***************************************************************** 12/06/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.316 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Jamali rejects Putin's remarks over N-arms 2 U.S. Tells Iraq It Must Reveal Weapons Sites 3 Nuclear tech leaks to Iran are slowing down, PM reports 4 British Energy bailout 5 As the US prepares for war, far away a truly dangerous game is 6 AECL, Bechtel Forge Closer Ties on Advanced CANDU(R) Reactor 7 Jihad Unspun - A Clear View On The US War On "Terrorism" 8 US: Judge reinstates civilian whistle-blowers at Air Force base 9 America To Stockpile Nukes In Afghanistan. 10 Taxpayers foot £200m MoD bill 11 Submarine cash injection 'essential' NUCLEAR REACTORS 12 Nuclear plant admits illegal water-discharge 13 Nuclear decommission go-ahead 14 US: David L. Pelton Assigned as New NRC Senior Resident Inspector 15 US: Safety advisers question NRC about plants 16 US: Fermi II reactor back at full power after minor repair* 17 US: NRC told to adopt safety provisions in wake of Davis-Besse* 18 Belgium to phase out nuclear energy 19 Belgium set to ditch nuclear energy 20 US: Safety advisers question NRC about plants 21 US: NPPD digs deep to pay new leader NUCLEAR SAFETY 22 US: Prairie Grove School Shows No Contamination 23 Environmentalists say Russia's nuclear security is lax - 24 UK: Do you know where your children will be in a nuclear emergency? 25 US: Reid Encourages Screening of Former Nevada Test Site Workers 26 UK: Court date over beach radiation NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 27 County's position on Yucca Mountain gains support of national organi 28 UK: Waste store could be PPP scheme* 29 Ohio's $11.6M incentive wins USEC project - 30 Dear Kenny: Letters to Gov. Guinn 31 Ohio unveils Piketon incentives - 32 More Paducah jobs expected if DOE recycles nickel 33 Patton: Seismic factor swayed USEC decision 34 Plant's suppliers concerned, yet positive - 35 Two processes: diffusion vs. centrifuge 36 Through the years (Piketon Timeline) 37 What if plant in Paducah closed today ...? 38 Whitfield downplays decision, resets focus 39 Owners of Former Nuclear Site Authorize Consortium Talks* 40 Another Yucca conflict of interest alleged 41 Letter: Study biological danger at Yucca NUCLEAR WEAPONS 42 US: Manhattan Project Newsletter - December 2002 43 Cost of refit docks for nuclear subs hits £900m US DEPT. OF ENERGY 44 Federal panel backs whistleblower at Los Alamos lab, orders 45 Department of Energy Awards Miamisburg Closure Project Cleanup 46 DOE: Grant available for longterm radionuclide monitoring 47 DOE awards contract to speed Mound cleanup 48 ORNL toxic agent detector tested in battlefield vehicles 49 ORNL scientist says new study raises global warming questions OTHER NUCLEAR 50 Cameco stock increase ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Jamali rejects Putin's remarks over N-arms Gulf News Online Edition Dubai:Friday, December 06, 2002* Islamabad |By Shahid Hussain | 06-12-2002 * Pakistan yesterday criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin after he joined Indian Prime Minsiter Atal Bihari Vajpayee in accusing Islamabad of supporting cross-border terrorism, while new prime minister scoffed at the Russian leader's remarks. "We stand like a rock being a nation. Pakistan is convinced of its own stance and not obliged to someone else," Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said, enlarging on Pakistan's particular frustration with Putin over the declaration. He described Putin's remarks as "childish." The foreign ministry said in a rejoinder to Wednesday's Putin-Vajpayee declaration in New Delhi: "It is unfortunate that the Russian leadership has been taken in by Indian propaganda." Pakistan said it does not expect any objectivity or reason from the "chauvinist" Indian leaders, but it "expects Russia as a major power to play a constructive role in addressing the grave and fundamental problems of peace and security in South Asia." The statement said Islamabad had "noted with disappointment the unwarranted and unbalanced references to Pakistan contained in the so-called Delhi Declaration." "It is regrettable that the legitimate, genuine and indigenous Kashmir freedom struggle has not been give due recognition. "The high-sounding rhetoric of the declaration cannot mask the massive human rights violations and genocide carried out by the Indian security forces in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir." The statement said the Russian side had also failed to notice India's adamant refusal to resolve the Kashmir dispute in a fair and just manner on the basis of UN resolution and in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. Pakistan on Sunday had castigated Putin over concern expressed to an Indian newspaper last week of fears that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal could fall into the hands of "bandits and terrorists." The foreign ministry yesterday also issued a statement recalling international concern over some 200 reported incidents of smuggling of nuclear material from Russia. Pakistan conveyed its protest over Putin's comments to Moscow through diplomatic channels and raised the issue during bilateral talks in Moscow Monday on counterterrorism. Jamali said yesterday that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in "safe hands" and concerns about the safety of its nuclear program are overstated. "The people know how to protect themselves and the country's nuclear assets," Jamali was quoted as saying by The Nation daily after talks with U.S. deputy national security advisor Stephen Hadley. "No one should have any worries about (our) nuclear programme." "Pakistan's nuclear assets are in safe hands," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) quoted him saying. Hadley raised the issue in talks with top foreign ministry officials, telling them that Washington did not hold the view expressed in the New York Times articles, a senior Pakistani government official said. "There was one reference to recent reports in U.S. media suggesting that Pakistan was maintaining a contact with North Korea to supply uranium enrichment material," an official said, asking not to be named. "The U.S. side told the Pakistani side that what has appeared in the media is not the official view of the U.S. government." Hadley did not discuss nuclear concerns with Jamali, the official said however. He mainly congratulated the new prime minister on his election as the first civilian leader since an army coup three years ago. Pakistan's cooperation with the U.S. in hunting Al Qaida fugitives and its logistical support of the U.S.-led military campaign in neighbouring Afghanistan were the focus of Hadley's talks, the official said. The Islamic republic's nuclear programme has been under fire after two reports in the New York Times detailing an alleged trade with North Korea, in which Islamabad is said to have supplied Pyongyang with uranium- enrichment equipment in return for ballistic missile parts. Pakistan has vehemently denied the reports. Pakistan has been a pivotal ally of Washington in its war against terror, launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. It has provided airbases and fly-over rights to U.S.-led troops hunting top Taliban and Al Qaida remnants in neighbouring Afghanistan and has allowed U.S. agents to hunt fleeing extremists on Pakistani soil. ***************************************************************** 2 U.S. Tells Iraq It Must Reveal Weapons Sites The New York Times *December 6, 2002* *By DAVID E. SANGER* WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 ? Less than 72 hours before Saddam Hussein is required to declare any weapons of mass destruction he holds, the Bush administration set stiff demands today, saying at the White House and the Pentagon that Iraq must physically take inspectors to the weapons and make available all the people who developed and worked on them. Mr. Hussein, the Iraqi president, appeared on Iraqi television today to urge "patience" in dealing with the United Nations inspectors, and said his objective was to allow the inspectors to do their work so that he could "keep our people out of harm's way." But he gave no indication that he planned to lead the inspectors to suspect sites or hidden caches of weapons, as the White House demands. At the White House, President Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, dismissed Iraq's claims that it possesses no nuclear weapons, citing the testimony of past weapons inspectors and intelligence experts. But he offered no new evidence to back up the administration's declarations that the Iraqi government had simply moved its weapons of mass destruction out of sight. "The president of the United States and the secretary of defense would not assert as plainly and bluntly as they have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction if it was not true, and if they did not have a solid basis for saying it," he said. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, speaking at the Pentagon, said Iraq's leaders faced three choices. "They could decide that the game's up, and Saddam Hussein and his family could leave the country ? which would be a nice outcome," he said, planting anew an idea for a way out of war: exiling the Iraqi leader. Alternatively, he said, Mr. Hussein could "open up his country and say: `Here are our weapons of mass destruction. Here's where they're located. Here are the people who made them.' " Or, he said, "He could follow the pattern of previous years" and "continue to lie and deceive and deny." Officials in the White House left no doubt they thought Mr. Hussein would reach for the third option. The coordinated statements from Washington came as administration officials worried that Mr. Hussein might get the upper hand in a public relations war if he dropped a blizzard of papers on the United Nations this weekend, filled with descriptions of "dual use" plants that could be used to make ordinary chemicals or pharmaceuticals ? or weapons. But the big question the White House now confronts is how to respond to the Iraqi information, and whether to counter it with declassified American intelligence information to prove that Mr. Hussein omitted the most damaging evidence of his weapons programs. Mr. Fleischer said today that the task facing the United Nations inspectors was a virtually hopeless one without the active aid of the Iraqi government or defectors with knowledge of the weapons programs. In Iraq, a country the size of France, a hundred inspectors could not be expected to succeed by themselves, he said. Administration officials stopped just short of endorsing Vice President Dick Cheney's statement in August ? which he has never repeated since ? that "a return of inspectors would provide no assurance whatsoever" of Iraqi compliance, and could create "false comfort" that Mr. Hussein was somehow "back in his box." But the clear implication of today's comments was that many members of Mr. Bush's national security team retain that view. In preparation for the deluge from Iraq, officials at the White House, are already planning for how to deal with the information Mr. Hussein delivers, hoping to farm it out quickly to the national laboratories, the Central Intelligence Agency and other government experts for examination. They have made clear that Washington will not respond to the disclosures until they have fully analyzed them. As for whether the United States will reveal any intelligence information on Iraqi weapons, one intelligence official said, "There's an institutional resistance to making our most secret stuff available, even to some of the governments that might demand it." Other experts say the administration's troubles are deepened by the fact that there is no single piece of clear evidence that would back up the claims Mr. Fleischer and Mr. Rumsfeld made today. *Continued* 1 | 2 Copyright The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 3 Nuclear tech leaks to Iran are slowing down, PM reports Back Home By Aluf Benn Although the leakage of technology from Russia to Iran has slowed down, "there is much leakage from Europe, through commercial and other ties," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at the local editors' annual press conference yesterday in Tel Aviv. Israel is working closely with the U.S., and in the last year with Russia, as well, to curb the spread of mass-destruction technology. Sharon said that his recent talks with President George Bush dealt extensively with the question of "the day after" the war on Iraq. "One of the issues I brought up was that irresponsible countries must not be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction," the prime minister said. Specifically, Sharon spoke of Iranian nuclear weapons, of "what is evolving in Libya" and of the know-how that Iraq has. For several years now, Israel has been trying to stop the leak of nuclear and ballistic technology from Russia to Iran, with the U.S. conducting talks with Russia. According to the most recent information available in Jerusalem, Russia has slowed down its assistance to Iran in the nuclear field, but has not terminated it completely despite a pledge made to the U.S. Apparently, the Iranians are concerned with the dropping level of Russian cooperation. Israel's main concern now revolves around the transfer of missile technology from Russian firms to the Iranian government. Apparently, know-how and parts are being sold by private companies that manage to escape the monitoring of the Russian authorities. There have even been cases where parts that were sold to Iran eventually ended up in the hands of Chechen rebels in Russia. According to an Israeli source, Russian technology is transferred to Iran mainly through dual-purpose products - that is, civilian products that can be used for the production of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Governments in Europe are trying to tighten their grip on exports and are being attentive to Israeli complaints about dangerous deals. © Copyright 2002 Ha`aretz. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 4 British Energy bailout Times Online December 05, 2002 Is the proposed reconstruction of British Energy throwing good money after bad? THE money “thrown” at nuclear energy was never “bad” in the first place — the Central Electricity Generating Board developed a system which generates reliable and clean electricity from an element otherwise only useful for making weapons. It wasn’t as efficient as it could have been owing to constant government interference. If the UK wants to maintain electricity supplies and, at the same time, reduce CO2 emissions, it has to keep the reactors going and build more, no matter what the cost. (What is the cost of global warming?) The industry should be taken back under government control and integrated with BNFL. Stuart Campbell, Edinburgh A busted flush NUCLEAR power is a busted flush. There are better alternatives to supply our energy needs. The Stone Age didn’t end because supplies of stone ran out, it ended because something better was found. We have something better in renewable technology. Let’s move forward and leave this mad nuclear experiment to the history books. Geoff Lilley, Hartlepool Saving the taxpayer money AS A Labour supporter and taxpayer I find it scarcely credible that, after three months’ detailed consideration of how to sort out the financial mess that has enveloped British Energy, ministers have opted for the worst possible financial and environmental option (reports, November 29). It is also interesting that Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, was able to sack the chairman of a private company when she ordered the removal of Robin Jeffrey. Since when have ministers had such powers? The complex BE statement to the stock market last Thursday said that the Government “will meet the costs of historic back-end fuel liabilities and will assume responsibility for uncontracted and decommissioning liabilities to the extent that the accrued value of the Nuclear Decommissioning Fund and the contributions by British Energy to the Nuclear Liabilities Fund are insufficient to meet the liabilities as they fall due”. The most sensible economic and environmental decision for taxpayers would have been for the ministers to authorise BNFL to release British Energy from the costs associated with the unnecessary chemical reprocessing of its spent nuclear fuel, and that the used fuel rods instead be put into dry storage (as they are, for example, at all the US’s 100 reactors). To do so would reduce BE’s operating costs by approximately £200-£250 million a year. From a technical and operational point of view, the reprocessing of spent fuel rods from BE’s seven AGR-type stations is entirely unnecessary. Moreover, from an environmental point of view there would be fewer environmental discharges, and fewer cases of difficult and dangerous wastes, including plutonium, to be dealt with further down the line. Instead, BNFL, which is owned by the taxpayer, is to reprocess — quite unnecessarily — spent fuel owned by BE for nothing, in the hope that it may get paid for the “service” by some other taxpayer-owned fund at an unspecified future date. Quite bizarre! Dr David Lowry, Stoneleigh, Surrey A deserving case BRITISH ENERGY should be given as much help as it needs. It seems quite wrong to look for a scapegoat in the management when the causes for the present trouble go back many years. When the utility companies were privatised, was it envisaged that they would fall to predators from America, France, Germany and Malaysia? More recently the regulators sanctioned the use of natural gas through power stations, surely a crime against the people of this country. In a few years gas will be imported from Russia and, here’s the laugh, electricity from nuclear power stations in France. Alan Wilson, Sleaford, Lincolnshire Idle capacity THERE is not a proper market for electricity and the Government is still pretending that there is. Generating companies invest vast sums in creating generating capacity. They therefore have to accept a loss-making price to avoid losing more through idle capacity. Having taken control of British Energy, will Gordon Brown be adding the £16 billion long-term liabilities to the national debt? Brian Gilbert, Hampton, Middlesex The Sunday Times ***************************************************************** 5 As the US prepares for war, far away a truly dangerous game is being played out Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Soon North Korea could have a nuclear bomb. What will Bush do? Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and Jonathan Watts in Tokyo Thursday December 5, 2002 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] On the other side of the world from the White House, the brutal dictator of a rogue state where millions are close to starvation is stealthily acquiring the nuclear arsenal and missiles to threaten tens of thousands US troops and two stalwart American allies. Famously reclusive and repressive, the dictator has banished more than 100,000 of his fellow citizens to notorious prison camps where a quarter of the inmates die from hunger, and the survivors dine on rats. As his people starve, he has pursued an ambitious weapons programme, developing a nuclear missile capability, and developing chemical and biological weapons. This is the eastern end of George Bush's "axis of evil", and the dictator is Kim Jong-il, not Saddam Hussein. And the threat posed by North Korea's recently revealed nuclear weapons programme is much more immediate than Iraq. The CIA estimated last month that North Korea had enough plutonium for two or three nuclear weapons and that its uranium enrichment facility - the discovery of which in October prompted a showdown that is now being played out - was two or three years away from producing weapons grade uranium. South Korea, and the 37,000 US soldiers in the demilitarised zone, are within easy range of the North's artillery and its battery of Scud missiles - numbering 500 according to US military estimates - are capable of reaching the entire Korean peninsula. Japan is within striking distance of North Korea's Nodong missile, and Alaska may soon be vulnerable to a long-range version of the Taepodong missile that could be ready for testing early next year. Pyongyang also has 5,000 tonnes of mustard gas, sarin and other nerve agents, and has been working on biological weapons - anthrax, cholera and smallpox - for 40 years. North Korea's foreign minister yesterday rebuffed a call from the UN nuclear monitoring agency, the IAEA, to abandon its nuclear weapons, and allow site inspections. The disarmament appeal was too "unilateral", the foreign minister, Paek Nam-sun, said in a letter which accused the UN of acting at America's behest. "There is no change on the principled stand on the nuclear issue." The North Korean posture defies weeks of diplomatic manoeuvring by America, Japan, South Korea, Russia, China, and the European Union aimed at forging a united front on a plan for the peninsula. US administration officials have fanned out around the world to help build that consensus, while President Bush has used regional gatherings and meetings with world leaders to press Washington's case. Pressure has been exerted on North Korea at the highest levels by its few international friends. Earlier this week, Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Jiang Zemin jointly urged Pyongyang to renew talks with Washington. But, officially at least, there is no nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula - or at least one that in the view of the Bush administration merits the threat of military action - despite the parallels with Iraq. While Bush administration officials have been unceasing in their threats of "regime change" in Iraq, for the time being at least North Korea remains a crisis they would like to confine to the back burner. At the eastern end of the "axis of evil", the strategy of choice is diplomacy. Publicly, officials continue to affirm their commitment to pre-emptive action to protect America's interests. But the revealed strategy for North Korea is remarkably different: a patient effort to enlist reliable allies in Europe and in Asia, as well as China and Russia in a plan to exert maximum economic leverage and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. Administration officials have yet to raise the threat of war against Pyongyang. State department officials deny any contradiction. "It's a mistake to think that all things are the same," a state department official said. "We don't have a cookie cutter approach, or a one-size-fits-all approach." But while Pyongyang is potentially a greater danger to its neighbours than Baghdad, the prevailing wisdom in Washington is that America cannot afford a full-blown crisis with North Korea - especially while it is contemplating military action against Iraq, and its troops remain deployed in Afghanistan. That realisation is not easy to swallow for some. Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to two Republican administrations who surprised the White House last summer with his opposition to unilateral military action against Iraq, recently called for a surgical strike against North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear site, and lashed out at those opposed to the opening up of a further front for US troops. But for now the administration appears committed to diplomacy. The most concrete result of those efforts so far - the suspension from next month of oil shipments - emerged from the US, Japanese, South Korean and European Union consortium that is overseeing the construction of peaceful nuclear power plants in the North. By last week, the United Nations and the US were speaking in the same voice when the IAEA called on North Korea to abandon its weapons programme and submit to inspections. It is uncertain whether Washington will exert further economic pressure on a regime where a quarter of the population is dependent on food aid. Until the nuclear revelations, America had sent 155,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea this year. But the state department official indicated that Washington would not send more aid, despite appeals from the World Food Programme this week. The US is also giving short shrift to North Korea's fumbling attempts to open talks on its nuclear arsenal. "The idea that one should negotiate some new agreement while in violation of commitments already made is not an argument US leaders find particularly compelling," the state department official said. But Washington and Pyongyang are in the preliminary stage of negotiation. Despite the rhetoric, Washington is calibrating its approach to remain in step with Japan and South Korea who remain committed to their own goals of normalising relations with North Korea. "If they give up nuclear weapons, they can get more money," Nishio Masanori, of the Japanese defence agency said. "It is like the 1980s in the Soviet Union when Gorbachev was forced to put up the white flag because military buildup had pushed the Soviet Union to the point of collapse." Some Korea-watchers believe President Bush's success in coordinating the international response to Pyongyang's weapons programme could bear fruit in time. "When North Korea looks around and realises that it is completely isolated diplomatically, that has been the point where in the past people tended to make compromises," said Katsu Furukawa, a researcher at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. "We don't see any signals of provocative action by North Korea. But having said that, I have to say that I am very cautiously optimistic." Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 6 AECL, Bechtel Forge Closer Ties on Advanced CANDU(R) Reactor WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 6 /CNW/ - Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Bechtel yesterday announced an agreement for the two companies to work together on the deployment of the Advanced CANDU Reactor(TM) (ACR(TM)). AECL President & CEO Robert Van Adel and Bechtel Nuclear President James Reinsch confirmed that AECL and Bechtel would establish a project team in Bechtel's Frederick, Maryland office for the deployment of the ACR in the U.S. According to Van Adel, the agreement brings together AECL's expertise as an innovative technology developer and international project manager with Bechtel's premier architect/engineering and project management skills. The ACR is an evolutionary design based on AECL's well-proven 700 MWe class CANDU nuclear power plant. It features light water coolant, heavy water moderator and slightly enriched fuel. The ACR represents a competitive package and a 36-month construction schedule. The ACR is currently in Pre-application Review with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and has a parallel licensing track in Canada with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). Reinsch stated that "AECL and Bechtel have had a successful project with the construction of two CANDU 6 reactors at the Qinshan Phase III site, China. The new ACR agreement is seen as a logical extension of this existing relationship." First electricity has been generated by one unit in China and both units will go on line in 2003. The project is on budget and ahead of schedule. -30- For further information: contact: Marc Kealey, General Manager, Communications, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.. Telephone: 1-866-886-2325 or (905) 823-9040 ext. 7438 ATOMIC ENERGY OF CANADA LIMITED has 7 releases in this database. © 2002 Canada NewsWire Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 Jihad Unspun - A Clear View On The US War On "Terrorism" America To Stockpile Nukes In Afghanistan. Dec 06, 2002 Source: Daily Islam, Translated By Jihad Unspun According to very reliable sources, it has been learned that in order to control the natural resources of the countries such as Pakistan, Iran, China and Central Asia, America has decided to store large number of nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. The US has completed a survey of Southern central, Southwestern and Eastern Afghan provinces for suitable locations for the weapons facilities and important intelligence has also been gathered. According to sources, priority will be given to the Eastern provinces where there is less armed resistance than in the southern and south western regions. There is also a very strong prediction that America has allocated several mountain passes as well as mountains ranges for this cause and survey work has been completed. Americans forces have been underway with suspicious activities in Kantar and Tora Bora area for quite some time now which gives strength to the fact that America has chosen these areas to store their nuclear arsenal. Both the American and Karzai administration has refused to comment officially on this matter. ***************************************************************** 8 Judge reinstates civilian whistle-blowers at Air Force base Security agents said top clearance issued improperly Boston Globe Online: Print it! By Associated Press, 12/6/2002 WICHITA FALLS, Texas - A judge has ordered the reinstatement of two civilian Air Force employees who were fired three years ago after reporting that a servicewoman's affairs with Saudis and fellow military personnel posed a security risk. Robert Smyth and Richard Krape, who were responsible for background checks on Air Force personnel, lost their jobs in 1999. The men, who worked as agents for the Defense Security Service at Sheppard Air Force Base, reported that a noncommissioned officer was granted top security clearance after having an affair with a supervisor. They also said she had affairs with other military personnel and with Saudi Arabian men, with whom she apparently kept in contact after she served in the Middle East. An administrative judge ruled Oct. 31 that Smyth and Krape were wrongfully fired. She ordered the government to reinstate them with back pay. The employees' attorney, Bill Walsh, said they would receive about $250,000 each. Walsh said he did not know whether the men planned to return to their jobs. A base spokeswoman did not immediately return calls yesterday, the deadline for the government to appeal. Also yesterday, a federal panel found that Los Alamos National Laboratory retaliated against a whistle-blower and ordered the laboratory to raise his salary retroactively and pay him $49,000 in legal fees. Los Alamos also must remove negative comments from a performance evaluation for auditor Joe Gutierrez, the Labor Department panel said. Gutierrez filed a complaint against the laboratory in 1997, a year after he went public with documents showing that the laboratory lied about emissions of airborne radioactive materials in the 1990s, in violation of the Clean Air Act. Gutierrez said he had learned of the violations while working on an internal assessment, but said his bosses would not acknowledge or act on the information. He went public, he said, in the interests of public health. The evidence helped convince a federal judge that the laboratory had violated air-emission regulations. The laboratory had appealed two previous decisions in Gutierrez's favor. Jim Danneskiold, a spokesman for the laboratory, declined yesterday to discuss the latest ruling, issued Nov. 13, or any further appeal ''because the case has not run its entire course yet.'' ''There are still several issues to be resolved,'' Danneskiold said. He said he did not know when that would happen, and could not specify what those issues are. ''Hopefully the lab won't appeal this so we can get this behind us, and we can all move forward,'' said Gutierrez, who now works on technology-transfer issues at the laboratory. This story ran on page A8 of the Boston Globe on 12/6/2002. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. ***************************************************************** 9 America To Stockpile Nukes In Afghanistan. Dec 06, 2002 Source: Daily Islam, Translated By Jihad Unspun According to very reliable sources, it has been learned that in order to control the natural resources of the countries such as Pakistan, Iran, China and Central Asia, America has decided to store large number of nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. The US has completed a survey of Southern central, Southwestern and Eastern Afghan provinces for suitable locations for the weapons facilities and important intelligence has also been gathered. According to sources, priority will be given to the Eastern provinces where there is less armed resistance than in the southern and south western regions. There is also a very strong prediction that America has allocated several mountain passes as well as mountains ranges for this cause and survey work has been completed. Americans forces have been underway with suspicious activities in Kantar and Tora Bora area for quite some time now which gives strength to the fact that America has chosen these areas to store their nuclear arsenal. Both the American and Karzai administration has refused to comment officially on this matter. ***************************************************************** 10 Taxpayers foot £200m MoD bill BBC NEWS | UK | Friday, 6 December, 2002, [Vanguard] HMS Vanguard arrived in Plymouth in February this year Delays in the design and construction of the Royal Navy's new nuclear submarine re-fit centre will cost taxpayers at least £199m, it has been revealed. The Ministry of Defence originally said the cost of work at the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth would be £576m but that has ballooned to £849m. The MoD's original contract transferred the risks of any cost overruns to the private contractor building the facility, Devonport Management Limited (DML). But the MoD needed the base to be ready by February for one of seven nuclear-powered submarines, HMS Vanguard, to undergo a two-year re-fit. The MoD has partly funded poor performance by DML and its sub-contractors and met the cost increases resulting from nuclear regulation National Audit Office And it had to pay for the work to be completed on time to avoid a potentially lengthy and expensive legal battle. The cost rose further after the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate imposed "exacting" safety standards. And a report by Whitehall spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) warns the final cost could be even higher as some construction work remains incomplete. "The MoD has partly funded poor performance by DML and its sub-contractors, met the cost increases resulting from nuclear regulation, and borne the cost of all other risks that it had originally transferred to DML," it says. In 1997 the MoD said the "most likely cost" would be £576m. And the Treasury authorised a £650m spend. But, according to the NAO, the latest estimate for the final cost has now risen to £933m, of which the MoD will have to pay £849m. This is trademark Gordon Brown - creative accounting to hide the true cost of the project Colin Breed Liberal Democrat Defence procurement minister Lord Bach said the MoD had had to ensure Britain's nuclear deterrent would not be compromised. He said the "fundamental element of the overall value for money achieved on this project" was whether the safety regulations laid down by the inspectorate were "reasonable". "I am disappointed the NAO has not examined this," he said. But shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin described the cost overruns as "staggering". And Liberal Democrat defence procurement spokesman Colin Breed blamed the chancellor. "This is trademark Gordon Brown - creative accounting to hide the true cost of the project," he said. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 11 Submarine cash injection 'essential' BBC NEWS | UK | Saturday, 7 December, 2002, [Vanguard] Safety features include an earthquake-proof dry dock The government has said it was forced to step in with taxpayers' money to bail out the refit of nuclear submarines. Design and construction delays of the Royal Navy's new purpose-built refit centre at Devonport in Plymouth has meant costs ballooning from £650m to £933m. The Ministry of Defence will pay £849m, leaving taxpayers with a bill of at least an extra £199m, a National Audit Office (NAO) report said. Meanwhile, the refit of Trident submarine HMS Vanguard is going ahead at the dockyard before the completion of a decontamination building. It was absolutely essential for our nuclear deterrent programme Lord Bach Under the original contract between the MoD and private contractor Devonport Management Limited (DML), the risks of any cost overruns were transferred to DML. But Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach said the MoD needed the base to be ready by February for the first of four Trident submarines to undergo a two-year refit. He said: "It was essential for our nuclear deterrent programme that there was a facility ready for HMS Vanguard to be refitted by February. He added: "Our judgement has been vindicated by the report that the only course we could take was to renegotiate the contract." DML now faces a liability bill of £43m - up from £35m due to the extra costs. [Trident] All Trident subs are due for a refit Peter Whitehouse of DML said the costs were nothing to be ashamed of when compared with other major UK projects. He said: "If we look at the costs on the Channel Tunnel, extension to the London Underground, they show very significant increases." The government has blamed poor management by DML. But DML's view is that the MoD was largely to blame because it insisted on ever higher safety standards. The NAO report said neither side understood the sheer complexity of the refitting task. One large element of the refit area is a "Primary Circuit Decontamination Building". It is meant to decontaminate a submarine's primary circuit, but it is not finished yet. Temporary solution The first refit, on Vanguard, is being carried out without it, relying on alternative shielding techniques instead. DML has said the temporary solution has been approved by the regulators. Lord Bach has also emphasises no corners were being cut on safety. He said: "Vanguard is being refitted under very careful safety procedures." Other safety features include the making the submarine dock earthquake proof. Local economy Defence analyst John Reid, who has been watching the project, said: "It is now a much safer installation than had originally been envisaged." However, despite safety concerns, Professor Peter Gripaios from the University of Plymouth said the overspend has been good for the local economy. He said: "The effect of this spending is pretty widespread across Devon and Cornwall. "It gives a much-needed boost to Plymouth's economy and it really does need it. So, the longer this work carries on the better for the city." © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 12 Nuclear plant admits illegal water-discharge Scotsman.com Fri 6 Dec 2002 /JOHN STAPLES/ TORNESS Nuclear Power Station is facing huge fines after illegally dumping radioactive waste into the sea off the Lothian coastline, it emerged yesterday. The power station, near Dunbar, which is run by British Energy, discharged water contaminated with radiation into the sea last October. British Energy admitted the error at Haddington Sheriff Court after appearing charged under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993. The firm insisted any environmental impact caused by the release was minimal. Following an application by Torness?s legal team for a delay in sentencing, the hearing was adjourned until January. Critics of the power station accused the utility company of seeking to play down the incident which saw the discharge of 60 cubic metres of contaminated water into the sea. ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 13 Nuclear decommission go-ahead Scotsman.com Fri 6 Dec 2002 SAFETY watchdogs have approved the methods being used to decommission four nuclear power sites. The Health & Safety Executive report released yesterday reviewed the plans of the UK Atomic Energy Authority in preparing the sites for alternative use in the future. The sites are Dounreay in Caithness, Windscale in Cumbria, Harwell in Oxfordshire, and Winfrith in Dorset. The nuclear reactors at each site are being decommissioned and all radioactive materials being taken away, at a cost to the taxpayer of £8 billion. Winfrith and Harwell will be turned into science and technology parks in five or ten years. Dounreay and Windscale, part of Sellafield, are both bigger sites and will take up to 50 years to clear of all radioactive materials. ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 14 David L. Pelton Assigned as New NRC Senior Resident Inspector NRC: News Release - Region I - 2002-068 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-068 December 4, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: [opa1@nrc.gov] Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa., have selected David L. Pelton as the new senior resident inspector at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt. He replaces Brian McDermott, who was promoted to a branch chief position in the Regional Office. Every commercial nuclear power plant in the U.S. has at least two NRC resident inspectors. They have an office where they work at the facility, conducting regular inspections and monitoring significant work projects. Most recently, Pelton was a senior operations engineer in the Region III Office in Lisle, Ill. Prior to that he was a resident inspector at the Braidwood Power Station in Braceville, Ill. For several months earlier this year, he was an acting branch chief in the Region III Division of Reactor Safety. Before joining the NRC in 1997, Pelton was a nuclear engineer at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, N.H. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Pelton joins resident inspector Ed Knutson at Vermont Yankee. They can be reached at 802/257-4319. Friday, December 06, 2002 ***************************************************************** 15 Safety advisers question NRC about plants The Plain Dealer 12/06/02 John Mangels and John Funk Plain Dealer Reporters Rockville, Md.- Some of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's top safety advisers were sharply critical yesterday of FirstEnergy Corp. and the agency itself for repeatedly failing to spot the years-long decline of safety consciousness at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant. Members of the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards questioned whether the agency's current approach to monitoring the nation's 103 nuclear plants is adequate to catch the subtle erosion of values among workers and bosses alike that inevitably leads to accidents. "It's a major failure of the system, in my view, and we should all contemplate this," George Apostolakis, the panel's chairman, said in an interview. He stressed that he was not speaking for the advisory group, which will submit its formal recommendations to the NRC's governing board this spring. Apostolakis and fellow NRC adviser Stephen Rosen said they would like to see the agency develop a way of measuring a nuclear plant's "safety culture" - the attitudes that indicate how seriously they take maintaining and operating the reactor. The regulatory system the NRC has followed since the late 1990s does not directly evaluate a plant's safety culture, primarily because there is not widespread agreement on how best to measure it and because the nuclear industry has resisted what it sees as the government's attempt to interfere in management issues. This year's incident at Davis-Besse, in which workers discovered a long-festering rust hole on the reactor's lid that threatened a major nuclear accident, has heightened the debate about regulating safety culture. The NRC's 11-member reactor safety advisory committee, which serves as a powerful independent voice on policy-making matters, spent more than two hours quizzing NRC staff members about how the unprecedented rust hole could have been allowed to grow unnoticed for at least four years. Panel member Graham Leitch noted Davis-Besse's reactor operators weren't the ones deciding whether the plant was in condition to keep running. Instead, they went along with engineering and maintenance workers who judged it was OK to run with deteriorating equipment. "All of that is now observably changed," said Jack Grobe, who heads the NRC's Davis-Besse oversight panel. "The longer-term barriers that must be broken down are organizational . . . to make sure that [the operators] are being supported." Arthur Howell, who chaired the agency's task force charged with articulating the lessons to be learned from Davis-Besse, said the industry and the NRC recognized the potential for a Davis-Besse-type development 10 years ago. But they underestimated the speed and conditions in which corrosion could occur. The agency's staff failed to follow through on inspections for corrosion, to learn from other countries' experience with lid cracks and leaks and to recognize the warning signs appearing at Davis-Besse, he said. "We didn't see any focused effort on the part of the NRC to identify the leak source" at Davis-Besse, Howell said. The French government, which operates more than 70 reactors, recognized the potential for lid cracking and corrosion as early as 1991. But unlike its American counterpart, the French embarked on a program of instrument-aided lid inspections and eventual replacement of all of its reactor lids. "Did it never occur to anybody that the French were . . . years ahead of us?" advisory panel member Peter Ford asked about the lid replacement program. Howell answered that there was not widespread awareness in the NRC of the French program and that some staffers considered it an overreaction. Since Davis-Besse, several U.S. reactor operators have ordered new lids, and the NRC is likely to require more stringent and more frequent inspections. Howell's task force recommended 51 changes in NRC procedures and policies to ensure that another incident like Davis-Besse's does not occur. Those recommendations are now in the hands of NRC Executive Director William Travers, who will send them to the agency's governing board for action. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842 jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission. ***************************************************************** 16 Fermi II reactor back at full power after minor repair* Michigan News | Article published Friday, December 6, 2002 BY BLADE STAFF WRITER NEWPORT, Mich. - Detroit Edison Co.?s Fermi II nuclear plant got back to full power Wednesday night after workers realized the only problem with a malfunctioning turbine valve was a worn-out solenoid. The quick repair pleased company officials, who originally thought the plant might have to continue at reduced power for days. As it turned out, the power reduction lasted less than 24 hours. Starting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, power was reduced to 82 percent to inspect a nearby condenser water pump that needed work. Operators started increasing power after learning the type of maintenance for that pump can be done while the plant is operating at full power, John Austerberry, a Detroit Edison spokesman, said. At 4 a.m. Wednesday, during power ascension, one of four high-pressure turbine control valves closed unexpectedly. Power was maintained at 91 percent. The worn-out solenoid and a companion solenoid were replaced. By 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Fermi II was back at full power, he said. The plant has five condenser water pumps, two of which need work. Repairs can be done to one over the next few days; work on the other will be done while the plant is down for refueling in April, he said. In addition, the company said an hour-long siren test has been scheduled in Berlin Township on Monday from 10 to 11 a.m. The company has just finished installing 61 sirens at a cost of $1.2 million and wants to test one in a remote area. All 59 sirens within the 10-mile emergency planning zone were replaced and two were added, Mr. Austerberry said. The normal monthly siren test encompasses the whole zone and extends into Monroe. It lasts five minutes and is on the last Wednesday of each month, starting at 10 a.m. But residents shouldn?t fret that the last Wednesday of this month is Christmas: That siren test has been moved up to Dec. 18 because of the holiday, Mr. Austerberry said. ©2002 The Blade. Privacy Statement . By using this service, ***************************************************************** 17 NRC told to adopt safety provisions in wake of Davis-Besse* Regional News | Article published Friday, December 6, 2002 By MICHAEL WOODS BLADE SCIENCE EDITOR ROCKVILLE, Md. - A top-level internal panel has advised the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to accept 95 percent of the recommendations in a report that heaped blame on the agency for its mishandling of acid corrosion at the Davis-Besse plant. The so-called "Lessons-Learned Task Force" report concluded that the NRC?s failure to properly inspect Davis-Besse contributed to the worst reactor-head corrosion ever in the United States. FirstEnergy Corp., which owns Davis-Besse, and the nuclear power industry, shared responsibility with NRC, according to the task force. Its 96-page report was released in October after a months-long investigation. The report documented how innumerable lapses - by all three parties over a 10-year period - set the stage for what could have been a catastrophic nuclear accident 25 miles east of Toledo. Mr. Howell spoke at a meeting yesterday of the NRC?s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. The 11-member panel of outside experts advises the commission on technical issues relating to safety of the nation?s 103 nuclear power plants. Problems at Davis-Besse dominated the morning session, running more than a half-hour beyond its allotted time in the tightly scripted agenda. Advisory committee members peppered commission staff with questions about NRC and FirstEnergy miscues that underpinned the Davis-Besse incident. "How do you measure it, standards or just judgment?" Dr. George Apostolakis, chairman of the advisory panel, asked when NRC?s Jack Grobe cited a new safety-consciousness that seemed to be developing at Davis-Besse. Dr. Apostolakis is professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Grobe said the commission has seen a definite improvement in the "safety culture" at Davis-Besse since the corrosion was detected in March. He chairs the special watchdog panel that has been monitoring Davis-Besse. FirstEnergy, he indicated, does seem to be placing priority on safe operation of Davis-Besse, whereas production of electricity seemed to be the No. 1 goal previously. The senior management?s recommendations on the report will be handed up to NRC?s top staff official, Dr. William Travers, executive director for operations. He will make the final decision early in 2003 on implementing the recommendations, which included 51 major steps for improving safety at Davis-Besse and other U.S. nuclear power plants. Mr. Howell said the task force recommendations will be assigned a priority ranking and implemented in order of importance. He assured the advisory panel that the lessons from Davis-Besse will improve nuclear safety nationwide. "We want to reassure the public that NRC is a strong and competent regulator," added Mr. Grobe. ©2002 The Blade. Privacy Statement . By using this service, The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660, (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 18 Belgium to phase out nuclear energy [newsdesk@rte.ie] (15:16) Belgium's lower house of parliament voted early today to phase out nuclear energy progressively between 2015 and 2025. The decision, which will have to be approved by the senate in the next few weeks, will lead to the closure of Belgium's seven nuclear power plants. A spokesman for junior energy minister Olivier Deleuze said that the senate would approve the measure 'unless there is a major political accident.' The draft law aims to close power plants when they are 40 years old, implying the first closure from February 2015 and the last in 2025. Belgium is one of five EU states planning to phase out nuclear energy. The others are Germany, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. In all, eight EU states have nuclear plants. ***************************************************************** 19 Belgium set to ditch nuclear energy BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Friday, 6 December, 2002, [Superphenix nuclear breeder reactor in France] Belgium is the world's most nuclear-reliant country after France The lower house of the Belgian parliament has voted to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, following months of debate on nuclear safety. The first reactors will be dismantled by February 2015, the last in 2025 Environment Minister Olivier Deleuze The bill orders the shutting of the country's seven reactors after 40 years of use and bans the construction of new ones. The measure - part of the election manifesto of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's centre-left coalition government - is expected to be approved by the Senate within weeks. The legislation makes Belgium one of five European Union nations committed in principle to abandoning nuclear energy, along with Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. Nuclear energy currently supplies 60% of Belgian electricity needs, making it the country most dependent on nuclear power after France. The government will invest in solar, wind and other renewable energy resources as well as build more gas plants to compensate for the loss of nuclear power. The bill's backers say it will eliminate the risk of a disastrous accident at one of the reactors and reduce the problem of dealing with radioactive waste. On average in Europe, nuclear energy meets about one third of consumers' needs. 