***************************************************************** 09/10/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.231 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Cogema denies uranium pollution allegation* 2 British Energy saved - for three weeks 3 UK: Nuclear option 4 Who's afraid of the N-word? 5 US: USEC board sets delayed talks at plant in Paducah 6 Generator's Cash Crunch Tests UK Nuclear Policy 7 US: USEC board sets delayed talks at plant in Paducah* 8 CAN: Bruce Power backed up by $996M U.K. government pledge for Briti 9 Mixed response to nuclear energy package 10 £410m may not prevent BE collapse 11 UK: Renewable energy NUCLEAR REACTORS NUCLEAR SAFETY 12 US: [radiation-survivors] WIPP truck crash in Wyoming 13 US: NRC Proposes $3,000 Fine Against Meprolight, Inc., for Violation 14 US: Handling errors cause most radioactive material mishaps 15 US: How safe are we? Shoals officials plan for the worst 16 US: Pentagon relaxes army plant silence pledge 17 US: Wyoming: Torrington seeks drinking water supply study NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 18 New Uranium Plant Will Be in Tennessee 19 US: *N-waste tax is devious* 20 Hartsville chosen for LES uranium enrichment plant 21 US: Nuclear waste truck runs off road 22 US: WIPP trucks continue operation 23 Several steps are necessary for licensing (new enrichment facility) 24 US: Federal court keeps alive Nevada’s challenges to Yucca dump 25 US: House panel seeks faster Yucca license application 26 US: Money to battle Yucca runs low 27 Private consortium picks Tennessee for uranium fuel plant - 28 Hartsville May Get a Uranium Plant* 29 LES picks Hartsville as preferred site for plant - 30 US: Op:CSRA behind the curve in providing protection from N-waste 31 AU: ACTU urged to campaign against nuclear waste dump. 32 US: Nuclear projects director says he has enough cash to get through NUCLEAR WEAPONS 33 FW: LASC: Vieques Call to Action 34 [southnews] Transcript: ABC's Mark Willacy Iraq nuclear 35 How You Can Act to Prevent the Approaching War 36 Iraq Bomb Is on Horizon 37 Reporters visit nuclear site construction * 38 Navy Detains 2 Priests on Vieques 39 Some Wonder Why Iraq Is Singled Out 40 UK: A sober summary of the threat posed by Saddam's arsenal 41 The Iraqi threat: real or imagined? 42 Iraq: The burden of proof 43 Demands for better proof on Iraqi arms 44 Grigory Pasko goes to labour camp 45 War Without Evidence 46 U.S. Navy says sunken ship off Vieques isn't radioactive; island 47 Isreal Iraq nukes: Confirming suspicions 48 War of words heats up on how to deal with Iraq; Chirac urges UN dead 49 Potential seen for Iraq nuclear arms US DEPT. OF ENERGY 50 *Livermore Lab to Face Protest Amid Celebrations* OTHER NUCLEAR 51 Energy Secretary Abraham Welcomes College Students Who Will Build 52 Tonopah property development plan OK'd* ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Cogema denies uranium pollution allegation* Copyright 2002. AFX News Ltd. All rights reserved. September 09, 2002 Sep 08, 2002 (AFX-Europe via COMTEX) -- PARIS (AFP) - State-owned nuclear fuel company Cogema denied allegations that rivers and water supplies suffered radioactive contamination from its disused uranium mines. "Cogema's former mining activities present no risk to the environment or to the public," the company said in a statement. Cogema also denied dumping radioactive waste in the Haute-Vienne area of western central France, the day after it emerged that it had been placed under official investigation for pollution from waste left at several disused mines in the region. The probe follows a civil lawsuit filed in March 1999 by a regional environmental group, Springs and Rivers of Limousin, seeking to hold Cogema financially responsible for the pollution of several water courses in the region. "This pollution also affects Saint-Pardoux lake, one of the main Limousin recreation areas," said France Nature, one of the plaintiffs. It said contamination of the rivers was also affecting local drinking water. "Since 1994 a ... report commissioned by the regional assembly and the Haute-Vienne assembly cited heavy radioactive contamination of rivers and streams in the mining basin," said a statement by the two groups, referring to a study conducted by France's independent nuclear safety research commission. In its statement, Cogema said it would provide investigators with proof "confirming that the company complied perfectly with the regulations it is subject to". It stressed that the former mines had been shut down over the last decade "under conditions approved by the authorities" after over 50 years of service, and that the sites remained subject to "constant monitoring" by both the government and the company. Underground "natural concentrations of uranium are sometimes discovered in water courses but these are regularly checked", Cogema said. In an article published on Saturday, local newspaper Le Populaire du Centre said the case had been taken up by investigating magistrate Gerard Biardeaud. dl/jad NNN /©The Pawtucket Times 2002/ ***************************************************************** 2 British Energy saved - for three weeks Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Shareholders scramble to escape fallout from nuclear power company's troubles Terry Macalister Tuesday September 10, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] The long term future of British Energy and that of its 5,200 workers remained in doubt yesterday after the government handed the company a £410m lifeline to keep the business going until later this month. Shares in the UK's largest nuclear generator, which provides one-fifth of the country's electricity, plunged by 65% and analysts said the whole nuclear industry might have to be restructured. The BE crisis was given a further twist last night with reports that the administrators of Enron, the collapsed US energy trader, were creditors of the company. Power purchase agreements from Enron's Teesside plant, which committed BE to buying electricity at 80% above the prevailing price, are said to have left BE with a £349m liability in its accounts. BE cited legal reasons for refusing to confirm or deny this. Environmentalists claimed it was outrageous that taxpayers had to take on the risk of BE and its massive debts. But trade union leaders supported the government's decision to provide a short term loan to cover working capital requirements and cash collateral for trading in Britain and the US. The loan is meant to keep BE afloat till September 27, pending clarification of the group's full financial position. "No decisions have been taken, and no commitments have been given, about support beyond this period," the Department of Trade and Industry said. BE promised that talks on long term restructuring of the group would start soon, and confirmed that there had been no concessions yet on a reduction of business rates or other reliefs it had sought. It warned again of a continuing threat of insolvency, saying "the board anticipates that if these discussions are not successful the company may be unable to meet its financial obligations". Faith in the company was further undermined by news that three more reactors - Heysham, Torness and Hinkley Point B, had gone off-line over the weekend, taking nearly 40% of its generating capacity out of action. BE insisted this was just routine maintenance, saying only the problems at Torness had been unexpected. The government was forced to step in to ensure that BE's 16 reactors were kept safe. Analysts believe that concessions, such as making BE exempt from the climate change levy, will have to be made by the government if it is to save itself from having to shoulder a "nuclear Railtrack". Bryony Worthington, a nuclear campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said the bailout could not be justified. "It's outrageous; the government should have allowed BE to go into administration." By contrast, John Edmonds, the general secretary of the GMB union, said: "This is a welcome announcement to provide a short term lifeline." BE shares were suspended last week; when trading opened yesterday they plunged 84% to 13p before ending the day down 52.75p - 65% - at 28p. Useful links British Energy [http://www.british-energy.com/] Department of trade and industry [http://www.dti.gov.uk/] British Nuclear Fuels Ltd [http://www.bnfl.co.uk/website.nsf/default.htm] Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament [http://www.cnduk.org/] HSE nuclear glossary [http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/ilrwglos.htm] UK atomic energy authority [http://www.ukaea.org.uk/] National Radiological Protection Board [http://www.nrpb.org.uk/] World Nuclear Association [http://www.uilondon.org/] [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 3 UK: Nuclear option Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Industry needs creeping nationalisation Leader Tuesday September 10, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Nationalising nuclear power was never part of a government energy policy. But it is slowly becoming part of one. Ministers have shown their hand by stepping in to prevent the immediate collapse of British Energy, the nation's biggest nuclear power provider, with a £410m support package. The message is clear: nuclear plants cannot go bankrupt. Alarmingly, the state aid may not be enough - it buys just three weeks' breathing space in which to negotiate a long-term rescue for the company. The prospects do not look good. British Energy cannot produce electricity at a price that exceeds the cost of extracting it from its nuclear reactors. The question for ministers and British Energy is can nuclear power ever be made to pay? If the answer is no, then the government needs to either progressively shut down the industry or subsidise it. For example British Energy pays about £300m a year to BNFL, a state-owned company, to reprocess the waste its operations leave behind. A deal which favours British Energy rather than BNFL would mean the taxpayer bearing more of a burden than shareholders. Strangely, environmental considerations might be British Energy's strongest card. Although nuclear waste is expensive - and difficult - to dispose of, nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gases. Yet British Energy is not exempt from the climate change levy; if it were, the Treasury would be losing £80m a year. Even building new nuclear power stations means more money from consumers in the form of higher energy prices. Britain's deregulated electricity market has seen prices drop, but as Downing Street's performance and innovation unit energy report last February admitted: "Nowhere in the world have new nuclear power stations yet been financed with a liberalised electricity market." In the short term, ministers have no option but to stump up extra cash. If the meltdown were to continue, British Energy's contribution to the national grid would have to be replaced - else blackouts in Britain, seen in California two years ago, beckon. British Energy cannot easily cut costs - an accident would be blamed on Treasury penny-pinching. The prospect of another bail out - in the form of creeping nationalisation - looms. When it arrives shareholders, who pocketed six years of dividends, and executives, responsible for British Energy's plight, ought to lose out. Useful links British Energy [http://www.british-energy.com/] Department of trade and industry [http://www.dti.gov.uk/] British Nuclear Fuels Ltd [http://www.bnfl.co.uk/website.nsf/default.htm] Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament [http://www.cnduk.org/] HSE nuclear glossary [http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/ilrwglos.htm] UK atomic energy authority [http://www.ukaea.org.uk/] National Radiological Protection Board [http://www.nrpb.org.uk/] World Nuclear Association [http://www.uilondon.org/] [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 4 Who's afraid of the N-word? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Iraq's only got a few dud Scuds, and even if it does get the bomb somehow, we're just not scared of that any more Zoe Williams Tuesday September 10, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Apart from the crushing blow to democracy and all that, one of the hardest things to accept about the imminent war against Iraq is the relentless dimwittedness of its fuglemen. Dick Cheney said on a weekend talkshow that Saddam was "aggressively and actively" pursuing the ingredients to make uranium, which he'd need if he were ever to fulfil his fabled nuclear threat. He may as well have said, "Chill out, folks, the man doesn't even have the wherewithal to do us any harm," but that isn't, clearly, what he meant. Condoleezza Rice, asked about the extent of Iraq's nuclear capacity, said, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." She may as well have said, "If this person, who doesn't have any nuclear weapons, should come upon some, and then launch an attack upon us, with no care for the probable ramifications, well, that would be bad, wouldn't it?" Too right. It would be terrible, in a hypothetical kind of way. Mr Cheney carried on with "I suppose we could be optimistic and say that [Saddam] is going to change his spots, but I doubt it," despite the fact that the leopard in question has never before launched a nuclear attack upon anyone and therefore, strictly speaking, would have to change his spots just to go for us in the first place. Mr Blair said, "I am not saying it will happen next month, or even next year, but at some point the danger will explode," evidently dallying with the Mystic Meg school of political discourse. It's astonishing, really, that these people are even making the effort to explain themselves, given the evident contempt in which they hold their voting public. The only real information that they are giving out about Saddam Hussein is that he is not yet in possession of a nuclear bomb. This doesn't seem like a watertight reason for going to war with him. These hawks are putting an awful lot of faith in the emotional impact of the word "nuclear". If they were to report the facts they actually knew about the Iraqi military capacity, it would be all dud Scuds and ancient tanks with a rubbishy respray. This being insufficiently frightening, they fall back on the N-word as if the whole concept is so horrifying that it doesn't matter whether the weapon's real or imagined, now or in the future, top-of-the-range or cobbled together with hand-me-downs. It will chase us into submission like the good, 80s H-bomb scaredy-cats that we are. Except we aren't - in this country, at least, the right and "left" of our political spectrum have spent the past 30 years persuading us that nuclear weapons aren't a bad thing, unless you don't have any. They didn't so much cry wolf, as insist the wolf was actually quite a nice bloke. They're going to have quite a job getting us all to play Red Riding Hood. There were many injustices perpetrated against the CND movement (their phones were bugged; the Daily Mail - chortle - said they were run by the Kremlin), but Michael Heseltine explained the main thrust of anti-CND propaganda not so long ago. Asked how he triumphed over the peace movement, he replied: "By changing the questions. So long as the questions were about cruise missiles, the peace movement always won; if the questions changed to 'Do you want to be totally undefended?', then the ground shifted." So, the peace movement would say, "These weapons will destroy the world" and the pro-nuclear movement would say, "Exactly! That's why we need them, because nobody in their right mind would attack a nation that could fight back in kind." Neil Kinnock did pretty much what the Tories are doing now - moved on to the government's grounds, rather than shift the grounds back again. By 1983 there was suddenly no major party in favour of unilateral disarmament. The unanimous adherence to the deterrence line has forced a change in the culture. With no options about the nuclear defence strategy, the debate effectively ended, and with it all talk of the worst-case scenario. Children no longer get the willies that every plane flying over is carrying a nuclear bomb. (Everyone born between 1970 and 1980 thought this at least once. I've checked.) There is no market for rallies to Hyde Park, where a kindly vicar explains what happens to your gums in the event of nuclear attack. Martin Amis (a quintessential cultural weathercock - rearrange that sentence as you wish) no longer fears its grim realities (perceiving a greater threat, these days, from the ghost of Joseph Stalin). Kids aren't reading When the Wind Blows in primary school. Protect and Survive adverts look like 70s kitsch. If you watch the famous Panorama in which Jeremy Paxman describes 700mph winds shooting down Vauxhall bridge in a nuclear war, all you can think is, "God, doesn't he look young." The fright years are over. And now, Tony Blair would have us believe that deterrence doesn't work after all; that the existence of nuclear weaponry on the wishlist of an unfriendly nation is reason enough to launch a pre-emptive strike; that nuclear war is so bad as to be outside the bounds of reason. Well, it's a nice try - but so passé. · zoe.williams2@ntlworld.com [zoe.williams2@ntlworld.com] Useful links Arab Gateway: Iraq briefing [http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/iraq.htm] Middle East Daily [http://www.middleeastdaily.com/] Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq [http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/casi/] Iraq sanctions - UN security council [http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/indexone.htm] UN special commission on Iraq [http://www.un.org/Depts/unscom/index.html] [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 5 USEC board sets delayed talks at plant in Paducah The Paducah Sun- Paducah, Kentucky Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Paducah, Kentucky Events of Sept. 11 last year delayed the meeting. The talks come as location of the gas centrifuge test site is being considered. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 The board of directors of Bethesda, Md.-based USEC Inc. will meet Monday at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, more than a year after the events of Sept. 11 forced members to cancel a trip here. "They were scheduled to meet in September last year, just a few days after 9/11, and because of airlines and everything else right after the tragedy, it was deemed not a very safe thing to do," USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said. She said the board has met periodically at the plant, and Monday's meeting is the result of rescheduling the September meeting a year in advance. Board members will arrive early Monday morning, conduct a closed meeting and brief plant tour and meet privately with some community leaders. Citing privacy and safety issues, Stuckle asked that other details of the trip not be disclosed. The plant, which enriches uranium for use in nuclear fuel, has remained at a high state of security since terrorist-controlled airliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon a year ago. She said the timing of the meeting coincides with USEC's consideration of Paducah or Piketon, Ohio — where the firm has a closed gaseous diffusion plant — for a test facility to enrich uranium using gas centrifuge technology. The 50-job test plant, scheduled to be operational by 2005, precedes a $1.5 billion commercial centrifuge plant requiring about 1,000 construction workers and 500 permanent jobs. Stuckle said USEC has responded to preliminary economic incentive packages from Kentucky and Ohio, which will submit final offers by Oct. 25. "After that, we will make a decision and announce it in late November or early December," she said. "Although getting the lead cascade (test plant) does not guarantee getting the commercial plant, it is a distinct advantage. That community will already have a building block started." The commercial plant will ultimately replace the outdated and expensive technology of the 1,500-employee Paducah plant, which uses as much electricity as a major city. One of USEC’s chief competitors is Urenco, a European consortium that has used gas centrifuge for decades. Urenco leads an American group, Louisiana Energy Services, which announced plans Monday to build a centrifuge plant in Hartsville, Tenn. ***************************************************************** 6 Generator's Cash Crunch Tests UK Nuclear Policy LONDON, UK, September 9, 2002 (ENS) - A cash crisis at the UK's largest nuclear electricity generator today forced the government to pledge up to £410 million (US$638 million) in emergency funding, that may be followed by a longer term restructuring program. The near demise of British Energy has brought into sharp focus a rumbling debate over the future of nuclear power in the UK in the context of a major official review of energy policy. British Energy, Britain’s largest private nuclear operator, generates 20 percent of the UK's electricity, from eight nuclear power stations and one coal fired generator. [plant] British Energy's Hunterston Generating Station (Photos courtesy [http://www.british-energy.com] ) The roots of its near insolvency spread in many directions, but a key factor has been a 40 percent fall in wholesale electricity prices since 1998, driven by the introduction of new power trading rules early last year. Options being offereded for rescuing the company and the power stations it operates in the longer term include exempting nuclear electricity from the UK's eco-energy tax, the climate change levy. Cutting the amount of money British Energy has to pay nuclear services firm British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) for fuel and spent fuel reprocessing also has been proposed. This would be opposed by BNFL, which has financial problems of its own. Environmental groups would like to see such an outcome as it would undermine BNFL's controversial nuclear fuel reprocessing business. Green groups oppose any exemption of nuclear power generation from the climate change levy, arguing that it is in fact an energy and not a carbon tax. Bryony Worthington, nuclear campaigner at Friends of the Earth UK, said of the loan, “It’s outrageous. The government should have allowed British Energy to go into administration rather than bailing it out with a loan. With a market value of just £404 million and existing debts of around £850 million, no commercial lender would have lent this incompetent company any more money. Yet we the taxpayers are being asked to carry the risk.” “This financial fiasco must force the government to realize the folly of building new nuclear power stations," said Worthington. "They are uneconomic, unsafe and deeply unpopular and are not needed to combat climate change. Nuclear power should be phased out and replaced with clean, safe and renewable forms of energy.” The setback comes just as an extensive advertising campaign by British Energy is in full swing highlighting the "environmental benefits of nuclear power," primarily that it does not contribute to global warming. [plant] British Energy's Eggborough Generating Station Sally Smedley, British Energy’s communications director, said, “We are rapidly heading towards dependency on gas and dependency on overseas supplies. Without nuclear we cannot reach our Kyoto targets and in the long term, the alternatives are likely to be far more expensive than nuclear – particularly renewables." The ads are scheduled to continue through September, through the energy review consultation period. In 1997 British Energy expanded internationally by forming a U.S. joint venture AmerGen with PECO Energy of Philadelphia, now part of Exelon Corporation. To date AmerGen has purchased one pressurized water reactor and two boiling water reactors in the United States. In May 2001 British Energy's Canadian subsidiary, Bruce Power, completed the proposed lease transaction of the Bruce nuclear power plant for 17 years in southwestern Ontario, consisting of eight Candu reactors, four of which are currently laid up. British Energy has some small interest in renewables. The company has partnered with wind farm developer Renewable Energy Systems Ltd and marine design and construction expert Sir Robert McAlpine to form Offshore Wind Power Ltd. A site off the Lincolnshire coast near Skegness has been chosen for Offshore Wind Power's first wind farm. Consultation and discussions are currently under way, which will include consent processes, capital grant applications and negotiation with the Crown Estate Commissioners, who own the seabed. Its subsidiary, British Energy (Canada) Ltd., and Ontario Power Generation in March 2001 announced a 50/50 joint venture, Huron Wind, to develop a wind energy facility near Kincardine, Ontario. The project, to be located on land near the Bruce A and B nuclear generating facility on Lake Huron, will be subject to an environmental review. [http://www.ends.co.uk] {Published in cooperation with ENDS Environment Daily, Europe's choice for environmental news. Environmental Data Services Ltd, London. Email: [envdaily@ends.co.uk] } [editor@ens-news.com] for details. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All Rights ***************************************************************** 7 USEC board sets delayed talks at plant in Paducah* */Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Paducah, Kentucky/* /Events of Sept. 11 last year delayed the meeting. The talks come as location of the gas centrifuge test site is being considered./ By *Joe Walker* jwalker@paducahsun.com --/270.575.8650/ The board of directors of Bethesda, Md.-based USEC Inc. will meet Monday at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, more than a year after the events of Sept. 11 forced members to cancel a trip here. "They were scheduled to meet in September last year, just a few days after 9/11, and because of airlines and everything else right after the tragedy, it was deemed not a very safe thing to do," USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said. She said the board has met periodically at the plant, and Monday's meeting is the result of rescheduling the September meeting a year in advance. Board members will arrive early Monday morning, conduct a closed meeting and brief plant tour and meet privately with some community leaders. Citing privacy and safety issues, Stuckle asked that other details of the trip not be disclosed. The plant, which enriches uranium for use in nuclear fuel, has remained at a high state of security since terrorist-controlled airliners crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon a year ago. She said the timing of the meeting coincides with USEC's consideration of Paducah or Piketon, Ohio ? where the firm has a closed gaseous diffusion plant ? for a test facility to enrich uranium using gas centrifuge technology. The 50-job test plant, scheduled to be operational by 2005, precedes a $1.5 billion commercial centrifuge plant requiring about 1,000 construction workers and 500 permanent jobs. Stuckle said USEC has responded to preliminary economic incentive packages from Kentucky and Ohio, which will submit final offers by Oct. 25. "After that, we will make a decision and announce it in late November or early December," she said. "Although getting the lead cascade (test plant) does not guarantee getting the commercial plant, it is a distinct advantage. That community will already have a building block started." The commercial plant will ultimately replace the outdated and expensive technology of the 1,500-employee Paducah plant, which uses as much electricity as a major city. One of USEC?s chief competitors is Urenco, a European consortium that has used gas centrifuge for decades. Urenco leads an American group, Louisiana Energy Services, which announced plans Monday to build a centrifuge plant in Hartsville, Tenn. E-Mail this article to a friend. Paducah Online ***************************************************************** 8 CAN: Bruce Power backed up by $996M U.K. government pledge for British Energy Sympatico NewsExpress: Business | Full Story September 11th 2002 GARY NORRIS TORONTO (CP) - The British government has pledged up to 410 million pounds - $996 million Cdn - to stabilize the finances of British Energy, the majority owner of the Bruce Power nuclear power partnership which generates 15 per cent of Ontario's electricity. British Energy, which also provides one-fifth of the United Kingdom's electricity and is a partner in three American nuclear power plants, said Monday that the agreement with the government provides working capital until Sept. 27. "It is expected that discussions regarding longer-term restructuring will commence shortly," BE said in a statement. It repeated its warning of last Thursday that without government support it "may be unable to meet its financial obligations as they fall due and therefore the company may have to take appropriate insolvency proceedings." British Energy, privatized in 1996, noted that it "has a common interest with the government in maintaining safety and security of electricity supply." In addition to eight nuclear power stations in Britain, British Energy owns 82.4 per cent of Bruce Power, which leases eight nuclear plants, four of them currently operational, from Ontario Power Generation, the generating arm of the former Ontario Hydro monopoly. Bruce Power - owned 15 per cent by Canadian uranium miner Cameco Corp., with the rest held by two of the operation's unions - signed a 17-year lease in May 2001 on the eight Candu reactors. The four operating reactors at Bruce B, employing 3,000 people on the shore of Lake Huron, produce enough electricity to power the city of Toronto. Two of the four inactive reactors are scheduled to be fired up again next year. Cameco stated Monday evening that as a condition of the interim financial support the British government had required guarantees from BE subsidiaries including Bruce Power, and Cameco has consented to Bruce Power providing the necessary guarantees. "Although the risk profile of Bruce Power has been temporarily increased by these recent events, Cameco's commitment to invest up to $100 million in Bruce Power and to provide up to $102 million in financial assurances remains unchanged," said the Saskatoon-based company (TSX:CCO). The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which regulates the reactors, has demanded that Bruce Power guarantee so-called shut-down money, demonstrating that it has enough cash to function for six months even if the station is shut down in an emergency. Earlier this year, British Energy reported an annual loss of about 500 million pounds ($1.2 billion Cdn), blaming weak U.K. electricity prices and technical problems at British power stations. The issue of the $222-million guarantee required by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is expected to be discussed at a meeting with the commission on Thursday, Cameco said. "Cameco believes the Bruce reactors will continue to be safe and well run and that Bruce Power will remain an important supplier of electricity, accounting for 15 per cent of Ontario's requirements." Meanwhile, in sweltering weather, Ontario's electricity demand touched 25,000 megawatts, close to the record demand of 25,414 megawatts. The Independent Electricity Market Operator urged consumers to conserve power, but by 10 p.m. EDT demand was still 23,282 megawatts - at a price of 80 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with an average 4.8 cents since the market opened on May 1. © The Canadian Press, 2002 [http://www2.sympatico.ca] ***************************************************************** 9 Mixed response to nuclear energy package September 10, 2002 16:53 By Duncan Brodie Business Editor TRADES Unions last night welcomed the Government's decision to step in with a £410 million support package for crisis-hit nuclear group British Energy. But the move was condemned by anti-nuclear groups, and also brought Tory criticism that Ministers were tackling the symptoms rather than the cause of the company's difficulties. Even following yesterday's intervention by the Government, the long-term future of British Energy remains in doubt as the emergency loan only covers the company's operations until September 27. Shares in British Energy, suspended last week after the company warned that it could face insolvency unless it received immediate financial assistance, slumped in value by around 80% when trading resumed yesterday. British Energy, which owns eight nuclear power stations, including Sizewell B in Suffolk, and provides around one-fifth of the UK's power, has been hit by a sharp fall in electricity prices under new competitive trading arrangements. In a statement the Department of Trade and Industry said: "The Government has today agreed to provide British Energy with a loan for up to £410 million in respect of its working capital requirements and cash collateral for trading in the UK and North America. "The short term loan has been put in place in respect of the period until September 27, 2002, pending clarification of the company's full financial position. "No decisions have been taken, and no commitments have been given, about support beyond this period. Notification of this loan under EU state aid legislation is under way." Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "The Government has an overriding responsibility to ensure the safety of nuclear generation and the security of supply and this is the reason we are participating in this process with British Energy. "We have been clear there can be no blank cheques, but we will act in the national interest to ensure our objectives of safety and security of supply are met. "We are working towards a possible restructuring of the company in the private sector, although we clearly cannot rule out the possibility of administration ? this deal is primarily about securing energy for Britain, not securing British Energy. "For the longer term the Government's forthcoming White Paper will set out the next steps in the strategy for secure and sustainable energy and nuclear power's role in achieving it." The Government's decision was backed by union leaders who said it should safeguard the company's 5,200-strong workforce for the time being ? but concerns over job prospects in the longer term remain. John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, said: "This is a welcome announcement to provide a short-term lifeline for the industry, but we now need a complete rethink of the role of the private sector in major UK utilities. "We cannot continue to gamble the future of such an important sector on the roulette wheel of the Stock Exchange." Doug Rooney, national officer at Amicus, said he was relieved that jobs had been saved at the company but it was imperative that a long term solution to its financial problems was now found. "If we get to the end of the month and the company has not secured a long-term financial settlement we will be saying that rather than put a company into voluntary liquidation the Government should put it back into public ownership," he said. "It is difficult to see what other alternatives the Government could come up with to secure the long-term financial position of British Energy." Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, and South Suffolk MP Tim Yeo, said the Government should reduce some of the burdens on the company. "Rather than bailing out British Energy the Government should be treating the causes and not the symptoms of this problem. "Immediate relief is possible. As Britain's leading carbon-free energy producer, British Energy should be exempted for the Climate Change Levy. Secondly, the reprocessing costs borne by British Energy in this country should be brought more into line with those it pays in North America. "At a time when investor confidence is crucial the Secretary of State must show leadership and remove the unnecessary cost burdens on nuclear industry," said Mr Yeo. However, environmental group's said the Government was wrong to be offering British Energy any form of assistance. Bryony Worthington, nuclear campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "The Government should have allowed British Energy to go into administration rather than bailing it out with a loan." The scale of the company's debts, in relation to its reduced stock market value, meant that taxpayers were being required to carry a risk which no commercial lender would have taken on. "This financial fiasco must force the Government to realise the folly of building new nuclear power stations. They are uneconomic, unsafe and deeply unpopular and are not needed to combat climate change." A spokesman for Greenpeace said the move was a "misuse of taxpayers' money which has more to do with protecting political careers than keeping the lights on." "If the Government is serious about protecting the safety and security of the company's nuclear power stations it must make any loans conditional on the closure of those power stations. "There are many renewable energy companies who would be able to take nuclear powers' share of the electricity market if they were given a chance," he added. British Energy, which was privatised in 1996, said yesterday that the loan would allow it to stabilise its trading position and it expected talks regarding longer-term restructuring to start shortly. However, it warned again that if these talks failed it may still fall into insolvency. "The board has reasonable grounds for believing that these discussions will be successful but there can be no certainty that this will preserve value for investors," the company said. "The board anticipates that if these discussions are not successful the company may be unable to meet its financial obligations as they fall due and therefore the company may have to take appropriate insolvency proceedings." Andrew Fisher, an analyst at fund manager Gerrard, said: "It remains to be seen how much further the business's operational performance has been hurt following the suspension of its shares and the downgrade of its debt." Besides Sizewell B, British Energy's stations are located at Torness and Hunterston in Scotland, Dungeness in Kent, Heysham, near Blackpool, Hartlepool, Hinkley Point in Somerset and Eggborough in North Yorkshire. Copyright © 2001 Eastern Counties Newspapers Group Ltd , all rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 £410m may not prevent BE collapse Scotsman.com Tue 10 Sep 2002 Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt. /IAIN DEY/ BRITISH Energy won a three-week stay of execution yesterday after being handed a £410 million emergency lifeline by the government. But the future of the stricken nuclear power firm remains hanging in the balance, with British Energy warning it could still be forced to launch "appropriate insolvency proceedings". Shares in BE immediately went into meltdown after they were reissued to the stockmarket yesterday, and closed 65 per cent down at just 22.25p amid fears it will become "Railtrack II". One of the British Energy?s largest UK shareholders said: "They?re not out of the woods yet. You don?t know whether the long-term term restructuring discussions will prove successful. Secondly you don?t know what form they will take, and thirdly it highlights the trading risk within the company. "What you can be sure of is that shareholders will be bottom of the pile." A source close to the firm added: "What was needed was a real sticking plaster job, and that?s what we?ve got here. It wasn?t realistic to expect this to be a long-term deal - the announcement was only made on Thursday. It gives space to allow some sensible detailed discussions." The deal gives BE working capital to continue trading and government guarantees on some of its most pressing debts - but only until 27 September. Rescue talks with Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt and energy minister Brian Wilson will continue over the next three weeks to find a long-term rescue plan. But Hewitt insisted there would be no "blank cheque" to bail out the company, and no commitments have been made to the company beyond the 27 September deadline. She added: "We are working towards a possible restructuring of the company in the private sector, although we clearly cannot rule out the possibility of administration - this deal is primarily about securing energy for Britain, not securing British Energy." It is understood that a merger of British Energy with state-owned nuclear firm BNFL is still among a number of options. But sources close to the talks revealed that another shakeup of the wholesale electricity pricing system could be sparked by the company?s problems. Changes to the Nuclear Energy Trading Arrangements (NETA) enforced earlier in the year hit BE and its customers - including ScottishPower and Scottish & Southern Energy - heavily. Both SNP environment spokesman Bruce Crawford MSP, and Green MSP Robin Harper attacked the bailout plan, insisting that a finance package must be accompanied with conditions which would enforce British Energy to increase its investment in renewable energy. Harper added that even if all BE?s reactors were closed down, relatively few jobs would be lost as the workforce would spend the next 60 years cleaning up the sites. Shadow trade and industry secretary Tim Yeo backed calls for British Energy to be exempted from the climate change levy. He added: "At a time when investor confidence is crucial, the Secretary of State must remove the unnecessary cost burdens on the nuclear industry." ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 11 UK: Renewable energy Scotsman.com Tue 10 Sep 2002 So, now we know; nuclear energy is a failure. Even the much-vaunted expertise of the private sector cannot make it pay (your report, 6 September). Interestingly enough, one of the major factors affecting the nuclear industry?s finances is the cost of disposing of spent fuel. Am I wrong in thinking that this was a widely-expressed concern at the time the then government was committing such huge sums towards developing this energy source? Yet, at the same time, the nationalised electricity authority was earning huge sums for the Treasury. I remember only too well the demonstrations outside Torness during its construction and commissioning, all of which were ignored. Is it wrong to now claim that the people mounting these protests were right and the government was wrong? Let us hope this revelation of the basic weaknesses of using this type of power supply will halt our present administration in its tracks and lead to more serious research into alternative sources of renewable energy, to which, I believe, it had committed themselves at the recent world summit. JR HALL Dirleton, North Berwick East Lothian ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 12 [radiation-survivors] WIPP truck crash in Wyoming Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 16:50:26 -0500 (CDT) http://www.fema.gov/emanagers/2002/nat091002.shtm WIPP truck crash in Wyoming On September 7, a Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) truck carry radioactive material crashed on Highway I-80 at milepost 79. The driver apparently lost control of the truck for unknown reasons. There was minor damage to the tractor but no apparent damage to the trailer or the containment. The Radiological Assistance Program Team is enroute from Idaho. A Level VI inspection was done with no findings. The Wyoming Emergency Management Agency is monitoring the situation along with the Wyoming State Highway Patrol. There has been no request for Federal Assistance at this time. (FEMA Region VIII) Last Updated: Tuesday, 10-Sep-2002 10:17:03 EDT ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/6xSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: radiation-survivors-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ----- Together we can make a difference.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 13 NRC Proposes $3,000 Fine Against Meprolight, Inc., for Violation of Radioactive Material Requirements NRC: Press Release Region I - 2002 - 57 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 No. I-02-057 September 10, 2002 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: [opa1@nrc.gov] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has proposed a $3,000 fine against Meprolight, Inc., for the improper distribution of products from its facility in Yonkers, N.Y. The products, which contained NRC-licensed material, were distributed before the Washington, D.C.-based company obtained a license from the agency allowing it to do so. NRC officials said the significance of the violation by Meprolight was low because the distributed items -- sights and aiming devices for small arms and archery equipment -- were designed for use by individuals with little radiation safety training and contain only small quantities of tritium, a licensed radioactive material. Nevertheless, the violation represents a careless disregard of NRC requirements and is a significant concern because the agency relies upon the employees of NRC-licensed firms to comply with its regulations. The violation was identified during an NRC inspection conducted on October 26 and November 2 and 14, 2001, at the Yonkers facility, and during a subsequent investigation by the agencys Office of Investigations. Specifically, the NRC determined that Meprolight distributed more than 2,300 of the devices in two shipments, on December 20 and 27, 2000. This occurred even though the company did not receive an NRC license allowing such distribution until January 8, 2001. A predecisional enforcement conference between NRC staff and Meprolight was held on July 10 to discuss the violation and related issues. At that meeting, company representatives acknowledged the violation but denied that any Meprolight employees had acted with careless disregard of NRC regulations. Meprolight has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal it. If the fine is appealed and subsequently upheld by NRC staff, the company may request a hearing. ***************************************************************** 14 Handling errors cause most radioactive material mishaps The Imperial Valley Press Archives September 07, 2002 By STUART BISSON-FOSTER, GREBB BLESCH, STEPHEN CHIGER, DAVID MARCELIS and MIKE WILKENING Special to this newspaper WASHINGTON (MNS) — Since Congress approved plans in mid-July to ship the nation’s nuclear waste to a single site in Nevada, many have questioned whether it’s safe to haul the toxic cargo across the country on trucks and trains. But an analysis of Department of Transportation records shows that since 1990, more than half of the 166 transportation accidents involving less dangerous radioactive materials have been caused by simple handling errors rather than collisions, derailments or packaging flaws. And almost 60 percent of the handling mishaps resulted in radiation release, more than twice as often as in accidents, such as collisions or derailments, while the vehicles were in transit. The scenarios of the handling error incidents are sometimes trivial but often troubling. In Memphis, Tenn., in 1998, a package with radioactive contents fell off of a pallet in a loading area, where a forklift ran over it, releasing radiation. A cleanup crew ripped out contaminated asphalt and sent workers to the hospital to be examined. In 1999, in Conway, Pa., a terminal worker knocked 6- to 8-inch hole in a toxic-waste container. The worker used a bucket loader to shove it out of the way to get to other containers, gouging it with the corner of the bucket. No radiological release was detected. In 1990 in College Park, Ga., a driver was told during a delivery stop that someone was fooling around with his truck. He rushed outside to find his rig gone — along with 29 packages of low-level radioactive materials. When the packages were found, several had been ripped open. Some of the radioactive sources were missing. Sharron Daly, radiation safety officer at the University of Wisconsin, says she doesn’t lose much sleep over the possibility of human error. ‘‘We can regulate something right into the ground, but we can’t regulate human behavior,’’ Daly said. She said handlers of radioactive material are highly professional and she called human error an acceptable risk. Experts say such handling accidents are unlikely to be a concern in the government’s unprecedented plans to ship 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain, Nev., from 131 sites throughout the country. The shipments are set to begin in 2010; the transportation methods and routes are yet to be determined. The Department of Energy points to a glowing track record for shipping this hazardous fuel. In the last 30 years, there have more than 2,700 shipments of spent nuclear fuel, and although a handful of accidents have occurred, none has caused harmful release, according to the DOE. ‘‘The track record of the DOE transporting the stuff is pretty good,’’ said Jon Corsiglia, spokesman for the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that has lobbied hard against the plan. ‘‘What they point to is that there was no harmful release of radiation, which is true. The extension of that, when it comes to the plan to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, you’re expanding the number of shipments.’’ The number of planned spent nuclear fuel shipments is not yet clear but could be as high as 100,000, depending on the length of the program and whether trucks or trains bear the bulk of the loads, according to the DOE’s environmental impact study. The agency estimated there are about 3 million shipments of radioactive materials in the United States each year. A risk-assessment handbook the DOE published in July conceded that human errors in loading containers have not been fully measured. ‘‘Although human error in vehicle operation is included in historic accident rates, these rates do not account for some human errors that may have an effect specific to the shipping of radioactive materials,’’ the report said, noting errors in sealing spent nuclear fuel casks as one problem for which ‘‘a probability of occurrence can be supported by past events.’’ Even if the everyday shipping of radiological products like those for medical use doesn’t approach the planning and engineering being marshaled for Yucca Mountain-bound waste, these more pedestrian radiological materials are subject to strict packaging regulations. ‘‘Type A’’ containers, used predominantly for shipping medical supplies, are subjected to a number of tests to ensure their strength. They are drenched by a simulated rainfall of 2 inches, stored for a day under packages totaling five times their weight, dropped from a height of one to 30 feet onto a flat surface and from three to five and a half feet onto a steel rod. Packages being sent to Yucca will be subject to similar, though more severe, tests. For instance, they will be engulfed in flames of 1,475 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Some say testing standards such as these, set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, along with elaborate safety procedures will avert handling catastrophes with spent nuclear fuel. The NRC has created exacting standards for how spent nuclear fuel will be loaded into the casks, said Paul Narbut, an inspector in the NRC’s spent fuel project office. ‘‘We try to avoid every single error,’’ Narbut said. ‘‘That’s the nuclear livelihood.’’ Spent nuclear fuel is so hot that it needs to be cooled for years before it can even be stored for transportation. Once the fuel has cooled, it is loaded by crane into containers immersed in 20 feet of water. The containers then are welded shut and filled through valves with helium, which allows heat to escape more quickly. The most likely opening for any handling error to occur would come a few years from now as newer spent fuel is loaded into the containers, Narbut said. If the spent fuel was somehow mixed up, the hotter newer fuel — not yet ready to be sent to storage — could be mistakenly placed in a cask. Considering the number of people involved, however, the chance of that happening is remote, Narbut said. Industry experts, too, say the probability of mistakes is programmed into safety regulations. ‘‘You assume that people are going to make mistakes,’’ said Robert Prince, president and CEO of Duratek, an industry leader in cleaning up decommissioned nuclear power and weapons plants and disposing of the waste. Duratek’s Hittman Transportation Services subsidiary hauls radioactive material. ‘‘Each atom has to be accounted for, from the time it’s produced to the time it’s buried,’’ Prince said. ‘‘That’s why you have layers. You make sure there’s protection on protection on protection,’’ Prince said. ‘‘A single human error isn’t going to cause you a problem — or even several in a series.’’ But the possibility for human error raises the need for continued vigilance, no matter how tight regulations are. In Flushing, N.Y., 1999, a driver hauling low-radiation medical waste for Medical Delivery Services Inc. left the back door of his vehicle unlocked and failed to use a safety net to secure his cargo. A package fell out, was picked up by a passerby and brought to a local post office, where it was unwittingly opened. The post office was evacuated for four hours before New York authorities declared the area safe. According to George Phillips, vice president of Medical Delivery Services Inc., the packages his company uses are thickly insulated and meant to withstand at least 30-foot drops. But, Phillips said, no matter how strong the casks are, mistakes like the Flushing incident will always remain a concern. ‘‘You can’t make anything human error-proof,’’ Phillips said. Copyright. IVPRESSonline.com [http://www.ivpressonline.com] ***************************************************************** 15 How safe are we? Shoals officials plan for the worst [http://www.storyandlee.com] September 11, 2002 By Bernie Delinski Staff Writer September 10, 2002 Muscle Shoals police officer Randy Gist watches passengers deplane from a Northwest Airlink turboprop plane at the Northwest Alabama Regional Airport on Monday. Security has been heightened since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  Photo by TimesDaily Photo Editor Matt McKean Like the rest of the nation, Tommy McAnally spent Sept. 11, 2001, sitting in front of a television in shock. "I remember sitting here watching that day with chill bumps," said McAnally, the Tuscumbia fire chief. "All firemen and policemen are brothers, no matter where they are. It hits home when you see firemen killed. It doesn't matter what size a city is. Fire is fire and disaster is disaster." Local officials have been working since then to be prepared in the event the unthinkable happens in this community. Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency Director George Grabryan said the county had hired a full-time planner for the agency before Sept. 11. He said that has been very valuable since Sept. 11. "That's allowed us to have one person dedicated to going over our plans and make recommendations to update and upgrade plans," Grabryan said. "He's going to other places and seeing how things are done common to and different than what we do here." Grabryan said the biggest change he's noticed since the terrorist attacks is an increase in the way area emergency response agencies communicate. In addition, he sees more discussion from EMA officials. "We've always met a lot, but a lot of our discussions now are much more timely on current events and on things that occur in other places," he said. "You've got to plan for the worst." "Theoretically, it's changed every one of us," Colbert County EMA Director Mike Melton added. "We've got to be a lot better prepared locally and on the state level." Melton said area counties are among a 13-county mutual aid network that allows immediate assistance among the counties in the event of a disaster or emergency that warrants it. "You don't want to think that something like that could happen," Melton said. "We think about what we want to do locally. Sometimes, things get centered toward everyday plans and problems locally. After several years, you can get a little bit lax, and it gives you a wake-up call." Melton said his and other agencies benefit from state training on matters such as weapons of mass destruction and levels of awareness. Melton and Grabryan both spoke of the importance of getting grants that help with terrorist-related training. Florence Fire Rescue Chief Charlie Cochran recalls an anthrax scare at a Florence law office this year. He said someone discovered a powdery substance. A year ago, that wouldn't have triggered an awareness of a threat that it does today. The powder was not anthrax, but Cochran said any threat like that needs to be taken seriously, as that one was. "We've taken all threats, whether locally or nationally, as legitimate threats," he said. Cochran said firefighters have been exposed to training involving weapons of mass destruction and reviewed policies and procedures, while looking for as many scenarios as imagination can conjure. "We're also reading a lot from journals about the events of Sept. 11 in Washington and New York, the procedures fire departments used and how they're handling things," he said. A major issue that is brought up in those materials is the importance of communications. "There are certain buildings we have difficulty communicating from because of the way they are constructed, and they had the same problem in New York," Cochran said. "One of the biggest things is fire, EMA, police and all agencies are working so much closer together and sharing information," Cochran said. McAnally said his firefighters often watch training films they get from the U.S. Fire Administration dealing with terrorist attacks. They also had classes through the local health department that deal with anthrax and read books on hazardous materials. In addition, they run through scenarios. Improved security started at home for emergency agencies, according to Florence Deputy Police Chief Tony Logan. Florence and other departments took at look at how secure their stations were, and made any necessary changes. Logan said his department has monthly training sessions on dealing with weapons of mass destruction or other issues involving terrorism. In addition, police chiefs in the area attend regular homeland security meetings. "Our Special Operations Team has changed the way we do business," Logan said. "Now, not only are we dealing with explosive devices, but other hazardous material, as well. We've done a lot of coordinating with the fire department because of their abilities in that field." The Shoals is in the heart of Tennessee Valley Authority territory, bringing landmarks such as dams and the nearby Brown's Ferry Nuclear Power Plant as potential targets. TVA spokesman Gil Francis said the agency remains aware of that. "We still remain at a heightened state of alert at Brown's Ferry and other nuclear plants," he said. Security personnel, checkpoints and patrols all have been increased, Francis said. He said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made changes in response to the attacks, as well. Officials at local water treatment plants are aware of the potential for terrorists to place harmful chemicals in water supplies. Local plants have beefed up security and restricted access, in addition to regular checking of the supplies. Local firefighters and police say they have noticed another change since Sept. 11: increased recognition from the public. "We're being overwhelmed with the generosity of the area, as far as wanting to recognize the firefighters and the excellent job they do," Cochran said. "In fact, it's going to be difficult to attend everything that is planned for us on Sept. 11. But we're going to do our best to try." "We have had people stop by here, get out of their cars and shake our hands and say they appreciate what we do," McAnally said. "That's something that has carried over," Logan said. "It's common throughout the community for people to tell us they appreciate what we do. That means a lot to us." Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or [bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com] . [ usemap=] Copyright © 2002 TimesDaily | Privacy Statement [ BORDER=] ***************************************************************** 16 Pentagon relaxes army plant silence pledge The Hawk Eye Newspaper Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Former workers can say what they were exposed to, but not where. By Dennis J. Carroll The Hawk Eye The Department of Defense will soon send out letters to tens of thousands of current and former workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition plant advising them of what they may and may not reveal to health care providers and researchers. The letter is part of a Pentagon report on secrecy oaths surrounding operations at the Middletown munitions plant over the past 50 years requested a year ago by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D–Iowa. The letter, signed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and released by Harkin's office Monday, notes that many employees worked on both nuclear and conventional weapons lines at the plant. The report marks the first time that the Defense Department has acknowledged that nuclear weapons were manufactured at the plant. The full report, prepared for the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee, acknowledges that IAAP workers may have been exposed to numerous hazardous substances including silica, beryllium, solvents, explosives, epoxies and heavy metals. The letter tells the workers, employees of contractors or subcontractors, that they may discuss the elements, compounds, isotopes, alloys and other associated substances they may have been exposed to. But the letter warns that workers may not disclose how the substances are or were used, or why they were important for specific uses. Of important note, the letter also forbids workers from disclosing "the specific building at the plant where (the substances) were used." That "continues to require protection for reasons of national security," the letter says. That caveat could create a problem for cleanup investigators who are attempting to determine exactly what parts of the plant were used by the Atomic Energy Commission, and where hazardous materials, including radioactive wastes, may have been stored of disposed of. The Army is preparing to conduct a tree–top survey of the entire 19,000 acres using helicopters equipped with special radiation–dectection gear. A team of researchers at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health has for the past two years been surveying the health of former nuclear weapons workers. Recently, they began a similar survey of the health of former Army side workers who constructed and assembled conventional weapons. Harkin said the report fell "woefully short on information about possible radioactive and toxic exposures at the plant." He also said that although the report "finally admits that IAAP was a nuclear weapons facility," he is disappointed that the report fails to address the Defense Department's policy to "neither confirm nor deny" the presence of nuclear weapons "anywhere at any time, as specified in my legislation." "We need to break down the wall of secrecy that has kept these workers from the health care they may need and most certainly deserve," Harkin said. "This a small step in that task." The Atomic Energy Commission assembled, took apart, and in later years test–fired components of nuclear weapons at the IAAP from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s. The Pentagon report says that the new survey of IAAP Army workers is being conducted "to ensure all current and former workers ... receive the same treatment." The report said an estimated 4,000 workers were employed by the AEC from the mid 1940s to 1975 when the nuclear line was closed. It said the same employees also worked on the Army manufacturing lines. The new Army study, for which $1 million has been appropriated so far, "will result in directing workers to proper medical treatment and will define measures to improve occupational work practices in handling hazardous materials," the report said. It said the U of I researchers will: Identify and notify as many current and former IAAP Army workers as possible. Inquire about their exposures to hazardous substances on the job. Send out health questionnaires, and conduct medical testing. The tests, which could begin in December, would include physical examinations, blood workups and "various internal organ function tests." The report said researchers may be able to conduct 60 to 80 medical screenings every month. In addition, medical data will be collected on IAAP workers who have died. Over the past several years, former workers and their survivors have been coming forward with accounts of their exposures to hazardous materials and the lifelong illnesses and deaths the materials may have caused. Using information obtained from the University of Iowa researchers, the Pentagon report said plant has employed 38,508 workers since the late 1940s. Of those, 12,626 have died. The report also said that a "risk communication" plan will include members of the local community in focus groups, town hall meetings and community surveys. The Department of Defense "encourages all former and current workers a IAAP to participate in the DOD study and to discuss their possible exposures with their health care providers and the health professionals involved with the study," the report said. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 Front Desk · 319-754-6824 FAX · 1-800-397-1708 Toll Free ***************************************************************** 17 Wyoming: Torrington seeks drinking water supply study TORRINGTON, Wyo. (AP) - City officials plan to ask the Wyoming Water Development Commission to study the potential for a regional drinking water supply system. The project would extend from Guernsey to Nebraska and would include Guernsey, Fort Laramie, Lingle, Yoder, Hawk Springs and Torrington, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reports. Water Development Commission Director Mike Besson said the project is needed because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's primary standards for drinking water may require communities to treat water for nitrates, radionuclides, arsenic and other substances. Uranium has been a problem for drinking water in the Yoder area and nitrates have plagued Torrington's water supply. "Water quality issues are a moving target with the EPA," Besson told the Torrington City Council recently. "A regional approach to drinking water supply and treatment may be more economical for the communities than individual systems." Besson said that while Torrington is applying to the state commission, another organization would be formed to own and operate the regional system if such a system were created. Four such systems already exist in Wyoming: the Shoshone Pipeline Project serving Cody and Lovell, a district around Sheridan, a district serving Green River and Rock Springs, and the Central Wyoming Regional Water System serving Casper, Midwest and Edgerton. The study of a system for southeast Wyoming would be funded entirely by the state and the $1,000 application fee would be waived. If the Water Development Commission approves the application, it will forward it to the Legislature's Select Water Committee, which could include it in next year's omnibus water bill. A consultant would then be hired by the Water Development Commission to do a yearlong study of potential water sources including a combination of surface and groundwater. ***************************************************************** 18 New Uranium Plant Will Be in Tennessee The New York Times *September 10, 2002* *By THE NEW YORK TIMES* WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 ? A partnership of American, Canadian and European nuclear companies that is seeking to build the first new uranium enrichment plant in this country in 50 years said today that it had selected a site, in Hartsville, Tenn., for the $1.1 billion project, state officials said today. Officials said the partnership hoped to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license by the end of the year. The Tennessee Valley Authority tried to build a nuclear reactor there but abandoned it in the 1980's because of high costs. Today's announcement was made by Tennessee's governor, Don Sundquist. The consortium, Louisiana Energy Services, based in Washington, is made up of Urenco, a European enrichment company; Cameco a Canadian uranium company; and three major nuclear power plant operators in this country: Exelon Duke Energy and Entergy The company that operates the only enrichment plant now running in this country, USEC, is also seeking to build a new plant. Both planned enrichment plants would be similar in technology to the one that American intelligence experts say that Saddam Hussein is trying to build in Iraq. The American plants, however, would produce low-enriched uranium, suitable for power reactors but not bombs. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 19 *N-waste tax is devious* deseretnews.com Opinion Tuesday, September 10, 2002 If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a cow! Things are not always what they seem. Special-interest groups along the Wasatch Front have circulated petitions and have been successful in getting an initiative on the ballot for the coming elections. The initiative is to allow nuclear wastes to come into the state for storage but must pay a 600 percent tax. The money generated will be used for education and to help the homeless. Sounds worthy and noble, why not? This would solve many of the state's financial woes, or would it? What business could afford a 600 percent tax? This is a smoke screen way of destroying Envirocare and keeping nuclear waste out of Utah. Whether the measure passes or not, do not expect any money to come from the taxes. A defunct company cannot pay taxes. This is a brilliantly devious means of duping the people of the state. Our sun exposes everyone to radioactivity every day. Should we not keep the sun out of Utah? Is there some way we can tax it? If you like being snookered, vote for the initiative. *De Lamar Gibbons* Blanding © 2002 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 20 Hartsville chosen for LES uranium enrichment plant Elizabethton Star - Online Edition By Kathy Helms-Hughes STAR STAFF khughes@starhq.com Officials for Louisiana Energy Services along with Gov. Don Sundquist and representatives from the state Economic Development office announced Monday that Hartsville, Tenn., has been selected as the site for a $1.1 billion uranium enrichment facility. The Hartsville site, once chosen as the location for a nuclear plant by Tennessee Valley Authority, was selected after we did a long-term objective, numerically based analysis and it scored at the top, said Nan Kilkeary, public information officer for LES. Bellefonte [in Alabama] was a close second. The announcement was made at 1 p.m. CDT at the Cumberland Club in Nashville. One of the things they announced was we will open a local office in Hartsville very soon to provide local residents with information on the project, she said. According to Kilkeary, There is nothing in this site to fear and it's $1.1 billion. That's a major thing for an area that's fairly deprived economically. What comes out of this plant is basically stuff that is a canister that you can lean up against and you get less radiation than a dental X-ray. The gas centrifuge technology developed by Urenco Ltd. has been employed at its facilities in Europe but not yet in the United States. Once the product is produced in Hartsville, it will go to various fuel fabrication plants around the country for more processing, Kilkeary said. They make it into pellets that ultimately go into the rods that go into a reactor. This is only one part of the fuel cycle. The proposed plant is almost a twin of Urenco's Almelo facility in The Netherlands with the exception that it will be engineered to meet U.S. codes and requirements, she said. According to Kilkeary, the plant will provide approximately 400 construction jobs and 250 permanent ones. It breaks out that about 70 percent are skilled worker jobs which require like an associate's degree and some kind of training; 10 percent are unskilled and we will provide training. We are looking at the potential that 80 percent of the jobs would be available regionally. George Dials, president and chief executive officer for LES, said that since coming aboard the project in July he has been focused on the site evaluation screening process, trying to drive it to a final decision. We made our short list determination a couple weeks ago and I thought it was time to get to the final site. I reviewed the final report and asked questions and went through the final criteria and determined that the best site for us from a technical and environmental and business perspective was a site that was formerly a TVA site near Hartsville, Tenn. Dials said one of the things LES was looking for was a site that had gone through recent evaluation and had current environmental monitoring data. That will shorten our licensing application process a little bit. We won't have to go out and do more independent data collection on a lot of the parameters. We'll be able to use what was done by TVA, and they are well-known for doing very good environmental impact statements and EAs [Environmental Assessments], so that helped a bit, he said. Property in Unicoi County did not score well in the final analysis, according to Dials. I'm speaking from my perspective from the time I came on in July. That area is one where there are nuclear facilities, like the NFS [Nuclear Fuel Services] facility. If you look at the seismic data and the other technical data that apply, it's a good site or good location. But once I started looking at the actual parameters and information about the sites that were available, the land ownership patterns, the ability to do what we needed to do on a site that was large enough, and being able to expand, it really didn't score very well compared to some other sites. It would not have been on my top list of sites even to carry forward. Dials said LES screened close to 50 sites, some of which were eliminated very quickly because they were in a seismic zone or had other problems. The Hartsville site just scored out better than any of the other sites. Now that the location has been chosen, Dials said LES will talk with TVA about incentives, like if there are power lines or things that need to be moved from the site, or if there is some sort of agreement we can make on a long-term power supply because we will be buying power from the TVA system. Of course, TVA is a potential customer also, because they need enriched uranium for their facility. Once LES gets through the licensing process, which is expected to take 18 months to two years, the name of the consortium probably will change, Dials said. We're using the name of the partnership because there are some legal, contractual reasons to do so. We're obviously not going to be in Louisiana, and I've been trying to de-emphasize Louisiana, as you might note. Just call us LES, Dials said. If licensed, the consortium will be going up against U.S. Enrichment Corp. as a competitor to provide uranium enrichment services on the world market. We're not trying to put them out of business or anything, we're not focused on them. We're focusing on the market. What we're trying to do is ensure that the U.S. nuclear utilities have a competitive supply of domestically based enrichment. If you look at where the enriched uranium is coming from today, a lot of it is coming from Russia. We just think it makes sense for the United States that we have a state-of-the-art source for enriched uranium. We want to compete on a level playing field with USEC. We'll be happy to do so. We don't need any government subsidies, we don't need any government funding to do this. We can do this on a competitive business nature and we think that's in the nation's interest that we have that opportunity, Dials said. Copyright © 1996 - 2002 Elizabethton Newspapers, Inc. Direct questions or comments to [webmaster@starhq.com] ***************************************************************** 21 Nuclear waste truck runs off road *09-10-2002* Tim Woodward Incident was second involving shipment from Idaho to WIPP A second truck carrying nuclear waste from Idaho to the government´s underground dump in New Mexico has been involved in an accident, but again no contaminants were released. Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., said the truck ran off Interstate 80 in Wyoming on Saturday. Another truck from the plant took the trailer, still carrying the containers, back to Idaho. Two weeks earlier, a truck bound from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for the dump was hit by an alleged drunk driver on U.S. 62-180 about 40 miles from the New Mexico facility. Nobody was injured in either accident, federal officials said. All shipments of plutonium-contaminated waste to New Mexico were suspended for 24 hours while the Wyoming accident was reviewed with all drivers, Energy Department Field Manager Ines Triay said. ?We want to make sure everybody understands this incident,? Triay said. ?We want to talk to them about the importance of keeping the excellent safety record we have to date.? The drivers in the latest accident, whose names were not released, are based at the Carlsbad facility. The truck was headed east on Interstate 80, 11 miles west of Green River, Wyo., when the driver said he felt ill and attempted to pull over shortly after midnight Saturday, authorities said. Before the driver made it to the roadside, he blacked out, said Kerry Watson, assistant manager for the waste program. The truck crossed the median, headed across the westbound lane and left the road. The driver was not known to be ill and had recently passed the physical required by the Department of Transportation, Watson said. The truck´s second driver was in the cab´s sleeper compartment and woke up when the truck went off the road. The accident caused minor damage to the cab, but not to the shipping containers, Watson said. The Wyoming Highway Patrol inspected the vehicle and conducted radiological testing. Officers concluded there had been no release of contaminants, Watson said. Edition Date: 09-10-2002 ***************************************************************** 22 WIPP trucks continue operation The Current Argus 9/10/2002 - Quarter of Sandia, Manzano bears killed in hunt so far Monday, September 09, 2002 - 10:22:56 PM MST Officials to require mandatory rest periods By Victoria Parker-Stevens Current-Argus Staff Writer CARLSBAD - Trucks again made their way to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant on Monday, after an accident in Wyoming resulted in a review of transportation safety issues. A truck carrying nuclear waste from Idaho on Saturday left the road after the driver blacked out, WIPP officials said. It was the second accident involving an Idaho shipment in less than two weeks. The first was allegedly caused by a drunk driver. No one was injured in either accident, and there was no release of contaminants, WIPP officials said. The truck on Saturday crossed the interstate median and went though a right-of-way fence on the opposite side of the road, stopping about a quarter mile into a field, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol. No citations were issued. The driver was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released. Alcohol and drug tests were negative, and no diagnosis has been made that explains the accident, WIPP officials said. The driver, whose name wasn't released, passed a recent physical, officials said. During a 24-hour shipment hold, all WIPP drivers were asked for input to assess what could be done to make the transportation program safer, said Kerry Watson, assistant manager for the federal Energy Department's National TRU Waste Program. A number of changes will be made, including a mandatory eight-hour rest period - not to be taken in the cab's sleeper - between the 30-hour trip to and from Idaho. "The rest will help us ensure driver fatigue is not an issue, said Ines Triay, manager of the federal Energy Department's Carlsbad Area Field Office. Fatigue should not have played a role in Saturday's accident, she said. The driver had averaged less than 40 hours per week since he was hired in June and had been off duty the first four days of September. On Thursday, he was on duty for 8.5 hours, and on Friday, for 7.75 hours. On Saturday, he had not gone on duty until about an hour before the accident. The driver had 11 years of experience, with at least 1.3 million miles under his belt, and four safe driving awards, Triay added. No changes will be made to the policy that allows the second driver to be in the sleeper while the truck is on the road, Watson said. At the time of Saturday's accident, the second driver was sleeping. Drivers have opportunities to rest along the way, he said. They must stop every 100 miles or two hours. They also have shipping "windows during which they are allowed to travel through populated areas. During the review, other ideas were also discussed, Watson said, including having drivers pull trucks to the side of the road when stopping at railroad crossings to ensure they are visible; making schedules more consistent so drivers have the maximum opportunity to rest between legs of the trip to and from WIPP; and looking into lighting at highway bypasses. Also after Saturday's accident, a WIPP team was sent to Idaho to reinspect the TRUPACT-IIs. As of Monday, two of the three TRUPACTs had been inspected, and no contamination was found, Watson said. An inspection was under way on the third TRUPACT. TRUPACTs have a dual containment system, and on the third TRUPACT, the outer containment vessel was clean on the outside and inside, and the exterior of the inner containment vessel was also clean, Watson said. The interior of the latter vessel was still being inspected at press time. A TRUPACT had been returned to Idaho after the Aug. 25 accident, when potential contamination was detected on the interior of the inner vessel at the WIPP site. But WIPP officials have said they do not want to connect the TRUPACT's return with the accident. © 1999-2002 MediaNews Group, Inc. ***************************************************************** 23 Several steps are necessary for licensing (new enrichment facility) Tuesday, 09/10/02 By KELLI SAMANTHA HEWETT and KATHY CARLSON Staff Writers Tennessee is about five years away from possibly becoming home to the country's second facility for enriching uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants that generate about 20% of America's electricity. Here are some steps along the path: • Trousdale County officials were meeting last night over dinner with executives from Louisiana Energy Services, which wants to build the facility. Trousdale County Executive Jerry Clift said he learned details of yesterday's LES announcement after calling the governor's office. He said he was not invited to the LES press conference, nor did he receive a news release from LES. ''I'm in the process of trying to learn everything I can about the situation,'' Clift said. ''They have left us in the dark on a lot of things.'' LES spokeswoman Nan Kilkeary couldn't be reached last night for comment on Clift's remarks. • Trousdale County Planning Commission Chairman Rod Bowen and planner Jim Lech are working on a new zoning code to cover what they called ''questionable'' or ''higher risk'' industries such as the LES project. They expect to have a draft ready in about a month. Planning commissioners said they want to require submission of copies of all government licenses, research, operating plans and other information to ensure safety. • LES officials said yesterday they plan to buy about 250 acres for the plant from the Four Lake Regional Industrial Development Authority, which recently bought the land from the Tennessee Valley Authority. County executives from all five counties involved in the authority will vote on the issue, said Four Lake Executive Director Dick Walker. That will be in the coming weeks or months, he said. • LES officials said they will apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license by the end of this year or early next year. • About six to eight weeks after the NRC receives LES' application, the commission would hold what's called a scoping meeting in or near Hartsville, NRC project manager Tim Johnson said. The session is a key part of the process by which the NRC prepares a report on the proposed plant's environmental impact. Its purpose is to ''obtain local public comment on the types of impact that we should be evaluating'' in preparing the report. There also are opportunities for members of the public to comment on the environmental impact report or to petition for a formal hearing on the plant, Johnson said. • The NRC also will prepare a safety review, covering public and worker health and safety, Johnson said. • Other local, state and federal agencies will examine and rule on a variety of issues besides those related to radioactive materials. Related stories [http://www.tennessean.com/growth/archives/02/09/22213747.shtml] [http://www.tennessean.com/growth/archives/02/09/22213749.shtml] [http://www.tennessean.com/growth/archives/02/09/22213751.shtml] © Copyright 2002 The Tennessean ***************************************************************** 24 Federal court keeps alive Nevada’s challenges to Yucca dump September 10, 2002 By Ken Ritter [online@rgj.com] ASSOCIATED PRESS 9/9/2002 11:24 pm LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s legal challenges to the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository moved another step forward after a federal judicial panel in Washington refused to dismiss three state lawsuits on procedural grounds. Nevada officials on Monday hailed a three-part decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as significant legal victories, while an Energy Department official downplayed them as “just procedural stuff.” “One panel of the court is just giving the other panel of the court a look at the case, which happens often,” Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said of Friday’s ruling. “There’s nothing significant here.” Marta Adams, the senior deputy Nevada attorney general in the case, said the state was encouraged it didn’t lose on procedural grounds. “That’s the key to the case for Nevada,” Adams said. “If we get our day in court, we think we have a good shot.” The state has five lawsuits against elements of the Yucca project in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. Adams said oral arguments on cases pending before the federal court are scheduled next February and March. The Energy Department had argued that congressional approval this summer for President Bush’s selection of the Yucca Mountain site made the state lawsuits moot. The state objects to the federal decision to store 77,000 tons of the nation’s highest-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas. State Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Friday’s rulings involved a challenge of the Energy Department’s site suitability rules for the project. Nevada’s challenge of the site on geologic grounds and its challenge of an environmental impact study for the site were consolidated by the court and referred to its merits panel. The court also denied an effort by the pro-Yucca Nuclear Energy Institute to join the case. The rulings came a day after Del Papa, Governor Kenny Guinn and Secretary of State Dean Heller approved a $4 million contract with the law firm Egan &Associates of McLean, Va., to lead the fight against the Yucca Mountain dump. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 25 House panel seeks faster Yucca license application Las Vegas SUN: September 09, 2002 By Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove House lawmakers are goading the Energy Department to speed up the plan to construct the world's first high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. A 223-page report written by the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on energy and water asks for $524 million for Yucca Mountain and urges the department to move faster with its application for the dump. "Given the importance of timely repository opening, the Department should take all reasonable steps to accelerate submission of the license application into early fiscal year 2004," the report says. The fiscal year starts Oct. 1, 2003, more than a year ahead of schedule. The report, which details budget requests for energy and water projects for the next fiscal year, was done in July by the 13-member subcommittee headed by Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala. Of the eight Republicans and five Democrats on the subcommittee, only one -- Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif. -- voted against Yucca Mountain. According to the report, lawmakers say the department needs to construct the national waste dump as soon as possible to avoid costly payouts in lawsuits filed by nuclear utilities, and to allow for faster cleanup of nuclear materials at U.S. defense and energy sites. An Energy Department spokesman was not available for comment today. Energy Department officials have said they planned to submit the application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by December 2004, with the ultimate goal of opening the repository by 2010. But assembling the license application is a complicated task, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and department Yucca chief Margaret Chu have consistently said their goal was to submit it by December 2004. There is much to do before then and the schedule is already "extremely tight," Chu told a National Academy of Sciences panel in July. Nevada lawmakers, who adamantly oppose Yucca, also oppose accelerating the timeline. It won't happen, said Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Even the December 2004 deadline wouldn't be feasible unless they are fully funded (by Congress), and Sen. Reid will continue to cut that funding," Hafen said. "There have always been members on both sides of the aisle who want to approve Yucca Mountain without questions, without investigation, and to deem it safe and move on," said Amy Spanbauer, a spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. She called the recommendation "unrealistic and irresponsible." The Yucca project has long been plagued by delays that irked pro-Yucca lawmakers. Congress in the 1980s promised nuclear power plant owners that the Energy Department would haul high-level waste away from their plants to Yucca by 1998. But Yucca construction still has not begun. Now the nuclear utilities are suing the government for billions of dollars while waste piles up at their plants. Energy Department officials still optimistically cling to a target date of 2010 for opening the dump. They will have to meet a number of milestones in an ambitious schedule. The department has asked Congress to approve a $527 million budget for next year to help it meet its 2004 goal. Reid, the No. 2 Senate Democrat who sits on the Appropriations Committee, had slashed the budget to $336 million in the Senate version of the bill. A joint House-Senate panel will hammer out the final budget. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 26 Money to battle Yucca runs low Las Vegas SUN: Today: September 10, 2002 at 11:18:27 PDT By Cy Ryan SUN CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- A fund to finance the legal fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump has $3.6 million to last until June 30, but it has a contract to pay its private attorneys up to $4 million. Bob Loux, director of the state Office on Nuclear Projects, told the Interim Finance Committee that he expects a substantial donation to be announced this week by a Northern Nevada "public institution." He declined to say how much and identify the party. Loux assured the committee there was enough money to make it through the end of the fiscal year. "We're managing the account and we will reduce costs," he said. Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, told Loux the state is in "financial straits" and money is in short supply. Loux assured the senator his office approves every expenditure by the lawyers, some of whom are paid up to $400 an hour. He told the committee that $2.9 million was spent in the public relations effort to convince Congress to uphold Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the dump. He said he would submit a detailed breakdown later of where the money was spent and who received it. Meanwhile, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Monday the state "scored a series of significant legal victories" in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. The court refused to dismiss three suits designed to stop the nuclear repository from being located at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Del Papa said the cases have been referred to a merits panel to allow Nevada to present its full arguments. The cases involve the state's challenge to the Energy Department's new site suitability rules for Yucca, a challenge to the department's environmental impact statement and a challenge to the president's and the energy secretary's site recommendations. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 27 Private consortium picks Tennessee for uranium fuel plant - 9/10/2002 - ENN.com Tuesday, September 10, 2002 By Tom Sharp, Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A private consortium picked Tennessee's Trousdale County as the site of a $1.1 billion high-tech uranium enrichment plant to make fuel for nuclear reactors, company officials announced Monday. The site in Hartsville is on property where the Tennessee Valley Authority began building a nuclear power plant more than two decades ago before eventually abandoning construction. Hartsville was selected by Louisiana Energy Services, a consortium of U.S. and European companies including Westinghouse and three major domestic power companies. The other finalist was another site adjacent to where TVA began building a nuclear power plant years ago near Hollywood, Ala. LES said its next step is to buy the land, which is now owned by a regional development authority in a five-county region north of Nashville. LES officials said they hope to have a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by 2004, begin construction in 2005, and begin production in 2006 or 2007. "We are delighted to welcome them to Tennessee and look forward to the new jobs and economic benefits that their $1.1 billion investment will bring to Hartsville," Gov. Don Sundquist said at the announcement. LES officials said one of their first tasks will be to inform the public about the plant's function. The Tennessee Environmental Council said it would fight the plant proposal. "This type of uranium enrichment does not fit with U.S. policy, and the generation of tons of radioactive waste is not welcome in Tennessee," council director Will Callaway said in a statement. LES President and CEO George E. Dials said about 400 people would be hired to build the new plant — at 4.6 million square feet about the size of 25 Wal-Mart Supercenters — and about 250 would be hired to work there permanently. Copyright 2002, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 28 Hartsville May Get a Uranium Plant* WKRN.COM Home September 10, 2002 It's a 1.1 billion dollar project, promising hundreds of jobs in Tennessee. Still, some have reservations about having a uranium plant as a neighbor. The site selected for the plant is in Trousdale county, near Hartsville, TN. It's 500 acres of land once targeted for a nuclear power plant, then abandoned by the TVA. /"The plant we're looking at for Hartsville will be based on the design of this plant here." / The speculation lasted for weeks. Would Louisiana Energy Services (L.E.S.) chose Alabama or Tennessee? /"We're going to be neighbors. We want to be good neighbors. We want to get to know one another." / Now, it's official, the consortium of European and American companies wants to build a uranium enrichment plant near Hartsville. L.E.S. CEO George Dial understands community concerns, /"We would love to have an informed welcoming community and we will work very hard now to insure that the folks in the area of the site are informed and have accurate and complete information and they can decide whether they like us or not." / The plant would enrich uranium for use in nuclear power plants. Company officials say the levels of radiation would be much lower than getting an X-ray, and it's all contained. State officials say it's an economic boon for a county with one of the highest unemployment rates. TN Economic Development Commissioner Tony Grande explained, /"Obviously a 1.1 billion dollar investment has long term benefits but in the short term it's going to bring just an incredible amount of economic activity to this small community."/ But, the Tennessee Environmental Council vows to fight the plant every step of the way, saying the state will be left with the problem of disposing of the low-level waste. TN Environmental Council's Will Callaway,/ "We're getting ready to set up yet another legacy of nuclear waste in Tennessee. We already have Oak Ridge, and I'm sure the people of Hartsville do not want that reputation."/ The company plans to set up an information office in Hartsville to answer any residents concerns. Before construction can begin it must get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a process which could take up to two years. News 2 at 6 09.09.02 All content © Copyright 2000 - 2002 WorldNow and WKRN. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 29 LES picks Hartsville as preferred site for plant - 2002-09-09 - Nashville Business Journal Louisiana Energy Services has chosen a site near Hartsville as the preferred location for a $1.1 billion uranium enrichment plant. The Washington, D.C.