***************************************************************** 02/12/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.37 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Japan: Nuclear plant told to report accidents faster - 2 Japan: Gov't eyes relaxing nuclear safety checks 3 India: 4 N-power plants certified for ISO-14001 4 UK: Only 1 in 10 back building of new nuclear power stations 5 France defends its corner on energy liberalisation 6 EU energy chief says supply system unsustainable 7 US: British Energy mulls bid for New England nuclear plant;East Kil 8 Russia can't go forward without resolving nuclear issues - 9 UK: Nuclear chief criticises policy 'drift' NUCLEAR REACTORS 10 Czech Temelin shut for at least week after glitch 11 Czech nuclear plant suffers from too many small shortcomings - 12 US: State takes step against nuke mishap at Millstone 13 US: Nuclear storage at Millstone could be test case 14 US: US agencies mull physical upgrades to nuclear plants NUCLEAR SAFETY 15 French government reforms control of nuclear safety 16 US: Argonne workers show exposure to toxic metal 17 Russia: Over 40,000 people were treated for radiation exposure in 10 18 Russia: Radiation mutations passed to children - study 19 US: Former workers exposed to radiation have yet to receive federal 20 US: Government holds meetings where nuclear workers can apply for ai 21 US: WAR ON TERRORISM: Nuclear plants' safety is dubious 22 US: Veterans meeting eyes atomic exposure policy 23 US: Sick nuclear workers can now apply for compensation 24 AU: Radioactive material stolen from school NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 25 US: NRC Proposes Adding Nuhoms-24pt1 Storage Cask Design to Approved 26 US: Videotape shows missile blasting hole in nuclear waste canister 27 US: Is Nevada nuclear waste plan safe? 28 US: Dump proponents targeting senators 29 US: Areva wins $250m contract to reprocess US military plutonium 30 Karelia government rejects Russian national plan for nuclear waste p 31 US: Perkins: Waste safer where it is 32 US: Editorial: Dangers of shipping nuke waste 33 US: Letter: Yucca efforts are appreciated 34 US: Who lied about Yucca Mountain? 35 US: Vitri-what? Here's a primer 36 UK: SHOCK OVER ATOM TRAINS 37 UK: Increase in radioactive waste discharge approved for Plymouth 38 US: Storing Haddam's Nuclear Waste NUCLEAR WEAPONS 39 Scotland: 111 held in Faslane protest 40 Nazi Nuclear weapons Uncertainty Unresolved 41 Russia: Secret decree declared illegal! 42 Russia: Pasko-defence challenges secret laws 43 Scotland: Politicians held in Trident protest 44 Activists carry torch for peace / Flame from Hiroshima travels U.S. 45 US: Paducah plan nearly ready on terrorism - US DEPT. OF ENERGY 46 Hanford Area braces for influx of 7,300 newcomers 47 Hultquist named director of 'emergency' lab 48 Opinion - DOE cleanup plan stresses accountability OTHER NUCLEAR 49 Looking Anew at Nuclear Power for Space Travel ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Nuclear plant told to report accidents faster - Japan Today Japan News - News - Monday, February 11, 2002 at 09:30 JST SENDAI The Miyagi prefectural government on Sunday asked the operator of a nuclear power station where two workers were injured in a fire Saturday to create a procedure for promptly informing the local government of such emergencies, prefectural official said. Tohoku Electric Power Co was slow in informing the authorities of the incident, first reporting about an hour after the fire broke out and taking a further 90 minutes to give an update, although the fire was quickly extinguished and no radioactive material leaked, the officials said. (Kyodo News) ***************************************************************** 2 Gov't eyes relaxing nuclear safety checks KYODO NEWS TOKYO, Feb. 12, Kyodo - The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on Tuesday began a review of its safety check system for nuclear power plants, in response to calls by power utilities for relaxation. Convening the first meeting of an advisory subpanel on the issue, the agency affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) asked it to discuss whether to allow power companies themselves to check on the safety of nuclear facilities. Electric power companies are calling for such deregulation to improve the efficiency of safety checks, currently conducted by the agency every 13 months centering on major nuclear facilities. The firms want the government to limit its role to inspecting the companies' own checks instead of directly carrying out inspections. Major topics for discussion at the subpanel, under a METI advisory panel on natural resources and energy, include whether to extend the 13-month inspection cycle and ways to check old nuclear power plants. It will also discuss whether to allow different types of checks for plants running on different conditions, and determine the effects of the current security check regime introduced following Japan's worst nuclear accident in 1999 in the village of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture. Panelists representing power companies told the meeting that the current inspection system is too inflexible to reflect technological progress. But other panelists expressed distrust at the idea of companies conducting their own checks, citing the accident in September 1999 at a nuclear facility of JCO Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., which resulted in the deaths of two JCO workers. 2001 Kyodo News (c) Established 1945. ***************************************************************** 3 4 N-power plants certified for ISO-14001 - The Times of India INDIATIMES PTI [ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2002 10:50:58 PM ] UMBAI: Four nuclear power plants in the country have been certified ISO-14001 during the last four years in line with the programme of implementation of environmental management systems (EMS) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS), Kakrapar Atomic Power Station, Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) and Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) had been certified by the accredited agency (IAEA) in July 1999, May 2000, July 2000 and March 2001, respectively, a Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) release said here on Monday. The nuclear power plants at Rawatbhata (Rajasthan) units I and II were in the process of EMS implementation, DAE said. Plans have also been drawn to achieve ISO-14001 certification for a few remaining nuclear power stations at Kaiga units one and two and Rajasthan plants units 3 and 4 progressively. During the development and implementation of EMS for ISO-14001 for each operating nuclear station, environmental aspects concerning all activities, products and services were identified and evaluated for their significance, the release added. Copyright © 2001 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved. | ***************************************************************** 4 Only 1 in 10 back building of new nuclear power stations Independent News © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd By Michael Harrison Business Editor 12 February 2002 Only one in 10 people wants the Government to back a new generation of nuclear power stations, according to a poll to be released on the eve of the publication of the Cabinet Office's long-awaited energy review. However, there is overwhelming backing for increased government support for green energy with 85 per cent in favour of an expansion of renewable sources of electricity such as wind, wave and solar. The poll, carried out for the Energy Saving Trust by NOP, also found that three-quarters of people felt the Government should be doing more to promote energy conservation. The energy review, compiled by the Cabinet Office's performance and innovation unit, is due to be published on Thursday and will call for a doubling in the proportion of Britain's energy needs met by renewable sources to 20 per cent by 2020. Eoin Lees, the chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said: "Households won't need the energy supplied by the nuclear power stations due to be decommissioned. But it will require Government to deliver energy efficiency and not be sidetracked by the lobbying of vested interests." It is also expected to say that ministers should not close off the nuclear option but this will fall a long way short of the ringing endorsement the nuclear lobby had originally hoped for. Robin Jeffrey, the executive chairman of British Energy, the country's biggest nuclear generator, yesterday repeated his warning that unless nuclear reactors were replaced one for one, then the UK could face an energy crisis in 20 years time. "The clock is ticking and we are now on the critical path," he said. British Energy has now accepted that the earliest it could get approval to build a new generation of reactors is 2005. ***************************************************************** 5 France defends its corner on energy liberalisation FRANCE: February 11, 2002 PARIS - France sought to defend its energy liberalisation programme, weeks ahead of a European summit at which it could face renewed pressure over the speed at which it is willing to introduce power and gas competition. Industry Secretary Christian Pierret said French state-owned electricity and gas firms have lost respectively 13 percent and 25 percent of industrial customers eligible to change suppliers. "I would like to stress that the energy markets of France are the most open in the industrialised countries (in Europe)," Pierret said. Upholding a French issue of public service ahead of elections in April, France's centre-left government is willing to meet a European deadline for opening markets for businesses but not households. The same government vetoed attempts at acceleration in 2000 at a similar summit in Portugal. In order to prevent another deadlock in Barcelona, the European Commission has softened its tone and proposed a deadline of 2003/2004 for industrial clients while delaying the total liberalisation deadline from the scheduled 2005. France implemented an initial EU electricity liberalisation directive a year after its deadline and the government has yet to pass a gas law. Even without a gas law, France opened the market for large industrial companies as of August 2000 but critics such as Spain say the country is still lagging behind its neighbours. "For gas, the opening is real as 25 percent of eligible clients have changed suppliers, which represents more than 22 terawatt hours...and four new gas operators have appeared in the French market," Pierret said. This is a rise from the 15 percent that former monopoly Gaz de France (GdF) announced last October. Pierret named the four new gas suppliers as French oil giant TotalFinaElf , British oil major BP and utility Centrica and Belgium's Distrigas. France came in for the harshest criticism over its electricity policy after former monopoly Electricite de France went on an aggressive acquisition spree in already neighbouring markets that had opened faster to competition. EdF said last October that it had lost 15 percent of the eligible market since France allowed customers to change suppliers in 1999. French market sources say that some consumers may have switched back to EdF, which can supply cheaper power thanks to its reliance on nuclear power, whose short-term operating costs are lower than for fossil fuels. Under the EU directive, member states had to open about 28 percent of their electricity markets in 2000, a figure which rises to 33 percent by 2003, while at least 20 percent of their gas markets had to be opened by last year, rising to 28 percent in 2003. Story by Marguerita Choy REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 6 EU energy chief says supply system unsustainable NORWAY: February 11, 2002 OSLO - The European Union aims to develop more renewable energy at home to break free from its dependence on outside suppliers and reduce pollution, European Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio said last week. "There are inherent weaknesses in today's energy supply system which render it unsustainable," Palacio told the ongoing Sanderstoelen annual oil and gas conference in Norway. Palacio said growing demand for fossil fuels such as oil and gas would make it hard for the Union to meet its obligations to curb greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming, and called for more diversity in supply. "It also threatens to make Europe, in the longer term, increasingly dependent on supplies from distant regions," she added. Palacio said the Union must aim to develop energy from a wide range of power sources from renewables to nuclear generation. "I fully respect the reasons why some member states have not adopted or would prefer to withdraw from the (nuclear) option," Palacio said. "However, in some parts of Europe, renouncing the nuclear option could leave a dangerous gap in our power capacity." Palacio said the EU aimed to double the share of renewable energy to 12 percent by 2010 compared to the current six percent and substituting 20 percent of traditional fuels in road transport with alternative sources by 2020. EU LOOKS TO NORWAY, RUSSIA Non-EU Norway is closely linked to the Union through a special European Economic Area agreement which gives it access to the internal market, and Palacio forecast that the oil-rich country would increase its total oil and gas exports to the EU. "Today, Norway provides about one quarter of our gas imports and one fifth of our oil imports. Within 10 years, this proportion could rise to almost one third of total oil and gas imports," she said. Petroleum resources in Russia and the Caspian basin were "especially promising" with the needed investments in infrastructure, Palacio said, adding that the EU worked on several schemes with Russia and former Soviet states to bring more oil and gas from east to west. "It will serve both to enhance the security of energy supplies across our continent as well as helping to develop, in practical terms, the concept of a Common European Economic Area," she said. The EU aims to fully open its energy markets by 2005 to lower prices, but the liberalisation drive has suffered several set-backs as some countries such as Germany and France have been slow to adopt market-based policies and network access for outside competitors remain difficult. "Ultimately, what I would like to see is a common standard throughout the EU on this issue, ensuring network tariffs are fixed and published and that they are verified by an independent regulator," Palacio said. Transmission and distribution companies should be run separately from generation and sales, even if ownership remained within a single group holding, Palacio said. Story by Erik Brynhildsbakken REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 7 British Energy mulls bid for New England nuclear plant;East Kil bride generator ready to kick-start US expansion programme The Herald (United Kingdom); Feb 12, 2002 British Energy, the East Kilbride nuclear generator, is considering kick-starting its US expansion programme by bidding for the $700m ((pounds) 500m) Seabrook nuclear reactor in New Hampshire. National Grid, along with six other US state utilities which control a 88.2% stake in Seabrook, put the power plant on the market in December. The sale process is due to be completed by June. Senior British Energy executives said that the firm was considering entering the bidding through AmerGen, its 50-50 joint venture business with Exelon. No decision about tabling a bid has been made, but British Energy sources insisted AmerGen would not pay ''silly money'' for the 1160-megawatt plant. One US-based energy consultant suggested the plant was worth more than (pounds) 500m because it is only 10 years old and has potentially another 50 years of life. The high price could result in some bidders putting together a joint bid. British Energy's North American expansion strategy through AmerGen has been frustrated by fierce price wars in recent years. Last August, AmerGen lost out to rival Entergy for the 540mw Vermont Yankee station. Entergy paid (pounds) 130m for the plant - more than treble Entergy's original bid in January 2001. AmerGen runs three US-based plants - Clinton, Three Mile Island, and Oyster Creek. British Energy privately estimates that Three Mile Island and Oyster Creek are now worth between five and 10 times what AmerGen paid for them. British Energy executives are now hopeful that, after the En-ron collapse and the September 11 terrorist attacks, the market will no longer support inflated valuations. Other rivals for the plant are expected to be Entergy, Constellation Nuclear, and Dominion Energy. JP Morgan, the investment bank in New York, is handling the auction process. Bids are due to be filed by the third week of March. A JP Morgan spokeswoman declined to comment on the sale's progress. Analysts agreed with British Energy's plans to continue to expand in North America. One said: ''If they can get a good deal it would make a lot of sense for British Energy to go for it.'' British Energy also signalled that it is willing to look for deals in Eastern Europe, particularly in countries which are on the fringes of the European Union and are looking to meet membership criteria to join the EU as it enlarges. This could result in countries such as Romania, Hungary, and Slovenia offering their power generation assets for sale to other EU-based businesses, like British Energy. The generator was rebuffed from bidding for CEZ, the Czech Republic's power stations, last November because it wanted to cherry-pick the nuclear assets. Electricite de France is currently trying to close that deal by the end of the month. Meanwhile, Robin Jeffrey, the executive chairman of British Energy, said he expected a government white paper on power generation, due out on Thursday, to be more pro-nuclear than previously leaked drafts. But he warned that it would be another 12 months before a clear view came from the government, because of the lengthy consultation process which follows publication of the policy paper. British Energy is strongly arguing for a ''replace nuclear with nuclear'' policy, to reduce the UK's expected overwhelming reliance on gas-fuelled power by 2020. But Jeffrey said that a clear government policy was expected to emerge in the spring of 2003, after which British Energy will have to wait before other reviews into major infrastructure projects planning and waste are completed. This could put back a deci- sion by British Energy about building new nuclear power plants until late 2003. Jeffrey said: ''The time will come when we have to act and not consult and write reports. There is still some time left but it is getting a bit thin.'' Jeffrey said that unless the government favoured a balanced policy of power generation, which includes nuclear power, then the UK could become over-reliant on gas. He said: ''We are concerned that within two decades we will have three-quarters of our electricity coming from a single foreign source.'' ***************************************************************** 8 Russia can't go forward without resolving nuclear issues - deputy premier BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 12, 2002 Chelyabinsk, 12 February: Russia can't go forward unless the problems of the nuclear sector are resolved. Ilya Klebanov, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation's government, said this today when he opened an interdepartmental coordinating conference in Chelyabinsk. "We have to discuss the most serious problems connected with the development of the entire sector, the deputy prime minister said. I mean both science and production and technologies." The most important landmarks in the development of the Russian economy as a whole are created in the structures of the Atomic Energy Ministry. For the Urals there are very serious social and ecological problems that have accumulated over decades. They need to be resolved not separately, but comprehensively, with the aim of developing the sector. We will also discuss issues connected with the physical safety of nuclear installations which have become particularly topical since 11 September [2001, Klebanov said]... Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0955 gmt 12 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 9 Nuclear chief criticises policy 'drift' money.telegraph.co.uk - By Sophie Barker (Filed: 12/02/2002) BRITISH Energy yesterday accused the Government of letting its energy policy review "drift", as the nuclear generator said that it did not expect a policy statement until early next year. The move comes ahead of this week's publication of a report by the Government's Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) into Britain's future energy needs. It is expected to recommend keeping open the option of replacing Britain's existing nuclear power stations, which will close down between 2011 and 2025. However, British Energy executive chairman Robin Jeffrey said that political delays, combined with Britain's lengthy planning rules, make it difficult to build replacement stations in time. "Our power plants, which represent more than 20pc of our electricity, have finite lives. The time is going to come to act rather than talk and consult and write reports. There is some time left but it's beginning to get a bit thin," Mr Jeffrey said. The PIU began the review in June and has consulted widely before coming to its conclusions. British Energy expects the Government to launch a fresh round of consultations later this month, which will last three months, before taking a further five to eight months to formulate a policy statement, which will eventually become a White Paper. "We will have a policy statement at the earliest in October and, more realistically, early next year. It's drifting," Mr Jeffrey said. The Government's energy policy is partly dependent on a concurrent review into Britain's nuclear waste management, which is being conducted by environment minister Michael Meacher and is not expected to report until 2005. Mr Meacher, a known opponent of nuclear power, sits on the energy review committee alongside energy minister and nuclear advocate Brian Wilson, who chairs the committee. A Government spokesman declined to comment on the timing of the White Paper. + The Health & Safety Executive has approved BNFL's ongoing plans to decommission its 11 Magnox nuclear power stations. Four are no longer operational, while the remaining seven will close by the end of the decade. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited [http://pressoffice.telegraph.co.uk] ***************************************************************** 10 Czech Temelin shut for at least week after glitch CZECH REPUBLIC: February 12, 2002 PRAGUE - The controversial Czech nuclear power plat Temelin will be off line for at least another week after an emergency shutdown the state regulator said yesterday. The station, built 60 km (38 miles) from the borders of fiercely anti-nuclear Austria, has sparked a sharp diplomatic row between the two countries. Austria says it is unsafe and should be closed. Temelin had been briefly shut down a number of times after glitches since testing operations started in late 2000, but the latest fault is more serious and will require a few days to investigate, the State Nuclear Safety Office said. Spokesman Pavel Pittermann told Reuters that a generator fault on Thursday was supposed to cut the 1,000 reactor's output to 40 percent, but subsequent failures shut it down completely. He said there was no nuclear safety threat at all and the safety systems worked well. "The process did not stop where it was supposed to. We will now probably for quite a while investigate what happened there. It may be a question of days, or up to tens of days," he said, adding that it was very unlikely the station would be reopened this week. The full launch of Temelin, a Soviet-designed station with a U.S. control system, has been delayed a number of times due to construction and testing troubles. Austria's far-right Freedom Party collected some 915,000 signatures, 15.5 percent of the electorate, last month for a petition demanding that the plant is shut or Austria veto the Czechs' entry into the European Union, expected in 2004. The petition is not binding and does not have widespread political support in Austria but it strained relations between the two central European neighbours. The $2.75 billion Temelin is one of the key assets of power company CEZ , which the Czech government aims to sell by June this year. France's EdF , Spain's Iberdrola , and Britain's International Power have shown interest. Germany's E.ON and RWE have been reported by Czech media to be among the bidders as well. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 11 Czech nuclear plant suffers from too many small shortcomings - safety official BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 11, 2002 [Announcer] The State Nuclear Safety Office [SUJB] has sent a special team to inspect the Temelin [nuclear power station close to the Austrian border], as the power station's latest shutdown on Thursday [7 February] is, according to SUJB head Dana Drabova, a reason for a frown at least. She sees the main problem in the fact that too many small shortcomings have emerged lately. This is why an intensive investigation is currently under way to check whether the adopted measures have been sufficient. However, the operator is to decide when to restart the power station, she said: [Drabova] This time we imposed several conditions which must be met by the operator before a fission chain reaction is restarted in the reactor and before its output is increased. On the other hand, the operator does not in fact need any special permission from us to do so. This was an exceptional event which is being investigated not through standard procedures but through a specialized inspection. [Announcer] According to the information from Temelin, the first block of the nuclear power station is expected to be restarted sometime mid-week... Source: Czech Radio1 - Radiozurnal, Prague, in Czech 1700 gmt 11 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 12 State takes step against nuke mishap at Millstone TheDay.com: February 12 Hartford seeking 450,000 doses of potassium iodide to fight radiation poisoning By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 02/12/2002 Connecticut is asking the federal government to provide 450,000 doses of potassium iodide for use in warding off the damaging effects of radiation poisoning in the event of a nuclear accident at Millstone Power Station in Waterford. The decision ends years of debate in the state as to whether the stockpiling of the drug, commonly known as KI, should be part of the emergency planning for a nuclear disaster. “This decision is the result of significant research and deliberations by executive agency staff,” wrote Brian Mattiello, Under Secretary for the state Office of Policy and Management, in a Feb. 6 letter to Kathy Halvey Gibson, chief of the emergency preparedness and health physics at the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “We are prepared to move forward in defining the appropriate role of KI for the public as a supplement to sheltering and evacuation.” When taken in the proper dosage within four hours of exposure to radioactive iodine, KI floods the thyroid with safe iodine and blocks the radioactive iodine from entering. The thyroid is particularly vulnerable to radioactive poisoning and the associated cancer. The use of KI in Poland following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster was credited with greatly reducing the number of thyroid cancers. Concerns have been raised over the years in this country, however, as to how the drug would be distributed and whether it would discourage some from heeding evacuation orders. There were also worries about the potential for liability in the event of adverse reactions and about keeping track of the pills. Those concerns appear to have melted away in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks, said John Markowicz, co-chairman of the state's Nuclear Energy Advisory Council. “After September 11th I think these things have taken on a new urgency,” he said. In a Jan. 2 letter, the advisory council had urged Gov. John G. Rowland to make the pills available to residents living in the 10-mile emergency planning zone around the two operating plants at Millstone station. High-level radioactive waste is also stored at a third, closed nuclear plant at the station. The council said the state and the nation needs to plan for the use of KI in the event of a nuclear plant accident or attack the same way it is working to protect the public from potential smallpox or anthrax attacks. Since Sept. 11 the federal government has moved forward more aggressively on the KI debate, with the Food and Drug Administration outlining guidelines for its use in an emergency and the NRC offering the distribute it to willing states. “I think September 11th hastened the federal review process,” Mattiello said. Connecticut is asking for 450,000 doses to protect the 200,000 people living in the emergency zone and those who work and visit there. The 450,000-dose request is based on a worst-case scenario and includes doses for residents, workers, seasonal visitors and transients. The emergency zone includes all or portions of East Lyme, Groton City, Groton Town, Ledyard, Lyme, Montville New London, Old Lyme and Waterford. The state will be working with New York about providing KI for Fishers Island, N.Y., also included in the 10-mile zone. Issues still need to be addressed, including where to store the pills, when and how to distribute them, and how best to educate the public in their use, said Mattiello. The state is asking for more guidance in distributing KI to children and infants, who require smaller doses. The drug is not a substitute for heeding recommendations to evacuate or take shelter, said Mattiello. KI only protects from radioactive iodine, it does not guard against exposure to any other types of radiation that might be released in a severe nuclear power accident. In 1998 the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council recommended that KI be distributed freely to those residents who voluntarily asked for it and the rest be stockpiled and distributed if needed in an emergency. Markowicz said the advisory council is glad to finally see some movement on the issue. “It's refreshing to see the state and the nation taking a positive stance when it comes to protecting people living in proximity to nuclear plants,” he said. p.choiniere@theday.com © 1998-2002 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 13 Nuclear storage at Millstone could be test case TheDay.com: February 12 By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 02/12/2002 Waterford — A proposal to allow the storage of more nuclear waste at the Millstone 3 plant could become a test case to decide if, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the threat of terrorism should be a consideration in deciding how to safely manage the country's nuclear waste. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has agreed to consider whether, given the increased concerns about homeland security, it needs to require an environmental impact statement discussing the risks and consequences of terrorism affecting the Millstone 3 spent fuel storage pool. The groups asking the commission to address the issue — Standing for Truth About Radiation (STAR) and the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone — have for more than two years fought the plans to put more spent fuel in the storage pool at unit 3, part of the Millstone Power Station. But in November the groups raised a new issue, contending that the storage pools at nuclear plants were vulnerable to the kind of attack that felled the World Trade Center towers and that the potential for terrorism should be considered before approving any changes in waste storage. Scott M. Cullen, legal counsel to STAR, based in East Hampton, N.Y., said the group hopes the contention will lead to requirements that all highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel be stored in hardened containers invulnerable to attack. Cullen said he is not optimistic that the NRC will force nuclear plant operators to make costly safety changes at nuclear plants. “The commission had traditionally acted in the best interests of the industry, not in the interests of the safety of the citizens,” Cullen said. The organization is prepared to appeal the matter in federal court, Cullen said. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is deciding whether the Millstone 3 license should be amended to allow for the storage of nuclear waste — in the form of spent nuclear fuel rods — that will be generated at the plant over the next 25 years. The board has been routinely approving such amendments for the last two decades. The storage pools were originally intended as temporary storage facilities where the fuel could cool before being moved to a permanent depository. But because no national storage site has been approved — Yucca Mountain in Nevada is the most likely candidate — an increasing amount of waste is being stored in the pools. Since Sept. 11 concerns have been raised that these storage facilities could be vulnerable to an attack because they are not designed with the same strength as the thick-shelled domes protecting nuclear reactors. On Jan. 24 the licensing board wrote to the commission saying that it found the concern about terrorism affecting the Millstone 3 storage pool “procedurally valid,” but that it was prohibited from considering the argument by existing rules. Those rules state that nuclear plants are “not required to provide for design features or other measures for the specific purpose of protection against the effects of ... attacks and destructive acts, including sabotage, directed against the facility by an enemy of the United States.” The board referred the matter to the five-member commission for further guidance. The commission has asked its staff and all involved parties to file legal arguments on the issue and to address this question: “What is an agency's responsibility under (federal environmental laws) to consider international malevolent acts, such as those directed at the United States on Sept. 11, 2001?” Pete Hyde, a spokesman for Millstone station and its owner, Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, said the company welcomes the NRC's decision to review the issue. The issue is a generic one, applicable to all storage pools, and so should be addressed by the commission, he said. Hyde said Dominion officials are confident that Millstone's plans for increased storage will ultimately be judged safe and will win approval. p.choiniere@theday.com © 1998-2002 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 14 US agencies mull physical upgrades to nuclear plants USA: February 11, 2002 WASHINGTON - U.S. security agencies are seriously considering "bricks and mortar adjustments" to the nation's 103 nuclear power plants to guard against a possible airline attack, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said. "Clearly the threat design of nuclear facilities has to be reconsidered and there may ultimately be ... actually some bricks and mortar adjustments that are made to some of these facilities," Ridge said, speaking at the National Press Club. Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network have been blamed for the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Now, U.S. officials are concerned that bin Laden's network could be plotting a second airline attack on America, this time on a nuclear power plant. President George W. Bush said in the State of the Union address last week that al Qaeda was gathering information on potential targets inside the United States. "We have found diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities, detailed instructions for making chemical weapons, surveillance maps of American cities, and thorough descriptions of landmarks in America and throughout the world," Bush said. Ridge's comments come after a warning from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last month that nuclear plants could be a target of an airline attack. The NRC has placed nuclear plants on heightened alert since Sept. 11. Current NRC guidelines do not require nuclear plants to prepare for an airplane threat. Its so-called "design basis threat," a blueprint which sets security requirements, focuses mostly on ground-attack preparations. The NRC is currently conducting a top-to-bottom review of its security guidelines in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. "We know that our nuclear facilities were designed to combat ... land-based threats primarily - explosions," Ridge said. INDUSTRY SAYS PROTECTION ADEQUATE The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the industry's main lobbying group, says that current protections could be adequate to protect against an airplane attack. "Clearly they weren't designed for an airplane strike, but that doesn't mean they can't withstand it," said Douglas Walters, an NEI security expert. "It's premature at least for us to say that we need to make physical changes to the facility." Other nuclear industry officials concur that their plants are already adequately buttressed against an airline attack. "If you were to slam a plane into (a nuclear reactor), ... most likely that plane would not penetrate the containment building," said Paul Gaukler, an attorney with Shaw Pittman, which represents nuclear industry clients. Gaukler pointed to a test conducted in 1988 by the Sandia National Laboratories in California where scientists slammed an F-4 Phantom fighter jet into a stimulated nuclear containment facility at 481 miles per hour. The jet shattered into pieces and only penetrated the containment wall by two or three inches, he said. Nuclear power reactors are typically enclosed in concrete walls up to 4.5 feet (1.35 meters) thick. Story by Chris Baltimore REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 15 French government reforms control of nuclear safety La Tribune- France; Feb 11, 2002 On Wednesday, the French council of ministers will examine two decrees which will create two key organisations in the area of nuclear safety: the DGSNR (Direction generale de la surete nucleaire et de la radioprotection) and the IRSN (Institut de radioprotection et de surete nucleaire). The DGSNR will be responsible for approving, or vetoing, authorisations for nuclear operators, such as national electricity supplier EDF. It will largely base its decisions on reports provided by the IRSN, which is responsible for carrying out research and issuing information to the general public. For the government, the reform is a way of increasing transparency and clarity in the existing safety system. Until now, regulation and evaluation have been the responsibility of several different bodies. Abstracted from La Tribune ***************************************************************** 16 Argonne workers show exposure to toxic metal Chicago Tribune | February 12, 2002 Beryllium linked to fatal disease By Sam Roe and David Heinzmann Tribune staff reporters Published February 12, 2002 Seven current or former workers at Argonne National Laboratory have blood abnormalities caused by exposure to the highly toxic metal beryllium--the first such cases at the facility. The cases were discovered during recent testing by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a nationwide screening program of potential beryllium victims. The workers have been referred to medical specialists to determine whether they have beryllium disease, an incurable lung illness that has claimed the lives of scores of workers in the nuclear industry. "We regret that their exposure has caused them physical harm," said Brian Quirke, spokesman for the Energy Department, which owns Argonne. The laboratory, near Lemont, conducts research in fields that include high-energy physics, chemistry and materials science. The news comes at a time when U.S. officials are in the Chicago area to help ailing weapons workers and others associated with Energy Department facilities apply for a new federal compensation program. People with beryllium disease qualify. Beryllium is a strong, lightweight metal that has been used for decades in nuclear weapons and research experiments. Microscopic amounts of beryllium dust--the toxic form of the metal--can cause disease, and workers who inhale the dust have a lifelong risk of developing the illness. People who have the blood abnormalities do not necessarily have the disease; but it means that the body's immune system has reacted to beryllium exposure. Further tests, such as a lung biopsy, are needed to confirm the illness. Experts estimate about half of the people with blood abnormalities will develop the disease. In a statement, Argonne said the facility "puts worker and public health and safety first in all its research and has done so for more than 50 years." Argonne has used beryllium, which has rare nuclear properties, since the 1940s. The metal is used at the lab in X-ray machine windows and in neutron beam experiments to study the property of materials. Safeguards in place Officials said many safeguards have been used for decades, including extensive ventilation. Former Argonne safety director Don O'Neil said he was surprised and saddened by the results. "I thought our controls were exemplary from the 1950s on," said O'Neil, who retired in 1989. Argonne reports that about 1,775 current and former workers have had potential exposure to beryllium dust over the years. But no one currently works with the metal in a way that could create dust, Argonne spokeswoman Donna Jones Pelkie said. The facility once had a beryllium machine shop, but it closed around 1980, she said. In recent years, the Energy Department has been testing the blood of current and former beryllium workers at nuclear facilities nationwide. As of December, 27,835 workers have been screened, with 183, or less than 1 percent, showing beryllium disease. Another 546 have blood abnormalities. Ninety-seven former workers at Argonne and Site B, a former laboratory at the University of Chicago, have been screened, with six former Argonne workers showing blood abnormalities. Officials have been unable to track down hundreds more who might have been exposed at those facilities. Forty-eight current Argonne workers have been tested in ongoing screening, with one showing the blood abnormality. Officials disclosed few details about the people affected at Argonne, saying only that they fell into the job categories of welder, scientist, truck driver, technician and clerical worker. Three of the seven worked at Site B, the secret World War II lab that used beryllium to construct the world's first atomic bomb. The U. of C.'s wartime research labs evolved into Argonne, which opened in 1946. In the 1940s the dangers of beryllium were not fully understood, and Site B had few precautions. "It was a very dusty place," said Larry Kelman, 82, of Naperville who developed the disease after working at Site B. "Every morning the secretaries had to clean off the dust before starting work." At least 10 workers developed beryllium disease after working at Site B. The facility was torn down more than 25 years ago. For decades, the U.S. government denied fault when workers became ill in the course of building nuclear weapons. But in 1999, the Energy Department said it would compensate workers who became sick from exposure to beryllium, radiation and silica. 