***************************************************************** 04/10/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.91 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 U.S., Japan hail N.K.'s decision to reopen dialogue 2 Renewed attacks by Australian nuclear plant protesters NUCLEAR REACTORS 3 Kazakh atomic reactor to be mothballed by June 2003 4 Russian nuclear plant closes again 5 Russia: Volgodonsk nuclear plant power unit shut down - technical 6 US: Davis-Besse, NRC Discuss Reactor Head Repair 7 US: NRC Staff to Meet with Wisconsin Rapids Firm to Discuss Apparent 8 US: NRC to Meet with Exelon Generation Co. April 18 to Discuss 9 US: NRC to Meet With Nuclear Management Co. April 19 to Discuss 10 US: NRC to Meet with PPL to Discuss Susquehanna Plant Performance 11 US: NRC to Meet with Company to Discuss Performance of Vermont Yanke 12 Russian nuclear plant closes again - 13 Leak prompts reactor closure after one day 14 ASIA-PACIFIC: Japan nuclear safety report marred by leak NUCLEAR SAFETY 15 US: Easy theft: radioactive bomb parts NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 16 US: State: beware of traffic bearing radioactive waste 17 The Taipei Times Online: 2002-04-10Wednesday, April 10th, 2002 18 US: Nevada Governor Vetoes Nuclear Waste Dump Site 19 Russians seek referendum on shipments of spent N-waste 20 US: Governor Vetoes Bush Decision to Bury Nuclear Waste in Nevada 21 US: Nevada triggers nuclear waste battle in Congress - 22 US: Nevada vetoes nuclear dump 23 US: Science, law underlie Yucca debate 24 Taiwan: Yu apologizes for island's nuclear woes 25 Taipower bemoans waste dump 26 US: Shunned by Colorado, tainted N.J. dirt will detour to Utah 27 US: Uphill battle expected 28 US: LETTERS: Yucca: Irrational fear 29 US: DOE turns to tank as state cuts off Yucca water supply 30 US: Plan for public support of Yucca fight starts slowly 31 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Case taken to nation 32 US: Dueling ads kick off media blitz on Yucca 33 US: State's anti-dump fund may fall short of $10 million goal 34 US: Lott says Yucca will pass 35 US: Nevada triggers nuclear waste battle in Congress 36 US: Nevada Governor Vetoes Nuclear Waste Dump Site 37 US: Council takes aim at landfills 38 US: Gibbons Statement on Governor’s Veto of Yucca Mountain 39 US: Jabiluka traditional owners call for full Senate inquiry 40 US: Nevada worries about financing its nuclear waste lobbying effort NUCLEAR WEAPONS 41 The Epidemic of Nuclearism: Clinical Profile of the Genocidal 42 Christina Rocca back in India for talks 43 Rocca’s visit to herald Indo-US cooperation on N-issues 44 NPT signatories meet for the first time since Sept. 11 45 U.S. Rebuked By Russia on Disarmament 46 Japanese politician defends nuclear remarks 47 A Syndrome for Every War 48 China Reaffirms Position on Nuclear Weapons, Tests 49 China Reaffirms Position on Nuclear Weapons, Tests 50 NPT signatories meet for the first time since Sept. 11 51 Japanese politician defends nuclear remarks US DEPT. OF ENERGY 52 DC Trip 2002 53 A Candidate Tries to Keep His Troubles Behind Him 54 DOE moving forward on cleanup plan 55 Company wrapping up K-25 project 56 Delegation calls for expansion of Oak Ridge worker benefits 57 Union says DOE planning to ease security at plant OTHER NUCLEAR 58 WNA NEWS BRIEFING 02.15 | 4 - 9 April 2002 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 U.S., Japan hail N.K.'s decision to reopen dialogue Korea Herald!!_National http://www.koreaherald.com Wednesday, April 10, 2002 South Korea, the United States and Japan on Tuesday welcomed the recent promise by North Korean leader to resume dialogue with the three countries, but urged Pyongyang once again to allow U.N. inspectors in to monitor its weapons program. "The three delegations ... welcomed and expressed support for the outcome of South Korean Special Envoy's visit to North Korea," said a joint press statement, issued after a Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) meeting in Tokyo by senior officials from the three governments. The statement referred to the trip to Pyongyang April 3-6 by Lim Dong-won, security and unification adviser to President Kim Dae-jung. Lim said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed during their meeting in Pyongyang to resume rapprochement exchanges with the South and reopen talks with Washington and Tokyo. The TCOG session drew additional attention as its participants were scheduled to discuss a proposed visit to the communist country by Jack Pritchard, Washington's point man on negotiations with North Korea, which was also proposed by the North's leader. "We welcomed the North's decision to allow Pritchard to visit, but a detailed timetable would be fixed during U.S.-North Korea consultations through their New York channel," a Foreign Ministry official said. Pritchard is scheduled to visit Seoul April 11-12 to discuss his envisioned trip to North Korea with Lim and other South Korean officials. The TCOG statement also urged North Korea's "full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency" a step required before the construction of nuclear plants in North Korea by a U.S.-led international consortium. Pyongyang has refused to accept nuclear inspections, which under its 1994 deal with the United States should be made before key components of the nuclear reactors are delivered to the energy-starved country. In the press statement, the three countries also called on North Korea to "take a constructive attitude" toward the issue of 11 missing Japanese nationals. Tokyo claims the missing people were abducted by the North in the 1970s and 80s, while Pyongyang denies it. "The Japanese delegation also explained that the Japan-North Korea Red Cross talks will be held in the near future," it read. (jihoho@koreaherald.co.kr) By Kim Ji-ho Staff reporter 2002.04.10 (C) Copyright 2000 Digital Korea Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 2 Renewed attacks by Australian nuclear plant protesters New Zealand News - World - Greenpeace has not given up on the nuclear-waste issue. 10.04.2002 By GREG ANSLEY in Canberra Environmental groups yesterday opened another front in their resistance to plans for a new nuclear reactor in Sydney. The reactor has been given the go-ahead despite strong opposition and criticism of an atomic treaty with Argentina, which will build the plant. The A$320 million ($388 million) plant will replace the ageing Lucas Heights reactor, used for medical purposes including cancer treatment and research. Green groups and the Sutherland Shire, the large Sydney local government area containing the Lucas Heights facility, last week lost a long and bitter fight against its replacement. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency approved the construction of the new reactor by the much-criticised and financially troubled Argentinian company Invap. Science Minister Peter McGauran said work on the project could start within days and would be completed within three years. "This puts paid to the long and organised campaign of disinformation and outright lies told about the replacement reactor by a number of extremist groups," he said. The reactor will be built in a 14m deep pool enclosed in a 2m concrete shield, with a huge metal net to protect the building against ramming by aircraft. Although the agency has approved Invap's licence to build the plant, the company has to prove it can dispose of spent fuel safely. Yesterday, Greenpeace challenged Australia's nuclear cooperation agreement with Argentina on the grounds it would cause an outcry among Australia's neighbours and major trading partners, including New Zealand. Under the agreement, Argentina will accept spent Australian fuel rods if the French company Cogema - which at present takes them from Lucas Heights - cannot process them. Greenpeace has already announced a legal bid to block any export of fuel rods to France, and argues that Argentina's constitution explicitly bans nuclear-waste imports. The organisation says that Chile, a priority trading partner for Australia, would object to fuel rods going through its economic zone. Pacific nations including New Zealand also opposed the prospect of nuclear shipments through their waters. Greens MP Lee Rhiannon yesterday introduced an amendment to New South Wales state laws aimed at preventing waste from the new reactor being transported or stored in the state. In an associated move, Friends of the Earth told the federal treaties committee that nuclear cooperation treaties with the Czech Republic and Hungary would allow Australian uranium to be used in ageing Soviet-era reactors considered dangerous. nzherald.co.nz/environment ©Copyright 2002, New Zealand Herald ***************************************************************** 3 Kazakh atomic reactor to be mothballed by June 2003 BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 10, 2002 Aktau, 10 April: Kazakhstan plans to remove all the radioactive sodium from its BN-350 reactor on fast neutrons [in western Mangistau Region] by June 2003 after which the reactor will be mothballed, Petr Nazarenko, the technical director of the Mangyshlak Atomic Power Combine republican state enterprise (in Aktau, the administrative centre of the region), has said. The reactor is an integral part of the combine. He said that about 1,000 tonnes of sodium were circulating in the heat carriers of the first and second loops of the reactor without generating power at the moment. Nazarenko told MPs from the Kazakh parliament's lower chamber, the Majlis, that this regime would be preserved until the first loop of the reactor is cleared of radioactive sodium and of a more dangerous product of decay - caesium-137. [Passage to end omitted: about 5,000 cu.m. of fluid radioactive waste and about 6,000 tonnes of solid waste are stored at the reactor now; about 2m dollars a year are necessary to maintain the reactor] BBC Monitoring/ © BBC ***************************************************************** 4 Russian nuclear plant closes again - April 10, 2002 CNN.com - The Chernobyl tragedy in 1986 was the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia's newest nuclear reactor, the first to open since the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, has been shut down. The closure -- the reactor's second since it entered service last year -- occurred automatically on Wednesday after a steam valve failed. No excess radiation was recorded at or near the Rostov plant in southern Russia, its spokesman Yegor Obukhov told The Associated Press. The cause of the problem was unclear, and engineers were waiting for the reactor to cool down so they could examine it more closely. The reactor, which took nearly 20 years to build, has been heavily opposed by environmental groups. The Chernobyl accident in Ukraine sent a large radiation cloud over much of Europe and contaminated large areas of then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. More than 4,000 people died. According to the Ukraine Health Ministry 400,000 adults and 1.1 million children are entitled to state aid for illnesses contracted as a result of the disaster. Levels of thyroid cancer in Ukraine and Belarus are abnormally high, and experts are predicting that the incidence of cancer and other disabling diseases will continue to rise for at least another 30 years. The reactor involved in the Chernobyl accident was encased in a huge steel and concrete tomb to prevent more radiation leaking out. The plant's other three reactors continued operating until December 2000, when they were closed down. 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 5 Russia: Volgodonsk nuclear plant power unit shut down - technical fault BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 10, 2002 Rostov-na-Donu, 10 April: Power unit No 1 was shut down at 0547 hours Moscow time (0147 gmt) on Wednesday morning [10 April] at the Volgodonsk nuclear power plant, Rostov Region of Russia, the plant's deputy general director, Sergey Gorbunov, [has] said. He said the outage had affected the reactor unit of the plant. It was caused by a "faulty closure of a valve at the steam collector" that set off the system of normal protection. Technical experts said the radiation background at the site of the plant and within the 30 km zone around it was normal. The power unit may be plugged into Russia's united energy system on Thursday. This is the second outage of the reactor unit at the Volgodonsk plant since its commissioning in the autumn of 2001. The previous one was caused by a short-circuit at a transformer on 8 March. BBC Monitoring/ © BBC ***************************************************************** 6 Davis-Besse, NRC Discuss Reactor Head Repair PR Newswire - USA; Apr 10, 2002 April 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Representatives from FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) met with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials today in Washington, D.C., to discuss proposed repairs to the reactor vessel head at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. The NRC must review and approve the repair prior to the work beginning. Carbon steel in the reactor head was corroded by boric acid seeping through cracks in two Control Rod Drive Mechanism nozzles. Corrosion adjacent to one nozzle near the top of the reactor head will require a significant repair effort. A second corroded area, however, is minor and warrants a relatively simple repair. Davis-Besse's repair approach for the more significant corrosion at the top of the reactor head will be to cut out the damaged area, using robotic equipment and a high-pressure, water jet abrasion technique. The opening will be covered with a stainless steel plate, 12 to 13 inches in diameter, about five inches thick and weighing between 300 to 400 pounds. The plate will be welded in place using robotic equipment. The nozzle penetration with the minor corrosion will be capped with a stainless steel plug and welded over. Additionally, another nozzle near the first corroded area also will be removed, capped and welded shut. This nozzle is being capped due to its proximity to the corrosion damage. A team consisting of Davis-Besse personnel, as well as experts from Framatome ANP Inc., and Welding Services, Inc., will perform the work. All repairs will be designed to last the remaining plant life and must comply with NRC requirements. Prior to beginning the work, mock-ups will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the cutting, welding and inspection techniques. The welds will be subjected to dye penetrant testing and ultrasonic or radiographic examination. The three Control Rod Drive Mechanisms displaced by these repairs will be moved to spare nozzle locations on the reactor head. Once started, the repair work itself is expected to take three to four weeks. Based on more detailed information now available, the repair is estimated to cost $16 million. Davis-Besse officials expect to submit a detailed repair plan to the NRC within the next few weeks for its review. The reactor head, which covers the reactor vessel, is a dome-shaped structure seven feet high, about 17 feet in diameter, and weighing about 150 tons. It is made from six-inch thick carbon steel and lined inside with stainless steel. It has 69 stainless steel nozzles welded into the top of the head, which enable control rods to move in and out of the reactor vessel to control reactor power levels. The nozzles are three to four feet long, four inches in diameter and weigh about 150 pounds. The Davis-Besse, Perry and Beaver Valley plants are owned by FirstEnergy Corp., Akron, Ohio, and operated by its subsidiary FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company. FirstEnergy is a registered public utility holding company. Its various subsidiaries produce more than $12 billion in annual revenues and sell 124 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements based on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These statements typically contain, but are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" and similar words. Actual results may differ materially due to the speed and nature of increased competition and deregulation in the electric utility industry, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing energy market prices, legislative and regulatory changes or approvals (including revised environmental requirements), availability and cost of capital, inability to accomplish or realize anticipated benefits of strategic goals and other similar factors. FirstEnergy Contact: Richard Wilkins of FirstEnergy, +1-419-321-7129 Website: http://www.firstenergycorp.com/ ***************************************************************** 7 NRC Staff to Meet with Wisconsin Rapids Firm to Discuss Apparent Violation in Loss of a Gauge with Radioactive Material NRC: Press Release Region III - 2002 - 18 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532 www.nrc.gov No. III-02-018 April 9, 2002 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Pam Alloway-Mueller (630) 829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov [opa3@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Stora Enso North America of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, for a predecisional enforcement conference to discuss apparent violations of NRC regulations associated with the loss in December of a gauge containing a sealed radiation source. The meeting will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at the NRC's Regional Office at 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois. (Check in with the receptionist on the Second Floor.) The meeting is open to public observation. Before the meeting is adjourned, NRC officials will hear questions or comments from any members of the public in attendance. The gauge, which contained a sealed capsule of radioactive cesium-137, was lost during dismantling of equipment and piping in the area where the gauge had been located. The equipment was sent to a paper mill in China. A company representative traveled to China and on January 31 found the gauge still attached to a portion of the original piping. The gauge was locked in a secure, shielded position. As such, it would not have represented a safety hazard. The gauge was placed in a secure location until arrangements could be made to return it to Stora Enso's facility in Wisconsin Rapids. An NRC inspection in January determined that the gauge had been removed by two subcontractor employees during the dismantling and inadvertently included in equipment which was sold to the Chinese paper mill. The inspection identified three apparent violations of NRC safety requirements: (1) failure to control and maintain constant surveillance of radioactive material; (2) failure to clearly label the gauge as containing radioactive material; and (3) failure to ensure that the gauge was removed by persons licensed for such work. The decision to hold a predecisonal enforcement conference does not mean that a determination has been made that a violation has occurred or that enforcement action will be taken. The purpose is to discuss apparent violations, their causes and safety significance, to provide the licensee with an opportunity to point out errors that may have been made in NRC inspection reports and to enable the company to outline its proposed corrective actions. No decision on the apparent violations or any contemplated enforcement action, such as a civil penalty, will be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made by NRC officials at a later time. ***************************************************************** 8 NRC to Meet with Exelon Generation Co. April 18 to Discuss Lasalle Nuclear Power Station Safety Performance NRC: Press Release Region III - 2002 - 19 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532 www.nrc.gov No. III-02-019 April 9, 2002 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Pam Alloway-Mueller (630) 829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov [opa3@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet on Thursday, April 18, with representatives of Exelon Generation Co. to discuss the results of the agency's annual assessment of safety performance at the LaSalle Nuclear Power Station. The two-reactor facility is located near Seneca, Illinois. The meeting, which will be the open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Brookfield Township Hall, Grand Ridge - Mazon Road, near Seneca. Before the meeting is concluded, NRC officials will answer questions from members of the public. The performance period to be discussed is April 1 through December 31 of last year. A letter sent from the NRC Region III office to Exelon addresses plant performance during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/lasa_2001q4.pdf Current performance information for the LaSalle facility is available on the NRC web site at: (Unit 1) http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LASA1/lasa1_chart.html and (Unit 2) http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LASA2/lasa2_chart.html ***************************************************************** 9 NRC to Meet With Nuclear Management Co. April 19 to Discuss Palisades Nuclear Power Station Safety Performance NRC: Press Release Region III - 2002 - 20 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III 801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532 www.nrc.gov No. III-02-020 April 9, 2002 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Pam Alloway-Mueller (630) 829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov [opa3@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet on Friday, April 19, with representatives of Nuclear Management Company to discuss the results of the agency's annual assessment of safety performance at the Palisades Nuclear Power Station. The two-reactor facility is located near South Haven, Michigan. The meeting, which will be the open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Guest House International Lighthouse Inn, 1555 Phoenix St., South Haven. Before the meeting is concluded, NRC officials will answer questions from members of the public. The performance period to be discussed is April 1 through December 31 of last year. A letter sent from the NRC Region III office to Nuclear Management Company addresses plant performance during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/pali_2001q4.pdf Current performance information for the Palisades facility is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PALI/pali_chart.html ***************************************************************** 10 NRC to Meet with PPL to Discuss Susquehanna Plant Performance NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 32 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-032 April 9, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of PPL Susquehanna, LLC, on Tuesday, April 16, to discuss the results of the agency's annual assessment of safety performance at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant. The twin-reactor facility is located in Berwick, Pa., and operated by PPL. The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the Susquehanna Energy Information Center, 634 Salem Boulevard in Berwick. Before the session is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the safety performance of the Susquehanna plant, as well as the role of the NRC in ensuring safe plant operation. The performance period to be discussed is April 1, 2001, to December 31, 2001. In addition, NRC staff will provide an overview of the agency's Reactor Oversight Process. A letter sent from the NRC Region I office to PPL addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/susq_2001q4.pdf Current performance information for Susquehanna Unit 1 is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SUSQ1/susq1_chart.html Current performance information for Susquehanna Unit 2 is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/SUSQ2/susq2_chart.html ***************************************************************** 11 NRC to Meet with Company to Discuss Performance of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 33 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 www.nrc.gov No. I-02-033 April 10, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with representatives of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation (VYNPC) on Tuesday, April 16, to discuss the results of the agency's annual assessment of safety performance at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The facility is located in Vernon, Vt., and operated by VYNPC. z The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation, is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the Governor Hunt House, 320 Governor Hunt Road in Vernon. Before the session is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public on the safety performance of the Vermont Yankee plant, as well as the role of the NRC in ensuring safe plant operation. The performance period to be discussed is April 1, 2001, to December 31, 2001. In addition, NRC staff will provide an overview of the agency's Reactor Oversight Process. A letter sent from the NRC Region I office to VYNPC addresses the performance of the plant during the period and will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/vy_2001q4.pdf Current performance information for Vermont Yankee is available on the NRC web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/VY/vy_chart.html ***************************************************************** 12 Russian nuclear plant closes again - April 10, 2002 CNN.com - [Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant.] The Chernobyl tragedy in 1986 was the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia's newest nuclear reactor, the first to open since the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, has been shut down. The closure -- the reactor's second since it entered service last year -- occurred automatically on Wednesday after a steam valve failed. No excess radiation was recorded at or near the Rostov plant in southern Russia, its spokesman Yegor Obukhov told The Associated Press. The cause of the problem was unclear, and engineers were waiting for the reactor to cool down so they could examine it more closely. The reactor, which took