'No reason' The Belgian Environment Minister, Olivier Deleuze, said he did not expect electricity prices to rise, thanks to the forthcoming liberalisation of domestic markets across the EU. There is today not any single reason, be it technical, economic or ecological, to close the plants ahead of time Electrabel spokeswoman "The first reactors will be dismantled by February 2015; the last in 2025," said Mr Deleuze, a member of the Green Party, who championed the bill. But Electrabel, the power company which owns the reactors, has urged the government to reconsider, arguing that the phase-out is not economically feasible. "We deplore this decision because there is today not any single reason, be it technical, economic or ecological, to close the plants ahead of time," a spokeswoman told Belgian radio. Electrabel says the government should have conducted a study on viable alternatives to nuclear power before introducing such a bill. It also argues that the closure will hinder Belgium's commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas output under the Kyoto Protocol. Belgium has seven nuclear reactors, four at the Doel power plant near Antwerp and three in the eastern town of Tihange. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 20 Safety advisers question NRC about plants The Plain Dealer 12/06/02 *John Mangels and John Funk* Plain Dealer Reporters Rockville, Md.- Some of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's top safety advisers were sharply critical yesterday of FirstEnergy Corp. and the agency itself for repeatedly failing to spot the years-long decline of safety consciousness at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant. Members of the NRC's Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards questioned whether the agency's current approach to monitoring the nation's 103 nuclear plants is adequate to catch the subtle erosion of values among workers and bosses alike that inevitably leads to accidents. "It's a major failure of the system, in my view, and we should all contemplate this," George Apostolakis, the panel's chairman, said in an interview. He stressed that he was not speaking for the advisory group, which will submit its formal recommendations to the NRC's governing board this spring. Apostolakis and fellow NRC adviser Stephen Rosen said they would like to see the agency develop a way of measuring a nuclear plant's "safety culture" - the attitudes that indicate how seriously they take maintaining and operating the reactor. The regulatory system the NRC has followed since the late 1990s does not directly evaluate a plant's safety culture, primarily because there is not widespread agreement on how best to measure it and because the nuclear industry has resisted what it sees as the government's attempt to interfere in management issues. This year's incident at Davis-Besse, in which workers discovered a long-festering rust hole on the reactor's lid that threatened a major nuclear accident, has heightened the debate about regulating safety culture. The NRC's 11-member reactor safety advisory committee, which serves as a powerful independent voice on policy-making matters, spent more than two hours quizzing NRC staff members about how the unprecedented rust hole could have been allowed to grow unnoticed for at least four years. Panel member Graham Leitch noted Davis-Besse's reactor operators weren't the ones deciding whether the plant was in condition to keep running. Instead, they went along with engineering and maintenance workers who judged it was OK to run with deteriorating equipment. "All of that is now observably changed," said Jack Grobe, who heads the NRC's Davis-Besse oversight panel. "The longer-term barriers that must be broken down are organizational . . . to make sure that [the operators] are being supported." Arthur Howell, who chaired the agency's task force charged with articulating the lessons to be learned from Davis-Besse, said the industry and the NRC recognized the potential for a Davis-Besse-type development 10 years ago. But they underestimated the speed and conditions in which corrosion could occur. The agency's staff failed to follow through on inspections for corrosion, to learn from other countries' experience with lid cracks and leaks and to recognize the warning signs appearing at Davis-Besse, he said. "We didn't see any focused effort on the part of the NRC to identify the leak source" at Davis-Besse, Howell said. The French government, which operates more than 70 reactors, recognized the potential for lid cracking and corrosion as early as 1991. But unlike its American counterpart, the French embarked on a program of instrument-aided lid inspections and eventual replacement of all of its reactor lids. "Did it never occur to anybody that the French were . . . years ahead of us?" advisory panel member Peter Ford asked about the lid replacement program. Howell answered that there was not widespread awareness in the NRC of the French program and that some staffers considered it an overreaction. Since Davis-Besse, several U.S. reactor operators have ordered new lids, and the NRC is likely to require more stringent and more frequent inspections. Howell's task force recommended 51 changes in NRC procedures and policies to ensure that another incident like Davis-Besse's does not occur. Those recommendations are now in the hands of NRC Executive Director William Travers, who will send them to the agency's governing board for action. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: jmangels@plaind.com, 216-999-4842 jfunk@plaind.com, 216-999-4138 © 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with perm ***************************************************************** 21 NPPD digs deep to pay new leader Omaha.com December 6, 2002 *BY NANCY GAARDER* WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER MUD not planning water, gas rate increases COLUMBUS, Neb. - Reflecting pressure on public power utilities to compete with the private sector, the Nebraska Public Power District has included financial incentives and a healthy severance provision in the compensation package for its new chief executive officer. Bill Fehrman, a career NPPD employee with an engineering background, will step into the job Jan. 1 as the youngest CEO in the utility's history. Fehrman, 42, will be earning $258,000 a year as he assumes one of the highest-paid public positions in Nebraska. His compensation package includes a $20,000 signing bonus, minimum pay raises of 7 percent in 2004 and 2005, the severance plan and a $75,000 bonus if he turns around serious problems at one of NPPD's major assets, Cooper Nuclear Station. About NPPD Customer base: Serves 335,000 customers directly or through wholesale sales in 91 of 93 Nebraska counties Employees: 2,000 Annual budget: $650 million Assets: $2 billion, including coal and nuclear plants Headquarters: Columbus, Neb. How much they make Fred Petersen, CEO, Omaha Public Power District, $319,000 Bill Mayben, current CEO, Nebraska Public Power District, $264,000 Bill Fehrman, incoming CEO, Nebraska Public Power District, $258,000 Terry Bundy, CEO, Lincoln Electric System, $182,000 Fehrman is taking over for Bill Mayben, who is retiring after seven years at NPPD and 40 years in the industry. Fehrman has been at NPPD for 21 years. The bonuses and severance plan are a reflection of the times, said several people familiar with executive compensation. Indeed, Fehrman's salary, like that of many public power executives, is below the industry norm, said Carl Mycoff of Mycoff & Associates, an executive search firm specializing in utilities. Mycoff's firm assisted in the search for Mayben's replacement. The largest public power utilities rarely pay more than $300,000, Mycoff said. In contrast, he said, rural cooperatives routinely exceed $400,000 and comparably sized private utilities can approach $1 million. Given that disparity, a reckoning awaits public power utilities, Mycoff said, as a wave of baby-boomer retirements sweeps through the ranks, leaving utilities to compete for the smaller pool of young executives left. "This is another reason why Fehrman is such an asset," Mycoff said. "He is only 42 years old. . . . In my mind, that means NPPD has a leg up." An Omaha native, Fehrman said he plans to be at NPPD for the long haul. But should he leave, depending on the terms of his departure, he would receive substantial severance pay. If he leaves within the first three years, he would be paid* *two years' salary - at least $516,000. If he left after working six or more years, he would receive three years' annual salary, or more than $880,000. MUD budget for 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total: $293,409,000, up 18 percent. Employees: 809, down seven positions. Total water customers: 178,800, up 3,200. Total gas customers: 192,100, up 2,500. Hearing: 8:30 a.m. Dec. 27 at 1723 Harney St. Fehrman cannot collect severance if he is fired for cause or leaves NPPD to take another job in the industry. While NPPD board member Ralph Johnson of Lincoln is an enthusiastic backer of Fehrman, he cast the sole no vote on the severance package. "It was a little bit of a golden parachute," Johnson said. "I don't like severance. It had nothing to do with Bill - he is everything one would want in a CEO." Mayben, the man Fehrman is replacing, also had a severance package. Mayben's package started at 20 percent of annual pay and increased steadily until it peaked at 140 percent of annual pay. At the Omaha Public Power District, CEO Fred Petersen, who makes $319,000 a year, works on a year-to-year contract and has no severance. At Lincoln Electric System, CEO Terry Bundy's multiyear contract protects his $182,000 annual salary.* *If Bundy is forced out by his board, even for cause, Lincoln Electric would have to pay him whatever remains on his three-year contract. Severance packages, Mycoff said, make it easier for utilities to make changes at the top without exposing themselves to lawsuits. Signing bonuses compensate for lower than desired starting pay without creating future financial liability, Mycoff said. Bonuses, for example, aren't figured into pay raises. Fehrman's contract allows him to continue living in North Platte for the next 3^1 /_2 years until his two sons graduate from North Platte High School. His office, though, will be at NPPD's Columbus headquarters. The future of the Cooper Nuclear Station is one of the thorniest issues that Fehrman will face. Mayben said the possible Cooper bonus indicates how important the plant is. Cooper generates about* *21 percent of NPPD's power. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given Cooper the lowest grade a nuclear plant can receive and continue operating. A number of steps forward have been taken, but plant performance must continue to improve. Both Fehrman and a new chief nuclear officer the utility is hiring will receive bonuses if Cooper can be turned around. The turnaround is expected to take at least a year or two. Fehrman graduated from Omaha Northwest High School and began at NPPD in 1981 as a 21-year-old working toward a civil engineering degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He rose to the top of NPPD's largest asset, the Gerald Gentleman coal plant near Sutherland, before moving into the executive offices. Along the way, he also worked on nuclear projects and earned a master's degree in business administration. Asked about their new CEO, board members praised Fehrman's clarity of thought, breadth of experience and no-nonsense approach. Board members also cite Fehrman's work at Gerald Gentleman as a reason for selecting him. Fehrman oversaw improvements there that have resulted in the plant being ranked second-cheapest in the nation in terms of operating costs. When Mayben arrived in 1995, he reached down into the management ranks to tap Fehrman as a possible successor. "I inquired, "Who are really the good comers who are here for the long haul?'" Mayben said. "His name kept coming up." ©2002 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved. Copyright ***************************************************************** 22 Prairie Grove School Shows No Contamination The Morning News :: News By Dan Craft The Morning News/NWAonline.net • [dcraft@nwaonline.net] FAYETTEVILLE -- Soil tests conducted at the Prairie Grove Upper Elementary School have revealed no health risks, a scientist with the Arkansas Department of Health said Thursday. The soil tests, performed by the health department and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, sought to determine whether any contaminants in the soil might be a factor in a possible "cancer cluster" in Prairie Grove. The tests were requested by residents seeking a cause for that possible cluster. Several other potential health hazards, including an abandoned natural-gas well and a site containing buried nuclear waste, had already been examined and found safe. The concentrations of 19 kinds of metal and one pesticide found in both surface and sub-surface samples were well below acceptable limits, said Chris Hemann, an environmental epidemiologist for the health department. Hemann analyzed the test data collected by ADEQ technicians. "A lot of this stuff is naturally occurring in soil," Hemann said. "Everything looks to be just fine. I think we've addressed all the areas where the community had any concern about a possible problem." Several regulated facilities in and around Prairie Grove were inspected or contacted by ADEQ for possible contaminant leaks, said Doug Szenher of ADEQ. No problems were found in currently permitted sites or on sites that formerly housed regulated industries. The investigation in Prairie Grove began when residents contacted the health department to voice concern about what they thought was a higher-than-normal rate of cancer among young residents of the town. Early data indicated fewer than 10 cases of cancer in residents under the age of 24, which was not considered abnormal, health department officials said. Generally, one to 10 people per 1,000 residents are diagnosed with cancer each year, according to the health department. The results of the soil tests will be available for public review at the Prairie Grove Public Library. © 2002 | The contents of this site, unless otherwise ***************************************************************** 23 Environmentalists say Russia's nuclear security is lax - 12/6/2002 - ENN.com Friday, December 06, 2002 By Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press MOSCOW — Russian environmentalists urged the government Thursday to focus on strengthening security at the nation's nuclear dumpsites and coping with the environmental damage inflicted by Soviet-era nuclear programs instead of importing radioactive waste from abroad. "Sept. 11 hasn't taught them anything," Anatoly Mamayev, an environmental campaigner from Zheleznogorsk, a major nuclear center since the Soviet times, said of Russia's nuclear officials. Unlike similar facilities in other nations that are located underground, Russian nuclear waste depots are built above ground, making them more vulnerable to terrorists, Mamayev said at a news conference. New nuclear dumpsites planned by the government are also to be located above ground to minimize construction costs, he said. The government insists that all of the country's nuclear facilities are duly secured. But Mamayev said that until recently the Zheleznogorsk waste depot, which holds about 3,200 metric tons (3,520 tons) of nuclear waste, was protected only by a shaky barbed wire fence. After Russian lawmaker Sergei Mitrokhin and a Greenpeace activist penetrated the facility earlier this year in an attempt to attract attention to its vulnerability, workers started building a more solid, concrete fence, he said. Mitrokhin, a member of the liberal Yabloko party, said nuclear officials had failed to deal with the security and environmental aspects of Russia's burdensome nuclear legacy. "They are launching new, potentially disastrous projects instead of solving the problems left from the time of the Cold War," Mitrokhin said. In one example, the government has been reluctant to evacuate a village badly affected by radioactive fallout from a 1957 waste tank explosion at the Mayak nuclear weapons plant in the closed city of Chelyabinsk-65, Mitrokhin said. Officials still refuse to resettle the village's residents, even though the Soviet government ordered the move in 1959, calling it a "deliberate murder," he said. Mitrokhin said the plan to import nuclear waste would turn Russia into "the world's nuclear dumping ground." A controversial law allowing the government to import spent nuclear fuel from abroad for reprocessing and storage was passed last year despite opinion polls showing most Russians opposed the idea. Russia already had imported spent nuclear fuel from Soviet-built nuclear power plants in Bulgaria and Ukraine. Mitrokhin said the main obstacle to larger radioactive waste imports into Russia was the United States. The United States controls whether spent fuel from reactors in most other countries can be transferred to Russia for storage because it provided the original fuel to them. The U.S. administration has said it would welcome nuclear waste shipments from around the world worth more than US$10 billion to Russia if it abandons its nuclear ties with Iran. Russia has been building a nuclear power plant in Iran and has considered plans to build more nuclear reactors there, shrugging off U.S. concern that such cooperation could help Iran build a nuclear bomb. Mitrokhin said Russia's cooperation with Iran is now the only obstacle to massive radioactive waste imports that would make Russia a "nuclear colony of the United States." Copyright 2002, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 24 UK: Do you know where your children will be in a nuclear emergency? By Erin Young Staff Reporter erin.young@doverpost.com [erin.young@doverpost.com] If theres an emergency at the PSEG nuclear plant at Salem and Hope Creek, N.J., dont rush to your childrens schools or daycares to pick them up. If the school or daycare is within 10 miles of the power plant, the odds are good your kids wont be there. If theres a nuclear emergency, most students in the Appoquinimink School District will be bused to two Dover high schools, Superintendent Tony Marchio said. So far, the nuclear power plant has had no incidents, said David Burgin, PSEGs emergency preparedness manager. We dont have any problems over here where weve ever had to evacuate anybody, he said. Weve never had that. But just in case, the plans are in place. All schools within 10 miles of the nuclear power plant are required to have evacuation plans and drill yearly. Appoquiniminks evacuation plan calls for students at Cedar Lane, Silver Lake and Townsend elementary schools to be bused to Dover High School, Marchio said. Students at the Early Childhood Center, both middle schools and Middletown High School will go to Caesar Rodney High School. Because Olive B. Loss Elementary School, located in Brennan Estates near Glasgow, is not within 10 miles of the plant and has no students who live within the emergency planning zone, it doesnt have an evacuation plan, said Rosanne Pack, spokesperson for the Delaware Emergency Management Agency. However, she said school officials did receive information about the procedures for people who live within the emergency planning zone. The M.O.T. Charter School, located on Levels Road in Middletown, is also outside the emergency planning zone, but it does have students who live within 10 miles of the nuclear power plant. DEMA officials met with the charter school board to review evacuation procedures, and the school is responsible for developing its own plan. They needed to be aware of relocation procedures in case they needed to get those students to a relocation site because theyre not allowed to go back into the neighborhoods, Pack said. Charter school board president Kevin Hensley could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Daycare providers within 10 miles of the nuclear power plant must also have evacuation plans in place. Daycares can choose one of four relocation centers. The responsibility of the daycare is to make parents aware of where their children would be bused in case of evacuation, Pack said. So how do parents find their children? In the event of an emergency, parents should head to one of two registration centers: the National Guard armory in Dover or the armory in Wilmington, on Newport Gap Pike, Pack said. There, they will receive a schedule for meeting and picking up their children. They are definitely not to go to the schools, she said. That would confuse everything. In fact, the National Guard and Delaware State Police will monitor evacuation routes, so people wont even be able to get to the schools. (The routes will) be monitored so heavily therell be no way anyone could stray away and not get out of the emergency planning zone, Pack said. The National Guard and state police frequently do drills and go to the locations where they would be steering traffic. People say they dont know where the evacuation route is, she said. They will know. They will be shown in no uncertain terms. Although some people might choose to go to a friend or relatives house outside the emergency planning zone, signing up at a registration center allows officials to have an idea what percentage of people have evacuated, Pack said. A calendar distributed yearly by PSEG that contains detailed procedures of what to do in case of emergency also contains a bright neon yellow sign. When people evacuate, they should tape the sign on the front door or in a prominent window so officials who drive by will know which houses have been evacuated, she said. Drills The Appoquinimink School District has a yearly drill to practice how the evacuation would occur, Marchio said. DEMA officials come in to observe how the district responds. The first thing that happens is a phone call to Marchio from the Delaware Department of Education. Ill take the call and call back to confirm that its a threat, he said. I have a series of people whom I notify, the transportation director, school building principals and so forth. The bus drivers are alerted and must respond to the school. Although students dont actually evacuate, district officials and DEMA can see how long it might take for the buses to get to the schools. Marchio said he also has a monitor next to his desk in case the electricity isnt working. The radio will turn on and be tuned into the emergency station so he can receive the broadcast, he said. The drill targets a different school every year, he said. Last year it was Silver Lake, and the district doesnt know in advance which school it will be. Few parents have expressed concerns about how the school will handle a nuclear emergency, although there have been some phone calls. Parents will ask if weve thought about what might happen, Marchio said. When we explain to them that were very much aware of it & they seem to be comforted that that is something we have thought about. Potassium iodide pills The school district is also working on a plan for distributing potassium iodide tablets to students in an emergency, Marchio said. The pills can protect the thyroid gland from radioactive iodine, which can be released in a radioactive emergency. They were distributed for free in August to people who live within 10 miles of the nuclear power plant. Potassium iodide pills have been distributed to all the staff members, he said. If the district is notified to distribute the pills, there will also be enough for all students. The district will send parents a letter informing them that there will be pills to distribute at the school, Marchio said. Parents will have to sign and return a permission slip if they want their children to receive the potassium iodide pills in case of an emergency. Copyright 2002© The Dover Post Co. ***************************************************************** 25 Reid Encourages Screening of Former Nevada Test Site Workers [News from U.S. Senator Harry Reid] ***Media Advisory*** DATE: Thursday, December 5, 2002 CONTACT: Tessa Hafen 202 369-9801 Will attend ongoing screening project at UMC Las Vegas, NV - Continuing his work to see that former Nevada Test Site workers are well cared for, U.S. Senator Harry Reid will be on hand to observe a medical screening program designed to prevent and minimize the health impact of diseases caused by site related workplace exposures. The three day screening session is part of the NTS Medical Surveillance Project, a coordinated effort by the Department of Energy, the Family Medicine Program of the University of Nevada School of Medicine and Boston University. Senator Reid is trying to raise awareness of the project and the resources available to former NTS employees. Senator Reid will be joined by Dr. Lewis Pepper, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator, as well UMC personnel and former NTS workers. What: Medical Screening for former NTS employees Who: Sen. Reid, UMC screening personnel, project coordinators When: Friday, Dec. 6th at 1:30 p.m. Where: UMC Quick Care on 6375 W. Charleston Blvd Senator Reid recently introduced a law to compensate former test site workers who became ill due to their work at the site. The compensation program is ongoing and a number of former workers and their families have received payments. ***************************************************************** 26 UK: Court date over beach radiation BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Friday, 6 December, 2002, [Dounreay] Particles have been found on nearby Sandside Beach A date has been set for the first private legal action in Scotland to focus on off-site contamination from a nuclear plant. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is being sued over the alleged contamination of Sandside Beach, in Caithness. The action alleges that the operators of the Dounreay nuclear plant failed to perform their statutory duty to detect and remove all the pollution which has washed up on the public beach. [Dounreay sign] Twenty one particles have been found on the beach The UKAEA monitors the sands on a monthly basis. But beach owner Geoffrey Minter, who is raising the court action, said it was not enough. He claimed that 21 particles found to date represent less than one per cent of the contamination present. The case will be heard at the Court of Session on 11 February next year. Dounreay said it would be making a vigorous response to the issues raised by the petition. Grain of sand Monitoring first started at Sandside Beach in 1983. The radioactive particles, which are the size of a grain of sand, are believed to have come from Dounreay - although the exact source has never been identified. Previously, a group representing The Commission on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment said the level of monitoring currently taking place on the beach was satisfactory. The group sought to allay public health fears, but agreed that further research into sand movement may be needed. © MMII | News Sources | Privacy ***************************************************************** 27 County's position on Yucca Mountain gains support of national organization* By DOUG McMURDO December 06, 2002 *TONOPAH -* Nye County won a powerful supporter last month when the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), at its annual convention in Chicago, adopted a resolution that recognizes the county's position as the host site of the Yucca Mountain Repository. During at Tuesday's commission meeting, Chairman Jeff Taguchi read a letter from Brian O'Connell, the director of the Nuclear Waste Program Office, as well as the resolution that was passed Nov. 12 in Chicago. NARUC agreed that Nye County has "identified its needs in the Community Action Plan" championed by Taguchi and passed by the commissioners earlier this year. O'Connell goes on to state in his letter that the commissioners are making "prudent" preparations in anticipation of the repository actually being built just north of Amargosa Valley. President Bush recommended and Congress recently approved Yucca Mountain as the site to store 77,000 metric tons of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. The decision came after two decades of discussion and scientific investigation at Yucca Mountain under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy. If ultimately used as a storage facility, the site would not receive its first shipments until 2010 at the earliest. How it might be transported to Nye from plants throughout the country is the issue most commonly discussed these days. The NARUC resolution was forwarded to the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. O'Connell wrote that it is "unclear" how the DOE would manage the various elements of "institutional programs" of waste management "as it shifts in to the implementation phase." The NARUC resolution clearly expresses its support of Nye, since the repository would "directly" affect the county. The burden, particularly where transporting radioactive waste is concerned, could be more than state and local government have the capacity to absorb. NARUC, wrote O'Connell, "intends to be a proponent of state, tribal, and local government involvement in nuclear waste transportation planning." The resolution refers to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, which gave the DOE the authority to begin its study of Yucca Mountain and tasks the federal government with the sole responsibility for the safe and permanent disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and government high-level radioactive waste. All that remains is for the DOE to obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NARUC notes Nye's lack of resources, the underdeveloped transportation infrastructure in Nevada, particularly in the rural areas, and other issues that may preclude county officials from protecting the local citizenry. NARUC resolved that Nye should not be subjected to an "undue burden," that the government should provide financial and other assistance to the county, and that the county and its communities should be included in all transportation planning, including modes, routes and schedules. Taguchi called the action by NARUC a "landmark decision," since the resolution focuses on local government needs as opposed to those of the state or jurisdictions outside of Nevada. /©Pahrump Valley Times 2002/ ***************************************************************** 28 UK: Waste store could be PPP scheme* DOUNREAY?S proposed nuclear waste store could follow in the footsteps of a Harwell sewer and be funded by a public/private partnership. The Harwell foul effluent PPP was announced last month and is a first for the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The authority has now revealed that private money may be used for a crucial intermediate-level waste store at Dounreay. The UKAEA has stated that the store is expected to cost between £40 million and £100m. It could be a cheaper open vault store, where the crane is exposed to radioactivity, or a more expensive charge plug store. The charge plug option has higher capital build costs but easier maintenance. The store will take intermediate-level waste from a proposed new waste-processing plant costing between £100 million and £200m. The processing plant is to sort, measure and drum up waste. The two plants form a vital part of the site clean-up and are a step towards dealing with contaminated rubbish from nuclear reprocessing and fast-breeder reactors. The plans have been drawn up by the authority in the continued absence of Government policy on nuclear waste. A spokesman for the UKAEA said the PPP funding route is only an option at the moment and said about 50 companies have been approached to sound out interest. He said: ?We have gone to a number of companies and the responses will enable us to put together an alliance with the UKAEA. We are simply flagging it up as a possibility.? The spokesman went on to describe what would happen if the PPP went ahead, saying: ?UKAEA would staff, manage and operate the facility regardless of how it is funded. ?If it was a PPP then we would envisage a member of the alliance owning and maintaining the facility. It?s to get the best value for money for taxpayers.? He said the authority would decide on whether the store would be an open vault or charge plug store. The formation of the alliance of companies next year is expected to be the biggest group of contracts let at Dounreay since the clean-up plan was published two years ago. Construction is set to begin in 2005 with active commissioning by the end of 2008. The authority maintained that 200 jobs would be created during construction. Site director Peter Welsh said: ?The new store will be fundamental to the management of existing and future arisings of intermediate-level waste from the site restoration work, and its delivery by the end of 2008 is one of the key milestones in our plan. It will provide a safe and secure environment for intermediate-level waste until such time as a national solution is determined.? Neil Money, of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, said: ?This major project emphasises the important role that traditional civil engineering skills will play in the decommissioning of Dounreay. ?Scotland has a long heritage of companies with civil engineering expertise that is second to none and this is an opportunity for Highland and Scottish businesses to become involved in the decommissioning process. ?The HIE/Caithness and Suther-land Enterprise task force is available to help businesses to maximise the benefits of decommissioning contracts.? ***************************************************************** 29 Ohio's $11.6M incentive wins USEC project - chillicothegazette.com Friday, December 6, 2002 By GREG WRIGHT Gannett News Service WASHINGTON -- Ohio offered U.S. Enrichment Corp. more than $11.6 million in incentives, including tax breaks and a loan, to locate a uranium enrichment testing center in Piketon instead of Paducah, Ky. The cost was worth the investment, Ohio officials said. The $150 million centrifuge uranium enrichment testing facility set to open in 2005 at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant will hire 50 workers earning at least $55,000 a year. Chances are also good the company would put a permanent uranium enrichment factory at the site that could employ 500 workers, state officials said. "USEC's decision to locate its lead cascade facility in Piketon will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the people who have relied on this facility for their livelihood as well as for the overall business climate in southern Ohio," said Director Bruce Johnson of the Ohio Department of Development. On Wednesday, U.S. Enrichment officials announced they had picked Ohio over Kentucky because its Portsmouth operation had a building that could house the test center, several workers already were trained to handle the new centrifugal technology, and the site is less prone to earthquakes than Kentucky. But Ohio also had offered Bethesda, Md.-based U.S. Enrichment incentives that Gov. Bob Taft would not reveal Wednesday, citing a confidentiality agreement. Ohio officials released details of the package Thursday after receiving requests from the public. The plant will test the new centrifuge uranium enrichment process, which refines uranium so it can be used in nuclear power plants. The centrifuge method uses less than 10 percent of the electricity a 50-year-old gaseous diffusion process uses. Company officials said the permanent enrichment facility would supply uranium fuel to power plants across the United States and in Europe, Taiwan and South Korea. U.S. Enrichment laid off more than 900 workers at its Portsmouth plant in the past year, shifting shipping and uranium enrichment operations 400 miles southwest to Paducah, Ky. So Ohio officials -- including Taft; Republican Sens. Mike DeWine of Cedarville and George Voinovich of Cleveland; and GOP Rep. Rob Portman, a suburban Cincinnati congressman whose new district includes the plant -- aggressively lobbied the company to bring the new test center to Piketon. Originally published Friday, December 6, 2002 [http://www.chillicothegazette.com ***************************************************************** 30 Dear Kenny: Letters to Gov. Guinn Las Vegas City Life By CityLife contributors and staff Shortly after Kenny Guinn was re-elected in early November, a handful of CityLife contributors and staffers wrote the governor letters. The letters addressed specific subjects - including education, gay rights, Yucca Mountain and women's health - and raised a variety of questions related to those topics. Despite his helter-skelter schedule, Guinn wrote back and gave us permission to publish his responses. While brief, they revealed a lot about his personal beliefs and his priorities over the next four years. In this issue, we present our letters to Guinn and the governor's return letters. We hope you find them interesting and informative. -Matt O'Brien obrien@lvpress.com By CityLife contributors and staff Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Gov. Guinn: I am a simple classroom teacher and union member - a double-whammy of economic woe. In the past seven years, Clark County teachers have received roughly 7 percent in raises, while the local cost of living has skyrocketed between 40 and 50 percent. Policemen, county librarians and many state employees get annual cost-of-living hikes between 3 and 4 percent to maintain decent living standards. Teachers do not. Furthermore, teachers were clobbered this year by a 300 percent take-back on benefits. A family of four, who a year ago paid $90 per month for medical, now pays $360 per month or more. You do the math. The sadness of these statistics is compounded by the leveling effect they have on morale in our profession. Numerous experienced, excellent educators are - often with regret - leaving the ranks prematurely; at the same time, the inexperienced and too frequently incompetent are popping up in droves. Consequently, children suffer in unnecessary ways. For example, in the past couple years I have witnessed too many new teachers having nervous breakdowns in classrooms while others, out of frustration, have thrown down their keys and walked out of the building in the middle of a school day. One recently hired math instructor lasted less than a few weeks because she had the demeanor of a mentally challenged secondary student. Then there's the perpetual parade of piteous others who simply surrender before their yearly contracts expire, leaving kids in the clutches of long-term substitute teachers. One theory circulates that the Godfather of Nevada politics, namely our beloved gambling industry, prefers not to have an educated populace for several reasons. First, an enlightened workforce might eventually demand equitable wages and better working conditions. Second, educated citizens would be less prone to indulge in the addictive behavior that fuels our economy. Therefore, education remains one of the lowest priorities in Nevada, along with homelessness and mental health issues. There is no money for teachers. The Rosetta Stone of Nevada politics, a 6.25 percent tax on casino profits, makes sure of that - although casinos happily pay 16 and 20 percent in other states. Our union, meantime, has obviously been asleep at the wheel. It remains oblivious to the fact that the history of labor in America has been one of bloodshed, literally and figuratively, and that one must be able to hurt the other side in order to gain anything. Many people in Nevada have profited from the economic pain endured by teachers. Yet, until teachers affect the bottom line of casino profits with an aggressive boycott, little will be done on their behalf to erase this brutish inequity. Odd, Gov. Guinn, how our union leaders hyperbolically vilified you (wrongly, I think) these past four years. Then, once the outcome of your recent election was no longer in doubt, they hypocritically turned around to court and support you. That said, my question is: Following your gubernatorial tenure, would you consider the side of the underdog and think about heading up our teachers union to lead a boycott against the casino industry until they pony up their fair share for the education of Nevada's children? Our ranks need a Spartacus. Perhaps you are he. Regards, Chip Mosher Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Chip, As you know my background is in education, which as governor is my top priority. Saying the gaming industry needs to pay more is too simplistic. We must expand our tax base. The tax task force has recently completed a year's worth of work and forwarded recommendations to the legislature and me. This analysis is more than 1,100 pages and will take some time to review. As governor, I've spent my first four years making state government run more efficiently by privatizing the State Industrial insurance system and freezing 1,600 jobs, including eight in my own office. Prior to the recent painful 3 percent cut, in which K-12 was spared, we cut more than $100 million from the state budget. I am committed to working with the Legislature to raise the revenue we need to make sure we continue to raise the standards of education and ensure that we meet the needs of the 20,000 additional students we take into our school districts each year. I am also upholding my commitment to our teachers to ensure they receive their promised pay raise that was passed during the last session of the Legislature. Gov. Guinn Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Dear Gov. Guinn, Until recently, I was very impressed with how you have treated issues important to Nevada's gay and lesbian community. I was especially impressed with your support of laws such as 1999's Assembly Bill 311, which made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. That's why I was disappointed when this October, after two years of silence on the issue, you finally revealed in an Associated Press article that you would vote for Question 2, the "Protection of Marriage" Initiative, because you support "traditional family values." While Question 2 is on its way to the Nevada Constitution, and therefore is somewhat of a moot point, I would like to hear more on your feelings regarding gay and lesbian issues. I have two questions, specifically: Would you support a reciprocal benefits bill (such as Assemblyman David Parks' AB 496, which died in 2001 thanks to opposition by Question 2 leaders) that would give domestic partners the right to make medical, estate and funeral decisions for their partners? And would you support efforts to make adoption legal for gay and lesbian couples who are adequately screened? Alternately, would you fight potential efforts to completely forbid gay and lesbian couples from adopting? Thank you in advance for your response. Sincerely, Jimmy Boegle Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Jimmy, While I didn't sign any petitions regarding Question 2, I did vote for it because I believe in a traditional marriage between a man and a woman. I support a policy of zero tolerance for discrimination. In general, government has no business regulating sexual conduct between consenting adults; that is a matter of one's own conscience. Neither, however, is government required to sanction that conduct. I also do not support gay couples adopting children because I believe the best possible situation for a child is in a traditional family environment. I have no objections to companies providing benefits to same-sex couples and I uphold their rights to visitation of their children. Gov. Guinn Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Gov. Guinn, I realize that a lot of the things you hear from your constituency still focus on the events of Sept. 11 and, in particular, the resulting economic fallout in the Las Vegas Valley. Obviously there is no need to recap those events, but I'd like to address the effect of these events on the most important segment of Southern Nevada's economy: the service industry workers. I was one of the thousands of workers who was "displaced" in the days that followed the terrorist attack. I am not a "skilled" worker, nor have I spent most of my career in the service industry. Like almost all other workers in the gaming industry, I am a middle-class citizen. Unlike many of the workers in the gaming industry, I am not in a union. The workers and laborers of Las Vegas are the city's lifeblood and many found themselves not only abused by the corporate powers, but also caught in the midst of a power struggle between the union and their employers. Las Vegas has been a great economic equalizer, in many ways, with respect to the opportunities afforded blue-collar workers. We are indeed a unique city in which a high school dropout can park cars and afford to buy a new home, a place where a barely bilingual mother of five can clean rooms in a hotel-casino and buy a car and not have to worry about health care for her children. These are the people who not only make our hotel-casinos go, but make our whole economic machine hum. It doesn't take much research to figure out this group is vital to everything from retail to housing - and when these people are without the means to pay a mortgage or meet a car payment, our whole economy suffers. This letter is not a call for government welfare or even union reform. The answers don't lie in these areas. The changes must come from both the employer and employees. With compromise and sacrifice from both sides, I believe we can find a way to avoid the massive layoffs and slashing of benefits that were common in the gaming community following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. I appeal to you and the gaming giants that dominate the economic landscape of the state to investigate ways we can step outside of the inherently limiting realms of tourism and gambling. We need to not be exclusive to these sources of revenue and encourage creative corporate thinking that focuses on keeping people employed. Slow economic times don't have to mean that all functions of a hotel-casino grind to a halt. So I appeal to you, Gov. Guinn, to put in place some real ideas and blueprints that supply new, diversified models for 21st century Southern Nevada. Look how far Las Vegas has come in such a short period of time. It has changed incredibly in its relatively brief history. Let's continue such growth by building a strong backbone for our service industry workers. We cannot afford to sell ourselves or our city short in these respects. If we choose to work together, we can keep this whole production as resilient as ever - a self-perpetuating success that feeds new generations, fiscally and socially, for years to come. Mark Danner Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Mark, Your story is common, which is why I have a single focus in the upcoming session of the Legislature to make sure that Nevada creates an economic revenue structure that will educate its children and take care of its people. Your letter is a good example of why we must expand our tax base. When more than 15,000 workers in our community lost their jobs after the tragedy of Sept. 11, I did everything in my power to ensure they received the maximum welfare and health benefits possible. Gov. Guinn Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Dear Governor: I've done more than most in my 30 odd years on this planet. I've written two novels and all the copies of each of them have sold. As a substitute teacher, I've taught everything from kindergarten to the college level for more than a decade and I've been a muckraking journalist for almost as long. I've even been a pro wrestling manager (don't say it). So I like to think of myself as a pretty smart guy, a man of the world who's been around the block. But what I can't understand for the life of me is how Nevadans can be so stupid as to vote for Bush, a man who had every intention of shipping more than 70,000 tons of nuclear waste to their backyard? The bottom line is that it's extremely hard to have respect for anyone who votes against their best interests. Webster's defines masochism as, "The getting of pleasure from suffering physical or psychological pain, inflicted by others or by oneself." And yet you're different, Governor. When you said the Yucca battle wasn't over and would move from the political arena to the courtroom, you defied type in a most refreshing and inspiring way. That's why I've called you "Gladiator" Guinn in print. Yes, I'm a left-wing idealist. Yes, you're a Republican. However, as the Rev. Jesse Jackson once said, there's a time to fight and there's a time to unite. Like Superman and Lex Luthor tag-teaming to stop an alien entity from devouring the sun in the graphic novel Final Night, you and I must each do our part to stop this madness before it's too late. There's no point arguing over which political direction Nevada should take, so long as high-level nuclear waste threatens to destroy the state altogether. United we stand, divided we fall. Saab Lofton Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Saab, I believe President Bush is doing a good job leading and protecting the United States during a very difficult time. That said, I disagree with the president over his decision to recommend Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump. As you stated in your letter, I believe our best chance to defeat this project is in the courts where our new Attorney General Brian Sandoval will take over from retiring Frankie Sue Del Papa, who did a wonderful job coordinating Nevada's legal effort. Gov. Guinn Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Dear Gov. Guinn, So I could get right on the bandwagon and talk about Yucca Mountain, but I don't really care about it at all. You and I both know that the feds are gonna do whatever they want with their land - and that Nevada politicians are gonna make a big show of fighting the good fight, because it looks good to the voters, and because none of you will be in office when the repository opens up. Not that I find that cynical or anything, and I certainly don't blame you - Nevadans are a vicious, heathen lot, and it would only take one wrong political move for them to storm the governor's mansion like the villagers in a Frankenstein movie, frothing and snarling and flinging ninja shuriken made of sharpened poker chips at you. However, if I may make a suggestion about the whole Yucca Mountain thing: Think about tradeoffs. Tell the feds that you'll quit pestering them if the DOE blankets the actual waste site with solar panels. Nevada is one of the only places in North America where solar power actually works well - and since we recently voted to publicize power, we can make a lot of cash by selling off the excess to California (per DOE statutes). Even with only 10-15 percent efficiency per panel, it's a good thing - and there are new solar technologies that can double that. I'm serious about this, Gov. Guinn: in a state that is mainly known for being hot and bright, you've got to use whatever natural resources are at hand - sunlight being chief among them. I also think you need to consider Nevada's technology industry - or rather, its embarrassing lack of a technology industry, unless of course you count Net porn, which flourishes in the ramshackle warehouses along Industrial Road in Vegas. You've got to make Nevada seductive to tech companies, governor. One pet solution of mine is to blanket metropolitan Clark County and Reno with state-run, high-speed wireless Internet access. It would be relatively cheap - about half a million per city - and any Nevadan could have Net access in their home for the price of a wireless card, which runs around $50. It would also be a lot cheaper than wiring up every public building, school and museum with traditional Net access, which would run into the millions - and would have to be replaced as soon as the telcos start running fiber-optic cable everywhere, which they should have done 10 years ago. Not to mention the benefits to lower-income neighborhoods. Have you ever tried to get DSL laid into a housing project, Gov. Guinn? Instead of keeping the poor people ignorant and ready for nothing but low-end gambling jobs, we could give them Net access, teach them programming and system administration, and give them a real economic base. Nevada could be the center of a thriving tech industry. Anyway, please think about it. Sincerely, Joshua Z. Ellis Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Joshua, Improving access to technology is important. With the limited resources that we have, I must choose making most of the technology you're referring to available to our schools. The budget that I build is developed from a very limited tax base - mostly derived from gaming and sales. In order to diversity our state's economy, we must first build a better educated workforce that would make it much easier to improve our technology systems. An educated workforce here in Nevada will attract companies from elsewhere to relocate in Nevada. An example of what I'm referring to is our Millennium Scholarship program that has helped 15,000 of our best students attend our universities and colleges in Nevada in three short years. Gov. Guinn Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Gov. Guinn, I'm writing to you from my apartment, which overlooks the Las Vegas Strip. In the distance, not-a-detail-spared hotel-casinos stand proudly - like trophies on a sandy mantelpiece. However, the proud postures of these structures camouflage apprehension. About a year ago, following the shocking terrorist attack, people stopped visiting Las Vegas and thousands of resort employees lost their jobs. The local economy has rebounded, but several factors leave the future of the gambling industry as hazy as the sky above the valley. In the shadows of the Strip squat low-rent apartments - railings wrapped with Christmas lights and children scurrying about the courtyards. However, all's not well there either. Hooded men hang on the street corners and ambulance sirens wake me in the early morning hours. "The victim was a 25-year-old Hispanic male," I later learn from a TV news reporter. You have a lot to worry about, judging from the view from my bedroom window, so I'll be brief. Admittedly, there are more urgent issues for you to address. I, however, urge you not to underestimate the value of the arts when crunching the budget. Adequate arts funding is essential to the evolution of our state. Potentially, it could produce more public spaces and programs - improving our quality of life and diversifying our blue-collar population. How many more artists, frustrated with the lack of support and spaces in Nevada, can we lose to California? How can Las Vegas develop into the city of the 21st century when it's culturally deficient? Additionally, public support of the arts is desperately needed in Nevada - considering the state's dominant private industry typically ignores the arts community, perhaps regarding it as competition for the leisure time of locals. In closing, I'd like to reiterate that I realize there are more consequential issues for you to address - specifically education, the economy and the