste in Nevada. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign proposed Guinn convene a special session of the Legislature to secure $10 million in emergency funds for an anti-Yucca campaign. But after talking to legislative leaders, Guinn decided on seeking a lesser amount from the Interim Finance Committee's contingency fund. Guinn said Friday that the state budget will fall $100 million short of expected revenue by June 30 and could run $110 million in the hole in the next fiscal year. "It's a tough time for us," he said. Nonetheless, he said the state should make an effort to induce lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, to oppose the Yucca Mountain dump. Perkins predicted the Interim Finance Committee will approve the $3 million allocation, although several senators have spoken out against giving out any money at a time when the state has severe financial problems. If a limited anti-Yucca campaign produces results, then Perkins said further allocations can be made by the Interim Finance Committee. Mark Brown, owner of a Las Vegas company that will prepare anti-Yucca advertisements, said the campaign will stress the potential danger people face if they live along the roads that bring waste to Yucca Mountain. Some shipments will be moving through areas served by volunteer fire departments, Brown said. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 34 YUCCA FIGHT: Myers: 'West Wing' no 'plant' Saturday, April 06, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Episode's developer says entertainment was only motivation By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Days before Nevada is to mount a final campaign to stop its designation for nuclear waste disposal, a TV show airs a story line that most view as helpful to the state's cause. Coincidence? To some, it was a curious coupling between "The West Wing" and Nevada's campaign to raise questions about nuclear safety in its bid to prevent a waste repository from being put 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas at Yucca Mountain. But the developer of the episode that aired Wednesday said there was no motivation behind the show other than to entertain, and it was not "planted" by Yucca foes. "It was not a plant," said Dee Dee Myers, a press secretary in the Clinton White House who is among a handful of political veterans hired to lend verisimilitude to the administration of fictional president Josiah "Jed" Bartlet. Myers said Friday that she was the originator of the idea to focus on a nuclear waste shipment involved in a truck collision in a tunnel in Idaho. "The idea came from reading the newspapers and paying attention to the debate on Capitol Hill," Myers said. Myers also said that Martin Sheen, an anti-nuclear activist who portrays the show's fictional president, had no role in putting together the story. "The actors don't get involved in the writing process," Myers said. "That's standard practice unless you're Jerry Seinfeld." Seinfeld created, wrote and starred in the show that carried his name. Characters in the fictional White House echoed several points that Nevada leaders have made on nuclear safety. "It's not coincidental the program would air at this time, right on the eve of congressional deliberations," said David Blee, an industry consultant whose clients include pro-Yucca lobbyist John Sununu. "This film might as well have been produced in Las Vegas. It's part of a calculated campaign being waged by opponents of Yucca Mountain." Several Nevada officials said they were called by Myers for information on nuclear shipments. She said she researched the issue with congressional staffers she did not name and with environmentalists. She did not contact the nuclear industry but said she took "quite a bit" from the Energy Department's Web site. Myers said the scheduling of the episode was coincidence. She said the story gave fair treatment to the issue of nuclear shipments. "Ultimately, nothing happened. The truck got into the accident, there was a lot of nervousness about it, but ultimately nothing happened." Activists "probably thought we were a little soft." Myers is friends with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and is a former White House colleague of John Podesta, who Reid has hired to help him round up votes in the Senate. Myers said she spoke with Reid only after the show aired. "He liked it," she said. Myers said she and the show's writers were surprised at the attention. "At the end of the day, I don't think an episode of `The West Wing' is going to change this debate, but if it gets people more interested, that's good," she said. Myers said "The West Wing" did not tackle the Yucca Mountain repository issue head-on because "there is no Yucca Mountain yet." "We may do it some day." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 35 Nuke veto first move in congressional chess game Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 Nevadans hunt for votes against Yucca waste repository By Benjamin Grove < [grove@lasvegassun.com] > WEEKEND EDITION WASHINGTON -- Gov. Kenny Guinn hopes to make a high-profile splash after he arrives Monday in the nation's capital to veto President Bush's endorsement of Yucca Mountain as the site of the nation's nuclear waste repository. Guinn plans to kick off the day with a rally at the University at Nevada, Las Vegas to deliver what aides call "the most important speech of his administration." Meanwhile Monday, a lawyer in Washington hired by the state, Joe Egan, is expected to file Guinn's signed historic "notice of disapproval" -- essentially a veto -- of a presidential action. Egan is expected to file it in the offices of the House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Pro Tempore Robert Byrd, D-W.V. Guinn is scheduled to fly to Washington on Monday to meet Tuesday with national media to draw more attention to Nevada's fight against the proposed nuclear waste repository. "We'll try to take advantage of the historic occasion to get us more publicity," Guinn said. A joint resolution to approve Yucca -- in effect, a resolution to override Guinn's veto -- is expected to then be introduced in both the House and Senate, likely by Tuesday. A lawmaker in each chamber is expected to introduce the resolution and have it referred to committee for action. With that, the clock will have started on a giant congressional chess match in which Yucca advocates and opponents will engage in high-stakes battles that will include intense behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts and fiery public debate. Lawmakers in both chambers will have 90 days -- simultaneously -- to decide Nevada's fate and mark a milestone in the long history of the controversial nuclear waste dump project. If both the House and Senate override Guinn's veto, the Energy Department will march forward with Yucca, seeking to construct and license the site as a burial ground for 77,000 tons of the nation's highly radioactive nuclear waste. If one of the chambers upholds Guinn's veto, the project will cease after 15 years and roughly $7 billion worth of intensive study and field research inside the mountain. The House is expected to override Guinn's veto by a large margin. Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., both expect the vote margin to be about the same as the House's last vote on a Yucca-related bill, in 2000, when it was approved, 253-167. The House vote likely will be in May, according to John Feehery, spokesman for Hastert, a vocal advocate of Yucca. Illinois is one of the nation's leading producers of nuclear power -- and waste. The vote will be delayed at least until after an April 25 hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Feehery said. Hastert wants to move "expeditiously" after the hearing. Nevada lawmakers also hope to delay the vote until after a May 9 hearing in the House Transportation Committee on the risks of shipping nuclear waste across the country to Nevada. Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, agreed to hold the hearing at the request of Gibbons and Berkley, who hope it will highlight the dangers of shipping nuclear waste. Young is still undecided on Yucca, committee spokesman Justin Harclerode said. Many participants and observers of the Yucca debate say the issue of whether waste can be safely transported will be a key point as lawmakers choose sides. "We need to demonstrate to members of Congress, particularly those along the transportation routes, that their constituents are in harm's way," Berkley said. Berkley and Gibbons, who returns from a trip to Afghanistan today, plan to furiously work their sides of the aisle to line up a few more votes. Berkley said she has the "full support and involvement" of House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri. A Senate vote likely would fall after a House vote, in part because the Senate may be more evenly split on the issue. That's largely because Democrats may feel an obligation to line up behind their No. 2 leader, Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid. Reid has been twisting arms, aides said. He has cornered people on the Senate floor, invited several to his Capitol office for chats and contacted several by phone from his Searchlight home during the two-week spring break. Nevada lawmakers, and their high-profile lobbyists, Democrat John Podesta and Republican Ken Duberstein, will not say how many senators they think will vote against Yucca. "Sen. Reid has been working round the clock on this issue, and it would not be to our advantage to let the bad guys know where we stand (with our strategy)" Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said. Sources say a key part of the Nevadans' strategy is simple: delay. The Nevadans hope to put off a Senate vote as long as possible to let them gather 49 other votes, which most consider a longshot. The Yucca resolution could be delayed in the energy committees, although that is unlikely, especially in House. The committees could vote to not send the resolution to the floor, but that action would not kill it. The resolution would merely remain in committee for 60 days, and it would be sent to the floor anyway. Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is generally supportive of a nuclear waste repository, committee spokesman Bill Wicker said. Wicker said Bingaman likely would not publicly say whether he intends to vote for Yucca, at least until after the a hearing, which has not been scheduled. "He has been cautious about saying we need to look at the science as we make a run up to a final decision," Wicker said. Meanwhile, nuclear industry lobbyists are said to be working feverishly and plan to continue scheduling meetings with staffers and lawmakers this week. Nuclear Energy Institute spokesman Mitch Singer said he was not aware of a "scorecard" kept by the leading industry trade and lobby group that indicates which senators may be undecided. He declined to predict how many senators currently support or oppose the Yucca project. "All I can tell you is that we take no vote for granted," Singer said. "We will continue to talk to everybody." Several observers agree that even now, just a few months before a vote, it is still difficult to predict the final Senate tally. Between now and then, deals can be struck, favors exchanged, promises made. Senators could switch sides on the day of the vote. "Whenever you are dealing with the Senate, with all its dynamics in play, it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," said Chris Mele, legislative director for the pro-Yucca National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. "When the gavel is down and the final vote is cast, that is when we are going to know." Much has been made about whether Reid and close ally Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., could block a vote from happening on the Senate floor. By the Senate's traditional procedures, the majority leader is the only one who calls for votes and debates on legislation. But Daschle recently backed away from earlier claims that he could block the bill because the federal law, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, specifically says that any senator could bring the bill forward for a vote. In the end, the battle over Yucca Mountain, as in chess, may come down to which side knows the rules of the game best. Both sides have hired their own parliamentarians, experts in the rules of the Senate. "Right now people are in a parliamentary knife fight trying to figure out which way to go," one Nevada source said. Robert Dove, hired by Nevada to advise on tactics and strategies, is matching wits with Marty Gold, former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, who is working for the Nuclear Energy Institute. Dove wouldn't hint about what kinds of tactical moves the Nevada senators could make after a vote is called for in the Senate, or about the debate to come. "Right now, I am in a delicate position," Dove said. "I can't get into what kind of advice I offer my client." Guinn, who until recently had kept his veto date secret, now plans a major public relations swing. Numerous state and local leaders are expected at Guinn's UNLV rally Monday. Following the televised event, Guinn will fly to Washington to serve as the state's official spokesman. C-SPAN plans to televise much of Guinn's visit because it is the first time a governor has had the opportunity to veto a president. After planned meetings with Hastert and Senate officials on Tuesday, Guinn will address the national media and visit the National Press Club. "We need to focus outside Nevada right now," Guinn said. "That's where it might make a difference." Sun reporter Erin Neff contributed to this story. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 36 Don't quit nuke fight Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: Don't quit nuke fight Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? I just returned from a weeklong sojourn to other climes to learn that everything I thought was going to happen, didn't. And I don't know what to do about it. Do you? Let's revisit the past couple of weeks. Once it became painfully obvious that the nuclear power producers -- they are the people who want to double and triple the number of nuclear power plants in this country, even if they have to do it over our dead bodies -- had already spent some $30 million "lobbying" the Congress. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign asked Gov. Kenny Guinn to call a special legislative session. The purpose was to raise $10 million to counteract the money machines of the energy companies who were determined to help President George W. Bush keep his commitment to the nuke wasters to shove the nation's radioactive garbage down our Yucca Mountain. One might ask about the president's commitment to Nevadans not to do the political thing to us, but for some reason, very few of our elected leaders want to handle that one. Anyway, Gov. Guinn announced that he was considering the special session because that's where the money was, and if Nevada was to have a fighting chance, our senators' request for help had to be heeded. As soon as our governor expressed a desire to lead on this issue, Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera decided that the county that would be most directly affected and the one, by the way, with all the money, should also do more to help the cause. He sought $3 million more to help in the fight. Why? Because that's what the people of this state and this county pay these guys to do. We elect them to represent our best interests and to lead us in a way when oftentimes we can't lead ourselves. We not only expect our elected officials to go to bat for us and our families, we have a right to demand it because last time I looked, this is still a country of, by and for the people. When