-based company in August signed a right refusal on the property, which was formerly owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority and is now held by the Four Lakes Regional Industrial Development Authority. "This will be an essential contribution to U.S. energy security by ensuring a competitive domestic source of enriched uranium for U.S. nuclear facilities," says LES President and CEO George E. Dials. The Hartsville site was chosen over another former TVA property - the Bellefonte nuclear power plant near Hollywood, Ala. "The Hartsville location came out ahead on our objective scoring system," LES Chairman Pat Upson says. "We used a decision analysis model to screen or score more than 40 sites throughout the U.S. Both Hartsville and Bellefonte scored very high on the technical criteria. Hartsville scored somewhat higher cumulatively and has some business and environmental benefits." © 2002 American City Business Journals Inc. ***************************************************************** 30 Op:CSRA behind the curve in providing protection from N-waste Augusta Georgia: Web posted Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Letter to the Editor Regarding the tons of high-level nuclear waste being trucked to the to Savannah River Site, the Nuclear Defense Safety Board has concluded that not all of the uranium at SRS is stored properly. The board has also concluded that a fire where some of the uranium is stored would cause airborne toxins to spread outside of SRS. It came out in federal court in Aiken that tons of uranium are being shipped to SRS, along with plutonium. For safety's sake, 100 percent of the uranium at SRS should be stored safely before tons are brought in to compound the problem. Judge Cameron Currie, who presided over the federal case in Aiken, brought up the fact that SRS does not have HEPA air filtration facilities for the incoming shipments. These facilities protect against airborne radiological, chemical and biological hazards... Indeed, Washington, D.C., has just received over 20,000 HEPA gas masks for lawmakers, aides, employees and tourists. We are behind the curve, and that can cost lives. Aside from accidents and terrorism, Aiken County has the highest cancer rate in South Carolina, according to the Department of Health and Environmental Control ... A full and thorough study is owed to all Aiken County residents to find out why. ... There are more than 2,000 current or former workers at SRS who have or will be receiving compensation due to illnesses caused by high-level nuclear waste. So if we know that stuff causes cancer, why are we bringing in more of it, especially to an area that has been hard hit by cancer? Finally - and maybe most importantly - according to federal law, all high-level nuclear waste must be permanently stored in a deep geological repository. The only one approved is Yucca Mountain, Nev. The federal government is trying to re-classify tons of high-level nuclear waste at SRS and at least two other nuclear sites to a lower level so that it won't have to be stored at Yucca Mountain. ... Jody Jones, Aiken, S.C. [http://augusta.com] . ***************************************************************** 31 AU: ACTU urged to campaign against nuclear waste dump. 10/9/2002. ABC News Online [http://abc.net.au/] Tuesday, September 10, 2002. Posted: 18:25:14 (AEDT) An indigenous leaders conference in Brisbane has called on the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to mount a coordinated campaign against a nuclear waste dump being built in South Australia. Delegates at the conference say an area near Coober Pedy is likely to be earmarked for a proposed waste dump. John Hartley, a representative of the ACTU's indigenous committee, says a resolution calling on the ACTU to act was passed today unanimously. "I think as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people we realise the effect that these kinds of proposals can have on country, on people, and on our future generations," he said. [http://www.abc.net.au] © 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ***************************************************************** 32 Nuclear projects director says he has enough cash to get through the year Nevada Appeal September 10, 2002 Geoff Dornan, Appeal Capitol Bureau The head of Nevada's Yucca Mountain battle says he has the cash to get through this year even though his contract for legal services is more than his $3.6 million in state funding. Bob Loux, director of the state Office on Nuclear Projects, told the Interim Finance Committee he expects a substantial donation by a Northern Nevada "public institution" later this week. He declined to say how much or to identify the contributor. Loux said he is controlling expenses by the legal team defending Nevada's position in opposition to the proposed nuclear dump. Some of those attorneys receive $400 an hour for their work on three different legal actions before the federal courts. Loux said $2.9 million was spent in the public relations effort to convince Congress to vote against the dump. He said he would provide lawmakers with a detailed report on how that money was spent. Loux said he is working to reduce costs while continuing to defend the state's position against Yucca Mountain. Nevada won a victory in its legal battle to block the dump when the Circuit Court in Washington, D.C., refused Monday to dismiss those lawsuits. Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said those cases will be reviewed by a panel allowing Nevada to make its full arguments. /Copyright Nevada Appeal. Materials contained within this site may Advertising Inquiries ***************************************************************** 33 FW: LASC: Vieques Call to Action Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 13:58:22 -0500 (CDT) The Nicaragua Network has received this important action alert on Vieques. For more information, call the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques: 787-741-0716 Warm greetings from the Peace and Justice Camp, center of operations for the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, which is located in front of the military facilities of Camp Garcia, the US Navy base in Vieques. Alert: A Call to Action Please support the resistance against the military maneuvers which commenced on Tuesday, September 3 and will last 21 days. We appeal to your creativity and solidarity to conduct actions for peace during these 21 days, when the Navy will be resuming its bombing against our people. Here are just some of the actions you can take to support peace in Vieques: Come to Vieques to participate in civil disobedience and other activities. Contact President Bush, urging him to sign an executive order to cease all military practices in Vieques. (President @whitehouse.gov or tel. 202-456-1111) In addition we are need donations of funds and materials for civil disobedience actions: walkie-talkie radios, small flashlights, water, dry food, among other necessities. Please call us: 787-741-0716 Please denounce the repression against CRDV leader Robert Rabin, who was put in the "hole" (solitary confinement) on August 30. Rabin has been denied the right to make telephone calls and receive visits. We believe that the repression is designed to prevent him from beginning a planned fast during the military maneuvers from September 3-23. You can send a fax or call the federal prison in Guaynabo to express your concern for his well-being, as well as that of all of the Prisoners for Peace for Vieques. Please direct all communications to the officials in charge of inmate affairs: Lcda. Alma Lspez, fax (787)775-7824 or to the Warden, Jorge Patrana, fax (787) 775-7817 or call the prison: (787)749-4480 In addition please contact Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, Director Federal Bureau of Prisons 320 First St. NW Washington, D.C. 20534 (202)307-3198, fax (202)514-6878 khawk@bop.gov Please consider participating in fasts, as many people in Vieques, Puerto Rico, and the US such as Christian Peace Action Teams will be doing during these maneuvers. For more information please call: Vieques: Peace and Justice Camp 787-741-0716 Puerto Rico: National Hostosian Congress 787-250-1588 Participate in the vigils each Saturday at 8 PM in the Peace and Justice Camp, in Vieques. Write to our Prisoners for Peace: Cacimar Zensn Encarnacmon #19532-069 Pedro Zensn Encarnacmon #19533-069 Regalado Mirs Corcino #19775-069 Pedro Colsn Almenas #22192-069 Robert Rabin #20374-069 Address: MDC Guaynabo PO Box 2147 San Juan, PR 00922-2147 Please be alert for information about car caravans and a gathering in front of Camp Garcia in Vieques. The month of August has seen much activity in this struggle for peace in Vieques. Here is a brief summary: August 3-9 The struggle of the people of Vieques was presented at the War Resisters International Convention, held in Dublin, Ireland, by a delegation comprised of attorneys Fermin L. Arraiza and Jose Juan Nazario, Dr. Luis Nieves Falcon and Dra. Aurea Rodriguez; La delegation had the opportunity to share time with the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maired Corrigan Maguire. August 12, 14, 16, 21 Brigades from the Organizing committee for the Relay for Peace (in Vieques) visited the following local communities: Residencial Jardines de Vieques , Urbanizacion Isabel II, Parcelas Las Marias, Barrio La Esperanza, Barrio Monte Santo, Monte Santo Playa , Villa Hugo, and Parcelas Florida. More than 3,000 flyers were distributed, and posters were put up, while the people were invited to the activity. August 15 - We celebrated a luncheon in our Camp with panelists from the International Conference of Peace and Development "Peace in Peace", which has been held in San Juan. They visited the "little girl island" (Vieques) to learn of the problems that viequenses experience due to the military practices, and to dialogue with local leaders. During the event in San Juan, several panelists had expressed their desire for the US Navy to cease its bombings and leave the island municipality. The delegation was composed by Novel Peace Prize winner, ex-Costa Rica President Oscar Arias; retired US Marines Captain Roberto Schwartz; human rights activist Alda Faccio; director of the Arab-Israeli Center Sarah Ozacky; attorney Carole Wacey; journalist Roberto Savio; Pakistani Ayesha Siddiga-Agha; and Catholic Sister Mary Ann McGiven. In the activity the visitors were asked to urge President Bush to sign an Executive Order guaranteeing that the Navy would leave before May 1, 2003. August 15 - A protest took place in Vieques against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At the same time that EPA was announcing a plan to clean the lands occupied by the Navy, the Navy announced that it would resume bombing. CRDV denounced the action of EPA as a hypocritical public relations act on behalf of the Navy. August 17- A delegation of viequenses traveled to Guaynabo to lead a vigil in front of the federal prison, dedicated to Roberto Rabin. We picketed the prison and stayed overnight in the camp located in front of the prison. August 19 - A concurrent press conference was held in the Lawyer's Guild in San Juan, by the various organizations that would be participating in the Relay for Peace (in Vieques, August 24.) August 24 - the group 4 members of the Christian PeaceMaker Teams arrived in Vieques. Many of their members have been arrested in various protests, not only in Vieques but also in other countries struggling for peace. August 24 RELAY FOR PEACE. After much work, more than 23 organizations held an activity that exceeded all expectations. Fulfilling all commitments exactly, the embarcation of Dr. Hector pesquera (a leader of the National Hostosian Congress) brought to the pier on the western end of Vieques the Torch and Flag of Peace, which were presented to Vieques Mayor Damaso Serrano and Vieques Catholic Church pastor Father Nelson Lopez, at the stage near the pier. The opening ceremonies began the activities at noon. The people who were expropriated by the Navy during the 1940's -- to whom the activity was dedicated -- began the walk from Punta Arenas (the extreme west of the island) at 1 pm. They carried the flags of Puerto Rico, Vieques, peace and the lit torch. These symbols were passed from group to group for the entire 19 kilometers from Punta Arena up to Camp Garcia. In the walk hundreds and hundreds of observers lined the sidewalks to applaud the marchers and shout slogans against the Navy's presence. By 5:30 PM the group of children organized by Camp Milivy finished the march. This last segment, represented the continuation of the struggle, which has not yet reached its conclusion This Relay also represented a struggle which has gone on in stages, much like a relay. Since the struggle commenced in organized form against the Navy in March 1964 the people of Vieques have continued struggling. The Masters of Ceremony Nilda Medina, Eva Luisa Torres and Enrique Romero recognized the presence of various figures and organizations that marched. Among them were Rademes Tirado representing the expropriated; Josefina Pantojas for All Puerto Rico with Vieques; Jose Manuel Emeric for the organizing committee and the special message by civil disobedient Ruben Berrios Martinez, president fo the Puerto Rican Independence Party. A moving letter from prisoner for peace Robert Rabin was read, as well as letters from New Progressive Party Senator and civil disobedient Norma Burgos, and Flavio Cumpiano, representative in Washington DC for the CRDV. The following organizations were also recognized: the Expropiated , Horsemen for Peace, Teacher's Federation, Giants of Carolina, National Hostosian Congress, New Independence Movement, Puertorrican Sindicate of Workers, General Union of Workers, Puerto Rican Federation for Workers, Socialist Front, Socialist Youth, Puerto Rican Workers Central; UTIER, UIA, Federal Employees, Viequenses in Exile, Vieques Teachers, Mayaguezanos Alert and Available, All PR with Vieques, Alliance of Viequense Women, Women's Group for Peace ("the 31"), United Vieques Youth, University Pro-Independence Federation, Civil Disobedients, Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, Camp Luisa Guadalupe, Peace and Justice Camp, and Monte Carmelo. Photos of the Relay are at this link: Photos: http://www.proresca tevieques.org/relevo/Relevo.html August 28 - All PR with Vieques held a successful civil disobedience workshop. Many people were recruited for actions during September. August 30 A delegation of environmentalists and pacifists arrived in Vieques to be witnesses to the upcoming military maneuvers. the women in the delegation are from Asheville, North Carolina: Elizabeth Roebling of Asheville Friends Meeting (North Carolina); Clare Hanrahan, imprisoned for 6 months for protesting agaisnt the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Georgia; Darcel Eddins and Sharon Martin, active in environmental and social justice causes. Roebling has already participated in civil disobedience in Vieques and has served time in Guaynabo. This delegation will report back to the Western North Carolina Peace Coalition and other groups. ***************************************************************** 34 [southnews] Transcript: ABC's Mark Willacy Iraq nuclear Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 00:46:13 -0500 (CDT) 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/7gSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ---------- This is a transcript of AM broadcast at 0800 AEST on local radio. Iraq nuclear facility tour AM - Tuesday, September 10, 2002 8:11 http://www.abc.net.au/am/s671657.htm ELEANOR HALL: In an effort to convince the world it isn't producing weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has opened the door to one of the prime targets of possible military strikes. The Al Tuwaitha nuclear facility near Baghdad was first bombed twenty years ago by the Israelis. It was hit again in 1991 by the United States and now the British government has produced satellite maps of the plant which would aid in another strike. But the Iraqis insist Al Tuwaitha is now just a research facility for medical and pharmaceutical products and they have invited a handful of foreign journalists to tour the site. Our Middle East correspondent Mark Willacy was one of them. MARK WILLACY: There are a couple of rules to keep in mind when taking a tour through an Iraqi manufacturing plant. First, don't spend too much time looking around and second, don't go wandering off from the main group. With the United States accusing Iraq of trying to enrich uranium Saddam Hussein's regime is throwing open the gates to possible targets of military strikes. A thirty minute bus ride south of Baghdad is the Al Tuwaitha plant, a former nuclear facility bombed by the Israelis in 1981 and again by the US ten years later. Leading today's tour is Iraqi Foreign Ministry official Dr. Sa'eed al-Mousawi. SA'EED AL-MOUSAWI: Well what we are doing now is telling the international community the truth and it's a point the international community to decide and it's a point to the US administration and the UK administration, to see whether they have been misled to their so-called experts. MARK WILLACY: We have been taken to a part of the plant that the United States bombed in 1991 and the rubble is still here eleven years later. We have just come from a factory that produces, among other things, some large metal bolts, spikes, some equipment for x-ray machines and as one journalist remarked, there can't be nuclear scientists here because there were instructions in the bathroom on how to flush the toilet. FAYEZ BURKIAH: This is a research centre. We are dealing with any kind of research except nuclear. MARK WILLACY: Dr. Fayez Burkiah is the Director General of what is curiously referred to as Iraq's policy programme. FAYEZ BURKIAH: This site is for the environment. There are chemists, physicists, there are agriculturalists, all the activities. MARK WILLACY: Except for nuclear activity. Those days are long gone according to the Iraqis. But British Prime Minister Tony Blair warns that Iraq has reactivated its weapons of mass destruction programme and his government has produced satellite photos of the Al Tuwaitha plant to back its claim that Saddam Hussein's regime is once again trying to achieve nuclear capability. While there is construction at Al Tuwaitha, it's not what you would call state of the art. More like a few hastily constructed sheds, with walls that are clearly not level, even to the naked eye. Dr. Fayez, this is the last building on our tour. Can you tell us what it is used for? FAYEZ BURKIAH: This is used for producing mushrooms. The seeds, they make it in that building and they transfer the seeds and they plant it here and they get the mushroom. MARK WILLACY: So it's actually producing mushrooms? FAYEZ BURKIAH: Yes. That's right. MARK WILLACY: So you hoping to build a mushroom industry in Iraq? FAYEZ BURKIAH: We hope so. Yes. This is, what you call, this is an idea. MARK WILLACY: It's hard to tell who is being treated like mushrooms, Tony Blair and George Bush or the mob of journalists trooping around the Al Tuwaitha plant. This is Mark Willacy in Baghdad for AM. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: southnews-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 35 How You Can Act to Prevent the Approaching War Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 19:26:36 -0500 (CDT) How You Can Act to Prevent the Approaching War BEFORE TOO LATE A WORLD-DEBATE By Park Teter Park Teter taught at universities in Lebanon and Iran and worked as a journalist at Congressional Quarterly and The Washington Post. He is the author of Revolution Against War, published at www.TheAgeOfMeaning.com. Bush Senior's Iraq attack led to 911. If Bush Junior attacks Iraq, the consequences will be far worse than 911. It was the spectacular American "victory" in the Gulf War that drove many Moslems to despair, and thus drove them to perform, or to applaud, acts of terrorism. Whatever the immediate consequences of another American "victory" in Iraq, its long range consequences will be a new generation of Moslem terrorists filled with hatred of America, driven to suicidal despair, and armed with appalling weapons. Of course many of the world's 1.2 billion Moslems despise Saddam Hussein and the Taliban and terrorism. But the spectacular triumphs of American arms in the midst of Islamic societies create in many Moslems deep feelings of impotence. Some of those disheartened Moslems will assuage feelings of impotence in terrorist acts against which Americans feel impotent. There is no surer way to guarantee future terrorist acts in the United States than a military "victory" against Saddam Hussein. As terror and counter-terror escalate, the world will sink into an Age of Terror. Historians looking back to identify the sources of that darkened world will see in an American "victory" over Saddam a decisive turning point. What is the alternative? To recognize in today's crisis an opportunity as huge as the danger. The time has come to recognize that modern weapons of mass destruction make imperative a Revolution Against War. (RAW - war spelled backwards) As Einstein observed, "The splitting of the atom has changed everything save our mode of thinking, and therefore we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe." As catastrophe approaches, humanity's number one priority must be given to discovering "a new mode of thinking." Imagine a worldwide debate in search of a profoundly new mode of thinking. Such a World-Debate would be totally without precedent. And that is exactly as it must be. Because today's human situation is totally without precedent. The following list is an agenda for a World-Debate on the new mode of thinking that is demanded by modern warfare: 1. Religion. Many seek the common wisdom shared by all the world religions. All the world's religions have failed to end war. The time has come to find the common error shared by all the world religions. 2. Science. Scientists ask the mass or the velocity of physical facts, but never ask the meanings of physical facts. This irrational behavior has created the modern myth of a meaningless physical universe. That myth is a source of the deep despair manifested in total wars, totalitarian governments, and terrorist acts. 3. Terrorism. Many believe that it is worse to kill a nine-year-old civilian than to kill a 19-year-old soldier. This absurd belief legitimates, and thus perpetuates, war. The alternative is to feel the same horror toward killing soldiers as toward killing civilians. And to recognize that war is worse for soldiers than for civilians, because soldiers not only get killed, they kill. 4. Realism. Terrorism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible terror. The way to defend America against terrorism is to recognize in ourselves the unconscious sources of mariamabachax4@spinfinder.comourselves from our inner enemies. Once free of inner enemies, we will not need foreign enemies. And we will discover foreign allies. 5. Patriotism. Patriotism is noble because it inspires individuals to care for and sacrifice for other people. But patriotism is ignoble because it teaches children to value one part of humanity more than all humanity. In our age of modern weapons, we have no choice but to replace national patriotisms with human patriotism. The revolution in humanity's mode of thinking must be 1) profound; 2) global; 3) rapid. That combination is necessary. But is it possible? Yes. A combination of two powerful historical forces make it possible. First, because of the communications revolution, new ideas can reach all humanity as rapidly as the picture of exploding skyscrapers reached all humanity, and individuals can reach other individuals all over the world. Second, the unprecedented horrors of modern weapons have created a global consciousness ripe for unprecedented ideas. To spark the World-Debate I have published on the Internet a short book entitled Revolution Against War. I have waived copyright so that any individual, organization, business, or publisher can make any number of copies (a dozen, a million) and distribute or sell them. A master copy for reprinting can be downloaded from a pdf file at www.TheAgeOfMeaning.com. This manifesto can spark a "new mode of thinking" only if individuals distribute copies... and then contribute their own thoughts and feelings to the World-Debate. Universities exist to explore ideas, and students and professors can use teach-ins to search for unprecedented ideas... and then rapidly spread the debate to other campuses. Every kind of group can participate in the World-Debate, and link with other groups via the Internet. All means should be used to spread the World-Debate. The Internet is the fastest. If enough people in enough countries decide soon to join the World-Debate, that unprecedented phenomenon will give pause to governments poised on the brink of unparalleled catastrophe. While governments hesitate, citizens of the world will create the new "mode of thinking" that will end thousands of years of the terrors of war. ________________________________________________________________ Park Teter, 1471 Marshall-Petaluma Rd., Petaluma, CA 94952 (415) 999 4284 Peter Phillips Ph.D. Sociology Department/Project Censored Sonoma State University 1801 East Cotati Ave. Rohnert Park, CA 94928 707-664-2588 http://www.projectcensored.org/ ***************************************************************** 36 Iraq Bomb Is on Horizon Think tank: nuke weapon within year By Mohamad Bazzi UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT September 10, 2002 United Nations - Iraq could build a nuclear bomb within a year if it imports the right material, but its ability to use other weapons of mass destruction has dwindled, a leading think tank said yesterday. The report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies provided the Bush administration with new ammunition in its campaign to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The report said that if Iraq were able to acquire enriched uranium with foreign help, within a year it could put a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of reaching Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel, Turkey, Jordan or Iran. The study said Baghdad does not have nuclear arms and probably lacked means to deliver any remaining chemical and biological weapons in a way that would cause massive loss of life. The report also offered no clear support either to U.S. hawks who argue that a military strike aimed at toppling Hussein's regime is urgently needed, or to European and Arab leaders who advocate continued containment of Iraq and the return of UN weapons inspectors. "Either course of action carries risks. Wait and the threat will grow. Strike and the threat may be used," the report said. Iraqi officials dismissed the findings, saying they were a "distortion of facts" to justify an attack. Iraqi officials took Western reporters on a tour of a former nuclear facility 12 miles south of Baghdad, saying it was now used for agricultural and medical research. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Detroit that President George W. Bush's talks with world leaders in recent days - and efforts to show Iraqi violations of UN resolutions - were generating results that could spark a new UN Security Council resolution giving Iraq an ultimatum to allow weapons inspectors to return after four years. "It does appear that the movement is budding to put some force into previous UN resolutions," Fleischer said. "Don't take it as military force, necessarily." Having consulted the leaders of Britain, France, Russia and China recently, Bush did the same yesterday with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien while they promoted safe-border initiatives in Detroit. Neither mentioned the issue publicly, though, and Bush ignored a reporter's question about Iraq after the meeting. Later in Ontario, Chretien said, "I told him that we're asking them to go through the United Nations first before taking any action. It's extremely important to follow the processes of the United Nations." Yesterday Bush also spoke with leaders of the UN, European Union, Turkey and Egypt. In a hint that European sentiment may be inching toward the U.S. stance, an EU leader told Bush it could back unspecified UN sanctions against Iraq if Baghdad refused to readmit arms inspectors. The Bush administration also appeared pleased with comments by French President Jacques Chirac proposing a Security Council resolution giving Iraq a three-week deadline to permit new, unrestricted weapons inspections. Chirac said that should be followed by a second resolution on military action if Iraq refuses. European and Arab leaders want a political solution. Diplomats say Washington is unlikely to garner much support for its campaign against Hussein if inspectors are allowed to return and work unhampered. The return of weapons inspectors is a key requirement to lifting UN sanctions on Baghdad, imposed after Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990. The inspectors left Iraq in December 1998, on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing raid, and the Iraqi government has not allowed them to return. UN inspection teams could begin work within weeks if Iraq permitted it, but Security Council resolutions give them from six months to a year to analyze if Iraq still has any weapons of mass destruction, a timetable far slower than Bush has in mind. Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 Reporters visit nuclear site construction * online.ie home /The Irish Examiner 10 Sep 2002/ *IRAQ insisted yesterday that construction at a nuclear site was for peaceful research, continuing a campaign to prove its enemies are lying to build a case for military action against Saddam Hussein.* Reporters were escorted to the site, al-Twaitha, 25 miles south of Baghdad. The site was destroyed twice, first by the Israelis in 1981 and then by the allies during the 1991 Gulf War, according to Iraqi officials. It was the fifth such visit in four weeks. Iraqi authorities have taken reporters to what were described as a livestock vaccination laboratory, a complex of food warehouses, an insecticide plant and a fertiliser factory. Critics say experts in chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programmes given unfettered access should be conducting the inspections. The United States, with British support, accuses Saddam of possessing weapons of mass destruction and harbouring terrorism. The head of a UN atomic weapons team said last week that satellite photos show new construction at several sites linked to Saddam's past nuclear efforts. French physicist Jacques Baute did not identify the sites, but Iraqi officials said yesterday at least one was al-Twaitha. "Blair and the British media have waged in the recent days a new media campaign saying that Iraq has reactivated and they have shown satellite photos saying that there are four facilities in this site conducting activities in the nuclear field," said Saeed Al-Moussawi, a foreign ministry official who escorted journalists to al-Twaitha. "These claims are full distortion of facts about these four buildings and there functions." Al-Moussawi claimed that the four new buildings were used for environmental, medical and agricultural research and "they are purely dedicated for peaceful purposes." The buildings were surrounded by rubble. Inside, workers operated lathes. Bags of mushrooms said to be used in agricultural research were scattered on the floor. Samples of what was described as kidney disease medicine were kept in a laboratory. It was not clear when the four buildings were constructed. A fifth that also looked new but was not shown to the reporters appeared to be a warehouse. Meanwhile,US and British war planes bombed an Iraqi air defence command-and-control site southeast of Baghdad yesterday, the fourth attack in the southern no-fly zone this month. The allied attack near Al Amarah, 170 miles southeast of the capital, was "in response to recent Iraqi hostile acts" against aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones, said US Central Command. The RAF and USAF attacked two military sites in Iraq last week. Pentagon officials say there is nothing unusual about the frequency of the raids there were eight last month but there is speculation that the US and Britain are trying to destroy Iraq's air defence capabilities in a preparation for an all-out attack. Pentagon officials said yesterday's attack came after Iraqi forces fired on a US-British patrol. Coalition aircraft used precision-guided weapons to hit the air defence command and control facility, said US Central Command. The command called it "a self-defence measure in response to Iraqi hostile threats and acts against coalition forces and their aircraft. The Examiner Logo ***************************************************************** 38 Navy Detains 2 Priests on Vieques Las Vegas SUN: Las Vegas SUN Today: September 10, 2002 at 12:30:47 PDT By MANUEL ERNESTO RIVERA ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico- U.S. Navy security officers detained two Roman Catholic priests on Vieques for trespassing on Navy lands Tuesday as fighters jets dropped dummy bombs on the island during military exercises. The arrests brought to 11 the number detained for trespassing since the latest round of exercises began Sept. 3 on the Puerto Rican island, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Kim Dixon said. Activist Ismael Guadalupe said five other men entered the Navy's bombing range on the island's eastern tip Monday in an effort to prevent the exercises. He said they remained there Tuesday morning and were in contact by cellular phone. The Rev. Nelson Lopez of Vieques identified the two detained priests as the Rev. Mauro Simpson, 77, and the Rev. Felix Montalvo, 58. Both came from the Sweet Name of Jesus parish in the town of Humacao on the main island of Puerto Rico. Lopez, a Catholic priest who has participated in past demonstrations against the military exercises, said the two priests entered Navy lands through a hole in a fence. A squadron of F-14s and F-18s launched from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman were dropping 25-pound inert bombs, Dixon said. The current round of training is to last about two more weeks. The military has used the bombing range for more than six decades. Opposition grew when a civilian guard was killed by two bombs dropped off-target in 1999. Since then, only inert bombs have been used. Opponents say the exercises harm the environment and health of Vieques' 9,100 residents. The Navy denies the claims. Hundreds of people have tried to thwart the exercises by invading the range and have been arrested, jailed and fined. President Bush has promised the Navy will withdraw its forces from Vieques by May 2003. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 39 Some Wonder Why Iraq Is Singled Out Las Vegas SUN: Today: September 10, 2002 at 12:11:19 PDT By WILLIAM J. KOLE ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENNA, Austria- China has them. The United States, Britain, France and Russia have them. So do India and Pakistan. Israel likely does, and North Korea may be trying to get them. Nuclear weapons abound, in friendly and unfriendly hands. So why is Washington singling out Iraq in its post-Sept. 11 crusade to purge the world of the threat? The obvious explanation: Saddam Hussein - who has used chemical weapons against neighboring Iran and his own people - refuses to let U.N. weapons inspectors return to check intelligence reports that he may be trying to build a nuclear bomb. But as President Bush ratchets up his quest for support for an invasion of Iraq, agencies monitoring the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction say a regime change in Baghdad won't eliminate the menace posed by other unpredictable governments. "There's always a worry when one country is focused on that others will be ignored, and that's a mistake," said David Albright, a former Iraq weapons inspector who runs the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. "There are serious problems in South Asia that aren't getting addressed, and the Bush administration isn't reaching out at all to Iran," he said. "These situations are very dangerous and require a lot of attention. If everybody's looking at Iraq, it's more difficult to come up with an overall engagement strategy." The Federation of American Scientists, which keeps tabs on nuclear arms worldwide, offers a bleak assessment of the global threat: - At least 17 countries either have nuclear weapons or are believed, based on Western intelligence, to have the means to produce them. Seven nations have confirmed nuclear arsenals: Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, Russia and the United States. Israel, which is reported to have up to 100 warheads, has never confirmed its arsenal. Countries suspected of pursuing nuclear weapons include Iran, Iraq, Libya and North Korea. - Nineteen countries are suspected of having or pursuing biological and chemical weapons. They include Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Laos, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Syria and Taiwan. The United States had a biological weapons program from 1942 to 1969 and had 30,000 tons of chemical weapons in 1997 when it pledged to destroy the stockpile within 10 years. - Sixteen nations have the missile technology capable of carrying nuclear, biological or chemical weapons to distant targets. Aside from major nuclear powers, they include Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria. Thirty-two countries produce more than 150 different kinds of unmanned drone aircraft capable of flying undetected below missile-defense systems to deliver a nuclear or biological payload, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says in a new book, "Deadly Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction." Ominous threats abound elsewhere, the foundation contends: China has 20 nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the United States, and Libya has produced more than 100 tons of blister and nerve agents. "After Sept. 11, the terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction seems the more urgent danger, but ... the acquisition of those weapons, even by established nations, dares catastrophe," author Joseph Cirincione says. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, monitors the status of nuclear materials in dozens of countries. "But we're limited in being able to provide total assurance in countries that have not signed agreements enabling us to much more intrusively go in and determine whether a nation is pursuing a secret nuclear program," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. Iraq, whose military was decimated by the Gulf War, likely doesn't have nuclear weaponry, despite the Bush administration's insistence that Baghdad is working to acquire the technology. "There's no urgent need to go to war," said Albright, the former weapons inspector. The respected International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report this week that although Baghdad has substantial supplies of chemical and biological agents, a nuclear bomb could be years out of its reach. It hastened to add, however, that Iraq could build a bomb "in a matter of months" if it obtained high-grade radioactive material. Is the fuss over Iraq obscuring the broader fight to contain the nuclear, chemical and biological threat? Dennis M. Gormley, a senior fellow at the London-based institute, doesn't think so. "There's a decided difference between Iraq and the other members of the so-called `axis of evil,'" Gormley said. "There's a track record of irresponsibility on Iraq's part. For 11 years, Iraq has flouted 16 U.N. Security Council resolutions. Iraq has used chemical weapons against its own population and against one of its neighbors, Iran." During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Iraqi forces used chemical weapons numerous times. U.N. investigators confirmed the use of two main Western-made formulas: mustard gas and a nerve gas. In 1988, Saddam's military bombed the Iraqi town of Halabja with poison gas to put down Kurdish rebels, killing an estimated 5,000 people. "In a sense, we have this narrow window of opportunity to do something about what can only become worse," Gormley said. "This may be our last best chance." On the Net: IAEA, www.iaea.org/worldatom/ Institute for Science and International Security, www.isis-online.org Federation of American Scientists, www.fas.org/irp/threat/wmd-state.htm All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 40 UK: A sober summary of the threat posed by Saddam's arsenal Times Online September 10, 2002 Terrible truths Nobody claims that the dossier published yesterday by Britain’s most influential think-tank on Saddam Hussein’s arsenal of death breaks much new ground. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) did not have access to the intelligence sources and other data collected by Western governments. That in no way detracts from the value of its meticulously compiled report: the precis of known data, coupled with the sober assessment of Saddam’s past behaviour, make the findings all the more chilling. It concludes that Saddam probably does not have the fissile material needed to produce nuclear weapons. But he has an interest in doing so. And were he to buy or steal enriched uranium from abroad, “he has the ability to put together nuclear weapons, on short order, in a matter of months.” Saddam’s race to make a bomb may be the issue that underpins the urgency of American determination to confront Iraq. Stealing fissile material from any of the loosely guarded stores in crumbling capitals of the former Soviet Union is still unacceptably tempting; and in any case, there are enough impoverished scientists and corrupt middlemen willing to smuggle out what cannot be stolen. But the nuclear threat, serious as it is, is not as significant as Iraq’s continuing programme to manufacture chemical and biological weapons on a vast scale. As the IISS makes clear, the United Nations weapons inspectors were able to destroy vast quantities of precursors, growth media, anthrax and other deadly agents. But they could not destroy the knowledge of those scientists manufacturing these weapons. Nor could they assume that Iraq would be unable to rebuild — and hide — the laboratories and specialist facilities needed to resume production of biological and chemical weapons. Saddam, it must be assumed, must now have a formidable arsenal of weapons that could poison many thousands of people. Delivery may still be difficult, but even crude missiles whose technology is within reach of Iraqi engineers are enough to launch deadly bacteria against Israel, Kuwait or an advancing US force. Dr John Chipman, the IISS Director, delivered his report from a position of useful, and credible, political impartiality. That gives all the more force to his warning, therefore, that unless Saddam’s programme of weapons of mass destruction was stopped, no other country in the region would have any reason to halt similar proliferation. The Government is clearly pleased that strategic analysts have also reached the conclusion that Tony Blair has been voicing ever more forcefully in recent weeks: a spokesman called it significant, painting a powerful picture of a highly unstable regime. Certainly it will help Mr Blair as he begins the extremely difficult task of blunting trade union and left-wing hostility to his policy. It will also prepare Britons for the promised government report on Iraq’s weapons, which has drawn the latest intelligence and is likely to provide much more disturbing and detailed evidence of Saddam’s malign intent. The IISS report cannot be adduced as political support for the Bush-Blair view, however. Its intention was to allow officials and the public to assess the extent of the threat, not the balance of risk in attacking Iraq or doing nothing. Either course, it concludes, is unsafe: “Wait and the threat will grow. Strike and the threat may be used.” No report is able to disclose the full picture of Saddam’s malevolence or skill in concealing his intentions. This is not Cuba, where missiles sites could be identified from satellite photography. But it is the shadowy nature of the threat that makes it so menacing. Even a partial summary, given by an impartial source, makes clear that the threat must be confronted. Copyright 2002 [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,549,00.html] Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 41 The Iraqi threat: real or imagined? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | 80-page IISS dossier details Iraqi capabilities Richard Norton-Taylor Tuesday September 10, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] War, sanctions and UN weapons inspections have reversed and retarded - but not eliminated - Iraq's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and long-range missile capacities, the International Institute for Strategic Studies concludes in yesterday's report. The 80-page dossier, drawn mainly from the experience of UN weapons inspectors, provides as much ammunition for opponents of a military attack on the country as for those advocating one. John Chipman, IISS director, said yesterday the dossier "does not attempt to make a case, either way, as to whether Saddam Hussein's WMD [weapons of mass destruction] arsenal is a casus belli per se". He added: "Wait and the threat will grow; strike and the threat may be used." But his underlying message was clear: "The retention of WMD capacities by Iraq is self-evidently the core objective of the regime, for it has sacrificed all other domestic and foreign policy goals to this singular aim." Nuclear/radiological Dr Chipman's reference in interviews to the suggestion that Iraq could assemble a nuclear weapon within months if it obtained fissile material was seized on by the media. What the report actually says is: "There is a nuclear wildcard. If, somehow, Iraq were able to acquire sufficient nuclear material from foreign sources, it could probably produce nuclear weapons on short order, probably in a matter of months." The dossier says Iraq does not possess facilities to produce fissile material in sufficient amounts for nuclear weapons. It would require several years and extensive foreign assistance to build production facilities for such material. Iraq, it says, could take a number of measures to hide a 1,000-machine centrifuge plant from surveillance but it would be difficult to acquire foreign materials, equipment and components for such a plant without detection. The dossier says: "Assuming that 1998 [the year UN inspectors left Iraq] is the starting point, most experts do not believe that Iraq could have completed a facility for the production of nuclear weapons-usable nuclear material in only a few years." Iraq's current interest in radiological weapons is unknown. It could divert civil-use radioisotopes or seek to obtain foreign material for a crude device. Biological Iraq probably retained substantial growth media and biological weapons agents - perhaps thousands of litres of anthrax - from pre-1991 stocks. It is capable of resuming biological weapons agent production on short notice - weeks - from existing civilian facilities and could have produced thousands of litres of anthrax, botulinum toxin and other agents since 1998. Actual stocks are unknown. The country's production of viral agents and possession of smallpox are unknown. "Aside from conventional military munitions, delivery of BW [biological weapons] by individuals or small groups acting as commandos or terrorists remains a plausible threat that is very difficult to defend against." Refurbished L-29 trainer aircraft could operate as weapons-carrying unmanned aerial vehicles with a range of 375 miles. In theory, these could be more effective in delivering biological (and chemical) weapons than missiles which would destroy the agents on impact. Chemical The Gulf war devastated Iraq's primary chemical weapons production and a large portion of its munitions. However, Iraq probably retained a few hundred tonnes of mustard gas and precursors for a few hundred tonnes of sarin/ cyclosarin and perhaps VX nerve gas from pre-1991 stocks. It is capable of resuming chemical weapons production on short notice - months - from existing civilian facilities and it could have produced hundreds of tonnes of mustard gas and nerve agents since 1998. Actual stocks are unknown. "Iraq's current CW [chemical weapons] capability does not appear to pose a decisive threat against opposing military forces who would be protected against CW attack ... [and] ... are unlikely to cause mass casualties." Ballistic missiles Iraq probably retained a small force of 406-mile range al-Hussein missiles, perhaps around a dozen. These could be "politically significant", the dossier says, "especially if armed with chemical or biological weapons which could reach cities in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran". Iraq does not possess facilities to produce long-range missiles, and it would require several years and extensive foreign assistance to construct them. Iraq may have produced some al-Samoud missiles, with ranges up to 125 miles. It is capable of manufacturing rudimentary chemical and biological weapons warheads, but development of more advanced designs is unknown. Iraq is capable of converting civilian vehicles to mobile launchers. Other delivery means Iraq is capable of delivering chemical and biological weapons, including artillery shells, rockets and aerial bombs. It could have a few thousand chemical weapons tactical munitions. It is capable of delivering biological weapons with simple airborne wet spray devices. The military has a small stock of modern strike aircraft - MiG-23 and Mirage F1 - with 469-mile combat radius; some ground attack aircraft (Su22, Su24, Su25); helicopters, possible unmanned aerial vehicles based on the L-29 trainer. Iraq could also use special forces or terrorists to conduct attacks. The International Institute for Strategic Studies is a London-based company with charitable status and an annual turnover of £4m. It has strong US links and raises money from a wide range of international bodies, corporate and individual membership fees, and publications, notably its authoritative Military Balance and Strategic Survey annual reports. It receives grants from mainly US bodies, including the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation and Smith Richardson Foundation. It has also received grants from Germany's Volkswagen Foundation and is drawing up an "armed conflict database" with the Department for International Development. It also receives funding from governments for international conferences and research projects. Individuals from ministries of defence and foreign affairs (including Britain's) are seconded to the institute. Its council members include Carl Bildt, former UN high representative in the Balkans, and Lord Guthrie, former chief of defence staff. Head of its Washington office is Colonel Terence Taylor, former member of the UN weapons inspection team in Iraq. Gary Samore, who edited yesterday's report, was a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US. Useful links Arab Gateway: Iraq briefing [http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/iraq.htm] Middle East Daily [http://www.middleeastdaily.com/] Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq [http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/casi/] Iraq sanctions - UN security council [http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/indexone.htm] UN special commission on Iraq [http://www.un.org/Depts/unscom/index.html] [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 