417 Illinois claims filed In Illinois, 417 people have filed claims on behalf of themselves or deceased relatives, U.S. Labor Department spokesman Larry Hoss said. Of the 18,000 claims filed nationwide, the government has paid $91 million to 1,272 people, he said. This week, Labor Department officials are in Joliet and Willowbrook helping claimants fill out forms. On Monday in Joliet, Virginia Susner of Crest Hill checked on her claim. She said her husband, Richard, had been healthy before working as an electrician at Blockson Chemical in the 1950s. The Joliet firm produced uranium for the defense program, officials said. But after a few years of crawling around in the plant's insulation and wiring areas, his bones started to ache. His doctor told him the yellow powder that dusted his clothes every day was probably causing his ailments, she said. He died in 1980 at age 53. Cancer started in his lungs and spread throughout his organs, she said. Harry Burkhart and his sister, Linda Reavis, both of Joliet, said the government did not fully inform workers of the risks at facilities such as Blockson, where their father was a maintenance man from 1959 to 1985. Harold Burkhart died in 1996, two months after a rare form of lung cancer was diagnosed, his son said. "Nothing's going to bring him back," Harry Burkhart said. "I guess the money would give us the satisfaction that [the government] admitted that something was wrong." Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune ***************************************************************** 17 Russia: Over 40,000 people were treated for radiation exposure in 10 years BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 12, 2002 Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 12 February: Over 40,000 people have received rehabilitation treatment in the last 10 years as part of federal special-purpose programmes for clearing the damage caused by radiation accidents at the Mayak enterprise in Chelyabinsk Region, ITAR-TASS was told by Deputy Emergencies Ministry Nadezhda Gerasimova. She is taking part in an interdepartmental coordination conference on the development of the nuclear industry and radiation security. The conference, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, is being held in Chelyabinsk. According to Gerasimova, about 15,000 people received direct medical treatment and over 26,000 children and teenagers have undergone rehabilitation treatment. "In total, 42,280 people have been registered in the Urals region's medical and dosimetric list. All of them are under constant medical observation," she added. Over 147,000 sq. m. of housing were built or acquired for the victims of radiation disasters in Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Sverdlovsk Regions in 1992-2001. Many new hospitals, clinics, schools and nurseries were built during the same period. "Despite the lack of money for the rehabilitation of the region, measures have been taken to lessen the risk of accidents at Mayak. Work has been done to drain the polluted Lake Karachay and strengthen protective installations at the Techenskiy cascade of pools," Gerasimova said. Besides, in the afflicted districts of the Urals region, agricultural products and private plots of land are kept under radiation control. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0926 gmt 12 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 18 Russia: Radiation mutations passed to children - study USA: February 11, 2002 WASHINGTON - People exposed to radioactive fallout from weapons tests in the former Soviet Union passed on genetic mutations to their children, but not at a high rate, international researchers have said. And the mutations faded out by the time grandchildren were born, which suggests test ban treaties are doing their job in protecting future generations, the researchers reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Radiation is known to cause genetic mutation, and the rate of certain cancers goes up in areas exposed to nuclear fallout, such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and the area around Ukraine's Chernobyl power plant. Yuri Dubrova, a geneticist at the University of Leicester in Britain, knew people living around the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons test site in Kazakhstan were exposed to nuclear fallout from the explosions of four nuclear bombs between 1949 and 1956. "The first Soviet nuclear device was tested there," Dubrova said in a telephone interview last week. Dubrova's team wanted to see if the genetic mutations caused by radiation from these bombs were passed on from parent to child, and to future generations. Working with teams in Britain, Kazakhstan and Finland, they took blood from 40 three-generation families in the area and tested an area on the chromosomes prone to genetic mutation. "We need to know to what extent exposure to radiation might affect the mutation rate in our germ cells and therefore cause an elevated mutation rate in the offspring of exposed people," Dubrova said. Germ cells are the egg and sperm. All the grandparents were born before 1949, with succeeding generations born through the 1960s. They got blood from people who lived in a similar but uncontaminated geographical area, and matched genetic samples by age, ethnicity, whether they smoked and so on. HIGH MUTATION RATE IN GRANDPARENTS As would be expected, the grandparents had a soaring mutation rate. "It went up twofold roughly or 100 percent if you compare with the controls," Dubrova said. "In the next generation, which was less exposed, it was 50 percent higher." Some of the nuclear fallout was still in the environment when the oldest members of the second generation were born, so direct exposure to this radiation could have caused some of the mutation, Dubrova said. There was even some radiation around when the first grandchildren were born, and Dubrova found that the younger the person his team tested, the fewer mutations he or she had. "I was jumping from joy here. I was dancing, singing," he said. "It went down with the year of birth." Dubrova said the tests do not show whether the people with the most mutation have a higher risk of cancer, because they are not the genes known to be involved in cancer when they are damaged. Story by Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ***************************************************************** 19 Former workers exposed to radiation have yet to receive federal remuneration Tuesday, February 12, 2002 By Judy Lin, The Associated Press Steel worker Stephen Kaurich remembers those mysterious shipments to his mill in the two years after World War II, the strange metal bars he and his crew were told to roll down to a smaller, more usable size. The shipments arrived hidden under the floorboards of boxcars, and once workers began rolling them through the steel mill's machinery, they noticed the bars didn't cool like the materials they were used to shaping. When the work was finished, the factory was washed down with acids and the boxcars left as mysteriously as they came. "They didn't tell us they were uranium bars," said Kaurich, who lives in Center and for years toiled at the Vulcan Crucible Steel Co. in nearby Aliquippa. Now an 80-year-old colon cancer survivor, Kaurich is convinced that his illness was caused by exposure to radioactive material at the Aliquippa plant. He is among tens of thousands of sickened nuclear weapons workers and their survivors expected to seek federal compensation for having contributed to the nation's Cold War buildup of atomic weapons. But six months after workers and their families could begin applying for the $150,000 lump sums, many applicants are still waiting, with older workers wondering if they can survive any bureaucratic delays. "Nothing yet," said Kaurich, who filed last year and wasn't asked for medical records on his 1974 surgery until last month. "Most of the guys are all dead. They should have done something about it a long time ago." Program director Pete Turcic said the process for approving workers can be long and asked applicants to be patient. Of 18,980 claims filed in the first six months, 1,228 cases have been paid out and 74 cases denied, he said. Another 2,216 cases have been recommended for approval while 629 have been recommended for denial. The others are awaiting review. "I understand people are concerned, but we are committed to processing claims as rapidly as possible," Turcic said. Two years ago, Congress approved the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program to provide $150,000, plus medical benefits, for living workers who got sick. Survivors of the deceased are eligible to apply for the lump sum. The program, administered by the Labor Department, is intended to compensate workers who took ill after being exposed to cancer-causing radiation or silica and beryllium, two metals that can cause lung disease, while working -- in many cases without knowing it -- on dangerous weapons materials. Officials are anticipating 80,000 claims in the first two years of the program, with the vast majority being cancer patients. For a worker to be eligible, the Department of Energy has to verify the person was employed at certain facilities during times when dangerous materials were handled. Then the Department of Health and Human Services has to determine whether his or her illness was caused by the work, Turcic said. The program covers 318 facilities in 37 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Marshall Islands, with the most being located in New York (38) and Ohio (35). The list of facilities includes the University of California at Berkeley, the Great Lakes Carbon Corp. in Chicago, the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab in New Jersey and a Bethlehem Steel operation in Lackawanna, N.Y. There are 26 eligible facilities in Pennsylvania, including Vulcan Crucible Steel. Kaurich said many of the workers died long before the compensation program began. He said eight men in his former crew of 10 are already gone. "I'm lucky," Kaurich said. The workers knew the shipments were odd but gave them little thought. Kaurich said he later learned that the uranium was sent to a nuclear plant in Washington state, where it was used to produce plutonium for atomic bombs. Dorothy Baron filed an application in October for her stepfather, Nick Arbutina, a steel worker who worked at the Vulcan plant from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He died of leukemia in 1984. Baron, 71, of Aliquippa, said she'd run into obstacles because the hospital where Arbutina died no longer has his medical records. She said she had contacted the Energy Employees Resource Compensation Center and made it aware of the problem. "I put it in their hands; that's all I can do," Baron said. "They said they would try." Baron said she's mainly concerned for her mother, Anna Arbutina, 89. She lost her first husband to a fire in 1937. "She got nothing then because Social Security was just coming out. It'd be nice if she could get something now," Baron said. Copyright ©1997-2002 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 20 Government holds meetings where nuclear workers can apply for aid Tuesday, February 12, 2002 By Jim McKay, Post-Gazette Staff Writer Nuclear weapons workers from Western Pennsylvania who were made ill by exposure to radioactive or other toxic materials during the Cold War have an opportunity to apply next week for a new federal compensation program. The government is offering $150,000 in a lump sum as compensation to nuclear weapons workers who have developed cancer, chronic beryllium disease or chronic silicosis as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium or silica on the job. The U.S. Departments of Labor and Energy will hold informational meetings Tuesday and Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Coraopolis and Thursday and Friday at the Holiday Inn Meadowlands in Washington, Pa. Similar meetings were held in January, when 143 applications were distributed. Workers who need help filling out claims forms can schedule appointments by calling toll-free (866) 363-6993 or by dropping in unscheduled at the ttwo meeting sites from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. The payments are authorized by the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which went into effect last July and was amended in December to make adult children eligible if there is no surviving spouse. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that as many as 14,000 Cold War-era workers may qualify for the program, costing taxpayers an estimated $1.9 billion over 10 years. Workers or their heirs who take the money would be precluded from filling lawsuits against the government or its contractors. Production, testing or research on nuclear weapons was conducted in about half of the nation's states, including Pennsylvania, at both large government complexes and smaller private manufacturing plants that had government contracts. It was not unusual for employees to be kept in the dark about what they were handling or to be deceived about their potential levels of exposure. There were several sites in Western Pennsylvania whose employees or survivors could be eligible for the program. A brief description of them, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, follows. Aliquippa Forge (Vulcan Crucible Steel, 1947 -- 1950; 1983-1994 remediation) Aliquippa Forge, also known as Vulcan Crucible Steel Co. and Universal Cyclops, in the late 1940s was a supplier of rolled uranium rods used in reactors in Hanford, Wash. The Atomic Energy Commission operated a rolling mill, two furnaces and cutting and extrusion equipment at Vulcan. Work on the site ended in 1950. Alcoa, 1944-1945 Alcoa's Aluminum Research Laboratories, on Pine and 9th streets in New Kensington, was one of 14 facilities that produced nuclear fuel for the X-10 pilot plant reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and at production reactors at Hanford, Wash. Alcoa used a unique welding process to "can" and seal uranium slugs at the facility, which was also known as the New Kensington Works. C.H. Schnoor,1943-1951; 1992-1995 (remediation) C.H. Schnoor &Co. of Springdale provided metal fabrication services for the Manhattan Project beginning in 1943. C.H. Schnoor machined extruded uranium for the Hanford Pile Project. Operations may have continued until 1951 when the building was sold. The company was also known as Conviber and Premier Manufacturing. It was the site of a Department of Energy remediation from 1992 to 1995. Carnegie Institute of Technology, early 1940s Carnegie Tech, now known as Carnegie Mellon University, was a key participant of the Manhattan Project. It did research on special metals and their alloys and worked on the development of equipment and testing construction materials. Heppenstall Co., 1955 Heppenstall, also known as Tippins Inc., used its Pittsburgh site to heat, press and water quench uranium ingots. Approximately 100,000 pounds of uranium metal was shaped at Heppenstall over a six-month period in 1955. The forging was done on a 1,000-ton press two days a month by a Heppenstall crew of eight men. Jessop Steel Co., 1950 to 1954 Jessop, of Washington, Pa., was under contract to the Atomic Energy Commission for metal fabrication in the early and mid-1950s with some work through DuPont. Uranium metal in nickel scrap was sent to Jessop to make stainless steel piping. Jessop is now part of Allegheny Ludlum Corp., an Allegheny Technologies company. Koppers Co. Inc., 1956-1957 Koppers, in conjunction with Kennecott Copper Co., conducted pilot plant tests at its research laboratory in Verona for the production of uranium hexafluoride. In 1956, Koppers was licensed to receive 8,150 pounds of refined material for study on reactor fuel elements and feed material processing. It was authorized to receive 110 pounds of normal uranium hexafluoride in 1957. McDanel Refractory Co. 1940s The McDanel Refractory in Beaver Falls, also known as Vesuvius McDanel and the Vesuvius Division of Cookson Group, was used to fabricate oddly shaped beryllium crucibles or beryllium crucible stopper rods for the Manhattan Project, but it was not used for large-scale production. NUMEC (Babcock &Wilcox), 1950s to 1980s The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. began operations in Apollo, Armstrong County, and Parks Township, Washington County, as a nuclear fuels producer in the late 1950s. Atlantic Richfield Co. bought NUMEC in 1967. The facilities were sold in 1971 to Babcock &Wilcox, the current owner. NUMEC processed unirradiated uranium scrap for the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1960s. The Apollo plant also provided enriched uranium to the naval reactors program and fabricated plutonium-beryllium neutron sources. Apollo, which included a plutonium plant and storage areas, ceased manufacturing nuclear fuel in 1983. Parks Township prepared high-enriched uranium fuel and fabricated plutonium fuel and zirconium/hafnium bars. It ceased fuel fabrication activities in 1980. Shippingport Atomic Power Plant, 1984 to 1995 (remediation) Shippingport Atomic Power Station, in Shippingport, was one of the first large-scale nuclear power plants in the world. The government believes compensation coverage may be limited to a Department of Energy remediation conducted from 1984 to 1995, but claims can be submitted for other time periods. Work done for a Naval Nuclear Propulsion program is exempt. Superior Steel Co., 1952 to 1957 Superior Steel, later purchased by Copperweld, may have rolled production quantities of uranium metal in Scott near Carnegie for National Lead of Ohio (Fernald). U.S. Steel Co., National Tube Division, 1959-1960 The Christy Park Works, of the National Tube Division of U.S. Steel, conducted tests in 1959 and 1960 demonstrating that rotary piercing of uranium was possible. The tests were conducted for National Lead of Ohio. Vitro Manufacturing, 1942 to 1957 Vitro Manufacturing of Canonsburg was a major uranium milling facility, one of 24 designated for Department of Energy remediation. Vitro recovered uranium from scrap and processed production quantities of radioactive material (UF4) for National Lead of Ohio. It was used as a storage site from 1957 to 1967. Westinghouse Atomic Power Development Plant, 1941 to 1944 The Westinghouse Atomic Power Development plant, also known as the Westinghouse East Pittsburgh facility, prepared uranium metal for Enrico Fermi's staff field experiment and conducted development and pilot-scale production of uranium oxide fuel elements. Copyright ©1997-2002 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 21 WAR ON TERRORISM: Nuclear plants' safety is dubious Pioneer Press | 02/10/2002 | Posted on Sun, Feb. 10, 2002 BY DENNIS LIEN Pioneer Press What would happen if terrorists crashed an airliner into either of Minnesota's nuclear power plants at Prairie Island or Monticello? The question alone is troubling enough for Minnesotans after Sept. 11. But the answer might be even more disturbing. No one knows for sure. "It is simply not known whether or not a reactor of those types could or could not withstand that sort of attack,'' said Dean Abrahamson, professor emeritus of energy and environment policy at the University of Minnesota. "I have not heard a responsible person say they can withstand it.'' State and plant officials minimize the threat, emphasizing the sturdiness of the plants' structures and the heightened security there. But even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the operation of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants, seems less than certain. The agency concedes that none of the plants — including the two in Minnesota — were designed to withstand hits from large aircraft such as a Boeing 757 or 767. And while it is working on new security guidelines for plants, they won't be issued until later this year. Concern over the vulnerability of the nation's nuclear power plants to a potential attack has been rekindled in recent days by new disclosures that they may have been targeted by the al-Qaida terrorist network. In his State of the Union address Jan. 29, President Bush revealed that U.S. forces in Afghanistan discovered "diagrams of American nuclear power plants,'' indicating some were cased in person or researched on the Internet. A successful attack on a nuclear plant's reactors, spent-fuel storage pools or dry-cask containers could not cause a Hiroshima-style explosion. But some observers worry that such an attack could release substantial amounts of radiation. "Terrorists have demonstrated an intent to cause significant damage to the security interests of the U.S.A.,'' said George Crocker, head of the North American Water Office, an environmental group that has been a persistent critic of the nuclear waste generated at Minnesota plants. "That is the reality. We could continue to pretend that the chances are so infinitely small that we shouldn't pay attention. Evidently, the president thought otherwise the other night.'' So far, U.S. intelligence officials stress, there have been no plausible threats to any U.S. nuclear power plants. Maureen Brown, a spokeswoman for Nuclear Management Co. of Hudson, Wis., which manages Minnesota's Monticello and Prairie Island plants for Xcel Energy, said the company is confident the reactor domes are secure and operational safeguards are in place. She didn't go into detail, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said such actions include increased patrols, better coordination with law enforcement and the military, and more restrictions on access. "Our belief is that the containment would not be penetrated,'' Brown said. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said he's comfortable with precautions at the two plants. "I'm not naive enough to think there is no way anybody could do anything to cause a problem there, because terrorists are smart, resourceful and suicidal,'' Weaver said. "But I feel very good about the preparedness of both sites and the ability of both sites to respond to any threat, whether a tornado or a terrorist. I don't lose any sleep over this.'' At nuclear power plants, nuclear material often is found in different places, and some plants are more vulnerable than others. Furthermore, each of the materials contain different levels of radioactivity, adding yet another wrinkle to the potential threat they might pose. At Prairie Island, each of the two nuclear reactors is surrounded by a thick dome. An adjacent building contains a spent-fuel pool, and outside, a short distance away, 14 storage casks hold waste material. The reactors each contain relatively little of the most potent material. Both structures consist of a reinforced, 2½-foot-thick concrete dome with a steel liner three-quarters of an inch to 1½ inches thick. Next door is a heavily bunkered steel-and-concrete building housing 800 tons of spent fuel submerged in a containment pool. That material isn't as potent, but there's more of it, and because the building isn't as sturdy as the two domes, experts say, it's more vulnerable. Each cask, meanwhile, contains smaller amounts of even less potent material. Built to withstand strong impact, those cylindrical casks ideally would respond like bowling pins if struck — toppling but not breaking — and would be difficult to breach. At Monticello, the reactor and spent-fuel pool are in the same containment building. No dry-storage casks are there because nuclear waste generated during the plant's earliest years was disposed of elsewhere years ago. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Jan Strasma called the containment domes and casks exceptionally strong, and he noted an abundance of safety and backup controls at the plants. But he added a cautionary note. "Pools with highly radioactive spent fuel stored inside are something of a concern,'' he said. But he called protection at Prairie Island adequate. Abrahamson, Crocker and others aren't reassured. "There is no way they are going to be, in my opinion, directly open to the public about the risk of their product,'' said state Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul. Crocker contends that a small plane or even a well-aimed missile could damage the building containing the pool. The resulting loss of water would expose fuel rods to air and overheat them, scattering radioactive debris. He said the plant should build a separate protective wall to deflect or lessen the impact of a first strike. David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based nuclear watchdog organization, said emergency workers might only have minutes or hours to stop a meltdown from occurring in a reactor if cooling were disrupted. But they would have more time — as much as hours to days — to stop a similar problem in the spent-fuel pool. "At Prairie Island, with the pool below ground, terrorists would have to be a lot more creative,'' Lochbaum said. Those aren't his only concerns. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, he said, has dropped inspections aimed at exposing security weaknesses at nuclear plants since Sept. 11. "They told me they don't want to do that until they redefine the threat level,'' Lochbaum said. Strasma said the NRC suspended those inspections so it can concentrate on improving the existing, overall security at the nation's nuclear plants. "We don't want it to distract from focusing on that,'' he said. Lochbaum also is concerned that past exercises have concentrated on reactor defenses, not the spent-fuel pools and dry casks. And he contends hiring procedures need improvement. "I still don't think it's such a big threat that people should pack up their bags until safe times return,'' Lochbaum said. "Where do you head to?'' Dennis Lien can be reached at dlien@pioneerpress.com [dlien@pioneerpress.com] or (651) 228-5588. About TwinCities.com | About Realcities Network | ***************************************************************** 22 Veterans meeting eyes atomic exposure policy By KEVIN BLANCHARD Acadiana bureau LAFAYETTE -- "Atomic veterans," military personnel who served near radiation such as the bomb blast at Hiroshima or nuclear testing sites, will meet next month in Lafayette. The meeting will focus on changes in policy at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which recently decided to broaden the definition of who can qualify for compensation for radiation-caused illness. The Louisiana Chapter of the National Association of Atomic Veterans will meet at 9:30 a.m. March 3 in Lafayette Hall, 600 Renaud Drive, Lafayette, chapter President Earl Brown said. Since 1988, the federal government has compensated veterans whose sickness was caused by being exposed to radiation during service. In January, the department announced that five cancers of the bone, brain, colon, lung and ovaries have been added to the previous list of eligible illnesses. The department also decided then to include exposure to radiation because of underground nuclear tests in Alaska and service at gaseous diffusion plants at Paducah, Ky.; Portsmouth, Ohio; and Oak Ridge, Tenn. Previously, the Department of Veterans Affairs compensated only veterans who had been part of the occupying force in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, who were on site during tests, or who were American prisoners of war in Japan during World War II. Veterans who qualify, or family members of deceased atomic veterans, can apply through the Veterans Affairs Office or the state Veterans Service Office, Brown said. The state Veterans Service officer in Lafayette, Hugh Thompson, will be at the March 3 meeting to explain the new regulations and answer questions, Brown said. For more information about the meeting, call Brown at 985-446-1747 or e-mail him at tlgnnr@aol.com. Or call Nelson "Buz" Broussard at 337-234-7813 or e-mail at semperbuz@aol.com. According to its Web site, the National Association of Atomic Veterans was formed by a man who fought for seven years to have the government pay for his leukemia treatment and acknowledge the disease was caused by his service in a radiation risk activity. Before the recent expansion of the program, which will go into effect March 26, the following diseases were covered, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs: · Leukemia. · Cancer of the thyroid, breast, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, gall bladder, bile ducts, salivary gland, or urinary tract. · Multiple myeloma; lymphomas, except Hodgkin's disease; primary cancer of the liver, unless cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated; and bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma. Copyright © 1995-2002, The Advocate, Capital City Press, All ***************************************************************** 23 Sick nuclear workers can now apply for compensation KING5.COM | LOCAL NEWS 02/11/2002 The Associated Press SPOKANE  People who believe their health was damaged by working in the nation's nuclear weapons production complex can apply for compensation beginning this week. The U.S. Department of Labor is coming to Spokane to help sick nuclear workers or their surviving relatives apply for up to $150,000 in compensation. The new program covers workers exposed to radiation, beryllium or silica on the job. A separate group of uranium workers is also eligible for $50,000 payments and medical care under the program enacted by Congress last year. The Clinton administration proposed the compensation program, which was launched in July. It is being administered in the Labor Department with the support of the Bush administration. The agency is coming to Spokane because it's close to Hanford, the major nuclear facility in Washington state, said Roberta Mosier, the program's deputy director. "We are coming out to make sure people know about this program and to help them fill out claims forms," Mosier said. As of this week, the Labor Department's Seattle office, which covers claims in Washington and Idaho, had received 3,066 claims. The agency expects to spend $597 million on claims this year, Mosier said. The Federal Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act calls for $150,000 in compensation plus payment of medical expenses for those who meet certain guidelines, including:  If a worker developed cancer after working at a U.S. Department of Energy facility and there is at least a 50 percent chance the on-the-job exposure caused the cancer.  If a worker was part of a "Special Exposure Cohort" employed for at least 250 days before Feb. 1, 1992, at one or more of the three gaseous diffusion plants at Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Paducah, Ky.; or Portsmouth, Ohio; or was exposed to radiation during underground nuclear tests in Amchitka, Alaska.  If a worker was employed for at least 250 days during the mining of tunnels at underground nuclear weapons test sites in Nevada or Alaska who developed chronic silicosis, a lung disease.  If a worker was exposed to beryllium at DOE facilities and developed chronic beryllium disease, an irreversible, sometimes-fatal scarring of the lungs. Beryllium, a metal lighter than uranium, was used in nuclear weapons. Workers were exposed by inhaling toxic dust. The Department of Energy says 10 percent to 14 percent of all beryllium workers have the disease, which takes 10 to 15 years to develop. Workers at Hanford and the Idaho National Environmental Engineering Laboratory near Idaho Falls have some of the highest hurdles to jump to establish a claim. The burden of proof that must be established to collect a cash award is high for workers not included in the "special cohort" groups, cautions a Seattle attorney representing 60 nuclear workers. "I wrote my clients and told them, please don't raise your expectations. I think the Department of Labor is well-intentioned, but there are many hurdles ahead," attorney Tom Foulds said. Hanford doesn't have good employment records for many of the construction workers who worked for subcontractors and may have been exposed to radiation, he said. People can begin the process by calling the Labor Department at (888) 654-0014. The claims sessions will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday at Gonzaga University's Schoenberg Center. © 2002 Belo Interactive, Inc. ***************************************************************** 24 Radioactive material stolen from school The West Australian + February 12, 2002 By Minh Lam, online reporter radioactive material from a Perth high school last month. Health Department Radiological Council secretary Bill Toussaint said today that three discs, each about the size of a 10¢ piece, were taken from a locker room at Lockridge Senior High School during a break-in last month. The three discs comprised of the elements Cobalt-60, Strontium-90 and Americium-241. The theft has only just been reported to the council. "Fortunately the sources are very weak and are the ones typically used for demonstration purposes in schools," Mr Toussaint said. "They are not of sufficient strength to cause any immediate harm. "They are, however, above the exempt limit and are hence classified as 'radioactive'. Mr Toussaint said attempts to find the discs at the school had been unsuccessful and anybody who found them should call the Radiation Health Section on 9346 2260. He urged people to exercise caution if they found the discs. "If anyone finds them and they are not already in a container, they should place them in a small container such as a metal tin/box or screw-top jar, preferably with minimal handling using tweezers or similar," he said. © 2001 West Australian Newspapers Limited All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 25 NRC Proposes Adding Nuhoms-24pt1 Storage Cask Design to Approved List NRC: Press Release - 2002 - 16 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov [opa@nrc.gov] www.nrc.gov No. 02-016 February 12, 2002 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to amend its regulations to add the Standardized Advanced NUHOMS-24PT1 cask system to the list of several already approved cask designs that utilities may use -- under a general license and without site-specific approval -- to store spent fuel at their nuclear power plants. Under the terms of an NRC general license, any nuclear power reactor operator can use a pre-approved cask, if the company notifies the NRC in advance, meets the conditions of the cask's NRC certificate of compliance, and complies with NRC's regulations. These regulations include a requirement to ensure that the reactor site characteristics are within the scope of the cask's safety analysis report and that potential site-boundary radiation doses are within federal safety limits. The 24-PT1 certificate would contain conditions for use that are similar to others for NRC-approved casks. However, the certificate for each cask design may differ in some specific areas, such as operating procedures, training and spent fuel specifications. The NRC staff performed a detailed evaluation of the request for approval of the 24-PT1 cask design and found that, if the conditions specified in the certificate of compliance are met, adequate protection of public health and safety and the environment would be maintained. Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on the proposed amendments (which are to Part 72 of the Commission's regulations). Comments should be submitted by April 29. The comments should be addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. Comments may also be submitted via the NRC's interactive rulemaking web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov [http://ruleforum.llnl.gov] . ***************************************************************** 26 Videotape shows missile blasting hole in nuclear waste canister Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Lawmakers debate how to use test footage By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers are weighing whether to focus national attention on a videotape that shows a missile blasting a hole in a nuclear waste canister. They are assessing whether to showcase the footage as part of a campaign to raise doubts about the safety of shipping radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain. State and congressional officials have been analyzing a 4 1/2-minute video of a 1998 metal cask test. The video was obtained recently by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "We've shared it with the state and with the congressional delegation," Berkley spokesman Michael O'Donovan said. "At this point, members of the delegation and the governor's office are reviewing the tape until they are comfortable with what they are seeing." Berkley declined to say where her staff got the video. O'Donovan declined to release it, saying Nevada lawmakers agreed among themselves to keep it under wraps despite a report on its existence over the weekend. Some Nevada leaders advocate providing the video to network television news for maximum exposure. Others are urging caution for now. "I would like to disseminate it as widely as possible but our credibility is very important and I would rather wait and do it right rather than show it and it turns out wrong," Berkley said Monday night. "This has to be iron clad. Our opponents will drive a truck through anything we say." Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., believes more research should be done, according to spokesman Nathan Naylor. "There are too many questions still for us to give this our seal of good housekeeping," Naylor said. Interest in the video by Nevada officials coincides with increasing expectation that President Bush will sign off on a recommendation to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and put Nevada on a path to receive thousands of shipments of nuclear waste if a repository is licensed. Several officials confirmed the video shows two cask tests involving a TOW anti-tank missile. TOW stands for "tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided." The video identifies the tests as being conducted at the U.S. Army's proving ground in Aberdeen, Md. In one, the TOW missile is detonated on the 15-inch thick cast iron cask, causing a grapefruit-sized hole in the container, they said. The method of detonating a missile atop an object is considered to produce a more conservative result than firing a missile at the object. In another test, a concrete jacket protects the cask. The cask is cracked by the missile detonation, but is not penetrated, they said. The test apparently was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the concrete jacket. The Nevadans plan to argue the video suggests that nuclear waste storage casks can be blasted by missiles that might be easily obtainable by terrorists. A TOW missile weighs less than 50 pounds, costs less than $200,000 and is in use by militaries in 40 countries, according to its manufacturer, Raytheon Corp. It can be fired from a 200-pound launcher stationed on the back of a flatbed truck. Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, who has seen the video, said it shows the potential vulnerability of nuclear waste shipped in casks that may be even less robust than the one tested. "We would argue that DOE and the nuclear industry have said they don't know of anything known to man that would penetrate these things," Loux said. "Well, here's something that does." The cask, identified as a Castor V/21, with a listed vendor of General Nuclear Systems Inc., is licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for use in storage, but not for transportation. An NRC spokeswoman said there is no application pending to use the cask in transportation. An industry source said the cask is acknowledged as top of the line and is used in transportation in other countries, and there are plans to apply for a U.S. license. Company officials could not be reached. Mitch Singer, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear power industry, said the fact the Castor V/21 cask is not licensed for transportation undercuts Nevada's claim. Loux said, however, that transportation casks are lighter than those used for storage, and thus potentially more vulnerable. "Our answer is that anything you transport would have to be less robust by nature," he said. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 27 Is Nevada nuclear waste plan safe? WorldNetDaily: FEBRUARY 12 2002 Old crusader to Energy Department: Don't let history be repeated by Aaron Klein © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com Despite fierce lobbying by the White House and Energy Department on behalf of their plan to ship thousands of tons of high-level nuclear waste from reactors all over the country for storage in Yucca Mountain, Nev., would such a huge concentration of radioactive material be safe? The government claims the storage site would pose no threat to residents. But, despite federal denials of the possibility of any nuclear fallout, and assertions that waste cannot leak into drinking water, Nevada lawmakers demand more proof. John Meier, who used to be top aide to eccentric billionaire and prized Nevada resident Howard Hughes, says he's heard this before, and he remembers all-too-well the outcome. Meier, an intense, often obsessive man who once served on President Richard Nixon's Taskforce on Resources and the Environment and was named Aerospace Man of the Year, recalls the Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear testing in the '50s and '60s in the Nevada desert. "The government back then exploded nuclear devices underground while assuring the public of their total safety," explains Meier. "Hughes and I didn't buy their assurances for a second. After a long, tiring battle, we forced them to retreat, but not before their tests killed scores of civilians." The testing began in 1954 and remained uninterrupted until Hughes moved to Las Vegas in 1966. "Hughes was annoyed by the vibrations coming from the underground detonations," says Meier. "And he was convinced that the testing was dangerous." Hughes summoned Meier, his top aide, to his Desert Inn penthouse and demanded to know the effects created by detonation of nuclear devices and the physical consequences of being exposed to radiation. "I abandoned all other projects," recalls Meier. "When Hughes wants something, you had better make damn sure that he gets it." Meier visited the Atomic Energy Commission, university scientists, government offices, libraries and newsrooms. The press at that time was highly skeptical of the AEC's routine assurances. Meier penned a general report with references to mutations, cancer, the effects of exposure on cells and body tissue – how German girls employed in factories painting radium dials died horrible deaths from cancer of the mouth. "Hughes was scared witless," says Meier. "He was dead set on driving the AEC out of Nevada." Meanwhile, the tests were becoming larger and larger. On the morning of April 16, 1968, Howard Hughes' fury intensified when he read in the Las Vegas Sun that the AEC was planning its biggest explosion yet, which it named Boxcar. Over the next few days, Hughes wrote memos, had Meier place frantic phone calls, and, in general, caused a stink that would be blamed for postponing the blast scheduled for the 24th. Meier pleaded with politicians. "I went straight to [Vice President Hubert] Humphrey, but he wanted proof that tests were harmful." The AEC was adamant, and carried out the massive explosion two days later, at 6 am, detonating the equivalent to one million tons of TNT. Buildings shook. Boxcar's shockwave caused the ground to heave for a 250-mile radius. Seismic instruments recorded the explosion in New York and Alaska. Hughes, who