I left town last week, both of these men were on their way to answering Reid and Ensign's call for help. After all, if the fight for our lives is going to take place on the floor of the United States Senate, who else should be calling the shots? Some legislator from Pioche or elsewhere who hasn't a clue how the big boys do battle? I don't think so. I came back the other day, though, to learn that many of our elected officials have shown a remarkable lack of anything resembling strength, leadership and resolve in the face of great odds. Guinn couldn't even get the members of his own political party to support his plan for a special session. He has been forced to find the money elsewhere, and the outcome of that adventure is still in doubt. The Speaker of the Assembly, Richard Perkins, supported Guinn's call to arms but that was about it. There were Republicans and even some Democrats who were absent without leave or who were otherwise ducking the governor's plea. In short, when the time came to put our money where our mouths were, those we have elected to act on our behalf froze. Shame on them. At the county, Herrera's leadership efforts were not any more successful. I have never heard more whining and finger-pointing from people as that which came from the Clark County Commission chambers when the time came to discuss the money. You would have thought that the voters had asked for the keys to the treasury rather than just a chance at a life free from the anxiety that will result once those trucks and trains start rolling our way. This is the time where the word "gutless" comes to mind because I can't think of any other way to describe the complete abdication of responsibility that has happened at the commission. When families have a problem that demands swift, immediate and unequivocal reaction, they do not hesitate. They do not waffle. And they do not throw their hands up in despair and cry, "woe is me." No, they act. If they have to beg, borrow or steal they do what they have to to protect their loved ones. That is the same thing the people of this state expect from our governor, our legislators, our county and city commissioners and anyone else who has taken an oath to protect and defend us. That is not even close to what we have gotten so far. Life is getting real dangerous for Nevadans back in Washington, D.C. We no longer have an administration that is concerned about the environment and the quality of life issues that affect each of us. No, this group back there believes only in aiding the lifestyles of the rich and powerful and damned be the rest of us who get in the way. The only way to beat that crowd is to show them they are in for a fight. And that costs money. When Ensign ran for the Senate, he told Nevadans that as a Republican he would be in a good position to sway other GOPers to Nevada's way of thinking on this issue. Well, he can't do that unless we provide him the wherewithal to make it happen. There is a chance he can get 11-13 Republicans to side with us, maybe more. If that happens, then Reid may be able to get his colleagues on the other side of the aisle to risk a vote in his favor. That's how it works. So, rather than answer their call for help, we stall, we point fingers, we cry poor and we do everything other than what we should do. If I were a citizen of this state, which I still am, I would pay attention to every legislator who didn't support Guinn's request for a special session with an unqualified "yes." I would also make sure I knew which county commissioners didn't back Herrera's efforts to put Clark County monies into the fight. And, then I would vote against them. This isn't a game, anymore, folks. Either we win this fight or we go down swinging. To just sit around and wait for the worst to happen is not only stupid and shortsighted, it is just plain wrong. When it comes to things nuclear, the United States government has never played it straight with Nevada. And we and our neighbors have paid a heavy price. Shame on all of us if we let them do it to us again. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Editorial: Will nation see through nuke lies? Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 Two months ago President Bush acted on Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation and approved Southern Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the burial site for the nation's high-level nuclear waste. He did this before the completion of scientific studies being undertaken to ensure that the man-made caverns beneath the Yucca ridge will safely contain the most deadly material on Earth. Campaigning in Nevada in May 2000, Bush said that as president he would hold off on any storage decision about nuclear waste until the site had been "deemed scientifically safe." A week before his approval, he reiterated that vow in a meeting with Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign. Well, not much has changed since the 1950s -- Nevada, home of the Test Site, is still seen as a state that can be fed lies on nuclear issues. Another lie that Nevada and the nation are now being asked to swallow is that transportation of nuclear waste -- 43 states would have Yucca-bound routes -- is perfectly safe. It's bad enough that the president's approval of Yucca came before the site itself has been proven safe. But it was a doubly bad decision when considering that it was made before any safe plan for transportation has emerged. Can we assume that every bridge, every waterway, every highway, every tunnel, every overpass and every railroad that the waste would travel over or through can be safeguarded from the potential of accidents or terrorist attacks? Of course not, and that's why the casks containing the waste assuredly have to be indestructible. But Rosetta Virgilio, spokeswoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, says cask testing is "a work in progress." How's that for assurance, knowing that approvals have already been granted? Just as unassuring is the news that the casks have been tested only through computer modeling. Professor Darrell Pepper, interim dean of the college of engineering at UNLV and an expert in computer modeling, says: "The automobile industry has been doing computer modeling for years. Do you notice they still crash them?" Next week Gov. Kenny Guinn will carry his veto of President Bush's approval to Washington. We can only hope that enough members of Congress will vote to sustain his veto, realizing that their states have been lied to as well. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 Benjamin Grove: Nuke waste goes prime time, creates fuss Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 Benjamin Grove covers Washington, D.C., for the Sun. He can be reached at grove@lasvegassun.com [grove@lasvegassun.com] or (202) 628-3100, Ext. 269. WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers and their congressional colleagues return to Capitol Hill this week after a two-week spring break. Here are a few things they missed in Washington, besides the celebrated annual return of the cherry blossoms: Two leading nuclear waste container manufacturers threw off the gloves and came out swinging last week, making the bout over waste transportation more interesting. Executives with Atlanta-based NAC International and Washington's Edlow International Co. said they were sick of "sitting on the sidelines" while anti-Yucca Mountain forces bashed their product as vulnerable to terrorists and accidents. Somewhat oddly, the cask makers jumped into the ring -- after years of blistering criticism from Nevada officials -- because of a TV show. They launched a cask manufacturers "coalition" and held a Washington press conference the morning after the hit program "The West Wing" aired Wednesday, a show that included a plot line about a nuclear waste transportation accident. Why all the fuss? The show was full of inaccuracies, said the (self-proclaimed) usually unflappable president of Edlow International, Jack Edlow, who was clearly riled. People consider the topical drama to be realistic, even though the episode was rife with technical errors, he said. "People have no way to identify what is factual and what is not factual about that show," Edlow said. (Besides common sense, I guess.) Much is at stake in the public relations war over whether it is safe to ship nuclear waste, and clearly "The West Wing" episode caused a big stir among avid Yucca watchers. Even New Mexico's Energy, Resources and Natural Minerals Department issued a press release the day before the show, urging viewers to recognize the program as Hollywood fantasy. For the benefit of truly thick-headed couch potatoes, the release stressed, "The scenario described is completely fictional." New Mexico is home to a low-level nuclear waste site commonly called WIPP, and state energy officials did not want the show scaring anyone. Of course, Nevada officials wanted the opposite, urging people to watch the show and get an education about a real-life danger. Ed Rothschild, who works for Nevada's high-profile, anti-Yucca lobbyist John Podesta, sent out a mass e-mail urging media and a host of other interested parties to watch "The West Wing," contact their members of Congress, and pass the e-mail on to friends and relatives. The e-mail also urged recipients to "Phone or Email NBC and congratulate them on the show." Rothschild told me he was not surprised to see the cask manufacturers jump into the fray, noting, "They attacked a fictional show for being fiction." After all this hype, I wonder if Joe and Jane Viewer, who know little of Yucca Mountain, even noticed the waste shipping plot line. If they did, I'm guessing they ranked it somewhat less interesting than Vice President Hoynes' drinking problem and the subplot about online tax filing -- and that all this hype was much ado about nothing. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 39 Columnist Erin Neff: Prepare to be spun on euphemistic Yucca tour Las Vegas SUN April 05, 2002 NEVADANS are poised to get a package. Good things typically come in packages -- you know, birthdays, holidays, surprises -- but not in this case. Unless something drastic happens, the "package" that's on its way will be the deadliest substance known to man. Welcome to the Energy Department's English 101 -- a course meant to soften the potential horror of nuclear waste through field trips to Yucca Mountain, euphemistic language and the sanitized science of the federal government. In their goal to win favor for the Yucca Mountain "project," Energy Department staffers parse language, spin the "science" and divert attention to make the argument for the dump, er, nuclear waste repository as pleasant as possible. On the official public Yucca Mountain tour, for those lucky enough to grab a seat on one of three charter buses heading north for the site, there's plenty of talk about nuclear science in coded terms. "Package" is the sanitized word the Energy Department uses to say: cask of deadly radioactive waste. "Repository" is scientist talk for a lovely mountain where said "packages" will go. "Emplacement" is the term for shoving the radioactive waste inside the mountain where it will fester, decay and -- some believe -- eventually leech into the groundwater. The Energy Department's free tour of the proposed nuclear waste dump 90 miles outside Las Vegas is almost as popular as a junket to Laughlin, and with $6 lunches from Marie Callendar's, it's almost as fulfilling -- save for that "science" you get to see. The tour is designed to assure the public that the "science" going on there proves that storing nuclear waste is safe. The scientist on board your comfortable bus explains how nuclear reactors work. He talks about the years of studies that have taken place. And if someone asks whether it's safe to ship this stuff across the country, he's quick with a 1980s-era videotape of a cask test in New Mexico. There's footage for the overhead television screens showing casks bouncing off trucks and trains, slamming into walls and withstanding fire without breaking. And don't worry -- or ask -- about pesky reports of a video showing a missile blowing a hole through a cask. After all, he says, that's a stretch, and nothing is ever foolproof. What you really get on the Yucca Mountain trip is a tour as diversionary as the language. Even before the bus turns the dusty stretch leading to the mountain, there's talk of the desert tortoise population nearby and the Tunnel Boring Machine (that's TBM on the itinerary) that dug a 5-mile tunnel into the volcanic ridge. "It's for sale and it's only got five miles on it," the bus driver joked as several sneaker-clad seniors looked in admiration at the device during a 20-minute stop to gape at the hulking electric contraption. The Energy Department also takes you in a small van to the crest of Yucca Mountain where a geologist discusses volcanism, points to Death Valley National Park and mentions the closed gold mine across the chasm in the desert -- to the oohs and ahs of tour-goers. The friendly staff -- whether displaying native American artifacts or a stuffed bobcat ("got electrocuted on a power pole") -- is also quick with commentary. During a break for lunch there's plenty of talk like, "It's a lot different once you're here" and "Now you get to see the side of things you don't read in the paper." Maybe the news my tour missed was happening inside Yucca Mountain to explain how safe it really is. After donning hard hats and safety glasses tour-goers get to walk 100 yards into the tunnel and off to a small carved-out room with florescent lights, folding chairs and an easel with drawings of the mountain's interior. There weren't any scientists boring holes in the mountain, but a geologist talked about the holes and the heat and water tests already conducted. The repository, he said when asked, will be built deeper in the tunnel where they haven't tested the rock or the water. But that didn't seem to matter. The Energy Department keeps pushing its cheery version of the "facts" whether on the tour, the Internet, the department's reading room or in its literature. Sheldon Rampton, editor of PR Watch (prwatch.org) and the co-author of "Toxic Sludge is Good For You," compares the Energy Department's PR machine to the original "Terminator" -- the unfeeling movie machine that stopped at nothing to destroy. "The state of Nevada has fought them off so many times, and they're still coming and coming," Rampton said. Now, Rampton said, the government is using the anti-terrorism angle (Remember Sept. 11? Wouldn't want that to happen to a nuclear power plant.) to "ram through Yucca Mountain" so the nuclear industry can keep churning out profitable power. "No one's talking about energy conservation," Rampton said. "All of the vested political interests in Washington are just sticking terrorism labels on things as an excuse." The Energy Department is aware that some people who take the Yucca Mountain tour aren't exactly keen on seeing it turned into a toxic dump. So as you cruise back to Las Vegas, belly full of a sandwich and mind full of "science," officials ask you to fill out a survey so they can improve the tour. Next month, they might grill hot dogs at the base of the mountain as one frequent tour-goer said he was treated to last summer. And the literature might include a few more references to Sept. 11 -- colored of course in red, white and blue -- because that might make it as palatable as a summertime barbecue. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 Colorado governor signs bill to restrict radioactive waste shipments into the state By Steven K. Paulson, Associated Press, 4/6/2002 05:31 DENVER (AP) Gov. Bill Owens signed a bill that would require public meetings and state approval before any toxic waste could be shipped into Colorado. The bill, signed Friday, had been rushed through the Legislature in an effort to prevent a Colorado company from accepting a shipment of 470,000 tons of radioactive soil from a Superfund cleanup site in New Jersey. The company, Cotter Corp., planned to dump the soil in disposal ponds in Canon City, Colo. The ponds already contain residue from uranium processing. Under the new law, the state Department of Public Health and Environment has to approve plans such as Cotter's proposal. The department must hold at least two public hearings and gather information on the potential environmental and economic effects of waste disposal before issuing a permit. State Rep. Lola Spradley, the House sponsor, said a permit could still be issued if a company meets all the requirements. ''This bill does not ban the shipments,'' she said. Cotter spokesman Rich Ziegler said his company believes it can meet the requirements and could possibly begin shipments in a few months. At Owens' request, the health department delayed issuing Cotter a permit until the law could be passed and signed. Many area residents had protested the waste disposal plan, and a group called Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste was formed to fight it. Cotter is appealing verdicts awarded by federal court juries that heard lawsuits filed by nearby residents alleging that radioactivity from Cotter's uranium-processing operations caused health problems. On the Net: Colorado Legislature: http://www.state.co.us/gov dir/stateleg.html ***************************************************************** 41 Envoy Says NKorea Seeks New Dialogue Story Url: http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=World&storyId=373863 Saturday, April 06, 2002 4:48 p.m. EDT By SANG-HUN CHOE Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea seeks to resume talks with the United States on easing tensions on the divided peninsula, a South Korean official said Saturday. South Korean envoy Lim Dong-won told a news conference after a visit to Pyongyang, the North's capital, that the North also wants to revive reconciliation efforts with the South. A White House spokesman traveling with President Bush in Crawford, Texas, said he was withholding comment until the United States hears directly and officially from Pyongyang what the regime's intentions are. Last June, Bush offered to resume Clinton-era security negotiations but until now, the North had not indicated a willingness to accept. Tense relations deteriorated further after Bush labeled North Korea part of "an axis of evil" in January. The United States is concerned about North Korea's nuclear capability, its long-range missiles, and its military buildup near the border with South Korea. North Korea is expected to use resumed contacts with the United States to extract economic and diplomatic concessions vital to rebuilding the economy. According to Lim, the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said he would accept a proposed visit by Jack Pritchard, a U.S. special envoy who met North Korean diplomats in the United States last month. The date of the visit will be set by the two sides, Lim said. Lim further said Kim Jong Il also responded "positively" to a message he conveyed from South Korean President Kim Dae-jung urging the North to break out of isolation and build ties with the outside world. The announcement came as a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Don Gregg, visited the North. Gregg served in Seoul as ambassador under Bush's father. The State Department said he was not carrying an official message. The Koreas were divided in 1945 and face each other across a sealed and heavily armed border. About 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War . Inter-Korean ties warmed after Kim Dae-jung traveled to the North for a historic summit in 2000, but a series of exchanges and talks designed to bring the nations closer together subsequently ground to a halt amid U.S.-North Korea tension. A joint statement issued simultaneously in the two Korean capitals Saturday called for reunions of separated family members - an important part of the reconciliation process - to resume on April 28. The Koreas also have agreed to resume work on reconnecting a cross-border rail line that was launched in 2000 and build a second rail line across the border. A North Korean economic survey team will visit South Korea in May, it said. Casting a shadow on his bright assessment of his talks in North Korea, Lim said Pyongyang officials were unmoved when he urged the country to open its suspected nuclear weapons program to outside inspections. In a 1994 deal with the United States, North Korea agreed to freeze two nuclear power reactors suspected of being used to develop nuclear weapons in return for two replacement reactors of a type that cannot be used for that purpose. Citing a delay in the $4.6 billion reactor project, North Korea has rejected U.N. inspections of nuclear sites. The CIA suspects that North Korea may have extracted enough plutonium before the 1994 freeze to make one or two atomic bombs. North Korea is also believed to have stockpiles of thousands of tons of chemical weapons, as well as missiles that can reach the western U.S. mainland. Copyright © 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 42 Key breakthrough at Korean talks news.com.au - 06 April 2002 By Stephen Lunn, Tokyo correspondent The Australian NORTH and South Korea brokered a key breakthrough in their stalled reconciliation program yesterday when they committed to revive the program closest to their peoples' hearts – reuniting families separated for more than 50 years by their civil war. South Korean presidential envoy Lim Dong-won extracted the promise from the communist North's enigmatic leader, Kim Jong-il, after a series of meetings in Pyongyang during the week, along with another to resuscitate greater business co-operation between the two nations. Mr Lim's mission to jump-start peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, which had begun so promisingly almost two years ago but ground to a halt after a sceptical US President George W. Bush took office in January 2001, appeared destined for failure when North Korea's state-run media spent the week railing against both Washington and Seoul. But, despite what South Korean sources described as difficult negotiations, some headway was made, subject to the drafting of a final written communique last night. "Both sides agreed on the exchanges of separated families and opening inter-Korean economic co-operation talks. They are expected to be included in a joint statement," South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Chong-ro said yesterday. The agreement will provide for North and South to reactivate a committee overseeing economic co-operation and exchanges, Kim Chong-ro said, with its first agenda item to be food aid to the starving North. South Korea is looking to donate 300,000 tons of food and 200,000 tons of fertiliser. The positive outcome is politically crucial to South Korean leader Kim Dae-jung, architect of his nation's "Sunshine Policy" of re-engagement, reconciliation and eventual reunification with the North. The South's Kim, who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, has since seen his dream fade almost to black. Mr Kim must retire as South Korea's president by November, and is desperate to recharge the reconciliation process before he leaves office. Details of when the family reunions – the source of great hope for millions of Koreans with relatives caught on the other side of the border when it was sealed, might resume weren't forthcoming yesterday. Since June 2000, emotional family reunions have taken place three times, and a fourth round scheduled for October last year was called off as relations between South Korea, the US and North Korea further deteriorated. Thursday evening's meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Lim was the