nearly 20 years to build, has been heavily opposed by environmental groups. The Chernobyl accident in Ukraine sent a large radiation cloud over much of Europe and contaminated large areas of then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. More than 4,000 people died. According to the Ukraine Health Ministry 400,000 adults and 1.1 million children are entitled to state aid for illnesses contracted as a result of the disaster. Levels of thyroid cancer in Ukraine and Belarus are abnormally high, and experts are predicting that the incidence of cancer and other disabling diseases will continue to rise for at least another 30 years. The reactor involved in the Chernobyl accident was encased in a huge steel and concrete tomb to prevent more radiation leaking out. The plant's other three reactors continued operating until December 2000, when they were closed down. © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 13 Leak prompts reactor closure after one day The Japan Times Online Wednesday, April 10, 2002 FUKUI (Kyodo) The Fugen advanced thermal reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, which resumed operations Monday after standing idle for 11 months due to a tritium leak, was shut down again Tuesday morning after a small amount of steam containing radiation leaked, the operator said. The government's Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute said it shut down the reactor shortly after 5 a.m. after an employee patrolling the turbine building found the steam leaking from a pipe at a pressure gauge at around 11 p.m. Monday. A monitor in the building did not detect any high-level radioactivity and the leak has not affected areas outside the facility, according to the institute. The 165,000-kw reactor had been restarted Monday following checks after it was shut down last May because of a radiation leak. The reactor, in a nuclear facility on the Sea of Japan coast, is scheduled to be finally shut down at the end of next March. Last May, a tritium leak was detected in the area between the outside of the reactor container and the concrete wall surrounding the facility. The Japan Times: April 10, 2002 ***************************************************************** 14 ASIA-PACIFIC: Japan nuclear safety report marred by leak Financial Times; Apr 10, 2002 By BAYAN RAHMAN Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission sought to soothe public fears about the safety of nuclear energy yesterday, but the publication of its report was marred by a minor accident at a thermal reactor. The report by the Nuclear Safety Commission, which is affiliated to the Cabinet Office, said Japan's nuclear safety record improved last year when the number of accidents at nuclear plants fell to 14, less than half that of the previous year. The report also called for further measures at plants across the country to ease public concern about safety. But the report's publication was followed by news of a leak of radioactive steam at an advanced thermal reactor in Tsuruga, 350km west of Tokyo. Although officials said the leak was not dangerous, it comes 11 months after the plant was shut down because of a similar incident. Public confidence in the nuclear industry has deteriorated because of a series of accidents over the past decade. Doubts about the safety and necessity of using nuclear fuel peaked after an accident at a uranium processing plant in Tokaimura, 140km north-east of Tokyo, killed two people and exposed hundreds to radiation in 1999. The report, which said the use of plutonium at light-water reactors was safe because the technology was in place, gave some hope to British Nuclear Fuels, which hopes to be a supplier of mixed-oxide plutonium-uranium (Mox) fuel to Japan. BNFL is trying to regain the trust of the Japanese government and public after a data falsification scandal resulted in Japan suspending its plans to use Mox fuel and demanding that BNFL take back a shipment of Mox. Japan represents about 50 per cent of the potential market for Mox fuel contracts at BNFL. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-2002 ***************************************************************** 15 Easy theft: radioactive bomb parts Abraham McLaughlin Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor--> from the April 10, 2002 edition FALLOUT: In a New Mexico terrorism drill, firefighters call mobile command about a radioactive drum. TAMMY MCKINLEY, HOBBS NEWS-SUN/AP Stolen commercial radioactive devices could be used to make 'dirty bombs.' WASHINGTON – As he swung open the back door of his pawnshop recently in Prichard, Ala., there it was: a silvery, lunch-box-sized industrial device with yellow stickers that blared "CAUTION RADIOACTIVE." "It was just sittin' in a five-gallon bucket," says the shop's owner in a syrupy drawl. Police determined the device – used by repair crews to check for cracks in pipe welds – had been stolen from a pipeline-company truck six months earlier in nearby Mobile. But the unusual thing about this story isn't that the device was stolen. It's that it was found. That's because roughly 2 million small-but-valuable radioactive contraptions are used in the US in everything from construction to healthcare to scientific research. And every year, hundreds of them are lost, stolen, even abandoned. Most are never retrieved, and 30,000 are unaccounted for, according to some estimates. In the post-Sept. 11 era, that's giving experts cause for concern: If these devices can turn up at an Alabama pawnshop, they could just as easily be hoarded by terrorists to create "dirty bombs" – conventional explosives laced with radioactive material. "If you were going around snatching these smaller devices over a period of years and putting them all in a truck bomb, it could be as powerful as a bomb with a single, big radiation source," says Edwin Lyman, of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington. Clearly, not all small radioactive items would work as dirty-bomb ammunition – the radiation many emit is extremely weak. Still, terrorists could create a dangerous weapon by combining several dozen minor sources with a simple explosive, says Friedrich Steinhausler, a Stanford University nuclear physicist. The damage from a "dirty bomb" would depend on many things, including the strength of the explosive, the amount of radioactive material, and how far winds would spread the toxic particles. Experts say such bombs could cause fatalities in the immediate area of detonation – and a range of health complications in a wider area. Their real insidiousness would be in the low or moderate levels of radiation spread, possibly requiring whole sections of a city to be abandoned for years. That's because radiation cleanup is, at best, expensive and difficult – sometimes impossible. In all, rather than being a "weapon of mass destruction," a "dirty bomb" is more like a "weapon of mass disturbance," says Dr. Steinhausler. Authorities respond The threat has rattled federal regulators. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is reviewing how the devices are monitored. "We're looking at requiring licensees to increase security," says John Hickey, chief of the NRC division that oversees the devices. But new measures might only include better locks and stronger storage facilities, and some critics worry that isn't enough. In general, they fault the NRC for overlooking the smaller radiation devices and focusing instead on safety at higher-profile nuclear plants. The devices in question include practically harmless emergency-exit signs that rely on radioactive isotope for power – rather than electricity, which can fail. If broken open, these could expose a person to radiation less intense than a dentist's X-ray. By contrast, the pencil-sized rods used to irradiate food are so dangerous that direct exposure could be quickly fatal, say experts. (This also makes stealing them very difficult.) As for the pawnshop item, it contains a piece of iridium-192 that's smaller than a pea. The iridium is shielded by depleted uranium to keep radiation from escaping. To use the device, crews put the radiation source on one side of a pipe and a special film on the other. The radiation creates an image that shows hidden cracks or other weaknesses. Experts say if a person stood within one foot of that unshielded iridium nugget for two hours, they could receive a fatal radiation dose. The sheer number of such devices in use in the US makes detailed tracking tough – and mishaps common. • On March 15, a $6,000 radioactive moisture-density gauge – used to determine if fresh concrete has fully dried – was reported stolen from a Maryland construction site. Such devices typically contain several grams of cesium-137, a highly radioactive material especially dangerous because it can persist in the environment for centuries and can work its way into the food chain. These devices – more than exit signs, for instance – are what worry authorities. They contain enough material to be dangerous, especially if combined with other similar sources. Yet they aren't so toxic – like food-irradiation rods – as to require complicated equipment or advanced knowledge to handle. • In February, a Wisconsin paper manufacturer discovered it had mistakenly shipped a radioactive device used to measure paper-pulp density to China, according to NRC documents. An executive scrambled and arrived ahead of the shipment. But when he was at lunch, the shipment's containers were unloaded, and only a frantic search led to the device. Apparently the initial confusion in Wisconsin was caused because the device was coated in paper mulch that obscured warning labels. • In 1998, 19 vials of cesium-137 disappeared from a Greensboro, N.C., hospital, where they're used in medical treatments. Because it happened around the time of the Final Four basketball tournament, concern about terrorism was high. So the federal government tasked its Nuclear Emergency Search Team with finding the vials, which were never retrieved. • In 1996, two stolen industrial cameras were sold to scrap-metal dealers in Houston. After one was broken open, 11 adults and two children were exposed to high radiation levels that experts say significantly boosted the risk of later medical complications. Converting items like these into "dirty bombs" is a real possibility – mostly because it requires only simple scientific knowledge, say experts. "It's high school science, not rocket science," says Stanford's Steinhausler. But easier to track One small upside of the radioactive materials in commercial use is that they're typically easier to detect than more-potent elements like plutonium. When covered with simple tinfoil, plutonium is nearly impossible to detect, for instance. But even when shielded by lead, cesium-137 can be tracked by sensitive detectors. Finally, much of the problem comes down to economics. For instance, it currently costs about $400 per cubic foot to dispose of materials like cesium-137, says Lyudmila Zaitseva of Stanford's Institute for International Studies. That's roughly 10 times the amount of fines for improper disposal of the material. The lack of high fines, she says, can lead to shoddy tracking – even deliberate abandonment. Separately, Dr. Lyman observes that boosting the security of these devices would add to already high costs in construction, healthcare, and other fields. Whether it's worth it, he says, "is a tough societal question." Copyright © 2002 The Christian Science Monitor ***************************************************************** 16 State: beware of traffic bearing radioactive waste Laughlin Nevada Times 04/09/02 Battle over Yucca Mountain ‘just beginning’ WASHINGTON, D.C. — With congressional action looming ahead and a national poll that shows a public evenly split on a proposal to bury radioactive waste in Nevada, state officials are pulling out all the stops in a push to derail a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. About 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Yucca Mountain has been recommended as the site to bury high-level radioactive waste from power plants and military installations across the country. Governor Kenny Guinn, along with a cadre of state officials plus the state’s congressional delegation, have been working to bring the issue to the attention of public and legislators alike. “I think the real message is this battle is just beginning,” said Greg Bortolin, press secretary to Gov. Guinn, last week. “I think that it’s important that everyone understand it’s not just a Nevada issue, but an American issue.” Said Nathan Naylor, from the Washington, D.C., office of Sen. Harry Reid, “We’ve got a big uphill battle. We’re facing an opponent that has the bully pulpit of the White House on its side and that has pretty much an unlimited checking account.” Both agreed they expect the nuclear industry to spend more than $30 million to promote public confidence in the proposal. Nevada, so far, has a bit over $6 million to spend on defeating the project. Both are also concentrating on the transportation issue to arouse concern amongst the American public. “This nuclear waste, which we’ve seen no plan for shipping, will travel through 43 states and pass by 123 million people,” Bortolin said. “God forbid if an accident goes down,” Naylor added, “which looks like a statistical certainty to happen somewhere.” From poll results, it appears the nation is nervous about transporting nuclear waste when advised it could be passing within close proximity. Ipsos Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C. - based firm that is part of the Paris-based Ipsos group, conducted a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults last month. According to their findings few know enough about the issue to have an opinion. Those giving an initial response, without additional information, split 23 percent for and 24 percent against. After being read three statements in favor of and three in opposition to the project, the research firm indicated opinions flatten out to 47 percent in favor, 47 percent opposed. The numbers shift dramatically, however, when the prospect of local truck or train transport of the waste enters the picture. According to the Ipsos report, respondents were read the opposition statement: “Nuclear waste would be transported to Yucca Mountain from storage sites all over the United States, which could mean that nuclear waste would be transported through your state.” After hearing that, the firm reported, 29 percent indicated they would be somewhat more likely to oppose the project, 32 percent said they’d be much more likely to oppose the project. Dario Herrera, chair of the Clark County Commission; and Myrna Williams, vice chair, released a prepared statement of their own analyzing those poll results. Said Herrera: “The fact that there are more Americans strongly opposed to the project than there are strongly supporting it is significant and shows that we can win the public battle on this issue. And the fact that 61 percent of Americans oppose the project when told that waste may be transported through their state, without even being provided details on how extreme an effect that would have on their local economies, will provide us ammunition in Clark County's fight to lobby other county officials across the country to oppose the dangerous project and persuade their members of Congress to vote against it.” While Nevada will quite probably mix extensive litigation with public persuasion in an effort to defeat the dump, Sens. Reid, John Ensign and the rest of the Nevada delegation are currently concentrating on Congress. Said Naylor, “The plan is a fairly simple one: kill this thing now. And the only thing to do to kill it is to get 51 votes. “The way to get that is to use every tool we’ve got.” ©2001 MyWebPal.com. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 17 The Taipei Times Online: 2002-04-10Wednesday, April 10th, 2002 Aboriginal Legislator May Chin and men from the Tao tribe of Orchid Island perform an exorcism dance during a press conference yesterday called to demand the removal of nuclear waste storage sites on the island. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES Taipower bemoans waste dump THE ENVIRONMENT: The company responsible for storing radioactive waste on Orchid Island says the government has still not approved a final repository By Chiu Yu-Tzu STAFF REPORTER Radioactive waste stored in barrels at an interim repository on Orchid Island (ÄõÀ¬), Taitung County, will not be removed until a final repository becomes available, officials of state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, ¥x¹q) said yesterday. Furthermore, officials argue that "a complicated political and social environment" has made it almost impossible to build a domestic final repository for such waste. Amid the controversy surrounding the removal of low-level radioactive waste from the island, Taipower officials said yesterday that without government intervention, a satisfactory solution could not be found. The interim repository has operated since 1982. About 98,000 barrels of radioactive waste are stored at the site. Responsibility for managing the repository was transferred from the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to Taipower in 1990 under an agreement which required all the waste to be relocated by the end of this year. Taipower's preferred site choice for its final low-level radioactive waste repository is Hsiaochiu Islet (¤pËúÀ¬) in Kinmen County. The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), however, has not yet approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the site. Both environmental and national security issues -- due to the islet's proximity to China's Fujian Province -- have threatened to put the brakes on the project. That may be the reason that a feasibility assessment for the Hsiaochiu Islet site has thusfar failed to secure approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Taipower said it has offered a list of alternative sites to the EPA for further evaluation. Lin Ming-hsiung (ªL©ú¶¯), director of Taipower's Nuclear Backend Management Department, told the Taipei Times yesterday, "The ball is in the government's court." Meanwhile, Lin added, Taipower officials are still trying their best to find ways to ship radioactive waste to dumps in Russia, South Korea and China. "If no final repository becomes available, radioactive waste on Orchid Island won't be relocated," Lin said. Lin said that the environment at the site had been carefully monitored and that radioactive waste stored in barrels had been processed for re-packing. By the end of this year, Lin said, facilities to remove rust from the iron barrels housing the waste and for the inserting of the waste into new barrels would be completed so that it can be stored more safely. "Although we don't yet have a new home, we've begun packing the waste in the new barrels," Lin said. Repacking all the radioactive waste on Orchid Island will take at least seven years, Lin said. AEC Chairman Ouyang Min-shen (¼Ú¶§±Ó²±) offered his comments on Monday, saying that the local Aboriginal Tao people should have confidence in government assurances, as proper management of the waste repository would ensure its safety. To drive home his point, he said that decades ago, people did not even install toilets in their homes, but now thanks to technological progress, most houses have them. "Now, thanks to technology, everybody's home has a toilet," Ouyang said, adding that the AEC had strictly supervised Taipower's management of the repository on Orchid Island. This story has been viewed 395 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/04/10/story/0000131248] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 18 Nevada Governor Vetoes Nuclear Waste Dump Site April 9, 2002 THE NATION Environment: Hauling spent fuel to Yucca Mountain is dangerous, Guinn warns. Congress can override the decision. By TOM GORMAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER LAS VEGAS -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn on Monday vetoed the use of Yucca Mountain as the nation's underground repository of highly radioactive nuclear waste, declaring that the $60-billion proposal is "based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy." In February, President Bush recommended to Congress that Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, serve as a permanent burial ground for the nation's 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. "Let me make one thing clear, crystal clear in fact. Yucca Mountain is not inevitable," Guinn told supporters Monday at the University of Nevada. "We will expose the Department of Energy's dirty little secrets about Yucca Mountain," Guinn said, charging that the government had not studied the dangers of transporting the waste across the country. Guinn said the nuclear power industry has spent $100 million in support of Yucca Mountain and he asked each Nevadan to send in $1 to help counter that offensive. The Republican governor later headed to Washington, where his "notice of disapproval" will be filed with both houses of Congress. Guinn's veto was allowed under a nuclear waste policy act Congress wrote in 1982, which gives the governor of a targeted state the power to reject the president's selection. Congress will have the final say, however. It has 90 legislative days to debate the issue, and a vote is expected in July. If simple majorities in the House and Senate vote to override Guinn's veto, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would decide in a few years whether to license the project. The project could still be derailed by litigation. Opponents say the House probably will vote to support the project, which already represents a $6-billion government investment. They are hoping it will be rejected by the Senate. Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada said most Senate Democrats have promised to support his state. But at least 15 votes from the GOP side will be needed to uphold Nevada's veto, and so far only two--John Ensign, a freshman from Nevada, and Ben Night-horse Campbell of Colorado--have opposed the plans. Scientists Revise Feasibility Study Congress decided 15 years ago to consider only Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal, and the Department of Energy has concluded that the site is feasible. Government scientists initially believed that the geology of Yucca Mountain was sufficient to contain radioactivity. They have now concluded that it will provide little more than a web of underground storage tunnels and that protection from radiation will depend on the millenniums-long durability of man-made containers to protect the material from, among other things, corrosive moisture and the possibility of earthquakes. Both sides have lined up heavyweight lobbyists. Arguing against the use of Yucca Mountain are John D. Podesta, a former chief of staff for President Clinton, and Kenneth M. Duberstein, former chief of staff for President Reagan. The nuclear industry enlisted the help of John H. Sununu, former chief of staff for the senior President Bush, and Geraldine A. Ferraro, the onetime vice presidential candidate. Nevada, in a media campaign targeting states where senators are waffling, will hammer on the theme that the transportation of radioactive waste across the country will create "nuclear neighborhoods." The campaign "will educate Americans and help senators who are inclined to support us but don't feel they can because they don't sense support back home to oppose Yucca Mountain," said Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor. Grass-roots efforts to kill the Yucca Mountain project also are underway. A coalition of 16 organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility, sent a letter to senators March 26 imploring them to reject the project because of unresolved scientific questions. Activists from 25 states are planning to converge on Washington next Tuesday to argue against Yucca Mountain, said Lisa Gue, a policy analyst for the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. Senators face a political dilemma in considering the best interests of their own states when deciding the fate of Yucca Mountain. Many agree with Bush and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who concluded that the nuclear industry and the public are better served by shipping spent fuel rods--which will remain radioactive for 250,000 years--to Yucca Mountain. The waste is now stored at 131 facilities in 37 states. That strategy, the Bush administration says, will allow for better long-term security of the lethal material, especially in a post-Sept. 11 environment. But those same senators may wince at the notion of trains and trucks transporting nuclear waste across their states, where it could be vulnerable to accident or attack. In his 10-page argument to Congress, Guinn pointed out that, even as about 100,000 waste shipments head to Yucca Mountain over three decades, new waste will be generated and will have to be stored at those sites to cool before it can be shipped elsewhere. Thus, Guinn argued, Yucca Mountain will not eliminate the existence of nuclear waste around the country. Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 19 Russians seek referendum on shipments of spent N-waste April 10, 2002 Associated Press MOSCOW — Fighting to reverse the government's decision to accept spent nuclear waste for reprocessing, Russian environmentalists said Tuesday that they would take their demand for a referendum on the issue to court. Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a plan to allow the import of spent nuclear fuel for storage and reprocessing. Proponents of the plan have argued Russia could earn $20 billion over the next decade and use part of the money to clean up existing nuclear pollution. But environmentalists fear the program would turn the country into a nuclear dump. Environmental groups said they had collected 2.5 million signatures in support of a nationwide referendum, but the Central Election Commission rejected the initiative, saying some of the signatures had been falsified. The Greenpeace environmental organization has brought a case on the Russian government's refusal to hold a referendum to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and expects a decision in about a year, said Ivan Blokov, a Greenpeace activist in Moscow. Meanwhile, an election commission in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, where the waste reprocessing facility is located, has rejected a local attempt to initiate a referendum on the plan. Alexei Yablokov, president of the Center for Ecological Policy, told a news conference Tuesday that environmentalists would also file suit over that decision. Yablokov said the government had rushed to occupy a niche in the market for reprocessed plutonium and uranium, but that the prices were far lower than reprocessing advocates had predicted. Instead of earning $20 billion, he said, "It will maybe be $2 billion — and with that we cannot do anything." "There is no market that has to be won," he added. James Werner, a former U.S. Energy Department official who now heads the non-governmental Reprocessing Policy Project, said reprocessing made no sense from an economic, environmental or national security point of view. A glut on the market has prompted some countries to start destroying plutonium, while reprocessing yields a small amount of plutonium and a great volume of highly radioactive waste, he said. "The economic and environmental reasons are always there, but now there are security concerns, because we're extracting materials that can be used in nuclear weapons," he said. © 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 20 Governor Vetoes Bush Decision to Bury Nuclear Waste in Nevada Science in the Headlines Contact us by e-mail news@nas.edu April 9 -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn has overruled President Bush's decision to bury thousands of tons of radioactive waste from U.S. nuclear plants in a repository at Yucca Mountain by invoking a special provision in a 1982 nuclear waste law. The mountain is about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This challenge kicks the decision back to Congress, which now has 90 legislative days to uphold or reject the governor's action. The nation's spent nuclear fuel and high-level defense waste is now stored temporarily near commercial nuclear reactors and at government sites across the United States. Several reports from the National Academies' Board on Radioactive Waste Management examine the technical and societal challenges in choosing a long-term storage location such as Yucca Mountain. Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges (2001) [Press Release] Long-Term Institutional Management of U.S. Department of Energy Legacy Waste Sites (2000) [Press Release] Safety in the Underground Construction and Operation of the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain (1995) Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain (1995) Ground Water at Yucca Mountain: How High Can It Rise? (1992) Rethinking High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal (1990) ***************************************************************** 21 Nevada triggers nuclear waste battle in Congress - April 10, 2002 CNN.com - The Yucca Mountain proposed nuclear waste repository at Mercury, Nevada, as seen in this June 10, 1992, file photo. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn Tuesday delivered to Capitol Hill his veto of the Bush administration's plan to put the first permanent U.S. nuclear waste dump in his state, starting a 90-day legislative clock during which Congress can sustain or override him. "We have an uphill battle," said Guinn, flanked by members of Nevada's congressional delegation who have struggled to round up Democratic and Republican lawmakers to oppose President Bush's adoption of a recommendation by his Energy Department. "If the political system fails us, the court system will not," declared Guinn, whose state already has challenged the plans in federal court. Guinn, a Republican, said he was the first governor ever to veto a decision by a president, having been granted the power to do so in a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal. In a decision two decades in the making, Bush in February formally chose Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the permanent federal site to store tens of thousands of tons of waste from nuclear power plants across the nation. CNN's Jonathan Karl reports Nevada is facing an uphill battle to keep it's Yucca mountain from being the primary U.S. nuclear waste dump site (April 9) Despite the administration's claims to the contrary, Nevada and its backers contend it would be unsafe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to transport such material by truck and rail to the underground site. In his notice of disapproval, Guinn argued that selection of Yucca Mountain as a waste site was based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy. Several states with nuclear power plants, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, support the Yucca Mountain designation. Together they have hired an army of lobbyists to make their case on Capitol Hill. Guinn -- who has enlisted lobbyists of his own -- vetoed the president's action on Monday and delivered the notice of disapproval to Congress on Tuesday. Under federal law, the Senate and House of Representatives now have 90 legislative days to override or sustain him. For Guinn's veto to be overridden, both chambers of Congress must agree to do so on majority votes. Guinn backers are pessimistic about prevailing in the Republican-led House. They see the Democratic-led Senate as their only real shot, but stress it will be tough. So far, opponents of the Yucca Mountain proposal say they expect to get about three dozen of the Senate's 50 Democratic senators to side with them. The big question is how many of the 49 Republicans will do so. So far there are just two -- Sen. John Ensign of Nevada and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado. Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, the chamber's only independent, backs Bush's decision. Nevada intends to spend upward of $10 million in its campaign against the dump, and plans to start airing television ads against the plan on Wednesday in selected states. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Tuesday he will soon send to Congress a formal request that it override Guinn. "The Energy Department has spent more than $4 billion over the past 20 years studying and studying and researching Yucca Mountain," Abraham told reporters. "I'm absolutely convinced that we can move ahead safely with this project." Even if the Yucca Mountain proposal survives court challenges and Congress, it would still have to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Abraham said, "The logical step is to let the objective and neutral experts at the NRC make a final decision on whether the project should go ahead." Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. ***************************************************************** 22 Nevada vetoes nuclear dump The Scotsman - International - Wed 10 Apr 2002 Thomas Ferraro In Washington IN A historic decision, Nevada’s governor, Kenny Guinn, yesterday vetoed the Bush administration’s plans to bury nuclear waste from across the country in his state, starting a 90-day legislative clock during which Congress can sustain or override him. "We have an uphill battle," said Mr Guinn, flanked by members of Nevada’s congressional delegation who have struggled to round up Democratic and Republican legislators to oppose the White House’s proposal. "If the political system fails us, the court system will not," declared Mr Guinn, whose state has already challenged the plans in federal court. Mr Guinn, a Republican, said he was the first governor ever to veto a decision by a president, having been granted the power to do so in a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal. In a decision 20 years in the making, President George Bush in February formally chose Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as the permanent federal site to store tens of thousands of tons of waste from the nation’s nuclear power plants. Despite the Bush administration’s claims to the contrary, Nevada and its backers - including several public interest groups - contend that it would be unsafe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to transport such material by truck and rail to the underground site. In his notice of disapproval, Mr Guinn argued that selection of Yucca Mountain as the permanent nuclear waste site was based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy. Several states with nuclear power plants, as well as the US chamber of commerce and other business groups, support the Yucca Mountain designation. Together they have hired an army of lobbyists to make their case on Capitol Hill. Mr Guinn - who has enlisted lobbyists of his own - vetoed the president’s action on Monday and delivered the notice of disapproval to Congress yesterday. Under federal law, the Senate and House of Representatives have 90 legislative days to override or sustain him. For Mr Guinn’s veto to be overridden, both chambers of Congress must agree to do so on majority votes. Guinn backers have little chance of prevailing in the Republican-led House, and see the Democratic-led Senate as their only real shot. Nevada meanwhile intends to spend upward of $10 million in its campaign against the proposed nuclear dump. ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 23 Science, law underlie Yucca debate United Press International: By Scott R. Burnell UPI Science News From the Science & Technology Desk Published 4/9/2002 6:29 PM WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- Nevada's opposition to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site is more than just the fact the controversial facility would be located in the state -- there is plenty of scientific justification, a group of technical and legal specialists said Tuesday. Robert Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, has worked on issues related to Yucca since 1982 when Congress first passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The Department of Energy failed to adhere to proper science and the law's intent concerning the proposal, he said. "Congress made a compact that (a depository) would be based on the concept that the geology would provide the long-term protection for the waste," Loux told the news conference. "In the early '90s, we estimate DOE made a 180-degree turn and is now relying more on engineered measures." Nevada formally has objected to the plan to bury spent nuclear fuel 90 miles from Las Vegas and Congress now has 90 working days to override the state's veto. The main challenge for any depository is water -- it is the most available solvent for breaking down waste packages and it is the most probable way to transport radioactivity away from a storage site. Nevada and the DOE agree on that, Loux said, but any other common ground is practically nonexistent. The DOE went for man-made barriers when tests showed the geology of the site might not be effective in keeping water out, Loux said. But if the storage container design is as robust as the department's models suggest, he said, any underground storage site would do -- meaning Yucca is unnecessary. The question of the site's geology and hydrology -- the movement of groundwater -- remains a matter of debate, however, said Brenda Ekwurzel, a professor of hydrology at the University of Arizona. Scientists do not know yet if the basin surrounding Yucca Mountain prevents groundwater from migrating elsewhere, she said. There also is the matter of heat, since the waste packages would radiate enough energy to warm the surrounding rock to well beyond the boiling point of water. It is feasible engineers could use this principle to enhance Yucca's geologic capabilities, Ekwurzel told United Press International. "If (the storage tunnels) are far enough apart (water) would just go vertically down below the waste packages, Ekwurzel said. "I don't know if you can make a case where the water would necessarily hang around and then suddenly fall back on the waste packages." Victor Gilinsky, a former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission now advising Nevada in its fight, said nuclear plants have the capacity to store their own spent fuel for some time. The nuclear industry and DOE, however, are fixated on immediately obtaining some sort of "permanent solution" to the waste issue to smooth the path toward re-licensing reactors and building new ones, he said. "We have the time to come up with a better way," Gilinsky said. Nevada also is taking a judicial approach to the fight, having filed a suit that says since the DOE deviated from the NWPA's original guidelines, its Yucca recommendation to President Bush is invalid. Charles Cooper, one of the lawyers handling the suit, said the state also will pre-emptively challenge the NRC's special licensing rule for Yucca, as well as the validity of the site's environmental impact statement. Copyright © 2002 United Press International Copyright © 2002 United Press International. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 24 Taiwan: Yu apologizes for island's nuclear woes The Taipei Times Online: 2002-04-10 April 10th, 2002 NO SOLUTION: Aboriginal representatives are furious that the premier is unable to present them with a satisfactory plan to rid Orchid Island of its large stockpile of potentially deadly radioactive waste By Crystal Hsu STAFF REPORTER Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday issued an apology for the government's failure to make good on its pledge to remove radioactive waste from Orchid Island by the end of this year. But he hesitated to set a deadline for the Cabinet to redress the problem despite pressure from Aboriginal lawmakers, one of whom vowed to take the grievance to the constitutional court. "I'm willing to apologize on the government's behalf for its failure to relocate radioactive waste from Orchid Island as previously prom-ised," Yu said in response to a question from Aboriginal legislator Walis Pelin (¥Ë¾ú´µ¨©ªL), an independent. But the premier said he could not promise when and how he would right the wrong, as related government agencies have had difficulty finding a solution. Since 1988, the government has stored nearly 100,000 barrels of radioactive waste on the sparsely populated island and promised to remove it by the end of this year. With the deadline approaching, Yu admitted publicly it is impossible for his Cabinet to implement the policy inherited from the KMT administration. The premier said he has always opposed storing the waste on Orchid Island, as the government of the day did not consult residents there while formulating the policy. "In my view, the government should promptly remove the waste without any excuse," Yu said. He pledged to try his best but refused to provide a timetable. Yu's apologetic statements failed to pacify Aboriginal lawmakers, however. May Chin (°ªª÷¯À±ö), another independent legislator, said she was disappointed at the premier's evasiveness. "What's done is done," Chin said, painting a "rainbow bridge" across her face to underscore her background. "All I care about is when the government will start taking action and remove waste from Orchid Island." She demanded the premier earmark funds for the purpose when preparing the spending plan for next year. "My tribesmen have been fooled long enough," Chin said. But Yu refused to be pinned down, saying, "I cannot make a promise I cannot fulfill later." He said Taipower has sought unsuccessfully to find alternative repository sites at home and abroad over the years. Chin suggested the premier make an apology to the scores of Aboriginal people who were visiting the legislature yesterday. "The DPP owes its rise to power in part to the support of Aborigines," Chin said. "Now the government must not continue ignoring their plight. They are tired of living with radioactive waste." Though expressing sympathy, the premier said he found an extra apology unnecessary. He did acknowledge that Aboriginal people have received unfair treatment over the years. "The Cabinet is determined to reverse the longstanding situation," Yu said. "You can tell its resolve by the recent appointment of a distinguished Aborigine to head a Cabinet council." Unconvinced, Chin said she would seek recourse with the Council of Grand Justices. She said she was particularly upset over allegations that the Cabinet has channeled funds earmarked for cleaning up radioactive waste to other state-run entities. Earlier, PFP Legislators Lin Chung-te (ªL¬K¼w) and Lin Cheng-er (ªL¥¿¤G), both Aborigines, had voiced similar concerns. "For a long time Aborigines have been marginalized at the workplace and within society at large," Lin Chung-te said. He proposed introducing a rule that would confine presidential candidates to citizens whose ancestors have lived in Taiwan for 1,000 years, while Lin Cheng-er suggesting the vice presidency be open only to Aborigines. This story has been viewed 711 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/04/10/story/0000131239] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 25 Taipower bemoans waste dump The Taipei Times Online: 2002-04-10 Wednesday, April 10th, 2002 Aboriginal Legislator May Chin and men from the Tao tribe of Orchid Island perform an exorcism dance during a press conference yesterday called to demand the removal of nuclear waste storage sites on the island. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES THE ENVIRONMENT: The company responsible for storing radioactive waste on Orchid Island says the government has still not approved a final repository By Chiu Yu-Tzu STAFF REPORTER Radioactive waste stored in barrels at an interim repository on Orchid Island (ÄõÀ¬), Taitung County, will not be removed until a final repository becomes available, officials of state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, ¥x¹q) said yesterday. Furthermore, officials argue that "a complicated political and social environment" has made it almost impossible to build a domestic final repository for such waste. Amid the controversy surrounding the removal of low-level radioactive waste from the island, Taipower officials said yesterday that without government intervention, a satisfactory solution could not be found. The interim repository has operated since 1982. About 98,000 barrels of radioactive waste are stored at the site. Responsibility for managing the repository was transferred from the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to Taipower in 1990 under an agreement which required all the waste to be relocated by the end of this year. Taipower's preferred site choice for its final low-level radioactive waste repository is Hsiaochiu Islet (¤pËúÀ¬) in Kinmen County. The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), however, has not yet approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the site. Both environmental and national security issues -- due to the islet's proximity to China's Fujian Province -- have threatened to put the brakes on the project. That may be the reason that a feasibility assessment for the Hsiaochiu Islet site has thusfar failed to secure approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Taipower said it has offered a list of alternative sites to the EPA for further evaluation. Lin Ming-hsiung (ªL©ú¶¯), director of Taipower's Nuclear Backend Management Department, told the Taipei Times yesterday, "The ball is in the government's court." Meanwhile, Lin added, Taipower officials are still trying their best to find ways to ship radioactive waste to dumps in Russia, South Korea and China. "If no final repository becomes available, radioactive waste on Orchid Island won't be relocated," Lin said. Lin said that the environment at the site had been carefully monitored and that radioactive waste stored in barrels had been processed for re-packing. By the end of this year, Lin said, facilities to remove rust from the iron barrels housing the waste and for the inserting of the waste into new barrels would be completed so that it can be stored more safely. "Although we don't yet have a new home, we've begun packing the waste in the new barrels," Lin said. Repacking all the radioactive waste on Orchid Island will take at least seven years, Lin said. AEC Chairman Ouyang Min-shen (¼Ú¶§±Ó²±) offered his comments on Monday, saying that the local Aboriginal Tao people should have confidence in government assurances, as proper management of the waste repository would ensure its safety. To drive home his point, he said that decades ago, people did not even install toilets in their homes, but now thanks to technological progress, most houses have them. "Now, thanks to technology, everybody's home has a toilet," Ouyang said, adding that the AEC had strictly supervised Taipower's management of the repository on Orchid Island. This story has been viewed 396 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/04/10/story/0000131248] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 26 Shunned by Colorado, tainted N.J. dirt will detour to Utah » More From The Star-Ledger Wednesday, April 10, 2002 BY ANA M. ALAYA Star-Ledger Staff In an interstate scuffle over the final destination of 470,000 tons of toxic dirt from a Superfund site in Bergen County, the federal government is being forced to send some of the mildly radioactive soil to Utah after Colorado's governor recently scuttled plans to ship it to his state. Officials in charge of a radioactive waste cleanup in Maywood said yesterday they have made emergency plans to ship up to 30,000 tons of the dirt, now piling up along Route 17, to a disposal site in Clive, Utah. The move may satisfy residents of the small northern New Jersey town who have been pressing the government for nearly two decades to dig up all of the thorium-laced soil and ship it away. But for residents in Cañon City, Colo., the battle has just begun. It was only last month that the people of Cañon City, a municipality of 15,000 on the Arkansas River, learned through a newspaper report that a local uranium processing plant operated by the Cotter Corp. had contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers to receive the toxic soil from Maywood over the next six years. Those shipments were to begin in March. Within days, residents organized and began complaining to local, state and federal officials, insisting that they had not been informed about the potential health risks of bringing the soil to the site, and plunging the town into the latest battle in a nationwide debate over what to do with radioactive waste. "We understand this waste needs to leave Maywood, but we feel they have fast-tracked this and are trying to shove it down our throats," said Sharyn Cunningham, a member of Colorado Citizens Against Toxic Waste, a group formed to stop the shipment. "Cotter sits uphill, upwind and upstream from our city. We feel if they add more to it, the likelihood of more contamination seeping out is high." Responding to the outcry, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens signed a bill Saturday that would require two public hearings and state approval before Cotter could accept the material. Cindy Parmenter, director of communications for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the agency also has raised concerns about Cotter's contract, including how the soil would be transferred from rail cars to trucks at the site and how the dust would be contained. "Cotter has submitted a response and it's under review," she said yesterday. The delays in Colorado have thrown a wrench into the Army Corps' plans, a problem that could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in disposal costs, critics say. According to Allen Roos, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers, the agency soon will award a stop-gap contract to transport up to 30,000 tons of the Maywood soil to Envirocare of Utah Corp., which has a disposal site in Clive. Roos said the short-term contract is necessary because the corps does not want to delay excavation work at sites around the former Maywood Chemical Co. plant, near Maywood Avenue, where the ground is contaminated with thorium, a radioactive mineral once used in the manufacture of gas lanterns. Over the years, low-level radioactive material from the Maywood Chemical property migrated to sites throughout Maywood and several neighboring communities via groundwater and excavation projects. Cleanup efforts going back to 1984 have succeeded in remediating 64 of 88 contaminated sites. In the latest and final phase of the cleanup, officials estimate an additional 470,000 tons of contaminated soil will be excavated and shipped out of state. To date, the federal government has spent $184 million cleaning up the various sites contaminated by the Maywood plant. The property's current owner, Stepan Co., reached an agreement with the government to cover a small portion of the cleanup cost. The Corps of Engineers wants to quickly move 1,500 tons of contaminated soil currently piled up under a tarp at the site, Roos said. Local residents and officials strongly oppose any long-term pileup, citing health concerns. "That contamination has been hurting the citizens here for years," said Mike Nolan, with the Concerned Citizens of Maywood. The 80-year-old has been fighting the government for 21 years to remove the soil, which residents claim has caused cancers and other illnesses. "They don't tell us where it's going or what their plan is," he said of the Corps of Engineers. Since 1997, the corps has sent 45,000 cubic yards of the Maywood soil to the Utah site, but officials decided to switch to Cotter last year because it is more cost-efficient. Envirocare charges the corps $103 per cubic yard, or roughly $83 per ton. Cotter executive vice president Rich Ziegler said yesterday he is charging "at least 15 percent less" than Envirocare. "The government was trying to do what's best for the taxpayer," Ziegler said. "As you can see, the corps is now looking to bring material to our competitor and we'll lose our income and our opportunity." Neither Ziegler nor Roos would disclose the exact amount Cotter would charge to take Maywood's contaminated soil, but a contractor who lost an earlier bid for the project, Tucker Lamkin of Multi-Modal Technologies Inc., said Cotter had quoted their company a price below $56 a ton. For just 30,000 tons, the difference between the Cotter and Envirocare prices would come to more than $1.2 million, Lamkin noted. Both Roos and Ziegler insist Cañon City officials were notified of the disposal contract earlier this year. Both anticipate that Colorado officials eventually will approve the project. Ziegler argues that the Maywood dirt would benefit the Cañon City community because it would cover more harmful toxins and reduce radon emissions. He said the soil will be kept in an impoundment lined with clay and special liners 60 times thicker than the average garbage bag. "I think it's up to Cotter to find a way to work with the community in opening up lines of communication and education on what we do, why we do it and how we do it," Ziegler said. But Cañon City residents remain skeptical, saying Cotter has never had the community's interest at heart. The mill, opened in the 1950s to create fuel for nuclear power plants by refining uranium "yellow cake" from ore, was declared a Superfund site in 1984 when radioactive contamination of surrounding land and domestic wells was traced to the mill. A federal judge in November awarded $43.3 million to 25 people who claimed they were exposed to radiation poisoning. Last year a federal jury awarded $16.3 million to about 30 others believed to have been exposed to radiation. The award has been appealed. Copyright 2002 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission. © 2002 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 27 Uphill battle expected Nevada officials take Yucca fight to Capitol Hill [online@rgj.com] RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 4/10/2002 12:22 am Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where he stepped up the campaign against burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Sen. Harry Reid, left, and Sen. John Ensign are also pictured. - Associated Press/ASSOCIATED PRESS] Associated Press/ASSOCIATED PRESS Gov. Kenny Guinn, center, meets reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where he stepped up the campaign against burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Sen. Harry Reid, left, and Sen. John Ensign are also pictured. WASHINGTON — The campaign to stop construction of a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain faces long odds in Congress, Nevada’s congressional delegation and governor said Tuesday. “The deck is stacked against us. We’re going to try to restack the deck,” said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who -- as a former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission -- knows something about card games. Despite significant obstacles, the officials outlined their essential strategy at a news conference: Convince enough lawmakers that it’s too risky to allow thousands of shipments of nuclear waste to travel by highway and rail across their states. “It isn’t a question of whether there will be an accident, Reid said. “It’s a question of when and how many.” Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn’s veto on Monday of the presidential order to build the dump at Yucca Mountain -- about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- temporarily blocks the move. Congress must act to overrule Guinn’s decision before the project can move forward, and lawmakers must vote on Yucca Mountain within 90 legislative days. Most experts don’t expect a Senate vote until at least late July. The Senate offers the best chance for Nevada to block the waste dump, but state officials are well short of the 51 votes they need to do it. “We have an uphill fight to pick up 49 more votes,” said Reid. Nevada’s politicians will use the transportation issue to highlight the risks of accidents or terrorist attacks to residents in many U.S. cities, including Des Moines, Iowa, St. Louis and Nashville, Tenn. “The fact that the Yucca Mountain decision was made without any analysis of the transportation risks to 123 million Americans in states through (which) this dangerous waste will travel is the dirty little secret,” Guinn said. Nevada officials raised three main concerns with Yucca Mountain: o The safety of sending more than 100,000 trucks or nearly 20,000 trains filled with nuclear waste across the country. o The escalating cost of the project, which now tops $50 billion. o What they consider the misconception that Yucca Mountain will substantially reduce terrorist threats to nuclear material. The Energy Department has said that removing nuclear waste from the nation’s 104 atomic power plants to house it at Yucca Mountain would provide far fewer opportunities for terrorists to strike. But used nuclear fuel from power plants must cool down in water pools for at least five years before it can be transported, said Bob Loux, who heads the Nuclear Waste Project Office, and nuclear reactors will continue to produce waste. “We believe the whole national security issue that has been raised is bogus,” Loux said. Nevada officials concede many lawmakers are eager to move nuclear waste out of their states. “It’s disappointing that left-wing political grandstanding has prevented the government from moving forward on a centralized, safe-storage location for nuclear waste sooner than today,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said in January, just after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham endorsed the Yucca Mountain project. The Nevada Legislature is considering allocation of $3 million more to fight the Yucca Mountain project, and the state plans to start running ads this week in other states to point out the transportation risks. They will get help from some environmental groups, such as the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, which plans demonstrations against the project around Earth Day. The Associated Press contributed to this story. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com] ***************************************************************** 28 LETTERS: Yucca: Irrational fear [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Wednesday, April 10, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal To the editor: We read with consuming interest the news items regarding the fight to keep nuclear waste out of our state. While Gov. Kenny Guinn and the congressional delegation are attempting to lock, double lock, and bar the front door, the back door here in Caliente is wide open with a welcome mat in place. Our mayor, Kevin Phillips, meets regularly with the Department of Energy to send the message that nuclear waste is welcome here along with an Intermodal Transfer Station to facilitate its transportation. It might be vaguely amusing to think that our small town mayor is the linchpin for opening Yucca Mountain. Except for the fact that Energy Secretary Abraham considers Mayor Phillips to be the voice of reason amidst a cacophony of irrational fear. LARRY L. WISSBECK CATHY M. WISSBECK CALIENTE This story is located at: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Apr-10-Wed-2002/opinion/18476252.html [http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Apr-10-Wed-2002/opinion/18476252.html] ***************************************************************** 29 DOE turns to tank as state cuts off Yucca water supply Anticipating legal snags over Nevada's denial of water for the Yucca Mountain Project, the Department of Energy filled this million-gallon tank five miles east of the mountain in February. Photo by John Gurzinski. Wednesday, April 10, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Stockpiled reserves expected to last for several months By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL Water for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project was reduced to a trickle Tuesday as the Department of Energy's temporary permits to withdraw 140 million gallons per year from five Nye County wells expired at midnight. A Yucca Mountain Project spokesman said the Energy Department will comply with the notice the state issued in February denying the federal government's request to extend the temporary permits after Tuesday. "We have no need to draw water for operations right now and we're going to abide by the law," said Yucca Mountain Project spokesman Allen Benson. Anticipating the temporary permits would not be extended and legal challenges to the state's denial of DOE's request for permanent water from the wells would proceed slowly through the courts, the Energy Department built and filled a million-gallon tank east of Yucca Mountain. Benson said the stockpiled water, plus another 400,000 gallons stored in several other tanks is enough to last several months while scientists collect data from ongoing experiments and continue design work needed for a license to build and operate a repository. Despite cutting off water from the five wells, the DOE can tap what amounts to a trickle from another well that was used for the project some 20 years ago when studies began. State Engineer Hugh Ricci said Tuesday the federal government still holds a permit the state approved in the early 1980s to withdraw a tiny fraction -- less than 1 percent -- of what the Department of Energy has requested to build and operate a repository in the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. He said the Energy Department turned in paperwork Monday in hopes of proving that roughly 750,000 gallons tapped from that well from April 2001 through March this year was withdrawn for beneficial use. Ricci denied an extension for the temporary permits for the five Nye County wells in February, saying water from those wells was no longer needed to study the mountain as the site for building a nuclear waste repository for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste. He said the Energy Department's study of the mountain ended Jan. 10 when Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham notified Gov. Kenny Guinn that he would recommend the site to President Bush. U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt began hearing the government's arguments for permanent water rights in March after the case was sent to him by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Then on April 1, Justice Department lawyers sought a preliminary injunction saying the Energy Department should be allowed to continue to use water for the Yucca Mountain Project while Congress weighs Guinn's veto. Nevada Senior Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said she will oppose the government's request for the injunction in court papers to be filed next week. "We're pretty serious about this," she said Monday. "We really do feel that until Congress acts (on Guinn's veto) the project is dead." webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 30 Plan for public support of Yucca fight starts slowly Wednesday, April 10, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU Gov. Kenny Guinn's plan to have each Nevadan contribute a dollar to stop a Yucca Mountain repository fizzled Tuesday as residents didn't know where to send their bucks. But the program will do much better today as Dorothy Lemelson of Incline Village will make a $75,000 donation to the cause. She is the widow of Jerome Lemelson, one of the most prolific inventors in American history. He died at age 74 in 1997 holding 550 patents, including bar code technology. Guinn will attend the meeting at which he hopes legislators will allocate $3 million in emergency funds to the anti-Yucca campaign. No dollars arrived Tuesday at the state Agency for Nuclear Projects largely because prospective donors didn't know where to send their money. Full-page ads in state newspapers Monday advised residents to send their donations to the agency -- but failed to give an address. Hundreds of people called the office. "It was like a telethon," a spokeswoman for the agency said. Guinn called on every Nevadan during a Monday rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to join the fight against plans to establish a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The campaign is asking donations be sent to the Nevada Protection Fund, care of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, 1802 N. Carson St., Suite 252, Carson City, NV 89701. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 31 YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Case taken to nation Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, center, meets reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where he stepped up the campaign against burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., left, and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., right, look on. Photo by Associated Press Wednesday, April 10, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Guinn, congressional delegation challenge safety of waste transport By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Gov. Kenny Guinn kicked off a widening campaign against the Yucca Mountain Project on Tuesday by warning millions of Americans that transporting nuclear waste to Nevada poses a direct threat to their health and safety. A day after filing a historic veto with Congress, Guinn issued a rally call outside the U.S. Capitol. He urged support for Nevada's uphill effort to head off 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. He did so by raising questions anew about the security of shipping highly radioactive nuclear waste by truck, train and barge to Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "I ask each citizen to look at Yucca Mountain and the ramifications it has for all America, and especially since 9-1-1," Guinn said at a news conference. "We want people to talk to their senators and congressmen. And if they do, and if they (lawmakers) care about their constituents, this program will not happen," Guinn said. The governor's view was echoed by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., and Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., at a news conference. "We have the facts on our side. What we're trying to do is open minds," Ensign said. Guinn returned to Nevada late Tuesday, after a day full of press briefings and short meetings with several House and Senate leaders. He said his trip enabled Nevada leaders to huddle with paid consultants lobbying Congress and mounting a public relations campaign to win support for Guinn's veto. The House and Senate are expected to vote within three months, and a majority in each would override Guinn's action. "They got a lot of things organized. We're starting taking a little more action," Guinn said. "Whether we can do this in a period of 90 days or not, none of us would know, but we're certainly hopeful we can make some progress." Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., after meeting with Guinn and Reid, said "well over 30" Democrats have committed to vote against Yucca Mountain. The state is believed to remain well short of the 51 votes needed to kill the project. Daschle, a Nevada ally, renewed a challenge for Ensign, to come up with more support among Republicans, who are inclined to favor sending nuclear waste to the state. Published head counts put GOP support for Nevada's position at only one or two so far. Daschle said he will ask other Democrats to refrain from forcing a vote on nuclear waste when the issue reaches the full Senate in the coming months. House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., also issued a statement of support for Nevada. Guinn met for 10 to 15 minutes apiece with Daschle, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo. Bond has voted in the past to send nuclear waste to Nevada, but officials and citizens in Missouri have begun to raise questions about the safety of possible nuclear waste shipments. Guinn described his visit with Hastert as a "courtesy call" because there's no chance of winning his vote. A strong backer of the repository program, Hastert did not indicate when he plans to move pro-Yucca Mountain legislation to a House vote, but promised "adequate hearings and discussions," Guinn said. Tuesday marked the first day of a maximum 90-legislative-day timetable for Congress to take action on Guinn's veto. As the governor made his rounds, the wheels began to turn on a congressional response. The governor's formal "notice of disapproval" was referred by parliamentarians to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As required by a 1982 nuclear waste law, the Senate committee chairman, Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced a resolution to override Guinn's veto. An accompanying resolution was expected to be filed soon in the House. The House energy committee has scheduled an April 25 hearing on Yucca Mountain. The House transportation committee will hold a hearing May 9. In the Senate, Bingaman said the Energy Committee "will hold hearings that will fairly and thoughtfully examine all sides of this important issue." The 90-day period, which doesn't include weeklong Memorial Day and Fourth of July recesses, will expire in late July, Nevada officials estimate, although some expect Congress to conduct votes before then to finalize or kill the Yucca Mountain site selection. If Congress approves the site, the project would proceed to a licensing phase before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a quasi-legal process where Nevada officials plan to press their challenge if they fail to win in Congress. Under the 1982 law, a Yucca Mountain resolution can sit in congressional committee up to 60 days before being discharged for floor votes. Reid said he expects the Senate energy committee to delay the resolution for close to the maximum 60 days, even though Bingaman is considered a supporter of the Yucca Mountain Project. In the meantime, pro-repository interests began exerting pressure on Congress to move swiftly on the issue. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham urged lawmakers by letter on Tuesday "to act promptly and favorably" on Yucca Mountain legislation. Abraham had lunch with GOP senators and said afterward the repository was discussed. The Nuclear Energy Institute took out a new round of pro-Yucca Mountain advertisements directed at federal lawmakers. On Tuesday night, Ensign squared off against nuclear industry lobbyist John Sununu on the CNN show "Crossfire," another sign of growing national interest in nuclear waste. At a two-hour briefing hosted by Guinn, attorneys and technical consultants for Nevada outlined the state's case against the repository program and its doubts about the safety of nuclear waste transportation. Victor Gilinsky, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, described the state's argument that the Energy Department changed Yucca Mountain site selection guidelines after learning the mountain's natural geology would not prevent radioactivity from leaching into groundwater. Site guidelines eventually adopted by the government place heaviest emphasis on the ability of special alloy containers to do the job. Nevada already has sued the Energy Department over the site guidelines, charging the department went against the wishes of Congress. The Energy Department and the nuclear industry argue the change was legal and proper. Joe Egan, Nevada's lead attorney on nuclear waste, said a new lawsuit will be filed shortly targeting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for issuing a licensing rule that relies on the same premise. It would be the fourth major lawsuit pitting the state against a government body on nuclear waste. Robert Halstead, a transportation consultant, said Nevada assumes at least 400 accidents involving spent fuel and waste shipments would take place during the 38 years that nuclear material would be shipped to Yucca Mountain. Nevada officials also put new emphasis on what they said was a possible alternative to Yucca Mountain: a July 2000 agreement the Energy Department signed with PECO Energy, which operates the Peach Bottom nuclear plant outside Philadelphia. Under the agreement, nuclear waste from Peach Bottom would be kept on site under government ownership, while PECO would be allowed to reduce its contribution to the government's nuclear waste fund by up to $80 million over 10 years. The agreement was challenged in court by utilities that question the Energy Department's authority to use the waste fund for such a purpose. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 32 Dueling ads kick off media blitz on Yucca Las Vegas SUN April 10, 2002 By Benjamin Grove < [grove@lasvegassun.com] > WASHINGTON -- The debate over Yucca Mountain began on the pages of the Washington Post today in advertisements from the state of Nevada and the Nuclear Energy Institute. For the state, it's the first ad in the what officials hope will be a campaign to drum up opposition to the proposed nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. Nevada's ad, which ran on the right half of page 8 in the Post's front section, listed 42 states in alphabetical order, Alabama through Wyoming, that lie on likely routes that would be used to haul high-level radioactive waste to the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, if it is approved as a national waste burial ground. The states are listed in a long, vertical column down the page. The ad reads: "They want to ship HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE NUCLEAR WASTE to Nevada, which puts (the listed states) IN GRAVE DANGER." The ad says the waste would go through 43 states and 734 counties, "home to half the population of the United States. All at risk of catastrophic nuclear disaster." It goes on to say, "those in power would like to keep this quiet," and urges people to call Congress to "tell them you don't want to live in a nuclear neighborhood." In small print the advertisement says, "Paid for by the Agency for Nuclear Projects." It does not explain the agency is a Nevada state agency. The long list of states also left out was one state in which waste would travel: Nevada. The advertisement's rhetoric is inaccurate, said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry's top trade group. In particular, Nevada officials routinely exaggerate the number of shipments that would be used to haul waste to Nevada, Singer said. He said only about 300 or 400 a year -- not 3,000. Industry officials often point to the safety record of more than 3,000 shipments of high-level waste that have been made in America. "It's really a little bit unconscionable to tell you the truth to exaggerate when the history of shipments has been so positive over the last 37 years without a single loss of radiation," Singer said. Although the Nevada ad urges action, by appearing in the Washington Post the ad was aimed more at putting pressure on lawmakers than sparking grass-roots action by U.S. citizens. The ad contrasts one today run in the Washington Post by the Nuclear Energy Institute, a quarter page ad on page 20 that features a photograph of Yucca Mountain. It reads in part: "America's used nuclear fuel belongs beneath this desert ridge. Managing used nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is the right choice for the environment, national security and America's energy future." The ad concludes: "Put used nuclear fuel in its place." NEI will run ads "periodically" leading up to the vote in Congress, Singer said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 33 State's anti-dump fund may fall short of $10 million goal Las Vegas SUN April 10, 2002 By Erin Neff Yucca Mountain opponents got plenty of free advertising Tuesday in national media, but a legitimate lobbying campaign will cost more than the state appears to be able to raise. This morning the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee was expected to approve a $3 million transfer to the Nevada Protection Fund, with the Clark County Commission to consider adding another $1.5 million next Tuesday. That's not the $10 million Nevada leaders have asked for to supplement a $6 million warchest, but Gov. Kenny Guinn said that amount is enough to begin educating people about transporting waste across the nation to Yucca Mountain. "That will buy us some commercial time we need badly in certain states our team is looking at," Guinn said. "If we had more, we could do more." Mark Brown, whose firm Brown &Partners has been hired to produce the ads, said one commercial has been completed and will air sometime within a week. The ad will run in Vermont, where Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is courting Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., a former Republican. "Numerous" other commercial spots are planned, Brown said. Chuck Johnston, Brown &Partners' managing partner, said he is not concerned that the state isn't awash in money for the campaign. "Assuming that's ($4.5 million) the number, that's when we really need to go in and evaluate what we can do," Thompson said. "Obviously we can get in deeper and we get into a broader message with more money, but we can still get the message." Thompson said his firm is analyzing what type of ads -- whether television, radio or print -- that will have the biggest impact in a given market. But, the initial $10 million requested by U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign for the fight, is not necessarily the amount state officials think they need. "The $10 million is a moving target," Guinn said before heading to Washington. "If we get $9.5 or $8 (million), that's still great." This morning Reno philanthropist Dorothy Lemelson, announced the largest individual donation so far to the Nevada Protection Fund -- $75,000. Guinn acknowledged that state leaders had hoped more government money would come in to fund the campaign. Clark County commissioners initially discussed adding $3 million to the fund, before a secondary proposal for the $1.5 million expenditure was offered. The fund had $6 million prior to Guinn's veto Monday of President Bush's decision to approve Yucca Mountain as the repository for the nation's nuclear waste. Much of that money is already earmarked for the state's legal fight and consulting. Coinciding with Guinn's veto, the state's Nuclear Projects Agency ran full-page ads in newspapers statewide asking residents to donate $1 or more to the fund. Bob Loux, director of the agency, said one staffer spent the entire day fielding calls from hundreds of people interested in sending a check by mail but inquiring which address they should use. The state's ad listed a website, www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/ and a phone number, (800) 366-0990, but not an address. "We think most of those are going to translate into donations," Loux said. "I think it will help. Obviously, we'd like to have a lot more money, and we'll spend everything we have." Guinn stressed private money is still tricking in by showing reporters a check a senior citizen handed him several days ago. Johnston said his firm plans to create ads that are "memorable" and able to focus attention on the dangers of transporting 96,0000 shipments of nuclear waste through 43 states. "Just making people aware of what's going on is scary enough," Johnston said. "But the visuals could be very scary. We're not talking about just a normal accident." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 34 Lott says Yucca will pass Las Vegas SUN April 10, 2002 Republican senator says he can get enough votes By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., confidently predicted Tuesday that Democratic attempts to block a vote on a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository would surely fail and that "at least 60 senators" would vote to approve it. Lott's comments fell on the first day of a 90-day period in which Congress is required by law to vote on the controversial project. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats led by Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., are plotting to kill the project in various ways, most undisclosed. Daschle vowed Tuesday to first urge the Senate's 50 Democrats to simply not call for a vote on the issue. That ploy will fail, Lott said, because any GOP senator can call for a vote. "The way (federal law) is set up under an expedited procedure, there is no way a vote can be avoided," Lott, a repository advocate, said. Lott could not say exactly when a Yucca vote would happen. He said the issue will compete with a number of other Senate priorities in the next 90 days, but ultimately will be placed on the Senate calendar in time for action. "I wouldn't want to push it until the end (of 90 days)," Lott told reporters Monday. "We do have a lot to do, so we'll have to see." After meeting with GOP senators at a weekly luncheon, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham urged Republican senators to quickly approve the repository. After carefully studying the results of years of research, he said he is "absolutely convinced we can move ahead with this project." The "independent" Nuclear Regulatory Commission, not Congress, should have the final say on Yucca Mountain, he said. The controversial project entered its final trek through Congress Tuesday. Lawmakers have 90 days to act after Gov. Kenny Guinn vetoed President Bush's approval of the project, which occurred Monday. It marked the first time a governor had vetoed a president. Congress' vote will be on a resolution to approve the Yucca Mountain site. On Tuesday Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced a six-line resolution that was referred to his Senate Energy Committee. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is expected to introduce a resolution into the House in the next few days. Sources say Reid has forged some sort of deal with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Senate Energy Committee chairman, who apparently agreed to shelve the bill in committee for nearly 60 days. At that point by law it would be discharged to the floor automatically, with or without a panel vote. Still, that would buy Nevada's senators a delay in which to continue lobbying their colleagues. Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., need 49 other senators to vote with them to kill Yucca. Daschle said he and Reid were lining up "well over" 30 Democrats to vote against Yucca. Daschle on Tuesday again called on Ensign to round up 20 Republicans. That's a huge longshot -- so far Ensign reportedly has one, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo. If the House and Senate approve the resolution -- effectively overriding Guinn's historic veto -- the Yucca project would lurch forward toward licensing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, site construction and a possible 2010 opening. If a simple majority of lawmakers in one chamber votes against the resolution, the project dies. The Senate is considered the only Yucca battleground; the House is expected to overwhelmingly approve the project. Still, Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., are trying to drum up support among their parties. This week Berkley enlisted House Democratic Whip Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to help her corral votes. House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., who also supports Berkley's efforts, met today with Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, who is also running for Congress. Guinn on Tuesday wrapped up a 36-hour national media blitz in the nation's capital, with press conferences at the U.S. Capitol and National Press Club. Guinn, accompanied by Gibbons, met Tuesday with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., a Yucca advocate who offered the governor 10 minutes as a courtesy. Guinn also met with Daschle, who reportedly told him the pressure was on Guinn and Ensign to corral Republican senators. Guinn met with one GOP member during his trip: Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, a former governor. If Yucca is ultimately approved, waste would be hauled through Missouri on its way to Yucca Mountain and state officials there are concerned about waste transportation risks. But Bond didn't have good news for Guinn. Bond told Guinn about his record of voting in favor of Yucca legislation in the past. "He is not saying he would change his mind, but said he would be very, very interested in the (Senate) hearings," Guinn said. Guinn will meet with other GOP senators at the direction of Reid and Ensign, but Guinn said he did not know when he would be back in Washington. Ensign on Tuesday followed Guinn's appearance on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Moneyline" and "American Morning with Paula Zahn." Appearing on the cable station's combative "Crossfire" program, Ensign disputed host Robert Novak's claim that the gaming industry is the only force opposed to Yucca Mountain. "This has to do with the state of Nevada," Ensign said. "The Legislature has appropriated most of the money for this." Ensign added the gaming industry has contributed less than 10 percent of Nevada's total money to fight the proposed dump. "Crossfire" pitted high-profile pro-Yucca lobbyist John Sununu, a former White House chief of staff to the former President George Bush, against Ensign, and unlikely Ensign ally James Carville, liberal pundit and Democratic consultant. The panel sparred over science and other issues. Sununu said that the government has spent $4 billion "worth of science and technology" to prepare Yucca Mountain during the past 20 years. Ensign said there are still 293 scientific and technical problems that must to be answered before the Energy Department can apply to the NRC for a license to operate the repository. "No," Sununu fired back. "During the licensing." Novak tried to get the last word, arguing, "Yes, senator, but you don't have the votes." "Yes we do," Ensign said, trying to make a point as the segment ended. Ensign and his staff were immediately unavailable to comment on the statement this morning. In other news Tuesday, Nevada officials said nationally noted GOP pollster Frank Luntz has been hired to help lobby Republicans. Details of his contract or compensation were not immediately available. Luntz has worked in Nevada before, conducting research for Mirage Resorts Inc. in 2000 to determine support for a professional sports arena or a performing arts center. Luntz is also nationally known for his town-hall surveys on the presidential campaign for NBC News. Sun reporter Erin Neff contributed to this story. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 35 Nevada triggers nuclear waste battle in Congress - April 10, 2002 CNN.com - The Yucca Mountain proposed nuclear waste repository at Mercury, Nevada, as seen in this June 10, 1992, file photo. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn Tuesday delivered to Capitol Hill his veto of the Bush administration's plan to put the first permanent U.S. nuclear waste dump in his state, starting a 90-day legislative clock during which Congress can sustain or override him. "We have an uphill battle," said Guinn, flanked by members of Nevada's congressional delegation who have struggled to round up Democratic and Republican lawmakers to oppose President Bush's adoption of a recommendation by his Energy Department. "If the political system fails us, the court system will not," declared Guinn, whose state already has challenged the plans in federal court. Guinn, a Republican, said he was the first governor ever to veto a decision by a president, having been granted the power to do so in a 1982 federal law on nuclear waste disposal. In a decision two decades in the making, Bush in February formally chose Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the permanent federal site to store tens of thousands of tons of waste from nuclear power plants across the nation. CNN's Jonathan Karl reports Nevada is facing an uphill battle to keep it's Yucca mountain from being the primary U.S. nuclear waste dump site (April 9) Despite the administration's claims to the contrary, Nevada and its backers contend it would be unsafe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain and to transport such material by truck and rail to the underground site. In his notice of disapproval, Guinn argued that selection of Yucca Mountain as a waste site was based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy. Several states with nuclear power plants, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, support the Yucca Mountain designation. Together they have hired an army of lobbyists to make their case on Capitol Hill. Guinn -- who has enlisted lobbyists of his own -- vetoed the president's action on Monday and delivered the notice of disapproval to Congress on Tuesday. Under federal law, the Senate and House of Representatives now have 90 legislative days to override or sustain him. For Guinn's veto to be overridden, both chambers of Congress must agree to do so on majority votes. Guinn backers are pessimistic about prevailing in the Republican-led House. They see the Democratic-led Senate as their only real shot, but stress it will be tough. So far, opponents of the Yucca Mountain proposal say they expect to get about three dozen of the Senate's 50 Democratic senators to side with them. The big question is how many of the 49 Republicans will do so. So far there are just two -- Sen. John Ensign of Nevada and Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado. Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, the chamber's only independent, backs Bush's decision. Nevada intends to spend upward of $10 million in its campaign against the dump, and plans to start airing television ads against the plan on Wednesday in selected states. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Tuesday he will soon send to Congress a formal request that it override Guinn. "The Energy Department has spent more than $4 billion over the past 20 years studying and studying and researching Yucca Mountain," Abraham told reporters. "I'm absolutely convinced that we can move ahead safely with this project." Even if the Yucca Mountain proposal survives court challenges and Congress, it would still have to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Abraham said, "The logical step is to let the objective and neutral experts at the NRC make a final decision on whether the project should go ahead." Copyright 2002 Reuters. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 36 Nevada Governor Vetoes Nuclear Waste Dump Site [Los Angeles Times - latimes.com] April 9, 2002 THE NATION [*] Environment: Hauling spent fuel to Yucca Mountain is dangerous, Guinn warns. Congress can override the decision. By TOM GORMAN, TIMES STAFF WRITER LAS VEGAS -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn on Monday vetoed the use of Yucca Mountain as the nation's underground repository of highly radioactive nuclear waste, declaring that the $60-billion proposal is "based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy." In February, President Bush recommended to Congress that Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, serve as a permanent burial ground for the nation's 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. "Let me make one thing clear, crystal clear in fact. Yucca Mountain is not inevitable," Guinn told supporters Monday at the University of Nevada. "We will expose the Department of Energy's dirty little secrets about Yucca Mountain," Guinn said, charging that the government had not studied the dangers of transporting the waste across the country. Guinn said the nuclear power industry has spent $100 million in support of Yucca Mountain and he asked each Nevadan to send in $1 to help counter that offensive. The Republican governor later headed to Washington, where his "notice of disapproval" will be filed with both houses of Congress. Guinn's veto was allowed under a nuclear waste policy act Congress wrote in 1982, which gives the governor of a targeted state the power to reject the president's selection. Congress will have the final say, however. It has 90 legislative days to debate the issue, and a vote is expected in July. If simple majorities in the House and Senate vote to override Guinn's veto, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would decide in a few years whether to license the project. The project could still be derailed by litigation. Opponents say the House probably will vote to support the project, which already represents a $6-billion government investment. They are hoping it will be rejected by the Senate. Senate Democratic Whip Harry Reid of Nevada said most Senate Democrats have promised to support his state. But at least 15 votes from the GOP side will be needed to uphold Nevada's veto, and so far only two--John Ensign, a freshman from Nevada, and Ben Night-horse Campbell of Colorado--have opposed the plans. Scientists Revise Feasibility Study Congress decided 15 years ago to consider only Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal, and the Department of Energy has concluded that the site is feasible. Government scientists initially believed that the geology of Yucca Mountain was sufficient to contain radioactivity. They have now concluded that it will provide little more than a web of underground storage tunnels and that protection from radiation will depend on the millenniums-long durability of man-made containers to protect the material from, among other things, corrosive moisture and the possibility of earthquakes. Both sides have lined up heavyweight lobbyists. Arguing against the use of Yucca Mountain are John D. Podesta, a former chief of staff for President Clinton, and Kenneth M. Duberstein, former chief of staff for President Reagan. The nuclear industry enlisted the help of John H. Sununu, former chief of staff for the senior President Bush, and Geraldine A. Ferraro, the onetime vice presidential candidate. Nevada, in a media campaign targeting states where senators are waffling, will hammer on the theme that the transportation of radioactive waste across the country will create "nuclear neighborhoods." The campaign "will educate Americans and help senators who are inclined to support us but don't feel they can because they don't sense support back home to oppose Yucca Mountain," said Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor. Grass-roots efforts to kill the Yucca Mountain project also are underway. A coalition of 16 organizations, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility, sent a letter to senators March 26 imploring them to reject the project because of unresolved scientific questions. Activists from 25 states are planning to converge on Washington next Tuesday to argue against Yucca Mountain, said Lisa Gue, a policy analyst for the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. Senators face a political dilemma in considering the best interests of their own states when deciding the fate of Yucca Mountain. Many agree with Bush and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who concluded that the nuclear industry and the public are better served by shipping spent fuel rods--which will remain radioactive for 250,000 years--to Yucca Mountain. The waste is now stored at 131 facilities in 37 states. That strategy, the Bush administration says, will allow for better long-term security of the lethal material, especially in a post-Sept. 11 environment. But those same senators may wince at the notion of trains and trucks transporting nuclear waste across their states, where it could be vulnerable to accident or attack. In his 10-page argument to Congress, Guinn pointed out that, even as about 100,000 waste shipments head to Yucca Mountain over three decades, new waste will be generated and will have to be stored at those sites to cool before it can be shipped elsewhere. Thus, Guinn argued, Yucca Mountain will not eliminate the existence of nuclear waste around the country. Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times By visiting this site, you are ***************************************************************** 37 Council takes aim at landfills Wednesday, April 10, 2002 By Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer The Los Angeles City Council launched strikes Tuesday against two San Fernando Valley landfills, asking city officials to investigate reports of radioactive waste being dumped at Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley and study alternatives to expanding Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills. The council also went on record in support of state legislation to strengthen restrictions on the dumping of radioactive waste in landfills statewide. As the Daily News reported Friday, low-level radioactive waste from Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory has been dumped at Bradley Landfill for at least a decade without the knowledge of state or local officials. The landfill's operator, Waste Management, also told the council Tuesday it was unaware Rocketdyne was disposing of radioactive materials at Bradley. The council asked the city's Department of Environmental Affairs to look into the issue and report back on the extent of the radioactive dumping and its possible health hazards to local residents. "They cannot contaminate our health," said Councilman Nate Holden. "We should let them know our young children who are most likely to be affected by this nuclear waste must be protected." State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Rosemead, told the council she has proposed a bill ordering the state Department of Health Services to impose more strict standards and more disclosure of the dumping of radioactive waste. The council decided unanimously to support her bill. "This really is a statewide issue, and Los Angeles is taking the lead by having this motion brought forward," Romero said. "You are to my knowledge the first city in California to address this issue." The council also asked city officials to look into alternatives to expanding Sunshine Canyon Landfill, which the council approved last year. "This measure barely passed the old City Council," said Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the communities near the dump. "This is the new City Council, with a different look toward environmental health issues. We need to act now." Mayor James Hahn also recently temporarily blocked a key permit needed for Browning Ferris Industries to expand its operations at Sunshine Canyon. A Los Angeles Newspaper Group Newspaper ***************************************************************** 38 Gibbons Statement on Governor’s Veto of Yucca Mountain Gibbons (NV02) - Press Release - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 8, 2002 Congressman asserts “Today, Nevada Made History” Washington, D.C.— This afternoon, U.S. Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) issued the following statement regarding Governor Guinn’s (R-Nev.) decision to veto President Bush’s site recommendation of Yucca Mountain as the nation’s high-level nuclear waste repository. “Today, under the leadership of Governor Kenny Guinn, Nevada made history. For the first time in American history, the Silver State will veto a President’s decision on an issue of the utmost importance-- Yucca Mountain. “The safety and security of the citizens of Nevada guided the Governor’s decision, and now, our delegation will continue to fight against a project detrimental to the safety and security of every American. Thousands of high-level nuclear waste shipments, crisscrossing our entire country, to Yucca Mountain is simply an unsafe, unsuitable, and unconscionable idea. “I applaud Governor Guinn for his leadership, and I am committed to waging this battle with him and our entire delegation to protect the future of Nevada and the United States.” ### ***************************************************************** 39 Jabiluka traditional owners call for full Senate inquiry . 10/04/2002. ABC News Online [Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online] The Aboriginal traditional owners of the Jabiluka uranium mine site on a lease surrounded by Kakadu National Park are calling for a full Senate inquiry into operations at the mine. The office of the supervising scientist confirmed yesterday that new allegations have been made about inadequate environmental management practices at the nearby Ranger mine about five years ago. The Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation says there has been concern about the environmental and reporting side of the operations at Ranger since the 80s. The corporation's Andy Ralph says with these new allegations, it is time to conduct a detailed investigation. "We're not surprised about these allegations to be truthful and they really only add to our long-held suspicions of a culture of secrecy at Ranger mine for the last 20 years," he said. "That's why we're calling for a full independent Senate inquiry into these cover-ups and we're asking both sides of Parliament to support this immediately," he said. Meanwhile, ERA says it is aware that the supervising scientist has received a letter outlining the concerns of a former employee who left the company in 1998. An ERA spokesman says the company understands the letter makes claims regarding management at Ranger about five years ago. He says during his tenure the employee raised work related concerns and ERA believes that an appropriate response was made at the time. Nevertheless, he says ERA takes any allegations regarding the integrity of the company and its environmental practices very seriously and will check the veracity of any information brought forward. © 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 40 Nevada worries about financing its nuclear waste lobbying effort Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:29 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 by Ken Ritter Associated Press LAS VEGAS -- Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, not wishing his state to become the nation's home to 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, has so far defied the Energy Department and the president of the United States. Now he must take on Congress -- and he says he's running out of money. "This is one state fighting an uphill battle," Guinn told a cheering rally before flying to Washington to argue his state's case. This week, Guinn rejected a plan endorsed by the Energy Department and President Bush to store the nation's nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. A 1982 federal law that began studies about hauling nuclear waste to Yucca gave Nevada the power to exercise such a veto. Congress must now decide in 90 legislative days whether to uphold the president or side with Nevada. Strategists believe public opinion could sway senators in some key states to sustain the Republican governor's action. The strategy would include television ads in places where lawmakers' re-election chances might be determined by environmentalists. But the state campaign -- boosted by catchy slogans like "Hell no, we won't glow" -- is short of money. After failing to raise the $10 million it says it needs, Nevada is now soliciting donations $1 at a time. Last week, Nevada had to pass on buying expensive commercial time on an episode of "The West Wing" that depicted the fictional White House dealing with a nuclear transportation accident. The ads were expected to raise the specter of a radioactive accident in one of the 43 states through which trucks and trains would carry spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain. Defenders of the project argue it is safe. Bush, in a letter to congressional leaders last week, said he approved the Yucca Mountain project because a central repository for nuclear waste "is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security." Nevada officials have argued there are still many outstanding issues not yet fully resolved when it comes to whether Yucca Mountain's geology will adequately contain the waste thousands of years from now. Guinn initially raised $6 million from state and local governments and a handful of businesses for lobbying, advertising and legal opposition to the plan. But he said all but $2.5 million of that fund has been spent, and the rest is being reserved for anticipated legal battles. "We have to convince everybody that this isn't just Nevada's problem," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, an outspoken opponent of the Yucca Mountain plan. "We have to alert, not alarm, senators' constituents about the potential of a disaster happening in their back yards so they tell their elected officials, 'Don't let this come by my house."' All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 41 The Epidemic of