***************************************************************** 07/12/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.178 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Russia, U.S. must cooperate to keep nukes from Iran 2 Pak to set up two more nuclear power plants 3 PAEC plans to extend life of KANUPP 4 British Co. spending millions on reprocessing Japan fuel 5 Russia pledges to accept spent nuclear fuel from Iranian power NUCLEAR REACTORS 6 US: Photographer at Yankee threatened with treason charge 7 US: Board sticks to condition on sale of Vermont Yankee NUCLEAR SAFETY 8 Russia Vows to Recover Nuclear Fuel 9 DRDO nuclear shelter cannot survive 'ground zero' 10 US: Pills in stock for nuclear neighbors 11 US: State petitions NRC for tougher dump safety rules 12 US: Bx. Nuke Fuel Awaiting Pickup Since '96 13 US: Radiation training ordered for workers 14 US: USEC workers to stand down to talk about safety lapses NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 15 GREENPEACE PLUTONIUM SHIPMENT UPDATE 16 US: Torricelli's Yucca Mount vote criticized 17 US: Two AG hopefuls call Yucca a priority 18 US: State's cost for lawsuits over Yucca climbing 19 US: Petition to target dump safety 20 US: Mike O'Callaghan: Reid shines in setback 21 US: Lawmakers question whether speedier nuclear waste cleanups would 22 US: BENNETT WILL VOTE TO PREVENT UTAH’S RECEIPT OF NUCLEAR WASTE, 23 US: Let It Roll -- Waste shipments aren't frightening 24 US: Dumping on Nevada 25 US: A Nuclear-Waste Stopgap 26 US: Vit construction gets go-ahead 27 US: Hanford radioactive waste to go to Yucca Mountain 28 US: Yucca fight not over NUCLEAR WEAPONS 29 Lawmakers request reconsideration 30 US: Enola Gay Pilot is Proud of Role US DEPT. OF ENERGY 31 NIF laser to aid in nuclear war test 32 HAB criticizes federal report 33 DOE, State of South Carolina and EPA Agree to Pursue Accelerated 34 Lawmakers Question Nuke Cleanup Plan 35 Gregoire won't agree to cleanup plan OTHER NUCLEAR 36 House Changing Bush Homeland Plan 37 (Nuclear) Scientists as shamans ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Russia, U.S. must cooperate to keep nukes from Iran The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA [Tribnet.com] The Associated Press MOSCOW - Russia and the United States must improve cooperation and increase intelligence sharing to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, U.S. and Russian experts said Thursday. U.S. experts also said Russia needs more resources and better enforcement of export controls to prevent the proliferation of nuclear technology that could help Iran develop weapons of mass destruction. Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran has been a major subject of contention between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their most recent summits. The United States opposes Moscow's role in completing a civilian nuclear power plant at Bushehr in southwestern Iran. Senior U.S. and Russian experts met in Moscow on Thursday to discuss ways to improve cooperation between the two countries regarding Iran. Russians at the meeting agreed better cooperation was needed, but many defended the Bushehr project. Russia is the only major nuclear power now assisting Iran in developing atomic energy, said Gary Samore, a senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies and a former official on proliferation issues in the Clinton administration. (Published 12:30AM, July 12th, 2002) Tacoma News, Inc. is a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company ***************************************************************** 2 Pak to set up two more nuclear power plants Friday July 12, 3:55 PM KARACHI, July 12 (PTI) In an effort to augment its nuclear power capacity, Pakistan is set to add two more units to its existing nuclear power plants. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is working on a plan to set up one unit each at its nuclear power plants at Karachi and Mianwali in Punjab, Commission's chairman Pervez Butt said yesterday. "In order to keep up with the global trend of using nuclear power and to increase the country's power generating capacity, the PAEC is working on a plan to establish a second unit at site of Chashma Nuclear Power Plan (CHASNUPP) in Mianwali and another at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plan, (KANUPP) site, which would be called K2," he said at the 7th convocation of KANUPP Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering (KINPOE). Compared to the 16 per cent share of nuclear power in the global power generation, he said Pakistan's nuclear plants accounted for three per cent of the power production in the country. He said KANUPP was nearing the end of its design life, but there were plans to extend its by 12 to 15 years. He said the PAEC wanted to build a plant bigger than the combined capacity of KANUPP and CHASNUPP soon. Copyright © 2002 Press Trust of India Ltd. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 3 PAEC plans to extend life of KANUPP ©The Frontier Publications (Pvt) Ltd. Updated on 7/12/2002 5:17:44 PM KARACHI (APP): The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission has definite plans to extend the life of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) for another 12 to 15 years.This was stated by the Chairman of PAEC, Parvez Butt, while speaking at the convocation of KANUPP Institute of Nuclear Power Engineering (KINPOE) Karachi on Thursday. He pointed out that the KANUPP is nearing the end of its design life but there are plans to extend its life by another 12 to 15 years. Meanwhile, Director KINPOE in his report also pointed out that an application has been submitted to Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority to obtain a new operating licence and that quite a few activities are in progress in this regard. The Chairman PAEC said that we would like to build the second plant which would be even bigger than both KANUPP and CHASNUPP combined as soon as possible. He further stated that we are working on a plan to establish a second unit at CHASHNUPP and another plant in Karachi which we call K-2. Butt pointed out that elsewhere in the world, nuclear industry is witnessing the renewed commitment to nuclear power in terms such as `witnessing a nuclear renaissance’ a ‘strong revival in USA’ and ‘ an upbeat mood in Europe’. There are 432 very successfully and safely operated nuclear power plants in the world which contribute to 16 percent of the world’s electric generation. Chairman PAEC said that in keeping with these global trends, President General Pervez Musharraf while inaugurating Nathiagali Summer College two weeks ago noted that our nuclear power plants are producing only three percent of country’s total power generation and the President went on to say that we need to increase our nuclear capacity. Meanwhile, an official of PAEC said that there is a growing trend in the world for enhancing the operating life of the existing nuclear power plants by refurbishing and replacement of ageing equipment and systems. He said that many plants in the USA are being refurbished for extracting more useful life out of them. © Copyright 2001 The Frontier Post PakCyber.Com Disclaimer--> ***************************************************************** 4 British Co. spending millions on reprocessing Japan fuel Guardian Unlimited | World dispatch | Toxic cargo [Jonathan Watts] Toxic cargo A British company is spending millions trying to sustain Japan's appetite for reprocessed nuclear fuel, writes Jonathan Watts Friday July 12, 2002 Keeping the customer satisfied does not come much more expensive, risky or humiliating than the return of goods from Japan currently being arranged by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). Two British-flagged ships, the Pintail and the Teal, left Takahama power plant last week with a cargo of Sellafield-made nuclear fuel that was rejected after revelations that its quality control data had been fabricated. BNFL is paying more than £100m in compensation and costs to ship these deadly duds, which contain enough plutonium to build up to 50 atomic bombs, 18,000 miles back to Cumbria on armed merchant ships. Environmentalists say taxpayers are also paying for the security of this cargo because warships are shadowing its progress. According to Greenpeace, the HMS Nottingham, which was holed in the south Pacific earlier this week, was part of an unofficial escort for the Pintail and the Teal. The government has denied such claims. Whatever the security arrangements, the voyage is a huge logistical and political exercise that has taken three years to arrange because many states en route are opposed to such a cargo in their waters. Industry sources say that BNFL also got rid of one of its senior executives, Chris Loughlin, at the insistence of its Japanese customers. Mr Loughlin, who was in charge of the company's transport business when the flawed shipment was made, suddenly stepped down in May. His boss at the time of the incident, John Taylor, had already resigned. But even after this rolling of heads and a transcontinental show of penitence, it is far from certain that the British company will have much business to keep in Japan, where public and industry opinion is turning against reprocessed plutonium-uranium mixed-oxide (Mox) fuel. Under the world's most ambitious Mox programme, Japan has shipped hundreds of tonnes of used fuel to the UK, France and Belgium, where it was to be reprocessed as Mox and then sent back across the planet to be burned in modified nuclear power stations. The first Mox was to have been loaded at Kansai Electric power company's Takahama plant in late 1999, but the debut of the fuel was indefinitely delayed when the data for the first batch was found to have been falsified. Coming just months after Japan's worst nuclear accident fatally injured two workers at Tokaimura, the public mood could not have been less forgiving. In the three years since, not a single pellet of Mox has been loaded and questions have increasingly been asked about whether the programme adds up in terms of safety and economics. In a referendum last year, residents at Kariwa, a village 180 miles north of Tokyo, which hosts the world's biggest nuclear power plant, voted down a switch to Mox. Tokyo Electric Plant power company had to postpone plans to load the controversial fuel in Fukushima after the local governor, Eisaku Sato, refused to give permission. Citing local opposition to the plan, Mr Sato has launched a review of the Mox programme that is expected to delay the start for at least one more year. Environmental campaigners have found people more willing to listen even in areas which depend on the nuclear industry for jobs. "Our plants are not made for Mox," said Tetsuen Nakajima, a priest at a temple near Takahama that is surrounded by 15 nuclear power stations. "It is more dangerous, like trying to use a paraffin stove to burn gasoline." Local governments and even utilities are beginning to wonder whether the costs and risks are worthwhile - especially in an increasingly deregulated energy market that has made the big power companies more conscious of the need to be competitive. "Deregulation discourages power companies from using Mox because, from a purely economic viewpoint, it would be cheaper not to reprocess spent fuel," acknowledged Tsutomu Toichi of the Institute of Energy Economics. "But we must take a long-term perspective. If the market is fully liberalised, the government should assume more of the risks. We must also be more flexible about storing spent fuel." Exploring the option of storage instead of reprocessing could eat into the potential business of BNFL's new £400m pound Mox-manufacturing plant, which was expected to rely on Japanese customers for more than 40% of its income. The Cumbrian firm, which is already on the verge of bankruptcy, is hoping that the return of the tainted cargo on the Pintail and the Teal will enable it to secure new Japanese reprocessing contracts. The Japanese government is still in favour of reprocessing on the grounds of energy security, but the public will take some persuading. "As a result of BNFL's falsification scandal, the Mox programme completely lost the trust of the public," said Kansai Electric. "The return of the tainted fuel is one step towards restarting that programme, but first we must regain the understanding of society." The question now is how much extra the government is willing to offer as incentives for communities to accept Mox and to what extent it will cover the growing security, transport and waste costs. Keeping the Mox business afloat looks set to cost taxpayers in Britain and Japan for years to come. jon.watts@guardian.co.uk [jon.watts@guardian.co.uk] Special report Japan [http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan] Britain's nuclear industry [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 ***************************************************************** 5 Russia pledges to accept spent nuclear fuel from Iranian power plant, trying to soothe U.S. fears AP World Politics Fri Jul 12,10:56 AM ET By ERIC ENGLEMAN, Associated Press Writer MOSCOW - Trying to soothe U.S. fears of Iran developing nuclear weapons, Russia's atomic energy minister said Friday that Moscow would sign by the end of the year an agreement on taking back spent nuclear fuel from a Russian-built nuclear power station in Iran. Russia is helping Iran build a 1,000-megawatt pressurized water reactor at Bushehr in a deal worth dlrs 800 million. U.S. officials fear spent fuel from the project could provide Iran with weapons-grade radioactive material and give a major boost to its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said Russia worked out a protocol with Iran in November 1998 specifying that Russia would take back the spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr, but because Russia at the time didn't have a law allowing the import of such material, it could not be put into force. Now that the Russian parliament passed a law last year allowing the import of spent nuclear fuel, Russia and Iran will formally sign the protocol in September or October of this year — paving the way for the spent fuel to be returned to Russia, Rumyantsev said. "We'll provide them with fresh fuel and take back the spent" material, Rumyantsev said, adding that Russia would not provide any fuel at all "until the signed regulations are in place." The Bushehr project remains a major irritant in U.S.