felt the blast, was so frightened that he hid underneath his bed until nearly 8:30 that morning. "I got a call from Hughes' servants." relates Meier. "They were desperate. They asked if I could come by right away to help coax Hughes out from under his bed. It took almost an hour." When America's wealthiest man finally did emerge, Hughes demanded that Meier stop the nuclear testing once and for all. Meier quickly assembled an independent research team with some of America's leading scientists. He met a former AEC engineer who vacated his post because he felt the testing was unsafe. The man explained that there had been serious venting of radioactive gases into the atmosphere and contamination of water systems in the desert. "We quickly set up a monitoring system to check for titanium in the water," Meier says. "I hired scientists from Harvard and MIT to read the data. They organized a report that contradicted what the government was telling everybody: We showed that the nuclear testing poisoned the atmosphere, contaminated drinking water, and may have sickened and killed many people." Shockingly, Meier says his team also discovered that the U.S. had asked several foreign doctors to provide the government with dead babies and body parts for nuclear experimentation. This fact was corroborated by recently declassified Energy Department documents. President Johnson formed his own team to investigate and report directly to him. Meier says Humphrey promised him a copy of the presidential report, but Johnson's team had allegedly done the unexpected: It confirmed Meier's research. "Johnson refused to make the report public," claims Meier. "The testing continued." A few months later, on Jan. 20, 1969, Nixon was inaugurated president. "I learned from Sen. Edward Kennedy, for whom I served as an adviser, of an antiballistic missile program that would involve a new range of nuclear testing in Nevada," Meier remembers. Meier heightened Hughes' battle with the AEC by publicly presenting the Commission with a list of questions about its testing, which was reported extensively in the national media. The AEC outraged Hughes by avoiding most questions. "The questions really had the government scared," says Meier. "I remember meeting with officials who told me they would destroy Howard Hughes if we didn't stop." Hughes wrote a letter directly to Nixon, who was so nervous from Meier's public questions that he tried to dispatch his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, to negotiate with Hughes. A few days later, the AEC announced it would move its testing site to Alaska. "Hughes was satisfied," says Meier. "He didn't care much about other people, he just didn't want the testing to affect him. For Hughes, the battle ended. And he won." In time, though, Hughes' and Meier's contentions would be proven accurate. Dr. John Gofman and Dr. Arthur Tamplin, who headed the AEC's radiation health program, were the first to speak out, declaring the tests hazardous. Col. Raymond E. Brim, an Air Force officer responsible for monitoring nuclear fallout, admitted there was indisputable evidence that people were being showered with radioactive debris from the firings. It is impossible to know how many deaths were caused or how many people were contaminated by radiation from the government's testing programs. One civilian, Preston Truman, born in 1951 in the small Utah town of Enterprise, told the press that by the time he was 27, eight of his boyhood friends had died of cancer. Truman himself was diagnosed with lymphoma while in high school, but after $100,000 in treatment his cancer went into remission. Meier, who was close to it all in the '60s, says he is now concerned by the Energy Department's denial that nuclear material earmarked for storage underground in Nevada could harm residents. "The government says it has conducted many tests," says Meier. "I feel very strongly that an independent team is needed immediately to research possible nuclear fallout or leakage into water by this proposed storage facility. "You have to look at who is commissioning these reports that claim the facility would be safe. Even if it is done by an outside team, do they have anything to benefit from the opening of this facility?" Meier, now almost 70, remembers his crusade with great sadness, and he hopes that history will not be repeated. "Because if this is anything like the last time," he recalls, "the effects will be disastrous and irreversible." Aaron Klein is president of the news channel for the upcoming Internet Television Network. Former editor of the undergraduate newspaper of Yeshiva University in New York, Klein made international headlines last May by traveling overseas to spend time with and interview members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. Klein has also previously conducted exclusive interviews with Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the Taliban. © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. ***************************************************************** 28 Dump proponents targeting senators Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Proponents of storing nuclear waste in Nevada estimate 46 senators are ready to vote for a repository at Yucca Mountain, meaning only a handful more need to be persuaded before Congress sets to vote on the issue later this year, state utility officials were told at a conference on Monday. Senators from 14 states are being targeted for attention on Yucca Mountain by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, said Chris Mele, the group's legislative director on energy. Identified as target states are Indiana, Louisiana, Washington, Vermont, Michigan, Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, Nebraska, Oregon, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Dakota and Florida. Mele said those states have freshman senators who have not yet voted on nuclear waste, who might be undecided or who might be leaning in favor of the repository program. "Those states have senators, one or both, who are crucial," Mele said. "The vote count is somewhere around 46 yeas, and we only need 51 on this resolution. "We're real close but those folks need to be given some backbone," Mele said during a presentation at the agency's winter meeting. Utility commissioners closely monitor progress on Yucca Mountain because ratepayers contribute into a special fund to finance the program and many governors want radioactive spent fuel removed from reactor sites in their states. Afterwards, Mele said his estimate was based on an analysis of past nuclear waste votes and was not based on recent head counts in the Senate. But in a separate presentation, an executive from the Nuclear Energy Institute agreed with Mele that "we're very, very close but not there yet." Chandler van Orman gave no numbers but said NEI has identified a dozen critical states that tracks the list formed by the association. "The industry is fully engaged," declared van Orman, vice president of coalitions and outreach at the nuclear industry lobby group. "In the final analysis, the question becomes to the congressional delegation of your state, do you want to vote to keep (nuclear waste) here, or do you want to vote to send it to Nevada. It's that simple, it's really that simple," he said. The presentations provided a glimpse at the organizing going on largely behind the scenes as the nuclear industry and other organizations aim to form public opinion and influence the nation's leaders in favor of shipping nuclear waste to Nevada. At the same time, Nevada leaders are mounting their own public campaigns to persuade lawmakers and people around the country against plans to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority whip, had no immediate comment on the industry's rough counts, a spokesman said. Reid has declined so far to discuss how votes might line up. Mele and van Orman said it is important for Congress to try to finalize Yucca Mountain before it goes on its summer recess in August. When lawmakers return, they will be preoccupied with their fall campaigns, they said. For the schedule to work in favor of the states and the nuclear industry, President Bush needs to sign off on Yucca Mountain this week, both said. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham did not deliver his Yucca Mountain recommendation to the White House on Monday, as was widely expected. The DOE did not comment nor did it say when the secretary would act. Under a process written into law, Gov. Kenny Guinn will have 60 calendar days from the president's decision to issue a Yucca Mountain veto. At that point, Congress has 90 "legislative days" to act, a much more complex calculation that takes into account lawmaker recesses and other procedural factors. Nevada's veto would be overridden by simple majority votes in the House and Senate. Analysts say a Nevada victory in the U.S. House is practically out of reach. House members favored a Yucca Mountain repository 253-167 in a March 2000 vote, the most recent indicator of where support may lie. The Senate voted 64-35 on the issue in April 2000. But analysts note several factors could mark a new vote, including Senate turnover, Reid's influence as majority whip and a vow by Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., that Yucca Mountain will not pass under his watch. Also, the election of Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., in 2000 gives the state a voice in the Republican cloakroom and the potential to persuade some GOP senators. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 29 Areva wins $250m contract to reprocess US military plutonium (Areva obtient 250 millions de dollars pour retraiter du plutonium militaire americain) Les Echos - France; Feb 12, 2002 Nuclear fuel group Cogema, a subsidiary of French nuclear group Areva, has won a contract from the US government to reprocess 34 tonnes of plutonium used by the military, as part of international agreements on nuclear disarmament. The contract is worth up to $300m for Cogema, which has positive implications for Areva, including the strengthening of its position in the US, a major axis of its development. The Bush administration was faced with the choice of immobilising the plutonium through vitrification, or reprocessing it using Mox (a mixture of uranium and plutonium oxides). The choice of Mox was made with cost and non-proliferation targets in mind. The DCS consortium (in which Cogema has a 30 per cent stake, Duke Energy a 40 per cent stake and Stone & Webster a 30 per cent stake), will now proceed with the construction of a reprocessing plant. The total cost of the programme is estimated at $3.9bn. Abstracted from Les Echos ***************************************************************** 30 Karelia government rejects Russian national plan for nuclear waste plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 12, 2002 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Petrozavodsk, 11 February: The head of the government of Karelia Sergey Katanandov said on Monday that no nuclear power plant will be built in Karelia. Katanandov said that the federal programme "Energy-effective Economy" for 2002-2005, which has been obtained by the republic's government, has a provision about continuing the design of the Karelia nuclear power plant, whose first energy unit is scheduled to be launched in 2007. However, Katanandov said this matter "has not been discussed" with him or with anyone else in the Karelian government. In 1990, the presidium of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Karelia decided to stop the development of the feasibility study for the construction of the plant, he said. The head of Karelia's government said he finds the Russian government's decision to continue the work "hasty". If the decision to continue the design of the Karelia nuclear power plant is not cancelled, the head of Karelia reserves the right to conduct a referendum in the republic. Nuclear waste will never be imported and processed in Karelia, a region with a unique natural ecosystem, Katanandov said. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1241 gmt 11 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 31 Perkins: Waste safer where it is Las Vegas SUN February 11, 2002 Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, returned from Washington, D.C., this weekend hoping that his words will help influence the Yucca Mountain debate. During a conference of the National State Legislators' National Task Force on Protecting Democracy, Perkins got a chance to tell Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge that transporting nuclear waste would make it more susceptible to terrorists. Perkins said a legislator from Pennsylvania raised the issue with Ridge, who responded that transportation of nuclear waste was handled instead by the Energy and Transportation departments. But Perkins, a deputy chief for Henderson Police, said he told Ridge that in his law enforcement experience, "It's better to guard something in place than something spread out all over." The next meeting of the task force will be next month in New York. Perkins is one of 19 state legislators from around the country serving on the task force. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 Editorial: Dangers of shipping nuke waste Las Vegas SUN Today: February 12, 2002 at 9:00:42 PST Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said that national security is one reason why a nuclear waste dump should be built in Nevada. In Abraham's view, a central repository would be a better way to fend off possible terrorist attacks made against nuclear power plants, which is where spent fuel currently is stored. Despite Abraham's attempt to make Yucca Mountain more palatable by invoking terrorism, the reality is that a central repository for nuclear waste creates a much greater risk because transporting nuclear waste would be highly vulnerable to an attack. A fortified nuclear power plant offers a better defense than a slow-moving convoy carrying nuclear waste, a shipment that would be more susceptible to attack. Don't forget that it's estimated that it could take 30 years to send 100,000 shipments of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, much of it cross-country, before all 77,000 tons of the nuclear waste are removed from the nuclear power plants. A videotape recently acquired by Nevada's congressional delegation, and which reporter Benjamin Grove wrote about in a copyrighted story in Sunday's Sun, throws additional doubts on the ability to protect nuclear waste from a terrorist attack while it is being shipped. The tape shows two tests from 1998 that compared the vulnerability to missile attacks for casks used to store nuclear waste on site at power plants versus casks used to haul nuclear waste. The experiments, using TOW anti-tank missiles of less than 50 pounds, were performed by the casks' maker, International Fuel Containers, in conjunction with the U.S. Army at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. In one test, a cask is covered by concrete to simulate how nuclear waste currently is stored at power plants. A missile is placed on the cask and detonated. The missile does crack the surface, but it doesn't completely penetrate the cask that would be holding the nuclear waste. In another test simulating an attack on a truck or train hauling the waste, a TOW anti-tank missile is placed on the less-fortified cask and detonated. The explosion pierces the one-foo t-thick cask and creates a softball-sized hole all the way through the container. Neither test shows what would have happen! ed if a missile had actually been fired at a cask, but you get the picture about one of the potential dangers of shipping nuclear waste. The Department of Energy for years has avoided the issue of transportation because it knows this is a weak link in the creation of a single repository. By ignoring the matter, the officials hope it will go away. In addition, if the department identified the train routes and interstate highways and roads that the waste would be shipped over, Nevada no longer would be virtually alone in making the case against Yucca Mountain. It would create political opposition in other states that could result in the project being derailed. Now that Yucca Mountain is on the verge of getting a favorable recommendation by the Department of Energy, the Bush administration no longer can avoid coming to terms with transportation, no matter how much it tries. There already is enough geologic evidence alone for President Bush to reject a nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The threat of transporting man's deadliest waste to a central repository also is an important reason why Yucca Mountain should be rejected. The key now is whether the president is willing to listen to Nevada's well-reasoned arguments against the construction of a nuclear waste dump in this state. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 33 Letter: Yucca efforts are appreciated Las Vegas SUN Today: February 12, 2002 at 9:00:42 PST Congratulations, praise and admiration to the Sun's Feb. 10 editorial page, columns by Brian Greenspun, Jon Ralston, Jeff German, Gov. Kenny Guinn and maybe a few others in your continued attention to the shoving down our collective throats of the nuclear waste intended for Yucca Mountain. This has been a political decision from the very beginning and if it wasn't for Nevada's relative political weakness at the time this crap probably wouldn't be coming here. Congratulations to Guinn and Sen. Harry Reid for their courageous political stances that are looking out for the well-being of the people of Nevada. And I am sure Sen. Larry Craig wouldn't be so convinced of the righteousness and correctness of this decision if it was coming to his state of Idaho. MARK BRADSHAW All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 34 Who lied about Yucca Mountain? [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] February 12, 2002 Jon Ralston [online@rgj.com] The two most important statements made about Yucca Mountain in recent years were not uttered by Nevada politicians. Not the endless rote fornication metaphors or tiresome “never surrender” palaver. And not the “Gee, the president is a good listener” stuff that The Three Musketeers -- Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sens. John Ensign and Harry Reid -- gave us after their 25-minute discussion with George W. Bush at the White House last week. No, the two most significant statements were these: Bush, May 2000: “I believe sound science, and not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository.” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, May 2001: “As long as we’re in the majority, it’s dead.” As the state holds its breath and partisan hacks prepare their damage control press releases as Bush decides if he will select Yucca Mountain, those statements are worth revisiting for context and sincerity. I think a sound scientific analysis of both comments would yield the answer that neither was anything more than the end-product of most political calculation. When Bush issued that statement while he was campaigning for president, the atmospherics were that Al Gore was bludgeoning him here on the issue and he had refused to address Yucca Mountain. So after what must have been a plaintive call to Bush counselor Karl Rove, the campaign issued the “sound science” statement, which was an echo of Gore and countless other visiting, pandering federal pols. But what did it mean then and what does it mean now? It was meant to stanch any Nevada hemorrhaging in 2000. Now, it becomes more significant. Look at the one word in his statement that is so often overlooked: designation. Bush is presumably poised to designate Yucca Mountain -- unless he tries to spin that he meant the licensing process down the road -- even though the science so far is far from sound, even when analyzed by independent, non-Nevada- influenced sources. If he does -- let me use the word again -- designate Yucca Mountain then it’s quite simple: He lied in 2000. As for Daschle, he made his comments with his lieutenant, Harry Reid, all but acting as ventriloquist during a fund-raising trip to Las Vegas. Why should we take him any more seriously than Bush? We shouldn’t. Daschle may continue to stand tall for Reid, but the real question is whether he can hold all the Democrats together if it comes to a vote in the Senate. Insiders tend to doubt it. And if he can’t, then it’s quite simple again: He lied in 2001. The most likely scenario continues to be that Bush will select Nevada -- even if he wants a little longer to allow the senators and governor to save face and maybe he’ll throw a bribe, er, transportation mitigation money into the mix. I’d like to hear Daschle repeat his statement then, to reaffirm that he won’t break his promise after Bush breaks his. ***** Jon Ralston, who publishes The Ralston Report, works for Greenspun Media Group. He welcomes comments and questions. Write him at 2675Windmill, #3621 Henderson, NV 89074. Or call (702) 870-7997. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 35 Vitri-what? Here's a primer Published Feb. 10, 2002 By the Herald staff Vitrification comes from the Latin word vitrum, meaning glass, which is what the government wants to make out of Hanford's worst radioactive liquids. The idea is to melt the waste and silica, forming the molten mixture into glass logs that won't ooze into the environment. Right now, some of Hanford's 53 million gallons of chemical and radioactive wastes are stored in sometimes leaky underground tanks, some of which date to World War II. Of the 177 tanks at the site, about 67 are known or suspected to have leaked about 1 million gallons into the ground water, which is inching toward the Columbia River. The $4 billion cleanup project calls for vitrifying about 10 percent of that tank waste by 2018. That's 10 percent by volume, but is 25 percent of the radioactivity in Hanford's tanks. The glass logs then will be stored in steel tubes to wait a few thousand years for the radioactivity to dissipate. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 36 UK: SHOCK OVER ATOM TRAINS Hoover's Online Source: Western Daily Press, February 12, 2002, 1 Mike Ribbeck A SHOCK report has revealed the number of accidents involving the transportation of nuclear waste has doubled in the last decade. On average, two trains a week carry a total of 2.5 tonnes of radioactive waste across the West on its way from Hinkley in Somerset to Sellafield. Greenpeace has labelled the trains "mobile terrorist targets" and says there is a serious risk of a major disaster. The highly radioactive waste is routed through major city centres, including Bristol, on its way to Sellafield in Cumbria for reprocessing. The decision to close down Hinkley's Magnox plant has speeded up the transportation of waste and at least 2.5 tonnes is hauled across the West each week. But a report by the National Radiological Protection Board has revealed the number of accidents involving the transportation of spent waste has doubled in the last decade. The Government-appointed watchdog says that since 1958 there have been a staggering 708 accidents with 38 coming in the past year alone. Campaigners claim the dramatic rise in incidents underlines the danger of transporting waste by rail and road. As revealed by the Western Daily Press last year, spent materials from Hinkley are transported by road to Bridgwater in huge flasks and loaded on trains at a depot close to a primary school. But despite the assurances of the nuclear industry that strict safety procedures mean there is no danger to the public, the report suggests otherwise. The nuclear fuel industry has always claimed that trains and the specially-made flasks cannot become contaminated by the waste. But on at least seven occasions, contamination was found on the flasks and wagons. In other cases radioactive waste was found to have been illegally dumped at two scrap-metal yards. The most serious case of radioactive contamination came in March 2000 when 25 industrial smoke detectors were dumped at a country park. The smoke alarms were radioactive and the Environment Agency had to be called in to remove the smoke detectors. The report put together by the National Radiological Protection Board, a Government watchdog, confirms that there are serious concerns about the safety of the waste trains. Six of the flasks used to transport the waste and four rail wagons became contaminated over the last 12 months. The flasks containing the spent fuel weigh around 60 tonnes and are the size of a small car. Each flask contains around six tonnes of nuclear waste. Mark Johnson, an anti-nuclear campaigner with Greenpeace, said: "These figures are nothing short of shocking.We closely monitor the situation and only one or two incidents make it out into the public each year." But British Nuclear Fuels says contamination is extremely low and there is no risk to public health. A spokesman for the company said not all the accidents involved waste from its plants and it was more than happy with safety standards. He said: "What we are talking about here is extremely low levels of contamination. We have extremely high safety standards." Copyright © 2002 Financial Times Limited - All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2001, Hoover's, Inc. | Job Opportunities | NASDAQ: ***************************************************************** 37 UK: Increase in radioactive waste discharge approved for Plymouth dockyard BBC - Devon - News - Monday 11th February 2002 [The Tamar] The proposed new radioactive waste discharge limits have been approved today Government ministers have given permission for a 500% increase in the amount of tritium that can be dumped in the River Tamar - much to the dismay of environmental campaigners. The Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett and Health Secretary Alan Milburn approved the Environment Agency's proposed new radioactive waste discharge limits for Plymouth's Devonport Dockyard. The refit of HMS Vanguard has already begun This means controversial work can go ahead on the four Trident submarines due to be refitted at the dockyard. Campaigners have fought against the increased levels being allowed to be pumped into the Tamar. Campaign leader, Ian Avent, said the dock's managers, DML, should have found another way to dispose of the tritium. The ministers said their decision followed careful consideration of proposals for the new radioactive waste discharge limits for Devonport Dockyard, put forward by the Environment Agency in November 2001. The ministers concluded in the light of the available evidence, that it was not necessary for them to exercise their powers of direction under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993. Nor did they consider that a public inquiry was necessary. [Devonport Dockyard] Today's decision does not preclude it from being reviewed in the future But they said their decision not to exercise such powers at this point does not prevent their use in future, if the circumstances were to require it. The refit of HMS Vanguard - the biggest submarine to visit Devonport - has already begun, as the waste produced during the entail stages of the refit were within existing limits. HMS Vanguard is the first of the four Trident submarines which will be refitted at the dockyard. [devon.online@bbc.co.uk] ***************************************************************** 38 Storing Haddam's Nuclear Waste ctnow.com: CONNECTICUT Berkshire Site Could Be Look At Haddam's Future February 12, 2002 By GARY LIBOW, Courant Staff Writer ROWE, Mass. -- In the state's northwest corner, amid the wooded splendor of the Berkshires, a massive mausoleum is taking shape. Towering casks, each reinforced with steel and resting on a 200-foot-long concrete pad, will entomb remains from the region's use of nuclear fission. Beginning next month, tests will begin on the suitability of the site in preparation for interment in April or May. The casks will be used as a resting place for the 533 spent fuel rods from the reactor core of Yankee Rowe, the decommissioned Yankee Atomic Electric Co. plant, which closed permanently in 1992 after more than 31 years of producing electricity. The highly radioactive rods now lie submerged in a 37-foot pool of water. The concrete casks will be used to store the rods indefinitely until the federal government moves them again to a permanent repository . What is happening at Yankee Rowe, in this town of fewer than 400, is a primer for what Connecticut residents will face in about a year. As a result of a recent out-of-court settlement, Connecticut Yankee has received a town permit to build a $40 million dry cask storage facility three-quarters of a mile from its decommissioned plant in the Haddam Neck section of Haddam. It will store 1,019 spent fuel assemblies from the plant, which shut down in December 1996. It will be the first such nuclear waste storage facility in Connecticut. Construction is expected to take 10 months. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed the first dry-cask fuel-storage facility in 1986 at the Surry nuclear plant in Virginia. According to the agency, the need for alternative storage began to grow in the late 1970s and early 1980s when storage pools at many nuclear reactors began to fill up with spent fuel rods. There are now 21 dry cask facilities in 16 states. All but two are at plants still in operation. A year from now, the NRC expects six decommissioned plants to be using dry casks. Yankee Rowe plans to hold in about a month the first of three trials aimed at determining whether Rowe's spent fuel can be moved safely from the storage pool into a transport canister, then towed to the nearby outdoor cask pad. During the last trial, the NRC will decide whether Yankee Atomic is ready to begin moving all its spent fuel. Spent nuclear fuel rods and highly radioactive metals will be stored in casks at both Rowe and Connecticut Yankee until the federal Department of Energy makes good on its promise to assume control of the high level radioactive waste and move it to a federal repository, possibly inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The casks at Rowe and Connecticut Yankee would be constructed similarly. Each cask will have three layers shielding the spent nuclear fuel: a 21-inch exterior of steel-reinforced concrete, a 3.5-inch liner of carbon steel and, around the fuel itself, an inch-thick fuel canister of stainless steel. Each concrete cask will have a 2.5- ton welded steel lid. Height will be the primary difference between the casks to be used at the two plants. Each of the 16 Rowe casks are just over 13 feet, while each of the 43 Connecticut Yankee casks will be just under 16 feet, to accommodate the plant's longer fuel assemblies. Each Rowe cask, weighing 110 tons when loaded, sits on a 3-foot thick concrete pad. Reinforced with 50 tons of steel, the pad is 48 feet by 200 feet . "It's a very robust container," said Kenneth J. Heider, vice president of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., about the Rowe casks. "I'm very comfortable with the security of this facility." But Nina Newington is among those with doubts. A resident of neighboring Buckland, Newington just resigned after about three years on the citizens' advisory panel monitoring Yankee Rowe's decommissioning. She is a member of the Citizens Awareness Network, an anti-nuclear watchdog organization. Newington is particularly concerned over security in an age when commercial jets are used as bombs by terrorists and about the durability of the casks to safely hold the spent fuel over many years. "The truth is the storage in these casks is still experimental," Newington said. "Most of this hasn't reliably been done before. Problems keep showing up." Stephen O'Connor, an NRC manager in the spent fuel office, disagrees. Time-tested casks have proved be reliable and sturdy and have never leaked radioactive particles into the atmosphere, he said. O'Connor said casks are federally licensed for 20 years and designed to safely hold radioactive fuel for at least 40 years. The NRC inspects each cask at least annually, but often more frequently, he said. O'Connor acknowledges there have been problems with casks, but said there has never been a documented leak of radioactive material. Still, Newington recommends that Yankee Rowe keep its old fuel storage pool intact as a precaution. Plant owners, citing scale model testing and computer analysis, say the casks have been built to withstand the force of a 4,000 pound automobile, or a telephone pole slammed into them at 126 mph during a tornado. They said the casks can also withstand more severe weather and earthquakes than ever experienced at Rowe or Connecticut Yankee. Following Sept. 11, security measures were tightened at the two plants. At both Rowe and Connecticut Yankee, vehicle barrier systems have been installed. The Rowe cask pad is surrounded by fencing topped by barbed wire. Camera and other safety devices have been installed. There is a state police presence at the Rowe plant. The National Guard is assigned to guard Connecticut Yankee since Sept. 11. Geoff Bagley, chairman of Rowe's board of selectmen and conservation commission, supports the outdoor storage of the spent fuel, though he's hopeful the federal government carts it off as soon as possible. The closest Rowe residence to the plant site is about 2 miles, he estimates. "Right now, it's the best available technology there is from the point of view of public safety and health," Bagley said. "I felt very secure before Sept. 11 and they have intensified security since then. I'm very comfortable." Jim Muckerheide, a nuclear engineer with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, prefers the spent fuel be stored in the casks as opposed to the indoor pool. Muckerheide, noting that the indoor fuel pool requires active operation of pumps and cooling systems, said he prefers the passive storage offered by the self-ventilated casks. Encasing the uranium in the thick steel-reinforced concrete containers is extremely safe, he said. "The thickness will hold the fuel securely through any natural disaster," Muckerheide said. "You could tip (the casks) over, drop them, and it will be essentially without risk." In Haddam, some residents dread arrival of the dry-cask facility. They point to Wesleyan University geology Professor Jelle Zeilinga de Boor's conclusion that the Connecticut Yankee plant and the cask storage site are susceptible to a powerful earthquake because of a nearby fault. "Should there be a seismic event of any magnitude...we would really have a terrible situation," said Rosemary Bassilakis, a Haddam resident and member of the Citizens Awareness Network. The NRC has asked Connecticut Yankee to respond to the professor, who recommends, in part, that the concrete cask pad be anchored into bedrock to increase its strength. Heider said Connecticut Yankee believes anchoring the pad isn't necessary. In the unlikely event of a strong earthquake, he said, it would be preferable for the pad to shift with the earth's movement. ctnow.com is Copyright © 2002 by The Hartford Courant ***************************************************************** 39 Scotland: 111 held in Faslane protest The Scotsman - Scotland - Tuesday, 12th February 2002 MSP Tommy Sheridan links arms with CND chairwoman Carol Naughton at Faslane. JAMES REYNOLDS POLICE arrested 111 anti-nuclear campaigners, including MSPs and members of the clergy, at the Faslane naval base yesterday as a three-day protest began. More than 300 demonstrators from across Europe massed at the Clyde nuclear-submarine base in an attempt to blockade the home of Britain’s Trident submarine fleet. The Scottish Socialist Party leader, Tommy Sheridan, and Lloyd Quinan MSP, of the Scottish National Party, were among the first to be escorted away by police. The chairwoman of British CND, Carol Naughton, was also among those detained. Many of the demonstrators lay on the ground bound to each other by clay pipes and handcuffs outside the main entrance of the MoD base near Helensburgh. Buses began disgorging crowds of demonstrators early yesterday morning, including the SNP leader, John Swinney, nationalist MSPs Dorothy Grace Elder and Sandra White, and the Scottish author, Alisdair Gray. Protesters came from as far afield as Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, the United States, India and Japan. Mr Sheridan was arrested after taking part in a sit-down protest outside the base. Shortly after 9am, he produced a small, black plastic bag from his pocket and sat on it. He then linked arms with about nine other protesters who held their hands in the air in remembrance of those killed by weapons of mass destruction. They then began chanting: "Shut down Faslane, nuclear weapons are insane." After issuing a warning that campaigners would be detained if they refused to budge, police moved in to arrest the defiant MSP after 30 minutes. Mr Sheridan insisted that he was doing nothing illegal and the real crime was being committed inside the base. As he was carried away by four police officers, his wife, Gail shouted after him: "Not guilty. You have done it before, son, you will do it again." Before being taken to a local police station, Mr Sheridan said he was protesting against the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons. "I’ve not, in any way, caused alarm to another citizen. I therefore object that I have caused a breach of the peace." Yesterday’s protest was the first of three planned by the anti-nuclear weapons group Trident Ploughshares, the CND and Faslane Peace Camp. More than 30 Church of Scotland ministers were among the phalanx of campaigners at the site, and they held a special communion service outside the gates of the base. Around ten ministers lay down on the ground before being arrested. The Rev Mitchell Bunting, of the Augustine Church in Edinburgh, was one of those taken away by police. Mr Swinney said he was there to highlight both his party’s and his personal stance on nuclear weapons. He said: "I believe it is important to remove nuclear weapons from Scottish waters." Chief Superintendent Harry Bunch, of Strathclyde Police, said last night that 58 men and 53 women were arrested during the day. The number was "very much reduced" compared to previous years. A spokesman for the MoD said the protest cause "some disruption", but the safe running of the site was maintained. ©2002 scotsman.com | contact ***************************************************************** 40 Nazi Nuclear weapons Uncertainty Unresolved F.A.Z. - English Version 13. Feb. 2002 By Christoph Albrecht FRANKFURT. In September 1941 in German-occupied Denmark, the German physicist Werner Heisenberg met with his Danish counterpart, Nobel laureate Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. Ever since, this meeting has puzzled historians. When researchers last week gained access for the first time to previously unpublished and unsent letters written by Bohr, hopes were high that the riddle could now be solved and questions finally answered. Did Heisenberg hope to gain information about the Allies' atomic weapons program? Did he want to signal to them through Bohr that German physicists would be unable to develop a bomb in the foreseeable future, due to the technical obstacles of gaining enough fissionable material, so that the A-bomb would not decide the war? That is Heisenberg's version, propagated in the 1957 book by Robert Jungk, "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns." Heisenberg said that Bohr had misunderstood him as having claimed at their meeting that Germany was making great progress in building an atomic bomb. But why would Heisenberg have mentioned the German nuclear program at all? Quantum physics posits a structural uncertainty resulting from the observer's influence on the observed object. The observer can never measure the object proper, but is forced instead to cancel out the effects of his own influence when processing his data. In the science of history, this process is called critical review of source material. Sources become more suspect in proportion to their use as conscious memories, as opposed to mere notes. In this case, we do not have minutes of the discussion between Bohr and Heisenberg, only second-hand and third-hand observations. After the war, the influence of war and Nazi terror in occupied Denmark seemed important. In a Cold War context, Jungk's book played up the danger of nuclear power. Later, everyone was interested in Heisenberg's involvements with the Nazi regime. The indissoluble ambiguity in this drama of interpretations was brought to the stage by British playwright Michael Frayn in his 1998 play, "Copenhagen." In his ironic punch line, Heisenberg did not know himself why he went to Copenhagen with fellow physicist Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker. The historian Gerald Holton announced at a conference in New York two years ago that he had discovered a letter by Bohr that would cast light on the matter. Would we finally know the truth, or at least be given the likeliest version of it? Bohr had never sent the letter, and for legal reasons it could not be published until a minimum of 12 years had expired. At the time, we learned only that Bohr was supposedly angered by Heisenberg's statements as published in Jungk's book. Bohr wrote the draft of his letter in 1958, after "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" was published in English and Danish translations. Thus Bohr was observing an event that, for Heisenberg, lay more than 15 years in the past. Last week, Bohr's heirs released the letter ahead of time and had it published on the Internet. Bohr's letter confirms skepticism among historians at the obviously apologetic character of Heisenberg's self-observations, and it reinforces Heisenberg's assumption that Bohr had misinterpreted him and thought German nuclear physicists were as fast in their success as the blitzkrieg in the East. The information that an atomic bomb was technically possible was not new, Heisenberg claimed, also that he himself had pointed to the possibility in June 1939. Besides, Albert Einstein had written his famous letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on Aug. 2, 1939. Bohr's view of the discussion is different, but it reveals nothing new about the subject of their talk or about Heisenberg's true attitude. According to Bohr, Heisenberg and Weizsäcker both tried to convince him to collaborate with Nazi Germany. Bohr claimed to recall every single one of Heisenberg's "vague statements," which left him with clear and definitive "impressions." Believing this was potentially sensational, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung promptly copied and printed Bohr's letter, but the newspaper's claim that the "history of nuclear physics in the 20th century must be rewritten" is as absurd and misleading as its assertion that the riddle of the Heisenberg-Bohr summit has been "solved." That is far from the truth, given the many open questions: How did Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union influence the atmosphere of the talk? What is the significance of Weizsäcker having accompanied Heisenberg to Copenhagen? Did Heisenberg merely hope to find out how far the Allies (with whom Bohr had secret contacts) had gotten with their research? These are all Frayn's questions, and they show that art is a better medium for dealing with uncertainty than newspaper sensationalism.Feb. 11, 2002 © Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 ***************************************************************** 41 Secret decree declared illegal! The Pasko Case Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. Russian Supreme Court today: Secret decree declared illegal! (Moscow-Oslo:) LATES NEWS: The Russian Supreme Court has today decided that decree no. 055 of the Russian Defence Ministry is illegal. The decision is taken on the ground that it had neither been published nor registered by the Ministry of Justice. 