first official public contact between the two nations in six months. The normally invective-filled outpourings from North Korea's government-run media outlets described the meeting as "cordial". Pyongyang, citing US antipathy, has shied away from most of the reconciliation initiatives agreed when South Korean leader Kim Dae-jung travelled to Pyongyang in June 2000, including a cross-border road and rail link and joint tourism projects. But it signalled a heavily conditional willingness this week to restart stalled negotiations on the construction of two nuclear power plants, which the US agreed to build on condition North Korea stop its nuclear arms program. One condition, already rejected by Washington, was that Mr Bush cease describing North Korea as "evil". ***************************************************************** 43 Musharraf ready to use nuclear arms [Guardian Unlimited] Rory McCarthy in Islamabad and John Hooper in Berlin Guardian Saturday April 6, 2002 Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, suddenly raised military tensions with India with a stark warning yesterday that he is prepared to use nuclear weapons in the event of war. In an interview to be published tomorrow in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Gen Musharraf warns that if the pressure on Pakistan becomes too great then "as a last resort, the atom bomb is also possible". He said India had a "superpower obsession" and was energetically arming itself. Both states tested nuclear weapons in 1998, the first time Pakistan admitted its nuclear capability. The general's unusually aggressive comments came as he announced plans to hold a referendum in the first week of May to confirm his presidency for the next five years. "I want the people of Pakistan to tell me if I am required. I need your strength," the general said. After outlining the actions his regime has taken since the coup in October 1999 the general made it clear that he would remain in overall charge of the country, despite the elections planned for October. The constitution would be amended to support his plans. "I must carry on leading this country," he told Der Spiegel. "I am not power hungry but I do not believe in power sharing... I believe in unity of command. There has to be one authority for good government." He said whoever was elected prime minister in the October polls would have their own powers but would "not dare" change the policies which Gen Musharraf himself began. "There will be authority to govern but to govern well." But it is his words about nuclear weapons that will cause consternation in New Delhi. Since mid-December the two countries have remained on a full military alert with hundreds of thousands of troops deployed along their borders and diplomatic ties cut to a minimum. Washington applied heavy pressure on India to stop its military from launching a punitive strike against Pakistan in retaliation for an attack on the New Delhi parliament, which was blamed on militants based in Pakistan. Then in a groundbreaking speech in January, Gen Musharraf appeared to appease India by pledging to curb Islamic militancy and to promote a moderate state. In recent days, however, his tone has shifted dramatically. In another interview earlier this week with The Hindu newspaper, the general said that the military situation on the border was "extremely explosive". With unusually frank language he warned the Indians not to treat his nation "as if we are some kind of scum, a very weak country which cannot handle itself". "We don't crawl," he said. "We're not going to crawl." At the same time as adopting the new, aggressive posture Gen Musharraf has allowed Pakistan's courts to free several religious clerics jailed during protests at the start of the US military campaign in Afghanistan. In another sop to the religious right he has discreetly told the state-run Pakistan Television to tone down broadcasts of dancing women. Some believe Gen Musharraf's softening attitude is aimed at splitting opposition ahead of the October polls. Meanwhile, Indian officials insist that Pakistan-based militants are still crossing the Line of Control, which divides the disputed state of Kashmir. A senior Indian commander warned yesterday that militants were still crossing into Indian-run Kashmir. "It is going to be a real hot summer," said Lieutenant-General Jai Yadav. "They are now using night vision goggles to find gaps and infiltrate." Diplomatic sources in Islamabad say that some militant training camps, which were emptied in January at the time of Gen Musharraf's speech, are now back in use. · Ten people died in fresh separatist violence in Indian Kashmir, where shops, schools and businesses closed yesterday after a strike call by Muslim rebels protesting against a new anti-terrorism law. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 44 Pentagon seeks to ease rules Saturday, April 06, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By CHRISTINE DORSEY STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Environmental rules and sprawl are hampering preparations for war, the Pentagon says, as it seeks to ease environmental restrictions to give priority to military training on public land. A draft bill to exempt military installations from environmental laws is making the rounds in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. It calls on the government to give priority to military training over conservation, endangered species protection and other environmental laws that restrict the use of public lands for bombing exercises. "It's sort of a real kitchen-sink act," said Jeffrey Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. A copy of the draft is on the group's Web site, www.peer.org The bill would have a direct impact in Nevada, where some of the more extensive combat training occurs. The Navy's Fighter Weapons School is at Fallon Naval Air Station, and 75 percent of the Air Force's live munitions training occurs at Nellis Air Force Base and the Nevada Test and Training Range. Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin, a Defense Department spokeswoman, declined to comment on the draft legislation. Instead, she referred questions to a transcript posted on the department's Web site of an interview that Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness Paul Mayberry gave Wednesday to National Public Radio. Mayberry said the Pentagon is carrying out a strategy to solve encroachment and environmental conflicts. The draft bill notes that national parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges and marine sanctuaries often lie beneath airspace critical to providing proper military training. And, the expansion of environmental laws, population growth and an increase in recreational land use have limited live-fire training. The draft proposes to exempt military property from laws protecting critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. It would require "consultation" with other land management agencies, but would give DOD a reprieve from laws that protect migratory birds and restrict noise. It also would exempt military emissions, solid waste discharges and pollutants from Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Ruch said the draft bill stems from congressional hearings in March in which military officials told the House Armed Services Committee about problems they face providing real-life combat training while trying to protect endangered plants and animals and comply with clean air and water laws. Rear Adm. Richard J. Naughton, U.S. commander with the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center in Fallon, testified about problems military trainers face in Nevada. "The primary impediments we face ... are related to land use, airspace, and radio frequency management," Naughton said. Most of the air training occurs over Bureau of Land Management land. "As the state of Nevada grows in population, we are