environment. But don't neglect the arts. Nevada is not a wasteland - nor should it be a cultural one. Matt O'Brien Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Matt, Las Vegas will be my home when I leave office in four years and it's also where my children and grandchildren reside. I care very much about how our city evolves as a cultural center. I am confident as we improve our education system and diversify our economy, the arts and culture will also grow. I was encouraged by the statewide response to the bond issue that will result in a new museum and park at the Las Vegas Springs site right in the heart of our city. Gov. Guinn Nov. 15, 2002 Governor's Office 101 N. Carson St. Carson City, NV 89701 Dear Gov. Guinn, I am the president of Third Wave in Nevada, Southern Nevada's only feminist group for young people. It's come to my attention that emergency contraception (EC) is not available in this state without a prescription. In California and Washington, a woman can buy Plan B, or the "morning-after pill," at any drug store. The pill prevents pregnancies, but it must be taken within 72 hours of intercourse, the earlier the better. As it stands now, EC is legal but if a woman has intercourse on Friday or Saturday night, she must wait until Monday at the earliest to get EC. Also, hospitals are not required to provide EC to rape victims, or even let them know EC exists. Please consider the absurdity of that the next time the topic comes up in the Legislature. And this whole gynecologist thing has got to stop. They're leaving the state one by one, and I heard someone on the news the other day say that maybe this is not the best time for women in Nevada to get pregnant. Everyone should have access to health care, especially the unborn. We need caps on awards given in lawsuits against OB/GYNs. I understand that people get very emotional and want to see someone pay when their baby is sick or dead, but retribution for human mistakes or acts of nature is not the rational solution. Please support the adoption of California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act. I applaud you for awarding a recent grant of $2.6 million to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for early breast and cervical cancer detection. But women's health must remain a priority, because eventually the health of women affects everyone. Thank you for caring enough to read this letter and respond. Sincerely, Megan Capehart Nov. 27, 2002 CityLife 1385 Pama Lane- #111 Las Vegas, NV 89119 Dear Megan, Women's health issues are very important to me and my family. I care very much about some of the issues you raise. I urge you to contact your legislators and help them draft legislation to address your concerns. I can advocate for a number of health-care issues that I believe in, but without funding and support from the Legislature I would be doing little more than taking a stand. I promise that I will give serious consideration to a bill that covers the issues you raise, provided the Legislature comes up with a funding mechanism during this downturn in the economy. Two legislators who I would encourage you to contact that may not represent you, but are leading advocates on women's issues, are Kathy McClain from Las Vegas and Sheila Leslie from Reno. Gov. Guinn Copyright 2002 Las Vegas City Life ***************************************************************** 31 Ohio unveils Piketon incentives - 2002-12-06 - Business First of Columbus Sunday, Dec 6, 2002 Brian R. Ball Business First A uranium-enrichment facility planned for Piketon in 2005 will receive $11.7 million in state incentives, the Ohio Department of Development says. Officials with the state and United States Enrichment Corp. had announced on Dec. 4 plans for a $50 million centrifuge enrichment test facility at the complex. The new project will create 50 jobs with annual salaries above $55,000. More importantly, it may position the community for a $1 billion commercial plant that could bring 500 jobs to the southern Ohio community later this decade. USEC closed a gaseous diffusion enrichment facility at Piketon in 2001 at a cost of nearly 600 jobs. That facility, closed in favor of a similar plant in Kentucky, remains on so-called cold standby, according to state officials. The federal government in the early 1980s had completed an adjacent enrichment facility using the centrifuge technology, but then mothballed the facility. The “lead cascade” centrifuge test project would use that section of the Piketon complex in hopes of upgrading the 20-year-old section of the plant into a commercial facility by 2010. The incentive package offered USEC consists of: -- Up to $7 million in direct loans; -- A job creation tax credit of 65 percent for 10 years valued at $700,000; -- A $1 million business development grant; -- More than $2 million in research and development tax exemptions and credits; -- More than $775,000 in technology and other development grants; and -- Up to $100,000 in Ohio Investment in Training Program grants. Various state agencies must still approve the incentive package. Ohio competed with Kentucky for the test facility. USEC expects to make a decision on the full commercial facility in 2004. © 2002 American City Business Journals Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 More Paducah jobs expected if DOE recycles nickel [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Seven firms attended a meeting to discuss procedures for soliciting proposals, and were said to show great interest. Paducah could be the home for several industries if the U.S. Department of Energy accepts proposals for recycling more than 13,000 tons of scrap nickel stored in Paducah and Oak Ridge, Tenn. Seven firms were represented in Oak Ridge Thursday at a meeting to discuss DOE procedures for soliciting proposals. "They've shown quite a bit of interest," said Vince Adams, director of the Facilities and Materials Reuse Division for DOE's Oak Ridge operation. "We will allow them to continue asking questions through the end of December. We hope to have our request for proposal ready by March and make an award sometime in May." With an estimated 9,600 tons of nickel stored at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, it is probable that a major portion of the recycling work will be done in Paducah. Previous estimates were that the recycling alone could create 50 or more jobs for at least 25 years. The Paducah Area Community Resource Organization (PACRO) has lobbied DOE to make sure Paducah benefits from the recycling. PACRO helps find jobs locally for workers displaced at the gaseous diffusion plant. Officials here believe a recycling operation could attract related plants that would use the product. DOE will receive some of the profits from recycling. Although Adams said he didn't know how much DOE could earn, previous estimates cited $10 million or more. The recycled nickel, with low levels of radioactive contamination, can be used only in the commercial nuclear industry or for government purposes. A moratorium based on health risk concern bans it from consumer products. Two suggestions for its use were to build turbine fans and heat exchangers for nuclear power plants. Officials here hope to show that the nickel can be cleaned and used for purposes such as in the manufacture of batteries, said PACRO member Henry Hodges, director of the Purchase Area Development District. When recycling nickel was discussed two years ago, some DOE officials favored shipping the nickel from Paducah to Oak Ridge where a recycling plant already operates. But that plant closed, and PACRO says DOE now supports Paducah as an operating site. ***************************************************************** 33 Patton: Seismic factor swayed USEC decision [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 The big factor that Kentucky couldn't overcome in trying to convince USEC Inc. to build its test gas centrifuge plant in Paducah was the city's proximity to the New Madrid earthquake fault, Gov. Paul Patton said. The state offered what Patton termed a generous financial incentive package that included never-before-used tax rebates that would have required legislative approval. The package was worth "well over $100 million," according to J.R. Wilhite, commissioner of the state Department of Community Development. He called it one of the largest economic development incentive packages ever offered by the state. The biggest incentive was giving USEC annual payments equal to state income taxes paid by plant workers for 10 years. The state also proposed to refund corporate income taxes paid by USEC. Patton said despite the decision to locate the test plant near Portsmouth, Ohio, Kentucky should not give up efforts to attract USEC's bigger prize: the new production plant that will be built after centrifuge testing is completed. That plant, which will replace the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant by 2011, will cost up to $1.5 billion and create 500 permanent jobs. After it opens, production will end at the Paducah plant. Patton said Nick Timbers, chief executive officer and president of USEC, called early Wednesday to inform him of the decision. "He was very complimentary of the community leaders and the work force, and said the state's proposal was very competitive," Patton said. "In the end, he said the seismic costs and building that already is in place at Portsmouth were just insurmountable odds for Paducah to overcome." Wilhite said timing also was a factor. Having a building already in place could reduce construction time by a year or more. Timbers told Patton that Kentucky is still in the running for the production plant, but made it clear that Ohio has the edge. "He also said he didn't want to raise expectations because the same obstacles will remain for Paducah," Patton said. "The next governor will have time to search for a way to overcome those issues." Patton's term ends in December 2003. Wilhite said he was disappointed but not discouraged. "We still have an opportunity for the commercial plant, which is the true prize and creates the permanent jobs," he said. Between now and the commercial plant site selection in 2004, Wilhite said, Kentucky has an opportunity to rework its incentive package and try to overcome the issues that benefited Ohio this time. One benefit could be the results of a new seismic study, which might show Paducah doesn't need to meet stricter earthquake building codes because there have been no major quakes here for more than 200 years, and because the area could be outside the primary New Madrid danger zone. Patton said the state attempted to overcome the advantage of the existing Portsmouth buildings, built 20 years ago when the U.S. Department of Energy planned to implement gas centrifuge technology but didn't follow through. "We put extra money in the package to cover the cost associated with the building," Patton said. Kentucky's incentive package was in two parts: the first part aimed at the test plant and the second at the production plant. While the production plant incentives remain, Patton said, they should be reviewed and enhanced by the next governor. Unique to the state's offer was to give USEC income tax revenue from its current employees, "beginning with the day they break ground" for the production plant, Patton said. He said that is different from other incentive packages that usually give industrial prospects tax revenue from jobs created. Also included in the package was a promise to give USEC tax revenue from workers and companies involved in the construction. He said that also is a new incentive that the General Assembly would have to approve. "We had letters of commitment from the leaders of the General Assembly that the incentive package would be approved," he said. McCracken County was willing to give USEC the payroll tax revenue paid by employees of the new plant. "That would have been a hefty sum over 20 years," Judge-Executive Danny Orazine said. Local construction union leaders submitted a written promise that there would be no strikes during construction of the plant. They also offered to pay the cost of required drug screening of construction workers and pay the cost to certify craftsmen for specialized work. Another incentive was to offer USEC facilities in the Information Age Park to help train workers for new jobs. ***************************************************************** 34 Plant's suppliers concerned, yet positive - [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 By Matt Sanders msanders@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 A decision in the late 1990s by Electric Energy Inc. to increase the amount of power sold to outlets other than the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant is softening the impact of USEC’s decision to locate a gas centrifuge test plant in Piketon, Ohio, one of the Joppa, Ill.-based power plant's executives said Wednesday. Since the deregulation of the energy industry, EEI owners have increased the percentage of power sold to other customers besides the Paducah plant by 10 percent each year, which has provided the energy producer with several retail outlets, Vice President Bill Sheppardcq/ms said. “After deregulation, it became apparent that the owners should take the power and sell it to a broader customer base, as opposed to building additional power plants,” he said. Its owners are Kentucky Utilities; Amerencq/ms in St. Louis; and Dynegycq/ms, the parent company of Illinois Power. The Paducah plant is EEI’s largest wholesale customer, and used 36 percent, or almost 3.3 million of the 8.8 million megawatt hours generated by EEI this year through Oct. 31, Sheppard said. That compares with 4.8 million megawatts the plant used in 1998. “Our owners have been systematically taking more and more of our electricity and selling it themselves,” Sheppard said. “For our owners, this decision creates no immediate change, but ultimately they have to be able to market power or lose quite a bit of revenue. The immediate economic impact to EEI is not substantial, but there remains concern over the fate of the Paducah plant. That could potentially be a multimillion impact to us. ” Sheppard said the loss of the test plant and the uncertain future of the Paducah plant also affects employees who live in the Paducah area. EEI employs 264. “While it was disappointing to hear that decision, I can’t say that I was surprised after reading about the seismic issues in the newspaper,” Sheppard said. “I am a resident of Paducah, and a lot of our employees live in and around there, and we are aware of the economic concerns facing our community.” The fate of the Paducah plant, one of TVA’s largest industrial direct-serve customers, also concerned Gil Francis, a spokesman for the utility. “Certainly we are interested in the future of uranium enrichment services, but it is too soon to talk about what effects this announcement will have on TVA,” Francis said. “TVA would have liked to see the new testing facility in Paducah.” The selection of Piketon, Ohio, as the test site also means that Paducah lost several hundred union jobs to build the facility. While Larry Sanderson, president of Plumbers and Steamfitters Union Local 184, expressed regret, he also sounded upbeat. “In business, there are always peaks and valleys, but we will survive,” Sanderson said. “There will be other jobs to come along to take the places of ones we could have had. “I’m sorry (the test facility) went to Piketon, I would have liked to have seen it here, but the loss of a plant, you have no control over it. Hopefully, it won’t mean the loss of the (gaseous diffusion) plant, but that’s somewhere in the future. The whole community will have to get together on that.” Robert Petter, president of Petter Supply Co., described the Paducah plant as “a major customer” over the last 50 years, and said the potential loss of the Paducah plant would be felt across the community. “To replace what is there now and the project that was lost will require a multitude of future successes,” Petter said. “The announcement was certainly a disappointment. “We feel for the employees of USEC, and for local and state officials who worked so hard to support USEC, both in current state and future endeavors. It is a disappointment for those folks. ***************************************************************** 35 Two processes: diffusion vs. centrifuge [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 GASEOUS DIFFUSION Used by the Paducah plant during 50 years of operation, at peak requiring 2 billion watts of electricity daily, more than the state of Texas and twice that of St. Louis. The massive power — costing hundreds of millions of dollars annually, accounting for 55 percent of the plant’s total production expenses — is needed to run huge machinery in more than 300 acres of cavernous buildings to separate the useful and non-useful is7otopes of uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) for nuclear fuel. The gas is pushed through miles of piping containing billions of holes smaller than two-millionths of an inch. GAS CENTRIFUGE Used in Europe for several decades, the process enriches UF6 by spinning it at high speeds in hundreds of tall cylinders. The Energy Department spent nine years building a $1.5 billion centrifuge plant at Piketon, then abandoned it in 1985 after brief testing. Now USEC Inc. is testing the process to replace the Paducah diffusion plant within a decade. It uses just 10 percent of the power needed for the gaseous diffusion process and produces much less waste. ***************************************************************** 36 Through the years (Piketon Timeline) [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 1976 — Department of Energy breaks ground at Piketon, Ohio, on a $4.4 billion gas centrifuge technology plant to replace the gaseous diffusion process of enriching uranium. 1985 — DOE briefly tests, then abandons about $1.5 billion in centrifuge work in favor of a more promising laser-based process. Uranium enrichment operations cease at Oak Ridge, Tenn. 1992 —Congress creates government-owned U.S. Enrichment Corp. to run Paducah and Piketon plants. 1998 —The government sells USEC for $1.9 billion in a public stock offering. 1999 —USEC abandons $100 million in laser research as not cost-efficient. Research returns to gas centrifuge. 2001 —USEC closes Piketon enrichment plant and merges work with Paducah. 2002 November — After cutting about 350 jobs in the past four years, USEC announces eliminating another 200 positions next year at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant to save about $15 million annually. With early retirement as the primary incentive, the work force will shrink to 1,250 by early next year. December — USEC names Piketon as site for a 50-job test gas centrifuge plant to be operational by 2005. The plant will run two or three years to test the operational and economic viability of opening a commercial plant by early next decade. Spring 2003 — USEC applies for a test plant license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Late in year 2004 — USEC names Piketon or Paducah as site for $1.5 billion, 500-job commercial gas centrifuge plant. Spring 2005 — USEC seeks NRC licensing for the commercial plant. 2010 —The commercial plant opens, if at Piketon. 2011 —The commercial plant opens, if at Paducah. ***************************************************************** 37 What if plant in Paducah closed today ...? [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 If the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant were to close today, the loss would be huge: Losing 1,450 jobs would have roughly a $287 million economic ripple effect on the region, based on a 3-year-old state Workforce Development Cabinet model showing that every 100 manufacturing jobs are worth about $19.8 million to the economy in terms of spending power. Manufacturing has the greatest economic impact among nine industrial sectors, because those jobs typically pay the most. USEC is one of the area's highest-paying employers with an estimated annual payroll and benefits of at least $123 million. That breaks down to about $84,000 per worker. USEC and its employees evenly share about $200,000 in annual charitable contributions. The plant spends about $12 million annually on goods and services largely supplied by local business. The Paducah plant is expected to operate at least eight more years, regardless of whether the community gets a replacement gas centrifuge plant employing 500. But USEC's recent announcement that it will pare the work force to 1,250 by early next year came as the region was suffering from a string of plant downsizings and closings. USEC's new cuts mean a payroll drop of about 600 since 1998. During that time, including the USEC numbers, far western Kentucky has lost about 3,100 manufacturing jobs. The most recent blow was nearly 900 layoffs at the Goodyear Tire &Rubber Co. plant at Union City, Tenn.; about 20 percent of whose workers live in the southern part of the Jackson Purchase. Using the state model, the loss of 3,100 jobs has cost far western Kentucky about $614 million. That is offset by growth of several hundred jobs from the expansion of some plants and reopening of others, such as the Pella custom-window plant (formerly Mattel) in Murray and the VMV Enterprises locomotive shop in Paducah. ***************************************************************** 38 Whitfield downplays decision, resets focus [http://www.paducahsun.com/] The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, December 06, 2002 USEC's decision to put the centrifuge test plant in Piketon, Ohio, should not be viewed as the economic death of western Kentucky, U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield said. "We shouldn't be panicked by the decision," Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, said Wednesday. "We are talking about 50 jobs that won't be on line for a couple of years, and they are only temporary. We still have an opportunity to be considered for the main plant, and I'm optimistic about that." Even if Paducah doesn't get the new production plant, Whitfield said, the region has eight to 10 years to prepare for the possible closing of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and find other economic development opportunities. Also, the end of production at the plant will not mean the immediate loss of 1,250 jobs. If production is stopped, the plant will revert to the control of the Department of Energy, which would either put the plant on a "cold standby" status or decontaminate and decommission it. Cold standby means a plant is maintained so that production could be resumed quickly. Decontamination and decommissioning involve removing equipment and cleaning the buildings, clearing them for other uses. DOE spokesman Walter Perry said DOE officials "have no comment" on options for the Paducah plant. However, if experiences at other closed enrichment plants are any indication, any decision might well require a significant work force for 20 or more years. Production at DOE's enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., ended in 1987 but decommissioning work continues 15 years later, with a scheduled completion date of 2004. The plant still has 934 employees. The Ohio enrichment plant was placed on standby when production ceased last year. Today, there are still more than 1,300 employees. Also, other cleanup will continue at the Paducah site. DOE is committed to building a plant to recycle depleted uranium, employing about 150 people for at least 25 years. Furthermore, plans are evolving for a plant that would recycle thousands of tons of scrap metal, with a projected work force of 100 or more for at least 20 years. Cleanup already under way has provided more than 750 jobs. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning and Whitfield also questioned whether USEC can meet its timetable to have a new enrichment plant in production by the end of the decade. "This is a company that doesn't have a good reputation," said Bunning, R-Southgate. "They have paid exorbitant bonuses to the top management, and its debt rating is awful. They probably can come up with the money to build the test plant, but they don't have the money to make the investment to build the big plant. I'm very skeptical." The test plant will cost about $150 million, and the new production plant would cost as much as $1.5 billion. Gov. Paul Patton said one of his major concerns from the beginning has been USEC's ability to fund construction of a production plant. He noted that financial problems and falling stock prices have plagued the company. USEC officials said they probably will have to seek partnerships to fund the commercial production plant. USEC also is battling with a power company consortium that wants to build a centrifuge plant near Nashville, Tenn. Louisiana Energy Services has a permit pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and hopes to have a new plant in operation in five years, ahead of USEC's schedule. USEC is protesting the NRC application, contending there isn't sufficient demand for enriched uranium to support two plants and that allowing that plant to operate would create a national security risk because at least one of the major partners is a foreign-owned company. Also, Whitfield noted that under USEC's agreement with DOE, the Paducah plant may not be closed until a new production plant is completed and in operation. "Unless there is a certainty of a domestic source of nuclear fuel, the Paducah plant may not be closed," he said. U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell was not available for comment. His press spokesman said McConnell was in federal court all day Wednesday for proceedings involving a lawsuit he filed contesting new campaign finance laws. McConnell, R-Louisville, issued this statement: "USEC's decision to build the lead cascade in (Piketon) rather than Paducah is disappointing. We should use the next few years of operations as an opportunity to plan for the future of both the region and the workers. ***************************************************************** 39 Owners of Former Nuclear Site Authorize Consortium Talks* December 6, 2002 HARTSVILLE (AP) -- A five-county group that owns a former TVA nuclear plant site has approved talks with a consortium that wants to build a uranium enrichment plant. The Four Lakes Regional Industrial Authority this week authorized attorneys to begin discussions with Louisiana Energy Services. The firm, a consortium of energy companies, intends to build a plant where uranium would be converted into fuel for nuclear power reactors. The counties involved in the industrial authority are Trousdale, Macon, Smith, Sumner and Wilson. The property is about 40 miles northeast of Nashville. TVA once planned to build a four-unit nuclear power plant on it, but scrapped the project. The counties will vote later on rezoning the land and selling it. (Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) All content © Copyright 2000 - 2002 WorldNow ***************************************************************** 40 Another Yucca conflict of interest alleged December 06, 2002 Nevada lawmakers seek probe of potential misconduct By Benjamin Grove LAS VEGAS SUN WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers say the Energy Department has ensnared itself in another conflict-of-interest mess involving a law firm it hired to handle a Yucca Mountain matter. The law firm hired to investigate a project manager who said he was trying to blow the whistle on the department's mishandling of project concerns, signed on to lobby Congress in favor of the project just weeks after completing a report that led to the man's firing. Nevada lawmakers are calling for an investigation into conflict-of-interest issues with the law firm, Morgan Lewis, and the way the Energy Department has handled issues about the planned nuclear waste repository. "It doesn't smell right," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said. "With Yucca Mountain, it often doesn't." The Energy Department previously ran into conflict-of-interest troubles after it was revealed that Winston &Strawn, the law firm it had hired to help produce the license application for the waste repository, lobbied on behalf of the project. The latest claims come over the investigation into personnel disputes and allegations in the project's quality assurance program. In May 2001 the department hired international law firm Morgan Lewis to investigate. A primary focus of the investigation was James Mattimoe, a Yucca quality assurance manager, who said he tried to blow the whistle on the department's mishandling of concerns raised by project workers. He was fired after a Morgan Lewis report found he allegedly abused his power and retaliated against contractors. Mattimoe appealed to the Labor Department, which later found he was fired unjustly. Eighteen days later, Morgan Lewis registered as a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top trade group, to lobby Congress in the successful effort to pass legislation naming Yucca Mountain the nation's high-level nuclear waste dump. NEI eventually paid Morgan Lewis $160,000 to lobby for Yucca Mountain. Morgan Lewis has a history of working in and with the nuclear industry, ties that Nevada lawmakers say make it difficult for the firm to be fair. "It's telling that a few weeks after their investigation (of Mattimoe) that Morgan Lewis goes out and gets a sweetheart deal with NEI," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. Nevada lawmakers now are calling for independent investigations of potential conflicts of interest in addition to their earlier request for a General Accounting Office probe of whether Mattimoe should have been fired. Morgan Lewis officials, though, say they did everything by the book and say they had no conflict of interest. The Morgan Lewis lawyer who led the Mattimoe investigation, Jay Gutierrez, has a long history of representing pro-Yucca nuclear utilities and has worked for at least 15 nuclear power plants, according to the company's website. But Gutierrez said his investigation was fair and uncompromised by previous work for nuclear utilities. "We have rules that govern conflict of interest and we satisfied those rules," Gutierrez said. "There is no conflict of interest with respect to our other representations and the Department of Energy." Retired Yucca project chief Lake Barrett, who hired Morgan Lewis, declined to comment on how the firm was chosen when reached at his home in Rockville, Md. But one Energy Department official who backed Gutierrez said he was well respected as an independent investigator and well-suited for the job. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department needed a lawyer with nuclear waste expertise for the job. Mattimoe said the law firm probe turned into a hostile, personal inquisition of him at a time when he was trying to blow the whistle on wrongdoing within the Yucca project. The law firm's report led to Mattimoe's firing by the Energy Department contractor he worked for, Navarro Research and Engineering Inc. Now Nevada officials are suspicious of Morgan Lewis' and Gutierrez's ties to the industry, and question why a nuclear industry lawyer was needed to sort out what amounted to a complex web of personnel disputes. "It's pretty apparent that the DOE hired a law firm that has ties to the nuclear industry," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "The law firm selected an attorney that had done a lot of work for the industry, and he rendered a decision against the whistle blower. "The audacity of the scenario almost slaps you in the face it's so apparent. This reiterates what we have said for a long time: that there is a pattern of conflict of interest and a pattern of impropriety." Berkley said she would ask the District of Columbia Bar association and possibly the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate. Nevada lawmakers already have called on the General Accounting Office to investigate Mattimoe's firing, and Berkley said the probe should be expanded to include questions about Morgan Lewis and a possible conflict of interest. Berkley and Reid also said they were mulling whether to request an Energy Department Inspector General's investigation. "This is part of the a pattern the DOE has," Reid said. "This administration is tied so closely to the utilities, including the nuclear utilities, that it's almost hard to describe." Nevada lawmakers are troubled by Morgan Lewis' lobbying record. Just 18 days after Mattimoe was fired, the law firm signed its 10-month lobbying deal with NEI. The lobbying lasted until the Senate voted in July to designate Yucca Mountain as the waste dump. Two of the nation's leading legal ethics experts said Morgan Lewis had not clearly violated any ethical standards. "It's plausible" that the firm was conflicted in its investigation by its work for the industry, said Robert Drinan, a priest and professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. But it would be very difficult to prove, he said. And Morgan Lewis has a near flawless reputation, Drinan said. "I don't think we could presume that the law firm is wedded to the industry to do its bidding," Drinan said. It doesn't appear that Morgan Lewis had a conflict of interest, but there may be a legitimate question as to whether the firm was in a position to be completely independent, said Seth Rosner, a 40-year veteran lawyer, former chairman of the American Bar Association's ethics committee and chairman of the Josephson Institute of Ethics. "It does not sound like a violation of any legal ethical obligation," Rosner said. "(Morgan Lewis) may very well have come (to the Mattimoe investigation) with unfettered eyes." The Energy Department first used its Office of Concerns Program to conduct an initial investigation of allegations against Mattimoe. The office faulted Mattimoe on several counts. The department then hired Morgan Lewis for more investigation. Nevada lawmakers questioned why the department turned to a law firm at all for an internal personnel investigation. "That the DOE needed to hire a high-priced, prominent law firm with strong ties to the nuclear industry seems like an unnecessary expense, with the end result being that the DOE got its desired opinion," Berkley said. An Energy Department official declined to say how much the Morgan Lewis investigation cost. For Energy Department officials to suggest that they needed lawyers who were nuclear industry experts is "an absolute falsehood," Reid said. "This is an administrative issue," Reid said. "Why did they need to go outside the DOE?" Susana Navarro, president of Navarro Research, said she dismissed Mattimoe based on the Morgan Lewis report. The report found Mattimoe's conduct on the job did not meet "the highest standards of behavior," she said. The report said Mattimoe had retaliated against two Yucca contractors and abused his authority, including, in one case, securing a personal loan from an employee he managed. "Since Mr. Mattimoe was found by Morgan Lewis to have retaliated against other individuals, it is ironic that Mr. Mattimoe now raises the same kind of allegations that were raised against him and that Morgan Lewis substantiated," Navarro said in an e-mail response to Sun questions. Gutierrez, the Morgan Lewis lawyer who conducted the investigation, said he conducted a thorough and professional review of allegations that had been made against Mattimoe, as well as other personnel conflicts within the project offices. "We stand behind our report," he said. Mattimoe denies retaliating against anyone, and acknowledged he had borrowed, as well as loaned, money to colleagues -- before he was their boss. "I had a lot of concerns about Morgan Lewis," Mattimoe said. "I certainly never felt like they were being independent." Mattimoe appealed his firing to the Labor Department based on whistle blower protection laws, and the department agreed Mattimoe had been unfairly terminated. The department ordered that Mattimoe be re-hired and compensated for losses. Navarro appealed, and the appeal is pending a possible settlement. Meanwhile Mattimoe has taken work at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico. The Energy Department has faced conflict-of-interest allegations before with Chicago-based Winston &Strawn. The department hired the firm in 1999 to advise it on the application it is assembling for a Yucca Mountain construction license. But the firm quit its $16.5 million contract in November 2001 amid controversy, after two years of work. After the Sun reported the firm was also working as a pro-Yucca Mountain lobbyist for NEI, a department inspector general investigated and ruled that Winston &Strawn had not disclosed its NEI ties before the department hired the firm. The firm denied any conflict of interest, but resigned saying the allegations were a distraction. Nevada officials had said it was a conflict for the department to hire a pro-Yucca Mountain law firm before the department had officially approved the site. By law the department was supposed to be an independent manager of the project. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 41 Letter: Study biological danger at Yucca Las Vegas SUN December 06, 2002 Radioactivity getting into the ground water at Yucca Mountain might be the least of dangers. Bacteria and viruses already in the mountain, and new ones introduced by storage of nuclear wastes there, could develop mutant strains that will be indestructible for a long time. Most of the bacteria and viruses would be killed by the heat and radiation, but radiation is known to develop modifications in genetic structure that allow strains to proliferate that can withstand high heat and all sorts of radiation bombardment without being damaged. Bacteria and viruses have been known to survive thermal environments of several thousands of degrees, so the temperature of a few hundred degrees inside Yucca will seem relatively cool to them. I have seen no studies conducted of the potential biological hazards at Yucca, yet it seems to me the dangers of mutant bacteria and viruses entering the ground water are far, far worse than any radiation. These studies must be conducted, and the people of Nevada and surrounding states, including the country of Mexico, must be informed of the test results. RON BOURGOIN Rocky Mount, N.C. Editor's note: The writer was a consultant to the town of Rolesville in Wake County, N.C., in 1984 when a site in that area was being considered by the Energy Department as a potential high-level radioactive waste repository. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 42 Manhattan Project Newsletter - December 2002 The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. "Preserving, Exhibiting, Interpreting and Teaching the History of the Manhattan Project" Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Assoc., Inc. December 2002 Newsletter December 4, 2002 in this issue + 60th Anniversary of the Manhattan Project + Web Site Growth + A Planned Virtual Museum + New Material on the Web Site + New "Atomic Bomb General Store" + We Need Your Help!!! + Manhattan Project Veteran Archives + Does Anyone Remember These Veterans??? + Last Minute Notes: Welcome to our last newsletter for the year 2002. This newsletter is being brought to you by our new e-mail distribution service called Constant Contact. In a time when all of us are being bombarded by unwanted junk mail, we need to take extra precautions to insure that only those interested in the history of the Manhattan Project receive this newsletter. If you have received this newsletter in error and are not interested in preserving the history of America's atomic bomb effort during World War II, please "click" on UNSUBSCRIBE at the bottom of this newsletter and that will permanently remove you from further distributions. For those of you who wish to continue to receive this newsletter throughout the next year, please "click" on Edit Your Interests at the bottom of this newsletter and review the information there. You may update the information as you see fit. During the year of 2002, our 3rd year of operation, we met and exceeded several goals that had been established at the end of last year. First and foremost, we completed the requirements of the Internal Revenue Service and were formally certified as a 501c(3) non- profit, tax-exempt organization. Secondly, our web site growth doubled from 10,000 visitors in January 2002 to over 20,000 visitors in both October and November. Thirdly, we have been hearing from a record number of veterans and family members and have been receiving an extraordinary amount of memorabilia which will make our endeavor much more interesting to future visitors. More on that later. 60th Anniversary of the Manhattan Project [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=mxt8mtn6..ulhwqtn6&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ch ildrenofthemanhattanproject.org%2Fnl%2F12-02%2F12-02-A03.htm] We have recently received another tremendous collection of memorabilia from Marvin Davis, Sr., a former military policeman at Los Alamos and the Trinity site. Mr. Davis has contributed photos, complete rosters of the military police detachments, and other "one of a kind" documents. Mr. Davis was one of the first arrivals at Los Alamos in early 1943 as part of the mounted police contingent from Fort Riley, Kansas. Later, he was one of the first 12 military police assigned to Trinity and remained there until late 1945. He also witnessed the first atomic test. We are working on the material he provided and will make it available on the web site in January 2003. Most of the thousands of visitors to our site are students and they tell us that they gain more from viewing the original documents and photos than they do from reading the history. I encourage anyone with documents and photos to consider adding them to our "collections" area. Also, we are still interested in Manhattan Project certificates. Please contact us with any questions that you may have. New "Atomic Bomb General Store" A few months ago, we established a new "store" on eBay where we market a variety of items related to the Manhattan Project. At this store we have books, videos, photo-pages, documents, T-shirts, Sweat Shirts and more. This store has been a very successful way for us to raise funds for our organization. All proceeds are used to maintain our web site and are applied to our general operating expenses. Many of the items make an excellent gift for that Manhattan Project veteran and all are available for Christmas delivery if ordered by December 18th. One of our most successful items is "Atom Bombs - the Top Secret Inside Story of Fat Man and Little Boy" by John Coster Mullen. Everyone who has purchased this book has commented on the level of detail. Please visit our eBay Store by "clicking" on the image in the upper left of this section or on the below link for much more detail about this book and other items. The perfect gift for the Manhattan Project enthusiast. Another very successful item is the book "Decision at Nagasaki - The Mission that Almost Failed", by LTC Fred Olivi, USAF (Ret), the co-pilot of Bockscar, the B29 that carried Fat Man. Please visit our eBay Store by "clicking" on the image in the upper left of this section or on the below link for much more detail about this book and other items. Another perfect gift for the Manhattan Project enthusiast. Any of our items may be shipped to a 3rd party as a gift. Please contact us if you have any questions. We decided to wait until you got half-way through the newsletter before asking for your help. WE SINCERELY DO NEED YOUR HELP. We need new members, contributions of money or equipment, and contributions of new material to exhibit. We have just over 100 members which is far short of the 250 that we thought we might have at the end of 2002. Memberships are important for a number of reasons. The financial help of membership fees is obvious. However, the success of our application for funding from Foundations and Governemnt Grants depends on the support for our missions which translates into membership. We have a number of Membership Levels with the most popular being Manhattan Project Veterans (Military & Civilian) at $ 15.00 and all others at $20.00. We have had over 20 memberships at $ 100.00 and one at $250.00. Extraordinary contributions were provided by Clay Perkins, a retired physicist in California, and Jim Schoke, a former SED at the Met Lab. All membership fees are 100% tax deductible, so please consider joining prior to December 31, 2002. In addition to memberships, we also can use any type of monetary contribution. Although our organization is manned soley by volunteers, we do have s lot of operating costs such as rent, utilities, web hosting fees, advertising, postage, printing, phone, travel, etc. Unlike many other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations, we do not pay to solicit contributions, therefore 100% of contributed monies go directly toward supporting our organization. Please send any amount, $1, $2, $5, or whatever to: Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Assoc.; P.O. Box 366; Montour Falls, NY 14865. In addition, we are in need of the following equipment: 2 computers w/displays; laser printer, postage meter, hi- resolution scanner, & Microsoft Office Professional. Anyone wishing to donate any of the above used equipment, please contact us. Your contribution is 100% tax deductible. We also need volunteers to help in some of our areas of operation. We need assistance in membership, event planning, newsletter publication, etc. Anyone interested in helping out, please contact us. One last thing, please keep in mind that our organization is much more than simply providing photos and text on a web site. We are one of the "lone" voices fighting against historical revisionism that seeks to apologize for our actions in World War II. We are a primary source of information about the Manhattan Project for thousands of schools around the country. Keep in mind that in this "electronic age", high school students are more likely to visit our web site for an accurate interpretation of the development of the atomic bomb during World War II, than they are to pick up the "Making of the Atomic Bomb" book by Richard Rhodes. We have an awesome responsibility and we do not take it lightly. Manhattan Project Veteran Archives Our most important mission is to recognize the contributions of the thousands of men and women, military and civilian, whose tireless efforts brought about an early conclusion to the most horrific war in history. However, in order to properly recognize someone, we must be aware that he or she was a participant of the Manhattan Project. After two years of searching, we have exhausted most of any available official records. As many of you know, we are a National Partner of the Veteran History Project, an initiative of the Library of Congress. We are the sole entity for the collection and presentation of biographies of Manhattan Project veterans. Thus far, we have collected and are exhibiting the profiles of more than 130 veterans in our Veteran Archives section. These profiles include short biographies, photos, the Manhattan Project location worked at, years of service, and links to documents and other photos contributed as part of the profile collection. Many of these profiles include wonderful stories and should be read by everyone to glean special insights about some very remarkable people. We thought that we would have over 500 profiles thus far because of the hundreds of contacts that we have made with the family members of veterans. We encourage all of you who know of a Manhattan Project veteran to send in a profile now. It's free and will be a lasting tribute to a very special person. We receive many questions about the possibility of any governemnt compensation for illnesses directly related to work on the Manhattan Project. There are a host of illnesses related to exposure to radiation as well as exposure to other toxic substances such as plutonium, beryllium and polonium. Please "click" on the below link to visit the Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation web site! We have a few other veteran's issues to relate to you. First, two of our veteran contacts have passed away during the past few weeks: Raymond L. Hamilton, a former member of the Los Alamos provisional engineer detachment and Michael Olsen, a former member of the special engineer detachment at Los Alamos. Our thoughts go out to their families. They should always be remembered for their contribution in bringing about an end to World War II. Also, LTC (Ret.) Brenda Finnicum is documenting the history of Native American women in the military. If anyone knows of any Native American women involved in the Manhattan Project, please contact us. Compensation - Energy Employees! » Does Anyone Remember These Veterans??? Due to the fact that there was such tight secrecy surrounding the Manhattan Project, many veterans never spoke about their participation. We are hearing from an extraordinary number of people searching for information about a loved one. Below we have listed the names of some Manhattan Project veterans. Please take a moment to review these names. You could make someone very happy. If you remember any of the veterans or have any information on their whereabouts, please contact us at veteranarchives@childrenofthemanhattanproject.org "Slats" Cieslicki - Chicago Met Lab and Los Alamos 02) Paul Felix Nemenyl - Unknown Location 03) Thomas J. Anderson - Los Alamos (Fusing) 04) Francis (Frank) Wozniak - Los Alamos 05) Elmer Foust - Oak Ridge K25 06) William Deem Jr. - Wendover, B29 Modifications 07) Patrick Youtz - Unknown Location 08) James H. Rhodes Sr. - Oak Ridge, J. A. Jones Construction 09) Cletus J. Volpert - Oak Ridge 10) Jack W. Aeby - Los Alamos 11) George Beichl - Los Alamos, Explosives 12) William A. Sturm - Oak Ridge SED 13) Warren Sharp - Oak Ridge, Kellex, K25 14) Arnold "Ace" Grubb - Crane Company 15) Edward G. Carlson - Los Alamos, Project Alberta 16) Melvin B. Snell - Hanford, Engineer 17) Forrest "Buck" Nearing - Hanford, Civilian Pilot 18) Roy T. Mullen - Oak Ridge 19) Allen L. Moore - 509th, Great Artiste, Mechanic 20) R. H. Miller - Oak Ridge 21) Charles Menafee - Los Alamos, Driver & Courier 22) John J. Mendl - 509th, 1st Ordnance 23) Joe Holt Ralston - Unknown Location 24) Ruby May Dykes - Unknown Location 25) Capt. Albert Thompson - Oak Ridge, Physician 26) William F. Heise III - Los Alamos SED 27) Ernest K. Willer - Unknown Location 28) Clinton Pirtle - Oak Ridge, Stone & Webster 29) Charles R. Gantner - Oak Ridge, Masonry Contractor 30) Raymond D. Frank - Met Lab, Metallurgist 31) Roy G. Bradee - Allis Chalmers 32) Romain Witmer - Unknown Location We are looking for anyone who was a member of the military police at anytime between late 1942 and the Fall of 1947. This would be for all locations including Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Hanford, Columbia, Berkeley, Met Lab, 509th Composite Group, DuPont, Kellex in New York, Allis Chalmers, Chrysler Corporation, Mallinckrodt Chemical (New Jersey & St. Louis), Linde Air, the Dayton Mound Project, the Naval Research Lab at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Chapman Valve, International Nickel, the Crane Company, Houdaille-Hershey, and others. In addition, we are looking for photos of any SED's at either Los Almaos or Oak Ridge. Last Minute Notes: Many of our members are veterans that do not have access to the Internet. This Christmas consider giving your father, mother, grand-father, or grand-mother a computer and the means to connect to the Internet. You may have to drag them kicking and screaming to sit in front of a computer, but once they learn how easy it is, you may not hear from them for awhile. Thank you very much for reading our newsletter. All of us here at the Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association sincerely wish that you and your family have a very joyous holiday season and a very peaceful and prosperous New Year! This web site contains over 1,500 pages and 900 photos. More are being added each month. This web site is made possible though donations from our members and friends. We would be honored if you could make a small contribution to help us keep this project going. Please "click" HERE...it's fast, it's painless and it's tax deductible! Send mail to support@childrenofthemanhattanproject.org [support@childrenofthemanhattanproject.org] with questions or comments about this web site. Unless explicitly specified otherwise, this page and all other pages at this site are Copyright © 2000-2002 by The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association. Use of text, images, ***************************************************************** 43 Cost of refit docks for nuclear subs hits £900m Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Richard Norton-Taylor Friday December 6, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] The cost of building earthquake resistant docks to refit Britain's nuclear submarines has soared to more than £900m, almost double the estimate, and may rise even more, parliament's watchdog reveals in a report published today. The docks, at Devonport near Plymouth, were described by the national audit office as "probably the largest nuclear construction project in Europe in recent times". The contract was given to DML, a company whose main shareholder, Brown and Root, is a subsidiary of Halliburton, the American oil services company formerly chaired by the US vice president, Dick Cheney. The project was estimated to cost £576m. This had risen to £933m, and the final cost remains "uncertain", the national audit office said. Some £43m of the extra costs will be paid by DML, the rest by the British taxpayer. The project has been dogged by confusion over the responsibilities of the company, the Ministry of Defence, and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. DML had "no experience of managing a major construction project that was subject to civil nuclear safety standards", the report said. The MoD and the company blamed each other for the rising costs and delays, it added. One problem was that part of the work had to be finished by last February "to ensure the effectiveness of the UK's nuclear deterrent." This is a reference, which the report calls a "major achievement", to refitting HMS Vanguard, one of the Trident missiles submarines that will use Devonport along with the navy's fleet of nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed, attack submarines. "To maintain at least one [Trident missile] submarine at sea, all