2002-02-12 10:42 The Russian Supreme Court declared illegal the secret decree 055 issued by the Russian Defence Ministry in 1996,which lists categories of data the ministry considers classified. The decree was challenged by the lawyers of Grigory Pasko. The decree, however, becomes "invalid and uncapable to lead to any legal consequences" only from the date the court decision comes in force. Lawyer Ivan Pavlov believes that according to the law, the decree has to be declared invalid from the date of its issue i.e. from 1996. He promised to clarify the situation when the wording of the decision is available. .... bellona web will come with more details as soon as we get more information from Moscow..... Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway Menu ***************************************************************** 42 Pasko-defence challenges secret laws The Pasko Case Gregory Pasko, an investigative journalist who worked for the Pacific Fleet's newspaper, was arrested on 20 November 1997 by the FSB and charged with high treason for his writing about the nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. (Moscow:) The Russian Supreme Court starts tomorrow to hear two applications on the validity of the secret decree provisions used as a basis for the conviction of Grigory Pasko. Meanwhile, Pasko's defence prepares to take the case to the European Court on Human Rights. photo: Victor Tereshkin Bellona Press Service (BPS), 2002-02-11 11:21 Grigory Pasko was on Christmas Day 2001 found guilty by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok of having possessed notes allegedly containing secret information. Although the Court did not believe that the notes were handed over to anybody, it ruled that Pasko's intention was to hand them over to the Japanese journalist Tadashi Okano of the newspaper “Asahi Simbu”, and sentenced Pasko to four year of hard labour. The verdict has led to an outrage of protest both inside and outside of Russia. Defence challenges use of secret laws In addition to filing a full cassation appeal to the Russian Military Supreme Court, which is not yet scheduled for hearing, Pasko's defence has in two separate applications challenged the use of secret and unregistered decrees as the basis for the guilty verdict. The hearing of these two applications are scheduled for February 12 and 13. At a press conference at Moscow's House of journalists, Ivan Pavlov, one of Pasko's defence attorneys explained the basis for the applications. -- The conviction of Grigory is based on two provisions (points 129 and 240) of the secret and unregistered decree 055, which was issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in August 1996. Although the Pacific Fleet Court has not directly referred to the provisions, it is still clear that the conviction is based on them. The court has based its verdict on the conclusion of the experts of the 8th department of the General Staff. -- When we interrogated the experts in court last September, they admitted that decree 055 had been the main legal instrument for their evaluation. Without using this decree it would have been impossible to find state secrets in Grigory's notes, said Pavlov. "Illegal and invalid" provisions Last fall, the Supreme Court as a result of an application filed by Aleksandr Nikitin, nullified several provisions of decree 055 on the ground that they had neither been published nor registered by the Ministry of Justice and thus, were “illegal and invalid”. Since the provisions that are used against Pasko are just as unregistered as the provisions that were nullified, their days seem to be numbered. Moreover, the provisions are also secret, and can thus, not be applied as basis for criminal convictions according to Article 15 (3) of the Russian Constitution. In addition to stressing the above-mentioned, the defence also argues that the actual decree-provisions go beyond the limits for classifying information drawn by the Law on State Secret; and that they are so vague and general that the use of them violates the ‘principle of legality', which are ensured in several provisions of the Russian Constitution. No contact with foreigners The second defence-application challenges the validity of points 69 and 70 of the secret MoD decree No. 010, enforced on August 7, 1990 by the then USSR Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, who in August 1991 played a major part in the ill-fated coup against Gorbachev. The Pasko-conviction refers directly to the said provisions that forbid Russian officers and other military personnel to engage in any kind of contact with foreign citizens, unless such contact is a part of their duties as servicemen. -- The decree has never been published and thus, the use of it violates Article 15 (3) of the Constitution. Moreover, a provision that forbids Russian citizens to have contact with foreigners is a remnant from the Stalin-era, and contradicts Article 23 of our Constitution guaranteeing the inviolability of the private life, Pavlov said. Will sue national TV Pavlov also leapt on the opportunity to comment the recent broadcast on the Kremlin-controlled national TV, ORT, which in a primetime program sent on February 7, presented Pasko as a Japanese spy who deserves his punishment. The program-makers' tight connections to the FSB were visible both from their seemingly unlimited access to the FSB-archives of secret video-footage and from the number of FSB-officers taking part in the program. -- The program presented a series of lies, which not only contradict the truth, but also the verdict of the Pacific Fleet Court, said Pavlov and reminded the audience on the fact that even that court threw away 97 % of the charges against Pasko. -- We will take the program-makers to court, and I am fully confident that they will have to pay compensation, Pavlov concluded. Verdict does not endure a critical light Jon Gauslaa, lawyer of Bellona, explained why his organisation had engaged itself in the Pasko-case. –- We followed the case from its start as it had many of the same features as the case against our employee Aleksandr Nikitin, when it comes to issues connected with environmental rights, freedom of speech and the rule of law. Gauslaa said that the conviction of Pasko had gained much attention abroad, and mentioned Amnesty International's adoption of him as a prisoner of conscience and the recent resolution adopted by the European Parliament. -- Also several other organizations and governments have expressed their concerns regarding the conviction, and it is not hard to understand why. The verdict does simply not endure a critical light, Gauslaa said. Preparing application to European Court He added that the conviction seems to involve a number of violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). -- First you have the use of secret decrees as the basis for the verdict and the vagueness of the actual provisions of the decree. It seems clear from the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights that this may well involve a violation of article 7 of the ECHR. -- Then you have the fact the case now are well into its fifth year, which appears like a violation of Pasko's rights under Article 6 (1) of the Convention to have the charges against him determined within a reasonable time. Moreover, Pasko was tried by a Military Court, where the judges were the subordinates of admirals who witnessed in court saying that Pasko should be punished. -- How can such a court be considered as “an independent and impartial tribunal” in the sense of Article 6, Gauslaa asked. -- Moreover, in the verdict the Pacific Fleet Court states that the evidence against Pasko was obtained in violation with the Criminal Procedure Code. Still it based its conviction on the very same evidence although Article 50 (2) of the Russian Constitution states that illegally obtained evidence can not be used. This does in itself clearly hint that Pasko did not get a fair trial. Gauslaa also referred to several other ECHR- provisions, and said that Pasko's defence intents taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights if the conviction should stand. -- We have started our work on the application, he said. But I hope that the higher instances of the Russian judiciary will be able to solve this case - as in the Nikitin-case - so that we would not have to file the application. But if we have to, then we will do it, he said. * Grigory Pasko was arrested on November 20, 1997. He was acquitted by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok of treason through espionage on July 20, 1999, but sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for misusing his position and released on a general amnesty. Both sides appealed the verdict. In November 2000 the Military Supreme Court cancelled the verdict, and sent the case back for a new trial at the Pacific Fleet Court. The re-trial started on July 11, 2001 and ended on December 25, with Pasko being convicted to four years of hard labour for treason and taken into custody. The verdict is appealed again by both the defence and the prosecution. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 43 Scotland: Politicians held in Trident protest BBC News | SCOTLAND | 11 February, 2002, 17:40 GMT [protesters at Faslane naval base] The protest began about 0630 GMT More than 100 people, including two members of the Scottish Parliament, have been arrested during an anti-nuclear protest at a submarine base in Scotland. Politicians and clergy joined the start of a three-day demonstration against the Trident fleet, which is based at Faslane. Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan MSP and Lloyd Quinan MSP, of the Scottish National Party, were among the first to be arrested. I came to Faslane today to protest against the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons Tommy Sheridan MSP By Monday evening, Strathclyde Police had arrested 111 people and two were detained by Ministrty of Defence officers. Organisers of the protest said they expect hundreds of people to attend from across Europe over the next few days. Mr Sheridan was jailed for a short time last year after refusing to pay a fine imposed for his part in an earlier protest. As he was being detained on Monday, he was told he was being charged with breach of the peace. [Tommy Sheridan carried away by police] Tommy Sheridan is carried away by police He responded: "I came to Faslane today to protest against the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons. "I've not, in any way, caused alarm to any other citizen. I therefore object that I have caused a breach of the peace." The demonstration has been organised by Scottish CND and Trident Ploughshares. One activist, Joy Mitchell, 68, from Berwick-upon-Tweed, said: "Our continued presence here is a clear message to the British Government that ordinary citizens will not tolerate them possessing and threatening to use a weapon which can only be used to kill innocent people. "Trident doesn't and can't discriminate between mothers and marines, toddlers and commandos, the elderly and the military." 'Morally wrong' About 30 ministers and priests are said to be taking part in the action. The Reverend Alan Macdonald, convenor of the Church and Nation Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: "These weapons of mass destruction are morally and theologically wrong. "In fact it is blasphemy to have weapons of this kind which have no good purpose at all." Trident Ploughshares Name comes from biblical phrase "to beat swords into ploughshares" Ploughshares actions began in 1980 in the US It is part of the international disarmament movement It believes in non-violent direct protest It believes nuclear weapons are immoral and irresponsible It protests at Trident installations Blockade spokesman David Mackenzie said: "The real achievement has been to get Trident back on the political agenda where it has recently been discussed by the Scottish Parliament. "We believe our efforts have helped rebuild the anti-nuclear movement, certainly in Scotland, and the challenge is to do the same in England." At the beginning of February, seven anti-Trident activists were arrested at the Devonport naval dockyard in Plymouth during a protest against the refitting of the nuclear weapons submarine, HMS Vanguard. The submarines' usual base is at Faslane, but it was transported to the south coast for the essential work. Persistent campaign Anti-nuclear weapons campaigners have been protesting at Faslane during the month of February for more than three years. Last year, 379 people were arrested, including 15 churchmen, Labour MP George Galloway, Mr Sheridan and Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas. It was the biggest anti-nuclear demo seen in Scotland since the early 1960s. Faslane is home to the four-strong Trident submarine fleet. Each vessel has 16 missile tubes and the weapons are said be accurate to within 100 yards. ***************************************************************** 44 Activists carry torch for peace / Flame from Hiroshima travels U.S. [http://www.sfgate.com/news/] Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer [cburress@sfchronicle.com] Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Just 23 days after the Olympic torch passed through the Bay Area, another revered flame has arrived here -- one that burns with a far darker past and a brighter hope for the future. The "Hiroshima Flame" -- kindled 57 years ago from embers of the atomic bombing of Japan -- entered San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday morning as it slowly wends its way across America. Its escorts are a diverse group: a seemingly indefatigable Japanese nun who's walked across the United States four times, a Native American elder from Massachusetts, an idealistic 15-year-old girl from Honolulu, and others united in the hope that their unusual spiritual pilgrimage will foster world peace. The five-month journey is a kind of walking meditation with a Japanese Buddhist chant, the beating of small fanlike drums and visits to the places where America played Prometheus with the thermonuclear fire. The itinerary, by foot and bus, includes Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which researches nuclear weapons design; Los Alamos, N.M., where the first atomic bombs were developed; and Oak Ridge, Tenn., where the uranium for the Hiroshima bomb was extracted. It also includes many small communities, the White House and a vigil at the World Trade Center site. "I see ourselves as a ribbon of light -- a ribbon of light across America," said Tom Dostou, a Native American elder from the Wabanaki tribe who came up with the idea for the peace walk. They began Jan. 15 at Chief Seattle's grave in Washington state, and one goal is to honor Native Americans who've suffered from atomic testing and uranium mining -- especially anti-nuclear activist and former uranium miner Dorothy Purley of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, who died 14 months ago of cancer. After their concluding stop at the United Nations, the flame -- which is carried in a glass lantern -- will be taken to a uranium mine on Native American land in Arizona and extinguished, thus closing the nuclear circle, said American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks, who joined the group for part of their walk yesterday. The lantern was lit from a flame that is maintained in Hoshino, Japan, by the family of Tatsuo Yamamoto, who gathered burning embers from his uncle's destroyed bookstore near ground zero in Hiroshima. The dropping of the bomb -- the most concentrated killing of men, women and children ever committed -- took an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 lives. Yesterday Banks held an eagle-feather staff as he conducted a ceremony with sage smoke on the Marina Green with about 60 people who gathered in a reverent circle. About two dozen people are making the entire pilgrimage, joined by varying numbers of local supporters along the route. The ceremony marked the 24th anniversary of "The Longest March," a cross- country trek to Washington, D.C., from Alcatraz protesting abuses of Native American rights. A participant of that march and the organizing spirit of the current "2002 Hiroshima Flame Interfaith Pilgrimage" is Jun Yasuda, a Japanese nun famous for her untiring devotion to walking for peace. With shaved head and the orange-and-white robes of the Nipponzan Myohoji sect, which is known for building peace pagodas around the world, she keeps the group moving with her brisk and cheerful energy. "People do not realize we're the same humans," Yasuda said yesterday after crossing the bridge. "Now science . . . can easily destroy the planet. If we keep fighting, not only will humans be finished, but the whole planet. (Peace) is our responsibility." "I think this can have an impact," said Annie Elfing, 15, of Honolulu, as the group walked toward downtown San Francisco, many chanting, "Na mu nyo ho renge kyo" (which can be translated as "Glory to the Sutra, Hail Lotus Sutra"). Annie, who met Yasuda at a peace vigil at the Pearl Harbor memorial, felt the walkers could inspire others by example, "like Gandhi." "If people see us," she said, "they think about what's happening." FLAME PILGRIMAGE The Hiroshima Flame Interfaith Pilgrimage will be in the East Bay for the next three days. The walkers will go from Berkeley to the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda today, from San Leandro to Fremont tomorrow, and from Fremont to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Thursday. They take a bus Friday to the Colorado Springs area, home of U.S. Air Force Space Warfare Center. In addition to promoting world peace and honoring Native Americans injured by atomic testing and mining, the pilgrimage is aimed at rallying opposition to nuclear weapons in space. More information about the peace walk is available at www.dharmawalk.org [http://www.dharmawalk.org] . E-mail Charles Burress at cburress@sfchronicle.com [cburress@sfchronicle.com] . ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle   Page A - 20 ***************************************************************** 45 Paducah plan nearly ready on terrorism - Paducah, Kentucky Tuesday, February 12, 2002 The committee expects to release security suggestions in about a month, and is moving closer to meeting its goals. By Shelley Street, The Paducah Sun The Paducah-McCracken County Counter-Terrorism Committee is moving closer to meeting its goals and expects to release security suggestions for the community in about a month, said chairman Kent King, McCracken County Emergency Management director. "We've come an extremely long way in a short period of time," King said. "The information sharing between the different parties that are involved has been incredible." The primary goal is preparing the community to respond to an emergency caused by a weapon of mass destruction. "We're a lot better off than we were before Sept. 11, but it will get a lot better in the next year," King said. King was hesitant to release the committee's specific actions because of security concerns, but he said it has focused on updating agencies' internal plans in the event of an emergency, deciding how agencies can help each other, training members and buying safety equipment. The committee includes representatives of law enforcement, military, fire departments, hospitals and emergency management staffs, as well as the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The meetings, which began in October, were weekly, then biweekly and now are monthly. "The information was coming in real quick on preventative actions that different participants needed to do," King said. "We achieved that goal pretty early on, I'd say within three weeks of the committee actually meeting. And now it's settled down to long-term planning, long-term preparations and training." The Paducah committee is one of only four in the state, King said. Others are in Lexington, Louisville and Frankfort. These committees will likely become part of an effort led by the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management to develop 14 hazardous materials response teams across the state, said Bob Carrico, area one coordinator of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management. Area one is composed of McCracken, Graves, Calloway, Marshall, Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton counties. "I think we'll be working with the group in Paducah as we implement that part of the program, as well as working with the other emergency management agencies in the area," Carrico said. "We've already had some discussions, but the details have yet to be worked out." A statewide program has been delayed because state officials want to comply with the national initiative announced by President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, Carrico said. Details of the national initiative are still being written, he said. Carrico praised Paducah's readiness. "I think the effort in Paducah is probably the most organized," he said. "That's not to say there are not other efforts, because there are and I hear of them somewhat, but it's a good effort there and I think it speaks well of the community, and it certainly won't detract from the overall state strategy." Cash Centers, operations and recovery branch manager for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, said the state's effort to organize hazardous materials response