-Russian relations, despite the overall spirit of cooperation between Moscow and Washington in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Russia has brushed off U.S. complaints, saying the Iranian reactor can only be used for civilian purposes and will remain under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Bushehr reactor is due to be completed by December 2003 and ready for operation by 2005, Russian officials have said. Rumyantsev said work at the plant is moving ahead. "Construction of the first power unit is nearing completion," he said. "Heavy equipment is being supplied, along with the reactor's body, pipes and pumping equipment. In August, a turbine will be delivered." Rumyantsev said along with Iran, Russia is actively cooperating with China in building nuclear power plants. The Russian government is also preparing to import spent nuclear fuel from other countries in November, in line with the law passed last year. The law allows Russia to accept nuclear waste from abroad for storage and reprocessing, a measure that proponents say will bring in billions of dollars in revenue — money that could be used to clean up decades of past radioactive contamination in Russia. Environmental groups and other critics say that Russia does not have enough facilities to store the waste safely and that the law could turn Russia into the world's nuclear dumping ground. (ee/bh) Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 6 Photographer at Yankee threatened with treason charge The Times Argus Online - [http://timesargus.nybor.com] By SUSAN SMALLHEER Southern Vermont Bureau VERNON — A newspaper photographer on assignment to get a picture of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was threatened with arrest for treason Wednesday by the Vernon Police Department. Under a little-known Vermont law, it is illegal to take pictures of a nuclear power station — or any power station under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Board for that matter — during times of war or threat of war, according to Vermont Title 13, subsection 3481. The entire section is entitled “treason.” The photographer, Jason Henske of the Brattleboro Reformer, was questioned by the Vernon police, after Vermont Yankee officials reported him, according to Robert Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee. Williams said that officials at the Vernon reactor saw Henske taking photographs and called police. “It’s a police matter. We have been in a heightened state of awareness and we’ve been working closely with the Vernon Police Department,” Williams said. Williams declined to say whether Henske was on Yankee property at the time or whether he recognized Henske. Vernon Police Chief Randy Wheelock didn’t return telephone messages Wednesday. Brattleboro Reformer Night Managing Editor James Pentland initially said he had no information about the incident. Pentland later said, after consulting with the managing editor and publisher, that the paper was declining any comment about the incident. Henske couldn’t be reached for comment. But Windham County State’s Attorney Dan Davis said he had talked with Wheelock late Wednesday afternoon after Henske was questioned. Davis said that Henske willingly deleted the Yankee images from his digital camera. “I don’t think he was arrested,” Davis said. “The photographer was willing to delete the photographs he had taken from his camera.” Davis said he became aware of the treason statute after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and especially after three men of Middle Eastern appearance were seen photographing the Bellows Falls hydroelectric station owned by U.S. Gen. “I don’t think it’s a good time to be publishing photos of Vermont Yankee,” Davis said. “But I didn’t write the law.” He referred a reporter to the section in the treason law regarding “obtaining maps and plans.” The section states: “A person, who, without permission of lawful authority, while the United States is at war or threatened with war, makes or attempts to make, or has in his possession or attempts to obtain, or aids another to obtain, any map, drawing, plan, model, description, or picture of any military camp, fort, armory, arsenal or building in which munitions of war are stored, or of any bridge, road, canal, dockyard, telephone or telegraph line or equipment, wireless station or equipment, railway or property of any corporation subject to the supervision of the Public Service Board, or of any municipality or part thereof, shall be imprisoned not more than ten years.” Davis said since Vermont Yankee was “subject to the supervision of the Public Service Board,” the statute applied. Asked if the police would ask to prosecute Henske, Davis said, “I’d be very surprised.” Davis said he expected that Wheelock would write up the incident and forward it to his office for review. He said he was contacted by Wheelock and asked if he wanted to prosecute the photographer. Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said there were no federal laws prohibiting photography of nuclear plants from public property, and he expressed surprise that Vermont did. [http://www.vermonttoday.com/] Community. © 2002 Vermont New Media [http://www.timesargus.com/copyright] VermontToday and ***************************************************************** 7 Board sticks to condition on sale of Vermont Yankee [The Concord Monitor online edition] Friday, July 12, 2002 MONTPELIER, Vt. - The Public Service Board has denied a request by the company seeking to buy the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant that it change a key condition in its approval of the sale. The Mississippi-based company had asked the board to drop a requirement that all the extra money in the plant's decommissioning fund be returned to ratepayers. While Thursday's order denied that request in principal, the board included in it a "clarification," that could end up giving Entergy at least part of what it wanted. "Our holding that Entergy must return all excess money in the decommissioning fund after the completion of decommissioning to ratepayers is limited to contributions, and growth from contributions, made by Vermont ratepayers," the board said. In other words, if Entergy puts more money into the decommissioning fund between the date of the sale and the plant's final shutdown, any excess money attributable to those contributions won't have to be returned to ratepayers, under the board's order. Vermont ratepayers would continue paying into the fund under Entergy's ownership, however, because the sale deal comes with a "purchase power agreement" - a requirement that Vermont's two largest utilities - Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power - buy Vermont Yankee's power output for the next 10 years. It was unclear whether the board's reference to "Vermont ratepayers" was meant to excuse Entergy from any requirement that it refund some of any extra money in the decommissioning fund to ratepayers outside Vermont. Power companies in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut own a combined 45 percent of Vermont Yankee and their ratepayers, like Vermont's, have been paying into the fund. If Entergy were excused from making refunds out of state, it would have won nearly all of what it wanted when it asked the board to reconsider the condition it imposed in its June 13 order approving the sale. Entergy already had agreed to split any decommissioning fund excess with ratepayers 50-50. If it were excused from making refunds to out-of-state ratepayers but were required to make refunds in Vermont, the split would be 55-45. The board also said it wasn't persuaded that the decommissioning fund excess was all that big a prize. One expert witness in board hearings said the extra money could amount to as much as $100 million. But Board Chairman Michael Dworkin made clear in a hearing July 2 that he considered such estimates speculative, adding that whatever estimate is offered now would have to be reduced to account for inflation likely to occur between now and the plant's eventual dismantlement. "The record indicates that it is difficult to define either the date or magnitude" of the projected decommissioning fund windfall, the board wrote in Thursday's order. An Entergy spokesman said the company needed time to study the decision before commenting. But Entergy recently issued a legal notice that could allow it to walk away from the deal for lack of the regulatory approval it sought. And pointing to another possible strategy, Entergy lawyers said at a board hearing July 2 that they were likely to try to get the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to overrule the state board on the decommissioning fund issue if they didn't get a favorable ruling. That prompted a new warning from anti-nuclear groups, including the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, that by allowing the sale of its only reactor to an out-of-state company, Vermont was giving up much of its regulatory power over Vermont Yankee. Based on that concern, the groups asked the board to reconsider its approval of the whole deal. The board found that argument unpersuasive. It agreed with Entergy that the company had made promises to abide by the sale terms it negotiated, but had made no such promise to give 100 percent of any decommissioning fund excess back to Vermont ratepayers. © Concord Monitor [http://www.concordmonitor.com] and New Hampshire Patriot P.O. Box 1177, Concord NH 03302 603-224-5301 ***************************************************************** 8 Russia Vows to Recover Nuclear Fuel Las Vegas SUN July 12, 2002 MOSCOW- Trying to soothe U.S. fears of Iran developing nuclear weapons, the atomic energy minister said Friday that Moscow would take back spent nuclear fuel from a Russian-built nuclear power station in Iran. Russia is helping Iran build a 1,000-megawatt pressurized water reactor at Bushehr in a deal worth $800 million. U.S. officials fear spent fuel from the project could provide Iran with weapons-grade radioactive material and boost its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said Russia worked out a protocol with Iran in November 1998 specifying that Russia would take back the spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr. But because Russia at the time didn't have a law allowing the import of such material, it could not be put into force, he said. Now that the Russian parliament passed a law last year allowing the import of spent nuclear fuel, Russia and Iran will formally sign the protocol in September or October of this year - paving the way for the spent fuel to be returned to Russia, Rumyantsev said. "We'll provide them with fresh fuel and take back the spent" material, Rumyantsev said, adding that Russia would not provide any fuel at all "until the signed regulations are in place." The Bushehr project remains a major irritant in U.S.-Russian relations, despite the overall spirit of cooperation between Moscow and Washington in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Russia has brushed off U.S. complaints, saying the Iranian reactor can only be used for civilian purposes and will remain under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Bushehr reactor is due to be completed by December 2003 and ready for operation by 2005, Russian officials have said. Rumyantsev said work at the plant is moving ahead. "Construction of the first power unit is nearing completion," he said. "Heavy equipment is being supplied, along with the reactor's body, pipes and pumping equipment. In August, a turbine will be delivered." Rumyantsev said that along with Iran, Russia is actively cooperating with China in building nuclear power plants. Russia is also preparing to import spent nuclear fuel from other countries in November, in line with the new law. The law allows Russia to accept nuclear waste from abroad for storage and reprocessing, a measure that proponents say will bring in billions of dollars in revenue - money that could be used to clean up decades of past radioactive contamination in Russia. Environmental groups and other critics say that Russia does not have enough facilities to store the waste safely and that the law could turn Russia into the world's nuclear dumping ground. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 9 DRDO nuclear shelter cannot survive 'ground zero' rediff.com: Josy Joseph in New Delhi Senior Defence Research and Development Organisation officials on Friday said they were not involved in creating safe locations for the prime minister and important officials to escape a nuclear attack and launch a second strike. R V Swamy, chief controller of DRDO, said, "We do not know (about nuclear protection for the PM). There are many ministries involved in it." They also admitted that protective gears against nuclear-chemical-biological attacks developed by the DRDO and being inducted by armed forces would not be effective on 'ground zero' (the actual impact site of a nuclear bomb or missile). He said the DRDO has not done any work for the Prime Minister's Office regarding nuclear protection. He did not also know if the nuclear shelter, which they had developed for the army, has been set up in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the PMO. DRDO officials also were not clear if India's existing communication systems for the nuclear command could survive a nuclear attack, and used for effective second strike. Speaking about the 26 items that the DRDO has developed over the past one decade for the armed forces to fight nuclear-biological-chemical warfare, Swamy said these have been designed according to the qualitative regulations given by the armed force. Among the items that they have developed are a comprehensive nuclear shelter, sensors for detecting nuclear, chemical and biological leaks, personal gear for soldiers and decontamination vehicles. The nuclear shelter, which would be buried about one metre below the ground, can accommodate 30 people for four days. However, Swamy admitted the shelter would not survive a nuclear attack if it was situated at 'ground zero'. "The shelter provides certain level of protection. If detonation is on ground zero then it won't stand," admitted Swamy. Swamy said the individual gears developed for soldiers are basically meant for protection against a chemically contaminated environment, he said. All the 26 equipment have undergone extensive trials, including in chemical and biological environments, before they were handed over to the armed forces, he said. Despite the shortcomings in the systems, Dr Swamy and other scientists involved in the development of the systems claimed that most of the Indian systems match similar systems available with other nuclear powers. The armed forces first made their demands for equipment for NBC warfare in 1993-94. Swamy said, "All the 26 items have been produced (by DRDO labs) and accepted by the armed forces." [news@rediff.co.in] ***************************************************************** 10 Pills in stock for nuclear neighbors Asbury Park Press | Story July 12, 2002 The Jersey Shore's News Source   Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/12/02 By TODD B. BATES ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER The long-awaited distribution of free potassium iodide pills to people who live, work or vacation within 10 miles of the Oyster Creek nuclear plant in Lacey will start tomorrow. Free, one-day supplies of the medicine will be given out at Manchester High School, 101 S. Colonial Drive, Manchester. The pills guard only against thyroid cancer following a release of radiation. "We want to keep it simple, get them (people) in, get them out and (answer) any questions we can answer," said Stephen Healey, radiological officer for Ocean County in the Sheriff's Department. "That's why we're there. I think it will go smoothly." State health officials announced their distribution schedule last month. They have stressed repeatedly that a radiation release requiring use of the pills is unlikely, and that evacuation or staying indoors provide the best protection. Tomorrow's hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Public education and pill distribution sessions also are scheduled for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Pinelands Regional High School, 565 Nugentown Road, Little Egg Harbor, and again from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 27 at Manchester High School. Only in the event of an emergency, pills also will be available at the two high schools and four other "reception centers" on evacuation routes outside the 10-mile zone for residents, workers and visitors, according to state officials. The four other reception centers in Ocean County are Brick Township High School, 346 Chambers Bridge Road, Brick; Christa McAuliffe Middle School, 35 Hope Chapel Road, Jackson; Whiting First Aid Squad, Route 539, Manchester; and Lakewood Middle School, East Seventh Street and Somerset Avenue, Lakewood, according to the State Police. State officials are discussing whether to provide pills to schools, health care facilities such as nursing homes, prisons and other facilities, following the three distribution sessions this month, health officials have said. In April, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission delivered 722,000 potassium iodide pills to New Jersey as a precaution against a possible terror attack or other nuclear plant mishap. The NRC offered them to 33 states and an American Indian reservation on a first-come, first-served basis; 13 states have accepted. The state plans to distribute pills to residents, workers and visitors within 10 miles of the Oyster Creek power plant and Salem I and II and Hope Creek nuclear plants in Salem County. The pills are not being made available in response to any imminent danger or threat, according to state officials. How the pills work The pills work by flooding the thyroid with a benign form of iodine and blocking the absorption of radioactive iodine. They should