four submarines must begin their refit on time, as there is very little 'slack' over the next eight years", the report disclosed. "Each submarine will require two years in refit, followed by extended trials and training before returning to operations." Had it not been for these requirements for Britain's nuclear deterrent, the MoD would have been in a better position to demand that the company contributed more of the extra costs, the report said. It also said that Devonport's nuclear radiation decontamination building would not be completed until late next year, adding that the two-year delay did not affect HMS Vanguard because the submarine had "low radiation levels". However, it said that nuclear inspectors were concerned at an 80-tonne nuclear reactor refuelling crane "in the event of an earthquake". Sir John Bourn, the comptroller and auditor general said today: "Despite the stated allocation of risk in the contract, the MoD agreed to fund most of the cost increases ... Departments need to learn the lessons from this project." Lord Bach, defence procurement minister, said: "This has been one of the largest and most complex civil engineering projects undertaken in Europe. It has been carried forward within a working dockyard with an ongoing programme of submarine refits. And it has had to meet exacting nuclear safety conditions that changed and developed as the work was under way." He added: "Crucially, the refit of HMS Vanguard went ahead, and our nuclear deterrent was not compromised. The alternative would have been a difficult legal battle that would have threatened the completion of the facilities." Colin Breed MP, Liberal Democrat defence spokesman and Devonport's MP, said: "Both the MoD and the contractor have shown their incompetence in this project. How can the MoD claim it was unaware that it bore the risk when DML had negotiated a get-out clause?" Useful links British army [http://www.army.mod.uk/] Royal Navy [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/] RAF [http://www.raf.mod.uk/] Ministry of Defence [http://www.mod.uk/] Nato [http://www.nato.int/home.htm] United Nations [http://www.un.org/] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 44 Federal panel backs whistleblower at Los Alamos lab, orders retroactive pay raise Contra Costa Times | 12/06/2002 | ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - A federal panel found that Los Alamos National Laboratory retaliated against a whistleblower and ordered the lab to raise his salary retroactively and pay him $49,000 in legal fees. Los Alamos also must remove negative comments from a performance evaluation for auditor Joe Gutierrez, the Labor Department panel said. Gutierrez filed a complaint against the lab in 1997, a year after he went public with documents showing that the lab lied about emissions of airborne radioactive materials in the mid-1990s, in violation of the Clean Air Act. Gutierrez said he had learned of the violations while working on an internal assessment, but said his bosses would not acknowledge or act on the information. He went public, he said, in the interests of public health. The evidence later helped convince a federal judge that the lab had violated air-emission regulations. The lab had appealed two previous decisions in Gutierrez's favor. Jim Danneskiold, a spokesman for the lab, declined Thursday to discuss the latest ruling, issued Nov. 13, or any further appeal "because the case has not run its entire course yet." "There are still several issues to be resolved," Danneskiold said. He said he did not know when that would happen, and could not specify what those issues are. "Hopefully the lab won't appeal this so we can get this behind us, and we can all move forward," said Gutierrez, who now works on technology-transfer issues at the lab. ------ On the Net: Lab: [http://www.lanl.gov] ***************************************************************** 45 Department of Energy Awards Miamisburg Closure Project Cleanup Contract Cleanup to be Completed Nine Months Ahead of Schedule energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release December 5, 2002 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Energy announced today the award of a $314 million closure contract to CH2M Hill Mound Inc., for the accelerated cleanup of the Miamisburg Closure Project (MCP). The Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF) closure contract that was awarded will accelerate cleanup and then transfer the site to the Miamisburg Mound Community Improvement Corporation for industrial use by March 31, 2006 – nine months ahead of schedule. This CPIF closure contract represents a savings of $100 million for the scope of work included in the procurement. "I've made it clear from day one that I expect every cleanup site for which we have responsibility to dramatically accelerate the time for cleanup and the reduction of risk to communities," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. "I am pleased that, with this award, we will accelerate the Miamisburg cleanup from a completion date of 2009 to no later than 2006." "The department has included in the contract both cost and schedule incentives to complete cleanup at the site before March 2006 and at a lower cost," Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Jessie Roberson said. "The work will be done in a quick and efficient way while maintaining safety as a top priority." The award of the Miamisburg contract marks the first major procurement since the department's Top-to-Bottom Review of the Environmental Management Program. This procurement process and contract incorporates many its findings to include reducing project risks and accelerating cleanup at the MCP while requiring a high level of safety performance at the site. "The acquisition process used for the MCP contract demonstrates our ability to conduct an efficient and effective procurement, and re-establishes our expectations for improved performance on current and future environmental management contracts," Roberson added. The new closure contract will take effect January 1, 2003. Media Contact: Dolline Hatchett, 202/586-5806 Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. PR-02-254 ***************************************************************** 46 DOE: Grant available for longterm radionuclide monitoring FR Doc 02-30918 [Federal Register: December 6, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 235)] [Notices] [Page 72652-72657] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06de02-46] DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Notice 03-13: Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research Program AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications. SUMMARY: The Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for research grants in the Natural and Accelerated Bioremediation Research (NABIR) Program. The goal of the NABIR program is to provide the fundamental science that will serve as the basis for development of cost-effective bioremediation and long-term stewardship of radionuclides and metals in the subsurface at DOE sites. The focus of the program is on strategies leading to long-term immobilization of contaminants in place to reduce the risk to humans and the environment. Research should address bioremediation of uranium, technetium, plutonium, chromium or mercury. NABIR is focused on subsurface sediments below the zone of root influence and includes both the vadose (unsaturated) zone and the saturated zone (groundwater and sediments). Applications should describe research projects in one or more of the following program elements: Biogeochemistry, Biotransformation, Community Dynamics and Microbial Ecology, Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Assessment, and Bioremediation and its Societal Implications and Concerns. Studies that integrate research from more than one NABIR element are strongly encouraged. DATES: Researchers are strongly encouraged (but not required) to submit a preapplication for programmatic review. Preapplications will be accepted on an ongoing basis, however, early submission of preapplications is encouraged, to allow time for review for programmatic relevance. A brief preapplication should consist of one or two pages of narrative describing the research objectives and methods. The deadline for receipt of formal applications is 4:30 p.m., E.S.T., March 11, 2003, to be accepted for merit review and to permit timely consideration for awards late in Fiscal Year 2003 or in early Fiscal Year 2004. ADDRESSES: Preapplications referencing Program Notice 03-13 should be sent by E-mail to [anna.palmisano@science.doe.gov] . Formal applications in response to this solicitation are to be electronically submitted by an authorized institutional business official through DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://e-center.doe.gov/] . IIPS provides for the posting of solicitations and receipt of applications in a paperless environment via the Internet. In order to submit applications through IIPS your business official will need to register at the IIPS Web site. The Office of Science will include attachments as part of this notice that provide the appropriate forms in PDF fillable format that are to be submitted through IIPS. Color images should be submitted in IIPS as a separate file in PDF format and identified as such. These images should be kept to a minimum due to the limitations of reproducing them. They should be numbered and referred to in the body of the technical scientific application as Color image 1, Color image 2, etc. Questions regarding the operation of IIPS may be E-mailed to the IIPS Help Desk at: [HelpDesk@e-center.doe.gov] or you may call the help desk at: (800) 683-0751. Further information on the use of IIPS by the Office of Science is available at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/gr ants.html] . If you are unable to submit an application through IIPS please contact the Grants and Contracts Division, Office of Science at: (301) 903-5212 in order to gain assistance for submission through IIPS or to receive special approval and instructions on how to submit printed applications. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Anna Palmisano, Environmental Remediation Sciences Division, SC-75/Germantown Building, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290, telephone: (301) 903-9963, E-mail: [anna.palmisano@science.doe.gov] , fax: (301) 903-8519. The full text of Program Notice 03-13 is available via the Internet using the following Web site address: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/] grants/grants.html. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background For more than 50 years, the U.S. created a vast network of more than 113 [[Page 72653]] facilities for research, development, testing and production of nuclear weapons. As a result of these activities, subsurface contamination has been identified at over 7,000 discrete sites across the U.S. Department of Energy complex. With the end of the Cold War threat, the DOE has shifted its emphasis to remediation, decommissioning, and decontamination of contaminated groundwater, sediments, and structures at its sites. DOE is currently responsible for remediating 1.7 trillion gallons of contaminated groundwater and 40 million cubic meters of contaminated soil. It is estimated that more than 60% of DOE facilities have groundwater contaminated with metals or radionuclides. More than 50% of all DOE facilities have soils or sediments contaminated with radionuclides and metals. While virtually all of the contaminants found at industrial sites nationwide can also be found at DOE sites, many of the metals and most of the radionuclides are unique to DOE sites. The NABIR program aims: (1) To provide the fundamental knowledge that may lead to new remediation technologies or strategies for radionuclides and metals; and (2) to advance the understanding of the key microbiological and geochemical processes that control the effectiveness of in situ immobilization as a means of long term stewardship, and how these processes impact contaminant transport. While bioremediation of organic contaminants involves their biotransformation to benign products such as carbon dioxide, bioremediation of radionuclides and metals involves their removal from the aqueous phase to reduce risk to humans and the environment. Microorganisms can directly affect the solubility of radionuclides and metals by changing their oxidation state to a reduced form that leads to in situ immobilization. Or, microorganisms can indirectly immobilize radionuclides and metals through the reduction of inorganic ions that can, in turn, chemically reduce contaminants to less mobile forms. The long term stability of these reduced contaminants is as yet unknown. Currently, the fundamental knowledge that would allow cost- effective deployment of in situ subsurface bioremediation of radionuclides and metals is lacking. The focus of the NABIR program is on radionuclides and metals that: (1) Pose the greatest potential risk to humans and the environment at DOE sites; and (2) are amenable to for immobilization by means of bioremediation. Thus, research is focused on the radionuclides uranium, technetium and plutonium and the metals chromium and mercury. Radioactive contaminants such as tritium and cobalt are not a focus because of their relatively short half lives, and strontium and cesium are not addressed because they are not readily amenable to biotransformation. Research is focused on subsurface sediments below the zone of root influence and includes both the vadose (unsaturated) zone and the saturated zone (both groundwater and sediments). NABIR research is oriented toward areas that have low levels of widespread contamination; it is too costly to clean up those situations with existing technologies. Uranium, technetium, and chromium can be especially mobile in the subsurface under certain conditions; they are risk-driving contaminants at some DOE sites. The effects of co-contaminants such as nitrate, complexing agents (such as EDTA) and chlorinated solvents (such as trichloroethylene and carbon tetrachloride) on the behavior of radionuclides and metals in the subsurface is also of interest to the NABIR program. NABIR Program The goal of the NABIR program is to provide the fundamental science that will serve as the basis for development of cost-effective bioremediation and long-term stewardship of radionuclides and metals in the subsurface at DOE sites. The focus of the program is on strategies leading to long-term immobilization in place of contaminants to reduce the risk to humans and the environment. The NABIR program encompasses both intrinsic bioremediation by naturally occurring microbial communities, as well as accelerated bioremediation through the use of biostimulation (addition of inorganic or organic nutrients). The NABIR Program supports hypothesis-driven, basic research that is more fundamental in nature than demonstration projects. Research on phytoremediation will not be supported by this solicitation; a separate solicitation for a Joint Interagency Program on Phytoremediation Research can be found at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/Fr 03-04.html] . Naturally occurring subsurface microbes may be involved in intrinsic bioremediation of radionuclides and metals by reduction and immobilization, either directly or indirectly. However, these natural processes typically occur at fairly slow rates, and there may be a need to use biostimulation to enhance the rates. The primary focus of the NABIR program is on biostimulation strategies, due to the ubiquity of metal-reducers in nature. Immobilized radionuclides and metals are not removed from the subsurface as may occur with excavation, pump and treat, or biodegradation of organic contaminants. Immobilization is focused on containment in vadose zone and groundwater plumes. As such, it may be a strategy applied to prevent the discharge of deep or widely distributed contaminants from the vadose zone to groundwater, or from groundwater to a receiving water body (e.g., the Columbia River at Hanford). In situ immobilization of contaminants is one approach to long term stewardship, which is the post-closure responsibility of DOE at its contaminated sites. Long term stewardship involves long-term monitoring and other maintenance activities to ensure that residual in- ground contaminants do not spread further. Therefore, an important aspect to the NABIR program is to assess factors controlling the long- term stability of the immobilized contaminants and to devise approaches (biological/chemical) to maintain their immobilization through the stewardship phase. The NABIR program consists of four interrelated Science Elements (Biogeochemistry, Biotransformation, Community Dynamics and Microbial Ecology, and Biomolecular Science and Engineering). Innovative method development for the Science Elements is supported under the Assessment Element. The program also includes an element addressing ethical, legal and societal issues called Bioremediation and its Societal Implications and Concerns (BASIC). The NABIR program strongly encourages researchers to integrate laboratory and field research at DOE or DOE-relevant sites. More information on the NABIR program may be found at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.lbl.gov/NABIR] . The NABIR Field Research Center (FRC) and Other Field Research Sites The NABIR FRC provides a site for investigators to conduct field- scale research and to obtain DOE-relevant subsurface samples for laboratory-based studies of bioremediation. The FRC is located on the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and it is operated by the Environmental Sciences Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The contaminated and background (uncontaminated control) areas are located in Bear Creek Valley (BCV) within the Y-12 Plant area. See: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.esd.ornl.gov/nabirfrc] for more detailed information on the NABIR FRC. The contaminated research site at the FRC is a 98-hectare plot containing [[Page 72654]] uranium, nitrate, technetium, strontium, and cadmium in groundwater, soils, and sediments. To a lesser extent, metals such as mercury, copper, zinc, and lead, and organics such as acetone, methylene chloride, tetrachloroethylene, and toluene are also present. The contaminated area includes the commingled groundwater plumes that originated from a combination of the S-3 Waste Disposal Ponds and the Bone Yard/Burn Yard. Both the background and contaminated areas are well-characterized and well-instrumented, and should be available for a duration of five to ten years. The water table resides between 0 and 3 m below the surface and is readily accessible through multilevel groundwater monitoring wells. The initial focus of NABIR field research is on in situ biostimulation experiments to promote immobilization of uranium. Understanding natural and stimulated uranium biotransformation in the presence of high nitrate and low pH in unconsolidated residuum and fractured rock is one of the biggest challenges at the FRC at Oak Ridge, and at other DOE sites. NABIR researchers conduct controlled, field-scale hypothesis testing at the FRC. In addition, the FRC is currently providing subsurface samples for 20 laboratory-based NABIR projects. These projects span all NABIR Science Elements as well as the cross-cutting Assessment and BASIC Elements. Site characterization activities are ongoing and will result in a rich database for use by NABIR researchers. The FRC is responsible for data management, systems integration, and fundamental hydrological and geochemical modeling of the contaminated and background sites. The FRC makes these data and models accessible to all NABIR researchers. While the FRC provides a major focus for the NABIR program, it is recognized that other sites that represent the different hydrogeological regimes found at DOE sites will also be valuable to researchers. A large fraction of the national inventory of DOE wastes resides in unconsolidated, porous media in relatively thick, vadose zones and in groundwaters low in soluble organic carbon. For this reason, NABIR investigators are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to collect and analyze samples from arid western environments that typify the Hanford Reservation and Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) sites. For further information on NABIR Field Research, please contact Mr. Paul Bayer (paul.bayer@ science.doe.gov), the NABIR Field Activities Manager. NABIR investigators may want to take advantage of the capabilities of the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ( [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.emsl.pnl.gov] ). EMSL provides users with unique and state-of-the-art resources including facilities for high field magnetic resonance, high performance mass spectrometry, interfacial and nanoscale science, molecular science computing, and optical imaging and spectroscopy. Current Request for Applications Research projects that address the scientific aims of individual NABIR elements including Biogeochemistry, Biotransformation, Community Dynamics, Biomolecular Science and Engineering, as well as the cross cutting elements Assessment and BASIC are solicited in this announcement. Integrative, interdisciplinary studies that involve research from more than one element are especially encouraged. The focus is on field research, or laboratory studies that can be scaled to the field, to provide supporting information for current or future field research. The NABIR Field Research Center (FRC) provides an opportunity for researchers to work at a DOE site in collaboration with scientists from different research elements. Studies at the NABIR FRC show that microbial reduction of radionuclides and metals is affected by the presence of nitrate and low pH. Thus, research into microbial mechanisms involved in the reduction of radionuclides and metals in this type of subsurface environment is of special interest. Biogeochemistry: The goal of this element is to understand the fundamental biogeochemical reactions that would lead to long-term immobilization of metal and radionuclide contaminants in the subsurface. The focus is on reactions that govern the concentration, chemical speciation, and distribution of metals and radionuclides between the aqueous and solid phases. Biogeochemical reactions in subsurface environments are influenced by a wide variety of factors, including the availability of electron donors and acceptors, the nature of the microbial community, the chemical species or form of contaminant, the hydrogeology of the site, and the nature of the environmental matrix. Often several competing redox reactions make the prediction of the substrates, products, and kinetics difficult. The biogeochemical reactions are further complicated by the sorption of contaminants and reaction products to mineral surfaces, and the presence of natural organic matter and co-contaminants. The research challenge is to identify and prioritize the key biogeochemical reactions that are needed to predict the rate and extent of reactions that result in the immobilization of radionuclides and metals. New and creative scientific approaches are sought that address the following fundamental research questions: [sbull] To increase immobilization of radionuclides and metals, what are the principal biogeochemical reactions that govern the concentration, chemical speciation, and distribution of metals and radionuclides between the aqueous and solid phases (with an emphasis on natural geological matrices)? What are the thermodynamic and kinetic controls on these reactions? How do factors such as co-contaminants, sorption processes, and terminal electron acceptors (e.g., nitrate, iron, sulfate), influence these reactions? [sbull] Under what conditions would the contaminants remobilize, and what alterations to the environment would increase the long term stability of metals and radionuclides in the subsurface? [sbull] What influence do hydrological processes such as reactive transport, advective/dispersive transport and colloidal transport have on the biological availability, biotransformation, and movement of radionuclides and metals? Biotransformation: The goal of this element is to understand the mechanisms of microbially mediated transformation of metals and radionuclides in subsurface environments leading to in situ immobilization and long term stability. Physiological studies of the biotransformation of metals and radionuclides by subsurface microorganisms will provide the knowledge base needed to understand intrinsic bioremediation and to stimulate biotransformation in situ. DOE subsurface sites encompass a range of redox environments where contaminants such as uranium are present. One challenge is to understand the impact of these environments on microbial physiological processes involved in the biotransformation of radionuclides and metals to an immobilized form. Knowledge of the metabolic pathways for biotransformation of these contaminants by naturally occurring microbial communities in vadose zones, saturated zones and the waste plume is needed. A second challenge is to accelerate the rates of these physiological processes in situ, in complex subsurface [[Page 72655]] environments. Biotransformation of metals and radionuclides in the subsurface is poorly understood, and predictive models based on laboratory studies have not always accurately simulated the observed fate of metals and radionuclides in the field. It is important to understand the kinetics of desirable metal and radionuclide biotransformations and the physicochemical factors affecting those kinetics in the field. Research is needed to address questions such as: [sbull] What are the primary metabolic pathways for biotransformation of radionuclides and/or metals by subsurface microorganisms at DOE sites, such as the FRC? Physiological processes studied at the laboratory scale will need to demonstrate how results will be scaled to the field. [sbull] How can metal reduction be harnessed or accelerated to immobilize radionuclides and/or metals in the subsurface? Can in situ production of organic acids, chelators, or extracellular polymers affect contaminant mobility? [sbull] What environmental controls affect microbial physiological processes involved in radionuclide and metal biotransformations leading to immobilization in vadose and saturated zones? What factors inhibit these biotransformations in situ? [sbull] How can we quantify in situ biotransformation kinetics so that these parameters can be applied to numerical models of field scale bioremediation? Community Dynamics and Microbial Ecology: The goal of this element is to determine the potential for natural microbial communities to immobilize radionuclides and metals. In particular, research focuses on: (1) Understanding the structure and function of microbial communities in the subsurface at DOE sites contaminated with metals and radionuclides; and (2) identifying and optimizing the in situ growth of microorganisms that transform radionuclides and metals. This research will enhance our ability to predict the effectiveness of intrinsic bioremediation and to optimize microbial community composition for in situ immobilization of these contaminants. Diverse microbial communities can be