***************************************************************** 02/08/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.34 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 UK: MPs urge ministers to decide on nuclear energy 2 UK: Power hopes may be dashed, say MPs 3 US: Feds Outline Plan to Safeguard Nukes 4 Nuclear politics in Burma 5 Finnish president slaps Austrian threat to Czech EU entry 6 Moscow, Delhi agree to speed up construction of Indian nuclear NUCLEAR REACTORS 7 US: NRC Finds No Significant Environmental Impact from Extended 8 RWE chairman says not intersted in Czech electricity mkt due 9 Cranberries' royalties for Chernobyl children 10 Chernobyl Advocates Denounce U.N. 11 Study on aid to victims of Chernobyl is criticized 12 Nuclear reactor shut down in eastern Ukraine due to malfunction 13 Nuclear reactor in western Ukraine reconnected to power grid NUCLEAR SAFETY 14 Radiation source from Studsvik 15 Gulf War syndrome 'not unique to Gulf War' 16 Low-level radiation found to prompt genetic mutation CLIVE 17 Reproductive mutations found in nuclear test zone 18 Radiation mutations passed to kids, study finds - 19 Sperm and eggs fall foul of fallout 20 Study: Gulf War Illnesses Not Unique 21 Surface tests at nuclear explosion sites speeded DNA defects 22 Gulf War syndrome 'not new' 23 UK: Gulf War syndrome dismissed by new report NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 24 US: FW: Rally to stop Yucca Mountain & Mobile Chernobyl, US 25 US: At Last, a Plan (or Half of One) for Nuclear Waste 26 US: Misouri: Officials fear I-70 will be nuclear cargo route 27 US: Nevada moves to shut off water to proposed federal nuclear dump 28 US: Nevada officials press Bush on Yucca Mt. 29 US: West Valley Task force drafts plan for N-site 30 US: Higher uranium prices boost Cameco fourth-quarter profit 31 US: Studies still needed for Yucca site stability 32 US: "Universal Warning Sign: Yucca Mountain" exhibit displays winnin 33 US: Yucca: Opposition leads senator to scrap original plan 34 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Guinn makes case against dump 35 US: State plans to cut off water to Yucca Mountain 36 US: Nevadans say they got president's attention 37 US: State moves on in Yucca fight 38 US: Nevada officials ask Bush to withhold OK on Yucca Mountain site 39 US: Yucca: County Commissioner Dario Hererra Submits Impact Assessme NUCLEAR WEAPONS 40 What Is to Be Done With Axis of Evil? 41 Nuclear code promoted in Paris - 42 Russia Gets Help on Weapons Control 43 Russian TV on legacy of Semipalatinsk nuclear tests 44 Findings of Russia's Kursk submarine inquiry to be issued soon 45 Iraq says it's ready to resume U.N. talks 46 Israel: Iran could have nuclear arms in 5 years 47 Zayed thanked for 'courageous stands' 48 US: Nuclear espionage 49 Atomic tests 'caused genetic damage' 50 Korean border starts to look 'scary' again 51 The War Keeps Growing 52 US: Unknown dangers at IAAP 53 Chinese Ambassador Expounds China's Position on Disarmament 54 US: 1974 Nuclear extortion attempt on Boston 55 Russia Gets Help on Weapons Control US DEPT. OF ENERGY 56 Closing date for Flats is still 2006, feds say 57 Hanford Reach getting more monumental 58 Bush officials: INEEL won't be closed 59 DOE facing layoffs with new budget OTHER NUCLEAR 60 IAEA Daily Press Review Thursday, 07 February, 2002 61 February 2002 Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 MPs urge ministers to decide on nuclear energy Independent News UK © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd 10 February 2002 03:11 GMT By Michael Harrison Business Editor 08 February 2002 The Government was urged yesterday to make a speedy decision on whether to approve a new generation of nuclear power stations after a warning from MPs that renewable energy could prove an expensive alternative for consumers. The influential Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee also warned that coal-fired electricity generation would end unless "urgent action" was taken to sustain it. Martin O'Neill, the Labour chairman of the committee, said it was essential that there was no further delay in a decision on nuclear power. "The Government should make a clear statement on the future of nuclear energy as quickly as possible," he said. The Government has set a target of generating 10 per cent of the UK's energy requirements from renewable sources by 2010 and the forthcoming energy review is expected to recommend 20 per cent. But a report by the committee cautioned that the costs of meeting even the lower target "may well be higher than the Government hopes". Mr O'Neill added: "This is critical because the 10 per cent target is subject to the proviso that the costs to consumers are 'acceptable'." The MPs said that the Government could help the renewables sector by amending planning laws and giving direct assistance towards research and development costs. The committee said that "moderate government investment" in a clean coal demonstration plant might help sustain coal-fired generation. But it added that a levy to finance continued coal-fired generation might have to be considered by ministers to maintain security of supply. ***************************************************************** 2 UK: Power hopes may be dashed, say MPs Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Patrick Wintour Friday February 8, 2002 [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Renewable energy may be much more expensive than the government believes, the Commons trade and industry select committee warned yesterday. Reporting ahead of the government's official review of energy security due next week, the MPs urged the government to take a decisive lead on nuclear power, arguing that indecision would prevent any commercial investment. In particular the MPs urge the government to come to a conclusion on its long delayed review of radioactive waste policy. They also called on the government to back coal by subsidising coal fired plants and backing research into clean coal technology. Ministers earlier this week refused to put state cash into a clean coal demonstration plant. The MPs warned the government that the general public had no awareness that the recent low prices of gas and electricity were unlikely to continue. The committee said government urgently needed to prepare the public for higher energy prices. The MPs question how the government came to the view that it would be able to achieve 10% of electricity generation through renewables by 2010, saying: "We think the costs of of meeting the target in the current market may well be higher than the government hopes. This is critical because the 10% target is subject to the proviso that the costs to the consumers are acceptable." In line with the energy minister Britain Wilson, the committee insisted that relaxation of planning restrictions and extra government research and development assistance were critical to the success of renewables. Although the MPs urged the government to help various energy sectors, they said it would not be appropriate for it to dictate the appropriate mix of fuels for power generation. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 3 Feds Outline Plan to Safeguard Nukes Las Vegas SUN February 08, 2002 WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration will accelerate efforts to keep nuclear material from terrorists, especially in helping Russia safeguard its nuclear stocks, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Friday. Abraham said that a yearlong review of the government's nuclear nonproliferation programs has made clear that the threat of nuclear materials getting into the wrong hands is greater today than ever. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11 "put an enormous exclamation point" on the need to protect nuclear materials and spend more money on nuclear nonproliferation, especially in Russia, said Abraham. "I don't believe I have any higher priority," Abraham said in remarks prepared for a speech Friday to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Earlier this week, the administration proposed, as part of its fiscal 2003 budget, spending nearly $1.2 billion for Energy Department nuclear nonproliferation programs, a 50 percent increase over what Congress originally approved for this year. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress tacked on another $226 million for nuclear material protection, bringing the amount to just over $1 billion for this year. "This is a major reversal and it's a welcomed one," said William Hoehn, director of the Russia-American Nuclear Advisory Council, a private advocacy group on security issues involving the two nations. Only a year ago, the Bush administration proposed slashing the same programs by $100 million, prompting outcries from nuclear nonproliferation advocacy groups. Congress rejected most of those cuts. In his remarks, Abraham said that his department will accelerate the program to help Russia improve the security at its nuclear weapons material sites and consolidate nuclear stockpiles. "This is where the rubber meets the road and the results speak for themselves," said Abraham, adding that the security improvements are now expected to be completed by 2008, two years ahead of schedule. He also singled out expanding a U.S.-Russia program to help former nuclear scientists and engineers find civilian, commercial jobs or use their expertise in anti-terrorism programs. The goal of the program is to eventually provide civilian jobs for more than 30,000 Russian weapons scientists, engineers and technicians. "By employing these scientists for peaceful, viably commercial purposes, we dramatically reduce the talent pool available to those states that would employ these individuals for their own evil ends," said Abraham. The administration had not always thought that way. A year ago, it proposed virtually eliminating the program to help scientists who once worked on nuclear weapons jobs, maintaining the program was not working well. Abraham also cited the administration's agreement with Russia to dispose of 34 tons of excess plutonium in each country. He recently announced a plan to process the plutonium into mixed oxide for use in commercial power reactors. Russia will do the same to its plutonium. In embracing more help for Russia, Abraham said, "We have not undertaken these programs out of charity. They are clearly in our national interest." "The theft of only a very small quantity of highly enriched uranium or plutonium ... would be enough for a crude but utterly devastating nuclear weapon," said Abraham. Since the early 1990s there have been almost 200 documented attempts to acquire nuclear materials, he said, and today the threat "is frankly more harrowing than it was a decade ago." A year ago, a bipartisan commission called the need to help Russia protect its nuclear material one of the top U.S. national security priorities. The panel, headed by former GOP Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee and Lloyd Cutler, former White House counsel in the Clinton administration, said $30 billion over 10 years would be needed to do the job right. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 4 Nuclear politics in Burma WorldNetDaily: FEBRUARY 8 2002 DISPATCH FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA Myanmar junta makes deal for reactor, strengthens military By Anthony C. LoBaido © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com TAK PROVINCE, Thai-Myanmar border – Myanmar, formerly known as Burma – a name still used by many within and without the nation, is beginning to attract more attention in the West as the dictatorial junta in control strengthens its military, makes a deal to acquire a nuclear reactor and continues to hold the leader of the nation's democracy movement under house arrest. A committee of the U.S. Senate is debating if the increase in military capacity sought by the fascist junta in Rangoon will change the balance of power in the region and threaten Thailand. Thailand is America's and Britain's top ally in the region. Myanmar has said it will raise its troop strength to 500,000 troops, a 25 percent increase, as well as add new MiGs to its fleet of combat aircraft. The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee is conducting hearings on Thailand's defense needs and has ordered the Pentagon to issue a report in the spring. The concern about Thailand's defense needs comes mainly from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a member of the committee. McConnell wants Thailand's defense and possible military procurements to be included in this year's appropriations bill for the Defense Department. McConnell issued a statement against the junta, which said he had "grave concerns with regional security and stability and with the welfare of the people of Burma, who endure hardships and indignities under the oppressive misrule of the State Peace and Development Council. In terms of oppressive regimes (the SPDC) ranks right up there with the Taliban." "While the SPDC thugs and Suu Kyi are engaged in talks," McConnell said, "the junta is building up its military strength and purchasing billions of dollars of military hardware from Russia and China." Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy Party, who has been confined to her home since September 2000. Sister Regina de los Santos, a Catholic nun who works with the Karen hill tribes in the region, claims to know the source of Burma's revenue. "Where does Burma get the funds to make such purchases? From its trillion-dollar drug crops," she told WorldNetDaily. "Burma is arming itself for two reasons. The junta wants to protect their drug crop and perhaps even maintain power after Suu Kyi is released. They saw what happened to the Afrikaners after Mandela was released. The junta has gone on record many times comparing Mandela and Suu Kyi as tools of the Western power brokers." Can Myanmar launch a major regional war? "So far, the West's response is that Burma lacks the infrastructure to launch a major war and sustain it," an assistant to the European Union's military attaché in Bangkok told WND. "Ten MiGs won't shake Thailand," the attaché added. Thailand has purchased a squadron of second-hand U.S. F-16s. The junta has signed a deal with Russia to buy 10 MiG-29 jet fighters. Russian technicians and assistance also will flow from Moscow to Rangoon. The MiGs' price tag: $150 million. Myanmar's air force now consists of MiG-19s and MiG-21s produced in China – a nation of which Burma is now a defacto colony, say political analysts. Burma supplies China with rice, jade, teak wood and heroin to ship to the West, Australia and New Zealand. Also, China has established a new naval base in southern Myanmar. Meanwhile, Thailand's military is growing concerned about Burma's arms buildup. The two nations are ancient enemies, and Burma's drug crop, including the production of the meta-amphetamine Ya Baa, is wreaking havoc in Thailand's society. The border between Thailand and Myanmar is contentious, and problems with refugees, drugs and land mines are a daily occurrence. Thai special operations units are conducting missions in the Golden Triangle to seek out and destroy Burmese and Laotian Ya Baa factories. In search of nuclear power Myanmar is hoping to buy a nuclear reactor from Russia, and Moscow appears more than ready to supply it to the junta. The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, based in Vienna, Austria, is already busy pumping Russia for details on the specifications of said reactor and information on the 200 technicians that Myanmar recently sent to Russia for high-tech nuclear training. The IAEA has known since September about the junta's plans to acquire a reactor. In fact, the IAEA dispatched a team of experts to Burma in November to evaluate the country's safety plans for constructing a nuclear facility. Myanmar government officials have admitted openly that these technicians are currently in Russia getting nuclear training. Foreign Minister Aung Win told the international media that Burma is "committed to developing a nuclear research facility for medical purposes and possibly to generate nuclear power." He also said that Burma was interested in studying the different uses of nuclear energy. "After all, many other countries in the world are using nuclear power," Aung Win told the international media last week. He also indicated that the junta has asked the IAEA for financial assistance in constructing the reactor. According to statements released by the junta, Myanmar fully expects the nuclear reactor to be online "within a few years." The junta has been unwilling to say what it will do with the nuclear waste generated by the proposed project. In the past, industrialized nations like Taiwan have sought to "sell" their nuclear and other toxic waste for dumping rights in nations like Cambodia and North Korea. Lawmakers in the U.S. have objected to such dumping agreements. Myanmar's quest for a nuclear reactor, and the swift American response to it, was virtually unreported in the U.S. media. Even so, the United States last week warned the junta that it must honor its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department told Agence France-Presse, "We expect the government of Burma to live up to its obligations and to not pursue production of weapons-grade fissile material." There are many questions being asked in the West about Burma's nuclear ambitions and intentions. Are they peaceful? What will be done with the waste from the reactor, which can be turned into a "dirty" or radioactive bomb? Who will safeguard the project from terrorists? Ivan Putkin is a Russian military intelligence officer stationed in Southeast Asia who agreed to an interview with WorldNetDaily. "Burma has not graduated doctors and scientists from its universities for almost 15 years. But let's be honest, once the Burmese junta has nuclear power, building a bomb is possible, and then the West, the EU or even ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will be unable to take away Burma's multi-billion dollar drug crops, routes and mercenary armies," Putkin said. The foreign assistance the junta requires to go nuclear is coming from Russia, which is also supplying the aforementioned MiGs. Putkin told WND that Russia's involvement does not suprise him. "It is well-known that Russia has given training to the Aum Shin Rikyo cult in Japan and sold satellite photos of South Korea to North Korea. There is a fire sale going on in Russia these days – even nuclear reactors and technological assistance can be had," he said. Remembering the Karen Recently, the Christian and pro-West Karen National Union, fighting a desperate battle against the junta and local drug lords like the Wa State Army, celebrated the 53rd Karen National Resistance Day. WorldNetDaily observed the celebration at the Thai-Burmese border near the Tak Province. One Karen general said he wished Western corporations and the IMF would continue to boycott Myanmar and pressure opposition leader Suu Kyi to address Karen issues in her negotiations with the junta. Karen soldier Joshua Tin said he hopes Suu Kyi will remember the suffering of the Karen. "Suu Kyi is seen by the West and the IMF as a tool to taking over control of Burma and developing the nation," he said. "This is not wrong in theory. The West wants to protect Burma from Chinese domination. But I am concerned about Suu Kyi's background. Her father had Marxist leanings. She never mentions the plight of our people. Most Americans and British citizens don't realize that our grandfathers helped the Allies against the Japanese during World War II." Suu Kyi has been meeting secretly with junta leaders in recent weeks, say Western diplomats in Thailand. The junta, however, denies any such meetings have occurred. On Jan. 22, the opposition leader met with junta Gen. Than Shwe, the chairman of the Burmese State Peace and Development Council. Than Shwe is considered to be one of the junta's primary power brokers. Suu Kyi was driven in a military vehicle to a special meeting with Than Shwe. It is a rare occasion that the Nobel Prize winner is allowed to leave her home. Khin Nyunt, Burma's top military intelligence official also attended the meeting. Than Shwe and Suu Kyi have met before. First in 1994, then again in 2000. Razali Ismail, the U.N. envoy to Myanmar, was scheduled to visit the nation this week to engage in talks with the junta and Suu Kyi. The junta has released many of Suu Kyi's supporters. The Burmese junta has gone on record stating that the U.N. had offered them $1 billion to turn over control of the nation to international administration. This shocking offer was widely reported in the major papers in Thailand. Sister Regina summed up what she saw and the current dynamic in the nation. "For the West, the major question is how to up the pace of national reconciliation in Burma, keep China at bay, install Suu Kyi to power after national elections and begin to develop the economy," she said. "But I suppose you could say the same for many of the developing nations in Asia." Anthony C. LoBaido is an international correspondent for WorldNetDaily. © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. ***************************************************************** 5 Finnish president slaps Austrian threat to Czech EU entry Tuesday, 05-Feb-2002 8:20AM Story from AFP Copyright 2002 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) VIENNA, Feb 5 (AFP) - Vienna has no right to block Prague's bid to join the European Union because of a row over a glitch-plagued Czech nuclear plant, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said in an Austrian newspaper interview on Tuesday. Asked by daily Die Presse if Austria's far-right Freedom Party -- the junior partner in the ruling conservative coalition -- was wrong to try and veto Czech membership of the EU over the troubled plant, Halonen said: "Yes. It is my opinion and it is Finland's position." Joerg Haider's Freedom Party has threatened to block Prague's EU hopes unless it shuts the Soviet-built nuclear power plant, located just 60 kilometres (38 miles) from the Austrian border. The plant has been beset by technical problems and emergency shutdowns ever since the first of its two 1,000-megawatt VVER reactors was brought on stream last October. Austria's chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose conservative party is strongly pro-European, has ruled out a veto against Prague. The issue has strained the two-year coalition in Vienna and nearly led to the collapse of the government last month after Haider organised a national petition against the Czech nuclear plant. Halonen, whose country is a member of the 15-nation EU, is due to arrive in Vienna on Thursday, when she will attend the prestigious Vienna Opera Ball as guest of Austrian President Thomas Klestil. ***************************************************************** 6 Moscow, Delhi agree to speed up construction of Indian nuclear power station BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 8, 2002 Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Delhi, 8 February: Russia and India have agreed to speed up preparations for the construction of the nuclear power station at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu state and to move on to actual construction. Agreement on this was reached during the plenary session of the Russian-Indian intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation which ended on Thursday [8 February]. An ITAR-TASS correspondent learnt today from circles close to the joint working party on energy matters, which forms part of the commission, that the co-chairmen of the commission, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, "have agreed to the working party's recommendation that construction be completed as soon as possible". It is already about 13 years since the 2.6bn-dollar project was initiated. In 1998, after a lengthy interruption, it was decided to resume work on its implementation. In July 2001 the two sides drew up pricing parameters for the contract under which Russia would supply two light-water reactors of 1,000 MW each and 90 per cent of the other equipment. Drafting of the technical side of the project has been completed. Preparatory earthwork has already started at the site in Kudankulam. The original target date for commissioning of the station was 2007. The Indians are also examining the possibility of enlarging the station in future by installing additional reactors of the same type. Their target is to increase the station's capacity to 40,000 MW by 2020. The agreement on the Kudankulam station envisages that it will operate under IAEA control. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0759 gmt 8 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 7 NRC Finds No Significant Environmental Impact from Extended Operation of Turkey Point Nuclear Plant NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 15 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-015 February 8, 2002 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its final environmental impact statement on the proposed renewal of the operating license of the Turkey Point nuclear plant, Units 3 and 4, in Homestead, Florida. In the report, the NRC staff found that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for Turkey Point Units 3 and 4 are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy planning decision makers would be unreasonable. The current operating licenses for Turkey Point, Units 3 and 4 (Units 1 and 2 are coal-fired units) will expire on July 19, 2012, and April 10, 2013, respectively. Florida Power &Light Company submitted its application for license renewal in September 2000. As part of its environmental review of the application, NRC held three public meetings near the plant -- one on December 6, 2000, and two on July 17, 2001 -- regarding the scope of the review and a draft version of the environmental impact statement. Comments were received from members of the public, local officials and representatives of other agencies. The final report is available electronically on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html [http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] through the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC Public Document Room staff at 301/415-4737 or 1/800/397-4209, or by sending a message to pdr@nrc.gov via e-mail. A copy of the report also is available for public inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. ***************************************************************** 8 RWE chairman says not intersted in Czech electricity mkt due to Temelin AFX (UK); Feb 8, 2002 FRANKFURT (AFX) - RWE AG chairman Dietmar Kuhnt said that the company is not interested in becoming involved in the Czech electricity market because of the country's troubled Temelin nuclear power plant. Speaking in an interview with Focus, Kuhnt said: "Whoever wants to enter the Czech electricity market must also take over the Temelin nuclear power plant." "We have never made a secret of the fact that a takeover of the Temelin nuclear power plant is out of the question." Kuhnt defended the 4.1 bln eur price tag for Czech Gas company Transgas. "Of course the price was not exactly low... By 2007 we will have recouped 20 pct of the purchase price through synergies," he said. Kuhnt also voiced his opposition to a possible ministerial approval for E.ON AG's takeover of Ruhrgas AG. "If E.ON and Ruhrgas are allowed to merge all other German electricity providers will become very dependent on one competitor," the magazine cites him as saying. scs/mkp For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com ***************************************************************** 9 Cranberries' royalties for Chernobyl children online.ie 07 Feb 2002 Limerick's Cranberries rock group are to give the proceeds of their next single to the Chernobyl Children's Project charity, they announced today. Lead singer Dolores O'Riordan was speaking in Dublin today at a ceremony attended by Ali Hewson, the wife of U2's Bono and a patron of the charity, and the organisation's founder, Adi Roche. O'Riordan said she wrote the song, Time is Ticking Out, after seeing pictures of the children affected by the Chernobyl disaster soon after giving birth to her second child. The aim, she added, was to raise international awareness about the plight of the children, as well as money. The singer said: "I was so moved, almost to tears, that I wrote Time is Ticking Out. It was inspired by the children." Ms Roche said the title of the single was appropriate as health problems created by the 1986 nuclear power station accident were only now beginning to emerge. She reported that the effects of the disaster were now moving on to the next generation, "who are witnessing soaring levels of genetic changes, especially among those who were less than six years of age when the accident happened". Ms Roche founded the Cork-based charity in 1991 to aid victims of the disaster and so far it has raised €24m (£18.9m) for aiding the region. ***************************************************************** 10 Chernobyl Advocates Denounce U.N. Newsday.com - By MARINA SYSOYEVA Associated Press Writer February 7, 2002, 1:37 PM EST KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian activists on Thursday criticized a U.N. report that called for helping victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident by shifting away from giving them direct subsidies and putting money into economic development. The study by four U.N. agencies said state aid subsidies for millions of people in affected areas are draining the strained budgets of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. It proposed "an entirely new approach" to helping those left in a state of "chronic dependency" -- by getting them jobs, fostering small businesses and reviving agriculture in the areas most affected by the world's worst nuclear disaster. But advocates for victims in Ukraine and Belarusian officials criticized the U.N. proposal, saying more money must be spent to help sickened victims and to clean up contaminated land before agriculture can be revived. "Those affected by Chernobyl ... are living below the poverty level," Yuriy Andreyev, the head of the activist group Chernobyl Union. He said Ukraine, where the plant is located, spent $350 million on the Chernobyl aftermath last year and has allocated $507 million this year, but contended that four times more money is needed. He said the report "did not correspond to reality." Andreyev said the government has already slashed many programs dealing with the consequences of Chernobyl and supporting human needs. The U.N. report said such projects are draining national budgets and should be made more effective. The study, released Wednesday, said that with the emergency phase of recovery over, the three governments and the international community must now work toward "long overdue" extended development of the communities hurt by the disaster. "Within the available budgets, it is the only real alternative to the progressive breakdown of the recovery effort, the continuing hemorrhaging of scarce resources and continuing distress for the people at the center of the problem," the report said. While the report said 4.5 million people were receiving financial help, Andreyev said the number of affected people is closer to 7.3 million. He said more than 2 million people in Ukraine alone live in areas that are still contaminated, instead of the more than 200,000 mentioned in the report. The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor on April 26, 1986, contaminated 23 percent of Belarus, 5 percent of Ukraine and 1.5 percent of Russia, according to the report. It also spewed a radioactive cloud across Europe. At least 8,000 people have died, most from radiation-related diseases. In Belarus, Slavomir Antonovich, spokesman for the state committee for Chernobyl issues, said his impoverished government had paid just 17 percent of what was promised to Chernobyl victims and for cleanup projects last year. "Chernobyl has been forgotten amid other world cataclysms. We hope that the world community will in the end remember Chernobyl," he said. Ukraine, Belarus and Russia suffered severe economic decline following the 1991 Soviet collapse and have often appealed for foreign aid for Chernobyl-related projects. After years of foreign pressure and promises of aid, Ukraine closed Chernobyl in December 2000. Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 11 Study on aid to victims of Chernobyl is criticized sunspot.net Ukrainian activists assail U.N. suggestion to cut direct subsidies Associated Press Originally published February 8, 2002 KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian activists criticized yesterday a United Nations report that called for helping victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident by shifting away from giving them direct subsidies and putting money into economic development. The study by four U.N. agencies said state aid subsidies for millions of people in affected areas are draining the strained budgets of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. It proposed "an entirely new approach" to helping those left in a state of "chronic dependency" - by getting them jobs, fostering small businesses and reviving agriculture in the areas most affected by the world's worst nuclear disaster. But advocates for victims in Ukraine and Belarusian officials criticized the U.N. proposal, saying more money must be spent to help sickened victims and to clean up contaminated land before agriculture can be revived. "Those affected by Chernobyl ... are living below the poverty level," said Yuriy Andreyev, the head of the activist group Chernobyl Union. Andreyev said Ukraine, where the plant is located, spent $350 million on the Chernobyl aftermath last year and has allocated $507 million this year, but he contended that four times more money is needed. He said the report "did not correspond to reality." Andreyev said the government has slashed many programs dealing with the consequences of Chernobyl and supporting human needs. The U.N. report said such projects are draining national budgets and should be made more effective. The study, released Wednesday, said that with the emergency phase of recovery over, the three governments and the international community must work toward "long overdue" extended development of the communities hurt by the disaster. "Within the available budgets, it is the only real alternative to the progressive breakdown of the recovery effort, the continuing hemorrhaging of scarce resources and continuing distress for the people at the center of the problem," the report said. While the report said 4.5 million people were receiving financial help, Andreyev said the number of affected people is closer to 7.3 million. He said more than 2 million people in Ukraine live in areas that are still contaminated, instead of the more than 200,000 mentioned in the report. The explosion and fire at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor on April 26, 1986, contaminated 23 percent of Belarus, 5 percent of Ukraine and 1.5 percent of Russia, according to the Wednesday report. It also spewed a radioactive cloud across Europe. At least 8,000 people have died, most from radiation-related diseases. About 2,000 people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and between 8,000 and 10,000 cases are expected to develop during the next 10 years, the United Nations report said. In Belarus, Slavomir Antonovich, a spokesman for the state committee for Chernobyl issues, said his impoverished government had paid just 17 percent of what was promised to Chernobyl victims and for cleanup projects last year. "Chernobyl has been forgotten amid other world cataclysms. We hope that the world community will in the end remember Chernobyl," he said. Ukraine, Belarus and Russia suffered severe economic decline after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and have often appealed for foreign aid for Chernobyl-related projects. After years of foreign pressure and promises of aid, Ukraine closed Chernobyl in December 2000. Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun ***************************************************************** 12 Nuclear reactor shut down in eastern Ukraine due to malfunction BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 8, 2002 Text of report by Ukrainian news agency UNIAN Kiev, 8 February: The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant's generating set No 6 has been shut down due to a malfunction. The generating set was disconnected from the national power grid at 2032 [1832 gmt] yesterday, the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry reported. It was halted automatically by the safety module following a power failure in the emergency command console. The set is expected to be back in operation by 1600 [1400 gmt] today after the defect has been fixed. Currently 10 out of 13 generating sets are operational at Ukraine's four nuclear power plants. The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant's generating sets No 6 and No 4 and the generating set No 3 in Rivne are under repair. Source: UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 0720 gmt 8 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 13 Nuclear reactor in western Ukraine reconnected to power grid BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 8, 2002 Kiev, 8 February: The Rivne nuclear power plant's generating set No 3 was reconnected to the national power grid at 1049 [0849 gmt] today. Currently the set is increasing output, the press service of the Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Ministry said. [Passage omitted: Known facts] Source: UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1010 gmt 8 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 14 Radiation source from Studsvik Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 22:26:58 +0100 2002-01-10 Radiation source from Studsvik Facility in Sweden emitted a high dose-rate on arrival to USA. Further information related to the press release 7 January 2002. A package containing radioactive material transported from Studsvik Nuclear AB, Irradiation Services in Sweden, 27 December 2001 to New Orleans, USA, emitted a high dose-rate on arrival 2 January 2002. The container is shaped like a barrel lying on its side and measures 0.43 x 0.54 m. Directly upon arrival to SPEC measurements were carried out to determine the dose rate. According to information from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the measured dose rate from the side of the barrel (perpendicular to the barrel axis) was 1 Roentgen per hour at 15 feet. The reading from the lid of the barrel was 300-400 milliroentgen per hour at 75 feet. Readings at the bottom (opposite the lid) were minimal. The radiation source was the isotope iridium-192 and was transported by air and reloaded in Paris for transport to Memphis. Representatives from FedEx in Paris found no excess radiation in their measurements of the cargo. SSI has regular contacts and exchange of information with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, US Department of Transportation, and Louisiana State Department of environmental Quality. SSI has been in contact with French authorities who commented that radiation measurements were performed on the plane's cargo deck, but no package was individually measured. Although the measurements showed normal radiation levels, it cannot be completely ruled out that the package did not emit excess radiation to the environment. The pilots transporting the cargo from Paris to Memphis used radiation dosimeters and these dosimeters were evaluated and did not show an excess dose. Experts from FedEx in USA continue to make dose assessments for personnel involved in the incident, but SSI has received no further information as of today. Blood samples taken the 8th of January from 15 persons who have been in contact with the package have been analysed and show normal values. SSI's Director General, Lars-Erik Holm, has decided today to partly revoke the transport prohibition for Studsvik Nuclear AB, Irradiation Services. The company thus has a limited permit to resume transportation. The permit does not include the type of package presently under investigation. SSI will carefully examine the procedures at the Studsvik facility and also intends to be present in the USA when the container is being opened. Further information can be obtained from Ulf Bäverstam , Deputy DG, Ph +46 8 729 71 80 Mobile ph +46 709 14 69 87 Britt Ekman , Information Head, Ph +46 729 71 34 Mobile ph +46 709 72 07 97 *********************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 15 Gulf War syndrome 'not unique to Gulf War' Ananova - Gulf war syndrome is not unique to the Gulf war, according to a study published today of major conflicts over the last century. Researchers found that all modern wars have been associated with a syndrome characterised by unexplained medical symptoms. Their findings may cast doubt on theories that Gulf war veterans became ill from being exposed to depleted uranium or the side-effects of vaccinations. The study, published today in the British Medical Journal, examined the records of 1,856 British servicemen, chosen at random from pension files, from the 1899 Boer war to the 1991 conflict in the Gulf. Three types of post-combat syndromes were identified: one of general fatigue, a disorder centred on a rapid heartbeat, and a neuropsychiatric condition. Gulf war veterans were found in all three groups, suggesting that not all servicemen engaged in the same conflict can be categorised in the same way, say the report's authors, led by Edgar Jones of the Department of Psychological Medicine at Guy's, King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine in London. Gulf war syndrome has often been attributed to environmental hazards such as depleted uranium, pesticides and the side-effects of vaccinations. But the authors suggest exposure to these things is "unrelated" to any subsequent illness, because they found similar post-combat illnesses occurring after several wars. They concluded: "Post-combat syndromes have arisen in all major wars over the past century, and we can predict that they will continue to appear after future conflicts. "What cannot be accurately forecast is their form, as they are moulded by the changing nature of health fears and warfare." Story filed: 00:23 Friday 8th February 2002 Copyright © 2002 Ananova Ltd ***************************************************************** 16 Low-level radiation found to prompt genetic mutation CLIVE COOKSON ON SCIENCE Financial Times; Feb 8, 2002 By CLIVE COOKSON Radioactive fallout from early Soviet nuclear weapon testing doubled the rate of genetic mutation among people living close to the test site in Kazakhstan, according to a study published today in the journal Science. It is the first research to show that long-term exposure to low-level radiation increases mutations among human populations; studies of Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs did not show such an effect. Yuri Dubrova of Leicester University worked with scientists in Kazakhstan to analyse DNA from 40 families living downwind of the Semipalatinsk test site. People exposed to fallout during the 1950s had a mutation rate twice as high as a control group who lived in a geographically similar, but uncontaminated area of Kazakhstan far from the site. Mutation rates declined in people born after the 1963 test ban treaty. The scientists looked for mutations in part of the human genome called mini-satellite DNA, which is naturally variable but has no direct effect on health. No one has looked for radiation-induced medical problems in Kazakhstan - and Dr Dubrova says too few people affected by fallout are still alive to find such problems. * Scientists investigating the safety of mobile phones have discovered an unexpected biological effect of their microwave emissions: it makes laboratory worms more fertile. Nottingham University researchers found that female nematode worms exposed to microwaves at levels similar to those emitted by phones produced significantly more eggs. David de Pomerai and his colleagues cannot explain the effect, reported in yesterday's New Scientist magazine, but say it is not due to heating. The scientists have received a grant to continue investigating the effect of microwaves on worms, as part of a Pounds 4.5m government-industry research programme announced last month by Sir William Stewart's expert committee on mobile phone safety. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-2002 ***************************************************************** 17 Reproductive mutations found in nuclear test zone Ananova - The population in a former nuclear test zone has twice as many genetic mutations in their eggs and sperm as other people. Researchers working in Kazakhstan say their children could inherit any health defects caused by the changes. The former Soviet Union detonated 470 nuclear weapons at one site between 1949 and 1989, showering radioactive dust over a 60-mile area. Yuri Dubrova, of the University of Leicester, studied three generations of people now living in the area to estimate the damage. His team found double the normal rate of genetic changes in people's sperm and eggs. They don't know whether the damage has or will cause health problems for the area's children because mutations only rarely result in disease. Dudley Goodhead, who directs the MRC Radiation and Genome Stability Unit in Harwell, told the journal Nature: "Until recently no one had been able to measure the genetic effects of exposure, The Kazakhstan work indicates that mutations can occur at an enormously high rate." Story filed: 11:53 Friday 8th February 2002 Copyright © 2002 Ananova Ltd ***************************************************************** 18 Radiation mutations passed to kids, study finds - Japan Today Japan News - News - Maggie Fox Friday, February 8, 2002 at 09:30 JST WASHINGTON People exposed to radioactive fallout from weapons tests in the former Soviet Union passed on genetic mutations to their children, but not at a high rate, international researchers said on Thursday. And the mutations faded out by the time grandchildren were born, which suggests test ban treaties are doing their job in protecting future generations, the researchers reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Radiation is known to cause genetic mutation, and the rate of certain cancers goes up in areas exposed to nuclear fallout, such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and the area around Ukraine's Chernobyl power plant. Yuri Dubrova, a geneticist at the University of Leicester in Britain, knew people living around the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons test site in Kazakhstan were exposed to nuclear fallout from the explosions of four nuclear bombs between 1949 and 1956. "The first Soviet nuclear device was tested there," Dubrova said in a telephone interview. Dubrova's team wanted to see if the genetic mutations caused by radiation from these bombs were passed on from parent to child, and to future generations. Working with teams in Britain, Kazakhstan and Finland, they took blood from 40 three-generation families in the area and tested an area on the chromosomes prone to genetic mutation. "We need to know to what extent exposure to radiation might affect the mutation rate in our germ cells and therefore cause an elevated mutation rate in the offspring of exposed people," Dubrova said. Germ cells are the egg and sperm. All the grandparents were born before 1949, with succeeding generations born through the 1960s. They got blood from people who lived in a similar but uncontaminated geographical area, and matched genetic samples by age, ethnicity, whether they smoked and so on. As would be expected, the grandparents had a soaring mutation rate. "It went up twofold roughly or 100% if you compare with the controls," Dubrova said. "In the next generation, which was less exposed, it was 50% higher." Some of the nuclear fallout was still in the environment when the oldest members of the second generation were born, so direct exposure to this radiation could have caused some of the mutation, Dubrova said. There was even some radiation around when the first grandchildren were born, and Dubrova found that the younger the person his team tested, the fewer mutations he or she had. "I was jumping from joy here. I was dancing, singing," he said. "It went down with the year of birth." Dubrova said the tests do not show whether the people with the most mutation have a higher risk of cancer, because they are not the genes known to be involved in cancer when they are damaged. (Reuters News) © Reuters 2001 ***************************************************************** 19 Sperm and eggs fall foul of fallout Nuclear tests up gene mutation risk. 08 February 2002 HELEN PEARSON 470 nuclear weapons were detonated in Kazakhstan between 1949 and 1989 © SPL People in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan who were exposed to fallout from nuclear-weapon tests have more genetic mutations in their eggs and sperm than normal, researchers have found1. Their children could inherit health defects caused by such mutations. The Soviet Union detonated 470 nuclear weapons at the Semipalatinsk nuclear-testing site between 1949 and 1989, many above ground. The blasts showered radioactive dust over a 100-kilometre area. Inhabitants received up to one-fifth of a lethal radiation dose. This has reputedly caused cancer and other health problems amongst the area's sparse population. But medical evidence has been meagre. Scientists do not know whether this type of radiation exposure causes genetic damage in humans, and if so, whether the damage is passed on to children. The three generations of affected individuals now living in Kazakhstan enabled Yuri Dubrova of the University of Leicester, UK, and his team to start estimating the harm that has been caused. The researchers found double the normal rate of genetic changes in people's sperm and eggs. These cells form future offspring, so the mutations are likely to be hereditary. "[Until recently] no one had been able to measure the genetic effects of exposure," says Dudley Goodhead, who directs the MRC Radiation and Genome Stability Unit in Harwell, UK. "[The Kazakhstan work] indicates that mutations can occur at an enormously high rate." The researchers still do not know whether this genetic damage has caused health problems for the area's children, or whether it will do so in the future, because mutations only rarely result in disease. "It wouldn't be surprising," says Goodhead. But researchers agree that any effects of inherited mutations are likely to be small and difficult to detect against the normal incidence rates of cancer and disease. People directly exposed to radiation by the atomic-bomb detonations in Japan during the Second World War and by nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl, suffer increased rates of cancer. But the common perception that exposed individuals bear children with deformities is not backed up by scientific study. Measuring the legacy Measuring the mutation rate caused by radiation has proved difficult, explains Goodhead. Any given gene will be affected rarely, so only a large population would reveal an accurate frequency - and no such human population exists. Dubrova instead looked at DNA fingerprints, which show many short sections of DNA that spontaneously vary, or mutate, from generation to generation. In 1996, he showed that children born in Belarus after the Chernobyl disaster have a higher rate of such mutations2. In the Semipalatinsk population, the team found that the more years people were exposed to the radiation, the greater their mutation rate. Knowing how the rate varies with radiation dose could be used to screen populations for suspected exposure. "We'd love to know that," says David Rush, who studies the health effects of radiation at Tufts University in Boston. We'd love to know how mutation rate varies with radiation dose David Rush, Tufts University, Boston Alongside the Soviet Union, the United States carried out above-ground nuclear tests in the Nevada desert; both nations ceased testing with the Moscow treaty in 1963. The Semipalatinsk site was closed in 1989 as part of the campaign to establish a comprehensive test-ban treaty. This treaty has yet to be ratified. The Kazakhstan population has since fought for financial and health compensation, and Dubrova hopes that his work might help their cause: "I would be delighted if that were the case," he says. References 1. Dubrova, Y.E. Nuclear weapons tests and human germline mutation rate. Science [http://www.sciencemag.org] , 295, 1037, (2002). 