seeing a growing impact to our training in surrounding land use, including water rights and proposed wilderness," he said. "In order to properly train combat air crews in realistic weapon deliveries, meaning that weapons will be released many miles from their targets, that land area under the weapon flight paths must be safe and accessible to the military," Naughton said. In Southern Nevada, development is creeping ever closer to the Nellis facility. Use of the base's south runway has been restricted because of nearby homes, said Mike Estrada, a base spokesman. "The risk of an accident is just too great, so we just don't do it (fly with live munitions from south runway)," he said. The north runway also is at risk, because of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway that brings with it the threat of more development, Estrada said. Pilots fly over 2.9 million acres, but bomb only about 5 percent of the area. The rest is relatively untouched wilderness home to the endangered desert bighorn sheep, the threatened desert tortoise and wild horses. Estrada said each time military trainers want to create a new target, they must write an environmental impact statement. Each document takes an average of 18 months and between $500,000 and $1 million to complete, he said. In times of war, when soldiers need quick training, "It's time critical to get that target built," Estrada said. Ruch said environmental laws already allow for some military exemptions, and the draft bill proposals go too far. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 45 U.S. told to prove nuclear trade charges IHT: Saturday, April 6, 2002 Russia challenged the United States on Friday to produce proof that it was transferring sensitive technology to Iran. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi, called on Washington to show hard evidence for its claims that Moscow's growing nuclear cooperation with Tehran threatened the United States. "No facts have been presented," Ivanov said. Copyright © 2002 the International Herald Tribune ***************************************************************** 46 Let's just learn to stop worrying and love the bomb: What we read in the American Spectator: The rightwing US magazine poses the question: is nuclear war really that dangerous? The Guardian - United Kingdom; Apr 6, 2002 There has been concern about so-called "dirty" bombs, which combine radioactive material with conventional explosives to deliberately create fallout. The White House has cited this as a key reason why Vice President Dick Cheney has not been available for face-to-face meetings, but has remained at an undisclosed "secure location". The explosive force of such a bomb might be that of a truck-bomb, as in Oklahoma City, or something less. Possibly, it could spread fallout across a few city blocks, but as with all radioactive isotopes, the contamination would cease to be dangerous to humans after a week or two. How many Americans, do you think, could have told you that? Even more than we need shelters, we need to learn some basic facts about nuclear weapons. Yes, a blast would be horrific, and those who were too close would die immediately; nothing could save them. But we need to learn something about radiation. Public fears of all things nuclear have been magnified by what can only be called a public dis information campaign, which has continued without interruption since the Three Mile Island accident of 1979. (The Washington Post recently referred to it as a disaster. If so, it was a rare disaster in which no one was hurt.) The main thing that people need to know about radiation and do not know is this: radioactive material with a long half life (eg plutonium) does not emit radiation that is harmful in the short term. Its half life is long because its atoms "decay" only slowly. They will go on doing so for a long time. But they bombard human cells only infrequently, and the rate is slow enough that the body's self-repair mechanisms can keep up. On the other hand, material with a short half life - tritium, for instance - is immediately dangerous, because its atoms decay fast enough to overwhelm the body's defences. It follows from this that the hazards of radioactivity dissipate quickly. "Half life" means "half gone"; "short half life" means quickly half gone. That brief life would also be a dangerous one. You wouldn't want to get close to radioactive material with a half life of one hour, for example. But half the danger would be gone by the end of the hour. And half of the remainder would have dissipated by the end of the second hour. And so on. Yet we find Newsweek saying that fallout from a "dirty" bomb "could render an American city uninhabitable for years". Change "years" to "days" . . . I tried to find out what the Office of Homeland Security thinks of fallout shelters, and what we should do in the event of a nuclear explosion in Washington DC or New York City. But the "24-hour information line" did not include the option of waiting until someone answers. ("For employment opportunities, press 3") According to its website, the OHS is: preparing for, detecting, responding to, facilitating, prioritising, disseminating, assessing, and mitigating the consequences of nuclear attacks. Above all, it is coordinating. In short, it offers employees some nice desk jobs. Tom Bethell in the American Spectator, Jan/Feb 2002, subs $48.95 at www.gilder.com Atomic smitten: it seems we have been wrong to fear the atom bomb ***************************************************************** 47 Imagining the unimaginable The San Francisco Examiner Publication date: 04/05/2002 By Conn Hallinan FOR THE TIME BEING, the Bush administration's recently leaked Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) has vanished from the nation's front pages, replaced by the news of the moment. But Americans should be clear what the consequences will be if it ever becomes official policy, and what developing a new generation of nuclear weapons will mean for the fragile web of treaties that presently keep the unimaginable at bay. Consider the dominos that will topple: The NPR targets seven nations with nuclear weapons -- Russia, China, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Iraq -- even though only the first two have nuclear arms. That specifically violates a 1978 U.S. promise (reaffirmed in 1995) never to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear powers unless the latter were in alliance with another nuclear power. The pledge was at the heart of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), in which 182 nations agreed not to acquire nuclear weapons as long as they were never targeted. It is a quid pro quo: "You don't threaten us with nukes, we don't have to develop them to defend ourselves." The Bush administration rationalizes breaking the pledge by stretching the meaning of "weapons of mass destruction" to embrace chemical and biological weapons, both of which were specifically excluded from the NNPT for very good reasons. Chemical weapons, though thoroughly unpleasant, have never been capable of mass destruction. And while biological weapons are very scary, and certainly induce panic, they are too hard to deliver to make them a threat to large numbers of people. The only serious weapons of mass destruction are nuclear. The NPR also threatens to use nukes in the event of war between China and Taiwan, North and South Korea, or Israel and Iraq. While the latter is highly unlikely, there is considerable tension between the other antagonists, and we don't have much control over any of them. Want someone in Seoul, Tel Aviv or Taipei making that decision for us all? Lastly, it proposes using nuclear weapons in response to "surprising military developments," a term so vague that it could cover virtually any American military setback. Is a mission gone awry in Afghanistan (or Iraq) a "surprise"? UNDER THE NPR, the only incentive for other