found in subsurface environments. These communities represent an untapped catalytic potential for biotransformation of radionuclides and metals. Most of these microbes, however, are as yet uncultured using current methods. One challenge is to determine if sufficient genotypic and/or phenotypic potential exists to support natural and/or accelerated (biostimulated) bioremediation. Knowledge of microbial community structure and function may ultimately provide the ability to control or stimulate subsurface communities capable of biotransformation of radionuclides and metals. A second challenge is to optimize the community structure and activity for immobilization and metals, and to determine the long term stability of bioremediative communities. Research is needed to address questions such as: [sbull] Is there sufficient biological activity and diversity in subsurface environments to support natural and/or accelerated bioremediation of metals and radionuclides? [sbull] What are the effects of metal and radionuclide contamination on microbial community structure and function, particularly on populations that transform radionuclides and metals? What are the effects of key physical, chemical and hydrological factors on community structure and function, as it relates to immobilization of metals and radionuclides? [sbull] What is the role of consortial interactions in subsurface environments contaminated with radionuclides and metals? Such interactions might include competition for electron donors and acceptors, or consortial interactions in the biotransformation of metals and radionuclides. [sbull] What is the potential importance of gene transfer in natural microbial communities at subsurface sites contaminated with radionuclides or metals? Those studies that link structure to function of microbial communities that immobilize metals and/or radionuclides at DOE sites are especially encouraged. Biomolecular Science and Engineering: Research in this element provides a knowledge base, at the biomolecular level, of the processes leading to the in situ immobilization of radionuclides and metals by indigenous subsurface microorganisms. The primary goal of this element is to understand the genetic, biochemical, and regulatory processes that mediate biotransformation of these specific radionuclides and metals, leading to their immobilization. Characterization of genes, gene products, and genetic regulatory networks associated with these biotransformations is key to this understanding. Detailed studies of the enzymatic mechanisms for reduction of radionuclides and/or metals are needed to increase our understanding of in situ processes and to identify gene targets for better molecular assessment of radionuclide and metal reduction. Secondary goals include: (1) Understanding molecular mechanisms of resistance of subsurface microorganisms to radionuclide and metal toxicity; (2) understanding, at a molecular level, the processes of lateral transfer between microbes of genes involved in biotransformation of these radionuclides and metals; (3) developing novel technologies to provide insights into biomolecular mechanisms of metal and radionuclide biotransformation; and (4) developing approaches to manipulate pathways and enzyme systems that mediate these biotransformations. DOE subsurface sites encompass a wide range of environments with a diversity of microbial communities and contaminants. One of the challenges of the Biomolecular Science and Engineering Element is to select microbes for studies that are active members of subsurface microbial communities. A second challenge is to extrapolate laboratory findings on pure cultures under laboratory conditions to complex in situ environmental conditions. This extrapolation is especially critical in studying gene expression, which may be modified by changes in local cellular environments in the subsurface. A third challenge is to take advantage of genomic and other data derived from the DOE Microbial Genome Program ( [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.ornl.gov/microbialgenomes] ) on subsurface microorganisms to increase our understanding of how genes relevant to bioremediation are expressed in the environment. Research is needed to address questions such as: [sbull] How are genes regulated in subsurface microorganisms that are responsible for biotransformation and immobilization of radionuclides and metals? How are genes regulated in these microorganisms to promote survival in the presence of potentially toxic levels of these contaminants? [sbull] What are the effects of key environmental parameters on regulation and expression of genes involved in metal/radionuclide reduction? For example, how do pH and co-contaminants such as nitrate impact the biochemistry and gene expression and regulation of uranium and technetium reduction? [sbull] What are the basic biomolecular mechanisms of uranium and technetium reduction and reoxidation in microorganisms, primarily those indigenous to the subsurface? How can biomolecular processes be manipulated to enhance the sustainability of immobilization of uranium, technetium or chromium? Are there novel biomolecular mechanisms that can be used to immobilize mercury or plutonium? [sbull] What are the biomolecular mechanisms involved in lateral transfer [[Page 72656]] of metal/radionlucide reduction genes in subsurface microbial communities? Applications should primarily focus on indigenous subsurface microorganisms that can precipitate and immobilize these radionuclides and metals. The ultimate goal of this element is to improve our ability to predict and manipulate the activities of microbes in situ, particularly in an in situ immobilization scenario. Assessment: Assessment is a cross-cutting element with a goal to develop innovative methods to assess processes and endpoints in support of the NABIR Science Elements. Thus, assessment projects are being sought that support the Science Elements of Biogeochemistry, Biotransformation, Community Dynamics/Microbial Ecology, and Biomolecular Science and Engineering. Methods may range from molecular to field scale, but they should improve the understanding of in situ bioremediation processes in subsurface environments contaminated with radionuclides and metals. Priority will be given to research applications that could lead to fieldable, cost-effective, real time assessment techniques and/or instrumentation. NABIR will not fund projects that examine endpoints relating to human health risks. Research should address the development of innovative and effective methods for assessing or quantifying: [sbull] Biogeochemical or biotransformation processes and rates, and microbial community structure and function relative to bioremediation of metals and radionuclides. [sbull] Bioremediation end points, in particular, the concentration, speciation and stability of radionuclide and metal contaminants. Techniques must enable NABIR science and address specific science needs of the program. The applicant should explain the potential impact and contribution to the NABIR program, as well as the relevance and potential usefulness of the innovation. Bioremediation and its Societal Implications and Concerns (BASIC): The objective of this element is to identify and explore societal issues associated with NABIR. BASIC is designed to provide information on issues that might influence the implementation of NABIR science and to involve NABIR scientists in discussions about the societal implication of their research. The BASIC program may also provide an avenue to identify key issues and sensitivities involved in bioremediation strategies, such as immobilization of metals and radionuclides in situ as a means of long-term stewardship. Major focus areas for BASIC research include (1) Identifying and prioritizing societal and regulatory issues associated with bioremediation of metals and radionuclides in subsurface environments, particularly strategies that entail immobilization in place; (2) fostering collaboration between NABIR scientists and site stakeholders and (3) enhancing the understanding and communication of NABIR research to stakeholder communities and others. Quantitative approaches and integration with other NABIR program elements are strongly encouraged. BASIC grants will not extend beyond two years beyond the award date. All grant applications should provide a plan for evaluation of progress or outcomes. Where a product (guidelines, recommendations, documents, etc.) is the result, dissemination plans including timelines must be discussed. The NABIR program also encourages smaller grant applications (up to $35,000 total costs) for innovative and exploratory activities within the BASIC area. Such exploratory grants could be used to carry out pilot investigative research on an issue consistent with any of the above areas of BASIC research, support a sabbatical leave to organize and hold a conference, or to initiate start-up studies that could generate preliminary data for a subsequent grant application. Such small grant applications must use the standard DOE application forms procedures outlined below, but should have a narrative section no more than five pages. These small grants, which will be peer reviewed, will not extend beyond one year from the award date. Integrative Studies This solicitation especially encourages those studies that integrate research from more than one NABIR research element through laboratory and/or field research. This interdisciplinary research should focus on achieving the primary goals of the NABIR program through collaborative studies in which the experimental design integrates two or more NABIR elements. Interdisciplinary teams may include participation from two or more research areas that might include: microbiology, geochemistry, hydrology, environmental engineering, numerical modeling or other disciplines. Partnering with specific field experiments may provide information for hypothesis testing. Such integrative studies might include, for example: [sbull] Employing numerical modeling to integrate information from more than one element, such as Biogeochemistry, Biotransformation, and Community Dynamics and Microbial Ecology, to better predict in situ immobilization of metals and radionuclides. [sbull] Studies of the effects of key physical, geochemical and hydrological parameters on the structure and function of subsurface microbial communities engaged in metal/radionuclide biotransformation and immobilization. [sbull] Integration of new methods in the Assessment element with actual application to studies of biotransformation or biogeochemistry of radionuclide/metal reduction and precipitation. [sbull] Linking chemical speciation of radionuclides and metals in subsurface environments to the bioavailability of those contaminants to microorganisms. [sbull] Studies on the changes of subsurface microbial community structure and function, and the effect on net rates of biotransformation during biostimulation experiments. [sbull] Partnership between any of the Science Elements and research in BASIC. Additional Information for Applications It is anticipated that up to $3 million will be available for multiple awards to be made in late Fiscal Year 2003 and early Fiscal Year 2004 in the categories described above, contingent on availability of appropriated funds. An additional sum, up to $3 million, will be available for competition by DOE National Laboratories under a separate solicitation (LAB 03-13). Applications for all elements except for BASIC may request project support up to three years, with out-year support contingent on availability of funds, progress of the research and programmatic needs. Applications for BASIC may request support for two years, or one year for exploratory activities. Annual budgets for projects are expected to range from $100,000 to $300,000 total costs. Annual budgets for integrative studies involving participants representing more than one research element may range up to $450,000. All applications should include letters of agreement to collaborate from potential collaborators; these letters should specify the contributions the collaborators intend to make if the application is accepted and funded. DOE may encourage collaboration among prospective investigators to promote joint applications or joint research projects by using information obtained through the preliminary applications or through other forms of communication. [[Page 72657]] Merit Review Applications will be subjected to formal merit review (peer review) and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria which are listed in descending order of importance codified at 10 CFR 605.10(d): 1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project; 2. Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach; 3. Competency of Applicant's personnel and Adequacy of Proposed Resources; 4. Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget. For renewals, progress on previous NABIR funded research will be an important criterion for evaluation. As part of the evaluation, program policy factors also become a selection priority. Note, external peer reviewers are selected with regard to both their scientific expertise and the absence of conflict-of-interest issues. Federal and non-federal reviewers will be used, and submission of an application constitutes agreement that this is acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution. Submission Information Information about the development, submission of applications, eligibility, limitations, evaluation, the selection process, and other policies and procedures may be found in 10 CFR part 605, and in the Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program. Electronic access to SC's Financial Assistance Application Guide is possible via the World Wide Web at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/gr ants.html] . DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with the preparation or submission of applications if an award is not made. In addition, for this notice, the research description must be 20 pages or less, exclusive of attachments, and must contain an abstract or summary of the proposed research (to include the hypotheses being tested, the proposed experimental design, and the names of all investigators and their affiliations). Applicants who have had prior NABIR support must include a Progress Section with a brief description of results and a list of publications derived from that funding. Attachments should include short (2 pages) curriculum vitae, QA/QC plan, a listing of all current and pending federal support and letters of intent when collaborations are part of the proposed research. Curriculum vitae should be submitted in a form similar to that of NIH or NSF (two to three pages). The Office of Science as part of its grant regulations requires at 10 CFR 605.11(b) that a recipient receiving a grant and performing research involving recombinant DNA molecules and/or organisms and viruses containing recombinant DNA molecules shall comply with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ``Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules,'' which is available via the world wide web at: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.niehs.nih.gov/odhsb/biosafe/nih /rdna-apr98.pdf] , (59 FR 34496, July 5, 1994,) or such later revision of those guidelines as may be published in the Federal Register. Grantees must also comply with other federal and state laws and regulations as appropriate; for example, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) as it applies to genetically modified organisms. Although compliance with NEPA is the responsibility of DOE, grantees proposing to conduct field research are expected to provide information necessary for the DOE to complete the NEPA review and documentation. Additional information on the NABIR Program is available at the following Web site: [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.lbl.gov/NABIR/] . For researchers who do not have access to the world wide web, please contact Karen Carlson; Environmental Sciences Division, SC-74/Germantown Building; U.S. Department of Energy; 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290; phone: (301) 903-3338; fax: (301) 903-8519; E-mail: [karen.carlson@science.doe.gov] ; for hard copies of background material mentioned in this solicitation. (The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 CFR Part 605). Issued in Washington DC on December 2, 2002. John Rodney Clark, Associate Director of Science for Resource Management. [FR Doc. 02-30918 Filed 12-5-02; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 47 DOE awards contract to speed Mound cleanup CH2M Hill Inc. to get $314 million By Kelli Wynn e-mail address: kwynn@coxohio.com
[kwynn@coxohio.com] Dayton Daily News MIAMISBURG | The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday awarded a $314 million contract to CH2M Hill Inc. for the accelerated cleanup of the Miamisburg Closure Project. The Cost Plus Incentive Fee contract will advance the cleanup and transfer the Mound site to the Miamisburg Mound Community Improvement Corp. for industrial use by March 31, 2006 — nine months ahead of schedule, according to the DOE. The performance-based contract takes effect Jan. 1. “This is a significant development for the community because it brings us closer to our vision of redeveloping the Mound Advanced Technology Center as an industry and technology park,” said Don Koller, a Community Improvement Corp. trustee. The Miamisburg Community Improvement Corp. is an economic development organization formed by the city to oversee redevelopment activity at the technology center, which CH2M Hill officials said was established in the 1940s to conduct nuclear research, design, development, manufacturing and testing of nuclear weapons and spacecraft components. Gary Giles, city public information officer, said the Mound site, enclosed within Mound Avenue, Benner Road and Dayton-Cincinnati Pike, covers about 306 acres. According to Michael Grauwelman, community improvement corporation president, the mound center is home to 27 businesses that employ 325. Under the terms of the contract, CH2M Hill will raze 66 facilities and transfer nine other facilities to the Community Improvement Corporation for industrial reuse. The company will remove all above-ground utility structures and components; investigate, clean, close and document all known contamination release sites; and store, characterize, process, package and ship waste and nuclear materials in accordance with the DOE, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio EPA-approved Mound 2000 Approach, CH2M Hill officials said. Denver-based CH2M Hill, which has an office in Dayton, has more than 10,500 employees working in 165 offices worldwide. Miamisburg Mayor Dick Church Jr. and City Manager John K. Weithofer both said they support the DOE’s selection of the environmental engineering company and the choice will bring environmental cleanup activities to a quick and effective completion. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the award will allow the Miamisburg cleanup to be completed in 2006 rather than 2009. The Cost Plus Incentive Fee contract represents a savings of $100 million for the scope of work included in the procurement, DOE officials said. Joe Davis, a DOE spokesman, said there are at least 70 cleanup sites throughout the country. “We have some sites that will take about 20 to 25 years to clean,” he said. " Contact Kelli Wynn at 225-2414 or kwynn@coxohio.com [From the Dayton Daily News: 12.06.2002] Home [http://www.daytondailynews.com] | Local index ***************************************************************** 48 ORNL toxic agent detector tested in battlefield vehicles The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2002 by R. Cathey Daniels Oak Ridger staff Dual chemical and biological agent detection devises are slated for retrofitting on military reconnaissance vehicles for testing, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is behind the technology. Wayne Griest of ORNL's chemical sciences division said the mass spectrometry technology for a dual system was a first in the identification and detection of both toxic agents. "We've been working with the military for about five years on this," said Griest at Thursday's East Tennessee Risk Analysis Society meeting, held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. "The chemical side is being tested now, with a (limited production) Š and we hope about a year to a year and a half from now to have the biological side up and working and the vehicles upgraded." Griest said that biological agent identification and detection technology lags behind chemical agent technology. Currently there are commercially available systems for either chemical or biological detection, though options are limited. Griest's group works out of the Chem-Bio Lab at ORNL, and is partnering with Hamilton Sundstrand Sensor Systems of Pomona, Calif. Griest gave an overview of biological and chemical threats, and noted: "Subversion of technology is part of the (terrorist) problem; investment in technology is part of the solution." R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or danielsrcd@oakridger.com [danielsrcd@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 49 ORNL scientist says new study raises global warming questions The Oak Ridger Online -- Area News -- p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2002 from staff and wire reports Richard J. Norby, an environmental scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said a global warming study published this week in the prestigious journal Science was "a surprise." The new research in California, according to Associated Press science writer Paul Recer, has found that when other elements linked to global climate change are added to the environment of plants, carbon dioxide actually may act as a drag on growth. ``We don't really understand the responses of the plants (in the study),'' said Norby, who is doing similar research in his lab. ``I think this challenges some of our assumptions about global climate change.'' He said some conclusions have been based on studies that tested one or two elements of global change in laboratories. ``What happens when all these conditions change at the same time is much more difficult to interpret,'' he said. ORNL scientists attended the President's workshop on global warming this week in Washington D.C. Global climate change is expected to include a rise in the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, and laboratory studies have suggested this will stimulate plants to grow more abundantly. But apparently that is not the whole story. The Stanford study mimicked the conditions expected to result from global warming on 128 plots of land in a California grassland. It found that the effects of carbon dioxide, which plants use to produce food, can be either good or bad, depending on other elements of the environment. ``Most studies in the past have just looked at a single element, such as an increase of CO2 or warming temperatures,'' said Rebecca Shaw, a Carnegie Institution of Washington researcher and first author of the study. ``Our study looked at the effects of all the climate change elements'' and in all possible combinations. Most environmental researchers believe that the burning of fossil fuels is slowly causing the climate to change. Exhaust from the fuel burning increases the level of carbon dioxide and nitrogen-linked gases and particles in the atmosphere. This, in turn, causes the Earth to retain heat, warming the globe. The climate is affected, causing increased rainfall in some areas and less in others. In the new study, the researchers artificially applied the four major climate change elements at the levels they are expected to achieve by the year 2150 if the current use of fossil fuels world wide is unchanged. These elements include: * atmospheric carbon dioxide, expected to double the current density. * temperature, expected to rise by a degree or more. * nitrogen, deposited in the soil when it is washed from the atmosphere by rain. * precipitation, expected to increase by 50 percent in some areas. Shaw said every combination of the added elements was applied many times over several years on the various plots of grassland near Stanford University in California. When carbon dioxide levels alone were increased, plant production increased about eight percent, she said. ``But when carbon dioxide was applied in combination with the other expected changes, we found that the CO2 actually reduced the stimulation that we saw when the other elements were used alone,'' she said. In plots where the added enhancement was carbon dioxide and more water, there was an 8 percent decrease in production when compared with untreated grass plots, Shaw said. When enhanced temperature, nitrogen and water were applied to a plot, the production soared by 84 percent, she said. But when carbon dioxide was added to this mix, the production dropped by 40 percent. ``This was unexpected,'' Shaw said. ``We think that by applying all four elements in combination in a realistic situation, some other nutrient becomes a limiting factor to growth.'' She said the researchers are trying to understand why enriched carbon dioxide is a drag on production in some conditions. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 50 Cameco stock increase Australia *Cameco Corporation* Quick Quote: *T.CCO* 33.25 (-0.85) To Increase Dividend in 2003* 12/6/02 Cameco Corporation announced an increase in its annual common share dividend from $0.50 to $0.60 per share. The dividend increase will take effect for shareholders of record at the end of the first quarter of 2003. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.125 (Cdn) per share, payable on January 15, 2003 to shareholders of record on December 31, 2002. Cameco's board of directors has consistently followed a policy of paying $0.50 per common share since the company became publicly traded in 1991. After reviewing the company's financial position, particularly its cash flow, the board decided to amend the policy to increase the common share dividend by 20% next year. 'We are confident that Cameco's strong cash flow will increase in the coming years, particularly with the contribution from our investment in Bruce Power,'said Bernard Michel, Cameco's chair and chief executive officer. 'This will allow us to increase our dividend to shareholders, fund our current commitments and maintain the flexibility to pursue nuclear growth opportunities in the future.' Cameco has consistently stated that it will return surplus cash to shareholders. 'We are pleased to reward Cameco's patient shareholders by providing them with an opportunity to share in the company's success,'said Michel. Cameco, with its head office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is the world's largest uranium supplier. The company's uranium products are used to generate electricity in nuclear energy plants around the world, providing one of the cleanest sources of energy available today. Cameco's shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. CONTACT: TEL: (306) 956-6337 Cameco Corporation FAX: (306) 956-6318 Jamie McIntyre, Director, Investor & Corporate Internet: www.cameco.com © 2000 StockHouse.ca | Disclaimer ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************