2. Dubrova, Y.E. et al. Human minisatellite mutation rate after the Chernobyl accident. Nature [http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/380683a] , 380, 683 - 686(1996). © Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002 ***************************************************************** 20 Study: Gulf War Illnesses Not Unique Las Vegas SUN February 08, 2002 LONDON (AP) - Veterans of most modern wars have suffered a host of unexplained physical and psychological symptoms, researchers reported Friday in a study suggesting that the unexplained ailments experienced by some Gulf War veterans is not unique. The study reviewed the records of British soldiers who fought in late 19th century imperial campaigns, the Boer War in South Africa, both world wars, the Korean War and the Gulf War. All reported problems that varied based on their combat experiences but had much in common, said the paper published Friday in the British Medical Journal. "The thing we're showing is that all major wars seem to produce post-combat syndromes," said researcher Edgar Jones, an expert on the history of medicine and psychiatry at the Guy's, King's and St. Thomas's School of Medicine at the University of London. "War is harmful to your health." Experts have failed to agree on what causes the chronic illnesses reported by veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, but one study suggested a link to vaccines soldiers received to ward off potential Iraqi chemical and biological attacks. Some veterans and researchers also blame nerve gas, pesticides or depleted uranium used in ammunition. "I'd like to see Gulf War syndrome placed within a general context of post-combat syndrome," Jones said. Shaun Rusling, chairman of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, a British group, accused Jones and his colleagues - whose work was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense - of minimizing veterans' suffering and trying to cover up the problem's true causes. "To compare our illness with that of the Boer War, that's just farcical," he said. Tens of thousands of Gulf War veterans have complained of maladies including memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, nausea and chronic muscle and joint pain. The new paper's researchers examined medical notes in veterans' pension records dating back to 1872. Pension records for Gulf War vets were unavailable, so the researchers used Ministry of Defense medical data. They looked at information on 1,856 veterans altogether. The authors said symptoms reported by veterans changed over time, which they attributed to differences in combat experiences. Variations also appeared to be associated with advances in doctors' diagnostic skills and cultural shifts that influenced which problems veterans noticed, they said. The researchers grouped symptoms into three broad categories - weakness, mainly afflicting late 19th and early 20th century soldiers; physical ailments, especially heart problems, widely diagnosed in World War I vets; and neuropsychiatric problems reported along with some physical symptoms by World War II and Gulf War combatants. Some symptoms overlapped categories, and soldiers from every conflict were found in each cluster, the researchers said. "It may be inferred that the three syndromes are unrelated to any particular (toxin) exposure as they occurred during several wars," the paper said. Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the researchers had chosen non-representative cases and failed to explain the statistical techniques they used. "This article is entirely without scientific merit," he said. Haley's own work has been controversial. Pentagon and Veterans Administration officials have criticized his research, though he was recently appointed to a panel advising U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi on Gulf War illness. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Surface tests at nuclear explosion sites speeded DNA defects nearby The Seattle Times: Nation &World: February 08, 2002 - 12:00 a.m. Pacific Study: Surface tests at nuclear explosion sites speeded DNA defects nearby Rosie Mestel Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — Above-ground nuclear tests conducted by the Soviet Union from the 1940s until the early 1960s appear to have altered the DNA of people who were living near the test site and exposed to fallout, new research indicates. People living near the Semipalatinsk testing site in Kazakhstan passed to their children mutations at a rate almost double what is normal, according to the new study, published in the journal Science. The study, conducted by scientists in Britain, Kazakhstan and Finland, looked only at selected pieces of DNA chosen as markers. It does not show directly that the people affected were more likely to suffer diseases such as cancer as a result. But the findings underscore risks borne by civilian populations living near testing sites during early years of the Cold War. Other studies have documented increased rates of medical problems in the region, including birth defects and stillbirths, said Nailya Dyusembayeva, head of the Medico-Genetic Center in the city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From 1949 to 1989, the Soviet Union conducted 470 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk site in the far eastern part of Kazakhstan. Before 1963, when the Soviet Union, United States and United Kingdom signed a treaty banning all but underground tests, many explosions were conducted above ground. Up to 85 percent of the fallout exposure came from four large surface tests conducted between 1949 and 1956. The United States also conducted above-ground tests but primarily on isolated islands in the South Pacific. Residents of the region near the Soviet test site were, over the years, exposed to radiation from fallout that was several times greater than the average exposure of survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, said Robert Ullrich, a professor at Colorado State University and an expert in radiation-induced cancer. Genetic abnormalities of this sort have not been found in the Hiroshima population, Ullrich added. To determine whether radiation from the Soviet tests had left a measurable mark on the DNA of local residents, geneticist Yuri Dubrova of the University of Leicester in England and colleagues collected blood samples from 40 families living in the Beskaragai region near the test site, exposed to particularly high levels of fallout. Blood was taken from three generations; all of the oldest members were alive at the time of the most contaminating blasts. Dubrova and colleagues analyzed eight small pieces of DNA in the grandparents, children and grandchildren to see if mutations had occurred and had been passed on. For comparison, the scientists also studied 28 three-generation families in a similar rural region not exposed to fallout. Grandparents exposed to radiation passed on almost twice as many mutations to their children as did grandparents from the unexposed site, the scientists found. The second generation, many exposed to the most serious blasts, also passed on more mutations than normal. Dubrova and colleagues also found that the rate of mutations appeared linked to the amount of exposure. The doubled mutation rate also fits well what has been found in studies on animals exposed to radiation, Ullrich said. ***************************************************************** 22 Gulf War syndrome 'not new' BBC News | HEALTH | 8 February, 2002, [Post combat syndrome were seen after the Boer War] Post combat syndrome were seen after the Boer War Veterans groups have reacted angrily to research which suggests so-called Gulf War syndrome may really be an established post-combat condition dating back at least 100 years. Gulf War syndrome, and other post-battle conditions should be seen as part of an understandable pattern of normal responses to the physical and psychological stress of war, rather than a unique illness, the report says. But veterans from the Gulf War (1991) have rejected the findings, insisting Gulf War syndrome is a physical condition linked to the substances soldiers were exposed to during the conflict. The National Gulf Veterans and Families Association's spokesman, Tony Flint, branded the study "a load of rubbish" and said there had been "tons of research" on the real cause of the syndrome. He told the BBC: "We took a cocktail of vaccines, anti-nerve agents and were exposed to depleted uranium. The combination has damaged our immune system and our brains." Mr Flint said that British soldiers who were affected wanted both compensation and recognition from the UK Government that their illnesses were caused by service in the Gulf. Historical trend Researchers from the department of psychological medicine at Guy's, King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine, London found post-combat syndromes have arisen after all major wars over the past century. The records for 1,856 British servicemen who were randomly selected from war pension files dating from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. Common symptoms in 1856 soldiers with post-combat syndrome Difficulty completing tasks Fatigue or lethargy Shortness of breath Persistent anxiety Weakness Three kinds of conditions were identified, a nerve syndrome related to the Boer War (1899 - 1902) and WWI, a heart disorder, linked primarily to the WWI, and neuropsychiatric conditions (which include depression, dementia and alcohol and drug abuse) related to WWII and the Gulf conflict. Common symptoms in veterans throughout the conflicts included fatigue, anxiety, dizziness, tremors and shaking, irregular heartbeat, stomach cramps or abdominal pains, difficulty in sleeping, depression or low morale and personality changes. Gulf War 'no different' But how they were perceived by both the veterans and interpreted by doctors changed over the years. Much of that, the researchers say, depended on the health concerns of the time. I just see this as an attempt by the medical military government fraternity to cast doubt on Gulf War syndrome Professor Malcolm Hooper, University of Sunderland Boer War veterans believed heart disorders were the result of physical illness (26%) or exertion (35%). In WWI, 45% of those with heart disorders, and 43% of those with nerve disorders blamed physical exertion. But 34% of nerve disorder patients cited the psychological stress of military service as the cause of their illness. The researchers write: "In terms of symptoms, illness related to the Gulf War does not stand apart from other conflicts. "Gulf War syndrome has often been attributed to environmental hazards such as depleted uranium, pesticides and the side effects of vaccinations. "However, it may be inferred that the three syndromes [heart, nerve and neuropsychiatric] are unrelated to any particular exposure as they occurred during several wars, albeit with different frequencies." Attempt to cast doubt Lead researcher Edgar Jones told BBC News Online: "The Gulf War veterans - we have shown that they suffered as much as a man in the trenches in WWI." The team say their findings could lead to new ways of treating veterans with post-conflict syndrome. Soldiers in the Gulf War conflict A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence welcomed the research, saying it provided "useful information about the health of veterans after conflicts". But Shaun Rusling of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association condemned the research, and said there were many factors which made the Gulf War different. "It was the first time soldiers were injected with unlicensed vaccines, multiple vaccines, unlicensed medications. They were exposed to depleted uranium - it was the first time it's been used in combat." Mr Rusling, 43, has been diagnosed with conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder, arthritis and osteoporosis in the spine, hips and wrist, said the research suggested Gulf War veterans were "malingering". Malcolm Hooper, emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Sunderland, who backs Gulf War veterans claims, said: "I just see this as an attempt by the medical military government fraternity to cast doubt on Gulf War syndrome." ***************************************************************** 23 UK: Gulf War syndrome dismissed by new report The Times FRIDAY FEBRUARY 08 2002 BY PA NEWS Gulf war veterans today attacked a new report which said "Gulf War syndrome" was not unique to the 1991 conflict. The study, published today, of major conflicts over the last century found that all modern wars have been associated with a syndrome characterised by unexplained medical symptoms. Their findings may cast doubt on theories that Gulf war veterans became ill from being exposed to depleted uranium or the side-effects of vaccinations. But the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association branded the study "a load of rubbish". The report, published in the British Medical Journal, examined the records of 1,856 British servicemen, chosen at random from pension files, from the 1899 Boer war to the 1991 conflict in the Gulf. Three types of post-combat syndromes were identified: one of general fatigue, a disorder centred on a rapid heartbeat, and a neuropsychiatric condition. Gulf War veterans were found in all three groups, suggesting that not all servicemen engaged in the same conflict can be categorised in the same way, said the report's authors, led by Edgar Jones of the Department of Psychological Medicine at Guy's King's and St Thomas's School of Medicine in London. Gulf War syndrome has often been attributed to environmental hazards such as depleted uranium, pesticides and the side-effects of vaccinations. But the authors suggested exposure to these things was "unrelated" to any subsequent illness, because they found similar post-combat illnesses occurring after several wars. They concluded: "Post-combat syndromes have arisen in all major wars over the past century, and we can predict that they will continue to appear after future conflicts. "What cannot be accurately forecast is their form, as they are moulded by the changing nature of health fears and warfare." The researchers said the best way to tackle the illnesses, which have cost subsequent governments considerable sums in financial assistance, was to better understand their characteristics. "If each new post-combat syndrome is not interpreted as a unique or novel illness, but as part of an understandable pattern of normal responses to the physical and psychological stress of war, then it may be managed in a more effective manner," they said. Tony Flint, a spokesman for the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said the report sounded "a load of rubbish". He said: "We know what caused Gulf War syndrome - there's tons of research on it. We took a cocktail of vaccines, anti-nerve agents and were exposed to depleted uranium. "The combination has damaged our immune system and our brains." Mr Flint cited research which he said contradicted the report in the BMJ. He said a study by an academic in California had found that 80 per cent of Gulf War veterans' families had also shown similar symptoms, suggesting they had been passed on. And he said another study in the US had concluded that male Gulf War veterans were twice as likely to have children with defects, and females three times more likely. Mr Flint said: "This report sounds like they are describing post-traumatic stress disorder, which is common in all welfare. "There are always people who suffer that, but not to the extent of the numbers who are ill with Gulf War syndrome." He claimed there were 6,000 Gulf War veterans in Britain with the syndrome, and "10,000 plus" if family members showing symptoms were also counted. Support groups say more than 500 former British soldiers have died as a result of the syndrome. Gulf War veterans believe they have been made ill by a cocktail of vaccines they were given to protect them against Iraqi chemical and biological weapons, or through their exposure to depleted uranium, used in missiles. Symptoms include kidney pains, memory loss, chronic fatigue, skin rashes, mood swings and sexual problems. About 53,000 British soldiers took part in the Desert Storm campaign, the international effort to liberate Kuwait in 1991 following the invasion by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd. This service is provided ***************************************************************** 24 FW: Rally to stop Yucca Mountain & Mobile Chernobyl, US Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 21:52:22 -0600 (CST) RALLY TO STOP YUCCA MOUNTAIN NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP & MOBILE CHERNOBYL!!! WHEN: 11:00 - 12:30, Thursday, February 14th (Valentine's Day!) WHERE: "Senate Swamp" in front of the steps leading up to the Senate on the northeast side of the Capitol Building (Washington, DC), facing the Supreme Court (closest Metro stations are Union Station or Capitol South). WHO: Come one, come all -- bring your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors! Spread the word! WHY: The nuclear power industry and its friends in the federal government are pushing ahead with the dangerous plan to dump 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste from U.S. weapons facilities and nuclear power plants at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Yucca Mountain is in an active earthquake zone with volcanic cones nearby and radiation from the proposed dump would eventually contaminate the local drinking water supply. Tens of thousands of nuclear shipments would pass through 44 states and the District of Columbia en route to Yucca Mountain, putting millions of Americans at risk. In D.C., the CSX rail line, which passes through Union Station, has been identified as a likely nuclear transport route. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (who accepted $82,728 from the nuclear industry during the last election cycle) intends to formally recommend the project to the president as early as February 9th. Word is that President Bush is going to give his immediate approval, sending the recommendation to Congress on Monday, Feb. 11th. So much for a careful presidential review! The Governor of Nevada has vowed to veto the dangerous Yucca Mountain plan but Congress can override Nevada's veto - a vote is expected later this spring. Help protest these outrageous violations of sound science, meaningful public participation, democracy, and sensible, sane nuclear waste policy. Let's tell Congress loud and clear to OPPOSE THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN DUMP AND THE "MOBILE CHERNOBYL" NUCLEAR SHIPMENTS IT WOULD LAUNCH! Please spread the word and help boost the turn out on Valentine's Day! For more information, contact Kevin Kamps at NIRS (202.328.0002; kevin@nirs.org) or Lisa Gue at Public Citizen (202.454.5130; lisa_gue@citizen.org) or visit our websites: www.nirs.org; www.citizen.org/cmep. Watch for a new website www.atomicroadshow.org that we hope to have up in time for the rally. __________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org * Please sign the Online Petition! - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html NucNews - Today and Archives - http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm ***************************************************************** 25 At Last, a Plan (or Half of One) for Nuclear Waste February 8, 2002 By MATTHEW L. WALD WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 — As early as Saturday, the White House is expected to announce the choice of Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the place to bury decades of accumulated nuclear waste safely. Some years later, if all goes well, the government will figure out just how to do it. In between, though, Congress, the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will all debate whether the project should go forward. The problem for all three is not so much risk as confidence. Today, Nevada's governor, Kenny Guinn, and its senators met with President Bush for 25 minutes and made a last-minute plea not to forward the recommendation to Congress, but some officials said they expected Mr. Bush to do so as soon as he formally received the Energy Department recommendation. The risk from radioactive material is already here; it was created with the waste that results from nuclear reactors. The draft environmental impact statement predicts that burying it at Yucca Mountain would kill several people through cancer that may take decades to develop from low radiation doses. Leaving the fuel where it is, generally at the reactors, will do the same. The estimate is hypothetical, based on the assumption, scientifically unproven, that every dose of radiation, no matter how small, raises the risk of cancer. Still, using that assumption, backers of Yucca Mountain will seek to prove that the site offers the safest way to isolate the waste for the 10,000 years required by law. Their ability to do this is handicapped by a poor track record and a high-risk strategy. The track record consists of the Energy Department's previous estimates of how long it takes radioactive materials to move through the dirt. Eventually, containers will give way and the steady drip of rainwater will carry traces of the radioactive material deep underground, where they will reach the water table and flow beyond the site. The department argues that Yucca Mountain is dry and that the soil does not conduct radioactive isotopes well. But the department and its predecessor agencies made the same arguments about the soils at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington, where they dumped billions of gallons of contaminated water into open trenches. Now, the radioactive material is moving toward the Columbia River. Yucca Mountain poses a lower risk than Hanford in one way, but planners do not describe it explicitly. The Columbia is vital to the Pacific Northwest, but water from Yucca Mountain feeds a much smaller area. There are homes and farms below the mountain, but if it leaks, what Yucca Mountain will eventually poison is Death Valley. Still, the department's strategy has risks, because it is trying to build while it is still solving problems. It is a common approach in what nuclear engineers call "first of a kind" projects. The strategy stretches back to the Manhattan Project. But it has also led to some horrifying dead ends. For example, at the Savannah River Site, a weapons plant near Aiken, S.C., the government spent more than $2 billion to build a factory that takes liquid radioactive wastes from aging tanks and turns them into a solid by mixing them with glass, which makes disposal easier. When it built the plant, it had not figured out how to get the wastes out of the tanks. The plan was to put a chemical into the tanks that would make the most radioactive materials sink, so they could be pumped to the solidification plant. But in the tanks, that chemical became an explosive gas. The department has spent more than 16 years and about $500 million trying to solve the problem. The nuclear power industry used to build reactors the way the department wants to build the Yucca site, beginning construction before completing designs, but concluded that this was a major reason for huge cost overruns. Ten years ago, the Energy Department eschewed the strategy. Leo P. Duffy, then in charge of environmental management at the department, argued that technical questions had to be solved up front because "there's no technical tooth fairy that's going to come along and solve these problems." Now, however, the Yucca project is being hurried, with officials hoping to stick to a plan to accept waste in 2010. In the early 1980's, the department signed contracts with nuclear utilities promising to take their wastes beginning in January 1998, in exchange for a tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour from reactors. Now a judge has found that the utilities can sue for damages. Whatever the technical arguments, Lake Barrett, acting director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management pointed out a legal imperative. "We took their money," he said. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy ***************************************************************** 26 Misouri: Officials fear I-70 will be nuclear cargo route STLtoday - news By Bill Bell Jr. Post-Dispatch Jefferson City bureau 02/07/2002 10:15 PM (AP) JEFFERSON CITY - Environmental activists and state officials say they fear the federal government is moving toward shipping tons of high-level nuclear waste through Missouri and Illinois. Within days, U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham is expected to formally recommend that President George W. Bush approve building a permanent nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert. The facility would house about 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste from reactors all over the country. "We feel it is extremely likely that if Yucca Mountain is up and operating that it will entail use of I-70 for many of these cross-country shipments," said Dru Buntin, of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. "The folks that live along these particular routes ought to be aware and ought to have some input in the decision." Buntin said figures of how much waste might roll through the St. Louis area are hard to find. "They haven't told us how many shipments it's going to be, and I don't think that's by accident," he said. Joe Davis, a Department of Energy spokesman, said it was premature to discuss the number or frequency of shipments until Yucca Mountain is approved. Buntin said the federal government still needed to study the transportation routes. He wonders if the actual travel time of waste through Iowa might be faster. Buntin also wants the Department of Energy to take a closer look at accident rates on I-70 alone instead of using a statewide interstate average. Davis said the department had shipped waste safely since 1965. Satellites monitor shipments. "We can do this safely. In fact, we would only transport it if we can do it safely, and we believe we can." But nuclear power opponents like Kay Drey of University City have their doubts. She said she worried that terrorists could waylay a shipment, which would contain fuel rods with uranium and plutonium. Drey said studies had shown that the casks could not withstand an attack from a rocket. "I think it could be like turning our rails or highways into armed camps," she said. Davis said such talk was a scare tactic. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission certifies the casks. He said it was more dangerous to have the waste at 131 different sites in 39 states. Approval for Yucca Mountain is far from complete. Assuming Bush approves the plan, the site would have to receive a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Also, Nevada could reject the proposal, although Congress could override Nevada by a simple majority vote. If approved, the site is not expected to open until at least 2010, government officials said. Abraham notified Nevada officials last month of his intent to recommend the Yucca Mountain site as a nuclear waste dump. They have promised to fight the project in court. The site would be about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and state officials fear it might drive off gamblers. Missouri officials already had one bad experience with shipments from the federal government. Last summer, Gov. Bob Holden ordered three trucks carrying waste to stop at the Illinois-Missouri border. His action kept the trucks from rolling through the St. Louis area in early rush hour traffic and from passing Kauffman Stadium during a Kansas City Royals baseball game. Said Holden spokesman Jerry Nachtigal: "The federal government did everything they said they wouldn't do regarding that shipment, which was cause for alarm." Reporter Bill Bell Jr.: E-mail: bbell@post-dispatch.com Phone: 573-635-6178 ***************************************************************** 27 Nevada moves to shut off water to proposed federal nuclear dump Las Vegas SUN February 08, 2002 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada again wants to shut off water to the site where the federal government wants to bury the nation's radioactive waste. State Engineer Hugh Ricci has notified the Energy Department that he will not extend for five years a permit letting the federal agency draw water for the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository site. The current permit expires April 9. A similar move spawned a federal lawsuit in 2000. The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Las Vegas. Bob Loux, Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency chief and the state's top appointed official working against the project, said Friday that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's Jan. 10 declaration that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for the nuclear dump made additional study - and a water permit - unnecessary. "They can't have it both ways," Loux said Friday. "Or, they can postpone the decision." He referred to Abraham's expected recommendation to President Bush, which could be made this weekend. Bush did not indicate during a Thursday meeting with Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and Nevada's senators, Republican John Ensign and Democrat Harry Reid, how or when he will decide whether to give the Yucca Mountain project the go-ahead. Water has been used in suitability studies and to help tunneling operations at the site of the proposed national nuclear waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Yucca Mountain project officials have said the site still needs water for sanitary facilities and dust control. Gayle Fisher, Energy Department spokeswoman in Las Vegas, declined to comment Friday on the water issue, citing the lawsuit. On Thursday, Ricci notified Scott Wade, an Energy Department official in North Las Vegas, that providing water to the site for a nuclear waste repository is not in the state's interest. Ricci's predecessor took the same position in March 2000, prompting the federal government to sue the state for water rights. Nevada elected officials, who say state residents overwhelmingly oppose the Yucca Mountain repository plan, have vowed to fight the project on legal, political and public opinion fronts. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 28 Nevada officials press Bush on Yucca Mt. -- The Washington Times February 7, 2002 WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A delegation of high-ranking Nevada officials put a positive spin on their meeting Thursday with President Bush during which time they vigorously tried to dissuade him from going along with a recommendation to turn a remote desert location in their state into a radioactive waste storage site for the entire nation. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced a month ago that he would recommend the White House push ahead with the controversial development of Yucca Mountain into a repository for tons of nuclear materials from all over the country, and White House officials believe the president is likely to go along with the recommendation. Nevertheless, Nevada's governor and congressional delegation have vowed to fight the plan and met with Bush for nearly a half an hour Thursday in an attempt to convince him to shelve the plan. "He was genuinely interested in what we were saying in there about sound science and the safety of Yucca Mountain," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told reporters after the meeting. "He listened to all the issues and asked a lot of very good questions. I believe the president is going to make the decision he believes is best for the nation." Nevada officials say there are still too many unanswered questions about the long-term effects of storing dangerous waste for decades. Yucca Mountain, located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is considered an attractive location due to its hard-rock formations and dry desert climate, however critics contend earthquakes and flash floods could pose a threat and deserve further study. There are also worries about the possibility of an accident or terrorist attack against the trucks and trains hauling radioactive materials through the state. "The Department of Energy has been literally hell-bent on building Yucca Mountain regardless of what the science is," Ensign said. "Our mission today was to give him (Bush) the other side, give him a side based on sound science and sound economics that say Yucca Mountain should not go forward at this point." Gov. Kenny Guinn said Wednesday before flying to Washington that he was concerned that Yucca Mountain was being "fast-tracked" by the Bush administration though he said Thursday that Bush had appeared receptive to their concerns. "He was gracious, a good listener and seemed interested in all we talked about," Guinn said. "We want to make certain the shipment or storage of nuclear waste in Nevada is predicated on sound science." Abraham has said that Yucca Mountain has been extensively studied and that it was time to move ahead despite the fact that a number of scientific studies had not yet been completed. The energy industry has urged the government to pick a site as soon as possible so that spent power plant fuel currently stored in some 130 sites across the country can be transferred to a central location. Under the statute aimed at establishing a national nuclear waste repository, Abraham must wait 30 days after informing Nevada of his decision before formally recommending Yucca Mountain to the White House. Saturday is the earliest day that Abraham can make the formal recommendation, and the president could send the matter to Congress as early as Monday. Guinn is allowed to slap a veto on the project, however simple majorities in the House and Senate could override a veto. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that the House was expected to override the veto, although the Senate's intentions were not as certain. (Reported by Kathy Gambrell in Washington and Hil Anderson in Los Angeles) All site contents copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. ***************************************************************** 29 West Valley Task force drafts plan for N-site Buffalo News - Cattaraugus Correspondent 2/7/2002 ASHFORD - A proposal by a citizen task force to amend the 1980 legislation governing the cleanup of the West Valley Demonstration Project would require the secretary of energy to name a preferred alternative for site cleanup, closure or long-term stewardship before June 1, 2003. Wording of the proposed amendment was drafted Tuesday at a meeting of the West Valley Citizen Task Force. It would also require a final environmental impact study by June 1, 2005, and a federal decision one year later on closure of the site, which harbors dangerous radioactive and hazardous wastes 35 years after commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel began. The members of the task force were chosen and trained beginning in 1997 by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the federal Department of Energy to make recommendations to the agencies about cleanup at the site. They fear that the two agencies' failure to negotiate by a September deadline their responsibility for long-term site stewardship and payment of up to $200 million in burial repository fees could lead Congress to cut 2003 funding to the minimum levels needed for safe and stable site operations. Task force members want to discuss with legislators the proposed amendment and the possibility of congressional hearings, in hopes of preserving cleanup activities and ending the deadlock in negotiations. The group learned Tuesday that Rep. Amo Houghton, R-Corning, has responded to their request to set up a meeting. If the tentative Wednesday meeting date is finalized, six task force members will travel to Washington to talk with aides to Rep. Jack F. Quinn, R-Hamburg, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence. DOE and state administrators will also be invited to take part. "We hope we will have the opportunity to hear some candid thoughts from the Western New York delegation on the pros and cons of trying to solve this through some type of legislation," task force member Ray Vaughn said Wednesday. He said the task force also wants to ask if it is possible to cancel the September deadline for ending DOE and state negotiations. According to Vaughn, the amendment would require the DOE to provide any staffing, stewardship, site controls, remediation or surveillance during environmental studies and long-term stewardship, if those activities are required under the chosen alternative. The amendment also assumes federal funding will continue throughout the process. In addition, the secretary of energy will transport and dispose of high-level waste from the West Valley project, but the state must surrender its "perpetual care fund" to help pay for the disposal fees at a Nevada repository, once it is approved and opened. Vaughn said the state fund, established many years ago to pay for site monitoring, contains only about $20 million. In addition, an Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman announced that an April public information session is being planned in the Ashford area to discuss the details of its recent final policy statement on the decommissioning criteria for the project. Also during the meeting, new task force members were introduced. They are Michelle Enser, a West Valley Central School teacher, and John Beltz, steward with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and a new alternate member, the Rev. Bill Kay. Copyright © 1999 - 2002 The Buffalo NewsTM ***************************************************************** 30 Higher uranium prices boost Cameco fourth-quarter profit February 8, 2002 Higher uranium prices boost Cameco fourth-quarter profit Earnings top analysts' estimates Reuters TORONTO - Cameco Corp., the world's biggest uranium producer, reported a sharply higher fourth-quarter profit yesterday due to a 5% increase in uranium concentrate prices and reduced administration costs. Cameco said earnings in the quarter ended Dec. 31, increased to $28-million before special items, or 50¢ a share, compared with $14 million, or 26¢ a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call had estimated a profit in the range of 36¢ to 48¢ a share. Earnings from operations were $59-million in the quarter, up from $17-million in the 2000 period. For 2001, profits were $56-million, or $1.01 a share, compared with $45-million, or 81¢ a share, before special items in 2000. The increase was due to about $7-million after-tax of Cameco's share of earnings from Bruce Power, a nuclear electricity partnership with British Energy Plc that operates four reactors in Ontario. Saskatoon-based Cameco said it produced 3.5 million pounds of uranium concentrate in the quarter, down from 5.4 million in the year-ago period. For the year output was higher at 18.8 million pounds, compared with 16.6 million pounds in 2000. Spot uranium prices were much higher in the quarter, at US$9.47/lbs from US$7.16/lbs in the 2000 period. Cameco said revenue from its nuclear business rose to $293-million with 50% of the 2001 uranium sales volumes occurring in the quarter. This is significantly up from $212-million in the year-ago period. Electricity generated from Bruce Power was 5.3 terawatt hours, at 75% capacity. The company said maintenance work on one Bruce B reactor unit, which began in the third quarter, will continue in the first quarter before it returns to service. Outages are planned for two other units this year, it added. It said the maintenance program would lead to a slightly lower capacity in 2002, but in the long term Bruce Power's goal is to achieve a capacity factor of over 90%. The restart program for the two Bruce A units will continue during the year to bring them online in 2003, the company said. Gold production from its Kumtor mine in Kyrgyzstan in the quarter was 59,000 ounces, versus 67,00 ounces due to an increase in inventory and a 2 percent decline in ore grade. For the year production was 251,000 ounces, up from 223,000 ounces in 2000. It anticipates 2002 production at Kumtor will decline by 12% to 660,000 ounces, with Cameco's share one-third. The decrease is due to an 8% drop in average ore grade to 4.67 grams per tonne. Cameco shares, traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange's metals and minerals index, have risen 63% since January 2001. Its shares closed down 9¢ at $42.26 yesterday. Copyright © 2002 National Post Online | Privacy Policy | ***************************************************************** 31 Studies still needed for Yucca site stability Friday, February 08, 2002 - - Las Vegas View Neighborhood Newspapers By MARK WAITE VIEW STAFF WRITER After U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham recommended Yucca Mountain as a repository of nuclear waste, studies have already begun toward the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's license application, Jared Cohon, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board said after the two-day winter 2002 board meeting ended Jan. 30. The site suitability process still has a long way to go, Cohon said. But he added, "the attention of the program has already shifted to the license application." "It really is a continuation of the prior work. It's not radically different," he said. NRC Deputy Director William Reamer said the commission held 16 multi-technical meetings with parties like the Department of Energy over the last two years. "DOE's plans and schedule represent a reasonable approach to get the information." "The nine key technical issues need to be acceptable addressed in a license application," Reamer said. The nine issues the NRC wants addressed in the license application include: the effect of climate changes on water flows in the mountain; the design of the repository to account for seismic activity and the heat generated by the radioactive material; how the design could prevent degradation of the engineered barriers from water flows; thermal, hydrologic and chemical processes on seepage and water flow; the design of the containers and their drip shields, along with the engineered barriers to radioactive escapes; controlling the migration of contaminants through three types of rock; the geology around the repository, how it could be affected by earthquakes; the probability of igneous activity such as volcanic eruptions or intrusions; and identifying an acceptable method for assessing the performance of the repository, demonstrating compliance with overall objectives and requirements for multiple barriers. Russell Dyer, project manager of the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, said, "We're talking about 293 agreements with some working assumptions going forward." If the site is approved, the license application is expected to be submitted in 2004, he said. Cohon said the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board identified a few areas of uncertainty: behavior of the metals in the waste packages; a hot vs. cold repository design and investigating other sources to clarify U.S. Department of Energy safety claims. The highly radioactive nuclear waste is hot. In thermal testing of the effects of placing this hot material in the rock, cannisters were heated up to 500 degrees. During a tour of Yucca Mountain in December, a chief scientists for Bechtel/SAIC said the heat of the cannisters forces moisture away from the waste packages. "What we've been pushing them to do is make a detailed comparison of a cool and a hot (repository) and they haven't done that," Cohon said. "The point the board has made several times over the last few years, it's worth considering a cool repository because it will result in less uncertainty over design estimates." Technical review board member Priscilla Nelson said she didn't know how the DOE was going to demonstrate how to operate a low temperature repository or a viable high temperature repository with the current budget. Nelson said there could be "an unknown unknown" with the high temperature design, mentioning corrosion and hydrologic movement. While a representative of the state of Nevada complained about a "repository du jour," with a design that has changed over the course of the project, Cohon said, "I expect it will continue to evolve but the NRC conveyed a clear message to DOE they want "a" design not multiple designs." A report by Charles Groat, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, stated, "Maintaining the surrounding rock at a temperature less than boiling at all times will minimize potentially negative effects of the repository on the site's natural attributes and thereby lower uncertainty in its predicted performance." Groat recommends forced and natural ventilation could be used to lower the temperature and remove substantial amounts of moisture. A period of retrievability and monitoring would also preserve the option for future generations to make alternative disposal choices, he said. While studies of calcite and opal in Yucca Mountain show the water table has been below the proposed repository level for millions of years, Groat wrote, "potential contamination of a deep, potable aquifer beneath the site is of concern because it is a valuable resource for the human and natural environment of this arid region." Dave Cox of Questa Engineering, was asked what they learned from the Early Warning Drilling Program being conducted by Nye County Nuclear Waste Repository Office. Cox said the key thing is they're noticing water flows coming up. Relatively low permeability of the rock means flows will happen quickly, he said. Finally, they're seeing a lot more barriers that channel flow and speed up flows. While a crowd of experts packed the Pahrump Community Center during the two-day board meeting, a few ordinary citizens were in attendance. Pahrump activist Sally Devlin urged the review board to telecast the meetings to inform people around the country of their discussions, instead of functioning like an elite club. "There is no public here and why? Because they wouldn't want to understand the language," Devlin said. "Will 43 states be poisoned before the waste gets to Nevada?" The lands of the first residents of America will be destroyed, Devlin said. She added, "if the Donner party listened to the Indians they wouldn't have had to eat each other. The DOE is making the same mistake." Bob Williams, however, said experts should redouble their efforts to move the project forward more rapidly. He suggested negotiations between the State of Nevada and DOE could shorten the licensing period. Judy Treichel, a member of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, said, "this honesty issue is very large. There's a lot of suspicion and a lot of it is warranted with the DOE and their work on Yucca Mountain." She accused the DOE of misusing information. Lawmakers on a key committee won't know the whole story other than "one liners" they are fed by the DOE, Treichel said. Kalynda Tilgils of Citizen Alert, accused the NRC and the DOE of having a "collusionary" relationship. Tilgils said when members of Citizens Alert once met Undersecretary of Energy Robert Card they asked, "What is their definition of a show stopper? They no longer have one. That was his comment." Grant Hudlow of Pahrump said the technical review board had problems with the science used in the site suitability but the DOE totally ignored it. "We've come in this country to understand people in the DOE have no conscience, no cares, except a paycheck," Hudlow said. [http://www.lasvegas.com] ***************************************************************** 32 "Universal Warning Sign: Yucca Mountain" exhibit displays winning designs for nuclear waste repository Friday, February 08, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Marking the Future A little consciousness- raising is going on at the Marjorie Barrick Museum at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. At least that's the hope of Joshua Abbey, who developed the museum's current exhibit, "Universal Warning Sign: Yucca Mountain." Presented by Abbey's Desert Space Foundation, the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History, the City of Las Vegas Arts Commission and Citizen Alert, the exhibit features a group of winning designs for an effective universal warning sign or permanent marker for the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, where an estimated 77,000 tons of nuclear waste would be stored for up to 10,000 years. Such a sign hopefully would prevent human tampering with the site in the far future. Abbey said the exhibit was inspired by a project helmed by futurists to design a 10,000-year marking system for a mid-level nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Plant outside Carlsbad, N.M., the goal being to stop humans from interfering with the site in the future. The warning sign is called "passive institutional control," Abbey said, meaning there's no active security system to keep people away from the site. No such sign has been prepared in the event the Yucca Mountain site is built. "That led me to wonder why the Department of Energy had not dealt with that aspect of the problem," Abbey said. "The ultimate irony of the show is that a marker serves as a beacon for the curious." The exhibit shines a light on the "implications of the legacy of nuclear by-products," Abbey said, as well as the moral and ethical questions. Abbey, who opposes building the waste site because there are other alternatives, hopes to take the exhibition on tour to other cities on or near the transportation corridors the waste would travel en route to Nevada for at least 25 years after Yucca Mountain's possible construction. Ashok Sukumaran, a UCLA School of Architecture graduate student, won the competition with a genetically modified, blue colored Yucca that would be planted on a mile long stretch on the Yucca Mountain ridge. "A great brushstroke on the brown desert, this living warning sign will be visible from the entire area of the project, as well as very clearly from the air," according to Sukumaran. More than 150 submissions were received and 60 were chosen for the exhibit. Abbey augmented the show with archival signs from the Nevada Test Site. "There were two types of submissions," Abbey said. "There were the artists, engineers, architects and designers who approached it from the practical side, and others were more philosophical and gestural." Entries included prints, 3-D sculptures, Web sites and a DVD. Jurors for the exhibition included Rita Deanin Abbey, emeritus professor of art at UNLV; Jose L. Gamez, assistant professor of the UNLV school of architecture; Aurore Giguet, curator of exhibit design at the Marjorie Barrick Museum; David Hickey, author and professor of art at UNLV; Libby Lumpkin, author and assistant professor of art at UNLV; Joanne L. Nivison, cultural affairs manager of the City of Las Vegas; Roger Thomas, executive vice president of design at Wynn Design and Development; and Helga M. Watkins, an assistant professor of art at UNLV. "It surprised me that the majority of the entries came from outside the state," Abbey said, "although there also were strong entries from Nevada." Nevadans haven't taken to the streets to protest the site. "I think people here are stunned and in disbelief about the impact this will have on the quality of life here," he said. But he believes the exhibit can have an impact. "If you see the work in the show it starts to penetrate the veil of ignorance over the depth and complexity of the issue," Abbey said. Abbey's father, the late environmentalist and author Edward Abbey ("The Monkey Wrench Gang"), would see the Yucca Mountain project as another part of "the decline of Western civilization," Abbey said. For a look at some works in the exhibit, go to www. desertspace.org. A sign created by Brian Norris, a student at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., is one of the works in the UNLV exhibit. what: "Universal Warning Sign: Yucca Mountain" when: 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through March 9 where: Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway admission: Free (895-3381) ***************************************************************** 33 Yucca: Opposition leads senator to scrap original plan Friday, February 08, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Reid changes water rights amendment By CHRISTINE DORSEY STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Faced with growing opposition, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has backed away from a plan to allow ranchers and farmers to sell or lease water rights to the government. In its place, he has proposed giving governors more explicit control over how to conserve water in their states -- a plan that also has started to draw criticism from fellow Westerners. Reid's original water conservation amendment drew fire from Western lawmakers, ranchers and the powerful American Farm Bureau Federation. "The Reid water provision is a nonstarter," said Mary Kay Thatcher, public policy director for the farm bureau in a message on the organization's Web site urging members to tell their lawmakers to oppose it. On Thursday, Sen. Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, offered a farm bill amendment to strike Reid's conservation program. A line of Westerners took to the Senate floor to support Crapo and criticize Reid's proposal, arguing it makes substantial changes to the way water rights are allocated in the parched West. "I think this is just dead wrong," said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., noting the plan never received a hearing, and few lawmakers were aware of it before Reid slipped it into the farm legislation late last year. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, called the proposal a "war on the West." "Let's snuff it out before the first shot is fired," Craig said. Reid on Wednesday introduced an alternative amendment that creates two new Agriculture Department programs costing $625 million over the five-year life of the farm bill. Both give states the right to control how water is conserved. A new block grant program would allow states to access USDA funds to pursue water rights agreements with willing farmers and ranchers for conservation. States could lease or buy private water rights temporarily to benefit wildlife and fish, or pay farmers to switch to less water-intensive crops or improve infrastructure to save water. Scott Faber, an Environmental Defense lobbyist pushing for the conservation provision, said the new clause gives states flexibility to design water conservation agreements that meet the needs of farmers and ranchers. "All the protections that states have would apply here, too," Faber said, adding that the provision is not meant to usurp state power. But Western lawmakers still said Thursday they don't want any federal involvement in state water rights. Each state handles water rights differently, and the lawmakers said the Reid proposal could override state laws. Reid, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Gov. Kenny Guinn were not available Thursday for comment. All spent part of the day at the White House lobbying President Bush to oppose sending nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 34 YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Guinn makes case against dump Friday, February 08, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Governor, senators say they might have raised doubts in Bush's mind By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Nevada's top leaders took their campaign against the Yucca Mountain Project directly to the White House on Thursday, but they said their face-to-face appeal to President Bush yielded no clues on his plans. During a 25-minute meeting, Bush gave no indication whether he supports burying nuclear waste 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. He did not say when he might decide, and the Nevadans said they did not press him on either point. "I could not read him one way or another," Gov. Kenny Guinn said. Guinn, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaking in turn to Bush and several of his aides, laid out why they believe Bush should rule out Yucca Mountain as a storage site for 77,000 tons of radioactive waste and spent fuel. The meeting came amid reports that the president might be inclined to sign off on a repository early next week, days after he is expected to receive a site recommendation from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Guinn, however, said he came away with the impression that Thursday's session might have bought Nevada some time at least -- and planted some doubt with Bush at best. "I didn't get the impression he was going to make his decision tomorrow or Saturday or Sunday or Monday," he said. Abraham could recommend the site to Bush as early as Saturday. Should Bush recommend Yucca Mountain to Congress, Guinn would have 60 days to veto the decision. A simple majority vote by both houses of Congress would override that veto. Bush, however, can take whatever time he wants to make a decision. "Knowing him on a personal basis and knowing how he makes his decisions, we're going to have some consideration out of this meeting today," Guinn said. "I just felt that." Ensign sensed the president was uncertain about the project. "I don't think the people under him have any doubts in their mind, but I think the president has doubts in his mind," Ensign said. "He was getting one side, and all of a sudden today he hears another side. And he seemed genuinely interested, and he was going to take his time and go through the issues and make sure he was making the best decision he felt. "I really truly believe whichever way he makes the decision, he'll make it based on what he thinks is best. Our concern is we think he may use the wrong information." At first, Reid thought the meeting might be a waste of time. "I don't know what will happen, but this wasn't a waste of time," Reid said after the meeting. "I think he (Bush) really believes sound science should dictate what happens at Yucca Mountain," Reid said. "We outlined to him the substantive issues we believe exist that do not allow the secretary (Abraham) to move forward at this time." Bush asked questions as follow-ups to points made by the Nevadans, but he did not initiate lines of questioning himself, Guinn said. Bush asked about what Nevada perceives as shortcomings in Yucca Mountain environmental impact studies, then said he wanted to look into that further, Guinn said. Bush political adviser Karl Rove, congressional lobbyist Nicholas Calio, press secretary Ari Fleischer and Andrew Lundquist, an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney attended the meeting, the Nevadans said. Guinn spoke first on Nevada's case against Energy Department science, sources said. Ensign talked about possible alternatives to burial, such as transmutation, that were being overlooked. Reid argued against transporting nuclear waste on highways and railways while terrorism looms as a potential threat. A December General Accounting Office report that was critical of the Yucca Mountain Project was brought up, according to people familiar with the meeting. Also discussed was the Energy Department's experience with Winston &Strawn. The Chicago law firm left the nuclear waste program after the department's inspector general determined the firm had worked on the project while it was registered to lobby Congress on behalf of the Nuclear Energy Institute. At one point, Reid said, the president walked to his desk to look for a pad and pencil, and, finding neither, made sure others were taking notes. The Bush administration had no immediate comment on the meeting, which took place mid-afternoon before the president's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Earlier, Rove and Lundquist met with Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. Gibbons said he was told national security will weigh heavily in the president's decision. "They are weighing as much about national security as about energy needs," he said. Rove said Bush was not familiar with weaknesses in Energy Department studies, as well as issues brought up by the GAO, according to Gibbons. "Some of those things remarkably have not been discussed by the Department of Energy," he said. An Energy Department spokesman could not be reached for comment Thursday night. Rove recognized the nuclear industry's desire for a repository, as well as the governors and congressional delegations that want nuclear waste removed from power plants in their states, a person familiar with the meeting said. Elsewhere on Thursday, Nevadans in Washington took every opportunity to push their case against nuclear waste burial. Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, in town for a conference of lieutenant governors, distributed maps to colleagues from other states of probable transportation routes for nuclear waste. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman did the same at a mayor's conference last month. "We can sit and argue all day, with our measly small delegation (in Congress), but we don't have the votes, and if we can educate other states we may create a NIMBY mentality," Hunt said, using the acronym for Not In My Back Yard. Also Thursday, speaking to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Reid recited a litany of problems with the Yucca Mountain Project. "The answer is to leave it (nuclear waste) where it is," at reactor sites, Reid said. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 35 State plans to cut off water to Yucca Mountain Friday, February 08, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Official says providing water for nuclear waste repository not in state's best interest By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL State Engineer Hugh Ricci put a crimp in the federal government's plans to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain when he notified the Energy Department on Thursday that he will cut off water to the site April 9. A letter from Ricci to Scott Wade, an Energy Department environment, safety and health leader in North Las Vegas, denies an extension the department had sought to continue withdrawing water from state aquifers. That water has been used to study the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and construct tunnels to entomb spent nuclear fuel there. Ricci noted that providing water to the site for a nuclear waste repository is not in the state's interest. He said the federal government's site's characterization activities, for which the water had been used, ended Jan. 10, when Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham notified Gov. Kenny Guinn that he would recommend the site to President Bush for a nuclear waste repository. "Therefore, there no longer exists a need for these permits beyond the expiration date of April 9, 2002," Ricci wrote. "As a result of the above, I will not approve your extension as requested," his letter said. Asked about Ricci's decision, State Nuclear Projects Agency chief Bob Loux agreed with his finding, saying, "They can't have it both ways." "I can't conceive of what they now need water for," Loux said. "There's nothing else to be studied out there until they seek a license." The three-page letter prompted a brief reaction from Yucca Mountain Project officials, who now must figure out how to keep enough water at the site for sanitary facilities and dust control. "We're reviewing it now," project spokesman Allen Benson said late Thursday. He declined further comment, noting the matter involving water to build a repository is in litigation. A series of court actions and appeals has the case pending before U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt. Two years ago, then-State Engineer Michael Turnipseed rejected an Energy Department request for water to build and operate a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain because such a facility was not in the state's interest. The request was for permits to withdraw up to 430 acre-feet of water per year from five wells in Nye County's Fortymile Canyon and Jackass Flat. An acre-foot is the amount of water that would cover an acre to the depth of 1 foot -- about 326,000 gallons, or enough to meet the needs of a Las Vegas family of five for a year. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 36 Nevadans say they got president's attention Las Vegas SUN February 08, 2002 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- For Nevadans aligned against putting a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, the future is this weekend and it sits in the hands of George W. Bush. Nevada leaders spent Thursday lobbying President Bush and key White House aides on Yucca Mountain expecting the president to have Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation as soon as Sunday. White House sources have said that Bush is ready to move quickly to designate Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation's nuclear waste repository. But after an Oval Office meeting Thursday afternoon with President Bush, Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said they felt they received consideration on points Bush hadn't heard before. "After today I believe he's going to give this some serious thought to this," Guinn said. "I did feel much better." The Yucca project is at a critical juncture in its 20-year history. Abraham is expected to give Bush his recommendation early next week. Nevada leaders said Bush didn't say when he would act, but Guinn said he "didn't get an impression that he was going to make a decision tomorrow or Saturday, or Sunday or Monday." Bush was joined by his political adviser Karl Rove, energy-policy adviser Andrew Lundquist, press secretary Ari Fleisher and congressional analyst Matt Kirk. A White House spokesman said this morning that the president "was interested in their concerns." "He listened and he will take their concerns into consideration," said White House spokesman Ken Lisaius. The three Nevadans said Bush has been fed a pro-Yucca argument from the DOE since he took office. Their meeting marked the first 25 minutes he had heard their side of the story, they said. "All of a sudden today he got a different side," Ensign said. "He's going to take his time to go through the issues and the decision he believes is best for the country." Reid said he had been dreading the meeting. He was fearful Bush would say "I understand your concerns, but I have a job to do." But the three Nevadans said Bush was serious, focused and attentive. They analyzed his expressions. "Very intent," Guinn said. "Engaged," Reid said. "We thought the meeting went much better than expected," Ensign agreed. Bush squeezed them in between Gen. Tommy Franks, who is overseeing the military action in Afghanistan, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. There were few pleasantries, no talk of baseball or the weather, Reid said. "We got right down to business," Guinn said. Ensign said the three "tag-teamed" Bush. Bush asked questions of each. Guinn led off, making arguments that the DOE's scientific studies had been flawed. Guinn, who has known the president since their days as fellow Republican governors, appealed to Bush one chief executive to another, telling him that the work of his staffers -- the DOE -- was incomplete. Guinn said he made the pitch that the enormous body of scientific study at Yucca Mountain -- two decades in the making -- is still not finished. Guinn told Bush about a list of 293 scientific questions in the hands of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that are still unanswered by the DOE. To illustrate, Guinn told Bush about one: the environmental impact study for Yucca Mountain does not address transporting waste cross-country to the site. Reid told Bush that transporting waste was not safe, something the nuclear industry adamantly refutes. Reid threw out estimates of 100,000 shipments of high-level waste through 43 states over several decades. "I think that got his attention," Reid said. "We're confident the president is going to be concerned about transportation." Ensign explained that there are alternatives to Yucca Mountain, despite Congress' contractual agreement with nuclear utilities to haul their waste away. Ensign suggested that Bush could make a deal with utilities that would allow the DOE to take over the costly management of the waste as it sits on-site at nuclear plants. That would get the federal government out of its contract with utilities to haul their waste to Nevada. Then Ensign encouraged Bush to pursue technologies that will allow scientists to someday recycle waste, or treat it so that it becomes less toxic more quickly, Ensign argued. Bush looked them in the eye and asked smart questions, they said. The president seemed familiar with detailed nuances of the project, they added. At one point, the Nevadans referenced authorities who had faulted the Yucca project. Bush surprised Ensign when the president said he had read a story on the inside pages of the Washington Post this week about former DOE official John Barrett, who has been critical of the project, Ensign said. Bush nodded to his staff to look into several points raised, Reid said. But the leaders were encouraged. "Based on his expressions and based on his questions, I really think we gave him something to think about," Ensign said. "I truly believe that the decision he makes, he will feel that it's made on sound science," Ensign added. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 State moves on in Yucca fight Las Vegas SUN February 08, 2002 Nevada leaders lobby president, look ahead to legal, political steps By Erin Neff Now that President Bush has heard Nevada's personal appeal against a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, state leaders are preparing for the fight. In a 25-minute Oval Office meeting Thursday between President Bush and his key advisers and Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign, the politicians noted the final decision on the repository may be made by a judge. "We all understood that someday the issue may have to be settled in an impartial arena," Guinn said. Nevada has been preparing for this for years, long before Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said he would recommend Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump. Abraham is expected to make his formal recommendation as soon as this weekend, and White House sources, speaking before the meeting, said the president is expected to act quickly to approve it. After Thursday's meeting, Nevada's governor and senators said the state will pursue its legal options even as they hold out hope Bush won't approve the recommendation. This weekend will be a frantic one as the state's lawyers prepare emergency lawsuits, political leaders count support and everyone eyes the White House hoping no news is good news. But already, the opposition is well under way: + The state has four lawsuits in progress -- one in conjunction with Las Vegas and Clark County -- and several other legal challenges are planned. + Political leaders are trying to drum up support in other cities and states through which the nuclear waste would travel on its way to Yucca. They're also calling for Nevada's support, asking people to flood the White House with e-mails and phone calls calling for Bush to not approve the dump in Nevada. + Congressional leaders are trying to build a coalition against Yucca Mountain arguing that the nuclear waste in transit is more susceptible to terrorist attack. Along the way, state leaders plan to make the process difficult for the Energy Department at every step of the way. Officials said they will cut off water at the site starting April 10. Robert Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the Energy Department needed water as part of its site study and said since Abraham made his recommendation know, it doesn't need to study it anymore. The Energy Department "can't have it both ways" under the law, Loux said. It needs "to proceed with the studies (it has) in hand," Loux said. "If more work is needed, then the recommendation must be premature. "The DOE wants to run this like a continuing road show. They want to say, 'We're making a decision, but we want to bolster the science.' " Officials don't know what the Energy Department will do, but it's expected to be yet another skirmish in the bigger fight. Politically, Guinn, a Republican, would have the first move in the event Bush approves the Yucca Mountain project. And although he vows to veto the dump, he isn't exposing his entire hand. "It's part of our strategy," he said. "It could be right away, or it could be better to wait until the last day." The state has 60 days to lodge an official objection, either in the form of the governor's veto, or a legislative vote. House sources have said lawmakers are eager to vote on the Nevada objection to propel the project forward. The House is expected to overrule the objection. A Senate vote could be closer, but both Nevada senators have said it is unlikely they have 51 votes. Reid, the majority whip who is responsible for corralling Democratic votes, this week declined to say how many senators would vote with him and Ensign, a Republican. He has said Nevada has a 40 percent chance of stopping Yucca. Paralleling the state's political response will be its continued litigation. Marta Adams, senior deputy attorney general who oversees the State Agency for Nuclear Projects' cases, said she expects the president to "turn it around very quickly." As a result, she said, the state must be ready with additional legal challenges. Unlike Guinn -- who has 60 days to veto the president's decision -- and Congress -- which has 90 days to override the veto -- there are no time constraints on Nevada's legal challenges. In fact, part of the state's unspoken strategy is to tie up the issue as long as possible in court. "We'll take this as far as we can go," Guinn said Wednesday. "To protect the health and safety of the people of Nevada, we are going to veto if the president recommends Yucca Mountain, and go to court, if necessary." Guinn said the state would fight the battle to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed, using money collected in the state's $5.2 million legal fund. Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said she applauds Guinn for creating the Nevada Protection Fund, but she worries how useful it will be. "I flinched when I saw the proposed DOE budget," Del Papa said Thursday. "Talk about David and Goliath." Neither Del Papa nor Adams would put a price tag on Nevada's litigation, which is proceeding on three fronts, and which will expand either with Abraham's recommendation or the president's decision. Two suits -- one kicked back from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and one in District Court in Tonopah -- seek to block Yucca Mountain because of decisions related to water use at the site. The state is also pursuing a suit in the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington about the radiation standard used and the state's ability to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents as a result. The third legal front, which is also before the Washington court, challenges the siting guidelines the Energy Department used. If none of Nevada's legal challenges work, and Congress overrides Guinn's veto, the state could still fight the licensing of the repository with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That's where the litigation will get very expensive, Loux said. The last nuclear plant challenge had combined legal costs of $100 million, he said. On the political side, all of the leaders are trying to muster public support against the repository. Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman called a press conference this morning to urge people to contact the White House to encourage the president to reject the project. On Thursday, Herrera sent to Abraham a letter and the county's new impact study, and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta urging him to consider what effect transporting thousands of shipments of nuclear waste would have on the nation in light of the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks. Herrera said Abraham has been consistently ineffective in his responsibility to study the Yucca site, but local officials refuse to give up the fight. "It's our duty as elected leaders to continue to give him information he needs to consider the interests of Nevadans," said Herrera, a candidate in Nevada's 3rd Congressional District. "It's absolutely critical for the secretary to realize that his decision will have an immediate and drastic impact on Southern Nevada." Sun reporters Benjamin Grove, Adrienne Packer and Diana Sahagun contributed to this story. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 Nevada officials ask Bush to withhold OK on Yucca Mountain site [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] 2/7/2002 03:45 pm Gov. Kenny Guinn and Nevada's two senators made a last-minute plea Thursday trying to dissuade President Bush from moving forward with a nuclear waste site in the state until all safety issues are resolved. Guinn struck a conciliatory tone after his closed-door, 25-minute meeting in the Oval Office. The Republican governor said he urged Bush to make a decision that"is predicated on sound science that will last for thousands of years." During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush pledged that"sound science, not politics"would guide a decision about a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Guinn, Democratic Sen. Harry Reid and Republican Sen. John Ensign conceded that Bush gave no indication of how or when he would decide. Ensign said he left the meeting believing"the president has doubts in his mind." Congressional and administration sources said Bush is expected to decide as early as next week in favor of the Yucca Mountain site. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham endorsed the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas on Jan. 10, but by law has to wait 30 days to give a formal recommendation to the president. That time is up Saturday. Abraham called it a"scientifically sound and suitable"place to bury 77,000 tons of the nation's used reactor fuel from power plants across the nation. "Most of the people around the president, we feel, have been giving him that information,"Ensign said. Dogged opponents of burying nuclear waste in their state, the Nevada officials said they viewed their meeting as a chance to give Bush the other side of the story. "Yucca Mountain should not go forward at this point,"Ensign said. Guinn said he raised the lack of a thorough environmental review of not only the site, but the path that trains and trucks would take to reach Yucca Mountain. At a morning meeting with Bush adviser Karl Rove, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he, too, made the point that questions about geology and other safety issues need to be answered first. But Gibbons conceded that the Sept. 11 attacks clouded the issue and allowed advocates for using Yucca Mountain to make their case on national security grounds. Rove used precisely that argument to tell Gibbons that as Bush considers designating Yucca Mountain, nuclear plant safety is weighing heavily on the president, the congressman said. "I said the lack of adequate science should weigh heavily, too,"Gibbons said. Congress might ultimately decide the issue. Guinn can block a presidential decision _ indeed, he said Wednesday he would tell Bush he planned to do just that _ but Congress can then overrule him. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has said Democrats would block approval for Yucca Mountain as long as they maintain a majority."I think the Yucca Mountain issue is dead,"Daschle said in Las Vegas last spring."As long as we're in the majority, it's dead." But if the issue were to reach Congress, rules devised years ago prevent stalling tactics and require a vote within 90 legislative days. There would be enormous pressure on both sides, particularly on senators in states that have nuclear plants and containers of spent fuel. If the site wins approval, it would be at least 2010 before the site _ once it gets a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission _ could be ready to receive radioactive waste. Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com] ***************************************************************** 39 Yucca: County Commissioner Dario Hererra Submits Impact Assessment Report to Secretary Spencer Abraham FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 7, 2002 Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, anticipating the imminent decision by Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, forwarded two compelling pieces of evidence against a proposed nuclear waste repository to the Secretary today. Clark County’s recently approved Impact Assessment Report was included with the letter to Secretary Abraham. Clark County’s report covers impacts to unincorporated Clark County, incorporated cities located in the County, and the Las Vegas and Moapa Paiute tribes. Impacts addressed in the report include transportation, tourism, property values, public health and safety, government services, the environment, and Native Americans. Chairman Herrera urges recognition of the pending legal action in his letter, stating, It would be both irresponsible and tragic for you to knowingly impose potential harm on current and future Clark County residents without waiting for the court to rule on the merits of our lawsuit. Included was a Declaration (affidavit) signed by Sheila Conway of Urban Environmental Research, one of Clark County's impact assessment consultants. Ms. Conway, an expert in socioeconomic and environmental impact analysis, is under contract with the both State of Nevada and Clark County. In her Declaration, Ms. Conway claims, each step that brings Yucca Mountain closer to licensing will have an impact on property values that are likely to be on transportation routes to or in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain. In his letter, Chairman Herrera asks Secretary Abraham to consider all of the facts and evidence that support the withdrawal of the Yucca Mountain Project from consideration as the nation's nuclear waste repository. ### to Public Communications [mdw@co.clark.nv.us] ***************************************************************** 40 What Is to Be Done With Axis of Evil? Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2002. Page 14 By Jon B. Wolfsthal President George W. Bush's State of the Union remarks labeling Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an axis of evil quickly circled the globe and reignited fears of a more aggressive brand of U.S. unilateralism. No one in the United States, especially in the wake of Sept. 11, should be shy about openly defending U.S. security, but the administration has a responsibility to do more than, as they say, "put states on notice." True leadership means being a catalyst for changing behavior that threatens U.S. interests. In all three cases, the United States has many options other than military force or public condemnation at its disposal. Many of these other steps would benefit from recapturing the traditional U.S.-Russian shared interest in stemming the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The most promising, but delicate case is North Korea, where negotiations under former U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration succeeded in heading off North Korea's production of a sizable and uncontrolled nuclear arsenal, suitable for use or export. The U.S.-North Korean Agreed Framework of 1994 froze Pyongyang's nuclear program in its tracks and showed that North Korea can be reasonable and is willing to end programs that threaten U.S. interests if appropriately motivated. The Bush administration has offered to resume contacts with North Korea, but its public comments and condemnations have signaled to Pyongyang that talks are not likely to be a pleasant experience, filled with more lectures than constructive proposals. If it is serious about modifying North Korean behavior, the Bush administration needs to engage in a positive dialogue with Pyongyang and take steps to support efforts by South Korea to resume a peaceful dialogue with the North. President Vladimir Putin helped frame the outlines of a negotiated ban on missile development and exports before Bush took office and, if the Bush administration feels it cannot send an emissary of its own to Pyongyang, Russia should be considered as an intermediary to resume a productive dialogue. In Iran and Iraq, two states with ongoing proliferation programs, the United States has several tough, but potentially productive options. In Iraq, a serious attempt to reinstate an inspection regime backed by military assets to protect inspectors, is a more attractive alternative to the forceful removal of Saddam Hussein. While Saddam's continued rule in Iraq makes each day an adventure, unless the United States has the clear mandate and support of its allies in the region and elsewhere (especially Moscow and in Europe), occupying Iraq and rebuilding that country in the U.S. image threatens to be more than even Washington can handle without a major commitment of time, energy, money and lives. Baghdad is not Kabul and the Republican Guard is not the Taliban. Russia has been, and continues to be, the key to an improved inspections and sanctions regime. By taking the lead in reinstituting inspections, Moscow could do much to improve its non-proliferation standing in Washington and pave the way for the adoption of smart sanctions against Iraq that would improve the flow of Iraqi payments to Moscow. In return, Washington should reassure Moscow that steps will be taken to ensure that Iraqi debts to Moscow are honored. Iran is the definition of a Catch-22, where the United States is damned if it tries to support the reformers, and damned if it does not. Any praise of the elected regime only weakens those rulers in their battle against the oppressive religious clerics, but still more needs to be done if the future is to bring about true reform in Iran before its programs to develop long-range missiles and a nuclear option bear fruit. Here, the true value of the U.S.-Russian relationship can shine through. Repeating old arguments about Iran's nuclear program will do nothing to improve U.S.-Russian relations, but facts are facts. Iran has publicly declared its desire to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles threatens both Moscow's and Washington's interests, regardless of its source. This, in itself, should be enough to give Moscow pause in helping Iran's civilian nuclear program. Moscow's refusal to acknowledge this fact is as stubborn as Washington's misplaced opposition to Tehran's acquisition of advanced conventional weapons from Moscow, for which Russia will receive more money than it will from the completion of the Bushehr reactor. Working constructively, Bush and Putin should be able to cooperatively constrain Iran's access to nuclear technology while easing controls on less destabilizing conventional weaponry. None of these steps will be easy, and none are as attractive to a domestic U.S. audience as "rogue state" bashing. Grandstanding against "rogue regimes" is good politics in the United States after Sept. 11, but does little to make the country more secure, and weakens prospects for working with U.S. allies on real solutions to these serious proliferation problems. By working with Russia, the United States can accomplish a lot more than it can by working alone. In the process, the Bush administration can go a long way toward making the promise of the new partnership with Moscow a reality. Jon B. Wolfsthal, an Associate with the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a policy adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy on nonproliferation during the Clinton administration, contributed this comment to The Moscow Times. [http://www.moscowtimes.ru ***************************************************************** 41 Nuclear code promoted in Paris - CNN.com - February 7, 2002 PARIS, France -- Politicians from 78 countries are attending a conference to help produce international guidelines aimed at curbing the proliferation of ballistic missiles. The guidelines would look to make it difficult for countries to buy missiles from exporting nations and to improve weapons monitoring systems. Conference participants include India and Pakistan -- who have both tested nuclear weapons and who are currently involved in a military stand-off in Kashmir -- and Israel which is widely believed to be a nuclear power although it has never admitted having such weapons The five original nuclear powers -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China -- are also at the Paris conference. Gerard Errera, the French Foreign Ministry's deputy director of political affairs, said he hoped the 'International Code of Conduct against the Proliferation of Ballistic Missiles' would become an important instrument in the quest for world stability and peace. "The fact that so many accepted our invitation is a reason for optimism," he added, in his opening conference speech. "This is a sign that the international community has assessed the challenges that are tied to the development -- qualitative and quantitative -- of ballistic capabilities." The conference also wants to get feedback on the need to share information about missile testing. The code would also call on nations to exercise "maximum restraint" in the development and deployment of ballistic missiles. Signatories would voluntarily declare their country's missile policy and its missile launchers each year. And they would also be encouraged to allow international observers at their launch sites and to notify any other states in advance of any missile launches and test flights. The code was first proposed by French President Jacques Chirac in June 2000 and then drawn up by the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR, an international pact that tries to discourage the export of weapons of mass destruction. Only North Korea and Syria refused their invitations, French diplomatic sources told The Associated Press. North Korea is reported to have provided upgraded Scud-type missiles to Egypt, Iran, Libya, Pakistan and Syria. The Washington-based Arms Control Association, says 28 states possess ballistic missiles. 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 42 Russia Gets Help on Weapons Control Yahoo! News - Fri Feb 8, 7:17 AM ET By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW - A foundation led by Ted Turner and former Sen. Sam Nunn will spend $6 million helping Russia reduce threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The Nuclear Threat Initiative project should help secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction, prevent their spread and bolster cooperation between scientists on anti-terrorism issues, Nunn said Friday. It also will help create civilian jobs for scientists in Russia's weapons industry so they are less likely to be lured by rogue nations trying to start their own weapons programs. "Russia has enormous technical and scientific expertise, and Russia and the United States must join together in a global effort to secure weapons materials and weapons know-how," said Nunn, a Georgia Democrat who led the Senate Armed Services Committee before retiring in 1997. The announcement came after CIA Director George Tenet told Congress Wednesday that Russia remains a leading supplier of nuclear technology and missiles to countries hostile to the United States, and is "the first choice of nations seeking nuclear technology and training." The CIA report to Congress, covering the first half of 2001, said the Russian government's "commitment, willingness, and ability to curb proliferation-related transfers remain uncertain." Russia's Foreign Ministry responded angrily to the report, saying it caused "not only extreme surprise but also serious concern." "Russia strictly meets its international obligations to control the export of sensitive trade and technology," a ministry statement said. Russia has an $800 million deal to build a nuclear power plant in Iran, assistance the CIA report said "enhances Iran's ability to support a nuclear weapons development effort." Russian and Iranian officials fiercely deny that claim, saying the project serves strictly civilian purposes. Also, President Bush recently denounced Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil" that must stop pursuing weapons of mass destruction or face consequences. Russia has friendly ties with all three. The bickering is the latest example of tensions marring U.S.-Russian relations, though overall ties recently have been strong because of President Vladimir Putin's strong support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Nunn said that "in the spirit of new partnership," the United States could share some intelligence data with Moscow to back its demand that Russia drop controversial export deals. "There are some serious problems with their export policies, and I believe they themselves don't see it that way," Nunn said. Nunn and Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., wrote a 1991 law making $4.7 billion available to Russia to help destroy some of its weapons of mass destruction weapons while safeguarding the rest. Friday's initiative takes further steps to prevent the spread of nuclear and biological weapons technology to terrorists or other countries. For example, NTI will contribute $1 million to a Russian loan fund established to create permanent civilian jobs for workers of Sarov, a top Russian nuclear weapons design and production center that has been reducing staff. Another $1.3 million is earmarked for former biological weapons scientists working on a brucellosis vaccine, while $250,000 will fund a feasibility study for a new hepatitis vaccine. ___ On the Net: Nuclear Threat Initiative — http://www.nti.org/ Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 43 Russian TV on legacy of Semipalatinsk nuclear tests BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 8, 2002 Text of report prepared by TV6 news team and broadcast by Russian Ekho Moskvy radio on 8 February [Presenter Aleksey Vorobyev] Residents of villages located close to the test range near [Kazakh] Semipalatinsk are suffering from genetic mutations. Researchers put the blame on nuclear tests held there in early 1950s. The results of a study were published by Science [British magazine]. Our correspondent reports from the scene. [Correspondent] The first nuclear blast was set off on 29 August 1949. A total of 450 residents of the nearby village of (?Taylan) were not evacuated during the test. All of them received a lethal dose of radiation, but such a diagnosis as acute radiation sickness did not [officially] exist in the Soviet Union at that time. After 20 years of non-stop tests a special clinic was set up to study the impact of radiation on people's health. The facility was secret, and nobody was keeping the statistical data about the number of people who died during the 40-year period in which the tests were carried out. Researchers also cannot specify the radius of the contaminated area. The studies which began in 1995 were halted in a year due to lack of finance. The testing range was closed more than 10 years ago [in 1989]. Now nobody guards the former top secret facility. In fact, thousands of people live in its territory, shepherd their cattle on it and go to visit each other across the [former] epicentre of nuclear explosions. Babies with genetic anomalies - having two heads or no arms and legs - are born more and more frequently in three regions bordering on the Semipalatinsk testing range. According to statistical data, the suicide rate among young people between 16 and 20 in this area is four times the Kazakhstan national rate. Moreover, the number of cancer patients there is growing year by year. Kazakhstan is on the verge of a genetic disaster, the researchers say. In 20 years every third baby born in the republic may have genetic anomalies. Inna Rudakova, the KTK television channel, specially for TV6 from Kazakhstan. Source: Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 1000 gmt 8 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 44 Findings of Russia's Kursk submarine inquiry to be issued soon BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 8, 2002 St Petersburg, 8 February: The government commission probing the circumstances of the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine will soon "express its definite opinion about why and how the submarine sank", Igor Spasskiy, head of the Rubin naval equipment design bureau, said on Friday [8 February] responding to a question from Interfax. He said the concept of an operation to be conducted by the Russian navy in the Barents Sea in summer has been approved. The effort should not involve great spending, but employ the existing equipment and the purchases the navy is making with the money assigned for automatic equipment for lifting the Kursk, he said. "We have defined absolutely clearly how to carry out the necessary amount of work with the least spending to understand the development of the emergency situation," Spasskiy said. He added that the lifting of the fragments of the submarine's bow is not aimed at determining the beginning of the accident. The plan of lifting the remaining fragments should be completed by the end of the first quarter... Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1114 gmt 8 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 45 Iraq says it's ready to resume U.N. talks Zawya.com NEW YORK, Feb 05, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Iraq wants to resume talks with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, an Arab League spokesman said Tuesday. The offer was made at the United Nations Tuesday by Amre Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League. Moussa brought the message from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein after visiting Baghdad last month. Annan said he was prepared to talk to an Iraqi delegation about how to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions. Talks could include negotiating the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq. Inspectors were last in the country in November 1998 before being expelled. The overture comes as the United States appears to be widening its war against terrorism beyond Afghanistan. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address last week named Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" of countries believed to be developing nuclear weapons. North Korea and Iran were also named. Annan last held talks with Iraqi officials a year ago. At that time, Hussein insisted U.N. sanctions against Iraq must end before discussions could continue. In Hussein's newest invitation, he said there were "no preconditions." The U.N. Security Council has said sanctions can only be lifted after it is satisfied Iraq is no longer seeking to produce chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. At the same time, however, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan Tuesday issued a warning to a Russian newspaper that the United States could face something "even more terrible" than the Sept. 11 attacks if it continues with its present policies. Responding to President Bush's State of the Union address, Ramadan reiterated Baghdad's denials of involvement in the attacks and accused Washington of "dirty policies." "The United States has toughened the policies that were the reason for the events in New York and Washington," Ramadan told Vremya Novostei. "Its policies have become even dirtier. If things continue like this, I believe that America will draw an even stronger backfire," he said, adding that "Something even more terrible than Sept. 11 may happen. It will be a very tough response." Ramadan claimed that Iraq had destroyed banned weapons and called U.N. arms inspectors seeking to enter Iraq "spies." Copyright 2002 by United Press International. Copyright © 2002 Zawya.com Ltd. ***************************************************************** 46 Israel: Iran could have nuclear arms in 5 years Chicago Tribune | Defense minister calls nation `twin' of Hussein's Iraq By John Diamond Washington Bureau Published February 8, 2002 WASHINGTON -- Iran could have a nuclear weapon within three to five years, Israel's defense minister said Thursday, a message the Israeli government has carried to senior Bush administration officials in talks this week. U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers, meanwhile, that Iran would be in a position to field a nuclear warhead by the end of the decade, a slightly less alarmist position than Israel's. But the CIA cautions that if Iran gets substantial technical help from Russia, or, worse yet, acquires fissile material on the black market, the time window could narrow considerably. "By the year 2005 they will be ready to produce to the world for the first time an Iranian nuclear bomb," Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said. "Some of us think it could come earlier." Visiting Washington this week along with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Ben Eliezer has been trying to boost U.S.-Israeli solidarity on the threat posed by Iran. President Bush last week angered Iranian leaders by listing Iran as one of three countries that form an "axis of evil" allied with international terrorism. Iran says it's helping U.S. While harsh rhetoric continued to fly back and forth between Washington and Tehran, the Iranian government said Thursday that it had arrested many members of the ousted Afghan Taliban party fleeing U.S. forces in Afghanistan. And in another sign Iran may be seeking to ease tension with the U.S., the government said it is considering expelling a former Afghan warlord who has opposed the U.S.-backed interim government in Afghanistan. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Thursday that Iran would not commit aggression in the region or against the United States, but he warned of a severe response if any country attacked Iran. "The Iranian nation will not initiate an attack because we believe that seeking hegemony is as bad as accepting it," Khamenei said on state television. "But whoever threatens the interests of the Iranian nation or attacks this nation, the answer of the Iranian nation will be harsh and make them regret." Powell hopes for dialogue A day earlier, Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized Iran but said he was "still convinced that we may be able to talk to Iran, that we may be able to have a reasonable conversation with Iranian leaders." Ben Eliezer appeared interested in convincing the Bush administration that Iran poses a threat equal to that of Iraq. "I know the name of the game is Iraq," Ben Eliezer said. But he said of the two countries, "They are twins." And as to the possibility that Iran may soon acquire nuclear capability, "Who's going to guarantee that they're not going to use it?" he said. Asked whether Israel would follow the same course it took against Iraq in the 1980s when that country appeared to be developing nuclear capability, namely a pre-emptive air strike, Ben Eliezer said: "I don't think there is a need to use weaponry. . . . There are ways, diplomatic ways, economic ways" to persuade Iran. Israel was ready to support the U.S. against Iraq, even if that meant a full-blown U.S. military offensive against Saddam Hussein's regime. But Ben Eliezer said the key beneficial result would relate to Iran. "To get into Iraq means to get in between Syria and Iran," he said. "This can be a very good move." Arms issue alarms Israel Israel is particularly concerned with Iran in the wake of its capture of a ship carrying tons of small arms, ammunition and explosives to the Palestinian territories. Israeli intelligence says the shipment was planned and assembled with the approval of Tehran. Speaking to the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, CIA Director George Tenet said Iran "remains a serious concern because of its across-the-board pursuit of [weapons of mass destruction] and missile capabilities." Iranian scientists "may be able to indigenously produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon by the end of this decade," Tenet said. "Obtaining material from outside could cut years from this estimate." Tenet's view is not unanimous within the U.S. intelligence community. According to a threat assessment issued last month by the CIA, one U.S. intelligence agency not named in the report concluded Iran would not have a nuclear weapon by 2010. John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org said the "nightmare scenario" is that Iran completes a reactor that Russia is helping it to build and then withdraws from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The plant then could be used to produce plutonium for a nuclear weapon. Pike said that so far there is no evidence Iran has begun construction of the reprocessing facility that would be needed to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Israel has been predicting for years that Iran will soon have the bomb, he said. "You've had this five-year estimate for the last decade," Pike said. Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune ***************************************************************** 47 Zayed thanked for 'courageous stands' Gulf News; Feb 8, 2002 BY A STAFF REPORTER Officials and experts from several Arab countries ended a seminar on nuclear weapons here yesterday with a word of thanks to President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan for his defence of Arab causes and courageous stand against Israeli aggressions. In a cable at the end of the two-day seminar at the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up, they also praised Sheikh Zayed for his outspoken position against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. "The participants express gratitude for Your Highness's pioneering role in the progress of our nation and the defence of its higher interests as well as your courageous stands in the defence of national causes, mainly the Palestinian people, and your continuous support for their struggle to enable them to restore their land, end the siege and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital." they stated. They also paid tribute to Sheikh Zayed for his efforts to end Israel's occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and confront its threats which are "pushing the region into a horrible arms race, especially weapons of mass destruction including nuclear arms". "Your Highness' stands receive the support of the entire Arab nation and the admiration of all peace-loving forces," they said. "We pledge to Your Highness to march along the path you have laid for our nation in order to regain its rights and pioneering role through solidarity and full use of its potential." ***************************************************************** 48 Nuclear espionage Economist.com Feb 7th 2002 Charged with betraying his country, Wen Ho Lee was, in the end, found guilty only of misusing his computer IN MARCH 1999 the New York Times published a long and sensational article alleging that China, using secrets stolen from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, had made a tremendous leap in developing nuclear weapons. This is going to be just as bad as the Rosenbergs,” the CIA's head of counterintelligence declared, referring to the Soviet spies executed in 1953 for betraying atomic secrets. The New York Times article reported that a joint FBI-Department of Energy team had gone to America's three main weapons-research labs to examine the records of those scientists who had access to the relevant technology. One name leapt out as a possible suspect. The secretary of energy, Bill Richardson, a former congressman with his eye on the vice-presidency, ordered that Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwanese-born American computer scientist working at Los Alamos, be summarily fired. The investigation that had fingered Mr Lee was led by Notra Trulock, the intelligence chief at the Department of Energy, who combined the zeal of Inspector Javert with the ability of Inspector Clouseau. He believed that the classified information must have come from a weapons lab. But a subsequent review indicated that the source could have been any one of dozens of contracting companies or literally thousands of individuals. The FBI was unable to obtain any evidence suggesting, let alone proving, that Mr Lee was a spy. It did, however, establish that he had built up a huge unauthorised collection of computer codes for the design and testing of nuclear weapons, and that he had placed them on an open network accessible to the outside world via the Internet. Mr Lee was indicted on 59 charges, the most serious of which required proof of intent to injure the United States or to aid a foreign country. At his initial hearing, a national laboratory director said the tapes could change the world's strategic balance. The court was told that to grant bail would be to “bet your country”. The judge declined the gamble. For 278 days Mr Lee was held in solitary confinement, handcuffed and shackled whenever he left his cell. In court, the government's case slowly collapsed. Harold Agnew, a nuclear-weapons adviser to five presidents, said the tapes would be of little or no value to China. FBI testimony was proved false, raising the question of whether the agent in question was deliberately perjurious or merely incompetent. The case became laughable when the government identified Hungary, Switzerland and Australia as countries Mr Lee had sought to aid. Their grounds for suspicion? Mr Lee may have inquired about getting a new job in those countries. To save face, the government negotiated an agreement. Mr Lee pleaded guilty to a single count of using an unsecured computer to download a classified document. The sentence was cancelled out by the time he had already served. In a remarkable scene, the judge apologised to Mr Lee. “I believe you were terribly wronged,” he said. “The top decision-makers in the executive branch...have embarrassed our entire nation.” Without interviewing Mr Lee, Dan Stober and Ian Hoffman have produced a lucid, gripping and revealing account of these events in “A Convenient Spy”. By contrast, Mr Lee's own attempt at self-vindication, “My Country Versus Me”, is badly written, sanctimonious and dull. It is likely, as he repeatedly points out, that if he had not been born in Asia he would not have been indicted. It is also likely that, but for his lies to the FBI on a separate matter in the 1980s, and his egregious security violation in downloading the computer codes, he would not have been indicted either. He glides over these inconvenient facts. Mr Lee's persecution ought to serve as a cautionary tale of what can occur when fear, race, incompetence and politics intersect with the demands of national security and the criminal law. Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2002. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 49 Atomic tests 'caused genetic damage' BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | 7 February, 2002, By the BBC's Richard Black Radioactive fallout from Soviet atomic bomb tests caused genetic mutations in people living near the test site, according to a new scientific report. Writing in the journal "Science", the researchers say that fallout almost doubled the normal rate of genetic mutation in families living around Semipalatinsk, in Kazakhstan, formerly part of the Soviet Union. [A TNT explosion seals the final remaining tunnel of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing facility ] The site was officially closed in 1991 The USSR conducted atmospheric tests at Semipalatinsk in the 1940s and 50s. The finding provides striking new evidence of the damage which radioactive substances can do to the human genome. Chernobyl link The researchers examined 40 families living downwind of the Semipalatinsk site, and found a mutation rate in their DNA substantially above normal. In older people the mutation rate was nearly doubled, but younger people were affected less. Semipalatinsk Site was 85,000 square kilometres(32,800 square miles) 470 nuclear tests over 40 years 100 tests above ground 118 tunnels and 13 bore holes closed The researchers say this variation can be put down to the period when atmospheric tests were conducted. Four tests between 1949 and 1956, they believe, did most of the damage, so people born later were exposed to lower levels of radioactivity. It is not known whether the mutations led to any health problems, and the researchers say we are unlikely to find out. The Soviet Union, along with the rest of the world, banned atmospheric tests in 1963, and the scientists say there are so few people still alive who are old enough to have lived through the tests that accurate research will be impossible. The scientist who led the project, Yuri Dubrova, from Leicester University in Britain, has previously published studies showing the same kind of mutation rate increase in people affected by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986. But that research proved somewhat controversial, with other scientists disputing the findings. Now that he's found the same phenomenon around Semipalatinsk, Dr Dubrova plans to go back to Chernobyl for further investigations. Maj Hulten, professor of medical genetics at the University of Warwick, who worked on the research, said: "This study does show that there is an effect on genetic mutation. "It also would mean that in some other forms [radiation] could hit genes which have relevance for development." She added that the genetic material which has been collected from the families provides a "biobank" which further research can be carried out on in the future. ***************************************************************** 50 Korean border starts to look 'scary' again By Andrew Ward in Seoul Published: February 7 2002 17:45 President George W. Bush's inclusion of North Korea in an "axis of evil" that threatens the US has thrust the secretive north-east Asian state, known as the Hermit Kingdom, into the international spotlight and widened the parameters of the war against terror. By including Kim Jong-il's communist regime in the list of potential future targets, Mr Bush signalled that the war against terror was not limited to Islamic terrorists and their backers but could be widened to any country that threatened the US with weapons of mass destruction. With enough plutonium for at least one and possibly two nuclear weapons, an estimated 5,000 tons of biochemical weapons and missiles that could soon be capable of hitting the US, North Korea fits the widened criteria of Mr Bush's war. But Seoul is lobbying the US to tone down its rhetoric ahead of Mr Bush's visit to South Korea on February 20. It fears that Washington's tough approach threatens the stability that has settled on the divided peninsula in recent years and fails to recognise progress achieved through South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine" policy of engagement with its hostile neighbour. Although North Korea is listed by the US as a terrorist-sponsoring nation following a spate of overseas bombings in the 1980s, it has kept its hands clean recently. Pyongyang condemned the September 11 attacks and signed two international anti-terrorism treaties last year. Despite the country's nuclear capabilities, it has frozen production of weapons-grade plutonium and stopped test-firing ballistic missiles in return for construction of two power stations funded by the US and its allies. While Mr Kim's military regime continues to suppress its impoverished people and maintain its barriers against the capitalist world, there are signs of change: all except two European Union nations have diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, foreign tourists have been invited to attend a festival in the country this spring and inter-Korean dialogue, although faltering, has reduced tension on the peninsula. "In terms of current evil, North Korea ranks considerably lower than the other two in this axis," says Robert Einhorn, who negotiated with Pyongyang as president Bill Clinton's assistant secretary for nonproliferation. Analysts say North Korea's inclusion in the "axis of evil" helps Washington argue that the war against terror is not a war against Islam. Mr Bush needs to highlight the threat posed by Pyongyang to justify his planned national missile defence shield because North Korea is the only rogue state with the near-term potential to launch an intercontinental missile. However, while it may be in Mr Bush's political interests to emphasise the direct threat posed by North Korea, Washington's most pressing concern is Pyongyang's thriving missile export business. Defence analysts name Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Syria and Libya as customers. "If there is one North Korean activity that can be considered roguish, it is its export of missiles," says Mr Einhorn. "They are the world's number one proliferator of missile technology and they sell without discrimination to anyone that will pay the money." But if proliferation is the most compelling reason for North Korea's inclusion in the "axis of evil", it is unclear what Mr Bush plans to do about it. "We're not dealing with an Iraq situation where the US could move in 2,000 troops and defeat Iraq with impunity," says Mr Einhorn. "North Korea has a lot of artillery along the border that could reach Seoul. That's why they are so dangerous because they can threaten to kill hundreds of thousands of people with credibility." Washington has a number of non-military options. Arms shipments from North Korea to the Middle East could be intercepted; aid could be cut; and construction of the two power plants pledged as part of the 1994 arms control deal could be halted. All three actions would further damage North Korea's disintegrating economy, though. Some analysts fear that North Korea could lash out if backed into a corner by the US. "The concern is that here is a country we do not understand, which has done some unpredictable things in the past and has its hands on some nasty technology," says David Smith, arms control specialist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "If they know they are going down, are they going to go down fighting?" With little prospect of Mr Kim being overthrown from within and the military option unappealing, negotiation still appears the most fruitful method of bringing about change. But the 49-year-old border that separates the two Koreas along the 38th parallel, where enemy soldiers glower at each other across a 4km-wide demilitarised zone, once again looks like, in Mr Clinton's words, "the most scary place on earth". more from FT.com ***************************************************************** 51 The War Keeps Growing (washingtonpost.com) By Michael Kinsley Friday, February 8, 2002; Page A31 It is not good for North Korea to be developing nuclear weapons, but how exactly is it "terrorism"? The thought of Iran or Iraq as a nuclear power is, if anything, even scarier than the thought of Osama bin Laden holed up with his dialysis machine in some new cave somewhere. But how did the "war on terrorism" change focus so quickly from rooting out and punishing the perpetrators of 9-11 -- a task that is still incomplete -- to doing something (what?) about nuclear proliferation? As this column and other nit-pickers have noted before, terrorism is a squishy concept. But if the word means anything at all, it embodies the concept that even in war, the end can't justify the means. Terrorism is something or other that is bad even when used by the good guys in a good cause. It is a tactic or weapon that is inherently immoral. So shoehorning the problem of nuclear proliferation into the framework of terrorism is especially illogical, since the distinguishing feature of nuclear proliferation as an issue is its asymmetry. It is the United States saying to other countries: We can have nuclear weapons, and so can a few of our old buddies, but you cannot. This imbalance doesn't mean that keeping nukes out of certain hands -- even by force if necessary -- is a bad idea. It does make terrorism a funny way to think about it. What is the connection? In his State of the Union speech, President Bush stapled terrorism and proliferation together by declaring that our "goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction." Which is like saying that you want to stop child molesters from robbing banks. From the beginning, the Bush administration has been admirably clear and consistent that the "war on terrorism" is a long-term project and not just a matter of nailing Osama bin Laden. But it has been artfully inconsistent about what that project is. Starting with overwhelming approval for retribution against the perpetrators of 9-11, it has nudged us down the slippery slope from destroying al Qaeda headquarters to destroying the government that "harbored" the headquarters, to invading or bombing other countries where al Qaeda may have operations or that sponsor al Qaeda operations elsewhere, to military action against countries that harbor or sponsor terrorists unconnected to 9-11, to action against countries that do other bad things, like developing nuclear weapons. We haven't actually acted beyond the first two steps, but the administration is building a paper trail that would allow it to claim authority for the whole trip. Well, so what? Keeping North Korea from going nuclear is a worthy goal, isn't it? Who cares if connecting it to 9-11 is a bit of a stretch? Answer: We should care for three reasons. The first is advice and consent. Like every modern president, President Bush simply ignored his constitutional obligation to get a formal declaration of war from Congress before -- or at least after -- invading another country. He was fully justified in assuming that Congress and the citizenry were behind him in Afghanistan. He would not be justified in assuming similar support for, say, bombing Iran. Imagine if Bush had proposed such a thing on Sept. 10. Yet now he can plausibly claim such support, by association with 9-11. It's been less like a slippery slope than a bait-and-switch. (Conservative pundit William Kristol, writing Jan. 31 on this page, offers another possibility: Bush has been "thinking through the implications" of his original post-9-11 remarks. Anything's possible. Next time, he may even want to try thinking through the implications before announcing the war.) The second reason Bush's public reasoning matters is that each expansion of the war aims weakens all of them, especially by multiplying the problem of inconsistency. The core commitment to oppose "terror" is problematic in itself: There are terror groups we have ignored or even supported. Our past opposition to nuclear proliferation has been an even wilder festival of double standards -- often understandably so, as more immediate diplomatic crises have trumped what seemed like a distant concern. The impression that America is motivated by a few immutable principles -- not just revenge and not complicated realpolitik -- has been key to both the domestic and the international rallying to the cause. As the cause gets more ambiguous, support will get more ambivalent. Third, even if you fully support the expansion of the war aims and any action Bush might take in keeping with his latest rhetoric, you ought to be alarmed at the way tacit support for one military action has been converted into implied support for something quite different. That's because the process can keep going. By definition, the first few steps into a quagmire are ones you want to take. If you want to avoid sinking into a quagmire, you have to walk out of it (or at least stop walking into it) before taking the step that's regrettable, not afterward. We avoided a quagmire in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we the people are assumed to have authorized a quagmire of global scale, and can only wait and see whether the president -- in his wisdom and sole discretion -- keeps us out of one. Michael Kinsley, editor of Slate (www.slate.com), writes a weekly column for The Post. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 52 Unknown dangers at IAAP The Hawk Eye Special: IAAP Friday, February 8, 2002 Heightened security on display By Dennis J. Carroll The Hawk Eye · Plant commander says increased military presence in the works prior to Sept. 11. MIDDLETOWN -- If there was ever any question that the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant is first and foremost a military installation, all doubt has been removed. Soldiers with machine guns mounted on Humvees man "fighting positions" at the main gates as backup in case the guard stations are attacked or overtaken. Military police with automatic weapons patrol more than 100 miles of road and all 19,000 acres of the compound 24 hours a day. Armed civilian security guards check drivers licenses and inspect vehicles entering the plant -- peeking under cars and into the glove compartment, feeling under the seats and inspecting the trunk and engine compartment. Plant Commander Lt. Col. Yolanda Dennis-Lowman, who said the military presence at the plant is as great as it has ever been, led reporters on a guided humvee-convoy tour of some of the plant's beefed up security sites Thursday. The plant's increased civilian security staff now is supported by the 3rd Platoon of the 1139th MP Company of Moberly, Mo., which is billeted in a renovated office building that one MP sergeant described as "a mini-Marriott." "It's our job to overwatch the security force that's already here," said the sergeant, who did not give his first name. Some of the soldiers, members of the National Guard and many from northern Missouri, declined to give their first names. Many of the MPs have civilian jobs in law enforcement, while others are farmers or "every occupation you can think of," the sergeant said. The stepped up military presence was in great part prompted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast, but Dennis-Lowman said that even when she arrived in July, security was not as tight as it is at similar installations, and the addition of the MPs came at her suggestion. "This is more of what I'm used to at an ammunition facility," Dennis-Lowman said. "There is always a security force, and of course it's normally military attached to these facilities, so I was surprised when I got here." Dennis-Lowman said "we were able to do a lot of things that needed to be done," including construction of a 6-foot fence around the administration offices, placement of barriers at key points and greatly increased security at the gates. Two of the plant's four gates were closed. Dennis-Lowman also spoke of the MP positions posted near the gates. "This fighting position is to provide backup should something happen at the front gate and we are overrun," Dennis-Lowman said, pointing to a soldier atop a Humvee, his right arm cradling a machine gun. "These guys are here with their weapons and everything needed to secure the plant should the main entry be overtaken," Dennis-Lowman said. Mark Geiger, a civilian with American Ordinance's contract security force, predicted the added security "is here to stay." "I don't think we should lower it back down," Geiger said. "I think we kind of let our guard down being in the United States." He said the military and civilian security forces "are working great together." The soldiers said the housing provides single- and multiple-person rooms, a "day room" with computers and phones for keeping in touch with the folks back home. The building also has a fitness center, although the Burlington YMCA/YWCA provides free passes for the soldiers. The MPs also praised the plant's kitchen, which often serves shrimp, salmon and a routine choice of meats and entrees. "It's awesome," said one soldier, who in her civilian job tends to pharmaceutical matters in Wal-Mart's corporate office in Bentonville, Ark. [http://www.thehawkeye.com] 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk ' ' '| ' ' '319-754-6824 FAX ' ' '| ' ' ' 1-800-397-1708 Outside Burlington [this is a line and that's all that it is] ©' 2000 The Hawk Eye, all rights reserved. ' ' Updated daily ' 'Questions? - [webmaster@thehawkeye.com] ***************************************************************** 53 Chinese Ambassador Expounds China's Position on Disarmament Xinhuanet 2002-02-07 22:46:02 GENEVA, February 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, Hu Xiaodi, reiterated China's position on Disarmament on Thursday at the plenary of the 2002 session of the conference on Disarmament. Hu said the objectives of future arms control and disarmament should be the preservation of global stability and the consolidation, development and promotion of the existing arms control and disarmament legal regime. The Chinese ambassador said that the whole international community should make efforts to prevent the introduction of weapons or weapon systems into outer space, and to complete the prohibition and total destruction of all nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. He said thanks to the concerted efforts of the international community in the past decades, a relatively comprehensive legal regime for arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation has been put in place, covering nuclear, chemical, biological and some types of conventional weapons. But he pointed out this legal regime is now confronted with unprecedented challenges, including in particular attempts to replace international cooperation with unilateral actions and the adoption of policies of expediency towards international legal instruments in the interests of one's own "absolute security". The Chinese ambassador urged that it is the common responsibility of the international community to preserve the integrity and credibility of international arms control and disarmament system, which is of vital importance to maintaining international peace and security. Countries should join hands in working to preserve and promote this system. Hu emphasized that in doing so, what is required is cooperation rather than confrontation, a uniform standard rather than double or even multiple standards, and consistent rather than fluid policies and positions. Enditem Copyright © 2000 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 54 1974 Nuclear extortion attempt on Boston Today's question Orange County Register - Top News February 8, 2002 Q. A story going around the Internet says that Boston was the target of a nuclear extortion attempt. Is that true? A. The incident considered the first serious nuclear extortion threat in U.S. history came in 1974, when an anonymous party threatened to explode a nuclear bomb in Boston unless $200,000 was paid. The threat turned out to be a hoax, but President Ford was so dismayed by the disorganized government response that he created the Nuclear Emergency Search Team. As of 2000, the team had responded to 125 threats. Ninety-five were hoaxes. Officials won't categorize the remaining 30 beyond saying that several were extortion attempts by nuclear-industry workers. Want to submit questions related to the U.S. war on terrorism or comment on Daily Briefing? You can reach reporter Chris Reed at (714) 796-2385, by e-mail at chrisreed@ocregister.com, or via regular mail at Newsroom, The Orange County Register, 625 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92701. [http://www.ocregister.com] Copyright 2002 The Orange County Register ***************************************************************** 55 Russia Gets Help on Weapons Control World - AP Europe Fri Feb 8, 7:17 AM ET By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW - A foundation led by Ted Turner and former Sen. Sam Nunn will spend $6 million helping Russia reduce threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The Nuclear Threat Initiative project should help secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction, prevent their spread and bolster cooperation between scientists on anti-terrorism issues, Nunn said Friday. It also will help create civilian jobs for scientists in Russia's weapons industry so they are less likely to be lured by rogue nations trying to start their own weapons programs. "Russia has enormous technical and scientific expertise, and Russia and the United States must join together in a global effort to secure weapons materials and weapons know-how," said Nunn, a Georgia Democrat who led the Senate Armed Services Committee before retiring in 1997. The announcement came after CIA Director George Tenet told Congress Wednesday that Russia remains a leading supplier of nuclear technology and missiles to countries hostile to the United States, and is "the first choice of nations seeking nuclear technology and training." The CIA report to Congress, covering the first half of 2001, said the Russian government's "commitment, willingness, and ability to curb proliferation-related transfers remain uncertain." Russia's Foreign Ministry responded angrily to the report, saying it caused "not only extreme surprise but also serious concern." "Russia strictly meets its international obligations to control the export of sensitive trade and technology," a ministry statement said. Russia has an $800 million deal to build a nuclear power plant in Iran, assistance the CIA report said "enhances Iran's ability to support a nuclear weapons development effort." Russian and Iranian officials fiercely deny that claim, saying the project serves strictly civilian purposes. Also, President Bush recently denounced Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil" that must stop pursuing weapons of mass destruction or face consequences. Russia has friendly ties with all three. The bickering is the latest example of tensions marring U.S.