Nuclearism: Clinical Profile of the Genocidal Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 23:16:09 -0500 (CDT) From: "Janice" To: Subject: [MAI-NOT] A Clinical Profile of the Genocidal Mentality - The Epidemic of Nuclearism Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 22:26:24 +1200 Sender: owner-mai-not@flora.org This article from a psychologist suggests that the leaders justifying the use of nuclear deterrents show similarities to psychopaths and mass murderers! And they are running entire countries! The article was written in the middle of 1998. The Epidemic of Nuclearism: A Clinical Profile of the Genocidal Mentality http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/nandy_nuclearism.html Nuclearism is the ideology of nuclear weaponry and nuclear arms-based security. It is the most depraved, shameless, and costly pornography of our times. Such an ideology cannot be judged only by the canons of international relations, geopolitics, political sociology, or ethics. It is also a well known, identifiable, psychopathological syndrome. The following is a brief introduction to its clinical picture, epidemiology, and prognosis. Nuclearism does not reside in institutions, though it may set up, symbolise, or find expression in social and political institutions. It is an individual pathology and has clear identifiers. Many years ago, Brian Isley argued in his book, Fathering the Unthinkable, that nuclearism went with strong masculinity strivings. Isley was no psychologist, but the works of Carol Cohn's and others have endorsed the broad contours of Isley's analysis. They show that not only the language and ideology, but the entire culture of nuclear weaponry is infiltrated by hard, masculine imageries and those participating in that culture usually suffer from deep fears of emasculation or impotency. Indeed, that is the reason they participate in that culture with enthusiasm. Such masculinity strivings or drive for potency usually goes with various forms of authoritarianism. Even people ideologically committed to democratic governance may vicariously participate in subtler forms of authoritarianism associated with nuclearism. There is support for this relationship outside psychology, too. Robert Jungk's work on the nuclear state shows that secrecy, security, surveillance, and police state methods invari-ab-ly accompany the nuclear establishment in every country. In that sense, the culture of nuclearism is one of the true "universals" of our time. Like Coca-Cola and blue jeans, it does not permit cultural adaptation or edited versions. It is the same in Paris and Pokhran, Lahore and Los Alamos. Nuclearism is framed by the genocidal mentality. Robert J. Lifton and Eric Markusen have systematically studied the links. In their book, The Genocidal Mentality, Lifton and Markusen make a comparative study of the psychology of mass murderers, in Nazi Germany, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and among the ideologues of nuclearism today and find remarkable continuities. In the genocidal person there is, first of all, a state of mind called "psychic numbing"--a "diminished capacity or inclination to feel--and a general sense of meaningless-ness". One so numbs one's sensitivities that normal emotions and moral consider-ations cannot penetrate one any more. Numbing "closes off" a person and leads to a "constriction of self process". To him or her, the death or the possibility of the death of millions begins to look like an abstract, bureaucratic detail, involving the calculation of military gains or losses, geopolitics or mere statistics. Such numbing can be considered to be the final culmination of the separation of affect and cognition-that is, feelings and thinking that the European Enlightenment sanctioned and celebrated as the first step towards greater objectivity and scientific rationality. The genocidal mentality also tends to create an area protected from public responsibility or democratic accountability. Usually such responsibility is avoided by re-conceptualising oneself as only a cog in the wheel, advancing one's own bureaucratic or scientific career like everybody else, by taking and obeying orders from superior authorities faithfully, mechanically, and without thinking about the moral implications of the orders. The Nazi war criminals tried at Nuremberg at the end of World War II all ventured the defence that they were under orders to kill innocent people, including women, children and the elderly, and could do nothing about it. The other way of avoiding accountability is to remove it from individuals and vest it in institutions and aggregates. As if institutions by themselves could run a death machine without the intervention of individuals! After a while, even terms like the military-industrial complex, fascism, imperialism, Stalinism, ruling class, or American hege-mony become ways of freeing the actual, real-life persons from their culpability for recommending, ordering, or committing mass murders. In a society where geno-cidal mentality spreads, intellectuals also find such impersonal analyses soothing; they contri-bute to the creation of a business-as-usual-ambience in which institutions are ritually blamed and the psychopathic scientists, bureaucrats and politicians who work towards genocides move around scot-free. In acute cases, the genocidal mentality turns into necrophilia, a clinical state in which the patient is in love with death. Indeed, he or she wants to sleep with the dead, in fantasy and, in extreme cases, in life. Saadat Hassan Manto's famous story, 'Cold Meat' or 'Thanda Gosht' is, unknown to the author, the story of an 'ordinary' murderer and rapist who, while trying to satiate his sexual greed during a communal conflict, confronts his own with necrophilia and is devastat-ed by that. Those interested in more authoritative case studies can look up Erich Fromm's The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. Nuclearism does not remain confined to the nuclear establishment or the nuclear community. It introduces other psychopathologies in a society. For instance, as it seeps into public consciousness, it creates a new awareness of the transience of life. It forces people to live with the constant fear that, one day, a sudden war or accident might kill not only them, but also their children and grandchildren, and everybody they love. This awareness gradually creates a sense of the hollowness of life. For many, life is denuded of substantive meaning. The psychological numbing I have mentioned completes the picture. While the ordinary citizen leads an apparently normal life, he or she is constantly aware of the transience of such life and the risk of mega-death for the entire society. Often this finds expression in unnecessary or inexplicable violence in social life or in a more general, high state of anxiety and a variety of psychosomatic ailments. In other words, nuclearism begins to brutalise ordinary people and vitiates everyday life. Studies by the likes of William Beardslee, J. E. Mach and Eleonora Masini show that these traits express themselves even in adolescents and children. Even children barely eight or ten years old begin to live in what they consider to be a world without a future; they are fearful and anxious about their life, but unable to express that fear and anxiety directly, because in a nuclearised society the fear of nuclear death is made to look like an abnormal psychoneurotic state. Many neurotics and psychotics at first look like charming eccentrics. To start with, nuclearism may appear a smart game and the partisans of nuclear weaponry may look like normal politicians, scholars, or defence experts. After all, the Nazis killers, too, were usually loving fathers, connoisseurs of good music, and honest citizens. However, beneath those facade lies a personality that is insecure, doubtful about one's masculinity, fearful of the interpersonal world, and unable to love. The mindless violence such a personality anticipates or plans is a pathetic attempt to fight these inner feelings of emptiness, and the suspicion and the fear that one's moral self might already be dead within. You father the unthinkable because you have already psychologically orphaned your-self. You make contingency plans to kill millions because you fear that your inner-most core has already been cauterised against all normal feelings and human relations. Acquiring the power to inflict the death on millions, and by living with the fantasy of that power, you pathetically try to get some confirmation that you are still alive. However, that confirmation never comes. For in the process of acquiring that power, you may not be not dead physically, but you are already dead morally, socially and psychologically. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Ashis Nandy Centre for the Study of Developing Societies 29 Rajpur Road Delhi 110 054 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Tel: (91 11) 294 2199, 23 1190, 252 1151 Fax: (91 11) 294 3450 In case of difficulty try (91 11) 338 8155 Email: csds@del2.vsnl.net.in In case of difficulty try sscsds@ren.nic.in Cable:POLITY DELHI ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research Vegagatan 25, S - 224 57 Lund, Sweden Phone + 46 - 46 - 145909 Fax + 46 - 46 - 144512 http://www.transnational.org E-mail: tff@transnational.org Contact the Webmaster at: comments@transnational.org Created by Maria Ndslund ) 1997, 1998, 1999 TFF In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. -- For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/ ***************************************************************** 42 Christina Rocca back in India for talks Tue Apr 9, 3:30 PM ET NEW DELHI (Reuters) - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca met Indian officials on Tuesday for talks which were expected to cover the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a tense face-off between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Rocca was in India last month for talks with Indian leaders but had to call her trip off and travel to neighbouring Pakistan after two Americans were killed in an attack on a church. "The effort is to pick up the threads from where she had to unfortunately leave last month," a U.S. embassy official said, adding Rocca was due to meet External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Wednesday. The Press Trust of India (news - web sites) (PTI) news agency said Rocca would also meet Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer and director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, P.C. Sharma. A U.S. official in Washington told Reuters last week Rocca would, during talks with Indian officials, discuss the war on terrorism and regional issues including the nearly four-month-old face-off between nuclear-capable India and Pakistan. The bitter foes have massed about a million men on their frontier after New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based Muslim rebels for a bloody attack on its parliament in December. The United States has urged both sides to begin talks to ease the tension and resolve their differences. Last month Rocca cancelled her meetings in India in order to travel to Islamabad to accompany home the bodies of a U.S. diplomat's wife and daughter. The two were killed along with three other people when an attacker threw grenades in a church in the diplomatic quarter of the Pakistani capital. Ties between India and the United States, once on opposite sides of the Cold War, have been on an upswing and top officials have exchanged several visits since the September 11 attacks and the heightened military tension in South Asia. Washington has agreed to resume sales of military equipment to India, conduct joint military exercises, share intelligence information with New Delhi and cooperate in fighting terrorism. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 43 Rocca’s visit to herald Indo-US cooperation on N-issues April 10, 2002 The Indian Express: Full Story > Jyoti Malhotra New Delhi, April 9: India and the US are all set to put into place bilateral cooperation on nuclear issues, including on nuclear safety, when US Assistant Secretary of State on South Asia Christina Rocca meets senior officials in the Ministry of External Affairs here tomorrow. Rocca arrived in the capital today from Islamabad, where she applauded Gen Musharraf’s commitment to return to democracy after talks on a host of issues including ‘‘regional security.’’ Observers said that was a euphemism for Washington pressing Islamabad to further crack down on the Al-Qaeda cells in Pakistan’s north-western region. While New Delhi may not share Washington’s optimism on Musharraf, the government seems willing to wait and let the US see the light on Pakistan. US officials privately admit that middle and lower level ISI officials are ‘‘unhappy’’ with the joint US-Pakistan crackdown on the Al-Qaeda within Pakistan, pointing to the March 28 raid when the FBI along with local forces raided Faislabad and 10 other installations and nabbed Laden’s chief aide, Abu Zubaydah Intelligence agencies here believe that the ISI will remain focussed on the Kashmir side of its operations, in return for dismantling the Afghan side, and that at least for the present, the US may play along. Intelligence sources here believe that it was none other than the ISI which tipped off bin Laden about the Faislabad raid, which is why he fled his hideout a few hours before it was raided. Certainly, though, as India and the US share information on a post-Taliban Afghanistan, the assessment is that the purging of the Al-Qaeda in that part of the world may be a far tougher task than driving bin Laden and company out of Kabul. Rocca’s presence here also coincides with the visit of deputy CIA director John McLaughlin who met RAW chief Vikram Sood yesterday. Tomorrow, Rocca will also meet CBI director P.C. Sharma, where both sides are likely to exchange information and intelligence on terrorist activities in the region. Rocca is also likely to brief New Delhi on her trip to Pakistan, even though officials here sought to focus her visit on the gamut of bilateral issues put into place after Vajpayee’s meeting with President Bush in November. ‘‘An unfreezing is taking place in the Indo-US relationship,’’ sources here said, pointing out that the visit of chief of the Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar, to the US some six weeks ago was significant in this regard. Kakodkar’s visit restored cooperation on nuclear issues, especially on the safety front, that had newly begun in April 1998. A month later India went nuclear and all such incipient cooperation went out of the window. That is now expected to be placed on a firmer footing, with both sides focussing on safety procedures for civil nuclear reactors. Analysts point out that the cooperation on nuclear safety issues is an‘‘intermediate step’’ on the road to cooperation in civil nuclear energy, although they admitted that that was ‘‘much further down the road’’. Russia is already selling civil nuclear reactors to India and New Delhi hopes that Washington might be persuaded to do a similar deal in future. Rocca met India’s special envoy to Afghanistan Satinder Lambah here today. They are said to have exchanged views on the future of Hamid Karzai, the interim Afghan administration chief, as well as on the loya jirgah slated in Kabul in June, when the Afghans will pick a new chief. Rocca will call on External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh and meet Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer tomorrow. © 2002: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All rights ***************************************************************** 44 NPT signatories meet for the first time since Sept. 11 Tue Apr 9,10:19 PM ET By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS - The 187 signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are meeting for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a major issue for the United States and many other countries is the threat of nuclear terrorism. U.S. Ambassador Norman Wulf warned the meeting that "the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states not only increases the risk of nuclear war among nations, but also increases the risk of nuclear terrorism." The two-week meeting that began Monday is the first session to prepare for the next NPT review conference in 2005. Violations of the treaty by Iraq and North Korea (news - web sites) during the 1990s and their continued failure to comply "underscore the dangers to the global community" and "the need for constant vigilance," Wulf said during Tuesday's session. The International Atomic Energy Agency must be allowed to operate unhindered in both countries and the parties to the treaty must persevere in insisting that Iraq and North Korea fully comply with its provisions, he said. "NPT parties who would violate the treaty must make a choice," Wulf said. "They can either join the vast majority of parties who take their NPT obligations seriously or risk the consequences of being an outlaw nation." The NPT, which went into force in 1970, represented a bargain between the nuclear "haves" and "have-nots." In return for the non-nuclear states' agreement not to acquire nuclear weapons, the treaty committed nuclear weapons states to take steps toward nuclear disarmament. Russian envoy Alexander Mostovets told Tuesday's session that there was almost a global consensus on the new threats and challenges to the world. "The problem of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction together with the problem of international terrorism is among the top items within that scope," he said. "In combination, these two problems — terrorism and proliferation — constitute the greatest and quite real danger." China's Ambassador Hu Xiaodi said "after Sept. 11, prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terror has become even more important and urgent." But Russia, China, and seven non-nuclear countries from Africa, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific indicated they were unhappy with the Bush administration's approach to the NPT. A U.S. nuclear review published in January indicated that following Sept. 11 the United States is keeping all its options open, including the possible development and testing of new nuclear weapons. Classified sections of the review leaked in mid-March showed "more clearly" that the United States was considering resuming testing and might decide in the future to design more deadly nuclear weapons, said Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. To fight terrorism and proliferation, Russia's Mostovets said "it is important to unite efforts to create a global system of counteracting new challenges and threats." "The proposed new measures should not `compete' with traditional disarmament and non-proliferation aspects of security," he said, in a clear reference to the U.S. proposals. China's Hu urged the nuclear-weapon states to continue their moratoria on nuclear testing, refrain from developing new nuclear weapons and push for ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty — which the Bush administration opposes. Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister Mahmoud Mubarak, speaking for the seven non-nuclear nations, also expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in implementing the steps the nuclear signatories had agreed to do. "Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about emerging approaches to the future role of nuclear weapons as a part of new security strategies," he said. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. ***************************************************************** 45 U.S. Rebuked By Russia on Disarmament (washingtonpost.com) Associated Press Wednesday, April 10, 2002; Page A20 MOSCOW, April 9 -- Russia rebuked the United States today for deciding to hold back some disarmament projects because of doubts about Moscow's commitment to biological and chemical weapons treaties, and accused Washington of undercutting disarmament efforts. "Such actions can have the most negative impact on achieving mutual trust and can be reflected in the two countries' cooperation in liquidating weapons of mass destruction and in the sphere of nonproliferation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in a statement. The U.S. government put Moscow on notice last week that it would not certify Russia's full commitment to carrying out the treaties. Such certification is necessary under U.S. law to disburse new funds for existing U.S.-Russian programs to reduce the threat of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Yakovenko said the U.S. decision was not accompanied by concrete examples, and it caused "bewilderment" in Moscow. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 46 Japanese politician defends nuclear remarks Wed Apr 10, 7:33 AM ET By Teruaki Ueno TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of Japan's second-biggest opposition party said on Wednesday he had been trying to encourage stronger ties with China when he commented earlier that Japan could easily make nuclear weapons and surpass Beijing's military might. Inviting a sharp response from Beijing, which is sensitive to any signs of militarism in Japan, Liberal Party chief Ichiro Ozawa told a seminar on Saturday in the southern city of Fukuoka that "China is applying itself to expansion of military power". But on Wednesday, Ozawa said his statement was meant to encourage mutual trust between China and Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack. "My remarks were dreadfully distorted and conveyed by some mass media. I am terribly annoyed," Ozawa told reporters. Kyodo news agency had quoted him as telling the seminar: "If (China) gets too inflated, Japanese people will get hysterical. "It would be so easy for us to produce nuclear warheads. We have plutonium at nuclear power plants in Japan, enough to make several thousand such warheads," he was quoted as saying. China has condemned the politician's statement. Ozawa's remarks were irresponsible and "contradicted hopes for peace and long-term friendship between the two countries and peoples", the People's Daily quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying on Tuesday. "Ozawa's words were provocative, representing an outdated Cold War mentality just as the two countries were celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations," she said. His remarks "ran opposite to the wishes of both Chinese and Japanese peoples", she added. WARNING AGAINST MILITARY BUILDUP On Wednesday, Ozawa said he had warned Chinese leaders, including President Jiang Zemin, not to forge ahead with a buildup of nuclear weapons when he visited Beijing last year. "It is easy to produce nuclear weapons. Even high school students can understand it," Ozawa said. "It is easy to produce nuclear weapons technologically and economically if Japan wants to do so politically," he said. "I told them (Chinese leaders) not to let that happen." Ozawa's latest comments came a day before Japanese Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi visits China. Koizumi will visit China for three days from April 11 to attend an economic conference on Hainan island, although he is also expected to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. Ozawa made the controversial remarks when Li Peng, chairman of China's parliament, was in Japan on a week-long visit. At Wednesday's news conference, Ozawa also said he had turned down an offer to meet Li in Tokyo last week. "I turned down the offer because I thought it was a waste of time to hold talks full of formality," he said. Ties between the two nations have been strained in recent times by Koizumi's visit last year to a shrine honouring Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals, and Japan's approval of a history textbook that China and other Asian countries say downplays Japan's wartime aggression. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 47 A Syndrome for Every War R & D Extras DISCOVER Vol. 23 No. 5 (May 2002) Table of Contents News of science, medicine, and technology by Josie Glausiusz The symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome—including fatigue, headaches, memory impairment, and joint pain—have been blamed on everything from nerve gas antidotes to depleted-uranium antitank shells. But a controversial study indicates that the condition is not unique to soldiers who fought in Kuwait and Iraq. Similar symptoms surfaced among veterans of many wars of the past century. Edgar Jones, a medical historian at King's College in London, dug out the pension files of British soldiers who had fought in the Boer War, the first and second world wars, and the Gulf War. Then he randomly selected the files of 1,856 veterans whose medical records noted long-term physical disability. He found evidence of post-combat syndromes associated with all of the wars he surveyed. Although each one had unique features, their symptoms overlapped. Veterans of the Boer War and World War I, for example, suffered from a debility typified by fatigue, weakness, and difficulty completing tasks. Soldiers who fought in World War I were often diagnosed with a cardiac disorder characterized by rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, and dizziness. Some World War II combatants displayed a similar set of symptoms but were more inclined to experience depression, jumpiness, and nightmares. Neuropsychiatric ailments were more common among Gulf War veterans. Jones emphasizes that his study, which was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, does not deny the reality of the soldiers' complaints. He believes that post-combat syndromes may be triggered by a variety of physical causes, which are then compounded and perpetuated by the extreme stress of war. "High levels of stress over a long period have been linked to physical damage of the immune system. These are serious disorders. War damages men's health in ways other than wounds," he says. © Copyright 2002 The Walt Disney Company. Back to [http://www.discover.com] . ***************************************************************** 48 China Reaffirms Position on Nuclear Weapons, Tests Xinhuanet 2002-04-10 10:48:13 VIENNA, April 9 (Xinhuanet) -- China has long stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and has actively participated in all the preparatory work of the Complete Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Zhang Yan, Chinese Ambassador to U.N. and other international organizations in Vienna, said here on Tuesday. Speaking at the 17th session of the Preparatory Commission (PreCom) for CTBTO, which opened Tuesday, Zhang, also head of the Chinese delegation at the meeting, noted that there have been certain recent negative developments that are at odds with the object and purpose of the treaty and incompatible with the PreCom's efforts. He cautioned that, as a result, the achievements registered over the years in arms control and non-proliferation may go down the drain. "This cannot but arouse the concern of the international community," Zhang noted. It is essential to create an enabling international environment for countries to trust and support the Complete Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Zhang said. He called for international efforts to foster a new security concept of seeking security through cooperation, dialogue, mutual trust and development so as to eliminate the driving imperatives of certain countries to acquire and develop nuclear weapons and help renounce the nuclear deterrence strategy based on the first- use of nuclear weapons. "It is imperative that the security of all countries be sought within the framework of cooperative and collective security and through dialogue and cooperation," Zhang noted. China has taken an active part in the negotiations of the CTBT and is among the first batch of countries which signed the treaty, Zhang pointed out. China has recently completed its legal procedures for the entry- into-force of the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards, Zhang said, adding China is the very first among the five nuclear states to complete the legal procedures. "All these have fully demonstrated the positive position China has taken on matters concerning nuclear-weapon test ban, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation," Zhang noted. The PreCom for CTBTO was created in November 1996 with the responsibility for carrying out preparatory work for the treaty to take effect. Its members include all the signatory states to the CTBT. So far, 165 countries have signed the CTBT and 90 countries have ratified it. The build-up of the verification regime of the treaty, especially the International Monitoring System, is well underway. The 17th session of the PreCom for CTBTO is scheduled to conclude on April 12. Enditem Copyright © 2000 Xinhua News Agency. ***************************************************************** 49 China Reaffirms Position on Nuclear Weapons, Tests Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 10, 2002 China has long stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and has actively participated in all the preparatory work of the Complete Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Zhang Yan, Chinese Ambassador to U.N. and other international organizations in Vienna, said Tuesday in Vienna. There have been certain recent negative developments China has long stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and has actively participated in all the preparatory work of the Complete Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Zhang Yan, Chinese Ambassador to U.N. and other international organizations in Vienna, said Tuesday in Vienna. Speaking at the 17th session of the Preparatory Commission (PreCom) for CTBTO, which opened Tuesday, Zhang, also head of the Chinese delegation at the meeting, noted that there have been certain recent negative developments that are at odds with the object and purpose of the treaty and incompatible with the PreCom's efforts. He cautioned that, as a result, the achievements registered over the years in arms control and non-proliferation may go down the drain. "This cannot but arouse the concern of the international community," Zhang noted. China calls for international efforts It is essential to create an enabling international environment for countries to trust and support the Complete Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), Zhang said. He called for international efforts to foster a new security concept of seeking security through cooperation, dialogue, mutual trust and development so as to eliminate the driving imperatives of certain countries to acquire and develop nuclear weapons and help renounce the nuclear deterrence strategy based on the first-use of nuclear weapons. "It is imperative that the security of all countries be sought within the framework of cooperative and collective security and through dialogue and cooperation," Zhang noted. China has taken active part in CTBT negotiationsChina has taken an active part in the negotiations of the CTBT and is among the first batch of countries which signed the treaty, Zhang pointed out. China has recently completed its legal procedures for the entry-into-force of the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards, Zhang said, adding China is the very first among the five nuclear states to complete the legal procedures. "All these have fully demonstrated the positive position China has taken on matters concerning nuclear-weapon test ban, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation," Zhang noted. About CTBTThe PreCom for CTBTO was created in November 1996 with the responsibility for carrying out preparatory work for the treaty to take effect. Its members include all the signatory states to the CTBT. So far, 165 countries have signed the CTBT and 90 countries have ratified it. The build-up of the verification regime of the treaty, especially the International Monitoring System, is well underway. The 17th session of the PreCom for CTBTO is scheduled to conclude on April 12. History of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Background Arms control advocates had campaigned for the adoption of a treaty banning all nuclear explosions since the early 1950s, when public concern was aroused as a result of radioactive fall-out from atmospheric nuclear tests and the escalating arms race. Over 50 nuclear explosions were registered between 16 July 1945, when the first nuclear explosive test was conducted by the United States at Alamogordo, New Mexico, and 31 December 1953. Prime Minister Nehru of India voiced the heightened international concern in 1954, when he proposed the elimination of all nuclear test explosions worldwide. However, within the context of the cold war, scepticism in the capability to verify compliance with a comprehensive nuclear-test ban-treaty posed a major obstacle to any agreement. Partial Test Ban Treaty, 1963 Limited success was achieved with the signing of the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963, which banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in space. However, neither France nor China, both nuclear weapon States, signed the PTBT. Non-proliferation Treaty, 1968 A major step towards the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons came with the signing of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968. Under the NPT, non-nuclear weapon States were prohibited from, inter alia, possessing, manufacturing or acquiring nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. All signatories were committed to the goal of nuclear disarmament. Negotiations for the CTBT Given the political situation prevailing in the subsequent decades, little progress was made in nuclear disarmament until 1991. Parties to the PTBT held an amendment conference that year to discuss a proposal to convert the Treaty into an instrument banning all nuclear-weapon tests; with strong support from the UN General Assembly, negotiations for a comprehensive test-ban treaty began in 1993. Adoption of the CTBT, 1996 Intensive efforts were made over the next three years to draft the Treaty text and its two annexes, culminating in the adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on 10 September 1996 by the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The CTBT, which prohibits all nuclear test explosions in all environments, was opened for signature in New York on 24 September 1996, when it was signed by 71 States, including the five nuclear-weapon States. World leaders signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (left to right): United States of America, China, France, Russian Federation and United Kingdom. Further information please visit http://www.ctbto.org China Resolutely Opposes Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in Any Form: Envoy China Demands Official and More Clear Explanation on US Nuclear Weapon Report China "Deeply Shocked" Over Pentagon Secret Report: FM Spokesman Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved /TD> ***************************************************************** 50 NPT signatories meet for the first time since Sept. 11 AP Tue Apr 9,10:19 PM ET By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS - The 187 signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are meeting for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a major issue for the United States and many other countries is the threat of nuclear terrorism. U.S. Ambassador Norman Wulf warned the meeting that "the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states not only increases the risk of nuclear war among nations, but also increases the risk of nuclear terrorism." The two-week meeting that began Monday is the first session to prepare for the next NPT review conference in 2005. Violations of the treaty by Iraq and North Korea during the 1990s and their continued failure to comply "underscore the dangers to the global community" and "the need for constant vigilance," Wulf said during Tuesday's session. The International Atomic Energy Agency must be allowed to operate unhindered in both countries and the parties to the treaty must persevere in insisting that Iraq and North Korea fully comply with its provisions, he said. "NPT parties who would violate the treaty must make a choice," Wulf said. "They can either join the vast majority of parties who take their NPT obligations seriously or risk the consequences of being an outlaw nation." The NPT, which went into force in 1970, represented a bargain between the nuclear "haves" and "have-nots." In return for the non-nuclear states' agreement not to acquire nuclear weapons, the treaty committed nuclear weapons states to take steps toward nuclear disarmament. Russian envoy Alexander Mostovets told Tuesday's session that there was almost a global consensus on the new threats and challenges to the world. "The problem of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction together with the problem of international terrorism is among the top items within that scope," he said. "In combination, these two problems — terrorism and proliferation — constitute the greatest and quite real danger." China's Ambassador Hu Xiaodi said "after Sept. 11, prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear terror has become even more important and urgent." But Russia, China, and seven non-nuclear countries from Africa, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific indicated they were unhappy with the Bush administration's approach to the NPT. A U.S. nuclear review published in January indicated that following Sept. 11 the United States is keeping all its options open, including the possible development and testing of new nuclear weapons. Classified sections of the review leaked in mid-March showed "more clearly" that the United States was considering resuming testing and might decide in the future to design more deadly nuclear weapons, said Rebecca Johnson, executive director of the London-based Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy. To fight terrorism and proliferation, Russia's Mostovets said "it is important to unite efforts to create a global system of counteracting new challenges and threats." "The proposed new measures should not `compete' with traditional disarmament and non-proliferation aspects of security," he said, in a clear reference to the U.S. proposals. China's Hu urged the nuclear-weapon states to continue their moratoria on nuclear testing, refrain from developing new nuclear weapons and push for ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty — which the Bush administration opposes. Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister Mahmoud Mubarak, speaking for the seven non-nuclear nations, also expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in implementing the steps the nuclear signatories had agreed to do. "Furthermore, we are deeply concerned about emerging approaches to the future role of nuclear weapons as a part of new security strategies," he said. Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. ***************************************************************** 51 Japanese politician defends nuclear remarks Wed Apr 10, 7:33 AM ET By Teruaki Ueno TOKYO (Reuters) - The leader of Japan's second-biggest opposition party said on Wednesday he had been trying to encourage stronger ties with China when he commented earlier that Japan could easily make nuclear weapons and surpass Beijing's military might. Inviting a sharp response from Beijing, which is sensitive to any signs of militarism in Japan, Liberal Party chief Ichiro Ozawa told a seminar on Saturday in the southern city of Fukuoka that "China is applying itself to expansion of military power". But on Wednesday, Ozawa said his statement was meant to encourage mutual trust between China and Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack. "My remarks were dreadfully distorted and conveyed by some mass media. I am terribly annoyed," Ozawa told reporters. Kyodo news agency had quoted him as telling the seminar: "If (China) gets too inflated, Japanese people will get hysterical. "It would be so easy for us to produce nuclear warheads. We have plutonium at nuclear power plants in Japan, enough to make several thousand such warheads," he was quoted as saying. China has condemned the politician's statement. Ozawa's remarks were irresponsible and "contradicted hopes for peace and long-term friendship between the two countries and peoples", the People's Daily quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue as saying on Tuesday. "Ozawa's words were provocative, representing an outdated Cold War mentality just as the two countries were celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations," she said. His remarks "ran opposite to the wishes of both Chinese and Japanese peoples", she added. WARNING AGAINST MILITARY BUILDUP On Wednesday, Ozawa said he had warned Chinese leaders, including President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites), not to forge ahead with a buildup of nuclear weapons when he visited Beijing last year. "It is easy to produce nuclear weapons. Even high school students can understand it," Ozawa said. "It is easy to produce nuclear weapons technologically and economically if Japan wants to do so politically," he said. "I told them (Chinese leaders) not to let that happen." Ozawa's latest comments came a day before Japanese Prime Minster Junichiro Koizumi visits China. Koizumi will visit China for three days from April 11 to attend an economic conference on Hainan island, although he is also expected to meet Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. Ozawa made the controversial remarks when Li Peng, chairman of China's parliament, was in Japan on a week-long visit. At Wednesday's news conference, Ozawa also said he had turned down an offer to meet Li in Tokyo last week. "I turned down the offer because I thought it was a waste of time to hold talks full of formality," he said. Ties between the two nations have been strained in recent times by Koizumi's visit last year to a shrine honouring Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals, and Japan's approval of a history textbook that China and other Asian countries say downplays Japan's wartime aggression. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 52 DC Trip 2002 Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 14:53:25 -0700 April 9, 2002 For immediate release Idahos Nuclear Watchdog to Press Congress for Real Cleanup at INEEL Nine members of Idahos nuclear watchdog group the Snake River Alliance will be in the nations capital next week to urge Idahos congressional delegation to reject the Bush administrations attempt to make southern and eastern Idaho a national sacrifice zone by redefining cleanup at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Alliance members will be joined April 14 through 17 by nuclear activists from more than a dozen other states in Washington, DC, to meet with their senators and representatives, leaders of congressional committees that oversee nuclear issues and senior officials at the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The administrations proposed budget for INEEL would, in the name of expedited cleanup, actually leave the most dangerous materials ever created sitting in the ground forever, said Gary Richardson, executive director of the Snake River Alliance. Nuclear waste is already leaching toxins into the aquifer that supplies drinking water to nearly a quarter of Idahos population. INEEL must be cleaned up. At the same time that DOE officials say they cant meet their cleanup agreements with Idaho because of budgetary constraints, they are proposing massive increases in money for developing nuclear weapons, which have proven useless against real threats to our security, Richardson said. If we are not careful, the federal government will walk away from its commitments to Idaho and its environment, people, and economy. We dont want Idaho to remain a nuclear dump forever. The Alliance will be proposing that cleanup be made a separate portion of the DOEs environmental management budget. Such a separation would show that two-thirds of the EM budget is used for non-cleanup activities, some of which create more contamination and some of which enable future weapons production. The following Alliance members will be making the trip to Washington Beatrice Brailsford, Pocatello; Whitni Chapman, Boise; Katherine Daly, Pocatello; Carolyn Fabis, Boise; Jessica Hixson, Boise; Larry Hyatt, Boise; Cathy Loupy, Pocatello; Margaret Macdonald Stewart, Ketchum; and Gary E. Richardson, Boise. The trip is part of the 14th annual DC Days sponsored by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a network of local, regional and national groups representing concerns of communities downstream and downwind of US nuclear-weapons production and radioactive-waste disposal sites. The Snake River Alliance is a founding member of ANA. The Snake River Alliance, founded in 1979, is an Idaho-based grassroots group working for peace and justice, the end of nuclear weapons production activities, and responsible solutions to nuclear waste and contamination. Contact: Gary Richardson (208) 344-9161 (days) (208) 336-2128 (eves) Beatrice Brailsford (208) 234-4782 (days) (208) 233-7212 (eves) Margaret Macdonald Stewart (208) 726-7271 (days)(208) 726-7073 (eves) Attachment Converted: "e:\program files\eudora\attach\image001.png" Attachment Converted: "e:\program files\eudora\attach\image002.jpg" Attachment Converted: "e:\program files\eudora\attach\image003.png" Attachment Converted: "e:\program files\eudora\attach\image004.gif" ***************************************************************** 53 A Candidate Tries to Keep His Troubles Behind Him April 10, 2002 By MICHAEL JANOFSKY ALBUQUERQUE, April 9 — After a short speech on Monday night he invited questions, and it came as no surprise, he said later, that no one in the audience mentioned Wen Ho Lee, nobody asked whether China had succeeded in buying nuclear secrets, and Bill Clinton's name never came up. That is the way it usually goes, Bill Richardson said, completing another day in his campaign for governor of New Mexico. The state has too many other problems, he maintained, for voters to worry about ancient political history, even if he played a prominent role in it. A former congressman, onetime ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of an Energy Department that struggled with security shortcomings, Mr. Richardson, 54, is now the only Democrat running. His popularity is so strong and his fund-raising efforts have been so successful that the two other Democratic aspirants dropped out. That has given him a clear path to the November election to face the surviving Republican among three competing in a June 4 primary. Gov. Gary E. Johnson, a Republican well known for his efforts promoting drug decriminalization, is barred by law from seeking a third term. For now, none of the Republican candidates seem strong enough to win, and certainly none can match Mr. Richardson's political portfolio: 15 years in the House of Representatives followed by four as the highest-ranking Hispanic in the Clinton administration. Two of the Republicans, John A. Sanchez and Robert M. Burpo, are state lawmakers; the third, Walter D. Bradley, has been lieutenant governor for eight years. But they have none of Mr. Richardson's political baggage, either. That means he could have a fight on his hands in a state that showed dramatic ambivalence in the 2000 presidential election. After a recount, Al Gore carried New Mexico by all of 366 votes, making this the only state he won in the interior West. "No primary, it's a plus," Mr. Richardson said before addressing parents and supporters of a thriving private school here. "In the past, the Democratic candidate for governor was so wounded going out of the primary. This will give me a chance to unite the party sooner." One challenge for Mr. Richardson is to convince voters that he can leverage his national and world experience to help a state that lags most others in vital areas like per capita income, job creation, teacher salaries and health insurance for children. Mr. Richardson places blame for New Mexico's troubles on a governor "obsessed with drug policy" to the exclusion of other issues, an accusation dismissed by Republicans, who complain that the Democratic-controlled Legislature thwarted many of Mr. Johnson's efforts to tackle the state's biggest problems. In any event, Mr. Richardson said, those problems account for the kinds of questions he most often faces while campaigning. He answers with proposals for restructuring the tax code to attract businesses, creating a high-tech corridor in the Albuquerque area and promoting charter and magnet schools. "That other stuff?" he said of his Energy Department tenure. "Never comes up. Non-issues. The only time I hear about it is when I do national interviews." Or when Republicans take aim at him, in attacks he expects to intensify. John Dendahl, the Republican state chairman, said questions about Mr. Richardson's leadership skills, as reflected in the Energy Department's problems on his watch, could emerge as the Republican nominee's best weapon. "I wouldn't want to run on that record," Mr. Dendahl said today, contending that Mr. Richardson presented a "target-rich environment" for the winner of the Republican primary, not least because of his close relationship with Mr. Clinton. Mr. Richardson says he inherited the problems at Energy and, despite the events that ultimately brought Mr. Clinton's impeachment, bristles at the notion that the former president could be a liability. He said he was even weighing the possibility of inviting Mr. Clinton into the state to campaign for him. "I feel grateful to him," Mr. Richardson said. "He put me in two cabinet positions. I'm proud of my service. He's my friend, and I probably will invite him." But "Clinton is not the issue here," the candidate also said. "I have to run my own race." Mr. Richardson is one of four cabinet officers from the Clinton administration who are running for governor this year. Former Attorney General Janet Reno is a candidate in Florida, former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich in Massachusetts and former Housing Secretary Andrew M. Cuomo in New York. Julia Payne, a spokeswoman for Mr. Clinton, said he would do "whatever he can to get Democrats elected." F. Chris Garcia, a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico, said Mr. Richardson's record, a source of pride to many New Mexicans — especially Hispanics, who make up more than 40 percent of the state's population — might be too much for a Republican to overcome. Professor Garcia predicted that only "a major error or blunder" would cost Mr. Richardson a victory in November. But he wondered whether the Richardson campaign path was "too smooth" for now, posing a risk of overconfidence. "He might not do all the things he has to do," Professor Garcia said. "If he appears to be too good to be true, people may start looking to see if that's a possibility." Mr. Richardson said he was taking no chances, planning to start a big media campaign after the Republican primary in June. "This is a wildly independent state that shifts dramatically every four years," he said. "And we have so many problems. I want to be viewed as someone with the new ideas to address them." Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 54 DOE moving forward on cleanup plan Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 10:48 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff The Department of Energy was expected to meet today with its regulators in hopes of moving forward with the accelerated cleanup of some of Oak Ridge's high-risk sites. Lori Fritz, deputy assistant manager for DOE's Oak Ridge Environmental Management program, said Tuesday that the federal agency hoped the meeting would result in the regulators' -- the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the Environmental Protection Agency -- signing a letter of intent to do the work. Today's meeting is a continuation of discussions DOE's Oak Ridge Operations office initiated with its regulators last month. The talks are a result of Oak Ridge's proposal to DOE headquarters for a slice of a fairly new $800 million accelerated cleanup fund. If approved for funding, Fritz said the Oak Ridge Operations office hopes to "get something in hand by the end of May." Around $433 million of the new account was set aside earlier this year for cleanup efforts in Hanford, Wash., with Oak Ridge reportedly requesting between $500 million to $650 million over a four-year period ending in 2006. DOE's current Oak Ridge cleanup efforts were labeled "mediocre" in a recent comprehensive review of the federal agency's Environmental Management program. Oak Ridge has focused on the "easy work," not on higher-risk activities, according to the review which essentially spawned the accelerated cleanup program. The emphasis of Oak Ridge's proposal is on the accelerated cleanup of the Oak Ridge K-25 site and the Melton Valley burial grounds at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. K-25, also known as the East Tennessee Technology Park, was built in the 1940s to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. As a result, numerous facilities and land areas were left contaminated. Oak Ridge's proposal calls for the quick disposal of legacy waste at K-25, the demolition of several buildings and the development of a plan for reindustrialization, according to a somewhat censored copy of the plan obtained by The Oak Ridger. The completion date for K-25 would be shifted from 2016 to 2008, with the total cost dropping from $2.4 billion to $1.5 billion. The end result would be a self-sustaining private industrial park. The Melton Valley burial grounds contain areas with high inventories of radioactive wastes that DOE says pose a risk to human health and the environment. Melton Valley was used by ORNL for disposal of solid and liquid radioactive wastes and for the development of research reactors. In fact, documents indicate approximately 140 acres of unlined waste units, including seepage pits and trenches, have received more than 2 million curies of radioactive waste. A curie measures the number of radioactive atoms decaying in a given period of time. The curie is equal to 37 billion disintegrations per second, which is approximately the rate of decay of 1 gram of radium. Melton Valley contributes 90 percent of the strontium and 67 percent of the tritium discharged from DOE property into the Clinch River -- a drinking water source and prime recreational area. Strontium has a half-life of about 30 years, while tritium has a half-life of just over 12 years. "Therefore, the highest priority at Oak Ridge is to mitigate ongoing releases of strontium and tritium from burial grounds," according to the new cleanup proposal. DOE expects its Melton Valley plan would result in improvements to water quality in the Clinch River, the restoration 7 acres of wetlands, the demolition of at least 16 structures and the removal of 204 casks of transuranic waste, which is considered as some of the most dangerous wastes in Oak Ridge. Under the accelerated work plan, the Melton Valley completion date would shift from 2014 to 2006, with the total cleanup cost dropping from $350 million to $240 million. One of the downsides to DOE's accelerated cleanup proposal is the complete lack of public input in the process of preparing it, according to Norman Mulvenon, who chairs the Citizens' Advisory Panel of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee. Members of the Citizens' Advisory Panel took Fritz to task on that issue during the group's meeting Tuesday night at the Midtown Community Center (the former Wildcat Den). Mulvenon said the Oak Ridge Operations office ignored guidance from DOE headquarters by putting the plan together with "little or no input" from the public. "We had one week to put that proposal together," Fritz said in DOE's defense. She added that it would have been difficult to get a lot of people together to comment on the plan in such a short amount of time. Other Citizens' Advisory Panel members pointed out that the public is more likely to accept plans that they provided input on. Oak Ridge's new cleanup would also result in some projects being delayed, including work in Upper East Fork Poplar Creek. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 55 Company wrapping up K-25 project Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 10:49 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff Although the Department of Energy axed the investigation into historic water contaminations at the Oak Ridge K-25 site, it appears a so-called "final" report on the controversial project just might see the light of day. Despite the fact that an August 2001 draft progress report indicated contaminations did exist in the past, DOE officially halted the project in February after indicating that the continuation of the study would not yield further significant conclusions. Bob Garber of Parallax, DOE's chief contractor on the K-25 project, declined to say whether the final report would contain any findings different from those stated in the draft version. "It will be released no matter what it says," said Garber of the document, which has no official release date. "We have done our best to try to find whatever the truth was out there. It's been difficult." The investigation into historic contaminations possibly due to cross-connected water systems began in late 2000 after current and former K-25 workers voiced concern on the issue. A draft progress report on the project was released last August indicating the following: + Storm sewers were known to be used for discharge of laboratory wastes, fire drills and wash-down of spills. + Firefighting and recirculating cooling water systems were used as backup to each other and at times these systems were cross-connected with the sanitary system. + Cross-connections with the firefighting and recirculating cooling water systems were identified and corrected, but it is not known how long these existed or what the associated hazard might have been. Right as the draft progress report was released, it was announced that funding for the project had nearly run out. Garber described the final report, which is being funded with the remainder of the money, basically as a housekeeping measure. "It's just sort of cleaning up additional issues that were remaining after the project was brought to a conclusion," Garber said. "There were a few hanging things that were not really looked at in any way, shape or form. "Some of the (K-25) workers had never been talked to at all," he continued. "We've tried to contact some of these workers." Another issue that is expected to be fleshed out in the new report pertains to backflow prevention. Backflow is defined as the undesirable reversal of the flow of water or other liquid(s) in a piping system from the intended direction of flow. The primary objective of a backflow prevention program is to protect a potable water supply from possible contamination by any pollutants or contaminants which could backflow through uncontrolled cross-connections into the potable water distribution system. The whole K-25 project was marred with controversy from the beginning, with threats of legal investigations because computer hard drives turned up missing and no information was saved following the demolition of Building K-1001, a facility several sick workers say they worked in. The problems didn't end with the project's termination. Garber said TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, an Idaho company known for water system contaminant assessments, has declined to release models they did of K-25 past water systems. However, Garber said the work was done outside the scope of the K-25 project -- meaning TerraGraphics would not be paid for it -- and the information did not pertain to the final report that would be released. The Oak Ridger was unable to obtain a comment from officials with TerraGraphics. Richard Bird, a physician specializing in internal, occupational and environmental medicine, said this morning that DOE was wrong in saying that continuing the water project would not yield further significant conclusions. He indicated completion of the water system investigation was of the "most immediate importance." Bird was one of three physicians who participated in a four-year medical evaluation of 53 sick K-25 workers. Bird said the extent of cross-connections among K-25's water systems is a real concern that still has many unanswered questions. According to Bird, the necessary information exists and the work plan that has been in place for the project can answer these questions. Paul Parson can be contacted at (865) 220-5533 or pparson@oakridger.com [pparson@oakridger.com] . All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 56 Delegation calls for expansion of Oak Ridge worker benefits Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 10:49 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 by Nancy Zuckerbrod Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The entire Tennessee House delegation sent a letter to the Energy Department Tuesday urging the agency to expand a medical screening program available to current and former workers of the Oak Ridge K-25 site, also known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. The members of Congress say they want the program, which screens workers for cancer and other diseases, to be available to people at the Y-12 National Security Complex, formerly known as the Y-12 Plant. "In the 55 years of its existence, the Y-12 facility has clearly been among the most hazardous sites in the DOE complex. The failure to establish a general screening program for our current and former workers is a significant gap in these obligations," the letter said. Republican Rep. Zach Wamp, of Chattanooga, spearheaded the delegation letter. It was sent to Assistant Energy Secretary Beverly Cook, who heads the agency's Office of Environment, Safety and Health. The letter follows one sent to Cook last month from Carl "Bubba" Scarbrough, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council. The union represents workers at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Scarbrough argued that both facilities should be included in the medical screening program. Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro sent a similar letter to Cook last month, in addition to signing the one sent by Wamp's office Tuesday. An aide to Wamp said the congressman also supports expanding the program to workers at the Oak Ridge National Lab. Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said the agency was considering the requests. "The members of Congress made some interesting points, and we'll be responding to those points regarding health screening extensions at other sites within the Oak Ridge reservation," Davis said. Dr. Steven Markowitz has been leading the screening program at the old uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge as well as at similar facilities in Paducah, Ky., and Piketon, Ohio. He supports expanding the program to Y-12 and the lab. Markowitz said officials would have to conduct a study to determine how many people would be eligible for the screening program and how much an expansion would cost. Markowitz and his team use a special CAT-scan to detect lung cancer in its earliest stages. He said out of about 3,000 workers screened for lung cancer at the three uranium enrichment plants, 50 people have been sent to experts due to concerns about nodules in their lungs. One such person was Margaret Webb, who used to work at the uranium plant but now works at Y-12. Webb, 57, said she would like to see the screening program expanded, so that her current colleagues could be helped. "I would like to see it expanded to take care of other people. There would be a lot of them at Y-12 who would take advantage of it," she said. "It could save a whole lot more lives." All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 57 Union says DOE planning to ease security at plant The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Wednesday, April 10, 2002 The security union says the plant is trying to save money after $80,000 was spent on upgrades. But threats of terrorism still exist. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Security workers' union leaders claim the Department of Energy will relax perimeter protection at the Paducah uranium enrichment plant to save money, even though the post-Sept. 11 terrorism threat persists. DOE officials say there is no security downgrade, but they are keeping their options open. "They spent over $80,000 putting equipment in and around the plant to upgrade security and now, all of a sudden, they're going to abandon that idea," said Mike Kaufman, vice president of 34-member Local 111 of Security Police and Fire Professionals of America. "We feel like this is strictly a cost-savings situation. We're very upset with that." Since Sept. 11, the plant has been at heightened security with increased perimeter patrols and a new guard post on the main plant road. All other ways of entering and leaving the plant have been cut off. Kaufman said union leaders confirmed Tuesday through local DOE officials that the plant would relax those measures at an unspecified time. DOE Paducah Site Manager Don Seaborg referred questions to lead contractor Bechtel Jacobs, which referred the matter to DOE's Oak Ridge, Tenn., office. "DOE has not downgraded security at the Paducah site since Sept. 11," said Walter Perry, Energy Department spokesman in Oak Ridge. "But we are always reviewing our security posture." The Energy Department announced in January that it was doubling annual spending at the plant to nearly $5 million because of the terrorism. Much of the expense was in labor costs for staffing additional posts and increasing security checks. Other costs were for installing barriers and evaluating protection required by the upgrade. Kaufman said downgraded security will mean "eight to 10 fewer" new officers than had been expected. Eliminating 10 hirings would save $350,000 at an average wage of $35,000, he said. DOE shares security costs with USEC Inc., which leases the plant from the government. The company acknowledged in January that it had increased security spending, but wouldn't say how much. USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said Tuesday that the "proposal" to discontinue the post on the plant's main drive was made by the Energy Department and Bechtel Jacobs. "We did not initiate this," she said. "We are taking it under consideration." Perry said there are no expected cuts in hirings because there is no downgraded security. "We are always, however, looking at ways to maintain a cost-effective security posture." In light of Sept. 11, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been reviewing security at plants nationwide. Jan Strasma, Chicago-based NRC spokesman, said the commission has ordered nuclear power plants to formalize measures taken because of the terrorism. Nuclear fuel facilities such as the Paducah plant are still being assessed, he said. Local 111 President Jay Stoll said he was told by an NRC official, whom he would not name, that the agency was "sensitive" to USEC's costs. "You can take it for what it's worth, but as far as I'm concerned, they're negotiating security and the cost of security," he said. Strasma said the commission does consider costs. "Whether it's safety or security, we are not oblivious to what the costs are. There is not a total disregard for the cost of that (heightened security) requirement." Stuckle also took issue with Stoll, saying, "USEC will operate as efficiently as possible, always assuring that safety and security are maintained. We will not sacrifice security for cost issues." In recent years, USEC has taken many cost-cutting measures to try to be more competitive, notably laying off hundreds of Paducah plant workers and closing Paducah's sister plant in Ohio. Security officers have been working without a contract since March, when they rejected a new five-year offer because of wages and other issues. Kaufman said there has been no bargaining since then and no talks are planned. ***************************************************************** 58 WNA NEWS BRIEFING 02.15 | 4 - 9 April 2002 A weekly summary of international news relevant to the nuclear energy industry. [NB02.15-1] US: Damage to the reactor pressure vessel head at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant has been provisionally rated as level 3 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). An investigation is underway into the cause of damage at the plant's single PWR - it is thought that boric acid deposits caused the corrosion damage. The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said that the corrosion damage had so far only been found at the Davis-Besse plant. (NucNet News, 127/02, 3 April; see also News Briefing 02.14-4) [NB02.15-2] Russia: Output from the country's currently operating nuclear power plants will be boosted from 22 GWe to 30 GWe by 2010, Rosenergoatom announced. In addition, the company plans to build 40 GWe of new domestic nuclear capacity by 2020. By 2010, 250 billion roubles (US$8 billion) could be spent to build new nuclear capacity, and 160 billion roubles (US$5 billion) could be spent on the maintenance of existing reactors. Russia also plans to build 10 GWe of new nuclear capacity in foreign countries by 2020. Rosenergoatom also said that, by 2006, it would complete construction of a floating nuclear power plant with a KLT-40 reactor, as well as a new conventional nuclear plant, with two VVER-300 units. (Nuclear Market Review, 5 April, p2; Ux Weekly, 8 April, p3; see also News Briefing 01.47-3) [NB02.15-3] China: The Yibin Fuel Plant (YFP) in Szechwan is scheduled to begin production of the first reloads for two VVER-1000 PWRs in 2007, according to YFP Secretary General Tang Anyuan. Two VVER-1000 reactors currently under construction at Tianwan are set for completion in 2004 and 2005. The initial fuel loads for these will be supplied from Russia. Under a technology transfer agreement with the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) and industrial organisations under its control, construction of a VVER fuel fabrication line at YFP will start in 2005, with completion due in 2007. The production line would be able to manufacture all the reload fuel for the two VVERs under construction, but could be expanded to produce fuel for another two reactors, officials said. The plan to build the fabrication line for VVER fuel is part of an anticipated expansion of capacity at YFP to increase its overall throughput from about 200 tonnes U per year currently to some 400 tonnes U annually by around 2005. (Nuclear Fuel, 1 April, p7) [NB02.15-4] Vietnam will conduct a feasibility study into the development of nuclear generating capacity. The study should be completed by late 2003 and will then be submitted to the National Assembly for approval. The study is expected to consider two scenarios. The first would be based on a need for the country to have 30 000 MWe of installed capacity by 2020 (including 1200 MWe of nuclear capacity). This would mean commissioning a unit in 2019. The second scenario would be based on the need for 35 000 MWe of installed capacity (including 2800 MWe of nuclear). Under this scenario, a new reactor should be commissioned in 2017. (NucNet News, 129/02, 4 April; Power in Asia, 4 April, p13; see also News Briefing 01.34-3) [NB02.15-5] UK: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) plans to publish a new energy report by the end of 2002, which could boost the prospects for constructing new nuclear power reactors. The report will seek to determine how long it would take for new reactors to be built, what effect nuclear would have on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and what steps could be taken to control nuclear waste. It will also consider the possibility of whether California-style electricity shortages could occur in the UK. (Ux Weekly, 8 April, p3; see also News Briefing 01.32-1) [NB02.15-6] US: Dominion expects to soon start work on an early site permit (ESP) application for its North Anna nuclear power plant and to file a submittal in September 2003, the company informed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Dominion estimates the costs of the ESP process will be about US$9 million. An ESP would be valid for up to 20 years, and the utility would not have to specify the type of reactor to be constructed in order to receive the permit. A Dominion spokesman said the company has 'no plans' to construct a new reactor, but was participating in an industry effort to demonstrate the ESP process. (NucNet Business News, 21/02, 5 April; Nucleonics Week, 4 April, p1; see also News Briefings 01.43-6 and 02.11-3) [NB02.15-7] US: Power uprates at two nuclear power reactors - AmerGen's Clinton plant and Entergy's Waterford-3 - have been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Generating capacity at the 930 MWe Clinton BWR will be raised by about 20% to some 1116 MWe. Meanwhile, the generating capacity of the Waterford-3 PWR will be increased by about 1.5% to 1169 MWe. (Nuclear Market Review, 5 April, p2; see also News Briefing 02.06-15) [NB02.15-8] Finland: The parliamentary environment committee has voted 10:6 against plans to build a fifth nuclear power reactor in the country. The committee is one of seven parliamentary bodies scheduled to deliver conclusions to the commerce committee by 26 April. The other committees have yet to reach a decision. The commerce committee will draft a bill to be voted on by parliament probably on 24 May. (NucNet Background, 4/02, 9 April; see also News Briefing 02.07-9) [NB02.15-9] Spain cannot rely on an expansion of natural gas plants to meet future electricity demand over the next 25 years, Victoriano Reinoso, chairman of Union Electrica Fenosa said in a television interview. He said that new nuclear power plants might need to be built to meet future demand, but does not believe new reactors will be built before 2010. (Ux Weekly, 8 April, p3; see also News Briefing 02.06-9) [NB02.15-10] Switzerland: Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG (NOK) has applied for an operating licence with no expiration date to replace the current licence for its Beznau-2 nuclear power reactor. The current licence expires at the end of 2004. NOK says the plant has been upgraded to meet all modern safety requirements, and notes that the proposed new atomic law sets no terms for nuclear plant licences. (Nucleonics Week, 4 April, p15) [NB02.15-11] Bulgaria will complete the partially completed Belene nuclear power plant, the country's prime minister announced. Construction of the plant was stopped in 1990 due to the objections of environmentalists. Bulgaria has planning to decommission four of the six reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in order to comply with criteria for joining the European Union (EU). Completing the Belene plant would compensate for some of the electricity generating capacity lost at Kozloduy. (Ux Weekly, 8 April, p4; see also News Briefing 00.15-17) [NB02.15-12] Australia: A construction licence for a replacement research reactor at Lucas Heights in southern Sydney has been awarded by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). The move was described as 'another milestone' in the project's completion by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). The A$300 million (US$159 million) reactor is scheduled for completion in 2005. However, ANSTO pointed out that the decision to approve construction remains subject to a 'broad range of conditions'. ANSTO will examine the 'detailed conditions' set by ARPANSA and will provide a 'detailed response' as soon as possible. Work on the replacement reactor - which is being built by INVAP of Argentina - is expected to start almost immediately. (NucNet News, 130/02, 8 April; Associated Press, 5 April; see also News Briefing 01.23-19) [NB02.15-13] US: The state of Nevada has formally announced its official disapproval of the use of Yucca Mountain as a national repository for spent nuclear fuel and high level waste (HLW). The objection to President Bush's recommendation of the site marks the start of a period of 90 legislative days in which Congress must vote on whether to uphold the president's decision or overrule the objection. Both the Senate and House of Representatives will be required to vote on the issue. (NucNet News, 131/02, 9 April) Meanwhile, NAC International and Edlow International have launched a joint campaign to fight what they say is misinformation spread by opponents on the safety of nuclear materials transport. The coalition will 'serve, in effect, as expert witnesses with respect to the many allegations that are expected to be made regarding potential transportation to Yucca Mountain'. Other companies are expected to join the coalition over the coming weeks. (SpentFUEL, 8 April, p2; see also News Briefing 02.08-2) [NB02.15-14] Ukraine: A licence has been granted to the Chernobyl NPP enterprise to proceed with decommissioning of the closed nuclear power plant. The licence covers units one to three, together with spent fuel storage and other facilities. The Chernobyl NPP enterprise formally took responsibility for all nuclear facilities at the site at the end of 2001. (NucNet Business News, 21/02, 5 April; see also News Briefing 01.49-13) [NB02.15-15] Canada: Charges against Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) relating to an incident in 1999 in which four employees were over-exposed to radiation whilst working on a building ventilation system at Chalk River Laboratories have been dropped by the Ontario Court of Justice. The court accepted joint submissions by AECL, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and Human Resources Development Canada - which had brought the charges - to resolve matters without proceeding to trial. Evidence had shown that there were no adverse effects to the workers, the public or the environment. (NucNet News, 132/02, 9 April; see also News Briefing 99.31-21) [NB02.15-16] Canada: Framatome ANP has established a Canadian subsidiary, Framatome ANP Canada, to provide services to the Canadian nuclear industry. The Canadian subsidiary will be the contracting entity for nuclear services performed throughout Canada and will initially market products and services supplied by all Framatome ANP regions, including the US, France and Germany. (NucNet Business News, 21/02, 5 April) Previous News Briefing NB02.14 ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************