nations not to develop nukes is fear, a dumb (and dangerous) way to run international relations. Following the NPR revelation, China's President Jiang Zemin said his country needs "atom bombs ... if we do not want to be bullied by others." If there was ever a reason for Iran and North Korea to build the bomb, this policy provides it. The new plan proposes developing new "bunker busting" nukes despite a 1995 congressional ban that such weapons blur "the distinction between nuclear and conventional war." The Department of Energy has already tripled the funding for a new plutonium pit plant (the pit triggers a warhead to explode) and approved $3.25 million to produce tritium gas, a "blast enhancer" that allows one to miniaturize warheads. The next domino is the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The treaty has successfully slowed the development of newer and deadlier weapons by preventing real-life testing. A side benefit of the treaty is that it relaxes the tension on the nuclear trigger by creating uncertainty about whether your nuclear stockpile is trustworthy. If you can't test your old warheads, you are never quite sure if they will work, and you certainly don't want to lob a dud. But new weapons require new tests. No one is foolish enough to deploy a fresh design without testing it, and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has already made it clear that the administration is considering violating the test ban treaty. The word in military circles is sometime after the next midterm elections. If the U.S. dumps the treaty, India, Pakistan and China will follow in short order, with France and Russia close behind. One need only think for a moment about the present tension between India and Pakistan (not to mention China and Taiwan) to conclude that another round of nuclear testing in South Asia is a really bad idea. Besides re-igniting a global nuclear arms race, Americans will pay for this coming and going. The United States is estimated to spend about $30 billion a year on nuclear weapons (much of it secret "black budget" funds), and the price is going up. On top of that, nuclear weapons create 99 percent of all high-level, and 75 percent of all low-level, nuclear wastes in the United States. Because we don't have anyplace to put them, we can look forward to poisoning ourselves as we go broke. It would be well if the Democrats would decide to rejoin the vertebrates and heed the words of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and former arms negotiator Thomas Graham Jr. about what instituting the NPR will mean: "We can expect nuclear weapons to spread around the world. We will live in a far more dangerous world and the U.S. will be less secure." Comment on this article at letters@sfexaminer.com. Examiner columnist Conn Hallinan is a journalism lecturer and provost at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His column appears every other Friday. ***************************************************************** 48 Pakistan: Official tells Japanese agency of "elaborate" nuclear dialogue BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 6, 2002 Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo Islamabad, 6 April: Pakistan is engaged in an "elaborate dialogue" with the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over matters relating to nuclear safety and its command and control structure, a senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official said Saturday [6 April]. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Kyodo News that dialogue with the US and the IAEA concerning the possible leakage of nuclear materials and technology from Pakistan was launched following President Pervez Musharraf's visit to the US last November. The expert-level dialogue is aimed at strengthening Pakistan's Nuclear Command and Control Authority and preventing the possible leakage of nuclear materials and technology, the official said. Analysts in Islamabad said the dialogue is particularly significant in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the US, which fuelled growing concerns that terrorist groups may have access to materials, technology and manpower that could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. Gen Musharraf and his government set up a Nuclear Command and Control Authority in February 2000 to exercise employment and control over all strategic nuclear forces and strategic organizations related to Pakistan's nuclear programme. Matters relating to nuclear material safety came to the forefront after 11 September in that two prominent nuclear scientists from Pakistan had allegedly met with Usamah Bin-Ladin, the suspected mastermind of the terrorist attacks. The two scientists, Bashiruddin Mahmood and Chaudri Abdul Majid, were interrogated by agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and American nuclear scientists for 53 days before being released by authorities in Pakistan, according to official sources. The official said the command and control structure, as well as measures to ensure the security of nuclear material, were devised after studying the systems of other countries that have nuclear weapons and a nuclear power programme. Source: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1044 gmt 6 Apr 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 49 Politics cited in Flats delays Denver Post.com Closure deadline at risk, Allard says Kit Miniclier [kminiclier@denverpost.com] Denver Post Staff Writer --> Friday, April 05, 2002 - The conversion of Rocky Flats from a nuclear weapons site to a wildlife refuge may not meet its 2006 deadline, Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., told more than 100 workers at the site Thursday. "I am concerned about the potential inability to move plutonium off site and the ramifications of delay due to circumstances out of all of our control," he said. "If there is ever any doubt about a 2006 closure date, I know that it is not due to any lack of initiative or hard work by you, the workers, but to the politics of Washington, D.C., and other states," Allard said. "We need to get this issue resolved. I am concerned we are getting close. It could have an impact on the closure date," Allard later told reporters. Gov. Jim Hodges of South Carolina has refused to take any plutonium from Rocky Flats until he's assured that funding for new nuclear-processing facilities will be complete and that the plutonium won't stay in his state. "We need a national policy regarding waste removal," Allard said. "I ask you to contact your fellow workers across the nation and urge them to work with their local, state and federal officials in ensuring that one state cannot hold the entire Department of Energy complex hostage for political reasons. This is not just a state issue but a national issue." Steelworker Anthony Demajori noted that Rocky Flats is only one of 17 weapons facilities under orders to be decommissioned, "but we can't close them if we can't get rid of the (radioactive) waste." Some workers expressed concern about their pension and health benefits if the project closes before they can retire; others appealed to Allard to intercede on their behalf with the Department of Energy because some workers are losing security clearances they will need to find similar jobs elsewhere. Allard said he visited Rocky Flats to see how the cleanup was progressing and to hold a town meeting with some of the 4,000 workers. Of the 700 buildings on the sprawling site, 178 have been removed. Officials estimated that a third of the remaining buildings are contaminated. In 1994, the Rocky Flats cleanup and closure was estimated to take more than 60 years and cost more than $37 billion. Since then, the Department of Energy and Kaiser-Hill Co. have developed a plan to close the site by 2006 at a cost of only $7 billion. All contents Copyright 2002 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************