teams received approval from the Department of Justice just over a week ago. The teams will be implemented within three years, he said. Area one will get the first team. The plan for the teams began as a mandate from the Department of Justice after the Oklahoma City bombing, Centers said. Former Attorney General Janet Reno required the 125 largest American cities to form teams to combat terrorism. Lexington, Louisville and the greater Cincinnati area, including northern Kentucky, were part of that effort. In early 2000, the Department of Justice extended the mandate and provided seed money for a baseline risk and needs assessment of the rest of the state, Centers said. "The primary results were things we all know," Centers said. "They're places large numbers of people gather, such as Thunder Over Louisville and the (Kentucky) Derby. Terrorists want attention. If they can do something where there are already media, so much the better." Centers said at least one location in each of the state's 120 counties was pinpointed as a concern. Although Centers would not identify the vulnerable areas of western Kentucky, he said, "The big concerns were things like dams, sporting events, federal courthouses and in some cases even county courthouses, because there is always the concern that the local guy wants to get back at the judge or the sheriff." ***************************************************************** 46 Hanford Area braces for influx of 7,300 newcomers Déjà Boom Published Feb. 10, 2002 By Nathan Isaacs Herald staff writer While Kuleen Patel is trying to figure out how to treat Hanford's radioactive wastes, Tri-City leaders are trying to figure out what to do about Patel and 7,300 other newcomers expected to arrive in the next few years. Almost 60 years of Tri-City history provide a crystal ball to predict what's ahead: Boom times mean prosperity, as well as lots of headaches. It's more surmise than science to predict the impacts of this déjà boom, but Patel and community leaders are hoping their fortunetelling will help keep the Mid-Columbia a great place to live. With a $4 billion effort under way to build a vitrification plant to turn the wastes into glass, there are lots of questions: What happens as new workers and their families boost the area's population by 5 percent? How many children will have to cram into crowded portable classrooms? How much higher will apartment and housing prices soar? Will there be enough coffee shops, grocery stores and doctors? How bad will traffic jam up as workers commute between home and Hanford? And will the overload on understaffed police and fire departments put public safety at risk? Answering these questions, while facing shrinking budgets from the passage of tax-cutting measures like Initiatives 695 and 747 with no significant new revenues in sight, is a daunting task. "If you don't do anything, you rely on your existing revenue sources to deal with this influx of people," said Richland City Manager John Darrington. Without more money, he said, "you remove any slack in the system ... and there isn't any slack." In June, the Hanford Communities - a coalition of most Tri-City-area city and county governments - spent about $65,000 to have Perteet Engineering of Everett, Thomas/Lane Associates of Seattle and SCM Consultants of Kennewick do a study to pinpoint effects of the coming boom and to make recommendations about how to minimize its impacts. Among the report's conclusions was that the communities will need an additional $10 million over the next nine years to deal with population growth linked to Hanford's tank wastes. The report also estimates where most newcomers will live: Richland, 2,730; Kennewick, 2,125; Pasco, 861; West Richland, 636, and Benton City, 331. Among some concerns the report listed are: n More than 2,000 apartments and 2,000 homes are needed for the newcomers. -- Richland and Kennewick school districts will overflow with new students. -- Roadways such as Highway 240, George Washington Way, Stevens Drive and Interstate 182 will be busier for longer periods. The report estimates traffic will increase by 38 percent, adding about four minutes for every 10 minutes in a commute. -- Some retail developers already are gearing up. Richland recently sold some property in its City View area, near the Wal-Mart store, to a California developer who has a history of attracting popular businesses to projects. Kennewick City Manager Bob Kelly said the communities already are behind since it takes about a year to train a police officer and 18 are needed in the Tri-Cities by 2003, the beginning of the project's peak years. Construction already has begun on the glassification plant, the biggest federal project in the nation. The plant will sprawl across 65 acres in Hanford's 200 East Area, which is about 26 miles northeast of Richland. It is expected to be operational by 2007 and in full swing by 2011. "If you look back 20 years to the last time there was a major project, back in '81 at the peak, there were close to 12,000 workers at Hanford," said John Britton, a Bechtel spokesman. "This is about a quarter of that work force and a quarter of the length of time." Ted Lane, an economist with Thomas/Lane Associates of Seattle, said the project is expected to employ about 4,450 construction, administrative and engineering workers during its peak years. That number will shrink to about 500 once the plant is operating. Bechtel and its subcontractors are hiring about 20 people a week and have added about 1,700 employees so far. Those new jobs are welcome during a time of national economic uncertainty. "This has made the Tri-Cities pretty much recession-proof in the short term," Britton said. Patel was hired in March after graduating from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in chemical engineering. His father, a 20-year veteran with Bechtel, also signed aboard the project shortly after his son's arrival in the Tri-Cities. Patel, 24, occasionally helps the company with recruiting by talking to college seniors about his experiences as a design engineer. "It's my first job and I love it," he said. "Not only am I doing what I learned in school, but I'm also cleaning up nuclear wastes. There is some pride in solving a big problem that needed to be addressed." Recruiting may not be needed for trades people arriving to build the plant. The national recession, post-Sept. 11 impacts and layoffs at Boeing may trigger more than enough interest, Britton said. Another opening for new employment will be jobs in retail and other services catering to the newcomers. Lane estimates every new project job will create 0.75 secondary service jobs not directly related to the project, such as additional sales clerks, for example. That's about 2,229 indirect jobs in the Tri-Cities and another 1,000 jobs outside the Mid-Columbia. In all, the Perteet report estimates the project will create almost 8,000 jobs - both primary and secondary. Filling those jobs may bring 7,300 people, including dependents, from outside the region. Officials expect about 3,200 jobs will be filled by people already living in the area. Dean Schau, a regional economist with the state Employment Security Department, said the Perteet report was well done. But, he pointed out, "Any time you are looking into the future, it becomes murky." Two criticisms Schau has with the report are that it relied too much on information from past Hanford projects, and that secondary employment might be nearer to a 1-to-1 ratio, which may bring as many as 1,200 more workers and their families to the area. Another concern Schau has is the impact that high-paying project-related jobs will have on local businesses, which could be forced to increase salaries or risk losing workers. "For every well-paying job inside the project, we are creating an ill-paying job outside the project," Schau said. "It plunges the standard of living elsewhere." Likewise, higher incomes could raise the area's cost of living, forcing some people on the lower end of the economic spectrum to relocate as housing prices escalate. The average price for a home sold in 2001 was about $139,000, which was about $9,000 more than in 2000. Bechtel's Britton also said the timing of the report - it was prepared before Sept. 11 - may result in some estimates being inaccurate. For example, more construction jobs may get filled by Seattle or Portland workers who may commute to the site from temporary housing in the Yakima area. Pasco City Manager Gary Crutchfield isn't too concerned about where the workers will live. "The impacts of this project are going to affect the whole Tri-Cities, some worse than others," he said. But, Crutchfield added, "I don't think there is any doubt that the impacts will be there." Patel agrees the newcomers will cause some change. That may mean increased traffic, but it also may mean more nice restaurants. In the meantime, he's making do. "The summers here rock," he said. However, he admitted he was a bit leery about relocating to the area until he came for his interview. As the social chairman for the Association of Recent College Hires at Bechtel, Patel helps organize ski trips, wine-tasting outings and TGIF parties for about 100 other newcomers. But the group does more than drink cocktails at RF McDougall's. It recently committed itself to managing cleanup of the Chamna Natural Preserve in Richland. As Patel said, "We want to get involved in the community because we want people to be interested in living here." Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 47 Hultquist named director of 'emergency' lab Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 12:07 p.m. on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 Chip Hultquist has been named director of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education's Emergency Management Laboratory. Hultquist has been a project manager in EML since 1992. Before joining ORAU, he was the director of Radiological Emergency Preparedness for the State of Florida. "Chip has the right mix of skills and expertise to help EML continue to be successful in the future," said Marcus Weseman, director of Health, Safety and Emergency Management Programs at ORISE. The Emergency Management Laboratory prepares facilities and staff across the country to respond to emergency events. Hultquist In his new role as director, Hultquist will oversee EML as well as continue working on projects. Hultquist replaces Darrell Lankford, who will retire next month after five years as EML's director. Hultquist will make the third director EML has had since its establishment in 1979. He earned a B.S. in sociology in 1977 and an M.S. in urban and regional planning in 1985 from Florida State University. He resides in Alcoa with his wife, Teri, and two sons, Derik and John. The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education is a U.S. Department of Energy facility focusing on scientific initiatives to research health risks from occupational hazards, assess environmental cleanup, respond to radiation medical emergencies, support national security and emergency preparedness, and educate the next generation of scientists. ORISE is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 48 Opinion - DOE cleanup plan stresses accountability Oak Ridger Online --> Story last updated at 11:41 a.m. on Tuesday, February 12, 2002 by Spencer Abraham The history books will tell that the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago. But for many Americans who live near the sites and weapons labs that produced and processed the nuclear materials we used to defeat the Soviets, the struggle isn't entirely over. That's because one consequence of the critical work done at these sites over a half century is leftover nuclear waste. That waste didn't just disappear with the Soviet Union. This nation's post-Cold War mission should have been obvious: Clean up those contaminated sites, and close the ones we no longer needed. And do it as safely, as quickly, and as efficiently as possible. This nation owed that much to the understanding neighbors whose sacrifices helped safeguard America's freedoms. But somewhere along the way over the last decade, this cleanup program came off its rails. Though many good people with good intentions worked on the program, the job wasn't getting done. In fact, when I became energy secretary a little over a year ago, I was presented with the old plan for cleaning up these sites, which called for a timetable of some 70 years to complete and at a cost of $300 billion. My immediate reaction was that it was not good enough, not for the residents living near those sites, not for the taxpayers, and not for the Department of Energy. A timetable of 70 years means decades treading water on environmental hazards that need to be eliminated, not just managed. It's not fair to tell people who live near these sites that if everything works right, then perhaps their grandchildren will live in communities that are free of risk. I commissioned a top-to-bottom review of the environmental management mission. Our objective was to develop a new plan to swiftly clean up serious problems at sites and also reduce the risks to humans as well as the environment. Last Thursday I announced this new plan of action. Called "Securing Our Communities: A Blueprint for Addressing Risks and Accelerating the Environmental Restoration of the Nation's Nuclear Sites," it emphasizes three basic goals: one, eliminating significant health and safety risks as soon as possible; two, reviewing remaining risks on a case-by-case basis working with state and local officials to determine the most appropriate remediation schedules and approaches; and three, streamlining cleanup so that funding spent on routine maintenance and security - which the program estimates accounts for two-thirds of the total EM budget - will be put to use for further expedited cleanup. Further, this plan fully incorporates the Department's Homeland Security Strategy, which is to significantly accelerate the consolidation of nuclear material and waste into more secure locations and configurations. The Energy Department's new budget, announced this week, helps put this plan in motion. It includes an extra $800 million for an expedited cleanup account, providing funds to those sites that agree to work with us to meet these goals. This new plan will stress accountability. Meaningful and attainable deadlines will be set, and cleanup will be closely monitored to ensure that those deadlines are met. I will hold my managers - federal and contractors employees alike- responsible for meeting our goals. Plus we will strive to build trust with local officials and community leaders who have grown frustrated with the pace of the old strategy. For skeptics who say this approach can't work, I point to our Rocky Flats, Colorado site, which we have used as a testing ground for our ideas while formulating our plan. When we began, the schedule for Rocky Flats said it would take 65 years to complete, and at a cost of $36 billion. But through innovative reforms similar to our new plan, Rocky Flats will now be cleaned up and closed 55 years ahead of schedule in 2006. And as a bonus, it will save nearly $30 billion. We've instituted similar reforms at our Fernald, Ohio site. Rocky Flats and Fernald are the kind of success stories that convince me our larger goals are attainable, in far less than 70 years and at far less cost than $30 billion. Nothing could make me happier as Secretary of Energy than for us to write this final chapter and close the book on the Cold War once and for all. Spencer Abraham is secretary of the Department of Energy. All Contents ©Copyright The Oak Ridger ***************************************************************** 49 Looking Anew at Nuclear Power for Space Travel February 12, 2002 By WARREN E. LEARY Reuters The Cassini spacecraft, which began a mission to Mars in 1997, used a nuclear generator, drawing protests from some environmental groups. WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — NASA says the future of space exploration is rooted in the past, and it is time to look again at nuclear power as the way to the stars. Years after largely abandoning efforts to apply atomic power to space, NASA last week announced a Nuclear Systems Initiative that it said could jump-start space exploration within a decade. Tucked away in the Bush administration's proposed 2003 budget for the agency is $125.5 million to begin moving NASA into a new nuclear age. In the early days of the space program, NASA looked into nuclear-powered rockets as a possible means of sending humans to Mars and other planets. The agency tested some atomic rocket engines, but abandoned the effort because no missions arose to use them. In the new program, nuclear reactors would not directly produce thrust to propel rockets as in the earlier program, but would be activated when far from Earth, to supply power for other types of engines. The agency also developed electric generators powered by radioactive materials that have been flown on two dozen spacecraft, including the Pioneer and Voyager outer planet probes and piloted Apollo missions to the moon. In 1997, the launching of another probe with a nuclear generator, the Cassini mission to Saturn, drew protests from some environmental and antinuclear groups that worried that a rocket explosion might spread radioactivity. Now only one of these power units, called radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or R.T.G.'s, remain in the civilian space inventory, and officials say it is time to reopen production lines. The new program, they say, presents an opportunity to design and build new generators that are more efficient, require less nuclear fuel and can be used on more varied spacecraft. NASA is proposing to spend $950 million over the next five years to develop new types of atomic-powered generators to supply electricity for spacecraft, and also to build nuclear electric rockets to propel ships through space at greater speed than possible with traditional rockets. The NASA administrator, Sean O'Keefe, said nuclear power would help space explorers "conquer the problems of distance and time." It takes a long time for spacecraft to travel within the solar system, he said, noting that it would take more than a decade for a probe to reach Pluto using current technology. The continued exploration of the solar system and the space beyond is being held back by the limits of conventional chemical rockets as well as existing spacecraft power supplies, which mostly use solar-powered cells, Mr. O'Keefe said. Officials said the nuclear program would be conducted with the Department of Energy, which has the facilities and expertise to construct nuclear power units. Earl Wahlquist, of the Energy Department's Space and Defense Power Systems Division, said the fuel most widely used in R.T.G.'s, plutonium-238, is no longer produced in the United States. Mr. Wahlquist said that his agency would use NASA funds to buy the necessary plutonium from Russia. Dr. Edward Weiler, head of space science at NASA, said nuclear generators were necessary for outer planet missions, where sunlight is faint. Jupiter, he noted, receives only 4 percent of the sunlight that reaches Earth. The Galileo spacecraft, which has been exploring Jupiter and its moons, is powered by two R.T.G.'s. But new nuclear generators also could revolutionize studies of near planets, he said. The Smart Lander mission for Mars, which was scheduled for launching in 2007, will be delayed for two years to convert it from a solar-powered rover to one run by a nuclear unit. For roughly the same cost, he said, the 180-day solar-powered mission could be stretched to 1,000 days with nuclear power and the machine could range up to 50 miles instead of a mile or two as it looks for signs of life. For propulsion, a nuclear reactor could be used as a heat source to power new kinds of engines, like the electric ion drive successfully used on the recent Deep Space 1 mission. That spacecraft used solar power to run an engine that continually pushed it with very low thrust to high speeds. This approach used fuel 10 times as efficiently as conventional chemical rockets, which burn for a few minutes and require the spacecraft to coast for the rest of its trip. A nuclear-powered ion drive could sent a craft to Pluto in half the time as existing rockets, Dr. Weiler said. A major priority of the new program will be safety, he said, and developing technology that will virtually eliminate any risk to the public if something goes wrong, like a launching accident. "We will design these new systems for a worst-case scenario," Dr. Weiler said, "They'll be designed to survive a rocket blowing up, or one going up and then coming down and hitting the ground. If you can't guarantee this in your design, then we don't want to talk to you." NASA officials said the systems they envisioned would be launched by conventional rockets and not activated until safely in space. Once operating, they said, neither electric power supplies nor reactors powering engines would leave residual radiation. Still, there is some opposition to the initiative. The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, a group based in Florida, said it remained opposed to any nuclear systems in space and speculated that any new technology developed might be applied to military uses. Dr. Weiler said nuclear energy was not only safe but necessary for further space exploration. The limits of current power and propulsion systems are now starting to limit space science, he said. "We are trying to continue the exploration of the solar system in covered wagons," he said, "Now it's time to switch to the steam engine and build railroads to explore the solar system like railroads contributed to the exploration and expansion of this country." 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