42 Iraq: The burden of proof Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Iraq weapons claims are open to question Tuesday September 10, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] It is not necessary to be a rocket scientist to understand that George Bush and Tony Blair are in trouble over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The problem is not military, not yet at least; it is political. Every time the two men pronounce that Saddam Hussein poses an urgent threat, they are asked for their proof. And every time, as again at the weekend at Camp David, they fall back on assertions and claims, suspicions and half-baked half-truths. The International Atomic Energy Authority, for example, has not issued a "new report" (Mr Bush's words) on revived Iraqi efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb. It has merely published some commercial satellite photos of new construction at WMD-linked sites that were dismantled during previous UN inspections. "We have no idea whether it means anything," says an IAEA spokeswoman. The worrying thought is that neither, in all probability, does Mr Bush. When Dick Cheney hints darkly at "new evidence" of Iraq's malign intent, it emerges he is referring to mystery tubes that make components that make a centrifuge that makes enriched uranium that makes an N-bomb, produced and impounded we know not where, when or by whom. When Colin Powell insists that the US is working on the basis of "facts, not just speculation" and that Saddam is now "actively and aggressively" pursuing a nuclear capability, listeners, viewers and readers from Albuquerque to Abu Dhabi and from Gateshead to Gaza pause in their labours, sit up, tell the children to "shush" and, with mounting, breathless excitement, wait for the words that will finally expose Saddam for the ubiquitous menace he is. Yet still the golden bullet remains unfired; the smoking gun refuses to smoke. It transpires that an un-named defector, eager no doubt for a green card, has told a chap in the CIA that something may be afoot. And every time this happens, every time the Bush-Blair team fails to produce the goods, it gets harder to convince an already deeply underwhelmed audience. Mr Blair faces exposure to a large dose of this irradiating incredulity today when he addresses the TUC at Blackpool. He still lacks his own WMD dossier with which to shield himself. And yesterday's report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, like similar independent and official compendiums before it, is not much help. That Iraq retains elements, possibly deployable, of its pre-1991 biological and chemical weapons stockpile is not in dispute. That it has a few, not very impressive short-range missiles is generally agreed. But that it is any closer to joining the nuclear club than it was in 1998, when the UN pulled out, is unsupported by a shred of new evidence. Indeed, the IISS study suggests Saddam may be further away from this goal than he was before the Gulf war began. There are many "ifs", of course, particularly the fear that if Iraq obtains fissile material from abroad, it has the expertise to fast-forward thwarted nuclear ambitions. The way to prevent such scenarios is a big push, parallel with resumed UN inspections in Iraq, to promulgate and enforce the moribund fissile material cut-off treaty, the comprehensive test ban treaty, and the biological and chemical weapons conventions, all of which anti-WMD pacts Mr Bush has at times ignored, scorned or undermined. Greater urgency should also be afforded last June's G8 anti-proliferation plan and international cooperative threat reduction programmes on the Nunn-Lugar model. This is the best, multilateral way to halt WMD proliferation, not just in Iraq but across the globe. This, not Iraq alone, is the real threat and the real challenge. What do you think? politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 43 Demands for better proof on Iraqi arms Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Richard Norton-Taylor and Patrick Wintour Tuesday September 10, 2002 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Senior backbench MPs served notice on Tony Blair last night that he must produce better evidence - and inform parliament - about the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein if he is to convince them of the case for military action. They were responding to a dossier published by the respected International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) which, by its own admission, contained little new evidence but prompted headlines claiming that Iraq was "within months" of possessing nuclear weapons. The report referred to a "nuclear wildcard". It explained: "If somehow Iraq were able to acquire sufficient nuclear material from foreign sources, it could probably produce nuclear weapons on short order, probably in a matter of months." It would take Iraq significantly longer to be able to fire a missile with a nuclear warhead. Well-placed sources in Whitehall familiar with the government's own dossier, expected to be published shortly before the Labour party conference at the end of this month, said yesterday there was no clear intelligence on Saddam's nuclear programme. "There are still large pieces of the jigsaw which are not available," said Donald Anderson, Labour chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee - and one of the senior MPs Mr Blair wants to call in for a private talk on Iraq. The IISS dossier made "chilling reading" but "by its very nature it is a compilation of what is already known", said Mr Anderson, who added that aerial surveillance would not reveal what was happening inside Iraq. Gary Samore, editor of the IISS report, admitted that Iraq's capacity for weapons of mass destruction had declined since the 1991 Gulf war and described the state of its nuclear programme as a "tremendous unknown". Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said the report contained "nothing startling, nor anything that could not have been inferred from Iraq's previous behaviour". He added: "The focus of the government's dossier has got to be on Saddam Hussein's intentions if public opinion and the House of Commons are to be persuaded." But Downing Street described the report as a "very serious piece of work" and claimed its own dossier would go further by drawing on intelligence available only to the government. Reports that the intelligence services had expressed concern about the government dossier, fearing it might compromise sources, were denied in Whitehall yesterday. But Downing Street is still debating with the intelligence community what precisely will be published. Worried that expectations of the report are getting out of control, with journalists expecting to see stunning new material, officials warned it would necessarily be incomplete since no UN inspector has had access to Iraq for four years. Referring to the implications of chemical and biological weapons, an official said: "We are not talking washing powder here. These weapons are highly dangerous and the world is waking up to the threat posed by Saddam." MPs said information about Iraq's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons programme was far from the only issue at stake. Mr Anderson warned of the implications for international law and the UN of an attack on Iraq. There was an "awful balance of risk" and "very difficult judgments" to be made, he said. Mr Campbell said: "We should be ramping up the deterrence aspect, making it clear to Saddam Hussein that any attempt to use, or threaten to use, these weapons and the sky will fall in on him." MPs expressed deep suspicion of plans by Mr Blair to have a series of private meetings with senior parliamentarians who are privy councillors - what one MP called the "magic circle". Graham Allen, MP for Nottingham North and a former Labour whip, said he had received a big response to his proposal that the speaker should be able to recall MPs, rather than wait for Mr Blair. "MPs think it is wrong that the only body that can recall parliament is the government of the day. They believe the power should be given to the speaker after requests from MPs," he said. The prime minister received comfort from Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, who warned that President Saddam could possess the ability to threaten Britain "if we don't take action now". New evidence that the US is putting pressure on President Saddam - and preparing for wider military action - came yesterday when US and British aircraft bombed sites in Iraq for the third time in a week. US defence officials described the target as a military facility south-east of Baghdad. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 44 Grigory Pasko goes to labour camp ST PETERSBURG-OSLO - Grigory Pasko, a Russian journalist from Vladivostok charged with high treason and convicted to four years in prison, is being sent to a labour camp north-west of Vladivostok today. The bulk of Pasko's reporting was focused on the environmental consequences of the Pacific Fleet activity. Rashid Alimov, Igor Kudrik, 2002-09-10 17:18 Galina Morozova, Grigory's wife, today called to Bellona St Petersburg from Vladivostok with alarming news that her husband is being sent to a labour camp today. Until now, Pasko has been locked in custody in a pre-trial detention centre in Vladivostok. Grigory Pasko will be transferred to a labour camp in Ussuriysk area, a city located hundred kilometres north-west from Vladivostok. Grigory Pasko was convicted by the Pacific Fleet Military Court for four years in prison on December 25th 2001 for intention to transfer allegedly secret information to a Japanese journalist. The actual fact of the transfer has never been proven as it was non-existent. Originally, Pasko's charges included 10 items, but in December 2001, the court left only one of them, excluding all the items that were related to the environmental reporting by Pasko. The remaining item said that the security police confiscated hand-written notes made by Pasko at a meeting of the Pacific Fleet military council. The verdict says that Pasko intended to pass those allegedly secret notes to the Japanese journalist but no proof that he did so was ever presented to the court. The conclusion that those notes contained state secrets was made by a group of military experts who based their evaluations on a secret military decree. Bellona is aware of the fact that prior to the conviction in December the Pasko case was discussed by Putin's administration, which evaluated the pro and cons, such as the negative image of Putin in the West. The decision was made, however, in favour of the military and the security police, which were upset by the outcome of the case of Bellona's Aleksandr Nikitin. Aleksandr Nikitin — also charged with high treason for making an environmental report about the Northern Fleet — was fully acquitted in December 1999. The joy of the Russian Security Police, the FSB, was boundless. Local departments of the FSB placed articles from their press services in Russian regional newspapers describing how bad Pasko was and that the punishment he received was well-deserved. Russian national channel, ORT, broadcast several times in prime time a documentary about Pasko's work "as a spy". It was hoped that such action would form the public opinion in the state's favour since there was an outrage after the verdict was announced in December 1999. The verdict from Pacific Fleet Military Court in Vladivostok was appealed by both Pasko and the prosecution to the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court. Pasko wanted full acquittal whereas the prosecution insisted on stricter punishment. But the decision from the Supreme Court was expected. With minor modifications in favour of Pasko, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Vladivostok court in June 2002. A supervisory appeal was sent to Vladimir Lebedev, the Chairman of the Supreme Court, several weeks after the verdict had been announced. But the fact that Pasko is now being sent from pre-trial detention centre to the labour camp is an indication that the supervisory appeal will not be accepted. Pasko has already spent 2.5 years in prison and will be coming out of the labour camp in April 2004. There is the possibility for an amnesty this autumn, which will be dependent on "good behaviour" while inside. But Grigory Pasko has been already warned by the guards in the pre-trial detention centre that they would make all the required tricks to not let him go free before his term. They said they would make it seem that he violates the camp rules such as smoking (Pasko does not smoke), spits in wrong places or looking unfriendly at a guard. Grigory Pasko is an editor in chief of the magazine published by Bellona St Petersburg called Environment and Rights. The transfer to the labour camp will complicate communication between Pasko, his wife and his lawyers. Galina says she was told that her husband will now be placed under quarantine for three weeks and she will be able to see him only in November. Pasko case background Grigory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested in Vladivostok on November 20, 1997. The Russian Security Police, FSB, accused Pasko for having committed high treason through espionage when working with Japanese journalists. Pasko's publications were focusing primarily on nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. In July 1999 the Court of the Russian Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok acquitted Pasko of the treason charges, but sentenced him to three years in prison for 'abuse of his official position' and released him under a general amnesty. Pasko appealed, but so did the prosecution, insisting that he was a spy. In November 2000 the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court cancelled the verdict, and sent the case back for a re-trial at the Pacific Fleet Court. After several postponements, the re-trial started on July 11, 2001. It ended on Christmas Day 2001, with Pasko being acquitted on nine out of ten charges, but he was still convicted to four years of hard labour for treason and taken into custody. Amnesty International adopted Pasko as a prisoner of conscience on January 7, 2002, saying that the prosecution of Pasko appears to be "motivated by political reprisal for exposing the practice of dumping nuclear waste". Both sides appealed the verdict. While the defence demanded a full acquittal, the prosecution believed the sentence was too lenient and demanded 12 years for Pasko. The hearing of the appeal case in the Supreme Court was held on June 25th, 2002. The verdict was slightly changed, but the 4-year sentence remained the same. Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] , President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 45 War Without Evidence (washingtonpost.com) By Richard Cohen Tuesday, September 10, 2002; Page A15 The Vietnam Syndrome is not dead. Certainly the United States is no longer gun-shy -- the Gulf War proved that -- but a different Vietnam Syndrome not only lives but seems to be thriving: the willingness of Washington to exaggerate the threat. This is happening now with Iraq. Not that Iraq is no threat. Under Saddam Hussein, it has twice invaded neighbors -- Iran and Kuwait -- and used chemical weapons against both foreign and domestic enemies. It also has biological weapons and is trying to secure nuclear weapons. If it gets the latter, the entire balance of power in the Middle East will be changed -- and for the worse. But there is no -- that's no -- evidence that Iraq has nuclear weapons. Intelligence suggests, in fact, that Iraq is five or so years away from either securing or developing a bomb. The nuclear threat is not an imminent one, and it is not one, in any case, directed at the United States. We are a world away and have ample means to retaliate. Iraq would cease to exist. So what explains the Chicken Little remarks made by Bush administration spokesmen on the Sunday TV shows? In the formulation of Vice President Cheney, Iraq somehow morphed into the old Soviet Union: "If we have reason to believe someone is preparing an attack against the U.S., has developed that capability, harbors those aspirations, then I think the United States is justified in dealing with that, if necessary, by military force." You bet. But what is the evidence that Iraq is preparing to launch an attack on the United States? There is none. And just how would Iraq accomplish such a thing? With its Al-Hussein missiles, which have a range of about 390 miles? With its Al-Samoud missiles, which have a range of about 90 miles? Or maybe in a suitcase brought in by terrorists? Some suitcase that would be. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, also reading from the administration's playbook, echoed Cheney on CNN. "I don't think anyone wants to wait for the 100 percent surety that [Saddam Hussein] has a weapon of mass destruction that can reach the United States," she said. Once again: You bet. But again, what's the proof (1) that Saddam has such a weapon, (2) that he has the means to deliver it, and (3) that suicide of this sort is his intention? I have always thought there is a plausible case for going to war against Iraq. But the more I hear from the administration -- the more it exaggerates its case and turns a potential threat against the region into an imminent one against Peoria, Ill. -- the more I have to wonder if such a case exists. From everything I know, Cheney and Rice are taking a worst-case scenario further than the facts warrant. I concede that I don't know everything -- and no one can be certain about what goes on in Iraq. But I can find no one with any expertise who thinks Iraq has an imminent nuclear capability. Similarly, I can find no one who thinks Iraq is directly linked to al Qaeda and thus to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. If this is wrong, then the Bush administration ought to come right out and say so -- and offer proof. Back to the Vietnam Syndrome. The old one is gone. The dire predictions that preceded the Gulf War or the one in Afghanistan were not proved true. The Arab street did not erupt. But just as we were once hobbled by a reluctance to use force, the easy wars of the recent past have given us a certain cockiness. War is still a messy business, though, and almost anything can happen. It's conceivable we could have a so-called regime change in Iraq -- and in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, moderate regimes basically friendly with the United States, as well. If the new rulers are Jeffersonian democrats, terrific. But if they are religious fundamentalists, then we only will have traded one headache for another -- and long lines at the gas station to boot. Iraq must be dealt with. But the trap must be closed methodically. Bring back the arms inspectors. Vacuum the country. If Saddam agrees, fine. If he doesn't, then war becomes his choice -- and the world will understand. But by its warnings without evidence, by its penchant for unilateralism and by its initial disregard for Congress, the Bush administration is sowing seeds of doubt. The palpable urgency of this administration to go to war is, at this moment, just downright inexplicable. It either is failing to make its case or, worse, has no case to make. I'm ready for war -- but just tell me again why. © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 46 U.S. Navy says sunken ship off Vieques isn't radioactive; island legislature plans hearings - 9/10/2002 - ENN.com Tuesday, September 10, 2002 By Lilliam Irizarry, Associated Press SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A ship once used in nuclear tests in the Pacific is stirring controversy in Puerto Rico three decades after the U.S. military sunk it off the outlying island of Vieques. The Navy says the decommissioned USS Killen was used in nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the late 1950s and was moved to the waters off Vieques in 1963, where for about 10 years it was used as a target ship during Navy bombing exercises. When it was no longer useful, the 376-foot-long (113-meter-long) destroyer was sunk 300 meters (yards) off the Caribbean island in the early 1970s, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Kim Dixon said Monday. "Recent and past environmental studies of the site and the surrounding area have shown the Killen is in no way a threat," Dixon said. "The ship does not have any detected radioactivity." But some doubt the Navy's word in this U.S. territory, where decades of military training has bred resentment and suspicion. Puerto Rico's Senate is planning hearings later this month on whether the USS Killen should be raised to test for radioactivity and to determine the contents of several hundred drums aboard the ship. The Navy maintains the drums contain only sand and that a survey last year confirmed the site isn't hazardous. But Puerto Rican Sen. Roberto Prats said the public safety commission he leads will investigate whether the sunken ship poses any danger to human health or the marine environment. "If there is a problem with contamination or radioactivity, the proper thing to do would be to take all of it away," he said. "It shouldn't be contaminating Puerto Rican waters." The Navy believes the ship, which rests 30 feet (9 meters) underwater on a sandy bottom, actually has helped the environment by serving as a reef, Dixon said. The ship is likely to figure in future political debate about the Navy's presence on Vieques. Opponents say the exercises harm the environment and health of the island's 9,100 residents. The Navy denies the claim. President George W. Bush has promised the Navy will withdraw from Vieques by May 2003. Copyright 2002, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 47 Isreal Iraq nukes: Confirming suspicions Jordan Times (Letters Section) I READ with amazement an article written by former Israeli Premier Ehud Barak in The New York Times last week, in which he asserted the need for urgent action to combat Iraq's weapons programme. While there is need for Iraq to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions in regard to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, Barak's article would have acquired more credibility had he stated that Israel was also able to escape any real censure and resist, without any apparent difficulty, calls to open its nuclear facilities to inspection. Thus, the suspicions of the ordinary people in the Middle East concerning the efficiency of international organisations and the effectiveness of international law, and their impartiality, are confirmed. Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK Tuesday, September 10, 2002 The Jordan Times ***************************************************************** 48 War of words heats up on how to deal with Iraq; Chirac urges UN deadline Jordan Times (News Section) IRAQ COULD build a nuclear bomb soon if it imports the right material, but its ability to use other weapons of mass destruction has dwindled, a key think tank said on Monday as the United States drummed up world support for action against Baghdad. Stepping up a diplomatic offensive, US President George W. Bush called European and other leaders ahead of his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien at the US-Canadian border. The White House said there was growing support in the international community for toughening earlier UN demands that Iraq give up its suspected stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Those comments came after French President Jacques Chirac proposed a two-stage plan that could lead to UN authorisation of military force against Iraq. Chirac told the New York Times that the UN Security Council should consider two resolutions, one giving a three-week deadline for admitting inspectors and a second on possible military action if Baghdad refused. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) offered Bush some ammunition by saying that if Iraq acquired enriched uranium with foreign help, it could put a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of hitting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel, Turkey, Jordan and Iran within a year. No clear support But the IISS study said Baghdad did not have nuclear arms and probably lacked means to deliver any remaining chemical and biological weapons effectively enough to cause massive loss of life. The report also offered no clear support either to US hawks who argue that a preventive strike is urgently needed, or to those, mainly in Europe, who advocate continued containment of Iraq and the return of UN weapons inspectors. “Either course of action carries risks. Wait and the threat will grow. Strike and the threat may be used,” it said. Iraq dismissed the IISS findings, saying they were a “distortion of facts” to justify an attack. Iraqi officials took reporters on a tour of a former nuclear facility, 20km south of Baghdad, saying it was now used for agricultural and medical research. Bush still faces an uphill battle to gain the backing of sceptical friends abroad. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Detroit that Bush's talks with leaders and efforts to show Iraqi violations of UN resolutions were having results. “...It does appear that the movement is budding to put some force into previous UN resolutions,” Fleischer said. “Don't take it as military force necessarily.” Amid mounting speculation that the United States was about to take action to oust President Saddam Hussein, the US military said its warplanes attacked an air defence target in a “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq on Monday. The Pentagon said it was the 37th such strike against air defences in northern and southern “no-fly zones” of Iraq this year. The exchanges have increased in recent months as speculation has mounted that the United States might invade Baghdad to oust Saddam. Iraq said that a US or British warplane “may” have been hit by anti-aircraft fire as it overflew the north of the country. “Indications are that one of the enemy (US or British) warplanes may have been hit when missile and ground defences opened up and forced them to flee to their bases in Turkey,” said a military spokesman quoted by the official INA news agency. Meanwhile, the Baghdad press predicted that the US and British leaders would “intensify their media blitz” about Iraq's alleged weapons programmes in the coming days in a bid to justify military action. “The little Bush and his subordinate Blair are banking on convincing the world of their lies,” the ruling Baath Party's mouthpiece daily, Ath-Thawra, said. World not convinced After weekend talks with Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair backed US determination to deal with the alleged threat from Iraq, but many foreign leaders have expressed reservations about any US attack. Bush has been consulting leaders before addressing the United Nations on Thursday. Canada, a staunch US ally, has said it is cool on attacking Iraq without first working through the United Nations. Chirac also warned against a unilateral response. “I am totally against unilateralism in the modern world,” he said. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder repeated his opposition to military action, saying Germany would not “click its heels” and follow the United States to war. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country holds the European Union rotating presidency, said the EU's position was that any action against Iraq should be under UN auspices. The Vatican also took that position. “If the international community...judges it to be opportune to resort to a proportionate use of force, it must be part of a decision taken within the framework of the United Nations...,” Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran said in an interview to appear in Tuesday's edition of the Roman Catholic newspaper Avvenire. Turkey announced that while it remained opposed to US military action, it had made all necessary contingency plans. “There is nothing lacking in our military preparations and we know full well where we stand in the diplomatic arena,” Foreign Minister Sukru Sina Gurel told Turkey's NTV news channel. Arab states have long voiced their opposition to military strikes. On Monday, Arab League chief Amr Musa said in Geneva that inspectors should be allowed back, but added: “No military action should take place outside the (UN) Security Council.” Arms inspectors — charged with dismantling Iraq's mass destruction capability after its 1990-1991 invasion and occupation of Kuwait — left Iraq in 1998 on the eve of a US-British bombing campaign. “There is a strong possibility that Iraq will allow in the inspectors,” said Musa. Musa said it was regrettable if weekend television appearances by senior US officials indicated that the United States was about to launch an attack on Iraq. “Political efforts should be given enough time, be given a chance to verify to the world the real situation concerning the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,” he told reporters. Musa, who was in Geneva for a World Economic Forum meeting on the Middle East, said he was awaiting Bush's speech Thursday to the UN General Assembly for the final word on US intentions. “We have been listening to some interviews,” the former Egyptian foreign minister said. “When the president speaks, we will know exactly the United States policy on this.” The best course is to negotiate the speedy return of UN inspectors to look for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said Musa. “The inspectors should go back and inspect the situation in order to have authoritative reports about that situation upon which any further action would be built,” he said, adding that he didn't know how long it would take to arrange for the United Nations' return. Musa said Arab governments and people were unanimous in cautioning against any military action against Iraq because it would only add to Middle East tensions, anger and frustrations. “It would open doors of hell. You can never tell where such a situation will lead the Arab people.” Musa rejected using an invasion to replace Saddam as president of Iraq. “We have to leave the regime change or the selection of any government to the people concerned,” he said. Tuesday, September 10, 2002 Jordan Times Today ***************************************************************** 49 Potential seen for Iraq nuclear arms [The Boston Globe Online] [Boston.com] Report cites lack of fissile material By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff, 9/10/2002 [L] ONDON - Iraq has the capacity to build a nuclear weapon within months if it can obtain fissile material from abroad and it has already established substantial stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, a highly respected research organization warned yesterday. A report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that Baghdad has made the development of weapons of mass destruction a top priority since Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president, barred United Nations weapons inspectors in 1998. Iraq has produced weapons by using mobile production labs that are secretly shuttled around the country's civilian chemical plants, the study said. The institute also concluded the Hussein regime has hidden about a dozen medium-range missiles that it could use to strike Israel, Kuwait, or Saudi Arabia in a limited biological or chemical attack. The report, a rare independent assessment, emphasized that Iraq's capacity to build weapons of mass destruction has declined since the 1991 Gulf War and that the likelihood was remote that Iraq could obtain the needed radioactive material to produce a deployable nuclear weapon. ''War, sanctions, and inspections have reversed and retarded but not eliminated Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and long-range missile capabilities,'' said the report. ''There is a nuclear wild card. If, somehow, Iraq were able to acquire sufficient nuclear material from foreign sources, it could probably produce nuclear weapons on short order, probably in a matter of months.'' Many analysts said the study was important but that it offered no clear support either to those in Washington who have been pushing for a preemptive strike on Iraq or critics of such a policy, especially in Europe, who advocate a return of the weapons inspectors and a continued policy of containment. The 74-page dossier, released at a packed London news conference, has landed amid a fierce international debate about a possible US-led war to topple the Iraqi president and during an intense diplomatic and public relations offensive by the Bush administration. The administration is attempting to show that the threat posed by Baghdad and its attempts to deceive the world about its pursuit of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons justify a military response. President Bush, who met over the weekend with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, continued to press his case with other world leaders yesterday with personal phone calls to the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and the European Union, according to White House officials. Bush also met in Detroit with Canada's prime minister, Jean Chretien, who has expressed concern about a possible strike against Iraq without international support. French President Jacques Chirac yesterday said the United Nations should consider two resolutions - one that imposes a three-week deadline for inspectors' unconditional return, and another on possible military action if Iraq blocks the inspections. Bush is scheduled to lay out the administration's arguments toward Iraq before the United Nations on Thursday. A spokewoman for the British Foreign Office, Trisha O'Donnell, yesterday described the institute dossier as ''an impressive chronicle'' of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons programs. ''It demonstrates that these programs continue to this day, and that Iraq already has biological and chemical capabilities, and if left unchecked it could develop a nuclear capability in short notice,'' O'Donnell said. ''It portrays very clearly and succinctly how Saddam Hussein has played games with UN weapons inspectors and the international community during the time they have been inside Iraq.'' The report, ''Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Net Assessment,'' relied on technical reports and private assessments by UN investigators who worked in the field and on interviews with military intelligence sources and Iraqi defectors. It was viewed by many experts as a timely and important assessment of the hidden workings of Iraq's weapons programs. But some analysts in London and Washington said the report's main finding that Iraq could develop a nuclear weapon in a matter of months was ''overstated,'' as one British official put it. Experts stressed that obtaining the fissile material - the radioactive core needed for a nuclear weapon - would be extremely difficult and that the material would have to be stolen or purchased on the black market from a rogue state. ''This report will not be sufficient to convince the British public or the American public that it is necessary to invade Iraq now,'' said Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, a monthly publication that assesses global military strategy. ''The report to be released by Blair in the coming weeks will have to be more substantive than this if he wants to make a convincing case to the world. So far the decisive facts are just not there.'' Paul Beaver, a British defense analyst, praised the report as thorough and informative but said, ''Still, there are no killer facts there. There is just nothing in the report that makes me want to go to war. The British and American governments are going to have to come up with something a lot better than this.'' The goal of the institute report was to provide an impartial evaluation of Iraq's weapons capability without arguing for or against a military assault. It said attacking Iraq risks incurring Iraqi retaliation with weapons of mass destruction, but doing nothing risks allowing Baghdad to develop more weapons. Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector who has been visiting Baghdad and addressed Iraq's National Assembly over the weekend, was sharply critical of the independent think tank's report as ''all speculative.'' In an interview with CNN yesterday, Ritter, who also has encouraged Iraq to allow the inspectors' return, added: ''It is meaningless, with the sad exception that hawks in the Bush administration are going to point to this as a justification for war.'' As a condition of the cease-fire agreement at the end of the 1991 Gulf War, the United Nations ordered Iraq to destroy its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and its medium- and long-range missile programs, but most specialists believe Saddam has repeatedly defied the resolutions. ''Given Baghdad's behavior over the last 25 years, there is every reason to believe that it remains committed to retaining and developing its WMD and missile capabilities as a core objective,'' the report said. Iraqi officials yesterday dismissed the report and have repeatedly rebutted claims that the government is rebuilding old nuclear facilities for new weapons. To emphasize its point, the Iraqi government has been escorting foreign reporters to various sites and yesterday allowed reporters to visit a former nuclear facility roughly 25 miles south of Baghdad. Globe reporter Robert Schlesinger contributed to this report. Charles M. Sennott can be reached at "> sennott@globe.com This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 9/10/2002. ***************************************************************** 50 *Livermore Lab to Face Protest Amid Celebrations* The Daily Californian Photo/Devi Rao Tri-Valley Cares members René Steinhauer, Don King and Inga Olson (left to right) look at one of their displays protesting Livermore lab. *By BEN BARRON and DAWN BEAHM* Contributing Writers Tuesday, September 10, 2002 A local environmental watchdog group will protest Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory during the lab's 50th anniversary celebration. The week-long celebration will take place at the Livermore lab starting Monday and will feature speakers such as famed astronaut John Glenn as well as talks on the lab's history and national impact. "This is a large milestone," said lab spokesperson Lynda Seaver. "(This marks) 50 years of contributing to our nation's security." But Tri-Valley CAREs, a Livermore-based environmentalist group, said it plans to protest the event next Wednesday because of the lab's nuclear research and alleged environmental misconduct. "We don't want there to be a second 50 years of the making of horrific nuclear weapons of mass destruction," said Inga Olson, an associate for the group's Nuclear Weapons and Waste Program. "The lab has incredible resources; (they should) focus those resources on our electricity problem or on global warming." Olson said protesters plan to form a picket line outside the events, and they will also present the lab with a cake that will be "decorated with a peace message." The organization has also put up a billboard, alongside a road that lab employees typically take to work, demanding an end to nuclear research at the lab. "We expect about 24,000 people a day to see it (as they) drive by," Olson said. "We're hoping engineers and scientists who work will look at that and think about what they're doing and will renounce their work." Members of the organization also accused lab officials of releasing harmful radioactive materials into Livermore, thereby increasing cancer risks among its residents. Olson said there is a "plume" of tritium, uranium and other radioactive and "volatile compounds" extending a mile under the city. "It's basically a toxic stew," she said. But lab officials denied allegations that they are releasing harmful materials into the Livermore and Berkeley areas. "There have been no releases that have exceeded any regulatory standard, nor has any regulatory agency or health agency found any impact (of lab research) on public health," said Bert Heffner, manager of environmental community relations at the lab. Heffner added that the chance of lab radiation causing cancer among local residents is only one in one million. The Environmental Protection Agency released a study in July confirming that the lab does not pose a health risk to local residents. Seaver said lab security officials will allow the protest to take place, and added she does not expect that it will disrupt the celebration. "They have every right to be out there and we're certainly familiar with them," she said. Should the protesters block the entrance to the celebration, however, Seaver said they will be arrested by lab security officials and detained at a different facility. Protesters kept in custody are typically released within an hour, she added. "We invite (protesters) to come and see the place for themselves," Seaver said. "It's an opportunity to open our doors to community leaders so they can see what work goes on here." (c) 2002 Berkeley, California Email: dailycal@dailycal.org ***************************************************************** 51 Energy Secretary Abraham Welcomes College Students Who Will Build Solar Village on National Mall in Washington, DC 14 Teams to Compete in Department of Energy's First Solar Decathlon energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: September 10, 2002 WASHINGTON, D.C. – College students around the country are completing 14 custom-designed solar-powered homes, and within a few days each house will be transported to the nation's capital for the U. S. Department of Energy's (DOE) first-ever Solar Decathlon. The Solar Decathlon is a team competition among universities to design and build the most energy-efficient solar-powered homes, being held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5. To win the Solar Decathlon, a team must blend aesthetics and modern conveniences with maximum energy production and efficiency. "The Department of Energy is proud to sponsor the first-ever Solar Decathlon, a university competition that brings together our nation's brightest minds to demonstrate practical ways of producing and using energy efficiently in the home," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. "President Bush and I are committed to helping students and consumers make winning decisions about how they use energy. Because when we power our lives with clean energy, we protect our own future. And when we protect our future, we are all winners." Sponsors of the Solar Decathlon, in addition to DOE, include BP Solar, The Home Depot, EDS, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). "Each of the unique homes that will comprise the Solar Village on the National Mall marks a significant step forward in innovative residential design, and advanced, energy-efficient engineering," Secretary Abraham added. "These exciting new concepts demonstrate that we can have comfortable and appealing homes that use only energy from the sun. That's an important contribution to our nation's energy security and to our environment." Each house, limited to roughly 500 square feet for purposes of the competition, will be judged on 10 criteria to determine which most efficiently employs solar energy for heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, appliances, computers and charging an electric car. The teams will compete in the 10 contests simultaneously. A jury of world-renowned architects will evaluate the attractiveness, livability and effectiveness of each home's design, while experts from DOE and NREL will measure each home's energy production and use. The Solar Decathlon gives architecture and engineering students practical experience with the design and construction of solar powered, energy efficient buildings. DOE provided each team with a $5,000 stipend toward the construction of their solar house. The teams are raising the rest of the money they need to design, construct and transport the houses to Washington, D.C. The Solar Decathlon will be open to the public. Exhibits with information on each team's home, the contest and renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies will be adjacent to the Solar Decathlon village on the Mall between 4th Street and 7th Street and between the Smithsonian National Air &Space Museum and the west building of the National Gallery of Art. BP Solar, one of the world's leading solar electric companies, manufactures, designs, markets and installs a wide range of crystalline silicon and new generation thin film solar electric products and systems. With nearly 20 percent of the global market and product deployed in more than 160 countries, BP Solar offers a range of products and solutions for residential, commercial and industrial remote and grid-connected power needs. In 2001, it reported revenues of approximately $240 million, and produced more than 55 megawatts of power equipment. Founded in 1978, The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer and the largest retailer of energy conservation products, with fiscal 2001 sales of $53.6 billion. The company employs more than 300,000 associates, and has more than 1,450 stores in 49 states Puerto Rico, seven Canadian provinces, and Mexico. The company for the second year in a row was named sixth Most Admired Company in America by Fortune Magazine, which has also ranked it as America's Most Admired Specialty Retailer for eight consecutive years. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard &Poor's 500 Index. EDS, the leading global services company, provides strategy, implementation, business transformation and operational solutions for clients managing the business and technology complexities of the digital economy. EDS brings together the world's best technologies to address critical client business imperatives. It helps clients eliminate boundaries, collaborate in new ways, establish their customers' trust and continuously seek improvement. EDS, with its management consulting subsidiary, A.T. Kearney, serves the world's leading companies and governments in 60 countries. EDS reported revenues of $21.5 billion in 2001. The company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: EDS) and the London Stock Exchange. Learn more at [http://www.eds.com] Since 1875, the American Institute of Architects has represented the professional interests of America's architects. Through education, government advocacy, community redevelopment and public outreach activities, the AIA and its 70,000 members work to achieve a higher standard of professionalism for architects while expressing their commitment to excellence in design and livability in our nation's buildings and cities. NREL is a DOE national laboratory managed by Midwest Research Institute, Battelle and Bechtel. In addition to its work in solar photovoltaics and energy-efficient buildings, the lab is a leading center for research into wind energy, plant- and waste-derived fuels and chemicals, advanced vehicle design, geothermal energy and hydrogen fuel cells. Visit NREL online at [http://www.nrel.gov] . For more on the Solar Decathlon, see [http://www.solardecathlon.org] Media Contact: Gary Schmitz (NREL), 303/275-4050 Jill Schroeder Vieth/Tom Welch (DOE HQ), 202/586-5806 Release No. PR-02-182 Back ***************************************************************** 52 Tonopah property development plan OK'd* By RICH THURLOW, Editor September 06, 2002 *Action could lead to airport-area 'green energy' power plant fueled by burning tires* TONOPAH - One of the county seat's viable economic development assets was freed up for use Tuesday by the commissioners when they approved a property development proposal for the Tonopah airport and surrounding lands. That step, and others, could mean Nathaniel Energy Corp. could begin developing a power plant capable of generating enough electricity for 25,000 homes. The company will generate the power by burning old tires in a thermal combustor that eliminates smoke and residue. As such, the plant is considered "green power." Construction of the plant could begin as early as January and be finished in nine months. Nathaniel Energy's partners have a "significant" net worth, consultant Don Watson told the commissioners, with backgrounds in real estate, gaming and recreation. The stable energy source for the industrial park at the airport could lure any number of businesses, particularly those now in California. "We think having that stable power backed up by the grid creates an extraordinary opportunity to bring in industry," Watson said. A massive hydroponics greenhouse for raising tomatoes has been mentioned in the past. Watson seemed to suggest the Lower Ralston Valley, where the airport is located about five miles east of Tonopah, could become Nevada's version of Silicon Valley. Perhaps more significantly, Chairman Jeff Taguchi said after the meeting that if the developers construct a rail line from Hawthorne to the valley for the transport of old tires, it could lead to possibilities as they relate to the Yucca Mountain Project. Federal officials could decide to add onto that spur, extending it 110 miles to Yucca Mountain in order to transport high-level nuclear waste to the proposed repository. The rail line would be attractive in that it would avoid the metropolitan Las Vegas area entirely, and from Nye's perspective the extended rail line creates an even more intriguing possibility. Nuclear waste from Yucca Mountain could also be transported back to the industrial park at the airport once effective uses for it have been discovered and made practical, Taguchi said. That would be consistent with the county's position that the waste should be available for re-use, and it would "keep science and technical businesses in central and southern Nye County," Taguchi said. "It's amazing what could happen with that rail line." /©Pahrump Valley Times 2002/ ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************