be taken immediately upon learning of a radioactive release. Those with iodine sensitivity may have allergic reactions. People who live or work in the following towns in Ocean County can get the pills at this month's distribution sessions: Barnegat, Barnegat Light, Beach Haven, Beachwood, Berkeley, Dover Township, Harvey Cedars, Island Heights, Lacey, Long Beach Township, Pine Beach, Waretown, Ocean Gate, Seaside Park, Ship Bottom, South Toms River, Stafford and Surf City. Applicants will have to show proof of residency or employment within the 10-mile radius. The pills also are available over the counter at pharmacies and can be purchased on the Internet. They cost between 12 cents and 55 cents per tablet. Dennis McGowan, a state Department of Health and Senior Services spokesman, said about 25 state, county and local officials and volunteers will be at Manchester High School tomorrow. State officials will be offered comp time or "adjusted time," which is similar to comp time, he said, adding that he didn't have a figure yet on how much the distribution session will cost the state. At Manchester High School, people will get in line and have their IDs checked, McGowan said. Then they'll fill out forms, and pick up pills -- one per family member -- and some more educational information, McGowan said. One person can pick up pills for their family. State DEP personnel will be on hand to answer questions about nuclear power plant safety, he said. An official will be available to discuss pill dosages for infants, toddlers and older children, McGowan said. "It's hard to predict how many people will take advantage of this offer at this time," he added. Victoria Hochman, a spokeswoman for Westchester County, N.Y., said distribution of potassium iodide pills to people within 10 miles of the Indian Point nuclear plant in Buchanan, N.Y., "went very smoothly" over four days last month. The county continues to distribute pills to schools, other public organizations and businesses within 10 miles of the plant upon request, she said. A total of 41,366 pills had been distributed through Wednesday, including about 25,000 during the public distribution sessions, she said. The NRC gave the county a total of 340,000 pills, she said. "I think a lot of people thought this is going to be difficult . . . There are going to be long lines," Hochman said. "I think everybody was surprised at how cooperatively it went and how smoothly it went." ***************************************************************** 11 State petitions NRC for tougher dump safety rules Las Vegas SUN July 12, 2002 By Benjamin Grove WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawyers filed a petition today goading the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to require that Yucca Mountain meet stricter safety standards. The petition is another tactic in the state's effort to kill the plan to construct a national high-level nuclear waste dump at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Senate this week approved the site, shifting the state's fight from Congress to the NRC, which must review the Energy Department's application to dump waste at the site. The NRC must determine that the site would safely isolate waste from the environment before it grants the DOE a dump license, a process that could take years. At issue in the petition are the standards the NRC will use to measure the site's suitability. The petition, filed at the NRC today by lawyers working for Gov. Kenny Guinn, asks the agency to set tougher standards, making it more difficult for the DOE to obtain a license. By law, the NRC must require that the site merely meet standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, said Joe Egan, a lawyer working for Nevada. One such standard limits the amount of radiation that could be released from the site, for example. But beyond meeting EPA standards, the law does not require the DOE to demonstrate that the site is safe, which seems like an obvious omission, Egan said. The 46-page petition asks the NRC to demand other requirements. Among other requests, the petition asks the NRC require that the DOE: + Make a more comprehensive case that Yucca is safe; + Rely on the geologic rock features of Yucca Mountain to be the "primary barrier" that isolates radioactive waste from the environment, and not rely on man-made barriers, such as steel waste containers; + Verify any "disqualifying conditions" for Yucca. The state also is battling Yucca in federal court, filing lawsuits designed to block the repository project. The petition filed today complements a lawsuit that alleges the EPA standards are not strict enough to protect future generations of Nevadans. Another lawsuit alleges the DOE improperly changed its own rules, putting too much emphasis on man-made radiation barriers. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 12 Bx. Nuke Fuel Awaiting Pickup Since '96 New York Daily News Online [Daily News Online Edition] Friday, July 12, 2002 By DEREK ROSE Daily News Staff Writer Somewhere on the Bronx campus of Manhattan College sits a small amount of depleted uranium — enough to have powered a nuclear reactor once used for research in the school's engineering department. Could it be dangerous? Energy Department officials say yes. Years ago, the fuel powered a tiny nuclear reactor that produced one-tenth of a watt of electricity — 1/600th of the amount needed to power a 60-watt light bulb. "At its time, in the 1960s, I'm sure it was very cutting-edge," said college spokeswoman Heidi Giovine. Department spokesman Joe Davis said that although the reactor's power may have been minuscule, the "resource fuel" — the depleted uranium — is still radioactive and therefore a potential hazard. "The fuel of any research reactor we treat with the utmost caution, [the same way] we would fuel coming out of a nuclear power plant," Davis said. "The tiniest bit of plutonium, it's dangerous." The reactor was used for teaching, but the college eventually discontinued its nuclear engineering program, and in 1996 the machine was shut down. Waiting for Removal Yet six years later, the fuel remains in storage in a secure campus location while the college waits for the department to fulfill its legal responsibility to collect the waste. The agency has yet to pick it up because it has had nowhere to put it. After 20 years and $4 billion in research, Congress approved this week the department's chosen site — Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nev. Nuclear waste is stored at Manhattan College and 130 other sites in 39 states around the country, including numerous reactors. Proponents say that's one reason the nation needs Yucca Mountain, where nuclear waste would be stored 1,000 feet under a desert, near an old testing site. Critics fear that bringing the nuclear waste to Nevada could lead to an accident or terrorist incident, but Scott Hepburn, a special projects manager at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the Energy Department has safely transported spent nuclear fuel for decades. "Having waste stored in 131 sites is really not responsible storage," Hepburn said. "All of these sites where waste is stored are perfectly safe — but they were not designated for permanent storage. They were designed for temporary storage." ***************************************************************** 13 Radiation training ordered for workers Daily news from Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana from courier-journal.com Thursday, July 11, 2002 By James Malone jmalone@courier-journal.com [jmalone@courier-journal.com] The Courier-Journal PADUCAH, Ky. -- The operator of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant has ordered workers to attend a day of radiation training classes. A spokeswoman for the United States Enrichment Corp., based in Bethesda, Md., called the measure routine but said it is the first training day at the plant since the mid1990s. United States Enrichment Corp. leases parts of the plant from the U.S. Department of Energy to produce uranium fuel for nuclear reactors. Parts of the buildings and grounds where USEC employees work were contaminated with radiation from legacy weapons operations or fuel reprocessing at the plant when it was run by the government. Though not considered an imminent hazard, containing the contamination nonetheless is a major headache. A recent inspection by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission found lapses in the area of radiation protection. ''The stand-down will happen Friday,'' said Georgann Lookofsky, a USEC plant spokeswoman in Paducah. ''There will be a designated time for managers to sit down with workers face to face'' to discuss safety issues. She said it was related to a recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection and the company's ongoing internal surveillance of worker practices. Recent safety incident tracking reports obtained by The CourierJournal showed several problems in June. A USEC radiological safety inspector noted in an inspection in the C333 process building she ''observed a contamination area in total disarray.'' She also said she noted someone picking up a pair of contaminated gloves with his bare hands. She also noted as she was leaving an inspection area that she saw a worker leave a contamination zone ''without a shirt.'' She said she asked him what he was doing and the worker replied, ''I'm just hot,'' according to a copy of an internal plant safety report. Government regulations mandate extensive training for workers prior to entering contaminated areas. The regulations also require safety clothing and gloves to be worn. The radiological contamination present at the plant spreads and is tracked on dust, dirt and contact with clothing. Lookofsky said the plant had an ''excellent'' radiological safety record and workers received only a small fraction of the allowable dose of radiation that government regulations permit. Victoria Mitlyng, a spokeswoman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission field office in Chicago, said an inspector found a number of issues ''in the radiation protection area'' but they were ''fairly minor'' and ''do not represent a safety or health hazard to the public or to workers.'' The inspection results are still in a preliminary form and will not be final until late next month or early September, she said. Copyright 2002 The Courier-Journal. ***************************************************************** 14 USEC workers to stand down to talk about safety lapses The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, July 12, 2002 Today’s brief stand-down is ‘a communication issue’ on worker lapses that were described as fairly minor by the NRC. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650 Managers and workers at the Paducah uranium enrichment plant will take time out today to talk about what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls "fairly minor" radiation-protection lapses that do not threaten workers or the public. Although workers regularly undergo radiological training, the brief "stand-down" is the first of its type since the mid-1990s at the USEC-run plant, said Public Affairs Manager Georgann Lookofsky. All managers have the go-ahead today to conduct meetings, but the focus is on operations and maintenance personnel who spent considerable time in radiological areas, she said. "It's another way to communicate to our employees and bring attention to an issue that we believe is important," Lookofsky said. "It's one of several actions we're taking, because we've identified negative trends in worker performance." NRC spokesman Jan Strasma said USEC responded after its senior managers met July 5 with commission officials to discuss the latest results of an ongoing inspection. Strasma said he did not have details of the preliminary findings but characterized them as "fairly minor" and not posing a health or safety hazard to workers or the public. He said specifics will be documented in an inspection report in the next couple of months. Lookofsky confirmed that several problems noted in June included housekeeping and lax worker radiation-control practices. There are strict government regulations covering procedures and requiring protective clothing in areas contaminated with radiation. She called today's action "a communication issue rather than training." The plant has many radiological areas because of current enrichment work and past handling of spent nuclear fuel and weapons parts. Despite the problems, the average worker at the 1,500-employee plant last year had less than 0.1 percent of the NRC radiation-exposure standard for nuclear workers, she said. ***************************************************************** 15 GREENPEACE PLUTONIUM SHIPMENT UPDATE PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i GREENPEACE AUSTRALIA PACIFIC Sydney, Australia Suva, Fiji Islands July 11, 2002 ***Cook Islands Prime Minister, Dr Robert Woonton says he supports calls by leaders of other nations in the region to ban plutonium shipments through the Pacific. Dr Woonton says the shipments are exposing the Pacific Ocean to unnecessary danger. ***Two British flagged nuclear freighters carrying 255 kg of weapons-useable plutonium are approaching the Federated States of Micronesia, despite the FSM Government’s opposition, released in a statement on Friday July 5. "The Government of FSM wishes to reiterate its continued strong opposition to the shipment of MOX fuel through the region…the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia urges the shipping nations involved to immediately reconsider their plan to transit through the region with the shipment of MOX fuel." ***New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke farewelled nine yachts joining the Nuclear Free Pacific Flotilla -- an independent federation of boat owners -- from Auckland on Sunday, July 7. Two yachts also left Sydney. NSW Greens Senator Ian Cohen will join the Flotilla from Lord Howe Island. ***The yacht Ranui leaves Port Vila in Vanuatu on Sunday, July 14 to join them, taking this year’s Flotilla up to 12 yachts. ***New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff has strongly reiterated to the nuclear shipping states its opposition to the shipment through the Pacific. New Zeakabd has employed their P3 Orions up to do surveillance. ***Fiji Prime Minister Mr Laisenia Qarase last week expressed concern over the possibility of accidents involving the shipment, and said the matter would be raised in the Pacific Islands Forum. ***Fiji Labour Party spokesperson John Ali has criticized the PM for not coming out strongly enough. He calls on the government to lodge a formal diplomatic protest to the shipping nations Japan and UK. ***There is a high likelihood the plutonium shipment will pass through Fiji or Vanuatu’s EEZ around July 17, during the ACP meeting. ***This is the first plutonium shipment since September 11, raising concerns that it could be a terrorist target. ***The shipment is returning REJECTED plutonium MOX fuel, which originally came through the Pacific to Japan in 1999. The fuel was rejected when it was discovered that BNFL had falsified crucial safety data. ***************************************************************** 16 Torricelli's Yucca Mount vote criticized The Express-Times New Jersey News Challenger says senator abandoned New Jersey by voting against the plan. Friday, July 12, 2002 By TERRENCE DOPP The Express-Times TRENTON -- U.S. Senate hopeful Douglas Forrester on Thursday criticized incumbent Democrat Robert Torricelli's vote against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. The plan calls for dumping 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from power plants such as the Artificial Island complex in a Nevada mountainside 100 miles away from Las Vegas. A Tuesday vote in the U.S. Senate cleared the federal government to move ahead with the project. [http://ads1.advance.net/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/expres s_times/n/nnj/@StoryAd?x] "We need a permanent facility to store this type of waste. The towns (hosting nuclear plants) were promised storage many, many years ago," said Forrester, a Mercer County businessman who will face Torricelli in the