-Russian relations, though overall ties recently have been strong because of President Vladimir Putin's strong support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. Nunn said that "in the spirit of new partnership," the United States could share some intelligence data with Moscow to back its demand that Russia drop controversial export deals. "There are some serious problems with their export policies, and I believe they themselves don't see it that way," Nunn said. Nunn and Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., wrote a 1991 law making $4.7 billion available to Russia to help destroy some of its weapons of mass destruction weapons while safeguarding the rest. Friday's initiative takes further steps to prevent the spread of nuclear and biological weapons technology to terrorists or other countries. For example, NTI will contribute $1 million to a Russian loan fund established to create permanent civilian jobs for workers of Sarov, a top Russian nuclear weapons design and production center that has been reducing staff. Another $1.3 million is earmarked for former biological weapons scientists working on a brucellosis vaccine, while $250,000 will fund a feasibility study for a new hepatitis vaccine. On the Net: Nuclear Threat Initiative [http://www.nti.org/] Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information ***************************************************************** 56 Closing date for Flats is still 2006, feds say Denver Post.com DOE cites 'options' for moving plutonium By Mike Soraghan [msoraghan@denverpost.com] Denver Post Washington Bureau --> Friday, February 08, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Federal officials assured Colorado leaders Thursday that the Rocky Flats nuclear bomb plant is still on track for closure in 2006, even though the officials can't say where some of the plant's plutonium will be sent. "We have a variety of options on the table," said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Department of Energy in Washington. "We're going to make sure our study of those options is in line with our 2006 closure date." Sean Conway, spokesman for Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, said that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Thursday passed along his assurances to Allard that he is committed to closing Rocky Flats by 2006. Conway said Allard has set up a meeting for next week with top DOE officials to sort out the situation. DOE last month announced plans to pay for a $3.8 billion facility in South Carolina to turn some plutonium from Rocky Flats and other shuttered bomb plants into fuel for nuclear power plants. But that leaves about 2 metric tons, or about 4,400 pounds, of plutonium at nuclear weapons plants nationwide, including Rocky Flats, with nowhere to go. It is too impure to be turned into fuel, and the government has dropped plans to "immobilize" the material in glass and store it permanently. When DOE officials announced their plans, they handed out documents stating the 2 tons of impure plutonium would be "shipped directly to waste," without explaining what that meant. Anti-nuclear groups said last week that the waste would be sent to New Mexico, to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad. But Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., announced Wednesday that he'd been assured by Abraham that it wouldn't go to WIPP. Davis said Thursday that DOE "has no plans" to send the material there. Officials at Rocky Flats had been hoping to get all of the plutonium out of Rocky Flats by the end of this year. Pat Etchart, spokesman for Rocky Flats, said Thursday that if the plutonium hasn't been removed by the middle of next year, it could push back the 2006 closure date. Officials at Rocky Flats will not say how much of the 2 metric tons is at the plant northwest of Denver, saying the amount is confidential. Critics say the dilemma has been caused by the government's rush to close the facilities. "The 2006 deadline is causing ripple effects that are starting to backfire on Rocky Flats itself," said Tom Clements, executive director of the Nuclear Control Institute, an anti-proliferation group in Washington. The federal government is spending $7 billion to decontaminate Rocky Flats and turn it into a wildlife refuge. Plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs were made at the plant for 40 years. It closed in 1989 after the end of the Cold War. All contents Copyright 2002 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 57 Hanford Reach getting more monumental The Seattle Times: Local News: Friday, February 08, 2002 - 12:15 a.m. Pacific The Associated Press RICHLAND — The Hanford Reach National Monument will start looking more visitor-friendly in the coming year, although a significant portion of the site is generally off-limits to the public. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the monument, plans to put up wood-and-rock signs at major entrances to the 200,000-acre site. They will depict a fall chinook salmon jumping out of the Columbia River. A 51-mile stretch of the river, alongside the Hanford nuclear reservation, is primary spawning ground for the fish. "We are going to do it right," said Greg Hughes, the monument manager. "This is just a taste of what is to come." The Fish and Wildlife Service also plans to add seven employees to its Richland staff, including technical specialists and a planner for the monument. And one day, there probably will be two visitors centers to tell people about the region's natural and political history. Right now, "as you drive up the highways, you don't even recognize it is national monument," Hughes said, as he discussed plans at a meeting of the monument's citizens advisory board Wednesday. The monument was created by the Clinton administration in 2000. The Hanford Reach portion of the river is relatively pristine because much of the area has served as a buffer zone for the nuclear reservation. In additional to providing salmon spawning habitat, the monument is home to several rare species of plants and animals. The Richland City Council this week offered the Fish and Wildlife Service a spot at Columbia Point for a visitors center. Kennewick also has expressed interest in a visitors center, while others have suggested putting one near Mattawa, Grant County. "To me, the issue of how many interpretive centers there are going to be should be resolved before we start looking for locations," said Jim Watts, chairman of the advisory committee. The panel is charged with developing a plan for the monument, discussing such issues as public use and resource protection. "We need balanced groups ... so we don't just gravitate into (camps advocating) ultra-protection and ultra-use," said Rich Steele, a committee member who represents recreation interests. In December, the agency announced that the monument would get the largest operating-budget increase in the history of the National Wildlife Refuge system, including $100,000 for the advisory committee. Hughes, the monument manager, also hopes to get $50,000 from the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, which aims to help resolve natural resource issues. The money would be targeted for one of the stickiest problems facing monument planners: preventing the erosion of the landmark White Bluffs along the river. Nearby irrigation is blamed for destabilizing the bluffs. seattletimes.com home ***************************************************************** 58 Bush officials: INEEL won't be closed IdahoStatesman.com Friday, February 8, 2002 DOE spokesman says budget was misinterpreted By Faith Bremner Statesman Washington bureau What the Bush budget said "Even though the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory receives substantial earmarked funding through the EM Office of Science and Technology, it is unable to complete projects on time and within budget. The administration proposes accelerating the completion date from the current date of 2050 and closing the lab." What the Department of Energy said Thursday " ... the budget document contained wording which led to unfortunate interpretations that INEEL was slated for closure. This is simply not true." What do you think? Post your comments about this story on the message board [http://www.idahostatesman.com/f_messageboards.shtml] or send a letter to the editor [http://www.idahostatesman.com/f_letter2editor.shtml] . + Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory [http://www.inel.gov] WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has retracted a statement in its 2003 budget recommending closure of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory -- one of Idaho´s biggest employers -- after finishing the cleanup of nuclear waste. "It contained wording that, quite frankly, led to interpretations that are incorrect," said Joe Davis, Department of Energy deputy director of public affairs. "To say that INEEL is slated for closure is simply not true." Undersecretary of Energy Robert Card said the same thing Wednesday in a letter to Idaho´s congressional delegation. Contrary to closing the facility, DOE is considering expanding INEEL´s research programs by building an advanced technology prototype power reactor there, Card wrote. Although he couldn´t promise INEEL will get the reactor, the facility is an attractive possibility, Card said. Located near Idaho Falls, the lab, with an annual budget of nearly $1 billion, has two primary functions: managing, storing and cleaning up nuclear waste deposited at the site over the years and conducting scientific research into such things as the next generation of nuclear reactors. It employs 8,000 people and is one of the state´s top five employers. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was only partially mollified by the retraction. He blamed the mistake on an unnamed Office of Management and Budget employee unhappy with DOE´s efforts to clean up 53 sites around the country contaminated with radioactive waste produced during weapons research and production. "It sounds like a gotcha game on the part of a rather frustrated bureaucrat who is not getting his way and can´t cause something to happen," Craig said. An attempt to reach OMB officials Thursday evening for comment was unsuccessful. Craig also remains unhappy with DOE´s plan to cut funds for environmental cleanup programs at INEEL and other sites by 20 percent and put the money into a new program that would reward DOE facilities that speed up their cleanup activities. Such a new program would violate the government´s 1995 agreement with the state of Idaho to remove all radioactive waste from the area by 2035, Craig said. Some is being shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and some would be shipped to a nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain, if it opens. "What I told Bob Card and (Energy Secretary) Spencer Abraham last night, if you fail to meet our guidelines, we will redo your budget and therefore your proposal is dead on arrival," Craig said. DOE stands by its incentive program, Davis said. It also stands by language in the budget that criticizes INEEL for failing to complete its nuclear waste cleanup projects on time and within budget, he said. The document gives INEEL´s environmental management programs a failing grade and said they are $10.4 billion over budget. It complains that cleanup projects nationwide have turned into local "jobs" programs. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 59 DOE facing layoffs with new budget Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:09 a.m. on Friday, February 8, 2002 From staff and wire reports The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Operations office may be looking at layoffs totaling about 15 percent of its work force, or up to 70 people, if the agency's Oak Ridge budget figures hold. It would be the first layoff at the Oak Ridge Operations office in many years. There now are 467 employees in the office. The line-item totals for Oak Ridge show personnel costs penned in at $68 million, a $9 million reduction from the current $77 million budgeted for personnel. "We're aware of what's in the budget," Steve Wyatt, Oak Ridge Operations office spokesman, told The Oak Ridger this morning. "We recognize we have a problem and are working with headquarters to resolve this issue." Wyatt said he could offer not further comment. The line-item DOE requested totals for Oak Ridge include security funding increases reflected in a budgeted growth for the Y-12 National Security Complex from the current $612 million to $686 million for fiscal year 2003. But other budgeted line items, beyond personnel, could be trimmed as part of DOE's Oak Ridge Operations. Proposed Spallation Neutron Source funding drops to a proposed $225 million for fiscal year 2003, although that decrease was anticipated. The previous two fiscal years were the largest for SNS, so the reduced numbers are in line with anticipations locally. Funding for the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education would go from $74 million to $69 million under 2003 requests; Bechtel Jacobs' Oak Ridge operations would go from $325 million to $306 million; and BNFL is budgeted to receive $42 million, down from the current $73 million. Wackenhut, which provides security services in Oak Ridge, is unchanged at a requested $81 million for 2003. The DOE field office includes management and support personnel that oversee operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other facilities. The federal staff totaled more than 700 several years ago, but it has been trimmed gradually through attrition and special buyout programs. The proposal for fiscal 2003 would accelerate the restructuring and likely require layoffs. The layoffs would involve direct federal workers, who represent a small fraction of the total Oak Ridge work force. Most workers at the government facilities here are employed by operating contractors, such as UT-Battelle at ORNL. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 60 IAEA Daily Press Review Thursday, 07 February, 2002 1. Non-proliferation Responding to US harsh rhetoric, Iraq reiterates its claims that it has dismantled weapons of mass destruction. Senior Russian officials praise US for consenting to be legally bound by a future nuclear arms agreement, and one said a pact dictating sweeping cuts in the two nations' nuclear arsenals was now likely within months. (AP; NBC; NYT - 6, 7/2) Iraq; Russian Federation; United States of America 2. IAEA Experts from the IAEA, US, Russia, France and Germany open three-day meeting with Georgian authorities to discuss measures to improve management, safety and security of radioactive sources in country. (BBC; R; UNW - 6/2) France; Georgia; Germany; IAEA; Russian Federation 3. Nuclear power Russian recent revival of plans to expand NPP on River Volga spark protests. No. 1 generating set of second phase of China's indigenous Qinshan NPP becomes operational. Energy Minister says Britain must keep nuclear power option. (BBC; CHD; G - 6, 7/2) China; Russian Federation; United Kingdom 4. Chernobyl Various reports on UN report about Chernobyl aftermath. (NYT; RJ - 6/2) Chernobyl; UN 5. Radiation, health Danger of mobile phones under fresh scrutiny after study finds radiation emission can affect body without heating up tissue. (BBC - 6/2) WORLDWIDE 6. Radwaste, fuel Debate over US project to build nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada continues. (WP - 6/2) United States of America 7. Miscellaneous It is reported that India has begun talks with Russia on supply of bombers, an aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered submarines to New Delhi. (R - 6/2) India; Russian Federation ***************************************************************** 61 February 2002 Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin [NEA Logo] February 2002 Covers new material for December 2001 and January 2002 The monthly bulletin only lists new and updated material. It is distributed by e-mail to registered users of the Nuclear Energy Agency's Online Services and is available online at http://www.nea.fr/html/new.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/new.html] . The bulletin is sent monthly by e-mail to subscribers. It is best received in HTML if you have a mail reader that can display mail in HTML. To request the HTML version of the bulletin, please e-mail nea@nea.fr [nea@nea.fr] with the subject "HTML Bulletin" and give your full name. If you are not already a subscriber, use the sign on form [http://www.nea.fr/html/signon.html] to subscribe. An online archive of previous editions [http://www.nea.fr/html/general/newsletter/index.html] is available. New publications Nuclear safety Nuclear science Data Bank New publications Publications on sale can be ordered at the OECD bookshop: http://www.oecd.org/bookshop/ [http://electrade.gfi.fr/cgi-bin/OECDBookShop.storefront] . NEA News [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?682001021P1] ISBN 92-64-19108-9, ISSN 1605-9581. 2002 subscription including two issues: 37, US$45, £26, ¥4800. 40 pages. Disponible également en français : AEN Infos [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?682001022P1] ISBN 92-64-29108-3, ISSN 1605-959X. Abonnement 2002 comportant deux numéros : 37, US$45, £26, ¥4800. 40 pages. Nuclear Law Bulletin No. 68 + Supplement [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?672001681P1] ISBN 92-64-19110-0, ISSN 0304-341X. 2002 subscription including two issues: 71, US$80, £48, ¥9550. Bulletin 98 pages - Supplement 74 pages. Disponible également en français : Bulletin de droit nucléaire n° 68 + supplément [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?672001682P1] ISBN 92-64-29110-5, ISSN 0304-3428. Abonnement 2002 comportant deux numéros : 71, US$80, £48, ¥9550. Bulletin 104 pages - Supplément 77 pages. Trends in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?662002011P1] ISBN 92-64-19664-1. 37, US$33, £23, ¥3700.160 pages. Version française à paraître. Free publications are available at http://www.nea.fr/html/pub/webpubs/ [http://www.nea.fr/html/pub/webpubs/] . Paper copies may be requested by sending an e-mail to nea@nea.fr [nea@nea.fr] . PENELOPE - A Code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/penelope.pdf] ISBN 92-64-18475-9. 250 pages (2.6 mb). Nuclear safety Most of the nuclear fuel safety criteria in use today were established during the 1960s and early 1970s. The NEA Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) was given a mandate to review these criteria in the light of "new design" elements, such as new fuel and core design, cladding materials, manufacturing processes, high burn-up, mixed-oxide fuel (MOX), etc. The CSNI Task Force on Fuel Safety Criteria (TFFSC) that was set up to consider these issues included research experts from regulatory bodies and technical support organisations. The TFFSC reviewed 20 criteria in all. Also reviewed were the special problems associated with high burn-up, including the axial offset anomaly and incomplete rod insertion. The TFFSC concluded that the current framework of fuel safety criteria "remains generally applicable" to the new fuel designs, but numbers in individual criteria may have to change in accordance with the particular fuel and core design features. The complete text of the TFFSC's report, "Nuclear Fuel Safety Criteria Technical Review" is now available in the OECD online bookshop. To order the report visit http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?662001171P1 [http://www.oecd.org/scripts/publications/bookshop/redirect.asp?662001171P1] . Regular features + The list of all nuclear safety documents produced since 1973 by the CSNI is available at http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/reports/csnirepindex.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/reports/csnirepindex.html] . Documents produced by the CNRA are available at http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/docs/indexcnra.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/docs/indexcnra.html] . + Information regarding forthcoming workshops and seminars may be found at http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/calendar.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/nsd/calendar.html] . Nuclear science The Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) is organising a third workshop on the "Utilisation and Reliability of High Power Proton Accelerators". The workshop will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA on 12-16 May 2002. More information (including online registration) is available at http://www.nea.fr/html/science/hpa3/ [http://www.nea.fr/html/science/hpa3/] . The 7th Information Exchange Meeting on Actinide and Fission Product Partitioning and Transmutation will be held in Jeju, Korea on 14-16 October 2002. Participants in this meeting are encouraged to submit abstracts before March 1st. Further information is available at http://www.nea.fr/html/pt/iempt7/index.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/pt/iempt7/index.html] . Data Bank Nuclear data services The JEFF Working Party on Nuclear Data Evaluation, Processing and Benchmarking will hold its regular meetings on 24-26 April 2002 in Aix-en-Provence, France. More information (including online registration) is available at http://www.nea.fr/html/dbdata/meetings/aix2002/index.htm [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbdata/meetings/aix2002/index.htm] . The Data Bank and the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC) are organising a training course on the analysis code SAMMY at NEA headquarters on 18-22 February 2002. More information (including online registration) is available at http://www.nea.fr/html/dbdata/sammy/workshops/feb2002/ [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbdata/sammy/workshops/feb2002/] . Computer program services The Data Bank regularly organises hands-on training courses for widely used computer codes that are in the public domain. The latest training course covered "PENELOPE, a Code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport". This code is now being used by an increasing number of radiation physicists. The course was taught by the code's authors; their lecture notes and the corresponding proceedings are now available on the NEA website at http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/penelope.pdf [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/penelope.pdf] . Further information about the PENELOPE code is available at http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/peneloperef.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/peneloperef.html] . A page listing all new programs in the last 12 months can be found at http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/cpsnew.html [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/cpsnew.html] . Detailed news concerning the computer program service is available at: http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/Newsletter/Whatsnew.htm [http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/Newsletter/Whatsnew.htm] . New software packages available from the Data Bank: 18-JAN-2002 IAEA1378 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/iaea1378.html] INDOSE V2.1.1, Internal Dosimetry Code using Biokinetics Models (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 NEA-1166 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1166.html] MCVIEW, 3-D Radiation View Factor by Monte-Carlo Method (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 NEA-1209 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1209.html] DWBA98, DWBA with non local potential (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 NEA-1592 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1592.html] TIBSO,NUCL TRANSITIONS &RADIOACTIVITY MIGRATION IN TECHNOLOGICAL SYS (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1208 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1208.html] CHECKER, ENDF/B format Check (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1210 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1210.html] GETMAT, ENDF/B material retrieval (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1214 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1214.html] LISTEF, ENDF/B data file summary list (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1216 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1216.html] PSYCHE, ENDF/B data consistency check in ENDF format (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1218 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1218.html] STANEF, ENDF/B bookeeping operations for ENDF format files (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1217 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1217.html] SETMDC, CDC,IBM,DEC preprocessor for CHECKER, FIZCON, INTER, etc. source codes (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1215 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1215.html] PLOTEF, ENDF/B data plot (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1212 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1212.html] INTER, ENDF/B thermal cross-sections, resonance integrals, g-factors calculation (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 USCD1209 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/uscd1209.html] FIZCON, ENDF/B cross-sections redundancy check (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 NEA-1651 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1651.html] ZZ-MCLIB-E6, Continuous energy cross section library from ENDF/B-VI.5 for MCNP-4A,-4B, 300K, 600K, 900K (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 NEA-1650 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1650.html] ZZ-KAFAX-F22, 80 and 24 groups cross-section library in MATXS format based on JEF-2.2 for fast reactors (Now tested) 18-JAN-2002 NEA-1649 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1649.html] ZZ-KASHIL-E6, 175 n, 42 gamma groups cross sections in MATXS format based on ENDF/B-VI.5 for shielding applications (Now tested) 16-JAN-2002 NEA-1564 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1564.html] EASY,European N Activation System (Now tested) 15-JAN-2002 NEA-1210 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1210.html] ZZ HATCHES-14, Database for Radio Chemical Modelling (Now tested) 11-JAN-2002 NEA-1517 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1517.html] SINBAD-REACTOR, Shielding Benchmark Experiments (Arrived) 11-JAN-2002 NEA-1553 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1553.html] SINBAD-FUSION, Neutronics Benchmark Experiments (Arrived) 10-JAN-2002 NEA-1525 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1525.html] PENELOPE2001, A Code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transport (Arrived) 17-DEC-2001 NEA-1640 [http://www.nea.fr/abs/html/nea-1640.html] ZZ-BWRTT, BWR Turbine Trip Transient Benchmark based on Peach-Bottom 2 (Arrived) Instructions on retrieving material from the NEA may be found at http://www.nea.fr [http://www.nea.fr/] . Please note that scientific database access is only available to residents of OECD/NEA Data Bank member countries. Distribution: all users of online services; NOS Bulletin subscribers. To unsubscribe, please send a mail to nea@nea.fr [nea@nea.fr] . ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************