November election. "Bob Torricelli's vote is that this type of waste should be stored permanently in New Jersey." Forrester said the Democrat's opposition to Yucca Mountain equates to an abandonment of the state. The project has met with opposition from environmentalists and many Democrats who contend transporting the waste is unsafe. While not final, preliminary plans call for sending thousands of shipments across America's highways in specially designed transportation casks. If the U.S. Energy Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission green light the project, waste from the Salem I, Salem II and Hope Creek reactors will initially be ferried by barge off Artificial Island into the Delaware Bay. From there, its route across the country to Nevada is unclear. If approved, the project could send trains loaded with spent fuel near Clinton, Phillipsburg and Bloomsbury. The shipments would begin about 2015, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Those shipment routes have been the subject of Torricelli's opposition. In the days before the vote, Torricelli said he doubted thousands of nuclear shipments could safely be transported through the congested state without mishaps. Torricelli denied accusations he voted against the state's interests. "Nearly every senator in the northeastern part of the United States voted against Yucca Mountain," said spokesman Ken Snyder. "There is just no safe way to transport nuclear material without the danger of the accidental irradiation of people living along the transport routes." Making election year inroads, Forrester said removing the waste is a top environmental and safety concern for South Jersey, home to the state's two nuclear facilities. Forrester said Torricelli's vote may appease voters in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties but does little for the southern part of the state. "The issue for South Jersey is very important because, I believe, South Jersey is often regarded by candidates as being less important," said Forrester, who was flanked at a news conference by Lower Alloways Creek Mayor Ellen Pompper. "As a U.S. senator, everybody in New Jersey should be your concern." Snyder called Forrester's accusations absurd. He said Torricelli has a record of bringing billions of federal transportation and housing dollars into South Jersey. Torricelli has led the fight to force Superfund cleanups and tax polluters to replenish the fund, he added. "Robert Torricelli is a stalwart champion of the fight against the Whitman proposal to slow down the clean up of Superfund toxic waste sites," Snyder said, highlighting former South Jersey chemical plants and oil refineries as examples. "He's trying to obscure the facts because he's wrong on this issue." Snyder said Forrester would need a road map to find South Jersey and called the tie in between the Yucca Mountain vote and South Jersey election gimmicks. Pompper, who endorsed Forrester, said the issue is critical for the region. "Maybe there's not a lot of people there and maybe there's not a lot of votes. But Yucca Mountain is critical," she said. The project still needs to undergo licensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the end of lawsuits brought by Nevada before it can proceed. Copyright 2002 The Express-Times. Used with ***************************************************************** 17 Two AG hopefuls call Yucca a priority Friday, July 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Candidates upbeat repository can be defeated in courts By SEAN WHALEY REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- Nevada's leading attorney general candidates said they would make the battle against the Yucca Mountain Project their highest priority and personally argue the state's case in federal court. Republican Brian Sandoval and Democrat John Hunt also expressed optimism that the state, which lost a final U.S. Senate vote Tuesday, can defeat in the courts the Energy Department's plans to build the nuclear waste repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Sandoval said Wednesday that if elected, he would challenge the repository on the basis of states' rights and challenge the Energy Department for not protecting the public from the dangers of transporting high-level nuclear waste across the nation. Hunt said he would look for creative ways to make Nevada's case, seeking protection from the Superfund law and arguing that public safety is a legal priority. Both candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by Frankie Sue Del Papa. They have no primary and will face Independent American Party candidate Jonathan Hansen in the November election. Hunt said legal efforts so far have been handled well by the state, but the Las Vegas attorney said he probably would take a more hands-on approach if elected to the job in the November general election. "I want to make it unequivocally clear, without a doubt, that I think we are going to prevail in the legal arena," he said. "But judicial relief will only occur with aggressive litigation by an attorney general who has the legal experience to get it done." Sandoval, a Reno attorney who is a former state lawmaker and chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, called Tuesday's Senate vote to approve the project "unconscionable" and said he will exhaust every legal remedy in the quest to stop the project. Sandoval said he has environmental legal experience that would help the state in its efforts. "I view this as the single greatest health risk to the people of Nevada, particularly Southern Nevada," Sandoval said. "Yucca Mountain is the Number 1 priority." Hunt said that if elected, he probably would argue, in person, any appeals in the several lawsuits already filed by the state in federal court. "Should we use outside people to do the preparation? Absolutely," he said. "But there is nobody better than me, as attorney general, to stand in front of a judge and make our case." Hunt said he also would look for creative ways to legally challenge efforts by the Energy Department to win approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the repository. Some of the potential legal avenues Hunt said he is examining include challenging the project under the federal Superfund statute. An argument could be made that the environmental damage suffered by the Nevada Test Site would be grounds to prohibit further degradation of the area that would result from the construction of the repository, he said. Another potential argument is to claim that public safety concerns outweigh the nuclear industry's right to ship the waste to Yucca Mountain, given the alternatives available, including reprocessing of the waste, Hunt said. "This to me is my Number 1 priority," he said. "Our very existence depends on it." Sandoval said he supports the lawsuits filed by the state so far, but said more litigation is likely on several grounds, including a 10th Amendment states' rights argument. Another is a challenge of the Energy Department for failing to prepare for the risks of transporting the waste. "There has been no (environmental impact statement) prepared for the proposed routes across the country," Sandoval said. Nevada also has a strong case for intervening in the licensing process before the NRC, he said. "Nevada will be an intervenor and will challenge all the science issues, which are numerous," Sandoval said. Sandoval said he will rely on the expertise of the legal firms hired to help Nevada's fight, but that he will be actively involved in the cases if elected, including making arguments in federal court hearings. "I think the fight has just begun," he said. "The courts are a level playing field. I see us as being in the first minute of the first quarter in terms of defeating this." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 18 State's cost for lawsuits over Yucca climbing Friday, July 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU CARSON CITY -- Nevada has invested about $2 million over the past 18 months to pursue a variety of lawsuits designed to stop the Yucca Mountain Project. Another $2.5 million will be spent through the fiscal year that began July 1, according to Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects. Another $4 million to $5 million will be sought in the 2003 legislative session to continue the legal efforts into the future, Loux said. In addition to the legal efforts by members of Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa's staff, two private firms have been retained by the state to help with various legal challenges. The firms include Egan &Associates of Washington, D.C., which is being paid $2.5 million and will assist the state with licensing proceedings, and San Francisco attorney Antonio Rossmann, hired for $300,000 a year to challenge the environmental impact statement used by the Energy Department to qualify Yucca Mountain for the repository. The District of Columbia Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals will consider most of the legal issues surrounding Yucca Mountain. Arguments for the first lawsuit filed by the state are scheduled for February. Loux said much of the litigation under way could be completed by late 2003. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 19 Petition to target dump safety Friday, July 12, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Effort seeks to impose tougher standards at Yucca repository By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Nevada officials plan to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today to require more safety assurances at the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Lawyers representing Gov. Kenny Guinn will submit a formal petition that seeks to toughen NRC standards to judge the Yucca Mountain Project, officials said late Thursday. The filing will open a new front in Nevada's challenge to the $58 billion Energy Department program that seeks to win an NRC license to bury waste in the state. Nevada already has filed five lawsuits against the project in Washington and is contesting a sixth in Las Vegas. The NRC appeal also comes days after Congress finalized President Bush's selection of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste burial. Having lost on Capitol Hill, state officials are refocusing on the courts and federal agencies to try to kill the program. The new 40-page petition advances Nevada's argument that NRC regulations do not assure that a Yucca Mountain repository will protect public health and safety. The petition asks NRC to require that Yucca Mountain's natural features serve as the "primary isolation barrier" for nuclear materials, rather than a combination of the mountain's geology and special alloy casks that will contain the waste. A copy of the document was made available late Thursday. The requested changes also would require the Energy Department to mount a stronger safety case for the repository beyond showing that the facility can meet radiation standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The changes "will enhance confidence in the repository program, create transparency in the science of the project, aid in NRC's review of DOE's license application, and, most important, ensure that any repository licensed by NRC will also be demonstrably safe," the petition states. The NRC is expected to consider Nevada's request, but it was unclear how long a review process would take. State officials have said if their request is denied, it could be grounds for yet another Yucca lawsuit. The Energy Department has begun preparing an application for the NRC to license a repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. DOE has said it plans to file the documents by December 2004 and hopes to have a repository open in 2010. The NRC in turn will weigh DOE data showing whether the repository can prevent radionuclides from leaching into groundwater and escaping Yucca Mountain for a period of 10,000 years. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 20 Mike O'Callaghan: Reid shines in setback Las Vegas SUN July 12, 2002 Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor. NEVADA SEN. HARRY REID has a quiet demeanor that fools some people into underestimating his ability and courage. This has been his strength since working with his father in mines near Searchlight and as an amateur and college boxer. Although he sometimes had only enough money for a meal, he didn't allow this discomfort to detract from his concentration on school studies and research. He returned from Washington, D.C., and successfully passed the Nevada bar exam a year before finishing law school. This week The Wall Street Journal's Shailagh Murray wrote about Reid's long struggle in an attempt to block Republicans in Congress from approving the dumping of nuke waste on Nevada. Murray wrote, "The fact that the campaign went on for so long is a testimony to Mr. Reid's formidable persuasive powers -- a gift that could still put him in line to be his party's next leader, despite the biggest defeat of his career." Later Murray quotes Anna Aurilio, lobbyist for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a large environmental outfit. Aurilio said, "This is the best vote we've ever gotten in the Senate. We absolutely credit Harry Reid with that." The WSJ article took a close look at reasons why Reid is respected in that august body. Murray wrote, "One reason Sen. Reid is popular is his no-frills approach to his leadership job. He isn't one of the Senate swans who run from news conferences to television talk-show studios. Mr. Reid is nearly always present on the Senate floor; when he isn't there, he is working the phones in his nearby office. 'He's constantly there, facilitating, making it work,' says Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus." The Harry Reid I have come to know during the past 46 years is the man who, last Tuesday, looked into the Senate gallery where several highly paid nuke lobbyists were sitting and said: "Madam President, I know there are people in the audience all around here who are being paid lots of money. They are coming here to see what is going to happen. They are being paid lots of money. They drive here in limousines and have Gucci shoes and nice suits. It is interesting to know that in the places where they work, Washington and New York, they have editorials supporting this bad situation, trying to ship Yucca Mountain waste on our highways, railways, and our waterways. "In this morning's paper, it says the Senate should pass the Yucca Mountain bill now. This is part of the unending stream of money. That is what this is all about -- money, lots of money; money to run newspaper ads; unlimited vacations to Las Vegas to look at Yucca Mountain for two hours and spend three days being wined and dined in Las Vegas; unlimited dollars to send representatives to Capitol Hill. "I know how this works. The state of Nevada had a few dollars and we wanted to hire a lobbyist, but we could not find one. They were all hired by the Nuclear Energy Institute. We could not hire them. They had conflicts of interest. So all you people here, just bill everybody, feel good about it; you are perpetrating a travesty on the people of this country." Were any of the lobbyists squirming? I don't know, but if they were it was because they were in a rush to drink, dine or go to the bank. Again another powerful corporate energy group had influenced enough congressmen and White House officials to get their way. Some day Americans will again reap the sad results of their Pyrrhic victory. The losers will be the same people who have lost their jobs and 401(k) earnings in recent months because of the prior victories corporations have won in Congress. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Lawmakers question whether speedier nuclear waste cleanups would leave contamination - 7/12/2002 - ENN.com Friday, July 12, 2002 By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Senators and several state officials said Thursday they fear an Energy Department attempt to speed the cleanup of waste from decades of nuclear weapons production may leave the sites still contaminated. The Bush administration, in an attempt to accelerate and cut the cost of such cleanups, announced earlier this year it would give preference in distributing money to locations that agree to commit to a quicker cleanup. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wants to use $800 million of the $6.7 billion annual cleanup budget as incentive for these accelerated programs. Critics have voiced concern that while some facilities will get more money, others will see money siphoned away. But at a Senate hearing Thursday, state officials from Washington, New Mexico, and Idaho expressed another worry: The incentive to push for faster cleanup may leave some sites less clean in violation of long-standing agreements with state and local authorities. "It's not cleanup to leave waste behind," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Energy Department officials at a hearing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the plan. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the panel's chairman, said the administration approach "could be viewed as an incentive to encourage state regulators to relax site cleanup standards." Jesse Roberson, the DOE's assistant secretary for environmental management, testified that the new approach is an effort to give priority to the most high-risk environmental problems and deal with them faster and at less cost. "It's not our intent to avoid compliance with any of our regulatory agreements," said Roberson. Nowhere is the waste problem more challenging than the Energy Department's Hanford reservation in central Washington state, where there are 177 underground tanks — some of them leaking an unknown mix of radioactive material — threatening to contaminate the nearby Columbia River. About half of the special $800 million fund has been earmarked for Hanford. But Christine Gregoire, Washington state's attorney general, told the committee she is concerned that along with a speedier cleanup, the Energy Department will renege on past promises to remove from the site at least 99 percent of the tank waste. "We want it all out," she said. Despite DOE assurances, Gregoire said there have been ominous signs that under the accelerated cleanup plan, the department will reclassify some of the tank waste as something less than "high-level" waste, meaning they will not have to remove it. She said the DOE also has decided to build only one, instead of two, plants to solidify the waste in glass, suggesting the department may now be planning to remove less waste. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., tried to press Roberson on the issue, asking that she give assurances that 99 percent of the waste in the Hanford tanks be removed and that wastes not be reclassified. "We have a commitment to move as much waste as feasible," said Roberson, refusing to be pinned down on a percentage. Kathleen Trever of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, also expressed concern about whether the program will mean more pollution being left behind at the DOE's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Peter Maggiore, head of New Mexico's environment department, said the program will mean more money for cleanup at the Sandia and Los Alamos weapons research labs. While he said he doesn't think it will mean less cleanup at those two sites, Maggiore acknowledged some uncertainty. "It is imperative that accelerated cleanup not be interpreted to mean less cleanup," he testified. An environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, is arguing before a federal court in Idaho that the Energy Department plans to reclassify waste now held in tanks not only at Hanford but also at the Idaho facility and at the Savannah River complex in South Carolina. Geoff Fettus, an NRDC attorney, said the suit charges that such a reclassification would violate federal law because this waste comes from nuclear reprocessing in past weapons production and therefore must be treated as high-level waste. Under the law, any high-level waste must be put into a deep geological repository, presumably the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada that has yet to be built. Copyright 2002, Associated Press ***************************************************************** 22 BENNETT WILL VOTE TO PREVENT UTAH’S RECEIPT OF NUCLEAR WASTE, SEND TO NEVADA INSTEAD FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 8, 2002 Administration issues letter on waste coming to Utah with failure of Yucca, safety of waste transportation WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a White House meeting today, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card reiterated to Sens. Bennett and Hatch that failure to approve Yucca Mountain as a site to store the nation's spent nuclear waste all but guaranteed its coming to Utah, and issued a letter outlining this circumstance. Saying he would rather have the waste come through the state on its way to Nevada than come to the state to stay, Sen. Bennett announced his intent to vote for the Yucca site when the resolution comes before the Senate this week. "Given the choice before us, I would rather have the waste go through Utah than to Utah. I would rather it be stored 1000 feet below ground in prepared vaults in the Nevada desert than above ground in temporary facilities in Tooele County, Utah. "I would be willing to leave the waste in place while we explore other alternatives, but various state laws and regulations mean we don't have that option. We must make a decision as to where it will go and we must make that decision now." Abraham gave Sens. Bennett and Hatch a letter stating "I am convinced that failure to proceed with a repository at Yucca Mountain will significantly raise the likelihood that this material will, in fact, be sent to Utah. That's why I think the best course for you to pursue would be to vote for permanent storage at Yucca Mountain. In my view, this would greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the chances that this material will end up in Utah." The Department of Energy letter went on to address the proposed Utah site saying "Because the PFS/Goshute facility in Utah would be constructed and operated outside the scope of the Act, the Department will not fund or otherwise provide financial assistance for PFS, nor can we monitor the safety precautions the private facility may install." A copy of the Abraham letter is attached. The Senate is expected to vote on S.J. Res. 34 this week. Passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives, the resolution will override the Nevada governor's veto of the Bush Administration's designation of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository. http://www.senate.gov/~bennett ***************************************************************** 23 Let It Roll -- Waste shipments aren't frightening The Paducah Sun Paducah, Kentucky Friday, July 12, 2002 Life in Kentucky generally is safe and secure, but, of course, it's not without some risks; for example, the threat of terrorist attacks, violent weather and all the things that can occur during sessions of the legislature. But on a list of safety concerns, an accident involving a shipment of radioactive waste ranks relatively low. Even the possibility of a terrorist attack on a truck or train carrying nuclear materials is not a major worry, given that most of the radioactive waste transported in this country is not extremely hazardous. The federal government's plan to ship radioactive waste to a storage site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., won't substantially increase the risk of a deadly accident, either. Officials in Nevada who oppose locating the national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain are distributing some projected numbers about waste transport that obviously are designed to whip up an anti-nuclear frenzy in other states. Some of those numbers appeared in a story last weekend in the Courier-Journal. On the surface, they appear worrisome — 3,312 nuclear train shipments moving through Kentucky over a 24-year period, if rail is the main shipping option; 18,435 truck shipments if rail is not used. Nevada officials speculate that I-24, which runs through Paducah, would be one of the main truck shipping routes. A point to emphasize is that Nevada officials are speculating — and, in all likelihood, conjuring worst-case scenarios — as they continue to battle the federal government over the Yucca Mountain site. This week the Senate voted 60-39 to overrule the Nevada governor's veto and allow the Department of Energy to seek a license for the facility. Still, lawsuits could delay work on the site for years, possibly even decades. At this point, it's impossible to be certain about the shipment routes. But even if, say, two or three shipments a day end up moving across Kentucky, the danger to the public will be small. Residents of Paducah have reason to welcome the opening of the Yucca Mountain repository. The government intends to ship radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, where it currently poses a threat to the environment. Area residents have waited for years for the government to conduct a serious cleanup operation at the gaseous diffusion plant. The availability of the Yucca Mountain facility should guarantee that most of the waste is removed from the plant site. In any event, the risk of a significant accident clearly is low. No injuries or fatalities have been reported during the four decades the nuclear industry in the United States has shipped nuclear fuel. Also, no environment damage has occurred as a result of a nuclear shipping accident. Every day millions of tons of hazardous chemicals are transported on U.S. railroads and highways, but few Americans fear living with the threat of accidents involving nonnuclear materials. It should be noted that nuclear waste is transported in steel casks lined with lead. According to the Courier-Journal, the casks have been proven to withstand a 30-foot fall, a 40-inch fall onto a steel rod six inches in diameter, a 1,475-degree fire for 30 minutes and submergence under water for eight hours. Those are toughcontainers. Of course, no matter how many safety precautions are taken, an accident can occur. The real question is whether transporting radioactive waste across the country and burying it in the Nevada mountain poses a greater risk than haphazardly storing it — with few environmental safeguards — at sites all over the country. President Bush and Democrats and Republicans in Congress have delivered a clear and sensible answer to that question. So let's take all the necessary precautions — and then let it roll. ***************************************************************** 24 Dumping on Nevada The Salt Lake Tribune -- Utah's Statewide Newspaper Friday, July 12, 2002 Utah's senators say they voted to force the nation's nuclear waste on Nevada because the Energy Department promised to help them keep the stuff out of Utah's Skull Valley. If they honestly are banking on the assurances of a self-interested agency with a history of violating Utahns' trust, they seem incredibly naive. If they are simply seizing on an empty promise as political cover for their betrayal of fellow Westerners, they seem unconscionably cynical. Either way, Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett have helped eliminate the best reason for not opening a temporary storage site in Skull Valley: the absence of any permanent site. Even if Nevada's lawsuits succeed in delaying the opening of Yucca Mountain for a few more years, tons of high-level nuclear waste are now more likely than ever to wind up on concrete pads in Utah's West Desert. This seems inevitable because the nuclear industry is quickly running out of storage space at a few of its power plants. Since the industry refused before Tuesday's Senate vote to move that waste to plants with more room, why would it do so now? The temporary Utah site makes a lot of sense if the ultimate disposal facility lies just down the road in Nevada. The scheme doesn't make much long-term sense for the nuclear industry, however. The 1979 accident at Three Mile Island -- in which no one was injured -- prompted the cancellation of plans for every nuclear plant that had been ordered in the previous six years. A fatal accident involving one of the thousands of cross-country shipments to Nevada could be a death blow for the U.S. industry. Even without an accident, the continual controversy surrounding the shipments would make construction of new plants politically difficult, if not impossible. Either case would be a tragedy for America since nuclear plants produce significant amounts of electricity with no air pollution. Hatch claims "there is no other choice," which is only true if one's disposal strategies are limited to dumping nuclear waste down a hole. But the choice made long ago by Britain, France and Japan -- reprocessing -- proves there are other options which political expedience has prevented D.C. tacticians from acknowledging. The Yucca Mountain plan is the worst alternative. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 25 A Nuclear-Waste Stopgap [http://www.csmonitor.com/] from the July 12, 2002 edition When the US made a big investment in nuclear power to generate electricity decades ago, the eventual cost and danger of the waste problem were only vaguely perceived by most Americans. Now that bill has come due. And the final political decision was made this week by the Senate in approving the siting of a national nuclear-waste storage facility at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. If a drawn-out project like this one can be said to have any urgency, it springs from the steady accumulation of nuclear waste at 131 far-flung sites around the US, mainly power plants. More than 40,000 tons are currently stacked up. Storage capacity and safety at these sites have long been concerns. The prospect that terrorists might target these nuclear dumps greatly adds to the worries. Yucca Mountain wouldn't completely eliminate the problem of scattered waste sites. Existing power plants will continue to add some 2,000 tons of waste a year, and the repository, designed to hold a total of 77,000 tons, will eventually fill up. But a central storage site will alleviate the problem considerably – assuming the sources of waste don't themselves increase (more on that later). There's still a long road ahead for Yucca Mountain, with lots of potential obstacles. Of immediate concern is the the potential hazard of transporting radioactive waste from sites across the US to a central repository. Opponents of the project have been alarmist on this point. Dangers exist, certainly, and a transportation plan must be devised. But nuclear waste has been safely moved for years – though in smaller quantities. Experts should be up to the task. And they have years to complete it. The next phase, a technical review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will take at least four years. At the same time, Nevada will be furiously litigating to halt the process. At the earliest, waste could be at the site by 2010. A basic question for the US – indeed the world, since nuclear waste disposal challenges other countries, too – is whether to increase the investment in nuclear power. A national waste-storage site could spur industry efforts to expand nuclear-power generation, which already accounts for 20 percent of US electricity. While Yucca may help current nuclear plants continue, its eventual use shouldn't trigger a revival of interest in nuclear power. Taxpayers and electric rate-payers are smarter now in judging the lifetime costs of all energy systems. The environmental and financial costs of nuclear power may not stand up when compared with the many energy alternatives. Copyright © 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 26 Vit construction gets go-ahead This story was published Wed, Jul 10, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer Construction of Hanford's radioactive waste glassification complex is to begin July 24. That's when Bechtel National plans to start pouring concrete for the 5-foot-thick, steel-reinforced foundations and basement walls for one or two of the complex's main buildings in central Hanford. That's slightly more than five months ahead of the Tri-Party Agreement's deadline to begin. The agreement is the legal pact among the state, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that governs Hanford's cleanup. "The regulators have given us the green light, our construction force is geared up, and our subcontractors are ready," said Ron Naventi, Bechtel's glassification project manager. The Department of Energy told the company Tuesday to start pouring. That OK came after Washington's Department of Ecology gave its approval to DOE on Monday. Bechtel plans to do some limited concrete pouring before then to work out any problems, said Bechtel spokesman John Britton. Significant construction above ground is to start this fall. Overall, the project has obtained 10 state ecology and health department permits, with the final three signed Monday. Hanford has 53 million gallons of radioactive wastes in 177 underground tanks. DOE has a legal deadline to start glassifying wastes in 2007. The Tri-Party Agreement says glassification must be at full speed by 2009, while DOE's contract with Bechtel sets a 2011 deadline. The Tri-Party Agreement calls for the most radioactive 10 percent of the wastes to be glassified by 2018, and all of it by 2028. Bechtel and DOE have unveiled proposals to move up the "10 percent" deadline to as early as 2013. But any acceleration plans will depend on how much funding the project receives. And those figures still are up in the air. The complex will feature three main plants. A 116,640-square-foot plant will separate the wastes into high and low radioactive wastes. A 79,200-square-foot plant will glassify the low-activity wastes. A 121,000-square-foot plant will glassify the high-level wastes. On June 28, about 350 employees moved into a new two-story administrative building at the site. Overall, the project now employs about 2,500 people, including about 900 in central Hanford. The work force is expected to peak at 4,800 in 2004. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 27 Hanford radioactive waste to go to Yucca Mountain This story was published Wed, Jul 10, 2002 By the Herald staff Yucca Mountain is expected to be the ultimate destination for Hanford's 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel plus a still-undetermined portion of yet-to-be-glassified radioactive tank wastes. Hanford's biggest problem is 53 million gallons of radioactive wastes in 177 underground tanks. Construction is expected to begin this month on a complex to convert those wastes into a much safer glass that is supposed to last at least 10,000 years. The most radioactive 10 percent of the tank wastes is legally supposed to be glassified by 2018. However, proposals are being studied to bump that deadline up to 2013 or 2014. All of the tanks' wastes are supposed to be glassified by 2028. High-level wastes will be glassified and stored in a huge underground vault in central Hanford to await eventual shipment to Yucca Mountain. Low-activity wastes will be glassified and permanently buried in central Hanford. Hanford's second-greatest problem is 2,300 tons of spent nuclear fuel that has been stored at the K Basins. The basins are two indoor, water-filled, leak-prone pools 400 yards from the Columbia River. Hanford is in the process of moving that fuel to the same huge underground vault that is supposed to hold the future high-level glassified wastes. This fuel movement is supposed to be finished in 2004, although it is behind schedule. While Yucca Mountain always has been the official destination of the spent fuel and glassified high-level wastes, Hanford officials and observers also have always said central Hanford's underground vault could end up a permanent storage site for that material if Yucca Mountain falls through as a repository. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 28 Yucca fight not over Published July 11, 2002 The U.S. Senate's blessing of Yucca Mountain Tuesday was a welcome recognition that it is about time the federal government made good on its promise to provide permanent storage for highly radioactive materials. Unfortunately, the nod is not enough to ensure an easy path forward for the project, which faces continuing battles from Nevada political leaders and other critics. For the federal government, there are lawsuits to win, a defensible waste transportation plan to write and a National Regulatory Commission license to obtain. Until then, the threat posed by storage of nuclear waste around the country continues, including at the Energy Northwest plant north of Richland. Until then, Hanford's spent nuclear fuel and glassified radioactive wastes have no certain resting place. In the Senate, critics' protests were trumped by the concerns of 39 states where radioactive waste sits at power plants and defense sites and by the $5.4 billion that has been spent studying Yucca to make sure it is safe. May the outcome be just as responsible. What's your opinon? Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 29 Lawmakers request reconsideration 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. Prominent Russian lawmakers and human rights activists requested Wednesday Russian Supreme Court chairman, Vyacheslav Lebedev, to reconsider the treason conviction against Grigory Pasko. Vyacheslav Lebedev, the chairman of the Russian Supreme Court. www.supcourt.ru Jon Gauslaa, 2002-07-12 13:06 The Pasko-conviction has angered international human rights and media freedom groups. The European Parliament and Western governments have criticised it as part of a wider crackdown on media freedom. Also Russian voices have joined the chorus of criticism. Reconsideration needed Grigory Pasko, a reporter with the newspaper of the Russian Pacific Fleet, was sentenced to four years in prison by a Military Court in Vladivostok for having the alleged intention to transfer notes taken at a meeting of naval commanders, to Japanese media. Pasko's four years sentence was upheld on June 25 by the Russian Supreme Court's Military Collegium. On Wednesday several lawmakers and human rights activists appealed to Supreme Court chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev, urging him to use his right to bring the case before the Supreme Court's Presidium, its governing body, for a re-consideration. "The ruling of the Military Collegium cannot be called the result of objective consideration of Pasko's case by an independent and unbiased Court," the letter reads. "We are urgently requesting you to … consider this case at the presidium of the Supreme Court." Prominent signatories The letter is signed by Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko party; Boris Nemtsov head of the Union of Right Forces party; Alexei Simonov, head of the media freedom monitoring group Glasnost Defence Fund; Lev Ponomaryov, head of the All-Russian Movement for Human Rights; and a number of other prominent figures. Pasko's defence team said at a news conference after the June ruling that it also would request Mr. Lebedev to bring the case before the Supreme Court Presidium. The full text of the Military Supreme Court ruling has not yet been made available, but according to defence-attorney Ivan Pavlov, the defence reckons to forward its request by the end of July. * Grigory Pasko was arrested on November 20, 1997 and charged with treason through espionage. He was acquitted of these charges by the Pacific Fleet Court in Vladivostok on July 20, 1999, but sentenced to a three-year imprisonment for 'abuse of his official position' although he was not charged with that crime, and released on a general amnesty. After both sides had appealed, the Supreme Court cancelled the verdict in November 2000 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 labour. The verdict was again appealed by both sides. On June 25, 2002 the Military Supreme Court confirmed Pasko's four-year sentence. Pasko, who still is being kept at a solitary cell at the pretrial-detention center in Vladivostok, will be released on April 25, 2004. Publisher: [bellona@bellona.no] , President: [frederic@bellona.no] 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 ***************************************************************** 30 Enola Gay Pilot is Proud of Role ABCNEWS.com : July 12, 2002 The Associated Press ERMA, N.J. July 12 — With one mission, Paul W. Tibbets helped end World War II. But the man who piloted the Enola Gay, dropping an atom bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, says America's war on terrorism won't end so quickly. "It's going to be a long battle. I've heard the president say that and I believe it. In World War II, we knew damn well who we were fighting. In this, we don't know who the enemy is or what he looks like, but he's all around us," Tibbets said. Nearly 57 years after he flew into history, Tibbets, 87, remains defiant and proud about his role in the atomic age. "I'm very proud of my role in history," he said during an appearance at an aviation museum Wednesday. "I'm just damned glad I could do what I did. I went on that mission feeling that if I was successful, we would show the Japanese the futility of wanting to continue to fight." The Japanese surrendered eight days later. Tibbets, then a 29-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Army Air Corps, assembled and trained the teams that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and three days later on Nagasaki. About 1,200 people turned out to see Tibbets speak at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum. photo credit and caption: Gen. Paul W. Tibbets, pilot of the B-29 bomber, speaks about his 29 years in the Air Force during a visit to the Cape May County Airport in Lower Township, N.J., Wednesday, July 10, 2002. Tibbets piloted the "Enola Gay," which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945, ushering in the age of nuclear warfare. (AP Photo/Mary Godleski) Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This Copyright © 2002 ABCNEWS ***************************************************************** 31 NIF laser to aid in nuclear war test Daily Review Thursday, July 11, 2002 - 11:34:19 AM MST DOE to investigate By Ian Hoffman Staff Writer The Bush administration is expanding use of a machine destined as the world's largest fusion laser into duty as a nuclear-war simulator at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Soon after making "first light," the National Ignition Facility in Livermore will turn its lasers to creating an X-ray bath for space and nuclear-weapons hardware. Lab officials this week confirmed those plans, and the U.S. Department of Energy is considering a broader array of tests after years of arguing that the "feasibility of such experiments remains highly speculative." "They've been planning to do this all along, and they haven't been admitting it," charges Christopher Paine, a senior nuclear-weapons analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The X-ray experiments are the least ambitious of dozens that defense scientists proposed in the mid-1990s on the vulnerability of satellites and nuclear arms to the intense radiation of nearby nuclear explosions. Some also were missile-defense experiments, aimed at boosting the lethality of nuclear-tipped interceptors for incoming biological, chemical and nuclear warheads. On Wednesday, the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration opened hearings on environmental impacts of its plans for Livermore Lab, with an eye to this larger family of experiments. Many would use such typical H-bomb ingredients such as plutonium, enriched uranium and lithium hydride, the bypro- ducts of which can be ignited by human sweat. All could increase workplace and environmental risks at NIF. Prepared for testing? DOE and Livermore officials have promoted NIF as the nation's best bet for achieving fusion ignition -- that is, squeezing more fusion energy out of a ball of hydrogen than the energy used to compress and heat it. In a concept known as indirect drive, scientists would use NIF's 192 laser beams to create X-rays that, in turn, implode the pellet of hydrogen. Weapons-effects tests would draw upon that radiation, mainly X-rays and neutrons, and sometimes amplify it for a more realistic nuclear-war environment. Arms-control advocates and environmentalists caught wind of the experiments in 1997 during a lawsuit over the government's program to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The Energy Department's plans for NIF, published the previous year, mentioned nothing of the experiments. And DOE attorneys stated in court documents that "current, normal programmatic considerations have not identified these studies as required for (weapons) program needs." Yet scientists at the Defense Department and the nation's three weapons labs already had written two studies proposing the experiments, in 1995 and 1996. Soon after, Livermore and an agency now known as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency agreed to redesign NIF to allow, or at least not to preclude, the experiments. The changes included reinforced flooring, a more powerful hydraulic lift to handle loads in excess of 10 tons and an enlarged shield door through which large experiments could be ferried to NIF's spherical target chamber. Those design changes were made the same year the DOE publicly stated that need for the experiments had not been identified, nor had they been verified as feasible. Typical NIF targets are tiny, the pellets themselves the size of matchheads. Declassified documents show the Defense Department wanted access for test items up to 6 feet tall, 13 feet wide and weighing 5 tons -- sufficient for full-scale warheads, ICBM parts, satellite parts and large containers of lithium hydride called Neutron Multiplying Assemblies or NEUMAs. Dangerous sweat Lithium hydride is rated as an "extremely hazardous" substance by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A 1995 study by Defense Department and weapons-lab scientists said lithium hydride "is a toxic material that reacts with water to form hydrogen and lithium hydroxide which may ignite in air. It can form airborne dust clouds that can explode on contact with flame, heat or oxidizers (i.e. source of oxygen)." Its use would increase NIF's hazard rating from low to moderate, and raise worker safety issues. "Human occupation is difficult in the extremely low humidity environment that is a requirement for safe handling and processing," the joint lab-DOD study said. Human sweat can trigger a fire, so workers would don full-body protective suits. Tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, will form in the lithium hydride and "could disperse throughout the test area," the report said. Build-up of the gas "may result in an increase in routine tritium releases." That worries some community groups. "It means you're going to have a whole lot of neutrons and a whole lot of tritium, and the lab's history is that when they use tritium, substantial am-ounts have gotten into the environment," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley Citizens Against a Radioactive Environment. DOE considers environment Her group successfully lobbied the lab to curtail its tritium releases in the mid-1990s. "Our expectation is, with these weapons-effects tests and other tests already planned with tritium and deuterium (another form of hydrogen), we're going to see that contamination peg back up," she said. Kelley said she found the reports on expanded missions for NIF alarming five years ago when she and other activists obtained them in a lawsuit against the DOE. DOE attorneys argued the experiments were not ripe for a decision then. A federal judge ordered the DOE to decide by Jan. 1, 2004, whether it would conduct the experiments and to analyze the environmental impacts of using plutonium, uranium and lithium hydride. "As of now, no decision has been made to use these materials or the NEUMA on NIF," said Livermore spokes-man David Schwoegler. However, he confirmed the lab is designing weapons-effects tests to use NIF's X-rays. They will irradiate non-nuclear weapons and military satellite materials and parts. No full-scale nuclear weapons, with their high explosives intact, are ever brought on the lab site, he said. The DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration is nonetheless taking public opinion on NIF's use of plutonium, uranium and lithium hydride for a labwide environmental-impact statement. It is due out in late 2004, in time to meet the judge's deadline. If the agency elects to conduct the fuller range of experiments, NIF may have to be modified further. Now under construction, the laser's estimated costs has climbed from $677 million in 1994 to more than $4 billion. Kelley said a second target chamber to facilitate the new experiments could add as much as $400 million. First light to the target chamber is expected in March 2003, lab officials said. ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers ***************************************************************** 32 HAB criticizes federal report This story was published Thu, Jul 11, 2002 By John Stang Herald staff writer A federal report on burying and importing wastes at Hanford is too skimpy to be useful, Hanford's regulators and the Hanford Advisory Board said Wednesday. The report is a Department of Energy draft environmental study on treating and burying low-level radioactive wastes and dangerous chemicals at Hanford, while also treating transuranic wastes to be shipped to New Mexico. "The draft (study) is incomplete and lacking in quality," said a draft HAB memo expected to be fine-tuned today. "The analysis is not enough to support the decisions that (DOE is) trying to make," said Dennis Faulk, an Environmental Protection Agency official. DOE Hanford Manager Keith Klein was put on the defensive by the board's and regulators' strong criticisms. "I kind of feel like I'm being accused of being a witch at the Salem witch trials," Klein said. Klein noted this report is much leaner than previous super-thick study documents on other Hanford topics. He wondered if many people actually read such studies. However, he acknowledged that DOE, the board and regulators have different perceptions of what should be included. And he said DOE is willing to provide extra information. Klein noted the draft report concluded that dealing with low-level radioactive, chemical and transuranic wastes would have an insignificant environmental impact on Hanford. And he said DOE would still get state and federal permits to accept, store and treat wastes, which would ensure the work is done properly. Late this year, DOE expects to release a final study that considers public, state and federal input. And DOE expects to formally decide in December or January how to deal with Hanford's wastes and potential imported wastes from other DOE sites. The draft environmental study covers: -- Low-level radioactive wastes, which are slightly radioactive junk and clothes stored in barrels. The study predicted Hanford would produce 140,000 cubic meters of low-level wastes, and it is possible that other DOE sites could send 200,000 cubic meters worth. The study looked at building a super-big "mega-trench" or several standard-size trenches in central Hanford where the wastes would be buried. The draft report recommends the mega-trench. -- Mixed radioactive and chemical wastes stored in barrels. DOE expects Hanford's cleanup to produce 70,000 cubic meters of mixed wastes and speculates other DOE sites might send another 140,000 cubic meters. Preparing those wastes for safe burial is a major question because the United States has extremely limited capabilities to convert those wastes into safer forms. The report envisions burying those wastes in central Hanford. -- Transuranic wastes, which are highly radioactive wastes with extremely slow decay rates stored in barrels. DOE predicts Hanford will examine and fix barrels holding 46,000 cubic meters of transuranic wastes from Hanford and small DOE sites. That material is eventually to be shipped to a permanent underground storage site in New Mexico. Overall, DOE's draft report said its recommendations for all three types of wastes would cost $3 billion to $3.3 billion through 2046. Other nonrecommended options would cost $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion for all three types of wastes through 2046. The Hanford Advisory Board criticized the draft report for not detailing the pros and cons of the various options DOE studied. The board said the missing pros and cons include the costs of various options, their effects on ground water and future health risks, how any option would fit into the bigger Hanford cleanup picture, and several other factors. And the board wondered if DOE's study covered what is required by federal environmental laws and wants that matter clarified. Board members grumbled about fears that environmental laws may be circumvented as DOE tries to speedily put a low-level-mixed-and-transuranic-waste plan into action. "This is a rush to move stuff. But it is not a rush to deal with: 'What is remediation?' " said HAB member Greg DeBruler, representing Columbia Riverkeeper. HAB member Jeff Luke, representing Hanford's nonunion workers, said: "This document appears to support a decision that's already been made." Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 33 DOE, State of South Carolina and EPA Agree to Pursue Accelerated Cleanup Strategy for Savannah River Site DOE Sets Aside Additional $216 Million from Accelerated Cleanup Reform Account; Budget Would Increase to $1.325 Billion energy.gov - Headquarters' Press Release RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2002 WASHINGTON, DC - Following a series of meetings between the Department of Energy (DOE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and state of South Carolina officials, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced today that a Letter of Intent has been signed to enter into an agreement to accelerate cleanup at the Department's Savannah River Site (SRS). Under the plan, the parties will work to complete cleanup activities at SRS by 2025. This agreement was reached under the Department's Environmental Management Accelerated Cleanup Program whose goal is to streamline operations by working with states and regulators to clearly target and reduce the greatest health and environmental cleanup risks at the country's Cold War nuclear weapons production facilities. The Energy Department has already signed Letters of Intent with the Hanford and Oak Ridge Sites, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Nevada Test Site, and Sandia and Los Alamos Laboratories. "This agreement provides the framework necessary to accelerate cleanup and it is a major step to effectively reduce health risks and expedite the environmental cleanup at the Savannah River Site," Secretary Abraham said. "Working with the states and other regulatory agencies, DOE is proposing a new way of doing business, leading to greater accountability, responsibility, and opportunities for both the Department and the states." Secretary Abraham added, "This agreement emphasizes the Bush Administration's commitment to accelerated environmental cleanup and ensures progress long sought by the Department, EPA, and the state of South Carolina. Progress was only made possible with the helpful cooperation of Senator Strom Thurmond and Congressman Lindsey Graham, who worked with us to bring this to a successful conclusion." The Department is setting aside $216 million under the Accelerated Cleanup Reform Account for SRS. Coupled with the other already announced accelerated cleanup plans, this agreement brings the total to $975 million dedicated to cleanup reform. Initiatives for accelerating cleanup and reducing risks under the SRS plan include the following: + Exploring alternatives for material managed as high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel; + Providing for capabilities that will enable the acceleration of shipment of transuranic waste from SRS to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP); + Fostering the identification of innovative approaches and technologies that will address environmental risk in a more effective manner than traditional approaches, using regulatory flexibility where appropriate to facilitate success; + Allowing for innovative treatment of groundwater where new approaches can be demonstrated to be more effective than conventional remedies; and + Providing for cost effective and timely stabilization of legacy PUREX solvent inventories. "Accelerated cleanup agreements will accomplish results in a manner that is safe, protective of human health and the environment, and in compliance with state and federal environmental laws," Abraham said. Media Contact: Dolline Hatchett, 202/586-5806 Joe Davis, 202/586-4940 Release No. PR-02-143 ***************************************************************** 34 Lawmakers Question Nuke Cleanup Plan Las Vegas SUN July 11, 2002 WASHINGTON- Senators and several state officials said Thursday they fear an Energy Department attempt to speed the cleanup of waste from decades of nuclear weapons production may leave the sites still contaminated. The Bush administration, in an attempt to accelerate and cut the cost of such cleanups, announced earlier this year it would give preference in distributing money to locations that agree to commit to a quicker cleanup. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wants to use $800 million of the $6.7 billion annual cleanup budget as incentive for these accelerated programs. Critics have voiced concern that while some facilities will get more money, others will see money syphoned away. But at a Senate hearing Thursday, state officials from Washington, New Mexico and Idaho expressed another worry: That the incentive to push for faster cleanup may leave some sites less clean in violation of long-standing agreements with state and local authorities. "It's not cleanup to leave waste behind," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told Energy Department officials at a hearing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the plan. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the panel's chairman, said the administration approach "could be viewed as an incentive to encourage state regulators to relax site cleanup standards." Jesse Roberson, the DOE's assistant secretary for environmental management, testified that the new approach is an effort to give priority to the most high-risk environmental problems and deal with them faster and at less cost. "It's not our intent to avoid compliance with any of our regulatory agreements," said Roberson. Nowhere is the waste problem more challenging than the Energy Department's Hanford reservation in central Washington state, where there are 177 underground tanks - some of them with an unknown mix of radioactive material and leaking - threatening to contaminate the nearby Columbia River. About half of the special $800 million fund has been earmarked for Hanford. But Christine Gregoire, Washington state's attorney general, told the committee she is concerned that along with a speedier cleanup, the Energy Department will renege on past promises to remove from the site at least 99 percent of the tank waste. "We want it all out," she said. Despite DOE assurances, Gregoire said there have been ominous signs that under the accelerated cleanup plan the department will reclassify some of the tank waste as something less than "high level" waste, meaning they will not have to remove it. She said the DOE also has decided to build only one, instead of two, plants to solidify the waste in glass, suggesting the department may now be planning to remove less waste. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., tried to press Roberson on the issue, asking that she give assurances that 99 percent of the waste in the Hanford tanks be removed and that wastes not be reclassified. "We have a commitment to move as much waste as feasible," said Roberson, refusing to be pinned down on a percentage. Kathleen Trever of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, also expressed concern about whether the program will mean more pollution being left behind at the DOE's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Peter Maggiore, head of New Mexico's environment department, said the program will mean more money for cleanup at the Sandia and Los Alamos weapons research labs. While he said he doesn't think it will mean less cleanup at those two sites, Maggiore acknowledged some uncertainty. "It is imperative that accelerated cleanup not be interpreted to mean less cleanup," he testified. An environmental group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, is arguing before a federal court in Idaho that the Energy Department plans to reclassify waste now held in tanks not only at Hanford, but at the Idaho facility and at the Savannah River complex in South Carolina. Geoff Fettus, an NRDC attorney, said the suit charges that such a reclassification would violate federal law because this waste comes from nuclear reprocessing in past weapons production and therefore must be treated as high level waste. Under the law, any high level waste must be put into a deep geological repository, presumably the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada that has yet to be built. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 35 Gregoire won't agree to cleanup plan This story was published Thu, Jul 11, 2002 By Les Blumenthal Herald Washington, D.C., bureau WASHINGTON -- Washington state Attorney General Christine Gregoire will tell a Senate committee today that there are still too many unanswered questions for her to agree to an accelerated cleanup schedule for the Hanford nuclear reservation in exchange for $433 million in additional funding. "I'm not going to jump on the accelerated cleanup bandwagon until I see the details," Gregoire said Wednesday as she headed to Washington, D.C., and today's hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Also testifying will be Jessie Roberson, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for environmental management. She is the architect of the controversial plan to provide additional money for cleanup at DOE nuclear sites where state regulators agree to an expedited effort. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is a member of the committee and is expected to grill Roberson. "She's concerned," said Jennifer Crider, a Cantwell spokesman. Cantwell is especially interested in a long-term funding commitment from the department so contractors at Hanford know they will have the money they need in the future, Crider said. "We need to know what the budget will be in the future," Crider said. "It's hard to plan to meet required benchmarks if you don't know how much money there will be." Roberson will likely face tough questioning from others on the committee, including Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Idaho and New Mexico have major DOE sites, and Wyden has been a persistent critic of the Hanford cleanup. Earlier this year, Washington's other senator, Democrat Patty Murray, openly questioned Roberson about the department's latest cleanup scheme. Under the DOE plan, $800 million from the national cleanup budget would be set aside in a special fund. That money would be doled out to sites where an accelerated cleanup plan had been negotiated. Hanford's share could be $433 million if Gregoire and other state regulators agree to a new cleanup timetable. Although state officials have signed a letter of intent to speed up the cleanup, tough negotiations are ongoing. Gregoire, who helped to write the 13-year-old Tri-Party Agreement that set the current cleanup deadlines at Hanford, is thought to be the driving force for the state in the negotiations. Though Gregoire refused to say she was skeptical about the DOE's latest proposal, she was clearly uneasy. "I'm a wait-and-see person," she said. But given the department's history of "mistrust, secrecy and mismanagement" at Hanford, Gregoire said, she and other regulators need to be careful. "I'm going to try and put this in a historical context," she said of her testimony. Since she began working on Hanford issues, there have been four presidents and too many energy secretaries to count, Gregoire said. "Every secretary and every president wants to redo and rethink what has been done at Hanford," she said. "And they all reach the same conclusion -- there is no quick fix to the cleanup." Gregoire said she's concerned about the details of any accelerated cleanup plan, such as proposals to change the definition of high-level nuclear waste to allow more waste to remain in leaking and aged underground tanks or changing the monitoring plans for contaminated ground water. "If that's what they are talking about, no thanks," she said. Gregoire said the state will continue to negotiate in good faith, but any new plan has to have the same fundamental thrust as the Tri-Party Agreement. "Treat it, store and ship it off," she said. Copyright 2002 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. This ***************************************************************** 36 House Changing Bush Homeland Plan Las Vegas SUN July 12, 2002 WASHINGTON- Disputes over who should control agencies such as the Coast Guard and the Immigration and Naturalization Service surfaced as the House tried to complete its vision of a new Homeland Security Department. A dozen House committees scrambled to meet a midnight Friday deadline for accepting or amending parts of the security agency bill under their jurisdictions. The committees have recommended dozens of changes to the plan President Bush outlined last month to combine some 100 agencies with security functions, comprising some 170,000 employees, under one federal roof. The administration has said it hopes the Homeland Security Department, the first new Cabinet department since Veterans Affairs in 1989, will get off the ground by Jan. 1. But first a special panel headed by House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, must deal with the suggested revisions to the president's proposals and meld them into one package. Armey's panel plans to write its bill by the end of next week, sending it to the House floor the following week. The Senate also must pass its version of the legislation. Senate leaders have said they intend to act this month, although Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has objected to that fast pace. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a statement Thursday that attempts to block a vote on a measure with broad bipartisan support "would be a very unwise decision." Four Cabinet secretaries appeared at the first hearing of Armey's special committee Thursday to stress the urgency of congressional action. "We must be willing to make a dramatic transformation in light of the dramatic threats we face," said Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, accompanied by Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Attorney General John Ashcroft. But some House members from both parties said Bush's plan went too far and moved too fast. The House Transportation Committee, responsible for 54 percent of the employees and 50 percent of the estimated $37 billion budget of the new department, defied Bush's plan Thursday in deciding to let the Transportation Department keep the Coast Guard and let the Federal Emergency Management Agency remain independent. In both cases, the argument was the main functions of those agencies - such as search-and-rescue and drug interdiction for the Coast Guard and FEMA's relief for natural disasters - would get secondary treatment in a department devoted to fighting terrorism. House committees also rejected Bush's request for broad authority to transfer money within the new agency's budget without congressional approval; kept the bulk of animal and plant health inspection programs in the Agriculture Department; and made clear the Health and Human Services Department would maintain primary responsibility for health research. Rep. Constance Morella, R-Md., whose district includes many federal workers, joined Democrats in the Government Reform Committee to pass, 21-19, an amendment to ensure that civil servants whose jobs don't change when they move to the new department don't lose collective bargaining rights. On Wednesday, committees decided against Bush's plan to move the entire INS into the new department and voted to shift the Secret Service from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department instead the new department, again contrary to White House wishes. But Armey's committee has the power to reverse all those decisions, setting up a possible battle when the bill reaches the House floor. House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, urged his 75-member committee to block the bill on the floor if they don't get a chance to amend it. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, a member of Armey's committee, said in 1979, the House spent four days on amendments to legislation that created the Education Department. The bill is H.R. 5005. On the Net: Select Committee on Homeland Security site: http://hsc.house.gov [http://hsc.house.gov] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 37 (Nuclear) Scientists as shamans HIMAL SOUTH ASIAN | July 2002 | Southasiaphere | SOUTHASIASPHERE Scientists as shamans After Pokhran II in May 1998, the sangh parivar in India wanted to distribute the radioactive sand of the Thar desert as the symbolic prasad of Indias atomic deities. When some sensible scientists pointed out the dangers involved in the exercise, the scheme was quickly abandoned, and instead the idea of building a temple at the epicentre of the nuclear blast was floated. Better sense prevailed yet again, and the plan for the temple gave way to the enclosed open-air memorial that exists today. In one memorable picture taken immediately after the Pokhran tests, APJ Abdul Kalam raises his hands along with fellow technocrats of Indias atomic establishment accompanied by a jubilant George Fernandes and a satisfied-looking Atal Behari Vaj-payee. The joy, alas, was to be short-lived for the Indian bhaktas of Nucleareshwar. Before long, the Chagai hills of Pakistan were trembling to Pakistans own nuclear explosions. Pakistanis dutifully paraded on the streets, celebrating the arrival of Islamic science. The Hindu bomb and the Islamic bomb were now arrayed against each other, expressions of Indian and Pakistani boastfulness. In reality, there is nothing Hindu about the Indian Bomb, nor do the Pakistani nukes symbolise the cultural strength of Islam. These weapons of mass destruction are products of a pseudo-scientific mindset that is unconcerned about the ultimate effects of their obsessions. There can be no science without a sense of ethics and morality, but there will always be technicians who rush to fabricate weapons, ready to feed off the hubris of the ruling elite. It is the collective insecurity of the very small power elite in South Asia that transforms these purveyors of falsehood and fabricators of weaponry into angels of truth. But before getting into the messy business of exposing technofascism, I would like to debunk the myth of APJ Abdul Kalam, Republic of Indias president-to-be, and the poster-boy Muslim of the likes of Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The straw man Contrary to the carefully cultivated image, APJ Kalam is no scientist, not by a long shot. Not one of his hypotheses has withstood peer review, he has not published in a scientific journal, and has not written a book in the discipline he claims to have mastered. Incidentally, he is no doctor either  he got the prefix the way Mulayams of the region do  his degree is honorary. This was what made the prestigious Indian Institute of Science decline Kalam a professorship. His only formal qualification is a diploma from a technical institute, and all else in his eventful career is the result of the resolve of a marginal man to succeed in the mainstream at any cost. The Indian media has been adulatory, describing Kalam as a scientific manager par excellence. Anyone familiar with the ways of the defence establishment in India, though, would be forgiven for suspecting this claim. The fact is that the republic puts so many resources at the disposal of institutions associated with weaponisation programmes that there is no incentive to optimise results. All that is needed is an ability to negotiate with component suppliers  the system takes care of the rest. No one has cared to explain the exact role of Kalam in the building of the Indian Bomb or the fabrication of the missiles; for all we know, he may have been pushing files. But even if he were directly involved in hush-hush schemes, it is quite unlikely that he has anything to do other than read drawings supplied by the Russians and the French, or decipher the users manual of the component suppliers from Germany and other west European countries. It is no secret that the Indian  and Pakistani  nuclear devices and missiles have been assembled from kits bought, begged, borrowed or stolen from countries that have the systems in place to produce such toys for the insane. The assumption that Kalam may have been propped up by the sangh parivar to wash its sins of communal carnage is only partially true. A Muslim president of saffron India does give a soothing message to the world, but very few in South Asia are fooled by this empty gesture. Kalams Muslim name is just an accident of birth. If APJ Abdul Kalam is such a straw man, where is the need to demolish him? It is a legitimate question  after all, the office of the President of India remains largely ceremonial. To see another septuagenarian safely ensconced in the sprawling complex of Rashtra-pati Bhawan on Raisina Hill should actually be vaguely comforting. Besides, Kalam the President will cause less harm to the rest of us in South Asia than he would do by being an unguided missile of the hawks in the defence establishment. But Kalams elevation to the highest post of the largest republic in the world signifies much more than the survival instinct of a mediocre man in a hostile environment. It heralds the acceptance of a pseudo-scientist as the new shaman of a society mired in backwardness and orthodoxy. More than Kalams personal success, it is the trend of treating technocrats as the new saviours that merits attention. Kalams entry into the ruling coterie of New Delhi is merely the most prominent symptom of a disease that is currently sweeping South Asia  technomania. The process of the deification of scientists started in Pakistan where Abdul Qadeer Khan, accused in the West of nuclear espionage, was worshipped country-wide as the Father of the Islamic Bomb. When Kalam did his bit, he was similarly heralded as a great son of India and promptly decorated with a Bharat Ratna in 1997, the highest civilian honour of the country. All heads of state and government of Pakistan have hailed Dr AQ Khan for his major contribution. Indians are going one better  they are in the process of making Kalam their head of state. The technology creed Kalams punchline in his 13 June press-meet was dutifully repeated by media-persons, perhaps more in amusement than anything else. But if the the nation is bigger than the individual chant is the core value of the president-to-be of India, then the future of liberty in this region will require more careful monitoring. For, rhetorically, would Kalam have paused to reflect upon the definition of nation in the context of South Asia? Had he done so, he may have realised the pitfalls of this dangerous doctrine in a region where cultural diversity is a fact of life while the civilisational hubris is a fiction that resides in the minds of men (and a few women too, I must add) too ignorant to be plagued by self-doubt. Not that there are no psychological explanations for the naive statement of the president-to-be. Kalam is an unmarried man, and leads a life bordering on asceticism. Such men, as Bertrand Russell shrewdly observed, pursue power with abandon, for, asceticism stimulates power impulses. In a different context, Garry Wills opines, A man without a wife to puncture his pomposity, without children to challenge his authority, in relations carefully structured to make him conti-nuously eminent, easily becomes convinced of his superior wisdom. Psychological analysis of an individual, though, is inadequate to explain the eminence granted to such men by a fawning social elite. It overlooks the social processes that give birth to the phenomenon of worshipping self-proclaimed technocrats as saviours. It does not explain why cardboard replicas of Chagai hills dominate the skylines of Islamabad and Karachi. It does not say why people in Pakistan do not object to the missile cutouts that stare at them from hoardings on public thoroughfares. Nor why we South Asians have learnt to deify the father of the nuclear bomb or the missile man just as we do our cricket stars and glamour queens. Part of the explanation is surely the public dis-enchantment with politics itself. Politicians as a class invite derision and contempt. This is ironical, because not many people are yet ready to trade the inept administration of politicians for the firm rule of generals, maulavis or high priests. After the initial honeymoon following the ouster of the corrupt Nawaz Sharif regime, even General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has ceased to inspire confidence. Vajpayee may doze off during meetings, as the controversial Perry report in Time alleges, but who is ready to replace him with General Padmanabhan? Scientists, however, are in another league: they are the secular priesthood of the creed of Technomania. Our blind faith in the wonders of technology would be touching, were it not so dangerous. For, what we consider science is not necessarily science. This, after all, is the region where the former physics professor Dr Murli Manohar Joshi goes gaga over the supposed science of Indian astrology. Dr Joshis emphasis on what he calls a traditional knowledge system says as much about the saffronite conception of science as about the status of the discipline in South Asia. We are more interested in the wonders of science than in its intricacies. So, what we get are Prithvis, Ghauris, Pokhrans and Chagais, not new vaccines, seeds with better yields or more reliable monsoon forecasting techniques. Scientists in South Asia are shamans who can unleash evil spirits on the enemy at the command of anyone who is ready to pamper their under-served egos. And increasingly, this enemy of the power elite is us  we, the people of South Asia. Science in our part of the world is Shiva the Destroyer, the Sword of the Caliph ready to draw the blood of the enemy. There is no bhakti of Vishnu and no sacrifice of the Sufis in the science of the Subcontinent. So the weapons that we have are named Prithvi and Ghazanavi  after warlords who did little to relieve human misery. The new aristocracy comprises not teachers, doctors and engineers, but generals, wheeler-dealers and technicians with egos bigger than their capabilities. They value uniformity, order and security, not diversity, organism and survival. Had it been in the times of statesmen like Jawaharlal Nehru or Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the elevation of the bachelor from the backwaters of Tamil Nadu to the highest post of the biggest democracy may even have been welcomed with satisfaction for signifying the recognition of the underdog. But with a saffronite leadership east of the Wagah, and General Sahib lording it to the west, a missile man in Rashtrapati Bhawan makes South Asia even more volatile and dangerous. Politics may be dirty, but the dangers of bomb-makers as rulers  and generals as dictators  are too horrible to contemplate. There is no magic cure for the ills besetting societies in South Asia. The process of change is slow and messy, a few steps forward and then some backward. To expect that generals and scientists can rule better than the politicians is like living in the dark ages of all-powerful medicine men who could unleash the forces of the unknown. It is time for us to grow up  unknown forces are malevolent more often than not. The salvation of South Asia lies not in the hands of the prowess that shook Pokhran and Chagai. It resides in the hearts and minds of common people who know that food, shelter, medicine and education are far more urgent than a quest for renaissance through long-discredited doctrines such as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), or weapons of mass destruction with mythical monikers such as Nag and Trishul.  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